vice-president joe biden and defense secretary bob gates are in baghdad for the event. >> we have kept a promise. a promise made to the american people and to the people of iraq by drawing down our forces to ruffle 50,000. and we are on track to remove all of our troops by the end of next year. >> earlier defense secretary bob gates says the u.s. is no longer at war in iraq and he is optimistic iraqi leaders are on track to form a functioning government. critics are expressing doubt that iraq will be stable enough for u.s. forces to life next year. reporting live from washington, d.c., alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >> all right. lyson. and we talked with people right here in the bay area about their reaction to the end of the u.s. combat mission in iraq. >> it is good that the war is over and our combat operations are done. it is always good to get the troops home, yeah. >> there still needs to be a lot of cleanup and some support of the new, you know, just trying to help the iraqi government take control themselves. >> now you can watch president obama's spire speech marking the

that is why bob gates tried to talk him down. this was a top national security issue. everyone at the cabinet and foreign policy level were working on this. you saw the rollout from david cameron in the u.k. and other allies, they were trying to avoid what exactly happened, when were fatalities. they were worried about u.s. troops and by appealing to the pastor on the basis of our men and women in uniform. that was the best approach. they didn't want to elevate him. he is fringe. there are cument aspects to this teeny church. it is extraordinary crazy drama but they had to deal with it. chris: david, you travel the muslim world. u.s. ow the viral aspects of our communication can be so dangerous. is there any way we can avoid this or is this going to be a firefighting job of the president from here on out? >> this is dry tender and pastor jones, whether knowingly or not, probably knowingly, was throwing a match. i think the reason pastor jones ended up becoming important was because president obama unnecessarily raised the temperature himself on this question of islam p

gates put in a phone call and he has desisted for the moment. this was not a constitutional question about protected speech. though a lot of people law that around. you can burn books in this country, you can burn flags. you can burn draft cards. >> why are you looking at me? >> i don't know. but there is also national security interests and with that -- without pushing one against the other, the government said, this is just more important, you have to protect these troops. the president said, that's my first responsibility and they leaned on the pastor. it would have been nice if someone said, this is a stupid idea, please stop. but he used a different argument. and as the president said today in the press conference, this is probably, we've been through nam of these this summer. this is about the third round of religious intolerance we've had, issues rise to the white house level. some of it probably has to do with, as the president diagnosed, general feeling of fear and discontent and anger in the country. certainly we've been in wars in the

gates, the secretary of defense, because he could clearly call the imam and put it to him that men and women in uniform were in danger and that was the key factor. >> and that decision certainly lent this a different kind of weight. >>> let's go to mike taibbi in lower manhattan. just trying to sort this out, is it possible -- we had two prongs of this that weren't talking to each other. is it possible a deal was cut in florida involving a promise to move the controversial planned location of that islamic center that is to contain a mosque without checking or getting the approval of the folks in new york? >> reporter: well, brian, apparently, thinking back to the famous movie line, what we have here is a failure to communicate, from the new york end in this, there were no negotiations and there is no deal. that both from the owner of the building and more importantly from imam rauf who is behind the planned cultural center and mosque. he released a statement a short time ago saying, "i am glad that pastor jones has decided not to burn any korans, however, i have not spoken to pastor jo

bob gates. what do you make of him? what's your read? >> yeah, gates. i've known gates since he was bill casey's deputy in the cia in the '70s. >> larry: that's when i met him. >> and there's a fascinating story about gates' view of the world and sense of humor. in 1987 when i was coming out with the book "veil" about the secret wars of the cia during the reagan era, it was about to come out, and the cia couldn't get a copy. gates called me up. he said, can we get a copy? we won't leak it to "the new york times." i said, fine, send somebody by to get it, come by my house. and he said, i'll come myself. and so he came. walked up on the doorstep. i gave him two or three copies. and he looked at me. and he said, sometime we have to have a talk about security. because obviously yours is better than ours. >> larry: we'll be right back. more on gates. more on lots of things. we'll even have bob read an excerpt from the book. don't go away. in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and la

bob gates. what do you make of him? what's your read? >> yeah, gates. i've known gates since he was bill casey's deputy in the cia in the '70s. and there's a fascinating story about gates' view of the world and sense of humor. in 1987 when i was coming out with the book "veil" about the secret wars of the cia during the reagan era, it was about to come out and the cia couldn't get a copy. gates called me up. he said, can we get a copy? we won't leak it to "the new york times." i said, fine, send somebody by to get it, come by my house. and he said, i'll come myself. and so he came. walked up on the doorstep. i gave him two or three copies. and he looked at me. and he said, sometime we have to have a talk about security. because obviously yours is better than ours. >> larry: we'll be right back. more on gates. more on lots of things. we'll enhave bob read an excerpt from the book. don't go away. skin absorbs it better and it lasts for 24 hours. later gator. lubriderm. your moisture matched. ♪ to connect our forces to what they need, when they need it.

president obama has great foreign policy surrogates, hillary clinton, bob gates, people can go out and talk for him and they're big heavy weight people, but that's not true on the domestic side. there never has been someone who could be a real surrogate for him. those three guys as talented and competent as they are you put on the screen are not surrogates for him. now, i don't think that the three outsiders you put up are seriously in the running either, but i think a lot of democrats would like the president to look outside at someone who could reach out to the business community, to the hill. it's going to be a completely changed environment after november no matter who ends up with majority on capitol hill and he needs somebody to meet that challenge. >> critics like bill kristol would say it's because the domestic poles are tough to defend. >> i'm not looking for the job, bret. if i felt i could serve the country, i would be an excellent chief of staff to president obama and reach out to the business community. reach out to conservatives, bipartisan administration after they lose

vice-president joe biden and defense secretary bob gates are in iraq for the ceremony. earlier gates expressed optimism about iraq's ability to form a functioning democratic governnt. >> -- optimistic that these guys will get a coalition government and continue to make progress. this is going to be a work in progress for a long time. this is a new thing in the several thousand year history of iraq. >> reporter: now we are back to a life look and the handover ceremony. gates said earlier this morning that this changeover means the u.s. is no longer at war in iraq, even though 50,000 u.s. troops will remain. they are there to advise and train iraqis and to help rebuild the country. live from washington, d.c., alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >> we talked with people here in the bay area about the  reaction to the end of the u.s. combat mission in iraq. >> it is good that the war is over and our cam bat operations are done. it is always good to get the troops home. yeah. >> there still needs to be a lot of cleanup and some support of the new, you know, just trying to h

bob gates, my defense secretary has been really good about pushing hard on that and we've won some battles, but this is going to be an area that we have to take a serious look at, as well. when we put forward a plan for getting a handle on our long-term debt and deficits. okay. all right. i'm going to go boy, girl, boy, girl. just to let everybody know i'm fair here. right here. >> hi, my name is ju net mackenzie and my mother lives with my husband and i. we take care of her, she has lived with us for six years now. she is currently in a nursing home getting rehab. >> right. >> i have great concerns over your health bill. one of the ladies in admissions over there, whom i was talking with the other week started, she's from england and her family is still in england. >> right. >> she was explaining to us how telling us what we had to look forward to here. her sister worked as a nurse in the same hospital for 20 years. she was 55. she was told she needed open heart surgery. she was put on a ten-year waiting list. three years later she had a major heart attack and they were forced to give her

and i think from both my perspective and bob gates' perspective -- and we've talked about this a lot, you know -- bob has made some very important recommendations that are not politically popular but which come with a very well-thought-out policy. and what i've tried to do is to say, look, we're going to try to be smarter, more effective in our qddr. we're recommending changes in personnel policies, in all kin of approaches that will better utilize what we have. but we need it to get a ltl bit more robust in order to catch up to our responsibilities. quick final point on that, you know, when our combat troops move out of iraq as they've been, that will save about $15 billion. that's a net win for our treasury, and it's the policy that we have committed to along with the iraqis. the congress cuts my budget of the state department and usaid for trying to pick up the pieces that we're left with. you know, we now have responsibility for the police-training mission, for opening up consulates that have to be secure. so even though our troops are coming down and we're saving money and what w

and i think from both my perspective and bob gates' perspective -- and we've talked about this a lot, you know -- bob has made some very important recommendations that are not politically popular but which come with a very well-thought-out policy. and what i've tried to do is to say, look, we're going to try to be smarter, more effective in our qddr. we're recommending changes in personnel policies, in all kinds of approaches that will better utilize what we have. but we need it to get a little bit more robust in order to catch up to our responsibilities. quick final point on that, you know, when our combat troops move out of iraq as they've been, that will save about $15 billion. that's a net win for our treasury, and it's the policy that we have committed to along with the iraqis. the congress cuts my budget of the state department and usaid for trying to pick up the pieces that we're left with. you know, we now have responsibility for the police-training mission, for opening up consulates that have to be secure. so even though our troops are coming down and we're saving money and w

vice president joe biden and bob gates are in baghdad. the transition means ray d. is moving on. >> hope has replaced despair. today is a new dawn in our relationship with the government of iraq. >> reporter: now, bob gets said the u.s. is no long he at war in iraq. he's optimistic iraqi leaders are on track too form a -- to form a functioning government. critics are expressing doubt that iraq will be stable enough for the 50,000 remaining u.s. forces to leave as planned next year. reporting from washington, d.c., alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >> in iraq, u.s. troops give their reaction to the end of combat mission. >> to me it means we've done well and work ourselves out of a job, it means i'm not gonna have to come back. >> more than 4400 american troops died in fighting in iraq. another 34,000 were wounded. last night, president obama spoke to the nation saying the u.s. has paid a high price to give iraqis the chance to shape their future. >> tonight, i encourage iraq's leaders to move forward with a sense of urgency, to form an inclusive government that's j

bob gates, there's a scene in the book where president obama asks him to stay for four years. gates doesn't want to do it. gates concludes that the president sounds like a rug merchant. >> he did stay longer than he planned originally. >> he did. but you have the secretary of defense gates gets justifiable praise. he has one foot out the door. you know in any institution, when somebody has one foot out the door, can they lead? >> that's going to have to be the last word. the book is "obama's wars." thanks very much. >>> now, to juju chang, and the morning's news. >> we'll turn to stark, new data on post-recession america. the income gap between the rich and the poor is now the widest on record. census figures show the top earning 20% of americans, those making a six-figure salary, received nearly half of all income generated last year. top earners added to their income, while families at the $50,000 level slipped lower. and the extreme poverty hit a record high. >>> a u.s. soldier in iraq is in custody this morning, accused of murdering two of his fellow soldiers. investigator

bob gates. the secretary of defense. there's a scene in the book where president obama asks him to stay for four years. gates doesn't want to do it. gates concludes that the president sounds like a rug merchant. gates is going to leave sometime next year. >> he did stay longer than he planned originally. >> he did. but you have the secretary of defense gates gets justifiable praise. he has one foot out the door. you know in any institution, when somebody has one foot out the door, can they lead? >> that's going to have to be the last word. the book is "obama's wars." it is fascinating as always. thanks very much. >>> now, to juju chang, and the morning's news. >> hey, george, amazing insights in the war room. >>> we'll turn now to stark new data on post-recession america. the income gap between the rich and the poor is now the widest on record. census figures show the top earning 20% of americans, those making a six-figure salary, received nearly half of all income generated last year. top earners added to their income,

. >> eric: that's not what the administration says, bob gates this week said that he thinks sanctions are working and are tougher than they expected. >> i think that is badly mistake en and the evidence is that iran continues the weapons program, i haven't heard any administration official say anything to the contrary. and, indeed the whole rationale for sanctions is the administration now -- as the administration advocates them is not to stop years the nuclear w program but, to bring them back to the negotiating table and that is a symbol of weakness. >> eric: how do you stop them when they put on-line a nuclear reactor and russia has a deal to sell them $1 billion of anti-aircraft missiles and u.n. inspectors were banned from looking at their sites. >> the most likely outcome at this point is iran will have nuclear weapons and sooner rather than later. and secretary clinton's reference to the military influence in iran is a little out of date. because the military which controls the nuclear weapons program has begin steadily gaining control in iran for the past several years and tha

and bob gates, my defense secretary, has been really good about pushing hard on that. and we won some battles. but that's going to be an area we have to take a serious look at as well, you know, when we put forward a plan for getting handle on our long-term debt and deficits. okay? >> the president there. we'll continue to monitor the president. he is taking questions in des moines, iowa. this is the latest stop on a four-state tour. campaign style. talking about the economy, health, a couple of the backyard chats. he is moving from des moines, iowa, over to richmond, virginia, later today before heading back to the white house this evening. we'll continue to monitor that q&a f anything pops out, we'll certainly bring that you to. >>> we go from the president and his number one issue, the economy, to the first lady and her big issue these days has been childhood obesity. you can tell a kid all day long what to eat and how to eat right. it's going to go in one ear and out the other. so how do you get them involved? well, you make it fun. you make it interesting. you mak

and bob gates, my defense secretary, has been really good about pushing hard on that. and we've won some battles, but that's going to be an area that we're going to have to take a serious look at as well when we put forward a plan for getting a handle on our long-term debt and deficits. ok? all right, i'm going to go boy, girl, boy, girl, just to make sure everybody knows i'm fair here. right here. >> hi. my mother lives with my husband and i. we take care of her. she's been with us for six years now. she is currently in a nursing home getting rehab. >> right. >> i have great concerns over your health bill. one of the ladies in admissions over there whom i was talking with the other week, started -- she's from england, and her family is still in england. >> right. >> and she was explaining to us how -- telling us what we had to look forward to here. her sister worked as a nurse in the same hospital for 20 years. she was 55. she was told she needed open- heart surgery. she was put on a 10-year waiting list. three years later, she had a major heart attack and they were f

the interesting and overlooked ghost in the machine here is bob gates, the secretary of defense. >> so interesting. >> he wants out. he agreed to stay for a year. he agreed to stay -- >> he's been wanting to go home for years. >> and they keep pulling him back. >> at one point when obama meets with him privately he says i want you to stay the whole term which would be four years. >> poor guy. >> gates feels preempted and actually told people he felt obama was acting like a rug merchant. so you have the secretary of defense in the war, halfway out the door thinking about washington state with his wife becky where they are very anxious to get back. so who is going to do this and when they are debating this in the white house it was fascinating. some of obama's top aides started saying, okay now. we add 30,000 troops, as the president has decided. there's going to be this review which is coming up in december. they're going to start withdrawing in july. in 2012, when obama presumably is going to run for re-election, who is going to be here? and it turns out, well, gates is going to be gon

and i think from both my perspective and bob gates' perspeive -- and we've talked about this a lot, you know -- bob has made some very important recommendations that are not politically popular but which come wit a very well-thought-out policy. and what i've tried to do is to say, look, we're going to try to be smarte more effective in our qddr. we're recommendg changes in personnel policies, in all kinds of approaches that will better utilize what we have. but we need it to get a little bit more robust in order to catch up to our responsibilities. quick final point on that, you know, when our combat troops move out of iraq as they've been, that will save about $15 billion. that's a net win for our treasury, and it's the policy that we have committed to along with the iraqis. the congress cuts my budget of the state department and usaid for trying to pick up the pieces that we're left with. you know, we now have responsibility for the police-training mission, for opening up consulates that have to be secure. so even though our troops are coming down and we're saving money and what we're

i was telling bob gates earlier today there cannot be a european speech or position for the whole international community, announcing or pulling out. that would be the best way to encourage the taliban. they could find his idea of the program pullout if further strength to hold on. we have to do it with a spirit of responsibility. indeed, we cannot let them think, progress being what it is now, except a certain area, we will be able to hand over in 2011. it will not be a single pullout. as i said during the lunch, we will patrol the conflict in afghanistan. >> your turn to choose. do you want to call on somebody? >> mr. minister, as you know, there was tremendous attention and controversy with the threat of the burning of the corona recently here. there were demonstrations and re

revealed today he may have been the last person bob woodward interviewed for his new book about the obama administration's secret debates over the afghanistan war. gates played down stories of in-fighting between the pentagon and white house telling reporters, conflict sells. >> relationship among senior officials in this administration is as harmonious as any i've experienced in my time in government. >> so now we know, jess, peace and harmony in the pentagon of the united states. everybody's just fine. >> those woodward books are always the buzz of washington. they always get everyone going. my favorite headline tonight, this one. in dorchester reporter in massachusetts has this up. yes, who's that? >> look at that. >> he looks good in an apron. john king trading anchor duties for a chef's apron for tonight's men of boston cook for women's health fund-raiser. >> i would have figured we would have had a cooking show out here by now, john. with all the barbecue and stuff, right? >> reporter: you know, when you're working television, guys, you get one of these. when you're working th

defense secretary robert gates offering his assessment to the new book by bob woodward about secret debates over the war in afghanistan. >> secretary gates is down playing the stories of white house infighting over war strategy saying conflict sells. chris lawrence is live at the pentagon. i mean, a healthy bit of debate, people would think is a good thing. what the concern was is everybody onboard? does everybody within the administration believe afghanistan's winnable? >> yeah, that's right. and he said that. he said there was a healthy debate going on. obviously it was a very, you know, boisterous debate with a lot of disagreement. but i had a very much more basic question for the secretary was that, you know, following what happened with general stanley mcchrystal's interview with the "rolling stone." i wanted to know why he agreed to even sit down and speak with bob woodward. i asked him that yesterday. >> we didn't get into any specifics about issues or anything like that. and i -- i had his questions in advance, and they were sort of at the 40,000-foot level about tone and atmosphere

robert gates playing down the version of events that bob woodward laid out in his book and sells that only conflicts sells. jennifer griffin live at the white house today. secretary gates insists that white house relations are better than he's ever experienced. >> that's what he says. and he has served under four presidents. >> the relationship among senior officials in this administration is as harmonious as any i've experienced in my time in government. >> that's not saying much, shep, because in this book, the national security advisor refers to the president's aides as water bugs. >> jennifer, some of these new revelations in woodward's book come from classified information. it's my understanding, but the pentagon's reaction to those is really a lot different from the way it responded to other recent links of classified documents. >> well, remember how they responded to the wikileaks leaks, that was classified information. listen to admiral mullin. >> the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an afghan family. >> the battlefield

woodward of water gate fame about the war in afghanistan. he claims the obama administration was deeply divided about the war. ktvu's alison burns is live in our washington, d.c. bureau. she has all the details. good morning. >> good morning, dave. president obama is holding an event today to mark the six month anniversary of the new health reform law. but he's getting upstaged by these eye opening revelations in the new book. it's called obama's war. it's about the war in afghanistan and the war within the obama administration about how to manage it. woodward reveals that president obama urgently looked for a way out of the war last year. repeatedly pressing his national security team for an exit plan and that he ordered the surge in troops as a compromise. he is quoted as telling top white house aids, this needs to be a plan about how we are going to hand it off and get out of afghanistan. and when he rejected the military's request for 40,000 more troops, he rejected the idea of long-term nation building, saying i'm not doing ten years. n

bob barnard joins us with more. >> president barack obama and defense secretary robert gates have said they want to end "don't ask, don't tell." it's a controversial policy now headed to the u.s. senate to settle. >> since passed by congress in 1993, "don't ask, don't tell" has allowed gays and lesbians to serve in the military but not openly. in may, the house of representatives voted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." now it's the u.s. senate's turns. >> let me be frank. introducing sexual tension and conduct into our barracks will be a distraction from the very business of the military and that is protecting us from our enemies. >> reporter: antigay groups and some military chaplins say they want the law left as is. >> what's at stake here is that chaplins who hold to a traditional view of morality and the teaching of scripture could eventually be precluded from joining as a chaplin because that view is in contrast with the military's stated policy. >> reporter: the pentagon is in the middle of an in-house survey to see whether allowing gays to serve openly would hurt military life

. >> robert gates talked to reporters about afghanistan and is asked about bob woodward's latest book. >> good afternoon. i would like to give a brief update on our efforts to change the way we do business. yesterday, our top military and civilian leadership discuss progresed progress . it included our 10 combatant commanders. it is critical that they be involved in shaping all aspects of these initiatives, especially those with the military capabilities. their contributions reflect their report generarole. they need to be involved in developing both options and recommendations. this is a team effort. these leaders recognize the need to shift resources from overhead to real military capability. they believe in the specific measures announced. we must, must make every dollar count to make sure our military has the capabilities needed in a dangerous world. there are contracts for the f-35 fighters. the department has reached agreement to use a fixed price incentive the contract for the purchase of them for the u.s. military. this type of contract shares the cost of overruns between the

widespread fog south of the golden gate but notice up to the north a few breaks in the fog. it will clear out this way and the leader morning hours so not clear in back the way it normally does. it will start to get mixed down you can see the break here near the golden gate and down the peninsula. later on in the morning clearing out even for the by noon just fog along the coastline here in san mateo close but that will clear out tomorrow afternoon. your kron 4 here is a look at your 7 day around the bay run the bay forecast even cooler into tomorrow by another five to 10 degrees the winds will jump back up tomorrow at kantor's so close to the coast line as we head into the rest of the week things will start to warm up gradually. still look to our temperatures in the weekend to our inland spots in the low 80's the low seventies along the bay and five degrees below average for this time of year. >> developing news to tell you about in regards to the house fires raging across the city of detroit michigan. take a look at this this is one of the houses as you can see also transp

at a pentagon briefing, gates offered his first reaction to a new bob woodward book, "obama's wars." it depicts a deeply divided presidential team, and suggests the war plan was driven more by politics than by military considerations. gates said today he has not read the book, but he made several points. >> the first is conflict sells. the second, the relationship among senior officials in this administration is as harmonious as any i've experienced in my time in government. and the third is-- i believe this very strongly-- presidents are always well-served when there is a vigorous and spirited debate over important issues. >> sreenivasan: the secretary said he would not sign troop deployment orders if he had any reservations about the afghan mission. british police have arrested six men for posting an online video that appears to show them burning two korans. two of the men were arrested last week on suspicion of fomenting racial hate and the others were brought in yesterday. the burning took place on september 11. a minister in florida said he would burn a koran that same day, but

secretary gates did not get into details of what he said to bob woodward. but he denied the chaos and division among the key decision makers. >> conflict sells. the second the relationship among senior officials in this administration is as harmonious as any i've experienced in my time in government. and the third is, and i believe this very strongly, presidents are always well served when there's a vigorous and spirited debate over important issues. >> secretary gates also said that once the president made his decision, the entire team got behind him and carried it out effectively. >>> another republican, delaware congressman, mike castle is not ruling out the possibility. he was defeated by christine o'donnell in last week's republican primary. while castle won't rule out a write-in bid, he does admit it remains unlikely he'll do so. senator lisa murkowski has launched her write-in bid after losing to joe miller in alaska's republican primary. >>> have you heard? the rich, seems to be a theme, keep getting richer. the top ten gain ad combined $25 billion

. >> we've been taking a look at the farylon islands west of the golden gate. few are allowed to land there and those who do so with a purpose, to help preserve the wildlife. back in 1998 ktvu's bob mckenzie brought us their story. >> reporter: there is something a little spooky about the approach to the farylon island or maybe we are imagining the ghosts of sailors where pirates was wrecked here. a skeleton was once found in one of the island's caves. the national wildlife refuge has no welcoming beach or even a pier to accommodate visiting boats. the few people who are allowed to visit the island get on land by being hoisted there. they step into a suspended raft and are lifted away by a crane. this is one of those places in the world where human beings don't matter very much. the important inhabitants belong to other specie it is, marine birds and mammals. perhaps that's what gives the islands their magic. even people who live here most of the time are always visitors. >> every day that i'm here i feel it's a privilege to be here. and to learn from the wildl

gates support ending don't ask, don't tell. so do a majority of house members. the question tonight, how will u.s. senators vote? passed by congress in 1993, don't ask don't tell allows gays to serve in the military, but not openly. in may of this year the house of representatives voted to repeal the ban. now it's the senate's turn. the legislation attached to the defense authorization bill upsetting groups who don't want gays to openly serve in the military. >> the individual senators and how they vote in this motion to proceed is something they'll be held accountable for. >> reporter: at a news conference of christian leaders in washington the family research council's tony perkins urged senators to leave the law alone. >> we would say if this fails tomorrow, the pressure will continue. >> reporter: those who want the policy overturned say more than 13,000 homosexual service members have been fired since don't ask don't tell became law. >> i wanted to serve my country. i'm able to serve my country. i was great at what i did.

the defense secretary just talked about this explosive book from bob woodward. this book claims that top military leaders have little confidence in our afghanistan battle plan that was drawn up by the commander-in-chief. defense secretary gates in his own woods, next. -- words megyn: "fox news alert". breaking news from the pentagon where the defense secretary just addressed questions about bob woodward's new book. that book, "obama's wars" comes out next week, reports on dramatic disputes between the white house and top military leaders on the strategy in afghanistan. take a listen to defense secretary gates moments ago. >> i guess i would just, since i figured we would get a question on this book, there are actually three points i'd like to make. the first is, conflict sells. the second, the relationship among senior officials in this administration is as harmonious as any i have experienced in my time in government. and the third is, and i believe this very strongly, presidents are always well-served when there is a vigorous and spirited debate over important

, it is really does contain to the coast and also the golden gate bridge to the sun said pockets of fog or floating through oakland. but for the most part big difference from yesterday also are temperatures are there warm places like oakland, hayward. 54 livermore, still kind of chili in places like santa rosa, napa. as we head into the afternoon we should squeeze out a few days in places like santa rosa, not russia could get at 83 degrees today and your fairfield, about the same for concord. hayward, '70s, mountain view and fremont mid-70s. it is the weekend that is going to bring some changes in fact a storm to the north are springing the bulk of the moisture to the north of us could also spread into our area bringing in a few sprinkles into the north bay. the north bay stands the best chance for some showers. early morning on sunday we could actually feel some of those struggles moving southward. along the peninsula picking up some showers may be in the east bay as well and also throughout the day on sunday. south bay stands a better chance of a few sprinkles as well. here is a look

gates announced the closure last month. they have met with pentagon officials but have not gotten the answers they wanted. randy forbes will be on capitol hill to discuss the forums of the can't. >>> there are doubts about a man's story. the details coming up a little lit. we'll be back in a moment.  >>> one of the big stories we're following this morning, u.s. missile strikes in pakistan disrupting terror plot in european cities. the missile strikes were in the taliban region. the c.i.a. is following leads that al- qaeda was planning attacks. and nato is confirming that an al-qaeda leader was killed. drone campaign in pakistan has intensified. there have been 20 this month. the attacks across europe has put police on alert. >>> police evacuated the eifel tower after somebody phoned in a bomb threat. the second in a number of weeks. >>> an execution is on hold this morning in a dispute over legal standards and a short supply of the drug used in lethal injection. a judge delayed the deathle alvin leeward. and one key in

his own. >> you know, bob, you're familiar with the military. you served in the military and you've covered all of these years through all of your books about presidents and the military. is this one of the cases where the military is putting the president in a position where eventually they'll get him to do what they want. by the way they sort of uecker him into a strategy plan. >> no. it's not that. but, look, this is not out of conviction on the part of the generals. they believe they need these troops. they believe they need this time. the problem, and this is the problem obama has, he's very cerebral and ana political and he gets all of these intelligence reports. they have a secret monthly update about how the war is going. and the news is not good. out of one of these meetings, he literally comes out and says, given this definition of the problem, i don't see how we're going to design a solution. it is a war that i think even his general petraeus' head spinning. he said, there's been some signs of progress, but when you really dig into th

. >> you know, bob, you're familiar with the military. you served in the military and covered it all these years. through all your books about presidents and the military, is this one of the cases where the military is putting the president in a situation where eventually they'll get him to do what they want by the way they sort of euchre him into a strategy plan? >> new yoo, it's not that. this is not out of conviction on the part of the generals. they believe they need these troops and this time. the problem -- and this is the problem obama has -- he's very cerebral and analytical and get all these intelligence reports. they have a secret monthly update about you how the war is going, and the news is not good. out of one of these meetings, he said given this definition of the problem, i don't see how we are going to design a solution. it is a war that i think even has general petraeus' head spinning. he said there's been some signs of progress. but when you really dig into this, you find that there are more signs of trouble and an insur

in afghanistan though he agreed to send 30,000 more troops, now, this is what he said according to bob woodward, when he was -- when the request for 40,000 troops came in. he said, i'm not doing ten years, he told secretary of defense gates and secretary of state hillary rodham clinton at a meeting on october 26th, 2009, i'm not doing long termination-building, i'm not spending a trillion dollars. i have two years with the public on this and i want an exit strategy and i cannot lose the whole democratic party. bill? bill: jennifer, these are quotes now from the president's national security team about afghan president hamid karzai. how did they view him. do they think he's capable? and, more? >> reporter: well, in fact the u.s. ambassador to afghanistan, karl ikenberry accuses the afghan president of being manic depressive and woodward quotes him as saying, in fact, quoted, he's on his meds, off his meds and, dismissive of president karzai and that is nothing compared to what national security advisor jim jones says about members of obama's political team, referring to them as, quote,

and i want to thank my friend, secretary gates, for his unique willingness to serve two presidents of different parties with differing views -- a testimony to bob's patriotism, his commitment to service and above all his determination to see this effort through. he deserves your applause. [applause] if you excuse the personal reference, as we used to say in the senate, this is one good man -- one good man. we've also been blessed by the wisdom and steady hand of admiral mike mullen and the leadership of general david petraeus, who i might add is still serving this country in a way that is beyond what we should ask of anyone. i shouldn't joke about this, but i visited him down in florida and -- before he headed off, bob. and he said, "just as i was getting -- finally getting to live like the air force, you're asking me to move." it was a lovely place. and by the way, we owe his wife and his family as well. and also by general jim mattis, who is taking his command. and on his last day of his command, i'd like to especially thank general ray odierno. this man is not only a warrior, but a

doubt a male victim on the scene doubt a male victim on the scene with head trauma and he bob ehrlich pretends to be for the working guy... but he's not on our side. i thought i knew bob ehrlich, but then i found out... he raised property taxes on every maryland family... and business. he increased college tuition... by 40%. 40%. and i thought i knew bob ehrlich. he was against raising the minimum wage. made $2.5 million... working for a lobbying firm. $2.5 million? he's not really on my side. with this tough economy, we really need a governor on our side. >> let's look at the forecast for the tony pann. >> i think the rainshowers is going to be tapering off as we go into the morning and afternoon. we will get some sunshine to break through. the evening commute is going to be much better than the morning commute. it is going to be on the breezy side. winds will kick up of the southeast initially. partly cloudy skies, turning a little bit cooler. temperatures will drop into the fifties. sunset at 6:54. the rain to come back on wednesday and thursday. wednesday night and thursday, anoth

live here, bob redell here in the bay. >> thanks a lot. we will have a look at the forecast in just a bit. >>> 7:58 and we have patchy fog along the golden gate bridge and a nice day. 78 degrees and low 80s inland towards concord and livermore. the seven-day forecast will cool off a little bit towards the middle of the week. notice what happens. friday, saturday, and sunday with high pressure building in with a taste of summer. this weekend will be the first weekend of fall. bret? >> more local news in a half hour. the "today" show returns in less than a minute. have a great monday. >>> we're back now, 8:00 on a monday morning, it's the 20th day of september, 2010. we have got some people swaying because we're playing the song "misery" and that's our way of reminding you that tomorrow right here on "today," an indoor concert, great music and we encourage everybody to come on down as we do every day. i'm matt lauer, along with ann curry. mr. roker returning back from two days off. >> thank you. >> did you have a good time? >> i had a fantas