>> larry: tonight, breaking news, five students missing from the united states. could they be under arrest in pakistan for terrorism? we've got all the latest. and then, war and peace for president obama. he's on his way to oslo to receive the nobel peace prize. why is the man who just ordered 30,000 more troops to afghanistan accepting it? plus, sarah palin's approval ratings are on the rise. the president's are going the other way. the honor tiger woods won't be getting. we'll debate it all next on "larry king live." good evening. five missing muslim men from virginia have been found and arrested in pakistan. the men are from the alexandria area. all in their early 20s. some members of the muslim community alerted authorities on suspicions that the men may have been planning terrorist attacks.

joining us in washington, jeanne me serve, and the director of the council of islamic relations who has spoken to the families of the missing students. he's viewed a videotape left behind by one of the students. he said it disturbed him. and the former muslim chaplain at howard university. knows one of the students. he has spoken to the fbi. jeanne meserve, what do we know? >> we know there are five young men from northern virginia, between 19 and 25, all of them u.s. citizen. one of them a student at howard university. the parents became concerned about the young men's whereabouts. apparently they told the parents they were going to a conference. but when the parents tried to call them on the cell phones, they got a ring that sounded like they were overseas. they were concerned. they went to their religious

elders. that information eventually made it to the fbi. the fbi launched an investigation. one law official tells me that the names of none of these young men had shown up on their radar before. the names of the individuals were passed on to pakistani authorities as persons of interest and then we have the arrests in pakistan. the pakistani authorities are definitive that indeed the young men they picked up were the men missing from virginia. they say they tried to hook up with terrorist groups in pakistan but were not successful in doing so. the u.s. officials are not going that far. their operating belief is that these are the five young men from northern virginia but they cannot confirm that information at this point in time. and they underline that at this point no charges have been filed against anyone. >> larry: do the parents know that the boys were going overseas? >> from what i understand, they were concerned about this. and there was a video left behind by one of the young men.

as it's been described by some of the individuals you'll be talking to here tonight, it was a very disturbing video. and that there were hints in there that these young men were going somewhere. there were images of conflict and an exhortation that young muslims had an obligation to do something. so the families suspected that pakistan was possibly their final destination. that is why the state department reached out and informed pakistani authorities that they might be there. >> larry: you have viewed the video, is that correct? >> yes, i did. >> larry: how did you obtain it? >> the families brought it with them when we connected them with the fbi in the presence of lawyers. >> larry: what disturbed you about it? >> it's almost a typical video that you see on the internet. young ms. hims misled and also a misunderstanding certain verses of the koran juxtaposing images

of conflict to justify actions that they would like to take. that's to me disturbing in light of the fact that these students have been described by their families as upright, engaging, great, you know, sons. >> larry: did it lead you to think they may be up to no good? >> yeah. when you add it together, yeah. i just walked away with that feeling, and i think the same feeling the families had when they watched the video. and that prompted them to contact the leaders of the mosque who also connected them with us. they brought them to our office. let me just take a moment to thank the families for their courage and the leadership of the mosque who trusted us. and we connected them with the fbi in the same day immediately. and both the agency and the families are working together with other organizations to

close this chapter. >> larry: before we continue with any anti-muslim thoughts, that's a very patriotic act on everybody's part. chaplain, you knew one of the missing men. tell us about. >> first, i have to say that i'm the former muslim chaplain at howard university. >> larry: i said that. >> i have attended events on campus in which other students tell me that rami was among the people present in that group. the fbi showed me photographs of individuals who were part of the group they suspect. i didn't recognize any of them from the photographs. but the young men that we're talking about, if they are who i think they are, then they have been active in campus life, active with the interfaith work, doing community service. there was no indication on our part that these individuals could ever have done something

against america or violent in any way. >> larry: chaplain, with what was the student's full name? >> i only know one of the students that they've asked me about. and larry, i'm really trying not to expose the names of these young people until law enforcement release them. >> larry: i got you. fair enough. jeanne, is this a case where it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, that they were going over there to do no good? >> frankly, we just don't know, larry. there are a number of possibilities here. we are well aware of the plethora of cases in recent months with americans becoming radicalized and some of them going overseas. the fear is that this might be modeled on the other cases. you had najibul azazi who went to pakistan and got training in camps there and it's alleged by officials.

they claim he came back to the intent of staging an attack here. and you have the somali men who went from minneapolis to fight with the affiliated group in somalia. and the great fear is that perhaps these young men had some intention to do one or the other, wage jihad overseas or come back and do something here. i will tell you one law enforcement source says there are no charges that have been brought here. this is still very much an investigation. they say the hints that they've seen thus far in the investigation lead them to believe that their intention was to do something overseas. to wage jihad. >> larry: we'll be following up on this tomorrow night. thank you, thank you very much very much. two experts on terrorism tell us what they think on all this next. [ female announcer ] get more of what you love when you create

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it's always been a concern. we have been well aware of the threats that we continue to face along with friends and allies around the world. we know that much of the training and the direction for terrorists comes from pakistan and the border area with afghanistan. >> larry: we're back with cnn's

national security analyst. "new york times's" best-selling author of "the osama bin laden i know" and "holy war inc.." and a fellow at nyu center for law and security. he was part of the cnn special "in the footsteps of bin laden." what do you make of this story? >> you have five american citizens going off to pakistan, flying very much under the radar screen. the fbi had little idea of them before they turned up in pakistan. this is part of a new trend we are seeing. a worrying new trend. we're seeing more radicalization in the united states unfortunately over the last couple of years. we have seen about 11 cases of terrorism in the last six months. we're also seeing more americans going off and training with militant groups in pakistan over the last year.

we have seen about a dozen americans going there in the past year, which represents a surge in the number of americans getting the sort of training that can make them into very dangerous terrorists potentially, larry. >> larry: peter, the fact they were arrested in pakistan. what does that tell you? we don't have peter? i'm sorry. what does it tell you, paul, the fact that they were arrested? >> it tells us there was a lot of collaboration between muslim community groups here in the united states. this is a success story in terms of the muslim community giving information to the fbi. the fbi was able to collaborate with the pakistani authorities to bring these people in to custody to stop them from launching attacks in afghanistan. it seems from the video, what we have heard, they were against what the united states was doing over there, larry. they may have wanted to go to afghanistan, but it's not clear what the people were up to yet. >> larry: peter, in your

opinion, should this cause more concern on the part of americans? >> yeah. i think if you take together all the cases that paul just described, clearly we're in a slightly different situation than we were a couple years ago. if you go back two or three years, many were aspirational, not operational. when you have people going to pakistan, going to somalia, training overseas, hooking up with al qaeda, we've seen all sort of variations with this and we've seen successful terror attacks in the united states. there was attack in little rock, arkansas, who killed an american soldier and seriously wounded another. similar major hasan, there's still a debate about his motivations, but when you look at what he was doing on that day, he was giving away his possessions, talking about doing god's work, dressed in white the morning of the massacre, which is a color associated with martyrdom. it looks like a jihadi terrorist attack. larry: peter, will the united states send intelligence

officials to the pakistan to find out more about this? >> sure. and of course in pakistan there's a substantial fbi and there's a thing called the leget program which are fbi officials attached to the embassy. they'll be looking at this case seriously. we have heard from pakistani reports that the group of americans are alleged to have wanted to hook up with a group called judge mohammed in pakistan. it was the group that killed danny pearl on the basis that he was an american and a jew. it is very violent and relatively small. if that allegation is true, these guys were really getting in pretty deep. >> larry: paul, how do you gather these people are recruited? >> that's a great question. in lots of different ways, as we've seen in recent cases. there could be individuals in the community, radicalizers with violent ideology that go in and sort of talk to them,

indoctrinate them. but we're seeing that the internet is more and more important. and that young men are exposed to this ideology over the internet. there's an american cleric, for example, based in yemen, awlaki who has been releasing all sort of videos that young americans have been watching and being influenced by. but the context here, larry, there has been -- the united states has been engaged in iraq and afghanistan, they're muslim countries. a lot of the muslim communities oppose those wars and that plays into some of what we're seeing here. >> larry: do you think, peter, sadly, this leads to more anti-muslim feelings? >> well, actually, i think in the case of major hasan case, i think most americans understood this guy was just somebody who went postal essentially, and had fastened on to these jihadi ideas. years ago he would have fastened

on to mooist ideas. this is about a guy who went postal. >> larry: thank you both very much. we will call you again probably tomorrow. thanks. president obama is on his way to oslo. we have a great group to discuss the news of the day in 60 seconds. i crush you like tiny clown car. because you are... ...clown, yes? female valve: come, you hit me again and i break you. male valve: oh, you messed with wrong pipe now, car. ha, ha trust me...i have to live with her. announcer:accidents are bad. but geico's good with guaranteed repairs through auto repair express. your walgreens pharmacist also dispenses wisdom... to help you make the right health care decisipds. like understanding medicare part d. ou tgh a free plan comparison report... to guide you to the most cost-effective... and comprehensive plan,

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>> larry: president obama, there you see him on his way to oslo, norway. going to accept the nobel peace prize. he and mrs. obama left a short while ago. the trip is a quick one. they'll be in oslo for about 26 hours before returning to the united states. the debate over whether or not he deserves the award is reignited. it died down after the honor was announced two months ago. president obama will accept a $1.4 million prize check, a gold medal and a did i loma. coverage of the trip to norway,

ceremony begins tomorrow on "american morning." our panel here to discuss that and other things, penn jillette, the larger more talkative half of penn and teller. here in los angeles, our friend ben stein, the economist and attorney was speechwriter for president nixon and ford, a columnist for "fortune" magazine. also here in l.a., tanya acker, contributor to the huffington post and worked on the white house counsel during the clinton administration. finally in new york, stephanie miller, progressive radio talk show host. her website, by the way, stephaniemiller.com. we will be back after this. last thanksgiving, about 2 million people tried... to deep-fat-fry their turkey. 15 succeeded in setting their houses on fire. at christmas, there was a lot of driving...

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>> larry: before we get our panels' thoughts, reporter helen thomas grilled robert gibbs about the seeming paradox of a war president accepting a nobel peace prize. here's a little of mr. gibbs' response. >> the president will address the notion that last week he authorized a 30,000-person increase in our commitment to afghanistan and this week accepts a prize for peace. i will say, helen, that the president understands and will also recognize that he doesn't belong in the same discussion as mandela and mother teresa. >> larry: penn jillette, what do

you make of this award? >> i mean, if you look at what nobel actually wanted for the peace prize in terms of bringing down armies and the exact wording, it's fairly short. a lot of people don't fit in the cat gore pep and i think obama's doing exactly the right thing and will be humble and smart. irony is a fabulous dramatic conceit for a speech. it will be a great speech. the timing ends up being really, really odd. i don't think obama has a choice. he's not going to turn it down. >> larry: good point. ben? >> well, i think i was quite puzzled when he was awarded the nobel peace prize, but it was not clear what he had done, especially in first nine days of office to deserve it. but i think moving troops to afghanistan is the best pro peace gesture so far. if the al qaeda and the taliban took over pakistan and used it as a launching pad for new attacks on the rest of the civilized world including the united states, i think it would

be a very, very dangerous anti-peace thing to do. i think trying to bring some kind of stability to afghanistan and not letting it by a haven for terrorists is a very pro-peace act. and i think this is bm become's finest hour. >> larry: what's your read? you never know what ben is going to say. tanya? >> here is one thing we know the president did do. we changed american foreign policy from sot of being this cowboys and indians video game to show instead being focused on real diplomacy and building alliances and moving forward to america's long term strategic interests. he did do that. whether or not this is ironic, yeah, there is irony to it. and the fact that he stands for peace and the fact that you have to sometimes engage in conflict and the nation's long-term strategic interests doesn't mean that he's anti-peace. paradoxical. >> larry: stephanie, wasn't it a little early? >> there's always the chance

that kanye west will interrupt him and try to take the award away, larry. but i think that i'm an american tonight, larry, and i'm pretty proud that my president is getting the nobel peace prize tomorrow. i don't know if the afghanistan strategy is going to work, but i hope so. because i'm an american and i think he's cleaning up a really big mess that the bush administration left him. and i think he's doing the best he can. and i'm really hoping and praying for him. >> larry: kind of a dilemma to go -- penn, when you think about it, sent people to war, trying to get a health bill passed, he's got an economic crisis at home. and here he is hobnobbing with the world's elite in a fancy tuxedo and getting a check for a million four. >> i don't know. he certainly isn't anti-peace. it isn't hard to find people who are. and we're certainly all americans. but i don't think -- what i'm upset about is the fact that

there doesn't seem to be a strong peace movement in this country. i think if bush had done the exact same things obama's doing and increasing 30,000 troops to afghanistan, you would have people really going crazy. and i wish there were a stronger peace movement, at least more people saying maybe we shouldn't do that at all. maybe we're creating terrorists by, you know, by all the people who are going to die over there. >> larry: it does sound like vietnam. give me more troops. just give me more troops. >> it isn't like vietnam at all. because the vietnamese communists just wanted to control vietnam and dominance over south asia. they never had any designs over the united states or britain or france or germany. these people, the al qaeda and the friends in the taliban, want to cause misery in the lives of the people in the united states. so to stop them and suppress them and keep them off balance is a very, very worthwhile goal. the main problem i have with

"playboy'mr. obama trip right now, you can't travel all the time. you should do things via e-mail. he's traveling all over the world at great expense. >> you have to go get the nobel prize. you can't bust him for that. >> i think he should say it's legitimate to get the nobel prize. just as it is okay for you businessmen to have your convention, too. >> with all due respect, there's a lot difference about going to get a nobel peace prize. he's not going on a raid at paris hilton's house. >> the difference is the nobel peace prize will not get anyone a job where the businessmen's convention might get someone a job. >> is he supposed to accept it by twitter? i mean, come on. this is the president of the united states. getting the nobel peace prize. >> and should he put hotel workers and maids out of business by making people cancel

their business meetings? no, he should not. >> larry: hold it. just getting started, folks. if you have anything to say about our topics tell us what you think. while you're there, check out exclusive features from nick cannon and the one and only sting. okay, class, our special guest is here -- ellen page. hi, ellen! hi, ellen! hi, ellen! hi, ellen! we're going on a field trip to china! wow. [ chuckles ] when i was a kid, we -- we would just go to the -- the farm. [ cow moos ] [ laughter ] no, seriously, where are you guys going? ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! [ female announcer ] the new classroom. see it. live it. share it. on the human network. cisco.

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>> larry: let's move now from the oslo topic to afghanistan. we go to tanya this time. should we be there? should we be increasing troops? >> yeah, i think we have to be there. remember, this is not a war we

started. the president's surge and sending more troops there, this is not a surprise. he campaigned on afghanistan. he said, and people believed and i'm among them, that this is where american attention should have been focused since 9/11. going to iraq took our eye off the ball. we should be there. >> larry: didn't he also campaign against dying in military action? >> well, but tanya makes a good point. this is always what he said. larry, again, i guess i'm just of the camp of giving the president the benefit of the doubt. he's been in less than a year. this is another giant mess the bush administration left him. and if you read "the new york times" article, it seems like a very well thought out strategy. i don't know if it's going to work or not, larry. but it does seem that he really has -- he understands the cost of war, both human and cost-wise. and he has said, when general mcchrystal comes back, it won't be about more troops. it will be withdrawing down and to what extent we're drawing down.

i say give the strategy a chance. i think he refuted the vietnam analogy you talked about by saying they did group and attack us from there. that is different from vietnam. so give him a chance to finish the job. >> larry: penn, president bush had done the same thing -- he wouldn't have picked an exit date. if he had done the same thing, would you have been climbing -- would a lot of americans be climbing all over him? >> absolutely. i think there's no difference. and i certainly -- i don't think anybody understands the cost of war. i think it's beyond human comprehension. it's just horrible. i think there's the possibility -- not definite -- but the possibility that killing people overseas also helps the recruiting and builds the hate a little bit. i know they wish us ill, but i don't know that going in and, you know, 11,000 civilian -- i mean, 11,000 casualties and 7,000 of those civilian, seems

like it's not going to generate a lot of good will. it seems like there should be at least more people saying that peace is an option. >> larry: no less a military hero than dwight eisenhower, and we quote him, war is stupid, every gun built, every ship built, every bomb built takes away from clothes for children and help for seniors. >> this is a very rich country. the amount of money on the troops is tine ne the context of the wealth and income of this country. i would go farther than stephanie. although i suspect i don't agree with her on much else. i would say give him a lot of rope to go forward and hope he doesn't hang himself with it. if it is vital to keep the taliban from running a sovereign country. let's not have an exit date. if this war has got to be won, let's fought it like we fought world war ii, like it's got to be won.

rz t >> larry: the op-ed in the today's "washington post." sarah palin. the president should boycott copenhagen. agree or disagree? >> the president should boycott copenhagen entirely? >> larry: that's what sarah palin said. here's what she said, with the publication of damaging e-mails from a climate research center in britain, the radical environmental movement appears to face a tipping point. the revelation of appalling actions by so-called climate change experts allows the american public to finally understand the concerns so many of us have articulated about this issue. >> um, yeah, it's hard to take someone seriously who thinks that maybe dinosaur or dinosaur gas caused global warming or whatever it is she actually thinks. you know, larry, the president is going to copenhagen because that's what leaders do.

and the consensus of science for quite some time has been some stolen e-mails that think this or that are not significant. the consensus of science over many years has been that humans are causing climate change. >> larry: penn, what do you think? >> i think the e-mails are very troublesome. and not insignificant. but i think it's part of the president's job to go to this. i think boycotting it would be insane. i don't think it matters who says it. you don't have to attack -- i mean, sarah palin gets attacked enough. i don't think anybody takes her very seriously. but you wouldn't want to boycott that. you have to go there anyway. but i don't think you should just dismiss the fact that whenever scientists do something disingenuous like that, i think we should land on it. it doesn't negate the whole theory. we just don't know. but it's certainly not good. >> larry: we will get ben's and tanya's thoughts on that.

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dick cheney said if 1% of something is true, we should go wholeheartedly at it. and an op-ed piece said we should go cheney on climate change. if there is a 1% of global disaster, we need to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response. thomas friedman. no jerk. >> well, that's what you say. he's a smart guy and he lives very near where i grew up. i give him credit for that. but there is a lot of information from the hacked e-mails that there was a conspiracy to cover up the fact that there is not as much global warming going on as they say there is. and it's clearly unequivocally true by some sets of data that 15 years ago it was a lot warmer than it is now. that wasn't caused by man and industrial activity.

there should be a 100% consensus on this before we go to the trouble of turning the world upside down about it. if you look at the charts of how much global warming there has been, there's really not that much. i agree, if there's even a small chance that it will save the world from disappearing by switching over to hydrogen cars, we should do it. >> larry: it's not harmful to have a hydrogen car. >> and we'll get never 100% consensus on anything. this whole climate-gate, it's become a red herring so big you can stop a jewish deli for a year. these e-mails did not change the notion that the earth is warming. there is a problem. even though there are some scientists, some of whom have been paid by oil companies for years -- >> some are paid by the solar power industry, too. that doesn't mean anything. the earth is not warming. it is cooler than it was 11 years ago, that's unequivocal.

>> one of the points, some of the scientists were not able to account for the lack of warming since the '60s. that being said, that didn't undermine the long-held notion that by some, there was tree ring analysis that didn't show warming. if you look at temperatures, if you look at other thermometer readings, we are seeing some warming. >> larry: stephanie, the late phillip wily once told me that when you talk to people about generations not yet born, it goes in one ear and out the other. they don't care about great-grandchildren they don't have. so climate change shouldn't make an impact. the opposite of that is most americans or 70% of americans think global warming is a fact. what do you make of all this? >> i'm a childless loser, as you know. so i don't really care. but you know, i think the fact that ben stein believes in the scientists from exxonmobil to

say there is no global warming -- >> they're not exxonmobil at all. that's not it. >> fried chicken is americans' favorite food. >> you just made that up. >> this is true. there are scientists that work for oil companies said what you are saying. >> plenty of scientists who work of the universities say there is no global warming. you just made that up about exxonmobil. you just picked that out of thin air. i never read a study from exxonmobil about it. my friend who works for exxonmobil and the people at exxonmobil say they're not fighting this issue. >> oh, please. >> you just made that up about exxonmobil. >> there are scientists that work for oil companies. that's my point. >> you said i was believing. i never read any articles by them. >> larry: okay, let's say texaco. we will start to penn jillette and talk about health care.

oh. god, i'm lost. which way is me? i guess i have to do everything. [ gasps ] [ angelic voices vocalizing ] on sale at bookstores everywhere. >> larry: okay, penn jillette, the president is welcoming a senate democratic compromise on government-run insurance. it pretty much jet issons public option. what do you make of all this? >> medicaid kicking in early is a big deal and maybe moves toward the more liberal agenda than the public option. i think it's a little bit, for

me, spending our way out of a recession, fighting our way out of a war and regulating our way to more health care choice are contradictory ideas. it makes us feel smart, but it always makes me feel a little uncomfortable. >> shouldn't we have some sort of health care in america? >> it's overdue. this is long overdue. why issy in the united states of america that people are being bankrupted because they go to the doctor's? why are people relying on emergency room care when if they had access to a primary care physician through the course of their live, they'd be healthier. we spend too much money. >> larry: what about you, stephanie? >> you know what? when howard dean is smiling, i know something is okay. i think that penn may be right. i think, frankly, larry, that what we've got is better than

the really watered down opt in, opt out, trigger hammer, whatever the public option was becoming. i think medicare for all is where we're going. we're going to strengthen this over time, i hope, like medicare or civil right os or social security. i'm really happy but don't tell the right wingers like ben stein. we hate this, larry. we hate what happened. >> larry: i don't think i consider ben stein -- i think of ben stein, i never know where he's going. where are you going on this? >> before stephanie was born, i wrote the speech that sent the first federal comprehensive health care legislation up for mr. nixon in '73. >> larry: he proposed a lot of liberal things. >> he was a very liberal republican. our idea was simple. outrageous in a country as wealthy as this that poor people should not get adequate health insurance. we'll give poor people money to buy health insurance. we won't have the government step in with health options, choices, what kind of medical care they can get.

>> larry: why did that fail? >> because nixon got overwhelmeded by watergate. >> larry: did the insurance companies fight that? >> i don't think they fight it. i still think it's a good idea. but keep the government's big feet out of it. give the poor people who don't have enough money to buy a private insurance policy. >> larry: is it lobbying that's prevented anything from happening? >> oh, i don't know. i think it's that it's very, very complicated. and we're making it more complicated instead of less. i always like to think is there a way we could solve some of these problems with more freedom? and the fact that what we got is not working does not mean this is the only way out. i think i might agree with stephanie on that. >> larry: let us now turn to the former governor of alaska. in addition to remaining a polarizing figure, sarah palin continues to provide fodder for the late night comics. here is an example. >> a man was arrested at the

mall of america yesterday for throwing tomatoes at sarah palin, or as sarah palin calls them, italian apples. [ laughter ] the man stood up at her book signing in minneapolis. he threw two tomatoes, neither came close to hitting her. instead hit a cop. and now might be charged with hitting a police officer. they released his mug shot today. he looks familiar. i cannot figure out where from. >> larry: palin's memoir "going rogue" a blockbuster hit. she's attracting huge crowds. her popularity seems to go up. it is not at 50% where obama is, but she's lieding a little. >> she's an amazingly charismatic figure to some. i cannot take her seriously. her position on many issues are extremely correct, to me, at least, probably not to others. but she just doesn't sound like a serious person and i don't take her seriously. >> larry: how big a threat is she? >> she's not a threat. >> larry: they said that about

ronald reagan. >> sarah palin, that's the other side of the aisle. sarah palin is no ronald reagan. i don't think i'm alone in thinking that. sure, she's got increasing poll numbers now. but she's been recently charged with traveling around the country promoting a self-serving revisionist account of an election, whereas president obama, by contrast, has been presiding over a war or two and the economy. i mean, i don't think that her poll numbers mean much in terms of her long-term political credibility. >> larry: what's your read on sarah? >> i didn't read it. i didn't read her book. i don't know anything about it. i find it very difficult even on tv even with larry king talking to me, to care. >> larry: you don't care. >> i just don't care about her. i don't find her that interesting. >> larry: you don't care. >> sorry. >> larry: stephanie? >> i know the mall thing, attack of the killer liberal tomatoes. another poor sarah story, larry. i have to say, you know, my dad ran for vice president with

barry goldwater in '64 and took quite a drubbing. there's new whining in politics. all she does is whine. this whole book is complaining and whining. >> there's a lot of whining in politics. a lot of it. i don't like it. i don't want it. i won't listen to it. but it exists. >> please. >> what did you think it was mrs. clinton was doing, she charged everything against her husband was a vast right wing conspiracy. that's all politicians do is blame other people for their problems. >> ben, this whole book is just about getting even, about settling scores. >> did you read the book? did you read it? >> i read it, every word. >> wow. oh, amazing. >> because i care when larry king asks me about it. i care. >> i know, i should care. >> larry: let me get a break. but first, let's check in with anderson cooper for a preview of

"ac 360." >> new details on that story still developing. five americans arrested in pakistan. all with ties to a terror group. we'll have the latest on the case. and a troubling trend, americans involved in terror plots a t home and abroad. we'll talk to a man who tries to deradicalize young american jihadis. and the politic of health care and the democratic senator that may make or break the bill. is he ready to block the bill just to get his way on abortion? we'll look at the controversy over polar bears. palin says she shouldn't be on the endangered list. we'll take you to the arctic ice. those and a lot more stories. #ñe

>> larry: earlier today the house homeland security committee voted to subpoena the white house gate crashers tarik and michaela salahi, i'm tired of this story. the couple has been the target of plenty of late night punch lines. here's letterman. >> how about the kids, the couple that sneaked into the white house for the big state dinner? remember those guys? the salahis, the guy and his

wife, good-looking couple. now, they are going to be subpoenaed by the house homeland security committee. and i thought, well, finally, they're being invited somewhere. [ laughter ] good for them. hey, look, honey. look what we got in the mail! but i mean honestly, look at it this way, you can't blame the salahi s for going where they're not invited. isn't that our foreign policy when you think about it? >> larry: ben, what do you make of this salahi story? >> i have gone lots and lots of social events at the white house, they are usually incredibly strict. >> larry: very. >> somebody screwed up very badly here and there should be an investigation of the secret service. they really screwed up badly. >> larry: does it give you concern, penn? >> well, why -- why is there executive privilege on not having the secretary, the social secretary -- >> larry: i don't know why. >> i mean, that seems crazy. >> that's a very good point. >> larry: none of the president's used it, though.

>> shouldn't he wait to use it until he has done something wrong? >> i don't think anyone has used it for a social secretary. >> no president wants to create a precedent where you bring his staff, you see karl rove and the rove subpoena, gets subpoenaed before congress. certainly there are some questions what was the social secretary's office doing and why did they perhaps drop the ball here, but the bigger question really is, one, what did these these people say to these federal agents? did they break the law? did they give it -- make false statements to federal officers which would give rise to i think appropriate prosecution and how did the secret service let them in? >> larry: stephanie, what do you think of this? >> i'm mostly just bitter about it, larry, because in my mind, i'm pretty much solely responsible for getting the president elected. and i can't get into the white house, nor can i get a reality show. but on a serious note, the first -- the first black president, i'm concerned about this. and i think it's pretty serious, you know? >> every president. >> larry: i want to get in one more quick thing. >> it's a dangerous job.

>> larry: we may have a comment on this. it's away from the topic. earlier this month, an oklahoma woman shot and killed an intruder who crashed through her back patio door. she was on the phone to a 911 operator when she did it. here's part of that call. >> they need to hurry. he's going to break this thing open. when he does, i'll have to kill him. and i don't want to kill him. >> can you understand what he's saying t all? >> well, he's crazy. >> hurry, dear god, hurry. i haven't shot yet. hurry. >> oh, my god. >> i shot him. i'm going out front. i hit him. god help me. please, dear god, i think i've killed him. please, father in heaven. please, father in heaven. oh, my god. >> larry: what do you make of that, ben? >> it's extremely touching and overwhelming.

just overwhelming. >> larry: tanya, different age we live in? >> absolutely. my god, just the fact that she had such conscience over killing somebody who is breaking into her house. my heart goes out to her. >> larry: talk about reality show, penn, how about that? >> it's heartbreaking. i don't know if it shows anything about our times changing. i think horrible things like this have always happened. it's very hard to listen to. >> yeah. >> larry: but we can now, stephanie, play a 911 tape. >> well, you know, it reminds me of those pictures of the president at dover air force base. i think it is always a good moment when we can really think about the cost of a human life, whatever the situation is. >> larry: ben, you're a speechwriter, we got about 20 seconds, do you expect a great speech in oslo? >> i think a very good speech. his last speech about afghanistan was his best speech and i expect this one to be even better. >> larry: thank you very much, as always. sting has written exclusively about us about his favorite christmas memories. cnn.com/larry king. read all about it.