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 wa 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, estimates begin at more than 150,000 dead. the cost, $800 billion. some put it at a trillion. please remember every american who served there volunteered for duty while their families sacrificed at home. here s what it looks like tonight 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 and where he covered today s ceremony. richard, good evening. reporter: good evening,
commanding lead over mitt romney. the other candidates trailing far behind. paul steinhauser is in washington. paul, the same poll shows gingrich struggling in a head-to-head race against president obama. tell us about that. that horse race poll and two others indicate the same thing. way ahead in the horse race. look at this, hypothetical matchups next november. president obama versus gingrich and president obama against mitt romney. president obama 11 points ahead of gingrich. among all voters. but, basically, dead even with romney. so, the nbc/ wall street journal poll maybe an electable issue for newt gingrich. you ve seen the democratic national committee go after romney left and right over everything. not so much about gingrich. but yesterday, this is interesting, jessica yellin and i were at a briefing and some of the top obama re-election advisors giving us their briefing and this is what david axelrod, the senior, senior strategist said about newt gingrich. the hi
endorsements but a bit of a dark cloud on the horizon. more on that in just a moment, but, first, his fight for the gop nomination. a new nbc news/ wall street journal poll shows him with a commanding lead over mitt romney. the other candidates trailing far behind. paul steinhauser is in washington. paul, the same poll shows gingrich struggling in a head-to-head race against president obama. tell us about that. that horse race poll and two others indicate the same thing. way ahead in the horse race. look at this, hypothetical matchups next november. president obama versus gingrich and president obama against mitt romney. president obama 11 points ahead of gingrich. among all voters. but, basically, dead even with romney. so, the nbc/ wall street journal poll maybe an electable issue for newt gingrich. you ve seen the democratic national committee go after romney left and right over everything. not so much about gingrich. but yesterday, this is interesting, jessica yellin
where are things happening today? hong kong, share prices there up more than 5.5%. we won t be going to for a away from the story on the markets. also today, world aids today. the world is marking 30 years since hiv was discovered. leaders, researchers and activists are pushing a very big goal ending aids forever. president obama today announced a $50 million boost in funding for hiv prevention and treatment in america. and also a goal of helping 6 million people access life saving treatments worldwide. much more on this in our face time segments moments from now. 160 million americans may not have to face a tax hike next month after all. republicans in congress now seem to be on-board an extension of the payroll tax break due to expire at year s end but they still disagree with democrats and the white house on the size of that break and exactly how it will be offset. all year long anybody who draws a paycheck has seen only 4.2% taken out for social security. that s versu
ali velshi is off i m christine romans along with carol costello. good morning. good morning. the dismantling the occupy l.a. camp is under way right now. hundreds of riot police moving in. more police officers than protesters by some accounts. police issued several ten-minutes warnings throughout the night, that were pretty much ignored. how much arrests so far, sandra endo? reporter: still no exact number, carol. the scene is very active. you can see cops in riot gear. also the fire department is on-scene. the bomb squad. look at this. the massive movement of hazmat suits methodically going through the park trying to get rid of all the tents and debris and everything that people have brought into the encampment. this is how it all went down. just a little after midnight these protesters heard the warning that this was basically going to be eviction day. so they flooded the streets. these streets are shut down. cops have made a perimeter around this area, but they floode