Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Bush in Listening Mode; Iraqi Leaders' View on Iraq Study Group Report; Poisoned Spy; A Soldier's Story

Aired December 11, 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 CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon.

Lost between a rock and a hard place on Oregon's Mount Hood. Rescuers say there's no easy way down for three easy climbers.

We'll update efforts to find and save them.

PHILLIPS: Just days before the nation was riveted by James Kim's ordeal, a Seattle man was rescued from a similar predicament. He joins us live to tell us his survival story.

LEMON: Plus we'll have this: madman, maverick or movie-making maestro, Mel Gibson's the man in Hollywood. And he's the one that Hollywood loves to hate, but someone forgot to tell the audience this weekend. "Apocalypto" tops the box office and stirs Oscar buzz.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: In between Iraq's strategy sessions and under the gun to find a new strategy fast, President Bush talking to as many people as he can before unwrapping a new plan by Christmas. He wants a new way forward, but can he reverse the course of war?

Let's get straight to the White House and our Elaine Quijano -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kyra.

Well, as the political pressure continues to mount on President Bush to make changes to his Iraq policy, he is now in listening mode. In fact, over the next few days he's going to be holding sessions with administration officials.

This morning he, the vice president, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as other top Bush aides, met privately over at the State Department. And the White House is insisting that although the president is seeking advice largely from the same group of advisers who have been in place since the Iraq war began, they are still able to give fresh assessments, he says, on the situation in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's not also as if these folks just sort of sat around and stared blankly in a room and said, well, gosh, we've been doing this, we don't have any new ideas. They themselves have also had conversations with a number of others , and they've been soliciting ideas so that they can think of creative ways and effective ways of moving forward toward that goal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: And this afternoon President Bush is set to meet with a group of outside foreign policy and military experts about the situation in Iraq. And the consultations will continue tomorrow and Wednesday, as well, including a video-conference meeting the president will have with commanders on the ground in Iraq and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Now, all of this is happening as the president is awaiting the results of three internal administration reviews. Senior Bush aides say that the goal really is to try to have some kind of announcement, perhaps a speech on Iraq, taking place perhaps before Christmas -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, meanwhile, the White House is responding to wire reports of efforts within the Iraqi government to oust Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. What can you tell us about that?

QUIJANO: Well, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow basically says it's not true. He flatly denied that today. And he says that there really is no move afoot that he's aware of to oust the prime minister. He says they're basing this, of course, on conversations that they've had with people who are in country, in Iraq.

So how did the reports come about? Well, Snow basically says that someone, he believes, sort of stitched together various unrelated threads and jumped to conclusions. And he did go on to say earlier today that he believes the president -- the president believes that he has confidence, certainly in Prime Minister Maliki, as does a prominent Shia politician, somebody that the president met with last week here at the White House, a powerful politician by the name of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

And so the White House certainly aware of those rumors, but Tony Snow flatly denying it today.

PHILLIPS: All right. Elaine Quijano live from the White House.

Thanks.

LEMON: Iraqi leaders are looking to make up with the national conference, but the nation just keeps breaking up, neighborhood by neighborhood.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the north of Baghdad, spiraling sectarian violence. Sunnis forced from their homes in apparent retaliation for a mortar attack on a nearby Shia neighborhood. The newly homeless Sunnis blame the Shia- dominated government for not coming to their aid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We asked the Iraqi army to come, but the army didn't interfere. And it seemed that there was a collusion between the Iraqi army and the militia.

ROBERTSON: Fears that are heightening divisions, polarizing political debate, just a week before a national reconciliation conference called by the prime minister.

OMAR ABDUL-SATTAR, SUNNI ISLAMIC PARTY (through translator): We will not participate in any future government unless we have a real share in security and political decisions.

ROBERTSON: And to this poisoned political atmosphere, a new shock: robust rejection of the Iraq Study Group's report by the country's Kurdish president.

JALAL TALABANI, IRAQI PRESIDENT: The Baker-Hamilton is not fair, is not just. And it contains some very dangerous articles which are undermining the sovereignty of Iraq.

ROBERTSON: At issue, the study group's proposal to ratchet up the number of U.S. military trainers embedded with the Iraqi army. The Kurds' other top leader, Massoud Barzani, also blasted the report, saying it's not compatible with reconciliation, criticizing recommendations that would put Kurdish oilfields under central government control.

Away from the political turmoil and sectarian violence, outgoing U.S. secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld slipped into the country under a veil of secrecy. A farewell tour of U.S. bases in the north, west and center of Iraq thanking soldiers and Marines. His message for the troops very personal, at times as much prophetic as reflective.

(on camera): Rumsfeld leaves at a time when Iraq has never looked so divided. A top Sunni leader, Tariq al-Hashimi, is due to meet with President Bush early this week. Inevitably, the plight of Iraq's Sunnis will likely dominate conversations at a time when the U.S. is pressuring Iraqis to overcome their differences and unite against extremists.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Free speech in Tehran? Before you say no such thing, check out today's appearance by the Iranian president at Tehran University. Not only was he heckled, but students lit a firecracker and burned his photo, chanting, "Death to the dictator!" They were outnumbered though and shouted down by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad supporters. The president himself responded calmly, calling his opponents a minority. Open dissent is still pretty rare in Iran, but many students are furious over the president's purge of liberal and secular professors.

LEMON: A parting shot from the departing secretary-general of the United Nations. Kofi Annan is saying farewell to 10 years as the world's leading diplomat. Over the past three, he's been increasingly critical of the Bush administration's handling of the war on terror.

Today he pointedly urged Washington to engage other nations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: No nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over others. We all share responsibility for each other's security. And only by working to make each other secure can we hope to achieve lasting security ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Annan chose to deliver his final major speech at the Truman Presidential Library in Missouri. President Harry Truman, of course, a key founder of the United Nations.

PHILLIPS: From England to Germany to Russia, investigators are following a toxic trail as they try to solve the death of a former Russian spy.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): German police say this man, Dmitry Kovtun, is being treated as a suspect in the international hunt for the killers of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. Kovtun is a former soldier in the Soviet army, and one of the men who British police say met Litvinenko in this London hotel on the day he was given a fatal dose of radiation.

German police say they have found traces of Polonium-210, the material used in the poisoning, at the apartment of Kovtun's ex-wife. They say Kovtun stayed there the night before flying to London and meeting Litvinenko. German police say there is "... a reasonable basis for suspicion that Dmitry Kovtun may not just be a victim, but could also be a perpetrator." Their investigation now focuses on whether Kovtun illegally handled radioactive material.

The Russian news service Interfax says Kovtun is being treated for radiation poisoning in Moscow.

Litvinenko's wife Marina broke her silence Sunday, telling "The Sunday Times" how her husband came to the realization he had been deliberately poisoned. MARINA LITVINENKO, ALEXANDER LITVINENKO'S WIDOW: And he said, "Marina, I feel like people who was poisoned with chemical." You know, because they started, they got some systems (ph). But of course I told him, "Sasha, it's unbelievable. I can't -- I can't believe what happened."

HANCOCKS: British police are continuing their murder inquiry in Moscow Monday. Two police officers involved in the case have also tested positive for Polonium-210. London police say both men are well.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: It's a mystery to police and a nightmare for the family. A South Carolina couple's road trip was interrupted last week by what? No one knows.

Wayne and Diane Guay (ph) were driving up I-95 to New York. They were supposed to arrive Thursday, but they haven't been heard from since Wednesday night.

Frantic relatives have been handing out missing persons flyers along the Guays' (ph) route. The couple was driving a white Mazda-3, South Carolina license tag 732-RZZ.

PHILLIPS: It's been more than 80 hours since Laura Gainey went overboard in stormy seas. The 25-year-old daughter of hockey legend Bob Gainey had set sail Tuesday from Nova Scotia aboard the tall ship Picton Castle. She disappeared Friday night when the Caribbean-bound ship was rocked by a rogue wave. Her fellow crewmembers are heartsick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL MORELAND, CAPTAIN, PICTON CASTLE: Losing a crewmember is the constant fear of a skipper at sea, regardless of the size of the vessel. Right now our thoughts are for our missing crewmember, her family, and her shipmates searching for her. The search will continue until we've recovered our shipmate, or when all possible hope is exhausted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, a Canadian C-130 has joined the search in the waters off Cape Cod.

LEMON: Another desperate search is under way in Oregon just days after the ordeal that ended so horribly for the Kim family. Rescuers are moving up Mount Hood to look for three missing climbers. One was able to call his son on his cell phone yesterday to say he was stranded in a snow cave.

Now, he said the other two climbers had gone back down to find help. There's been no contact since and no sign of the two other climbers.

PHILLIPS: Is there something missing in a soldier's basic training?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're taught to go into combat. And when the tears come, they're not taught how to survive that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Parents seek answers after a family tragedy straight ahead from the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And she's been gone almost a decade, but speculation may never die. British investigators -- as British investigators prepare to release a report on Princess Diana's fatal accident, a new twist. Why were U.S. spies tapping her phone?

We're on it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All wars end eventually, except in the minds and hearts of the people who fight them. No one leaves a war the same person he or she was going in. But some are haunted by their experiences, and some never recover.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen has one soldier's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON COOPER: How are you doing, mate? It's your brother coming to you from Fort Knox, Kentucky.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Twenty- one-year-old Jason Cooper, fresh off boot camp, ready to leave for Iraq with the Iowa Army Reserve, and full of life.

TERRI JONES, JASON COOPER'S: He had a fast car. He loved to do tricks off the diving board.

ED COOPER, JASON COOPER'S FATHER: He always made you smile. He made you laugh. He was my best friend.

COHEN: But when Jason came home in March 2005, he wasn't the Jason his family remembered.

JONES: You could tell he was lost in his thoughts. And you could be talking to him and you would have to kind of, "Jason, hey."

COHEN: And at night, the nightmares set in. Jason couldn't sleep.

E. COOPER: And he'd just knock on my door and wake me up. I'd tell him to come in. We'd sit there and talk. COHEN: It seemed as if the terror of Iraq still consumed him. The family hoped Jason would get help. He said, "Next week." But three months after Jason returned home from Iraq, Ed got a call from the police on his way home from work.

E. COOPER: They told me I needed to get to my residence immediately. And they wouldn't tell me why.

COHEN: Ed wasn't allowed inside his home, shielded from his son, who had hanged himself in the basement.

E. COOPER: It was hard to believe what they had told me. I just -- I just needed to see if I could help him.

T. COOPER: And I failed him. A lot of people failed him at that point.

E. COOPER: This is Jason's room. It's pretty much the way it was since he was here last.

COHEN: Ed won't change Jason's bedroom, and he is just now able to go back down in the basement. A year and a half after his suicide, Jason's parents believe their son suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, brought on by his time in Iraq. Still, Jason's father doesn't blame the military for his death.

E. COOPER: I think they are all doing a wonderful job over there. We didn't ask for this. It's just unfortunate wars have to come up. And -- and unfortunately, people lose lives.

COHEN: But Terri has made a public statement of her own, flying the flag upside down.

T. COOPER: Soldiers are in distress. They're taught to be tough. They're taught to go into combat. And when the tears come, they're not taught how to survive that.

COHEN: Ed wants his son to know he finally put the pool in the backyard, the one Jason always wanted.

E. COOPER: I'm waiting to see him go off the diving board. Some times at night I'm just waiting to hear a splash, hoping it will be him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Three young men serving their country, three young lives lost in Iraq's volatile Al Anbar Province.

Marine Corporal Michael Ledsome of Austin, Texas, surprised his family two years ago when he announced during a Christmas visit that he would join the military. Ledsome's younger brother joined at the same time, and the two went through training together. Michael Ledsome leaves behind a wife and a 2-year-old child.

When Marine Private Heath Warner was 12 years old, he visited Arlington National Cemetery. His family says that he saluted the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown. Now the body of the 19-year-old Canton, Ohio, Marine will be returned to Arlington for burial. He was killed when hit by a roadside bomb.

Twenty-one-year-old Marine Lance Corporal Joshua Alonzo of Dumas, Texas, was also killed in Al Anbar province. His Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb.

These are just three of the 2,932 men and women who have sacrificed their lives in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, can you really put a price on a Christmas dream come true? Maybe you can't, but the people selling Playstations and Elmos on eBay sure can.

CNN's Kyung Lah met a few Santa's helpers whose own dreams of a green Christmas are coming true in a big way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's the yearly chase, getting the hot holiday toy. This year's most prized holiday gift, Playstation 3.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go!

LAH: If you snag one or, in Robey Joyce's case, three, it can mean a big payoff.

ROBEY JOYCE, SELLER: Money, money,.

LAH: Joyce waited two days in Chicago's frigid temperatures, camping out like numerous other gamers. Retail price, $599.99. And on craigslist...

JOYCE: $1,125, I think it was. And the other one for $1,000. I think I made two kids happy for Christmas since they're going to be getting their Playstation 3. So I'm not an entirely bad person.

LAH: Jay Marasigan was lucky enough to get the PS3, paying $300 more than retail. And that, he says, is a deal.

(on camera): But that's $300 over what it sells for in the stores.

JAY MARASIGAN, BUYER: It is, but you can't get them in the stores.

LAH (voice over): This is the black market for toys, the Nintendo Wii, the PS3, and, of course, the Tickle Me Elmo TMX.

(on camera): It's basic economics. Stores have a limited supply, demand is high, especially with Christmas right around the corner. And people are willing to pay more.

SCOTT KRUGMAN, NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION: They're looking to online auctions, and they're paying ridiculous amounts of money.

LAH: Do you feel like the Grinch at all?

JOYCE: A little bit.

LAH (voice over): Robey Joyce is a recent immigrant from South Africa and has learned a lot about the American economy.

JOYCE: It's a very interesting system. There's definitely hundreds of way to make money.

LAH: As far as feeling like Scrooge, making money off someone else's holiday desperation...

JOYCE: I do, a little bit. But not so much when I go to Mexico. So...

LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Man against nature, it's more than a mere plot device in Oregon as a search and rescue team goes after three climbers stranded and freezing on Oregon's Mt. Hood. We've got the latest next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: For sure there's lots to love about flying on a space shuttle, but we're not sure NASA's wake-up calls fall into that category. We're dishing on the mission of Discovery next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips.

Arcane history brutally told by a guy with few friends in Hollywood. How did "Apocalypto" wind up top at the box office?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Blinding snow, heavy winds, avalanche in ever-present danger. Through it all, rescue teams are searching for three wayward climbers on Oregon's Mt. Hood.

Mark Glyzewski of our affiliate KPTV is on the story. I spoke with him earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK GLYZEWSKI, REPORTER, KPTV: Hello, Kyra. And the searchers have been at it for about five and a half hours today so far. Still no sign of these three missing hikers.

There's actually a two-pronged effort going on right now. There's a group of about 18 searchers making their way up the north side of Mt. Hood. Again, this is an 11,000-foot peak with some change on top of that.

Also, there's another group coming up from Timberline Lodge from the south. They're hoping to intersect at some point hopefully today, but it is very slow-going. You can see the weather conditions here just miserable.

They have rain here at the 4,000-foot level. We're told just minutes ago that at least one of the groups have made it up to about the 6,500-foot level.

As for the climbers, again, these three have not been seen or heard from since yesterday afternoon. They were due back on Saturday afternoon, but never showed up on the south side of the mountain. They left here from the north side earlier in the day, never showed up.

There was a cell phone call that happened, Kyra, yesterday afternoon from a man who is trapped at about 11,000 feet. He said he was in a snow cave.

Again, we're getting information. His name is Kelly James (ph) from Texas. And he called his wife from that cell phone to report that at least one, if not both, of his partners had gone off for help, and that's why we have this double search going on, both the north and the south face of Mt. Hood this morning, and into the afternoon hours as well today for people on the west -- east coast, I should say.

But, again, the conditions are not very agreeable, to say the least, for the searchers. Needless to say, with the rain that we're having here, snow up higher on the mountain, also visibility very poor, they will not be able to use a helicopter, unfortunately, at least for the moment. They're hoping to be able to do that later today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You know, Mark, how many times has this happened during this time there in the area every year? I know that you and others that live in the area know how the situation can get treacherous. But this -- its seems like every year we've got a couple of these situations that we're covering.

GLYZEWSKI: Yes. And it does happen around the year, but this time of the year, really, it's not too common, because this is really a very challenging time to climb, because not only do you have the heavy snowfall that's coming down here in the depths of winter, but also there's very unstable footing, easily could have crevasses that are hidden under that snowfall, even some risk of avalanches as well.

So really when you talk to the mountain rescue people, they do not really advise anybody to climb, even if you are experienced. And we're talking about these three missing guys are very experienced. At least one of them has climbed, we're told, Mount Mckinley, even the Andes mountains, so they have some know-how. But again, just showing you, just Even Compared to 11,000-foot peak here, it can still be a challenge when you have these miserable conditions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Let's talk a little bit more about this. If you were stuck in the wilderness in this life-threatening weather, would you know how to survive? Knowing a few basic rules could mean the difference between dying and having a story to tell your grandkids.

Here's CNN's Rick Sanchez. He consulted an expert.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An hour and a half of trekking through the Rockies in the middle of the night, and my feet are without feeling, my nose won't stop running, and the shivers are starting to become uncontrollable.

(on camera): I'm really starting to feel beat up from these conditions. So I'm going to try to hunker down for a while and create a shelter since I don't have one. And that's exactly what we have here.

(voice over): Colorado Park Rangers and survival experts have earlier shown me how to build a shelter of last resort. It's essentially a trench about four feet deep topped with thick branches cut from pine, covered with snow, like an igloo. It doesn't look like much, but it works.

(on camera): Between the blanket and the heat that's generated by my body in this confined space, it's much more comfortable in here, certainly much more comfortable than it was when I was out there walking around for an hour and a half.

(voice over): Comfortable as it may be from the waist up, my feet now feel like they're being stuck by a thousand needles. So I head to my original shelter, my car. Stuck in the snow or not, this is where you're most apt to survive longer.

Here's another reason to stay near the car...

RANGER DAN WEBBER, COLORADO STATE PARKS: When we go out searching for people, the first place we're going to look for is where that vehicle is.

SANCHEZ: And you can help them find you with fluorescent tape. In fact, anything bright will be greatly appreciated by pilots looking for you.

RANGER KEN BRINK, SURVIVAL EXPERT: When a person is standing up and waving their hands, very difficult to see them from the air, but anything bright and large is helpful.

SANCHEZ: Now I'm back in the car, where my survival expert told me I should have stayed in the first place.

(on camera): Run your ignition for a while, and then turn it off. When you close the door you seal in that heat, and it will last a good long while before you'll have to do it all over again. Eventually, though, you're going to run out of gas.

(voice over): And what do you do when you run out of gas? That's where a candle and a tin can save your life.

(on camera): The key now is to try and keep the candle inside this coffee can. I'm going to drop some wax there on the bottom, and while it's still hot I'm going to place the candle so it stays in position.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You light the candle, it will help warm up the car. It provides company for you, it's something that people are used to. They -- it's a camp fire analogy, where you light a camp fire and people sit around it and it warms them up, and it actually warms up the inside of a vehicle.

SANCHEZ: Without a candle, experts say the inside of my car with me in it will stay around 32 degrees. Not bad, but not great.

With a candle it will be around 50 degrees. Now, that's a temperature that could keep you alive until rescuers arrive. It doesn't take much.

Look at this survive kit: an old blanket, a whistle, a tin can, a candle, a couple water bottles, some nutritional bars, some tape, maybe a shovel, some matches, hats, gloves, and a flashlight. Using some of these items I lasted nine hours. That was about all that I could take.

It's hard to imagine what it must have been like for the Kim family. They were out there nine days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Good stuff. Rick Sanchez, thanks.

Snowbound and stranded, but a trickle of water was enough to keep him going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it took me, you know, maybe 10 minutes to fill up the jug, crawled right back up, got right back in the jeep, got in my sleeping bag.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

He is a survivor. And coming up in the NEWSROOM Daryl Jane joins us with his riveting story. You don't want to miss it. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: More now on the superhuman effort of James Kim. Investigators now say that Kim walked 16 miles in his quest to save his family in the Oregon wilderness. That's six more miles than first thought.

Priority now is finding the vandal who cut a lock on a gate that should have blocked the road the Kim's took on November 25th. They spent more than a week stranded in their SUV. James Kim died of hypothermia after setting out alone to get help. His wife and two children stayed behind and were rescued.

What's it like to be trapped in the wilderness? Well, for two weeks, Daryl Jane battled for survival inside this jeep. Snow piled up, he fought panic, he fought cold. On the eighth day, he gave up and wrote a good-bye note. But then he made a discovery that gave him hope and saved his life.

Daryl, welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM.

DARYL JANE, TRAPPED FOR TWO WEEKS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Take me back. Where were you, and how did you get stranded?

JANE: I was on Route 23, about 25 miles from the town of Morton. And I got stuck in about six inches of snow.

PHILLIPS: And you had -- you didn't have a cell phone. You didn't know where you were? Kind of give me a sense for why you weren't able to figure out how do get out of there.

JANE: Well, I had a cellphone. There's just no reception in the area. I tried to use it several times, but I didn't have any luck. I knew where I was going. I'd been on that route before. And I didn't have any problems. The road was open when I went on it. I passed a camper. I passed a group loading Christmas trees. I didn't foresee any problems.

PHILLIPS: So, but why didn't you make the decision to get out of the car and try to make it back to those campers or back down the road?

JANE: I did. I got stuck Saturday about 3:30, 4:00. It was already starting to get dark. I figured it was a beautiful day. It was a blue sky. It was sunny. It was like spring. So I figured I'd better just stay here in my car tonight and tomorrow I'll walk out and see what I can do.

So on Sunday morning, it was still really nice out. I got out. I walked about 600 yards away from my jeep. And it was, you know, still about seven inches of snow. I only had on tennis shoes and socks. I didn't have on really warm gear.

I got, like I said, about 600 yards away, and I started to get nervous. I said I'm really cold already. I saw cougar tracks in the snow. I didn't feel like it was a smart thing for me to walk, try to walk 25 miles in those conditions.

PHILLIPS: Wow. So you went back to your jeep. And day two, day three, day four. Then you hit day eight. And you decided to write a good-bye letter. Why?

JANE: Well, going back, it didn't start snowing until Monday night. So I felt that anytime somebody would come driving up that road, see me, pull me out, and I'd head back and be fine.

Monday night is when the blizzard rolled in. And from what I've been told, it's the worst snow in Washington history in that area. It pretty much snowed constantly for the next 12 days. So after Monday night, Tuesday morning, there was no chance I was going anywhere.

PHILLIPS: Why did you start -- why did you write a letter? Why were you writing a good-bye letter?

JANE: Well, on the eighth day -- well prior to that, the day before, I ran out of water. I had almost a gallon of water with me, and I rationed it as much as I could. On the eighth day I ran out and I realized, you know, I was going to die of thirst or freezing, you know.

So I wrote the good-bye note, telling them I was going to look for water. And I got about 30 feet away from my jeep, and as luck would have it, I fell down a little ravine and landed into a trickle of snow melt.

And I don't know if it was coming from the top of the mountain, but it was enough to where I could scoop a little coffee cup I had, put it into my jug, and I was able to fill my water jug up, make it back to the jeep, and, you know, that gave me a lot of hope.

PHILLIPS: Now, you -- from what I understand, this is pretty brutal. You even started saving your urine just because you were afraid of not having anything to drink? Is that right?

JANE: Well, no, no. I wasn't going to drink my urine. I remember hearing from survival stories that you need to urinate as frequently as possible because it actually takes body heat and moisture from your body to keep it warm. So I had a plastic bottle, and I just used that, and I dumped it out every chance I had.

PHILLIPS: Wow. But still, you were thinking about these survival techniques. Where did that come from? These were things you had learned along the way?

JANE: Right, just television, movies, books, you know, I didn't have anything else to think about. So I just tried to think as much as possible on how I could get through the next few hours.

PHILLIPS: Now, you also started to have some panic attacks. How did you handle that? JANE: Well, yes. It was pretty scary. I was getting buried alive in the snow. I mean, I think is it snowed about eight feet. It was up to the top of my jeep, you know, by the end of it. All I could really get open was my driver's side door toward the end there.

So I would just crack it open a little bit, and I'd scrape the snow away that would gather. And close it right back again to keep the warmth in. I just did that night after night.

PHILLIPS: Did you meditate? Did you pray? Did you talk out loud?

JANE: I did. I did meditate a lot. I did pray. And I just held faith. I mean, the most amazing part about this, to me, is my family. I've just been learning the past couple of days what they went through to find me, to figure out the route that I was on. They were certain what road I was on.

And through their own personal efforts, they were able to find me. If the snowmobilers hadn't come in and found me on that day, I had a group of family and friends that were ready to snowshoe in there 30 miles and find me.

PHILLIPS: Wow, so Daryl, when you saw the James Kim story, did you start having flashbacks? I know that you actually got on the road, you wanted to help in the search, but then they found his body, unfortunately. But when the story broke, what was going through your head?

JANE: Well, I heard about it Monday, the Saturday prior I had been found. And I just couldn't -- there was some similarities. I don't want to go into. I mean, what he did is a lot different than what I did. He had to sit out of his car because he had to save his family. I was just there by myself. And what Katie did to save her children, it's beyond what I did.

PHILLIPS: When you were found, what was the first thing you wanted to do?

JANE: I wanted to see my family again. You know, that was the main thing that kept going through my mind. I want to get back, and I don't want this -- because it was during Thanksgiving. I don't want this to be a bad Thanksgiving story, you know. And I knew they were looking for me. I knew they were worried sick and I just wanted to get back and see those guys.

PHILLIPS: Are you friends with your rescuers?

JANE: Oh, yes. He's a great guy. There were about -- I think there were five snowmobilers that day. Four of them couldn't make it. I mean, the road was so treacherous, there were trees down. It was unbelievably deep snow. One guy, Jim Bezlow, said he's going to keep going. He went an extra five miles to find me and he did.

PHILLIPS: Well, I was reading that every day you woke up, you were setting goals. Today, I'm going to make it. I'm going to stay alive. I'm going to make sure I find something to drink. So you mentally kept yourself going. You think that was the key?

JANE: Maybe one of the keys. The more I learn, the biggest key is my family. I mean, my family's personal effort to come find me. They never gave up on me. They were unbelievable. I just -- I wouldn't have enough time to tell you what they went through and how they found me on that day and what they were willing to do to find me.

PHILLIPS: You're a lucky man. Daryl Jane, thanks for sharing your story.

JANE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, tonight CNN goes beyond the headlines and behind the tears for an emotional look at one man's heroic sacrifice to save his family. We've been talking about James Kim. Just tune in at 8:00 Eastern. for "Stranded -- the James Kim Ordeal." It's a special "PAULA ZAHN NOW" only here on CNN.

LEMON: And straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, entertainment news with our very own A.J. Hammer, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" A.J. what's up?

A.J. HAMMER, CNN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Hey, Don. Well, today we've got two celebrities with DUI arrests, one who was cuffed this morning, the other who is making a comeback. We'll tell you about them coming up next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It's almost bigger news when a celebrity doesn't have a mug shot. There's another celebrity mug shot to add to your collection.

"SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer joins us with Nicole Richie's run-in with the California Highway Patrol.

Hey, A.J.

A.J. HAMMER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don.

Nicole Richie's troubles started very early this morning when the reality TV star was arrested for driving under the influence. It took place at 4:50 in the morning in Los Angeles. She was spotted driving the wrong way on a freeway and before she came to a stop in the carpool lane, where police arrested her. And now Richie wasn't drinking, apparently. But she did admit to police that she had smoked marijuana and taken Vicodin. And that's no good.

This is not her first brush with drugs. She was busted for heroin possession in 2003. Now, those charges were eventually dismissed. And Richie has also admitted to a four-year addiction to cocaine.

She of course is the 25 year-old daughter of pop star Lionel Richie. And she's currently out in this situation on $15,000 bail. She will be arraigned tomorrow. Now, one of the more eye-opening items on this police report, Don, was the fact that Richie, who has had issues keeping her weight on, was listed in the police report as being 5'1" and weighing 85 pounds. Also no good, Don.

LEMON: Oh, my gosh. Yes, that's a whole another show.

So does this have any impact on her career, any other stars' career when they have a DUI on their record?

HAMMER: You would think it would, but you kind of have to wonder about it, given all that's going on these days. Mel Gibson, certainly a guy who can relate to Richie since he had his own very infamous DUI arrest over the summer. It hasn't hurt his new movie "Apocalypto" at all, at least in terms of its box office ranking.

The film, about the end of the Mayan civilization, has a script written entirely in Mayan dialect, no name actors in the film. Put all that together with Gibson's anti-Semitic meltdown, kind of seems like it would be the "Perfect Storm" to not open at number one. But it just did just that over the weekend, taking in just over $14 million.

Yes, number one, but relatively speaking, that's really not a lot of money. I want to give you perspective on that. A year ago today, the number one film in the nation was "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". That took in more than $65 million in its opening weekend.

"Apocalypto's" 14 million bucks also wouldn't have even been enough to finish out at number one for 43 of the 49 weekends this year. On the other hand, ten years ago, another Gibson film opened up at the box office with just under $10 million take. That movie was "Braveheart", and, unaffected by that paltry first weekend, it of course went on to win the Best Picture Oscar and take in more than $200 million worldwide, Don.

So scandal? Who cares?

LEMON: Yes, and we're kind of going, you know, $14 million, I'd take it. I'd take $14 million.

HAMMER: Yes, and it's relatively speaking, as I said, I mean, compared to $65 million at the box office, it really is not a lot of money.

LEMON: So does scandal sell after all?

HAMMER: Well, it appears maybe it does in fact do that.

One entity hoping that scandal stays away is the NFL, particularly during the Super Bowl Halftime Show. You know what I'm talking about with this particular game.

Now, the league has announced that this guy, Prince, is going to be playing the halftime show this year. But of course, when we talk Super Bowl Halftime Shows, we have to keep in mind the shadow cast by the infamous Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake wardrobe malfunction. It'll come up every year.

Prince's shows used to be pretty racy, but he has toned down his act over the last few years. Hopefully this show will be entertaining with his clothes fully on and not attracting the attention of the FCC.

Super Bowl XLI is going to be played in Miami this year on February 4th.

Now, coming up tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT", inside on the story of Nicole Richie's DUI arrest. We're going to have much more on the shocking revelation of how much she really weighs. And does that, in fact, show that she has an eating disorder? And what's going to happen to Nicole next? We will have the late-breaking details for you tonight on TV's most provocative entertainment news show, which of course is "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT".

We'll see you at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on "HEADLINE PRIME".

LEMON: Yes, we'll be watching, A.J.. But I mean, it's just -- seems like just a sad, bad story all the way around. We certainly wish her well.

HAMMER: Yes. We do want her to be healthy. There's no question about that. And I know, having spoken to her dad, Lionel, he is worried about her.

LEMON: Yes. A.J. Hammer, we'll be watching. Thank you.

HAMMER: Thank you, Don.

PHILLIPS: Diplomats, historians, former generals: President Bush is all ears as he goes beyond Baker-Hamilton for advice on Iraq. We're tracking his listening tool.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com