here's pentagon correspondent barbara starr with more. >> reporter: iranian authorities say they shotn a highly classified u.s. unmanned spy plane over its territory along its eastern border with afghanistan. iran says the drone they shot down is an rq-170. now, that's one of the most secret drones in the u.s. military and intelligence arsenal. a stealth drone that can fly largely undetected gathering intelligence and targeting information. so far the u.s. using the nato alliance in afghanistan to issue a statement is only saying "the uav to which the iranians are referring may be a u.s. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western afghanistan late last week. the operators of the uav lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status." that according to the statement. now, u.s. officials tell cnn the flight crew operating the drone did report a loss of flight controls before the drone went down. but they're not saying it was shot down and they're not saying it's an rq-170. the "question of the day" is shot down or not, do the irani

five veterans talked to our barbara starr. we'll have their stories in 15 minutes.look at today ee's headlin headlines. tropical storm washi has left more than 400 people dead and more than 100,000 displaced in the philippines. hundreds more are still miss. government officials say 21,000 people are staying in evacuation centers throughout the region. zblmplg >>> and prayers are going out to etta james. her managers says she's termly ill. the 73-year-old has been diagnosed with leukemia and hepatitis c. she's also battling alzheimer's disease. >>> and live pictures right now from capitol hill where just a few hours ago the u.s. senate passed two big pieces of legislation. one keeps the government running through september. the other extends the payroll tax cut for two months. the extension now goes to the u.s. house, where it faces strong opposition. >>> and nothing like a little carolling to get you into the christmas spirit. that's what travelers at los angeles international airport are hearing. take a listen for yourself. ♪ the choir wandered through the terminal

barbara starr is watching this ceremony. she has been traveling with the u.s. nse secretary, leon panetta. barbara, what are we seeing? barbara starr is at the scene. we will try to reestablish communication with her in just a moment. but this is a real big deal for both iraq and the united states. it is marking the official end of u.s. military operations in this country. jim clancy, my colleague, is in atlanta watching the ceremonies also. as we listen to the u.s. national anthem. jim, what goes through your mind? you covered this war when it started back in 2003. and here we are, almost nine years later, and it's officially over. >> this has been a very bitter experience, i think for many americans. let's listen to the end to the national anthem. let me collect some thoughts here. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> as we continue to watch the ceremony, as the casing of the colors, as it's called, as the u.s. officially ends combat operations in iraq, a prayer being offered there. let's listen to this. >> since 2003, our nations sought a common good rarely tried in the history of man

cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr is joining us right now on the phone from washington. barbara, what is this news about the unmanned plane? >> well, here's the latest we know, fredricka. nato authorities and u.s. authorities in afghanistan have issued a statement saying that, indeed, a drone went missing late last week over the afghan/iran border. so that, of course, eastern iran, western afghanistan. this drone, as all drones are, on an intelligence gathering mission. what the u.s. and nato will not say is that it was shot down by iran. they say it has gone policing, they believe it has gone down. they believe this may well be the drone that the iranians are talking about, but they also say that the crew operating the unmanned drone, had reported a loss of flight control, a loss of control, and ability to guide the drone and that it drifted. so their working theory at this point, if the iranians are telling the truth about it being inside iran, it may have drifted into iran. so far they are saying they cannot confirm on the part of nato and the u.s. it was shot down by

next on reporter roulette, let's go to the pentagon to barbara starr, pentagon correspondent, i believe she's in germany where she spoke -- barbara, you spoke with the chairman joichbt chiefs of staff about the significant leadership change. what did you hear? >> reporter: indeed, we're here with general dempsey. he was woken up with the news about north korea earlier today. we talked with him about this, he has some concerns about whether kim jong-un, the leader now, supposedly, of north korea, the youngest son of kim jong-il, really will be able to take charge, control the regime and be the new leader. one indication of how little the u.s. military and the u.s. government really know about what is happening in north korea, we've now confirmed that kim jong-il actually adied on saturday night and the u.s. didn't know about it for more than 24 hours until it appeared on north korean television. so where does that leave us, the u.s. military, the pentagon? watching north korea around the clock for any sainz of movement of troops or weapons, any signs of instability in the regime. they do

barbara starr joins us to explain the possible fallout.ff, how does a company that provides this type of analysis to its clients about security allow itself to be hacked? >> reporter: well, that is going to be the question, isn't it? i suppose their company cyber experts are going to have to take a look inside their own company to see what's going on. the question will be whether that information was encrypted, of course. you know, we see this kind of thing all the time, don't we now, about credit card data being stolen. that's a concern, but in corporate security for our own personal financial security. this company though, it's pretty interesting. information on 4,000 credit cards. they have both government clients and private sector, corporate clients, companies that do business in the international business community that want to know about threats and situations around the world. that's the kind of information stratfor provides. they couldn't somehow protect their own data from anonymous, this hacking group. the concern, of course, no

we want to go to pent begagon a bring in barbara starr. barbara, tell me about this. >> brooke, you're about to see gripping footage, to say the least. this was a 3 1/2-hour fire fight in southern afghanistan. these are the men of first battalion sixth marine regiment. >> gets you out of nowhere. i'm in a sleeping bag still. you hear the flair going off, then fire just started going f off. >> just to the northwest of us across the helmand river they have a ridgeline up there. there's cavs in the ridge line that they've crawl into and they engage us from there. >> by the time, like, a couple of hours we were like -- probably had a hundred still left and that was it. just got really bad real quick. >> idf 30 millimeter grenades hit inside the compound, getting close, real close. took a couple casualties. you hear about people being battle-tested. this one tested the boys. >> we have to get him on the bird as fast as possible. >> been one hell of a day. you're thinking, yeah, regular patrol, any other day. it ain't happening that way. definite

barbara starr has more. >> reporter: the u.s. has long used sanctions to try to stop iran's cash flow for financing its nuclear efforts and support for terrorism. but now the administration is saying, not so fast. to a tough new bipartisan sanctions proposal from congress. the idea, target iran's central bank by cutting off u.s. banking with any foreign banks that bank with the iranians. much of the banking with iran is done to pay for iranian oil. the administration is considering action against iran's central bank but officials warn the congressional proposal could be a bad idea in today's fragile economy. >> it is a very, very powerful threat. it is a threat to essentially for the commercial banks to end their ability to transact in the dollar and their ability really to function as major international financial institutions. >> reporter: according to opec, iran exports about 2.5 million barrels a day of crude oil, earning it more than $70 billion a year. countries around the world buying iranian oil pay for it through transac

let's bring in barbara starr, pentagon correspondent. she joins us now. barbara, you've been following developments. what can you tell us about these exercises? >> isha, let's start with a photo, a picture that the iranians say they took of a u.s. aircraft carriers in north arabian sea. the only u.s. aircraft carrier out there is the "uss john stennis." this film apparently taken from iranian aircraft. part of those naval exercises going on right now in the north arabian sea. it could be a tense weekend out in that region off iran's coastline. as these naval exercises continue. the iranians say starting tomorrow they will fire a number of missiles, both surface to air and surface to surface missiles, part of a test firing program they are going to undertake. we don't know a lot about it. we know the navy, the u.s. navy, will be watching closely. but here is what we do know from u.s. naval sources we have talked to about this. first up, iran, this exercise is being conducted by the so-called regular iranian navy. not the revolutionary guard corps navy. that

first to washington and our own correspondent barbara starr. army and air force are dealing with a possible serious online security breach today. tell us about this case of cyber hacking. >> hello to you, isha. this is a private company that deals in global intelligence, stratfor. it got hacked over the weekend. it's getting a lot of attention. a hacker said they released subscriber data and information on 4,000 credit cards as well as the company's private client list. they went on and posted on another site called antisec with groups such as anonymous. this well-known hacking group anonymous taking credit for this. stratfor is a company that provides analysis and intelligence information to those government, military and corporate clients who want data on threats and risks around the world. so this is getting a lot of attention and that is the question. what comes next. >> indeed. the army and air force i imagine will be looking very closely at their systems, right? >> they will be. the military is very used to these types of cyber attacks. t

cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr joining us now from washington. barbara, there are conflicting reports, which one should we believe? >> well, at this point we really dent kn don't know, fredricka. iranian authorities say they shot down a spy plane over its territory along the eastern border with afghanistan. iran says the drone they shot down is something called an rq-170. that's one of the most secret drones in the u.s. military and intelligence arsenal. it is a stealth drone. it can fly largely undetected, gathering intelligence and targeting information. so far, what is the u.s. saying? using the nato alliance in afghanistan to issue a statement, all it is saying is this, quote, the uav to which the iranians are referring may be a u.s. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western afghanistan late last week. the operators of the uav lost control of the aircraft and had been working overtime to determine its status. so in fact u.s. officials are saying the crew reported right before they lost this plane, unmanned pla

>> major developments there, barbara starr joining us from the pentagon. thank you. >>> next on reporter roulette, reynolds wolf manning the scene in the severe weather center. reynolds, the entire east coast, nothing pleasant about what's going on there. >> unpleasant is the perfect way to put it. this is not armageddon taking place. but something that will affect millions of americans. a big storm system crawling its way to the eastern seaboard. we see the result on the radar. there it is plain and simple. on one side, a little red box popping up over parts of the outer banks, that is a tornado watch that will be in effect until 7:00. the good news with this is i do see it beginning to weaken a little bit. wouldn't be surprised if the national weather service pulls that watch area. i think the threat will subside. however, if you look back towards the great lakes, you don't see the blues, the greenish on radar, you see white. that's frozen precipitation, snowfall that will pile up between cleveland and buffalo. could see four to eight inches on some of t

>> thanks very much for that, barbara starr joining us from washington. christmas is certainly over for a 7-year-old walmart greeter in upstate new york. she sustained fractures to the side of her face after being hit by a customer. she was punched on christmas eve after asking 26-year-old jacketa simmons to show her the receipt for her purchases. simmons was detained by employees and customers after she ran out of the store. she's been charged with two counts of assault. >> baggage handlers in argentina make a startling discovery inside a man's suitcase. this was no movie. and reports that iran may be cozying up to iraq. is this true or is this military posturing. >> and a fire at a home in connecticut claims five on christmas day, what authorities think might have caused it when we come back. is it because taking a step represents hope? or triumph? at genworth, we believe in taking small steps every day to keep your promises, protect what matters, and prepare for a secure financial future. no matter where you want to go, one step at a time is the only w

barbara starr has been digging into the story and joins us from the pentagon with the latest.hat exactly is anonymous or the group associated with anonymous claiming responsibility for doing. >> they're a well-known hacker group and they are now saying that they're the ones that hacked stratfor over the weekend. they are saying they released subscriber data and information on some 4,000 credit cards as well as the company's private client list. all of the people that subscribe to stratfor and they're corporate clients to government agencies that look for intelligence information on threats and risks around the world that stratfor publishes. that's all very big business these days. when all of this came to be, one of the things that got everyone's attention. i want you to look at this tweet that appeared from anonymous in the twitter verse, if you will, very much saying they were responsible, criticizing stratfor which is a security company for putting the company's most critical information on the internet apparently with no encryption or at least posting it, keeping it on the

barbara starr has been digging into the story and joins us from the pentagon with the latest. is anonymous or the group associated with anonymous claiming responsibility for doing. >> they're a well-known hacker group and they are now saying that they're the ones that hacked stratfor over the weekend. they are saying they released subscriber data and information on some 4,000 credit cards as well as the company's private client list. all of the people that subscribe to stratfor and they're corporate clients to government agencies that look for intelligence information on threats and risks around the world that stratfor publishes. that's all very big business these days. when all of this came to be, one of the things that got everyone's attention. i want you to look at this tweet that appeared from anonymous in the twitter verse, if you will, very much saying they were responsible, criticizing stratfor which is a security company for putting the company's most critical information on the internet apparently with no encryption or at least posting it, keeping it on their website

>> cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr. thank you so much. >>> let's turn to a bombshell announcement sunday from the pulpit of one of the biggest mega churches. bishop eddie long in suburban, atlanta, says he's taking a leave of absence to attend to his family. his wife vanessa filed for divorce a few days ago. long has been embroiled in controversy for -- when four young men accused him of coercive sexual relationships. long denies the allegations but settled the lawsuits out of court. i want to bring in john blake, he's a religion righter at cnn.com. you have been doing a serious discussion on this. you've been talking about it. you were a member of the church? >> no iwas never a member. but i've been writing about bishop long since the late 1990s. >> how serious is it that vanessa long is filing for divorce? >> i don't think he's going to recover. i'd be surprised if bishop long ever leads a mega church again. his whole image is built on his masculinity and being this family man. just goes to the heart of that. she's ta

let's go to barbara starr. according to the investigation by the defense department, u.s. troops acted in self-defense. that's what we're hearing from them with that air strike that killed 24 pakistani troops. >> they say self-defense but that's like saying, how was the play, mrs. lincoln. this was a case where back on november 25th, u.s. heir air strikes were called in on that bored where u.s. forces said they were under fire from insurgents. it turned out it was pakistani troop that they did not know were in the area. the pakistanis thought they were under fire. huge firefight ensues. what are we talking about? bad coordination. mistrust between both sides not telling each other the full picture about where they were operating. bad mapping data so that when they were trying to sort it all out, in fact, in people looking at the maps were looking at an area 14 kilometers away from where the firefight was actually happening. all of this the results of a u.s. military investigation saying the u.s. troops are acting under self-defense. look, the pakistanis are furious about t

. >> i'm barbara starr at the pentagon.ar an awful lot about hazing and bullying, but in the war zone with u.s. troops bullying and hazing each other, a young solder apparently sent right over the edge. i'll have details coming up. >> reporter: i'm alina cho in new york. he's not a hollywood star but he is one of the best known names on the planet. he's bill clinton. my one-on-one with the former president in the next hour of "cnn newsroom." >> alina, you like us arkansasans. >>> also coming up next hour, someone just invested megamillions in twitter. a lot of people are ticked off because of who in particular it is. we'll explain in conversation coming your way. stay with us. >>> jeff, too many bulls. >> there are a lot of them. >> everybody gets to play. >> if you're breaking a record you're in a ball game. >> when you're a little kid, we're all winners. >> the bull names are funky. there's the sugar, the orange, the rose. we know all of that. before we get to january you have to get through some whacky bowl names. there'

barbara starr sharing the stories.out the country they're leaving behind. again, that is this saturday. coming up next, our political buzz panel. we have some good characters for you today. they'll be giving you their take on what happened last night. find out if rick perry really is the tim tebow of iowa. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. premier of the packed bag. you know organization is key... and so is having a trusted assistant. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above and still pay the mid-size price. here we are... [ male announcer ] and there you go, business pro. there you go. go national. go like a pro. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. removes 99% of dirt and toxins without dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. from neutrogena® naturals. [ female announcer ] your new progresso rich & hearty steak burger soup. [ dad ] i lov

we begin with barbara starr. good morning. >> good morning.rone over the border with afghanistan, and they are issuing a lot of statements about all of this. what kind of drone is it? this is something called an r q170. that's what the iranians say they have in their hands, the wreckage. this is a stealth drone. it was developed for the air force. it conducts intelligence reconnaissance and surveillance missions to provide information for hitting targets. but do they really have it? so far, the u.s. military through the command in afghanistan is only issuing a statement saying this, and i quote, the uav to which the iranians are referring may be a u.s. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western afghanistan late last week. the operators of the uav lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status. so where are we? the iranians say they shot it down. the u.s. says, yes, they lost flight control of a uav late last week. they do not know where it went. but clearly, they suspect now that this

we'll start with barbara starr. barbara, take us through this. >> this is quite serious in terms of the rhetoric. we'll see how serious it is in terms of the reality. iran reacting to statements from european countries that want they might place an embargo on iranian oil import, iran saying if that happens it will shut down the strait of hormuz, that vital international water that is the shipping lanes for much of the world's oil. as a result of that the u.s. navy today came out with a very strong statement saying quote, anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations, any disruption will not be tolerated. that word from the u.s. military. but make no mistake, the white house is behind it. the navy doesn't get out there and say these things on its own, the white house sending a clear message to iran you can have your rhetoric, but do not force anybody's hand and try to shut down these shipping lanes. >> barbara, just give our viewers a sense

our barbara starr's live at the pentagon with something you will see only on cnn. this footage that they shot. it was a three-hour fire fight at a small outpost in southern afghanistan. these are the men of first battalion six marine regimen. >> reloading! >> gets you out of nowhere. sleeping bag still. i was trying to hear clear went off. fires are going off. >> to northwest of us across the river, they they there are caves in the ridge line that they will crawl into and engage us from the there. >> ammo. by the time, like, a couple of hours, we were like -- had 100 still left. that was it. >> 30 mull meet perfect grenades hitting inside the compound. getting close, real close. casualty. cold casualties. you hear about people being battle tested. this one tested the boys good get him on the bird as fast as possible. >> one hell of a day. you are thinking, yeah, radio patrol. any other day. it ain't happening that way. definitely teach lot of people -- got to be ready from now on. you never know what will happen from now on. we lost -- one person, injuries. who kno

>> barbara starr, thanks. >>> still to come this morning, packages crushed.> two of my recent packages completely in smithereens. >>> and 46%. today's "romans' numeral." it has to do with value of your home. surprising signs of strength but at the same time, still taking a hit. >>> 49 minutes after the hour. >>> this morning's "romans' numeral." . 46% of homes sold in november were what? >> empty. >> distressed. a real estate owned by the bank or short sales. meaning people had to get out. when you sell a house distressed, short sale, you sell it for thousands and thousands of dollars less than you probably could if you held on to it. >> you've permanently lost that equity now. >> just a sign that you still have a lot of back log of trouble in the housing market, even as we've seen new construction of condos and apartment buildings pop up. >> which is funny. >> yesterday we saw this big surge in the stock market because of that new construction and new permits which is definitely a good sign, but we still have a lot of distressed homes on the market. a lot of

along with barbara starr, the joint cheer's chairman says bluntly, he is worried. joining us from germany where she is traveling with joint chiefs chairman dempsey, so what did the general tell you, barbara? >> well, wolf, we are part after very small group of reporters traveling with dempsey. cnn, the only american network with him on the way from afghanistan and iraq. stopping here from germfully, general dempsey woken up by developments and he met with us. he is talking about the concerns of about remaining vigilant, making sure that north korea makes no moves with its troops, weapons, equipment. and the bottom line of course, is will son, kim jong il be able to take over and exert north korean reregime. i want you to listen to what he had to say. >> it is my expectation, that will be the successor. we do have -- we have a significant amount of work to try to understand him. and i would only say at this point that he is young to be placed in this position. and we will have to see whether in fact it is him and how he reacts to the burden of governance that he hasn

military in germany is well aware of. >> barbara starr, thank you very much. >>> now politics.loser to make a decision whether to move forward in his campaign. mark preston joins us now. take us aboard the cain train. what's the timing? >> don, is it derailed? he continues to send us mixed signals about what his political future s. he talks about reassessing his campaign. in fact, last night he told reporters there's three things he'll evaluate when he makes the final decision about whether to continue on with the campaign or abandon it. listen. >> number one, since i've been campaigning all week i haven't had an opportunity to sit down with her and walk through this with my wife and my family. i will do that when i get back home on friday. secondly, re-evaluate the support of my supporters. it has been overwhelming so far. thirdly, re-evaluate the impact that this has on fundraising. >> don, the most interesting thing that he said to reporters last night is the fact that he hasn't had the discussion yet with his wife and his family about whether or not to continue on. he has s