>> he will go back to afghanistan in two weeks. he says he is thankful to have had the opportunity to share that special moment with his family. every father wants to be at their kids games if they on the broadcast tonight, getting out of iraq. after nine years of war, president obama tells the world all u.s. troops are leaving iraq by the end of the year. tonight, the risks of leaving and what the president didn't say about the decision. steve jobs. a first look at the untold story he left behind. the controversial choices he made about fighting his cancer. and making a difference. a restaurant where you don't have to pay if you can't. the famous face behind it and the inspiration he found right here on this broadcast. the inspiration he found right here on this broadcast. "nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. i'm kate snow in tonight for brian. after nine years of bloody war costing thousands of american lives and hundreds of billions of american dollars, president obama says it is ending. the last american troops in iraq are packing up and getting out by the end of the year. home, he says, in time for the holidays. it was march of 2003 when president george w. bush announced the start of the war against iraq with shock and awe. saddam hussein's rule soon collapsed. the president famously announced, "mission accomplished," but as we now know, even with the capture of saddam himself, the mission would take much, much longer with some awful revelations, uplifting victories and finally today's white house announcement. there is a lot of news to cover on all fronts tonight.

we begin with our chief white house correspondent chuck todd. chuck? >> reporter: good evening, kate. opposition to the iraq war was among the central reasons why candidate barack obama became nominee obama and then president obama. promises to bring the troops home were a campaign staple, something not lost on the president today. >> as promised, the rest of our troops in iraq will come home by the end of the year. after nearly nine years, america's war in iraq will be over. as a candidate for president, i pledged to bring the war in iraq to a responsible end. to date, we have removed more than 100,000 troops. iraqis have taken full responsibility for their country's security. the united states is moving forward from a position of strength. the long war in iraq will come to an end by the end of this year. the transition in afghanistan is moving forward and our troops are finally coming home.

here at home, the coming months will be another season of homecomings. across america, our servicemen and women will be reunited with their families. today, i can say that our troops in iraq will definitely be home for the holidays. >> reporter: while reaction came fast and furious from politicians of all stripes, we did reach out to former president george w. bush for a comment. his office said they would not be releasing a statement or issuing a comment about today's news, kate. >> chuck todd at the white house. sta stay with us, chuck, if you will. we want to turn next to our chief foreign correspondent richard engel who's covered the iraq war since day one. he joins us tonight here in our studios. this decision today does bring risk. >> it certainly does and the risks are significant. the iraqi government is weak, corrupt. the iraqi state remains very unstable, but soon it will be up to iraqis themselves.

without u.s. help to determine their fate. in just ten weeks, america's war in iraq will finally, truly be over. nearly nine years after it began with shock and awe. >> the dangers to our country and the world will be overcome. >> the iraqi capitol city has been the target of two strikes. >> reporter: the 21-day assault on baghdad and the hunt for weapons of mass destruction that weren't there. >> we got him. [ cheers ] >> reporter: a quick victory began a bloody insurgency and then a civil war. all along the way, u.s. troops, 166,000 at the peak in 2007, have been fighting, building and dying. 4,469 u.s. troops killed. 32,213 injured. iraqi deaths -- almost 150,000.

but many iraqis believe it's a million. the cost, at least $700 billion and perhaps a lot more. then a year ago, the u.s. combat mission ended. but tens of thousands of american trainers stayed on. they were supposed to remain until the end of this year but iraq considered keeping 2,000 to 3,000 beyond that, a safeguard in case the civil war returned. but iraqi politicians, especially shiite hardliner muqtada al-sadr refused to grant the troops immunity, so they are not staying. can iraq handle the challenges ahead? recent signs are troubling. car bombings and ethnic violence, both up. iran, a long-time enemy gaining influence. and this week in northern iraq, kurdish militants launched a raid into turkey, killing 26 turkish soldiers.

turkey responded with 10,000 troops and attacked kurdish militants across the border in iraq, all while american troops are still there. >> i think iraq is going to be more destabilized but not necessarily because we are leaving. i think because we went there in the first place. >> reporter: once u.s. troops are gone, iraq will be more vulnerable. but also perhaps more responsible and self-reliant. the training wheels off, iraq will have to succeed or fail without american troops on the ground to guide the way. after today, we finally know, kate, where the end parentheses goes. when history is written it will say iraq war, 2003-2011. >> seems so long ago. richard engel, thank you. what president obama didn't say today is that this decision to bring all u.s. troops home, as richard mentioned, came only after negotiations to keep some troops there fell apart. nbc's jim miklaszewski is at the

pentagon tonight. he has more on the talks that happened behind the scenes. jim? >> reporter: kate, iraqi prime minister nouri al-maliki and other top leaders actually pleaded with u.s. officials to keep some american forces in iraq to guard against any potential threats. but when maliki informed the administration that the iraqi parliament would not grant american troops any immunity that was a dealbreaker for the u.s. it doesn't mean however the u.s. training mission is over. the pentagon's already looking at training iraqis and some other countries in the region and even putting small numbers of americans back into iraq for a temporary training mission. there is also concern that the u.s. may be forced to deploy additional american troops somewhere else in the region to keep iran in check. so while it's true that all american troops will be leaving iraq, theoretically, not all of them may be coming home. kate? >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon tonight. thank you, jim.

let's bring chuck todd back at the white house. it won't be lost on people that we are just one year ahead of a presidential election right now. >> reporter: that's right. the president himself brought up the campaign promise on this. you've got to remember the history of the obama candidacy began with his opposition to the iraq war. it's a central promise and something the white house today continues to emphasize. at the same time they believe they, overall, have a good story to tell about their national security record. they lump this in with the promise to start drawing down troops in afghanistan while at the same time as an adviser said today he's not bound by ideology and he'll go after security threats. that's why they have gotten bin laden. that's why they were able to participate in the coalition that eventually got gadhafi and of course they got al-awlaki in yemen. so they believe the story they have to tell going into the election year is a good one on the foreign policy front, even

though everything, of course, about 2012 is going to be about the economy and jobs, kate. >> chuck todd at the white house. thank you, chuck. now to the war in afghanistan and the increasingly tense relationship with the u.s. ally right next door -- pakistan. today on the same day the president announced the departure from iraq, secretary of state hillary clinton turned up the heat on pakistan. for more on that our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell joins us now from our washington bureau. andrea? >> very glad to be here. >> reporter: in a showdown with pakistan the administration's top guns delivered a blunt warning. stop harboring the terrorists who target u.s. troops in afghanistan. >> you can't keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbors. eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard. >> reporter: no matter how they spell her name, to many pakistanis, hillary clinton and the u.s. are the snakes. it is a fragile alliance teetering on the brink. first the u.s. found and killed osama bin laden outside pakistan's capitol.

pakistan was furious. now the u.s. says the network of terrorists known as the haqqanis who attacked the american embassy in kabul last month is backed by a pakistan spy agency and elements of its military. >> our eyes are wide open. we'll take the fight to whoever we need to to protect our guys and to give the afghans the time and space they need to build up their own capacity to take these guys on. >> reporter: still, clinton acknowledged that at pakistan's request the u.s. met with the terror group's leader last summer to see if they would lay down their arms. >> we had one preliminary meeting to essentially just see if they would show up for even a preliminary meeting. for us to not only share intelligence but to do everything we can to disrupt their activities. >> reporter: instead, the terrorists escalated their attacks, prompting a stiff warning today from a top senator. >> if the only option that pakistan presents us is a choice

between losing an ally and continuing to lose our troops, then we will choose the former. >> reporter: in the end, pakistan may hold the cards to the end of the war in afghanistan. it controls the supply routes to u.s. troops there and the u.s. says the terrorists are prolonging the war. kate? >> andrea, thanks so much. >> secretary of state hillary clinton will be david gregory's guest on sunday's "meet the press." it was just 24 hours ago we were focused on libya on this broadcast and the death of moammar gadhafi. tonight, celebrations and questions about what happens now. adrienne mong is in misrata again tonight. adrienne? [ singing ] >> reporter: good evening, kate. as you can see and most definitely hear behind me, people here on freedom square in misrata celebrating day one of a post gadhafi libya. it was another day of remarkable scenes here with the libyan people viewing the body of the former dictator.

hundreds of libyans, mostly men rushed to a former shopping mall to view the corpse of the man  they had feared for decades. why did you come here? >> to see this man. very bad man. >> reporter: rebel forces laid his badly wounded body on the floor of a commercial freezer. as we saw firsthand they kept the crowd moving. questions remain about exactly how he died shortly after he was captured, wounded but alive. today the interim government's prime minister came to misrata to see the body for himself and declared that an autopsy had been completed. and officials now say gadhafi's burial, originally planned for today in keeping with islamic custom, would be delayed. nato launched the air strike to stop the convoy in its tracks yesterday and said today they are ending the operations in libya. >> we have taken a preliminary decision to end operation unified protector on the 31st of october.

>> reporter: in the streets of misrata another remarkable sight. thousands of women turned out. and there was celebration in tripoli, libya's capitol, no longer in the shadow of a tyrant. >> it's finished. it's good. it's very nice. >> finally! finally we get the freedom. do you know that? do you know that feeling that you can say everything that you wanted? >> reporter: along with the euphoria, there is growing reflection here as libyans now contemplate a future many thought they would never see. formal declaration of libya being liberated is scheduled for sunday, kate, in benghazi. as one man told us, whatever comes next can only be an improvement. >> adrienne mong with us tonight from libya. thank you. still ahead tonight, the secrets of steve jobs revealed in a book that's about to go on

sale. his unusual decisions about cancer treatments and the war he was ready to wage against google. and later how a report we aired here on "nightly news" inspired a man who's made it big to make a difference for people who have hit hard times. who have hit hard times. ♪ ♪ [ dennis ] allstate wants everyone to be protected on the road, whether you're an allstate customer or not. ♪ all you have to do is call. [ female announcer ] call allstate now and you'll get a free lifetime membership in good hands roadside assistance. [ dennis ] shop less. get more. make one call to an allstate agent. [ sighs ] can't wait 'til morning. wait, it's morning in china... [ male announcer ] it's sweet. it's nutty. it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's® crunchy nut™. it's morning somewhere™. ban's absolutely delicious. kellogg's® crunchy nut™. ca jun raw seafood pizza parlor french fondue tex-mex fro-yo

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♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. what is sure to be a blockbuster biography comes out next week. apple's steve jobs worked with author walter isaacson on his life story. we were able to buy a copy and tonight we have an early and often poignant look into the world of a brilliant man who

changed the world we live in. [ applause ] >> reporter: every time he took the stage in that trademark turtleneck, the world expected another innovation. >> today, apple is going to reinvent the phone. >> reporter: steve jobs was a pioneer on the cutting edge of technology, but the new biography raises questions about why he waited so long to take advantage of cutting edge science to help himself. in 2003 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. two years later he told graduates at stanford university he had beaten it. >> it turned out to be a rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. i had the surgery and thankfully i'm fine now. >> reporter: but author walter isaacson tells "60 minutes" in an interview to be broadcast this sunday that jobs initially resisted the surgery doctors were recommending. >> he tries to treat it with diet, goes to a spiritualist, goes through various ways of doing it macrobiotically and doesn't get the operation.

>> why doesn't he get it operated on immediately? >> you know, i have asked him that. he said, i didn't want my body to be opened. i didn't want to be violated in that way. >> reporter: isaacson conducted more than 40 interviews with steve jobs over two years during which jobs revealed some family secrets. he discovered his birth father, a syrian immigrant ran a restaurant he once frequented. jobs told isaacson he had no interest in a relationship. quote, i was a wealthy man by then and i didn't trust him not to try to blackmail me or go to the press about it. while he complimented rival bill gates at a 2007 conference -- >> i think building a company is really hard. >> reporter: -- he was less generous in this biography. bill is basically un-i imaginative and has never invented anything. he just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas. he saved his harshest comments for google saying the maker of the android phone ripped off the iphone, wholesale ripped us off,

grand theft. google declined to comment. as for why the notoriously private mogul agreed to speak so candidly, jobs told isaacson in august, i wanted my kids to know me. i wasn't always there for them and i wanted them to know why and to understand what i did. and there is more from that new steve jobs biography on our website including what was on his ipod. that's at nightly.msnbc.com. up next, is there a link between cell phones and cancer? news tonight on a very hot topic. cancer? news tonight on a very hot topic. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium... ♪ ...and copays as low as one dollar... ♪ ...saving on medicare prescriptions is easy.

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we learned today that the owner of all those exotic animals released in the town of zanesville, ohio, this week was a gun collector who sometimes traded guns for unwanted animals including a leopard and a tiger cub. only a few of the 56 animals he let loose survived. they are being cared for at the columbus zoo now. ohio's governor signed an executive order temporarily stopping the sale of all potentially dangerous animals and asked the state legislature to pass a tougher permanent law in ohio.

health news tonight. a major study of cell phone users has concluded there is no increased risk of brain tumors among long-term mobile phone u e use users. the study looked at 360,000 cell phone users in denmark. scientists say the results are reassuring but more study is needed. and for the second time in a month you might want to keep one eye on the sky this weekend. that's right. another satellite is scheduled to fall to earth sometime in the next 48 hours. this one is a nearly three-ton german satellite, not as big as the bus-sized nasa satellite that came down in canada at the end of september. it is big enough to leave a trail of debris over a 50-mile area. luckily scientists say they think the odds of it landing in a populated area are remote. when we come back, a star of the music world and a new project he is passionate about, one that is making a difference in tough times.

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and you might just recognize the man behind the mission. nbc's savannah guthrie has tonight's making a difference report. >> reporter: red bank, new jersey, the kind of town where the train tracks can separate those who have from those who have not. now, a new restaurant hopes to bring those people together over a meal. >> welcome to soul kitchen. you will notice there are no prices on the menu. >> reporter: the concept is simple. diners who can afford to leave a donation of $20 to pay for their meal and a stranger's, too. those who can't pay earn their meal by working in the restaurant or in their community. opening officially this weekend, the soul kitchen is already drawing customers from all walks of life. >> down and out like other people right now. you can help somebody that's in need. >> i have sat with people i don't know and have been able to strike up conversations with them and learn about some interesting people.

>> the greens end up in the lad. >> reporter: it's the idea of a man who grew up near this place -- new jersey-born rocker jon bon jovi. for those under the impression you opened a soup kitchen -- >> i think it's the hottest cafe in new jersey. >> reporter: he said he and his wife were inspired by a story about hunger they saw on "nightly news." >> we were watching the make a difference segment and realized that next to housing, food is absolutely at the forefront of so many americans' minds. we thought, we've got to do something. >> reporter: converting an old mechanic shop into a sunny cafe with an organic garden out front, the hope is that the soul kitchen will be a template that can be replicated in towns across the country, bringing people together for something 's such a sense of fellowship. >> reporter: a simple idea that you can feed a community and satisfy the soul. savannah guthrie, nbc news, red bank, new jersey.

>> hope that story inspires even more like it. that is our broadcast for this friday night. thank you for being with us. i'm kate snow in tonight for brian. lester holt will be here this weekend. for all of us at nbc news, weekend. for all of us at nbc news, have a great night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com