coming to you from pearl harbor, hawaii. i'm oliver north and this is the wreckage of the uss utah, one of 8 battleships moored here on december 7, 1941. at 7:55 that quiet sunday morning waves of japanese airplanes suddenly appeared overhead unleashing bombs and tore bedoughs in a savege surprise attack. 21 u.s. navy ships damaged or sunk and more than 2400 americans dead or dying. how could this happen? was it simply a colossal intelligence failure. in a lack of readiness? was it as some claimed part of a secret plot at the top of the u.s. government to get america into world war ii? was the japanese raid really a total surprise? tonight, "war stories" investigates the secrets, the evidence, and the debate over the attack on pearl harbor. >> the united states of america was is suddenly and deliberately attacked. the attack has caused severe damage. to american, naval and military forces. december 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. >> oliver: americans were stunned and devastated when they learned that pearl harbor

coming to you from pearl harbor, hawaii. i'm oliver north and this is the wreckage of the uss utah, one of 8 battleships moored here on december 7, 1941. at 7:55 that quiet sunday morning waves of japanese airplanes suddenly appeared overhead unleashing bombs and tore bedoughs in a savege surprise attack. 21 u.s. navy ships damaged or sunk and more than 2400 americans dead or dying. how could this happen? was it simply a colossal intelligence failure. in a lack of readiness? was it as some claimed part of a secret plot at the top of the u.s. government to get america into world war ii? was the japanese raid really a total surprise? tonight, "war stories" investigates the secrets, the evidence, and the debate over the attack on pearl harbor. >> the united states of america was is suddenly and deliberately attacked. the attack has caused severe damage. to american, naval and military forces. december 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. >> oliver: americans were stunned and devastated when they learned that pearl harbor

at this important four seasons resort in hawaii, it is no cheap date. rooms run from a couple hundred a night to $10,000 a night. the editor of "hawaii," broke the story. thank you very much for joining us. and you broke another story about the cost of the obama's staying there but tell us about her room. is she staying in the $200 night or the $10,000 a night suite. >>guest: when nancy pelosi comes to hawaii she comes every christmas holiday she stays in the $10,000 a night room, she is there, again, this year, but in the past that is where she has stayed when she has come to hawaii. >> that is fantastic the how much money must you have to be able to afford $10,000 a night. well, we won't do that. >>guest: more than i make as a reporter. >> and now, i have a tie that i wore to commemorate the trip to hawaii with palm trees on it, i wanted to point that out. >>guest: great. >> and now, president obama, the family is out there, and your publication said it will cost about $4.1 million for the time they are spending there. where did you come up with that

coming up, three survivors from hawaii share their memories with us of how that changed their childhood. >>> and can you guess what is in the box? we'll show you the surprise one military family will never forget. >>> and first, you heard the rumor that being president speeds up the aging process? a new study shows that most presidents live longer than average. stress may bring out extra gray hair but doesn't mean anything. a president tends to be well- educated and well-off and go to the best center doctors, making them likely to have long, healthy lives. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices... in more ways than ever. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum... we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars paid by america's wireless companies. it's simple -- more spectrum means more freedom. for everyone. >> hi, i'm sergeant first class -- [ indiscernible ] , germany, i wanted to say hello to all of my friends in vir

that's meaas you can't use it for a plane ticket to hawaii r anywwere else. pplitifact rates that gingrichhstatemmnn pants on &fire. hat about the claim that there are millionaires living ooff food sttmps? to qualify for ood sstmps your must e no ore than 11- thousand dolllrs..for a family - of foor the innome cut-off is about 22-thousand dollars. but that's iicome, what about assets? what if you had a million doolars in thh bank staaes uue assets assa ttst for food stamp eligibility.. that meann - it's technicclly possible for someone withh pssets of more than a million dollars and with a very low income, qualifyinggfor fooo stamms(naas)one xample of that.... leeoy fick. he won 2 million dolllrs on the &pmichigan lottery show make me rich. but he wws still using his state-isssee debii card por ood stamps. mmchigannat the ttme was one oo the staaes that dii not have n asset means test. wnem repprter bill wwlsh caaght up with fick who thhs guy won 2 million dollars driving arounddin an audi - convertibbl and he's collecting our tax money on say toothose peoppe

hawaii, saying if you live there you're lazy. that's wrong. i would throw him out of that little country. the problem with hawaii is this, this is where everybody goes to retire, or they want to retire. so if you're born there, in a way he's right, you're already where you want to retire, hence why work? he actually is correct. >> first of all, there's nothing wrong with hawaii. it's amazing. great weather, great food, great waves, a little macadamia nuts and -- >> hula skirts. >> i had my honeymoon there. what do you think about what barack obama was saying? >> it's one those things, when you're preparing the president for his interview with whoever it might be, especially if it's something like, this it's long-ranging, sitting next to your wife, it's like you can come up with every question under the sun. one of my favorites was, barbara walters asked president bush, if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? he said, i'm not a tree, i'm a bush. you can't prepare people for that. >> don't let anybody say he doesn't hav

we will go live to hawaii in a bit. but now, meteorologist justin berk for the latest on what's going on weather wise because snow, rain, snow, rain, what do we got. >> rain flooding, falling temperatures and know so busy we have double team weather here. weather twin powers activate. i will take the form of snow for the older ones that know about the justin league. we have falling temperatures starting near 606789 we have seen the high -- 606789 we have seen the high -- 60. we have seen the heave highest temperature a winter weather advisory kicks in near north and west of i-95. we will detail that in a little bit. 7 p.m. from 3 a.m. i will show outsnow map as well because yes, there will be -- you the snow map as well and yes, there will be stickage. this morning, the morning highlight heavy rain moving into the area as you can see we have had heavy rain and yellow and orange shading indicating it's going to be a slow commute. officially 61 at bwi. most of our temperatures showing up in the 50s right now. we will have

wait a minute, is that further than hawaii? ok, washington, d.c., hawaii. how many people from hawaiiy fromay. i think there is somebody from kansas. there she is. where is alaska? catherine, yes, from alaska. where is she? where is catherine? oh, there she is drinking. yeah, all the way from juneau, alaska. we have a special assistant to the ceo and beneficial a city council, a woman of juneau, alaska. who else? where? georgia. who is from georgia? oh, georgia, yes. there is april from georgia. she was our tech person, helping with all the presentations. new york, ok. whoo-hoo-hoo. who else iso elseh, new york, ok, i see you. we have somebody from pittsburg. who else? texas. yay, ok. who else? what other states are represented? oregon. where is maria? maria is from oregon, right? oh, washington state, sorry. who else? ok, good old california. san francisco, daly city, concord, danville, oakland, vallejo, san diego. oh, we have the honorable arlee from san diego. come on, thank you. who else? hercules, california, yay. you know, this evening is really the m

presumably not hawaii. let's talk a little bit about the 2012 race and the fact that those folks who would be king, say the republican contenders for the office of president have been sort of sitting on the sidelines with regards to this battle although they changed their message when asked what their position on the payroll tax cuts are. romney is for a payroll tax cut now but on october 11th in a bloomberg debate said, i don't like temporary little band-aids. romney, let's take him as our first point of discourse. how would this have played out with a president romney? we know that romney has a difficult time sort of firing up and getting rallying the arch conservative tea party right wing base. what would the dynamics have been had romney had to oversee this fight? >> we wouldn't have been talking atta payroll tax cut because when romney talk about what he wants to do in tax reform he doesn't want to do piecemeal, small fixes like this. he wants to do broad corporate tax reform, lower rates for everybody

they are in hawaii. much warmer than in washington. partly cloudy, a high of 47 later on here. >>> and president obama is celebrating christmas in hawaii, sort of, after winning a bruising battle of the payroll tax cut. brianna keilar drew the short straw for cnn and is traveling with the president in hawaii. >> reporter: aloha, ali and alina. president obama left washington friday shortly after signing the payroll tax cut extension into law and because this is the biggest part of his jobs plan, he came here to hawaii with a political victory very much under his belt and now is expected to spend his time here resting and relaxing not far from where he grew up. on christmas eve he did something he frequently does, loves to do, he played a round of golf. then he made phone calls to servicemen and women serving overseas, had dinner with his family and on christmas the first family went to church on a marine base not far from the house they're staying at here. all of the obama women donning sleeveless dresses because the weather here is ju

first lady michelle and daughters arrived in hawaii one week ago ahead of the president. the white house says there will be no public events while the first family vacations in hawaii. before departing for hawaii the president signed legislation extending the payroll tax cuts. it comes after a week long standoff with house republicans who de newschanneled a yearlong extension in instead of a two- month extension. republicans relented after pressure from the president, the senate and even some people within their own party. on payroll tax cuts president obama also signed a federal spending bill for 2012. democrats and republicans in congress agreed to that spending bill last week after days of negotiations and fears there could be a government shutdown. and this morning president obama and the first lady released a special holiday theme weekly online video address. >> as you gather with family and friends this weekend, michelle and i want to wish you all merry christmas and happy holidays. this is such a wonderful time of year. it's a time to honor the story of love and re

doug is there enjoying the sea breezes of hawaii. hi, doug. >> uma, hello, air force one touched doup here in hawaii 6:00 local time after a obviously long flight from washington. the pea vacation delayed because of the tax extension. and the president wasted little time after arriving here . the motorcade took him back to the presidential rental home and they went out to dinner with family and friends here in wiki. there is no footage of the president themselves. but before they left washington. they recorded the weekly media address and wishing americans a merry christmas. >> giving of ourselves, service to others, that's what the season is all about. for my family and millions of americans, that's what christmas is all about. it reminds us that part of what it means to love god is to love one another and be our brother sister's keeper. >>> and now we mentioned the delay and the vacation. there was one last piece of legislative business before the president headed to hawaii. he had to sign into law the two month extension of the pa

., in hawaii. even though there was a controversy, a at least maybe some people still believe he wasn't born in hawaii. but he was born in hawaii. he's got a lot of old friends there. he deserves some time off. he's got a lot going on. but even as he's on vacation, every president is never completely on vacation. he'll have national security advisors with him. right now there's a crisis. there are plenty of international crises under way. north korea arguably one of the most dangerous spots on earth rye now with the death of the so-called dear leader, kim jong-il, the succession of his young untested son in his late 20s, kim jung un. tension on the korean peninsula very, very real right now. tension in iraq. we saw a wave of terrorist activities going on yesterday. tension in syria. pakistan. afghanistan. we saw what's going on in egypt. the violence against women in egypt that's brutal right now. so this is a president that even though he'll have a little time to relax, he's going to be on top of

he will be headings to hawaii to start his holiday vacation. before that he will make some comments to the american people about what just happened with this tax cut deal. 12:15 eastern you will see it right here. >>> let's go to syria where two suicide car bombs ripped through the capitol there. look. these bomgs exploded back to back outside heavily guarded intelligence buildings. the blasts came one day after an arab league team arrived to monitor the government's promise to end its crackdown on protesters. the government blames the bombings on terrorists but opposition sources say the president was behind these attacks. >>> duling demonstrations underway in egypt. the scene in tahrir square, you're seeing there protesters are demanding that the ruling military council transfer power to civilians. they're outraged over this week's brutal crackdown. >>> elsewhere in cairo hundreds of pro-military demonstrators gathered to voice their support for the ruling party. >>> reversal today from north korea north korea as it prepares for the funeral o

he will spend the holidays with the first family in hawaii. joining us life from there, doug, it is a pretty sight. i know you are working hard. what is on the president's agenda. the president is on the golf course right now. just less than 24 hours after arriving here in hawaii it was a triumphant president that we saw emerge from air force one. he chalked up a clear win for demdeps. he signed into law the two-month extension. republicans were pushing for a full year. but the president carried the day. the obamas are on vacation mode. they recorded a christmas greeting. >> giving of ourselves, service to others, that's what this season is all about. for my family and millionns of americans. that's what christmas is all about. it reminds us part of what it mean to love god is to love one another and be our brother and sister's keeper. >> we may not see much elsewhere the president for the duration of the vacation. we'll see. they are spending a fair amount of time in the vacation rental home here in hawaii. >> it is secluded. what will the fi

the christmas spirit was alive and well, among the beach-goers in hawaii. and among motorists in palm beach gardens florida who lined up with an hour or more on christmas eve, to get a look at over the top neighborhood lights. i'm craig black reporting. >>> nice to spend christmas in hawaii. >> i was surprised how many people were at the airport on christmas night. we thought it would be quiet but boston logan airport was packed and san francisco was packed and people taking the red eye to go back. >> and people like elizabeth working every single day, every single shift. she didn't have time to be at the airport. >> you too. >> i think if you can get good deals on christmas day, if you travel? >> we came back early. >> if you're headed out the door, catching a flight in an airport early this morning, pretty chilly temperatures to get out the door and start off with, at least along the coast and cooler temperatures an even some low clouds and fog out there. and otherwise, partly cloudy skies. inland, you will notice the temperatures pretty chilly. at or bel

marines and their families in hawaii. mr. obama was posing for photographs when an 8-month-old baby put its hand in the president's mouth. way to capitalize, kiddo. the president joked that the president liked his big nose and that is why he reached for his face. earlier the first family opened their christmas gifts at their vacation house in honolulu. coming up on the morning news a big christmas tree for bargain hunters. a christmas sighting? could that blaze be santa and his reindeer? >>> but first, scott pelley with a preview of tonight's "cbs evening news." >>> it was a strong start to the holiday shopping season but how did it finish? we will tell you if stores turned a big enough profit to boost the economic recovery tonight on the "cbs evening news." ...9.99 sweaters for her. 70% off sleepwear for him. just 3.99 for bath towels. and buy two bras and get two free. plus with jcpcash... ...get $10 off when you spend just 25. storewide. no exclusions. unlike other stores, we don't make you come back to save! go to jcp.com

. >> eric: what are you trying to stay about hawaii? >> greg: i don't remember. obama announces a vacation to get out of his vacation. no guy likes to go on a vacation for christmas. they want to sit home in their house, in their underwear and watch football. he will play the victim. he is so happy he doesn't have to go anywhere. plus, a separate vacation. they're still going to go, right? >> dana: he said, kimberly, michelle and the girls will have a great time in hawaii. they don't need me there. wuah, wuah. >> kimberly: that is a fox news alert. can you imagine? for sure! >> dana: i don't mind that he has a vacation. >> dana: bob is winding up. >> kimberly: marinating here. >> eric: sarah palin last night, i was talking to her on my show and -- >> greg: she was on your show? >> eric: she was. she said i'll bet he does not go on the vacation. i bet he cancels the vacation and make it look like he is doing something great for america. she predicted it last night. sure enough we wake up and he canceled the vacation. >> dana: it happened

he is able to savor that along with the setting here in hawaii. just before he left washington, he did sign into law the two-month extension of the payroll tax holiday after a bitter feud with the republicans. that was the issue. how long would it last. republicans were pushing for a full year. president wanted two months. the president ended up winning. as the president pointed out they will have to revisit in 2012. >> last week i said this should be a formality. that is still indicates. let's make sure we extend the tax break and unemployment insurance for a full year for our families but also for our economy. it's the right thing to do more money spent by more americans means more businesses hiring more workers. >> reporter: looking ahead this is not just a formality. this will be another big fight heading into 2012, the question is, if you spend the payroll fax roll for the full year, how do you pay for it? >> heather: always the question how do you pay for it. what kind of reception is he getting there in hawaii? >> they always get a warm rec

if california was heaven for most sailors, hawaii was shank ra law before the war. >> pick them up and take them to the sickbed. >> reporter: from south san francisco, stationed in the islands and aboard a supply ship that pulled into honolulu harbor the afternoon of december the 6th. at the same time, the imperial japanese navy was steaming towards hawaii. >> tied up at pier 31-a about noon on december the 6th. so we had been at sea 15 days and so you can imagine we were real thirsty and wanted to hit the beach, which we did. >> reporter: he headed to a bar with his ship plates. he was given a certificate that night at a joint called the royal annex that he has kept for 70 years. that piece of paper would foreshadow the events of the next morning. >> autopup at the top it says d the hatch and be merry because for tomorrow you may die. the next morning was december the 7th. >> reporter: on the morning of december 7th, 1941, the japanese armata was 200 miles north of hawaii. the task force by six japanese aircraft carriers launched 353 planes into the waves. their mission was to destroy

mitt romney attacking president obama over his upcoming christmas vacation in hawaii. >>> the heisman trophy finalists are announced, this little guy, lsu's honey badger is on the list. could the little man win the big trophy? that's later in sports. first let's get to the news live at 50 50:30 at 30 rock in new york city. the gingrich campaign is ramping up efforts in iowa as new polling shows the former house speaker opening up a big lead. with less than a month to go before voting, an abc news/"washington post" poll shows newt gingrich with 33% support of likely republican caucus-goers in iowa. that is 15 points ahead of mitt romney and ron paul who are tied for second place. ron paul obviously should be on that list. he's in second place. gingrich putting renewed focus on new hampshire where a new ad casts him as the republican candidate best equipped to deal with the challenges ahead. >> i was amused by the newt gingrich ad because he talked about how he's going to bring the country together to solve problem. talk about the godfather of gridlock, the guy who two decades ago inven

plus, christmas in hawaii? not so fast, mr. president. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. it's 4g, so you can do more faster. so, kathryn, post more youtube videos of your baby acting adorable. baby. on it. matt, ignore me and keep updating your fantasy team. huh? jeff, play a game. turbo-boosting now, sir. dennis, check in everywhere you go on foursquare. that's mayor dennis... of the water cooler. you're the best. liz, rock out to pandora. oh, no i'm an only child. and nick, you shouldn't even be here, you can do everything from the golf course. good? good. [ male announcer ] on at&t, blackberry® torch moves at the speed of 4g. ♪ there's a different cream. i challenge that with olay. i've found one cream with everything i'm looking for... olay total effects. with 7 age defying effects in just one, easy to use cream. i've swapped to all-in-one t

he's starting the hawaii primary, if you will. he's enjoying himself. let him enjoy and relax, he's going to be busy in the coming weeks and months. thanks very much. >>> in iowa, i sat down with mitt romney and his wife, ann. we spoke about a lot of stuff, including the nature of this campaign that's already marked by a constant stream of attack ads. listen to this. is it nastier this time around? >> i don't know that i can compare that. campaigns are by definition entities that point out distinctions between candidates. you go back to the days of jefferson and adams, my goodness, they were going back and forth with various attacks and people took a look at some things they discounted, other thinging they believed, but it was informative and people make a decision. i'm not going to complain about a political process that's been this way for a couple of hundred years. >> it's politics. so, when newt gingrich says it's balogna when you say you can't control the super packs attacking him on a daily basis, what do you say? >> well, we understand of course

. >> and does it get any better than christmas on the beach this hawaii? the nevada marching band took over we kiki in the hawaii bowl in front of the share raw ton with diamond head in the distance. it is glorious. that's your toyota sports report. merry christmas. >> indeed, and to you. >> looks a lot warmer in hawaii. >> thanks. well, "nightline" is up next. for larry beil and sandhya patel and carolyn johnson, i'm dan ashley. thanks for watching. have a terrific weekend. happy holidays. merry christmas.