captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: a senate investigation reveals a grim outlook for u.s. nation-building in afghanistan. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight: two senators weigh in on u.s. exit strategy-- new jersey democrat robert menendez and georgia republican saxby chambliss. >> woodruff: then, we have the latest on syria's leadership, its deadly crackdown on anti- government demonstrators, and growing international calls to rein in the violence. >> ifill: hari sreenivasan explores why four billion addresses used to connect to web sites aren't enough. >> imagine for a minute that you have a telephone number system that runs out of telephone numbers and you have to add

another digit to make a bigger address space for telephone numbers-- this is the sort of thing you run into. >> woodruff: ray suarez reports on the challenges facing europe's richest country as chancellor angela merkel visits the united states. i german chancellor is not a head of state, but the white house not only honored her with the full pageantry of a state dinner but with the nation's highest civilian honor as well. >> ifill: and jeffrey brown updates the massive wildfire racing across eastern arizona, sending smoke and ash thousands of miles away. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> oil companies have changed my country. >> oil companies can make a difference. >> we have the chance to build the economy. >> create jobs, keep people healthy and improve schools. >> ... and our communities. >> in angola chevron helps train engineers, teachers and farmers;

launch child's programs. >> it's not just good business. >> i'm hopeful about my country's future. >> it's my country's future. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the long-running effort to stabilize afghanistan may be doing more harm than good. that was the warning heard in washington today as a deadline

loomed for u.s. forces to start leaving. the future of afghanistan after the future of afghanistan after u.s. troops withdraw was very much in question today before the senate foreign relations committee. the immediate subject was the nomination of ryan crocker to serve as u.s. ambassador to afghanistan. he drew on his previous posting as ambassador to iraq. >> we're not out to clearly create a shining city on a hill. that's not going to happen. but there needs to be progress. we went through the same thing in iraq. we chipped away at it. >> woodruff: but senators from both sides wanted to know what the u.s. has to show for $19 billion in aid to stabilize afghanistan over the last ten years. virginia democrat jim webb: >> how much do people want to achieve that may be above what we need to? and we're getting into... into this area of nation building. how much can we achieve?

it should only be done if we can articulate a vital national interest because we... we quite frankly need to be doing... doing a lot more of that here. >> woodruff: similar skepticism came from indiana senator richard lugar, the committee's ranking republican. >> despite ten years of investment and attempts to better understand the culture and the region's actors, we remain in a cycle that produces relative progress but fails to deliver a secure political or military resolution. in afghanistan, measuring success according to relative progress has very little meaning. >> woodruff: the doubts were fed by a report from the committee's democratic staff. after a two-year review, it concluded that: the report suggested, in fact, that u.s. aid is only

encouraging afghan dependency and corruption. the renewed discussion over progress in afghanistan comes at the same time as the debate over how quickly to begin withdrawing 100,000 u.s. troops. the pullout is scheduled to begin next month, although president obama has not given any firm numbers. this past monday, on abc news, defense secretary robert gates warned against a "premature" move. >> what i have said is that it is important, as we did in iraq, to have a strategy behind the numbers, not to just pluck a single number out and say, "okay, that's the number." as... as i've been talking about with the budget, that's math, not strategy. >> woodruff: gates also urged withdrawing support troops and not combat forces, but some white house aides have cited the killing of osama bin laden as reason to expedite the pullout. president obama himself

addressed that point in an interview with hearst television this week. >> we're not going to do anything precipitous, but what i've already said to the american public and what i've said to the afghan people is that it's time now for the afghans to take responsibility for their own security. we are training their security forces up, that transition will take place over the next few years. but by killing bin laden, by blunting the momentum of the taliban, we have now accomplished a lot of what we set out to accomplish ten years ago. >> woodruff: the president also spoke with afghan president hamid karzai today for an hour by videoconference. mr. obama will make his decision about the size of the initial u.s. pullout later this month. for his part, ambassador crocker cautioned today against moving too fast. >> osama bin laden's death is an important step, but much work remains to be done to ensure that al qaeda can never again

threaten us from afghanistan, with the taliban providing safe haven. >> woodruff: if he's confirmed, it will fall largely to crocker to oversee the u.s. aid program in afghanistan as the troops leave. he said today the goal must be "good enough governance" in kabul, and not perfection. >> woodruff: for more on afghanistan, we get the views of two senators: new jersey democrat robert menendez is on the foreign relations committee; and georgia republican saxby chambliss is on the armed services committee. that panel will take up afghanistan tomorrow at the confirmation hearing for defense secretary designate leon panetta. gentlemen, thank you both for being with us. senator men menendez, let me begin with you. the views we heard today on the foreign relations commit tee, skeptical on both sides of the aisle about the course the u.s. is pursuing in afghanistan. how do you see this argument?

>> well, i'm extremely skeptical. $19 billion over the last eight years, very little to show for it. i'm not sure that we have a reliable partner in the karzai government. says specially when what we're in is aou cnterinsurgency effort which means that we are fighting insurgents to try to give the government of afghanistan the ability to stand up on its own, defend itself, governor itself, and that counterinsurgency effort is costing us $10 billion a month. i have to be honest with you when i look at the statistics of the 50 to 100 al qaeda fighters that may exist in afghanistan it seems to me that we have the wrong mission at this time with a government that even calls us an occupying force. so i have a much different vision as to what we should be doing there. >> woodruff: and senator chambliss, you are going to be looking that the tomorrow with

the confirmation hearing for mr. panetta to the department. how do you see the course the u.s. is following? >> well, judy, we have been there ten years and you would like to think that there has been more progress than what we've seen on the ground. but the fact is that some movement has been made. when we first entered afghanistan ten years ago there were about 900,000 children being educate there had. 100% of them were males. today there are several million in their schools thanks to u.s.a.i.d. and 50% of them are females. we made progress militarily, particularly under the leadership of david petraeus recently, particularly in the south and in the east. and we've got to be very careful about the size of the troop force that we pull out because we don't want to give up what we gained and we have to remember, too, judy, that you can't decouple afghanistan and pakistan. while there are not a lot of al

qaeda fighters in afghanistan, they do traverse back and forth across the border. there are a lot of them in pakistan. and we know that that's where the training is taking place and that's why it's very important that we look at these countries and that's why ryan crocker's appointment to afghanistan is of great significance. he's been the ambassador to pakistan. >> woodruff: given what senator chambliss is saying and given what this committee... democratic staff committee report said about the... frankly that was critical about what aid money has accomplished, what are your specific concerns at this point? >> well, when i asked ambassador crocker-- who i is a great nominee and i will be supportive of his nomination, but when i asked him so for $19 billion, because we are all fiduciary responsibilities to the taxpayers of this country, what have we gotten? he mentioned the same statistics about education, which i agree.

but i look at the figure on that that's a it will 8 over $300 million of the $19 billion. when i look at the karzai government which is understood to be incredibly corrupt it looks to me that we are creating a dependency that not only is there a dependency but the sustainability of such an engagement in nation building and afghanistan that is i don't think in the national interest of the united states. now i think you could do more of a counterterrorism effort where you are striking at al qaeda and along the afghan/pakistan border even striking at the taliban to just to continue de-to-destabilize them so you can continue to give the karzai government an ability to build, but a country that has a trillion dollars in natural deposits of minerals of great value it seems to me that they should be doing that exploration paying for their own future, standing up for their own freedom and at the end of the day let's focus on what i believe is our national security concern, which is continuing to strike at al qaeda and disrupting the taliban so they're not an entity to give

them cover. >> woodruff: senator chambliss, it sounds as if senator menendez is saying... you just heard him. it sounds as if he's saying that all this money that has been spent on aid that is really on a small portion of it is making a difference and it adds... and in his words creating a culture of dependency on the part of the afghans. >> well, first of all, bob's concerns are very legitimate. his questions are right on target today to ambassador crocker. i think what we have to remember is that this government has been a very corrupt government from day one and i don't know how you measure improvement in corruption. it's pretty far on to any american citizen. but the fact is that there still is a lot of corruption over there and if we're going to continue to send money, we've got to see signs of improvement a there from that arena from an

anti-corruption standpoint in addition to the issue on the military side. bob makes a good point about carrying out counterterrorism operations, but the fact is that we're never going to defeat the taliban unless we've got boots on the ground. and general petraeus will be very quick to say that. if i were the president, what i would be doing would be listening very, very closely to ambassador crocker as well as to general petraeus over the next couple of weeks as he makes this decision on troop withdrawal. >> woodruff: well, before we got so the troop question, senator menendez, what about mr. crocker ambassador crocker's statement today? he said the u.s. goal in afghanistan is plerly to create good-enough government. he said it doesn't... he said we're not after a model democracy there. >> i agree we're not after a model democracy but we're not anywhere near a government that is a... in my perspective an honest partner.

how much more money will the united states taxpayers have to spend to get the type of government that even ambassador crocker talked about? we're talking about in this upcoming budget looking at another $3 billion in addition to the $19 billion just on the side of assistance. that's beyond the $10 billion a month in our counterinsurgency effort. so it just seems to me that that that there must be a different way. and if our national interests are striking against al qaeda and disrupting the taliban i'm not sure that we have to continue to spend these enormous amounts of money to prop up the karzai government and i find it very difficult to send the sons and daughters of america to fight in afghanistan when you have the supposed person who we're propping up at the cost of billions of dollars saying we're an occupying force. >> woodruff: senator chambliss, what about that? and let me just tack on to that what president obama said yesterday.

in effect, he said with the killing of osama bin laden "it's now time for the u.s. to recognize that a big chunk of our mission is accomplished and it's time for the afghans to take more responsibility. >> they're doing that everyday. again, general petraeus is providing the right kind of leadership and as part of that leadership he is making sure that the afghan national army continues to be built up from a four-structure standpoint and that they also continue to take over the various parts of afghanistan, much like we did in iraq. are they doing everything they ought to do? no. are they a very corrupt and inept government? i think certainly they are. and i'm not sure what the answer to that is. that's why you have people like ryan crocker and david petraeus that you have to rely on. >> woodruff: and senator menendez, by contrast you have to statement today or in the last day or so by secretary gates, outgoing secretary gates,

urging a more measured approach. he said as important as it was in iraq to have a strategy behind the numbers he said not just pluck a single number out. he's talking about the number of troops as the u.s. this is about when and how to exist. >> well i believe that in changing our strategy from a counterinsurgency to a counterterrorism strategy that we would need far less troops on the ground. we would not be pumping in billions of dollars into propping up the karzai government. we could have the afghans go explore their trillion dollars of natural resources that exist in afghanistan and we would save a lot of american lives while pursuing the national security into the united states. i think that's the strategy. now, there may be those who disagree with that strategy, but i think american people are more of the view that they have spent enough of their money in afghanistan, especially with the

government that is both corrupt that is not a good partner in our opportunities to create an afghan government that can sustain itself. >> woodruff: and a brief final word from you, senator chambliss? >> well, judy, it's a very complex country. it's a country that has a literacy rate of about 20%. that's why the education of the children over there is so important. they've been fighting wars for 30 years instead of educating their children. we've got to make sure that we don't leave afghanistan as a country that is a safe haven for terrorists who get up every morning and train in ways they intend to kill and harm americans domestically as they did on september 11 or in some other way. so it's very complex and that's why you need people like crocker and petraeus and others on the ground observing what's going on so that they can give the president as well as the policymakers the best advice.

>> woodruff: senator sax by chambliss, senator robert menendez, thank you both. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour: the bloodshed in syria; is the internet running out of space?; the challenges ahead for germany's chancellor; and the raging wildfires in arizona. but first, with the other news of the day, here's hari sreenivasan. >> reporter: the libyan city of misrata came under a new attack today by the forces of moammar gadhafi. thousands of troops advanced on the rebel-held stronghold, shelling it from three sides and killing at least ten rebels. meanwhile, nato planes hit tripoli again, a day after more than 60 sorties. and the alliance's secretary- general, anders fogh rasmussen, again predicted gadhafi's fall. he said: "it is no longer a question of if gadhafi goes, but when he goes." u.s. drone planes have struck again in northwest pakistan, the fifth time this week. pakistani officials reported a pair of missile strikes launched from drones. they killed 23 people, said to be suspected militants. the strikes have escalated since the killing of osama bin laden.

pakistan's government routinely protests the attacks and denies that it secretly provides intelligence on the targets. an opec meeting ended in disarray today when the oil cartel deadlocked on increasing output. saudi arabia and others wanted to pump more oil to make up for the loss of exports from libya. iran was strongly opposed. in the end, the opec secretary- general said there was no consensus, but he played down concerns about world supplies and high prices. >> we have enough stock, the stock is about two and a half or three days about fighting average. we have enough supplies in the market, there is no shortage whatsoever and in the absence of one country, but as of today, we are not in a crisis. >> reporter: opec's failure to act sent the price of oil back above $100 a barrel in new york trading. also today, the federal reserve reported growth has slowed in several major regions of the country for the first time this year.

in response, the dow jones industrial average fell more than 21 points to close near 12,049. the nasdaq dropped 26 points to close at 2,675. the u.s. senate handed merchants a major victory over banks today. after a fierce lobbying campaign by both sides, senators voted to let the federal reserve cut debit card fees that banks collect from stores. the fees would be capped at 12 cents each time a customer swipes a card. the current average is 44 cents a transaction. the fed's new rule is expected to take effect late next month. more than 70 air force cadets were hit by a lightning strike in mississippi today. it happened at camp shelby, near hattiesburg. a spokeswoman for the base said no one was killed. local hospitals said they were expecting as many as 77 patients for examination and treatment. the f.b.i. will intensify its focus on cyber attacks after a series of high-profile hacking incidents. last week, google reported attacks on g-mail accounts used

by senior u.s. government and military officials, and sites for pbs and the newshour came under assault. f.b.i. director robert mueller addressed the issue at a senate hearing today. >> these attacks threaten to undermine the integrity of the internet and victimize businesses and people who rely on it. we will increasingly put emphasis on addressing cyber threats in all of the various united nations and part of that is making certain the personnel and bureau the equipment, capability, skill, experience to address those threats. >> reporter: the senate committee was considering the president's request that mueller's tenure be extended by two years. lawmakers from both parties endorsed the extension today. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: and to the uprising in syria. government troops have massed in a northern province, where there are reportofs ighting betwofnee those loyal to president bashir assad and defectors. opposition forces have staged weeks of demonstrations throughout the country, calling for an end to the assad family's 40-year rule.

jonathon rugman of independent television news prepared this report from london. many of the images come from amateur video posted online. >> reporter: the opposition activists filmed these troops. they're believed to be commanded by the syrian president's younger brother. the government says their mission is to avoid casualties, but there were reports of heavy fighting outside the town tonight. and inside, a ghost town. the only sound is bird songs. in streets where over 40,000 people usually live, they fled when they heard the army was coming, says the cameraman. after what may have been the bloodiest rebellion yet in this 11-week-old uprising. this is how state television reported that uprising. 120 members of the security forces killed by terrorists.

>> the picture shows an aspect of the massacres committed by the arm terrorist organizations against the security and police forces. >> reporter: survivors said they had been ambushed by gunmen about 12 miles from the turkish border. anti-government demonstrators say this is a lie, posting video on youtube of protestors they say were shot by the security forces. while journalists are banned and the truth is elusive. on the border itself, a forlorn image of fear. hundreds have escaped here and hundreds have crossed into turkey after the turks said they would open their doors. "we don't want you, president assad" this refugee says. "you're killing people. they claim in syria the only

soldiers killed were defectors shot by the army as well as unarmed civilians. >> ( translated ): we don't want the army to come in. i lost four of my cousins. my first son is injured, my second son is injured, my cousin is dead. we've had enough of the paramilitaries. >> reporter: what's more, this military defector, his i.d. card in hand, claim he is saw no rebel gunmen in northern syria, only peaceful demonstrators. >> ( translated ): the demonstrators were not carrying anything. they were not out for a fight. they were just calling for freedom. we use light ammunition, of course, and we left a lot dead and injured. >> woodruff: at the united nations today, britain and france proposed stronger sanctions on syria, adding to those imposed by the u.s. and others. tonight the obama administration announced it would support the latest move to condemn syria.

activists say more than 1,300 people have died since the uprising began nearly three months ago. >> ifill: now, we look at today's test expanding our ability to surf the web. hari sreenivasan begins our coverage. >> reporter: ever wonder how your device-- be it a laptop, smart phone, or tablet-- connects to information on the internet? devices and web sites all have addresses that can identify them. they're known as i.p., or internet protocol addresses. for example, google.com has an i.p. address. your device finds and connects to the site by exchanging address information. think of this similar to the mail system and how you send a postcard. >> postcards have "from" addresses and "to" addresses, and they have some content. the internet packets of the internet are like little postcards. computers generate them, and they put them into the network, and the network looks to see where is this postcard supposed to go, and it figures out a route to get it to the other side and it delivers it to the destination. >> reporter: vint cerf is one of the two men who invented how this system works.

at the time, the internet was a defense department experiment. the original internet protocol had 4.3 billion possible i.p. address combinations, beyond anyone's wildest dreams. but since the early '70s, the internet has become crowded with web sites and devices galore. we're running out of addresses. >> imagine for a minute that you have a telephone number system that runs out of telephone numbers, and you have to add another digit to make a bigger address space for telephone numbers. this is the sort of thing you run into. >> reporter: so today, more than 400 major sites and corporations-- including google, facebook, yahoo and youtube-- are taking part in a 24-hour test run of the next generation of internet addresses called ipv6. internet giants have been preparing for this trial for more than a year, but, going forward, could ipv6 run out of addresses, too? that's unlikely. the number of addresses that ipv6 allows for is equivalent to 3.4 x 1038.

>> 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses-- which is enough to last until after i'm dead. then it's someone else's problem. >> reporter: the amount is so big that experts are calling it "unlimited." >> ifill: so, how will this affect your life online? for that, we're joined by leslie daigle, chief technology officer for the internet society. on you to help us out with this. so how did this test today go? >> it was great. woe turned it on on these major internet sites at 8:00 eastern last night and things went smoothly. it was almost a non-event. >> ifill: was it just a switch that was flipped? >> well, as indicated in the video, this is something that's been in preparation for about a year by a number of parties and they flipped the switch but after a lot of preparations. >> ifill: was there a worry at all that people around the world would wake up today, hit their

google account and be unable to get online? >> there was some concern that could happen for a small number of users, that's why we wanted to have the test today to see what happens when we go live. >> so when you go live with i.p.b. 6, what are the consequences that most ordinary internet users would notice. >> well, after today we can will reasonably confident that at least initially they won't notice anything untoward, but the opportunities that... moving this way bring us is much more of what we enjoyed about the internet, which is continued growth of the net, continued new applications and moving on to the future. >> so if this had not been put in place, if this was not ready to be rolled out, were we going to experience diminishing efficiency over time? >> that's the other path is increased complexity in trying to squeeze more use out of the limited address space we have. so increased complexity, less efficiency and a lot of other unknowns. >> ifill: so i guess the

question is we were fixing something that was truly broken. >> we are and we've been trying to do that for over a decade but you know how these things are. when it looks like it's going to bring you more of the same it seems why are we going to do this. but now we're at the point where it's well understood that there is only one way forward and that's moving on to i.v.b. 6. >> ifill: it's so not unusual for one foreign own a laptop, a cell phone that's internet enabled, a wireless router at home or at work. another laptop and perhaps internet enabled television or some other device. is that what's putting the stress on the system or are they all being sent to one singled a dress? >> it's partly that, indeed, and certainly we want to imagine a bright future with all of the devices that's part of what's bringing the stress. but 4.3 billion addresses aren't as many people as there are on the face of the planet so there was never going to be enough

space. >> ifill: right now each person has one address. >> at most, typically. >> ifill: and sometimes it's an address they share with other people, within institutions. >> yes. >> ifill: so right now people would get these addresses... would not have to get the addresses. you say there are now going to be more addresses than we could ever, ever fill. what was the need for that? >> well, again, i think it's important to understand that part of the driving fux of the internet has been unlimited creativity and it's already been put to uses even the inventor of the internet could not have imagined. i think we see that going forward as well. more of your devices and smaller than a single device. a single car, for instance, may wind up having several i.p. addresss in it. so it's really the future is wide open. >> ifill: what is the cost of this for a consumer? does that mean the device wes buy in the future will be more

expenseive? does it mean access toe the internet will become more expenseive? what is the cost? >> ifill: hopefully none of the above. hopefully a gradual transition for the end consumer the slight addition in heart ware costs and access costs will actually be rolled into the overall normal progression of things. for enterprises, for network operators, they look at it and see costs in terms of upgrading their equipment and making a change to their system but we're beginning to see the cost of trying to accommodate a lack of addresses is actually greater than the cost of moving to i.p.v.. >> ifill: if that's true, why hasn't this happened before? why haven't the big service providers, the google, haven't done this? just flipped the switch. they were capable of doing this how long ago? >> well, that's been a question on everybody's mind for a decade. but this year, in february, we saw a landmark in event in terms

of the handing out of the addresses when the last chunks of addresses were handed out to the different parts of the world. and i think at this point in time it became clearer to people that, you know, we really are at the end of the road. we really can't squeeze any more toothpaste out of this tube. >> ifill: leslie daigle from the internet society. thank you so much. >> thank you very much. >> woodruff: next, the leader who will have the decisive voice in future european financial rescues calls on president obama. ray suarez has that story. >> suarez: the german chancellor's red carpet visit to the white house came at a critical time for the european power. angela merkel's country, the biggest and richest in europe, is dealing with the european debt crisis that threatens the very future of the common currency, as well as a deadly

e. coli outbreak and conflict with its european and u.s. partners over action in libya. and while president obama gave the chancellor a warm welcome, he also delivered blunt words at a joint news conference about the european economy, mindful that the greek debt crisis last spring helped stall the u.s. economic recovery. >> what we've done is to say to germany and other countries that are involved: we will be there for you; we are interested in being supportive; we think that america's economic growth depends on a sensible resolution of this issue; we think it would be disastrous for us to see an uncontrolled spiral and default in europe because that could trigger a whole range of other events. and i think angela shares that same view. >> suarez: but merkel has her own political problems. her coalition parties have lost local elections. voters are angry that germany is

expected to pay for repeated rescues of what they see as irresponsible european economies, according to charles kupchan of the council on foreign relations. >> she faces a lot of opposition in the street to the idea that germany should be bailing out greece, portugal, ireland. germans are saying, "why is this our problem? we're running a tight ship, why shouldn't they?" >> suarez: germany's foreign minister, guido westervelle, who traveled to washington with merkel, concedes euro bailouts are a tough sell at home. >> to be very frank, it is a difficult discussion at home. we have many people who ask why we should spend money for this our that country, but it is in our own national interest. our economic strength is depending on our exports and our international network and

therefore we need the single market in the e.u. and its in the interests of all member states and especially in the interest of germany. but, i mean, it will be hard work. >> suarez: merkel's visit also comes on the heels of a german break with the u.s. and its strongest european allies over libya. germany chose to abstain from the u.n. resolution backed by france and britain authorizing nato intervention and did not offer any military help. but the chancellor insisted yesterday that germany supports the goal of getting rid of moammer gadhafi and a democratic libya. >> ( translated ): it is our joint will that this nato mission is successful. this is important for the people in libya, but it's also important for nato, for the alliance at large. and here we have one heart of allies that beats with the other allies. >> suarez: and the foreign minister says his country sees itself as a more important player down the line.

so germany is planning a big role in post-gadhafi libya? >> i think so, i think so. well, the german economy is very well recognized, especially in libya. we have many companies there, and the libyan people know that germany is a reliable country. and our strength of the economy could be a very important part for their rebuilding, and we will do so. >> suarez: but kupchan believes merkel made a misstep with the approach to libya. >> i think, if merkel could have a do-over, she would have played libya differently. i think she's paid a price for it at home and paid a price for it abroad. the americans, the european partners of germany, have raised their eyebrows about this decision, and she was quite isolated at home. >> suarez: there have also been questions over merkel's

leadership when, in the aftermath of the fukushima nuclear disaster in japan earlier this year, she first decided to phase out nuclear power, and then, just last week, doubled down on that decision, announcing germany would get rid of all nuclear reactors by 2022-- even though nuclear provides almost a quarter of its electricity. and there has been more trouble in just the past week when the german government mistakenly blamed spanish produce, then homegrown bean sprouts, as the cause of a deadly e. coli outbreak. so far, at least 25 people have died and more than 2,500 have been sickened. but those issues were largely downplayed at the white house events. the german chancellor is not a head of state, but the white house not only honored her with the full pageantry of a state dinner, but with the nation's highest civilian honor as well. >> presidential medal of freedom to dr. angela merkel. >> suarez: a child of the cold war who grew up in east germany,

angela merkel joined a select few foreign dignitaries who have received that award at the state dinner in the rose garden. >> tonight, we honor angela merkel not for being denied her freedom or even for attaining her freedom, but for what she achieved when she gained her freedom. determined to finally have her say, she entered politics, rising to become the first east german to lead a united germany, the first woman chancellor in german history, and an eloquent voice for human rights and dignity around the world. >> suarez: president obama said he hopes to make a return trip to berlin. at the end of this visit, though, both leaders said their meetings helped strengthen the german-american relationship at a very challenging time. >> ifill: we'll be back shortly with an update on the huge fires in arizona. but first, this is pledge week on pbs. this break allows your public television station to ask for

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>> woodruff: finally tonight, the fires raging across arizona. jeffrey brown has the story. >> reporter: the air near springerville, arizona, was a sickly yellow color today, thick with acrid smoke from the second largest fire in the state's history. the so-called "wallow" blaze is now the size of phoenix, and spreading fast. more than 600 square miles of ponderosa pine forest have burned since the fire burst to life on may 29, likely from an unattended campfire. high winds and high temperatures have fanned the flames. more than 2,500 firefighters from as far away as new york are struggling just to keep it away from small towns. >> the priority right now are the communities-- alpine, nutriosos, all the little communities out there. so that's our priority.

we want to check the spread to the northeast. whatever we can do to do that, if we have to find an anchor point and pinch around sides, that's what we'll do. >> reporter: today, the fire was just two miles outside springerville and neighboring eagar, where at least half the 4,000 residents had to flee. the fire also forced evacuations and warnings in towns just across the border in new mexico. >> i'm only getting what's important right now. it's like panic attack. i already had to help my mom in alpine pack up all her things. >> reporter: officials also warned the wallow fire could reach power transmission lines by friday and force rolling blackouts across new mexico and texas. to the south, two smaller wildfires are also burning in arizona. so far, they've destroyed several cabins and outbuildings. but to this point, there have been no injuries in any of the fires. in the meantime, haze from all the smoke now stretches across

colorado and even as far east as iowa. and ning me now from town of eager, arizona, is jim cross, a reporter for ktar radio in phoenix. he's been on the fire lines today. jim, what are the conditions firefighters are dealing with? what are you seeing there? >> well, we just got back from the front lines. we were taken up there on a tour and about as bad as you can get, quite honestly. your eyes are burning, your throat hurts, you're plugged up. the wind is just howling out there. it's blowing. it's breezy here, but throughout just seven or eight miles back this way it is just tours you wind. big plumes going up, trees on the mountainside going up kind of like candles, roman candles, you know, a lot of fire fighters in there. once it comes down-- if it comes down-- out of this mountain area it's going to have a flatland, a grassland and they hope to make their stand there.

>> brown: i know they're trying to keep it away from several towns. what are they doing? what are they able to do? >> well, they're using a variety of methods. they're using air tanker drops, burnouts in the area, cutting line with bulldozers, putting men in there to try to back burn so once the fire reaches it it will rob it of any fuel it has left to burn. >> brown: describe the area for us a little bit more for those who don't know. what's the terrain like? >> it's incredibly rugged. it's some of arizona's most pristine country. some of the highest country. it had been a forest which is the largest ponderosa pine span in the entire world, spanning arizona and new mexico, arguably the prettiest snot the state-- at least it used to be. >> brown: and in terms of pop administration? small populations in small towns spread throughout or how does that work? >> small population. a lot of summer homes up in here. several thousand permanent

residents but a majority... not a ma majority. certainly many summer cabins, summer homes to the people in the phoenix and tucson area. >> brown: so how much warning did the residents get for what might be coming and how that r they responding? >> residents all about about 12 to 24 hours of warning. for the most part they've responded well. there's anger up here there that more wasn't done to help out the forests. but for what they're going through they're taking it pretty well. they don't know if they'll even have a home to go back to. >> reporter: in terms of those who are evacuating, are there places for them go? >> there are places. that are a variety of shelters, two or three shelters around the area. several miles away but they have a place to go and they're being taken care of. a lot of them are going with family, relatives, friends, so on. as far as we know everybody's taken care of right now. >> brown: i know you have a lot of experience covering these

things. what's so hard in this case for fire fighters to get the fire under control. what makes it so difficult? >> the wind. it's absolutely a wind-driven fire. strong winds, 40, 45 miles an hour for the past three or four days. it gets into these canyons and makes runs through these mountain areas. it's almost impossible to stop. fire is more than a week old. it's zero contained. it's i would say in excess of 400,000 acres. second-largest certainly right now in state history and there's every chance it could become the biggest fire the state's ever had. >> brown: you said they're hoping to make a stand at some point. does that mean crucial next 24 hours? what are you looking at? >> yeah. today is absolutely critical. if they can get through today's wind, this is where they make their line in the sand, so to speak, this is where they have to draw the line today. it's crate cal, all the fire commanders believe that. >> brown: jim cross of ktar, thank you so much. >> thank you.

>> ifill: again, the other major developments of the day. a u.s. senate report questioned whether giving billions of dollars in aid to afghanistan is doing more harm than good. government troops in syria massed in a northern province, apparently aiming to strike a town where other troops have joined the opposition. any consensus on increasing oil productions, sending oil prices back above $100 a barrel. and the u.s. senate voted to let the federal reserve sharply cut the fees that banks charge stores for debit card use. and to back to hari sreenivasan for what's on the newshour online. hari? >> reporter: watch more of our interview with vint cerf on the transition to a new kind of i.p. address on the web. also there, find our conversation with molly wood of c-net, a technology-focused web site, on the basics of today's trial run. and we've gathered five must-see dispatches and videos that illustrate the situation on the ground in afghanistan. that's on our world page.

plus, during this graduation season, judy has penned a blog post on how young people are bracing themselves for a tumultuous job market. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> woodruff: and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them as their deaths are madofmade official and photogras become available. here, in silence, are ten more.

>> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on thursday, we'll look at the senate confirmation hearings for c.i.a. director leon panetta, tapped by president obama to be the next defense secretary. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night.

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