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Iraq War Officially Over; Republicans Prepare to Debate; Woman Uses Recycled Glass to Make Jewelry; Phone Line Dedicated to Helping Suicidal Veterans; Hexacopter Used to Film Moscow Protests; Dutch Airline Allows Passengers to Choose Who They Sit Next To

Aired December 15, 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: And now this. Welcome back, hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A couple stories we're watching for you. First, the official end of the Iraq war. Also, the Republican race heating up in Iowa and the price of gold suddenly falls, and a glimpse into the future of war. Time to play "Reporter Roulette" here on this Thursday.

And I want to begin in Kuwait at Camp Virginia with Martin Savidge, where troops are getting ready to head home -- Martin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For those troops coming out of Iraq, Camp Virginia here is their first stop. It's also the first step on their way to get home in time for many of them for the holidays to be with their families.

They don't forget though that this is also an important time and they are witnesses to history here. Whether it is their first deployment or their fifth or sixth as it has been in some cases in soldiers we have spoken to, they all know that being here at the end of this conflict is a moment that they will remember and a moment that historians will write about.

It's also a moment that each soldier feels personally as they come across the border from Iraq into Kuwait. We had a conversation with a chaplain who has been up there and witnessed that moment. And here's how he described it.

CAPT. CARSON JUMP, U.S. ARMY: I think it is awesome, the fact that we're bringing something to the close. And as the chaplain, I get to go out and we go to (INAUDIBLE) and watch the guys cross the border and kind of say, hey, welcome to Kuwait. You're on the way home.

And it's an exciting time. You see guys jumping out of the vehicles, giving hugs and just saying, hey, we made it. We did it. We're safe.

And for a chaplain, that's a cool thing, because we also do the other side of it as well. And so seeing this is important to us. SAVIDGE: I have had conversations like that with a number of soldiers. And you say what do you expect it will be like crossing that border? Initially, they say, well, I don't think it will be that big a deal.

But when they do cross the border, it is in fact they say a big deal, one, because they go from a war zone to an area of safety. But it also means for every soldier when they cross that point for them, that person, their war comes to an end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Martin Savidge, thank you so much in Kuwait.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," CNN political correspondent Jim Acosta for us in Sioux City, Iowa, as we're all watching the calendar run down here. We know that the caucus is January 3.

And the candidates are getting feisty, aren't they, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are indeed.

We're about six hours away from the latest GOP debate here in Sioux City, Iowa. And Newt Gingrich, all eyes are on him. He is vowing to stay positive in this race despite the fact in the last couple of days, as you know, Brooke, he has been the subject of a barrage of attacks from Romney forces, a couple of ads not only from the Romney campaign, but from also a super PAC that is very much pro- Romney.

In addition to that, the former Massachusetts governor gave an interview to "The New York Times" in which he referred to the former speaker of the House as zany. Well, at an event earlier this afternoon, here in Iowa, Newt Gingrich maintained he is not going to go negative. Here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really do need your help on January 3. I know there are a ton of negative adds. You will be able to go to Newt.org and state answers in every one of them. But I'm not going to spend my time on that stuff. I'm going to talk about positive solutions in a positive way, because we're in trouble.

I only have one opponent. That's Barack Obama. I have a number of friends running and one opponent. And I'm going to run this campaign on a positive basis because I believe the people of Iowa are smart enough that they can see the difference between somebody who is trying to help the country and somebody who is simply running a negative campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And we're going to have to see whether or not that tactic of staying positive for Newt Gingrich will work. There is a new Gallup daily tracking poll out just today, Brooke, that shows on a national level, Newt Gingrich's support has slipped a bit. He only has a five-point lead right now, 29-24 over Mitt Romney in that survey.

That is an indication that Newt Gingrich's number are softening just a bit as we head into this final stretch of the campaign -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: And as you know, Ron Paul looking pretty good in Iowa as well. Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: And that is "Reporter Roulette" for us today.

Still ahead, police say a fraternity handed out this survey. One of the questions was, who would you want to rape? Yes, we're now learning who is behind that survey.

Also tomorrow night -- we mentioned this a moment ago -- the government could shut down for the third time this year, Congress once again playing with fire. And this directly affects your paycheck.

Plus:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you put that knife away for a little bit just while we talk?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Please stick around for this. CNN went inside the suicide hot line center for veterans. And while we're there, two rescues happen. You will see them. All of it was caught on our cameras.

Also, a shocking allegation. The U.S. didn't just lose that Iran drone. The Iranians hacked into it and tricked the drone to land in Iran. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Congress is playing with matches. We know they have toyed around on the payroll tax, where Americans' paychecks are threatened. And now to top it all off, they're bumbling toward another potential government shutdown. Folks, this is the third time this year.

Gloria Borger, chief political analyst.

Gloria, before we get into the whole nuts and bolts and all the gamesmanship, flat out, what's wrong these folks?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, you tell me. I don't know.

You know that old book "Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus"?

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: Right. Yes, I think that's Republicans and Democrats. Honestly, they do not approach issues the same way.

There is a real ideological rift that I think in fact has almost gone beyond ideology into theology for particularly a lot of the freshmen Republicans in the House. And I think all of them come from much more ideological districts because of the way party lines are drawn in this country.

So I think the Congress is so partisan, they just can't see to compromise anymore.

BALDWIN: They have got two big problems, number one, tax cut expiring. That's the end of this month.

Two, we saw the countdown clock, funding for the government past Friday, that deadline midnight tomorrow. Obviously the clock is ticking on both. Is there any way they would actually leave town for the holidays without getting things done?

BORGER: Actually, I think members of Congress understand how the public feels. I just got off the phone with an adviser to a Republican leader in the Senate who said, look, in the end, they're going to have to work this out.

He thinks they may be making some progress and will get -- fund the government, certainly. The question is whether they do the payroll tax cut right now or whether they wait a little bit of time. I believe, personally, that, politically, they cannot leave here without doing both of them.

You saw the president earlier today came out and said, you people cannot go home for Christmas break until you get this done. So what they're down to now is figuring out a way to pay for the payroll tax cut. And, no surprise, Democrats and Republicans have very different ideas about how to do that.

BALDWIN: OK.

So, your source, your adviser on the phone says they have got to get something done. They probably will. I mean, it's easy to fault the system. It is easy to blame the other side, Mars, Venus, what have you.

What's your take, though, on why we're back here once again as we mentioned third time this year with another government shutdown looming?

BORGER: Look, you know what? We're in a political year, surprise, surprise. And I think sometimes, having covered Congress for a very long time, that you want to stop them from legislating the closer you get to an election, because they don't seem to be able to get anything done, because reelection gets in the way of all of that.

BALDWIN: But didn't we elect them to do a job?

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: We did. We did.

And here's the problem for all of them, by the way. If they all look bad, this could be a huge anti-incumbent year. And nobody up there really wants that. There was a new Pew poll out this morning which said that two out of three Americans say you ought to throw them all out.

BALDWIN: I remember that.

BORGER: That's not good if you're an incumbent.

BALDWIN: But then they're saying, well, let's throw them all out, but not necessarily my senator or member of Congress, just yours.

BORGER: Well, right. But if people are angry enough, if people are angry enough and they want to vote against incumbents, they will do that.

They did that in the 2010 midterm elections. And the Democrats who were in charge got voted out. Now the Republicans are in charge. The question is whether the pendulum will swing. But they all understand now that it is in their own self-interest to get something done. And nothing moves Congress like their own self-interest. So, I'm going to be a little less cynical today and say I bet they're going to do it. We will see.

BALDWIN: All right, Gloria, we will take it. Always a pleasure talking to you.

BORGER: Sure.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, thank you so much from Washington.

BALDWIN: Now to this: some pretty stunning developments in the fight over that U.S. drone in Iran. Here it is.

U.S. officials first told us it was missing during a patrol mission. Now CNN is hearing the drone was used to spy on nuclear sites. And as if that's not big enough for you, get this. One Iranian reportedly says he hacked into the drone. We're live at the Pentagon. You have got to hear this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This story is turning into one heck of a whodunit. I'm talking about the advanced technology U.S. drone that is now in the hands of Iran. A short time ago, "The Christian Science Monitor" published this piece online that quotes an Iranian engineer as saying Iran hacked the drone's guidance system, coaxed this thing into landing in Iran. And from the looks of it, which Iran is showing off as you can see here in this video, it sure looks like it made a soft landing.

Just a short time ago, we spoke with a reporter who spoke with that Iranian engineer who is essentially claiming Iran outwitted the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT PETERSON, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": They have been observing for the last two years at least the overflights that have been coming from Afghanistan of some of these stealth drones. They have been aware. They have also captured themselves and shot down a number of other less sophisticated non-stealth drones.

But those drones are still using the same GPS navigational characteristics. And, surprisingly enough, we have -- we heard last September we had Revolutionary Guard commanders basically claiming that they had this capability, that they had a way of reprogramming, stepping in and reprogramming a GPS set of coordinates so that it could move, it could basically spoof the drone into thinking that it was landing where it was supposed to be, but in fact landing where the hackers, the spoofers wanted it to land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Spoof the drone. So Iran is essentially saying, hang on. That American drone didn't crash. We fooled it into landing even after essentially announcing to the world that they had this capability now. This is what we're hearing.

Let's go to the Pentagon and Chris Lawrence.

And, Chris, what are the people saying where you sit?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, not a lot, Kyra (sic).

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Brooke.

LAWRENCE: Brooke.

And the reason is, you know, one military official said, look, military didn't really even know what this drone was doing at the time because it was a CIA-run mission. They didn't have a lot of initial feeler on what this drone was out there doing.

Now, publicly, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in an interview with FOX News, he didn't rule out the possibility that this jamming technique may have been what brought down the drone. On the other hand, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said flat out that is the case, that it was a technical problem as some U.S. officials have claimed that brought down the drone.

So there are some conflicting stories out, although I did speak to one aviation expert who said, look, Iran may have this technology. And he said it was adapted from Russian technology and it is sort of a 21st century way to shoot something down. Instead of shooting it out of sky, you bring it down and you monitor it without causing heavy damage.

BALDWIN: Huh. OK. So does the Pentagon have an explanation for why the drone looks to be in primo shape, no scratches? It looks like it landed pretty easily.

LAWRENCE: Well, if you believe the Iranians, it is because they guided into a landing. The drone thought it was landing in Afghanistan, not Iran.

I spoke with another aviation expert who said it is possible that the drone could have survived the fall by coming down in what he called a falling leaf pattern. But again what we don't see in that video that Iran has been showing is you don't see what the underside looks like. Remember, there was about a week's gap between the crash and this video coming out.

So it is still undetermined exactly how much damage may have been sustained underneath where some of the sensors would be that would like try to pick up chemical patterns in the air or things like that.

BALDWIN: What about the mission itself? It sounds like maybe the U.S. is changing its story as to what exactly the drone was doing there?

LAWRENCE: Yes, sort of an about-face, Kyra (sic).

When it initially crashed, a U.S. official was telling us, you know, this was strictly a mission on the Afghanistan side of the border. They were only looking for insurgents, not spying on Iran. Now a couple military officials have come back to us and said, you know, that's just not the case.

It was something that a lot of experts questioned right off the bat, that it was a surveillance mission looking at Iran's suspected nuclear sites in the area. Even when this first came out, we were speaking with people who were telling us, why would you need a more sophisticated drone to look for insurgents in Afghanistan? Afghanistan doesn't have any air defenses. You don't need to be stealthy, necessarily, in Afghanistan.

And they had a lot of questions about why would you need that drone for that mission? There were questions right from the start. And now some U.S. officials are confirming that.

BALDWIN: OK. Now there still are. Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon, Chris, thanks.

Still ahead, a bizarre war of words, Vladimir Putin vs., of all people, John McCain? Why the Russian prime minister is questioning the senator's sanity. And you got to hear McCain's response.

Plus, he is one of Hollywood's biggest stars. And during a regularly scheduled interview CNN had with Christian Bale, some guards began chasing the actor and our crew. We have just gotten this video in. You have to stick around to see it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

If it's interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it "Rapid Fire," let's go, beginning with the man known as America's toughest sheriff facing a bit of trouble today. The Justice Department accusing Joe Arpaio's office of discrimination against Latinos. This comes as the Supreme Court announces it will decide whether Arizona's tough immigration law is in fact unconstitutional.

And four fishermen from the Bahamas are pretty grateful today. You see the smiles there. They launched a five-day-ago trip off this larger fishing vessel. But they became stranded when their smaller fishing boats conked out. They could not get back to the larger ship. These men have 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 what a war of words we have here between Vladimir Putin and John McCain. Here's the deal. The Arizona senator suggested Russia might end up like Libya. So that then inspired the Russian prime minister to suggest the senator is nuts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): And 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, based upon Senator McCain's background, spent time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

So the Republican there took to Twitter, tweeting: "Dear Vlad, is it something I said?"

This senator appearing on "JOHN KING, USA" tonight, 6:00 Eastern here on CNN, so don't miss that interview.

Also, a terrible accident, this freak accident involving an elevator shaft in New York. A woman, just routine, stepped into the elevator at work. Then suddenly, the elevator shot up before the doors closed, trapped her between floors. She died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard this like loud boom, crash. And the whole thing kind of shaked. A couple of the girls on my floor were like crying and really panicked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Police now looking into what caused the elevator to go haywire.

Police have arrested the man who tried to rob a coffee shop from his car. And you can watch him try to do this. Watch with me. The guy gets out waving a -- this piece of iron, iron rod, right, as he is climbing through the windows. You see the shop owner. This is actually the wife of the shop owner. Watch her left hand. Bam with the coffee pot and then tosses some steaming hot milk on him. 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 is pretty heavy. And she hit hill in the face with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And now to this, an update on the Medal of Honor awarded just this past September at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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: That was the president back on September 15 recounting the heroic actions that earned Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer the Medal of Honor, except the twist today is there are now these doubts about what exactly happened that day.

"The Washington Post" citing the McClatchy newspapers saying substantial portions of the official version of events are -- and I'm quoting -- "untrue, unsubstantiated or exaggerated." The Marine Corps responding to today's article in "The Post" saying it firmly stands behind the vetting process and that Meyer rightly deserved the military's highest honor.

Coming up next: A fraternity sends us a survey asking fellow brothers -- and here's the question -- who would you want to rape? Hard to believe. We will tell you who is behind that and why another survey makes this even worse.

Plus, she is the American acquitted of killing her roommate during that drug-fueled sex game. Now the judge in the Amanda Knox case is speaking out -- Sunny Hostin on the case next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A Georgia artist is taking recycling to a fashionable new level, making jewelry from things she finds dumpster diving. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: "Drink it, wear it" -- that's Kathleen Plate's motto. She takes empty bottles and makes them will into wearable art. She calls it "smart glass jewelry."

KATHLEEN PLATE, SMART GLASS JEWELRY: I decided I would only use glass and that it would primarily come from the recycled bottles. We come in the studio. We cut the bottles. We try different things, just a lot of experimentation. Sometimes it works. Styles it doesn't.

BALDWIN: The bottles come from different sources like restaurants or dumpsters.

PLATE: I'm not unaccustomed to dumpster diving, I guess, whatever needs to happen to get the job done.

BALDWIN: Kathleen's passion is creating jewelry that has a dual purpose.

PLATE: Al things being equal, why not do it with a higher consciousness? Why not do it in a way that has less impact, that has a greater benefit? I make jewelry, and I want it to be more than that. I want it to have a story, to have meaning. And it just feels good.

BALDWIN: Kathleen is planning to work on large he pieces next, like chandeliers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: A fraternity survey goes beyond animal house. Wait until you see what it says that is resulting in this major investigation. Sunny Hostin is on the case. She's on the phone with me. And Sunny, here are the survey questions for members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon chapters at the University of Vermont. Let's take a close look at question number three, bottom of the screen. The question actually asks this, quote, "If I could rape someone, who would it be?" I look at that and I think, really? Really, are you asking that?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: It is remarkable, isn't it? We expect more of our young men in college, no question about it. And it is being investigated not only by the fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, it's also being investigated by the university. BALDWIN: It just so happens today the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released its own survey, and I want to show this. It says nearly one the in five women has either been raped or someone has tried to rape them. This is almost 22 million women in the U.S., 22 million. Does that number, Sunny Hostin, does that surprise you?

HOSTIN: Well, it doesn't surprise me only because this is an area of the law that I have practiced in. And so these statistics have been similar for quite some time, Brooke. But I think it underscores the need for our young men and our young women in college to be more considerate when it comes to sexual assault and sexual abuse, and certainly this fraternity should have known better.

I think one of the good things that will come out of this investigation is that the university may disassociate itself with the fraternity, and the fraternity may expel some of the -- all or some of the members, depending on who, how many people were involved in this questionnaire. So the statistics don't surprise me. They're so alarming but unfortunately the statistics have remained sort of the same for several years.

BALDWIN: And so those are possible punishments this fraternity could face.

Number two here, let's talk about this Italian judge in the Amanda Knox case released this report today explaining why Knox was cleared of murdering her roommate. What did the judge say?

HOSTIN: The judge found that there just wasn't enough evidence proving their guilt. And that I think was just really extraordinary, because that is the standard of proof here in the United States, right? The prosecution has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. That's what this judge found is the prosecution didn't prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, that there wasn't enough evidence of guilt. So a very, very good outcome for Amanda Knox.

BALDWIN: If this judge is saying there isn't enough evidence, is there even still talk from prosecutors about an appeal?

HOSTIN: That's right. The prosecution says it's going to appeal, but not on those grounds. It will be a technical appeal. The prosecution probably will appeal in one or two days, but very, very narrow grounds, not on the basis of the evidence is my understanding. So that also is good news for Amanda Knox.

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you.

Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remember I said I was sending someone to help you? That was probably as close as I've come to a completion over the phone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This is a unique behind-the-scenes look at the folks who answer the calls of veterans threatening to take their own lives, some with guns, some with knives, and two dramatic rescues that happened while our CNN crew was there. Do not miss this next story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Did you realize that 20 percent of all suicides right here in the United States are veterans? These are the men and women who bravely fought for our country. Each and every day hundreds of suicide calls come into the Veterans Crisis Line. And so we went behind the scenes with these suicide responders at the Veterans Administration. And the day we happened to be there, this overnight shift, two suicide rescues were caught on tape. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for calling Veterans Crisis Hotline. This is Scott. How can I help you? OK. Well, Eric, first off I can say thanks for serving. What do you mean by crisis? Are you suicidal?

DR. JANET KEMP, NATIONAL DIRECTOR, VETERANS CRISIS LINE: We've done close to 20,000 rescues since the crisis line has started.

MAUREEN MCHENRY, RESPONDER, VETERANS CRISIS LINE: The first thing I say to a caller when they do have the object that they plan on killing themselves with them on their person, whether it is a loaded gun on their lap or the rope already strung or whatever, I always say to them, can you agree to not shoot yourself, take your pills, get up on the ladder while we're on the phone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you put that knife away for a little bit, just while we talk?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Suicide veteran on the phone. He stated he had like a big knife on his lap, that he was going to use it to kill himself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said 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've come to a completion over the phone.

KEMP: The CDC estimates approximately 20 percent of all suicides are completed by veterans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What sort of weapons do you have?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

ROB GRIFFO, HEALTH TECH, VETERANS CRISIS LINE: He was an amputee who had his leg blown off in an IED and he didn't feel that he wanted to be burden to his family anymore. With the sheriffs on the way, he shot himself.

We never, ever give up on a rescue. Whenever a vet needs help, we will do whatever it takes to find him. If he can't tell us where he is, we will do whatever it takes.

MCHENRY: You said as soon as we get off the phone, you plan on taking some pills. Is that all you plan on doing?

He lost his wife. He had been married for 20 years. He lost her a couple of months ago. And he called simply to give me a message to give to his family about funeral arrangements and that he wanted to be buried with a photograph of her.

What do you think she would say? How would she feel if she knew you were going through this and you were planning to kill yourself?

So when I tried to talk to him about his wife, he became so emotional I couldn't understand anything he was saying. I tried to flip it around. If you were the one that had died and your wife was thinking about this, you know, would you want her to do this? And he said no.

It's OK to cry. Just let it out. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay here on the phone with you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is not a weakness to reach out for help and get help.

GRIFFO: When they ask you to walk a mile with them, you say, no, I'll walk two.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the Help Desk, where we get answers to your financial questions. And joining me this hour is Gary Schatsky, a financial planner and the president of ObjectiveAdvice.com, and Gail Cunningham is with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Thank you both for being here. Gail, first question for you today. This comes from Richard in Virginia. Richard writes, "I occasionally receive unsolicited invitations telling me I am preapproved for a credit card. Would accepting such an invitation adversely affect my credit score?" GAIL CUNNINGHAM, NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR CREDIT COUNSELING: We have two things working here -- receiving the preapproved application. It coming in your mailbox has no impact on your credit score. But if you act upon that, of course the creditor is going to review your credit history. That well put what is known as an inquiry on your credit report. That's a small ding. It could potentially lower your very score but not for long. Don't worry about it. And just FYI, that is rarely the reason that anyone is declined, simply because they have too many inquiries.

HARLOW: That's a very good point.

Gary, your question is from Tom in Ohio. Tom wrote in "I'm retired. My only income is from my pension, Social Security, and earnings from investments. Can I still make the maximum contribution to my Roth IRA?"

GARY SCHATSKY, FINANCIAL PLANNER: Unfortunately, you can't. In order to contribute to a Roth or regular IRA, you have to have some type of earned income. So you can look at other investments but one of these tax deferred ones you cannot do without earned income.

HARLOW: Good advice, guys. We appreciate it. If you have a question you want answered, please send us an e-mail at any time to CNNhelpdesk@CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Claims of UFO sightings at protests around the world. Little green men, maybe government spying? Jeanne Moos has the scoop.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Up in the sky, is it a UFO? Is it a surveillance drone? Over the heads of tens of thousands of Russian protesters it flew. And this video flew on to sites like "UFO Sightings Daily" where they pondered this possible alien probe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could the craft capturing this video be one of these probes?

MOOS: Do you really think? Many protesters figured it was their own government keeping they will under surveillance with a drone. But it wasn't aliens looking down on the crowd and it wasn't the Russian government spying on demonstrators. It was this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a radio controlled hexacopter.

MOOS: A hexacopter, hex, meaning six rotors with a wide angled camera attached. And look at the beautiful pictures it took of the biggest protest Moscow has seen in decades. And when they edited together the panoramic views, they got this. They call themselves Air Pano, a group of eight or so Russians who do this for fun. A two-man team operates the hexacopter, a pilot and a camera operator. These days you never know where your drone is going to land. And no, the hexacopter did not end up in Iran. Still the hexacopter pilot was not taking any chances. No point in crash landing on the crowd. The hexacopter stayed over the river, and twice, someone in the crowd aimed fireworks rockets at it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To shoot the device with this.

MOOS: No damage done. You can buy something like this. A Canadian company sells the Dragon Flyer X-8. Camera and chopper sell for between $10,000 and $50,000. CNN is using something similar for a nature special with Philippe Cousteau.

MOOS: They've been used at other recent protests, for instance in Warsaw to get a view of the action. Occupy Wall Street has an Occu-copter. The Russian bought parts to build their own hexacopter. They've been shooting beautiful places all over the world.

(on camera) By the way, do you believe in UFOs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I do believe. We have one.

MOOS: And if you're ever tempted to fly a remote controlled chopper, try not to chop up your son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oops. Sorry.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Call it the dating club in the sky. Forget about choosing seats at random. One airline allowing its customers so select who they sit next to based on certain interests, especially if those interests include looking for love. Alison Kosik and I have tackled some pretty taboo stuff on this show. This story is no exception. It's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Why didn't someone think of this before? A Dutch airline KLM will soon make it possible for airline passengers, many of them obviously total strangers, to choose their seating arrangements through Facebook. Alison Kosik is in New York with this. So let's just cut to it. I mean, is this a way to find a date a mile up there? That sounds like how they're kind of selling this.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Could be. They're not selling it this way. They're basically saying listen, if you want to figure out who you want to sit next to, because have you ever sat next to somebody on an airline and they just don't stop talking? You put the earphones on, sometimes, it doesn't work. So KLM Airlines is offering this service where if you've a passenger you can use Facebook and LinkedIn to book your flight.

Now, the airline says the idea was to find people with similar interests and pick a seat. They say this could help you in business and sort of business friendly conversations. And just it also takes out the creepy factor because they can't go on Facebook and say, look, Brooke Baldwin. She's going to be flying on this flight. I want to sit next to her. It will take that out of the picture because actually both passengers have to agree on the arrangement for it to work.

As far as the dating aspect that you mentioned, hey, you never know what happens up there in the air, that mile high club.

BALDWIN: You never know. And I'm not speaking in that way, but I met a pretty fascinating woman who had one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard as a journalist. You never know who's sitting next to you, that's just my point. But someone's sitting there with ear bud's in the whole time, I guess they're sending you a message. Alison Kosik, thank you so much. I appreciate that.

On a much more serious note, though, today is a day, one of many, that really is going down in history. This is the day that the U.S. is officially ending the war in Iraq. And after nine year, U.S. troops are coming home. And who better to help us understand the history behind this day than my friend, Wolf Blitzer.

And Wolf, I know you were there in Iraq, very beginning, in 2003. So, what did we do? We went digging through our archives, and I want to show this video. And I want you to explain sort of what was happening, because here you were, live. And from what I understand, with some video of you interviewing, this is Sanjay in a gas mask. Do you remember this day?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I remember it because we were both in Kuwait City. The war had just started. And Iraqis launched some Scud missiles right into Kuwait City. I was broadcasting from our site of the hotel there. Then all of a sudden we got word that about a mile away at a major downtown mall in Kuwait City, one of those Scuds landed. It was about 2:00 a.m., so fortunately very few people were inside this shopping mall.

But Sanjay, to his credit, I was so impressed -- not only is he a great neurosurgeon, a great guy, but he is a very courageous journalist. He immediately got into the vehicle with their crew. They drove right down their gas masks on, and then they started broadcasting live from the scene. We assumed there was poison gas. We didn't know, chemical warfare, biological warfare. Sanjay was right there. He did an amazing job.

I had a gas mask with me and our security people said, can you put your gas mask on? I said this before. I said I don't want to put the gas mask on. It will scare everybody if I start broadcasting with a gas mask on, so I didn't. But if somebody would have said to me that nearly nine years later it would take for U.S. troops to get out of Iraq, I would have thought they were crazy.

BALDWIN: You wouldn't have believed it.

BLITZER: Because I was working under the assumption of the first Gulf war, six weeks, it was over, and everybody went home. It's hard to believe it's taken almost nine years. BALDWIN: You were there though the day, I remember watching it, being in journalism and just watching the day they pulled Saddam Hussein's statue down. What was it like being there?

BLITZER: I remember. I wasn't in Baghdad at the time. I was still in Kuwait. But it was obviously a moment that all of us who covered it will never forget. It was going so quickly. One of the reasons everyone was so optimistic, it only took a few days for 150,000 U.S. troops to zip up about 400 miles, that highway from Basra all the way up to Baghdad, and Saddam Hussein went into hiding. As we all know he was eventually found in that hole and later executed after a trial. But it was history unfolding and all of us remember it vividly.

I do remember and I was in northern Kuwait when the troops went in, almost all the U.S. troops went in fully protected with gas mask, chemical warfare here, because they thought weapons of mass destruction were there and they were going to be engaged in fighting with Iraqi troops who would use those kind of poisonous weapons.

BALDWIN: And they were not. Thank you, Wolf Blitzer. We're going to give you a moment to breathe. We'll see you at the top of the hour.

Right now, though, I want to end on this. This is some pretty amazing stuff, crazy video. This waterfall, this is in Alabama. But these people, these three different men are professionals, I should say. This is in Alabama, and this guy's got a helmet cam. This is a 90 foot drop. So think of going off a building, nine, ten stories. The falls are swollen, all kinds of runoff and they go. We're showing these pictures because they're A-OK.

But they saw this as challenge. They spoke to Isaac, one of the three guys before, he told me he had to toss his paddle to the side because you don't want to be jabbed by anything as you are careening down. The fact they're able to capture this, look at these images, just stunning. He told me he has no plans of doing this fall ever again. But they are professionals. Don't try this at home. But amazing stuff none the less.

Let's take a quick look at the big board here, and we can tell you the DOW is up just a bit as we are right next to the closing bell, the DOW up 41 points, just below that 12,000 mark at 11,865.

That is it for me. I'm Brooke Baldwin here at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. Now to Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts now.