Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

American and Afghan Forces Open Offensive in Afghanistan; Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies Take Place Amidst Tragedy.

Aired February 13, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center, this is CNN Saturday morning for this February 13th. I'm T.J. Holmes.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everybody, thanks for being with us. We do appreciate. And we have a lot of news to tell you about.

HOLMES: Yes, a big story we're following, the biggest battle yet in Afghanistan is going on right now. U.S. troops as well as coalition forces are fighting the Taliban. We have someone on the ground embedded with the troops we'll be talking to in just a moment.

NGUYEN: Plus this, a tragedy at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. It's overshadowed the opening ceremonies last night. We'll get you a live report on exactly what went wrong.

HOLMES: And still weather is a big story. Yes, we are talking about yet another winter storm. Where is it and when will this all end? Stay here.

NGUYEN: All right, but first we want to start with this major military offensive in Afghanistan. Military planners called this assault on the Helmand province of Marjah the largest in the eight year war. We have world within just the last hour that two deaths have occurred, coalition fighters in Marjah. A U.S. marine was killed by small arms fire while another member of the NATO coalition, possibly a British soldier, was killed by an IED.

And 15,000 NATO and Afghan troops are involved in this fighting, 5,000 U.S. marines led the offense into the city. And Marjah is a Taliban stronghold, the last in the region, in fact. And it's estimated that about 1,000 Taliban fighters are holed up in the city.

A NATO official says that large amount of explosives have been found and it's estimated the Taliban make an estimated $2.5 million a year from the opium produced in that region.

So let's get started with our reporter on the ground, Atia Abawi. She is embedded with U.S. troops there. She's been giving us reports all morning long. Can you give us an idea of what is taking place right now, Atia?

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right now, Betty, there seems to be a lull in the fighting, but that's not to say it's not going to start up again in the night hours when it's dark again. The fighting started actually in the early morning hours when it was dark, as well, at 2:00 a.m. when U.S. and Afghan soldiers hit the ground here with an air assault.

We're actually embedded with the alpha company. And when they came in, the first thing that they hit was actually the terrain. It was a very tough terrain to deal with. They came on farm land. They came in the pitch black night and the first four wounded were not serious wounds but still had to be med-evaced out because of terrain, not because of enemy fire.

But as the sun rose and the fighting began, the Taliban found their target and they started to fire. They were running through the fields, caught in open fields, finding their way to a compound. In that compound, there have been sporadic battles with U.S. forces as well as the Taliban insurgency.

And from the distance, you can still hear the fighting with other companies within the U.S. marines, and the city of Marjah also fighting different Taliban leaders in different areas in the city.

On top of that, also very loud explosions coming in by vehicles. But this isn't necessarily IEDs have not been detonated by the will of the Taliban. It's actually because the assault machines that the marines have which have been able to find these IEDs and detonate them before causing casualties.

That being said, marines within the city limits, finding IEDs particularly with the IED detective dogs searching those out and also detonating them. And although the fighting seems to be in a lull state, it has been going on all day -- Betty?

NGUYEN: Atia, you say sporadic battles. Are we talking urban warfare, house-to-house battles? What are you seeing?

ABAWI: In the beginning it started in the fields. The marines were caught in open fields when the sun came up and they were firing at the U.S. marines who were running through the fields trying to get to a compound area. Yes, it is urban warfare. We are in compounded buildings.

The city of Marjah is actually fairly built up compared to most rural Afghan cities throughout the provinces of Afghanistan. The Taliban are actually using homes, civilian homes, to fire at the marines, including some compounds that may be 400, 500 meters away.

And there were two civilians who were injured by the fire, and they came to the U.S. troops, got medical attention, got med-evaced out, and the family then told them that the Taliban were actually using their homes to fire at troops.

And they also said -- there are more Taliban fighters waiting it out, assessing what's going on and possibly waiting for attack in the next hours, maybe days -- Betty?

NGUYEN: As these troops go into the city, let me ask you this -- are you seeing any cooperation from the locals there, or is it just a lot of confusion as to who's who, who is a civilian and who is a Taliban fighter?

ABAWI: When it comes to the Afghan people, and one thing that I've noticed from villages throughout Helmand and throughout Afghanistan, it's not necessarily that they are against NATO forces. It's that they want peace, that they're also afraid of civilian casualties.

And that's something the marines have been keeping in mind. They are abiding by the tactical directive that has been placed by General Stanley McChrystal, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan.

And the directive is, if you suspect a Taliban fighter or insurgent fighter is within a compound, and you also expect civilians are in the area, you do not fire. And they have been abiding by that.

Our camerawoman, Mary Rogers, was actually filming the snipers who are targeting some of these Taliban fighters. And they have the equipment to assess who's out there. They were able to distinguish a woman within this abandoned bazaar, and they did not fire.

But they were also able to distinguish a Taliban fighter holding an AK-47, holding a radio, signaling to his other fighters in the area, and they were able to kill him. In fact, Alpha company, whom we're embedded with, has been able to kill five Taliban fighters today, four by sniper fire and one by mortar -- Betty?

NGUYEN: All right, five Taliban fighters killed today. We also have learned that two coalition soldiers have been killed, as well. Atia Abawi, we'll be checking in with you. She is embedded with U.S. troops as this offensive is under way right now in Afghanistan.

HOLMES: We want to turn to our Barbara Starr for more on those coalition deaths. She joins us now from the nation's capital. Barbara, hello again. Let's start with that. The first we're hearing of coalition deaths, including a U.S. marine being killed.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, T.J. Now confirming U.S. marine killed by small arms fire, another coalition troop killed by an IED. This is the type of threat that the coalition and Afghan forces are facing as they move through Marjah.

You heard Atia spell it out. This is very detailed, precise combat work, inch by inch, foot by foot. As they went in during the night, you see the night-vision video we got from NATO here. Going in under the cover of darkness, crossing through irrigation canals, irrigation ditches, moving into agricultural fields surrounded by mud walls, going through compounds surrounded by mud walls as they have moved towards the town of Marjah trying to distinguish between Afghan civilians and Taliban fighters.

It's a very tough business to do this, very risky for the coalition forces. And I would say that I think most commanders agree it is so early in this, it's going to be difficult to tell at this point how much of a fight the Taliban will put up.

If there is fighting to be done, the good bulk of it lies ahead in the coming hours and next several days as the marines and the coalition forces try to consolidate their positions, take Marjah, take the security high ground in Marjah, and then have the Afghan forces move in and begin to provide the long-term security for the region so the Taliban can't come back, T.J.

HOLMES: And, Barbara, you talk act the challenge there that they're going through. They certainly have to worry about those IEDs, which are a notorious problem there.

But the coalition gave a heads-up. The Pentagon essentially was talking about this for some time, weeks even, before the offensive took place. So are they going to at all rethink that strategy? Will we expect to see them still being so forthcoming with information about what the next move might be if they're concerned that that just gives the Taliban more time to dig in and more time to lay tracks?

STARR: You know, I think that's a really good question. The answer remains to be seen.

You are absolutely right. It was extraordinary to see the level of information laid out ahead of this operation, because we know that the first thing the military always says is we don't discuss upcoming operations, we don't want to put our troops at risk.

This time, completely different. They started days ago to lay it all out there and tell us they were going to do this. They had two reasons for doing that. They wanted to give the Afghan civilians in the region a heads-up as to what was going to be taking place.

But they also wanted very much to lay out this message, if you will, this propaganda message that they were very open about that they wanted the Taliban to know that they were coming, that it was inevitable, that the Taliban had no means of winning against the coalition forces so they would have to cut and run.

It remains to be seen, T.J., because how many IEDs, how many snipers' nests, how many roadside bombs, what did the Taliban lay into this area that the marines and the coalition forces still may have to fight their way through -- T.J.?

HOLMES: And we know for you this was so different. For years you're used to getting that answer. We don't talk about ongoing or upcoming operations, and this was totally different, like you say. Barbara Starr, we appreciate having you with us this weekend. Thanks so much. We'll be checking in again.

STARR: Sure.

NGUYEN: We have watched this offensive roll out throughout the night and into the morning now. And we just want to give you a quick recap.

Military commanders say the operation is going as planned, but two members of the coalition forces have been killed. Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert Maginnis join me live to talk about this. And specifically I want to talk about what Atia was alluding to when we were talking to her, because she is on the front lines with the forces there, and how difficult this fight is.

How do you succeed going into a city like Marjah where the Taliban is known for using civilians as human shields but the edict is not to fire on civilians if at all possible?

LT. COL. ROBERT MAGINNIS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): It is very difficult, Betty. You have to obviously lead with the Afghan and national army. Where they're talking in their native tongue, they know the people. They're helping to segregate out the innocents from those that were trying to pursue. And of course the Taliban will put down their AK-47s, their weapons, and then only attack when they have the advantage.

So it's an incredible house-to-house type of situation. We're trying as best as we can to preserve innocent life. But at the same time, we have minefields and IEDs that are in some case remotely targeting and killing our forces.

NGUYEN: Yes, and those mine fields, those booby traps, we understand the Taliban has had months to set that up. And as you go in and we're watching this play out, any idea -- I know it's very early on, but how long this could possibly take in order for coalition forces to complete the job there in Marjah?

MAGINNIS: Well, it really depends upon the fight that the Taliban puts up, Betty. You know, similarly, we saw in Fallujah a couple of times over in Iraq in a major buildup area much larger than the 80,000-person Marjah town that we're going into.

But it can take weeks. And I would suspect that the marines and the allied forces that are going in there understand that this is going to be deliberate, it's going to be very slow. We have to make sure we don't kill anybody that is innocent, but only remove the enemy.

And so, yes, it's not going to be done quickly. It's going to be a tough battle. Perhaps we'll have to see if subterranean locations for enemies are being used. And that's something that this area has that we know about and we're looking for.

NGUYEN: You talk about removing the enemy. Many of them obviously will possibly be killed in this, but others who do survive this could set up shop elsewhere. Is that a major problem?

MAGINNIS: It's always a major problem. Of course General McChrystal knew up front that if we publicized what we're going to do, like Barbara talked about earlier, that they're going to flee out into the rural areas. They're going to go to another location for the next fight. That was part of the risk.

What we wanted here was an early victory in the new surge operation the president put in place back in December. I think that we'll get that. It's not going to be perhaps as bloody as we've seen in the past.

But the big battle, like Peter said, in the last hour is we're coming perhaps next to Kandahar, which is just the epicenter of the Taliban. And this is just the prelude to that big battle.

NGUYEN: OK, very quickly -- so, if U.S. coalition forces succeed in this, could this be a game changer?

MAGINNIS: I think it's going to start the momentum. It's going to be the first of a series of very important battles leading up, as I said, to Kandahar.

Kandahar is the capital of what we have to really seize and control. And the Afghan forces of course providing security with the aid following, a new government in place, that is going to be ultimately the game-changer.

NGUYEN: All right, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Maginnis joining us live with lots of great insight. We do appreciate it. I know you're sticking around this morning. We'll talk to you shortly.

MAGINNIS: Thank you, Betty.

HOLMES: We'll never be too far from that story, that Afghan offensive developing story this morning.

Also, we've got to keep our eye on the weather. We've been talking about the northeast and getting so much of the big snowstorms. Well, it's the south's turn now, and it just keeps on coming. We're not used to that here. Going to be checking in with our Bonnie Schneider to see if there is any relief on the way.

NGUYEN: And the trouble with bipartisan, it takes two, right? Well, the president and the GOP say they want to change the tone in D.C. We're going to see how that's working so far.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: A sad start to the Winter Olympics. A 21-year-old athlete killed right before the opening ceremonies yesterday during a practice run on the luge. CNN Sports reporter Mark McKay is live from Vancouver. And Mark, many are wondering if this death was human error or was the track just too slick?

MARK MCKAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, T.J., this happened about six hours before the opening ceremonies, so you can imagine the shock that really went through this entire region.

There has been an investigation into the deadly mishap on the whistler sliding centre on Friday. The B.C. coroner's office with the royal Canadian mounted police and the International Luge Federation have done their investigation, guys, and they've deemed it safe. No findings have come out.

But what has come out is there has been placed a wall at turn 16, where the 21-year-old competitor from the Republic of Georgia, lost his life right before the finish line. He lost control, of course, went into a pole, an unpadded pole. Now there have been some type of wall erected there.

And they will go ahead with the competition as scheduled on Whistler Mountain. You can imagine, Betty, though that the competitors will head up there, the Olympians will head up there with a great sense of anticipation and certainly anxiety, perhaps.

NGUYEN: Yes, no doubt. I wanted to ask you about that. I mean, are you hearing some trepidation from these athletes who are going to be competing on that same track today?

MCKAY: We haven't spoken to them directly. The opening ceremony played out, and then the athletes, of course, anyone getting involved in their first full day of competition today, we weren't able to speak to them directly.

But, Betty, we heard a lot going in about the fact that this track was very slick, very fast. Some of the Olympian luge competitors saying it is the fastest track in the world.

You put that with the speed and the element of danger, and you're going to have mishaps. In fact, all week long leading up to Friday's first day here in Vancouver, there were a number of mishaps earlier on Friday before the Republic of Georgia Olympian lost his life. The gold medal favorite from Italy, he crashed out coming down the luge track.

So it is very, very slick and it will be a story we'll follow through the weekend -- Betty?

HOLMES: It's some scary stuff, Mark, just to think these guys going 90 miles an hour, and they're essentially steering by making little movements with their shoulders and their bodies. It's some scary stuff.

But sometimes you always get a storyline from the Olympics. Competition is just starting, so I know the storyline will kind of change, but I guess how has this kind of overshadowed the Olympics as a whole? We saw this opening ceremony last night, which did kind of take a somber tone.

MCKAY: Exactly, T.J. In fact, that was -- that was orchestrated so that this Olympian, who came here to fulfill his dreams, according to IOC President Jacques Rogge, was not able to do so. There was a moment of silence held at the opening ceremonies.

The Georgian delegation, T.J., decided only hours before that opening ceremony they would keep their remaining seven members here. They walked out with black armbands and then they made their way in, given a warm welcome from the crowd, their fellow competitors, a warm applause. And then it all went into the opening ceremony itself, and we always wonder how the Olympic caldron will be lit. As we saw, a bit of a malfunction perhaps inside the centre with that caldron being lit, and then of course the great one, Wayne Gretzky, was then transported a short distance from the B.C. Center to a location right next to coal harbor, where the caldron that everyone will see here in Vancouver was lit.

And that was followed by fireworks, which lit up the night here in Vancouver. So a very somber and solemn start to the ceremony, and now the games have begun -- T.J. and Betty?

HOLMES: All right, it is underway. And Mark McKay for us there, we will be checking in with you plenty over the next couple of weeks. Good to see you. Thanks so much this morning.

NGUYEN: And this next story about second chances, which don't come around too often when you're going for the gold. We caught up with a boxer who missed his shot at Olympic glory but has found a way to keep the dream alive for others.

HOLMES: Also sometimes it's simple things that can make the biggest difference for people barely getting by. And for one community the game changer is a little bit of light, literally. Meet the CNN hero making it possible. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Time now to take a look at our CNN hero of the week. He is a Kenyan man who's made life easier for the thousands in his homeland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVANS WADONGO, YOUNG WONDER: I had to use firewood. I grew up in a small village in the western part of Kenya. They are so poor. It's very frustrating. They have no access to lighting.

My name is Evans Wadongo. I was so overwhelmed. I knew the impact of the lantern on these rural communities.

(SHOUTING)

WADONGO: The amount of money that every household in every day, if they cannot save that money, they can use it to buy food.

(LAUGHTER)

WADONGO: But I want to do more. I just feel like it's right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome back to the CNN Saturday morning. I'm T.J. Holmes. NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. We've got a lot to tell you about, including this major military offensive in Afghanistan.

HOLMES: Yes. The military planners called the assault on the Helmand province city of Marjah the largest in the eight-year war. We have word this morning of two deaths of coalition fighters in Marjah, one a U.S. marine who was killed by small arms fire, also a British soldier who was killed by an IED.

There are some 15,000 NATO and Afghan troops involved in this operation, 5,000 of those are marines directly involved in the fighting in Marjah. Marjah, I want to remind you here, is a Taliban stronghold, the last in that region, estimated that about 1,000 Taliban fighters are holed up in that city now.

A NATO official says large amounts of explosives have been found. The estimated Taliban makes nearly $2.5 million a year from the opium produced in that region.

Well, Afghanistan has become President Obama's war now, and our Kate Bolduan is at the White House this morning joining us live. Kate, explain exactly what is at stake here. How will the outcome of this offensive affect the Obama administration?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, a lot is at stake politically, Betty. I mean, if you just lay out the state of play, you can really see why. This operation is the first major offensive since President Obama announced he was committing 30,000 additional troops to fight in Afghanistan.

And this can be seen as the first real test, at least, of the president's new revamped, refocused strategy in the region. And remember, he has also set a deadline to when he was to start to pull troops out of the region.

So, looking at all of that, the stakes are very high for this president. The objective of this operation and the mission at large is really to oust the Taliban, bring stability to the country, and hand over security to the Afghan people and the Afghan government, especially.

And all of that, all of the -- you know, all of those things need to happen before the president can get to his ultimate goal, which is to start withdrawing troops in July 2011, and that's no easy feat, as we've seen in the past eight years, and now trying to make this big progress in the coming days and weeks and months ahead.

NGUYEN: Yes. No doubt, and we're hearing early on in this offensive that we already have two coalition soldiers who have been killed ...

BOLDUAN: Right.

NGUYEN: ... one of them being an American. When you hear those numbers and we'll continue to hear more, unfortunately, as this carries on, support for war like this does start to wane. So how does the president get that momentum going, get the public on his side when it comes to this offensive and this war in Afghanistan?

BOLDUAN: Yes, and this is the type of news that does not help with public support. And public support has been waning. In the most recent CNN poll that was conducted just about a month ago, the majority of Americans, 52 percent, to be exact, were opposed to the war in Afghanistan.

And public relations, public support, is very important in this type of effort, getting people to understand why it matters to the American public, especially when you see their men and women who are serving over there being killed, very important.

There's no clear answer of how the president can win back more support from the American public. It seems success in this operation and in the mission, or progress is a good step in that direction, but that, again, is not an easy job.

NGUYEN: Yes. All right, CNN's Kate Bolduan joining us live from the White House today on what's at stake when it comes to not only this offensive but this war in Afghanistan. Kate, thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Betty.

HOLMES: I want to get more into exactly why this area, why this city is so critical. We're going to rejoin Christine Fair, an assistant professor at Georgetown University joining us from D.C. Good to see you back here again. Put this simply for our viewers -- why Marjah, why now?

CHRISTINE FAIR, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, there are a couple of reasons. Helmand has been a very resistant stronghold of the Taliban for the last few years. The Helmand valley, ironically enough, in part because of the canal system that the Americans built some 50 years ago, is very fertile. And that territory has been largely used for poppy growing.

And not only is it an important source of revenue directly for the Taliban, remember, it's not simply poppy and the additional things you do to poppy to actually convert it into usable drugs, but it's also the protection racket, it's also the smuggling route, it's also the corruption of government officials that are deeply interlaced into this illicit economy.

So certainly in terms of disrupting this last remaining vestige of the Taliban, this is going to be very important. It's also important because we're trying to get this reconciliation, this reintegration program going on so, beating the Taliban up quite a bit is probably going to be the key to getting them to think about reintegrating.

HOLMES: OK, you talk about getting those corrupt folks out of there. But how do you know what you're leaving behind is not going to end up being corrupt and is going to be loyal to the coalition mission? FAIR: Well, you know, this has been an ongoing problem with the operations in Afghanistan. There are certain ministries that are -- well, there are a number of important allegations about their direct involvement in illicit activity.

And this has been one of the disappointing elements of the Karzai government, and you saw this in his election -- the actual election that he nefariously won. So corruption has really been a problem.

And if you look at McChrystal's campaign plan that he laid out in the summer, everyone focused upon his recommendation for additional troops. Yet his solution was really twofold. One was the addition of more troops and the other was cleaning up corruption in the Afghan government.

And, you know, that part of this campaign really hasn't gotten the attention that it deserves. And I think part of it is that the Americans have very little leverage over Karzai. But what we can control is the number of troops we introduce into the battle space and what those troops actually do.

HOLMES: We talk about what the military can do, but we also know it's so limited, in fact, in what they can do. And there's so much talk about, as well, part of the mission is to maybe turn some of those Taliban fighters, to turn some of those militants. But we also hear at the same time that you can only buy that loyalty for so long. They're not going to be loyal to you long-term. That's a challenge, as well.

FAIR: Yes, it is. Now, the military will tell you that it's not simply buying, or more accurately, as you noted, renting the Taliban.

HOLMES: Yes.

FAIR: They would prefer to say that you're actually offering financial incentives to be retrained. They're going to be given skills that will be helpful in basically resuscitating the Afghan economy.

Now, these are really great talking points. But actually how you do that remains to be seen. And there is this presupposition which I don't believe data support that the Taliban are largely doing this for economic reasons, and if given a job they'll simply defect from the battlefield and reintegrate.

And that's where Karzai has put out a plan that has received some opposition from U.S. officials about reconciliation. The U.S. plan is about reintegrating without reconciliation.

And how the Karzai plan joins up with what the United States government wants to do also remains to be seen because neither the reconciliation supported by the Karzai government or promoted integration has been terribly well-specified, especially in Helmand. Yet this is supposed to be an important outcome of the Helmand operation. HOLMES: This is such a huge, major, complicated political issue over there versus just a military issue. Christine Fair, it's good to have you and your expertise with us this weekend. Thank you so much. We're going to make sure we talk to you plenty in the future about what's happening in Afghanistan. Thank you so much this morning.

FAIR: Have a great morning.

NGUYEN: Well, up next, the president's latest attempt to reach out to Republicans and the response he got.

HOLMES: His comments, coming up next. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The president is talking spending and how to keep it in check in his weekly radio and web address. Take a listen to the president this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last night I signed the pay as you go rule into law. Now Congress will have to pay for what it spends, just like everybody else.

But that's not all that we must do. Even as we make critical investments to create jobs Tuesday and lay a foundation for growth tomorrow by cutting taxes for small businesses or investing in education or promoting clean energy and modernizing our roads and railways, we have to continue to go through the budget line by line looking for ways to save. We have to cut where we can to afford what we need.

This year I've proposed another $20 billion of budget cuts, and I've also called for a freeze in government spending for three years. It won't affect benefits through Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security, and it will not affect national security, including benefits for veterans. But it will affect the rest of the budget.

Finally, I've proposed a bipartisan fiscal commission to provide recommendations for long-term deficit reduction. Because in the end, solving our fiscal challenge, so many years in the making, will take both parties coming together, putting politics aside and, making some hard choices about what we need to spend and what we don't. It will not happen any other way.

Unfortunately, this proposal, which received the support of a bipartisan majority in the Senate, was recently blocked. So I will be creating this commission by executive order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You hear the president there saying if Congress can't get it together on bipartisanship, he'll take action through executive order. He's been pushing this "let's work together" message for a while now, for some time. How is that working out? Paul, our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser, a friend of our show here on CNN Saturday and Sunday morning joins us now from D.C. I mean, some people might not remember, the president, some would say, had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this bipartisan fiscal commission in the first place, but he did get onboard and wants to do it now.

So now he's putting a challenge out there. They have blocked it, but now he's saying hold up, I'll do this thing on my own if I have to. Any reaction to this new move by the president?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. He's been challenging them on and that also on some of the appointments the president wants, people for his administration he wants to get confirmed. He's challenging to confirm to either these people or I'll do recess appointments when Congress is basically not around.

T.J., just in the last week or two we've seen Democrats and Republicans actually working together on a couple things here, on a jobs bill, though there are some problems with that now, but Democrats and Republicans may be working together on a jobs bill to create new jobs.

On health care, we have that summit coming up at the White House in about a week and a half. We'll see how much gets done on health care reform. And also on Wall Street regulations.

So you've been hearing from the president, T.J., for about three weeks since the state of the union address that he wants some bipartisanship, wants to get things done. Both sides in Congress starting to make some moves. We'll see if this really happens.

What do Americans think, T.J.? Check this out. Two-thirds of Americans said you know what, Washington is not working and we're pretty angry. And check this number out. Who's more to blame for this lack of bipartisanship? A recent ABC-Washington Post poll suggested that more people blame the Republicans than the Democrats by a little bit more.

So, there may be some heat on the Republican Party to try to work things out with the president. We'll see.

HOLMES: But it sounds like you are saying there have been some moves towards bipartisanship in the last couple of days. That is some good news to hear there, Paul Steinhauser.

Also, do we have time? Our producer is talking to me. I'm going to go ahead with this next question about Patrick Kennedy not going to be seeking reelection. It seems like we've heard a lot about some guys bowing out. They're not going to be continuing in Congress. It's going to be a lot of turnover in November, isn't it?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. Patrick Kennedy, his announcement the other day, he's the fourth member of the house to say I'm not running next year. That's four just in the last couple days. All together, T.J., as of right now, as of last count, it keeps changing, I think there are about 31 members of Congress that are either not going to run -- or members of the House who are not going to run for their seats or higher office. That's a lot of vacancies.

And part of this is an anti-incumbent mood out there right now. People are not very happy with lawmakers in Washington and they're feeling the heat. This will be a very interesting midterm. There are more Democratic incumbents than Republicans, so I guess the heat is more on them, T.J.

HOLMES: Some are high tailing it out of there.

Paul Steinhauser for us this morning, always good to see you, young fellow. We'll talk to you again soon.

A quick break, and then we are right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Are the Olympic Games goods for tourism? Of course. We're all watching Vancouver now to see who will come out on top. But what happens when the games are over? Here's CNN's Ayesha Tejpar as she takes a look at this week's "On the Go."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rio de Janeiro.

(APPLAUSE)

AYESHA TEJPAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hosting the Olympics is considered an opportunity to show off your country and bring tourists and money to your city. But in reality the European Tour Operators Association says the Olympics have left many cities with enormous debt and surprisingly fewer visitors.

TOM JENKINS, EUROPEAN TOUR OPERATORS ASSOCIATION: They're not particularly interested in behaving like normal tourists. They come to watch the sport, and they've paid quite a big premium do so.

TEJPAR: ETOA says Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, and other cities all experienced a drop in tourism after the Summer Olympics.

JENKINS: They have to build capacity for those visitors, but afterwards they've got a problem with filling it.

TEJPAR: But Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and subsequently experienced an influx of visitors. Vancouver is hoping for the same.

JENKINS: There is an argument that in the Winter Olympics, it does have a difference. People watch the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and they think, hmm, maybe I should go skiing in Vancouver. Very few people watch the Summer Olympics and think, hmm, maybe I should go fencing in Atlanta. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, you know, as the Vancouver Olympics get underway, one American boxer trying to put his Olympic experience behind him. We're going to get to that story in just a second.

But I want to talk to Josh Levs right now who's been covering this military offensive, as well, in Afghanistan.

HOLMES: Keeping an eye on it. And Josh, a lot of people are trying to understand this operation, how the military essentially was giving people a heads-up that they were coming, and also just trying to understand the area of Marjah.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's so interesting what we've been seeing. We've been talking to you about the online elements throughout the war today. We'll show you some links in a minute.

First, I want to talk to you about this, because along with what's been going on in this new mission, what you're also seeing here is that NATO has launched a really big effort online unlike anything they've ever done before.

It's called "30 Days through Afghanistan." They're doing a new video every single day for 30 days in which they are working with Afghan citizens to get the military's message out. This is part of it right here. Each video begins with this little music and introduction they have, and then they talk about how they'll be interviewing some Afghans.

The first person we'll hear from in this video now is a student named Mohammed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are many challenges on our way to prosperity and to peace. But the will is there amongst the youth, amongst others, too, the will to be safe, the will to be stronger, more educated, and more successful as people and as a country.

SGT. KEN RAIMONDI, U.S. AIR FORCE: You can't help but see the future of Afghanistan in the faces of Mohammed and Mattijan (ph). Now we just continue to have the opportunity to make their country great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Now, this is of course very much the military's point of view that you're hearing. And even though it's a NATO project it's being led by two members of the U.S. armed forces.

And a couple other things here that are part of the Web site. Each day they're updating with new photos of people with whom they are interacting. And in addition to that, not only are they taking questions from you, the public, but they're also getting your questions out to Afghans each day. Do you want to ask questions of the people they interview, that kind of thing.

It's a pretty long web address that it takes to actually get to this, so I've posted it for you at the blog. So, Betty and T.J., interesting to see what NATO is doing online to try to reach the world with its message at the same time that you have this huge new mission underway in Afghanistan.

NGUYEN: OK, Josh, thank you so much for that.

And now back to that story that I was telling you about. Up next, the Olympic opportunity that literally slipped through a boxer's hands.

HOLMES: He's making sure others don't face the same fate.

We're back right after a break, stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: As the Vancouver Olympics get underway, one American boxer's trying to put his Olympic experience behind him.

I introduced you to Gary Russell back in 2008, and his parents were trying to raise money to see him fight in China. Gary got his wish, and his parents were there ringside. But the end result was one that he would rather forget.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: The gym, a place to train, perhaps even to forget. Gary Russell fulfilled a lifelong dream by making it to the Olympics, but the experience left him with an empty feeling.

GARY RUSSELL JR., 2008 OLYMPIAN: I kick myself almost every day. I actually am now starting to get over it.

NGUYEN: Gary trained long and hard for his big moment. He was favored to medal in Beijing, but when it came time for his final weigh-in, he came in two pounds over the limit for his weight class. Long story short, he missed his chance to fight. Gary was crushed.

RUSSELL: I feel like I let those people down who supported me, you know.

NGUYEN: Boxing analyst Teddy Atlas was in Beijing and saw what happened, and he didn't sugar coat his words.

TEDDY ATLAS, BOXING ANALYST: With great privilege comes great responsibility, and he missed the boat on that responsibility.

NGUYEN: But Atlas also says this setback isn't as bad as some may think. ATLAS: Without the Olympics having quite, you know, the status that they used to have, he didn't lose as much as he would have lost, say, 15, 20 years ago when an Olympic medal, especially if it was a gold medal, meant so much more.

NGUYEN: Having missed his Olympic window, Gary decided to turn pro, and he is off to a blazing six and zero start, including this knockout a few months ago.

But it's what Gary's doing outside of the ring that's also drawing some attention. The onetime Olympic hopeful has taken it upon himself to speak to youngsters in the D.C. area, talking about his experience in Beijing and how not to let setbacks and disappointment get in the way of what they want to do in life.

RUSSELL: You want to always persevere. Does anybody know what "persevere" means? It means keep pushing forward. No matter what happens, you want to keep pushing forward.

NGUYEN: Gary says he'll always remember the support he got from everyone leading up to the Olympics, and still to this day --

RUSSELL: I'm trying to give back to the community because the community has given to me.

NGUYEN: It's that attitude that has 1976 gold medalist and six time boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard saying bravo.

SUGAR RAY LEONARD, SIX-TIME BOXING CHAMPION: I am more impressed with what he's doing talking to these kids, talking to these students, these athletes, the fact that that is such great information, to say that, you know what, if you stumble, don't give up, don't forfeit your dream -- pursue, persevere.

NGUYEN: With family and friends by his side, Gary says he's grown a lot since Beijing.

RUSSELL: I think everything happens for a reason.

NGUYEN: But there's still work to do, unfinished business.

RUSSELL: I don't regret it because I wouldn't be as motivated as I am now if that didn't happen.

NGUYEN: The 2008 Olympian says the world didn't get a chance to meet him in China, but he says they'll find out who he is soon enough.

RUSSELL: I feel as though I have something to make up. I feel as though I have to make it up to them by becoming a champion as a professional, you know, just to show them that everything that happened, all the love that you gave me wasn't in vain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And Gary is doing his best to put Beijing behind him. He does send his love to the U.S. team in Vancouver telling them, go all out, go after it, because this is the moment they may never, ever experience again.

HOLMES: You feel so bad for that kid. It's such a tricky science.

NGUYEN: Two pounds.

HOLMES: You have to keep the weight or you have an advantage, though.

NGUYEN: That is true. There is much more to come right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.