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. what's all this? 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[ male announcer ] with xerox, you're ready for real business. 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. 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[ male announcer ] there's just something about werther's caramel that makes a chocolate so smooth and creamy, you don't just taste it, you feel it. ♪ magic [ male announcer ] werther's original caramel chocolate. what comfort tastes like. 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 t