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Underwear Bomber Pleads Guilty; Alleged Assassination Plot Revealed; Millions of BlackBerries Go Down
Aired October 12, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7 I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed for Wednesday, October 12th.
American officials are outraged and say Iran will pay. This Texas used car salesman is the unlikely suspect in an alleged assassination plot backed by Iran. The U.S. claims that Manssor Arbabsiar who holds dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship tried to hire an undercover informant to kill the Saudi ambassador of the United States.
Now officials say that Arbabsiar wanted to blow up a Washington restaurant killing the diplomat and potentially many Americans right along with him. U.S. officials have now gathered in Washington and they have gathered the diplomatic corps at the State Department to try to assure them that they are safe. The Obama administration is also deciding how to respond to Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT: It's an outrage that violates one of the fundamental premises of which nations deal with one another, and that is the sanctity and safety of their diplomats. And so this is really over the top. They have to be held accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The U.S. links the alleged plot to the elite Quds force that is part of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but it is far from clear if Quds was acting on its own or on orders from top Iranian leaders.
Now Iran calls the alleged plot a fabrication and is accusing the United States of, quote, "stupid mischief."
Well, President Obama says that the fight for jobs, not over. He plans to break his jobs legislation into some smaller bills and press Congress to pass each of those. Well, the Senate blocked his $474 billion jobs package, that happened last night, on a vote of 50-49. The president needed 60 votes to advance it.
Herman Cain's surge in the polls made him a target last night at the Republican debate in New Hampshire. Cain's 999 tax plan drew some fire as an unworkable scheme that didn't stand a chance in Congress. Well, Cain, who's the former Godfather's Pizza CEO, he wants a flat 9 percent tax on individuals, a 9 percent tax on businesses, along with a 9 percent national sales tax. Candidate Jon Huntsman joked he thought 999 was the price of a pizza.
Well, the terror trial of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came to an abrupt end. That happened this morning and that was in Detroit. A Nigerian man, he pleaded guilty to all counts on the second day, just the second day, of his trial. Abdulmutallab was charged with trying to blow up an airliner with explosives hidden in his underwear. That happened Christmas Day, you may recall, in 2009.
The new Libyan government says its fighters now control 90 percent of Sirte. That is the hometown of former leader Moammar Gadhafi. Troops loyal to Gadhafi, they have been holding out ever since Tripoli fell six weeks ago.
Our Dan Rivers is with the fighters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, this is pretty much the front line in Sirte. You can hear -- you can hear there's quite a lot of shooting going on down this road. We're right in the outskirts of the city, and it is what sounds like a very fierce battle indeed going on just a few hundred yards up the road.
(Voice-over): We ventured down that road quickly, because it's not somewhere you want to linger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Libya's new political leadership has said it will declare the country liberated once Sirte falls.
Well, a cargo ship captain is now facing criminal charges, that in New Zealand today. His ship had a reef leaking tons of crude into the sea. Patties of slimy oil washing up on New Zealand's beaches and workers are trying to remove the remaining oil from that crippled ship but they're dealing with high winds and strong swells.
A year ago tonight, rescuers, you may recall, began pulling 33 men out of a collapsed mine in Chile. Well, the group spent 69 grueling days trapped a half-mile underground. Stick around. I'm going to be talking with journalist Jonathan Franklin about the astonishing revelations about those miners and their lives underground. That from his new book on those miners. It is called "33 Men."
Now is your chance to "Talk Back." One of the big stories of the day, if you watched last night's Republican presidential debate, Mitt Romney, he was ready for the assault. Waiting for those inevitable attacks on the thing that makes him most vulnerable in the eyes of many Republican, and that is health care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Governor Romney, your chief economic adviser Glenn Hubbard, who you know well, he said that Romneycare was Obamacare.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have less than 1 percent of our kids that are uninsured. You have 1 million kids uninsured in Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So it was a swift comeback, but still, Romneycare is an issue, it's not going away. So today's "Talk Back" question, does Romney's changing position on health care matter to you?
Carol Costello, she's joining us from New York.
And, Carol, a lot of people think that Mitt Romney perhaps flip- flops on different issues and different sides here. What do we suppose is kind of the measurement here? His own health care plan?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was interesting they way he answered Rick Perry's question, right? He didn't really answer the question. He deflected it. So he's thinking up new ways on how to address this health care thing. The biggest thorn, though, in Mitt Romney's side is what his opponents call Romneycare.
As I said, that's what opponents call the health care plan. Romney created it in Massachusetts when he was governor. It turns out the Obama administration was entranced with Romney's plan and according to NBC News, Obama officials met with Romney's advisers to create Obamacare, and, yes, both plans include a requirement to buy insurance. Romney says, yes. So?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: The truth is, our plan is different, and the people of Massachusetts, if they don't like it, then get rid of it. Right now, they favor 3-1, but I'm not running for governor of Massachusetts. I'm running for president of the United States. And as president I will repeal Obamacare, grant a waiver on day one to get that started and I'll make sure that we return to the states what we had when I was governor, the right to care for our poor in the way we thought best for our respective states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Still, that makes you wonder. Here's Governor Romney on FOX News the day he signed the Massachusetts law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: But when I set out to find a way to get everybody health insurance I couldn't have cared less and I don't care less about how it works politically. In my view, it's the right thing to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So Mitt Romney was for the individual mandate before he was against it, at least on the national level, and he says as president he will repeal the very health care law he inspired. So the "Talk Back" question today, does Romney's changing position on health care matter to you?
Facebook.com/carolCNN. Facebook.com/carolCNN. I'll read your responses later this hour.
MALVEAUX: All right. Carol, thank you.
Here's a rundown some of the stories that we are covering. First, an alleged murder-for-hire plot to kill an ambassador to the United States. We dig deeper as the U.S. points fingers at Iran.
Then BlackBerries? They're going down all over the world. Now that's also hitting here at home. The United States.
And then, while the occupied Wall Street protesters are battling corporate greed, there are some Wall Street workers who are scared for their own jobs. We're going to tell you why.
Also, another satellite hurdling towards the earth? Scientists, they don't even know where it's going to land. We're going to get those possibilities.
And later, strange story. A family gets lost in a corn maze.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really scared. It's really dark and we've got a 3-week-old baby with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: We are following the trial of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He is the so-called underwear bomber.
I want to go straight to our CNN producer Laura Dolan who is in the courtroom at the time that he actually pleaded guilty to the charges.
Laura, first of all, take us inside. Tell us what happened, how this came about, whether or not this was a rather surprising development.
LAURA DOLAN, CNN PRODUCER (via phone): Yes. It definitely was a surprise. It started out the day, of course, started at 9:00 with an immediate recess that lasted about 45 minutes to an hour. When they came back into court, the standby counsel Anthony Chambers addressed the judge, Judge Nancy Edmonds, and said that his -- that Mr. Abdulmutallab wanted to enter a plea of guilty.
From there, they went through all of the counts. The judge was very, very specific and very careful to go over all of the counts with him and one by one he said, I plead guilty. To each and every count. And then after that, he read a statement saying, giving his guilt, saying I knowingly did all of this and he was inspired by Mr. al- Awlaki, who was recently killed in a military action two weeks ago, and he said he did it avenge the killing of innocent Muslims and that the U.S. was the one who was guilty.
He also said he was guilty under U.S. law but not under the law of the Koran. After that all ended he said at the end, Allahu Akbar, which also means god is great, and that's how it ended.
MALVEAUX: Laura, what was the response, what was the reaction inside the courtroom when he made that statement?
DOLAN: Well, there was a lot of buzz. In the courtroom, I was in that overflow room watching it from the overflow room. Because you were in the courtroom, you could not leave, but the buzz was to stay in what you're in the overflow room or the courtroom and there was a lot of activity, a lot of typing going on. People trying to get it out. That this was indeed a surprise.
This trial, again, was supposed to last three weeks to a month. There was a three to four jury selection process. This was very -- it took a while to get going.
MALVEAUX: Sure.
DOLAN: Remember this happened in Christmas in 2009.
MALVEAUX: Right. Right.
DOLAN: So it's almost two years and all this preparation, and on the second day of the trial he pled guilty.
MALVEAUX: And Laura, real quick, if you could just button this up for us. What happens to him now that he's pleaded guilty?
DOLAN: Can you repeat that again?
MALVEAUX: What happens to him now that he's actually pleaded guilty?
DOLAN: He has -- he will remain in custody. He will most likely get life in prison. Many of these counts that he pled guilty to had maximum penalties of life in prison with consecutive sentences.
Sentencing will be on January 12th, and he naturally will get that sentence by the judge. The judge makes that decision.
MALVEAUX: All right, Laura, thank you so much for bringing us the very latest on a trial that a lot of folks have been watching very carefully.
Thank you very much, Laura.
Well, U.S. officials, they are fired up over an alleged plot to the assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States here on American soil. Congressman Peter King is calling it an act of war. The State Department is issuing a rare worldwide alert warning Americans to be on-guard against terror attacks, and U.S. officials are right now briefing the diplomatic corps about the alleged murder-for-hire scheme.
Iran categorically rejects the claim calling it an evil plot. It reads like a spy novel. Saudi ambassador Adel al-Jubeir was to have been blown up in his favorite restaurant in Washington. The Justice Department has arrested this man, Manssor Arbabsiar, a used car salesman with a U.S. and Iranian citizenship. He was jailed in New York last month.
Well he is accused of working with members of an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to carry out the assassination. Arbabsiar allegedly believed he was hiring assassins from a Mexican drug cartel for $1.5 million. But a drug cartel member turned out to be a paid informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. A recorded conversation taken directly from the federal complaint quotes, "that Arbabsiar as saying he wants you to kill this guy."
The paid source says there's going to be, like American people there in the restaurant. Do you want me to do it outside or in the restaurant? Well, Arbabsiar answers, it doesn't matter how you do it.
The U.S. has long listed Iran as a state-sponsor of Terror. CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom, he's joining us live from Abu Dhabi and Mohammed.
Iran, no stranger to allegations. Is it reasonable to believe that members of its Revolutionary Guard and the Quds force will be able to plan such an attack.
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, it's still hard to know. While the Quds force is an elite force in Iran, analysts and experts, you know, since this news broke, they've been scratching their heads. They're baffled by this.
When you look at it from the Saudi side to try to understand how high up the target of this alleged plot goes up in the Saudi government, it goes up quite high. Adel al-Jubeir not simply an ambassador to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. We spoke a little earlier to former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Asked him al-Jubeir might have been a target. Here's what he told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT JORDAN, FORMER U.S. AMB. TO SAUDI ARABIA: He is so close to King Abdullah that I think it does make him a target to some degree and it's almost like a son to the king. Some have said that his duties as foreign policy adviser have continued. And so he spends a tremendous amount of time in Riyadh consulting with the king and is involved in almost every high-level diplomatic meeting the King Abdullah has.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JAMJOOM: Suzanne, it's Ambassador al-Jubeir goes up very high in this Saudi government. Not your average run-of-the-mill diplomat. Somebody who if they had a successfully targeted him, that would have been a direct strike at the king of Saudi Arabia as well -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Mohammed, I mean he's been around in Washington a long time. I actually know him. What do we make of the fact that they believe that the highest level of the Iranian leadership was involved in that? Is that a plausible scenario? And who do you suppose they're talking about here?
JAMJOOM: Well, it's hard to know, because you could talk -- be talking about elements within the Quds force. You could be talking rogue elements. Who exactly they'd be taking their direction from? And the more you speak to analysts and Iranian experts since yesterday, it's just unclear at this point. If this does point to the top level of Iran's government or not.
MALVEAUX: OK.
JAMJOOM: But these are all questions that are being very diligently asked right now, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Mohammed, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Explain to us why it would be that they would be on opposite sides?
JAMJOOM: Well, Suzanne, Iran and Saudi Arabia have a relationship of enmity and hostility that's lasted for years. It's no surprise that there's tension between those two countries. You go back even to the Iran/Iraq war. Saudi Arabia backed Iraq in that war. That's one source of tension.
There's the Sunni-backed Saudi Arabia, the Shiite government of Iran. These are super powers in the region that are very much divided across the ideological spectrum and the sectarian spectrum as well.
More recently during the Arab Spring when it's taken root in this region, one of the flashpoint of tension between these two counties has been Bahrain. Bahrain is a country that is 70 percent Shiite. It's -- have support, expressed by Iran for the population of that country in the past, the Saudi government, very much supports the Sunni leadership's Bahrain.
Once it looked like that leadership was being threatened in March, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Gulf, they sent forces into Bahrain to try to -- to try to prop up the government there, to try to make sure their stability was ensured. That's been a source of tension. The Saudis have been pointing to Iran.
MALVEAUX: Right.
JAMJOOM: Iran has been pointing to Saudi Arabia. A lot of tension there and it's really been boiling over of late -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Mohammed Jamjoom, thank you. In the race for the White House the gloves came off again as Republican candidates took on each other. The latest debate, a lot of facts, figures thrown around. Some were true, some (INAUDIBLE), not so true.
Our Tom Foreman is with us from Washington to do some fact- checking on all of that.
So, Tom, I want you to listen to some of the comments from one of the frontrunners, Mitt Romney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: If you go back a few years before that clip and go to JFK's time, the government at all levels, federal, state and local, was consuming about 27 percent of the U.S. economy. Today it consumes about 37 percent of the U.S. economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Tom, what do we think? What do we make of that?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what he's trying to imply there, Suzanne. Of course the idea is the growth of government has become sort of rampant. It's crazy. We have to bring it under control. Government expenditures have risen dramatically since the 1960s.
He's got his numbers basically right. Total government spending in 1963 was about 27.7 percent of GDP. That was last year of John Kennedy's presidency. 2010, about 35 percent of GDP so there has been a dramatic increase.
Here's something he's not mentioning in all of that. Some of that increases has been increased military spending, which many Republicans support, and some has been growth of things like the population living longer. So that Social Security costs a lot more.
Different programs like this. It has been existing programs having to take on bigger burdens or we're choosing to take on bigger burdens with them so we're actually getting something for that money. It's not just a matter of government expanding, expanding, expanding. In some cases it's expanding because the need that we addressed a long time ago has expanded with it.
So overall, when we consider that, we have to say that he's got his numbers right, but this is true and incomplete. Sort of bordering towards just true. But nonetheless, there is an incompletion to this, Suzanne.
MALVEUAX: Economy and the president?
FOREMAN: Michele Bachmann with the economy and the president. Listen to the statement that she made about health care reform.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But the number one reason that employers say that they aren't hiring today is Obamacare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: She has said this before, Suzanne. Last debate, she said the same thing. The number one reason that we're not getting jobs is because of health care reform. Employers our there don't know what's grog to cost, so they don't want to add new jobs. That's her whole case.
Here's the problem with what she's saying. This is not based on some credible study or some big, comprehensive look at this as far as we can tell. All this seems to be based on is a report by the investment firm UBS, an international investment firm, where they issued a report that said health reform is arguably the biggest impediment to hiring, that wasn't based on a study. It was just their opinion to investors.
And that same report cited 10 other things including tax codes, financial regulation, environmental laws and much more as being impediments to job growth in this country. So for her to simply say that health reform is the number one block to job creation I think has to fall just in the category of false. There's simply no empirical evidence to say that's really the case, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Tom, thank you very much for "Keeping Them Honest." Appreciate it.
FOREMAN: All right.
MALVEAUX: Well, you want to be sure to tune in for the CNN Western Republican presidential debate. That happening in Las Vegas. And it's coming next Tuesday night at 8:00 Eastern and CNN's Anderson Cooper is going to be the moderator.
So if you have problems checking your e-mail or surfing the web on your BlackBerry today, here is why. The company is reporting outages. Want to take a look at some of the problems worldwide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Millions of BlackBerry users aren't able to check their e-mails or even surf the Web today. It's been a problem for the rest of the world for days now, but now the U.S. is getting hit hard.
I want to go to our Dan Simon from San Francisco who's got some of the details on this. Why do we think this is happening, Dan?
DAN SIMON, CNN SILICON VALLEY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a very good question. You know, BlackBerry ran their base in Canada and they have a proprietary e-mail technology. This does not affect other smartphones. But if you use a BlackBerry it's going to affect you.
Basically when you send an e-mail using a BlackBerry it goes to their servers and then reaches the destination. And the reason why it doesn't happen to other problems because they don't have that, they don't have that problem.
So here's the deal. Blackberry is using what they call a core switch to transmit all of these e-mails. They're saying they're having a problem with their core switch and they put out a statement and it says that although the system is designed to fail over to a backup switch, the failover did not function as previously tested.
Now let's just take a step back for a moment. If you have a smartphone, there are two propositions that you want. Number one, you want to be able to make phone calls. Number two, you want to be able to send e-mails. The fact that you cannot send e-mails if you're using a BlackBerry is an enormous public relations problem for BlackBerry, and they cannot afford to have a PR problem at this moment.
Their market share has been declining rapidly. They're now entrenched in third place behind Android and Apple. Apple, of course, is going to be releasing its new iPhone on Friday. The iPhone 4S. They've taken in about a million pre-orders. It's shattering all records, and the fact that BlackBerry is having this issue right now is something they definitely do not need -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Dan, they released a quick comment, I understand?
SIMON: Say it one more time, Suzanne? I think --
MALVEAUX: Did they release a response today? Did they explain -- they had a quick statement from BlackBerry?
SIMON: They did. They put -- they put a statement, and it's a problem with their infrastructure, and they're saying that it's a core switch problem, meaning that when you send the e-mails from your BlackBerry it goes through rim's routers in Canada and the problem is that we're having problems with those routers. What they call their core switch. They believe that they can get it figured out but it's lasted now three day. So hopefully they'll get it figured out very, very soon.
MALVEAUX: All right.
SIMON: Back to you.
MALVEAUX: Luckily, mine is still working. So thank you, Dan. Appreciate it.
A used car salesman accused of trying to hire a Mexican drug dealer to knock off an ambassador. Who is this guy? We're going to tell you about the man from this nice Texas neighborhood, now suspected in a murder-for-hire scheme that the U.S. is blaming on Iran.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Right now, I want to focus on the prime suspect accused in a $1.5 million assassination plot.
His name is Manssor Arbabsiar. He's an Iranian-American who allegedly tried to hire a drug cartel member to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington. But the U.S. says the plan was conceived, sponsored and directed from Iran. The suspect has spent most of his past few years living and working as a used car salesman in Texas.
Our CNN affiliate KVUE got an interview with his wife at their home near Austin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA GUERRERO, WIFE OF MANSSOR ARBABSIAR: I want this over with. My children and I are under a lot of stress right now because of this situation. We don't have nothing to do with it. I may not be living with him. We're separated, but I cannot, for the life of mine, think that he would be capable of doing that.
He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm sure of that. And I know his innocence is going to come out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: CNN producer Josh Rubin, he's been trying to get some more details about the suspect and his family. He joins us Round Rock. It's just outside of Austin.
Josh, we just heard from the wife there. I know it's been pretty difficult to actually find relatives and get information, but we know that he was living in this suburban, a rather quiet neighborhood there. What do the folks who lived around him think about this guy and whether or not he was capable of doing such a thing?
JOSH RUBIN, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Suzanne, Round Rock is a very quiet BEDROOM community just north of Austin, Texas. When I arrived here this morning, it was business as usual, kids getting on the school bus going to school, folks heading out to go to work. But when news broke last night that the wife lived of Manssor Arbabsiar lived in this tiny little cul-de-sac, the media descended.
And the neighbors who were coming home from work yesterday were obviously a little bit shocked to hear what was going on. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom, mom, there's a lady that came banging on our door saying there's a terrorist at 805. And I'm like, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Couldn't believe it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we're like, well, I guess...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was like, OMG.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was saying it was a joke. So I told them just brush it off. And then they said, mom, the neighborhood is filled with...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrorists.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... news, the news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIN: These neighbors here, now, they have lived for years and they say they have seen the Arbabsiars here for years and years and years,not the friendliest of neighbors. They kind of kept their distance from them over time. And they were shocked, as anybody is in this small Texas town, to hear what their neighbor has been accused of doing.
MALVEAUX: Josh, have you seen any family members in the neighborhood, anybody who is very familiar with him?
RUBIN: It's a good question. What I arrived here this morning, there were two cars in the driveway. Two young women proceeded to come out in the morning. We think they were family friends, not necessarily family members. But they would not talk to us.
The second woman who actually came out was covered head to toe wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, a scarf across her face, obviously very, very stressed and concerned about the media attention that was being cast in this small, very quiet little cul-de-sac.
MALVEAUX: All right, Josh, thanks.
It certainly seems like the neighbors were quite surprised to discover who they were living among and what he's been charged with.
Want to take a look at the bigger picture now. Would Iran even plan such a brazen attack on U.S. soil and if so, why?
Well, for some answers, we're going to turn to former Defense Secretary William Cohen, currently the CEO of The Cohen Group,and he joins us from Washington.
Great to see you. First of all, explain to us, what does Iran even get out of this? Is this advantageous to try to do something like this in the first place?
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I can see no good news coming out of this for Iran.
Number one, if the leaders of the country were aware of this and participated in this, then they are going to be held accountable by the international community as possibly precipitating a major war that would result possibly in even shutting down the Persian Gulf.
If that planned action had succeeded, then the retaliation coming from the United States and others would have altered the landscape in Iran. So I see no good that could possibly have come out of this. If they didn't know about it, then there's still a problem.
If they have -- quote -- "rogue agents" or elements in their government that are in the process of planning an action which could result with this kind of consequence, they have to be very worried about this.
MALVEAUX: And, Secretary, I mean, you bring up a good point here, which is, if it had been carried out successfully, it would have really been the initial -- the catalyst, if you will, for potentially a third world war. It didn't go down like that. So what can the United States do now to punish Iran? Do they pursue sanctions or is this something that the military does end up handling?
COHEN: Well, initially, it will have to be at the diplomatic level. I think that the United States will obviously want to go to the Security Council.
It will want to have China and Russia join in imposing even steeper sanctions on Iran. And I think, here, Saudi Arabia will have a major role to play. Saudi Arabia is certainly developing its infrastructure, making improvements in its country on a massive scale.
There are many countries who want to participate in that. I would say that the Saudis can now voice their concern about those countries who don't see Iran as a threat, and have some kind of economic consequences as far as doing business in Saudi Arabia. Secondly, I think the Saudis will look to perhaps fund the opposition in Syria and make life much tougher for Iran on a number of different fronts. So there are consequences that will play out that will be very damaging to Iran.
MALVEAUX: Do we suspect that the United States is going to have a tough case to make before the U.N. Security Council when it comes to presenting evidence that this plot, this alleged plot was actually hatched in Iran?
COHEN: Well, a lot depends upon the level of cooperation that the accused has provided so far. Apparently, he has given a lot of information to the Justice Department officials and drug officials.
So I think that making a case and behind closed doors to the Security Council can be persuasive if the evidence is there. If we don't have the evidence, then obviously this case won't go very far. If the evidence is clear and convincing, I think that Iran has a lot to fear from the repercussions that will come from many countries.
MALVEAUX: All right. Secretary Cohen, appreciate your time.
Obviously, this is a very tense moment and we're watching and waiting to see what's going to happen. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaching out to diplomats today to figure out what will be the next moves after they believe this foiled attack was initiated and backed by Iran.
Well, remember just a few weeks back when a satellite came crashing down? It was OK. Well, there's another one that is now heading back to Earth. And we ask the question, should we be worried? Going to check in with Chad Myers to get the answer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Take a look at a live picture there. We're monitoring this event that President Obama is holding at the White House to speak before the American Latino Heritage Forum. We will be listening as well to see if he makes any comments about this alleged assassination and terrorist plot that was foiled that allegedly was backed by Iran. If he comments on that, we will certainly dip into that event and bring that to you.
Well, it's a strange story because it's almost like deja vu or "Groundhog Day." Here we go again. Just weeks after a falling American satellite put the world on alert, we got another that could be plunging to the Earth.
Chad with the details here.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
MALVEAUX: We survived the last one, right?
MYERS: Hit the water.
MALVEAUX: We got another coming our way?
MYERS: Yes, we have one that's going to not break up as much, though, because it's -- a lot of it is made of ceramic. And that ceramic is not going to burn up on its way into the atmosphere, so a bigger piece they're saying the size of a small black bear.
Now, that's going to leave a mark somewhere.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: But here's the irony of this story. And it is about R-O- S-A-T, ROSAT. These are all the things that are flying in our atmosphere that eventually some day will have to come down, oh, 4,000 of them at this point in time.
Here is ROSAT right now. You can go on to a Web site, N2YO.com, and track this. You will just find it up in the left-hand corner. It's called ROSAT. Here it is right now about to head over northern sections of Brazil, then over into Europe. So what is it going to look like? It's a pretty big satellite. It's not quite as big as the UARs that came down a little bit ago, because it was part a satellite that was part of an X-ray exam between the U.S., the Brits, and the satellite catalogued 150,000 times around the Earth, but it will fall because it's not longer communicating with us.
We're not communicating with it. And the heaviest piece will be this time 1,700 pounds. That's pretty big. But the risk of anyone being hit, one in 2000. If you multiply that by the world's population, the chance of you being hit is one in 13 trillion. Yes, the sky is falling, technically, but I think you're safe.
MALVEAUX: Hopefully, it's not falling on us.
MYERS: That's right.
(LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX: All right, thank you. Well, watch out for the big, black bear. All right.
Getting lost in a corn maze, right, well, sometimes people think that would be a fun thing to do, but a couple in Massachusetts, they had to call 911 to help get them out.
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(NEWS BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Well, when hip-hop started in the late 1970s, it was a cultural movement. Young folks in New York were exposing problems in their neighborhoods, like drug abuse, racism, gang violence through music. Well, at the time, corporate America pretty much was ignoring it. Not anymore.
Here's CNN's Soledad O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hip-hop has changed the nation, and in his new back "Tanning of America" Steve Stout said he knows how it happened.
What does the "tanning of America" mean?
STEVE STOUTE, TRANSLATION ADVERTISING: We're the next generation of kids, millennials specifically see the world no longer through color or ethnicity. They see the world through shared values.
O'BRIEN: Stoute used his connections as a former record executive to connect big business with urban oriented marketing campaign, like Jay-Z for Reebok. And he's behind Justin Timberlake's popular slogan for McDonald's.
STOUTE: I always look at the music and the art as the Trojan horse for the culture. I could find authentic ways to tap into the branch that hip-hop has created.
O'BRIEN: But hip-hop was something that started from the street. Writer Nelson George says the partnership with big business is watering down the art form.
NELSON GEORGE, AUTHOR: What gets on the radio and most of America is not very content driven. It's more an inducement to dance and then leading it inducement to buy a particular brand of alcohol or clothing or car.
O'BRIEN: "Forbes" music editor Zack Greenburg says many hip-hop artists make more on endorsements than their recorded music. STOUTE: Again, we're speaking about the music. Most of it is just silly. I think that hip-hop created a culture and I think that that culture was meant to be shared.
O'BRIEN: You said you can draw a direct line between hip-hop and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
STOUTE: That younger voter was open minded to an African- American president as a result of the cultural sharing that we're discussing. I believe hip-hop was a main driver of that cultural sharing. If using corporations helped spread that message, then, that's what it takes.
O'BRIEN: Reporting for "In America," Soledad O'Brien, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And look for "The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley," a "Black in America" special hosted by Soledad O'Brien, Sunday night, November 13, at 8:00 Eastern.
Well, you have been sounding off on today's "Talkback" question. Does Mitt Romney's changing position on health care matter to you?
Fred says: "Dare we rekindle that old phrase used against John Kerry, flip-flopper?"
More of your responses coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Well, you have been sounding off on today's "Talkback" question. Does Mitt Romney's changing position on health care matter to you?
Carol Costello with the answers.
Hey, Carol, what are folks saying?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. Here's what folks are saying right here.
This from Matthew: "I live in Massachusetts, so yes. He forced his plan on our state, bailed, then changed his mind on the individual mandate, but we still have his plan to deal with. America, I hope you are paying attention to his back-and-forth behavior."
This from Elaine:"Don't we all grow and, therefore, change? I would hate to vote for someone who had never changed his or her mind about anything. Change is not the enemy, nor is compromise."
This from Lucas: "I feel bad for him. With Romneycare, he showed that he has a heart, something which isn't allowed in today's Republican Party." And this from Chris: "It certainly bothers me when any person running for office acts in a manner that is a blatant attempt to win votes. It's like a band that writes a song to try to get on the radio. You can just tell it isn't coming from the heart."
Keep the conversation coming, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I will be back with you in about 15 minutes.
MALVEAUX: All right, thanks, Carol.
Republican candidates who hope to unseat President Obama, well, they are facing off and they did so in the latest debate, one of them stealing the spotlight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: In our "Political Ticker," the Republicans who hope to take back the White House took on each other last night again. The latest debate was in New Hampshire. One of the candidates, Herman Cain, stole the spotlight.
Here is CNN's Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, it is fitting that this latest GOP debate was held on a college campus because the GOP field was hazing Cain.
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nine-nine-nine. Jobs, jobs, jobs.
(LAUGHTER)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Herman Cain found out what happened to GOP candidates who shoot up in the polls. They become big targets.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you take the 999 plan and you turn it upside-down, I think the devil's in the details.
ACOSTA: Take 999, Cain's economic plan to scrap the country's current tax system and replace it with one that sets rates for individuals and corporations at 9 percent. It would also create a new 9 percent national sales tax.
JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's a catchy phrase. In fact, I thought it was the price of a pizza when I first heard it. Here's what we need. We need something that is doable, doable, doable.
CAIN: The 999 will pass and is not the price of a pizza.
ACOSTA: And it was getting sliced up by the other candidates sitting at the table. RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How many people are here for a sales tax in New Hampshire? Raise your hand. There you go --
CHARLIE ROSE, DEBATE MODERATOR/PBS ANCHOR: If you keep mentioning 999 and Herman Cain, I'm going to have to go back to him every other question.
ACOSTA: Feeling confident about his plan's dominant role in the debate, Cain served it up to GOP front-runner Mitt Romney who promptly sent it back to the kitchen.
CAIN: Can you name all 59 points in your 160-page plan?
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Herman, I have had the experience in my life of taking on some tough problems. I must admit that simple answers are always very helpful, but oftentimes inadequate.
ACOSTA: The candidates were also pressed on whether the financial crisis should have led to more prosecutions on Wall Street. Newt Gingrich fingered Democrats in Washington.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you want to put people in jail, I want to second what Michele said. You ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and let's look at the politicians who created the environment, the politicians who brought us to this and the politicians who put this country in trouble.
ACOSTA: Rick Perry who struggled in past debates did not get the break out performance he probably needed. He seemed sluggish and plugging his soon-to-be unveiled economic plan declining to offer up many specifics.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Opening up a lot of the areas of our domestic energy area. That's the real key, and I'm not going to lay it out for you tonight. Mitt's had six years to be working on a plan. I have been in this for about eight weeks.
ACOSTA: Once again, it was Mitt Romney who projected the image of a contender cruising to the nomination. Taking the pot shots in strive even when it came to his tough talk on China.
ROMNEY: And we will go after them. If you're not willing to stand up to China, you'll get run over by China.
ACOSTA: But the night belonged to Cain. Even if it raised eyebrows when he said his model for a Federal Reserve chairman was Alan Greenspan, the man who presided over an era of questionable mortgages when he had the job at the nation's Central Bank.
PAUL: Alan Greenspan was a disaster.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE) ACOSTA (on camera): With the focus of these debates shifting from Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry and now to Herman Cain, Mitt Romney could not write this script better himself.
After picking up the endorsement of Chris Christie, he has now secured the support of former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and former New York Congresswoman Susan Molinari.
For Mitt Romney, it's just another day at the office -- Suzanne.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Thanks.
You will want to be sure to tune in as -- CNN Western Republican presidential debate. That is coming up next Tuesday night at 8:00 Eastern. That is from Las Vegas. CNN's Anderson Cooper is going to be the moderator.
