Should have had it long ago. Every time i see somebody, it makes me cringe when theyre getting the flu shot. Anyway, get your flu shots. That does it for us. Follow us on twitter. Tweet me, joe johns. And me at kate bolduan. Erin Burnett Outfront starts right now. Outfront next, war in mali. Leon panetta says america will have a role in the fight. Plus, president obama holds a News Conference and practically dares republicans to shut down the government. And another brutal and horrific and barbaric rape in india. What will stop it . The star of Slumdog Millionaire freida pinto has an idea. Shes our guest. Lets go outfront. Good evening, everyone. Im erin burnett. Outfront tonight, war in mali. A deadly conflict between al qaeda militants and the government is getting violent. Theyre threatening to take control of the entire country. The militants move prompted france to take action over the weekend. They put boots on the ground and went all in, bombing rebel Training Camps and other targets. So what will the United States do . A pentagon official told me this afternoon that the u. S. Will participate in mali, but, and i want to make sure i put quotes around this, its Still Deciding what that looks like. When we went to the mali border last summer, i saw first hand how dangerous the situation is. Today, we spoke to some of our sources on the ground, including the military commander of the al qaedas linked group. He told us that the militants are, in his words, excited and would welcome u. S. Troops on the ground. He also said the french bombs have killed civilians and that france is signing a death warrant for french people around the world, opening the gates of hell. Omar said the militants will fight to the end and this will be a long war, more dangerous than afghanistan or iraq. We also spoke to a fighter from a tribe who lives in northern mali. You saw him here this summer. He said the fighting in some towns in northern mali has been fierce over the weekend and he said something important for american policymakers to consider. His friends who are not islamists are being paid by omar, the man you saw a moment ago, paid to fight, and theyre taking that money and fighting against the french. The United States has already tried to help mali. United states trained malian army commanders, some of whom defected to fight with the islamics. So if the United States becomes more involved in the war, will islamists threaten the United States directly . I think were all well aware of the requirement to be vigilant about our own security, including in the homeland, but thats why its so important to get this operation done and get it done right. Outfront tonight, the defense departments former africa counterterrorism director, jeff porter, he has briefed the fbi on the situation, and chris lawrence. Our pentagon correspondent. Chris, let me start with you. The state Department Says we have to do the job right. The defense Department Says the United States will be involved in mali. What are you hearing tonight as far as u. S. Intervention . Theyre narrowing down the option. Piloted planes to gather some intelligence is one option. Drones, although one official told me those are in very high demand with things going on in yemen and afghanistan, libya and other areas around the world. He said look for possibly some air lift capacity. In other words, big cargo planes that would allow the french to get more equipment to where its needed in mali, and refueling capability. In other words, the french jets doing some of the bombing, these american refueling tankers could pull up alongside them, and the french jets could refuel in air so they could go longer and further without having to come back to a base. Interesting options. Theyre so eager to say there wont be mass combat troops on the ground, thats not on the table at all. Rudy, the leader of the islamist group, one of the commanders we spoke to was full of bravado. I want to make sure im using the word we because he wont speak directly to a woman, so i wasnt able to ask those questions directly to him. We asked if he was concerned about u. S. Involvement, and the words he used were excitement and he wouldnt answer a direct question when we asked how many fighter do you have. He didnt want to talk about this lat all. How much of this is bravado and how big of a threat are these rebels . The flet is very real. The person you spoke with is a man named omar, with a red beard. The thing is theyre all bolstered by al qaeda and the islamic maghreb, and from the beginning, we have seen aqim, for short, how aggressive they can be in algeria. Theyre responsible in 2007 for two truck bombs that devastated a u. N. Building in algiers and one of the justice buildings. They have had multiple suicide bombings over the years, and these are the guys that are training the militants. So the threat is very real. The other thing is for france, is 10 of the french population is north african, in some generation or another. What were seeing among the islamists are there are some fighters who have poured in and some have experience fighting in iraq and afghanistan. This is definitely a concern. And jeffrey, france surprised a lot of people. The pentagon was clear to tell me, we were giving advance warning of what france was going to do, but theres supposedly been a force getting ready to go in and deal with this. The u. N. Said they would be ready in weeks. Thats the umpteenth teen we haveurd this. Why has it taken so long for anyone to get involved . I think up until 2012, aqim, i disagree with the other guest, up until 2012, aqim was a marginalized group, it was good at kidnap for ransom, but it wasnt a terrorist organization. The thing that changed that was the in flow of fighters from libya and weapons from libya. We were caught a little flat footed because of the changing implications of libya or aqim, and subsequently, it has taken time to identify who the right forces to deploy in northern mali would be. What about the United States . Chris, does the pentagon believe african and French Forces can solve the problem and the u. S. Is going to keep to its clear intenti intention, which is not to put combat troops on the ground . Our sources told us theres no plan to put u. S. Troops on the ground, but theres concern about what the end game is going to be. They believe some sort of deployment among the french and African Union when it gets going could probably dislodge the militants that pushed them back from the territory their gained, but they have also wondered what then. They dont they know that the African Union cant stay in these towns forever. They say malis army has already proven it cant fight these terrorists effectively. And obviously, a big black eye for the United States in the terms that they trained so many of these malian commanders, as the New York Times is writing about today. Er eric schmidt, who is in the region right now, said they were training a lot of those guys. The United States should have been well aware that people would defect, and defect they did. I spoke to leon panetta last week about mali. I want to play you what he said about going after al qaeda. We have to go after al qaeda wherever the hell theyre at and make sure they find no place to hide. Lets not forget, the main goal of al qaeda is to attack the United States. And were not going to allow that to happen again. And if were not going to allow it to happen, we have to go after them. In yemen, in somalia, and yes, in mali if necessary. What form of going after them in mali entail . And will this be, as omar is trying to say, a war as dangerous as those United States fought in iraq and afghanistan, which of course, hes obviously saying for pr reasons in part. Well, let me start off by saying, you know, i respect what mr. Porter said, but aqim, although weak, is still very capable. So its not something to kind of slough off and forget its not there. What mr. Panetta is actually saying is the spaces where theyre actually migrating to, and ie, theres no longer a fight in iraq, a migration back of the north africans fighting in iraq back into this space. They have Training Camps. I have been watching this for a very long time. They have a level of sophistication with the weapons, and theyre very capable. And so the region, were talking about northern mali, these guys have adequate places for not only training, but areas to hide. In terms of rooting them out, its focusing on the leadership that makes up aqim, and the others. Quick final word to you, jeff, the United States in terms of defining success, what did it learn from iraq and afghanistan . You cant eradicate and make it perfect . Theyre going for containment strategy. If you can walk back aqim in the sahara, not in algeria, but if you can walk them back to where they were in 2008, 2009, 2010, contain them in western mali, that would be a satisfactory outcome for the u. S. And frangs. This may surprise a lot of people. They would think the u. S. Would want to get rid of them completely. Thanks so much to all of you. We appreciate it and well keep following the story. Still to come, president obama draws a line in the sand and dared republicans to cross it. Plus, a legendary hacker commits suicide, and his parents say the United States government is to blame. And another woman gang raped in india. What will stop it . Freida pinto of Slumdog Millionaire comes out front. [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second. 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If the republicans in congress have made a decision that they want to shut down the government in order to get their way, then they have a vote in the house of representatives to do that. The problem, thats what they say theyre going to do. Great to see you birthday. David, the president himself saying, i acknowledge it, a Government Shutdown is a possibility. Cathy Mcmorris Rogers of Washington State told politico, i think its possible we would shut down the government. So here we are, were getting to a problem. Treasury secretary tim gietner said midfebruary march is as far as he can go. Who blinks first . This is like one of the situations in the monkey cage at the zoo where the monkeys bang their chole their chests and look as powerful as possible. The president is escalating this situation. No 14th amendment option. Do it my way or we plunge the public credit of the United States into bankruptcy. And the republicans are responding equivalently by saying to the president , were not scared. Were not scared of you. Its very clear that the Republican Leadership does not want this kind of a confrontation. John boehner has repeatedly said so. But the president but the president is trying to force the appearance of a confrontation in order to magnify the political impact of a republican climbdown when it eventually happens, as it will. So daniel, let me ask you, ben bernanke came out today and weighed in on this whole thing in a way that might shock people because he said, you know what, to hell with the debt ceiling, although he said it in ben bernanke style. Let me let him say it. I think it would be a good thing if we didnt have it. I dont think thats going to happen. So would it be better if we didnt have a debt ceiling at all . Yeah, absolutely it would. This is a silly thing which ought to happen automatically because our debt is going to grow along with our economy from year to year. Especially its going to grow in times when we need to spend a little more to juice our economy. But you know, bernanke has very little credibility with the Republican Party because Republican Leadership last year actually sent letters to him saying stop with your quantitative easing and your other extraordinary measures to juice this economy. Theyre already angry at him, so him saying we should from the debt ceiling is not going to do anything in congress. Part of the problem is the debt seems to go up and good times and bad times and no one ever seems to have the courage to cut it, but its a very bipartisan thing in terms of raising it. 76 times its been raised since 1962. And the number one president in terms of raising it, the winner is Ronald Reagan at 17 times. That might shock people who like to see him as the paragon of responsible spending. Well start with the deficit, shrinking more rapidly than at any time since the end of the korean war. In the end of december, we had a deficit for the month of 260 million, not 260 billion, 260 million. Which in washington is almost the budget. Thats the smallest monthly deficit in five years. Some of that is artificial. People pulling transactions forward because they were afraid of higher tax rates in 2013. But for the first three months of 2013, we have a rapidly shrinking fiscal 2013, we have a rapidly shrinking deficit. So we are in a way chasing a vanishing problem. Which is interesting, and that would allow for some things that are dirty and things that are not so dirty, would completely perhaps get rid of this problem after a while. Do you think were headed for a full stalemate . Its such a shame. I think david is right because we have low debt service right now. Were paying less interest on our debt than we had in the reagan and bush administrations before because Interest Rates are so low. But theyre going to go up one day. But not for several years. Ill say it, we should be borrowing more at 30year, 3 terms, so we can invest in the longterm growth of this economy. This is not the time for further austerity and cuts. If we were even to consider that right now, it would be a disaster. And what were doing right now as the president correctly said today, is actually making our economy seem more risky and hurting ourselves now even without a default. Were already doing damage today. All right, thanks very much to both of you. Now, john avlon, cofounder of no labels, a Bipartisan Group dedicated to breaking the gridlock in washington. Ow viewers who know you should not be no surprised you go by no label, but where do we know from here . This is what is so stunning. As you heard david say, this chest pounding is really right now, the fever has got to break or were going to go over the cliff. Congress is the biggest impediment to the economic recovery. Erin, i spoke to jon huntsman and joe manchin, and asked them what they think about how we got here and how we go forward. We have forgotten how to do the art of the deal. Its been so long since this government has put together any kind of deal between parties. Heaven forbid the next generation come up thinking this is the normal way forward. This is not the normal way forward. This represents a broken system. If we quit thinking about the next election and start thinking about the next generation, were going to make it through our lives just fine. Its what were living behind. And theyre going to have to come together sooner or later. There you heard it. Its the short term thinking creating potentially huge longterm costs for the american economy. The down grading of the u. S. Economy was a huge problem. Of course, it hasnt yet resulted in higher Interest Rates. A lot of people might say, look, who cares . Lets be complacent. Lets not worry about another downgrade. Who cares . Do people get it, in washington, thats its important . It almost seems to be an afterthought in all of the chest thumping and bargaining, no one is thinking about it because the shortterm impact of a default would be extraordinary. Maybe we shouldnt call this the debt ceiling at all. Maybe we should change it the do downgrade ceiling because this game of chicken is sick. Sometimes semantics can make all the difference. Outfront next, a legendary hacker and activist commits suicide and his parents blame the government. And the Lance Armstrong apology tour has officially begun, but is he really coming clean. What he said and did not say today. We asked total strangers to watch it for us. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Ill be right back. They didnt take a dime. 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