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American Morning

Will President Bush Get Support He Needs After His Iraq Strategy Speech?

Aired December 01, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
I'm Miles O'Brien.

Will President Bush get the support that he needs after his Iraq strategy speech or have Americans stopped listening? A live report from the White House straight ahead.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien.

A developing story out of Philadelphia. Two men in custody in the death of a celebrated teenaged father. We're going to take you there live just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: And new airport security rules in time for the holidays. Letting scissors and other banned items back on planes. What does it mean for you?

All ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning.

Welcome, everybody.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning.

We're glad you're with us.

We are on now at 6:00 a.m. Eastern time, so we hope you will be joining us earlier. We are getting up, so you should, too. Right?

S. O'BRIEN: I was just thinking, I'm on my tenth cup of coffee this morning. My tenth.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, some mornings are better than others, I think. We'll work around the coffee intake right now. I'm going for an I.V. later.

S. O'BRIEN: Just tell me if it works.

M. O'BRIEN: We begin our program in Iraq. Word now that U.S. and Iraqi troops are working together in two new missions. Iron Hammer is going on right now in the Al Anbar Province. That is west of Baghdad. The other is called Thunder Blitz. It is along the Tigris River, just south of Baghdad. The U.S. military says 33 suspected insurgents have been arrested in that offensive. President Bush getting low marks from the American people for his strategy in Iraq. This latest poll shows 55 percent say the president doesn't have a plan for victory in Iraq.

Kathleen Koch at the White House this morning for us -- Kathleen, what are the numbers -- what else are the numbers saying?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, I think we have to have keep these numbers in perspective because two thirds of those who were polled did not even know that the speech was occurring and only 10 percent of those polled actually watched the speech live. So this is really more pulse taking of an ongoing situation than actual reaction.

But it is still interesting. Most Americans, 54 percent of them, continue to give the president poor marks for his handling of the situation in Iraq. Only 44 percent say he's doing a good job there.

The poll, however, does indicate that many Americans, 48 percent, do believe the president's argument, which he did make yesterday, that the war in Iraq is making the U.S. safer from terrorism in the long run. Forty-three percent of them disagree.

Now, when it comes to disagreeing, many Democrats disagreed with things the president brought up in his speech yesterday. And many of them saying that he was long on goals, but short on specifics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DW), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: What we didn't hear is the policies which got us in trouble, how are we changing the policy. And we didn't hear anything about that. We didn't hear anything about what he's going to do differently in order to get political consensus, to build up the army, etc.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: The White House insists, though, that the plan did show that the president does have -- the speech showed the president has a working plan for victory in Iraq and they insist it was not short on details -- back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch at the White House.

Thank you very much.

Later this hour, we'll speak to the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, about her ideas for getting out of Iraq -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: New developments in a story we've been following for you from Philadelphia.

There are two men under arrest, accused of killing Terrell Pough. Pough was a single teenaged father. "People" magazine had singled him out last summer because of the way he devoted himself to his 2-year- old daughter. Let's get right to Chris Huntington.

He's live for us in Philadelphia this morning -- Chris, good morning to you.

It looks now as if the victim and the suspects knew each other.

Is that right?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct, Soledad.

As is so often, tragically, the case in murders, the police know that one of the suspects, Antoine Riggins, 20 years old, actually went to high school with the victim, Terrell Pough. The other suspect -- and both suspects, by the way, are in custody here at police headquarters in downtown Philadelphia -- the other suspect is a gent named Saul Rosario, according to police, was also known to the victim from the neighborhood.

The tragic thing about this on so many levels is that Terrell Pough was a shining light of what can go right for somebody who maybe starts off life against odds. He was described as, initially, a tough kid from a tough neighborhood who, when he fathered this child two years ago, his life turned around and he was doing everything right. He was going to school. He was working. He, in fact, had sole custody of the child, Diamond, young Diamond Pough; now, in no way can possibly ever make sense of losing her father forever -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: How about the community, Chris? I mean are they able to make sense of losing a young man who, in spite of, you know, every difficult circumstance, seemed to be kind of turning things around?

HUNTINGTON: There's absolute outrage and frustration. I mean keep in mind, as you pointed out, these guys knew each other. They're from the same neighborhood. Terrell Pough was what everybody in that neighborhood wanted their young people to be doing -- getting on the right track, going to school, doing the right thing. He was in a charter school program. He was working. He was doing everything he could to do the right thing by his child, by his community. And as another community leader put it, this brother was shot by another brother.

They are incensed. They are frustrated. They just don't know what they can make of a situation like this, where people from the same community are turning on each other. The fact that two men have been arrested and there may be criminal closure in this does not answer the questions of how this could have happened in the first place.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I'm not sure there's much sense that can be made.

Chris Huntington.

Thanks for the update, Chris. other stories making news this morning.

Let's get right to Carol Costello for those -- Carol, good morning again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

And good morning to all of you.

The U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito under the microscope. In 1985, Alito wrote a memo advising against what he called a frontal assault on the "Row v. Wade" ruling. He suggested the Reagan administration nudge the court to leave it in the hands of the states, that would be more effective.

That memo, released on Wednesday, is sparking debate again over what documents should be available to senators ahead of Alito's confirmation hearings.

It has been 50 years. Today is the anniversary of the day that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Today, dozens of bus systems nationwide are paying tribute to Parks. Six thousand buses in New York will leave a front passenger seat empty and then they will turn on their headlights.

President Bush is also expected to sign a bill today that would place a statue of Rosa Parks in the Capitol's Statuary Hall.

Well, here's a first in surgery. This is in France, where doctors successfully transplanted the nose, lips and chin onto a woman mauled in a dog attack. The partial face transplant, the partial face, I should say, came from a woman declared brain dead. A clinic in Cleveland, Ohio has been given federal approval to conduct similar surgery. Fascinating.

And an interesting story in the "Washington Post" this morning. A 14-year-old boy, along with the ACLU, taught his teachers a lesson in free speech. Theodore Pugh, the 14-year-old, got upset after a teacher ordered a fellow student to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, even though he didn't want to. So Pugh got mad and he got busy. And now all the schools in Maryland are being told you cannot force any student, anyone, as a matter of fact, to stand and say the Pledge. They can sit and be respectfully silent, but they cannot be forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at school.

Let's head to the fore -- I can hear people thinking now, can't you, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I just don't even know what to say about that.

COSTELLO: Well, it's a...

JERAS: Why, you know... COSTELLO: It's amazing that a 14-year-old would think to get involved in such a thing because, you know, at 14 I probably didn't think much about it. I just stood and recited it every day.

JERAS: Yes.

COSTELLO: But, you know, I didn't have any objection to it, either.

JERAS: Yes. Exactly. I guess you can't make anybody do anything they don't really want to do, can you?

COSTELLO: It's free speech, Jacqui.

JERAS: All right. Well, hey, we're going to freely talk about the weather here, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, the hurricane season is finally over officially. But the storms didn't leave just destruction, of course. The story of one ship turned right side up by the storm, coming up. That's live from Key West.

S. O'BRIEN: Also, new carry-on rules are coming up in time for your holiday flights. You might be allowed to carry scissors on board now. Not everybody happy about that. An update on that just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: And opposition to the president's strategy for Iraq. Minority leader Nancy Pelosi in just a moment when AMERICAN MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush says he's got a plan for staying the course in Iraq. But on Capitol Hill, Democrats not sold. Most recently, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi added her voice to demands for troop withdrawal.

She joins us this morning.

It's nice to see you in person.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Good to see you.

Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: You are endorsing Congressman Murtha's call for essentially immediate withdrawal, or moving toward an immediate withdrawal of troops.

And my first question for you is well, why now? I mean it's almost been two weeks since he came up with that.

PELOSI: Well, I waited to hear what the president had to say out of respect for his office and the important responsibility he has. I was very disappointed. The speech was a rerun. The president is digging a hole in Iraq. It's time for him to stop.

S. O'BRIEN: But you certainly didn't expect him to voice what we heard from Congressman Murtha in tsp yesterday, did you?

PELOSI: Oh, no. But I thought he would come up with some new, fresh thinking, because this is just a constant, constant, as I say, a rerun, nothing new.

And we've lost over -- the president is saying things like things are improving there, the situation, the security situation is better. We've lost over 200 troops in the last three months. That's at a higher rate than before.

Mr. Murtha is talking about making our country safer, making our military stronger and making Iraq more stable by the proposal that he has. We would keep a force in the region over the horizon to protect our interests there, to protect Americans from terrorism, to protect our friends in the region. But we would not continue to be the target in Iraq that we are with so -- a large troop -- the supply of troops that we have there.

Even the generals have said U.S. forces in large numbers in Iraq are you fuel the insurgents.

S. O'BRIEN: High profile Democrat Jim Lieberman said to me the other day on the air that actually things are improving on the ground.

PELOSI: I totally disagree, respectfully, with Senator Lieberman. And I think that, as I say, the death -- the incidents of death are increasing now, not decreasing.

S. O'BRIEN: How problematic is it for the Democrats that you have -- you're high profile, he's high profile and you are completely contradicting each other?

PELOSI: Well, Mr. Lieb -- Senator Lieberman has taken his own course on this. But the fact is that all Democrats agree that the course of action that the president is following is not the best one and that we have to have another plan. And it has to be a plan, again, that is judged by how it makes the American people safer, our military stronger and brings some stability to the region.

This whole going into the war, as you know, was built on a deception without a plan from the start. The president didn't present a plan yesterday. That was very disappointing.

S. O'BRIEN: What you call deception, some might say, was just inaccurate intelligence. I will just sort of characterize that there for you.

Let's listen to a little bit of what the president said yesterday, because he's characterized what some of the Democrats are saying as cutting and running.

PELOSI: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: So first his remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America will help the Iraqis so they can protect their families and secure their free nation. We will stay as long as necessary to complete the mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: It's now several times it's been we can't give a timetable. One, it helps the insurgents to know that; and, two, it's really got to be conditions based.

Doesn't that count?

PELOSI: No, let me tell you why that's wrong and why Mr. Murtha is right.

First of all, when you make it conditioned on the ground-based, you give all the power to the insurgents. We have to do what is the right course of action. Mr. Murtha is a patriot. He's a veterans, a decorated war veteran, 37 years on the front line of our national security. When he speaks, he speaks with authority and he commands respect.

The president talks about respecting the commanders on the ground. When General Shinseki said we need 300,000 troops at the start in order to get the job done and come home soon, he was fired.

So there's not, you know, you're hearing a couple of different things here.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, just a couple? I feel like I'm hearing like 50 different things.

PELOSI: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: What happened...

PELOSI: No, I mean from the president. We've heard a couple of different things from the president.

S. O'BRIEN: Certainly the focus is on the troops, the Iraqi troops. You can't turn the country over to them if they're not ready.

Let's listen to a little bit of what Senator John Warner had to say about the Iraqi troop readiness.

PELOSI: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R-VA), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: The president was very accurate today, and this is a subject that I've spent a lot of time on as recently as this week with the deputy secretary of defense and others. One battalion stands out there. Fine. But what the president said, there are a number of battalions, eight or 10 of them, which are working right alongside our forces. And while they are not fully and independently capable of operating, they're excellent and trustworthy and fighting hard with our troops today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Senator Warner...

PELOSI: But what the...

S. O'BRIEN: "ANDERSON COOPER 360" last night, painting a rosy picture.

PELOSI: Well, it's not a rosy picture. The fact is, is what he is saying is they're not capable of operating on their own. And only then can we go home by that standard.

But the fact is, is this is a deadly serious business and just to -- for the president to protect a mistake that he made from the start, I would say a mistake that he made from the start by not realizing what he was getting into, doesn't mean that we have to continue this.

We need a new course of action. Mr. Murtha, a respected war veteran who has the respect of the military, has made a proposal. I think he's changed the whole dynamic of the debate.

But the administration can't have it both ways. They can't say the troops are trained, but we can't come home yet. They're trained or they're not trained. And they aren't. And it's going to take 10 years. And if we think that we can sustain that kind of military effort then that's a decision the country has to make.

But if we want to be safe, if we want to build our military and make it stronger and we want to bring stability now to the region, Mr. Murtha has offered the proposal.

S. O'BRIEN: Nancy Pelosi, nice to have you.

Thank you for talking with us this morning.

PELOSI: Thank you so much.

S. O'BRIEN: We appreciate your insight -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, our friend Dannielle Romano from Dailycandy.com joins us live. She has more tips for online gift giving. Today, she'll tell us about some Web sites to help you find gifts for your kids.

Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Well, they don't call it Daily Candy for nothing.

And we're going along with the whole routine here.

Dannielle Romano is -- what are you, editor-in-chief, editor-in- chief?

DANNIELLE ROMANO, DAILYCANDY.COM: Editor-at-large.

M. O'BRIEN: Editor...

ROMANO: Whoa! That's an important title I cannot assume.

M. O'BRIEN: Editor-at-large...

ROMANO: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: ... for Dailycandy. And the garb. Tell me about that, just quickly.

Is that an online purchase?

ROMANO: The garb is not an online purchase.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh.

ROMANO: It's a cheapie and it's kind of free and easy. My typing hands for my Internet shopping, you know, I can get the mouse, I can...

M. O'BRIEN: Ah, it keeps you loose. It keeps you loose.

ROMANO: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

ROMANO: And that's what we have to think about at this time -- this critical holiday shopping time.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. You've got to stay limber on the Internet.

ROMANO: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it.

We're talking about things for the youngsters on your list.

ROMANO: Exactly. I mean we all think about oh, what am I going to get my wife or that hard to shop for grandparent or uncle? Really, kids problem, volume wise, take up the most space on our lists. The holidays are really all about the kids, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Or so we hope. Although, you know, a lot of times when you go shopping for the kids, you end up buying stuff for yourself so...

ROMANO: Ooh, I know. M. O'BRIEN: Which is, yes.

ROMANO: Don't admit that on TV, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I just...

ROMANO: That's not the way it's supposed to be.

M. O'BRIEN: I think I just did. Anyway...

ROMANO: Let's be giving.

M. O'BRIEN: ... this first one is Psychobabyonline.

ROMANO: Oh, don't be afraid of the name. Psychobabyonline.com...

M. O'BRIEN: That is a bit of a put off, isn't it?

ROMANO: It's not for, you know, buying gifts for that angry neighbor kid who teases your dog. Not that kind of Psychobaby. This is a Chicago shop that has a great Web presence. They have a really well edited selection of books, of toys. It's like -- when you go onto their site, it's like being in their cool Chicago boutique so you can find something for kids of all ages, really -- quirky in a good way, unusual, unique finds.

So for the discerning kid on your list, Psychobabyonline is a good one.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't know, can you get a shot of this?

There's a sweatshirt here for Kiss.

Is Kiss hot again? Can you see that?

ROMANO: Kiss is always hot.

M. O'BRIEN: Kiss is back in?

ROMANO: Kiss is a classic.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

ROMANO: You can't go wrong with Kiss for kids.

M. O'BRIEN: You can't go wrong with Kiss for kids. All right.

ROMANO: They're like why does he wear that makeup, mommy? Anyway...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, it's kind of -- anyway, let's check the next one out.

This is Coolbabysheets.

ROMANO: Coolbabysheets.

M. O'BRIEN: And I've got to wonder if this might create a few nightmares because when you see some of these patterns, these are quite something.

ROMANO: Not at all. So why are baby decorations for the nursery or the toddler's room always so warm and fuzzy? I don't know. I think that the hit parents...

M. O'BRIEN: Why not skulls and tattoos, huh?

ROMANO: Why not skulls and tattoos? There's one with sushi on it, really hip kittens. There's also one with -- the top sheet is hamburgers, delicious hamburgers, and the bottom sheet is neon flames.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow!

ROMANO: I just think for the young parent with, you know, really cool, hip taste, you're really, when the kids are young you're buying for the parent anyway -- ostensibly, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

ROMANO: ... ostensibly, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Ostensibly, yes.

ROMANO: So for your nieces and nephews, this is a good way.

And then to look back at pictures of them in their toddler bed years later and think oh, Uncle Miles, you really were hip back then.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

ROMANO: You really helped my nursery look really cool. So Coolbabysheets.com is a good resource.

M. O'BRIEN: No wonder I'm emotionally scarred, Uncle Miles...

ROMANO: Now, now, now.

M. O'BRIEN: It's the flaming hamburger skull tattoo.

ROMANO: Sushi and flaming hamburgers are -- and skull tattoos -- are good or kids.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's go to Didis.com now. And this is kind of -- these are cute toys...

ROMANO: Well...

M. O'BRIEN: The kind of toys you seldom see these days.

ROMANO: What happened to the good old days? OK, so if you think skull tattoos are too scarring, Didi is a lady who thinks let's take it back. M. O'BRIEN: Right.

ROMANO: Wooden toys.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow!

ROMANO: Stuffed animals, really simple classics. So stuff that we remember as kids, no matter how old we are.

M. O'BRIEN: And it's stuff that doesn't require batteries. Imagine that.

ROMANO: No batteries.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

ROMANO: No neon flashing lights. This is simple, cool stuff. It's all designed to improve motor skills, to encourage creativity. So for the Earth parents on your list, for the kids who want to learn and draw and tinker with simple stuff, this is taking it back to an older era. This is for the nostalgic among us.

M. O'BRIEN: And on that theme, Hottoddieonline.com is kind of a similar sort of thing, right?

ROMANO: Well, actually, this is for the young snob on your list.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, really?

ROMANO: Hottoddieonline, this is for the boss' spoiled darlings.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

ROMANO: This is stuff they have -- this is just a little bit ridiculous, but wonderful. They have Dolce and Gabbana cords for two year olds.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh.

ROMANO: They have, you know, Bedazzled stuff. This is really for the...

M. O'BRIEN: That is messed up, Dannielle. That is messed up.

ROMANO: It's a little silly. Miles, my job is to tell you about everything. With these resources, I think any kid, from the simple nostalgic kid to the very snobby, you know, city minded kid, you can find something for any type, because kids are like us, they're all different. So...

M. O'BRIEN: Right. And they need a $100 pair of jeans, really, don't they?

ROMANO: Need is a relative term.

M. O'BRIEN: Need. ROMANO: The holidays are sometimes about lavish ridiculousness, right?

M. O'BRIEN: I guess so.

ROMANO: Right in...

M. O'BRIEN: I guess so, in some households.

Dannielle Romano, come back again tomorrow because it is...

ROMANO: I can't wait to see u.

M. O'BRIEN: ... Dailycandy.

ROMANO: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: This Sunday night, 8:00 Eastern, our "Then And Now" special is going to take a look at some of the newsmakers from CNN's first 25 years and what they're doing now.

Here's Paula Zahn with a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BUSH: I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Just three days after 9/11, he stood at the left hand of a president and squarely in the hearts of Americans.

BUSH: The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.

ZAHN: Retired Firefighter Bob Beckwith arrived at ground zero on September 14th, determined to help in the search for survivors, and just happened to help the visiting President Bush get up on the burned remains of a fire truck.

BOB BECKWITH: I started to get down. He said where are you going? I said I was told to get down. He said no, no. You stay right here.

ZAHN: Beckwith became the symbol that helped rally a city and a nation. He is now 73 and has become a kind of ambassador for firefighters, traveling the country and the world, making appearances and raising money for the New York Firefighters Burn Center Foundation.

BECKWITH: I just go and I tell them my story, how did I get to be with the president.

ZAHN: Beckwith has visited the president in the Oval Office and is immortalized in the presidential wax museum near Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. He lives on Long Island with his wife of 48 years, Barbara, and is the father of six, grandfather of 10. But in his heart, he will always be a fireman.

BECKWITH: A fireman is a fireman. You're in a family of great people.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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