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American Morning

Interview With Brigadier General Jeffery Hammond; Interview With Maggie Gallagher

Aired January 27, 2005 - 07:30   ET

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

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


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, everybody. It's 7:30 here in New York. Soledad is out today. Carol Costello is helping us out here.
Good morning to you.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Are you all right?

COSTELLO: I'm just fine.

HEMMER: We've got a lot to talk about. And we will during every commercial for the next two and a half hours.

COSTELLO: It's very interesting during the commercials.

HEMMER: Yes. Three days away from the Iraqi elections, and the war against insurgents is still far from over. Four Marines were killed yesterday in one battle west of Baghdad. And that whole thing captured by WABC reporter Jim Dolan (ph). We'll show you what he saw. And we'll also talk to a top U.S. commander in Baghdad about whether or not Iraqis will be safe when they vote. It is a huge job on Sunday, now just three days away.

COSTELLO: And that Jim Dolan (ph) story, it's amazing. So, you want to stick around to watch that.

Also, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher basically accused of being an arm of the White House says she was paid to promote the president's agenda. She says the accusations do not begin to resemble the real story. Her side coming up.

HEMMER: And we heard the president talk about this yesterday during the press conference he held in the Briefing Room.

COSTELLO: And we'll be talking to Maggie about that as well.

HEMMER: All right.

COSTELLO: "Now in the News."

Some 200 investigators are heading to the site of a deadly train crash in Glendale, California. At least 11 people were killed yesterday when a commuter train hit an SUV left on the train tracks. Officials say the suspect was apparently trying to commit suicide but ran away when he saw the approaching train. Criminal charges could be announced as early as today.

Vice President Dick Cheney is in southern Poland this morning taking part in a ceremony dedicated to the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. Also expected are a handful of camp survivors and the Soviet troops who freed them in 1945. Leaders from some 30 countries are taking part in today's event. The main ceremony is set to get under way in just about an hour.

Coast Guard units are rushing to help almost 1,000 people, mostly American college students, temporarily stranded on a ship in the northern Pacific Ocean. Officials say the ship is stuck some 650 miles south of Alaska. It was en route to Japan from Vancouver, British Columbia, when a wave toppled the deck and flooded its engines.

And TV personality Dick Clark has returned to his Malibu, California, home some seven weeks after having what's being described as a minor stroke. It prevented him from hosting the "New Year's Rocking Eve" show at Times Square, the first time he has missed that event in 32 years. Clark's publicist says he plans to return to work. It's just not clear when.

HEMMER: Hope the best for him. Thank you, Carol.

Iraq, again, three days until it makes history on Sunday. And keeping candidates and voters secure this Sunday is a huge job. Tomorrow through Sunday has been declared a national holiday in Iraq. A nationwide curfew, travel restrictions, border restrictions are in effect.

On Election Day, Sunday, civilian vehicle traffic is forbidden, and security will be visible at some 30,000 polling stations. The Iraqi army, the National Guard, the police are charged there with keeping things safe. But tens of thousands of multinational forces are also on hand to help out.

And getting Iraqi voters to and from the polls safely on Sunday is priority No. 1 for the man in charge of security in Baghdad. That's Brigadier General Jeffrey Hammond, with me from the Iraqi capital to talk about what he can tell us three days away from the vote.

And, General, welcome back here. We spoke a little more than a week ago. There are a number of things back in the U.S. newspapers here I want to get your reaction to. The first thing comes from Senator John Warner yesterday on Capitol Hill. He talked about preparing the American people for -- quote -- "as many eventualities that could possibly happen." What would you like the American people to know based on your expectations in three days?

BRIG. GEN. JEFFERY HAMMOND, U.S. ARMY: Well, I'd like them to know that their credentials, the U.S. Army soldier is on point. We've long and hard trained and prepared for this election as it's upcoming. We've set the conditions.

We are in a support role, though. We should understand that. The lead here is with the Iraqi security forces. The Iraqi security forces are actually guarding the polling sites with American forces supporting, but being very active, very active and not passive.

HEMMER: General, I'm trying to get a better idea what that means for the U.S. military on Sunday. Does that mean you're hanging out down the road waiting for things around the corner in the event that you are called and you can respond immediately? Is that the best way to describe it?

HAMMOND: No, it probably means two things. No. 1, it means over the last 30 days we have pressed the insurgent hard. Ruthlessly. In fact, we've conducted over 270 combat operations, and in doing so we've detained over 800 insurgents and captured over 100 weapon caches.

Now, you can imagine that that should obviously put some sort of dent in the insurgents' resources and his ability to continue to wage this fight. And we believe it has. We truly believe it has.

But furthermore, our role is not only going to be standing by to support, but I would argue that we're going to be in a outer-cordon type mission of controlling traffic, posturing ourselves in a position where if we have to respond, we can react immediately.

HEMMER: If that is the case then, respond to this: John Burns from "The New York Times," you know, he has been stationed in Baghdad for well over a year by now. This is what he writes. He writes, Baghdad was hit in the past week alone by seven suicide car bombings, 37 roadside bombs, 52 insurgent attacks, and he continues, involving RPGs and automatic rifles. The suicide bombs alone have killed at least 60 people and injured more than 150 others.

How do we then get a clear idea between the crackdown that you describe and the evidence on the ground in terms of violence?

HAMMOND: Well, that's interesting figures that he shares with you. I'm not going to deny that this won't be a perfect environment here. We anticipate and have anticipated since the beginning that as we got closer to the elections that there would be a spike in violence.

But I will tell you, I will tell you that over the last 14 days things have been pretty steady. In fact, we've seen actually less number and types of incidents than we previously had seen in the past. However, over the last 24 hours, we're starting to see a slight increase in the spike. And clearly, clearly, as we approach Election Day, the insurgent is going to do everything within his capability to attempt to disrupt and derail this election. And to that end, we're going to do everything within our capability to stop such an ambition.

HEMMER: It was about 12 days ago when you were asked about Zarqawi. This is what you said at the time -- I'm quoting: "I'd love to capture, detain or kill Zarqawi. I'm very optimistic that sooner or later we're going to get him. Sooner or later we got Saddam. The bloodhounds are on him right now. They're on his trail."

Do you have any evidence to believe that he will be captured or killed anytime soon?

HAMMOND: Well, I stand by that statement. My focus right now, as you and I are looking at each other and talking, is Baghdad and the elections on the 30th. That's where our focus is. We're working this thing 24 hours. We're not letting go of this thing.

And I'm telling you, there's four million people registered to vote here in Baghdad, and these people clearly know -- they might not know clearly what they're voting about or who for, but they know it's something to do with democracy and the next step forward.

I eagerly anticipate the 30th for I believe that a majority of these folks will step forward as brave individuals and express their desire for a new and a long-term future here in Iraq.

HEMMER: Good luck to you, General. We'll be watching from this side of the world. That's U.S. Brigadier General Jeffrey Hammond in charge of Baghdad for today and also this weekend. Thank you, General. Good luck -- Carol.

COSTELLO: U.S. troops do come under deadly fire every day and night in Iraq. But we rarely get to see what it's really like. WABC's embedded reporter Jim Dolan (ph) and photojournalist Joe Tesaro (ph) found themselves in the middle of a firefight on Tuesday night and were able to bring the experience back to us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. Be advised. Commencing actions on the objective at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Night ops, Hoklania (ph), a small village outside Hadifa (ph) in remote western Iraq. Marines search, but the objective building is empty, and they head out.

It starts as a few shots, but in seconds it is an all-out barrage. Rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire, machine guns, tracers light up the night sky from, it seems, every direction.

A transformer gets hit, and for a moment there is quiet. But it was a costly mission. In the gunfire that followed, three Marines were hit, none of them apparently seriously. Right now, they're rushing to get them back to the base so they can get medical attention as soon as possible.

But it is so far from over. The RPGs and gunfire start up again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They must have come out of some hiding positions, falling on equipment that they had pre-positioned, and then they waited for the word to the initial boom. When that first RPG shot went off, that's what signaled the ambush.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That one hits the vehicle armor between photographer Joe Tesaro (ph) and me. Finally, the echoes fade under a full winter's moon and there is quiet. But the casualties are high. The injured are medevaced out. But four Marines died out there in the firefight, young men, young American men, a world away from home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These Marines served together, and they fought their way out together. The casualties that we took last night, our wounded and our KIAs, it's something that we carry with us forever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The four Marines died on the same day as 31 other U.S. troops were killed in a helicopter crash, the deadliest day of the Iraq war.

Tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, be sure to catch a special edition of "CNN PRESENTS." It's called "Under Fire: Stories From the New Iraq," featuring stories from CNN correspondents already on the ground, now just days until that historic Iraqi election -- Bill?

HEMMER: Weather-wise, Carol, people are coping now with the frigid weather in the Northeast again this morning. Another cold front is moving in here, very cold, too, in parts. Perhaps none more so than in Massachusetts. More snow yesterday just as that state is trying to dig out from last weekend's blizzard. Boston's Logan Airport, 43 inches so far this month. The National Weather Service says that city has gotten more snow in January than in any month on record.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: One of the most famous ads in Super Bowl history will be sitting on the bench this year. Andy is "Minding Your Business."

HEMMER: Also in a moment here, another columnist accused of getting paid to push the White House agenda. Her side of the story in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A syndicated columnist repeatedly defended President Bush's initiative encouraging marriage without mentioning she was paid by the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal. That claim was first made against Maggie Gallagher by Howard Kurtz, a "Washington Post" media critic and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."

Here to discuss this, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher.

And I saw you shaking your head no as I was reading the intro to you. So tell us...

MAGGIE GALLAGHER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: It's true that "The Washington Post" has made that charge and Howard Kurtz. And, Carol, and I'm just here to say, if the question is, did I take money from the Bush administration to promote its policies, to me that's about the most serious thing you can say about me professionally. It's completely false.

COSTELLO: But you did do work for the Bush administration.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

COSTELLO: And they did pay you $21,000.

GALLAGHER: I am a marriage expert. You know, a lot of people know me. I do a syndicated column once a week. But I've spent 90 percent of my time for the last 20 years on research and public education on marriage.

You know, we've got 24 million fatherless kids in this country, you know. And my work has been centered around research and public arguments about how important it is to strengthen marriage so that more children grow up with their own married moms and dads.

In 2001, HHS came to me and they said, we don't have anyone in- house with the expertise on the social science evidence and making public arguments about marriage. Would you help us? Would you draft some brochures for unwed parents telling them about the benefits of marriage? Would you write -- you know, gather together the evidence on marriage education, because Wade Horn (ph) wants to do an article? Can you come down and talk to regional HHS managers and review the social science evidence on how marriage matters? And I said sure.

You know, it's not unusual for the government to hire experts to come and do things in their field of expertise. And there was nothing wrong with it.

COSTELLO: But I think the rub here is...

GALLAGHER: And this is what I'm going to say. You know, researchers and scholars right now who are writing for "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post", you know, don't typically feel like that anytime they do a government-funded research project they have to mention it.

COSTELLO: Well...

GALLAGHER: But when I put in my journalist hat, I'm a syndicated columnist as well. And Howard Kurtz asked me, well, should you have disclosed this? I think the answer is yes that it was a mistake. I should have mentioned it, and it won't happen again. But I'm not.

COSTELLO: Well -- OK, stop for just a second. Stop. Let me get a word in edgewise here.

GALLAGHER: I'm sorry. Thank you. Sorry.

COSTELLO: OK. The rub here is, is you accepted that money to do a specific kind of research for the Department of Health and Human Services. Howard Kurtz notes that you once wrote on "National Review" online that the Bush marriage initiative would emphasize the importance of marriage to poor couples. That's exactly what you did your research on. So, there is a problem here, isn't there?

GALLAGHER: No, there isn't any problem here. It is very common for experts to be hired to do particular research projects on their expertise. There is nothing wrong with HHS hiring me or any other marriage expert to do brochures, to do research, to make presentations. The only thing...

COSTELLO: But if you're writing a column about it...

GALLAGHER: No, the...

COSTELLO: ... isn't it in the public's best interests to know that you did...

GALLAGHER: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... some of the research that promoted that policy?

GALLAGHER: Carol, I just said that I think that I ought to have disclosed it. But that's not the charge that's causing a media frenzy right now. The charge that's causing the media frenzy is that I am now being portrayed as the second journalist who has taken money from the Bush administration to promote its policies.

And the story that the media wants to run on, or least members of the media wants to run on, is that this is now a pattern. And the pattern runs straight through my reputation and credibility. I mean, I'm not rich. I'm not that famous. All I have is that I'm a person who cares about ideas and who's trusted to give my point of view in as fair and reasonably as possible. And it's simply not true...

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about...

GALLAGHER: ... that what I did is take money to promote the Bush marriage policy.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the other syndicated columnist accused of doing this, Armstrong Williams. He accepted $240,000 to push some of President Bush's proposals. How does that differ from what you did?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think that what -- first of all, I know nothing about Armstrong Williams personally, so I'm relying on the press accounts. If you take money from the government or from anyone else and in order -- if you accept money in order to say things in your column or your television show, then you're -- you know, there's no worse thing that you can do personally. I mean, I don't even want to defend that.

If that's what you think I did, if it's what anyone thinks I did, I think it's indefensible. But doing work and getting paid for it is what writers. It's what researchers do. It's what scholars do. And there is nothing unethical or shady about it.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, this issue has become so controversial that President Bush actually spoke out about it yesterday. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All our cabinet secretaries must realize that we will not be paying, you know, commentators to advance our agenda. Our agenda ought to be able to stand on its own two feet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I guess it begs the question after all of this, is how many more columnists have done work for the government and accepted payment, or who are accepting payments directly from the administration to push an agenda?

GALLAGHER: If the question is, how many people who have written for "The New York Times" or "The Washington Post" or similar op-eds are doing government-funded research, it's a really large number of people, and most of them are Democrats. There's hardly a researcher involved in academic who's done serious work on the subject who doesn't accept government money of some kind.

And to lump that in with the question of what apparently happened in the Department of Education, which is they went out and tried to buy media, I mean, I think that's wrong. I'm glad the president says that we shouldn't do that. But that is not what happened here. This is not what I did. And I just can't sit still and let that be said about me...

COSTELLO: Well, Maggie Gallagher...

GALLAGHER: ... because there is no worse thing you can say about a journalist or a scholar than that their opinions are bought.

COSTELLO: And I do agree with that. Maggie Gallagher, thank you for joining AMERICAN MORNING this morning.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

HEMMER: Carol, get a break here. Commercial. One of the better-known commercials in Super Bowl history is now sitting this year out. Andy explains after the break live in New York City on this AMERICAN MORNING, a chilly morning here in the Northeast. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. The Super Bowl is 10 days away. You know the commercials are what everybody tunes in for, right? Well, sometimes the game is actually really good, too. Disney, though, they've been advertising, what, 20 years for this game? They're sitting this one out?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Nearly, yes. Apparently they're doing to do that.

HEMMER: What's going on?

SERWER: We're going to talk about the markets, though, first, shall we? Because we haven't done that yet this morning. We had a wonderful day yesterday on Wall Street. You can see here the Dow was up 37 points. The Nasdaq up even more. Texas Instruments and other techs leading the way.

Speaking of the Dow, by the way, Bill, AT&T is not a member of the Dow.

HEMMER: Oh!

SERWER: And it was replaced last April by Verizon, its offspring. It had been since 1916, just thought we'd have to say that.

Microsoft reporting after the bell. That's a Dow 30 stock, Microsoft.

Speaking of the situation with Disney though, yes, this -- they had these commercials after the Super Bowl for nearly two decades, where they get one of the star players, you know, they ask him, "What are you going to do now, Joe Montana? "I'm going to Disneyworld."

Well, apparently this year, according to published reports, they're not going to run this little ad campaign. Two possibilities: One, they don't want to get caught up in some sort of wardrobe malfunction because it's live. Two, Fox is airing it and not ABC. ABC is owned by Disney. They are going to do it next year, so maybe they're going to do it. Phil Sims (ph) started it out in 1987.

HEMMER: Is that so?

SERWER: That's correct. Elway (ph), Montana, Doug Williams when the Redskins were No, 1, he also did it.

HEMMER: Redskins No. 1.

SERWER: They were at one point.

HEMMER: Hey, two days in a row, by the way, for markets. We're on a roll.

SERWER: A great day in the morning, Bill.

HEMMER: OK. See you later.

SERWER: A great day in the morning.

COSTELLO: A great day in the morning. You're crazy, Andy.

SERWER: I know. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Let's talk to another crazy guy, Jack Cafferty. And I apologize for that.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, thank you, Carol.

(CROSSTALK) CAFFERTY: It's nice to be with you.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Maybe you could get a show, like, from midnight to 3:00, and then you wouldn't be available to do this when Soledad is not here.

HEMMER: Oh!

CAFFERTY: Two Florida boys ages 9 and 10 are being charged with second-degree felonies after drawing violent stick figures of their classmate. The parents of the two boys said they should be punished by the school and their families, not the legal system. The kids were led away from school in handcuffs.

Was the school overreacting in calling the police? Or did they prevent some bigger tragedy?

The question is this: Should police have arrested two students for drawing violent pictures of a classmate?

Mike in North Carolina says: "This could have been handled by the school district and the parents. Now these kids will have felonies against them before they even get to high school and a record that will follow them the rest of their lives."

Diana writes: "Finally someone is doing something about bullies in a grade school. You may think it's harsh, but it's about time someone addressed these kids that get away harassing kids all year long."

Paul in Pennsylvania: "Our society is overreacting to everything these days. Bringing these kids to the principal's office and having a burly police officer give them a good talking to would have been more than sufficient."

Fran in New Jersey: "What's wrong with the father? If my son acted as those boys had, I wouldn't need the police to intervene with punishment. There would be no TV, no music, no games, no play dates. Community service. My kid would be begging for handcuffs. Get real."

Now, that's a tough guy.

SERWER: That's tough love. Tough love.

CAFFERTY: And finally, Joe in College Station, Texas: "I can only hope the police seized these weapons that these young thugs used. I'd hate to think that pencils that they used in this horrendous crime would fall into the hands of innocent children who have never drawn a stick figure."

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: Get the paper, too.

CAFFERTY: You're right, this is crazy.

HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.

SERWER: Carol, hold it.

HEMMER: I want to get back to that deadly train collision in California in a moment. It happened on our watch yesterday, right about 23 hours ago. What did the people on board see when the wreck happened? A lucky survivor shares his story live in California after this.

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Aired January 27, 2005 - 07:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, everybody. It's 7:30 here in New York. Soledad is out today. Carol Costello is helping us out here.
Good morning to you.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Are you all right?

COSTELLO: I'm just fine.

HEMMER: We've got a lot to talk about. And we will during every commercial for the next two and a half hours.

COSTELLO: It's very interesting during the commercials.

HEMMER: Yes. Three days away from the Iraqi elections, and the war against insurgents is still far from over. Four Marines were killed yesterday in one battle west of Baghdad. And that whole thing captured by WABC reporter Jim Dolan (ph). We'll show you what he saw. And we'll also talk to a top U.S. commander in Baghdad about whether or not Iraqis will be safe when they vote. It is a huge job on Sunday, now just three days away.

COSTELLO: And that Jim Dolan (ph) story, it's amazing. So, you want to stick around to watch that.

Also, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher basically accused of being an arm of the White House says she was paid to promote the president's agenda. She says the accusations do not begin to resemble the real story. Her side coming up.

HEMMER: And we heard the president talk about this yesterday during the press conference he held in the Briefing Room.

COSTELLO: And we'll be talking to Maggie about that as well.

HEMMER: All right.

COSTELLO: "Now in the News."

Some 200 investigators are heading to the site of a deadly train crash in Glendale, California. At least 11 people were killed yesterday when a commuter train hit an SUV left on the train tracks. Officials say the suspect was apparently trying to commit suicide but ran away when he saw the approaching train. Criminal charges could be announced as early as today.

Vice President Dick Cheney is in southern Poland this morning taking part in a ceremony dedicated to the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. Also expected are a handful of camp survivors and the Soviet troops who freed them in 1945. Leaders from some 30 countries are taking part in today's event. The main ceremony is set to get under way in just about an hour.

Coast Guard units are rushing to help almost 1,000 people, mostly American college students, temporarily stranded on a ship in the northern Pacific Ocean. Officials say the ship is stuck some 650 miles south of Alaska. It was en route to Japan from Vancouver, British Columbia, when a wave toppled the deck and flooded its engines.

And TV personality Dick Clark has returned to his Malibu, California, home some seven weeks after having what's being described as a minor stroke. It prevented him from hosting the "New Year's Rocking Eve" show at Times Square, the first time he has missed that event in 32 years. Clark's publicist says he plans to return to work. It's just not clear when.

HEMMER: Hope the best for him. Thank you, Carol.

Iraq, again, three days until it makes history on Sunday. And keeping candidates and voters secure this Sunday is a huge job. Tomorrow through Sunday has been declared a national holiday in Iraq. A nationwide curfew, travel restrictions, border restrictions are in effect.

On Election Day, Sunday, civilian vehicle traffic is forbidden, and security will be visible at some 30,000 polling stations. The Iraqi army, the National Guard, the police are charged there with keeping things safe. But tens of thousands of multinational forces are also on hand to help out.

And getting Iraqi voters to and from the polls safely on Sunday is priority No. 1 for the man in charge of security in Baghdad. That's Brigadier General Jeffrey Hammond, with me from the Iraqi capital to talk about what he can tell us three days away from the vote.

And, General, welcome back here. We spoke a little more than a week ago. There are a number of things back in the U.S. newspapers here I want to get your reaction to. The first thing comes from Senator John Warner yesterday on Capitol Hill. He talked about preparing the American people for -- quote -- "as many eventualities that could possibly happen." What would you like the American people to know based on your expectations in three days?

BRIG. GEN. JEFFERY HAMMOND, U.S. ARMY: Well, I'd like them to know that their credentials, the U.S. Army soldier is on point. We've long and hard trained and prepared for this election as it's upcoming. We've set the conditions.

We are in a support role, though. We should understand that. The lead here is with the Iraqi security forces. The Iraqi security forces are actually guarding the polling sites with American forces supporting, but being very active, very active and not passive.

HEMMER: General, I'm trying to get a better idea what that means for the U.S. military on Sunday. Does that mean you're hanging out down the road waiting for things around the corner in the event that you are called and you can respond immediately? Is that the best way to describe it?

HAMMOND: No, it probably means two things. No. 1, it means over the last 30 days we have pressed the insurgent hard. Ruthlessly. In fact, we've conducted over 270 combat operations, and in doing so we've detained over 800 insurgents and captured over 100 weapon caches.

Now, you can imagine that that should obviously put some sort of dent in the insurgents' resources and his ability to continue to wage this fight. And we believe it has. We truly believe it has.

But furthermore, our role is not only going to be standing by to support, but I would argue that we're going to be in a outer-cordon type mission of controlling traffic, posturing ourselves in a position where if we have to respond, we can react immediately.

HEMMER: If that is the case then, respond to this: John Burns from "The New York Times," you know, he has been stationed in Baghdad for well over a year by now. This is what he writes. He writes, Baghdad was hit in the past week alone by seven suicide car bombings, 37 roadside bombs, 52 insurgent attacks, and he continues, involving RPGs and automatic rifles. The suicide bombs alone have killed at least 60 people and injured more than 150 others.

How do we then get a clear idea between the crackdown that you describe and the evidence on the ground in terms of violence?

HAMMOND: Well, that's interesting figures that he shares with you. I'm not going to deny that this won't be a perfect environment here. We anticipate and have anticipated since the beginning that as we got closer to the elections that there would be a spike in violence.

But I will tell you, I will tell you that over the last 14 days things have been pretty steady. In fact, we've seen actually less number and types of incidents than we previously had seen in the past. However, over the last 24 hours, we're starting to see a slight increase in the spike. And clearly, clearly, as we approach Election Day, the insurgent is going to do everything within his capability to attempt to disrupt and derail this election. And to that end, we're going to do everything within our capability to stop such an ambition.

HEMMER: It was about 12 days ago when you were asked about Zarqawi. This is what you said at the time -- I'm quoting: "I'd love to capture, detain or kill Zarqawi. I'm very optimistic that sooner or later we're going to get him. Sooner or later we got Saddam. The bloodhounds are on him right now. They're on his trail."

Do you have any evidence to believe that he will be captured or killed anytime soon?

HAMMOND: Well, I stand by that statement. My focus right now, as you and I are looking at each other and talking, is Baghdad and the elections on the 30th. That's where our focus is. We're working this thing 24 hours. We're not letting go of this thing.

And I'm telling you, there's four million people registered to vote here in Baghdad, and these people clearly know -- they might not know clearly what they're voting about or who for, but they know it's something to do with democracy and the next step forward.

I eagerly anticipate the 30th for I believe that a majority of these folks will step forward as brave individuals and express their desire for a new and a long-term future here in Iraq.

HEMMER: Good luck to you, General. We'll be watching from this side of the world. That's U.S. Brigadier General Jeffrey Hammond in charge of Baghdad for today and also this weekend. Thank you, General. Good luck -- Carol.

COSTELLO: U.S. troops do come under deadly fire every day and night in Iraq. But we rarely get to see what it's really like. WABC's embedded reporter Jim Dolan (ph) and photojournalist Joe Tesaro (ph) found themselves in the middle of a firefight on Tuesday night and were able to bring the experience back to us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. Be advised. Commencing actions on the objective at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Night ops, Hoklania (ph), a small village outside Hadifa (ph) in remote western Iraq. Marines search, but the objective building is empty, and they head out.

It starts as a few shots, but in seconds it is an all-out barrage. Rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire, machine guns, tracers light up the night sky from, it seems, every direction.

A transformer gets hit, and for a moment there is quiet. But it was a costly mission. In the gunfire that followed, three Marines were hit, none of them apparently seriously. Right now, they're rushing to get them back to the base so they can get medical attention as soon as possible.

But it is so far from over. The RPGs and gunfire start up again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They must have come out of some hiding positions, falling on equipment that they had pre-positioned, and then they waited for the word to the initial boom. When that first RPG shot went off, that's what signaled the ambush.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That one hits the vehicle armor between photographer Joe Tesaro (ph) and me. Finally, the echoes fade under a full winter's moon and there is quiet. But the casualties are high. The injured are medevaced out. But four Marines died out there in the firefight, young men, young American men, a world away from home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These Marines served together, and they fought their way out together. The casualties that we took last night, our wounded and our KIAs, it's something that we carry with us forever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The four Marines died on the same day as 31 other U.S. troops were killed in a helicopter crash, the deadliest day of the Iraq war.

Tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, be sure to catch a special edition of "CNN PRESENTS." It's called "Under Fire: Stories From the New Iraq," featuring stories from CNN correspondents already on the ground, now just days until that historic Iraqi election -- Bill?

HEMMER: Weather-wise, Carol, people are coping now with the frigid weather in the Northeast again this morning. Another cold front is moving in here, very cold, too, in parts. Perhaps none more so than in Massachusetts. More snow yesterday just as that state is trying to dig out from last weekend's blizzard. Boston's Logan Airport, 43 inches so far this month. The National Weather Service says that city has gotten more snow in January than in any month on record.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: One of the most famous ads in Super Bowl history will be sitting on the bench this year. Andy is "Minding Your Business."

HEMMER: Also in a moment here, another columnist accused of getting paid to push the White House agenda. Her side of the story in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A syndicated columnist repeatedly defended President Bush's initiative encouraging marriage without mentioning she was paid by the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal. That claim was first made against Maggie Gallagher by Howard Kurtz, a "Washington Post" media critic and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."

Here to discuss this, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher.

And I saw you shaking your head no as I was reading the intro to you. So tell us...

MAGGIE GALLAGHER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: It's true that "The Washington Post" has made that charge and Howard Kurtz. And, Carol, and I'm just here to say, if the question is, did I take money from the Bush administration to promote its policies, to me that's about the most serious thing you can say about me professionally. It's completely false.

COSTELLO: But you did do work for the Bush administration.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

COSTELLO: And they did pay you $21,000.

GALLAGHER: I am a marriage expert. You know, a lot of people know me. I do a syndicated column once a week. But I've spent 90 percent of my time for the last 20 years on research and public education on marriage.

You know, we've got 24 million fatherless kids in this country, you know. And my work has been centered around research and public arguments about how important it is to strengthen marriage so that more children grow up with their own married moms and dads.

In 2001, HHS came to me and they said, we don't have anyone in- house with the expertise on the social science evidence and making public arguments about marriage. Would you help us? Would you draft some brochures for unwed parents telling them about the benefits of marriage? Would you write -- you know, gather together the evidence on marriage education, because Wade Horn (ph) wants to do an article? Can you come down and talk to regional HHS managers and review the social science evidence on how marriage matters? And I said sure.

You know, it's not unusual for the government to hire experts to come and do things in their field of expertise. And there was nothing wrong with it.

COSTELLO: But I think the rub here is...

GALLAGHER: And this is what I'm going to say. You know, researchers and scholars right now who are writing for "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post", you know, don't typically feel like that anytime they do a government-funded research project they have to mention it.

COSTELLO: Well...

GALLAGHER: But when I put in my journalist hat, I'm a syndicated columnist as well. And Howard Kurtz asked me, well, should you have disclosed this? I think the answer is yes that it was a mistake. I should have mentioned it, and it won't happen again. But I'm not.

COSTELLO: Well -- OK, stop for just a second. Stop. Let me get a word in edgewise here.

GALLAGHER: I'm sorry. Thank you. Sorry.

COSTELLO: OK. The rub here is, is you accepted that money to do a specific kind of research for the Department of Health and Human Services. Howard Kurtz notes that you once wrote on "National Review" online that the Bush marriage initiative would emphasize the importance of marriage to poor couples. That's exactly what you did your research on. So, there is a problem here, isn't there?

GALLAGHER: No, there isn't any problem here. It is very common for experts to be hired to do particular research projects on their expertise. There is nothing wrong with HHS hiring me or any other marriage expert to do brochures, to do research, to make presentations. The only thing...

COSTELLO: But if you're writing a column about it...

GALLAGHER: No, the...

COSTELLO: ... isn't it in the public's best interests to know that you did...

GALLAGHER: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... some of the research that promoted that policy?

GALLAGHER: Carol, I just said that I think that I ought to have disclosed it. But that's not the charge that's causing a media frenzy right now. The charge that's causing the media frenzy is that I am now being portrayed as the second journalist who has taken money from the Bush administration to promote its policies.

And the story that the media wants to run on, or least members of the media wants to run on, is that this is now a pattern. And the pattern runs straight through my reputation and credibility. I mean, I'm not rich. I'm not that famous. All I have is that I'm a person who cares about ideas and who's trusted to give my point of view in as fair and reasonably as possible. And it's simply not true...

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about...

GALLAGHER: ... that what I did is take money to promote the Bush marriage policy.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the other syndicated columnist accused of doing this, Armstrong Williams. He accepted $240,000 to push some of President Bush's proposals. How does that differ from what you did?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think that what -- first of all, I know nothing about Armstrong Williams personally, so I'm relying on the press accounts. If you take money from the government or from anyone else and in order -- if you accept money in order to say things in your column or your television show, then you're -- you know, there's no worse thing that you can do personally. I mean, I don't even want to defend that.

If that's what you think I did, if it's what anyone thinks I did, I think it's indefensible. But doing work and getting paid for it is what writers. It's what researchers do. It's what scholars do. And there is nothing unethical or shady about it.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, this issue has become so controversial that President Bush actually spoke out about it yesterday. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All our cabinet secretaries must realize that we will not be paying, you know, commentators to advance our agenda. Our agenda ought to be able to stand on its own two feet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I guess it begs the question after all of this, is how many more columnists have done work for the government and accepted payment, or who are accepting payments directly from the administration to push an agenda?

GALLAGHER: If the question is, how many people who have written for "The New York Times" or "The Washington Post" or similar op-eds are doing government-funded research, it's a really large number of people, and most of them are Democrats. There's hardly a researcher involved in academic who's done serious work on the subject who doesn't accept government money of some kind.

And to lump that in with the question of what apparently happened in the Department of Education, which is they went out and tried to buy media, I mean, I think that's wrong. I'm glad the president says that we shouldn't do that. But that is not what happened here. This is not what I did. And I just can't sit still and let that be said about me...

COSTELLO: Well, Maggie Gallagher...

GALLAGHER: ... because there is no worse thing you can say about a journalist or a scholar than that their opinions are bought.

COSTELLO: And I do agree with that. Maggie Gallagher, thank you for joining AMERICAN MORNING this morning.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

HEMMER: Carol, get a break here. Commercial. One of the better-known commercials in Super Bowl history is now sitting this year out. Andy explains after the break live in New York City on this AMERICAN MORNING, a chilly morning here in the Northeast. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. The Super Bowl is 10 days away. You know the commercials are what everybody tunes in for, right? Well, sometimes the game is actually really good, too. Disney, though, they've been advertising, what, 20 years for this game? They're sitting this one out?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Nearly, yes. Apparently they're doing to do that.

HEMMER: What's going on?

SERWER: We're going to talk about the markets, though, first, shall we? Because we haven't done that yet this morning. We had a wonderful day yesterday on Wall Street. You can see here the Dow was up 37 points. The Nasdaq up even more. Texas Instruments and other techs leading the way.

Speaking of the Dow, by the way, Bill, AT&T is not a member of the Dow.

HEMMER: Oh!

SERWER: And it was replaced last April by Verizon, its offspring. It had been since 1916, just thought we'd have to say that.

Microsoft reporting after the bell. That's a Dow 30 stock, Microsoft.

Speaking of the situation with Disney though, yes, this -- they had these commercials after the Super Bowl for nearly two decades, where they get one of the star players, you know, they ask him, "What are you going to do now, Joe Montana? "I'm going to Disneyworld."

Well, apparently this year, according to published reports, they're not going to run this little ad campaign. Two possibilities: One, they don't want to get caught up in some sort of wardrobe malfunction because it's live. Two, Fox is airing it and not ABC. ABC is owned by Disney. They are going to do it next year, so maybe they're going to do it. Phil Sims (ph) started it out in 1987.

HEMMER: Is that so?

SERWER: That's correct. Elway (ph), Montana, Doug Williams when the Redskins were No, 1, he also did it.

HEMMER: Redskins No. 1.

SERWER: They were at one point.

HEMMER: Hey, two days in a row, by the way, for markets. We're on a roll.

SERWER: A great day in the morning, Bill.

HEMMER: OK. See you later.

SERWER: A great day in the morning.

COSTELLO: A great day in the morning. You're crazy, Andy.

SERWER: I know. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Let's talk to another crazy guy, Jack Cafferty. And I apologize for that.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, thank you, Carol.

(CROSSTALK) CAFFERTY: It's nice to be with you.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Maybe you could get a show, like, from midnight to 3:00, and then you wouldn't be available to do this when Soledad is not here.

HEMMER: Oh!

CAFFERTY: Two Florida boys ages 9 and 10 are being charged with second-degree felonies after drawing violent stick figures of their classmate. The parents of the two boys said they should be punished by the school and their families, not the legal system. The kids were led away from school in handcuffs.

Was the school overreacting in calling the police? Or did they prevent some bigger tragedy?

The question is this: Should police have arrested two students for drawing violent pictures of a classmate?

Mike in North Carolina says: "This could have been handled by the school district and the parents. Now these kids will have felonies against them before they even get to high school and a record that will follow them the rest of their lives."

Diana writes: "Finally someone is doing something about bullies in a grade school. You may think it's harsh, but it's about time someone addressed these kids that get away harassing kids all year long."

Paul in Pennsylvania: "Our society is overreacting to everything these days. Bringing these kids to the principal's office and having a burly police officer give them a good talking to would have been more than sufficient."

Fran in New Jersey: "What's wrong with the father? If my son acted as those boys had, I wouldn't need the police to intervene with punishment. There would be no TV, no music, no games, no play dates. Community service. My kid would be begging for handcuffs. Get real."

Now, that's a tough guy.

SERWER: That's tough love. Tough love.

CAFFERTY: And finally, Joe in College Station, Texas: "I can only hope the police seized these weapons that these young thugs used. I'd hate to think that pencils that they used in this horrendous crime would fall into the hands of innocent children who have never drawn a stick figure."

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: Get the paper, too.

CAFFERTY: You're right, this is crazy.

HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.

SERWER: Carol, hold it.

HEMMER: I want to get back to that deadly train collision in California in a moment. It happened on our watch yesterday, right about 23 hours ago. What did the people on board see when the wreck happened? A lucky survivor shares his story live in California after this.

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