this morning to visit one special mom? get ready for our biggest breakfast in bed surprise ever. i love watching emeril do his pink panther imitations out there. >> either that or a peeping tom. not sure. >> he is on the hunt. look at him live, right there. there's emeril lagasse. he's going to surprise one very lucky mom in just a little bit. she doesn't know a thing yet. but she's going to have a great day ahead. >> this is one of my favorite "good morning america" traditions. 12 years going now, the "good morning america" mother's day surprise. >> we'll have it all morning long. big surprise coming up. a lot of news to get to. elizabeth vargas here. robin is on assignment today. and the president, today, going to ft. campbell, kentucky, where he's going to meet with the navy s.e.a.l.s, the navy s.e.a.l. team that took out osama bin laden. wouldn't you love to get a glimpse with those guys? >> that is going to be an extraordinary meeting today. we have a story about another star in that raid that we haven't heard much about until now. the four-legged heroes trained to take down terrorists. we'll show you the work that the dogs do and human machines can't do without them. we're going to meet the superdogs of the navy s.e.a.l.s in a moment. >> superdogs with titanium teeth. >> and ear pieces. >> just incredible. you've probably seen the brooke shields ads for longer eyelashes. it could turn out that this could be the solution for men losing their hair. >> not that you need it. >> you never know. and john berman has that. we begin with the promise of good news for everyone who drives, finally. in the last two days, the price of oil has plummeted. it's under $100 a barrel for the first time in over two months. bianna golodryga is here with more on that. bianna, this means that relief could come right away, where it matters most, at the gas pump. >> reporter: absolutely right. the money pit at the pump may soon come to an end. one of the analysts we were talking to said we could see gas prices go down 2 cents a gallon, starting today. over the next three to four weeks, that could bring us down to $3.50 a gallon. that's a buck more than we were paying this time last year. but when comparing where we were today, $3.95, this is good news ahead of memorial day weekend. >> do we know why? >> reporter: the two no hand in hand. we see oil got up to $100 per gallon in march. continued to decline. now going down. at $94, $96. here's a reason why. when the dollar goes up, oil prices usually go down. here's the bad part, though. there's been pain at the pump. that's reflected in some of our driving skills and what we're doing at the pump and the consumption we've been seeing, as well. here's the bad part for economic news. we saw gpd rise to 1.8%. we need to see 3% to see the unemployment numbers decline. today is the big day. we're seeing jobs reports. 175,000 jobs expected to be added in the month of april. the unemployment rate expected to stay steady at 8.8%. disturbing, new details on what bin laden was planning next. clues from the documents that were seized from his compound that officials say point to a plot to strike america on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. the target, our train system. pierre thomas joins us. good morning to you. >> reporter: elizabeth, evidence recovered from bin laden's compound revealed that up until his bitter death, he and al qaeda had murderous intentions for the u.s. >> roger. we'll be in new york next. >> reporter: the plan apparently in its early stages, diabolical. a blood-thirsty blood to derail a train. >> if a train were to derail off a bridge, hundreds of people could be killed, which would have the same effect as blowing up an airplane. >> reporter: a homeland security bulletin obtained by abc news states that al qaeda, in february of last year, was developing a chilling tenth anniversary plot for this september 11th. as one option, al qaeda was looking into trying to tip a train, by tampering with the rails, so that the train would fall off the tracks at either a valley or a bridge. abc news has learned the bulletin arises out of evidence recovered from bin laden's compound, revealing that al qaeda remains fixated on so-called soft targets like transportation. the new evidence makes clear that bin laden was playing a direct role in planning al qaeda attacks, just as he did before the 9/11 assault. after that massacre, he bragged about his role. >> i see here, at least for now, that bin laden, the engineer, who wants to look at the structure of possible attack targets, was asking questions and was getting information. >> reporter: senior law enforcement officials tell us they do not believe the plot is imminent. and there's no evidence the plan was in the final stages. but sources show, bin laden had not given up killing as many americans as he could. >> all right, pierre. had not given up a primary planning role, as well. there's also riveting new information on who bin laden's neighbors were. it turns out the cia was living right next door, in pakistan, watching bin laden's every move. nick schifrin has been tracking all of this down in abbottabad, pakistan. and he joins us now. good morning, nick. >> reporter: elizabeth, that's right. new details about an extraordinary spy mission in the months before this raid. it turns out osama bin laden had secret neighbors, the cia. the cia moved every asset it had into a house right near bin laden's compound. those assets included a satellite, hovering above. telephoto lenses on cameras that shot bin laden's compound through mirrored glass. infrared devices and audio recording devices. those details according to "the new york times" and "washington post." newspapers say the effort took more than $10 million. in the end, it actually failed. the cia never got a positive identification of bin laden. they saw someone in the compound they nicknamed tracer or pacer, rather. they never identified him. nor were they able to actually get his voice, record his voice. that goes to show you how well hidden he was in this compound. and also, how well-disciplined he was. the fact is, he never left the compound and risked any kind of exposure. elizabeth? george? >> all right, nick. thanks so much. we'll have much or on osama bin laden on a special "20/20." that's at 10:00, 9:00 central. a lot more on the cia effort to spy onned bin laden. >> he was so careful. >> incredibly disciplined. five years, living essentially in two rooms. later today, president obama will travel to ft. campbell, kentucky, to personally congr congratulate the members of the navy s.e.a.l. team that took out bin laden. jake tapper is down in ft. campbell. jake, this is something of a victory lap for the president. he is already starting to see some political benefits. >> reporter: that's correct, george. he's seeing some bumps in the polls. right now, here at ft. campbell this, is where some some of the members of the 160th special operations aviation regiment. those are the helicopter pilots that participated in that mission. they're called the night stalkers. that's where they're headquartered. and the president will meet with some of them today, as well as some of the navy s.e.a.l.s. at ground zero, the president laid a wreath at the survivors tree. and bowed his head in silence. earlier, he spoke with first responders. >> we've never forgotten the tragedy. we've never forgotten the loss of life. we've never forgotten the courage that was shown by the nypd, by the firefighters, by the first responders. >> reporter: the president told "60 minutes" he took great care with how bin laden's corpse was treated. >> frankly, we took more care on this than, obviously, bin laden took when he killed 3,000 people. he didn't have much regard for how they were treated. and desecrated. >> reporter: president obama has been careful not to politicize killing osama bin laden. but he's getting an undeniable boost. in a recent poll, his approval has jumped 11 points in 2 weeks, to 57%. a massive 17-point jump in his handling of afghanistan, to 61%, is the highest rating he's had in more than 2 years. the same is not true when it comes to the economy. only 34% approve of the president's handling of the economy, the lowest of his presidency. and that's exactly where the republican presidential hopefuls plan to pressure the president. in south carolina last night, the biggest names in the field, romney, trump, palin, huckabee, gingrich, were not there. the others seized any opportunity to criticize the president. >> he hasn't dealt with that because he doesn't understand the business cycle. >> we can't restore america's promises if we don't have a president that keeps his promises to america. >> reporter: a u.s. official tells abc news, that the government, today, will provide even more information about the dna evidence, about the facial recognition analysis, that was done on osama bin laden, as well as more information about that treasure trove of information gleaned from the bin laden compound. back to you in new york. >> even though the photos won't be coming out, more evidence that this was truly osama. jake, thanks very much. as we just saw in jake's piece, the first republican presidential debate was held in south carolina last night. only five of the contenders showed up. that means our next guest drew a lot of the fire. and tim pawlenty joins us now from greenville, south carolina. thanks for coming on with us, governor. >> delighted to be with you, george. >> in that debate, you said the first order of business for the federal government, is to protect this country and its people. i wonder what you say to president obama, when he comes and says, i kept my promises. osama is gone. our troops are coming home from iraq and afghanistan. and a weak al qaeda has not succeeded on a major attack on our homeland. when president obama makes the case that america is safer on his watch, how will you respond? >> a number of things. i do congratulate him, george, for the fine job he did in finding and killing osama bin laden. i tip my cap to him. and we should congratulate him for that. but there's a number of other, security and foreign policy questions, that i think he's answered in the wrong way. for example, when he said he was going to surge the troops in afghanistan, which i think was the correct call, i don't think he should have simultaneously announced the withdrawal date and sent the message that we're really not committed there to finish the job. that's an example of the kind of things he'll have to account for. >> the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, dick lugar, says in the wake of the osama bin laden killing, about 100 al qaeda in afghanistan, he said it's difficult to conclude that our vast expenditures in afghanistan represent a rational strategy. >> i've been to afghanistan. it's not just al qaeda. there's other terrorist groups, including t including the al kahni group. we need to eliminate any threats to the security interest and safety of the united states. our interest in that region. it's not to rebuild their whole country. but we hope, in the near term, they can stand up their security forces to help establish and take over that goal. and general petraeus, when i met with him last fall, said we're making good progress in that regard. i believe we can withdraw or draw down our troops. but it should be depend on conditions on the ground. >> we are waiting on jobs numbers this morning. but there has been fairly strong job growth over the last couple of months. of course, americans still unsatisfied right now. but if the economy starts to improve, what will be your line of attack against president obama? >> well, the economy, if it's improving at all, is only doing very slowly, and not by very big margins. and so, we had a president who said, george, that he was going to cut the deficit in half, if he got elected president. he didn't keep that promise. our federal spending is out of control. i think americans realize we can't be a debtor nation. and that's ruining our country. he said he was going to fix the health care system, with focus on costs and affordability. he broke that promise. he didn't do it with republicans, like he said. he said he opposed the individual mandate. and now, he's in favor of it. i think the health care crisis is going to continue. he didn't solve the problem. and he said don't raise the debt ceiling when he was a candidate or a senator, because that's an example of quote/unquote, failed leadership. the list goes on. he made all these promises. and he broke most of them. >> our last poll showed that 43% of republicans were satisfied with the presidential field. only five of you showed up last night. what do you say to that? >> i'm not well-known across the country. i'm just getting introduced. i think as i get better-known, and i have a chance to introduce my record of leadership in minnesota on taxes and spending, on real reform on education and health care, we'll get momentum. i don't think the election will be decided now. it will be decided over the next year and a half. and we will do well. >> governor, thanks for coming in this morning. >> thank you, george. and josh elliott here with the rest of the morning's news. >> millions of people across the midwest and the south, are bracing this morning for what could be the worst flooding in modern history. evacuations are now being ordered all along the mississippi river, near memphis. levees protecting town after town, on the brink of collapse. jeff smith is in for our sam champion. he'll have the complete forecast in just a moment. and people from broadway to hollywood are mourning the loss of a legend today. arthur laurents wrote some of the best-known classics of stij and screen, including "the way we were," starring barbra streisand and robert redford. he penned the musicals "west side story," and "gypsy." arth arthur laurents was 93 years old. and kate middleton, walking down a aisle of a grocery store. she may be the future queen of england. but she does need to eat. pictures obtained by "entertainment tonight," show her pushing what the brits call a shopping trolley. two bodyguards still in tow. >> i love that she does that. >> i guess that's what we have for breaking news, elizabeth. she does eat. >> don't go too far, josh. i mean, she's going to keep her common connections. >> she is a genius at managing her image, huh? >> stop being so cynical. >> and comparison shopping, to boot. >> thank you, josh. >> it was an empty cart. time, now, for the weather, with jeff smith from our new york station, wabc, who is in this morning for sam champion. hey, jeff. >> who knows? maybe she is an extreme couponer. a more serious note, josh was talking about the major flooding along the mississippi and ohio rivers. not much rainfall. the good news expected over the weekend, as we're looking at under a quarter. maybe a bull's eye of an inch over southeast missouri. storminess moving into the pacific northwest. you're cooler by l.a. 99, your high temperature in phoenix, arizona. elizabeth, back over to you. >> thanks so much, jeff. new details are coming out about a member of that navy s.e.a.l. team that played a critical role taking out bin laden. a four-legged commando with top-secret clearance. josh elliott has been digging up details about this military dog. >> months of planning, the daring raid of osama bin laden's compound by u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s. they were not alone. joining them from entry, to exit, was a fellow soldier of the four-legged variety. they jump out of planes and helicopters, into war zones, alongside their human comrades in arms. trained to be the best of the best. this war dog at the training center at lackland air force base, just outside san antonio, is 1 of nearly 3,000 4-legged heroes being trained by the military. details, such as the breed, or even the names of the dogs, is being kept top-secret. >> they have immeasurable capabilities. they can smell explosives from great distances. >> reporter: the pentagon outfitted the dogs with special gear, including googles, called doggles. and when their teeth break, they have been replaced with titanium. and the superdogs are given head-mounted, infrared live cameras, allowing handlers to see what they see. and ear buds, so they can be given remote orders. >> they cannot be replaced by machine or human. >> reporter: nor can the bond that grows between the soldier and his canine companion. >> the relationship, it's your best friend. your partner. your life and the life of the soldiers you're supporting depends on him. if you don't know your dog and don't trust your dog, it can mean your life and the lives of the people around you. >> they're also adept at finding false doors and hidden rooms and the humans hiding behind them, in them. obviously, george and elizabeth, concern for the s.e.a.l.s, as they entered the compound. >> there was a false door. wow. fascinating story. >> killer dogs. thank you very much. coming up, the december pat housewive sleeping with teenage boys. her husband is standing by her side. and emeril is in somebody's neighborhood right now. it's our biggest breakfast in bed surprise. okay. can you zoom in on this? 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