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American Morning

Avalanche Threat in Colorado; New Iraq Plan; Port Security Scare in Miami; 'MLK: Words That Changed a Nation'

Aired January 08, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: What this says in the piece is there's more bipartisan agreement in state legislatures than in Congress over this issue. So maybe the states will solve the healthcare problem. We'll see.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More agreement than in Congress? I'm shocked.

M. O'BRIEN: I know. That isn't saying much, is it? Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: It's right at the top of the hour. Let's get right to Chad Myers, who's taking a look at the weather for us this morning at this hour.

Hey, Chad. Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.

Changing war plans. New details overnight about President Bush's new strategy in Iraq, how many troops he is deploying, and just how much it's going to cost taxpayers.

M. O'BRIEN: Wicked weather. Snow in the forecast raising fears of more avalanches out West.

Meanwhile, tornadoes flattening homes in the South.

S. O'BRIEN: And an exclusive trip into Dr. Martin Luther King's private library. A look at the papers that influenced the man and shaped history.

You can only see it here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Welcome back, everybody. It's Monday, January 8th.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

Thanks for being with us. S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with the severe weather.

Soaking rains on the East Coast triggering flood watches right now. Overnight near Atlanta, a suspected tornado wiped out a neighborhood, knocked down trees, snapped power lines.

Then in Colorado, a massive avalanche to tell you about on US Highway 40. It's now clear. Everybody who was buried in it is now accounted for. And highway crews are using cannons to trigger controlled slides today.

Before another major storm is expected to hit the Rockies this week, the fourth major storm in four weeks, CNN's Rob Marciano is live for us this morning from Berthoud Pass in Colorado, which was the scene of this weekend's avalanche. And it was a biggie.

Rob, good morning.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Soledad, you're right. Good morning.

It was a big avalanche. It certainly took everybody by surprise. This was an area that they were controlling, but this snow came down fast and furious and deep.

Look at it behind me. Obviously, they've cleared a path, but you can see the scars here as that wall of snow about 15 to 20 feet high took motorists here by surprise. All of them survived, but even still today the avalanche risk remains high.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO (voice over): The Rocky Mountains in winter, paradise for powder hounds and backcountry skiers. But after three huge storms in the last two weeks, avalanches can quickly make that paradise a living hell.

A 15-foot-high wave of snow crashed down Berthoud Pass, sweeping this car off a cliff Saturday. This van took the same ride, but remains hundreds of feet down the ravine. Miraculously, no one was killed, but it's a sobering reminder to those heading up the hill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see the sign on the highway on the way up, "No stopping. Avalanche danger." And that slide happened between two of those signs.

MARCIANO (on camera): Fresh snow, a tight chute, and steep incline make it pretty easy to determine where an avalanche will occur. They typically happen in the same place over and over. Trying to forecast when a slide will happen is difficult business.

(voice over): Stuart Schaefer is an avalanche forecaster. He tells highway crews and ski patrollers where the most dangerous spots are likely to be.

(on camera): What was the main reason for that slide over at Berthoud Pass?

STUART SCHAEFER, AVALANCHE FORECASTER: No one knows yet, to tell you the truth. And I'm not sure we're going to find out very fast.

MARCIANO (voice over): Schaefer himself has been caught in an avalanche or two.

(on camera): What did that feel like?

SCHAEFER: It felt very frightening. And fortunately, I managed to extricate myself from one and run out of the way of the other one.

MARCIANO: What kind of advice would you give, do you give, to people who go playing in backcountry?

SCHAEFER : Know the slope you are skiing. Get a good forecast in the morning before you go out there. Don't just assume that because you've been on this slope before, it won't slide. Always understand that when you are dealing with avalanche-prone snow, no matter how sure you think you are, you are taking a risk.

MARCIANO (voice over): A risk many feel is worth taking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: Well, that's the advice given to backcountry skiers and riders. What about if you are just driving on a heavily- trafficked highway? What do you do if an avalanche occurs?

Well, he says make sure your window is rolled up and hit the gas, try to get out of it. And if you can't, you know, being in a car is not such a bad place, unless you're taken down off a cliff, which is what happened to two cars. But still, everybody survived that slide. Now the road is clear.

But today, with winds gusting over 90 miles an hour above the mountain ridges, above tree line, avalanche risk, especially on the east and northeast-facing slopes, will remain high through the next couple of days. And then, Soledad, we have another storm, as Chad has been talking about, brewing across the southern Rockies. So it will be the fourth major snowstorm in only a couple of weeks.

Incredible winter here in Colorado, for sure.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. They just keep getting walloped there.

All right. Rob Marciano for us this morning.

Thank you, Rob.

And, in fact, severe weather is moving north from Georgia into the Northeast as well, and it's making a big mess in the Monday morning rush hour.

Let's get right to severe weather expert Chad Myers and more on that as well. Good morning, Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Soledad, Miles, back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Chad, thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.

Turning now to Iraq, details overnight about President bush's new strategy that he will unveil in a primetime address to the nation on Wednesday. Here's what we know this morning.

The plan is not final. It is expected to call for 20,000 additional troops to Iraq. Most to Baghdad. Perhaps in phases.

CNN has also learned the plan will include a new emphasis on reconstruction in Iraq. In particular, a jobs program, a kind of new deal type program that would cost about $1 billion. Newly empowered Democrats in Congress are already sounding a warning about this new plan.

CNN's AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob -- AMERICAN MORNING'S -- CNN -- well, anyway, it's just Bob.

Hey, Bob, tell us -- Bob Franken, tell us what lies in store in Congress, will you?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the administration is calling this, Miles, a way forward, but the critics, primarily the Democrats, are calling this a way deeper into war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice over): The most widely discussed option, a presidential plan for a so-called surge, up to 20,000 additional troops, mainly in and around Baghdad. And already we're seeing a surge of opposition from newly powerful Democrats.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), CHAIRMAN, FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Twenty thousand troops is not enough to deal with the problem. We're going to have American forces going door to door in neighborhoods in Baghdad, in a town of six million people.

FRANKEN: And it's not just Democrats who are expressing reservations.

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: I want to know how this surge will occur. What will be the numbers? What will they do? What do they hope to achieve?

FRANKEN: But it's the Democrats who now control Congress who are trying to influence policies. As commander in chief, the president decides what troops go where. The congressional power is the power of the purse. Democrats are not threatening to cut off financial support for troops already fighting, but they are hinting they might draw the line at paying for added forces.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: We want to see a distinction between what is there to support the troops who are there now? The American people and the Congress support those troops. We will not abandon them. But if the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it.

FRANKEN: And run a gauntlet of Democratic hearings over the billions already spent.

REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D), CHAIRMAN, GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE: Starting February 6th, we're going to have a week of hearings on waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayers' dollars, and Iraq will clearly be one of the major focuses of that hearing.

FRANKEN: The president's supporters are also readying for a fight.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: Well, the Democrats don't have a plan for victory. They just simply want to leave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: And the Democrats say that that's what the voters said they wanted when they expressed their wishes in the November election. It's going to be a tough battle, and it begins when the president makes his speech. Actually, Miles, it's already begun.

M. O'BRIEN: I think it has.

Bob Franken this morning.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: This morning, three men are still being questioned by police after a security scare that happened on Sunday at the Port of Miami. Suspicions arose during a routine inspection of their cargo truck.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is live in Miami for us this morning.

Good morning, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

At this very same hour yesterday here at the Port of Miami it all started with a truck driver who didn't have the right license, confusion over who was in the truck, and what was in it, and then miscommunication. All raising red flags that took hours to lower.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. NANCY GOLDBERG, MIAMI-DADE POLICE: After a thorough investigation, we are here to tell you that the Port of Miami is safe.

CANDIOTTI (voice over): A truck driver without the right port- issued I.D. threw security into overdrive early Sunday morning. But in the end, the driver, his brother, and another relative, one of the two who carried no identification at all, were cleared by federal homeland security. And their cargo?

GOLDBERG: The contents matched the manifest. The 40-foot container was, in fact, transporting electrical automotive parts.

CANDIOTTI: Authorities say the driver told a guard at the port's entrance he was alone, but other law enforcement sources say that may have been a miscommunication. It turns out two other men were in the back of the cab, apparently out of view. The container was x-rayed, checked for radioactivity, and cleared.

Sunday is a busy day for cruise ships coming and going, but none of that traffic was affected. Nor were cargo operations thrown off.

In the end, authorities say, their security procedures worked, and it started with catching an improper I.D. The men are legal U.S. residents and live in Dearborn, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: We're still waiting to hear from local police what happened to the three men. However, no federal charges were anticipated -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Susan Candiotti for us this morning in Miami.

Thanks, Susan.

Ahead this morning, a pretty amazing story of survival to tell you about. If you have ever wondered what it's like to be swallowed up by an avalanche, well, two people could tell you. Two Colorado avalanche survivors will share their terrifying story.

And then the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how they changed a nation. I'll bring you Dr. King's private papers and writings, all in his own handwriting.

AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning right here on CNN.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: A couple of developing stories we're watching for you this morning.

Sources telling CNN President Bush will announce his new plans for Iraq on Wednesday night. He's expected to send 20,000 more troops to the country.

And just outside Atlanta, tornadoes apparently to blame for flattening homes. Hundreds of folks there without power this morning.

About 15 minutes past the hour. If are you headed out the door, Chad has the traveler's forecast for you.

Good morning, Chad.

MYERS: Hi, Miles.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: As we approach the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. next Monday, we're taking a weeklong look at his legacy and his words that changed our nation, words that helped transform a country once divided by color into one united in equal rights for all races.

The King family allowed CNN unprecedented access to Dr. King's papers, his sermons, his speeches, his notes, and his personal library. And they're the very foundation of Dr. King's historic mission that all began in a small church in Montgomery, Alabama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "After one has discovered what he has called for, he should set out to do it with all of the power that he has in his system. Do it as if God almighty ordained you at this particular moment in history to do it."

S. O'BRIEN (voice over): Those were the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., just turned 25, in his first sermon in 1954 in Montgomery, Alabama.

(on camera): This is the actual sermon written on four pages, back and front, of lined notebook paper in Dr. King's own handwriting. It's preserved here at the library for Morehouse College, the start of what is literally a treasure of Dr. King's thinking at the critical moments in civil rights history.

(voice over): For King, the pivotal moment came the next year, when Rosa Parks, on the left, was arrested on a Montgomery bus. This is her lawyer, Fred Gray, with a bus seating chart.

FRED GRAY, CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER: Mrs. Parks, I believe, was sitting -- if I'm not mistaken, she was sitting here.

S. O'BRIEN: The driver asked blacks in that row to give up their seats to a white man.

GRAY: Everybody got up but Ms. Parks. And she didn't, and was arrested.

S. O'BRIEN: King was asked to be spokesman for a boycott that began on the day Rosa Parks went on trial. These words come from this outline for the protest, words that would define the civil rights movement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "This is a movement of passive resistance, emphasis on nonviolence in a struggle for justice."

S. O'BRIEN: One night early in 1956, Dr. King's phone range.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "An angry voice said, 'Listen, Nigger, we've taken all we want from you. Before next week you'll be sorry you ever came to Montgomery.' I got out of bed and began to walk the floor. Finally, I went to the kitchen and heated a pot of coffee. I was ready to give up."

S. O'BRIEN: But King said he felt God's presence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I was ready to face anything."

S. O'BRIEN: Three nights later, Dr. King's house was bombed. Blacks gathered, bristling with anger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He simply went out, talked to the crowd, and told them to go home. And they went.

S. O'BRIEN: But blacks of Montgomery stayed off the buses and walked or shared rides for more than a year.

In New York that spring, Dr. King spoke of the power of nonviolent protest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "There is a new Negro in the South, with a new sense of dignity and destiny. The story of Montgomery is the story of 50,000 Negros who are tired of injustice and oppression, and who are willing to substitute tired feet for tired souls and walk and walk until the walls of injustice are crushed by the battering rams of historical necessity. This is the new Negro."

S. O'BRIEN: Fred Gray carried a desegregation lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court, and in the winter of 1956 won.

The next morning, Dr. King was among the first blacks to get back on a bus. He is sitting here behind fellow minister Ralph David Abernathy. Beside Abernathy, reporter Inez Baskin.

INEZ BASKIN, FMR. JOURNALIST: There is Dr. King. That's me.

S. O'BRIEN: She says she could see in Dr. King's face a man looking ahead to what was yet to come.

BASKIN: You had to look at his expression. It wasn't over, but we had come this far.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Tomorrow morning we're going to take a look at the fight for civil rights in the flash point city of Birmingham, Alabama, and the shocking images you'll all remember of young protesters being controlled by police dogs and fire hoses. Birmingham would test the movement and also test Dr. King's will. We're going to show you how he responded, eventually smuggling out his famous letter from Birmingham jail, in part two of our series, "Words That Changed a Nation" -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: It's fascinating.

What was it like to hold that document? In a way, did it connect...

S. O'BRIEN: On a loose leaf paper. It's bizarre.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, there it is. And...

S. O'BRIEN: It's so remarkable. And yet, at the same time, it's so normal.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: I mean, clearly, just loose leaf notebook paper written on both sides, very carefully in pencil, and pen sometimes. Just words crossed out.

I mean, it was both completely extraordinary and completely ordinary at the same time.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. It really gives a whole new dimension, insight into his soul and his mind.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, it makes you think, when someone changes one word and they cross it out and they put something, well, why?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: What were they thinking about as they said this word will not do, this one will do? And, of course, especially with someone like Martin Luther King Jr., who was very thoughtful and really presented an argument so well in his speeches and his conversations.

It was -- I was so worried I was going to drop it, too.

M. O'BRIEN: Really. I wouldn't want to touch it. I would want to wear gloves.

How much of his speeches, though, did he stick to the script, how much was just extemporaneous?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, the important one was very extemporaneous, "I have a Dream."

M. O'BRIEN: Did that off the top, right? Isn't that amazing?

S. O'BRIEN: Completely adlibbed, although you can trace back in his writings for years where he started thinking about the dream. You see it in some of his books. He starts circling or underling "dream," writing in the margins, "Dream deferred, dream never realized." And so you can go back and look at his writings over years and see where he started working on the dream theme, but didn't deliver it until, of course, the critical moment, the march on Washington.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: It's -- it was -- it was amazing stuff. And, of course, it's -- you know, not to brag, but it's a fantastic series.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. No, no, it's fascinating.

S. O'BRIEN: We'll have one piece every day for you.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Soledad. Look forward to seeing the next installment.

Coming up, more on that huge avalanche out in Colorado. We'll talk with people swept away, and they're living to tell the tale. What a tale it is. You're going to hear it.

Plus, we'll take you live to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. Gosh, we've got the auto show in Detroit, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Geeks and gear heads, it's your day.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Geek heaven today in Las Vegas. The International Consumer Electronics Show opens this morning. There are a lot of cool gadgets to see and play with.

CNN's Renay San Miguel is there with a look at that.

And gosh, we've got another VHS-Betamax kind of thing going on right now. He'll tell us about that.

Good morning, Renay.

RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Yes, VHS versus Betamax 2.0. Microsoft and half of the industry supporting HD DVD for the next generation DVD technology, the other half of the industry, including Sony, supporting Blu-ray. And right smack in the middle is the consumer.

So, I sat down with Gates for a one-on-one interview yesterday, talked to Bill Gates about this, and I asked a question about whether or not he felt bad for the consumer, who's going to have to make a very expensive choice here. And he kind of gave me a standard answer, so I tried to dig in deeper with a follow-up.

Here's how that part of the conversation went. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAN MIGUEL: If you had your way, you would be putting everybody into the same room and saying, can we please come up with something that would make the consumer not have to make that choice? If you had the way...

BILL GATES, MICROSOFT CHAIRMAN: That's right. No, that's absolutely right.

It's too bad, but, you know, HD DVD has a lot of great things going for it. And, you know, I'm sure that there may be some technology things that can happen. But for now, you know, I think we've got a lot of happy users, and that number will just go up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAN MIGUEL: That's what everybody in the industry is hoping.

Now, Gates is really here to talk about the next generation of his Windows operating system, Vista, which comes out at the end of this month. One of the products that will be supporting Vista is this HP touch-smart PC. Very interactive here -- you just touch and you can manage all your media, your movies, your music, your -- your digital photos, as well as get on the Internet. All of it touch screen. One of the products that's supported here.

Jim Barry with the Consumer Electronics Association joins us now to talk about some of the other products. And -- and he talked about technology maybe coming to the rescue in this HD DVD battle.

Here's an example.

JIM BARRY, CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ASSC.: You're right, Renay. Nice to see you again.

This is the LG Super Multi Blue player. This will play both Blu- ray and HD DVD disks. So this will play both of them, solve that consumer's dilemma.

This is going to be about $1,200, available in the second quarter.

SAN MIGUEL: Yes.

BARRY: Remember those first VCRs cost that much 30 years ago.

SAN MIGUEL: I know. It's still an expensive solution, but a solution nonetheless.

BARRY: Exactly.

Speaking of HD, this new from Panasonic, a high-definition camcorder, that it will record either on these little DVDs to about 40 minutes of HD on one of those, or on those little postage stamp-sized SD cards. SAN MIGUEL: Got you.

BARRY: So you've got two ways to do that.

SAN MIGUEL: We've got to -- we've got to go here, because we're running out of time.

BARRY: OK.

SAN MIGUEL: But a lot of products. You're going to be with us all week long.

BARRY: Yes. We'll do it.

SAN MIGUEL: We appreciate your time.

Miles, this is truly techno file heaven here in Las Vegas.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, a little jealous -- $1,200, a little high though for that player. I guess a lot of consumers are just going to sit on the sidelines and watch this play out, I think.

SAN MIGUEL: Yes, they're going to have to wait -- $1,500 for the opportunity to play both formats. A little pricey for the average home.

M. O'BRIEN: I have seen the product, though. It is fantastic looking.

All right. Renay San Miguel in Las Vegas.

Thank you -- Soledad.

SAN MIGUEL: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: And we are "Minding Your Business." It's 27 minutes past the hour.

A tour behind the North American International auto Show. Carmakers will unveil more than 45 new models.

General Motors is taking home top honors for both car and truck of the year. The 2007 car of the year is the Saturn Aura. The truck of the year is the Chevy Silverado.

And are you ready for primetime on your cell phone? Verizon Wireless has a deal with CBS, NBC, FOX, and other cable networks to begin showing their top-rated primetime programs.

By the end of March, each network will have a devoted made-for- mobile channel on Verizon phones. Sprint and Cingular now offer shows to their cell phone subscribers, but they're mostly news and sports.

Top stories are coming up next. News this morning about President Bush's new war strategy, including just how many more U.S. troops might be headed into Iraq. And a new idea to help Iraqis.

And the going gets tough for Prince William's girlfriend. We'll tell you about the royal family's battle with the paparazzi.

The most new in the morning is on AMERICAN MORNING, straight ahead when we continue.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. Monday, January 8th. I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

Let's begin with what President Bush is preparing, his primetime address to the nation. It's going to happen on Wednesday, about his new strategy for Iraq.

CNN's Elaine Quijano is live for us at the White House this morning.

Good morning, Elaine.

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

Well, sources familiar with President Bush's deliberations tell CNN that over the weekend White House speechwriters worked around the clock on President Bush on Iraq, and that over the next couple of days, they say, President Bush will be reviewing and reworking that speech.

Now we're told that the plan itself is not final yet. But that there are areas that are widely agreed upon, and they include sending some 20,000 U.S. troops into Baghdad, and perhaps other areas. Also, expanding the training of Iraqi forces. And on the economic front, a new jobs program costing about $1 billion, as well as a focus on reconstruction, specifically beefing up teams to coordinate local reconstruction with Iraqi companies.

On the political side, President Bush is expected in his address to talk about confidence that he has in the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's ability to deal with sectarian violence. As you noted, Soledad, We are expecting that plan to be unveiled by President Bush midweek -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano at the White House for us. Elaine, thank you.

The new Democratic leaders of Congress already preparing to fight back.

CNN's Dana Bash is live for us on Capitol Hill.

Dana, good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

And you know, even as the new Democratic leadership is advancing, at least in the House, their campaign promises on their domestic agenda, it is abundantly clear that Iraq is already the dominant issue here on Capitol Hill.

And as you said, Democratic leaders are making it clear that they oppose a surge in U.S. troops in Iraq. Now they're vowing at this point not to use their ultimate weapon, which is to cut off funding for the troops, but Democratic leaders are making it clear that they are going to scrutinize the president's budgets, scrutinize the president's war plan more than has ever been done before.

Now, as for Republicans, Soledad, they understand full well that they got a message from voters in November. Now, while they say that they do think it's a good idea to use the power of the purse, they do understand, they say, that there is a need for more oversight when it comes to the president and his Iraq plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: The American people and the Congress support those troops. We will not abandon them. But if the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it, and this is new for him, because up until now the Republican Congress has given him a blank check.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: In the past resolutions we can have hearings, we can debate the matter, which we will do, but I don't think Congress will have the ability to simply micromanage the tactics in the war, nor should it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So given the fact that Democrats say they won't cut off funding for the troops, what will they do? Well, they say that they are going to hold aggressive hearings. We're going to see them start this week, Soledad, in a number of different committees on the House and the Senate side.

In addition, at least on the Senate side, Democratic leaders are talking about putting a resolution on the Senate floor, making it clear in a nonbinding, sort of symbolic way, that from the Democrats' point of view, they do not agree with this idea of increasing the troop size, the mission, in Iraq -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So this is the first hundred hours that we've been talking about since last week, which, of course, they've been working since Thursday, but they're not starting the first hundred hours until tomorrow. It's hard to figure that out.

BASH: Well, it's quite interesting. There are no votes in the House of Representatives. That is the place where they are starting the clock on the hundred hours on their domestic agenda. That clock is, as you say, starting tomorrow. Why is that? Well, there is a college football game today, Soledad. There is a championship game in Arizona. It's Florida versus Ohio State. The Republican leader in the House, John Boehner, is from Ohio. He is going. Democrats say they got a Republican request because of that game not to have any votes today, and they are agreeing to that request. So despite the five-day workweek pledge from Democrats, it doesn't start until perhaps next week, or even the week after that.

S. O'BRIEN: Do they not understand that it is American people look at that and say, for a football game? Even people who like a lot of football, for a football game they're going to start postponing the votes?

BASH: That's what they decided to do.

S. O'BRIEN: Dana Bash, on Capitol Hill for us. Thank you, Dana -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it was a winter Saturday in Colorado. A lot of people hitting the road for a day at the slopes, of course, but a wall of snow literally upended those plans for folks in two cashes. It happened near the Berthoud Pass on the road from Denver to Winter Park, eight people hurt, but amazingly, most were treated and released. One person still being treated for a broken rib this morning.

Among the survivors, Dave Boon and 13-year-old Gary Martinez, they join us from Fort Collins, Colorado. We're glad to see you upright and talking this morning.

Dave, boy, if there's any doubt in your mind that seatbelts save lives, I think we can allay that now.

Dave, tell us what it was like, and in retrospect, were there any warning signs?

DAVE BOON, AVALANCHE SURVIVOR: Actually just a fraction of a second. We were headed up Berthoud Pass. We saw kind of a plume of white powder coming down from the left, maybe 20 feet in front of the car, and as soon as we noticed it, there was just like a supersonic blast that knocked us into the guardrail into a big blanket of white powder snow, and then it was a like a freight train hit us, hit us broadside, took us up and over the guardrail, and we started tumbling down a 30- to 40-degree slip.

M. O'BRIEN: How many times did you tumble? And as I understand it, you ended up upside down, right?

BOON: Yes, that's correct. It's hard to say because we never could see the sky once it happened. The avalanche blew in my window and started filling the car with snow. We immediately started rolling. We estimate, talking to Gary, probably three or four times, and we did. We ended up upside down. We hit a tree, which I think stopped us from going all the way down to where the Iowa car ended up, and we actually snapped that tree off. It was laying right next to the car.

M. O'BRIEN: Gary, what going on through your mind at that time? Was there time to even get scared?

GARY MARTINEZ, AVALANCHE SURVIVOR: Not really. Once we started rolling and snow started coming into the car, I just started panicking a little bit, because it started going around my face, but I was, like, just thinking about my mom and my mom's boyfriend, all my family and friends, and stuff that I wanted to do, like play sports for the rest of my life and stuff like that. That was just going through my mind really fast.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, so, Dave, once the car came to rest, you're upside down, you're still kind of strapped in your seats, how were you able to get out at that point?

MARTINEZ: Well, I stuck my hand out the side window, which wasn't there anymore, and actually punched it through into daylight, so I checked with my wife after she was OK, and Gary, asked him if he was OK and with us. And I said we're going to be OK. We got air. So I dug that out, and it took me a minute or two to get out of my seatbelt, and I turned around, started digging out the snow around my wife June's face, so she could breathe, but I couldn't get her shoulder restraint loose. It was too tight. So I backed out of the -- crawled out of the car and yelled up to the -- a lot of motor vehicles had stopped, a lot of spectators were gathering, people were grabbing with shovels coming down. I screamed up to call 911 and someone give me a knife.

Went back in. Gary was able to crawl through and get out my window, and then when somebody showed up with a knife, I shattered the back window to get into the back seats because I needed to push my wife's head up. At the same time they were cutting her shoulder restraint so she could get out the side window.

M. O'BRIEN: She is doing OK this morning, right? She didn't want to be on TV this morning necessarily?

BOON: Yes, she's doing great. She's got a class to teach this morning over at (INAUDIBLE) vet school.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, final thought. In the category of lessons learned, what do you take away from this whole experience? I take that to both of you. Dave, you first.

BOON: I don't know if you believe in miracles or divine intervention, but something was definitely looking over two cars and eight people on Saturday morning, there's no question about that in my mind.

M. O'BRIEN: Gary? MARTINEZ: I think there's not really any lessons because we couldn't really prevent it or, like, go around it or anything, so -- and, yes, I think we were being watched over by somebody.

M. O'BRIEN: Dave Boon and Gary Martinez, thanks for being with us and congratulations on living to tell the tale -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Great ending to that story.

Well, the Vatican is trying to explain a stunning turn of events in Poland. Moments before his official installation, the new chosen Archbishop of Warsaw stepped down after admitting his ties to the Communist era secret police.

AMERICAN MORNING'S faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher, and she's just back from Rome. Good morning.

The Vatican, how would they -- how could they possibly make a mistake like this?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT: Well, the process of selecting an archbishop -- I mean, this is an important position, the top position in Poland -- goes through several steps, and obviously, one of the most important is the recommendations from the Polish priests and bishops and the current cardinal, for example. So, you'd have several layers of recommendations to the Pope before it actually reaches the Pope making his decision.

S. O'BRIEN: All the morning reason to think that with so many layers ...

GALLAGHER: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

GALLAGHER: Now, let's keep in mind that Bishop Wielgus himself claims that he told the Pope of this collaboration and in his words, the collaboration was about being allowed to travel and so on and he didn't actually inform or much less spy on anybody.

S. O'BRIEN: So, what changed?

GALLAGHER: What changed seems to have been the Polish church officials then on Friday conducting their own investigation, finding a document with Wielgus's signature on it which really sort of can't be denied then that he agreed to collaborate with them and so it seemed to be much more -- now, the extent to which the Pope knew and what he knew is difficult to ascertain, obviously. I mean, we can go with Wielgus's statement that he did tell him, but what he told him and how he told him, there are many layers there.

S. O'BRIEN: It's a document from 1978. Is there any indication that Wielgus was spying on Pope John Paul II?

GALLAGHER: Well, that's been suggested. The document was signed in February, and of course the Pope was elected in October, but he was a big figure in the Polish church, and, of course, one of the reasons for this huge reaction is that John Paul II was the symbol for the Polish people of the man against Communism and their pride in sort of the Catholic Church and this Pope against them. And so to have an Archbishop of Warsaw who possibly collaborated with this just is unacceptable for them.

S. O'BRIEN: I find the reaction strange. Some people are very happy that he stepped down at the last minute. Other people are -- seem absolutely devastated.

GALLAGHER: Well, the poles are divided on this. It was interesting because a lot of them went to the mass expecting him to be installed, heard the news from outside and kind of there were cries of oh, no, don't go sort of thing.

And Cardinal Gleb (ph) defended him because, you know, he was probably one of the men who suggested that this man be his replacement so, he defended him saying we shouldn't pass judgment based on some documents, which we don't know all that much about.

But certainly the Polish people, this is a point of pride. I mean, regardless of what exactly he collaborated on, the point of a moral choice accepting to even sign a document of collaboration for them is just salt in the wound of an already very difficult past.

S. O'BRIEN: I think this is a fascinating story. Delia Gallagher this morning for us. Thank you Delia.

GALLAGHER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning the prince and the paparazzi. Photographers are hounding Prince William's girlfriend. It's becoming a royal pain in the you know what. (INAUDIBLE) that.

Plus, the American sailor who was rescued on the high seas is one step closer to a family reunion. We'll tell you about his journey home. The most news in the morning is right here on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in just a moment.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: In London this morning, the official inquest into the death of Princess Diana is underway, while security has been beefed up around Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton.

CNN's Paula Newton has more for us this morning from London.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): To the prying lens of the paparazzi, she is irresistible. Kate Middleton, Prince Williams' girlfriend, now just can't seem to shake the scrutiny or the security. So hounded by the snappers, that in recent weeks she's been granted a police escort.

It started without a trickle of pictures, but is now a flood of photos captured in hot pursuit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know she's fairly constantly now chased by the paparazzi. From her point of view, it's a nuisance. It's getting -- I understand it's getting too much. They're there every day. They're on top of her every day.

NEWTON: And that's what's proving tough to take for a girlfriend who is still just a commoner, a regular girl getting a parking ticket on her way to work, riding buses, trying to go out with her friends.

Despite the royal family's pleas that's Ms. Middleton is still a private citizen, the battle lines are being drawn as the press closes in on a subject that clearly sells.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does she want? What does she want, the privacy of a nun?

She's going out with a future king. She may one day be our future queen. We do have a right to know more about her.

NEWTON: Twenty-five years ago it was Princess Di in the lens. You can't miss the sense of deja vu, and neither can the tabloids, comparing their every move, their every outfit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no question that she'll be immediately as big a star probably as the princess of Wales was. And it will be a difficult thing for her to cope with it, as it was for Diana. And it will be difficult for William.

NEWTON: It is all quite worrying to Prince William, now enduring a very public courtship as he tries to decide if and when to pop the question, and still tries to make sure the woman he loves is never tormented and pursued as his mother was.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" just minutes away. Heidi Collins at the CNN Center with a look ahead. Hello, Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, Miles.

That's right, we have these stories on the NEWSROOM rundown now: 20,000 or more new troops for Iraq. Sources telling CNN that is what the president will announce this week. A major prong in his new Iraq strategy. We're talking about that.

And not in my backyard. A placid Texas town fights plans to build a mosque, fear being one motivator.

And, Miles, just for you, geeks galore. The Consumer Electronics Show hits Vegas, baby. Everybody is talking wide screen. One flat- panel TV tops 100 inches.

Tony Harris is with me in the "NEWSROOM," and we get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN.

Why aren't you out there?

M. O'BRIEN: I wish I was. The honest to goodness truth is, I wish I was. One-hundred inches, wow. I guess size does matter sometimes.

Coming up, an update on that rescued American sailor. He's speaking out about how he lived through the storm that left him stuck in the middle of the ocean.

Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

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O'BRIEN: He was lost at sea for three days. He was attempting a solo sail around the world, and now American Ken Barnes is back on terra firma, recovering from his ordeal at a hospital in Chile. We have new details about that storm that nearly took his life.

AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence with more.

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CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An American sailor adrift at sea is now one step closer to home.

KEN BARNES, RESCUED SAILOR: Under the circumstances, things could have been worse.

LAWRENCE: Ken Barnes was rescued by a shipping vessel and then brought ashore by the Chilean navy. He survived a storm that destroyed his steering, engine, and mast, and left him stranded for three days.

BARNES: When the boat rolled 360 degrees, it happened really fast.

LAWRENCE: Barnes left California in late October, trying to fulfill his dream of sailing around the world. He hit the storm two months later, off the southern tip of South America.

BARNES: Gust of wind, the breaking waves, the size of the waves, the angles to the waves, everything came together to conspire against my plans all at one time.

LAWRENCE: Barnes used a satellite phone to call home to get help. And his emergency beacon helped other boats find him in the middle of the ocean.

BRITTNEY BARNES, DAUGHTER OF KEN BARNES: It's sad that he didn't make it all the way, but at least he tried his best, and he can't predict the weather. He was a good -- he is a good sailor, and he was well prepared. You just can't predict the weather, and it's bad down there past Cape Horn, so.

LAWRENCE: Doctors in Chile expect Barnes to fully recover from an infected gash to his leg. Tuesday morning he'll fly to California, where his girlfriend and family are ready to celebrate.

CATHY CHAMBERS, GIRLFRIEND OF KEN BARNES: But I won't feel that until he is in this house.

LAWRENCE: If everything goes as planned, that celebration won't have to wait much longer.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: 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 "CNN NEWSROOM." President Bush unveiling his new Iraq strategy at midweek. Sources say he wants at least 20,000 new troops and $1 billion jobs package for Iraqis.

Strong storms tear across parts of the south. Out West, hurricane-like winds strand motorists in Snowy, Colorado.

Detroit Auto Show: Futuristic cars go green. Electronic and hydrogen, the buzzwords.

You're in the "NEWSROOM" 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.

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