thank you for joining us. we ll start with the brutal meetimee beating of protesters in cairo fueling the fury in egypt. the violence means all bets are off for egypt s political future. we spoke yesterday, mohammed. this video and the fact that people are it s being caught on tape, it s really fueling what s going on there? well, since we spoke, don, the clashes have still been on going between the protesters and the police and the army. today the video we acquired the video of the woman that was beaten severely and stripped of a substantial amount of her clothes, i spoke to the man who filmed the video, and he was very devastated because when he was filming he saw how brutal the army was. they were beating elderly, children, and the girl herself was extremely beaten. just now i spoke to a friend of hers, and she told me that the girl does not want to speak to the media. she s worried that the situation might be escalated. her parents still don t even know what happene
it up, as well. still, we re not done. much more in just a moment on capitol hill. also, this is a brave marine. but this time, b he s pretty brave to ask the first lady of the united states to the ball. he asked her out. we ll see how this is played out. also, for keyby bryant, we know how this is going to play out. his wife, vanessa, has now filed for divorce. details on why in just a moment. but from the cnn center, this is your saturday morning. so glad you could spend part of your weekend with us. one down, one to go. after minutes to go, the senate approved one of the bills in front of them. today and so far this morning, it was that payroll tax extension. that means your paycheck should stay about the same, but only for the next couple of months. if it had expired, then the government would have been taking a bigger chunk out of your paycheck. the average american family would see about $1,000 increase in their paychecks per month. the house has to take this up, howeve
at a ceremony in baghdad today, the americans lowered the flag and it was a quiet ending to a war that went bad not long after its spectacular start. this ends close to nine years of warfare and the u.s. exit from iraq comes after a high cost. nearly 4,500 american troops dead, more than 32,000 wounded. on the iraqi side, eimates e, begin at 150,000 dead. the cost in dollars to the u.s., around 2k4r8z$800 billion. some estimates put that at a trillion. please remember every american who served there volunteered for duty while their families sacrificed greatly here at home. and tonight, here s what it looks like to wait for a ride home, and not just any ride. a few members of bravo 224 of the 25th of virginia national guard unit en route to ft. hood, texas. they all need a ride out of camp virginia in kuwait tonight. they will be airborne while most americans are asleep. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in baghdad where he lived for many years covering this war
right now. arwa damon one of a number of cnn correspondents who spent a lot of time in iraq over the last several years reporting there literally from the very beginning of that war and throughout. we ll try to get her back in a moment. a historic day we saw even though a few thousand american service members in iraq. they will make their way out, many of them this weekend and, again, formally, it is over. let me turn to our zain verjee. the whole world, zain, she s joining me from london. the whole world watched this event today. what is the world saying now that it s over? well, there s been a lot of reaction today, as you can imagine. it s been eight years, eight months and 26 days. and a lot of blood, sweat and tears on both the sides of the american people, as well as the iraqi people. let me give you an idea. the guardian. has this headline. the u.s. troops are pulling out, but what have the people left behind? iraq has readied itself for a moment big on symbolism,
the final u.s. troops leaving iraq with pride. and putting a fragile nation in the rear view mirror. breaking news for your paycheck. big compromise on capitol hill that could put $1,000 or more back into your paycheck next year. occupy gingrich. newt gets heckled by wall street protesters. they get it back on this american morning. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, december 15. welcome to american morning. good morning, carol. good morning, christine. good morning to all of you. it s over. minutes ago u.s. forces lowered the flag at baghdad and retired the colors to mark the end of the nearly nine-year iraq war. final few thousand u.s. troops are leaving iraq ahead of the new year s eve deadline to get out. it is a war that started with shocking and awe. today the departing soldiers are remembering more than 4,000 who did not come home alive. the long journey home. let s get to barbara starr. she is live in baghdad. the big question this morning is what