Transcripts For FOXNEWS FOX And Friends 20100901

finally it was the party favorite vs. the palin-backed tea party candidate. who won? we'll tell you who the official winner was and who gave the concession speech. "fox & friends" meanwhile starts right now. >> all right. it's september 1st, a little earth, wind and fire. >> right. >> and we could be getting all three this weekend up and down the east coast. >> let's hope not. there's a variety of reasons why. most importantly, safety for all the people up and down the east coast. eric in for steve doocy. >> thank you. good to be here. >> money rocks guy here. >> that's right. that's right. >> so good to see you in person and you go through a tough transition in your career. tie or no tie? i mean, you look natural. >> listen, i was all for the tie, you know. they said when management says you don't really need a tie if you don't want it. i said deal, you got it. >> if i did wear a tie, i would probably wear that one. >> swedish colors, brian had fun. >> i'm not talking about the swedes. >> you might be forced to. let's get to that fox news alert. hurricane earl category 3 storm downgraded from a 4. tourists on north carolina's island are already being told to evacuate. craig boswell live for us in the outer banks with all the developing details. good morning to you, craig. >> and good morning to you, yeah, downgraded. kind of a relative term. only 10 miles per hour. still a category 3 at 125 miles per hour. people are being urged, you know, prepare for the worst. hope for the best. as you mentioned, the very first evacuations have been ordered. they are under way for 5,000 visitors to the island. they're being told to move inland. there are 800 residents on that island as well. they can stay. they're being urged to move inland as well. this island is only accessible by ferry. hurricane earl likely changing the plans for thousands of people this holiday weekend. just along -- just in the outer banks, there are about 33,000 residents. on the labor day weekend, people pour in. it will remain to be seen if many of those people change their minds as hurricane early churns its way up the east coast and it remains to be seen if more evacuations will be ordered here in the cape hatteras area. they'll be making a decision on that later this morning. we'll be watching that as hurricane earl moving its way into the east coast, expected to sideswipe the east coast. you got to watch it. you never know as these things come ashore and since hurricane bob, not have such a large storm targeted such a large swath of the east coast. back to you. >> craig boswell live for us in the outer banks. thanks very much. >> big story is the weather slamming the whole east coast. i've never seen computer images or models like that. meanwhile, the president of the united states, president obama talking about the iraq war yesterday and by the way, a quick note. if president obama can't look natural coming from the oval office because even if he looked stiff, it is impossible to do that. those people -- look, he looks like president obama who looks so natural in front of people in front of the camera. looked rigid last night. i guess he had -- he did have a message in which was to say, hey, the iraq war which i called a dumb war in the past and said the surge would never work, it looks like we're a-ok there as we're about to leave. >> he did make that official right off the bat. he talked about iraq, afghanistan and then suddenly we were talking about the economy which was interesting because the speech was about iraq. but anyway, he made sure to point out that he kept his campaign promise, it was in the first paragraph. listen to this. >> tonight, i am announcing that the american combat mission in iraq has ended. operation iraqi freedom is over. and the iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country. this was my pledge to the american people as a candidate for this office. last february, i announced a plan that would bring our combat brigades out of iraq while redoubling our efforts to strengthen iraq's security forces and support its government and people. that's what we've done. we've removed nearly 100,000 u.s. troops from iraq. we've closed or transferred to the iraqis hundreds of bases. and we have moved millions of pieces of equipment out of iraq. >> so basically, he was following the blueprint plan that president bush put in place, as you recall, back in 2008, i believe. president bush laid out exactly this is what would happen. and president obama is following through with that. here's the debate, guys, this morning. did the president thank president bush? did president obama thank president bush for the surge and for bringing iraq to its current state? >> well, he did. he tipped his hat. i'm not sure that he outright thanked him and said hey, boy, this success of iraq was because of the surge. remember, he was against the surge about midway through the speech, he said by the way, i'm thinking about doing a surge in afghanistan because it worked so well in iraq. he didn't say it like that. he tipped his hat. i don't know if he outright thanked him. >> didn't president bush almost get hit by the shoe? that's when president bush was formally announcing when the troops were coming out and the status of the agreements had been signed so for president obama to say i put the plan -- to say he put the plan in place and he's implementing is inaccurate. he's seeing through what was signed when he left office because the surge worked which he was against. he says "no one could doubt" to answer gretchen's question "president bush's love of troops and security to our country, as i said. there were patriots who supported the war and patriots who opposed it. all are united and appreciate the service of the men and women." before that, he said i'med mindful the iraq war has been a contentious issue here, too. it's well known that president bush and i disagreed from the war at the outset. he didn't really thank president bush but he acknowledged president bush and they were on separate sides that was somewhat diplomatic. what we were saying in the preshow, i would have loved to have him insert, president bush would like me to relay to you after we spoke today. that would have been a lovely time to hear president bush to give a message to the american people. >> maybe the minimum, gretch. he had to acknowledge that president bush was responsible for the surge that actually ended the iraq war and move on to taking credit for whatever is going on in afghanistan and maybe the economy. >> he basically said what we all know which is president bush supports our troops. we've known that for a long time. let's bring in the retired lieutenant colonel oliver north to get his take to this speech. good morning. >> good morning. i listened to the speech. i was going to watch it but my daughter was giving birth to our 12th grandchild. >> congratulations. >> so i listened to it. and let me just tell you, i thought it was surreal. i cannot believe he couldn't connect the dots between what's happened in iraq. what is happening in afghanistan, related to the country in between them and that's iran. and so what he does is it's not the iraq war speech. it's the kitchen sink speech. he throws in the economy. he talks about the palestinian-israeli peace talks. in other words, he doesn't have a grasp of the strategic importance of what transpired not yesterday but, in fact, two years ago as the surge took over and iraq started to become the first democratic muslim country in the world. >> uh-huh. did you get the sense that some of the critics afterwards as they were dissecting the speech said that they felt like this president really just wants to be a domestic president. that he really doesn't want to be involved in all of these foreign policy issues. th is that your take? >> absolutely correct, gretchen. what it does, that speech focuses on what barack obama wants to do. that's why he throws jobs and the economy and basically blames the war in iraq for what's transpired. that's why i said, this was a surreal speech from a perspective of someone when they false build it as an iraq speech, he throws all these other things into the mix and somehow wants to blame what happened in iraq for the state of our economy today. it's stunning. >> decade of deficits and deficits and spending. here's -- >> by the way, it's not his fault. >> right. when it comes to the economy, it's ok to look back but when it comes to the war, let's look forward. president obama talked about the afghan war. i want you to hear this and then react. >> americans across the political spectrum supported the use of force against those who attacked us on 9/11. now, as we approach our 10th year of combat in afghanistan, there are those who are understandably asking tough questions about our mission there. but we must never lose sight of what's at stake. as we speak, al-qaida continues to plot against us. and its leadership remains anchored in the border regions of afghanistan and pakistan. >> important passage, colonel? >> brian, no, it's important in what he leaves out. if it's that important over what's at stake, as he says, what's the answer? you notice the word victory or victorious only appears once in the 19 minute speech. it's at the back end and it's totally unclear as to whether he's talking about what's transpiring right now in afghanistan or what he was talking about earlier in terms of iraq. i mean, this is not a strategic perspective. this is not winston churchill, we will fight them on the beaches and the hills. this is not those -- the kinds of talks that we got from f.d.r. during the war. this is a leader who is totally disengaged from the strategic importance of what's transpiring and what's transpired out there. >> all right. colonel oliver north's opinion on the speech last night by president obama. thanks so much for getting up early, especially with your grandchild being born. congratulations. >> she's beautiful. >> thanks so much, ollie. >> all right. in less than two hours, defense secretary robert gates will attend a change ceremony in iraq as he visit troops whose combat mission is formally closed. malini wilkes joins us from baghdad. malini? >> well, good morning and that's right. there's really two things happening today. the change of command ceremony, the general after nearly five years in iraq is leaving and the new commanding general, lloyd austin is going to be taking over officially and, of course, it is also the end of combat operations yesterday. and the start of operation new dawn. and to explain a little bit more about what that means, i'm bringing in general steven landsa who is the spokesman for the united states forces in iraq. first of all, why are both things happening today? general, why not have the general stay around a while, transition. there's no government here. why today? >> first of all, we recognize just the great contributions and sacrifices that the general has made in the mission. as we transition from combat operations to stability operations, we come with a new change of command. they will take this mission through in accordance with the security agreement until the mission ends. this is a fitting way for the general to leave here having conducted operations at three different levels here, division, core and theater command. >> you've described what's happening next as combat troops doing noncombat operations. exactly what does that mean? >> it's really about a change of mission. it's a change of mission from combat operations to stability operations that's focused on three things. first of all, some of our forces will continue to partner with the iraqi security forces for counterterrorism operations which we do in a lot of other countries. second, we'll provide support to the reconstruction teams, nongovernmental organizations through the embassy to help build civil capacity and finally as part of our mission, to continue strategic partnership and building an iraqi military, we'll continue to invest our training, advice and assistance to build their capability and capacity over time. >> particularly with the counterterrorism, though, they'll be out there pretty forward in some cases. still going to be in harm's way. >> some of our guys will be out there advising, training and assisting and the rules of engagement will apply to them. we'll have forces continue to train and be advisors for our stability operations mission. >> veried go very good. we know you're going home soon. >> i am. i leave tonight. >> thank you very much. back to you in new york. >> thanks so much and thank the general for his service. meanwhile at 13 minutes after the hour, here's what's straight ahead -- >> coming up, eight dead in the mexican resort city of cancun? why the violence is spreading to tourist hot spots. that's next. >> alvin greene on scene. the surprise candidate stuns voters by busting a move. this isn't your radio show, is it? >> no, it isn't. ♪ express yourself ♪ ♪ oh, do it ♪ oh, do it [ female announcer ] coffee is like life. it's better when you add your flavor. coffee-mate. from nestle. ♪ [ male announcer ] giving up cigarettes can take more than willpower alone. but today's a new day. for many, smoking is a treatable medical condition. so talk to your doctor about prescription treatment options and support. and this time, make it your time. >> sheriffs in arizona are being dragged into a court battle with the aclu. group is suing 15 sheriffs over their enforcement of the state's controversial immigration law. owen buzz mills is a retired u.s. marine and prominent businessman in arizona who trains law enforcement officials and he's also now raising funds for those sheriffs' legal defense. good morning to you, buzz. >> good morning, gretchen. pleasure to be here with you. yes, i've accepted the challenge of the border sheriffs.com organization to raise money for the legal defense of our border sheriffs. these folks are being -- are being sued personally by the aclu. it seems like everybody in arizona has a target on them here recently. and now they're going after these folks personally. so we -- we can't let our sheriffs who are duly elected, you know, constitutional officers that are the only thing that stands between arizona residents and these international criminals coming across our border, we can't let them be sued. >> i know what you're saying is, you know, look, so far i've raised $125,000, we need about $4 million. you want these sheriffs to be able to do their jobs on a daily basis and not worry about trying to raise the money to fight the aclu, right? >> boy, that's exactly right. you know, they're out here every day, you know, they get up every morning. they've been doing it for decades and they kiss their wives and children good-bye. they go out and put themselves on the front line and don't know they're coming home that night. these folks don't have time while they're out protecting the arizona residents to be worried about somebody stabbing them in the back from inside the beltway, you know, sitting inside the air conditioned ivory tower and doesn't have a clue what's going on down here in our border. >> let's talk a little bit about another disturbing trend that you've been noticing and that is that now members of drug cartels coming over the border are dressing up like u.s. officials including texas border sheriffs so tell me what's going on. they're called cloners? >> yes, they're called cloners. what they do is they get vehicles, they paint them up to look just like u.s. vehicles whether it's arizona department of transportation, u.s. border patrol, texas highway patrol and they get the uniforms, they come across and it happened all the time. we stop these vehicles and look at them and they'll have 300, 400, 500 pounds of dope inside of them. it's -- it's a common occurrence and it happened all the way from california to the gulf. >> all right. very interesting. we'll continue to discuss that throughout the show this morning. owen buzz mills, thanks for getting up so early out in arizona and sharing our thoughts with you. or your thoughts with us. >> thank you for having me. thank you so much for having me. good morning. >> coming up on the show, all shareholders are supposed to have the same rights, right? well, wrong. stu varney explains how the average american is being cut out in favor of the unions. he's coming up next. 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[ smack! ] [ smack! smack! smack! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums >> 23 minutes after the top of the hour. a couple of quick headlines for you. a major upset overnight. alaska senator lisa murkowski concedes to the g.o.p. election. she concedes to joe miller. murkowski the latest incumbent to lose the party's primary. miller faces democrat scott adams in the general election. they had $7,000 in cash and a cell phone taped to a pepto-bismol bottle. but homeland security now saying it doesn't add up to terror charges. the two yemeni citizens arrested monday for an alleged terror dry run are still being held in amsterdam. they also had three other mobile phones taped together, three large knives and several watches all bound by tape and one man slipped past security with an expired visa. a judge will decide today whether to release them. >> all right. they approve a new rule to give shareholders more choice on who sits on corporate boards. is that a good thing? is that good? wait a second, not so fast. stuart varney is here and calls it a disgraceful payoff for the unions who supported obama during his campaign. since we've quoted you, no reason for you to show up. >> ok. that's all -- >> we got just time to fill. what do you mean by this? why isn't it as it appears? >> it's a new rule that gives undue influence and power to the unions to get people of their own choosing on to the board of directors of our major corporations. it's a power grab. it puts unions right at the heart of private enterprise and there's no vote on this. this is just an sec rule change under financial regulatory reform. >> stuart, a rule change. i've spent some time on boards of directors and i can't imagine the situation with the sec called us and says, by the way, put this union guy on your board. then, what is it? >> how does it work? >> it's a change in who can mount a proxy fight. sounds complicated but it's a change in the rules of who can nominate someone to go on the board of directors, a proxy fight. it's now favoring organized political groups like unions or environmentalists. it's a strike right at the heart of private enterprise and gives unions and environmentalists a great bit more share of the power. >> they can reject them. >> they can but ordinary shareholders don't vote very much in these proxy fights. >> that was going to be my point is that -- is it your belief, then, this is so arbitrary or such in the fine print that the average shareholder doesn't even know about it. >> yes, that's basically it and it's a payoff. all the money and manpower that the unions and the environmentalists contributed to the obama campaign and to democrats across the country in 2008, this is a payoff. here's some power over private enterprise. >> on its face, isn't this an answer to some of these corporations that have hired other friends of theirs on the board of directors to give them a rubber stamp to allow c.e.o.'s to do whatever they want to do. >> you can look at that if you'd like. now look to the future. you have a union guy or union proxy on the board of directors. he or she might say don't do business with that company. it's nonunion. don't do business in that state. it's a right to work state. don't do business with that company. they supported right wing causes. don't do that. >> very quickly -- >> you really want that? >> we both have been talking about it quite a bit. the way that city went down is because 400 people showed up for a vote, gretchen. to your point, people don't vote. they don't read the proxies. they send the paper in or they don't and things like this could happen. >> democracy is a wonderful thing but you need participation in the vote. this proxy fight, there is no participation in the vote. that allows organized groups to muscle in. >> right. >> i used all my friends to get you a show. that's coming up at 9:20 eastern time with the fox business network. i vote for stuart. watch him there. good job. >> i like you a lot. >> eric, you're so jealous. >> coming up on our show, he's not coming out without a fight. how tim pawlenty plans to spend his last months in office in defeating the new health care law. >> why she's defending this session outside ground zero. and south carolina's surprise senate candidate alvin greene would rather dance than talk politics or look for a job. plus happy birthday to gloria estefan. she's cuban and she's 53 years old today. mmmm. you don't love me anymore do you billy? what? i didn't buy ts cereal to sweet talk your taste buds it's for my heart health. good speech dad. 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[ woman ] it's my right to breathe right. isn't it your right, too? >> fox news alert right now, because that monster of a storm that's called hurricane earl, guess what? now it's a category 3. down from a 4. virginia's coast part of the hurricane watch and evacuations are under way on north carolina's island. janice dean is live for us in the extreme weather center tracking this storm. is the extreme weather center different from the regular weather center? >> it is hyped up. we are amped up for the storm. you know during the election time, they call tsay too close call. we don't know where it's going. we know it's going to come very close to the northeast and mid-atlantic coast line. but we don't have an exact landfall. if it's going to make landfall at all. it could actually just hug that coastline and bring hurricane force winds from cape hatteras all the way up to coastal maine so let's take a look at this storm. 5:00 a.m. advisory, they did bump it down to a category 3 but i don't want you to pay attention to that because we're still dealing with a major hurricane. it's going through some fluctuations, we could see it amp back to a category 4 storm within the next several hours. already starting to see some colder cloud tops so what that tells me is this storm is strengthening and we could be back to a category 4. doesn't matter if it's a category 3 or category 4, it's the matter of a couple of miles in wind speed. here your hurricane advisories, hurricane watches in effect from surf city, rather, to paramour island. you don't see a tropical storm watch from cape fear to surf city. real quick, here is the track. it hasn't changed much, guys. really anywhere from hatteras, long island, you need to be keeping an eye on this. it's a matter if this wobbles to the left just 100 miles, it could be the difference from just a bad storm to a life-threatening storm. so, unfortunately, we'll have to watch this track very carefully and people need to know what they're going to do if evacuations are in place. >> i'll keep my fingers crossed that this thing will go out to sea. >> i would love to have that happen. >> i would love to warn the dolphins, leave us alone for human beings that prefer not to deal with it. you said if it was going to hit massapequa that you were going to call me last night. you didn't call. i'm thankful for that. >> you might get the call tonight. >> thanks, janice. we have to bring in another special woman. >> this is the quo. we have met our responsibility, now it's time to turn the page. that's the president's words as he formally ends the combat role in iraq in an address from the oval office. molly joins us from the white house to tell us more about that speech. good morning. >> good morning, gretchen, brian and eric. president obama has said frequently this is a campaign promise kept, withdrawing combat troops from iraq by the end of now last month, august 31st. in his oval office speech last night, the president said he and former president bush disagreed over the war but said, as you were just saying it's time for country to "turn the page." here's more of what president obama said about his predecessor last night. >> no one can doubt president bush's support for our troops or his love of country and commitment to our security. as i've said, there were patriots who supported this war and patriots who opposed it. and all of us are united in appreciation for our servicemen and women and our hopes for iraqi's future. >> republicans, though, took issue with the president talking about fulfilling a campaign promise when he was talking about withdrawing combat troops from iraq. here's what the top house republican had to say. >> using campaign promises as yardsticks to measure success in iraq and afghanistan runs the risk of triggering artificial victory laps and premature withdrawal dates unconnected to conditions on the ground. >> president obama has said all u.s. troops will leave iraq by the end of next year. now mr. obama said it's time to tackle with energy and grit issues at home such as the manufacturing base, energy policy and education reform. as for the president's schedule today, he'll be meeting with israeli and palestinian leaders. their first face-to-face talk for the first time in two years. the president will meet separately with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, palestinian president abbas, jordan's king abdela. egypt's president, they are the only two countries with peace deals with israel and tonight, all of them will have dinner at the white house. back to you. >> all right. be very curious to see who will condemn the hamas bombing that killed four people. see if that plays a role. glad to see theefr still talking. coming up next hour, senator john mccain joins us live with his reaction to the speech. he was critical of president bush for not surging sooner and credited president bush for coming around and changing strategies. let's see how he feels about how president obama acknowledged maybe his mistake. >> i have a hunch i know where he's coming out on this one. not going to go easy on the president's speech last night. >> wait to hear from the senator. in the meantime, couple of other quick headlines for you. six women and two men killed at a fire bombing in the bar in the mexican resort town of cancun. bar employees say molotov cocktails were thrown at the place. they suspect that drug hitmen were behind the attack. interview on that coming up later in the show. >> all right. he is not leaving without a fight. minnesota governor tim pawlenty signed an executive order barring state agencies from participating in the democrats' new health overhaul. obamacare. he leaves office at the end of the year and expected to launch a presidential campaign. he says the health care overhaul is a government intrusion into the personal lives of its citizens and, perhaps, unconstitutional. eric? >> notice anything different during president obama's speech last night from the oval office? maybe new drapes. the president and his family were on vacation in martha's vineyard, the oval office got a make-over, drapes, carpet, wallpaper, furniture, all new. some interior designers call it more calming than the gold colors used by president bush. gretch? >> long shot senate candidate alvin greene shows he can dance in more ways than one. >> are you ready? >> here we go. >> ♪ when i say alvin you say greene ♪ >> got the moves there. somebody has to dance with alvin. >> greene stopped by wbt radio in charlotte, north carolina where he danced to a song about himself. he side stepped answering questions about his military record and obscenity charges. he faces jim demint who is expected to win. >> isn't that south carolina? it's not north carolina. maybe he was visiting north carolina. he was running for senate in south carolina. >> i say brian -- you say kilmeade. >> let you in on a secret. brian doesn't dance. >> right. but you can dance for me. and about me. that will be fine. >> i'll stay tuned for that. >> all right. having a parent go off to war is sometimes quite hard on a child but thanks to the national military families association, creation of it operation purple camps, the whole experience is getting a lot easier. >> former c.i.a. director and air force general michael hayden and his wife jeanine know about these struggles and are trying to make them easier for military children. thanks so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> glad to be here. >> tell me about operation purple. >> well, operation purple is a free summer camp, a week of summer camp for the children of deployed military. it's actually open to children from all the uniformed services and with the particular focus on those who have military parent deployed over a one year period. this year it was from december 2009 to december of 2010. >> sorry to interrupt you. where does the money come from? is it very expensive for operation purple to operate? >> it is quite expensive to operate. this year, it was about $5.5 million to send approximately 10,000 children to camp. and the money has come this -- from the sierra club foundation and sierra foundation and other private donors. after this year, the money is going away and we need others to step up and help us to fund this program or we won't be able to continue it. >> and some people watching right now may say how did this couple get involved in this? i'm sure they recognize your face, general hayden. you were the former c.i.a. director but also an air force general who had to be away from his family, right? >> that's true. but i've been fortunate. i've not had to bear the kind of burdens that the generation of military folks today have to bear. i find it remarkable last night in the president's speech in 18 minutes, twice he pointed out the sacrifices that military families have to make in order to allow the military members to continue to defend america. >> right. there's something about kids of military families that want to relate to other kids in military families because they know what each other is going through. that's something that people on the outside who aren't in that situation can't relate to and this gives them the opportunity, right? >> that's exactly right and that's the whole -- one of the main points of the purple camps is to bring these children together. people think military kids, they're living with other military kids but that's not really the case. the majority of children of the military live in civilian communities and we have a lot of guard and reservists who live out in the community and so they're off to war and their children are alone so when we bring them together at the operation purple camp, we get a chance to tell them, thank you. we get a chance to tell them, kids serve, too. and they get a chance to be with other children in the same situation and learn that they're not alone. they can provide support for one another. >> right. if you want to learn more about this program, you can go to our web site at foxandfriends.com. we'll link you to this organization. thanks for bringing this to our viewers. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> all right. coming up straight ahead now as we move ahead, he died a hero. ever since family members of pro football star turned soldier pat tilman have been screaming cover-up. now of a documentary. filmmaker with his three year investigation into what happened in pat tilman's death. >> wow is right. man who survived a stall thanks to a parked car. first, the quote of the day. who said this -- ♪ [ female announcer ] yopit's real fruit and the goodness of dairy gives you a little slice of happy. and happiness comes in 25 delicious flavors. yoplait. it is so good. and happiness comes in 25 delicious flavors. ♪ [ instrumental: uphey, max. 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[ barks ] long live your buddy. oh, max! long live your dog. purina puppy chow and purina dog chow. >> couple of quick headlines for you right now. a man tries to jump to his death from 39 stories high in new york city but he survived by landing on a dodge charger. the 23-year-old suffered two broken legs and a bruised lung when he hit the car. the car's owner credits the rosary that was inside. tiger woods' former mistress is sparking controversy by doing a photo shoot at ground zero. it's part of the reality show "celebrity rehab." she lost her fiance in the rubble. she was captured in this iconic photo days after the attack. eric? >> pat tilman gave up his professional football career with the arizona cardinals to join the rangers after september 11th. in 2004, he was shot and killed in afghanistan. u.s. government initially blamed his death on enemy fire but the tillman family later discovered that the entire story was all part of a military cover-up. >> all the generals were lying. >> can't be sure. >> can't tell you. >> it's a guess. >> i don't know. >> i don't recall. >> precisely how i learned that he was killed. >> find out that the military were the very people that lied to us. it's outrageous! >> filmmaker explores this controversy in the new documentary "the tillman story" and joins us here right now. first of all, what inspired you to do a movie about pat tillman, an american football hero turned soldier? >> i think any filmmaker would have jumped at this opportunity. it doesn't come off as a documentary. you couldn't write this stuff. it's got more twists and turns than an nfl playbook and has an inspiring story, taking on the u.s. government. this -- this very inspiring family. and, of course, pat tillman is a great american hero who, you know, i think any filmmaker who jump at the opportunity to tell his story. >> did you contact the family or did the family contact you to make this film? >> we contacted the family. we worked very closely with the family and we spent three years working with them to get the story right and we worked with his platoon as well. his platoon mates collaborated and, you know, there was -- we felt a real compulsion to correct the rorpd. -- record. the way it's been reported is really far off the mark and i think people will be very surprised with they find out how different the story is. >> and the family worked with you throughout the film? >> they did. >> advisors? >> they did, yeah. >> has the military contacted you in response to the film? >> no, you know, we've had some very -- some very gratifying responses from veterans groups, from soldiers stillen li enlist. the soldiers in his platoon say they love the film. >> what about the pentagon? >> no, they haven't contacted me yet. they have yet to account for their actions. >> the film is released for general viewing on friday, is that right? >> that's right. >> thanks for joining us. travesty our troops are willing to lay down their lives for our country but they can't vote. what's being done to change that. then president bush invited brian kilmeade to play golf on his team this friday. one problem, just a little problem. brian can't golf. so we brought in the pros to help him. yeah, we'll see this. not bad. not bad. not bad. funny thing about vegetables... they fill you up without filling you out. yes! v8 juice gives you three of your five daily servings of vegetables. that's what i'm talking about! v8. what's your number? i don't see anything yet. no, over there, we've just gotta keep going to the left. what's your deal with going left? (rock music) get great deals during the bass pro shops labor day sale. your adventure starts here. >> the answer to the quote of the day is kristen bell and the winner is michael from goldsboro, north carolina. >> congratulations, michael. well, president bush invited me to golf with him on friday on patriots day across the country. but the problem is i don't golf. so i started training monday. here's how it's going. >> so if you're going to golf with president bush, what better place to get the rules of the game down, the lay of the land than going to the club his grandfather belonged to and his dad grew up in, in greenwich, connecticut, round hill country club. who better to talk to than tom henderson, so-called zen master of the game. >> ♪ not afraid to take a stand ♪ >> how often have you played? >> whoops. five times. two rounds of golf. >> flip it around. is it safe to say you don't have a handicap? >> my handicap is my game. >> how much can you dedicate to practicing? >> i think it's a matter of hours, even more than days. >> do you want to be a student or do you want to be a patient? >> right now, we're an emt. ambulance siren is going off. >> i'd say 99% of your weight should be on your front foot. you should be able to have so much weight on that front foot, you should be able to tap your toe here. >> how about that? >> taking inventory here. up to the target most of the way on the front foot. let's give this a little bit more weight like that. now, if you show this finish to the president, he'll say man, this guy is a player. >> where are we going? >> we're going on the golf course. >> ready for the course? >> we're gonna try it. >> that went a little right. >> right. >> this is why you bring more than one ball. >> there you go, brian. >> actually thought it went a little bit further but good eye on your part. >> good job. middle of the fairway. very nice. >> right idea. >> there's some good distance control there, brian. excellent putt. the next phase in my golf boot camp is getting fitted for clubs and that's why i'm here at the calloway performance center at the world of golf. you have taken me on as a client. are you ready? au >> i'm ready for you. >> experience something that very few people get to see. the most accurate machine in the world. it will figure out exactly how fast your club is moving so we can correctly fit you and your golf clubs. we'll start today with the diablo edge. >> ♪ smash >> this is the average of the three shots. your club has speeds about 62 1/2 miles per hour. you can see the ball speed is about 82 miles an hour. and your finish, you can see into what you were taught is -- >> get on the front foot. >> good balance. the ball is slightly forward in your stance. that can affect your path and right. >> ♪ throw my hands in the air sometimes ♪ >> move the ball in your stance. you finish better. your attack angle almost got to six. all right, james, do you have enough this ? >> i have enough. i've seen enough. i order up the clubs and give them to you. >> you know, on that day, all the green fees of the 3,000 clubs across the country go to patriots. those who served. this is jason turner of calloway. thanks for working me out. >> how are you doing? >> you analyze my swings and you see the perfect player, you've made clubs to fit that? >> definitely some holes there. >> even as a beginner, you think it benefits to have clubs customized to. >> there's no question, it gets you in a position where you'll be able to hit the sweet spot and enjoy the golf game a lot more. golf is a tough sport. >> golf is so difficult, brian, here is for the first hole when you -- >> thank you. thank you very much. jason, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. >> thanks. >> good luck, brian! >> i'll need it. the president is regretting this move. thanks a lot, jason turner, calloway. >> bye-bye. >> senator mccain coming up. try new market creations from lean cuisine. the new steam pouch locks in the fresh taste of crisp veggies, tender chicken, and al dente pasta, new market creations from lean cuisine. why does it say box tops for education on your soup?so. oh, it's a program that raises money for schools. that's great, but this is a can. ye it is. you can't have a box top on a can. yes we can. but a can isn't a box. we know. i don't think you do. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. look at all this stuff foffee. oh there's tons. french presses, expresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it, tho. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. th is easy. best news i've hed all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort mped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. >> good wednesday morning to you. it's september 1, 2010. thanks for sharing your time today. we're talking about hurricane earl this morning. it's just been downgraded while you were sleeping to a category 3 but haven't lost that much of its strength. evacuations under way. latest on where the storm is headed coming up. >> president wants everyone to know he made good on a campaign promise. >> the american combat mission in iraq has ended. this was my pledge to the american people as a candidate for this office. >> all right. some say he made this pledge because he sees the war as a distraction to his domestic agenda. we report. you decide on that. >> and remember two week ago, michael douglas made the shocking announcement he's battling cancer but what he said last night even more startling. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> welcome, everyone. this news is intense. from the president's speech to the hurricane that's happening, of course, the start of college football. there's a lot going on in the world. >> yes, of course, you would know about the college football and guess who is sitting next to me over here. eric bolling sitting in for steve doocy. >> is it true that heart is going to be here this morning? wilson sisters? >> yeah, they're out there and already set up their stuff probably starting at midnight. >> hope they play "baracuda." >> check out the big board. i don't know if they can compete with this. look at this. >> beck will be here to talk about animals and dogs specifically and, of course, married to howard stern. >> lou holtz is here, inspirational person around the country and weighing in on what we should be doing next in this nation. the outstanding catcher of the new york yankees has a personal story that you want to hear. heart is here live, legendary duo. >> there's the "barracuda" for them. >> is that them? >> that's them. >> we have a fox news alert for you. after wreaking havoc in the caribbean, hurricane earl is now a category 3 storm barrelling towards the u.s. where folks along the east coast are being told to brace themselves. live in the extreme weather center tracking the storm for us this morning. >> they are setting up shelters for suffolk county in long island. >> i'm in nassau. >> ok. well, they might set up shelters for your wife while you're golfing in nassau county. i'm looking out for you, brian. we're joking a little bit about this this morning but the storm is no joke. category 3 was downgraded from a 4 but it's fluctuating in its strength right now and over very warmwater. we could see this bumped up within the next couple of avisors to a category 4. it's still a major hurricane and can do a lot of damage if it comes close to land. next advisory comes in at 8:00. have the lathe he is for you. sometimes that will come out a little early, to give you the coordinates on that storm and the wind speed. that makes up the cone of uncertainty you see every weather hit and you can see coming very, very close to the outer banks and then very, very close to the eastern tip of long island. and then extremely close to cape cod and the islands so again, this stoorm really too close to call. we'll have to really watch the next couple of models as we get closer to the storm actually make its way up the east coast. they'll have a better idea of what's gonna happen. we can't stress enough if you live from the outer banks to coastal maine, make your preparations now. be in cusp with the emergency management. they're setting up shelters and talking about evacuations. we can certainly see those within the next 12 to 24 hours within the mid act and northeast coast. back to you. >> find out a big day where that storm's coming. he formally end the u.s. combat role in iraq from a formal address at the oval office. molly is here with all the details. >> good morning, brian, gretchen and eric. president obama said there have been some rough waters during the war in iraq and our unity at home has been tested. now he says he's fulfilled a campaign promise by getting combat troops out of iraq. here's more. >> tonight, i am announcing that the american combat mission in iraq has ended. operation iraqi freedom is over and the iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country. this was my pledge to the american people as a candidate for this office. last february, i announced a plan that would bring our combat brigades out of iraq and that's what we've done. we've removed nearly 100,000 u.s. troops in iraq. >> the president said he called and spoke with former president bush before the speech. said they disagreed over the war but that "no one could doubt president bush's support for our troops or for his love of country and commitment to our security." republicans say there's a reason why conditions have improved some on the ground in iraq. president bush's decision to send $20,000 plus troops into iraq, the surge in 2007. at this hour, some 50,000 u.s. troops are still in iraq. for those troops and their families, this war will not be over until they come home. today, president obama will be meeting with israeli and palestinian leaders. their face to face talks for the first time in nearly two years. the president will meet separate many with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and palestinian president abhus, jordan's king abdula and egypt's president. and then after that, they will all have a dinner together here at the white house. brian, gretchen, eric, back to you. >> intense day at 1600 pennsylvania avenue, molly. thanks so much. >> so many people continue to dissect the speech that the president gave last night, all 18 minutes of it. it wasn't just about iraq. he talked about afghanistan and reiterated his commitment to another campaign promise, that he would in fact, stop troop withdrawal in 2011. dea very interesting spin to the economy. at one point, he said bef l we have spent a trillion dollars in war. this in turn has shortchanged investments in our own people and contributed to record deficits. that will no doubt be talked about all day long because what the president is saying is the reason people don't have jobs right now in america is because of the wars. not entirely probable. >> that's the conclusion one would make. why would you bring up the economy when you talk about ending the war? you wanted to try it all together and how you can focus at home. the president likes to look at the domestic agenda. to get us high off the ball and that helps get his eye on the ball and focused here at home. if you read "the new york times" when he did an extensive study of the relationship with the military, he's basically given secretary gates carte blanche to represent him in many areas and lead him to many policies. for example, he's been to the pentagon one time during this time. he's made little effort to bond personally with any of his commanders, one that might explain sun someone like general conway so speak out a couple of days ago and say by the way, the president putting a timeline on afghanistan. ourdrawal has helped the tal taliban to the point where we've intercepted some of their communications saying we're going to wait the americans out. >> i was waiting for talking points that really jumped out. 14 minutes after the hour. we must jump-start industries and end our dependence on foreign oil. very, very scary. he's setting the agenda going into november and that's plowing on to 201. watch for those who jump up. >> he said middle class, a buzz word for people watching that speech. but the main debate of what people are going to be discussing today, whether or not the president will rather dwell on the jdomestic issues. >> major upset overnight because alaska senator lisa murkowski concedes the g.o.p. party election to tea party favorite joe miller. murkowski, is the latest incumbent to win the primary. >> y'all know that my heart and my soul has always been in alaska. always been with alaska. you are who i am. and i so thank you for that. >> miller faces scott adams, the democratic mayor of sit ka, alaska. two weeks ago, actor michael douglas announced he's battling throat cancer and last night, for the first time, he talked about how bad the cancer is. >> i finished my first week of radiation and chemo. and it's about an eight week struggle. >> so you've already begun the regimen. >> i've started the regimen already. >> even though the disease is stage 4, it has not spread. our service members overseas go through a lot of red tape to vote. now a new jersey state legislator has an idea that would make it a lot easier. our own laura ingall is live with details. >> this proposal by the new jersey assemblyman paul moriatti would make official what some states are starting to test out, creating a secure internet-based voting system for active duty members of the military serving overseas who in the past has had some challenges getting their vote on time. they are allowing military voters to use some form of electronic counting hoping to make it more efficient. >> it's a cumbersome process to get an absentee ballot. they have to ply to the county clerk. the county clerk has to send them back and oftentimes, this may get in translation. may not get back in a timely manner. >> numbers back him up, more members are registered than asillians. 39 measures of americans overseas said they didn't get their ballots until the last two weeks in october. fine simple fines, the voting process, on-line voting is preventing human error such as hanging chads. >> it is striking that we thought if nothing else, we thought it would help us allow to make the health system work ber. it has lots of problems and lots of opportunities for improvement. this may be one of the improvements. >> the proposal doesn't have internet secure. they claim that e voting is moving forward. they hope to have it before the end of the year. >> very interesting concept. live for us talking about that emergency emergency story. >> thanks very much. >> the mexican resort town of cancun, eight dead. our next guest says it's a matter of time before americans will get hurt. >> and senator john mccain arrives last night. he had a few opinions and things he would have done differently. fiber one chewy bar. how'd you do that? 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[ male announcer ] the award-winning mfp lineup from sharp. work without limits. >> 16 minutes after the top of the hour. this story is it coming out of mexico. eight people were killed by a gunman in a beachside bar at the resort town of cancun, this happened yesterday. some say it's the latest in deadly violence that could soon target american vacationers. james pastor is the author of "terrorism and public safety policing." good morning to you, mr. pastor. >> good morning, gretchen. >> when you heard about this latest incident that just happened yesterday, eight people killed in a bar outside of cancun. i mean, everyone in america has heard of cancun. it's a very popular destination for vacationers. what does that say to you about safety of americans there? >> well, sure, everybody's heard of cancun. it's critical for the mexican economy as well as their tourist industry. let me just say first, my heart goes out to the mexican police and military who have been the targets there in a big way by the terrorists. what this may mean, though, is the terrorists may be changing their approach and potentially targeting the tourist industry. if that does occur, it changes the whole dynamic in mexico. >> you say once they start attacking the patrons like in this situation in bars where american citizens may be, that you equate that to be more like the middle east. how? >> well, terrorism 101 is essentially to create chaos. the role of government is to create -- or maintain control. if they randomly attack targets, civilian targets, it's going to have a major impact on the level of viability, both within the st industry, the tourist industry but the viability of the mexican government. obviously, americans could be either randomly or potentially targeted in this violence. >> let's look at the recent spat of violence. so yesterday, you had the gunman killing eight at a cancun bar. just a few days before that, 72 bodies were discovered at a ranch. august 18th, the mayor of santiago found dead. july 18th, gunmen kill 17 at a birthday party. when you see this, what do you think? >> it's out of control. the concern that i would have, grenade that went off in the bar, those are the kinds of things that give you the impression that rest may have the upper hand. i think they're acting more like terrorist groups than they are a cartel. >> all right. very disturbing information. james pastor, thanks very much for your time. >> thank you. >> coming up next, what arizona senator john mccain thought about the president's speech last night and what it means for our future in afghanistan. plus, 150 firefighters on the scene battling a fire caused by a bad golf shot? guess what? it wasn't brian's. 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yeah, maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. v8. what's your number? >> president obama making it clear last night that he's turning his focus now to the war in afghanistan and he wants to stick to the deadlines there as well. to withdraw u.s. troops. >> next august, we will begin a transition to afghan responsibility. the pace of our troop reductions will be determined by conditions on the ground and our support for afghanistan will endure. but make no mistake. this transition will begin. >> is the president's pledge putting troops in harm's way? arizona senator, you might have heard of him, former presidential candidate senator john mccain joins us now fresh off his primary win. senator mccain, congratulations on that. let's focus on this. when the marine commandment general conway said don't set a deadline. it's making things harder for us in afghanistan, were you surprised the president went ahead and put a deadline out there again anyway. >> well, not so surprised but disappointed, the president made that decision from a pure political perspective instead of a military one. no military person recommended to the president that he set a deadline. it's obviously an appeal to his left base. and the problem with all that is you don't win conflicts when you tell the enemy that you're leaving. it's already had an impact in the region ranging from people like karzai to a police chief he talked to in kandahar and the behavior of the pakistanis. it's put a very great burden on our ability to succeed in the region and by the way, it would have been rather nice if the president had said and president bush not only loves the troops but president bush's courage to begin the surge was the reason why we succeeded and president barack obama fought that surge every step of the way. even voted to cut out funding for the troops while they were there. >> we knew that he wasn't going to acknowledge the surge and thank president bush for that after my interview yesterday with robert gibbs because he refused to answer that exact question. joe biden, apparently -- >> could i just say -- could i just interrupt and say you know what i was always taught as a young officer is when you succeed, you give credit to others. when you fail, you take responsibility. president, i guess, never got that lecture. >> vice president apparently this morning is talking about you. let's take a listen. >> i respect john but i think john is absolutely wrong. john is the guy, george, who declared victory in iraq in afghanistan in 2005. number 1. number 2, this is a policy agreed to by the military as well as the civilians in his government and that military includes a republican, secretary of defense who stayed over or at least he was in a republican administration and general petraeus. >> how do you respond to the vice president? >> this is the same senator biden that said you had to divide iraq into three countries and again, with his incredible passion on the floor of the senate condemned bush, the surge and everything that was going on there. look, i said a long time before we did this surge that we had to carry out a surge in iraq. i said that we could succeed in afghanistan and i've always said we can but if you tell the enemy you're leaving, you make it incredibly difficult and it's not fair to the men and women who are serving there and sacrificing to do so particularly when you do it for political reasons. joe biden and then senator obama fought the surge tooth and nail. now, they don't have the magnomitiy and support the people who carried it out like president bush and others. >> senator, general petraeus has said he ageez with the time line, just that the july 2011. to begin to look at bringing troops out. how do you respond to people who say if general petraeus, the chain of demacommand. timeline he's well. >> he's been starting in december and later at the time and make recommendations to the president. you have never heard him say, oh, i support withdrawing our troops beginning the middle of next year no matter what. he's always said he's going to give the president his best military advice. he has never said yes, it's a good idea for us to leave in the middle of next year no matter what the conditions are. and that's basically the -- what the president is saying. if he had stopped his comment with -- based on conditions, ta would have been fine. he went on to say make no mistake about it, we will begin our withdrawal. that's not healthful. that encourages our enemies and dissfirted our friends. >> there's a lot in that speech. there's a way forward here and it soemz line the president is determined to go along with the domestic agenda and put a button on these cars but thanks so much for joining us this morning. >> remember, could i wind you again? blame that on bush. >> everyone knows that. we get it every day. thank you very much, senator mccain. >> $7,000 in cash and a cell phone taped to a bottle of pepto. the men accuseded of that terror dry run may not face charges. >> should developers be allowed to build a casino near the sacred ground of getburg. we'll tell you what happened. and live with some special dogs in need of extra love and care and their adorable -- >> how two are linked to afghanistan. >> that's right. that's right. thanks to t venture card from capital one, we gedouble miles on every purchase. so wearned an l.a. getaway twice as fast. we get double miles every time we use oucard. no matter at we're buying. and since double miles add up quick... romans! get em! 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[ male announcer ] chevy traverse. a consumers digest best buy. with a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. it seats eight comfortably -- not that it always has to. >> overnight, hurricane earl was downgraded but still packing a punch to 125 miles an hour. it is now barrelling towards the u.s. of a. >> janice dean is live in the extreme weather center tracking this storm. janice, that's good news. we have a 3 now. >> no, brian, i don't want you to pay attention to the number 3 or 4. it's still a major hurricane. it doesn't matter a couple of mile winds. all right? it's still 125 miles per hour sustained winds. still a category 3 and it could actually go to a 4 within the next couple of hours. it has a lot of warm water to travel. you can see those cooler cloud tops. that's the sign it's strengthening again. hurricane advisories up for coastal virginia as well as north carolina. so hurricane watches in effect. we should start seeing hurricane conditions within the next 48 hours. there's the track. it has not changed much since i saw you last since yesterday. so anywhere from the coastal carolinas, again, from cape hatteras up towards coastal maine. you need to be paying attention to the track of this storm just a couple of hundred miles difference could make a lasting difference in your lives. so if you hear evacuations, make sure you heed the warnings and we could see watches and warnings on the east coast as well in the next several days. that's the path of cone of uncertainty as we go further in time, a little less confidence. new track and a new advisory coming out at 8:00. we'll have it for you here on "fox & friends." back to you. >> all right, janice. thanks for keeping us up to date on all that. >> you know, you have an excuse now on the golf game. the wind took it. 100-mile-an-hour winds. >> that it is. >> except he's playing in texas. >> that's the problem. yeah. no, they'll have winds, too. robert gates will attend a change in command ceremony in iraq as he visits the u.s. troops whose combat mission is formally closed. malini wilkes joins us live from baghdad. what's up? what's the latest? >> well, good morning and that ceremony starts in just about half-hour. there's really two things happening today. this change of command ceremony, the general leaving here after nearly five years of service, incoming general lloyd austin to take over as commanding general. also, this is the start of operation new dawn. combat operations officially ended yesterday. this is a day to mark that as well. robert gates is here as well as the vice president joe biden. joining me to talk more about this is the lieutenant general, the deputy commanding general for advising and assisting and that's what troops are going to be doing mainly now. can you tell me a little bit more about exactly what that means? >> today is a significant milestone, malini, because our mission officially changes to advising and training iraqi security forces and all 50,000 u.s. troops and that's our mission and that's what we're focused on. it's a testimony to the development of the iraqi security forces is they're in the lead. they're carrying the fight and we're here to support them and help develop their capabilities further. >> how are you doing? you talked about them being in the lead. there's 50,000 u.s. troops here and obviously, they need that support. >> right. well, they need a different kind of support. they don't need us leading them outside the wire and taking the lead for operations. they need us training mechanics, training pilots and helping them train their k-9 teams and develop those kinds of skills. they need that kind of assistance but totally different from what it was a couple of years ago. >> the president said last night something to the effect there are no surrender ceremonies. we'll judge this on victory on how strong our partners are. how strong are they? are they strong enough? >> they are very strong. resilient, tough, brave and dedicated. we've seen it in elections in march. they planned that and they executed the security and they've been under attack. frankly, the attacks lately have been focused on them. they are out there every day doing their job, manning their stations and they're very resillen. >> before we go, i know you wanted to say hello to somebody. >> right. my anniversary and i'd like to say happy anniversary to my wife, linda. thanks for letting me do that. >> thanks very much for joining us. back to you in new york. >> lrlt. malini, getting right into the heart of the matter based for us overseas. thanks very much. >> auto happy anniversary thousands of miles away. you get used to that in the military. there were $7,000 in cash. cell phone taped to a pepto-bismol bottle. but homeland security now saying it doesn't add up to terror charges. two yemeni citizens arrested monday for an alleged terror dry run are still being held in amsterdam, holland. they also had three other mobile phones taped together. three large knives, several watches, all bound by tape. one slipped past security with by expired visa. they also claim they don't know each other. >> release them and figure it out later, right? border patrol puts its first drone in the air today. it will fly along the rio grande from brownsville to el paso to help fight drug smuggling and human trafficking. gretch? >> well, we told you about that controversial plan to build a casino near the gettysburg battlefield. they will meet for a second time about that proposal. first meeting was last night. community at odds on whether the casino would tarnish gettysburg historical significance. >> it isot right for getiesburg. it is not what we need in the town of gettysburg. it is not our culture. it is not our community. it will enrich a few people. people who don't need enriching. >> see the search and that's really, you know, quite satisfying to me to know that we have been successful in getting that kind of support. >> board members say they will decide whether or not to go forward by the end of the year. >> all right. you know, golfers are supposed to yell fore, when their ball goes off target i'm told. but in in this case, fire would have been more appropriate. golfer in california hit by the ball that ricochetted off a rock. the spark from the impact then sparked a huge brushfire. the fire was so big, 150 firefighters were called in to put it out. no charges filed against the golfer who was just -- i mean, you can't charge him for that. now, over to those two anchors with some important news. >> today, we continue our paws for a cause series with an organization that's celebrating its 66th anniversary. the dog is tickling me. beth stern is here from the north shore animal league of america and she's brought some special friends with her. we're talking about sophie and oscar. >> sophie and oscar. >> kisses is what's going on. >> this dog is adorable. which one are you hold sng>> you're holding butterscotch. she's only 10 weeks old. recently spayed and ready to go home. she's a hound mix so a yard with lots of wonderful sniffing, things to sniff would be great and they're great with kids. >> and tell us about these two. these are special dogs. >> these two have a special place in my heart because sophie and oscar lost their dad recently. he's a soldier in afghanistan and was killed. so this is a double adoption. i would love for them to go home together. they deserve to live life together after the sadness that's probably in their hearts. >> this is sophie right here. >> 1-year-old and 2 years old and they are completely house broken. that's a beauty of adopting an adult dog or two adult dogs. they're house broken. they're ready for love and to go home. it's so sad and heartbreaking they lost their dad in the war. >> it's so hard to get dogs adopted let alone older dogs adopted. >> i love telling people to really look at go to shelters and go to the adult dog area, they usually sleep through the my. they're already vaccinated. they're usually house broken. >> what a great point. >> and ready for a forever home. >> who are you holding? >> i am holding a dog actually that i was there when we rescued almost 22200 dogs from a puppy mill in missouri and she came in two weeks ago. she's a pomeranian. we name her bridgette. she's 6 years old and someone to take her, she needs some extra special care. she's befr nen socialized or house broken. so someone needs to really put the time in for a dog like her. >> we want everyone to go and adopt these dogs. the guy you married is up for a contract in january. do you think he's going to quit the business or accept the deal somewhere somehow? >> there's so many offers coming to him right now. he's a workaholic. if i had my stay, i would want him home with me and retired. i'm hoping he stays home and doesn't go back to work. i don't think that's going to be the case. >> wow. >> he's really happy right now over at sirrius. we'll see where that goes. he's happy. >> ok. >> all right. >> all right. beth, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> and all the good work that you do. tomorrow, paws for a cause continues. another shelter organization will be here with some adorable bichons. coming up next -- >> the two members of president bush's administration that pushed for the surge will be joining us. what do they think of president obama's decision to end combat operations in iraq without a government in place? >> his theory is win, w-i-n. our guest list continues with lou holtz. why winning is not just about sports but first, the first trivia question of the day. oof! i hope he has that insurance. how come? well if you're hurt and can't work it pays you cash... so...what's it called? uhhhhh aflaaac!!!! we've got you under our wing. a-a-a-aflaaac! i don't see anything yet. no, over there, we've just gotta keep going to the left. what's your deal with going left? 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[ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill. that stays with you all day to help you quit. in studies, 44% of chantix users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment, coared to 18% on sugar pill. it's proven to reduce the urge to smoke. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. and find out how you can save money on your prescription at chantix.com. some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice agitation, hostility, depression or changes in behavior, thinking or mood that are not typical for you, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. talk to your doctor aboutny history of depression or other mental health problems, which can get worse while taking chantix. some people can have allergic or serious skin reactions to chantix, some of which can be life threatening. if you notice swelling of face, mouth, throat or a rash stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away. do not take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to chantix. tell your doctor which medicines you're taking as they may work differently when you quit smoking. chantix dosing may be different if you have kidney problems. the most common side effect is nausea. patients also reported trouble sleeping and vivid, unusual or strange dreams. until you know how chantix may affect you, use caution when driving or operating machinery. chantix should not be taken with other quit-smoking products. ♪ my benjamin, he helped me with the countdown. 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[ male announcer ] talk to your doctor about chantix. find out how you can save money on your prescription and learn terms and conditions at chantix.com. >> president obama was staunchly against the surge in iraq for years but last night, he said he used the same strategy in afghanistan. >> with the surge in iraq, these forces will be in place for a limited time to provide space for the afghans to build their capacity and secure their own future. but as was the case in iraq, we can't do for afghans what they must ultimately do for themselves. >> so is the president finally acknowledging the previous administration was right, was on the right track in the middle east overall. joining us with reaction, two members of president bush's security council who are largely credited with selling him on the surge. former national security advisor and former national security add riser megan o'sullivan. to you first, do you have to suspend disbelief to think that president obama is actually taking credit for the success of the surge? >> well, they used to say imitation is the highest form of flattery and i thought it was interesting that he compared what he was doing in iraq favorably to the iraq surge. look, we would have liked to -- everyone would have liked if he acknowledged that i was right about the surge and he was wrong. that's probably a little bit too much for a sitting president to do but he nonetheless paid tribute to our troops, rightly so. played, i thought, tribute to president bush. probably about as much as could be expected under the circumstances. >> under the circumstances, you mean because knowing the president and what he's done so far, is that what you mean by under the circumstances and the way he's handled it? >> well, this administration has been very critical of its predecessor and in some sense for a long period of time has distinguished itself by not being the bush administration and that makes it a little bit difficult to be -- to be gracious, i think. >> megan, your impression of the speech because i know you remember as if it was yesterday, i imagine, the pushback when the surge was going to be put forward after the iraqi study group said don't do this. >> sure. i think it was a -- it was a tough speech to execute. he had to finance the difference between ending the war and securing the peace, in this case, and he had to greatly down play the serious political crisis under way in baghdad right now to make his case but the message i was looking for most, the practical message i thought was most important was clearly there and that was a commitment to the relationship with iraq over the long term and i hope that's what the iraqis take away from the speech and that's certainly one important audience for the president last night. >> steven, do you believe everything is being done for this government to be -- it's been six months since the election. we have no government and we're pulling the troops out anyway. does that bother you? >> look, it's worrying. the draw down, though, is consistent with the agreement that president bush and prime minister maliki developed that involved a withdraw of our troops between now and december 31, 2011. our military believe and said publicly that this could be done without undermining security there. i think we have to take that at face value but as megan said, it is very important the administration showed to the iraqis and to the world that they are committed over the long term to the success of this iraq experiment and our diplomats need to be helping the iraqis come and put together a truly national government including all groups. that is critical at this point to calm the situation both politically and i think from a security standpoint on the ground. >> megan, your main concern going forward in iraq and then in afghanistan? >> unquestionably right now it would be the formation of the government. this, i would say, is iraq's worst political crisis since 2003. they are very much in a stalemate about the form of the new government and the face of this government, the content or the composition of this government will really play a major role in determining iraq's trajectory going forward. the danger is not about the number of troops but the sigh coming associated with declaring the end of the war. and it's important that that's not interpreted by americans or iraqis as the end of the american commitment. >> right. >> both of you stood strong against a lot of criticism even from your own party and i think you should at one point feel good about what happened last night because you had a lot to do with it. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> thanks a lot. >> coming up straight ahead, we change gears. football legend, he's a great coach. lou holtz live with us to talk about what's important now. his acronym that means so much. his theory on winning and it applies more than just sports. and next hour, as if the border wasn't dangerous enough, now drug cartels are dressing up like texas lawmen. but first, on this day in 1969, the rascals had the number one hit "people just want to be free." vegetables have important vitamins and minerals that can really help protect you. and v8 juice gives you three of your five daily servings. powerful, right? v8. what's your number? >> the answer to the question of the day. it's lily tomlin and the winner is paul in oklahoma. congrats. >> it's that time of year again where millions of college football fans huddle in front of tv's and packed stadiums across the country to watch these kids play. last year, the alabama crimson tide rolled over texas to win the national title and they are early favorites again but who else has what it takes this season? >> let's ask the legendary football coach and broadcaster, lou holtz joins us again. good morning to you. >> good morning. delighted to be here. watch you all the time. >> you would know something about college football, let's say that and this huge trophy that we've brought in here, look at how nice and shiny that is. >> that costs $30,000 and we're fortunate enough to win one time. a couple of other times we felt we should have won it but we didn't. >> you're so passionate about the game even though you're not coaching it anymore. you have to be on every single week and you talk about this week. can you lay out some of the teams we should be looking at and one of which is getting -- they have funny turf. one is getting lots of publicity. boise state. >> my prediction is ohio state will play boise state for the national championship because when i look and say, who has the fewest hurdles to overcome? i think alabama is the best team in the country but boy, it's hard to have that target on your chest and be in the sec whereas i think boise state, if they beat virginia tech on september 6th on espn and if they get by oregon state on september 19th, they could go undefeated and already number 3 in the country. >> great story. >> coach, are you a fan of the bcs series or would you rather see a national championship grid, you know, kind of a playoff like the ncaa's. >> follow the money. the money from ncaa basketball goes to the ncaa and the schools get very little. the money for bowls and tv go to the conferences and that goes to the schools like when somebody in the sec will get 15 and $17 million a year, they won't give up that money. they keep wanting to have a playoff. if we get to a super conference like the pac 10 going to 12, big 10 going to 12, they'll have to a conference championship like the sec and the acc. that in essence you're ending up in a playoff format. >> love how you yell at eric. >> don't yell at me about this. i know you won't. this is something you really believe in. win. w-i-n. it's something you're very familiar with. but what -- how -- how does it apply to us today? >> ok. >> win stands for what's important now. evaluate the past, focus on the future, tell you what you have to do in the presence. main thing we have to decide as a country, as a family, where do we want to go? what are we trying to do? what's our purpose? what's our focus? what's our goal? what's our objective? what keeps the country together, the core values? i don't know what our core values are anymore. >> 35% of the country according to a recent poll thinks we're heading in a wrong direction as a nation. you're in charge. what do we do about that? excuse me, 60% say wrong and 35% say right. >> we have to inspire people to get off the belief that i have to have somebody else help me. wherever we are today good or bad because of the choices we make, choose to run with the wrong people, choosing to go to jail. because you made bad choices, don't expect somebody else to make good choices and sacrifice to pay the price for other people. >> i always follow the money. >> dr. pepper. >> the main reason i'm here is dr. pepper wants you to give away a million dollars a year in tuition. you know the cost of college. all you have to do is drink dr. pepper but go to dr. pepper.com, submit a video telling them why you should win tuition money and i'll tell you, $123,000 will be given away at the championship game. last year, sarah beth hill won $123,000 and used it to get to medical school. >> thanks so much. >> thanks, coach. right back. ♪ [ female announcer ] kids who don't eat breakfast may not be getting the nutrition they need to keep their bodies strong. ♪ a nutritious start to the day is essential. that's why carnation instant breakfast essentials supplies the nutrients of a balanced breakfast. so kids get the protein and calcium they need to help build strong muscles and healthy bones. carnation instant breakfast essentials. good nutrition from the start. you're one of the 50 million americans with frequent heartburn. did you know, with prilosec otc, you can stop frequent heartburn before it starts? heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes, or backs up into the esophagus. this causes the burning sensation in your chest, known as heartburn. with just one pill a day, prilosec otc treats frequent heartburn for 24 hours, providing all-day and all-night protection. here's how it works -- prilosec otc's unique delayed-release system protects the medicine as it passes through the stomach's tough acid. the medicine then gets absorbed into the body, turning off many acid-producing pumps at the source, so less acid is produced. with just one pill a day, you get 24-hour heartburn protection all day and all night, satisfaction guaranteed. trust the number-one doctor-, gastroenterologist-, and pharmacist-recommended brand to treat your frequent heartburn. to request a free sample, visit prilosecotc.com. prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on. >> gretchen: good morning, everyone. thank you for sharing your time. it's wednesday, september 1, 2010. hurricane earl downgraded to a category 3. that's not good news. we are tracking the storm for you and we'll have the latest on exactly where it's heading coming up next. >> eric: moments ago, joe biden spoke about giving credit to president bush about the success in iraq. he sounded a little different than his boss, president obama. we'll play the tape. >> brian: and alvin greene on the scene. the surprise candidate for south carolina's senate seat stuns voters by busting a move. do it, alvin. sing it, alvin. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> gretchen: we have a fox news alert. you're looking live out of baghdad as the u.s. military holds a change of command ceremony to mark the formal end of the u.s. combat operations in iraq under operation iraqi freedom. defense secretary gates arrived on a surprise visit to be there. less than 50,000 troops will remain behind in a noncombat role under operation new dawn. a full withdrawal expected by the end of 2011. >> eric: this follows the president's oval office speech last night. let's go live to the white house where molly henneberg has more. what's up? >> good morning. we still have those pictures from the change of command ceremony from the end of operation iraqi freedom to the beginning of operation new dawn. vice president joe biden will be there to see the combat operation come to an end. president obama has said that this is a campaign promise kept, ending the combat operations in iraq. he was talking about it in an oval office speech last night and he said he and the former president, george bush, disagreed over the war, but said it's time for the country to, quote, turn the page. here is more about what president obama said about his predecessor last night. >> no one can doubt president bush's support for our troops or his love of country and commitment to our security. as i've said, patriots who supported this war and patriots who opposed it and all of us are united in appreciation for our servicemen and women and our hopes for iraqi's future. >> republicans took issue about him fulfilling a campaign promise by withdrawing the combat troops out of iraq. here is more from the top house republican. here is what he had to say. >> using campaign promises to measure success in iraq and afghanistan runs the risk of triggering artificial victory laps and premature withdrawal dates unconnected to conditions on the ground. >> president obama has said that all u.s. troops, quote, will leave by the end of next year. now mr. obama says it's time to tackle with, quote, energy and grit, problems at home such as the manufacturing base, energy and education reform. today president obama will be meeting with leaders from israel and the palestinian territory. their first face-to-face talks for the first time in nearly two years. the president will meet separately with netanyahu, palestinian president abbas, jordan's king abdullah and egypt's president. all of those leaders will have dinner at the white house tonight. back to you all in new york. >> brian: that is one big agenda. thanks so much. three minutes after the top of the hour. we talked often on camera about what would president obama say about president bush, that he wouldn't have went out of his way the day before to have his press secretary say president obama will be calling president bush before the speech unless he was going to include him some way. >> gretchen: the press secretary would not answer the question about whether or not he would give bush credit, which now people have differing opinions about whether or not president obama actually did give bush credit last night in his speech. do you believe that he gave him credit for the surge? >> eric: i i he did the minimal but said apparently the surge. by the way, i'm going to borrow that strategy in afghanistan now. he learned. >> brian: he didn't say i was wrong about it. that would have been the most accurate. but he did say president bush loves his troops, which we kind of knew already. >> gretchen: yeah. i mean, i think it was pretty apparent that was a main part of the presidency of president bush, to love the troops. this morning the vice president gave more credit to president bush. listen to this. >> there is no doubt that the president and i both disagreed with the way in which the war was begun, how it was conducted, et cetera, but the truth of the matter is that by the end of the last administration, the transition was in place. there was a political movement that was afoot. we kept on secretary gates, our present -- we kept on general petraeus, we kept on a continuity here to finish the job and that's what we're in the process of doing. >> brian: accurate and candid. he was critical of the way some things went before the war and after the war. after the transition, if you didn't like it, you wouldn't have kept secretary gates in place. >> eric: why wouldn't that come out last night in 19 minutes? 21 minutes he could have done the same thing instead of joe biden do damage control after he heard the reaction. >> gretchen: the other interesting thing -- >> brian: in terms of damage control, joe biden is a carrier. in this case, he is actually helping. >> gretchen: between you and me, i think you won the bet because i said the president wouldn't say the word bush. so i owe you one. did he also blame president bush? did you catch that, when he said that president bush spent too much money on the wars and then did a tie in to jobs here back home. listen to this. >> tonight i am announcing that the american combat mission in iraq has ended. operation iraqi freedom is over and the iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country. this is my pledge to the american people as a candidate for this office. last february i announced a plan that would bring our combat brigades out of iraq by redoubling our efforts to strengthen iraq's security forces and support its government and people. that's what we've done. we removed nearly 100,000 u.s. troops from iraq. we closed or transferred to the iraqis hundreds of bases. we have moved millions of pieces of equipment out of iraq. >> gretchen: that wasn't the exact right cut there. he went on to say this, we have spent a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. this in turn has short changed investments in our own people and contributed to record deficits. so in other words -- i think the president was saying last night that that is one of the reasons why we have high unemployment levels because we spent too much money on the war. >> eric: let me throw this in here. a trillion dollars over seven years or some would say ten years, we spent a trillion dollars on stimulus in the last 18 months that have done nothing to help the economy. in fact, the economy is far worse than it was when we signed over $750 billion that turned into $862 billion. forget the other programs. it's literally trillions of dollars of the economic stimulus that's not working. but a trillion to keep us safer, that's not a good idea. >> brian: i was stunned by this, started off with iraq, i wasn't surprised afghanistan. but when you segueway to spending republicans and the deficit, you really had a portion of this speech be about the debt and the deficit and blaming the war and the last ten years. >> gretchen: look in the difference in the spending between iraq, $709 billion versus the stimulus of $862 billion. you're not going to see this graphic too many other places today. >> eric: it doesn't include the $34 billion in entitlement spending that they've approved. it doesn't include the $30 billion, much of which will go to teachers unions. the stimulus numbers aren't just the 862. it's literally trillions. maybe two or three. >> gretchen: back to your point about suddenly discussing the economy. what went off in my head is ding, ding, ding, midterm election. buzz words that he's concerned. it did smack a bit of politics at the end of the speech. >> brian: another huge story. i don't know if you've been tracking this. overnight hurricane earl downgraded to a category 3, but it's still pack ago lot of power with winds at 125 miles per hour. we don't know where it will hit. it just is wild. the caribbean has been barreling toward the united states where we are. janice dean is at the extreme weather center tracking this storm. since we woke you up in the morning in the first hour of the show, has anything changed in terms of where this thing is heading? >> everything is status quo, even though we got a new advisory at 8:00 o'clock. i'm not promoting surfing with this storm. people look like they're having fun at the beach. no, no, no. no surfing i'm going to apologize in advance for possibly a bad start to our labor day weekend. >> gretchen: we won't blame you. >> thank you, gretchen. this is earl right here. behind that, by the way, we have tropical storm fiona and behind that possibly tropical storm gaston. so the hits keep coming. i'll be here all week and probably for the next couple of weeks. i should set up my sleeping bag. 125 miles per hour sustained winds, category 3 storm. we'll see fluctuations with this storm within the next 12 to 24 hours. i want to show you the cone of uncertainty we've been showing you. you can see most of them are in agreement. one very close to cape hatteras. very close to the east coast of long island. very close to cape cod, even boston. so really important that we watch all of these tropical storm models as they come in 'cause they'll really help us tailor our forecast within the next couple of days, which will be crucial because here is that cone and it's this center of the storm, a little more to the left, that's going to mean much more dangerous storm with hurricane force winds, storm surge and heavy rain. so we will keep on it and bring you the very latest. i'm setting up shop here in the weather center and you will know when it's coming. back to you. >> gretchen: all right. thanks for keeping us up to date on that monster storm. let's look at some other headlines. alaska senator murkowski concedes the republican primary election to tea party favorite joe miller. the latest incumbent to lose the party's primary, in a statement, miller said this, quote, now is the time for all alaskans to come together and reach out with our core message of taking power from the federal government and bringing it back home to the people. miller now faces scott adams, the democratic mayor. alvin greene shows he can dance in more ways than one. # ♪ when i say alvin, you say green ♪ ♪ . >> eric: he has some moves though. >> dotty, aren't you going to dance with alvin? somebody has to dance with alvin. there you go. >> gretchen: green has way more moves than brian kilmeade. he dance to do -- danced to a song about himself. >> brian: he has more moves, i have less misdemeanors. >> gretchen: jim demint favor to do win that seat. those are your headlines. >> eric: the imam behind the ground zero mosque cutting his overseas trip short and coming home to deal with the controversy. why? our political panel weighs in next. >> brian: tiger woods' mistress in a mysterious photo shoot. >> gretchen: the imam behind the mosque at ground zero now says the controversy is about more than just real estate, that it could shape the future of muslim relations in the united states. this as a new poll shows a majority of new yorkers want developers to move the mosque. look at that. new york voters say 71% of them say it would be better to build it somewhere else. our political panel is here to weigh in. a democratic strategy and fox news contributor. michael is an iraq war veteran and a candidate for congress in new york. robert george is a columnist for the new york post. good morning to all three of you. tamara, the imam is over on the state department visit and apparently will come home early now because he says he needs to deal with this controversy. now he's saying that this idea of what's happening with the mosque at ground zero is bigger than the piece of real estate. it's about how america will deal with muslims. your thoughts? >> i think he's right in this situation. i know this brings up a lot of emotional issues with people. religious freedom, 9-11 victims. all of those issues. but he is going to come back to the united states to deal with what's going on here in new york city. remember, a cabby was just stabbed the other day because he's muslim. and there is a lot of tension going on around this issue. 9-11 victims, muslims. it's a very, very difficult topic. >> gretchen: robert, is it more than just a piece of real estate? >> i don't think so in the case of new york. i know there is some incidence around the country and i think there is a mosque question going on in tennessee as well, but i think new york is kind of a unique in a way, precisely because of 9-11. there are lots of emotions that are ginned up around that. but i think specifically because of 9-11 and particularly because there is questions of the imam's associations, finances and things like that, i'm glad he's come back to the united states because there are a lot of questions surrounding specifically this piece of real estate. >> gretchen: i know michael, that you have questions about the funding and where that will come from. a lot of people said when he goes over on this state department-funded trip to the middle east, what's he going to be doing there? is he going to be raising money for this mosque? >> exactly. i called on congress early on to investigate this. i think what's going on with the imam now is a distraction from the real issue. the real issue here is that this is sacred ground. so many people have suffered. i was a 9-11 first responder. i was there and i saw devastation firsthand. for so many new yorkers, especially throughout my district in staten island and brooklyn, the cops, the firemen, those that worked there, this is hallowed ground. it's more than just a mosque at an undisclosed location. this is a very specific piece of property and this distraction is to take us away from where the funding is coming. we need to know exactly where it's coming from. >> gretchen: it will be interesting to see what this imam says when he gets back on u.s. soil with regard to this controversy. panel, stick around if you will because as the handover ceremony in iraq gets underway right now, they are live pictures. we're leaving too soon, that's what some are saying. are we sending the wrong message to the taliban and afghanistan? and the band heart giving us some love this morning. they're performing live right here on "fox & friends." >> gretchen: this is a fox news alert. you are looking at live pictures out of baghdad. u.s. military holds a change of command ceremony now to mark the formal end of u.s. combat operations in iraq under operation iraqi freedom. vice president joe biden speaking right now. defense secretary robert gates also there for the ceremony. less than 50,000 u.s. troops will remain behind in a noncombat role under operation new dawn. that's the new title. a full withdrawal expected by the end of 2011. this follows the president's oval office speech last night where he not only talked about leaving iraq, but also the future of afghanistan and even the economy. we're back with our panel, tamara holder, michael grim and robert george. michael, you are aviette ran of the first gulf war. >> yes. >> gretchen: you've been there and seen it firsthand. what was your reaction to the president's speech? >> i was disappointed. for me it raised two concerns. number one, does this president have the commitment to go the distance if another conflict arises? if i have that concern, then that begs the question, what are other leaders throughout the world thinking? will this embolden iran, north korea? do they think that we are losing our resolve? so i think that's number one. the second concern is going back to the economy. there is no question this president has his finger on exactly what the problems are. we need to create jobs. no doubt about that. but he also implies that sweeping legislation like cap and trade and more spending is coming our way, which is what we don't need. >> gretchen: one of the things he said last night as he spun into a speech about the economy after talking about iraq and afghanistan was that we spent so much money on the wars that that's one of the reasons why people don't have jobs back here in the u.s.? >> yeah. as we talked about in the break, that is a little bit of a stretch. i think in your previous segment, we were talking about the fact that the iraq war cost about maybe 100 billion or so. the stimulus is well over a trillion when you add everything into it. the fact is, people now see the iraq war as a success. whether you want to call it a victory, but it is a success and in a sense, it's a successful government program, quote unquote. where there is a question about whether or not the stimulus is successful. >> gretchen: i want to get in this point because a lot of critics after the speech last night said that president obama, tamara, appears to like being a domestic president more than a foreign policy president. would you agree with that? >> i couldn't disagree more with that. >> gretchen: in what way? >> as far as afghanistan goes, he brought in more troops per the request. he exited iraq on his time line. he is doing everything possible with these wars to make it a success both in iraq and in afghanistan. and for us to critique every single thing about this president out of one speech is absolutely ridiculous. he wasn't giving enough credit to bush. he wasn't -- >> gretchen: how tough would it have been to say that the surge worked? >> it wouldn't have been tough. he gave thanks to bush. >> he also put our troops in a tougher position than they need to be in. by fixating time lines -- i was on the ground, i've been in combat. you tell me now what tactical advantage there possibly could be to telling the taliban and the al-qaeda that we will withdraw by such and such dates. >> gretchen: i've got to wrap things up. >> he didn't mention, if you notice, he didn't mention the taliban. he mentioned al-qaeda. he did not mention the taliban, which i think is in a sense, a set-up so they can say, well, we've gotten most of al-qaeda out and then they're going to negotiate some kind of arrangement with the taliban. >> gretchen: i've got to wrap it up there. as you can see, this is what's happening with people at home right now after listening to the speech. thank you very much, panel. tiger woods' mistress ground zero photo shoot. is she trying to capitalize off this old photo from september 11 then, got some you've been saving up? before you spend it, listen to dave ramsey's advice. the best way to spend 100 bucks. plus, 80s duo, heart, is back here on the plaza. ♪ >> gretchen: fox news alert. hurricane earl now barreling towards the u.s. it's now a category 3 storm. mandatory evacuations have been ordered for all tourists visiting the hatteras island area of north carolina. jeff flock live for us in cape hatteras with the developing details. good morning, jeff. >> i guess that's me. >> gretchen: that's you. >> get ready to leave. oh, no, i'm not going to leave. of course not. neither are these guys. you couldn't ask for a more beautiful morning on hatteras island. look at these surfers out there. that's one of the reasons they're here. bob, i know you're doing that out there, but can you come around here for just a second. bob showing you beautiful pictures. even fellows my age are out here surfing. he's got a board in his hand and he's got a few years on him. they called for a mandatory evacuation for all visitors out here. just got the word. you going? >> no, i'm not on vacation. i surfed in florida. i'm not getting excited unless we get really bad weather and we have to leave. >> good news overnight. if we look at the satellite picture from space, the pressure came up in this storm and took it from a cat 4 do cat 3. that's the good news. the bad news is the track, if you look at the track map, nhc hasn't moved its track, but some of the models are bringing it in over the island. i wouldn't have hoped your dogs, our buddies here, if they're here, hey, will you come up and see me? i wouldn't advise these dogs on the beach if you get a good cat 3 or cat 4 in here. >> i don't know. i don't think they'll mind as long as they got their mommy over there to hold them because they're pretty cool. >> as you can see, these guys on the island, and this gentleman is a former air force pilot who has flown through hurricanes. so nobody gets too excited around here. >> it is what it is. if it's going to be windy, if it's going to be rainy, that's okay. one thing, i got my feet on the ground and it's not like i was in a fighter at 35,000 feet in the middle of a hurricane. >> i like folks looking on the bright side of things, gretchen. >> gretchen: all right, jeff. jeff flock for us live in north carolina. thank you very much. >> brian: too nice to go right now. 28 minutes before the top of the hour. the border patrol puts its first drone in the air today. the remote controlled surveillance aircraft is similar to the ones being used in afghanistan. it will fly along the rio grande from brownsville to el paso to help fight drug smuggling and human trafficking. >> eric: two weeks ago michael douglas announced he's battling throat cancer. but last night he talked about how bad his cancer is. >> i just finished my first week of radiation and chemo and it's about an eight week struggle. >> you've already begun the regiment? >> i've started it already. >> eric: even though the disease is stage 4, it is not spread. douglas himself gives himself an 80% chance of beating it. >> gretchen: tiger woods' former mitt tress goes back to ground zero as part of the real show celebrity rehab. she lost her peiyan say in the tower nine years ago. she was captured here days after the attack. she suffered a massive break down two days later. >> brian: i remember she came in our studio and was talking about it, looking for her fiance. straight ahead, even in tough economic times, you probably have a little extra cash from time to time that you may not know what to do with and try to seek advice on what to do with. you may be surprised that $100 can make a big impact for your family. >> eric: our personal finance expert, mr. dave ramsey, is here. okay, david, what do we do with our extra 100 bucks? >> 100 bucks probably won't change your life one time and that's why people tend to waste it if they think about it that way. if you put together a plan to controlll of your disposable income which is what economists say money left over. we call it baby steps in the book, the total money makeover. baby step one is the first goal is to get a baby starter emergency fund. a beginner emergency fund of $1,000. just get you a little $1,000 starter emergency fund. that starts to keep murphy away from your door when you got a little money between you and him. then once you've got that in place. then attack your debts. you know i'm gog say that. but most people would agree with me in the world of personal finance, if you get rid of your personal debts, you can get rid of all those payments and that gives you the ability to build more wealth. we're going to use the snowball method, paying off smallest to largest. once we're debt free, everything but the house, we move to baby step 3 and go back to our $1,000 account and we raise it up to a fully funded proper emergency fund which is 3 to six months of expenses. wherever you are in that process is what you do with the extra $100 that you can find. either paying down debt, building your emergency fund and so forth. then we move to baby steps 4, 5, and 6. 4 is put 15% in your retirement. 5 is fund kids college. 6 is we pay off the house early. that leaves us nothing to do which is become wealthy and give a bunch of it away. >> brian: you didn't really need us, but that was worthy. start with 100, it gets bigger and bigger. >> eric: pretty soon it turns into gold! >> don't take your cuff links off on tv. >> gretchen: if he does, hand them to me. thanks. no matter how much money you have, speaking of money, the world stops once something happens to a parent's child. new york yankee catcher, that moment came ten years ago. he just won the world series and his wife laura, was expecting their first child. then their son was born with a life-threatening congenital skull condition. >> eric: they chronicled the unexpected journey in the book "the beauty of love" a memoir of miracles, hope and healing. thank you for joining us. tell us about the disease, how you discovered that your son had it. >> well, first of all, the skull of my son after ten days didn't look right. something was messed up. his forehead wasn't normal. it didn't look normal. we went to the doctor, asked some questions. they did some x-rays and sure enough, he had a condition where the bones in the skull were fused before the brain grew and we needed to do the operation and we needed to wait eight months to get it done. >> brian: that's brutal. and you kind of don't, you write, you kind of don't want people over to see the baby, they ask a bunch of questions. so you go through this yourself. plus you were in -- he was in a lot of pain. what was that like? >> it was really hard because it was the first time in my life that i had something that i couldn't control, that i couldn't fix, that i couldn't make better. i couldn't buy his health, which is something you mentioned. so it was extremely frustrating. and jorge had to go play baseball, so i was left alone at home most of the time, for a period of two months, i didn't sleep. i was constantly with the baby, he was crying all the time. finally one day, i just broke down. i just started crying and i said, i can't do this. >> gretchen: the interesting thing is baseball is such a mental game. i mean, you have to have all your wits about you to stand up there at the plate and take all the pitches that you did. >> once i was gone and at the field and i was playing, i was fine for that period of time that i was catching or hitting. when i was sitting in the dugout, i wasn't there. i remember joe torre asking me constantly, are you okay? are you okay? i remember that day that we're going to have the operation, joe torre didn't want me on the field. he didn't want me at the stadium. he said, stay with your family and then when the operation is done, come over. >> eric: how is he doing now? >> he's doing great. he's ten years old. he probably going to have one more operation, more cosmetic than anything. he wants to fix the scar. he wants to fix some of the things that don't look right. >> gretchen: look at this beautiful child. he has had eight operations. right? >> yeah. >> and the operations are not easy. they have to open his head from ear to ear, remove the skin, take off the skull and put it back together like a puzzle. it's not a simple operation. it's 12, 13 hours, blood transfusions. >> gretchen: i want to make sure we get in you started a foundation. right? >> yes. almost ten years ago called jorge posada foundation. it's because of my son. same name, of course. he's already telling us if he has a son, it will be jorge 3. we started the foundation and we do it to create awareness about what the condition is and interviews like this that help us do that. we also have a mentor's program to help other families that are going through the same situation to give them hope that everything will be okay. >> eric: who gives the signals at home? >> brian: congratulations on the book. it's a great story. it just goes to show you, real world people have real problems. you're working hard to conquer it and help others. the picture tells the whole story on the cover. thank you so much. >> thank you very much. >> gretchen: let's check out these live pictures because this is the ceremony in baghdad marking the transition from operation iraqi freedom to operation new dawn. is it too soon to turn the page in iraq? peter johnson, jr. is here to weigh in on his thoughts. >> eric: you remember their hits from the '80s? heart is back playing live on the plaza. ♪ >> brian: fox news alert. you're looking live at baghdad as the u.s. military holds a change of command ceremony to mark the formal end of u.s. combat operations in iraq under operation iraqi freedom. it's now called operation new dawn. vice president joe biden, defense secretary gates is there for the ceremony. the general set to come home. that's the official mark of turning the page on iraq which officially -- which president obama has called for since 2007 and last night he urged america to turn the page on afghanistan next year. can america do that and should we do that? fox news legal analyst peter johnson, jr. is shear with analysis and comments. you know a lot about big time speeches. >> the message was muddled, the message was mixed. sometimes i thought i was watching something they pulled out of the destroy bin on the "west wing" show. this is the kind of speech the president should give when we leave a war that we didn't want to be in. the president took liberal messages, keeping his campaign promise because he's been horrified by iraq. but at the same time, resorted to this kind of muddied, almost conservative approach and somehow talking about the middle class and -- >> brian: he talked about the economy. he went from iraq to afghanistan to the economy and how republicans wasted money for ten years. >> basically said the middle class had been destroyed as a result of the war in iraq. basically made the point that the middle class was pulverized and there was no economic stimulus, there was no decrease in dependence on foreign oil, there was no education reform. everything had gone wrong in this country somehow because of the iraq war. but at the same time, promising that we're going to espouse and build up the foundations of freedom in the world. then at the same time saying, listen, you can't have an open ended commitment in afghanistan even though we're going to destroy al-qaeda there. >> brian: who is he talking to? it's before labor day. most of america is on vacation. he has a prime time address with three different messages. you write speeches, is that the right approach? >> he's saying, i think, listen, i'm really going to get down to the economy now. i need a second start on the economy. i've been mired in this war. the other thing that's going on is the audience is not as much american people, but people around the world. you have to understand the president, a nobel peace prize winner, understand the president as someone who is trying to win the hearts and minds of the muslim world, someone who is going to a peace negotiation today, saying listen, look what i've done. i've ended this bush fiasco. >> brian: give me a letter grade. a? obviously or f fail. >> c. >> brian: disappointing? >> i was hoping he did well. >> brian: you always do well for us. thank you. >> keep golfing. >> brian: coming up. ann and nancy william from the rock band, heart. you know heart. they perform live on our plaza. first, let's check in with hemmer. he wants to tell us what's on his show because it's all about him. >> some days. martha and i will see you on the radio today, brian. >> brian: that will be fantastic. >> a bit later today. >> brian: wear the same outfit. >> thank you. big morning. karl rove on the president's address in iraq. alan comes is here. joe miller is live from anchorage, alaska after a razor thin republican primary victory. he's live on our program today. in 30 minutes, we're live at the hurricane center in miami. the latest on earl. what a storm that is. and national geographic taking us deep inside the border wars on immigration. this is must see videotape to find out what is happening in texas, new mexico, arizona, california. see you in ten minutes with martha and me at the top of the hour. ♪ ♪ . >> eric: barracuda and magic man, the sound of heart is unmistakable. fronted by sisters ann and nancy wilson have sold more than, get this, 30 million records and notched 21 top 40 hits since their 1976 debut record and they're not finished yet. what's the latest? >> we have a new album out called "red velvet car." came out yesterday. we're proud of it. it's all new stuff. we write ourselves. real happy about it. really good responses. >> eric: lot of electric guitar? >> a lot of electric, but really heavy rock and acoustic guitar as well. >> gretchen: kind of going back to the beginning of time. right? >> signature of ours, yeah. >> gretchen: but the interesting thing is that all of the song ons this album are auto biographical. >> they're all true. >> gretchen: is that good or bad? >> good. some are positive. some we're calling people on the carpet. it's all real emotion. >> gretchen: at this point in your career, do you still get better? like so many artists burst out and can't seem to do it anymore or get the public's attention. do you still think you're getting better as a musician and artist? >> that's a really good question because it's easier to kind of not get better. but we're here to feel every thing real. we're here for the reality, for the real emotion, for the authenticity. yes, we are getting better. >> brian: got you. and the real song and the latest. ♪ you've been down the lonely road ♪ ♪ you have kissed the face of sorrow ♪ ♪ you have bought what you've been sold ♪ ♪ but you still have got tomorrow ♪ ♪ you are one of a kind ♪ you are some kind of sign ♪ hey you ♪ hey you, the stars refuse to shine ♪ ♪ hey you, until the darkness and the light decide to rise ♪ ♪ hey you, until forever and a day run out of time ♪ ♪ hey you ♪ here by my september star ♪ i will go where you are going going ♪ ♪ forever and ever very far ♪ as my love is overflowing, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ your card you up in your sleeve ♪ ♪ as you fumble with your keys ♪ hey you ♪ hey you, hey you ♪ until the darkness and the light decide to rise ♪ ♪ hey you, until forever and a day run out of time ♪ ♪ hey you ♪ na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na ♪ ♪ na, na, na, na, na, nana ♪ na, na, na, na, ♪ i've been out here for so long ♪ ♪ and the sensitive is gone, gone ♪ ♪ if you tangle with the trees ♪ it will bring you to your knees ♪ ♪ >> gretchen: welcome back. fabulous performance by heart. this is the official barracuda guitar. right? >> that is the barracuda guitar. right there.

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