." >> brennan: good evening. i'm margaret brennan. there is no cease-fire as yet between israel and hamas militants in gaza, though diplomatic efforts are under way. here's the latest-- israel says it's launched nearly 200 airstrikes against more than 800 targets. gaza officials say today's strikes killed 12 people, including eight militants. all told, 42 palestinians and three israeli civilians have been killed in four days of fighting. allen pizzey is in tel aviv tonight. >> reporter: only hours after it was set up, this antimissile battery in tel aviv interpreted a long-range rocket aimed at the hate of israel's commercial capital. five such batteries, called iron dome, have been keploid and three more are being rushed into production. in an expansion of the air war against hamas, the israelis struck the office of the movement's prime minister overnight. attacks were also aimed at other parts of hamas' political struck the uincluding a building with where the cabinet meets. gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the wor

margaret brennan has our report. >> reporter: u.n. ambassador susan rice hopes to put that controversy to rest, and if she succeeds, it would remove the largest political hurdle to her nomination as secretary of state. at 9:30 this morning, rice will meet behind closed doors with three of her most vocal critics, republican senators john mccain, kelly ie ya and lindsey graham. an aide to mccain says that rice requested the meeting last week. it could be decisive. mccain says he would consider her nomination if she answers questions to his satisfaction. but he wants to know she didn't mention that the intelligence community was linked to the attack. he accused her of misleading the public in five television interviews in which she said that there was no evidence that the attack was preplanned. ambassador rice says she has great respect for senator mccain and his service to the country, but that some of the statements that he has made about her are unfounded. as cbs news reported, the references to al qaeda were removed from rice's uncla

and our own bob orr and margaret brennan. and we'll have a farewell interview with maine's republican senator olympia snowe, who's leaving the senate because she no longer felt it was a place she could get anything done. it's been a wild week, but we'll try to put it in perspective on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: and good morning again. we want to get right to the story in the middle east. , israel continuing to amass troops on the period with gaza. three israelis are dead, more than 50 wounded by rocket fire. the airstrikes go on. the question now, will the israelis send their ground troops into gaza? we're going first this morning to alan pizzey who is in tel aviv. allen. >> reporter: good morning, bob. overnight the israelis continued to pound positions in gaza. they've expand their operation away from just purely military targets into the hamas infrastructure. interestingly overnight hamas did not send any rockets into israe

and cbs news state department correspondent margaret brennan, margaret, welcome to you, and cbs news justice correspondent bob orr who has been following all of this situation. let's talk-- let's just start here at home. where are we on all of this situation involving these investigations into general petraeus, into benghazi? i mean, bob, how many investigations are going? >> i know of three right now, bob. the c.i.a. inspector general is doing an internal review of whether or not former director petraeus misused any agency assets during his 14 months on the job. so that's number one. number two, the department of defense inspector general is looking into these communications and e-mail betweens general allen and jill kelley, the tampa socialite. there are interesting developments there. this started out as a raft of information. we were told 20 to 30,000 e-mails and communication back and forecast. that was adjusted downward to a couple hundreds. now we're told it's just a hand full of questionable and perhaps problematic e-mails. and of course the third track involves paula broadwe

margaret brennan is covering for us tonight. margaret? >> reporter: good evening, scott. ambassador rice asked for the meetings on capitol hill today in hopes of patching up differences she has with at least three republicans. the senators have vowed to stop a nomination of rice because of comments she made after the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. today for the first time she acknowledged her comments were wrong. ambassador race met her toughest critics behind closed doors to explain why she called the september attack on the consulate a spontaneous demonstration when u.s. intelligence suspected it was actually a terrorist assault. after the meeting, republican senators john mccain and lindsey graham had this reaction. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. >> all i can tell you that the concerns i have are greater today than they were before and we're not even close to getting the basic answers. >> reporter: both senators accused rice of misleading the american public during a series of t.v. interviews fiv

. >> pelley: margaret brennan is

norah, charlie. >> margaret, brennan thank you. petraeus is still under the spotlight forhe affair that forced him out of his job. bob orr has some new information that story. >> reporter: good morning. fbi officials have told us that their investigation into this whole scandal which brought down david petraeus so far has not turned up any threat or damage to national security. since the affair with paula broadwell occurred while petraeus was the director of the central intelligence agency, the cia's inspector general has begun his own investigation. sources say the cia is looking into the general conduct of petraeus over the 4 months he headed the agency. officials say the probe is exploratory and doesn't presuppose any particular outcome. but the attorney general wants to make sure he didn't misuse any agency assets in his affair with broadwell. for the first time thursday attorney general eric holder defended the justice department's handling of the fbi summer long investigation of the broadwell/petraeus matter. holder was asked

our state department correspondent margaret brennan has new information on why rice said what she said. margaret? >> reporter: good evening, scott. a government official tells us that references to al qaeda and terrorism were cut from the talking points by the intelligence community, not the white house or the state department. the edits came from the office of the director of national intelligence-- d.n.i.-- with the agreement of the c.i.a. and the f.b.i. u.n. ambassador susan rice relied on those talking points during an appearance on "face the nation" on september 16 in which she called the benghazi attacks a spontaneous demonstration by extremists not an act of terrorism. >> we do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned. >> reporter: republicans have accused her of intentionally making misleading statements, suggesting they tone down any references to terrorism for political reasons ahead of the presidential election. c.i.a. director david petraeus told congress last week that an early draft of the talking points did includ

margaret brennan is in washington with the very latest. good morning, margaret. >> good morning to you, norah and charlie. al qaeda's role in the attack on the u.s. mission was considered classified information by the intelligence community. lawmakers now want to know who made the decision to remove references to terrorism from speaking points given to u.n. ambassador susan rice and the congress. >> what is most disturbing in my estimation is the discrepancy about those talking points. >> reporter: on sunday lawmakers were asking why references to terrorism were removed from guidance given to congress and ambassador rice. at odds with the initial assessment of the cia. >> somewhere after it left the intelligence community, somewhere in the administration there was very vital language taken out. >> we are going to find out who made changes in the original statement. >> reporter: congress says the public had the right to know what the cia and white house did. instead, ambassador susan rice, five days after the attack, said it was the result

. >>> we now go to margaret brennan in washington where she is learning more about the united states' role in the cease fire deal. >> good morning to you charlie, and to gayle. u.s. and israeli officials say u.s. president obama sealed the deal with benjamin netanyahu but hillary clinton delivered the cease fire by showing up the primary contact between the administration and netanyahu. over a decade they speak frequently. clinton was the first administration official to meet egypt's president, mohamed morsi, after his historic election. and now by elevating him to peace broker the u.s. is supporting a young islamist president who has struggled to consolidate control of his own country. >> did the u.s. have to make any deals or concessions to make this happen? >> peace comes with a price. morsi's help here is going to get egypt around $450 million in emergency cash. congress may release those funds in the coming weeks, according to administration source. house appropriations committee froze that money in september after the president had already pledged it. the white house is also goi

ambassador to libya and margaret brennan is at the u.s. capitol where closed door hearings are happening at an undisclosed underground location. margaret, good morning. >> reporter: david petraeus told intelligence committee members that the cia knew the assault on the u.s. mission in benghazi was a terrorist attack within the first 24 hours. he says the cia shared that information with the white house, the state department and other agencies. intell committee member congressman peter king told reporters following the hearing that this is a different story than what petraeus told the same committee just two days after the attack when it was described as a result of mob violence. >> general petraeus' testimony today was that from the start he had told us that this was a terrorist attack, that there were terrorists involved it was thought. i told him i had a very different recollection of that. the clearer official statement given was it arose out of a spontaneous demonstration and was not a terrorist attack. >> reporter: committee members t

margaret brennan is here with the story. >> good morning, rebecca. david petraeus first briefed congress about the attack in benghazi days after the assault. yesterday he made clear the cia knew then that al qaeda was behind the attack but that intelligence was considered classified. avoiding cameras on capitol hill former cia director david petraeus slipped behind closed doors to brief house and senate intelligence members deadly assault on the benghazi consulate in libya on september 11th. four americans were killed in the attack including ambassador chris stevens. when asked by lawmakers to explain the cia's talking point memo circulated after the assault, petraeus is said to have described the assault as a terrorist attack. the cia points to intercepts of cell phone calls and text messages as proof that some of the attackers belong to al qaeda many the must gorap, the north african affiliate. the final version used by susan rice in five sunday talk shows made no mention of terrorism, only extremists. >> i think it is clear there were extremest el

margaret brennan is here with the story. >> good morning, rebecca. david petraeus first briefed congress about the attack in benghazi days after the assault. yesterday he made clear the cia knew then that al qaeda was behind the attack but that intelligence was considered classified. avoiding cameras on capitol hill former cia director david petraeus slipped behind closed doors to brief house and senate intelligence members about the deadly assault on the benghazi consulate in libya on september 11th. four americans were killed in the attack including ambassador chris stevens. when asked by lawmakers to explain thecia's talking point memo circulated after the assault, petraeus is said to have described the assault as a terrorist attack. the cia points to intercepts of cell phone calls and text messages as proof that some of the attackers belong to al qaeda many the must gorap, the north african affiliate. the final version used by susan rice in five sunday talk shows made no mention of terrorism, only extremists. >> i think it is clear there were ext

margaret brennan is here with that story. good morning. >> we do have those speaking points that the cia gave to ambassador rice. they gave them to members of the house intelligence committee for tv appearances and this is what they say. this is a consensus from the intelligence committee. quote, available information suggests that the demonstrations in benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the u.s. embassy in cairo and involved into a direct assault. there are indications extremists participated. there's a hedge there. but the benghazi attack was not referred to as a terrorist event. however, ambassador re is a cabinet member. that means she gets daily intelligence briefings like the president does, the content of those are not known. republican senators say that she misled the public and that they will block her confirmation as secretary of state. the white house is saying they can get at least five republicans to join the democratic majority to get her through and confirmed if nom napted as secretary. meantime cbs has le

margaret brennan is here with that story. margaret, good morning. >> good morning. it's good to have you in washington, charlie. >> good to be here. >> well, we do those speaking points that the cia gave to ambassador rice. they also gave them to the members of the house intelligence committee for appearances. and this is what they said, the consensus view of the intelligence community up to september 15th, "available information suggests that the demonstrations in benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the u.s. embassy in cairo and evolved into a direct assault. there are indications that extremists participated," there's a hedge there, but the benghazi attack was not referred to as a terrorist event. however, ambassador rice is a cabinet member, meaning she gets daily intelligence briefings like the president does, the content of those not known, but republican senators say that she misled the public and that they will block her confirmation as secretary of state. the white house is betting that they can get at least five republicans to join the democratic majori

margaret brennan is in washington. >> reporter: president obama views susan rice as his quarterback at the u.n. when he nominated her to be the ambassador he elevated that role to cabinet level. a status that her predecessors did not have. for this next promotion the president will fight skeptical republicans who question rice's judgment in the days following the benghazi attack. >> i still don't know how anybody of that capacity could have been on television five days later saying the things that were said. i don't know how that can happen. >> she has to answer questions about that. there's no doubt about it. >> reporter: susan rice hit a nerve during a string of television appearances five days after the assault on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. she didn't call it a act of terror. >> we do not have information at present to lead us to conclude it was preplanned. >> reporter: that's leading to her obstacle as becoming secretary of state. john mccain and lindsey graham said they will try to keep her out of office. the white house said she was relying on the cia's best information at t

margaret brennan is on capitol hill. margaret, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, norah and charlie. u.s. ambassador susan rice hopes to put that controversy to rest. if she is successful, it would remove the largest political hurdle to her nomination as secretary of state. rice is meeting right now behind closed doors with three of her most vocal critics, republican senator john mccain, kelly ayotte and lindsey graham talking behind closed doors to discuss classified material. the acting director of the cia, mike morel, is helping her answer questions and will accompany her to other meetings on the hill this week. an aide to mccain tells cbs news that rice requested this meeting last week and it could be decisive. if she answers mccain's questions to his satisfaction, he says he would support her nomination. >> margaret, what do you think those questions will be from the senators that they want answered? >> reporter: charlie, there are a lot of them. specifically senator mccain has said he wants ambassador rice to

margaret brennan joins us now. good morning. >> good morning to you, norah, and to charlie. quarterback at the u.n. when he nominated her to be the ambassador, he elevated that role to cabinet level, a status that her predecessors did not have. for this next promotion, the president will fight skeptical republicans who question rice's judgment in the days following the benghazi attacks. >> i still don't know how anybody of that capacity could have been on television five days later saying the things that were said. i don't know how that could happen. >> she would have to answer questions about that. there's no doubt about it. >> susan rice hit a nerve during a string of television appearances five days after the assault on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. she did not call it an act of terror. >> we did not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned. >> that characterization is the biggest obstacle to becoming secretary of state. senior republican senators john mccain and lindsey graham say they will try to keep her out of of

margaret brennan joins us to tell us why the u.s. voted no. >> reporter: good morning to you, charlie, and to norah. israeli government says it gives palestinians a state without ending the conflict. u.n. recognition makes the west bank and gaza strip part of the palestinian state not defeated territory. without negotiating the borders of one with israel. here is the problem. negotiation negotiations are in a standstill. as we saw last week violent extremists like hamas are gaining influence. palestinian authority, which rejects violence, recognizes israel, is losing influence and patience. last week secretary clinton c s successfully negotiated the cease fire but wasn't able to persuade palestinian president mahmoud abbas to drop this bid. >> margaret, are there consequences for the united states and iz role for this vote? >> reporter: potentially. the concern is that congress could cut off funds to the palestinian authority. the u.s. gave about $495 million in aid last year, which helped keep that peaceful government in power. the

brennan has more on this story. good morning to you. what did we learn from this pentagon report? >> reporter: good moinrng to you. the attack was over. and the bodies of the four dead americans had already been airlifted out of libya 40 minutes before the first u.s. special operations forces were in position. the assault began around 4:00 p.m. washington time. and defense secretary panetta was informed shortly after it started. he gave a verbal order to send in military personnel sometime between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. but they did not arrive in libya until 3:00 p.m. the next day. >> margaret what military assets were mobilized? >> reporter: there were about three units mobilized and deployed a special operations force from central up. two anti-terrorism security teams were sent from spain. and a delta force unit was sent from fort bragg, north carolina. here's the controversial part. while the president ordered that all available pentagon assets respond defense secretary panetta said that gun ships were fixed wing fig

margaret brennan has the details in washington. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, charlie. specific references of al qaeda and terrorism were cut by the director of national intelligence the agreement of the cia and the fbi. the white house and state department did not make those changes. rice used the talking points in tv appearances shortly after the attack and republicans accused her of making misleading statement business referring to the assault as a spontaneous demonstration by extremists, suggesting she did it for political reasons. the intelligence source says that the links to al qaeda were deemed too tenuous to make public. however, cia director david petraeus told congress he had agreed to release that information in early draft. it was passed along to dni. then the fbi, which made more. head of dni is james clapford who did reopen the case but who suggested the final edit which were then signed off on again, by all intelligence agencies is not known. charlie? >>> new hope for some of america's most beloved

brennan has more on this story. good morning to you. what did we learn from this pentagon report? >> reporter: good morning to you. the attack was over. and the bodies of the four dead americans had already been airlifted out of libya 40 minutes before the first u.s. special operations forces were in position. the assault began around 4:00 p.m. washington time. and defense secretary panetta was informed shortly after it started. he gave a verbal order to send in military personnel sometime between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. but they did not arrive in libya until 3:00 p.m. the next day. >> margaret what military assets were mobilized? >> reporter: there were about three units mobilized and deployed a special operations force from central up. two anti-terrorism security teams were sent from spain. and a delta force unit was sent from fort bragg, north carolina. here's the controversial part. while the president ordered that all available pentagon assets respond defense secretary panetta said that gun ships were fixed wing fig