probably al qaeda money and al qaeda training. i wouldn't call him al qaeda. i would call him an outcast extremist group with close links to the taliban but probably closer links to al qaeda. i wouldn't call him necessarily al qaeda. but there are several groups in afghanistan which are linked to al qaeda which i would call al qaeda. >> this book, why did you write it in the first place? what was driving you to get this information out? >> you know, i have been covering afghanistan for 30 years. there were many stepping stones in the middle when people around me told me, you must write a book now. this period is finished. for example, when the soviets left, people said write a book about the soviet occupation. when the geneva accord was signed, when the communist regime in kabul fell in 1962. there were many reasons i should have written a book, and i kept deferring it, and i was one of few journalists who as they conquered the whole of afghanistan, bin laiden came in, and then i really -- bin laden came in and then i felt the lack of knowledge anywhere about

-led invasion of afghanistan, many al-qaeda leaders fled to iran and were arrested. tracking al-qaeda there has been a major challenge, intelligence black hole. >> we know it's problematic for us. and it's always been a little murky as to exactly how closely the iranian regime was monitoring al-qaeda and managing their activity. but seeing this loosening up, that is not a surprise at all. >> reporter: conventional wisdom is the shiite regime is generally hostile to the sunni terror group, but hoekstra says they share common goals. >> this is a marriage of convenience. al-qaeda has very, very specific objectives in terms of attacking the united states. iran, they want to create as much mischief for us as they can. >> reporter: regarding a threat of such alliance, experts say look at the role iran played supporting hezbollah and hall hamas. >> they provide them with technical assistance, money, weapons and training. >> reporter: another deadly example is support iran provided shiite groups in iraq. experts suggest iran is encouraging the al-qaeda fighters to go back to

we thought at the time that he was the number three ranking person in al qaeda. that turned out to topics ackle teacher because of the time we didn't realize khalid sheikh mohammed was an al qaeda or pledged to osama bin laden abu zubaydah was probably a little bit lower ranking but still within the leadership. we knew that he was the commander of the larger of al qaeda's main trading camps in afghanistan. we knew he was a logistics whiz and by that i mean other al qaeda fighters described him as the hub of the wheel from which all of the spokes go out. he knew everybody. he was the middleman and he knew bin laden. we suspect at that time he may have had something to do with satori 11 attacks. i think in the end she was not directly involved but certainly was aware of al qaeda's operations and he knew the attacks were coming. so we started looking for them. finally, we heard that he was either in faisalabad or in nearby major pakistani city. host katella so you describe faisalabad. it wasn't new york. >> guest: know it was one of the worst places i've ever been i

for the years before and after 9/11, it was al qaeda main, al qaeda central, careful planning, complexa lot of things going on. always shooting for the spectacular. frankly, we've become quite good at detecting and dismembering those kinds of plots. this is a learning enemy. and this enemy is now adjust together fact that if he does something very complicate tad takes a long period of time, by and large, we'll detect it and disrupt it. so what happened in times square this past weekend, what happened on christmas day is a new model. folks, we barely knew because al qaeda barely knew them. al qaeda did not spend a lot of time on their training, on their preparation, on their vetting because they now know if they hug them too close, too long, we'll find out who they are. we have less complicated attacks, frankly attacks that would probably be less severe, attacks that are less skilled and therefore, with a lower probability of success. but now here's the very bad part. probably a lot more numerous. and that's what we have to be prepared for. >> numerous and so just as capable of terroriz

we understand al qaeda and those inspired by it. we know in the past, the glasgo bombing was al qaeda inspired. they use propane tanks. the africa bombings came up in the 2004 threats in new york. it's too early on. the little pieces like we get from susan candiotti are very, very important. they are the facts that paint the picture to understand who it was and what caused the incident to occur. >> when we come back, we'll get a quick update on the situation in louisiana. stay with us. aflac is not how do i fit it in my company's budget insurance. aflac is help protect and care for your employees at no cost to your company insurance. if all you know about us is... duck: aflac! ...then you don't know quack. to find out more visit getquack.com. ♪ (announcer) right now, all over the country, discover card customers are getting five percent cashback bonus at home improvement stores. it pays to get more, it pays to discover. >>> back to the investigation to the times square incident in a minute. first, another big story breaking. the pre

who was al qaeda calling in the united states and why? >> guest: and there it was in black and white. >> host: one of the most exciting parts of your book is the capture of zubaydah, a high-ranking official. can you take us through that? >> guest: in february to those in to we got the word from the headquarters that abu zubaydah was somewhere in pakistan and that is all they said somewhere in pakistan. >> host: did you know him by that name at the time? >> guest: we he to be cut by the time he was the number three ranking person. that turned up not to be true because we didn't realize khalid sheikh mohammed was an al qaeda or pledged osama bin laden so abu zubaydah was probably lower ranking but still within the leadership. we knew that he was the commander of the larger of al qaeda's training camps in afghanistan and that he was a logistics with is and by that i mean the other al qaeda fighters described him as the hub of the wheel from which all of the folks go out. he knew everything. he knew was the middleman and he knew bin laden. we

al qaeda are our muslim brothers. we don't call them foreigners, he says. they're welcome here. the cia and fbi worry americans trained in sew ma somalia could to attack the u.s. >> capability to strike the united states and intent, they have talked about coming after us. >> reporter: as somalia becomes a spring board of al qaeda that the u.s. has once again been forced to confront. richard engel, nbc news, mogadishu. >>> when "nightly news" continues in just a moment, fergie, the duchess of york caught on camera with a pile of cash selling access. the whole mess on videotape. >>> later nashville got knocked down. it is taking a lot of people to get it back up. tonight they are "making a difference." you don't have to with these priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. no weigh? nope. no way. yeah. no weigh? sure. no way! uh-uh. no way. yes way, no weigh. priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. for constipation relief... nothing works

if they used the traditional, al qaeda, explosive of choice, tapt.und in traces of the underwear bomber in december and the shoe bomber, richard reid's shoes back in 2001. so that is a highly volatile explosive. that could actually be detonated even by dropping something. so, there are signatures and it just -- it strikes me as odd. we could find out what this was, some disgruntled employee at marriott wanting to create an incident. there's always that possibility. we shouldn't jump to terrorism. it doesn't become terrorism until you have a political connection and show what it is they're really trying to say they're achieving other than just trying to crank off a bomb in times square. >> i want to follow-up with a point you made. this does make it easier. now, there may be latent prints, dna if there are hair samples. if you get a massive explosion that essentially melts everything to the asphalt, all of a sudden it makes it far more complicated to get what it is that you want. you actually have access to material. i'm a former prosecutor so i'm thi

we cannot count on al qaeda to put itself out of business. we are focusing on undermining the narrative and preventing the radicalization of vulnerable or alienated individuals. we are working to develop a better understanding of the dynamics of the committee's in which extremism has taken root. every community possesses a unique political, economic, and social set of factors that contribute to the radicalization process. we know that one size fits all programs have limited appeal. programs need to be tailored to fit the characteristics of the audience. to be customized and they will have a better chance of succeeding and entering. we know that credible local voices have to take the lead in their communities. they're one of the best places to convey the counter narrative's capable of discrediting violent extremism. we're not going to be that credible interlocutor in that discussion. we're working to amplify legitimate voices. the u.s. can help empower these local actors through programmatic assistance, funding, or by providing them with the s

>>> up next from altar boy to al qaeda? how does it happen? american's disturbing journey. >>> later, was it a hate crime? white supremacist murdered in the south. the details may surprise you. >>> according to court documents, the suspect in the time square bombings said he invested training in pakistan. we don't know if it's true but could tell white house al qaeda was behind the plot and had some hand in it. al qaeda operates in pakistan and camps are called to jihad. among the fanatic warriors in this group's holy war, a young man from new york, a shy boy in the suburbs who became a terrorist. the question we want to know is how. nic robertson spent almost a year uncovering that answer. here's a preview of his special "360" report. >> reporter: this is penn station in the heart of new york. more than 60,000 people churn through here at peak rush, 60,000 every hour. for al qaeda, penn station and the potential for a mass killing is a prize and daunting target. but then it seemed they got lucky. that's when this man, a young american, who gr

we have had more success in eliminating al qaeda leaders in recent months than recent years. there will continue to recruit, plot, and exploit. we see that in bonds that go off in kabul. we sit in attempt to blow up an airliner over detroit, or a vehicle in times square. even as these failed attack showed that pressure on neorks like al qaeda are forcing them to rely on a terrace with less time andpace to train, we see the potential duration of this struggle in al qaeda's distortion of this line -- of islam, their disrespect for human life. the threat will not go away soon. let's be clear. al qaeda and its affiliates ar small men on the wrong side of history. they leave no nation. they leave no religion. -- they lead no nation. they lead no religion. we cannot succumb to division because others try to drive us art. we are thenited states of america. [applause] we are the united states of america, and we have repaired our union, and outlasted communism, and we have gone through turmoil. we have gone through civil war. we have come out stronger. we will do so once more. [applau

that's what al qaeda and their surrogates look for-- someone who can travel, someone who has clean papersomeone who can go to pakistan, come back and get into the united states because they're a citizen or have... have resident cards that get them back into this country. that gives them tremendous flexibility. >> kroft: was this guy on anybody's radar? >> kelly: no, it does... it doesn't appear that way. >> kroft: anything remarkable about him that would lead you to believe he might do something like this? >> kelly: no, that's a good word-- "unremarkable." these are unremarkable young men who make a decision to kill innocent people in their own country. >> kroft: what has shahzad said about his motives, about why he did this? >> kelly: he made a general statement that he did it because his religion was under attack. >> kroft: it is all very similar to the story of najibullah zazi... >> najibullah zazi: i have nothing to do with al qaeda. >> kroft: ...an immigrant from afghanistan who spent much of his life in the united states, leading what seemed like a perfectly normal existence until

al qaeda is a nimble adversary. because of the flatness of their organization, high level inspiration and ingenuity, we need to be on top of our game all the time. we need to keep in mind the words of the 9/11 commission, which got it right. it is crucial, they wrote to find ways of staying sharp, innovating our systems and maintaining our electricity wal edge. these are ali essential. i know that a speech at the washington institute on terrorism would not be complete without some remarks regarding the other side of the caller:, which is the state sponsors of terrorism. we have talked about the nonstate sponsors. good morning. since the start of the financial crisis, we've done much work to understand its root causes and pass robust reform legislation initially in the house and yesterday in the senate that will nd the era of too big to fail finanal companies, reform credit rang agencies and operation and implement a broad array of sorely-needed measures that will better protect innocent main street investors from un

there were essentially no al qaeda in iraq before we went there and then there were a lot of al qaeda there after we were there. i asked the state department where they imported, they said most of them were in fact de novo so our presence there creates the enemy. the second question is, why are we following osama bin laden's playbook? this is a hugely asymmetric war. mohammed with a rusty artillery sharing a few dollars worth of electronics and just one of our responses to that have cost us $40 billion. that is mrap's, one platform in response to that. osama bin laden is on the record as saying they will continue this guerrilla kind of war until they bleed us dry. so two questions please, weiss is not the ultimate exercise in futility and why are we following osama bin laden's playbook? >> congressman congressman in response to the first question i would draw a very sharp between the historical experience of many in afghanistan who were there to conquer, versus our mission in afghanistan which is to enable the development of afghan capacity to exert sovereignty, go over their own, ove

affiliated himself with al-qaeda.da can turn around and just order the pakistani taliban to take credit for it. that's the way it seems to be going here these days. >> exactly what u.s. officials are saying, that there is so much overlapping operations among these groups. there's a lot of multiple factors as they interchange and move back and forth. i wanted to go to peter alexander now in connecticut. peter, you've been out there at the house which is still being searched by federal and local officials. what do they know about his family? >> reporter: it's a good question, andrea. we've been here since before the sun rose this morning. investigators were here in the early morning. the local police, the fbi. they went into a house about nine houses down on the left side of this block back here in bridgeport. we were going to get our first chance to walk up to the home in a matter of minutes. that's when agents say they will clear the scene. we have seen them remove evidence. they describe it as possible evidence that

al qaeda operates in pakistan in camps where followers answer the call to jihad.the fanatic warriors in this group's holy war, a young man from new york, a shy altar boy from the suburbs who became a terrorist. the question we want to know is how. nic robertson spent almost a year uncovering that answer. here's a preview of his special "360" report. >> reporter: this is penn station in the heart of new york. at peak rush, more than 60,000 people churn through here every hour. 60,000 every hour. for al qaeda, penn station and the potential for a mass killing is a prize and daunting target. but then it seemed they got lucky. that's when this man, a young american, who grew up only 50 miles from here, made his way to pakistan, to offer his help. he is brooi bryant neal vinas, and this is how a middle class kid suddenly transformed into a dangerous enemy of the state. >> bryant is almost a poster child for the process, the unremarkable nature of the people who might go through this process and the danger that presents. i spent the better part of the year here in the u

this could be the best al qaeda can do right now. >> if this is the best al qaeda can do, they're not on the run, they're limping along. >> sort of the new jersey nets of -- >> of terror organizations. but this just seemed -- remember from the very beginning, officials were saying, this amateur hour. they found basically a hodgepodge of things, that when you put them all together properly, it could be a bomb, but instead, you just got this truck that smoked and had firecrackers in it and propane and gasoline that didn't do anything. didn't work. he should -- if he paid money for this terrorist training camp, you know, ask for money back. he wasn't trained properly. >> all right. >> which is good. >> willie, do they take discover cards? how do you get your refund from al qaeda? >> we're very lucky. >> they said he had contact -- >> we're lucky he's an idiot. >> yeah, that's the bottom line in this. he might be the hero in all this for being such an idiot putting that bomb together. they said he was in waziristhaa. not sure if he got formal train organize just met a guy that helped him

in fact, in recent videotapes, he's said he's a member of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. he has an agenda just like al qaeda to strike targets in yemen, throughout the world including here in the united states. bob, the president yesterday to graduates at the u.s. military academy at west point said that members of al qaeda are small men who will be on the wrong side of history. those cadets, many of them will go to afghanistan to pursue our battles there, to keep our country safe. and the president will continue to take action directly at terrorists like this one and keep our country safe from their murderous thugs. >> schieffer: are we actively trying to find this guy? >> we are actively trying to find him and many others throughout the world that seek to do our country and to do our interests great harm. >> schieffer: let's shift to the situation down in the gulf. the oil spill apparently is worse than ever, robert. the administration is getting a lot of criticism now. a lot of it from officials along the gulf coast and some of it even from democrats here in washington

dominique di-natale, excuse me, updates us from baghdad. >> the al-qaeda has capped off the crown of the new leadership, here in iraq, affiliate better known as the islamic state of iraq. appointed amir or chief and also given him a first minister to act as his deputy. the man being named as al-- and awe bu al hasanni, the same last name and doesn't mean they're related, probably from the same tribe however could not be their real names, war lord names to cover up the true identity. however, comes 4 hours after al-qaeda named the minister of war who had pledged very much a bloody campaign against the shia majority here and with recent events, certainly looks hike al-qaeda has been active. the bodies have been piling up. the scene on friday, a small town in north of the country saw the weekend shattered with a car bomb exploded at a soccer game and two suicide attackers ran among the crowds and ignited the bomb belts and hurting more people. and there were also many christians in the region. it wasn't the first time talafar has witnessed carnage in. 2007 more than 120 people were kill

>> there is no evidence that this is tied in with al qaeda or any other big terrorist organization, but rest assured we will do everything we can. we all of the resources thanks to the president and secretary nepal tano and the fbi. we will use those and the abilities of the world's greatest police departments. >> i want to give you a heads up. they are saying they will be releasing that surveillance video of the guy they estimate to be a white male in his 40s seen hurrying away from the area down schubert area ray kelly we get it before the top of the hour obviously we are going to run it. even if we don't they will run it on fox news sometime this evening. let's go to david lee miller. what else is new since i left you an hour ago. >> it's almost like that there' party atmosphere they are teaming with thousands of people. most oblivious to the fact that the investigation is underway. they are making progress on several fronts. they are releasing video of a man presumed to be the suspect. authorities have their hands on a great deal of forensic evidence wells incendiary device as well.

it's a base for both al qaeda and the taliban. shahzad is said to have stayed in waziristan for several weeks. the region is often attacked by u.s. drones and the pakistani government has led offensives here and considers the taliban in waziristan its biggest enemy. >> we condemn this incident, and we will help and support u.s. to bring these culprits to justice. >> in pakistan's capital islamabad today, people seemed embarrassed by shahzad. another man said, just because he's pakistani doesn't mean he has to be a terrorist. tamron, officials here are also trying to figure out how high up his connections went within the militant movement. at this stage a pakistani military official told us he does not believe that shahzad was sent by the taliban or al qaeda but was more likely self-recruited, came to pakistan to receive some sort of military training, got it, and then went back to the united states to try and carry out the bombing. >> richard engel live for us in islamabad. thank you, richard. >>> right now on capitol hill, the se

i think he wants to quit al qaeda and join al gore.sident obama has been promoting alternative energy. texas state university has developed exercise equipment that operates electricity when you exercise in the hope that people will generate enough power from their home by exercising. you thought americans were hiring a lot of illegal aliens before snr manuel, keep peddling. last month, president obama threw out the first pitch at the nationals but biden got kicked off for cursing the umpire. the pitch was not a good pitch. but to be fair, you had just come from an interview and i think you were used to softball. i'm going to get fired again. i tell you something. a lot of critics felt that president bush did a better job of getting the ball over the plate. that's what they said. but on the other hand, president obama can talk. so i think it balances. [laughter] >> as you know, president obama and the first lady very much committed to education. and in fact, here's their latest program. >> president obama says that a good education is e

not to al qaeda. al qaeda deserves one outcome. that is to be tracked down wherever there are and eliminated. with the other groups, that is not the case. >> host: the initial title of your bookbinder the tracks of popular perception which is we don't talk to terrorists. u.s. policy was never we don't talk to terrorists it was we make no concessions. we can negotiate, but no concessions. the more interesting issue. if you're going to talk and not make concessions what is the point? >> guest: you are exactly right. we have always talked to terrorists or at least listened. the african national congress, the plo. you can go down the list of organization. we have actually sat down to compare notes and see how we can cooperate. has not always been easy. the book's title should be listening to terrorists. we talked at them all the time. you have to do this. you have to do that. you have to disarm. you have to agree to all prior agreements oh we're not going to talk to you. those kinds of demands, the same kind of demands made on the afri

that's al qaeda's safe haven in pakistan. it brings al qaeda into play.t brings the pakistani taliban into play as a group he might be involved into. it brings uzbek groups into play. these groups have all sort of gone into the global jihad business recently. the pakistani taliban have claimed responsibility for this attack. in the past, officials have viewed these claims as sometimes reliable and sometimes not reliable. well, the fact that he actually went over to pakistan and trained there may mean that they were in fact responsible for this. but it's too early to tell. officials tonight say that's still an open line of inquiry, larry. >> larry: all right. harvey, what about the report he received some bomb training in waziristan? do you find that report credible? >> i don't know how that is going to shake out, larry, but what i find amazing about this is it tells us we have the new era of terrorism in the united states. the christmas day bomber with somebody who went outside this country, had some training in yemen, it shows us that we made some great

, this is a guy who dot a d in the al qaeda bomb making class.e really didn't know what he was doing. what it does do is shows you this could happen. obviously the good news is everybody was alert the nypd was great, but the nypd is trained to do this. what if this happened in cleveland or los angeles where they are not as trained they don't look for this they are not as up to stuff as they are in new york city. >> i am not chauvinistic about my hometown but i feel a sense that there's a great big cross hair on the back of new york city and with all due respect to cleveland i also love -- my wife is from cleveland it doesn't have the same pizazz as the perpetrator's point of view. >> what if we try khalid shaikh mohammed in lower manhattan it means is something like this is an opportunity -- new york is already a target. if you have the other impetus to go after new york you would have these things every week if you have a year long trial in manhattan. it's not just keeping the terrorists safe but the rest of new york safe. >> i disagree with tha

what we've seen in the eight years is al qaeda has gone from their goal of strategic, multiple simultaneousy events to smaller. you ask yourself why. they got people like adam gadahn, an anwar al awlaki, these guys can have a tremendous impact, and have less likely to get caught if they have clean scans, no reason to trigger the law enforcement system. it makes it much more difficult. what you do need, community policing. local police departments and involved citizens like we saw in the vendor is the sort of court of last resort who can catch them. >> jack, does it scare you, i guess, more or less that as jeanne meserve was explaining to us, that he didn't have any associates working with him inside the u.s.? >> both. it's better in the sense that this may not be a very large, very elaborate and california very extensive operation which could kill a lot of people. that's a positive. the negative for the very same operation is it's very difficult. if you have a lone wolf who's absolutely clean, how do you track that guy? do you simply say, okay, it's anybody who's a naturalized citizen? how

, this is a guy who dot a d in the al qaeda bomb making class. was doing. what it does do is shows you this could happen. obviously the good news is everybody was alert the nypd was great, but the nypd is trained to do this. what if this happened in cleveland or los angeles where they are not as trained they don't look for this they are not as up to stuff as they are in new york city. >> i am not chauvinistic about my hometown but i feel a sense that there's a great big cross hair on the back of new york city and with all due respect to cleveland i also love -- my wife is from cleveland it doesn't have the same pizazz as the perpetrator's point of view. >> what if we try khalid shaikh mohammed in lower manhattan it means is something like this is an opportunity -- new york is already a target. if you have the other impetus to go after new york you would have these things every week if you have a year long trial in manhattan. it's not just keeping the terrorists safe but the rest of new york safe. >> i disagree with that. i think the nut jobs need

the same thing back in september people thought sgl zazi was jus loan wolf he was tied into an al qaedaperation there. this could be a home grown group of terrorists. considering what we have gone through in the last 8 and a half years i wouldn't exclude anything especially bh it comes to al qaeda. >> joining bo deedle and me in times square kt mcfarland former deputy secretary of defense and former fbi investigator next to bill is detective lieutenant sergeant steve rogers of the nutley new jersey cops a 15 year veteran of the anti-terror nypd. it is coming there tomorrow. >> ahmadinejad president of iran is in new york now. they are addressing new york tomorrow about the nuclear weapons. maybe it's a coincidence maybe it's not. it is somebody who will talk about the danger of nuclear weapons at the same time they are building nuclear weapons at home. >> that car could easily as soon as they get the technology something more bang than gasoline and fertilizer. >> the fact there there was a metal box, if you wanted a dirty bomb it is easy to make one of those. i teach a course at mit abo

there were essentially no al qaeda in iraq before we went there and then there were a lot of al qaeda there after we were there. i asked the state department where they imported, they said most of them were in fact de novo so our presence there creates the enemy. the second question is, why are we following osama bin laden's playbook? this is a hugely asymmetric war. mohammed with a rusty artillery sharing a few dollars worth of electronics and just one of our responses to that have cost us $40 billion. that is mrap's, one platform in response to that. osama bin laden is on the record as saying they will continue this guerrilla kind of war until they bleed us dry. so two questions please, weiss is not the ultimate exercise in futility and why are we following osama bin laden's playbook? >> congressman congressman in response to the first question i would draw a very sharp between the historical experience of many in afghanistan who were there to conquer, versus our mission in afghanistan which is to enable the development of afghan capacity to exert sovereignty, go over their own, ove

there are ascent tolino al qaeda in iraq and then there were a lot of al qaeda after we were there i asked the state department and they said that most of them were in fact mobile as the presence of their creates the enemy. the second question is why are we following osama bin laden's cycle? this is a hugely asymmetric war. mohammed with a rusty shall and electronics and just one of our responses has cost $40 billion, that is just one platform in response to that. osama bin laden is on the record saying they will continue this guerrilla war until they bleed dustin right. two questions. why is this not the ultimate exercise in its utility and why are we following osama bin laden's playbook? >> congressman, in response to the first question i would draw a sharp distinction between the historical experience of many in afghanistan who are there to conquer versus our mission in afghanistan which is to enable the development of afghan capacity to exert sovereignty over their own a territory. i think the point about pakistan has informed the fact we've taken a regional strategy. we need to

it's interesting to have to go with al qaeda. why would a young muslim in london want to go to fight with of the northern alliance in afghanistan, which is as a muslim organization as can be to forge against the soviet union as opposed to the taliban and probably have more support. no one is a volunteer for that. no one went to volunteer for the kurdish people fighting against saddam hussein. all of the muslim activists decided saddam hussein when it came to the crunch in the war who himself enjoyed the support of al qaeda if not in the military operational sense of the proclamation. it was a horrible way that you're in on goal. it has to be the most horrible, the most extreme and the most complete the consequential advantage of the consecration being sold by self destruction suicide. so it really is a battle what you could call [inaudible] >> i sometimes think -- i wonder what you think about this -- that in the way that the soviet communism, soviet-style communism burned through a large part of the world and then burned out the

al-qaeda's hiersrchy isn't really the problem here. today the announced -- they announced results of the final tally of the votes in the baghdad parliamentary seats staying the same, creating a political vacuum here. we need the government to form a coalition and in order to do that they don't have the political will to do that and that is causing nervousness and frustration and anger amongst the iraqi people and that will increase sectarian pressure, playing into the hands of al-qaeda that wants to return to chaos. back to you. >>> afghan president hamid karzai met with president obama at the white house this week. while they appeared to mend their sometimes strained relationship many wonder what is going to be the role of these two countries. thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> shannon: there was talk that it might not happen. there have been tensions between the two countries. how do you think it went this week? >> when i was watching president obama and president karzai i was thinking can this marriage be saved and pr

yes, there has been success in knocking off al-qaeda leaders.nd times square episodes are not examples of success. they're examples of near failure, therefore, they are failure, because it wasn't anything that the obama administration put in place that caused the attacks to fail. a bomb didn't go off is basically what happened. you can say that is because tay were poorly train and all that, and maybe there is truth to that but these were near-misses and would have been -- if we had been in a different political atmosphere today if either of the bombs been effective. >> it's a tough thing for a president to claim success in the war on terror. i think president obama was trying to take a balance saying we haven't eradicated from the problem, now they're on our shores, et cetera. but it's ra probl a problem. one of these days one of the guys will get lucky. maybe he didn't have training or much support but he will figure out how to make a car bomb and he will kill some people. i think the obama administration has continued in many ways the bush adm

guest: i think it does show that al qaeda and the buttons associated with al qaeda again tribal areas are still targeting the united states the question is whether the capacity is there any more. one of the interesting things about the pakistani taliban, for instance, is since march 2009 they have been talking about their strike on the united states. this is followed by a weird mission in april of 2009. shortly after the bullets stopped, pakistani leaders said that was one of our guys. you have to scratch your head and wonder if they are taking credit for these. host: we had a response from twitter. guest: it's a great question. one of the reasons i must suggest that faisal shahzad's threat was successful which set the training facilities have been curbed. al qaeda can not set up the kind of jungle gym and training facilities that we saw in the videos shortly after september 11. think the pakistani taliban -- i think the tiban at large, the notion of fighting in the name of a radical version of islam, against a foreign presence, whether it is the perception that the pakistani governme

might mean the return of ale qaeda which could then get al qaeda the base for considering a tax on the united states and as we recently saw in the times square attack there is still an effort by these terrorists to w strike out and kill americans.t, similarly i would say the middle east is a much better and safer place today with an iraq that doesn't have saddam hussein.ddls we do not have a regime invadinf the neighbors supporting terrence a saddam hussein didhu pressing their osswn people and having the potential for and past history of developing weapons of mass destruction. that is a better middle east for the iraqi people and a bettera o middle east for the country and we have an interest as a nationt in a stable middle east. so i would say as difficult as h both of these have been for bote mi of the people of those two countries and our men and womenf in uniform and the enormous cost it has been to the country in the end of the day the world as a better place and it is a safea place for americans because it has been done there. >> host: energy and natural the resources committee

guest: i think it does show that al qaeda and the buttons associated with al qaeda again tribal areas are still targeting the united states the question is whether the capacity is there any more. one of the interesting things about the pakistani taliban, for instance, is since march 2009 they have been talking about their strike on the united states. this is followed by a weird mission in april of 2009. shortly after the bullets stopped, pakistani leaders said that was one of our guys. you have to scratch your head and wonder if they are taking credit for these. host: we had a response from twitter. guest: it's a great question. one of the reasons i must suggest that faisal shahzad's threat was successful which set the training facilities have been curbed. al qaeda can not set up the kind of jungle gym and training facilities that we saw in the videos shortly after september 11. i think the pakistani taliban -- i think the taliban at large, the notion of fighting in the name of a radical version of islam, against a foreign presence, whether it is the perception that the pakistani gove

and insure the elimination of the al qaeda safe havens. a critical component of the strategy is a stable afghanistan with governments and capacity to ensure afghanistan can no longer be a safe haven for al qaeda and insurgents. the u.s. and afghanistan also have shared interests that extend far beyond combating extremism and we are working to develop an enduring partnership that will serve both of our nations for years to come. when i last testified before you on afghanistan we face a pretty bleak situation. early collision gains have eroded, the taliban was reassigned and afghan confidence in the coalition was in decline. president obama ordered an immediate strategy review when it came into office and added 38,000 troops in the spring of 2009. after general mcchrystal's assessment last summer and for the review, the president said it to deploy additional 30,000 troops in december of last year. today, over half of the forces have already deployed and almost all of them will be in place by the end of august. more than 9,000 international t

terrorism analyst jeff dressler says al qaeda is now getting local militant groups to join its globalsively focus their attacks inside pakistan. >> they voiced their concern or desire to focus on western targets in conjunction with al qaeda. that's a troubling development that is really just happened over the past few years. >> and the logical connection is groups like jaish-e-mohammed using people with u.s. passports that can easily get back into the country. the u.s. ambassador to pakistan called it a nightmare scenario and that was before times square. now, officials say, they don't believe there are a lot of people like this, but they admit, they're not sure, and they're working with the pakistani government to try to identify and locate them. wolf? >> chris lawrence on the -- on the story for us, thank you. >>> there are several key terror detainees with links to pakistan. khalid shaikh mohammed is the professed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. he was born there kuwait and carried a pakistani passport and was captured in pakistan seven years ago. he's being held at guantanamo bay.

and then you qualified that further in terms of al qaeda and their associates. what is the in state? is the end state potentially, said she didn't mention the taliban, is a coalition government that would incorporate the taliban or elements of the taliban? >> i think that the key from our interest, perspectives is to deny any safe haven for al qaeda and its associates. i think that in any situation, a point in strategy, the military commission take you so far. and at some point there is a political set of outcomes that are reached. we saw this in iraq. i think we are -- the afghan -- were working with the afghan government to try to get a better understanding of the processes they will ultimately lead on both reintegration and reconciliation. i think it's very important to set a set of criteria for who will get re- integrated back into afghan society and how. and whether it is disavowing al qaeda, laying down their arms, those are the kinds of criteria that the afghan government will need to articulate as they get to the point of defining what an acceptable poli

they have had some success in fighting taliban and al qaeda groups in south waziristan.ently showing off a captured village said to have been a militant hideout along with a series of tunnels described by pakistani authorities as a, quote, nerve center of militant operations. but north waziristan is even more remote, even more dangerous for pakistani troops. while military leaders say they want to move on the militants there they also say they are not yet ready to make that move. >> the pakistan army lacks the infrastructure you need for a full scale military offensive. you need roads that will carry tanks and jeeps. you need electronic communications capability. you need century posts. >> so, in the meantime, the u.s. is taking matters into its own hands as much as it can. according to the washington, d.c. based new america foundation, there have been 35 strikes by u.s. unmanned drone aircraft so far this year. 33 of which were directed at targets in north waziristan. including one on tuesday, aimed directly at the group suspected of training the alleged times square bo

. >> if this is al qaeda, this is a guy who dot a d in the al qaeda bomb making class. he really didn't know what he was doing. what it does do is shows you this could happen. obviously the good news is everybody was alert the nypd was great, but the nypd is trained to do this. what if this happened in cleveland or los angeles where they are not as trained they don't look for this they are not as up to stuff as they are in new york city. >> i am not chauvinistic about my hometown but i feel a sense that there's a great big cross hair on the back of new york city and with all due respect to cleveland i also love -- my wife is from cleveland it doesn't have the same pizazz as the perpetrator's point of view. >> what if we try khalid shaikh mohammed in lower manhattan it means is something like this is an opportunity -- new york is already a target. if you have the other impetus to go after new york you would have these things every week if you have a year long trial in manhattan. it's not just keeping the terrorists safe but the rest of new york safe. >> i disagree with t

. >> there is no evidence that this is tied in with al qaeda or any other big terrorist organization, rest assured we will do everything we can. we all of the resources thanks to the president and secretary nepal tano and the fbi. we will use those and the abilities of the world's greatest police departments. >> i want to give you a heads up. they are saying they will be releasing that surveillance video of the guy they estimate to be a white male in his 40s seen hurrying away from the area down schubert area ray kelly we get it before the top of the hour obviously we are going to run it. even if we don't they will run it on fox news sometime this evening. let's go to david lee miller. what else is new since i left you an hour ago. >> it's almost like that there' party atmosphere they are teaming with thousands of people. most oblivious to the fact that the investigation is underway. they are making progress on several fronts. they are releasing video of a man presumed to be the suspect. authorities have their hands on a great deal of forensic evidence wells incendiary device as well.

we know that iraq did not have al qaeda.he we know that the office of special plans, these folks were in that office cherry picking and disseminating false intelligence. i understand more than ever before. i am 58. i understand white people in that region hate us. we invaded the country based on false intelligence. can you tell me why we cannot count the dead and injured in iraq? many of us call ourselves a religious, or christian, and we do not even count their dead. people should be outraged. host: 50 lead on to the a question from one of our our twitter users, how many civilians were killed in iraq since our invasion? guest: i am not familiar with the estimates. i have heard of to 100,000, and others were more than that. i do not know if an exact number is unknown. obviously, there have been a tremendous amount of casualties in iraq, both for u.s. and coalition forces, but more particularly for the iraqis. i do not know many iraqis who have not had a relative that has either been kidnapped or killed. certainly, there is v