nato. what if assad starts targeting turkey with aircraft? >> that changes everything, nic robertson. thank you so much for joining me. thank you so much for watching. i'm sure wolf will be all over this and of course debate night in denver. "the situation room" begins now. >>> brooke, thanks very much. happening now, we're counting down to tonight's presidential debate. mitt romney's motorcade just pulled up at the debate hall. president obama's expected to arrive in denver any minute as well. we'll be talking with top supporters of each candidate. the former new york city mayor rudy giuliani, he'll join us live this hour. also we'll be hearing from both candidates' wives in special cnn interviews. today, by the way, is the obama's 20th wedding anniversary. so what's it like spending the night with the romneys? i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." >>> 34 days from the presidential election but much more importantly right now at least right now we've reached what may be the most decisive night of the 2012 campaign, the first presidential debate at the university of denve

. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. >>> a suicide bomber targets a joint nato afghan patrol. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other top stories in "the situation room." what happened? >> it's another reminder of the dangers in afghanistan. taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for today's attack in eastern afghanistan. the afghan interior ministry says 14 people, including three nato service members, their interpreter and four afghan police were killed when the bomber blew up a motorbike packed with explosives. 57 people were wounded. >>> honda is recalling nearly 16,000 of its popular accord vehicles. a faulty power steering hose can leak triggering a fire. it's models 2003 through 2007. 53 honda accord tls were recalled earlier this year. >>> indianapolis colts head coach chuck pagano has been diagnosed with leukemia. the coach's doctor says it is a highly treatable form of leukem leukemia. and the colts' offensive coordinator will take over the team while pagano undergoes treatment. >> wish him a speedy recovery. >>> barack obama and mitt romney are rehear

oversea these contractors. contacted by cnn, the officials from the nato command say they take these allegations seriously and that the u.s. army's criminal investigation division is looking into the allegations. we made attempts to reach the two men in the video aside from that medic and were unable to. wolf? >> brian todd reporting for us. thank you. >>> meanwhile a massive show of military power between the united states and israel. up next, the message these war games could be sending to iran. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so i introduced jill to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends ag

attack an a nato ally is an attack on the united states. is an attack on israel an attack on the united states. >> it would lead to an americans response. and what the president said last night, same thing. >> just speaking for the obama campaign, an attack on israel is an attack on the united states. >> i'll just say what the president says, if israel gets attacked -- >> you understand the nuance, the difference. >> yeah. but i'm saying -- >> you want to leave that. >> i'm saying the effect is the same. if the nato country gets attacked, we have their back. if israel gets attacked, we have their back. >> not necessarily. but go ahead. >> i want to move on if we can to the question of afghanistan. it of course came up in last night's debate in both president obama as well as governor romney said they plan to pull troops out in 2014. many people have asked all of these insider attacks continue, and so many questions -- more concerns about insider attacks. why not pull them out sooner? if we already have this date set of 2014, why not pull them out sooner? is this time -- would a s

our nato allied turkey, destabilization in the region and now missile or arms being fired between syria and turkey, our nato ally for whom we have obligations but the same approach resulted in iran getting much, much closer to nuclear breakout, resulted in the 20 embassies that had demonstrations. >> but what about the specific -- the specific -- >> american flag burned and the black flag of al qaeda raised and american ambassador killed. >> the specific point that collin just made if you give shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to some guys they could shoot down israeli aircraft? how do you prevent that? >> well, how you prevent it is not waiting until it's out of hand. you get involved earlier. you anticipate the problem. you lead. that's why you work with the opposition a year ago, not waiting until may when it's being crowded out by extremists. that's why you start to arm the moderate opposition early this year. not wait until late may before you let some of our friends do it. yes, it gets tougher when you fail to act and you know what? it's going to continue to get tougher

words. let's talk about it with a former nato allied supreme commander wesley clark, retired, of course. rich williamson, an adviser to the romney campaign. general clark, i'll start with you. has the white house been completely forthcoming in its information on libya? you hear what those republicans were saying. >> well, first of all, i'm not in the white house but i do believe they've been forthcoming. from everything i've heard around and everything i picked up. yes, they have been fort coming. the's no spin. wolf, first events, first impressions of 'vent are almost always wrong. that's the case mr. romney made his statement about the event in cairo and in this case trying to get to the bottom of it. let's let the process work and get to the bottom of the fakes on this thing before we start the name calling and the partisan attacks. >> ambassador wumsson, what do you say on the flip side that many democrats are kind of counterattacking here saying that the romney campaign is using the death of the ambassador and the three other americans for political gain? how do you respond to that

in from israel -- >> we have a treaty with nato and we have different legal obligations -- >> should the u.s. have that same legal treaty obligation with israel? >> i personally think it should. i think it should be -- we should do everything we can to enhance israel's security. that's in fact what the president has done. as we speak, wolf, 1,500 american military officers are in israel participating in the largest joint american/israeli exercise in the history of the state of israel. that sends an incredibly strong message to those who wish to do israel harm whether it be in iran or hamas. and i think it's critically important like your report shows, those rockets are coming over. many of them are being intercepted by the iron dome system which was funded largely by the united states with the initiation from president obama. the united states and israel have enjoyed the most significant degree of security cooperation in the history of our nations. >> the other issue that came up in the debate and mitt romney keeps pointing it out, that as president of the united states,

contractors. contacted by cnn, officials for nato command say they take these allegations very seriously and the u.s. army's criminal investigation division is looking into the allegations. we also made attempts to reach the two men in the video aside from that medic and we were unable to reach them, wolf. >> has the firm cleaned house at this facility? >> they say that they have. they claim they brought out everyone involved including the alleged ring leader of all the partying. that's a person different from the main character you see in that video. they brought out that ring leader about the same time these plaintiffs left afghanistan. they say everyone else involved has been fired or placed on leave and say that the company is conducting its own investigation. >> the video is shocking in a war zone. >> it is. >> thanks very much for that, brian. >>> a massive show of military power between the united states and israel underway right now. the first of 1,000 american troops arriving in israel for the largest joint missile defense exercise in the history of the u.s./israeli alliance coming