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Eyewitness to Disaster; No Clemency for Death Row Inmate; James Carville Interviewed; Brazilian President Discusses her Battle with Cancer at U.N.; Typhoon Gathers Force Near Japan; Palestinian Authority Seeks Statehood from U.N.; Rick Perry Criticizes President's Foreign Policy

Aired September 20, 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: Hey, Randi, thank you very much.

And hello to all of you. I am Brooke Baldwin.

And we have some new video. It's an angle we have not seen, until today, of that air race disaster in Reno, Nevada, from Friday night. We are going to show this to you in just a second.

And then I will talk to the man who shot this video. He was there with his sons on the ground. You are going to hear their reaction. Listen for it on this tape. But we do want to warn you before you watch it is tough to watch. It may be disturbing for some of you. Remember, 10 people died.

First we will watch it together. And the video begins just a couple of moments before the pilot nosedives into the crowd of spectators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SCREAMING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please stay where you are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay where you are. Everybody, stay where you are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you get it? Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep your heads up.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I knew that was in the stands. And I was like, oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could have been us. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know. I knew in my mind it was coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me on the phone is the man who shot that video. He is Brent Wilson. He's back home in Portland, Oregon.

And, Brent, you know, we could hear -- I counted three "Oh, my God"s. I don't know if that was you. Some of them were from your son. I can only imagine what you were feeling. If you can, just walk me through your initial thoughts when you saw that plane nosedive and hit the crowd.

BRENT WILSON, EYEWITNESS: It was obviously an incredibly tragic event, and initially, before it got down to the ground, you know, it was all over the sky. And for a brief moment, what appeared to be an eternity to us, you know, it was coming directly for us in our area.

And, you know, I just froze and my sons. And it was something that is And IS life-changing. And my son boys -- my son Kyle (ph) actually is the one who actually was videotaping it. And, yes, that is my yelling oh, my God.

And the one thing that I guess -- the reason that we came forward with our video is we really want to portray -- I mean, when you see it in the crowd, granted, it's shocking, but there was not mass hysteria.

BALDWIN: Why was that, do you think? Brent, why wasn't there mass hysteria, given what we're watching here replay?

WILSON: Well, this event draws a significant amount of both retired and active service personnel. And a lot of these pilots are ex- military pilots that have retired. And, you know, I think people jumped into action.

And what we saw -- we truly saw the human spirit. And while unfortunately it takes a tragedy sometimes to see that, I mean, it's -- I think as Christians we really want to do that always. And my sons and I, we sat and we prayed about -- for those people that have lost their lives and those that have lost loved ones.

BALDWIN: Right, 10 people, again, just bears reminding, 10 people. We have different shots from some of the video from what your son shot, some from other people there in the crowd.

WILSON: Right.

BALDWIN: But once your son stopped rolling, Brent, what did the organizers tell the crowd right after the plane came down? What are we not seeing on the tape?

WILSON: What you're not seeing is a very orderly exit of probably 15,000, 20,000 people and folks leaving orderly. They're making sure that there's -- basically make a hole because you got ambulances rolling in. There is no one that we witnessed that was in any way disrespecting those families that had just lost loved ones, in fact, just the opposite.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Brent, forgive me for interrupting. I wanted to ask you about something that you told one of our producers. You said that sitting there you could tell that the pilot in the air was trying to avoid as many people as possible. Actually tweeted that out and got a response from a pilot who said, you know, if this aircraft had some kind of malfunction, that there's no way to control when you crash at that height and that speed.

I'm just curious what made you say that. How could you perceive that?

WILSON: Well, I'm an aviation addict. I'm not a pilot. So, I study aviation a lot, and what I saw in the plane as I saw it do what's called a yaw, which is sort of like crab crawling if you think of that way, like a plane lands in a crosswind. They sort of crab down. There's sort of this side-to-side motion, which means the pilot is truly working the rudder as hard as he can to try to gain some control over that plane.

And I truly believe in my heart and I will until the day I die that that pilot did absolutely everything he could to avoid, you know, killing hundreds of people. Had he landed in the grandstands, we would be talking about hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries.

(CROSSTALK)

WILSON: And, so, you know, at the last moment the plane, there was sort of this lurch upward. Now, whether he had control of that or whether it just randomly happened, it saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives.

BALDWIN: It's stunning. Given, though, what you have seen, what your sons have seen, will you go to another air race?

WILSON: Well, that's a very good question, and I think at this time, you know, that's something that I'm going to visit with my family over the next year about. And we will make that determination together in prayer. At this point, our thoughts and prayers are focused on those that are injured and those families who lost loved ones. You know, that's down the road, and I don't know.

BALDWIN: Brent Wilson, I thank you for calling in. I thank you for sharing your video. Appreciate it. Glad you guys are OK.

WILSON: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Still ahead, a controversial book, it claims President Obama's top advisers had doubts he could handle the economic crisis, but the White House says this book is full of you know what.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TIMOTHY GEITHNER, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I lived the reality and the reports I have read about this book bear no resemblance to the reality we lived together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So here's one of the questions. Was this book taken out of context?

BALDWIN: Then this: a decision on -- for death for Troy Davis. Georgia denying this man clemency. What will happen now?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A Georgia death row inmate's last-ditch efforts to save his own life have failed. Troy Davis is set to die by lethal injection tomorrow night. The state Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his clemency bid this morning.

Davis was convicted of killing an off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail, 22 years ago. Davis maintains he is innocent, and seven of the nine witnesses who testified decades ago have either recanted, changed their testimony. In fact, people from all over the world have been pushing for Davis to be granted clemency.

He got a lot of high-profile support as well, including from a former president, a former FBI director. But in a statement just a couple of hours ago, the Georgia Pardons and Paroles Board said this. And I will read their statement for you.

They say: "The board members have not taken their responsibility lightly and certainly understand the emotions attached to a death penalty case. Since 2000, the board has commuted three death penalty cases. In considering clemency in such cases," they go on, "the board weighs each case on its own merit. They have considered the totality of the information presented in this case and thoroughly deliberated on it, after which the board's decision was to deny clemency."

Now, the family of officer Davis -- the family of the officer -- or -- Troy Davis was convicted of killing said the board made the right decision. Mark MacPhail's son who was just a small baby when his father was killed said justice was finally served for his father. MacPhail's mother says she will never have closure, but she may find peace when some after Davis is executed.

I want you to hear what she said CNN's Kyra Phillips earlier today about her son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE MACPHAIL, MOTHER OF VICTIM: Mark was a very, very exciting young man, full of life. He loved his country. He spent years in the military to protect us. He went into the police department to protect us, and that's what he was doing. He loved his children. He loved his family. Any chance he had, he would come home to be with us all. So he was quite a young man that we all loved dearly. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Despite the decision from the board just this morning and the imminent execution, Davis' supporters say they're going to keep fighting to save him. Amnesty international is now calling on anyone who has power to stop what they're calling a grave injustice, also the pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church who prayed with Troy Davis just last night says he doesn't believe Davis is out of options.

Here's what he told Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. RAPHAEL G. WARNOCK, EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH: Well, we're not conceding the point there are no other options. In fact, we call on the Board of Pardons and Paroles to reverse their decision. They have the authority, they have the power to do so.

As a matter of fact, we call on everyone who has a role to play in this execution to stand on behalf of what's right.

The district attorney down in Chatham County, Mr. Larry Chisolm, could ask the judge of the Superior Court to vacate the execution warrant. We call on him to do so, particularly because since shared with me and others that were he trying this case today, it would not be a death case. And yet here we are. I'm not sure how the Board of Pardons and Paroles has come to this decision, but we would ask them to reverse it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: In Georgia, only that Board of Pardons and Paroles, not the governor, has the right to grant clemency.

We have some new details in the hunt for a serial killer, could be killers, on Long Island.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is believed that one or more individuals have murdered young women working as escorts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Plus, new sketches are released of two of these unidentified victims and the DNA link found miles away.

Then take a look at this huge gas rig explosion. We're learning more about those details there in Oklahoma coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, let's get a quick check here of some of the top stories we're working on.

A lot of new details today on hunt for a serial killer, could be killers, who claimed 10 victims on Long Island. Suffolk County police just released these sketches here of two of these unidentified victims. Also, they released photos of jewelry that two other victims were wearing. They are revealing that the remains found miles and years apart are linked by DNA.

Next hour, we will have more on the serial killings. I will ask a former police detective what the new evidence could mean for this ongoing investigation.

Also, this story broke right around this time yesterday. Four earthquakes in just two-and-a-half-hours, they hit Guatemala yesterday afternoon, rattling the capital. They're now blamed for the death of at least one person. Rescue officials -- you see them here -- spending their afternoons and night searching these damaged and collapsed homes for people who could be trapped inside.

And a close call overnight for workers on this natural gas rig. This is Oklahoma. They scrambled off this rig minutes before it exploded. Everyone made it out OK. The explosion sent flames 100 feet into the sky and could be heard from what we're told about a mile away.

This fire here forced deputies to go house to house, tell people to get out. At last report, the fire is still burning. Most of the people evacuated, they are back home, but we're told it could be days before anyone knows what caused that blast.

And people in Northern California have positively identified a set of human remains found over this past weekend. They are the remains of Michelle Le. Le was a nursing student missing since may, and the subject of this massive police and volunteer search. Her death is classified as a homicide, and a former friend is now in custody, arrested earlier this month in connection with this case.

A former Afghan president is killed in a suicide blast in Kabul. Burhanuddin Rabbani led the Afghan Peace Council, was considered vital to bringing the Taliban into the reconciliation process, these peace talks. Police say the attacker detonated the device hidden inside his turban while he was visiting the former Afghan president's home.

The loud explosion prompted a temporarily lockdown at the nearby U.S. Embassy.

And Nick Paton Walsh joins me live now from Islamabad, Pakistan.

And, Nick, is this the Taliban? Is anyone claiming responsibility for this?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have said to the Reuters News Agency that they were behind this. But, to be honest, their admission of responsibility has been uncharacteristically slow. They normally leap out with a text message or an e-mail explaining the details of what happened. There was a strange silence.

There are some doubts as to the complete veracity of this claim. But what's not in doubt though is what seemed to have happened here. Two Taliban apparent Taliban negotiators going to see Burhanuddin Rabbani to talk perhaps about some kind of peace settlement, waved in by one of his colleagues, another government peace negotiator, Massom Stanikzai, who said, no, no, please come into the house for these talks. One of the them detonating the bomb inside his turban, sending frankly a psychological shockwave through the Afghan government.

One of their key figures taken out in the security of his home right near the U.S. Embassy and certainly a blow against people living in Kabul, who only days ago heard an hours-long firefight where some militants just took potshots at NATO headquartersand the U.S. Embassy for a long period of time -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nick Paton Walsh in Islamabad -- Nick, thank you very much.

As the U.S. economy limps along, James Carville says President Obama needs to finally make change. But will he?

Then this book controversial book "Confidence Men" said top advisers had little confidence in Obama's ability to deal with handling the economy. The author defends it. The White House refute it. So was the book taken out of context? You decide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to tell you about this bombshell book about the early days of the Obama administration, a lot of questions like, is it accurate? I'm talking about this book called "Confidence Men," a new book that's highly critical of President Obama and his top economic aides. The White House says, don't believe everything you read.

It's trending today. And Brian Todd has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For a bestselling author, serious brushback from the White House over a new book which depicts infighting and indecision in the Obama administration's early days. In his book "Confidence Men," Ron Suskind writes, the president's top advisers had doubts about whether he could handle the economic crisis.

Larry Summers, former director of the president's National Economic Council, is quoted as saying in 2009: "We're home alone. There is no adult in charge. Clinton would never have made these mistakes."

We couldn't reach Summers for comment, but in an e-mail to "The Washington Post," he said "The hearsay attributed to me is a combination of fiction, distortion and words taken out of context."

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I lived the reality and the reports I have read about this book bear no resemblance to the reality we lived together.

TODD: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner responding to a passage in Suskind's book saying that President Obama decided early on to restructure several troubled banks, but discovered nearly a month later that his directive had been ignored by the Treasury.

GEITHNER: Absolutely not. And I would never do that.

TODD: CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger says in books like this, former officials often try to bolster their own legacies or settle scores.

(on camera): Would it lead do you think to some kind of finger- pointing behind the scenes and people looking over their own shoulders , saying I got to watch what I'm saying to everybody?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It might. Well, I mean, this is Washington. People are always going to try and figure out who was the source for that, who is the source for that story. I bet that came from him or I bet it came from him.

TODD (voice-over): A defiant White House press secretary launched a separate offensive against Suskind.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: One passage seems to be lifted almost entirely from Wikipedia, in the book.

TODD (on camera): When CNN followed up with the White House after that briefing, officials indicated that Jay Carney was referring to a passage in Suskind's book about the federal mortgage firm Fannie Mae as first reported by the online publication Politico.

(voice-over): Quote: "In 1968, it officially became publicly held corporation to remove it debt and related activities from the federal balance sheet." The Wikipedia passage says, "In 1968, if converted to a publicly held corporation to remove its activity and debt from the federal budget."

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: By the way, the White House cooperated with the author as he was writing this book, giving him access to both the president and his inner circle.

And with the slumping economy here, James Carville says President Obama needs to finally make a change, but will he? Mr. Carville will join me live coming up.

Then, while President Obama is in New York at the United Nations General Assembly meeting, then she overcame torture and cancer before becoming president of Brazil, a look at Dilma Rousseff in today's "Human Factor."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, want to let you know what's happening right now. Take a good live look at this live satellite picture here. Thousands of people need to get out of the way of a typhoon that's about to hit Japan.

Chad Myers has been watching this thing swirling. He is going to explain -- explain where this massive storm equal to a Category 3 hurricane is aiming for hours from now. We will get to Chad here momentarily. Stay tuned for that.

But first, James Carville has a lot of advice for the president as of late. He's not at all shier about sharing it. The longtime Democratic strategist and CNN contributor says President Obama is showing a new aggressiveness. And he says it's about time. James Carville joins me live.

James, you're pretty intense about this. You say the president should fire some people here. We talked about that with your op-ed on CNN.com. I know you have great sources. Is there any indication that the president is going to do that, going to fire people? Will we see the change you're calling for?

JAMES CARVILLE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I think that there are going to be changes in the White House. I don't know if somebody will be fired, probably natural attrition, turnover but it probably will happen. I thought this morning was a refreshing and interesting departure from the strategy before.

We had two major setbacks. This debt ceiling deal was a huge setback, didn't help the White House at all. It actually hurt. And these two elections were a clear signal. We should take it at that and that prompted the piece that I wrote. The best time to plant an oak tree was 25 years ago. The second best time is yesterday. They planted one yesterday. Let's see if it works. It seems they're signaling a change in direction, which can be regarded as a good thing for now.

BALDWIN: Yesterday we saw the president standing in the rose garden announcing this tax cut plan, so-called Buffett rule. How did he do?

CARVILLE: Again, he gives a great speech, a great press conference. No doubt about that. Any time that he does, he is a very articulate and well-spoken man.

The question everybody has, is he going to follow up on this? Is he going to keep talking about it? Is he going to push it, give examples? You know, is he going to carry tough if we ever get to the point? Who knows with negotiations? Or will he take this and carry it through the election? In all likelihood that's when all of this will come up. That's what people are saying to themselves. Hey, this thing looks like a good start, a departure from where we were. Let's see where he goes. I think every Democrat is wishing him well.

James Carville, I know you're out and about. You were in Buffalo, now you're in Chicago. I hear from people on twitter, when you hear from Americans they're mad. They're sick of the back and forth, bickering inside the beltway. Their big worry, they want jobs. So here's my hypothetical to you. Let's say the president fires folks, lets them go, hires you. Day one, what do you do to get the jobs ball rolling?

CARVILLE: Well, I think from day one that the thing I would talk about is the ongoing decline of the middle class and that we have a mission here. If we just get the jobs ball rolling without restoring something to the middle class, we are missing the boat here. BALDWIN: But what specifically?

CARVILLE: Well, first of all, get health care costs under control. Secondly, instead of having something and calling it a stimulus, if you said you were building things to help build the middle class, people would love that.

Third, you've got to deal with some of the problems we have and this horrific inequality the middle class is experiencing. And that's why yesterday is a good start. The single most popular way to reduce the deficit is to have this kind of tax that the president was talking about. So I think this is very in line with what he needs to do. He's got to give people a signal that you're changing things. That's what they started yesterday. That's what my piece was about.

BALDWIN: And perhaps it's a signal, but, you know, realists say -- I was just talking to our chief White House correspondent yesterday, Jessica Yellin, and she said, look, this thing is dead on arrival. There's no way this can go through Congress. So is this just political posturing, maneuvering? What's the point?

CARVILLE: Of course there's a point. What you do is, I don't care -- you articulate a position. You get behind a position. You get people behind it. And the point is, as I said earlier in the piece, if nothing happens on this piece, you run on it in the election and elections decide thing that's have a consequence.

All the people who say, this doesn't have a point. Look what happened in the debt negotiations. John Boehner walked away with 98 percent of what he wanted. The point here is, in a democracy you advocate things and you push things. And all this they need to get together and you have to articulate something and I think the White House is finally realizing had that. So let's see. This could be a popular position.

BALDWIN: Woo, James Carville fired up in Chicago. Let me ask you about that book you've heard a thing or two about, this Ron Suskind book, "Confidence Men" paints a picture of the administration where maybe the president isn't always in control, this allegation of sexism. Does that jibe with your experience with the current administration, James?

CARVILLE: Well, I don't have a -- to be brutally honest, I don't have a lot of experiences. I do know that the president's appointed, what, two women in the Supreme Court. I don't know how many cabinet members from the HHS secretary to the Labor secretary to Homeland secretary to secretary of state are all women. I know his chief domestic adviser is a woman. I just find this really hard to believe.

And to Anita's defense, she did say the president sounded very good on this. Now, what happened in some meeting, and did someone get offended or feel like that was going on I have no idea.

BALDWIN: James Carville, good to talk to you. Come back anytime. Thank you very much.

CARVILLE: OK. Thank you. BALDWIN: Now let's check in with Dr. Sanjay Gupta at the United Nations general assembly. He's in New York with a look at how Brazil's president overcame torture. This is today's "Human Factor."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Dilma Rousseff, that is a name you should probably remember for lots of different reasons, quite a remarkable individual. The first woman actually going to be speaking to the U.N. general assembly, giving one of the opening keynote addresses, also the first woman to be president of Brazil.

She's 63-year-old Rousseff, quite an extraordinary history, she was a revolutionary in Brazil in the late '60s and '70s. She was captured, tortured, told to stay out of government. She subsequently became the chief of staff to the Brazilian president and now president herself.

In the midst of all that, back in 2009, she also developed non- Hodgkin's lymphoma, for which she was treated. In fact, she gave a speech where she lifted up the wig and said, look, I'm in remission as a result of the treatments I have received.

She wants to do a lot for Brazil in terms of health. Brazil is a place people have looked to in the past for best practices with regard to HIV/AIDS. Now there's a $3 billion expenditure she wants to have to try to prevent many forms of disease including breast and cervical cancers. She's opening hospitals in many places in Brazil to try to prevent and street the diseases early. She's got a lot of her own personal history vested in this with her own cancer history.

Now a lot of the countries here at the U.N. looking to Brazil to sort of see how they're treating these non-communicable diseases and specifically looking at Dilma Rousseff to see what she's done to make Brazil a healthier place. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Sanjay, thank you very much.

Back to the typhoon that's barreling now toward Japan, thousands of people trying to get out of the way. Wait until you hear where this thing is expected to make landfall and the damage that could come, next. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Getting some news in to CNN with regard to the imminent execution of a Georgia man convicted for shooting and killing a Savannah police officer a number of decades ago, Troy Davis. The parole board denied clemency today, and we're just now learning from the department of corrections a couple new nuggets, the first being media witnesses for the execution. There appears five or six from a number of local primarily media groups, both print and television.

Also learning Troy Davis declined to request a special last meal. Instead, he'll be offered the institution's meal tray consisting of grilled cheeseburgers, oven ground potatoes, baked beans, coleslaw, cookies, and a grape beverage. Again, he is set to be executed by lethal injection 7:00 p.m. eastern time tomorrow night.

To Japan. More than a million people are being told to evacuate. We're talking about typhoon Roke now moving in, threatening to do to Tokyo what we thought Irene was going to do to New York, at least that's what I know Chad has been saying. That was certainly something I took note of. I mean, how -- I was reading, like, what, 80,000 evacuations thus far, a million people perhaps down the road. Where is it now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A million people told to evacuate, only 80,000 so far on last report have done it. This thing is going to make landfall in about 12 hours very close to Yokohama and into Tokyo at 7:0 this morning our time this was a 132-mile-per-hour hurricane, typhoon, cyclone, all the same thing, just in different oceans. So in this ocean they call them typhoons.

Roek very close to Tokyo, about 2:00 a.m. local time our time, that will be tomorrow already. Then it not only goes over Tokyo with a 100-mile-per-hour wind, right over the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. If you look at Tokyo, the water runs this way on this side and the water runs this way on this side.

So you're going to get hours and hours of water piling up on the mountains, and there will be significant mud slides as the storm continues to move up toward the north and to the northeast later tonight and tomorrow. Let me show you exactly here what Tokyo looks like. We're going to take you here, almost 20 million people in the way of this city. There are, like, 26 cities in the Tokyo prefecture area. And the big buildings, the wind tunneling effect we talked about possible for New York City all the way through Tokyo and into some of the surge areas, too. So people being told to evacuate. I'm not sure where you even go, how do you move a million people out of the way in some spots? They're in for a very rough night.

BALDWIN: I was tweeting about the story earlier. So many people share the same, gosh, again, the Japanese can't seem to catch a break. And also with all the rain earlier that means the ground similar to what you were talking about with Irene, Vermont, New York, saturated which means the flooding is worse.

MYERS: There will be flooding in Sendai from the water up the mountain tonight and rushing back down toward the nuclear power plant.

BALDWIN: Hopefully it will end up not quite as bad.

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: Chad Myers, thank you very much for that. We'll have information about the satellite crash into earth next hour.

Now this -- Israel appears to be making this last-ditch effort to try to prevent a Palestinian statehood. Here's one young man's thoughts on that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will not help them to achieve their goals because I believe that only through negotiations will they be able to reach a peace agreement with Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We're going to hear from others on both sides of the issue, what they think should happen. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Calling this a historic day, the United Nations secretary-general ordered the new post-Gadhafi Libyan flag to stand next to the U.N. flag today in New York. Libya now being represented at the United Nations general assembly this week by someone other than Moammar Gadhafi for the first time in more than 40 years. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the new leadership to the world body despite the fact that Gadhafi's whereabouts are still unknown, fighting still rages on in many parts of Libya. Here is President Obama just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was Libyan women and girls who hung flags and smuggled weapons to the front. It was Libyans from countries around the world, including my own, who rushed home to help even though they, too, risked brutality and death. It was Libyan blood that was spilled and Libya's sons and daughters who gave their lives. And on that August day, after all that sacrifice, after 42 long years, it was Libyans who pushed their dictator from power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Also, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived this morning. He speaks to the assembly this Thursday. No word yet on whether he'll address one of several big looming issues at this year's general assembly, the Palestinian request for official U.N. recognition being one. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he will formally ask for U.N. membership when he speaks on Friday. If granted, that would give the Palestinians an upgraded statuses at the U.N. that is higher than the current observer status they have now.

But here's the problem for Abbas. The United States, a permanent Security Council member, promises to veto that request. The U.S. prefers Palestinians continues peace talks with Israel instead. And CNN's cameras went out in Jerusalem to ask people both young and old, Israelis, Palestinians, how they feel about this current proposal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tell him go to the United Nations and we are people, Palestinian people, support you in this situation. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I agree that there should be a Palestinian state and there should be a recognition of their right to even -- to -- for this claim.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will not help them to achieve their goals because I believe that only through negotiations will they be able to reach a peace agreement with Israel for the long run.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know American people always against us and always with Israel, but I hope eventually we have something -- achieve something, even if it's something small. We have nothing to lose. We try everything, and so we will go for it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope they get a state. I wish that something could be worked out that it doesn't harm either side of the party, the Israelis or the Palestinians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just sort of going around the whole negotiation table. It's a one-sided declaration as opposed to an agreement between both of the states.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American was always using the veto against our rights to have a full seat in United Nations. Why us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because all the Palestinian people wait for this moment. We go to say to the people in the world, help us to be a state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm afraid it's going to get to some cycle of violence, going to start some cycle of violence. Those are my thoughts about it. I'm not opposing for Palestinian to have a state of their own. I just wonder about the security of Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I want to bring in live at the United Nations senior correspondent Richard Roth. Richard, we were just listening to some people in that piece, you know, concerned but not outright opposed to this notion of Palestine being recognized by the U.N. Do you get that impression also in speaking with other senior diplomats there?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, the dynamic of this story is taking shape, and maybe everyone will get a little bit of something that makes them look good that they tried. Israeli diplomats you talked to mostly are saying that there will be dire consequences if statehood indeed is granted fort region. Others say perhaps we know that the request by the Palestinians will be submitted to the Security Council, which must first approve this, but that may take some time and it may get stalled there. And Israel may say, OK, you've submitted but nothing really happened.

Abbas and the Palestinians get to say, we went to the Security Council. And there are other options still for the Palestinians. They could still go to the general assembly and get a lesser role but an upgraded observer state status. BALDWIN: Obviously you're there to follow that this week, amongst several other stories. But, you know, Richard, with all these world leaders there at the U.N., I want you to talk to me about this moment that I guess was kind of surreal that happen at the U.N. The former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger was speaking at a private for you. What was he speaking about?

ROTH: There are many themes of the U.N. One is climate change that the secretary-general is big on. The former governor of California has been making that a priority over the years. But he's been quite reclusive since the scandal involving his wife and the nanny. So it was very interesting to watch him here inside the U.N. you could listen to his comments here, but he's really talking about the need to get working on the issue of climate change. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: I'm on optimist. I've ignored the naysayers my whole life. Now I want all of you to join me in ignoring the pessimists, the naysayers and the critics, because they will always complain and be negative no matter what. It's our job to hit the mute button and to get to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Schwarzenegger is not the governor of California anymore, but he's going to make this still a passion. I think it's hard for some people -- you look at him now speaking and it will take a while to remove the scandal when you view Schwarzenegger.

BALDWIN: Richard Roth, live at the U.N., we'll be checking in with you later this week.

Now I want to show you some video. These are some pictures -- this was taken at a school spirit function. These are college students. Can you see? In black face. Apparently they don't realize this is just not acceptable in 2011. That is coming up in our next hour.

Also, Rick Perry talking foreign policy. Jim Acosta has that in your Political Ticker, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to Jim Acosta we go with the latest news fresh off the CNN Political Ticker, including Texas Governor Rick Perry. He is now weighing in on this Palestinian statehood story. What's he saying?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, we were talking about this yesterday, and he is making some pretty strong statements about President Obama's handing of Israel, handling of this Palestinian statehood question, which is apparently going to go to United Nations and be a very delicate diplomatic topic for the president this week.

Rick Perry held a press conference in Manhattan just down the street from the United Nations earlier today in which he accused the Obama administration of appeasement towards Middle East leaders, basically accusing the White House of throwing Israel under the bus and allowing the Palestinians to make this request for statehood at the United Nations. And this was some tough Texas talk even for Rick Perry. Here's what he had to say

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK PERRY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're equally indignant of the Obama administration and their Middle East policy of appeasement that has encouraged such an ominous act of bad faith. Simply put, we would not be here today at this very precipice of such a dangerous move if the Obama policy in the Middle East wasn't naive and arrogant, misguided, and dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So, there's a lot of things going on today with these statements, Brooke. One is obviously he's making a play for Jewish voters. We've talked about that. In many days, this is a dog whistle to Christian conservatives. He had the prayer event in August. He was down at Liberty University in Virginia last week and now, he said this earlier today talking about Israel, that as a Christian, he feels he has a clear directive to be a supporter of Israel.

And so it's interesting to hear him from that standpoint as well. That is something that plays very well with Christian conservatives, Brooke, and I would have to think that a lot of leaders in that community heard Rick Perry loud and clear when he made those comments today.

BALDWIN: Those were some strong words. Jim Acosta, thank you so much. We're going to have aPolitical Ticker Update --

ACOSTA: You bet.

BALDWIN: -- for you in half an hour.