[Phillips:] Facing outrage at home and abroad, the Scottish justice secretary is defending his decision to free the convicted bomber of Pan Am Flight 103. As we told you last week, the Lockerbie bomber was allowed to return home to Libya on compassionate grounds because he's dying of cancer. At an emergency session OK. Let's get to another story that we talked a lot about this morning. And it was sort of a juxtaposition of two stories taking place ironically on the same day. You know, it's just 18 days from now that we're going to mark one of the darkest days in the history of our country. It's the eighth anniversary of 911. Can you believe that it's already been eight years? You know, those terror attacks were hatched from al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, and that's why President Bush ordered the invasion of that country less than a month afterward. Well, eight years later, we're still fighting that war. Presidential elections held there last week are already being called corrupt. And then today11 happened. It's actually being returned to ground zero. Fifty-eight tons, 36 feet high, this column was a makeshift memorial to the victims of the attack, and it's being placed here. Well, on the ground in Afghanistan, the war against the Taliban is going badly and getting worse. And that's the bleak assessment from Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen. He spoke with CNN's John King.
[Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs Of Staff:] Well, I think it is serious, and it is deteriorating. And I've said that over the last couple of years that the Taliban insurgency has gotter better, more sophisticated.
[Phillips:] There's also growing signs that the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan will ask President Obama for more troops. CNN's Atia Abawi is in Kabul with more on the war's going. And from what you're seeing and hearing, Atia, is it as bad as what Admiral Mullen is saying?
[Atia Abawi, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, it depends on where you go, Kyra, really. In the south, they have thousands of Marines did flood into the country this summer to try to secure and hold areas for the election. But we also know that it was the south and the east of the country where many Afghans did not come out to vote out of fear of the Taliban threats and intimidation. But that being said, there were districts in Helmand, where these Marines are, where the majority of these Marines are, that some Afghans did actually go out to the polls, Afghan that were afraid to before, but still the turnout was very low, lower than it was in the 2004 presidential elections and even lower than it was in the 2005 parliamentary elections. So, there are certain parts of the war that is going well. There are are other parts and you have to also remember it's the Afghan government that the Afghan people don't necessarily trust at the moment. This is an election that many Afghans didn't necessarily not go to the polls because of safety reasons, but because they didn't trust their government. And right now, we're seeing a presidential candidate accusing the other candidate, the incumbent, President Karzai, of stealing the elections, of massive fraud. Let's listen to what Dr. Abdullah had to say.
[Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Afghan Presidential Candidate:] The Afghan people view the international community as
[Abawi:] Dr. Abdullah there asking the international community to make sure that massive fraud does not occur, that the results don't come in until the complaints are filed and investigated, because he feels that he is the winner. But at the same time, the Karzai campaign not taking this sitting down, because they feel that they are in the lead and that Dr. Abdullah is just using propaganda. Let's listen to what President Karzai's election spokesperson had to say.
[Waheed Omar, Spokesperson, Karzai Campaign:] They are making irresponsible comments, and this is disrespectful to the process. This is disrespectful to the mechanism which is in place, which is the institution, and this is disrespectful to the voice of the people. So, obviously the elections, there are violations all over the world in the election, but there are mechanisms to take care of it. And the only way that we
[Abawi:] The good and bad of this situation is, you do see democracy there. You see two presidential candidates fighting for their position. They want to be the president. They fought for it. They have the supporters that have supported them. But the bad side of this is when you talk to the average Afghan, they see this fighting, they see these tit for tat accusations, and they don't feel that their government is really looking out for them as much as they're looking out for their own parties and their own candidates, and not for the Afghan people Kyra.
[Phillips:] Atia Abawi, thank you so much. And as we mentioned, that last massive steel column removed from ground zero returned there today as a symbol of rebirth. We look at this and remember what happened eight years ago. And I think we all can agree we'll never forget that moment.