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Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson on Lockdown; Hunt for Moammar Gadhafi Continues; Newborn Twins Found Dead; Fareed Zakaria Discusses Solutions to America's Jobs Problem; Woman who Attempted to Swim from Cuba to Florida Interviewed; Pat Robertson Call Alzheimer's a Type of Death

Aired September 16, 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: And hello to you. Welcome back to CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

I want to begin here with breaking news. Here's what we're learning out of Tucson, Arizona. There's some sort of security situation happening at this Air Force base, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. It is currently on lockdown. That is what we're told. A public affairs person there on base tells us -- quote -- "It has been reduced to a single point of entry. Obviously, we're making phone calls on this. We will keep you posted as soon as we learn anything more about this Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson on lockdown. We will bring it to you live here on CNN.

Moving to Libya here. The hunt for Moammar Gadhafi has spread way now way down south into this cluster of outposts in the Sahara Desert. And what you see right there, bombs. Those are bombs going off at an airport seized by the rebels. This is desert combat, folks, Libyan rebels taking on hard-line Gadhafi loyalists hundreds of miles south of Tripoli. This firefight, you can hear it and you see it here. CNN's Ben Wedeman found himself right in the middle of it.

Ben is live for us now. And as I said, hundreds of miles south of Tripoli, way out he is in this desert, just after 9:00 p.m. at night local time.

And, Ben, before we get to that firefight, just tell me where you are and tell us why the rebels are there so far into the desert.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're about 450 miles south of Tripoli.

We're on this air base that just two nights ago was taken over by the rebels. Now, the reason why this is important is that we're about -- let me think in miles -- we're about 16 miles to the north of Sabha, the biggest city in southern Libya, a city traditionally very loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.

In fact, rebel commanders say they believe there's a very good chance Gadhafi could be in this area. So they're very eager to establish their control over this part of the country, but they're also very much on the lookout, hunting for Moammar Gadhafi -- Brooke. BALDWIN: Ben, let's go back to the firefight. We saw some of the video. This is this firefight you found yourself in. We have a shot of you. Let's take a look. Here it is. Here you are on your stomach. Rebels behind you. Somehow you're talking through this, bullets whizzing around.

From what I gather, the rebels thought it was safe there at the time. Then you learned obviously otherwise. Ben, what happened? What was going on?

WEDEMAN: Well, we had gone into this town of Biraq, which they had told us they had secured. But when we got there, I spoke with one of the village elders who was himself sympathetic to the revolution who told me, well, actually this neighborhood, that neighborhood, that neighborhood, and that neighborhood are all still loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.

And just literally seconds later, we heard a rocket-propelled grenade fly right over our head. Another one came after that and another. And these fighters started to fire back, just blasting right -- one was basically standing right over us shooting in the direction of where they thought those rocket-propelled grenades were fired.

So this went on for a fair amount of time. In fact, our producer, Kareem (ph), he got burned by one of the casings that came off one of the heavy machine guns that hit him in the arm. He was that -- he also -- we were all, Mary Rogers (ph), Kareem Hadr (ph), the producer, myself, we were all on our bellies, just really hugging the dirt while this went on -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: So grenades, bullets. There was something else. Let me just mention we do have Phil Black standing by in another location for us.

But, Ben, but before we get to him, I have one more for you. And I want to pull up this image. I was checking your Twitter page. You tweeted this image. You have got to look really closely. Obviously you see this spoon, Ben Wedeman. I know you know what I'm talking about. Next to the spoon is a scorpion. Can you just tell us what it's like, if you would? You're out there witnessing war in this desert. Does it feel like you are far, far away from civilization?

WEDEMAN: Yes, it does.

I mean, we were literally sleeping in the sand in the desert for the last three nights, and we found this big green scorpion right next to where we were camped out. In fact, this evening, I was speaking with a Libyan doctor who said that they have got some scorpions here that, if they bite you, you have got about eight minutes before you die. So I don't know if I will be sleeping so soundly tonight.

BALDWIN: Yes. I would be watching where I walk, where I sleep, where I eat, every single thing.

Ben Wedeman, thank you so much. Please, to you and your crew, stay safe as you're out there covering the story. I want to stay though now on Libya and I want to show you a map here. We were talking to Ben Wedeman. He was down there in the desert near Sabha. That's one of the remaining three major Gadhafi strongholds. You see Bani Walid. That city is surrounded by rebels. And then Sirte, we talk a lot about Sirte.

You know now that Gadhafi's hometown, and we're getting reports of a major incursion by the rebels into Sirte. Remember the rebels have issued that deadline for two of the pro-Gadhafi forces to surrender. Those deadlines, they have come and gone.

Phil Black live for us now from that scene.

And, Phil, where exactly are you? And what do you see there?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, we're just on the outskirts of Sirte. And, throughout the day, we have actually been inside the city. We were there with rebels. They advanced in big numbers into the city early this morning in what they thought would be a few easy hours fighting.

They thought that by the end of the day, Gadhafi's hometown would be theirs. But it didn't turn out that way at all. They made rapid progress through the outskirts of the city. But when they got into the built-up areas, they came up against some very fierce resistance.

The locals there had dug in and they fought back and they fought back hard. And the rebels say and they admit quite openly it turned into a street fight. They didn't want one, they weren't expecting one. They just simply weren't prepared for it. Something else didn't happen as well. They thought that the locals of the town would rise up in support of them.

They didn't. So, as a result, it bogged down into this intense street fighting, house to house. The rebels say they have made some progress through the city. They had hoped to have complete control of the town by the end of the day. They didn't get that close. The security in that city is nothing like that at the moment. So they had no choice but to pull out.

And so now they have pulled out to a distance to the outskirts, which is where we are again. And tomorrow they say they hope to have another crack at it. But they don't really have any answer to the solution of what to do about this intense street fighting situation.

They say they're not really prepared for it. They're hoping that after today's fighting, maybe once again the locals will rise up in their favor. But at this stage their whole strategy is based on hope.

BALDWIN: But, Phil, beyond, then, the street fighting, I know I have seen a report of the rebels being aided by NATO airpower. Are you at all hearing planes flying over, dropping bombs in and around Sirte?

BLACK: We know that NATO has been striking targets within Sirte for a number of weeks now. And as we approached the city today, we saw a number of large explosions that realistically could probably only have been caused by airstrikes at that sort of magnitude.

So, yes, NATO has been softening up this city. NATO also says, we don't coordinate out our bomb runs with what the rebels are doing on the ground, but certainly they have been, in their words, living up to the U.N. mandate, protecting civilians by striking pro-Gadhafi targets within Sirte.

I guess it was hoped that that would make some difference when the rebels actually rolled into the town, but today, even still, it wasn't enough -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: If -- Phil, as we mentioned this is, of course, Gadhafi's hometown. If there is a possibility that he's in there, is there any kind of way to get him -- for him to get out of there alive, perhaps surreptitiously, or do the rebels have all the exits sealed?

BLACK: There are mixed ideas about whether or not it's possible for either Gadhafi and other senior figures of his regime to still be within Sirte.

Realistically in a sense it doesn't seem very likely, because this city has been under loyalist control all along. And up until yesterday, there is a road leading due south from Sirte deep into the country that has been open, and not influenced in any way by revolutionary forces. So if there was anyone in there who wanted to get out, they have had the time and they have had the opportunity to do so.

Having said that, we have heard rumors and talk among the rebels today that perhaps one of his sons is still in the town and could even be coordinating the fighting, but no way of confirming this. Also the possibility that his former spokesman, Gadhafi's former spokesman, may be there as well.

Again, the communication lines among the rebel forces are such that we have got no way of determining just how true this actually is. But if they make some progress in the city, perhaps not tomorrow, but perhaps it will take some days, then maybe we will determine if that is true.

But we understand that that escape route that was open no longer is -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Phil Black for us near Sirte, Libya, Phil, thank you so much.

And if you're just now joining us, top of the hour, we talked a little bit about this breaking news out of Tucson, Arizona. We're making some phone calls on an air base. It's the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. Apparently this air base on lockdown.

And according to this public information officer, they do have what they're calling a security situation there. It is on lockdown and it's been reduced to a single point of entry. This is the first video we're getting in obviously from our affiliates there in Tucson, our first images of this Air Force base. Clearly, they're reportedly on it locally. We're making some phone calls. As soon as we hear from what this is stemming, why this is happening, we will let you know.

But let's get a quick break in. More on the breaking news after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, let's get you an update on the breaking news here out of Tucson, Arizona. We do have the images here, some of the first the images from our affiliate out of Tucson, KVOA.

This is the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The base is on lockdown. Here's the note to parents. You cannot go on base to pick up your children at the moment. They're diverting traffic. No one can get on base if you're trying to get on, and if you're on base, no one can get off. Local news cameras there have spotted a helicopter, landed. It took off.

Also apparently Tucson Fire is on the scene, but it's still unclear why this Air Force base is on lockdown, who might be involved, what happened. We're trying to connect the dots ourselves, making phone calls here, but, again, the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, on lockdown.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has presided over more executions than any other governor in the history of the U.S. His tally, 235 and counting. And this is a record the governor frequently brings up during his presidential campaign. In fact, let's play this. This is what he had to say during a recent GOP debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you're involved with another crime and you kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas, and that is, you will be executed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you make of --

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now, Perry's stand is certainly popular in some circles, but there's a new layer to this story here today.

Texas was set to executed convicted murderer Duane Buck last night. But the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in at the last minute, put a stop to it for now anyway as the courts review this case.

This is a crowd, obviously jubilant crowd, of supporters reacting to the news last night. At issue, this psychologist who the state of Texas called as an expert during Buck's trial testified that blacks and Hispanics are not only more likely to commit violence; they're more likely to commit future crimes. Buck's attorneys argue this testimony led to a death sentence for Buck, rather than prison time.

Buck was convicted of killing two people back in 1995. His execution would have been the second in Texas this week.

Coming up next hour, I will talk with president and CEO of NAACP Ben Jealous about efforts to save the life of a convicted Georgia cop killer who is set to die next Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.

Now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the time that I have been with Hendersonville, for 17 years now, this is the only time that I have seen a crime such as this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A woman doesn't tell anyone she's pregnant. She gives birth to twins. But what police say happens next, it is horrifying, it's baffling. Coming up next, where they found the lifeless newborns and why this may have happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are getting a little bit more information on that Air Force base that is on lockdown out of Tucson, Arizona, that the Davis-Monthan Air Base.

And by the way, if you know the area, this is adjacent to what they call the Boneyard. That's where old military government planes kind of go when they're out of service. These are pictures we're getting in from our affiliate KVOA.

Here's the news. According to KVOA, they talked to the Tucson Fire Department. The fire department told them they were called to this scene to respond to a person with gunshot wounds. CNN has not independently verified, but that's what Tucson Fire is telling our affiliate KVOA, called to the scene to respond to someone with gunshot wounds. We don't know anything further than that. We will continue to dig on this story and bring you updates as soon as they come our way.

Now to this story. A young woman a few years out of college living with her parents, not married, working at a dental office, she discovers she's pregnant, but she doesn't tell a soul that she's expecting. Then just this past Monday night, she went into labor.

Chris Bundgaard from our affiliate WKRN picks up this tragic story from Hendersonville, Tennessee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot about this situation that I don't have the answers for.

CHRIS BUNDGAARD, WKRN REPORTER (voice-over): Grim-faced police outside a Hendersonville home Wednesday piece together details of two newborn twin boys discovered dead inside the residence. Investigators say 25-year-old Lindsey Lowe lived here with her parents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We received a call from Ms. Lowe's father, and he reported to us that he had discovered a deceased child in his daughter's bedroom.

BUNDGAARD: In a police affidavit, officers say Lowe confessed that she knowingly and intentionally killed each of her children using her bare hand to stop their breathing until they were dead in order to prevent her parents from discovering.

Police said it happened here at her parents' home Monday night, moments after giving birth to the twin boys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was very sad at the last point that I saw her.

BUNDGAARD: In the affidavit, police said Lowe confessed that she placed them, the dead babies, in a laundry basket in her room and covered them with blankets to prevent their discovery.

(on camera): The 25-year-old suspect accused of killing her newborn twin sons is now here at the Sumner County jail awaiting a bond hearing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the time that I have been with Hendersonville, for 17 years now, this is the only time that I have seen a crime such as this.

BUNDGAARD: Facebook pictures show Lowe as a happy Western Kentucky student a few years back, but now she's a young woman charged with murdering her babies.

Chris Bundgaard, Nashville's News 2.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Tennessee does have safe haven laws that allow parents of newborns to drop them off in places like hospitals, fire stations within 72 hours of birth. The twins' father has not been identified here. We did talk to Lindsey Lowes' attorney this afternoon, and he described the Lowe family as saddened, very close. He says they are devastated, but they're strong and resilient and they will somehow make it through this. Lindsey Lowe will go before a judge on Monday for a bond hearing.

And quickly back to Tucson, Arizona. This is the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Is it on lockdown. If you're on base, you can't leave. If you're off base, you can't come on. Note to parents, don't come. You cannot pick up your kids at this moment. And the latest we heard from our affiliate who is covering this, KVOA, they have been told by Tucson Fire that they were called, they being the fire department, called to the scene to respond to someone with gunshot wounds. Again, got to make it clear CNN has not independently verified that report. That was from Tucson Fire to KVOA, reporting that -- someone who had gunshot wounds. Again, these are new images, fresh images coming in from our Tucson affiliate as they continue to cover the story there on the ground for us.

We will get some more detail, work this through the commercial break, and we will see you on the other side. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Breaking news. The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, is in lockdown. We will dip into our local coverage here in just a moment.

But I do want to pass this along to you. As reported, our affiliate there, KVOA, had been told by Tucson Fire that they were called to the scene to respond to someone who had been suffering gunshot wounds. We, CNN, have now spoken with a base spokesperson. They told us no injuries have been reported, no shots have been fired.

They did confirm the base is indeed on lockdown and they're calling this -- quote, unquote -- "a suspicious situation."

Let's listen to KVOA's live coverage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- telling parents, do not go on base to pick up your kids. You are not going to be allowed on, but the kids are safe. I think that's the most important thing to pass along right now.

And we have been receiving a lot of text messages and a lot of tweets with different things so we're hoping to confirm this.

Danielle Todesco is one of our reporters who is on scene. We're going to go live to her right now for the latest -- Danielle.

DANIELLE TODESCO, KVOA REPORTER: Brandon, it's kind of quieted down a little bit here on the side of -- near Alvern (ph) on the base right behind me.

A few minutes ago, actually, we saw about four to five different A-10s land within a two-minute period, a lot of action here just a few minutes ago. We do, as Brandon has confirmed that, we have confirmed through TFD that they did respond to the base for a possible wounded person.

We also have confirmed, again, Borman Elementary School on lockdown, the charter school Sonoran Science Academy on lockdown. The schools are asking parents to not attempt to get onto the base to get your children. We're told that your children are locked down in those schools and are as safe as they can be. You will not be let onto the base.

As you're hearing from Lorraine, a lot of traffic out in that area. Best just to avoid it -- Brandon, back to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Danielle, thank you.

And we just got a new e-mail in from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The new report --

BALDWIN: OK, let's go.

So you have been listening to live coverage from KVOA, and essentially the reporter pointing out what we had been pointing out as well. There are couple of schools on base and the note to parents is do not come on base. They're not letting anyone come on base and they're not letting anyone who is on base leave base. But the schools are on lockdown.

And there's been a bit of traffic. Apparently according to our local affiliates, there was a helicopter that took off and landed. You see a couple of jets there on the tarmac there on base. That reporter just said she saw four to five A-10s land within a very short period of time, just within a two-minute period.

So we are going to continue to follow this breaking story. Again, this is Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. If you know the area, the Boneyard is adjacent. That's where they retire a lot of their old military jets. There's am museum nearby. We will continue to cover this for you out of Arizona.

Up next, though, let's move on. CNN's Fareed Zakaria has been talking to some of the most powerful Americans to try to figure out how to fix the jobs crisis. He is going to join me live with some new, fresh solutions. Don't miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A couple of other top stories unfolding right now.

New York police are searching for a 20-year-old soldier who is on the run. Russell Markham escaped from military custody at Ft. Drum last night, is accused of several burglaries. Markham allegedly stole a car and led police on a chase across multiple counties before they damaged the vehicles tires. They have not caught him. He's of course missing. He took off on foot in a wooded area.

An argument between two college roommates turns deadly. Maryland police have arrested a 19-year-old Bowie State University in the death of her 18-year-old roommate. Police say Alexis Simpson stabbed Dominique Frasier and left her unconscious in a hallway in their dorm. Frasier later died. Simpson initially ran away from campus and then hours later she did come back and turned herself in to police.

And a search is back on in Utah in the desert there for a missing mother. Despite earlier reports yesterday, police now say no remains have been found. Cadaver dogs had alerted searchers to possible human remains earlier this week. Susan Powell disappeared back in 2009. Her husband told authorities he last saw her as he and his young sons left to go on a winter camping trip in near zero degree weather. And he says he had no idea where his wife went. He is the only person of interest in the case. And again, we are following our breaking news story out of Tucson, Arizona, the Davis-Monthan Air Force base on lockdown. The affiliate KVOA had been reporting, according to Tucson fire, that they were called to the scene to respond to a person who was suffering gunshot wounds. CNN has then since talked to a spokesperson at the air force base who told us no injuries have been reported. There have been no shots fired.

The base is on lockdown, though. You see what appears to be could be police, could be an ambulance. I'm looking at our pictures from our affiliate there in Tucson. A lot of activity in and around the base. A number of A-10 jets had landed within a two-minute period of time according to a reporter from the affiliate there. A lot of activity on the ground, and also a helicopter had landed and then taken off, according to affiliate reports there.

There are schools on base. The schools are on lockdown so the note to parents from the spokesperson -- do not come to base. You cannot pick up your children at the moment. But, again, we are working the story as is, of course, our affiliate KVOA. As soon as we get any more updates on the situation still unfold unfolding at the Davis-Monthan air base in Tucson, we will pass it along to you.

We have Fareed Zakaria good enough to join me two days in a row here. He's going to talk a little bit about his special coming up primetime Sunday night. And we're going to talk jobs and ideas and solutions, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want you to sit there and I want you to channel your inner Steve Jobs. Let's say you invent some gizmo, some kind of technology, you believe in this thing. Who knows, maybe it has the power to change the world. Did you know this? If you want to get a patent on said invention, the average time it takes to get that is three years, three years to get a patent.

That is supposed to change starting today. Today the president signed this overhaul of the government's patent system. So if you watch us daily -- come on, a lot of you do -- you have heard him ask Congress time and time again to take action on this. Well, they did. And the White House is saying that this will start creating jobs today.

Fareed Zakaria has been drilling down on jobs. He's got a special airing Sunday night "RESTORING THE AMERICAN DREAM -- GETTING BACK TO WORK."

Fareed, let's begin with this patent reform. Three years ago to get a patent and now it looks as though maybe we're getting that fixed. How does expediting a patent, the whole process, create jobs? Obviously the White House also thinks it's a good bit of news. Do you agree?

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, CNN'S "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": Well, I think -- I do agree. I think that the big problem for most small businesses, start-ups as you put it, some inventor with a mad idea. In the initial stages you don't make much money. In fact, you lose money. If it takes you three years to get the patent, very few venture capital firms or angel invest are willing to give you money. So you lose money for three years while you get your patent approved. So by the time you get your patent, you've gone out of business.

So the idea here is to really make a quicker up-or-down decision. It doesn't mean you'll always get the patent but if it means you'll know sooner whether you'll get it. That way if you get it, you're still around as a viable firm.

It's part of a whole series of things we need to modernize. We've sat on top of the world for so long. We haven't looked at our whole governmental system from taxes to regulations to things like this patent process and asked ourselves, how does the rest of the world do it? What are the best practices out there? How do we benchmark and make sure we're competitive to attract the best capital in the world, the best people in the world? We've tended to assume, well, we're number one. Well, guess what, we're not number one in a lot of areas of.

BALDWIN: Reality check, U.S. And as you and I were talking yesterday, you said, look, here is a great idea to help us create jobs. Issue more tourist visas, and folks from overseas will spend their money here. It sounds easy enough. You say you have a number of other ideas like that. You've spoken to a lot of people for this special who offered some ideas. Give us a couple of more ideas.

BALDWIN: The biggest easy idea, not easy but the most immediate idea, is really infrastructure, rebuilding America's bridges, roads, airports, new smart grid, powered grid, all that. Why is that the best idea in the short term? Because right now, no matter what you do, you give tax credits, tax incentives, cut the payroll tax, businesses aren't hiring because there are isn't much demand. Consumers are paying down debt. We're not spending a lot of money in the mall.

This is one area, infrastructure, which isn't dependent on consumer demand. The government can just start modernizing our infrastructure. And we have desperate needs here. We used to be among the top five in the world in the infrastructure according to the World Economic Forum. We now rank 23rd which means we have the worst infrastructure of the advanced industrial world.

So this is a win-win because we can get people to work and we can rebuild our infrastructure, which will produce more economic activity. Every study has shown that better infrastructure pays for itself very quickly.

BALDWIN: Obviously, Europe, we talk a lot about Europe. I know you do on your show. Europe is hurting as well economically speaking. To hear some folks say it, it's the Germans. The Germans are tired of bailing out the slackers over there. I know Fareed Zakaria, it's not that simple.

ZAKARIA: It's not that simple because one of the reasons they have been doing it is that a lot of German banks own all the debt of the Greeks and the Italians and things like that. So when with you look at the Greek situation, you have to understand the reason the Germans are doing it is partly self-interest. They don't want their banking system to collapse, and German banks own a lot of the Greek debt.

But there is something to learn from Germany and we talk about this on the special. Germany has maintained its manufacturing capacity, really remarkably. It's supposed to be the case that once you become rich you don't make stuff anymore. We all become management consultants and massage therapists and things like that. That's the service economy.

Well, the Germans still make stuff and they make a lot of it. And why are they able to do that? We explore that, try to explain how you could have a revival of American manufacturing that would bring back what is really at the heart of the American dream, which is a good job for an average person, not a guy with a fancy college degree. That's what the Germans have been able to do, and that's an area we really could learn a lot about.

BALDWIN: I'm sure there are a number of areas we could learn from different countries across the world. Fareed Zakaria, we'll be watching this weekend, talking jobs, talking solutions. "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" special "GETTING BACK TO WORK" airs Sunday night 8:00 eastern right here on CNN.

And coming up -- we are going to talk to Mr. Sanjay Gupta, who is in the studio. We're going to talk about this amazing story he covered for just about a year of his life. She attempted something that never was done before, swimming 103 miles from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: After 58 miles of swimming and some 29 hours into her journey, Diana was pulled from the water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As I mentioned, Sanjay Gupta followed Diana Nyad her on her journey to break this record. We're now getting this really neat behind-the-scenes look at what happened out there. Up next, not only will Diana join me live, so will Sanjay. Fun conversation. See you in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Quick update on our breaking news story. The Davis- Monthan Air Force base is still under lockdown in Tucson, Arizona. We have just learned there is currently a news conference on bait base. We're going to turn the sound around for you momentarily and we'll bring it to you and see if there's any kind of update there on the situation on base in Tucson. Meantime, trending right now, marathon swimmer Diana Nyad. The 62-year-old wanted to be the first ever to swim the 103 miles from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. Halfway through, 29 hours later, she had to call did it quits. But Diana Nyad certainly remains fearless.

And for over a year this man sitting next to me, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta followed this whole journey as she trained for this dream of hers.

GUPTA: Yes.

BALDWIN: And we're going to talk to Sanjay here in just a moment about that experience. Lucky for me, I also get to talk to Diana herself, who is live in Key West, Florida. Diana, nice to see you. Nice to meet you. Let me just -- I have to begin with, you must be in these last couple of weeks since that swim or in early August -- I would imagine you've been reliving that moment. Can you just take me back to that moment? What were you thinking? What was going through your mind when you had to take what I would imagine a very tough call to get out of the water?

Oh, we lost her. Well, they can work behind the scenes and try to get her back. Meantime, why don't we just talk about this documentary coming out this weekend? What a tremendous experience I'm sure, following her for a year.

GUPTA: It was amazing, Brooke. I think we all have dreams and sometimes you get older and you think, I've got to let that dream go. It's just not going to happen.

BALDWIN: How old is she?

GUPTA: She's 62 now, and 60 was when she decided to do something no human being has ever done before in the world. I sort of likened it to almost like an unrequited love to the way Diana sort of approached this in some ways.

But it was amazing, the preparation to do a 103-mile swim, all the things from are the nutrition to the hydration to the boats to all the sort of support that you need, the whole team. And then the elements, jellyfish and sharks a big concern as well. I was really curious about how they were going to handle that, because she was not swimming with a shark cage. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: One of their biggest concerns -- sharks.

LUKE TIPPLE, MARINE BIOLOGIST: These are great waters for sharks.

GUPTA: Luke Tipple is the lead shark diver on the team. He knows how dangerous these waters can be.

TIPPLE: These particular waters we'll be looking for hammerheads, tiger sharks, Caribbean reef sharks. This animal has evolved to dominate the ocean. They have a sixth sense. They can feel the electricity in the water. They know that we're there.

GUPTA: And that's why in 1978 Diana swam in a shark cage. Today she just uses this.

DIANA NYAD, ENDURANCE SWIMMER: Sharks are tremendously sensitive to this. This is actually in the kayak.

GUPTA: It it's called a shark shield. Off the coast of the Bahamas, Tipple shows us how it works.

It's a shark feeding frenzy at this block of chum until Tipple approaches and turns on the shark shield that hangs right above it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: So you're probably wondering what happens next. That's a tease, Brooke. You've got to watch the documentary to find out.

BALDWIN: I will.

HAYES: That's one way they sort of protected Diana in the water.

BALDWIN: OK, Diana, here we have you, and hopefully you can hear us. You have are jellyfish, sharks, 103 miles, shoulder issues, asthma, waves. Am I missing anything? I don't know if I am. Take me back to that day, what was going through your mind when you had to just make the tough call I'm sure to call it quits.

DIANA NYAD: Brooke, Sanjay, nice to see you. First of all, we know how the shark part of the story ended. I'm still here.

GUPTA: Thank goodness.

NYAD: At least that part we don't have to worry about. You know, it was a heck of a thing. You get ready for these big expeditions. I did them a lot when I was younger in my 20s, and I know every time out, it doesn't matter how prepared you are. As Sanjay mentioned, honestly, you will not find the annals of ocean swimming, a swimmer who did as many long, grueling, torturous training swims as I did over these two years.

As ready as I was, there were so many variables. Many of the things Sanjay was enumerating, but the asthma, never, ever. I imagined maybe getting eaten by a shark, getting taken down by Portuguese man-o-war, jellyfish, maybe a hurricane sweeping across the Caribbean unannounced, or maybe, just not making it because of the sheer duress of exertion. All of those things were possible. But I was not prepared for an extreme, continuous, 11-hour asthma attack. I took a foreign brand medicine. My fault. My bad. And it brought me down.

BALDWIN: Are those still, Diana, goggle marks on your face from August? NYAD: Well, you know, I would have to be honest with you. They are goggle marks, but we shouldn't categorize it with the adverb "still." They are goggle marks because of my swimming currently. If I could just leave it at that.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Yes, you can.

Let me turn to you, Sanjay. What does that do to one's body when you're in the water? I don't know how warm, how cool the water is. Maybe she's hydrating.

GUPTA: First of all, just being in the water. No matter how warm the water is, and Diana likes it a certain temperature, you're still just losing body heat. It's very hard to keep her body temperature. She could not possibly eat enough calories to maintain what she needs. She's burning about 700 calories an hour. So it's impossible to eat enough.

As far as hydration goes, sort of same story there. They would put a line into the water with a pouch and she would try and drink, but you're losing at least six ounces every hour. And again, you have to try and maintain all those fluids.

I think, as one extreme medicine doctor put it, it was a race for Diana more with her own body to try to get to Florida before her body deteriorated. When she attempted this in 1978, she lost 29 pounds in the one swim. That gives you an idea of the toll.

BALDWIN: That's right. You did try this before, when you were 28, 29, 30. I know that you wanted so badly to walk up on to the shores of Florida and you call this, it would have been your fairy tale. Is the fairy tale over?

NYAD: You know, there are so many facets to doing something this extreme over a couple of years. The bonds, the friendship made. The pride built. The body made. I can look back and it's a lesson, life lesson, to me, I hope all the people around me, and I think it was, that if you spend two years, let's take maybe an absurd example. You're married and spent 15 years in a marriage and it doesn't work out. And you try your best, do everything you can to make it work. It doesn't work. You walk away. You've got to be able to take something from all that precious time spent that's valuable.

So I just spent two years of precious time of my life and so did this entire expedition. So if we didn't make it, is it an entire failure? Was it al not worth doing? Of course not. Huge, huge ramifications of positive feedback of life force came out of it.

But to answer your question, there's also an athlete who lives inside her who was very disappointed. And I guess, you know, I can only say that you will hear another ending, another chapter to this story at some point.

BALDWIN: I hear your enthusiasm and see those goggle marks, which tells me you're still in the water. Diana Nyad, thank you so much. I really look forward to this documentary. Again, it's being called "Diana Nyad, Extreme Dream," airs tomorrow night, 8:00 eastern right here on CNN. So, set the TiVo, watch it, whatever you have to do.

Sanjay Gupta, meantime, you're going to stay put, because we're going to talk about this controversy that's been brewing over comments by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson on whether a husband should divorce a wife if she has Alzheimer's. He says the disease is like death, his words. We're back in 70 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta still here with me to talk about this other story, this new outraged sparked by Pat Robertson's comment on Alzheimer's. I want to play the sound bite first of the religious broadcaster saying divorce is justified if a spouse is suffering Alzheimer's, and we'll talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT ROBERTSON, TV HOST: I hate Alzheimer's. It is one of the most awful things, because here's the loved one, the woman or man that you have loved for 20 or 30 or 40 years, and suddenly, that person is gone. They're gone. They are gone.

So, what he says basically is correct, but I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but to make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But isn't that the vow we take when we marry someone? For better, for worse.

ROBERTSON: If you respect that vow, but he said till death do us part. This is the kind of death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, personal opinions about marriage aside here, what Robertson just said about, I'm quoting again, this being a kind of death, is this a fair statement about how Alzheimer's and dementia works.

GUPTA: And this is a deeply emotional topic. It's obviously not a death, in the truest sense of the word and I'm not sure how he was describing that. A person who loses their memory loses a lot of their own memories of their own lives, obviously, a much different person than in their full capacity.

One thing I will say is obviously there are many and more people with Alzheimer's and there are at least 200,000 who are under the age of 65, so this isn't just something --

BALDWIN: Who doesn't know someone -- GUPTA: Right. And even if someone has lost a lot of their memory, they are still comforted by the presence of someone who's been a spouse for a long time, family members, this idea that the person may be abandoned, I think that's definitely the wrong message and I think most people within the Alzheimer's community would agree. The Alzheimer's Association, by the way, say they don't see divorces increasing among spouses with a spouse with Alzheimer's.

BALDWIN: That's interesting.

GUPTA: So he's not reflecting the trend, at least as we know thing now.

BALDWIN: What does Alzheimer's, Mr. Neurosurgeon, do to the brain?

GUPTA: Think about they talk about plaques and tangles. They form in the brain. And they form in all these different areas of the brain. They can affect your memory, which is one of the cardinal symptoms of Alzheimer's. But it can affect other things as well. It can affect your strength, your sensation, your judgment. It can affect ultimately your ability to control your own breathing and heart rate, which is what ultimately leads to people dying from this decide.

But it's a gradual process. And right now, as you know, it's very frustrating for people, there is no effective cure, and there are only a few treatments that offer some benefit.

BALDWIN: Does it as you talk about the gradual process, and of course memory loss, does it shut down parts of the brain?

GUPTA: Eventually, it does. These parts of the brain become so filled with these plaques and tangles they just don't function. They can also manifest by the left side of the brain not talking to the right side anymore. Again, you can lose strength so you almost have stroke like symptoms. Those can be later stages of Alzheimer's, but that's sort of the process as we know it.

BALDWIN: What do husbands, wives, sons, daughters, do, when your loved one has Alzheimer's?

GUPTA: I think it's such an individual question.

BALDWIN: Case by case.

GUPTA: Yes. And I think people are going to react differently. Watching Pat Robertson there, you really get the sense this was a more off the cuff sort of thing. I don't know how much he's thought this threw. I think that's the case for a lot of people. I mean, it's not something you confront until you're confronted with it.

But I think that keeping in mind that most families do tend to stick together, at least according to the Alzheimer's Association, and that these patients who do have Alzheimer's get this degree of comfort from family members, I think that may dictate what family members should do. You do provide some sense of comfort to that person with Alzheimer's for a very long time still/ So, at some point, it just becomes too much, I agree, and patients oftentimes cannot live at home anymore. They cannot live independently. They have to get assisted care. And it's a terribly -- it's a frustrating experience.

BALDWIN: Emotional.

GUPTA: Very emotional, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Perfectly put.

We should also point out we, CNN, reached out to Pat Robertson himself. He declined our request for an interview and also declined making a statement to us here at CNN.

Dr. Gupta, thank you very much.

GUPTA: Thank you, Brooke. Yes.