Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Birth Control Pill Recall; Taliban Planning to Retake Afghanistan?; Romney Wins Big; American Airlines to Cut 13,000 Jobs; Orphaned Girl Hospitalized; Teacher Charged with Abusing Kids; Don Cornelius Dies of Apparent Suicide; U.S. Combat in Afghanistan to Wind Down

Aired February 01, 2012 - 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: Now this. Just past the top of the hour here. I'm Brooke Baldwin live in Tampa, Florida. A couple stories we're watching for you right now. First and foremost, a major birth control recall, a mix-up that could leave you unprotected. Stay tuned for that.

Also, from Afghanistan, a secret report claims the Taliban is poised to retake the country as soon as NATO forces pull out.

And Facebook, when can we get in on the action and buy a piece of that pie?

Time to play "Reporter Roulette."

BALDWIN: I want to go straight to Elizabeth Cohen with this massive recall of birth control pills.

Elizabeth, what exactly is being recalled and why?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: If you are a woman on birth control pills, I suggest you go to your medicine cabinet and see if you have either of these kinds of pills.

The first one is called Lo/Ovral, and the second one is a generic. It's called Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets. If you have those, for some of them, not all of them, but for some of them, there is a mistake with the way they were packaged and you may not be protected.

And you need to know that they're recalling these.

BALDWIN: So as women are then sort of rushing to their medicine cabinets to check, what can they do if they use this kind of pill?

COHEN: If you're taking this kind of pill, you want to bring it back to the pharmacy where you got it from, and, secondly, you want to go to your doctor to get another type of birth control, because it is possible, again, that this is not protecting you. So two-step process. Go to the pharmacy, go to your doctor.

BALDWIN: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much. More information at CNN.com/empoweredpatient. Thank you. Next on "Reporter Roulette" want to go straight to the Pentagon to Chris Lawrence.

We're hearing, Chris, about a leaked classified military report. It claims that the Taliban are ready to retake control of Afghanistan with help from Pakistan. This would come after of course NATO withdrawals in 2014. U.S. officials here what are they saying about this?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this is a classified report that was based on about 4,000 interviews with everyone from senior Taliban to low-level, some al Qaeda fighters mixed in, foreign fighters.

These were all people captured by the international security forces there in Afghanistan and then interviewed over the course of last year. And it shows the Taliban as a whole to be very confident. Their thinking is, come 2014, they will be back in power in Afghanistan and will win, so to speak.

It also shows that a lot of the Taliban don't really trust Pakistan, that they feel Pakistan is manipulative, but they don't see any other area to get help. So they go along and they take Pakistan's aid, and that some of the senior Taliban officials are still being harbored, given safe harbor there in Pakistan -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Chris, what about the ultimate goal of getting out of Afghanistan? Does this mean that we're just even further away from reaching that target?

LAWRENCE: Yes.

When you look at it, you know, there has been some talk about, you know, the Afghans saying that they may meet the Taliban for some negotiations in Qatar. A Taliban spokesman put out a word just recently, in the last day or so, saying that's not true, that they respect the idea of negotiations, but they have no plans to do so at the time.

So still hard to say on that. You know, meanwhile, U.S. officials are saying about this report, this is some of the most ruthless people involved. They're sort of downplaying it. One U.S. official told us this is more comments than intel. There's been no analysis of what some of these people are saying. And, of course, Pakistan is still saying, you know, they're not aiding the Taliban directly -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Of course. Of course they're saying that. Chris Lawrence, thank you so much.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Want to move along, though. We're just getting some breaking news, breaking news in to us here at CNN. This is out of Egypt. Dozens are reported dead as riots are break out over a soccer game. We're going to take you live to Cairo for more of the news next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Breaking news into us here at CNN out of Egypt. More than 70 people are dead, hundreds are hurt in this massive riot after a soccer game.

Let's go straight to CNN's Ben Wedeman. He joins me from Egypt.

Ben, soccer? What happened?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is no question the worst-case of football violence in Egyptian history.

We understand that after these teams finished a game in the town of Port Said, which is on the Suez Canal right next to the Mediterranean, the fans of the Port Said club went on to the pitch and became involved in violent clashes with the fans of the other team called Al-Ahly from Cairo.

We understand from the Health Industry at least 73 dead, at least 200 wounded. Of course, these are just initial figures. We understand there are 90 ambulances on the scene. The hospitals in Port Said are completely overwhelmed by this bloodshed. Certainly this is indicative of the kind of security vacuum that has occurred here in Egypt since the revolution.

Since the revolution, really, the police have never returned to the streets of Egyptian towns and cities in the kind of numbers they were on the streets before the revolution, and certainly there weren't enough at the Port Said stadium to prevent this sort of horrific bloodshed that has many Egyptians wondering where this country is going.

We understand parliament is now going to be meeting in emergency session to discuss the situation, but certainly, very disturbing for many Egyptians -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Disturbing as I'm just seeing these pictures here of fires. This looks like something we would have seen many months ago, certainly not after a soccer or football match. Can you explain just a little bit more context about these two teams? Are these big rivals? Why the degree of the violence?

WEDEMAN: Well, the team that was -- one of the teams is the Ahly team, which is from Cairo, a widely popular team.

But there is a small group of fans called the Ultras who oftentimes go to these games with the specific indent of getting in fights with fans from the opposing teams. What happened is that the Port Said beat the other team, the Ahly team, 3-1 and that may have played a part in sort of sparking these clashes.

But it's really hard to explain this level of bloodshed, this death toll, this number of injuries, given that in the past, you have had some soccer violence in Egypt but nothing on this scale -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Unreal. You said initial reports, 73 dead, 200 wounded, 90 ambulances.

Ben Wedeman, we will keep following it right along with you there for us out of Cairo. Ben, thank you so much.

Coming up next, a writer follows General David Petraeus for months and months and gets this amazing exclusive access to some of the most dramatic moments. You're about to hear unique insight on strategies, the wars and Petraeus' relationship with the presidents he's served, including friction with one of them. Paula Broadwell is standing by for me. Don't miss this interview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: He is now the director of the CIA. He was once the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan and in Iraq before that. I'm talking about David Petraeus. He is in charge of the country's deepest secrets.

A new biography, it is bringing readers now into his inner circle. It's called "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus."

And Paula Broadwell, she wrote the book, along with "The Washington Post"'s Vernon Loeb. Paula is a West Point grad who has worked in both intelligence and counterterrorism.

Paula, thanks so much for coming on here.

I know you embedded with Petraeus and his staff while he was still in Afghanistan. How did you manage that? How did you get this access?

PAULA BROADWELL, AUTHOR, "ALL IN: THE EDUCATION OF GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS": This project started as my dissertation about three years ago and I was working with General Petraeus virtually, doing interviews with e-mail and across running with him and interviewing.

And when he was selected by the president to replace General McChrystal in the summer of 2010, I decided the time was right to turn it into a book. I got a Visa and went to Afghanistan. I actually went on a few trips and embedded both with the troopers in the field, but also at headquarters, and at some point I think he realized I was taking this research very seriously, I was sharing hardship with the troops and risk and so forth and decided to open up a little bit more access.

But we had a relationship before I went there as far as this dissertation was concerned, so it just took it to another level.

BALDWIN: Given your time, Paula, in Afghanistan, I just want to ask you about some news today, what we're hearing about the secret U.S. military report that the Taliban are poised to retake Afghanistan as soon as NATO leaves. In fact, I want to play you something Petraeus said just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PETRAEUS, CIA DIRECTOR: There is nothing easy about Afghanistan. As we used to say, it's all hard all the time, but it's also all-important all the time.

There is a reason we went there in the wake of 9/11. We have hugely important national security interests there. And it's very important to that country, to the region and the world that we do everything possible to try to get that right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So to use his phraseology, getting right, what is the U.S. getting right in Afghanistan if the Taliban are ready to swoop back in after a decade of fighting?

BROADWELL: That's a pretty grandiose statement to say they're ready to swoop in.

I think you have to recognize the gains that surge of forces made last year. We had that predictions from intelligence analysts were for an increase in insurgents attack from 18 to 30 percent. But what has happened over the last year has been a decrease in overall attacks by I think 19 percent.

In some cases it is much as 30 percent, a 30 percent decrease in attacks, and I don't think that shows the Taliban has momentum here. But this raises a bigger point, that our gains there are quite fragile and reversible if we don't continue to put pressure on the insurgents and the Taliban.

Thankfully, I think the Afghan national security forces they have done a great job standing up and building their forces. There are over 300,000 forces there now. They're working arm in arm with our troopers and partnered in every single operation. That's our ticket out of Afghanistan, and I think there's no light between General Allen, who is the commander in Afghanistan right now, and the president on the vital interests that are at state here if we let the Taliban swoop in, but I certainly think that's a pretty grandiose statement to listen to.

BALDWIN: You bring up the president. I want to ask you about something very specifically. You write in your book that Petraeus almost resigned, Paula, almost resigned in Afghanistan over President Obama's withdrawal timetable.

Is friction the right word here? Why so much friction between these two men?

BROADWELL: There was a misunderstanding in that headline, Brooke. Actually, he was urged to quit. After the decision was made by the president to draw down the troops on a certain timeline, several of his mentors and friends sent him e-mails or consulted with him and said this is egregious. The fast drawdown puts our troops and our mission at risk. We risk losing everything that we have gained.

Petraeus didn't feel it was that egregious. He felt that what the president had decided was implementable. In fact, he turned right around and went home and got on a video teleconference and spoke to the troopers in Afghanistan and said we will execute. So there was friction I think in that he had made recommendations. The president asked him for another recommendation. He went back to his troops in Afghanistan, some senior leaders, a very small group, actually, and came back with another recommendation that he felt was viable.

So there was tension, but I think, if anything, it was healthy tension. The National Security Council and the president's national security team should debate these issues. There is a lot at stake, but there are wider issues for consideration beyond the war in Afghanistan, the economy. Many other factors came into the president's decision making.

One thing we really show in the book is the arc of their relationship over time. In 2009, I would say it was the military vs. the White House. That was the perception, anyhow, in some open sources. But the military leaders didn't feel like they were boxing in the president, and I think what the president has learned and the administration has learned is that, really, we're all in, to bring the title of the book back into it, but...

(CROSSTALK)

BROADWELL: Sorry, go ahead?

BALDWIN: They're all in, but I do have just to press you a little bit because I actually had on Michael Hastings on a couple weeks ago, Michael Hastings, "Rolling Stone" writer, has this new book out as well. He wrote that "Rolling Stone" article that essentially led to McChrystal's downfall.

And he was very critical of your book. And I want to quote something he wrote in "Rolling Stone" -- quote -- "This is a biography written by a semi-official spokesperson. Its chief interest is as a rough draft of the latest myth Petraeus is selling to the American public. We won Iraq and we're on the verge of a great victory in Afghanistan and Petraeus is the main reason why. Are you buying it?" -- end quote.

Paula, last question, how do you respond to that?

(CROSSTALK)

BROADWELL: I'm glad you're giving me the chance.

First of all, I'm not sure Michael Hastings read it, because I'm critical of both wars. And I do not portray the war in Afghanistan as easily winnable, not at all. So I hope that he does read it and other readers do.

But on a broader scale, listen, this is a book about strategic leadership. It's also a war chronicle. It's Petraeus' intellectual history, but what I wanted to show and the interest it's generating is in executive leadership, leadership on the line leading through crisis.

I think Petraeus gives us a great model for that. I'm not a spokesperson for him, and if showing a role model to other people in the world or other readers is a repugnant thing, then I'm sorry, but I think the values that he upholds and tries to instill in his organizations are valuable and worth pointing out.

BALDWIN: Paula Broadwell, West Point grad, your book is "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus."

Thanks for coming on.

BROADWELL: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Back here in Florida, folks are still talking about Mitt Romney's big primary win last night, but the race, it is hardly over.

Romney's opponents swear they're going to keep going. Heck, Newt Gingrich says he's going all the way to the convention. Folks, that is the end of August. So where could Romney lose his lead? Where are his weaknesses going forward?

Gloria Borger, she is standing by. We're going to talk about all that and more next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: One week a front runner, next week not. As of today, Mitt Romney is back in the driver's seat in the GOP presidential race. Big lead here in Florida. Fourteen points over Newt Gingrich last night. Let's not forget, keep rolling it to Florida after that huge win in South Carolina.

I want to bring in Gloria Borger, chief political analyst and can we, Gloria Borger, say it all together now here. Mitt Romney is the guy to beat. Just move on with the challenge. Can we say that yet?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I think we can say that. He is the guy to beat, but he's got a challenge in front of him because he has to be a little nuanced here, Brooke. And Mitt Romney hasn't been so good at that in this campaign. Because what he's got to do is he's got to keep the pressure on Newt Gingrich, at the same time pivoting and starting to attack Barack Obama, and at the same time trying to convince what I call the base of the base, the most strongly conservative Republicans and those who most strongly support the Tea Party that he is actually somebody they will be able to live with, and then enthusiastically vote for come election time if he becomes a nominee.

So he's got a job ahead of him, because Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum and Ron Paul are not going away.

BALDWIN: Well, we saw the pivot toward Obama in his speech inside the Tampa Convention Center last night. But a lot of this story here in Florida is about all the negative ads, the mudslinging here in this state. I mean, you hear a lot of folks saying, Newt Gingrich was damaged, but some even say that Mitt Romney was hurt as well.

I want to play some sound. This is Mitt Romney just this morning here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As has been said long ago, politics ain't beanbags. You know, we're battling to become the nominee. He's going to do it the way he thinks is best. I'll do it the way I think is best. So far my process is giving me a good start. I know we're going to go on. But I'm feeling pretty good at this point, Soledad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK. So, really, I have two questions on that. I saw that this morning. A, I don't understand the politics and the beanbags. Maybe you can connect the dots for me. Also, you know, he's shrugging off the negative vibe in Florida, but the contest is going to keep dragging on. Does it threaten to ding him up a little bit?

BORGER: Well, you know, I actually think it already has dinged him up. Because if you look at independent voters in some of the national polls that have been taken, Mitt Romney's unfavorables among independent voters had gone up 20 points since November. And that ain't beanbag, as Mitt Romney might say.

That's very, very crucial to him. That's very crucial to him because he really has to appeal to those independent voters and get them back under his tent if he's going to try and win the presidency should he become the nominee.

So the more these fellows go at each other, the independents are out there watching this race, and they might decide, you know, a pox on your houses, I don't like Newt Gingrich very much. I don't like Mitt Romney very much, either. Now he can recover from that, obviously, but at this point independents are sitting back and watching it and they don't really like what they see.

And it's not only the negative ads. Romney at various times has had to run to the right of Newt Gingrich on issues like immigration. That might not appeal to independent voters, either.

BALDWIN: We'll see how it goes Saturday in Nevada and beyond. Gloria Borger, could be a lot of slug for a lot of people.

BORGER: We'll be watching.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much. Thank you so much. See you Saturday.

Meantime, get ready. One airline preparing to charge a new fee. CNN's newest addition Lizzie O'Leary joins me next to tell us why. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, here we go. One airline announcing major cuts and another announcing a new fee.

Joining me now, CNN's newest addition Lizzie O'Leary. She is covering all things aviation and regulation for us here at CNN.

So, of course, Lizzie, welcome to you. I want to begin with the news just in regarding American Airlines, what's the story?

LIZZIE O'LEARY, CNN AVIATION AND REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're cutting about 13,000 jobs. And when you think about this, you're talking about a big airline going through bankruptcy, big cuts sort of make sense. But they're harsh and they're certainly going to have real consequences for the people whose jobs are being cut.

They're being told at a union meeting today about how those numbers stack out, and they've given us some rough guidance. That means about 400 pilots likely to lose their jobs, 2,000 flight attendants, more than 4,000 mechanics. These are across-the-board cuts. They won't disrupt, say, current service. This is about shaping the airline for the future, so if you have a ticket book for next week, that's not your concern. But this is looking ahead down the road.

Also looking down the road, some of the retirees could actually see their pensions cut in this benefits tangle. And their doing that with a federal government right now. It sort of says up the airline, fighting with the government. The government says, look, you have to make good on these pensions. In fact, they essentially told American that if they didn't pay out, they were going to reposes some of their property. They put them on notice about 75 different things that they could repossess in the future if they don't go ahead and pay those pension fees as they go through bankruptcy, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Oh, that's tough for the retiree crowd. 13,000 jobs at American.

I do want to talk about this new fee as we talk always it seems about fees and airlines. Apparently, for passengers flying Spirit, you're going to be paying more cash. Why?

O'LEARY: Yes. And this is what the airline is sort of tickly (ph) calling the cost of regulation. They call this the unattended consequences fee. It's a $2 fee per ticket basically saying that a new series of guidelines that the government has put out to try to make travel a little more consumer friendly is costing the low-cost airlines too much.

The idea now, you can basically change your mind for 24 hours once you've purchased a ticket. Spirit says that's too expensive and they are naming this fee after the U.S. Department of Transportation. All of these new rules have sort of put the low-cost airlines at odds with the federal government.

One of the things they're doing now, once you go to buy a ticket, it will no longer be, say, a $99 ticket with a bunch of taxes and fees added onto it, the government wants the whole price added up front. The airlines don't like that. And indeed, one Republican congressman here says it's kind of deceptive advertising. It doesn't tell you how many taxes are figured into this. He's introduced a bill to try to change it back to the old structure. All of this goes back and forth not only in the Capitol, but it's going to go back and forth to court for a while, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK, Lizzie O'Leary for us in Washington. Lizzie, thanks so much.

Coming up next, we're going to go with this shocking case here. It's going to leave you wondering about your kids when you're not with them.

An elementary schoolteacher, a veteran teacher, I might add, allegedly commits lewd acts on children involving cockroaches and blindfolds. But the disturbing details do not stop there.

Sunny Hostin, she is very much so fired up about this one. "On the Case" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This just in here, a Georgia girl who lost her entire immediate family is in this catastrophic multi-car crash in Florida. She is not at risk of being deported. She is Lidiane Carmo, age 15. She lost her mother, her father and her big sister in that pileup, on a smoke-covered I-75 early Sunday. Also killed were Lidiane's uncle and his companion, as well as six others.

The Carmo Family was in the United States illegally, but immigration officials tell CNN there is, quote, "zero chance, zero chance," the teenager will be deported and that, quote, "reports of her facing deportation are completely false," end quote.

But there is still a lot of concern today for 15-year-old Lidiane Carmo. She was seriously injured and is still in a Gainesville, Florida hospital. Not only has she lost her immediate family, as we mentioned, but she is without medical coverage, and among those expressing sympathy is the governor of the state in which I sit, Governor Rick Scott. He spoke after voting yesterday in Florida's Republican primary. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Your heart goes out to those families. The one family, they lost everybody but a 15-year-old girl. Five, six members of the family were in -- I think, I don't know if they were in the same van or two vans. It was a church group. But they lost everybody but a 15-year-old girl. So your heart goes out to those families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We're going to move this forward just a little here. A source close to the orphaned girl's extended family is telling CNN that Governor Scott visited the hospital Sunday. That source went on to tell CNN that Governor Scott assured the family that her medical bills would be covered by the State of Florida.

Scott's office refused to confirm that to us at CNN, and the governor canceled a pre-arranged appearance when at his courtesy, we told his office, we would be asking about financial assurances offered to the family. The governor's office said they could not agree to a change in terms of that interview with me nor a comment on the governor's personal conversations. That source, by the way, close to the family tell CNN, Governor Scott gave the family a telephone number to call, to follow up on his pledge of support, but, they say, no one has answered or returned their phone calls.

To California we go. Parents are angry, they're sad, they're disgusted by this case involving a veteran third grade teacher. I'm talking about 61-year-old Mark Berndt. He taught at a Los Angeles Elementary School for 30 years. He was in court today accused of committing lewd acts on his own children -- his own students -- forgive me, children as young as seven years of age.

His bond? Listen to this, his bond is set for $23 million. And according to Special Victims Unit detectives, there is proof of the crimes including photographs Berndt took of these young students.

The sheriff's department says the pictures show Berndt with his arm around the children or his hand over their mouths, children who are blindfolded and have their mouths taped shut. Some kids have cockroaches on their faces, and there are girls with a, quote, "blue plastic spoon filled with an unknown clear white liquid substance up to their mouths," end quote. Investigators say that substance is a bodily fluid that matches Berndt's DNA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. DAN SCOTT, L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: They didn't realize they were being victimized. They thought they were just being blindfolded and gagged as a game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin is "On the Case." And from what I understand, Sunny, the sheriff's department says that there are hundreds of these pictures that were taken over the course of this five-year period in the classroom. So how was this found and why did it take so long?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And it's remarkable that the pictures were taken in the classroom, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wow. HOSTIN: Well, apparently, he took the pictures to be developed at a photo shop and it was the photo shop developer that alerted the police to these bondage pictures. So but for that person, this could very well still be going on.

What I will say is people are very concerned that the charges have just been brought, but my understanding is that once the superintendent of schools was alerted to these facts, the teacher was removed from the classroom immediately and the school board fired him. So he was not exposed to the children in that school from the moment this investigation began.

Why did it take so long to file charges? That is the question on everyone's minds, Brooke, because we're talking about a year -- a year -- before this person was taken off of our streets.

I do know that it takes a very long time to prosecute and investigate child sex crimes because you have to interview children. Children are very open to suggestion, and so you have to be very well trained to interview them, and perhaps that was one of the reasons why it took so very long to bring charges.

I understand that the government wanted to make sure that they could bring him up on felony charges rather than on the misdemeanor charges that he probably could have been arrested on rather quickly.

BALDWIN: Do we know how many kids potentially are involved? I know they were trying to I.D. some of the kids in the pictures, potential victims? Is there even a number?

HOSTIN: Well, right now, he's been charged with 23 counts. 23 children we know have been identified. That's why he's being held on $23 million of bail.

But my understanding, Brooke, is that even today more children have come forward, so I suspect that there are many more victims that we'll hear about. This is going to be a large scale case, and I'm also concerned about perhaps victims outside of this school. We're talking about a serial child abuser here.

BALDWIN: $23 million bond. I've never heard of such a thing. If he is convicted, it is disgusting.

Sunny Hostin, thank you so much "On the Case."

More news after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A television legend died today. And even if you don't know the name Don Cornelius, you have certainly heard of the show he created "Soul Train." Here is Kareen Wynter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His legacy, the "Soul Train."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON CORNELIUS, CREATOR, SOUL TRAIN: Check out for that notorious "Soul Train."

WYNTER: His unforgettable deep, baritone voice called people to the train line for more than 30 years. One of the longest-running dance party shows in television history. Don Cornelius may have left his mark on popular culture as the founder of "Soul Train" started with $400 out of his own pocket, but for many of the performers who appeared on his show, Cornelius' real impact was creating a space on television for African-American artists like Gladys Knight to widen their audience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLADYS KNIGHT, SINGER: And we as artist are so grateful to him for giving us that base. He gave those people a commercial opportunities to have a way to get our products out. I mean, he was just a pioneer like you would not believe. And he's really an unsung hero.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Whitney Houston, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce all performed on "Soul Train." Today, many in the music industry are mourning the lost of Cornelius.

In a statement to CNN, producer Quincy Jones said -- "Before MTV, there was "Soul Train," that would be the great legacy of Don Cornelius. His contributions to television, music and our culture as a whole will never be matched.

Performer Smokey Robinson echoed those thoughts, "He brought exposure to black talent and a positive image to young, black teenagers that had never been done before with his creation of "Soul Train." He was a friend and we mourn his loss.

Cornelius was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound early Wednesday morning according to Los Angeles police. Friends say Cornelius had fallen ill in recent years, though details of his illness have not been made public. He was 75.

His famous "Soul Train" sign-off, a fitting tribute to the man who brought heart and soul to television.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORNELIUS: I'm Don Cornelius. As always, we wish you love, peace, and soul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE) BALDWIN: We want to go now straight to some breaking news out of Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says that the U.S. and NATO will be ending their combat mission at some point next year.

I want to go straight to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

And Barbara, you know, what are you reading into this, the fact that it sort of makes it official?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it does make it official for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on his way to Brussels, landing and now saying on his way to this NATO meeting that U.S. troops will end their combat role in Afghanistan after more than ten years of war, they will end that combat role by the end of next year, 2013. The U.S. has 89,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, so this would be very welcomed news for the families who have loved ones serving there.

So the end of combat by 2013, U.S. troops will then really begin this transition even sooner into a training role for Afghan forces, very much like we saw happened in Iraq. And U.S. troops will remain on the ground under a NATO mandate until the end of 2014.

You're going to start seeing this shift happening, but Panetta making it official, making it very clear that the expectation now is U.S. combat in Afghanistan will begin wrapping up mid next year and be done with by the end of next year in 2013 after more than ten years of war. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Amazing. Ten years. Barbara Starr, thank you so much at the Pentagon.

And, finally, I want you to pay close attention to this next story. Because it really, it gives you a very clear pictures of what's at stake here in the U.S. if a lot of jobs are not created and created soon. It's about a once middle-class family who has lost more than most of us can imagine.

Here is CNN's Poppy Harlow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): One room now home to a family of five.

TALIA MOBLEY, UNEMPLOYED: We have the two girls who sleep on the bottom, Yaman (ph) and Isis (ph). And then Nasier (ph), our oldest, who sleeps on the top.

HARLOW: Mom and dad somehow manage to sleep together on the couch.

T. MOBLEY: Most of the time, honestly, I lay on top of him.

Yaman, the littlest one, then Nasier.

HARLOW: If you think you know what long-term unemployment can look like --

ADAM MOBLEY, UNEMPLOYED: Why don't you come in the kitchen.

HARLOW: Think again.

A. MOBLEY: You can't understand something until you've lived it.

HARLOW: Adam and Talia Mobley brought in more than $100,000 just two years ago. By all measures, middle class, until they were both laid off. Frightening new numbers show 50 percent of the unemployed in New Jersey have been out of work for more than six months. And it's a similar story elsewhere.

A. MOBLEY: I was a lead technician for Comcast.

HARLOW (on camera): You had it made?

A. MOBLEY: Yes, I had it made.

T. MOBLEY: I was a customer service rep.

HARLOW: What's the hardest element of this situation that you think people might not know?

A. MOBLEY: It's definitely not financial. It's emotional. If you're not strong people, it could break things.

T. MOBLEY: It could break you. Yes.

HARLOW (voice-over): The Mobley's unemployment checks have run out and they've exhausted their savings.

A. MOBLEY: The only benefits that we get from the state right now is assistance with the food.

HARLOW: Human services of Morris County, New Jersey, where the Mobley's live, has seen their food stamp caseload surge 140 percent since 2007.

PHYLLIS TONNESEN, MORRIS COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES: Seeing duly unemployed families, that's unusual for us.

HARLOW (on camera): So the bottom is falling out of the middle class?

TONNESEN: Uh-huh. I believe that.

HARLOW: Have you seen something like this before?

TONNESEN: No, not like this. Never. And I've been here since 1980.

HARLOW (voice-over): This is one of the wealthiest counties in America, where the median household brings in over $91,000 a year. But when you can't find a job here, you can't get by. T. MOBLEY: You send out a lot of resumes. You pray to God someone gets back to you.

HARLOW: Five hundred resumes later, nobody has offered Talia a job.

HARLOW (on camera): How long do you think you can go on like this?

A. MOBLEY: Honestly, not very much longer.

T. MOBLEY: What's up with you?

A. MOBLEY: How was work?

HARLOW (voice-over): Afternoons are spent at grandmas with their three kids. Then it's back to Laura Sullivan's house, where they're living rent-free. She took them in after knowing the Mobley's less than a year.

LAURA SULLIVAN: People ask, like why would you take someone in and you have no privacy? I'm like, honestly, you want to put -- compare my privacy to a family not having a home? Like, is there any comparison?

HARLOW: It's far from ideal. But when you've been out of work this long, there's no room for ideal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: And, Brooke, here's the kicker, Talia, the mother, went back to school when he lost her job to retrain in health care as a certified medial assistant, because like all of us, she heard health care is where the jobs are.

You heard it, 500 resumes later, neither of them have had once a job offer. A little bit of good news, though, the morning we interviewed Talia, she had a second-round interview for a job in health care. So we've been checking in with her every day seeing if she's going to get that job or not.

In the meantime, her husband, Adam, started his own company, a T-shirt company with his brother, but like so many, can't access the capital that he needs to try to get it off the ground. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Oh, two years out of work. Our best to them. Poppy, please follow their stories for us.

HARLOW: We will.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much, Poppy Harlow.

And that is it for us here in Tampa, Florida.

Tampa, thank you so much for having us, covering the primary here in Florida. Next, "CNN Politics" headed to the caucuses in Nevada this Saturday. Meantime, we go to Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S THE SITUATION ROOM: Brooke, thanks very much.