Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20

plus, the shocking end to an equally shocking case in saudi arabia. a woman beheaded for witchcraft. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in the situation room. just 24 hours ago, the mud was flying between newt gingrich and mitt romney as they campaigned in the first primary state of new hampshire. now gingrich is vowing to run a clean campaign and refrain from initiating the kind of attacks that have come to characterize the modern race for the white house. some question, though, whether newt gingrich means it, whether he can live up to that commitment. joe johns is working the story for us. what are you finding out? >> well, wolf, the last few days have certainly been ugly, but now both candidates are saying they're going to do what a lot of voters have said they want and that is have a campaign that is free of negativism. of course, newt gingrich, the former speaker of the house running for president has gone as far to put his words actually in writing. though a lot of people out there these days are saying they want to see how long this kind of thing can last. >> ladies and gentlemen -- >> reporter: politics has many unwritten rules, among them, do as i say, not as i do. this rule was at work as former house speaker newt gingrich released an expansive letter to his staff ordering a clean campaign based on positive solutions. he said it's critical the republican nominee emerge from the campaign unbloody to face president obama. in fact, the night before, gingrich had even praised his opponent mitt romney for taking the high road, as well. >> i think what we're about is too important. to weaken anybody who might defeat barack obama and to give barack obama ammunition that he shouldn't have. >> how they got here was another story entirely. romney has been on the attack lately ripping gingrich every chance he could get in order to close the polling gap with the front runner. and then there was a nasty exchange after romney said the former speaker needed to give back the $1.6 million he'd gotten consulting for freddie mac. >> i think a fair question is asked, why did he profit as freddie mac failed? >> i would just say that if governor romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at bain, that i would be glad to then listen to him. and i'll bet you $10, not $10,000, that he won't take the offer. >> just to be clear, in the space of about 24 hours, gingrich went from a rhetorical body slamming match back to the place where he started. mr. good newt, promising to play nice with others. >> i think newt is being newt. he is incapable, really, of stopping himself from using whatever rhetorical armament he has available to him when he gets into one of these situations. if he thinks of it, he'll say it. and then he doesn't have the best capacity for buyers remorse. he won't apologize. >> reporter: rich galen says it's almost unthinkable for presidential candidates who want to win to just play nice. >> they are part in parcel of campaigns because they work. everybody pretends they hate them. some people actually do hate them, but the fact of the matter is that negative ads, negative attacks are nothing more than highly distilled gossip. and we're hard wired to love gossip. >> gingrich has even said he doesn't want people contributing to any super pack that runs negative ads, but the truth is, the candidates don't and can't control what super packs do. so that part of the statement may have been good public relations, but didn't have any real teeth. wolf? >> and as you pointed out in his memo he wrote to his staff and his supporters, he was very precise, newt gingrich, as he always is when he said don't initiate in his words attacks on other republican candidates, but then he went on to say he says they should reserve the right to respond when my record has been distorted. in other words, he's not going to start it, but if they start it, he's going to slap right back. >> and he's actually responded already, in fact. so you have to consider that. he's not -- he's being very precise with his words. >> as he always is. thanks very much for that, joe johns reporting. donald trump now says he will not moderate a december 27th republican presidential debate. in a statement trump says and i'm reading it now in part, the republican party candidates are very concerned that sometime after the final episode of "the apprentice" i will announce my candidacy of the united states as an independent and unless i conclusively agree not to run as an independent, they will not agree to be part of the debate. i am not willing to give up my right to run as an independent candidate. as you know, only newt gingrich and rick santorum have signed on to take part in that debate. it's unclear whether or not news max will still have the debate. we're waiting for a statement. we'll see what happens. we're also following developments on capitol hill right now, where a house vote on extending the payroll tax cut could come within a few hours. provisions to speed up government approval of a controversial oil pipeline from canada to texas and that has president obama vowing to veto the bill if it were to make it to his desk. let's go to capitol hill, our congressional correspondent kate bolduan is joining us. >> reporter: hey there, wolf, the house is set to vote still this evening, it could be and this can always slip, but it could be in the next hour, hour and a half, two hours, and republican leaders in the house, they are confident they have the votes to pass this measure. but over in the senate, senate majority leader harry reid said they are wasting valuable time because the republican measure, he says, will not pass in the senate. one major obstacle is that controversial provision you mentioned that republicans have added to their bill in the house, this provision having to do with the keystone oil pipeline project. add to all of that that the white house just this afternoon issued a veto threat to the house bill, this clearly shows at this point, wolf, they are no closer to a compromise and the clock is very quickly ticking down, wolf. >> kate, what about plans for members of congress to escape washington? supposed to leave this weekend, but it's unlikely they're going to get all of their business done. is that what you're seeing and hearing? >> they are supposed to be. their target date to head out of town was supposed to be this friday. it's not looking very good for members of congress and all of us who cover them because this is why. this whole issue is getting messier and more contentious as republicans are now accusing specifically senate democrats of holding up a massive government funding bill until they say republicans give and negotiate more on the payroll tax issue. the government is set to run out of funding on friday. and they had all along been working on this massive appropriations bill, this government funding bill to kind of go all the way through to fund all of the fiscal year 2012. and it had not been a related issue until this point. listen here to the top republican in the senate mitch mcconnell. >> the president and the democratic majority leader, my friend harry reid are now saying they'd rather shut down the government than allow this job-creating legislation to become law. that's what would happen if they succeed in blocking this bipartisan funding bill from coming to the floor for a vote. >> reporter: now, democrats, they reject this. they say that this does not have to do with the payroll tax issue. there are still a handful of outstanding issues that have to do with this massive government funding measure that need to be worked out before they can sign off on it. senator harry reid says he hopes that will happen soon, but also made the point to say today more than once that the top priority is extending the payroll tax cut and no one should leave town until they do so. listen here to senator reid. >> republicans seem eager to get out of town. some have even suggested they're willing to leave before they reach a compromise on the payroll tax cut and other things, we're not going to do that. >> you can see, wolf, it seems to be as i said getting messier and more contentious and they're no closer to compromise at this moment. the clock is ticking down and they're coming up against a new deadline we need to watch that the government will be running out of funding come friday. it seems it's time for the leaders to sit down and start hammering out a compromise. unclear if they're ready to do that quite yet. >> the president would have to delay his personal departure for hawaii. he's supposed to leave this weekend. he may have to delay that, as well. it wouldn't be the first time for him as our viewers will recall. kate, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> let's go to jack cafferty now for the cafferty file. >> with three weeks to go until the iowa caucuses, the pressure is squarely on mitt romney. it wasn't supposed to go this way at all, you know. the republican presidential nomination was supposed to be a coronation for romney. but instead, romney finds himself chasing newt gingrich and gingrich is pulling away. in new hampshire, romney and current front-runner gingrich took off the gloves, threw direct jabs at each other. but romney can no longer remain above the fray. because you can see the fray has frayed his lead rather badly. new hampshire was once considered a sure thing for romney. now could be a make or break contest for him. one new hampshire pollster told the "new york times" expectations are so high for romney in new york that gingrich could lose by ten points there and still spin it as a win. gingrich who is leading in the national polls as well as in iowa, south carolina, and florida has narrowed the gap in new hampshire to just nine points in one recent poll. what's working in romney's favor is thinking that he's much more likely to beat president obama than newt gingrich. gingrich held a town hall-style meeting for 1,000 people and overflow crowded a new hampshire high school last night. and the applause was described as deafening. they like what they hear from this guy. meanwhile, howard kurtz writes for "the daily beast," it's not over yet. he suggests romney's a plausible president in these tough times and his campaign is financed for the long haul. maybe so. but remember, romney already lost this race once. he's the same guy voters rejected for the job four years ago. kurtz says he needs to demonstrate real passion. and he probably ought to stop making $10,000 bets too. here's the question. what does mitt romney have to do to recapture his front-runner status? you go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, or go to our post on the situation room's facebook page. wolf? >> you know what could surprise a lot of people in iowa, jack? >> what? >> ron paul. he's got a fabulous organization, passionate supporters, some money, he could surprise a lot of folks in iowa. we're going to be speaking with him tomorrow here in the "situation room." but don't be surprised if ron paul does a lot better than people are thinking he might do in iowa. we're talking about iowa. >> i think he'll do well in iowa. i don't think he's going to be the nominee, but i think he'll do well in iowa. >> i write about it in my blog today. check it out. i think it's if it hasn't been posted, it'll be posted soon. millionaires save 20%, lower income americans save 3%. we're taking a closer look at newt gingrich's tax plan. standby for that. and imagine not being able to use your cell phone in the car at all, not even with a headset unless -- unless that cell phone is built into the car's system. why the federal government wants a nationwide law to ban phone use by drivers. we're taking a much closer look. and the outrage at saudi arabia. get this, for beheading a woman, yes, killing her, executing her, she was accused of witchcraft and sorcery. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? 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>> curious remarks by the iranian president. he told a tv network that his country "has been able to control the aircraft." he didn't specify what he meant by controlling the drone, but he said the people who have been able to control it "will analyze the plane's system." for the first time, u.s. officials have publicly acknowledged that iran has a drone. two u.s. officials have said that a missing drone was part of a cia reconnaissance mission in afghanistan. american officials have not confirmed that a spy plane shown on iranian video is actually the same aircraft. president obama said the u.s. has asked for it back. most u.s. officials don't expect that to happen. some experts believe the iranians will now reengineer this drone taking the technology from it. they are very good at that kind of thing. defense secretary leon panetta did not rule that out. >> it's a little difficult to know just frankly how much they're going to be able to get from, you know, from having obtained those parts. i don't know the condition of those parts, i don't know exactly what state they're in. >> the president ahmadinejad claims the systems of iran's own spy planes are just as advanced in this one. so we'll see if iran comes out with a model that mirrors american technology or not. wolf, i think u.s. officials going to be watching that closely to see if other u.s. adversaries might start to have this technology, as well. >> i was stunned yesterday when president obama -- he didn't want to discuss it, but then he went on and said we have asked that -- we're asking the iranians to return that drone to the united states. why ask the iranians to return it if it isn't the real thing or whatever. it makes no sense at all. it was just the unusual statement by the president of the united states. is there any indication, though, and i suspect the answer is no, that the iranians might return what they have? >> it's really the opposite. the iranians are saying that this is now their property, one official said that the u.s. owes iran an apology, another called this an act of invasion and belligerence. they're going to make a big -- they may literally make a display of this thing in some museum, but they're not going to give it back. >> that wouldn't be the problem. the problem is the chinese or doing reverse engineering or others and that would be a problem for the u.s. that's why dick cheney here on cnn last night and others said the u.s. should've blown it up, sent another drone, blown it up rather than letting them have it complete intact or whatever they have. thanks very much, brian for that. the u.s. air force by the way says another american drone has gone down. this one in the seychelles islands. no one was hurt. the u.s. military recovered the debris and is investigating the cause of these accidents. something that flies in the face of everything that we know in the 21st century. a woman accused of witchcraft and beheaded for her so-called crimes. cnn has details from abu dhabi. mohammed? >> it's a case that has outraged human rights groups and put the justice system in saudi arabia under the spotlight once more. the verdict, shocking, the sentence, even more so. a saudi woman beheaded, her crime, practicing witchcraft and sorcery. according to saudi arabia's interior of ministry, she was executed on monday. a source is quoted in the country's religious police who said authorities searched nasr's home finding books on sorcery, and glass bottles filled with liquids commonly used for the purposes of magic. the source added she was selling spells and bottles of the liquid potions for about $400. cnn could not reach the religious police for comment. amnesty international issued a statement calling the execution deeply shocking. saying it highlights the urgent need for a halt in executions in saudi arabia. saudi arabia, an absolute monarchy practices a puritanical version of islam. in the deeply conservative kingdom, sorcery, witchcraft, and blasphemy are all punishable by death. and this is not the first sorcery case in saudi arabia to draw the anger of rights groups. in 2008, sabat was arrested on charges of sorcery while on a religious pilgrimage. in 2009 he was found guilty and sentenced to death. while he's not been executed, he remains in prison. the judicial system made headlines for the sentence imposed on this man. he was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in prison. the australian government is pleading his case. in its statement, saudi arabia's interior ministry said nasr had been investigated before her arrest and she was convicted of what she was accused of. the number of executions in saudi arabia has almost tripled this year, and so far at least 79 people including five women have been executed there. >> thanks very much. mohammed reporting from abu dhabi. police on new york's long island find the body of another missing woman. could it be tied to a possible serial killer? also, sandusky's lawyer makes an unexpected move in the sex abuse case. a lot of news happening here right here in the situation room. brad, where we going? just a second. just, just one second. ♪ what are you looking at? don't look up there. why are you looking up? ♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪ are you ok? the... get in the car. get in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from spending time together, to spending your lives together, chevy runs deep. a bloody assault in belgium today, lisa sylvester is monitoring that. some of the other top stories right now. what happens? well, a prosecutor in the belgian city says one man was responsible for a rampage that killed two teenagers, a woman, and the gunman. 1,900 others were injured in the bomb and grenade attack. the man was wanted for questioning about drug and arms charges. three men face charges in the wake of another alleged hazing incident within florida a & m's marching band. they stem from several alleged beatings of a band member. he died november 19th in a suspected hazing-related incident. and police in suffolk county, new york, believe they have found the remains of shannon gilbert, a new jersey woman whose disappearance touched off a search last year that led them to the remains of ten other people. a police commissioner says the investigation involves around a possible serial killer. and jerry sandusky's defense team waived his right to -- prosecutors had planned for 11 witnesses, including sandusky's alleged victims. sandusky also entered a not guilty plea and awaits a january arraignment. >> thanks for that. a boom for the economy or a windfall for the rich? we're digging deeper on newt gingrich's tax plan with former labor secretary robert reich and stephen moore of the "wall street journal." the debate coming up. plus, three weeks before the iowa caucuses, a surprise rise in the polls for rick perry. what's going on? we'll assess. hritis pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is a non-narcotic treatment that's fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing of the skin or eyes. talk with your doctor about your medicines, including those for migraine, or if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles, to address a possible life-threatening condition. tell your doctor about alcohol use, liver disease, and before you reduce or stop taking cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. side effects include nausea, dry mouth, and constipation. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. newt gingrich's campaign is dismissing a new analysis of this tax plan. that analysis by the tax policy center says gingrich's proposals would provide huge tax breaks to the wealthiest americans and increase the deficit. a gingrich spokesman says the study doesn't take into account the economic growth and the new jobs his plan would create. let's dig deeper right now, poppy harlow of cnnmoney.com. what is he proposing in this tax plan? >> this isn't a new proposal, it came out in may from the gingrich campaign. but because he's soaring in the polls, the pew poll today showing him at 35% in topping that poll. people are looking at this very carefully. that's exactly what the nonpartisan tax policy center has done. for you, your personal tax rate, you would have an optional flat tax, a 15%, you would also get a $12,000 per person deduction, much more than we have now. it would eliminate the estate tax and completely get rid of capital gains taxes. the corporate tax rate would decline significantly from 35% to 12.5%. to give you some context, that would put the u.s. among the lowest tax rates of all industrialized countries. it would put the u.s. on par with ireland where you have a lot of corporations headquartering, you have a lot of pharmaceutical companies there for obvious tax reasons. here's what the tax policy center said about this plan. they said it would mean that 70% of all americans would pay lower taxes. and get this, for the wealthy americans, this is a hus is a h. now, they also said that when you take a look at millionaires under this plan, they would get about a 20% tax cut. if you look at regular folks, people making less than $100,000 a year, what the tax policy center is estimating is the maximum tax cut they could see under this plan is about 3.1%. what's also critical is that the tax policy center says under the plan, the government would take in $1.3 trillion less in revenue in the first year this would be implemented. they're saying that would be 2015. when you look at that, wolf, the state of the economy and the massive deficit, it's a 35% reduction. so it's a huge decline in revenue that we would be taking in, wolf. >> what is newt gingrich's campaign, poppy, saying about this analysis? >> it's interesting, i talked to newt's economic policy adviser, he's not paid by the campaign. but he told me he's a long time friend adviser to newt. he says this plan is designed to maximize economic growth, jobs, wages, incomes, and not revenue neutrality. he said the tax policy center did not have the details of our plan. the campaign did not provide them with many details because it does not recognize them as an independent arbiter of tax policy information. what they're saying basically is disregard this, this is not a fair analysis. i asked peter for the details of the tax plan, he says they can't give them to us at this point in time. the campaign will be releasing details in a few weeks along with an independent analysis they have underway. if you think about 9-9-9, they did a similar thing. that's apparently what we're going to see from newt's camp. i do want to say one thing, wolf, the person who led this analysis of the tax policy center told our charles reilly of cnn money that this is basically like rick perry's plan on steroids. >> on steroids. all right. thanks very much, poppy. here's the question, is newt gingrich's tax proposal a stroke of genius or an utter miscalculation? it's a subject of heated debate. and joining us now robert reich, professor at the university of california berkeley, the former labor secretary during the bill clinton administration. also joining us, stephen moore of the "wall street journal," senior economy writer. thanks very much. let's get right to the newt gingrich tax plans. and you tell me, good ideas, bad ideas. let me start with you, steve, first of all. he says he wants to cut the highest individual tax rate from 35% down to a flat 15% rate. good idea or bad idea? >> yeah, love the idea of a flat tax. this is the old steve forbes flat tax idea, even lower rate. he would also make it an option so people could stay in the old system or move in the new system. and he also wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 12.5%, which would make, wolf, the united states overnight go from the highest tax rate country on our corporations to the lowest. i think it'll create jobs. >> robert reich, what do you think? >> i think it's totally nuts. already the highest income earners in this country who are getting a higher share of total income than they have in 80 years are already paying the lowest marginal tax rates they've paid in about 40 years, to take those marginal tax rates down to 15%, i mean, you're going to blow a gigantic hole in the federal budget over $1 trillion in one year. and on top of that, you know, the biggest beneficiaries according to the independent nonpartisan tax policy institute, the biggest beneficiary, the lion's share goes to the wealthy of this tax cut. the people who are at the t top .1%, get 25% of all of these benefits of this tax cut. this is absurd. >> let's get -- >> hold on, steve. answer the question, the tax policy center, this group that did this study, they say it would create $1.3 trillion in additional deficit in one year if it went through. >> yeah, well, they're not looking, wolf, at the spending side of the aisle. that's the other part of the fiscal plan that newt gingrich has. he wants to cut a lot of spending. but the other thing that tax policy center doesn't look at, wolf, is the idea that if you cut these tax rates and you make america the lowest tax rate country in the world, you'll get a lot of capital, a lot of jobs in this country. i think it actually will raise revenue. and bob, where you are wrong is on the idea of the big tax cut for the rich. because remember, the gingrich plan gets rid of all of the loopholes, carve outs, and provisions. now warren buffett and bill gates don't have anywhere to hide their money. everybody's going to have to pay that 15%, no longer will warren buffett be able to pay lower than his secretary. >> nobody is going to have to -- if you're very wealthy you don't have to worry about tax shelters or loopholes because you're paying 15%. this is the same rate that the people who are secretaries and sanitation workers and people who are, you know, who are child care workers are paying. you know multimillionaires will be paying, at 15%, steve, this is the most unfair, stupidest tax plan i've ever heard. and it just creates the gigantic hole in the tax budget. this is the independent, nonpartisan tax policy center giving us these data. this is -- this is taking supply side economics to a bizarre extreme. and nothing trickled down from the bush tax cuts, we know that, most people got no benefits at all. and now what is gingrich doing? let's take the bush tax cuts and magnify them 500%. >> hold on a second. he goes even further, newt gingrich, and says eliminate completely all capital gains taxes, all estate taxes, as well. you love that idea, don't you? >> yeah, this is a tax cut plan. it's on steroids in terms of economic growth. imagine what this would mean for america's competitiveness. and that's the big issue. competitiveness against other issues. let's take the example of the corporate rate. if you can go from being the lowest corporate tax rate, you're going to bring jobs and businesses back to the united states. you and i, bob, talk a lot about the problem of outsourcing jobs. this is going to bring jobs back for the united states. >> steve, look at history, we've had this gigantic bush tax cut, we had no increase in competitiveness. actually the median wage dropped. there was no trickle down. and on top of that, you say we need a corporate tax cut right now? i mean big corporations are sitting on $2 trillion of cash. they don't know what to do with the cash. it's the problem is on the aggregate demand side. the problem is consumers are not spending. i mean, this tax plan just gives more money to people at the top, creates a huge hole in the budget deficit, creates more unfairness. this is the worst tax plan and, believe me, i've seen some bad ones. this is the worst one i've ever seen. >> that's what you said about reaganomics. they led to more tax payments by the rich, the creation of about 18 million jobs, i think that worked out pretty well. this is the next logical extension of reaganomics. >> oh, yes, and we can debate reaganomi reaganomics, but this is taking the bush tax cuts and, look -- any rational person is going to look at this and look at the rational nonpartisan analyses both on the corporate side at the individual side in a time in our history when we have giant budget deficits, when the rich have a higher percentage of total income and total wealth we've seen in 80 years and they're going to say this is totally absurd! this is beyond absurd. >> you know what americans think is totally absurd, bob, they think the current tax system is absurd. it's way too complicated, way too time consuming, and way too anti-jobs. and one of the reasons newt gingrich is doing so well, he wants to blow up the tax system and start over and i give him points -- >> i give him negative points. i'll give you a simple tax system that's based on progressivity. people at the top have paid the exact same marginal tax rates in the 1960s and '70s when we had very good economic growth. and that is if you're earning over $1 million, 70% marginal tax on everybody -- >> you don't want to go back to 70% tax rates. >> of over $1 million. >> no. >> money over $1 million. and i'd link the capital gains to the same way, we get rid of the budget deficit, we'd have a fair tax system, we could lower everybody else's taxes. steve, that's what we ought to do. it's exactly the mirror image. it's the opposite -- >> you want to go back to the '70s. i want to go back to the '80s and '90s. >> political question to wrap it up. first to steve moore, politically speaking, getting into an election, let's say newt gingrich, versus president obama's own tax plans. as you know, who wins with the american public on that debate? >> well, obama wants to go to 45% to 50% on the tax rate, newt gingrich wants to go to 15%. so you're talking about a massive difference in philosophy and governing philosophy, and i will say this. i think newt wins that fight and i think that's what this election will be about. do we want growth or do we want envy? >> robert reich? >> well, look, and i think the election is going to be about paying their fair share. are the wealthiest in this country paying their fair share to bring the budget deficit down and make sure that there is enough money left for schools and equal opportunity and investments and infrastructure for everybody else. steve moore and newt gingrich want to go back to what we had pre-1930s when we had a very unequal society and a society that did not -- and was not able to invest -- >> bob, you keep saying rich aren't paying the top 1% pay 40% of the income tax. >> most people understand what's going on. they know there's no trickle down, they know there's no trickle down economics. >> they know we can't tax our way -- >> they know the game is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful. >> that's why we're going to flat tax. we agree. >> that's why -- >> people game the system. >> no. >> all right, gentlemen, i think we've -- we -- >> overall, rejected. >> a good debate, a solid debate. i suspect we're going to be hearing a lot more on this debate in the coming weeks and months. steve moore, robert reich, thanks to you. if the federal government now has its way, get this, people in the united states may be flipping their cell phones off for good, at least while they're behind the wheel. new information coming in. and when we come back, a new proposal that could mean a nationwide ban on texting or talking under certain conditions while driving. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, man: good job. where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life. so get the insurance responsible drivers like you deserve. looks really good. call us at... or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? imagine not being allowed to use your cell phone in your car at all. it could happen, it could happen if the federal government were to get its way. lisa sylvester is taking a closer look at a new recommendation from the national transportation safety board. tell our viewers calmly, precisely, what this means for those of us who are driving and may have a little blue tooth in our ear talking or hands free device. go ahead and tell us what they're recommending. >> well, we are all very well accustomed to having one of these in our car. most people would have a blue tooth device or hands free device, but the transportation safety board wants a nationwide ban on all hand held devices while driving. that means all cell phones, even if you wear a headset. now, this is the most far reaching recommendation by the ntsb. they say that distracted driving is "the new dui." so under the recommendation, only phones that are installed as part of the vehicle can be used. that means your iphone with the headset and ear piece, that wouldn't be allowed. your cell phone in a car with a built-in blue tooth, that also won't be allowed. gps systems or on star systems would be okay. this recommendation was prompted by a chain reaction accident in missouri back in 2010 which involved two school buses, two people were killed in that accident and 38 people were hurt. in that crash, the driver who caused the crash exchanged 11 text messages 11 minutes before impact, ten states already banned all use of hand held cell phones and 35 states banned texting while driving. these ntsb recommendations are also calling for the same laws across the country. it's important to remember these are only recommendations. the ntsb is urging the laws be passed in all 50 states and in d.c., but right now we're talking recommendations to the states. >> they can only make the recommendation to the state and the state can say yes or no, ignore it, do whatever they want. the disadvantage of just having talking on a cell phone through the system that's in your car -- and i have it in my car, everybody who's in your car hears all of your conversation. somebody calls you, they're hearing what you're saying. it can be very annoying. >> yeah. and that's one of the downsides. and you can imagine there's going to be a fight. it's going to be asking people to change their behavior, to do something they are not accustomed to. the ntsb is leaving it up to the states to decide on this. that is the downside. if you're a passenger in the car, if you've got other people in the backseat, they can hear your conversation if it's piped through the car itself. >> the other disadvantage if you have it installed through the car, you can't listen to the radio. if you've got sirius xm radio, if you're on your phone, listening to both, you can't do it. >> the counter argument to that is they have more than 3,000 fatalities last year due to distracted driving. you see why they're saying something needs to be done. >> everybody can understand texting or even talking with a hand held with the device, but if you're hands free and you have a thing in your ear what's the difference between that and talking into some microphone that's built into the ceiling? >> i think this discussion is going to go on. but the ntsb has a conversation going. >> important stuff. we don't want people to die. thanks very much. the iowa caucuses just three weeks away. some interesting poll numbers now rolling in. standby. could a candidate who was all but written off make some sort of comeback? we'll assess in our strategy session. is all the savings you can get on cruze and traverse over there. oh! that's my beard. [ chuckles ] it's amazing. ♪ [ male announcer ] this holiday, chevy's giving more. now very well qualified lessees can sign and drive a 2012 cruze ls for around $199 a month. ♪ an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model-year newer... with 15,000 fewer miles on it. there's no other auto insurance product like it. better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual. it's a better policy that gets you a better car. call... or visit one of our local offices today, and we'll provide the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? let's get right to our strategy session. joining us, our cnn political contributors, donna brasil, and mary matlin. likely iowa caucus goers, gingrich, 22%, romney and ron paul 17%. rick perry 13%, but i'm struck by ron paul, 17%, and i blogged about this today on our "situation room" website. he could surprise a lot of folks, mary, and actually win iowa. >> well, from the very beginning, people on the ground, particularly people on the ground said he had -- he had a very serious organization, and that's -- that is his ceiling, but it's also his floor. he's not going to go beneath that. so where he fairs, how he fairs depends on where everybody else shakes out in the end. i'll say this, he is a solid message candidate. that message is not going to go away. it is really solidified in the way ross perot message solidified. the message is the limits and the overreach of government and paul owns that message. whatever his political outcome, he owns that message. >> and everybody tells me, in getting the caucus goers to come out, ron paul has a much more organized operation in iowa, donna, than mitt romney has or that newt gingrich has. >> that's correct, wolf. as you know, there are over 1,600 caucuses across the state of iowa. and in order to caucus that, even on the republican side, they do much like a straw poll where they put their ballot in a box, they have a conversation, and if you have people who are devoted to you and ron paul supporters are extremely devoted to representative paul, they will not only turn out their voters. they know where they live, eat, pray, and play, but they will speak on his maf, and they will be able to perhaps count on those votes. i think ron paul supporters are very, very solid going into the final days of this campaign season. >> let's not forget caucus goers, it's not just going into a booth and taking a minute or two to vote. it's hours, commitment, you've got to go in there, listen to speeches, listen, you have to have a commitment to show up. look at these other numbers on this american research group poll. in november, gingrich was at 27%, he's gone down to 22%. romney from 20 to 17. but look at rick perry, all of a sudden he's making a little move. he's gone from 5% to 13% in iowa. is rick perry over the next three weeks? he still has millions. can he surprise a lot of us, mary? >> that's not a little move. that's big move. that's way outside the margin of error. he always had the building blocks. that didn't go away. it's not just the money. he has the organization, he has a solid team, he has a very good authentic outsider message. he's attracted to the voters, the religious right, he's improved markedly his debate performance, and he's been on the ground. and he's been touching the right people with the right message. and he's got -- he knows he's got this shot or no shot. so he's -- pedal to the metal and he's really recovered from his back surgery. yeah, i think he's recovering there. >> likely caucus goers from newt gingrich, what do you think, donna? >> i think the fallout from herman cain is finally hitting the ground. and rick perry has been able to pick up a lot of those supporters. you know, i thought michele bachmann would be in a better position to grab those evangelical christian voters, but looks like right now they're going to park their enthusiasm with rick perry. but you know, we still have a long way to go and mr. 9-9-9, we need somebody who can count to three without saying oops. >> donna, mary, guys, thank you. president obama, is he now the underdog in the race for the white house? standby. the employee of the month is... spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing. back, cafferty's back with the cafferty file. >> the question this hour is what does mitt romney have to do to recapture his front-runner status. chris writes romney can only regain his front-runner status if he shows conservatives that he won't flip-flop on the social issues that dog his candidacy. newt gingrich may very well self-emulate and hence leave voefters with no other logical choice, but in the long run, that benefits the president. romney needs to establish positions on health care and the role of government and the stand on abortion which is crystal clear. as a conservative, i'm not entirely clear what he stands for. at least newt is willing to take the heat for taking a stand. dan writes my opinion's a bit bi biased, but i don't think romney can overcome the fact that voters don't like mormons or anyone who doesn't like a campaign that isn't accusatory, inflammatory, or militaristic. elizabeth in toronto, all he has to do is stay the course, folks will see eventually he's the best competition for obama. john in houston writes all he has to do is switch parties. there's no way republicans will let a mormon be their front-runner. they'd rather have a cheating christian. and in long island, mitt romney should shut up and wait for newt to implode. mitt's best strategy is to keep quiet. when he opens his mouth, he contradicts himself, which means mitt's biggest challenge comes when the dust settles and he stands there alone. then he'll face his most formidable opponent, mitt romney. what that collection of candidates. is pat paulson still alive? take a page from the wizard of oz.. grow a heart, find a brain, and muster up some courage. romney's proving he's capable of human emotion like anger. if you want to read more about this, go to my blog cnn.com/caffertyfile, or on the facebook page. >> thank you. and to our viewers, you're in the "situation room." happening now, president obama plays the underdog. he's telling supporters his reelection is not a slam dunk. we have a new inside look at his campaign strategy. also, mitt romney's struggle to stop the gingrich bandwagon. he has big hurdles and not much time to turn things around in iowa. and an angry new warning from a top official in iraq that president obama's leaving the han country in the hands of a dictator. the way the prime minister is running the country. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. breaking news, political headlines and jeannie moos all straight ahead. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in the "situation room." the first republican presidential contest exactly three weeks from today, and the obama camp is banking on a long bitter slug fest between newt gingrich and mitt romney. the president is ramping up his own campaign right now with democrats going on the attack against both republican front runners. our white house correspondent dan lothian is standing by. let's get some more on team obama's strategy. >> reporter: well, first of all, they have a battle plan that divides the country up into what they believe are winnable regions. they're also going hard after the leading gop contenders. president obama today speaking to supporters made it clear that a lot is at stake. he believes that 2012 may be more important than 2008. but as he struggles to turn the economy around, he faces a lot of skepticism. with americans still struggling to find jobs, pay bills, and stay in their homes, president obama played the underdog card as he appealed to supporters at a campaign event in washington. >> we're going to have to fight for it. it's not a slam dunk. >> reporter: his poll numbers are down, and republicans say he's vulnerable. >> it's going to be almost disaster time for him. so i believe the white house, although they're not going to say this is feeling -- i'm not going to call it panic, but they're feeling a certain kind of anxiety about this. >> he's right. the campaign isn't showing signs of stress. instead, team obama is continuing its attacks on republican presidential hopeful mitt romney. and now turning up the heat on new front runner newt gingrich. in a briefing with political reporters, campaign strategists david axelrod compared the former house speaker to, well, the rare end of a monkey, competing a story he described as homespun wisdom. he said just remember, the higher a monkey climbs on a pole, the more you can see his butt. adding the speaker is very high on the pole right now, and we'll see how people like the view. despite the challenges he's facing in 2012, the president remains optimistic that voters will give him a second term. >> we are going to win this thing. we are going to win this thing -- and america's going to win as a consequence. all right? >> reporter: the obama strategy to victory centers on five key paths. from winning colorado, new mexico, and nevada in the west to the huge battleground prize, florida. locking in a southern path of north carolina and virginia, getting midwest victories in ohio and iowa, and finally snatching arizona from the gop. his campaign advisers predict they'll be helped by an extended republican primary battle that would result in a weakened gop nominee. and that the drawn out process could drain the republicans of much-needed cash. >> now the obama campaign is also touting another advantage that they have more staffers on the ground in iowa than any other campaign and they have more infrastructure on the ground in all of the key states. but again, wolf, as we've been talking about, the economy remains a big issue, a lot of people still unhappy, things could still turn around, but that may be the only factor come election day. >> i assume the days and weeks to come by the president, even though he doesn't have any democratic challenger. >> reporter: that's right, the president campaigning, doing fund raising, as well. and all of these events, wolf, making it very clear he understands the frustration of the american voters out there that it will take time to turn things around, but a lot of americans are getting impatient. >> thank you. you might think the candidates would be flooding iowa right now with the caucuses just around the corner. but guess what? only one candidate, rick santorum's in the state right now. in fact, he's one of only two candidates who have scheduled public appearances today. ron paul is in new hampshire. what are the other republican contenders doing? let's talk about the state of the race with our chief national correspondent john king. he's in iowa anchoring john king usa all week. all of a sudden none of the candidates are there. what's going on? >> only rick santorum today, wolf, michele bachmann will be in the state tomorrow, rick perry coming into the state tomorrow. all the republicans will be here by the end of the week. there's a debate thursday night in this state. so the candidates will be coming here. so imagine that, iowa votes three weeks from tonight, 21 days from today, the president's campaign kicks off in earnest the first official votes, and yet only one candidate in this state. that's starting a conversation not only about the candidates, but about the future of the iowa caucuses, about how this campaign year is so different. look at the front of the "cedar rapids gazette." now, why is that? normally you have the retail politics here. rick santorum, for example, has gone to all 99 counties, that's something they like to brag about, but you have gingrich who has been here about 50 days, romney, only 10 or 12 days, they're the leaders in the polls here. why? because the debates have had so much of a dramatic influence. normally you see national polls and iowa polls are a little different. the iowa polls track the national polls. there are some people in this state who have a bit of a concern saying the caucuses are perhaps losing their character. in part because of the technological changes that all campaigns have. organizing on the internet, more use of television ads and web videos, but especially the huge influence the debates have had this year, have some people in this state conceding, wolf, it's very different this time around. >> i wrote a blog post today, john, saying ron paul could surprise a lot of us. he's got a fabulous organization, a lot of volunteers that are passionate. he could bring out a lot of caucus-goers. >> he certainly can. there are some people who think he has an outside shot of winning iowa. most activists here tell you probably not. but remember, this has been a very unpredictable, volatile year for the republicans, don't count that out. without a doubt, ron paul will be a factor here in iowa. right now he's second or third in the polls, tied with mitt romney in the latest poll. romney and paul both at 17%. as you noted, his support is certain. it's a very dedicated group of people. libertarian base, college students, they organize using the internet quite well, so there's no question ron paul will be an impact player here in iowa. the question is, can he possibly win or how high up can he go? and if ron paul, for example, runs a strong second, what impact does that have? iowa always has these two effects. number one, usually knocks at least one, sometimes two candidates from the race. that could be bachmann or santorum, although santorum believes a surprise is going to happen here. number two, you see the new hampshire polls and the south carolina polls, but the day after iowa, those polls always, always get reshuffled, wolf. >> reporting from iowa, watch john king usa for our north american viewers at the top of the hour. let's drill down deeper right now on mitt romney with his loss of support. just weeks before republicans actually start caucusing and voting. our chief political analyst gloria borger is here. why is romney having so much trouble increasing his sort of static report? >> well, we took a look at our recent polls from early states. and we took specifically a look at tea party support for mitt romney. they haven't been his largest constituency, but they're a very important constituency in the republic. take a look at these numbers in the early states of new hampshire, south carolina, and florida. you see from october to early december in new hampshire, romney down 14, south carolina, down 9%, florida, down 8 points. so these voters have flocked to gingrich. so the basic story line, wolf, that republican conservatives don't love mitt romney still remains, but the tea partiers are saying, you know what? if the establishment hates newt gingrich, that may actually be a good thing. and that may be attracting them to newt gingrich. also, he's a known quantity, he's got good name recognition, and they're giving him a second look. and he's behaving well, he's been a smooth campaigner, he's been positive, he says he's going to remain relentlessly positive, and they like that. >> newt gingrich is atop all the polls in iowa. what's mitt romney's problem? >> well, he has problems with the conservative caucus goers as we were saying, but it's more than that. it has to do with who he is as a person. and the "washington post" abc news poll asked who do you see as honest and trustworthy? you were talking about a ron paul surge, 23%, bachmann, 17%, gingrich and romney down with 13% and 12%. again, this is the iowa republican party, which is very different from the republican party anywhere else in the country. but it does tell you that mitt romney's perceived flip-flopping on the issues hurts him. on the issues, newt gingrich does better. i will say, though, wolf, that right now the pressure is on newt gingrich. there are very high expectations for him in iowa. and i would argue that he has to win iowa. if he's going to get the nomination because never in history has the republican candidate gotten the nomination if he didn't win either iowa or new hampshire. and romney is very much favored in new hampshire. >> if ron paul were to win iowa, that would shake things up going into new hampshire. >> or could freeze the race, freeze it. >> sure. the republican presidential candidate ron paul will be my guest tomorrow here in the situation room. we'll discuss what's going on on a lot of these issues. also coming up, 38,000 people lost their savings because of one company on wall street. >> situations like what happened at mf global threaten that success. our farmers and ranchers have lost trust. in the system. they believed that there were safeguards in place to protect their money in exactly situations like this. >> they're bringing their heart break, stories, and deep anger to congress. millions of dollars missing from mf global has been stolen. and they expose what they call cia officers, naming names and causing a potential security nightmare. confidence. available in color. depend for women is now peach. looks and fits like underwear. same great protection. depend. good morning. great day. jack cafferty here with the cafferty file. >> fear of big government is close to record highs here in the united states. according to a new gallup poll, 64% of those surveyed say that big government is the biggest threat to this country. that's one point off the all-time high. compare that with just 26% who are most worried about big business and only 8% who say the biggest threat comes from big labor. americans have always been more concerned about big government than about big business or big labor since this question was first asked way back in 1965. but what's interesting here is that democrats actually lead the increase in concerns about big government. this during the term of a democratic president, barack obama. almost half of democrats now say that big government is the biggest threat to the united states. that's up significantly from two years ago and more significantly, it's higher than the number of democrats who worry about big business. these poll numbers suggest that the occupy wall street movement isn't catching on. despite the movement's targeting of corporate america, most americans don't view big business as the greatest threat to the country. it's their government. in fact, the public's concerns about big business are down since 2009. worries about big business peaked in 2002 after the scandals at enron and worldcom. but what the american people are worried about is big government and the role it plays in their daily lives. a government that has only gotten bigger under a president who is now running for a second term. here's the question. what do you fear most? big government, big business, big labor? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, post a comment on my blog, or go to our post on the situation room's facebook page. wolf? >> good question, jack. and new attempt today by members of congress to hold former senator jon corzine accountable for more than $1 billion now missing. this time lawmakers heard from customers of corzine's failed brokerage firm mf global and they had horror stories to share with all of us. lisa sylvester has been following this story from day one. what happened today here in washington? >> well, wolf, these were everyday folks impacted by the collapse, particularly farmers who use the brokerage firm among other things to park money there until they needed it to buy seed for planting season. when they put their money there, they weren't investing it or loaning it, it was like putting money in a bank account, and they thought that money was untouchable. >> the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god. >> reporter: dean bought a new suit to come to washington. he's a hog farmer from minnesota, more accustomed to getting his hands dirty in the fields instead of hanging around congress. but he's here testifying how mf global's downfall has cost him big comingling money is stealin money. >> he had about $250,000 with mf global, $200,000 is still missing. part of about $1.2 billion in customer funds that are unaccounted for. senators on the agriculture committee hammered the top three executives at the now bankrupt mf global. including former ceo and former senator jon corzine. >> funds doing simply disappear. someone took action. whether legal or illegal to move that money. and the effect of that decision is being felt across the countryside. >> for the 38,000 nf global customers who want answers, they never came. >> where's the money? >> senator, unfortunately, i do not know where the money is. >> who does? >> well, senator, i wasn't -- part of my job was not to approve transfers of client funds. >> where's the money? >> senator, as i said in my statement, i do not know where the money is. >> it's clear that something was amiss, and that needs to be discovered what that was. >> all three mf global executives said they did not knowingly okay the use of customer funds. >> i never directed anyone at mf global to misuse customer funds. never intended to, and as far as i'm concerned, i never gave instructions that anybody could misconstrue. >> reporter: those answers were not satisfactory to mf global's customers like david rosen who had about $150,000 with mf global. he said the buck stops with corzine. >> i would say that if he broke the law, he deserves to go to jail. >> reporter: and the farmer fears this could have a ripple effect throughout the farming community. >> there's also a lot of people out there that have their whole life savings tied up and lost and tied up here, it's important to realize -- important to realize this affects a lot more people across the whole country. and this isn't done yet. not by a long shot. there's another hearing on thursday, the house financial services committee, and again, corzine will be asked the same question, where's the money? and also the question, what happened here, wolf? >> i don't understand why it's so hard to figure out if it's $1.2 billion or more missing, somebody must have authorized that money going from that segregated account out to some place else. can't they review that and find out? >> that is the $1.2 billion question in this case. and it came up repeatedly in this hearing. it's been six weeks since this money turned up missing. and people are saying in six weeks you can't figure out and go back and try to unravel. there is a trustee that's trying to get to the bottom of this. and the fbi, there's a criminal investigation going on right now. hopefully somebody will come up with answers. >> thanks for covering the story for us. heart breaking stories, indeed. thank you. here's a question, did president obama make a tactical error when he showed so much support for the iraqi prime minister? the scathing reviews are coming in. and they're coming in from iraqis. arwa damon standing by to join us from baghdad. and tv viewers have been complaining for years. the commercials are so much louder than the programs. now it could be coming to an end. we'll tell you what's going on. stay with us, you're in the "situation room." lisa sylvester is monitoring some top stories in the situation room, including a push by the federal government to potentially ban cell phone use in cars. >> this story creating a lot of buzz. phone calls and texts could be a thing of the past for drivers if the national transportation safety board has its way. the five-member board unanimously recommended that states ban calls and texting except in emergencies. this includes hands free and hand held devices. the board lacks the power to impose restrictions, but its judgments carry weight with lawmakers. the ntsb cited several deadly accidents as its reason behind its decision. and if you are tired of high-volume commercials, the government has heard you loud and clear. a new federal rule will prohibit commercials played much louder than television shows. the rule was proposed after thousands of viewer complaints. it's not going to take effect for another year, so you might have to keep your finger on the mute button a little long. and the u.s. government says it will save about $50 million every year by not doing something, that is a treasury won't mint any more dollar coins because it already has a decade's worth of extra coins on the shelves. the excess came from a series of coins made to honor deceased presidents, more than 40% of those coins were returned to the federal reserve because no one wanted them. the mint will still make enough coins to satisfy collectors. and donald trump, yes, he is out of the debate business for now. in the statement trump said "the republican party candidates are very concerned that sometime after the final episode of the apprentice i l announce as an independent, and unless i conclusively agree not to be a candidate, they will not agree to be part of the newsmax debate." he is dropping out of the debate. only two candidates, though, rick santorum and newt gingrich signed up, wolf. >> maybe they'll have a little lincoln/douglass style debate. >> we have not heard back from newsmax if the debate will proceed or not. >> i like the washington post headline, donald trump fires himself. >> i like that. >> i like that. a high-level cia operation in the middle east may be compromised. it's a new offensive in the spy war. standby for details. and a top official says president obama will some day learn that he was deceived. deceived by the iraqi prime minister. and he will regret it. standby for that. 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>> well, it's quite simple, one of the deputy prime ministers, a sunni feels as if he has absolutely no power. he says that al maliki is consolidating power, refusing to partake in a power-sharing government. just take a listen to what he said to us a bit earlier today. >> what kind of an iraq do you think the united states is leaving behind? >> america left iraq with no infrastructure. the political pressures is very wrong direction. it's going towards a dictatorship. it is a show. yes, al maliki is the worst dictator we have ever seen in our history. >> how much influence does iran have in iraq right now? and what sort of power or control do they have over al maliki's actions? >> without iran's influence, the share of the government now would not be as it is. the whole set of the government from the president to the prime minister was the decision of iran. iran wants iraq to be the base to expand. >> president obama introduced al maliki as being the leader of a democratic nation. he also stated that the government is currently more inclusive than it has ever been. what was your reaction to that? >> i was really shocked. when i had the speech of obama of the confidence. because they don't know anything in iraq, they don't know what's happening in iraq or because they knew it was to admit the reality in iraq, the failure in iraq. and maliki is playing a game between iran and the united states. and there will be a day where the americans will realize they were deceived by maliki some time and they will regret that. >> and, wolf, i can tell you that concern is also shared by many other iraqi politicians. and it is also one concern that we have been hearing echoed throughout the streets of baghdad, wolf? >> i've been hearing all these reports he's going around arresting sunnis, just throwing them in jail. so far, as you've pointed out, no interior minister, no defense minister, he's keeping all of these powers for himself. is that what a small "d" democrat is supposed to do in iraq? >> well, hypothetically speaking, no, of course, not. that's why other politicians are incredibly concerned. they are accusing al maliki of trying to consolidate more and more power. over the last few weeks, the government has announced it has detained hundreds of individuals that it claims are terrorists, but other politicians say that those individuals, is vast majority of them, 90% of them are quite simply al maliki's political opponents. they say he is on a sectarian campaign to try to consolidate more and more power, especially as the u.s. is gearing up to leave iraq. >> arwa damon's been in iraq since the war started in march 2003 and has done amazing reporting for us. arwa, thanks very much for all of your good work. as vice president joe biden's top national security adviser tony blinken is usually in the thick of things. he's on the far right of the vice president, met with iraq's president as the war winds down this month and the united states host the iraqi prime minister, it's a time of reckoning for so many people. tony blinken is joining us from the white house. thanks very much for coming in. let me get your quick reaction from the deputy prime minister. i assume you know this individual that the president of the united states is leaving iraq right now in the hands of his words, a dictator. >> wolf, it's good to be with you. thanks for having me. i know the deputy prime minister well, and i think this is really a reflection of a very important fact, which is that over the last couple of years, politics has broken out in iraq. that remains the basic way of doing business. not violence. and that's a huge step forward. and so you hear very strong statements by the deputy prime minister. by other political opponents of the prime minister. they're able to make those statements, engage in the political process. right now we have not only a very strong prime minister in iraq, but a very strong speaker of the council of representatives, their parliament from another party and another community. we have a kurdish president. we have a representative government that brings in all of the communities. and despite these tensions that are reflected in the comments, again, the most important fact is that iraqis are using a political process to settle their differences. >> why was the president yesterday, tony, so refusive in his praise for nuri al maliki when many say he does not deserve praise from the united states of america? >> i think the president was -- >> no, personally for nuri al maliki for what he has done as prime minister of iraq. >> look, the prime minister has done many important, significant things, as well as some controversial things. but let's look at the whole record. he took on the shiite polish mi who were attacking our forces and the south in 2008. this summer, when we had an upsurge in violence against our diplomats and troops again coming from shiite militia, he took them on. and he sent a very strong message to tehran that an attack on americans would be considered an attack on iraq and iraqi sovereignty. so there's a much broader record here that you have to look at. i don't have a brief for the prime minister or any other political leader in iraq. what we look at is not personalities, but the policies they pursue. and the fact is, all of these actors and leaders are working through the political system to advance their interests, and that's the most important thing. >> it's hard to believe, though, tony, and you're a former official and worked on the senate foreign relations committee that at a time when bashir al assad has killed more than 5,000 people, mostly protesters, only nuri al maliki with the exception of lebanon has sided with iran in supporting the syrian regime of assad. is this why the u.s. went to war? to create a prime minister of iraq who would side with assad in the face of these atrocities? >> i don't think the prime minister's siding with assad. the president and prime minister had a very detailed conversation about syria yesterday. from the iraqi perspective -- >> he has rejected the arab league's sanctions. almost all of the other arab countries want to impose sanctions on syria, not iraq. >> so the case the iraqis make and it is prime minister makes is they suffered under sanctions, they know what that's like and also are concerned about what would follow assad -- >> you buy that? >> no, in the case that the president made to the prime minister is the single greatest cause of instability right now in syria, the person who actually threatens a sectarian conflict is assad. and until he stops killing his people and there's a chance in governance in syria, the threat is real. and we made that case very strongly to the iraqis. i think they are outliers right now. but they have real concerns. >> is it your sense -- and i know you studied the situation very closely in syria right now that the return of the united states ambassador sends the wrong signal to everyone out there that it's almost going to be business as usual between the united states and syria. why not sever diplomatic relations and keep ambassador ford here in the united states? >> well, while he's been in damascus on the first part of his tour would know he's played a very important role in drawing the world's attention, the region's attention to the -- abysmal actions of the assad government, and put a light on the people who were suffering. that was an important role, continues to be an important role, and it's a good thing he's going back there. >> so if the other arab countries start withdrawing their ambassadors, the u.s. will still maintain an embassy and keep the ambassador in damascus? >> i'm not going to speculate on what we might do. the main thing is, if there's a strong and growing consensus that the -- of course the violence has to stop immediately and the only way we're going to see a positive change in syria is if assad leaves power. >> one final question on iraq, and it's a sensitive subject. the last remaining detainee of the u.s. military in iraq, he's a lebanese hezbollah supported by iran, what do you do with him? >> this is someone who has american blood on his hands. we're in close consultations with the iraqi government to make sure he meets justice meeting the requirements of our law and the iraqi law. and we are determined that happens. this was discussed during the prime minister's visit and we're focused on this. let me add, wolf, for all of these difficulties and challenges and iraq has many of them, this is an important week and important moment. the president made a commitment that he would end the war in iraq responsibly. we started with 150,000 americans in iraq and we took office by the end of this month, they will be home. that's a tremendous achievement. it's a promise made and a promise kept. and i think that's the big picture. and meanwhile, politics has emerged in iraq and we're developing a strong comprehensive relationship with them. so it's important to keep sight of that big picture even as we grapple with these difficult problems. >> can you assure, tony, the families of the five american soldiers who were killed that he will not be allowed to leave iraq and go to iran where he will be free, that the iraqi government, if you leave him there. why can't you take him with u.s. troops and bring him back to the united states por guantanamo? >> i can assure those families and every american we will do everything we can to make sure he sees justice. >> just explain why you can't take him out of iraq and bring him to guantanamo or some prison. >> well, one of the things our men and women in uniform fought for was for iraq to emerge as a sovereign country. we can't take someone out of the country without their agreement. so we're talking to them right now about what to do with this person in a manner that's consistent with our law and with their law. it's very important that we uphold the rule of law here and, of course, in iraq. but we're very focused on making sure that he sees justice. >> what would be the message sent if the iraqi government rejects that u.s. request that you take him out of iraq? >> look, again, that's -- right now that's a hypothetical situation. we're working very closely with them to make sure that he does not see the light of day. >> tony blinken is the national security adviser for the vice president, joe biden, that was just there, i know you were there with him, tony, thanks. you guys have a tough job over there and we're hoping and praying for the best because god knows the u.s. has invested so much blood and treasure in liberating iraq and at times i get the impression -- i don't know about you, that they seem so ungrateful to the united states. but that's just me. and i've written about it, and we can discuss more in the coming days. thanks very much, tony. >> thanks for having me, wolf. nothing is more top secret than the identities of u.s. agents overseas. that's why u.s. officials are so concerned right now about a defiant statement from what they call a terrorist group in the middle east. we're going to tell you what the group is claiming. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. 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[ male announcer ] get up to 795 miles per tank in the all-new passat tdi clean diesel. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ on the network they deserve. like the powerful droid charge by samsung, or get the samsungtratosphere, and for a limited time, get twice the data for the same low price. verizon. spy operations in the middle east, the militant group hezbollah claims it has exposed the identities of ten cia officers. brian todd is looking into the story for us. >> some experts we spoke with, including a former cia officer believe this is a full-fledged covert war with hezbollah the u.s. is engaged in right now, and by extension with iran. if hezbollah's latest claims are true, the group which the u.s. calls a terrorist organization may have just made a damaging strike against american intelligence in a very crucial place. >> reporter: with polished graphics, silhouetted images, and music, hezbollah ratchets up the covert war with the u.s. in a broadcast, hezbollah reveals the names of ten people who it says were cia officers working at the u.s. embassy in beirut in recent years. it includes the name and date of birth of someone it says is the cia station chief. cnn is not airing that name. the cia would not confirm or deny if the video is accurate. a spokeswoman said the agency does not as a rule address spurious claims from terrorist groups. i think it's worth remembering that hezbollah is a dangerous organization with a propaganda arm. that fact alone should cast doubt on the credibility of the group's claims. bob bair is a former cia officer who served in beirut, involved in operations targeting hezbollah. i asked him if he found the claims credible. >> i assume it's correct. i think i understand how hezbollah compromised cia. they used telephone link analysis. so once you tie one phone in to another phone, you can pretty well identify a station. >> in the video, hezbollah even produces animations, recreating meetings it claims occurred at places like mcdonald's and pizza hut between cia agents and their recruits. baer says they have eyes all over beirut. the defense ministry and to parliament where the group holds seats. these new claims come after hezbollah partially unravelled the cia's operations in lebanon, capturing some informants. hezbollah has been a bitter enemy of the cia's since the 1980s blamed for bombing the u.s. embassy and the kidnap and murder of cia officer william buckley. a former cia officer who tracked iran's operations in europe and the middle east. >> who do you think has the upper hand right now in the covert operations side between the u.s. and iran? >> well, i mean, i think iranians really always have the upper hand in any type of covert engagement because they do it all the time. the iranians have a very active covert paramilitary program. they really do go around the world to kill people. >> now, on hezbollah, one u.s. official who also did not deny hezbollah's claims to identify american intelligence officers said "repeating hezbollah's claims does nothing but serve that group's interests making harder for things for americans in beirut." no one is giving up against hezbollah, pointing out that group has killed more americans than any other terrorist group except al qaeda. if these claims are true, very, very damaging to u.s. intelligence in lebanon at a very crucial time and place. >> you'll stay on top of this story for us, brian, thank you. a single photo captures the terror of the war in afghanistan. great, thanks. mike, thanks for doing that discount double check. you saved us hundreds. what was that? the discount double check? it's when we comb through your policies and make sure that you're getting all the discounts you deserve. no, i get that part, but you guys are doing my move. the discount double check move? that's my touchdown dance. so you're a dancer? no, i'm a quarterback. oh, a quarterback. mrr. i'm a robot. mm, mm. ee, er, ee, er. get out of here. 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[ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you and your money deserve. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, that means taking a close look at you tdd# 1-800-345-2550 as well as your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we ask the right questions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then we actually listen to the answers tdd# 1-800-345-2550 before giving you practical ideas you can act on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck online, on the phone, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or come in and pull up a chair. the worst bombing in ten years. an incredible story of two sisters who survived it. >> reporter: muslims worship, it was the worst blast to hit kabul in a decade of war. >> jesus. >> reporter: summarized the sheer, indiscriminate terror. age 12, surrounded by the dead and wounded outside the shrine doors. she survived, but seven relatives, including her brother, did not. she remembers that moment. >> translator: take me away, but i refused because i wanted to take my brother out of the wreckage. my father found me. i was almost unconscious. since then, i can't sleep. >> reporter: next to her wounded sister. she kisses her brother's image. she's still too weak to learn of her brother's death, and she keeps up the pretense he's still alive. >> translator: yes, i miss him. he's at home. >> reporter: she's got shyap nell and a fracture her leg and pain she still remembers how the young bomber dressed like he worked at the shrine, argued with the gate keeper, and blew himself up. >> translator: when i opened my eyes i saw my brother below me, and my grandmother on top of me. shrapnel in her heart. >> reporter: the war swirling around them, the wounds are fading. memories not. >> translator: i saw half of the bomber's body. everyone was killed and injured but i was standing. >> reporter: her father's clear about whose militants most afghans blame for this. >> pakistan took responsibility, he says, it was the work of pakistan. only a few pockmarks in the war act as a reminder of a blast that's claimed a total of 80 lives and extremist group out of pakistan have claimed responsibility over many doubt they're capable of such a precise and bloody attack in a foreign country. still, fear pakistan is rising as fears of sectarian violence. the shock remains. fear this is something new, something more terrible than a deck dade of war has yet brought upon an exhausted people. nick paton walsh, cnn, kabul. >> what a story. let's go to jack with the cafferty tile. >> what do you fear most? big government, big business, or big labor? a gallup poll indicates more american are afraid of big government. deb in montana, let's see, big labor's been in the steady decline for decades. roughly paralleled by the decline of the middle class but that's a story you probably won't cover. big government can be voted out of the office or battled through the courts. as least we have limit remedy provided by our constitution. that leaves big business. today's unfetterred laissez-faire capitalism where the bod tomorrow line reigns supreme at the middle class life as jobs are sent overseas for the millions for health of the bottom line. big business has us all by the throat and i don't know what to do about that. david, if you look at russia, the eastern bloc, greece, spain, portugal, venezuela, it wasn't big business that brought them down. big government with the help of big unions always the cause. rob in salt lake city writes, all of the above. too much centralization of power is the plague of this krin tcen. a blow to government does why things, none of them well. it becomes a tool utilized for transferring wealth and causing division, dissension and destruction. pat writes, i worked for a union for 30 years. they protected me on the rare occasion when i had a boss with an ax to grind with no real reason. i paid my dues. i did nigh job. big busineprovides a product fo price and eusually deliver. big government has had its nose in my bedroom, living room and wallet i will decide if i smoke pot or cigars, drink champagne and or drain cleaner and want to marry the girl next door or her brother. go to cnn.com/caffertyfile or post on "the situation room's" facebook page. >> jeanne moos is next. multi-policy discount. paperless discount. paid-in-full discount. [yawning] homeowner's discount. safe driver discount. chipmunk family reunion. someone stole the nuts. squirrel jail. justice! countless discounts. now that's progressive. call or click today. nick nolte wants to clear up the truth about an episode that may be a little foggy. here's cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: the mona lisa of mugshots enshrined on t-shirts so famous all it takes to recognize it is the outline. ridiculed in song. ♪ imitated. >> with your hair like this, nick. >> reporter: worn as ahalloween costume as seen here in "people" someone put it on his credit card. almost a decade after its release, letterman still making jokes about nick nolte like the one about how the u.s. didn't release a death photo of bin laden. >> didn't release any pictures. so the white house released this instead. take a look at that joots mugshot conknnoisseurs at smoki gun. nolte's talking and saying i mugshot it was not. in an interview quitwith gq, he high on ghb when he swerved. at hospital where he was taken by a blood test a young officer asked if he could take a polaroid. i said, come on you don't want to ask that, do you? but he did. nolte made. him agree, if he posed the young officer would share any proceeds with his colleagues. and i let him shoot the polaroid. the rest is history. it's the gold standard against which mothers compare their baby's hair. >> which reminds me a lot of nick nolte mugshot hair. >> he was 1992's sexiest man, look at him now. still sexy. >> reporter: one guy posted on his local tv weather forecast when we are eec

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