the "american idol" season 4 winner wrapped up filming carrie underwood, an all-star special. not only did she work with amazing people but made it a family affair. >> and there is a lot of great musical guests coming on and perform their own songs and with me. like dolly parton, brad paisley, david cook, kristin chenoweth to name a few and we have some, look a variety special and we have skits going on. my mom and sister come on to do some stuff. my dog has his own. yeah, my dog has his own special segment which, is one of my favorites things about the show. ♪ ♪ you can catch carrey and crew when her special airs this monday, december 7th on fox 5. the news tonight is far from over. >> the news edge at 6 starts right now. the president's war council on capitol hill, the surge strategy today. the plan, to send 30,000 troops to afghanistan by next summer. the catch, the president wants them headed home by the summer of 2011. as fox 5s tom fitzgerald reports, that deadline drew fire on the hill today. >> the committee will come to order. >> make that committee, and back-to-back hearings in the house and senate. >> good morning, everybody. >> the cornerstone of barack obama's war council. the defense secretary robert gates. >> and frankly, the situation is getting worse. the fire is getting hotter. >> secretary of state hillary clinton. >> but the dynamite factory is there and, unfortunately, it's been stocked with more dynamite. >> and joint chiefs chairman admiral michael mullen. >> this is the 'center of global islamic extremism. >> reporter: after taking 93 days to weigh his options, barack obama announced his decision in a speech at west point. >> that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 u.s. troops to afghanistan. >> the decision to withdraw the troops in july 2011 has some in congress asking why the president is setting an exit date before the troops have arrived. >> i date for withdrawal sends exactly the wrong message to both our friends and our enemies. you have given them a timeframe win which to work, and i think that is a terrible mistake. >> the white house said the exit dateives afghanistan a target by which it mutt have its own forces take over combat operations. andhile supportive, some democrats sounded cautious. >> as of 8:00 last night, do we have a new war? or do we have an old war under new ownership? >> and for her part, the secretary of state was not shy about striking back at republicans questioning the plan. >> did all of you realize this is the last best chance america has to get it right in afghanistan? >> and we also realized how sad it was we were trying to make that decision eight years later. >> well, the administration will send the secretaries of state and defense back up to the hill tomorrow to speak with the senate foreign relations committee. meanwhile, the president is trying to rally coalition partners to carry their share of the load in afghanistan. it's trying to secure at least troop commitment totaling 10,000 from the u.s. partnerships in the afghan war. >> tom fitzgerald live in the newsroom. on capitol hill, the white house party crashers. michaele and tareqsalahis. they will testify tomorrow before a congressional committee about last house. also on the invite list, the director of the secret service, mark sullivan and white house social security desser -- des ray rogers. the chairman of the homeland security committee said there is blame to share. >> the notion that someone can walk in off the street and entertain themselves at a state dinner, shake hands with the president, take pictures with him, the vice president and others is quite alarming and it could be a joke, but it also prepresents serious vulnerabilities and that we want to make sure doesn't happen again. >> the secretary of homeland security said while she has high praise for the service, it's clear the organization made a mistake. >> this is something that should never have happened and the secret service, i think, has been upfront and strong about their responsibility here. they do an excellent job of protecting the president, vice president and the families. >> and the trouble just keeps coming for the sahalis. tonight, fox five exclusive learned the indian embassy won't participate in the june 2010 america's polo cup. it's a grand name you expect nothing less by now for what is, in reality, their charity event. here's fox 5s claudia coffey with the news edge. >> to most of the world, tareq and michaelesahalis are known as the infamous party crashers, the publicity-seeking duo who show up and pose. >> how are you? >> what are you here for? >> it's the attention the couple is now receiving out of the spotlight, namely questions surrounding their america's polo cup event. the website boasts land rover, ritz carlton and the saint regis hotels as sponsors for the 2010 event. when we called, they said that is wrong and are all demanding their logos be removed and there is the journey for the cure foundation, the couple's non-profit associate associated with the polo match. it raises money for the leukemia and lymphoma society and multiple sclerosis. the foundation failed to register with the state as required by law for four years. it event prompted the department of agriculture and consumer services to issue this consumer warning, that contributions may be used for non-charitable services and two weeks ago, the foundation finally registered. documents reveal in 2007, the foundation donated $5,000 a piece to both the leukemia and lymphoma societies and the national multiple sclerosis society. today, the president of the ms chapter said that they would no longer be involved with america's polo cup or the journey for the cure. >> the white house said you were not invited s. the white house lying? >> while the couple will have to answer tough questions before the house homeland security committee tomorrow, they leave an expensive trail of unanswered questions throughout virginia and there are dozens of lawsuits, some still pending against the couple from vendors who claim the sahalis never paid them for their services and everything from gift shop items totaling $128 to unpaid catering expenses, topping $300,000. the ms society didn't give any further explaining and instead, referred us to their attorneys. meantime, the sahalis have been invited by the house homeland security committee to testify tomorrow and no word if they will show up. claudia coffey, fox 5 news. no doubt, the party crashers created the buzz. the new rasmussen poll of 1,000 people found 64% are following it closely. 25%, not so close and the breakdown from there. you can see when asked what the punishment should be, 43% said find them, 24% said they want to see them in jail, 25% said don't worry about it or bother prosecuting. what about the secret service? more than half, 55%, said yes. agents should lose their jobs over this. we took some of the questions to the streets today and this is what you had to say. >> what do you think about the white house party crashers? >> you give them to much -- in the papers. that is what they wanted, and you play into their hands. >> it's not on them. it's public housing, after all. i think it's more incumbent on the people living in the house to make sure that security was right. i thought it was a lot of fun, a distraction from the serious conversation of afghanistan's war. >> looking like they're going jail and that may be a good thing, but it may be for other reasons. [ laughter ] more and more is coming out. >> the people should be able to profit off of this this? >> no. >> why not? >> because they're doing something and they encouraging other people to do something that is inappropriate and wrong. >> be sure to check out www.myfoxdc.com for more on the accused crashers, everything we know about them is right there and we'll cover tomorrow's hearing on the hill if they decide to show. metro riders, get ready. you will have to dig deeper. maybe not yet. the transit agency wants to charge you more for your commute, proposing a fair hike. -- fare hike. how much are they talking about? john henrehan has more. >> metro is facing a budget hole of $144 million, 10% of the operating budget. this afternoon, we came across documents where metro managers are suggesting these fare hikes could solve the problems. first on bus, the current bus fare, $.1 identify go, people use ising -- using smart trip cards, would rise to $1.50. on rail, rush hours would go up, currently from $1.55 to $1.90, a increase of 15% and mileage charges beyond that, roughly 15% and also unreal, this is new, a peak of the peak surcharge for people riding during the busiest hours. 8 to non-in the morning and 5 to 6 in the afternoon and an extra 10 cents a ride, raising $5 million the current maximum fare for people living in the distant suburbs, up from $4.50 to $5, an increase of 11%. those re big jumps coming about two years after the last fare hike. a lot of passengers told us they don't want them. >> i think they should actually try to fix the service and the safety before raising prices. more accidents and busy -- trains are always break down and stuff. not too fast. >> it's taxiing on those of us struggling every day to go to work. it's really hard. >> safety is an issue as a whole, and so until we get that under wraps as far as metro record of recent, i think that prices should definitely stay the same. >> on the other hand, some passengers told us that they understand that metro simply needs the mean. -- needs the mean. >> i would be willing to pay more to keep service and to really look after the safety of the system because i don't think ts the -- that the system has been maintained that well the last few years. >> again, a commonality among those who favor or oppose fare hikes and safety. passengers on both sides told us they're worried about metro's sety and these are fare hikes. the board is going to be given a hard choice. starting tomorrow morning, the bord will be asked, service cuts or fare hikes or some combination of the two. metro can not outspend its budget and the budget is sliding into the red. brian? >> we'll be watching. john henrehan tonight. coming up next at 6, the voice mail heard around the world. >> and you please take your name off the phone? my wife went through my phone and made me call you. >> a message from tiger woods to his alleged mistress, forcing the golf superstar to come clean. the question now, will his legacy be golf superstar or cheating husband? and a live look outside. more rain could spell trouble for your morning commute as well. sue palka has details on a flood watch. hi, brian, yeah. a look at radar, too. the flood watch will start at 7:00 and take us through the overnight hours and we'll have batches of heavy rain, maybe a thunderstorm. when will it be out of here? you will find out in moments on fox 5 news at 6. ) remember when connections to the internet sounded like this - when high speed internet was out of reach of most american families and small businesses? as recently as the year 2000, only three percent of american families had high speed internet. then competition drove innovation - spurred private investment, and the internet took off - at record breaking speeds. at at&t we're taking the lead - investing some thirty-eight billion dollars in our wired and wireless networks over the past two years. last year alone we invested more than any other public company in america. and at at&t we support a national plan that makes high speed internet available to every american family in the next five years - because we know that now is not the time to stall momentum or to stifle innovation or investment. the future is at stake, and at at&t, the future has always been and at at&t, the future has always been our business. at&t... your world... delivered. >> taxpayers can use tax-free money for embryonic research. they -- how many of the hundreds of existing lines could be used. they start immediately on the 13 batches approved and that is hatching -- healing because barack obama lifted a ban. to virginia, the people of loudoun county spoke and defeated a christmas crackdown. the board of supervisors voted 7-1 to reverse a ban on public displays on county courthouse grounds. they signed a petition, inclung the displays and community groups will allow people access to the ounds. the number one most googled thing on the web. the new voice mail, fueling the tiger woods sex scandal. is the squeaky clean star now damaged goods? >> a bizarre crash and news of infidelity, seems his troubles are tarnishing his reputation for now. he began the process of tharepairing that image. >> that infamous crash starts rumors tiger woods was a cheating man and he denied the allegations. then an about-face, tiger released the statement saying, quote, i have let my family down and i regret those transgressions with all of my heart. i have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. i am out in without false and far sure of perfect. came hours after us weekly published a voice mail from a woman claiming to have had an affair with the golf superstar. jamie grubs claims she and tying her an affair for almost three years and the voice mail proves it, she said. >> hey, it's tiger. i need to you do me a huge favor. can i please take your name off my phone? -- doing this for me. boy. >> as for that crash, the florida highway patrol closed their inquiry yesterday giving tiger a traffic citation and today, we're learning the crash did $3,200 worth of damage to property other than the suv. it claims it will cost $3,000 to repair the fire hydrant and another 200 for the tree and as for tiger's extra curricular activities, there are works -- reports the national inquirer is working on a story of another woman who said she is tiger's lover. woods hasn't directly acknowledge good affair but asking for privacy as the family deals with the matter. we wondered if tiger's troubles at home might spell disaster for his sponsorship witness. will the cooperation -- bises. [ indiscernible ] paul wagner spoke with a local expert saying don't count on it. >> until this week, tiger woods had an impeccable reputation. carefully crafted after more than 30 years in the public eye, winning purses and endorsement deals made him an incredibly wealthy man. is the empire about to fall? unlikely, said professor lisa delpinaroti, an expert in sports marketing. >> from a business perspective, they need him like he needs them. tiger will remain very popular among the public despite this blemish. >> he said the american public is forgiving and the businesses that have deals with tiger know that. it's a combination of the status of the athlete, how they're going continue to perform, how long of a shelf life they still have and tiger has a long ways to go on the golf course. and how bad the incident was that happened. >> the doctor said if she was advising tiger, she would highly recommend he make public his plans. he's stationing with his wife or leaving her, putting the issue to rest. most people we talked to on the street told us it's nobody's business but tiger's. >> although he is a superstar and he is the face of golf at this moment, we're all human and we do make mistakes. >> personally, i don't, i try not to pay attention to, you know, this sort of news. i would rather focus on healthcare or afghanistan. >> this is something that anybody's husband could have done, anybody's boyfriend. so i think, you know, i don't play into the whole he's a celebrity, he should not have done it. he's human. >> although an extra marital affair is not acceptable, i think more people can deal with that than, you know, dog fighting. >> in the last line of the statement, tiger woods says, "for all who supported me over the years, i offer my profound apologies." paul wagner, fox 5 news. a rainy day out there and lasting into tomorrow. i think it will be mostly gone for the morning rush hour and east of the bay, there could be lingering showers. tonight is going to be rough and overnight and a rumble of thunder and that is why we have a flood watch and the max hd radar, showing you live here and that doesn't have -- and we have a lot of rain on it and moderate downpours in the yellow areas and really, the heaviest rain is coming later tonight and you can see it on our max hd and satellite radars. we put a wider motion in picture for you. you can see brighter colors coming to the south and we have a ways to go. the next few hours, light to moderate rain and maybe a quarter of an each or so and the area of low pressure is over here in tennessee and the heaviest now in the southwestern and central virginia and that comes over us later tonight and that will probably give us a good amount of rain. i'll show you what we're going to follow here. there is a flood watch in effect beginning at 7:00 and goes until 7:00 a.m. on thursday and that is because the bulk of the heavy rain will be later tonight and includes our entire metro area. not because there is so much rain coming tonight but we have had so much rain during the of this december, so, from washington on west, we're talkingbout another half an inch to an inch of rain. an inch to an inch and a half east and worried about the areas. you might be thunderstorm-prone in those regions later on tonight. there is a possibility, a better chance east of town and this is something we haven't talked about. this is a warm rain we're getting. the temperature is up over the last several hours and that is is 55 degrees and don't be surprised if it goes up more and probably doesn't drop below, say, 50 degrees overnight and that is colder to the north and west. you can see over to cambridge, 57 degrees. it's 58 degrees in fredericksburg and some of the warm south wind is going to familiar up -- fuel up a couple of thunderstorms here and there. the flood watch will kick in and will be a rainy night and be mild. probably only dropping to 50 degrees and again, a thunderstorm possible. the winds will begin to pick up and we have wind advisories to our south and west and here, they could gust to 25 miles per hour and we're seeing that outside. tomorrow, a mostly sunny and a breezy day, our high temperature, 59 degrees and that will fall as we go through the day. the winds out of the west at 15 to 25 and heading for the lighting of the national christmas tree, you won't need as many layers as usual and expect to breathe down there. 8 in the morning, should be seeing cloudy skies and may be a shower left east of town and by noon, breezy and 58 and by 5:00, breezy and 53. now, in the five-day forecast, we have one more storm that we need to talk about and we get this one mostly out of here overnight, friday is cold, 49 degrees and clouds around in the afternoon and we get colder, brian, for saturday and sunday and there is another storm, going to be off the coast. that could give us a light and late mix on saturday and maybe some of you see the first snow showers on saturday and we'll watch that one. definitely colder. >> thank you, sue. at 6, the until's most explosive offense about to march into fed ex field and the redskins former defensive coordinator and we're going to hear from the skins as they get ready next. >> good evening i'm dave feldman. remember greg williams? the redskins old defensive coordinator? only to be held hostage during a painfully long interview process and phased out by daniel snider and vinny serato. he's back. they served as the defense coordinator from 2004-2007. during a four-year span, washington's defense ranked in the until's top 10. last year, williams served as the jaguars defensive coordinator and sunday, returned as the saints defensive coordinator and improved the new orleans defense and the redskins said they know what to expect. >> i know greg, i like greg, man. he's going to come here, no holds barred. so was the whole kitchen and the sink, you name it. he point that out, you know? >> like i said, you better get ready. you have been on that ground this season and he's coming. i think -- the guys will be prepared for it, you know, have a good play and come there and he's going to stay and give you so many different looks and you have to be prepared for it. >> the saints and first nfc team since 1991 to start a season 11-0. new orleans, 37 points and 400 points, six yards per game and leads the nfl. the redskins, 29th in points per game and 25 th in yards per game. the septembers plus 12 turnover margin, ranked second in the until. alan iverson is returning to the nba a week after announcing his retirement. signed a one-year league contract to return to the sixers and would play with eddie jordan. to make the debut on monday, iverson played 10 years with the sixers and owns the franchise's highest scoring average of .1 points per game. and back to the story that keeps on giving the the scandals surrounding tiger woods. the hot topic and not just the newsrooms like this across the country but locker rooms, like the ones that at redskins park in ashburn, virginia. >> and the choices are tough. i mean it's who you are as a person, you know, that is going to find what you do or don't do, you know, you have to be. >> -- [ indiscernible ] awhile back and the decision and consequences. i try to live by that and whatever you choose, you -- it's going to be a consequence and go on what goes up, must come down. >> he knows what he's talking about. brian? >> thank you, now you have the news edge. back here at 10. the nam len. unthink value with the kfc 12-piece holiday feast. get great-tasting original recipe... mixed with kentucky grilled chicken... plus a large cole slaw, two large mashed potatoes, and 6 biscuits, all for just $19.99. unthink. and taste the unbeatable side of kfc.