Afghan President: We'll Take Over Security
BLITZER: To our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Happening now, more evidence is coming to light indicating that Major Nidal Hasan should have been tagged as a danger long before he allegedly opened fire on his fellow soldiers. Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, who was just briefed on all the latest findings -- Peter Hoekstra, the congressman, is going to be here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Stand by. Are the credit cards in your wallet robbing you blind? With all that small print, how would you know if they were? Jessica Yellin will try to make all of this clear. And did billions in stimulus funds go to phony jobs in places that don't exist or did the administration just not keep track? I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. As President Obama weighs whether to send thousands of additional reinforcements to Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai makes a stunning inaugural vow about his country's future security. Our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, is in Kabul. He's joining us now. He's got more on some bold statements from President Karzai -- Chris, what's he saying?</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you said it, Wolf. And I spoke with General Stanley McChrystal. He told me he was encouraged by what President Karzai promised, but he wasn't entirely sure he could deliver.</s>LAWRENCE: The beginning of Hamid Karzai's second term started with a promise on how it will end.</s>HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN (through translator): Within the next five years, the Afghan forces will be capable of taking the lead in insurance security and stability across the country.</s>LAWRENCE: Karzai said Afghan security forces will take the lead in three years and full control within five. U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton called the goal ambitious.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: It is a goal that he believes can be met. We want to assist him.</s>LAWRENCE: But outside the safety of the presidential palace, Kabul was on virtual lockdown. Check points everywhere. The airport and major roads closed. And southern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing or wounding more than 20 people. Secretary Clinton's visit comes just as President Obama is finalizing his decision whether to send more troops here to Afghanistan. Clinton met with nearly 100 NATO troops and said their time in Afghanistan is directly tied to the improvement of Afghan forces. CNN was one of the few western news crews allowed into the inauguration. More than 800 people attended. No more than a handful were women. Karzai received his biggest applause when he promised to create an accountable government. If Karzai doesn't take real steps to root out corruption, international allies have threatened to cutoff financial aid. Thursday he offered one new example directed at the people who run his ministries.</s>CLINTON: Government officials will have to register their assets. So that any money or other influence can be more easily tracked is a very bold proposal.</s>LAWRENCE: And at one point Karzai tried to separate local militants from al Qaeda, inviting, quote, disaffected compatriots who are not directly linked to international terrorism to return to their homeland. It was a direct appeal to Afghans who have been recruited by the Taliban. Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence on assignment in Kabul, Afghanistan, for us. Chris, thanks very much. We have another pentagon correspondent as all of our viewers know as well, Barbara Starr. She's taking a closer look now at the CIA's use of remotely controlled aircraft to kill militants in Pakistan. Critics say that a number of civilians are also dying, though, in the process. Let's go to Barbara. She's digging on this story for us. Barbara, what are you finding out?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You know, Wolf, while we're all waiting for that decision about the way ahead in Afghanistan, what we are not hearing a lot about is that secret CIA war against militants across the border in Pakistan.</s>STARR: Pakistan, August 2009, an unmanned aircraft takes off from a secret base inside Pakistan. The Central Intelligence Agency has a tip where the Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is hiding. The CIA drone flies in. Piloted by personnel miles away in front of a computer screen. Its missiles fire. Mehsud is killed. It's called push-button war. Targeted killing by remotely controlled planes. The growing reliance by the Obama administration on these drones to kill inside Pakistan, a U.S. alley, is increasingly controversial. Philip Alston, the United Nations special investigator, questions if this is legal warfare or targeted assassination.</s>PHILIP ALSTON, U.N. SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR: Under what program, under what authorization, under what sort of laws is the CIA actually operating? This is the CIA. This is not the department of defense. Normally, wars are fought by a defense department, not by an intelligence agency.</s>STARR: In 1976, President Gerald Ford banned political assassination. Since 9/11 the Bush White House and now President Obama have insisted the drone campaign in Pakistan is part of the war against the Taliban and al Qaeda, not the Pakistani people. Since Obama took office the number of attacks has jumped. 45 this year so far compared to 34 for all of 2008, according to a study by CNN contributor Peter Bergen. But hundreds of civilians may also have been killed.</s>PETER GERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Over the life of the program, we calculated that up to 1,000 people have been killed. And we calculated that up to a third were civilians.</s>STARR: CIA director Leon Panetta tersely defended the once secret program earlier this year.</s>LEON PANETTA, CIA DIRECTOR: Very frankly, it's the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al Qaeda leadership.</s>STARR: But Alston says if the U.S. wants to claim the attacks are vital, there must be changes.</s>ALSTON: The fears of the international community that the U.S. is operating perhaps a targeted assassination program that's not constrained by the appropriate rules will simply be increased.</s>STARR: So if President Obama's decision on the way ahead in Afghanistan also includes more CIA missile strikes in Pakistan, experts like Alston say there is going to be very growing public pressure on the White House to explain what it's doing and the legal justification for it, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Barbara Starr is working this story at the pentagon. Thank you. Pay attention to this story. Hijacked by pirates and left floating in the ocean. Three Yemenese soldiers have been rescued by the United States navy in the Gulf of Aden. The men lost control of their ship and lost out in a harrowing ultimatum to those who jumped aboard. Either jumped overboard or be killed, they were told, by pirates. Guess what. They jumped. Clinging to a board, the fishermen survived for three days on a few bottles of water until a passing ship alerted authorities. Then the "USS Chosen" arrived and pulled the men to safety. The vessel is the flag ship of a multinational anti-piracy task force. The sailors are OK. Senate majority leader Harry Reid is trying to muster 60 votes to a filibuster on his health care reform proposal. It has major differences with a house bill that has passed. We'll give you details of the differences, talk about how the differences could be revolved or not. On the heels of the president's chip to China, new allegations that the Chinese are aggressively stealing America's stop secrets. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.