proceeded to get in. all i knew, i was on the ground. million dollar baby. this man was once homeless. now he's on the brink of becoming a million-dollar champ. meet the man and hear his amazing story live. that and more right here right now on cnn. >> stand by. good evening, everyone. i'm don lemon. until just a few minutes ago, we had only heard of him as one of two u.s. service men killed this weekend in afghanistan. but now it has become all too real as we learn his name and we see his face. he is lieutenant colonel john loftus, a 44-year-old air force officer from paducah, kentucky. loftus died at a kabul ministry saturday along with another u.s. officer who has yet to be identified. loftus, like you and me, has a family, a family, a mother who is mourning tonight. we'll hear from the mother in this broadcast in just a few minutes. colonel loftus died because of this, protests raging in afghanistan over the improper disposal of the burning of the koran at a nato base. nearly a week after the story first broke, the unrest that took colonel loftus life and that of his colleague is far from over. this was northern kunduz province today. the mob attacked a u.s. base with grenades and guns, injuring seven american troops. the tal bohn is exploiting the controversy to call for attacks on foreign soldiers. the longer this goes on, the longer our men and women in uniform are at risk. and for more on this we're joined now by paula broadwell. she spent more than 15 years in the military working in geopolitical analysis and terrorism. as an embedded author of "all in." paula, thank you for joining us tonight. this that is put a bull's-eye on the backs of all of our uniformed men and women in afghanistan. >> well, i think that's taking it a little too far. there isn't a bull's-eye on every one of our service men and women over there. in fact, i think a lot of this dialogue is overlooking the very strong relationships that many units have with their partner afghan units and in the ministries where this happened, in fact. some of these soldiers, and they're typically called afghan hands, have great rapport and respect with afghans. i think we can't go too far and say there's a target on everyone's back and we also have to be careful. >> if there's indiscriminate firing and killing, i think that any one of our men and women in uniform could end up sadly the way that colonel loftus ended up. so i don't think it's far-reaching to say that. >> no, but it's important to take prudent steps to prevent it, you're right. and i think that's the larger pont he point here, and that's why general allen, i think, has pulled all of our troops out of the ministries and ambassador crocker has done the same. i think that they're taking an evaluation period to see how things sort of pan out. but they intend to put those forces back in there because it's really vital to have those lines of communication with the key ministries. and i think our troops believe that, but they understand they're at risk. this is a war. they are at risk, you know, just traveling from one base to another within kabul. they fully recognize that. but more prudent measures are in place now. >> paula, i want to talk more with you. stand by because some are comparing this incident to abu ghraib, the infamous prison in iraq, where mistreatment of prisoners engaged iraqis and spurred the insurgency. so later we'll ask paula whether the comparison is fair. and i told you at the top of this newscast that we're going to hear from that colonel's mother. here she is tonight in her own words about her son. >> his birthday was last wednesday, called me so i could wish him a happy birthday because it was hard for me to reach him. and we had about a 45-minute conversation, very good, very upbeat. he was very much committed to what he was doing in afghanistan. he felt that the way to help the people there was to become their friend and he trusted them. he was a very, very good father. he did the bedtime stories. he did the puppet shows for them. very close to his children. i guess the best way to sum it up is he lived more in 44 years than most of us will live in 80. he lived life to the fullest. >> chris janne, the mother of john loftus who lost his life, one of two service members in afghanistan this weekend. new information to tell you about, cnn is just getting information about the gop presidential candidates. we're hearing tonight that rick santorum will get secret service protection this week, and newt gingrich has also asked for it. mitt romney already has it. our political team working on the story, and we'll have more for you in about ten minutes right here for you on cnn. when this is happening in syria, it is hard to imagine anyone doing anything but hiding in their homes. and believe it or not, syrians wen to the polls today to vote on a referendum to change their constitution. according to activists, 55 people were killed across the country including 25 in homs. international red cross still trying to work out a cease-fire so they can get humanitarian area in. those talks have gone nowhere, and sadly, though, the consensus is that the vote that people risked their lives and some lost their lives for probably won't change the balance of power in syria. and a police motorcade, that one you're looking at right there, is former south african president nelson mandela being escorted home today from the hospital. mandela was discharged after a short stay that included minor surgery for a stomach ailment. members of the government say doctors assure them the 93-year-old anti-apartheid icon is in good health. mandela was last seen in public in 2010. he also spent some time in the hospital last year for an acute respiratory infection. the catholic church sex abuse scandal just got a whole lot worse for the catholic church, that is. something just uncovered could be a smoking gun, potential proof that a major cleric knew about dozens of priests suspected of preying on young boys and ordered the evidence destroyed. and as our susan candiotti reports to us tonight, all this has been kept secret for 18 years. >> reporter: a newly discovered memo stamped "confidential" and labeled "secret archives" is stunning. now part of court documents. it suggests philadelphia's roman catholic cardinal anthony bevilacqua wanted to destroy possible evidence of 35 priests sexually abusing children. on the memo is a note handwritten by a bishop implicating his boss, the cardinal. i shredded four copies of these lists from the secret archives. this action was taken on the basis of a directive i received from cardinal bevilacqua at the directives meeting of 3-15-94. >> if this claim proves to be true, it's a shocking indictment of one of the highest ranking people in the roman catholic church in the united states. >> reporter: court documents show one of those files was secretly kept in a safe, put there by a bishop who was supposed to shred the papers. the file was discovered after the bishop died. cardinal bevilacqua died last month. >> for the first time, the hierarchy of the roman catholic church is possibly being implicated in this child abuse scandal in a very, very definitive way. >> reporter: the explosive files are part of a defense motion in the trial of monsignor flynn. based on the newly surfaced memo, his lawyer wants the charges dropped, claiming it proves monsignor flynn told his superiors about the sex abuse, but they did nothing about it. >> defense attorneys are saying we want the whole story told to the jury. so that they can see the context in which monsignor lynn did what he did because it might suggest that he, in fact, was an innocent dupe of the cardinal. >> court documents state the chief counsel for the philadelphia archdiocese found the file in 2006, but somehow it was only recently turned over to prosecutors trying sex abuse allegations. neither prosecutors, defense attorneys, nor the arch diocarc will kmechbt comment on the case because of a court order. coming up next, we head to michigan, the place for tuesday's gop primary. mitt romney's native state. so why is he having such a hard time pulling into the lead? a live report from detroit next. and why is this 86-year-old man crawling? wait until you hear what happened to him. and who he is straight ahead. he. i think i'm goin-... shhh! we find that we don't need to sleep that much. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke. as we talk about politics now, keeping the safety of the republican presidential hopefuls in mind, and as we count down the hours until polls open for the arizona and michigan primaries on tuesday, and we want to tell you right now polls are showing a virtual toss-up in both states between mitt romney and rick santorum. our peter hanbee is standing by live in detroit for us. excuse me, my voice is changing as we speak, peter. we're learning new details about secret service protection, arptd we? what are we learning? >> reporter: yeah, well, rick santorum, the national front-runner according to most polls, at least it's a tie nationally, requested secret service. it's supposed to start this week, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. we've also learned that newt gingrich put in the paperwork last week for secret service. he has not officially been granted it yet. mitt romney, as we know, got secret service right after the florida primary, so he's had it for about a month now. so we could have as many as three of the four republican candidates, ron paul would be the exception having secret service soon but, again, mitt romney and rick santorum, it looks like both of them will have secret service protection on the campaign trail. >> is this going to change their protection -- change the voter access to these candidates at all once they get secret service protection? is it a little bit more limited? >> reporter: yeah, you're absolutely right. it really changes the dynamic of a campaign. you know, mitt romney's campaign sort of has this air of a top-flight organization, frankly, because they're surrounded by security at all times. so rick santorum is going to have all kinds of security around him. you've got to show up several hours in advance to his campaign events whether you're a reporter or a voter. there's just a bit of a lair between the candidate and the people once you get secret service, that's a far cry from the rick santorum of iowa flying coach from new hampshire when he was carrying his own bags, and now he's soon to be surrounded by secret service agents, don. it's incredible. >> they've got the security sweep and it provides an extra layer of time as well. you're in a state that many thought would be a slam dunk for romney, but i'm wondering -- and it's tight now. people are wondering, why hasn't he pulled ahead? i'm wondering if it's premature because he hasn't really lived there for a long time, and most people don't know him. they know his dad. is it premature for people to think oh, this is a slam dunk for him? >> reporter: i think it is. he was the front-runner here for a long time. santorum closed the gap and took the lead just a few weeks ago. it's tightened, as you said. romney's been talking about his michigan roots for a long time, and it hasn't really helped him catch on. and this is a more conservative state than people think. there's a lot of evangelicals here, for example. listen to what rick santorum said today, really hammering home the fact that mitt romney is not conservative in his view, don. take a listen. >> he said he would protect a woman's right to choose when he ran for office in 2002 for governor. he said he had a conversion, and two years after he had his conversion, he provided public financing for an abortion clinic. in massachusetts. and for him to go out and say, i am somehow the liberal in this race is a joke. >> straight off, after hearing that, let me ask you this question. >> reporter: the candidates are really trying to outduel each other, trying to be more conservative than one another. it's really starting to get under santorum's skin, really lashing out at romney. >> one would think when you hear about jan brewer who is very conservative and you know how she feels immigration. she had the incident with president obama on the tarmac. one would think that she would endorse rick santorum. rick santorum would be her kind of candidate, but no. now romney, she's endorsed romney. does that make a huge difference for him? does that help him pull up in the polls, possibly? >> reporter: i think this helps mitt romney in arizona. again, there's a lot of conservatives out there who are skeptical of mitt romney. a lot of endorsements, the cycle we've seen, don't really have much of an impact at all. but in a state like arizona where immigration is such a hot-button issue right before the economy and jobs, this lends an air of conservative credibility to mitt romney. and frankly jan brewer wouldn't be doing this if she didn't really think mitt romney had a really good chance of winning her home state. i think this is kind of an indicator that arizona's heading in mitt romney's direction, don. >> it looks cold where you are. so stay warm. we appreciate your analysis. it's nice and toasty here in the studio, by the way. thank you very much, pete. our coverage of the arizona and michigan primaries begin tuesday, 6:00 eastern with a special edition of "john king usa" followed by complete live coverage of the results starting at 7:00 eastern for you. our suzanne malveaux already on the ground in arizona. she is talking to folks about the issues, one of them the skyrocketing cost of fuel. >> reporter: when gas prices go up, it doesn't just hurt commuters. i'm high above phoenix, arizona, with kevin flanagan to talk about how his small business is trying to stay afloat in these tough economic times. >> all right. make sure you join suzanne, 11:00 a.m. eastern next week right here on cnn. the republican candidates have hammered president obama over his handling of the koran-burning incident in afghanistan. and some have compared the controversy to the uproar over abu ghraib. remember that? paula broadwell is back with me to discuss whether this is fair. what do you think, paula? is this comparison accurate? is it flawed? is it fair? >> don, i don't think it's quite accurate to say that they're the same. as we've noticed, there haven't been the same sort of wide-scale protestation that we've seen in the arab spring. so there have been protests, and there have been a lot of afghans standing up. you know, there is the threat of more violence, but it's not the same as abu ghraib. it wasn't sanctioned, additionally. so in abu ghraib, we saw that these troopers intentionally did this sort of egregious act. in afghanistan, at the bagram air force base at the detention facility, it was a mistake. there was a miscommunication with an afghan interpreter. and u.s. troops disposed of the korans which had instripgss between detainees. so this is a typical way that detainees share information. so those korans should have been dealt with in some way, but definitely not burning. so i don't think that you can compare the two. >> well, i think in iraq, there was concern about abu ghraib of winning over, how are we going to win over hearts and minds after this incident after seeing these pictures? and i think with the burning of korans, that is what many are concerned about in afghanistan. how do you win over hearts and minds when you burn the holy book, which is forbidden? >> oh, you're right, absolutely. i mean, it was an egregious act. and that's why the president sent a personal letter to president karzai. but you have to look at more broadly what's going on. and as i was alluding earlier, there are a number of strong relationships between afghans and americans. and i think that most afghan leaders understand that this wasn't intentional. one thing we've also learned from this is that we don't have a good handle on our strategic communications. and i don't think that the afghan government did either. they could have come out with stronger statements earlier showing that it was a mistake. it wasn't intentional to probably preempt some of the large-scale demonstrations that are going on. i also think that hamid karzai could have made stronger statements against the protesters and spoke out a little bit earlier. it's an egregious act, obviously, but it was a mistake. >> and now we have this. and it's going to be interesting to watch the time line, whether or not the president's time line of pulling out of iraq will remain as is. paula broadwell, thank you. we appreciate you joining us. >> thank you, don. another part of this discussion, the president apologizing for this situation, the burning of korans in afghanistan. should he have? it's our "no talking points discussion" tonight coming up. and video you have to see. an 86-year-old man caught on camera crawling for his life at a gas station. why? after the break. but first this. in this week's mastering your money, cnn's ali velshi looks at improving the job market with a creative idea that focuses tweaking the skills of minimum-wage workers. >> the u.s. lost 8.7 million jobs as a result of the recession. when it comes to jobs, we get the problem. we need more of them. richard florid is a professor and also senior editor at "the atlantic." you say the only solution is to turn low-wage jobs into higher wage jobs which sounds like a great solution. how do you do such a thing? >> well, if you look at what makes a good job in america -- and we did this -- my research team at the university of toronto and me -- we dug into the numbers that the bureau of labor and statistics provide, and we looked at what are the skills, what are the basic skills that a worker needs to do to get those wages up? so for those knowledge jobs that we talk about, those professional jobs, those technical jobs that pay $70,000 or more a year, the good jobs, we know if you add more knowledge skill, cognitive skill, analytical skill, wages go up. if you add more what we call social intelligence skill, team building, leadership, the ability to work well with others, to develop others, wages go up. you know what? when we looked at the data, those same two skills, you add more analytical skill, more social intelligence skill to a service job, the wages in that job go up steeper and faster than they do for a knowledge job. >> but ultimately, don't we have to control how much those wages go up, otherwise we end up paying too much for things that we assume that we pay less for? >> i think this is the false dilemma in american life, you know? in the 1920s when my dad started working in a factory, he had a terrible job. he made low wages. it took nine people, my grandmother and grandfather and seven siblings of my father and his siblings to make a family wage. they weren't always good jobs. how did we do it? we allowed unions, productive ilt, but we paid more for cars. what did henry ford say? we have to let them -- we pay more for the car, their wages go up. >> richard, thank you. i'm ali velshi with this week's "mastering your money." 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