thanks very much, brooke. happening now, pakistan's prime minister angrily denies that anyone in his government helped protect osama bin laden, calling the idea absurd. but is the obama administration buying that. plus, new information about bin laden's wives. and pakistan's terms for letting the u.s. question him. an epic battle against flooding in parts of the south and the midwest. we're in the danger zone where the mississippi river is rising to a record level and could cause major new damage any moment. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." pakistan's prime minister says he won't let his country be stigmatized by the osama bin laden blame game. his fiery speech today is driving home the red hot tension between pakistan and the united

states right now. the obama administration says it is taking pakistan's concerns very seriously. but it won't back down from tough questions about who may have helped bin laden or from its defense of the raid that killed him. >> we also do not apologize for the action we took, that the president took. he said dating back to the campaign, if there is an opportunity to bring osama bin laden to justice and he's on pakistani soil and this is the only way we can do it, do it unilaterally, he'll take that chance and do it and he did. it simply is beyond a doubt in his mind that he had the right and imperative to do this. >> let's go to islamabad now. reza sayah is standing by. tough speech today by the prime minister of pakistan, reza. update our viewers here in the united states and around the world.

>> reporter: yeah, wolf. you can easily describe this as a speech where prime minister yousuf raza gilani went out and turned up the heat when it comes to the partnership, escalating tensions. the only new thing that came out of this speech was his announcement that pakistan planned to investigate osama bin laden's presence in this safe house. beyond that, there was nothing new. this was a speech that was filled with nationalistic rhetoric, attempts by the prime minister, deflecting accountability. this was a very aggressively defensive prime minister yousuf raza gilani who went on the offensive taking shots at the u.s. at one point he suggested the u.s. was partly to blame for the creation of al qaeda. he said it was the u.s. that joined the 1980s afghan jihad against the soviet occupation in afghanistan, funded and supported islamist militants and he suggested that it was that

movement that gave birth to al qaeda. here is what he had to say. >> it is perhaps necessary to remind everyone about that era including the cnn cities showing video footage of high ranking u.s. officials extorting -- to go back to their homes, to go back to the mosques in the name of islam and as a national duty. >> reporter: pakistan's prime minister taking a clear shot at washington, but at the same time he came out and reached out to the u.s. saying pakistan values its partnership with the u.s. and the two should press on this fight against extremism, wolf. a lot of mixed messages, but no indication that pakistan is planning on going on a new direction, perhaps embarking on a new policy when it comes to the fight against extremism, something i think the obama

administration was eager to hear. >> reza, that's what he's saying in public, but is he saying something different based on what you're hearing in private in order to maintain that good relationship with the united states? >> it certainly is possible, wolf. i think the fact that he delivered this speech and the pakistani parliament meant this was mostly for domestic consumption. certainly behind the scenes there could be moves to improve relations with washington to redouble their effort in this fight against extremism. i think from the obama administration's viewpoint there has to be some solid tangible evidence that they're doing this. this entire episode involving the death of bin laden goes to the heart of the biggest problem when it comes to this partnership and that's the suspicion that pakistan is playing a double game. on one hand supporting the u.s. fight against extremism, and on the other hand maintaining some links with militants and i don't think anything that the prime

minister said today is going to relieve the obama administration that they're turning the page and going in a new direction. >> this is a work in progress to be sure with enormous consequences at stake. reza sayah in islamabad for us. thank you. let's get fresh details now about what's being described as a treasure trove of information seized from bin laden's compound. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is digging deeper on this story. up to the minute, into the investigation. what are you learning right now, barbara? >> reporter: well, wolf, it has been described as enough information to fill a small college library. the largest intelligence trove ever. i'm going to take this out, we're having technical issues. but let me go through it for people. what they're telling us is so far they have found only information about aspirational goals, the performance goals, if you will, of al qaeda. nothing about time, date or place activities that would suggest imminent attacks.

that does not mean, however, they are not scrubbing through all of this as fast as they can. it is a major concern. if they find any leads, they want to chase them down. an official tells us, they expect to learn a lot more about how bin laden communicated, who he communicated with, how often he communicated, what guidance did he pass on, that sort of thing, how he operated and what operatives out in the field expected from bin laden. wolf, there is a major government task force now pouring through all of this. wolf? >> barbara, you're also learning new information about who is actually looking through all of this information that was picked up in bin laden's compound. >> wolf, it is an alphabet soup of u.s. government agencies. some i have to tell you, i hadn't even heard of before. let's walk you through some of it. it is the cia who is doing most of it. but also in conjunction, of course, with the fbi, the dhs, the department of homeland

security, the ntct, the counterterrorism center, the national geospatial agency. they look at imagery, the national security agency, the nsa, they look at communication intercepts and we found one in there that i wasn't familiar with, the national media exploitation center. top secret organization, they look at documents, they look at computer media and try and exploit it, learn what's in there and what it may all mean, wolf. >> barbara starr at the pentagon. we're learning a whole lot more about all of this, thank you. u.s. officials certainly are very, very eager for any information that could help them find fugitives now at the top of their most wanted terror list. let's bring in our international security contributor fran thompson, member of the external advisory board for the department of homeland security and the cia. do you see any signs, fran, that the u.s. is already acting on

some of the intelligence that has been picked up? >> you know, wolf, we're not seeing any signs of that publicly. but in fact we can expect that behind the scenes, working with the pakistani isi, that they would be working these leads. this is not something you're going to see any public displays of until frankly there is a raid or an attempt to make a capture. >> i think we're having some technical problems with fran. so we're going to get back to you, fran, in a moment. i just want to make sure that our viewers appreciate, she couldn't exactly what i was saying, but we're going to come back to fran in a few moments. don't go too far for fran. so let's move on and take a quick break. we'll have a lot more of what's going on in pakistan, what's going on in the hunt for other terrorists who are out there, now that bin laden is dead. will the wives who hid him -- who hid with him reveal any of his secrets? we'll tell you what we're

learning about these women. plus, there is a new proposal to try to keep terrorists off trains in the united states after evidence al qaeda was plotting to attack america's rail system. and we're in the middle of the flooding and the danger. memphis and other cities are bracing for the worst as the mississippi keeps rising. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible.

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back to fran townsend. we were talking about this treasure trove as it is called of information that was picked up at bin laden's compound and u.s. officials are going through it. i think hundreds of officials are now trying to determine what exactly is inside. but there is a time sensitivity. is there an expiration date on any of this information? >> most of it becomes perishable the minute it is revealed they have got it. bin laden's organization, anybody mentioned in any plots, people will start to scatter assuming that the american officials will get to the bottom of it. but here is what is not

perishable. if there are indications of operatives, names or locations, the american officials can still act on that. they will look for -- even those people may have moved, they will begin a manhunt for those people that they can identify. they'll begin to harden targets that may have been part of a plot or plan, even if it was in its nascent stage. while some of is perishable, the immediate ability to find somebody, the ability to identify them over the longer term and capture them will be able to -- they'll still be able to act on that. >> as you know, fran, so much of the u.s.-pakistani relationship not only involves cooperation in the war on terrorism what is going on in afghanistan, but deep concern about pakistan's nuclear arsenal and hoping it won't get into the wrong hands. here is the question. the tough talk from the prime minister gilani, the tough talk from the army chief, is that simply for public posturing, is there cooperation actively going on behind the scenes? >> i can remember going back to

my time in the white house from 2003 to 2008, we often saw very senior pakistani officials including the prime minister make very tough statements, very impassioned pleas criticizing the united states when we knew behind the scenes privately that they were trying to cooperate with us. look, wolf, in the end, pakistan does need the united states and that relationship just as we want it for the very reasons you mentioned. pakistan gets billions of dollars in aid that they don't want to lose from us. i think despite what you saw today from the prime minister and the parliament, you'll see them make real efforts to try and rebuild the -- some level of trust and cooperation with the u.s. counterterrorism officials in particular. >> there is some hope, i know, from my conversations with u.s. officials that the pakistanis will actually do something dramatic like hand over to the u.s. or hand over to afghanistan the leader of the taliban who is hiding out some place in pakistan or maybe ayman al zawahiri, the number two and

maybe now number one al qaeda official. we'll see if that happens. fran, thanks very much. much more on what is going on in the aftermath of the death of bin laden. that's coming up on "the situation room." now to jack cafferty now. i know the budget woes on your mind now. you have the cafferty file. >> wolf, americans are paying the smallest share of their income in taxes since 1958. 23.6% according to an analysis that was done for "usa today." during the 1970s, '80s and '90s, americans spent 27% of their income on taxes. if we were paying that amount now, $500 billion in additional taxes would be collected each year. $500 billion. that's about a third of this year's projected federal deficit. conservative groups are quick to point out that this fall in tax revenue is due to a weak economy and not lower tax rates or tax breaks. they have a point, to a point. deficit reduction advocates disagree, though. either way you have to wonder what the country might be able

to do with an extra $500 billion right about now. the report comes as president obama plans to meet with democrats and republicans separately over the next few weeks to talk about reducing the deficit. senate democrats are due to go to the white house this wednesday, republicans follow on thursday, house democrats and republicans will go in the next few weeks. last december, a deficit reduction committee created by president obama recommended cutting spending and eliminating tax breaks in order to trim nearly $4 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. so far all of their recommendations have been ignored. president obama came out with his own plan last month that calls for $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. republican congressman paul ryan came up with a 10-year, $4.4 trillion plan, calling for spending cuts and the overhaul of medicare, but doesn't mention raising taxes. at all. we're still waiting for a third

deficit reduction plan from the so-called gang of six, a bipartisan group of six senators. we're still not sure what that is going to look like. so the question is this, should raising taxes be more of a priority than cutting spending? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. >> good question. an important question. jack, thank you very much. desperate efforts under way meanwhile near new orleans this hour to ward off the swelling mississippi river. flooding of historic proportions now engulfs eight states across the south and midwest. president obama just signed a disaster declaration for the state of tennessee. cnn's david mattingly is joining us live now from memphis with an in depth look. a lot is at stake here as well, david. and people are very, very concerned. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. this water is almost done with its encroachment on memphis.

we're looking at a couple more inches to go before it peaks sometime tomorrow. but the damage is already done. this river here in memphis is normally only about half a mile across. take a look at it now. it is now three miles across. a massive amount of water. surprisingly here in memphis, most of the damage has not been along the riverfront, but rather in areas where tributaries, other rivers try to empty into the mississippi because this water is backed up, their water has nowhere to go, so we have seen pockets of flooding around memphis. this has been very dramatic for some neighborhoods. inundating some homes, threatening others. we see about 300 people right now in shelters around memphis right now. it could be that they are there for a while because, wolf, this water may have come up here in days, but it is going to take weeks to get out of here. it may be june by the time this water is back down within the

banks of the mississippi. of course, all of this, just a hint of what is to come. we missed making a record here in memphis, just barely missed it. but we will see this water mixing with more water and hitting record high water marks all the way down to the mississippi as it goes to the gulf of mexico. wolf? >> so what are they expecting? when do they think the worst of this might occur, david? >> reporter: well, the worst of it is already occurring right here in memphis, right now. but as you see, this water is the worst, we're only seeing a couple more inches of it coming up. we're going to see a big bulge of water somewhere around vicksburg, mississippi. more than a week from now. we're going to see also louisiana, when they -- if they have to open a floodway in louisiana later this week, we'll see thousands of people potentially affected there as they try to possibly relieve some of the pressure that is on the river to protect new orleans and baton rouge. the damage behind this flood and

the drama and the pain behind this flood has only just begun. >> we'll have more on this story later. david, thank you very much. good luck to all the folks out there. meanwhile, new signs bin laden's death could have have a significant role in the race for the white house. will it give president obama the serious boost he needs to get himself re-elected? plus, we're taking a closer look at lingering evidence of the u.s. raid that took bin laden down. >> the compound has been sealed off for days. but for the people that live around it, there can be little doubt the americans were here in force because of the possesses of helicopter they keep finding. this one particularly light and large and it seems part of the fuselage in the stealth design used. [ male announcer ] to the seekers of things which are one of a kind.

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the death of osama bin laden is shaping up to potentially, potentially play a significant role in the 2012 race for the white house. our national political correspondent jessica yellin is back in washington with our strategy session. jessica. >> there is little doubt that osama bin laden's death will play prominently in next year's presidential race. so let's talk about it now with democratic strategist and cnn political contributor paul begala, now a senior strategist for the democratic fund-raising group priorities usa and priorities usa action. and also with us, former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele. gentlemen, thanks for being with us. first of all to you, mr. steele. >> yes. >> before the republican argument against president obama on national security, he's too

weak, he won't use our military the way we need it to, after osama bin laden, that narrative, is it dead? >> it is not dead so much. it hasn't changed that much. i think this is one incident in a long litany of stories and incidents over the past two years where the president hasn't engaged the way we have at least traditionally expected the president to engage on the international stage. keep in mind, republicans have also supported this president who largely adopted the bush strategy in dealing with the war on terror, gitmo or as we have seen now in pursuing osama bin laden -- >> but to be fair, publicly criticized him as weak for not using -- >> not wait you're making it seem like every day they were out there pounding on the president on afghanistan and iraq and beyond. particular instances where the republican leadership was not happy with the speed with which things are going. but by and large, they have stood by this president more than the democrats have in terms of pursuing, you know, some of

the strategies with respect to the war on terror. >> yesterday, on the "60 minutes owe "interview, president obama laid out in detail how involved he was in the process of going after bin laden, how he made the final decision. will this be a big topic for the democratic campaign in 2012? >> a lot of people, not even just republicans, as a democrat, i need to eat my share of crow. i've been a critic -- i said very often, the president is a little too professorial for me. he did not continue the bush policy on this. the bush policy was to walk away from bin laden. he told fred barnes of the weekly standard, the president did, president bush that bin laden was not a priority. it wasn't a focus anymore. he shifted our focus to saddam hussein in iraq, with, i think, disastrous consequences. in his calm, quiet, gary cooper way, no longer professorial now,

he's tough, there is a spine of steel. >> in fairness, go ahead. >> one event does not, you know, foreign policy guru make. the reality is you got a his hesitancy in dealing with libya, a hesitancy in dealing with afghanistan, what is the strategy in afghanistan beyond leaving? we have no idea what we're going to leave behind or what the strategy is going to be to get us to get out of there cleanly. >> your point is you can still use national security as an issue, just shift attention away. >> the economy will still drive this presidential nugget over the next 18 months without a doubt. >> there is an important forum for this before the presidential election, that's general david petraeus' confirmation hearings to run the cia. general petraeus supports president obama's ending of torture. he broke with the bush policy of waterboarding, which is torture. general petraeus supports that. marco rubio, the justin bieber of the republican party, said he wants to revisit.

>> senator from florida. >> let's have the armchair generals in the republican party debate general petraeus about this. >> he is not the definitive word nor the -- >> but he's a four star general. >> he's not the only authority or the only voice on the subject. >> gentlemen, do voters care about this? >> they do. i think they do. it goes to the core of how we project power, how we collect information, and how we as a people feel comfortable or not comfortable with that projection of power and gathering that information. >> let's switch to another topic. i don't know if you call president obama a professor of whoop -- on this one, the president held a private meeting at the white house and going to the border, talking about it, jay carney in his briefing, the white house press secretary said he's dedicating so much time to immigration reform that they believe they can get something done. can you tell me, look me dead in the eye and say democrats seriously believe they can pass

comprehensive immigration reform before the 2012 election? >> have to get republican votes for it. the democratic votes will be there. it is a tough issue for both parties. this president is saying courage. this one i will give bush credit on. george w. bush was right about immigration. we have to punish those who have come here illegally but give them a path so they can have some sort of legal status. that's what george w. bush supported what barack obama supports. it is the republicans who are the problem. he'll try to bring them over and god bless him for doing so. >> to push you on this, is this politics? >> he's pushing it, very hard. >> is it politics? do they really believe they can get it done? >> we have to ask them. it is policy and politics. i think the best politics over time is best policy. he's pursuing the right policy, to reach out to immigrants to give those who are here undocumented some path to legal status, punish them first, fines. pay back taxes, get in the back of the line. there is serious punishments in

the bush and obama proposal. we need to have some system where we can have people -- have some sort of status here. >> you need both sides to play to pass this. >> you do. but the reality is this is about as political, an overture to the by spannic community i've seen from this president in a long time. the reality of it is, i don't care if you're talking the senate, the house, nothing is going to pass on immigration over the next 18 months. there is going to be a lot of noise and it will lead immigrants down a dead end road because it is not going to be a serious discussion about the components of what our immigration -- >> do you blame both parties for that? >> i do. our party is for reform and one party is blocking reform. >> stop it paul. border control and security and the integration of personnel and technology, and then the path to

citizenship, you say path to citizenship, a lot of people hear -- you're hearing this full blown, all this amnesty, so we got to define the terms. >> amnesty is what ronald reagan was for when he signed the act in 1986. >> a lot has changed in the last 20 some years. we didn't address border security and control. >> george w. bush did not. he cut funding. >> either did bill clinton. and neither did bill clinton. this is the -- >> barack obama has more people, more federal personnel on the border than any time since we were hunting poncho via 100 years ago. he's toughened up the border stronger than any president in american history. >> is this a third rail issue that will not get done? >> it is for the republicans because there is a strain of nativist xenophobia in that republican party. >> now i got to go get my dictionary. we're not afraid of anybody. the reality is what we're afraid

of is -- >> you're not, but some of your brother and sisters in the party are. >> we're afraid of a border that is not secure, first and foremost. we're afraid of subverting the rule of law by just blanketly allowing people to flounce that law and claim citizenship when they haven't earned it. >> i have a feeling we'll have this conversation not only this week, but after. >> i'm working on it. i'm working on him, really. >> i'm praying for him. >> thanks, guys. >> wolf, back to you. >> all right, jessica, thanks very much. good strategy session. thank the guys for me. while osama bin laden was hiding out in that compound, in pakistan, some of the children who actually lived there with him were venturing out into the world. one of the playmates is telling us what he saw. a new twist in the unrest in syria, the arrest of hundreds of civilians. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america.

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osama bin laden was hiding out in pakistan, it turns out some of the children actually living in his compound did have contact with the outside world. we're getting new information. cnn's nick payton walsh talked to some of osama bin laden's unsuspecting neighbors in abbottabad. >> reporter: when president obama says bin laden had a pakistani port network, its simplest form would have been here, in the neighborhood where he got milk and goats, where kids he lived with bought sweets at the local shop and dozens have been arrested already by police. while the compound has been sealed off by the military for days, the people that live around it, there can be little doubt the americans were here in force because of these pieces of helicopter they keep finding. this one particularly light and large and seems like part of the fuselage in the stealth design used, the kind of resorurces

america was willing to lose. the eight or nine children in bin laden's house, some perhaps his grandchildren, played with others in the village, including zara, age 12. >> translator: the kids said the guy with them is their father nadine. once i saw his two wives, one speaking urdu and the other arabic. he had a brother, a fat guy with a goatee and mustache. i don't know why they had security cameras installed outside the house. we used to knock on the door for ten or 20 minutes and someone used to come to talk. that was strange for us. >> reporter: he says he didn't know the names of the children he played with. >> translator: we yused to play cricket ball next to the house. >> reporter: it seems now that

the dean is dead. does that make you sad? >> translator: yes, i feel sorry for uncle nadine. he never did anything wrong. he took my grandmother to the hospital and asked her to call him if she needs help. as he can drive her anywhere. he was a great person. i feel sorry for him. >> reporter: the viewpoint of a child who, until this week, had never heard the name osama bin laden. nick payton walsh, cnn, abbottabad. we're learning more about bin laden's wives at the same time as the u.s. government is fighting to get information out of them. our brian todd has brand-new details. stand by for that. we'll tell you who doctored that famous photo of the president and his national security team over at the white house situation room during the bin laden raid. why is the secretary of state hillary clinton missing from the photo? a reality check on washington's response to rising gas prices. ♪

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new information on osama bin laden's wives. brian todd is working the story, stand by, we'll go there in a few moments. first, lisa sylvester is monitoring some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. lisa, what's going on? >> arizona governor jan brewer has announced that she will petition the u.s. supreme court to lift the injunction on the state's controversial immigration law. the legislation would require a local law enforcement to apprehend and help deport illegal immigrants, but the justice department sued the state arguing that only the federal government has that authority. analysts put the estimated insured losses from the massive tornadoes that devastated parts

of the south anywhere between 3.7 and $5.5 billion. last month's storms killed more than 300 people and left thousands homeless. it is one of the deadliest weather systems in u.s. history. syrian security forces are allegedly using soccer stadiums as makeshift prisons to hold hundreds of civilians being arrested. this comes after ten people were reportedly killed in a bus tack yesterday. cnn has been denied access into syria and cannot independently verify the accounts. meanwhile, a u.n. humanitarian assessment team due to visit the country has not been allowed to enter. the lawyer for the three american hikers accused of spying in iran, they have been jailed in the country since being arrested almost two years ago. their friend sarah was released on bail in september. the three are maintaining their innocence.

>> lisa, thanks very much. the national average of price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the united states is $3.96. and that's just 15 cents below the all time high. our new cnn opinion research corporation poll shows most americans blame oil companies and speculators for the soaring prices. only a fourth blame the obama administration or the congress. that's not deterring washington officials, though, from trying to do something about the high gas prices or at least look like they're trying to do something. our senior congressional correspondent dana bash is here with a reality check for us. the proposals on the table right now have a very familiar ring to those of us who have covered this story for 10, 20, 30 years. >> reporter: listening to members of congress talk about this and the president too, they're trying to get the upper hand politically on increasing gas prices, but as you said, thinking about covering these politicians over the years, we

realized we have seen this movie before. as gas prices started spiking, president obama talked tough about investigating price gouging. >> i asked my attorney general to look into any cases of price gouging so we can make sure nobody is being taken advantage of at the pump. >> reporter: if that sounds familiar, it is part of the playbook politicians have used for years when gas prices go up. >> the need for investigation of collusion and antitrust violations and price gouging. >> there has been a real gouging going on in the field. >> state authorities will be monitoring gasoline prices to make sure consumers are not being gouged. >> reporter: experts say price gouging investigations don't lead anywhere. and politicians know it. >> that's just camouflage. that's just i want to pretend i'm doing something, even though i'm doing nothing. >> reporter: then there is the page from the republican playbook. oil drilling. gas prices are up, so house republicans pushed to drill more

at home. >> you lower energy prices by using more of our own energy. >> reporter: yet another solution debated for decades when there is pain at the pump. >> we have got abundant supplies of energy here in america and we better get after it and better start exploring it. >> lift the ban on offshore drilling. >> you betcha, drill, baby, drill. >> reporter: to be sure, oil drilling doesn't get far because of environmental concerns and partisan differences. but politicians also tend to drop it when gas prices drop. >> politicians swirl around and talk about proposing bills when gasoline prices go up. but then they don't follow through. we stopped feeling the pressure to have an energy policy or good energy bill and it all passes by us. and that's been the pattern for 30 years. >> reporter: as for the democrats' playbook they want to end subsidies for oil companies. >> they still have a tax loophole that is costing taxpayers $4 billion every year.

>> reporter: again, an oldie. democrats slapping oil companies is standard gas crisis fare. >> we'll have a president who is willing to stand up to the big oil interests. >> i have been putting forth plans that would require the oil companies to give up their tax subsidies. are >> reporter: but experts say it would not affect gas prices short term. nothing either party is pushing now would. >> there is nothing that a politician is talking about in washington today, not the democrats, not the republicans, that are going to help the average american at their gasoline pump. these are all red herrings. >> reporter: now some things that experts say that politicians can do is to actually tell people to conserve, drive less, to use public transportation, to car pool. but, wolf, as you know, since the days of jimmy carter, since going to hammered for telling people to turn down the

thermostat, politicians are generally not too keen on doing thing like that for fear of looking weak politically on this issue of energy. wolf? >> i'm old enough to remember jimmy carter presidency and that whole moment. dana, thanks very much. an iconic photo that has come to symbolize some of the tensest moments of that u.s. mission to kill bin laden. why did one newspaper choose to photo shop it, removing the secretary of state, hillary clinton? stand by. a controversial move to try to save one midwest city from mass flooding. now, igniting charges of racism.

let's get back to jack cafferty for "the cafferty file." >> the question is should raising taxes be more of a priority than cutting spending. bob in florida writes, no, jack, that's a moronic question. we didn't get into this mess by cutting taxes too much. we got here by spending more than we brought in raising taxes would enable the left to spend more money and create more and more government dependence. carl in michigan says we need to go back to clinton tax rates where everyone paid a fair share

and we had a surplus. the bush tax cuts put the burden on the middle and lower class incomes and flushed surplus down the drain. we need to raise social security and medicare contributions. marvin in missouri says raising taxes on big oil, the filthy rich, big business and donald trump would offer an immediate effect on the deficit. and bill says major tax increases and budget cuts are required. we need a president and congress to do what must be done and forget about the next election. fat chance. more important which need a president and congress that will motivate us and unite us in making sacrifices necessary to save this country. mc says raising taxes will lead to more spending and not deficit reduction. if congress can't proof they can control spending, there's no reason the people should give them more money to waste. alex in washington, the fiscal

hole we dug is too deep to be solved by spending cuts alone. the american people are now aware of the problem and many will accept the pain necessary to solve it as long as the pain is shared by all. bruce says cut spending. washington will spend any money you give them as they have proven for decades. cut, cut, cut. please. do it for our grandchildren. if you want to read more on the subject, go to my blog, cnn.com/caffertyfile. wolf? >> jack, thanks very, very much. we'll go right back to cnn's lisa sylvester monitoring a developing story coming into "the situation room" involving the u.s. navy and same-sex marriages. what's going on? >> this is related to the u.s. policy of the military right now considering the don't ask, don't tell rules. what we are hearing right now is

there is a preliminary navy plan that would allow same-sex couples to marry in military chapels. this issue, there are a number of congress members that are questioning this. representative todd aiken among them. he's written to the secretary of the navy asking for this policy to block this potential change in the policy. you can imagine that this is going to be a controversial issue moving forward. >> it's going to cost somewhat of an uproar. we'll stay on top of it. more information just coming in. lisa, thanks very, very much. we've just confirmed the identities of some of osama bin laden's wives as pakistan lays out conditions for letting them talk to the united states. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites...

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you heard of the no-fly list. this would be a no-ride list. he said the nation's rail system is vulnerable to attack and we decided to hop on a train and check it out for ourselves. i purchase a ticket. one-way ticket to new carolton and i'm off. i just bought my ticket. right now i'm going to gate j. they check to make sure i have a ticket but that's it. no bag screening no security checkpoints. you don't have to go through any kind of security screening the only thing i had to do so far is just purchase a ticket and i'm on. easy to travel but senator chuck sm schumer says amtrak passenger trains are subject to terrorists. >> by alerting law enforcement about passengers on a no-fly

list we can catch and deter terrorists and we can do it with no extra cost. >> at osama bin laden's compound there was information suggesting al qaeda was going to attack trains in the united states around the anniversary of 9/11. we asked passengers what they thought of a no ride list including isabelle kennedy who used to work in the world trade center. many former colleagues died on 9/11. >> i think you have to stay one step ahead of the terrorist. no doubt about it. mostly people have to pay attention. >> i think it's prudent and much needed. coming on train got a real sprie surprised how open it is. >> it brings up privacy issues. >> amtrak supports countermeasures that protect the

rail system. in a statement it says "the creation of a do-not ride list is no exception. it would have to be developed in close coordination with the transportation security administration and implemented in a way that respects civil rights and allows for rapid flow of persons and trains necessary for effective mass transit. both the department of homeland security and amtrak point out they have increased security in the last five years. amtrak has doubled the size of the canine explosive detection team, began random checks of passenger bags and increased the number of uniformed officers. dhs has provided $1.5 millions in grants for passenger rail transportation. to our viewers, you're in "the situation room." happening now, breaking news. cnn has learned the identities of osama bin laden's wives, the women that were with him in his final moments. this hour, exclusive details of

who they are, where they are now and what new light they are shedding on al qaeda and the world's most notorious terrorist. new fallout from the raid. pakistan's prime minister is lashing out at the united states and there's concern about the strained and complicated relationship between the two countries. plus, it's the iconic image of the bin laden mission. why did one newspaper remove secretary of state hillary clinton from the photo? breaking news, political headlines, jeanne moos straight ahead. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." let's begin with breaking news right now. they may have known osama bin laden better than anyone else. the three wives who spent years in hiding with their notorious terrorist husband in pakistan. and now cnn has exclusive new information about these women. cnn's brian todd is working the

story. he's dug up the new information for us. he's going to break it right now. brian, what are you learning exactly about the wives? >> reporter: producer pam benson and i confirmed the name of three wives who were with osama bin laden when u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s stormed that compound and killed them. they are three of the four wives bin laden had at the time of his death. part of the treasure-trove of intelligence taken from this compound, three wives of osama bin laden. cnn has now confirmed their identities with the u.s. official. one of them is anam al sadah. she had a daughter with osama bin laden and her name is sophia. she's bin laden's youngest wife. another wife had the compound, khariah sabar.

they were married in 1985 and the mother of bin laden's son. she is a saudi national. and a wife named siham sabar. she is the mother of the son of bin laden killed in the raid. also a saudi national with bin laden in afghanistan after 9/11. i asked cnn national security analyst peter burgin more aboab two wives. >> one has a degree in legal law and another in arabic studies of some kind. they had a number of kids with bin laden. >> reporter: the wives and several children are now in pakistani custody and u.s. officials are eager to speak to the wives. >> we have asked for access to the people, including three wives, who they now have in custody from the compound. >> reporter: pakistani officials say they will allow u.s.

officialses access to the if the country of origin has been asked for permission. >> i think they can offer some atmospherics about what it is like to live there and when they moved in but in terms of operational details about al qaeda, very little. they wouldn't meet any men so if number two in al qaeda was coming back, that's something they wouldn't have seen. >> reporter: the wives have already apparently given some of those atmospheric details however. when asked what the wives have told pakistani authorities, pakistan's ambassador to the u.s. said one of the wives never left the same floor as bin laden because they were paranoid about physical movement. he said they didn't go near windows, didn't have any kind of fresh air. the one wife who was not there, bin laden's first wife, left afghanistan before september

11th and by most accounts now lives in syria. wolf? >> amazing stuff, brian. even if the wives can't tell officials which al qaeda figures came and went at that compound, some of the other details they may know about could be very important in this entire investigation. >> reporter: absolutely they could the women can give information on how and when they arrived in that compound and about pakistan and which routes they took to get there and can talk about bin laden's demeanor over the years. did he become more isolated. did he become depressed. we just saw over the weekend that video of him hunched over in a blanket watching himself on tv. any information they can give about demeanor will be valuable to intelligence officials and fascinating to the rest of us. >> fascinating to all of us of course as well. brian, thank you very much. the mission to take out bin laden is adding new tension to the relationship between the united states and pakistan but the ties between the two countries aren't just strained. they are also very deep and

complex. our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty is working this part of the story for us. jill, where do things stand as best as we can tell right now between the u.s. and pakistan? >> right now there's a blame game going on. here's the dilemma for the obama administration. how do you talk tough to pakistan without torpedoing the relationship and destabilizing a very weak pakistani government? pakistan's prime minister lashes out at the mission that killed osama bin laden. >> pakistan is the birth place of al qaeda. we did not invite osama bin laden to pakistan. >> reporter: another operation like that, he warns, and pakistan will retaliate with full force. but the white house says no regrets. >> we also do not apologize for the action that we took. >> reporter: neither country is willing to pull the plug on the relationship. >> we are clear eyed in our assessment that this

counterterrorism cooperation has been worthwhile. and again it's in our national security interest that it continue. >> reporter: for pakistan it means money. $1.5 billion from the u.s. a year. for washington, it's an insurance policy on a nuclear armed muslim country too important to fail. pakistan has quietly allowed the u.s. to run drone strikes to go after insurgents hiding out in northwest pakistan and crossing the border to attack u.s. and nato troops in afghanistan. pakistan also is nato's main supply route for fuel, food munitions and construction materials for its troops in afghanistan. and it's locked in a volatile relationship with a major u.s. ally, india. itself a nuclear armed country. >> pakistanis want to have their cake and eat it too. they receive billions of dollars in u.s. aid. >> reporter: as if tensions weren't high enough, someone in pakistan leaked the name of the

cia station chief in islamabad to a pakistani newspaper and that follows a diplomatic rift over another cia operative who as we remember killed two pakistanis and had to leave the country. a u.s. official tells cnn that there are no plans to bring this station chief out back to the united states. wolf? >> doesn't that endanger the cia station chief if people know his name or her name and they allow them to stay there? >> reporter: it could. that is one of the problems. the name was actually misspelled. there was a bit of confusion at the beginning. it could potentially. it just shows that the united states is saying we're not going to be pushed out. this guy is doing his job and he's going to stay. it's another indication of the tensions right now between these two countries. >> all right, jill. thanks very much. jill dougherty at the state department. president obama is shedding new light on his role as commander in chief in the mission to take

out osama bin laden. listen to what he told cbs' "60 minutes." >> how actively were you involved in that process? >> about as active as any project that i've been involved with since i've been president. obviously we have extraordinary guys. our special forces are the best of the best. and so i was not involved in designing the initial plan but each itteration of that plan they would bring back to me and we would ask questions and we had multiple meetings in the situation room where we would map out and have a model of the compound to discuss how this operation might proceed and what various options there were because there was more than one way in which we might go about this. and in some ways sending in choppers and actually putting

our guys on the ground entailed some greater risks than some other options. >> let's bring in our senior political analyst gloria borger. gloria, how does all of this affect the various republican presidential candidates at least those who are thinking of stepping out to run against president obama? >> i was talking to a bunch of people today who work for a assorted would-be republican candidates. it's clear that the president checked off the competency box. you can't make the argument against him that he's not a competent president. this showed that he was truly in command of this raid. also, i think those who would charge that he's weak on terror, he's now checked that box. strong on terror. i think that's something that's off the table. however, republicans also say that elections are not won on foreign policy and this president did not get a huge

bump in the polls out of this raid and they say what that shows is that there are a lot of people in this country who will not give barack obama credit for anything and they remain there and they will vote republican and republicans believe that they are a sizable group of people and they are hanging onto that and they say in the end, it's going to be about the economy. >> why is the republican field at least so far pretty reluctant to jump into this context? >> it's very hard. you have to raise a lot of money. there's the sense among republicans that if they can hold off, they are going to be up against barack obama. some people say he can raise 800 million to a billion dollars. there isn't going to be any republicans who can raise near that. and the one thing we should be looking at, wolf, as we head into summer, is there's a june 30 deadline for campaigns to report to the federal election

commission. the amount of money that they had raised. we will be able to see whether candidates who have exploratory committees like tim pawlenty, mitt romney, how much money they are able to raise because that's one way we'll be able to tell who is going to be a serious candidate out there and who isn't. >> we'll see how that field expands in the coming weeks. gloria, thank you. a world famous photo doctored. why a newspaper actually removed secretary of state hillary clinton from that iconic picture taken in the white house situation room and farm sacrifice to save a small mississippi town from flooding. we're now discovering deep currents of race under this growing controversy. [ male announcer ] to the seekers of things which are one of a kind. the authentic, the rare, the hard to define. to those always searching for what's pure and what's real

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jack cafferty is thinking about the 2012 election. he's here with "the cafferty

file." jack? >> the morning after his tv show "celebrity apprentice" was announced with information that osama bin laden was killed donald trump called for an end to party politics for the next several days. he's been uncharacteristically silent ever since. especially for a guy who spent weeks adding fuel to the birther controversy, badgering the president on a bunch of other issues and tiptoeing talk of his own possible presidential run in 2012. chances are trump has been quiet in part because he could still be smarting from the white house correspondents dinner two saturdays ago. president obama and the evening's emcee, "saturday night live's" seth myers, gave him a world class beatdown.

by the look on trump's face, he didn't take those jokes well at all. the news on bin laden limited his embarrassment fairly quickly. last week trump announced that he's pulling out of an appearance to drive the pace car at the indianapolis 500 race coming up on memorial day weekend, may 29th. trump said it would not be appropriate for the spotlight to be on him during the race's 100th anniversary if he had a possible presidential run on his mind. this could be the first time in recorded history that donald trump has declined the spotlight. then there's this. according to a cnn opinion research poll, 57% of americans say trump sp touis tough enough handle a cries nsis in this cou. 37% say that trump can manage the government and only one-third say he's honest and trustworthy. these poll numbers are as dismal as his chances of being the next

president. here's the question. is a presidential run already over for donald trump? here's the answer, yes. go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. wolf? >> get ready. you may get a person phone call from donald trump. he likes to respond. >> i never answer my phone. >> interesting to hear what viewers think. jack will be back in a moment. i want to alert our viewers we're reporting live from munich, germany. cnn's frederik pleitgen is with us. you just got out of libya. tomorrow a major report on that. here in germany i'm surprised to see how angry germans are at the chancellor angela merkel because of comments she made basically applauding the u.s. decision to go ahead and kill bin laden. give us the background. >> there's been criticism of

angela merkel after comments where she said she was pleased that bin laden had been eliminated. angela merkel is the head of the christian democratic union which is a party that prides itself on christian values. there's a lot of people that said rejoicing in someone's death even if it is someone like bin laden is not something in line with christian values. they felt killing was illegal under international law. there have been some people that say it's overblown. comments she made. and if you ask german politicians across all of the aisles, they will say they are relieved that bin laden is gone. they just felt that the wording was not right. it was a major debate in germany for many ways where people went back and forth. calls for parliamentary stepping in on this. >> she said i'm happy or glad or whatever the translation was that bin laden is dead, that's

caused a little angst here. we spent the day, you and me, with these german journalists. we gave an award to german journalist of the year. i had lunch with them. some of them weren't 100% convinced that bin laden was in fact dead because they didn't see the photo, they didn't see dna evidence. they don't -- they believe it's probably true but they weren't willing to say to me they totally believe the president of the united states when they say bin laden is dead. is that the reaction you're getting here, skepticism? >> maybe a little bit amongst some people. most people are pretty sure that he is dead. there's always that little sort of rest of uncertainty that there is because you don't have photo or photographic evidence out there in public. even al qaeda at this point in time has come out and said that he's dead. most people do believe that's the case. certainly you'll have that uncertainty not just here but many other countries around the world about whether or not it's true and there could be a conspiracy. i think that the public debate

here in this country is moving forward from there. obviously most people believe that he's dead. now what people are thinking about is the same thing a lot of people in america are thinking about. what is this going to mean for the war on terror moving forward? germany has the third largest troop contingent in afghanistan and this is something they will debate. >> we'll have a major report from you tomorrow. >> we managed to meet with rebel commanders inside tripoli. everyone says tripoli is a gadhafi strong hoholdstronghold. they basically got in touch with us. the main message they had is that tripoli is not in gadhafi's hands. most people are against gadhafi. very difficult to verify. we had to meet them in a secret location but they say that it's basically gadhafi spreading fear among people with armed gangs that he sends on the streets that randomly shoot people at times. it will be very interesting. very interesting to meet these guys. they said essentially that nato bombing campaign is not being

criticized by many people inside tripoli and all of this is a gadhafi show being put on. >> a risky bit of reporting you did. glad you are out and we're both in munich right now. you're not in libya right now to do this report. we'll look forward to it tomorrow. thanks very much. america's cities are bracing for a flood deluge in harm's way as mississippi river keeps rising and rising. plus, it's become one of the most iconic photographs in the world. in one newspaper a key member of the team has been photo shopped out of the picture. you'll find out why. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." ♪

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some of the worst flooding along the mississippi river in generations. for some major american cities, it may get a whole lot worse in the coming days. just six years after hurricane katrina, new orleans is once again facing the threat of devastating floods. today the army corps of engineers used giant cranes to open a spillway and divert some of the rising water. another spillway could be opened next week and the louisiana governor bob by jindal has a warning for residents, get prepared now. the worst may be only a few hours away. the mississippi river is expected to crest tomorrow at 14 feet above flood stage close to the record set in 1937 when flooding killed some 500 people in memphis, tennessee, alone. cnn's david mattingly is joining us live from memphis.

what's happening where you are right now? >> reporter: wolf, this has been a slow motion disaster for memphis. this water has been coming up by the foot by the inch. officials have been able to stay out in front of it. identify where the problem areas are. and make sure people got out of harm's way. look at all this water. this is a tremendous amount of water. how could you not have a tremendous amount of damage coming with it? the mississippi river here in memphis is typically only a half mile wide. look at it now. it looks more like an inland sea here. this river is now three miles wide. there's a tremendous amount of water now heading south. this water may be peaking here but this means more problems for people down river. here in memphis we've been seeing neighborhoods in outlying areas along tributaries of the mississippi some of the people living miles away from this river being affected by flooding. that's because the tributaries

can no longer train into the mississippi. it's just too high. so those people are dealing with flooding in their areas. we've seen neighborhoods, houses, trailer parks where water has been getting inside people's homes. we see and hear in memphis about 300 people living in shelters and they're probably going to be there for a while because this water now that it's up is going to drain away painfully slowly. we're looking at it being here and being a problem to deal with for weeks. and then the people that have been affected by it with their property under water for that long will have very, very little to go back to. wolf? >> in terms of preparation for this disaster, this flood, david, do they have everything they need basically? are they well prepared? we have known for sometime that it was on the way. >> reporter: they have been well prepared in the sense that they have a levee system built and inspired after that great flood

in 1938. they decided they were going to build levees and flood walls capable of handling a record flood like that and then something greater. we didn't quite reach that record. this levee system they have, they have great deal of confidence in it. they'll be watching it very closely over the weeks while this water stays high. but they believe that levee system is going to work and going to protect most of memphis and keep it high and dry. wolf? >> let's hope it does. david, thanks very much. we'll check back with you. as david just mentioned, it could take weeks for the water to recede and even longer over controversy to save one town from floodwaters by sacrificing thousands of acres of farmland. this controversy has an undercurrent of race right now as strong as any undercurrent in the river. ted rowlands takes us in depth. >> cairo, illinois, sits between the mississippi and ohio rivers. many believe the entire city

would be under water if not for the controversial decision to blow open this levee. the explosion opened a two-mile hole flooding more than 130,000 acres of farmland in neighboring missouri. >> when you look at that, what do you think? >> i'm very sad. i look at that and i don't have a home. >> reporter: the farm has been in her family for three generations. it would still be dry if the federal government hadn't blown up the levee. >> i feel like we have to suffer for somebody else. >> reporter: farmers ray and roy have 2,000 acres under water. >> we've always lived with the idea that some day they may have to blow it. the waters kept rising. we knew they would blow it. we don't like it. we have to accept it. >> reporter: the plan since 1928 has been if cairo a city of 15,000 at the time was in danger of flooding, the levee would be

opened to save the city. back then things were much different. cairo was a vibrant river community. this is what it looks like now. most of the businesses downtown here are gone. most of the people have left as well. in fact, less than 3,000 people remain. many believe this in fact is not a town that was worth saving. >> would you rather have missouri farmland flooded or cairo under water? >> cairo. i've been there. cairo. have you been to cairo? you know what i'm saying then. >> you've been to cairo lately? yeah. you know what i mean. what do you mean? i want to know what you mean about it. >> reporter: cairo is mostly african-american. they say there's a racial component to the debate over whether the city or the farms should have been saved. >> there's nothing but blacks here. this town here is built -- was

built on race long time ago years ago. ain't nothing changed. >> reporter: cairo's history of racial tension dates back to the 1929 lynching of will james. in the 1960s the city closed the public pool rather than allow blacks to swim. on the missouri side, many people feel the federal government may have been overly sensitive to the race issue and pulled the trigger too soon to blow up the levee. >> i believe the government was worried about that. that shouldn't have played any role. >> reporter: people in cairo are out of the woods. look at the water levels of the mississippi. this is water from the mississippi in a spillway. it has been dropping considerably over the last few days. we should note that every person we talked to in the city of cairo feel bad for their neighbors in missouri but they also absolutely agree with the decision by the u.s. government to open up that levee and spare

their city. >> all right. let's get the big picture right now on this unfolding disaster. our meteorologist chad myers is in our cnn severe weather center. how much worse is this flooding going to get? >> for memphis and north it's coming down. for memphis and south it is still coming up. let me take you to this town. ted was just in it. this is cairo. this is what it looked like before the flood. green grass, brown dirt, things growing. april 29th i'll drag this across. the water beginning to get outside of the banks. there's cairo there. still dry. all of a sudden they blew the levee right there, i'll pull it across and all of the water all of the water that could spill would have spilled into this town was spilled all of the way through 130,000 acres of land. and that is the story there of cairo and all of that controversy. let's start -- i'm going to back

you up two months. there was a lot of snow in the midwest. it was everywhere. blew a foot deep. all of this snow started to melt. all of this snow started to melt and then it started to rain. i have to draw this out for you. you get the idea. this is arkansas. right there. if you look at the white right there, that's 20 inches of rain or more in a month and in some spots 16 inches. look at the size of this. all of the way to ohio and back into texas. it rained 12, 16 and there 20 inches of rain in one month. the water had to go somewhere. it got into the gulf. it is in the mississippi river right now. it will take many days as you said where the water bubble is right here and crest memphis tonight, tomorrow, will begin to go down and then it goes up as the water comes down. this water has to get into the

gulf of mexico somehow. by may 23rd is when it finally goes to new orleans. what they did in new orleans and we had pictures and i think we still have some of these pictures as they opened the gates to the spillway today they take all of the muddy water, pesticides, fertilizer, oil, sewage, all of this water now going into lake pontchartrain. like they didn't have problems enough last year with tar balls in lake pontchartrain. now they have this muck water that should have just flowed down into the gulf of mexico and now they have it in lake pontchartrain. here's a picture of what this looked like in 2008. it's a bloom of muddy water that comes straight into lake pontchartrain rather than going down along the river and then down into the mississippi and down into the gulf of mexico. they couldn't risk not opening the spillway. wolf, if they didn't open the

spillway, those levees that you see by jackson square would have been one half of a foot higher than the water level. they had to dump the stuff into lake pontchartrain but now fish are swimming away. an algae bloom and now we've made a beautiful lake a mess again but nothing the army corps could do about it. they knew they had to do that to save new orleans again. wolf? >> all of us remember katrina not that long ago in new orleans. all right. thank you very much. let's hope for the best this time around. other news we're following including our growing power struggle in iran. it pits the president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, against the country's supreme religious leader and someone is being accused of sourcery. the newspaper picture that had many people doing a double take. why was hillary clinton removed from this famous white house photo? alone there's been a 67% spike in companies embracing

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lisa sylvester is monitoring other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what else is going on? >> cuba is easing travel restrictions for its own citizens. this he have to jump through hoops to travel abroad and get an exit visa and a letter of invitation from the country they want to visit. the cuban government is looking at ways to ease the restrictions that prevent many from ever leading the island nation. it's one of the more than 300 reforms backed by the six communist party congress. a warm welcome and handshake greeted iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad in turkey today. maybe quite a difference from home where he's embroiled in a political feud with iran's supreme leader. top officials have mounted a campaign of criticism against mr. ahmadinejad and some ahmadinejad aides have been arrested including the presidential palace's prayer

leader on charges of sourcery. jaycee dugard is penning a memoir about being held captive for two decades. her book called "a stolen life" will be in stores in july. dugard was abducted outside her lake tahoe, california, home in 1991 when she was just 11 years old. apparently even royalty needs apps on britain's queen elizabeth wish list, an ipad 2. both grandsons, princes william and harry gave their grandmother a crash course in using it. the 85-year-old monarch already has her own facebook page and two, not just one, but two ipods. she's certainly keeping up with the times. >> good for her. thanks very much, lisa for that. all of us remember it. the iconic photograph that

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for a week it's been seen around the world, the picture of president obama and his national security team watching the raid on osama bin laden from the white house situation room. but when one newspaper ran it, something was missing. the secretary of state, hillary clinton. cnn's mary snow is joining us now with details. what happened here, mary? >> reporter: this altered photo has gone viral. the publisher of a yiddish

newspaper said it was photoshopped. the president and his national security team in the white house situation room during the raid on osama bin laden's compound. look closely at this photo published in the yiddish newspaper. gone are the only two women in the room. it's thrust this newspaper based in ultraorthodox brooklyn neighborhood into the spotlight. he says the newspaper has 20,000 readers. he cites religious rules for banning photographs of women in the paper but issued a statement apologizing as white house photographs are not supposed to be manipulated. >> usually we aren't allowed to publish pictures of women due to

jewish laws of modesty. however, women are very much respected as you see in our statement so the person in charge of pictures did not know that a white house picture is not supposed to be edited out permission. >> the photos should not have been published in the paper at all. rules are so strict in this ultraorthodox neighborhood that we found signs along a main street reminding women that wearing skirts less than four inches below their need is forbidden. religious rules aside, one rabbi not orthodox calls it unethical to distort history. >> it was upsetting for me and for a lot of women that i know to see that they took a woman like hillary clinton who ascended to this high position based on merit and her experience and her political clout and they essentially took her right out of history. >> we're not against a woman

getting a high elected office. we have to abide by laws of modesty. freedom of the press is constitution but so is freedom of religion. >> reporter: publisher albert friedman says he called the white house and the state department to apologize. he says he plans on printing a statement in this week's paper saying the photo shouldn't have used responding to allegations that religious jews don't respect women in public office. >> if hillary clinton would have been elected president of the united states, they wouldn't have run a picture of the president in that newspaper, is that what i'm hearing? >> reporter: they would not have run a picture of her had she been elected president. hard to believe but they said they would not publish a photograph of a woman. >> all right. mary snow in new york for us. thanks, mary. a congressman shows off his physique for a men's magazine. jeanne moos comingp next.

let's check in with jack. he has the "the cafferty file." >> is a presidential run already over for donald trump? when president obama made a public spectacle of trump, he

was finished. once someone called him out, he was going to be done. he took credit for insulting the president into showing a nonnecessary piece of identification. what a chump. tom in texas writes, it was over before he started and everybody knew it but him. however, i'm still hoping he'll be the republican candidate because there will be no one easier to beat. paul in a florida writes trump didn't get where he is by throwing in the towel when things get rough. i like his in your face no nonsense style. too soon to count him out. carolyn in massachusetts, did you see the white house correspondents dinner? trump left despondent but the look on his wife's face said it all. it was over that night. that was before obama got osama. >> i doubt that obama is worried about running against donald trump. if trump could win the nomination, obama's 2012 victory would be the biggest landslide in history. trump could do enough damage to any other perspective republican

candidate that the end result would be the same. i think trump is an obama supporter in disguise and will disrupt the gop efforts in 2012. thus becoming president obama's trump card. that's awful. steve in new york, obviously the press is already destroyed him. left wingers have spoken. even though trump is right in every thing he says, the press doesn't like the way he says it. there you go. that's how we elect presidents in this country. and josh in new york writes, trump for president, forget about it. i was hoping he would last longer just because i like a good laugh. the idea of his candidacy was bad from the start. he looks sarah palin look like the thinking voters candidate. donald trump's endearing contribution to society is the fact that he's the living embodiment of the notion that money doesn't buy class. a lot of e-mail. go to the blog, cnn.com/kafcaffy cnn.com/caffertyfile. >> i knew you would get a lot of

e-mail. when you mention his name or sarah palin's name you get a lot of e-mail. see you back here tomorrow. pakistan blasts allegations it must have known where osama bin laden was hiding or it was shockingly incompetent but can the u.s. trust its ally in the war on terror? senator richard luger of indiana weighs in on "john king, usa" coming up at the top of the hour. plus, if you are telling people to get fit and workout, it helps to look like this. meet the u.s. congressman who is backing up his message. host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: does the buck stop here? sfx: buck's blustery exhale. host: could switching to geico 15% or more on car insurance?

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the magazine calls him america's fittest congressman and the youngest. he's hoping this picture will inspire you to get up and work out. >> reporter: it's a six pack that everyone can drink in. >> fabulous. >> wow. i'll vote for him. >> he looks awesome. what's wrong with that? >> reporter: nothing wrong with it. it's just that these exposed abs don't belong to some male model. he's a congressman. >> really? >> you're kidding me? this guy here. wow. >> reporter: illinois congressman at 29 the youngest member of congress. this is what he looks like fully

clothed. >> is that appropriate to have a half naked congressman on a magazine? i don't know. >> reporter: he's half naked for a cause. a campaign to inspire americans to get fit. though he's a republican, he admires michelle obama's anti-obesity campaign. he wakes up at 5:30 so he can spend an hour or two in the gym. he was asked on the "today" show if pictures of his exposed abs could come back to haunt his political career. >> there is risk with it. i think it's risk worth taking. >> reporter: way more naked center fold of new massachusetts senator scott brown when he was 22 didn't damage his career and bare chested barack obama isn't doing so badly. at the time he was annoyed by the photo and told reporters stop looking at it. it's embarrassing. >> how did you become known for your abs? >> don't ask me. >> reporter: tv types have been asking him for two years. >> i think your constituents deserve to know.

do you or do you not have sick-pack abs? >> goes back to when tmz dug up a photo of him poolside. a professional trainer says his abs could be tighter. >> i would say eight out of ten. >> reporter: he's a congressman. >> this is a guy i heard about. >> you like a well defined six pack. >> who doesn't? i hope it's real. i hope it's not photo shopped. >> definitely not says men's health contributing editor. check out the scar. >> that would be his appendicitis scar and a debate about whether to take it out. we want it to be untouched and original. >> reporter: not everyone liked what they saw in this congressman who is by the way still single. >> it's bulgy for me. >> reporter: his abs may be hard but they lack. >> i like the abs that he has. >> reporter: harry ones. jeanne