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U.S. Ambassador Killed In Libya; Biden Speaks On Libyan Murders. Attacks Spark Foreign Policy Dual; U.S. Poverty Rate Falls Slightly; Number of Uninsured Americans Goes Down

Aired September 12, 2012 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. This hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, we are looking at all angles in the death of U.S. ambassador to Libya. The on-line film clip that also sparked rioting in two embassies and the life of the ambassador himself. I want to get right to it.

CNN has learned in the past few minutes that U.S. officials now believe the attackers in Libya did not specifically target the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. Targeted or not, Ambassador Stevens was killed along with three other members of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. The working theory is that the attackers planned to hit the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and were waiting for an opportunity to strike. Well, that opportunity came in a street riot last night. Here's secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: He risked his life to stop a tyrant, then gave his life trying to help build a better Libya.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Live at the State Department now to Elise Labott. Elise, first of all, the new information that we are getting here, because this is very rare, we understand, for an ambassador to be killed by terrorists, does it change how people feel about the -- about what has happened at the state department that people's dear friend and colleague that he was not targeted, that this was something of a tragic accident?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, I think the halls of the state department really mourning right now everybody. Chris Stevens was someone that was well known to everybody, was one of the most popular people in the foreign. Effects one of the most pop lash -- popular people in the foreign service. You know, a lot of times, if you hear about one random person -- not to make light of their death, but one random person killed in a rocket attack or a suicide attack or something like that, this was someone that everyone in the State Department knew. He was a very public figure, and so right now everybody trying to make sense of what happened here and not only dealing with the death of a dear colleague, but trying to move ahead.

I've talked to many officials today who said I just feel sick. I'm trying to just pull -- hold it together so I continue to work. But everybody just so upset.

MALVEAUX: This is someone, Elise, who worked in some of the most dangerous places in the world and probably knew the risk involved. Why did he do it?

LABOTT: He did it -- because I just spoke to just one senior official earlier. He did it because he loved the work. He really thought the mission of the United States to help these fragile countries move ahead, start anew, that's what he really loved about Libya. From the time that he was working to restore ties with the Libyan government to being an envoy to the opposition and helping the rebels on the ground in Benghazi, to now becoming the U.S. ambassador to Libya, he really was someone that felt it was really important to kind of proselytize, if you will, the Democratic values and needs to build proper institutions and try and have a peaceful stable country.

MALVEAUX: We understand that he was really regarded in some ways as a hero to the rebels and the people in Benghazi in particular. How did he feel? How comfortable did he feel moving around in Libya?

LABOTT: He felt very comfortable and that's what a lot of people are talking about today that maybe he felt a little too comfortable. Chris was someone that felt very at ease in Benghazi. He knew the area well. He knew the country well. And so, he might have not -- he might have felt a little bit more immune than some other people would to his safety because he knew so many people of different ilks (ph) in the country, different tribes, different groups, different civil society members, that he really felt at home in Libya.

MALVEAUX: I want to play a little bit of secretary of state Hillary Clinton and how she laid out her feelings about what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Today, many Americans are asking, indeed, I asked myself, how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated, and at times, how confounding the world can be. But we must be clear-eyed even in our grief. This was an attack by a small and savage group, not the people or government of Libya.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: I'm going to get back to you, Elise. But a quick moment, I want to jump in here. This is vice president Joe Biden speaking live in Dayton, Ohio, about this tragic incident.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (live): To make us safer at home. To make us safer at home. The cause to which they dedicated their lives and gave their lives, democracy, partnership, tolerance stands in sharp contrast to the values of those who callously took their lives. And let me be clear, we are resolved to bring to justice their killers. And we will work -- we will work with the Libyan government and our other partners to do just that. There is no place in a civilized world for senseless murder like occurred last night. Ambassador Stevens and his colleagues are not only mourned by Americans, they're also mourned by the vast majority of the Libyan people who they fought for, whose freedom they helped accomplish.

As you always have, Americans must be steadfast, resolved, and committed in the face of such horrific events. We never have been and we will not be run off, period. That's not who we are. And we're determined to redouble our work that those courageous Americans have begun and make sure, make sure that their objectives are met. Our nation needs women and men.

MALVEAUX: The vice president weighing in on the attack in Libya and the consulate to the White House Rose Garden earlier today. President Obama also weighing in on this saying in no uncertain terms that justice will be served for those responsible for the death of the four Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts. Already, many Libyans have joined us in doing so, and this attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya. Libyan security personnel fought back against the attackers alongside Americans. Libyans helped some of our diplomats find safety, and they carried Ambassador Stevens' body to the hospital where we tragically learned that he had died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Senior U.S. military sources are telling us that they are going to send unmanned airplane drones into the skies over Benghazi, Libya. Their job is going to be to look at -- or look for camps used by extremists and other targets that could be connected to the death of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and the three other Americans. Christiane Amanpour, she's joining us from New York to put all this into perspective. And, Christiane, I mean, you've been covering this region for decades now. When you, first of all, hear the news that it looks like this could be the work of an organization that preplanned an attack, but did not necessarily target the ambassador using the protest as a cover, if you will, in the anniversary of 911, what do you make of that?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, obviously what happens is completely unjustified and nobody can make any excuses for that attack on the American facilities. And it's really interesting to know, though, and all of us who have been there know that the popularity of the United States is very high in Libya, is actually quite unprecedented. According to the latest polls, higher than 50 percent. And that is because they thank the United States, as well as Britain and France, for leading the effort to liberate them from Muammar Gadhafi. So, we're still trying to piece through all the conflicting bits of information.

But the latest information from U.S. intelligence suggesting that this was preplanned, at least the one in Libya, also suggests that the United States and others have been noticing an uptick of Al Qaeda activity in that area, also in Iraq for that matter, and particularly in the Benghazi area which hasn't fully yet come under control of the central Libyan government. Libyan government leaders were very, very quick to condemn what happened, the killing, the death of Ambassador Stevens, and the other three American diplomats, called it cowardly and criminal, and said that they would be hunted down. As you know, the United States has said, the president, the secretary of state, that these killers will be brought to justice. But very important to know that this is not a sort of anti-Americanism all over Libya that is at work. It is a small group of militants and extremists. And the same thing happened apparently in Egypt.

MALVEAUX: Explain to us -- because this was a big question that we had earlier this morning before learning the new information about the ambassador and this group, perhaps not targeting him, but explain what was that about, the protests, the outrage in Libya and Egypt against this film, this American film that was critical of the prophet Muhammad?

AMANPOUR: Well, Suzanne, you know, the problem is that there's still so many unknowns. Who exactly is this filmmaker? Who is this Sam Vaselli (ph)? We know that he has spoken to the press by phone. He is apparently in hiding. He says himself that this was designed as a condemnation of Islam. He called even after these attacks in Libya and in Egypt that Islam is a cancer and that this was designed to condemn Islam. He apparently had been warned that this t could cause the kind of uprising, explosion of popular sentiment, in the region that we've seen. In the past, for instance, when Terry Jones threatened, the pastor from Florida, to burned that Quran and then, in fact, did. Over 2010 and 2011, there were real disturbances and deaths, so they did it deliberately.

Now, it seems that in Egypt, this had been taken by a mullah there, himself an extremist, and used and fanning the flames around this. Perhaps the same thing happened in Libya. Again, we're still trying to figure out, was it a coincidence that there was a protest outside the Libyan embassy, or rather the consulate in Benghazi? Was there a pre-planned attack? How did those two events meet? So, we still don't fully know that, and we're waiting to hear more answers on that, but certainly that film and the trailer which is on YouTube played into the very hands of those extremists who take any opportunity to fan the flames. And we've seen that happen time and again.

MALVEAUX: Christiane Amanpour, thank you so much. Good to see you, as always.

Here is what we're working on for this hour. We're learning those who killed ambassador Stevens may have used the protest outside the U.S. embassy in Libya as a diversion to actually get to him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: I want to show you a picture just in here at the White House. The White House, the president releasing this statement just moments ago by the president saying, "a proclamation is a mark of respect for the memory of John Christopher Stevens, United States Ambassador to Libya, and American personnel killed in the senseless attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi. By the authority vested in me as president of the United States, by the Constitution, and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, on all naval vessels of the federal government of the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories and possessions until sunset September 16, 2012." That from President Obama. And you see the picture there as the flag has been lowered to half staff at the White House.

Libya's deputy interior minister says the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was retaliation for an online film produced in the United States that protesters consider offensive to Islam. We are now learning, however, that the attack might have been planned in advance with the protest used as a diversion. I want to bring in Nic Robertson, who's covered Libya for years. He's joining us from London.

And, Nic, first of all, what are you hearing about who was responsible for this attack and whether or not it was premeditated?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a certain amount of evidence that seems to speak to the fact that there was an amount of premeditation here. It's not normal for Libyans to go to any kind of demonstration carrying RPG's, taking heavy anti- aircraft machine guns with them.

The facts that we do know, late last year al Qaeda's leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, sent a Libya -- a top level Libyan jihadist to set up an al Qaeda training camp in the east of Libya. He did that. Government officials have confirmed to me his name, the name of a number of others who have operated camps. In June this year, there was an attack on the U.S. consulate (ph) in Benghazi and the leaflets left behind by the group that attacks said that they were doing this in retaliation for a U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan/Afghanistan border targeting Abu Yahya al-Libi, the number two in al Qaeda. Little else was heard about him after that. There was no confirmation of his killing.

Yesterday the leader of al Qaeda states in a video for the first time that Abu Yahya al-Libi is dead. This Libyan number two is al Qaeda is dead. Then he calls on Libyans to kill Americans in Libya. He's already established training camps inside Libya. The Libyan government has been able to shut those down.

This is the background to this attack. Were these al Qaeda operatives involved precisely? We don't know. But there are concerns that they may well have taken advantage of this protest that was outside the consulate in Benghazi, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Nick, why haven't we heard any statements of responsibility? If this is an individual who warned the U.S. and said that they were going to attack again and this particular area had been attacked before, would they not come out and actually take credit for this? Is there any reason why they wouldn't want to do it that way?

ROBERTSON: Well, on previous occasions, this particular group, the Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman brigade, this is a brigade dedicated to who we know as the blind cleric, who's jailed in the United States for his 1993 involvement on the attack on the World Trade Center, have claimed previous responsibility. And they are believed perhaps to be behind it this time.

The claims of the responsibility have come forward so far have sort of broadly been dismissed by Libyan officials and by others. There are many different sort of Islamist groups in various parts, some of them small, various parts of Libya. There are believed to be 200 to 300 hard core Islamist fighters. That according to Libyan government officials that I talked to in June. They also told me at that time that the U.S. -- United States flies drones to monitor over those -- some of those camps to monitor them. This goes back to June earlier this year. That was never confirmed by U.S. officials, but that is what Libyan officials told me.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

ROBERTSON: But the claim -- no firm claims of responsibility by name so far.

MALVEAUX: Nic, I'm a little bit confused about one point here. If this is a place, the consulate, where U.S. officials knew there was a security problem, where it had been attacked before, why didn't we see more stringent security and better -- that this facility was better protected when the ambassador was there visiting?

ROBERTSON: I think a lot of other diplomats in Libya are probably asking themselves the same question. In the same week that the U.S. consulate was attacked at the 5th of June earlier, just a few months ago, the British -- a British senior diplomat, I believe the ambassador, was targeted in his car while visiting Benghazi. Quite a complex attack. Machine gunfire, rocket-propelled grenade. Two of his security staff were injured. The Red Cross have had their offices targeted in the same area. Other diplomats and other organizations had taken quite stringent security measures, I believe. There were no more British diplomats in Benghazi.

So it does raise that question. Was the security at the consulate sufficient enough on September the 11th when, on the previous occasion, the previous attack on the consulate --

MALVEAUX: Right.

ROBERTSON: On the 5th of June, the people that attacked it said that they knew the ambassador was going to be there in June and they probably had adequate -- perhaps had adequate knowledge he was coming on this particular occasion. That also is -- would be a concern.

MALVEAUX: Sure. Sure would. Nic Robertson, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

A 15-minute movie trailer sparked outrage in Egypt and might have served as a cover for the attack of the U.S. consulate in Libya. We're going to talk to a New York imam about why that video made extremists violently angry. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Protests against the U.S. in Libya and Egypt were apparently sparked by anger over an obscure movie that ridicules the Prophet Muhammad. It's not the first time that a perceived attack on Islam has been met with such an angry response. We saw scenes like this back in 1988 to 1998 after fatwa was issued against Salman Rushdie for writing "The Satanic Verses." More recently, in 2005, allegations of Korans being desecrated in Guantanamo Bay. And, again, protests also in 2005. Demonstrations and death threats against a Danish cartoonist for drawing an image of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb. And just last year, Muslims in Afghanistan rioted after Florida Pastor Terry Jones burned Korans. And earlier this year, there were deadly protests in Afghanistan when word got out that American soldiers had accidentally burned Korans at a U.S. military base near Kabul.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is founder and CEO of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the author of "Moving The Mountain." He's joining us from New York.

Thank you very much for being with us. If you can explain to us why the response, why the outrage, the kind of response and reaction that some Muslims feel when they know and feel that the Prophet Muhammad is being criticized and even insulted?

IMAM FEISAL ABDUL RAUF, CORDOBA INITIATIVE : Thank you, Suzanne. It's great to be with you again.

Muslims are taught to love the Prophet Muhammad more than their ownselves. So we respect the prophet very, very highly, as we respect all prophets, including Jesus and Moses whom we regard to be our prophets. You'll never see a Muslim insulting any prophet.

And because most of Muslims in the Muslim (ph) traditional world have a very strong sense of honor, an attack upon the prophet is considered an attack upon their personal honor. So I understand the sense of outrage and hurt and anger.

However, I have a message for my fellow Muslims in all these countries. The Koran is quite specific in saying that no soul shall be responsible for the sins or the crimes of another. This is repeated repeatedly in the Koran. And therefore, as much as this film is horrible and I happen to see it's disgusting, it's very deeply offensive and intended to offend people, it is not the right response to attack people who -- and to kill people who are innocent of this particular crime. So the attack against the embassies and the attack against the ambassador are to be condemned. I condemn them. Muslims condemn them. And to note that they are not in keeping with the principles of Islamic principles of justice.

Secondly, Islam is a faith that has a rule of law. No individual can take the law into his own hands and to be both the plaintiff, the judge, and executioner of a particular decision. So these are among the reasons, among many others, that this event should be condemned.

MALVEAUX: In light of that, in light of your advice, and in light of the fact that there's certainly -- the majority of Muslims are not reacting in any kind of violent way against these kind of things, but why do you suppose there is such a small group that continues to respond in such a violent way?

RAUF: Well, unfortunately, we have extremists in our midst everywhere. And as I have pointed out in the book that you just mentioned, "Moving The Mountain," the real battlefront is not really between Muslims and the west or Muslims and Jews and Muslims and Christians. The real battlefront we have today is between all the moderates against all the extremists because the extremists fuel each other. You know Pastor Terry Jones does something and then extremists in the Muslim world act and use that as an excuse. And by doing that, they maintain this vicious cycle of extremism, feeding extremism. So we who are the vast majority of Muslims and Christians and Jews and atheists, et cetera, have to really get together and coalesce as a global coalition of moderates against these extremists who are creating these problems for all of us all over the world. And this is the battlefront that we -- and the battle we have to wage today.

MALVEAUX: Sure. Quick question follow here. Do you think if you were in Egypt, you were in Cairo at the embassy there and you saw this angry mob of people, do you think the U.S. officials, did they respond the way they should have by closing the embassy down, evacuating it in light -- in anticipation of the protests that were happening? Do you think that their response was the right one?

RAUF: Well, I don't know exactly what they -- what they did, but, of course, their safety is paramount. But again, I mean, the vast majority of Egyptians and the vast majority of Libyans are grateful and should be grateful to America for having helped bring about democracy, helped removing, you know, the authoritarian regimes of Hosni Mubarak and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. And we are grateful. So I'm offend by this desecration of our embassy, desecration of the American flag. This is -- this is not what Muslims should be doing. Muslims should be presenting themselves as expressing gratitude to America, to the American people, to the American government, to the American Muslims who have been very robust in their attempts to help our government advance the cause of democracy in that part of the world.

MALVEAUX: All right. Imam, we appreciate your perspective, as always. Thank you. Good to see you.

RAUF: Thank you, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

Mitt Romney quick to criticize the Obama administration for not expressing outrage over the killing of Ambassador Stevens fast enough. We're going to take a look at the timeline.

Don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to cnn.com/tv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: The attacks on U.S. compounds lead to dueling statements in the U.S. presidential campaign. Mitt Romney is standing by his line of attack against the Obama administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A terrible course for America to stand in apology for our values. That, instead, when our grounds are being attacked and being breached, that the first response to the United States must be outrage at the breach of the sovereignty of our nation. An apology for America's values is never the right course.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Governor Romney --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Here's the background on how this all played out. Before the attacks, U.S. the embassy in Cairo issued a statement that the Romney camp says apologized for anti-Muslim activity in the United States. It said, "The embassy condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims, as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions."

Well, that prompted the White House quickly to release another public statement saying that they -- the Cairo embassy remarks were, quote, "not clear." The secretary of state issued her own statement condemning the attacks. That was not quick enough for the Romney campaign, so the Romney campaign issued a statement saying, "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."

Then, the Obama campaign responded, "We are shocked that, at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Governor Romney would choose to launch a political attack."

All right. I want to bring in Wolf Blitzer to talk about all of this.

You lose your breath over this kind of back and forth. Well, not surprising, however, that we se this because it is two months before we decide who the next president is going to be. All the focus has been on the economy. Now it's foreign policy. What's at stake?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: A lot is at stake because both President Obama and Governor Romney, they want to show the American people that they can conduct national security in difficult times. So the president has a lot riding on what's going to happen over the next two months. National security has not been a major issue so far in this election. It's been jobs and the economy, sometimes a little bit of the social issues.

But whenever there's a crisis, Suzanne, at the tail end of a presidential election, as was the case, for example, of 2004 when John Kerry was challenging the incumbent president, George W. Bush. And you remember that well. And all of a sudden bin Laden is releasing videotapes and all of this, that it becomes an issue, and people will take a look and see who would be the more responsible, the more powerful, the more effective commander-in-chief, and then it becomes an issue. And I'm sure that Mitt Romney wants to show that he has the credentials to be commander-in- chief. And the president wants to show that he would be better at that.

As far as polls are concerned, before these latest incidents in Cairo and Benghazi, polls showed that the American public was convinced that President Obama does a better job on foreign policy. There it is over there. 54 percent think the president does a better job, 42 percent thinks Romney. At least for now, this is an issue in this campaign.

MALVEAUX: Wolf, one of the things that the campaign, the Mitt Romney campaign, and Romney came out and said himself earlier today was that there was a distinction that was made here. There was a statement that came out of the embassy in Cairo and then there was a secretary of state statement, and then we saw, following, the president's statement and so forth. Mitt Romney was asked about that, and he said that "The president is responsible for the words of those that come out of the embassies as well as his ambassadors." Are there some people who think that was somewhat of a stretch?

BLITZER: Well, you know, the executive branch of the government -- the president, is in charge of the executive branch of government, and as you know, Suzanne, the State Department is part of the executive branch. State Department has embassies all over the world, including a huge one in Cairo. and the U.S. embassy in Cairo did issue that statement. Still unclear to me when that statement was issued. It was clearly issued before the violence erupted, the real violence that we saw and the killing of these American diplomats in Benghazi. But it's unclear to me if that statement was issued before that mob attacked the U.S. embassy in Cairo, whether it was issued as the mob was attacking the U.S. embassy in Cairo, as that attack and the burning of the American flag was still going on. It's still unclear when Cairo released that statement.

It is clear that the State Department in Washington disavowed that statement. I'm still trying to figure out, Suzanne, whether the U.S. ambassador, Ann Patterson, who is a very respected, esteemed, if you will, foreign service officer, career diplomat, the former U.S. ambassador of Pakistan -- did she personally approve that statement, which the State Department later disavowed, and which Romney used as a sort of wedge to try to go after the Obama administration? These are all questions that I think still have to be determined. We're working on them, even as we speak right now.

MALVEAUX: Still a lot of unanswered questions.

Wolf, good to see you, as well. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Middle class wages are shrinking again, but the poverty rate is getting better. We're going to tell why that may happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Trying to support a family of four on $23,000 a year or less. That's amazing. That is the definition of living below the poverty line. We heard today that figure has actually gone down for the first time in a long time.

Alison Kosik is joining us from the New York Stock Exchange to talk a bit about this.

Alison, so the poverty rate dropped a fraction of a percent, right, from 15.1 percent to 15 percent. What does that mean?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. So it doesn't sound like it's a lot, but, you know, it is a pretty decent drop. You know, when you look at the poverty rate overall, it has been rising since the recession started, and now you see it dipping a bit. But no doubt about it, that 15 percent, it's still high. If any of you look at how the poverty rate has moved in the past 30 years, you see that it averaged about 13 percent since the census began tracking this. 11 percent was the low point. That was in the late 1990s.

Now, the good news is this little dip lower that we're talking about, it would be the beginning of a new trend for the better. You know, notice the small decline there at the far right side of the chart there. The poverty rate fell last year. It's not huge, but it is the first improvement in four years. You know, hopefully, Suzanne, that's going to continue.

MALVEAUX: The experts actually expected that it was going to go up. What happened?

KOSIK: Right. Well, believe it or not, more people actually got full-time jobs. During the recession, many people, they settled for part-time jobs because it's better than being unemployed. Having a little bit of income coming in is better than not having anything at all. Well, now more full-time work is actually available. It means more people made more money. It got some people out of poverty. So the poverty rate, as you can see, is tied directly to the job market. To get people out of poverty, the job market needs to get back to normal, or at least improve a lot more than it is improving right now.

You can even break it down by race and see that connection. Blacks actually had the highest poverty rate because they have a higher unemployment rate. That's interesting right there -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: How is this related to wages?

KOSIK: OK. So what's happened here is that wages -- there's kind of a disconnect. More people, they're finding jobs, but they're not finding higher paying jobs, so what that does is it brings down the overall income numbers. So reality is most of the jobs that are being added now are these low-wage jobs, like in retail or in the restaurant industry. Also, people who have jobs, they're not getting raises. You know, there are so many people out there competing for a small amount of work, so there's really no incentive to pay these higher salaries. So what you see happening is it shifts the bargaining power away from the employee and the job hunter and right to the employer.

So also it's not just about the unemployed. You know, even people who have jobs, Suzanne, they're struggling because they've got these lower wages. They're working, but they're making these lower wages. And that really is -- it makes it hard to make ends meet as well -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Alison, thanks. Appreciate it.

We'll take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Diplomatic fight between China and Japan over a group of islands in the South China Sea is now intensifying. They are both claiming the islands as their own. Chinese state media says two Chinese ships have arrived near the islands to protect them. China deployed the ships after Japan announced it's buying the islands from a Japanese family. Well, that announcement set off protests both in China and Japan. The islands are believed to hold lucrative oil reserves.

And for the first time in four years, the number of Americans without health insurance has now gone down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A Census Bureau report released just a few hours ago shows the number of Americans without health insurance has actually gone down, so from 50 million in 2010 to 48.6 million last year.

I want to bring in Elizabeth Cohen to explain this because this is good news.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. In other words, more Americans are insured. Fewer are uninsured. Right.

(LAUGHTER)

Sometimes you have to put a label on it. This is actually good news. More Americans have health insurance.

And the major age group that caused this bump is young adults ages 19 to 25.

So what this census data shows is that, in 2009, about 31 percent of young adults were uninsured. In 2011, it went down to 27 percent, approximately, were uninsured. We don't 100 percent know what the reasoning is behind that, but a big part of it appears to be is that, in 2010, the Affordable Care Act, Obama-care required insurance companies to keep young adults on their parent's insurance if that's what the parents wanted.

MALVEAUX: Right.

COHEN: They said you have got to keep those kids in their early 20s on the insurance if that's what the parents want.

MALVEAUX: Do we expect the numbers to go up even more?

COHEN: Yes, we do, because in 2014 the Affordable Care Act requires that everybody to get insurance, that individual mandate that we've heard so much about. So, yes, we expect those numbers to move into the 90-something percent of Americans will be insured.

MALVEAUX: So if Mitt Romney is elected president, what happens to the insurance picture?

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: These numbers will probably look different because, if he goes through on his promise, and his promise is to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. He wants it out. So this young adult group, he won't tell insurance companies you have to keep young adults on their parent's insurance. He's not going to tell them that. Instead, he's explained that he's going to institute market reforms, get more competition, and insurance companies will want to keep those young adults on their parent's insurance because customers will demand it. So he's not going to require them to do it. He's going to make it so they want to do it.

MALVEAUX: We'll see if the markets respond in the way he's predicting.

(LAUGHTER)

COHEN: You can't tell markets what to do. You can just hope for what you want.

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: No school again for 350,000 Chicago students.

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MALVEAUX: It's the third day of a strike by school teachers and staff. The teachers walked off the job on Monday in a dispute over pay and teacher evaluations. Parents, as you can imagine, not happy.

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UNIDENTIFIED PARENT: I spent $240 in child care the last two days. I'm not happy about that. And I'm sure most parents can't afford that. So if the teachers really care, show me how they are taking care of my children.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: The school system is using non-union workers to provide alternative child care at about 100 schools.

Five men face charges today in an alleged plot to overthrow the government. The men are part of a militia group with ties to Fort Stewart, Georgia. They are accused of theft and burglaries in a campaign to raise funds for their group. Earlier, four Fort Stewart soldiers were charged with being a part of that same group. Those soldiers are also accused of murdering two people and plotting to assassinate President Obama.

And it's here. Today, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, the latest version of the popular smartphone. It has a larger screen, is lighter and thinner than the iPhone 4S. Apple sold more than 243 million iPhones since it first debuted in 2007.

Some of Ambassador Stevens' friends are mourning his death on Twitter. We're going to take a look at what people they're saying.

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MALVEAUX: Friends of Ambassador Stevens have been tweeting their thoughts about the loss of a friend and a colleague.

Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, tweeted, "U.S. Ambassador Stevens served his country with distinction and he leaves behind a legacy of commitment to democracy and freedom."

Ambassador Susan Rice, who represents the U.S. at the United Nations, tweeted, "I was fortunate to work with ambassador Stevens. He represented the very best of America and he was a close friend of the Libyan people."

And John Roos, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, he tweeted, "I'm shocked and deeply saddened by the death of ambassador Stevens. For the last few hours, I just didn't want to believe it was true."

Our condolences as well to his family and to his friends.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Don Lemon.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Well said.

Thank you so much, Suzanne.

I'm Don Lemon, in today for Brooke Baldwin.

What seemed to be the story out of Libya and Egypt this morning, or even an hour ago, is now shifting. We're getting in new information as to what may have prompted mob attacks on U.S. embassies in Egypt and Libya, and it may have to do more with the anniversary of 9/11 than with a movie that insulted the Muslim faith.

You're looking at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. That's after the mob attack. It was here where four Americans lost their lives, among them the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens. This may be a national security crisis but it's also an election year. And the Republican candidate for president wasted no time last night. Almost immediately, Mitt Romney issued a statement calling the Obama administration's reaction to the attacks disgraceful. More on the politics of this a little later on.

But first, we want to hear from President Obama, what he to say a few hours ago.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack. We're working with the government of Libya to secure our diplomats. I've also directed my administration to increase our security at diplomatic posts around the world. And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.

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MALVEAUX: We should tell you that U.S. Marines are on their way to Libya as we speak. And now we are learning the U.S. is sending drones to Benghazi.

I want to bring in our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, how is this going to work? And what are the drones expected to do?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me try to offer some detail here, Don. Drones over Libya should not come as a surprise to anyone. The U.S. operated drones during the time of the war there, last year, when the Gadhafi regime was being overthrown. They were operated under the NATO flag.