final debate. the longest list of safe cars ever. we'll show ask you some of the 115 new vehicles getting top safety ratings early this thursday morning, december 15th, safety ratings early this thursday morning, december 15th, 2011. captioning funded by cbs good thursday morning to you, i'm erica hill. >> i'm jeff glor, chris wragge is off this morning. thinking where we all watched the start of the iraq war, nine years ago. >> today we are marking the end. history being made with the u.s. officially declaring that the war in iraq is now over. >> national correspondent jim axelrod is in baghdad with more on the announcement. >> the end of mission ceremony that just wrapped up here marks the closing for the headquarters for the u.s. armed forces in iraq. within days, the last troops will convoy and the drawdown will be complete. in baghdad today, defense secretary leon panetta along with james jeffrey and the top u.s. general lloyd austin paid tribute to the u.s. troops who fought here. >> today, in particular, we remember the nearly 4,500 brave americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. as well as the more than 30,000 wounded warriors. many of whom still struggle with serious, life altering injuries. >> reporter: the lowering of the u.s. flag today is different than other ceremonies held in iraq over the last several weeks. this was not a handover to the iraqis, this was a closing of what has been u.s. military headquarters here for nearly two years. somewhere near 4,000 u.s. troops left here with hundreds more leaving later today. compare that to the all-time high 170,000, the army is down to two bases at the height of the war, that number was 505. even 15 months ago, there were still 92 u.s. bases operating in iraq. secretary panetta saluted general austin for overseeing the safe drawdown. >> your effort to make this day a reality is nothing short of miraculous. this was one of the most complex, logistical undertakings in u.s. military history. >> at a briefing this morning, general told reporters that he expects those last convoys to draw some fire, especially from iranian-backed militias that are operating in the south of iraq and that is why the military doesn't want to specify exactly when those last troops will be leaving. erica? >> understandable, jim. are they talking at all about precautions being taken to protect those convoys? >> one of the things they're doing is keeping a very close eye on the weather. they want to make sure that they can offer a lot of air support and they need to make sure that everything is clear so that as the convoys are driving, they get protected from the skies, as well as on the ground, erica. >> so much to take into account. jim, thanks. president obama has thanked u.s. troops coming home from iraq from bringing to an end the nine-year war which he called an extraordinary achievement. >> big change for the president. bill plante tells us, good morning. >> good morning, erica. this has been a week in which the president has been celebrating the end of military's role in iraq. now, it was a conflict that he originally imposed before the war began and there was no mention of that opposition when he went to ft. bragg, north carolina, on wednesday and saluted those who had served. >> welcome home. welcome home. we knew this day would come. we've known it for some time. it was the source of great controversy here at home with patriots on both sides of the debate. but there was one constant. there was one constant, your patriotism. your commitment to fulfill your mission. >> reporter: at the height of the war, there were more than 170,000 u.s. troops in iraq. almost 4,500 of them died there. and more than 32,000 were wounded. senator john mccain, the president's opponent in 2008, is a fierce critic of the president's dermation to end the american military presence in iraq. >> i continue to believe that this decision represents a failure of leadership both iraqi and american that it was a sad case of political expediency triumphing over military necessity both in baghdad and in washington. >> reporter: the u.s. military exit from iraq stands in contrast for the continuing u.s. presence in afghanistan, still around 100,000 troops, but scheduled to draw down by a third at the end of next year. in iraq, a large u.s. civilian presence will remain. >> iraq is not a perfect place. it has many challenges ahead. but we're leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant iraq. >> and here at home, there is no end in sight to another battle and that's the fight in the divided congress for the third time this year the government faces the threat of a shutdown because democrats and republicans in congress can't agree on how to pay for an extension of the payroll tax cuts. erica, jeff. >> only the third time. somehow it feels like more. bill plante at the white house. want to get to threat laest, newt gingrich surging in the polls and mitt romney, meantime, sharpening his criticism of the new frontrunner. >> jan crawford spoke with romney on wednesday and she joins us now. jan, good morning. >> good morning. throughout the campaign, mitt romney has really stayed away from going hard after his republican rival kept his focus on president obama, but in our interview yesterday, he took aim at newt gingrich and some of the sharpest attacks yet. >> talking about a friend -- >> reporter: the word mitt romney used most to describe newt gingrich was unreliable. >> i think newt gingrich has been an unreliable leader in the conservative movement. >> reporter: romney ticked off examples where he like climate change and his criticism of paul ryan's republican plan to reform medicare. you also emphasized that you're a person of sobriety and steadiness. do you think an unsteady president? >> well, i think you've seen in this election statements from speaker gingrich, which suggests a level of unreliability and -- >> like what? >> the statements that the palestinian and palestinians are invented people and they're saying that paul ryan's plan is suicide. calling it right wing, social engineering. these things are not helpful. >> reporter: as romney and gingrich battle it out, president obama still has romney in his sights and signaled he will be running a populist campaign, the peoples the powerful 1%. how do you respond to charges that you're just a wall street elitist? >> well, first of all, president obama is part of the 1%. he'll try and help people forget that, but a guy who play 80 rounds of golf as president and making millions of dollars off his books and appearances, he's part of the 1%. >> do you think that one-line attack would make you less electability to say that newt gingrich doesn't have the successful experience. >> no, newt gingrich has his wealth from having worked in government. he's a wealthy man, a very wealthy man. but if you have $500,000 purchase from tiffany, you're not a middle-class american. >> reporter: romney was referring to the millions gingrich made advising companies, including mortgage giant freddie mac, which paid him $1.6 million. obviously, he's made a lot of money in washington. you suggested kind of off the public trough. you've made it in many ways the old-fashioned way. when we look at a general election campaign, is he electable? >> well, i do know that when the speaker said some years ago that anyone who profited off of freddie mac ought to return that money, that that's going to be used by the democrats to say, hey, look, return that money and they're absolutely right. he should return those funds to the taxpayers. >> now, of course, all this comes with those key iowa caucuses about three weeks away and newt gingrich rising in the polls. guys, romney now has those gloves off because it's right around the corner and time is getting short. >> that's for sure. jan, thanks. we also want to bring in paul di john dickerson. as jan just laid out for us, the gloves have come off and romney on the offensive calling newt gingrich zany, but how is this tactic going to sit with voters? >> well, it's, it remains to be seen. the problem for mitt romney is that voters have not embraced him. there has been this tepid feeling about mitt romney all along and newt gingrich is taking these attacks in stride and kind of brushing them off saying he's trying to run a positive campaign. the key thing here is the time is drawing short before this iowa caucus. mitt romney is now saying that this is going to be a long nominating process, so, don't be concerned if things don't look great at the beginning. he's in it for the long hall. it looks like we'll also see tonight how many of these attacks he brings in this debate. >> it's not just mitt romney coming out hard against newt gingrich now. the national review coming out against him and other members of the republican establishment. did newt gingrich peak too early? >> well, in this campaign it's been so funny, so many candidates who peaked too early. we saw rick perry, michele bachmann, herman cain. so, he peaked at probably the best time he possibly can. but you're probably right, the daluge that has come down and the "national review" wrote basically, this was an anti-endorsement. pick anybody but newt gingrich. too volatile, too self-centered. he doesn't have a great deal of money to deal with this barrage of attacks and he's just got to hope that his standing in the polls, which is quite solid, and not just sort of in the horse race question, but voters see him as the best to be commander in chief and who knows the most in terms of the issues. basically that can be a kind of shield against this barrage of attacks. >> well, it's interesting that sort of anyone but newt because for so long we were talking about anyone but romney, but, you know, two very different camps in this. new polling looking from new hampshire from suffolk university. 38% to gingrich's 20% support. that's new hampshire, though. when we look at iowa, if newt gingrich does very well in iowa, how does that change the game in new hampshire? >> well, it helps gingrich because it gets him money and momentum but it's a question, really, what romney's bet essentially is that he has a stronghold in new hampshire and that he's done the work in the later states, the way the delegates are portioned. this could be a very long, drawn-out battle. if the time is growing short before iowa, the hope is that even if, let's say gingrich wins in iowa and that gives him some momentum, that romney does have places where he has strength in new hampshire and in those later states. and so that we see a long battle here back and forth attacks, but that it goes on for some number of months even before we know who the nominee is. >> we should all get comfortable for a long ride. >> john dickerson, thanks. >> jan crawford, nice to have you in the studio, too. some more trouble this morning for florida a&m university. a hazing investigation has turned up more alleged wrongdoing. >> this time police are looking into a possible case of fraud. anna westerner is in atlanta. >> good morning, jeff and erica. the university won't comment on all of this, but florida law enforcement tells cbs news that this latest investigation is linked to financial irregularities and associated with a&m officials. the florida department of law enforcement in a letter to florida a&m's president said its investigation into the death of drum major robert champion turned up new information about potential criminal violations relating to fraud by university employees. >> it was just a notification letter that went out saying we are starting a second investigation. >> reporter: this marks the third investigation under way into the school. on monday tallahassee police charged three with the battery and hazing of a freshman claire net player. her attorney says the beating was so severe the girl's thigh bone was broken. >> she was beaten by hand, fist, spatulas, metal rulers and book binders. >> reporter: bernstein says it was part of an initiation ceremony for a secretive click called the red dog order. the group was formed by florida a&m marching band members from atlanta. former marching 100 band member hemingway is known as the band's historian. how does a group that started as sort of a hometown club, essentially, wind up conducting such, apparently, violent hazing rituals? >> unfortunately, kind of like that book "lord of the flies." you know, where you have young people, young minds that a lot of times are unmonitored and unsupervised. >> reporter: in fact, students have told cbs news they believe champion died after a red dog order hazing ritual, called crossing bus c. along the way, what happens? >> they're punching you, they're beating you. >> reporter: all the way. >> all the way to the back. >> reporter: do you think this is what happened to robert champion? >> if he was on bus c and that's where they found him, yes. >> reporter: now, police are still investigating the champion case and they have not released any information as to the official cause of his death. jeff and erica, back to you. >> anna westernrner in atlanta,k you very much. almost 16 minutes past the hour. good morning. >> good morning to you both. a new list of the safest vehicles for 2012 is out this morning. a record 115 cars for top picks. honda had 12 cars on the list, including the popular accord, toyota had the camry and 14 other winners. the most on the list from the insurance institute for highway safety. the big reason why so many cars were given safety awards, they're being made with stronger roofs. seven miners in idaho were rescued late last night a mile deep inside the lucky mine when there was a rock explosion. one of the miners was taken to the hospital and the others treated that scene. the white house still to come this morning on "the early show." san francisco will soon have the nation's highest minimum wage. $10.24 an hour. good for workers, but is it good for businesses? also, the last u.s. troops leave iraq, ask an iraqi war veteran of all the challenges they face when they get home. you're watching "early show" on cbs. you helped make this happen. thank you. 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