tv PBS News Hour PBS May 13, 2010 6:00pm-6:25pm EDT
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newshour captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. federal agents arrested three people today allegedly linked to the suspect in the failed car bombing in times square. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, the men reportedly provided money for the attack. we get the latest from devlin barrett of the "wall street journal." >> woodruff: then, in an exclusive interview, general stanley mcchrystal, commander of the u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, talks about president karzai and the war. >> nobody is winning, at this point. where the insurgents, i think, felt that they had momentum a
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year ago, felt that they were making clear progress, i think that's stopped. >> brown: amid deadly clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in thailand today, we talk to patrick winn of "global post" in bangkok. >> woodruff: dave iverson of kqed san francisco reports on aid groups in haiti stepping in where the government has failed to help. >> brown: and paul solman talks to economist simon johnson about past presidents who took on big banks and won. >> f.d.r. really changed fundamentally the infrastructure of this country. both the physical infrastructure and the financial infrastructure and did a really good job. nothing lasts forever. we have to go out and do it again. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:
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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 fbi staged a series of raids across the northeast united states today connected to the investigation into the times square bomb plot. attorney general eric holder said the three people now in custody are tied to the main suspect in the case. in one of the raids, police
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cordoned off a small house in watertown, massachusetts, a suburb of boston. law enforcement officials said the suspects were from pakistan and likely provided money to the alleged mastermind of the times square plot, faisal shahzad. authorities have accused the 30- year-old shahzad of leaving an suv loaded with gasoline, propane and fireworks parked in a heavily-trafficked alley earlier this month, but the bomb failed to go off. shahzad was arrested two days later at new york's jfk airport aboard a flight bound for dubai. he has not been seen in public since, but is reportedly cooperating with officials. authorities today also raided a mobil gas station in brookline, massachusetts, another boston suburb. a silver honda in the parking lot was searched and agents were seen taking items from the vehicle. search warrants were also
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executed at homes on long island and several locations in new jersey. in washington, attorney general eric holder confirmed the raids, but said there was no immediate danger. >> several individuals who were encountered during the searches have been taken into federal custody for alleged immigration violations. these searches are the product of evidence that has been gathered in the investigation since the attempted times square bombing, and do not relate to any known immediate threat to the public or active plot against the united states. >> woodruff: massachusetts governor deval patrick tried to calm the public's fears. >> based on all the information and the very, very careful coordination through the joint terrorism task force, there is no basis for believing that there is a threat to the people of massachusetts. >> woodruff: authorities today said the suspects arrested had been under surveillance for some time, but would not say how long. and for more, we are joined now by devlin barrett. he's been covering the story for "the wall street journal." thanks for being with us. what led the authorities to
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these people in these locations? >> well, part of what brought them there was mr. that s.a.d.d. himself. he's been cooperating pretty much from the moment of his capture and part of what led them to these people's doors is information that mr. that s.a.d.d. provided by. but they've also gotten some corroboration from other things besides just mr. that s.a.d.d. >> do you know what that is? >> most cases if a suspect tells you they look for phone records to prove it . my guess is they found other things in mr. shazad's belongings that they know anything about that claim. >> couric: do we know what else they found? >> people who arrange financial movements within the immigrant community. there's different ways to do that, money remittences. there's other ways as well .
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they helped mr. shazad get thousands of dollars. i was told perhaps slightly more than $10,000 total. and what they want to understand now is did those people who helped him get that money have any idea what the actual source of the money was and did they have any idea what the intent of that money was. >> woodruff: and the attorney general eric holder said that was something they were working on finding out. >> right . they are still working to piece together, follow the money trail from the u.s. back to oversees. >> woodruff: what are they charging these individuals with? >> they haven't been charged with anything. they're being held on suspicion of immigration immigration violations. that's something that's vague and gives them the opportunity to detain them and question them on the time square cases which is what they're most concerned about. >> >> woodruff: is it known, devlin barrett, where this money was coming from? >> that's a big part of the case
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they're trying to nail down. they know-- they think they know-- that these men arranged the money to go to mr. shazad but that was essentially how they were viewed in the immigrant community they really want to know well who gave the money originally to get to him? >> is it known that these... were these individuals already nobody to authorities... known to authorities? because the authorities know that there are these kinds of, as you say, immigrant financial transactions going on. >> woodruff: the way it's been described to me, these folks were not necessarily on investigators' radar before this case. but one of the things that investigators always looking if ... for is okay, if we've learned of a few people maybe doing something wrong or on the shady side, let's say, let's see what else they're doing and see if there are any other activities that we need to be concerned about. >> woodruff: we heard several assurances from governor patrick and others that people don't have anything to be worried about. how confident are
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they of that? >> the basic premise of what they did today is they don't really know ultimate... they don't have any evidence to say these men knew they were helping a terrorist plot a attack. so they have no reason to think at this point that these people are themselves dangerous. but they have a lot more investigating to do. >> woodruff: and based on everything you've been able to find out, how important a piece of the putz is this? >> financing is very important for understanding the full breadth of this case . remember there's a belief that the pakistan taliban is ultimately the origin of this plot and a big part of the question they have to answer is, well, did they pay for it? did someone else pay for it? and if someone else paid for it, why did they pay for it? did they know what they were paying for? >> woodruff: did you get any sense in your reporting today or earlier that they're going to be more raids like this? that they've got more leads that they're tpol stphroeg.
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>> there are definitely more leads that they're following. i think whether or not there are more raids depends on what they learn today from all the evidence they seize and from the people they talk to that they've detained. >> woodruff: and how much are authorities talking . >> well, they're not talking about people that they they want to look further at. we don't know the names of the three people tpreups . so they're being tight-lipped on a number of parts because they have a lot of work to do. this case has gone at warp speed compared to a lot of terrorism investigations. >> woodruff: all right, devlin barrett with the "wall street journal." thanks very much. >> thank you. >> brown: now, to the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: b.p. announced it will try and use a smaller pipe to stem the oil leak in the gulf of mexico.
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a company spokesman said the plan is to insert a six-inch tube into the jagged pipe where the oil is gushing, and siphon it to a tanker waiting on the surface. that work is set to begin tonight. b.p. put off plans to deploy a smaller containment dome over the leak until next week. meanwhile, the owner of the rig, transocean, sought to limit its liability for the spill to $27 million. the company filed a petition in u.s. district court in houston today. in economic news, there were signs the foreclosure crisis could be easing. realtytrac, a foreclosure listing firm, reported the number of american households facing foreclosure is down 2% from a year ago. that marks the first annual decline in five years. at the same time, mortgage rates dropped to their lowest level so far this year. mortgage corporation freddie mac attributed the decline to a high demand for u.s. government securities. on the jobs front, the labor department reported new claims for unemployment dipped, but only slightly. it's the fourth straight weekly drop, indicating employers are hiring again, but not at levels to reduce the jobless rate. president obama addressed the unemployment issue today in
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buffalo, new york. he acknowledged many families are still struggling to pay their bills, but insisted the economy is improving, courtesy of the recovery act. >> we can say beyond a shadow of a doubt today we are headed in the right direction. (applause) we are headed in the right direction. (applause) all those tough steps we took, they're working. despite all the naysayers who were predicting failure a year ago, our economy is growing again. >> sreenivasan: the president also pressed congress to take fast action on a new round of jobs legislation. the measures are aimed at strengthening small businesses. the new unemployment numbers sent stocks sliding on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 114 points to close just under 10,783. the nasdaq fell more than 30 points to close at 2,394. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: still to come on the newshour: bloodshed in the streets of
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bangkok; a history lesson about presidents who took on big banks; and aid groups stepping in for the government in haiti. but first, our conversation with general stanley mcchrystal, his only television interview during afghan president karzai's washington visit this week. with general stanley mcchrystal by his side, afghan president hamid karzai visited the graves at arlington national cemetery's section 60 this morning. that's where the u.s. soldiers killed in afghanistan are buried. the trip to arlington capped off karzai's four-day visit to washington. mcchrystal has been a key participant, including at meetings aimed at patching up strained relations between the two countries. mcchrystal, who has a background in special operations, took over command of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan less than a year ago. since then, he and karzai have said they share a good working relationship.
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mcchrystal has put restrictions on when u.s. forces can fire at suspected militants, in an effort to reduce civilian casualties. and he's presided over a big military expansion in afghanistan, which will reach a peak of 98,000 u.s. forces by the end of the summer. the president's current plan is to begin bringing troops home in july 2011. a test of mcchrystal's counterinsurgency strategy took place in the town of marjah in february. the next offensive is already in its beginning stages. in june, mcchrystal will lead a military and political effort to secure kandahar province. i sat down with general stanley mcchrystal at the pentagon this afternoon. general mcchrystal, welcome. >> thank you. >> brown: as we sit here now, is the u.s. along with its allies winning the war in afghanistan? >> well, i think that in the last year we've made a lot of progress. i think i'd be prepared to say nobody is winning at this point. where the insurgents, i think,
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felt that they had momentum a year ago, felt that they were making clear progress, i think that's stopped. >> brown: what was what is your assessment of the insurgency. there was a pentagon report that looked back at the last six months that said things were getting better but it's still alive and even stronger in some areas of the country. what's your assessment? >> i think this insurgency is serious and it's serious because it has a relative reach around the country and it's got a fair number of fighters involve sod it can bring a lot of violence on the afghan people. it's also not popular. it's not popular with afghans, we see that in polling and i certainly see that as i speak with afghans. so it's not a movement that is fulfilling the wishes of afghan people. in fact, it is moving by coercion. but it is going to be a challenge to stop it and the government of afghanistan is going to have to take very effective measures to bring it to a halt . >> brown: earlier this year, you went into marjah, it was
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touted as a great success at the time, kicking out the taliban. months later there is still reports of violence there. perhaps even more talk about a lack of good governance in the area. is that a successful model at this point? >> well, i think it's counterinsurgency and i think that people need to understand counterinsurgency to judge success or failure. i think that marjah is an absolute success. but they are part of a process as opposed to a single event. what i mean is, in an area that's been controlled by insurgents for many months or in this case many years, they have had control of security, they've eliminated government control for governance and they've arrested development, except in this case largely poppy production. for the government to come back in, reestablishing security, pushing out the insurgents is one thing that happens. but then those insurgents have got to be kept out. the most important aspect, though, is the people, because what they've experienced for years in this case has become
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what they know to be their reality. to change their sense of reality means that we must change those factors of security, governance, and development over time. we must make a credible, proven effort to show them that things are chained and that that change is permanent. >> brown: at the time you were quoted as saying there was a... the words you used was "government in a box" ready to bring into marjah to provide this government, good governance. does that now seem a little overly optimistic? >> no, it seems to me that it's a process. the school is open, the bazaars are open, the police forces being retrained, it had gotten very, very corrupt and controlled by power brokers. this is a process that takes an extensive period of time. i think not even... we were not at about 90 days. i expect it will take many months into the future before it becomes durable and permanent. >> brown: what do you tell president karzai and others in the afghan government that they
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h *us do to show that there is real progress being made? and to what extent does our military success there depend on the afghan people believing that they have a strong and effective government? >> i think it's very... our success is very dependent upon the people believing in the future. now, they don't have to believe that the government that they have today is perfect. what they have to believe is that the government we are working towards is better than what an alternative would be. they have to believe in the future and therefore they have to support that progress to it. their government will be challenged for many years, like governments are around the world. their security will be challenged. but if they believe in the future, they believe that they can make it better and that this government and this constitution and this security force apparatus that they are creating along with their partnership with the coalition and particularly the united states is something that leads to a
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better future, than their support becomes strong. and that's the key point. >> brown: and you're said to be close to president karzai working closely with him. it's been reported that you pushed to have public officials be more respectful of him publicly. to be more positive. were you feeling that the tenor had become too negative and that was impacting his abilities to work with us? you believed that he could be a good partner that n that? : i believe he's a good partner to me already. as a military commander i think of him as a wartime leader for whom essentially i work. we have a very strong relationship not only on personal issues but really on substantive issues. i'm candid with him, i believe he's candid with me and i believe we build on that when we go forward. >> brown: one of the issues president karzai is talking about is reconciliation with elements of the taliban. bringing them back into society or even possibly into government, i suppose. can something like that work?
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these would be people that you perhaps have been fighting all along. >> i think alling wars must end in a political settlement. and i believe that this must be an afghan political settlement. that afghans feel comfortable about. i believe that they are committed to designing a process that is as inclusive as possible so all parts of the population feel like they have the ability to participate if they're willing to abide by the constitution, if they're willing to renounce violence, if they're willing to renounce things like al qaeda. >> brown: is there any evidence that you see that there are elements of the taliban that would live up to those expectations or hopes? >> i believe there are absolutely elements of the taliban that would do that. i think there's some other groups that have indicated that interest as well. afghanistan's been at war for 31 years and although we tend to think of groups that are in opposition as a nameless,
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faceless innee is evil to the core, in fact, it's all people. and people get tired and people have dreams and they have desire for a future and a future for their children and i think that's true of people on all sides. >> brown: your next big move, to be very clear, is in kandahar. much bigger city, much bigger area than what you experienced with marjah. how difficult will that be? what kind of a military operation do you foresee? >> kandahar is not under enemy control. the taliban don't run it. its' a working city. i walked the streets last week with the governor and with david petraeus and others. >> brown: although there are... we read about the taliban's ability toll move lout the city. >> absolutely. security inside kandahar and the areas around it is not what it needs to be for the life of the people to go forward. so it's important we improve security there. so what we are working to do-- and we're not calling it an operation, we're calling it an effort to what we do, we call it
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a rising tide of security, increasing police capacity inside the city and then securing the areas around the city to include the... what we call the environs, the district around it. so that the area's not members in n.a.s.d. by insurgents. ... menaced by insurgents and then let life go on and let governance be matured. >> brown: i was just at the briefing briefing where you talked about knowing how this is going in kandahar by the end of the year. you said you might know earlier. but what will tell you whether it's working in kandahar? >> it's really going to be how kandaharis feel. whether they are willing to invest in the future. whether they are willing to open business. whether they feel safer as they go around. it won't be the number of violent events. it won't be even anything as crude as a single pole. it will be pulling all these together that convinces the kandaharis the future is going to be better. if they believe that next week is going to be better than this
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week, it's almost like investing in the stock market. they will invest in kandahar. >> brown: much talk about the corruption problem in afghanistan and the afghan government sometimes says it's not all about what we do, it's going to suppliers and contractors and we don't know how that system works. what is your sense of that have? >> i sense that there's a lot of accuracy in that. what has happened after 31 years of war is afghan society has been torn asunder. and so as we come in with an international community, well-intentioned as it is, and bring a lot of resources, we do a lot of things which causes many problems as they solve. in some cases, it leads to corruption. it gives opportunity and people take advantage of that. some of that's been taken advantage by international community actors. in many cases afghans talk about aid money that never reaches afghanistan. it is siphoned off and goes elsewhere and there's reality.
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we need do a much better job of bringing the many, many contracts that are in execution in kandahar into a more regular and more transparent situation. they've been done starting in 2001 with good intentions but in many cases they were expedient rather than deliberate and i think we need to start sorting that out. that's part of helping afghanistan sort out the things that lead the corruption in their society. >> brown: july, 2011, is really not that far away, the point at which the president said that we would at least begin to draw down our commitment in afghanistan. realistically, what can be accomplished by that date? >> i think an awful lot can be accomplished, but i'd start by saying what the president first said and what i believe he reiterated to president karzai this week is america has offered and afghanistan has agreed to a long-term strategic partnership. and that means much further than july, 2011.
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>> brown: what does it mean to you? >> i think that it phaoerpbs that america-- which has relative military power-- is helping to guarantee afghanistan's sovereignty well into the future. it doesn't mean that we have an inappropriate relation, it means we are partners. and it means that afghanistan knows that it has an ally on whom they can trust. i believe that if you then come back from that kind of assured relationship to july, 2011, and put it against a backdrop of a growing afghan national security force capacity, then the ability to start to reduce u.s. forces is very realistic. and i think that it will be at a pace that president obama determines reflects conditions on the ground. >> brown: but do you think americans need to be prepared for some kind of long-term commitment? >> i think americans have offered and need to be expecting a long-term commitment. but i don't think a long-term
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