no ridiculist tonight. we'll see you at 10:00 eastern tonight. "piers morgan" starts now. tonight, inside the obama white house. >> hello, everybody. >> the obamas, the prime time exclusive, jodi kantor's book the real story, what goes on behind closed doors. she's here tonight. piers morgan interview. and the republicans trying to kill each other on the road to south carolina. >> if i'm president of the united states, i'll worry about your jobs, not my jobs. >> if south carolina gets this wrong, the country may get stuck with four more years of barack obama. >> i'll become the republican nominee because of you. >> why does rudy giuliani say

he's shocked and outraged by newt gingrich? he also may surprise you. and the shocking incident has spread outrage around the world. the video that appears to show american marines urinating on dead bodies in afghanistan. i'll ask jessica lynch what she thinks. this is "piers morgan tonight." >> good evening, republican front-runner mitt romney being hammered today by the rest of the gop field hoping to gain momentum into the south carolina primary. if you thought there was infighting before, you ain't seen nothing yet. rudy giuliani says that newt gingrich -- with every barrel in his possession. if he were to call newt gingrich right now he would ask him and i quote what the hell are you doing, newt? rudy's here right now. you're calm now, but you were exploding this morning. >> i don't think i was. but both newt and rick are good

friends of mine. they are two people that i would have a kind of inclination to support. i think their positions are closer to mine than even mitt romney's. same thing with rick santorum. but i think the attack that they are leveling against romney is not only an unfair attack, i think it's an attack that hurts what republicans stand for, which is a free market economy. >> and you're talking specifically about both of them coming out about this bain -- >> oh, yeah. the issues about romney care, perfectly fair, the issues about romney was pro-choice, now he's pro-life. those are all fair game. you can agree or disagree with them. but this idea that he was doing something wrong at bain capital by investing in companies that were in trouble trying to save those companies. and some of them work and some of them didn't work is totally crazy. this is what we want in our economy. this is precisely what's not

going on now in our economy that's keeping jobs down. >> hasn't mitt romney brought this on himself by wording i like firing people. we all know what he really meant and most people would agree with what he was saying about insurance and so on. when you got, i think 8.5% of the current unemployment rate. when you've got so many people out of work and they hear that sound bite, it's damaging, isn't it, for him? >> sure. that is not a good quote. and i'm sure he'd like to walk that back if he could. but that does not justify totally distorting the way our economy works for people like me and rick perry and newt gingrich and mitt romney and i all agree on the value of a free-market economy. and what mitt romney was doing with bain, there is absolutely nothing illegal about it. i don't believe there's anything immoral about it. in fact, i think there's a certain morality to it. you have to downsize companies that are in trouble. that has to be done. that's the way you save --

that's the way you save jobs. and the net result with bain is many more jobs were saved than were lost. and those jobs would not have been saved -- >> do we know that for a fact? >> i know it because i know the market pretty well. i don't know the exact numbers, but i know the companies we're talking about. and i know that he saved an awful lot of jobs, even in the companies are he saved jobs, he had to maybe take out 1,000, 2,000 jobs in order to save 8,000 jobs. >> let's move on to the general atmosphere going into south carolina because it's getting nasty. my guess is it always gets nasty at this stage. the warm-up in iowa, all very nice, south carolina, boom. >> particularly in south carolina. yeah, it gets -- >> why is that? >> i guess maybe they've gotten into it for a while in -- they sort of begin in iowa, and then they go to new hampshire and it's a little bit restrained there and they get to south carolina, this is the last time you can make a real statement and really slow somebody down. >> let me play a clip from newt

gingrich last night where he used an extraordinary word to describe what may be coming in south carolina. >> this is going to be armageddon. they will come in here with everything they've got. every surrogate, every ad, every negative attack. at the same time, we're going to be basically drawing a sharp contrast between a georgia reagan conservative and a massachusetts moderate. he's pro-gun control, pro-choice, pro-tax increase, pro-liberal judge. and the voters of south carolina are going to decide. >> armageddon really? >> that may be overstated a little. but everything newt said there is perfectly appropriate, fair game for him to make those points. he's clearly more conservative than mitt is, more consistently conservative. although there are a couple of contradictions in newt's record, as well, as there are in all of ours. that's a very legitimate point and they should fight the campaign out on that. what they shouldn't be doing is trying to take romney's record in private equity and trying to make it into some kind of evil thing.

i mean, we have an administration now -- >> -- >> we have an administration now that is anti-business. it is holding back the recovery of our economy. we're not going to grow this economy by having these false notions of how business operates just kind of hanging out there. >> the way you're talking, and correct me if i'm wrong, i spoke to you in december about this, you strongly suggested that newt gingrich might be the guy you could support in this nomination. >> he still might be. >> he still might be? or are you moving toward mitt romney? >> i'm not moving in any direction at all. i'm reacting to an argument that i think is a very counterproductive argument for republicans to be making who have a set of core values about how the american economy works. and about what has been productive for us in the past. private equity is an enormously important part of the growth of our economy and it's an enormously important part of how you grow jobs. one of the reasons we don't have jobs right now in america is that private equity money is sitting on the side. i can give you ten examples of this. not putting any money in because

they're afraid of what obama will do to them. now, they're not going to revive that economy with promoting these stupid ideas that are being promoted as part of these ads. stick with the pro-choice, the liberal judges, stick with romney care, perfect area of attack. but don't do this. this is a mistake for republicans. >> newt gingrich having playing nice newt, didn't last very long, it wasn't very effective has gone back to nasty newt. he's going to unleash through the super bank $3.5 million worth of bile all over mitt romney in south carolina. can this make a difference in the way that mitt romney's super pacs really hammered newt gingrich's popularity? >> you can emphasize and sympathize with newt. i think what was done to him in iowa was horrible. >> unfair? or was it all fair in intellectual war? >> some of it was unfair. some of it went too far.

most of it was all fair in love and war. some of it was on fair. the sheer amount of it. and the fact it's being done by attack and mitt romney's separating himself from it. a lot of that can get you very angry. but newt should contain that anger and stick with intellectually honest attacks. >> could he still -- let me paint a picture to you. two scenarios. however many votes he wins by, he goes to south carolina, he has a big win there, many people will say pretty much it's all over. >> well, it's probably all over when you get through florida. if mitt can win -- >> he wins all four, he's there, right? >> yeah. >> you would assume so? >> i would say so. >> you know this better than most people. paint me a scenario where it's not all over and somebody else could still challenge him properly. >> either he loses south carolina or somebody like newt or rick santorum or maybe even

perry, although i think that's a little bit remote because where rick is starting in the polls. but if someone gets really close to him. three points, four points -- >> who's the most likely? gingrich? >> gingrich or santorum. santorum you consider that south carolina is a pretty strong conservative state. >> very evangelical. >> probably the guy with the most consistent conservative credentials is rick santorum. he could possibly do as well in south carolina as he ultimately did in iowa. >> but he hasn't gotten the money, has he, or the infrastructure? newt gingrich now has money. he has a lot of money. >> right. >> and as we've seen from what happened in iowa and new hampshire, if you've got the money, on television to hammer your opponents, you can really damage them. >> you can, and it can also backfire on you. it's hard to tell. here's why i think rick santorum has a chance. you have newt attacking romney. some fair, some unfair. you have romney's people attacking newt. some fair, some unfair.

and you have santorum sort of sitting on the sideline. he might get the benefit of that. he might get the benefit of it because at this point he's pretty well known, television will help, but it's not going to mean everything. i wouldn't count santorum out of this. i think one of the two of them, santorum or gingrich could run close in south carolina. then you go to florida and florida is much more of a tea party state than the other ones we've been in. florida since 2008 just had lunch with john mccain and we've kind of talked this over. it's done more right than it was -- >> that could help santorum -- >> since they elected scott, the more conservative choice for governor. they elected marco rubio, the tea party candidate for the senate. if gingrich or santorum can come in with momentum, they would have a chance. >> let's take a break and come back and talk about what happens once republicans have got their nominee. it's going to be a tough challenge. [ monica ] i'm away on a movie shoot

and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries.

my special guest former mayor rudy giuliani. let's get to the stage where

there's a winner, and that winner has to take on barack obama. the economy is definitely strengthening. jobless figures are improving. the stock market feels more confident. if you're in the white house, this is all pretty good news. because the one winning position for them is surely to stand back in a few month's time in november and say we said we would improve things and now we can demonstrably show we have. >> it's a fact, three or four months from now, the economy has materially improved, it's going to be very hard to defeat barack obama. on the other hand, if the economy does what it did last year, a month of improvement, a month of decline. month of improvement, another month of decline, job figures go up, job figures go down, obama in a lot of trouble. >> how does the republican candidate best go after barack obama? what are his weaknesses? >> i think you go after him on the economy. that has to be the answer. because even if the economy improves, i seriously doubt we're going to be below 8%

unemployment next september/october. there's still an historic high for a president seeking reelection. >> be dispassionate for a moment -- there's a gun to your head metaphorically, mr. giuliani. answer me this, where are the ticks in the obama box? where has he had success? >> he's had success with charity, success and failures with terrorism, success with ones that are obvious. catching bin laden, getting some of the major terrorists. i think he's had some real weaknesses in dealing with terrorism. i think his equivocation with regards to iran has put us in a difficult spot. the first two years where he wanted to talk to ahmadinejad and ahmadinejad didn't want to talk to him, i think that's put us in a very weak position. i think his position with regard to israel frightens me for the

security state of israel. i think his overall stewardship of the economy, even if it improves somewhat is going to be negative numbers. because we have more debt than we've ever had in our history. he has no plan to really deal with that debt. and he leads by following in that area. he lets the republicans and the democrats fight it out. he has no real plan. he's yet to articulate a financial plan that says to this country i can lead you to growth. he has an energy plan that's a disaster. his energy plan is basically say no. say no to nuclear power, say no to fraccing, say no to the pipeline, say no to coal. say no to everything but wind and solar which are fine, but they can't get it soon, they're only 1% of what produces our electrical power. and he's dealing with countries like china that are building 50 nuclear power plants, buying coal, expanding fraccing, buying oil all over the world. and also investing in wind and solar. so i think there are a lot of

vulnerabilities. >> well, a controversial book about the obamas by jodi kantor, she's coming on after you on the show tonight. what do you make about the fury surrounding it? >> typical. every white house has this. there was a book about both bushes. there were several books about clinton like this, there were several about reagan like this. so what is the book going to say? the white house is somewhat dysfunctional. so is every white house. they're dysfunctional. george washington white house was dysfunctional. >> are they still -- >> thomas jefferson and alexander hamilton hated each other, right? and of course it got so bad between burr and hamilton, one killed the other. not quite that bad. >> is it journalistically valid? or is it just piddle paddle? >> i think it's journalistically valid because i think people have a right to know what's going on inside the white house. i think it's -- i think it's way beyond gossip when you're talking about the white house. but i think is it going to have an impact on the election? it's going to be three or four days, maybe three or four weeks

of discussion and ultimately then it'll merge into what we've heard about every other president, what we've heard about every other white house. all the unfair or sometimes fair attacks on first ladies. that -- presidents don't get elected and reelected based on how's their white house functioning in terms of people getting along with each other. >> rudy, always a pleasure. happy anniversary next week -- >> happy anniversary. >> you are officially now my most regular guest in the first year. >> very proud of it. you do a good job. >> thank you very much. coming up, the hottest tell-all book of the year, but is it all true. an exclusive with jodi kantor, the woman who wrote "the obamas." when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief?

try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back.

the political tell-all that everyone's talking about is "the obamas." the book that goes behind closed doors at the white house. painting what some are calling a controversial picture of the first couple. and jodi kantor joins me now. welcome, jodi. >> thanks so much for having me. >> you're getting a lot of flak for this book. how are you dealing with that? did you expect it? >> well, actually there's been a lot of praise and excitement for the book. it's gotten some great reviews. you know what's exciting about this book is that it shows how the personal intersects with the political in this white house. and you know, there were some

big headlines and scoops that came out of the book. but the real book that exists for people who are reading it as opposed to the abstract thing that a lot of people have been discussing on tv without reading is this sensitive nuance texture portrayal of the obamas in the white house. >> that's clearly not how they're seeing it. i can tell from the first lady's reaction in an interview yesterday with gail king. she's not happy. >> i was surprised by her reaction. and i assume what she's reacting to is the coverage of the book, which has been a little distorted rather than the book itself. because i never called her an angry black woman. in the book -- i also never said that she and rahm emanuel had cross words with each other. so, you know, and she did say in the interview that she hasn't actually read the book. i'm not sure she knows what's in it. >> let's just hear the first lady commenting on the book. >> it's more interesting to imagine this conflicted

situation here and a strong woman and, you know -- but that's been an image that people have tried to paint of me since, you know, the days. that i'm some angry black woman. >> she makes that feeling pretty clear there. and when you read your book, there's no doubt that if you were michelle obama and you read the book from cover-to-cover, which she obviously hasn't but she's had the report, you do get the impression of a feisty lady who is trying to put her own opinions into the presidential domain through the west wing aides and so on, and she has conflict with some of those aides. is that true, or not? as she says, how do you know what's going on in their head? >> well, i reported on her the same way i've been reporting on her for five years in the "new york times," which is the obama inner circle really let me in for this book. the interviews in the book come from people like valerie jarrett

and susan axelrod, and the first lady's close friends. so, for example, if valerie jarrett or susan said the first lady was concerned about such and such, and i can write according to aides or according to them the first lady was concerned about such and such. so i followed the same rules i did in the newspaper. and the important thing is that the stories that came out are stories that the obamas don't usually tell. it's a much more candid portrait of them in the white house. >> let me read you what the white house said. this is white house press secretary. the book, an overdramatization of old news. it is a relationship about two people whom haven't spoken to in two years and not interviewed them for this book. the emotions and private moments described in the book, though, often seemingly describe the president, first lady are little

more than the author's own thought. they're saying, look, a lot of this stuff is in your head and is speculative about how michelle obama in particular was thinking at various times. how would you know that? >> well, because her -- i was -- her aides gave me access. i spent months interviewing her aides in the east wing. >> not her. >> piers, i'll give you an example. do you remember when michelle obama went to london very early in the presidency? and she spoke to school kids and she cheered up a little bit on stage. one of the things her aides were very intent to describe was the importance of that moment in the formulation of her first lady hood. and they talked about how when she saw these young girls and these were not privileged girls, they were from minority backgrounds, a lot of them were english speakers. when she began to see the affect she had on them, she began to really understand the power of her first ladyhood. the way she stood for access and

social mobility. so these are aides who were very close to her. also remember, i've been covering these people since 2007. i mean, eric schultz' protest to me sounds like some sort of protest against journalism, against the process of trying to understand these figures. >> let's have a little break, come back and continue this debate about whether it is proper journalism or not.

can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce.

back now with jodi kantor,

the controversial author of "the obamas." my overview of the book is that i can understand why michelle obama would be annoyed if she clearly is annoyed and clearly the focus of a lot of the coverage of the book has been about michelle obama and her annoyance and the reason why she may be annoyed. my question to you is prompted by a conversation i had with rudy giuliani for the show tonight. in which he says, you know, fair game to go after the president. he expects it. that's the job description really as if you're president, everything's open season, don't go after his wife. don't go after the first lady. you must be disappointed as a "new york times" journalist that your book is being characterized as a critical attack in many ways on the first lady, aren't you? >> well, you know most people who have read the book think it's a pretty flattering portrait of her. >> she doesn't. >> and -- and well, readers should make up their mind independently. but also historians and

journalists have written about first ladies for years. my inspiration for this book was "no ordinary time." and the reason why it's such an unusual presidential book is it describes eleanor and franklin roosevelt in the white house. he's the president and obviously she is not, it really describes them as partners and devotes equal time to eleanor roosevelt. and because michelle obama is such a ground-breaking first lady, and also because she does have an influence on her husband's administration. not in the sense of meddling in west wing affairs, not in the sense of popping -- >> let me ask you this -- >> in the roosevelts -- >> jodi -- >> her thoughts and beliefs and actions do affect the rest -- >> why would they go out of their way, do you think, to discredit you if as you say the book is actually an authoritative account of life in the white house and is factually accurate? >> that is something i think a

lot of reporters in washington don't necessarily understand. i -- i don't know. i've covered them for years and they have never responded to anything like this. and i -- you know, the thing that i really wonder about also is why people seem to think that the image of michelle obama in the book is negative. she's portrayed as a strong woman who goes through a growth experience as first lady who learns a lot in public life. and by the end of the book is, you know, is bolstering and supporting her husband. and you know, also the funny thing about some of the points that which she's frustrated in the book, like after the scott brown victory that her feelings are very similar to democrats on the outside. when scott brown won the massachusetts race, how many democrats on the outside were saying how could the white house political team have let this

happen? and the key thing about her is she has a transformative view of her husband as president. she wants him to do great and lofty things. and so when scott brown massachusetts loss happens, that's the sort of time when the administration is making some very unpopular health care deals. and the -- the -- there was the nebraska deal that basically made it look like there was a give away to nebraska in exchange for a vote. and that was also very troubling to michelle obama, her aides told me, because she had really high hopes for this presidency. and from what she says still does. she's completely all in for 2012. >> you would accept as an overview of this, you've spoken to 33 aides and i don't dispute that at all and i've followed your stuff in "new york times." you've always been to me a competent journalist. i'm not questioning your credentials, but clearly they are and they're upset about this

and upset about the portrayal. they don't recognize the portrayal you are now putting forward for the book. the thing as a deliberately negative account of the first lady in the sense you portray her as somebody who is frustrated. you repeat the carla bruney my life is hell -- >> i say that's false. that's the occasion for the robert gibbs -- he used a curse word against the first lady in a white house meeting. and so the question about that episode is really about the extent to which the obama team is still unified and is still getting along. because a really key question going into the 2012 election -- >> are you slightly sad that the book is being spun for whatever reason in this very negative way against the first lady? >> i do think you're on to an excellent question.

because the political culture is so nasty and negative that i think there is a good question about if you work really hard on an honest portrayal of people that shows their successes and failures and their strengths and their weaknesses, you are at risk of being attacked for that. but the great thing is the actual book is out and readers can find it and they can see these fascinating and illuminating stories for themselves. and there's really no alternative in a way, piers, because are we going to stop writing biographies and character portraits of presidents and first ladies? do we want to live in a world where where that doesn't exist? >> no, i guess my only point journalistically is that you are relying on other people to tell you how michelle obama in particular has been feeling throughout this book. and i'm not sure that's entirely fair to her. particularly if she disputes the speculation about how she's

feeling. you must accept if that was you -- if that was a book about you and none of it actually was from you, it was all people that work for you who may have a particular view about you through the employer/employee relationship that actually that could very well skew how you're feeling and thinking about things to suit their own agendas. you may have well been misled by aides who have an ax to grind with her. and actually you don't have any stuff directly from the first lady to substantiate her feelings other than through other people. i mean you would accept that, right? >> well, let me tell you about one scene in the book that i find very poignant. and i'll tell you how i reported it. there's a scene in the book where there's a very minor security incident. and it doesn't really amount to anything in the end, but it's a scarey moment. and it really shows the isolation of the presidency and first ladyhood and the anxiety that comes from living with security incidents.

michelle obama is up alone in the residence. and she gets an e-mail saying there's been a minor security incident. but she doesn't know what that means. and the e-mail is from valerie jarrett and turns out that jarrett is in a meeting. so nobody e-mails her back. and they told me the story afterward and told me how concerned the first lady was and how she didn't want to cause a fuss and she didn't want to k w know -- she didn't want to cause a stir by expressing too much alarm. and so she finally picked up the phone and called the white house operator and asked for her husband. so both told me that story on the record and to me it was a really illuminating and moving reminder of the restrictions of this kind of life. and also the anxiety that runs through it. you know, when there was a news story a couple of weeks ago about how a bullet hit the back of the white house, the sort of undertone of the story -- the real importance of it is that,

you know, the back of the white house is where malia and sasha go out and play, right? there's a swing set out there. and that's where they can go kick and play a soccer ball. and so part of what the book is showing is -- is what it's like to actually live this life. and by the way, i do think that there is a really important question that hangs over this, which is think about all the difficult things that people have to think about before they run for public office, right? think about something like that security threat. and that really affects who runs for office in this country, who's willing to go into politics. and so looking at these questions and how the president and first lady live through them is really important, i think. >> if the first lady's watching this and i'm sure it's on her nightly viewing schedule. would you express any regret to her in the way this is all being portrayed? >> oh, well, you know, i can't take the responsibility for what people are saying on tv shows

when they haven't read the book and they haven't studied this. i guess -- i mean, i guess, i can only express my wishes as an author that the people really absorbed the book and think about it carefully. but all of my journalism has been about understanding her and documenting her in a fair way. >> well, she clearly doesn't think you are. but i appreciate you coming on, jodi. thank you very much. >> take care. when we come back, outrage over a video seems to show u.s. marines urinating on corpses. i'll ask jessica lynch what she thinks. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] entune mobile technology.

♪ stronger! ♪ stand a little taller [ male announcer ] stay seamlessly connected to your smart phone. available on the reinvented 2012 camry. from toyota. ♪ in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. take control by opening a new account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense? are choosing advil®. here's one story. pain doesn't have much of a place in my life. i checked the schedule and it's not on it. [ laughs ] you never know when advil® is needed. well most people only know one side of my life. they see me on stage and they think that that is who i am. there's many layers to everybody everywhere.

singer, songwriter, philanthropist, father, life's a juggling act. when i have to get through the pain, i know where to go. [ male announcer ] take action. take advil®.

there is hope, there is progress, the rubble, half of it's been removed. people are starting to go back to their neighborhoods. a lot remains to be done. an update on that, those stories and the top of the hour. more of "piers morgan tonight" in a moment. mputer, an identityf is able to use your informationf to open a bank account... in order to make your money his money. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock-- the only identity protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock-- relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. ♪ more and more folks are trying out snapshot from progressive. a totally different way to save on car insurance.

the better you drive, the more you can save. no wonder snapshot's catching on. plug into the savings you deserve with snapshot from progressive. i want to turn to the story that's spurring outrage around the world. take a look at the still from the video reporting to show a u.s. sniper team urinating on dead bodies possibly in helmand province where some of the toughest fighting has taken place against the taliban. it's important to hear what these marines say.

we'll get to that in a moment. first, i want to bring you one of the most well-known veterans of late. she's the author of "i'm a soldier too." we'll get her thoughts on this. welcome, you're obviously an iconic person in many ways from the war. >> well, thank you. >> when you saw this video as a soldier first, i guess, what was your reaction to it? >> you know, first and foremost, you know, that is not anything that we were ever taught to do as soldiers. that's just a disgrace. that's not anything that we were ever, ever taught in the military. you know, it's important that we're over there to do a job, and that is to protect the united states and fight for t m them, and you know, that's what should be important right now is doing their job not whatever they're doing in that video. >> do you even comprehend how this kind of situation can happen? clearly it's not a one off

incident. there have been numerous examples of abuse in various forms, abu ghraib being the worst, this is awful, as well, there have been others in britain and so on. are you surprised sometimes in the heat of battle soldiers even the finest marines go over the top by this? >> no, i don't think that, again, this isn't appropriate behavior. i don't know why anyone would act in this manner. i mean, you know, i have no idea. we've been asked if it's you know maybe ptsd, i don't know, i don't think so, i don't know. we'll get more answers of maybe why. >> for those of you who haven't really seen it in context, let's watch the video of this. it is, frankly, i find it disgusting.

and i think other people will too. let's just watch this. >> -- this guy. >> i think someone's -- >> i'm trying. i'm working on it. >> look at mine. >> yeah. yeah. have a great day, buddy. >> oh. >> yep. >> golden like a shower. >> the whole thing about that is vile. the fact they would do it at all, the fact so many of them seem to be involved. the fact they are premeditatingly videoing this for later gratification. the kind of glee going with this. they're there to do a job for their country. >> correct.

>> for the military, for the marines. they have all of these reputations to uphold. and in that kind of video, they ruin everything, don't they? >> yeah, i mean, obviously you can look out and tell that's not appropriate behavior in any manner. you know, you've got to think when they were showing the bodies being burnt in fallujah, u.s. military bodies being burnt, how were we feeling as americans watching iraqis burn our own soldiers? so i mean they've got to look at it in the same perspective. that we're not trained to do acts like that. that is not the u.s. military. >> there's been lots of reaction today, leon panetta, i've seen the footage. i find it utterly deplorable, echoed by hillary clinton, expressing my total dismay. marines i have the highest respect and admiration for, but i completely endorse panetta in

condemning this behavior. you got a reaction from taliban saying their religion that follows holy task would suggest the inhuman act reveals to the world. i think that statement needs to be put into that context. but it's very disturbing that post abu ghraib with all the attention that rained down on the american military for that and all the shame that came down on the perpetrators -- >> that this happened again -- >> this kind of thing is being unearthed again. it's incredibly disappointing, isn't it? >> it is. as a former soldier, you know, and as an american, yeah, you never want to see anything like that occur. but, you know, it's sad. and hopefully, you know, we will never have to go through this -- >> should they be kicked out? >> again -- >> the perpetrators? >> i think we should find out from the whole entire case of what the actual back story is -- >> if that video is entirely an accurate portrayal of what they

did, do you think the marines involved should be -- >> well, they should be punished just like the, you know, military servicemen that were associated with the abu ghraib. but, you know, i think definitely investigate the whole story, don't jump to conclusions. >> how do you think the marines would be feeling about the shame that this incident has caused marines generally? it has, and it's an appalling indictment that a few bad apples, apparently, if this infire video is true, brought shame on everyone. and they said these marines are the finest, most outstanding soldiers in the world. it must be an awful thing for them, right? >> definitely, in many cases, in any situation, not just with military, but you put that in any, you know, say even a news broadcaster was to do anything, it would definitely bring shame. i think, you know, definitely anything like that, but you know, we have to remember that

even though there's a handful that are doing wrong, we still have to support the ones that are over there and just continue to pray and support the ones that are actually doing good. >> i agree. let's have a break and talk about you and how you're doing. >> perfect. >> you're doing great? >> thank you, i am. dry mouth may start off as an irritant. it'll cause cavities, bad breath. patients will try and deal with it by drinking water. water will work for a few seconds but if you're not drinking it, it's going to get dry again. i recommend biotene. all the biotene products like the oral rinse...the sprays have enzymes in them. the whole formulation just works very well. it leaves the mouth feeling fresh. if i'm happy with the results and my patients are happy with the results, i don't need to look any farther. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons.

and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates.

this is coalition blackhawk helicopter on the ground, and lynch being carried to safety. >> that was the rescue of jessica lynch on april 1st, 2003. you were returned a war hero. the altitude to what happened to her in iraq was different. it was an incredibly courageous thing, what you did. i don't mean what happened to you on the ground, which was the famous incident that has been told many times. i mean most people in your position when they're portrayed as a hero, heroine, the easy thing to do is let that mythology ride. you came back and told the truth. and you said, i was no hero in the way that you think. tell me how you summoned up the courage to do that. what was your driving motivation? >> i was in a humvee with five other soldiers and all of them

were unfortunate lly killed exct for me. i was the only survivor. it would have been easy for me to have taken credit for everything they were portraying me as. that's not the person i am. that's not how i was raised. i knew personally that i wouldn't be able to live with myself, go on with the rest of my life knowing this was all a lie. so i wanted to be able to correct it and come out and tell the correct story, the full accuracy of what happened. >> did you come under a lot of pressure from people in the military, perhaps, and politically as well, not to do that? >> no, no, not at any time was i -- i mean, we had criticism and stuff, but of course, i felt that i had to do the right thing, and i did. that was what was most important to me. >> you entered the army at 19. >> 18. >> 18, why would a nice young girl from west virginia join the army? >> i couldn't find -- i wanted a better life for myself.

there really wasn't a lot of jobs. for me, i want today have enough money to go to college and become a school teacher. >> did you ever imagine in your wildest nightmares you would one day be on the front line of somewhere like iraq? >> no, never. i literally, i joined july of 2001, went to basic training, and then was shipped off to iraq in 2003. so never at that point, and i really wasn't into my army career long enough to even fully comprehend that that was a possibility, let alone to become a prisoner of war. >> well, you ended up with a bronze star and a purple heart. and a limp, right? how is that coming along? >> good. good, i mean, the medals, i honestly, i felt bad, i didn't want to accept them, but i knew with the p.o.w. medal, obviously, i was a prisoner of war, so i did accept that.

the purple heart, every soldier who is over there who is wounded and in action receives the purple heart. and then the bronze star, or bronze medal. >> how are you doing physically? >> i have had 21 surgeries ovthe past eight years to correct all this, the bends and i still have a brace on my foot that i still have to wear. >> you came out here quite sprightly. has it been getting better for you? >> it has, because i make it mentally. honestly, probably things are deteriorating and i have to go back and get more surgeries, but it's all the way you look at it. mentally, i'm fine. i look at it as, you know what? at least i came home. i survived, and i'm able to sit here. i get to walk around new york where most soldiers, either they don't get to come home or they're in wheelchairs.

>> and you're involved in this great project, the imagination lobry. dolly parton imagination library. >> i brought a few books. i'm the ambassador for the west virginia department of education and art. and what they do essentially is dolly parton has set this up, when she started in 1996, with her own county back in the mountains, so she's extended it worldwide, and now every child from birth to 5 years old receives a book. you go down to your local county and sign up for it. but they send you a book through the mail every single month for your child. >> what's the simple idea? >> just to get kids reading. i find that so important, especially since i graduated a few weeks ago with my bachelors in education. >> congratulations. >> thank you. i find it so important that kids are reading and that parents are reading to those kids because that's your basic