captioning sponsored by cbs captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, mississippi's attorney general said today he will go to court to reverse the majority of pardons made by former governor haley barbour this week on barbour's last day in office. barbour pardoned more than 200 convicts, including four killers, and ever since he did the question has been, "what was he thinking?" today barbour finally answered and anna werner was there. >> i am fully confident the pardons and other clemency i have given were all valid. >> reporter: in his last days in office, former mississippi governor haley barbour granted pardons for 203 criminals, including four convicted murderers. one of them, anthony mccray, was originally sentenced to life in prison. >> i believe in second chances and i try hard to be forgiving. >> reporter: barbour's pardon of mccray said he proved to be a diligent and dedicated workman and granted him a full, complete, and unconditional pardon for the murder of his wife jennifer, whom he shot in the back after an argument if 2001. joanne martin is jennifer's sister. >> so i don't doubt he didn't do a good job. but that doesn't make it right that he should be pardoned for a murder. >> reporter: barbour's pardon of the three other killers had identical language. all four men worked at the governor's mansion as part of a work program; all had been convicted for killing wives or girlfriends. >> historically the trustees sent to work at the mansion have been murderers convicted of crimes of passion because experts say they are the least likely to commit another crime and are the most likely to serve well. >> reporter: in 2008, barbour pardoned four other murderers who worked at the governor's mansion. they, too, had been involved in crimes of passion. today barbour explained his rationale. >> none of these people are considered dangerous or a threat to society. some of them are in wheelchairs or are amputees. >> reporter: now, a mississippi judge has blocked the release of 21 of the inmates pardoned by barbour and, scott, the judge also ordered the four killers to check in every 24 hours with authorities. but corrections officials say as of this time the location of one of those men is still unknown. >> pelley: anna, thank you very much. the marine corps appointed a three-star general today to lead the investigation into that video that appears to show marines desecrating corpses in afghanistan. the general will decide what charges, if any, should be filed. four marines in the video have been interviewed by investigators. the united states has sent a warning to iran over its threat to block the trait of hormuz. one-sixth of the world's oil passes through the 35-mile waterway. the warning was sent through a private diplomatic channel to iran's supreme leader, the ayatollah khamenei. national security correspondent david martin has more. >> reporter: this video taken one week ago shows speedboats from the iranian revolutionary guard harassing a u.s. warship in the strait of hormuz. they closed to within 500 yards, ignoring whistle and voice signals asking their intentions. a second video shot the same day shows more speedboats harassing a u.s. coast guard cutter inside the persian gulf. u.s. officials call this naval hot dogging routine posturing which has happened many times before. but a pentagon official says "it got our attention because of iran's public threat to close the strait of hormuz." a threat which defense secretary panetta responded to in blunt and unmistakable language. >> we cannot tolerate iran blocking the straits of hormuz, and that's a red line. >> reporter: just in case there is any part of that the iranians don't understand, secretary of state clinton said the same response has been delivered to them privately. >> it has caused us and many of our partners in the region and around the world to reach out to the iranians to impress upon them the provocative and dangerous nature of the threats to close the straits of hormuz. >> reporter: most officials do not believe iran would take such drastic action since it would cripple its own oil exports and alienate every country which depends on middle eastern oil. still, the iranians made the threat in the midst of naval exercises which showcase it had weapons it would use to close the strait. as one pentagon official put it, "everything they're saying matches what they're doing." and indeed, they have the ability to close the strait, but only briefly and only once after that, scott, its navy would be destroyed. >> pelley: david, those pictures we saw at the beginning of your piece were the first pictures we've seen of the harassment of the u.s. navy recently. david, thank you very much. in syria, there was hope that the government would stop killing its people when the arab league sent observers in to monitor the situation. 5,000 people have died over the last ten months after a popular uprising began against the 40- year dictatorship of the assad family. we wondered what good the observers have done so far so we asked elizabeth palmer to catch up with them. >> reporter: a few details to make this an official car of the arab league mission, and the team of observers hits the road. their assignment: to verify whether the syrian government has stopped killing protesters. just ahead, the head of the team and the observers sit in a black car, next to them a van full of syrian soldiers. in front of them, two police cars, and they have regime bodyguards, so this is not low profile. by the time they show up at the damascus criminal justice headquarters, it's not a surprise. the syrian regime is watching the observers' every move as they try to watch the regime. at the detention center, we had to stay behind when the observers went into the cells to see if any protesters were locked up. yes, they reported when they came out, there were, but they didn't see any signs of torture. anwar malick, an observer who quit this week, would say that's a perfect example of a whitewash by a syrian government. "the mission was a farce," he told al jazeera. "and the observers have been fooled." the fact is, this is mission impossible: 157 observers to cover the whole country, resented by the syrian government, with little support and inadequate protection. in a city earlier this week, one of the observer convoys was battered by a pro-regime mob and they only just escaped. in the final analysis, they are merely observers and powerless stop the killing. the observers are only going to be here for a few more days, scott. under the current plan, they're due to be gone by the middle of next week and their report submitted to the arab league by thursday. >> pelley: liz, that seems pretty futile. is there any estimate of how the violence changed while they were on the ground? >> reporter: very little. the u.n. has been trying to keep track and they estimate that on average 40 people have died every single day since the observers arrived. >> pelley: liz, thanks very much. another dictatorship where things seem to be improving is burma in southeast asia. today the obama administration said the u.s. will restore full diplomatic relations. that move came after burma's government freed more than 650 political prisoners. secretary of state hillary clinton visited burma in december, a reward for the government taking steps toward greater human rights. the financial crisis in europe took a turn for the worse today. standard & poor's, the rating agency, downgraded the credit ratings of nine european countries. and if you think what happens there doesn't matter here, the commerce department reported today that u.s. exports to europe plunged to nearly 6% in november. anthony mason is here with more about the downgrade. anthony? >> reporter: scott, s&p sent a clear signal today that in its view the european debt crisis is not over. more than half of the euro zone countries were downgraded, including italy, portugal, and spain, which had their credit ratings knocked down two notches, and austria and france, which saw theirs cut by a notch. france, which was rated a.a.a. is now, like the u.s.a. rated a.a.+. standard & poor's said europe's attempt to solve its debt crisis were insufficient. many countries remain on negative watch which means they could be downgraded again. >> pelley: so what does it mean for our economy? >> reporter: scott, a default of a european country could cause a seizure in the whole financial system which could topple banks literally around the world. it's essentially what we saw happen in 2008 with lehman brothers; nobody wants to see it happen again. >> pelley: anthony, thank you very much. mitt romney and bain capital. what the record actually shows. the death of former cbs news correspondent richard threlkeld. and michelle obama's random dancing when the "cbs evening news" continues. 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>> juggernaut. they had a tremendous reputation for excellence. >> reporter: rick rickertson, who runs a private equity firm in washington, admits he watched with envy as romney and bain scored hit after hit with corporate acquisitions. staples office supplies, dominos pizza, sports authority. in 2000, the year after romney left bain, this deutsche banc analysis said bain's yearly investment returns averaged 88% when 25% was the industry standard. >> i would go and watch mitt romney give presentations to the private equity community about what bain was doing, absolutely. he was a superstar. >> reporter: he was a superstar? >> absolutely. >> reporter: romney's experience at bain is at the core of his argument to be president. he claims it led to his understanding of business and earns him credit for the jobs his investments created. staples alone grew from a single store to a chain of more than 2,000 stores and 89,000 workers. >> we started a number of businesses, invested in many others, and overall created tens of thousands of jobs. so i'm pretty proud of that record. >> reporter: but there were also times bain did not pick winners. on romney's watch, bain managed the slow decline of the g.s. industry steel mill in kansas city. two years after romney left bain, g.s. declared bankruptcy. >> it just... they made up their mind that they were going to shut it down. >> reporter: in the aftermath, 750 workers like steve morrow lost their jobs and health insurance as bain walked away with a $34 million profit. >> i just don't see him as a job creator and it kind of irks me to think that he's profiling himself that way. >> reporter: bain capital in a statement said it tried to save the steel mill-- that $100 million was invested to turn it around and upgrade its facilities but it failed when the industry was swamped by cheap steel imports. bad luck, not bad intentions, is also how romney defends decisions that led to layoffs. >> in the real world, some things don't make it. and i believe i've learned from my successes and my failures. >> reporter: romney retired from bain almost 13 years ago in order to manage the salt lake olympics. bain is still a major player in the world of private equity and romney's record there, when republicans are finished debating it, is already being studied and targeted by the campaign of president obama. wyatt andrews, cbs news, washington. >> reporter: michelle obama visited a high school in virginia today and started showing off some dance moves along with the cast of the t.v. show "i-carly." it's what the show calls "random dancing." the first lady makes a cameo appearance on "i-carly" on monday. we lost a member of our cbs news family today. we'll take a moment to remember correspondent richard threlkeld when we come back. well, when you own a durango, you'll have tons of power, enough to tow up to 7,400 pounds. so owning a durango means you now have the responsibility to go dirt biking, a.t.v.-ing, motorcycling, boating, jet skiing and show a ford explorer a thing or two about what it means to have best-in-class towing. the s.u.v. is back. i just transferred a prescription to cvs, because they have care 1 on 1. that's where the pharmacist stops and talks to me, about safety and saving money with generic prescriptions. laura, let's talk about possible side effects. it's all about me. love that! get care 1 on 1, only at cvs pharmacy. we accept express scripts and 5,000 other insurance plans. ♪ i'm laura, and this is my cvs. it's all mine. challenge that. new olay smooth finish facial hair removal duo. first a gentle balm. then the removal cream. effective together with less irritation and as gentle as a feather. new olay hair removal duo. 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[ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. >> pelley: we were shocked and saddened in the newsroom today when we got word that richard threlkeld was killed this morning. it was a car wreck on long island. dick threlkeld was a cbs news correspondent who covered the world. we liked him because he was a gentleman. we admired him because of what he could do with words. >> this road, this damn road... >> reporter: it was in vietnam that richard threlkeld perfected his spare, simple style that revealed so much more than even the pictures could. this was april, 1970. >> duvalier is the lone medic in the platoon. he's scared. scared from the moment he gets out of the chopper to the moment it picks him up. scared that someday he's going to get killed picking up a wounded buddy. jorgenson just became a sergeant but he doesn't like it. he'd rather be up walking point where the action is. he's already got three purple hearts so everybody calls him "hero." somewhere in this jungle, there's several hundred north vietnamese soldiers who could wipe out this little american unit to the last man in an unguarded moment. ( gunfire ) >> pelley: anywhere, in the subways of moscow, every detail was finely observed. >> "let's meet by the grape picker," the girls will say, or "let's meet at lenin." better be sure which lenin you mean; there are lots of lenins. >> reporter: in 25 years here, he was an anchorman, a political correspondent, a feature writer. he had amazing range. in 1990, iraqi troops chose to surrender to dick threlkeld. >> we gave them a brisk unprofessional frisking and army rations and water. >> pelley: a reporters' reporter writing with speed and accuracy, delivering insight. >> right up to the end the americans really believed that it might all end peacefully in saigon if we could just give an hanoi the government we thought they wanted instead of a government we wanted. as usual in southeast asia, we were wrong, but we hung on in saigon perhaps too long because it was so hard to believe that the day might finally come when the south vietnamese-- our allies, our wards, our south vietnamese-- would simply order us to pack up and get out. richard threlkeld, cbs news, aboard the u.s.s. "hancock." >> pelley: dick was 74. he's survived by his wife, the former cbs news correspondent betsy aron, two children, and two grandchildren. dick taught a generation of cbs news correspondents how to write. none of us did as well. in our final story of this week a beautiful mind. a teenager makes a discovery that could save lives. 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