it was said by jim maceda we didn't know what would happen. president morsi sent out the word this is not acceptable. even with peaceful protests. but the spread of this, andrea is still with us. she tweeted out drawing attention to due nae sha especially and the loyalty to the united states. if this goes to an epic proportion there as far as outcry, where does the united states stand with some of these countries that we backed? >> i think this is a critical day. it's friday. it's the height of prayer day. the height of protest day. if everything cools down over the weekend, i think that this -- we might be through the worst of it. i think the thing that we need to keep an eye on is not so much what happens over the next one or two or three days. unless it really kicks off. the thing that is most distressing is that a piece of propaganda, if you will, can you plucked out of thin air on the internet i ma'ams and rebel rousing. we should fear for this the next time this happens. it seems to turn on and off at any moment. >> what can you do? we'r

jim maceda joins us from cairo. jim, good evening. >> reporter: hello, lester. the state department is temporarily closing embassies in sudan and yemen, warning u.s. citizens of the travel in those countries, as well as in tunisia where americans are encouraged to leave as worries about more violent protests escalate. a four-day standoff outside the u.s. embassy in cairo ended this morning when riot police charged the protesters and cleared out tahrir square, arresting some 200 along the way. the city began to return to normal as did the country with no reported protests or violence. friday's day of rage spread across more than 20 countries. in tunisia today local citizens and security personnel surveyed damaged cars and buildings at the u.s. embassy now protected by armored vehicles while a u.s. marine rapid response team took up positions at yemen's charred u.s. embassy and western hotels. it wasn't all quiet. as far away as sydney, australia, hundreds protesters clashed with riot police outside the u.s. consulate saying america had defiled their religion. >>

nbc's jim maceda spent some time recently with u.s. special forces including a green beret whose mission has become a lot more dangerous. >> reporter: sergeant first class b. rolls out of his bunk at dawn. a green beret he can't use his real name or show his full face but his mornings with pistol in hand include a daily cardio workout and a breakfast of eggs and bacon bagels with syrup. before the sun is too high, he is breaking in a group of new afghan recruits to take over security as u.s. troops leave. the afghan local police or a.l.p. is an armed militia who come from the very villages they protect. >> know all the faces of who should be in town and when something does happen, when the taliban come into the village, they'll be the first guys to be called. >> reporter: it may seem like an unusual role for those known more for their secret kill or capture missions, but b., an ex-paratrooper from waynesville, missouri on his fourth deployment says the special forces training is paying off. >> they get down and they return fire and are

. >> joining me now live from cairo, nbc's similar maceda. give us the best description of how things are right now. >> reporter: well, ironically benghazi remained calm today. if you look at it, perhaps the libyan government's quick crackdown there on those alleged perpetrators. four individuals were arrested today. there's a manhunt going on that might have had a tamping-down effort. even there in benghazi, the u.s. government is taking no chances. we understand that all u.s. personnel has now been or have been evacuated to tripoli and only emergency staff are kept at the embassy here. here in cairo it's another 24 hours of protests against that made in usa anti-islam film. overnight last night some dramatic scenes near the u.s. embassy which is 400 or 500 yards behind me. protestors seen throwing stones at riot police, charging back. they are firing tear gas to disperse the crowds. this cat and mouse standoff has gone on all day long since dawn. there's not a further breach of the u.s. embassy grounds. that's the good news, but it has rema

jim maceda is on the ground in cairo. ambassador ginsberg remains with us in new york.o has seen some of the largest protests of the day. what's the mood? what's going on there? >> reporter: well, it's interesting. it almost feels like two different protests going on. on the one hand, you've got the stand off which is in its fourth day between younger people, more hard core radicals who are only 200 or 300. and they are still in that cat and mouse stand off with riot police. we saw more tear gas today. we saw water cannons as well. and we also saw a big concrete wall go up between the protesters and the u.s. embassy. that's all happening inside a basketball. then you probably hear behind me a large -- not a large crowd, probably 300 or 400 right now. they were much larger earlier today. these are the muslim brotherhood sanctioned supporters kwho came out as the religiously involved in this and protesting on religious grounds that film. they've been marching around the square all day in groups of about 300 or 400. but they have been absolutely peaceful. earlier today pre

jim maceda joins us live from cairo.s i speak to you now, tahrir square behind you looks like a normal friday evening. traffic is moving. people appear to be going about their business. is that a fair assessment? >> reporter: that's absolutely right, martin. tonight, the streets of cairo look amazingly normal, don't they? it is the usual chaos, beeping horns, traffic like you and i have come to expect and love so much about cairo, especially on a friday night. and right now you probably can't see them, but there are probably 300 or 400 protesters still on tahrir square, standing around, demonstrating with banners. they were chanting before. they're obviously there to protest against the film. earlier today, there were more, but it was never more than about a thousand or so. they're hear to protest peacefully, that's what they've done all day long. then you have the other group about 500 yards, off tahrir square to the u.s. embassy, that is blocked off by riot police. protesters playing cat and mouse with the police all d

back to you. >> nbc's jim maceda live in cairo. thank you, jim. >>> so coming off the political conventions, we do have some updates for you on the polls. president obama is leading mitt romney in three key battleground states. the president has a five-point lead over romney in virginia and florida. and in ohio, his lead is up to seven points. >> and of course, john heilmann, these are all states that george w. bush won in 2004. virginia's a little wider than we could have expected. florida, a five-point lead in such a conservative state. this late in the game with few undecided voters is really telling. but the ohio number, again, continues to be -- >> devastating. >> -- the dagger in the romney campaign's heart if they can't -- if they can't pull that out and make that a closer race. seven points in ohio is devastating. the right track/wrong tracks in these states, all much better than they are in the rest of america. in ohio, the right track, 45% of ohio voters think that the country's headed in the right direction. >> look at t

nbc jim maceda is on the ground in cairo. there are calls there, so what's the mood there today? >> reporter: hi. well, those calls for mass protests come from none other than the president himself, mohamed morsi. however, in the same statement, in the same breath almost he demanded that the protests be peaceful and dignifiedignified. he said his government would not tolerate violent protests. the riot police vant stopped the protestors who again all day today have been throwing stones at police, throwing tear gas canisters back at riot police, who have shot them with it. it's been a cat-and-mouse standoff all day. i hope you can hear me over the sounds of the ambulances and police going by below. the good news is that the u.s. embassy grounds with all of this chaos have not been breached again, but there is just to no sense the violence is abating. in fact, according to the ministry of health at least 224 have been injured and received treatment so far. the mood is defiant amongst the protestors, but people here are always worries about these fridays, especially when there's a c

jim maceda has more now on the u.s. response from cairo. >> reporter: a four-day stand-off outside the u.s. embassy in cairo ended early this morning. riot police charged the protesters and cleared outta rear square, arresting some 200 along the way. the city began to return to normal as did the country. but friday's day of rage sprea across more than 20 countries. in tunisia today, local citizens and security personnel, surveyed damaged cars and buildings at the u.s. embassy, now protected by armored vehicles. while a marine response team took up position at some western hotels. it wasn't all quiet. as far away as sitny, auydney, trail, protests broke out saying they had defiled their religion. with the whole middle eastern crisis, pope benedict xvi offered a message. he said people of different faiths now live together. in the arab world anger runs deeper than religion and america is a lightning rod. >> everyone has something against us. every time something happens over america, everyone gets all fired up. >> reporte

nbc's jim maceda live in cairo.omestically about whether the president made a mistake whether to qualify egypt as an ally or not an ally. all the diplomatic folks said, wait a minute, egypt is an ally. did president morsi get the message? suddenly the demonstrations been pulled back today? >> chuck a good question. a tale of two protests quite frankly. near the u.s. embassy behind me you've got the same younger, more radical hard core protesters who continue to throw stones at riot police, who have blocked off the access tot the embase with a wall of concrete that frustrated protesters. canisters have been thrown back even after friday prayers, have been thrown back and forth. the muslim brotherhood groups marching constantly since friday prayers around the town, city, and square, tahrir square below me chanting loudly but peacefully, men, women, and children. it's been like this for several hours. as you mentioned early today morsi and on state tv endorsing the nationwide protest against that film, of course, but s

nbc's jim maceda is live in cairo. won't say a powder keg, but this violence and the anger, the outrage, seems to be spreading across the middle eastern world. if you could give us an update on the latest. >> reporter: well, that's true. the powder keg is still conserving its powder, it seems. ironical ironically, benghazi remained pretty calm, perhaps the libyan government's quick crack down on perpetrators, a number have been arrested already. there's a man hunt going on if you believe what you hear from the libyan government. that's perhaps had an affect on tamping down the tension in benghazi. but the u.s. government's taking no chances. all u.s. diplomatic personnel evacuated to tripoli and only emergency staff being kept on at the embassy in the capital. as you mentioned in cairo, it's been another -- on the third day of protests -- another active day but not a lot of death -- no deaths spo-to-speak of. not too many people have been injured. so perhaps a second degree level of violence. overnight dramatic scenes

but first, what is taking place in the middle east, and jim maceda is following the events there in cairo. jim, explain what we have seen and if not, are the calling for calm working for what we are witness ing on t witnessing on the ground? >> hi, tom thomas. well, start here in cairo, because it is a tale of two protests you might call it. near the u.s. embassy throughout the day, younger and more hard core protesters are throwing stones at riot police who have blocked off access to tem bas si with a wall of concrete blocks and more tear canisters and water canisters used against the protesters as well. then on the other hand, you have muslim brotherhood groups who are quite peaceful and chanting god is greatest and marching around the square and they are loud, but peaceful. they are men, women and children, and it has been like that all afternoon. so that the violence has been taking place in a bubble, if you will, while most people, and most egyptians do seem to be following president morsi's earlier demand that if you are going to demonstrate, make sure you demonstrate peacefully and

well, we seemed to have lost connection with jim maceda. thanks so much.hanks for joining us this morning. >>> so let's talk about this idea of -- we had touched upon this as we broke. to what extent are we in the united states and perhaps even in the media overreacting to what is happening across -- i mean, obviously i'm not talking about the deaths and the killings of four of our personnel in libya, but i'm talking looking at these maps with these flashpoints and in fact if there was not this sort of predicate of this movie, would we even be discussing these type of protests? >> you know what's even i think a more significant question is if the four u.s. diplomats had not been killed, diplomats and security people, if they had not been killed, would we be talking about the opposition to the film? there's a way in which everything we see in the middle east is seen through u.s. eyes. i think that's a huge problem. i think it's part of the problem of why our policies haven't worked, because we see it in the context of is morsi doing the right thing, meaning

. >> jim maceda, thank you. >>> here at home, the mideast protests have ignited a political debate that seems to be changing by the day. this morning rick santorum speaking at the values voters summit in washington pointing the blame finger right at president obama. >> this president has to take a share of the responsibility for what the middle east looks like today because he helped structure it. every single one of those countries who had a hostile regime to the united states, who had a list of grievances against america and would wrap themselves this victimhood about how america had been so wrong to them, this president has coddled and appeased. >> for insight, i want to bring in jim frederick, international editor for "time" magazine. the cover story is about the anti-american protests. the agents of outrage. also, shira tchtupplet, also joining us. long time aide for senator john mccain, wrote something in real clear politics. saying in part, quote, the rush by republicans including mitt romney, sarah palin and scores of other conservatives to condemn president obama for policies t

nbc's jim maceda is in cairo. good morning, jim. >> reporter: hi, kate.at u.s. produced film clip triggered protests, violence, and more loss of life. in afghanistan, two u.s. service members were killed in a sustained taliban attack on u.s. marine headquarters in helmand province. the taliban said the attack was its response to the made in usa film that they say defiles their religion. here in cairo, groups of radical protesters threw stones and tried yet again to breach the u.s. embassy. >> i think it is a dirty film, and the muslims don't hurt anyone. why others hurt us? >> reporter: egypt security tried tear gas and water cannon to disperse the protesters. this morning they were given the clear. across the muslim world, from morocco to indonesia, in some 20 countries, incensed protesters attacked u.s. and western embassies. in yemen, u.s. marines were sent in to beef up embassy security under siege. some protesters scaled the u.s. embassy in the tunisian capital and planted an islamic flag. they were quickly dispersed and the flag removed. in sudan, p

nbc news correspondent jim maceda is live in cairo. jim?er: it's kind of the tale of two protests here in cairo today near the u.s. embassy behind me, you've got the younger, more hard-core protesters who continue to throw stones. riot police have fired water cannons at them to drive them back today. there is now a wall, a concrete block, protecting the embassy. a lot of teargas canisters have been fired back and forth as well. then you've got the groups that have been supported by the muslim brotherhood who are marching around tahrir square chanting "god is greatest," raising and unfurling islamic flags. so they're loud but they're also very peaceful, men, women an children. it's been like that now throughout the afternoon. earlier today president moment morsi appeared on state television, endorsing this nationwide protest. but he said that it is muslim' responsibility to be peaceful and to protect foreign lives and foreign property while doing so. so ironically there aren't any reports of violence here today in cairo to speak of or out of

jim maceda said of romney he is quick, polished, ready with a punchy attack against the president.ss the setting goes on with the debate, but what's going on, david. >> here is what we know. we know governor romney has been practicing for months. i think invasion of normandy took less preparation than he put into the debates. i expect he will be prepared, ready and strong in the debates and we have to be ready as well. >> sounds like you're trying to lower expectations for your guy. >> no, no, just telling you the facts, reporting the facts like you do on the "today" show. >> david axelrod, senior adviser to the reelect. >> thank you. >>> if you tried flying american airlines in the past week, you may be among thousands of passengers that experienced maddening delays. all has to do with a labor dispute between american and its pilots union. nbc's tom costello is at reagan national airport. good morning. >> reporter: hi, willie, good morning to you. they have bankruptcy proceedings and imposed tough cuts on employees, pilots, mechanics. now they say pilot sick leave up 20% since a y