Then they held a hearing. You know what . Taxpayers paid for all of this, people. Strangely, no one seems too angry about it. We know laws are important. They should not replace common sense. It feels like the world is becoming more and more lat ijous every day. You may laugh at a story like this. If you think about the bigger problem it represents, it really gets your goat. Anderson cooper 360 starts now. Good evening, everyone. Breaking news. No shortage of compelling stories. Unwitting, unknowing womans face being used in a con. Well talk to diane omeara and what it was like to have no connection to manti teo but be known as his fictitious girlfriend. First, we begin with breaking news. A military story that could seriously alter the political battlefield perhaps for decades to come. Cnn has learned that tomorrow defense secretary leon panetta will open the door to women serving in combat units. It wont happen all at once. There will be certain limitations. For the first time in long history of American Armed forces, a big door will be opening. The decision comes with plenty of women fighting and dying overseas its important to mention. At least 130 women have been killed in iraq and afghanistan. More than 800 wounded. In a moment well talk to a congresswoman and iraq war veteran and look at political consequences. We start at the pentagon with our chris lawrence. This is Ground Breaking stuff after women flying helicopters, combat medics, assigned to submarin submarines, this is the last Great Barrier to come down. You are talking about marine recon units and special operations forces. This was sort of the big Glass Ceiling that had not been broken yet. You mentioned other ones. Army recently opened up special ops aviation that women could be pilots and crew members on aviation flights for special operations forces. This potentially opens up nearly a quarter of a million jobs to women in the military. Whats the time line on this . It doesnt happen all at once. No. Its not like tomorrow all of these jobs are going to open all at once. Some will open fairly quickly. The easiest ones to integrate where youve got a lot of women already sort of attached or working at a battalion level. Those could be op in six to eight months. Some of the tougher ones, special operations forces, certain elite infantry units, those may take years. What the pentagon has got to do now is the individual commands have to start to assess when they may be able to make this change and that really is the big catch there, anderson. These commands can go through and look and say at some point we dont think we can feesably integrate women without losing combat readiness. They can ask for an exception to the rule so ultimately down the road this may not apply to every single job in the military and its something that leon panettas successor is going to have to make Big Decisions about going down the road. For some of these, would there be different physical standards . All the same physical standards . How would that work . All thats got to get worked out individually so the marines will have to look at every job, every combat unit and decide how they want to implement it. If you look at how the navy did submarines, what they did is they took a small group of women when they were still at the naval academy, brought them in as candidates. Those women trained for a couple years and just last year and last few months you started to see the first female submarine officers get on board their subs. After they get integrated, then the navy is going to bring in enlisted women behind them and im told thats how they may work some of the process with certain elite units. Chris lawrence, thanks. Yep. Joining me now john king and Margaret Hoover and illinois democratic congresswoman tammy duckworth. How do you feel about todays announcement . I was pleased. A great step forward for our military and our nation. This opens up a whole new population of americans who want to serve and defend this nation who now will be able to do it in combat jobs. John king, how much of this is about politics . First and foremost its something the president believes in. If you attach it to some other things he said he believes in and will push for in his second term, look at what we heard in the last 72 hours. Women in combat. Ground breaking language in his inauguration speech. Take all of those issues, what do they have in common . They fit the demographics of the Obama Coalition. How did he win . College educated women. Younger voters. Nonwhite voters. Hes embracing if you will not only the politics but the policy priorities of his coalition. What else do they have in common . They put pressure like a sharp thumb on some key points in a Republican Coalition that this white house frankly thinks is ageing, is increasingly white and is fractured. You think theres no doubt that that is part of this equation . Without a doubt. If you heard Speaker John Boehner after the inaugural address saying the president is trying to annihilate the Republican Party. Thats a strong word. Does this president see an opportunity . You cant find Many Democrats who think that president obama worries about the democratic party, 10, 15, 20 years down the road. Youll find a lot of democrats that say if you can turn the Obama Coalition into a democratic coalition, the democrats will have built in on the National Stage what Ronald Reagan had for 20 years and Republican Party had after Ronald Reagan on the republican stage. If he can transfer it over, it spells trouble for the republicans. Congresswoman, what do you think about what john king is saying . Im not privy to the president s processes and how he came up with the decision. All i can tell you is women have been dying and fighting for this nation in combat roles in iraq and afghanistan. They may not have had those jobs specifically other than aviation, my branch of service, theyve been fighting in combat and engaged in combat action. I think the last ten years of women serving in combat has finally pushed us to this point where the pentagon has finally realized women have served ably and its time we open up these folds. Do you think the president is trying to box republicans into a corner . I dont know what the president is trying to do. All i can tell you is that i certainly as a politician supported this throughout my political career but even beforehand. Ive been supporting this all along even when people said women arent capable of doing it. Yes, they are. They are capable of defending our country just as well as men. You dont want to say whats in the president s mind but from a political standpoint does it box republicans into a corner or make it difficult for republicans . Anyone who would oppose this would have to answer to their constituency as to why they think women arent capable of doing those jobs. Both want to defend this country and i think that what women have done in iraq and afghanistan, our military women, has proven that they are fully capable of doing this. Margaret hoover, republican, what do you think . I would encourage republicans here to not be reactionary and to not take the political bait. The truth is its exactly what representative duckworth said. Women have been fighting in combat roles. Not only fighting in combat roles in the sense they are taking action direct combat and seeing engagement, seeing action, there are also some rules like the female marine engagement troops in afghanistan, jobs female marines are doing that male marines simply cant do. They are seeing conflict and action as well. To be reactionary would be to defy the facts on the ground. But also just from a political standpoint, to john kings point, do you think this is politics involved here . This is shoring up liberal coalition and boxing republicans in . Its a perfect marriage of the reality of where the military is going and the coalition the president is the trying to coalesce. It makes sense for him to do this and republicans shouldnt be reactionary about it. The thing republicans should care most about is what will keep the military the most fe t effective and superior fighting force in the world and if opening up to women and being realistic, women are seeing combat, they should be do you agree with john boehner that barack obama is trying to annihilate the Republican Party . He see as splintered Republican Party and he is going for the jugular and any smart politician would. Hes being wise tactically. Is part of this payback for comments that mcconnell made about his top job being to make sure the president wasnt reelected . You could look at it that way. If you asked the president he would say he believes these things. After his inaugural address rahm emanuel asked him where did that come from and why did you decide to give that speech with those points we talked about. The president said i decided to say things that i really believe in. Hes a secondterm president. He doesnt have to run for reelection. We can talk about these policies. President didnt do women in combat. He didnt lift a finger on Climate Change or push hard on immigration and gun control in his first term so hes a secondterm president who doesnt have to face voters and these are things he wants to bring front and center. How much will he followup . Well see. They do believe in the white house, look at the demographics of this country and now theyre changing and the Obama Coalition from the last two elections, they believe if they can cement the loyalty of those voters in and part of that is acting on issues they most care about, these are issues that fit the Obama Coalition. If they can cement that in on a national scale, the republicans are in trouble. And margaret, you would agree the president believes this. Its not just politics. He believes in all of these things. I think so. I think hes sincere. I dont think theres anything insincere in saying that. Its politically convenient. Fascinating days. Appreciate you being with us. Let us know what you think. Were talking about it on twitter. Ahead tonight, her face belonged to manti teo. The image of the perfect girlfriend. Fictitious noti fictitious girlfriend we now know. Murder of four americans in libya. Secretary clintons fiery day on capitol hill. With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead americans. Was it because of a protest or guys out for a walk that decided to go out and kill americans. What difference at this point does it make . Its our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator. With so much competition, finding the right job is never easy. But with the nations largest alumni network, including those in key hiring positions, university of phoenix can help connect you to a world of opportunity. A hybrid . Most are just no fun to drive. Now, heres one that will make you feel alive. Meet the fivepassenger ford cmax hybrid. Cmax says ha. Cmax says wheeee. Which is what you get, dont you see . Cause cmax has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that cmax also bests in mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. [ male announcer ] end your long week. With a weekend getaway. Save up to forty percent on all Weekend Hotel stays. Book by january thirty first at hiltonanyweekend. Com. Hillary clintons long awaited accountability moment in the death of four americans in libya. Their sacrifice deserves honest answers and meaningful action and not political posturing and evasive answers. Are we getting honest answers to truly relevant questions and are Security Problems that caused four americans their lives being addressed . Last month a state Department Accountability review board identified failures of leadership prior to the killings. Secretary clinton says she takes full responsibility. Today on capitol hill lawmakers demanded accountability. I am troubled by what seems to be this administrations pattern of misleading the American People and failing to hold Decision Makers accounta e accountable. Chris stevens new more about libya than anyone else in our government did not see a direct threat of an attack of this nature and scale despite the overall trend of Security Problems that we faced and i have to add neither did the intelligence community. An emergency meeting was held and a cable set out on august 16th by the ambassador himself warning what could happen and this cable went unnoticed by your office. It does cost money to pay for embassy security. Since 2007, they have requested additional funding with the exception of 2010 congress enacted less than requested. We were misled that there were protests and something strange out of that. With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead americans. Was it because of a protest or guys out for a walk one night that decided to kill americans. What difference at this point does it make . It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator. Had i been president at the time and i found you did not read the cables from benghazi, you did not read the cables from ambassador stevens, i would have relieve yd you of your post. Its inexcusable. I have great confidence that the accountability review board did the job they were asked to do, made the recommendations that they thought were based on evidence, not on emotion. So theres no shortage of heat today as you just saw. Keeping them honest, was there light . You served time in august with ambassador stevens. Its very frustrating to watch them. Ends up being a lot of posturing and grandstanding. What did we learn today we didnt know already . There were questions that went unanswered and questions that were buried in paragraphs of speeches that members of Congress Gave allowing secretary clinton to not answer them. A few things we learned today. One, i think i have never heard the state department officially confirm that weapons used in algeria in that crisis came from libya. It was long reported it was suspected but it had not been said by the secretary of state before. In terms of the politics of this, i think we learned that this remains a big issue among republican rank and file and benghazi will continue to be an issue but that republicans still have yet to find a way to pin down any of the Obama Administration officials for any tangible wrongdoings. Fran, do you think it was a waste of time . I do think it was a waste of time. It was unfortunate. Youve had on Family Members on your program and i imagine myself as a Family Member if i lost somebody watching this. Look, it was a waste of time to ask secretary clinton about the talking points given to ambassador susan rice. They seemed to spend a lot of time on talking points given to susan rice. Right. When secretary clinton loses her temper in the Senate Hearing and says what difference does it make whether this was resulted from a protest or guys that went out for a walk and decided to kill americans and the right comeback is it does matter. If you want to solve the problem, you have to understand what caused that. Lets play the moment. We were misled that there were protests and then something sprang out of that. That was ascertained that was not the fact. The American People could have known that within days and they didnt know that. With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night that decided they would go kill americans. What difference at this point does it make . Its our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator. You were saying, fran, it does make a difference. It does make a difference. Of course. She alludes to that at the end of her answer. In order to fix it, you have to understand where it came from. By the way, they didnt spend time asking her about the several attempts to attack that consulate and the attack on the British Ambassador in benghazi prior to the 9 11 attack on our consulate. There were a series of things if they wanted to get to substance of this and she took responsibility, but if you want to hold her accountable, you needed to really organize yourself to ask substantive questions and they didnt do that. Did it seem like they had done their homework . Heres another secretary clinton said she did not read all of the cables that were talking about the security situation. Not one senator or one member of Congress Asked her if she got a roger channel cable from ambassador stevens. That is a special channel in which an ambassador posted overseas can communicate directly with the secretary of state on particularly sensitive matters. We dont know because no one asked her. My point is that members of congress were so busy posturing they had an opportunity to really ask her difficult questions and get straight answers and they didnt do that. Where do you think this leaves secretary clinton in terms of her legacy . Does it have an impact on any career she may have in 2016 in terms of running for president . Did it do damage today to her . I think that the quote of hers that you just played what difference does it make at this point . Is ready for a campaign commercial. I think that will be used against her and certainly it comes across as more glib than i think if she could go back and revise and extend those remarks she would have them as fran just alluded to. Is it fair, fran, to attack secretary clinton, the administration, for not having brought some of these people to justice already . The flip side of that these things take time. Do you think its too much time . They do take time. Secretary clinton was asked and she did mention fbi director bob mueller was in libya last week. Didnt say much other than were working with the tunisian government. One suspect was released. The