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Senate War Strategy Under Scrutiny; GM Looking for New CEO; Kids At Risk from H1N1

Aired December 02, 2009 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SE. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I say with great respect, Secretary Gates, the president announced that we will begin withdrawing hard date of July 2011 which is -- I don't know why that date was particularly picked which may be time in another session. But -- so he's announced that. At the same time he said conditions on the ground would.

Now, those are two incompatible statements. You either have a winning strategy and do as we did in Iraq and then once it succeeded then with withdraw, or as the president said, we will have a date beginning withdrawal of July 2011.

Which is it? It's got to be one or the other. It's got to be the appropriate conditions, or it's got to be an arbitrary date. You can't have both.

ROBERT GATES, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Where we begin the transition is I think what is the key factor here, senator. As I suggested, we will have a thorough review in December 2010. If it appears the strategy is not working and that we are not going to be able to transition in 2011, then we will take a hard look at the strategy itself.

MCCAIN: Well, I say, with respect, I think the American people need to know whether we will begin withdrawing in 2011 and conditions are right for that or whether we will just be withdrawing no matter what.

GATES: Our plan is that we'll begin the transition in local areas in July of 2011. We will evaluate in December 2010 whether we believe we'll be able to meet that objective.

MCCAIN: I think that's got to be made very clear. Because right now the expectation level of the American people because of the president's speech is that we will withdrawing as of July 2011, regardless of conditions on the ground. I think that's the wrong impression to give our friends. It's the wrong impression to give our enemies. It's the wrong impression to give the men and women who want to go over there and win, not start withdrawing on an arbitrary date.

And that's unfortunate that it's not been made clear at all. And by the way, Admiral Mullen, the Army counterinsurgency field manual says "counterinsurgents should prepare for a long-term commitment. The populous must have confidence in the staying power of both the counterinsurgents and the host nation government. By announcing a date for withdrawal, don't you think that that kind of contradicts the counterinsurgency manual?

ADMIRAL MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I believe and the military leadership believes by mid 2011, we'll know how this is going. And Secretary talked the assessment. In fact, it's General McChrystal's view that these additional forces will allow him to reverse the momentum and head us in the right direction.

We'll have very solid indicators at that point and then obviously the July 2011 date is a day we start transitioning, transferring responsibility and transitioning. It's not a date that we're leaving. And the president also said that is and will be based on conditions on the ground. And so -

MCCAIN: It makes no sense for him to have announced the date. I'm sure we'll continue this discussion. Secretary Clinton, I appreciate your statement. I would like a lot more specifics. We know that there are divisions within the embassy in Kabul. We know that cables were leaked that the ambassador there was against any increases in troops there.

We know that relations within the embassy at least three factions. We also know that the ability of State Department personnel has been significantly limited as it was prior to the surge in Iraq because the environment is not safe for them to go out and operate.

I have great confidence in the military operational planning. I am confident it can succeed. As I said earlier, I don't see the build component yet. I would like for you to submit to this committee a very specific plan just as we are receiving a very specific military plan on exactly how we're going to achieve the build part of it which I think there's an adequate model for in the case of Iraq.

So I appreciate your statements and I agree with you about the quality of personnel. I have yet to see a comprehensive cohesive convincing plan to implement the essential civil side of any successful search.

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, Senator McCain, first, let me say we are more than happy to submit a plan. We have obviously been working with our committee of jurisdiction and authorization on a very close on-going basis and we'll be happy to share a lot of the information with you and we would welcome your response and your advice.

I have to say, however, that the process that we engaged in solicited opinions and I thought it was a great tribute to the president and to General Jones that the White House ran a process that actually sought out and made it clear that diversity of opinion was welcome. And I thought it was useful to hear from a variety of sources.

It wouldn't surprise you as it didn't surprise me that people had different opinions based on their perspective. But as Admiral Mullen just eloquently said, the president made a decision. There is no division. There is absolute unity and a commitment to carrying out the mission. And we'll be happy to share the specifics of that with you.

MCCAIN: Thank you very much and thank all the witnesses. We appreciate enormously their contributions to our countrymen.

MULLEN: Senator McCain, we're going to take advantage of the presence of a quorum here now to take one minute to consider the 1,938 pending military nominations as well as the civilian nomination of Clifford Stanley to be under secretary of defense and Frank Kendall III to be principal deputy under Secretary of Defense, Erin Conaton to be the undersecretary of the Air Force, Terry Yonkers to be assistant secretary of the Air Force, and Lawrence Romo to be director of the Selective Service.

Do I hear a motion en bloc approve those nominations?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So moved.

MULLEN: Is it second? Second on favor, say aye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aye.

MULLEN: Post (INAUDIBLE) the ayes have it. Thank you very much. Senator Lieberman.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I, CONNECTICUT: Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the way, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I knew you would appreciate that intervention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank (INAUDIBLE) business.

LIEBERMAN: Thanks, Mr. Chairman. And thanks to Secretary Gates, Secretary Clinton and Admiral Mullen for your excellent opening statements...

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Quickly as we continue to watch the events taking place on the Senate Armed Services committee, the testimony there, we are listening and watching right now. Senator Lieberman, prior to that, of course, we heard from Secretary Gates, Admiral Mike Mullen and also secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

And probably the moment that everyone was watching for and anticipating is Senator John McCain. His main question certainly was about whether or not the withdraw date that was also announced last night by President Obama will actually stand arbitrarily regardless of any conditions on the ground. That is the question that I think a lot of people are asking this morning.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is standing by as we continue to watch these proceedings outside of the White House. Suzanne, I'm sure you heard the senator asking those questions. A lot of people wondering why the president chose to put any date on this during that particular speech.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he certainly wanted to show that they are on an accelerated timetable. The president and the administration do face a challenge here perhaps even a problem in trying to explain this.

The one thing that they are trying to do, what the president has said previously in the past when asked about when he would like all of this to be wrapped up and finished, he said before he doesn't want to pass this on to his possible successor if he was just to be a one-term president. Obviously, that would be January of 2012 but there has been a lot of push back. The administration officials to say that any of these would really be wrapped up within that time frame in any kind of realistic way. Because of the very important caveat, we heard the president say last night, which is it's based on conditions on the ground.

Very similar, very familiar, to what we heard from President Bush who always had that same caveat. You see this president doing the same. He doesn't want to box himself in into this particular timetable. The problem is, however, Heidi, is that it seems as if in some ways he has boxed himself in because he's given such a definitive mark, if you will, this benchmark of July 2011.

He says, you know, in 18 months or so we do expect that that's going to be enough progress here so that you will be able to start drawing down those troops. The big question here is - this is what they are certainly hoping and depending on is that Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, who can come through with his side of the deal, his side of the bargain. They are counting on that part of the equation so that there will be Afghan forces, police, you know, people up to the task of taking on some of these responsibilities so that U.S. troops and NATO forces can begin to draw down.

So that's the big unknown here. It really is in some ways, Heidi, a leap of faith that this government has put in the Afghan government and in Hamid Karzai. So they are counting on that particular part of the equation. That might not play out the way they expect it. They might have to shift some things around.

That's why we're hearing the conditions on the ground kind of, you know, explanation but it's a difficult - as you can see in this hearing - a very difficult case for this administration to make to kind of make that turn, if you will, satisfy the American people, satisfy the critics that there is a clear mission. That this mission is going to be completed and it's going to be completed in a very kind of collapsed and accelerated way.

COLLINS: Yes. We heard the chairman (INAUDIBLE) asking how many Afghan forces will be available by the time of this supposed withdrawal date of July 2011 and they're hoping for something like 170,000. Obviously, another challenge to be talking about as we follow these proceedings today.

Suzanne Malveaux, outside of the White House. Sure do appreciate that. Once again we're watching the Senate Armed Services Committee and the secretary of defense, chairman of the joint chiefs and also the secretary of state testifying today. Question and answering going on right now. We'll watch that for you.

Meanwhile, certainly a lot of weather to be talking about today. Meteorologist Rob Marciano is here with a preview now. Hey there, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Heidi. Another tornado warning coming out of the Florida panhandle. We've had several this morning. A watch continues there until 11:00 Eastern time, all part of a huge storm system that's bringing severe weather there. Wind and rain up the Appalachians and at the backside of this snow in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metropolitan. Some of it sticking at least on the sides of the roads.

We'll talk more about that in just a few minutes. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Time now to check out the Dow, starting off this morning at a high note. We haven't seen in some 14 months, very high right now. Just up moderately there by about 40 points. Dow Jones Industrial Average resting at 10,512. Susan Lisovicz live in New York with that plus evidence of some slowing job losses, which is certainly good news.

Obviously, as we always do, Susan, we got to keep in mind what that bigger perspective is when we look at unemployment, obviously.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you have to put it in perspective. And that's certainly giving the stock market some momentum this morning, Heidi. The fact is that 169,000 job cuts in one month is not good news for all of those people who have directly experienced it but it is the eighth straight month where we have seen job losses decline.

And when you consider that earlier this year we were looking at job losses approaching 750,000 in a month. That's huge. That's, you know, less than one-third what we saw. So it's an improvement. And that improving picture is one of the reasons why we have seen the stock market march higher since the month of March, as a matter of fact.

We also got a separate report also showing improvement in planned job cuts to the lowest level, Heidi, in about two years. So that's what's helping the market out today. We're also going to get a report from the Federal Reserve on regional economic conditions. We'll be watching that. In the meantime, we are seeing stocks move higher.

We're also seeing gold. Gold going above $1,200 an ounce. Yes, that's another record. We're seeing gold prices hit all-time highs and we're going to be watching jobs for the next three days because we get the government jobs report on Friday, Heidi. And hopefully we'll see improvement there as well.

COLLINS: Hopefully. All right. Susan, thank you.

GM, the nation's largest automaker, is looking for the third CEO in less than a year. The opening created after Fritz Henderson announced his resignation yesterday. The government-owned auto maker said the decision was made by its board of directors and the Obama administration had nothing to do with it. GM's chairman, Rick Wagoner will fill in until a new CEO is selected. We'll get reaction after the GM shake up after the half hour.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: We're watching all of it, Rob. Thank you so much for that.

Watching for the warning signs of H1N1. Children are especially at risk. So what do parents need to know before they head to the emergency room?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly, a very fast clarification here. We were telling you about GM as I'm sure you've heard the news that the nation's largest automaker is looking for a new permanent CEO. In less than a year, there's been a lot of activity there and right now we've been telling you about Fritz Henderson and how he announced his resignation pretty suddenly last night.

We accidentally said that he would be replaced by Rick Wagoner, who you well know was let go in the spring. Fritz Henderson actually replaced him. The person who is replacing Fritz Henderson now is the current chief executive officer Ed Whitacre. So we just want to make sure we have that out there and corrected for you.

Meanwhile, checking some of our other top stories this morning. An attorney for accused Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Hasan says the Army is ordering his client to undergo a psychiatric exam. 13 people died in the attack at the Texas Army post last month. The evaluation would determine whether Hasan was mentally responsible at the time of the shooting and if he is competent to stand trial. Hasan's attorney says the exam is premature.

Five British sailors who had been held by Iran are now free. Iran's Navy detained the men last Wednesday after their racing yacht accidentally drifted into Iranian waters between Bahrain and Dubai. The British Foreign Office says the five men are being taken to international waters where they will meet officials from their sailing company.

More than three years after Congress ordered better monitoring of convicted sex offenders, only one state is making the grade and that is Ohio. The government is extending its compliance deadline until later this summer for the other 49. But a number of states say the new time frame is still unattainable. Those states unable to meet the deadline risk millions in federal grant money.

Children, as you know, are one of the high risk groups for the H1N1 flu. Millions have gotten the virus and have been just fine but others are ending up in the emergency room. So how do you know if your child is one of those more serious cases. We've been talking about it for a couple days now with our CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, this is your third installment. I know you visited one child's home with a pediatrician to talk a little bit more about the warning signs that parents are trying to recognize because they can be confusing.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, millions of children have had H1N1 and this is the nightmare scenario. You're home with your sick child but they seem OK. But then in a matter of hours it can become an emergency.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): When children get H1N1 flu, they can get very sick very fast. Andrea Samples' daughter almost died from it.

ANDREA SAMPLES, MOTHER OF H1N1 SURVIVOR: Zero to 60 in 10 seconds. That's how fast it went down.

COHEN: So we asked a pediatrician for advice.

(on camera): Dr. Lavin, you have a patient inside this house who you think has H1N1.

DR. ARTHUR LAVIN, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV. SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: That's right.

COHEN: We brought you here because we want you to tell his parents what they need to look for? When should she worry and high tail it to the doctor.

Tell me what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have been sick.

COHEN: When he was at his worst with H1N1, how sick was he?

LEAH WARTEL, MOTHER: That was the sickest we had ever seen him.

COHEN (voice-over): Leah Wartel (ph) is worried about her eight- year-old son, Elijah. How will she know if his H1N1 flu crosses the line to become a potentially deadly virus? The Wartels' (ph) pediatrician, Dr. Arthur Lavin, tells Leah what to watch for. Warning sign number one, trouble breathing.

DR. ARTHUR LAVIN, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV. SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: He really would be tugging to get air in and out of his chest. Chest wouldn't be moving very smoothly. It would be pulling hard. He would have to reach and grab something to breathe.

COHEN: Warning sign number two, a stiff neck. LAVIN: Can you touch your chin to your chest, Elijah? Like that. See how nicely he does that. If you move your neck that easily, and the second thing we worry about isn't there. The second thing is if your neck is stiff. Not if it's sore but it's stiff and you can't move it.

COHEN: Warning sign number three continuous pain in one spot.

LAVIN: We're not talking about pains that move around the body and shift every hour. One spot that really hurts and keeps hurting more and more every hour. Especially around the tummy.

COHEN: Warning sign number four, blue nails.

LAVIN: Elijah, let's take a look at your nails. If they turn blue that would be a sign that something is not working. We have a nice window into your oxygen level right through the fingernail. If they all turn blue, that good healthy flow of oxygen has been interrupted.

COHEN: And warning sign number five, your child just doesn't seem right.

LAVIN: I would be concerned if you came to him and some way he just seemed to like a different person, not just like different. Elijah acting differently but you didn't recognize him. That would be very worrisome.

COHEN: Looking out for these five signs can save your child's life. As for Elijah, he's on the mend with a lot of care from his mom and dad and big brother.

(on camera): What do you do to take care of your brother?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I say hope you feel better sometime and -

ELIJAH WARTEL: You probably said that twice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The honesty of the brother.

COHEN: Yes. That's a very honest brother there. Now you heard, Dr. Lavin mentioned it's a problem if your child can't do this. The reason for that is if a child's neck is too stiff to do that, it could be a sign of meningitis. Now, now that we told you how vigilant you need to be when your child has the flu, I want to add that the odds are with you.

Most children who have H1N1 flu do turn out to be OK. There have been about eight million cases of flu among kids and teens in the U.S.. There have been 36,000 hospitalizations. That's a lot. But obviously a small percentage and there have been about 540 deaths.

Now, for more tips on what to watch for when your kid has the flu, go to cnn.com/empoweredpatient. Tips for parents or concern about the H1N1 flu.

COLLINS: All right. So obviously when you look at those statistics, you want to be very well informed and you don't want to panic. So somewhere in the middle seems like the best place to be. But the fact of the matter is you look at those five symptoms that you gave us. How many of them should your child have before you rush to the doctor or the emergency room? Just one or?

COHEN: Just one. I mean, if your child starts acting not like themselves or if your child can't do the chin to chin maneuver, that's reason enough to go to the doctor.

COLLINS: OK. Very good. Thanks for those.

And also, we want to talk to you about this. Because the story got such an incredible amount of attention. We're talking about the breast cancer screenings, the report that came out. Right now on Capitol Hill, a House subcommittee is holding hearings on those controversial new federal recommendations for the breast cancer screening and I imagine that they will probably be some fireworks here.

COHEN: Absolutely. Because when those recommendations came out there were fireworks and those recommendations a few weeks ago from Preventive Services task force, just to remind everyone, what those said was that women in their 40s did not need to get regular mammograms and of course an outcry from all sorts of cancer groups.

The American Cancer Society is going to be there and other groups. I'm sure they will challenge and say how in the world could you say this and I think they will be pointing out, there was no oncologists on this panel.

COLLINS: Yes. And we talk about it here quite a bit that probably we're going to be hearing - I'm not sure who exactly is going to be there but -

Cancer survivors themselves that we heard from when they were doing some of the interviews. So I think we'll be watching that one very closely. We'll check in with you later. Thank you, Elizabeth.

COLLINS: Ready, set, jump. The Army's 82nd airborne reacts to the commander in chief's order for more boots on the ground in Afghanistan. Plus an exit date makes the deployment news any better.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: President Obama charts a new course in the Afghanistan war. Want to give you highlights from last night's primetime speech. The new war plan calls for 30,000 more U.S. troops to be sent in. The president says they would begin deploying early next year at the fastest pace possible. That would boost the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 100,000. The strategy also carries an exit plan 18 months from now. President Obama wants to begin bringing troops home by July of 2011. On Capitol Hill this hour, top administration officials are facing questions on the new strategy. Looking at Defense Secretary Robert Gates there; also Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. We have been watching those proceedings right now. The question and answering going on. One of the most controversial elements of the president's speech: a defined time line for a pull out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As commander in chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home. These are the resources that we need to seize the initiative while building the Afghan capacity allowing for a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is following the hearings and joins us live. Brianna, obviously this is the biggest sticking point.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is big sticking point for Democrats and Republicans. Democrats who say they want a very strict time line because they really aren't happy about the idea of any additional U.S. troops going to Afghanistan. And a lot of Republicans, Heidi, who say there needs to be wiggle room based on conditions on the ground. Take a listen to an exchange between Senator John McCain, the ranking Republican on this Senate committee, and Secretary of Defense Gates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Yes, our commitment to Afghanistan is not open-ended. Yes, large numbers of U.S. combat troops will not remain there indefinitely, and yes, this war will one day end. But it should end when we have achieved our goals.

Success is the real exit strategy. And when conditions on the ground have decisively begun to change for the better, that is when our troops should start to return home with honor. Not one minute longer, not one minute sooner and certainly not on some arbitrary date in July of 2011.

I say with respect, Secretary Gates, my question is will the date of withdraw of 2011 which the president said based on an arbitrary date of July 2011, regardless of conditions on the ground?

ROBERT GATES, U.S. DEFENSE SECRTARY: It's the judgment of all of us in the Department of Defense involved in this process that we'll be in a position in particularly uncontested areas where we will be able to begin that transition... MCCAIN: Well, let's suppose you're not. Let's suppose you're not. Let's suppose that conditions on the ground, so that our commanders leave it would jeopardize the success of the mission if we start a withdraw in July 2011. Would we do it anyway?

GATES: Well, I think that we'll be in a position -- the president indicated that we'll have a thorough review of how we're doing in December of 2010, and I think that we will be in a position then to evaluate whether or not we can begin that transition in July...

MCCAIN: The question (ph)...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You can see that exchange right there really just highlights how controversial this is. Some Democrats were fearful that Afghanistan is going to become in their words "a quagmire." They really, Heidi, would like to be able to hang their hats on July 2011 in 18 months when the plan is to bring some of those U.S. troops home. They want to know that's a hard and fast date.

But Republicans, like Senator John McCain, want to know that there is going to be some wiggle room if the conditions on the ground dictate that. You can see that answer from Secretary Gates really muddies the water on this issue.

COLLINS: Yes, and Brianna, obviously, I'm sure you've heard as well. There have been a lot of people saying why announce a date at all, at least publicly like that? You can have one in your mind or at least contingency plan upon hearing from top commanders but to announce it -- I think there were quite a few people confused by that.

What happens now? We have the testimony today, and they will also go in front of the House Armed Services Committee tomorrow. Is there any room for -- I don't know -- a modification to this plan?

KEILAR: I spoke with some Democrats who were hopeful that there will be some modifications to the plan. But I also have -- talking with some of the Democrats who were in the meeting with President Obama yesterday -- seemed like they thought this was going to be the plan.

So, what Congress does have power over, of course, Heidi, is the purse strings. They control spending. The way Iraq and Afghanistan has been paid for in the past, the president -- President Bush in the past came to Congress and would say we need this money to fight this war. It was a supplemental war authorization and it was really -- would go to -- its was deficit spending.

What Congress here is a couple of options. One, they can say, OK, Democrats can say we'll attach some conditions to this money. so they have that ability, and they can make it really politically difficult to spend money. They can say we won't just give you a blank check on this. What we're going to do is raise taxes in order to get money, and that's something that a lot of Democrats are talking about. As you can imagine it would be very unpopular for Americans to have to pay an additional income tax when the economy is what it is, Heidi.

COLLINS: Indeed. All right. We'll continue to follow it very closely. Brianna Keilar, thank you.

Well, part of the president's plan is to help Afghanistan stand up for itself.

(BEGIN VIDOE CLIP)

OBAMA: We will pursue a military strategy that will break the Taliban's momentum and increase the Afghan capacity over the next 18 months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Joining me now from Washington to talk about the strategy is former U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, Ambassador James Dobbins. Ambassador, thanks for being with us. I'm sure you listened closely to the speech, and this morning I would just ask what your reaction is off the top.

AMBASSADOR JAMES DOBBINS, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO AFGHANISTAN: Well, I think the president did what he had to do, which is respond to his military commanders' request for reinforcement. But he also made a gesture toward elements of his own party who have grave doubts about that, and the gesture was a promise to try to begin withdrawing troops by the middle of 2011.

COLLINS: Is that dangerous to present things that way?

DOBBINS: I think there are risks involved. I think it does signal, to some degree, a lack of resolve, which both adversaries and bystanders may therefore have caused doubt. On the other hand, he set a target. McChrystal himself said he intended to turn things around over the next 18 months. That's why he asked for the additional troops. And the president said, "Okay, go ahead. Do it."

COLLINS: What about the number? Thirty thousand. And the 18 months. Do we have a good idea of where all of that came from? Obviously, we know that General McChrystal's recommendations have been out there for quite some time. To come on this number and that specific timeframe, there may be questions as to how they came to that.

DOBBINS: Well, I think the number was -- is basically not a question of how many troops do you need but how many can you afford? I think 30,000 was the president's judgment of how much he could afford, given both his political circumstances but other priorities. I think the timeframe, frankly, may have had some domestic considerations.

COLLINS: A lot of people wondering, too, if the Marine Corps and Army are big enough. Do we have people, do we have the soldiers to go in and pull off what the president would like to see happen in a short amount of time here? But for you as an ambassador, how do we get the Afghan people to understand what is going on and help them to get what they want out of the deal? DOBBINS: Well, the Afghans, in contrast to Iraqis, generally have been supportive of the American and NATO presence. That support is diminished over the last few years, largely because we haven't been delivering what we promised, which is security for the Afghan people.

To the extent we seem to be delivering that, they feel safer because Americans are there. I think they will be supportive and we will get more cooperation.

COLLINS: Speaking of cooperation. Pakistan. How do they fit in?

DOBBINS: The president made clear that Pakistan is it central to this strategy. We obviously have less leverage. We don't have boots on the ground. We don't intend to have boots on the ground in Pakistan.

But we are increasing our economic assistance to Pakistan. We're trying to partner more closely with Pakistan. And we're also going to continue counterterrorist operations, drones and targeted strikes, in the border regions of Pakistan.

COLLINS: All right. We'll continue to watch it, and obviously hope that it works. We appreciate your time here today. Thank you so much.

DOBBINS: Thanks.

COLLINS: That also brings us to today's blog question. Now that we have heard from the president, we would love to hear from you today and more about your feelings on the new war strategy as it was announced last night.

We've gotten some responses right now. I want to share those with you. Rod writes this to us: "I'm not a fan of war, but we do have an obligation to bring a resolution to what we began. I support our president, and for once, I actually believe a leader has America's best interest at heart."

Jasmine writes, "President Obama said the war in Afghanistan is not like the Vietnam War because 43 other nations support what we are doing. Then why aren't they sending large numbers of troops?"

Jack writes, "Bad decision. They don't want us there. When we leave, they will go back to their old ways of living. Why don't we destroy the poppy fields that help supply al Qaeda with money?"

Now, remember, we always want to hear from you. Just go to CNN.com/heidi and put your comments there on the blog. We'll share more later on in the show.

Tiger Woods comes clean -- kind of. We'll tell you about an apology he's posted now on his Web site just a short time ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: Pro golf sensation Tiger Woods apologizing this morning for what he calls, quote, "transgressions." He posted a statement on his Web site, and we have the details for you now. Our Susan Candiotti is joining us by telephone with more.

Susan, good morning.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Good morning, Heidi. This happens one day after the Florida Highway Patrol closed the books on a minor driveway crash that turned into a major publicity mess. It also involved allegations that Tiger Woods was having an affair with a woman, and that woman has denied it. But now today, a magazine called "U.S. Weekly" published a story about a second woman that is alleging an affair with a golfing great, and she released a voicemail that she claims is from Tiger Woods.

Now, the male voice on this voicemail message asked this woman to remove her name from her own voicemail message. CNN has not independently verified the voice mail is from Tiger Woods. We have sought comment from his agent, but then he directed us to Tiger Woods' Web site.

And Woods has now just posted this message. It reads in part, quote, "I have let my family down, and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without fault and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family."

He goes on to say, "But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there's an important and deep principle at stake, which is the right to simple human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don't share my view on that. But for me the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family. Personal sins should not require press releases, and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions."

The question now that we have this comment from Tiger Woods, will this end speculation? How will fans react to this? How might this impact his image? And will all of the publicity now die down? We know that Tiger Woods has already said he's not planning to play golf anymore this year. And so the next time we expect to see him in public might not be until next year at his next golf tournament. Heidi?

COLLINS: All right. Susan Candiotti reporting for us that statement in "Us Weekly" magazine. I have a feeling, Susan, that the interest in the story will not die down for quite some time. But we'll continue to keep our eye on it, of course. Thank you so much. Susan Candiotti for us today.

On Wall Street, it's a big week for news about the labor market. Today, tomorrow and Friday all bring new reports on jobs. The first reading shows the economy lost 169,000 positions last month. Susan Lisovicz is in New York now with details on that. So, Susan, it is a big number. But there's some good news. It's not as bad as it was, right?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Heidi, yes. I'm in the camp that you're going to look at the glass as half full and not half empty. Jobs are still being lost, but the numbers are getting smaller. Payroll services firm ADP, as you said, says job losses have now declined every month since April.

And basically the picture tells the story. If you check out that chart, in March of this year, we were seeing job losses, Heidi, of more than 700,000. Just earlier this year: 169,000. That is not good. That's not good. But it's less than a third of that number. So, the market -- the labor market is starting to crawl every bit of the way towards stabilization.

You have to keep in mind, more than 7.3 million jobs have been lost since this recession began two years ago. It's going to take a while before job creation offsets job losses and before we get to something that's considered full employment of about 5 percent. Some analysts say that we might not see that until 2014.

The point is we're seeing a trend. It's pretty dramatic when you look at that chart, and we begin to see light at the end of a very long tunnel. Hopefully, the government's monthly jobs report on Friday will bear that out as well. And what we're seeing is -- I think investors seeing the glass half full as well. The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 each all showing gains.

COLLINS: OK. I love your optimism. Obviously, being aware is what everybody needs to do. Ever the optimist, Susan Lisovicz. Thanks so much, Susan. We'll keep watching.

U.S. senators having their say now over reforming health care. We'll be watching, listening and telling you what they're saying during that debate.

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COLLINS: The search is on for a new CEO at General Motors after the resignation of the man at the steering wheel. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow is in New York with more on this. This was kind of a shocker. Happened pretty quickly with Fritz Henderson, huh, Poppy?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Very quickly. A huge surprise. Came just about 4:30 yesterday afternoon we got news that head of GM, Fritz Henderson, is out after just seven months in that top position. The announcement came at a press conference led by the chairman of GM, Ed Whitacre, who will now take over his spot. He called it a hectic meeting of GM's board when the decision came down.

And we'll now see Whitacre run this company until they can find a permanent replacement. Ed Whitacre, also the former CEO of AT&T. Now the third CEO for general motors in less than a year. Here's part of his announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED WHITACRE, INTERIM CEO OF GM: Fritz has done a remarkable job leading the company through an unprecedented period of challenge and change. And momentum has been building in our company over the past several months. But we all agreed that some changes need to be made going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Let's look, though, at what Henderson did at the helm of General Motors, Heidi. He got the company through bankruptcy extremely quickly. But what also happened, Heidi, was proposed sales of Saturn and Saab that we thought were a done deal. They fell apart, and then to sell the majority stake to Opel, the European brand of GM, that fell through as well.

So, Heidi, some are just arguing that you need fresh blood in at the helm of this company to turn it around. Henderson has worked at GM for 25 years, so he is known as an insider there. When you look at GM's biggest competitor, ford, it worked for them to bring in an outsider to run the company.

What Ford did is they brought in Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Boeing to run Ford. They have had huge success. Heidi, they're the only one of the Big Three that didn't have to take bailout money. Maybe that will work. Maybe we'll see an outsider come in eventually to run GM.

COLLINS: Yes, and he was not in that position for very long, Fritz Henderson, for sure. What about Ed Whitacre, though? I know he's the interim, if you will? Is he the right guy to lead gm right now?

HARLOW: Depends on who you ask. Most people are surprised he's interim. He's not an industry insider. That makes him different than Henderson. He ran AT&T. He ran a huge telecom company. The question is, does he know enough to run an auto business? You can find many more of these details and a lot of questions out there. The latest story on CNNmoney.

COLLINS: Yes. Questions about who it's going to be. Okay, Poppy Harlow, sure do appreciate it.

We've got to get back to the hearings we've been telling you about. Senate Armed Services committee is listening in to more testimony today. The questions are being asked of the secretary of state, secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs right now regarding the president's new plan for Afghanistan.

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COLLINS: The Senate is back at it again this morning debating health care reform. A live picture now, Capitol Hill there. Yesterday, senators were focused on proposed cuts to Medicare. Democrats say the spending cuts will help protect the government-run program. Republicans say seniors will suffer. We're watching all of the developments. We'll bring you the very latest.

For now, I'm Heidi Collins. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris.