the taliban the taliban. to expand the activity and active military activities in many parts of the country because of the number of civilian casualties is increasing in afghanistan besides all afghan military forces and foreign troops. would have to leave it there thank you so much for your time there live from kabul political analyst dr hubby about hockey and thank you very much indeed. the first wave of massive and she government protesters judas recalls israel this saturday noise activists are hoping for two hundred thousand will take part in the third weekend of rallies due to start in a couple of hours from now one street has already been renamed by some as israeli tough here after the square where the egypt uprising took place and all these poor slip this report the basis of a saturday tens of thousands of protesters will be taking to the streets here in tel aviv as well as in several other cities around the country where they'll be holding mass rallies against the government there hoping to top the on

Ñnds÷@@&cii"- >> rose: abosoe taliban?op theleft t"4t -# p u i think the real danger -- i mean i think the most likely scenario for something really catastrophic there is if you had something like another mumbai attack, like you had in 2008, which it appears -- >> rose: in india?it india. it appears it was carried out with at least some assistance and/or knowledge of the asi, the pakistani intelligence. >> rose: why would they do that? >> well, i mean that's another question, but i think -- i think the danger is you get another one of those, the indians aren't going to wait. they're going to go. they're going to go into pakistan. they're going to feel a pressure to -- >> rose: you mean a land waracr? >> they'll do something. they'll do airstrikes or something. then you have the escalation with two nuclear powers, one of which is a deeply unstable place. >> rose: that's a nightmarescen. >> it's the nightmare scenario, and it's not that unlikely. it's really not. that's scary right now. >> exactly what dexter is saying, wha

so after we had cleared them and withdrawn, taliban moved back in. and again guys from the special forces group were called in to go in and clean out the taliban. how they did it was completely different than how it was done the first time. i put if in paper. we'll have one ready. yes, sir? >> i hear about efforts to talk to the taliban. how did you feel? >> i'm sorry. repeat the question. >> every time i hear in the news about efforts to talk to the taliban, how do you feel about that? >> i think a lot of people who throw that question out there hasn't spent much time in the country or don't understand the ideology of the extremism of the taliban. there's no negotiationing with the people. we're talking about the people people when they can't destroy the coalition or engage, they turn on their own people. they cut the noses and ears off of children, disem bowl women in front of their husbands. these are not people that we can accept a level of negotiation. this is by their admittance. not as a military officer, that's what they have stated consisten

[laughter] >> between now and then you hear about efforts to talk to the taliban. how do feel about that? >> people who do throw that question now there don't spend much time in the country or the ideology of the extremism of the taliban. there is no negotiating with these people. the same people when they cannot destroy coalition for engage coalition forces day turn on their own people to disembowel ltd. from of their husbands, a cut the nose and ears of their children. we cannot expect a level of negotiation in. not anything that i have to say but what they have clearly stated consistently. when i hear people ask that, you have seen what they will do and the knowledge of the senior leaders who ordered it to know it is taking place and don't do anything to prevent it from it is indicative of what that organization would do too any member of any westerner or american if given the opportunity. >> it is well-documented after the soviets were thrown out what they do too their own people. >> and they continue. in areas where they have no control except fear and that is

that is why the taliban said it targeted the british.target. as those combat troops go, these soldiers will be left to face the taliban alone. >> for more on today's deadly attack, i spoke -- thank you for joining us. is there any further news on how exactly these people got into such a secure area? >> they disguised themselves. they were all male attackers. they were wearing -- they were dressed as women. as a result of that, it allows them to evade a number of police checkpoints and get to the british council compounds. the first vehicle went up, suicide bombing inside, designated the car bomb. that ruptured the parameters security. suicide attackers just swarmed inside and that is when the battle began. >> what does this say of the capability of the taliban? we keep being told that they are on the defensive. >> the number of attacks in kabul have fallen, there is no doubt about that. however, that there has never been foreign troops here. there has never been more money thrown at afghan security forces. the taliban can get into what s

as the taliban claims.like it doesn't have any ability to return any fire power if that was the case. do you think there's any sense by the taliban now that we've announced withdrawal that they can take more bold actions like this? >> no, i don't think so. this was a lucky hit by an rpg according to my sources. it was the helicopter was engaged at most vulnerable point when it was less to the ground coming in for a landing. this is the same tactics the taliban or earlier the mujahadin. the taliban are trying to exploit it. but in my opinion and machine of most people i talked to not going to have any affect on the operational tempo of conventional sources or special forces in afghanistan. our servicemen are going to continue to go after the tall began ban as they have in the past. >> we know they have been weakened by our actions, all those years. our military forces done a miraculous job there. nevertheless, even if it was a lucky hit by the taliban, does it boost their morale? >> it might. but remember, s

troops is it strengthens the taliban it gives the taliban a reason for being and the u.s. troops continue to be there the. violence will continue if there's a question of the afghan security forces on able to protect citizens from the taliban and indeed from from other. terrorist organizations very shortly do you think the afghans really want the u.s. forces to go. will the u.s. and the nato forces are not able to secure the afghans either report recently came out from the international crisis group that showed that despite billions of dollars in international aid and over one hundred thousand nato forces the afghan people are not able to be secure everybody knows that this crisis has to end through negotiations the sooner it happens the better and i think this crash is really a time when we should say to ourselves in the united states how many more of our soldiers' lives are we willing to sacrifice for an unwinnable war hours ago i actually spoke to an afghan expert there in kabul he said that life in afghanistan has actually improved since the invasion so would you then

has no reason to be fighting the taliban the taliban never attacked us in the united states and only attacks our soldiers because we are occupying their country so i think with the financial crisis in the united states and now this tragic death of thirty one of our soldiers it is time to really say if you want to say victory and pull out or whatever but it's time to get out of course one problem is that afghanistan is a source of illegal drug trafficking that is threatening the entire world indeed is a major concern for russia how do you think this problem should and could be resolved. will once again ten years of the u.s. presence has not made that problem any. better in fact it's made it worse one of the few things the taliban did while it was in peril was eradicate a lot of the opium production so i think that. the present course of events whether it's for the security of the night. or whether it's for the well being of the afghan people is just not working and you really do believe negotiation is the way for because many may say that the state of the country at the moment it just

local citizens on how to contact that taliban has disputed the claim and said that while taliban members were killed in the airstrike the shooter was not one of them but we do have to raise a few questions here you have to wonder how the hell we know where this one guy is and shot down the plane especially since the military has it you have determined what exactly is the helicopter is that plane but the military hasn't yet determined what brought this helicopter down the general john allen who is now in command of afghanistan so that he believes it was a single rocket propelled grenade but they don't know with any certainty yet so we get how do they expect us to believe with certainty that they know who this one guy was it means we need to take a good hard look at the military's attempts to spin this war and discuss this with me is jim hansen retired special operations master sergeant and military blogger at black net. jim thanks for being here tonight are you with me here are you with me that it's a little bit hard to believe if they don't even know right they haven't even concluded the

we leave in five years the taliban takes over? we leave in 20 years the taliban takes over? sooner or later the people of afghanistan have to fight them. >> chris matthews, and bill cohen, i know we've got to go the president is expected now at 1:30. beefly, you travel all over the world, we have a global company. the imfkt of the downgrade? >> i think the impact is that other countries are not taking us seriously anymore. they don't look to the united states with the same kind of awe and admiration and respect. when they see the political games being played with arn inability to reach a decision they lose can have many the united states. i think that's going to play out across the board in many parts to have world for some time to come. >> thank you so much. >>> and president obama is set to speak at 1:30 eastern on the debt downgrade and as well the deadly chopper crash in afghanistan. stay with us, live coverage on "andrea mitchell reports." [ male announcer ] members of the american postal workers union handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's abo

military helicopter, apparently from taliban fire, kills 30 americans, most of them navy seals. elizabeth palmer has details. cyber-war-- a computer hacking group claims to have targeted 70 law enforcement web sites. tony guidey investigates how they did it. prayer rally-- texas governor and possible presidential candidate rick perry leads thousands of evangelicals in prayers for america. karen brown is there. and made in the u.s.a.-- could a pending trade deal push the last american maker of athletic shoes overseas? captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell. >> good evening. russ is off. i'm anthony mason. we begin tonight with the worst single blow to u.s. forces since the war in afghanistan began nearly 10 years ago. a helicopter crash has killed 30 americans, and early indications are that the taliban is to blame. elizabeth palmer in london has the latest. >> reporter: the chinook helicopter came down in wardak province just southwest of kabul. of the 30 americans aboard, 22 were members of the special operations navy seal team six, the sa

pakistan would not have treated the taliban leaders or the taliban themselves in the same manner as it treated the al qaeda leadership. al qaeda, we hunted, we captured, we neutralize and eliminated. most of the al qaeda it you find in guantanamo bay -- there are those who were basically captured by the people of pakistan. inunder 48 weretu 2008. most of the important al qaeda leaders were neutralized with cooperation between pakastani and american intelligence. the americans will vouch for it. . don't want to give the names let me come to the other aspects of these misgivings and i would say false expectations. there was a disconnect on the question of how to treat the taliban. second, there was also distressed at the operational level. this was a genuine, for example. there was these repeated reports from 2004 onward that the pakastanis are not cooperating when intelligence is provided to them, the targets run away. assuming this intelligence is linked to the target -- leaked to the target. if you were to hear the pakistan side of the story, it is that we do not have a rapid deployme

army rangers were carrying out this raid on taliban compound according to the taliban there were 12 militants in this compound about 60 miles southwest of kabul. a firefight broke out. it lasted 30 to 40 minutes. at that stage navy s.e.a.l.s primarily were called in as a rescue element and that rescue operation was going fairly well. they managed to secure the location, stop or at least slow down the firefight and that as those navy s.e.a.l.s and some other american special ops and afghan commandos were leaving that's when a single rpg was fired and brought the helicopter down. >> richard, there's been speculation that someone was tipped off that this chinook which flies slowly, that one knew the americans were going to be there. do we have any sense of what kind of communication there might have been within the taal tip-off which should have been a secret mission? >> reporter: once it would have been a secret mission when it began. once the firefight was under way, then it's no longer secret any more and that's standard that if you're in a firefight with army rangers or with any kind of troo

as for the taliban leader who was the target of the original raid, he got away. david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. >>> a hollywood movie about the u.s. special forces raid that killed osama bin laden has sparked a political controversy. it will be directed by kathryn bigelow who did "the hurt locker." peter king, chairman of the house homeland security committee wants an investigation. he wrote to the cia and the defense department questioning why the white house is cooperating with hollywood. >> i want the inspector-general to assure me and assure the congress there's enough precautions in place to make sure no sensitive or classified information is going to be revealed. >> the obama administration is dismissing keith's claim and says no sensitive information is being released. >> the most specific information we've given from this white house about the actual raid i read to you from this podium. so it's just simply false. >> the movie is expected to be released in october of next year, one month before the presidential election. >>> and what sounds like the

why's the united states fighting the taliban in afghanistan?re we, the anti-taliban force in that country? how did we get this job? >> well, we got this job because we've seen ow the mission continue topped evolve with afghanistan. initially when we first had trooped in afghanistan we didn't have a real commitment. the message was exactly right. the president in many ways not only doubled but tripled down on the afghanistan operation. weren't of the largest challenges we had with the afghanistan operation one of the lead variables whether or not we had proceed successfully with this it relies on some type of afghanistan reconciliation with the government, which is difficult. just a few days ago you had the afghan high peace council who came out and said the taliban is willing to negotiate and willing to be part of this larger negotiation, come to the peace table, and then just yesterday a spokesperson for mullah omar says not so fast. not willing to negotiate with anybody. >> they're cutting people's heads often if they show any sign of working

seven taliban insurgents and an interpreter were also called. conner powell reporting live from kabul, afghanistan with the latest. >> this is the sipple deadliest day for american troops in afghanistan since the start of the war nearly ten years ago. officially the u.s. military is only confirming that a helicopter crashed in wardak province early this morning. the taliban say they shot down this chinook this morning and according to u.s. military officials, it sounds as if the taliban did shoot down this helicopter with an rpg or rocket propelled grenade launcher as it was part of a raid on a taliban compound. in recent months, the u.s. military has said they wrestled the momentum away from the taliban in afghanistan. but today's attack is a deadly reminder of just how powerful the taliban are here in afghanistan and just how much damage they can still inflict on u.s. and afghan forces. eric? >> art: thank you. our hearts and prayers of the nation are with the families of those who died in afghanistan. >> arthel: hate to tell you this, but no

which is not al qaeda, it is the taliban, the insurgency? >> my first reaction, david, and i'm sure john mccain's also, is an extraordinary sense of loss and a sense of gratitude for the quality of their sacrifice and service. our hearts go out to their families. i think john and i join every single american in feeling as if we lost a member of our family. so the first thought is sadness and sorrow for the loss. john and i, and i think many others, believe that we are in a transition in afghanistan. the effort that they've making there is one that is important to our national security in this transition. notice there were seven afghan there's, members of a commando force. it's part of the transition that's taking place. so i think, you know, we have to find out exactly what happened. i'm going to be very interested to see who might have been involved in this and what the linkages may be. it's something we need to check out carefully. it's really a loss for the country. >> let me put this into some context and ask a strategic mind in this deb

we're splitting that taliban from that taliban. >> reporter: this road is in the heart of kandahar, theg and fortifying it with a series of checkpoints are members of the army's tenth mountain division task force chosen. lieutenant colonel kenneth mintz is their commander. what's significant about these checkpoints? why to control them? >> we're actually securing the people here, where they live, on the road. when you talk to the local people, they always say, "can you bring a checkpoint here?" >> reporter: of course, building a road in kandahar requires more than just heavy equipment. mortars send a not-so-subtle message, and create a smokescreen for soldiers building the checkpoints. >> the taliban, you know, they're angry that we're here. they might spray a couple of shot at us but they can't stop us. >> reporter: first lieutenant mark bedrin says though they were shot at twice, that's not their real worry. >> the hardest thing-- the hardest thing i think about this whole war is the i.e.d. threat. it's scary and demoralizing to the guys to walk around and be afraid of those because t

how much of a psychological victory is this for the taliban? >> well i think they'll try and make make a lot of it, but you know, we've got to remind ourselves that, in fact, in the last year there have been significant tactical successes against the taliban. they are not winning. security is spreading. roads are opening. schools are opening. the question is, one of time. what will it look like in 2014? >> general barry mccaffrey, our thanks for joining us tonight. >>> despite our fascination over their work, navy s.e.a.l.s shunned publicity and as a war don't tell war stories. still in the tight-knit stateside communities where they're based, everyone has an idea what these quiet heroes are about and the extraordinary dangers they face. tonight those communities feel a deep sense of loss. miguel almaguer has the latest. >> reporter: tonightance as you mentioned, this is where loss is being felt. in coronado, california, where the navy s.e.a.l.s train, sorrow and grief. >> it was devastating. absolutely devastating. had i first heard it i wonde

many people believed the taliban proceeded with no relationship. but my experience is the big taliban insurgency came after words. and i suspect elbowed difficult to prove that a troop deployment allow the taliban to present them sells as fighting for afghanistan against foreign military occupation a gave the perfect propaganda tool. if you go on to the taliban website at the switch did not recommend for everybody everybody. [laughter] the basic propaganda message is we are against corruption , a civilian bombardment, the governments in kabul and we're not living under foreign military occupation. that is part of the mobilizing structure to get people together. so what does this mean? the one thing i have taken away is a sense of real confusion that goes right to the heart of what it means to be a politician. along time arguing against troop increases, i move to harvard where i would is very lucky man with six people between them to spend over one century in afghanistan. , while they were born in pakistan in the fifties or working in afghanistan si

we all know that the taliban cooperated with and assisted al qaeda initially. that's the reason why we went to afghanistan as a result of 9/11. so, there's no doubt in my mind that we would have al qaeda presence and influence in afghanistan and even a return to a base for a tax on the united states of america. also, there's a fundamental question, do you want to condemn the afghan people to the rule of the taliban? i think we should try to avoid that as well. >> all right. senator mccain, thank you for your views. >> thanks for having me on. >> coming up, the state of the economy. the unprecedented downgrade of the u.s. credit rating and a volatile week on wall street fears we may be facing another recession. we'll have opinions from alan greenspan and austan goolsbee and how the economy will play on the race for the white house. with us rachel maddow and alex castellanos. it's coming up after the break. i have astigmatism. so my old contact lenses would sometimes move out of place and blur my vision. my eye doctor said there's great news for people with astig

the taliban claim and u.s. military officials are not , not confirming yet, but there does appear to be truth in the claims taliban shot down the chinook with a rocket propelled grenade this is an area southwest of kabul. it has a long history of taliban insurgency. an area where there has been heavy fighting for years. the operation to recover this helicopter is underway. it is going slowly according to military officials in part because of the ter -- terrain but because the taliban has stepped up fighting trying didn't troops getting in there. no easy task this is the single largest death toll for american troops in afghanistan since the war started 10 years ago. it is a devastating blow to the small, very tight-knit u.s. special forces unit here in afghanistan. >> shannon: thank you so much. >> darkest day of a dark conflict. that's how boehner is reacting to the news of the deadly crash in afghanistan. he's not the only one speaking out. peter doocy joins us with more reaction. >> reporter: echoing what the

i basically lived there from the time that the taliban fell up through the end of 2005. so i've lived there for long periods of time and spent a great deal of time there. as i mentioned earlier, pakistan is a larger, more sophisticated, you know, more structured country. and actually, i mean, i wouldn't agree that america has been trying to change pakistan or influence pakistan. nowhere near to the degree that it's had a mission to try to help afghanistan sort of rebuild itself after this long period of war and conflict. there were those who said we shouldn't be nation building, we're only going after osama and all that, but essentially, the mission there has been for the past almost 10 years to build and hopefully influence that country. pakistan, unlike afghanistan, because it's so big and has such a large and old establishment, is very, very sensitive about foreign intervention and foreign influence. for example, no military bases, foreign military bases are there. no foreign military troops are there. there are very few americans in pakistan, very few, very few weste

they say this is not a signal that the taliban is gaining momentum. the president speaking about this awful tragedy. >> these men and women put their lives on the line to defend the values we have as a nation. they come from different places, and their backgrounds and beliefs reflect the rich diversity of america. >> also, today, a ceremony at special command, and leon panetta said that the troops' deaths will not be in vain. >> they were far from home, but we know that they were also where they wanted to be. doing what they wanted to do, alongside men who perhaps wereh brothers. >> and joining me live now from kabul, afghanistan, is atia, and let me start with they were hopeful to retrieve the bodies of the men who died there at that battle. what else do we know. >> well, that is right, tamron. we have heard from the isaf officials that i have cordoned off the crash site as they continue the investigation, but what we know from a u.s. official they have retrieved the bodily remains and right now trying to identify the victims and the reason they are

taliban is very strong here. there were a lost battles. indeed, we heard there was more fighting that helps to slow down the recovery process. over the next couple of days, military is investigating this crash. we're told they think the taliban's lucky shot as they are calling this was a one-off event. there is no change in the taliban's ability to bring down helicopters here in afghanistan. they think was a lucky shot. we don't know how the taliban were able to score this hit on this chinook helicopter. but there a fear that taliban has some new type of weapon that will lead to more helicopters crashing. >> our prayers are with the victims and family and all those that are where you are in harm's way. and lieutenant colonel oliver north will give his analysis and what it could mean for the afghan war. >> heather: now, to the other top story, another bombshell announcement from standard & poor's. days after the s&p downgrading u.s. debt for the first time in history. a top s&p official says there is one in three chance of another downgrade

the taliban saw it as a soft target. >> this is particularly vicious and cowardly. it is an attack that has not succeeded. this was an attack against british interests. it is also an attack against the afghan government. british and american troops are preparing to leave. the afghans will have to take security -- take care of security on their own. they will do so eventually without foreign help. the insurgents have shown they can strike even the most heavily protected parts of the country. tonight the city remains on high alert and in fear that there may be more attacks to come. >> you are watching bbc news. showing respect for the riot victims. the duke and duchess of cambridge visit the areas hardest hit by the violence. organizers of the music festival in belgium and described the attack is unprecedented. in just five minutes, the wind and hail brought down stages, tense, and trees. three people are still in critical condition. the rest of the festival near brussels has been cancelled. >> dazed and shocked, the festival goers who weathered the storm last night a

and the taliban insurgency.my experience is the big taliban insurgency was after the troop deployments. i suspect although it is difficult to prove that our troop deployments cause that insurgency. allow the taliban to present themselves as fighting for afghanistan and islam against a foreign military occupation. it gave them the perfect propaganda tool. if you go on taliban websites which i don't recommend for everybody, the basic propaganda message is we are against corruption and civilian bombardment. the government's are the slaves of the infidel and we are living under foreign military occupation. these are important parts of their mobilizing structure, how they get people together. what does this mean? one thing i have taken from this is a sense of real confusion that goes to the heart of what it means to be a politician. i spent a long time in 2005 arguing against troop increases. i move to harvard where i was lucky -- six people who spend over a century in afghanistan. andy wilder born in pakistan in the

has no reason to be fighting the taliban the taliban never attacked us in the united states and only attacks our soldiers because we are occupying their country so i think with the financial crisis in the united states and now this tragic death of thirty one more of our soldiers it is time to really say if you want to say victory and pull out or whatever but it's time to get out. there's plenty more on our website along with video blogs and analysis here's what's a click away right now. check out this dramatic video of firefighters battling a warehouse flees in southern moscow. and critical from london to london stat a group of hard line islamists want to impose sharia law in the u.k. which could take that to illustrate the point check out the cartoon section of our website where we draw on all the major story our team. ukrainians loyal to former prime minister yulia timoshenko continue to protest against her arrest her supporters set up a tent camp in the center of the capital kiev she was arrested friday for contempt of court. he has. several dozen supporters of protesting here bel

. >> 30 americans died saturday when taliban insurgent fired rocket-propelled grenade at the chinook helicopters. top military commanderers say it's not a sign of taliban gaining strength, just unfortunate lucky shot. >> the taliban were able to set up an ambush and fire on the helicopter as it came in the landing zone. in a time when the helicopter is most vulnerable, slow, predictable. and greatly increases the chances of taliban knocking the helicopter down. >> most of those who died were member of the seal team six, the unit that conducted the raid that killed osama bin laden at the hide-out in pakistan. none of the seals killed in the crash took part in that mission. >> tea were far from -- they were far from home, doing what they wanted to do. >> arrivals at dover are open to media coverage when family of the fallen give their approval. but today's will not be, because the bodies of the seals, soldiers and airman have not been properly identified. steven portnoy, abc news, dover. >>> ed lee is out campaigning for second day today as official candidate as mayor. he took heat las

troops is strengthens the taliban and gives the taliban a reason for being and the more that the u.s. troops continue to be there. the violence will continue a report recently came out from the international crisis group that showed that despite billions of dollars in international aid and over one hundred thousand nato forces the afghan people are not able to be secure everybody knows that this crisis has to enter negotiations the sooner it happens the better and i think this crash is really a time when we should say to ourselves in the united states how many more of our soldiers' lives are we willing to sacrifice for an unwinnable war is no longer in in afghanistan we have moved on to pakistan somalia yemen the u.s. has no reason to be fighting the taliban the taliban never attacked us in the united states and only attacks our soldiers because we are occupying their country so i think with the financial crisis in the united states and now this tragic death of thirty one more of our soldiers it is time to really say if you want to say victory and pull out or whatever but it's time to

the taliban start to run and abandon al qaeda. >> you know, all the taliban november, 2001, kabul fallsst two months after 9/11. girls are free to go to school. the repressive regime that hosted bin laden is defeated. a month later, even kandahar, the taliban's hometown, is overthrown. >> kandahar, that was the last urban stronghold of the taliban and al qaeda, less than 90 days after 9/11, there were only 410 americans on the ground in afghanistan. about 110 cia and approximately 300 special forces. >> reporter: 400 americans. >> right. >> reporter: on the ground, and they toppled the government of the taliban. >> well, 400 americans that were in partnership with our afghan allies. and that was really the key. >> reporter: the cost to america to drive out the taliban? less than $1 billion, and one u.s. cia officer killed. relatively speaking, it was a very cheap and low-risk victory. what happened after that? >> well, i believe that we as a nation and as a global community failed to secure that victory. >> reporter: the quick victory in afghanistan wasn't secured in large part because

unfortunately that night the taliban had their target in sight.e to shoot that rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire to bring that helicopter down. general allen mentioned that this is not going to make them not use those chinooks in the future. in fact, these operations will still be ongoing throughout the country. >> thank you so much for your report from kabul. >>> meanwhile here the treasury department today announced new sanctions against syria as the regime continues its crockdown. the u.s. is targeting a syrian bank and a mobile phone company both of which have helped fund the government's violence against protesters. we're joined by wes moore. wes, great to see you. first of all, let's talk about syria and what we now know the. the u.n. is taking up its condemnation of syria from last week. they're having a meeting this afternoon in advance of that the u.s. ambassador to the united nations susan rice spoke out again today. here's what she had to say. >> in the view of the united states he has lost his legitimacy to rule. and syria

they can't blend in the way the taliban can blend in, and the taliban spokesperson actually says that he keeps getting fresh reports from his sources on the ground, talking about the investigation that's taking place, and that there are currently americans on the ground, which we're also hearing from afghan officials, in fact, that they are still searching for bodies as well as pieces of that helicopter. >> okay. thank you for that update. >>> let's move from there now to the newest blow for the u.s. economy, because for the first time ever the country has lost its triple-a credit rating. standard & poor's says it decided to take the u.s. down a notch after the long drawn out debt fight in washington. cnbc chief washington correspondent john harwood is live for us again this morning. with another good morning to you, john. wasn't this big debt deal supposed to help the u.s. avoid these financial problems? we kept on talking about the possibility of downgrading. when they put this deal together, that was not supposed to happen. >> we did think that it was going to avoid a downgrade. lo