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American Morning
Defense Secretary Hearings; Gates Nomination Hearing; Iraqi Troops Ready?; Mom's Amazing Survival; California Wildfire
Aired December 05, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: On defense. Confirmation hearings today for Defense Secretary Nominee Robert Gates. Facing questions about America's future of Iraq.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: State of emergency. Wildfires are still burning in southern California. We're on the front lines as firefighters race to save homes.
The E. Coli outbreak, bigger than we thought. More people reported sick. More Taco Bells involved.
M. O'BRIEN: An incredible rescue. How a mother and her two young daughters survived being snowbound for a week while the search for their father is stepped up on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Tuesday, December 5th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
We begin in Washington and a wartime White House unhappy with the pace of progress in Iraq. Looking to change the players and the strategy. This morning, the man cited to replace Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon will face a grilling on Capitol Hill. Robert Gates' Senate confirmation hearings begin at 9:30 Eastern. We, of course, will carry it live.
The president also looking for a new ambassador to the United Nations. The current ambassador, John Bolton, resigning. He was serving on a temporary appointment but had no chance of being confirmed by the Senate.
And as for strategy, the Baker-Hamilton panel delivers its final report to the president tomorrow. The group offering its advice on how to grapple with the war.
And then on Thursday, the president's closest wartime ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, will visit the White House. All this set against violence and outright chaos in Iraq. Just today a triple car bombing in Baghdad. At least 29 people killed.
We have two live reports this morning. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon. Ben Wedeman in Baghdad. Let's begin with Barbara.
This is not Robert Gates' first rodeo, as they say. He survived a brutal 10-day hearing 15 years ago to become CIA chief. What about today's reception, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, no one is really predicting anything but smooth sailing for Mr. Gates at this point, unless something comes up at the hearings. Now before he goes to Capitol Hill this morning, he will make a stop at the White House. He will visit with President Bush before he heads for that Senate hearing.
All indications at this point are everyone just wants to get it over and done with and get him confirmed. But, of course, you can never tell. Many of those senators have very strong feelings about the war in Iraq and are likely to try to pin Mr. Gates down to specific proposals or policy.
What we do know is from a questionnaire he filled out prior to his confirmation hearings, Gates said that he believed there was no military solution in Iraq. That it would also involve diplomacy and economics. All options on the table. That's no surprise. And that he said he didn't support any precipitous withdrawal from Iraq because that might lead to chaos in the region.
Now, of course, we've just come back from traveling with General Abizaid in Iraq, where he's been talking to top commanders. And some of those options, actually, are beginning too sort out. There's a general anticipation and understanding by commanders that there will be an acceleration of turnover to Iraqi security. There will be more U.S. trainers and advisors on the ground. And that U.S. troops may begin to reorganize themselves a bit to move back from some of those front line positions as they turn them over to Iraqis and be more behind the scenes, more of sort of the helpers, if you will, ready to jump in if the Iraqis run into trouble.
But Mr. Gates is likely to be questioned to all of this. Still, expect smooth sailing, expect confirmation at this point.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Barbara, what about in the halls of the Pentagon? Smooth sailing there? Are the men and women in uniform ready for a change in the civilian leadership?
STARR: Well, you know, they're pretty used to this sort of thing over the long hall. The civilians have political appointees come and go with every administration. Certainly it has been a long, exhausting five years since the 9/11 attacks, with the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. I think what you see in these hallways is a lot of anticipation. Now that the president has made the switch, made his choice, people here just really want to get on with it.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you.
Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: And Robert Gates' experience with the CIA is going to be front and center of the hearings today as senators try to see how his past might play a role in the Defense Department's future. CNN's John King has our report this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. CARL LEVIN, (D) ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: The important thing with Mr. Gates is whether or not he is independent, whether or not he's going to speak truth to power.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Michigan Democrat Carl Levin was among 31 senators who voted against Gates' confirmation as CIA director back in 1991, in part because some colleagues suggested he manipulated intelligence to fit White House policy. But Levin, in line to be chairman of the committee with direct Pentagon oversight, is also inclined to back Gates this time.
LEVIN: I'm not going to vote no because I voted no 15 years ago.
KING: Gates was in even more hot water two decades ago. An early subject of the criminal investigation of the Reagan administration's Iran Contra scandal. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was one of 11 active or retired U.S. officials charged in a scream to sell weapon systems to Iraq and then illegally divert the profits to Nicaragua's contra rebels.
Gates was a top CIA deputy at the time. And independent council Lawrence Walsh, concluded he knew about legal activities months before he told investigators he first learned. "Gates was aware of information that caused others to question the legality of North's activities," Walsh concluded. "Like those of many other Iran Contra figures, the statements of Gates often seemed scripted and less than candid." In the end, though, Walsh found "insufficient evidence to warrant charging Robert Gates with a crime" and Reagan White House colleagues say he was smeared by an overzealous prosecutor.
KEN DUBERSTEIN, REAGAN WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Larry Walsh went overboard on a whole bunch of things to justify his own existence.
KING: At the time, Senate Democrats believed Gates turned a blind eye because he believe North had the president's blessing.
SEN. BILL BRADLEY, (D) NEW JERSEY: You can't have it both ways. You either should have pursued it and you made a mistake or there was only flimsy speculation and you should not have pursued it.
KING: Now, though, Democrats say their overwhelming focus will be how Gates will change administration Iraq policy.
SEN. EVAN BAYH, (D) INDIANA: I'll be interested in what Mr. Gates has to say about that. I'll be more interested in that than I will controversies of a generation ago.
(END VIDEOTAPE) S. O'BRIEN: That was our chief national correspondent John King reporting. CNN live coverage of the Gates confirmation hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: His fellow U.N. ambassadors call John Bolton abrasive, confrontational and rigid. Hardly the kind of adjectives normally associated with the subtle world of diplomacy. And now that world will no longer have John Bolton to kick around. Bolton is tendering his resignation. The president reluctantly accepting the handwriting on the wall. Bolton was serving on a temporary appointment and Senate confirmation was not in the cards. So far no word on a replacement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I received the resignation of Ambassador John Bolton. I accept it. I'm not happy about it. I think he deserved to be confirmed. And the reason why I think he deserved to be confirmed is because I know he did a fabulous job for the country.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Mr. Bolton did the job he was expected to do. He came at a time when we had lesser tough issues, from reform, to issues on Iran and North Korea. And I think from -- as a representative of the U.S. government, he pressed ahead with the instructions that he had been given and tried to work as effectively as he could with the other ambassadors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Now Bolton once famously said, you could take 10 floors off the 38 floor U.N. building in New York and nothing would be lost. Yesterday, one diplomat said, Bolton has come and gone, the 10 floors are still there.
So who will replace Bolton? Next hour we'll ask former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell about that. As a matter of fact, his name is on at least one short list.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: In Iraq today, more deadly violence to tell you about as three car bombs ripped through a Baghdad neighborhood. At least 14 people were killed, 25 injured. Earlier in the day, gunmen in northern Baghdad opened fire on a bus and killed 15 people. As the violence rages on, the question is, where are the Iraq troops? Are they ready to take responsibility for their country's security. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Baghdad for us this morning.
Good morning, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, the short answer to that is, no, they're not. And nobody's actually contemplating any quick or sudden transfer of responsibility for security in Iraq to the Iraqi police or the army, at least for several years to come. Both the police and the military suffer from a variety of problems. Lack of leadership, corruption. Many believe that the militia -- that rather the army and the police are infiltrated by the insurgents, by the militias and, of course, plagued by corruption. So what the United States is contemplating is increasing the training, putting much more focus on bringing the Iraqi police and army up to speed, but it's going to be a long and difficult job, certainly under Iraq's current conditions.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Do most Iraqis support the idea that Iraqi forces should begin taking the lead?
WEDEMAN: Well, certainly, theoretically, we've seen that most Iraqis do support the lead role for Iraqi security forces. The problem is that the country has become so divided along sectarian lines that the army and the police are as well. So Shiites aren't going to trust Sunni policemen or soldiers and vice versa. So you have the sectarian divisions that really threaten to cripple any effort to build up the Iraqi security forces. And we've heard from military analysts saying that if the government itself is so divided along the same lines, there's very little possibility that the army is somehow going to emerge from the pattern that we've seen so many times here in Iraq and prove itself effective as well.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ben Wedeman in Baghdad for us this morning.
Thank you, Ben.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: In Oregon this morning, celebration and concern. Three of four members of a family missing in some snow-covered mountains since Thanksgiving weekend are safe and sound. An intense search, meanwhile, underway around Grants Pass, Oregon, for James Kim. His wife and daughters safe and sound and they are telling an amazing tale of survival.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNDERSHERIFF BRIAN ANDERSON, JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON: She's in great shape. The kids are in great shape. So we're happy. I mean that's a good find for everyone who was involved, and this is a good day for us.
M. O'BRIEN, (voice over): It's a good news chapter, but not the end of the story for a San Francisco family lost in the snow in southwestern Oregon. A helicopter crew spotting Kati Kim and her two young daughters nine days after their car got stuck in the snow on a mountain road. But Kati's husband James is still missing. He left his family two days earlier in a desperate search for help. ANDERSON: It's my understanding he left the car at 7:45 Saturday morning. He was going to walk out and, if he didn't find anything, return by 1:00. He did not return back to the car.
M. O'BRIEN: James Kim left wearing only tennis shoes, pants, a sweater and a jacket. The family went missing just after Thanksgiving, headed home to San Francisco after a holiday trip to the Pacific Northwest. They missed a turn, tried an alternate route and ended up stuck on an impassable mountain road.
ANDERSON: They had minor provisions in the car. They ended up running -- they ran out of gas. They were running the car during the day and at night to keep warm. Then they started to burn their tires at night to stay warm. And so they did a good job.
M. O'BRIEN: Kati Kim nursed four-year-old Penelope and seven month old Sabine to keep them nourished.
ANDERSON: I'm elated that the children had been found and we have our babies back. But I have an intense worry about James at this point.
M. O'BRIEN: Searchers followed James Kim's footprints in the snow until darkness. His family says he has some outdoor experience.
ANDERSON: There's always a good scenario. Nine days, you know, stuck in the snow in a car in a good scenario. We're going to continue to look until we find James. We're operating on the assumption that he's still alive and we're going to try to find him.
M. O'BRIEN: James Kim is a senior editor at the popular tech website cnet.com. He co-hosts a weekly pod cast.
Coming up in our 8:00 Eastern hour, we're going to talk with Kati Kim's mother and father, see how they're doing.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: In southern California, firefighters are hoping to catch a break from those howling Santa Ana winds. Trying to get control of that wind-whipped wildfire there. Seventeen hundred firefighters now are working that fire. It's destroyed five homes, burned more than 13,000 acres in Ventura County. Despite so much loss, there are some amazing stories of some big saves. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence has one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The hot, dry, Santa Ana winds gusted up to 70 miles per hour, whipping the flames into an inferno that engulfed five homes.
DORANN LA PERCH, LOST HER HOME: We've lost all our personal belongings. My mom and dad's wedding pictures.
LAWRENCE: But for every house lost, firefighters probably saved a dozen more.
MICHAEL LIACKO, DEFENDED HIS HOME: It looked like we were about to be surrounded by the fire, which was quite frightening.
LAWRENCE: These pictures show what Michael Liacko's family saw, a wall of fire running up the side of two mountains.
M. LIACKO: We were all out with hoses watering down the hillside here just hoping we could get enough water on it to keep it damp.
LAWRENCE: The smoke was choking them.
M. LIACKO: Our eyes were watering and our throats were sore.
LAWRENCE: Their bags were packed and they were this close to leaving.
Did you ever feel like, dad, what are we doing here? I mean, should we really go?
ASHLEY LIACKO, MICHAEL'S DAUGHTER: Yes, because my friend had to evacuate her house, so she came here. And then when it kept getting closer, I'm like, I want to go. So I was just scared. I was in tears I was so scared.
LAWRENCE: Finally her dad dialed 911.
M. LIACKO: The firefighter departments responded within two minutes and it was like the cavalry coming over the hill with the helicopters.
LAWRENCE: Swooping in with water battered by those winds.
M. LIACKO: They were literally going sideways. I don't know how they fly in that.
LAWRENCE: Michael says he'll never forget those gusts.
M. LIACKO: You feel the wind, how heavy it is. It's literally moving us, and those flames were just shooting across the hillside yesterday.
LAWRENCE: The wildfire's scorched thousands of acres, but firefighters helped save hundreds of homes, like Michael's, who says the reward of living here far outweighs the risk.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Moorpark, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: In just a minute we're going to check in with Chad, see how the winds are cooperating this morning.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Also ahead in the program, that E. Coli outbreak in the Northeast appears to be spreading. We have some newly reported cases to tell you about.
And another Intrepid effort to move a floating museum stuck in the Hudson River mud. We're told the Intrepid will make headway today. Do you want to put some money on it? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Top stories we're following for you.
Defense Secretary Nominee Robert Gates goes to the White House this morning ahead of his confirmation hearings today.
And the investigation into that poisoning death of the former Russian spy now in two world capitals this morning -- London and Moscow. Two more sites in London testing positive for radiation.
It's about 17 minutes past the hour. Let's check the weather. First time we do that this morning.
Hello, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.
In New York, an E. Coli outbreak now on Long Island. It's shutting down eight Taco Bell restaurants. Fourteen people are sick, two have recently eaten at Taco Bell. Officials say it's not clear if this outbreak is related to the outbreak in New Jersey. The one we told you about yesterday. There's an E. Coli outbreak there that has sickened at least 25 people.
In Missouri, utility workers say it's going to be several days before they can bring the power back to more than a quarter of a million people who have been living without electricity in the freezing cold temperatures since that winter storm hit last Thursday.
Brooklyn, New York. A 64-year-old woman is OK after she was swallowed up by this sinkhole. Take a look at that. Walking along the sidewalk when it suddenly collapsed. She fell five foot down into the sidewalk. The homeowners said it looked like the foundation under the sidewalk was washed away.
M. O'BRIEN: Apparently so.
S. O'BRIEN: In New York, another try to free the USS Intrepid from the Hudson River mud this morning. About a month ago, you'll remember, we all watched and waited to see that Intrepid move. It didn't happen. It was stuck. It's supposed to be going, of course, to Jersey to get a little sprucing up. Couldn't budge it because that mud had built up over the years and years and years that it's been parked, basically. So now they've dredged and they say they're ready to try again.
M. O'BRIEN: Are you optimistic? S. O'BRIEN: Because I'm an optimistic person, yes, I am.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you are.
S. O'BRIEN: And I'm crossing my fingers, too.
In Georgia, this is a great story. Kind of an unusual love story. Cheryl Cottle's husband, whose name was Terry, died back in 1995. He was just 33 years old. His heart was donated when he died to a guy who's name is Sonny Graham. So Mr. Graham reached out to thank the donor's family with some letters and then some phone calls and then Sonny and Cheryl met up and they fell in love and they got married. And now they're celebrating their second wedding anniversary. And the way they're going to celebrate is to raise awareness for organ donation.
Isn't that a great story?
M. O'BRIEN: That's an amazing story.
S. O'BRIEN: Pretty good.
M. O'BRIEN: That is an amazing story. Wow.
Coming up, Pfizer's decision to pull the plug on a promising cholesterol pill after pouring billions into research. Can Pfizer recover from this one? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Pfizer suffered a huge blow this week, giving up all clinical trials and development of what was supposed to be its big blockbuster cholesterol drug. Ali Velshi's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
You can expect it's a busy morning over at Pfizer headquarters in New York after the stock was down 10 percent yesterday. That's because the company decided to pull all testing in progress on its drug torcetrapib. And it was supposed to change Pfizer's future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI, (voice over): It's not the easiest name to pronounce, but torcetrapib was poised to be one of the biggest drugs ever. And it wasn't just going to save lives. It was going to save Pfizer. Pfizer, you may know, makes the cholesterol wonder drug Lipitor.
JOHN SIMONS, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Lipitor is the biggest selling drug that there has ever been.
VELSHI: By a long shot, $13 billion in sales for the drug this year alone. So why does Pfizer need saving? Because its patent on Lipitor is going to run out. Soon it will have to compete with cheaper generics. Sales will inevitably plummet. Lipitor prevents heart attack by lowering bad cholesterol. Somebody would take torcetrapib to raise their levels of so-called good cholesterol. It wasn't going to be as big as Lipitor, says "Fortune" writer John Simons, but it would have been pretty big.
SIMONS: It would have been a very big deal. It would have sold at least over $2 billion a year, probably as much as $6 billion to $8 billion.
VELSHI: Pfizer need that revenue. The world's biggest drug company makes good money today, but in the drug business, today is history.
SIMONS: Typically drug companies will say that they spend between $800 million and $1 billion over a 10 to 12-year period to usher a drug from the initial stages of research, all the way up to where they're ready to submit the drug to the FDA for approval.
VELSHI: Torcetrapib had been in the works for 15 years. But on Saturday, Pfizer pulled the plug after clinical trials showed a higher death rate for patients taking the drugs than those who weren't. Torcetrapib was about two years from hitting pharmacies. It's unusual for a drug so far along to be canceled and it's a big blow for Pfizer. The company spends $7.5 billion a year on research and employs 13,000 scientists, largely in pursuit of increasingly illusive blockbusters.
SIMONS: It's kind of like hiring a bunch of art students who are very talented and saying, putting them in a studio and saying, OK, create me a Mona Lisa.
VELSHI: Torcetrapib may not have been the Mona Lisa, but it had all the makings of a masterpiece. And it was going to buy Pfizer the time it need to come up with the next big drug.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Soledad, this is not just a Pfizer problem. Next year, well Pfizer's Norvasc, the blood pressure drug, comes off of patent. But Wyeth's depression drug, Effexor, comes off in 2008. So does an asthma drug called Advair in 2011. Bristol Myers Plavix, which is also a cholesterol drug, comes off patents. So all of the major pharmaceuticals are suffering the same problem right now.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Ali, thanks.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, the first real test for the man tapped to be the next secretary of defense. Hearings for Robert Gates will kick off in just about three hours. We'll go live to the Pentagon for a preview.
And to the moon, Alice, and stay there. NASA announces some plans to go there and set up shop, head on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: On defense. Confirmation hearings today for Defense Secretary Nominee Robert Gates. Facing questions about America's future of Iraq.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: State of emergency. Wildfires are still burning in southern California. We're on the front lines as firefighters race to save homes.
The E. Coli outbreak, bigger than we thought. More people reported sick. More Taco Bells involved.
M. O'BRIEN: An incredible rescue. How a mother and her two young daughters survived being snowbound for a week while the search for their father is stepped up on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Tuesday, December 5th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
We begin in Washington and a wartime White House unhappy with the pace of progress in Iraq. Looking to change the players and the strategy. This morning, the man cited to replace Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon will face a grilling on Capitol Hill. Robert Gates' Senate confirmation hearings begin at 9:30 Eastern. We, of course, will carry it live.
The president also looking for a new ambassador to the United Nations. The current ambassador, John Bolton, resigning. He was serving on a temporary appointment but had no chance of being confirmed by the Senate.
And as for strategy, the Baker-Hamilton panel delivers its final report to the president tomorrow. The group offering its advice on how to grapple with the war.
And then on Thursday, the president's closest wartime ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, will visit the White House. All this set against violence and outright chaos in Iraq. Just today a triple car bombing in Baghdad. At least 29 people killed.
We have two live reports this morning. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon. Ben Wedeman in Baghdad. Let's begin with Barbara.
This is not Robert Gates' first rodeo, as they say. He survived a brutal 10-day hearing 15 years ago to become CIA chief. What about today's reception, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, no one is really predicting anything but smooth sailing for Mr. Gates at this point, unless something comes up at the hearings. Now before he goes to Capitol Hill this morning, he will make a stop at the White House. He will visit with President Bush before he heads for that Senate hearing. All indications at this point are everyone just wants to get it over and done with and get him confirmed. But, of course, you can never tell. Many of those senators have very strong feelings about the war in Iraq and are likely to try to pin Mr. Gates down to specific proposals or policy.
What we do know is from a questionnaire he filled out prior to his confirmation hearings, Gates said that he believed there was no military solution in Iraq. That it would also involve diplomacy and economics. All options on the table. That's no surprise. And that he said he didn't support any precipitous withdrawal from Iraq because that might lead to chaos in the region.
Now, of course, we've just come back from traveling with General Abizaid in Iraq, where he's been talking to top commanders. And some of those options, actually, are beginning too sort out. There's a general anticipation and understanding by commanders that there will be an acceleration of turnover to Iraqi security. There will be more U.S. trainers and advisors on the ground. And that U.S. troops may begin to reorganize themselves a bit to move back from some of those front line positions as they turn them over to Iraqis and be more behind the scenes, more of sort of the helpers, if you will, ready to jump in if the Iraqis run into trouble.
But Mr. Gates is likely to be questioned to all of this. Still, expect smooth sailing, expect confirmation at this point.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Barbara, what about in the halls of the Pentagon? Smooth sailing there? Are the men and women in uniform ready for a change in the civilian leadership?
STARR: Well, you know, they're pretty used to this sort of thing over the long hall. The civilians have political appointees come and go with every administration. Certainly it has been a long, exhausting five years since the 9/11 attacks, with the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. I think what you see in these hallways is a lot of anticipation. Now that the president has made the switch, made his choice, people here just really want to get on with it.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: And Robert Gates' experience with the CIA is going to be front and center of the hearings today as senators try to see how his past might play a role in the Defense Department's future. CNN's John King has our report this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. CARL LEVIN, (D) ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: The important thing with Mr. Gates is whether or not he is independent, whether or not he's going to speak truth to power.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Michigan Democrat Carl Levin was among 31 senators who voted against Gates' confirmation as CIA director back in 1991, in part because some colleagues suggested he manipulated intelligence to fit White House policy. But Levin, in line to be chairman of the committee with direct Pentagon oversight, is also inclined to back Gates this time.
LEVIN: I'm not going to vote no because I voted no 15 years ago.
KING: Gates was in even more hot water two decades ago. An early subject of the criminal investigation of the Reagan administration's Iran Contra scandal. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was one of 11 active or retired U.S. officials charged in a scream to sell weapon systems to Iraq and then illegally divert the profits to Nicaragua's contra rebels.
Gates was a top CIA deputy at the time. And independent council Lawrence Walsh, concluded he knew about legal activities months before he told investigators he first learned. "Gates was aware of information that caused others to question the legality of North's activities," Walsh concluded. "Like those of many other Iran Contra figures, the statements of Gates often seemed scripted and less than candid." In the end, though, Walsh found "insufficient evidence to warrant charging Robert Gates with a crime" and Reagan White House colleagues say he was smeared by an overzealous prosecutor.
KEN DUBERSTEIN, REAGAN WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Larry Walsh went overboard on a whole bunch of things to justify his own existence.
KING: At the time, Senate Democrats believed Gates turned a blind eye because he believe North had the president's blessing.
SEN. BILL BRADLEY, (D) NEW JERSEY: You can't have it both ways. You either should have pursued it and you made a mistake or there was only flimsy speculation and you should not have pursued it.
KING: Now, though, Democrats say their overwhelming focus will be how Gates will change administration Iraq policy.
SEN. EVAN BAYH, (D) INDIANA: I'll be interested in what Mr. Gates has to say about that. I'll be more interested in that than I will controversies of a generation ago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: That was our chief national correspondent John King reporting. CNN live coverage of the Gates confirmation hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: His fellow U.N. ambassadors call John Bolton abrasive, confrontational and rigid. Hardly the kind of adjectives normally associated with the subtle world of diplomacy. And now that world will no longer have John Bolton to kick around. Bolton is tendering his resignation. The president reluctantly accepting the handwriting on the wall. Bolton was serving on a temporary appointment and Senate confirmation was not in the cards. So far no word on a replacement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I received the resignation of Ambassador John Bolton. I accept it. I'm not happy about it. I think he deserved to be confirmed. And the reason why I think he deserved to be confirmed is because I know he did a fabulous job for the country.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Mr. Bolton did the job he was expected to do. He came at a time when we had lesser tough issues, from reform, to issues on Iran and North Korea. And I think from -- as a representative of the U.S. government, he pressed ahead with the instructions that he had been given and tried to work as effectively as he could with the other ambassadors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Now Bolton once famously said, you could take 10 floors off the 38 floor U.N. building in New York and nothing would be lost. Yesterday, one diplomat said, Bolton has come and gone, the 10 floors are still there.
So who will replace Bolton? Next hour we'll ask former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell about that. As a matter of fact, his name is on at least one short list.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: In Iraq today, more deadly violence to tell you about as three car bombs ripped through a Baghdad neighborhood. At least 14 people were killed, 25 injured. Earlier in the day, gunmen in northern Baghdad opened fire on a bus and killed 15 people. As the violence rages on, the question is, where are the Iraq troops? Are they ready to take responsibility for their country's security. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Baghdad for us this morning.
Good morning, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, the short answer to that is, no, they're not. And nobody's actually contemplating any quick or sudden transfer of responsibility for security in Iraq to the Iraqi police or the army, at least for several years to come. Both the police and the military suffer from a variety of problems. Lack of leadership, corruption. Many believe that the militia -- that rather the army and the police are infiltrated by the insurgents, by the militias and, of course, plagued by corruption. So what the United States is contemplating is increasing the training, putting much more focus on bringing the Iraqi police and army up to speed, but it's going to be a long and difficult job, certainly under Iraq's current conditions. Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Do most Iraqis support the idea that Iraqi forces should begin taking the lead?
WEDEMAN: Well, certainly, theoretically, we've seen that most Iraqis do support the lead role for Iraqi security forces. The problem is that the country has become so divided along sectarian lines that the army and the police are as well. So Shiites aren't going to trust Sunni policemen or soldiers and vice versa. So you have the sectarian divisions that really threaten to cripple any effort to build up the Iraqi security forces. And we've heard from military analysts saying that if the government itself is so divided along the same lines, there's very little possibility that the army is somehow going to emerge from the pattern that we've seen so many times here in Iraq and prove itself effective as well.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ben Wedeman in Baghdad for us this morning.
Thank you, Ben.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: In Oregon this morning, celebration and concern. Three of four members of a family missing in some snow-covered mountains since Thanksgiving weekend are safe and sound. An intense search, meanwhile, underway around Grants Pass, Oregon, for James Kim. His wife and daughters safe and sound and they are telling an amazing tale of survival.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNDERSHERIFF BRIAN ANDERSON, JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON: She's in great shape. The kids are in great shape. So we're happy. I mean that's a good find for everyone who was involved, and this is a good day for us.
M. O'BRIEN, (voice over): It's a good news chapter, but not the end of the story for a San Francisco family lost in the snow in southwestern Oregon. A helicopter crew spotting Kati Kim and her two young daughters nine days after their car got stuck in the snow on a mountain road. But Kati's husband James is still missing. He left his family two days earlier in a desperate search for help.
ANDERSON: It's my understanding he left the car at 7:45 Saturday morning. He was going to walk out and, if he didn't find anything, return by 1:00. He did not return back to the car.
M. O'BRIEN: James Kim left wearing only tennis shoes, pants, a sweater and a jacket. The family went missing just after Thanksgiving, headed home to San Francisco after a holiday trip to the Pacific Northwest. They missed a turn, tried an alternate route and ended up stuck on an impassable mountain road. ANDERSON: They had minor provisions in the car. They ended up running -- they ran out of gas. They were running the car during the day and at night to keep warm. Then they started to burn their tires at night to stay warm. And so they did a good job.
M. O'BRIEN: Kati Kim nursed four-year-old Penelope and seven month old Sabine to keep them nourished.
ANDERSON: I'm elated that the children had been found and we have our babies back. But I have an intense worry about James at this point.
M. O'BRIEN: Searchers followed James Kim's footprints in the snow until darkness. His family says he has some outdoor experience.
ANDERSON: There's always a good scenario. Nine days, you know, stuck in the snow in a car in a good scenario. We're going to continue to look until we find James. We're operating on the assumption that he's still alive and we're going to try to find him.
M. O'BRIEN: James Kim is a senior editor at the popular tech website cnet.com. He co-hosts a weekly pod cast.
Coming up in our 8:00 Eastern hour, we're going to talk with Kati Kim's mother and father, see how they're doing.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: In southern California, firefighters are hoping to catch a break from those howling Santa Ana winds. Trying to get control of that wind-whipped wildfire there. Seventeen hundred firefighters now are working that fire. It's destroyed five homes, burned more than 13,000 acres in Ventura County. Despite so much loss, there are some amazing stories of some big saves. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence has one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The hot, dry, Santa Ana winds gusted up to 70 miles per hour, whipping the flames into an inferno that engulfed five homes.
DORANN LA PERCH, LOST HER HOME: We've lost all our personal belongings. My mom and dad's wedding pictures.
LAWRENCE: But for every house lost, firefighters probably saved a dozen more.
MICHAEL LIACKO, DEFENDED HIS HOME: It looked like we were about to be surrounded by the fire, which was quite frightening.
LAWRENCE: These pictures show what Michael Liacko's family saw, a wall of fire running up the side of two mountains.
M. LIACKO: We were all out with hoses watering down the hillside here just hoping we could get enough water on it to keep it damp. LAWRENCE: The smoke was choking them.
M. LIACKO: Our eyes were watering and our throats were sore.
LAWRENCE: Their bags were packed and they were this close to leaving.
Did you ever feel like, dad, what are we doing here? I mean, should we really go?
ASHLEY LIACKO, MICHAEL'S DAUGHTER: Yes, because my friend had to evacuate her house, so she came here. And then when it kept getting closer, I'm like, I want to go. So I was just scared. I was in tears I was so scared.
LAWRENCE: Finally her dad dialed 911.
M. LIACKO: The firefighter departments responded within two minutes and it was like the cavalry coming over the hill with the helicopters.
LAWRENCE: Swooping in with water battered by those winds.
M. LIACKO: They were literally going sideways. I don't know how they fly in that.
LAWRENCE: Michael says he'll never forget those gusts.
M. LIACKO: You feel the wind, how heavy it is. It's literally moving us, and those flames were just shooting across the hillside yesterday.
LAWRENCE: The wildfire's scorched thousands of acres, but firefighters helped save hundreds of homes, like Michael's, who says the reward of living here far outweighs the risk.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Moorpark, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: In just a minute we're going to check in with Chad, see how the winds are cooperating this morning.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Also ahead in the program, that E. Coli outbreak in the Northeast appears to be spreading. We have some newly reported cases to tell you about.
And another Intrepid effort to move a floating museum stuck in the Hudson River mud. We're told the Intrepid will make headway today. Do you want to put some money on it? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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M. O'BRIEN: Top stories we're following for you.
Defense Secretary Nominee Robert Gates goes to the White House this morning ahead of his confirmation hearings today.
And the investigation into that poisoning death of the former Russian spy now in two world capitals this morning -- London and Moscow. Two more sites in London testing positive for radiation.
It's about 17 minutes past the hour. Let's check the weather. First time we do that this morning.
Hello, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.
In New York, an E. Coli outbreak now on Long Island. It's shutting down eight Taco Bell restaurants. Fourteen people are sick, two have recently eaten at Taco Bell. Officials say it's not clear if this outbreak is related to the outbreak in New Jersey. The one we told you about yesterday. There's an E. Coli outbreak there that has sickened at least 25 people.
In Missouri, utility workers say it's going to be several days before they can bring the power back to more than a quarter of a million people who have been living without electricity in the freezing cold temperatures since that winter storm hit last Thursday.
Brooklyn, New York. A 64-year-old woman is OK after she was swallowed up by this sinkhole. Take a look at that. Walking along the sidewalk when it suddenly collapsed. She fell five foot down into the sidewalk. The homeowners said it looked like the foundation under the sidewalk was washed away.
M. O'BRIEN: Apparently so.
S. O'BRIEN: In New York, another try to free the USS Intrepid from the Hudson River mud this morning. About a month ago, you'll remember, we all watched and waited to see that Intrepid move. It didn't happen. It was stuck. It's supposed to be going, of course, to Jersey to get a little sprucing up. Couldn't budge it because that mud had built up over the years and years and years that it's been parked, basically. So now they've dredged and they say they're ready to try again.
M. O'BRIEN: Are you optimistic?
S. O'BRIEN: Because I'm an optimistic person, yes, I am.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you are.
S. O'BRIEN: And I'm crossing my fingers, too.
In Georgia, this is a great story. Kind of an unusual love story. Cheryl Cottle's husband, whose name was Terry, died back in 1995. He was just 33 years old. His heart was donated when he died to a guy who's name is Sonny Graham. So Mr. Graham reached out to thank the donor's family with some letters and then some phone calls and then Sonny and Cheryl met up and they fell in love and they got married. And now they're celebrating their second wedding anniversary. And the way they're going to celebrate is to raise awareness for organ donation.
Isn't that a great story?
M. O'BRIEN: That's an amazing story.
S. O'BRIEN: Pretty good.
M. O'BRIEN: That is an amazing story. Wow.
Coming up, Pfizer's decision to pull the plug on a promising cholesterol pill after pouring billions into research. Can Pfizer recover from this one? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Pfizer suffered a huge blow this week, giving up all clinical trials and development of what was supposed to be its big blockbuster cholesterol drug. Ali Velshi's "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
You can expect it's a busy morning over at Pfizer headquarters in New York after the stock was down 10 percent yesterday. That's because the company decided to pull all testing in progress on its drug torcetrapib. And it was supposed to change Pfizer's future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI, (voice over): It's not the easiest name to pronounce, but torcetrapib was poised to be one of the biggest drugs ever. And it wasn't just going to save lives. It was going to save Pfizer. Pfizer, you may know, makes the cholesterol wonder drug Lipitor.
JOHN SIMONS, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Lipitor is the biggest selling drug that there has ever been.
VELSHI: By a long shot, $13 billion in sales for the drug this year alone. So why does Pfizer need saving? Because its patent on Lipitor is going to run out. Soon it will have to compete with cheaper generics. Sales will inevitably plummet. Lipitor prevents heart attack by lowering bad cholesterol. Somebody would take torcetrapib to raise their levels of so-called good cholesterol. It wasn't going to be as big as Lipitor, says "Fortune" writer John Simons, but it would have been pretty big.
SIMONS: It would have been a very big deal. It would have sold at least over $2 billion a year, probably as much as $6 billion to $8 billion.
VELSHI: Pfizer need that revenue. The world's biggest drug company makes good money today, but in the drug business, today is history.
SIMONS: Typically drug companies will say that they spend between $800 million and $1 billion over a 10 to 12-year period to usher a drug from the initial stages of research, all the way up to where they're ready to submit the drug to the FDA for approval.
VELSHI: Torcetrapib had been in the works for 15 years. But on Saturday, Pfizer pulled the plug after clinical trials showed a higher death rate for patients taking the drugs than those who weren't. Torcetrapib was about two years from hitting pharmacies. It's unusual for a drug so far along to be canceled and it's a big blow for Pfizer. The company spends $7.5 billion a year on research and employs 13,000 scientists, largely in pursuit of increasingly illusive blockbusters.
SIMONS: It's kind of like hiring a bunch of art students who are very talented and saying, putting them in a studio and saying, OK, create me a Mona Lisa.
VELSHI: Torcetrapib may not have been the Mona Lisa, but it had all the makings of a masterpiece. And it was going to buy Pfizer the time it need to come up with the next big drug.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Soledad, this is not just a Pfizer problem. Next year, well Pfizer's Norvasc, the blood pressure drug, comes off of patent. But Wyeth's depression drug, Effexor, comes off in 2008. So does an asthma drug called Advair in 2011. Bristol Myers Plavix, which is also a cholesterol drug, comes off patents. So all of the major pharmaceuticals are suffering the same problem right now.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Ali, thanks.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, the first real test for the man tapped to be the next secretary of defense. Hearings for Robert Gates will kick off in just about three hours. We'll go live to the Pentagon for a preview.
And to the moon, Alice, and stay there. NASA announces some plans to go there and set up shop, head on AMERICAN MORNING.
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