many americans will get the swine flu vaccine this week. so why are some doctors telling patients to wait? >> wild weather in the west dust storms close 40 miles of highway while winds fan a new wildfire forcing thousands from their homes. it's monday, october 5th, their homes. it's monday, october 5th, 2009. captions paid for by abc, inc. good morning, i'm lisa fletcher in for vinita nair. >> i'm jeremy hubbard. this is a crucial week. the president's top advisers are debating whether to send thousands more troops to the country. >> this comes after a deadly attack on american forces over the weekend. abc's nick schifrin joins us live from kabul with new information about who may be to blame. good morning, nick. >> reporter: good morning, lisa. yeah, afghan officialing believe these fighters came from pakistan. this base was only a few miles from the border and fighters can cross easily. the terrain is difficult for the

u.s. to manage blue it's the insurgents' backyard. hundreds of fighters left a mosque in a nearby village a few miles from the pakistani border. they attacked two different u.s. bases in a bold and coordinated assault with massive firepower including assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. outnumbered and in danger of being overrun u.s. troops called for backup, more troops and helicopters and fighter jets. abc's karen russo landed with medics who rescued soldiers. >> we flew in the cover of darkness and circled above to avoid fire before quickly corkscrewing to the landing zone below. we landed in a valley at the bottom of steep mountains making us vulnerable to attack even more so because medevac helicopters do not have any weapons. once on the ground it was difficult to see anything except for smoke from the conflict rising across the moonlight. the area smelled like burned out pine trees something one soldiers described as death as

hell. >> reporter: afghan officials believe the fighters were from pakistan possibly led by this man, hakani responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in afghanistan and his fighters roam freely. >> those people can easily cross from pakistan or from the other side to afghanistan. whatever they decide to do, they can do it because we do not have enough forces in those area to control them. >> reporter: u.s. officials agree with that sentiment and say that because there aren't enough troops they've been trying to move the troops in the remote bases into more populated areas and this base that was attacked on saturday was supposed to close in just the next few days. >> nick, what are you hearing from officials over there in terms of the possibility of more of these large-scale attacks on u.s. troops? >> reporter: yeah, u.s. officials are actually asking us to the to reveal some of the details of where this attack took place because they fear

that more attacks could come in this area. afghanistan itself right now is extremely violent. at least 17 u.s. soldiers have died already this month and we're only five days in and u.s. commanders fear this war will get worse before it can get better. >> nick schifrin, thanks. our senior foreign affairs correspondent martha raddatz says the weekend attack is sure to be on many minds in washington during the debate on additional troops. >> reporter: really focuses america's attention on what is actually happening on the ground there. we've been talking a lot were in washington. everybody is studying this but when you see something like that happen, you know how irgent the problem is >> the president is behind closed doors with the defense secretary and top advisers have two meetings this week on the afghanistan question. "good morning america's" chris cuomo is in afghanistan to report on this pivotal time in the conflict. his live reports begin this report at 7:00 on "gma."

following breaking news out of pakistan. a suicide attack at the office of the u.n. world food program has killed at least three people. the u.n. has been increasingly concerned about the security situation in pakistan for months following today's bombing. all u.n. offices in the country have been closed for the day and the u.n. is limiting staff travel. the head of the u.n. nuclear agency says inspeors will visit iran's recently disclosed uranium enrichment site in three weeks. "the new york times" reports that u.n. staff mbers have tentatively concluded that iran now has the technical know-how to make an atomic bomb. this conclusion goes well beyond the public position taken by the u.s. here in the u.s. in california, firefighters are battling to keeping a wildfire from reaching a resort town. everyone there has been evacuated as it burns a quarter of a mile away. leeanne suitor from kabc is in wrightwood. >> reporter: worki through the

night cutting a line around the destructive blaze and battling to knock out the hot spots. a dramatically different firefight from 24 hours earlier thanks to a turn in the weather. >> the winds are down. the winds are still variable. they're in our favor currently. the cold -- with the cold brings the humidity. the humidity comes way up. that makes the fire slow way down. >> reporter: wicked winds up to 6 0 miles per hour helped fuel the flames. the fire more than doubling in size in a matter of hours. 7500 acres blackened. several homes destroyed. firefighters dig for smoldering embers in the ruins. at least three homes destroyed by the fires. fire officials still tallying the damage as the massive blaze continues to burn out of control in the san bernardino national forest. the fierce flames forced wrightwood's 4,000 residents from their homes. >> we've been up here for 25 years and this is the first time we've had a whole town being

evacuated like this and it's just unbelievable to see all this fire come in all at once. >> reporter: fighting fire with fire, crews burned out the tinder dry brush ahead of the flames cutting off the leading edge of the blaze. from above an aerial assault of water and fire retardant as crews fought to save this popular mountain community. residents grateful mother nature is finally starting to cooperate. >> the wind was blowing like a son of a gun and wasn't looking good. now it looks great. >> that was leeann suitor reporting. those high winds triggered a dust storm in washington state so bad it shut down a major highway. 40-mile stretch of 90 was closed as strong winds kicked up enough dust to create whiteout conditions. about a dozen people were injured in storm-related crhes. i-90 was re-opened last night as the winds died down. >> now for this morning's weather from all around the nation. up to two feet of mountain snow in montana, wyoming, idaho and

the western dakotas. we'll have the populated areas with 6 inches the. rain in the eastern dakotas, nebraska and heavy at times with flooding in parts of georgia. >> 70 in new york and 66 in boston. a cold 47 in fargo and 55 in minneapolis. st. louis gets up to 70. dallas up to 75 and it's chilly in the lower 50s for boise and salt lake city. 82 in phoenix. 72 in sacramento and 75 in albuquerque. >> coming up on this monday risky business. new claims that the government misled the public before loaning billions to major banks. >> disaster zone in indonesia. many earthquake victims may never be found. and a symbol of america being built in a very unlikely place.

and welcome back. a report out this morning comes down hard on the government for the way it handled the $700 billion bank bailout. the government watchdog says the treasury and federal reserve lied last fall when they said the first nine banks receiving bailout funds were healthy. just two weeks later two of those banks needed more money. the watchdog says the misleading statements could undermine public support in the future. wall street is looked for good news. the dow tumbled 177 points last week and is down more than 3% in two weeks. investors hope that good news comes from corporate america.

companies begin reporting third quarter results on wednesday with numbers due from alcoa, pepsi, costco and others. analysts will be watching thursday's report on september retail sales. with an eye on the future. the figures could offer clues about the holiday shopping season, a big drop could mean another year of bargain hunting and last-minute shopping. stores say they'll try to avoid overstocking items so they won't have to slash prices to clear their stefls. is zombies were alive and well. "zombieland" opened in the top spot. "cloy with a chance of meatballs" slipped to second place this weekend. the 3-d double issue of "toy story" and "toy story 2" finished in third. the mona lisa will have a famous neighbor. mcdonald's is opening an franchise in france at the louvre. the museum staff is not so happy about the new addition that

opens next month. the location shouldn't be too much of a surprise. france is mcdonald's biggest market outside of the u.s. >> just don't touch the fries then try to touch the art. it could cause a problem >> that's frowned upon. next on this monday the swine flu vaccine is here. should you be among the first to get one? new information about the man suspected of videotaping a reporter in the nude. ♪

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we continue now with a look at the road conditions now. snow covered roads in the northern rockies along interstates 90 and 94. flooding in the southeast could cause problems on i-95 and other roads. if you're flying expect airport delays in salt lake city, denver and minneapolis. also across the south in houston, orlando, atlanta and charlotte. the first doses of the swine flu vaccine arrive today as the h1n1 is making people sick across the country. >> health care work ners

indianapolis and memphis will be among the first to get the vaccine but the government is urging everyone to follow. >> john hendren has the latest from washington this morning. good morning, john. >> reporter: good morning, jeremy and lisa. the swine flu vaccine is about to become widely available. the trick now may be getting americans to take it. the flu season is starting in medical professionals say americans need to be vaccinated, now more than ever. >> this is clearly the most ambitious influenza vaccination program ever mounted in the united states or anywhere in the world. the number of doses of vaccine, thquickness with which the vaccine has been produced. >> reporter: this week doctors will receive 600,000 tubes of nasal spray vaccine and 6 million doses of injectable vaccine and another 40 million to 50 million vaccine doses should be ready the following week, but ma americans aren't so sure. a recent survey finds that about six in ten adults are not certain they'll get vaccinated. and about four in ten parents

are not certain they'll get their children vaccinated. >> i don't think i'll get the swine flu vaccine. i'm not terribly concerned about getting the swine flu. >> as a parent and as a pediatrician, if i can keep a child from getting an illnesses that will keep them out of school for three, five, seven days, that's doing something. >> reporter: the priority list includes pregnant women, health care workers, young people six months to 24 years old and people with chronihealth conditions such as asthma, obesity and diabetes would are at greater risk from complications from the flu. caregivers are on the front line. >> as of right now we have increased employee absences due to fevers, flu-like symptoms. >> reporter: health officials say pregnant women in particular are vulnerable. 100 women have been sent to the icu who having president-elect obama and 28 have died of the december. jeremy and lisa? >> all right, john hendren, thanks, john. rescuers in indonesia say

there's little hope of finding more survivors from last week's powerful earthquake. the u.n. estimates at least 1,100 people have died. even recovery has stopped in several remoteowns that were absolutely buried by mudslides. those towns are becoming mass grave sites. officials are struggling to prevent a second disaster from the outbreak of disease. in the u.s. territory of american samoa survivors gathered for a national prayer service on sunday. a fema helicopter took to the president obama phoned the d governor to express his condolences. the tsunami killed at least 176 people including 32 on the islands of american samoa. the man accused of staultinging erin andrews is due in court. a judge is expected to decide whether michael david barrett will be returned to california as a prisoner or be freed on bail. investigators say barrett took nude cell phone pictures of andrews through a peephole and

tried to sell them online. he was arrested at o'hair airport by the fbi. there is new information on the man accused of trying to blackmail david letterman. robert halderman was desperate and in debt paying $6,800 a month in spousal and child support. they say halderman lived with a former assistant to letterman until last work. he allegedly used information from the staffer's diary in the extortion plot. time now for sports. here's will selva at espnews. good morning. 162 games, not enough to decide the a.l. central race. the tigers depending on justin ver land or for a win. bottom two, 1-up, the tigers. rayburn off john danks, 15 for him. tigers win it, 5-3. jason kugle and the twins under pressure facing the royals. they had to win, bottom three, he smacks a three-run screamer.

second homer of the game for him who gets the curtain call, twins win it and force a one-game tiebreaker with the tigers for the a.l. central that will be on tuesday. to the nfl, mark sanchez and jets in new orleans and the bale of unbeaten teams. early second quarter, jets driving in the red zone trailing 3-0. sanchez, pass and too bad it's to the opposite team. darren sharper lucky recipient of that pass. he takes it 99 yards, 10-0, saints. one more look. sanchez looking left the whole time. sharper reads his eyes and jumps in front of it. saptsdzs go on to win, 24-10. cowboys and broncos. fourth quarter game tied at ten, two minutes to go. the pass underthrown but brandon marshall able to snatch it away from terence newman and marshall zigzags his way into the end zone. the broncos win it, 17-10.

yes, they are still undefeated. 4-0 on the season. marshall's coa mcdaniels had the td. always stay current with espnews. now back to abc's "america this morning." another sports note now. nascar champ joey logano was clearly undeferred less than a week after a horrifying crash. he passed kylbusch with three laps left in kansas over the weekend clinching his fourth nationwide victory. last sunday logano walked away unscathed after rolling his toyota seven times. that will leave a mark. ll, coming up we'll look ahead to the stories we're following including a new california wildfire threatening hundreds of homes. tonight a big battle brewing for brett favre and two of his teams. my name is herb. i live in northport, alabama. i'm semi retired and i'm here to tell a story.

my parents all smoked. my grandparents smoked. i've been a long-time smoker. you know, discouragement is a big thing in quitting smoking. i'm a guy who had given up quitting. this is a test. chantix is not a nicotine product and that intrigued me. the doctor said while you're taking it you can continue to smoke during the first week. (announcer) chantix is proven to reduce the urge to smoke. in studies, 44% of chantix users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment, compared to 18% on sugar pill. today i see myself as a jolly old man, (laughing) who doesn't have to smoke. ...who doesn't have to sneak out to take a couple puffs of a cigarette anymore.

(announcer) herb quit smoking with chantix and support. talk to your doctor about chantix and a support plan that's right for you. some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice agitation, hostility, depression or changes in behavior, thinking or mood that are not typical for you, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. talk to your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which can get worse while taking chantix. some people can have allergic or serious skin reactions to chantix, some of which can be life threatening. if you notice swelling of face, mouth, throat or a rash stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away. tell your doctor which medicines you are taking as they may work differently when you quit smoking. chantix dosing may be different if you have kidney problems. the most common side effect is nausea. patients also reported trouble sleeping and vivid, unusual or strange dreams. until you know how chantix may affect you, use caution when driving or operating machinery.

chantix should not be taken wih other quit smoking products. the urges weren't like they ud to be, and that help me quit. (announcer) talk to your doctor to find out if prescription chantix is right for you. now a look ahead to the stories we'll watch on this monday. the deaths of eight u.s. soldiers in afghanistan likely to add urgency to the debate over whether to send thousands more troops to the country. militants involved in the assault likely came across the border from pakistan. a wildfire is burning dangerously close to the mountain town of wrightwood forcing 6,000 residents to evacuate. the governor has declared a state of emergency in san bernardino county. more than 7 million doses of the swine flu vaccine are ready to go as the largest prevention program in u.s. history gets

under way. health care workers in indianapolis and memphis will be among the first to be vaccinated. a teenager accused of plotting to blow up a dallas skyscraper is back icourt this morning. prosecutors say he thought he was driving a bomb-laden truck underneath the 60-story office building. the supreme court begins a new term today with sonia sotomayor its first hispanic judge. among the high-profile cases a lawsuit seeking to strike down a ban on chicago handguns. and brett favre and the vikings face off against green bay in minneapolis tonight. it's the first time favre is taking on his old team since being traded last year. >> a lot of people will be watching that. well, coming up later on "good morning america" we look behind the troubling new numbers on autism. a government study says there are twice as many cases, but does that mean more children have the disorder? >> some important information for parents from our top doctor. that is coming up on "gma." our medical experts will separate fact fr fiction this morning on "gma."

for some of you your local news is next. >> for everyone else "america this morning" continues right after this. ahh, this is just what the eight layers needed. hey guys, sory we're late., milk looks warm. finally got the whole gangtogether: maple brown sugar, strawberry delight, blueberry muffin. yeh, a little family reunion. ( blowing, shouting ) what now? we're ceeal here! what? just cooing it down., - enough said. - gotcha. yeah, safety first. whoo hoo! atch the whole grain. try kellogg's froste mini-wheats hot. just add warm milk and you've got a hot, new way... to keep your kids full and focused all morning. oops! dude, your eight layers ar showing. mini-wheats hot. keeps 'em full, eeps 'em focused. compare a well equipped lexus es, to a well-equipped buick lacrosse. get inside each. and see what you find. if perfection is what you pursue, this just might change your course. meet the new class of world class. the twenty-ten ! lacrosse, from buick.

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finally from us a bright spot for fans of a team with the worst record in baseball. >> team mascots do a great job of keeping the crowd motivated so when the hits are scarce, a foursome in washington are often the highlightf the game. karen travers explains. >> reporter: in milwaukee they have sausages, in san diego, a chicken. and in philadelphia they have whatever this is. but in washington we have presidents. >> good morning. >> reporter: no, not those presidents. these presidents. lincoln, washington, jefferson and teddy roosevelt.

and they run in the presidents' race a fourth inning tration at every washington nationals home baseball game. the concept is simple. four presidents, one mad dash to the finish line. though the nationals have struggled losing more than 100 games this season, the presidents' race always gets the fans out of their seats. teddy roosevelt is the clear fan favorite. and a lovable loser. >> let teddy win. >> reporter: teddy is winless in nearly 300 races though he often comes close to victory. why do you still have any hope. >> when he starts winning they'll start winning. >> reporter: his tactics include riding a segway, a motorcycle and bringing in extra help from the stands. >> kind of like the trickster for kids rabbit. always screws up. >> reporter: they say it's not fixed and teddy could win any time. he just needs to want it. >> maybe teddy has his own game plan but me personally i don't tell him, hey, teddy you can't win today.

>> he'll win when teddy decides to win one of these days. >> all: teddy, teddy. >> reporter: it's earned him a cult following and his die-hard fans still have hope. tonight going to be the night? >> you never know. it could be. it could be tonight. >> reporter: teddy, is tonight the night? are you going to win? >> teddy is losing. >> reporter: yet another loss. >> reporter: there's always next year. karen travers, abc news in washington. >> it's going to be hard to beat lincoln. >> lincoln wins a lot of things. >> stay with us for "good morning america" coming up at 7:00. for updates any time check out our website, abcnews.com. >> have a grea i am distreaught. i am hurt. >> moments away, the doors of d.c. schools will open with more