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Campbell Brown
U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan at Risk?; Can President Obama Get His Groove Back?
Aired September 02, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight, here are the questions we want answered.
Can President Obama get his groove back? He's going to Capitol Hill in person to try to tweak his message on health care.
Are nude parties and deviant hazing putting our embassy in Afghanistan at risk?
DANIELLE BRIAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT: Total breakdown in the chain of command, a total lack of respect on the part of the guard force for the supervisors.
ROBERTS: How did this man survive after his heart stopped for 45 minutes? I will talk to the doctors who literally brought him back from the dead.
And is Whitney Houston really ready for a comeback?
WHITNEY HOUSTON, MUSICIAN: It's not a comeback for me. I have been here. I have just been here. I just took a break.
ROBERTS: Her voice gave out during her big debut. Is Oprah to blame?
Also, is Chris Brown really sorry for what he did to Rihanna?
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Do you remember doing it?
CHRIS BROWN, MUSICIAN: No.
KING: Don't remember doing it?
BROWN: I don't -- it's like, it's crazy to me. I'm like, wow.
ROBERTS: Plus, is everything we know about our kids wrong? Is praise bad? And is sleep more important than we think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A-students average 15 more minutes sleep than B-students, who average 15 more minutes than C-students and so on. Every 15 minutes counts.
ROBERTS: Surprising advice on what's best your kids.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is your only source for news. CNN prime time begins now.
In for Campbell Brown, John Roberts.
ROBERTS: Hi, everybody. Campbell Brown is off tonight.
Those are our big questions. But we start as always with the "Mash-Up," our look at all the stories making an impact right now, and the moments that you might have missed. We're watching it all so you don't have to.
The White House announced today that President Obama will address a joint session of Congress and the nation a week from today. The president has been under increasing pressure to provide more specifics of his health care reform plan. Today, supporters and critics agreed the president has to take control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he absolutely has to push the reset button and start over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take control of this debate that they have so evidently lost.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has got to provide details. After this lead-up, he has to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing has really gotten away from the White House, and, quite frankly, they know it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's just going to have to get in there and fight it out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grab control of the debate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grab the nation by the lapel.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Shift his strategy.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Regain the advantage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seize the initiative.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Set the table.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get it done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Like the president, this week, members of Congress are still on vacation, still holding town hall meetings, and still hearing loud opinions from voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You have heard the noise around health care reform.
(SHOUTING)
YELLIN: How much of a difference has it made? The latest CNN/Opinion Research poll shows it has not killed Americans' appetite for some kind of reform.
According to our polling, 53 percent of Americans want Congress to continue working on the bills they started before recess. Compare that to 25 percent who want Congress to start from scratch, and 20 percent who want no reform at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The president has said he wants a plan passed before the end of this year.
To California now and the wildfires. Cooler weather helped today and some people forced to evacuate can now go home. Investigators still don't know what started the massive Station fire, but they're looking into whether it was started by a person either on purpose or by accident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: It is scorching thousands more acres, coloring the sun blood-red and the skies over L.A. an eerie gray haze kind of color.
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: The station fire here has 140,000 acres burned so far. Twenty-two percent is contained. Now, that doesn't look like much, but let me tell you, it's a great improvement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first time we have gotten any indication from officials about what might have caused this blaze.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was no lightning in the area at the time, so they believe it's manmade. It could have been kids playing with matches, a car overheating, someone not properly putting out a campfire, any of those things, really.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With fire beaten back from threatened neighborhoods, some residents are expected to go home later today. The signs of optimism are already appearing along streets saved by firefighters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not everyone was so lucky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lowed this property for 25 years. Kind of hard to say anything else, because it was the love of our life.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: Pictures of the fire have gone viral with the favorites time-lapses like this one, an iReport that was sent into CNN shot from the roof of a parking garage in Los Angeles. Take a look at that. It almost looks like a volcano erupting.
New details emergency about Nancy Garrido, the woman who with her husband is accused of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard. We learned today that Garrido spent years caring for her bedridden mother all while Jaycee was in that backyard for 18 years.
Garrido's attorney made the morning show rounds today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a horrendous thing for her. I realize it's horrendous for Jaycee and her parents and the children. But my concern right now is that my client get a fair trial.
If you're asking me to formulate for you a defense strategy, I guess my polls would be, she's a victim. She's distraught. She's scared. She seems to be a little lost at the moment. She has said to me that she misses the girls, that she loves them. And they -- and her feeling was that they had become a family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Nancy Garrido's attorney.
We're also hearing more about just what was happening in that Antioch, California, backyard for so many years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several of Garrido's neighbors are raising disturbing questions about what happened in Garrido's backyard. Mike Rogers (ph) lives behind Garrido. He says grown men often partied in the backyard prison where Jaycee Dugard and her two daughters lived in tents. Knowing what he knows now, it's troubling to think of what was happening.
What exactly did you see these guys doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were like drinking, sharing their beers, and high-fiving, and getting crazy, you know, screaming, and hollering. It was -- I thought maybe they were partying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Jaycee Dugard and her daughters are still at an undisclosed location. Her hometown of South Lake Tahoe is planning a parade on Sunday to celebrate her release.
A Georgia man whose family was killed last Saturday appeared in court today. Eight people were killed. But police have not said much and that has left a lot of questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-two-year-old Guy Heinze Jr., the young man who made the emotional 911 call after finding eight victims brutally murdered in a mobile home park here in Brunswick, Georgia, has received a $20,000 bond and house arrest, this after being charged with possession of drugs, obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heinze's attorney says a warrant alleges he removed a gun from the mobile home site where seven of his relatives and a family friend were killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heinze's family friends didn't want to comment, but his brother motioned to us that he didn't have anything to do with the massacre.
SANCHEZ: Does this bail signal that he's not really a serious suspect? And if there are other people involved, who are they? How many are they? Where are they? Now, here's what's crazy about this case. Police, they're hardly saying anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The judge said, if Heinze makes his $20,000 bond, he can be placed under house arrest. But his trailer home is a crime scene, so it's unclear where he would go.
We learned chilling new details from two American journalists who were held prisoner in North Korea. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were released last month, but they had not told their story, not until now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The two American journalists who were released by North Korea wonder if they walked into a trap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While they deeply regret the incident, they say they were not aware that they crossed into North Korea -- quote -- "There were no signs marking the international border, no fences, no barbed wire."
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: They were following their guide. They got nervous. They headed back across the river and were on Chinese soil when North Korean border guards grabbed them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, grounds, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil," they say. "But we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The women were working on a documentary about the sex trafficking of North Korean women. ABC News is changing anchors. Charlie Gibson announced today that he will retire in January. Diane Sawyer will take over "World News." Here's how their competition the news handled it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ABC announced today that Charles Gibson, anchor of "World News," will retire the end of the year. He will be replaced by Diane Sawyer, who will be leaving "Good Morning America."
Congratulations to them both.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, HOST, "NBC NIGHTLY NEWS": As a service to our viewers, we will let you know how this transition goes, just to save you from having to watch for yourself. My very best to both Charlie and Diane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: That was CBS and NBC. Here's what we saw on ABC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES GIBSON, HOST, "WORLD NEWS": That is "World News" for this Wednesday. I'm Charlie Gibson. And I hope you had a good day. For all of us at ABC News, have a good night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, Charlie didn't mention the news. I'm sure that they will make a big deal about it on his last day. We certainly wish him well. He has been a shining light in the world of journalism.
Good luck, Charlie.
The headlines in Vermont tonight are all about gay marriage and ice cream. Yesterday, Vermont became one of five states to allow gay couples to marry. And one uniquely Vermont company found a marketing opportunity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bit power that's vested in me by the state of Vermont, I do nearby recognize, I certify, and, yes, I do proclaim that you are married and partners for life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With those words, Bob Sullivan and Bill Slimback made history. Just after midnight, they became one of the first couples to marry under Vermont's new Marriage Equality Act.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was something that me and Bill, I feel like we have been in line for 17 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ben & Jerry's is celebrating the new law by symbolically changing the name of its Chubby Hubby ice cream to Hubby Hubby. It passed out free scoops in support of marriage equality. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thought of us looking at the social justice issues and equality, this seems to be one that fits perfectly with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And that brings us to the "Punchline" tonight, courtesy of Conan O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN": Gay marriage became legal in Vermont today. And to show its support, Ben and Jerry's has changed the name of Chubby Hubby ice cream to Hubby Hubby.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
O'BRIEN: They did that. Yes, they did that. Yes, the only -- yes. The only difference is that Hubby Hubby comes with extra nuts.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And that is the "Mash-Up."
Tonight's big question, how does a man survive after his heart stops beating for 45 minutes? We will talk to the doctors who literally brought him back from the dead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Tonight, we have got an amazing story of survival to tell you about -- 56-year-old Joseph Tiralosi's heart stopped cold for 45 minutes. He should be dead right now. At least when you look at the averages, he should be.
Our big question tonight, how were doctors able to save his life?
We have got two of the doctors who did it. Dr. Flavio Gaudio is with the New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell Medical Center, and Dr. Dmitriy Feldman is with the hospital's Perelman Heart Institute. They're both here tonight.
We really appreciate you coming in.
And, Dr. Gaudio, you were there on the front lines when Mr. Tiralosi came in. So, let's start with you.
What words would you use in the overall to describe what happened that day?
DR. FLAVIO GAUDIO, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: Miraculous, extraordinary.
ROBERTS: Those aren't words that doctors usually use.
GAUDIO: No.
ROBERTS: It's usually down to defined medical science and it's because of what we -- a miracle, what makes it a miracle?
GAUDIO: The length that he was down and also that he came back just about his normal self, walking, talking and fully functional.
ROBERTS: It really is pretty incredible, when you think that his heart had stopped for 45 minutes. He was at a car wash when he first started to feel the effects, I guess typical effects of a heart attack coming on, nausea, chills, sweating, that sort of thing, pain in the chest, whatever.
He tried to drive himself to the hospital. Couldn't make it. Called a colleague. Or a colleague called him and he said, I'm in trouble, you got to get me to the hospital. He walked in the hospital. Minutes later, what happened?
GAUDIO: Well, he started to sign himself in. He was covered in sweat. So, he started to take his shirt off and then he collapsed right in our triage area.
ROBERTS: And when he collapsed, had his heart actually stopped?
GAUDIO: That's right.
ROBERTS: All right.
So, Dr. Feldman, let's bring you in here. Typically, when a patient's heart stops, how long do you have to resuscitate?
DR. DMITRIY FELDMAN, PERELMAN HEART INSTITUTE: Well, usually, the faster you can get to the patient, the better it is and the better the outcomes for the patient. So, you really have very little time to get in there? And...
ROBERTS: Now, when you're talking very little time, are we talking three minutes, five minute, 10 minutes?
FELDMAN: A few minutes, five minutes or so.
ROBERTS: That's about it. So, this guy went so far -- he went well over eight times that?
FELDMAN: That's right.
ROBERTS: Have you ever seen anything like this in your experience?
FELDMAN: No, I have not. This is truly amazing.
ROBERTS: Wow. So, Dr. Gaudio, you tried to resuscitate him. You get out the paddles and, boom, you shock the chest. How many times did you do that?
GAUDIO: Eight times.
ROBERTS: Eight.
GAUDIO: Eight times.
ROBERTS: OK. So compared to a typical resuscitation, you would do how many compared to eight?
GAUDIO: When it works, we get a result after two or three times.
ROBERTS: So, you shocked him eight times?
GAUDIO: Eight times.
ROBERTS: And at that point you were thinking?
GAUDIO: I had already gone out to a colleague of his who was in touch with the family to prepare them for the worst.
ROBERTS: So, you were saying we -- you were about to say, we have done our best, there's no hope, he's probably gone?
GAUDIO: I went to say, we're doing our best, and it doesn't look good.
ROBERTS: My goodness. So, what changed the equation?
GAUDIO: We don't know for sure. It was probably a combination of our good chest compressions. We did 4,500 compressions during that -- during those 45 minutes.
ROBERTS: And this is CPR? This is what we see on television?
(CROSSTALK)
GAUDIO: No, no.
ROBERTS: Compressing the chest?
GAUDIO: Much stronger than that.
(LAUGHTER)
GAUDIO: We gave him oxygen. We put him on a breathing machine. We supported him. We gave him medications like epinephrine to try and jump-start the heart, if you will. And then toward the end, we decided to try a clot-dissolving solution. It's not meant for these situations. It's meant for people who are awake and..
ROBERTS: It would be somebody who has had a heart attack and who has chest pains... GAUDIO: Who is having a heart attack right now.
ROBERTS: ... but not when their heart is stopped?
GAUDIO: Not when their heart is stopped. It hasn't been designed for that.
ROBERTS: And that was the factor that brought him back around?
GAUDIO: We think that contributed to it, yes.
ROBERTS: Wow.
What was it about that that would have helped? You told me off camera that this was in the right side of the heart, where there's like a natural little pacemaker that keeps the heart going?
GAUDIO: That's right. Right, the command and control center of the heart.
ROBERTS: So, what, you think that maybe that clot-busting drug opened up just enough blood flow that the heart said, oh, hey, I'm still here, let's go again?
(CROSSTALK)
GAUDIO: Just a little bit to bring his heart back.
ROBERTS: Wow. That's amazing.
Dr. Feldman, we have heard stories of people who have drowned whose heart has stopped for some 30 minutes, but, typically, those stories are about people who have fallen into a frozen pond. The cold water cools their head, slows down brain activity. There isn't the level of deterioration that there would be at room temperature.
Here's a fellow who was in a hospital, where it's room temperature or above, given all the activity that would be going on there. You kept him alive for 45 minutes. And as Dr. Gaudio was saying, he comes back with literally no deterioration in brain function.
How amazing is that?
(CROSSTALK)
FELDMAN: It's absolutely amazing. It happens very rarely. As you know, the longer that resuscitation, the longer those chest compressions take place, the chances of meaningful recovery with a good brain function become smaller and smaller. But they're not zero. And that I guess is what we learn from this case.
ROBERTS: So, after Dr. Gaudio resuscitated Mr. Tiralosi, he went into your hands. What did you do then?
FELDMAN: Well, what we do is, we need to identify what caused the arrhythmia and what caused the cardiac arrest.
ROBERTS: Sure. Otherwise, he could have been back in the same boat again, right?
FELDMAN: Exactly.
And, usually, it's a clot that forms in one of the arteries, and the heart is just not getting enough blood flow. And what we do is we take pictures of the arteries inside of the heart.
ROBERTS: Angiogram.
FELDMAN: Angiogram. We find which artery is blocked. We try to take the clot out, open the artery, put a stent in, and give the heart enough blood flow.
ROBERTS: And that is what you did in this case?
FELDMAN: And that's what...
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: And how is he doing?
FELDMAN: He's doing great. Doing great.
ROBERTS: Unbelievable.
So, you kept him in a coma for three days. What were his words when he came out?
GAUDIO: Well, when he started to wake, he couldn't speak because he had the breathing tube. But we had great signs because his wife and his children were at his bedside, and they said, dad, if you can understand us, squeeze our hand. And he did.
ROBERTS: Wow.
GAUDIO: So, that was very encouraging.
ROBERTS: That's pretty amazing. Well, great work.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Sorry?
GAUDIO: No, you had mentioned finding people in the lake and the cold water.
ROBERTS: Right.
GAUDIO: I just wanted to mention that we created those conditions in the emergency department. We cooled him down, which probably contributed to his recovery.
(CROSSTALK) ROBERTS: It's pretty amazing.
FELDMAN: Absolutely. That helps a lot with the -- really recovering the brain, cooling him down.
ROBERTS: Yes.
Well, Doctors, amazing work that you did. And there's one for the history books and certainly for your own personal records.
Dr. Flavio Gaudio, Dr. Dmitriy Feldman, thanks for coming in tonight. Really appreciate it.
GAUDIO: Pleasure. Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Wow.
Hurricane Jimena hits Baja, Mexico. That's in tonight's download.
Plus, newsmaker Whitney Houston, she made her big television debut today. Is she really ready for a comeback?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
ROBERTS: Tonight's big question, did extreme hazing at a U.S. Embassy put Americans at risk? It's a story of booze, sex and humiliation.
Also, tonight's newsmaker, Chris Brown, the exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Well, Larry, I would just say, I guess, that night, it's just one of the nights I wish I could just take it back and I really regret. And I feel totally ashamed of what I did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Booze-filled parties, nudity, hazing, humiliating rituals and payback for anyone who didn't go along. Now, we're not talking about some college fraternity run amok, but private security guards, contractors who were supposed to be protecting the U.S. Embassy in war-torn Afghanistan.
The allegations, complete with pictures, are just part of a stunning complaint made by a government watchdog group.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allegations about conditions at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, evidence emerging of hazing and humiliation, understaffing, sleep deprivation, and an all-out crisis in discipline.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Security guards again responsible for protecting American lives at the embassy accused of hazing, groping, urinating on each other, vodka shots, and potato chips out of body parts. I mean, some of these people are supervisors.
MALVEAUX: We have uncovered new pictures of these contractors acting recklessly and possibly endangering security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Particularly after the Blackwater incident in Iraq, where Blackwater guards are accused of unnecessarily opening fire on a crowd in Baghdad and killing innocent civilians, you would think that the State Department would be even more aggressive in oversight of the private security guards that they're hiring. But, apparently, that was not the case, at least there in Kabul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Danielle Brian is the woman who wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with the incredible allegations. She's the executive director of the Project on Government Oversight. And she joins us now live from Washington.
Danielle, great to see you tonight.
When you take a look at those photographs, you have described this as "Lord of the Flies" moment. And those photographs of them dancing around the fire naked with booze in their hands would certainly seem to back up that description. You said that there was lewd and -- quote -- "deviant behavior" going on here, nudity, brawls, presence of alleged prostitutes there in a Muslim nation.
How did all of this happen?
BRIAN: It's really extraordinary that the State Department has allowed this to happen.
The thing that is really incredible is that these are supervisors who are engaged in this behavior. And it's been going on for over a year.
ROBERTS: In the letter that you wrote to Secretary of State Clinton, you say the Project on Government Oversight "believes that the management of the contract to protect the U.S. Embassy in Kabul is grossly deficient, posing a significant threat to the security of the embassy and its personnel, and thereby to the diplomatic mission in Afghanistan.
You know, you cited the State Department there. Did they drop the ball? Are they solely to blame here?
BRIAN: No. I actually placed blame both on the management of the contractor, ArmorGroup, which is owned by Wackenhut, as well as the State Department. In both cases, these people knew or should have known and have allowed it to continue.
ROBERTS: You know, in response to your letter, the State Department did have a statement today. This was delivered by Ian Kelly. Let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IAN C. KELLY, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We believe that the embassy in Kabul has been well protected. We believe Americans whose nationals and others working at Embassy Kabul have had the security that they need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: All right. You heard what Mr. Kelly, the spokesman said there.
BRIAN: Right.
ROBERTS: "We believe the embassy has been well protected. People there have the security that they need." Your response?
BRIAN: I have two responses. The first is, I'm actually talking to the guards that are there, and they are the ones that are telling me that they are concerned that the embassy is not adequately protected. The second thing is that the State Department themselves over the last two years have repeatedly written to ArmorGroup saying that the State Department is concerned that the quality of security at the embassy is inadequate. So it's fascinating that now with these new revelations, suddenly the State Department thinks is fine.
ROBERTS: Yes. Despite that, you know, they have defended ArmorGroup. They have continued to renew the contract. There was a hearing that subcommittee in subcontracting oversight held back in June, at which, the deputy assistant secretary of State for logistics William Moser said this about Armor Group. "The regional security officer in Afghanistan has always reported that despite the contractual deficiencies, the performance on the ground by ArmorGroup North America has been and is sound." Sound being the operative word there. What do you make of that statement in light of the revelations that you have uncovered here?
BRIAN: I think this is the case of the fact that he's not actually talking to the people on the ground if you talk to these whistleblowers who are guards themselves. And I've talked to nearly 15 of them at this point, that's about 10 percent of the English- speaking guard force there. And in my work working with whistleblowers, that's a huge percentage of people to reach out to me from Kabul, telling me that they are concerned about the quality of security.
ROBERTS: Now you have called for military supervision of these contractors to ensure that there is the security necessary at the embassy there. Is that all it takes to solve this? Or do you think that ArmorGroup should be fired? BRIAN: Well, I think there are a lot of steps that need to be taken. I think there's no question that we need to have immediate action to ensure protection of the diplomats. And actually, frankly, to help protect these good guys who are the whistleblowers who are contract guards there who are the ones who have come forward with this information. Then you have to look at some of the bigger things holding people accountable, which includes both those in ArmorGroup and at the State Department, protecting these whistleblowers.
We're already worried that at least one whistleblower is being retaliated against for coming forward and then really questioning whether we can count on private security contractors to be at these embassies at all when they're in the combat zone.
ROBERTS: Those photos certainly tell a troubling story. Danielle Brian from the Project on Government Oversight, good to talk to you tonight. Thanks for being with us.
BRIAN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Whitney Houston's big return to the stage packed in the crowds, but it's leaving a lot of her fans scratching their heads. For one thing, her voice didn't sound the same as when she was doing promo interviews like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITNEY HOUSTON, SINGER: You guys are just catching up, man. You know, it's not a comeback for me. I've been here. I've just been here. I just took a break.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The big question in the entertainment world tonight, what's up with Whitney Houston? It's been seven years since her last studio album so the excitement level was pretty high for her big comeback concert on ABC's "Good Morning America." But listen to this, you hear as much from backup singers as you do from Houston herself.
I guess we don't have that piece of tape. Well, you heard it there at the beginning.
Joining me now is Marvet Britto. She is an entertainment P.R. and brand strategist. Also with us, CNN analyst Roland Martin to talk all about this.
Marvet, good to see you tonight. Thanks for dropping by. So what did you think of her performance? As we said, she's been away from the stage for seven years but by many accounts, her performance was a little rough?
MARVET BRITTO, ENTERTAINMENT P.R. STRATEGIST: I think her performance was great, considering she has been away for seven years and she might have been a little rusty. But guess what? Whitney Houston's voice is still when some thinks it's a bad day better than most current artists on a good day.
ROBERTS: That's true. Well, Whitney has the best day (ph) than most people, no question.
BRITTO: Yes.
ROBERTS: Roland, what did you think? You know, one fan said she couldn't sing. She was clearly damaged but at the same time, that fan said that she was really brave to come out there, particularly with her voice not up to the way that it was before?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, let's just not dance around what everybody has been talking about. The question is whether or not drug use is the contributing factor to the destroying of this wonderful instrument that Whitney Houston had. And so that's been the real issue.
The reality is and I think of David Ruffin of The Temptations who was, frankly, thrown out of a car, found on the side of a hospital. You know, he died because of a drug overdose. Thank God Whitney Houston is not in that situation. And so we don't know if it's because of that, it's because she was tired or whatever it is. The bottom line is, I think it was more important that this woman is not somewhere stashed and out of her mind, that she is on the road to recovery of being a good mother, being a good daughter and a good friend. So being on that stage, frankly, just getting there, after what she has endured is frankly more important than anything else.
ROBERTS: Marvet, what do you think about the question that Roland raised here? How much the condition of her voice is owed to past drug use?
BRITTO: One will never know. But like Roland said, we know she struggled. We know she's been through adversity. And what we know now is that she's back. So I think the most important thing we must remember is like Roland said her voice is an instrument. She did do an Oprah interview the day before for six hours and your voice -- she needs vocal rest.
So she came out. I think she did a great job. And I think, you know, walking out on that stage and seeing an audience be as receptive as they were, Whitney wasn't sure what she was going to find when she returned. But what she found was a loving, adoring audience and folks who were actually thrilled to see her return. Throughout all she's been through, we saw Whitney come back. She did a great job, and I think that we should really look what she's endured and be happy that she is alive and she's healthy and she's a great mother. And she's back to restore and resuscitate the wonderful climatic career we all know she, you know, is capable of having.
ROBERTS: So compared to pictures there then and now, I mean no question there were a lot of people who were very anxious to see her. They lined up all night.
BRITTO: Yes. ROBERTS: They appreciated the concert, even though some of them said, well, maybe it wasn't the Whitney that we're used to from seven- years plus ago.
Diane Sawyer did --
MARTIN: You know what, John --
ROBERTS: Yes. Go ahead, Roland.
MARTIN: I'm sorry. You know on that note, I remember when Anita Baker gave a concert in New York. And a lot of people had some horrible reviews because she had returned after a long layoff. And when I saw her at the SS (ph) Music Festival in July, she killed it.
I remember Lionel Richie had a problem with his throat. He thought his career was over. He also performed there. He killed it.
A lot of entertainers who have had a long layoff, I mean, it's been rusty on the stage but, frankly, there's a lot more time in front of her. We'll see what happens six months from now, a year from now, to see what actually happens to actually ascertain whether or not she really has really hurt her voice long-term, or was this simply something through interviews or whatever that she was impacted by.
ROBERTS: Well, Marvet, let me ask you this question. You've handled comebacks before. Mariah Carey is one of the people that you helped out. Would you have chosen this venue for Whitney Houston, this big concert in Central Park televised by ABC as a comeback venue? Or would you have started smaller and worked your way up?
BRITTO: I would have actually started just a tad bit smaller and done more intimate taped performances before she did such a large global performance. And it was global in a sense. And, you know, she was in front of a lot of people. But again, it is an instrument and we have to remember where emotions played.
Emotions played a big part of Whitney's performance. She came out, again, not knowing if there will be 20 people there to receive her or 20,000 people. So I think the emotions played a big part of it, the song she sang, and just being happy to be alive and to be back doing what she loves and clearly what the fans love seeing her do.
ROBERTS: You know, Diane Sawyer talked to her about the troubled times that she went through during that performance that was aired on "GMA." Let's listen to a little bit of that interchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANE SAWYER, HOST, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": For the two of us -- we go back a long way.
WHITNEY HOUSTON, SINGER: We do.
SAWYER: Seven years ago.
HOUSTON: That's right. That's right.
SAWYER: And looking at each other's eyes.
HOUSTON: That's right. That's right.
SAWYER: It's a very different world then.
HOUSTON: Yes, it was. It was. Yes, it was.
SAWYER: I was worried for you.
HOUSTON: Well, don't be worried anymore. If you know God, then don't be worried.
SAWYER: I was going to ask what was it in those seven years that brought you right here today?
HOUSTON: My faith. My faith. The love and support of my family which I do have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Roland, you know, Diane was referring back to that infamous 2002 interview that Whitney Houston gave where she talked about drug use, admitted to using a lot of different drugs.
MARTIN: Crack.
ROBERTS: But, you know, for a lot of people that's the way that they're going to remember Whitney Houston. Can she overcome that image in this comeback?
MARTIN: Of course, she can. There have been many people, frankly, who have gone through substance abuse problems and they have all recovered (ph). We just sat here and talked about the death of Ted Kennedy over the weekend. And he talks about in detail his battle with the bottle all of these years and drinking.
But also this, keep in mind, Whitney Houston, also, we have sisters, we have aunts, we have uncles, we have nephews, cousins, family members who are in her same situation. Maybe they aren't singing across the world, but they're also been battling substance abuse.
The whole point is how do you put your life together day by day. Forget the whole idea of being as big as she used to be. Can she survive day by day? If she continues on that path, her legacy will be there as opposed to just that particular interview.
ROBERTS: Well, no question America loves a comeback story and we'll see how this one goes. The album is selling well, so maybe she's got a real shot at it.
Roland Martin and Marvet Britto, good to see you tonight. Thanks for coming by.
BRITTO: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Chris Brown talks to Larry King tonight in his first interview since he attacked his girlfriend, Rihanna, and is the first stop in what promises to be another celebrity apology tour. But is Chris Brown really sorry. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS BROWN, SINGER: When I look at like the police reports or I hear about the police reports, I don't know -- I don't know what to think. I just don't know what to think. It's just like, wow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Chris Brown is doing five years' probation plus community service for attacking his girlfriend, Rihanna, back in February. But when it comes to the court of public opinion, the jury is still out. It's not going to be easy for him to live it down, especially with powerful images like this fresh in people's minds.
He recently taped his first interview since the attack with our own Larry King, but it sounds like Brown is back pedaling. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": When you look at this, do you feel like you're looking at someone else?
CHRIS BROWN, SINGER: Yes, from the outside looking in. When you see it on TV, when they're saying this, when they're saying that --
KING: Well, you punched her a number of times?
BROWN: Yes.
KING: You threatened to beat the blank out of her. When you got home, you also said, one, you were going to kill her. You bit her on the ear and things. Now you hear all that.
BROWN: Yes.
KING: Obviously, this is always the disparagement here. You have the (INAUDIBLE). You don't appear like a violent person at all.
BROWN: No.
KING: In fact, you're rather calm, rather nice. So what happened to you, do you think?
BROWN: Well, if I had to say, I guess that night -- I wish I could take back and I really regret. I feel totally disdain what I did.
KING: When you hear about all the things that the police in the reports say you did, how do you react to that? BROWN: I don't -- I got to just look at it, wow, like I'm in shock because first of all, that's not who I am as a person. And that's not who I am as a human being. So I just -- when I look at like the police reports or I hear about the police reports, I don't know -- I don't know what to think. I just don't know what to think. This is like, wow.
KING: Do you remember doing it?
BROWN: No.
KING: You don't remember doing it?
BROWN: I don't -- it's like, it's crazy. I mean, I'm like wow.
KING: What do these say to you, Joyce, when this happened the first time you spoke to your son?
JOYCE HAWKINS, CHRIS BROWN'S MOTHER: He came and he actually spoke to me about what happened. And I was totally shocked, totally upset about the whole situation. I know that Chris has never, ever been a violent person ever. I mean, throughout the entire time, through high school or anything, I've never been called or --
KING: Never.
HAWKINS: Never.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Well, since he taped that interview with Larry King, Chris Brown gave this statement to "People" magazine. "That 30 seconds of the interview they used of me was taken from a one-hour interview during which that same question was asked something like four or five times. And when you look at the entire interview, you'll see it is not representative of what I said."
And you'll get a chance to see that whole interview in about ten minutes' time.
What if almost everything you knew about raising your kids is wrong? What if praise actually does them more harm than good. In a minute, how not to talk to your kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PO BRONSON, CO-AUTHOR, "NURTURESHOCK": When we think we're sort of tweaking kids and we're actually manipulating their perception, and kids are smart enough to decode our real patterns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: This just in to CNN. Some potential problems for the space shuttle Discovery. At the International Space Station NASA briefing just moments ago said there is a substantially large piece of space junk that may be headed in the direction of both the space station and the shuttle which is docked in the space station there.
10:06 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday is when that debris will pass, according to NASA officials, within three kilometers of those vehicles and they are going to make a decision about 30 hours out from that whether or not they need to perform a maneuver to dodge the debris. So this is something that we'll keep watching very closely here on CNN.
Well, forget what you know about raising your kids. Chances are you've been wrong all along, especially if you're the kind of parents who praises your son and daughter in the name of encouragement. That's among the new theories put forth in "NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children."
Co-author Po Bronson talked to Campbell Brown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: The idea for this book started with a controversial cover story that you wrote for "New York" magazine called "Praise is Dangerous." Explain what you mean by that because it's obviously the opposite of what most parents think.
PO BRONSON, CO-AUTHOR, "NURTURESHOCK": Right. Eighty-five percent of American parents think it's important to tell your little kids that they're smart in order to buoy their confidence. But overtime, what this just does is it teaches them that an idea that intelligence is innate, not something they can control. And it makes them concerned with their image of looking smart.
It makes them weary of taking risks academically, and ever getting a bad grade. The kids go on to become -- wanted to cheat in middle school. They look at the teacher a lot to check for questions. They have a hard time choosing majors and choosing careers.
BROWN: Well, you also write that with older children, you actually think when a teacher praises them that they can interpret that as them actually falling behind and not doing well enough.
BRONSON: We think we're sort of tweaking kids and we're actually manipulating their perception. And kids are smart enough to decode our real patterns. So when kids watch videotapes of other kids being phrased and they're asked, what do you think of that kid in the videotape? Is he really smart? And I'll say, no, no. You think (ph) praised by the teacher. That is clearly a sign that the teacher is worried about him. They know that kids who are in trouble are the ones who get praised all the time.
BROWN: So what do you say? What do you say to your own kids? Or what do you take from this? How do you talk to them in a way that compensates for that, I guess?
BRONSON: Well, you might want, you know, praise less. For parents it's very hard to praise less, right?
So, first, tell them you love them and don't let praise be love. And secondly, praise specifics. Praise things that they can control. How much effort they give, the specific strategies they use in a situation. And don't be afraid to talk to your child when they're not performing well about how to do better and stop covering up failures because that just tells kids that failures is unmentionable and that anything but success is forbidden.
BROWN: We're always told as mothers, as fathers to rely on our instincts.
BRONSON: Yes.
BROWN: Because deep down inside, we probably do know what's best. But you say, no, forget about your instincts. We're often pointing in the wrong direction.
BRONSON: I was relying on my instincts until I ran into the research on praise that told me my instincts were completely wrong. And I'm not saying trust experts or trust your instincts. It's really not on giving your faith over to something. It's about looking at the underlying evidence, reading it or understanding it yourself. And judge -- trust your own judgment when you come to understand these things. So if you get informed, then you can trust yourself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And here's another thing that Bronson said you shouldn't do, let your kids stay up late, even on the weekends. Find out why in part two of Campbell's interview. That's tomorrow night.
What's it like for a kidnapped child to live for their captor for years? Tonight, we are hearing from someone who knows. Shawn Hornbeck breaks his silence about his own kidnapping ordeal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The Jaycee Dugard kidnapping story is raising all sorts of questions tonight. She was abducted as a child and held captive for 18 years. And who hasn't wondered all that time what went through her mind. We're hearing from someone who certainly knows.
Shawn Hornbeck was also 11 when he was abducted in Missouri back in 2002. He was found 4 1/2 years later living with his captor. He breaks his silence this Saturday on CBS' "48 Hours Mystery."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you were in captivity, your greatest fear was --
SHAWN HORNBECK, ABDUCTED AT AGE 11: Not being able to see my family or my parents again. I'm like I want to hear those times when it seemed like it was -- I was better off dead than living. From day one, he had the gun. He had the power. I was powerless. There's nothing I could physically do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the days just seem to like blend in with each other? I mean --
HORNBECK: Yes. There were times when I thought it was like July, and it was snowing outside. I didn't keep track of time or day. It was just another day to add to my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: That was Shawn Hornbeck talking about his 4 1/2 year- long kidnapping deal.
And that's all for us tonight. For Campbell Brown, I'm John Roberts. I'll see you again bright and early tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, 6:00 a.m. Eastern.
Right now, "LARRY KING LIVE" with Chris Brown.
