no claim or responsibility but as joel brown reports, the indonesia president is blaming al-qaida. >>> at least 8 people were killed by the blast that happened two minutes a part. dozens more were injured including 8 8 americans, three were flown out of the country for me medical attention. they smuggled the explosives in the ritz carlton hotel. she was at home when the first explosion went off. >> there was smoke coming up from the area of the marriott, i went back inside to grab my camera and by the time i came back out, the second bomb had gone you have. >> president obama issued a statement condemning the blast and offering help to the government. hillary clinton who is in the region said the bombings reflect violent extremist. no group claimed responsibility for the attacks that left both buildings left to twisted metal. the same hotel targeted by a suicide car bomber six years ago. the hotel stepped up security measures. this closed circuit tv tape shows the moment the blast happen inside the marriott. indonesia's president who has a reputation for being tough on terrorism vows

for example, he talks abou-- and i n't know if you noticed as well, aboutgoing after al-qaida and that's when the laid t the strategy to go afr al-qaida and they' going after the talan andhey're saying they're helping finae them but notin that area so that'snehing i d't understand but it is all his no it's his strategy and thosere his fresh tros he is seing in there so he is as youaid really embraced th war. >> charlie: what is th mindset of the administration of the prious administration and secondly how is it simar to the previous bush, bh xxxxi. > -- bush 41 >> think that's normal in american polics and governmt after all the obama administrati inherited th problems with wch the bush administration w wstling and the bush admistrationas wrestling with problems ch as ghanistan and north korea and iran because they're important and difficul ere are no easy solutions becae if they were weould ha thought of themnd applied them so there is me continuity in foreign policy thanhe administration likes to advertise and that's the nature of foreign policy. the administration h much greater scope

for example, he talks about -- and i don't know if you noticed as well, about going after al-qaida and that's when the laid out the strategy to go after al-qaida and they're going after the taliban and they're saying they're helping to finance them but not in that area so that's one thing i don't understand but it is all his now. it's his strategy and those are his fresh troops he is sending in there so he is as you said really embraced this war. >> charlie: what is the mindset of the administration of the previous administration and secondly how is it similar to the previous bush, bush xxxxi. > -- bush 41. >> i think that's normal in american politics and government after all the obama administration inherited the problems with which the bush administration was wrestling and the bush administration was wrestling with problems such as afghanistan and north korea and iran because they're important and difficult. there are no easy solutions because if they were we would have thought of them and applied them so there is more continuity in foreign policy than the administration likes to ad

. >> the united states has made a lasting commitment to defeat al- qaida but also to democratically elected sovereign governments. that commitment will not waiver. >> question, is this nation building? is president obama committing to nation building in afghanistan? monica? >> yes, it is. this is the much derided approach when undertaken by president bush in iraq when president obama who was a senator and candidate really had some significant issues with it but here is he trying to do the exact same thing in afghanistan. the problem is we have got about 66,000 u.s. troops either on the grounds in afghanistan or on the way. and our allies really have not stepped up. one of president obama's big objectives here in afghanistan was to try to get our nato allies to commit more trips. 9000 troops suffering a tremendous amount of casualties. so the british government is under pressure. obama has also indicated that -- to his defense secretary he would like to increase the number of troops in afghanistan above and beyond what has already been committed by the end of the year and the problem is -- h

authorities say sahad was an active member of al-qaida but not the target of the air strike. >> july now marks the deadliest month for american soldiers in afghanistan. 34 u.s. service members have been killed compared to a two month period last summer when less than 30 were killed. a record number almost 60,000 troops, are in the hell man providence, but actually east of the pakistan border where the army has taken the most casualties. >> more storms on the way. check in with vytas reid with the sky watch forecast. >> jennifer, we can hear the rain coming down on the studio on 41st street and television hill. we have some steady rainfall across the street. back west. carroll county. central carroll county getting rainfall. westminster, howard county. and columbia and ellicott city getting decent rain. continue to see this slowly move off to the east. not a fast-moving storm. so this activity will drop good rainfall over the next hour or so. and, in fact, looking at the track of the storm. it looks like we will see the storm tracking just off to the east. slowly. areas that will prob

. >> officials are focusing their investigation tonight on an al-qaida ally linked to similar such attacks. >> hillary clinton arrives in india, first stop on a week long trip. secretary of state is scheduled to meet with business leaders to forge a stronger alliance between the united states, and india, and india and pakistan. hillary clinton will spend two days in mumbai, one in new delhi and off to thailand. >> back at home. storms are moving in. will it mean a break in the humidity, however? this could be great news. here is meteorologist jessica starr with the sky watch forecast. >> it is great news. we were very muggy today. felt like july out there. and the cold front moving through will mean lower humidity for saturday and sunday. now we still have one last isolated rain shower in the vicinity. in southern carroll and howard county. once it moves out. bigger picture, you can see that there is clearing behind this cold front. that is what we will experience later tonight and for the daytime saturday. looking nice for the weekend. skycam right now inner harbour, 75 degrees. winds are

analysts believe it could have been the al-qaida terrorist group responsible for the bombings that left 182 dead. they believe it was targeted in 2003. today's attack reignited fears that they're ready to continue the fight. a third unexploded bomb found at the marriott after the initial blast leaving those wondering what else can be done to stop the bloodshed in their city. >> secretary of state hillary clinton is on a week-long trip in thailand and says the u.s. will assist indonesia. >>> the president stepped up efforts to fight the h1n1 virus. a portion of the funds designated to help the country address the pandemic. >>> more bad news this morning, cit getting closer to bankruptty. it acts as a lender to small businesses but is running out of cash. >>> looking overseas, most are trying to end on a positive note note. >>> it's another head to head competition between the two computer companies. the move allows people shopping to browse between pcs and macs. >>> turning to sports, a day of catching up for tiger woods on the british open. in second place, 59-year-old tom watson, he's

and this week, a virginia man, who had joined al qaida, was sentenced to life in jail for planning tokill former president george w. bush. boyd and his co-defendants are scheduled to appear in a federal court in raleigh next tuesday. >> suarez: just how widespread is homegrown radical extremism? and how do you combat that threat? for answers, we turn to david schanzer, director of the triangle center on terrorism and homeland security located at duke university and the university of north carolina chapel hill. and ibrahim ramey, director for human and civil rights at the muslim american society freedom foundation, an advocacy group in washington, d.c. david shan sister, is tan yell boyd an anomaly or part of a phenomenon that merits significant and on going attention from law enforcement? >> i think it does merit ongoing attention. this is a problem. it shouldn't be an overstated problem, but it is a significant one. we've collected tae a here of 125 muslim americans that have been prosecuted over the past eight years for terrorism-related offense that involves some element of violenc