aptioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productis >>ehrer: good evening. i'm jim hrer. on the newshour this thuday, the lead story-- gd news numbers onhe economy. jeffy brown checks the outlook in different pts of the countr then, after the other ne of the day, betty ann bowser details the house democrat plan for healtcare reform; margaret warner repos from lahore, pastan, a city on edge after terror attas. judy woodrf talks to matthew hoh, the foreign service offer whresigned in protest of the afghan war; and ray suez tells the story of professional footba players now suffing from dementia. >>is neurologist asked him "have you ever h concussions?" and he said "o too many to cot." major fundg for the newshour with jim lehrer provided by: >> this is the enge that connects abundant grain fromhe american heartland tharan's best selli whole wheat, while keepg 60 billion pounds of carbon out of the atmosphe every year. bnsf, the enginehat connects us. monsanto. producg more. conserving more. improvinfarmers' lives. that's sustainable agriculre. more at producemoreconservemorcom. >> what makes us an engineor the economy? plan across america. nearly 200,000 jobs crted. we see beyond rs. th is the power of human energy. chevn. wells fargo visors. togetherwe'll go far. and with the ongng support of the institutions and foundations. and... this program was madpossible by the corporati for public broadcasting. and by contributions tyour pbs station om viewers like you. thanyou. >> lehrer: t u.s. economy is owing again for the firsti in me than a year. the governnt reported new numbers today thathowed expansioin the third quarter. that touch off a big rally on wall strt, with the dow jones industrial average gaini 200 poin. at the samtime, there were ntinuing questions about the employment picture. jeffrey brown has our ad story report. >> brown: the newsame a year after the financial meltdo touched off the deepes recession in 70 years. the commerce deptment announced the gross domest product grew by 3.5% frojuly through ptember, marking an d to four straight quarters decline. but there were caveats: much of the growth dended on government spending-for new cars under "sh for clunkers," d new homes, aided by a temporary x credit for first- time home buyers. >> i think the u.seconomy is ouof recession. i still want tsee some positivemployment numbers, though. that's what really cous for people. d remember, about half the increase in the third quter just came om cars, from that "cash for clunkers" program. >> bro: in fact, today news about bs was mixed. rst-time claims for unemployment benefits felless than expted last week, even as the overall number of people relying on tho benefits contind to drop. for his part, present obama welcomed wd of growth, but said joblessness is still major obstacle to fu recovery. >> we'veot a long way to go to lly restore our economy and rever from what's been the longesand deepest downturn since the great depression anwhile this report today represts real progress, the benchmari use to measure the rength of our economy is not just whether our gdps growing, but whether we're creang jobs, whher families are having an easi time paying their bills, whether our businesses are hiringnd doing well. >> brown: as the preside spoke, a bilto extend benefits for many of the unemployedas before the senate. but majority leadeharry reid mplained wrangling over othe issues was delayinaction. >>e've got to get the unemployment done. we have a million ople that are waitg for that money. >> brown: in the meantim the administration faced questio about justow many jobs its stimulusrograms are creating or saving. the government claimed 3000 jo in its initial counting, but the associated pss reported a review of ctracts shows that number is at let 5,000 too high the white house said it's correcting early mistake but believes the a.p. account "dws on mleading conclusions from a handful of examples." buthere was no dispute on the floor ofhe stock exchange. the stronger-than-expected report on gdp broke four-day slide. the dow jones indurial average closed a9,962, gaining 2% in value r the day. the nasdaq rose nearly tt much, gaining 38oints to close at 2,097. so, w do these latest economic numbers uare with at people are seeinground the country? we get some quick snapshotfrom three gions today. shirley leung is theusiness editor o"the boston globe;" die swonk, chief economist at mesirow financial, a diverfied financiaservices firm in chicago; and lliam conerly, an economist who runs his own coulting firm in portland, oregon. diane onk, i'll start with you. let's start with theood news of the g.d.p. growth. what dyou see in your region that supports at? >> well, the o piece of good news is the return in export the rise in exports. the lis of caterpillar and johneere were hit very hard by e recession, but companies a starng to show d.w.i. dance that they have oers picked up. they've started to cl back some workers, ployment is stl a major problem here than elsewhere. but that's clearly a lht at the end the tunnel because the export side of our manufacturing ctor is going to do much better than thauto side as we e trerpblg this cession. >> brownthat's connected to other reports wee seen where overseas some countries e doing tter, right? >> absoluty. in fact, the devoping nations in particular, they ed the kind of equipmt that we build to bui roads and develop and also to develop eir agriculturalnfrastructure. soll of that is feeding into profits this region. noa lot of jobs but those profits come right tough chicago'sable if services ceer whh is very important to us here in icago and and that will create so jobs. >> brown: william conerly, whato you see? let's start onhe good side of the equationere. what do you see? >> well, sometimes whewe look at a region we're seei things that are very distinive and a regionas its own dynamic. what we're seeing right w is the same storyit's a global downturn andhe beginning of a global recovy and you walk into the mal in the western states, it'sretty much the sa thing, housing prices starting to turn up from very low bottom. so we the west are seeing the up turn but it's jt the very beginnings and whaven't dug ourself out of the hole at we were in as a rest of the recession. >> reporter: are thereey sectors or industriein partular that you could point to or are th are your weather veins for seeing wt's going ? >> well, uin seattle they keep an eye on aircraftrders and we're seeing in genera businesses are srting to look at spendg money on new equipment. they're not spendi a lot, but we're seng a turnaround in attitudes on that. the wood products indust has been very importt here, but there's no sigof strength yet because of t housing weakness. but i thk the biggest thing as diane mentiod is exports are strong and theest coast is very important forxports. those consums, i think what is haening is people have been savingoney for a year and they're saying "w, i guess i dodgadd bullet, we're not getting laid off." those who aren't laid of and maybe w it's time to get a new pair of shoes, a n car, or new computer. >> brown: shirley leung, unrstand you just finish add big seriesn the regional econom what were the kepoints? what were thkey findings? >> wel the key findings is that massachusetts ecomy is in a fragile recovery. but it's going to be jobless revery. it is quitfrightening. over t next year, production of goods ands afrs will increase by 2%. but we're going to continuto shed about 37,000 jobs. and today, as the nati's economy reported, i gus, great numbers, here in msachusetts, our economy tually shrunk about by 1.1%. and that came as a bitf a surprise to economis here and, frankly,o us who have been reporting is story because we really thought that r economy had come outf recession over the summer. our tech cpanies are well into recove and they're doing better and everything seems be stabilizing but it ems like things are a little t slower than we had thought. >>rown: you got your wire ther shirley? >> sorry. i've got to fi my wire. >> brown: i'll l you fix that. let me go on to diane swan i wanted to ask u about the... wellshirley just started the question of e jobless recovery. we hrd the president talk about it, we hear it oveand over that even as thin get to look bter it doesn't feel that way for most people as lonas unemployment remains hig hodoes that play out where you are? >> that's absolutely true. in ft, even as manufacturing comes back, member productivity growth so strong th're not adding many more worker if any more workers. they don even have to add production shifts to increas productions here in thmidwest. so you're t getting jobs back even as e numbers go positive. also the other issue is coext. 3.5% growth given the declin that we've seen, the sere contction we've seen, particularly for the midst, we'd need to see aleast double that to rely have it materialize in any kd of meaningf job growth in early to 10. so i thinke'll see very marginalob growth. we're seeingmall businesses in particular complain that mh of eir credit was through consumer home ec. ty lines of credit and that is dried up them. anthey're the major generator ofobs, even here in the midwest. so giv that that's not going be there, that means a very slow trickle of jobseturning. brown: william conerly, how doeshe job picture look where you are? >> well,e're still losing jobs in virtually all of e western stat. a couple are jt starting to flatten out. but it's ptty grim. i thk it's important to remember what we economist think of what we say receson. we're thinking of e downward riod. and we're a stage right now where we are nowhere cse to the previouseak, but because we've turn up, we economists are saying we're o of ression. but the maand woman are the streetre saying heck, no, we're still in a receson. ani think it's going to be about another year bore we get the economy owing enough that the people. everyday people willay, yeah, we're out of recession. brown: so... i'm sorry, go ahead. >> i'more optimistic on the jocreation because as i visi my clients, they've ally cut their lar force back. and if they t much in the way of an crease in orders, they're going toave to start spendi more money on labor and spenng more money on raw materials. so ihink this economy could swing into atronger positive a little faster than we think. >> brown: shirley, are y ba, can you hear me? >> i'm back! (laughs). >> brown: okay. thanks. another issue that of courses on t table is to what extent the grow that we're seeing comes om government programs, rit? rescue or stimus programs. >> right. right. >> bro: and what happens as those ben to fade away or get taken off thtable. how much has thaplayed a role where you e and what are the fes going forward? >> well, i think tha you know, stimulus defitely played a roleand particularly cash for unkers and the positive g.d. growth. i think it's a big questn mark that what will hpen in the next quarter. i don't think i'm gog out on a limb. i predt the next quarter we'll see e economy will probably go back into cession, or the numbers ll probably go back into a receson. wee probably still in a recessio i just wanted tooint out what's happeng in massachusett you know, yestery the governor here announced tt we had about $2 billion of stimulus money crted about 9,000 jobs. feels grt. then today hs announcing that thound jobs. so it seems that we take one step forwa and one step back. so when the stimulus moneyuns out, i think thawe're going to have some probms with continuingnemployment. >> brown: so youee the shifts that quickly? day by day? >> yes. >> browndiane, you... i meancash for clunkers clearly help the midwest region, right? >> it was huge in creang prodtion. there's nouestion. and, in fact, what i thi it did is it stped many companies that were hanginby their fingernails in terms of ing in bankruptcy in the auto industry from actuallyalling intoankruptcy. so thas important because it's mitigating losses. but iteally underscores the point of wherehe government has played theole here. it's played a role in mititing losses. it's averted a great depssion, number two, but did have a great recession anit's still a depressingconomy. >> brown: and william coney, our last minute, how do u see this government stimul programs affecti now and in the future? >> yeah, i think thathe government stimus had a smler effect than a lot of people are thinkg. it gets lot of attention and thers a lot oflag waving around it, butonetary policy from the federaleserve has been very, very posive but there's a long time la i think that has beekicking in. and, you know, mosof the stimulus dolrs have not been spt yet by the end of the third quarter. it's weighted more h ++*efly to 2010. the real question in my mi going forward ishen does the fed start tighning and are they going to ertighten and i'm little bit nervous about thprospect of maybe we go into another cyclin 201 is or to 12. >> couric: we'll leave it there, william conerly, irley leung and diane swonk,hank you all three. >> thank you. >> lehrer:ur "patchwork nation" project is trackg signs ofmprovement in 12 mmunities around the country that's oour web site, nehour.pbs.org. in other news today,ran gave a formal ansr to a draft agreement about itnuclear progra buthere was no indication of a breakthrough. newshour corresponde kwame holman narrates our port. >> holman: iran gave no indicati today it is ready to agree fully to the plan to sp most of s potential nuclear fuel overseas. e proposal was drafted last week in talks between mommed el-badei of the international atomic eney agency, plus iran, russia, the u.s. andrance. thu.s. and others want the anians to send 70% of thei low-enrichedranium to russia. at could delay any attempt b ir to generate enough fuel for a nuear weapon for at least a year. in the meantime, the materl processed in russia uld work in a research reactor, but n in weapons. but news accnts varied on whether iran wants tkeep all or some of its uranium, d enrich it the under u.n. supeision. in a speech, theranian presiden mahmoud ahmadinejad, insisted his government ill not retreat" on its right develonuclear power. but he said thinternational tas have shown progress. >> ( translated ): once, they were saying that you suld shut downhe nuclear activities, but toy, they have expressed their readiness toooperate with us inuel exchange, developing clear technology, building plants and nucar reactors. they have moved from confrontatn to interaction. >> holman: the responsin washgton was cautious. state departme spokesman ian key: >> there icomplete unity among the three rts here... or the fo parties-- the u.s., france, russia and the iaea-- that ts is a sound agrment. it's balanced and answs the nes and concerns of all parties, and so we'll work wh dr. el baradei andee what kind of clafications we get from the irania. >> holman: and france id it wanted tsee iran "respond clearly and potively". >> lehrer: irahas consistently denied its goal iso build nuear weapons. it ss it wants to develop coercial nuclear power to generate electricity. president obama made a surpre ovnight trip to salute americans killed iafghanistan thiseek. in pre-dawdarkness, he took part in reiving the remains of 18 troopand civilians at dover air force base in delaware mr. obama sated as the casket of army sergea dale griffin passed by. earlier this yea the president relaxed 18-year ban on letting cameras ver the transfer hours later, at the whe house, he spoke of the dovevisit >> it was a soberingeminder of the extraordiny sacrifices th our young men and women in uniform are engaging ievery single day the burden that bothur troops anour families bear in any wartime siation is going to bear ohow i see these conflicts. and it is sothing that i think about ch and every day. >> lehrer: the president is still considering whether to nd more u.s. troops to afghanistan. "the washingtopost" reported today 's asked for information on which local afghan leads are most effective. visers said the information would help guide the dision on war rategy and troop numbers. iraq announced the arrests o61 military and security ofcials today in the wake of last sunday bombings in baghdad. suice car bombers killed 155 iraq and wounded hundreds more. the attackers ma it through a series of secuty checkpoints, and thatrovoked public ouage. ose arrested were accused of negligence or involvemt in the bombings. it w another long day in the western plains of e u.s., as an ear season storm dumped more snow. parts of coloro and other states were buriednder three feet of snow, foing roads and schools to close. near denver, hundreds oflights were canceled at the city's international airporas crews work to clear runways. but more snowas expected by ghtfall. and still toome on the newsho tonight: margaret warner from lahe, pakistan; a resignatn over the war; and foball players at risk. thatollows the latest on health care reform. tty ann bowser reports fro the capitol for ouhealth unit, a rtnership with the robert wood johnson foundatn. >> reporter:lanked by fellow democrats and with the citol dome as her backdrop... >> good morning. >> reporter: . house speaker ncy pelosi today unveiled the long-awaitedetails of her party's alth care reform bill. >> affordabilityo the middle class, security for r seniors, responbility to our children. it redes the deficit, meets president obams call to keep the cost under $900 biion over ten years, and it insure36 million re americans-- 36 million more. >> repter: the house bill, a retooled version of three committee prosals, would cost an eimated $894 billion over the next decade. it iludes a government public insurance option; callfor a significt expansion of medicaid-- raising eligibity levels to 150% of e federal poverty lel-- that's about $16,000 a year f individuals; requires nearly every americ to sign upor health coverage by 2013; and mandates almost al employers offer verage to their workers or face financl penalties. >> it covers 96% oall american and it puts fordable coverage in reach f millions of uninsured an underinsured familie lowering health care costs for alof us. >> reporter:he bill would create aew government- related insurance exchange wherpeople and small businesses cou shop for insunce from private companies or the goverent-run plan. fedel subsidies would be made available to help loincome people affd coverage. and der the legislation, insurance mpanies would be barred from denying verage to americans with pre-existing conditions money to pay for the oveaul would be raid through a combation of cuts in future medire payments to providers and 5.4% income tax surcharge to be levied on the althiest americs-- people making $50000 a year and couples making $1 miion. house republicans responded swtly with criticism; none are expected to voteor the bill. ohio john boehner is minority leader. >> this bi is pretty clear. it's going to raise thcost of american's health insurance. it's goi to kill jobs with tax hikes and w mandates in it. and it's gng to cut seniors' health care benefits. and ifll that isn't bad enough, the... the mandas on statesill bankrupt what... wh are already states that ha huge financial problems today. >> reporr: speaker pelosi made several significant adjustnts to make sure that it wou get 218 decrat votes, the number she needs to pass on the hou floor. a key change wilallow doctors and hospals to negotiate more favorable reimbursemenrates withhe government-run public option. one modera democrat who once said he would never voteor a bill with a public optn wasn't sure which way he'd vote today. idaho's walt minnick >> i still not a great fan of thpublic option. i do think it's imrtant that atever health bill we pass b affordable, reduce cts, and inease access, so that everne will have the ability toet comprehensive, affordable health insurce. >> reporter: most liral caucus members id they were disaointed, but like new york's anthony weine they felt they had to coromise. >>t's not as strong as i would have lik, and i think some members of congress will he to explain why they wand less competition, leschoice, and moreost for taxpayer. but it's hard not to cl the success ofhe public option a victory. >>eporter: there were some danger signs for pelos congressmaraul grijalva co- chairs t democratic ogressive caucus and said he stl wants to see a more robust public option. disappointed enough toote against? >> we'll ask the leadership. the answer is, i'm leang no right now. that's just this iividual. but the entire caus will ask leadership tgive us a vote up or down on robust publ plan. wehink that's important for that to be othe record, and for many america who advocated for that, let them have their day in the sun and s what happens. >> reporter: se republicans, like michigan's dave cp, attacked the way the bilwas put together >> americans' health itoo impoant and too complex to risk on ongigantic piece of legislion. and in thehree months that they've been negotiating bind closed doors and in secret, they've adde1,000 pages to the bill that nonef us have seen yet. obviously, wll be looking through this in great deil in the next ds that we have. >> onward to passing a bl in e congress! thank you. >> reporr: speaker pelosi expects to have the bill othe floor next wee and wants a final vote tcome before vetens day on november 11. >> lehrer: there's a linto the fullouse bill on our web site, nehour.pbs.org. and we have extended ierviews with two key republica senators, susan colls and olympia snowe,bout what they would support. now, a pakistani cy on edge gree the visiting u.s. secretary of state. margaret warner ports from hore, pakistan. >> warner: the streets of th market in hore overflow with music, vendo hawking their wares and families gatheri thes by i cans of daily fe. pakistan second largest city and thcapital of its biggest province, punjab, has always been the cntry's most cultured and life-lovinhub. bua change has come to lahore: terroris and with it, a fr not known hereefore. the extremt violence once coined to pakistan's hinterland has penetrated it mar cities, including lahore. the first major blow came earlier this yr when members of a viting sri lankan cricket team were gunn down in a bloody asslt and just two weeks ago atckers struck a police traing academy, killing 11 #fficers and recruits. aer in srous woman wasn this market yet jt after a suicide mbing in a similar market in peshawar killed morehan 100. she said she had to here. >> (translated): this is the first time i've ft my house in tedays, but i had to come out to shop for my brother's wedding. >> reporr: across the alley, wedding fashion shopkeeper sales are down 75%. (translated): the security situion has badly affected my sales. it is the wedding seon now, but no one is comi to shop. >> warner: these attacks so close to home have trier add sea chge in lahore's attitude about the pakistani milints anthe u.s.-led campaign ainst them says this editor "the friday times." >> for a long time, the peop from lahore were pakistaniwho said "this is noour war, this is america war." d therefore lahore was spare but now lahore is is on the t list and there's beea spate of terrort attacks which have made lahore low. th that result, public opini is n changing and they now see this as their war. >> reporter: so en secretary of state hilla clinton arrived here today, e found a city tranormed-- on edge and in virtual lockdown the motorcade of unmarke vehiclesithout american flags to her along a route cleanly swept by hundreds of secity personnel. shlaid a wreath at the memorial to the poet philosoer who inspired paktan's founding and she admired the end of islamic, sik and anglo indian architecture ithe soaring mosque but her planned sit to lahore's world famous suit thi shrine was scrubbed for ar of atck. in a day of meetings with lare's leaders in civil society,overnment, media, and business, clinton laid o the promising future that re u.s. assistance and economiand soal engagement could help bring. but in a session with studts at the government llege of lare, she was challenged repeatedly abo sore points in the u.s./pakisni relationship. what can the americans give pastan that we can now trust you-- not you, but le americans, this ti of your sincerity and at you guys are not going to bbetraying us li the americans did in the past when they wanted to destabilize the russia. >> i think that 's a fair cricism that after we worked together to drive the sovi union t of afghanistan there s such a sense of success an relief on the part of e governme-- our government then-- that we d not follow through the way th we should have. >> warner: anoer asked her about the carrie kry/lugar aid bill who people say impingon" their sovereigy. >> the purposef the bill was to help pakistan, thatas our inteion, that was our motivation >> >> warner: t last student suggestehis country is suffering terrorist tacks becae the u.s. has pressur pakistan's government to mnt offensives agast the extremists. >> don't you think that hamps e democracy because now the u.s.s forcing pakistan to take actis which on the other hand we might not be willinto take? >> i think it s the pakistan government-- the democraticay elected govement, and the kistan military-- who decide th it was intolerable for terrort organizations to be seizing large unks of territy of your country. >> warner: clinton's day in lahore was allbout showing respect. this cy's rich cultural and islamicharacter. and her words of praisfor the lahori's resilience the face of terrowere welcome. but as she departe she left behind a city that's stling in for a long siege agast a determined foe. >> we just received thisax that theovernment has closed off schoolkindergartens, nurseries and play gros. >> warne this woman runs seral private schools in lare which were shut by government ord they are nth ter suicide bombers struck a university iislamabad. she reopen her schools for older chilen after just three days. but though 80% of her udents have rurned to class, she says the damage has been done >>h, it has changed the city beyond recogtion. you n't recognize some of the reets. you can't cognize some of the securityrrangements. we've not had history violence. wh other cities in pakistan were suffering, we we fortunatenough to be spared. and so you know you n't... you really..it's a new experience r us. >> warner: also neare the addesecurity measures required of all pakistanichools. here, armed guards prol the roof. after althese attacks, this woman, like many pakistanis, feels deep hostility towarthe taliban and its terrorisallies >> it is cloed in the language of faith. i think itas it will toll do with abody's faith, because i caot imagine any person of faith,f true belief and faith, doing sothing like this. >> warner: butoubts about the u. haven't changed as markedly, as waspparent in the differenceheard in the corridors of punjab unersity. is first year student believ kistan needs u.s. help in th ruggle (our government and yos as well, we collaborate with each other, use you security agencies and overme this problem of terrorism inhe region. >> reporter: but muhamd amin, member of the consertive regious party skwra maya islami was sning a referendum protesting the kerry/lugar referendum. >> tre was not terror attacks in this area in pakist, in afghanistan, but whever any area of the world amera arrives, there a attacks and so and so mb blastings are started. >>arner: it's just these attitudes that secretary cnton hopes begin to change. >> lehrer: margaret will interview secretary clton tomorrow in kistan. nextonight, we continue our ongoing conversationon afghanistan. tonight, it'with an ofcial dissenter to u.s. licy. ju woodruff's in charge. >> woodruff: after five nths serving with thetate department in ghanistan, matthew hoh became the first s. official known to resign protest against americ policies the. in hiseptember 10th letter of resignation, revealed this wk in "the washgton post," the rmer marine captain said: "i fail to s the value or hoh's resignation wagreeted more in sorrow than in angery the state department richard lbrooke said, quote: "wtook his letter very seriousl because he was a good officer." mr. hoh joins us now. thank you for beg here. so is it your vi that the u.s. shld just get out? >> of course it's imssible to wave a magicand and be gone from there. however, i do believe we a inlved in a 35-year-old civi r. i believe we a not the lead character in that war, tt it's an intnal conflict. believe that 60,000 troops in ghanistan do not serve to defeat al qaeda and do n serve to stabilize the paktan government. >> woodruf what is it that has given you the confiden to know this? what did you see in ghanistan? >> sure. well, before i went, studied quita bit about it, i read a lot of its historyparticularly the late 's and the soviet/afghan war. addionally, i have many friends and colleagu who have served in afghanistan. i went thereith some ideas that this didn'tit well with me about what we were doin there, but i wanted to contrite. when i got tre, however, serving inhe east and in the south, the similarities we the same. what i found, we were fighng people who were fighti us only because we're occupying th or because we are supporting a ntral government that they views occupying them. most importantly, i thini listen to as many afghans as possible because my roles a political adsor was to work th the afghan government as wells to work with as many local ghans as i could. >>oodruff: you say, matthew hoh, that what you see is civil war going onthe u.s. is a bystander. what it looks likeo many americans as they look ithat it's the afgn government being attacked, the ghan people being atcked by the taliban, by ements of al qaeda. how do... how can we be sure which is right? >> sure. first of all, al qae does not exist in afghanist. i think there's plen of evidenceo that fact. and the wathe country works, 's so localized there. it'shat i refer to and other people rer to as valleyism. >> woodruf valleyism? >> yes. so if you take the ideof nationalism, shrk it down to a much smaer level. these are folks o live within communits of 100 to 500 people and that's... i don't wa to say where their world endsbut that'shat they're concerned with. and they've never d a central governnt there that has done any good, that haselivered seices to them. they've ner had a central vernment that's brought them anything, only taken. sol to them whether itas the najibullah, the talin, or the karzaiovernment, they're all one in the sam and particular in the east where they're ghting us and the uth where they're fighting usthose folks there don't make uphe people who are the central govement. >> woodruff: so thargument, thoughby... as you know, by general stanley mcchstal who's in chae over there for the military, by john cain who's very much in for of the u.s. staying is that if e u.s. leaves, taliban takes er and qaeda's going to come back. >> i don believe al qaeda will come back. i beeve that since 2001 al qaeda s evolved. they have rned into, as i like to say, andeological cloud that existon the internet and recruits worldwi. they... if you look at the attacks that al qaeda s been successful wh over the last seven, eht years, including attacks on/11, they weren't conducted by ahans or pakistanis. and a lot of the preparati and traini that took place in westereurope or even here in the united states. so i d't think al qaeda has any intest in ever tying itself gone a geogphical or political boundary. i think they're coent to exist ashey have evolved and they are threat and they should be our prioty, we need to defeat them. but,gain, 60,000 troops in afghanistan does not deft al qaeda. >> woodruff: what abt the taliban? >> the taliban, we csed them out of power in 2001 le we rightly should have. hower, what you have in quetta now, i believe, isust the remnants othat. anwhile the quetta shura taliban, as we refero them, the s a that to the karzai government, i don't believe they're a threat tthe united ates and further more, i don believe that thewould be able to retake kabul paicularly in shura if there's no pakiani support for them if weeft afghanistan. >> woodruff: wt do you think would happenthough, if president obamdid give general mcchrystal the troops he wan or a significantncrease in the mber of troops? >> i believe it's ing to fuel the insurgency. it'snly going to reinforce claims by ouenemies that we are occupying power because we are aoccupying power. anthat will only fuel the insurgency. anthat will only cause the more people to fig us or those fighting us continue to ght us. >> woodruff: you don't think there's any gument the u.s. camake to the afghan people that we'rehere to... as we have been, to omote democracy? that couldhange their view of wh you say is... that we're an occupyg force? >> i was up in... ea of the country, up in kunarnd the ristan area where we just lo eight soldiers a cple weeks ago. the brade combat team that was the for a year, in one year's time, they dpped about a half million pounds oordnance on the aircraft andhey shot about 50,000 rounds of indirt fire and artillery. now, on the other ha, they all spent probably abo 160 to $180 million in devopment money over the course of year. this is in an area of 4.5 million people. if, after eight years war, you've done these nds of things a people aren't coming around, i don't think theye everoing to come around. i think we have to realize tt sometis people don't like us and don't nt to be like us and weave to accept that andhen weave to engage them politically and work wh them that way. >> woodruff: one othe other points youake, matthew hoh, is out corruption in the karzai governnt. u were very blunt in writing that karzai is adved by drug lords d you went into some detail about tha the other argument, thoughon that is that, well, that's jt endemiin that culture. that the u.s. has to bprepared accept a certain amount of corruption when you're deali with these people. >> i think that wod be true if we weren't sacrificing ouroung men d women in support of that regime. the idea that we're sing somebody's son or somebody's husbd is dying to support a regime that's profiting off our aid moneis criminal. it's wrong. and rther more, you know, i know a lot of peop speak about the taliban reiving financing throh opium and everything. there are a t of us who believe they recve just as much moneyhrough our own developmt money we're spending there. >> wdruff: last thing i want to ask you. some people ve said it all sounds very good, buyou were only there in afghanisn for five months, you'rrelatively young, what, 37? >> 36. >> woodruff: 36 yearold. who are you to sayhat the united stes should be doing? when tre are others who have been thereonger, studied it for years. >> iish peop would refute what i'm saying. i've seen thatriticism but i ha not seen anyone tell me why it's n a civil war. i've not seen yone tell me how stabilizing the afghan government will defeat al eda. i've not hea anyone tell me how keeping ,000 troops or 80,000 o100,000 troops in afghantan will stabilize pastan. so i haven heard the answers to those questio. as for the chris schismsbout my age or that i wasnly there for five months, i washere for five months, i was in twparts of the count, i worked with as many local peoplas i could and i liened as much as possible. athat point... what i wrote... first off, wt i wrote in my resignation letterthere's not a novel or unique ought in that. the are thoughts shared by military offers and state department officers asell. my concern inot how are we fighting ts war but why are we fighting this war. >> woodruf matthew hoh, thank you very much for cong to talk with us. we appreate it. >> thankou, judy. >> lehrer:here's more on afghanistan on o web site, newshour.pbsrg. we have a rvey of afghans; it shows th feel more secure than they did a year ago. and you can watch a weonly video following u.s. army eutenant in the mountainous border area ar pakistan. finally night, football's lasting impactn some of its players. ray suar has our story. remember this jacket, honey ney, stand up, look at me. he's smiling! he's g his hall of fame jacket and he's smiling! >> suarez: john mackey probly doest remember the nfl hall of fame jacket he gave away whe dementia first gripped him t years ago. but with the help of h wife sylviahe tries to enjoy monts of nostalgia for his da a pro football receiver in the '60s and early '70s. today,he hall of famer, just 68 yea old, is in assisted living, complete with a eping security system to stop nfused redents from wandering off. are ere good days and bad days? >> yes. and eat days and not so great days. >> suarez: othe good days, how is it differenfrom what we're seeing now from mr. mack? >> he'll get up and walkp and down he'll thw and catch the ball. tually, today would be a goo y if it weren't for the twitching-- they cl it a jerk. >> suarez: a speech? >> he doesn't talk amore, very rarely >> suarez: mackey was dinosed with dementia when he s just 60. his fe believes a career in the nfl left himith chronic traumatic encephalophy, or cte, a degenerative brn disease. she became cvinced of this as john declined and when she noticed more a more former nfl playerexpressing similar mental illness. >> every year,e would go back tohe hall of fame ceremony, and ery year that i went back, i noticed th more and more players-- and these we hall of fame guys-- had dementia. this was aft he was diagnosed and i was so taken aback by . so i said,here's something ong with this picture. there's too ch of a common thread in this sma group." d i said, "out of 260 player if i can see four five who ha been diagnosed and i'm aring about others who seem that ty will need to be diagnosed in the future,hen there arplenty of retired players out there who st have it." >> suarez: yesterday, e house judiciary committewent looking r answers from the nfl, its ayers union, and medical professionals. specificallychairman john nyers wanted to know if the league waseady to accept a connection between its game d severe brain dease. >> commissior godell, is there a li between playing profsional football and the likelihood of contcting a brain related inry such as dementia, alzheimer's, depression, or cte? >> you are seeing a lot data as to the liage, and the dical experts should be the one to ctinue that debate. our bottomine is we are not waiting fothat debate to coinue. weant to maksure our game is safeand we are doing everything we possibly c for our players w. >> i have just asked you simple question. what is e answer? >> the medical experts wou ow better than i would with respt to that, but we are not treatinghat in any way in delayi anything that we do.u we are re-enforcg the safest... >> okay, i he heard it. suarez: the chairman and several other commtee members were frustrated by the leae's skeptici in the face of medical rearch showing lasting brain damageith concussions and othehead trauma in otball. one rece study, commissioned by the nfl a conducted by the university of michigan, fod that 6% of retiredfl players ov 50 years old reported a diagnosis of dementia, alzheimer's,r another memory lated disease. that finding, comped to a less than a% figure in u.s. men of a simir age, drew headlines and prompted ts congressional quiry. the report's author, hever, was careful not to dw a direct link from footll to dementia. >> those numbers may or manot indicate an eleved risk from a reer playing fooall. we can't draw a colusion, and noesponsible scientist would do s >> suarez: but other docto say the signs arclear. >> none of my lleagues have ever seen case of cte without a history of head trauma. >> srez: neurologist dr. ann mckee is studying the ains of former footballers aboston university is the a way that we can draw a straight line fr somebody's careern the nfl with the problems ty are having as a 45-year-old? >> what we have en in all of these plays is a trauma- induced sease; it is caused by trauma. and so, i don't think the is any question abouthat has caused theisease in these players. most of them gotost of their trauma during the nfl year and i think its time to actually recognize thatnd not bury that da with excuses that it might be somhing else. >> suarez: the committee ao heartestimony from several former players. rril hoge enjoyed a long careers an nfl running back until a series of coussions lead him to quit. >> i will say th: there has been significant chaes in the nation football league. baseon the nfl and the nflpa, whatappened to me would not happen in the naonal football leue today. that does not mean ware all the way ere. we are on our way. suarez: repeated injuries enderalph wenzel's pro football career, too. diagnosed with cogniti impairment in 1999, now has full-blown dementia. three yes ago his wife, dr. eanor profetto, could no longer care fohim. >> i know that he esn't want to live the way that he lis. d i know that he doesn't wan to see anyone se live that way,ither. >> suarez: now, she's urgi the league to admit its facing a crisis >> it's very fstrating that the nfdenies that the evidence there, that they deny there is a relationship. i think it's disrespectfulf the ayers, it's disrespectful of the families th are going throh this. it bad and endangers young people, young studen, student athletes w are playing footll now. i think the l really needs to st up and take a very proactive role. >> suarez: the head of t player's union is demaurice smith. we are committed to getting the ght answers, to work with everyone w has the goal of protecting our playersand to rve as a model for football every level. we've do a tremendous job in outlawing hits on a defensiv ayer, cutting down on helmet to-helmet contac doing a better j of players who do get injure how we respond to those players on the fld, following up on the medical tenology of how long theneed to be out of the ga after they've suffered a concussion. >> suarez: in fact, the l changed that rule ly two years ago. since 2007, nolayer knocked unconsous in a game can return to that game. the eagles star runninback, brian westbrook, tk a knee to thhead in monday night's game and was out. his coach calls him "hopef" for sunday. but dr. mckee worrs that ayers are returned to the field too quickl my thinking is that you really need rest that nerve cell, and those nerve cellare very jarred by that perience. and there is a sort of microscopic and tabolic chans that actually go on for weeks after at injury. soyou have a concussion one day, and six weeks out, yo nerve cells e still slightly settled. it's not really back to s resting state. and if you are iured a second time while you a already in this sorof limbo state, the consequences are mucgreater. >> suarez: by the end the aring, the nfl agreed to sha its resech into concussions more widely, including t results of the michigan stud next year. for sylviand john mackey, that step is welcome. >> football is dangero; it's not going to gaway. they just need to be ppared. and pele choose to do it, you oose to do it, nobody makes you do it. sothey need to provide for the unusual maladies... the usl maladies that e unusual that go along with playing the spt, you know whai mean. >> suare thanks to the mackey the nfl does provide $88,000 r year for care to the 70 former pros actually agnosed with mental impairments-- $88,000 honor of john's jersey number, 8 >> who d you play for? did u play for the baltimore who? baltimor..? >> colts. right! that's right. >> lehrer: again, thmajor developmen of the day: the gornment reported the economy grew in e year's third quarter for the first ti in more than a ar. wall street reacted th a rally-- the dow jones instrial average gain 200 points. house democrs unveiled their health reform plan. they said it wou extend coverage to millions of ople, and cost abo $900 billion over ten years. and iran respoed to a u.n. plan for sding uranium to russia for processing. but the was no indication the iranians would agree ful to that idea. we'll see you online, and ain here tomorrow evening th secretary oftate clint, plus mark shields and david boks, among others i'm jim lehrer. thank you and good nig. major funding fothe newshour withim lehrer is provided by: >> what the world needs now ener. the energy to t the economy humming again. the engy to tackle challenges like climate change. what is that energy came from an energy company? everyday, chevron vests $62 millioin people, in ideas-- seeking, teaching, blding. fueling grth around the world to move us all ahead this is the por of human energy. chevro intel. supporting math anscience educatiofor tomorrow's invators. fargadvisors. togeer, we'll go far. and monsanto. and by toyota. and by the alfred p. san foundation. supporting sence, technology, and improv economic performance and financia literacy in the st century. d with the ongoing support o the institutions and fodations. and... th program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributns to your pbs statiofrom viewers like you. thank u. aptioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productis captioned b media access grouat wgbh access.wgbh.org [church bells ringing] [semn orchestral music] ♪ >> emi, my dearest one. 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