president obama is reviewing mccrystal's strategy report. and while the general's request for additional forces is all set and ready to go, the white house says not so fast. pentagon officials say president obama wants still another strategy review. the president, telling nbc's david gregory -- >> until i'm satisfied that we got the right strategy, i'm not going to be sending some young man or woman over there beyond what we already have. >> reporter: the white house is just as troubled over charges that president hamid karzai's government rigged the recent presidential elections. but mccrystal's report backs that up, warning that widespread government corruption is as big a threat to afghanistan as taliban insurgents. >> if we don't fix that, no number of outside troops, ours or nato's, are going to ever fix this problem. >> reporter: but the president has other problems, growing opposition to the afghanistan war at home and the debate over health care reform will surely delay any decision on strategy or troops for months. jim miklaszewski,

this report from mccrystal just came on his desk august 30th.t, digest it and analyze what to do next. so don't say hesitation just because he's taking his time deliberately trying to decide how to move forward. >> let's get general mccrystal to testify, john boehner agrees with that, and hear what he has to say. just today the joint chiefs of staff has come out and general petraeus has come out and endorsed this plan as well. >> ron, let me ask you this, how long -- if you put more troops on the ground, how long do they stay? what is success there? and i want a definition of success from you. >> absolutely. success is when you beat the enemy, when you eradicate al qaeda and the taliban from the face of afghanistan so they can't harm the united states. >> the information that is out there, they are in pakistan. how do you handle that issue? >> if you -- if they are in pakistan, which you definitely don't want to do is abandon afghanistan. if you send troops into pakistan and you leave afghanistan all by itself, then you're creating a safe haven.

talk about his role in all of this. >> mccrystal is extremely quiet. his tracks. he avoids publicity, but we do know that mccrystal was notified probably the night pat was killed and certainly the next day. >> we interviewed mccrystal in afghanistan this past july. we asked him to answer a few questions about tillman. he refused. former seco former secretary of defense rumsfeld also declined to be interviewed for this story. >> many have sacrificed the same sacrifice that the tillman family now suffers. >> before tillman filled out a form before he left for iraq, he did not want the army to have a direct part in his funeral. what do you think he'll feel about this? >> he would be so angry, he would be so hurt and furious at what his family's had to suffer at the hands of the army and the government. i mean, -- you know, he'd want to come down and wring somebody's neck for sure. >> for "nightline" i'm bob woodruff in new york. >> a patriot's story on this 9-11 anniversary. our thanks to bob woodruff for that story. jon krakauer's book will be in the boo

that is a judgment call upon general mccrystal. the sense of admiral mullen and the joint chiefs is not to break the force. sometime tough risk the one to do the other, the risk we confronted in iraq and that is the general -- that the challenge that general mccrystal faces in afghanistan y. >>> you. >>> how can the pentagonou save energy? stay tuned. we'll be right back. need a lift? hey buddy, i appreciate the ride, you know. no problem. ♪ mind if i take a shortcut? yeah, sure. ♪ i knew the subaru legacy was the smart choice... what i didn't expect... was the fun. the all-new subaru legacy. feel the love. >>> experts may disagree about when fossil fuels will run out but everybody agrees that at some point they will run outer. for the world's largest single energy user the u.s. military that spells trouble. some members of congress want the pentagon to adopt new technologies, like wind and solar power and to build nuclear power surface ships. we have sherry goodman who serves as therurgin the clinton adminisgation and general coun

. >> jennifer, tony's clearly referencing the general mccrystal's report to the white house that was leaked sunday and monday actually to "the washington post" and bob woodard. who do you figure leaked it? what element of the government leaked it? and why do you think they leaked it? off of tony's view, which i'm inclined to agree with, by the way. >> i'm inclined to agree with tony's view as well. it feels like the white house is building up to not doing -- not accepting at least in total mccrystal's recommendations. and i worked -- i worked in the white house for eight years under bill clinton and predicting -- trying to figure out where relief comes from is a very perilous business. it does feel like the military may have done that to try to force the president's hand. but i think the white house has been very clear that even though mccrystal, that his military recommendations are what they are, they are based on the theory that there's a functioning afghani partner, functioning afghani government, and they've made i think clear and when they talk about how they're trying to make

general mccrystal, working with general petraeus. in the growth of the afghan security forces, and increase of the number of trainers we should provide. i agree with that approach. i strongly disagree with a wait-and-see recommendation that we should deploy no additional to afghanistan until this action has been taken. i believe that this position would repeat a nearly catastrophic mistakes and set back the vital war effort in afghanistan. the lesson of iraq is that we make little progress nearly by putting afghan volunteers through a training force, of course, and we leases them into combat. in fact, when precisely this approach was tried in iraq, iraqi units collapsed in the face of attacks. it took measureship at every level, including partnership and joint operations with u.s. forces that built a capable iraqi security force. similar leadership at all levels is required to build the military and pave the way for our successful exit in afghanistan. to do this, we will need more u.s. combat forces in afghanistan, not less or the sa

about the -- this big war, conditions have changed over there considerably and maybe the tragedy mccrystalas in mind is not strategy we should be pursuing. i also don't know which way he's going to swing on this, chris, but does he run the risk as we we know historically about afghanistan being the place where empires go to die, he runs a big risk of a conundrum here. we don't have the troops right now, by the way, to meet mccrystal's goals. >> you know, i don't get emotional as much as people think i do, but i was reading the paper today and i'm sure you both reacted the way i did to what we saw. let's take a look at a picture. this young italian kid whose dad is a captain was killed last week over there in an explosion. you know, you tell the people in italy or the people in america that their fathers or dying to fight sharia rule in a country called afghanistan because we don't think that's the right way to run a country. frank gaffney says we should be fighting sharia, susan paige, on the show tonight. is that a creed for the american people? would they rally around the flag on that on

mccrystal is trying to shift the way the u.s.itary operates so they are supporting villages, not alienating them. this is a huge task. but i think he's very, very aware of the issues that the caller raised. host: if you're interested in reading more of the works in the regular column by trudy rubin, you can log on the website. it's philly.com/true dirubin. eric is joining us from indiana. good morning. caller: good morning. i read an article called "us or them in afghanistan" by a lady named ann jones. and she's been in afghanistan helping with women's causes there since the beginning. and she writes about, you know -- supposedly there is an army of afghanis that's 90,000 strong. i guess a bunch of marines and nato forces moved in to someplace and started to fight against either the taliban or the warlords who controlled that area. she said they moved in with only 600 afghanis, and she said the main question we've got to ask is where is this army of 90,000? guest: yes. the army of 90,000 -- have i been cut off? host: no, you're h

oneneral mccrystal recommends how many additional troops he thks is neceary. hope we don't delay the decision for long and will approve the troop increases that we know are being soug by genel mccrystal rking with gen petraeus >> charliewe offer ctinuing coverage of these two iortant stories in the ds and weeks and mohs ahead. up nex we meet the 09 u.s. open cmpion, juan martin del potro. >> charlie: this year's u. open tennis championship s reaching a crowing achievent for rodgefederer anhe was in new york maring tord his 6th u.sopen. that expectation and tt dream was statered by 20-ye-old 6-foot-6 challenger, jn martin del poo. after defeating rafael nadain stight sets on saturday he confirmedhis skill and won the saga. here is tch point. >> he's getting closer here in the second serve. >> andne of the great upsets in u.s. en histy. tennis has a new champion, 20-year-old jn martin del poo. >> charlie: he isthe first argentine to win the u.s. open since guillermo vill and pleased to have him here to lk abouthis trophy. >> thank you very much. >> charlie: what

. >> i hope president obama doesn't falter and i hope he accedes to and responds to general mccrystaleral pet tase' request for new troops to succeed in afghanistan. i'm worried that democrats on the hill are heading for the exits. people within his own administration, his chief of staff, rahm emanuel, i'm told, is telling him, you should not be the lyndon johnson of this ear era. don't get your presidency mired down in a tough war. figure out a way to get out of. there i hope president obama goes with the generals and not the political advisors. he cannot lose in afghanistan to withdraw from the place in which 9/11 was launch, what that would do from afghanistan and pakistan, it would be a shot in the arm t would show weakness on the part of america. i think it would be terrible, but i've got to say, general mccrystal and petraeus and admiral mullen and gates want to fight and win. i'm not sure anyone else is telling p president obama that's that that's the right thing to do in his own administration. bret: nina, do you sense that the political winds are shifting up on capitol hill w

obama is reviewing the situation, as outlined by general stanley mccrystal. the president has already deployed 21,000 soldiers to afghanistan this year. and 58,000 are now on the ground. but general mccystle is calling for even more soldiers to get the upper hand on both al qaeda and the taliban. >> the situation is deteriorated on the ground. you have the taliban that has regained foot holds in parts of the country, in the south and in the east, and they've gotten better at what they do. >> mccrystal's report was supposed to be confidential. but parts of it were leaked and that is creating a political headache for the president. many the fellow democrats want to put the breaks on u.s. involvement in afghanistan, while many republicans want more forces to fight the war. >>> dc firefighters are investigating a fire out at the gabon embassy. it broke out shortly before 3:30 this morning and fire officials say it appears to have started in the basement and spread to a portion of the first floor. they say no one was in the embassy when the fire started, and this

general mccrystal, excuse me, admiral, general mccrystal's assessment of our strategy in afghanistan has been closely held and is currently under review, as you stated, both in the pentagon and in the white house. the assessment, as i understand it, contains no requests for additional troops but is instead being described as a new strategy for the president's consideration and endorsement. last march didn't the president adopt a new strategy for afghanistan with considerable fanfare? >> yes, sir. i think that the description of general mccrystal's assessment -- >> you can watch this hearing in its entirety at c-span.org. we're going to leave it now to take you live to house republicans talking about financial regulations, one of several events today marking one year since the government stepped in to shore up financial markets. you see spender -- spencer bachs on your screen, he'll be joined by other republican committee members. live coverage. >> we need smarter regulation. not that we need more regulation , that we need the governmental agencies that are assigned to assure safety a

mccrystal's report was supposed to be confidential.ut parts of it were leaked to the press and that is creating a political headache for the president. a growing number of democrats want to put the brakes on our involvement in afghanistan while republicans are demanding more forces to fight the war now entering its ninth year. >> so the challenge for president obama, to make sure that he is articulating what it is that our national interests involve here, and how we're going to achieve it. and how we can get out. >> reporter: president obama says he is a skeptical audience and will be asking hard questions of the military commanders before committing more troops to the war in afghanistan. swroal brown, cbs news -- joel brown, cbs news, washington. >> while the commander in chief considers sending more troops to afghanistan, lawmakers on the hill are weighing health care reform and how to make it happen. one of the five bills under review is going to be tweaked before going to committee. montana democrat senator max baucus plans to modi

stunning affront to your lead commander in what you call the good war. >> i don't think general mccrystal has been ignored or feels ignored in any waivment the chairman of the joint chiefs was just there last week to see him personally and the report is at the white house. as far as this olympic thing getting in the way, i think it just sort of an overkill. let him go. bret: byron, you are talking about a republican commercial out of this. what happens if he goes there, does the whole pitch and chicago doesn't get it and it goes to rio, is that another -- >> it would be a huge problem, obviously. he is putting presidential prestige on the line to do this. there are other cities that may be ahead of chicago. chicago itself is divided amongst itself about whether to have the olympics, whether they even want them. i think the polls show that the city is about split. half and half, and if it cost the city anything, most people are actually opposed to it, so, in addition, by the way, he is taking a lot of the administration, a lot of the education secretary, are i guess to talk about education

so geral mccrystal recommends how many additional troops he thin is necessy. i pe we don't delay the decision for long and will approve the troop increases that we know are being sought by genera mccrystal woing with gen petraeus. >> charlie: offer connuing coverage of these two imptant stories in the day and weeks and mont ahead. up next we meet the 20 u.s. open chaion, juan martin del potro. >> charlie: this year's u.s.pen tennis championship waeaching a crowing achievemt for rodger derer and was in new york marchg towa his 6th u.s. open. that expectation and tha dream was statered by 20-yearld 6-foot-6 challenger, juamartin del potr terdefeating rafael nadal straht sets on saturday he confirmed s skill and won the saga. heres match point. >> he's getti closer here in the second serve >> and o of the great upsets in u.s. open story. tennis has a new champion, 20-year-old juan martin del potro. >> charlie: hes the first argentine to win the u.s.open since guillermo llasnd pleased to have him here t talk out this trophy. >> thank you very muc >> charlie: what'

one of the great tactical breakthroughs in iraq that general mccrystal wants to put into effect -- in fact, has begun to in afghanistan -- there's no better way to train the afghan forces than to partner them with american and coalition forces in afghanistan. it's not just sending somebody to a school run by americans to train them. it's having the afghan units out there in the field side by side working with, fighting with, living with american soldiers. that is the best source of training. so i couldn't agree with my friends from south carolina and arizona more. the situation in afghanistan is a vital national interest. everybody agrees with that. i think you can't listen to admiral mike mullen yesterday and decide that the initiative is ours now. it's not. it's slipping away from us. and the best way to regain the initiative is to send as many troops as we can, listening to general mccrystal. they have to be -- a lot of them have to be combat troops, and to do so as quickly as possible. i say the weather a moment ago. when -- the winters are harsh in afghanistan. that's not to say

general david petraeus endorses stanley mccrystal's afghan assessment.ould call for an increase in troops. we know that president obama has met with members of his cabinet. there was a report in the "times" today, norah, he is considering a suggestion made by vice president joe biden not to increase troop levels but focus on areas near the afghan/pakistan border where al qaeda and perhaps osama bin laden is still there. general petraeus endorsing general mccrystal's assessment of what should happen. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 yeah, i know what you mean... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 when my broker said, "i make money when you make money," tdd# 1-800-345-2550 he neglected to mention tdd# 1-800-345-2550 he also makes money when i lose money, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 withdraw money or do nothing with my money. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 tto silence headaches... doctors recommend tylenol... more than any other brand... of pain reliever. tylenol rapid release gels... release medicine fast. so you can stop headaches... and feel better fast. proclaims "gq" magazine. d

. >> are we going to see the president give general mccrystal what they want? >> i spent the afternoon with iraq and afghanistan with the armed forces. they know what they need to do. the president needs to step you and get it done. he can roll over congress when he needs to. this is where we need to. >> thank you for coming in on this saturday. appreciate it. >> no problem. >>> hamas rockets rained down on veilly border towns and defenses hit israel loy strikes as arab and israeli leaders met for the u.n. summit. mike tobin is in jerusalem with more. >>> violence and bloodshed once again flared in the gaza strip. israeli aircraft fired in a car. operatives were up loading rockets from that car that's why it was targeted of the the army says cockpit video shows the explosion after the initial strike and that is proof the car contains explosives. the arm me said they were in a jewish town over the weekend. the people in the car were operatives back then and they denied it had anything to do with rockets. funerals were held today. funerals themselves didn't escap

he wanted to hear from general mccrystal himself. he is now on his way back. he has the request for more troops, more resources. we're being told it is still in the 30,000 to 40,000 range. that request will be given thej then to secretary gates in the pentagon but he doesn't plan to pass it on to the president or white house until they discuss what the new strategy is. >> bin laden says al qaeda could retaliate against europe for its alliance with the u.s. and afghanistan. it heard on a new audiotape. bin laden says european countries share in the blame for nato air strikes that have killed civilians. the president has put a new man in charge of the difficult effort to close the guantanomo terrorist detainee facility by next january r white house counsel greg craig was replaced by pete rouse as they worry about making the deadline. there are still legal and diplomatic and national security issues that must be dealt w you can cross off another obama administration official from the roster. he we will tell you who it is, and senate democrats get a little testy o

it will have 68,000 by the end of the year mccrystal's report doesn't call for more troops, but it isxpected later this year. >> there is not a lot of support in washington for that. >> reporter: one source says while the taliban still controls nearly a third of afghanistan, this new strategy could free u.s. troops to go after them. >> the situation is deteriorating, security is actually getting worse in the southeast and parts of the north as well. >> reporter: but years later, it could have more problems as the white house makes a new case for a push. >> not only is the war worth fighting it is absolutely necessary to u.s. national security. >> reporter: the former c.i.a. agent just traveled to afghanistan. they say unlike iraq the war effort in afghanistan is aimed at the taliban and al-qaeda. >> but i think what we have to realize is that it has not been a properly resourced effort. and we only started to focus on afghanistan. >> reporter: the report from the general has not been released publicly. and the general has not said whether it has been read by defense secretary robert g

it is on the internet as well as a report called civilian military campaign plan put together by mccrystal and our ambassador to afghanistan. it is not just about military resources. i agree with what joe klein said and president obama, strategy first, resources after. this report is more nuanced and it says we have to do more to increase the capability of the afghan security forces, both police and military, up to 400,000. we have to do a lot more to deal with the crisis in the afghan government. the sham election and rampant corruption. it is the corruption, stupid. the third part is we have to redeploy our forces as joe said from where the enemy is to where the population lives. it is more complicated than the press is making it out to be. contrary to what joe said, we did know early this year the election would be a sham. i was in the country in april, met with all four of the major opposition candidates including abdullah abdullah, then went to kandahar and met with tribal leaders none of whom felt this election would be on the level. they gave us examples where you could buy voter ca

essentially what it says is general mccrystal is warning that this could be a mission failure if it is not resourced properly. i'll he quote from t "inadequate resources will result in failure." and "a perception of our resolve that is uncertain makes afghanis reluctant to align with us against the insurgents. " we heard from the chairman of the joint chiefs saying at his reconfirmation saying that more troops would be needed, and it was clear that he thought that the strategies for afghanistans needed to be reviewed again. remember back on march 27, he actually announced his new strategy and said it would include counterinsurgency and that general mccrystal was being sent out there essentially to come up with a way to pursue counterinsurgency. now president obama is saying not so fast. don't send me a request for big resources because i want to make sure i have the strategy right first. bret: jennifer, the question is whether the administration is somehow not allowing general mcchrystal to go forward with this formal request. i mean, what is the inside story at the pentagon there? >>

commander general, stanley mccrystal on the growing unurgency in afghanistan. over the weekend a suicide bomb killed five people. it is growing in parts of the country that used to be peaceful. the debate is heating up over the u.s. presence in afghanistan. >> this comes at the heels of the death of a marine from maryland. >>> lance corporate was only 24 years old. he listened to stories about his grandfather, a marine who served in vietnam. when he was 8 he knew he wanted to become a marine himself. this was his second tour of duty. he hasn't seen a lot of action in iraq but his parents knew it would be different in afghanistan. they regan a major operation in the southern provinces, late last week he was shot and killed on the battlefield. >> i tell yak -- until you actually lose a child, you would never know that feeling of loss. incredible feeling. i don't think it will ever go away. >> he leaves behind his wife amber, along with a brother and two sisters. he will be buried this weekend not far from where he grew up in frederick county. >>> a denver area te

and the war in afghanistan, should president obama give general mccrystal the troops he wants. like in afghanistan? does he even have a strategy and what are the consequence offers getting out? all tough questions. we'll ask ron reagan jr. and ron gaffney. >>> we examine the power marriage of barack obama and michelle obama. >>> and jimmy carter is wrong, race is not what irks president obama's opponents in health care. >>> and finally, marathon man, former house majority leader, hammer man tom delay made his debut on dancing with the stars last night. here's tommy!

we don't -- we have heard that general mccrystal is going to be recommending additional combat forces but we don't know. we had a long talk with him exploring the situation in afghanistan. but we just don't know for sure what that recommendation's going to be. but i know what my recommendation is. i believe the best chance of success in afghanistan, and we've got to enhance our chances of success, particularly remembering on this day what happened in afghanistan when the taliban took over and provided a safe haven for al qaeda. we've got to make sure that does not happen again and the best way to do that is for the afghans to do what they want to do, which is to provide for their own security with their own forces. they want to do that and we should help them do that before we consider sending additional forces and combat forces and increasing the size of our footprint because, you know, al qaeda just loves to take propaganda benefit from american forces being present. >> now that is, of course, not to say doing a training mission doesn't carry a great deal of risk for our troops in t

"the washington post" got their hands on general stanley mccrystal's 66-page report on the war sent toview by the president. reporter for "the washington post" joins us live, karen. i'm struck by the notion the president has had this and looking at it for some time, we understand. but we also heard him this sunday on "meet the press" talking about the fact that he was focused less on the number of troops as a debate and more on what the strategy should be overall in afghanistan. >> the president has made clear that he's going to go at this in a very deliberative way, that he's not going to be rushed, that he wants to hear everybody out, that general mccrystal's assessment is only one input among many he will receive and consider. i don't think they're in any big hurry to make a decision on this. >> are we nation building in afghanistan? do we know exactly what the new strategy will or should be? >> well, i think we are nation building to a certain extent at the moment. what general mchrystal has recommended is ramping up that effort very quickly and with significantly more resources. h

commander, general stanley mccrystal describes the situation as urgent, defense officials say they need more time to review the u.s. strategy. the administration is weighing its options. >> he is strongly suggesting that there aren't months and months to come to a decision here. well, and i respect that, because clearly he is the commander on the ground. but i can only tell you that there are other assessments from, you know, very expert military analysts who have work ed counter insurgencies who say just the opposite. >>> following criticism that many americans would be forced to buy insurance plans that they couldn't afford. although the changes could add billions of dollars to the plan, balk us suggests it could help attract bipartisan support as president obama continues his media blitz on the issue. appearing monday night on "the late show with david letterman." >> when i talk to other world leaders who are paying attention to this argument, and they hear some of the stuff -- and these are in some cases conservative leaders. they're heads of center right governmen governments, and

laura: let's go to general mccrystal. we have a minute.a report going on its way to the president. apparently wants 28,000 more troops. reports that it was censored. he censored himself 28,000 figure out of the report; is that right. >> he was told by the white house you will not ask for more troops. he will be handled in a different venue. that's not the way you do it. look, i don't think we need more troops. but a general on the ground, when you give him mission impossible, don't tell him he can't ask for the resources he thinks are necessary to do the jobs. the worst of both worlds. laura: the politics got in the way of the political -- of the military strategy that would be appropriate in afghanistan in your mind? of the poll numbers for the president. >> obama doesn't have a strategy. he just have poll numbers. laura: coming up. pro-obama politics in america's classrooms? how you can protect your kids? and nancy pelosi's approval numbers are falling. and fast. the san francisco liberalism going out of style? could it be? no. those rep

we can't become afghanistan-cenric. >> general mccrystal made it clear, the mission is protecting theopulation. this is the counter insurgency strategy, but there's a lot of work that goes into protecting a population with this kind of culture, this kind of poverty and distrust of anything not the taliban of the central government of which there's not much. >> and we should get it done. we should accomplish it. i think we ignored afghan stan for too long. i think the troop requirements were necessary there. >> under president bush? >> we did. we were focused on iraq. i hate to see it focused so much on afghanistan that we don't complete the job. >> is this war worthy? >> it depends on how you define it. discorrupting and trying your hardest to disband terrorism and al qaeda on our soil remains in the forefront. some of the criticism this week from noted conservatives and focused on whether or not we are focused on pack stanlg pakistan as much as we should be. there are bases critical to us being able to effectively bring changes. two, the afghans, i read tom friedman's column, i take

warn of daster if mccrystal doesn't send the troops he wants. >> we'll lose. the taliban will be stronger than they were before. the moderates in afghanistan will go back in hiding or get killed. >> reporter: today the defense secretary says he has the mcchrystal report but has yet to show it to the president. >> i'm going to sit on it until i think or the president thinks it's appropriate to bring that into the discussion of the national security principles. >> reporter: meanwhile, mr. oba has reached out to john mccain, yesterday calling his former rival to talk about the way forward. >> the base of his party, americans are wary, understandably they're wary, and it's a very difficult decision for him. >> reporter: lester, general mcchrystal along with general petraeus and secretaries gates and clinton be here tuesday for a big meeting on afghanistan in the white house situation room. aids say a new strategy will number place. >>> some frightening images from the philippines today as people were swept away. more than 100 are dead or missing. others struggled

commander, general stanley mccrystal says they're viewed as security risks has changed. is this a sort of a longer and more prolongeded time in afghanistan? and we will a couple of the items in the news. mr. secretary, good to see you. let's start with the talk of afghanistan, 3000 more troops doesn't sound like a huge rampup. what do you read into that? >> all reports indicate there will be a recommendation from general mccrystal, and unfortunately a debate in the administration has unformer become more public. and secretary of state clinton, larger force and vice-president biden saying it he doesn't think it's a good idea and senator carl levin against a major buildup. the president has to make a decision soon, he wants to be reflection about it, he's got to make a decision fairly soon as to whether he's going to support significant increase in troops or reject the recommendation coming out. >> brian: era man who has been in a position to have to make similar recommendations. what do you recommend in this case. >> i'd listen to general mccrystal, do it now, do not dela

i also think, frankly, that given that the commander in afghanistan, general mccrystal, is perhaps the most capable special operations commander that this country has ever produced, that if he thought it could be done that way, i think we'd be seeing different sets of recommendations. >> great, thank you. there's a discussion about expediting the elections senator wicker raised. i think, obviously, that would be key to everyone. does anyone on the panel, i met with abdullah abdullah two months ago. there's a chance he might throw in with karzai, i think it's remote. but just for the sake of this, can anyone consider a way to expedite this election without some sort of coalition government? >> senator, that's a very important question. i'm not sure there's a way to expedite it. i think there will be a tendency to allow the ecc to complete its investigations and then make a determination on whether the process has met the standards of a fair enough election. i think the only thing that could bring it to a resolution earlier would be the coming together within the afghan political elite o

first, nbc news learned general stanley mccrystal banned the use of alcoholly all international forcesin kabul. u.s. military officials are telling jim miklaszewski he has the ban because he objrqaór to the beer garden where allied military officials gathered throughout the day. he thought it created a distraction. they are prohibited from drinking alcohol anytime in the war zone. many allied forces permit drinking at the base. >>> a british soldier and translator were killed in a daring raid on a taliban hideout in northern afghanistan. the raid accomplished the objective. it freed the reporter of the new york times. stephen farrell was taken hostage. >>> high drama on the hundredway in mexico city. a lone hijacker tried to take control of a plane full of passengers, including several americans. kerry sanders has more on how it started and how it ended. >>> some passengers on board said they didn't realize there was a hijacking in progress. >> translator: we never would have guessed he was attempting to hijack the plane. we know because they told us we were taking off. >> reporter: th

. >> general mccrystal made it clear, the mission is protecting the population. this is the counter insurgency strategy, but there's a lot of work that goes into protecting a population with this kind of culture, this kind of poverty and distrust of anything not the taliban of the central government of which there's not much. >> and we should get it done. we should accomplish it. i think we ignored afghan stan for too long. i think the troop requirements were necessary there. >> under president bush? >> we did. we were focused on iraq. i hate to see it focused so much on afghanistan that we don't complete the job. >> is this war worthy? >> it depends on how you define it. discorrupting and trying your hardest to disband terrorism and al qaeda on our soil remains in the forefront. some of the criticism this week from noted conservatives and focused on whether or not we are focused on pack stanlg pakistan as much as we should be. there are bases critical to us being able to effectively bring changes. two, the afghans, i read tom friedman's column i take issue with

stanley mccrystal writes this. we'll have much more on mcchrystal's report coming on on the "morning meeting" at 10:30. >>> and major flooding in the atlanta area. severe storms created a dangerous situation. roads closed. rescue workers had to go in after stranded folks. let's get to the weather channel's jeff mario, who is in powder springs, georgia. it looks bad. >> reporter: this is some of the flooding. this is minor. can you see some of the cars behind me here. the water up to at least hub cats. in the next county, schools are closed there. you can never be sure how deep the water is. i will have my cameraman pan over here, because it's not just the roadways. look over here, and you can see some of the apartments behind me over to the side to me where the water is right up to the doorways here. there are vehicles over there as well that have water up to or above the wheels. a lot of the vehicles have been flooded out. people are trapped in their homes here. they will wait it out inside the apartments. when yo

he is going to get general mccrystal's reports and recommendations as well as those from others and make the decision. the main thing is to keep focus on what our mission was there, which was to disable and destroy al qaeda so they don't threaten us any longer. that's the prism through which he'll make his judgments. >> should there be a deadline for troop withdrawal just as senator obama called on the bush administration to get troops out of iraq? is it reasonable to set that deadline to troops in afghanistan? >> well, look, we have a different situation in afghanistan. afghanistan is actually the place that afghanistan, pakistan, where the folks who attacked us on 9/11 are holed up and plotting against us still. that's a problem that still exists, a threat that still exists, we have to deal with it. so it is a wholly different situation. >> so no deadline? no deadline is appropriate? >> the president will evaluate all the information that's coming to him now. we have a series of benchmarks and review points set up. he'll make the hard judgments that need to be made. >> we'll leave it t

general stanley mccrystal fighting a grim picture in the fight against the taliban. the white house press secretary -- defense secretary robert gates saying that decision is weeks away. >>> an attorney for najibullah zazi says his client has done nothing wrong. his lawyer says the feds don't have a case. >> from what i have seen so far, there's not an amount of on conspiracy. i don't know the names of anyone else that allegedly conspired with mr. zazi. >> he a admits that -- he admits that he did visit pakistan lath years and did buy the chemicals from no beauty store. >>> now students are taking to the streets to voice their frustration. >>> plus plus the first lady of the united states has had to make her case of 2016 video being chicago. her push for the second city, next. ♪ save up to an extra 30% when you use your jcpenney card. stores open early saturday with doorbusters. sweaters for her are just $14.99. st. john's bay sueded polos are $12.99. go to jcp.com and see everything on sale. jcpenney ever looking to save more? use your giant card and get double the n

this assessment by general stanley mccrystal was sent to gates in august. >>> an escaped insane killern washington state. 47-year-old phillip an fold paul disappeared during a trip to the county fair with other institution patients. he was take noon custody more than 200 miles away. paul giving up without a fight. >>> i'm lauren sivan. a we now head back to "geraldo a" large" right here on the fox news channel. 5. >> oo you are taking up their space that's the allegation. >> you have nothing to do with al qaeda? >> i have nothing to do with al qaeda. tomorrow any question you have feel free to ask me any questions. all right? >> first let me tell you what we know about the denver man arrested with two others after conflicting reports of a plot to blow up a landmark in new york. he is a naturalized u.s. citizen who admitted last week that in 2008 he received weapons and explosives training from al qaeda while on a trip to pakistan. this guy with weapons training drives from denver to new york. the fbi alerted by a snitch searchs ozzie's car and lap top on the lap top they found nine pag