al qaeda is osama bin laden's organization. one of the funniest things that came out of the training, when we were training one of the teams, we asked can you tell us what al qaeda is, and a woman raised her hand. this is funny, because they almost never know. she explained that al qaeda was hamad, car decide's organization. we spent a lot of time making sure that they actually know what al qaeda is. there are many more anecdotes. each some people couldn't give a coherent explanation of what the taliban was. we have to be careful about the translation and that folks understand them. we have a caveat in mind that we understand the interprings differences. if you look at a map, you have ethnic pockets, -- it is only about 5% of the population and the biggest territory. in statistical sampling, this is like a lumpy soup. if you want to get an idea of what it tastes like, you have to take bites all over the soup. we don't know whether the results we were saying is a product of the lumpy soup probe or a different result. we are goin

s adversary, al-qaeda? there has been a shift in attitudes as far as it pertains to pakistan itself. in 2007, if you look at the bottom bar, their activities were seen as a critical threat to pakistan. in the current study, at 82% called al-qaeda's activities a critical threat. this doubled. an overwhelming majority thinks al-qaeda should not be allowed to run training camps. 88% said this. most say they are not. 76% thought this is not the case. nevertheless, if the government were to identify al-qaeda treating -- training camps, a 75% said the government should close them down, even if it requires military force. 17% disagree. this shows a shift in attitudes from 18 months ago. for comparison, in our 2007 goal, a 44% plurality then it favored the pakistani army capturing al-qaeda fighters, while 36% were opposed. even if the u.s. were to identify al-qaeda treating camps -- training camps, four in 10 do not think it would be justified for the u.s. to bomb such camps. similarly, back in 2007, 80% said the p

al qaeda training camps in pakistan, we asked the same question. again we see a similar interprovincial variation. sindh is much more vocal than the other provinces. nwfp thinks the pakistani authorities should not shut them down. the breakdown here is similar to the question posed about the ttp. this is an interesting question. pippa has asked this question again in other countries. i think the motivation of this is that what they are trying to do is disaggregate what folks think -- you could certainly imagine that you support a tax on the united states and you support al qaeda's goals. but al qaeda's goals are much more expensive than simply attacking the united states. it is also positive review possible you the share many of al qaeda's other goals but reject a tax on the united states. then there are those people who do not share the views of al qaeda and also oppose a tax on the united states. -- oppose attacks on united states. in the nwfp, contradictory to some of the findings we found in the other slides, and that a more likely to support a

the other one is al qaeda and the insurgency. they have not been eliminated in iraq, it is still a violent country. there are still questions about, how do you get a political solution there. so, you know, here we are six months into the obama administration, and he has george bush's wars in afghanistan and iraq still very much on the table. >> and i know you're working on a book on the obama administration that will be out next year. bob woodward, thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >>> terrorists launch a deadly strike against two hotels in indonesia. peter bergen is here to assess whether it's the start of another string of attacks. >>> plus, sarah palin's decision to quit as alaska's governor, has it hurt her standing in the gop? we'll discuss that and more with the republican party chairman, michael steele. (announcer) listening to you. it's how we save you money at nationwide insurance. my name is sandy garza and i am on your side. only nationwide gives you an on your side review. you tell us about your life and your insura

and al qaeda. so a major shift has taken place in pakistani's perceptions of religious militant groups in their country. 81% now see the activities of islamist militants and the fatah in settled areas as a critical threat to pakistan, while in fall 2007, when we asked the same question, only 34% saw them as critical. more broadly, the activities of religious militant groups in pakistan as a whole are seen as a critical threat by 2/3, up from 38%. when they're asked where their sympathies lie in the swat conflict, 7-10 are supportive of the government. 10% volunteered on defense response, both equally or neither, but only 5% said the pakistani taliban. confidence in the pakistani government and army to handle the situation is at majority levels. 4-10 say they have a lot of confidence, and 7-10 say they have at least some. the public seems definite that the pakistani taliban represents a road they don't want their country to go down. we asked them to think what if the pakistani taliban were to gain c

there is the al qaeda presence, the central government in baghdad? >> one of the problems are the arab tensions. what we have seen is that we do have a un process that has begun. if they have had several meetings already between the kurdish government in the government of iraq. they have been trying to go through this disputed territory. that is a positive step forward. that is being led by the united nations here. we think that has some potential. in the meantime, we are trying to continue to make sure they understand that they solve their problems through negotiation, not to the use of violence. we have stayed in contact with all parties to ensure that tensions do not rise. we spend quite a bit of time on that. i still believe that al qaeda has been significantly degraded here in iraq. as we have seen, over the last few weeks, and they are capable of attacks. there are attacks -- there is one of the casa -- one up in kaza -- they are not been in -- they went to some stock places in iraq. that will backfire over them in time. the iraqi citizens have

the dark side was goodfor something, ofng al qaeda. soitherthey didn't do that, which case we all should be more scared now about terrorism or if it was a big, important program and theyidn't inform congress about it, they broke the law. see, ever since the 1970s, the cia has been required to report at least what they call the gang of e. meers of the leadership and the chairman and ranking members of the inlligence cmmittees in each chamr. must report on tir operations. that oversight was implemented ter the last ci ases in the 1970s which are quite sar to what we're talking about, the so-called phoenix programn vietnam targeted viet cong leaders for assassination. wh that came out it gave the cia a black eye a the law was changed requiring them to inform congress. if it comesout that they broke the law under orders om dick chen, tt does lead to so questions about whether the ce president was involv in law breakg. does that mean we'll see him frog marched out of the cheyenne airport? i dbtt but we could see some kind of inquiry as to w

the dark side was gogoodoror something, o oining qaeda. so eitithethth didn't do that, which case we all shohod d be more scared nonow ououterrorism, orf f itas a big, important prprogm and they didn't infofo congress aboututt,t, ty broke the lalaw. see,e,vever nce the 1970s, the a has been required toto rorort at least what t th c cl the gang of eight. members of the l learsrshiand the chchrmrmannd ranking members ofofhe intelligence commititte in each chambebe they must t rertrtn their operations. ththatveveight was implemented after the last cia abuseses t t 7070s ich are quite similar to what we're t tkikingbout, the so-called phoenix progograinin vietnam tatargeded vt cong leaders for asassaininion. when t thacacameut it gave the cia a blblk eye and the law was chchand requiring them to ininrm congressss. so if it comes outut tt t th okokthe law under orders f fro dick cheney, thahat eses ld to some questionsns aututhether the vice prerededentas involved in law breaking. does that meanan wllll s him frog marcheded o o othe cheyenne ai

al qaeda, it's not some secret operation. it's essentially the simplest construction of the whole idea of the war on terror. so this secretive "don't tell anyone" program that leon panetta shut down immediately upon learning of it last month had to be something other than just capturie ining and killing members of al qaeda. was it capturing and killing them in inconvenient countries, like countries we are allies with? well, technically, pakistan is our great ally in the war on terror, but we kill people there on a really regular basis. for example, june 23rd, u.s. drone fires more missiles into pakistan. july 4th, u.s. drone attacks said to kill 17 at taliban outposts in pakistan. july 8th, u.s. drone attack kills 12 in northwest. how many times have you read headlines about drone attacks killing pakistani civilians while we were targeting al qaeda suspects in that country? if killing al qaeda suspects inside the borders of our ally, pakistan, doesn't even make the front section of the newspaper anymore, then a plan to kill a

drones against al qaeda sanctuaries in pakistan-- is working. but in this document posted on the web, a top al qaeda commander writes: both senior government officials and outside experts say it's an extraordinary confession. >> it exposes for the first time a level of paranoia and a level of self-consciousness and a lack of confidence in al qaeda's leadership and their propaganda that we haven't seen up until now. >> reporter: in the past year, the c.i.a. has flown more than 50 drone strikes in pakistan, killing half of al qaeda's top leaders and hundreds of its fighters. one senior official said the central leadership of al qaeda is under more pressure now than at any time since the bombing of tora bora in 2001. the document blames the accuracy of the strikes on spies who have spread throughout the land like locusts. so many brave commanders have been snatched away, it says, so many hidden homes have been leveled. >> reporter: the accuracy of these drone strikes has been so remarkable, there's not even been an attempt by al qaeda or the taliba

and al qaeda. so, a major shift has taken place in pakistani's perceptions of religious militant groups in their country. 81% lcv activities of islamist militants and taliban in the fatah in areas as a critical threat to pakistan, while in fall 2007 when we ask the same question, only 34% saw them as critical. more broadly, the activities of religious militant groups in pakistan as a whole are seen as a critical threat by two-thirds, up from 38%. when they are asked where their sympathies lie in the swat conflict, seven in ten are supportive of the government. 10% volunteered on the fence response, both equally or neither, but only 5% said the pakistani taliban. confidence in the pakistani government and army to handle the situation is that majority levels. they have a lot of confidence, and seven in ten say they have at least some. the public seems definite that the pakistani taliban represents a road they don't want their country to go down. we ask them to think, what the pakistani taliban were t

also tonight, al qaeda's leadership in pakistan running for their lives. the terror group admits u.s. predator drones have caused alarming damage. it seems to work for them. could eating fewer calories add more years to your life? and do you believe in good luck charms? they do. and they have one that really seems to work. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> couric: and good evening, everyone. they started the engine today on the brand new 2009 model general motors. but it took a pair of jumper cables attached to the united states treasury. the company officially emerged today from what turned out to be a quick spin through bankruptcy. reorganizing took just 40 days and g.m. got another infusion of taxpayer money this week, about $20 billion. this brings the total bailout to $50 billion. c.e.o. fritz henderson said he intends to pay it all back before the 2015 deadline. and to do it he's betting on a new business model and an old car model, an updated version of a classic chevrolet muscle car. from detroit tonig

not the assassination of al qaeda leaders but al qaeda supporters. you know, the equivalentes in other countries of the people who say things like this. >> the only chance we have as a country right now is for osama bin laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the united states. >> and keep it zipperedgate. senator ensign may run for re-election anyway. governor sanford is taking time off from taking time off. he's on vacation hoping to reconcile with the mrs. so, dear, you ever been to argentina? >>> and worse. a surprise for the birth certificate denier who sued claiming obama wasn't really president and thus couldn't legally send him to afghanistan. he had volunteered to go to afghanistan so the military simply said, okay. you don't have to go. end of story. except in civilian life major cooke is reportedly an employee of a pentagon contractor and reportedly the pentagon told the contractor, sorry. he just sued the army. he's not allowed on army properties. so major cooke is reportedly out of work. hoisted on his own petard. all that and mor

the ill vealed, still secret, still dubious bonus secret bush prram to get al qaeda? e one in which cia dirtor panetta pulled thera this spring then told congress dick cheney orderedhe cia to not tell congress for eight yes. was th because the plan was tomuch or too little? special prosecutor. the rds are whispers of the attorney genal, mr. holder. an actual criminal invtigation in tor? the sotoyor hearings. invitati to an anti-climax. as senator gram says to her, unss you have a complete meltdownou're going to get confirmed. and the rah con woman chronicles. shs going to start her own conservative pty with democrats. plusevi johnston is now talking about her, quote, stre levels. all at aore now on ountdown." >>> good evening from new york the same bush-cheney administration which failed to heed warnings fr its own officials and om al qaeda itself, that failed to prevent the worst attackn u.s. soil, thatailed to get the rpetrators of that attack is also we learned todathe same administration wchailed to come up with a single viable plan for the c to capture or kill me

al qaeda supporters.first hit attempt was in kenya, was botched, and the delta forces had to be bailed out by the ambassador who had not been briefed on what was going on under his nose. james risen, 2006, quote, members of an operational support element team, rumsfeld's euphemism for hit squads, working in latin america, killed a man outside a bar. the american personnel then failed to report the incident to the u.s. embassy for several days. the incident has never been made public. time to bring in jack rice, former cia officer himself who has since become both journalist and documentarian. welcome back, sir. >> always a pleasure. >> we find ourselves with a lot of questions about why this moved from cia to pentagon. we know the white house had turned former military when cia interrogators refused to use their methods. is it possible the same transferrance thing happened here or just that cheney and rumsfeld wanted the secrecy they would gain from the laws giving them greater leeway for the military cov

helicopter that al qaeda had claimed to brought down. one of the children was bin laden's other son. now he would be 18 years old, and significantly, he is the only son of bin laden's saudi wife, and is seen more as a successor to his father. jon: thank you. hillary clinton says north korea has no friends left. they've responded to the latest refusal to give off their nuclear weapons program and are the target of personal insult the last 24 hours, saying that the u.s. will insist that they resume negotiations. before leaving for washington, they talked about efforts to negotiate with the north. >> he said it was impossible. >> what the north koreans might say today might not be what they're doing in 30 days. jon: secretary clinton says they will continue to insist that p'yongyang return to negotiations and the u.s. will continue restoring diplomatic ties if north korea agrees to dismantle the program once and for all. jane: the congressman from south carolina has just told our producer that members of congress should cancel or postpone t

okay, there a big, large group of al qaeda moving south.engage that. >> pelley: why didn't you do that? >> fury: disapproved. >> pelley: why was it not approved? >> fury: i have no idea. >> pelley: how often does delta& come up with a tactical plan that's disapproved by higher headquarters? >> fury: in my experience, in my five years at delta, never before. >> pelley: the military wouldn't tell us who rejected the plans or why. fury wasn't happy about it, but he pressed on with the only option he had left, a frontal assault on bin laden's dug-in al qaeda fighters. the delta team had only about 50 men. so the mission would depend on the afghan militia as guides and muscle. their leader was a warlord, a self-styled general named ali. >> fury: ali told us, after about 30 seconds of discussion-- he kind of listened to me ramble on-- and then the first thing he said was, "i don't think you guys can handle it. you can't handle al qaeda in these mountains." >> pelley: ali, second from the left, met with this c.i.a. officer and accepted millions of

to join an al qaeda-led group is denouncing mr. obama's magic of charisma and warns of new attacks against the u.s. his 20-minute audio message is posted on several squee haddist websites. south korea says more of its websites were attacked today, the late nest a wave of assaults blamed on north korea. north korea has not responded to the accusation. hundreds of protesters were met by the police today in taye ron. it was the first protest of iran's disputed election since a government cacdown 11 days ago.demonstrators yelled "death to the dictator" as they gathered near tehran university. authorities had vowed to smash any new marchers. the house speaker moonwalks over a suggestion that lawmakers honor michael jackson and the president says america is sorry, again. : a tornado hits, air life denver takes off... their night-vision goggles keeping the rescue mission safe... and powering those goggles-- the only battery air life trusts: duracell. trusted everywhere. dinner bell sfx: ping ping ping fancy feast elegant medleys tuscany e

do you know if a psychological blow this would be to al qaeda as a whole? >> well, for some contacts earlier today i was able to obtain the list of the top 10 al qaeda operatives killed in the drone campaign in the last year. and it reads them the who's who of al qaeda. and the point man for chemical and biological weapons. rashid rauf, designed to blow up planes over the u.s. and then actively planning attacks al-kini and swedan. so if there is confirmation of saad's death, this would be another sign that the safe haven in pakistan is not so safe, shep. shepard: catherine herridge in front of the floating pictures in washington. the world's most wanted man comes from a large and wealthy household. he's a middle child of sorts. it's believed he's, get this, the 18th of his father's 45 children. osama bin laden has a large family of his own. five wives, at least 19 children. jonathan hunt, who has a pretty big family himself, is live with us as he's learning about the bin laden family today. tell us about it. >> bin laden has probably married again since goi

we have now al qaeda leadership.and one feature about al qaeda leadership without telling anything that should come as a surprise to anybody is that they're heavily surveilled and makes things awfully complicated with trying them. they are really in a class by themselves. add on top of that many of the prior cases to come in the time of continuing armed conflict and protecting the country and be on the offensive against a terrorism organization. >> i had a question. you quoted the president's statement at existence of guantanamo likely created more terrorists around the world than ever eliminated. i was intrigued by the president's allegation and i sent a letter to general jones and asked him for factual support for the statement. i haven't received any response from the administration and since you referred to it i wonder if you could provide some factual support for the statement or quantify how many or who you are referring to. >> i'm not sure that that was in my statement but i'll say to the senator that it's bee

knew little about al qaeda's inner workings?pent six months debriefing the cia about all kind of network company, farms and port operations and told the "new yorker" magazine. for instance, could not detect al qaeda's entry into the country. on august 6, 2001, president bush was explicitly warned that al qaeda had members in the u.s. in march of 1999, german intel gave the u.s. information about al sheehy and including his phone number and asked how to track him down. the u.s. famed to do so and next picked up his trail after he piloted united flight 175 into the south tower. the cia began investigating the others in january 2000, but did not put them on the watch list until august 23, 2001, after they were in the united states. and couldn't predict where al qaeda would strike. a year before the africa embassy bombings the cia learned about the bombing plot. when a member of al qaeda walked into the nairobi embassy and told them about it. after the first world trade center bombing investigators found an e-mail from one conspirat

he made key decisions for al qaeda and was part of a small group of al qaeda members that was involved in managing the terrorist organization from iran. that might be one of his most important contributions to the network. he was an intermediary between these two terrorist groups. shepard: how big a psychological blow would this be to al qaeda? >> if it turns out that this kill is concerned -- is confirmed, it would be a huge blow. i was able to obtain this list. 10 al qaeda members have been killed in the last year. these are big names, people who had involvement in the bombings of the u.s. embassies in east africa and the attack in pakistan this year. if it turns out that saad is also dead, that area is not safe for these operative spirit shepard: saad was not considered a leader. another one of the sons is thought to be the successor. a team fox continues now. jonathan hunt downstairs. what do we know about the other son? >> he is the youngest of the sons who have actually followed their father's path towards holy war. he is believed to be around 18 years old and he is generally tho

today, al qaeda claimed to have killed 28 government soldiers.he government says dozens died during the recent fighting, but insists most of those killed were members of al qaeda. >>> there's some interesting medical news out of britain tonight. researchers at newcastle university claimed to have created human sperm from embryonic stem cells. the leader of the research group says their work will help determine how sperm develops and will help develop treatments for infertile men. one critic said today that the sperm developed by the research team is, in his words, a long way from being authentic. >>> and another medical story we've been trackings the global outbreak of the h1n1 flu virus. as we reported this week, the disease is spreading throughout the southern hemisphere where it is now winter. as cap turner of al jazeera english report, argentina's been particularly hard hit. >> reporter: the disease has hit argentina hard. with 65 deaths so far, it's the worst-hit country in south america and the third-worst in the world, behind only the u.s.

al qaeda is paranoid and desperate.hat's what experts are saying after seeing a new book by al qaeda. fox news has gotten ahold of the book. analysts say it shows u.s. air strikes are putting pressure on the terror network which is now warning its followers to watch out for what it calls muslim spice. catherine herridge is live in washington with more on this. catherine? >> yeah, thanks, rick. in this book al qaeda lays out some of its greatest fears that the network has a major spy problem, that its own people are diming them out by providing information that identifies training camps and safe houses. the success of the predator campaign is well documented, taking an operative to run the logistics and the training for future attacks. in some cases the intelligence appears so exact a jeep or a specific floor in a saint house. >> i don't want to discuss how we get it but they obviously think that it's coming from within their own ranks, within their own decision people, within their own warriors or support people. and th

if al qaeda is in afghanistan, you can hit them with a drone. as you say, it is not discriminating. it kills women and children. if the guy isn't stockholm, you might shoot him and capture him there. a predator cannot capture bin laden, but only kill him. s but believe it is problematic to do it from the sky with a predator -- tactically. there was no program. we saw in that clip it was a massive program, reaching the stage of perhaps implementing training, that is why panetta raised it. up until then it had not even reached a training level. there was nothing in there, no scandal led all, a concoction to protect policy retroactively because of the accusations about cia lying. >> we are not talking about the speaker of the loss. the burden is the law. this is the law. you break in the lot and ignore it -- the law requires you to inform congress. dianne feinstein is not a liberal one world, she is tough- minded, and she was totally excluded. how many times do you break the law and the public trust and destroy confidence in your government? and at what point do you have to tell them?

but, they believe al qaeda is involved, and where do they go next? reporter: well, they do believe there is a malaysian man behind all of this, who is linked to past attacks as well, the explosives they picked up from this particular scene, they said, just a couple of days earlier was picked up from a different location as well as indonesia and that is how they are making the connection, but now, the focus, really, julie, that wants to be able to say with 100% certainty what group was behind it, and, the other question, julie, how did these bombers get into the hotel, how were they successfully able to execute these bombings attacks, because you have to remember, these were considered the two most secure hotels in all of jakarta, and police really want to find out how were they able to pass security measures, construct those bombs and set them off in the hotels, julie. >> julie: in jakarta, thank you so much, kelly. >> kelly: secretary of state hillary clinton facing resistance in india. as she rushes a plan -- pushes, rather, a plan to fight climate

we know that it targeted al qaeda. we know all of these things from a classified briefing, three weeks after the original briefing took place, and the original objections to briefing it to congress at all was because it was leaked, so i think the people like dick cheney and george tenet and others who objected to briefing to congress, either because it wasn't an actual live active program or because they thought it would leak looked pretty good right now. bret: it was a front page story that vice president cheney allegedly held up the briefing of to congress of this initiative or or capacity or whatever we want to call it. >> and leon panetta clearly thought congress should be told about it and he went and told congress about it. it is at a time when congress and the white house are at odds and the white house has issued its first veto threat but how many preem in congress should be briefed about these programs? right now it is just the ranking members of the relevant committees. the democratic leadership in congress w

this is al-qaeda and incarnate and what america does is win wars. we don't do it with bad law, you know, killing the bad guys. but thank you very much. i appreciate it. thank you, mr. chairman. >> i thank the gentleman. it appears that we've had -- we've completed our first round. before i go to the second round i know mr. mckin and some others wish to ask some questions. what you're asking of us is to look at the senate language through your eyes and your recommendations. and as i understand it, you have five such recommendations, and i will try to condense them. the first is to prohibit the use of involuntary statements. the second is to further regulate the use of hearsay. the third is to modify the appellate process. the fourth -- the fourth is to state that they charge a material support is not a commission that may be tried -- excuse me, in an offense that may be tried in a commission and the fifth is to establish a sunset on the use of the commission. am i correct? >> congressman, that sounds right to me. i don't know that there's any -- >> t

it is in somalia and in other parts of africa, al qaeda. it is our duty, first of all, to keep al qaeda out of the afghanistan, second to keep them out of pakistan. to do that we have to deal with the people that harbor them, and that is the pakistan taliban and we have got to do with the afghanistan taliban. it is clear action that we have to take. >> you just talk about the tough year that you have had and that the countries have had with the recession, swine flu, and the expense candles and everything else. are you optimistic in the next 12 months that it will be better for you and your -- and the country? are you concerned about sexism and ageism on television? >> [laughter] i will leave the second question two. hartman to continue to -- to harriet hartman to continue to enter. it has been a difficult year because we have had to make tough decisions and the tough choices. but i think you should report that politics is about making decisions and taking action. it is very well for people to say we should not a done this or that, something

and al qaeda-like groups.you will have a country that has -- allows al qaeda and its people to operate, train, have bases and potentially do terrorist activities from london to madrid, and, of course, the biggest target they often talk about, which is the united states. why is that not a threat? >> well, it is a threat, but it's a modest threat. with regard to what becomes of afghanistan and whether afghanistan does become some hotbed of islamist activity that gets ex porported to the region seems to me we should at least examine the possibility that would prevent ways of that happening that doesn't require us maintaining tens of thousands of troops there in perpetuity. there i think the limited success achieved by the surge in iraq is destructive. to the extent the surge did succeed, it did because the united states paid off the heart of the insurgency. it seems by analogy, we can explore the possibility of paying afghan war lords to rule their little patch of afghanistan in ways that prevent al qaeda from ta

i was assuming that we were doing more against al qaeda, and i think it is unfortunate, we were not. but, i think this episode also reveals what happens when you brief members of congress on these operations, and the highly charged, highly partisan atmosphere, we have in washington today. after 7-plus years of being kept secret it didn't take but 24 hours, after the briefing for every media outlet in this country to be writing and speaking about it. >> eric: and that means al qaeda knows about it. and never was in operation anyway which probably as you say, would surprise a lot of american, that they are not doing that. john bolten. former -- yes, final word. >> i think we are entitled to defend ourselves and i wanted to have the debate. >> eric: and looks like you will get it at the house intelligence committee. ambassador bolten, good to see you, thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> jamie: call it quick on his feet, a teenage boy makes a split-second -- goodness, split-second decision to escape. yes, he did that, during a home invasion, see how his decision may have

in washington to the growing controversy over what was a secret cia program to assassinate key al qaeda members, a plan that was put in place after 9/11. today, some members of congress are demanding an investigation into why the program was kept secret from them. reportedly on direct orders from former vice president dick cheney. our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell in our washington newsroom with details tonight. good evening. >> reporter: former officials tell nbc news that the secret program that has created tonight's firestorm involves an order by president bush after 9/11 authorizing the cia to assassinate al qaeda leaders even outside of war zones like afghanistan. after 9/11, the commander in chief made no secret of his determination to hunt down osama bin laden and other al qaeda leaders in their cave. >> there's an old poster out west that i recall said, wanted: dead or alive. >> reporter: now it is said the cia has elaborate plans to create hit squads to hit al qaeda leaders at close range outside of war zones. in fact, anywhere in the world. >> obviously,

s plan to send hit teams after al qaeda terrorists. the nation's governors talk about how to use the stimulus as the vice president defends its effectiveness, and tens of thousands of iranians demand freedom and the resignation of their president. all that, plus the fox all-stars, right here, right now. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute ---www.ncicap.org--- bret: i'm bret baier. president obama says unprecedented progress has already been made on healthcare reform legislation that it must be completed this year, and that it cannot add to the deaf silt deficit. the plan has been called by some senators to slow down a bit. >> with doubts growing about passing healthcare, president obama exor theed -- exor thed lawmakers to dig n now is not the time to slow down and now is not the time to lose heart. >> hope and change have run into the fiscal realities of a government-run health insurance option. some say that this promise made by the president may prove unkeepable. >> health re

we are concerned with al qaeda and the taliban. al qaeda's allies. so when you have a nonstate actor, a shadowy operation like al qaeda, our goal is to make sure they can't attack the united states. nowing i think that's going to re -- now, i think that's going to require constant vigilance. >> is pakistan helping or hurting efforts in afghanistan or both? >> i think at this point what you have seen is the pakistan military step up in a way that we have not seen. i mean, they are engaged in serious fighting of al qaeda allies in that region. and are trying to reassert control into areas that had become lawless. i think that the pakistani government in the past has be been -- has tried to take the tiger by the tail and use in some cases, you know, militants to their advantage strategically. and i think they now realize that that was a mistake. >> at six months in office now, barack obama has come to know the burdens of the presidency and found solace in faith. last question. as you know, there's a lot of curiosity about you and what you do, what you w

now al qaeda is reported to be targeting chinese nationals and africa. beijing responded by warning citizens in algeria against possible attacks. our correspondent in beijing has more. >> the chinese embassy in algeria issued a warning. warning chinese nationals to be extra vigilant. it is especially calling on chinese-funded organization and personnel to raise security awareness and strengthen security measures. this heightened alert follows a warning from a london-based security consultant who says it has intercepted chatter from an al qaeda affiliated group that said it was going to target chinese nationals following the unrest in denying -- and rest in xinjiang. most who died, where, in fact, han chinese. although uigur muslims did die. there has been haydns security situation, and those riots and neighborhoods have been sealed off -- heightened security. china has been going to africa for many years, building new railways and routes, and getting natural resources to fuel the economic boom. but chinese nationals have been targeted before. they have b

. >>> more information on the secret cia plan to have hit teams take out al qaeda leaders. was that a secret? our question, why couldn't four separate cia directors over an eight-year span get it together to actually do this? >>> then sarah palin appealing to the common man. is her path for a white house run in fact more grassroots than barack obama's was? some recent data on fund-raising suggests she's twice as powerful on the grassroots fund-raising front as our current president was in his campaign. >>> then finally, confirmation hearings of judge sonia sotomayor, facing a third day of grilling by lawmakers. >>> it is 9:00 a.m. in the east, 6:00 in the west. the morning meeting starts right now. we'll do cia, we're going to do a whole variety of conversations. paulson's testifying in a minute. we'll talk about his view of what should be disclosed to the american people and what shouldn't about the banking system, federal reserve. fertility i think is coming up at the meeting later. >>> health care is the agenda. three house committees ready to vote on the reform bill. we

the fact that well, al qaeda -- you know?aden running around somewhere in a cave with his dialysis machine -- go on now. do not get me started. and tried to stay on point. we do need to get rid of al qaeda. -- i am trying to stay on point. having been a marine i can certainly and understand what you have experienced. i was in vietnam. do not get me started about the military complex host: thank you. he began by talking about the president's karzai -- what is his standing with the u.s. government, u.s. military, and his own people. how strong is the government over there? guest: the u.s. government has been very clear. there is an election in august coming up for the president of afghanistan. karzai is president and has all the instruments of power. he has been able to pretty much run the table in terms of publicity. it is widely expected he will win significantly and that election. the u.s. government however has been careful to say we're not backing any individual candidate. at one time someone close to karzai question if th

if you join al qaeda or -- if you join al qaeda, you have earned the designation of an unlawful enemy combatant. an unlawful enemy combatant is someone who -- or belligerent. we're now using the words unlawful enemy belligerent. those are people who operate outside the rules of warfare. they don't wear uniforms. they deliberately and systematically target women and children and innocence. they do not comply with the rules of war, the geneva conventions, and they, therefore, aren't given the normal and full protections of the geneva conventions. a person who is at war with the united states, as al qaeda has repeatedly announced that it is, who does its military activities without complying with the geneva conventions, deserve to be attacked. they deserve to be killed or captured by the united states military. and that's what we are doing. and if captured, they deserve either to be prosecuted or held until the hostilities are over. that's what the historic rules of warfare are. it's what we've always done, and we need not to be confused in this war and start treating it as if it's some

toda al qaeda claimed to have killed 28 government solers. the governmt says dozens died during the recent fighng, but insists st of those killed were members of al qaeda >>> there's some interesting medical news out of britain tonight. researchers out of new cassel universi claimed to have create human sperm from embryonic sm cells. the leader othe resear group says how spm develops and how to help treat f fertile men. are in his ords, a long way from being authentic. >>> and another medical story we' been trackin is the global outbre of the h1n1 flu virus as we reported ts week, the disease is spreading throughout the southern hemispherwhere it is now winter. as capurner of al jazeera english report, aentinas bee particularly hard hit. >> reporter: e disease has hit argentina har with so far, it's the worstit country in south america d the third-worst in t world. behind only e u.s. and mexo. the psada spital is the min health the buenos aires and are fild with flu patients. this is where argentina's frst fality occurred a monthgo. a three--

yemen, 2002, a cia drone kills an al qaeda operative, the u.s. says was involved in the bombing of the "u.s.s. cole" but whether it is the cia or u.s. troops on the trigger, there are rules to be followed. >> the united states cannot, ipso facto kill individuals in foreign countries. they're generally with foreign fighters, there has to be a determination that this individual and general is plotting and does threaten the homeland of the united states. >> reporter: but one of the bottom line rules of the game, john. if u.s. troops are going to go into a foreign country, they have to have the permission of the host government or face diplomatic disaster if they're found out. john? >> barbara starr for us that pentagon with that. thanks so much. >>> now brings us to the top of the hour. thanks for joining us in the most news in the morning on the friday, the 17th of july. i'm john roberts. >> i'm carol costollo in for kiran. two luxury hotels bombed in indonesia. more than 50 injured a live report straight from the scene in just a minute. >>> then o