hurricane katrina plowed ashore, changing lives forever. even geography, all along the u.s. gulf coast. we begin the coverage today with trace gallagher live in jackson square in new orleans. good morning, trace. reporter: er good morning, shannon. you know the church bells rang behind us in the past 15 minutes or so here. i walk around jackson square and i talk to people and they will all tell you that it s very important that new orleans looks forward, that new orleans move on. but it s just as important for new orleans to look back at what happened five years ago today. and just remember if you will, shannon, what it was like then. after hurricane katrina hit, remember, new orleans thought they dodged a bullet, because the eye of the storm actually hit mississippi. so in the hours after the storm, there were people kind of walking around the french quarter thinking maybe we got lucky this time. and then, of course, word started coming in that the levees had breached, the
will continue to the second stage, with all u.s. forces returning home from iraq by the end of 2011. now let s listen to president obama today in his weekly address. bottom line is this. the war is ending. like any sovereign independent nation, they are free to chart their own course. by the end of next year all of our troops will be home. reporter: two presidents setting that deadline, end of next year, all u.s. forces out but has gregg discussed with malini wilkes, that is still up for consideration by the new iraqi government, whenever it s formed and a judgment by the u.s. and u.s. military and authorities that the new government asks for some component of u.s. forces to remain at the end of the next year. julie: major, can all u.s. forces be withdrawn? is it likely that they will leave no one behind by the end of next year? with the violence that just
happened. malini wilkes talked about it. i ll put it in context. from june to august, 265 army or police forces have been killed. that compares 180 that died from january to may. the violence has increased. if the iraqis can t form a government and the violence increases, the question is going to loom larger. two things have to happen. iraqis have to form a unified government and have some capability of dealing with al-qaeda in iraq but whatever insurgents remain. we ll know probably by spring of next year whether the two things have happened and probably by then if there is an iraqi government. it may ask for some u.s. forces to stay and liberty up to the president obama and military to decide what to do after that. many analysts that i ve talked to there should be a request of some form of u.s. military
down to zero, no troops by the end of 2011. but you look at the violence and japan and korea that has tens of thousands of troops and you have to wonder whether it would be advisable to have absolutely no u.s. troops here in the middle of the middle east and certainly commanders and u.s. officials back home says after the government is formed it s something they might want to revisit. gregg: malini wilkes, streaming live from baghdad, thanks. julie: talking about extreme weather. pair of powerful storms turning to the u.s. hurricane danielle is pushing north over the atlantic right now. it s expected to miss land but could still create dangerous rip currents along the east coast. farther out to sea, tropical storm earl is building strength and could turn into a hurricane
malini wilkes has the latest. under the heightnd alert, the military says it expects the iraqi security forces to conduct more patrol, more aggressively target terrorist networks. 56 people died in at least two dozen bombings and shootings around the country. al-qaeda has claimed responsibility. fear and frustration after attack this is week in cities across iraq. now a warning of more to come. iraqi intelligence officials believe more suicide bombers are in the country ready to strike again. that s why the prime minister has put security forces on highest alert. a deputy u.s. commander here admits terrorists are still a threat. we still have al-qaeda in this country and there are a number of other extremist groups. the last u.s. combat brigade has packed up and left iraq. troop levels dropped below 50,000 this week before the august 31 deadline set by the president. a milestone he highlighted in his weekly internet address. the bottom line is this, the war is ending.