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CNN Live At Daybreak

Veterans Weigh in on Iraq Debate; Controversial Firing of New York Teacher

Aired November 22, 2005 - 06:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Tuesday, November 22nd.
A former Marine puts the war in Iraq in the same sentence with Vietnam. This morning, we step away from the professional politicians and hear from some of the men who have served and paid a big price.

Plus, thousands of families will soon be looking for a new source of income. What will General Motors' job cuts mean for middle America?

And she lost her job because she's expecting. The question is should she have expected that pink slip, too?

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

We'll have more on that story in just a minute.

Also ahead, this mother doled out a different brand of punishment and people in her community certainly spoke up.

Is this a sign of the times?

And just because it's getting to look a lot like Christmas, we don't all have to resemble Santa. We'll share some holiday exercise tips to make this season a slim one.

But first, now in the news, prosecutors say a 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl watched as her boyfriend shot her father and then willingly fled the scene with him. According to court papers, the plan was to get away as far as possible and then get married. Eighteen-year-old David Ludwig has been charged with killing both of Kara Borden's parents. The teens were eventually found in Indiana. We'll have more on that story at the bottom of the hour.

Congressman Tom DeLay will be back in court this morning in Austin, Texas, this time with a new judge. DeLay's attorney is trying to get the conspiracy and money laundering charges against DeLay thrown out.

People displaced by hurricane Katrina are now getting two more weeks to say in their hotels courtesy of FEMA. The federal agency originally said it would stop paying for rooms for some 53,000 evacuees on December 1st. The new deadline is December 15th. To the Forecast Center now and Jacqui Jeras -- good morning.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Some of the largest battles yet over the Iraq War are underway in Washington. Vice President Dick Cheney has launched another salvo against critics who accuse the administration of deliberately deceiving the American people on pre-war intelligence. He calls the charge "dishonest" and "reprehensible."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A few politicians are suggesting these brave Americans were sent into battle for a deliberate falsehood. This is revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety. It has no place anywhere in American politics, much less in the United States Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Cheney actually praised Representative Murtha, the hawkish Pennsylvania Democrat and former Marine who sparked a firestorm of controversy by calling for U.S. forces to leave Iraq.

Murtha tells CNN he's trying to prevent another Vietnam and he predicts Cheney will eventually see it that way, too.

Here's Murtha on CNN's "SITUATION ROOM."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM")

REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: We are the targets. Every convoy that has to resupply our troops is a target. McNamara predicted in '63, two more years, and we had 2,200 casualties. There were 53,000 casualties since 1965.

I don't want another Vietnam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Murtha predicts most of the 160,000 troops currently in Iraq will be home around next year's midterm elections.

So, what do U.S. troops have to say about this war of words?

Our Tom Foreman brings us the views of some very special veterans.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In wheelchairs, on crutches, any way they could, casualties of Iraq came to the Potomac River. The Disabled American Veterans arranged this holiday cruise to help these troops move beyond the war that won't go away. AIRMAN MICHAEL FLETCHER, U.S. AIR FORCE: It's bigger than us. It's bigger than me.

FOREMAN: Airman Michael Fletcher lost an arm, an eye and his nose when his vehicle rolled during a high-speed maneuver in the midst of the battle zones.

(on camera): Has this experience changed your opinion of the war?

FLETCHER: In a way. I want us to get out of that country. You know, I'm -- I'm tired of seeing airmen, soldiers, Marines, you know, getting killed every day, senseless killings. But I don't think it's time to leave, you know? I don't think that that country...

FOREMAN: Why not?

FLETCHER: I don't think they're stable enough.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Many of these troops were in Iraq only weeks ago, waging the daily battle with insurgents. Now, in rehabilitation at stateside military hospitals, they're watching the political battle over when and how the war might end.

CORPORAL MATTHEW ZEBACK, U.S. MARINE CORPS: It was about a three-foot concrete block. It had wires coming out of the front of it.

FOREMAN: Like many, Marine Corporal Matthew Zeback, who lost two fingers to a makeshift bomb, will talk of duty, but not the debate.

(on camera): Should the war be over? Should we be out of there?

ZEBACK: That's -- that's not my call, sir. I'm an infantryman. And that's decided by people much -- by much -- much higher than me, sir.

FOREMAN: But you would go back?

ZEBACK: Yes, sir. Today.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Certainly, in protests across the land, some veterans are speaking out against the war.

UNIDENTIFIED VETERAN: It makes me sick to think that we're doing this in America's name. We need to bring the troops home.

FOREMAN: But Army Sergeant Nick Zwicker, injured when his team stopped an insurgent attack, is not ready to give up the fight.

SERGEANT NICK ZWICKER, U.S. ARMY: My personal view, if we pulled out right now, everything we have gone after and everything we have started to do over there would pretty much be shot down.

FLETCHER: If that means me losing an arm, me losing an eye or whatever, so be it. So be it. FOREMAN (on camera): And you feel like, for all you have been through, that it is still needs to be finished?

FLETCHER: It needs to be finished.

FOREMAN (voice-over): This was just one group of wounded troops on one rainy day, but seemingly a group that is not willing to give up on this war -- at least not yet.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: In other "News Across America" now, police in southern Georgia released this tape of a shooting last week. You can see the suspect -- you see him point a rifle at the Camden County sheriff's deputy? See him? He points his rifle right at -- watch as his truck rolls right out into traffic. Apparently he didn't apply the emergency brake.

Charles Lamb, after threatening the deputies with his rifle, was shot. He was pulled over after a six mile chase that started after witnesses say he pointed a gun at passing cars.

Now, you'll see him go out of frame, and that's when deputies shot him. He is said to be doing OK. He's in the hospital and soon on his way to jail.

A scary situation ended well for Nike executives in Portland, Oregon. A corporate plane successfully touched down after a landing gear problem kept it circling the airport for several hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM PEREZ, CEO, NIKE: The pilots were very professional, very calm. They told us everything they were going to do before they did it. And we were, I mean, honestly, I was blown away when I found out there was so much news. My mom found out on Ohio. We had a friend call from Amsterdam. And it's, I guess it's all is well that ends well. But there really -- it wasn't much of an issue because we had great people working on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The problem started when the landing gear wouldn't go up after takeoff. The pilots attempted several touch and go landings before finally putting the plane down safely.

A teenaged mayor from Hillsdale, Michigan is officially in office. Eighteen-year-old Michael Sessions took the oath. Sessions has said he'll spend the first half of the day -- of his days in high school, but he'll finish up with the town's business. Sessions beat the incumbent by two votes.

Parents of teenagers know it's not always easy to teach them the important lessons in life. So wait until you hear how one mother decided to discipline her daughter. Agree or disagree, she sure is getting a lot of feedback.

Plus, this woman is pregnant and she's looking for a new job. There she is again. Now some say the parochial school she worked for when too far when it fired her. Or was it simply following the letter of the law?

And G.M. plans to slash its workforce. Who will feel the brunt of the plan to save billions?

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Journalist Bob Woodward says he should have come forward sooner in the CIA leak investigation. Woodward learned Valerie Plame's identity from a Bush administration official almost a month before the public disclosure in July of 2003.

He was on "LARRY KING" last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")

BOB WOODWARD, "WASHINGTON POST": You know, I don't like this. This is a mighty uncomfortable situation. But think how much more we now know about this story just in the last week. And, yes, some people are unhappy and angry about my role, but, you know, you keep running into situations as a reporter where you're going to go and -- it may be a little rough for a while, but you're still doing your job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Woodward also told Larry King he should have told his editor at the "Washington Post" sooner about learning Plame's name.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:15 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

Another American soldier has been killed in Iraq. The military says the soldier was killed by a roadside bomb during combat operations some 40 miles west of Baghdad. His death brings the number of American troops killed in Iraq to 2,096.

In money news, Google says it's donating $3 million for a world digital library. The money will go to the Library of Congress to help create a system to scan rare documents from around the world.

In culture, Bono says his music will live on longer than his activist endeavors. U2's socially conscious front man told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he hopes his humanitarian causes will be forgotten because, he says, that would mean some of the world's most pressing problems had been solved. In sports, deja vu all over again. For the second time this season, the Minnesota Vikings used a last minute drive and a last second field goal to beat the hapless Green Bay Packers 20-17 last night. Oh, I don't know, you can't help but feel sorry for Green Bay, Jacqui.

JERAS: And that was at Lambeau, too, wasn't it?

COSTELLO: Yes, it was.

JERAS: And that makes it even harder, I think.

COSTELLO: Oh, especially for Green Bay...

JERAS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... because, you know, they seem to always win at home, don't they?

JERAS: They do tend to do that. I'm sure the Vikings are pretty happy this morning, however.

COSTELLO: I'm sure they are.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK, a former Catholic schoolteacher says she may have kept her job if she would have only had an abortion. Before we get to that emotional story, though, we'd like to say good morning to Boston, where it could snow later today. In fact, Jacqui's been talking about flight delays across the Northeast due to wind and rain.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A New York teacher is crying foul. She accuses a Catholic school in New York of firing her because she is pregnant and single.

Reporter Sandra Bookman of our affiliate WABC has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MICHELLE MCCUSKER, FIRED TEACHER: This is my first teaching position and I was very excited.

SANDRA BOOKMAN, WABC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michelle McCusker broke down in tears as she described losing her teaching job at Saint Rose of Lima School in Rockaway Beach. The 26-year-old says less than a week after telling the principal that she was pregnant, keeping the baby and had no plans to marry, she received a pink slip in the form of a letter telling her: "A teacher cannot violate the tenets of Catholic morality. Termination of contract must occur." MCCUSKER: And I also don't understand how a religion that prides itself on being forgiven and on valuing life could terminate me because I'm pregnant and choosing to have this baby.

BOOKMAN: The New York Civil Liberties Union maintains the school can't, at least not legally.

DONNA LIEBERMAN, NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: Here we have a case of blatant pregnancy discrimination, which is both wrong and illegal.

BOOKMAN: The NYCLU has filed an EEOC complaint on McCusker's behalf, charging the private Catholic school with intentional discrimination based on gender and pregnancy.

But in a statement this afternoon, a spokesman for the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens defending Saint Rose of Lima's rights to expect adherence to church doctrines: "It's a regrettable situation for everyone, but the school had no choice but to follow the principles contained in the teacher personnel handbook."

But some Catholics are calling the school's actions abysmally hypocritical.

EILEEN MORAN, CATHOLICS FOR FREE CHOICE: I am appalled by the unjust, unethical treatment she has received.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: That was WABC reporter Sandra Bookman.

Ironically, the teacher says she believes if she had terminated her pregnancy, she'd still have a job at that Catholic school.

We'll keep you posted because this story is not over yet.

Time now for a little "Business Buzz."

There is a new logo at AT&T. Customers will see the new design on the envelopes with their monthly bills next month. See what you have to look forward to? SBC Communications bought the company and decided to adopt AT&T's blue and white striped globe as its logo, that is, with a bit of a tweak.

Get ready shoppers. The highly anticipated new Xbox video game system is now on sale. People actually lined up to get theirs at midnight. There's expected to be a shortage of Xbox 360 systems.

Oh, there's a lot of trouble at General Motors, as the company makes a huge move to cut costs.

Carrie Lee joins us with details of the company's plan and it doesn't mean good things for workers.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's really the worst time, right before the holidays. We knew G.M. was going to be cutting jobs. Well, now they're upping the ante a bit from what they recently said. G.M. now plans to cut about 30,000 jobs and close 12 plants by 2008. Four of the plants are in Michigan, its home state. The others are in Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Missouri and Canada.

Now, the cuts amount to about 17 percent of its workforce in North America. They're expected to save the company about $7 billion in health care and other costs next year. So far this year, G.M. has lost about $4 billion as it continues to lose market share to Asian rivals. G.M. now has about a 26 percent share of the U.S. market versus about 33 percent 10 years ago.

G.M.'s CEO, Rick Wagoner, says the cuts were difficult but necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK WAGONER, CEO, GENERAL MOTORS: This is tough medicine for us and I think it's tough medicine for everybody involved with their company. So I don't want to -- I don't want to make this sound like an easy call for us or for them. But this is our call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now, Wagoner says a lot of the job losses will come from attrition as well as early retirement packages. Details of the layoffs still have to be negotiated with the United Auto Workers union. The UAW calls the plan devastating.

And one worker in Georgia was also saddened by the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing here has been coming for about the past five, 10 years. We knew it was going to close, we just didn't know when. And we were just hoping that we can get our retirement time in before it closes.

QUESTION: How long have you worked here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-eight years.

QUESTION: How does this feel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you don't -- you don't even want to know how it feels.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: A sad story, indeed.

So what's next for G.M.?

Well, the union negotiations. Also, there could be more job cuts. Some analysts say, though, the move doesn't go far enough. After a boost in the early going, G.M.'s stock closed lower yesterday, at around $23 a share. And that, Carol, is a level not seen since the mid-1980s.

You really have to feel for these workers. They've been with the company for so long and the union is saying well, it's not their fault that the company isn't doing well, the company needs to design cars and trucks people actually want to buy and they have no control over that. They just build them.

COSTELLO: Well, that really is the bottom line. You know, you get rid of 30,000 jobs and experts say that G.M. has to do more.

Is that what they're talking about?

LEE: They're trying to become more efficient. The company says well, when things pick up, well, it's easy for us to expand the plant capabilities. But, you know, we've seen these incentives for years. They've got to stop -- they've got to stop doing that. They've got to start getting more money for these cars.

COSTELLO: Well, you know why? It's like people just wait for the big sales to come down the pike. They don't buy cars when the sales aren't on.

LEE: Exactly.

COSTELLO: And then they don't buy much when the sales do come their way.

LEE: And you come to expect it. You come to expect it. You take those incentives for granted. And then, of course, the other problem is the gas guzzlers. There are some issues with SUVs, people buying smaller cars from the Asian rivals. And those companies, like Toyota and Honda, are doing better and better. So...

COSTELLO: Yes.

Carrie Lee -- oh, a quick look at the futures before you go?

LEE: Futures, yes.

Futures looking a little bit weak this morning. We did see all stocks end in the plus column yesterday. And, of course, it's a holiday shortened week. Thanksgiving, the markets closed. An early finish on Friday.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Carrie.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK, teens in trouble. New details emerging this morning about the girl who was found with her boyfriend after he allegedly shot her parents.

Plus, a 911 call to police before that shopping mall shooting. What the suspect allegedly told police to do.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": Life expectancy is pretty much the major factor in deciding whether to take Social Security at age 62 or whether to hold off to a later age. If you wait until after your full retirement age, you can get a larger benefit. For example, each year that you wait, up until age 70, Social Security will add about 8 percent to your Social Security paycheck. So there is an advantage in that you do get this bigger check.

A possible disadvantage is that you're not going to be collecting as long. So ultimately when you take Social Security kind of comes down to what sort of life span you believe you have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

Thank you for waking up with us.

Jacqui will have your forecast in just a minute.

And coming up in the next half hour, her boyfriend is charged in her parents' killings, but what was her role? We have new details to tell you about this Pennsylvania case.

But first, now in the news, President Bush begins his Thanksgiving vacation today. He travels to his Crawford, Texas ranch, where anti-war protesters are expected to greet him.

In the meantime, Democrats resume their criticism of the Iraq War. Senator Barack O'Bama addresses the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations about Iraq this afternoon.

A Texas death row inmate's escape last month has led to some disciplinary action against several Harris County deputies. One was fired, another is retiring and seven others face discipline ranging from a letter of reprimand to 10-day suspension. The inmate was recaptured.

In about 90 minutes, Angela Merkel will be sworn in as Germany's first woman chancellor. She'll lead the government coalition in the wake of her party's slim election victory two months ago. Merkel reprocess Gerhardt Schroeder.

To the Forecast Center and Jacqui Jeras -- good morning.

JERAS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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