general david petraeus and stunned other senior u.s. officials. >> some things he objected to are done at this time necessarily to support his government. >> the raids are deeply unpopular in afghanistan, but militarily effective. >> we believe that the u.s. of intelligence-driven precision targeted operations against high value insurgents and their network is a key component of our comprehensive

i was looking for where is the quotation from david petraeus? there is none. at petraeus said this in a meeting with karzai. the two remain direct quotations from the foreign diplomat in kabul, european diplomat who is unhappy with what karzai said. my impression with the person i communicated today, karzai is a difficult partner but they're not panicked and they will go ahead and do what they're doing. al-maliki in iraq said several things. didn't stop him from counterinsurgency war in 2007 and 2008. >> juan? >> i have a different point of view. it undermines support for the war effort at home. what general petraeus said is the surge, with the added boots on the ground to book up the language that karzai used, there is more of a presence. that we don't intend to win it by all-out warfare. special operation mushtarak ration, done at night, are done with great care. when there is a botched effort it comes at a cost. it understand that. but our entire effort is based on petraeus being a fabulous man in a difficult situation. if you have karzai as an unreliable pa

we are just back with an exclusive interview with commander, general david petraeus.e that conversation in a minute. ♪ everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. >>> as obama is about to head to a nato summit in portugal the plan is to put a plan in effect to end the war effort by 2014. barbara starr had an exclusive conversation with the commanding general, david petraeus. let's talk about the deadline. first, joe biden, the vice president is on "larry king live" tonight and was having a conversation about why we need deadlines. listen to this about hamid karzai. >> you're got to step up, man. let me tell you, daddy's going to start to take the training wheels off in october. i mean, in next july. so you better practice riding. >> interesting language there, but a nudge at president karzai and a reflection of the lack of trust or doubts about him. you put the same question to general petraeus in asking about his relationship with the afghan president. >> i believe that i have a

according to "the post," general david petraeus expressed, quote, astonishment and disappointment with karzai's remarks. meanwhile, according to this morning's "new york times" the obama administration will be laying out a plan this week that aims to end the american combat mission in afghanistan by 2014. the u.s. would start handing over security duties to afghan forces over the next 18 to 24 months. >>> president obama is praising israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for trying to win approval from his cabinet of a new proposal to freeze construction in the disputed west bank. the plan would see israel enforce a construction ban for 90 days, in exchange, washington would give israel military aid and support at the united nations. if approved by the israeli government, the deal could help revive peace talks with the palestinians, which collapsed at the end of september. >>> and now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. in colorado, three u.s. soldiers were arrested after their attempted raid of a medical marijuana dispensary hit a snag. securit

>> reporter: in an exclusive interview with cnn general david petraeus made it clear that he is readyato summit, there is progress against the taliban. >> my assessment is that the momentum that the taliban enjoyed up until probably late summer has broadly been arrested in the country. >> reporter: and he thinks that he will be able to send some u.s. troops home beginning in july of next year. >> i think that we will be able to conduct transition of various tasks, to various afghan forces. the fact is that we are already doing that in certain areas. >> reporter: the ultimate goal is to get president hamid karzai's government to take over by 2014. senior officials in the u.s. say that the first provinces to be taken over are parwan, and bamiyan province. and other areas in the south may take longer like kandahar and helmand province. general petraeus is ready to tell leaders that there is progress there. >> the isaf forces have achieved momentum in areas and reeversed the momentum of the taliban in places like central helmand province. >> reporter: but there are critics. this man quest

that development comes as the top commander in afghanistan, general david petraeus, is expressing, quote, astonishment and disappointment after learning that afghan president hamid karzai criticized the u.s. war strategy in an interview with "the washington post" over the weekend. karzai's interview reads in part the time has come to reduce military operations. the time has come to reduce the presence of boots in afghanistan, reduce the intrusiveness into the daily afghan life. we would like to have a long-term relationship with america a substantial relationship with america, that's what the afghan people want, but we would like the afghan countryside, villages, homes, towns, not to be so overwhelmed with the military presence. life has to be seen as more normal. that's from hamid karzai. he went on to call for the u.s. military special ops raids, a key part of the counterinsurgency strategy. according to the post those remarks did not sit well with petraeus who warned officials that karzai's criticisms threatens to undermine progress in the war. comments drew fire from senator lindsay

conducted air strikes against al queda targets in yemen the president of the country told president david petraeusl continue saying the bombs are ours not yours." >> it puts in black and white the reality of certain positions which are meant to be kept private. >> reporter: then there is the cable describing libyan leader kadafi's visit to the united nation he must stay on the first floor and realize heavily on his long time ukrainian nurse who has been described as a voluptuous nurse. germany chancellor meshing el as rarely creative. sarkozy as the emperor without clothes. >> some of them said we should hear what we say about ute r you. >> reporter: others don't end up with their cables all over the internet. >>> president obama called for a federal employee pay freeze. the proposed two-year pay freeze would affect more than 2 million federal employees. a bipartisan deficit commission has suggested a freeze to help reduce the deficit. would apply to all civilian federal employees including those working at the department of defense. neither members of the armed forces nor members of congress woul

according to the "post" general david petraeus expressed, quote, astonishment and disappointment with his remarks. >>> according to this morning's "new york times" the obama administration will be laying out a plan this week that aims to end the american combat mission in afghanistan by 2014. the u.s. would start handing over security duties to afghan forces over the next 18 to 24 months. >>> president obama is praising israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for trying to win approval from his cabinet of a proposal to freeze construction in the disputed west bank. the plan would see israel and force a construction ban for 90 days. in exchange washington would give israel military aid and support of the united nations. if approved by the israeli government, the deal could help revive peace talks with palestinians which collapsed at the end of september. >>> tonight, msnbc will host a town hall event. it focuses on the impact of arizona's controversial immigration law and the role latino voters played in this year's midterm elections. you'll hear from undocumented studts and teens wh

in a january meeting yemen's president told general david petraeus we'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours, admitting that he had just lied to his own parliament. another reveals a secret u.s. effort to get pakistan to hand over enriched uranium from the nuclear reactor seen here for fear it could be used in a rogue nuclear weapon. last may patterson wrote home saying the effort failed because pakistani officials said it will portray the united states taking their weapons. u.s. officials fear such leaks could jeptize future operations in the critical war against terrorists. >> this could shake the government and end programs and seriously imperil u.s. foreign policy. >> the leak spare no one. they revul the saudi king urged the u.s. to attack and destroy irans nuclear program and german chancellor merkel is rarely creative. >> you're going to see the unvarnished truth that our ambassadors and senior officials have overseas are counterparts. it's not pretty in many cases. it's going fob honest and harsh, too. >> reporter: one of the most embarrassing revelations may involve

changed his mind after a private meeting with a top alliance commander in the country general david petraeus the incident comes on the eve of a landmark nato summit in lisbon the u.s. led blocks expected to agree on a road map for withdrawing all of its combat troops from afghanistan by the end of twenty fourteen artie's military contributor says it's now up to general petraeus to make the exit a graceful one political approach is still remains the same down despite the fact that it hasn't worked in nine years and it's unlikely to work in the four years and it operates the cross purposes with the military strategy reach that actually doesn't make sense because it's bottom up approach successfully tried and tested by the u.s. special forces both in iraq and afghanistan to overcome the contradiction between the political top down approach and. practical military bottom up strategy general petraeus has to regain the initiative from his political masters and to lead the way of both the governor and general afghanistan that's the only way to provide the opening space to save the face for the nato

that's only 15 tanks, but retired general jack keane, a confident of general david petraeus, thinks it's just the beginning. >> it may be the lead company of more tanks to follow. >> reporter: the first use of tanks in afghanistan is part of what an aid to petraeus calls squeezing down on the taliban like a giant anaconda. >> we've never been able to do that before and that's making a difference and beginning to erode the morale of the taliban. it's starting to break their will. >> reporter: the pace of american operations keeps going up from week to week. night raids up six-fold. air strikes nearly double. but it comes with a built-in drawback. >> this market increase in night raids and operation has been very visible to the afghan people and they have been vocally complaining to their government. >> reporter: civilian casualties are down 8%, but still 429 innocent afghans have been killed or wounded this year. the question is: do the numbers add up to a strategy that will allow the u.s. and its allies to meet the goal they are about to set at the nato summit in lisbon? >> a transition

four team military contributor says it's up to the alliance commander in the country general david petraeus to make the exit a graceful one. political approach is still remains the same down despite a defect that it hasn't been working nine years and it's unlikely to work in another four years and it operates the cross purposes with a military strategy reach that actually doesn't make sense because it's bottom up approach successfully tried and tested by the u.s. special forces both in iraq and afghanistan to overcome the contradiction between the political top down approach and hands on practical military bottom up strategy general petraeus has to regain of that initiative from his political masters and to lead the way of both the governor and general of afghanistan that's the only way to provide the opening space to save the face for the nato for a long mission in afghanistan and for the graceful exit of the u.s. forces from their region. and i was there to drive a car only get a portion of their yeah it's official russia has the most smokers per capita in the world the shocking statistic

conducted air strikes against al qaeda targets in yemen, the president of the country told general david petraeus "we'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours." >> it puts in black and white the reality of certain positions which are meant to be kept private. >> reporter: then there's the cable describing libyan leader qaddafi's visit to the united nations. "he must stay on the first floor and relies heavily on his long-time ukrainian nurse" who has been described as a voluptuous blond. other cables describe russia's president medvedev as afraid, hesitant. germany's chancellor merkel as rarely create i. france's sarkozy as a naked emperor. >> at least one of my counterparts said to me "well, don't worry about it, we should see what we say about you." >> reporter: the difference is that other governments don't end up with their diplomatic cables all over the internet. katie? >> couric: david, even more documents have apparently just leaked out pertaining to north korea and its relationship with china. >> reporter: one of them is a secret cable from earlier this year in which south korea's

bahrain's king items general david petraeus that in november 2009. "the danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it." foreign minister of the united arab emirates says ahmadinejad is hitler, and tells a top state department official, quote, "the threat from al qaeda would be minor if iran has nukes." in these private dispatches posted online by "the new york times" and other papers, several arab governments take a line virtually identical to israel's. in another meeting with general petraeus, the saudi ambassador to the u.s. describes king abdullah urging the u.s. to attack iran, saying, quote, "the use of military pressure against iran should not be ruled out." but defense secretary robert gates is quoted telling france's defense minister that an attack on iran would only delay iranian plans by one to three years, while unifying the iranian people to be forever embittered against the attacker. many of the documents are simply embarrassing. for example in the effort to close guantanamo, the state department plays what "the ne

back in october at a meeting in london, general david petraeus first hinted that preliminary discussions with the taliban were under way. but this week, he said the u.s. had had doubts from the start. >> there was skepticism about one of these all along, and it may well be that that skepticism was well founded. >> reporter: in kabul, a senior official accused the british of being naive and said the afghans too, were guilty of wishful thinking that genuine talks were under way. as for beleaguered u.s. and nato troops, they're now hunting for the elusive mullah mansour, who has now vanished, presumably along with the money. >> this is going on throughout every single village in afghanistan, that the taliban have been able to confuse and dupe the americans. >> reporter: no matter who's to blame, one afghan insider told cbs news this is more than a mistake, it's a failure that exposes the fact that even after nine years, u.s. and nato intelligence still don't know who the top taliban power brokers really are. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, london. >> rodriguez: now the story of a rescue that no

from these wars, to his domestic agenda train fight these are photographs this point of general david petraeus in the book you call general petraeus and president obama, let me find the exact words, two of the most driven -- let me find here -- to the most ambitious driven end of their age. how well is the relationship? >> guest: yes, it is, and they have a close the deal. they haven't closed the deal that i know of, on a personal level. and they look at this differently. president obama wants to limit general petraeus is quoted in saying privately, this is the kind for we are going to be fighting all of our lives and our kids lives. >> host: last call for you, kenny, republican line. you're on, kenny. ..

i went to west point i was an infantry officer i graduated from west point three years after david petraeus did. i am a firm believer in in the concept of overwhelming force that means you go in if you're going to fight go in with overwhelming force get the job done get it done swiftly quickly and decisively and then leave a presence there to keep a lid on things if you're not going to do that don't go in at all and we we. you know you know fiddled around and you know if you look at viet nam we had five hundred fifty thousand troops on the ground at the height of the peak the height the viet nam but we kept waffling our national leadership didn't know how to use them they they kept you know these. engine walls of engagement don't shoot at the n.b.a. if they go into a temple understand mcchrystal we were doing the same thing in afghanistan we're not really fighting a war over there we don't want to have any civilian casualties well nobody there are but how do you hear the civilian casualty jaggedly part of the reason why the civilian population doesn't like us and the longer this conflict ke

the house they're going to have more influence military officials of course including general david petraeus well they're no fans of setting timelines either hell general petraeus said the he believes this is a fight the last decades generations but that was obama's strong point that was where he flex his muscles or he may be american people believe that he's dedicated to getting out to bringing american troops home to stop wasting billions of dollars and thousands of lives now as a pledge we thought we could believe now don't get me wrong i don't think anybody was naive enough to believe that setting a date to begin with drawl of the war be over anytime soon but at least it was a starting point it was a light at the end of the tunnel that at least some type of removal process would be in the works i guess now we can kiss all of that by maybe we should kiss any type of honesty from this administration and trust from the people could buy oil get your base back obama do you really think that afghanistan is going to be able to provide its own security by two thousand and fourteen we've been fig

back in january their president spoke directly with general david petraeus and he said we'll continue saying the bombs are ours not yours and the cable further reveals that the yemeni president even will lie to his parliament about who was responsible for the attacks now another cable reveals that secretary of state hillary clinton signed off on orders for u.s. diplomats to spy on diplomats from other countries at the u.n. the diplomats were told to get information about e-mail accounts credit cards passwords and other highly sensitive biometric information biometric information meaning iris scans passport photos fingerprints and d.n.a. and it looks like the u.s. wanted to keep a very close eye on u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon intending on intending information about his. and intentions for sensitive issues like iran and remember these are just a solo act few of thousands of cables so now they have a better gist of what sensitive information has been leaked to officials around the world we can't help but wonder what the fallout might be. as expected u.s. officials including the w

david petraeus expressed astonishment adding they seriously undermine the war effort. hillary clinton defended these operations. >> these operations are conducted in full partnership with the government of afghanistan. they include afghan forces on each operation. there is no question that they are having a significant impact on the insurgent leadership and the networks that they operate. >> reporter: the afghan government is trying to downplay the controversy saying president karzai has full confidence in general petraeus. >>> an unusual small claims case involving an escargot that apparently exploded at a bay area restaurant. >>> and walmart is social networking. find out what service it's using to sell its black friday sales. >> you may have received one. a county ordinance. not a traffic ticket. it means you pay less but tonight those tickets are going away. why and who is behind it. >>> a long time birthday store plans to remain open through the holidays. mr. mop was in danger of shutting down when the owner couldn't find anyone to take over the business. now new

general david petraeus is also at the summit to promote his plan to handing over responsibility for security in some parts of >>> the afghan forces have -- have reversed the momentum of the taliban in places. >> reporter: the plan is to end the combat role of the nato alliance by 2014 but keep forces in the country to train and advise afghans. the president is facing some challenges convincing european nations to stay the course. president obama is holding a news conference later this hour. we'll have it for you here on the morning news. for now we are live in washington, d.c.. alison burns. >>> an army staff sergeant from california died this week in afghanistan divide senft was 24 years old. he was a gunman on a black hawk helicopter. he died on monday. senft grew up in trey -- tracy. he is survived by his wife and son. >>> a formal fair well for a police officer. fagan died of a heart attack. he made headlines by what was named the fajita gate scandal. those that knew him said he had a vibrant personality. the memorial service is taking police at st. mary's cathedral. >> his service will

the leaders are expected to back a plan by general david petraeus to start handing over responsibility for security in some parts of afghanistan next summer. >> i think he will be able to conduct transition of various tasks to various afghan forces. we are already doing that in certain areas. >> reporter: the plan is to e. the combat role of the nato alliance by 2014 but keep forces in the country to train and advise afghans. they are having trouble convincing european nations to stay the course. reporting live from washington, d.c. alison burns ktvu channel 2 morning news. >>> 5:15 after thanks giving members of the house of representatives will decide whether to accept the recommendation of the house ethics committee. the ethics committee voted yesterday to recommend senture. he apologized for his miss conduct but said he is not a crooked politics. he will have to stand before his colleagues and be pubically rebuked. >>> the rape case sex crimes prosecutor is now on hold. that is after his request was granted for the judge assigned to this case to be removed. the judge has associatio

were negotiating with the afghan government and nato officials but this was proof that general david petraeus the strategy was working and that we were taking away their momentum to the point where the taliban decided that they had to negotiate all this of course despite well omar the top taliban official vehemently deny anything of that sort then today the new york times reported the man going by the name of mullah muhammad months sort who is believed to be the second highest taliban commander and whom the negotiations have taken place with well we found out that he was in fact a fraud a phony a fake an impostor a lowly shopkeeper from quetta according to some officials not to make it even worse not only had afghan and nato officials held three meetings with the man from whom they secured roadways flew to kabul on nato aircraft into the presidential palace they also according to officials gave him a lot of money i told you you really can't make that story up but now the money's gone now that our intelligence has proven to be embarrassingly inadequate and all hopes of peace talks have been de

>> reporter: you know general david petraeus very well. he is a man who picks his words and his battles very carefully. so when afghan president hamid karzai poked, petraeus poked right back. when i spoke to general petraeus in afghanistan recently about president hamid karzai, the commander of u.s. and nato forces sounded positive. >> i believe i have a very good relationship with him. we meet several times a week. we do at least two one on ones per week. >> reporter: but also a hint of trouble. >> the fact is that we do indeed combat issues from different perspectives at times. >> reporter: differing perspectives erupted into an open breech after karzai told "the washington post," the time has come to reduce military operations. the time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in afghanistan." petraeus told afghan officials if they felt that way, relations between the two countries could become untenable. senator john mccain just returned from the war zone. >> hamid karzai is reflecting his desire to survive. also a degree of

forces there, david petraeus, warns that the relationship could be unten nabl if the afghan presidentreduces the and the comments published in the washington post yesterday said the time has come to reduce military operations, to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily afghan live. officials told the post that he expressed astonishment and disappointment with that call from karzai. >>> well, how can $20,000 and spare car parts save a baby? we will tell you about that coming up. ♪ [ male announcer ] ever have morning pain slow you down? introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid to fight fatigue. so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever. >>> a company that creates incubators for poor companies. 20 million low-weight and premature babies are born each year and many die. incubators could save many of these children but can cost around $20,000, require upkeep training, continuous electricity resources unavailable in many poor countries. the company that has created a possible solution is design that matters. they designed a an inc

. >> reporter: on saturday, nato leaders are expected to endorse the plan by general david petraeus, the top u.s. and nato commander in afghanistan. and to start handing over security responsibilities? in parts is of the -- parts of the country next year. the petraeus plan has a timeline that would transfer the remaining security responsibilities to afghan forces by the end of 2014 and based on conditions on the ground. >> nobody can make guarantees of what will happen four, five years from now. and based on, that we are quite confident we will meet the end of 22049 season, aimed to have afghan forces in the lead throughout the country. >> reporter: karzai is attending the summit and will have talks with president obama on saturday to explain how he plans to work towards that goal. many will be ready for the job. [speaking in native tongue] [ through translator ] >> the way we see our security forces progressing, hopefully by 2049, we will be able to have the ability of leading the military operation in our country. [ through translator ] >> we have our own national army and national

listen to what general david petraeus said in this interview with barbara starr. >> he is going to say it is not his actions, what anyone would have done, it was the team. let me tell you, it was his actions. they were incredible and he is so very deserving of it. >> winning a medal of honor. to understand what it means, you almost have to win one yourself. in a moment, you'll hear from some members of that exclusive club. n some fresh bread that he'd made from our pale ale. and from that first bite, i knew my business would never be the same. [ male announcer ] when businesses see an opportunity to grow, the hartford is there. protecting their property and helping them plan their employees' retirement. ♪ beer or bread? [ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. my kids say i speak a different language. but i love math and math and science develop new ideas. we've used hydrogen in our plants for decades. the old hydrogen units were very large. recently, we've been able to reduce that. then our scientists said "what if we could make it small enoug

but general david petraeus says he's not surprised by this report.me now is michael sheehan. are you surprised by the report? what is happening there? >> well, tamron, i'm not surprised. it's not the first time and it won't be the last time someone is swindled by an afghan war lord. it's a very difficult environment. it's really an embarrassment for the afghan political leadership who are supposed to have a better hand ob who these people are. we also have to sort these people out. it's very important that we continue to probe the taliban. and try to peel portions of the orgs off. >> you have the pentagon spokesperson saying he doesn't know if the story is true, but listen to the details that this person, supposed to be number two taliban official, wouldn't they have a photograph, some intelligence before having high level or secret conversations with this individual? >> well, i'm not sure he met with the president. if he had gotten all the way up to the president, this would be a major mistake on the part of the officials in charge of that. but they

here's what general david petraeus, leader of the u.s.s in afghanistan, said about it in this exclusive interview with cnn's barbara starr. >> he has written a chapter, a very, very extraordinary chapter in american history, and, again, he is -- he's going to have that with him the rest of his life. my sense is that he is exactly the kind of individual who can carry this in a sense burden because that's what it is, again, the hopes and dreams of a generation are now entrusted to him. >> cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr has a special report about staff sergeant sal giunta next hour on cnn. she joins me live from washington. i ran into some service members today who are doing a march here, barbara, and it is amazing to see those guys and great. i'm so glad we're getting the chance to honor them here and that the sergeant is getting an honor, as well. >> look at what general petraeus had to say, don. he is talking about a young man who is just now 25 years old, three years ago in a terrible ambush firefight in afghanistan at the ag

"that program must be stopped," bahrain's king tells general david petraeus in november 2009.nger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it." the foreign minister of the united arab emirates says, "ahmadinejad is hitler," and tells a top state department official, "the threat from al qaeda would be minor if iran has nukes." in these private dispatches, posted online by the "new york times" and other papers, several arab governments take a line virtually identical to israel's. many of the documents are simply embarrassing. for example, in the effort to close guantanamo, the state department plays what the "new york times" calls, let's make a deal, offering foreign governments rewards for agreeing to take prisoners. slovenia, for example, is told if it wants to get a meeting with president obama, it needs to take a prisoner. in an apparent sign of corruption, u.s. drug agents catch afghanistan's vice president in the uae with $52 million in cash. the dea officials looked the other way. libyan leader moammar gadhafi's visit to new york last year is the subject

commander there, general david petraeus as he put it astonished and disappointed.n interview with the "the washington post" newspaper over the weekend, harmid karzai says u.s. special forces night raids, quote, have to go away. in his words, the afghan people don't like these raids. if there is any raid, it has to be done by the afghan government within the afghan laws. general petraeus reportedly considers the night raids an essential part of his counter terrorism effort. secretary of state clinton today defended his strategy, but also said the united states supports karzai's goal for afghanistan's troops to take over security four years from now. >> based on conditions on the ground, we support president karzai's stated goal of transitioning responsibility for all security to an afghan lead by the end of 2014. >> shepard: the timing is important here because a major nato conference on the future of afghanistan begins four days from today. well, they plan to spend six months at sea. but, instead, somali pirates held them captive for more than a year. and now that

tell you that the president of the united states, defense secretary robert gates, and general david petraeus beg to differ. they say that this is a remarkable young man. he will receive the nation's highest award on tuesday. watch tonight at 7:00. fred. >> so barbara, so often this award is given post human yusly. has the criteria changed? what is it about the circumstances here that makes it historying-making that a living service member gets this medal of honor. >> it's remarkable. there has not been a living service member since the vietnam war receiving the medal of honor in an ongoing conflict like this. there have been a handful for their actions in iraq and afghanistan. a lot say it's the nature of warfare that's changed. today's war is not the sort of hand-to-hand combat that you might have seen in the past. i will tell you that these men in this unit on that night in afghanistan were engaged in very close combat. they all suffered very greatly. they continue to suffer. they lost two of their own that night. those two men are very deeply remembered by this unit. and this is something

general david petraeus, we'll continue saying the bombs are ours not yours. other cables went to u.s. diplomats at the united nations who were urged to collect detailed information on secretary general ban-ki moon and other international diplomats. the state department in response today dismissed any allegations of diplomatic spying. the internal cables also contained candid, unflattering, and distinctly undiplomatic references to world leaders. russian prime minister putin was mockingly called the alpha dog. french president sarkozy was dubbed the emperor with no clothes. and afghan president karzai was described as driven by paranoia. in kabul today, karzai's spokeman offered a muted reaction. >> so far as the contents relating to afghanistan and the leaks concerned there is not much in the document that might surprise us, and we don't see anything substantive in the document that will strain the relationships. >> ifill: the russian foreign minister traveling today in india also played down any fallout. >> well, this of course makes for amusing reading. on

military operation, and in that call to "the washington post," he infuriated general david petraeus. according to all reports. today secretary of state hillary clinton is defending u.s. operations in afghanistan. senator joe lieberman is senior member of the armed services committee, and just returned from the war zones in iraq and afghanistan. senator, thank you very much. first let's go to this dispute. hamid karzai calls "the washington post" saying he wants the footprint of u.s. troops reduced almost immediately. general pap tray is clearly concerned in sunday meetings saying that -- that that would not make -- make his work even possible. he expressed "astonishment and disappointment" that karzai's position made his own untenable. what is your reaction to this? what do we do with hamid karzai? >> well i share general petraeus' surprise and disappointment. i mean, this strategy we're following is one that we have agreed on with the afghans and it's -- we're being tough on the bad guys, on the taliban, on al qaeda in afghanistan, but we're doing it to try to protect the lives of t

secret predator drone program against al-qaeda in yemen, the yemeni president telling general david petraeus quote we will continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours. the secret memos also reveal saudi king of dulla urged the u.s. to attack iran's nuclear program. secretary clinton says the embarrassing comments about foreign leaders are far less important. >> in my conversations at least one of my counterparts said to me, well, don't worry about it. you should see what we say about you. so i think that this is well understood in the diplomatic community as part of the give and take. >> reporter: one republican lawmaker says he wants wikileaks to be declared a terrorist organization. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are arranging -- urging strong legal action tonight. some saying labeling wikileaks a foreign terrorist organization would allow the u.s. to seize its assets and stop others from cooperating with the website. >>> police in belmont say thieves broke into carl mont high school over the thanksgiving day weekend and took dozens of computers. investigators say sometime between

in baghdad in 2007 general david petraeus is sent over to baghdad, iraq's security situation is feeling a rapidly. petraeus says i can fix it for you, mr. president. he goes over to baghdad and the first thing he is confronted with is we knew very little about the organization of the iraqi insurgents and al qaeda in iraq. it turns out that nsa had come up with a couple lovely devices which basically could vacuum clean all of the e-mail, digital pages and cellphone traffic for the greater baghdad area which is roughly a couple million people crammed into a very small place, and then there was a corollary computer system that basically could run through all the call data and figure out who is an insurgent and who was just mom-and-pop calling for the local store. and what we have to wait for nsa to classify material on the subject, but i talked now with a couple dozen people who basically said through this vacuum cleaner intercept system they parked on a man-made mountain out near the baghdad international airport it looked basically like the compressor -- demers all powered compressor as

. >> sreenivasan: general david petraeus, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, confirmed there has been outreach to the taliban over the past six to eight months. speaking to reporters in berlin, petraeus said there had been long-held doubts about one of the alleged taliban representatives. >> some of these have been recognized as being legitimate. all are very preliminary. in fact, as we have described at most have been talks about talks or pre-preliminary. there was skepticism about one of these all along, and it may well be that that skepticism was well founded. >> sreenivasan: the taliban has denied talks are taking place at any level. the death toll from a stampede in cambodia rose to nearly 380 people today, as rescuers searched for more victims. the disaster happened late yesterday in phnom penh, during a festival celebrating the end of the rainy season. thousands tried to flee over a narrow bridge. many suffocated or were trampled in the frenzy. more than 750 people were injured, including some who reported being wedged in the c