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Taliban Kingpin Captured; Parades and Parties in New Orleans; Search for Fallen Hiker

Aired February 16, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Outgoing Senator Evan Bayh isn't the only one fed up with Congress. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll says about two-thirds of American voters think most members of Congress don't deserve another term. It should make for an interesting election year.

Also fed up, China. It's been dumping a bunch of the U.S. bonds it's holding, so it is no longer our biggest creditor. That dubious distinction now belongs to Japan. It goes to show you how jittery the rest of the world is because of America's mounting debt and concerns about how that debt is going to get paid.

And part of that debt is caused by war. And today, one of the biggest offensives in Afghanistan is making headway. Allied forces have taken over police headquarters in the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Helmand province.

Now, if the Taliban were the Mafia, the guy I want to talk about now would at least be a don. If it were the U.S. military, he'd be the top general.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is being called the allies' biggest get since 9/11. He heads the Taliban's military, and a senior official in Pakistan says he was captured days ago by Pakistani intelligence and the CIA in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

He is said to be second only to the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and he has been seen -- he's been under U.N. sanction since early 2001. Interestingly, he is a member of the same Pashtun tribe as Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Now, reports indicate Baradar directly oversees Taliban operations in a number of Afghan provinces, including Helmand Province, which is where this offensive, Operation Moshtarak, is taking place. There are said to be 15,000 U.S., U.N. and Afghan troops fighting to take the city of Marjah.

And so, in one week we get a stark example of the two Afghan wars, the more or less conventional combat ops, the war that's taking place, this operation, and the cloak and dagger stuff.

My next guest is well versed in both. Ken Robinson is a former U.S. military intelligence officer. He's got 20-plus years in special ops -- experience in special ops.

Ken, good to see you. Thank you so much for being with us.

First of all, the significance of this capture, it's kind of strange. We didn't hear about it. It wasn't a big deal. And now they've said this is one of the highest ranking guys in the military operation of the Taliban, second only to Mullah Omar.

Is this a big deal?

KEN ROBINSON, FMR. U.S. MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: It is a huge deal. The reason that no one hears about it is there's perishable information that was captured with him that is only usable for about 12 to 24 hours, and they want to exploit that.

All the information that they found on his person -- phones, communication devices -- and if they had let out that he had been captured, they would not have been able to trace it then to the people he was in communication with, because it's done for targeting, to be able to find the next person in the chain, and hopefully reach all of the way to Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden.

VELSHI: Is it strange that this hasn't been trumpeted more? I mean, this is a big, big deal that you say. Why are we not hearing from the administration saying, see, our war on terror is working?

ROBINSON: I think they're getting very smart in their rhetoric, because every time you say you're doing well, there is somebody out there that will show you that you are not and hand you your butt. And they very carefully now are trying to have a measured response to how they do their targeting. Ever since the assassination of these CIA operatives, they have been very, very careful in applying all their kinetic power to the command and control, those who really advice.

VELSHI: Right.

ROBINSON: There's not a lot of people who are out there really planning. Most of these guys are doers and shooters. This is a very key planner, strategic. It's a big hole for them.

VELSHI: Right.

Well, what is the equivalent? If we were looking at the U.S. or the Taliban, who would this guy be?

ROBINSON: He would be someone in the Joint Chiefs.

VELSHI: Right.

ROBINSON: He would be a key operational leader in the J-3 of the Joint Chiefs who understands the operational intent over the next 12 months. They know that this insurge into the Helmand River Valley province is the end game, it is the offensive that must work in order for the United States government and for the Afghan National Army to establish legitimacy and be able to find some form of governance that they can then replicate throughout the rest of the country.

VELSHI: This is the offensive that we're following right now. When you say end game, nobody thinks this is the solution to the problem in Afghanistan, but it must work. This is Christmas Eve with Washington and his troops. If this doesn't work, we're going to have to go back to the drawing board.

ROBINSON: If this doesn't work, it's going to really hurt the credibility of the Afghan National Army, and it's going to create a huge political problem domestically in the United States for the president's policies toward rebuilding Afghanistan. If they don't find governance, if they don't find a way to create islands of stability so that they can then project their power out and become real in the lives of the people, if they don't find a legitimate crop substitution for the poppies -- which there is one and it is called pistachios. The Iranians have done it successfully, and successfully.

And if we can do that -- but first we have to have governance. But we can attack the drug problem.

VELSHI: Right.

All right. We're going to come back and talk about this. We want to talk about -- I want to know how this affects the Taliban. Do they have somebody who is ready to fill this position, and how it affects al Qaeda and, hence, U.S. safety.

We'll come back with more of our conversation with Ken Robinson, former U.S. military intelligence officer, and he's now the president of InVisM Media.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: It might be hard to follow these different insurgencies, these battles, these offensives, what's going on in Afghanistan, but President Obama made a commitment to put more forces into Afghanistan, and there is a game-changing offensive possibly under way right now. But separate from that, the Taliban military leader Mullah Baradar was captured.

I want to talk more about that with military intelligence expert Ken Robinson, who joins me now. He's a former military intelligence officer.

This arrest, is it a game-changer?

ROBINSON: It is because they don't have a lot of people who are in the command and control being able to plan to conduct future operations.

VELSHI: They've got lots of people who are prepared to go out there, fight and get killed.

ROBINSON: And die. And die.

VELSHI: OK. ROBINSON: But not a lot of people who have the influence to be able to lead these large organizations. The Taliban is divided into, like, three organizations, none of which, if we were there, would be cooperating. They would be fighting each other.

VELSHI: Interesting.

Now, this Mullah has been described as a iron-fisted leader, but he's supposedly pragmatic and a bit of a consensus builder. Now that he's gone, is there some very clear replacement for him, or does their structure easily replace top leaders?

ROBINSON: No, they actually exercise a democracy almost cleaner than ours. They're going to have a jirga, and they're going to bring their elders together and they're going to decide who the most righteous guy is who can lead forward, and then they'll democratically elect that person and he'll step up. But as we saw with the death of Mohammed Atef (ph) at the beginning of 2001, who was the military leader for bin Laden, and the other people around him who radicalized him, it hurts because they now have to find a new qualified, charismatic guy who is not on somebody's capture or kill list.

VELSHI: Right.

You said in the commercial break that the Taliban, who we think of as the hardest-edged, the most committed, the hardest to deal with, you said the Taliban can actually be dealt with. Al Qaeda can't be, but you think the Taliban can be negotiated with.

ROBINSON: Well, in Islam there's provisions for making treaties and deals. It's in the Koran. And the Taliban are not radical in the way that the Salafist, Wahabbist, Arab foreign fighter is.

And they are communicating with them. They do have inroads into several of those leaders, and they are talking about some of those forces leaving the battlefield. And there could be a cascading effect with that, but there is no negotiating with al Qaeda. It's simply to find them and destroy them.

VELSHI: All right. Moments ago, in the White House daily briefing, Robert Gibbs was asked about the capture of this Mullah. Interestingly, he wouldn't comment at all. He would not give up what they know, what's happened.

This goes back to something you said a few minutes ago, perishable information. Now, clearly, they have let out the information that they have captured him. Why is the White House not commenting, do you think?

ROBINSON: I think it's a good policy for them to let the military commanders on the ground determine when that information comes out, because they're the one responsible for prosecuting the war, they are the ones to have to determine when they have been able to exploit all the information that they found on the scene when they did a sensitive site exploitation after his capture. And it's a very prudent measure at the national level to let those war fighters who have the responsibility do their jobs.

VELSHI: All right. In your opinion, has what we have seen -- and these are two different issues we're talking about, the offensive in Afghanistan and this capture -- the offensive is old-fashioned boots on the ground war. This capture was achieved sort of through a special ops, cloak and dagger, secretive operation.

ROBINSON: It was cooperation between the ISI, the intelligence service of Pakistan, and our own intelligence agency over there. And that's pretty remarkable, because they haven't cooperated that much.

VELSHI: Right.

ROBINSON: They did in some of the early arrests that we had that we saw back in 2002 and 2004, but they have been real strained. But since the ascension of the new president in Pakistan, with the dangers that the Taliban and al Qaeda have shown to the Northwest Frontier province, the dangers that they have by bringing their forces close to Peshawar, where they're bringing the battle all the way into Rawalpindi, the leadership where the president's palace is, they are getting the message that they are inextricably linked to our security interests, which is to destroy al Qaeda's ability to fight, and to make a deal and settle the issues of the tribal areas and bring the Taliban back to the peace tables.

VELSHI: OK. That might be a good sign for peace.

All right. Ken, good to see you. Thank you so much.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

VELSHI: Ken Robinson, former U.S. military intelligence officer and now president of InVisM Media.

OK. Take a look. Take a look at this. We're going to change track for a little bit.

Mardi Gras, parades in New Orleans. We're going to have more on those remarkable celebrations under way. It goes on until midnight tonight, and then it is all over and we slip into Lent, and you've got to give up your bad habits.

So, get all your partying out today. We're popping back in to Bourbon Street when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let's go back to New Orleans, where the Fat Tuesday parades and parties are still filling the street.

Mike Hos and Lucy Bustamante are joining us again from a balcony above Bourbon Street.

What's it looking like, folks?

MIKE HOS, REPORTER: Oh, it's looking great. (INAUDIBLE) right on Bourbon Street.

You've got to remember, this is one tired, little city.

LUCY BUSTAMANTE, REPORTER: Oh yes.

HOS: Super Bowl championship, NFC championship, Saints parade. But it is -- no city knows how to party like New Orleans, and it's just been one fantastic, sun-drenched day.

BUSTAMANTE: And after years of covering the news in this town, it has been -- it's such a special and rare occasion to have so many positive events to cover just back to back. But every now and again -- let's show you the crowd real quick.

I don't know if you guys can hear in the background people screaming, "Who dat?" But the normally the cliche saying, whenever you want to catch a bead in this town, is, "Throw me something, Mister."

HOS: Right.

But lately, all we've been hearing since the Saints won the NFC championship out here has been, "Who dat?" in case they want a bead.

HOS: And it used to be, "Show me something, Mister," but let's just say it's a little chilly for that today in New Orleans.

(CROSSTALK)

HOS: And I think, also, what people don't probably understand about Mardi Gras is that it's not just Fat Tuesday, it's two weeks of parades all over town. And for the most part, it's family.

Mardi Gras is family. It's about kids and parades. Yes, Fat Tuesday on Bourbon Street, that's a whole other level, but for the most part, Mardi Gras is a great two-week time. So, if you haven't had a chance to come visit, come down and see us.

BUSTAMANTE: Bourbon Street is one of those -- literally, this is why it becomes so popular, because it is the taboo section of Mardi Gras. But if you go anywhere outside of Bourbon Street, like Mike said, you will see just a lot of families set up with the ladders, waiting for the parades, all the way down this street.

Bourbon Street meets Canal Street, and on Canal -- that is one of the most popular routes that is the consistent route for the krewe of -- Krewes of Rex and Zulu, all of the Mardi Gras parades that have been going on for two weeks will roll down that street. And the crowd kind of spills over into Bourbon Street after it's all said and done.

HOS: That's right.

Right now, you can actually walk on Bourbon Street. In a couple of hours, it will get thicker. And by tonight, at 10:00, you don't move. The crowd moves you.

BUSTAMANTE: Moves you. That's exactly right.

HOS: And then at 12:00, I'm sure you've heard --

VELSHI: It's over.

HOS: -- the police come out with horses, their police cars, and they shut it down. Welcome to Ash Wednesday.

VELSHI: Let me ask you why -- tell us -- tell our audience again why you both are dressed the way you are.

BUSTAMANTE: Go ahead, Michael. I'll let you explain this one with your coconuts.

HOS: Yes. Let me first explain, we're news anchors here in New Orleans, but it doesn't look that way. We anchor the 9:00 and 10:00 news in normal gear. But it's Mardi Gras.

In New Orleans, you dress up. You costume, you have fun. For 20-some years I've been a moose. She's been Lucille Ball.

BUSTAMANTE: Variations.

HOS: So, since we won the Super Bowl, we --

BUSTAMANTE: Yes, he basically just wanted to be a chick. He just doesn't want to admit it. So let me just e say it for him.

HOS: We swapped. She wanted to be a moose. It's been a very bizarre-o week for this city, so we're just capping it off.

VELSHI: Well, you are wearing it well. You're wearing Lucy, you're wearing the moose well. And Mike, you're wearing Lucille Ball very well.

Have a fantastic time, and our best wishes to everybody. We're happy to see Mardi Gras and we're happy to see New Orleans celebrating.

Good to see both of you.

BUSTAMANTE: Thank you very much.

VELSHI: Mike Hos and Lucy Bustamante in New Orleans.

All right. The United States is getting its first new nuclear reactors in about 30 years. They are meant to generate power for half a million homes and jobs for more than 3,500 people during the construction phase, 850 on an ongoing basis. President Obama just announced billions, $8 billion, in loan guarantees for the project located about 150 miles east of Atlanta.

The government has just launched an investigation into Toyota's multiple recalls. NHTSA, the National Highway Transport Safety Administration, has ordered the carmaker to hand over documents related to acceleration and braking defects and customer complaints. Basically, they want to see if Toyota acted in a timely fashion or whether it dragged its feet.

If you are fed up with your congressman or senator, you are not alone. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say their current federal lawmakers do not deserve a second term. That's according to a new CNN/Opinion Research poll out today. An interesting statistic as the midterm election season kicks into gear.

All right. When we come back, we are going off the radar, as we do every day with Chad Myers. He's got a bit of a different take on Fat Tuesday. He's going to put on his beads and we'll be right with him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. Want to bring you to up to date on the search for missing climber Joseph Bohlig. It's not really a search, it's a rescue operation.

He's 52 years old, from Kelso, Washington. He fell into a crater, the volcano, at Mount St. Helens yesterday. It's near an area called Shoestring Notch. It's located in the southeast corner along the crater's 8,600-foot back wall.

Now, military helicopters were dispatched this morning from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station to help, but the weather is affecting this search. There are Coast Guard private choppers unable to land in the crater yesterday because of the winds and the weather conditions. Friends say that Bohlig is an experienced climber, he summited Mount St. Helens -- get this -- nearly 70 times.

Authorities say that he fell about 1,500 feet. They seem to be able see him, but they don't know whether he is moving.

Let's go to Patrick Oppmann. He's CNN's all-platform journalist. He's at Mount St. Helens right now.

On the right of your screen, you can see Allan Chernoff, who has had experience. He's climbed up Mount St. Helens and can tell us a bit about it.

Patrick, let's start with you. What is the update?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Well, the update is we're finally getting some good weather, Ali. This is about as good as it has been all day long.

I've been on this mountain for four or five hours, and until about a half an hour ago, I could see very, very little of the mountain because of that heavy, heavy fog which has been hampering the rescue efforts.

I talked to the under-sheriff in the county that's organizing this rescue mission last night and this morning, and they were frustrated that they were not able to get up here sooner, but it's just a question of putting rescuers' lives at risk, because even though they got within about 500 feet of Mr. Bohlig yesterday afternoon, they were not able to rescue him based on where he fell.

He's not at the bottom of the crater. He's about 500 feet up from the bottom of the crater. So just too dangerous yesterday to rescue him, still too dangerous this morning. The sun is peeking out though, and the winds have died down, so they're hoping this afternoon those Navy choppers will be able to get in there and they might be able to get somebody to him and find out if he was able to survive the night -- Ali.

VELSHI: What do we know about his condition, Patrick?

OPPMANN: Well, yesterday afternoon, they heard some whistling that they believe -- rescuers believed that he may have had a small whistle, which a lot of experienced climbers know to carry in case you need to signal somebody. So they believe that as of yesterday afternoon, that he was alive, but an incredible fall. They believe he fell all in all about 1,500 feet, but they are hopeful that he survived.

And we just heard from CNN affiliate KGW that they interviewed Mr. Bohlig's climbing partner, who said he threw a sack of supplies down after him, because this climber, he had taken off his own backpack to pose for a picture. And he was still about five feet away. He knew the dangers of being on this crater, and he probably thought he was far enough away that he was safe.

He wasn't. It collapsed underneath him. But his climbing partner had the wherewithal to throw down that sack of supplies, so hopefully that got to him.

We don't know. We just don't know if he survived the night, what his condition is, how badly he was hurt in this really tremendous fall.

VELSHI: Allan, you have been to the point where he has fallen off, you have seen the notices there. Describe it, describe what you see when you are up there at this point that Joseph Bohlig fell from.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ali, it is an incredible spot, and anyone who has climbed the mountain can easily imagine what has occurred here. When you get to the top, you want to peer into the crater, but you know not to get too close.

And who knows what was in his mind at the time, but five feet is certainly much too close. Maybe he lost respect for the mountain having done it so many times, he certainly knew the danger. Anybody can go on the website and see the Park Service warning people.

But those cornices, especially this time of year, those cornices of snow can easily give way. And if you are not familiar with the idea of a cornice, it is basically a lip of snow. So a lip looking right into that crater easily can just collapse and take whoever is on it with them.

VELSHI: So, Allan, the temptation if you are there is to peer over to look into the crater, to look into the volcano, but you may not be on solid ground as you are peering over, because you're on this cornice.

CHERNOFF: Exactly. You don't want to get to the very edge. You may be 20 feet, 15 feet away, and you are peering over just looking there, and wow, the view is simply astounding. And it is tantalizing, you just want to get closer and closer, but you know you really shouldn't. It is very easy to see how this could have happened.

VELSHI: Patrick, to be clear, we think that he was -- his friend tells us, his climbing partner tells us that he was looking to take a picture. That is what is going on?

OPPMANN: It must have been a very clear day, because he said that Mount Rainier was visible in the background and anybody who lives in the area, any climber knows that that is just literally the money shot, the day that you can see the beautiful mountain, especially from that vantage point. And it must have been just a huge temptation to try and get that photograph.

And as Allan said, when I researching last night before I drove down, the first thing that you see is that advisories to be careful of these cornices. And if you are going to climb, particularly this time of year, you need a permit to go over 4,500 feet, they give you (AUDIO GAP) this kind of information about what to be aware of. It is a big crater. It is very easy to get tangled up there, to maybe get distracted by the beautiful scenery and get into a problem. And even though this climber had gone up and down this mountain many, many times, you never are completely safe and you can't get overconfident.

VELSHI: Yes -- Allan.

CHERNOFF: Certainly, Ali, it is just a situation where you know not to get too close. And maybe the fact that somebody was taking the photograph, maybe he stepped, took one step back, and that was enough.

This is a particular danger, actually in the Spring, when there is huge avalanche potential on this mountain. The snow is thawing a little bit, and so that is especially when they warn people to be very careful.

VELSHI: Let's bring Chad in for that. Chad is standing by.

Chad, it is not just the clouds, the wind, the snow conditions that are hampering the helicopter rescue, but the on-the-ground rescue is hampered by what Allan just said, avalanche concerns.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, they had a Coast Guard Jayhawk in there yesterday and a Pavehawk. And these are monster machines, these are gigantic aircraft and they can take and pull anything out of anywhere, but the winds were too strong yesterday and the pilots could not keep the helicopter hovering long enough. Let me show you here, we'll just go through one thing at a time. We will go through cornice, we'll go through overhang, because it is really easy to see here.

This would be where the rock would be ending, and this would be the snow on top of the rock. So it has been snowing hundreds of inches on top of this mountain. The guy -- and this is a stock photo from the USGS. This is couple of years ago, but still you will get the idea. There is the snow that's overhanging. They were on top of a ledge like that when that ledge of snow let go and they went all the way down -- the one guy went all of the way down here into the canyon itself.

Here is Mount St. Helens, and I'm going to let this play. I'm going to let this play while I go to get a brand new live shot of the web cam that is live on Mount St. Helens that literally just took a new picture, and I'm going to put it on the air right there. So here is what Mount St. Helens looks like. The crates across, one mile. From ridge to ridge, one mile in diameter. In the middle, the lava dome.

The men were up here on this side of the crater as he fell. This is between a 45 and 70-degree slope. Literally, you could not drive a car up here. To walk in here, people say, how come you don't just go hike to him? It's a 14-hour to 16-hour hike just to get to him, and then if he is not able to walk, what good is that? Now you have a hiker in there 14 to 16-hours worth of hiking to get in there.

Something else. We were listening to the sheriff there in the county talking in a press conference. He said that it is a 70-degree slope where they think he is, but it is not snow covered. One problem is that he took the coat off for the picture. When you take -- and he didn't have a jacket on, didn't have a pack on. And whether they thought that he could actually hear that whistle or not, they were not sure. They said that the winds were howling, the aircraft were in the air. You know, they don't know whether that was just wind whistling through something or was he trying to signal something.

They will get him today, because this is what I called up. There it is right there, brand new shot. This is actually from the visitor's center and literally an hour ago, all of the clouds just basically cleared. You could not see anything except cloud cover, now you can see the edgeline, the ridgeline here and you can even see the lava dome right here. He is somewhere back in this area right there and the helicopters will get to him today.

VELSHI: All right, we will keep everybody posted on that. Thank you, Chad. Thanks to Patrick Oppman and Allan Chernoff for your insight into how this is going. We'll continue to cover this story very carefully.

Stay with us, we're coming right back on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let's bring you up to speed on what is happening in the Vancouver Winter Games. Let's take a look at the medal count.

The U.S. is in the lead. It has maintained its lead with eight medals -- two gold, two silver, four bronze. Germany coming up second, five medals -- one gold, three silver, one bronze. France and Canada tied for the third spot; France has two gold and two bronze, Canada has one gold, two silver, one bronze. And Switzerland is in fourth place -- or fifth place, depending on how you look at that -- three gold, no silver, no bronze.

OK, the U.S. hockey team is getting ready. The game gets underway in just a few minutes and they are looking for a repeat of 1980. In fact, one of the veterans of the 1980 games in Vancouver. Mark McKay is covering it for us, he's right there in Vancouver.

Tell us a bit about the hockey games.

MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, men's hockey is nothing short of a religion here in Canada, Ali, you being Canadian, So the Canada men's team will begin their quest for Olympic gold, what they hope is Olympic gold at the end of these games a little later today, against Norway.

The U.S. men meet up with Switzerland. Of course, the U.S. man will certainly give the Canadian men all they can handle as they try to reach the gold medal podium as well.

The women, meanwhile, as you mentioned led by a former Olympian. Team USA meets Russia later today. Mark Johnson was a member of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" team, the team that beat the then-Soviet Union and then went on to win the gold medal. Johnson is inspiring a whole new generation of Olympians right here in Vancouver.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKAY (voice-over): Mark Johnson may be the head coach of the United States Women's Hockey Team, but he is more well known for something else.

HILARY KNIGHT, FORWARD, USA WOMEN'S HOCKEY TEAM: I get nervous talking about him. I mean -- I -- some -- respect, none of us are worthy enough to talk about him.

MCKAY: In 1980, Johnson was on the USA Men's Hockey Team that stunned the world by winning the gold medal in Lake Placid, New York.

NATALIE DARWITZ, CAPTAIN, USA WOMEN'S HOCKEY TEAM: A lot of us weren't born at the time that 1980 happened, but as a hockey player, you are fed that information, You are given books, you are given history, timelines, the movie now. So, you are definitely aware of what 1980 meant not only to the country, but for the sport of hockey. And obviously, he was their leading scorer and a huge part of it. So I definitely -- you definitely feel his presence as soon as you walked in the locker room.

MCKAY: It has been 30 years since the "Miracle on Ice," but Johnson is still able to use his own experience during that time to help motivate his team.

MARK JOHNSON, COACH, USA WOMEN'S HOCKEY TEAM: Everybody saw what happened in Lake Placid for the two weeks, they didn't see what went on for the six months we were together. But a lot of good things, a lot of hard thing, a lot of challenges, but that is how we united ourselves.

MCKAY: Many expect the U.S. to battle Canada for the gold in Vancouver, but the U.S. players just have to look at their coach to know there are no guarantees.

For his part, Johnson feels fortunate to experience the Olympics once again through a different point of view.

JOHNSON: Getting an opportunity to go back to the Olympics, be a part of an opening ceremonies. I know from a coaching standpoint watching my players go through it, I know how excited they're going to be because a lot of them have dreamed about that day. And to actually watch them put on their uniforms, step into the arena and walk through it, I know what it feels like and I'm going to be excited for them to have an opportunity to do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKAY: U.S. women apparently already gaining the inspiration they need from Mark Johnson, Ali. They came out and walloped China in the first match. For both of those teams, USA winning that one 12-1 over the weekend.

VELSHI: Well, it is going to be exciting to watch the hockey games. As always, you're right. Mark, I do have a bit of a preference for them, so I will enjoy them and we will check in with you every day to find out what is going on in the Olympics.

Mark McKay for us in Vancouver.

All right, let me bring you up to date on some top stories right now.

In southern Afghanistan, a big win for U.S. Marines and allied forces fighting the Taliban. They've taken over police headquarters in the insurgent stronghold of Marjah in Helmand Province. It is part of Operation Moshtarak which focuses on regaining control of the region which is known as the nation's heroin capital.

President Obama is drawing up the blueprints for a new generation of nuclear power plants in the United States. He announced over $8 billion in loan guarantees today for two nuclear reactors in Georgia. A new nuclear plant has not been built in the United States in three decades.

In Iran, a promise to continue high-grade uranium enrichment. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country is installing more advanced equipment. The U.S. fears Iran wants to use the enriched uranium to build a nuclear device.

And when we come back, take a look. He is, he is there -- oh, my gosh, he's sitting down. Is he sitting?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Come on. We're in our office. This is our office downstairs.

VELSHI: Ed Henry, that is unbelievable.

Ed Henry with "The Ed Henry Segment" coming up. Remember to follow him Ed on Twitter, @edhenrycnn, and follow me on Twitter, @alivelshi. That's where you can find out what's going on. He's decided to write it down, because he knows when I say it, I leave off a letter or two.

Ed Henry with "The Ed Henry Segment" coming up, as it is every day, in just a minute.

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VELSHI: Every day at this time, we bring you "The Ed Henry Segment" with the famous Ed Henry. He is our senior White House correspondent, and on this segment, he takes you to a place that you otherwise wouldn't get. He get you a little behind the scenes on some of the biggest issues of the day.

Ed Henry joining us now, two big developments today. Number one, we were just talking about this, the president authorizing $8 billion -- with a B -- in loan guarantees to build what he calls the next generation of nuclear reactors right here near Atlanta. This has not been done in 30 years, Ed. It is a big deal in any circumstance, but particularly a big deal for a democratic president.

HENRY: That is right. They think it is a win-win here at the White House, because you will create some jobs with these new reactors. Secondly, you know, they call it clean energy. They think that, you know, you will have a lot less global warming.

But as you say, it is unpopular among democrats, because environmentalists, frankly, have not been pleased about the nuclear power. That's one of the reasons there have been so much opposition over the last 30 years or hasn't been a new nuclear reactor built. And so there is an interesting political problem for the White House, even as the president sort of reaches out to republicans by announcing this, which is what are you going to do with the nuclear waste, sort of long term. That's one of the big problems that some of his fellow democrats have.

And what's interesting is that in a couple of days the president is going to Nevada to do some fundraising. I'll be with him. He's doing some fundraising for the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a lot of trouble back home. As you know Harry Reid has been deadlocked, you know, opposed against sending nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

So I pressed Robert Gibbs on that today, is this now back on the table? What are you going to do with the nuclear waste long term? He basically said no, that they're not going to send it to Yucca Mountain. They do think that's off the table, but that they don't know where it is going to go long term. So they now set up this bipartisan panel, a commission to try to figure out what to do with it.

Well, if you have been following along in Washington lately, bipartisanship is not exactly working out. So they might be back to square one long term. As much as this might be an interesting new idea, what are you going to do with the waste, it might push them back to the same point as to the reason why we haven't had a new plant in 30 years.

VELSHI: And this business of not being bipartisan is costing both parties right now. Brand new CNN Opinion Research poll today shows that two-thirds of Americans think incumbents should not be reelected. So you know, yesterday, we saw Evan Bayh, a moderate democrat from Indiana, saying he has had it. The work of the people is not being done in Congress. This is a guy who has done this for a lot of years, his father was a politician. Politicians saying we are getting tired of politics, that is something else.

HENRY: Yes, and on that question, Robert Gibbs was also asked today by one of my colleagues, how much do you think that the White House is to blame for the fact that Evan Bayh says the system is broken and you haven't really changed it in the last year.

And Robert sort of, you know, he struggled to kind of answer that, because when you talk to these guys privately, these top officials, they want to come up with big change, but they are dealing with a system that they have got and it is not really conducive to sort of pushing through radical change. And so, they are trying to change things like health care at the same time that they try to change the Washington system itself, filibusters and the like.

And so, they basically say and Robert Gibbs finally said he is as fed up, the president is as fed up as Evan Bayh is about the system. But frankly, they're kind of banging their heads against the wall to try to change it.

VELSHI: Hey, one quick question before I get onto -- back to Robert Gibbs and what this -- whatever this is that you've got on the screen here, this follow EdHenryCNN.

HENRY: Well, I have your page up here right now, I've got a question about that in a minute.

VELSHI: Thank you. All right, but first I want to ask you, at the top of the press briefing, Robert Gibbs was also asked about this Mullah Baradar, this guy who has been captured, the head of the military. They have been surprisingly mute about this whole thing. If you have caught the top guy, the top military guy in the Taliban and the second top guy in the entire organization, why not trumpet this more?

HENRY: Well, you are right. You put your finger on something that's interesting. Robert Gibbs, though, is in a tough spot when he's on camera at this daily briefing, because there is a lot of sensitive, classified intelligence around the capture of this Taliban leader.

But I can tell you sort of the behind the scenes story is that when you talk to top White House aides, they are sort of champing at the bit to sort of tout this, highlight this capture, because they think it really puts former Vice President Dick Cheney in a bad light. He was out there just this weekend again saying that, look, the president doesn't think this is a war, the president is not waging a smart war on terror. Within 48 hours we find out, wait a second, we have had perhaps the biggest Taliban capture since 9/11.

And so publicly, they don't want to tout it too much, because they are still have this guy being interrogated by U.S. and Pakistani officials. They don't want to mess it up. But I can tell you, in private, they are basically -- I don't want to say beating their chests, but they're saying, look, what in the world is Dick Cheney talking about.

VELSHI: Gibbs, was he talking about -- Robert Gibbs is on Twitter now, you were telling us about this yesterday.

HENRY: Yes, this is great. We have some fun on this segment every day with who has the most followers -- obviously, I do, so we don't have to get into that again.

VELSHI: He's not as much fun as me.

HENRY: Robert Gibbs, basically, I'll just tell you what happened. It was a reporter from "The Washington Post" basically joked about Gibbs not having a lot of followers. And Gibbs said, wait a second, he basically now has 22,000. He said, how many do you have? I think I've got more than you. So I thought it was kind of funny that even Robert Gibbs is doing a little trash talking at the podium.

And he can, because right now I just did the numbers. He's got 22,000, I've got 10,400, you've got 9,300, Ali. And I was just looking at your page, you were making fun of Rick Sanchez's hair yesterday and said, quote, "I am jealous. I only wish I could do my hair up to like DJ Pauley D on 'Jersey Shore.'" I -- you struck me more as a Snooky kind of (ph) fan on that show. You know I didn't really know you like DJ Pauley D.

VELSHI: Well, no chance my hair is ever going to look like Snooky's. But if I had some hair -- you could do, you could do DJ Pauley D. Tomorrow, why don't you come and do that? Comb your hair upward.

HENRY: I'll try to -- I'll do that tomorrow on the segment.

VELSHI: Ed Henry with "The Ed Henry Segment." We'll see you again tomorrow.

When we come back, we're going down to the Stimulus Desk. We're going to drill down on Michigan, it is obviously the state hardest hit by the recession and hardest hit before the recession. Are stimulus dollars are making a difference in Michigan? We will check in with Josh Levs when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Hey, it is almost the anniversary of the economic stimulus bill, and you might have moved on, but we haven't. Josh continues to work on the Stimulus Desk digging through the 57,000 projects. He's going to be 86-years-old by the time it's finished.

What have you got for us? You are working on Michigan?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're working on Michigan. And you know why, because Vice President Biden was there today. And by the way, you're right, it turn one tomorrow, the whole package turns one-year-old tomorrow. President Obama signed it a year ago tomorrow.

So all right, we want to know what's been done in Michigan, how bad it is. Well, a lot of people point to the unemployment in Michigan, because it is still really, really bad -- it's the worst in America. You're seeing it there, I mean look at that. From December 2007 to this past December, it doubled. Its' at 14.6 percent.

Now, what the administration will say, what the state will say, is that, you know what, even though it is high, it is has been having a few months lately where things were improving a little bit and they say that the stimulus has been helping, that they got a lot of money.

We have one more set of figures here for you and that's the stimulus money. The latest reporting shows that the groups that have received the money to then pay workers, $7.3 billion, they're saying 20,000 jobs, which is a good example what we see with the stimulus. You know, 20,000 jobs, but then the administration says, wait a second, there's also the people, there's more money flowing around now so we'll get jobs from that. And there's the indirect jobs that come from those jobs, so they say it's really lots more jobs.

On the flipside, you've got a lot of republicans that say , if the stimulus was working, why would unemployment be so horrible still in Michigan.

VELSHI: Michigan, in fairness, did have a higher unemployment rate before we started this whole thing.

LEVS: Absolutely. And no -- and also, we've seen what's happened with the car market, there are a lot of reasons for it. But you know, they're saying, hey, it's not enough.

And we're hearing from people about this, taking their posts to the blog -- CNN.com/Ali, CNN.com/Josh too.

VELSHI: Perfect. Tomorrow, we'll talk about the anniversary of the stimulus what we've learned in this project. Thanks, Josh.

All right, time now -- well, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, I'm going to talk to you about tough new rules to crackdown on airline delays. Why you have seen things a little differently in the last couple of weeks with all of the weather that we've had that has closed down airports and canceled flights.

Stay with us.

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VELSHI: OK, it is time for "The X-Y-Z of It." Let me take the post-Valentine's Day's week to remember something not so romantic.

Remember the JetBlue Valentine's nightmare of 2007? It was a turning point for the entire airline industry. In the midst of a massive winter storm, JetBlue did not cancel flights because they didn't want to strand people at airports. Well, we know what happened. People got stranded on planes on the tarmac, in one case for 11 hours. After a huge backlash, JetBlue apologized, but it wasn't the only offender. Last year, passengers on a Continental flight were stranded overnight on the tarmac in Rochester, Minnesota and the examples go on.

Well, JetBlue did their own thing to turn themselves around and that turnaround is spreading. Tough new federal government rules take effect industry-wide in April and those new rules impose a three-hour limit on domestic tarmac delays. I happen to think three-hours is still too long, by the way. But get this -- airlines could be fined $27,000 per passenger for violating that limit. That is not plane delays, that is time on the tarmac.

Well, let me tell you. The airlines are taking no chances, they are not waiting for the rules to go into effect. These past couple of wintry weeks has been a test of the system. The airlines didn't hesitate to cancel flights, allow passengers to reschedule or refund their money if they couldn't. Most people, even those like me who had a few flights canceled over that last few weeks, probable feel better we weren't sitting on the tarmac for hours.

Kudos to the airlines. Whether you're changing for our benefit, for you benefit or just to save money, we don't care. It is a good move.

I will be back tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific .

Right now, here's Rick with "RICK'S LIST."