Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Pentagon Canceling Deployment of Thousands of Combat Personnel; New Yorkers Riding Subways and Buses for First Time in Three Days; Holiday Travel From Coast to Coast

Aired December 23, 2005 - 08:59   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
The news military families have been waiting for. Troop reductions are expected in Iraq. Who's staying? Who's going to come home? We'll take you live to the Pentagon in just a moment.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Rick Sanchez, in for Miles O'Brien. Millions of you hitting the highways, the airports, getting there any way you can. We've got you covered from one side of the country to the other with what you can expect on holiday travel today.

O'BRIEN: And on the move again in New York. The city's transit strike is over, for now. Is it going to last? A live report is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody.

Some good news if you're in New York and you're planning to get shopping and you want to take a subway or a bus. The transit strike is over, finally.

SANCHEZ: Yes, boy, isn't that something. It couldn't come soon enough for most of the people I talked to around New York yesterday.

O'BRIEN: Same sentiment, of course, for the military families, who cannot come soon enough to have a loved one home. And we start this hour, in fact, with the plans to cut troop levels in Iraq.

The Pentagon canceling the deployment of thousands of combat personnel. Thousands more troops are going to start coming home.

Let's get right to Barbara Starr. She's live at the Pentagon for us this morning.

Hey, Barbara. Good morning.

How many troops are we actually talking about overall?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, we're talking really about two separate groups of troops.

First, about 20,000 troops that had been in Iraq for election security for those December 15 elections, they already knew they were going to come home. That mission now done, and their return to the United States is under way. But what Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made official earlier today, announcing it in Falluja at a town hall meeting with the troops, is that deployment orders for two additional brigades, about 7,500 troops that were going to go to Iraq in early 2006, those deployment orders now canceled.

Those brigades will not have to go to Iraq. It is part of the shift, the overall shift in strategy that more focus will be paid to helping the Iraqi security forces and that there won't be as much need, they hope, for U.S. troops, boots on the ground in combat.

So the bottom line is, about 17 brigades that were in Iraq will now become 15 brigades. Two brigades won't be replaced, and that will bring it about 7,500 troops below the 138,000 that was sort of the steady state, the post-election security level.

So it's good news for a lot of families, but still a bit of a shift in strategy that they're going have to see how it plays out in early 2006 -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Barbara, does it overall mean actually fewer troops on the ground?

STARR: Well, that's really the key question, because with this shift in strategy, what Secretary Rumsfeld is already warning about is that there may be more troops doing particular kinds of jobs: support, training, intelligence, air support, the kinds of things that U.S. troops still will have to do to help out the Iraqis. So there may be more troops in certain specialties, but what they do hope is less troops, if you will, as the grunts on the ground, the combat forces conducting patrols, doing the cordons, doing the knock-and-search operations.

They want the Iraqis to take over more of that in 2006, get the U.S. troops out of that job. But more U.S. troops may be in those support roles -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us with some good news for military families.

Thanks, Barbara -- Rick.

STARR: Sure.

SANCHEZ: Right now New Yorkers are riding buses and subways for the first time in three days. The transit strike is over, but there's still no agreement on a contract, and lots of money that has been lost by a whole lot of people in this city.

Chris Huntington is live at Penn Station. That's one of the busiest commuter hubs in New York.

Chris, what's the situation there?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rick, indeed, we seem to be getting back to normal. I rode the trains this morning. A lots of the folks we've spoken to said that they are very much relieved to at least have their normal commute back. You mentioned, though, that the talks continue behind closed doors underneath a media blackout. So we're not going to find out in theory too much about what is being discussed. But we know that they went into those continuing negotiations still leagues apart in hammering out a final contract. But the fact is, for now, the Friday before Christmas and Hanukkah, people are able to use the New York City mass transit system for the first time in three days. Much of a relief.

Tom Lazarinas (ph) joins us here. He's just commuted into work.

Tom, what's your sense of what it's like to now finally be able to get back to normal transport around the city?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's great. It's a great feeling, especially in time for the holidays. And I'm glad that everything is getting back to normal.

HUNTINGTON: Now, you were telling me about your normal commute. You take the Long Island Railroad in here to Penn Station, then you have to make a couple of link-ups, subway transactions that you, of course, were not able to do in the last few days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, it's been difficult the last couple of days. Actually, I haven't attempted it this morning, but I'm going to attempt later in the afternoon to do the normal transit commute.

But I'm going to walk because the weather is a little nicer. And I was a little hesitant because of the -- you know, the initial getting back on track. I was a little hesitant this morning. But...

HUNTINGTON: How did you feel about the transit workers going on strike? How do you feel about them personally and their move to, you know, essentially paralyze the city for a few days?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was a little disappointed, but I don't begrudge anyone. I mea, they have certain requirements that they, I guess, wanted to carry out. But it was a little bit of an inopportune time before the holidays.

HUNTINGTON: Yes, it certainly was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I'm glad it's back to normal.

HUNTINGTON: Well, Tom Lazarinas (ph), thank you for joining us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

HUNTINGTON: Have a great day and a great holiday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Happy holiday.

HUNTINGTON: Well, that is the word from the street, Rick. Tom speaks for just about everybody we've heard from today, that they are relieved, they were upset with the strike. But by and large, people don't truly begrudge these hard-working folks on the transportation system here in trying to get a decent pay for a very hard job.

SANCHEZ: Chris Huntington, we thank you for bringing us that report. We'll be checking back.

Soledad, to you.

O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks.

AAA estimates that more than 63 million Americans are going to travel more than 50 miles from home this Christmas. Add that up, it means busy roads, busy rails, busy airports. So we've got you covered from the East Coast to the West Coast.

Let's get right to AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho. She's at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

Also, we're talking to David Frees (ph) of CNN affiliate KRON. That's in San Francisco. In fact, he's at SFO, San Francisco International Airport this morning.

And Bonnie Schneider always watching the forecast for us.

Alina, let's begin with you, how's it looking?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, good morning to you.

Things have started to pick up a bit here at LaGuardia Airport. I can tell you that it was quite busy around 6:00 or 7:00 this morning, but overall things have slowed down and things are a bit shorter in terms of getting to the checkout line.

Now, I can tell you what is busy here at LaGuardia Airport, and that is the food court. We spoke to many travelers who told us that they actually heeded the advice, got to the airport two hours in advance of their flight and checked in, and now they actually have a little time for breakfast. So that is the best advice if you are traveling this holiday season, call ahead to make sure your flight is on time and certainly get to the airport early.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As long as you get here early it works.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once we got here the lines were very, very long. Incredibly long, actually.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems like it's, I would say, about 25 percent busier than I've seen it ever in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: At the airport earlier this morning there were 45-minute waits in order to get your boarding pass and check in your luggage. Good news also is that there are no reported delays here at LaGuardia, and there aren't any reported delays at JFK or Newark either. Those are the two other major airports in the New York area.

One thing many travelers may not know, Soledad, is that your flight actually can leave early. A lot of people don't know this.

We don't have any major weather delays here in the New York area, and if the flight is full, that flight can take off. So make sure you call ahead, and certainly make sure you get to the airport early -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: I did not know that. Good advice. All right.

Let's get right to David Frees (ph). He's of our affiliate KRON in San Francisco International Airport.

Hey, David. How's it looking on the West Coast? Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Soledad, it's actually John, but that's OK. It's the holiday season. Everyone's got their mind elsewhere.

O'BRIEN: Well, John, do you mind if I call you David? I'm kidding. Sorry about that, John.

That's quite all right.

O'BRIEN: Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know we have nearly -- we have nearly two million passengers expected to pass through SFO over the two weeks of the holiday season, and today just might be the busiest day yet -- 115,000 will jam into these security lines, but right now we're only seeing about a 7.5 to 10-minute run through the security even with those new security measures.

Now, the big problem here is, make sure you don't over-pack and pack a little patience along with those Christmas presents that should be unwrapped, otherwise you're going to have to re-wrap them again.

Now, the weather here in San Francisco in the Bay area will be the X factor. We've had rain here seven straight days, and it really wreaked a lot of havoc yesterday.

We had four-hour delays, misconnections, a lot of cancellations on a thousand-flight day. And airport officials say we today we have a little bit of fog to deal with, but they're hoping that at daybreak that will burn off and keep the flights on time. But they do admit by 9:00 local, if they are already behind, they will never catch up.

And as a lot of folks have been saying at all the other area airports across the nation, get here early. We can't stress that enough.

SFO is saying if you have a domestic flight get here 90 minutes before, and if you're flying international, how about three hours before. So certainly, let's make sure everybody takes it easy, get here to the airport on time, and enjoy the holiday season, even if you have to stand in line a little bit. O'BRIEN: Good advice whether you're on the East Coast or the West Coast.

John Frees (ph), thank you very much again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: I call him David, usually, but his actual name is John.

Sorry about that, John.

Bonnie Schneider, as we mentioned, she's been keeping an eye on the holiday forecast for us.

Bonnie, is there any other name you go by?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Just Bonnie, that's it. You've got it.

O'BRIEN: OK. Take it away. What you got?

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Well, we've pretty much given you your travel update from the East Coast to the West Coast and weather across the nation. Let's get to some of the other stories that are making news this morning.

Kelly Wallace has those.

Hey, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Soledad.

And we're starting with some tough news coming out of Iraq. Two more U.S. soldiers have been killed there.

The U.S. military confirming the forces were part of Task Force Baghdad. They were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device earlier today.

At least 18 other people were also killed in two separate incidents north of Baquba. Police say a suicide bomber attacked a mosque and a group of gunmen opened fire at a security checkpoint.

To Italy now, where a court has reportedly issued arrest warrants for 22 people believed to be CIA agents. The charges stemming from an alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric back in 2003.

The suspected Islamic militant was turned over to Egyptian authorities. He claims he was tortured.

More fallout today over reports the Bush administration spied on Americans. The White House says officials acted legally based on powers authorized by Congress after the September 11 attacks, but former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle says the use of wiretaps on Americans was never discussed. Daschle criticizes President Bush's defense of domestic spying in an op-ed article in today's "Washington Post," and here's a little bit of what he had to say.

"This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas but right here in the United States, potentially against American citizens."

And the search is now on for some stolen artwork from a California gallery. Some surveillance video, a quick shot here, showing two men using a crowbar to break into a fine art museum in Palm Desert. It all went down very, very quickly.

They apparently made off with a Picasso painting and a piece by Mark Chagall. The artwork valued at almost $90,000.

The video is very quick there, but I believe you see one of the men walking off with the painting.

O'BRIEN: Oh, my god.

SANCHEZ: He looked guilty to me.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

WALLACE: I mean, you know, maybe they're doing some Christmas shopping at a museum. But very sad for that museum.

O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh. That's terrible.

WALLACE: And hopefully if anyone has any information they can turn it into California authorities.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

O'BRIEN: I'm surprised that a Picasso and a Chagall would only go for $90,000 total. That seems low. Don't you think?

SANCHEZ: Maybe it's a sketch.

WALLACE: I think you're right, it does seem low.

SANCHEZ: Big art connoisseurs here.

O'BRIEN: Hopefully they'll be able to track it down -- yes, right.

SANCHEZ: Coming up...

O'BRIEN: The Picasso I have at home...

SANCHEZ: It's much more.

WALLACE: It's worth much more.

O'BRIEN: It cost way more than that.

SANCHEZ: Yes. A little one, though.

Coming up, meet an incredible little boy and his ambitious effort to try and help people in Africa. A great story. He organized this huge drive to send bicycles so people can get around there. He'll tell us how he did this.

O'BRIEN: And we'll tell you what the city of New Orleans really needs for Christmas this year. We've got a list. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

A picture there in front of the corner of Central Park. And then there, the halls of LaGuardia Airport, where, you know, honestly things look pretty calm there. Well, however you're going to get where you're going, we've got you covered for travel advice this morning.

Janet Libert of "Executive Travel" magazine is in LaGuardia; AAA spokesman Mantill Williams is along the Capital Beltway in Washington, D.C.; and Amtrak's Mark Magliari is at Union Station in Chicago.

Good morning to all of you. Thanks for talking with us.

Let's get to Janet first.

Janet, we spoke not long ago. How are things looking now?

JANET LIBERT, "EXECUTIVE TRAVEL" MAGAZINE: You know, things are still beginning to -- actually, they're beginning to build up. Airlines have a bank of flights that go at different times during the day, and we're beginning to see it build up again for around the 9:30, 10:00 bank of flights. So very busy.

And this is actually the busiest time of the year for travel in the U.S. About nine million people will fly today or fly over the week. And so very, very busy.

O'BRIEN: Do you think people, do they look -- I mean, I hear crying babies in the background. You know, what airport would be complete without the crying, screaming baby in the background? Do people look like they're being patient, or are you seeing a little anger and hostility?

LIBERT: You know what? It's actually very calm and very relaxed. I think people are really adhering to the rules and suggestions given by airlines, which is to arrive at the airport up to two hours before your flight, because all of the waiting that you're going to be doing here at the airport is before you get to your flight, whether it's parking or checking in bags, or getting your boarding pass, and certainly waiting in the TSA line.

So it's very clam and kind of relaxed, actually.

O'BRIEN: Oh, well that's nice to hear.

Let's see if it's the same thing over on the roads, our nation's roads. AAA spokesman Mantill Williams, as we mentioned, he's along the Capital Beltway this morning.

Hey, Mantill. Good morning.

MANTILL WILLIAMS, AAA SPOKESMAN: Good morning. Happy holidays, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: And same to you. Wow, it doesn't look so bad behind you, I've got to tell you.

WILLIAMS: No, it's not bad at all. The great thing about Christmas, New Year's travel, Soledad, is it's spread out over a two- week period. So we don't see that congestion that we see during the Thanksgiving weekend. So I think that's good news for motorists, and it's encouraging to encourage everyone to travel.

O'BRIEN: Explain something to me. Gas prices, while they've come down, they're higher than they were last year, certainly. And yet, AAA says that more people are going to be on the roads, and also more people flying and taking the trains, as well.

Why is that?

WILLIAMS: Soledad, high gas prices or high prices overall for airfares or any other type of travel, things that you buy, they don't prevent people from traveling. They may -- people may alter their travel somewhat, but high prices alone don't prevent people from traveling.

The main thing is that we have Christmas and New Year's following on that weekend. So we have a nice pair of weekends, so it makes a nice, neat holiday for a lot of people.

O'BRIEN: Oh, maybe that makes the difference. All right. Mantill Williams.

Thanks, Mantill. Nice to talk to you.

Let's get a final word this morning from Amtrak's Mark Magliari, who we spoke to just a little while ago.

Oh, the sun's come up, you don't look quite as chilly as you did a little bit earlier, Mark. How's it going for travelers there?

MARK MAGLIARI, AMTRAK: Yes, Soledad, you come out here and do this. And I'll trade spots with you.

I talked to our operations center in Wilmington just about five, 10 minutes ago, and everything's running pretty well across all those state, 46 of them, where Amtrak trains are running this morning.

O'BRIEN: Any problems that you can foresee on the horizon? MAGLIARI: No. Actually, the lack of a White Christmas will give us some better weather to work with this weekend. And the fact the transit strike's been settled, at least temporarily, in New York, will take some of the pressure off of Penn Station, which has been extremely busy as people have been rerouting some of their travel.

We just ask people to take their time, be patient, and also be careful out here. That's 200 tons, two locomotives behind me. Be careful around tracks and crossings this weekend.

O'BRIEN: You know, that's really good advice on all fronts, no matter how you're traveling anywhere.

Mark Magliari, nice to see you. And no, I'll stay inside, thanks. Thanks for offering to swap, but I don't think so.

Thanks, you guys. I appreciate it, Janet, Mantill and Mark, as well. Thanks you guys -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, you're going to meet an 11-year-old boy with really a heart of gold. See what kids can do. It's kid power. He managed to help some people in Africa. We'll bring you his story.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back.

During a family trip to southern Africa, 11-year-old Winston Duncan of Arlington, Virginia, noticed something. A lot of people there had to travel a long way, and most of the time they were doing it the way people have been doing it here in New York for the last three days, on foot.

Winston decided to do something about that. In today's "Extra Effort," Winston and his mom Dixie joined us from the CNN Center in Atlanta to tell us about what they did with this.

Winston, look at you. You could be an anchorman. How are you doing?

WINSTON DUNCAN, WHEELS FOR AFRICA FOUNDER: Good.

SANCHEZ: Yes? Hey, tell me, so you're in Africa, you're traveling around, and you see something in particular that made you want to do something. What was it that you saw?

I saw a lot of people, they were walking. And it looked like they were sick and they didn't -- and they had to walk to get places. And I thought, well, if they could have bikes they could get there, they could get to medical help, and they wouldn't -- and they wouldn't...

SANCHEZ: Yes, they need some help. Let me ask you something. You have a grandma, right? DUNCAN: Yes, I do.

SANCHEZ: I bet you feel bad about your grandma having to walk around sometimes, right?

DUNCAN: Yes, it's been hard for her because she's on oxygen and everything, and she'd have to walk around. And I don't think she'd be able to do it.

SANCHEZ: So when you saw some of these older people down in Africa having to walk long distances, you thought of your grandma.

DUNCAN: Yes, I did. She -- because I saw -- actually, it was a boy and his grandma. They were walking. And his grandma looked like she was sick.

So I thought, well, that kind of reminds me of me, except we would be in a car. So I thought, well, we can't get cars, so why don't we get bikes?

SANCHEZ: So you decided that you would find a way to get bicycles to the people in Africa?

DUNCAN: Yes. I told my mom, "OK, mom, we've got to -- I want to bring bikes to Africa." And she said, "What? I don't think you can do that." And then I said, "Well, I'll use $200 of my birthday and college fund money."

So I used that. And then she said, "OK, I'll start helping you."

And together we looked around and we found another company that shipped bikes. So we just called them, and they told us about it, and then we started one of our collections. And our bikes into going into Namibia.

SANCHEZ: Wow. That is such a great story.

Let's talk to your -- you mind if I talk to your mom?

DUNCAN: Sure.

SANCHEZ: OK. She's right there next to you.

Dixie, this is very impressive. You should be very proud of that young man. How's it going with the bikes?

DIXIE DUNCAN, WINSTON'S MOTHER: It was a great success. We had originally thought we'd get 75 bikes, and we've collected about 175 right now. And hopefully people are still calling. And I've had every everyone -- people call and offer to donate money, and he's just done a wonderful, wonderful job.

SANCHEZ: He's quite an ambassador, isn't he?

D. DUNCAN: Yes, he is. SANCHEZ: How do you get them over there, though? I mean, I can see going around and collecting bikes, because you can always find old bikes that people don't want that people could use somewhere else. But, you know, the paperwork and the process of getting it to another continent must be tough.

D. DUNCAN: Right. Well, that's exactly what I said. And when he came to me with that idea, I said, "I'm working, I don't have time for that."

But when he gave me $200, which he never gives anybody any of his money, I said, "I think he's very serious." So we just started looking around doing some research and found a company who actually does that. And they said, "Sure, if you can collect them, we can get them there."

And then I talked to a number of people and he sent out e-mails to probably 50 of friends that we have in the area and some overseas. And so it was a great idea. And everyone was supporting it. So...

SANCHEZ: That's a great -- by the way, if I wanted to give you one of my old bikes, how do I get it to you?

D. DUNCAN: Well, we have a blog site set up called WheelsToAfrica.blogspot.com.

SANCHEZ: WheelsToAfrica.blogspot.com. Is that what I heard you say?

D. DUNCAN: Yes. And we're going to try to do it nationwide, but we have some logistics to workout. But if you'll go on there and let us know that you would like to get a bike, we'll do everything we can to get it to where it needs to be to get it shipped to Africa.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

Hey, Mr. Winston, what's your next project?

W. DUNCAN: Well, next we're going have another collection on April 22. This time we're going to try to make really big. We're going to publicize it more than the one that we just had. And those bikes I'm pretty sure are going go to Namibia, too.

SANCHEZ: Well, thank you very much, young man. You are just dynamite. We're so impressed with you over here, and we thank you for taking time to want to help people that in many cases weren't able to help themselves.

Winston Duncan and Dixie Duncan -- that would be his mom. She's the one who did less talking, we should say.

We thank you both. God bless you.

O'BRIEN: All right. I'm logging in right now -- WheelsToAfrica.blogspot.com.

SANCHEZ: There it is.

O'BRIEN: If you find it, you can -- oh, there it is right there, Wheels to Africa. Great.

SANCHEZ: Good job.

O'BRIEN: CNN with an exclamation point. It looks like they're doing a little story on us, too.

SANCHEZ: Isn't that neat that he's a tourist, he goes somewhere, he sees a need, and he decides he's going to fill the void.

O'BRIEN: I love that kid. He's 11 years old. He's going to be president one day. That's my prediction.

SANCHEZ: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, lots of movies coming out this weekend, but are they worth a trip to the theater to see? We're going to tell you which ones are, which ones aren't, which ones are naughty and which ones are nice ahead on "AM Pop."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com