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American Morning

Studying the Report; Iraqis Leaving to Escape Violence; Regional Mideast War?; The Big Chill

Aired December 07, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Wartime strategy session. The Iraq Study Group report bringing President Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair together at the White House this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: The leaders facing dire predictions, including the Iraq war spilling into a bloody conflict all across the Middle East. What needs to be done to keep that from happening?

S. O'BRIEN: The dark side of diamonds. Jewelers are worried that Hollywood could cut into their profits with Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie. It's called "Blood Diamond."

M. O'BRIEN: And arctic air back in the Midwest as some residents hit the one-week mark without heat and electricity on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you. It is Thursday, December 7th.

I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Thanks for being with us.

First up this morning, the very latest out of Washington, D.C. And again, the big topic of conversation is the Iraq Study Group's report, the one which says that the situation in Iraq is grave and is deteriorating.

Here's what's new this morning at the White House.

President Bush is getting ready to meet with his staunchest foreign ally, the British prime minister, Tony Blair. They're going to talk about the report and its recommendations. The president's press secretary, Tony Snow, meanwhile, promising a revamped strategy in Iraq by the end of the year.

On Capitol Hill, the chairmen of that panel, James Baker and Lee Hamilton, are going to take questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

We're going to have complete coverage which we'll bring to you on all fronts. We've got Elaine Quijano live for us at the White House this morning. Ben Wedeman is live in Baghdad. Barbara Starr's got a report this morning from the Pentagon.

Let's begin with Elaine at the White House, following reaction there.

Good morning, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Well, after nearly nine months of work the Baker-Hamilton commission is offering up some 79 recommendations for how to improve the situation in Iraq, a situation that you noted the panel has called grave and deteriorating. As you might expect, though, both the president and his top aides are not wanting to weigh in too specifically on any of these proposals, calling them interesting, but saying that the administration is still studying them.

Now, the ideas, of course, range from shifting the U.S. military focusing Iraq from combat to training, as well as engaging Iran and Syria. This morning the panel's co-chairs stressed that they believe a comprehensive strategy is what's needed in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE HAMILTON, IRAQ STUDY GROUP CO-CHAIR: We try to emphasize that you've got to deal with the political, military, economic aspects of this problem in order to be successful, and you have to implement these things skillfully, and you have to implement them promptly. Time is running out here.

This is a deteriorating situation. We've got to move promptly. It's not a matter of months. It's a matter of weeks. Maybe even days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: As for a time frame on when there might be an announcement on a change on Iraq policy, senior Bush aides are saying it also will be likely a matter of weeks, not months. There's still, of course, internal reviews taking place within the administration, but officials here hope to announce a way forward in Iraq by the end of the year -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And, of course, the meeting today between Tony Blair and President Bush. Is the timing coincidental with the report or was it planned this way?

QUIJANO: Well, you know, the White House says the timing is coincidental. But, of course, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is the staunchest U.S. ally when it comes to the war on Iraq and the larger war on terrorism. And, in fact, Prime Minister Blair was actually interviewed via video link by the Iraq Study Group for its report.

A lot of on the table for discussion. Some 7,000 British troops in Iraq right now. A lot to be discussed, but the White House does say that this timing is a coincidence with the release of that Iraq Study Group report yesterday -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And there are a bunch of people who say there are no coincidences.

Elaine Quijano is at the White House for us.

Thank you, Elaine -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Growing numbers of Iraqis are voting with their feet. With the violence on the rise and all that talk about U.S. troops leaving, they're packing up their families and they're heading to the Baghdad airport to escape the violence.

CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us live from Baghdad with more on this story -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles. We spent several hours out at the airport, and it is very crowded with people leaving the country.

We spoke for quite some time with one family, a family of nine, including a mother, her son and her grandchildren. They were out there heading towards Egypt, where they have relatives.

The man told me that the situation has just gotten so bad that they really cannot do anything to protect themselves. There are death squads operating in their neighborhood. Their neighborhood has come under repeated mortar fire.

So they're packing up. They're leaving. They say they're going to be away for a year at least, hoping that the situation in Baghdad, in Iraq, will stabilize. The mother I spoke with, she said that she was the one who actually made the decision that they've got to leave, but she said after she made that decision, she cried her heart out.

Now, just to give you an idea of the scale of the exodus from Iraq, according to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, 2,000 Iraqis a day leave this country for Syria. One thousand a day leave Iraq for Jordan.

The total of Iraqis living outside of this country is now 1.8 million, Miles, and, of course, that does not include the 1.6 million people who have left their homes in one part of Iraq seeking safety in other parts -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: And of course the real problem here, Ben, is we're talking about affluent people, white collar people, the intelligentsia, the people who really are needed to pull this country together.

WEDEMAN: That's right. Increasingly, we're hearing that if you need medical attention, expert medical attention, you've got to leave.

People are going to Damascus, Syria,; and Jordan -- Amman, Jordan, to get medical treatment, basic medical treatment. There's also word that there are no dentists left in Baghdad as well, that the nearest one is in Damascus.

So, really, what you have is the cream of society, in a sense. The most skilled, the most affluent are leaving, and leaving behind a country that's in ruins -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Ben Wedeman in Baghdad -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Within the Iraq Study Group report there is concern about what would happen if the United States and troops, of course, leave too soon, and the sectarian violence spreads. Iraq is at the center of a potential powder keg, surrounded, of course, by Iran and Syria and Saudi Arabia, and each, of course, has its own different religious factions that are now fighting in Iraq.

CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with a look at that for us this morning.

Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, it is a concern by the incoming secretary of defense, by the Iraq Study Group, and by senior U.S. military commanders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice over): From Iraq to Lebanon, is the Middle East headed for a regional war?

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY DESIGNATE: The next president of the United States will face a slowly but steadily improving situation in Iraq and in the region, or will face the very real risk and possible reality of a regional conflagration.

STARR: Last week in Iraq, General John Abizaid had the same worries.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMANDER: Yes, I think the concerns about it spinning into a broader conflict are still -- still there.

STARR: And the Iraq Study Group report bluntly warns if Iraq collapses, that "... neighboring countries could intervene. Sunni- Shia clashes could spread."

It may be happening already, and military commanders blame Iran.

BRIG. GEN. JOHN CUSTER, DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENCE, CENTRAL COMMAND: I think Iran wants to have it both ways. They want to pursue diplomatics and be part of the negotiations, and at the same time, resource the resistance, resource the Shia militias that provide resistance to the -- to the coalition.

STARR: General Abizaid also warns about Iran's support for Hezbollah in Lebanon as part of the broader unrest. ABIZAID: It's a recipe for disaster and destabilization. We can't really afford any more destabilization in the Middle East.

STARR: After five years of war, military options are limited.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Whether you look at Iran, North Korea, the crisis in Lebanon as we speak, the list goes on and on. It would be very difficult for us to envision us being capable of handing another contingency.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And Soledad, this may rapidly become something that is much more than theoretical. Already this week, Hezbollah is continuing its demonstrations on the streets of Beirut, trying to bring down the government in Lebanon -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.

Thank you, Barbara -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, friends are honoring James Kim, stranded 11 days in the Oregon wilderness. Kim left his wife and two young daughters to try to get some help. Searchers found his body in a remote ravine off the road where their car was stranded. Results of an autopsy expected today. Kim's wife and daughters rescued safe and sound on Monday.

New pictures in from London. Funeral service for the poisoned Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko. The funeral in a London mosque. Litvinenko converting to Islam in his last days.

Scotland Yard now treating Litvinenko's death as murder. Minutes ago, Russian authorities also announced they're opening their own criminal investigation.

Taco Bell blaming green onions for the E. coli outbreak. The number of sick now 99, according to investigators in three states quoted in "The New York Time."

Green onions are being pulled from all Taco Bells, 5,800 of them nationwide. Two suppliers in the Northeast are being investigated, and the onions may have come from a single supplier in California.

Folks in the Midwest waking up to single-digit temperatures, wind chills well below zero. Power crews still unable to get the light and the heat on for tens of thousands of homes after that ice storm a week ago today.

Rob Marciano, live from Decatur, Illinois, with a progress report.

Is it warming up as the sun rise there's, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Miles, the sun is coming up and the temperature continues to go down. It's not a -- not a good sign.

Here's our -- actually I think it's getting frozen here. We're down to about 10 degrees with this thermometer. Yesterday it was up and over the freezing mark, and today when we got out here, it was at 20.

So we've dropped a full 10 degrees now in the past three or four hours. That does not include the wind chill. With the wind chill, temperatures feel more like five below, even 10 below at times.

So, those without power or heat are being urged, have been urged to go to the numerous shelters set up around the state. The Red Cross has been here in full force to hand out hot meals and warm beds, and lots of people have taken advantage of that.

There has been some progress made by the utility workers. At one point, almost a quarter of a million people were without power since this storm came in a week ago. Now that number down to about 50,000.

But what people have to go through, or utility crews have to go through, are individual homes. And it's not like during an electrical storm they just go to the corner transformer, fix that, or flip a switch down at the main site and everybody gets power. It's an individual basis because of things like this. I mean, this tree limb, from a mature hardwood, comes crashing down on a power line, and that may take out the power in one home, but leave the power on in another home.

So it's kind of like the luck of the draw here. We have found a few people that were frustrated, but all in all, people understand that this is just the way it is.

You just have to see it. You just have to look around and see all the tree branches, all the trees that are splintered, and you realize just how much work it takes to get these people back up and running.

But now this next arctic push of air, Miles, is in place, and it's going to be bitterly cold for the next couple of days. So folk who don't have power are going to be hurting, and as will the utility workers. But come this weekend, things will eventually begin to warm up. But it's been a long haul for sure -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: It amazes me in the 21st century we're not burying power lines by now.

All right. Rob Marciano...

MARCIANO: Money.

M. O'BRIEN: Money. It's money, isn't it?

All right. Thank you, Rob Marciano -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Like so many other things.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, the incoming Senate Armed Services chair, Carl Levin, is going to join us live. Senator Levin is going to tell us what he wants to hear today during the hearing with the Iraq Study Group members.

Also this morning, the hard truth behind the diamond business. Sellers are now responding to some of the charges made in that new movie "Blood Diamond."

That's straight ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Top stories we're following for you this morning.

President Bush and the British prime minister, Tony Blair, are meeting at the White House this morning. They're expected to discuss the Iraq Study Group report.

Some new pictures to show you from London, too. Take a look at damage after a tornado hit the northwest part of London. Six people were injured. Tornadoes apparently very rare in London.

Fifteen minutes past the hour. Let's get a check of the traveler's forecast. Chad's got that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: The chairmen of the Iraq Study Group will bring their dire assessment of the war in Iraq to Capitol Hill today. Jim Baker and Lee Hamilton to field questions about their plan from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan is the incoming chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He's our guest now from Washington.

Senator Levin, good to have you back on the program.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), INCOMING ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: What's on your mind this morning? What are you going to ask them?

LEVIN: Well, we're going to ask them first to summarize their report for us, and to give another opportunity for the American people to hear what is a very, very powerful report that is calling for a change in direction in Iraq, that, first of all, sets forth an honest and a real picture of what's going on in Iraq. When they say that it is grave and deteriorating, it is so totally different from what the president has been telling the American people when the president says that we're absolutely winning in Iraq. This is a very different picture, very real picture. Secondly, they are saying that in order for the course to change in Iraq, the Iraqi government leaders have got to take hold. They've got to reach compromises. And they're less likely to do that if we keep an open-ended commitment of our troops in Iraq.

They called for the end of that open-ended commitment. It is long overdue, and it's going to be very, very welcome to hear their report, and then to ask them for some details.

M. O'BRIEN: What sorts of details? There's things in that report that create obvious questions to you?

LEVIN: Yes. Well, obviously, it's not as specific as some of us would like in terms of precisely, or at least approximately, even, when we should begin the redeployment of troops. They call for the redeployment of troops and they say basically that we should end the presence of our combat forces, leaving other troops for limited purposes, but ending the presence of combat forces by the beginning of '08. And I'm wondering whether or not that is consistent with what a number of us have called for, which is the beginning of a redeployment within four to six months.

M. O'BRIEN: This redeployment, or phased withdrawal, or retreat, or whatever you're going to call it, one way or another at a certain point it's going to create a vacuum. And everybody keeps saying, we're going to have the Iraqi government stand up, the Iraqi security forces. But isn't there a concern that the Iraqi security forces, the Iraqi government might be fundamentally flawed and too infected with this sectarian violence?

LEVIN: There's more than a concern. There's a real belief that they're infected with sectarian violence, and that's why this report is correct when they say that there's not a military solution in Iraq, that there's only a political solution in Iraq.

Indeed, the Iraqi prime minister himself said that the violence is attributable to the failure of the political leaders in Iraq to reach a settlement. And that's what this report says very, very eloquently, very clearly. That it is the political failure to come together by the leaders in Iraq which is the cause, or which allows the violence to continue. And if that political settlement is reached, that is the way to end the violence, and that the Iraqis, as long as they think they have an open-ended commitment of our troops in Iraq, are less likely to reach that critically needed political settlement.

M. O'BRIEN: The other thing the report gets into is addressing the regional issues here, and specifically, we've talked a lot about this, because it leaked out, engaging in one way or another Syria and Iran. Outgoing senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania had some interesting things. He was very critical of the report and said this -- referring to talking to Iran and Syria -- he says, "We should confront them and only confront them."

What are your thoughts on that? I mean, his point is, you're dealing with regimes linked to terrorism. LEVIN: Well, I don't think anyone is naive about the possibilities of them being very, very helpful, but there's only one way to find out if there's any common interest at all, whether or not they want at destabilized Iraq on their borders, or whether or not they want a stable Iraq on their borders. But there's no harm in talking to people, even when you fundamentally disagree with those people.

As this report says, during the Cold War we spoke to the Soviet Union, even though we had fundamental disagreements with the Soviet Union. So this report is not unduly optimistic, it seems to me, as to what those discussions will lead to, but it does not see harm in sitting down with people, even if they are opponents of yours, to have face-to-face discussions and to let them know -- talk about confronting them, you can confront them with discussions. You don't have to confront them simply with arms.

M. O'BRIEN: Senator Carl Levin, thanks for your time.

LEVIN: Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, dustup over diamonds. The multimillion-dollar industry defends itself against charges in a hard- hitting new movie about blood diamonds.

Plus, the E. coli outbreak. It's still spreading this morning. We'll tell you what you need to know before you head out to eat, or even make your lunches today.

That's straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Diamonds usually hot in December with the holidays and all, and all the engagements that come around, but there's a new movie that opens tomorrow. The move is about a ruthless smuggler who sells blood diamonds, and it's kind of putting a chill in the diamond industry.

CNN's Ali Velshi has our report this morning.

Good morning.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

This is an industry that has spent decades convincing you that a diamond is forever and it's kind of worth spending a couple months' salary for an engagement ring. So what they're not looking for is this movie to put a damper on a bunch of guys going out to buy these rings. They don't want to be having people thinking about blood when they should be thinking about bling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VELSHI (voice over): You may think it's been there forever, but it hasn't. De Beers flagship store on New York's Fifth Avenue opened just over a year ago. So why does the name sound so familiar? Maybe because for most of the 20th century, De Beers was diamonds.

No other industry has been so dominated by one company, one brand, for so long. De Beers was the only place most diamond dealers could buy the rough stones to cut, polish and sell to jewelers around the world. With a virtual monopoly, De Beers controlled how much it sold and how much it charged.

ROSALIND KAINYAH, DIRECTOR, DE BEERS GROUP PUBLIC AFFAIRS; If you're the only mine in a village who sells bottled water, then I guess you set the prices because you're the only man in the village who sells the bottled water.

VELSHI: De Beers isn't the only man in the village anymore. Diamond prices are now driven by real supply and demand. But a relentless marketing campaign by De Beers turned a diamond in to definitive proof of a young man's devotion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A diamond is forever. De Beers.

MATTHEW HART, AUTHOR, "DIAMOND": The diamond is the hardest natural substance in the world. It, in that sense, is more or less eternal. And De Beers managed to conflate these diamond qualities with the idea of eternal love.

VELSHI: That created demand for value in small packages. And while De Beers didn't intend it, diamonds became the currency of choice for warlords who needed to buy arms.

HART: A great big jet would land on this dirt strip, off would come a tank, on would go the diamonds.

VELSHI: In places like Angola, conflict diamonds were mined from rivers, often using forced or slave labor. De Beers says it never knowingly traded in those stones.

KAINYAH: De Beers was never involved in conflict blood diamonds.

VELSHI: Conflict diamonds prolonged a number of civil wars in Africa. By 2002, public pressure on governments and on the diamond industry led to the establishment of the Kimberley Process. It's a certification of sorts, a passport for rough diamonds.

The World Diamond Council says conflict diamonds now account for less than one percent of the trade, and it's concerned that the movie "Blood Diamond" could dull the stone's luster.

JENNIFER CONNELLY, ACTRESS, "BLOOD DIAMOND": People back home wouldn't buy a ring if they knew it cost someone else their hand.

VELSHI: Set in Sierra Leone in the late '90s, "Blood Diamond" is a fictionalized account of the very real role that conflict diamonds played in that country's civil war. The diamond industry is bracing for some impact from the movie. They just hope it doesn't last forever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: And the diamond industry and De Beers say that they don't trade in conflict diamonds anymore. Actually, that's not what they say. They say they have never knowingly traded in conflict diamonds.

S. O'BRIEN: What does that mean exactly, I've never knowingly traded? I mean...

VELSHI: Well, what it means...

S. O'BRIEN: Do people think that means that, yes, they did in the past trade, or no?

VELSHI: Well, I'll tell you -- this is what we can glean from it. Until 2000, De Beers bought diamonds on the open market in Africa. Not just from known mines. If somebody would sell a diamond, they might pick it up, because they were central to it.

Those diamonds, we don't know where they came from. It doesn't mean they were conflict diamonds, but the issue about a rough stone, it doesn't have a serial number, it doesn't have any way of knowing where it's from.

S. O'BRIEN: So it could have been, or maybe not.

VELSHI: Could have been or maybe not.

M. O'BRIEN: But since that time they've changed that practice?

VELSHI: They now say that they only buy from known entities used in that Kimberley Process. So I think that's probably true.

Everybody now -- there's a very small proportion of conflict diamonds on the market now. But tomorrow I'm going to talk about an old -- old-time New York diamond jeweler who's exclusively about conflict-free diamonds. So people who want to shop without any guilty conscience have somewhere to go.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. Thank you, Ali.

VELSHI: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: Top stories are ahead, including today's big meeting between President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. We'll have a preview of that.

Plus, a survivor's personal memories on this Pearl Harbor anniversary. It's been 65 years. One man shares his recollection of that day of infamy, later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: E. coli outbreak. More people sick, more Taco Bells closed. A vegetable now suspected of causing the chaos.

S. O'BRIEN: Countdown -- it's all systems go for NASA's shuttle launch tonight. Will the weather cooperate, though? That's the big question. Chad's tracking the latest launch pad forecast for us.

M. O'BRIEN: And they're already rich, famous, and beautiful but they're still looking for a little love. A look ahead at the music stars likely to get nominate for a Grammy on this AMERICAN MORNING..

S. O'BRIEN: Hopefully they want to win. It's not enough to be nominated. You really just want to win.

Welcome back, everybody. It's Thursday, December 7th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

Happening this morning, British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Washington. In just over an hour he will meet with President Bush as the White House. The White House says they'll talk about the Iraq Study Group report of course. Afghanistan, the Middle East, other items on the agenda. A joint news conference expected at 10:55 Eastern time. CNN will bring it to you live, of course.

In just about an hour, at 9:35 Eastern, James Baker and Lee Hamilton, co-chairs of the Iraq Study Group face the Senate Armed Services Committee. Part of their self-described tough sell of the recommendations made by their ten-member bipartisan group to fix the situation in Iraq. And of course, CNN will have live coverage of that as well.

Friends are honoring James Kim, he was stranded 11 days in the Oregon wilderness. Kim left his wife and two young daughters to try to get some help. Weather was terrible. Searchers found his body in a remote ravine off the road where their car was stranded. The results of an autopsy are expected today. Kim's wife and daughters were rescued safe and sound on Monday -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you Miles.

In this morning's "House Call", green onions joining spinach now in the infamous list of produce apparently grown in California that's been contaminated with E. coli, making nearly 100 people sick. This morning we'll talk about what can you do to protect yourself and your family.

Dr. Roshini Rajapaksa -- I know, we were practicing it while Miles was talking and I kind of mangled it -- is a gastroenterologist and a professor at NYU's school of medicine and is with us this morning. My apologies for mangling your name. But we're here to talk about what's really been a big issue.

You know the stats, as we both know, are that meat is usually the culprit of these cases, but as you well know, case after case recently that's made headlines has actually involved produce? Why? Is that just chance, do you think? DR. ROSHINI RAJAPAKSA, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Well, you know, E. coli does live in the digestive tract of cattle. So, originally the source I think still is meat. However, we think that somehow wherever these vegetables were grown or processed, it was contaminated by cattle waste and therefore the bacteria got in to the vegetables and that's why we're seeing it there.

S. O'BRIEN: The advice you hear often when people talk about how to protect yourself from E. coli, is wash your hands, only go to clean restaurants. I mean, obviously, people don't pick to go to dirty restaurants and all the washing of your hands is not going to do you any good, at least in this particular case, where it seems like it's been found on the scallions, the green onions. So, realistically what can people do to protect themselves?

RAJAPAKSA: Well, you're right, there's no foolproof method because a lot of this contamination is happening before we even see it, before it gets to the restaurant, maybe at the plant. But there are some things we can do to minimize our risk. Number one is when you do go a restaurant be aware of surroundings in terms of hygiene. Really take a look at -- are the utensils clean? The people who work there, do they appear neat and hygienic? Are they sort of wiping their nose and touching your food? If you see anything like that going on, you should just leave because the risk of infection is higher in a dirty restaurant.

S. O'BRIEN: Maybe not just from E. coli but from anything?

RAJAPAKSA: Exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, I read, a food critic once said, something about go to places where the food that's supposed to be hot is really hot and the food that's supposed to be cold is really, really cold. I wonder, does this makes fast food restaurants more often the culprit? Because of course, you know the food, by nature of the restaurant, kind of sits around under a light bulb until they serve it to somebody in line?

RAJAPAKSA: Right. In a way fast food restaurants are a little riskier because they're trying to make things so quickly. They may be cutting corners a little bit. However, in some fast food restaurants, the food is actually cooked and then shipped to the restaurant. And in that sense you may actually be safer.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting point there. Is it that we're hearing about more cases or are there actually more cases of E. coli infection now?

RAJAPAKSA: I think there are actually more cases. I think, when you have one or two sporadic cases people might not know what they're suffering from is E. coli. But when we have different clusters of cases here, then we're actually identifying the bacteria and we know it is actually an E. coli outbreak. So I think it is on the rise.

S. O'BRIEN: Doctor Roshini Rajapaksa, hello, I finally did it, thank you very much for being with us. We certainly appreciate your expertise and insight -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you Soledad. December 7, 1941, a date that will live in infamy. 65 years ago today on a quiet Sunday morning in Hawaii, the Japanese attacked and the U.S. was in the middle of World War II and Tom Fallon was right in the middle of the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FALLON, PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR: Zero KS, and the Pearl Harbor net.

M. O'BRIEN: It's Tuesday morning, time for Tom Fallon to raise some old friends on his ham radio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) in south central Nebraska.

M. O'BRIEN: Twice a week these Pearl Harbor survivors touch base or at least try when conditions are not ideal.

(on camera): Send him an e-mail. That would be a little bit easier, wouldn't it? No?

FALLON: You're right. You're right.

(voice-over): Not his style. In fact, it was his love of radios that led him to Hawaii on that day of infamy 65 years ago. A lifelong employee of RCA, he enlisted in the Naval reserves to be trained as a radio operator. He was in it for the money.

FALLON: My big $16 a week, they were making like $25 to $30. I thought to myself, boy, that's what I need. $25 a week.

M. O'BRIEN: But the raise and his sweetheart in New York City would have to wait. That beautiful Sunday morning, he was up early and took a small launch across the harbor to attend mass.

FALLON: When we pulled up on the fleet dock, we saw planes coming over. You know? And at first, it just looked like maybe a practice drill which they occasionally had on a Sunday. But then we saw the torpedoes being dropped. You know? Then you had to look up, and saw the rising sun on the wing. You know.

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): Wow.

FALLON: The first word that would come to our head -- war.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Of course it was, in that stunning surprise attack, the Japanese sunk or damaged 21 U.S. ships and took more than 2,400 lives. Tom Fallon was fortunate. His ship, the USS Phelps was a Destroyer. And the Japanese aimed primarily for the big battleships. The Phelps steamed out of Pearl Harbor hours after the attack was over and returning four days later.

FALLON: That's when the real shock, because we hadn't seen all this destruction. You know? Came back four days later and, wow. It looked terrible. M. O'BRIEN: Tom soon transferred to another ship. The USS Detroit. It was there in Tokyo Harbor on September 2, 1945, right beside the battleship Missouri where the Japanese surrendered. Then it was home to get that raise and marry that girl, to raise five children and eventually dote on eight grandchildren.

An ordinary guy who lived to tell the tale of an extraordinary day when the future changed in an instant.

(on camera): What will you thoughts be on this anniversary? Been a few years now.

FALLON: 65 years.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, sir.

FALLON: Until I got so old. You know, after all, it's the way -- through the years, I mean, it's my duty.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Selling himself short there a little bit. Today Tom Fallon and some of his kids and grandkids will appear at a anniversary commemoration in New Jersey. Organizers of Pearl Harbor reunions say this may be their last anniversary gathering. Most of them now in their 80, and 90s.

S. O'BRIEN: How many are there left?

M. O'BRIEN: I don't know the actual total number, but Tom's group used to be a couple hundred. Now it's down to about a dozen. He says, we miss them, but the stories they told get better every year.

S. O'BRIEN: Like most stories get better every year.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: That was good story, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, going to have a rare sight in the Florida skies tonight -- maybe. If the launch goes off as planned for the shuttle. Chad's got the forecast for us coming up next.

Plus the music business gets to honor its biggest stars, the frontrunners for this morning's Grammy nominations. A peek straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Hey, by the way, Soledad, do you think we're alone in the universe?

S. O'BRIEN: No, actually I don't at all. I think there are little Martians running around everywhere.

M. O'BRIEN: It might be microbial.

S. O'BRIEN: That's worse.

M. O'BRIEN: There could be life on Mars. We have the goods here. Look at the pictures from the Mars Global Surveyor. It's been missing now for a month, presumed dead almost at this point, but had a great run orbiting the Red Planet, and some science is just coming out today which is very interesting. These images, taken from the Mars Global Surveyor, the Red Planet, this one from 2001, this one from 2005. Same place, same location. Now take a look very closely at what we're looking at here.

First of all, look at that, that's an old flow of some kind. What kind of a flow we don't know. Second picture, same flow there. But look at what else is here. There's a new one right there. What happened in that four-year period? What caused that flow? Was there some water, which bubbled up from an underground aquifer and flowed across the surface of Mars?

Let's go the next image. More proof of the same. Similar kind of situation. Once again, picture from 1999 on the left, 2004 on the right. Same exact locations. And look what we got there. Nothing on the left.

And then over here, take a look at that. What is that light discoloration there? What is that gully? What caused it? Well, if it was, in fact, water that caused it, it could lead scientists to believe there is liquid water beneath the surface, and that in that liquid water there might very well be microbial life, because everywhere you look on this planet and find water, what do you find? You find life. So there you have it, submitted for your approval.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" just a couple of minutes away. Heidi Collins is at the CNN Center with a look at what they've got ahead for you this morning.

Hey, Heidi, good morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Soledad.

That's right, we're working on several stories for the NEWSROOM this morning. In fact, the Iraq Study Group leaders detailing their recommendations to Congress next hour. Two senators will talk to us live in the NEWSROOM about that.

And a family in mourning. You guys have been talking about this story, too. The bodies of a missing father found. He set out on foot desperately seeking help for his wife and kids, stranded in the snow. And gas prices on the rise. Analysts say another dime-a-gallon increase is possible. Pump scrooges taking some of the merry out of Christmas travel.

Tony Harris is with me in the NEWSROOM. We'll see you at the top of the hour, right here on CNN -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Heidi. You hate those pump scrooges.

M. O'BRIEN: I know. I've never really heard that term before, but to good to know that they're out there.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we know what you mean.

COLLINS: Yes, they are.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Heidi. We'll see you then -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up in the program, a sneak peek at this morning's Grammy nominations. We'll look at the early favorites.

Plus, it's Thursday. What does that mean, crew?

CROWD: It's Miles-Cam day!

M. O'BRIEN: The excitement runneth over here. Send your questions to milescam@CNN.com. I'll answer then live on Pipeline starting at 10:00 Eastern, CNN.com/pipeline for the answers, questions now, milescam@CNN.com.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Some of the biggest names in the music industry will be listening for their names this morning when the nominations for the 49th annual Grammy awards are announced. CNN's Brooke Anderson takes a look at some of the artists who are likely to get the nod.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: 60,000 CDs were released during the past year, but now it's time to narrow the field down to the best of the best. "Billboard" Magazine's Jeff Mayfield says there are two shoo-ins for album of the year nominations. Bob Dylan's "Modern Times"...

JEFF MAYFIELD, "BILLBOARD" MAGAZINE: The academy tends to love him. he had an album that you know as his first number one album in more than 20 years.

ANDERSON: ... And the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Stadium Arcadium."

ANTHONY KIEDIS, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: When the spirit moves you, you try to be there to let it, you know, do what it wants to do. ANDERSON: Don't count out Mary J. Blige's triple platinum album "The Breakthrough."

MARY J. BLIGE: I put in a lot of work since 1991, mentally, spiritually, and physically and it's finally paying off for me.

ANDERSON: Or the Dixie Chicks controversial disc, "Taking the Long Way."

UNIDENTIFIED DIXIE CHICK: Something like the Grammys is always important to us, when I think a lot of other award shows don't hold that kind of weight.

ANDERSON: Other possible contenders -- Justin Timberlake's "Future Sex Love Sounds" and John Mayer's blusey pop-offering "Continual."

JOHN MAIER: I guess the inspiration comes from trying to keep making that one great record.

ANDERSON: Best new artist is a fertile field with likely nominations for ecclectic duo Gnarls Barkley, folk rocker K.T. Tunsdal and British soul sensation Corrin Bailey Rae.

But former "American Idol" Carrie Underwood's runaway success in Nashville may work against her, at least in this category.

MAYFIELD: Carrie might be considered in country categories. So, we won't necessarily think of her as best new artist.

ANDERSON: Expect to hear some household names when Grammy nominations are announced as well as a few new newcomers whose could become the next big thing.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.

S. O'BRIEN: I hope she wins. I think she's great. Grammy nominations will be announced at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time this morning.

A quick look at what "CNN's NEWSROOM" is working on for the top of the hour.

HARRIS: Stories you will see in the CNN NEWSROOM: Iraq war allies in a White House summit. The Bush/Blair news conference in two hours, in the NEWSROOM.

Foreclosure, are up and so are scams. Gerri Willis stops by with advice to avoiding the mortgage hucksters.

Here comes the cold. An arctic blast plunges south. Thousands across the Midwest still coping with no power. You're in the NEWSROOM, 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 on the West Coast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: You've got the Nintendo Wii on your holiday shopping list. Well, while you're waiting in line, consider this: Nintendo is investigating a rash of reports the Wii controllers are becoming unguided missiles. Now I've been testing the Wii out for a little bit.

Now for the uninitiated, the cool new thing is the controllers, instead of a joystick, it has a motion sensor that matches your movements in the game.

The problem is, you can get pretty worked up doing this, as you saw in the boxing thing there. I won, by the way. Or you can be slamming a tennis ball.

S. O'BRIEN: He let you win by the way.

M. O'BRIEN: No, no, I pummeled him. Apparently the strap may not be up to snuff. Lots of broken windows, minor injuries, people, even pets getting hurt and it isn't even Christmas yet.

Now, we have been looking into it. I will have an investigation for you tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING. We will tell you how to keep things safe once the Wii is unwrapped on Christmas morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Could we re-run that. I want to see that again. No, no, that's priceless.

M. O'BRIEN: You will see it tomorrow. You'll see it tomorrow. That's all the time we have for this AMERICAN MORNING. "CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins begins right now.

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