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Interview with Rahm Emanuel; Fatal School Bus Accident in Huntsville, Alabama; Congressman Duncan Hunter Discusses Iraq War, Draft Proposal

Aired November 20, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
Four suspects under arrest in Iraq, but still no sign of five kidnapped Westerners.

A New York congressman says lawmakers need to think harder before sending kids off to war. Is a military draft the best solution?

And spy versus spy. A former Russian agent lies close to death, poisoned and pointing and the Kremlin.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's check with Betty Nguyen. She's working details on a developing story -- Betty.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: We are getting some new information on a bus accident in Huntsville, Alabama this morning.

A bus plunging off of an overpass. Two students have been killed so far. Here's a look at that bus.

This bus plunged about 30 feet to a highway below. There were some 34 students on board, Kyra. Twenty-three of them have been transported to local hospitals. Eleven of them treated at the scene.

And as I mentioned, two confirmed fatalities. Two students have died in this accident.

New information that we're getting right now from the state Department of Education, the spokeswoman there -- this according to The Associated Press -- that seven students have suffered life-threatening injuries. No word if that included the two students who have already been confirmed to have died from this accident. But a total of seven students suffering life-threatening injuries.

We understand from the Huntsville Police Department that the bus driver did survive this accident, and we're hoping to learn a little bit later today as to what exactly happened, what caused this accident. But again, the students' conditions is a major concern at this point. And we will hear more about that when a news conference gets under way within the hour from the Huntsville hospital.

We'll be hearing from the Huntsville mayor at that time, also the Huntsville police chief, and those within the hospital. Obviously, parents are just so upset about what has happened today.

These students were from the Lee High School and they were headed to the Huntsville Center for Technology, just about four to eight miles from their high school. And they were going there for class -- this is a routine thing -- when the bus plunged off an overpass. Two students confirmed dead, 23 were transported to the hospital.

Kyra, when that news conference gets under way within this hour, we'll bring it to you.

PAGE: All right, Betty. Thanks.

As you know, in the 3:00 Eastern hour we're going to have an exclusive interview with Barack Obama. Will he run for president or not?

To add balance to that, we've also got him booked live, Representative Duncan Hunter. But before we interview Representative Hunter, we want to take him live now, talking about his Iraq policy. As you know, he came forward and said he wants to run for president as well.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), CALIFORNIA: ... and directs him to take his troops and send them to Baghdad. If he refuses to go, it's time to pull another colonel out of one of the battle-tested battalions which is engaging in combat and to replace the colonel who refuses to go.

So this is a time to test the leadership of the Iraqi battalions. It's a time to mature those Iraqi battalions. And nothing matures a military force quicker than actual operations.

Now, in Korea, for example, when we trained up and formed up the South Korean forces to be able to repel an invasion from the north, everything was done in a training environment because we weren't engaged with the North Koreans at that point. And everything had to be done in preparation for an attack that never came. But it's much -- it's much quicker to mature a force by engaging in actual operations. And in Iraq, we have actual military operations.

So we have 114 battalions in Iraq, 27 of those battalions are in areas that have very few attacks. And we could now, right now, saddle those forces up and move them into the contentious areas in Baghdad and a few other places, get them into the battle, and that would stand them up as an operational military force.

So I've sent a letter to the president and to Secretary Rumsfeld recommending this. In fact, I think Josh has some of the -- some of the copies of that letter.

I'm following up on that with a requested meeting with the president, and I hope to be talking to Vice President Cheney about that recommendation. It's certainly something that we have to do. And we should do it very quickly.

Secondly, I wanted to comment about -- about my colleague, Mr. Rangel's continued recommendations that we have a draft.

Right now the military is meeting all of its goals on reenlistment and accessions into the military. We're doing very, very well. And while you have people who are volunteering to take spots in the U.S. military, it doesn't make sense to be drafting people who would be displacing those persons.

And on a personal note, I saw my colleague's statements to the effect that only people who have to join the military join the military. I'm reminded that after 9/11, when I -- when I came home to San Diego, I saw my son, who had a job in the high-tech industry and was a college graduate, running up a hillside in a canyon outside of Alpine, California. And I pulled my car over and I said, "What are you doing?" He said, I quit my job, I'm joining the Marine Corps, and I'm going to take them on."

And he subsequently deployed for two tours in Iraq. And that was a reminder to me that Americans across the board responded very patriotically to the threat that emanated from New York and Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania on 9/11. And I think that that ethic of patriotism is what drives this country right now, not -- and it's not something that needs to be -- needs to be impeded by a draft.

So two points for asking you folks to be here today.

And the third point is that my cell phone's ringing. Let me be Duncan right now.

So that's -- those are the two points that I wanted to make. And I'm sending another follow-up letter to the commission and to the new secretary-designate, Mr. Gates, with respect to deploying Iraqi battalions. But that's what we should be doing right now.

I'd be happy to take questions.

Yes, sir?

QUESTION: When was the letter sent to the president, the letter here?

HUNTER: Take a look at the date there.

QUESTION: October 24th.

HUNTER: Yes. Yes. And signed -- I believe we had about 30 members of the House that got on that letter with me. In fairly short order we sent it out to the president and to Secretary Rumsfeld.

QUESTION: This implies that you disagree with Kissinger's statement this weekend that there is no military solution.

HUNTER: Well, I think -- that's not what he said. He said -- he defined fairly specifically a military solution as having -- as having control. He said if you define winning as having a government having control -- and I'm paraphrasing -- broadly across Iraq, the first military solution -- that is, taking Baghdad and taking down Saddam Hussein was accomplished very efficiently and very quickly, and really was an exercise in military efficiency.

You may recall the critics who said that we wouldn't be able to take Baghdad as quickly as we did, that we would bog down, that it would become another Vietnam.

PHILLIPS: Representative Duncan Hunter, Republican of California there, commenting on what we heard Charlie Rangel speak about over the weekend, and that was reinstating the draft. Hunter coming forward saying he does not support that.

We're going to talk to him live, actually, coming up in the NEWSROOM this hour. Also, Barack Obama, he's going to be a guest in the NEWSROOM today, 3:30 Eastern Time, right here on CNN.

We already know that Duncan Hunter has formed an exploratory committee. He's viewed his interest -- or he's told us about his interest in running for president. Barack Obama hasn't really come forward and laid that out. Hopefully our Don Lemon will get to the bottom of that when he interviews him live.

Meanwhile, let's go live to CNN's Andrea Koppel. She's on Capitol Hill.

It should be an interesting discussions both with Barack Obama and Duncan Hunter, two big names in the news, Andrea, when we're talking about 2008.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And, I mean, the important thing to note certainly about Duncan Hunter is that now is he the outgoing chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. And he's not the only one who' come out saying that Charlie Rangel's plan which he had brought up several years ago to reinstate the draft is something that he doesn't support.

You've got the incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Democrat Ike Skelton of Missouri, who has also said he absolutely does not support this plan. And you've got the speaker- elect, Nancy Pelosi, this morning telling reporters, no, she doesn't support the plan, as well as the majority leader-elect, Steny Hoyer, saying there's no chance in the near future that this would even come to the floor of the House.

So it's really dead on arrival at this point, Kyra. And we know that Charlie Rangel was giving a speech earlier this afternoon in New York City -- in New York State, rather. And he seemed to be backing away from this as well, saying, well, you know, I was asked about this at the very end of that news program on Sunday, and, you know, well -- the fact is, Kyra, this did come to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives two years ago, and it was overwhelmingly defeated by 402-2. And Charlie Rangel himself voted against it.

Now he explains that by saying that was brought up very suddenly by the Republican leadership and he wanted a more thorough debate. Nevertheless, this is something that most people would tell you has absolutely no prospect of going forward.

PAGE: Andrea Koppel on the Hill.

Thanks so much.

We were just talking about Representative Duncan Hunter there, Republican of California, speaking out against reinstating the draft and talking about the war in Iraq. We're also going to speak live with Barack Obama. He and Don Lemon getting ready to go one on one.

He's giving a speech right now at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. But we're monitoring that. But our Don Lemon will be talking to him live in the 3:00 Eastern hour.

Now, he's got the ways, he's got the means, but he won't have the votes. Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel says that he'll push to reinstate the military draft when the new Congress convenes next year, but dispute his soon to be chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, he's still in the minority on this one.

Here's our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With Senator John McCain leading the charge for more U.S. troops in Iraq...

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Are we winning? And I think the answer is no.

MCINTYRE: ... Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel is renewing his call for a return to the draft.

REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: Having our young people commit themselves to a couple years in service of this great republic, whether it's our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals -- and at the end of that to provide some educational benefits -- it's the best thing for our young people and the best thing for our country.

MCINTYRE: While U.S. commanders insist sending more American troops is not the answer, they concede they really couldn't maintain a much bigger force in Iraq than the 150,000 there now. The U.S. military is simply too small.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: When you look at the overall American force pool that's available out there, the ability to sustain that commitment is simply not something that we have right now with the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.

MCINTYRE: There are some 1.4 million active-duty troops in the U.S. military, but less than half, roughly 500,000, are ground troops. Of that, four-fifths, about 390,000, are either deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, returning home or getting ready to go back.

But the Pentagon, the administration, most members of Congress and virtually all U.S. commanders agree, a return to forced conscription would be expensive, unnecessary, and would undermine the all-volunteer force that's been performing superbly.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: We just need to get more people to join, better benefits, better pay. I think we can do this with an all-voluntary service, all-voluntary Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy. And if we can't, then we'll look for some other option.

MCINTYRE (on camera): Congressman Charles Rangel says he will introduce a bill in Congress to revive the draft next year when he takes over as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He sees it as a way to deter politicians from waging war, but hardly anyone in Washington gives the bill a chance of passage.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And my colleague Don Lemon joins me once again from Chicago.

Don, big policy speech there by Senator Barack Obama this hour.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, that's right, Kyra.

Senator Barack Obama is giving a speech about Iraq this hour. Then I will have a one-on-one interview with him live.

Also this hour, I'm talking to another Chicagoan, Democratic congressman Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel is being credited as one of the architects of the Democrats' big win.

Very interesting stuff -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Sounds great.

And later this hour, I'll be talking to Republican senator Duncan Hunter, who you just saw with his policy speech on Iraq just a few minutes ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Straight to Huntsville, Alabama, right now. The hospital spokesman for Huntsville Hospital talking about that school bus that was carrying at least 30 students when it plunged off the highway overpass. At least two kids have died.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd just like to reiterate what Mr. Spillers (ph) has already said. We had 33 patients here. We do have a couple that are still unidentified. We've done the best that we can to identify these kids. But again, they don't have identification.

We've talked to families who are looking for their children and given descriptions. And we tentatively have identified all but one of these. And hopefully we'll get the last one identified as soon as we can.

QUESTION: Boy or girl?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is one girl that is still unidentified. A boy is not definitely identified, but we're about 90 percent certain that we have him -- we know who he is.

We've had a tremendous outpouring of support from our medical staff. We had several surgeons come to the ER. Anesthesiologists and several of my emergency physicians came that were not working to help us out here. So we've got plenty of help now, and we really appreciate the support of the entire medical community -- several nurses from other floors.

We opened up an area called the joint camp to be an extension of our emergency department, and since several of them were stable patients there. And several patients also went to Crestwood (ph) that were stable.

Anything else?

QUESTION: Doctor, you said that there were patients that are in critical condition?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now there are two patients, as I understand it, that are still in the operating room. And there are another two that are still being evaluated in different parts of the hospital that are critical.

QUESTION: Can you give us the nature of their injuries?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I can't without talking to their families.

QUESTION: What about fatalities?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We understand that Rex Reynolds is going to be clarifying some of that for you from the -- form the information that they have at the scene.

QUESTION: Have you had any who arrived here and passed away?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As of right now, we haven't had anybody who has gotten to the hospital who has died.

QUESTION: Do you have genders, ages of the people (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have -- on the ones that we have identified, we do. But -- and, you know, they're teenagers. But the ones that are unidentified, we don't know exact ages.

I'm sorry, I can't give you more information than that. We just don't have it.

QUESTION: You all had a drill two weeks ago. Did everything come together today? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drills are always -- drills teach us how to do what we've done today. And a lot of the things that we learned in the drills that we've had, we've had a couple of drills over the past three months. And learning information from that has helped to handle this today, especially, you know, registration issues, issues of, you know, how to get people that you need in, how to place patients appropriately.

All of that information helped. Of course, it's always a little more hectic when the real thing happens, you know. But we have had good support, and things have worked well.

QUESTION: I've seen (INAUDIBLE) people directing traffic along downtown Huntsville, which has been amazing. But parents are going back and forth. It seems as though I've seen parents in total daze walking, trying to just find their children.

How can you say it's really working?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the biggest problem is identifying people. And, you know, if these were older people, it would probably be a little easier because most of them would have a driver's license on them. A lot of these kids had absolutely no means of identification on them. And that's what's -- that's what makes this so hard. It's just that a lot of them just don't have identification on them.

QUESTION: Can you tell me what other hospitals (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had some that went to Crestwood (ph). I believe, what, 10...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nine that went to Crestwood (ph). And then several went to Huntsville Hospital East.

QUESTION: How many?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the pediatric ER, I think the last count there was 13.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirteen went to the pediatric ER.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirteen went to the pediatric ER.

QUESTION: What about MedFlight? Did you have to ship any off?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we did not. We've got -- we had three trauma surgeons here, we had a neurosurgeon here. You know, we did not ship anyone off to outside facilities.

QUESTION: How many were taken by MedFlight? I think I saw a few (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We did not have any brought by MedFlight here.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

QUESTION: Of all the people hospitalized, how many of them were actually on the bus?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of them were on the bus.

QUESTION: No one on the street...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We haven't had anyone confirmed that wasn't on the bus.

QUESTION: Some of the parents were saying outside that they weren't being given any information. Others said everything -- they've been helping as much as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been giving everybody every bit of information that we have. It's just that in some cases we don't know who the children are. And that's got to be very frustrating as a parent.

But we don't know who the kids are in some cases. Most cases we do now. We've gotten most of that all sorted out. But some of the kids we don't.

QUESTION: Can you describe what types of injuries you're seeing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I mean, you can imagine in severe motor vehicle accidents, collisions, we've got head injuries. We've got lacerations. We've got fractures.

You know, one child had a spleen injury and kidney injury. Another had a pelvic fracture, I understand. So we're seeing just a little bit of everything.

QUESTION: How hard has it been for you and your staff (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, with the response that we've had, treating them has been incredibly good. But the issues that are the toughest right now are the notifying and the communicating. And -- but the resources have come together, and we've handled this pretty well.

QUESTION: Are they saying anything to you, the ones who are somewhat conscious?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The ones who were in the most critical condition had to be -- you know, had airways put in, and they were not able to communicate. And that's the big problem, is they couldn't tell us their name when they came in.

QUESTION: Is the hospital providing any type of counseling for those that have been -- whose children have passed away?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. We've tried -- one -- the families have been taken to various areas of the hospital, and their family members have been communicated. And I'm sure Rex Reynolds will elaborate a lot more on that, too.

Is Rex here yet? Oh, good.

Hi. You're ready. Good.

I'll just let -- I'll gladly turn this over to Rex Reynolds.

CHIEF REX REYNOLDS, HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA POLICE: Again, please bear with us. But early on in talking to Mayor Spencer and Dr. Moore (ph), we felt like our first obligation was to the families of the victims. We did so. We had several briefings downstairs, trying to keep them informed as to the status -- status of their loved ones.

At approximately 10:10 this morning, we received a call that a Huntsville City school bus traveling from Lee High School to the tech center had been -- possibly have been involved in an accident and/or an altercation that caused the bus to leave the elevated section of 565 and go on to Church Street. And in doing so, unfortunately, I have to confirm that we have had two fatalities there at the scene.

Those two individuals and the families have been notified. We have police, chaplains, hospital personnel with them at this time.

The two that were deceased there at the scene are Christine Collier and Nicole Ford. And again, we continue to work with the hospital here. We've got several more still in critical condition, as the hospital stated.

We do have peer counseling set up beginning at 1:00 at the west precinct. And that is for first responders who responded to the scene that had to deal with the victims there. And obviously, that service is available for anyone that feels they need that.

The Huntsville City schools has programs in place. There are counselors currently at Lee High School, and certainly I'll let Dr. Moore (ph) speak to that further.

So with that said, I'll open it up to questions.

QUESTION: Do you have an idea of how the accident took place yet?

REYNOLDS: The -- we do have a witness to the accident. It appears at this time -- I don't want to really get really involved in the investigative standpoint -- but that a car may have come close to and/or struck the bus, causing the bus to strike the rail, and ultimately leaving the elevated part of the interstate.

QUESTION: Do you know who was driving the car that hit the bus?

REYNOLDS: We do not. Major crimes with the Huntsville Police Department, obviously, we've got NTSB en route to the scene. And we'll continue investigating and we'll let that information be known when it's -- when it's proper.

QUESTION: Will there be any punishment for this driver himself?

REYNOLDS: Certainly we'll look at the totality of the circumstances. Obviously, it does make a difference whether it was erratic driving, and we'll investigate both the driving actions of the bus driver, as well as the individual that may have contributed to the accident.

QUESTION: And was this person a student?

REYNOLDS: We don't know. They cannot confirm that at this time.

QUESTION: What type of vehicle was it? Was it an SUV or just a regular...

REYNOLDS: Early indication is that it was a small compact vehicle. To clarify, the witness that we are talking to certainly is not the participant in the other car.

QUESTION: What about the driver? What has the bus driver been able to tell you?

REYNOLDS: I have not interviewed him personally. Obviously, we've got investigators interviewing him at this time. And certainly that will be part of the investigation. And we do not want to be premature and let tidbits of the information out until we can really ascertain as to what occurred.

QUESTION: How old were the victims?

REYNOLDS: Eighteen and 17. That's what I was briefed on. I believe that's correct.

Christine -- Christina Collier, 18, Nicole Ford, 17.

QUESTION: Can you spell the names for us?

REYNOLDS: Christine, C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N-E, Collier, C-O-L-L-I-E-R.

QUESTION: Is it Christine or Christina.

REYNOLDS: Christina.

QUESTION: With an "A"?

QUESTION: With an "A" is what the family said.

REYNOLDS: Can we confirm that? With an "A," Christina.

And Nicole Ford. N-I-C-O-L-E F-O-R-D.

QUESTION: NTSB is going to be (INAUDIBLE). How do you begin such an overwhelming investigation?

REYNOLDS: Well, certainly many of you saw the scene. It was a huge impact there. We've got all that area shut down. It will remain secure for quite some time. All the investigative agencies will come together and actually begin an investigation all the way back beginning with the driver of the bus, to investigate the trip, evaluate the information we're getting in from the witnesses, and then investigate as far as the outcome, the results of the impact.

QUESTION: I talked to a Laidlaw bus driver a little while ago. And this individual said that many times kids will be transported in their own car from high school to the tech center, and that they will try to beat the bus. And it happened right there in the Y on 565 east.

REYNOLDS: I certainly wouldn't want to take information from other -- other trips to the tech school that may have a bearing on this accident investigation.

QUESTION: You haven't had any reports of anybody trying to play chicken with buses over the past?

REYNOLDS: Not that I'm aware of, no.

QUESTION: Nicole Ford, she was the young girl that was shot. She had a child. Can you elaborate on anything? I mean, you've all worked obviously close in that case with Nicole Ford.

REYNOLDS: No, I'd rather not for the purposes of this press conference. Let's stay focused on the accident here.

QUESTION: Do you have the name of the bus driver?

REYNOLDS: We're not going to release that at this time, no.

QUESTION: What are natures of his or her injuries, the bus driver's? Because apparently you've been able to interview or are in the early stages...

REYNOLDS: I'll let the hospital refer to injures.

QUESTION: But his injuries are obviously not so bad that he -- you can actually converse with him?

REYNOLDS: No. Investigators have -- or the hospital personnel have discussed it with him.

QUESTION: And he was wearing a seatbelt?

REYNOLDS: I couldn't confirm or deny that.

QUESTION: Why NTSB?

REYNOLDS: Well, certainly you've got mass injuries here involving public transportation.

QUESTION: Do you know the positions of where the fatalities were in the bus, where they were sitting? Have you been able to debrief any of the students on the bus? REYNOLDS: I do not have that information at this time. Certainly right now we just wanted to come to you, give you the information we had. Certainly there will be a more detailed briefing at a later time.

QUESTION: The position of the vehicles, was this -- I haven't been out to work the scene, but the school bus was in one lane and the car that may have come close to it was in the adjacent lane?

REYNOLDS: Sure, driving the same way. That's the traffic flow there on that side of 565.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know, the car that was coming close or struck, whatever the case may be, was it trying to get into the south to get on the parkway southbound? It was right before that exit.

REYNOLDS: We don't have that information yet. Dr. Moore, did you want to ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Chief Reynolds. This is one of those cases that a superintendent dreads having to be involved with. It is really a heart-wrenching situation. When we first received notification, we dispatched many of our school personnel to various hospital emergency rooms as part of our emergency plan. I've been here at Huntsville hospital main since first notification. And so I've been involved with the families, the Ford and Collier family. And also involved with many of the other parents who have students who have been injured.

PHILLIPS: You're watching the live news conference out of Huntsville, Alabama. Updating you on that school bus crash, carrying at least 30 students. It plunged off the highway overpass, now confirming there straight from the hospital presser two females, two female students have died in that crash. An 18 and a 17-year-old females, Christina Collier and Nicole Ford.

They still haven't been able to identify all the kids. Not all the children had identification on them. They're still trying to identify at least two kids. It appears that possibly a car might have struck that bus and caused it to go over the overpass. The bus was carrying students from Lee High School to a technology center for classes. It's still unclear what caused the accident there at Interstate 575, that overpass at Church Street. But some eyewitnesses saying possibly a car struck the bus, causing it to go over that overpass. We'll keep you updated on this story out of Huntsville, of course, and bring you more information with regard to the investigation that's ongoing now.

Straight ahead, rat poison for Iraq? Well, as a former Russian spy fights for his life in a London hospital, suspicion falls on the Kremlin. Did his former associates slip him a deadly dose? We're on the case from the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RODRIGUEZ, COMEDIAN: Freedom of speech has its limitations, and I think Michael Richards' found those limiteddations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Loose lips sink ships and sometimes careers. Let's just say it will take a lot of junior mints to clear the air after Kramer (INAUDIBLE). Fallout in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Betty Nguyen working another story for us. What do you have, Betty.

NGUYEN: It's been a busy day. You remember this story. Remember that 86-year-old man out in Santa Monica who drove his car through a farmers market? Well, that accident killed ten people, it injured 68 and today he has been sentenced to five years probation. That's right. Probation.

He is 89 years old now, his name is George Weller. And today he was sentenced to probation, even though the judge says he clearly deserves a prison sentence. Here's the problem. He couldn't understand the judge. Sending him to prison would help at this point because he is simply too ill. Although the judge is still very upset with George Weller because he says that he is stubborn and bullheaded and refuses to accept responsibility for this accident that you're seeing right now, the crime scene, that farmers market which was torn apart.

Ten people killed in that accident. 68 people injured. George Weller lost control of his car back in 2003, that's when this happened. And he did face up to 18 years in prison, but, again today, the judge saying it really makes no sense to send Weller to prison because of his advanced age and his weakened health condition. He says sending Weller to prison would just probably kill him. Although, I will tell you, though, despite the probation, just five years of it, the judge has ordered Weller to pay restitution to victims in this case as well as a series of fines. So no prison sentence for 89-year- old George Weller. Although he will face fines and five years' probation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right Betty, thanks.

(INAUDIBLE), fighting one minute, fighting for his life the next. A former Russian spy turned Kremlin critic now under 24-hour guard in a London hospital. No one's arguing that he was poisoned but by whom and why? CNN's Paula Newton looks into the web of intrigue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From his bed in a London hospital where Alexander Litvinenko is fighting for his life, the former Russian spy is giving even the best Cold War conspiracies a run for their money. So intriguing, because he implicates the Kremlin itself.

The plot begins here at a London sushi spot earlier this month, where Litvinenko says he was poisoned as he met with an Italian informant who claims he had information linking the Russian government to the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Within hours of the meal, Litvinenko was admitted to hospital with what he thought was food poisoning. But over the next few days, the 41-year-old suffered severe pain, vomiting, dehydration, heart complications. And finally, doctors say, the dead give-away Litvinenko had been poisoned with thallium, he lost all his hair.

DR. JOHN HENRY, CLINICAL TOXICOLOGIST: You could call thallium poisoning chemical torture. It really is a way of causing harm to somebody without ever being near them. The damage has been done. The assailant is gone, and somebody is suffering seriously for many months.

NEWTON (on camera): And yet, it takes just a pinch of thallium to kill or seriously hurt someone. It is a toxic metal that actually looks a lot like salt or sugar. It is odorless, colorless, and tasteless, and dissolves easily into water.

HENRY: In a way, it's a very ideal -- I shouldn't use that word -- but it's an ideal homicidal poison, and it's been used as such for many years.

NEWTON: Toxicologist John Henry has examined Litvinenko and says there is no doubt he was poisoned with thallium and could still die.

Despite his condition, Litvinenko agreed to be questioned by Scotland Yard, and the investigation continues. The police will only say they're examining his movements in and around the time of the suspected poisoning and examining CCTV footage."

But Litvinenko's friends are pointing the finger at Russian president Vladimir Putin and the secret services they say he now employs to silence critics.

ALEXANDER GOLDFARB, LITVINENKO'S FRIEND: Any journalist or any politician who is critical of the government policy can be interpreted as an extremist. So my first point, all of this is perfectly legal under Russian law.

NEWTON: Russia recently extended its powers to deal with so- called extremists, but to be sure, Litvinenko was involved for years in a murky underworld few have knowledge about.

He left Russia in 2000, saying he feared for his life. He is an ardent defender of Chechen separatists. He accused the Russian government of blowing up hundreds of Russians as they slept in their apartments in order to make up a pretense to invade Chechnya.

IVOR GABER, JOURNALIST: He was working amongst terrorists, against gangsters. So he knew -- he lived in that world. He was very aware not only with the enemies he made in his professional life, but, of course, he was now making an enemy of the Russian state.

NEWTON: It is a tangled Web of intrigue in the greatest Cold War tradition. The Kremlin refused to comment, but as Litvinenko struggles for his life one thing is certain: The final chapter in this spy story is yet to be written.

Paula Newton, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: He got an A plus on midterms and a gold star from his party. So what's next for the so-called architect of the Democratic Party? Congressman Rahm Emanuel joins us from the NEWSROOM just ahead.

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LEMON: The CNN NEWSROOM is coming to you live today from Chicago. Two weeks ago tomorrow, Americans voted for a change of direction, but as a new day dawns on Capitol Hill with Democrats basking in majority status, the government's new heading is not cast in stone. Far from it.

Joining us here in Chicago, a principle architect of the Democrats recent victory, Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel. Thanks for joining us today.

REP. RAHM EMANUEL (D), ILLINOIS: Thank you.

LEMON: Everyone's talking about, you know, the plan that the Bush administration had for Iraq was not a good enough plan. The Democrats saying they need to change it, but not saying exactly what they're going to do. What is the plan for Iraq?

EMANUEL: Well, first of all, the good news is, the last three and a half years of just offering slogans, mission accomplished, stand up, stand down, that the terrorists were -- the insurgency was in its last throes, those days are over.

And everybody's got to get a lot more serious, and I think that's become quite evident. Today, the senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, has offered his thoughts on it. And the good news is that Democrats from Senator Biden, Senator Levin, Congressman Murtha, and Congressman Skelton, for the last two years have offered ideas about changing the direction, because saying more of the same and just doing more the same was somehow a strategy for getting a different result was inadequate.

LEMON: So there's not one specific idea, one specific plan the Democrats have a consensus on?

EMANUEL: No, there is. Basically, as I say, there are five principles. I call them the five R's. Regional cooperation, reconciliation among the parties, reconstruction, responsibility for results, and then redeployment.

Basically whether you're looking at what Senator Biden has offered or Senator Levin has offered, or Congressman Murtha for that point, those are the five basic things all Democrats want to see. We look forward to what former Secretary of State Baker, former Congressman Lee Hamilton have to offer and how the president then wants to take those ideas and talk to the Congress.

That's where I think things stand right now. But what's clear is the days of just offering nothing but slogans as if that was a strategy, that's over.

LEMON: One thing, though, I think, and it just happened this Sunday on the talk shows. One thing that's very interesting, and that's the chairman of your House Ways and Means Committee, Charlie Rangel, New York representative, said, "Hey, we need to establish the draft because those who are disenfranchised are serving in war disproportionately." Let's take a listen to what he had to say on the morning talk shows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: I think in a time when national security is so important, having our young people commit themselves a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it's our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals. And at the end of that, to provide some educational benefits, it's the best thing for our young people and the best thing for our country. I will be introducing that bill as soon as we start the new session.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Introducing a bill. Do you agree with that? Do you think it stands a chance?

EMANUEL: Well, first of all, it's interesting when you look at the headlines. I was at my kids swimming meet when Charlie and the chairman said that. It's interesting the headlines don't reflect what he just said.

Two things that I think are very, very important. One, Democrats have talked about boosting by 100,000 those who serve in both the army and the marine corps, which has had the biggest, dramatic hit through the Iraq service. Some of our guard and reserves are in their third tour of duty there.

And so Democrats both in the House and Senate across the political spectrum know that we have to boost how many people actually serve in the armed services. That doesn't need to have a draft to do that.

Second, what Congressman Rangel just said and I just heard, he's talking about some form of national service. And if you go back in history, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, at every point in time, our Democratic presidents have called for some time of service in the country. Because citizenship doesn't begin with -- or it's not an entitlement program. It begins with some responsibilities.

He did not exactly just a draft. One, let's boost the armed services by 100,000 which is what Democrats are calling for. And two, it's worthy about having a debate of some form of national service that brings the country together about its common ideals of patriotism.

LEMON: Real quickly, the whole Nancy Pelosi thing last week with Steny Hoyer, John Murtha. What do you make of that now? They held a photo op this morning. Do you think it was much ado about nothing or do you think this was really her first misstep?

EMANUEL: I think there are leadership fights in the past, there will be leadership fights in the future. The main thing is, are we going to pass a minimum wage increase? Yes. The main thing is, are we going to have direct negotiations to lower prescription drug prices? Yes. Are we going to have a comprehensive ethics and lobbying reform package? Yes. Are we going to have a new energy policy that begins with the word independence? That is yes. That is where Democrats are unified.

We'll have our squabbles, but the common threads that hold us together are the policy initiatives to once again make sure the doors of opportunity are open.

LEMON: What I want to talk to you about, using the coast Washington, D.C., New York, L.A., Miami, they usually get all the attention when it comes to, I guess, what's popular.

EMANUEL: And you guys like spending your time there.

LEMON: And also with politics. And sometimes Chicago is referred to as flyover territory because it's in the Midwest. But Chicago specifically is really making an impact with what's happening on a political front in the country now.

You mentioned Barack Obama is giving a speech today, foreign policy, and you're credited with being the architect of the Democratic takeover. What do you make of that?

EMANUEL: Well first of all, as you probably know, you've been here often, Chicago has a coffee shop called the Third Coast. And you've mentioned the two coasts. We have a place called the Third Coast and we consider ourselves the third coast. It happens to be the Great Lakes. And we have, as you mentioned, Senator Obama. We also have Senator Durbin, who is the leader in the Senate. We have, I think the greatest mayor of the greatest city in the greatest country. And so we have a lot of political talent, because in Chicago, our all season sport is politics.

LEMON: Rahm Emanuel, thank you so much for joining us.

EMANUEL: Thank you very much, you got it.

LEMON: Don't forget, we have that speech coming up, Barack Obama in the hour and also a one on one interview with him as soon as he's done with that.

Don't go away.

PHILLIPS: All right. Straight ahead, Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter gives his take on the situation in Iraq. He's going to join me live, coming up next.

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PHILLIPS: All right. Betty Nguyen, working a story for us out of the NEWSROOM -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Yes, we understand a small corporate jet is having some problems with its gear. It is flying, trying to land at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport. Here's some live pictures. Don't see the plane just yet in that shot, but let's get some more information now with Tony Molinaro. He is a FAA spokesperson on the phone with us right now.

Tony, can you tell me what has happened with this plane, what kind of problems is it seeing right now?

TONY MOLINARO, FAA SPOKESMAN: This is a small plane, a Beech 95, a six-seater aircraft, that just recently left Spirit of St. Louis at about 12:45.

But the pilot got back to us and said that they were having a problem with their landing gear. And then they wanted to try and see if their landing gear would go down. They went past our tower again so we could see, and the landing gear was not down.

So the pilot, when we last spoke, said that they were still -- wanted to work on trying to get that landing gear down.

NGUYEN: So just to be very clear, this plane took off from the Spirit of St. Louis Airport?

MOLINARO: Yes.

NGUYEN: OK.

MOLINARO: Yes.

NGUYEN: So now it's trying to land there. Is it dumping any fuel? What is it trying to do right now as it works out these problems?

MOLINARO: Right now, all we know is that the pilot wanted to still work on getting that landing gear down. If they just recently took off, they've got plenty of fuel to really try and work the problem first, before they wanted to try and land again.

NGUYEN: Do you know much about this particular plane in question? What we have heard so far is that it's a Beechcraft 95 and that the flight plan was filed for Kyle Oakley-Field in Kentucky. Do you know any more?

MOLINARO: Yes, a Beechcraft 95 is a two-engine plane, usually has six seats. Their flight plan said this Kyle-Oakley Field, and I believe that's in Murray, Kentucky. But that's all I have on that.

NGUYEN: And again, where was this plane headed? Any idea who was on board?

MOLINARO: Again, it was headed to Kentucky. The plane -- all I know, is owned by a company out of St. Charles, Missouri.

NGUYEN: OK. And it's been in the air for about how long now, would you say?

MOLINARO: About an hour right now. It left about an hour ago and reported the problem to us soon after that, and they still wanted to work on it.

NGUYEN: And the problem is just simply lowering the gear, nothing else being reported at this point?

MOLINARO: Right. That's all we know at this time.

NGUYEN: And how long can this plane stay up there to try to work this out before they've got to make some kind of an emergency landing?

MOLINARO: That I don't know. The pilot would know how much fuel they have, and then they'll make that determination once they determine if they can or can't get that gear down.

NGUYEN: What about the Spirit of St. Louis Airport? Folks there, on standby? Have you diverted other planes just in case, anything like that?

MOLINARO: Normal procedure would be -- and I don't know firsthand -- but normal procedure would be -- we've alerted the airport just to be ready for any kind of landing if the plane has to land without the landing gear fully deployed.

NGUYEN: So this is kind of a wait and see thing at this point?

MOLINARO: Exactly. We have to just see they're -- again, the best thing for them is to try and still work on the problem while in air.

NGUYEN: All right. Tony Molinaro, if you hear any more, if you would, please, contact us. Of course, we're going to be in touch with you as well.

MOLINARO: Sure.

NGUYEN: But there you go, Kyra.

We've got a small corporate jet, a Beechcraft 95, on its way to Kentucky when it discovered it had some problems with its gear, trying to head back to the airport, trying to work out the situations there before it lands. Hopefully it won't be an emergency landing, but we'll be watching just in case.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll track it. Thanks, Betty.

Well, Uncle Sam wants you. As Iraq boils over, one Congressman drags out the D word, draft. The NEWSROOM's not dodging this issue. Stick around for more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My body and all my organs inside are the same as anybody else's. I just look a little bit different on the outside. When I was six years old, I stepped on a downed power line. As a result, I lost my left leg and both of my arms. I basically had to learn how to do everything over again. So I now wear a C-leg, which stands for computer leg. But even with that, there's still frustrations and limitations with it. It's never going to be as good as having your own.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): But what if Elizabeth could have her own limbs? In response to the hundreds of troops returning home from Iraq as amputees, the U.S. government is spending millions on research that could change their lives in ways we never imagined.

(voice-over): Believe it or not, all humans carry the genes needed to regrow body parts. But for some reason, those genes get switched off at birth.

DR. STEVEN BATTLEAK, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: How can we reset that switch so that the body thinks its job is to regrow a body part, rather than to simply form scar tissue to heal the wound?

O'BRIEN: University of Pittsburgh professor Dr. Steven Battleak (ph) and a team of scientists from across the country are working to answer this question.

They are studying regenerative species like salamanders to figure out the specific sequence of events that makes the regrowth process occur so it can be mimicked in humans. If successful, Battleak says the future possibilities are endless.

BATTLEAK: If we can understand how to send the right stimulus, the right initiating signals to make the body believe it needs to regrow rather than to heal, I think that the chances of us identifying those signals for virtually any tissue or organ -- a kidney, a liver, a heart -- are just around the corner from that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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