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Marking the End of the Iraq War; Verbal Fireworks at GOP Debate; Robin Lim: CNN Hero

Aired December 12, 2011 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: There's a lot of political buzz as well this morning centering on the weekend's GOP debate. At one point, Mitt Romney criticized the front-runner, Newt Gingrich, as being a political pro, while marking himself as an outsider.

Check out this exchange, Gingrich snapping off a comeback here, and Romney showing that he was quick on his feet as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have differences of viewpoint on some issues, but the real difference, I believe, is our backgrounds. I spent my life in the private sector. I understand how the economy works.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994.

ROMNEY: Now wait a second. Now wait a second.

With regards to the idea that if I would have beaten Ted Kennedy, I could have been a career politician, that's probably true. If I would have been able to get in the NFL like I hoped when I was a kid, while, I would have been a football star all my life, too.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: But I spent my life in the private sector. Losing to Teddy Kennedy was probably the best thing I could have done for preparing me for the job I'm seeking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We're keeping an eye on the markets as well. Uncertainty now about the debt crisis in Europe is now erasing all of last Friday's gains. That's right. It is tough news to take.

The stocks down more than 220 points. We're going to bring you a live update from the New York Stock Exchange in just a bit.

A 14-year-old boy who was kidnapped by terrorists in the Philippines, he escaped, hiked for two days, only with candy and coconuts to eat. Kevin Lunsmann was reunited with his mom today after being held hostage for five months. His dad says the boy snuck away while the guards were sleeping. A critical witness in the Penn State child sex abuse case may run into credibility problems. Assistant football coach Mike McQueary told a grand jury that he saw Jerry Sandusky raping a boy in the Penn State showers. However, CNN contributor Sara Ganim has learned that a family friend testified that McQueary told him he had heard what he says sex sounds. He saw a boy poke his head out of the showers, but an adult arm pulled him back. Moments later, according to Sara's reporting, Sandusky left the shower in a towel.

The Supreme Court announced today it's going to decide whether Arizona can enforce its strict immigration law. A federal appeals court blocked four provisions. The most contentious, the requirement that police determine the immigration status of anybody they stop or arrest. Now, the Obama administration argues that states have no authority to set immigration policy.

We want to bring in our Wolf Blitzer and Arwa Damon, who are standing by as we watch at the White House President Obama and the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to speak momentarily.

Arwa, I want to go to you.

The U.S. is going to be pulling out the remainder of the troops, but there are some people who are going to stay. How does that work with independent contractors, the folks that are going to be there? Will they have security, and do you think that they're safe?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is what we're going to see, an ever-increasingly important role for those private security contractors whose role in Iraq has already to date proven to be so controversial. But yes, it is going to be an incredibly challenging situation for them, because they are not going to have the U.S. military to call on if in fact something drastic and dramatic like some sort of an attack should take place.

Just to show you how concerned they are right now, the U.S. Embassy has actually recently put out a warning to all of its employees, to Americans, a warning against a heightened kidnapping threat, specifically kidnappings to be carried out by these Shia special groups. Those, as we mentioned earlier, are these groups directly backed by the Iranian Quds force.

There's a lot of concern. A lot of these areas where the U.S. is trying to set up consulates where it has these satellite establishments, they are coming under fairly regular attack, mortar attack.

Another great concern is the U.S. military is highlighting as well whether or not these Shia special groups are going to view the U.S. Embassy staff that's left behind as being part of the occupation. If they do view them as being part of the occupation, are they going to continue to try to directly target them?

So the U.S. military's really withdrawing in quite an atmosphere of uncertainty and volatility, not just when it comes to security of the American staff left behind, the embassy staff left behind, but also the Iraqi people.

MALVEAUX: Arwa, before you had President Bush talking about bringing democracy to the Middle East, that this was really going to change the whole region. So there were no weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein is gone, and what are Iraqis left with? Is there some semblance here of a democratic society?

DAMON: Suzanne, I was talking to a woman just a few days ago. I met her a few years back. She lost her husband in an explosion. She working as a university professor right now, very elegant sophisticated woman.

She says when the U.S. was first coming to Iraq, she was happy about it. But after having lost so much, she said that she only has a few questions with a lot of question marks happening after that and she wants to know why, why did America make so many mistakes in Iraq, did they do this deliberately or did they do this out of ignorance?

That's a question we're actually hearing from a lot of Iraqis, because they do believe that America could have played its cards correctly, that it could have had, had it chosen to do so, listened to the right people, it could have avoided these inexcusable, devastating and detrimental mistakes that happened at the outset of the war like disbanding the Iraqi army, alienating former Ba'athists, effectively laying down the framework for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups to turn this into an utterly ugly and devastating playground.

Iraqis have a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to exactly what America was trying to accomplish here, because even though, yes, there were elections, even though, yes, there is a semblance of democracy, this, by no way, shape or form, is a functioning or stable state.

MALVEAUX: Arwa Damon out of Baghdad.

We are waiting at the White House for President Obama and Nouri al- Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, to give a news conference. As soon as that happens, we'll take you there.

We're going to just take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: GOP candidates for president, they are putting their own spin obviously on the debate performances on Saturday. In some cases, damage control.

Take Mitt Romney's off-the-cuff $10,000 bet he challenged Rick Perry to take. Some say Romney treats $10,000 the way most people treat a $10 bill. But there were other memorable moments.

In New York, CNN contributor John Avlon has been digesting all of this.

So, John, initial impressions here? Who actually stood out? JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, Newt Gingrich had to -- was going to get a lot of incoming fire. He did, and he handled it pretty well, including some pretty tough questions about his personal life. But he did not lose this debate, which means it's a win. He handled that poll position with some authority, and showing some evidence of that new maturity, which his team is trying to talk about.

Mitt Romney, that $10,000 comment has really sucked up a lot of the oxygen and attention. He did not score any knock-out punches against Newt. So that's the status for those two, at least.

MALVEAUX: And what do you think about Bachmann? What do you think about how she did that kind of Newt-Romney combo that she talked about?

AVLON: That's a good line. She is trying to distance herself from the conventional wisdom front-runner, so she deserves credit for that.

Ron Paul had a very strong debate, too. And I think one of the stories we may be following now 22 days out of Iowa is how strong Ron Paul's support is in that state.

MALVEAUX: Very controversial, you had Newt Gingrich's comment about the Palestinians being an invented people. And Mitt Romney took him on, but Gingrich, he didn't back down on this.

I want to take a listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: This is a propaganda war in which our side refuses to engage, and we refuse to tell the truth when the other side lies. And you're not going to win in the long run if you are afraid to stand firm and stand for the truth.

ROMNEY: Of course you stand firm and stand for the truth. But you don't speak for Israel. If Benjamin Netanyahu wants to say what you said, let him say it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: John, a lot of people looked at that, and they were, like, looking at Gingrich, thinking he really put himself out there. And this is far from what you see in the Bush administration, the Obama administration, and many of the other candidates, his position when it comes to Israel and the Palestinians.

AVLON: That's right. And yet, this bit of red meat got huge applause inside the hall of Drake University Saturday night.

You know, it is unusual to spend 15 minutes of a presidential debate talking about whether or not Palestinians are a "invented people," but that's just what we did. It is a very heartfelt issue, it is a very passionate issue, particularly among the Evangelical base out there in Iowa. And Newt's basically trying to say, look, it may sound extreme, but that's the kind of straight talk that we got from Ronald Reagan in the past, we can't be afraid to do that in the future.

MALVEAUX: And let's kind of square this, if we will, head-to-head match-ups of the president versus, say, Romney or Gingrich. In South Carolina/Florida, who do we think wins?

AVLON: I mean, Florida is the real question. South Carolina is going to go Republican. I love the state, but that's clearly the trend.

What's fascinating if you look at Florida in particular right now, Suzanne, is that Newt's been able to build up a huge lead on Mitt Romney in the primaries. But you'd have to think that at the end of the day, Mitt Romney's got more ability to compete in a general, to reach out to Independent voters, swing voters, centrists. It's going to be a tougher sell for Newt Gingrich to make.

MALVEAUX: And this was a moment as well. A lot of people saw this. This was Perry going after Gingrich on the cheating issue.

I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why? If you will cheat on your spouse, then why wouldn't you cheat on your business partner, or why wouldn't you cheat on anybody for that matter?

GINGRICH: I've made mistakes at times. I've had to go to God for forgiveness. I've had to seek reconciliation. But I'm also a 68- year-old grandfather, and I think people have to measure who I am now and whether I'm a person they can trust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So do the voters forgive him yet, John? What do you think?

AVLON: You know, to a large extent, Newt Gingrich's negatives are already baked in his cake. So, absent any new scandals, people understand who he is in the totality of his career.

It's a tough line of questioning, but I think Newt handled it pretty well, aside from that scowl you saw on the side. He basically said, look, people are going to have to make up their own mind. It's a legitimate line of questioning but you need to put it in a larger context, then talked about his own narrative of redemption, praying for forgiveness, et cetera.

I think he handled that very tough line of questioning pretty well. He kept his cool in general and didn't say that it's not a legitimate line of question, but said that people need to judge his totality of his career. And I think that's probably the right and honest answer.

MALVEAUX: All right. John Avlon, watching all things political.

Thank you, John.

AVLON: Thank you. MALVEAUX: The CNN Hero of the Year, her story up next. Very inspiring.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We are awaiting a news conference, President Obama and the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to take questions, making statements, as well, at the White House. That should be happening momentarily, talking about the U.S. troop withdrawal from that country. A significant number of forces remaining, forces to be withdrawn out of Iraq by the end of the year.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A woman who has potentially saved thousands of lives by helping poor women have safe, healthy births is now our CNN Hero of the Year. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN LIM, CNN HERO: My name is Robin Lim. I'm a midwife. Most people call me Ebu Robin, because "Ebu" means mother.

I've learned about the dangers of motherhood when my own sister, she died as a complication of her third pregnancy. I was just really crushed. I came to Bali to reinvent my life.

Hi, baby. Hi.

We started a clinic run by Indonesian midwives. We offered prenatal care, birth services. No matter how poor they are, no matter their race or religion, we teach new graduating classes of midwives how do to a more natural, gentle birth. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Joining us now from Los Angeles, Robin Lim, also known as "Mother Robin."

Robin, first of all, just congratulations. I mean, just the amazing work that you do, and to receive what, $300,000 for your cause, what will this mean for you?

LIM: It means that we can begin to build a new clinic. The clinic that we have is -- oh, let's say it's falling apart. And also, our lease will be finished in about four years, and so we do have to move.

MALVEAUX: I know that phone there probably ringing off the hook there for you since you got the award. You do such amazing --

LIM: I'm sorry.

MALVEAUX: No, no, no. I'm sure everybody wants a little bit of you at this moment.

What's been the most rewarding thing about what you've done at this health clinic?

LIM: Every single time you get to spend time watching a woman unfold and become a mother, you get to rub her back and hold her, and be with her for her miracle, and to bring her safely across that bridge, I think for every midwife, for every doula, which is someone who mothers the mother, and for every OB-GYN, we share this amazing profession in which she share the miracles of a growing family. And to bring a mother across that bridge safely, and her baby into the world gently, is -- it's just amazing every day.

MALVEAUX: And this is an extremely personal cause because of your family, your sister, the tragedy of her passing away. What do you think she would think about the kind of work that you do with these women now?

LIM: I hope she's watching. She was such a gentle, positive person. I just can't remember her ever speaking a negative word about any other person. So, you know, it just seems to me like she is like an angel watching over our projects.

MALVEAUX: Well, you do amazing work, and we appreciate you. And so many women appreciate you and what you do. And once again, congratulations so much for becoming a CNN Hero of the Year. There are so many people whose lives you change and save.

Thank you once again, Robin.

Oh, I'm sorry. I think we just cut her off. But she's an amazing woman.

We are actually getting a two-minute warning that the White House press conference is going to start momentarily. We are awaiting President Obama and the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to come before the microphones. They'll be making statements. They'll also be taking questions from reporters.

It comes at a very critical time here. We're talking about U.S. troops, most of U.S. troops withdrawing out of Iraq by the end of the year, part of an agreement made with Iraq under the Bush administration, fulfilled by the Obama administration.

Want to bring in Wolf Blitzer.

So, Wolf, what do we make of what the president is going to say? He's had a lot of national security successes and wins here. I'm wondering how significant that is to voters when you look at 2012.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: It's important, there's no doubt about that. It's an important issue going into a presidential general election season, and the president will point to the fact that he did live up to his campaign commitment to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq. We'll see what happens in Iraq over the next few months.

One thing I think we should be looking for and see if it comes up in the Q&A -- well, actually, there they are, Suzanne. I guess we want to go there. (BEGIN LIVE SPEECH COVERAGE)