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Top General in Iraq Meets with Congress; Some Hostages Released in Iraq; GOP Senators Choose New Leaders; Earthquake Sets off Tsunami Alerts; Treatment Time Crucial for Heart Patients

Aired November 15, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Take it away.
DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon -- just getting my papers here -- at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips.

Waters rise. Winds howl. Tornadoes carve paths of destruction. Severe weather sweeping through the southeast. We're live in the volatile regions.

LEMON: The optimistic general. The head of the Central Command back from Baghdad and warning senators. Senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton asking tough questions today.

PHILLIPS: America's bishops working ways to keep gay Catholics in the flock but out of same sex relationships. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Earth-shaking thunder, flooding rains and fierce wind, strong enough to blow tractor trailers off the roads. It is a stormy day in the south. Right now, thunderstorms are rumbling and tornado warnings are sounding across Alabama. And already, streets are littered with debris. Vehicles and several mobile homes turned upside down with the heavy rains. Forecasters are also warning of hail the size of golf balls.

PHILLIPS: Also, storms also left a lot of damage across eastern Louisiana. Buildings and mobile homes reduced to rubble. At least one tornado spotted. One man killed after his home was crushed.

LEMON: Severe weather alerts are popping up all over the map. Our Reynolds Wolf tracking all of them in the CNN weather center for us. Reynolds, what's going on?

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: A difficult and divisive war overseas. New political battle lines at home. The top U.S. general for Iraq is on Capitol Hill today. John Abizaid is getting a preview of how Democrats will take on the war when they take over Congress in January. And he's indicating they might have a fight on their hand.

Our Barbara Starr following it all from the Pentagon -- Barbara. BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, General Abizaid already walking that political line between Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats calling for a phased withdrawal. General Abizaid sort of rejecting that, saying that he doesn't want his hands tied, he wants flexibility.

The Republican, John McCain, of Arizona, just finishing a few minutes ago, quite a lively interchange with General Abizaid, talking about the need -- Senator McCain believes -- for more troops on the ground, and saying that something has to change, that -- Senator McCain saying that Abizaid is advocating the status quo.

Listen for a moment to what General Abizaid had to say in response to all of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: I met with every divisional commander, General Casey, the Corps commander, General Dempsey. We all talked together. And I said, "In your professional opinion, if we were to bring in more American troops now, does it add considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq?" And they all said no.

And the reason is because we want the Iraqis to do more. It's easy for the Iraqis to rely upon us to do this work. I believe that more American forces prevent the Iraqis from doing more, from taking more responsibility for their own future. They will win the insurgency. They will solve the sectarian violence problem, and they'll do it with our help. If more...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, Kyra, what General Abizaid did say is he wants to increase the size of U.S. military training teams in Iraq. Basically double them from about a dozen people per team to about two dozen people. That's not really going to change the overall troop levels in Iraq.

He went on to say that he's even looked at the question if you put 20,000 more U.S. troops in Iraq, would it fundamentally, over the long term, change the security situation? He does not believe that it will.

General Abizaid, also going on to say that that sectarian violence in his words still remains at unacceptably high levels, although he thinks it's better than it was in the summertime.

And he made no bones about it, he said Baghdad remains the top priority. He says he's very aware of the situation out in Anbar province in the west, that there's a good deal of violence continuing out there, but that the U.S. military will continue to focus its efforts on Baghdad -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll continue to monitor the hearing, talk more. Thanks, Barbara. LEMON: And more on the war now. Questions, conflicts and confusion a day after a mass kidnapping in Iraq. How many people were kidnapped? How many were freed? Well, depends on who you ask.

Let's ask CNN's Arwa Damon. She is live in Baghdad for us -- Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, as you just mentioned, the facts and the figures are in a state of confusion here right now. What we do know from the Iraqi minister of interior, who just concluded a press conference, is that, of the about 65 to 70 individuals whom he says were kidnapped from the Ministry of Higher Education, at least 80 percent of them have been freed.

However, the minister of higher education is putting that at a higher number. That is the number of those that were kidnapped, saying it is at least 100. He is saying that only about 50 percent of those hostages were freed.

Now, the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, did vow earlier at a press conference at Baghdad University, where -- in front of students and professors to bring the perpetrators to justice and to free the remaining hostages.

This, however, is not enough for the Iraqi minister of higher education, who is threatening to suspend all activities with the Iraqi government until he sees the government and the Iraqi security forces start to take active steps to release the hostages.

He said earlier that those hostages that have been released up until now were only released because the captors chose to do so, not because he really saw the Iraqi government stepping forward and doing something to actively release them.

This all underscores the incredibly volatile and dangerous situation here. In fact, earlier today, a car bomb exploded at a gas station in the capital, killing at least eight Iraqis, wounding another 32, Don.

LEMON: You visited Baghdad University. What was the mood there in the aftermath of these horrible kidnappings?

DAMON: It was very much one of apprehension. The students there are saying that, at best, 40 percent of their classmates are attending university. Today, we saw a much lower number than that.

They're also saying that most of the time their professors don't show up. The students that are going to school are going there, hoping that class will be in session.

These are students that want an education, and for them this kidnapping and the fact that their universities might close, that that was even under consideration. They say that if they lose their education, that means that the entire country is lost, Don.

LEMON: Arwa Damon, reporting live for us in Baghdad. Thank you, Arwa.

PHILLIPS: Let's go straight to the NEWSROOM. Carol Lin working details on a developing story out of Virginia.

Carol, what do you have?

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Norfolk, Virginia, Heidi -- excuse me, Kyra. Take a look at these pictures that are coming into the CNN Center. You can see a small plane at the Norfolk International Airport right on the landing strip. It made a hard landing there. Fortunately, two people not injured.

This is a single engine piper Cherokee. We don't know the circumstances of that hard landing. But fortunately, the pilot and the passenger are safe.

But look at that. Isn't that kind of interesting: they can hoist this up in a sling, put it on the flat bed of a truck and drive it off that runway. But the -- that main landing strip was shut down until they could clear the scene.

PHILLIPS: All right, Carol, those live pictures from WVEC. I was kind of watching the whole -- and I've thinking, are we trying to look for any kind of damage to the front and the back.

LIN: Looks like it.

PHILLIPS: No, the pilot did pretty well. Probably brought it down, nice, smooth, kind of bumpy landing, now they've to take it to the shop. And now it's going to cost a lot of money to probably get fixed there. What's up with that gear (ph)?

LIN: But you know what? You live to fly another day. It's worth it.

PHILLIPS: There you go. That's the truth? Amen. Carol Lin, thanks.

Well, if Republicans took a thumping, to quote President Bush, in last month's elections, Lamar Alexander took a whipping today. Republican senators chose new leaders as they prepare to be the minority in the 110th Congress. And the top job was easy, but the race for the No. 2 position, minority whip, was tight. In the end, it came down to a single vote.

Our congressional correspondent Dana Bash has the results even before the meeting was over, of course. She's always working the scoop for us.

Hey, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

You know, in the wake of that thumping that you said President Bush admitted the Republicans got, Republicans, at least in the Senate, it seems as though they decided to go back to the future. They did re-elect Trent Lott to be their No. 2, to be the minority whip in the Republican conference.

Now remember, it was four years ago that he was pushed aside by his colleagues here in the Senate and even by the president himself because of remarks he made that were considered or viewed as racially insensitive at a birthday party for the late senator, Strom Thurmond, who was a segregationists, essentially saying that he thought Strom Thurmond should have been president.

Well, since then, Senator Lott has been in the wilderness here. He's been among the rank and file. But he made a very stealth campaign in the last week and a half to get back into the leadership. That is what has the halls here buzzing.

And Senator Lott understood that. When he came back out to the cameras, after the vote, he tried to step aside, and said this day, the spotlight should be on the man who got the No. 1 slot, and that is the Republican from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell. Let's hear what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER-ELECT: It takes 60 votes to do virtually anything. Only 41 votes to have the ability to negotiate or stop. Nothing will be done on a partisan basis in the Senate. It never is.

We want to work with the Democrats. Our preference is to accomplish things, rather than block things. But of course, of course an option. So we go into this with an upbeat attitude, and we want to cooperate and see what we can accomplish for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: There you hear Mitch McConnell trying to make the case that Republicans may be down, but they're not out. Basically because of the rules of the United States Senate that Republicans may be in the minority, but they also have a lot of tools at their disposal, because Democrats really can't get anything done without 60 votes. And they only have 51 votes in the majority.

Now, the other interesting dynamic here, back to the whole question of Senator Trent Lott making this comeback, is the person he beat out, Kyra. That is Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee.

And our Ted Barrett reports that as Senator Lott was making his comments, off camera, Lamar Alexander admitted that part of the reason why he got beat by one vote is because he said everybody likes a comeback. He said, "I think senators, like Americans, like a comeback. And he," meaning Senator Lott, "deserves credit for that."

So even Lamar Alexander, who has been working on this, trying to get into the leadership for 18 months, was sure he had the votes locked up, didn't get it. And he's saying -- even he's applauding Senator Lott for accomplishing what he did.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dana Bash on the Hill, thank you. LEMON: We've been following severe weather here. And alerts are popping up all over the place. Let's check in with Reynolds wolf for the very latest -- Reynolds.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Reynolds, thank you very much.

And also, an earthquake sets off a tsunami scare in the Pacific. Thousands are put on alert. An update from the NEWSROOM, just ahead.

PHILLIPS: And treating a heart attack. New ways for doctors to beat the clock and save lives. That's next from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You're live here in the CNN NEWSROOM, and that is a live picture from Birmingham, Alabama. Look at those storm clouds. We are tracking severe weather in the U.S., specifically in the southeast. We're updating you on tornado warnings and severe weather alerts. There's our Reynolds Wolf, our meteorologist. He's in the weather center, tracking all of this for us. He'll be along in just a minute to update us on anything that happens.

PHILLIPS: A powerful undersea earthquake triggers tsunami alerts in Japan to Washington state. CNN's Richard Quest on the story in Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For several hours after the earthquake hit in the Pacific, the northeastern corridor of Japan was flashing red on the weather maps. This was the sign that this was the most critical area at risk from a tsunami from the earthquake.

The initial reports had suggested the tsunami could be up to two meters in height, waves of six foot or more. But by the time those waves actually arrived on the island of Hokkaido, they were just 40 centimeters. In some cases, much less than that, 30 and 20 centimeters, barely causing a ripple in bays and on shorelines.

Residents had been told to seek higher ground, a warning that they could be facing serious danger if the worst predictions had come true. They didn't. And residents tonight are able to return to their homes, as those warnings have now become advisories.

It might be thought that all this was big fuss about nothing, waves of just 40 centimeters. But the truth is, Japan has had numerous, serious tsunamis over the last several hundred years, in many cases, causing serious loss of life. This time, and, indeed, every time, they take no risk.

Richard Quest, CNN, Tokyo, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: For heart attack victims, the clock is ticking and the race is on. Doctors know they can save lives by saving time. The burning question is, how to treat more patients faster.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It starts as an uncomfortable pressure in the chest. Then a squeezing pain that spreads to your arms, back, neck or jaw. The clock has just started to tick. You're suffering from a heart attack.

(on camera) And according to the American Heart Association, 850,000 people have heart attacks every year. Twenty percent of them don't survive.

(voice-over) Turns out where you're treated makes a difference. Yale researchers found the E.R.s that work the fastest save the most lives.

DR. HARLAN KRUMHOLZ, CARDIOLOGIST, YALE UNIVERSITY: Only about one in three hospitals are treating even half of their patients under 90 minutes.

GUPTA: In the E.R., the priority is speed. Minutes mean life or death. The key, quickly unblocking the artery.

The most effective way, a balloon angioplasty. Doctors pass a catheter through a blood vessel up into the heart. They inflate this tiny balloon, then insert a mesh stent that expands to keep the artery open, allowing blood to get to the heart as quickly as possible.

(on camera) And cardiologists say all of that needs to happen within 90 minutes. Taking locker means you're 40 percent more likely to die from a heart attack.

DR. BRYAN MCNALLY, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN: We want to provide a more efficient means of, you know, coordinating care.

We knew we need to do a better job of streamlining, identifying these patients.

GUPTA (voice-over): The Yale study found that setting up the angioplasty equipment while the heart attack patient is en route saves 15 minutes. Having a cardiologist on site at all times cuts down 15 minutes. Requiring the angioplasty team to assemble immediately saves 19 more minutes.

(on camera) A simple phone call system, paging the entire angioplasty team at once, instead of hunting them down individually, can shave another 13 minutes.

And keep in mind, while getting treated within 90 minutes is the minimum goal, getting an even faster response could mean leaving the hospital with no heart damage whatsoever. (voice-over) It's not cheap. Just training paramedics is going to cost hospitals thousands of dollars. Dr. Krumholz says it's well worth the investment.

KRUMHOLZ: Faster treatment saves lives. There's no question about it. But every minute wasted is jeopardizing more heart muscle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, U.S. Airways offers big bucks to buy Delta, but Delta says a deal is not on its radar. That story straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Plus our top story, drenching rains, downed trees and tornado warnings. The latest on a very stormy day across the south, all of it just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Oh, boy. Here we go. Some breaking weather news. A tornado on the ground in Alabama. Reynolds Wolf, take it away.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Yes, Reynolds. That advice you gave people, life-saving. You know over the years that you've been doing this. Get into, like you said, an interior section of your home or either a low-lying area like a ditch.

Stay with me, Reynolds, because I want you to look at this video. This is new that's coming in from Avera, Mississippi. It's from our affiliate WKRG, and it's severe weather video happening there.

Reynolds, what does this look like? Does it look like a possible tornado from high winds -- straight-line winds, rather?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's a great question. It's very hard to say. I would say, at minimum, straight-line winds. At maximum, from what we see just from this tiny little bit of footage, I would say a weak tornado.

But keep in mind, at times, straight-line winds can be just as deadly as any tornado. And the reason why is because straight-line winds, as well as tornadoes, can pick up things, say, rocks, bricks, sticks -- anything. And it's the debris that is the killer, not the wind itself, but, rather, the stuff that it picks up. It becomes almost like a missile.

Like for example, say, a small rock can be picked up by 120 mile per hour winds and that can be just as deadly to someone, say, as a bullet if it hits you in the right spot. Certainly sharp objects, glass, that kind of stuff can also be deadly.

That scene that you just showed, that video of the toppled trees, the power lines that have been broken down, we'll seen that all over parts of Montgomery, up in north Alabama. Yesterday, in portions of Arkansas, we had not just the storm damage but also heavy floodwaters.

And I'll tell you, Don, with this rain that continues to fall in south Alabama, now moving into Georgia, you'll notice many of these places will continue to get those scattered showers over the same area, over and over again.

And we get into north Georgia. You ever take 75 into north Georgia, you'll notice that you have a lot of hills, a lot of rocky soil up there, and that rocky soil doesn't really do a good job of absorbing that moisture. And when that happens, you have a lot of runoff. That runoff causes flooding.

And already, we've got flood watches and warnings that are all across parts of north and central Georgia. As you'll see here, a flood warning in effect for Fulton County, right in downtown Atlanta, that expires at 1:15 local time. But I would say you're going to see these also pop up on and off through the afternoon, into the evening, possibly overnight, as well.

LEMON: And Reynolds, as we let you go back to check on all this, let's bring up that video again, just to show you -- you said whether it's straight-line winds or an actual tornado on the ground. Whatever it was, it was just amazing.

So we're going to let you get back to what you were doing. But certainly some amazing video from Alvera, Mississippi, from our affiliate there. We'll get that back -- we'll show you that later and then we'll let Reynolds get back to work and we'll bring you an update as soon as possible.

WOLF: Any time.

LEMON: Thanks, Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Wall Street is abuzz today with an $8 billion offer that would create one of the world's biggest airlines. Susan Lisovicz join us now, live from the New York Stock Exchange with all the details.

Hey, Susan.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

LEMON: Roman Catholic bishops get their positions straight on ministering to gays. A live report coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The Pentagon came up with don't ask, don't tell. Now American Catholics, Catholic bishops, say gays welcome, celibacy required. A new documentary basically reiterates a longtime stance, don't hate the sinner, hate the sin. It asserts that homosexual orientation isn't wrong, but the homosexual act is, because it violates the purpose of sexuality. Gays themselves, the bishops say, should be welcomed into the church. The statement goes on to say homosexual acts are immoral and the homosexual inclination is objectively disordered. Many gay groups say this still amounts to exclusion from the church.

Our faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher joins us now with more.

Delia, what's this document about?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH & VALUES CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, this was written for the U.S. bishops to sort of say to their own priests, who are working with homosexual Catholics in their churches and in their communities, as you say, to reiterate what their teaching is, to try to make it clear that people I spoke to said they felt they need to write this because they felt in the modern culture was difficult for them to get across what they really are trying to teach about homosexuality, which is a fine line, trying to say that homosexuals themselves are welcome into the church, but the practice of homosexuality is not.

LEMON: They say they don't want to, I guess, lose gays by excluding them. Let's take a look now, at marriage and the children of gays.

And the Catholic bishops also talked about the children of gays. It says, the Catholic Church does not support any so-called same-sex marriages or any civil union of homosexuals and the church ministers may not bless such unions -- Delia.

GALLAGHER: Right, this is essentially not a surprise to anybody. It's known that the Catholic Church doesn't support same-sex unions or same-sex marriages, and so, again, just reiterating in the Catholic Church they're not going to bless those unions, which is the difference from some of the Protestant denominations who have decided to go ahead and bless same-sex unions in their churches.

LEMON: OK, and they also talked about contraception and receiving communion. What do they say about that?

GALLAGHER: Well, on contraception, again, they've come out with a brochure for young married couples to try and reiterate their teaching on what they call natural family planning, and using this as a natural means of contraception, rather than using artificial contraception. And on communion, there's always been the discussion of who should and shouldn't receive communion, and they've reiterated again some of the teachings about how you have to be in a state of grace, you can't have committed certain sins if you are going to receive communion, and reminding Catholics that they are supposed to go to mass every Sunday.

So these are a lot of the basic teachings they've come out in several documents today and sort of reiterated, reminded people, what their obligations are as Catholics.

LEMON: And, Delia, this is something the catholic church has been dealing with for a while. The pope is -- it's talking about celibacy for priests. The pope is holding a meeting tomorrow at the Vatican talk about celibacy and priests. What's that all about?

GALLAGHER: Well, this is interesting, Don, because this was a meeting called just this week by Pope Benedict and it was -- some thought, you know, it's going to talk about celibacy and the priesthood in general, that priests don't have to be celibate. It seems from the Vatican statement that we have that he's really focusing on the question of priests who leave the priesthood to get married, who need to be dispensed as they say, and priests who want to come back to the priesthood after being married. And this was all precipitated with a soap opera, as it were, with a man called Monsignor Milingo, who is an African bishop who was very popular, left the priesthood, the Catholic Church, to marry in the Reverend Moon's Church of Unification several years ago. He married a Korean woman, and then came back to the Catholic Church, because John Paul II had a private meeting with him, and said please come back, and there was a whole reconciliation. John Paul II died, then Monsignor Milingo left again, and now is ordaining his own bishops, and Pope Benedict excommunicated him.

This has all happened in September. And so the pope has now called this meeting with his top advisers at the Vatican to probably come down and say exactly what the teaching is on priests who are leaving and getting married and may try to encourage other priests to do the same.

LEMON: Wow, Delia, that was a lot, and very concise. Delia Gallagher, our faith and values correspondent, thank you so much for that.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

COLLINS: Let's take you live to the Hill now. General John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, being questioned by a number of senators there on the Senate Armed Services Committee. While he says he went to the region recently, feels encouraged by what he saw, some senators not so encouraged about policy in Iraq. Senator Hillary Clinton right now questioning both Abizaid and others.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DAVID SATTERFIELD, SPECIAL COORDINATOR ON IRAQ: ... at the expense of human suffering and bloodshed and forced dislocation that would be both profound and wholly unacceptable, I believe, to American people. It is wholly unacceptable to this administration. The mixed communities of Iraq are found throughout the country. There is no easy map that can be drawn, no easy political decision that can be taken, that would not involve death and suffering to achieve partition.

But more importantly than my views is that very, very few in Iraq wish to see partition as an outcome. Even the Kurdish leadership who enjoy a federal status within Iraq, don't want to see partition. They view that as a threat to their interests because of the instability that it would produce on their borders. This is simply not an option. It is not a practical option. It is not a moral option. With respect to your comments, which I respect, on the need for some greater degree of certainty, not hope, and I agree with you, hope is not a strategy. On moving the political process forward, we still believe Prime Minister Maliki is and is capable of being, effectively a national leader. We still believe there is a sufficient degree of minimal convergence on the critical issues of ending sectarian fighting, confronting militias, dealing with al Qaeda, to make our continued best assistance, best help, warranted. If that changes, then, of course, our basic assessment changes with it. But it continues to be our fundamental assumption.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: General?

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: Senator Clinton, I believe that partition is not viable for Iraq. I can't imagine in particular, how a Sunni state could survive. I believe it would devolve into an area where al Qaeda would have safe haven, where they would export their terror to the surrounding countries. I believe that the Shia state would be decidedly subject to the domination of Iraq -- of Iran, excuse me. And that that would not be good for the region, it would start to move the region into Sunni/Shia tensions that the region hasn't seen for a long time.

With regard to hope not being a method. Senator, I agree with you. And I would also say that despair is not a method. And when I come to Washington, I feel despair. When I'm in Iraq with my commanders, when I talk to our soldiers, when I talk to the Iraqi leadership, they are not despairing. They believe that they can move the country toward stability, with our help. And I believe that.

This has been a very hard and difficult process and over the length of time, we have learned some hard lessons. We haven't misled people. We have learned some hard lessons. I believe that we can take the Iraqi armed forces, increase our level of commitment to them, continue to deliver the type of security force that our current troop levels give us, and in the period of the next six months, clearly have a better understanding about the possibilities for success. But all of us that are involved in this thing believe we can be successful. It's not a matter of professional pride. It's a matter of seeing that the enemy can't win.

There will be some hard things on the horizon. We'll have to do something in al Anbar province. We'll have to commit forces to deal with the (INAUDIBLE) Mahdi. Each of those things will be battles in and of themselves that we can win if we set the right political and military conditions. And I sincerely believe we can do that.

CLINTON: Thank you.

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: Thank you very much, senator. Senator Kennedy.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Thank you, thank you very much. General Abizaid.

COLLINS: You're listening to Senator Hillary Clinton question general General John Abizaid there, side by side with David Satterfield, the special coordinator on Iraq. You are watching live the Senate Armed Services Committee on policy in Iraq. Abizaid had just been there recently to the region. Said that he's encouraged by what he saw, but a lot of back and forth on troop levels, how long they should be there, should troops be increased. And a lot of talk too about the sectarian violence and the Iran factor and how the Shia/Sunni tension rising, and that needs to be a priority, including al Anbar province.

Now, General David Grange, retired Army general, will be joining us later within this program to discuss what's happening there during that hearing, get his opinion on what the general is saying and also what the senators are talking about and bringing up.

HARRIS: A lot of big stories there. We'll be following that. Also some severe weather. And this story. U.S. Airways offers big bucks to buy Delta. But Delta says a deal is not on its radar. That story is ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You can call this one an offer out of the wild blue yonder. U.S. Airways is offering to buy Delta Airlines for $8 billion dollars in cash and stock. A deal would create one of the world's biggest airlines, one that operates under the Delta name. But, so far, at least, Delta's treating the offer like airline food, turning up its nose and backing away.

The company CEO says Delta is committed to staying independent. U.S. Airways says a Delta deal would be a great deal for travelers. But, would it? What about routes and hubs and schedules and fares? Ben Mutzabaugh is a travel reporter for "USA Today." He's been looking at the offer from the passenger's perspective. I guess the biggest thing is what about all those frequent flyer miles? Are they going to go away if this happens?

BEN MUTZABAUGH, "USA TODAY" TRAVEL WRITER: Well, there is some good news here at least. If you have frequent flyer miles with either airline, they're going to be safe. Now, whether that means they shift over from U.S. Airways to a Delta account or vice versa, no one is going to lose their airline miles, so you can at least breathe easy about that.

LEMON: And Ben, we're kind of getting ahead of ourselves. This isn't really a done deal, because we're hearing that one side says, hey, we don't care about this, but the other side is saying this is a great deal.

MUTZABAUGH: Absolutely. This is not even close to a done deal. This is probably going to be in the news for the foreseeable future. In fact, the Atlanta Journal Constitution today is calling this a hostile takeover bid. That's essentially what it's going -- turning out to be. U.S. Airways has approached Delta, saying hey we think this is great, not only for us, but for you guys as well. And as you said, Delta is treating it like airline food, which I think is a great analogy. They're passing the plate on it. But the issue for Delta could be it may not be up to management to decide whether they take this bid or not. U.S. Airways has made a direct offer to the shareholders, and to the creditors, of Delta. And if those creditors think they're going to get a better return with the deal from U.S. Airways, then they will, through Delta's bankruptcy court proceedings, then they could go ahead with the deal even if Delta management doesn't want to.

LEMON: Right. Right, because we know Delta sort of did the same thing with America West a few years ago. They took that over. So even though they're saying, you know, they don't want it, you never know.

So let's talk as if this were going to happen. Will it cut destinations on either carrier if this happens?

MUTZABAUGH: Well, U.S. Airways says that with their plan, there would be no destinations cut, either those served by U.S. Airways or by Delta. They say they can keep them all. Now, there will be some issue to work out.

Of course, one of the reasons that you would go through with the merger is it allows you to expand to each airline's strengths. But at the same time, it allows you to cut areas where you have duplicate services.

So on some routes, maybe there were six or seven flights a day between the two airlines. If they combine, they might reduce that to maybe four or five flights a day. So you could see some reduction in the number of flights, the flight times might not be as good or they might be at different hubs than you're accustomed to flying normally.

LEMON: Yes, I was going to say, what about hubs? What about hubs? Any changes?

MUTZABAUGH: Well, there will likely be some big changes. And it's too early to say just exactly what's going to happen yet, but it really is interesting to look at. One of the areas where people are expressing concern over this merger is the combined Delta and U.S. Airways would have hubs that are right next to each other in some very key areas.

Delta just started a hub at New York JFK. U.S. Airways has a hub at Philadelphia. Those are awfully close to each other to keep both going, at least as big as they are now, if they don't cut one altogether.

And you have the same situation with Atlanta and Charlotte, with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and with Delta's Salt Lake City hub compared to U.S. Airway's hubs in Las Vegas and Phoenix.

LEMON: OK.

MUTZABAUGH: So some of these are likely to get cut dramatically, if not pared out altogether.

LEMON: And Ben, about a five second answer, this won't affect employees, will it?

MUTZABAUGH: It could. Stay tuned. It's hard to say.

LEMON: All right, Ben Mutzabaugh, "USA Today," thank you very much.

MUTZABAUGH: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Drenching rains, downed trees and tornado warnings. The latest on a stormy day across the south, just ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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