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Accused Soldier En Route To U.S.; North Korea Plans Satellite Launch; Verdict In Rutgers Case; Bugs Swarm In Warm Weather; New iPad Now On Sale; Must Puerto Rico Habla Ingles?; Rick Santorum Takes on War with Pornography; Joe Biden Becomes Obama's Attack Dog; George Clooney Arrested; 350,000 Manufacturing Jobs Added in U.S.; Filmmaker James Cameron Take Deep Sea Dive

Aired March 16, 2012 - 13:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed.

The mixed verdict for the former Rutgers University student accused of spying on his gay roommate with a webcam. Dharun Ravi has been found guilty on several charges of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation, but the jury found him not guilty on several other questions. His roommate, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide after learning that Ravi had spied on him. Ravi could now face up to 10 years in prison and deportation to India.

The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in a shooting spree is now returning to the United States. That's according to his defense lawyer who spoke to the soldier on the phone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HENRY BROWNE, ACCUSED SOLDIER'S ATTORNEY: I conveyed his family's love for him. I told him I did not want to speak to him about specifics of the case, because I don't trust the phone not being monitored. I can tell you that I just learned that he is now on his way to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and I was to have a phone conversation with him this morning at 6:00 a.m. Seattle time, but he's in transit to Fort Leavenworth right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: In Afghanistan, today, President Hamid Karzai met with families of those killed in the shooting rampage. He says he doesn't believe the American military's explanation of what happened.

And North Korea set to launch a satellite next month, an event that's going to mark the 100th birthday of the country's founder. Skeptics say that previous launches, however, have been actually missile tests in disguise. Now, the state department is calling the news highly provocative.

And it's game on Obama 2012, the President, himself, campaigning, raising money in Chicago before heading here to Atlanta to raise some more campaign cash. Vice president Biden, he is in fighting mode and in a speech to auto workers yesterday, blasting Republicans who oppose the industry bailout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICEPRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The President willing to take risk on behalf of American workers and the American people. And folks, that's exactly what we have, a president with the courage of his convictions. He made the tough call and the verdict is in. President Obama was right and they are dead wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, says he is not buying the U.S. military's version of the shooting spree in which 16 Afghan civilians were killed. President Karzai, he met, today, with family members and elders from the village where an American soldier was blamed for going house to house in this deadly rampage. We're going to go live to Kabul, and Sara Sidner is joining us there. Good to see you. First of all, the president, President Karzai, says he doesn't believe what he U.S. military and U.S. officials are saying about this. What is he saying?

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he listened for quite a while, more than an hour or two, some of the villagers, the family members of those who were killed on Sunday allegedly by a U.S. soldier acting alone, and every single one of them said, this could not possibly have been just one soldier on his own, that he went from house to house, that he had tied up some of the people, that he ended up burning some of the people in their own homes, and that they just don't believe this is the work of just one man.

Mr. Karzai reiterated that, saying back to them, well, based on what you're saying, it sounds like this wasn't just the work of one man. He also said that his investigators are not buying this surveillance video that they have been shown. They have been shown a surveillance video by U.S. officials that it reportedly shows the U.S. soldier accused of this coming back to the base after this attack. And they are saying that they suspect that this might not be a video that really shows what really happened that night and if it really is from that date. A lot of skepticism going on, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And does Karzai have his own investigation going on as well?

SIDNER: Yes, he does have a team of people that are investigating the incident. We know that he sent them, a couple of days ago, to Kandahar, to the Province to speak with people. And so, they are still looking into it. He also talked about appointing someone to head to that investigation as well in the coming days. He even invited the villagers back tomorrow to hear from them, saying we'll do it in a traditional way as opposed to an official way.

But you can tell that there's definitely a strained relationship now between him and even with President Obama because he said he called Mr. Obama this morning -- they had a conversation this morning, and that Mr. Obama was, quote, "upset with him" for trying to move up the timeline to the transition -- getting the transition to happen in 2013 instead of 2014 -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And how did he describe that conversation? You say that President Obama was upset with him? He did say what President Obama actually told him?

SIDNER: He didn't. He just kind of said that he was upset with him. But then, it was interesting because then his press office sent out a release that seemed a little more diplomatic, if you will, and those words were used. He spoke mostly in Pashu to the villagers, because that is the language that they would use. And so, we're actually going through all the translations now.

But he certainly seemed to have -- as he said, this is the end of the rope when he was talking about all of the incidents that have happened here. What that means going forward, we'll have to wait and see but saying statements like this, this is the end of the rope, we've had enough. We keep telling the U.S. over and over and over again, this is unacceptable that things keep happening over and over and over again. And so, we'll have to wait and see. It seems like the relationship is getting more and more strained.

MALVEAUX: And Sara, is there any reaction now to the fact that the soldier who is accused of this shooting rampage is now heading back to the United States?

SIDNER: Yes. The reaction is, we're very upset with this. Mr. Karzai says that he does not think that the U.S. treated them fairly. The investigators were not given the kind of cooperation that they expected from the United States when it came to being able to speak with this soldier who is accused in this massacre. So, yes, there is some anger there, but interestingly enough, we have to mention, there have been no protests today.

And unlike when you saw the Quran burnings, when you saw the reaction from that, 40 people killed, including four U.S. service members, there has been absolutely no protesting in the streets today. So, and interesting difference in how Afghan -- regular Afghan people are reacting to this. Although we did go to the street today and people are angry but they're not on the streets protesting.

MALVEAUX: All right, Sara Sidner. Thank you so much, Sara.

Now on to the top of the story that we had just mentioned. It is a case that has sent shock waves throughout one New Jersey college, the Rutgers' campus, obviously. But it's also influenced the national conversation ongoing. A Rutgers University student accused of spying on his gay roommate with a Web cam. That event led to the tragic suicide of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi. Well now, Dharun Ravi could face up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of bias intimidation, among other charges.

I want to bring in our legal contributor, Paul Callan, who joins us from New York. And Paul, first of all, take us inside this design here why is it that Ravi was found guilty on some charges but not on others. Explain the verdict here. PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Suzanne, it's a very complicated verdict. The -- what the judge did in the case was there were 15 counts, some of them charged invasion of privacy that is broadcasting sexual contact in between two individuals without their consent over the Internet. Second, that this was done with bias against gay people. And the third party of the case had to do with destruction of the evidence and trying to cover up the case. With each of the counts, 15 counts that were charged, the jury -- the judge gave the jury a number of sub-questions.

In other words, they -- sometimes it would be as many as four sub-questions. And if the jury said, yes, he did that to any of one of the sub-questions, he was guilty of the main counts. So, when the verdict was read, it sounded like he was being found not guilty of some of the counts, but when I've looked over the sheet now, he was found guilty of every count that he was charged with. This is a clean sweep by the prosecution, every count was proven, every count was accepted by the jury, and he's facing, potentially, as much as 10 years in prison at the time of sentencing.

So, this was a first-time use of this invasion of privacy law, an important law in New Jersey, and the prosecutors were vindicated by the verdict.

MALVEAUX: And Paul, you and I talked about this a little bit earlier, but just in plain speech, you say this is unprecedented. Why? Tell us why.

CALLAN: Well, it's unprecedented because, of course, with social media, and Web cams, and kids today, especially younger people, have gotten used to sort of broadcasting their lives over the Internet. New Jersey enacted a law that said, if you secretly record somebody with a Web cam or any other kind of video and you broadcast that without their permission, that is a crime.

Now, in every place else in America, up until this law was enacted, you could sue somebody for civil damages for the embarrassment but you weren't going to go to jail. New Jersey said it's criminal. So, I think this verdict sends a message, and it should send a message to people across the country, if you're going to broadcast embarrassing footage about somebody, you better be very careful because it might be a crime. It certainly is in the state of New Jersey.

MALVEAUX: And Paul, I have two questions -- two follow-ups here. Does it make any difference whether or not that Web cam is set up and it's just any kind of activity or if it's meant to catch somebody in a compromising or some sort of sex act? That's the first question. And secondly, does it make any difference whether or not this guy was gay or straight when it comes to this kind of sentencing that follows?

CALLAN: Well, look, as to question number one, the intent involved in setting up the camera makes a huge difference. And a lot of people have these cameras in their homes, you know? They want to see if the nanny, who's taking care of their children, is abusing the children. I don't think they're guilty of invasion of privacy, necessarily, if their intent is just to protect their home. Here, the prosecutors tried to prove that the intent was to humiliate Tyler Clementi.

And as to the second count, if this had been an encounter between two straight, as opposed to gay individuals, it still would have been an invasion of privacy crime and subject to five years. But because it was bias intimidation, because prosecutors proved to the jury that this was done because of anti-gay sentiment, that doubles the sentence under New Jersey potentially to 10 years. So, that's how the impact of the bias intimidation or the hate crime factors in.

MALVEAUX: All right, Paul, thank you for explaining that. I understand it now, thank you. Paul Callan, appreciate it.

Here's a rundown of some of the stories we're covering in the next hour. First, right, all this gorgeous weather, does it have a downside? Like a huge infestation of these weird bugs. I've seen them. And can't lose weight? Stress level may have something to do with that. And a movie star, George Clooney, proves he will do anything for a cause that he believes in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right. Feeling a little buggy lately? It is not your imagination, the early spring is actually bringing bugs a lot earlier across the country. Ish. Ants, termites, to this thing, it is called the kudzu bug. They are swarming around down the east coast right now. According to the "Washington Post," test (ph) company Orkin (ph) says they have seen 30 percent increase in calls to treat ant infestations compared to the same last year. Chad Myers is here to talk to us about the kudzu. I hadn't heard about the kudzu bugs, but believe me, I have seen these. They are swarming. They are everywhere outside this building.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And they've only been in America for three years. They were accidentally introduced near Athens, Georgia three years ago, and now they are everywhere. They are from North Carolina all the way to Florida and they eating the soybean crop, and they are eating the kudzu plant. Now, the kudzu is that thing if you're driving across the interstate, down across the southeast, this plant, this just takes over the trees. You know, the big, big, big green leaf?

MALVEAUX: Yes, right.

MYERS: That's what they are supposed to eat. But when the kudzu's not growing, like it isn't growing yet, they start to infest your hair. They're -- literally, they are everywhere. And then get on white surfaces. They like the white, not the dark.

MALVEAUX: OK.

MYERS: And they are going to eat soybean all across the southeast. Farmers are now going to change their habits now. They are going start -- they're going to plant corn this year instead of soybeans, because they are afraid that these bugs may completely destroy the crop. Last year --

MALVEAUX: And why are they in the city? I mean, because -- we found these right outside the building.

MYERS: Actually, these were in our parking lot. That is our parking lot right there.

MALVEAUX: Yes, yes.

MYERS: That's what it looked like yesterday.

MALVEAUX: Yes, it's crazy out there.

MYERS: They are in the cities now because kudzu is not growing yet. It's still dormant, it's still brown. When the kudzu turns green, then they will fly to the kudzu and start eating that. But some farmers in Georgia, last year, found that 47 percent yield was lost in their soybeans because of this little bug right here and they are not going away. If they have only been in America for three years, and they're all the way now from North Carolina all the way to Florida, this is going to be a huge problem for many, many years.

MALVEAUX: Do they bite --

MYERS: They don't --

MALVEAUX: Or when you squash them are they like stink bugs and they stink? What's the deal with these guys?

MYERS: You know, if you squish one, they smell like a can of old paint. No, I didn't squish one, but I don't want to know. But if you squish one inside, it will also leave a yellow residue that will not come off. So they're saying if you have them in your house, vacuum them away. Do not try to scoop them away because the smell is overwhelming.

MALVEAUX: And -- OK. So they are kind of like stink bugs. Tell me a little bit about too -- I mean we've got like amazingly warm weather here.

MYERS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: We're talking about like 80 here in Atlanta. Really unusual.

MYERS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Does that have anything to do with the fact that you see these bugs coming --

MYERS: You bet.

MALVEAUX: Really?

MYERS: You bet. Because we didn't get a 17 degree day across the southeast, so many of these little guys didn't die. They would have died over the winter. They never died because it never got cold enough to freeze. They never -- these are cold-blooded animals. They'll freeze. They'll die. If they freeze all the way through, they're dead. But that never happened. So all these places that had very warm winter, which is basically the entire U.S., will have major infestations of bugs. Lyme disease a problem. Lots of mosquitoes this year. The bugs here are a problem. Termites are already swarming in places they've never swarm until May.

MALVEAUX: Should you call an exterminator or just take care of it yourself? Just vacuum these --

MYERS: You cannot take care of these.

MALVEAUX: You can't?

MYERS: No. You spray -- it is a pyrethoid. You can spray on it. Two days later, all of his cousins (ph) will be back. There are so many billions of these around, there's no reason to spray them. And if you're going to try to plant something this year, a lot of gardeners, backyard gardeners in the Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, forget about poll beans, forget about green beans. Unless you can completely tent the plant, these things will destroy them.

MALVEAUX: And I've never had ants before, but the last two days, ants in my kitchen.

MYERS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Does that have anything to do with these bugs emerging and everything?

MYERS: No, not these bugs. No, but ants and subterranean termites will go down deeper in the cold. They'll try to get away from the cold weather, especially, you know, of any kind of a frost layer, they'll go down. There wasn't a frost layer in Georgia this year, so your ants are already up. These little flying termites are already out trying to make new infestations. It's going to be a brutal bug year this year.

MALVEAUX: Wow. And they're just going to stick around? There's not much we can do, huh?

MYERS: I think that while -- what I've heard from the extension office in Georgia is that these guys will go to and eat the kudzu and go away from the cities when kudzu starts to grow. But right now there's no kudzu growing, so they are in your -- the guy -- my producer, Shawn Morris (ph), went out to get these. Thank you, Shawn. When he came back, he had three in his hair.

MALVEAUX: Oh.

MYERS: And let me tell you, he has been shaking his head. He's been like going through his hair. He's got the creeps now because you just -- he still feels them in his head. Like, ah. So, thank you, Shawn, for that.

MALVEAUX: Oh, God, thank you, Shawn. We're just going to have to wait it out. Keep those in that bag there, OK, Chad, I don't want to have to be shaking out my hair.

MYERS: This will not -- I will open this back up outside.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

MALVEAUX: A "New York Times" report finds spring breakers are acting a little tamer this year. Some think it's because of social media. The paper talked to spring breakers in Key West who say they're afraid of being caught on camera doing something that a future employer might pick up on later. Even bartenders told "The Times" that kids aren't acting as wild as they did just a couple of years ago before YouTube and Twitter got so popular. The report says that college Web site and blogs are posing dos and don'ts, explaining what spring breakers do now could get on the Internet and cause some long-term trouble.

And, should you get one? Well, that's the big question. New lines, big lines for the new iPad. We're going to look at what everybody seems to be so excited about.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right, tech junkies, yes, I know you've got to have it, but what's all the fuss over this new iPad. Is it really worth it? Here's what Apple's co-founder had to say about why he is itching for the new iPad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WOZNIAK, APPLE CO-FOUNDER: I actually have a reason to purchase a new iPad. And oddly enough to say, I didn't get the high memory iPad in the past and I can't put on a whole bunch of movies like I wanted. So I've got a good reason to upgrade now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So that was Steve Wozniak. He is just one of the millions of people across the world. He actually camped out ahead of today's official launch to get one. Dan Simon, he's there with some others in San Francisco.

Dan, when you're the co-founder, do you really have to stand in line?

DAN SIMON, CNN SILICON VALLEY CORRESPONDENT: You know, Steve Wozniak does that for every new Apple device that comes out. I think he just likes hanging out with the regular folks.

We're on Chestnut Street in San Francisco. You know, Apple says demand for the new iPad has been off the charts. They sold out of all their pre-orders pretty much instantly. So if you don't want to wait two or three weeks to have one shipped to you, you have to come to one of its retail store or go to Radio Shack or Best Buy or Target.

Let me show you what it looks like right here. Lines are expected to come and go throughout the day. We saw a number of people waiting in line here in San Francisco despite the dreary weather here. We've had rain all morning long. And we spoke to the first customer in line. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATE MCKELVIE, APPLE CUSTOMER: I don't know, it's pretty insane, coming for a toy really. You know, that's all I use it for is a toy. But it's pretty awesome. The whole -- I've never really been in a thing like this before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Well, I've been getting a lot of questions from people asking me whether or not they should upgrade, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

SIMON: And what I told them is, if they have the original iPad --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to go buy one right now.

SIMON: OK. Enjoy. I told folks, if they have the original iPad that it's probably worth upgrading if you can swing it. You know, it's $500 for the basic version. But you get a much better screen, a high resolution screen. Apple calls it the retina display. You get two really good cameras and you get a fast mobile connection. If you have the second version, I would say it's a bit questionable. But if you're one of these people that feels you have to have the newest and greatest iPad, then I'd say, go for it.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

SIMON: Otherwise, I think the iPad 2 is still a fantastic unit, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Yes, I've got the dinosaur version, so maybe I need to up -- do a little upgrading there. You know, it seems like there's a lot of excitement, a lot of enthusiasm around this. How much is the price again?

SIMON: $500 for the basic version. The most expensive version is $829. That gives you the 4G LTE connection, which gives you ultra high speeds. If you're somebody who likes to take it on the go. But, you know, for most people, the $500 version works just fine.

MALVEAUX: All right, thanks, Dan. Good to see you.

Joe Biden says Republican contenders are dead wrong about the economy. He's not afraid to name names either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, these guys have a fundamentally different economic philosophy than we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And we're taking it to our political roundtable, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown on some of the stories that we are working on next.

A battle over language in Puerto Rico shaking up the Republican presidential race.

And then, movie star George Clooney proving he'll go to any length to fight for his clause.

And later, made in America. Is it really making a comeback? We've got a hard look at the numbers.

So, should Puerto Rico be required to speak English? Mitt Romney weighs in on the comments by Rick Santorum about Puerto Rico. Santorum said, to become a state, English must be the principle language. I want to bring in our political panel to talk about that and much, much more. Republican strategist Lenny McAllister in Chicago. Good to see you. And in Washington, Democratic strategist Ed Espinoza.

So, Ed, I do want to start off with you here.

The Romney campaign now says it doesn't think English should be required as a condition for statehood. Why do you think this has struck such a nerve?

ED ESPINOZA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, look, Puerto Rico -- we don't call it rich port, we call it Puerto Rico, because it is a Spanish-speaking territory. Can you imagine the fervor if somebody went up to Massachusetts or New York and said, you've got to speak with a different accent.

Listen, this is their native language and they are Americans. They speak many languages there. English being one of them. Let them speak Spanish. It's really not that big of a deal. We all talk -- we talk about state's rights. Let's talk about territorial rights. Let them be who they are.

MALVEAUX: Lenny, is it really that big of a deal here or could this have a backlash for Latino voters. We've already seen some people in Puerto Rico saying, I'm sure as heck not going to support you guys.

LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, it could have a backlash. But let's just be honest. We're talking about something that's going to unify the country. And Ed said something that was very poignant. It is a territory, not a state. And what Rick Santorum was saying, was not talking about changing the constitution, not talking about an amendment or a statewide amendment. He was saying the principle language to unite the country should be English, just like it is in the 50 states. We're not talking about an accent, like Ed brought up with Massachusetts or New York. We're talking about a language. And, yes, there needs to be some unifiers that bring us together as a country. And language is one of them. So it wasn't that big of a deal, but if it's spun the wrong way and Santorum and the other Republicans can't pivot it correctly, it's going to be another one of those wedge issue, the same way these women's issues have become a wedge issue that's played against Republicans.

ESPINOZA: No, it's a huge deal.

MALVEAUX: All right, here's what my -- here's what caught our attention today here. Santorum's official Web site, there's something new on it here that we -- caught our eye.

It's talking about that he's taking on this war on pornography, saying, "Pornography is toxic to relationships and contributes to misogyny and violence against women. It's a contributing factor to prostitution and sex trafficking."

Ed, do you think this is the kind of thing that people are going to be talking about, discussing? Does it make a difference to people when they look at their candidates?

(LAUGHTER)

ESPINOZA: No. In fact, when the jobs are growing, economy is growing, unemployment is going down, what do you have left to talk about? They can talk about gays. They can talk about abortion, and now they are going to talk about porn. It's not going to fix anything in the economy. Let people do what they want to do, and live and let live.

MALVEAUX: Lenny, why do you suppose this is on the web site?

MCALLISTER: Well, I think that Rick Santorum needs the Will Robinson thing screaming, "danger, Rick Santorum, danger, Rick Santorum."

(LAUGHTER)

Because the JFK statement about the speech, wanting him to throw up, from 15 years, the controversy with the contraception and the positions he took on that. The social issues are what has eroded away Rick Santorum's lead with even the conservative base in these Republican primaries, let alone how he looks for the general election. Here's another example of a flub where this should not be an issue. People do not mind hearing this from a candidate or a political leader or a civic leader. They don't want to hear it from a presidential candidate. This is a miscalculation that the Santorum campaign is going to need to clean up, get back on message with the economy which is, at 8.3 percent, there's a problem. They need to be articulating that. Not the problems of porn in America.

MALVEAUX: Santorum's campaign, Lenny says, quick, fast, in a hurry, clean this up.

I want to switch to the Obama campaign. Things have been low key but not anymore. They've got the president out campaigning. He's raising money today. He's going to be in Atlanta later. Of course, you've got Biden as an attack dog. Listen to what he said yesterday in Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The president and I made a bet, a simple bet. We bet on you. We bet on American ingenuity. We bet on you and we won.

(CHEERING)

BIDEN: Chrysler, fastest growing car company in America.

(CHEERING)

BIDEN: General Motors has seen the largest profits in its history.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right. I want to take this one to Ed here because this is a familiar strategy, right? You have the V.P. as an attack dog. The president can look above the fray here. What can President Obama do now to reactivate the kind of energy that he had back in 2008 when it was explosive?

ESPINOZA: Look, 2008 was a special year. It's going to be hard to duplicate that. But the president has a very good year to run on. 24 months straight of job growth. An economy on the rise. An auto industry that has been salvaged and is thriving. These are all good things to talk about. He's going to go back out on the campaign trail and bring his message to people. And right now, they are feeling it. And the vice president is a great surrogate for us. People love him.

MALVEAUX: Lenny, look ahead for us, if you will. We are all going to watch over the weekend and the days ahead, Minnesota caucuses. You have Illinois, Puerto Rico. Any predictions?

MCALLISTER: Well, the prediction I would say for Minnesota, probably swing back to Rick Santorum, considering it's going to be a caucus. If you look back at Illinois, there's a lot of super PAC money being spent by Mitt Romney. You have a lot of grassroots support going towards Rick Santorum. Again, another fight. What's going to win? The super PAC money and the establishment or the grassroots working here in Illinois. It's going to be interesting to see. It's going to be a close one. If anybody at this point in time, I'm going to say it's going to lean towards Romney.

MALVEAUX: All right. Lenny, we're going to leave it there.

Lenny, Ed, good to see you both. Have a great weekend.

Recognize this guy? Well, yep, that's right. This is George Clooney. We're going to tell you why he just got handcuffed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: Police arrest actor, George Clooney, just a short time ago at a protest at the Sudanese embassy in Washington. Clooney is trying to draw attention to the attacks against civilians in Sudan. Other protesters arrested along with Clooney included a congressman, human rights activists, religious leaders.

Athena Jones is outside the police station where those demonstrators were taken.

Athena, go to see you here. Do we know where Clooney is?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you too, Suzanne. We're sitting outside of the second district headquarters of metropolitan police. They're still inside. We saw Clooney and the others arrive in the paddy wagon about 11:30. They've been inside all this time. I just spoke with Secret Service who said that the charges -- they didn't act with civil disobedience. The specific charge is crossing a police line. Clooney joined with others, with his father and with other activists, people like Dick Gregory, NAACP President Van Joes, and others to protest the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan and to call on the government there to allow in food aid. There are hundreds and thousands of people there in a Southern Quatafad (ph), a Blue Nile State in Southern Sudan on the border with South Sudan, which is a newly independent country, and there's been fighting going on with rebels there. People are caught in the mix there and they are facing potential starvation because they haven't been able to plant. They are going under constant bombardment.

Take a listen to what Clooney had to say this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR & ACTIVIST: We're here really to ask two very simple questions. The first question is something immediate, and immediately we need humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Immediately. The second thing we're here to ask is a very simple thing, and is for the government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women, and children, stop rapping them and stop starving them. That's all we ask.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: There you heard from George Clooney. This has been his third day of advocacy on this issue, Suzanne. He testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, talking about the need to get aid in, to work with other countries, countries like China, which has suffered from the halt in oil production in South Sudan. Get them to force the Sudanese government to let humanitarian aid in. He met yesterday with President Obama at the White House also to discuss this issue. It wasn't the first time. he met with the president a couple years ago. He's been working on this issue for a while. This, of course, is his strongest act, outward act to date that we've been able to witness -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: And, Athena, it's got to be a weird and strange thing to see. From time to time, when we've seen this with Angelina Jolie, when you have a major celebrities show up to get arrested, show up at the White House or on the Hill or, in this situation, at the police station. How are people responding and reacting to the fact that they see George Clooney?

JONES: Well, a lot of people were standing outside of the Senate hearing room with pictures of George Clooney hoping they would get an autograph. And today, outside the Sudanese embassy, the crowd began to gather really early. Many were protesters, but a lot of others were onlookers, fans, but not too mentioned from the photographers and journalists around. Quite a lot of attention Clooney is being able to bring to this issue. And certainly no mistake that he's drawn these crowds. Certainly Clooney is a big draw on this -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: We saw Dick Gregory, a member of the King family as well, all of them a part of this, but in the background, when you have someone like George Clooney who is giving that statement there.

Athena, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Your stress level may have something to do with how much you eat. Why chilling out might help keep the pounds off.

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MALVEAUX: 350,000 people have gotten jobs in manufacturing in the last couple of years. It's a big number but is it enough to call it a big comeback for manufacturing after we've lost so many other jobs.

Poppy Harlow is joining us.

Poppy, give us the context here, the big picture. Is this actually a comeback?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: It's a slight come back. What you're being looking at behind me, that little incline that you see right here, this is what we've seen sort of post- recession in terms of jobs added since January 2010. 350,000 manufacturing jobs added. Look where we were in 2007. We lost two million manufacturing jobs alone during the recession. A huge decline and we've got a long way to go.

But very interestingly, I want to show you what state is doing the best in terms of the gains in manufacturing jobs. It might surprise you. It is Michigan. And one of the big drivers of that is because of mass layoffs that have tapered down dramatically. You see that spike in 2007. In July alone that year, you saw 36,000 jobs lost. In one month. In one month. So that has really tapered off, Suzanne. That's being driven a lot by the auto industry. It's doing much, much better. Over the past year or so, we've seen auto sales up 11.5 percent. Why is that? Fewer used cars on the road. The increase is consumer confidence. That's a great thing and drives people to spend a lot of money on new cars.

Also, when you have auto jobs added, what we're told is, for every auto job you add, five to six related jobs are added. That is boosting the entire economy. However, you have to look at the individual companies, right, the big three, and how they are doing. A lot of jobs added also. G.M., 4700 jobs added in a one-year period; Ford, 230; Chrysler, 4800. Ford says they will add 12300 more jobs in Michigan this year.

We have to put all of this in perspective. When you look at 2007 to 2010, in Detroit alone, those companies cut more than 30,000 jobs, according to the Center for Automotive Research. They are not back to where we were. And of course, two of those companies, G.M. and Chrysler, got the bailout. So Michigan is doing better on manufacturing. Detroit, we report on a lot, and they are still struggling. 11 percent unemployment in Detroit. But we are on the mend, especially in a state like Michigan.

MALVEAUX: And what about the auto manufacturing? Is it helping other parts of the country as well?

HARLOW: It is. It's helping in the south where you are, Georgia. There is a county north of where you called Walker County, Georgia. That county saw the biggest decline in unemployment from December 2010 to December of last year. Unemployment fell from 11.3 percent to other factories, some related to the auto industry.

I spent time down in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Foreign auto company, V.W. came in and invested a billion dollars and created thousands of jobs. You're seeing a lot happening in the south where foreign automakers are coming in and building across the south to not only sell those cars here but to export them. We are seeing exports pick up but we have a huge way to go to get our manufacturing base back to where it was. Some experts say we're not going to get back there, but at least we're picking up a little bit.

MALVEAUX: A little bit of good news. Thank you, Poppy. Appreciate it.

HARLOW: Yes. Sure.

MALVEAUX: Do you eat a lot? A new study says women especially vulnerable to overeating especially when they are stressing out at work. The study shows, of 230 women, found women who were burned out at work we more likely to have emotional and uncontrolled eating than those not burned out. Expects say you can do something about it. Pack healthy snacks, like baby carrots, apples. Step away from the desk from time to time. Take a quick short walk. Get a little exercise to replace the chocolate bar you might have chomped on.

One soldier's actions may be changing the face of the war in Afghanistan. We'll talk about the stress level that men and women are dealing with in the combat zone.

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MALVEAUX: This evening the Army sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians is expected to arrive at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. That is the world's top maximum security prison. We learned that this soldier was on his fourth combat tour of duty, three in Iraq and this one in Afghanistan.

A while ago, I talked to Sebastian Junger. He's a journalist with a lot of time imbedded with troops in war. Take a listen.

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SEBASTIAN JUNGER, JOURNALIST & AUTHOR: I think one of the things that keep them well is they're decent people and they don't want innocent blood on their hands. I saw many occasions where they were in combat and there were civilians nearby and they held their fire even though they were getting fired at because they didn't want to risk killing civilians.

Another thing that keeps them honest and keeps them ethical is that they understand that if they alienate the local population that the population will turn against them, will support the Taliban, and more American soldiers will get killed, their brothers will get killed. That's a very strong motivator in terms of ethical behavior in combat. Frankly, there was not much fondness among the American soldiers for the Afghan people, let's just be honest here, but the last thing any of them wanted to do was create a situation that got other Americans killed. They knew that murder would do that, and so, you know, in some ways, coming from where I'm coming from, the actions of this soldier are really puzzling because he absolutely jeopardized other American soldiers in the field.

MALVEAUX: Sebastian, knowing what we know about this soldier, his background, his experience, we know that he was injured in war, that he had served several tours of duty in Iraq before going to Afghanistan, do you think that he should have been there in the first place?

JUNGER: It's impossible for me to evaluate that. I mean, by now, almost everyone has served multiple tours and many people have been wounded. And all of them volunteered for the service. So I can't evaluate that. I think you really can't generalize. I think one level of stress that breaks one person makes another person stronger. And I think somehow the military -- I'm sure they're working on trying to evaluate individuals because you can't apply a kind of boilerplate standard to everybody, obviously.

MALVEAUX: Sebastian Junger, appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: The Pentagon has not released the soldier's name, only that his home base is in Washington State. He reportedly suffered a brain injury during one of his Iraq deployments.

The guy who made the movie "Titanic," he's going on an extreme dive himself, seven miles under the sea. CNN is taking the plunge with him.

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MALVEAUX: James Cameron is a guy who is not going to rest. He's already surrounded by Oscar awards, right? He's a Hollywood legend. But there he is, squeezed into a submarine, way out in the Pacific. He's about to attempt a major endeavor, a dangerous one as well.

I want to bring in Jason Carroll, live in New York.

Jason, this is pretty cool. You've been out there numerous times. You were personally invited to be a part of this --

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes.

MALVEAUX: -- go to the deepest place on earth. We want to know when it's happening.

CARROLL: Well, good question. Weather permitting, the dive to this place should be within about a week or so. Again, they're at the mercy of Mother Nature. And the place we're talking about is the Marianas Trench. Its deepest place is 36,000 feet down.

MALVEAUX: Wow.

CARROLL: That's about seven miles. Imagine the pressure at those depths. We're talking about 16,000 pounds of pressure per square inch. Try to put that in perspective. If you look at your thumbnail, imagine putting eight tons on your thumbnail. That's the kind of pressure Cameron and his vessel will be under once he attempts this dive.

Cameron invited us along for a series of test dives because you have to make sure the submersible that he's built is able to withstand the pressure when they do eventually do the big dive. So it was fascinating to be there, to witness what was taking place.

You know, Suzanne, Cameron has been under criticism in some ways from folks who say, what's a Hollywood director doing this type of scientific expedition? A lot of people don't know, Suzanne, that Cameron has been a deep sea explorer for many, many years. He's dreamed about it ever since he was a child.

And I asked him, are you more the explorer? Are you more the filmmaker? I want you to listen to what he had to say.

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JAMES CAMERON, FILMMAKER: Am I an explorer who does films on the side, or am I a filmmaker who does exploration on the side? I have a hard time deciding, but there is a good overlap between the two. To me, where the rubber meets the road is where it's not scripted. The ocean doesn't read the script and it doesn't show up and do its lines. You have to adapt and adjust and be prepared and all that and be prepared to see something new and unknown and react to that.

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CARROLL: So Cameron has been out there, and because he is a director, he's also going to be shooting this expedition in 3-D. He's out there with the folks from national geographic who have been supporting him and helping him for several years in order to make this happen. So it's very exciting to those in the deep sea community, those who love exploration, and those who want to see, in fact, what's down there seven miles deep -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: It's very exciting. He is risking his life, there's no doubt about it. Tell us about your special over the weekend.

CARROLL: That's going to air tomorrow night at 10:30 on CNN. So if you're not out celebrating for St. Patrick's Day, I hope you'll watch it. And if you are, maybe you can DVR it. You'll learn what the test phases of this are like. You'll hear more from Cameron. It takes the team that surrounds him to make this extreme dive happen.

MALVEAUX: Good stuff. You can wear green, celebrate, enjoy, watch from the bar, whatever. It's going to be a great special.

Good to see you, Jason. Have a great weekend.

CARROLL: All right, thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Happy St. Patty's Day.

CARROLL: And to you.

MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Brooke Baldwin.

Hey, Brooke.