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Obama Says We're Drilling All Over; Tebow Is aJet; Protesters Rally fr Trayvon Martin; "Stand Your Ground" Analyzed; Titanic Items to Be Auctioned; Satellite Images Help Tell Story of Syria; Keeping Hoop Dreams Alive

Aired March 22, 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. I want to get you up to speed.

This is a man suspected of shooting it out with police over two days in France. He is now dead, killed by commandos who stormed the apartment where he was holed up. He is the same man they think killed seven people in France, some of them soldiers, some of them children. More about the suspect and about that frightening standoff. We are going to be live in Toulouse, France, in just a moment.

And he says we're drilling all over the place. Those words from President Obama today. It is his latest stop on his energy tour. The president officially announcing plans to fast track the southern part of the Keystone pipeline project. Now, Republicans, they are slamming the president over high gas prices, but he is defending his energy policies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Since I took office, our dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year. Last year, we imported one million fewer barrels per day than the year before. Think about that. America at a time when we're growing is actually importing less oil from overseas because we're using it smarter and more efficiently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Republicans want the president to approve the entire Keystone pipeline which would stretch from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

So it's a gaffe, it's not going away, at least not yet. Mitt Romney's campaign doing some damage control over a remark by a top campaign adviser. This happened in a CNN interview. He compared the general election to an Etch A Sketch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC FEHRNSTROM, SENIOR ADVISOR, MITT ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign, everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Romney says they were talking about starting over from an organizational standpoint. That his message would remain the same. Didn't take long, however, for his rivals and Democrats to jump all over this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You win by giving people the choice. You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who is just going to be a little different than the person in there. If they're going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk of what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate for the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: It's official. Tim Tebow is trading the mile high stadium for the bright lights of The Big Apple. The former Heisman trophy winner has been traded to the New York Jets after his old team, the Denver Broncos, added superstar Peyton Manning to its roster. So, the New York Cowboys had a little fun with Tebow who is known for his strong faith. Headline for "The Daily News" reads gangrene gets Tebow, amen. "The New York Post" summed it up, Tebow, a New York jet, god him.

Supporters of Trayvon Martin want the man who shot and killed him to go to jail. George Zimmerman told police he acted in self-defense when he gunned down the unarmed teen last month. Well last night, the Sanford city commission passed a no confidence vote against the town's police chief. Right now, bus loads of protesters, they're heading to Sanford for a rally let by the Reverend Al Sharpton. CNN's George Howell, he is live in Sanford, and, George, set the scene for us, if you will. What are folks hoping to accomplish there?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well at this point, we know that hundreds, if not thousands, of people will all be arriving here to Sanford, and really there's one rallying -- several rallying messages, one main rallying message. They want to see George Zimmerman behind bars. The other message is they want to see this police department investigated. They want this particular case investigated by federal investigators. But again, a lot of people and a lot of eyes on this city and this case after the shooting death just in February.

MALVEAUX: And, George, what do we expect that's going to happen this evening?

HOWELL: At this point, we know that the rally -- and it's supposed to happen a few blocks away from where I am, that rally actually moved from a small church to a larger park where a lot of people will get together. The rally starts around 7:00, and we are expecting some high profile names here along with the Reverend Al Sharpton who, as you mentioned, will be speaking at this rally -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And can you give us a sense of this no confidence vote? What does that mean for the investigation?

HOWELL: Whether it really affects the investigation, probably not, but it could have an indirect affect. Obviously, the investigation will be looked over by investigators, will be handed over to a grand jury, and the grand jury will decide whether George Zimmerman is charged in this case, but the city manager is paying close attention to this. Again, after that no confidence vote, that's in his mind. He's the person who could fire this police chief, and, again, he says he is waiting for federal investigators to look through the case before he makes any decision on that, and that could take some time, at least past April 10th when the grand jury gets back with a decision on this.

MALVEAUX: All right, George, thanks. We'll be following the story closely. They are actually on buses. They're heading to Florida to protest the killing of Trayvon Martin. One group of demonstrators left from an Atlanta church this morning headed to the rally tonight in Sanford, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His mother wanted him to understand the importance of being educated, being responsible, to understand what life holds for him if he doesn't carry himself the right way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like Trayvon Martin is a piece of everyone on this bus, you know what I'm saying? And just because he was killed in that brutal way, if he's not arrested, it means no justice is being brought. So, that's what we're going to go do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, what are they hope is going to come out of this? And what motivates someone to get on a bus, ride for hours, take a stand for a young man they didn't even know? On the phone with us is Deandre Mathis and community activist Derrick Boazman. They are both on the bus on the way to Florida. I want to start off with you. Deandre, you're a father of four, including a 17-year-old son, I understand, and that you took two days off to get on the bus. Why are you doing this? What motivated you?

DEANDRE MATHIS: Are you talking to me?

MALVEAUX: Yes.

MATHIS: This is Deandre.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

MATHIS: Well, in a real sense, the past few days listening to the 911 recording and hearing that young man's plea and cry out for help, I literally heard my own son calling out for help. And as you mentioned, I have a 17-year-old son who bears my name, and I felt as a father I had to respond to that call. Even though Trayvon Martin is no longer with us, his spirit, through my son, seems to be calling me to come in this direction.

MALVEAUX: Is your son, is he with you today? Have you talked about this situation, this killing of this young 17-year-old?

MATHIS: We did talk about it. I have to be honest with you, over the past few days, I buzzed him every day, every night more so than I normally would, and so we've talked about it, and he knows that I'm making this trip -- he's in school today. He's a junior at West Lake High School there in metro Atlanta, but he couldn't make it. But we have talked at length about this and the ramifications and what it means.

MALVEAUX: Do you have concern? Do you have worries for your own 17-year-old son, that this is something that he could have faced himself, that he is in a position where he's vulnerable sometimes when he's walking in certain communities?

MATHIS: The story is that this young man was on a trip to get some Skittles for his younger brother. And I also have three daughters, my son is the oldest. But he cherishes his three sisters, and so I could easily (INAUDIBLE) to get them some Skittles. And, of course, it makes me fearful. In Atlanta, we recently had another young man pass from a tragedy in Union City, and so it hits close to home.

MALVEAUX: And do you ever advise your son about certain things he should or shouldn't do when he is faced -- when he's in certain communities?

MATHIS: I've never actually had that talk with my son about what he should and shouldn't do. He's a good kid. But in a free society, I don't think that should have to coach him on how he should behave when he's doing what he's well within his rights to do. (INAUDIBLE.)

MALVEAUX: OK.

MATHIS: In the last few days, again, I talked to my son about this incident and coached him in terms of how he should respond (INAUDIBLE) whether it's a police officer or anybody else. But prior to this, I'll be honest with you, I had not because there should be no need for me to coach him.

MALVEAUX: Deandre Mathis, thank you for joining us. I'm sorry, the connection is a little fuzzy there, but we know you're on the bus. We know you're traveling to the rally in Florida, that it is going to be a little bit of a ride there for you. I want to bring in Derrick Boazman, a former Atlanta City councilman, also on the bus. Can you hear me?

DERRICK BOAZMAN: I can. Yes, I can.

MALVEAUX: Tell us why the church mobilized for this March. How did you guys get this thing started? BOAZMAN: Well, I think I also (INAUDIBLE), and I think what we heard from callers and listeners, that they wanted to be here. They wanted to be, as we say, at the proverbial scene of the crime. They wanted to let this family know that Trayvon Martin's life meant something to them, and so we decided to come from Atlanta to Florida to stand in unity and solidarity.

And we also came to say to the Sanford city council and those leaders in the police department who made a decision that Mr. Zimmerman should not be arrested that nowhere in America do we believe that this should kind of go forward without at least an arrest.

We know this case was blown from the start. They another questioned him seriously. They never collected evidence. They never drug tested him. They -- so in the face of all of these anomalies, that some will say, we believe an opportunity for substantial justice was missed. And so, we (INAUDIBLE) up a cause to say that we have got to go back and do the right thing, because what we believe the right thing is that Zimmerman should be arrested in (INAUDIBLE.)

MALVEAUX: What is -- can you give us the mood of what it's like on the bus there? Does it have the feel of a movement that's taking place?

BOAZMAN: Well, people are going through a range of emotions. On the bus that I'm traveling on, you have a mother with a 16-year-old. You have another mother with a son a little bit older, you know, generationally. You have activists from the (INAUDIBLE), and you have students from our high school and the local colleges. Nothing can bring this cross section -- you got people who ordinarily are not sitting in the same places, space who have decided that this means something individually and collectively to them.

So, that's a very high spirited move, very optimistic, but we also understand that we know what justice feels like and what it looks like and then Trayvon Martin's case, we have not seen that yet. So, we're going down to just that witness to stand in his face, or more fervently to say to this government, local and federal, that this deserves -- we don't want any more justice for Trayvon but we don't want any less justice for him either.

MALVEAUX: All right. Derrick Boazman, Deandre Mathis, thank you to -- for speaking with us, and we're going to be following your journey down there to Florida as well.

There is no word on where George Zimmerman is now, but a friend and fellow neighborhood watch captain is defending him. Frank Taaffe told me yesterday that Zimmerman is a good person.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK TAAFFE: George Zimmerman is a good dude. He's straight up. And that's why I'm front running for him today, and have been since this incident broke.

MALVEAUX: You say he's a good dude, and yet we've got reports from eyewitnesses and people who explain a situation that looks like he is hunting down this young kid and that he is killed in cold blood, not in self-defense. How do you explain what we've heard so far?

TAAFFE: Suzanne, in our neighborhood we've experienced eight burglaries, one of them being a daytime burglary. I myself credit George for thwarting a burglary to my own house. I don't condone the use of the gun. Being a former block captain, we were never instructed to use weapons as lethal as a 9 millimeter. Maximum I would ever use maybe is a pepper spray or a taser, something nonlethal. But no, George -- I'm going to go on camera and say George is not a racist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Zimmerman's family is also denying allegations that race played a role in the shooting. They say Zimmerman has several minority relatives and friends. Also understand, we are getting some pictures now. This is a Miami high school. This is from our affiliates here, pictures of kids who are walking out of Carol City Senior High School over the Trayvon Martin shooting.

That is according to reporting from our affiliates. We're looking at live pictures there of them leaving the school, and we are told, at least from our reporters on the ground there from the affiliates, that this is in solidarity with Trayvon Martin, the young man who was shot and killed who we've been talking about earlier today.

Here is a rundown of some of the stories we're covering over the next hour. First, is it self-defense or a license to kill? We're going to take a look at what some are calling Florida's shoot first, ask questions later law.

Then a new drug could be critical in fighting high cholesterol.

And later, the Titanic on the auction block. We're going to show you some of the surviving artifacts that are up for sale.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're closely watching developments in the killing of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teen shot by a neighborhood watchman. But another Florida case has also caught our attention. A suspect in a deadly shooting is using the state's stand your ground law at his trial. In this case, a man was gunned down by a 71-year-old retired bus driver. Happens in broad daylight in a neighborhood basketball court near Tampa. CNN's Randi Kaye picks up the story from there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: When David James, an Iraq War veteran, escaped combat in the Middle East unscathed, his wife, Kanina, breathed a sigh of relief.

KANINA JAMES, HUSBAND KILLED: I would worry about him. But I thought he'd be safe here. KAYE: She was wrong. And now wants to know why Trevor Dooley, a 71- year-old retired bus driver, shot her husband in broad daylight right in front of their eight-year-old daughter. Dooley says it was self- defense. Kanina James calls it murder.

K. JAMES: What person brings a gun to a park when there's children? I mean, he killed my husband. He could have just talked to him.

KAYE: Whether or not Trevor Dooley fired in self-defense is at the heart of this case. Also central to the story is Dooley's defense, Florida's stand your ground law, which allows a person to stand their ground and use deadly force if they fear someone could seriously harm them.

KAYE (on camera): Here's what witnesses say happened on that September Sunday in 2010. Forty-one-year-old David James was playing basketball with his daughter here when witnesses say Dooley, who lived right across the street, started yelling at a teenager who was skateboarding to get off the court. That's when witnesses say James intervened.

KAYE (voice-over): James yelled back to Dooley, asking him to show where any sign said no skateboarding. Dooley then crossed the street to the park to confront James. A tennis player at the park, Michael Wit (ph), testified things turned ugly when Dooley reached for his waistband. Wit says James then lunged at Dooley. The two men struggled on the ground before James was shot once through the heart. On the 911 call, Wit is heard trying to help.

CALLER: Sir, can you hear me? Sir, can you hear me? Sir, can you hear me? He's shot in the chest, ma'am.

DISPATCHER: And he's not breathing?

CALLER: And he's not breathing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Dooley, what do you want to say about what happened?

TREVOR DOOLEY: No comment.

KAYE: Dooley tells a different story that contradicts the witnesses. He says when he took the gun out of his right front pocket, James saw it and knocked him to the ground. At a hearing to get the charges dismissed, Dooley testified, quote, "he was choking me to death."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You agree you do not want to go to prison for killing David James, correct?

DOOLEY: You think I should (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes or no?

DOOLEY: No.

KAYE (on camera): Dooley's lawyer told us his client turned to walk away towards home and that James was the aggressor. He said Dooley did pull a gun, but didn't use it until he felt his life was threatened. He says the charges against his client should be dropped given the stand your ground law.

KAYE (voice-over): Kanina James says her husband of 13 years had never been aggressive, that he was a gentle family man. She believes he was trying to protect himself and their daughter, Danielle, after he saw Dooley pull a gun.

K. JAMES: He loved Danielle so much. That breaks my heart that Trevor Dooley took my daughter's best friend away from her. She'll never have her daddy.

KAYE: Danielle's testimony about how and why the situation turned violent is key in a case that hinges on self-defense. Danielle, now 10, recalled how her father asked Dooley where the signs were that said no skateboarding on the court.

DANIELLE JAMES: My dad got on top of him so he could keep him down so he could get the answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where were your dad's hands?

D. JAMES: On his arms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the man's arms?

D. JAMES: Yes.

KAYE: The little girl then recalled her father's last moments.

D. JAMES: I think the guy pulled out the gun then.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you hear anything?

D. JAMES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you hear?

D. JAMES: Like when it shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You heard a gunshot?

D. JAMES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did your dad say anything then?

D. JAMES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did he say?

D. JAMES: Call the ambulance. I've been shot.

KAYE: When Kanina James got there, her husband was already dead, and her daughter was crying asking, why isn't anyone helping my daddy?

Randi Kaye, CNN, Valrico, Florida. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Some are calling it Florida's shoot first and ask questions later law. Would Trayvon Martin still be alive without it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Want to drill down on this stand your ground law and the legal implications in Florida and other states that have similar laws. Our legal analyst, Beth Karas, she's joining us from New York.

Beth, let's talk about this a little bit. This stand your ground law allows somebody to use deadly force when threatened. You don't have to retreat. Do you think this law is leading to kind of a macho mentality of folks -- I'm not going to run, I'm not going to retreat, instead I'm going to shoot first?

BETH KARAS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, that is certainly what opponents of the law say in Florida and elsewhere. You see, what it does is take the self-defense law -- because you can always meet force with force, and if you are met with deadly force, you can always defend yourself with deadly force, especially if you're in your home because you longer -- you don't have a duty to go to safety and try to avoid it before using deadly force.

And until this law was enacted, you did have to do that when you were outside your home. Now you don't. And so I do think that opponents of the law have some really strong arguments that people are a little bit too trigger happy now in the cases of justifiable homicide have increased in Florida since the law.

MALVEAUX: Can you explain -- there's also this thing called the castle doctrine bill, which essentially says that if you're attacked in your home, you can use reasonable force, deadly force, to protect your life without any duty to retreat. Is it the same thing that we're talking about here?

KARAS: Yes. What has happened now under stand your ground is they've taken this castle doctrine, your home is your castle, you can use deadly force, you don't have to go to safety, you don't have to run out the book door, you can protect your home and yourself, it's now outside your home.

So anywhere you are, where you have a right to be, as long as you're not engaged in unlawful activity, you can stand your ground. Wherever you are is your castle and you can use deadly force, but you have to be faced with deadly force. You can't get a punch in the nose, Suzanne, and then shoot someone. You know, it has -- you have to be reasonable in your perception that you are faced with deadly force. That's the issue in this case.

What's the evidence that Zimmerman was faced with deadly force? This child was unarmed. Now, there has to be something he was doing that reasonably made Zimmerman fear for his life.

MALVEAUX: OK. And let's talk about that because you bring up this point here. I suppose you could make the case -- like let's say you feel threatened in some way, that you could punch their nose, right? But now you have laws on the books that are much more expansive when it comes to possessing firearms. It make it a lot easier for you to have a gun say in the glove compartment or your purse or in your house. If you take those laws and this castle law, you put these laws together, is this kind of creating a deadly combination here because people now can, if they feel threatened, shoot and kill.

KARAS: It can be and has been a deadly combination. When you can carry a firearm, like you can in Florida with a concealed weapons permit, civilians can carry them, you can't do that in New York City, for example, where I live, easily, but you can do it much more easily in Florida and elsewhere, and you're on, say, a patrol like Zimmerman and he's looking to ferret out crime and prevent crime, it can absolutely be a deadly combination.

Police officers have so many things going through their heads when they're faced with a life or death situation, whether or not they can shoot, because they are trained and they understand. Here you have a civilian who's putting himself in that position and is not trained like a police officer. And what's happening, opponents of the law say, is these folks, these civilians, are getting a little too trigger happy. And Zimmerman's big problem here now is going to be convincing the grand jury, assuming he or somebody, you know, explains his position that he was reasonable in his perception of a threat of deadly force against him. Not just a punch in the nose, but deadly force.

MALVEAUX: All right. All right. Beth Karas, thank you so much. We appreciate your perspective.

Artifacts from the most famous shipwreck of all time, they're actually going on the auction block. We're going to look at what is for sale from the Titanic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: 100 years ago today, the crew of "Titanic," getting ready for that epic and fateful voyage. If they only knew a few days later, April 15th, the ship would go down in the freezing North Atlantic. It's been 100 years and now somebody is about to own an enormous collection of items from the "Titanic," brought up from the bottom of the sea.

Items like these, dishes, table settings that hit the floor when the ship sank. Some of the China pieces, in perfect condition. Lots of other stuff, some common things, some fancy, decorative things, silverware, diamond jewelry, pieces of the ship itself. For the first time ever, items salvaged from the "Titanic" are going on the auction block.

We want to talk now to Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's Auction House. He is selling those "Titanic" treasures to the highest bidder. That's happening next month at the 100th anniversary.

Great to have you with us. Everybody is always just intrigued, fascinated by the story of the "Titanic." How do these artifacts rank when it comes to looking at other historical treasures?

ARLAN ETTINGER, PRESIDENT, GUERNSEY'S AUCTION HOUSE: There are many who believe the collection of material from the "Titanic" may, in fact, be the single most extraordinary collection on the face of the earth. There's a fascination with this tragic saga like no other, and we're privileged to have all 5,500 objects that have been brought up over the last quarter century from the debris field surrounding the wreck site, to be offered at one time in accordance with the wishes of a court that, for historic preservation, wants to keep the collection together.

MALVEAUX: Please show us what you have.

ETTINGER: We're looking at a diverse group starting with a baker's hat from the third baker on the ship. Gentleman's gloves -- we can't determine if they were worn by someone in service or a gentleman out for the evening. China from the first, second, and third classes.

This one featuring the White Star Line's logo, which was, of course, the owner of the ship. Silverware. Remarkably even paper has survived due to the careful conservation efforts of those who for a quarter century have helped protect this material. This is called a Gimble light fixture, which swayed while the ship would sway so the light was always vertical. This is part of the more than 5,000 items that are being sold as a single collection.

MALVEAUX: Why altogether? The one person who bids the highest is going to get all of this?

ETTINGER: That's true. The courts decided that because the ship itself is rapidly deteriorating at the bottom of the sea, this collection really embodies the "Titanic" and the memory of it, and for future generations, if there was no intact collection, then it would be gone. So this material, along with a substantial body of intellectual property, is being sold as one lot. The sale is actually taking place -- bids have to be in by April 2nd, so people need to contact Guernsey's now.

MALVEAUX: You've tempted me a little bit there. Can you tell us, how is it possible even that these items survived that, you were able to salvage them from the deep sea?

ETTINGER: The stories are remarkable. When you find a gentleman's vest and say, how in the world, could that have survived for a century on the bottom of the water, but there are scientific reasons for all of this. Not enough time to go into this, but they have -- once they surfaced, careful conservation efforts were undertaken that often took years to protect these items so they can be looked at today, as you would any other antique about you. They are extremely fragile. And although these things may not look all that special, they come from one of the most extraordinary tragedies and situations that the earth has ever seen. MALVEAUX: And I got to ask you, before we let you go, do you have any idea how much this is going to go for?

ETTINGER: You know, it's always tough when preparing for an auction. This collection was appraised at $189 million about five years ago, and we'll see what happens at the auction. But folks need to contact Guernsey's now.

MALVEAUX: If you're interested, you know where to go.

Arlan, thank you so much. Good to see you.

ETTINGER: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Coming up, CNN is getting a unique perspective at the violence that's going on in Syria from space.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: Rebel fighters in Syria target an army tank. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: This is in the city of Hama. The explosive goes off as a Syrian tank passes by. We hear voices cheering afterwards. An opposition group says Syrian forces are again heavily shelling Hama.

We depend on these amateur videos to tell the story of Syria's deadly conflict. Now we have help from some new satellite images.

Here's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From the beginning, one of the issues has been the lack of reporters on the ground in these cities in Syria. But these new images from Digital Globe and the U.S. government are showing us, for the first time, really what's happening here.

For example, you can see the massing of artillery out here near one of the cities in question. Here you can also see what's going on where you see an empty street and then armored vehicles gathered in the same spot over here, giving you a sense of the movement. This is just in the past several days. Here you see the same sort of thing, large armored vehicles here, some on the move, some already parked, that sort of thing.

What are we talking about on the ground? What exactly does this look like up close? For example, if this is what we think it is from the air, you're talking about infantry fighting vehicles like this. They have a shelling range of about a mile and a half. That's quite a distance. You can park outside a town and really pound away at it from the outside, plus bring some people in that way.

What if you're talking about some of the bigger items like this, where you have tanks right in this area? Their tanks are mainly Soviet-made tanks. Some of them are older. They have about 4,700 overall, about 1,700 of the newest T-72s or T-72Ms. They have a shelling range of 1.8 miles. They are mobile. They can go inside and just batter their way through a city if need be.

But one of the bigger questions when you look at all of these emplacements around cities that have been captured in the satellite images actually is artillery because they have a lot of artillery in this country. Some of it is older. But look at this, a shelling range of 14 miles. That allows them to move in around a neighborhood like Homs, for example, and just pound and pound and pound away at it.

And we have seen, day after day after day, what the results can be. Tremendous, tremendous damage that simply cannot be stopped, in part, because whatever the rebel forces are doing, when you're being attacked from that far away, there often is nothing to do but simply sit there and watch the attacks come and hope for some kind of relief from the outside.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Doctors are calling it a new drug, a game changer. If someone you love has a cholesterol problem, you're going to want to hear.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: There's big buzz today surrounding a new experimental drug. Early tests show it's been very successful in lowering levels of LDL, the bad cholesterol. Some researchers are calling it game changing and even a break through.

And coming up, everybody has a little March Madness fever. But are all college basketball stars that are making the team, making the grade to graduate?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right. A lot of trash talking here. March Madness back in effect tonight. 16 remaining teams battle to keep their hoop dreams alive. One more game, among them, Marquette Golden Eagles, a team that's proving to be winners on the court and in the classroom. Drew Griffin has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY STUDENT & BASKETBALL PLAYER: I want to thank my coaches for sticking with me.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is senior day for Marquette University's varsity basketball team. And the person they thank the most, probably has the least to do with winning a basketball game.

ADRIENNE RIDGEWAY, ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY: The most important thing to learn --

GRIFFIN: This is Adrienne Ridgeway. For the past nine years, she's coached the men's basketball team off the court. As Marquette's assistant athletic director.

The graduation rate for men's basketball has been so bad the NCAA recently created a new rule, teams need to get their graduation rates up to about 50 percent to qualify for post-season play.

But at Adrienne Ridgeway's school, graduation is the rule rather than the exception. What's their secret?

RIDGEWAY: I wave a magic wand. I'm kidding.

GRIFFIN: Last year, this perennial basketball powerhouse spent $10.3 million on basketball alone. That money buys nice facilities and practice equipment, but it also provides players with education assistance that starts before the beginning of the regular school year.

RIDGEWAY: From that point, then we know how to approach the school year.

GRIFFIN: From there they watch the players' every move.

JAMIL WILSON, MARQUETTE STUDENT & BASKETBALL PLAYER: It's like having more coaches that don't yell, without whistles basically.

GRIFFIN: Red Shirt sophomore. Jamil Wilson has never had so much attention paid to his actual classes.

WILSON: They monitor everything you do on the computers, like your homework, your papers, things like that. You're never really behind even if you are missing class.

GRIFFIN: The basketball money also pays for chartered planes. They take players back to class and tutors who fly with the team to the games.

WILSON: You get to travel everywhere and see everything and see everything and then again you still have to make up the work that you miss and don't just get a free pass just because you're gone or play basketball.

ANNOUNCER: Jamil Wilson, across D.J. (ph). Another open free!

GRIFFIN: Marquette's basketball budget makes it one of the five most-expensive programs in the tournament.

President Pilarz says it is worth it.

SCOTT PILARZ, PRESIDENT, MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY: We'll provide a transformational education that will help them succeed in life.

GRIFFIN: Jamil plans to graduate next year, go on to grad school, and live a lifetime of achievement.

WILSON: I would like to play basketball until my body says, hey, this isn't for you anymore. I mean, you never know. It might be somewhere else.

GRIFFIN: Drew Griffin, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: All right. Bust out your brackets. Down to the sweet 16. College basketball beginning tonight. And there is a reason I have these two up here. Chad Myers and Brooke Baldwin, talking trash talk now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It feels good to win, ladies and gentlemen. It feels good to win.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: For now, for now. We'll give you more time, a little bit more time.

Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There are 15 games left.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: I am kicking you.

BALDWIN: Carolina. Carolina.

MALVEAUX: Am I not kicking your butt, Chad?

MYERS: You're beating me by a point.

MALVEAUX: By a point? I'll take that point.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: How are we doing here?

(LAUGHTER) MYERS: The thing is, if Michigan State goes all the way, obviously, she wins.

MALVEAUX: My dad's alma mater.

MYERS: If UNC wins you are --

BALDWIN: I am nervous about the point guard. I don't know if he's playing Friday night.

MYERS: Absolutely.

Here is Suzanne's. There's yours, Brooke. Your whole deal is Kentucky against Michigan State.

BALDWIN: Right.

MYERS: Ohio State, UNC, and YYU and UNC win it is all. That's how you win the tournament.

BALDWIN: Love Williams and the boys.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: Kyra -- if Kyra wins, Kentucky has to beat Syracuse. Soledad, Kentucky has to beat UNC. For me to win, Nebraska has to get in the tournament. I don't know how that's going to happen.

MALVEAUX: How do I win? How do I win? I have to get Michigan State up there.

MYERS: Michigan State.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Good luck with that, Malveaux.

MALVEAUX: Yes, you know.

MYERS: You get Smarty to beat the Kansas Jay Hawks and you are taking all the money, which is zero, because we didn't put money in.

MALVEAUX: Oh, it is not too late to make --

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: -- to make a wager right here, Brooke.

BALDWIN: No. I am working on that behind the scenes. My team plays Angie, my executive producer's team, Friday night at 7:00. I will be on the plane. I'll be that annoying girl on Wi-Fi screaming for the Tar Heels.

(LAUGHTER)

But we're working out a healthy wager for once. The Carolina Tar Heels.

MYERS: This is just healthy fun.

BALDWIN: I love it.

MALVEAUX: I will get on Brooke's show when I am beating her butt.

BALDWIN: Done.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Sold. It is a deal.

MYERS: For one month out of the year everybody votes. It is good stuff.

MALVEAUX: Totally cool. Love it. Watch out. NCAA sweet 16 getting under way today. Watch every game live. And if you're away from the TV, don't worry. Catch the action online, NCAA.com/marchmadness.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We've been hearing a lot about post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly with so many soldiers coming back from war. While it's easier to identify the physical wounds, it is those beneath the surface that sometimes get missed.

Miguel Marquez talked to one vet that had a horrible experience after he came home from Vietnam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gary Husley has been to hell and back.

(on camera): You had about as intense an experience a young man, a teenager, can have.

GARY HUSLEY, U.S. VETERAN: True.

MARQUEZ: You had to kill a man with your bare hands.

HUSLEY: At one point, yes.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Husley was 17 years old when he joined the Marines, a kid, three tours, and more than three years later, he came home battered, bruised, but determined to leave the past behind. He finished college, started his own contracting business, and Vietnam wasn't done with him.

(on camera): How much did you drink?

HUSLEY: I'd go through a fifth of whiskey a day.

MARQUEZ: Why did you drink so much?

HUSLEY: So I could pass out at night and not have nightmares.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Eight years after Husley returned from Vietnam, just three weeks after getting married, he was drinking heavily on the night of October 24th, 1978, and he did the unthinkable.

HUSLEY: I passed out around and last time I remember, about 10:00, and I woke up and she was in bed next to me and the knife I kept under my pillow. A knife never jams, never runs out of ammo. And I always kept a combat knife under my pillow and it was stuck in her chest and so I called the authorities.

MARQUEZ (on camera): What did you tell them?

HUSLEY: I said I just think I just killed my wife. I don't know.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): He pleaded insanity and served nine years for second-degree murder. Husley's experience is extreme, but familiar. More than a million veterans have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly 20 percent may suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, as much as 25 percent depression. One study indicated 27 percent of returning Iraq vets have used alcohol and other showed prescription and illegal drug addiction as high as 35 percent among some soldiers.

When Gary Husley killed his wife in 1978, PTSD wasn't even an official clinical diagnosis. In fact, he didn't even seek treatment for PTSD until 1994.

One of the most difficult problems -- diagnosing PTSD. The vets themselves have to recognize the symptoms and be willing to ask for help.

One way the military is trying to reach vets, video games that present real-life dilemmas where they can identify problems based on their score.

(on camera): Another way is with programs developed for your mobile phone, the T-2 center at Fort Lewis-McChord has developed, a mood tracker, which service members can punch in a range of emotions and feelings in real time, everything from depression to feelings of tiredness or hopelessness. Over time, the data helps to I understand too the possibility of stress related problems.

(voice-over): Tools that didn't exist in Gary Husley's day.

HUSLEY: War is hell. Hell is defined as being separated from God. God doesn't walk around a war zone.

MARQUEZ: Despite the hell, he has turned his life around. In 2007, he became an elected official, a city councilman in Pacific, Washington. When the local press heard --

UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: A killer on the city council.

MARQUEZ: -- Husley was forced to confront his past again as his murder conviction was widely known.

Married 25 years now, he credits his wife, Lois, for helping him understand something he never thought he would.

HUSLEY: I can home from Vietnam, I knew fear. I knew anger. I didn't know how to deal with love or joy or happiness. I knew guilt. Guilt and fear would turn into anger. That was familiar. Now I know joy and I know love.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Husley says when his secret went public, the response was something he didn't expect. Hundreds of letters from his constituents urging him to stay at the city council.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Pacific, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: A powerful story.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

Hey, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne. Thank you.