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When The Fighting Comes To Us; Dems Launch Convention; Officer Chased Runaway Suspect; Better Off or Not In 2012; Dems Advance Social Issues In Platform; What It Takes To Be Middle Class; Navy SEAL Book At Odds With Pentagon; Dangerous Heat, No Air Conditioning; 16,000 Dead Animals Wash Ashore; Michael Clarke Duncan Dead At 54; Study: Organic Food Not More Nutritious; Minesweeping Exercises In Persian Gulf; Hezbollah Warns Of Attack Against U.S.

Aired September 04, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: CNN NEWSROOM continues with Brooke Baldwin.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Suzanne, thank you.

And hello to all of you. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We'll take you back to Charlotte, back to the DNC in just a moment.

But first, we have been telling you about the fighting in Syria. We have been showing you the pictures, bringing you these stories. But little compares to a story I just watched. It's about a man and it's about this four-year-old little girl who he is struggle to keep alive. She has just been shot right in her face, in her cheek, by a sniper. And in this man's desperation, he seeks out strangers, who turn out to be a CNN crew filming another act of violence against another nameless Syrian child.

But she has a name. It's Rina (ph). And her struggle, his struggle, became the struggle of these journalists. What did they do? They put the cameras aside to help. And it's in that moment when we become part of the crisis that we're covering. That moment when it's no longer about the story, but about humanity. That moment when it's all about this girl named Rina.

What you're about to see has many, many disturbing images. So if you have little ones in the room, go ahead, I'm going to give you a moment to get them out. It goes without saying, this next piece is very tough to watch. I had a hard time watching it. But it's defining, it is chilling, it's important and it's personal. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Aleppo streets, a truck races through traffic. We follow them because we've seen a man leap inside carrying a limp little girl in his arms. But perhaps because our car is new, he now rushes towards us for help. Rina is four.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quick, quick. WALSH: Go to the hospital, he says, guys, she's choking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened?

WALSH: She was on the balcony at home when a bullet struck from nowhere, he explains. She's struggling to breathe. A bullet has hit her cheek.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, here, here, here, there. Here, here.

WALSH: At the hospital, the doctors move to clear her airway. They think she'll live. But this underequipped rebel hospital can't treat her fully. So they make a tough decision to send her across the front lines to a better equipped government hospital where we can't go.

This is where the bullet entered her home. Across the street is a cemetery and tall buildings, all inside rebel territory. But snipers work everywhere. This war has left no one safe.

The grandmother saw it all. "She was in her mother's lap when it entered here. We saw blood. Then she grimaced, screamed for mother and then went silent," she says.

WALSH (on camera): Give the trajectory of the bullet, it's likely it was fired from the other side of the cemetery from one of those tall buildings over there. It's unlikely the gunman would have seen his target, but it is an example of what many say here is the horror visited upon normal civilians every day.

WALSH (voice-over): The children know what happened. They find the knocked out tooth but not the bullet that hit Rina. They go visit her, believing the worst is behind them. It is hard to understand why a sniper would fire into a residential home unless to terrify civilians in rebel areas.

The next morning, we learn she was taken to two government hospitals. None of the doctors were able to remove the bullet, relatives tell us, which was stuck in her throat. Rina died. Her body brought home and buried in the cemetery that sat between where the gunman probably fired from and her home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: I want to bring in Nick Paton Walsh, who's live tonight for us in Turkey.

And, Nick, you just never know as a journalist when you find yourself smack dab in the middle of covering some sort of crisis and you don't even have time to think. You just have to help -- to help others, obviously suffering like this little girl.

I do want to ask you, do you know how specifically she died? Who killed her? She seemed so close to survive at the hospital.

WALSH: Well, firstly, how did she die? A medic traveling with the CNN crew with decades of military experienced assessed the trajectory the bullet must have traveled in order to hit her as she sat in their living room and the hole it made in the glass, and his opinion was it had to have been fired deliberately from an apartment block opposite the cemetery. The gunman wouldn't have seen the girl inside the room because the glass on the window was frosted. But clearly, in our opinion, I think this was aimed to try and terrorize people in a residential area.

How did she come to die? Yes, as you saw her there, she seemed to be breathing, she seemed to be about to survive. It's a question really to be asked of the two government hospitals she visited. Relatives say she was given urgent medical attention there by doctors, but they weren't able to save her. So that suggests perhaps the bullet lodged in her throat did cause a fatal injury or maybe the government hospitals aren't as well equipped as you might think given that the Bashar al Assad regime here is supposed to still have adequate medical supplies for its troops.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Supposed to perhaps the key word there.

You talk about the terror. We watch these stories each and every day. Just horrendous, horrendous. Help us understand here why these families, why these people remain in Syria.

WALSH: Well, actually, part of the family had already left a different area inside Aleppo, (INAUDIBLE), where much of the fighting, the serious fighting, is helping and must have thought they were safe where they were in this particular part of the city. Yes, as you say, hundreds of thousands of people leaving the country, fleeing that almost indiscriminant violence. This particular family making the choice to stay, thinking they were safe. And, frankly, why would you think you were a danger in your own front room behind frosted glass on a high front of a building.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nick, I wrote down one line from your piece. You said the children know what happened. These young people in Syria, what do they understand is happening? Are they growing up with this sense clearly of fear, of perhaps hate as well?

WALSH: You know, I think really how people in the city are reacting is a general sense of complete paranoia. They see the shelling, these mortar strikes, that seem to happen indiscriminately at random in residential areas. It's not clear what the target is. The rebels? The military forces that are scattered around the city?

But that's not where the shells land. And in a piece we'll broadcast tomorrow, we do show the impact of one of these air strikes on a residential area in which 11 people are killed. So it's very, very terrifying to be a civilian in Aleppo now because of the jets, because of the helicopter gunships (ph), because of the shelling, as I explained. And I think really the only way you can understand why these shells seem to land so indiscriminately is because somehow they're trying to terrify the civilians of that city, perhaps into deciding they want to side against the rebels.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: And the children, the children. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.

The little girl, the four-year-old girl in Nick's piece, Rina, she was just one of hundreds killed across Syria. This week here started with 250 people killed across the country.

All of these new images from this civil war there showing fierce bombings, neighborhoods decimated and survivors just trying to save the lives of those trapped under the rubble. The number of refugees leaving Syria is staggering. Nick mentioned this, that the United Nations has numbers roughly at 235,000 people leaving. In August alone, more than 100,000 grabbed what they could and left.

For those who have remained behind to fight, their own humanitarian situation is worsening. At least 135 people killed today. The United Nations estimates there are nearly a million people, one million, in need of urgent help. And just this afternoon, the head of the Red Cross was in Damascus to meet with the president of Syria, Bashar al Assad. Assad's regime has said it will let aid groups already in the country expand their operations, but new aid groups will not be allowed to entered.

More news unfolding right now, including a big party in a very, very important swing state.

And tonight, Democrats unveil their next crop of stars, including a young mayor from Texas.

Plus, John McClane meets his match. A cop gets all die hard hanging onto a suspect's windshield for 25 minutes. You'll see how it ends.

And, they'll cost you extra, but one study says organic foods don't really live up to the healthy hype. But are researchers missing a very important point?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, the Democrats -- the Democrats open their convention tonight. And first I just want to show you the Republican's designated party pooper. Paul Ryan a short time ago in West Lake, Ohio. He compares Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter and finds Barack Obama lacking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When it comes to jobs, President Obama makes the Jimmy Carter years look like good old days. If we fired Jimmy Carter then, why would we rehire Barack Obama now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ouch! Well, here's the president making his way toward Charlotte. He says the Republicans want to raise most Americans' taxes. He says he hasn't and he won't.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've cut taxes by a total of about $3,600 for the typical family. I've kept my promise to cut taxes for middle class families and for small businesses. And now I'm running to make sure that taxes aren't raised by a single dime on your family's first $250,000 of income, which, by the way, means 98 percent of Americans wouldn't pay a single dime more in income tax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, back to Charlotte. Democrats kick things off there tonight. John Berman is there for me now. He's at the CNN Grill.

And, Berman, tell me when the convention floor is going to fill up. Because, I know, you know, having been in Tampa, parts of it sort of fell flat. When will it look like a party in Charlotte?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's a great question, Brooke, because I look at conventions as these organic things, especially on the floor. And there are times when it builds, there are times when it wanes, and we kick off today at 5:00. And it will be pretty boring for a little while. Parliamentary procedure. Approving the platform. A lot of speakers that might not get people so jazzed up.

But it's important to get that crowd excited by the time you hit that primetime hour of 10:00 when the real speakers, Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio, and Michelle Obama speak. I think the hour between 9:00 and 10:00 is when you'll see the excitement start to build. You have the former governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland. He gives a good red meat political speech. I think the delegates will be listening to him, and also the governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, who's a friend of President Obama. He also is known to give something of a stem winder. He may be able to get that crowd riled up. A lot of times the people on the floor simply don't listen. So you need a speaker who can get their attention.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Let me bring you back to Julian Castro, because I'm guessing Republicans, perhaps, might make some jokes about the name here. We're talking about the mayor of San Antonio. Tell me, why him?

BERMAN: He's 37 years old. He is a rising star in the Democratic Party. And he's in that key demographic that, in some ways, is the future of the Democratic Party. He is Latino. His mother, born in Mexico, came to the United States. He was raised with his twin brother, Joaquin Castro, who is running for Congress right now and will introduce him.

He is seen, again, as the future in many ways of the Democratic Party. He's expected to talk about opportunity. That's the word we keep hearing down here about what his speech will be about, opportunity. Fifteen minutes we expect him to speak. There was a lot of anticipation here. And, of course, you know, don't forget, you may not have heard his name yet, but in 2004, how many people had heard of Barack Obama --

BALDWIN: Right.

BERMAN: Who gave the key note address in 2004.

BALDWIN: Right. I mean, no pressure for Julian Castro to perhaps have that, if I may --

BERMAN: Yes, no pressure. No pressure.

BALDWIN: Obama moment, you know.

Can you give me a sense, though, looking, you know, back to the past, because it was Bill Clinton and then Barack Obama, now Julian Castro. I mean, are you getting a sense of some maneuvering in Charlotte with regard to 2016?

BERMAN: Oh, yes. He -- Julian Castro, in his defense, the mayor of San Antonio, not yet posturing for 2016, but everyone else in town practically is.

BALDWIN: Is.

BERMAN: Just look at the Iowa delegation. Who comes to visit the Iowa delegation and have a meal, break bread with Iowa? In the last couple days, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles has met with them. Martin O'Malley, the governor of Maryland. Amy Klobuchar, a senator from Minnesota, Mark Warner, the senator from Virginia, they've been there. Kirsten Gillibrand from New York is going. Brian Schweitzer, the governor of Montana. Everyone goes and meets with the people of Iowa here.

Now, they're all very nice, the people of Iowa, but that's not why they're meeting with them. They're meeting with them, of course, because the Iowa is the first in the nation caucus. And then you don't have to scratch the surface very far or very hard to hear people talk about Hillary Clinton. Honestly, I was talking to a former Clinton advisor this morning about, you know, do you ever wish that she were here being re-nominated. And she said, I'm not going to go there, but there's always 2016.

BALDWIN: Aha. I know in Ryan Lizza's piece, which I'm sure you've read in "The New Yorker," at the very, very end of it he talks about how basically the gatekeeper of Bill Clinton. This is, you know, he couldn't get confirmation from him, but two close sources to Ryan Lizza saying he's voting Romney thinking perhaps ahead to 2016.

Let me ask you about Michelle Obama and then, I know, you know, you've got a busy grill behind you, I'll let you go. Michelle Obama speaking tonight. Big primetime speech. Ann Romney, you know, she spoke last week in Tampa. Seemed to have a pretty clear mission, right, to sort of win over women, help humanize her husband. Berman, does Michelle Obama have a mission that's clear cut, do you think? BERMAN: It's different. It's very different. Because what Ann Romney had to do was really fill in some of the blanks for Mitt Romney and soften some of those edges that people had seen for a while, make him more likable, make him more personal. Everyone knows President Obama at this point. So Michelle Obama, the First Lady, I don't know that she'll spend so much time on that. She's going to harp on the middle class. Talk a lot about the middle class. That's the theme that the Democrats here tell us they're going to talk about more than any other here.

She's also tell some personal stories maybe about his resolve and his firmness in office. To talk about his strength as a leader. We're told that she will not mention Mitt Romney. I don't expect this to been an overtly political speech, but one where she does talk about her husband. Again, not maybe as much to do as Ann Romney had to do, but I think she's wildly popular.

Michelle Obama more popular than the president, which is actually very different than it was four years ago. You remember four years ago when she spoke in Denver, her popularity was in question. She was seen as a somewhat controversial figure, not any more. I mean, not even close. Everyone loves her here.

BALDWIN: People love her. They love her. And hopefully they'll be tuning in tonight on CNN to watch that speech. John Berman, thank you very much. This man, John Berman, loves his politics, loves his Red Sox.

BERMAN: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thank you, sir.

If you'd like to watch him, you can do so each and every morning on "Early Start," 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

As we mentioned, CNN, we've got you covered tonight. Primetime coverage of the Democratic National Convention kicks of tonight, 7:00 Eastern. Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, the rest of CNN's political team. And then we're staying up late for you. Piers Morgan is at least . He's going to wrap up the first night of the 2012 DNC tonight on CNN at midnight.

Moving along. A traffic cop goes above and beyond the call of duty. He hangs onto a speeding car for 25 minutes. We have the video of how it ends.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Afghan President Hamid Karzai stirring controversy at home and abroad with his handpicked choice to be the country's new intelligence chief. He is Asadullah Khalid. He's a Karzai loyalist and anti-Taliban fighter. He has also been linked to a range of allegations, including drug trafficking, even torture. Khalid denies the claims against him, calling them, quote/unquote propaganda. Meantime, the battle for Afghanistan's future rages on. A suicide attack killed 25 people and wounded 35 others who were tending a funeral today near the Afghan border with Pakistan.

Clinging to the roof of a speeding car. Holding on as this car zigs and zags, hits other cars. One police officer refused to let go. Paula Hancocks has the story and the video of South Korea's die hard cop.

Paula.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's been dubbed South Korea's John McClane, referring to actor Bruce Willis' police character in the action movie "Die Hard." But 34-year-old traffic policeman in Busan on the south coast refused to let a suspected criminal escape last week by hanging onto the windshield of his car for 25 minutes. The driver tried to shake Kim Hyun-Cheol off by zigzagging through the back streets 15 (ph) kilometers.

Kim said in an interview, "for the first 10 minutes, I thought I was going to die, but then, as he kept zigzagging the car, did an illegal u-turn and crashed into other cars, including police cars, to get rid of me, I was determined to survive and catch him."

As the car stopped, Kim jumped off the windshield and chased him into the subway before apprehending him. Kim had only stopped the man for a traffic violation when he suddenly drove away. It emerged later that he was also wanted on drug related crimes. Kim has since been promoted to assistant inspector and the video of his heroics is going viral here in South Korea.

Kim does feels slightly sorry for what he's done, though, he says, because when he told his wife and his mother what he'd done, they both burst into tears, saying he doesn't need a promotion, he needs to stay safe.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Paula, thank you.

We will take you back to the CNN Grill in Charlotte as the Democratic National Convention is rolling on. It is starting today. Our favorite political couple tackling the platform here, the party's platform. Really the embrace here of same-sex marriage. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Big, big night for the Democrats. They are cranking up their three-day convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. And joining me now from Charlotte, Margaret Hoover, CNN political contributor and Republican strategist, and her hubby, John Avlon, senior political columnist for "Newsweek" magazine and "The Daily Beast."

Guys, welcome. Welcome. Good to see both of you.

JOHN AVLON, SR POLITICAL COLUMNIST, "NEWSWEEK" & "THE DAILY BEAST": Good to see you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: John Avlon, let me just begin with you, because, you know, I know a lot of Democrats, they stumped -- they're really stumped by this question of whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago. They are beginning to get on their feet, you know, with this.

AVLON: Yes.

BALDWIN: We heard the vice president came out late yesterday and said, you know, look, Osama bin Laden's dead, General Motors is alive. You bet we're better off. This morning, let me play some sound for you. This morning, Ohio's Ted Strickland chimed in. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER GOV. TED STRICKLAND (D), OHIO: People say, are we better off than we were four years ago? America is better off than we were four years ago. Four years ago we were losing 750,000 to 800,000 jobs a month. We've had 29 straight consecutive months of private sector job growth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: John, why did it take the Democrats so long to get their footing on a question that seems just so darn obvious?

AVLON: Yes, I mean, this is politics 101, right? This -- you know, you don't need to get the answer in advance to know you're going to get this question.

Here's the problem. You know, what -- the right answer to the question is, America's better off than they were three years and 10 months ago because the economy -- the fiscal prices bottomed out in March of 2009. When Obama got into the Oval Office, this country was in economic free fall. And the stock market, the unemployment rate, all these things are better than they were as of March '09. And so they're getting kind of stuck up in that. Well, they shouldn't be. And I think Biden gave the best answer, you know, kill bin Laden, save GM. That's a pretty good argument for re-election to that basic question.

BALDWIN: Yes. Now, Margaret --

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: You're going to be shocked -- you're going to be shocked that I push back a little bit though.

BALDWIN: Shock me. Shock me. Go ahead.

HOOVER: Because, I mean, the bottom line is Americans -- yes, I mean, obviously it's how Americans feel. But the truth is, we still have an 8.4 percent unemployment rate and Americans are still struggling from that. Prices of commodities and items that you buy at the grocery store are higher. People are having a harder time getting through on all the basic items of daily life. And the reason Democrats have stumbled, Brooke, in my view, is that they know that and so they don't -- it's a trick between having a 10 year and saying that they have a plan to make it better. And that's why you see the president, even today, saying he has an incomplete when it comes to -- he's trying to make (ph) that valid (ph).

BALDWIN: Well, Margaret Hoover, let me -- let me talk about a stumble. Forgive me for interrupting. Let me pick up where, you know, John talked about March of '09. I want to ask you about September 15th of four years ago.

Because it was September 15th being the day four years ago that Lehman Brothers collapsed and you know, we as a nation, that was just total economic calamity. By that measure, Margaret Hoover, four years ago things don't look so bad now, do they?

HOOVER: Well, I mean in my view and I think in the view of most Americans the country isn't far better. Look, I went back and read Ronald Reagan's --

BALDWIN: That was a mess though. That was a mess in September.

HOOVER: But it was four years. When you look at the four years, Brooke, after, you know -- when President Obama gave his acceptance speech and now. And then you look at Reagan's acceptance speech in '80 and then the progress the country had made in the four years in between.

I mean, it's stark how much more dramatic the improvement was those four years and these four years. And he had solid concrete employment and inflation. We don't have that to point to this go around.

BALDWIN: OK, guys -- go ahead, John.

AVLON: The Reagan recovery was enormous in terms of GDP growth, but there's no question objectively that we are in far better place than we were four years ago. That's not partisan spin. That's just reality.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about party platform. The Democrats have passed this. I want to look at two points that stand in stark contrast to the Republican platform we were talking about last week in Tampa.

So same-sex marriage, we support -- this is the platform here. I'm quoting, "We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples."

Moving on, on abortion, quote, "Abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor and her clergy. There's no place for politicians or government to get in the way."

Margaret, I'm throwing there to you. I'm sure Democrats will use these planks to bolster their theme that they are looking forward and you know, per a Democrat theme looking at Republicans, they're going to make them, you know, sound like they want to take the country back to the '50s. Is that what you anticipate?

HOOVER: And you hit the nail on the head exactly, Brooke, because that is exactly the rhetoric you're hearing from the left. That somehow society and our country is going to roll back and you even had Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of L.A. said this platform of RNC is the platform of 1812.

We're going to hear a lot of rhetoric saying that this is a throwback to the past. We're going to lose our rights and America's going to a less free country. I will tell you on the two party platforms think.

First of all, as a Republican who is in favor of freedom to marry and wrote a letter to my own platform's committee encouraging us to not make it a wedge issue, I think the Democrats did the right thing here. The Democrats represented their base here.

I mean, 88 percent of Democrats are in favor of freedom to marry. Independents overwhelmingly, majority (INAUDIBLE) Republicans are not for this and this is the place where Republicans are out of step of where the country is going.

Abortion is a different issue. But in my view also, the Republican platform would be far better served if they acknowledge there's different issues on this complex social issue rather than being so adamantly even out of line with their party's nominee who is in favor of abortion with rape and incest.

BALDWIN: John, last question quickly here. When it comes to the economy and we heard the president giving this interview to a reporter in Colorado saying, you know, when it comes to his mission on the economy, the word he used was incomplete, Republicans are seizing on that. Is that an error he made?

HOOVER: Is that an error he made? Did you believe it was an error? I thought it was an error he made. Simply he's making it easier for Republicans to make a case against him. He sort of handing us.

BALDWIN: John Avlon, do you agree with your wife there?

AVLON: I think that maybe a rare point of agreement on this one.

BALDWIN: OK, guys, have fun in Charlotte. Thank you very much. We'll talk tomorrow. We appreciate it.

HOOVER: We'll see you tomorrow.

BALDWIN: You are hearing both political parties rally around the middle class. Many of you define the middle class in very different ways. What are the goals? Is it a owning a home? Is it having a car, job security, insurance? We're taking you inside the middle class, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Apple is sending out invitations and that has, of course, the electronics world all abuzz. The company is holding an event September 12, one week from tomorrow. Time for a new iPhone? I wish you could see mine. I need one. Stay tuned for that.

What do the majority of Americans think it takes to be considered middle class? Is it owning your own home? Is it having a car, a couple of cars, earning a college degree? In what some could call a sign of the times, this new study says that having a secure job tops that list now.

Felicia Taylor, she joins me from the New York Stock Exchange. Felicia, we were talking about this earlier. Talk about how much times have changed from, what, '91 when everyone wants to be a homeowner, to now.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the perception has really changed. That's in my opinion a little bit disturbing. Eighty percent of those responding to a new survey by Pew Research say, quote, "having a secure job is what they perceive to be as putting you in the middle class."

Sixty six percent said health insurance put them in the middle class. That's also, of course, related to employment. Chances are a job that's secure also provides health insurance, but any job that doesn't offer health insurance probably doesn't pay enough either.

So in some ways these results actually lower the standard for, quote/unquote, "membership" in the middle class or what's perceived to be. Pew compared the results to a 1991 survey that you referred to and they found that only 33 percent said a white collar job would make you middle class.

Seventy percent said owning a home made you middle class. That used to be the sort of, you know, be all thing for the American dream. That compares to just 45 percent today. Fewer people say investments like stocks and bonds also make you part of the middle class.

BALDWIN: I was tweeting about this story. So many people may agree they are like we just need a job, a job, a job. Felicia Taylor, thank you.

It has been one week now since Isaac hit the gulf coast, but for some folks time stands still. Standing water, no electricity, we'll get you an update from the coast, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A new book by a former Navy SEAL is already a bestseller, but he's still maybe hearing from the Pentagon. You know I'm talking about this book, "No Easy Day." It's about the Osama Bin Laden raid by former SEAL Matt Bisonett who writes under the pen name of Mark Owen. He did not send it to the Pentagon for review prior to publishing.

So now Department of Defense lawyers are considering taking legal actions. Pentagon spokesman, George Little, says this is a no brainer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE LITTLE, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: This is pretty open and shut. This is a solemn obligation. I signed many secrecy agreements over the course of my career working inside the intelligence community and at the Department of Defense.

It, to me, is quite incredible that someone vested with preserving our nation's secrets particularly in very sensitive missions didn't think to have this reviewed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: George Little at the Pentagon.

Those returning home one week after Hurricane Isaac are facing stifling temperatures, no AC, 100,000 people still without power and to make it even worse, many, many dead animals are washing ashore there each and every day.

Officials say it's as many as 16,000 to 18,000 rodents. It is so bad that by Sunday half the cleanup crew had quit. Meanwhile, Louisiana authorities are keeping a close eye on the swollen Pearl River. More rain is expected there this week.

He will forever be known as the gentle giant with a distinctively deep voice. Actor, Michael Clarke Duncan died yesterday in Los Angeles from complications of heart attack he suffered back in July. Duncan was perhaps best known for his portrayal of a death row inmate with supernatural powers in the "Green Mile."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN, ACTOR: I'm tired of being on the road lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having a buddy to be with to tell me where he's going to, coming from or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What a movie that was, that performance actually garnered him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor as well as critical acclaimed and in his other numerous movie roles, Duncan never failed to steal a scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Red.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No wonder you turned her down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you did turn her down even though I went to Yanni?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't go? Jimmy sent me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that Frankie can be very persuasive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm fine. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you want me to go see Yanni?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ricky, you can walk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pray you know that pain and hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't you put that evil on me. Don't you put that on us. You are not paralyzed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am so paralyzed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're rough on him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He needs to know. He's always crying. Leaving on a jet plane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: He towered at 6'5". Always seemed to have a smile on his face and will be missed. Michael Clarke Duncan was 54 years old.

It will cost you extra, but one study says organic foods don't really live up to the nutrition hype. But are the researchers asking the right questions.

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BALDWIN: No doubt you have seen it at the grocery store just like I have. You have compared organic items to the non-organic items. You question whether you want to spend that extra money. Well, some Stanford researchers they wondered that as well.

So here's what they did. They reviewed more than 200 studies that compared the nutrient levels in the foods both organic and conventional, and they found no nutritional difference, none.

This begs the question we wanted to ask what about the chemicals and all the pesticides used in the convention food and the milk and the meat. Did the study look at that?

So let's talk to Elizabeth Cohen because we wanted you to help us, you know, explain if they took that into consideration as we look at the veggies that you have brought.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we brought some organic veggies and we brought some conventional veggies. They did take that into consideration. So this was an incredibly complicated study as you can imagine because it's the study of studies.

We've broken down the main points in writing. We don't usually do. Forgive me if I sound like a school teacher, but this is the way we're going to take this one because it's confusing.

So first of all, what they found is that organic produce was indeed less likely to contain pesticides, as you would expect, 30 percent lower risk of pesticide contamination.

And also they found that people who ate organic produce had fewer pesticides in their body and they could tell from looking in their urine. So you might say, well, if you got fewer pesticides in your body isn't that a no brainer?

That's what's interesting is that there aren't good studies out there that show that people who have fewer pesticides in their body live longer. Intuitively, it would make sense, but there aren't the studies out there. They haven't been done.

BALDWIN: I know it does cost more. I look at the blueberries and think 6 bucks, 7 bucks. Do the healthiness of organic food worth the cost?

COHEN: Well, let's talk about the cost, first of all. So this is organic and this is conventional. It's the same stuff. This cost almost $5 more. This is not a ton of food. My family could scarf this down in an afternoon, no problem.

Exactly so $5 is fair chunk of change for that amount of food. So you have to decide. It's going to depend on how much money you have, right? I mean, if you're ultra wealthy maybe this isn't a concern for you.

You have to think do I care about having pesticides in my body, if I don't want them or want as few as possible, then I'm going to be willing to spend that extra money.

But don't fool yourself into thinking and I definitely I'm going to live longer. I'm definitely not going to get cancer because that's just not the case.

BALDWIN: Are there no studies that say pesticides are not good for you, i.e. let's say pregnant women?

COHEN: Well, for pregnant women are in a different category. So I'm glad you asked because they are kind of a separate category. For them there have been studies that show women that have a lot of pesticides in their system do are more likely to have babies with lower IQ and lower birth weight. So for pregnant women that's a different group of people.

BALDWIN: OK. Ask yourself as you're standing there weighing the options do I want to pesticides or not because healthy wise --

COHEN: And how much am I willing to pay? If it were a million dollars more you probably wouldn't, right, but $5? You know, different people are going to answer different things.

BALDWIN: OK, so I'm going to think about next time we hit the grocery store. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

And for more about making the decision here, do you go organic or not organic go to cnn.com/empoweredpatient. And back to politics, tonight is the night that the Democrats begin introducing their rising stars to you, to America, including this one guy who has a twin. He went to Stanford and Harvard. He happens to be one of the country's youngest big city mayors.

Plus in 16 days, the U.S. and other nations will launch another operation to get the attention certainly of Iran.

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BALDWIN: Let me take you to the Persian Gulf because in 16 days, 20 countries including the United States will be on this region of the world here to practice deactivating mines. The event is actually called "The International Mines Countermeasures Exercise."

What does this do? It involves mine neutralizing ships with names like the "USS Devastator" and the "USS Century." The Pentagon was specific on where these vessels and helicopters and other devices will be used. Let me show you. Take a look.

Zooming in we're talking about the areas the Red Sea and the Gulf of Amon, but not one very specific place. We talk a lot here about the Strait of Hormuz. Not the Strait of Hormuz.

You see the water and you see what this country, this is Iran. You can see how close this actually would take to Iran. Despite the tiptoeing around Iran's especially here in July, Pentagon officials said this about this big massive multinational event.

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LITTLE: This is not an exercise aimed to deliver a message to Iran. This is an exercise that's designed to within this multinational forum increase our capabilities and cooperation.

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BALDWIN: However, it is likely the Pentagon is reconsidering exactly how Iran will view this exercise after a statement yesterday from the leader of Hezbollah, which Iran supports.

Secretary General (INAUDIBLE) said if Israel a very, very good friend, solid ally of the United States, if they hit Iran's nuclear facilities that Iran could hit U.S. bases in the Middle East.

I want to dig a little deeper on this. Matthew Kroenig, he is a nuclear security fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown.

So Matt, welcome back. First to you, just explain to us if the U.S. becomes a target, you know, Israel hits Iran. Explain all this for me.

MATTHEW KROENIG, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Yes, well, just a little bit of background. The new International Atomic Energy Agency report came out last week showing that Iran is making steady progress on its nuclear program.

The negotiations with Iran have essentially stalled. So this means at some point very soon the United States might have to decide between simply letting Iran have nuclear weapons or taking military action. And complicating things further as you point out is that Israel might not wait for us to make that decision. Israel might decide to take matters in its own hands and attack Iran.

Now if the United States or Israel were to attack Iran, one of the things that Iran could do in retaliation is to mine the Persian Gulf, lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

BALDWIN: Let me stop you right there because before we get into the big mine sweeping exercise just in terms of a bomb, development of a bomb, use of a nuclear bomb, how close is that even happening in Iran?

KROENIG: Well, right now Iran is enriching uranium to 20 percent. In order to build nuclear weapons it would have to enrich to 90 percent. So the first thing is to enrich to those higher levels. And then there's a question about how long it would take. The best estimate is it would be probably a few months that it would take Iran to enrich enough uranium to 90 percent for its first nuclear weapon.

BALDWIN: A few months.

KROENIG: A few months. It's difficult -- we're running out of time in short.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about the timing because, you know, this minesweeping exercise in this part of the world in the Persian Gulf, you know, it's a couple of weeks away.

Do you think about what does that mean for us here in the United States? It's right before the U.S. election. Is this an attempt to appease Israel not to take action, at least not yet for the U.S.?

KROENIG: The Obama administration would clearly like to push of any military action with Iran until after the elections. They decided a conflict with Iran before the elections would be bad for the president's election prospect.

So the administration is doing a lot of things now to try to slow Iran's nuclear program and try to reassure our allies in the region. This specific exercise I think has at least two audiences. First to Iran, to show that we'd be prepared for any military contingency with them, but also to our allies in the region and to Israel in the region to suggest that we'll be there to defend them if necessary and to reassure them and to keep them from taking action in the next few weeks.

BALDWIN: Yes, I think that's important to point out that those two audiences there. Let's take it one step further, Matt, because post election, then what? Does the U.S. then allow Israel to go in and then what about Iran because I'm sure they see the politics at play as well. KROENIG: I don't think the United States would ever encourage Israel to conduct the attack simply because Israel doesn't have the military capability to actually do much damage to Iran's nuclear program.

So in a lot of ways, an Israeli strike, it's the worse option from the United States' point of view because it doesn't do much damage to Iran's nuclear program. But then it would be to Iranian retaliation and all the other downside risks.

So it seems like what the administration is trying to do is to slow the program down as much as possible with sanction --