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tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  March 12, 2012 8:00pm-9:00pm PDT

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>> so who knows what's going to happen with this rear rocket lawsuit. perhaps it's going to set a precedent. perhaps the frat house will be put on double secret probation. perhaps he'll be awarded a ton of money and the whole darn fraternity will be end up in arrears. if they can make one drunk frat dude think twice about letting a rocket out of his arse, then "ridulist" will have been worth it. erin burnett starts right now.
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geen, everyone. out front tonight, we have breaking news. new details are coming out about the army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 afghan civilians, including nine children. now, this is that house to house rampage that happened yesterday. and here is the very latest about the suspect. we have learned that the staff sergeant is in his 30s and was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury after a vehicle rollover accident in 2010 in iraq. now, he was treated for that and then found fit for duty. he has served several tours in iraq. this, though, was his first deployment to afghanistan. now, we also know that he's a qualial qaeda -- qualified infantry sniper, which means he's trained to kill at 800 meters. he remains in nato custody tonight. we do have some new details about how the u.s. military learned about the i think ncide
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what happened as soon as they found out. chris, what more can you tell us? >> one of the biggest tipoff was when these afghan villages showed up at the base, carrying their wounded saying someone had been shooting at them. before that happened, this soldier apparently left the base, walked ute of the gate about 3:00 in the morning. the afghan security guards who were manning the security gate knew that was not right. they called their american counterparts. the u.s. military did a head count and figured out that this soldier was the only one missing. they then scrambled a helicopter into the air to start looking for the soldier, but by that time, before the helicopter could locate him, he actually came back into the base, walked in, gave himself up. and from what officials are telling us, he invoked his right not to talk about what had happened. i'm curious about the suspect's family.
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what can you tell us about the suspect's family, what we know about his wife and child at this time. >> exactly. he's married, he's got a couple of kids. he's about 38 years old. you mentioned he had done several tours in iraq. we know that the family was moved to that base over the weekend for their own safety. there's also some procedures being put in place in afghanistan because there's worry about other troops for potential retaliation. security has been raised across the board in all bases and some individual outposts are doing their own security precautions, such as adding guards to guard the barracks at night, just in case there is retaliation for this latest attack. >> thank you. the military base near seattle washington where the suspect was stationed. in december 2010, the stars and stripes military newspaper said
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the military installation had gained a reputation, quote, the most troubled base in the military. and just take a look at recent incidents involving joint base louis mccord. three soldiers suffered mental breakdowns after they returned from afghanistan. two of them were shot to death by police. again, this is according to the reporting in the "stars and stripes" military yup nooup. that same year, 12 soldiers on that base committed suicide. and on new year's day this year, a former soldier from the base is believed to have shot a washington park ranger to death. we're following the story at lewis mcchord tonight. what are you hearing tonight? >> an army veteran stationed here who runs a coffee shop
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right outside the base sort of doubles as an advocacy center for soldiers here he calmed the joint lewis-mcchord base a rogue base. there's an investigation going on by the surgeon general of the army looking into how folks at this base dealt with post traumatic stress disorder and whether there are allegations out there that some of these soldiers were given diagnoses that were less severe than they should have gotten and that was an effort to save folks money. we also talked to a current soldier who spent 13 years in the army, including two tours in iraq. after his second tour in iraq, he got back and says that he said he needed some help. he told his superiors that. he says they reacted with skepticism and made it very difficult for him to get treatment.
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>> the idea that they just didn't care that i was asking for help was sort of shocking to me. if it was a physical injury, you know, what they were doing was akin to sticking their finger in the bullet hole and just twisting it. >> we asked that senior noncommissioned officer if he was surprised about the incident over the weekend in afghan. he said absolutely not. he said he's had fellow soldiers being asked to go back into combat when they weren't ready to do so and perhaps would make a bad decision while they were over there. and we have no idea whether post traumatic stress disorder was an issue in the shooting over the weekend, but it is something that is definitely a concern here. erin? >> all right, thank you very much. we're going to have much more on post traumatic stress disorder later on in our program. did you know that fewer than 40%
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of american soldiers who suffer from it actually get help. well, by the end of the year, the u.s. defense department will have spentd a total of $555 billion on the war in afghanistan. in 2010, the u.s. sent an additional 30,000 troops to the regi region at a cost of $36 billion. 91,000 american troops are still on the ground in afghanistan. and the human toll is devastating. in terms of u.s. military deaths, there have been more than 1,78 0 of them since operation enduring freedom began. but compare that to the afghan deaths, because last year alone, 3,021 civilians were killed. has any of this been worth it? and what happens to the mission in afghanistan now. recently in a senior advise ror, phil carter is a former army officer and former pentagon official gr the obama administration. good to have both of you with us. seth, let me start with you. what happens from hereby.
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is this something that becomes a turning point if the burning of the korans was not one? 4. >> there has to be several things. there have to be condolences to the local population that this was an injustice done to local tribes. and second, they have to see justice being done in this case. that has to be done quickly. i think afghans have to see that something is moving fairly quickly on the justice front. >> as more and more troops leave, u.s. soldiers or fus forces working with afghan, hand in hand, side by side. is that even possible at this point?
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>> if only this incident were the only thing we have to worry about, there's a trust deficit caused by the burning of the korans. there's a trust deficit caused by the shooting of the two officers at the ministry of the interior. there's a trust deficit becaused by our relationship in pakistan. we have a much broader problem as we try to develop the afghan government and security forces to enable us to transition out. i agree that justice has to be done, but this is hardly the only problem. if anything, this reveals some of the limitations of our current strategy, but it's by no means the only thing we have to worry about. >> seth, one thing that was interesting, you said the reaction from the korans was worse than the reaction of killing the 16 civilians. what did you mean?
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>> the afghan villagers have faced 30 years of warfare. they've seen children, brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers killed over the past three decades in a sense, while i don't want to understate how significant this is, in this has become a reality for afghans. the burning of the koran gets to a religious issue that i think has a potential to be much more national in focus than a very local incident. so i see this has being different in that sense. >> and phil, obviously you served in the obama administration and the pentagon. so let me ask you this question -- if this doesn't improve, the obama administration goes back on what the president said today, which is his withdrawal timetable is not affected. but if that were to change, how quickly could they even accelerate it, right? supposedly the united states is supposed to be out of afghanistan by the end of 2014. if the next month you decide to speed that up, could he?
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>> he can speed it up if he wants to, but the association of the sofa, status of forces, this incident and the decision to try him in front of a military court as opposed to an 56 gan court is likely going to frustrate any negotiations we have. as we saw in iraq, that was the end of the mission. if you can't get to a s.o.f.a. and figure out the relationship, the relationship ends. >> thanks very much to bowe both of you. interesting point. obviously it was also an issue of whether u.s. troops will be subject to iraqi justice. coming up, i know you probably all think no pay will motivate congress to get something done. and obama's approval rating has taken a surprise hit. we know why. and a couple awarded millions of dollars.
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today's congress, the least popular and least productive in history. how do you turn it around? what if if they don't get anything done, they don't get paid. this would really be a problem, i think, because it's been more than 1,000 days since the last joint budget resolution.
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if you said you don't get paid until you get a budget, that's a heck of a lot of dpas with no pay. all right, this is one of the potential reforms that's gong to be receiving a senate hearing this wednesday that might really turn the tide in terms of congress getting things done and being liked perhaps a little bit while they're doing it. john avlon has a preview for us tonight. all right, john, so more than 1,000 day since the last joint budget resolution. no, ma'am budget, no pay. maybe they'll get one done. >> if you don't pass a budget on time, you don't get paid on time. maybe that's what it takes to focus the mind of congress to start doing their job. that's one of the proposals that's going to be forwarded. the senate hear on wednesday that's going to start trying to take on congressional reforms to maybe change this dysfunctional culture that we've seen in congress. >> the average salary on capitol hill, $174,000, right? this is a lot of money. >> absolutely. you need to change the incentive structure. the incentives in congress is all screwed up.
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>> that's just a really great idea. okay, filibuster reform. 100 used in the past two years. i think it's safe to say that would be some sort of highly exponential increase from history? >> this might blow your mind. filibuster was only used 35 times in the first 50 years of the congress. so we have seen an exponential increase. the idea of what the filibuster was, remember "mr. smith goes to washington." jimmy stewart taking that lone stand of principle, trying to get people's attention. now it's just a routine parliamentary maneuver. it's done every day to stop votes in process. just a rules change, bring it back to the way it was. if you want to filibuster something, you do it on the floor. >> i like that one, too. up or down vote for presidential appointees. this has been painful, both democrats and republicans. they love to do this. just hold up the other guy's apaintees. during the financial crisis, we didn't even have a full fed. i think that was unpat ottawaic. can it change? >> that's what we' got to do.
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this is part of the senate's advise and consent. it's a basic rule. but as you said, it's gotten worse every single congress since really ronald reagan. we've got nearly 200 federal appointments unfilled. the federal judgeships, fed, treasury, et cetera, et cetera. up or down vote, 90 days to vet a nominee. if you don't get it done, the guy or gal should be automatically confirmed. that would be up or down 90 days. a step in the right direction. >> all of these thins the way you present them make so much sense. but then they've got to pass congress. will it happen? >> it will if congress starts feeling the pressure and starts seeing if they want their approval rating to improve, they need to start taking action. all of these ideas were part of reforms by a group called no label, which i helped co-found. now they're being embraced by some members of congress. no budget no pay now has 40 co-sponsors from 26 different states. that's a step in the right direction. the other two are just rules reforms. if you're frustrated with this divided congress, people need
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congressmen to start hearing from their constituents and start reforming themselves. >> that's exactly what we're going to do here. john is going to be at that hearing and he'll be with us for the next few moments. last week we told you despite the good jobs numbers there were still some economic pitfalls that the president had to focus on. tonight, it happened very quickly. there are some signs that president obama is also falling on some of them. a new cbs poll out put the president's approval rating at 41%. according to cbs' poll, that's the lowest level ever. and a second poll shows 50% of people now strongly disapprove of how the president is handling the economy. that's a 90% jump in just one month. you say wait a minute, employment is getting better. inflation for regular things that we all need to buy like food is getting worse. wages haven't been going up and gas price, obviously the biggest sign of inflation, gallon of gas, now $3.80. that's part of the problem. let's bring in our guests. great to see all of you.
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let me give you the first chance to respond to this, the cbs poll, the highest disapproval rating everive, but the economic poll has got to be frustrating for the president, isn't it? he's been seeing jobs created. >> it's got to be very frustrating. jobs are being created, the economy is picking up. people on other polls are starting to show that they actually feel somewhat better. these polls are a little bit mixed. there was a wall street journal poll last week that showed something different. the numbers i watch are two particular instances. i look at numbers where women are with the president and where latinos are with the president. if you look at those two numbers they really have predicted the last two presidents to get elected. the last two campaigns. george bush in 2004, he only lost women by three percentage points and john mccain lost women by 13 percentage points. the president really has to watch that women number. >> obviously he is courting
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women grely. that comes out a little strange, but i think everyone know what is i might. but the price of gas, interesting now, i.e. inflation, more important than jobs. and by the way, it's not gas. it's milk, it's orange juice, it's everything. >> yeah, and it's also partly -- you have a weaker dollar to encourage exports but that also means the price of gas seems to be higher relative to your paycheck. obama's department of commerce in 2010 had a fascinating study looking at an average family of four earning $50,000, they're spending about $78,000 on driving, on car payments on gasoline, on maintenance. now, that $8,000 when the gas price goes up significantly, that takes out a really, really big chunk out of your budget. that's actually bigger than taxes for that $50,000 household. that's bigger than medical expenditures. i think that it's pretty understandable why that would have an impact on people's broad perception. >> we talked about this poll from cbs which is an overall disapproval rating.
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is it possible some of that is linked to actually an area that has strong for the president which is foreign policy? >> he has conducted a centrist foreign policy. but the sense of storm clouds on the horizon with iran, paying at the pump, people vote their wallets. if they're feeling anxiety, that can translate. we need to see if it's a broader poll rather than just an outlier. >> the headlines out of afghanistan add to a sense of what are we doing and what's our plan? jamal, another number i know you look at, noncollege educated whites in the polls, why is that number important to you? >> the president has never done particularly well this group of voters. in the 2008 pry makers he lost a lot of those voters to senator clinton when she was running. and again, versus john mccain, those weren't the best voters for him when he was running. but again, it's this number of
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women in particular that really matter for him. he's got to really pay attention. he may not be able to make up a lot of ground, but with white women, he can really make up more ground. i think when you saw some of this issue around contraception and other battles going on for the last month, there are a lot of polls, an ap poll, a washington journal poll that shows he's been making up ground when it comes to women. >> in erm terms oof the polls, mitt romney has made quite a comeback in mississippi and alabama. he was trailing and now it's just one and two. >> not just romney, but newt as well. it's almost an unprecedented feat. >> biblical hat trick. >> nicely done. i think romney has found his voice. i think that he could pull off a huge upset. i think this would be a very huge shot in the arm for his
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campaign. triple has rus, a biblical hat trick. appropriate. >> john is on fire tonight. all right, now to a story is that's rocked the medical world and created a firestorm around prenatal testing. a portland, oregon, couple was awarded $2.9 million in a wrongful birth suit after their daughter was unexpectedly born with a downs syndrome. 34-year-old debra levy and her husband were expecting their third child in 2008. . she was told she was having a healthy baby. soon after their daughter's birth, though, they learned she had abnormalities. they sued legacy health center for botching the prenatal test and said they would have aborted the pregnancy if they knew their child had downs syndrome. attorney dave miller said this is a case about the future care of levy's daughter. >> i think the jury was asked to consider, was this medical procedure done negligently and if it was, what are the financial consequences of this
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family. they love this little girl dearly. they have an extended family that provides help every day for this little girl. >> paul is with us, criminal defense attorney and their daughter is now 4. so there is obviously just trang to hear about this. she's 4, they would have aborted. but there's 10 wrongful fwirt cases in the united states each year. if they win, does this set a precede precedent? >> american courts have been hostile to this theory that if there's a birth of a disabled child that you should get compensation if the doctor made some kind of a mistake in prenatal diagnosis of the fetus. you could have doctors' premiums skyrocketing now as a result of the increased costs that will be shifted to doctors who make mistakes in doing prenatal testing. it's an important precedent, but
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we've seen this coming in supreme court courts around the country. the only thing i wanted to say was, you know, people say well, gee, why hasn't courts done this in the past? they haven't because it was sort of thought that the birth of a baby, disabled, nondisabled, downs syndrome or normal was a blessing. and where do the courts get off saying these people schould get extra money because they have a downs syndrome child. so the courts have been hostile to this tleerry but that's changing now. >> and we're seeing more and more older women have children. that's been a trend nationwide. is that something that's going to play into this? these tests, even when they're done correctly are not 100% accurate. >> you're absolutely correct. and i think you see the courts following societal trends. and of course, older mothers are the trend. 30 or 40 years ago, women were
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in their 20s having children. now they're late 30s, early 40s. now they're saying here, if the doctor makes a mistake he's going to have to pay for it. i'm betting these tests are going to cost a lot more money. >> if one thing goes up, it always seems to go up, that's health care costs in america. everyone let us know what you think about this issue on twter. we're going to follow this case. a record-setting viral video about an african war lord. but is it actually accomplishing anything? a child that was profiled in that video talks exclusively to cnn. we'll have that for you. and then a woman escapes from an arranged marriage. she lives in fear and is still fleeing her family. tonight, though, she comes "outfront." look, every day we're using more and more energy.
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on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans?
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we'll start the second half of our show where we do the work and find the outfront five. first, in uh details tonight about the army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 afghan civilian in a rampage in an afghan town yesterday. the staff sergeant is 38 years old and was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after a vehicle rollover incident in iraq in 2010. he was treated for that and found fit for duty. and we reached out to dr. sanjay
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gupta said he's skeptical the injury could cause the suspect to go on a shooting spree. at this time, it's unclear if the suspect was indeed suffering from ptsd or not. dharun ravi did not take the stand in his own defense. he's accused of putting in a web cam that caused tyler clementi to kill himself. closing arguments tomorrow. number three, jerry sandusky's defense attorney says he could file a motion to dismiss. both sides argued over how much information should be released about the alleged victims. sandusky's lawyer wants to know the exact dates and times of the alleged offenses. a decision is expected soon. the former penn state coach faces 52 charges of ten boys.
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and the ford taurus at the scepter of a federal safety investigation. 14 drivers claimed their cars unexpectedly sped up. some drivers say their cars wouldn't stop even with the brakes applied. the vepgs focuses on 360,000 ford tauruss in 2005 and 2006. >>ite it's been 221 day since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? last month's budget deficit was $222 billion. that's not going to help us get back to aaa. but you know what, here's a sign of hope. canada lost its aaa and they got it back. a documentary about a uganda war lord is now officially the most viral video ever. it's called k "konq 2012" a 29-minute video about the leader of the lords resistance army. it's been viewed more than 100 million times in the past week even though critics say it's
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unbalanced and partially not true. a young boy named jacob said snatched by the army when he was just 12 years old. today, david mckenzie tracked him down in rural uganda. he's now in his early 20s and credits the filmmakers with saving his life. >> like for me, if i'm to say it's fair, that would mean that right now, i would have not been able to go to school, not able to talk to me right now because i had no hope in my life. i was, like -- i was at a point with which i say i can't even die now because i thought it was my suffering. >> miguel, this video, it's truly stupendous in such a short period of time. a video which frankly has not short. it's become the most viral video ever. >> it's incredible. it really took off. the fastest growing video views online. in six days it got to 100
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million views. the beat justin bieber's baby, lady gaga's bad romance. it's a 30-minute video. it's sensitive. it's emotional. that young man jacob, david mckenzie tracked him down north of the capital of uganda. he spoke spoke -- jacob spoke to the filmmaker back in 2003 and it's the heart and soul he gives it. here's a little of that video that this young man talked about in 2003. >> he told me more about his broth enand what he would say to him if he were still alive. >> i love you but i miss you. so it is better when we meet, we are not going to meet here, but we may meet in heaven, you see? so it is better. i will not talk because we will start something. i will see my brother once again.
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>> it's just powerful, obviously. but a lot of critics say it didn't tell a fair story or a full story. the ugandan government said look, we've been fighting kony for years. we're certainly not harboring this guy. we' what's the truth? >> he's not in uganda anymore and hasn't been for many years. there's been a very tough campaign that the government has engaged in over the years. two things, the invisible children, they came under fire both for the facts and also for their finances. today, their ceo came out swinging. telling people in his own voice right to camera what he thought of some of those critics. >> in all you see is the 29-minute movie and you try to go to our website and it doesn't
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exist because the traffic crashed it so you're not seeing any information about our programs. you're not understanding that this has been going on for a long time, i understand why a lot of people are wondering, if this just some slick fly by night slacktivist thing when actually it's not at all. >> now, he claims their books have been opened up online, that they are independently verified and at least 80% to 85% of their money goes to perhaps in the field. >> so what about jacob? obviously david mckenzie tracked him down. he was, of course, at the time the boy in the video. is he aware he's a global sensation? this literally could be something that truly transforms this person's life. >> he is. here's a couple of amazing things. in the video from 2003, jacob said he didn't have a future, wasn't sure that he could even go to school, wanted to be a lawyer. he's actually going to law school now, david mckenzie found out. he's four hours north of the capital in this little town way up north in uganda.
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and he knows that this is going on. he knows he's this global sensation. he's a very humble guy but he does not like to watch even the 2012 video because it brings up too many painful memories. >> miguel, thank you very much. up next, a woman flees an arranged marriage, a forced marriage. and now she's still living in fear for her life. she comes out front to tell her story. in syria, women and children stabbed and burned today. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894,
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on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans?
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we do this at the same time err night, our outer circle. we reach out to sources around the world. we begin tonight in syria where opposition activists report that at least 45 women and children were stabbed and burned to death in a massacre in the city of homs. it's just terrible to even say that. the slaughter took place hours after u.n. special envoy of kofi annan met with bashar bashar al assad to try to negotiate a cease-fire. i asked anwar damon how much
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worse the situation has gotten. >> it's hard to imagine the situation getting any worse. government forces and pro government thugs entered the neighborhood and rounded up a number of sunni families. they then separated the men from the women. the men were tortured for two hours according to a survivor, shot at. some of them were set on fire. their corpses were. many of these images are just too disturbing to even broadcast. the children, some of them hadaire throats slit. there were reports that the women were raped before they were killed. the government is blaming this on an armed terrorist gang saying they carried thought massacre. erin? >> anwar, thank you. imagine for being punished for wearing jeans and a t-shirt or beaten for kissing a boy after school. this shockingly came from sabatina's own patients.
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her families lived under strict tribal tra igsin pakistan. when her family moved to austria, she yearned to be a little more westernized. her parents were embarrassed by her behavior and sent her back to pakistan and set up an arranged marriage. when she refused that marriage, her father threatened to kill her, saying, the honor of this family is more important than my life or your life. so at the age of 18, sabatina ran away and has been living on the run for the past 11 years. she comes out front. thank you so much for coming and telling your story. >> thank you. >> you have obviously dedicated your life to helping other women going through this. but first, tell us in your words what happened to you. >> i was born in pakistan 1982 and i migrated to austria when i was 10 years old with my family. i have two brothers and a sister. and my family didn't want me to adjust to the austrian culture because for them, the western culture was evil.
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but i did love my jeans. i did love my classmates and i couldn't imagine why these people were bad people, you know? because in my father's view they were infidels and i did not even drink in the same glass of water. then when i was 16 years old, i went to pakistan. they forced many eto marry my cousin over there. when i are efused the marnl, they left me behind in pakistan and said you won't come back until you marry him. so i was sent to a madrasa so that i could break all western attitudes and follow the examples of traditional pakistani woman. and i came back because i had
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agreed the marriage to my cousin. >> what gave you, at that moment, the courage to literally runaway? i mean, you haven't seen your family since. you've been living an assumed identity. what gave you the courage in that moment to run? >> actually, it's my faith today. i have converted from islam to christianity. and it's my whole mature ration. i think my new faith tells me to love and love reaches out to other people. and this is what i'm doing today. i know what a girl has to suffer when she loses everything and when the people who she loves the most are the one persecuting her. and you have to imagine, we grew up in very sheltered backgrounds. and we have this situation where we do not know how to live your life without your family support. in my situation, people had never heard of forced marriage when i reached out to social
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services. it made it very hard for me to actually get help from these social workers and policemen and so on. that's why it's so important to actually educate the society about this issue. because it's an issue that is everywhere. it's in the u.s. as well. we have a lot of forced marriage cases in america. >> yeah, we were looking at some of those numbers today, 3,000, at least. and those are people who admit that they were forced, to your point, a lot of women don't admit. but it seems to me sort of akin to domestic violence in that sometimes these people, the fathers will follow the daughters and show up, do you know this girl, do you know this girl? they keep looking and looking. >> the difference between domestic violence and this is that in western society, the men is the abuser and everybody sees the man as an abuser. while in my community, the woman is the one who everybody say is the one who is committing the crime because she has shamed the
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society. so people are not against the one who is the abuser, but against the women, you know? so they condemn the women for being like that and not the man. that's the huge difference between domestic violence. >> you spent your life trying to help other people. tell me about your organization and also about your life. tw what's your life like now? have you married? have you moved on? >> my organization, we help women to escape from forced marriage. we find them shelters and even family where is they can stay. they have lost a family, we try to find them a new family. and we give them legal advice as well. we also reach out to politicians in germany and this is where i live today. and educate the society about the issue of forced marriage. today, i have police protection in germany since 2006.
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and i don't go to any public speeches without police protection just because of the danger. and also because i'm rescuing these girls, you have to imagine that these people are after these girls. and me as a convert of islam who has left the faith, i'm even more in danger through that as well, you know? so yeah, i have the police protection since 2006. >> sabatina, thank you so much for sharing your story. i'm sure our viewers will have a lot to say on twitter and our blog. is america failing its veterans? and the ncaa tournament starts tomorrow. there are a number of things you might not know about college basketball's big dance. no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot
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so the ncaa tournament starts tomorrow. i filled out my bracket. it was a long and painful process, but i'm not alone. the fbi and yeah, they're involved, we'll tell you why in a second. they estimate about 60% of american workers are going to fill out a bracket this year. that means $2.5 billion of illegal bets are going to be placed on this tournament. did you know you're breaking the law? office brackets are illegal in most jurisdictions. but that's not the only gray area american workers are going to be exploiting.
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more than 2 million people are expected to watch the games online at work and over the course of the tournament, one jobs firm says that means $1 billion is going to be paid out to people who were not working for that money because they were lazily watching the game. at least be like bob hand and take the day off when you want to watch. seven, that's the number of our staffers that tanded the schools in the tournament. i picked the southern mississippi golden eagles as my cinderella team to get to the final four and i picked the hoyas to beat kentucky in the finals. according to a study by the defense department, 1 in 6 turning soldiers show symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder or ptsd. this often leads to addiction, dmesing violence, also to suicide. and yet, this is a stunning number. less than 40% of veterans that exhibit symptoms of ptsd actually seek help.
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mostly they say because it would make them seem weak and keep them from getting promotions. a former u.s. marine lieutenant served in vietnam and is an advocate for returning soldiers and the author of not just the best seller mat m matterhorn but what it's like to go to war, which has been given to every member of congress. he came out advocating for soldiers with ptsd. >> we're decent people. we've been brought up to not kill anybody. thou shall not kill. suddenly you take a 19-year-old and you you saga and kill. how does a kid handle that? >> he suggested that counseling be mandatory for returning soldiers. that's a big idea and an fortunate one. but there are some smaller things that we could be doing, too. for example, adding veteran designations to driver's licenses. that would be relatively easy
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and help veterans get benefits and discounts from stores without having to carry their discharge papers with them. and more importantly, if they had trouble adjusting to life away from combat and actually engaged with police, just an example, it would be more easily to identify them as a veteran who returned from war. i want to ask you tonight as everybody thinks about this horrific ins dpent that happened in afghanistan over the weekend, do you have ideas on how our country can better serve the veterans who served us overseas? please share them with us online, on twitter, of course, or on our blog. and on that note, here's piers morgan tonight.
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