the single deadliest day for u.s. forces in iraq in two years. the attack comes as president obama convenes his war council to debate the pace of the troop withdrawal from the war in afghanistan. robert gates on his final trip to afghanistan says despite the death of bin laden, it is too soon to wind down the war. >> if it were up to me, i would leaf t leave the shooters to last. nobody wants to give up the gains that have been won at such a hard cost. and nobody wants to give our allies the excuse to run for the exits. flashpoint syria. tensions build on the border with israel as israel accuses syria of instigating lethal clashes. the race for 2012, another new face, former pennsylvania senator rick santorum, the latest to declare. while noncandidate sarah palin is asked to claim why did she show up in new hampshire at the very same time mitt romney was kicking off his campaign?

>> i apologize if i stepped on any of that pr that mitt romney needed or wanted that day. i do sincerely apologize. we didn't mean to step on anybody's toes. >> no. but just don't ask her to apologize to paul revere. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. we begin today with the wars overseas. the president and his national security team now meeting to discuss the way out of afghanistan while the u.s. suffers its deadliest day in iraq in two years. stephen hadley served as president bush's national security adviser and is now a senior adviser with the u.s. institute of peace. thanks so much. first to iraq, just more tragedy there. this while there is a behind the scenes conversation with the u.s. and iraq about whether we should stay longer as military trainers and advisers. this does make the point that perhaps iraq is not ready to defend itself. >> well, that is -- some people

are concerned that is actually the motivation behind these attacks, to show that the iraqi security forces can't do it. our military is quite pleased with what the iraqi security forces have been -- have accomplished. but this kind of thing, this kind of indirect kind of fire attack, which is what appears to be -- does continue to go on. and the iraqi authorities are going to have it decide whether they are willing -- really ready to have all u.s. forces go at the end of this year, or whether they want some kind of small 5,000 to 10,000 man mission to stay to help the iraqi security forces really get to the point where they can handle what is still a dramatically reduced al qaeda presence and insurgency. >> it does create a real political problem for the maliki government to be in the position of asking and they have to ask the u.s. to stay beyond december. they said repeatedly they want all the troops out. but as you point out, there is sunni concern that they are not

strong enough to really defend themselves. >> it is a problem for maliki. the sadrists, part of the government, clearly want the troops to go bit end of the year. that's been a hard element of their position. and overwhelmingly i think iraqi opinion does as well. so it is a difficult issue for maliki. the problem is for them to stay past december 31, there needs to be additional protects, legal protections for our troops. that requires some approval from the parliament and that is the difficult challenge for maliki, could he get parliament to approve something that would allow a train and equip mission to stay past december 31. >> and afghanistan, there seems to be a reopened debate. we were told initially the president might be approving a drawdown of 5,000 support troops from afghanistan, not the combat troops. at the same time, secretary gates doing his farewell tour is re-emphasizing that. yet today, another review, and i'm told this decision could come very quickly, before july

1st, by the president, on the pace of withdrawal and, in fact, there are some within the administration and certainly in congress, democrats and republicans, kerry and lugar, who believe that there is such war fatigue and such disappointing results from hamid karzai that perhaps we should be drawing down at a faster pace. >> balancing that, of course, is the progress that afghan troops and coalition troops have made against the taliban, which i think is pretty undeniable. and i think the message that bob gates has been sending is, yes, there needs to be some transfer of responsibility beginning drawdown, but we are making progress. let's not pull the plug. let's not look like we are going for the exits because it will encourage our allies to do so. and also there is a new team now, ryan crocker is going in as ambassador. you've got mark grossman who is leading the efforts at state. i think it is a new team and

what gates i think is really saying is, look, the military will tell you a reduction figure they're comfortable with. but we have got a good strategy, approved by the president. we have a good team to carry out that strategy. let's give them a chance and continue to look at that 2014 date. that is the date, after all, that americans and our allies and nato have all agreed on. so i think the message you're going to get from bob gates, probably from our military, is let's stay with the strategy, let's capitalize on the success we have made and see if we can make this a success in the 2014 time frame. >> certainly going to come up at this week, there are confirmation hearings for leon panetta as the new secretary of defense on thursday. and you know he's going to hear from the senate on that. >> yes, indeed. >> thank you very much, steve hadley, great to see you. >> nice to be here. pro palestinian demonstrators on the syrian side of the border with israel confronted israeli soldiers again this weekend from the golan heights. jonathan prince served as deputy assistant secretary of state

under president obama and was a top adviser to george mitchell. good to see you. >> great to see you. >> how do we read what is happening, how serious a threat to israel is this, to be drawn into the conflict and to be perhaps provoked into violence that israel has not sought on the golan heights? >> i think that as you see the forces, you know, move across the entire middle east, it is not surprising that you see supporters of democracy in the west bank and gaza, you know, making some noise and starting to try out their own efforts at forcing israel's hand. what i really find most striking, not a direct answer to your question, but something we saw over the weekend as the former chief of masad came out in a bunch of interviews and went out there and said, you know, we really need -- what my trouble with this political leadership is that we need to be aggressive and pursuit of peace.

i think it is striking that you see the security chiefs in israel are very aggressive saying we need peace for our security, the political leadership, unfortunately says -- makes excuses about peace in the name of security. >> you know, jonathan, people throughout this government, i'm told, were just shocked by that, that the former masad chief, if he was quoted correctly, criticizing benjamin netanyahu, that is unprecedented. >> you know, i think it is shocking to see it play out in public. i don't think it is all that surprising if you have heard what you hear from -- what you hear from the security chiefs in private, they know that ultimately the security of israel, as a democratic jewish state, requires a two-state solution, that requires making a deal with the palestinians. any other road leads to a loss of either democracy, a loss of jewish identity, and certainly continued threats to security. >> now let me tap into your expertise on yemen. we had president saleh turning up in saudi arabia, we're told, for surgery, because of the wounds he suffered on friday in

this assassination attempt. is there -- do you have any doubt that saudi arabia because everyone has been trying to get saleh out of yemen, do you have any doubt that saudi arabia expects this to be the exit strategy because we're hearing mixed reports he might be returning, maybe his vice president has to say that. >> there are lots of reports that he might be returning. the latest report coming out of the region, i think, indicates that the vice president and other yemeni officials have expressed that to american and other western diplomats over in yemen. look, i think it is a very tricky situation and very hard to read. the saudis more than anything else want predictability and stability in yemen. and saleh, for his, you know, many autocratic faults, has been a promoter and provider of stability and predictability in the region. there is a very active al qaeda presence in yemen that has planned lots of terrorist activity, including targeting the saudi monarchy. so what the saudis originally

wanted, as you know, was a period of transition, that ended with saleh's exit at the end of this yeerks bar, but provided t that stability was preserved and orderly transition to some kind of democracy. i think that at the end of the day, my guess is that they will -- they got him out, so they'll encourage him to stay out, but if -- you can't be sure how the various factions fears of, you know, unrest may play this out at the end. >> jonathan prince, fascinating, fascinating story over there from yemen as well. thank you very much. good to see you. >> good to see you. up next, rick santorum making it official without sarah palin overshadowing his kickoff. plus, the mortgage meltdown has team obama retooling their election message. and how strong is the government's case against john edwards? this is "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc.

and this hour, apple's ceo steve jobs made his first public appearance in months today announcing a new and very much anticipated file sharing product. more than his new moneymaker, many were looking at jobs' personal health. the apple chief took a medical leave of absence from his company earlier this year with little explanation. and banks are no stranger to foreclosure fights, but usually they're not the ones with a padlock on the door. moving trucks were ready to haul off the furniture at a bank of america branch in florida unless the manager cut a check to a pair of homeowners. it turns out that the bank wrongfully tried to take away their home. and despite a court order, the bank never settled up on the couple's $2500 legal fees. that's when their attorney called in the cops and the bank finally paid the bill. >> we had tried every avenue.

we had called their local counsel, and sent a certified letter to their general counsel trying to bring attention to this. i had filed for a writ of execution and the court granted that. and the writ of execution was to go in and levee any personal assets that the bank had on the premise. so we had gone after chairs, filing cabinets, copiers. >> i guess turnabout is fair play. charlie cook is an msnbc political analyst and editor of "the cook political report" with a look at how the haasi inhousit is dragging down the economy and what that means for 2012. the housing market is really the underlying thing that is slowing down construction, slowing down rehiring, and a dead weight on economic recovery. >> that's what is interesting is that normally housing is -- what leads us. houses pull us out of recession. it is now a dead weight. and what people in the houhousi sector are worried about is

clearly the pendulum went too far one way with easy money, no doc loans, no down payments. now it looks like regulators want to swing it back the other way and go to the point where you almost have to bulletproof credit to get a house and 20% down payments, things like that. that would be very, very -- that's awfully tough for a housing market that is basically flat on its back now. there is a lot of concern. and for voters, this is a very, very central part of a core american value. >> and there is a lot of agonizing over not only what to do about revenue, but what to do about the home mortgage deduction. because that is among the things that are -- have been put on the table among budget negotiators. >> you're right. the thing is that capping it would probably -- would be problematic for the housing sector. but basically some of these regs being proposed could be more devastating in the sense that, you know, first time and people moving up from their starter homes, if they just can't get

loans at all, because of tightened situations where we threw the baby out with the bath water, that's a huge problem and that could be even a bigger problem than putting a, you know, half million dollar cap on mortgage interest deduction or something. >> and what impact do you think this has on the president's re-election plans as they, you know, try to figure out how to deal with a much lower horizon for economic improvement? >> well, i think that if you've got a president who is basically saying, renew my contract, keep me in for another four years, people have to feel -- have a certain comfort level and say, yeah, okay, i like where it is headed. and with these economic numbers that we saw last week, both the growth numbers and unemployment at 9.1%, and i think we'll see a lot of the forecasts for 2012 scaled back because they didn't seem to match up. you know, we were seeing forecasts that economic growth was coming down, but we were

seeing unemployment, you know, dropping. and that can't happen at -- or growing -- or not dropping. and it was a -- >> it is a mismatch. >> yeah, it is a mismatch and it's got to connect back up. and i think -- i think we're going to start seeing unemployment rate projections at a point where the obama white house and the campaign, they really don't want to see it. >> charlie cook, thank you so much. and with us now, former pennsylvania governor ed rendell. now nbc news political analyst and chuck todd, nbc political director and host of "the daily rundown." thanks to both of you. first of all, to you, chuck todd, at the white house, how is this the latest economic numbers, how is this changing their game plan going into 2012? >> well, as you can see, they're starting to mess around a little bit with how they talk about the economy. you saw stan greenburg, the clinton pollster from the '90s, apparently he and david axelrod got a bit of a debate, according to "the wall street journal"

report and an interview he did with the journal, and they talked about how to message this economy and the reality being you have stan greenburg and james carville saying, look, this economy is not going to be looking like a fully recovered economy come 2012. and that this white house and the president needs to be talking more in the feel your pain language that bill clinton was so good at in the early '90s when he was running the first time, and so you saw a little bit -- the president himself, on friday, you know, he used to use that car ditch analogy. we're getting the car out of the ditch and the republicans won't let us. they're saying hurry up and get it out. now he's talking about rehab. you get hit by a truck, takes a long time to recover from something like that when you survive something like that. and so a slight change, a little almost less glitzy about it in talking about it and more serious. and i think that's what you're hearing is a little change in

tone. there is not much policy they can do. >> and ed rendell, what is your take on how the president should handle this economic mess? >> well, first of all, we have to decide whether this last month was just a blip and was an aberration or whether it started a new trend because the trend up to that had been very positive. it has shown everywhere. states have increased revenue. pennsylvania is showing almost a $600 million surplus for this year. we haven't had a surplus in a long time. it depends on whether this stalling is sustained. if it is, i think the best thing the administration can do is go back to the simple economics. when barack obama took office, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. over the past six months we have been averaging about 200,000 jobs gained a month. that's pretty impressive turn around. that's almost a million jobs turn around. you've got to highlight where we

were. remind the american people where we were and remind them that the policies that the president put into place did work. the auto bailout was a perfect example. president did a little of that last week. he's got to continue juxtaposing where we were, and where we are now. not where we want to be. but where we are now compared to where we were when he took over. >> and, governor, one more question, though, they really can't improve the jobs numbers enough in time for the re-election campaign. so how do they -- how do they adjust the way they talk about this bad situation, the balance between talking about people's pain and projecting optimism and hope. that's something bill clinton figured out how to do. how does this president do it? >> i think first and foremost he's got to say to the american people, look, we understand that although this recovery is happening, it is not happening fast enough for a lot of you. but think of where we were, think of the policies we put in

place, think of the changes they made, and think of the agenda i laid out before the congress in my state of the union speech. wanting to invest in infrastructure, alternative and renewable energy, things that are absolute job producers and the congress has refused to let that happen. so i think he's got some good arguments. one, again, juxtaposing the past to the present. and, two, where he wants to take us and the fact that we're stalled. andrea, we could create 2.5 million jobs a year if we went on a real infrastructure revitalization program. these are well paying jobs that can't be outsourced. i would press that and press that and press that. >> all right, ed rendell, thank you very much. chuck todd, i know you got to run to the briefing. thank very much. coming up next, can 18 holes score a solution to the debt cerealin ceiling? politico next on "andrea mitchell reports." and when you switch from another company to us,

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last week, house speaker john boehner challenged the president to play large ball, his words, not small ball. and become more fully engaged in deficit talks. twom saturd two saturdays on june 18th they will play small ball. boehner will tee off with the president, joining one of the most exclusive groups in washington, a very small circle of friends and administration officials that the president invited for a round of golf. john harris joins us now. this is not the obama way. he does not do what former presidents have done and invite the opposition leader over for a round of golf, make friends, you know, invite them over for drinks. he's not really done very much of this. >> well, you're right, andrea. there is an interesting story that looks at president obama and golf, lots of presidents, in fact, most recent presidents have spent at least some time out on the golf course, but obama is different. for him, golfing is not new, typically a social exercise or a political exercise, it is not a

way of widening his circle, it is a way of spending time with a very tight circle of close friends and young aids and to him it seems to be a way of improving his score. he's very serious, very competitive. this is a little bit outside the norm of kind of mixing golf and politics for president obama. it is not the way, for instance, bill clinton, he had dozens of people who joined him out on the links at different times. or tip o'neill would like to go out golfing with his cronies, his political cronies. that's not the obama style. >> well, tip o'neill and bob michael used to go out all the time. and they actually had a fairly good working relationship. about once a year ronald reagan would get out on his new year's vacation out there in california. he was not exactly a golfer. but this is a chance for them to bond. they have very little in common, john boehner and barack obama. but really their relationship is going to be critical to any success in the debt ceiling or

the larger more global long range solution to debt problems. >> that's true. and, you know, it does seem to me in these moments that the two sides need some kind of rapport, even if it is not friendly rapport, they need to size each other up as adversaries during the 1990s budget showdowns, bill clinton and newt gingrich spent hours and hours with each other, and didn't become friends, but they certainly had each other's number. they knew what made the other guy tick. and president obama and speaker boehner do not yet have that kind of prolonged exposure to each other. theirs is a more austere and even frigid relationship. i doubt it will warm up that much, just in a round of golf. that's probably a little bit of a photo-op that will be taking place on june 18th. but the larger issue of how these two can get close enough to cut the deal, that is one that is really looming over all these budget talks this year.

>> well, you've got bill daly as chief of staff now and he's someone who understands, you know, the importance of these personal relationships. and it is the social side of the white house that has been a very useful way forward for a lot of former presidents when dealing with opposition leaders from the hill. thank you very much, john harris. >> thank you, andrea. >> reporting from glen thrush. coming up, inside the edwards defense. do the criminal charge hold up? education nation. the pace of reforms sweeping the nation with former d.c. schools chancellor angela reid. on every surface in your mouth. but did you know those same germs can build up and form a resilient layer called biofilm? biofilm germs are strong enough to survive daily brushing. thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula goes deep to penetrate biofilm, kill germs and protect your mouth for up to 12 hours. aaaahhhh... [ male announcer ] for a deeper clean,

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but it just tastes like fruit. somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. topping the headlines now on "andrea mitchell reports," firefighters are battling one of the largest wildfires in arizona history. so far not having any luck in containing it. thousands of residents were forced to evacuate after today's strong winds and humidity caused the blaze to span close to 300 square miles across eastern arizona. the fire is a third largest in state history.

meanwhile, communities surrounding the missouri river are dealing with flooding. seven states from montana through south dakota are under a flood emergency. more than 20,000 people have already been evacuated. in south dakota, officials are releasing more water from reservoirs today, putting more homes at risk of being washed away. and the river is not expected to crest until july. planned parenthood is fighting a new indiana law that would cut funding for all providers that offer abortions. a hearing on the lawsuit took place this morning in federal court. the obama administration is threatening to withhold all medicare funding for indiana if the state doesn't drop the ban, which was signed by governor mitch daniels. the judge is expected to make her decision by july 1st. new tests show that bean sprouts from an organic farm in germany may not be the cause of europe's deadly e. coli outbreak after all. 23 of 40 samples have turned up negative. testing is not yet complete. 22 people have died. thousands more are sick. formeri imf chief dominique

strauss-kahn was met by angry workers as he arrived at court. this was his first court appearance since he was arrested and placed on house arrest nearly two weeks ago and charged with sexually assaulting a hotel maid. the justice department is under fire for its criminal indictment of john edwards on six charges stemming from his attempt to cover up his affair. prosecutors are being challenged now for their theory of the case. mainly that money that edwards solicited from wealthy supporters was not a gift, but an illegal campaign contribution. edwards had very little to say in his own defense, except to suggest no crime was ever committed or even thought of. >> i did not break the law. and i never, ever thought i was breaking the law. >> so does the justice department have enough evidence to convict the former presidential candidate? we're joined by the "washington post's" ruth marcus who is a

lawyer and plays one. >> that's about all i do these days. >> ruth, you wrote and got a lot of people sort of raising eyebrows because you wrote memorably that edwards may be pond scum -- >> that's a technical legal term. >> right. pond scum, but that doesn't mean he's guilty of violating campaign -- you're saying basically this may not -- it is not just that it may not be winnable, it may not be a smart case. why? >> well, a few things. the campaign finance laws are very complicated. and if you run afoul of them, usually the remedy is the federal election commission brings a civil case against you and it finds your campaign and you might have to pay a lot of money from your campaign. if you've done something really, really bad, federal prosecutors can step in and they can bring a criminal case against you. but they have to prove that you acted knowingly and willfully. so that's why you saw john edwards saying, i never, ever thought i was breaking the law. and he's got a pretty good basis

in my view for saying that. because this case you could completely stand up in court and argue that this is a campaign contribution. and you wouldn't be laughed out of court. but it is definitely a stretch, especially in terms of a criminal prosecution from where the cases have been before this. and so i have two questions about it. one is will they win? and the second is even if they do win, because let's face it, john edwards is not the most sympathetic figure these days, was it -- is this a wise use of prosecutorial resources, you know? we call it prosecutorial discretion for a reason. >> let me get down to the fact that both of the donors paid gift taxes on this, on their tax returns. >> i'm a little bit -- i've read that. i asked about that. i'm a little bit confused of that. i wouldn't say that as a fact. >> the justice department is indicating they have got more than has been seen.

but at the same time, the edwards' defense is doing a very good job of putting information out there to raise the question of whether the justice department -- >> maybe the justice department has more, but there were some very intense plea negotiations going on between the two sides. it has been reported there was talk about pleading to a misdemeanor, but it broke apart over an agreement on whether there would be any jail time and if there would be any jail time where that might be served, could it be house arrest or whatever? so you would think that in trying to squeeze and convince the edwards defense team to plead that justice would have shown a lot of its cards and it didn't show them that i'm aware of to the defense team and didn't show that much in the indictment. >> and it has been most striking to people that his daughter kate, his adult daughter, who was a lawyer and who suffered through everything alongside her mother who died in december, of course, that his daughter did

show up, that he somehow has the support -- some people are saying, okay, let's just put it out there what people are saying in the political circles, it is understandable why kate edwards would want to support her father, especially with two younger children. it is less understandable why he would want her to stand up with him. >> that's an interesting question. i would think he would. it humanizes him. pond scum, he could use the humanizing. why he put her through that -- >> why would he put her through that, after everything this family has been through. >> i think putting john edwards first is a pretty consistent theme of john edwards' career and just because he's indicted doesn't mean he's stopping doing that. i have to say i feel for the little children because they just have been through the wringer and here comes another one through no fault of their own. >> exactly. well, another chapter in at least allegedly men behaving badly. >> that was the last one was as

a mom, not as a lawyer. >> all those roles. >> thanks, andrea. education nation is go on the road with a power packed week of events in philadelphia showcasing local and national education issues. we want to talk one on one with one of the key players in the national push for reform, michelle reid, now launched t theethe advocacy group, students first. great to see you, michelle. let's talk about the primary goal and there is a big issue in new york where you are today, which is this lawsuit, the naacp going up against people who have been involved in school reform over the whole question of public charters and public noncharter schools sharing space. do you want to try to deconstruct that for us? >> yeah. there is sort of two issues in terms of the naacp case. one is trying to stop some of the closures of poor performing schools that the new york city department of education is moving forward with and then the

second is to block some of the co-locations that will happen between charter schools, successful charter school and traditional public schools. i think this is a bit unfortunate and i'm very, very hopeful that the naacp will work with the department of education to try to come to some agreement on this because while, you know, there may be some issues about sharing of cafeteria and gym space, in a way that is equitable to both schools, i don't think that you want to be in a position where you've got 7,000 kids who have been accepted into these charter schools who potentially won't have anywhere to go in the fall. and so i'm really hoping that they can come to resolution on this quickly. >> michelle, what progress do you see right now, especially at a time of state and local budget cuts in terms of trying to achieve some of your goals of education reform and all of the counteravailing forces you've had to withstand. >> we see a tremendous amount of progress being made right now.

and part of it is because of the budget cuts. we're looking at layoffs happening across the country, unfortunately. and we never want to see education budgets cut because we're in that circumstance now. it is causing us to think carefully about the policies that drive those layoffs. and right now, in most school districts across the country, teachers are laid off by an antiquated policy known as last in, first out or lifo. it means if you are the last teacher hired, you will be the first teacher fired regardless of your performance and how good you are, how much value you're bringing to kids. we're seeing state legislators actually taking this on. just last week in nevada, the governor, brian sandoval, working together with democratic legislators in the state, came to an agreement that they would pass a law that basically says that when layoffs happen in the state, they must happen by quality, instead of seniority.

we have seen similar laws passed in florida, indiana, tennessee, in ohio, and so we are very, very heartened by the level of reform that is taking place across the country right now. >> now what is your response to democratic -- some democratic legislators in some states who call this union busting. want to give you a chance to respond to that. >> i think that those allegations just don't make any sense whatsoever. in fact, some of the strongest proponents of getting rid of last in first out policies are teachers. teachers are very, very outspoken on this issue. they really believe that children deserve to have the best professionals in front of them every single day. they do not believe last in first out policies that don't take into account merit and quality are the right ones for the profession or for children. >> michelle rhee from students first, thank you very much. >> thank you, andrea. as part of our continuing education nation, we're taking the show on the road wednesday, live from the national constitution center in philadelphia. if you're in the area, be there,

12:30 and be part of our live audience. if not, watch us right here, 1:00 eastern. and up next, 43 years after the assassination of robert f. kennedy, the fight for social justice, his fight continues. his daughter and human rights activist kerry kennedy introduces us to the modern day heroes next on "andrea mitchell reports." [ male announcer ] diane was already the chief operating officer at a national tissue bank, when she decided to get her masters in health care administration. by choosing a university that connects working students to faculty who are also leaders in their fields, she was able to apply her studies to the real world, and help more people, much quicker. my name is diane wilson, i deliver the best gifts on earth, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] university of phoenix is proud to sponsor education nation. because we believe an educated world is a better world.

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♪ ♪ membership rewards points from american express. they're a social currency with endless possibilities. hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. coming up on "newsnation," we're following new developments about congressman anthony weiner. one week after a lewd picture was posted from his twitter account, weiner was a no show at city events amid new reports of intimate photos that have surfaced of the congressman. we'll get the details. plus, steve jobs takes the stage to unveil apple's newest innovation. all that and much more coming your way in 15 minutes on "newsnation."

and right now to the state department where secretary of state hillary clinton is taking questions about what is going on in yemen. >> -- officials as well as civil society to try to better assess what this means to the country. obviously i can't speculate on what president saleh is going to do or say. but we do want to emphasize we're calling for a peaceful and orderly transition, a nonviolent transition that is consistent with yemen's own constitution. and our position has not changed. it continues to remain the same. we think an immediate transition is in the best interests of the yemeni people because the sta instability and lack of security currently afflicting yemen cannot be addressed until there is some process that everyone knows is going to lead to the sort of economic and political

reforms that they are seeking. and finally with respect to afghanistan, there have been no decisions made. obviously we have said consistently that our transition will be in accordance with the agreement reached at the lisbon summit. that was a very firm commitment by nato and isaf partners to a transition that will end the combat mission in 2014. we know it needs to be conditions-based. there will be transitioning to afghan lead security, but, you know, speaking for the united states we have absolutely not made the specific decisions because we're still gathering our best assessment, but we will do what we do in consultation with our partners in the nato isaf partnership. and we will do it in consultation with the afghans

because ultimately our goal here is to try to create conditions where afghanistan can defend itself. >> secretary of state hillary clinton today talking about two of the top foreign policy concerns, yemen, with president saleh in saudi arabia, in surgery, and we don't know whether or not he is going to return and what the future of that country is. and, of course, the decisions the president has to make about the pace of withdrawal from afghanistan. now, 43 years ago today, robert f. kennedy, fresh from his victory in the california democratic primary, died after being shot by sirhan sirhan. kennedy's passion for civil rights lived on ever since. aided by the robert f. kennedy center for justice and human rights and its most recent award recipient, abel berra. kerry kennedy is the president of the robert f. kennedy center for justice and human rights and daughter of the former presidential candidate and former attorney general. thanks so much for joining us. tell us about your most recent recipient and the focus of the

center right now in terms of what is going on in new mexico in particular. >> thanks, andrea. it is so nice of you to remember my father in this way. you know, as we think about the anniversary and what robert kennedy did, he -- when lawmakers and leaders in the south were imposing jim crowe laws in defiance of the u.s. constitution, he brought the power of the federal government to the aid of civil rights workers. so today the rfk center takes that as our model and we look for people who are the martin luther kings and john lewises of today and we work with them for a six-year period and we bring the power of the international law to their aid as they work on human rights issues in their countries. so abel hernandez berra is one example. he lives in mexico.

he has had many members of his organization killed by military and police officers in that area, in guerrero. and he is working to assure that indigenous people have their th. >> and their cause -- i mean, this is separate from the drug wars and everything else that's going on, but there is such corruption there, but this is political freedom, this is basic human rights freedom for these indigenous peoples in mexico. >> that's exactly right. it's basically political freedom but in the context of the drug wars. so the united states government has an agreement with the mexico government under the marita agreement to spend $1.6 billion in central america, $1 billion of it in mexico stopping the drug trait. over the last ten years or so 38,000 people have been killed

in that effort. a lot of that effort is concentrated in guerrero which has a large indigenous population and they are being persecuted by the military and by the police because there's really a very, very shaky kind of judicial system there. women are raped. men are tortured. women are tortured as well, and there's no way to really hold the government, hold the military, and hold the police responsible. however, under u.s. law the money from the marita agreement has to be tied to human rights improvements so that's what we're pressing the state department on today. >> to live up to that legal obligation to say nothing of the moral obligation. kerry kennedy thank you for continuing to carry on the legacy of your father. of course, this was the center founded by ethel kennedy, by yu mother, and thanks to you on a day that certainly is a bitter

moment of remembrance as well, kerry kennedy. >> thank you. and what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next right here. ♪ that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ ♪ i like it, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ ♪ i like it [ male announcer ] introducing mio -- a revolutionary liquid water enhancer. add a little. add a lot. ♪ for a drink that's just the way you like it. ♪ i like it, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh ♪ [ male announcer ] make it yours. make it mio. ♪ but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a

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so which political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? msnbc contributor jonathan capehart joins us from "the washington post." hi, jonathan. what are you looking at? i'm afraid to ask. >> a whole lot more. my eyes are just burning. the late nest congressman anthony wiener's photograph saga. andrew breitbart is out with new photos, shirtless photos of the congressman, including a photo of the infamous gray underwear shot. i think congressman wiener, who the new york tabloids have said he's gone into hiding, he skipped two parades yesterday in new york, he's going to have to come out and answer some questions now. >> and the saga continues. thanks so very much jonathan capehart. that does it for us for this

edition of "andrea mitchell reports." thomas roberts is in for tamara hall. >> thanks so much. coming up, we are following the developing news coming out of arizona where a massive wildfire has forced people to evacuate. it's getting even bigger and officials say right now 0% is contained. plus, u.s. troops in iraq are dealt the single deadliest blow since the combat mission ended last year. [ wind howling ]

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right now on "news nation," strong winds and dry conditions fueling the flames of a massive wildfire in arizona. the latest on what's being done to save people's homes. the worst attack in two years, five u.s. servicemen killed in iraq and u.s. troops prepare to withdraw from the country. another republican enters the 2012 race for president, but what are rick santorum's chances of winning the gop nomination to take on president obama? plus,