good morning, i'm alina cho, a defining moment for libya. country's new leadership about to meet with president obama at the united nations while in libya a humanitarian crisis is reportedly unfolding. troops loyal to moammar gadhafi said to be starving citizens and gunning them down in the streets. it is finally over. i'm carol costello. the pentagonal don't ask, don't tell policy formally repealed. 's gay servicemen and women will no longer have to hide their sexuality, on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. it's tuesday, september 20th. welcome to "american morning." ali and christine are off today. good morning, carol. >> i don't know what they're doing -- i can't say that on television. >> you can't say. >> it's nothing like that. >> well, all you have to do, look at the traffic in new york city to know that the united

nations general assembly is underway. >> absolutely. because the streets are clogged. president obama and the new libyan leadershiping for face-to-face talks at the united nations and the stakes could note be higher. moammar gadhafi reportedly starving citizens. the president arrived in new york yesterday. front and center at the united nations. cnn senior correspondent, u.n. correspondent, i should say, richard roth joins us this morning. so this would be the first face-to-face meeting between president obama and the national transitional council? >> a good deferment for the obama administration, able to champion at that meeting and with the other diplomats, their way did work, although fighting remains. and helps solidify this new government in libya. the flag actually flew over the united nations monday for the first time, removing that green

gadhafi flag. jaleel, of the national council, will be there and libya will have to set out what kind of government it will be. helping transportation igsly with idea, a big operation to help people not used to some form of democracy. >> i was going to ask you that. so president obama clearly wants some form of democracy to take hold in libya. how can the united states help assure that may be so? >> as we've seen in many spots, you can't say, here we go. instant democracy, and every country can't be like the united states. the always a process. that's why the u.n. is here. people to help election preparers. police monitors. maybe different ideas there. they're mapping the way forward. this country is not iraq, it's not east timor, but the people seem will be to move forward. >> it's also not egypt. we still don't know where

moammar gadhafi is and there's no indication he would step down even if we did find him. right? it's such a complicated, tough situation. >> but the success, you'll hear a lot of that. a speech, an open meeting. i think there's still optimism there can be good things there. we've seen in the region. hello, syria. it's a take your choice. which country do you want to put your weapons into? the much more aggressive than in syria. at the security council, russia and china block any type of resolution. was a resolution that open the door to nato attacks in libya. >> richard roth, thanks. appreciate t. thank you, richard. gop front-runner rick perry is wading into the fray over palestinian statehood. another big story we're watching, and using the opportunity to take shots at president obama. the texas governor is making his second visit to new york in just a week. he'll hold a news conference

today with jewish leaders from israel and the u.s. talk about that with cnn deputy director paul steinhauser live with us from washington this morning. paul, good morning. what can we expect perry to say today? >> reporter: you'll see perry once again strongly back israel and strongly back the president for his policy with israel. palestinian statehood is a big, big issue. since perry jumped into the race a month ago he's been very critical of the president. a taste of what he's been saying on the campaign trail. >> you talk about the situation today relative to israel. you're talking about the president's statement that he would go back to the 1967 borders, which basically is throwing israel under the bus. israel is our friend. it's the only democracy in the middle east. i'm going to stand with israel every day. >> you know, you're hearing a lot of that language not only from perry, also from some of the other republican presidentials. here's one reason why. social conservatives. evangelical voters, big

supporters of the state of israel and very influential in picking the neck nominee. they are 100% committed to security of israel. ladies? >> paul, there's no question that obama in the last election got a huge percentage of the jewish vote. how do you think this is going to play? >> reporter: let's take a look at it. yes, four, three years ago, 2008, indicating the president won almost 80% of the jewish vote. a recent gallup poll out last month, the president's approval, much lower. you see it now at 54%. jewish voters according to exit polls only made up 2% of the vote in the last election. you know what? it's an important battleground state, states like florida, close, could be influential to which way things go next year, 2012. and you wanted a taste how important the jewish vote could

be, last week up your way, new york, a democratic held seat for quite some time. republicans won it back. one of the reasons, the president's policy towards israel. listen, a large jewish population in that district, and that was a large issue. it helped republican win back a long held jewish seat. >> paul steinhauser talking to us about rick perry's visit to new york. thank you. president obama picking a fight with republicans over cutting the nation's rising deficit by $3 trillion. a fight he knows he cannot win but one for the most part has the public in his corner. the plan includes new taxes on primarily the wealthiest americans. the president is calling for some cuts to medicare and medicaid. republicans immediately denounced the proposal, but the president vowed to oppose any republican attempt to slash spending unless they agree to higher taxes for millionaires. >> i will veto any bill that changes benefits for those who

rely on medicare but does not raise serious revenues by asking the westie iesies iesies iesiesn s or biggest corporations to pay their fair share. >> we need revenue, but i want to get new revenue from putting americans back to work again and back on the tax rolls. >> also with the president's plan, afew unexpected ideas including cutting saturday mail delivery to help out the u.s. postal service, which is teetering on the edge of default and raising fees on corporate jets. though it's likely all passengers would feel the pinch. coming up in about an hour, 7:10 eastern, republican congressman jeff blake to find out if the president's plan is dead on arrival. >> and the don't ask, don't tell policy is history.

barring gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military became final at midnight nearly nine months after president obama first signed it. the pentagon policy had been in effect since 1993. service members will join lawmakers in washington this afternoon to talk about the change in policy in a news conference. gay rights groups are planning celebrations across the country today to help usher in the new era. a developing story out of turkey this morning. a menmen ny minibus explosion. pictures from our sister network. you can see images of several vehicles on fire. cause of this blast is still not known. we'll bring you updates on the story throughout the morning as more information becomes available. we have an update this morning. ten people are now dead after an air race crash in reno, nevada. the crash happened friday killing several on site including a

nearly 70 people injured. they now say the plane was equipped with video and data recordings. a political error report released friday. and robin gardner final hours before she went missing six weeks ago. police returned to the beach where the 35-year-old maryland woman was last seen. her traveling companion claims they were snorkeling when she was swept out to sea. he is being held in aruba as the prime suspect in her disappearance. also new this morning, atlanta falcons defensive back dunta robinson fined for an illegal hit on eagles' white reader jeremy maclin. the helmet-to-helmet blow is similar to robinson's hit last year on desean jackson. fined $50,000 for that hit but cut in half on appeal.

>> he meant to do that. just leading with his head. and haven't we learned how dangerous that can be for other players as far as concussions are concerned and putting someone out of the game for good? in m my estimation he deserved every bit of that fine. baseball has just rewritten the history books. the yankees mayor jana rivera registers his 600th career save over the minnesota twins last night. awesome. at at 46, the best that ever put on his uniform. an explosive new book claims early days of the obama white house was a hostile workplace for women. now the administration is firing back. and republicans call president obama's new tax rate for millionaires divisive, but is a higher tax on the

wealthiest americans really class warfare? it's our "talk back" question today. carol, get a load of this. chaz bono stepping out for the first time on "dancing with the stars." so how did he do? and his fellow contestants, like nancy grace do? we'll show you. it's 20 minutes after the hour. we're back after this. (screams) when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing.

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i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. welcome back. as president obama does battle with republicans over the economy a new book levels explosive charges against the president and his inner circle. now the white house is taking direct aim at the pulitzer prize winning author. cnn's brian todd is following the story. >> reporter: for a best-selling author, serious brushback from the white house over a new book which depicts in-fighting and indecision in the obama administration's early day. in his book "confidence men" ron writes the top advisers had doubt whether he could handle the economic crisis.

larry summers is quoted assess saying in 2009, we're home alone. there's no adult in charge. clinton would never have made these mistakes. we couldn't reach him for comment but in "the washington post," it's a combination of fiction, distortion and words taken out of context. >> i lived the reality, and the reports i've read about this book bear no resemblance to the reality we live together. >> reporter: treasury secretary timothy geithner referring to a passage saying president obama decided early on to restructure several troubled banks but discovered nearly a month later his directive had been ignored by the treasury. >> absolutely not. i would never do that. i've spent my life in public service. >> reporter: gloria borger says in books like this former officials try to bolster their own legacies or settle scores. would it lead to some kind of finger-pointing behind the

scenes and people looking over their own shoulder, i've got to watch what i'm saying to everybody. >> i mean, this is washington. people are always going to try to figure out who was the source for that? who was the source for that story? i bet that came from him, tore came from him. >> reporter: a defiant white house press secretary -- >> one passage seemed to be lifted almost entirely from wikipedia in the book. >> reporter: when cnn followed up after that briefing, officials say jay carney was referring to the federal mortgage firm fannie mae. quote, in 196 it officially became a publicly held corporation to remove its debt and related activities from the federal balance sheet. the wikipedia passage says, it converted to a publicly held corporation to remove its activity and debt from the federal budget. we contacted the publisher harpercollins for response to the claim about wikipedia and other criticisms.

a spokesperson said it spent nearly 200 hours. exhaustively researched and sourced and harpercollins is proud to be publishing it. brian todd, cnn, washington. ron sussstein will be wolf blitzer's guest wednesday, 5:00 p.m. right here on cnn. your chance to "talk back" this morning. class warfare, is higher tax on millionaires. that depends. wielding his bully pup pit to pit the rich against the poor. >> comes out today and starts demonizing the very people responsible for innovation, the very people who are responsible for economic growth, who are responsible for job creation. >> democrats say, oh, come on. if there is a war on the middle class, the middle class has already lost. you need proof the wage gap is

grow be ever tighter. taxes lowest since the 1970s and the rich aren't creating jobs, at least not on american soil. president obama wants to tax millionaires more. he says that's not class warfare. that's mad. >> i reject the idea of asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber and teacher is class warfare. i think it's just the right thing to do. >> what is class warfare anyway? it's a term made famous by that influential socialist karl marx. in short, marx describes class warfare as when the lowly worker rises up against the higher class that exploited him making those rich people play. from the university of virginia, calling it bumper strip language. democrats love it. republicans hate it. so the "talk back" today, is a hire tax on millionaires class warfare? facebook.com/americanmorning.

facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. >> 54 comments before we even sat on the set? people obviously striking a cord. >> a term used to keep things from getting done in our country and people do really care. i'll be interested to hear what you have to say. stay tuned. meanwhile, "dancing with the stars" kicking off its 13th season last night. 13 seasons? when all over, seemed the most talked about contestant, chad bono, can really cha-cha. did i say that? the judges raved praising his footwork and choreography. wow. not bad. as for our own nancy grace, she made her debut starting out behind the anchor desk. really? but soon she was on the dance floor showing her sassy side. the judges telling nancy, she's got the moves. >> oh, look at her go. >> she looks great. >> he twins were in the audience, too. >> good for her.

>> i don't know that i could do that. >> i could not do that. i would forget the steps. >> that's why i was never a cheerleader. >> that and for many other reasons. rob marciano to save us. good morning, rob. >> how about nancy grace? >> i know. >> how about that outfit? a little flapper thing going on. >> very sexy. a safety dance at the cnn weather center. throwback to the '80s. remember that one? >> yes, we do. >> rein across the eastern third of the country. a weak front but continuous light rainfall from the canadian border. getting you wet at time. a hard time getting across the appalachians. when it does, sprinkles and light showers through the day stretching back down across the southeast including metro atlanta. front number one, in between this other front.

decent amount of fog, travel delays. and comes don the pike for a reinforcing shot of cooler air. won't get back into the 100-degree temperatures but to 90 between the fronts in dallas and 81 in kansas city. the tropical system out in the middle of the atlantic ocean. up to a 70% of becoming a depression or tropical storm in the coming days. looks impressive, but it's pretty far out there. they have a difficult time traversing closer to home and quiet. we'll take it as we head towards the awe tum noauk tum knot equi >> yes, we will. michele bachmann not backing down. she took a lot of heat for comments about the hpv vaccine. remember that? well, now hear what she just told our wolf blitzer when he asked her to clarify those comments. that's next. coffee doesn't have vitamins... unless you want it to.

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were back. "minding your business" this morning. we could be looking at a higher opening on wall street today after steep declines yesterday. that sell-off fueled by lingering concerns over europe's debt crisis. right now the dow, nasdaq and s&p futures are up. the federal reserve is searching for ways to jump-start the u.s. economy at a two-day meeting, and speculation is growing the fed will revive a program known at "operation twist." its goal, keep long-term interest rates down and fuel economic growth. the u.s. is reportedly looking into whether there was any insider trading done ahead of the s&p downgrade of america's credit crating last month. according to the "wall street journal," subpoenas sent to several hedge funds which may have bet the stock market to tumble. downgrading italy. the euro zone's third largest economy. the cut is said to be in response to the weakening growth and growing debt. coca-cola is downsizing.

this week the beverage giant rolls out a smaller 12.5 ounce bottle. coke is hoping this will boost profits, because what will cost you about 10 cents less per bottle, you're actually paying more per ounce. that's your latest business headlines. "american morning" will be right back after this. there's only one bottle left ! i've got to tell susie ! the vending machine on elm is almost empty. i'm on it, boss. new pony ? sorry ! we are open for business. let's reroute greg to fresno. growing businesses use machine-to-machine technology from verizon wireless. susie ! the vending machine... already filled. cool bike. because the business with the best technology rules.

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just about 30 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. time for your top stories. the u.n. general assembly gets under way today. president obama scheduled to meet with the transitional council. troops loyal to moammar gadhafi are starving and massacring helpless citizens. a developing story out of turkey this morning. at least 15 people injured in a minibus explosion in ankara this morning. no word on what caused the blast. cnn turk television showing images of several vehicles burning in the heart of the city. and the u.s. military's

don't ask, don't tell policy is history this morning. just issued on the pentagon's website, sexual orientation cannot bar you from military service and former service members discharge under don't ask, don't tell may now apply for re-entry. the fbi is reporting a drop in violent crime across the united states. officials say the decline has more to do with the aging population than the economic slump. murders fell 4.2% last year. aggravated assaults down 4.1%. rapes down 5% and robberies down 10%. michele bachmann is balking about comments about the hpv vaccine. she took a lot of heat after the cnn tea party debate telling reporters a woman approach her in tears claiming her daughter suffered from mental retardation. this, after getting the vaccine. bachmann appeared on cnn's "the

situation room" and she wasn't retreating. >> at the end of the debate i went forward to where all of the people were in the audience, and i was shaking hands with various people, and the woman in question was sobbing and said, thank you for bringing this issue up about the potential side effects. of course, one thing that we know, when the drug manufacturers now on television, when they advertise a drug, they have to give all of the negative side effects that there potentially can be and people are requested to go look to their doctor. that's it. i wasn't speaking as doctor. i wasn't speaking as a scientist. i was merely passing on in an interview after the debate what i had been told, because, again, the main point of my remarks was the crony capitalism and also the fact that there was an abuse of executive power. >> again, mental retardation is not a side effect of the hpv vaccine. there's no scientific evidence of that. bachmann took another hit yesterday. her former campaign manager ed

rollins stating publicly he does not believe she has the money or resources to compete with rick perry or mitt romney. new violence reported overnight in yemen. security forces stepping up a crack donn on protesters in the last few days. yesterday alone more than two dozen people were killed in the capital. monitoring developments from amman in jordan and joins us live. mohammed, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, alina. activists and protesters in yemen i've been speaking with telling me it's absolutely horrific what's going on there. the third day in a row of carnage. not just in sanaa. attacks in a southern city. issued a statement yesterday saying yemen is on a knife's edge right now and other activists i spoke with are worrying that the country is tipping into a state of civil war. one of the reasons they're so worried about this is wa they're telling us, right now it's innocent bystanders and

protesters caught in the middle between a battle going on between forces that are loyal to a general who defected from the ranks of the army a few months ago and joined the revelation. they're battling it out with the republican guard. the republican guard in yemen is aren't by the son of the president who had been recuperating in saudi arabia. fears that country could be slipping into a state of all-out civil war. alina? >> mohammed, what is the international community doing to help in this crisis? >> reporter: well, alina, so much diplomatic pressure applied on yemen, on the president, on the powers that be there, to try to sign a power transfer deal. yesterday we know there was a gcc, a gulf cooperation council envoy in yemen that are still there, meeting behind closed doors trying to convince the powers to sign this deal and get the political crisis over with there. the problem with that scenario, as i'm speaking to yemeni

diplomats, the power, they don't understand what's going on in the street. a different reality what's going on behind closed doors and what's going on outside in the streets of yemen. there's so much anger in the streets. for months hundreds of thousands of people coming out day after day asking for the president to step down because of the arab spring movement and they're not going to be happy that this power transfer deal is signed. even if it is signed, they see one corrupt government being replaced with another corrupt government. they want a change at the top. they're not happy with this mediation effort. the diplomat i spoke with, the voice of reason is dwarfed by the sounds of guns and he's very pessimistic about the country. >> live from jordan this morning, mohammed, thank you. from politics to sports, to everyday life. women all over the world are making big problem, and this week brazil's president helps mark a new milestone for women on the world stage. stay tuned to find out what that

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38 minutes after the hour. the role of women in the world is changing. this week another milestone for the very first time a woman will be delivering the opening address for the u.n. general assembly meeting nap woman is brazil's president. "newsweek" is focusing on the progress of women. "where women are winning. the best and worst countries for women." we are joined by one of the authors. you looked at five criteria. what were they? >> health, education, politics -- >> political power. >> and work -- exactly and then looked at specific metrics with

those categories. >> also access to education and health care. >> yes. >> let's take a look at the top four best places to live if you're a woman. number one being iceland. why? >> well, iceland has made gender a priority for several years. a bureau that goes out and makes sure that businesses aren't paying men more than women. stereotype thing, thing like that. >> they also banned strip clubs. >> they did ban strip clubs. >> i found that interesting. >> they banned employers profiting from the nudity of their employees. >> very interesting. number two sweden. number three, canada. our neighbors to the north. what are they doing really well? >> they're just good across the board, really. they're not so good in political clout, but -- >> i noticed that. not so good in government, but you mentioned very good when it comes to quality of life. what do you mean why in? >> day to day. health care is really good. education is very strong. women are doing well

economically, and politically, if you go down sort of levels in local governments, women are participating. >> i want to look at the united states which ranked eighth in your survey. so let me ask you this -- what are we doing really well? and where do we fail? >> well, education here is stellar. girls are doing incredibly well in school, from kindergarten through other programs and in other areas not so good. domestic, parental leave policies aren't as strong as elsewhere. sweden has 16 months maternity and paternity leave. >> famous for that. >> exactly. >> and there's that persistent pay gap, where women maim 76 cents for $1 that every man makes. one of the worst countries to live in if you're a woman. chad, afghanistan, yemen, the democratic republic of congreo. no surprises there. surprised me, rwanda, while in the middle of the pack had some really interesting measures that

they put into place. talk about that. >> they're a very interesting example. they, in 2003, when they were coming out of a long period of civil war and genocide they instituted quota. 30% of parliament needed to be female. they soon went past those and now they're 50% of parliament is female. at the same time, done incredibly well getting their country on track. innovation last year, reaching the u.n. millennium goals with remarkable speed, and those two things are certainly combined. >> extraordinary. weren't of the startling things i found when i read the research. what our surprises? standouts and what's your takeaway, do you think? >> it's always jarring to remember what it's like in the rest of the world for women. right? and a lot of these countries, there's virtually no laws protecting them.

marital rape isn't against the law. domestic violence isn't against the law. they can't own property. that's always surprising. the biggest takeaway is the connection between women and strong democracies and strong economies. every time you look at it, every way that you look at it, when women are economically empowered and participating fully in economies, countries do better. >> and educated as well. >> exactly. when they're healthy, when they're educated, it's good for everybody. not just women and girls. >> makes perfect sense. the co-author of the study and cover story in "newsweek" called "where women are winning: the best and worst countries for women." thank you for coming in. appreciate it. >> thank you. breaking news to tell you about out of oklahoma. this is happening now. we're going to show you live pictures. this is a towering fire. this fire occurred after a drilling rig exploded about 68 miles west of oklahoma city. it happened around 10:00 p.m. last night.

it is still burn. more than a dozen workers evacuated from the rig. obviously. right now no reports of injuries. homes around this site have been evacuated. at one point a two-mile radius people evacuated. now down to a one-mile radius. oil fires, notoriously difficult to put out. who knows how long it will burn. hopefully it will burn itself out. 43 past the hour pap quick check of the top stories after a quick break, and the war of the water. federal agents doing battle with mexican drug smugglers. the coast of southern california. we'll tell you bip it's 43 minutes past the hour. ♪

we're on the road together. we try and encourage one another and really lift each other up and then there are times you've got to give each other your own space. every single weren't of us needs our own down time. thinking through the day maybe what's happened or spending time in the bible and in prayer. this is where we spend quite a bit of time, if you can see max signing autographs. we like to get ahead of ourselves. we actually is satellite dishing that move as we go down the road to watch cnn or other programs. ♪ lift up your face >> being a successful road warrior is all about balance. you've got to bring your faith back home with you. building our recording studio, we had them put in bunks. >> we are third day and hope to see you out on the road very soon. ♪

it's 46 minutes past the hour. good morning. what you need to start your day -- president obama meeting this morning with the leader of libya's national transitional council. the pentagonal repeal of don't ask, don't tell is official. the policy that barred gays and less bebes from serving openly

in the military ended at midnight. in place since 1993. a minibus explosion rocking turkey's capital this morning. these pictures from cnn turk television. reporting 15 injuries. no word yet from authorities about the causes of the blast. authorities in aruba stamping a re-enactment of robin's final hours before she went missing six weeks ago. her traveling companion claims they were snorkeling when a strong current swept her out to sea. he's being held at the prime suspect in her disappearance. dolores hope, wife of the legendary bob hope has died of natural causes at her home in california. bob hope died eight years ago at the age of 100. dolores was 102. a 20-year-old satellite is expected to crash into earth's atmosphere this friday. it's falling from space. nasa officials say once it hits, it will break into tiny pieces. if you find one of those pieces, officials say, do not touch it.

call the police. really. do that. and it wasn't pretty, but it doesn't matter. the new york giants closed out week two of the nfl season with a 28-16 win over the st. louis rams op monday night football. see? the giants may have lost all their good players, but eli still has it. that's the news to start your day. "american morning" is back after this break.

ten minutes before the top of the hour. welcome back to "american morning." a body found in northern california over the weekend has been identified at 26-year-old

michelle lay. the nursing student vanished more than three months ago in a hospital parking garage. a friend arrested. traces of lay's blood found inside esteban's car. news of the world expected to pay up to $5 billion to the family of the murdered schoolgirl. the center of that uk hacking scandal. settlement talks are not over yet. the paper came under fire after revelations journalists hacked into the missing girl's phone and deleted voice phone messages. the deleted messages gave hope the missing teenager might still be alive. facing a new threat from mexican drug smugglers, stepping up efforts along the california coast to combat maritime smuggling. cnn's sandra endo got a firsthand look how border patrol agents are fighting the war on the water. >> reporter: patrolling the coast of southern california.

in a constant battle to control the border. and stop water-born smugglers from entering the kun. >> you're talking thousands of square miles of coastline we've got it try to keep an eye on. >> reporter: with tighter border security on land between mexico ant the united states, there's been an uptick in human and drug maritime smuggling in the past few years. the department of homeland security is beefing up its arsenal to combat the illegal activity, but criminal tactics are also changing. smugglers are using crude boats and making them faster. now outfitting boats with three engines. to counter that, federal agents are using high-speed interceptor boats with at least four engines that can go up to 60 miles per hour on water. >> we're also catching vessels significantly farther north. it used to be a quick trip, now 16 up to 18 miles out on the

water going 60 miles out to sea before they loop back to the coastline. >> reporter: busts occur weekly with smugglers found at far north at newport beach, huntington beach, malibu. two weeks ago a boat turned up in santa barbara county. well over 200 miles from the border. how tiff a job is this? it's basically like finding a needle in a haystack. >> very tough. >> reporter: they're using intelligence and line of sight to catch the smuggling boats but also getting help in the air with helicoptering canvassing this wide swath of ocean. hoop would you say is winning the war on the water? >>s probably even right about now, but every day there's more and more assets coming into play. >> reporter: sandra endo, cnn, los angeles. >> fascinating story. it is. we asked you to "talk back" on one of the big stories today. the question this morning, is a

higher tax on millionaires class warfare? this from phillip. this is manufactured class warfare for re-election purposes. this is nothing more than a stunt to gain support on election day. i'm tired of the phrase, pay your fair share. over 50% of americans do not pay tax. correction there, phillip. 45% do not pay income taxes. what about their fair shar? another one, the percentage of citizens living in poverty moved from one in seven to one in six. income for the american worker hasn't raised in 60 years. the cost of health care and education and real goods have gone through the ceiling. the next time they push ut down and attack our lunch money they can expect us to fight back. this from kenyth. class warfare is one of those phrases the gop loves. notice when the working class

wants tax breaks or god forbid unemployment benefits we're leeches. when the supposed job creators want neg called a free market and workers have to bend over again. keep the conversation going. facebook/com "american morning." a lot of anger out there these days. >> succinct writing, i must say. >> got to tell it like it is sometimes. top stories are next including don't ask, don't tell. officially history. we're live at the pentagon with what happens now to the thousands of service members kicked out because they were gay. and we're also following this breaking news we told you about out of oklahoma. live pictures of a huge fire after a drilling rig explodes outside of oklahoma city. we'll have more information after the break. it's 54 minutes past the hour. [ male announcer ] people don't make a list of websites

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don't ask, don't tell. after nearly two decades the ban of gays and he be'ses in the u.s. military is history. striking new information about alzheimer's that could affect 100 million american. a new book shout being ins unflattering light on the white house. accused of plager itch. and extramarital affairs, drugs, bulimia. some of the claims in another new book about sarah palin. we'll talk live to the author on this "american morning."

it is tuesday, september 20th already. welcome to "american morning." do you believe it's september 20th? >> i know. wasn't it just labor day yesterday? >> aye-yi-yi. >> i'm carol costello. >> good morning. i'm alina cho. ali and christine have the day off. we begin with the end of the pentagons don't ask, don't tell policy. as are midnight the 1-year-old ban is lifted. celebrations planned across the country and the secretary of the army says, from this day forward, gay and lesbian soldiers may serve in our army with dignity and respect, both of which they deserve. chris lawrence join us now. the big question, what about those thousands of service member who were kicked out because they were gay? what if they want to get back in? >> more than 13,000 people. starting today they can apply to get back in, but the reality is, there's just no guarantees.

>> reporter: hundreds of american troops who got ticked out of the military for being gay or lesbian are about to be hit again with a reality check. >> trying to get back in versus reserves, the navy wouldn't take me in the job i was doing before. >> reporter: jeremy johnson was discharged in 2007. you basebally wrote a letter to your commanding officer outing yourself? >> i did, and it wasn't something that i wanted to do. it was something that deep down i thought i was forced to do in order to maintain my santy. >> reporter: mike alby finished a tour in iraq, recommended for promotion to lieutenant colonel. then outed by another officer and kicked out of the air force. >> obviously i've had a five-year gap at this point in my career. nothing's going to fully repair the damage done to my career, but i'm hoping i can at least get back in there where i left off, resume my career. >> reporter: both are applying to get back in, but the repeal

of don't ask, don't tell is no guarantee. >> i'll be honest. i've talked to people who wanted to go back in and started making phone calls to recruiters and found out, their sort of circumstances wouldn't allow it. and there is let down. you can hear it in their voices. >> reporter: some are too old. their specialties not needed or jobs fully staffed. the military is getting smaller and more people are staying in. the pentagon says, service members who have separated under don't ask, don't tell will be evaluated according to the same criteria applicable to all others seeking re-entry. in other words, no waiver. >> it would be awesome if that could happen, but i know the hard truth is that it's -- it's not practical. >> reporter: the year jeremy got out of the service the military was taking in about 15,000 prior service folks back in. last year, less than 5,000.

with the current budget crunch going on right now, if they granted a waiver to one person from don't ask, don't tell, they'd have to kick somebody else out of the service. >> what if you're gay and want to join today? do you walk in and not worry tab at all? >> reporter: walk into a recruiter's office and say i'm gay and want to join up. they'd say, thanks for that information and here, fill out this paperwork. it's -- you can say whatever you want. they're not going to ask anymore, but it doesn't matter if you tell. they've actually been taking applications from openly gay applicants for weeks now, and they're going to start processing them as of today. >> it's a brand new world in the military. chris lawrence, many thanks to you. >> reporter: you're welcome. all you have to do, look at the gridlock in new york to know that the united nations general assembly is in full swing this morning. president obama arrived yesterday, and will meet today with the head of libya's national transitional council to

talk about libya's future. senior u.n. correspondent richard roth is here with a preview. >> the senior part, the way thing, going lately. i don't have a car. stop with the gridlock, and traffic every day. and a water main break, using subways. >> all right, all right. >> so the president will be meeting with the transitional council of libya and also with hamid karzai. what can we expect to see? >> libya has the spotlight in the morning. the new libyan government, its chairman mustafa jalil flies in. known as the national transitional council and the u.s. is going to say that in effect i think they've got it right. the nato bombing that forced gadhafi out of office, even though there's a new audiotape today where he's saying he's not giving up, in effect, people should still challenge the rebels, but the u.s. also says they want to get it right, this transition. not just do it quickly. >> libya needs a lot of money to do it right. where might that money come

from, and will that be part of the conversation today? >> yes. there's still assets that are frozen around the world in different countries and i think as more confidence builds in this new fledgling government, whose flag is now flying over the united nations for the first time. gadhafi's green flag, everything was green in gadhafi, in libya, which might have been known at gadhafiland for all i know. i was there a few times. got the green book from the leader. basically, there's money that's going to come forth. the u.n. plays a big role. they want to put u.n. expertise on the ground to try to rebuild. >> i want to talk about something you mentioned a moment ago. an audio message that surfaced from moammar gadhafi himself. the big question, where is he? so what did he say? >> well, nothing is ever proven on the audiotape. it's purported to be his voice, saying the people's will will not be overtloehrown. the system he built up will still be in place. it took a while for him to come

out of the hole who knows where gadhafi is. the international criminal court would also like to know where he is. >> no country recognizes him as the leader of libya any longer? >> no. friends like south africa, who are really, some are slow to recognize this national transitional council. china, russia, are onboard. all of the friends of libya will gather at the united nations this morning and these speeches by the new libyan chairman and president obama. >> we'll be listening. richard roth, many thanks to you. and pulitzer prize winner ron suskind has the white house up in arms. portraying the inner circles of the early obama administration as a boys' club. the former chair of the economic advisers felt like a piece of meat after being shut out of a meating, and former communications director anita dunn says the white house fit all the classic legal

requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women. dunn and romer saying they were misquoted. brian todd has more for you. >> reporter: for a best--selling author, serious brushback from the white house over a new book which depicts in-fighting and indecision in the obama administration's early day. in this book "confidence men" ron suskind writes the president's top advisers had doubts whether he could handle the economic crisis and larry summers is quoted asse eas sayie home alone. no adult in charge. clinton would never have made these mistakes. we couldn't reach summers for comment, but the hearsay ate tributed to me is a convention of fiction and distortion taken out of context. >> i lived the reality. the reports out of this book, no resemblance to the reality we lived together. >> reporter: treasury secretary

timothy geithner referring to a passage in the book saying president obama decided early on to restructure several troubled banks, but discovered nearly a month later his directive was ignored by the treasury. >> absolutely not. i spent my life in public service and would never do that. >> reporter: gloria borger says in books like this, former officials often try to bolster their own legacies or settle scores. would it lead, do you think, to fingerpointing and people looking ober their own shoulders? i've got to watch what i'm saying to everybody. >> i mean, this is washington. people are trying to figure out who was the source for that? who was the source for that story? i bet that came from him or from him. >> reporter: a defiant white house press secretary launch add separate offensive against suskind. >> one passage lifted from wikipedia. >> reporter: when cnn fold up, jay carney was referring to a passage in the book about fannie mae as first reported by the

online publication politico. "in 1968 it officially became a publicly held corporation to remove its debt and related activities from the federal balance sheet." the wikipedia sheet says in 196 it converted to a publicly held corporation to remove its activity and debt from the federal budget. we contacted ron suskind's publisher harpercollins for response to the white house's claim about this. a spokeswoman said suskind spent more than 700 hours with more than 200 individuals in writing the book. the spokeswoman calls is exhaustibly research and sourced and harpercollins is proud to be publishing it. brian todd, cnn, washington. author of the book brian talked about, ron suskind, on wolf blitzer tomorrow, "the situation room." five p.m. 5:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. and a tenth person has died from an air show crash on friday.

the 74-year-old pilot is among those killed. ntsb investigators hope the recording system and a forward-facing camera on the plane may give them clues to what went wrong. a preliminary report is expected later this week. live pictures to show you now. towering flames. fortunately no reported injuries after this drilling rig exploded late yesterday about 68 miles pest of oklahoma city. people living with a one-mile radius of the fire evacuated. authorities are going to let the fire burn itself out. the sky is falling. nasa says a massive satellite could come crashing to the ground as early as this friday. it's likely to break into pieces entering the earth's atmosphere. the problem is, those pieces could weigh at much as 300 pounds. and could land anywhere from canada to south america. watch out. >> i know. keep your eyes to the sky. feast our eye on the stars.

nancygrace shuffling from the news desk. her debut on "dancing with the stars." the verdict, not bad. the judges telling nancy, she's got the moves. >> as for the show's most talked about contestant, chaz bono does not disappoint with his cha-cha. check that out. the judges raved. praising chaz's foodwork and choreography. afterwards chaz thanked his fans for cheering him on. >> the support has bane mazing and it's interesting. that's what happened. when people are, you know, negative and hateful, it brings an equally positive response, and so the support that i've received has just -- it's been tremendous. and courteney cox. saw her. cheering on her ex, david arquette. check him out there. >> that's him? >> and that's coco their

daughter. >> must be hard to learn the waltz. he looks great. >> great at the hustle. >> really? >> one, two, three -- one, two, three. >> hey, rob, good morning. >> good morning, guys. where's john travolta when you need him? start off with these pictures out of japan. major rain that's heading that way in the form of typhoon on the heels of, a typhoon just a couple of weeks ago. this next one, roke, is about to hit the main islands. already have flooding rain there's. up to a million people asked toe evacuate in larger cities there. scary situation. seeing let rain across the eastern third of the country, but it is raining from the canadian border down to the gulf of pl of mexico. light stuff. across the appalachians in through the catskills and adirondacks. not flooding rain.

nothing people that dealt with lee and maria need to see. back as we go to the map, secondary front pushing east. the fog, big-time fog, back through chicago this morning. slowing down your travel. this thing will bring you wind across the northern tier. high winds and cooler air reinforcing the colder air we saw this weekend. that's on tap later in the week. meanwhile, back up to 90 degrees. the 100s are gone. 70% chance, hurricane season. forget about that? two weeks in. percolating in the central atlantic. not getting too close at the moment but fairly impressive as far as organization goes. could become a tropical depression or storm in the next day or two. setup for winter. sneak peek. la nina re-emerged. not good news.

remember last year? last year was la nina. cooler than average temperatures expected and potentially wetter than average in spots as well. so we may be looking at another harsh winter in spots. not the best news, but maybe we'll get lucky, too. >> i'm going to keep everything crossed. >> there you go. it helps. >> yeah. i'm sure it does. thank you, rob. >> man. still to come this morning, president obama and republicans are drawing lines in the sand over the nation's deficit. so is there any hope for a compromise? we're going to talk to republican congressman jeff flake. and a new study suggests people with diabetes are nearly twice as likely to develop dementia. dr. sanjay gupta will break it down for us. and some shocking allegations about sarah palin in a new book. we'll talk to the author who moved right next door to the palins to write about sarah palin's life. we'll talk to mr. mcginnis. you're watching "american morning." it's 13 minutes past.n ] what ifp

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17 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "american morning." this morning, squaring off over how to put a dent in our debt. the president laid out his plan yesterday at the heart of that plan forcing the nation's wealthiest americans to pay more taxes. republicans call this plan dead on arrival. joining me to talk about that, republican congressman jeff flick from arizona. thanks for coming in. is the president's plan deend arrival? >> as it is written, yes, i believe it is. >> why? >> if you -- the president himself said just a year or so ago you don't raise taxes in the middle of a recession. i think we're probably still there. it doesn't make sense to raise taxes on those who we're counting on to create jobs out there. >> the president at least tried to put a compromise in there.

he said medicare and medicaid are on the table. why can't raising the taxes on people making over $1 million a year be on the table, too? why can't everything be on the table? >> what should be on the table certainly is what the president talk about before and republicans have talked about for a long time. lowering overall rates, more competitive internationally and getting rid of tax expenditures. additional revenue generated there, not just as a result of additional economic growth, although that will certainly come. i think there's room for compromise but not -- >> not on taxes? >> not in raising tax rates. that's what shouldn't be done. >> did you sign the tax pledge? >> yes. i think every republican has. >> grover norquist, right? >> the last election. yes. >> explain why this guy is so important? nobody elected him to office? >> everybody recognizes we shouldn't raise tax rates. there's a difference between generating additional revenue

that comes from tax reform. that's great. pay down the debt faster, but raising tax rates to levels that are unsustainable in terms of being able to compete is just not right. >> let's be honest about this. taxes are the lowest since the 1970s. so the wealthiest are enjoys lower taxes and have been for quite some time. the wealthiest businesses are sitting on millions of dollars and they're not hiring, even though the taxes are low. so i think that many in america are sitting there wondering, well, what is the answer? because we already proposed all of these debt reduction things. right? that's happening right now. the super committee's planning what, to cut 1. -- something trillion from our debt? so -- >> remember to cut 1.-something million more we're running over a trillion dollar a year deficit right now. if you cut $1 trillion more, that's over a ten-year period.

we frankly need to cut a lot more than that, but we need to do more than simply promise to cut providers on medicare. that's what the president's talking about. >> we can make all the cuts we want but there will still be debt. don't you need revenue to pay that down? >> exactly right. >> where will it come from? >> from tax reform, not higher tax rates. there's a difference there. right now the rates, the president is talking about taking top rate all the way up into the 40s. >> taking them back to levels when president clinton was in office. isn't that what he wants to do? >> the president himself said just a year ago, we shouldn't raise taxes during a recession, but that's what he's talking about doing. we're not out of the woods yet, and if we want the economy to grow we have to have competitive tax rates plus some kind of moratorium on regulation. when i talk to people around, it's not just uncertainty on taxes moving ahead or health care expenses. it's regulation, and these agencies right now are just a

little out of control. i think the president recognized that last week with the ozone regulations. we need to go much further than that. >> do you realize how frustrating this same argument is to voters? >> believe me, i do. we've got to go in and reform the tax code. haven't done that since 1996. an addicted realizes you have to take out the clutter. a lot of exemptions -- >> the president said he's interested in tax reform. this is a first step to tax reform. >> that's why i said i think there is room for a compromise and for work in raising -- i'm sorry. in lowering the tax rate and getting rid of exemptions and deductions, and face it, those who have money to hire lawyers and those who don't. it will make the tax code far more mayfair than it is today a economic growth will have nor revenue. >> before you go i wanted to ask

you the class warfare question, because that's what we're asking our audience. republicans are accusing president obama of class warfare, pitting wish against poor. is that what he's doing? >> yes, i have to say. i'm not out to criticize the president unduly here, but that's what it is. it's basically saying that those who have earned more should pay more than those who -- >> no. he's saying that the playing field should be level. he's not saying the wealthy should pay more than the middle class pays in taxes. >> but he is. he's saying raise the top rate meaning the wealthily pay more than they are now. pay a higher rate than others do now. >> what warren buffett says isn't true? >> warren buffett is saying investment to be taxed at the same rate at ordinary income and it should not. investment income has been taxed once already. if we want to create jobs, the last thing you want to do is slap another tax or a higher tax

on capital gains or dividends. that just isn't what you do. it makes for good politic. i grant you. it's populism at its best, but makes for lousy economics. >> there are politic on both sides. thank you so much for coming in. >> thanks for having alina? find out why your mailbox could feel the effects of president obama's debt reduction plan. and allegations of cheating and drug use, just two of the things written about sarah palin in an explosive new book. we'll talk live to the author just ahead. it's 24 minutes after the hour. nd every business is a "what if." what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and powerful devices like the motorola photon 4g. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs.

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"minding your business" this morning. we could be looking at a higher opening on wall street this morning after steep decline yesterday. the sell-off fueled by lingering concerns over europe's debt crisis. right now the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 futures are up. the federal reserve is searching for ways to jump-start the u.s. economy at at two-day meeting. speculations growing the fed will revive a program known as "operation twist." its goal, keep long-term interest rates down and fuel economic growth. the u.s. is reportedly looking into whether there was any insider trading done ahead of the s&p's downgrade of america's credit rating last month. according to the "wall street journal," subpoenas have been sent to several hedge funds which may have bet that the stock market would tumble. even without steve jobs, apple unseating oil giant exxon as the world's most valuable company worth $362 billion. this after shares of the tech

giant closed at an all-time high of $412. and president obama is throwing the cash-strapped postal service a life line as part of his proposal to cut the deficit. the plan would allow the agency to end saturday mail delivery, and raise stamp prices another two cents to 46 cents. don't forget the very latest news about your money, check out all the new cnnmoney.com website. "american morning" will be back after this.

it is 30 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "american morning." gay men and women free to serve openly in any branch of the armed services. the pentagon officially ending the don't ask, don't tell policy in effect since 1993. at the u.n. general assembly today, president obama is scheduled to meet with the chairman of libya's transitional

council amid reports troop loyal to moammar gadhafi are starving and massacring citizens in the libyan city of bani walid. and the whether death row inmate troy davis gets a last-minute appeal. set it die by lethal injection tomorrow. he's convicted of the 199 murder of a police officer, mark macphail. daviss attorneys said think client is innocent. several witnesses recanted or contradicted their testimony. a hearing in florida continues today over the death of a train here was pulled into the water and drowned by a killer whale. at issue, could seaworld have done more to protect its trainer? here's cnn's randi kaye. >> reporter: you're looking at video of seaworld trainer dawn branchild, a tourist taped this moments before the 12,000 pound killer whale took the veteran trainer into his mouth and dove underwater.

she sways from side to side. he follows. she splashes him with buckets of water and feeds him fish. a reward for playing along. then suddenly, his behavior seemed to change. the wife of the tourist who took this video described what happened on nbc. >> he grabbed her by the head and you know, very hard, thrust she went down. i screamed. she screamed. then i saturdayed yelling to the other trainer. he just took her down. he took her down. >> look closely at this video. you can see her long ponytail swinging back and forth, but it may not have looked attractive to the 6 ton killer whale until she got closer. the man who trained her says she made a fatal mistake. >> made a fatal misattack by allowing herself to be that close to his mouth and laying down, that's a pretty vulnerable position to be in with an animal like him. so i think -- i think even if dawn was sitting here with me

right now, she would tell you that that was a mistake that she made. >> reporter: re, the whale killed before. in 199 is, he and two other whales dragged a trainer who fallen into their pool under water at a park in british columbia. that's why seaworld was more cautious. trainers were not allowed to swim with him. >> he's not used to people being in the water. he was laying there looking at her. she was rubbing him down and all of a sudden the ponytail was there. >> on this video you can see what he's talking about. on a shelf that slides out into the pool laying in about four inches of water. right next to the 22-foot long orca. >> the ponytail drifted. he probably grabbed it and pulled her in and then went, whoa. i've got her in the water. >> he worked with whales more than three decades is convinced at least in the beginning he had no idea he was doing anything wrong or hurting his trainer.

she understandably panicked and that trauma only got the killer whale even more excited. the medical examiner says dawn likely died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning. >> i constantly remind trainers never get comfortable, totally comfortable with the animals. >> reporter: he says there's a reason these whales are called killer whales. and what they may think is a game can be fatal. randi kaye, cnn, washington. now is your chance to "talk back" on one of the big stories of the day. the question this morning, is a higher tax on millionaires class warfare? that depends. republicans think president bush is a modern day robin hood wielding his bully pulpit to pit the rich against the poor. >> comes out today and starts demonizing the very people who are responsible for innovation. the very people who are responsible for economic growth, who are responsible for job

creation. >> democrats say, oh, come on. if there is a war, the middle class has already lost. if you need proof, the wage gap is growing ever wider. tax rates are the lowest they've been since the 1970s and the rich aren't exactly creating jobs because of it. at least on american soil. as for president obama, he wants to tax millionaires more. that's not class warfare, he says. it's math. >> i rejected the idea asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or teacher is class warfare. i think it's just the right thing to do. >> what is class warfare, anyway? it's a term made famous by that influential socialist karl marx. in short, marx describes class warfare when the lowly worker rises up against the wealthy class who exploited him making those rich people pay. so the "talk back" question today, is a hire tax on millionaires collar warfare? face

facebook.com/americanmorning. i'd read your comments later this hour. >> can barely keep up with all the reading. >> exploding. 36 minutes after the hour. still to come this morning, new medical evidence about a significant link between diabetes and dementia. dr. sanjay gupta will join us live. and we'll talk with the author of a controversial new book on sarah palin. that's coming out today. it's 36 minutes past the hour.[p ] ♪ hush, little baby ♪ don't you cry ♪ soon the sun ♪ is going to shine ♪ [ male announcer ] toyota presents the prius family. ♪ walk if i want, talk if i want ♪ [ male announcer ] there's the original one... the bigger one... the smaller one... and the one that plugs in. they're all a little different, just like us.

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♪ [ malennounc ] at northrop grumman, makthworld a feplace. th's value performance. northr gruan. drug use. extramarital affairs, and an eating disorder. some of the explosive claims in a new book about sarah palin that lands in book stores today. >> the book is called "the rogue: searching for the real sarah palin." author joe mcginniss joins us. thanks for being on "american morning." >> glad to be here. >> joe, i have to ask you about this because you lived next door to sarah palin from may until

september of last year. yet you never met her. how were you able to then write this book? >> i was a good neighbor. so i never intruded on them, and i think she didn't much feel like meeting me. the last neighbors that she had in that house were members of an organization called oxford house who had just gotten out of prison. a halfway house for people, drug addicts and alcoholics doing rehab, after serving prison sentences. she was very friendly with those guys. she liked having them there. >> she got wind early on what you were dg and didn't want to talk to you, clearly, understandably. >> he husband calmed you a stalker, frankly. they weren't happy you were living next door. it's an odd way to write a book. >> an odd way to react to a new neighbor pb call them a stalker. i've never called my new neighbors stalkers. >> who did you speak to? you clearly had a lot of sources? >> a number of people. going through the book over the weekend, and there are people

talking about anonymous sources but this 70 or 75 people in the book quoteed by name. it's not a question of not havy name sources and the anonymous sources are because the palins scare people. the palins intimidate and threaten. people in wasilla are very scared of the palins and this goes back to her time as mayor. they fear retribution. people wouldn't meet me socially because if sarah found out, anything could happen. >> talk about what these sources told you. you talked about sarah palin's extreme racism, religion, sex life or lack thereof. talk about her affairs and possible eating disorder. i want to read two passages. this one said, the cocaine was free flowing. somebody found a 55 gallon oil drum and turned it upside-down and we're all doing cocaine lines off the top of the drum.

neither did sarah find -- and this is another passage. separate from that. another part of book you say somebody told you neither did sarah find nourishment in the joy of sexual intimacy with her husband. these are sort of like gossipy things and people love to gossip. let's say maybe she did experiment with drugs in her younger, freer days. who cares? >> who didn't? who cares? except she portrays herself as a paragon of family values with a blameless, christian life. it goes back to the religion thing. if she's a christian extremist, and she -- she actually would see the separation of church and state in the united states ended. she would -- go back to where our founding fathers did more than 200 years ago, and she would strip that away. she wants it see america as a christian republic. a strain of evangelicalism

called dominionism and that's a danger to the country. >> what carol referred to, though, these are obviously salacio salacious, get a lot of attention. >> you know why they're getting a lot of attention? i'll tell you why. the national enquirer stole a copy of this book ahead of time and took out of 320 pages in that book, if you took all the stuff you're talking about salacious, that's about three pages out of 320. >> but it's getting attention. >> yes, it is. >> you can't be upset about that. it's going to sell a lot of book. having said that, are you confident what you wrote is true? i mean, a lot of it, it sounds pretty outrageous. >> well, sarah palin has lived and outrageous life. all i did, talk to people about it and they documented it for me and when i was comfortable with the voracity of what i heard, i put it into the book, and a lot of things i wasn't comfortable with i didn't put in the book. >> about one of her pregnancies. i mean, you intimate one of her pregnancies might never have happened. we a lot during the

campaign. she didn't have the baby. weren't of her kids did. what did you -- >> i don't draw a conclusion. >> that's like throwing a bomb and waiting for it to go off. >> actually what it's like, there are still legitimate questions about that pregnancy that had never been answered, and i bring up the questions in the hope somebody in the future will provide the answers. >> do you think she's going to run for president? >> i wish she would, but i don't think she will. >> why do you say that? >> well, for my book. you know. >> okay. let me ask you this, because so emergency of the book is negative on sarah palin. is there anything likable about this woman in your mind? >> well, i -- i lived next to her and, of course, never looked at what was going on on the other side of the fence, but i knew that a lot of the ducks went over towards the palin dock. i can only think that's because she was feeding them. and feeding the ducks would be a nice thing to do.

>> i don't believe that you didn't peer over that fence once. really? not once? go over and -- >> what did i want to see? they were peering in my fence. on her television show, the reality show last fall, in the first episode, she told todd she wanted hip to drill a hole in the fence so she could spy on me. they're the ones who had their cameras on their side of the fence surreptitiously taking my picture. i never did that to them. >> if i knew, in fairness, somebody was living beside me wanting to write a is a salacious book about me, i might wonder what you're doing, too. >> would you pierce through the fence and drill a hole in it? >> i wouldn't want you living next door to me. i know that. >> come around and ask me. i would have been happy to tell her. >> yes you would have. you were on the porch. there was a story. waiting for the palins to greet you and they never came. >> well, todd came, and said -- let's just see how long you stay here. he greeted me with a threat. which is the -- that's the palin way. threatening.

>> joe mcginniss, thank you for joining us. the book is called "the rogue: searching for the real sarah palin." it's out today and i'm sure it will be a best-seller. >> thank you, glad to be mere. still to come this morning a new study links diabetes with a larger risk of dementia. we'll talk to dr. sanjay gupta about that. it's 46 past the hour. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank.

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president barack obama meeting at the united nations today.

two jailed american hikers in iran will have to wait a little longer for their freedom. bail has been paid for josh fattal and shane bauer, but their attorney says their release has been delayed again, because a xruch hoop has to sign the release order is still on vacation. an appeals court ruled that the sentence against would-be bomber jose padilla was too lenient. sentenced 17 years for conspiring to plant radio active dirty bombs throughout the united states. the appeals panel ruled the judge who sentenced him didn't properly take into account his past criminal history as a gang member. the first day of the policy on gays in the military don't ask, don't tell barring gays and lesbians from serving openly that's been in place caught up day's headlines. "american morning" is back in 60 seconds.

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[ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine. but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck. 51 minutes after the hour and this morning's "house call." people with diabetes are nearly twice as likely to develop dimentia. dr. sanjay gupta has the details for us.

he's live at the united nations where for the second time there is a health issue on the general ass assembly issue. sanjay, tell us about this link between diabetes and dimentia. is this for real? >> it sounds like it, alina. people have known that there is likely a risk between diabetes and all sorts of disease of the blood vessel because gluicose or sugar in the blood vessels can be so toxic to those blood vessels and to the central nervous system. i think thoughts what's surprising is they did the study in people over the age of 60 and what they found, roughly, if you had diabetes you were twice as likely to develop alzheimer's-like dimentia in 50 years. almost twice as likely to develop all the other forms of dimentia, as well. i think people have known that diabetes increases your risk for heart disease and increases your risk for stroke and increases

your risk for microstroke which could cause a certain type of dementia.abetes was a strong ri factor. they say half of u.s. adults will have diabetes or be prediabetic which is part of the reason why people are interested in findings like this. >> incredible. diabetes is in my family, as well. i paid particular attention to this. sanj sanjay, i want to talk about why you're at the u.n. today. really incredible. it was ten years ago that health was on the agenda. aids was the topic then. today it's noncommunicable diseases. we are talking about diseases like cancer and diabetes. talk about what is going to be discussed today? >> heart disease and lung cancer. it's fascinating. if you look across the entire

earth, three out of five people who die, die of what are thought of of noncommunicable diseases or infectious diseases and that stat alone is probably what stimulated having this type of discussion at the u.n. assembly. for a long time they they they were diseases of the affluent and the elderly and many developing places around the world, it is young people. people who don't have much in the way of resources. again, people in the developing countries. the whole country is starting to change. the attention, the focus needs to be on noncommunicable diseases in part because it's, in part, people are dying of these diseases that can be prevented and you can see the economic impact of these diseases, as well. they say if untreated in many of these developing countries cost $7 trillion over the next ten years where the cost of $10 billion to $12 billion a year to

try to prevent many of these diseases. i think while the health impact is what is the big topic of discussion here at the u.n. general assembly the economic impact is something that is coming up in a lot of discussions, as well. stimulating and galvanizing a lot of these folks here. >> probably because it hasn't reached a crisis point, if you will. probably doesn't get enough attention. so, i think it's good that the u.n. is focusing on it today and sanjay, of course, great that you're there for that. son jay gu sanjay at the united nations, thanks. this is the question this morning. is a higher tax on millionaires class war fare. this from jody, all i know is that if made a million dollars a year and the fed was already taking $400,000 of it, i would be ticked. where is the incentive for these folks? this from casey, it is not about

class warfare, it's about right and wrong. no matter what your income. someone who is barely making ends meet shouldn't pay more taxes than someone who makes significantly less and has more money to burn. those not making over $1 million a year have been under attack for a decade or mow, so, if we are only now beginning to fight back, is that war or survival? we'll read more in the 8:00 hour of "american morning." >> mno shortage of comments. your top stories are next, including purportedly a new message that is from moammar gadhafi. what is he saying? we'll tell you. accept it. you can't change the way banking works. just accept it, man. free ? doesn't close at five ? try nature. it's a bank. what do you want, a hug ? just accept it. hidden fees, fine print, or they'll stick it to you some other way.

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a humanitarian crisis unfolding this hour in libya. i'm alina cho. troops reportedly shooting unarmed citizens. making those claims as they get ready to meet with president obama this morning at the u.n.

out of the closet and into the service. hello, i'm carol costello. the pentagon policy of don't ask, don't tell now history allowing gay men and women serving openly in the military on this "american morning." and good morning. it's tuesday, september 20th. ali velshi, christine romans are off this morning, good morning, carol costello. >> good morning, alina cho. the forces in libya seizing control of the airport in sabha one of the strongholds of moammar gadhafi. this pictures exclusive to cnn. you hear the beeping horns there in celebration. we're also getting reports that national transition committee troops have captured other parts of the southern libyan city as they prepare in sirte, which is gadhafi's hometown. syrian television is airing

an audiotape message this morning reportedly made by moammar gadhafi. >> vowing opposition forces can never overthrow his regime. phil black live in tripoli this morning. probably not exactly true. >> hard to say. carol, alina, good morning. moammar gadhafi talking politics. if you think that sounds a little dry, you're right. basically a speech in which the man claiming to be gadhafi argues that the political system under gadhafi was the only legitimate political system and what is being put into place right now is not. beyond that, there is not a little information. we can verify its authenticity and crucially no information that gives any hint to when it was recorded or perhaps, more crucially, where it was recorded. where gadhafi could be now. carol, alina. >> phil, no surprise that the

accusations are flying between those loyal to gadhafi and the rebels. the latest is that the head of libya's new transitional council reports that forces loyal to gadhafi are massacring and starving innocent citizens. is there any truth to that from where you are, from what you can see? >> well, it is difficult to look at their claim specifically because we're not allowed into that city at the moment. they're making very specific claims at the moment about human rights abuses. they claim 12 people were executed. 12 people that support the rev lose. they also talk about how rough conditions are there for the civilians right now. we've been down to the checkpoint closest to that city, as close as we can get. we have spoken to people who have been able to leave and they have been saying for some time there is no food, there is no water and the basics are in very short supply. lots more people would like to leave, but they don't have

vehicles to get out of town. absolutely, that is true. the key question is, what do the transitional council and fighters going to do about it? they have been trying to take this city by military force now for some time now and all efforts and tactics to do so have effectively, failed, really. it seems for the moment the pro gadhafi forces within the city continue to be able to repel them. >> phil black reporting live from southern libya this morning. so, with that report, i mean -- >> just kind of odd that president obama and the new libyan leadership preparing for face-to-face talks today at the united nations. the president arrived in new york yesterday for the new york general assembly and this morning the future of libya is on the line. >> for more on this, senior correspondent richard roth is joining us. what exactly does the white house hope to achieve by meeting with the transitional council this morning? >> to better put a framework in place for moving forward for the

next libya. i mean, this is really the end game we're seeing playing out. barring any stunning reversals there. another general assembly session. i recall one where one of the member countries have had such conflict right at the same time and the deposed leader is sending out audiotapes and fighting is going on. >> it's strange. >> always something different or interesting. usually a coup or something and also having the security council a few months ago pass a resolution, which really led to gadhafi's downfall. the u.s. and others will gather today. obama meeting with the chairman of the national transitional council to say, what's your plan? how are you going to make it a more inclusive government, including remnants of the opposition so that we don't have an iraq-type situation, although everyone is saying libya is not iraq. >> so divisive. >> i'm sorry. people were worried about extremists becoming part of the

government, too. >> we saw what happened in iraq with the dismantling of the baath party and some more people should have been kept on. there is a system in place. libya's coming back quickly. originally, there was a big water problem in tripoli and things like that, but the u.n. will be on the ground. expertise used to revitalizing countries. we saw phil black and the images on the battlefield. it's quite differently from the suits and ties look at the batt battlefield. >> another key story going on, palestinian president mahmoud abbas calling for palestinian statehood. what is the latest on that front? >> that is still on the table. and the palestinians are going to get as much mileage and leverage out of this as they can and they're frustrated and they would like to have their own state, not as easy as that sounds. they need security council approval first and the u.s. says now is not the time to do this. they plan to veto and israel says this is a destructive tactic and the palestinians beg to differ. we're not going to find out

anything on the timetable of all this until friday. they could submit it to the security council and sit there for weeks and months. it's unclear. there's a momentum going to revitalize doing something but we'll sit here years from now talking about the same admission. >> richard roth, thank you so much. coming up in ten minutes, we'll be joined by john negroponte whether the palestinian's bid for statehood would go through and if it does what it means for israel, the middle east and also the united states. across the country gay rights groups plan to stage celebrations marking the end of the policy that banned gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. >> don't ask, don't tell now history after 18 years on the books. chris lawrence live at the pentagon with details on the new guidelines. take it away, chris. >> carol, alina, the military has been taking applications for

the last several weeks today they'll start processing that applications. for some of the 13,000 people who were kicked out under don't ask, don't tell, they may find it a bit harder to get back in. hundreds of american troops who got kicked out of the military for being gay or lesbian are about to get hit, again, with a reality check. >> if i was trying to go back in active duty right now versus reserves, the navy wouldn't take me in the job i was doing before. >> reporter: jeremy johnson was discharged in 2007. you basically wrote a letter to your commanding officer outing yourself. >> i did. it wasn't something that i wanted to do. it was something that deep down i felt i was forced to do in order to kind of maintain my sanity. >> reporter: mike had finished a tour in iraq and had been recommended for promotion to lieutenant colonel. then he was outed by another officer and kicked out of the air force. >> obviously, i had a five-year gap at this point in my career.

nothing will fully repair the damage that was done to my career, but i'm hoping to get back in there and where i left off and resume my career. >> reporter: both are applying to get back in, but the repeal don't ask, don't tell is no guarantee. >> i'll be honest. i talked to people who wanted to go back in and they started making the phone calls to recruiters and they found out that their set of circumstances just wouldn't allow it. and there's let down. i mean, you could hear it in their voice. >> reporter: some are too old now. their specialties are now longer needed or their jobs are fully staffed. the military is getting smaller and more people are staying in. and the pentagon says, service members who separated under don't ask, don't tell, will be evaluated according to the same criteria applicable to all others seeking reentry. in other words, there's no waiver. >> i think it would be awesome if that could happen, but i know the hard truth is that it's not

practical. >> yeah, that's because the year jeremy got out of the service, the military was taking in about 15,000 people who had prior service. they were allowed to get back in. last year, that number had dropped to less than 5,000. with the current budget crunch, the only way you could give waivers to say 1,000 people discharged under don't ask, don't tell, is to take another 1,000 people out of the current military. >> yeah, chris. i'm always amazed i talked to so many gay men and women who were kicked out of the service because somebody outed them, yet, they want to rejoin. they want to serve their country. this is kind of sad that they still won't be able to. >> well, carol, you know, a tremendous sense of loyalty among military members. a lot of people asked that question. it's a great one. if someone feels they haven't been given a fair shake, why would they want to get back into the same company, so to speak. you talk to a lot of people and they say because they don't think of it as a calling. on a practical side, a lot of

people were on a real career trajectory. you get kicked out after 12, 14 years, you don't qualify for the pension. >> it's just like, it's just so sad to me. so, what happens from here on out? it's just normal every day. if you want to join the service, you go in and sign up and don't worry about it. >> you talk to people, it's more a matter of maybe someone putting a picture on their desk, not coming out in some big public press conference saying anything. but it does present some real problems for the military going forward because gay marriage is not recognized under the federal government, which means the military can't recognize it and you may have situations down the road where say, you know, a partner, you know, is not allowed to join a spousal support group when his partner goes off to war or a same-sex couple that are already married in one state, military moves them to another state. well, their marriage is no longer recognized. there's some thorny problems

that not only the military but the federal government will have. >> hopefully they'll work those things out as we go along. but it's a big first step. chris lawrence, live at the pentagon, thanks. >> you know about this hbo documentary that looked very deeply at don't ask, don't tell. it debuted at midnight when it was repealed and will play again tonight at 8:00. there was one woman who served who said, i love my country, i will fight to protect it, even if it won't do the same for me. i will never forget that. it is so sad and it is one of those cavcaveats, you say it's n repealed, but, yes, 14,000 people, some of them want to get back. it's frustrating. >> you join the military for love of country. most people don't join the country because they want a paycheck. you know, love of country means a lot to people and it's just sad that they can't easily get back into the service once they've been kicked out by the country they love. but that won't happen any more.

>> we'll talk to two people who were featured in that documentary later this hour at 8:40 eastern. we'll talk with former congressman patrick murphy, who led the fight to repeal don't ask, don't tell. he actually wrote the legislation and air force fighter victor fehrenbach who faced discharge. we'll talk to the former ambassador to iraq, john negroponte about the loomb application for statehood. what will this winter be like? we're not even in fall yet. colder than normal? super snowy or not so bad? rob has an early look at the forecast for december, coming up. it's 13 minutes after the hour, we're back after this. [ male announcer ] this is the network.

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that was a good song. >> that is a good song. >> i don't think she's satellites are so gentle. >> not at 300 pounds. 20-year-old satellite, get this, is expected to crash into the earth's atmosphere this friday. it's now falling from space. and nasa officials say once it hits, it will break into pieces. now, officials say there is little risk to public safety or property, but if you find one of the satellite pieces, don't touch it. call police. >> yeah, i bet. i hope they do that but, rob, if you see a piece of this weerld thi thing on the ground, i'd want to examine it. >> curiosity would take over at that point. >> you know what that did, that killed the cat. >> no one has been hurt or killed by falling debris by a satellite and very unlikely that

happens ever, including this coming thursday, friday, or saturday when that satellite is expected to fall out of orbit and somewhere across the earth. thankfully most of the earth is covered with water, so, hopefully, that will fall in the ocean. la nina, we not it was going away and now it's come back and that means we could have a replay, an encore presentation of what happened last winter. snow across parts of the west, northwest and western great lakes. a drier than average here. that's not good news for the drought-stricken areas of texas. as far as the colder temperatures are concerned, we will probably see more in the way of arctic invasion, especially on the eastern half of the country. cooler than average temperatur s expected across this area. you couple cooler with average with wetter than average and that's the forecast from the climate prediction center or best chances for seeing a fairly harsh winter. western great lakes potentially the east coast. all right showers across the

east coast today. light rain from this front. this is a stronger front, more like what you're seeing out for fall. in between those two fronts, we have a fair amount of fog. chicago is under a ground stop because of that and, of course, still hurricane season watching this disturbance out there in the atlantic ocean, carol. so far it's developing, but very far away. not to worry just yet. >> i won't. you are always right about these things. 18 minutes past the hour. while diplomats and world leaders tackle tough issues at the u.n. general assembly today, the big story of the week unfolding on friday. when they request membership in and recognition as a state. here to talk about that developing story and potential impact in israel and in the middle east. john negroponte. welcome. >> thank you. >> if you had your big crystal ball in front of you, what do

you suppose will happen on friday? >> mr. abbas will make his speech and he will propose that the membership of palestine be put to vote in the security council and then i think we'll have to take it from there. not certain what will happen after that. >> now, i have heard there is still fierce negotiations going on with the united nations trying to convince mr. abbas not to do this. >> exactly. three days could be a long time in the history of a negotiation. he has until friday to make his speech. everybody is here in town. there certainly is the opportunity for a lot of behind the scenes diplomacy. >> explain to americans what the consequences might be if the security council votes to allow the palestinian territory to become a state. >> if that gets submitted to the security council and it actually comes to a vote, don't forget, it can be submitted to the council and then quite a bit of

time can pass with debate and backroom discussions and everything else. but let's assume at some point if it gets put to a vote, i'm quite confident the united states would veto this. we believe this is an issue that needs to be resolved through negotiation and not by security council decision. it will get vetoed. >> that will put the united states in a bad spot, even though it appears it's standing up for israel in this instance. >> it will raise the political temperature, if you will. i think it may exacerbate, a little bit, if you will israel's isolation. i don't think it will change the situation on the ground and i don't think it will improve things. i sincerely hope that is where this end up. >> a lot of people think this will inflame things and many op-eds written about this. actually, let's start with governor rick perry because he's running for president on the republican side and he wrote an op-ed and it actually appeared

in the jerusalem post last week and this is what he said, "untorchinate errors by the obalm odd ministration have encouraged the palestinians to take steps backward away from peace. it was an even greater mistake for president obama to distance himself from israel and seek engagement with the hostile regimens in syria and iran. palestinian leaders have perceived this as a weakening of relations between israel and the united states." >> i think we remain a very strong friend of israel and i'm confident that we will support them in the security council and i think it's widely accepted within the administration that our strongest ally in the middle east is the country of israel. >> so, when you hear politicians saying the obama administration has thrown israel under the bus, what should we take from that? >> that's politics. i don't think it's really true and i'm confident that our support for israel will continue to be unwavering and i think it

is in the interest of peace in the region that we do support them because i think it's a confident israel, not an insecure israel that will take the kind of steps that are necessary to achieve peace. >> some people who write op-eds place the blame squarely on israel. i'll read you something that thomas friedman wrote in "new york times." he wrote it this week. "the crumbling of key pillars of israel's security, the peace with egypt and the stability of syria and the friendship of turkey and jordan coupled with the most diplomatically inept and strajically placed. this has also left the united states government fed up with israel's leadership but hostage to its inepiitude." that's part of why this is happening. >> remember, nixon in china. nixon was the great adversary in china.

no one thought he could make peace and overtures to china and he did. mr. netanyahu may be in the same kind of position. i certainly don't think you can blame mr. netanyahu for the arab spring, those are events well beyond israel's control. if you think about it, you have to be sympathetic to their situation. they are surrounded by the instability and turmoil. they have to defend the existence of their state. >> you will listen to events closely this week. >> absolutely. >> i hope you come back. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> alina. >> carol, thanks. a check of the morning markets is next. what is the number one most valuable company in america? we'll tell you. it's 24 minutes after the hour. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

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welcome back. it's 27 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning. right now stock futers for the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 are up. investigators are getting a

boost. investors getting a boost this morning from strong gains in european markets overnight. the federal reserve is searching for ways to jump start the u.s. economy in a two-day meeting that starts today. speculation is growing and the fed will revive a program known as operation twist. the goal to keep long-term interest rates down and fuel economic growth. the u.s. is reportedly looking into whether there was any insider trading done ahead of the s&p's downgrade and the credit rating last month. according to "wall street journal" subpoenas sent to several hedge funds. even without steve jobs, apple is exceeding exxon as the world's most valuable company worth a whopping $362 billion. this after shares of the tech giant closed at an all-time high. 412 bucks. still ahead, explosive charges that the obama white house was a hostile work environment for top female advisors. "american morning" is back

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breaking news we're watching for you here at cnn. fire crews are on the scene of a towering fire in oklahoma. live picture there's. the fire was started after a drilling rig exploded late yesterday. we're watching this story very, very closely. folks living within one-mile radius of the fire have been evacuated. authorities say they will let the fire burn itself out. >> not much else you can do with

those kind of fire. the national transitional council forces in libya seizing control of the airport in sabha. cnn is the only team there. these pictures are exclusive to us. we're also getting reports that ntc troops have captured other parts of the syrian libya capital. syrian television is playing an audiotape message reportedly made by exiled libyan leader moammar gadhafi. in it, gadhafi says the will of the libyan people will prevail and his regime cannot be overthrown. president obama scheduled to meet with the chairman of the libyan chair council at the united nations today and this afternoon come face-to-face with harmid karzai of afghanistan. tonight the president will speak at the democratic national committee. sex, drugs and bilemia all

there in a new book on sarah palin called "the rogue." earlier on "american morning" he was with us. mcginnis told us many of his sources were anonymous for good reason. >> the palins scare people. the palins intimidate. they threaten. people in wasilla are very scared of the palins. they fear retribution and people who wouldn't meet me socially because if sarah found out, anything could happen. sarah palin lived an outrageous life and all i did was talk to people about it and they documented it for me. when i was comfortable with the harassty of what i heard, i put it into the book. a lot of things i wasn't comfortable with, i didn't put it in the book. >> he has his critics who said he did a hatchet job on palin. "the rogue," by the way, hits book stores today. talking about books.

an explosive new book out today by ron suskin. it portrays the early obama administration as a boys club. >> christina romer is quoted as saying, she felt like a piece of meat after being shutout of a meeting. anita dunn said the obama white house fit all the requirements for a hostile workplace to women. >> cnn's brian todd has more. >> reporter: for a best-selling author, serious brushback from the white house that depicts in the obama early days. in his book "confidence men" ron suskind said they had doubt whether they could handle the economic crisis. former director of the national

economic council is quoted as saying in 2009, we're home alone. no adult in charge. clinton would have never made these mistakes. we couldn't reach summers for comment, but in an e-mail to "washington post" the hearsay attributed to me is a combination of fiction, distortion and words taken out of context. >> i lived the retality and the reports i read about this book bear no resemblance to the reality we live together. >> reporter: timothy geithner responding saying that president obama decided early on to restructure several banks but discovered that his directive was ignored by the treasury. >> absolutely not. i would never do that. i spent my life in public service. >> reporter: gloria borger says in books like this they try to bolster their own legacies or settle scores. would it lead, do you think, some kind of fingerpointing behind the scenes and people looking over their own shoulder?

saying i have to watch what i say to anyone. >> this is washington. people figure who is the source for that? i bet it came from him or came from him. >> reporter: a defiant white house press secretary launched an offensive against suskind. when cnn followed up with the white house after that briefing, they indicated that he was referring to a passage about the federal mortgage firm fannie mae, as first reported by politico. "in 1968, it became a publicly held corporation to remove its debt and related activities from the federal balance sheet." the wikipedia said it converted to a publicly held corporation. the claims about wikipedia and the other claims. suskind spen more than 700 hours

with individuals writing the book. harper collins is proud to be publishing it. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> the author of that book will be on wolf blitzer's show tomorrow "the situation room." >> can't wait to see that. meanwhile, coming up, don't ask, don't tell is done. openly gay people can now serve in the u.s. military. up next, the former congressman who led the fight to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" he wrote the legislation. and a fighter pilot who faced the threat of discharge from the air force for being gay. we'll have their reaction to this landmark day, next. it's 37 minutes after the hour. it's what they do. accept it. you can't change the way banking works. just accept it, man. free ? doesn't close at five ? try nature.

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good morning, washington. it's cloudy and 65 degrees expecting a few showers later. 76, but not too shabby. >> not too shabby at all for september. prefall. welcome back. it's official, "don't ask, don't tell" is history but not before thousands of military men and women were discharged for being

gay. the highest ranking service member to be kicked out, colonel margaret cameronmier. she's featured in a new hbo documentary. >> humiliating to have to sit in front of these elder statesmen and their pontification about me. >> we have to give up some of our constitutional rights. we have to give up degree of privacy. if you feel that intensity and that patriotic that you want to serve, give up a little something. >> we have, sir. >> the documentary, "the strange history of don't ask, don't tell" premieres tonight on hbo. features our next two guests congressman patrick murphy and lieutenant colonel victor fahernbach. thank you, both, for being with us. on such a happy day, too. >> it's great day. >> i just showed you guys this

from the under secretary of defense and it officially repeals "don't ask, don't tell." as i hand this to you, because you have fought it, how does that feel? how does it feel when you're looking at it? >> it's pretty awesome. yeah, to know that patriotic americans can now serve our country and they don't have to lie about who they are as a person is a pretty special day in american history. >> let's talk to heroes like you, decorated hero like you. when you look at that, what do you think? what goes through your mind? >> this means more than my retirement paperwork, i think. that to me, i had my ceremony a couple weeks ago, an end to my personal battle. but today as patrick mentioned, this means the fight's over for everyone. there are 65,000 others out there today that can put on their uniform and drive on to their base and go into work and they no longver to hide or lie.

they can serve with dignity and honor. >> did you ever think this day would come? >> absolutely not. when i first took on this battle and decided to fight publicly, i thought i would do what i can to make a dent and any impact i can and i never dreamed this day would come. >> patrick y wanted to ask you. the first iraqi war veteran to be elected to congress. you wrote the legislation. i think it's important to point out that you're straight and you are married. what was it about your experience that said to you, i've got to be an advocate for this? >> you know, i was a cadet at a small catholic college, kings college, i joined the army back in 1993 and, you know, alina, i saw so many great leaders get thrown out of the military just because they were gay. when you serve in baghdad like i did, you could care a less who people are writing home to. you just cared, could they jump out of that plane and handle their rifle. you know, to know that there is 13,000 folks kicked out of the

military just because it was gay and cost the american taxpayer $1.3 million and the far right wing was so against this, but we stood up for change. you know, to serve in the congress and be able to be a team that got this and made it become a reality. >> you talk about the 13,000 people that were kicked out, or more, including 54 arab lingu t linguists prior to 2003. what kind of damage do you think was done as a result of this? >> how it affected us. i'm with an infantry combat brigade. we didn't have interpreters and translators embedded with us. we had to hire local iraqis. they were great, but not part of the team that knew how to handle a weapon. that's what i saw on the ground. it was 138 degrees in baghdad. here's our guy, graduated from the university of notre dame, fighter pilot, a great hero.

does great, he was protecting the skies when i'm in baghdad in '03. and then they put him on desk duty because they found out, oh, this guy's gay and has someone back at home. it is crazy. it is crazy. you know, i was only in congress for four years and it was a blessing to serve my country and my military. >> you say you lost your seat, in part, because you fought to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." >> that's what a lot of folks say. i don't know if that is the case. i will tell you, you know, for me, it wasn't about re-election. i cared about re-election. i worked my tail off for it. i have a daughter, maggie murphy, she's 4 years old and she's going to be in college 15 years from now and i want her to be proud of what her daddy fought for her. >> victor, i want to ask you a question. one thing that struck me in watching the documentary was someone said, if you think about it, don't ask is really a myth because you get asked all the time about your life.

in particularly, i was thinking when you're in a tour of duty situation and you want to bond with your fellow troops, isn't that what you want to know? are you married? do you have kids? who do you write home to? who do you get care packages from? how did you deal with that? >> it was difficult and it's a bird on the 65,000 out there currently serving. now we can say that it's over, but, yeah, you're right. it is a myth because you're constantly asked to lie every day. little things like what did you do this weekend? who did i see you at the mall with? you have to constantly make up stories and constantly think of lies. integrity is the basis. i mean, it's one of the core values of every military service. and to have to do that, to the brothers and sisters that you fight with to constantly lie to them. it is a burden that we should never ask brave americans who just want to serve their country to do. >> explain this to me because there are many gay americans who are kicked out of the service because of this policy, "don't

ask, don't tell." a lot of them want to get back into the service. some people might say, oh, they did me wrong. i don't want it go waback to th. but these military men and women do. why? >> that's hard to explain just because i think there's a sense of duty that i felt as a child even. i know part of it came from my parents served in the air force. when you want to serve your con, you either have it in you or you don't. there are thousands that want to go back in and serve and i hope they can. as i understand, it will be a case-by-case basis. anyone who want to serve their country today can do that whether they're gay or straight. >> i think it's important to note what he said. i mean, we serve because we love our country. to crawl through the mud in ft. knox, kentucky, i wish i could have been to the jersey shore. we did that for our country and we went through that training. i will say that this is an incredible step today and there

are a lot of americans that should be proud, but it's only one step. i know in pennsylvania 70% of americans could be fired at the workplace just because they're gay. you know, we can launch a website, one rulebook.com. but we're continuing to fight for equality. when i taught at westpoint, i was 27 when i taught at west point but when i was there they thought i was a cadet and when i was there, i taught constitutional law. that's the oath. in that constitution, we had protection clause. listen, i know a lot of republican presidential candidates that own leget rid of some clause of the constitution, maybe equal protection clause. i don't know. the fact that makes our country great. it doesn't matter what sex you are, what race you are, what religion you are. we're all americans and that's what makes our country great. now, he can serve our country in uniform no matter what your

sexual oria orientation are. the fight isn't over. >> thank you for joining us this morning. we sure appreciate it and congratulations. that's awesome. former representative patrick murphy and colonel victor fahrenbach. 49 minutes after the hour. we're back after this. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol

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that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. we did not expect this decision to come so quickly. but breaking news this morning. the georgia parole board has denied clemency to troy davis. davis had been scheduled to die by lethal injection tomorrow. he was convicted of the 1989 murder of mark mcfaal. seven of the nine people who testified against this man either recanted or changed their stories. of course, the victim's family,

they have snow doubt that troy davis is guilty, but because the georgia patrol board has denied him clemency, that means he will likely die by lethal injection, maybe as soon as tomorrow. david mattingly is hurrying to the set. we will ask him if this case might go to the supreme court. i don't know the answer to that, but david mattingly does. meanwhile, in today's human factor, a world leader who is beating the odds. dilma is the first female president of brazil. also the first woman to give the opening address at the united nations general assembly meeting. >> she is a cancer survivor, as well. dr. sanjay gupta joins us live from the united nations. this woman is an amazing person. what do you know about her? >> well, the number of obstacles she had to overcome really remarkable. you should remember that name,

as you said, brazil's first female president. this woman, who was a revolutionary back in the '70s part of the left wing guerilla move lt. she was captured and told never to be part of government again. she rebounded from that and became a governor of one of the states over there and eventually chief of staff to the president and now the president. she also, in the middle of last few years, developed nonhodgkins lymphoma and got treated. the famous speech where she lifted her wig to say, look, i got treated. i am now in remission from this disease. she's quite a figure in brazil and, you know, a human factor in terms of all the obstacles she's overcome. >> sanjay, what is she expected to say when she addresses the united nations today? >> well, you know, one of the big topics here is with regard to health. you know, i will say brazil in many ways a country of best

practices that other countries are looking to, certainly in terms of their economy, as you like to know. also in terms of their health. let me give you a couple examples. talking about prevention, not just early screening, but prevention of disease is something she is focused on. $2.8 billion program to try to prevent many types of cancers, including breast cancer and cervical cancer. this is something she is very focused on. also looking at building hospitals and health centers around the country that, again, focus on this idea of prevention. something that we talk about a lot in the united states, but this is a woman who is really taking it to heart in brazil, spending that money and making the case that spending this money now even in the billions of dollars could save lots of money for brazilian citizens later on. ke >> dr. sanjay gupta live from the united nations live here in new york city. thanks, sanjay. 55 minutes past the hour. with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism.

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all right. more on our breaking news. the georgia parole board denying clemency to troy davis. that means he loses his case. let's head to atlanta and talk to david mattingly. fill us in, david. >> we just got this press release and they say it's unconscionable they that denied relief to troy davis, allowing a man being sent to death under an enormous cloud of doubt about his guilt. that from amnesty international which has been heading up the efforts to keep him alive. this has been 20 years in the making. troy davis has already had three

previous dates with execution here in the state of georgia for the murder of a savannah police officer. this, his fourth, and apparently final time. he will face lethal injection tomorrow evening. his case has attracted the attention of large organizations in the united states. there have been numerous people, influential people including former president jimmy carter and former head of the fbi. also, sfoeupporting his cause, hundreds of thousands of people across the world signing petitions in favor of clemency for davis. but that, apparently, did not work with the georgia board of pardons and paroles. they have denied him clemency and he has, at this point, appeared to have exhausted all legal means of relief here. so, it appears that he will be keeping his fourth and possibly final appointment with lethal injection on georgia's death row.