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Western Journalists Killed in Syria; Dozens Killed in Argentina Train Crash; Widow Wants Former Boss Convicted; Lawmaker: Girl Scouts are "Radicalized"; 49 Killed as Train Slams into Station; Inside the Mind of an Addict
Aired February 22, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's continue on, top of the hour here. Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
We are following that breaking story out of Argentina. Dozens of people are dead, hundreds are hurt after this train just plowed into this train platform. Witnesses say it sounded like a bomb exploded there. This is morning rush hour. It happened right around 8:30 this morning. They heard all kinds of screams. We have a crew on the scene. We will take to live there coming up.
But, first, Syria. Two Western journalists have become victims of the violence they were covering there on the ground in Syria. Just hours before her death, American-born journalist Marie Colvin told Anderson Cooper just last night -- quote -- "The Syrian army is shelling the city of cold, starving civilians" -- end quote.
Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in the attack on Homs. Ochlik was 28. His photographs of the Arab spring recently won him an national award. Colvin was a veteran war correspondent with "The London Times" for more than two decades.
I have CNN's Ivan Watson and also CNN International's Jim Clancy joining me.
Ivan, I want to begin with you there in Istanbul.
And we will get to you, Jim, and I know you definitely knew Marie very well.
Ivan, you met her a few times. You were also just recently in Syria, days ago in Syria. What did you see? Tell me about the shelling.
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was in a different part of the country that wasn't being pummelled the way that the city of Homs is under such fierce bombardment. We were hearing periodic clashes and hearing heavy arms, and there were periodic bombardments of villages in the area, very intense, according to our sources in Idlib Province in the last 24 hours, claimed more than 50 people killed in the district of Jabal al-Zawiya alone over the last 24 hours.
Certainly much more terrifying, the scenes we have seen in Homs, where, according to Marie Colvin herself, in her last interview with Anderson Cooper last night, she said, every house in her neighborhood in Homs had been damaged by artillery. And if you consider the amount of civilians living in that densely populated community, just terrifying what's been taking place there.
BALDWIN: Yes, she's covered many, many conflicts all around the world. She told Anderson what was happening in Syria is the worst she had ever seen.
The Syrian opposition says the government forces are carrying out what should be called real genocide. Is time running out for the world powers to respond to this?
WATSON: Well, this is an uprising that's been going on for 11 months.
And by conservative estimates, more than 7,000 people have been killed. There are very well-documented human rights abuses by the Syrian security forces doing everything from opening fire randomly on funeral processions to arresting doctors who have treated wounded demonstrators and then torturing them.
The most recent account we have just gotten from one human rights organization, Avaaz, Brooke, we just got an e-mail. They claim that seven activists that were trying to carry medical supplies into Homs, that besieged city, were executed by gunfire, their arms tied up outside the city with their supplies scattered on the ground around them.
The amount of stories that I heard during my five days in Idlib province, eyewitness accounts of people executed, killed, tortured, detained is simply staggering. Whether or not time is running out, that country has been bleeding for 11 months. It will continue to bleed. It's likely to get worse, and what may change is the opposition, which started out so peacefully, is trying to find any way possible to arm itself to defend against the slaughter.
And the guns are starting to come in. And it will look increasingly like a conflict, rather than just also attack on the civilian population.
BALDWIN: And the government, the Assad regime, they certainly don't want members of the media showing what's happening there. Yet people like Marie Colvin, like yourself, Arwa Damon, you're able to slip in the country and tell and share these stories that are so important and get out. Did you at all in your days there see Marie Colvin? Do you know her, Ivan?
WATSON: Yes, I have seen her in war zones and hot spots around the world. She (AUDIO GAP) foreign correspondent.
And so the loss of Marie Colvin, of this gifted French photographer as well, and Anthony Shadid, a Pulitzer Prize-winning "New York Times" writer just a few days ago, this is a big blow to that shrinking tribe of foreign correspondents that work in the Middle East. More importantly, it shows, it highlights how many Syrians are getting killed in this conflict. And it's very important to point out that it is the Syrian citizen journalists who are bearing the brunt of this conflict.
Just last night, a prominent activist, Rami al-Sayed, who I talked to on the phone -- he was in Homs -- and was calling for medicine to be shipped in and for the evacuation of women and children from that city -- he was killed by a similar artillery strike, by shrapnel, the kind that killed Marie and this young photographer Remi from France and countless others in Homs.
And we have met the young activists. These are young, idealistic, mostly men, sometimes women, who are running out with little cameras without a TV company to back them. They have been broadcasting the images of these atrocities around the world for 11 months, Brooke.
They are also getting killed -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: You're absolutely right to point them out, in addition to these Western journalists we're focusing on today. You mentioned Shadid from last week.
Ivan, thank you so much.
I want to turn to Jim Clancy.
He's interesting. He mentioned it called sort of a tribe, a tribe of these war journalists, and it is shrinking. You're part of that. You were in, let's just begin with, what, Libya when you were in a tent, going to interview Moammar Gadhafi with Marie Colvin.
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was everywhere with Marie.
(CROSSTALK)
CLANCY: Let me tell you, Marie is there. She's a person that when I go on a story today -- I have been doing a lot of anchoring at CNNI, but when I go out in the field, I look for her because she can catch me up with all the people that are in that so-called tribe.
BALDWIN: Tribe.
CLANCY: I want to get to the stories, but first I just want what would Marie be saying right now? The whole point of this, her whole life only has meaning if we pick up what she was trying to tell the world.
And that is that this is a lie that people are being killed because they're members of terrorist groups. This is what is being told in Damascus. It's what was said in the U.N. Security Council that somehow this is a legitimate fight that the government is waging.
They're trying to slaughter Syrian civilians into submission. That is what is taking place. That is the message she would want to tell.
COOPER: That was the word she mentioned last night with Anderson, a lie. That precisely what it is.
CLANCY: Exactly. It's a lie.
I think if her death has meaning, then that lie is exposed.
BALDWIN: Anecdotally...
(CROSSTALK)
CLANCY: So many stories.
BALDWIN: Libya, Moammar Gadhafi.
(CROSSTALK)
CLANCY: Moammar Gadhafi. See what I mean? It's, "My tigress, my tigress."
Of course, she didn't have any -- there was no affection from her side, but he singled her out and he said, everyone, I want to you look at her, because she was always in the action and she had a broken nose. He said, look what those dirty Israelis did to her. Look, everybody. And she had a beautiful nose.
And he quickly reassured her, oh, it's still beautiful. Don't worry.
And it was a mess.
BALDWIN: It was because a 9-year-old smacked her in the face.
CLANCY: Yes, it was a 9-year-old Palestinian that had actually done it, but she didn't defy Gadhafi at the time.
Another time, were waiting for an interview in Arafat's office. And he had promised one outside as he was just back into Gaza. And everybody -- there must have been 150 journalists there. Eight hours later, only Marie Colvin and I were still in the office waiting.
BALDWIN: Everyone else had left.
(CROSSTALK)
CLANCY: She turned to me and she says, tomorrow, they will say, Clancy and Colvin got this because Arafat likes them. She said, look around. Where has everybody gone? They went to dinner. They went back to the hotels and went to sleep.
BALDWIN: And did you get him?
CLANCY: Yes, we got him. Of course we did. We always did. But you had to wait him out. And that was the kind of determination that she brought to stories. She was a ferocious correspondent and ferociously funny. I just loved spending hours with her talking about the people and the places and the stories. She lived it.
BALDWIN: It sounds like she was ferocious. I was talking to her friend Peter from Human Rights Watch last hour. And she essentially was saying to him after the latest story she filed about seeing this young child die before her and saying, gosh, Peter, I have been doing this for 20 years. I should be hardened. I should be hardened.
And she wasn't.
CLANCY: She wasn't. And that's the way -- because she can weave a story.
And she didn't have to exaggerate it or blow it out of proportion. She took the time to sit down and talk to people and bring out those stories. And she kept prolific notes about everything. She understood everything. She didn't stop asking questions.
She was a joy to be around because she was such a tremendous journalist. I can't believe -- whenever I go on an assignment, I expect to see her, and I can't believe that I will go to the next one and she won't be there.
BALDWIN: Jim Clancy, thank you.
Coming up here in the U.S., corporations pay one of the highest tax rates in the world, but they do enjoy a lot of loopholes, and today the president reveals his plan to close some of those.
Plus, months before the Olympics, police are staging a fake terror attack. It includes at least one element of surprise. CNN is there in the midst of it all. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: President Obama reveals a tax cut for corporations. Or is it really? Home prices sinking to a new low. And police stage a terror attack rehearsal.
Time to play "Reporter Roulette."
Brianna Keilar, straight out to you there at the White House on the president's corporate tax cut plan. What is the plan?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The plan, Brooke, is to reduce the corporate tax rate from -- the top rate from 35 percent down to 28 percent.
The idea here is to lower the rate by getting rid -- really lowering the rate that many corporations pay by getting rid of the tax breaks that some corporations enjoy. This sort of speaks to President Obama's idea about fairness, and you better believe this is something the White House is talking about, that this is a more fair process.
Right now, there are 130 tax breaks on the books. Of course, a lot of those tax breaks go to corporations or industries that have lobbied for a carve-out. What you see because of those tax breaks is a lot of corporations paying much less in taxes, some paying maybe only 14 percent, and GE last year paid nothing.
So the idea is to get rid of some of that, flatten some of these -- flatten really out what these corporations pay. Manufacturers, though, Brooke, would still get more of a tax break, but oil companies, for instance, would see theirs disappear under this plan.
BALDWIN: OK, so you said the White House says this is fair. The Republicans say what?
KEILAR: Well, you know, the Republicans actually, their response was sort of lukewarm. They didn't outright slam this plan. They said they welcomed that he was proposing was lowering the rates, closing these loopholes, flattening things out.
But there are some things they differ certainly with the president on. They want the corporate tax rate to be even lower. They want to tackle individual tax reform as well, and I think the real question, Brooke -- pardon me -- it's very windy here at the White House
BALDWIN: It's very windy today.
KEILAR: Very windy today. It's a big hair day here at the White House.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: But there's a lot of details lacking in this, so I think one of the big questions is where is it going to go? You hear from the White House, you hear from Republicans. They say publicly they want to move forward with this, but behind the scenes everyone knows this is very much a heavy lift.
And if you were to bet on this, whether this would clear Congress in an election year, you probably would vote against it, Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK, Brianna Keilar, I'm going to let you get inside and away from that wind. Thank you so much, friend. I appreciate it.
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
BALDWIN: Next here on "Reporter Roulette," we are just months away from the Olympics, and security crews, you know they're getting ready for a potentially worst-case scenario, which includes a mock terror attack.
Dan Rivers has the story from London -- Dan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What they have done is they have used this disused tube station here in London to stage an imaginary terrorist attack underground, and then have seen how procedures have played out, checking whether communications are working properly between all the different services, between those who are organizing the Olympics and the emergency services and those involved in counterterrorism here.
The planning on this kind of exercise is meticulous. They're pretending this is August 8, one day in the Olympics, so all of the logistics that will be in place on August 8 have been in place today to make it today to make it as realistic as possible.
The most senior policeman in Britain told me that this kind of thing is vital to reassure the public and the world that the Games will be safe and secure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Dan, thank you from London.
That's your "Reporter Roulette" for us on this Wednesday.
Hey, hours from now, the four Republican presidential candidates will be facing off one last time before the big Tuesday Arizona and Michigan primaries, and then looking ahead of course Super Tuesday. And perhaps, perhaps this is the last time we see all four of them on stage together, period. A lot of them have a lot riding on their performances. Gloria Borger knows that. She is standing by live in beautiful Mesa, Arizona. She's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We have a big deal tonight, the last GOP presidential debate before Super Tuesday, and not just that. It's the first such debate since the surge of Rick Santorum.
Take a look at this. The latest daily Gallup tracking poll shows Rick Santorum with a 10-point lead over Mitt Romney, 10 points. Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul they are way back there.
Gloria Borger is in our debate site -- sorry, just outside of it, I should say, in Mesa, Arizona, where she e-mailed after the show yesterday and told it was 70 degrees and sunny. Thank you very much. She is also our chief political analyst.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: And let's talk about Rick Santorum, Gloria. He has kind of grumbled after previous debates he's sort of ignored. What's he saying now? Like, be careful what you wish for?
BORGER: Yes, kind of something like that, although I must say I ran into him in the lobby of our hotel this morning and I was talking to him about the debate and being on the hot seat, and he doesn't seem at all perturbed by it.
I think he kind of relishes the notion of being on the hot seat. I think we know what Mitt Romney is going to talk about, for example. He's going to continue attacking him as a big spender, as an insider. Ron Paul will call him part of the establishment. Newt Gingrich will try and demean his achievements while he was in Congress.
So he kind of knows what's coming at him. I think the big question, as far as I'm concerned, is the kind of theology of Rick Santorum, if you will, who is going to take him on, on some of the social issues, the cultural war, and some of the things he's been saying about Satan or the president's faith.
BALDWIN: Let's get to that remark about Satan, because as if on cue, this reporting surfaces. This is from a speech back in 2008. Rick Santorum, he is suggesting that America is under attack by the devil, by Satan. So here's part of that speech.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age? There is no one else to go after other than the United States, and that's been the case for now almost 200 years.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So, Gloria, there are plenty of people out there, they wouldn't quibble with that, those remarks, but others, Rush Limbaugh, to name a few, they're saying essentially that this is a little too far out.
BORGER: Sure. Yes.
I think Rush Limbaugh made the point that Rick Santorum is going to have to explain it. Whether he has to explain it tonight, we will see. You know, he has said that he believes in good and in evil. He doesn't shy away from those remarks, and I would have to say that I think what we're watching Rick Santorum do right now is really become or try to become the cultural conservative in this race to peel off as many votes as he can from Newt Gingrich and try and win primaries, and win primaries with conservative voters, with Tea Partiers, with evangelicals, for example.
When you talk to people in the Santorum campaign, as I have privately, not on the record, but privately, what they will say to you is why are people questioning Rick Santorum's faith? Isn't it time to talk about Mitt Romney's Mormonism, perhaps? So maybe that will come up in the debate. That is something we have not seen previously.
BALDWIN: We will have to see which questions John King fires away at these four different candidates 8:00 Eastern.
BORGER: Right.
BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, you will be there. I will be watching and tweeting, by the way. Encourage all of you to watch and tweet, #CNNdebate.
The Arizona Republican presidential debate, 8:00 Eastern tonight on CNN.
Still ahead, a dad is shot and killed outside a day care. This is broad daylight. Police call it a love triangle turned deadly. But there is a new twist here. Find out what the widow at the center of it revealed on the stand. Sunny Hostin is "On the Case." She's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The U.S. Supreme Court announces it will revisit affirmative action.
Sunny Hostin is "On the Case."
And let me just set this up. This is a case, this involves a Texas student, she is white, and she says was denied admission to the University of Texas based upon the color of her skin. She has lost at the district court level and again on the circuit court of appeals, so what will the Supreme Court be looking at?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, certainly, they will be looking at the University of Texas at Austin admissions policy, which at this point does allow race to be used as a factor in what they consider a holistic evaluation of an applicant's candidacy.
They base their admissions policy on a 2003 Supreme Court case, Brooke, that dealt with the University of Michigan. And in that case, the Supreme Court, 5-4 vote, found that race could be considered as a factor because racial diversity was a compelling governmental interest.
Now, that opinion was written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. We know she is no longer on the court. She was succeeded by Justice Sam Alito. And so many people are saying that this is the court's opportunity to reverse that University of Michigan ruling or even narrow it.
So, this is really a very significant case that the Supreme Court is going to be looking at.
BALDWIN: It's a significant case. And, also, I mean, this would have ramifications whichever way they rule on, not just on universities, places of employment, et cetera.
HOSTIN: That's right. That's right. And that's why I think so many people are watching this particular case. But the Supreme Court has quite a docket up ahead. I mean, they are taking on some very, very pertinent issues. They're taking on affirmative action. They're also going to take on the 2010 Obama administration's health care overhaul. They're also going to be looking at the Arizona immigration law. So all of this in time for elections. So a very, very busy Supreme Court we're going to be seeing.
BALDWIN: OK. I want to talk about something you and I touched on yesterday. The case of Hemy Neuman. He's accused of gunning down another man outside a day-care center near Atlanta. And defense attorneys claim, Neuman had an affair with the dead man's wife. She is denying that. She was called to the stand on day one of the trial.
What did she say, Sunny?
HOSTIN: Really, this is fascinating. She is the prosecution's theory as to why this even took place. They're saying that Hemy Neuman wanted another man's wife and so he killed her husband. Well, she got on the witness stand, first witness called by the prosecution, and denied the affair, even though the prosecution showed her hundreds of phone calls between the two, hundreds of e-mail texts, really confronted her with receipts from travel together. But she maintained, Brooke, that they did not have an affair at any time but that her boss had made passes at her. She didn't report the unwanted advances because she didn't want to lose her job. We know that Neuman was her supervisor at GE.
So a very, very odd first witness because she is saying, unlike the prosecution's theory, that there really was no affair. Now that dovetails actually quite nicely with the defense theory that he is insane and may have dreamt off the entire affair. So really just a riveting, riveting day so far in Atlanta covering this trial, Brooke.
BALDWIN: So as she is denying this affair despite all those phone calls you talked about. Her attorney entered this motion, too, prohibit, showing her being cross-examined on television saying it was, quote, unquote, "salacious." What happened with that motion?
HOSTIN: Well, we saw her on the witness stand. And I will say this. It was somewhat salacious, but certainly very important to the prosecution in this case, because, again, the theory here is that Hemy Neuman wanted another man's wife and took him out because of it. And so we certainly did hear this testimony today coming from Andrea Sneiderman.
BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin "On the Case." We'll see where it goes. Thank you so much.
HOSTIN: Thanks.
BALDWIN: One lawmaker says they're radical and they promote homosexuality. Who is he talking about? The Girl Scouts of America, green sashes and all. You're going to hear his reasons.
Plus, Conan O'Brian making a big announcement about his future in television. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: If it's interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it in "Rapid Fire." Let's go, beginning in Georgia.
A woman in suburban Atlanta says a man who offered her help after her car broke down drove away with her children. These are images of her kidnapped children. This is one-year-old, Amari, and three-year-old, Jalen Mattison. We are told they have been found safe. The suspect is believed to have been driving around in a green jeep Cherokee, describe as a black man about 6 feet tall.
A Florida firefighter is missing. Thirty-one-year-old Jerry Perdomo, he drove a rental car all the way from Florida up to Banger, Maine to visit a friend. That car was found abandoned last Friday in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Banger, and when he didn't show up for work this week, his family, his fellow fire firefighters, they got worried.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have been in touch with the family. We're here to support the family in any way that we can. And, again, the concern from the community is greatly appreciated. He's an outstanding and dedicated employee, and we want to stay optimistic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: His wife is a teacher in Florida and he is a father of two, a girl and a little boy. He serves in the Marine Corp before becoming a firefighter.
Honda is recalling 46,000 Odyssey minivans. The problem is with the 2008 and 2009 models. It has power rear lift gates struts that support the leak gate can leak, causing the gates to fall. Two minor injuries have been reported.
And Conan O'Brien, his new show "Conan" on TBS has now been extended through April 2014. Always a funny guy, Conan released the statement, quote, "I am excited to continue my run with TBS because they have been outstanding partners. This means I'll be taping episodes of Conan well into the Ron Paul presidency."
TBS, by the way, sister network here of CNN.
And, you know, a lot of people, they look at the Girl Scouts, they see a harmless group that promotes friendship and community involvement and addictive cookies. But one Indiana lawmaker looks at them and sees a menace to society. I'm talking about state representative Bob Morris. He is the only member of any in his house who refuse to sign a resolution celebrating the Girl Scout's 100th anniversary. Instead, what did he do? He sent a letter to his fellow House Republicans detailing the menace he believes they post.
So I pulled a cup of choice quotes for you. He says, The girl scouts are, quote, "a radicalized organization." They are, quote, "quickly becoming a tactical arm of planned parenthood," and, quote, "they promote homosexual lifestyles."
Both the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood say, this is ridiculous. But Morris isn't backing down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MORRIS (R), INDIANA STATE HOUSE: My problem is on a personal level with my family and our beliefs, and my wife and I pulled our daughters out of Girl Scouts effective yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
MORRIS: Because of my personal beliefs, where my family stand for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHY RITCHIE, COO, GIRL SCOUTS OF CENTRAL INDIANA: We have no relationship with Planned Parenthood. It doesn't exist. There is no former relationship. There's no money that changes hands. We have no relationship, and that's the bottom line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I also just want to add this. Morris' fellow Republicans are distancing themselves from his comments, including the house speaker who calls it a side show. We have invited Representative Morris to come on the program. We would love to talk to him about this, but so far we have received no response.
We are following the breaking news out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Dozens of people have died, hundreds more are injured after this violent train crashed during a morning rush hour. We have a crew on the scene. We're going to take you there next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A packed commuter train slammed into a platform in a station in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At least 49 people were killed and hundreds injured in this crash, which passengers actually say it sounded like a bomb going off.
Marcos Stupenengco is a journalist for us in Buenos Aires.
And Marcos, I know you were there at a hospital not too far from (INAUDIBLE), say the train station 11 where all this happened. First, do the numbers still hold, 49 deaths, 600-plus injured? And also just tell me what happened.
MARCOS STUPENENGO, JOURNALIST IN BUENOS AIRES: It's still 49, the number. One of those 49 people dead in this accident is underage. We don't know exactly now what age this minor had on the accident.
I can tell you that we have counts on the different hospitals at this time. We just had a lady that came to us, minutes ago, crying because she has her son and her grandson on the train. She said that her son with her grandson of ten months who were in the arms of her son, and she is calling him every minute, she's calling several times and he is not answering the phone. This lady is going hospital to hospital trying to reach him.
Also her son and her grandson were traveling on this train that crashed at the terminal station at onset at the rush hour. It happened at 8:30 in the morning. I have to tell you that Monday and Tuesday were a holiday here in Argentina, so it was more crowded than ever, this train. It's supposed to have like 1,000 passengers at the time of the crash. There were 600 injured, 50 of them are in critical condition. And the emergency workers took like four or five hours, in some cases, to rescue some of the injured from the structure of the train that was traveling, at the time of getting back to the station, at 12 miles per hour and it was supposed to be riding there at 4 miles per hour.
Nobody knows if it was a human error or if something happened with the brakes of this train. We know that yesterday this train, that is, 50 or so went out of the (INAUDIBLE) place and it passed all the tests including the brakes test.
BALDWIN: Right. A lot of people are wondering if it was the breaks or not. We still don't know definitively.
Quickly, Marcos, you mentioned, there were surveillance video in that train station. Do we know if that will be released?
STUPENENGO: They have already released it. You can, probably in the next minute, go to the Web site and there you can find the video, the moment of the impact of this train on this station. The address to get the video is www.C5N.com.
There you can find the video of the exact moments of the crash. You can see here one of the cars is going over the first one. That's the place where most of the people are dead because of this accident, on the fatality on that moment.
BALDWIN: Marcos Stupenengo, thank you so much. Just the sheer number, it's just very staggering what's being reported out of Argentina.
Thank you so much.
Coming up next, we're going to take you live to Arizona, where Jim Acosta is going to give us a special behind-the-scenes look, look at the stage here, behind-the-scenes look before our big Republican debate tonight, including where the candidates actually will be placed on stage. It's actually different this time around. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We are hours away from our big CNN Republican debate tonight, and this is the last debate before Super Tuesday. That's two weeks from now, March 6, and could very well be the last Republican debate of the entire campaign. But we wanted to flip the script a little bit and just show you a close behind the scenes look, so Jim Acosta with the "Political Pop" for us inside where this debate is happening.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There you go.
BALDWIN: Inside Mesa, Arizona. Jim, take it away. Do a little show and tell for me. ACOSTA: Well, Brooke, I mean, I think one thing that you're going to notice right off the bat, what's going to be different tonight versus the last several CNN debates, seven so far, is they're going to be seated sitting at this table. No podiums tonight. And I'm just going to take you up the stage here, walk up the steps and try not to trip here on live television.
Basically let me show you -- yes, don't do that, right? Let me show you where the candidates are going to be sitting tonight because it's kind of interesting. A little bit of a back story here.
We're going to have Ron Paul seated on the end here next to Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum, as you know, is sort of the man in the middle right now. He's sort of the one everybody is focusing their attention on right now. In a lot of the previous debates, he might be completely in the middle of the stage, dead center stage. Not so tonight. He'll be seated next to Mitt Romney, so they'll sort of both be sharing center stage. And then Newt Gingrich is here on the far end, and look who he's sitting next to, Brooke.
Newt Gingrich will be sitting next to our debate moderator, John King. Now, isn't that sort of an interesting development for tonight's CNN debate.
You'll remember there were some sparks that flew at that debate down in South Carolina, so it's going to be interesting to watch Newt Gingrich sitting next to John King later on tonight.
Some interesting trivia about this table. I was told by our Washington Bureau Chief Sam Feist, just a few moments ago, that this table was used back in January 2008 at the Reagan Library. This is the last time that this table was used. At that time it was McCain- Huckabee with also Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. So those two candidates have sort of a home table advantage, if you will, Brooke.
But it's going to be very interesting to watch tonight. You know, you heard earlier today Mitt Romney unveil his tax plan, that will obviously be of interest in tonight's debate, but make no mistake, the make up of seeing these candidates sitting next to each other at this table I think will add some drama to the debate that we haven't seen in previous debates.
BALDWIN: And let me jump in, because I don't know how many people realize, and I'm sure a lot of them do. But, you know, the way in which each of these candidates is placed is all based upon the polling, right, so whoever is polling the highest right now --
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: That's exactly right.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE) Romney, they are smacked out in the middle. But here's what I want to know. I want to know, like, do they have water? Do they have gummy bears? Does one of them only eat like green M & Ms?
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Do they have water? That's a good idea.
Water, we understand, water will be provided, I'm not sure about other beverages, but water will be provided. And I was checking under the table earlier, Brooke, just to see that none of the candidates, the last time, put their gum underneath the table.
BALDWIN: No gum.
ACOSTA: We want to make sure that that does not happen. That's right. We don't think that occurred, but I'll be checking later on, just in case.
BALDWIN: What's the reasons behind the seating, literally, why they're seated?
ACOSTA: The reason why they're seated, well, Sam is standing backstage. I'm just going to throw it at Sam.
Tell me why are they seated tonight? We just to mix it up.
BALDWIN: Mix it up. All right, Sam Feist.
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Sam is telling me to mix it up. To make it more intimate, to make it more fun. So there you go. Maybe I should have had Sam come and do this.
BALDWIN: No, no. Are there partitions underneath this glass, like, no one can kick one another, right?
ACOSTA: There are some partitions here, but we don't think any of that will be going on tonight. This will be a gentlemanly debate. But make no -- I mean, make no mistake, Brooke, the way this campaign has been developing over the last --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: I'm expecting fireworks.
ACOSTA: I think there will be some fireworks tonight. We've seen Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney go at each other in the last 48 hours, and you're going to see more of that I think tonight.
And Newt Gingrich, don't forget Newt Gingrich. He thrives on these debates.
BALDWIN: Absolutely.
ACOSTA: He feeds off of the reaction he gets from the audiences. He could be sort of the sleeper story tonight. Perhaps Newt Gingrich breaks out of the pact and has a huge debate and that changes this race.
As we've seen in all of these debates, they have changed the race time and again. They've been game changers almost every turn, at every stage of this campaign. That could happen once again tonight. And the stakes could not be higher.
I mean, keep in mind. If you were Mitt Romney looking forward to the Michigan primary next Tuesday, if he loses the Michigan primary, this race for the GOP nomination will be unlike anything we have seen in a very long time when it comes to the Republican nomination. So it's going to be very fun to watch, and a lot of things could change here tonight at this table.
BALDWIN: I'll be watching safely at my sofa and tweeting away. Jim Acosta, and voice of Sam Feist, thanks to both of you. I really appreciate it.
But let's head outside really quickly as he is getting ready for his show. Wolf Blitzer, you know, obviously the stakes are very, very high, and interesting. So they're going to be seated there tonight. What do you make of that?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: You know, it will be good for them. It will be a bit of practice in case one of them becomes the Republican presidential nominee in the debates there. There are three scheduled debates with President Obama, whoever the Republican nominee is going to be. And usually in those presidential debates and the general election debates, they're seated, sometimes they stand. So a lot of them have a little practice standing, sitting. It's good to sit. It's good to stand.
You know, we'll see if they're good on their sitting as they are in their standing, if you will. So a little bit mixing up is good for all of us to watch.
I think it will be a little bit more intimate, shall we say, because they're all closer in. In the last debate that I did four years ago with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were seated at The Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, where the Academy Awards were, I was seated as well. I have stood in some of the other debates that I had done, and you know, there are certainly advantages to being seated. You can put your papers in front of you, in front of a little desk and all of that, but there's other advantages in standing. Sometimes when you are standing, you have a little bit more energy, if you will. So I see advantages and disadvantages.
BALDWIN: It's a huge debate, last one, of course, before March 6th, the Super Tuesday, so I know you'll be talking a lot about that, talking to John King, who will be emerging from the code of silence. Talking about to those final question. Wolf Blitzer, thank you. We'll see you in "THE SITUATION ROOM" in five minutes.
Meantime, 10 percent of Americans suffer from addiction, and I'm talking drugs, I'm talking alcohol, and a disturbing number of them are younger than 25. Sanjay Gupta back in the studio with me with brain model in hand. He's going to tell me why many cases here are parents, parents are to blame.
You're a dad.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDIAL CORRESPONDENT: I am.
BALDWIN: You're up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: This is a statistic we just heard yesterday. We just want to head home again. One in 10 Americans is an addict. And the most vulnerable, young people. I'm talking under the age of 25.
Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta once again here in the studio.
Let's begin with we're talking 25 and younger, what is it about their brain that perhaps makes you more susceptible.
GUPTA: Well, it's interesting. Young people are so resilient in so many ways. But when it comes to addiction or exposure to substances at a young age, the basic premise is the brain is still developing. I mean, you're literally, up until the age of 25 maybe even beyond that, still developing.
So two things, your risk/reward center, which is in here, we talked about this yesterday, Brooke, that's what's affected by this substances. You feel a feeling of well-being, of euphoria.
BALDWIN: The dopamine.
GUPTA: The dopamine, exactly. That makes you want more. There is something else, though, on the brain of a young person. It's this area here. That's the frontal lobe. Think of this as a judgement area of the brain. The thing that allows you to act rationally, not make bad decisions. The filter, so to speak. It is not fully developed in a 25-year-old or people younger than that, so they're more likely to -- if they feel the euphoria, say I want more of that, and I'll think as rationally. That's how that pattern of addiction starts and why it's more problematic at that age.
BALDWIN: That is we talk youngsters. And I know we have a lot of parents watching. And it's interesting to use these phrase passive pushers.
GUPTA: Yes.
BALDWIN: What is a passive pusher?
GUPTA: Well, a passive pusher is there's so many parents, and I talk to them, they're unwittingly providing some of these substances for their kids. And you heard this message before in your medicine cabinets, but what you may not have heard is 64 percent of these kids, usually between the ages of 12 and 17, look at the number, are getting these meds from their friends, medicine cabinet, their relatives or their parents. That's the bad news.
The good news is that if they had found that if parents talk to their kids, the kids are 42 percent less likely to use these medications. But only about a quarter of parents do. So, you know, I mean, I'm not preaching here, because I'm a dad as well, but this is the low-hanging fruit in this war, if you will.
BALDWIN: And that's assuming that you're aware of what your child is involved with.
GUPTA: Right. And you may not know and unwittingly you may have these medications disappearing from you medicine cabinet but have the conversation and you greatly reduce that chance.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Pay attention to your medicine cabinet.
Quickly, I guess, less than a minute? What is your advice?
GUPTA: I think there's two big things. One is that this is a brain disease, Brooke, as we've talked about. Don't think of addiction solely as a lack of willpower. It is a brain disease. I showed you the pictures yesterday.
BALDWIN: Yes.
GUPTA: If you call it a brain disease, you're going to respond differently. See a doctor, see a professional about this. If the person is absolutely unwilling or unable to do that, maybe you get the advice from that health care professional yourself.
Also this myth I want to dispel with, is this idea that you have to hit rock bottom before you can get help.
BALDWIN: I certainly hope not.
GUPTA: I think that's not true. You do hear that. You know, you just have to let the addict hit rock bottom before they can bounce back up. There's so many ways you can make an intervention that can be a very satisfying one, it can actually change the trajectory of that young person's life. So recognize it, intervene and treat it as the disease that it is.
BALDWIN: Get them all while they're young.
Sanjay, thank you.
GUPTA: Thank you.
BALDWIN: And that's it for us here in Atlanta. Now to throw it to Arizona -- Mesa, Arizona, hours away from that day, Republican debate. Wolf Blitzer is standing by.
Wolf, to you.
BLITZER: Brooke, thanks very much.
