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Bush Defends War in Prime Time Speech; High Level Detainees Released in Iraq; Former Presidential Advisor Weighs In; Parents Debate Whether to Give High Tech Gifts

Aired December 19, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Good morning, I'm Soledad O'Brien. President Bush defends the war in Iraq on prime time. But will the higher profile time slot translate into public support? We're live at the White House this morning.
RICK SANCHEZ, CO-HOST: And I'm Rick Sanchez. Miles O'Brien is off today. There's a developing story in Israel. We've got new information on the condition of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. How long will his stroke keep him in the hospital?

O'BRIEN: And gas prices on the move again. We're going to tell you what you can expect at the pump, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Miles is on a little vacation. But Rick Sanchez is nice enough to volunteer to help us out.

SANCHEZ: Nice to be here.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Short show, only four hours.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Ha. Let's get right to our top story this morning. We're talking about the president. He is trying to -- a new tone, really taking a new tone, trying to change the way people think about Iraq in his Oval Office speech last night. He still defended the decision to go to war, but he also admitted mistakes and allowing -- allowed, as well, for dissenting opinions.

Let's get to Elaine Quijano. She's live at the White House for us this morning.

Hey, Elaine. Good morning to you. What exactly is behind the new tone, do you think?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly trying to paint a more realistic picture, Soledad, of the situation on the ground in Iraq. President Bush, as you noted, did acknowledge difficulties and setbacks in his prime time address to the nation. That's something that we have begun to hear from the president in recent weeks, especially as he's delivered speeches on Iraq.

But last night, interestingly, President Bush not only responded directly to war critics, but he also reached out to them, saying that while he has heard their disagreement, he believes the only options before the country are victory or defeat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The need for victory is larger than any president or political party, because the security of our people is in the balance. I don't expect you to support everything I do. But, tonight, I have a request. Do not give into despair and do not give up on this fight for freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Mr. Bush also held fast to his position that setting a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal would be a mistake and to pull out forces too quickly would undermine the progress that's been made so far.

At the same time, though, as you noted at the top, his language more conciliatory in tone in his address. The administration has long been criticized for painting too rosy of a picture on the situation on the group in Iraq. Land last night's address clearly an attempt to try to diffuse some of that criticism -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano at the White House this morning. Elaine, thanks.

Last night on a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM," Wolf Blitzer asked two parents who have lost sons in Iraq what they thought of the president's speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL ZAPPALA, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: He keeps intimating that Iraq had something to do with 9/11. He keeps saying it. And the other thing is is saying that the mistakes were made to get us into this war when what really happened was they lied getting us into this war. They used information -- they cherry-picked what they wanted to hear.

GEORGETTE FRANK, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: I speak to so many who come back and who are on your second tours of duty. They've gone back over, and they all say the same thing: we need to be there. We're doing the right thing. We're following the course of action that's going to plant seeds of freedom in a part of the world that has never seen that plant grow.

How can we not reach out? How can I dishonor my son and what he believed by doing anything less than supporting his memory, his life, and his brothers and sisters who are still there in harm's way?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: You can hear more from "THE SITUATION ROOM." It airs weekdays at 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and continues then at 7 p.m. Eastern Time -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: And there's a developing story out of Iraq: the release of eight former members of the Saddam Hussein's regime. Some once considered to be so-called high value detainees.

Aneesh Raman is live in Baghdad. He's been following the story.

Aneesh, what can you tell us about these individuals?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rick, good morning. The story is still developing. The U.S. military announcing today that on Saturday, they released eight detainees, high level detainees. They're not saying who specifically they were, but suggestions on the ground now that a number of them could of been within that 55 most wanted card deck that you'll recall from right after the war. Those were members of Saddam's former regime, people linked directly to Saddam and what he did when he was in power.

Now again, we're trying to get specific names on who was released and why. We do see detainees releases at times, but really this is the first time we're seeing some people released who are at this level, these high level detainees, Rick.

SANCHEZ: These things don't just happen because of happenstance. There's usually a reason behind decisions like this. What could possibly be the political motivation for this release, Aneesh?

RAMAN: Well, it's twofold. As you mentioned, there's often political motivation behind the detainee releases we've seen before, a gesture to the Sunni minority ahead of holidays here. Eve for example, ahead of elections, they released a hundred or more detainees from Abu Ghraib prison.

But these detainees released, it seems, at the behest of both the Iraqi government and the U.S. military. The military is saying they have no further need to keep these people in custody. They are no longer investigating them. But, again, the big question today will be who exactly was released and why -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Has there been another bombing this morning? And if so, where? And how much damage did it cause?

RAMAN: Yes, we saw a car bomb earlier today in the capital. Five Iraqi civilians were killed. And also, another car bomb detonating north of the capitol. Five civilians were wounded in that attack. We've seen an increase in violence after the security situation has lessened after the elections, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Given the fact that the elections have just concluded, although it didn't happen during the elections. Aneesh Raman, following things for us there in Baghdad. We thank you.

Let's go over to Carol Costello now and find out what's going on with some of the other headlines we're following -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, ANCHOR: Will do. Thank you, Rick.

And good morning to all of you.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defending President Bush's decision to allow the wiretapping of phones in this country just after 9/11. That's without a warrant. In the last hour, the attorney general talked to Soledad about those wire taps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: There were many people, many lawyers within the administration who advised the president that he had inherent authority as commander in chief under the Constitution to engage in this kind of signals intelligence of our enemy.

We also believe that the authorization to use force, which was passed by the Congress in the days following the attack of September 11th, constituted additional authorization for the president to engage in this kind of signals intelligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The House Democratic leadership wants an independent panel of constitutional scholars and experts to look into the president's actions.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to be released from the hospital tomorrow after suffering a stroke over the weekend. We got that news just about an hour ago. Prime minister having more tests done today, though. Doctors say the stroke was caused by a blood clot in the brain, but stressed Sharon's condition is good and he is expected to make a full recovery.

Many New Yorkers are watching and waiting and hoping. Yes, here we go again. The transit authority and the Transit Workers Union are set to resume negotiations today. Not much progress happened over the weekend. The transit union upset over pay and health and pension benefits. Plans to strike at midnight eastern time tonight if talks fail again.

And I know you've noticed this. They're up again. The Lundberg survey says gas prices have risen more than eight cents a gallon over the past two weeks. That is the first increase in 3 1/2 months, if you're keeping track. The survey also predicts the cost of gas rising more, from two to five cents over the next few weeks. And it gets worse: through July, gas could go up another 57 cents per gallon.

So something to look forward to, huh, Bonnie?

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: No sympathy from us for those chilly nights with in those high 40s.

SANCHEZ: Chilly and Florida just don't seem to go together.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it doesn't work. All right. Thanks, Bonnie.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, a former presidential advisor joins us with his take on the president's speech on Iraq. O'BRIEN: And a would-be robber gets a little bit more than he could handle at a convenience store. We'll tell you the manager's secret weapon, show you the pictures too, from the surveillance videotape.

SANCHEZ: Look at that.

O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. It's good.

SANCHEZ: Then it's expensive to be a parent these days, did you know? Like you got to tell us. Right? Kids want these pricey high tech toys and it seems there's always something new out there. What's a parent to do? SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, a parent, checks into it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: At 10:30 this morning, we're going to be hearing from President Bush. He's got a live news conference coming to us from the East Room of the White House.

We've been hearing a lot from the president. You'll recall a rare live radio address. We heard that on Saturday. Then last night, the president making a speech to the nation.

Most of the reaction, in fact, to last night's speech by the president was on the tone and the way in which the president presented himself, not standing in front of a military audience or challenging his critics but sitting behind his desk and appealing directly to the people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: My fellow citizens, not only can we win the war in Iraq, we are winning the war in Iraq. It is also important for every American to understand the consequences of pulling out of Iraq before our work is done. We would abandon our Iraqi friends and signal to the world that America cannot be trusted to keep its word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: David Gergen of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government has advised four presidents. He's with us this morning.

It's nice to see you, David. Thanks for being with us.

DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: Thank you, Soledad. Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. The point of these speeches, of course, is sort of rallying everyone to support the president. Is it working, do you think?

GERGEN: I don't think it's turned opinion around on the war. There's still -- there's still a lot of opposition to it. But what it has -- what these speeches have done, Soledad, is to stabilize the opinion in the country. As you will recall, there was a near collapse in the Bush presidency under this fall. Over the course of December, I think he stopped the collapse. He started -- begun to rebuild.

Over 19 days he's had five speeches, culminating in the media blitz this weekend. Saturday, a TV address to the nation during the day. Sunday, a prime time address. Sunday, the president -- vice president is in Iraq. Monday he goes on live television and a Q&A with reporters.

This is an enormous media blitz, which I think is intended to shore up opinion and buy precious time for the president as we approach 2006 in Iraq, a pivotal year in Iraq. He doesn't want support falling apart at home.

O'BRIEN: Another speech this morning, as we mentioned, in just about two hours and 15 minutes. We're going to hear from the president yet again.

GERGEN: This will be a press conference. That's very important it's a press conference, because that means he may face some harsh questioning. But he clearly is prepared.

O'BRIEN: You know, you hear the president say we're winning the war. Not only can we win the war, we are winning the war. Do you think there are risks to going out front like that?

GERGEN: Yes, there clearly are. And the violence has come back over the weekend in Iraq, just to underscore how risky that proposition is.

If I may say so, I thought his speech last night was the best he'd ever given when he talked about the past, because he was not only persuasive and clear, but he was also frank and humble. And that combination worked very well for him.

But when he talked about the future and how -- how the many problems that still lie ahead, that's where he was vague and disappointing. He really didn't come to grips with both the political problem we have of putting together a government in Iraq, and then trying to revise a constitution.

But most importantly, he didn't put much pressure on the Iraqis. He didn't put any pressure on the Iraqis to get this job done in 2006 so American troops can come home in substantial numbers. I think that's -- the president has to have that goal in mind as he approaches the new year.

O'BRIEN: It's kind of an interesting time, because every single time there's been a speech the president has sort of been looking to a new goal, looking to the goal line, pointing to -- now he's looking back at the success, I think everyone would say, of the elections. Not too much violence; a very good voter turnout from pretty much across the board.

There's a problem inherently in that, though, which is what's next?

GERGEN: Well, that's right. And these next few weeks, the next few weeks stretching on to the next six months, are critical on the ground in Iraq to put together a government that is inclusive, that's not some sort of Shiite religious government attached to Iran, but it's really truly inclusive and brings in the Sunnis so you begin to see the formation of a more coherent country.

It's not a country now. This is all split into pieces right now. You begin to see the formation of a more coherent country. And very importantly, then, the constitution be revised.

It's going to be tough going, but if you can't get those things done, the threat remains we will not -- that victory will remain elusive and what we'll have is a -- is a continuing mass in Iraq and possibly a civil war.

So this is a pivotal year coming up. And I'm sure reporters are going to want to push him on that, as well as the spying questions and torture questions and others have arisen that were beginning to overshadow the election in Iraq. And one of the reasons the president has been on the media blitz was to push back on those other negative stories.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about one of those stories. We talked to the U.S. attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, this morning. And here's what he said to us when we asked him if truly the president had legal authority to go ahead and order wire tapping without kind of any kind of court authority. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GONZALES: The authorization to use force, which was passed by the Congress in the days following the attacks of September 11, constituted additional authorization for the president to engage in this kind of signals intelligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: What do you make of that answer and that strategy, essentially saying Congress actually authorized it? There certainly seem to be plenty Congressmen and women who would say, "No, we didn't."

GERGEN: There certainly are a lot of people who disagree. And I think so far the only people who have been squarely on the side of the administration have been those who work for the president. The attorney general works for him.

And I think there's argument that -- that we see what's appearing in memoranda that is written within the admission by, say, by John Hugh who was over at the Justice Department, that the war on terror, in effect, lets the president not obey any statute passed by Congress, is very reminiscent of what we used to hear during the Nixon days.

I was there during the Nixon days, and I'll tell you, those kind of approaches lead to excesses. You begin by saying we're going to go after an enemy who's appropriate, but when you start giving that unfettered authority to the executive branch without any checks or balances from the judicial branch or the congressional branch, usually it leads to some very strong personal abuses. And that's why the Congress and the judiciary are likely to push back here.

It's not enough simply to get the voice of the executive branch on this. Arlen Specter, who represents the judiciary committee in the Senate and is a strong Republican, after all, is saying this -- this action was inappropriate.

So there are strong voices on the other side saying this not only, at best, it skirts the law or does a run around the law. At worst, it violates the law.

O'BRIEN: Well, we will certainly hear questions about it today when the president holds his news conference. We're expecting that at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time in the East Room of the White House.

David Gergen from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. As always, David, nice to see you. Thanks.

GERGEN: Thank you, Soledad. It's good to see you again.

O'BRIEN: Thank you -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, to splurge or not to splurge? What do you do when your kids ask Santa for the latest high tech toys? Miles O'Brien debates whether to give in to his kids' high tech wish lists. We're going to take a look at how he dealt with it, right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back.

(singing) It's beginning to look a lot like "techmas."

(speaking) That's right. With iPods, Xboxes and cell phones. A lot of parents are trying to deal with some pretty grown-up gift lists from their kids. Our own Miles O'Brien, he's one of those parents. He talked to another family to see how they're trying to handle it all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): They aren't Stone Age, but they aren't exactly modern either. Meet the Jarvis family of Laurel Springs, New Jersey. But as far as the kids are concerned, they might as well be the Flintstone of Bedrock.

DYLAN JARVIS, EIGHT YEARS OLD: We don't really have a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have one old cell phone, and we all have to share it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We usually never bring anybody in the house.

D. JARVIS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one wants to come over because there's nothing to do here.

MILES O'BRIEN: That's because their mom and dad, Melissa and Mike Jarvis, want nothing to do with the incessant demand for new, expensive electronic gadgets, picture phones, iPods, video games and computers.

MIKE JARVIS, FATHER: I'm not opposed to any technical thing. It's just when I -- as a kid growing up, you played outside. That's what you did.

MELISSA JARVIS, MOTHER: They're only 11 and 9, because if they get everything at 11, then what are they going to want at 12 and 14 and 15? There's always something new.

MURROUGH O'BRIEN, MILES O'BRIEN'S SON: I love that.

MILES O'BRIEN: Which is just what we have been thinking here at the O'Brien house. The kids are already swimming in circuitry. More like the Jetsons around here.

Check out my daughter Connery's Christmas list, taped to the refrigerator door. It reads like a page in the Best Buy catalog.

(on camera) An awful lot of gadgets in there, and they're expensive. Do you think it makes you smarter?

CONNERY O'BRIEN, MILES O'BRIEN'S DAUGHTER: No.

MILES O'BRIEN: What do you think it does for you?

C. O'BRIEN: It fries your brain. But it's fun.

MILES O'BRIEN (voice-over): It was beginning to fry ours as Sandy and I grappled with whether to give in. We asked NYU child psychiatrist Chris Lucas if we needed our heads examined.

(on camera) I guess maybe it's the way we were parented. We just assumed that all of these, you know, fancy things would spoil somebody. You know? I guess that's just maybe...

DR. CHRIS LUCAS, NYU CHILD STUDY CENTER: You know, I think the actual thing itself doesn't. I think it's the way that it's requested, the way that it's earned and the way that it's given. That's what spoils the child.

MILES O'BRIEN (voice-over): The old carrot and stick. We're big around that around here. Ask Murrough.

MURROUGH O'BRIEN: Yes. I mean, like, you should talk to them and say how much homework do you have? Because if you don't, you can just let -- they can just play. And I don't -- I don't like to do that. Because I want to get my homework done.

LUCAS: Generally, the principle of rewarding behavior that you want works far better than punishing the behavior that you don't.

SANDY O'BRIEN, MILES O'BRIEN'S WIFE: So you agree that it's OK to use it. For example, if you get all of your homework done on time this week, then you will be able to play your two hours on the weekend?

LUCAS: That's exactly the way to do it. Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Here's the thing that really surprised me. Dr. Lucas says sometimes it is important not to say no, to keep your kid in the swim.

(on camera) The first thing is kids don't want to be different.

LUCAS: Oh, absolutely not.

MILES O'BRIEN: That's the worst thing?

LUCAS: There's nothing worse in a high school to be marked as different in some way. You know, conformity is the rule.

MILES O'BRIEN: So if everybody has an iPod?

LUCAS: Afraid so.

MILES O'BRIEN: So if you want to unplug from all of this, move to Amish country or something, right? I mean...

LUCAS: Then you need to buy a buggy, I guess.

MILES O'BRIEN (voice-over): Which brings us back to the Flintstones, the Jarvises.

MELISSA JARVIS: Just telling me that somebody else in their class has one and gets a new one every month, it's -- that's not a reason for me to go buy one.

MILE JARVIS: If they don't learn how to text message I don't think it's going to be the end of the world for them.

MILES O'BRIEN: They're right, but part of my problem is I like to text message my kids. Hard for me to blame them, although I do what I can.

SANDY O'BRIEN: I say we're the Jetsons.

C. O'BRIEN: Yes, the Jetsons.

SANDY O'BRIEN: We're the Jetsons.

MURROUGH O'BRIEN: All we need now is that -- that robot!

JEAN VANDER PYL, VOICE OF ROSIE THE ROBOT: Never fear, while Rosie is here!

MILES O'BRIEN: Miles O'Brien, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: So much for the Christmas list.

SANCHEZ: Is that amazing?

O'BRIEN: Their robot.

SANCHEZ: You know what I did? This was about four months ago. I went into each of their rooms and I ripped out all of the machines. Just took them off the machines, got them out of their rooms.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, dad! You're the best.

SANCHEZ: They were zombies. They weren't my children. I had lost my children. They would walk around after playing the games: "Guys, it's time for dinner."

And it was like, "What? No."

O'BRIEN: Did it work?

SANCHEZ: Well, I give them back to them.

O'BRIEN: Are they speaking to you?

SANCHEZ: It's been five months. I gradually -- but now it's an hour a day only, and if you violate that rule, there will be heck to pay.

O'BRIEN: You put a little limit on all this?

SANCHEZ: That's a big deal for parents, though, isn't it? You're not quite there.

O'BRIEN: They're not there yet. Not mine.

Still ahead this morning, a robber -- here is a story -- have you seen this videotape? It's unbelievable. Take a look at this. A robber tries to hold up a store and the lesson -- what he gets away with is a very painful lesson in martial arts. The guy who's doing the chasing there, he's the manager. We've got the story coming up in just a moment.

SANCHEZ: Go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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