those groups used to two by different names but have begun calling themselves al qaeda in iraq, or al qaeda in north africa, for example. >> al qaeda was founded by osama bin laden. bin laden is said to have masterminded president bombings of the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanz zain ya. it's believed he has had no direct involvement in recent al qaeda activity. >> translator: since losing their base in afghanistan, after 9/11, al qaeda has apparently been focusing on ideological propaganda and citing terrorist attacks around the world. bin laden has not been giving orders to outside groups, and they have probably been acting on their own. >> bombings believes to belinged to al qaeda are a continuing threat. it's feared bin laden's death could galvanize more terrorist activities. >> translator: it's only the death of one symbolic figure. the terrorist network has not been destroyed. terrorist attacks are continuing around the world. it's highly likely the group will carry out reprisal attacks in the near future. >>> japan's diat passed an extra budget of $4 billion 9 billion devastate

i think you have to be wary of potential spikes of threats and attacks coming from al qaeda or al qaeda affiliates or those who are bin laden supporters of some sort. that said, you know, bin laden has been losing popularity over time not just the arab world, but throughout muslim communities. and so, there may be some who have admired him, and admired him for facing up to the world's superpower in the united states. but i think many folks who've been victim to al qaeda terrorism in iraq, in morocco, in turkey, and all around the world, will not shed too many tears over the demise of bin laden. >> meanwhile the state department has issued a travel alert for american citizens abroad. what are they worried about, specifically? >> well, i think any time there's a major event like this in terms of terrorism, where a senior al qaeda figure, the most important figure, bin laden, is taken out, you have to be worried about potential attacks, and threats coming to american citizens, and directed at american citizens from al qaeda affiliates themselves. al qaeda has global reach. i think one of t

almost a decade of trying to find him but the terror threat alert remains at an all time high as al qaeda or al qaeda promises to avenge its leader's death. the international contact group on libya agreed to set up a fund to support insurgents fighting the regime of colonel gadhafi moscow criticize the decision saying taking sides in the conflict goes against the u.n. resolution. at all in place for victory day celebrations in russia thousands of troops marched across what's called red square their final rehearsal before monday's military parade. and our programs continue up next r.t. talks exclusively to julian assange founder of the wiki leaks web site one of the world's most talked about man right now he discusses his attempts to fight extradition and hits out of what he sees as the sinister side to social networking . julian thanks for talking to r.t. now through the course of your work it's reasonable to assume that you have insights into how political decisions are being made what do you make of the recent events in the middle east and north africa do you think that we're seeing genuin

calling for extra vigilance by law enforcement authorities to a heightened terrorist from al qaeda affiliated or al qaeda inspired terrorists as a result of bin laden's. department of homeland security on the other hand is not raising any terrorist warnings claiming there's no credible evidence to suggest an attack the taliban has promised to avenge bin laden's death claiming they will carry out attacks in pakistan and america and its new so what dangers still exists now the bin laden is dead and now the bin laden mystery will america finally begin to heal in the right way after nine eleven here offer his take on what the future of counterterrorism and muslim outreach is in america post i'm joined by activist author and former california state senator tom hayden. welcome. thomas nice to see you it's great to see you again too sir is always here you ok great is this a game changer american counterterrorism operations. i hate these sports analogies but certainly it's a profound moment especially for the families in new york the younger generation that came of age with nine eleven some of us who've

al qaeda in any significant way anyway. just because bin laden is dead does not mean that this franchise of islamist terrorism, of groups that have similar ideologies to al qaeda or that undertake attacks in the name of al qaeda, this does not mean that those dangers go away. and so that would be my one cautionary concern. >> same fundamental question to you. afghanistan withdrawal and the future of al qaeda. >> i go back to the mistake we made in 1989. we can't stay in afghanistan with 100,000 troops. everybody recognizes that. but on thursday, last thursday, obama had a press conference announcing my new ambassador todoto afghanistan. and we said we are still at war, and we need to maintain the momentum. i think that's right, because we need to get down to a sustainable footprint. what we are doing now is not sustainable economically, militarily, or politically hero there. and ryan crocker served in iraq, and i served with him in baghdad quite a bit. and we negotiated with the iraqis our path out of iraq. watch for negotiations not just with the afghans and the pakistanis and with elements of the taliban to get to a glide path out of iraq to a more sustainable

means out there that bin laden was hiding in a cave and that he had no contact with other al qaeda operatives or of al qaeda's operations were being taken care of by lower level figures, and in reality that's not what was happening. bin laden continued to play an operational role according to the information that's been discovered even up to the last couple days. he wasn't planning out this person should board this flight or that flight. he may not have known the names of the operatives but he had an idea about what these people were going to do, and, in fact, what's most interesting is he was coming up with ideas that they should do, ideas for spectacular terrorist plots that al qaeda could engage in thatco arranging the minute details. he was still familiar with the idea of attacks against the united states and was spurring those attacks. >> i think a lot of people are surprised and wonder how in the heck was he able to build a pakistani mcmansion and no one not know anything? >> this is a very, very frustrating point and it's very frustrating especially when you see what's going on in pakista

al qaeda? is this the end of al qaeda? will they be able to survive without him? >> well, al qaeda could not end without him being killed orred. so at least we've gotten that far. certainly the organization will endu endure, at least for a while. the number two guy will take over. he's proven to be a terrible manager. his own terror group in egypt he ran into the ground. he's not charismatic. he's anti-charismatic. there will probably be a struggle for succession within al qaeda. there will be tremendous centrifugal force ops ts on the qaeda affiliates that are really basically nationalist in their goals, not internationalist in the way that bin laden had been. without bin laden as a figure head and an inspirational figure, those affiliates may likely break off and begin to follow their more natural pursuits. >> well, lawrence, let me stay with you and ask you this question. is what is happening in north africa and the middle east a fundamental repudiation of al qaeda? in other words, is the ideology that bin laden was trying to disseminate, is it being repudiated by the islamic world as we watch these revolutions that spe

we now have these al qaeda franchises not directly under or tied to al qaeda along the afghan/pakistan border, particularly popeyed in yemen. they still have considerable capability. it's a great moment and a great victory, but the war and the threat continues. >> this is also from the associated press this morning spiri. what do you suspect is going to be happening at the cia over the next few days? >> there's going to be a real sense of satisfaction, quiet smiles, congratulations. these people know more than others that this is not over. they are just going to go back to work. >> what questions do you have about the role of pakistan or any other questions coming out of this news? >> based on what the president said last night and what some of your colleagues are reporting, it's clear the pakistani or not informed of this operation prior to its taking place. i understand that. i cannot conceive of it happening any other way. this is not the kind of thing that you want respect by widening the circle too large, too quickly. i understand keeping it quiet. the question people are asking m

khan's long connection to bin laden convinces him that khan's men see themselves as fighting for al qaeda. >> he or his guys, they didn't say that they're al qaeda, but they are said, "we are following osama bin laden. we are his men." >> narrator: khan told najibullah his fighters control as much as 10,000 square kilometers in this part of north central afghanistan, a claim impossible to check. but every day, najibullah would join khan's fighters on patrols though their territory. there were scenes he wasn't allowed to film-- as they gathered intelligence, collected tax payments from local villagers, sometimes purchased weapons, and apparently made preparations for resuming military operations this summer. but on one patrol, when they entered this village, najibullah was able to film what seemed to be an unusually large number of young boys. it turned out they were here to be schooled in the local madrassa. but their education apparently went beyond the koran. >> i was filming. suddenly, one kid, one young child came with a machine gun from the madrassa, from inside the mosque. >> narrator: when k

but according to their view anybody who is a member of al qaeda or supported al qaeda is a legitimate military target is an only combatant and that means that they can be killed at all or just based on the president say so i find that policy troubling but that's their interpretation of the law but even under that interpretation you're not supposed to kill somebody who's surrendering we're not supposed to kill somebody after he's been incapacitated or captured so it is important legally whether in fact be needed to kill him or he could have been taken alive whether he did resist and if he did resist how he resisted that's not there since he wasn't armed all of those are important questions in judging whether this was in fact legal but at this point do you think there's any chance the will actually get an answer whether we'll ever really know if we can even get a picture to prove that he's dead how we really know what happened in that room or inside that compound to know whether he was resisting or not we now know that he was unarmed are as to you know what may have constituted resistan

warner: ambassador bodine, he's also played as the professor mentioned earlier, the sort of "it's me or al qaedae or chaos" card. is that still working with him with either his own people or say with the u.s.? >> i don't think it's working any longer. it's been more "it's either me or chaos." as professor haykel pointed out, there isn't an obvious or agreed successor. but what we're seeing is that what we've got now is him and chaos. not him or chaos. so i think that card is no longer really a strong card. >> warner: professor, this sort of takeover of the city on the southern coast, the government seemed to hint that this was al qaeda and the arabian peninsula connected or something. yet there seems a lot of the skepticism about that. >> yeah, there is. you know, as ambassador bodine has just mentioned i think he's overplayed his hand. this may be just another attempt again to use the al qaeda card. it's not clear that in fact it is al qaeda that has taken over this city. if at all. >> warner: who else would it be? >> oh, it could be local tribesmen, southern... there's a southern secessionist

leon panetta who had overall command of the kill mission is warning of potential retaliation from al qaeda or al qaeda sympathizers. does the death of osama bin laden make us safer or in fact inflame things and expose us to new danger? joining us now, nbc news terrorism analyst roger cressey to address that and the pakis n pakistani question. roger, let us begin immediately today, as a new yorker, the more security on the bridges, more security on the subways. how much more real is the threat to those of us who live in new york, or those who might live in washington or other cities, los angeles, san francisco? in the hours and days following this news? >> dylan, i don't think it's significantly higher. what you're seeing with nypd in new york and other major metropolitan police forces is the standard abundance of caution. they don't have credible, specific threat informationing. they're doing what they think is in the best interest to create a sense of deterrence if in fact there's something they don't know about. al qaeda, if they had contingency plans on the shelf in the aftermath, it would

al qaeda right now? >> that's a good question. i would predict it would be ayman al zawahiri. they had some falling out -- >> he's not well liked. respected orr. >> he is a major operator there. major spokesman for them. will are some rumors they may reach down to the number three or four guy. if hi to bet today, go with zawahiri. we will see in the next few days. they are discussing that right now. they will probably be -- there will probably be an announcement whn a few days or a week or two. >> we will see you against next hour. thanks. >>> an update on the mississippi river that's rising to record levels in tennessee. how residents are preparing for that. plus, paul mccartney gets ready for marriage number three. the details on his proposal. hey susie, why don't you use this ? it's got a calculator. thanks, dad. this is the neighborhood. you get elm street and you get main street. thank you. and that's just the first quarter. so you want a slide in your office ? or monkey bars, either one. more small businesses choose verizon wireless than any other wireless carrier. where's susie ? is she expecting you ? because they know the small busi

or al qaeda. not the tribal people of pakistan. >> all right. you for fascinating conversation. >> thank you. >> coming up, how would presidential candidate ron paul handle the bin laden raid differently if he were president. the answer might shock you. stay with us. >>> ron paul's presidential campaign in 2008 was a grassroots phenomenon that turned him from a curiosity into a serious political figure. today as he announces candidacy for the 2012 republican nomination, some views may startle you. he joins me now. welcome back, congressman. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> first, congratulations on your announcement. good luck. i want to say that to everybody who gets into the fray of politics. i wish you all the best. >> okay. thank you. >> i want to begin by quoting back to something you said about the raid that captured and killed osama bin laden and this is a direct quote from what you said. you said i don't think it was necessary. no. it absolutely was not necessary. i would suggest the way they got khalid shaikh mohammed we went and c

from the perspective of a taliban or al-qaeda fighter or an afghan elder whose family was humiliated by a nighttime raid or relatives were struck accidently or intently, they are invading russia's vietnam, and that's a distinction to be understood. the soviet defeat in afghanistan in the collapse of the soviet union filled the islamic right with fer veer. while the united states could walk away from vietnam bruceed but the world status uneffected, the same is not said for afghanistan and pakistan when the united states has long term interest in gas pipelines and oil, russia, iran, and india, and preventing the region from once again becoming a base for al-qaeda terrorism. what does the united states do now that it has this contradiction where the use of force no longer guarantees security, but underminds the security it was meant to ensure? the significance of this moment is not lost in the evidence of the world with protesters filling up the middle east and the united states demanding democracy and representation. u.s. military thinkers are more than aware of the crossover in global

a hundred or so al qaeda operatives that they claim are left to reforms in afghanistan we know it's not going to end us wars in the region or the us justification for wars and the region this really follow rules from us policy analysts or wars holocene. analysts that our resources our support for military dictatorships that don't give the people anything at all it's certainly true when you look at the policies and pakistan where billions of dollars given to the military has provided nothing at all and that is also so true in afghanistan where the conditions look like i've actually deteriorated under analysis and wounds that against this is one other quick line of oh i just want to run past you really interested to get your views on a lot of our guests that we've been talking to today have been speculating about the timing of bin laden's death now coming to weeks after about we began his presidential rerun campaign if you think there's some sort of coincidence there any thoughts are of course i think there is every and action our feeling that this will give obama in the run for elections

or al qaeda. not the tribal people of pakistan. >> all right. thank you for fascinating conversation. >> thank you. >> coming up, how would presidential candidate ron paul handle the bin laden raid differently if he were president. the answer might shock you. stay with us. nouncer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. in an effort to give you the best network possible. it's true. you never forget your first subaru. so i take one a day men's 50+ advantage. as a manager, my team counts on me to stay focused. it's the only complete multivitamin with ginkgo to support memory and concentration. plus it supports heart health. [ bat cracks ] that's a hit. one a day men's. i used to

al-qaeda so well, asked about what al-qaeda is still capable of. this is what he said in part. >> al-qaeda is a resilient organization but it is not stredistred i spreading or growing so it has the capability of carrying out attacks that we saw christmas before last where al-qaeda almost blew up an american airliner with several hundred people on board. once in a while it could kill hundreds of people. that ought to get our attention but it need not be the basis for organizing every aspect of our national life or our national defense. >> do you agree with that or not? >> i don't know if i were to agree it's not spreading. i think if you look over the last few years, you've seen a greater presence with al-qaeda or affiliation with al-qaeda in north africa, obviously in yemen and somalia and even parts of central africa. we don't know what the strategy of going for the big attack, which we always assumed was a core element of the strategy, was delivered by bin laden personally. now that he's gone, there may be an opportunity for others who have different views of the attacks to shape strategically. does that mean where instead of blowing up an airliner, you'r

we believe that no one benefits from a nuclear arms race in the region, or al qaeda's brutal attacks. we believe people everywhere would see their economies crippled by a cut-off in energy supplies. as we did in the gulf war, we will not tolerate aggression across borders, and we will keep our commitments to friends and partners. yet we must acknowledge that a strategy based solely upon the narrow pursuit of these interests will not fill an empty stomach or allow someone to speak their mind. moreover, failure to speak to the broader aspirations of ordinary people will only feed the suspicion that has festered for years that the united states pursues our interests at their expense. given that this mistrust runs both ways -- as americans have been seared by hostage-taking and violent rhetoric and terrorist attacks that have killed thousands of our citizens -- a failure to change our approach threatens a deepening spiral of division between the united states and the arab world. and that's why, two years ago in cairo, i began to broaden our engagement based upon mutual interests and mutua

al qaeda in afghanistan. do we need 100,000 american troops there to go after those guys? after all, is the taliban truly our enemy orver there to get? >> you talked about rethinking what's happening in afghanistan. are you one that would take the stance that maybe we should be rethinking what's going on in afghanistan even before bein laden was killed? if not, how does sunday night and bin laden's death automatically change what's happening on the ground there? >> well, it's a psychological blow as you indicated earlier against the taliban. omar, you know, the sheik omar was very close, we're told, to bin laden. and now we probably know a lot more about him and his operations than before. and i also think that what happened is the pakistanis are going to get pretty serious with us and be far more cooperative than they have been of late. they don't want an afghanistan to go in the wrong direction and they certainly don't want to see afghanistan go on the hands of the indians, which is their, you know, major adversary in the region. so, you have some very interesting geopolitical back and forth going on. so, i would a

to look for other people who have that sort of similar fame, maybe al wa zahiri, the deputy of al-qaeda ornwar al-awlaki, the american-born jihadist who's been behind a lot of these attacks coming out of yemen. those are two names that come to mind that had the notoriety bin laden had enjoyed until his death and i think that will probably determine the success to the fundraising moving forward. jon: jonathan schanzer from the foundation for defense of democracies, thank you. >> thank you. jon: we're going to be back with more coverage, straight ahead, "happening now". to keep in balance after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has gingko for memory and concentration plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's. how'd you do that? do what? you made it taste like chocolate. it has 35% of your daily value of fiber. tasty fib, that's a good one! ok, umm...read her mind. [ male announcer ] fiber one chewy bars. [ technician ] are you busy? management jt sent over these new t

>> is it fair to say he's been part of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and they've been plotting nor attacks over the last year or two years? >> he's pretty much seen to be the operational leader of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. twice now, they have demonstrated the actual ability to reach out and touch the united states, if you will. in the airline attack and even though the times square plot failed, said to be the inspiration behind it. and that puts their power right on u.s. soil. elliot? >> that's exactly right. and they're operating in a failed state, which makes it easier for us to open rate there, but fewer constraints on them. now let's go back to the president. he discussed the osama bin laden attack while addressing a unit recently home from afghanistan. >> most of all, we're making progress in our major goal, our central goal in pakistan and afghanistan. that's disrupting and dismantling and we're going to ultimately defeat al qaeda. we have cut off their head, we will ultimately defeat them. >> reporte >> now al qaeda isn't throwing in the towel. the organization declared, bin laden's blood will

funding will continue because they are personalities who believe that what bin laden was doing or what al qaeda was doing was the right thing so they would continue to provide assistance and the funding so that my kind of zine director of the center for conflict and can is that and a cousin of the afghan president but might we'll be back shortly we'll continue this including after a short break so stay with us. a cluster mission. and inside the container you have many many small mom and you can have anywhere from dozens up to hundreds of them there's a huge market right now for cattle area clearance because there are a lot of countries in the world that are contaminated by unexploded ordinance. and it's you got these companies and n.g.o.s that have basically sprung up that have an expertise to get rid of these weapons what they do is they go to these places they will hire local train the locals how to do the clearance they'll let the locals basically take ownership because you know they have a vested interest in clearing their homes and they're putting themselves at risk every single day when t

or possible extremists who later there's blowback from. well this is the tremendous contradiction is that the united states is openly supporting al qaeda forces which represent a large part of the benghazi rebel council in libya in libya or in yemen al qaeda is part of what was one of the main tools of the u.s. in destabilizing the government one suspects that in syria and in our jury a that's also the case but then in sharp contradiction if you are al qaeda in afghanistan or pakistan then you have to be bombed and this is an unsustainable contradiction it just makes absolutely no sense i think what we're actually seeing is the decline of the us empire if you look back at the fall of the spanish the french the british empire is in those cases the fall of the empire has been accompanied by world wars now if the united states decides to go after pakistan trying to split pakistan into seeing. you're going to get a collision between the united states and china and at that point russia will also have to respond in some way what you're seeing is how the decline of empire can lead to war by miscalculation the u.s. ruling elite is in a frenzy because

al qaeda so well. asked about what al qaeda's still capable of, and this is what he said about it. >> al qaeda is a resilient organization, but it is not spreading or growing. so, it has the capability to carry out attacks such as the one we saw christmas before last, where an al qaeda affiliate tried to blow up and almost did blow up an american airliner with several hundred people aboard. now, that is, i think, a fair approximation of its capacity. once in a while, it could kill hundreds of people. that ought to get our attention, but it need not be the basis for organizing every aspect of our national life or our national defense. >> do you agree with that or no? >> i don't know if i would agree that it's not spreading. i think if you look over the last few years, you've seen a greater presence of al qaeda or an affiliation with al qaeda in north africa, obviously in yemen and somalia, and even in parts of central africa. i think what's interesting is this, we don't know to what extent the strategy of going for the big attack, which we've always presumed was a core element of the strategy, was driven by bin laden personally. now that he's gone,

al- qaeda. what percentage of the taliban is not al-qaeda? like 90%? >> that's something we don't know. all of them aren't, but the question is which parts of them would support al-qaeda or the relationship? it's omar with a personal tie with al-qaeda. >> she thinks they are a discussible win. >> to does karzai. >> it's getting bin laden gives the president more credibility and therefore more running room on foreign policy. there's very lil little rational and the war is about pakistan. and now we have some leverage with pakistan. if they want to keep the aid flowing, which they do, there's a little more incentive to cooperate. >> exit question -- you can work in your point here, what point are we at in our relations with the muslim world? is it a pivot point, yes or no? james. >> i think more important is whether it's a pinpoint in all these countries, whether the fledgling democratic movements will loss some. i think what will happen in genuine is the chinese will come in, and that money -- that hundreds -- tens and hundreds of billions of dollars going to their mineral wells will smooth over these differences. >> the administration ought to push the oil-rich states to

agency denies any collusion with bin laden or al qaeda. >> no collusion. ollusion because i know the psychological makeup and orientation of the i.s.i. has never been pro-al qaeda. >> reporter: but it is possible someone in the i.s.i. knew he was there? >> anything can be possible. anything can be possible. but is it also plausible? i would say no. >> reporter: bin laden's yemeni it doesn't impress these men, pakistan's military commanders angry at the attack and threatening that if there's another like it, pakistan will review its military ties with the united states. wife who was shot in the attack is still being questioned at pakistan's military headquarters. she says she was at the compound for just a few months. u.s. intelligence officials are desperate to find out everything she knows. >> woodruff: for more on the killing of osama bin laden in pakistan and what this means, we turn to shuja nawaz, who has written frequently on the pakistan military. he is now at the atlantic council. and robert grenier, a former cia station chief in pakistan. he is now

for some time on if you provided information that you could get to osama bin laden or other certain members of al qaedapaid by the united states this new determination this done or tied in to any reward. >> i was wondering about releasing the photographs of bin laden. >> it appears going to be a lot of talk about it. i think that over liaison partners will have the opportunity to view those photos and it's something we will have to work through. i don't think the answer has been determined quite yet. we want to make sure that we maintain dignity if there was any on osama bin laden so that we don't enflame problems in other places of the world and still provide enough evidence people are confident that it was osama bin laden. >> you said we have to work through things with pakistan. as it turns out there intelligence agency knew that bin laden was there and had known for some time do you favor the continuing intelligence relationship with them and i would also like to know about the u.s. aid to pakistan which has been the billions of dollars. a lot of that was military aid. has been military aid. >> aga

al qaeda safe haven and support. around the globe we worked with our friends and allies to capture or kill scores of al qaeda terrorists, including several who were a part of the 9/11 plot. yet osama bin laden avoided capture. escaped across the afghan border into pakistan. meanwhile, al qaeda continued to operate from along that border and operate through its affiliates across the world. so, shortly after taking office, i directed leon pinetta, director of cia, to make the capture or killing of osama bin lad laden. then, last august, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, i was briefed on a possible lead to bin laden. it was far from certain. it took many months to run this thread to ground. i met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin laden, hiding within a compound deep inside pakistan. finally, last week, i determined that we had enough intelligence to take action and authorized an operation to get osama bin laden and bring him to justice. today, at my direction, the united states launched a targeted operation

al- qaeda. what percentage of the taliban is not al-qaeda? like 90%? >> that's something we don't know. all of them aren't, but the question is which parts of them would support al-qaeda or the relationship? it's omar with a personal tie with al-qaeda. >> she thinks they are a discussible win. >> to does karzai. >> it's getting bin laden gives the president more credibility and therefore more running room on foreign policy. there's very lil little rational and the war is about pakistan. and now we have some leverage with pakistan. if they want to keep the aid flowing, which they do, there's a little more incentive to cooperate. >> exit question -- you can work in your point here, what point are we at in our relations with the muslim world? is it a pivot point, yes or no? james. >> i think more important is whether it's a pinpoint in all these countries, whether the fledgling democratic movements will loss some. i think what will happen in genuine is the chinese will come in, and that money -- that hundreds -- tens and hundreds of billions of dollars going to their mineral wells will smooth over these differences. >> the administration ought to push the oil-rich states to