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American Morning
Denver Hit By Big Blizzard; U.S. Army Asks for More Troops
Aired December 21, 2006 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
And it's a white out, a huge storm is shutting down Denver. Roads closed, airports closed, thousands of people are stranded.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Controversial comments, a U.S. congressman says without immigration reform we will have many more Muslims in the United States.
O'BRIEN: Teflon solution, more than an ordinary facial twitch. This one's lasted for years until the right surgeon came along with a technique that involved Teflon implanted in the brain. Those stories, and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. Thursday, December 31st -- well, that was Freudian, wasn't it.
ROBERTS: It was.
O'BRIEN: December 21st, I mean. Welcome everybody, I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts in today for Miles O'Brien. Had you jumped ahead like that, there would be a lot of upset kids who missed Christmas.
O'BRIEN: Including my own, who'd be absolutely sobbing. Of course this is one of the biggest travel weekends of the year with Christmas right around the corner. Massive snow out west though is snarling traffic, grounding all the planes in fact at Denver International Airport. Thousands of passengers waking up on the floor there this morning. Some parts of Denver they've gotten up to three feet of snow. To the south, there's rain in the forecast. Four to six inches possible along the Mississippi River from Memphis to New Orleans. And then you've got this other storm returning to the northwest. More gusty winds and more possible snow there. You can see by the pictures, that's a place that's been just hard hit already. Complete coverage of the winter whiteout though in Colorado. To start with this morning, Patti Logan has been covering it for us from downtown Denver. Also we have severe weather expert Chad Myers who's following all the storms this morning. Let's start with Patti. Good morning, Patti.
PATTI LOGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again. I'll tell you, we've got life in Denver this morning. We've got some folks that are out with the snow blowers and the plows and the snow shovels. I think we're starting to get a little bit of life in the city. It's about 6:00 in the morning here now, and things are starting to happen. There are mostly people on foot, though, I must say. There aren't a lot of people in vehicles, which is probably a great thing, because I just saw somebody that was stuck down at the intersection at the end of the street where I am. So I think that the car travel is still going to be pretty dicey for today. But we do have some folks walking around, they're coming to the train station here, which is just in front of me. And they are actually going to be getting some trains out. So some folks are going to be moving. They are going to be leaving Denver. And later tonight we hope to get some people in at the airport as well. So things, you know, snow hasn't stopped, as you can tell. It's still coming down. It's coming down a little bit at an angle, but we've still got a blizzard here. Hopefully things will start moving a little bit more soon though.
O'BRIEN: All right Patti, we certainly hope so for you. Thanks for the update. Patti Logan for us. John?
ROBERTS: It's not just Colorado, Texas socked in with some winter weather as well. Trees down and roads slick in Amarillo. Crews were out cleaning roads on Wednesday after a night of snow and sleet. Some Texas towns got up to four inches of snow and power outages were reported in parts of Amarillo. And New Mexico is seeing snow as well. State police there are warning people not to travel between Albuquerque and Santa Fe because of snow packed and icy conditions up there in the higher elevations. Many public schools are closed in New Mexico as well.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: And if you're ever stuck at an airport away from your television, you can always get the latest forecast for thousands of cities around the world, at cnn.com. Make sure you've got your laptop, your blackberry, whatever with you and just log on. Soledad?
O'BRIEN: All right, let's turn to Iraq now where there is no letup in the violence this morning. The latest attack, a suicide bomber targeted a group of men who were waiting to sign up for the national police force in Baghdad. At least 10 people killed, 15 injured. And in Western Baghdad, two more people were killed in a car bombing.
Elsewhere in Iraq, the new secretary of defense getting an earful from U.S. troops. Some U.S. military commanders say a larger troop presence could do more harm than good. But at a breakfast this morning, the new Secretary of Defense Robert Gates heard a very different take from some of the troops on the ground. Let's get right to Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre. He is the only network correspondent traveling with Secretary Gates and has this report from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The question is, how much say should front line troops have in whether the U.S. pursues an option of surging tens of thousands of additional troops into Baghdad. That was a question that came up at a breakfast meeting between Robert Gates, the new defense secretary, and the small but representative sample of U.S. soldiers here in Baghdad. When Gates asked them the question, would you like to see more U.S. troops in Baghdad? The answer was a resounding yes. Specialist Jason Glenn's answer was typical.
SPEC. JASON GLENN, DEPLOYED TO IRAQ: I really think we need more troops here. I really think we need more troops in Iraq. I'm just thinking that maybe more presence on the ground, more troops, might be able to hold them off long enough to where we can actually be able to get some of the Iraqis trained up strong so they can hold it themselves.
MCINTYRE: Other soldiers quickly chimed in that they would also like to see more U.S. troops here. When Gates asked how the Iraqi troops are doing, one soldier said they're doing ok, but they need to get better. Another said that they thought having more troops here would give the U.S. more time to integrate troops into the Iraqi units and strengthen them as well. The attitude of the troops here is they would like to stay and succeed rather than leave. And that might require more troops. Now, Gates went on from that breakfast meeting to meet with Iraqi leaders. He's looking from them for some kind of commitment of what they would do to take advantage of a lull in the violence, if the U.S. were to surge troops in to bring the violence down. And then Gates will factor all of these decisions, the recommendations of the commanders, the sentiments of the troops, the promises of the Iraqi government, when he makes his recommendation to President Bush, likely sometime next week. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, Baghdad.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: The Pentagon wants more money to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The "Associated Press" is reporting that they're asking for $99.7 billion. That would boost the coming year's war budget to about $170 billion. Here's the cost so far, $350 billion. If you add up the cost of Afghanistan and other terror operations, the total reaches half a trillion. The White House will not decide how much to ask for until their budget is submitted in February.
O'BRIEN: Two U.S. senators defy the White House, travel to Syria for talks about Iraq. Senators John Kerry and Christopher Dodd met with the Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, that's according to a Syrian news agency. In addition to Iraq, they also discussed ways to stop the violence in the Palestinian territories. The White House says visits like that undermine democracy in the region and sends mixed messages about U.S. relations with Syria.
Next month when Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress is sworn in, he's going to be using a Koran instead of the bible which is used by most members of Congress. The decision to do that is leaving one of his future colleagues absolutely outraged. And in fact, in a letter to his constituents, the Virginia Republican Congressman Virgil Goode wrote this. "I fear that in the next century we're going to have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary." The incoming Congressman Ellison responded by saying, um, I'm from Detroit, born there, converted to Islam. Said he can trace his American ancestors back to 1742. He didn't immigrate into this country.
ROBERTS: Yeah right, so what would immigration reform have to do with that.
O'BRIEN: Don't know what he's talking about.
ROBERTS: I don't know. In America this morning, New Jersey becomes the third state to offer civil unions to gay and lesbian couples. Governor John Corzine plans to sign that into law today. It will go into effect on February the 19th. That means gay couples will be allowed a number of rights, including adoption, inheritance, alimony and medical decisions.
And in Oregon, searchers have given up hope of finding two missing climbers alive on Mt. Hood. They have officially called off the search but they hope to recover the bodies of Brian Hall and Nikko Cooke once the weather improves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS GUERTIN, DEPUTY SHERIFF, HOOD RIVER SHERIFF DEPT.: It's a hard decision to make. But I've been with the search and rescue teams throughout this whole operation from day one. I know that these guys have put in 110 percent to help locate the climbers.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Autopsy results show that the third climber, Kelly James, not surprisingly, died from hypothermia.
In Alabama, three college students pleading guilty to setting nine Baptist churches on fire last year. They're facing at least seven years in federal prison as well as time in state prison. A defense attorney said the men started five of the fires after a night of drinking and deer hunting and set the others four nights later.
O'BRIEN: In Florida, parents of the 14-year-old boy who died in a juvenile delinquent boot camp are now dropping the conspiracy claim in their $40 million lawsuit against the camp sheriffs. The boy complained of breathing trouble after he was made to run on his first day and taken to the hospital, died the next day. The family is going ahead though with their claim of negligence and their claim that the boy was deprived of medical care.
In Seattle, prosecutors will not be seeking the death penalty for last summer's fatal shooting at a Jewish center. The accused shooter is a Muslim. The victim, a Jewish woman. Five other people were wounded in the shooting. Prosecutors said the man has a history of mental illness and faces life in prison if he is convicted.
This story in North Carolina, the state's largest school district there banning a children's picture book. The book is called "And Tango Makes Three." A story of two male penguins who raise an adopted hatchling. There were no formal complaints filed. The school committee is now reviewing the decision.
ROBERTS: Well first it was Miss USA, now its Miss Teen USA's reign that's taking an ugly turn. The group Mothers against Drunk Driving is cutting ties with the teen queen Katie Blair, not to be confused with Miss USA Tara Conner who's also been in the news lately. MADD said it's disappointed in reports of Blair's underage drinking with Miss USA, and will no longer be using her as a spokeswoman for its cause, which is the perfect t-up, high handed curveball.
O'BRIEN: Thank you so much. I'll take it from here. Rosie versus the Donald is what you're referring to. You know on Tuesday, Donald Trump on the left held a news conference where he gave, in fact, Miss USA Tara Conner a second chance. Lots of tears flowed. She apologized. She said she's going to be the best Miss USA you've ever seen. Rosie O'Donnell co-hosting "The View," took an opportunity to mock Donald Trump. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSIE O'DONNELL: Apparently, this young girl, Tara Conner, how old is she 20?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 21.
O'DONNELL: Twenty one. She went out and she was partying. She's from Kentucky. She went to New York and she was hanging out at all the parties, doing what Paris and Lindsay do, you know, dancing, whatever. So he held a press conference to announce whether or not she was going to retain her crown. And then she started to cry. I just want to thank Donald for giving me a second chance.
I thought it was brilliant.
O'DONNELL: And there he is with his hair looping, going, it's just a circumstance. I'm going to give her a second chance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your hair is perfect for that.
O'DONNELL: He annoys me on a multitude of levels. He's the moral authority. Left the first wife, had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair, had kids both times. But he's the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America. Donald sit and spin, my friend. I don't enjoy him. No. He inherited a lot of money. Wait a minute. And he's been bankrupt so many times where he didn't have to pay.
He paid all the people he owed.
O'DONNELL: Get ready, this is going to be good.
Get on a payment plan. He sued. I can imagine.
O'DONNELL: He's going to sue me but he'll be bankrupt by that time, so I won't have to worry. But I don't know, I just think that this man is like sort of one of those, you know, snake oil salesmen in little house on the prairie. DONALD TRUMP: Rosie O'Donnell is disgusting both inside and out. You take a look at her, she's a slob. She talks like a truck driver. She doesn't have her facts. She'll say anything that comes to her mind. And, you know, her show failed when it was a talk show. She failed on that. The ratings went very, very low and very bad and she got essentially thrown off television. Her magazine was a total catastrophe, she got sued. And I mean she's basically a disaster. She called me a snake oil salesman. You know coming from Rosie, that's pretty low. Because when you look at her and when you see the mind, the mind is weak. I don't see it. I don't get it. I never understood, how does she even get on television? I'll probably sue Rosie, because she doesn't tell the facts. As an example, I'm worth many billions of dollars. Now, it's not to brag about, I'm worth many billions of dollars. It's very simple. She said I was bankrupt. Now, I never went bankrupt. She said I filed bankruptcy three times. I never filed bankruptcy. I never went bankrupt. But she said I went bankrupt. So probably I'll sue her, because it would be fun. I'd like to take some money out of her fat ass pockets.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Ooh! There's the gauntlet. So the plot thickens as we promised you it would. Executive producer of the show Barbara Walters calls in from vacation and tries to smooth things over, issued a statement.
ROBERTS: Don't smooth it over, stir the pot.
O'BRIEN: She said Rosie and Donald, high spirited, they're opinionated people, Donald is a friend, Rosie is enormously popular, blah, blah, blah. We cherish them both and hope the New Year brings calm and peace. Of course, this is great for their ratings. For all of their ratings.
ROBERTS: This is not a peace on earth type of thing.
O'BRIEN: I don't think that can --
ROBERTS: Smack down.
O'BRIEN: There's no cum bay yaw between the two of them, that's for sure. More on that, I promise.
Some of the other stories we're following for you this morning, a major blizzard is what's shutting down Denver's airport, is now moving east. You guess, think you're going to get your holiday packages in time, only if their drivers stop making left turns. We'll tell you about that story.
ROBERTS: That will work.
O'BRIEN: And a constant facial tick that was ruining a man's life until the right surgeon came along and solved the problem with Teflon. We'll tell you what happened straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up to 19 minutes after the hour now, there is a state of emergency in Colorado this morning because of all that snow. Folks can't get into or out of Denver. About 3,000 travelers were forced to sleep at Denver International Airport. More than 1,000 flights were canceled yesterday. It looks like the airport's going to remain closed for a while. Steve Snyder is a spokesman for the Denver International Airport and joins us now on the phone. Steve, I understand you spent the night there. Give us an idea of what conditions are like. How are the runways, how are the taxiways, what's it like at the gates?
STEVE SNYDER, DENVER INTL. AIRPORT SPOKESMAN: Yeah, we saw a tremendous amount of snow still in the overnight hours, and it was a lot of blowing snow as well and some near whiteout conditions in certain circumstances. And it just makes snow removal very difficult. You know we have crews working both on the runways and taxiways and all through the night, and they'll go over an area, and, you know, a short time later it's blowing and drifting again. So it's hard for them to make any headway. I believe the forecast says the storm is supposed to break here, and that will give the crews a chance to really get in and start making some progress. Then we'll go from there.
ROBERTS: Yeah, we were seeing shots of the monitors where there were canceled all over them. We could see people that are sleeping in the baggage claim areas out there by the gates on the floor, anywhere they can find a spot. When do you expect to get the airport back open, get some of those flights moving out of there?
SNYDER: We've been saying that based on the current weather conditions, we're closed until at least this evening.
ROBERTS: Wow.
SNYDER: What we'll do, our management team will meet here in the next hour, kind of go over the progress that the snow removal crews made during the night. Look at what the forecast is. We'll want to talk to the airlines during the course of the day, find out what their plans are, when they can get staff in here, that sort of thing. We'll make a decision based on that. But, you know, certainly this morning, and into the afternoon, there won't be anything in or out of here.
ROBERTS: So you've got 3,000 passengers who are calling Denver International Airport home right now. I mean as far as airports go, it's a better airport than many to spend the night. But what are you doing for these folks? Do you have enough cots for them? Do you have enough emergency supplies on hand?
SNYDER: Yeah, we passed out about a little over 1,000 blankets. We have some bottled water, we have (INAUDIBLE) supplies. The Red Cross came out and provided some additional supplies as well. And we also worked with a lot of folks last night, we got about 20 or more buses out here. And we're trying to take people to area hotels. We've been working with the hotels for about a day and a half, blocking off rooms, for people that want to get out of here and have a place to stay for a couple of days until things can stabilize. We were able to do that. But yeah, there were a lot of folks here and, you know, your heart goes out to them. It was a terrible time for the snowstorm. People doing holiday travel obviously and you see the families, particularly with the small children, they don't know what's going on. It's really tough.
ROBERTS: Well you've got a lot on your hands there, Steve. You really got slammed. Thanks very much for joining us. I know you're real busy, I hope you get things cleared up today. Appreciate it. Steve Snyder, he's a spokesman for the Denver International Airport. Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Here's a look at some of the stories we're following for you this morning. U.S. troops are asking the new boss for more help telling the Defense Secretary Robert Gates to send in some reinforcements.
And UPS has a strategy to get your package home in time for the holidays. No left turns by their drivers. We'll explain that one, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: For courier companies getting all of those Christmas gifts delivered, well it's a bit like planning a military operation. Now UPS has a plan to move its trucks around faster. And it's a little bit of an offbeat one -- no left turns. Chris Shaw of WXIX has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS SHAW, WXIX (voice-over): These drivers will tell you it's not so bad always being right.
BRENT DOUGHERTY, UPS DRIVER: We just try to keep moving, constantly moving and don't stop.
SHAW: Six days before Christmas, Brent Dougherty has so many packages to deliver he's basically sprinting door to door on his Hyde Park route. Wednesday will be the biggest delivery day of the year for UPS. They'll deliver more than 20 million packages. So doing things quickly means making the right choice, not the left one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're looking to make sure that we can have the most effective routes for our people so that they can deliver the most number of packages and safely.
SHAW: It's all about efficiency. UPS has engineers calculate how many seconds their drivers can save by avoiding left-hand turns.
DOUGHERTY: It's a lot easier to come out of a street and go right, and I'm not waiting as long.
SHAW: No cross-traffic, no waiting for green lights. Drivers are saving so much time, it's now a policy to avoid going left.
(on camera): And none of it would work without this little thing. Every driver has one of these boards and every stop is loaded into it. It maps out the best route, and it's almost always right.
DOUGHERTY: Mostly they are right turns. You know, you come out, go right. Kind of in a loop is what they call it.
SHAW: But it doesn't stop there. Drivers are also trained to do things like start the truck and put on the seat belt in one fluid motion. Not wasting time is what brown can do for you.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: That was Chris Shaw from our affiliate WXIX. UPS says they save about $600 million every year with ideas like free loading vehicles and favoring right turns. No going left at UPS. I love it.
ALI VELSHI: I try to avoid left turns as much as possible.
O'BRIEN: They take so long and they're so tricky, the left turns.
ROBERTS: I like the sense of adventure actually.
O'BRIEN: With a left turn?
VELSHI: Making a left turn?
O'BRIEN: Are you going to get across or not, right? Let's talk about online shopping, which, by the way, my strategy this year, brilliant.
VELSHI: Yeah I know, it's fantastic.
O'BRIEN: Online shopping was my strategy.
VELSHI: You've done a lot of online shopping?
ROBERTS: Everything except for some small little gifts.
VELSHI: Yeah I mean, it's fantastic. It doesn't sort of necessarily replace the mall experience because there's a lot of stuff you buy because you're there online shopping, but $20 billion so far this year according to one company that tracks this. Up 20 percent over last year. Probably going to account for about a quarter of all the holiday shopping that's done. The estimates are that the grand total for online shopping for this holiday season will be about $25 billion. Wal-Mart is one of the big gainers here, 64 percent increase over the same time last year. Mainly due to its electronics push, which we've been talking about. They are clearing out those flat panel TVs. Yeah, online shopping has become more reliable. There are many sites, big sites that will allow you to shop until Friday for Christmas delivery. Please don't use my -- don't take my word for that on other sites. Some places don't have that sort of clout with the FedEx's and the DHL's.
O'BRIEN: They're getting better though.
VELSHI: They are getting much better.
O'BRIEN: And much more reliable.
VELSHI: But you can shop until -- yeah. And there will be those deliveries. Now, there are a lot of people in the stores. We happen to know that. And a lot of them get very angry at this time of year. Looking at one study that tells you stuff that you kind of know. There are new employees in the store, maybe they don't know where things are. People are motivated at this time of year, they're not browsing. So it creates a lot of tension and I didn't know this, but there's one company that provides acute stress counseling to people who have suffered from retail abuse, retailers. People who sell stuff who get really mad.
O'BRIEN: Wait, wait, they're counseling the shoppers or --
VELSHI: No, they're counseling the employees. Because people get very --
O'BRIEN: It's sad.
VELSHI: I mean it is sad. I have my share of frustrations. So a number of stores are doing certain things where they know they're going to be problems. KB Toys for instance talking about that TMX Elmo, everybody wanted.
O'BRIEN: Can't get it.
VELSHI: They never put it on the shelves. They took lists of people who wanted it and they got in touch with them and said your toy is in. Everybody else didn't do that. Best Buy, which is one of the leaders in this industry, did dress rehearsals before black Friday. They do dry runs. They've actually worked this out, I don't remember if you remember, for black Friday, they gave out tickets. So if they had four computers, four laptops at 400 bucks, you got a ticket at 4:00 in the morning in line. If you didn't get a ticket, don't bother or stand in line for the fun of it. So there are strategies in place to try and keep you happier. Bottom line is, these companies don't want you mad. They don't want you leaving their stores annoyed. So they're trying to figure out ways to do it. But I still like the online thing.
O'BRIEN: Yeah.
ROBERTS: I do too. My 15-year-old daughter loves the mall. But me, not so much. Thanks, Ali.
Some of the stories that we're following for you right now.
Some very frank discussion between the new defense secretary and the troops on the front lines in Iraq. We'll tell you what they said.
And if you don't have HBO, Spike Lee's emotional documentary on Katrina is now out on DVD. And it contains some gripping never- before-seen footage. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: Blizzard warning, all flights are canceled at Denver International Airport. There's a state of emergency in Colorado. And that heavy snow is now on the move.
ROBERTS: Call for help. U.S. troops tell their new defense secretary, send in reinforcements.
O'BRIEN And a teflon solution. A surgeon finds a unique way to solve a facial twitch that was ruing a man's life. We've got those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: Welcome back everybody. It's Thursday, December 21st. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBETS: And I'm John Roberts in today for Miles O'Brien. Thanks very much for joining us.
This is one of the biggest travel days of the year, particularly at Denver airport. But massive snow out West is snarling traffic and grounding all planes at Denver International.
Thousands of passengers are waking up on the floor this morning -- that is in the airport. Some parts of Denver, up to three feet of snow fell. To the South, rain in the forecast with four to six inches possible along the Mississippi River from Memphis all the way to New Orleans. And another storm returns to the Northwest, with gusty winds and more snow possible.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Defense Secretary Gates is in Iraq this morning. He's meeting with military commanders and Iraqi leaders and also getting an earful from some of his troops on the ground.
Let's get right to Barbara Starr this morning. She's at the Pentagon. Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Well just as Secretary Gates is hearing from those soldiers that they want more help in Iraq, he is also asking questions about the size of the permanent military, and looking to make recommendations to President Bush about making the military bigger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): After more than three punishing years in Iraq, fierce battles raging in Afghanistan, and troops on their third and sometimes fourth rotations on the front lines, the U.S. needs more troops.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in Baghdad getting an earful from commanders on exactly that, increasing the permanent size of the Army and Marine Corps. He'll then report back to the president.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm inclined to believe this is a good idea, is because I understand that we're going to be in a long struggle against radicals and extremists. And we must make sure that our military has the capability to stay in the fight for a long period of time.
STARR: The Army is under the most pressure. It has 507,000 active duty soldiers, up 25,000 over the last five years. But commanders want to increase it by as much as twice that number. Adding that many troops could take years.
GEN. PETER SCHOOMAKER, ARMY CIEF OF STAFF: Optimistically, we could add 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers per year in my view.
STARR: But then they must be trained.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Of course, there's maybe 10 to 12 weeks of boot camp, 10 to 12 weeks of specialized training in whatever weapons capability one is going to become an expert in.
STARR: It's all going to be expensive. It costs $13,000 to recruit a single soldier and $1.2 billion to pay for salaries and training for every 10,000 troops. Add in the cost of body armor, helmets and rifles, and no one is really sure what it will all cost. Remember, the Army is already struggling to pay its current bills.
SCHOOMAKER: While our soldiers are responding with the extraordinary commitment, particularly in the face of adversity and personal hardships we cannot allow this condition to persist.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: So, Soledad, what the generals are saying is, to them, it's very clear now that the strain of this war in Iraq means they simply need a bigger Army in the future to deal with future threats -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Thanks, Barbara.
Some of the other stories we're following for you this morning. Imagine having a facial twitch that lasts three years. And to make matters worse, nobody knows how to fix it. But there was a surgeon who had a novel idea. Dr. Sanjay gupta has got our story straight ahead.
And amid all that holiday mail at the post office, 20 letters containing a suspicious powder. We'll tell you what happened there straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: We're back at AMERICAN MORNING at 42 minutes after the hour. Top stories that we're following for you. The Pentagon wants nearly $100 billion dollars more this year to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A U.S. Congressman under fire for saying, without immigration reform, we will have many more Muslims in the United States. O'BRIEN: In our "House Call" this morning, can you imagine having a facial twitch that lasts for years. Sanjay Gupta has the story this morning of a man whose life was literally ruined and the doctor who saved him. Here's our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Most of us have had a facial spasm before, something that lasts two or three minutes. Try three years. That's how long Dean Ti lived with a twitch.
DEAN TI, HAD TWITCH FOR THREE YEARS: I was thinking, always thinking, what's wrong with me, what should I do, how can I cure myself. But never have a solution.
GUPTA: The persistent pulsating affecting his left eye and cheek was almost constant and was interfering with every aspect of his daily life.
TI: When I sleep, I can hear the spasm in my ear. I could hear its pounding. Like boom, boom, boom. I would wake up maybe four or five times in the night from sleeping and hear the pounding.
GUPTA: The throbbing also made it hard for him to see out of his left eye. Socially and professionally it was a nightmare.
TI: It is so difficult, suddenly the person you're talking to, they're focusing on your eyes. It feels so uncomfortable, that you don't want to see people.
GUPTA: He visited a neurologist, ophthalmologist, acupunctureist, even tried botox to numb the muscles. But nothing worked and no one could diagnose the problem. Until he met a doctor, Hrayr Shahinian, a neurosurgeon.
DR. HRAYR SHAHINIAN, NEUROSURGEON: When I saw Dean for the first time, the diagnosis was made virtually instantly.
GUPTA: It's called hemi facial spasm. It's a rare condition affecting less than 1 percent of the population. A blood vessel was touching two nerves in Dean's brain, making the facial muscles constantly react with each throb of the artery.
SHAHINIAN: Normally, this should be sort of akin to a trunk and two legs. That is, you have the trunk in the middle and the two legs on each side. On the left side, unlike the right side, you can see a blood vessel that is trapped underneath the nerve.
GUPTA: After making a dime-size incision in his skull, Dr. Hrayr Shahinian's team placed a tiny teflon disk between the nerve and the blood vessel, disconnecting the two from each other. A day after his five-hour operation, Dean went home, twitch-free.
TI: It's a miracle. My new face is coming back. The old face I had is gone. GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Happening in America, Miami's Metrorail running smoothly this morning, but that was not the case yesterday. An elevated train partially derailed with 32 people onboard. No one was injured, but the passengers had to walk along the tracks to evacuate. It turns out that an antenna fell off one of the cars, causing a set of wheels to jump off the track.
In New York, a Taiwanese woman got a special welcome when she arrived at JFK airport. Lang Chen was the lucky 100 millionth traveler this year at all three major airports. When she got off the plane she was greeted with flowers, airline tickets, not to Denver, gift certificates, and a hotel stay and lots of free tickets to shows.
In Dayton, Ohio, the FBI is investigating more than 20 threatening letters containing a suspicious powder. Here's something interesting, the letters were not sent throught he mail. They were actually left in mailboxes in the area. Inital tests on six letters show that the powder is not a biohazard.
And in New York, the (INAUDIBLE) of an American flag is removed from the first steel beam to make up the Freedom Tower. You see the Stars and Stripes were actually on the wrong side when the flag was raised during a ceremony on Tuesday.
The star field is supposed to be on the left. It was right when it was laying down but then when they put it in the vertical position, somehow it came out backwards. Some media outlets had alerted them to the error after pictures were published and people caught on to what was going on.
O'BRIEN: Everybody saw that one pretty fast.
"CNN NEWSROOM" is just a few minutes away and Fredricka Whitfield is at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you , Soledad. We've got these stories in the NEWSROOM this morning.
Winter whiteout. A blizzard shuts Denver down. Thousands of holiday travelers stranded days before Christmas.
And Alzheimer's progress. A new scan lets doctors see early signs of the disease that raises an intriguing possibility, protecting the brain before it's damaged.
And a Christian video game under fire, convert or get blown away. Critics call it faith-based killing, a game promoting intolerance. Join Tony Harris and me in the NEWSROOM when we get started at the top of the hour right right here on CNN -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right Fred, thanks a lot. We'll see you then. The top story we're following right now, thousands of people stranded out West. Denver airport is closed. We're going to tell you where that snowstorm is heading next when we talk to Chad.
Plus, Spike Lee has added a whole new chapter to his powerful documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We talk to him right after the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Sixteen months after Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Coast continues rebuilding, and filmmaker Spike Lee is still sharing his personal stories from the storm. His documentary, "When the Levees Broke," a requiem in four acts, is now available on DVD. Spike is back to talk to us about this.
This was such a great DVD the first time around. I'm not just saying that because I got to be in that a little bit. But what have you changed? What have you added?
SPIKE LEE, "WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE": Well, when we broadcast on HBO it was four acts. For the DVD, we've added a fifth act, which is two hours. So altogether, that's six hours. And even with that six hours, Soledad, it's still incomplete, because I still want to stay with the story throughout the years.
I'd just like to say that, you know, there's a thing called Katrina fatigue, and people are like, what's Spike still talking about this? Well, just because the Superdome was open, just because the Saints have made the playoffs, just because the French Quarter is doing business, that does not mean that everything is back to normal.
O'BRIEN: Phillips Montana Leblanc (ph), who had a great attitude. I mean, she was so funny. Is she still holding in?
LEE: Yes, she got that .38 right next to her. We ain't playing.
No, the people -- I've become very good friends with everybody, and people are still struggling. I'd like to say that a large part of the proceeds from this sale of the DVD, we're going to establish a pool, and I'm going to divide it up amongst the people in the film that need it. So often organizations, the money never gets in the hands of the people that need it.
O'BRIEN: Right. Herman Freeman was the guy in the film who wheeled his mother around. Finally she died right in front of the Convention Center, and he kind of parked her.
LEE: Three or four days.
O'BRIEN: He was suing the city of New Orleans. What's the latest?
LEE: I don't know where the court case is now, but I know that they're trying to raise money to erect a statue, and we're trying to help him with that, too. O'BRIEN: Kim Polk, she was the one with the 5-year-old daughter, Serena, who drowned. And when we talked the last time you said, you didn't want to invite her to the screening because...
LEE: She came.
O'BRIEN: It's tough to watch.
LEE: She's living in Dallas now. And everybody's still struggling.
O'BRIEN: It's been interesting to see me in a couple little stories that we've done about some Americans kind of done with Katrina victims in their towns. They're done. They say the crime's gone up. Houston is one of the ones that we profiled. They're done. They are completely and utterly done. And it's been interesting to me to see that, from the embrace to really hostility.
LEE: Look, I kind of understand that. I just give an analogy, you know. Your relatives move in. After a while, you're like, I love you, you're my blood, but...
O'BRIEN: What do they say about fish and visitors, right, three days.
LEE: You've got to go. But the United States government has not done anything -- I mean, half the population of New Orleans is still not living in New Orleans. They've made no provisions how people are going to get back.
O'BRIEN: What happens with your storytelling? You're going back to New Orleans. Are you going to shoot the next...
LEE: Well, I want to continue this. Like I said before, the story's incomplete. Because I want to continue with this. How many years does it take, and hopefully with HBO's support, we'll have an ongoing situation.
O'BRIEN: It'll be terrible if people forgot about it. You know, I really think...
LEE: We're not going to let this happen. Also in the next stages of it, we're going to expand more than New Orleans. I think that was a correct criticism "When the Levees Broke," it was about New Orleans. But that's what we want to do. But it's not done. We'll include, especially Mississippi.
O'BRIEN: And just in time for the holidays, what a nice gift this would make Spike.
LEE: Just some Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas gifts.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely, all of the above. Always nice to see you, spike.
LEE: Thank you. ROBERTS: Five minutes to the top of the hour. Here's a quick look at what "CNN NEWSROOM" is working on for the top of the hour.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: See these stories in the "NEWSROOM." Denver, paralyzed by a blizzard. Thousands of holiday travelers stranded.
Voters unhappy with Iran's hardline president. Moderates make gains in local elections.
And Santa handing out record bonuses on Wall Street this year. Oh, the numbers.
You're in the "NEWSROOM," 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: We're out of time. That's it for AMERICAN MORNING this morning.
ROBERTS: I certainly hope that Rosie O'Donnell doesn't say anything more about Donald Trump today even though he referred to her...
O'BRIEN: There's a follow-up on this story for sure.
ROBERTS: Absolutely. CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Fredricka Whitfield begins right now. We'll see you again tomorrow.
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