will lee, a tremendous human being. i'm greg gutfeld. from new york. >> bret: next on "special report," politics unusual. the national intelligence director criticizes what he calls the political dimension of the christmas day bomb plot investigation. iran gets fired up as it tests a rocket that the west fears could have a sinister purpose. our series on debt, focuses on the one program that threatens to overwhelm the rest of government. and the man who was supposed to make things easier on the president, makes things hard on himself with a callous comment. all of that but the fox all-stars right here, right now. welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. the nation spy chief is complaining about an unsavory mix of terrorism and politics that he says is making his

job unusually difficult. it's the latest sniping amid the ongoing wave of criticism over the administration handling of the christmas day bomb plot suspect. national correspondent catherine herridge has today's action. >> testifying for a second day on capitol hill, the nation's senior intelligence official provided a rare insight. >> the level of the political dimension of what to me ought to be a national security issue has been quite high. i don't think it's been particularly good i will tell you from the inside in terms of, trying to get the right job done to protect the united statstates. >> reporter: blair is referring to the politic of the alleged christmas day bomber and the administration handling of him in criminal court, suspect who nearly killed 300 americans on flight 253. the senior republican on house intelligence complained that the white house found time to bring it on the interrogation but not on the committee members. >> i find it an interesting strategy that we hastily call

a briefing to let america, the friends and enemies in the middle east now he's now singing like a ca makcanarcanar. >> reporter: white house officials tuesday night quickly called reporters to a briefing telling them on january 1, the f.b.i. agents went to nigeria where they met with the suspect's family. the family then came to the u.s. where it helped facilitate his new round of questioning. blair was pushed to explain whether the sensitive information released by the white house was run by him first. >> is that the type of information that should be made public? >> i'm not going to comment on internal processes for this investigation right now. >> reporter: a white house spokesman justived the administration's actions this way. >> we made determination it was a good idea to make sure that people knew that our sources, that our methods were working. >> in a letter to congress, attorney general eric holder

reinforced the case that the suspect was providing useful information. based on a january 5 national security meeting said there was no dissent in the administration. no agency aboarded the use and no agency advised the department of justice alternative course of action should have been or should now be pursued. senior republicans say that six weeks were lost after abdulmutallab was first read his rights. >> al-qaeda undoubtedly used that time change their method, plot and timeline. we lost valuable information and valuable time. >> today, republicans on the senate judiciary committee led by jeff sessi sessions push for public hearing with the attorney general he be asked to account for his decision to try abdulmutallab in federal court. aide to committee chair pat leahy say they are already working on it but it would take another four weeks. >> bret: more developments every day.

thank you. one day after accepting a u.n.-backed plan for the nuclear program, iran today successfully launched a research rocket and bragged it could defeat the west in battle of technology. correspondent greg palkot has that story from london. >> iran is blasting into space, launching a ten-foot long research rocket with a spaeshl special payload. mouse, two turtles. ahmadinejad called at it big event. the scientific arena is where we defeat the west's domination, he added. the west is taking this shot seriously. the fear is dual use, that it could also carry nuclear payload. one reason for the recent deployment of the anti-missile defenses in the gulf region. >> launch like that is a provocative act. the president believes it's not too late for iran to do the best thing. come to the table with the international community. live up to the obligation. >> iranian president is

ahmadinejad is sounding conciliatory notes and said they would accept an offer to send uranium abroad to monitor the iran suspect nuclear program. russian foreign minister labrov said he would welcome an agreement. a source tells fox news the iaea is waiting for a formal response. u.s. officials and others say the iranians need to be specific. >> put it in writing. tell the iaea. iran said so many things in the last few months. >> this comes when the u.s. is looking to racket up sanks against the iran regime. hillary clinton was urgi urging sa sanctions. >> if they feel at the end of the day there is light at the end of the tunnel. >> and the iranian government is looking for new protest. next week marks the anniversary of the iranian revolution.

threats of opposition figures is a sign that they are not taking chances. the green movement protesters say they will use the day to attack the regime. >> i know on february 11, the world will witness that the green movement is not there. >> er ttehran offered an olive branch. the release of three americans held since last summer by iran in exchange for the release of iranians held by the united states. washington today saying no dice. bret? >> bret: greg palkot live in london. thank you. elsewhere around the world, three american soldiers were killed in a taliban roadside bomb attack in northwestern pakistan. they are the first known u.s. military facilities in that area. pakistani soldier and three school girls died in the attack which damaged a school for girls. nato says a bomb strike in southern afghanistan killed two american soldiers tuesday. news of the attack comes as u.s. troops and their afghan

and nato parer ins prepare to launch a major offensive against a taliban stronghold. in iraq today, 20 people were killed when a bomb ripped through a crowd of shiite pilgrims near c c near c nea sk. iraq's highest appeals court struck down a ban on hundreds of perspective parliamentary candidates with suspected ties to the saddam hussein regime. the candidates will be allowed to run in next month's elections but will not be allowed to take office until they are investigated. back at home, president obama today told democratic senators to lead first and let politics of this year's elections take care of themselves. senior white house correspondent major garrett reports on how the top democrat tried to rally his troops. >> anybody searching for a lesson from massachusetts, i promise you the answer is not to do nothing. >> president obama preached the politics of conviction to

assembly of democrats shaken by the loss of the 60 vote supermajority in massachusetts. fighting to overcome the widening perception of the legislative drift. >> we have to finish the job on healthcare. we have to finish the job on financial regulatory reform. we have to finish the job though it's hard. >> conviction did not come with a compass. the white house continues to dodge questions how or when to resolve thorny healthcare disputes. >> not a legislative technician and not going get in the nitty-gritty of what the best way forward is at this point. we have don't have a specific deadline for what the next phase of this is about. >> mr. obama did admit he blew it with hours of secretive healthcare negotiations at the white house. >> some of that transparentsy got lost. i think we paid a price for it. >> so does the senate majority le leader who presided over the gentile question and answer session. >> applauding your decision to place the economy at the top of the economy.

>> thank you so much for being with us here today. >> understandably, the encounter lacked the partisan crack crack crackle from friday. >> hear from the administration we offered nothing. >> today, the questions in total, seven from the senators facing re-election. arlen spector in pennsylvania, bennett in colorado, blanche lincoln in arkansas, kirsten gillibrand in new york, barbara boxer in california, evan bayh in indiana and pat leahy in vermont. the race they face all but leahy's far tougher than the questions they posed. >> what are we going to do differently? >> spector for one complained about trade with china. >> china has not lived up to its obligations to have its markets open to us. >> obama told spector he would not sever trade ties. >> china is going to be one of our biggest markets. for us to close ourselves off from that market would be a mistake. >> spector had to know the answer as well as he knew how well the question would play at home as he attempts to

woos voter in the primary. president played along. politics does have a place in the family. something that knows no political boundaries the bowles is played here on sunday and the president as he did last year will invite the interested republicans from indiana and louisiana and other republicans. here tomorrow, the president will meet privately with the top senate and house democrats to discuss jobs legislation. it will be the first time in months the president brought them over here to talk about any subject domestically other than healthcare. if you want to keep track of all the white house comings and goings, go to our blog. road2c4. at foxnews.com. after that shameless promotion, back to you. >> bret: we'll do some, too. look for you tonight on special report online, which starts, thank you, major, after the broadcast after this newscast. we'll have interactive polls and take your questions and comments for our all-star panel. you can get to the online show thousand our newly redesigned home page. this you see it. foxnews.com/specialreport. didn't we do it well?

seamless transition there. well, how can a president who has more than 40 former lobbyists on the payroll say he has excluded them? the president chief of staff tries to smooth over his comments that left many people offended.

>> bret: president obama's chief of staff engaged in damage control today, but it wasn't over something the president had done. white house correspondent wendell goler reports on rahm emanuel's attempt to clean up his own men. >> the president's blunt-spoken chief of staff rahm emanuel apologized to call the liberal threat threats ""f"ing resaturdtarretarretarde" >> the comments made to pit one group against another don't do anything to further political discourse, for that, rahm apologized and

we're looking to move forward. >> it occurred in a private meeting when the president's healthcare reform was grinding to a halt. when the "wall street journal" reported it last week, emmanuel phoned timothy shriver in what he called a general apology. today, shriver and other advocates if for the disabled community came to the white house to explain the sensitivity of the issue. former alaska governor and fox news contributor sarah palin, mother of a special needs child, compared the "r" word to the "n" word and said emanuel should be fired. on her facebook page, ms. palin said, "mr. president, you can do better and our country deserves better." there is a website devoting to e ending this. >> words are powerful. hearing the "r" word makes people with intellectual disabilities and those who love them feel like less valued members of humanity. >> this is not the first time the obama administration offended. aides apologized after the president himself made this

remark about his lack of bowling skills on jay leno tonight show. >> move like special olympics. >> it wasn't just rahm emanuel apologizing, the education secretary duncan phoned the new orleans mayor after saying hurricane katrina was the best thing that happened to the city's schools because it provided them an opportunity to rebuild. joining what one reporter called a buffet line of administration officials eating their words. at the white house, wendell goler, fox news. >> bret: also in the buffet line is ray lahood who sent toyota's stock tumbling today. here is what he said to a house committee when asked what he would say to owners of cars affect bade massive recall. >> my advice is if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it. take it to toyota dealer, because they believe they have the fix for it. >> lahood later called that a misstatement about stopping driving it. toyota says it has figured out how to fix the problem with gas pedals that can get stuck. a member of the president's

advisory council on faith-base and neighborhood partnerships is standing by an earlier statement that pope benedict is "hurting people in the name of jesus." harry knocks returning to the pope's assertion that condom use aggravates the spread of hiv in africa, one a position supported by researcher edward green. knocks says green is also incorrect. you may not recognize american history if some changes to school policy are approved in one state. can medicare survive without some big changes? our series one nation under debt continues.

>> bret: one of the biggest challenges for president obama and congress is what to do about medicare.

chief washington correspondent jim ankle continues his series "one nation under debt." with a look at the government gift that keeps on giving. even if there is no money to pay for it. >> reporter: when president obama joined democratic senators today, senator michael bennett worried about the nation's debt of $12 trillion and climbing and said he told his kids they'd have to pay for it. >> my daughter caroline is ten was there and she walked out with me at the end and she said, "just so you know, i'm not paying that back." >> reporter: actually, she will have no choice. it's even worse. just one program medicare has unfunded liabilities that dwarf the $12 trillion in current debt. >> medicare is a much more challenging situation than social security. medicare was underfunded $38 trillion as of last year. and growing. between the 2010 and 2030, the number of americans age 65 and over is expected to go from 41 million to 711 million. >> reporter: so 30 million

more people going into a program we already cannot pay for. medicare and other entitlements are beginning to overwhelm the rest of government. president obama who has obviously been thinking about it pointed to that very dilemma explaining the nation can't get close to balancing the budget if entitlements are off the table. >> you'd have to cut non-discretionary defense spending by 60%. that's everything. student loans, nasa, veterans programs. you name it. we'd have to cut by 60%. 6-0. >> reporter: the president also said one of the problems with trimming entitlement programs is that people like them. that's why lawmakers keep mandating cuts in medicare like reducing fees for doctors who treat medicare patients than backing down the moment seniors complain. the house killed those cuts in doctor fees last fall but simply added the $220 billion cost to the deficit. the recent healthcare reform bill also call for cutting spending in medicare by some $500 billion. but that money wasn't dedicated to make medicare stronger, but rather to pay

for other things including a new entitlement permanent subsidiaries for health insurance. >> if you take the medicare cut can and apply them to creating a new entitlement before you fix medicare, how are we going to fix a medicare program? there are no ideas left. >> reporter: which gets us back to the fundamental problem. government is way better at promising things than paying for them. the day of reckoning is getting closer. bret? >> bret: hard to get your head around the numbers. thank you. there is mixed news tonight about jobs. one payroll company says 22,000 private sector jobs were lost in january. a big improvement over december. but separate outplacement firm says employers cut 71,000 positions last month. stocks were also mixed. the dow lost 26 1/3. the s&p 500 dropped six. the nasdaq gained almost a point. the administration's pay czar is calling $100 million of bonuses to executives at aig

outrageous, but legal. kenneth feinberg says the payments are contractual obligations from years past. aig still hasn't repaid all of the $180 billion the government loaned it as part of the wall street bail-out. turning now to politics, it could take some time before we know who won the respective primaries for governor in illinois. but the winners of the senate primary are waste nothing time in going after each other. correspondent steve brown has the story from chicago. >> reporter >> thank you for your support yesterday. >> reporter: mark kirk who breezed through the g.o.p. primary ramped up his attack on the winner of the democratic primary, alexi genulius and his beleaguered bank. >> his broadway bank has heavy mob connections and appears to be collapsing. >> reporter: jumping into jack-up the bank issue early is the national republican senate committee with a web age saying the broadway mob

ties would make tony spry spran. he is banking that broadway hurt him in the pry air and will hurt him again in the nine-month campaign ahead. for jelunius the message is as plane as the four-letter word adorning his victory backdrop. jobs. going after the republican opponent on the number one issue, economy. >> we have to create the next generation of good-paying jobs in illinois. we have to help everyday families that are struggling in a real way every day. that's something that mark kirk never talks about. >> reporter: which candidate will be on the illinois november ballot for governor is not certain. incumbent backed quinn claimed a victory in the democratic primary. >> it's over. primary is over. the people have spoken. they voted our way. >> reporter: with 99% of precincts counted quinn leads controller hines by 7,000 votes but with 85,000 absentee votes yet to count, hines has no plans to

concede. the republican primary results are even less clear. on top for now is springfield state senator bill brady. >> our guys tell us we will be ahead and we're confident we will. >> he leads kurt dillard by scance 750 votes. mckenna trails by 8,000. absentees have until the 16th to arrive to be counted and the state board of election says it may be the 23rd before it's all over. we'll get back to you. in chicago, steve brown, fox news. >> bret: republican scott brown will be sworn in as u.s. senator from massachusetts thursday afternoon. governor patrick is expected to sign the official election certification form thursday morning. brown, of course, upset democrat martha coakley last month and will be the 41st republican in the senate ending the democratic supermajority of 60 needed to defeat a filibuster. former indiana senator dan coats wants his old job back. the republican retired in 1998 after ten years in the senate. but he said today he is

starting the process of mounting a challenge to democratic incumbent evan bayh this fall. president obama rolls the dice again with another controversial reference to las vegas. and was the president's recent reference to excluding lobbyists from his staff really true? we report, you decide. according to the epa, the air in your home can be two to five times more polluted than the air outside. smoke, germs, viruses, allergens, pet dander, even smelly and potentially harmful voc compounds can actually be floating in the air you're breathing! but now you can clean that air with the incredible oreck xl professional air purifier. and if you call and order now you'll pay no interest ever! the secret to oreck's effectiveness is its patented truman cell filter. the oreck air purifier constantly moves the air in the room through its powerful six-stage filtration system. its electrostatic plates capture many impurities such as dust, allergens, bacteria - even viruses -- then puts clean air back in the room.

how clean is the air in your home? try my oreck professional air purifier for a full 30 days risk free, with free shipping! stand by for a very special limited-time offer! call right now and david oreck will automatically upgrade you to his new proshield plus air purifier. it combines the truman cell with the revolutionary new helios shield for even greater odor elimination. he'll also send you his amazing cordless refrigerator air purifier... and dual-purpose speed sweep cordless electric vacuum. together they're a $150 value, but they're yours free! and yours to keep even if you decide to return the air purifier. that's how sure david oreck is you'll love his new proshield plus. if you don't breath easier, sleep better, wake up more refreshed, dust your home less and simply enjoy the benefits of fresh, crisp, clean air, just send it back. it won't cost you a dime to try it. i'll ship it to your home at no charge, and you decide to return it, i'll even pay to take it back. you've got nothing to lose.

call now and get the proshield plus, and pay no interest ever. plus david oreck's incredible refrigerator air purifier, and cordless vac both free. pick up the phone right now and give me a call! you'll be glad you did. call the number on your screen or log onto the website to order now.

>> bret: and now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine. president obama has more than 40 former lobbyists working in senior positions in his administration. despite his statement during the state of the union, that he has, quote, excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs. the examiner reports they include irs general counsel william wilkins, a former lobbyist for the swiss bankers association. deputy defense secretary william lynn was appointed 10 months after he lobbied for raytheon. and ron clain who lobbied for fannie mae during the housing boom. quote: >> bret: president obama has sinned against sin city again. wednesday, the president told a crowd at new hampshire, quote: when times are tough, you tighten your belts. you don't blow a bunch of cash on vegas when you are trying to

save for college. well, senate majority leader harry reid of nevada quickly responded to the president's second vegas-related comment in a year saying, quote: the president needs to lay off las vegas and stop making it a poster child for where people shouldn't be spending their money. democratic congresswoman shelly berkeley said, quote, enough is enough. and las vegas democratic mayor oscar goodman said, quote, the president is a real slow learner. president obama wrote to reid saying: i was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars and not college tuition money to have fun. and south carolina first lady jenny sanford said her husband asked her for relationship advice after his affair. the governor wondered allowed if he should follow his mistress to argentina and what he should do about the media. mrs. sanford said she wished her husband would have kept his thoughts to himself. their divorce is expected to be

finalized this month. much of american history could soon be history for north carolina high school students. educators are considering a radical change in curriculum that has some people scratching their heads. correspondent molly henneberg explains. >> he may be the first u.s. president and father of our country. and he may be the president who governed during the civil war and freed the slaves. but under a new curriculum proposal in north carolina high school u.s. history would begin with the presidency of rutherford b. haste 1877. state educators may help students go more in-depth into recent history. >> we are certainly not trying to go away from american history. what we are trying to do is figure out a way to teach it where students are connected to it, where they are able to make connections and draw relationships between parts of our history and the current present day. >> as the north carolina

curriculum stands now, ninth grade students take world history. 10th graders studies civics and economics. and 11th graders take u.s. history, going back to the country's founding. under the proposed change, ninth graders would take a course called global studies, focusing in part on issues such as the environment. 10th grade students could study civics and economics. 11th graders would take u.s. history from 1877 onward. critics say the state's decade old high school curriculum may need an update but not like this. >> the answer isn't to throw out fundamental portions of u.s. history. this is not preparing our kids to have a deep historical perspective that can be used to analyze modern issues and events for themselves. >> not all for global outlook but it should not be at the expense of american history and learning about american institutions and ideas. >> but those considering the proposal say kids will still learn the basics. >> the students are in school

for 13 years. they certainly are taught u.s. and north carolina history in middle school. >> dr. garland says they are making this curriculum revision process very public to get as much feedback as possible. matt, science, and english classes are also getting an update. in washington, molly henneberg, fox news. >> bret: the national intelligence director says politics is getting in the way of national security. the fox all stars react in three minutes.

>> was that cleared with you whether or not it's appropriate to discuss publicly that two family members are cooperating or urged to cooperate. >> again, congressman king, i'm not going to comment on the internal processes for this investigation right now. >> the level of the political dimension of what to me ought to

be a national security issue has been quite high. i don't think it's been particularly good, i will tell you, from the inside. >> i will say that the reason that people were told about the success of these interviews didn't have anything to do with politics. we made the determination that it was a good idea to make sure that people knew that our sources and that our methods here were working. >> bret: well, the white house held a interesting briefing late last night at the white house about how the christmas day bomber was handled in the early hours. they provided some information saying he is still talking to investigators and also saying that fbi agents went to nigeria where they met with the suspect's family, then the family cooperated and helped to continue the round of questioning, to help facilitate it. some of what came out of that briefing. you saw the national intelligence director there commenting on what he said was the politics involved in this whole issue. and here's a statement late

today. the >> >> bret: what about the politics and national security implications here? let's bring in our panel. steve hayes, senior writer for "the weekly standard." jennifer lofn chief white house correspondent for the associated press and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. jennifer, what about this briefing and their defense, the white house defense of telling all that they did? >> well, one thing we have to remember is that the dni, dennis blare, -- blair opened a door here last week in a hearing in congress he was asked if the christmas bomber suspect was still talking and he said yes. and that sort of opened the door to these conversations and the decision as you described last night for the white house to describe some of what is happening in those interviews. so, he opened the door. the white house walked through it and i think, you know, they realize that there is a

political problem. they are also worried, frankly, i'm told, that the suspect will stop talking. they are worried that the al qaeda on on the arabian peninsula will realize it's being watched more closely and may change some of its tactics or locations as a result. >> bret: steve, bill burton there for robert gibbs said this is not about politics. >> i think it is about politics. i think the suggestion is that -- i mean, the reason to put this out, i think if -- jennifer is correct and i have no reason to believe she is not, is that blair opened this door. they walked through it. they wanted to get this out and explain because reporters were asking why this was the case. but, look, they are under siege right now. i mean they are, i think, being criticized by mostly republicans but also some on the left for their handling of this. and the criticism is well-deserved. they cannot give a straight story on what exactly happened and they can't further explain

why they didn't get more information from abdulmutallab at the time. you had eric holder sending a letter to congressional republicans, to senator mitch mcconnell today in which he basically doubles down and says "this is our policy. if you don't like it. too bad. we mirandized him quickly. we had to do it. the law says we have to do it. the fbi policy suggests we have to do it. and we are confident that we didn't miss any intelligence." i think that's a silly argument on its face. of course you missed intelligence if you only interrogated him for 50 minutes. >> bret: charles? >> in that letter holder also talks about he followed the precedent of the bush administration. it's true that with richard reid, the guy who tried to blow up a shoe he was mirandized, he was treated as a civilian, but it was a mistake. it happened three months after 9/11. and the military, the commission system hadn't been established. >> bret: he also wasn't tried. he pled guilty.

>> he pled guilty. here we are eight years later where we know that's not the way to go and they repeat the error and defend it. they also had said there was a meeting -- holder said there was a meeting on january 5th involving the president. all the senior members of the security cabinet on their. and nobody even raised the issue of having him held under the laws of war. now, this is sort of inexplicable. there are two cases in the past in which we originally arrested somebody under civilian rules and then we transferred him into military custody. one is jose padilla and the other is omaria. first an american and the second a katari. we had the option all the time of undoing the original error of telling him he had his right to remain silent. and why it wasn't -- why he t. was done in the first place was a mystery and why it wasn't undone and why nobody at a senior level, including the

president had suggested undoing it and having him interrogated without him having the right of silence is really quite puzzling puzzling. >> bret: holder does say that in that letter there was an exchange between senator mccain and the defense secretary yesterday in which gates was pressed about whether he did support this effort to charge the christmas day bomber as a criminal. >> i think that -- i think we did not have the high level interrogators there that we now have protocols in place to ensure would be present in such a situation. >> and do you believe it was possible in 50 minutes to exhaust the possibilities for and getting all of the information that was needed from the christmas bomber? >> i'm just not in a position to know the answer to that senator. >> i see, again, media reports state that you thought so.

it is your view that absence enhanced interrogation techniques that the intelligence community provides no value in the interrogation of a terrorist? >> no, i don't believe that. >> bret: jennifer, does that show anything about where the defense secretary was in this meeting on january 5th? maybe he just didn't weigh in? >> i'm not sure it does seem a little mysterious, doesn't it? i will say this, we are having this debate here and on the hill and at the white house about whether he should have been mirandized, whether he should have had a lawyer, how he should have been questioned. yet, the white house is, and i think will continue to, point to the fact that intelligence is coming out of these interviews, and that it wouldn't be guaranteed if he were treated as an enemy combatant that any more information or better information would be gotten through that method. the fbi figured out a creative way, apparently, to get him to

talk by involving his family and i think that there has to be some credence given to the fact that they are being successful. maybe it's delayed, maybe it's not exactly the way some people would think would be the most effective way to get information, but that's very hard to know. >> bret: there is just a question about the time from christmas -- >> -- correct. >> bret: to last thursday. >> it's a five-week period. that's not insignificant. i think jennifer characterized the white house argument. intelligence is imparable, as we talked about before on this program and elsewhere. you take information you get, you test it, you bring it back, you test it again, and the earlier you do, this the more likely you are to get fresh, actionable intelligence. but, even beyond that eric holder, back in 2002, was asked about how likely it was to gain good information, good intelligence, interrogating someone, in this case it was john walker lind, the american tall band once he had a lawyer. and horld said, this is january 28th, 2002. it's hard to interrogate him at

this point now that he has a lawyer and now that he is here to the united states to the extent that we can get information from him, we should. that totally contra dickets what holder said today in his letter to mitch mcconnell and contradicts the heart of the administration's argument that we didn't lose any intelligence by not interrogating him quickly. >> bret: iran can't seem to make up its mind whether to cooperate or confront the u.s. and its allies. at the first sign of a cold... ( sneezing )

i didn't take zicam cold remedy... but i did. zicam reduces the duration of a cold. ( sneezing ) no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no... can you do it by 3:00 ? yes, i can. how about 2:00 ? hmm... ( sneezing ) ( moaning get over your cold faster. now try new throat-soothing liqui-loz and great-tasting zavors.

[explosion] >> the scientific arena is where we could defeat the west coming to nation. >> a launch like that is

obviously a provocative act, but the president believes that it's not too late for iran to do the right thing, come to the table with the international community and live up to its international obligations. >> bret: well, iran today blasted a research rocket into space. that rocket contained a mouse, two turtles and a can of worms. but it was really the duel use prospect of this that raised some eyebrows in the intelligence community here in the u.s. what about iran and where we are and where we are going. we are back with the panel, charles? >> there has been a lot of activity and it all has to do with a week from tomorrow is the anniversary of the revolution. opposition leaders have called for huge demonstrations. you are getting activity by the iranian dictatorship, a the launch to get national support at home but also to intimidate us. put a mouse into space, it could put a nuke in new york in principle. secondly they hang nine demonstrators i think this week from the previous protests as a way to warn anybody who might

want to come out. and, third, we got kind of an oblique statement from leader ahmadinejad that they might be willing to consider this uranium exchange. but, he said only for part of a year, less than half a year. even the french foreign minister has spoken about this as an empty gesture, a way of delaying any serious negotiations and a way of gaining time, which is exactly what it's done over the last now year since obama came into office. our policy of negotiating is a complete embarrassing failure. that statement by the spokesman was truly embarrassing, it was so weak, inviting the iranians doing the right thing when they are killing people in the street. the only hope is a revolution and that should be our task. >> bret: on that front, vice

president joe biden said this week they were sewing seed of destruction. as far as sanctions and actual action by this administration. where is this administration. >> i think they are close to unveiling something at the security council and bringing it up for a vote. they have been working behind the scenes and put out the draft. they have been taking it to various other members of the security council to gate their support and get their support. russia is much closer to being on board, perhaps completely on board than they used to be with iran. they used to be, along with china, one of the countries that stood in the way. they are not seen as a problem anymore in getting a tougher new sanctions package. china is sort of the remaining question mark. and there is a lot of encouraging -- on the public front, there is not a lot to be encouraged about, there is a lot behind the scenes both china watchers and folks inside the administration think they will probably get china on board. one day charles said i think

it's worth noting that it's an incredibly large leap between a mouse in space and nuke in new york. and if they were closer to that research rocket being a real piece of getting them closer to that, they would have put a monkey on it. they would have -- you know, that's a pretty big leap to make. >> half the -- not a question of the pay load but can you achieve orbit? >> it is very much a size of the pay load. it's a technological. it's a ginormous gap. [ laughter ] >> bret: let's quickly talk about what we heard from the intelligence director this week on capitol hill saying tehran is keeping the option open to develop nuclear weapons, but we don't know if iran will decide to build a nuclear weapon. this is different than what we have heard from the president before. >> right. he had said he wasn't going to weigh in on whether they have a nuclear weapons program, which i thought was somewhat intentioned with what the president said back in september when he announced the secret iranian

enrichment facility. he said that what they have built here is essentially inconsistent with a peaceful nuclear program. now, you talk to people who know the intelligence and know it well, they will say well the president went too far. it's not that the intelligence community is not willing to go far enough but the other thing that wasn't discussed and, you know, people -- it's amazing to me that after september 11th, 8 years after september 11th nobody wants to talk about that the other thing that happened at the briefing yesterday was that the dia director talked about iran's support for terrorists and insurgency who are targeting americans in both iraq and afghanistan. it's like it's become an asterisk in our national discussion of iran now that they are targeting our soldiers in iraq and afghanistan and were willing to spend time and the previous administration did this too, negotiate with them. >> bret: that's it for the panel. but stay tuned for delayed reaction from one person intelligence officials pay attention to.

>> bret: finally tonight, there has been a lot of focus on the christmas day bomber more than one month later intelligence officials as we showed you are still answering questions about it. the top terrorist in the world is now weighing in as well. >> osama bin laden has issued a new audiotape praising the failed christmas day airline bombing and warning more attacks to come from the unitedcreates. >> bin laden comments on the christmas underwear bomber now? that's like a month ago. that's like change your name to osama been procrastinating. >> i have been meaning to comment but idol just started. it's simon's last season. i mean, talk about evil, i mean the things that he says to people but he knows his business. >> bret: jon stewart on "the o'reilly factor." thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report," fair, balanced, and unafraid.