i'm craig melvin in for tamron hall. following developments of four diplomats killed in benghazi. right now, hundreds of u.s. marines are on their way to bolster security at the u.s. embassy in tripoli as embassies across the region are on high alert. meanwhile, americans in algeria and egypt told to avoid crowded places. the violence started with the storming of the u.s. embassy in cairo yesterday. protesters ripped down the american flag. all of this thought to be at this point a reaction to an obscure american-made film posted on the internet that rid cutes prophet muhammad. hillary clinton and president obama promised swift action. >> today we mourn four more americans who represent the very best of the united states of america. we will not waiver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act

and make no mistake, justice will be done. >> the friendship between our countries born out of shared struggle will not be another casualty of this attack. a free and stable libya is still in america's interest and security. and we will not turn our back on that. >> meanwhile, mitt romney condemned the loss of american lives but he also seized on the attacks even before daybreak slamming the administration's response in what became a fierce back and forth between the two campaigns. romney then doubled down this morning. >> i spoke out when the key fact that i referred to was known which was that the embassy of the united states issued what appeared to be an apology for american principles. that was a mistake. and i believe that when a mistake is made of that significance you speak out.

>> we start our coverage right now with nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel in cairo, egypt. >> reporter: craig, by now there's a familiar scenario explaining what happened in these two separate attacks. that these internet videos were being seen here in egypt, they were being talked about by some radical preachers in this country, people got enflamed, particularly hardline muslims who are the most hardline of sunni muslims and they let their emotions get the best of them. they climbed on top of the u.s. embassy walls. they entered inside the compound. they pulled down that flag. that as far as we can tell is pretty much what happened in egypt. what happened in libya was not nearly as spontaneous. that was a commando attack. now, it may have also been inspired by these hateful internet videos, but it wasn't -- it didn't have a

feeling of spontaneity. it was a militant, a commando attack. they -- the people that launched this attack used rpgs. they used heavy machine guns. it was carried out in two separate waves. that's not the kind of thing an angry mob decides to get up and do. that's the kind of activity, a terrorist group, al qaeda, there are many of them in libya right now, that's the kind of thing that an organized cell could carry out and i know some u.s. officials are looking at this exact question. also wondering was it just a coincidence that the u.s. ambassador normally based in tripoli happened to be there? was it just bad timing that such a high level delegation was visiting the benghazi attack at -- benghazi consulate at the exact time of the attack or was it more planned? again, an indication that it was not quite as spontaneous as it

initial appeared. >> richard engel there in cairo for us. thanks much for that. for more to the embassy attacks, let's go to pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. i like to follow up on what richard engel was talking about and u.s. officials are looking very closely now at the possibility that this was a staged commando attack as richard implied in his report. and the fact is that, you know, ambassador stevens was known to pretty frequently travel in libya pretty openly with a fairly small security contingent. and it wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibility to have somebody within the libyan government known in advance where the ambassador was going

to be that allowed this attack to occur at the same time. and again, following up on richard's report and a u.s. official told us, who brings an rpg and machine guns to a demonstration? a protest demonstration. so there are serious questions about exactly what went down. now, in terms of what is going on with the u.s. military, we're told by u.s. officials that as many as 200 marines it could be less but as many as 200 marines often amphibious aircraft carrier headed toward libya to bolster the u.s. security there at the embassy in tripoli. now, according to these officials, there are members of what are called the fast team. that's fleet anti-terrorism security teams. and it could be anywhere from 50 to 200 marines headed in that direction. in addition, they're also sending additional marines to

other locations. it's suggested that that could include cairo and even kabul where we have seen these kind of anti-american sectarian-driven violent if not deadly demonstrations and attacks occur before. >> security increased at embassies and various consulates around the world. for folks not as familiar with things like this as you are, how secure are the embassies and these consulates to begin with? >> reporter: well, i mean, if you look at the history of these embassies and consulates, they're not exactly armed camps in most cases. now, you go to the embassy there in baghdad, that's an entirely different story. but that's a fortress if you want to call a spade a spade here but, in fact, these embassies can be very vulnerable to these kinds of demonstrations and attacks. because the marine corps

contingent at these embassies is pretty small. they rely primarily on the structure itself to provide some level of protection. so in this case, there's in an effort and an overabundance of caution they're talking about sending additional marines to a number of embassies particularly throughout the middle east. >> jim miklaszewski from the pentagon on this afternoon, thank you. >> okay. >> christopher stevens first u.s. ambassador killed in an attack since 1979. stevens just started serving as ambassador in libya in may. before that, he was a u.s. diplomat during the revolution in libya and for several years prior he's a career diplomat and also a former peace corps volunteer in morocco. among the other americans killed, foreign service information officer sean smith, a husband and a father of two. he joined the state department ten years ago.

he'd served in baghdad, south africa and most recently at the hague. the other two americans who were killed had not been identified. the government is still in the process of notifying their families. joining me now is "time" magazine international editor jim frederic and former state department officer egypt officer joel reuben, director of policy for the plowshares foundation. good afternoon to both of you. >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> jim, i want to pick up where mick left and richard engel left off, as well. the idea this was a spontaneous eruption of violence. >> right. >> as we learn more, that appears to be something that's not the case, perhaps this was something that's staged. why is that significant? >> well, i think we should look at what we call the outrage industry and really cast a skeptical eye on this notion of how often any of these protests are actually all that

spontaneous. details are coming out as we speak. who brings an rpg to a spontaneous demonstration? yet, there's an ecosystem of imams, blogospheres, any opportunity for an outrage and then send almost foot soldiers in to the streets to protest and the idea muslims are more prone to demonstrations is -- i think we should cast a skeptical eye on that. >> joel, this morning, secretary of state clinton echoed a sentiment that lots of folk who is are awakening, who had seen this and heard about this were probably thinking, how could they? how could this happen in libya? a country that we saved in a city that we helped save, as well? how could something like this happen there, especially? what does this do to the relationship with that new government? >> it -- well, it's also in addition to how could this happen in libya, but to chris?

for those of us that knew him and worked with him in washington, he was a stellar figure, a kind soul and someone who really understood how to work with people and he will be sorely missed. how can this happen with libya? we have to think of what chris was doing there and what his example was, which is to be directly with the people, trying to make a better relationship between u.s. and libya. this is an ongoing struggle. we don't see changes overnight and chris is at the forefront of this. unfortunately, we're losing him and we have lost him. but really, this is part of a longer trajectory that we're going to have to navigate and unfortunately as we just witnessed be day that is are very depressing like we just had. >> jim, one of the things this also seems to do is make us more aware of the chasm that exists between some of these governments, the government in egypt, the government in egypt, the chasm between the governments and the streets and

the people that they're governing. >> yeah. i think in some ways this story while a human tragedy is both smaller and bigger than the current narrative. on one hand it's smaller in that the united states foreign policy is not going to be substantially altered. we can build better tries, try to make harder defenses and things like this don't happen again but we're clearly losing the info war or the narrative war. >> why are we losing that war? it sure can't be from a lack of trying? >> i think literally and figuratively we don't speak the imam language and communicate to the street enough. there's vested interest to making sure that the u.s. is demonized around the world so i think it's a particularly difficult problem that, yeah, the story's simultaneously smaller and larger than we're giving it credit for right now. >> joel, what's the likelihood to see more acts of violence like this in that region over

the next few months? >> well, violence will come and go and my hope is that there will be a clear investigation by the libyan authorities and the egyptian authorities to uncover this and deal directly as president obama has said. but this points to the bigger picture as jim pointed out which is there's a large battle at way for changing the relationship between the united states and the arab world. we're just coming out of a decade of warfare. we have new relation that is are beginning to unfold. we need to fix that. we need to avoid future conflicts with iran. right size our relations with north africa, the arab world and unfortunately these hard days are ahead of us. but also, as jim pointed out, there are many muslims across the region that are aligned with us, including the libyan government and condemned this heinous attack and we need to work to build the alliances and strengthen them in the days ahead. >> jim, one of the way that is that alliance would probably be strengthened in the eyes of many

for the attackers to be apprehended quickly. what's the likely to see the folks responsible for this attack as the president said, brought justice quickly? >> well, that's a great question. i think the story is moving as we speak. i couldn't presume to guess. i think it could go either way. i think we might find out within the next couple of days. i think there's, you know, a pretty firm determination to certainly try. >> okay. "time" magazine's jim frederic. appreciate your time. joel rubin in d.c. thanks to you, as well. appreciate your time, as well. first read calls it one of the most over the top and incorrect attacks of the general election campaign so far. governor romney doubling down on his statement criticizing the obama administration over the embassy attacks. >> i also believe the administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those that breached the embassy in egypt instead of condemning their

actions. >> political panel will weigh in on that next. plus, house speaker boehner ordered flags over the u.s. capitol to be flown as half staff in honor of the american diplomats who were killed. >> on behalf of my colleagues in the united states congress, i want to ask that you all join me in a moment of silence in tribute to ambassador stevens and the american personnel that were killed in libya this morning. e world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.

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>> that was president obama speaking late this morning from the rose garden at the white house. the president honored four americans lost in the attack on the american consulate in libya and promised that justice will be done. nbc news correspondent mike vick joining us from the lawn of the white house. a spokesman issued the statement of the thing that's not as spontaneous as we thought. when's the word? >> reporter: right. you have heard the first reaction in the press and elsewhere. but the two events in cairo and in libya that ended up in the death of ambassador stevens there is part of an outrage about that internet video, not so fast say officials here. as jim miklaszewski reported from the pentagon earlier in the hour, craig, officials looking in to the possibility of a staged and coordinated attack on the libyan side of this in benghazi. tommy veiter is the spokesperson

that says there's a lot of press speculation for who did this and why. but at this stage, it would be premature to ascribe any motive to these reprehencible acts, craig. >> what else are we getting today from the white house? what do we know about when the president was notified about what was happening in libya? >> reporter: if you recall, yesterday, the 11th anniversary of the september 11th attacks and the president choppered up to bethesda to walter reed, visiting with wounded warriors. came back and meeting with leon panetta. was told of the unfolding events there at the embassy at this time. did not get the full detail only until later. told there was a possibility later on in the evening that ambassador stevens was on unaccounted for and then in the early-morning hours this morning the president was informed that, in fact, ambassador stevens and three other americans had died.

you saw the statement from the secretary of state and the president's statement in the rose garden. fair to say it was somber, it was solemn. the president, of course, condemning the attacks. vows to bring the killers to justice. ordered the flags here at the white house to be flown at half staff as well as at the capitol which you saw just moments ago. one thing he did not do, craig, he did not make any allusion to the accusations or the allegations or the political attack made by mitt romney about apologizing for american actions leading up to the attacks. craig? >> mike, from the white house for us this afternoon, thanks. we'll take that segue, sir. mitt romney canceled a previoulsy scheduled campaign event in florida and addressed the death of the four lost in libya. the governor doubled down on the criticism of the administration's response and handling of the tragedy. >> the first response of the united states must be outrage at the breach of the sovereignty of

our nation. and apology for america's values is never the right course. as i've watch eed over the past three and a half years, the president has had some successes. he's had some failures. it's a hit or miss approach but it is not based upon sound foreign policy. >> let's bring in today's panel. democratic strategist and political reporter for "the washington post." good afternoon to both of you. neil, let me start with you. i want to start with something else that governor romney said about what he's calling an apology by the american embassy in cairo. take a listen. >> i spoke out when the key fact that i referred to was known, which was that the embassy of the united states issued what appeared to be an apology for american principles. that was a mistake. and i believe that when a mistake is made of that significance you speak out. >> okay. mitt romney referring to this statement put online. >> be embassy saying, quote, the

embassy condemns the continuing efforts of misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of muslims as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. malika, this was six hours before the attacks started and to quell some of the outrage there. how big of a deal is this for the romney campaign? >> well, they seem to think it's not a big deal at all. that they are essentially on the same page as sarah palin, as alan west in sort of pinning this on obama. and suggesting somehow that his administration is not standing up for american's principles and lives. so i agree with i think chuck todd of saying this was a, you know, an odd thing. i think when i got this e-mail last night from the romney campaign that was so e fusive, that was so condemn that tori of the president without having had all of the facts i think it was

a misstatement, a misstep by this campaign that we haven't seen so far of this level. and i think it does bring to mind to some people mccain's missteps in the fall of 2008 when he seemed to be out of his depth in talking about the economy. mitt romney doesn't have a rhetoric. he doesn't have rhetoric or record on foreign policy. in some ways if you look at his approach of foreign policy there's not much daylight of what he says he would do and what obama's doing and what he does is rely on this sort of rhetoric that we saw from that statement last night and that he doubled down on today. >> mentioned the statement, bob sherm sherman. this is romney's initial statement regarding the situation in libya. released last night. it's disgraceful that the obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on the diplomatic missions but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks. the obama campaign said it was

shocking that the romney campaign launching a political attack in the wake of this tragedy. she alluded to this. doesn't mitt romney as the republican nominee who caught flack, of course, for not mentioning afghanistan in the rnc speech, the man who's facing an incumbent and scores fairly well on matters of foreign policy, doesn't he have to try to appear aggressive and talk about what he would do differently? >> he aggressively shot himself in the feet. i had a republican consultant say to me today on the phone this guy's not ready for prime time. what he came across as last night and in this testy press conference today was an opportunist seeking political advantage out of a national tragedy and on 9/11 and all you have to do is listen to the statements of mitch mcconnell, the republican senate leader, john mccain, eric cantor, the republican leader in the house all of whom who say we stand united as americans. >> but here's the thing.

mitt romney's surrounded by advisers. he's surrounded by smart men and political operatives like you were back in the day. did none of them think maybe this isn't the best idea? >> somebody should have thought that because i can't remember in foreign policy anything like this in all the years i'm in politics and that's a lot of years. it's a political disaster for them and i think we'll see that in the next few days but it's also wrong and when you think about it, this guy seems to have an instinct for saying the wrong thing and coming up with the wrong judgment and it's not what you want in the oval office. one of the jobs of president is to respond to an unexpected crisis. and he seems to respond instinctively almost the wrong way. >> republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan had this to say about this attack in libya. >> this is a time for healing. it's a time for resolve. and in the face of such a tragedy, we're reminded that the

world needs american leadership. and the best guarantee of peace is american strength. >> so here's the thing. not just libya and egypt the president's dealing with. you have israel, iran, syria. several have warned of a september surprise that could dramatically shake up this race. is this perhaps the beginning of that surprise? >> it could be. i mean, that's the thing. the world is a volatile place. the middle east certainly volatile place, as well. i think mitt romney's problem is that he's botched his response to this. doesn't have a lot of credibility as a leader and as someone who's studied foreign policy and so in this he really steps in it. you saw ryan give i think a more tempered response and i think in some ways people working on these issues who have jobs, who are senators and diplomats. mitt romney obviously not out of -- not in office and really doesn't have any pull, any sort of sba in terms of what happens and i think his advisers probably should have told him to

wait in terms of responding in this. certainly waiting probably until the president made his statement, the president, of course, knows more about what's going on so i think we'll have to see if mitt romney tries to do cleanup on this in the coming days. >> really quickly before you get out of here. coming off that convention where a great deal of time devoted to president obama's record, with regards to his foreign policy, coming off, how significant was his response today? how important was that? how did it play politically? >> you saw it. i don't think he was thinking politically. you saw someone who should be president of the united states. he sounded like the president. he was acting like a president should. and then mitt romney you saw somebody who doesn't quite come up to that standard and by the way if there are other crisis that come along, looking at the performance of these two guys over the last 24 hours, i don't think that's going to help mitt romney. i don't think he gets it. i don't think he's ready to be commander in chief. he came across as craven and

incompetent on national security. you just couldn't do this. no one would do this. >> all right, bob. >> thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> that's exactly -- i started off by telling you republican friend of mine said this is a disaster. >> yep. >> not ready for prime time. >> peggy noon an, too. >> that's right. she did echo your sentiment, bob. you have some mixed company. thank you both. still ahead, nbc's first read team asks why didn't the romney campaign wait until they had all the facts before issuing that response last night? nbc's senior political contributor will join me on the other side of the break. here at the hutchison household. but one dark stormy evening... she needed a good meal and a good family. so we gave her purina cat chow complete. it's the best because it has something for all of our cats! and after a couple of weeks she was part of the family.

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affairs in 1998 when we lost our embassies in kenya and tanzania and this reminds us all i hope of the service and sacrifice of our diplomats overseas. we always and very, very rightly honor the service of our military men and women. >> that was ambassador susan rice speaking about the loss of ambassador chris stevens. coming up, we'll get a live report of capitol hill where lawmakers on sides of the aisle are also paying tribute to the victims. i'm a marathon runner,

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libya. joining me now journalist and msnbc contributor. let's start with how the attack could affect the fairly new relationship between our government and the libyan government. >> i think this attack actually will force the libyan government to take more action against these men. you know? there's around 200,000 men, libyans, that are armed. that are part of the rebels and that are part of the tribes so they don't respond anymore to the central government. >> still, today, 200 house? >> still today 200,000 people according to the united nations groups, observant groups. so they have to respond to a government. there's happening in libya today, total disorganization and chaos to force the government to step in and take stronger actions. we have to understand that the tribes play a major role but what happened in the embassy is a coordinated attack that has nothing to do with protesters.

yes, it was -- >> you think that was a die version? >> that was not a diversion. that was not part of it. >> okay. >> so the protester, of course, protesting against the movie but you don't go to protest with weapons. >> rocket propelled grenades. >> rocket iand attack that wantd to leave a political sign. we saw the egyptian one. the egyptian one was, yes, violent, burn the flag, throw rocks. never killed anyone. i think this makes me remember more what happened in afghanistan when the koran was burned and tried to kill u.s. soldiers. >> right. you mentioned egypt. let's go to egypt for a second. i haven't seen another television within the past 35 minutes up until that point i had not seen mohammed morsi at all. have you or heard from the egyptian president?

and if we have not, what does that say about our relationship with that government? >> well, first of all, the libyan government condemned the attacks strongly and they stepped in. i think -- i think morsi now is trying to form late or to speak more to the public opinion an to allies. morsi was not -- was confused lately. he decided to visit iran and to participate in that big summit. that iranian's government, you know, to give some kind of legitimacy. they put on big show. i think morsi needs to be careful because the people that put him in power after a big revolution that, you know, where people stood in the street for weeks asking for more human rights, more respect for citizens, freedom of expression, these same people are the people that today are protesting in teheran against the regime

that's oppressive. how can he give them legitimacy? >> thank -- >> we need to be careful with egypt. >> appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> one of the newest msnbc contributors. >> thank you. capitol hill, flags at half staff in honor of ambassador stevens and the other diplomats killed. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are reacting today. joining me now, nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. good afternoon to you. this thing is plit sized at the presidential level for several hours. what have been the reactions of lawmakers? >> reporter: tlsz a bit of caution coming from lawmakers and very few saying anything on camera about this but office after office issued a statement. most often expressing tremendous outrage and offering comfort to the families of those killed and shock that this happened. that's a bipartisan feeling. there was restraint on the part of leadership. a comment on camera is from the

republican leader in the senate mitch mcconnell. >> i join my colleagues in strongly condemning the murder of these innocent americans. and i support employing every available tool at our disposal to ensure the safety of americans overseas and to hunt down those responsible for these attacks. >> reporter: so, members of congress certainly feel the responsibility to try to do what they can to get to the bottom of this and for senators, craig, there's a more personal responsible because they vote to confirm an ambassador like the one lost today. there is politics and heard from republican senators coming without a bit more strong language. jim demint of south carolina publicly said he sides with governor romney saying he has it right. also, the oklahoma republican jim inhofe and said he criticized the president and the administration's foreign policy saying there's a record of appeasement and apology. those are very strong words.

also, from the house side, the armed services chairman and said that this is a sign that weakness can be provocative and beginning to get hardant views but there's concern of getting the bottom of this and wondering what more to find out about a more coordinated attack and concern hearing from members of congress. craig? >> kelly, thanks. more now on the criticism governor romney is facing for his remarks on the attacks. nbc's first read making this point. quote, bottom line: this was news-cycle campaigning by the romney campaign gone awry. why didn't the campaign wait until it had all the facts? nbc news senior political editor mark murray joining me now from washington, d.c. mark, romney asked about this a short time ago, whether he jumped the gun. will let's take a look at that exchange with a reporter. >> governor, some people have

said that you jumped the gun a little bit last night with the statement and should have waited until more details were available. do you regret having that statement come out so early before we learned about all of the things that were happening? >> i don't think we ever his tatd wh tate when we see something that is a violation of the principles. >> agree or not? did he open himself up to criticism and looking risky what he said so quickly? >> craig, you can see why the romney campaign jumped on what they did. they're trailing in the polls and commander in chief issues with president obama and also the national security. so here was the issue to score points with and backfired for the romney campaign with the tragic killings of four americans including the ambassador to libya. had that not happened, you could have maybe see they would try to score points and with the killings and that almost, you

know, people you saw president obama, you saw secretary of state hillary clinton where they didn't talk about politics at all. but with romney focused on politics, after the loss of life, it makes him look a little bit out of touch and politically opportunistic. >> comparing the speeches that president obama gave and then mitt romney gave on all of this, romney mentioned the president and the administration repeatedly, the president not once did he say romney's name. was does that signal of how the president and the campaign planning to handle the criticism of romney's camp? >> it is another leadership question and why i think a lot of people drawn comparisons to that moment when john mccain in 2008 tried to suspend his campaign after that financial clops on wall street and john mccain versus barack obama side by side. today we saw president obama along with secretary of state hillary clinton side by side versus mitt romney. two speeches were trying to be above the fray talking about the loss of life, vowing to make

sure that that is taken care of and then mitt romney focusing a whole lot on politics. >> it was interesting to see shortly after secretary clinton give the speech at the state department, a short period of time right behind the president at the rose garden, perhaps interesting staging there. thank you. appreciate that. >> thanks. up next, a look at the other big stories we are following today. chicago's teachers strike now in the third day. contract talks with back on. we'll talk about that. plus, just within the past hour, apple unveiling a newest iphone. we have got it. we don't have it. we have news about the announcement. we'll talk about this after this. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so...

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striking teachers rep returned to the bargaining table. trying to end a walkout there now in the third day. both sides say it will not be resolved today. it's a difficult week for thousands of families. kevin tibbles is live in chicago with the latest. kevin? >> reporter: craig, while they're negotiating again today and they have been negotiating throughout this three-day walkout, the union is now saying this is not going to be a short strike and may be coming as some form of alarm to parents of kids out of school as a result of this strike. parents scrambling to find activities for their kids to do while the strike is going on. obviously, a lot of parents are working parents so they have been working to try to take care of their kids and their jobs at the same time. this is just going to become more and more frustrating as this strike drags on.

and now there are reports coming out that a lot of this may have to do with personalities between the mayor of this city rahm emanuel and the head of the teachers union karen lewis. you know, it's talk of the town in chicago, obviously. we are hearing every day that the two sides are getting closer and closer. but obviously, craig, they're not close enough to get the teachers back in the classroom and the kids there in front of them. some 144 schools have been open during the day for about four hours for places with parents without a place to take their kids to receive them. they receive breakfast and lunch and a bit of good news for parents here today is that those sort of drop-in center type schools are open an extra couple of hours but there are only 144 of them. there are a lot of kids with nowhere to go in the city of chicago. let's see how long it drags on before frustrations really start coming to the fore.

craig? >> kevin, thank you so much for that. from that developing story to san francisco. in case you hadn't heard apple has just confirmed the speculation. new iphone on the way within weeks. dan ackerman here with the latest. what does it look like? one of the news nation team members said the thinnest phone in the world. is that true? >> apple is saying thinnest smartphone in the world and it is lighter than the 4 and 4s with a bigger screen. >> we know that it's thin. what are some of the other unique attributes? >> biggest thing is the 3 1/3 inch screen up to a 4-inch screen and competes with the big android phones. of course, a faster process sore, the camera is better and the yearly upgrades you expect. >> how important is this release for apple the company? >> i think this release in particularly important because, one, a big physical change to the iphone and two a lot of

people bought the iphone 4 and two-year contracts are up. i have so many people saying i'm ready for a phone this fall. >> any idea how many they'll sell? >> millions and millions. they hit the sweet spot in the contract thing with being done and get the discounted price on a new phone. >> just in time for the holiday shopping, as well. there are also rumblings to be the beginning and' over the next few months other new apple products. >> the other big thing is an ipad mini. the smaller version of the ipad. i didn't see many leaks about that as the iphone 5. we knew what it would look like and didn't expect to see a smaller ipad today. that would be perfectly timed for the holiday season. >> iphone 5. do you think it's a hit? >> oh, definitely going to be a hit. made the screen bigger, more powerful. costs the same thing every year. a little bit more for the same money. you feel like it's a good deal.

>> what about siri? >> keep trying. never really works. new thing is you can use it to update facebook but i can see that leading to a lot of problems accidentally turning it on and say something and then it's on facebook. >> dan ackerman, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> next time bring me a phone. >> i will. gut check up next. stay with us. you have to scrub it first. no you don't. yes, you do! don't! do! whoa, kitchen counselor here. see cascade complete pacs work like micro-scrubbing brushes to help power away tough foods even in corners and edges.

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today's news nation you check on the top story. the death of the four u.s. diplomats in libya. the violence broke out after an obscure movie was on the internet. officials say they're taking measures to avoid more violence. they have been banned youtube. so what does your gut tell you? do you agree with the decision to block youtube? go to facebook.com/newsnation to vote. that does it for this edition of "news nation." the cycle is up next. we make a simple thing.

a thing that helps you buy other things. but plenty of companies do that. so we make something else. we help make life a little easier, more convenient, more rewarding, more entertaining. year after year. it's the reason why we don't have customers. we have members. american express. welcome in.

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breaking news leads the cycle today. night has fallen in cairo and benghazi following another day of dead lie protests. four americans including the ambassador to libya is killed and the middle east is back front and center. >> those protesters allegedly fuming over a video made here in the u.s. meantime, a he said/he said between the white house and prime minister netanyahu. >> the middle east is a reminder that the candidates don't always control the conversation and in 2008 the financial crisis. is the middle east 2012's lehman brothers? >> the political optics of this. did the romney campaign jump the gun last night or is tough talk all that matters? >> plus all that and why 1980 is not 2012. today's september 12th.