>> kroft: bradley birkenfeld how unbelievable if you really think about it that we came in here. we overthrew saddam hussein, and iran, you don't even know if they're going to end up being more influential than we are. that's a wow. >> well, six months of this would be a step in the right direction, not another week of run-around. >> you paid out $5,000. >> no more b.p. blame me. don't blame b.p. anymore.

>> senator feinberg is the go-to guy of thankless jobs, america's arbiter of human suffering. >> why don't you open up the purse strings. >> in his latest assignment, deciding who should pay for damages of the gulf oil spill, is one of his toughest yet. they really go after you. >> they dork but it goes with the territory. >> you don't see the richest woman in the world in the public eye very often, but we caught up with her to see how she and her husband are doling out their fortune. what would you do with $60 billion? bill and melinda gates have a plan, and tonight you'll hear all about it. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and andy rooney tonight on "60 minutes."

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>> stahl: when the u.s. combat mission in iraq ended in august, instead of celebrations on the streets of baghdad, there was a kind of uneasy reflection about the costs of seven years of war and all the unfinished business that remains. the american commander who knows more about that unfinished business than anyone is four- star general ray odierno, who spent more time in iraq than any other senior officer. in 2003, he led the fourth infantry division that captured saddam hussein. he helped implement the surge as general petraeus' number two, and became number one himself

two years ago, when iraq was so violent, he never left the base without wearing full body armor. last month, as he was about to relinquish command, he showed us a very different iraq. can i ask you if you're wearing armor? >> general ray odierno: no, i'm not. >> stahl: none at all? >> odierno: no. >> stahl: as general odierno looks back on his two years as commander, he says that, despite a recent wave of bombings, the level of violence has come down considerably. his last act as the man in charge was to oversee the u.s. military draw-down, the largest movement of troops and materiel since world war ii. it was a logistical tour de force involving over 40,000 armored vehicles, jeeps and bulldozers. 2.2 million separate items had to be sorted, stacked and packed, as well as 7,000 tons of ammunition. this was the last combat unit to leave, the army's fourth stryker brigade, second infantry division. it took them three days and

nights to move across the border into kuwait. but many iraqis wonder what the u.s. occupation accomplished, as we leave their country with a litany of unresolved issues, not the least being political disarray. iraq's parliament remained locked, dark and empty for nearly seven months while the politicians wrangled over who would be the next prime minister. people are beginning to wonder, you know, if this country can really sustain democracy. >> odierno: well, i think we have to see. i mean, i still think it's too early to tell. if you look in united states history, democracy was pretty ugly in the beginning. this is a very difficult form of government. but i think they really want it. >> stahl: if i were an iraqi, i'd say, "we had this great election. we're so proud of ourselves." but what did they get for it? >> odierno: you had an election that was free, and people were able to vote for the people they thought. it was a very close election, a very close election. when have you seen a close election in the arab world? >> stahl: look at this garbage. they never pick it up?

>> rahad al hindi: no. no. >> stahl: but the question for people like rahad al hindi is, what has democracy meant for their daily lives. are you saying this is a hospital? >> al hindi: a hospital? >> stahl: on a street like this. the united states has spent $50 billion trying to rebuild iraq, including $5 billion to improve the electrical grid. but as we discovered, the grid barely works. people have put up these wires, right? >> al hindi: generators >> stahl: generators. people who can afford to buy generators, which explains the rats' nests of wires you see everywhere. so, this is where you live? but rahad, a factory worker, can't afford much, so she and her family live here mostly in the dark. they get only two hours of electricity a day, so no power for a fan, for a refrigerator, or a pump to bring water into their apartment. so no running water at all, in

the house. rahad and her brother, bassam, get water from their neighbors with generators, one pail at a time. it's a daily trek back down the stairwell and up the street and then back again. if her neighbors aren't home... no water? >> al hindi: no. >> stahl: they weren't there. >> al hindi: oh, no. >> stahl: oh, gosh. so now, you have to wait for them to come home before you can have any water? it's hard to tell just how representative rahad is-- overall in iraq, per capita income has jumped nearly 700% since 2003. but we couldn't find anyone who didn't complain about the quality of life. someone said that, since the americans have been here, the only thing that's gotten better is they have more cell phones and more television channels. they expected the americans to fix things. >> odierno: this is not about us fixing things; this is about us helping the iraqis to fix things. let's take a look back here-- if you were back in 2006 and '07,

you wouldn't see thousands and thousands of cars on the street. you wouldn't see thousands and thousands of new businesses. you kind of make fun of, there's more cell phones. well, there are more cell phones. they weren't even allowed to have cell phones before. they weren't allowed to have satellite dishes. so let's really take a look at what's changed here. >> stahl: we interviewed an iraqi university professor. and he says, "what we need is a military strongman." and i wonder if you sense that there is beginning to be a yearning-- i hate to say the word-- for a dictatorship. >> odierno: i don't think so. i think these people struggled significantly for 30 years now. and i don't think they're ready to go back to a dictatorship. >> stahl: that university professor is safa bayati, who supported the u.s. invasion, but now sees a dark future for his country. >> safa bayati: i think now america should bring a very strong military man to rule iraq

before they leave. >> stahl: i can't believe you're saying that. saddam hussein was a military man. >> bayati: yes. >> stahl: and you're saying, bring him... >> bayati: now, saddam is the very worst one. but now, what we have from the politics, those politics now-- they are ruling, they are much, much worser than saddam. >> stahl: you won't hear that sentiment in the northern part of the country, in kurdistan. there they tremble at the thought of another saddam. barham salih is the prime minister of iraqi kurdistan. >> barham salih: we fear that dictatorship will re-emerge. and we have had such terrible history of genocide and ethnic cleansing. >> stahl: that's the biggest fear? >> salih: of course. halabja happened in 1988-- in one single day, 5,000 civilians were gassed to death by saddam hussein. people cannot forget that and should not forget it. >> stahl: with that history, the kurds want as much independence from the central government as possible. they've been able to establish what looks like a separate country-- kurdistan has its own

flag, its own army, its own parliament and president, and its own much more thriving economy. the question is... do you want to be part of iraq, or do you want an independent state? which is it? >> salih: every kurd, including myself, deep down in my heart, i want to see an independent kurdistan. but it is not about what you want; it's about what is possible. we have made a deliberate judgment. we have chosen to be part of a democratic federal iraq. >> stahl: so you're committed to staying within iraq. >> salih: a democratic iraq. >> stahl: a democratic iraq. >> salih: a dictatorial iraq, i cannot give that... >> stahl: you're gone. >> salih: ... commitment. >> stahl: but staying in iraq doesn't mean there aren't border disputes with the rest of iraq, as if they were a separate country. general odierno flew us over one of the most volatile pieces of unfinished business. this is what they call "the disputed areas." >> odierno: this is what they call "disputed areas." >> stahl: or "the trigger line," they also call it "the trigger line." >> odierno: yeah, well, i call it "disputed areas." >> stahl: the kurds and the central government each claim

the disputed area-- this 300- mile-long corridor-- as theirs. tensions got so heated here last year that the kurdish army, the peshmerga, almost went to war with the iraqi army. to calm things down, odierno organized teams of peshmerga, iraqi and u.s. soldiers to man checkpoints together and patrol the region. >> odierno: there's a lot of mistrust, so we're trying to... >> stahl: still? >> odierno: we're trying to build trust between them, and hope this would help. >> stahl: but there's another dispute between the two sides that's just as contentious, and that's oil. >> hussein shahristani: this is one of the major points that needs to be resolved very quickly, because this cannot be allowed to continue. >> stahl: the minister of oil in baghdad, hussein shahristani, says this issue is so subversive, it threatens to fragment the country. he says the kurds have illegally hired oil companies from china, turkey, norway and elsewhere to explore and develop their oil independently of the central government.

>> shahristani: they've went and signed some contracts, which we declared as unconstitutional. >> stahl: but as i understand it, what you say is illegal is exactly what has been going on. they have hired something like 40 smallish oil companies to develop the oil fields. so what happens now? >> shahristani: this cannot be allowed to continue, that the iraqi oil is taken out from iraqi territory, sold, the money is collected by we don't know who, not deposited. >> stahl: so, you don't know where the money goes? >> shahristani: exactly. that's what... >> stahl: it's not coming down here? >> shahristani: not a single dinar. >> stahl: one of his more startling accusations is that one of the countries the kurds are selling their oil to is iran. if true, that would seem to undermine, if not outright violate, u.s. sanctions that prohibit such sales. are the kurds selling oil to iran? >> odierno: they say they are not selling oil to iran. >> stahl: and you don't... my question is, you don't really

know the answer, at this point. >> odierno: but the minister of oil says they might be. we're trying to get the right answer. >> stahl: we decided to look for ourselves, so we drove close to the border between iraqi kurdistan and iran, and found oil trucks lined up as far as the eye could see. nobody stopped us as one driver after another told us they were transporting fuel oil and gasoline. we followed them and watched them cross into iran, one by one, under the watchful eyes of ayatollah khomeini and his successor, ayatollah khameini. when i asked barham salih, the kurdish prime minister, about this, he seemed reluctant to admit the sales. >> salih: look what is happening-- fuel oil products from refineries are being sold to iran and are being sold not to iran, actually; it's going through iran to the gulf and sometimes to turkey. >> stahl: but also to iran, also... >> salih: iran... iran could be buying. that's why i'm not saying no. i want to assure you we value our friendship and our alliance

with the united states, and we don't want to be on the wrong side of the united states. >> stahl: but we saw the trucks going in. >> salih: no, i know you saw it. >> stahl: and you admit they're going in. >> salih: no, they are going in, and this is... >> stahl: you know american people don't know this. they're going to be shocked. they are. >> salih: listen, we live here. to think that somehow we can build a wall between iraq and iran is just not on. this is a reality of this part of the world. >> stahl: and that raises another issue left hanging-- the growing influence of iran in the region since the fall of saddam hussein. they're powerful here... >> salih: iran is powerful... >> stahl: ... here in iraq. >> salih: iran is powerful and has influence in iraq as well. i'm not saying no. absolutely. >> stahl: given iran's new-found strategic power in the middle east, and its influence on shiite politicians in iraq, i asked general odierno whether iran could end up the big beneficiary of the u.s. invasion. >> odierno: it's yet to be determined. it is yet to be determined. >> stahl: but how unbelievable, if you really think about it,

that we came in here, we overthrew saddam hussein. and iran, you don't even know if they're going to end up being more influential than we are. that's a wow. >> odierno: here's my assessment. if you look at all the polls that are conducted, 80% of iraqis reject iranian influence inside of iraq. they're trying to influence it. they're trying... they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars here. and i'm not so sure they're getting what they want yet. >> stahl: last month, in a ceremony at one of saddam hussein's former palaces, general odierno handed over command to a new general, and after more than four years in iraq, he returned home to the united states. i want to ask you a personal question about leaving now, when all of these things are so unsettled. and your... it was your mission, and you have to leave in the middle of it. what's going on inside? >> odierno: i certainly wish things were cleaned up a little bit more. what i can say is, every day, i

got up; every day, i looked in the mirror and i know that i did everything i could myself to lead and to do the best i can to work the issues here. and i feel very comfortable with that. >> stahl: was it worth it? >> odierno: i think we have to wait and see. i think the fact that we overthrew a terrible dictator was pretty significant. and so... i mean, i think, you know, it depends. >> cbs money watch update sponsored by: >> mitchell: and good evening. the government's $00 billion bailout of banks and auto companies called "tarp" expired today. the u.s. is likely to get most of that money back. china will support the struggling greek economy by buying government bonds. and the facebook movie "the social network" won the weekend box office. i'm russ mitchell, cbs news.

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>> safer: if you know this man, you know he is the go-to guy for thankless jobs, america's arbiter of human suffering. kenneth feinberg is his name, and we first met him when he was asked by the government to adjudicate the 9/11 victims fund, to place a monetary value on each of the almost 3,000 lives that were lost. and there were the agent orange victims, and the virginia tech massacre victims, and now, in sheer numbers, the biggest headache of all, compensating the thousands and thousands of angry people affected by the b.p. oil spill. feinberg's been holding town meetings for weeks now in the gulf states, where, armed only with his reputation and a $20 billion pot of money, he calls for patience and accepts all blame. >> kenneth feinberg: i don't care what b.p. did before... no more b.p... blame me.

don't blame b.p. anymore. >> safer: feinberg may be perceived by most americans as the fairest in the land, if not for looks, then surely for his judgment. but to the shrimpers, oystermen, boat captains, restaurant and hotel owners, and their employees-- all of whose lives and livelihoods have been completely upended-- he is seen as a penny-pinching scrooge when they wanted a beneficent santa claus. >> we had katrina. we had a down economy. now, we got the spill. you can't tell me one person that has not suffered. why don't you open up the purse strings? >> feinberg: here's my answer-- ( applause ) don't trust my words. my words... you've heard a lot of talk. let's just see, over the next few weeks and months, have i delivered on my promise to help people in mississippi? >> safer: ever since the "deepwater horizon" blew last april, it was clear that this

was a disaster in the making. the fishing industry came to a stop, tourism was wrecked, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands-- anyone who was dependent on these waters-- were in deep jeopardy. under pressure from the federal government, b.p. agreed to create a victim's compensation fund. both b.p. and the white house wanted one man, ken feinberg, to administer it. >> feinberg: i felt that, if asked, i should step up and try and help as best i can. >> safer: what is it about ken feinberg that makes him the nation's arbiter of impossible decisions? >> feinberg: i think there's something that experience brings to the table, in terms of getting these problems solved good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. >> safer: this 64-year-old lawyer's experience in mediation and placing monetary value on human suffering is unmatched. president obama made him his pay czar, where he cut the salaries

of executives of companies that received government bailouts. but it was his role as special master of the 9/11 victim's compensation fund that was his greatest challenge, and likely his lasting legacy. >> feinberg: 9/11 was a horrific experience because you were dealing with traumatic death where people said good-bye to loved ones that morning and never saw them again. incinerated-- no body to bury. this is different, but it's very, very emotional-- b.p. very emotional. it's not death, it's more, "what does the future hold in terms of my ability to earn a living?" >> safer: he has $20 billion of b.p.'s money to dole out as he sees fit. >> bring it on, baby. >> safer: the idea behind the fund is similar to 9/11-- persuade people to accept payment for their losses up front, instead of engaging in long and costly and uncertain lawsuits against b.p.

>> feinberg: it's a free country. if you want to come into the fund, with all the benefits of the fund, come on in. you're welcome. we'll give you a fair shake. we'll process your claim. we'll pay what you're due. if you don't like what we're paying you, if you think we're nickel and diming you, if you think we're not being fair, opt out and go the other route. now, in 9/11, 97% of all eligible claimants entered the fund. only 94 people out of 3,000 decided to litigate. >> safer: but in the gulf, he must evaluate not human life, but something much more vague: economic loss-- everything from the price of shrimp that won't be caught to hotel rooms that won't be occupied. >> i've got a retail business that's been destroyed. >> i have a mortgage company and my territory is the gulf coast. >> and my phone's not ringing at all now, and i'm usually fishing five to six days a week.

>> and i catch oysters. i ain't worked since april. >> safer: even though most fishing grounds have reopened, the market remains wary of gulf seafood and its beaches. feinberg looks and listens. an endlessly moving target, he takes hits at meeting after meeting, makes his pitch and moves on... if it's tuesday, it must be wherever. >> feinberg: where did i start yesterday? from new orleans, right? up to alabama, yeah. >> safer: we joined him at the crack of dawn, where he was calmly preparing for another day of personal abuse. >> feinberg: with all due respect, 5,000 people have got checks. that's not enough... >> 5,000 out of 20,000 claims sucks. that's not very good. >> it's been ten days now. can we take whoever programmed this, take him down in the swamp, drop him off for ten days, and let them wait on us to go pick them up to see how it feels to keep waiting? >> feinberg: i don't think you should keep waiting.

i told you you wouldn't have to keep waiting. i can't speak... >> it's a contradiction of your words, sir. >> feinberg: i know. there... there may be. it won't be the first time. i'm trying. >> safer: feinberg acknowledges he is dealing with a weary and frustrated population who may distrust a hotshot lawyer with a boston accent. >> feinberg: what these fishermen and others want to see are checks and compensation, not promises from somebody from boston. and that is an obstacle that i try to overcome, in part by coming down here and meeting with these people. >> safer: this is, what, your 14th or 15th trip down here? >> feinberg: i think so. >> safer: do you feel that the tide is somehow turning in your favor, that people say, "okay, let's give him a chance"? >> feinberg: not yet. >> safer: not yet? >> feinberg: not yet. >> well, six months of this would be a step in the right direction. >> feinberg: well, a step in the right direction, but... >> not another week of runaround. >> the average for each of the claims that you paid out is $5,000.

and that's for six months. and that, sir, is nothing to be brag about. >> feinberg: all right. >> safer: they really go after you. >> feinberg: they do, but it goes with the territory. i mean, you go in there expecting that you're going to receive that criticism. and woe be unto you if you hide. that... that is a mistake. you cannot hide. >> safer: feinberg admits the program had a rocky start, which only added to the mistrust. these fishermen agree. what did you make of that meeting? >> well, i... i think he sounds sincere. but... but there's a lot of niches in the system that he needs to get right, and he was supposed to be so generous with the payments. >> safer: do you believe what he's telling you? >> absolutely not. >> absolutely not. >> i think he's just another attorney talking his talk. >> safer: but you don't think his... his record in dealing with 9/11 and... was an honest job? >> to be honest with you, i could care less about 9/11. i care about this oil spill. and i could care less about anybody else's claims. i care about my claim. that's it. >> but see, it's our responsibility to do what we did here today, okay. put him up against a wall, make him... make him do what's right. >> safer: feinberg runs the fund

from his office, where, for a moment, he soothes his savage schedule with opera, exchanging one real grand disaster with a more melodious fictional one. ♪ his private life is private, but in the role of arbiter, he is remarkably accessible. he has an army of about 1,500 people and 35 centers in the gulf to sort through and process what could amount to over 100,000 claims. he devised a two-step claims process. first, a six-month emergency payment with no strings attached. >> feinberg: these emergency payments are designed to help claimants meet their immediate financial needs. no release required, no obligation. >> safer: and then, after that, comes the... the so-called final payments. >> feinberg: that's right.

that's more controversial, because with the final payment will come the requirement that the claimant release b.p. from any suit, any lawsuit. >> safer: and that is a tough call. though scientific studies are underway, no one can predict the full effects of the "deepwater horizon" spill. how can these fishermen calculate what future losses they may suffer? >> we won't know what to file for until we find out what the scientists say really happened out there. >> feinberg: what i'll try and do is work with you to make sure that the payment i'm giving you will minimize the risk that you're worried about. >> safer: further complicating matters is a local business culture that's not renowned for keeping records. it's mainly cash on the line. >> we still do business as we did 40 years ago. do a job, maybe a $20,000 or $30,000 job, with just a handshake, not even a piece of paper. but in this town, handshake

still mean anything. am i right? >> right. yes. >> a handshake is still important. and we don't want to be deprived of that. and i don't know how you're going to work with us on that, but a lot of it was cash money. a lot of it was handshakes. >> feinberg: i can't pay money on a handshake. it can't be done. i don't... now, i don't care about documentation. do you have somebody who will come in and say, "here's a letter. i will vouch for this man. i know him. and we had a handshake deal for 'x.' signed, 'friend'." something like that, other than, "you see this? pay me." >> safer: with $20 billion available, it's not surprising that there may be a certain degree of hanky panky going on. do you think there is much fraud out there? >> let me put it to you this way. after all the oil spill, i ain't

never seen so many commercial fishermen in my life. they had so many people in line at them meetings. i've never seen these people, and i'm behind them in line, and i ask some of the other fishermen, "have you seen that guy before?" no, i ain't seen that guy before, no." it was comical. >> safer: so far, feinberg has paid out almost a billion dollars in emergency claims. but the real test will come with the lump sum payments-- whether people take the money and run, or sue b.p. >> i don't want to get tied up in litigation for five years, ten years, 15 years down the line. who knows how long it'll take? >> the thing is, mr. safer, none of us are trying to get rich off of this deal. we just want to get back to normal, get our lives back. get... pay us what damage you did, let us go on with our lives. >> safer: feinberg's life, for a good part of the last decade, has been steeped in other people's misfortune. his reputation remains unsullied. but this tragedy, so large, so complicated, could be a man's undoing.

>> feinberg: oh, i don't worry about that. ted williams never batted a thousand. i mean, my credibility is only as good as the latest program that i'm administering, and you can't do these projects worried about what people are going to think. >> safer: but is your most powerful weapon your reputation? >> feinberg: no. definitely not. my most powerful weapon are the checks going out. that... that's all that matters here. >> safer: "show me the money"? >> feinberg: "show me the money." "show me the money" >> safer: and he will. under increased pressure from both victims and the administration, ken feinberg announced this past week that he would make the program more efficient, more accessible, and more generous. ♪ i love my grandma. i love you grandma. grandma just makes me happy. ♪ to know, know, know you grandma is the bestest. the total package. grandpa's cooooooooool.

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>> pelley: with plans to give away $60 billion, bill and melinda gates have now become the most generous philanthropists in the world. what would you do with $60 billion? well, the bill and melinda gates foundation wants to make american kids among the best educated on earth, and while they're doing that, the gates also intend to save millions of lives worldwide. the foundation has been running for ten years. the gates' have shunned publicity, for the most part. but, recently, melinda gates agreed to travel around the globe to show us how they're giving away a fortune. and with a world of trouble, what was the first thing she wanted us to see? the north of india, where it is a short drive from the big city to the middle ages. in the countryside of india's most crowded state, uttar pradesh, often, food is scarce,

electricity nonexistent, women and infants die in childbirth, and medicine remains in the realm of superstition. it's exactly what melinda gates is looking for-- a neglected crisis where her investment can save the most lives. >> melinda gates: our belief is that all lives, no matter where they're lived on the globe, have equal value-- all lives. >> pelley: what are your global priorities? >> melinda gates: h.i.v./aids, malaria, mother-and-child deaths, in that order. >> pelley: why those? >> melinda gates: when you looked at where the largest number of deaths were on the planet, they were from things like aids, malaria and these childhood deaths. and nobody was giving voice to them. and no one was really tackling them. so, we said, systematically, those are places that we want to go and work. what are the decisions you have made that have impacted the village? >> pelley: it might be occurring to you right about now that you haven't seen the world's richest woman before. she's not the type to stand on a red carpet with million-dollar

earrings. melinda gates, 46 years old, from dallas, is a former microsoft executive who managed 800 people in software development and marketing. now, the work of the foundation is her obsession. this isn't a photo-op. in fact, it took us a year to convince her to let us come along. she travels often, probing for facts, analyzing needs, measuring the misery. >> melinda gates: i have to be here-- to see it and to feel it and to understand, you know, what motivates these people. what is it that they're doing for their livelihood? unless i see it and feel it and touch it, i just don't feel like i can do the foundation justice in terms of what we're trying to accomplish. oh, she's gorgeous. >> pelley: what she's trying to accomplish here is saving lives at birth. in india alone, one million babies die every year before they're a month old. i wonder which ladies in this audience have lost a child shortly after childbirth?

oh, look at that. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. it's a common experience in this village. this is a great example of exactly how the foundation works. the foundation poured money into research to understand the problem. it found that, by tradition, childbirth is considered unclean here. babies are often left on dirt floors, uncovered, while the mother is tended to first. the foundation tested solutions, trained health care workers to use sterilized tools, and taught the mothers to keep the babies warm. simple, inexpensive ideas that have reduced deaths here by half. part of the foundation's strategy is to team up with governments and other charities to make the money go farther and spread the best ideas. >> melinda gates: these deaths of children under five have come down substantially. 1960, it was 20 million under the age of five that died.

now, it's nine million children. that's still too many >> pelley: a year? >> melinda gates: a year. every year, nine million children die. we can get that down. >> pelley: and as for those other priorities she mentioned, the foundation is working on a vaccine for h.i.v., and nothing less than the eradication of malaria and polio. taking on everything at once. >> melinda gates: part of what you're doing... >> pelley: melinda gates is analytical and driven, not unlike her husband. she likes hard facts, strict accounting, and expects everyone around her to measure up, very much the c.e.o. >> melinda gates: what has been the thing that women are most reluctant to change? >> pelley: she talks about spending a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon, you realize that billionaire philanthropists aren't like you and me. there was a funny moment when she was going through some of the figures, and in a uncharacteristic slip, she said she'd pledged $1 billion to vaccines when it's actually $10 billion. you know, it just occurred to me you had misplaced $9 billion.

now, i misplace change at the end of the day. but you had actually forgotten about $9 billion. >> melinda gates: i think i missed a zero in there. >> pelley: most people would remember that kind of a number. >> melinda gates: you know, i... for me, i think more about the possibility of what it is we're trying to change. so, if i have to go around the health statistics in the world, i don't tend to get those wrong. but the amount of dollars we put in, i'm always more focused on what's the result we're going to get, no matter how much money we've put into the issue. >> pelley: now, i'm from texas, too, so i can say this: you don't wear your wealth like a dallas gal. you don't seem to be a big consumer of jewelry and cosmetics. >> melinda gates: i don't find great joy in those things. i find much more joy in connecting with people. i'm much more at home being what i call "out on the ground" doing this work. and for me, that's where i find meaning. i don't find meaning in material things. >> pelley: this village had nothing material to give but music. ♪ you know, it's a long way from microsoft. >> melinda gates: and i like this a whole lot better.

>> pelley: 7,000 miles away, back home in seattle, the bill and melinda gates foundation is building its new headquarters. there are 850 employees figuring out which science or development projects are worthy. and listen to what they have spent already: $4.5 billion for vaccines; almost $2 billion for scholarships in america; and a billion and a half to improve farming in africa and asia; just to name a few. the foundation's wealth ranks up there with america's biggest companies, just behind mcdonald's and ahead of boeing. boy, his and hers offices. i'm not sure a lot of marriages would survive this. >> bill gates: oh, it works out great. >> melinda gates: well, we actually like it a lot. >> pelley: the gates live in a secluded high-tech mansion with three children. this is an early picture-- the kids are now 8, 11 and 14. bill and melinda met at a microsoft meeting 23 years ago.

what did you think? i mean, it is not every day a girl gets asked out by the richest man in the world? >> melinda gates: oh, no, it wasn't that. it was that i didn't think it was a very good idea to date the c.e.o. of the company. >> pelley: it was back in 1993 on a vacation in africa that they began to think about giving away their money. >> bill gates: well, if you have money, what are you going to do with it? you can spend it on yourself, you can have, you know, thousands of people holding fans and cooling you off. you can build pyramids and things. you know, i sometimes order two cheeseburgers instead of one. but we didn't have any consumption ideas. and if you don't think it's a favor to your kids to have them start with... with gigantic wealth, then you've got to pick a cause. >> pelley: you don't consider it to be a favor to your kids...? >> melinda gates: no, absolutely not. we think... >> pelley: ... to give them enormous wealth? >> melinda gates: no. they should go on to pursue whatever it is they want to do in life, and not feel cheated by that by being given something, given a whole lot of wealth.

they would... they would never go out and figure out who they are and what their potential is. >> pelley: have you talked to them about this? have you said, "look, we're going to give most of this away?" >> melinda gates: absolutely. >> pelley: and they're okay with giving the money away? >> melinda gates: they are okay with it. >> bill gates: yes, they reach different ages, they may ask us again. "tell me again what... why... why? >> pelley: the gates kids will still be massively wealthy. but their parents have already given roughly $30 billion to the foundation, and they told us they'll give 90% of their money away. add to that the contribution of the gates' close friend, warren buffett, who has committed another $30 billion to the foundation. this past summer, the gates and buffett challenged billionaires to give half of their wealth to the charity of their choice. so far, 40 have signed the pledge. the foundation-- you-- have made certain choices about what you're going to fund. and some people might ask, "why not drop $30 billion on a cure for cancer?" for example. >> bill gates: well, there's a huge market for cancer drugs.

and there's dozens of pharmaceutical companies that spend tens of billions on those drugs. in malaria, when we announced a grant for $50 million, we became the biggest private funders. and so, the fact that it kills over a million children a year, and yet has almost no money given to it, you know, that struck us as... as very strange. but it became the thing we saw, "okay, this will be unique. we'll take the diseases of the poor, where there's no market, and we'll get the best scientists working on those diseases." >> pelley: you're trying to find the places where the money will have the most leverage, how you can save the most lives for the dollar, so to speak. >> bill gates: right. and transform the societies. >> good morning. >> pelley: another society they want to transform is america's, particularly through the schools. they have pledged nearly one quarter of all the foundation money to american students. and we followed melinda to the friendship collegiate academy

high school in washington, d.c. i wonder what you think is the most alarming thing about american education? >> melinda gates: i think it's most alarming that we're only preparing a third of the kids to go on to college. that's a frightening thing for our democracy to say a third of kids are prepared to go. >> pelley: if only a third of high school seniors are academically prepared to go to college, the gates believe that a revolution in teaching can go a long way to pushing that up to their goal of 80%. they're funding research to figure out what makes great teachers great. >> melinda gates: do you feel like you're prepared, that you could go on and succeed in college? >> yes. >> pelley: the foundation is at work in schools in nearly all 50 states. >> bill gates: what book are you reading? >> pelley: sort of like "national parents," bill and melinda gates have helped pay college tuition for 20,000 american kids. >> bill gates: the country is built on ingenuity. it's built on having lots of

very well-educated people. and if you were from a poor family, how are you going to be break out of that? well, education is the only way. education is the thing that, 20 years from now, will determine if this country is as... as strong and as just as it... it wants to be. >> pelley: one of the boldest efforts of the foundation is unfolding in the slums that we visited in delhi-- an attempt to eradicate polio. no one in america has seen this since the 1960s. we found, in a delhi hospital, a polio ward full of paralyzed children. >> this young boy, sahil. he is ten years old. sahil has got paralysis of one side of his body, one leg. see what he's doing. he's trying his best, he's bringing his hand, but he cannot move his leg. >> pelley: in a country where water often runs next to sewage, the virus, which is spread through human waste, finds new victims.

polio has been cornered to just four countries on earth, so the gates have teamed with rotary international to bang on every door to find the last child who hasn't tasted the vaccine. do you believe you can do that, actually eradicate the virus from the face of the earth? >> melinda gates: it's been done with smallpox. and that's what gives us the hope and the belief. >> pelley: namaste. while in india, we were invited to a ceremony that every new mother prays for. because so many newborns die, they're not given names right away. this family had waited a week to bring their daughter into the light and name her "durga," which means "invincible." it was during the ceremony that we saw what is was that has moved a no-nonsense executive to give away her fortune. >> melinda gates: can i hold her? >> pelley: durga's first blessing was from the sun. then she received a second-- a

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>> kroft: now, a few minutes with andy rooney. >> rooney: i have a lot of gadgets here in my office. i don't really like gadgets. i don't even like the word "gadget". i read, though, where auto

makers have plans to install even more electronic gadgets in their cars soon. do we really need more of them? i knew i'm out of the loop when i read recently that the ford motor company is allowing smartphone apps on android phones to link directly to sync- equipped cars. i not only don't have an "android equipped" phone in my car, i don't know what one is, wouldn't know what one was if i saw one. i mean, do drivers really need to log onto the internet while they speak to friends, while the kids watch a movie on a video screen in the backseat? and at the same time, have the g.p.s. help locate the best italian restaurant in the area? i have mixed feelings about the things that will keep me from getting lost. too often, the best time i have is when i'm lost before i get where i'm going. i can remember when henry ford said, "you can have any color car you want, as long as it's black".

now, people have green cars-- that means environmentally friendly cars-- like hybrids, electric cars, cars with fuel cells, and even cars that run on used cooking oil. of course, i don't want a car that smells like bacon grease or french fries. i just want a car that i can drive to the store in, pick up a bottle of milk and a loaf of bread, and go home. >> kroft: i'm steve kroft. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes." >> hello, everyone. welcome to the cbs sports update presented by viagra. i'm boomer esiason in new york with the scores around the nfl today. donovan mcnabb wins in his return to philadelphia, while michael vick leaves the game due to a rib injury. the saints get back in the win column. the steelers are no longer unbeaten while the jets win their third straight division game. a 59-yard field goal as time runs out wins it for jacksonville and san diego rolls. for more news and scores, log on

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