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Ravi Guilty of Invasion of Privacy; Neighborhood Watch Turns Deadly; Florida Teen's Family Speaks Out; Accused Soldier En Route To U.S.; U.N. Tries Diplomacy Again In Syria; The Help Desk; Google Privacy Bypass Investigated

Aired March 16, 2012 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, it is 12:00 noon, 9:00 a.m. in the West Coast. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

I want to get you up to speed for this Friday, March 16.

We are following breaking news here.

A former Rutgers University student has been found guilty of several charges after he was accused of spying on his gay roommate with a webcam. Dharun Ravi faced a 15-count indictment, including invasion of privacy, witness tampering, and bias intimidation. His roommate, Tyler Clementi, killed himself in September 2010 after learning that Ravi had secretly spied on him.

I want to bring in Miguel Marquez. He is covering the case for us.

We are following this with CNN legal contributor, Paul Callan, to help us sort it all out. They are both joining us from New York.

Miguel, let's start off with you. Help us understand this verdict here because in some ways he is found guilty but not guilty necessarily of what they are calling bias intimidation.

What does that mean?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That would be if -- for lack of a better term, that would be the hate crime part of this. He was found guilty of invasion of privacy for peeking in, using his webcam to watch Tyler Clementi and a boyfriend or somebody he had over -- a visitor that he had over, a sexual encounter. But they did not find bias intimidation.

All of this relates to two tweets. We would probably not be here and Dharun Ravi would probably not be here today, Suzanne, if it weren't for two tweets he sent after witnessing Tyler and his male -- his boyfriend or his visitor that came over that night had he not sent out a tweet telling all of his friends that, you know, "Hey, I just saw my roommate. He borrowed the room till midnight, he had a guy over and they were making out. Yay!"

And then later, a second time, a couple of days later when Tyler Clementi asked to use the room again in private, Dharun Ravi then tweeted again saying, "My roommate's at it again. Everybody tune in, sign on to my iChat," and then was tweeting and texting friends about what they thought was going to happen.

Tyler Clementi, the prosecution argued, was intimidated by this because they showed time and time again throughout the trail that he checked and rechecked Dharun Ravi's Twitter feed, concerned about what he was going to say, what else he was going to say.

The jury clearly didn't come to that conclusion. They felt that this was somebody making perhaps a joke, an off-colored joke, doing as kids do, and did not find them guilty of the bias intimidation part of this -- at least not al of the bias intimidation charges. It sounds like some of them he was found guilty on but certainly invasion of privacy, they did.

MALVEAUX: And, Miguel, one of the things -- you followed this case very closely. The attorney, Ravi's attorney was saying, look, it might have been boorish behavior but it wasn't criminal behavior. That this was a young person who did something stupid but did not have any kind of homophobic feelings about his roommate, it wasn't a hate crime aspect. How was it that they presented the case here to convince that jury that that was -- that there was not that hate component, that he -- this could have been spying on a girl and a boy together and not necessarily have anything to do with the fact that his roommate was gay?

MARQUEZ: Yes. The defense brought in a lot of witnesses that testified that he had never said anything hateful towards gays, that he didn't have that sensibility. He sent the night that Tyler Clementi killed himself, he sent Clementi an apology, saying that he knew he was gay but he was just shy about it, that he didn't have a problem with it. That he, Dharun Ravi, had a good friend that was gay and he had an open and honest relationship and he didn't have a problem with gay people.

Of course, that text came too late. It's not even clear that Tyler Clementi ever saw that text of apology and Dharun Ravi trying to make up to him.

So, they presented a lot of information that this was just playful behavior and perhaps childish, but it's also a very, very good lesson that in the modern age, when somebody is shy, when somebody perhaps is concerned about something in their personal life, if you put it out on Twitter, in a semi-public or a public forum, that carries different consequences than just loose talk in the cafeteria or amongst friends in the dorm room.

MALVEAUX: And then finally, Miguel, we don't want to forget Tyler Clementi in this case -- just how tragic this is and far- reaching to so many people. You had President Obama and many other people following this case because it did highlight this aspect of bullying, what led to the suicide of this young man here.

Has it changed the campus? Has it changed the way students think about how they treat each other?

MARQUEZ: Well, one would hope that it would. And in an age where information can be shared so easily and broadly with a much larger population, the problem -- and what the prosecutors tried to prove and apparently did not prove to large degree, is that Tyler Clementi, because of those tweets sent by Ravi when he went to the cafeteria, when he was out in the public space, he felt like he was suddenly a target because he was gay, because his roommate had put out there to the world, even though Tyler Clementi was out to his family and his roommate and people close to him, that he put out to a wider audience that suddenly Tyler Clementi felt as though he was were being singled out.

And that's what we hope people will begin to realize, is that, you know, we don't live in a bubble and when you put things out on Twitter, when you put things out on social media --

MALVEAUX: Right.

MARQUEZ: -- it does have an effect.

MALVEAUX: Miguel, thank you so much.

I want to bring in Paul Callan here to talk about the legal aspects of this.

What is the difference here? What difference does it make? Why was that so important that you had these two aspects of this case -- the invasion of privacy part and then this other part that made it a hate crime? And in this case, they found that he was not guilty of a hate crime?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I disagree with the assessment that he was found not guilty of a hate crime. I think he was found, in fact, guilty of bias intimidation.

And I just want to go back to what was going on when the jury verdict was being read because it might create some confusion. He was charged with 15 counts and some of those were bias intimidation. Some of those had to do with other things, like tampering of evidence and destroying of evidence and invasion of privacy.

The court gave the jury a number of sub-counts, theories of bias intimidation and the jury agreed with only one or two of those and disagreed with the others. But in the end, this was a clean sweep in favor of the prosecution. The jury has found invasion of privacy and they have found at least one instance of bias intimidation relating to the invasion of privacy counts.

What that means is, in the end, he's facing the maximum sentence potentially ten years in prison for invading privacy and doing this with some bias intimidation.

So this is a very big victory for the prosecution and it's going to set a precedent, I think, nationwide that if you engage in cyber- bullying by broadcasting this kind of information -- and here it was two gay individuals involved in a sexual encounter -- you are facing very serious jail time.

This is going to really change, I think, the way people think about social media and particularly what young people think is the norm in terms of just broadcasting everything on the Internet, posting everything, whether there are certain things that are criminal to post. And this New Jersey case, I think, is going to set a very important precedent in criminal law, social media law.

MALVEAUX: And explain to us, because it is a little confusing, what was the difference here? Because you say he was found guilty of bias intimidation on some charges and not guilty of bias intimidation in other counts. Can you explain the difference there?

CALLAN: Yes. Let me -- well, let me start out by -- I think we should know the difference between the invasion of privacy and the bias intimidation count.

New Jersey has this new law, invasion of privacy, brand new, very few states have it. If you broadcast over the Internet intimate moments, sexual contact between people without their permission, that's a crime in New Jersey. It used to be you could do it and there would be no criminal exposure. OK?

If you are doing that because of racial hatred, because of religious hatred, or because of bias involving somebody's sexual orientation, as was the claim in this case, then it doubles the sentence, from years to 10 years.

MALVEAUX: OK.

CALLAN: -- of exposure. That's the bias intimidation count.

And what the court did in this case was the court submitted, based on the evidence to the jury, on each count there were maybe five or six different claimed incidents that had occurred which would have supported the bias intimidation claim and the court asked them to look at each of these claims.

Now, they threw out most of them. But all they had to do was come back with one instance of him having racial or ethic or sexual orientation bias for invading the privacy and it would double the sentence and that's what happened. They came back with one incident of bias intimidation which means the prosecution wins.

MALVEAUX: And, Paul, would it have made any difference here -- I mean, this -- the ending of all this is so tragic because you have this young student who kills himself, who jumps off the bridge. Was there any way that Ravi could have been charged in any way with contributing to that young man's death?

CALLAN: Well, no. Under New Jersey law, I don't think there was any way that he could be formally charged with that, because there's a more complicated back story to the death of Tyler Clementi. Tyler Clementi leaped to his death off the George Washington Bridge after this horrible invasion of his privacy and bullying that took place at Rutgers.

But the prosecution would have to prove that Ravi should have known that this would have caused a suicide, there's no way you could prove that. And you would also have to delve into whether maybe there were other reasons that Tyler Clementi committed suicide other than this. This might have been the last of the problems going on. We'll never know because that wasn't part of the trial.

I do say, though, Suzanne, if Tyler Clementi had not committed suicide --

MALVEAUX: OK.

CALLAN: -- I don't think authorities would even look at this case. So it sort of was the motivation of bringing the prosecution.

MALVEAUX: All right. Paul Callan, thank you so much. Unprecedented case and obviously a verdict. We're going to have more after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The Army sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar is no longer in Kuwait. He's now on his way to the United States, the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He's expected to arrive this evening.

We know that the soldier, he was deployed to Iraq several times, suffered a brain injury back in 2010.

You're about to see my conversation with Sebastian Junger. Now, he's a journalist. He spent a lot of time embedded with soldiers and marines in Afghanistan. He's got a fascinating take on the American military mindset and the harsh effect of multiple combat deployment.

First, though, I want you to listen to the accused soldier's defense attorney. He was on CNN just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HENRY BROWNE, ACCUSED SOLDIER'S ATTORNEY: Other part is, you know, anyone who has been in Afghanistan right now, particularly someone who's been in Iraq three times previously and has been injured will obviously be under a great deal of stress. So, stress is always a factor. I know for a fact that there is no issue with his marriage. It's a very strong marriage and frankly, we're all taking offense at that.

Now, whether there was alcohol involved or not, I simply don't know. He seemed to be unaware of some of the facts that I talked to him about, which makes me concerned about his state of mind, obviously.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You're sort of thinking about putting the entire war on trial and how maybe the military treats its soldiers. Am I being fair?

BROWNE: I think it's a real question. You know, I'm old enough to remember the massacre in Vietnam and how that hastened the end of that war. Maybe a tragic event like this will get people to rethink the war in general.

I certainly don't want to put the war on trial but I think that people should start thinking more about why we're there and how long we are going to stay there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Joining me now from New York is author and filmmaker Sebastian Junger.

Thank you so much for joining us here.

We heard the sound from the soldier's attorney who was arguing this is not just one soldier on trial, but the whole war on trial, that these types of things happened because the men and women who serve back to back, multiple tours of duty. They suffer from PTSD and are required to go on.

Do you think that's fair?

SEBASTIAN JUNGER, JOURNALIST, AUTHOR OF "WAR": Well, I think I'd like to point out that mass shootings happen virtually every week in this country, and I think probably for the people that commit these mass shootings, it's almost always young men.

I'm sure there's some stress -- some terrible stress in their lives that trigger these crimes. I've spent a lot of time with U.S. military and, obviously, almost the entire U.S. military goes through multiple deployments and doesn't turn into mass murderers.

MALVEAUX: I want to play a clip for you when the attorney met -- actually talked with his client, talked with this soldier, to get to the state of mind here. Let's -- he asked if he actually knew what he had done. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: When you talked with him on the phone, did it appear that he knew what he had done?

BROWNE: No. But I don't know what the facts are. He seemed to be unaware of some of the facts that I talked to him about, which makes me concerned about his state of mind, obviously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: As a journalist, author who has been in the trenches with military men and women, you've been a witness to some of the heroic, as well as disturbing events in war. Can you describe for us the state of mind of these individuals who are deployed long periods of time under fire and uncertainty day in and day out?

JUNGER: Oh, they are under huge stress, and I think one of the things that keeps them acting well is, frankly, they're -- like most people, they are decent people and they don't want innocent blood on their hands. I saw many occasions where they were in combat and there were civilians nearby and they held their fire even though they were getting fired at because they didn't want to risk killing civilians.

Another thing that keeps them honest and keeps them ethical is that they understand that if they alienate the local population, that the population will turn against them, will support the Taliban, and more American soldiers will get killed -- their brothers will get killed. And so, that's a very strong motivator in terms of ethical behavior in combat.

And, you know, frankly, there was not much fondness among the American soldiers among the Afghan people. I mean, let's just be, you know, honest here.

But the last thing anyone wanted to do was create a situation where they got other Americans killed. They knew that murder would do that. And so, you know, in some ways, coming where I come from, the actions of this soldier are absolutely puzzling, because he absolutely jeopardized other soldiers in the field which is sort of the ultimate sin.

MALVEAUX: And, Sebastian, knowing what we know about this accused soldier, his background, his experience, we know that he was injured in war, that he had served several tours of duty --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Lost our tape there. We will get it back to you as soon as we can.

Google and YouTube trying to create programming to compete with TV now. The man who brought you the "Kings of Comedy," well, he is partnering with them. He hopes to make millions of people laugh with his new venture. You're going to hear from him soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer took America by the storm with hilarious stand-up comedy, "The Kings of Comedy" tour that was back in 2002.

Well, now, 12 years later, the man who created "The Kings of Comedy" franchise is about to have his own comedy channel, bringing urban humor to even bigger audiences. It's part of YouTube and Google's new effort to create TV-style channels to compete with satellite and cable providers. And it's today's "What Matters".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): The original "Kings of Comedy" -- many know their faces but few know the man who started it all.

WALTER LATHAM, PRODUCER: Do this first.

MALVEAUX: Walter Latham is known as the king of comedy. He is credited with launching the careers of several award-winning actors and comedians, including Mo'Nique.

MO'NIQUE, COMEDIAN: Once you go fat, you never go back.

MALVEAUX: Tyler Perry and Chris Tucker.

LATHAM: A lot of people are, oh, you just got lucky and came over this thing, "The Kings of Comedy." But I have been doing show for years with Bernie Mac, Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley, Chris Tucker, everybody.

MALVEAUX: "The Kings of Comedy" tour took urban comedy to a new level, selling out of arenas across the U.S.

Latham teamed up with director Spike Lee and turned it into a movie that made $38 million.

LATHAM: Twelve years later, "Kings of Comedy" is still "Kings of Comedy". It was a moment in time where you have three guys at the right place in their career, and you had a society at a point where they wanted something. We need an agreement.

MALVEAUX: And Latham continues to deliver. He recently partnered with YouTube/Google to create his own comedy channel. He's one of only four African-Americans selected, along with rapper and business mogul Jay-Z, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal and musician Pharrell Williams.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to "The Bad Boys of Comedy."

MALVEAUX: His channel launches in July, bringing urban comedy to digital programming, 24/7. The channel could reach be more than 200 viewers a day.

LATHAM: I want to be responsible with it. I don't want to just throw anything up there and say, hey, if it sticks, great. If not, I don't care.

MALVEAUX: Latham believes comedy is important to the black community and a little comic relief goes a long way.

LATHAM: It allows you to make fun of serious situations. Those types of experiences could be bad while you live in them but if you get a night out to make fun of something that is otherwise heavy, I think that's important.

MALVEAUX: Latham's channel will include all the kings of comedy and material and some original programming.

LATHAM: I know black folks and I know black comedy, and that's why it works.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: It's a case raising questions about race and justice -- an unarmed Florida teenager is gunned down. His shooter claims self-defense. His family wants answers.

We're digging deeper on the story. We have radio host and activist Michael Baisden.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The fatal shooting of an unarmed Florida teenager is drawing national attention. Police say that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was returning from a convenience store when he was gunned down by a neighborhood watch captain. The watch captain says he acted in self-defense. So far, no charges have been filed.

Well, Michael Baisden, he is one of the most popular guys on radio today. He has millions of listeners. Day in and day out, he's been shining a light on this controversial case.

Michael, thank you very much for joining us. It's great to see you in person.

MICHAEL BAISDEN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good to be here. Good to meet you as well.

MALVEAUX: Listening to you all the time. Tell us why, first of all, your viewers are so passionate about this, why they are responding to this case.

BAISDEN: For the obvious reason, the story is offensive to not just blacks but Americans in general.

The young man walked home, for those of you who don't know the story, he walked home with Skittle and a tea in his pocket. The neighborhood watch guy George Zimmerman approached him, says that he was looking through windows. And he was told by police when he called 911, which they haven't released those calls, to stay in your car.

Reportedly this guy says, I'm tired of these blank holes getting away. And he obviously approached this young man and according to him, a tussle ensued and he shot him.

However, the news out today, if you all could, you know, just tweet Trayvon Martin, you'll see the story --

MALVEAUX: Sure.

BAISDEN: -- where witnesses have said that they heard this boy crying out.

MALVEAUX: Right.

BAISDEN: And then they heard a shot and then was also reported is that when they came out, he was standing over him. Everybody pay attention to this. He was standing over this boy with his feet between him. That's assassination position when you're standing over someone and he had his hands over his head as to say, "Oh, my God, what did I do?"

Now, the police could have gotten the same report that the newspapers got. The question is, why with that information, how could you justify self defense? It's offensive that they would even expect us to buy that.

MALVEAUX: We actually had a chance, Soledad O'Brien, my colleague, had a chance to talk to the parents of this young boy. I want our viewers to take listen to what they said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYBRINA FULTON, MOTHER OF TRAYVON MARTIN: He was into sports. He loved playing football. He loved watching football. He loved basketball. He loves to eat everything in your house.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, HOST, CNN'S "STARTING POINT": A 17- year-old boy, yes.

SYBRINA FULTON: Yes. He loved music. He loves kids. He loves to baby sit and wash cars and just a normal kid.

TRACY MARTIN, FATHER OF TRAYVON MARTIN: The whole world sees that this is a tragedy. It's sad. It's sad as a father to have to bury your child. As a parent you never want to imagine about burying your kids and for me to have to bury my son is just sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: This case is in the hands of the state's attorney, but this has obviously touched a chord for many people who listen to those parents. Why?

BAISDEN: Because we're having a hard enough time as parents in general, for black parents and Latino parents in particular. Just making sure our kids are safe so they can get the education.

What really sets me off, here is a man with a father and a mother, everything that we're telling America to do, take care of their kids, be there for their children and they are there. This child ends up dead for going to the store.

You know, it's offensive to a lot of us also because we're sick and tired of unfairness. Not just blacks, but even whites have emailed me on my page and called into the show.

I can't even get into the Trayvon Martin story because when I talk about Trayvon Martin story, everybody else around the country is calling telling me, the same thing happened to me, the same thing happened to my child.

MALVEAUX: Well, let's talk about the issue of race here. Even the parents were asked today whether or not they thought race played a role. I want you to listen to even the family attorney here when asked directly whether or not this was racial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR TRAYVON MARTIN'S FAMILY: If Trayvon would have pulled the trigger, he would have been arrested. He wouldn't even have been given bail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Is this a clear case of racial profiling?

BAISDEN: Yes. There is nobody in this world watching this program right now that believes that was a white child shot by a black neighborhood watchman. That that black man would be in jail right now.

We're not that naive. Obviously, it's a racial issue as well. I'm not trying to color paint all whites this way, but that situation definitely has racial overtone. It's offensive and we're going to do something about it.

MALVEAUX: And you said as well, white listeners were also calling in?

BAISDEN: Absolutely.

MALVEAUX: They believe it was racial as well?

BAISDEN: We all live in the same country. We're not naive. When Gina 6 happened many years ago, that was about the six boys charged with murder over a fight.

This is as offensive, if not more so, because you have somebody who has gotten killed over this. So my seven million listeners, Reverend Sharpton is going to be there. Reverend Jackson is going to be there. Reverend Jamal, black churches and NAACP, we are all behind this together.

And (inaudible) has got to get it together and there's no reason it shouldn't have gone to the state's attorney. The man should have handled his business locally so it wouldn't to go to the states.

MALVEAUX: So what are you talking about? There's a rally?

BAISDEN: On the 26th, there's a hearing about the case. On the 26th and bigger things are planned and I'll keep you posted. And I will continue to talk about it on my program and others around the country.

MALVEAUX: All right, we'll be listening. Thank you.

BAISDEN: Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it.

MALVEAUX: Appreciate as well. Thank you, Michael. A fallout from a massacre allegedly carried out by an American soldier in Afghanistan. Well, it is now getting worse. The families of the victims are speaking out to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. We're going to dig deeper to the impact of the shooting on the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Whether you're buying a new pair of shoes, a new car, we're all looking ways to save money, right? Well, you might find some of the best sales online. Clark Howard, he tells you how in his deal of the week.

CLARK HOWARD, HLN MONEY EXPERT: Thanks, Suzanne. I've got to tell you something. I love a deal and I have two particular web sites that I'm pretty obsessive about going to every single day.

One of them is called woot.com. Woot has a single deal a day and the deals are usually very extreme and sometimes the Woot deals will be pretty expensive items at a really good price.

Another one I go to is onesaleaday.com. One Sale A Day really should be really called six sales a day because they offer six different items for a 24-hour period and on onesaleaday.com, the deals are fairly inexpensive items, usually $5, $10, $15 items.

They normally would cost quite a bit more. They are usually manufacturer's mistakes or items from retailers that the retailers fail, but they are truly really good deals. So you want to save big bucks, check early in the day, woot.com, onesaleaday.com.

But follow this key rule. Make sure you really need the item before you buy it. I've got to tell you the truth, I've made some purchases of things that when they showed up at home I was like, why did I buy those?

MALVEAUX: And for money tips, check out Clark on the weekends every Saturday and Sunday, 6 a.m. and noon Eastern on HLN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, says he is not happy with the cooperation he's gotten so far from the Americans investigating the killing of Afghan civilians in Kandahar.

President Karzai met today with the families of those killed allegedly by an American soldier acting alone. I want to go to Fareed Zakaria. He's here.

Fareed, good to have you here. First of all, this soldier accused of killing civilians in Kandahar is now on his way back to the United States. Clearly, the Afghan people are not happy with how this is being handled.

Is there a way for U.S. and Afghanistan to come to some sort of agreement here on how this soldier should be tried and treated? FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, CNN'S FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: I think there is. I think this is a soluble problem. The temperatures are very high in Afghanistan. People feel very -- you know, they're upset and feel as though this is the kind of callous treatment of humans life and things like that.

All that said, the reaction is not as strong as it was to the burning of the Koran partly because this is I think most people recognize this was not a conscious decision by the U.S. military. This was a lone act of a gunman, of one soldier.

And secondly, there is a tradition in Afghanistan of being able to in effect pay a kind of -- you know, some kind of restitution so I think this is manageable. President Karzai did something very responsible. It's fine for him to express his outrage.

He tried to buy into the conspiracy theories that have been set foot -- that this is not the work of a lone soldier, that this was part of some kind of conspiracy or that the army hire-ups were involved in it.

That kind of thing is very worrying. But I think outside of that, this will blow over and there be ways that true payments of restitutions, apology already made quite well, I think we will get through this.

MALVEAUX: And Fareed, you say that he bought into that or at least he was selling this idea of a conspiracy. Why do you suppose he did that? Do you think that sets well with the Afghan people there?

ZAKARIA: Yes, you've got to remember there's politics in Afghanistan, too. He's playing to a crowd. He's playing to fantasies, conspiracy theories that exist. Look, I don't mean to minimize it.

This kind of thing happens in every democracy, you know, we know it happens here. Politicians take advantage of public fears and unfortunately that's what Karzai was doing. It was very irresponsible.

It would have been one thing to condemn the attacks and demand greater cooperation and all of that is fine. But to play into this notion that this was not the work of a single gunman, a single soldier, that is what distinguishes us from single incidents.

MALVEAUX: And Fareed, let's turn to Syria because obviously things are very, very tough. The hot spot there, the U.N. tried a diplomatic approach to end the conflict. It did not really produce the results that they had hoped, but they are going to try again next week. What can the U.N. and world leaders do differently here?

ZAKARIA: There's not much the U.N. can do. I think that, you know, the U.N. can play a catalytic role when the parties want to get to some kind of basic agreement, but it's a question of saving face and how do you make it happen?

I think the Assad regime has basically decided that it is going to hang on. That it is going to use brutality and repression. That it is going to massacre men, women, and children, and try to stay in power.

So far it has succeeded. The opposition has not been able to gain traction, has not been able to take a city or any kind of large track of the countryside even, resupply them or to arm them. It's a very sad story, but it doesn't seem, right now, as though they are in the negotiating mood.

I think that our efforts would be better placed in trying to get what is a principle sponsor, which is Russia and Iran, to cut them off.

MALVEAUX: Right.

ZAKARIA: We don't have much leverage with Iran, but we do with Russia. If the Russians cut the Syrians off, that might change things on the ground. Kofi Annan, the U.N., won't be able to do anything right now.

MALVEAUX: And, Fareed, I understand you have a special program this weekend comparing the world's health care systems. Give us a little preview, if you will.

ZAKARIA: Well, you know what we did, is we looked around the world and asked ourselves, what can we learn from the rest of the world. There are about 20 countries, rich countries, that have health care systems that in some way or the other try to fulfill the same function ours does. And what I was struck by is that, you know, really we rank pretty close to the bottom in most of them in terms of the outcomes.

MALVEAUX: Wow.

ZAKARIA: The hard facts, you know, life expectancy, infant mortality. Patient satisfaction, we rank very low. And here's the killer. We spend about three times as much as most of those countries on a per capita basis. So we figured, we've got to figure out what these countries are doing that we aren't and how we can learn from it. And so we've gone to Taiwan, we've gone to Switzerland, we've gone to Britain.

MALVEAUX: Excellent.

ZAKARIA: And one Taiwanese official said, the one thing you learn from America when you study health care systems around the world, you learn how not to do it.

MALVEAUX: Wow. Not a ringing endorsement there.

Fareed, thanks for joining us. Obviously we're going to watch that. You can watch Fareed's special on CNN Sunday night. What can Britain, Taiwan, Switzerland teach America about health care? Find out on "Global Lessons: The GPS Road Map For Saving Health Care" Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

So, did Google invade your privacy in its drive to compete with Facebook? There is now an investigation into how that company bypassed privacy settings.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Jack Otter. He's the executive editor of cbsmoneywatch.com and author of "Worth It, Not Worth It," and Stacy Francis is a financial advisor and the president of Francis Financial.

Let's get right to the e-mails and the question from Chris, first of all, in California. He writes, "I am $20,000 in debt with medical and car repair bills. I'm a full-time college student, a single father. I have a secured credit card through USAA. Is bankruptcy an option for me?"

Stacy, is it?

STACY FRANCIS, PRESIDENT, FRANCIS FINANCIAL: Well, bankruptcy really should be his last option. There are some other steps that he can take first. First, he can contact the creditors and see if he can go on a payment plan. Or possibly even restructuring it. And we've been able to see even pennies on the dollars being paid back. Because bankruptcy stays with you for many, many, many years and the amount of debt he has, while it is large, it's not catastrophic. So, bankruptcy, at this point, I would put that on the back burner for now.

KOSIK: Hopefully he'll listen to you on that.

OK, let's go to the next one from Lee. He writes that, "my wife just inherited $100,000 from her grandmother. Is there a certain savings vehicle we should consider for this inheritance?"

Jack, what do you think?

JACK OTTER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, CBSMONEYWATCH.COM: Well, congratulations.

It depends on their time frame. So, if they expect to use that money to tap it in say the coming five, 10 years, they just have to be conservative. Put it in CDs. That's very boring, no return, but it's what you've got to do.

If they have a little bit longer, you know, you can get a little tricky and say you put $85,000 in CDs, $50,000 in a broad base equity index fund. After 10 years, they'll still have more than their principal, even if the stock market went to zero. I don't expect that to happen, so they'll probably have a lot more.

If they've got a really long term, this is the best situation. I would say they're going to want to have a diversified portfolio. Stock, bonds, maybe a little commodities, and some CDs. This is enough money where it might be worth it to hire a financial planner. Someone like Stacy from the Francis network or the Garret (ph) network is also very good. They'll charge you an hourly fee, but, you know what, over time, I think they'll more than make that up.

KOSIK: All right, thanks so much for your time, guys.

If you have a question you want answered, send us an e- mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Police arrested actor George Clooney a short time ago during a protest at the Sudanese embassy in Washington. Clooney is trying to draw attention to the attacks against civilians in Sudan. He is calling for aid before Sudan becomes, quote, "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world." Early this week, Clooney told a Senate committee that the attacks are being orchestrated by Sudan's government.

A guy playing golf got the jolt of his life when he suddenly found himself at the edge of a huge tornado in Michigan. He caught it on video. Golfer Matthew Altruda (ph) -- that's right. Take a look at this. He said it came out of nowhere. This tornado ripped through the city of Dexter, 10 miles northwest of Ann Arbor. It was one of several reported in the state yesterday. As you can see in the picture there, more than 100 homes either destroyed or damaged. Fortunately, no reports of deaths or injuries.

All right. A round of applause, even some high fives in New York this morning now that Apple's newest gadget, the new iPad, finally on sale. Fans, they've been camping outside Apple stores around the world. But other chains hoping to cash in too. Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target also going to sell the new iPad. And it's also given a big boost to Apple's stock. Shares hit an all-time high yesterday topping the $600 mark.

Privacy concerns continue to hound Google. Now the company reportedly in the middle of a global investigation. Alison Kosik, she's at the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, wow, this seems pretty significant here. We've learned that Google was bypassing privacy settings for people who used Apple's Safari browser. So what do we know about this case? Where is this investigation going?

KOSIK: OK, so at this point those are just accusations, Suzanne. "The Wall Street Journal" says the Federal Trade Commission, the European Union regulators are looking into whether Google or not did what it is being accused of. So let me take you back a little bit.

This whole thing started last month when "The Wall Street Journal" found out that Google was tracking people online using Apple's Safari browser. This means using it on your PC, on your iPhone, on your iPad. So, here's why Google would do this. Because Google knows -- if Google knows about you, you know, what you search online, it can wind up targeting ads to you. And advertising, it's the wholly grail for Google. That's how it makes money. But the problem here is that Safari is actually designed to block third-party tracking, but Google apparently found a way around that. "The Wall Street Journal" kind of caught Google's hand in the cookie jar and then Google stopped.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Alison, I'm sorry, I'm a little distracted. I have to ask you about the bagpipes playing in the background.

KOSIK: I'm distracted too.

MALVEAUX: What is going on over there?

KOSIK: You know, did you know that St. Patty's Day is Saturday.

MALVEAUX: Oh.

KOSIK: So, a lot of times here at the New York Stock Exchange they get into it. So we've got a guy here playing the bagpipes, entertaining all the traders on the floor, yes. So you hear the cheering. He's in a skirt. He's got the whole thing going on.

MALVEAUX: The whole thing, right? Yes, we can hear it.

KOSIK: Yes.

MALVEAUX: And the applause and all that. It sounds like a party going on. St. Paddy's Day coming early there.

KOSIK: No drinks yet.

MALVEAUX: OK.

KOSIK: No drinks.

MALVEAUX: Well, that's all right. That's all right. I'm sure they'll start after business -- the close of business. So that's all right.

Last question for you. Google. Back to the Google story. Could they be fined by regulators? What could be the outcome of that?

KOSIK: And that's a good question. They possibly could be fined. You know, and analysts say at this point it could be tough to prove because the FTC has to actually prove that Google acted intentionally. And Google says, no way. It maintains it was an accident.

But you have to think back. Google's kind of been in a little trouble before. Back about a year or two ago it was fined for collecting personal information when its Google vehicles took pictures for street view maps. It kind of drove around taking those pictures and it was accused of and it admitted that it went ahead and collected personal information from unencrypted wi-fi networks, but it also said that was an accident. It said, oops, sorry, we won't let that happen again. So Google's got a little bit of reputation about this. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you, Alison. Happy St. Patty's Day. Have a good weekend.

KOSIK: To you too.

MALVEAUX: The verdict is in, in the case of the Rutgers student accused of spying on his gay roommate with a web cam. We're on the story up ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed.

The mixed verdict for the former Rutgers University student accused of spying on his gay roommate with a webcam. Dharun Ravi has been found guilty on several charges of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation, but the jury found him not guilty on several other questions. His roommate, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide after learning that Ravi had spied on him. Ravi could now face up to 10 years in prison and deportation to India.

The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in a shooting spree is now returning to the United States. That's according to his defense lawyer who spoke to the soldier on the phone.