>> the challenge of the south were a very important part of the mcchrystal review. it was leaked to the newspapers in full, so you can see that the review places a lot of emphasis on the south and east. in that sense, the challenges of helmand were very strong. i always talk about the south rather than just helmand province because the significance of, and relates to the strategic position of kandahar, and i think it's important to see the to develop. >> you just emphasized the importance of the south, foreign secretary, and the need for an early transition to the afghan army. one of the practical problems is that less than 5% of the afghan national army is pashtu and putative is that a real difficulty? >> to be absolutely accurate, it's correct to say that a small percentage, about 5%, is pashtuns from the south. of course, there are the costumes and other parts of the country. >> true, but doesn't that make the point? you are fighting in the south, but you haven't galt anyone from that part of the world. >> precision is important to this because the tribal structu

it reflects the lessons -- that general mcchrystal published its spot on. -- the general mcchrystal publisheds spot on. it reflects the lessons of iraq. they enable the implementation of the big ideas. the 30,000 forces ordered by president obama as a result of his policy review, the additional funding for the afghan national security forces, the authorization of 100,000 more of those, additional civilians, and a host of other enablers that are so important to carry out the big ideas and the right team that has the right structures can now embark on. with that right, now it is about producing output. it is now time to produce results. i think we will begin to see that. having said that, i want you to know upfront that, all the way back in september 2005 when i was on my way home from the second tour in iraq, i was asked by secretary rumsfeld to come home to afghanistan. so we did. a team went over there and took a look and did we give him some recommendations. among the observations i offered was one that did not necessarily elicit widespread applause on the third floor of the pentagon. i sai

did you meet with general mcchrystal when you were over there? >> yes, i worked with general mcchrystal fairly regularly. >> where is he based and what type of security does he have. what's it like to get to see him. >> it's based in kabul where the headquarters are located. he usually gets on the compound quite easily. he's somebody who in general has a strategy that is very population-centric. he's a very people-oriented person. he is very friendly. he takes that strategy and personalizes it in his interactions with individuals. it's very interesting to watch. >> does he ever get off base? does hamid karzai ever get out? >> there's no question that general mcchrystal like every major u.s. and nato military commander gets out quite a bit. gets out into rural areas. gets out into urban areas. meets the population. in fact, general mcchrystal has been very adamant about getting out regularly. president karzai has not gotten out a lot. he does occasionally get out in general. he was out a little bit during the presidential campaign. but he's not go

general caldwell, general mcchrystal, some of our top officers. so i think we are going to see a turning point in this year. >> i think we're beginning to see what looks like the u.s. and afghans in nato more broadly potentially moving towards a tipping point. i mean, what's interesting again is we see a major effort and how much. there will be very soon a fence in qatar province as well. and what's interesting is over the last really seven years in particular, the taliban leadership, the afghan taliban leadership has been able to operate in pakistan, especially in lucas didn't province another neighboring provinces. with impunity. the command-and-control structure has existed across. this week we've now seen a company come public information about the taliban leadership, including shadow governors now being targeted in pakistan. this becomes a systematic effort. this begins to i think changed again in pakistan because this means that no one out is safe for the taliban leadership. >> what was the point up of pronouncing our intentions for this wee

mcchrystal says he's suspending the rocket system used this that air strike. fighting is terrify fog civilians, nato has to make sure they improve the situation in a hurry so that people living in helmand province lose any remains of loyalty they may have to the taliban. president obama's national security adviser jim jones, telling fox news sunday it will be felt countrywide. >> it's the cohesion that now exists between all elements of national power and international power that are coming together and will be a very, very good and i think successfully demonstrated and executed operation that is going to make a big change in not only the southern part of afghanistan but will send shock waves through the rest of the country. >> reporter: and success is the only option for the obama administration in regard to afghanistan. this is the first major offensive since president obama announced the surge of u.s. troops into the country after the fighting nato will provide much-needed aid and supply to the area, as well as restore services. bill: we thank you for that,

general mcchrystal also said he has made it clear to the forces that protecting afghan lives is a top work to regain the people's trust. the military has said winning hearts and minds is key in this mission. it even announced today that its latest operation in marjah's advance partly, it said, to give civilians time to prepare. despite the setbacks, we're told coalition forces are making progress through insurgent gunfire and roadside bombs remain constant threats. all members of the armed forces undergo extensive training before entering the afghan war zone. then there are members of the united states marine corps who prepare at the highly specialized mountain warfare training center. it's located about 100 miles south of lake tahoe in a remote city of bridgeport, california. it gives marines a taste of just how difficult carrying out orders can be thousands of feet above sea level in treacherous terrain. casey stegall is there breathing in the thin air. hey, casey. >> hey, shep. last year 14,000 marines made their way through this particular center. that is more than 200 person incr

as you meet with general mcchrystal over there? >> guest: sure, it worked with them fairly regularly. >> host: and where fee-based and what kind of security does he have? >> guest: is based in kabul where the isaf headquarters is located. he actually gets around on a compound quite easily. he's somebody who in general has a strategy that is very population centric. very people oriented person. he is very family, takes that strategy and personalizes it in his interactions with individuals. the very interesting to watch. >> host: does he ever get off based? does hamid karzai ever get out? >> guest: there is no question that general mcchrystal, like every major u.s. and nato military gets out quite a bit, gets out into rural areas, get that into urban areas. beats the population. in fact, general mcchrystal has been very adamant about giving out regularly. president cars i have not gotten out alive. he does occasionally get out in a little bit in the presidential campaign. but he's not gotten out and in the afghan population for secur

it reflects the lessons -- that general mcchrystal published its spot on. -- the general mcchrystal published. it reflects the lessons of iraq. they enable the implementation of the big ideas. the 30,000 forces ordered by president obama as a result of his policy review, the additional funding for the afghan national security forces, the authorization of 100,000 more of those, additional civilians, and a host of other enablers that are so important to carry out the big ideas and the right team that has the right structures can now embark on. with that right, now it is about producing output. it is now time to produce results. i think we will begin to see that. having said that, i want you to know upfront that, all the way back in september 2005 when i was on my way home from the second tour in iraq, i was asked by secretary rumsfeld to come home to afghanistan. so we did. a team went over there and took a look and did we give him some recommendations. among the observations i offered was one that did not necessarily elicit widespread applause on the third floor of the pentagon. i said that i

forces in afghanistan, general stanley mcchrystal was sent to the defense secretary robert gates on august 30, just four days before the attack. the general writes -- we run the risk of strategic defeat by pursuing tactical wins that cause civilian casualties or unnecessary political damage. the insurgents cannot sdefeat u militarily, but we can defeat ourselves. late in the document he says, "a revised tactical directive was issued to all troops in theater on the 1 of july, 2009 which clearly described how and when lethal force should be used. after his trip to saudi arabia, president karzai is attending a security conference in germany. the latest revelations could add to the shock to the country already feels about the civilian casualties caused by what their chancellor still describes as a humanitarian mission. david schaffer, al jazeera, kabul. >>> unfortunately for iraqis, it's an occurrence that's become all too c shiias images in an effort to ignite sectarian violence. today, it happened yet again. two car bombs tore through a crowd of shiite pilgrims headed to the holy city of kar

while he's not ready to say they've turned the corner, general stanley mcchrystal says real progresssment. last summer he said security could go downhill quickly. >>> newly installed senator scott brown says he's hitting the ground running. the massachusetts republican was sworn in last evening by vice president biden. he insists he will be an independent voice claiming he's already told party leaders they won't always be able to count on his vote. >>> tea party activists like the ones who helped scott brown get elected are gearing up for day two of their first-ever convention. they've descended on nashville, tennessee, in droves and they're eagerly awaiting tomorrow night's keynote address. john berman is there. >> reporter: so, welcome to the first-ever national tea party convention. i'm here in nashville, tennessee, where about 600 delegates are gathering from across the country. this is the first time people in the tea party movement have really gathered in one place to talk about their movement, their message and their methods. they want 2010 to be their year. i talked to the ma

>> general mcchrystal began in walking the president through with an update on the situation in marjathis was how the planned and orchestrated. the effort was shaped by afghan forces and isaf forces with those on the ground, which is key in our efforts. it is clear that a lot of individuals with the taliban decided that they did not want to stay in this stronghold and just left. and without getting into specifics, obviously, the president heard from ambassador eikenberry and from general mcchrystal about our continued efforts have reintegration -- at reintegration, assuming as always, there is a renowned of the violent extremists they are tied to or the announcement of the violence, and that they agreed to uphold the afghan constitution and afghan laws. obviously, that is part of what is going on in southern afghanistan in the helmand province right now. >> on the arrest of the afghan taliban commander, does the u.s. believe that this might encourage pakistani cooperation in this area? will they be helping in the arrest and pursuit of other militants on the u.s. hit list? >> well, one

did you meet with general mcchrystal when you were over there? >> guest: i work with the general mcchrystal kierley gulay. >> host: weir seabasing what kind of security does he have? >> guest: he is facing couple were the isaf headquarters is located. he actually gets around on the compound quite easily. he is somebody who in general has a strategy that is very population centric. he is a very people oriented person. he is very friendly. he takes that strategy and personalizes it into his interactions with individuals so very interesting to watch. >> host: does he ever get off base? this, karzai ever get out? >> guest: there is no question general mcchrystal, like every major u.s. and nato military gets out quite a bit, gets out into the rural areas, it gets out into the urban areas and meets the population. in fact general mcchrystal has been very adamant about getting out regularly. president karzai has not got not a lot. he does occasionally get out. he is out a little bit during the presidential campaign. but, he has not got that out and inte

they have had a long time, general mcchrystal put a telegraph, they were coming in, hoping that a lot of them would leave. they also gave them some time to lay a lot of ieds. >> would you agree with that. >> i would agree with that. the ieds in the seven months i was there were the main problem in the value. they are simple, they don't cost a lot of money and something the afghan insurgents can utilize to push and say listen, you need to make sure they are left here or we will come in and do terrible things to your family it gives them leverage to pull themselves out of the fight and integrate the local populous into the site. >> this is something the u.s. troops face everywhere. >> it is very difficult. >> all right, staff sergeant todd bowers, james kitfield, gentlemen, thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> lehrer: we'll have a "boots on the ground" look at the nato offensive right after the other news of the day. and for that, here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: the justice department has found no misconduct by bush administration lawyers who authorize

last summer, mcchrystal painted a darker picture. today, he said, "i feel the field of brain research focused today on what could be breakthrough findings in britain and belgium. brain scans found some patients in persistent vegetative states, p.v.s., show signs of brain activity, after all. in some cases, they even visualized answers to simple questions. we have a report from julian rush of independent television news. >> reporter: if you ask healthy people to imagine different situations, different parts of their brain become active and light up under an m.r.i. scan. it turns out that for a handful of the per says tent vegetative state patients the scientists tested, the same was true. even though they appeared to be unresponsive. and that opened a way to communicate. for yes they were asked to imagine they were playing tennis, for now that they were walking to the rooms in their home. to the cambridge scientist who developed the technique, the responses imply that p.v.s. patient had some degree of consciousness and awareness trapp

general stanley mcchrystal apologized for what he called this tragic loss of life. that his troops were working to minimize civilian casualties. >> first thing i would say is when president karzai approved the conduct of this operation, he gave us some very specific guidance. and that guidance was to continue to protect the people of afghanistan. and so this operation has been done with that in mind. >> suarez: afghan president hamid karzai warned civilian death kos jeopardize the mission. he called for a full investigation into the accident. and in a separate development, nato air strike in neighboring kandahar province killed five civilians. earlier this evening i talked with rod nordland of the "new york times". what kind of resistence are the allied forces meeting in their assault on helmand. >> well, you know, there is wildly varying accounts from a bunch of foreign jihadi dug in, and willing to fight to the death to snipers all over the city to some accounts that have only a few as 20 left. what everyone seems to agree on though is that there is a huge number

that is consistent certainly with general mcchrystal and general rodriguez. set conditions.afghan government performance, and the population stars to come along. -- the population starts to come along. future operations later on this summer will solidify that and perhaps be able to expand. i end the presentation on this slide. the single most persistent threat will be the afghan people and their government. it is not that they do not deserve to win or do not deserve to have a country that works. but remember the shattered society, the skewed loyalty structure, add to the mix the selfish powerful actors, had years of warfare where we have not been producing results -- that affects the public mind. when will they commit and how will they do so? let's not forget that this population adequately motivated can do pretty much whatever it wants. it is getting it motivated. a fairly small group as the law- and-order party rid themselves of which had been -- of mujahadeen fairly quickly. afghan government responsibilities, non-current responsibilities, societal obligations to each oth

it reflects the lessons -- that general mcchrystal published its spot on. -- the general mcchrystal publishedis spot on. it reflects the lessons of iraq. they enable the implementation of the big ideas. the 30,000 forces ordered by president obama as a result of his policy review, the additional funding for the afghan national security forces, the authorization of 100,000 more of those, additional civilians, and a host of other enablers that are so important to carry out the big ideas and the right team that has the right structures can now embark on. with that right, now it is about producing output. it is now time to produce results. i think we will begin to see that. having said that, i want you to know upfront that, all the way back in september 2005 when i was on my way home from the second tour in iraq, i was asked by secretary rumsfeld to come home to afghanistan. so we did. a team went over there and took a look and did we give him some recommendations. among the observations i offered was one that did not necessarily elicit widespread applause on the third floor of the pentagon. i sa

as you meet with general mcchrystal over there? >> guest: sure, it worked with them fairly regularly. >> host: and where fee-based and what kind of security does he have? >> guest: is based in kabul where the isaf headquarters is located. he actually gets around on a compound quite easily. he's somebody who in general has a strategy that is very population centric. very people oriented person. he is very family, takes that strategy and personalizes it in his interactions with individuals. the very interesting to watch. >> host: does he ever get off based? does hamid karzai ever get out? >> guest: there is no question that general mcchrystal, like every major u.s. and nato military gets out quite a bit, gets out into rural areas, get that into urban areas. beats the population. in fact, general mcchrystal has been very adamant about giving out regularly. president cars i have not gotten out alive. he does occasionally get out in a little bit in the presidential campaign. but he's not gotten out and in the afghan population for secur

certainly admiral stavitas and general petraeus and mcchrystal have been talking to them about this.ut admiral mullen just met with the heads of the militaries last week, i might ask him for a comment. >> if you could just briefly say, are you confident that that need is going to be filled? it's just totally unacceptable that commitment is made. it's so essential and then not kept. >> we all agree it's unacceptable, it's the top priority there and a top priority from this meeting with some 20 plus to go back to their capitals and meet. Åapitals and meet. will we be deploying ground- based interceptors that have not been tested in demonstrated? be deploying ground-based intercepters that have been not been tested and demonstrated? >> we have deployed ground-based intercepters at ft. greeley. we have a very aggressive test program that has been successful. we believe that those interceptors give us the capability to deal with launches from either iran or north korea. small scale threat. the fact is, we are continuing in addition to robustly funding increases in theater level missile de

certainly admiral stavitas and general petraeus and mcchrystal have been talking to them about this. admiral mullen just met with the heads of the militaries last week, i might ask him for a comment. >> if you could just briefly say, are you confident that that need is going to be filled? it's just totally unacceptable that commitment is made. it's so essential and then not kept. >> we all agree it's unacceptable, it's the top priority there and a top priority from this meeting with some 20 plus to go back to their capitals and meet. and there's a conference later this month to focus specifically on that. >> all right. and the chod. what does that mean? >> the chiefs of defense for these countries. >> thank you. secretary gates, the missile defense review report says in contrast to the practice over the last decade of fielding missile defense capabilities that were still being developed at the administration "will take a different approach" best described as fly before you which will result in a posture base on proven technology in order to improve reliability, confidence, and contro

now of course, mcchrystal said yesterday that the withdrawal date wasn't important to strategy, which basically blows the message to cars act that we will be leaving. so they're sending sort of a muddled message. now, i don't think obama -- he doesn't pass the have to say the u.s. is going to withdraw because the pakistanis have already experienced a u.s. inherent limited attention span, which we don't have a really acknowledge too much in the united states which just happened time and time again. so our chief ally in the region will probably continue supporting our enemy -- our chief enemy in the region which is kind of a bizarre thing to have happen, if you know what i mean. but that's what's going on, right? the taliban will not be defeated, and it will outwait the united states. but what if the taliban weren't our enemy? what is my solution to this problem? what i would say is we need to distinguish between the taliban which is a local insurgency, and a kind of which is worldwide insurgency, terrorist group that is targeting the u.s. and that's a big difference because when you're

general mcchrystal, however, has assured me that he can live within these constraints. part of our job will be beamed to enter the pace of withdrawal is based on conditions on the ground. either we are committed to investing the resources and the time needed to win this war or we are not. the emphasis on ending the conflict rather than winning reveals we have a reluctant were president. -- reluctance war president. he has a pretty straightforward formula he uses. he gives a major speech and travels throughout the country to rally americans behind his plan. how many times have we seen him use that strategy on domestic issues such as health care, climate change, or jobs? on afghanistan, however, he did not follow the formula of public support. he gave one speech at west point and moved on. it reelected wartime president, i fear, of states from using words -- words like "victory" and "winning" because he's more concerned with ending these conflicts. this is a strategy driven by an unchecked national security policy. so far, it has not undermined our efforts in afghanistan.

i trust general mcchrystal's opinion of what he needs and how he employees forces. techniques. a lot of times people will quote that larger figure if you are going to strictly militarily deal with the taliban. if your strategy is one facet, which is that you're on your own and you're going to crush the taliban. i come from a school where the taliban will be made irrelevant over time through the population and you don't necessarily best create irrelevance by putting just through putting more soldiers on the ground. they are a part of the equation. it is necessary. more critical are their own soldiers, afghan security forces and the efforts to rehabilitate them. and so, i believe that i certainly come at this question from the angle of what technique would i use with those forces if they are condition centers. this is what the soviets didn't. they were not condition centers for the rehabilitation of society in all of this. so they didn't necessarily uniformly use all of these techniques and i really only have expertise in the south. there may be differences to this eq

in other words, the re- integration of the fighters, that was very much a part of general mcchrystal'sverall new strategy for afghanistan. is the u.s. military going to be running that, and running the money... the fund that the international community's put up for this? and what about on the national reconciliation level with the top leadership? again, is there a u.s. role? >> well, that is obviously very important... u.s. role, but for the u.s. role to be effectively played, i believe it is very important that if coordination and agreement to the maximum extent possible between the u.s. and the afghan government. and at the present time, there seems to be some difficulty in the focus between the two sides, where president karzai is talking very much about the national level, reconciliation, as the primary focus. and we the coalition is talking more about reintegration. but with regard to the specific u.s. role, with regard to the national level, the u.s. role to convince pakistan that it ought to play an active, cooperative role in facilitating reconciliation is important. >> warner:

certainly admiral stavitas and general petraeus and mcchrystal have been talking to them about this.t admiral mullen just met with the heads of the militaries last week, i might ask him for a comment. >> if you could just briefly say, are you confident that that need is going to be filled? it's just totally unacceptable that commitment is made. it's so essential and then not kept. >> we all agree it's unacceptable, it's the top priority there and a top priority from this meeting with some 20 plus to go back to their capitals and meet. and there's a conference later this month to focus specifically on that. >> all right. and the chod. what does that mean? >> the chiefs of defense for these countries. >> thank you. secretary gates, the missile defense review report says in contrast to the practice over the last decade of fielding missile defense capabilities that were still being developed at the administration "will take a different approach" best described as fly before you which will result in a posture base on proven technology in order to improve reliability, >> we have the deploy

>> i think general mcchrystal recognizes we can't kill and capture our way to victory in afghan stachblt i think we've heard different statements coming out of the military concerning government in boxes and this notion that we need to separate the people, the population from the taliban insurgents. i find it somewhat interesting that it was such a large force. 15,000 troops going in to marjah where nobody suggests there were more than a thousand, maybe 2,000 taliban at the most. but i think that what the taliban have to do here is they recognize that if they don't lose, they win. that's to suggest they're not going to come out and face us kinetically. they realize that a steal mate is a victory for them. patience is on their side. >> woodruff: seth jones, do you think it will be a successful? >> the key issue will probably not be the military operation. the key issue will be negotiating with the key power brokers in the marjah area that tend to be a range of tribal and other community leaders. the question is, will the combination of afghan and nato forces be able to coerce or co-op the

knowing where he wanted to end up and he was moved by the evidence presented to him by stanley mcchrystal and others? >> i believe he went in thinking we should get the hell out of there. and we can't afford it, we have no partner. and was moved by the evidence. >> rose: that it was possible, that the stakes were high and it was possible to achieve it with positive results. >> yes. and so if you saw that process of him being moved and if you see him being moved by all sorts of other things where he really does follow the evidence, you're impressed by the pragmatics. but that doesn't get to your question of principle. >> rose: yeah. >> and he doesn't... i do not believe he has a clearly defined word that describes him. liberalism, conservatism. maybe that's a great hope because there's still... but i do think he has a sense... a pratt mat i cans, a sense of caution. but two too great a faith for this moment in time in the power of smart people to solve problems from washington. >> rose: do you believe in the power of smart people to solve problems? >> i believe in modesty, the we don't kno

general mcchrystal, however, assures me he can live with these constraints.that the pace of withdrawal is based on conditions on the ground. either we're committed to investing the resources and the time needed to win this war or we are not. the emphasis on ending the conflict rather than winning reveals that we have a reluctant war president. with all the president's major domestic policy announcements, he has a pretty straightforward formula he uses to win over public support. he gives a major speech and then he travels throughout the country to rally americans behind his plan. how many times have we seen him use that strategy on domestic issues such as health care, climate change or jobs? on afghanistan, however, he didn't follow that formula and public support for the mission waned. he gave one speech at west point and then moved on to other things. a reluctant wartime president, i fear, abstains from using words like victory and winning because he's more committed to ending the conflicts we're in rather than winning them. this is a risk of a war strategy

and it is also the one most enthusiastically supported by general mcchrystal.and as people who are spending an enormous amount of additional money through cerp to support agriculture. there was a creative tension about whether you want the money to give that feed or distribute seed to the existing system. it's been a -- joe klein wrote a cover story for "time" magazine which discussed that issue about ten months ago and the issue he identified is fair. so, plus the indians have a large agriculture and they have upgraded, the e.u. is upgrading. this is a big push. and i'm very glad you asked the question because people rarely make the connection, but of course that the connection. it is often a counterinsurgency. it's a good and its own right. it's going to help deny the taliban and other cool of alienated, unemployed youths who go out and get paid to shoot if there's a family plot, family pressures will be that they were, farms, at least earning the appropriate seasons. that's enormously important. on trade transit, the negotiations are continuing. there was an

but, the intelligence community must rally around general mcchrystal's coin strategy and continued toshift from a ct only focus to both a ct or counterterrorist and a counter insurgency approach. there are other threats that are serious and terrorism in the wars in afghanistan and iraq are by no means the only threats facing our community. for more than a decade, the intelligence community has debated iran's nuclear intent and all the while iran has progressed closer and closer to a nuclear weapons capability. today iran seems to be capable of producing highly enriched uranium and that, gentlemen, is the long pole in the tap of a nuclear weapons program and we are left waiting for a nation that provides support training weapons in iraq and afghanistan, along with our allies like hezbollah, hamas, palestinian islamic jihad into the bargaining table. while iran's intensity change over time and i am hopeful that the people of iran will be successful in pressuring their governments for change, i for one do not believe it is any nations interest. the united states or other nations in the w

things, and this is part of us growing as an institution, growing as an individual and general mcchrystal a long time about moving into the four-star realm. it's different and he was going to do it on the world stage and that is a challenge, so all in all i thought he did handle it well. it was a very difficult -- it made the challenge of the review that much more difficult and certainly i would have preferred to not do it as publicly as we did and we all learned a lot in that regard and certainly i would hope in a further strategic reviews we can avoid that particular model. [laughter] >> admiral called me ask a question of the navy. by tradition, the captain of the ship has tremendous of 40. in the old days complete authority. but even today there is a tradition of a cabinet of the ship having all this authority and when he gets on land yet he's got to learn how -- he's not admiral, like nelson putting his spyglass and say i can't see the signal. how do you balance of this tradition of authority and command authority on a ship with deference to civilian authority? what do you tell them?

and i am sorry, stan, mcchrystal isn't here to join but he believes as deeply as anyone and i know you talked to the command about this. if this program succeeds and is right now our most successful civilian program already ended just started this is going to hurt the taliban. no question about it. but unlike free integration which they can attack it's harder to attack this one because the country is an agricultural country and how do you attack programs that give people seed and fertilizer and market access the? so this is why we are back at the podium for the second time in a month and why i hope secretary vilsack will be able to continue bringing the public attention to this and this is why we are trying to stand up the credit bank which the secretary can explain better than i as indispensable. is this going to take the leaders of the supreme shore and bring them round? of course not. it's when to isolate them more in the classic problems and will join at this world. >> to put a freeze on it, from my discussions with regular afghans i think they would much rather be farmers than fig

and general mcchrystal and i talked a long time about moving into the four star realm.it's different. and he was going to do it on the world stage. and that's a real challenge. and all in all i thought he did handle it well. it was a very difficult -- it made the challenge of the review that much more difficult and certainly i would have preferred to not do it as publicly as we did and we all learned a lot in that regard and certainly i would hope, you know, in further strategic reviews we can avoid that particular model. [laughter]5jy >> admiral, let me ask you a question about the navy. by tradition captain of a ship has tremendous authority. the old days, complete authority because there was no communication. but even today where you can talk, there's a tradition of a captain of the ship has the tradition of authority but when he gets on land he's not admiral -- like nelson putting his spy glass up saying i really can't answer the signal. how do you balance this tradition of authority and command authority on a ship with deference to civilian authority. what do you t

and it is also the one most enthusiastically supported by general mcchrystal. and his people who are spending an enormous amount of additional money to support agriculture. in fact, there was tension here about whether you want a certain money to give that a seat or whether you want to distribute seed to the existing system. it's been a joe klein wrote a cover story for time magazine, which discussed that issue. back about 10 months ago, and the issue he identified is there. plus the indians have a large agriculture, japanese are upgrading the e.u., upgrading. this is a big push. and very glad you asked the question, because people rarely make the connection, but of course, there is a connection. it is classic counterinsurgency. is good in its own right. it's going to help deny the taliban a pool of alienated, unemployed youths, who go out and get paid to shoot if there is a family plot, family pressures will be that they work on the farms, at least during the appropriate seasons. so it's enormously important. on trade transit. the negotiations are continuing.

the comments by general stanley mcchrystal are in contrast to nato and afghan officials who say the taliban is expanding it influence. in the middle box the pretrial hear anything the drew peterson case continues today. he's the former illinois police sergeant charged with killing his third wife after his forty wife disappear -- fourth wife disappeared. prosecutors have call canned about 40 of its 60 witnesses. in the bottom box, pandas born in the u.s. heading back to china. you can track them streaming live on fox the news.com. jane: the white house is now fighting back against are a wave of criticism following the arrest of the guy known as the failed christmas day bomber. if you recall, the administration has come under a lot of fire for trying abdulmutallab in the federal court system. the civilian system reading him his miranda rights, giving him access to a lawyer rather than treating him as an enemy combatant. but the feds say he's now talking, providing useful intelligence they otherwise wouldn't have had. let's bring in scott weber, good to see you, and they say he's doing this be

general mcchrystal apologized to president karzai. if the count is there, about half a dozen children and other innocent people in this house. i'm not saying that this was deliberate, but it was howard zinn who repeatedly reminded us that if you're going to engage in war, the overwhelming number of people who die in war are innocent civilians. and i think of that bumper sticker that should be on every car in this country until we've done away with cars that says -- [laughter] there is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent civilians. those are howard zinn's words. [applause] there is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent civilians. howard zinn. the legendary historian, author and activist. when he died two weeks ago at the age of 87, it was a pain through the hearts of so many because he had lived the 20th century and documented those centuries before giving us such a different picture from the grassroots up of what has really created this country, the greatness of this country. and i think i

it's a fairly unusual approach, as you pointed out, but it is in keeping with general stanley mcchrystal's desire to keep down civilian and military casualties. experts say it's a gamble, it could allow the taliban to escape and reimroop somewhere else as insurgents did in iraq in the all-out offensive in fallujah in 2004 or they could prepare for a fight. one taliban commander has said his forces plan to stay and defend the town but if they leave it could depriv them of base operations and prevent a lot of blood shed and that may be the point of all this, after all. martha: a lot of initiatives being taken and we hope they're successful, steve centanni, thank you very much. bill: i wasn't rubbing it in, by the way. martha: just in case you didn't get that, bill is going to the super bowl. >>> i can't wait. colts or saint? hold your breath. tomorrow. why groups are making a break from the grassroots movement. details on that. martha: can you tell what this is? bill: i cannot. martha: it seems scientists are confused, they've never seen a configuration quite like this before. michio kaku is

while our troops serve bravely the republicans delayed the the confirmation of general stanley mcchrystal this clearly is not the way the senate is supposed to work. it's not even wait it typically works. as i pointed out before, it took only four months for president obama to face as many filibusters of his nominees as president bush faced in his entire first four years. this republican caucus over here proudly says, "we blocked as many of president obama's nominees in four months that you over here on this side of the aisle took four years to block." democrats have no interest in playing these games, and that's why we didn't do what they're doing. no other -- no other minority has ever done anything like this before. this is, this is one of a kind. it would be one thing if republicans were unified and voted against these vital nominees. it would be one thing if f. they reviewed these nominees, dispieded they weren't fit to serve. but that's not what's happening. instead, simply to waste time republicans are refusing to let the senate vote at all. when these nominees do finally come befo