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U.S. Troops to Withdraw From Iraq; How Did Moammar Gadhafi Die?; President Announces End to Iraq War; Interview With Senator Carl Levin; New Study Finds No Link Between Cell Phone Use and Cancer; Trial of Michael Jackson's Doctor Continues; Police Search Home of Family with Missing Infant; Soldier Interviewed about Experience in Iraq
Aired October 21, 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: Hour two rolls on. Take a look at this.
(MUSIC)
BALDWIN: Let's begin with this story here. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Welcome back.
After nearly nine years, U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be heading home. Just a short time ago, President Obama announced that U.S. will withdraw almost all of the troops, all 39,000 American troops from Iraq by the end of this year.
Let's listen to the president just a short time ago as he made this announcement that our troops in Iraq will be home for the holidays.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year. After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over. We will continue discussions on how we might help Iraq train and equip its forces, again, just as we offer training and assistance to countries around the world. After all, there will be some difficult days ahead for Iraq and the United States will continue to have an interest in an Iraq that is stable, secure and self- reliant.
Just as Iraqis have persevered through war, I'm confident that they can build a future worthy of their history as a cradle of civilization.
Here at home, the coming months will be another season of homecomings. Across America, our servicemen and -women will be reunited with their families. Today, I can say that our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I want to go to Chris Lawrence live for us at the Pentagon.
So, Chris, we're talking 39,000 U.S. troops leaving Iraq, as we heard the president say, being home for the holidays certainly good news for folks here at home. But explain to me, though -- we know that the U.S. and Iraq didn't exactly see eye to eye with regard to an immunity issue because the U.S. wanted to have several thousand troops remain.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
And there was a split, honestly, Brooke, on sides. There were some people here in the U.S. who wanted all the troops out. There were some Iraqi leaders who wanted the security of having a small U.S. force there. But ultimately, yes, it mainly came down to this issue of legal immunity.
And what that means is, right now, Iraq and the U.S. have an agreement that American troops are not subject to Iraqi law. They would fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice right now. Well, that agreement expires at the end of the year. And to set up a new agreement or to extend that agreement, Iraq would have had to have agreed to grant that same immunity going forward.
The Iraqi politicians and Parliament were not able to OK that or to agree to that. And the U.S. government and by extension the U.S. military could not keep troops there without that immunity clause.
BALDWIN: Do we know when the beginning of that pullout will begin?
LAWRENCE: It's already started. In any given week, you can see up to 14,000 trucks on the road hauling equipment out of Iraq. I think they have taken out something like 1.6 million pieces of equipment. They are down to about 39,000 troops and they will have to move those out of there by the end of the year, but this effort has been already started. It's just going to accelerate and wrap up from this point onward.
BALDWIN: Final question to you as we look at the broader picture. Once these 39,000 U.S. troops are gone, talk to me about Iraq's neighbor, Iran. How does this embolden that country?
LAWRENCE: I was embedded with some American troops who are part of a joint American-Iraq right on the border with Iran about a year or so ago. They told me how much influence Iran had in that area. And you look at the statements that senior officials have been making over the past year really beating it over our heads about how much influence Iraq (sic) has, that Iranian weapons are in Iraq being used to kill U.S. troops.
Well, now if you're going to sort of sell this development or this pullout as a win, you have got to account for the fact or answer the question, if Iran was able to exert that much influence with tens of thousands of American troops in Iraq, how are you going to lessen that influence when all those troops are gone? -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Chris Lawrence, thank you so much.
Certainly the president billing this as a win, saying that he spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier today on the phone, saying that they're both on the same side, but not everyone seeing that way.
Just into CNN, Mitt Romney is now reacting to the president's Iraq decision.
I want to bring in Paul Steinhauser.
And, Paul, just glancing at the first few words of this Romney statement, President Obama's astonishing failure, strongly worded.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes.
And no surprise. Of course Mitt Romney one of the front-runners right now in the battle for the Republican nomination, somebody who would like to have President Obama's job after the election next year.
And let me continue on with that. He said that: "It's an astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq and has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women. The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. The American people deserve to hear the recommendations that were made by our military commanders in Iraq."
That is some extremely tough language from the Romney campaign, Brooke, no doubt about it.
BALDWIN: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: Rick Santorum, who is also running for nomination, the former senator from Pennsylvania, was just on FOX News and he said as well that he had a big concern going forward, is the role of Iraq in Iran, something you were just talking to Chris Lawrence about -- he said, "If we leave, my concern is we are leaving a potential state that could turn into a puppet state for Iran."
You're going to hear I would assume a lot of tough language from these Republican presidential nominees.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: And why, though? Why, Paul? Why are they speaking so forcefully and coming out so against the president?
STEINHAUSER: It's very interesting. It comes one day after a big foreign policy success for the president.
BALDWIN: Right.
STEINHAUSER: The killing of Gadhafi. And remember on the president's watch earlier this year, the killing of Osama bin Laden. In some ways, the president has scored some major foreign policy successes. But on Iraq and also on Afghanistan, you're going to see the Republican candidates take a hard line.
You have seen it in the debates, the presidential debates, just most recently ours on Tuesday night. They are going to try to paint this president and his administration as weak in Iraq and in Afghanistan, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Paul Steinhauser, thank you so much for that.
Speaking of Gadhafi, still ahead, Moammar Gadhafi captured alive, but minutes later somehow the dictator's life comes to a bloody end. Now an investigation as new video continues to pour in. We're live on the ground in Libya.
Also right now, NATO is deciding whether to end the mission in Libya, the mission that has taken months and months, billions of dollars. We will go live to Brussels with the latest on that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We have talked quite a bit over the last hour about Moammar Gadhafi and the growing sense that Gadhafi may in fact have been executed.
Hold that thought. Let's take a look at one of Moammar Gadhafi's son. This is Mutassim Gadhafi after he was captured yesterday. Obviously he looks a little worse for the wear but he's able to drink water and he's also having a smoke. Again this is Mutassim Gadhafi after being captured in Sirte.
And this is Mutassim Gadhafi a short time later, dead. He died while in custody, same as his father. A whole lot of questions about both of these death.
I want to bring in Ivan Watson for us in Tripoli.
Ivan, the last time I saw you, we saw fireworks popping up over your heads, Libyans still celebrating the death of Moammar Gadhafi? So, let me ask you this. Do Libyans much care one way or another how Gadhafi died? They seem just pretty thrilled that he's gone.
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, there are some that are overjoyed and there are others that are uncomfortable with the way that their dictator of more than 40 years, the way that he went down.
Some of the people who are, of course, very unhappy with this are the family of Gadhafi himself. And the Arrai TV network -- it's a pro- Gadhafi network that broadcasts out of Syria, another Arab country with an authoritarian government, a family that has ruled for more than 40 years, it recently broadcast, Brooke, an announcement that it says comes from the family of Gadhafi, from his wife, it claims, calling for an investigation into the death of Gadhafi and his son and calling for their bodies to be given back to Gadhafi's tribe for a proper Islamic burial -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Wow. Let's listen also to a human rights watchdog. He spoke to a CNN crew today from the very scene where Gadhafi was captured, this drain pipe outside of Sirte. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PETER BOUCKAERT, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: We know that he was taken from this drain where together with some other senior leader, his military chief, Abu Bakr Younus was actually dying just as they found him.
But as soon as he was brought out to the road, enraged fighters started pulling on his hair and punching him in the face and he was basically beset upon by a mob of fighters. They tried to put him on the front of one of their vehicles and drive him away. He fell off the vehicle but ultimately he was put into the back of one of their vehicles and taken away.
He definitely left from this area alive without any gunshot wounds to his head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So, Ivan, you have the U.N. calling for an investigation. You have, as you just reported, the Gadhafi family per Arrai television that they want to call an investigation, they want the body for proper burial, but the U.N. may need the body for evidence. Is that still correct?
WATSON: Well, we have been told by the National Transitional Council here, the de facto government that is taking over, that they are delaying the burial of Gadhafi's body until a possible autopsy carried out the by International Criminal Court can be carried out.
And they say they have also conducted their own forensic analysis and shared that information with the ICC. So all of this is swirling around. Now, of course, if you talk to the people who are out in the streets here, if you talk to the people who have been battling against Gadhafi for the past -- since February, really, or the people who have lived under his iron grip for more than 40 years, many of them will argue the only way we could bring this bloody conflict to an end, and end his era of tyranny really was to kill him, because he refused to leave, he refused to step down, despite all of the pressure from the international community and from his own people.
They are justifying if this is in fact an execution -- and the de facto government here, the National Transitional Council, they say he was not executed, that he was killed in a crossfire after he was captured by those rebel fighters.
BALDWIN: You bring up the bloody conflict. Ivan, before I let you go, we have seen the fireworks, but what about fighting? Are there any reports of fighting anywhere in Libya?
WATSON: You know, I haven't heard of any today, I confess.
There are an awful lot of men out on the streets carrying guns, maintaining security and holding up checkpoints and the like, but that's going to be a big question in the future. We know that Transitional National Council is preparing to officially declare victory this weekend, what they call liberation day.
That's a big presumption that fighting is over, there's no more resistance and they are going to actually start preparing according to an agreement they have already signed to try to set up democratic elections for a new parliament-type body without eight months. That would be a remarkable development for this country -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: What a year in Libya. Ivan Watson, thank you so much from Tripoli for us.
Also at this hour, another piece of the story, NATO officials continue to huddle in Belgian. They are talking about the operation in Libya.
I want to bring in Phil Black live from NATO headquarters.
And, Phil, now that Gadhafi is gone, now that he is dead, is NATO going to pull the plug, halting operations in Libya?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the key question, and officials from NATO, representatives from their partner countries have been talking about this for, well, almost five hours now, thrashing out the options for just when and where and how they should walk away from this mission, if they should walk away from it at all.
These talks are taking a little bit longer than many people expected and it shows that there must be a range of strongly held views across the alliance. We know that some countries have advocated, have signaled their intention to want to walk away from this pretty quickly.
Others, like Britain, for example, have suggested caution, the need to hold on, continue the patrols, assess the stability and security of the country, maintain their resources just in case just a little longer. We're not sure which way this is going to go just yet. As I say, five hours of talks so far. We have been told the decision is possible tonight but certainly not definite -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK. Phil Black for us, five hours and counting. Thank you.
Now this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you ever had a close call?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: After dozens of wild animals terrorize a town, new questions about owning exotic pets. And now one lawmakers wants to act -- a fascinating CNN investigation is coming up next.
Plus, it's the plan on which Herman Cain is running for president, 999. Well, guess what? He just changed that plan. How it would affect your wallet straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: One Ohio lawmaker is proposing a ban on exotic pets. This of course comes just days after police hunted down dozens of wild animals that were deliberately released in areas where people live, where they drive, where they go to school.
Listen as famed animal expert Jack Hanna pretty much sums up the collective shock.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK HANNA, DIRECTOR EMERITUS, COLUMBUS ZOO: The question -- and I'm getting it, Anderson, from all over the world, Australia, everywhere -- is the fact that how did this happen?
You look at this. The man was cited for many things. But it's amazing, isn't it? There weren't any laws. There are no laws for all of this stuff, which just -- I'm sitting here going, I can't believe this -- this happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So we sent our own Jason Carroll in search of some of the answers to the questions posed -- that Hanna opposes.
Listen to what Jason found.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's feeding time at Tiger Ridge Exotics, a private game reserve just outside of Toledo, Ohio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't have it all at once.
CARROLL: Leo the lion is one of about a dozen big cats, two grizzlies and two wolves getting lunch from owner Kenny Hetrick.
(on camera) Do you ever get nervous when you're -- when you're feeding the animals?
KENNY HETRICK, OWNER, TIGER RIDGE EXOTICS: No.
CARROLL: You never get nervous. You've ever had a close call?
HETRICK: Every day.
CARROLL (voice-over): Hetrick says he's been keeping exotic animals without any violations for more than three decades.
HETRICK: I just love to do it. It's just something I like to do. I have done it for so long, it's like it's part of me.
CARROLL: Hetrick knew Terry Thompson, the man who owned and released 56 wild animals from his farm and then took his own life. Sheriff's deputies say 49 of them had to be killed. Hetrick says he doesn't know why Thompson snapped, but he worries about what the repercussions might be.
HETRICK: One bad apple ruins the whole barrel. You've heard that before. That's just what we've got going on here in Ohio.
CARROLL: Hetrick says accidents involving exotic animals are rare. That may be true, but when they do happen, the results can be both tragic and violent.
In 2009, a pet chimpanzee attacked a woman in Connecticut. The 911 call from her friend was chilling.
SANDRA HEROLD, CHIMP OWNER: She's dead, he ripped her apart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He ripped what apart, her face?
HEROLD: Everything. Please hurry! Please, please hurry! Oh, my God.
CARROLL: In 2005, a 911 operator responds after a man is attacked by two chimps at a private sanctuary in California.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me his injuries and repeat them. They need to know. They tore out his eye.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They tore out his eye?
CARROLL: And in 2003, a man is injured in New York by Ming the tiger. He'd kept it as a pet in his apartment in Harlem.
No people were hurt after Thompson released his animals in Zanesville, Ohio. But given the history of exotic animal attacks, the potential was there, the story drawing attention to laws on keeping wild animals.
Ohio is one of eight states with the least restrictive laws regarding owning exotic animals. The few requirements to owning these types of animals in Ohio include: need for entry permit into the state, and certificate of veterinary inspection.
It's illegal to own exotic animals in 21 states.
The sheriffs who had to put down Thompson's escaped animals say the law here should be changed.
JONATHAN MERRY, DEPUTY SHERIFF, MUSKINGUM COUNTY: Me and the other deputies were forced into doing it, in my opinion, due to the lax laws in the state of Ohio in reference to exotic animals.
CARROLL: The state's governor has promised tougher legislation. Kenny Hetrick hopes those who do take care for their animals are not punished in the process.
HETRICK: they have got this blown way out of proportion. Ohio is nothing but a wild west. That's all -- there's not a word of truth to that
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, Toledo, Ohio. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: An Ohio lawmaker announced her plan to introduce a bill to ban exotic pets yesterday, just one day after the bloodbath outside of Zanesville.
Coming up, Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, he is standing by live with reaction to the president's decision to end the war in Iraq. I will also ask him to react to Mitt Romney's harsh words regarding the president and this move.
Plus, many are warning Moammar Gadhafi is not the last dictator to go down -- why his death is sparking inspiration across the Middle East.
Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The death of Moammar Gadhafi one day later has echoed across the Middle East and it's echoed loudest in Syria, another country rocked this year by anti-government protests.
Arwa Damon is live us now in Syria's southern neighbor of Lebanon.
Arwa, what has the reaction been in Syria to the death of Gadhafi?
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the opposition most certainly was celebrating. And we saw them taking to the streets in various parts of the country today, chanting a warning for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he would be next, that he, too, would be facing a similar fate, underscoring their point, they said, that no one at this stage in the history of the Middle East was immune. No one could consider themselves safe.
BALDWIN: Is this protest movement in Syria, is it calling for a NATO intervention like what we saw in Libya?
DAMON: There's a reluctant call right now amongst some members of the opposition, especially those who are inside Syria, for some sort of international intervention, because they say for eight months now they have been trying to demonstrate peacefully, peacefully ask for the regime to leave, and they have basically gotten nowhere.
There is also the realization though that if there is any sort of international intervention, that most certainly would lead to some sort of civil war within Syria, although some will already issue the warning that the country is on that path right now, Brooke.
BALDWIN: And remind us again -- this is -- his family has ruled this country for decades.
DAMON: That's right.
Before Bashar al-Assad was in power, his father was in power. This is a family that is fully entrenched within the system in Syria. It is not about the Baath Party anymore. It's about the Assad regime, loyalties to the Assad regime. And they do seem at this point in time to still have the support of some of the main pillars that are propping up the government.
They still have despite some defections the support of the Syrian security forces. They still have the support of the business class, the merchant middle-class people that are not speaking out against the regime just yet. And of course they have a key ally in Iran, a major regional player.
And then if we talk about the international community broadly speaking, they still have the support of China and Russia. So, by all accounts, this is also a regime that still feels as if on the one hand it's winning and it is going to be able to ride this out.
The activists will tell you, no, that's not going to happen. They will keep going until the regime kills every single one of them or finally is forced to leave.
BALDWIN: Arwa Damon in Beirut, thank you, Arwa.
Now this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If some woman in your family -- and you remember this day, because if you stopped us from seeking treatment, so you can then write the city -- us a ticket for whatever violation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: One man, you just heard his voice, got pulled over on his way to the hospital. Sitting in his passenger seat, his ill wife. Wait until you hear what she offers to do and why there is now an investigation into that.
Also, any minute, the prosecution is expected to rest. The defense will begin in the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor. Sunny Hostin is on the case. That is next.
Also, we have Senator Carl Levin standing by live as well. We will get his reaction to the breaking news today, the war in Iraq is ending, plus his reaction to Mitt Romney's harsh words -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We want to bring you back to our breaking story. The president speaking not too long ago from the White House, saying that the war in Iraq is about to end. Many of the troops will be home in time for the holidays.
Let's go straight to Capitol Hill to Democrat senator Carl Levin, chairman of the U.S. armed services committee. Senator, I guess we knew this was coming, but now it's official. Your reaction?
SEN. CARL LEVIN, (D) CHAIRMAN SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: It was the right thing to do. It was the plan all along. President Bush set this deadline for pulling out all troops by end of this year. President Obama said he was going to keep that deadline when he was campaigning. He made the decision to do so.
It's after all these years important that the Iraqis take the responsibility for their own security. They've got a large enough army to do it. If they can get their political act together, that will create more stability in Iraq. And we can't do that for them. They've got to do this for themselves.
BALDWIN: Senator Levin, I know a lot of people say it's a great day and a great call. But Mitt Romney, I want to read you his reaction, a GOP frontrunner, a couple lines from his reaction today, and I'm quoting, "President Obama's astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women." He continues on blasting this. Your reaction?
LEVIN: Well, of course he's right about the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. They are absolutely extraordinary. But he should or should not be trying to use that for any political prophet. I guess he's thinks he's making some kind of an appeal to the audience he wants to appeal to in his Republican primaries, and I think he'll say just about anything to make that appeal.
But it's kind of sad to hear him attack a policy which I think is applauded by the vast majority of Americans. He should probably -- I hope he would talk to the families of those who would be coming home by Christmas. And he also ought to take into account that the decision to bring our troops home by December was a decision made by President Bush a couple years ago. It was the right decision to put some pressure on the Iraqis to take responsibility, and President Obama was correct in implementing this decision the way he has.
BALDWIN: Senator Levin, thank you very much.
Now listen to this. A Georgia couple gets a speeding ticket while rushing to the hospital.
Also, lawyers for Michael Jackson's doctor get ready to tell his version of how the pop star died. Sunny Hostin is on the case. Sunny, I want to begin with the couple in George. The woman has stage four breasts cancer. Her husband tells one of our affiliates in Atlanta, WSB, and he's in the car rushing her to the hospital. Two miles away he gets pulled over by police. He is going 44 in a 25 mile per hour zone.
But I want to play this for you and our viewers, the police dashboard reporting the couple trying to explain to this police officer that they are simply trying to get to the hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's having a hard attack right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. We're trying to get to the doctor and you're writing a ticket. If someone in your family, and you remember this day, you stop us to seeking medical treatment so you can write a ticket of whatever violation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tried to show you my body. What else do you want me to show you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want her to pull her breasts out and show you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not what I want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So according to the couple, the officer insisted upon holding them there until the ambulance came. He asked for some kind of written proof she had breast cancer. And then he gave them a speeding ticket. Was that the right call?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: You know, I think unfortunately under the law it was the right call because he was speeding, right, doing 44 in a 25 mile per hour zone. And the officer with the information that he had in front of him didn't necessarily know that this woman did have breast cancer and that she was suffering from these chest pains. He couldn't confirm it. Oftentimes people do lie at these traffic stops. So legally, yes.
But in the court of public opinion, right, in the decency court, I would say this was an indecent thing to do. He had them there for so long. If this was a true medical emergency, this would have been a shameful, shameful course of events.
BALDWIN: The police department is supporting this officer. They said he had no idea, now way of even knowing whether this woman was actually ill or not, because he says, and I'll quote, "People are rushing to the hospital as an excuse all the time." But this woman ended up being held at the hospital with blood clots in her lungs. Might that couple have any kind of legal issue here?
HOSTIN: I don't think so. Again, she was taken to the hospital. The officer did what he thought he should do given the circumstances and the information in front of him. But sometimes I always say to law enforcement and lawyers, take off the law enforcement hat and legal hat and become the human being that you're supposed to be and help your fellow person.
BALDWIN: Second case here, can't let you go without talking about the Michael Jackson doctor trial, right? So lawyers for Dr. Conrad Murray are expected to begin presenting their side of the case. What direction will they take?
HOSTIN: Well, the prosecution has on the stand -- or has had on the stand for the past three days, its star witness Dr. Steven Shafer. Some are saying that he is sort of the "father" of Propofol, the person who wrote the book on how to administer Propofol. And he's been very effective.
So the defense is going to get its chance today, Brooke, to cross- examine this very, very crucial and important witness. Then we're hearing that they are going to start their case in chief next week. They are going to apparently call about 15 witnesses, some of them character witnesses to talk about the good character of Dr. Conrad Murray.
And in my view and in the view of many legal experts, they are now going to try to shift the focus off of Dr. Conrad Murray and on to Michael Jackson, onto Michael Jackson's life style, and on to perhaps, his chemical dependency, his addiction to prescription drugs. So next week is going to be an extremely important week for this defense. They are saying that they could be done by the end of this week. And this, Brooke, could be in the hand of the jury by the end of next week. A really, really crucial week for the defense is coming up.
BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you very much, on the case.
HOSTIN: Thanks.
BALDWIN: We're learning about breaking news on the search for a missing infant in Missouri. What a cadaver dog reportedly smelled inside the family's home. We're live in Kansas City next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right. joining me now is Jim Spellman live in Kansas City, Missouri. He's been following the latest developments there at the house behind him of little baby Lisa who has been missing for several weeks now. We know, Jim, that the police have a search warrant, they've been coming through the home. What have they found?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we now know what got them that search warrant. On Monday, Brooke, we saw a much smaller search here at the home of baby Lisa, including with dogs. We weren't sure exactly what the dogs were doing. We now know from the affidavit that has been released from the court that those were cadaver dogs and they got a positive hit for an area near the mother's bed. Tuesday they went to court, got a search warrant based on that. As soon as they got that, a police car showed up here to block the family from entering the house. That was a condition of the search warrant.
Then on Wednesday they spent all day, 17 hours, intensely searching this, including x-ray equipment that can be used to look inside walls and through floor boards. Police even asked her why she didn't look in the backyard behind the shed. She said that she was afraid of what she might find.
We're going to get a lot more detail from this affidavit, but this is really a huge change in this case that a cadaver dog got a positive hit near Deborah Bradley's bed. We don't know exactly what that means. There could be other reasons for it, but that's definitely a key element propelling this investigation forward right now, Brooke.
BALDWIN: So just to be clear, Jim, if we're talking cadaver dogs and we're talking about a positive hit, a cadaver dog is brought in to essentially smell the smell of death?
SPELLMAN: Indeed. That's exactly what it sounds like. They have other types of dogs that they might use that they might get like a scent off of a blanket. These dogs for a number of reasons, the cadaver dog are specially trained to hone in on the scent of death. It's gruesome to think about but that's a tool that investigators used here on Monday.
BALDWIN: OK< Jim Spellman, thank you very much. Obviously let us know if anything changes there.
I do want to move on to politics. Herman Cain took some flack over his nine-nine-nine tax plan in this week's CNN debate in Vegas. And today the GOP hopeful is making some changes. Let's go live to Alison Kosik live at the New York Stock Exchange. And Alison, I know we've been talking nine-nine-nine. Now what is he is talking about?
ALISON KOSIK, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: OK, now he says that nine- nine-nine is really now nine-zero-nine, but for some people. So what Cain did today, he announced a couple of changes, in fact two things to his controversial tax overhaul plan. Now he's allowing for some businesses to go ahead and take deductions.
But the bigger thing here is the nine-nine-nine plan and critics say that it puts the burden on low-income Americans, many who are not paying income taxes now and Cain addressed that in Detroit today. Listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How do we deal with the poor, those that are at or below poverty level? We already had this provision in there and we still raise the same amount of money. If you're at or below the poverty level, your plan is not nine-nine-nine. It's nine-zero-nine. Say "amen," you all - nine-zero-nine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And so what is means essentially is that people in poverty will be continued to be exempt from income tax, and poverty is a family of four living on $22,000 a year. And the reason they don't pay taxes is because they don't make enough money or tax credits, so it winds up canceling out their tax liability.
Now Cain says for these people that will not change if he becomes president. It will be nine-zero-nine for them. However, keep in mind, however, they would have to pay the new nine percent national sales tax which is also in his plan.
BALDWIN: What about the middle class? What did Cain say about them?
KOSIK: No changes for the middle class. It's still nine-nine-nine if you're in the middle class. The Tax Policy Center crunched some numbers and says that the middle class will have less money after they pay Cain's taxes. And if you make less than $50,000, after you pay taxes you would end up with less money than you do now. And if you make more than $500,000 after you pay taxes, you'll end up with considerably more money than you do now. Now keep in mind, this is just one study that has crunched the numbers on his tax plan, Brooke. BALDWIN: So back to nine-nine-nine, because we've been hearing about that from him for a while. Why haven't we heard that exemption for people at or below the poverty level before?
KOSIK: Good question. What Cain said is that it's been part of the plan all along. Some think that he may be taking changes as the plan draws more attention and criticism, but he says he's clarifying what was already in his tax plan. So you decide what is going on there, Brooke.
BALDWIN: All right, Alison Kosik, thanks.
Coming up next, one of the first soldiers on the ground in Iraq, he's going to share his story about what it was like and what it's like to see this war come to an end. Don't miss that interview next.
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HARLOW: Time now for the Help Desk, where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour Lynnette Khalifani Cox, the founder of the financial advice blog Askthemoneycoach.com, and also David Novik, certified financial planner and adjunct professor at NYU. Guys, thanks for being here. I so appreciate it.
First question for you, Lynette. This come from Mir (ph) in Los Angeles. Mir (ph) wrote in that they converted $25,000 from a regular IRA to a Roth with the option of paying the taxes on the conversion in 2001 and 2012. They value has dropped to 20,000. They want to know if it's worth it to keep the Roth or convert back to a regular IRA?
LYNNETTE KHALFANI COX, FOUNDER, ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Well, it's unclear to me if they are questioning the fact that they value is down $5,000 because of market forces or perhaps when they did the conversion they paid a portion of that, the taxes that were due, out of the fund. So $20,000 down from $25,000 mean as 20 percent loss. But the fact is that you don't switch back to a traditional IRA you might want to look at what the underlying investments are. Is it too aggressive for that person? Do they have a proper mix of assets? That's really the thing to look at.
HARLOW: Sure, interesting point. David, this question for you comes from Ryan in Kalamazoo. Ryan writes in that all of his debt has been paid off but he still has black marks on his credit report from late student debt payments. He's asking what is the best and the fastest way is you think to raise his credit score?
DAVID NOVIK, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF FINANCE, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: The most important thing I would say in trying raise his credit score is to make sure that he keeps paying all of his existing obligations, pay them on time without fail. Any accounts that he has, keep them open for now. Don't apply for any new credit at this time. And additionally he may also want to look into checking his credit report to make sure that it is accurate and try to get anything adverse removed from it.
HARLOW: And have a little patience because it takes time, right? NOVIK: Yes, it takes time.
HARLOW: Thank you guys so much. Folks, if you have a question you want answered, send us an email anytime to CNNhelpdesk@CNN.com.
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BALDWIN: What are the front lines of war really like? Last hour I spoke with a former U.S. army specialist who was right there when the U.S. went into Iraq. He talked about the early stages of the operation back when he left in 2003, and he told me about his toughest memory, losing a brother in arms.
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BALDWIN: Were you frightened when you went over at first?
JOEY HURST, FORMER U.S. ARMY SPECIALIST: I was. There are times like you're wondering, OK, am I really going to make it home? You just realize the mission comes first.
BALDWIN: What was your specific mission? What exactly were you doing at the time there?
HURST: My job was to repair tanks and get them battle ready. I worked on the firing components of them that made them run and operate. So it's a pretty big need while you're over there.
BALDWIN: And you guys were the first groups really to come into Iraq, first Americans. How did the Iraqis receive you?
HURST: They were up in arms with us. I remember on many occasions when we would pull over on the side of the road to take a quick break or go into the little market areas for a few minutes, they would just swarm us and just come and give us hugs and kisses and say, we love you, god bless America, thank you.
BALDWIN: What about just the whole process of setting up there militarily? You were there at the very beginning.
HURST: It was definitely a -- there was one -- there was never one day that was the same. Every day was different. One day we would be at a certain location. The next day we'd be 50, 100 miles north of another location until we got to our permanent place, which was about three months after we went into the country. I was stationed at a little abandoned air force base there.
BALDWIN: What was the one day, the one moment that you will forever carry with you?
HURST: I'll never forget the day that a good friend of mine was killed in action. He was going down in a convoy and his Humvee got hit with a roadside bomb and it injured two people and he lost his life. Sergeant Williamson left behind a wife and two kids. And you never forget that moment. If you want to see grown, macho men cry, just listen for a bugle playing "Taps." BALDWIN:
BALDWIN: Joey Hurst, thank you so much.
Still to come, a new study suggests cell phones won't give you cancer. We'll tell you why. By the way, not everyone agrees -- and why the fine print is raising some eyebrows. Elizabeth Cohen, she is standing by with the facts coming up next.
And each and every Friday I like to answer some of your questions. You throw all kinds of stuff at me. I just re-tweeted the video. You can check out the "Week Wind Down" at my twitter page at BrookeBCNN. Be right back.
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BALDWIN: All right, you use a cell phone? Who doesn't really use a cell phone these days?
So there's this massive new study on cell phones and cancer that may take some names out of your next call. Danish researchers say there is no link between using a cell phone and brain tumors. But critics dispute the findings, which are published in the "British Medical Journal." They say that a 17-year study doesn't look at long-term risks.
I want to bring in CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to talk about this. But before we even talk about the study, I'm kind of thinking is this something that we should be worried about or children more?
DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm more worried about my kids.
BALDWIN: Because they're growing up.
COHEN: Exactly. My kids have had cell phones, now I don't do it, but when they were really little, the late '90s, say hi to grandma and put the phone next to their ear. When I was growing up I was using rotary phones. And it's cumulative. And that's what people forget.
BALDWIN: So what's the issue here? I hope we understand how this group is saying, no big deal.
COHEN: Because the World Health Organization recently said it's a potential carcinogen. It is confusing, so let me try to lay it out here.
The Danish study, biggest study ever like this. More than 300,000 people. And they found that folk who is use cell phones were no more likely to get brain cancer than folks who didn't.
However, people point out that it takes like 20 to 30 years to develop a brain tumor. In that country, they've been around longer than they have here, but still it's probably safe to say that many of the people in the study were not using cell phones for 20 years at the time that they did the study. So this is not a question really that we can answer right now at this moment. We're just going to have to wait. These are slow growing cancers.
BALDWIN: But I have questions and one is what's a person to do? I mean since I see you walk around all the time with your headphones and a cell phone, I do as Elizabeth Cohen does.
COHEN: I'm glad to hear that. Also my colleague Sanjay Gupta does the same thing. He and I have been all over this issue. He got his cell phone tested to see if it had the right amount of radiation in it. You can actually see if it is amount of radiation it was supposed to. His phone checked out. It wasn't higher than it should have been.
But there's one thing that I, for want of a better term, kind of like about this issue is there is an easy solution. And you know what, I'm not going even going to say it. Just use a headset, because the danger of the radiation is when it's up next to your head. The minute you hold it at this distance, that radiation just goes into air. Use this. Use a blue teeth.
BALDWIN: Speakerphone.
COHEN: Speakerphone, that's always a good one. And there are lots of options out there. If you go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient, we have a whole column that lays out all the options.
BALDWIN: So, is the issue potentially a brain tumor?
COHEN: Brain tumors and especially gliomas are what people are concerned about, and they're especially concerned for children. In this study the youngest person was about my age. So people my age were not using cell phones as children, and we can't really test children now because, again, these take 20 or 30 years to develop. We don't know what it means to be using a cell phone. There are kids using cell phones for huge chunks of time starting at age nine. We don't know.
BALDWIN: Since I have you here, I heard about this U.S. preventive services task force, which you were talking about not too long ago, a group that urged fewer screenings for prostate cancer, also fewer mammograms. They have a new recommendation when it comes to pap smears, which is?
COHEN: Which is that women don't need them every year.
BALDWIN: Because we're supposed to be going every year.
COHEN: Yes, you're told to go every year, get a pap smear every year. But this group says that you don't need them every year. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists also says something similar, that depending upon your age and other things it should be, say every two to three years. What's interesting about this, Brooke, is that I don't know about your OB/GYN, but I know mine does it every year.
BALDWIN: Every year. COHEN: Every year. So, there's this disconnect between the groups that give the recommendations and actual doctors working on the ground, and it makes women say, well, gee, what should I be doing? One thing we can say is there's nothing harmful.
BALDWIN: I was about to say. It's the better safe than sorry mantra.
COHEN: They're not fun. But nothing's going to hurt you. And doctors are following this recommendation because they've done it every year for so long. And also it cuts down on their liability for something. They don't want to miss a cancer.
BALDWIN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much. Have a wonderful evening to you.
COHEN: Thank you.
BALDWIN: And same to you as well. Let's go now to Washington and Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts now.
