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American Morning

Desperate Situation Worsens in One Part of Iraq; A Wildfire Spreads into Hills Around Los Angeles

Aired September 13, 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: A desperate situation worsens in one part of Iraq. Military commanders paint one picture.
What are the people on the ground saying?

We'll take a look.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hewlett-Packard spies on its own board members and now the chairman steps down and the attorney general steps in.

S. O'BRIEN: A wildfire spreads into the hills around Los Angeles. Firefighters right now are trying to keep it from shutting down a major interstate.

M. O'BRIEN: It's back to work in space this morning. The astronauts are trying to keep track of all their nuts and bolts. You're looking at a live picture there.

But guess what? They lost another one. We'll tell you about that.

S. O'BRIEN: And Britney Spears needs another car set. The pop star gives birth to a second baby boy. We're still waiting on a name.

That's ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Welcome everybody.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

Thanks for being with us.

More violence in Iraq and once again the police are the target. Two bomb attacks there this morning to tell you about. The biggest, a roadside bomb in the center of the city that killed at least 14. A police patrol was passing by at the time. Sixty-seven others injured in that attack.

Also, Iraqi police found more than 60 bodies all around the city today, many showing signs of torture.

A desperate situation now in western Iraq. We're talking about the volatile Al Anbar Province. A top military intelligence officer offering a grim assessment of what's going on there. He says 16,000 more troops, a division, is needed. But the top commander over there says more troops would be nothing more than a temporary fix.

Joining us to talk about the situation on the ground in Al Anbar are Barbara Starr at the Pentagon and Michael Ware in Baghdad.

Let's begin with you, Barbara, and why we're hearing such an apparent internal debate at the Pentagon.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is all really coming from the military intelligence arm, essentially, Miles. Indeed, as you say, the head of Marine Corps intelligence in Anbar Province has given a very grim, very sober, classified assessment of the security situation there.

Let's be very clear. We're talking Ramadi, Fallujah, the heart of the insurgency and the heart of Al Qaeda in Iraq operations. This very sober assessment says there is very little security in that area and very little functioning government.

This classified assessment has not been released, but the story was first broken by Tom Ricks of the "Washington Post."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS RICKS, "THE WASHINGTON POST": The military basically could win any tactical engagement that it had, but there was very little security progress coming from that and that the political and social systems were deteriorating and that Al Qaeda in Iraq, the insurgent group, was filling the vacuum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, Ricks talking there about what that assessment says that he broke in the "Washington Post."

But this now, Miles, has sparked a good deal of controversy and a very unusual reaction. A classified report now being addressed publicly, as you say, by the top Marine commander in Iraq. And he is saying yes, sober, but he believes that there is progress being made and he believes that he doesn't need more troops in Anbar Province.

He's got about 30,000 U.S. troops there. He thinks, at the moment, for the mission he has, that's enough, that it's really the job of Iraqi security forces to handle security out there.

Listen to General Zilmer, who had a telephone press conference yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. RICHARD ZILMER, U.S. MARINES, COMMANDING GENERAL, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE: I have never heard any description about the war being lost before last weekend. We are winning this war. We are certainly accomplishing our mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Miles, perhaps one of the most interesting things General Zilmer said, however, is he does not see his primary mission as being winning against the insurgency anymore. He says the primary mission for U.S. forces in Anbar Province is to train the Iraqis -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, I guess it's all in how you define the goal. That's obviously very important.

Barbara Starr, thank you very much.

Let's get over to Michael Ware, who spent a lot of time on the ground in Al Anbar Province and has been talking to Marines and soldiers who are pounding the ground there.

What are they saying on the ground? Would they like more support and this whole notion of their role being primarily to train Iraqis? Does that jive with what you're seeing?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, on the ground in Ramadi, there's not that much training going on by that many troops. There are small adviser teams. They do some training. But your day to day existence for an American soldier or an American Marine in Ramadi is blood and guts battle.

It's constant IEDs, direct arms, you know, gunfights. It's being mortared. I mean the fight has evolved. In the last three or four months, new U.S. tactics has forced al Qaeda to shift its tactics. But as the brigade commander who owns Ramadi says, we are in contact with the enemy every day. And that enemy is al Qaeda. There's a direct link between the men we fight street-to-street, face-to-face, day to day and the people who brought down the World Trade Center.

And let's look at what General Zilmer, the Marine commander of Al Anbar, said last night. I spoke to him in that conference last night, and Barbara is right. He's not saying that he doesn't need more troops. What he's saying is that right now all I'm being told is to train. But if you want me to win against an Al Qaeda-led insurgency, then I do need more troops.

He said you want me to win? I need to change my metrics. He needs more troops.

The American military, the planners, have not committed to the battle. This is giving al Qaeda the oxygen it needs to breathe. In fact, there is an al Qaeda national headquarters sitting there and there's simply not enough soldiers to go into that area and take control of it -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, let me give you, in a hypothetical, the people you're talking to, the commanders you're talking to, the generals, if they had those greater numbers of troops, could they score a real lasting victory against al Qaeda that would have a long range impact in Iraq?

WARE: Well, yes, they could. I mean, obviously there's always going to be at least two tracks. I mean they need to train up the Iraqi security forces. But that, honestly, I've been in combat with Iraqi security forces. It's such a mixed bag that it's such a long way off.

And let's look at the Iraqi security forces in Al Anbar.

The Iraqi Army, the two divisions there, one is proven, one is not. One is essentially a group of Shia militias in government uniforms. Both the units are Shia. So the local Sunnis there, even the people who are working with the Americans -- I've got a police chief on camera, on record, saying these people are -- these soldiers are taking innocent people and torturing them. He said it's Baghdad, there are Iranian links, these, you know, Shia soldiers that are herding our people toward al Qaeda.

So, if you bring in more U.S. troops, you can attack al Qaeda while you build the security force. Because right now al Qaeda is not being put on the back foot.

The commanders say, the soldiers say the best we can do is disrupt them; sure can't decimate them, no hope right now of defeating them -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware in Baghdad, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Primary results are in this morning. Some big names to tell you about and some closely watched primary races.

How did it go?

CNN's Candy Crowley is with us from Boston -- good morning.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, let's begin with some of the races that we were watching most closely. I guess the biggest deal was that Chaffee didn't lose. That's kind of the headline there.

How close was it?

CROWLEY: It wasn't that close. It was -- he won by about eight points. So this is a really interesting race simply because most Republicans consider Chaffee to be what they call a rhino, which is Republican in name only.

But this year, when there's a battle for the Senate, a battle for the majority, just having an R after his name and being in a pretty liberal state, it was enough to bring the Republicans into the state. They helped Chaffee with his turnout. They gave him money for his ads, that sort of thing, because they really believed that Laffey, his opponent, wouldn't win.

Laffey was much more conservative. They know that in the general, if they're going to keep from Rhode Island a -- somebody with an R after their name, they had to help Chaffee, so they did. However, Chaffee doesn't really have a cake walk when it comes to the general election. He faces some pretty stiff competition.

But Republicans have passed phase one here.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about Kweisi Mfume. He was running against the Democratic -- for the Democratic candidate for Senate. And he ended up losing. But if he had won, that would have set up a pretty interesting race, wouldn't it have?

CROWLEY: It really would. It's still going to be an interesting race. But the fact of the matter is that the Republican who's running for Senate, Michael Steele, is an African-American Republican. Had Kweisi Mfume won this particular battle against Congressman Ben Cardin, we would have had an African-American versus an African- American and it would have been an interesting and historical race.

Having said that, again, Michael Steele is an African-American Republican and if he should win -- and remember, Maryland is a pretty Democratic state, so we'll see -- but if he should win, it still would bring a Republican African-American to the Senate, which would be not unprecedented, but nonetheless, it hasn't happened in more than 40 years.

S. O'BRIEN: Wes are we watching?

What were the other big races, do you think, that we should talk about?

CROWLEY: Well, there was a great race in Arizona in the 8th District. Mostly it was a Republican on Republican primary. And it was interesting because there was a conservative on the side of -- Randy Graf -- who argued that, you know, no illegal aliens would -- would come in and get any sort of amnesty or be put on a path to citizenship, toughen up the borders. And he was up against a more moderate Republican who said well, you know, it was more along the Bush lines -- you know, we have to have a path to citizenship.

The conservative won on this, the tougher on the immigration, even though the Republican Party came in and tried to help the moderate because they're a little worried that this seat, which is currently Republican, is going to turn into a Democratic pick up in the House. And they don't need any more of those.

S. O'BRIEN: Candy Crowley for us this morning, part of the best political team on TV.

Thanks, Candy.

CROWLEY: Good to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

Nine minutes past the hour.

Let's get a check of the forecast from Chad -- good morning. CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Experts say that attempted attack on the U.S. Embassy in Syria we told you about yesterday was just the latest strike in the global Jihad we've been telling you about.

Coming up, a look at why the world may need to change its strategy in the war on terror.

Plus, a big scandal at Hewlett-Packard. The company's private eye is accused of using dirty tactics to spy on their own board. We'll tell you about that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: That al Qaeda inspired attack on the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria we told you about yesterday just the latest skirmish in a global Jihad. Many terrorism experts believe it is high time nations targeted, like the U.S. carnage their tactics in response.

CNN's Chris Lawrence joining us now from Jerusalem, where a major counter-terrorism conference is underway -- Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, some of these counter- terrorism experts tell me that these global Jihadists remember when Islam ruled over many parts of the world and only a return to that reality will satisfy them.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Al Qaeda issues new threats against Israel and terrorist attack the American Embassy in Syria. Experts at a counter-terrorism conference near Tel Aviv say both are part of a bigger picture.

BOAZ GANOR, INSTITUTE FOR COUNTER-TERRORISM: The attack in Damascus is one link in the chain of the strategy of the global Jihadists.

LAWRENCE: Boaz Ganor says global Jihadist is a better term than terrorist. A former Israeli intelligence officer, Ganor says their ultimate goal is forcing the world to live under strict Islamic law. He believes there is no negotiation with Jihadists and even more secular governments like Syria will pay a price for choosing them as allies.

GANOR: I do believe that such an attack sends a message to the Bashar Assad regime, as well -- beware. We are here. We're alive and kicking. And you might be our target, as well.

LAWRENCE: For the next few days, experts from all over the world will keep challenging conventional wisdom.

American Steve Emerson says Western governments must stop Jihadists from openly recruiting in their countries, even if it means being accused of "waging war on Islam."

STEVE EMERSON, U.S. INVESTIGATIVE PROJECT ON TERROR: Iino coincidence that Islamic charities have traditionally served as terrorist fronts.

LAWRENCE: Some of these experts say nations have to adjust to the Jihadist world view. They say even international troops stationed in South Lebanon could become targets because Jihadists don't see them as a neutral peacekeeping force.

YONI FIGHEL, INSTITUTE FOR COUNTER-TERRORISM: They see it as an external, Western conspiracy disguised in an international force, in the form of an international force or U.N.

LAWRENCE: One Israeli expert says the philosophy doesn't allow for compromise. He predicts the more Hamas joins the Palestinian political system, al Qaeda will move in to fill the void.

ELY KARMON, INSTITUTE FOR COUNTER-TERRORISM: We know that some Hamas people have split from Hamas, including nine members in our prisons, which have declared that we leave Hamas and we are joining al Qaeda.

LAWRENCE: But more than one expert says even peace in Palestine will not stop global Jihadists because their goals are much bigger.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LAWRENCE: And some of the experts tell me that the Jihadists do not look at things like Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank or from Gaza or even open negotiation as avenues to peace. They look at it as a sign of weakness -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence in Jerusalem, thank you very much.

Coming up on the program, a fierce battle to contain a huge wildfire in southern California. We'll see if firefighters are making any progress there.

Plus, car meets house -- on the second floor. We'll explain how it happened.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Hewlett-Packard is in damage control mode this morning. California's attorney general says he might bring criminal charges against the company. This after a spy scandal forced Chairman Patricia Dunn to give up her post.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Ali Velshi untangles what happened for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under every H.P. logo, you'll see the word "invent." H.P.'s latest invention? A scandal.

Back in January, this news report surfaced on the Internet, loaded with confidential information leaked by someone on H.P.'s board. The company's chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, authorized H.P.'s lawyers to hire a security firm to spy on its own directors. That security firm hired a private investigator, who decided the best way to nab the source of the leak was to pretext -- to impersonate the board members in order to obtain their personal phone records.

Inventive, some might say.

New York private investigator Diana Moneta says pretexting is dirty business.

DIANA MONETA, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: The client will say well, you got that information. By the way, how did you get it?

We always are able to attribute how we get our information and one thing we don't want to do is say we got it through acting like so and so.

VELSHI: H.P.'s private investigators did find their leaker. It was H.P.'s longest serving board member. But they didn't stop there. They impersonated nine journalists who cover H.P. including reporters from the "New York Times" and the "Wall Street Journal," to obtain their telephone records, too.

In a written statement, H.P.'s chair, Patricia Dunn, acknowledges it was wrong: "Unfortunately, the investigation which was conducted with third parties included certain inappropriate techniques. These went beyond what we understood them to be and I apologize that they were employed." H.P.'s lawyers say that pretexting is a common investigative technique.

New York lawyer and private investigator Stanley Arkin says it's largely been the domain of debt collectors or suspicious partners and divorce lawyers.

STANLEY ARKIN, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: In matrimonial cases, it became very popular, for example, to find out who your spouse or your -- whoever it might be -- was calling.

VELSHI: Because there's no legal way to get someone's phone records without their knowledge or permission, unless you have a subpoena, pretexting is an option that many turn to. One bright spot about pretexting -- this time, the cell phone companies are on your side. In the past year, all of the major cell phone companies have gone to court against pretexters.

(on camera): And back at H.P. while the company found its leaker, it cost Patricia Dunn her job. She'll be stepping down as chair in January. Maybe next time H.P. won't be so inventive.

Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Chairman Patricia Dunn's successor is going to be the CEO, Mark Hurd. Dunn is going to retain her seat on H.P.'s board of directors.

Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, Miles, our very favorite space cadet, checks in.

Take a look.

M. O'BRIEN: As everyone around here knows, I'm a space cadet. Well, now, I've got the right togs.

I'll show you what it's like to get ready for a day of work in space, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR: When you heard about IEDs, fellow troops getting blown up, you're actually glad to put on the gear because you know it's going to help protect you.

We went to Iraq in 2003. The gear we wore consisted of Kevlar helmets, protective vests, communications gear, full uniforms, as well as our normal weaponry.

There was a point where it got to a little over 150 degrees. It was pretty rough.

The armor definitely does save lives.

If there's something they can do that would make me more comfortable, I'm all for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: But in a war zone, comfort and safety don't usually go hand in hand. In fact, when the war on terror began, troops were carrying upwards of 120 pounds in equipment and armor.

But soon, we may see a lighter, more nimble soldier emerge from the trenches.

(voice-over): Dutch DeGay of the U.S. Army Natick Soldiers Center is working to completely redesign combat uniforms from helmet to boot.

DUTCH DEGAY: What we're trying to do is evolve our body armor. This actually doesn't touch the body. This next generation piece of body armor actually stands off the body in order to absorb the impact of the round without the individual soldier feeling that impact. M. O'BRIEN: Improvements also include sensors that monitor vital signs and a lighter state-of-the-art helmet that provides infrared and thermal vision capabilities, as well as a futuristic eye monitor connecting soldiers to a battlefield network.

DEGAY: The individual soldier has the on board computer plugged into the network. So they now become network centric and can see everything inside the battle space, even though it's not directly in front of them.

M. O'BRIEN: DeGay expects the new gear to be available in two to three years. The whole system could be in the trenches by 2010.

So what's next after that?

DEGAY: A set of camouflage that actually acts as a mirror to the outside environment, and I literally disappear inside the battle space.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning.

Welcome back, everybody.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

(NEWSBREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: After the 9/11 attacks, United States launched a ferocious assault in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government. Five years later, though, with the fighting -- with the Islamic militants raging on, the question is, is the war winnable? Rory Stewart is the author of "The Places in Between." It details his travels across Afghanistan in 2002, just after the Taliban fell. He joins us from Kabul, Afghanistan this morning.

Rory, it's nice to see you again. Thanks for talking with us.

RORY STEWART, AUTHOR, "THE PLACES IN BETWEEN": Thank you for having me.

S. O'BRIEN: Clearly from reports we're getting, the situation that we're seeing where you are is disintegrating, at least by the reports that we're getting. But the question is, is why? Is it as simple as not enough troops on the ground, do you think?

STEWART: I don't think so at all. I think that obviously are economic problems, and there are military problems, but the fundamental problems are political. We underestimate the fact that many communities in the south are much more conservative, and much more Islamists, their much suspicious of foreigners than we acknowledge. And therefore the real solution to this problem would need to be a political solution.

S. O'BRIEN: When you -- you only need to look back, frankly, as far as the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan to see a just disaster, classic example of a big disaster. Ten years, 15,000 troops died, and that, some say, is way underestimation of how many troops were killed. Do you feel that we are on -- and by we, I mean, any troops that are involved in Afghanistan right now, on the same path as the Soviets had in the '80s?

STEWART: I don't think we're necessarily on the same path as the Soviets. So I think the situation can still be solved, but it needs to be solved by President Karzai, negotiating with the most powerful, effective and representative leaders in the south. It's not something that's going to be solved alone by troops or by money.

S. O'BRIEN: President Hamid Karzai has certainly a lot of support from the United States. Does he have the political ability, does he have the political clout in himself to do those negotiations to bring about a political solution, do you think?

STEWART: I think it's going to be very, very difficult for him. We have to recognize this is a very poor, vulnerable, traumatized country. It's unlikely to be able to change overnight. President Karzai tends to support a policy of negotiation and compromise. We in the West have tended to be much more black and white, saying you're with us or against us.

But in the end, foreigners the West, America, Britain, they're not going to be able to solve this problem on their own. We're a tiny part of the situation here. In the end, we should keep troops here, we should keep money here, but President Karzai and his supporters need to make sure they can negotiate, and that's going to mean negotiating and including in the political process some of the people we currently describe as Taliban.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about what seems to be a big problem, the poppy crop, up 59 percent this year from last year. Is the problem that their growing the poppies? Is the problem that they need to be growing something else, and something else is just not available? Explain how this plays a role in the politics.

STEWART: Well, this is an incredibly difficult problem. I was talking to a farmer recently who earns $300 a month under the Taliban and is now earning $12,000 a year from his poppy crop. This is a huge change in his life, and it's going to be very difficult to find an alternative crop which will really reward him as much as he can make from that cash crop of poppies.

At the moment, some people estimate that nearly have the GDP, half the wealth of Afghanistan, is bound up from the poppy crop. If we were to abolish it overnight, it would lead to massive poverty, and as you say, we're yet to find an alternative crop which can really compete.

S. O'BRIEN: When you talked to what we might call regular Afghans who you meet on the streets, are they optimistic about their future? Are they pessimistic? Do they like the troops? Do they not like the troops? Describe to me how they're feeling. I think Afghans are often confused. And you need to differentiate between people in the central and the north of the country. Here in Kabul, for example, where most people are quite relaxed, quite tolerant to the foreign presence in the south, where although the majority probably think foreign troops should say, their reaction is, at the very least, ambiguous. That's to say they have very strong nationalist views. They have a lot of Islamists suspicion of the presence of what they see as foreign occupiers. And of course there's a very powerful minority that's actually prepared to fight and die to drive out foreign troops.

So very complicated situation. But I think the reason why the solution cannot lie with guns and money, is that a lot of the objections that Afghans have to our presence are political objections and religious objections to the presence of foreign troops, and that isn't going to be solved by just bringing in more foreign troops.

S. O'BRIEN: Brings us back to the question we opened with, which is, is this winnable? You say it's not about guns and money, so is it winnable?

STEWART: I think, yes, in a certain sense. I think Afghanistan, if we're lucky, in 10 years' time, could look a bit like Pakistan. But I don't think it's likely that with the kind of resources at our disposal we're going to be able to create an entirely stable, peaceful, poppy-free state in the next decade.

I think the best hope we've got is to empower President Karzai. We're going to have to tolerate the fact that some of his methods and some of the compromises he makes aren't the kind of compromises we would want to make. And with any luck, we could at least divide the kind of problems we've had over the last 25 years. By that, I mean, we should be able to avoid civil war in the major cities and we should be able to deliver some modicum of prosperity to individual Afghans.

Author Rory Stewart joining us this morning from Kabul, in Afghanistan. Rory, thanks.

Anderson Cooper has an update on all that's happening in Afghanistan on his program tonight. Here's Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, tonight on "360," we're live from Kabul, Afghanistan, and we're looking at why so many Muslims around the world say they hate us, and how surprisingly easy it may be to change their minds. That's a special edition of "360" from Afghanistan tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Anderson, thanks.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Here's a story for you, skinny models not wanted. A top-level fashion show in Madrid is banning overly skinny models. Madrid's Fashion Week turned away underage models because protests that teenaged girls are trying to copy their rail-thin look, and then developing eating disorders. I guess they have investigators who literally are measuring the model's body-mass index to see if it's going to be...

M. O'BRIEN: Those little calipers -- you pass, you fail.

S. O'BRIEN: If they fall below the number of 18, which a supermodel like Kate Moss would.

M. O'BRIEN: Send them to the capas (ph) bar, I guess. Capas -- did I say that right? Have an hors d'oeuvre.

All right, coming up on the program, what' the best way to treat your child's ear infection. You shouldn't reach so fast for the antibiotics.

And also, I'm suiting up. I'll show you what it's like to get ready for a day of work in space, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: When it comes to math, America's school kids aren't getting very good grades compared to the rest of the world. Now an influential math teachers groups is issuing new guidelines on teaching math. They say you need to bring it back to basics.

CNN's Christine Romans reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In math class across America, it's back to basics. According to the influential National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, by first grade students should grasp basic addition and subtraction. Second grade, quick, accurate multi-digit addition and subtraction. Third grade, multiplication, division and fractions. A list of basic math skills laid out clearly through eighth grade.

JIM RUBILLO, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS: What is it that students really need to know? What are the building blocks, the core ideas upon which all of the other important ideas are built? And so this is an attempt to do that. It's saying the concept of focusing is the important thing here.

ROMANS: Education experts hope these new guidelines put the so- called math wars to rest, a war begun with a directive from this same group in 1989 that critics say de-emphasized math fundamentals for children in favor of calculators and vague problem solving skills.

TOM LOVELESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It's true that they need to be able to solve problems and learn how to apply their knowledge in a practical sense to solve real world problems. But they also do need to know some basic computation. They need to know how to add and subtract and divide and multiply whole numbers.

ROMANS: Consider these whole numbers. In fourth grade, students in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan have the best math skills. American students rank twelfth. By eighth grade, American students ranked 15th and are outskilled by students in Latvia, Russia, and the Slovak Republic.

According to the Thomas B. Ford (ph) Foundation, two-thirds of children attend schools in states with mediocre education standards or worse. And they give American math education a D-plus.

ROMANS (on camera): Students in the rest of the world are learning these fundamentals with laser-like focus, something that math educators here are taking note of, at a time when American competitiveness is critical.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Christine's report first aired on "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." You can catch Lou weeknights at 6:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

(NEWSBREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Space walk number two of this Atlantis mission underway. These are live, sequential still pictures, kind of like a slide show when they don't have the best satellite capabilities. Let's look at some pictures from earlier.

Now, three and half hours into this space walk, and it happened again today. Astronaut Steve MacLean lost another bolt, washer and spring. Just as it happened yesterday with astronaut Joe Tanner. So I guess misery loves company, in that case. Obviously, NASA needs to look at that design.

Basically what they're doing is removing the shipping crate on a $372 million truss and solar array combination. All kinds of launch covers. See that's a pretty fancy pistol grip tool, they call. Not unlike the cordless tool you have at home, but a little more shielding on it, because you can get to temperatures of 200 degrees Fahrenheit pretty quickly.

You ever wonder what they wear when they do these space walks? Well, I did.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): Well, it's the fall fashion season, and if you're looking for something exotic, have I got a suit for you. Check this baby out. This is the EMU, the Extravehicular Mobility Unit; space walk suit for you and me. And you can pick it up for about $15 million, give or take.

Actually, this is the kind of suit that astronauts use in space when they do to a space walk and do some work on either the space station or the space shuttle.

And to tell us how it all works, what amounts to the smallest spacecraft there is, is Phil West at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Phil, good to have you with us today.

PHIL WEST, NASA SPOKESMAN: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: One of the things I want to point out to people is how many layers of fabric.

WEST: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: We see this outer layer, which is what?

WEST: Actually, this is a Nomex covered with teflon, with a kevlar woven in it. It's a very strong fabric. Five layers of aluminized mylar.

M. O'BRIEN: Five layers?

WEST: Yes, that's for insulation. Use it to vacuum the space like a thermos bottle works, to insulate the astronaut. A liner here, neophrine (ph), and then both a nylon and polyester layer. This is the layer that goes on the inside and holds all the gas inside the suit. That's the layer you don't want to get a hole in.

M. O'BRIEN: So now, how do I go about getting ready for this -- to get in this thing?

WEST: OK, so we've got to get you in some liquid cooled underwear.

M. O'BRIEN: So just trying to get this thing, I get a sense of it. You know, and this is just one layer on top of all those other layers you told me about.

WEST: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): The helmet is layered, too.

WEST: So you've got a shiny visor just like sunglasses, OK? So that's your sunglasses in your car. But your car also have a sun shade, right, in case it's very bright on your eyes? So you can pull down opaque to really block the sun out. And remember, in space, there's no atmosphere at all, so things are very...

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): I can imagine how intense the brightness is.

WEST: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): And talk about some intense tools.

WEST: So an astronaut's got a tool belt that clips on these two hard points on the front of the suit. And in fact, we found we needed more room for things when we went to the space station construction, so we added these swing arms to use that dead space on your arms. Because, you know, you're kind of pumped up like Hans and Franz here, you know?

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): Yes. So the conventional tool belt doesn't work? It's got to be a hard thing that you're connecting to?

WEST: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: But nevertheless, the thing that's really important when you're working out there is you have to be attached at your feet. Because if you weren't attached and you went to a bolt and you turned that, you would start spinning around, right?

WEST: Right, which is really big fun.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): If the suit fits, I might as well wear it.

WEST: Gary's (ph) going to help in the feed and I'm going to make sure you don't slide this way, as he pushes up against you.

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): Up. OK, up to my hip.

WEST: And then you're going to feel some metal rings there at the ankles that you need to get past, and then stick your toes up, wiggle your toes up in there.

M. O'BRIEN: This is not made for Earth. I can tell you that right now. Not even close.

(voice-over): And now the hard part, squeezing into the hard top.

WEST: You're going to go under here and then like you're driving into a swimming pool, make sure you stick your arms straight up. And we'll hold the arms up for you. Wriggle yourself in. Of course, if you run into any difficulty, just let us know.

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): All right, I will.

WEST: And we'll stop the process and back you out of it. M. O'BRIEN: All right, hang on one second. It kind of hurts. And I can't really get across this. There's no way to cheat the arm width, right? I guess I'll never be an astronaut now.

(voice-over): Or maybe not. Who needs that fancy underwear? Hey, this fits. OK, wow. I wonder, I wonder.

I'm finally here in space, floating. Wow! What a view! Gosh, it's amazing what you can see up here. The pyramids, the Great Wall of China, Donald Trump's hair.

"Miles, this is Houston. Be advised, you forgot your helmet -- over."

Funny, in space, no one hears you scream.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Up next...

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Wow.

S. O'BRIEN: How did you get it off?

M. O'BRIEN: It was not easy. Actually...

S. O'BRIEN: I started getting worried.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm still a little sore on the back of my arms from it, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: They had to rip it off you?

M. O'BRIEN: Weighs a couple hundred pounds. Good thing nothing weighs anything in space.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, they'd never get that off.

M. O'BRIEN: No, they wouldn't do it.

S. O'BRIEN: That was pretty cool.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, what you got?

SERWER: Miles, speaking of space, what would George Jetson drive? Get ready for the first hydrogen powered car. Plus, what state leads the nation in foreclosures? I'll give you a hint. It begins with the letter M -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

Also ahead, America's kids are lagging behind much of the world when it comes to math. That's a not a new story. But could a back- to-basics approach help them catch up? We'll take a look at that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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