jill dougherty covering the diplomatic angle. and on the phone, kirk lippold, former commander of the "uss cole." what does the u.s. believe the intent was? trying to bait the u.s. military, provoke an altercation? >> maybe a little bit of both. the thinking is is the iranians really were not looking for a shooting match. they were going to break off but they were going to cause a little heart-stopping action before they did that. one of the things here is, look the iranians gained some intelligence by getting so close to u.s. navy ships. they were able to gauge the u.s. military response as they came at those ships. that gives them valuable information if the next time it's not just a cat and mouse game. >> what has been the reaction of the pentagon? >> well, a lot of concern. now, top officials will tell you that, look, these kinds of activities happen out in the persian gulf. that they deal with them. that they have a very strong stance. and that the provocative activity mainly comes from the revolutionary guard corps which op

as jill dougherty explains, walks won't be easy. >> reporter: secretary of state hillary clinton meets with the foreign minister of qatar. it's major news, potentially a breakthrough. but there are a lot of questions about those talks. for example, the taliban are not monolithic. they have a lot of factions, including mullah omar and the kahani network. will they agree not to cross the red lines the united states are insisted on. >> are there individual fighters of strategic significance who are prepared to come off the battlefield and join the political process within the framework that the afghans have discussed and that we have supported, namely that they are now ready to denounce violence, to cut ties with al qaeda and to work within the afghan constitution? so, you know, in any negotiated settlement, at the end of a conflict, there has to be a negotiation, right? so the question is whether this office, were it to open, could play a positive role in that. >> reporter: there could be complications. the taliban wants some of their members held in guantanamo free. they also want to be

in the other part, the economic part of asia, which is critical to the united states. >> our jill doughertyite house. jill, thanks so much for that perspective. we'll have live coverage of president obama's remarks at the pentagon. that's scheduled for 10:50 eastern time. we will take it live. >>> let's talk presidential politics now in the campaign trails blazing across new hampshire. the primary there now just five days away and this morning we've go the a brand new poll to show us how things are stacking up. paul steinhauser's in manchester. paul, what's the latest? >> reporter: five days to go, as you said. look at, this brand new numbers on the horse race here. this is among people likely to vote in that republican primary on tuesday night. kyra, this poll is conducted on the 3rd and 4th. that was the day of the caucuses and the day after. no change in the top spot. mitt romney the former governor of massachusetts, you can see ron paul at 18%, everybody else at least on the top five there in single digits. 17%, that's pretty high, accord to go this poll, still undecided. talking about

jill dougherty, i'm sorry. >>> president obama is spending the night in detroit after making stops inevada and colorado to promote his economic plans. most of the buzz today centers not on that but what happened last night during a stop in phoenix where he got into with what republican governor jan brewer described as a heated encounter. governor, i've been following the tweets today. the president got off the plane, you handed him a handwritten note. at one point there appeared to be some finger pointing. take us back to that moment. a lot of of people are saying he's the president of the united states. whether you disagree or not perhaps you should have shown him a bit more respect. >> well, first, thank you, john, for having me on. first let me say that i respect the office of the president. and when i went to meet him at the tarmac i went with a happy heart. i was pleased that he was coming to arizona to see the arizona comeback, to be part of it firsthand. so when i arrived there and before i left the office i wrote a handwritten note to welcome him to arizona and to tell him abo

troops in the region, the groundwork jill dougherty is here with this part of the story. jill?ing here at the state department couldn't be worse. taliban spokesperson tells cnn that the video, says he put it, barbaric, but there are also reports that the taliban don't believe that ultimately this will stop the talks, and that is a great indication of just how complex all of this really is. >> you could hear her revulsion. >> i want to express my total dismay at the story concerning our marines. >> reporter: that comes in the midst of the first glimmer of progress in peace talks the secret meetings began a year ago handled by german officials. >> now he's shuffling to kabul to get the blessing of hamid karzai who's been waffling. >> we don't have any idea standing here today what the outcome of such discussions could be. i think all of us are entering into it with a very realistic sense of what is possible, and that includes, of course, president karzai and his government which all after bear the ultimate responsibility and the consequences of any such discussions. >> reporter:

or foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty is taking a look at what the obama administration is he scenes. jill, what is going on? >> wolf, what barbara is talking about really shows there's a question -- does iran really understand the red lines that the white house -- the administration is laying out? now, the state department says no question that iran has gotten the message, but others are warning there's real danger of miscalculation. don't even think of blocking the strait of hormuz. a blunt public warning to iran from defense secretary leon panetta. >> that's another red line for us, and that we will respond to that. >> reporter: with the danger of military confrontation over that vital choke point escalating, the u.s. is using every channel it has, including secret back channels to lay down its red lines to tehran. >> we used our regular channels of commune indicate, of which there are several, to make our message known, privately in addition to the very strong public we're sending. >> reporter: washington talks to iran through its protecting power, switzerland. it also u

jill dougherty is joining us with details. what's going on?rter: if the first hours of this tragedy, many of the americans who were aboard were asking themselves the same question -- can i count on the u.s. embassy to help me? when the italian cruise ship capsized there were 120 americans aboard. the state department says it immediately set up a 24/7 operation to help them, including using twitter and facebook to help the search for gerald and barbara hale, still missing. one american tells cnn that she got little help from the embassy after losing her passports and documents. >> i called the embassy and told them the situation, they said come on down and get a new passport. i said we're here at the hotel, we have no transportation, no money. they said, well, grab a cab. we had no money. >> reporter: but the state department says it did everything it could to make sure the cruise line was assisting ship wrecked passengers with food, hotel rooms and transcription. >> we made a deal with the cruise line that they would transport all of the ameri

. >> thanks so much jill dougherty in washington. >>> back in this country now, a matter of legal cases. a woman is taking honda to court. she says her car's mileage isn't good enough. but did you know they're good for you too? they're high in vitamins and potassium. and idaho potatoes are now certified to carry the heart checkmark from the american heart association for foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol. so they're good for my family, and for yours. heart smart idaho potatoes. always look for the grown in idaho seal. ♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first on the side. from honey nut cheerios to cinnamon toast crunch to lucky charms, get more whole grain than any other ingredient... without question. just look for the white check. paragraph students and lumm alumni say the state isn't doing enough to support them. our legal guys are back, avery friedman and richard herman in las vegas. this

. >> i'm jill dougherty.q and afghanistan are at the top of the list for secretary of state hillary clint on this wee. she'll be talking to state department staff in both countries. wednesday, she meets with the foreign minister of qatar. the possible location for the taliban to set up an office for peace talks with the u.s. also on the agend thaerks man with the reset button swearing in the new ambassador to russia. >> i'm chris lawrence in washington. coming up this week, the pentagon is still dealing with the aftermath of president obama's visit to the pentagon in which military leaders laid out a new strategy that involves a lot of cost cutting measures. now comes the hard part. military leaders start to talk to members of congress and start to hammer out some of the details of those cuts. defense secretary leon panetta says everything is on the table. >>> i'm poppy harlow. coming up on wall street, earnings season kick offs with numbers from jpmorgan chase and alcoa. we'll get a look at consumer sentimen

. >> all right, jill dougherty, thanks so much for that update. >>> back to the campaign trail as former pennsylvania senator rick santorum rises in the republican presidential polls. he's talking up his foreign policy experience, though. what are his credentials? we'll tell you about 30 minutes or so from now. >>> and 2012 is just getting started and dealnews.com issued the list of items that will cost more money this year. airfare, american express predicting the price will rise about 5% in 2012. next, food prices are going up. they rose 6% last year on higher wholesale prices. and gassing up your car won't be cheaper this year. expect gas prices to inch back to $4 a gallon. and next, shipping, the u.s. postal service will raise rates more than 4% this year and fedex and u.p.s. are expected to follow suit. and finally, municipal fees, that's what you pay for everything from dog licenses to vehicle registration, even local police may be writing more tickets. but it's not all bad news. after the break, got a list of five items that will cost you less this year. stay here. >>> so before t

jill dougherty, thank you very much. >>> the anticipated film about the killing of osama bin laden isng the kind of attention you probably didn't expect from the department of defense. officials want to know if the filmmakers got their hands on classified information. plus using flip-flops to protest. why people are dumping them outside a police station. [ f] don't just moisturize, improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. and for healthy, beautiful hair, try nourish plus haircare. only from aveeno. okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male anno

let's bring in jill dougherty.tment and spoke with the transportation secretary ray lahood's son just alternates while ago. what's going on? >> this really is the last chapter, only the last chapter in this ongoing crackdown. >> sam lahood tells cnn he tried to get out last saturday for a short trip to see a friend, but was turned back by egyptian authorities. we reached him by phone at his apartment in cairo. sam, do you feel air where you are at this point? >> i feel safe physically. you know, obviously the fact that the investigative judge chose to prevent some of us from traveling is something that our lawyer tells us indicates this investigation has taken on more serious nature. and the next step from here would either be arrest or go to trial. >> reporter: the 37-year-old is egypt director for the influential nongovernmental organization the international republican institute. he was one of five iri that the on the no-fly list. his offices, along with of other ngos were raided last month. his father, transpor

i want to bring in foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty.m on the phone just a short time ago. how is he doing? >> yeah, well we got him on the phone when he went to the airport, he tried to get out. they looked at his passport and essentially sent him back to his apartment in cairo where he is right now. we went over to iri headquarters. and talked to him by phone and here's what he said. >> sam, do you feel safe where you are at this point? >> yeah, i feel safe physically. you know, obviously, the fact that the investigative judge chose to prevent some of us from traveling is something that our lawyer tells us indicates that you know, this investigation is taking on a more serious nature and the next step from here would either be arrest or go to trial. >> now, i should explain that investigation, brooke, he's talking about is remember last month, we were reporting on these ngos from the united states and others even egyptian ngos that were being investigated by the government. unknown exactly what they're looking for, but they're really c

. >> i want to go to the white house where jill dougherty is standing by to talk about the politics ofll. again, this is back and for the here. it is a controversial move that the president has made. i am assuming that this is helping him in some ways for his democratic base who don't think that he's been tough enough with republicans and who look at all this gridlock and say -- do something. >> reporter: i think you would definitely be right if you thought about that. standing back, after that, you need a law degree to figure this out and -- but the whole idea is -- at least the white house would like to put it, is the president standing up for the consumer and they of course would say with this move the president is standing up and that's what they want. look at the focus that the president has right now. jobs, average americans, helping average americans. and so the republicans can use this and say, no, it's the government riding roughshod over the american people, the president's doing something illegal. at least as they define it. but the white house can say, number one, we're leg