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Latest on Search for Three Missing Climbers on Mount Hood; Implications of Senator Tim Johnson's Illness on Control of Senate
Aired December 15, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.
For the next three hours, watch events happen live this Friday, December 15th.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Blizzard conditions on Mount Hood. Finding three stranded climbers may be nearly impossible today. Our Rick Sanchez shows us how the men might survive.
HARRIS: Breast cancer rates taking a dramatic plunge. Halting hormone treatments may be the key. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us.
COLLINS: And Wii've got a problem. Nintendo recalls of Wii game controllers. Straps are breaking. Game pieces are flying. See it all in THE NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: At the top this morning, slammed in the Pacific Northwest. A major winter storm pounding Oregon and Washington State. Heavy rain, snow and winds as strong as a hurricane. Overnight, gusts blew almost 100 miles an hour. Three deaths are blamed on the storm. Hundreds of thousands of people are without power this morning. Flooding is a real concern. In the higher elevations, snow is the problem. Blizzard warnings now up for the Cascade Mountains.
COLLINS: That Pacific storm making the search for three missing climbers a near mission impossible today.
CNN's Chris Lawrence now from Parkdale, Oregon.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A beacon of hope in a grueling search for three missing climbers. Authorities say they detected a new cell phone signal on Tuesday from Kelly James, who is believed to be tucked in a snow cave near the summit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart was in my throat when I heard that, because if it's true, it means that Kelly is alive and that he has his wits about him.
LAWRENCE: But there has been no sign of the other two, who apparently left the cave Saturday looking for help.
KAREN JAMES, WIFE OF KELLY JAMES: Our spirits are still high. These are three of the most phenomenal men you could ever meet. And they're smart, they're strong and they care so deeply for one another.
LAWRENCE: The brutal weather, including avalanche warnings, kept even the most experienced rescue crews well below the 10,000-foot level, where James is stuck.
DEPUTY CHRIS GUERTIN, HOOD RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We don't have, really, much of an idea where Mr. Hall and Mr. Cooke are at right now. They could be up at the top with Mr. James. They could be in a snow cave down lower. That's why we're kind of continuing some of our lower elevation searches for a snow cave or whatever signs we can come up with.
LAWRENCE: The U.S. military and FBI have joined the local search. Rescuers also have high tech drones that can detect body heat. But hurricane force winds grounded the aerial search on Thursday.
Despite the grim conditions, Kelly James' wife is not giving up.
JAMES: My husband proposed to me on Mount Rainier and we're planning our 50th wedding anniversary there, so I know he's coming off this mountain.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS: Chris Lawrence joining us now live -- Chris, how much hope are authorities really hanging on that cell phone hit?
LAWRENCE: Well, Heidi, the family is obviously hoping that it was Kelly James himself turning his phone off and on. The sheriff's department says more than likely it was probably a dying battery, or perhaps a roaming signal that just momentarily caught a receiver.
COLLINS: But a signal, nonetheless, is it not, that they could still hopefully hone in on?
LAWRENCE: That's right. They have the technology to hone in on that signal, to generally pinpoint where it is. But the problem is even if, say, over the next couple of days, we get a clear day, you know, the snow clears up, you get bright blue skies, there has been so much snow and these blizzards over the past few days, there are huge overhangs of snow up on those higher elevations and the authorities say there is a very, very high danger of an avalanche when it comes to trying to send rescue crews up that mountain.
COLLINS: Boy, it is absolutely treacherous.
All right, Chris Lawrence, thanks for that, from Parkdale, Oregon this morning. HARRIS: And later in THE NEWSROOM, facing the fury of Mother Nature. Check this out. Look at those pictures. CNN's Rick Sanchez is on the story. We will check in with him and his report a little later this hour.
COLLINS: Chad Myers joining us now to talk more about this specific area of Oregon -- and, Chad, we were talking a few days ago about a possible break in the weather and these terrible winds and so forth tomorrow.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right.
COLLINS: But as we heard from Chris Lawrence, it seems like now the threat is really going to be the pileup of all that snow and avalanche conditions.
MYERS: Right.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: A critical time for a critically ill senator. A spokesman for Senator Tim Johnson calls the next 48 hours a benchmark. Johnson is recovering from brain surgery, his condition closely watched now on Capitol Hill.
Our Dana Bash is there.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The incoming Senate majority leader tried to sound optimistic.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY-LEADER DESIGNATE: We're all praying for a full recovery. We're confident that will be the case.
BASH: The Capitol physician announced surgery to remove blood from Senator Tim Johnson's brain was successful and former Senator Tom Daschle emerged from the hospital voicing confidence his friend would be able to return to work.
QUESTION: Did you see him?
TOM DASCHLE (D), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: It looks encouraging, yes.
QUESTION: There's no way he's going to give up his seat, I guess.
DASCHLE: No need to.
BASH: But there is little information about the South Dakota Democrats' prognosis, so no relief from the uncertainty gripping the Capitol as to whether Senate Democrats will be able to hold onto the narrow majority they won in November.
The what ifs are unavoidable. If Johnson's Democratic seat were to become vacant, South Dakota's governor, a Republican, would pick a replacement to serve out his term. If the GOP governor picked a fellow Republican, the Democrats would lose their 51-49 majority. The Senate would become evenly split, 50-50.
Since the vice president casts tie-breaking votes in the Senate, Republicans would then be in control.
The Senate's Democratic leader dismissed any talk his party could lose power.
REID: There isn't a thing that's changed. The Republicans selected their committees yesterday. We have completed ours. The -- I have a very busy succeed today, going ahead and getting ready for the next year.
BASH: The fact is the only way a governor can replace a sitting senator is if he dies or if he resigns.
JAMES THURBER, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Senators can serve indefinitely, even though they're gravely ill. We've had lots of examples of that. There's no way to legally remove them unless they're convicted of high crimes and treason.
BASH: In 1969, another South Dakota senator, Carl Mundt, suffered a stroke and refused to resign. He ended up serving four years without casting a vote.
The incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden, had surgery for a brain aneurism in 1988 and did not come to work for seven months.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS: Dana Bash joining us now live from Capitol Hill -- and Dana, you know, it's such a sensitive topic to talk about. No one wants to talk about what ifs. But the fact of the matter is it is the government of the country, it is public service.
Has anyone had a conversation with South Dakota Governor Mike Round that you know about, as far as who he may appoint if that becomes necessary?
BASH: Well, I spoke with the governor's press secretary late yesterday, who said that the only thing the governor is thinking about and talking about right now is Senator Johnson's health, his condition, his prognosis. He insists that they are having zero discussions at all about the possibility of replacing him.
And, Heidi, just to sort of give us a sense of the dynamic here in the Capitol, it's pretty much the same even in this era of intense, intense partisanship. Talk to any Republicans, they say we're not going there, not even privately.
I talked to one rather annoyed, frankly, Republican senator yesterday who said that any talk of replacing Senator Johnson right now because of his illness is simply ghoulish.
COLLINS: All right, Dana Bash live from Capitol Hill.
Thank you, Dana.
HARRIS: A final salute for one of the architects of the Iraq War. Donald Rumsfeld's last day on the job.
And CNN's Jamie McIntyre is live from the Pentagon this morning -- and, Jamie, the Secretary has been a bit emotional on this farewell tour.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's been a week of farewells for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. It began a week from today, when he said good-bye to employees here at the Pentagon.
Then he popped off to Iraq for a surprise visit with the troops. He said, at one point he told one of his advisers, you know, I shouldn't go to Iraq. I'm a lame duck. They don't want to hear one last quack from me.
But General Pace said no, no, sir, you should go. And so he did, not telling anyone, and just making a round of tours of bases in Iraq to say good-bye.
He leaves under some criticism that he was the architect of the war in Iraq, which is now bogged down in its fourth year. But in his good-bye message to the troops, broadcast around the world yesterday, he made no acknowledgement of any mistakes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: What you are accomplishing is not simply important, it is historic. When the cause of human freedom required men and women to stand on the front lines in its defense, you stepped forward to liberate more than 50 million citizens in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
You captured or killed tens of thousands of extremists, taking the fight to where they live, rather than waiting for the extremists to attack us again where our families live.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Now, today is the final formal military farewell, with full honors. The president and vice president will be here. Rumsfeld technically will remain defense secretary over the weekend, until his successor, former CIA Director Robert Gates, is sworn in on Monday.
So, this will be his last day in the office, but it's not technically his last day on the job. He is still responsible.
After that, Rumsfeld has not made clear what his plans are. He said he might write a book. He said he always thought he was too young to write a book, but at 74, he says he can't say that anymore -- Tony.
HARRIS: Jamie, what's the mood? How would you assess the mood at the Pentagon today?
MCINTYRE: Well, you know, I know that Rumsfeld has a lot of critics. But believe it or not, there are quite a few people here who respect and admire him greatly and are going to be very sorry to see him go. And, of course, he has a great deal of personal charm and although he's seen as a tough boss, I've talked to a lot of people who worked closely with him and they think quite a bit of him.
So they say they're going to miss him, even though the universal opinion is that Robert Gates is very qualified and will probably do an excellent job.
HARRIS: Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, for us.
Jamie, thank you -- hey, Heidi.
We're going to take everybody to Doha, Qatar.
COLLINS: I love this.
HARRIS: All right, you love this story?
COLLINS: I love this story.
HARRIS: Tell everybody why we love this story today.
COLLINS: Because it's the good news in Iraq.
HARRIS: Oh, it is the good news, really. The game is being played. We're talking about and you're watching the finals of the Asian Games -- soccer, football, obviously. But here's -- here's why we love this story.
Iraq is obviously playing in the finals here. The good news out of Iraq and Baghdad is that it is a quiet day in the city of Baghdad and the surrounding areas.
Why?
Because this seems to be the day when all of the various sects in Iraq are one country -- Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds -- everyone else in that big old melting pot over there gathered together to watch this game on television right now.
No score. We will follow it. We are kind of rooting for Iraq because we hate to talk about what might happen if Iraq loses this. So we'll keep an eye on this game and the outcome.
COLLINS: A big drop in breast cancer rates and new questions about hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us this morning on this story.
HARRIS: A driver drops in, literally, on an Orlando shopping mall. A dramatic plunge follows.
You see that?
The story behind the pictures coming up in THE NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: More than just idle chatter. The government says it was barber shop terror talk. The shop owner is now on the run, the Feds on the hunt.
HARRIS: And one woman says this was a house of horror.
Nine months later, as the woman who accused Duke players of rape become a mother?
An odd turn in the case.
You are in THE NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And the new developments in the Duke rape investigation. A source close to the case tells CNN that the accuser is pregnant and could give birth at any time. CNN affiliate WRAL in Raleigh reports that she gave birth, actually, last night.
This comes about nine months after the woman claims she was sexually assaulted at an off campus party where she was hired to dance. Three members of the Duke University lacrosse team denied charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense. Lawyers for the accused students say the DNA evidence does not match the defendant's or any member of the lacrosse team.
COLLINS: A look now at a medical story that could impact millions of women. A sudden and dramatic decline in breast cancer rates. The focus is not on what women and doctors did, rather what they didn't do.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joining us now in THE NEWSROOM.
And I'm looking at an article here that says this could well be the study of the year in cancer.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It could be. And some people are even being more dramatic than that, saying, you know, from 1975 to 2000, we saw the steady increase in breast cancer cases. They couldn't get a win here. But finally you see this real drop. I mean this is a significant one, 7 percent across all breast cancer cases. That's about 14,000 fewer breast cancer cases a year.
COLLINS: Man.
GUPTA: Heidi, they haven't had a win like this for some time and they're starting to piece together exactly what happened here. But it's certainly good news. It's good to report good news every now and then.
COLLINS: Absolutely. And put it into context for us, if you would.
When you're talking about that many cases fewer, means what?
GUPTA: Well, you know, it means that when they -- they had all these studies about hormone replacement therapy in 2001 and at first they believed it was this panacea, it could cure all ills. And then they started to say wait a second, it doesn't do all those things. It possibly increases your risk of breast cancer and heart disease. Let's start curtailing the numbers.
They're starting to see the impact of that curtailing now. They're starting to see, in fact, what they believed might be true, that, in fact, the breast cancer cases have started to go down.
They are linking it almost entirely to this decrease in hormone replacement therapy, which I think is very interesting. They believed it and now it's starting to come out true. It's only been a year's worth of data...
COLLINS: Right.
GUPTA: ... so it's hardly a trend, but they're starting to see some positive numbers.
COLLINS: And it's almost, probably fair to say that you can never have enough study groups. And there's one physician who's saying that epidemiology can never prove causality.
I mean do we really, really know that this was it?
GUPTA: I think that's a really important point. And not everyone has signed off on this yet, in part because it's only a year's worth of data. And you can't provide, in fact, that the lack of hormones, for sure, led to the decrease in breast cancer cases.
What is pretty well accepted, though, is that estrogen, as a hormone, in large doses, does appear to fuel breast cancer. So if you had a small tumor, that wouldn't have been a problem your entire life and you started -- suddenly started giving it fire through this estrogen, you can actually make it grow. And that's something that people have thought and believed for some time.
Whether the reverse is true, your question, not proven yet. But you're starting to see more and more data.
COLLINS: Definitely.
All right, so that question is still, isn't it dependent on who the individual is and what your body needs, as to whether or not you take these drugs or not?
GUPTA: You know, exactly. And, you know, out of all of the stories that I do, I think this is the story that I get more questions about than anything else.
COLLINS: I bet.
GUPTA: And women are confused and they're frustrated, because nothing works as well as hormone replacement therapy to take control of those debilitating symptoms of menopause.
The best advice, I think, is that you've got to take a smallest dose as you can for the shortest amount of time. It's a risk. You've got to weigh those risks with the benefits it provides to you.
COLLINS: The key to medicine, right?
GUPTA: That is. It all comes back to that.
COLLINS: I get it now.
GUPTA: You're done. M.D.
COLLINS: All right, I'm now a physician.
All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks, as always.
GUPTA: Thank you.
HARRIS: Facing the fury of Mother Nature...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: It's a biting cold. It's hard to see. In fact, it's downright painful.
The question now is if you are stuck in these conditions, what do you do? How do you survive?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: How do you survive?
CNN's Rick Sanchez finds out in THE NEWSROOM.
A big day for the baby panda.
COLLINS: My second favorite story.
HARRIS: This -- right. The cub -- ooh, was that a wiggle? Was that a wiggle?
COLLINS: You know, I'm told, our producer says he's a little cold on the floor there where the hay...
HARRIS: She.
COLLINS: She, sorry. Sorry.
HARRIS: Come on now.
COLLINS: We don't have the name yet so I'm not... HARRIS: Right.
COLLINS: But -- and so she keeps kind of scooting over to where it might be just a little bit warmer with all of that hay.
Isn't that sweet?
HARRIS: A centimeter at a time and then I'm tired, I need a break.
COLLINS: Oh.
HARRIS: Throw me in some more bamboo. The big naming ceremony this morning, 10:00 a.m. We will bring it to you, our hope is live.
COLLINS: Oh, it's big.
HARRIS: It's big.
And we are Minding Your Business this morning.
Ali Velshi here with a preview -- Ali, good morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why have you got to do that to me?
HARRIS: Every morning, it seems.
VELSHI: Why have you got to do that?
Why have you got to bring me up after the cute pandas? The little white (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
HARRIS: Yesterday it was Kareem and now it's the panda.
VELSHI: ... keep viewers by doing that?
You say come back, we'll tell you about the pandas. No. Come back, the chubby bald guy is going to tell you about business.
Another record on the Dow. I'm going to tell you whether or not today is going to be a fantastic day and I'll come up with a cute name for myself, too.
Stay in THE NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: All you video game lovers out there, even you moms and dads better listen up to this one. There is a problem with the Wii. Nintendo says it's recalling more than three million of the controller straps to the new computer game. It seems gamers are getting a bit excited, losing their minds, losing their grip on the controller, launching them into TVs, lamps, windows, you name it.
Nintendo intends to beef up the strap, though. They're going to make it a little bit tougher. Wiis have been a very, very hot seller.
Look it, see, there's Miles. I think he broke one right off the bat. And so we're going to take a look at that in just a few minutes, his full package and the brutality of it all.
But, boy, it is a hot, hot game hitting the market last month, everybody trying to get it.
HARRIS: Boy, that's for sure.
Well, let's talk about something else that's hot. The Dow had another record close yesterday, up about 100 points. But that rally may not last for much longer.
Ali Velshi is Minding Your Business this morning -- Ali, things seemed to be going so well.
What are you talking about? What is the sour note you're sounding here?
VELSHI: Yes, after all, you were talking about the cute little pandas and all of that.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: Well, here's the thing. First of all, this is the nineteenth record close on the Dow. And it's not just a Dow thing. The Standard & Poor's 500 is up. The Nasdaq is up. In fact, yesterday saw record closes in the United States, in China, in Australia, in New Zealand in and Canada.
So the worldwide markets are doing pretty well, and for a lot of the same reasons. I mean this week here, just in the U.S. alone, we had merger news on Monday, United Airlines and Continental talking about a merger.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: That's great in the business world. We had a Fed that didn't move on interest rates on Tuesday. We had good news about retail sales on Wednesday. Yesterday we had lower than normal unemployment claims numbers. And just a little while ago, about an hour ago, we got inflation numbers that are unchanged.
So all of that is good news.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: On the other hand, we have a couple of things that are not so good, and this might be the day that it all comes out to roost.
HARRIS: Hey, what is happening with Apple?
I guess there was a story a couple of days ago, and I know that's a major stock and something that we watch...
VELSHI: Yah.
HARRIS: ... a bit of a bellwether for us. And there was a story that iTunes -- that is Apple, right?
VELSHI: Yes, that's right.
HARRIS: Is that a part of their whole line?
VELSHI: That's right. Yes.
HARRIS: And there were some sagging numbers there with the iTunes.
VELSHI: Yes, there was a report from one of these companies that track this sort of thing that sales are down now.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: It's hard to track and it's unclear because I saw another report this morning that says that's not true.
So that's something you have to watch. I'm not sure where that falls.
But what the other
HARRIS: Problem is, is that both Apple and another company we know of very well, Dell, both considered bellwethers to tech investors, both have delayed the filing of their earnings reports for -- because they're looking into financial practices.
Now, these are big, solid companies. When that starts to happen, that makes people wonder about how widespread this whole options backdating situation is. So look to see what people do about those kind of stocks today. This is the, you know, like everything else, this is the season that matters for Apple.
HARRIS: Right. Right.
VELSHI: This is when they sell all those iPods.
The other thing to look at, Tony, is at oil prices. Yesterday edging up toward $63 a barrel after we had seen it sort of slow down a lot. OPEC meeting yesterday in Nigeria, saying that ah, you know what? They kind of want to keep oil prices above $60 a barrel, so they might cut some production.
And we've got, overnight, a problem in Nigeria where rebels have taken control of a Shell oil platform...
HARRIS: But that seems to be a constant story over there where...
VELSHI: Right, but...
HARRIS: ... where periodically, but constantly, it seems... VELSHI: That's right.
HARRIS: ... we get these stories of violence with the oil fields over in Nigeria.
VELSHI: It's true. But they've got some hostages there. It's the sixth largest oil producer in the world. And when you drink up every ounce of oil that the world produces and when you're America, the world's biggest oil producer, that stuff kind of matters.
Now the good news we heard earlier this week is that we've got enough oil stockpiled in the United States. In fact, for this time of year, we've got the highest level of stockpiling since about 1988.
Except, we've got a problem in the Houston shipping channel. It's a 53-mile channel that goes from Texas City, Texas over to Houston. It's shrouded in fog. There are about 40 ships waiting to get in, about 30 waiting to get out. And that -- the oil on those ships goes to the refineries, which work 24-7 to give us all the gasoline we need.
HARRIS: I see.
VELSHI: So, a bunch of things in play today.
HARRIS: Yes, yes.
VELSHI: I'm not saying it's not going to be good, but there's things in play. If you're in the stock market, today is a good day to pay attention.
HARRIS: Yes.
There he is Minding Your Business, Ali Velshi this morning.
Ali, appreciate it.
Thank you, sir.
VELSHI: Good to see you, buddy.
COLLINS: It's hard to imagine what the missing climbers are going through today. That weather is absolutely brutal, as we have seen from our live reporter there, Chris Lawrence.
We have noticed that the weather was supposed to be a little bit better as of tomorrow. That's what we have been reporting, that there would be some sort of break. But looking at some of the blizzard conditions now, it seems that may not be as likely.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Chad, stick around, I want to talk to you on the back side of this package. We want to show this to our viewers now, because it is so hard to imagine what those climbers are going through on this very day. Our Rick Sanchez braves the cold and snow and wind to give us a better idea. He was at Loveland Pass in Colorado.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There are places on earth where you feel God's fury, but I can't imagine any of them being any worse than this. What we're feeling right now, we're about -- almost 12,000 feet. This is the continental divide. I've been in enough hurricanes to know what hurricane force gusts, if not winds, feel like. This is easily at least 60-mile-an-hour gusts that are blowing through here. At times it's difficult to stand up. It's a biting cold. It's hard to see. In fact, it's down right painful. The question now is if you are stuck in these conditions, what do you do? How do you survive?
(voice-over): We've elicited the help of two renowned mountaineering experts who teach the first order of business is to build a snow cave. Without it, you will not survive.
PHIL POWERS, AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB: We would just get in there, into that cave, get on our backs, insulate ourselves from the snow and stay warm, huddle close together all night.
SANCHEZ: Even in a snow cave you could still get slammed by an avalanche, but experienced mountaineers avoid it by taking into account both slope and snow density when figuring out where to camp.
MICHAEL ALKAITIS, AMERICAN MOUNTAIN GUIDES ASSOC.: We can't see the top of that peak. Look straight up there, because of this wind, you can't see it.
SANCHEZ: But could that start an avalanche at any time?
ALKAITIS: It's not tall enough right now to start an avalanche, if it did slide, it has no energy.
SANCHEZ: But by far the biggest killer is the weather itself. Within hours of being exposed, mountaineers can suffer hypothermia which causes them to become strangely delusional.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you'd eventually become (INAUDIBLE), think that the snow is really warm and soft and lay down and go to sleep forever.
SANCHEZ: It is why some victims are found disrobed. They actually believe it's warm in freezing weather. Experts, who recommend not going into these conditions without a shovel, a backpack, a headlamp, a compact stove to melt water and at least a sleeping bag, say even with these items, under extreme conditions, you'll still only be able to hold on for so long. Rick Sanchez, CNN, Loveland Pass, Colorado.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Want to bring our Chad Myers back in now. And Chad, we thought it would be interesting to kind of provide a little bit more perspective for our viewers on the vertical of these mountains. Rick being in Colorado, Loveland Pass there, it's about 11,000 feet. Mt. Hood is about the same altitude, but what about the vertical? I mean it makes them two very, very different mountains.
MYERS: You know, you climbed Pike's Peek, right? You said that, I just got the e-mail from you.
COLLINS: Yes, which is a14-er, 14,000 foot. But it was really, it was a hike. It was just nothing in comparison to the vertical of these other mountains.
MYERS: You have hike and you have climb. And I know there was some hiking and some climbing going on in Rick's piece, but he literally drove to that 11,000 foot peak. He drove to Loveland Pass. Well you can't drive to the peak here. Clearly, there are roads about halfway up, but that's about it. This is the vertical nature of Pike's Peak -- or of Mt. Hood. But now we are going to fly you to Loveland Pass and show you, like most of the mountains in Colorado are literally rocky mountains and not volcanoes. And so you don't get that vertical nature. Here's Loveland Pass. There's the pass right across the -- the road right there. This is 6, U.S. 6, Colorado 6. That, you can see, you can actually drive along and then get over and then back down the other side. Well, it's not as vertical in Colorado. It is a hike, rather than, let's say, the climb with picks and so on and so on. And these guys were going to do it -- they thought they were going to do it in a couple of days and they just got stuck out there. They think one guy may have gotten injured so they had to go ahead or stop for a while, and that little bit of a stop may cost them a lot there.
COLLINS: I really didn't realize that we were talking about rocks versus volcanoes, so appreciate the explanation very much. All right, Chad Myers, thanks.
HARRIS: All right Chad, Heidi, we're going to take you back to the soccer pitch now. We're watching this closely. Qatar, Dohar, Qatar. Here's what's interesting about this. Obviously we're watching the Asian games going on right now. One of the national teams out of Iraq has made it to the finals here, playing one of the national teams -- oh, geez -- from Qatar. What's interesting is yesterday all kinds of violence we were reporting at the top of the newscast here out of Baghdad. Today, we can't believe it, talking to our folks at the international desk here at CNN, a very quiet day on the streets of Baghdad, and throughout the countryside there in Iraq. Why? Because of what you're watching now. This soccer game. It seems that the country is gripped by it and watching it. Sunnis, all of the sects, Shiite, all watching the game today. Here's the difficult news to report right now. The score is 1-0, Qatar. We really need that to turn around and Iraq, just so that you know who is playing and the colors -- Iraq is the team -- correct me here -- in green, correct? Ok, Iraq is the team in green, losing right now, 1-0. Just amazing, if you are talking about a way forward, maybe it's through sports, more international sports, maybe, certainly soccer. Reality tomorrow, of course, and part of that reality is needing more, more of everything, not less help from the United States. The Iraqi army has a wish list and it is growing. CNN's Nic Robertson has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): He won't show his face, but the Iraqi army general with his back to the camera, General Nasser, is the epitome of success, according to the U.S. military, his brigade almost stands alone. In the west of Baghdad, he controls several square miles, with a little over 2,000 Iraqi soldiers and no U.S. forces except 44 military trainers. But as I'm finding out, he's far from self-sufficient.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything that we need to make a change or to make American --
ROBERTSON: He needs American helicopter gun ships for big shootouts and U.S. army medics to fly in and treat his casualties.
(on camera): Even at a relatively simple check point like this, the Iraqi army still needs U.S. support to build the guard towers here, they need heavy lifting equipment. They don't have that. Among General Nasser's military trainers, or mitt team, there is no doubt the Iraqi army needs more, not less, including more mitt teams.
COL. KENNETH STONE, MILITARY ADVISER: And after a while you're a walking zombie, so when you have more people, you can be with the Iraqis 24 hours a day and they run 24 hour ops so that's just more training we can provide them.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): As General Nasser takes me on a tour of his base, he makes it clear he's counting on more U.S. support. This are your humvees here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, American humvee.
ROBERTSON: How many humvees do you have?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, in the brigade?
ROBERTSON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty-five.
ROBERTSON: Fifty-five humvees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ROBERTSON: That's good. Do you need more?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ROBERTSON: How many more?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five hundred.
ROBERTSON: You need 500. You have 55 and you need 500.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. ROBERTSON: He jokes about needing 500 humvees. The truth is it's not far short of that number. Without U.S. backing, Nasser says he will be fighting a losing battle.
(on camera): What is it going to take to win the battle against your own enemy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New equipment, training and intelligence services, that's all I need.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): It's a view shared by U.S. military advisers.
COL. JIM GRIESE, MILITARY ADVISER: Clearly that's our ticket out of here. That is our -- in keeping with our national strategy.
ROBERTSON: I asked General Nasser the multi billion dollar question. When will the army be ready? And how long before you can stand up on your own?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need equipment and I need training on the equipment. Then I can tell you, we don't need you anymore.
ROBERTSON: Iraq's army is going to be a very expensive U.S. ticket back home. Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: More than just idle chatter, the government says it was barbershop terror talk. The shop owner is on the run. The feds on the hunt.
And there you have it. The ringing of the bell. The opening bell, which boy, oh, boy, things are looking up. Looking real good. The Dow Jones industrial average closing at an all-time high yesterday, at 12,342. Gone up something like 90 points yesterday so we're going to be talking more about that a little bit later on in the NEWSROOM. Stick around, everybody.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Well, agents say it was a barbershop, customers in for a haircut and an education on jihad?
COLLINS: But the case against a shop owner are taking unexpected turns now. Take a look at this from CNN's Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): MTV meets jihad, in a strange stew of rap, reggae, western news footage and Islamic extremism.
This video urging violence against the U.S. and others showing violence and demonstrating how to build a bomb where the government alleges regular fare at a barbershop once located here in Seattle, Washington. In court documents, prosecutors say conversations inside featured open support for jihad and talk of acquiring weapons. The owner was Ruben Shumpert, an American, an ex-convict and a convert to Islam. Do you think this guy posed a real threat?
DAVID GOMEZ, FBI, SEATTLE: I do, I certainly do believe that he posed a threat to the security of the United States. These are some of the weapons that were involved in this case.
MESERVE: After a sprawling two-year, multi agency investigation, Shumpert and more than a dozen of his associates were arrested. Shumpert was charged with possessing one gun and passing counterfeit money, but there were no terror-related charges against Shumpert or any of the others.
BILL REDKEY, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: I think the FBI did exactly what it was supposed to do and it nipped this one in the bud before it could become more dangerous and more imminently dangerous to the rest of us.
MESERVE: But that's speculative.
REDKEY: It is, but that's the game we play these days.
MESERVE: Shumpert was released from jail to await sentencing. Then, just days before he was due back in court, a shocker.
GOMEZ: One of the case agents received a telephone call. Shumpert indicated that he was out of the country and wasn't going to show up.
MESERVE: Shumpert said he was in Somalia and authorities believe that's where he remains, well beyond their reach. The U.S. has no extradition treaty with Somalia, a chaotic and dangerous place, seething with anti-American and Jihadist rhetoric. The State Department advises Americans to stay away. Why Shumpert went there is a matter of debate. How he went is a story in itself. Did he have a U.S. passport?
REDKEY: Yes.
MESERVE: Was he supposed to have a U.S. passport?
REDKEY: No.
MESERVE: Surrendering his passport was a precondition for Shumpert's release from jail but no one ever forced him to give it up. Officials say it was up to Shumpert, an ex-convict. Shumpert, a man prosecutors felt was a flight risk, Shumpert a person law enforcement judged to be a threat to the country and its citizens, to voluntarily hand his passport in. He never did. The U.S. attorney admits it was a mistake but says Shumpert could have crossed the nearby border to Canada and traveled without it.
(on camera): Shumpert's mother refused to talk to us on camera because she's afraid she'll be harassed or even harmed. But she is adamant her son is not a terrorist. (voice-over): She compares Shumpert's barbershop to the movie "Barbershop" where there was free willing discussion on many topics, including religion.
CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER: You can talk about whoever and whatever, whenever you want to in the barber shop.
MESERVE: Two former customers agree.
JONATHAN SMITH, BARBER SHOP PATRON: He was a well respected person in the community and I'm not even Muslim, you know what I'm saying?
MESERVE: He was no terrorist as far as you're concerned?
SMITH: No terrorist to me.
SHAWN WILLIAMS, BARBER SHOP PATRON: I never seen nothing dealing with any destruction or anything with terror or anything that says that is harmful to humanity.
MESERVE: In a letter to the court, Shumpert said he did play anti-American videos but to educate Muslims to reject jihad. He had, he wrote, joined the fight against this evil ideology. Though terrorism charges were never filed, government court documents were replete with references to jihad. Shumpert's lawyer speculates that is why his client fled.
JIM VONASCH, SHUMPERT'S ATTORNEY: I think that he became upset by the fact that the government's memorandum mentioned these connections to terrorism, and he felt that that was unfair.
MESERVE: But the government says Shumpert has now shown his colors, by his actions, fleeing to Somalia, and by his words. In a second phone call from Africa, Shumpert allegedly told an FBI agent that he and his Muslim associates would destroy everything the United States stood for.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: CNN security watch keeps you up to date on safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
COLLINS: Taking charge. Will the new Defense Secretary shake things up at the Pentagon? We'll have a look ahead, in the NEWSROOM.
And a driver drops in on an Orlando shopping mall. Look at this. A dramatic plunge into the retail world. Don't miss it, coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Take a look at this. This is -- well, it's not your regular holiday trip to the mall, that's for sure. This car just keeps on coming. Surveillance video at the Altamonte Mall in Seminole County, Florida, shows the vehicle entering through the front door, heading for the escalator, and crashing 25 feet to the ground, Heidi. Police say it was an apparent suicide attempt. The driver --
COLLINS: Oh, good lord.
HARRIS: -- survived.
COLLINS: All right. Well, we were going to show it again, but that part I did not know.
There's a wonderful ceremony going on a little bit later on today. The medal of freedom will be given out.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: B.B. King, Norm Pineta, several other --
HARRIS: William Sapphire. That's happening in the next hour. Oh, about 10:10, 10:15 or so, and we're going to bring you that ceremony. It is wonderful every year.
COLLINS: It's really an incredible honor. It's the nation's highest civilian award, recognizing incredible service from these people. So, we'll take a look at that, and bring some happy thoughts and good things on a Friday. Right?
HARRIS: And still to come, a holiday horror story. When your office party becomes a stop on the way to the emergency room. Warning signs right here in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Isn't our party today?
HARRIS: Yes. Oh, no. Perfect timing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Ok, back to Dohar, Qatar, and that's it. That turned out to be the one and only -- the winning goal right there in the game between the national team there from Qatar and the national team from Iraq. Iraqis lost the game.
COLLINS: They did. And you know, there's a couple interesting things to point out here, too. Looking at some of these articles, Qatar they are the host of the Asian games, the home field advantage. Also, there's a -- their best player on the Iraqi team, not playing. He was suspended for time wasting in the semifinal.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: So, he was not there to play, obviously affected by that as we see the results here.
HARRIS: What's so interesting about it is what a difference a day makes. Yesterday we were talking about all the violence in Iraq, in Baghdad, Anbar Province. And today, we were talking to the folks over at the international desk, what a quiet day throughout Iraq. Everyone is watching the game, has been. Now it's over. 1-0, the Iraqi team loses. How important is soccer, football in Iraq? On the day that the Iraq Study Group report was released, this channel --
COLLINS: Jamie McIntyre reporting about it from the Pentagon, that's true.
HARRIS: Not a mention of the Iraq Study Group report. All it was, was about the game and their victory over Malaysia.
COLLINS: The Iraqi soccer team though there has definitely been some violence surrounding that. A football federation official murdered, a coach got death threats, Iraqi players have been kidnapped, one of them killed. It is just not an easy situation no matter where you are or what you're doing in Iraq. Even though these guys are mostly training outside of Iraq so that they could get a break from the perilous security situation.
We're going to move on now. A wild winter storm whipping the pacific northwest, complicating that desperate search in the mountains for three missing climbers. We are covering it in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Taking leave. Donald Rumsfeld's last day on the job. A legacy of war. Live to the Pentagon, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody, I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Spend a second hour in the NEWSROOM this morning and stay informed. Here's what's on the rundown. Furious snow, hurricane-strength winds, a live picture now from Mt. Hood. I'm not sure of that.
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