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American Morning

Insurgents Once Again Iraqi Police; President Bush Takes His Message on Iraq on the Road

Aired March 22, 2006 - 08:00   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.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.

JOHN ROBERTS, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm John Roberts in this week for Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Insurgents follow up a coordinated attack on Tuesday with more today. The target once again the Iraqi police.

We're live in Baghdad with the very latest on this story.

Also, President Bush takes his message on Iraq on the road.

Will his most recent push have any effect on public opinion?

ROBERTS: Finally found -- rescuers find an Oregon family who were stuck in the snow for more than two weeks.

And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBRA LAFAVE, FORMER TEACHER: I am very remorseful and I believe that I'm going through therapy and doing everything that I can possible to better myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Words of remorse from a Florida teacher accused of having sex with a student. And now, no more criminal charges.

O'BRIEN: And has the housing bubble finally burst? We're going to take a closer look at the sales slump and the surprising change in home ownership.

Those stories all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

We begin with President Bush this morning.

For a third straight day, the president trying to get more Americans behind his policy for Iraq. He is scheduled to speak this afternoon in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Let's get right to CNN's Kathleen Koch.

She's live for us at the White House -- hey, Kathleen, good morning.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

And, yes, it will be another freewheeling question and answer session for the president this morning in Wheeling, West Virginia. We're told that he'll make brief opening remarks on the war in Iraq and then take questions, and who knows for how long -- on Monday it was for nearly an hour -- from the audience of roughly 2,500 that he'll be talking to there in West Virginia.

We expect the president to again try to walk that fine line between seeming upbeat while at the same time being realistic about what's happening in Iraq.

At yesterday's last minute press conference here at the White House, the president disputed claims that a civil war is underway there and insisted that the country is holding together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's sectarian violence, but the way I look at the situation is that the Iraqis took a look and decided not to go to civil war. A couple of indicators are that the army didn't bust up into sectarian divisions. The army stayed united.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: It'll be very interesting to see when the president arrives in Wheeling, West Virginia whether or not any lawmakers, Republicans or Democrats, turn out to greet him.

The subject of the war in Iraq is such a political hot potato right now with audiences that when the president arrived in Cleveland, Ohio Monday, politicians there made themselves very scarce. Not a single one turning out to greet him. Instead, just a group of business leaders -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Hmmm. That's interesting.

How about these calls, new calls for Secretary Rumsfeld to step down?

What's the president said about that?

KOCH: I asked President Bush about that at the press conference yesterday and the president says he does not believe that his defense secretary needs to resign. He said he's done a fine job conducting not only the war in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan and as far as transforming the U.S. military.

And the president did admit, though, he hasn't always gotten the best advice on the conduct of the war, saying, "Every war plan looks good on paper, until you meet the enemy" -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch live for us at the White House this morning.

Kathleen, thanks.

KOCH: You bet.

O'BRIEN: John.

ROBERTS: 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 scenic trip to the Pacific Coast in a recreational vehicle. But a two hour trip turned into two weeks when the R.V. got stuck in the snow.

CNN's Kareen Wynter is live in the family's hometown of Ashland. That's just north of the border with California -- good morning to you, Kareen.

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

And I'm standing outside a home where it's believed some of the family members may have spent the night. Now, this emotional video you're about to see of a very happy reunion took place only after the very brave actions of the children's parents, Pete and Marlow Stivers. They left their R.V. behind on Monday, left -- leaving behind their four loved ones in search of help. They thought that was the only way out.

After trekking through several feet of snow, frigid temperatures, frigid conditions, for about 24 hours, they finally stumbled across a forestry worker who had been out in the area and flagged him down for help.

Now, earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, Oregon officials talked about just how desperate this search had grown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. PAT ROWLAND: But we didn't get no reply 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 that they were going to the Oregon coast. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. We were very concerned, because we weren't yet finding any clues about these individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: And despite all that they have been through, all that they have endured over the last more than two weeks, John, officials say the family is in great health this morning.

ROBERTS: What an amazing adventure.

What was it that, after two weeks, finally prompted the parents to strike out from the R.V. and go look for help? WYNTER: They had a television, actually, inside their R.V. so they were able to follow the news reports. And when they learned on Sunday that the search had been called off, that's when they knew they had to act and act quickly. But, also, their supplies were running low.

Listen to this. They even had to resort to drinking melted snow just to keep hydrated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELBERT HIGGINBOTHAM, MISSING FOR TWO WEEKS: Every morning we had to kick the door open and dig out the door so we could get around. To get to the storage of the food, we had to dig four feet down to get the doors open to get inside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: So it's just one of those stories, John, that you just never get tired of hearing. It's truly incredible and it's a story that perhaps they will be telling their family members about for a very long time.

ROBERTS: Yes, very fortunate, too, that while they had only intended to be out for two hours, they happened to have enough food to last them that long.

Kareen Wynter in Ashland, thanks very much.

Let's get a check of the headlines now with Carol Costello.

She is in the newsroom for us this morning -- good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, John.

Good morning to all of you.

We're just getting word into CNN about a fire in Germantown, Maryland. These are live aerial photos or pictures we're showing. You can see the flames coming out of the roof of those town homes. This is in Germantown, Maryland. I believe that's about 25 miles from Washington, D.C. Germantown is in Maryland, a suburb of Washington. Pretty nasty. A lot of firefighters on the scene.

We've heard of no injuries so far, but when we get more details, of course we'll pass them along to you. This fire, again, in Germantown, Maryland.

Iraqi police coming under fire yet again. At least four Iraqi security forces were killed in an attack at a police station south of Baghdad. At least five other people were killed in scattered attacks across the country today.

In the meantime, 50 suspected insurgents have now been taken into custody. An Army dog handler convicted of tormenting prisoners at Abu Ghraib faces a sentencing hearing today. Sergeant Michael Smith was found guilty at a court martial on Tuesday, charged with letting his snarling dog mistreat prisoners. The charges carry a possible penalty of up to eight-and-a-half years behind bars.

Possible new tougher warnings for drugs like Ritalin and Aderol, used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. Government advisers are taking a look at whether there should be stronger warning labels about some of the side effects linked to those types of drugs. The FDA says there have been some accounts of children having hallucinations while taking the drugs.

Oh, my goodness, we have this breaking news. They just caught the coyote in Central Park. These are live pictures.

What are we seeing here? Are we seeing them hunting for the coyote or have they already captured him? They caught him. They caught him. Listen to this. This coyote has been wandering around in Central Park. So those of you who are rich enough and lucky enough to live near Central Park did hear howling at night.

The coyote was being spotted by bike riders and joggers through Central Park. They actually had New York police officers fanning out across the park. They had a police helicopter up yesterday looking for this coyote and apparently just a few minutes ago they captured the coyote.

The last coyote that was spotted in Central Park was back in 1999. That now resides in the Queens Zoo. So hopefully this coyote will find a happier home than Central Park -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Yes, you know, I think the plan is to drop that coyote off upstate a little bit, because apparently he's right by -- sort of loitering by where the zoo was and people -- they put up warnings, serious warnings about people with pets. You know, they weren't really worried that he'd attack human beings...

COSTELLO: Humans.

O'BRIEN: But they were worried about people's dogs and stuff. So that's good news.

COSTELLO: Yes. It was a pretty big coyote.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: So people were really freaked out by it.

O'BRIEN: Good news for pet owners and also the coyote will get, you know -- he doesn't want to live in Manhattan. Trust me, little coyote, you don't want to live here.

All right, Carol, thank you.

Weather now. Reynolds Wolf is in for Chad this morning -- hey, Reynolds, good morning.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, how does a -- how does a coyote get to Central Park in the first place? Does he take the subway? Does he get out at West 57th Street and walk over? What...

O'BRIEN: That's one way. I'm not sure. They think that he came in from Westchester.

WOLF: Go figure.

All right.

Well, that's interesting and a great morning in New York for coyotes or joggers or whatever.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Prosecutors have dropped charges against Debra Lafave. She, of course, is that Florida teacher who is accused of having sex with a student. Her lawyer's defense? She's insane.

So, is she getting off easy now?

ROBERTS: Also, a possible link between drugs used to treat Parkinson's Disease and compulsive gambling. We'll take a look at what patients and their families need to know.

O'BRIEN: Plus, important advice if you're worried about the housing bubble. We're going to talk about that with a real estate expert.

Should you sell now? We'll take a look.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Florida prosecutors are dropping a second round of charges against Debra Lafave, the teacher accused of having sex with her 14-year-old student. Lafave is already serving three years under house arrest as part of a plea deal in another Florida county. The model turned teacher suffers, they say, from bipolar disorder, which she says makes good people do bad things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAFAVE: I am very remorseful and I believe that I'm going through therapy and doing everything that I can possible to better myself for the community and society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: John Fitzgibbons is Debra Lafave's attorney.

He joins us in Tampa this morning.

Nice to see you.

Thanks for talking with us.

JOHN FITZGIBBONS, ATTORNEY FOR DEBRA LAFAVE: Ms. O'Brien, good morning.

O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.

Do you think your client got off pretty easily on this?

FITZGIBBONS: Oh, absolutely not. The probation house arrest sentence that she received is a -- is a very significant sentence. Most people cannot even complete it. It's a very onerous sentence with a lot of -- a lot of responsibilities.

But it does keep her out of prison and, also, this resolution allows the young man involved to go on with his life and not be subjected to the trauma of going through a high profile trial.

O'BRIEN: Give me the details, then.

What's the onerous part of three years of house arrest?

FITZGIBBONS: Well, she has an ankle bracelet. She has all types -- all kinds of counseling she has to go through. She has to register as a sex offender, curfews, DNA, all types of things that are components of this type of sentence.

O'BRIEN: She pled guilty and because of that, she got the three years of house arrest and seven years of probation, as well. So she is now considered a sex offender...

FITZGIBBONS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... and she's also getting treatment for her bipolarism?

FITZGIBBONS: Absolutely. Yes. She's -- has an excellent psychiatrist. She's on her medications and is a completely different person than when I first met her almost two years ago, when this case developed. She's doing very well and she's properly diagnosed now and I think is moving on with her life.

O'BRIEN: In some of her comments that she made, she blamed the media. She said actually that the real problem has been the intense scrutiny, the fact that her face is on every Internet home page, not really her actions in and of themselves.

Are you saying that the media is more to blame because of how sensationalized this case became?

FITZGIBBONS: No. I think that she -- she made it very clear -- and she's said this on different occasions -- that she feels a great deal of remorse for what happened. She apologized again yesterday to the young man. And I know she deeply and sincerely believes this and feels this.

But it's, you know, it's been an ordeal for her. She can hardly walk into a McDonald's or during her hour or two to go shopping and do things like that, it's like a celebrity walking into a store. It's just -- she's had no privacy for almost two years.

O'BRIEN: But, sir, with all due respect, because she had sex with a 14-year-old student, not because the media has covered this case, isn't it fair to say?

FITZGIBBONS: Well, gee, I wonder why this case has been covered so heavily when so many of the cases are just a blip on the radar screen. And I think it's because of how she appears. And I think that's generated an intense media interest. I mean, literally to the point that we can't even walk into the courthouse. You almost need a couple of pro-football players in front of you to get through the crowd.

O'BRIEN: Let's bring in Dr. Martin Lazoritz.

He's a psychiatrist who evaluated the 14-year-old victim in this case.

Doctor, thanks for talking with us.

We sure appreciate it.

DR. MARTIN LAZORITZ, EVALUATED 14 -YEAR-OLD VICTIM: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Do you think, in this case, Miss. Lafave is getting off with a very easy punishment, I mean the charges dropped in the second county?

LAZORITZ: Well, I think that the plea deal in Marion County was the same, so I don't think that there would have been any more punishment. The person who really would have been punished if they proceeded with the trial would have been the victim, who would have been revictimized.

And I think that the victimization of this young man would be an unintended consequence of the media's interest in this case, which I agree with Mr. Fitzgibbons is due to how the perpetrator looked.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question about this disease that she's being treated for, which is bi -- she's bipolar.

LAZORITZ: Correct.

O'BRIEN: She's manic-depressive.

That's right.

What link does that have to child molestation?

LAZORITZ: Well, I -- none directly other than the fact that she could have been quite delusional at the time. I didn't evaluate her. But people with bipolar disorder often get hyper sexual and they have lowered impulse control. And so things that ordinarily would have not been done, even if they had fantasies about them, there's a barrier to doing them.

In cases of bipolar disorder, people do things that they ordinarily wouldn't do.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you about this boy who you -- who you did examine.

LAZORITZ: Sure.

O'BRIEN: Is he now traumatized for life? I mean -- and I guess I really want to clarify -- is he traumatized for life because of the media attention or is he traumatized for life because he had sex with his teacher?

He's 14.

LAZORITZ: Both. I think both things are traumatic. And they're things that, as he matures, he will learn increasingly to deal with so that they'll become background. And right now the thing that was happening was the media was bringing up a traumatic event over and over again. And the fear of his face being on -- in the national media and -- is a very anxiety provoking thing for this young man, who just wants to be left alone.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Martin Lazoritz joining us this morning and John Fitzgibbons, as well.

Gentlemen, thank you for talking with us this morning.

LAZORITZ: You're welcome.

FITZGIBBONS: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: John.

ROBERTS: Coming up, is the government its own worst enemy in prosecuting terror suspects?

The botched handling of witnesses in the Moussaoui case is just the latest mistake made by prosecutors. We'll take a look at what's behind the trend.

And is the housing bubble about to burst?

We'll have tips on how to get your money out of the market.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: 2005 was a banner year for real estate, with sales of new and existing homes reaching record levels. But a new housing study being released today shows that despite a record high percentage of Americans owning their homes, the rate of home ownership for working families with children is down. High home prices -- the housing bubble is at least partly to blame for that.

So what about that bubble?

June Fletcher is a reporter for the "Wall Street Journal" and she's the author of "House Poor: Pumped Up Prices, Rising Rates and Mortgages On Steroids."

She joins us now from Washington.

And, June, I saw this described very succinctly in one article, that there is a staring contest currently going on between buyers and sellers. Buyers don't want to offer the asking price, sellers don't want to come down from the asking price.

JUNE FLETCHER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL," AUTHOR, "HOUSE POOR": That's right.

And I think that that's going to -- it's going to be the message we're going to have all year long. I think that's going to happen for the rest of the year. Sellers are hoping that their prices are going to stay at levels, at peak levels. I'm afraid, bad news for them, the peak of the market was last July. And buyers, in many places, are just waiting for prices to come down.

ROBERTS: So...

FLETCHER: I...

ROBERTS: So are we still in this housing bubble? Has it popped? Has it got a slow leak? Because even though there is more inventory on the market, prices are still going up.

FLETCHER: That's right, you know, but I think that that's going to change as interest rates go up. And most economists I talk to say interest rates are going to go up to close to 7 percent, long-term interest rates. The 30-year fixed rates will go up to about 7 percent by the end of the year.

So I like to use the analogy of the housing market not being a bubble, but a Whoopie cushion, you know? The air goes out slowly. And it -- and why is, you know, why doesn't it just pop?

Well, you know, the stock market, you know, stocks go down and the next day everyone sells. But it takes a long time for home sellers to realize that their house isn't worth what it was at the peak of the market because, you know, they have it on the market for 30 or 60 days. So it takes a while for the statistics to catch up with the reality.

ROBERTS: So as people wait for the noise that's made as the Whoopie cushion deflates, some people are...

FLETCHER: Right. ROBERTS: ... and some people around here even are, you know, sort of wondering is now the time to jump out of the market if we're looking at cashing in some investments and perhaps renting for a little while?

How do you determine if this is the right time to sell?

FLETCHER: Well, you know, I think you -- people talk about a national housing market, but it's all really very local. And that's one of the things I talk about in "House Poor," you know, what are some of the things that you need to look at.

And you need to look about what's happening within 10 miles of your house. You know, forget the national statistics. Because, you know, one of the things you need to look at is job growth. That's very important. Now, job growth nationally doesn't really matter. What really matters is what's happening in your neck of the woods. If jobs are being created on the north side of the town and you live on the south side of the town, people aren't going to drive all the way through town to even, you know, use -- to go to those jobs.

So you really have to look at what's happening in your neighborhood. You need to look at time on the market. Is that increasing? Are the number of days going from 30 days to 35 or 37 days? You need to look at things like inventory levels. Typically, that's 5.5 months on the market. Are -- is the market -- are there many more homes on the market or is the market overbuilt?

ROBERTS: Right.

You know, one thing we hear about a lot, particularly recently with interest rates on the rise, is what's going to happen to all of these people who have these ARMs, these adjustable rate mortgages and suddenly find their monthly payments doubling, and in some cases, perhaps, even going up higher than that?

Is there suddenly going to be a lot more inventory coming on the market as these people can't afford to keep up these payments and perhaps banks even foreclose?

FLETCHER: Absolutely. And that's, you know, very frightening. Foreclosure rates are actually up 9 percent for the month of February over the year before. And, you know, you might remember back in the early 1990s when the banks had real estate owned departments because there were so many foreclosures in the market. It's a debate whether that can happen again.

I can see that that could happen again. Some estimates say that there are going to be a million people in foreclosure.

So that's good news for investors, if you want to go out and buy a cheap property. But, you know, it's terrible news for the people who own homes.

I would say before you ever get in that situation, if you're in trouble, go talk to your banker. Very often banks can redo your loans...

ROBERTS: Right.

FLETCHER: ... and help you out. Don't let it get to a foreclosure stage.

The other piece of advice is if you have especially interest only and option ARMs, which I sort of call the funny money loans -- people have been teased by these very low interest rates -- you know, try to get it to a fixed rate loan if you plan to stay in your house for two or three years.

Right now, interest rates are still pretty low by historic measures.

ROBERTS: Right.

FLETCHER: And, but everyone predicts they're going to go up. So I wouldn't waste any time doing that.

ROBERTS: Good advice and it's always good to have that guarantee of the locked in mortgage rate.

June Fletcher, author of "House Poor."

Thanks for being with us this morning.

We appreciate it.

FLETCHER: Thank you for having me.

ROBERTS: All right -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, Congressmen Tom DeLay faces more trouble in Texas.

Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has details on a troubling link between drugs that treat Parkinson's Disease and compulsive gambling.

Those stories are straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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