couric: good evening, everyone. the leak of those secret field reports has reignited the debate over the war in afghanistan. how well it s going and whether it s worth fighting. in its first public comment since the documents were posted online, president obama defended his war strategy and urged congress to approve his latest funding request. the president also said the leak could jeopardize individuals or operations. and the pentagon promised, quote, a very robust investigation to find out who was behind it. chip reid is at the white house tonight. chip, these documents could damage support for the war in the long term though the president did get what he wanted tonight. katie, late today the house passed a crucial war funding bill but in the course of the debate democrats, some democrats, argued that these documents show that this war is not worth fighting. the president said today there s not much new in the tens of thousands of leaked afghanistan war documents. t
the pakistani capital. let s get the latest from mark phillips, joining us live from london. good morning, mark. good morning. this soon after a crash, the numbers of dead and for that matter of survivors are always change, but it appears there were a number of people who lived through this crash. there had been, as you say, 152 people on board. reporter: the plane on a flight from karachi to islamabad crashed as it was apparently trying to land. pakistan is now in the monsoon season. when heavy rains and dense cloud move up from the indian ocean and the weather was terrible. some other flights have reportedly been canceled over the past few days, but it is much too early to conclude what caused this crash. the terrain around the airport is densely forested hills and valleys making access to the crash site extremely difficult. the plane was an airbus 321 and the flight is a regular commuter run between pakistan s largest city and its capital and was operated by the privat
afghanistan. how well it s going and whether it s worth fighting. in its first public comment since the documents were posted online, president obama defended his war strategy and urged congress to approve his latest funding request. the president also said the leak could jeopardize individuals or operations. and the pentagon promised, quote, a very robust investigation to find out who was behind it. chip reid is is at the white house tonight. chip, these documents could damage support for the war in the long term though the president did get what he wanted tonight. katie, late today the house passed a crucial war funding bill but in the course of the debate democrats, some democrats, argued that these documents show that this war is not worth fighting. the president said today there s not much new in the tens of thousands of leaked afghanistan war documents. these documents don t reveal any issues that haven t already informed our public debate. reporter: he made clear
liberal war critics used the leaked documents as a weapon. wake up, america. wikileaks release of secret war documents gave us 92,000 reasons to end the wars. pick one. we should use this money to bring them home. reporter: the president found himself in the unusual position of relying on republicans to pass his bill. cutting off their funding in the middle of that fight is tantamount to abandonment. reporter: today press secretary robert gibbs said it s hard to wage war without the support of the american people. i think obviously public opinion matters quite a bit when you have your forces in harm s way. reporter: if fact only in the early years did americans believe the war in afghanistan was going well. between 2003 and 2008 when the focus was on iraq support plummeted. after some minor ups and downs today stands at a mere 31%. even if the president s right that there isn t much new in the leaked documents, they still threaten to turn public opinion against