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At This Hour
Awaiting Grand Jury Decision in Ferguson; Joe Biden's Veterans Day Speech
Aired November 11, 2014 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Live pictures of the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. In just a few minutes we'll hear from Vice President Joe Biden. He'll deliver an address on this Veterans Day, a day honoring the 20 million-plus members of the military that have served so honorably defending this nation.
As you, point out, Michaela, also the families of all those men and women in the services.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Back to our news now. The parents of Ferguson teenager, Michael Brown, make their case before the United Nations today. Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown, Sr., will report to the U.N. Committee on Torture in Geneva, Switzerland.
BERMAN: They say the shooting death of their unarmed son by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the police response to protests after his death violate the United Nations' anti-torture convention. A 13-page report says in part, "The United States must take steps to address the torture and/or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Michael Brown and other unarmed black and Brown persons killed by law enforcement."
Michael Brown's parents will appear live on CNN next hour.
While that's going on, in Ferguson, Missouri, there, much of the nation is waiting for a decision from the grand jury. The 12 men and women are deciding whether to indict Darren Wilson. He is the police officer who shot and killed the unarmed teen in August.
PEREIRA: The concern is that if Officer Wilson is not indicted, will that spark more violence? Gun sales, we know are, already spiking in Ferguson.
I want to bring in our legal analyst, criminal defense attorney, Danny Cevallos.
Danny, none of us want a repeat of what we saw last night around. We know that tension is -- you know, what Danny, I'm going to ask you to hold tight right there, actually, because we want to turn back to Arlington where the Veterans Day ceremony is happening. Vice President Joe Biden is about to give his address. Let's listen in.
(APPLAUSE)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much. And in the short time you've been in your position people are beginning to see significant changes. You believe, as I do, that we only have one truly sacred obligation. As a nation, we have a lot of obligations -- to the young, to the old, to all the poor. But there's no obligation that is truly sacred other than the commitment to our veterans. And you carry that with you from your days at west point to today. And we appreciate it.
To all the distinguished guests here, let me say, particularly to the Gold Star families, to say how much I appreciate the opportunity, the privilege of being able to speak here today. It's one of the great privileges a president or vice president has, to be able to literally speak on this sacred ground. It's the second occasion I have in my tenure as vice president.
It's a beautiful, beautiful autumn day. The sun is shining, the skies are clear, the temperatures perfect. Nothing like the scorching heat, the bitter cold and intense storms that confronted many of you here today and our troops through every conflict in every age. Today, sunshine is nothing like the scorching heat our veterans endured while battling across the sun-baked Coral Islands in the Pacific and in some cases going days without water. Nothing like the hardships faced by a generation of Americans who waded through the rice paddies in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Nothing compared to the 115 degree heat in Fallujah as a young warrior climbed into an MRAP to show me how it saved his life. Nothing compared to what our young men fought through in 25 degree below zero in the North Korean mountains pinned down by heavy enemy fire in the frozen ground 60 years ago. Nothing compared to the snow and cold that hampered our forces in the forest 66 years ago.
One of my favorite lines is from a poem, a play by -- a book by John Steinbeck, "East of Eden," where Cyrus Trask describes to his son, Adam, what it means to be a soldier. And here's what it says. He says to his son, "A soldier is the most holy of all humans because he is the most tested. A soldier must coldly learn to put himself in the way of losing his own life without going mad. If you can bring yourself to face not shadows but real death described and recognizable by bullet or saber, arrow or lance, then you need never be afraid again."
You are the veterans of America, the most trusted among us, and the most tested of all Americans. Collectively, you represent generations of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who have served and sacrificed for all of us. You were not only the heart and soul but you are the very spine of this nation. And as a nation we pause today to thank the more than 23 million surviving veterans who have so bravely and faithfully protected our freedom, you gave and they gave and you deserve it.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We stand here today committed to show our respect, to honor and to recognize our responsibility to care for all our veterans, and for those who continue in harm's way as I speak to you today. Since 9/11, 3.5 million women and men have joined the military with the near certainty of knowing that they would be deployed, and they have. Over 2.6 million of this generation have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of you have been deployed multiple times to both places. And more than half of you have returned to civilian life with the honored title of "veteran." The 9/11 generation took on a responsibility that extended far beyond base or battlefield. They were prepared to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, and they did.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Never before has America asked so much over such a sustained period of an all-volunteer force. And, like so many generations before them, this generation of 9/11 warriors have paid an incredible price. Everyday for the past six years I asked my staff early in the morning to contact the Department of Defense to get a detailed report of the number of troops deployed, the number wounded, and the number killed. Not a general number, the exact number everyday. Because for every one of those warriors -- (AUDIO PROBLEM.
BERMAN: All right, there, some audio problems unfortunately as Vice President Joe Biden is addressing the audience there at Arlington National Cemetery honoring veterans. More than 20 million strong on this Veterans Day. The vice president noted that since September 11, 2001, 3.5 million, 3.5 million men and women have joined the military knowing full well they would serve.
The vice president speaking again. Let's listen, hopefully.
BIDEN: Like some of you, I've seen the incredible sacrifices they've made and continue to make. It's been my honor over the last two decades to visit our troops in the field from Bosnia to Kosovo, Iraq to Afghanistan, from Fallujah to Baghdad, from the Kunar Valley to Helmand Province. (AUDIO PROBLEM). I'm impressed by the intelligence, the grit, the resolve, the patriotism of these young women and men. And every time -- and I've been accompanied -- (AUDIO PROBLEM). If only every one in America -- (AUDIO PROBLEM).
PEREIRA: Gosh, this is a little frustrating for us. We really wanted to listen to the comments from the vice president at this wonderful Veterans Day ceremony that's happening at Arlington National Cemetery but it's cutting in and out on us.
Are we going to stay with it and try again or are we going to move on?
Let's listen in again.
BIDEN: His mother, father, children, especially husbands and wives.
The English poet, John Milton, once wrote, "They also serve who only stand and wait. They also serve who only stand and wait." When our son, Bo, a major in the Delaware National Guard. was deployed to Iraq for a year, my wife, who's a professor, would leave early for school and I would get up and I'd walk into this little kitchen in the vice president's home and, without fail, I'd see her standing over the sink with a cup of coffee in her hand mouthing a prayer that the wife of the adjutant general of the Delaware National Guard gave her. You've all done that -- you spouses, you moms, you dads, you children. When they were deployed, there wasn't three hours that went by that they didn't cross your mind. You all know what it's like and we owe you. We owe you as much as we owe your sons and daughters, your husbands and wives. My Jill points out that only fewer than 1 percent of America's population serves in uniform. But over 99 percent -- (AUDIO PROBLEM) -- more than we can ever repay. It's my firm belief -- (AUDIO PROBLEM).
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: We have an obligation to care for and equip those who we send to war, and care for them and their families when they come home. As I said earlier it's the only sacred obligation our government has, and we're bound to keep it. You're absolutely remarkable, you veterans.
Jill and I have visited wounded veterans in hospitals around the world multiple times, from Landstuhl in Germany to Brooke Army Medical Center, Walter Reed. It's been Christmas Day -- (AUDIO PROBLEM) -- and the reason I mention that is you've had the experience I've had, walking into the room of a wounded warrior with his or her family. And I always ask the same question -- I talked to General Dempsey about this, asked him the same question, what can I do for you, Soldier? What can I do for you? And the answer I get almost every day is stunning. And Americans should know it and you understand it. The answer I most often get is "Mr. Vice President, sir, can you get me back to my unit? Mr. Vice President, sir, can you get me back to my unit? I've learned so much, I can help."
Jill and I recently hosted a team of wounded warrior at our home, several hundreds, as they prepared to represent the United States of America in a competition in London called the Invictus Games for wounded warriors. And it struck me that there couldn't have been a more appropriate description of the determination and commitment and the character shown by all of our veterans than these games referred to as Invictus Games. The poet, William Ernest Henry wrote a poem called "Invictus" and the last stanza of that poem says, "It matters not how straight the gate, how charged the punishment, the scroll, I'm the master of my fate, I'm the captain of my soul. I'm the master of my fate, I'm the captain of my soul."
Every single generation of veterans throughout our history has been the best that this country has. It's as true today as it was 200 years ago when a generation of warriors held the ramparts at Ft. Henry against the full might of the British Navy in the Battle of Baltimore. As the dawn's early light broke following that battle, a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key looked toward the fort's flagpole, asking a simple question -- Does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave. That question and its implications and its aspirations have echoed through every perilous fight that has turned, will return to American veterans. Did that Star-Spangled Banner wave in the hands of Civil War Sergeant William Carney, the first African-American Medal of Honor recipient as he took that banner from a fallen comrade and charged the ramparts of Ft. Wagner? Did that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave over observation post, that Medal of Honor recipient, Sergeant Ryan Pitts held against enemy rocket propelled in Afghanistan? Did that Star- Spangled Banner yet wave over American troops in trenches in France, beaches of Normandy, mountains of Korea, jungles of Vietnam, streets of Fallujah and the valleys of Afghanistan? And does that Star- Spangled Banner yet wave over every forward position, ship, base, woman and man destroyed in the service of our nation today? Does it wave on the front porches of families waiting out those deployments? Silently praying for their warrior's safe return?
There's a wave over Walter Reed, the Center for the Intrepid, the V.A. Center and so many other places where American warriors continue their march to recovery. It waves in every police station, firehouse, school, business and little league field where American veterans served their communities while standing ready in the guard and the reserve. It waves in the hearts of every American long after their time in uniform is through, and in the silent vigil above the row of white headstones here and over there.
Ladies and gentlemen, Francis Scott Key's questions persist to this day -- Does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave? And thanks to all of you veterans for the unbroken line of warriors who have answered the call, the answer of generation after generation after generation continues to be, yes, now and forever, because as every adversary in every age who has ever come up against you has learned, American warriors never bend, never break and never, ever, ever yield.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: And that's why as I tell every foreign leader I encounter, it has never, never, ever been a good bet to bet against the United States of America because we have you.
God bless you all and may God protect our troops.
(APPLAUSE)
BERMAN: The vice president's address marking this Veterans Day honoring the 20 million-plus men and women who serve this country.
PEREIRA: The unbroken line of soldiers. Something for us all to consider.
We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This concludes the 2014 National Veterans Day observation. Please be seated for the departure of the vice president of the United States. Thank you for joining us today as we celebrate and honor all who served.
PEREIRA: All right. That concludes the portion of the ceremony that's happening inside Arlington National Cemetery, the amphitheater there. We apologize for some of our technical difficulties during the course of his speech.
If you are looking for a way to assist veterans, visit our website, CNN/com/impact. There are resources there that will assist you.
BERMAN: One thing we can all do, find someone and say, thank you.
PEREIRA: Thank you.
That's it for us @THISHOUR. I'm Michaela Pereira.
BERMAN: And I'm John Berman.
"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.
