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Deadly Protests in Pakistan; U.S. Consuls Beef Up Security; Last U.S. Surge Troops Leave Afghanistan; Hostage Situation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Romney, Obama Fight for Latino Vote; Refugees Face Grim Conditions

Aired September 21, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: And I'm rooting for Betty White, anything for Betty White.

Nischelle, good to see you. Enjoy your weekend. You'll have fun doing this one. Great assignment.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ANCHOR: I will.

BANFIELD: Thanks, everyone, for watching. "NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL" with Don Lemon starts now.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much, Ashleigh Banfield.

Welcome to NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL, where we take you around the world in 60 minutes. I'm Don Lemon, in for Suzanne Malveaux today. Here's what's going on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (voice-over): Police in Pennsylvania say as many as two people have been taken hostage inside a high-rise building. It's taken place on the 16th floor of 3 Gateway Center. It's in Pittsburgh. Hostage negotiators are talking to the suspect right now. We're going to continue to bring you updates as we get them here on CNN.

But we're going to begin with the deadly protest going on right now in Pakistan. All eyes are on the Middle East on this Friday, the day of prayer in the Muslim world. It's also a day of protest. Muslim leaders are urging calm and some Western embassies are closed for security.

In parts of Pakistan demonstrations have turned violent. Reza Sayah got caught up right in the middle of a faceoff between police and protesters in Islamabad. Take a look.

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Friday prayers have just concluded, and what we're seeing are some of the largest and most intense protests yet here in Pakistan. Now what you see over there are shipping containers. Police are using them to block off the path to the diplomatic enclave. That's where the foreign embassies are, the U.S. Embassy, the French embassy.

Now what you seem to have here is some people urging protesters to rush police officers and others saying, don't go, stay put. And they can't seem to decide what to do. So at this point, it's basically a free-for-all. What you see is these protesters just teeing off with objects, sticks, stones, and police just holding up their shields and blocking the objects.

OK, now police officers are starting to throw rocks, and I think it's time for us to move back a little bit.

Now, what often gets lost in these dramatic pictures is the actual numbers, how many people are here. And if you do a quick count, there's no more than at most 400, 500 people here.

We had to make a run for it because police fired off several canisters of tear gas. We had difficulty seeing and breathing, so we came back here to where there's a rally taking place. Here's what we observe.

A lot of the protesters who are throwing objects, sticks, stones, they're young men, teenagers many their 20s. You see them with this mischievous smile, and you get the impression that they're not offended by any anti-Islam movie, that they're getting a rush out of facing off with police.

Then you see some of the signs, the chants against the U.S. government, against the NATO supply routes, and, again, that is a sign that this is more than just about an anti-Islam movie.

There's a lot of anger about U.S. foreign policy, the occupation of Afghanistan, and a lot of people here will tell you that what's boiled over is this deep-seated anti-American sentiment that's been here in Pakistan for a very long time.

LEMON: That was CNN's Reza Sayah reporting there. And the U.S. and other Western countries are taking action to protect their diplomats overseas. They have beefed up security, closed embassies and consulates for the day now in Indonesia and also in Sudan.

Joining me from Washington to give us more perspective on this is Wendy Chamberlin. Ms. Chamberlin is a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan and president of the Middle East Institute.

I'm sure you saw some of the -- of what Reza was reporting there, some of the outrage. Ambassador, let's talk about this and a bit more. Republicans have criticized the Obama administration for not providing enough security at our embassies and at our consulate. You know it's like serving in a volatile area.

Are there significant security concerns at our embassies and American posts overseas?

WENDY CHAMBERLIN, PRESIDENT, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Well, look, I think it's important to understand that the first line of defense for any mission abroad is the host government itself. Host governments are responsible for protecting diplomatic missions and their personnel, and I think what you just saw on the clip was the Pakistan government doing just that. You had the Pakistani police and then elsewhere, the Pakistani army, out protecting the diplomatic enclave and consulates throughout the country.

I was very fortunate because when I was ambitious in Islamabad in 2001, President Musharraf was very responsible, had pledged almost immediately to support us in the counterterrorism effort, to go after Al Qaeda, and he immediately surrounded the American embassy with several rings of police and military. This isn't always the case. In 1979, it was not the case.

LEMON: Yes. So I want to move on; I want to get a lot in here, Ambassador.

The U.S. is airing an ad on Pakistani television. That ad includes clips of President Obama and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking out against religious intolerance and explaining that the U.S. government had nothing to do with the anti-Muslim movie that has triggered the unrest. I want you to listen to this and we'll talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Let me state very clearly -- and I hope it is obvious -- that the United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ambassador, I'm sure you've heard this; some critics here in the U.S. say the video amounts to an apology. They're calling it more on a subsequent apology tour from the administration.

Do you think it was appropriate for the U.S. to put out this ad? And do you think it will be effective in calming the protests?

CHAMBERLIN: Well, we won't know how effective it will be for some time. But I mean, I personally think it was a smart, innovative diplomacy. I mean, what is good diplomacy? I've been in the business for over 40 years. And I have always found that when you speak directly to people and are honest, that's not an apology. That's just effective diplomacy.

I mean, putting it in the context of Pakistan, you have got 85 percent of the public gets most of its information from television. And 50 percent of that public is illiterate.

And when they see Hillary Clinton, one of the most popular women in the world, and President Obama, the President of the United States, speaking directly to them, with their faces, their words coming out and saying this was not U.S. government policy, that's the truth.

LEMON: Yes.

CHAMBERLIN: I think it's effective diplomacy, not an apology.

LEMON: Let's talk about how the people here in the United States may feel, because as a former ambassador to Pakistan, you know the people there well, but many people here in the U.S. don't understand why a cheap Internet movie that was made here in the U.S., not in Pakistan, not anywhere overseas, made by one person, how it can trigger an angry response.

How would you explain this cultural divide?

CHAMBERLIN: Well, we take very personally and important our protections for free speech, but in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world, it's beyond the law. It's beyond constitutional. They are -- I have always found -- I have served in many Muslim countries, Muslim majority countries, and I have found the people to be very gracious, very welcoming, very accepting of my differences as a foreigner.

And they expect and would like to be shown greater respect, and they find that this kind of video is highly disrespectful of them, and it's offensive.

Now, that does not, as it did in Libya, in any way excuse the violence or taking of civilian lives, the burning of schools like we saw in Tunisia and consulates. That's unacceptable.

LEMON: OK.

CHAMBERLIN: But I think all of us need to show more respect to our hosts.

LEMON: OK. I want to move on. I didn't know if you have seen this. There is a report in "The Wall Street Journal." There are also other critics and other reports that there -- as for what happened in Libya, that there was some signal that it was going to happen and that -- the criticism is that the administration and our government did not do enough to protect those people there.

They had warnings and that this was a preplanned act, not a spontaneous act as the administration had said. What do you say to that?

CHAMBERLIN: Well, I think the evidence is still out. The FBI has just arrived. They'll do a full investigation. We'll learn a lot more later. But it was coming up on September 11th.

September 11, of course, is a very symbolic date throughout the world, and Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin laden as leader of the Al Qaeda, had, a couple of weeks ago a call that sent a message out to the Libyan people, asking them to avenge the death of the number three in Al Qaeda that we killed with a drone in July.

So, yes, yes, there were signs out there. There are always signs out there. We're going to have terrorist events in the future.

Was this premeditated? Well, we'll find out. But it was -- certainly a tense period --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: It sounds like I'm hearing you say that more could have been done.

Do you think the administration did enough to protect our men and women overseas (inaudible)?

CHAMBERLIN: As a diplomat who has served overseas, I think the administration has done a great deal. Sometimes you can do too much. It's a delicate balance. And allowing our diplomats to get out and speak and communicate with the people and do our jobs or keeping us all locked up, I think they are getting it right.

LEMON: Ambassador, we appreciate your time. We're out of time as well. Thank you very much.

CHAMBERLIN: Thank you.

LEMON: All right.

New details now on that hostage situation that I told you about in Pennsylvania. It's happening on the 16th floor of Gateway Center 3 in downtown Pittsburgh. Police are negotiating with what they say is a relatively calm gunman, identified as a former member of the military with a criminal record. He is holding at least one person, who was his original target, and there may be another hostage involved.

Gunman's mother now at the scene helping in the negotiations. She is talking with police. Roads have been blocked, and public transportation shut down in the area. We'll update you on that as we go along here.

Here's more on what we're working on for our CNN NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL. The president is calling it his biggest failure in office. We're going to look at how immigration reform could shape the election.

And the surge is over. So what happens to the troops who are left in Afghanistan now? We're going to get a live report from Kabul.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Woke up today to find out the last U.S. surge troops have left Afghanistan, 33,000 additional troops were ordered to the country nearly three years ago to help stabilize it, buy more time for training of Afghan forces and to try to disrupt a Taliban uprising there.

With the departure of the surge troops, there are still some 68,000 U.S. forces remaining in Afghanistan. So let's talk about it more now. Anna Coren, live from Kabul. Anna, first off, did the surge strategy work?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, it really depends on who you speak to. The military will tell you that it's been very successful, that they've been able to push the Taliban out of the populated areas, that the Kyieldmay (ph) insurgent, that they have been able to reclaim that territory that the Taliban were able to take up.

Well, U.S. forces and the world were very much focused on Iraq, but you speak to the critics, and they will say that they -- it did not achieve what they were hoping to achieve, and that is to really train up the Afghan armed forces.

Of course, it did provide a stable environment to a certain extent to allow that transfer of power, that training program to operate. But I'm not exactly quite sure whether or not, Don, it's achieved its ultimate goal. In the process this has cost a lot of money, and to date more than 2,000 U.S. soldiers have died, Don.

LEMON: We have heard, Anna, a lot about those green-on-blue attacks with the recent uptick in violence, especially those green-on-blue attacks. Is there a timing problem here with the troop departure?

COREN: Yes, well, it's certainly not ideal. You get the impression that everybody just wants to get out of here. To tell you the truth, Don, when you speak to troops off the record, that is what they will definitely tell you. I mean, this had to happen. This was always kind of the plan.

You know, President Barack Obama, when he gave the green light for this surge back in December of 2009, he said those 33,000 troops, they will be leaving come September 2012. But as you say, those green-on- blue attacks, there have been 51 coalition deaths to date this year. Compare that to last year, it was 35.

On top of that, we've seen NATO suspend joint operations in the last couple of days. So there's definitely a feeling as to whether the mission here is working, whether that transfer of power is going to be successful, whether the Afghan armed forces are going to be able to stand on their own two feet when the international troops do leave here in 2014, Don.

LEMON: Anna Coren, Kabul, appreciate your reporting. Thank you very much.

The United States considered them terrorists until now. Elise Labott joins us from Washington to talk about an Iranian exile group that most people haven't even heard of. It's called MEK.

So, Elise, first off, who are they, and what is this all about really?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, their real name is the Mujahideen-e Khalq. They're a Iranian exile group, put on the U.S. terrorism list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1977 for attacks against Americans. And they've also attacked the United Nations offices in the '90s.

And so this group basically has been considered a terrorist organization. In the last years there's been a lot of pressure to remove them from the list. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton is under a court order to by October decide whether she's going to keep the group on the list or keep them off the list.

Now really what they consider themselves is an alternative to the Iranian regime. They see themselves as an Iranian opposition group. And they want support in the United States, and they have a significant amount of support in Congress.

LEMON: Yes. Quickly here, where have these members been for the past 25 years?

LABOTT: For the past 25 years, they've been many this place called Camp Ashraf in Iraq, basically as kind of refugees, if you will. The Iraq -- they've been looking for some other country to take them. There have been a lot of efforts by the United Nations to get rid of them, (inaudible) them to third countries.

The Iraqis don't want them there, and over the last several months there's been a real effort to resettle them in another place in Iraq, get rid of this Camp Ashraf.

And so there's been a lot of debate within the administration about the behavior of this group, because they're considered -- a lot of people in the administration -- to be a cult, if you will. And they've been really giving the United States and the United Nations a headache as they've been moving from this Camp Ashraf.

So one of the Secretary of State Hillary (inaudible) -- the group was that they decided move. They cooperated with the international community, but there's -- it's been the subject of a real contentious debate within the administration over whether they should delist, but at the end of the day they didn't meet the criteria for staying on the list.

LEMON: Elise Labott, thank you. Wanted to talk to you more about that, but we need to get now to the President of the United States. Thank you, Elise.

The president is speaking now in Woodbridge, Virginia. At last check, he was talking about those remarks by Mitt Romney, the 47 percent he says doesn't pay taxes in the country. Let's listen to the president now.

OBAMA: -- and research in the world. We have got the best colleges and universities in the world.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: There's not a country on Earth that wouldn't trade places with the United States of America. So the path I'm offering may be harder, but it leads to a better place. I'm offering a practical 5-point plan to create jobs and grow the middle class and rebuild the economy on a stronger foundation. So let me break it down in case you guys missed the convention.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Just in case. Or just in case you only saw Michelle.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Number one, I want to export more products and outsource fewer jobs. When my opponent said we should let Detroit go bankrupt, we came together to reinvent a dying auto industry that's back on top of the world.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: In the last two and a half years we created more than half a million new manufacturing jobs in this country.

So now you have a choice. We can build on that progress or we can do what the other folks want to do and give more tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. We can continue to see outsourcing or we can do some in-sourcing and reward companies that open new plants and train new workers and create new jobs right here in the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: I want to help big factories and small businesses double their exports. We can create a million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years. We can make that happen. But I'm going to need your help.

Number two, I want us to control more of our own energy. After 30 years of inaction, we raised fuel standards so that by the middle of the next decade your cars and trucks will go twice as far on a gallon of gas.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We've doubled the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar. Thousands of Americans have jobs today building wind turbines and long-lasting batteries. Today the United States of America is less dependent on foreign oil than any time in nearly two decades.

So now you've got a choice. You can do what Mr. Romney wants to do and reverse all that progress or we can build on it. I'm not going to let oil companies write this country's energy plan, I don't want them to keep collecting another $4 billion corporate welfare from our taxpayers --

LEMON: President Obama there talking about really American exceptionalism. He is in Woodbridge, Virginia. Later on he is going to speak via satellite to the folks at the AARP convention down in New Orleans. President on the campaign trail of Virginia, battleground state, by the way.

Latest CNN poll showed him up 50 percent to Romney's 44 percent of likely voters there in Virginia.

Let's move on now and talk about who can keep America safe. That will be one of the big questions on voters' minds when they go to the polls this November. We'll take a look at the security plans the two candidates are offering up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In a run up to the presidential election, CNN continues to break down our most important issues. Homeland security is front and center for Americans, especially with terror and violence grabbing headlines again. Susanne Kelly tells us that President Obama and his challenger, Mitt Romney, have differing thoughts on how to keep America safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE KELLY, SR. NATIONAL SECURITY PRODUCER (voice-over): Killing of Osama bin Laden, undoubtedly the national security highlight of the Obama administration. Few argue it was a risky move for the president to give the order to invade Pakistani airspace and go after the Al Qaeda leader.

As a candidate in 2007, Romney questioned whether it was worth the time and money it would take to hunt bin Laden down. Later saying, of course, he would have given the same order.

Don't expect much of a difference between the two candidates on the issue of drones, either. The program, started under President Bush, hit full speed under Obama, who relies on the still classified missions to limit the numbers of troops on the ground by launching Hellfire missiles from the air.

OBAMA: My most sacred duty as president and commander in chief is to keep the American people safe. And what that means is we've brought a whole bunch of tools to bear to go after Al Qaeda and those who would attack Americans. You know, drones are one tool that we use.

KELLY (voice-over): Romney supports the use of drones as well, like his rival, even in the case where a U.S. citizen may be the target.

ROMNEY: And if there's someone that's going to join with a group like Al Qaeda, that declares war in America and we're in a war with that entity, then, of course, anyone who is bearing arms with that entity is fair game for the United States of America.

KELLY (voice-over): But there are places where the two candidates differ, mainly over the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and the use of the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding, where a detainee is made to feel as if he is drowning.

OBAMA: As the first executive order --

KELLY (voice-over): On the Guantanamo question, despite his 2009 promise to return the American people to the, quote "moral high ground" by issuing an executive order to close the facility, it turned out it was easier said than done for the president.

Romney, on the other hand, wants to keep Guantanamo open for business.

On the question of torture, have you to know where it is to know where the candidates stand. While both have said they're opposed to the use of torture, Romney has so far refused to characterize waterboarding as torture.

ROMNEY: I just don't think it's productive for a President of the United States to lay out a list of what is specifically referred to as torture.

KELLY (voice-over): Romney's lack of a specific definition worries security experts like Bruce Riedel.

BRUCE RIEDEL, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: I think that the governor really holds it to the American people to explain exactly what he means about he won't allow torture, but that he doesn't want to comment on techniques of torture.

KELLY (voice-over): Obama literally banned the practice as one of his first official acts.

OBAMA: Waterboarding is torture. It's contrary to America's traditions. It's contrary to our ideals. That's not who we are.

KELLY (voice-over): A recent poll suggests that likely voters like Obama when it comes to national security issues. When it comes to terrorism specifically, 50 percent of likely voters polled last month said Obama would better handle terrorism; 43 percent threw think their weight behind Romney.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any American president at this time is going to wage a relentless struggle against Al Qaeda and associated movements because Republicans and Democrats alike recognize we still have a significant threat coming from Al Qaeda and its allies.

KELLY: Regardless of who occupies the Oval Office come January, the only certainty, say intelligence experts, is that the enemy will still be there, still plotting to do Americans harm. Suzanne Kelly, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right, Suzanne.

President Obama is calling it the biggest failure of his time in office, so what is he going to do about immigration? What is he going to do? Is he going to get a second term? An dif he does, what's he going to do? We're going to take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Every single vote counts in this one, every demographic. The Latino vote shaping up to be a powerful force in the presidential race, Both President Obama and Mitt Romney spent the week wooing Hispanic voters. Last night on the Spanish language network Univision, the president admitted regret over his inaction on immigration reform. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: My biggest failure so far is we haven't gotten comprehensive immigration reform done. So we're going to be continuing to work on that. But it's not for lack of trying and desire, and I'm confident we're going to accomplish that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And just the night before, Mitt Romney took the hot seat at the same venue. Even cracking a somewhat awkward joke about his tenuous roots to Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you sure you're not a Hispanic?

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think for political purposes that might have helped me here at the University of Miami today. But truth is, as you know, my dad was born of American parents living in Mexico. But he came back to this country at age 5 or 6 and was helped to get on his feet and recognized this was the land of opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. A little joke there from Mitt Romney.

Rafael Romo joins me now to break all of this down. Let's talk about President Obama. Has he lost support since he wasn't able to get -- to deliver a comprehensive immigration reform plan?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Interestingly enough, he has not. That's because Mr. Romney has committed a couple of political gaffes, if you will, by saying, for example, the most recent comment that he would have had a better chance of becoming president had he been a Latino. That was not very well taken by the Latino community.

But before that, you remember in the primary season, he made some comments about self-deportation and he was in favor of that.

LEMON: Yes.

ROMO: Self-deportation, essentially, meaning making life for immigrants in this country so miserable that they will have no other choice but to move back to their country. So, that was not very well- taken, in spite of President Obama not taking action on immigration. Those two comments or those two missteps by Romney made Latinos go back to Mr. Obama.

LEMON: And I mentioned the DREAM Act as well. People are saying, he wanted young people who are here and going to school and what-have-you and leading productive lives, we want to send them back, and that's not -- that doesn't go over well with Latinos, correct?

ROMO: That's right. That's right. And when it comes to the DREAM Act, the president had been accused of reacting too late, but he said we had a big economic problem, and I had to deal with that first.

LEMON: But his critics say that he has -- that comment about that was his biggest -- his biggest regret, right? They see that as panders because they say that the economy should be his biggest regret. He know you don't speak for all Latinos, but for the most part, does the information show that they even consider that pandering, or it doesn't matter?

ROMO: Well, the interesting thing to me when he said that was that he said it not in front of a national audience, but in front of Univision, in a forum sponsored by Univision and Facebook, in a forum that was being broadcast in Spanish to the country. So I wonder if he would have said a different thing if he was speaking in the middle of a debate.

But in any case, he acknowledged that was a promise that he made to Latinos in 2008 that he failed to fulfill.

LEMON: Let's look at our latest polling. This is a Gallop poll, August 27th through September 16th. Hispanic -- registered Hispanic voters.

There it is -- 66 percent for Obama, 26 percent for Romney. What is the difference? What difference can this bloc of voters make in this particular election?

ROMO: Well, if you look at history, we mentioned this. In 2008, Obama got 67 percent of the vote, and that's one of the reasons he became the president, but if you go back to 2004, President Bush had 40 percent of the Latino electorate. And if history is any indication, any candidate who wants to win the White House, the presidency, needs to get at least that 40 percent.

So, at this point, Mr. Romney is about 10 percent to 15 percentage points of getting that.

LEMON: Yes. And the common wisdom is every vote that you can get will definitely help. Thank you, Rafael Romo. I appreciate that.

ROMO: Thank you.

LEMON: Huge stash of methamphetamine, $42 million worth, $42 million worth, of methamphetamine found hidden in this furniture.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Here's what I mentioned to you earlier, the president will be speaking to the AARP down in New Orleans. And Medicare, of course, has turned into a major issue in the presidential campaign, and it's an issue on the minds of AARP members who are meeting down in New Orleans.

President Obama spoke to the AARP Life at 50 Plus meeting. He did it via satellite just a few moments ago. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I have strengthened Medicare as president. We've added years to the life of the program by getting rid of taxpayer subsidies to insurance companies that weren't making people healthy, and we used those savings to lower prescription drug costs and offer seniors on Medicare new preventive services like cancer screenings and wellness services.

In fact, the health reform law we passed has already saved more than 5.5 million seniors and people with disabilities nearly $4.5 billion on their prescription drugs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Of course, the president's opponents getting their turn now. Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan -- there you see him live -- he is trying to convince seniors his plan for Medicare is the way to go. He's addressing AARP conference in New Orleans right now.

Let's listen in.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What kind of nation are we living to our kids? You're right to ask these questions. You're right to worry that years of empty promises by both political parties are threatening the security of your golden years. And you're right to demand honest answer from those who are asking for your vote.

Mitt Romney and I share your concerns, and we respect you enough to level with you. We respect all the people in this country enough to talk about the clear choices we face on Medicare, Social Security, the economy, and the kind of country our children will inherit.

I'll warn you ahead of time -- these are very serious challenges. Sometimes, the math can be a little bit overwhelming, but let's just start with some simple subtraction. 2012 minus 50.

If you are turning 50 this year, you were born in 1962, the dawn of a new American era in politics, JFK, civil rights, Vietnam. By the time you were learning long division, Neil Armstrong was walking on the moon. Government was making new promises to older Americans.

When Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare into law, he pledged, quote, "No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will young families see their own incomes and their own hopes eaten away simply because they are carrying out their deep moral obligations to their parents and to their uncles and to their aunts."

You see, there are two sides to that promise. Obligations to young and old alike. We must honor both. Today our nation faces a political turning point, government mismanagement and political cowardice are threatening both sides of LBJ's pledge. Seniors are threatened by Obamacare, a law that would force steep cuts to real benefits in real-time for real people.

Meanwhile, younger Americans are burdened by an ever growing national debt and a diminished future.

Here's the good news. By embracing commonsense reforms now, we can get ahead of the problem and keep promises people have organized their lives around. You see, if we reform Medicare for my generation, we can protect it for those in or near retirement today.

(APPLAUSE)

LEMON: That is Paul Ryan down in New Orleans making his case, his case and Mitt Romney's case for Medicare and to help people who are retiring. He is speaking at the AARP. It's called Life at 50 Plus -- taking us back to 1962. There are those baby boomers.

Their country has been at war with itself for 18 months, and these Syrian refugees are trying to escape the violence. We'll show you what life is like for them now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Syrian President Bashar al Assad says the door to dialog is open. Still, the bloodshed goes on though. An opposition group says 76 people were killed across Syria today alone. More and more Syrians are heading across the nation's border to escape the violence. But in their search for sanctuary, families often find a new set of desperate conditions. CNN's Barbara Starr looks at efforts to help the refugees who have fled to Jordan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.N. envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, arrived at the al Zaatari refugee camp in next door Jordan to see the grim conditions facing those who have escaped Bashar al Assad's regime. His visit, just days after his first meeting with Assad in Damascus, coming away with no progress towards a peace settlement.

But time and space may be running out for the Syrian refugees here. CNN went to the al Zaatari camp in northern Jordan last month, just days after it opened. There were already more than 2,000 Syrians trying to survive the nonstop wind and dust storms. Today, there are more than 30,000 and Jordan is desperate to build more camps. Jafar Hassan, Jordan's minister of planning, came to Washington seeking more humanitarian aid as soon as possible.

JAFAR HASSAN, JORDAN'S MINISTER OF PLANNING: Within the next 30, 40 days, because that's when we believe the number of Syrians fleeing or coming in according to the current trends that we are seeing will hit that capacity. And we have to start looking very quickly at building a new camp at a different site to accommodate future arrivals over the rest of this year and early into 2013.

STARR: Andrew Harper, the U.N. representative who showed us around last month, is still making the case for more help.

ANDREW HARPER, UNHCR: The worst thing that can be -- that can happen is actually if people do not know about the misery and the conditions of refugees. We're all working very hard to make the situation here as dignified as possible, make sure people got the basic services and goods and protection.

STARR: With no end in sight to the fighting in Syria, Jordan, already suffering from a fragile economy, believes its refugee crisis will only grow worse.

HASSAN: We have to look for a second camp and a third camp and a fourth camp. And if the trend continues, the numbers are likely to double by the second half of next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Barbara Starr joins us now from the Pentagon.

Barbara, what needs to happen for Jordan to get the humanitarian aid its says it needs?

STARR: Well, it needs cash, Don. The Jordanians are looking for about $700 million in aid for Syrian refugees just for next year alone. They hope that there will be a peace settlement and many of these Syrians can go home, but so far it's really not looking good.

And, you know, they still have hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees who escaped that war still living inside Jordan. It's a real problem. That country is a magnet in a region. A place where a lot of refugees escape to. And it becomes a real problem for the Jordanian government to survive it all.

LEMON: And, sadly, there are children involved here. With the school year set to start, will the children at these refugee camps, Barbara, get to go to class?

STARR: Well, Andrew Harper, the representative, told us when we were there last month, they are going to try to start some sort of classes or schools in the camps for the young children to keep them occupied, to keep them learning so they don't fall behind. They're trying to start various activities for them. They're also -- but desperately, at the same time, they're trying to improve medical care. Simple things like running measles inoculation programs across these camps so disease doesn't break out, making sure the water supply stays safe, working all these issues at the same time while every night approximately 1,000 Syrian refugees try to cross the border.

LEMON: Barbara Starr, thank you very much. Appreciate that.

STARR: Sure. LEMON: Hey, let's show you some pictures now that are always interesting. And we like to call it dream-o-vision. You're looking at the space shuttle Endeavour. It's on that modified jumbo jet there. Of course, it's been making its way across the nation now for about three days. It is over San Francisco, I am told, and it's -- Sacramento, excuse me, and it's going to end up obviously at a museum in Los Angeles as we have been reporting.

But there it is. And it's just so beautiful to look at. We've been saying that since they have been taken out of use -- obviously they've been in use for 30 years now, but in 2011 that is the end of an era, and it certainly is, but it's always beautiful to look at and a little bit of nostalgia. And as we say, dream-o-vision. Final stop, a museum in Los Angeles. A little fly-over now of Sacramento, California.

We'll keep an eye on the Endeavour and that jumbo jet. Let's get one good look at it. There it is as it makes its way across. All right. Never get enough of that.

Moving on now. So what's topping the music charts in Denmark?

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LEMON: All right. Well, we're going take a listen.

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LEMON: We're going to take a look now at what is tearing up the music charts in Denmark.

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LEMON: That's what all the kids are listening to, at least in Denmark, right? That's Medina singing her sensational pop hit. It's called "Lights and More." Since her debut six years ago, she has had -- she's received multiple awards, including best Danish act of 2011 from MTV Europe.

I want you to picture this now. A live grenade thrown into a soccer field in Iraq and one of the players gets rid of it just in time. Unbelievable video to show you next.

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LEMON: You really should take a look at this because it is downright scary and it happened at a soccer match between clubs from