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American Morning

Insurgents Launch Coordinated Attacks Against Iraqi Police for Second Straight Day; President Bush Once Again Pushes to Change Public Opinion About War

Aired March 22, 2006 - 07:00   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, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Roberts, in all this week for Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Insurgents launch coordinated attacks against Iraqi police for a second straight day. We're live in Baghdad with the very latest on this story.

Mission not yet accomplished: President Bush once again pushes to change public opinion about the war in Iraq.

ROBERTS: This Florida teacher escapes a second trial for having sex with a student, but she is not completely out of trouble.

And we'll have this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything's good. Thank you all for keeping -- not giving up on us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: An Oregon family is found safe and sound after being snowbound for more than two weeks!

O'BRIEN: And there's more of it. The heavy spring snow snarling traffic across the Midwest. We're going to check on the full forecast just ahead, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

It was a 17-day tale of survival for a family in the mountains of southwestern Oregon. The six left their home in southern Oregon for a trip to the Pacific Coast in an R.V., a two-hour trip. It turned into two-weeks plus when their R.V. got stuck in four feet of snow.

CNN's Kareen Wynter is in the family's hometown of Ashland, which is just north of the California border.

Hey, Kareen, good morning.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you.

And we're standing outside the home where it's believed some of those family members stayed last night. But for more than two weeks the only shelter they had was an R.V.. A miraculous discovery this week. In a daring move, those two parents, Pete and Marlo Stivers, decided to leave the comforts of their R.V. on Monday, just concerned that no one would ever find them, so they left their other four loved ones behind. What you're seeing right now is the emotional reunion that followed after Pete and Marlo trucked through several feet of snow for about 24 hours, and finally came across the help of a forestry worker, again, prompting this very happy reunion.

You can just imagine what this ordeal may have been the family over the last two weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELBERT HIGGINBOTHAM, MISSING FOR 17 DAYS: We didn't realize how far lost we were. We were six miles from where we thought we were, so we just had to be patient. You know, we got -- there probably had almost six feet of snow up there. You know, they said three to five inches; we got 10 to 12. And we slid off the road the first day, and we dug ice for 300 yards to get us up the hill, turned around, and when we came back down the pass where we were, we kind of hit the snow drifts and pushed the snow up to the windshields.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: You just heard from Marlo's stepfather, Soledad, who said it was so hard to keep his emotions during this ordeal. He was doing that for the children. But once he found out everyone would be OK, there was just no holding back.

O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh. The kids eight and nine years old. It's so nice to see those big hugs when they were reunited finally with their parents.

Kareen, quick question for you, did they know that everybody was searching for them? I mean, a two-hour trip ends up being a two-week trip.

WYNTER: Incredible. They did. They actually had a television inside the R.V. They had a generator keeping it going, so they were able to follow the news reports. They knew that people were searching for them, but on Sunday, Soledad, when they found out that the search was called off, that's whey they decided that they had to act quickly.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, you know, in just about 20 minutes, we're going to talk to the man who headed that search-and-rescue effort. Thanks a lot for that report. Also the paramedic who was the first to arrive and actually rescue them out of the R.V. We're going to talk to him, too.

ROBERTS: Got to be tough, though, when you found out that the search has been called off.

O'BRIEN: Yes, that got to be pretty brutal, but you know, it's what spurred them to go out and rescue themselves, frankly.

ROBERTS: Good for them.

Iraqi insurgents, once again, have security forces in their sights today. They attacked a police station and the mayor's office in a city 12 about miles south of Baghdad. The attack is similar to one that occurred on Tuesday on a police station north of Baghdad. It left 18 officers dead.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Baghdad again for us live this morning.

And, Nic, good morning to you.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

That attack took place at about 2:00 in the morning. Insurgents fired mortar grenades into the police compound, and followed up with their small arms weapons, trying to get into the police compound. The gunfight killed three policemen and one police commander who was there. The police then through the ministry of interior launched an offensive in the area that rounded up 50 insurgents according to the Ministry of Interior, but this wasn't the only attack today on police. A roadside bomb killed two policemen and wounded three others.

In a convoy in the west of Baghdad and the south of Baghdad, another police convoy targeted. Policemen wounded in that incident. And a first for three months in Baghdad today. The very dangerous highway, linking Baghdad to the International Airport the target again for insurgents. A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy. No one injured in that attack, but the first bombing of that type on that very dangerous road in three months -- John.

ROBERTS: Nic, earlier this week, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said that Iraq had slipped into civil war. In fact, he went so far as to say, if this isn't civil war, God knows what it is. You had a chance to talk to him today. What's he saying now?

ROBERTSON: You know, John, he seems to be walking himself back a little bit from that statement. He says that he wants everyone to know how desperate the situation is, and really says that he is still trying to ring the alarm bells on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYAD ALLAWI, FMR. IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: It's not a full-blown civil war. It's really terrible and severe sectarian violence, which can turn into a full-blown civil war, and sectarian violence is a stage over civil war, one of the stages of, probably an early stage of civil war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, I think there were two things at play here. One, he was trying to put himself back in the political spotlight, if you will, and he is accusing the big Iraqi religious political block here of trying to move the country perhaps toward the new government that would head towards more sectarian warfare -- John. ROBERTS: It would be an interesting about-face. Nic Robertson, as always, in Baghdad, thanks.

President Bush heads to West Virginia today. It's Another mission to try to convince more Americans to get behind his Iraq policy. This is going to be his third public commentary in as many days about Iraq.

CNN's Kathleen Koch joins us from the White House.

Good morning to you, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

President Bush makes his case today to an audience of roughly 2,500 at Wheeling (ph), West Virginia's historic Capital Music Hall. And a senior administration official tells CNN that Mr. Bush will be pretty much singing the same tune that he has all week, that he sees progress in Iraq, that he believes the U.S. plan there is working and will succeed. Otherwise, he wouldn't keep U.S. troops there. Though some concerns were raised about the duration of the mission when a reporter at yesterday's surprise morning press conference asked the president whether or not a time would come when there would be no more U.S. troops in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: I spoke about an important example of the gains we and the Iraqis have made, with that is in the northern city of Talafar, present and future governments of Iraq.

QUESTION: So it won't happen on your watch?

BUSH: You mean a complete withdrawal? That's a timetable. I can only tell you that I will decisions on force level based upon what the commanders on the ground say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: An administration official cautioned against reading too much into the president's statement. He said that the president wasn't hinting so much at a lengthy major deployment, but instead taking the question literally to mean every single troop being out of Iraq, and that could take some time -- John.

ROBERTS: He was also asked, Kathleen, about all of these rumors that he may be shaking up his staff, a lot of suggestions coming in from people in his party outside the White House. What did he have to say about that?

KOCH: The president say Washington is a town where you get a lot of advice, and he has been getting it and listening to it. But he said right now he is largely satisfied with the people he's surrounded himself with, that he has confidence in their performance, including embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. And the president said, even if he wanted to make a change, he certainly wouldn't announce it at a press conference -- John.

ROBERTS: All right, Kathleen Koch at the White House for us this morning. Kathleen, thanks -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Now to the case that rocked a Florida suburb and caught the attention of the nation. It's now officially over. In a surprise move, prosecutors have dropped the last of the charges against Debra Lafave. She's's the Tampa area teacher accused of having sex with her 14-year-old student.

CNN's John Zarrella has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Twenty-five- year-old Debra Lafave might have gone to prison. But the former Tampa middle school teacher, charged with engaging in various sex acts with a 14-year-old student, and already serving a sentence of house arrest for the crime in one Florida county, walked out of court, the same charges dropped in a second county.

DEBRA LAFAVE, FORMER TEACHER: The past two years have been hard on all parties involved. I pray with all my heart that the young man and his family will be able to move on with their lives. Again, I offer my deepest apology.

ZARRELLA: The young teacher's life went instantly from the obscure to obscene, with the accusations and charges of sex with a student two years ago. Lafave says she is undergoing therapy now for bipolar disorder, which she claims led to her actions.

LAFAVE: I believe that I -- my mental illness had a lot to do with my actions and for someone -- I have gotten -- my passion was teaching. That is taken away from me. I have lost family, and I have lost friends. And, as you see, my face has been plastered on every Internet address, every news outlet.

ZARRELLA: The court's ruling today does not mean Lafave is free. She had been brought up on the same charges in two Florida counties, because she had allegedly engaged in sex acts with the boy in both, at the school and in her house in Tampa, in the back of a car in Marion County.

A plea deal was sculpted for both courts, three years house arrest, seven years probation. The deal went through in Tampa, but not in Marion County. The judge there rejected it, because Lafave would not get prison time.

So, rather than go to trial, where the victim would have to testify, prosecutors dropped the case. Lafave says what hurts her most is what the sensationalism of the case has done to the victim's life.

LAFAVE: He is a young man. And his privacy has been violated. He has walked outside the door and been approached by media. His picture was published on the Internet. That's what I'm talking about. ZARRELLA: Well before this latest decision, the boy's family was ready to put the headlines behind them for good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This would follow him forever. And my prayer is that he can leave this behind him.

ZARRELLA: Debra Lafave wants to move on, too.

LAFAVE: I am a strong Christian woman. And I believe that God has a path for me. And this was just a bump in the road.

ZARRELLA: Her marriage to Owen Lafave disintegrated into divorce, after the case against her took shape. Now she's engaged to be married again.

LAFAVE: His support is unconditional. And I have known him for 20 years. And he has proved that he loves me unconditionally. And we're just going to take it day by day.

ZARRELLA: If you ask the victim and his family, it's the same for them, just trying to get on with their lives.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: John's report first aired on ANDERSON COOPER 360, which of course you can catch weeknights at 10:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Coming up in our 8:00 hour, Debra Lafave's attorney and the psychiatrist who examined the victim in the case and made the recommendation to do whatever was necessary to avert a trial will join us and talk about this case -- John.

ROBERTS: Well, it's another spring day, and you know what that means? Another snowstorm. That's the story for more of the Midwest today. The storm moved across the Ohio Valley, dropping as many as two inches an hour across some areas. What's the first day of summer going to be like?

Meanwhile, the snow and ice made for dangerous driving in Indiana. Strong winds with seven inches of snow caused whiteouts in some areas.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: The battle between Pepsi and Coke. Guess what? It has made its way into the courtroom. This time, they're not talking about those drinks. They're talking about sports drinks. We'll tell you why they're suing. That's ahead.

ROBERTS: Also, can the president really win over the public when it comes to Iraq? We'll ask CNN political contributor James Carville and former Republican Chairman Ed Gillespie.

O'BRIEN: And then more on that dramatic reunion and rescue in Oregon. We're going to talk to the paramedics who helped save a family trapped in their R.V. That's ahead.

Stay with us.

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(MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a growing issue for many Catholic charities, whether or not to allow gay couples to adopt. We're going to take a look at the drastic measures in one archdiocese this morning.

Then this story, a two-hour trek that turns into a two week-plus ordeal for one family. Their R.V. trapped in four feet of snow. We're going to talk to two men who helped rescue that family. That story is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Now to a story we've been talking about all morning, a family rescued after spending more than two weeks lost in the Oregon mountains. Their R.V. was stuck in about four feet of snow.

Joining us this morning is Lieutenant Pat Rowland. He is with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, and Shady Cove Police Chief Rick Mendenhall. And both were instrumental in the rescue.

Nice to see you, gentlemen. Thanks for talking with us.

Let's begin with you, lieutenant, if I may. They left on March 4th to go on what was supposed to be just a couple of hour trip, and eventually they were reported missing. How concerned were you when a two-hour trip grows into a two week-plus missing persons case? How concerned were you that in fact this as going to end very badly?

LT. PAT ROWLAND, JACKSON CO. SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Very concerned, because we didn't get notified for the search and rescue part of it until the 10th of the month. And again, that was seven or eight days after the fact, and we had no clues. We had no idea where they were going. Just they were going to the Oregon coast. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. We were very concerned, because we weren't finding any clues about these individuals.

O'BRIEN: And in fact, it got to the point where you finally called off the search, is that right?

ROWLAND: Yes, we did an intense search for two-and-a-half days with a helicopter and a fixed wing, and we suspended it based on weather, extreme weather moving in and no leads.

O'BRIEN: I guess that's really the thing that sort of encouraged the family to get out of the R.V., or the mom and dad, and go seek help. Let's talk to Chief Mendenhall, if we can. The mom and dad come out and sort of indicate to you that there are other people back in the R.V. Do they have a straightforward track? Were they able to get you pretty clearly to where you need to get in there and rescue people?

CHIEF RICK MENDENHALL, SHADY COVE POLICE: They had pretty good directions. Although when we flew in that morning, there was quite a bit of fog that we were flying into, light rain. Visibility was poor in some spots, but we finally made it to the location.

O'BRIEN: You were able to sort of see the R.V. Give me a description of what it looked like when you got there. I mean, we've reported four feet of snow around the R.V. I heard the grandfather say that a couple of times. Is that right?

MENDENHALL: Yes, it was about when I stepped off the skids on the helicopter, there was about three to four feet of snow that I dropped into. You couldn't see the R.V. from the helicopter. What caught our attention was the -- they had some red flagging lane across the top of the snow, and that kind of gave us a direction of where to head to.

O'BRIEN: When you knocked on the door of the R.V., what was the reaction? What was the situation like inside?

MENDENHALL: Actually, I met Sebastian, the little boy. He started running to where the LZ was set up for the helicopter landing, and I made it to him, and he was pretty excited about seeing me.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I bet. Of course, then you went back to the R.V. to check on the status of everybody inside. What kind of conditions were they living in? And how was everybody physically?

MENDENHALL: Everybody seemed to be in really good spirits, real happy to see a new face, had a pretty good idea at that point that they knew they were going to be getting out and going home.

O'BRIEN: It's so nice, and I'm sure, Lieutenant Rowland, you'll agree with me on this. We see the videotape of this family hugging and their reunion. Wow. It is nice to see how excited these kids are, even though -- were the kids -- were they fine? I mean, was anybody nervous and panicky that they wouldn't ever be found?

MENDENHALL: They kept the kids real busy with games and stuff like that because they didn't want the kids to fear any fear. And so the adults did real good. They had their moments, but they were great. I was up in Glendale last night, picked them up and brought them home last night, and they were just -- the kids were just so happy.

O'BRIEN: I bet they were. Two weeks of games might be just enough.

Final question for you. I know the parents have said they've spent a decent amount of time in the woods and also sort of really being able to take care of themselves. They melted the snow to drink, things like that. I mean, that must have been crucial for their survival, would you say?

ROWLAND: It was very crucial. But the thing was they had no water in the motor home at all. The tanks were broke. The faucets were broke, so they were using the snow and boiling it and using that as their water resource.

O'BRIEN: Well, good thinking on their part. Excellent work on your part as well. Gentlemen, thanks for talking with us this morning. Congratulations on a job very well done. That's Lieutenant Pat Rowland Chief Rick Mendenhall joining us from Oregon this morning -- John.

ROBERTS: Nice when those things turn out well for a change. President Bush is out again today, trying to sell his Iraq war strategy. What will it take to win over the public? And can he? We'll ask CNN political contributor James Carville and former Republican Chairman Ed Gillespie.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, an exclusive interview with a same-sex couple that adopted a child through a Catholic agency, before the church decided to shut the door.

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