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Richard Holbrooke Remembered; Will Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele Survive?; West Memphis Three: DNA Evidence May Prove Innocence of Death Row Inmate; President Gives Memorial Speech For Ambassador Richard Holbrooke; Flooding, Mudslides Kill Hundreds In Brazil; Professor Claims New 13th Zodiac Sign Exists
Aired January 14, 2011 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Ali, thank you. And hello to all of you. We are watching several stories unfolding this hour.
This week began sadly, it is ending on a somber note. I want to show you a live picture here. We're keeping a close eye on this massive memorial service, people have been filtering in here. This is the Kennedy Center in Washington, they are all there for one man, to pay their respects to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.
In fact, dignitaries really from all around the world here gathering at the Kennedy Center. In fact, we have just received word that the president is now in the building. He's now arrived.
It's just getting underway. We are will be hearing at some point within the next hour or two from President Obama and also we'll be hearing from a couple that knew Mr. Holbrooke very, very well, former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They're part of the remembrance section of this memorial.
We'll be hearing from them, we'll play that for you ahead here in this hour.
Plus, Republican members voting on their new chair. Here are more live pictures and a lot of anxiety surrounding one man, Michael Steele. Will he keep his job?
Jessica Yellin is there for us. We're going to take you to her in just a couple of minutes there in Maryland.
Also, some new pictures, some uplifting images from Tucson today. I -- I like being able to say that. That was Pam Simon. Here she is in the center of this group. She's greeting her co-workers on the staff of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords here. She was shot Saturday morning as part of that massive shooting.
But today, she is there visiting the makeshift memorial outside of the hospital there in Tucson. And we will share a little bit more of her story, as we end a very tragic week in Arizona with a positive story of recovery.
But, first this: Two incidents are raising big questions today about airport security. I want to tell you about these two.
First, a woman at New York's JFK Airport picked up the wrong bag yesterday and boarded her flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Well, it turns out that bag she picked up belonged to a JetBlue pilot who is part of this TSA program that teaches pilots how to use guns in the cockpit to deter hijackers.
But, by the way, the pilot's bag that she picked up had his handgun inside. And then there was this. There was the JetBlue ticket agent at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, who has how been fired after allegedly accepting a $100 bribe to put a package on a flight to Boston.
We should also add, though, that that person who was offering that bribe was an undercover TSA agent testing airline security. That package did get screened, was later yanked from going on that plane.
But we are going to talk to Jim Tilmon. He's a retired commercial airline pilot who is going to give me some perspective here in just a couple of minutes.
But I want to take you to a story, as I mentioned, unfolding live right now. And that is the national -- the Republican National Committee, in fact live pictures here from the National Harbor there in Maryland.
And what they're doing, they're -- they're all meeting. They're right now to elect their new leader, their new chair, man or woman. We will have to wait and see. But, by all accounts, it will not be the current guy, the current chairman, Michael Steele.
They have done two rounds of voting thus far. There is more voting to come. But before I bring in Jessica Yellin, I want to show you a moment -- I want to show you a moment that happened this morning at Chairman Steele addressed that party. I want you to listen to what he's saying. And, at the same time, it's hard not to see what happens right in the middle of Michael Steele's speech. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL STEELE, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: You have all proven and shown that the Republican Party is a good party.
(THUDDING SOUND)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Did you hear the thud and did you watch the sign? Whoops. Steele starts praising the Republican Party. The party's logo on the front of the lectern falls off.
Let's -- let's roll it back. Dan, let's watch it again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEELE: You have all proven and shown that the Republican Party is a good party.
(THUDDING SOUND)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Eek.
Jessica Yellin, our national political correspondent, what word to choose here? Emblematic, ironic, symbolic? Jess, which -- what do we go with?
(LAUGHTER)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't know. You have sure got to wonder. He must feel like it was rigged.
"Saturday Night Live" couldn't have done it better. Look, the whole -- all -- there's a lot of momentum against Michael Steele among a lot of the establishment and consultants in the Republican Party.
But some of the rank-and-file are still behind him, so he is getting votes here, but, Brooke, he has got to feel like the whole world is against him when something like that happens.
BALDWIN: I know. I kind of feel bad.
But -- but let's get to Michael Steele in just a moment here and some of the problems that people are blaming him for. But, if you would, walk me through quickly, through -- through the folks, Jessica, who are running to replace him. Give me an update on where the voting stands right now.
YELLIN: All right, so they're counting the third round right now. And the bottom line is, the RNC is more than $20 million in debt.
And every candidate is campaigning to do, in their -- you know, as they phrase it, a better job fund-raising, a better job reaching out to donors and focusing on the nuts and bolts of what the chairman should be doing.
So, candidates are -- the leading candidate is a guy named Reince Priebus. He was a member of the Steele team, but he is a favorite of the consultants and many of the people who are the workers in the Republican operations here.
He is the lead vote-getter right now. Then there's Maria Cino and Ann Wagner, both from George W. Bush era administration, either of whom would be the first woman in that position. And then, finally, Saul Anuzis, who is from Michigan and a top fund-raiser, he's the trailing vote-getter right now.
And the bottom line on all of this, Brooke, is, whoever gets to 85 votes first wins. But that could take as -- basically, it takes as long as it takes. Could go all night, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Eighty-five votes. They're in the third round. You mentioned Reince Priebus. That is one really to watch.
But -- but my next question, though, is this. Why is this crisis that some are describing within the RNC, with the party itself somewhat on a bit of a roll, given what we saw, you know, back in November, the big GOP capture of -- of the House?
YELLIN: Right. And that's Michael Steele's point, is that the goal is to win, and he says, you know, the party did a good job winning.
But many of the top Republicans in the party think they did it in spite of Michael Steele. There's not only been the many flubs we have covered extensively in the media, but also the fact that they felt that he was more focused on his own high-profile campaigning himself and getting himself out there than he was on promoting the candidates and building an operation. So they think they could have done even better if they had had a stronger RNC in this last cycle.
BALDWIN: Hmm.
And just to remind everyone, you know, there is voting going on right now behind you. You said it's the third round.
YELLIN: Yes.
BALDWIN: And I'm guessing, Jessica, that -- that Karl Rove's group does not hold elections. And that is a huge, huge difference from what we're seeing right there.
YELLIN: Right. Yes.
And, also, Karl Rove's group has no limitation on how much money they can raise. So, one of the other knocks on Steele has been, because it was seen -- his operation was seen as so weak, it allowed for these other outside groups to come along, like Rove's group, American Crossroads, which can now raise unlimited amounts of money from donors, thanks to the Supreme Court's United -- Citizens United ruling.
So, there's a question of the relevance of the RNC going forward. Will they have the same power they used to have? And what role will they play in coordinating with these other outside third-party groups? Bottom line for us, for people who are in the media and viewers, we are going to see a huge -- a lot more ads, a lot more action in 2012 than we have ever seen before because of all these outside groups -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Jessica Yellin, keep us posted on the voting, will you? There you are live at the National Harbor --
YELLIN: We will.
BALDWIN: -- there in Maryland. Jess, thank you.
And I want to take you back to live pictures not too far from where Jessica is there in Maryland, just over the Potomac there in Washington there at the Kennedy Center. You can see a video. This is all part of this memorial service that is now under way. This is all for Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.
In fact, you saw in one of the pictures Bill Clinton. Bill and Hillary Clinton are both expected to speak at this memorial, as is President Obama. As soon as they do it, of course, we will bring that to you live.
Also, we're getting some new information actually from police, from Pima County -- Pima County sheriff's deputies, with regard to the timeline here of the -- the alleged gunman from Saturday's shootings, Jared Lee Loughner. We will have a little bit more for you there leading up to the hours leading up to the deadly shooting at that Safeway Saturday morning.
Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We are getting some new information.
I want to bring in CNN's Susan Candiotti, who has been working this investigation here, learning a little bit more in the hours that led up to Saturday morning's shooting in Tucson.
Susan, walk me through this. What are you learning?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, we just received this official police timeline, which gives much more detail about the hours before the shooting, what the suspect in this case, Jared Lee Loughner, was doing.
I just got it, so I am now also reading through it for the first time. But it does have some new information. For example, the night before, we're learning that around, 11:30 in the evening, the suspect drops off a roll of film at a local drugstore, then goes to a Circle K store, and then checks into a Motel 6.
We knew that. Now we find out it happened just after midnight. Shortly after that -- well, about an hour-and-a-half later, he leaves the hotel, a little after 2:00 in the morning, goes back to the drugstore and picks up the roll of 35-millimeter film that he had dropped off.
BALDWIN: Susan, let me interrupt you because I'm being told --
CANDIOTTI: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- if we can -- and I know you and I are both looking at this together. Look at 4:12 a.m. I'm told Loughner posted -- posted something to his MySpace page: "Goodbye, friends."
Are you seeing that?
CANDIOTTI: That's right.
BALDWIN: Can you read that to me?
CANDIOTTI: That's right.
Yes, exactly. At 4:12 in the morning, he posts a bulletin on MySpace. And the title of it is, goodbye, friends. And it also includes a photograph from the drugstore, from Walgreens, it says here. He posts that as well. So, that's something that we had not known before with that kind of specificity.
We had seen the MySpace. This part is new: "Goodbye, friends." Obviously, it certainly appears as though he's leaving a message.
BALDWIN: And so looking at these different --
(CROSSTALK)
CANDIOTTI: And so --
BALDWIN: Looking at these different points of time, Susan, just to reiterate your point off the top, Jared Lee Loughner was -- was busy from 11:00 p.m. or 11:30 on through that morning.
CANDIOTTI: He was on the move.
And I also learned from police earlier this day, after he checked into the motel, as a hint of that, that the electronic key card system noted that his door was opening and closing, opening and closing. Well, now we know what he was doing. He was on the move.
He was going here, he was going there. But, also, he -- we're finding out for the first time that he bought the ammo, according to police, that very morning. They show him going at 7:00 in the morning -- that's three hours before the shooting -- to a Wal-Mart.
You remember they're saying that he tries to buy it.
BALDWIN: Right.
CANDIOTTI: It took too long.
BALDWIN: Right. Right.
CANDIOTTI: And he bought it from someplace -- right, exactly.
BALDWIN: And what is it saying? Somewhere between the 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. hours, there are details about that black bag I know you were -- you were digging on yesterday. What -- what are you learning there?
CANDIOTTI: Well, we know that he bought the -- the ammo and the black bag at the same time. We learned that this morning.
And that happened at about 7:30 in the morning. And minutes later is when that Arizona Game and Fish Department officer pulls him over for running a red light and then lets him go with a warning, because he didn't find anything in his criminal background check, any outstanding warrants.
So, that's when he goes straight home, and he takes the black bag from the car and then leaves. His father tries to confront him about it. He doesn't tell his father what's going on. His dad takes off after him in the car, but can't find him.
And that is when police believe that he may have hidden that black bag, they say, that they're still inspecting that they said contained several boxes of ammunition. They found it not too far from his house.
And about -- it's now saying about 9:40 or so, so that's about two hours later, a cab picks him up from a convenience store that was in the area. And that's when the cab driver takes him over to the Safeway. It's a short ride. It's only about six miles or so, if that, so it's about a 10-minute drive, a little over that.
And that's when he gets out of the cab, goes in to the Safeway store, comes out and starts shooting, according to police.
BALDWIN: Susan, take me back one of the first things you mentioned, which was when, the night before, Jared Lee Loughner drops off this roll of film. Do we know yet what was on that roll of film?
CANDIOTTI: Well, we don't, but it's certainly -- we certainly know that one of the photos on it is the one, according to police, that he apparently posted on this MySpace page.
Haven't had a chance to make additional calls on it because we just got this. But, according to the timeline, one of the photos from that roll of film says -- has a photo with the title "Goodbye, friends."
BALDWIN: Hmm.
CANDIOTTI: Seems to be an ominous message, quite clearly.
BALDWIN: Ominous, indeed.
Susan Candiotti, I thank you so much for getting this on the air and getting us -- to us this timeline, as you said, Jared Lee Loughner very much so on the move from the night before on through the morning.
Susan, I'm going to let you go. Keep digging. Let us know what you find.
Folks, stay right here. We will get a break in.
CNN NEWSROOM will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: I want to get you more now on those two airport security incidents.
So, while we're all go to the airport, we're undergoing increased and some would say invasive security screenings, listen to this. You have a passenger mistakenly picked up a pilot's bag and boarded a flight. Well, it turned out that that pilot is part of the federal guns in the cockpit program and the bag had his handgun in it.
Also, number two here, in Charlotte, North Carolina, a JetBlue ticket agent allegedly took a $100 bribe to sneak a package on to a plane. It was reportedly done under the name of a passenger who didn't know a thing about it. And we should also add the person who paid the agent was working undercover for the TSA, and it was all part of this airline security test.
That said, want to bring in Jim Tilmon. He's a retired commercial airline pilot.
And, Jim, here's my first question in reading these stories. And I want to begin with bribery at an airline ticket counter. Sir, how often does this really happen?
JIM TILMON, FORMER AMERICAN AIRLINES PILOT: I have no idea.
I hope this is the only time this ever happened in the history of the aviation industry. But I know very well that it's probably not. I can only tell you that I find this to be a very disgusting abuse of the trust that that airline and all of us have in people that work in the aviation have industry.
BALDWIN: And I think a lot of people watching would probably agree with you.
I do want to get this out there. Obviously, we reached out to JetBlue and the TSA about this ticket agent incident. So, the TSA says these -- these covert undercover tests, they are done routinely to make sure airport and airline employees are complying with security regulations.
And I want to read you specifically what they say. "TSA can assure travelers that every checked bag and package tendered at the airline counter is screened for explosives and must conform to strict security rules before delivery to a passenger aircraft."
Also, JetBlue, if you're wondering about this ticket agent, here's -- here's the answer. They say: "We're fully cooperating with the TSA's investigation into this matter, the involved crew member no longer employed at JetBlue."
That said, Jim, all of this is happening. As I mentioned, we're getting checked, we're getting screened, we're getting -- a lot of things are happening to -- to passengers at the airport in the name of safe flying.
Why are we still having lapses in airline security, do you think?
TILMON: I -- I think it's because of the culture. I think that, as a people, we have the ability to almost immediately leave things into the history of things without getting ourselves in to some kind of sustainable state of understanding that we have to remain alert. There are other countries that have a different culture that would never have something like this happen. But the thing is, is that, you know, you're dealing with human nature and you're dealing with people who will do ridiculous things. For the -- the idea that this guy would potentially jeopardize the lives of the traveling public for $100, it's just beyond --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: I mean, I get it. I get it. Humans are fallible, but we're talking airline security. And, in this day and age, this is the kind of thing, a lot of passengers would say this is inexcusable.
TILMON: It is inexcusable. And I do hope that the -- the federal people and the state officials there will prosecute to the limit of whatever the law does say about doing something like this.
We have got to make sure that everybody that's involved in this kind of activity is on -- on -- advised, certainly, that something like this just cannot be tolerated. And I wonder, you know, sometimes about what people, if -- if at all, they're thinking, that they would allow themselves to be participating in something like this, this dangerous. I mean, it's -- it's beyond description.
BALDWIN: Perhaps also beyond description the other incident at JFK, you know, Airport, this pilot -- and, look, it was apparently accidental -- puts his bag down, has his handgun in it. This woman picks it up and hops on the plane. TSA is investigating him, took his gun.
Do you think he should get his gun back?
TILMON: No --
BALDWIN: No.
TILMON: -- absolutely not.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: No.
TILMON: I mean, you know, when you --
BALDWIN: Why?
TILMON: -- when you start thinking about aviators being hired because of their skill and their judgment, this is rotten judgment.
You know, he's got a gun that is a bag and he sets that down? I mean, we advise passengers not to allow their luggage that they're carrying on the airplane to be out of their sight at any time. And here's a guy who is entrusted with this. No, uh-uh, he should not get his gun back. I'm not sure he should get his job back.
BALDWIN: Sir, 30 seconds. What do you say to people who hop on flights all the time? What you can say to make them feel better about flying?
TILMON: Well, you know, I'm pretty worked up over things that we're talking about now, but when you look at the millions and millions of flying hours that take place in this country every single day, what we're talking about is minuscule in terms of the odds or averages or whatever else.
Almost all airline employees, certainly those that I have had the privilege of meeting, would never entertain the idea of doing something like this. This is a rare occasion. And we have to keep that in mind.
Going to the airport today to get on your airplane, feel confident that everybody is doing everybody they can to ensure your safety.
BALDWIN: Jim Tilmon, thank you so much.
Want to remind everyone we're getting this new information, thanks to Susan Candiotti. We're getting a timeline of basically starting at 11:00 the night before, so this past Friday night, on into Saturday morning, a sort of tick tock, if you will, of what the accused shooter in that Tucson rampage is accused of doing, incrementally, through the entire night, from dropping off film to handling that black bag and a lot in between.
We are still reading this. We are going to try to make some more sense of it. And we will continue following that part of the investigation there in Tucson.
Also, we are getting even more dramatic pictures from Brazil, where the death toll from flooding and mudslides is now past 500. We are going to take you to the hardest-hit area. That is ahead.
Also, is an innocent man on death row? CNN's David Mattingly asks -- asked him if he was involved in the killing of those three young boys 17 years ago. His answer -- and we will talk about this investigation -- coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: It's a crime almost too horrible to imagine. You have three teens suspected of worshiping Satan and later convicted of murdering three 8-year-old boys. This whole thing happened in West Memphis, Arkansas, back in 1993. All of them convicted, one of whom sits on death row. But now, all these years later, DNA evidence is cracking this old case wide open.
CNN's David Mattingly has been looking into it, has put together this investigative documentary. And here's just a sneak peek.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Between the rain and the overcast skies, it looks really bleak out here, nothing around but farmlands and small towns probably for the last 20 miles. The penitentiary area, "Beware of hitchhikers." That suggests that people might actually escape from this place, but this prison is the supermax of Arkansas. The worst of the worst go to this prison.
(voice-over): And at the time of his conviction, no one was considered worse than Damien Echols. Judged as the leader of a grotesque and senseless ritualistic murder spree, a jury of his peers sent him here to be executed.
But that was 17 years ago. The once cocky and defiant teenager who horrified and enraged thousands of people is now pushing 40.
(on camera): Hi.
(voice-over): Escorted to our interview handcuffed and shackled, the Damien Echols I see appears frail, lonely and eager to tell his story.
(on camera): You know people are going to be watching you throughout this interview and they're going to be judging you.
DAMIEN ECHOLS, CONVICTED MURDERER: Right.
MATTINGLY: How do you think they're going to judge you?
ECHOLS: I don't know.
MATTINGLY: You're either innocent and a terrible victim of a justice system gone wrong, or you're a terrible cold-blooded killer of children.
ECHOLS: I think you will probably have people who think both.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): With prison officials listening to our every word, I'm allowed to talk to Damien for almost two hours. Through a thick glass window, I listen as this obviously intelligent and articulate man describes why he believes the justice system failed him and why there's one still question he never gets used to hearing.
(on camera): I will just ask you the question: Did you kill those boys?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Oh. Of course you make me wait to see his answer, David Mattingly.
Gosh, through -- through glass and shackled, he spoke with for you two hours.
MATTINGLY: Mm-hmm.
BALDWIN: How -- how was that?
MATTINGLY: Well, it was really interesting. You get to know him a little bit as a person, this -- and he really struck me as somebody who does not seem very threatening at all, someone who has really been emotionally wrung out over the last 17 years.
And the only thing he's clinging to is the hope that this judge that's going to be looking at this case later this year is going to give him a new trial and perhaps exonerate him.
BALDWIN: So, over the last 17 years, all of the evidence, basically, is it falling apart?
MATTINGLY: The case against him is falling apart.
The people who have been following this very closely have -- have refuted just about every single piece of evidence that the prosecution used to put them behind bars. There was the confession from one of the three teenagers that was later -- that was almost immediately retracted and has since been widely discredited.
There was a witness who placed him in the area. She's come out and said, no, I didn't tell the truth. And then there was the --
BALDWIN: She's come out so many years later and said this?
MATTINGLY: Right.
BALDWIN: Wow.
MATTINGLY: And then -- and then there was this knife that was found at the bottom of the lake behind the home of one of the teenagers that police says was the murder weapon.
Well, the prosecutors used this. It was able to -- it was able to convince the jury. But, since then, they have had other forensic experts look at this and say, no, animals did this to the bodies. There were wounds on the bodies. And they say animals did this after they were killed. There was nothing that a knife could have done to create these kind of wounds.
So all of the prosecution's case very suspect over the last 17 years, and now this is the closest these three former teenagers now men approaching middle age have of possibly getting a new trial and possibly being exonerated.
BALDWIN: What are the chances of that new trial and the possibility of getting exonerated?
MATTINGLY: They have so many supporters right now, a lot of money behind them. And what they're looking at is exactly what we've been talking about. The prosecutors will be on trial just as much as the defendants are and they'll have to go before the judge and say this is the evidence we have and this is why we think it's good.
And of course 17 years has gone by and so many has been said about how bad that evidence might be.
BALDWIN: That's amazing. When do we get to watch this?
MATTINGLY: It's on tonight at 11:00 and then again on Sunday at 8:00. Remember, the justice system gives up its convicts very begrudgingly. So we're just follow this case as it goes on in the future, but right now take a look at what led up to it. It's an amazing story.
BALDWIN: Fascinating. We'll look for it. Thank you, sir.
We want to take you back to Brazil. It is still raining there with the death toll from flooding and mudslides now passing the number 500. Coming up next we'll speak with a CNN producer on the ground in one of the hardest hit areas in Brazil.
Also, first it was "Don't ask, Don't tell." Now the focus is on another controversial military policy. Should women be allowed in combat roles? We will tell what you what a panel is recommending today. That is ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: And now we go live. President Obama now speaking, remembering U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- Holbrooke. He made a difference. In 1962, when he was just 22 years old, he set out for Vietnam as a Foreign Service officer. He could not have known the twists and turns that lay ahead of him and his country in that war or the road that he would travel over nearly five decades of service to his country.
But it's no coincidence that his life's story so closely paralleled the major events of his times. The list of places he served, the things he did reads as a chronicle of American foreign policy, speaking truth to power from the Mekong Delta to the Paris peace talks, paving the way to our normalization of relations with China, serving as ambassador in a newly unified Germany, bringing peace to the Balkans, strengthening our relationship with the United Nations, and working to advance peace and progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Richard came of an age looking up to the men who had helped shape the postwar world. Dean Atchison, Admiral Harriman, Dean Rusk. And in many ways he was the leading of a generation of American diplomats who came of age in Vietnam. It was a generation that came to know both the tragic limits and awesome possibilities of American power, born at a time triumph in World War II, steeped in the painful lessons of Southeast Asia, participants in the twilight struggle that led ultimately to freedom's triumph during the cold war.
After the shadow of communism lifted along with the iron curtain, Richard understood that America could not retreat from the world. He recognized that our prosperity is tied to that of others, that our security is endangered by instability abroad, most importantly, that our moral leadership is at stake when innocent men, women, and children are slaughtered through senseless violence, whether it's in Srebrenica or Islamabad.
Richard possessed a hard-headed, clear-eyed realism about how the world works. He was not naive. But he also believed that America has a unique responsibility in the course of human events. He understood American power in all its complexity and believed that when it is applied with a purpose and principle it can tip the scales of history.
And that coupling of realism and idealism, which has always represented what is at the best in American foreign policy, that was at the heart of his work in Bosnia, where he negotiated and cajoled and threatened all at one until peace was the only outcome possible.
And by the time I came to know Richard, his place in history was a short one. His options in the private sector where so many of his peers had settled were too numerous to mention. But from my first conversation with him in Chicago in my transition office, a conversation in which he teared up when he began to talk about the importance of restoring America's place in the world, it was clear that Richard was not comfortable on the sidelines. He belonged in the arena.
To his wonderful family, I'm personally grateful. I know that every hour he spent with me in the Situation Room or spent traveling to Southeast Asia, South Asia, was time spent away from you. You shared in the sacrifice, and that sacrifice is made greater because he loved you so. He served his country until his final moments.
Those who take the measure of his last mission will see his foresight. He understood that the futures of Afghanistan and Pakistan are tied together. In Afghanistan, he cultivated areas like agriculture and governance to seed stability. With Pakistan, he traded new habits of cooperation to overcome decades of mistrust.
And globally, he helped align the approaches of 49 nations. Were he here with us, I know Richard would credit the extraordinary team that he assembled.
And today I'd like to make a personal appeal to the SRAP team, particularly the young people. Stay in public service. Serve your country. Seek the peace that your mentors so ardently sought.
I also know that Richard would want us to lift up the next generation of public servants, particularly our diplomats who so rarely receive credit. And so I'm proud to announce the creation of an annual Richard C. Holbrooke award to honor excellence in American diplomacy.
As we look to the next generation, it is fitting as David mentioned that this memorial take place at the Kennedy Center named for the president who called Richard's generation to serve. It's also fitting that this memorial takes place at a time when our nation has recently received a tragic reminder that we must never take our public servants for granted. We must always honor their work.
America is not defined by ethnicity. It's not defined by geography. We are a nation born of an idea, a commitment to human freedom. And over the last five decades, there have been countless times when people made the mistake of counting on America's decline or disengagement time and again. Those voices are been proven wrong, but only because of the service and sacrifice of exceptional men and women, those who answer the call of history and made America's cause their own.
Like the country he served, Richard contained complexities, so full of life. He was a man both confident in himself and curious about others, alive to the world around him, with a character that is captured in the words of a Matthew Arnold poem that he admired, "But often in the den of strive there rises an unspeakable desire after the knowledge of the buried life. The thirst to spend our fire and restless force in tracking our true original course, a longing to inquire in to the mystery of this heart that beats so wild, so deep in us, to know whence our lives come and where they go."
Richard is gone now, but we carry with us his thirst to know, to grasp, and to heal the world around him. His legacy is seen in the children of Bosnia who lived to raise families of their own, in a Europe that is peaceful, united and free, and the young boys and girls from the tribal regions of Pakistan to whom we pledged our country's friendship, and in the role that America continues to play to those who inspire to live in freedom and in dignity.
Five decades after a young president called him to serve we can confidently say that Richard bore the burden to ensure the survival and success of liberty. He made a difference. Let us now carry that work forward in our time.
May god bless the memory of Richard Holbrooke and may god bless the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
BALDWIN: President Obama remembering a friend and a colleague, his special envoy to both Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke speaking on his service and sacrifice. He said his thirst to know, to grasp and heal the world around him.
Mr. Holbrooke's, one of his most celebrated achievements is basically helping broker the Dayton Peace Accords back in 1995 effectively ending the war in Bosnia. And the president did make a little news there. He mentioned he will be creating an annual Richard Holbrooke award to, quote, "honor excellence in American diplomacy." Holbrooke was 69 years of age and he died last month.
Coming up here on CNN, I'll be speaking with a CNN producer in Brazil where the death toll from flooding and mudslides is now past 500. We'll get an update there.
Also, you may think you're a Gemini, but happening on a second, could you actually be a Taurus. We'll talk about it with our astrologer in just the studio, Maxine Taylor, in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Survivors say it is almost like a tsunami just fell out of the sky. Their talking about the flooding, the deluge that's caused widespread destruction there in parts of Brazil. The death toll from the mudslides, the flooding is now climbing to upwards of 500. The morgues are full.
There are so many bodies apparently that schools, churches, police stations now turning in to make shift morgues. Victims trapped under all those building you see there. Operations were halted simply because the road conditions too easy to drive on these roads. You see just river, rivers of mud. Still many areas are inaccessible.
I want to bring in one of our CNN producers Helena de Moura in the area's hardest hit there. I want to bring in one of our producers in the area's hardest hit there. And Helena I know we talk about the death toll above 500 and that's just the people they know of.
HELENA DE MOURA, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Absolutely. Right now I'm in one of the hardest hit areas. And the police just cordoned off the area. There are still possibilities of several avalanches. (Inaudible) Overnight, hundreds and hundreds of boulders catapulted from the mountains killing whole families. The situation here is very dire.
BALDWIN: Are rescuers given the mountainous terrain even able to get through to all of these people?
DE MOURA: Absolutely not. It's just impassable in certain areas. Again, streets have become rivers. Homes have been completely destroyed. And tree trunks everywhere. It's very, very difficult. I just spoke to a firefighter who said that they've been trying to open up roads but it's been very difficult.
And the population here, people are getting very frustrated because they're concerned for their homes. I just spoke to a woman who was crying because her children are still up there and she was not allowed to go back. But, again, it's very dangerous for her to go back. It's a very difficult situation for everybody.
BALDWIN: Thank you. Stay safe please where you are. Helena, thank you.
And now this, CNN = Politics, and Wolf Blitzer joins me now with the latest from the CNN Political Ticker. Wolf, I can't talk to you without talking about Richard Holbrooke who I know you knew. You were invited to the memorial service at the Kennedy Center. Can you -- what is your biggest memory of him?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": You know, Richard Holbrooke was a great diplomat, but beyond that he was just always available. He was always ready to talk honestly, bluntly, whether on television. I interviewed him many times. Or behind the scenes just helping us better appreciate what is going on around the world.
His earliest experiences in the world of diplomacy were in Vietnam when he was a young foreign service officer serving at the U.S. embassy in Saigon, and obviously that experience, the Vietnam war, shaped all of his career, continuing on through the '90s when I covered him when he was deeply involved in trying to bring an end to the war in Bosnia and Kosovo and all of that. He did an incredible job with the arrangements, with the peace arrangements working with all of the various parties. He was so impressive.
In recent years in the last couple years when he began to try to do something about Afghanistan and Pakistan, that's almost a thankless task for a diplomat right now, but he worked diligently. He tried to get the job done.
What strikes me, Brooke, is he could have simply sat on the sidelines. He could have simply enjoyed a great life as an investment banker and make a lot of money. But he was so interested in public service. He always wanted to get involved. He would take a huge pay cut to do this kind of public service job. But he wanted to do it and he worked 24/7 all the time. I got to know him and his family and it's a sad story that he died so quickly.
BALDWIN: I'd love to hear -- let's talk more about your memories next hour when we talk situation room but quickly, Political Ticker, what do you have today?
BLITZER: On the political ticker, it's a different story right now. The president of the United States who just spoke at the Holbrooke memorial service at the Kennedy Center is doing well in this latest poll. It's interesting right now the country, folks think the country is doing better than a month ago. But on these hypothetical matchups between the president and various Republican presidential contenders, potential ones, Obama holds a 51-38 percent lead over Mitt Romney, 50-38 lead over Mike Huckabee.
And look at this. He's got a 26-point advantage over Sarah Palin in this hypothetical poll right now. A month ago, certainly two months ago these numbers were very different. But obviously what he's been doing lately whether during the lame duck session when he got that tax deal through Congress or in the last few days that speech he delivered in Tucson is helping him. There's a lot of sense that his moving to the center is helping him, especially with independents who are going to be decisive in a presidential contest.
Let me make one other point on the political ticker before I let you go, Brooke. The Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, really emerging as a major figure for Republicans right now. He has been invited to a key dinner, the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual fund raising dinner here in Washington. He is going to be the keynote speaker and it underscores how popular he is with conservatives and Republicans right now.
BALDWIN: Wolf, we'll see you next hour. Thank you so much with more of those anecdotes. We'll get you another political ticker update in about a half hour. Check them out @politicalticker.
Coming up next, a story everybody is talking about today. You perhaps always considered yourself a Gemini, perhaps a Cancer. Now I'm a Gemini. I don't know what is going on. Maxine Taylor hopefully knows. She is our astrologer and we'll talk to her and get to the bottom of this, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Breaking news. You are looking at who used to be the chair of the RNC and is now officially withdrawing his name from the race. Let's listen just for a moment.
STEELE: -- Republicans unified, moving forward. It's important. I thank you for the opportunity to serve and to lead. And now I exit stage right.
(APPLAUSE)
BALDWIN: There he goes exiting stage right. He has just endorsed Maria Cino. So now there are four. We'll check in with Jessica Yellin in a few minutes. She is there covering the voting at the national harbor there in Maryland here on the race, who will be the next chairman of the RNC.
Now this -- is this the dawning of the age of -- this is so tough to pronounce, Maxine Taylor, Ophiuchus, the third sign? We'll go there in a minute. I knew I'd botch that. The Internet is buzzing over the realignment of the stars and it supposedly adds this 13th sign to the zodiac. Suddenly what is your sign is taking on a whole new meaning. Thought you were Libra, you may be Virgo, perhaps this new sign I can't pronounce all together.
Maxine Taylor is an astrologer and here to walk me through what all of this means. The whole thing started because of this newspaper interview with an astrology (ph) professor who says the wobble of the earth and the orbit just changed everything a little bit. People are so upset about this. Are you buying this?
MAXINE TAYLOR, ASTROLOGER: Not at all.
BALDWIN: Why?
TAYLOR: First of all, he is an astronomer and that explains everything to me, thank you very much.
BALDWIN: Oh, burned.
TAYLOR: What it is, bottom line, every few years somebody says, oh, there's a 13th sign. Well, you've met him at the cocktail lounge.
BALDWIN: Maxine.
TAYLOR: Seriously, there are 12 signs. There have always been 12 signs. Let's talk about the fact that some people are worried they're being bumped back a sign.
BALDWIN: People are worried they've got like their Sagittarius tattoos or cancer posters and it's your self-identity for people into this kind of thing and they're perturbed.
TAYLOR: Very perturbed. Here's what it is. Years and years ago, thousands of years ago the zodiac was discovered. We use that zodiac. It's called the tropical zodiac. This is what astrologers use.
There is another zodiac that some astrologers use as well. It's called the sidereal zodiac, and that deals with the constellations rather than the signs. Because of the pre-session of the equinox, you'll have to Google that one.
BALDWIN: Oh, goodness.
TAYLOR: What this means is there are two. Bottom line, they both work for the people who use them. Most of the world uses the tropical. And what that means is that you will be, if you are born a Cancerian, you will be a Cancerian until you leave.
BALDWIN: This is your line of work. You have people coming to your home. You have a website. Have you been, you know, is your phone ringing off the hook from people worried?
TAYLOR: I've been inundated with e-mails particularly on Facebook, and yes people are concerned, because as I said every five, ten years somebody rediscovers the fact that there are two zodiacs. Hello. They've been around.
BALDWIN: Are you surprised so many people are so bothered? I mean, the people that are shaking their heads at those of us who are so bothered by it.
TAYLOR: No, not at all.
BALDWIN: Horoscopes. Who knew they mattered.
TAYLOR: Nobody would change their sign. Would you change yours?
BALDWIN: I'm a cancer. I've taken cancer on as my sign. I can't imagine being a Gemini.
TAYLOR: I am a Gemini. That's why I'm able to talk like this. I wouldn't want to be a Taurus. Nothing against Taurus. If you're a Leo, you like being a Leo. If you're a Sag you like that. You don't want to bounce back.
BALDWIN: So bottom line people shouldn't buy the hoopla about the 13th sign I can't even pronounce.
TAYLOR: Not at all. And I can't pronounce it either. This, too, will move along. Tomorrow there will be more news.
BALDWIN: There will be more news.
