i want to ask barbara starr one more question about the role russia is playing in all of this. what to we know about their involvement here? >> well, the russian foreign ministry now has spoken to both u.s. and south korean officials and is urging south korea not to conduct these exercises, that it could be very provocative, very destabilizing. as the u.s. state department says, south korea has every right to conduct these exercises and look after its own self-defense. at least for tonight, for now, everyone is holding to their position. suzann suzanne? >> thank you from your post at the pentagon. and obviously wolf blitzer who is live on the ground in north korea. for these historic talks. >>> well, they survived dramatic boat crash off australia. we'll tell you what these asylum seekers are protesting about now. >>> and home for the holidays. it is a long awaiting homecoming in california, as thousands of marines and sailors return to the u.s. and to home. stay with us. [ female announcer ] humana and walmart are teaming up to bring you a low-price medicare prescription drug

right now, let's get to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara, what are you learning about the president's surprise trip to afghanistan. >> reporter: well, tony, surprise, first of all, because the security surrounding the president always totally extremely tight, and, in this case, they wanted to make sure there were not leaks about his travel movements into afghanistan. the situation there, of course, remains unsettled in so many parts of the country. we are checking with our sources earlier, and the weather is bad in afghanistan today as it often is at this time of the year. so it's a little unclear what the president's movements will exactly be, whether he will, in fact, be able to move around the country by helicopter or aircraft or will, in fact, stay in virtual lockdown in one location. what might be on his agenda? this month, general david petraeus and ambassador eikenberry are due to review for the president their progress in afghanistan, the so-called december review. is the strategy working? are they making the progress they wa

. >>> i'm barbara starr at the pentagon. on capitol hill right now talking about repealing don't ask, don't tell. we'll have the latest at the top of the hour. >>> i'm meteorologist reynolds wolf. in buffalo, it was a few snowflakes and now there are two or three feet on the ground with more on the way. >>> parents, you know that one about the biggest keys to success in school -- studying, of course. but before your kid can hit the books, they've got to be able to find them. >> take me on a tour of the other part of the bomb that exploded. where do you study? >> looks like my room opinion we're tagging along as dr. steve perry starts one family's education makeover, and he's giving advice that every parent can use to make their child's study habits more effective. r.a. medicine jece you take just once a month. taken with methotrexate, simponi® helps relieve the pain, stiffness and swelling of r.a. with one dose once a month. visit 4simponi.com to see if you qualify for a full year of cost support. simponi® can lower your abi

so i want to bring in two of our own here, dan lothian joining me live from the white house and barbara starr at the pentagon. dan lothian, i want to begin with you. i know the president can pull some strings here and there. so i guess of all people he could sort of sneak out of country and head to afghanistan. but do we know how exactly he got out of washington? do we know when he did it and how he did it and i guess is he even still there? >> reporter: he just left. he lifted off headed to germany where they'll refuel before coming back to the united states. he's spending a little bit more than four hours on the ground in afghanistan. these are the kinds of trips that are very secret obviously for security reasons. so the president lifting off from washington last night and arriving there in afghanistan around 10:35 this morning. as you were pointing out earlier, the president had a lot more that he wanted to accomplish there even beyond just meeting with the troops. he wanted to also meet with president karzai in kabul but then bad weather rolled in. there were high winds. we are told abou

cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr following the story for us. barbara, hello, we remember what happened last year around the holidays and hearing this again, people will certainly get nervous, but i guess how credible is the information that we're getting? >> reporter: well, you know, t.j. that is what u.s. officials trying to assess. as you said, here we are again in the holiday season and talking about a potential, a possible al qaeda threat. why does al qaeda raise the head seemingly every holiday season? well, they're trying to cause disruption and they know they can do it at the holiday season when so many people out and about. what do we know about this? well, u.s. officials say they have received information from iraqi authorities who have talked to captured insurgents interrogated them and those people say al qaeda in iraq is planning attacks possibly against the u.s. or europe at this holiday season. now, they say that there's no specific target or timing or specific location associated with it. a u.s. military spokesman in baghdad gave

let's bring in pentagon correspondent barbara starr. the report says the u.s.on course to begin pulling troops out next year. do you hear that sentiment echoed in the has of the pentagon? >> you know, this is the stated policy. july 2011, troops will start coming home, but by all indications, it is going to be a very modest, small number at this point. i think the president, secretary gates, you just heard them at the white house, listen to some of the key words they said. the progress is fragile and reversib reversible. is the progress real? everyone during? temporary? come springtime, willed taliban come back full blast, regroup and start attacking again? u.s. troops can't leave an area unless they can turn it over to the afghans. that's the equation that has everybody concerned. sure it's progress, but is it real? and is it enough? underlying all of that is the question that the president and secretary gates brought up, more progress against the safe havens, because unless you can deal with that you'll still have them coming across the border and attacks u.s

>> barbara starr, thank you.er roulette, brian todd, brian todd is in pensacola, florida where this federal judge is weighing in on the latest legal challenge to this new federal health care reform law. brian, what's the story there? >> reporter: a key provision of that law, brooke is under siege today and that is the provision that says that everybody has to buy health insurance, even if you're healthy, even if you don't want health insurance, you have got buy it for the government to have enough money to bring everyone into the insurance pool. that's what was battled out here in this courthouse today. government lawyers arguing that you have got to have that in there in order to bring everyone in and insure everyone. lawyers for 20 states saying that is not constitutional, you cannot force people to buy a product in this case, insurance. the judge may have tipped his hand he sympathizes with that argument it is not constitutional. he said of the right that currently exists to not buy insurance "there are some p

barbara starr, join the conversation.en, you have covered as well as anyone the disputes, disagreements, the tug of war between the competing voices within the administration over the strategy in afghanistan. should we surge with the troops over whether the administration was doing enough on the other side of the border in pakistan? help us put richard holbrooke in context. >> reporter: what comes to mind, john, is i recently saw him in kabul at a press conference and he spoke about iran. i saw him at the pentagon give a briefing and he would talk about pakistan, the arab countries. this man had an enormous global vision. this was much more than just afghanistan to him. people say afghanistan, pakistan. richard holbrooke was focusing on regional stability. i believe he really genuinely thought, and i say quite accurate accurately, that one had to have a regional outlook in that very troubled part of the world. you couldn't just think about afghanistan. you couldn't think about pakistan. you had to think about all of the c

. >> i'm barbara starr at the pentagon.ek the long-awaited report on the progress on the war in afghanistan. how much progress and how soon can troops really come home? and defense secretary robert gates still hopes that congress will do something about repealing don't ask, don't tell in the closing days of the congressional lame duck session. >> i'm paul steinhauser at the cnn political desk. new york city's independent mayor joins republicans and democrats and other independents to find non-partisan solutions to the nation's problems. the group is called no labels, and it kicks off tomorrow in new york city. later in the week, two men who may want to run for the house, former house speaker newt gingrich and former senator rick santorum speak to republicans in crucial early voting states. >> i'm poppy harlow in new york. wall street is preparing for a pretty busy week of news with a watch on november retail sales, followed by readings on consumer confidence, new home construction and also a report on leading economic indic

>> thanks to barbara starr.e south korean military drills that called such attention with north korea. officials say the exercises will likely not be held this weekend because of bad weather. the drills were supposed to start today seven miles off the coast of north korea. the drills will take place only if the weather improves. korea threatened to deliver a self-defensive blow to the south if the exercises take place. russia is getting involved urging them to call off the drills. tensions mounted when the north shelled that island where the drills are supposed to take place. they shelled the island, which is in south korean territory. it killed people and 18 were injured. >>> it is that time of the year. scenes like this are going to play out. troops arriving home for the holidays. we are going to show you the emotional homecomings. it's four minutes past the hour. stay here. est cake? ♪ [ female announcer ] need a guilt free treat? try yoplait light. and i've lost weight. [ female announcer ] with 30 delicious

a department of defense official tells our barbara starr that the package is on the platform and thatme sort of flashing light on it. again, it's too early to tell exactly what it is. the official that spoke with barbara emphasized first reports coming from the scene. can very likely turn out to be nothing but they have shut down the metro station there while they investigate further. >>> also developing this morning, greece rocked by a massive strike. the crowds in athens are angry over changes to labor laws and pay cuts. the measures they received earlier this year. 100 billion euros. affecting banks, airlines and hospitals. >>> police in love love searching for an armed casino bandit that made off with 1.5 million worth of gambling chips after a brazen robbery at the bellagio casino and resort. they captured the gunman with a full face helmet and then escaped on the bike. police say the robbery took all of three minutes and say the suspect may have been the same one that pulled off a similar heist at another vegas casino last week. >>> not as el quantity as "oceans eleven" but effe

i want to bring in our cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr to give us a heads up on what to expect we now know that this report is going to report that this tl is progress in afghanistan, especially since the troops arrived. here's the question. is the progress real? is it permanent? >> as soons as i took my first step, that's when i saw -- i saw the flash. and heard the boom. >> he stepped on an ied in southern afghanistan the day after thanksgiving. that is a region that the commanders say are getting better. >> reporter: is there real progress? retired army colonel just returned from afghanistan assessing the war for general petraeus. >> we've made substantial progress in securing the people and that was surprising to me. >> reporter: but as the white house prepares to report on thursday the state of the war, some of the president's own party are raising concerns. >> mr. president, the american people deserve to know is july 2011 still a realistic time frame to begin our exit from afghanistan? >> reporter: u.s. air strikes are up sharply, more than 2500, since the surge a year a

our cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr has those details. here. is there a division or a split? >> well, where you stand is where you sit is a cliche for a reason. the pentagon, where they stand is that they are paid to worry about threats, and that what they are worried about right now. south korea said they will begin a live fire artillery drill. and general james cartwright spoke about this, and he is the vice chairman of the joint chiefs and a very pragmatic man, and he is concerned, he says, that once this live fire exercise starts, north korea could respond, and south korea could fire back as happened a few weeks ago when this island, this very island was shelled and listen to what he had to say about what his bottom line concerns are right now. >> what we worry about obviously, is that if that is misunderstood or if it is taken advantage of as an opportunity if north korea were to react to that in a negative way and fire back at the firing positions on the islands, that would start potentially a chain reaction of firing and counterfir

reporter rule let, i want to begin with barbara starr live for us at the pentagon. happening right now in the house of representativeses. >> brooke, all eyes on the house floor. they are going to take it to a vote. it could lead to very significant step in repealing the ban on gays serving in the military. the house is set to vote on repealing that ban. if it passes, then it all shifts to the senate. brooke? >> and then once to the senate, what would be the next step? >> well, if it was passed by both houses and the military will start implementing it. and it would be a very significant step lifting the ban until after 17 years. brooke? >> indeed, barbara, from the pentagon. thank you again. we're watching that vote very closely. also, senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is looking at a disturbing new trend in pot smoking and ecstasy use. >> researchers asked 46,000 high school students whether they had smoked pot in the last month and among the high school seniors, 21% said yes they had. also among those seniors, 19% said that they had smoked cigarettes so

dan simon can tell us what some there think about pfc manning and then talk to barbara starr at the pentagon from dan. >> hi, ali. we keep it interesting in the bay area. we ban happy meals and now the berkeley city council looking at maybe calling this guy a hero. basically what happened is the peace and justice commission -- this is a commission in berkeley. they like to look at international issues. they don't just deal with local issues. they have a history of looking at world affairs. so they looked closely at this case with pfc manning and said let's go ahead and call him a hero if in fact he did what he's accused of doing. there was a vigorous debate and the commission passed the measure by a 7-3 vote. that sends it to the city council which will look at this measure tonight. the conventional wisdom is that the city council will say no, not because they don't think manning is a hero. they haven't really looked at that issue as of yet. what they're concerned about, what we're hearing, is at this point these are just allegations. he's not convicted of doing this. it hasn't been proven i

our homeland security adviser, and chris lawrence aour white h correspondent dan lothian, and barbara starrimproving. you have been there for a long time and you were even there on day one of 9/11. are things improving based on your eyewitness account? >> if you take what the president said reversing the momentum of the taliban where the surge zest the strongest in kandahar, yes, security has improved in that city. the taliban have been pushed out to a larger degree, but force commander there, colonel martindale wants to move the troops out further, and stronger offensive in the spring, and can he do that? well, it depends on the afghan government, and he is not getting that much support. and warlords are getting top jobs in kandahar, and a lot of concern about the forces. >> and barbara, you came back from afghanistan and spoke to general and is he really confident that things will work out there? >> well, he believes he is making progress as nic says in southern afghanistan where he believes he has broken some of the taliban momentum and the key leaders and the ied factories and the safe

i want to bring in the cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr, can you tell us exactly what generals talking about. >> well, at least one gay rights group is already calling for the possible, potential resignation of james amos, the commandant of the marine corps after he made comments to the reporters at the pentagon suggesting there is a rise in battlefield casualties if gays openly serve in the military. he opposes "don't ask, don't tell" repeal, and he felt that the repeal could be a distraction to the marines and especially those serving in the combat zones. the newspaper "stars and stripes" provided an audio tape of what he said. >> i don't want to lose any marines through the distraction nor any marines visiting at bethesda as a result of any type of the distraction. >> this is first time that any distraction could lead to casualties. but we want to be clear, that general amos said that if the ban is repealed he and the rest of the marine corps will salute and respect the law. >> what about general amos -- >> well, here is another four-star taking on presidential policy. so f

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is joining us with more on the white house plans to review itsrategy in afghanistan. what have you learned, barbara? >> well, wolf as that strategy review is about to be unveiled, here's an interesting question, is anybody getting along these days with hamid karzai? as you said, it's important, it's vital to the war effort. >> reporter: as the white house readies its review of the afghan war, a critical concern. afghan president hamid karzai. u.s. officials tell cnn that karzai's behavior is at times erratic and unpredictable and has become a significant concern for general petraeus and karl ikenberry. -- karzai suddenly storming out of a moting was petraeus and others. soon after the meeting, petraeus, known for choosing his words carefully didn't deny it. >> did he stomp out on you? >> this was not a meeting with me. this was a meeting with the international community. >> petraeus insists he's on good terms with karzai. but when the afghan leader called for downsizing u.s. military operations, petraeus let it be known he thought relations were

barbara starr has been following this from the pentagon.saying the tensions between these two countries, the worst they've seen in quite a while. are they still planning on carrying out these exercises? >> at the moment the south is planning to go ahead. the weather is a little bad so the exercises may not happen until sunday or early monday. korean time. but the weekend here in washington is likely to be tense. all eyes on the korean peninsula. we have learned from the u.s. military official in fact just in the last few minutes, that the obama administration has established contingency communications with the koreans. the south koreans over the weekend. what does that mean? the white house, the pentagon, the state department will be in constant contact with their south korean counter parts in the government there so if something does break out, there will be instant communication. he have one will be able to talk. they'll be able to discuss courses of action. they'll be able to discuss next steps. everybody can be on the same page. why do