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U.S. War in Iraq Declared Over; Blowback Against Newt Gingrich; Beluga Whales Prisoners of Ice in Eastern Russia; Kids Testify About Homelessness; Fraternity's Rape Survey
Aired December 15, 2011 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'll take it. Hey, Don Lemon. Thank you very much.
Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Let's go. Let's get you caught up on everything making news this hour, "Rapid Fire," beginning in Iraq.
A simple ceremony in Baghdad today marking the official end of the war there. American troops lowering the flag of command that it had flown over the Iraqi capital.
It has been almost nine years since the war started. Nearly 4,500 Americans have lost their lives in Iraq. More than 30,000 were wounded and, reportedly, tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed, most of them civilians.
And here we go. The clock is ticking again. Tomorrow night, the government shuts down. That is unless Congress gets its act together and reaches some sort of deal.
We are told talks are under way there on Capitol Hill. One of the biggest issues at stake, whether your taxes will go up in January. That pay roll tax cut set to expire. We're watching the calendar -- 17 days away.
Also, four fishermen from the Bahamas are extra grateful today. Why? Well, they launched five days ago from a larger fishing vessel, but they became stranded when their smaller fishing boats conked out and they were unable to return to the larger ship.
The men had been without food or water for five days. The U.S. Coast Guard located and rescued them yesterday just about 50 miles from Andros island.
And a war of words between Vladimir Putin and John McCain? Huh? Here's the deal. The Arizona senator suggested Russia might end up like Libya, so that inspired the Russian prime minister to suggest McCain is -- well, nuts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): He had been held not just in jail, but was put in a pit where he was kept for several years. Any person under those circumstances would hardly remain mentally sane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: As you know, Senator McCain spent time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. So the Republican took to Twitter. Here you go. "Dear Vlad, is it something I said?
The senator appearing, as Don Lemon just mentioned, on "JOHN KING USA" tonight at 6:00 Eastern. Do not miss that.
Also today, secrets out on the American drone in Iran. U.S. military sources tell us that the CIA was using it to spy on Iranian nuclear sites. That version quite different than the previous one. The U.S. had said the drone was on a border patrol mission. President Obama is asking for the drone back, but Iran is refusing.
And the man known as America's toughest sheriff is facing some trouble today. The Justice Department accusing Joe Arpaio's office of discrimination against Latinos. This news comes as the Supreme Court announces it will decide whether Arizona's tough immigration law is unconstitutional.
And a terrible accident involving an elevator shaft in New York. Did you hear about this? A woman stepped into her elevator as usual, leaving work. Suddenly, it shot up before the doors closed, trapping her between floors. She died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard this, like, loud boom, crash. And the whole thing kind of shook. A couple of the girls on my floor were, like, crying and really panicked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Police looking into what caused the elevator to go haywire.
Amanda Knox back home in the United States. And now her judge in Italy is speaking out. He said prosecutors did not prove her guilt in any way. Knox, acquitted of killing her roommate in a drug-fueled sex game back in 2007.
Police have arrested the man who tried to rob a Pennsylvania coffee shop from his car. Take a look at what he did. Thanks to surveillance video, we can show you.
So, the guy is, like, waving his tire iron -- here he goes -- climbing through the windows at the drive-through. And then you see the person inside, the shop's owner -- actually, it was the wife -- slams him in the face with a metal coffee pot and then threw steaming hot milk on him.
Ultimately, he left without a dime. The shop owner describes how his wife defended herself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He jumped through the window out of his driver's seat. That's when my wife saw him coming in and grabbed one of these -- we call them air pots. It's full of coffee. It's pretty heavy. And she hit him in the face with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Good thing for coffee pots.
And an update now on a Medal of Honor story, person awarded that medal in the White House ceremony just last September.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: For a fourth time they went back. Dakota was now wounded in the arm. Their vehicle was riddled with bullets and shrapnel.
Dakota later confessed, "I didn't think I was going to die, I knew I was." But still, they pushed on, finding the wounded, delivering them to safety.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: You see the timestamp. So that was back in September. The president recounting the heroic actions that earned Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer the Medal of Honor. Except there are now published news reports today questioning the official version of the events as they unfolded that day.
"The Washington Post," citing the McClatchy Newspapers, saying substantial portions of the narrative are "untrue, unsubstantiated, or exaggerated." Even so, no one disputes that Meyer deserved the medal. The Marine Corps responding to today's report in The Post, saying it firmly stands behind the vetting process and that Meyer rightly deserved the honor.
And got a lot more for you in the next two hours here on the CNN NEWSROOM. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: It's over. After more than eight years of war in Iraq, more U.S. troops are getting ready to come home, and we're going to take you live to the war zone the only way CNN can.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(voice-over): A disturbing wake-up call. Twenty percent of suicides in this country are veterans. CNN goes inside a hotline center, and two rescues are caught on tape.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you put that knife away for a little bit?
BALDWIN: Here we go again. The government could shut down tomorrow. And then, in 17 days, your taxes could go up. So, is Congress anywhere close to a deal? Plus --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we crossed the line for some reason, boom, we're out.
BALDWIN: -- the heartbreaking voice of a child without a home. Right now, one in 45 kids in America knows the fear, the shame of being homeless. And I'll speak with one of them live.
And breathtaking moments as kayakers take a plunge. But not everyone is so happy about this stunt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Something happened today in Iraq that may take some time to really sink in. But here it is.
For all intents and purposes, after nearly nine years, the U.S. war in Iraq is officially over today. Watch with me. A flag was lowered. Some ceremonial music played. A couple of key dignitaries spoke about sacrifice and loss, symbolism.
It happened at Baghdad's airport. Take a look at this historic moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almighty God, today marks a very important day in the history of Iraq and the United States. Since 2003, our nations sought a common good rarely tried in the history of mankind, to bring the rule of law to a nation.
JAMES F. JEFFREY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: We look back at the sacrifices made by so many Americans and so many Iraqis, but we also look forward to an Iraq that is sovereign, secure, and self-reliant, an Iraq with whom the United States government will continue to work in every way possible.
LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: You came to this land between the rivers again and again and again. You did not know whether you would return to your loved ones. You will leave with great pride, lasting pride, secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people begin a new chapter in history.
GEN. LLOYD J. AUSTIN III, COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. FORCES, IRAQ: Eight years, eight months, and 26 days ago, as the assistant division commander for maneuver for the 3rd Infantry Division, I gave the order for the lead elements of the division to cross the border. As fate would have it, I now give the order to case the colors today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I want to bring in Martin Savidge. There he is. It looks like there may even be a Christmas tree over your shoulder, Martin Savidge, at Camp Virginia in Kuwait, where those final troops are crossing out of Iraq on the way home.
Martin, you've been talking to the troops. I mean, on this day, how do they feel about it all?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's quite a remarkable day, Brooke. No doubt about it.
It is certainly a day that goes down in history. So I think for the troops, when you talk to them and say, "Well, what do you think about being here?" they give you three answers.
First of all, they're thrilled because they know they're on their way home. Two, they're thrilled because they know their deployment was cut short as a result of the president saying everybody out by December 31st. And the third thing is they know they're going to make it home for Christmas. So that is what is very foremost in their minds.
But then you start talking to them about the significance of today, the significance eight and a half years later, where we are, the end of a war, and they are here to witness it and it sinks in. They really get it.
That's when they say that, look, it's not a victory. No one is high- fiving and nobody is planning to have that victory parade when they get home to the hometowns. That's not the mood they've got. They realize that Iraq is facing a very difficult future, but they also say, look, we went in, we did our job, we trained the troops, trained the police, we established the seeds of democracy for that nation. Now it's up to the Iraqis. And we'll go home and watch from there.
So that's the mindset you get here. Definitely a very upbeat mood, but still all eyes will be on the future for Iraq.
BALDWIN: So, sinking in there. I think it's beginning to sink in for folks here at home.
And, you know, with the troops there, I know not all of the troops, Martin, will be coming home. How many, can you tell me, are expected to stay in Kuwait? And what will their mission be there?
SAVIDGE: Well, what will happen now is a lot of the troops that are coming out of Iraq, that are coming down here to Kuwait, they will go home, they will go home for Christmas. There is another rotation though of other troops that will come into this region. Not just Kuwait, but also ships at sea and in other bases in other parts of the Middle East.
And there is going to continue to be a significant presence. The exact number of forces, the U.S. military doesn't like to give that out. One, for security reasons, but two, also, they know that countries here are sensitive about basing U.S. troops. But there will be tens of thousands either on land or at sea. Are they here to respond to Iraq if it all goes upside-down? No. That's not the case. They are here to send the message to those that have been allies to the U.S. that the U.S. remains strong, and they're also here to send a message to those who may not have been allies to the United States that the U.S. still considers this a strategic region. It's still here in a strong presence -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Martin Savidge for us at Camp Virginia.
Martin, thank you.
Another big story we're watching, the Republican race for the White House. A Republican free-for-all here, really, in the race for the White House. With Newt Gingrich ahead in the polls, the heat is on him right now. And we're all wondering, how is he going to ultimately respond to that?
Wolf Blitzer is going to join me live. We'll talk through that one here.
Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't have electricity or water for six months. We had to eat at the gas station at the corner because they had a microwave. The toilet smelled really bad because we couldn't flush because the water was shut off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Listen to her story. Children struggling for food, for water, for a home, basic necessities. These are American children. They are homeless.
Did you know one in 45 kids don't even have a home? Coming up, we're going to speak with one sixth grader, a brave sixth grader, who knows what that is like all too well and how he's hoping Congress can help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: It is blowback time for Newt Gingrich. Here it comes, folks.
How about this one for a zinger? In an interview with "The New York Times," his top rival, Mitt Romney, calling the former House Speaker zany. "Zany is not what we need in a president." That is Mitt Romney saying that.
Now, this was bound to happen. Gingrich, after all, the Republican front-runner. If you look at all the numbers, you see that.
But the GOP establishment is beginning to sound a bit panicked at the prospect of Gingrich being the party's nominee for president. How is this for today? From the influential "National Review," this is from the editors, and I want to quote. "To nominate Gingrich would be to blow his opportunity to reclaim the White House." The pieces goes on to accuse Newt Gingrich of "impulsiveness," "grandiosity," and "half- baked ideas."
Wolf Blitzer is in Washington.
Does the tenor surprise you, this rising pitch of alarm about Gingrich from certain multiple old guard Republicans?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It doesn't surprise me. The degree, the extent of the criticism is surprising.
I knew there was no great love for Newt Gingrich from the establishment Republicans because they remember what happened in the '90s, the government shutdown. After the successful "Contract with America," then Newt Gingrich was sort of removed. And they're very fearful that he would not necessarily beat President Barack Obama in the general election in November of 2012.
They think Mitt Romney would have a much better chance. That's why so many established Republicans are going with Mitt Romney, and they're really intensifying the heat on Newt Gingrich.
And it's getting closer and closer. It looks right now, in Iowa, a three-man race is shaping up in less than three weeks from now, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul.
BALDWIN: Ron Paul.
BLITZER: He could win the whole thing in Iowa. You spoke to him this week. I spoke with him this week. He's doing remarkably well, as I like to point out.
He has got a much better, much more sophisticated, highly organized campaign operation in Iowa than either of his two main rivals have right now. Ron Paul could win in Iowa and shake things up dramatically going into New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.
But look at Mitt Romney himself. And you hinted at this, Brooke. If you take a look at what he's done, he's every single day giving interviews, and he is intensifying the rhetoric on Newt Gingrich.
On Monday, with Politico, that interview he did with Mike Allen; Tuesday, in "The Washington Post" with Dan Balz; with "The New York Times" on Wednesday, suggesting that Newt Gingrich is zany and irresponsible --
BALDWIN: Wolf, let me jump in.
BLITZER: He is upping the ante. And so far -- so far -- I think it's going to change -- Newt Gingrich is not taking the bait. He is still trying to be statesman-like, the high road. He is not fighting back, but he will.
BALDWIN: We talked about this earlier in the week, Wolf Blitzer. It was Monday, and this whole spat between Romney and Gingrich that really began when Romney suggested Gingrich should return that seven- figure fee for advising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
And let's just watch this. This was Gingrich firing back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would just say that if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees, over his years at Bain, that I would be glad to then listen to him. And I'll bet you $10 --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Ten dollars. Ha.
There was also some back-and-forth after that. And I want to point this out. This retort coming from conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. He heard what Gingrich said, and this was his take. I want to quote him.
"This kind of attack is what you would expect from a socialist." A conservative columnist there.
So, Newt Gingrich, leader -- you point what happened in the 1990s, leader of the Republican revolution socialists. Wolf, that's a little over the top. Do you think?
BLITZER: A lot of the Republican critics of Newt Gingrich, they even suggested that what Newt Gingrich said on Monday -- and that's when he did take the bait --
BALDWIN: He did. He did take the bait.
BLITZER: -- and he did respond. That's the Newt Gingrich we all know. The last couple of days he's trying to take the high road, saying he wants to run a positive campaign. He is waiting to go after President Obama.
But other Republican critics of Newt Gingrich are saying that that comment criticizing Mitt Romney when he was head of Bain Capital on getting rid of bad companies, firing employees, or whatever, that's the kind of thing would you hear from the liberal economist writer for "The New York Times," Paul Krugman, for example. So they're really going after Newt Gingrich on this.
I suspect Newt Gingrich is going to come back very, very hard on Mitt Romney and all of his critics, because that's in his nature. It's very hard, I suspect, for him to get slapped and then turn the other cheek and try to take the high road. I think it's going to change.
That's just my gut. That's my instinct having covered Newt Gingrich for 20 years.
BALDWIN: That's the Wolf Blitzer gut.
You have all the candidates. They're working hard in Iowa. You mentioned Ron Paul. We know he's been working hard, doing well in the polls there and also Newt Gingrich.
But Newt Gingrich was supposed to be in Washington, of all places, tomorrow, selling one of his books. And now we're getting word that he is canceling. Do you know why?
BLITZER: I assume he's going to want to do what a politician who wants to run for the Republican nomination needs to do, stay in Iowa, or at least New Hampshire, and campaign. Coming to sell books in Washington, D.C., unless you're going to raise a ton of money, you have got some major fund-raisers, you're going to raise $1 million or $2 million to start getting on television and promoting yourself -- they are slamming him, I'm told. I'm not in Iowa.
But if you watch television in Iowa, you see all of these campaign commercials really hitting, super PACs, or whatever, Romney's campaign, Rick Perry's campaign, Michele Bachmann's campaign. They're really hitting Newt Gingrich. And he's not really doing much in response, and that's why this race in Iowa is really closing up and why Ron Paul could take whole thing in Iowa unless Mitt Romney and -- Mitt Romney I never thought was going to win in Iowa, but I did suspect that Newt Gingrich would have a good chance. He still does, but let's see what happens in the next two-and-a-half weeks.
BALDWIN: I suppose he could always just sell his book in Iowa, two birds with one stone. Who knows?
Wolf Blitzer, thank you very much. Amazing what's going on there in Iowa. Thank you.
Coming up here, more than 100 beluga whales are now trapped in the Arctic. I've seen this described as they're prisoners in ice. We're going to tell you what's being done to save them right now. That is two minutes away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Right now there is this desperate race against time, against the elements, and against the season in far eastern Russia. More than 100 beluga whales are trapped by these ice flows in a channel in the Bering Sea. These ghost-white creatures are getting air through just a few breaks in the ice, but they're virtual prisoners of this fast- freezing water.
Requests have been made for ice-breaking ships to be sent in to save them. Right now, ice fields are so large, there is no way the whales can actually swim up to freedom.
I want to bring in Lori Marino. She's a senior lecturer in neuroscience and behavioral biology at Emory University.
And I'm told, Lori, you know a thing or two about beluga whales as well. So, essentially, the issue is they're trapped in this ice. And I imagine they can only stay under water for so long.
LORI MARINO, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Yes. It's an urgent situation, because they can hold their breath for a few minutes at a time. But that is when they're not compromised. And right now they've been trapped. They're probably hungry, dehydrated.
Their energy is spent, and they may be beginning to panic. And all of that adds up to a really urgent situation.
BALDWIN: Gosh, these are beautiful creatures. They're there, stuck under the ice.
What there can they eat?
MARINO: Well, they could possibly -- they can't possibly eat that much because they won't be able to hunt the way they normally do. So it's very unlikely that any of them are really eating anything.
BALDWIN: How much longer do these whales have before the situation there truly becomes fatal?
MARINO: The situation is rapidly approaching fatal. Something has to be done very soon. I hope that there isn't any sense that this can wait, because it really can't.
BALDWIN: Lori Marino, we'll watch it with you there.
Those whales trapped in the ice.
Thank you so much.
MARINO: Thank you.
BALDWIN: And now to this number. This took my breath away.
Did you realize that one in 45 American children are homeless? That's the statistic each and every year. And coming up, I'm going to speak with an 11-year-old child. He's moved 14 different times. Let me just repeat that -- 11 years of age, lived in 14 different places. What he wants Congress to know about his situation, his homeless experience.
I'll speak with him live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Pretty poignant and emotional testimony today by some of the youngest victims of child poverty in America, homeless children. Six homeless and formerly homeless kids talked to lawmakers today on Capitol Hill about their own experiences.
The new study says these youngsters are not alone. Unfortunately, one in 45 kids in the U.S experiences homelessness each and every year.
These kids bravely sat there, shared their stories about the insecurities and indignities and fears they experienced with living with and growing up homeless. Here is just some of what they shared today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRANDON DUNLAD, FORMERLY HOMELESS: For most of my childhood, I did not have a stable place to live. My parents got separated when I was young. After they split, my mom, sister and I ended up living with different relatives and friends. Since then my mom got and lost a number of apartments and when we were not together, I had to move from place to place.
PFC BRITTANY AMBER KOON, U.S. ARMY: After aging out of foster care in my senior year of high school, I became homeless again. I had a scholarship to college, but I lived in my car and on the couches of some relatives and friends for two months before college.
Housing solutions just didn't really exist. I made it through my first year of college, but as the year ended I was again without housing. I crashed out on the couch of a girl I met at a party.
After a couple weeks, I was buying all the groceries and because she did not have a car and I did, I was expected to drive her and her kids wherever they needed to go. I was not able to find other housing so I felt stuck.
This happens a lot when you are doubled up. You feel indebted to the people for letting you stay, but then you are taken advantage of by them. They took my money and then told me I had to leave.
BROOKLYN PASTOR, 7TH GRADER: I really hate moving from place to place. It is so hard because you get to know people and then you have to move. It made my life hard.
When we lived with other people, they were not nice to us. We couldn't ask them for anything. They were mostly mad that we were there and did not want anyone else to know especially their landlord.
DESTINY RAYNOR, 9TH GRADER: We lost our housing when the economy got really bad and we had to close all of our stores. Both my parents didn't have a job and they kept looking for several months.
That summer the power and water got shut off. We didn't have electricity or water for six months. We had to eat at the gas station at the corner because they had a microwave.
The toilet smelled really bad because we couldn't flush because the water was shut off. We had to bring buckets to a local church to fill with water for the toilet bowl.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Someone else who spoke today is Rumi Kahn a sixth grader from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he shared his story. We want to bring him in as well as Diane Niland joining me from Washington.
To both of you, welcome and thank you both for coming on. Diane, I should mention is with a non-profit advocacy group that gives a voice to homelessness. Rumi, my first question to you is, you're glad you came to Washington? How's your trip been so far?
RUMI KAHN, 6th GRADER: It has been great.
BALDWIN: It's been great. Wonderful. Rumi, how long have you been without a home?
KAHN: Probably about a year or two.
BALDWIN: A year or two. Describe it. What has it been like?
KAHN: It is very hard and it is not the best situation. But I still enjoy it because I still have a roof over my head and it's very stressful.
BALDWIN: It's stressful because you have moved from place to place. I read your testimony from a home to a hotel, back to a home. How has that affected you at school?
KAHN: It made me very exhausted and it made my grades go down.
BALDWIN: Because you're tired, because you're stressed and have a hard time sleeping?
KAHN: Yes.
BALDWIN: And what else? Has it improved at all for you since you're now in the shelter?
KAHN: It hasn't yet, but I'm trying to work up on my grades.
BALDWIN: Your grades. You told me in the commercial break your favorite class is science. I'm going to get back to that in a minute.
But Diane, I want to bring you in, and if you will, I know this is very, you're passionate about these and you talk about the invisible, the children who are homeless in this country. What are you hoping to get out of -- to achieve from today's hearing?
DIANE NILAN, DIRECTOR, HEAR US: Well, there is a piece of legislation today that is basically a common sense this change to the way HUD looks at homelessness. Because really up until now, HUD hasn't counted families, kids like Rumi as homeless.
And because they don't count, HUD doesn't give the numbers to Congress. Congress doesn't give the money to fund programs that would provide housing for kids like Rumi. So Congress has been in the dark and Rumi has been on the streets.
BALDWIN: Diane, why is that? Why haven't kids like Rumi been counted?
NILAN: Well, in the 25 or so years I've been doing this, we thought of homeless people as the scruffy guy on the street. Congress and HUD, they have not adapted the thinking to the fact that families and youth are homeless in large number.
It's probably 40 percent of the population of homeless people in our country are kids and families. And you just kind of go, when is Congress going to get a clue?
And this committee today, they got more than a clue because the panel that spoke, they were so eloquent and articulate about the reality of homelessness.
So now it's going to be taking that information back to the full body of congress and get some legislation and some funding for this. That's at the root of all this.
BALDWIN: Rumi, you were talking to some pretty powerful people today. What are you hoping they will do after listening to your story?
KAHN: I hope that they'll open new housing for homeless people and give much more opportunities for homeless people. And I hope that they'll make a law about homeless people and just help people because they're in a very bad situation that you're not.
BALDWIN: You told me that your favorite class in school is science. Rumi, what do you want to be when you grow up?
KAHN: I want to be somebody who entertains people.
BALDWIN: Entertains people. OK, Rumi Kahn, I appreciate it. And Diane Nilan, thank you so much as well. I appreciate it. Best of luck to you.
Coming up, a fraternity at the University of Vermont suspended for sending out a survey. In this survey, one of the questions asked if you can ses this, if I could rape someone, who would it be?
Yes, that was the question. We're going to hear from the students here at this university in two minutes.
Also, a millionaire found dead in his home in Massachusetts alongside his wife of 40 years, their murder, a total mystery. In a town that hasn't had a homicide in nearly a decade. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The holiday season comes to an abrupt halt for a fraternity in the land of maple syrup and fall foliage. We're talking about Sigma Phil Epsilon Chapter of the University of Vermont in hot, hot water today.
The 45-member house under suspension, ordered to stop all activities over what looked like a fairly innocuous survey. It asked fraternity brothers, names, interests, future goals.
But then take a look. Personal question number three. If I could rape someone, who would it be? Yes. That was in there. The school is investigating and so is the national fraternity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNIE STEVENS, UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT: It is technically free speech and yet it is deplorable and just absolutely inappropriate and offensive.
TYLER BOGGERS, SIGMA PHI EPSILON: It is not something that we stand for in terms of the values that our members pledge ourselves to, that our organization pledges itself to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The fraternity there was already on social probation for underage drinking, but students signing online petition want more than double secret probation. They want Sigma Phi Epsilon kicked off campus.
LAURA MCGOVERN, SOPHOMORE, UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT: We're trying to get as many on campus and off-campus organizations involved with this and making sure that, you know, this doesn't go unseen. Rape is such a forceful and violent term that it is really just completely inappropriate and unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The school's investigation is expected to take a couple of days.
And a weekly family ritual leads to a gruesome discovery inside a million-dollar mansion. This real estate developer, John McGee and his wife of 40 years, Geraldine were found dead yesterday inside their mansion in Massachusetts.
Friends coming forward, describing the McGees, nice folks, the perfect family in the mold of Ozzy and Harriet, but somebody had a reason to kill them in this horrific discovery was actually made by the couple's daughter who brought her young children to the couple's mansion every Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF BRIAN PATTULLO, ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS POLICE: They found two victims in the first floor of the residence. Those victims had been shot and we're classifying this as a double homicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And then the McGees' car was found mile away in North Boston. It had been set on fire. Neighbors, they're stunned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My God. It surprises me 100 percent and it is, it shocks me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The house I grew up in, he once owned, my parents bought from him. He still owns a lot in the neighborhood, only heard great things about them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The couple's dog was found waiting inside the mansion. The dog wasn't hurt.
With the U.S. pulling most of our troops out of Iraq, many think the war in Iraq is not over. It's not. Michael Holmes will join me live from Kuwait to show Iraqi who's must live with the wounds of war for the rest their lives. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A simple act in Iraq today. Music played as the flag is lowered. The ceremony signalling the end of the war in Iraq. CNN's Michael Holmes takes to us a place where the war is not over. Not even with the U.S. troop withdrawal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a Baghdad rehabilitation facility, victims of nearly nine years of war try to rebuild shattered bodies. They're not soldiers, not insurgents, they're regular everyday people.
More than 30,000 U.S. troops were wounded during this war. How do we know? Everyone of them was counted. How many Iraqi civilians, though, were maimed by the bombs and the bullets over the years? Nobody knows for sure. Best guess? Hundreds of thousands.
But of course, all of those numbers have a name. Amma, age 30, caught in a marketplace bombing, paraplegic. This man, age 34, shot in sectarian violence, paraplegic. Kareem, 26, truck driver, shot at random while driving, paraplegic. Usef, taxi driver, lost his leg after being shot in a market.
DR. ALI MOHAMMAD ABBASS, IBN AL-KUFF HOSPITAL: This will destroy their hopes in the future in this Iraq. What will be in this country after this war? They are very worried about the future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It destroyed our lives. He is my only son. It crushed our morale at home.
HOLMES: He is a broken man. His son was 12 when a roadside bomb went off as he walked home from school in 2006. He hasn't walked since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life at home is like hell now. His psychological state is not like that of other children who can go out. It is painful for him to see these other children.
HOLMES: Those who think the war is over because the Americans are going aren't living in today's Iraq. Nearly 200 Iraqis died last month, more than 300 wounded in horrific ways. Most of them innocents in the wrong place at the wrong time as bombs went off or gun fire erupted.
Uday Naji, a humble driver for the education ministry, set off for work one morning last month. Minutes later, a bomb stuck to the bottom of his vehicle exploded.
The father of a 3-month-old child lost his leg. Victim, it appears, of one of a series of such bombings of government workers not high profile people, anyone who works for the government.
UDAY NAJI, WOUNDED BOMB VICTIM (through translator): I really don't know who did it or why, he tells me, bewildered. I'm not an important person.
HOLMES: We leave Uday to visit this particularly heart breaking case. The 29-year-old was her impoverished family's sole income earner, selling tea on the sidewalk last month outside their home when a bomb planted seemingly at random blew one leg off and damaged the other. It was one of three bombs on that street that day killed seven, wounded 28. It is difficult to watch her physical and emotional agony.
MUNA ADNAN, WOUNDED BOMB VICTIM (through translator): I don't know. I don't know anything. I just want my leg back. I don't want anything else.
ADNAN KANAAN, FATHER OF BOMB VICTIM: What did this girl do to deserve this, her father asks? Her whole future is gone. What can we do? Put her on a cart and take her out to beg?
HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.
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BALDWIN: Michael Holmes is live now for us in Kuwait City. Those are, as you described in your piece, regular, everyday people suffering the wounds of war. How do they balance their optimism toward a future Iraq versus anger?
HOLMES: A lot of those that you see that are wounded, some of them are philosophical. Others are angry and they're not really getting the balance the anger. You know, Brooke, the thing is, you think of it this way.
Last month alone, there were 200 Iraqis killed by these sorts of attacks, bombings and shootings and the like, 350 of them wounded. What country in the world would have those sorts of fatalities and injuries and it doesn't even make news anymore.
It really doesn't and it is not unusual. It is happening all the time. I just came out of Baghdad yesterday and the day I left, seven dead, 28 wounded in a variety of different attacks around the country. So for Iraqis, the Americans leaving, well, OK, fine. But the war is not over.
BALDWIN: So what's next for all these people you've met in your years of covering this war each and every year of the war since?
HOLMES: Yes, this was my 12th trip there. I have been there every year since it began. And there is a lot of that he is mix, I have to say, Brooke. There is some joy for Americans as their troops come home and that's great.
But for the Iraqis behind, they're being left with a country that is being shattered by this war. The infrastructure, the electricity is still not good. The electricity is of for half the day for most peel.
Nine years in, you would think they could have got the power original wouldn't you? That's life. Other areas, sewage and the like, roads and all of that. They're still problem attic. And you have a political system that we like to say is democratic. It is kind of democratic.
Nouri Al-Maliki is centralizing power. He still runs the Interior Ministry, the Defense Ministry so a lot of criticism and the concern about the political structure.
And the factions that are competing for power. Sectarian mainly but others as well that weren't there before the war and they're now there.
BALDWIN: That's a perspective from a lot of those Iraqis. I know you've met over the years. Michael Holmes, thank you.
Now for this perspective. This is a tough number to tell you, 18. Did you realize that 18 American veterans kill themselves each and every day?
Twenty percent of all suicides in this country are veterans. We went behind the scenes at the front lines in the fight against suicide at the Veterans Crisis Line. Take a look.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you put that knife away for a little bit while we talk?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said he had a big knife on his lap. That he was going to use it to kill himself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He kept saying that he took all his medicine. So there was a possible overdose.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I send somebody to help you? I think that's what I'm going to do, OK? Because I think you want help. You called the hotline.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two police officers on the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remember I said I was sending somebody to help you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was probably as close as I'm I've come to a completion over the phone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The CDC estimates approximately 20 percent of all suicides are completed by veterans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every rescue, there is a hint of anxiety. There is always the chance that something is not going to go right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need to know what we can help you be safe today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: he was an amputee who had his leg blown off by an EID. He didn't feel that he wanted to be a burden to his family anymore. With the sheriffs on the way, he shot himself.
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BALDWIN: That is just a portion of what we saw. We're going to show you even more next hour, including the rescue of a veteran who called in to the hotline just to give word of his funeral arrangements to his children.
And we can't say this enough. I'll say this again next hour. If you or you know someone who is at risk of suicide, call the veterans crisis line, 1-800-273-8255 or go online, veteranscrisisline.net.
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BALDWIN: Talking about trending today, I'm not going to use the word crazy lightly here. But before I show it to you, I need to say this.
The people who are doing this crazy thing are professionals. So take a look with me. This is in Alabama, taking a kayak down these falls. Like I said, you know, you talk to some people, it's amazing, awesome, crazy, fill in the blank adjective.
Folks, this is a 90-foot drop and as you the falls are swollen, plenty of run-off. Three guys, buddies see the falls as a challenge strapped on a helmet cam. Took the plunge. Let's just get your heart pumping. Take a look at this.
OK. We'll all just keep talking then. Who does this? As we watch this. This guy sitting to my left, one of the three kayakers that we're seeing in this video that is all spliced together.
Before we chat, I guess I should point out the people at the falls in Alabama, none too pleased. You guys decided to take kayaks. We'll get to that in a second. My thought to you is, dude, seriously? Why?
ISAAC LEVINSON, DAREDEVIL KAYAKER: Well, it's there. That's the easiest thing I can tell people. I've been working on my kayak progress. And the two other guys I was with were doing the same thing. I've looked at this water fall multiple times and decided that day was the right time to kayak off the falls.
BALDWIN: So as the front tip of your kayak is perched precariously over the at this point of the falls, are you thinking at that time or does your mine go numb?
LEVINSN: Absolutely. That's the most important time. As you crest over the lip, that's when you lose control. So you have to set your angle and be really focused on your landing from there. The idea is to land with your kayak pointed vertically down so that that was really necessary on this water fall to keep from being injured. BALDWIN: So as you land, you want your kayak to be perpendicular with the water below.
LEVINSON: Yes, almost as if you're high diving.
BALDWIN: OK, so you lost your paddle.
LEVINSON: Yes. I threw away my paddle because you don't want anything to be in front of you if you impact, the paddle can hit your chest or go into you.
So one of the techniques that we're working on with water fall running is throwing the paddle and actually tucking forward and holding on to your kayak.
BALDWIN: What about the park? I've covered another extreme sport, base jumping. It is illegal in most places but people hop off buildings. Is what you did OK?
LEVINSON: I don't think it is technically illegal of I think they frown against it a lot. But the waterways of Alabama are actually legal to kayak whenever you would like. And I don't recommend anybody do these falls again.
BALDWIN: Don't try this at home underline, underscore.
LEVINSON: Very professional calculated risk.
BALDWIN: Ten seconds, are you doing this again?
LEVINSON: I will not be running Noccalula Falls again. But I was loving the memory that I have of it now.
BALDWIN: OK, Isaac, thank you very much. Nice to meet you.
LEVINSON: Thanks for having me on the show.
