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Firefighters Battle Malibu Blaze; U.S. Military Strikes at al Qaeda in Somalia; Apple Computer Introduces iPhone; Egil "Bud" Krogh Discusses When Nixon Met Elvis

Aired January 09, 2007 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon.

The fighting went on for hours. Dozens died in the streets. We have got exclusive pictures. CNN's Arwa Damon was caught in the middle. Her eyewitness account is coming up.

PHILLIPS: Do you hear that ring tone? It's the near future on line one. Apple's core audience gets a preview of iPhone. And so will you.

LEMON: And we know they both were Capricorns, but what else did they share? An eyewitness to pop history tells all. There's the King, Elvis, right there.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We have been following those fires in Malibu that engulfed several homes overnight. And let's take a look at some live pictures. There, you can see some of the homes and embers still smoldering there -- firefighters still trying to get a handle on exactly what happened. They have been fighting this fire all night.

The blaze was fanned. It's attributed to the Santa Ana winds, at least for helping it race through this celebrity enclave near Pepperdine University. Several celebrities live here -- many, we should say -- from Mel Gibson to Suzanne Somers, which we're going to talk about.

You can see firefighters on the scene there. And they're -- as I said, they are working to try to get a handle on this -- and, also, investigators working to find the cause of this blaze.

Talking about Suzanne Somers, it was a beautiful house, she says. Those are her words -- surveying what is left of the place she and her husband, Alan Hamel, have called home for seven years. Their beachfront house in Malibu was one of four that burned to the ground late yesterday. Flames, well, they spread quickly, fueled by fierce winds, the Santa Ana winds, and damaged four other homes before firefighters even arrived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE SOMERS, ACTRESS: We will rebuild. And I really think that we will learn something great from this.

I mean, what else can you do with a tragedy, but look for the opportunity to grow spiritually and emotionally? And I know that we will learn something great. It was a beautiful house. It was a beautiful place to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And firefighters are still on the scene. You saw them earlier. They're dousing the hot spots and sifting through the ashes, again, trying to find a cause of all of this.

And let's talk about those winds that have been whipping through there and flaring up that fire.

Let's bring in Jacqui Jeras, keeping watch on the conditions from the CNN Weather Center -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Don, the winds were much stronger late last night and early this morning than they are now. But they're still pretty stiff, coming in out of the Northeast, still sloping down those mountains.

You can see the winds in the area kind of in the teens for sustained wind speed. But the gusts are a little bit stronger, up to 30 miles per hour. And look at the difference, as you move over here towards Los Angeles, winds very calm, very light in that area. So, you can see the influence of the mountains just by comparing the wind speed, just, you know, tens of miles away.

Got a great Google Earth animation that will really show you the terrain and really zoom in on this area. There you can see the Los Angeles area. Here is Malibu itself. This is the location of the fire. You have got the Santa Monica Mountains in the background, along with the Pacific Coast Highway right here.

And look at the topography here of the mountains, and look at the canyons as they move on down. The winds just shoot right through there. They accelerate. It's a very dry wind. The humidity is next to nothing. So, it takes very little to ignite a fire.

You can see the baseball diamond right in this area. This is the origin, where the fire occurred, though they don't know what caused it. And, up there, that other baseball diamond, that is Pepperdine University, just to get an idea. We also had some I-Reporters, by the way, from Pepperdine that took some great photos. We will try and get those to you a little bit later.

This is Old Malibu Road back behind here, and the beach. And you can see, these are the only homes in the area. This fire had to actually skip over the road to affect these homes that are just right on the beach.

So, it's a nice, secluded area, a lot of privacy, obviously, for the celebrities that do live in this area. A couple of these houses in this area were burned. And then you look over here. There is an empty lot. And this is Suzanne Somers' house right next to that. And I understand that that one was destroyed -- back to you, guys.

LEMON: And, Jacqui, the folks are no strangers to wildfires, even though we're not sure what the cause of this one is. But they are no strangers to that.

JERAS: Absolutely. Yes, Santa Ana winds certainly kick it up. A critical fire weather area was issued yesterday. So, it wasn't a big surprise that anything developed in the area.

LEMON: Jacqui Jeras, thank you.

PHILLIPS: An insurgent hot spot under attack in Baghdad -- U.S. and Iraqi forces went on the offensive in some of the fiercest fighting the city has seen in months.

CNN has exclusive video of that battle.

Earlier, I talked to CNN's Arwa Damon, who is embedded with the Army's 3rd Stryker Brigade.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This operation involves some 1,000 troops, both American and Iraqis, and this gun battle, again, lasting for 10 hours.

Now, we left about 10 hours afterwards, just as the firefighting was beginning to decrease slightly. It was very intense earlier on in the day, very intense in the first seven hours, and then decreasing in the last three hours. At that point in time, the streets were fairly quiet. But, again, no one knows what tomorrow will bring -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Arwa, stay with me, because I want to be able to listen to some of this video that you fed in just to get a sense for what kind of pressure these guys are under.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And, as we watch this video, Arwa, we have also seen pictures of the Apache attack helicopters that were firing Hellfire missiles, in addition to those strike fighters flying over the region.

Have both of those -- actually, you can kind of see some of the helicopters there in the distance. Have the strike fighters been able to provide close air support for the troops, and are those jets dropping bombs, as well, to try and protect those soldiers that you are with?

DAMON: They were, Kyra. At one point in time, the U.S. forces did call in for air support. Remember, this is one of the advantages that the American forces bring to the battlefield for the Iraqis. The Iraqis do not have their own airpower. We saw them flying fighter jets. We saw them flying -- bringing in Apache helicopters, gunships that fired Hellfire missiles.

Just to point out, too, though, those exclusive CNN pictures that you are watching right there, the intensity of the firefight were brought to you by the cameraman, Dominic Swann, who was with us at that point in time. And, as you just mentioned, it really does illustrate the intensity of the battle that is going on out there.

At one point, the U.S. unit that we were with was pinned, along with some Iraqi soldiers, on top of a rooftop. And they spent about two hours up there receiving gunfire. At times, the bullets were ricocheting within a few feet of the soldiers huddled up against the walls, trying to make a positive I.D.

Remember, in this case, especially on Haifa street, the enemy has the advantage of knowing the terrain. And that is also where the American air support, the American firepower, what the Americans could provide to the battlefield, is crucial. They can come in and shoot at specific targets, bring down specific buildings, that then allow Iraqi and American forces to continue moving throughout this very challenging battlefield.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Exclusive video there by CNN's Arwa Damon, embedded with the Army's 3rd Stryker Brigade.

Has a new front opened in the war on terror? Well, we're about to show you video just in to CNN from the U.S. Navy. It shows U.S. forces off the coast of Somalia, where American warplanes have attacked suspected al Qaeda targets.

Let's get the very latest from CNN's Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, Don, the actual attack took place Sunday night. It was an AC-130 gunship that carried out this attack in southern Somalia against suspected al Qaeda operatives. Still not clear whether any of those operatives were killed.

Now, what we do have video now that we would like to show you is the flight deck of the USS Eisenhower. Now, that's an aircraft carrier put into position to support the mission by the U.S. Navy. These aircraft, however, did not take part in the actual airstrike.

Now, what you will be, very soon now -- those are some F-18s landing on the flight deck -- also, what you will be seeing soon is something very interesting, E-2C Hawkeye. Not yet seeing that moving into position. But, again, these are some F-18s. The F-18s are important, because they are providing protection for this Hawkeye that you will be seeing, which is a -- command, control, and surveillance aircraft. I wish we could show it to you. We don't have that cut. But it is very interesting, very much like an AWAC aircraft. It has a big, round 24-foot dome on the top of it. And it gives it the ability to look simultaneously at movements both on the ground of personnel, materials, weapons, vehicles, as well as aircraft in the air.

And, so, the U.S. Navy released this video. What you just saw was, today, video of those F-18s taking off from the flight deck of the USS Eisenhower. The Navy did not say exactly where they were bound or where the Hawkeye, the very important surveillance aircraft that has been used by the Navy for some 30 years -- it's basically the eyes of the U.S. naval fleet when it's deployed.

But it -- the Navy didn't say where these aircraft were going. However, because the Eisenhower is off the coast of Somalia to support the mission, it's a very safe bet that the Hawkeye is flying and conducting surveillance over Somalia -- Don.

LEMON: All right, thank you very much, Kathleen Koch, reporting from the Pentagon with that new video just into CNN.

Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, as -- well, as of today, they're on the clock. Those first 100 hours in which House Democrats plan to pass key legislation kicked off at 1:00 Eastern.

You might notice our little count-up clock there at the bottom right hand of your screen. You can keep track of the Democrats' first 100 hours right here on CNN.

Now, just to be clear, the 100 hours refers to legislative activity only, debating, voting, and the like. Now, with the clock ticking, House Democrats are hustling to meet their goals -- first up, closing more of what many consider post-9/11 security loopholes.

Joining us with today's debate, CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, members of the 9/11 Commission have endorsed the House Democratic bill, which moves many of their recommendations closer to law.

And some 9/11 families were on Capitol Hill today to voice their support as well. But there is some criticism of provisions which go beyond what the commission recommended. For instance, the bill would allow airport screeners to engage in collective bargaining.

Republican Congressman John Mica, just ousted as chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, says, that would hurt security, not help it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN MICA (R), FLORIDA: It's nice to throw your friends a bone, but this is not the time to do it. I'm telling you. I'm very serious about this, folks. And listen to this. And these words will be repeated, because this nation is at risk. And you won't take one hour to even listen to what that risk is or address that risk in what you're going to do.

Nowhere in this 9/11 Commission does it say that we should give collective bargaining rights to -- to airport screeners to airport screeners, to TSA personnel. Nowhere!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Some Republicans say that, had screeners been unionized last August, when a London plot to blow up airlines with liquid explosives was uncovered, the Transportation Security Administration would not have been able to adjust its security procedures overnight to ban carry-on liquids.

But some screeners say, the bill gives them protections they don't have now if they blow the whistle on mismanagement or gaps in security. That, they counter, would make the country safe remember -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, are there other provisions which are raising concerns?

MESERVE: Yes. There are two provisions that some experts say may not be economically or technologically feasible.

One requires 100 percent inspection of cargo on passenger planes within three years. The other requires that all cargo containers be screened for radiation overseas within five years. And there are also complaints that the bill completely ignores another 9/11 Commission recommendation, that Congress reorganize itself and streamline oversight of the Department of Homeland Security Department.

Democrats say they will get to that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jeanne Meserve, thanks.

LEMON: Congressional Democrats in a sticky situation: to fund or not to fund a possible troop buildup in Iraq. Senator Kennedy weighs in.

And gadgetization, day two -- this time, the gizmo-minded flock to San Francisco for a big Macworld attack.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Giggling.

Don't hit...

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: ... shuffle. The NEWSROOM is back in a flash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: This just coming into CNN -- is actually via the Associated Press, coming across the wires here. Apparently, the AP is getting word that the first wave of additional U.S. troops will go into Iraq before the end of the month under President Bush's new plan.

As you know, his speech is tomorrow. We will be starting special coverage at 7:00 Eastern time. Now, we have been talking about that new strategy in Iraq that the president, that he will be talking about. How many additional troops will be going into Iraq? Will, indeed -- or will that happen for sure?

Now the AP getting information through sources, and revealing through their reporting, the first wave of additional U.S. troops, according to the AP, will go into Iraq before the end of the month, under President Bush's new plan.

Now, Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy addressed the National Press Club on the eve of President Bush's address to the nation. This is part of what he had said earlier today, of course, against the Iraq war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: As with Vietnam, the only rational solution to the crisis is political, not military. Injecting more troops into a civil war is not the answer. Our men and women in uniform cannot force the Iraqi people to reconcile their differences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: We have been reporting that Mr. Bush was expected to call for thousands more troops into Iraq -- now the AP reporting the first wave of those additional troops headed to Iraq before the end of the month. Kennedy is introducing a bill now that would give Congress the right to say no to that.

LEMON: And a senior -- our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, joins us now from Washington.

Bill, this is an amazing new development. And that's what I was going to ask you. How would this proposal work?

But the first thing that came out, really some of the first words that came out of Mr. Kennedy's mouth, he said, my bill will "say that no additional troops can be sent and no additional dollars can be spent on such an escalation, unless and until Congress approves the president's plan."

What does all this mean now?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it means that the president is acting as commander in chief. The war is going on. And he claims -- he clearly feels he has the right, under the authorization that Congress did give him in October 2002, to use military force, that he still has the power, the constitutional authority to order troops into combat.

And that creates a big bind for Congress, because they don't want to deny funding for U.S. troops. That's why Senator Kennedy is proposing that this be subject to an additional vote, a second vote by Congress. But the president is going ahead and acting, under his authority as commander in chief.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Iraq is like the elephant in the room. Democrats can't ignore it, even if they want to talk about other things, like their domestic agenda for the first 100 hours. Democrats knew the elephant was there.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Nowhere was the call for a new direction more clear from the American people than in the war in Iraq.

SCHNEIDER: Democrats are enraged by reports that the president will call for a buildup of U.S. troops. And it's not just Democrats.

REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: I believe that the American people are way ahead of the Congress.

SCHNEIDER: But Democrats have a problem. There is not a lot Congress can do.

REP. DAVID OBEY (D), WISCONSIN: Congress is not the commander in chief. The president has the authority, I suppose, to expand involvement, if he wants to.

SCHNEIDER: The first thing Democrats will do is exercise oversight responsibility on the war, which they say Congress has ignored for years.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: No foreign policy can be sustained in America without the informed consent of the American people -- the informed consent.

SCHNEIDER: The Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees will begin hearings this week, as will the House Foreign Affairs Committee and other House committees soon.

The House speaker made this pledge:

PELOSI: Democrats will not cut off funding for our troops.

SCHNEIDER: But, when the Senate majority leader was asked about funding for additional troops, he said Democrats would:

SEN. HARRY REID, (D-NV) MAJORITY LEADER: Take a look at everything.

QUESTION: Including that?

(CROSSTALK) REID: Yes. They're -- we're going to take a look at it, of course.

SCHNEIDER: Suppose Congress cuts off funding for additional troops?

OBEY: The president would simply veto it.

SCHNEIDER: In a war, the powers of Congress are limited. But a president will have great difficulty pursuing a policy in defiance of the people.

RANGEL: No president can be successful in the conduct of any war without the support of the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: The people spoke in the election. The establishment spoke in the Iraq Study Group report. Now the Democratic Congress is speaking. What could persuade this president to change course? Probably only his own Republican base, if they see political disaster ahead.

LEMON: The timeline is -- I mean, it's nearing right now. So, he says that he wants -- the president says he wants to move those troops in before the end of the month. Senator Kennedy is saying, we don't want anything done until Congress can talk about it, at least the people can have a voice.

How soon can they act? Does one cancel out the other?

SCHNEIDER: Well, obviously, the action would have to be very, very quick for Congress to act. They would have to have a vote really immediately...

LEMON: Right.

SCHNEIDER: ... in order to prevent that from happening.

The president is changing the facts on the ground, claiming he has the right to do that as commander in chief. So, this could end up in a constitutional showdown.

LEMON: Yes. And it's going to be very interesting to see how the next few days shuffle out here -- tomorrow night, the president's speech, of course.

Bill Schneider, thank you very much for that.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

LEMON: Tomorrow night, stay with CNN for the best political team on television. Beginning at 7:00 Eastern, Wolf Blitzer leads a special two-hour THE SITUATION ROOM, before President Bush unveils his revised Iraq strategy. Minutes after the president finishes, Larry King and his guests will break down the speech and get immediate reaction. Then, at, 10:00 Eastern, Anderson Cooper is live from D.C. with worldwide reaction and what happens next -- complete coverage, right here on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, Richard Milhous Nixon, Elvis Aaron Presley, both are gone, allegedly. But the story of their meeting will never be forgotten -- up next, the man who brokered this famous summit between a president and a king.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: "Fortune" magazine is out with its list of the best companies to work for. And topping the list, guess who?

PHILLIPS: We know it's Google.

LEMON: It is Google.

Susan Lisovicz, at the New York Stock Exchange, with all the details on that.

Is that really a surprise, Susan?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. Actually, it's not.

What is a surprise is, we are talking about a California tech company this afternoon...

LEMON: Yes.

LISOVICZ: ... that is not Apple.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: They have gotten a lot of attention this afternoon.

But there is a reason Google gets 1,300 resumes a day. The Internet search giant took the top spot in "Fortune"'s 10th annual list of the top 100 companies to work for. Number two, Genentech, which is the biotech company, and Wegmans Food Markets came in third place.

So, why is Google number one? Well, it's probably because the company spares no expense when it comes to keeping employees happy. In fact, Google is legendary for pampering its workers.

You look just a little bit envious, Don, there?

LEMON: Uh-huh. Yes. I know there's -- I saw a pool. And now I see -- what is that table? Ping-Pong.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Look at that salad. They eat healthy there, too, at Google.

LISOVICZ: They -- well, they may eat healthy, but you know that the freshman...

LEMON: Yum.

LISOVICZ: ... the freshman 15 that happens when you enroll in college, right, that you pack on 15 pounds? Well, there is the Google 15.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: I'm not kidding you -- because...

LEMON: Really?

LISOVICZ: ... yes. Food is one of the many attractions at Google, from food to fitness.

Google has 11 gourmet cafeterias in its Mountain View, California, headquarters...

LEMON: Wow.

LISOVICZ: ... plus break rooms stocked with cereal, yogurt, and other snacks.

LEMON: Susan?

LISOVICZ: Yes?

LEMON: You know what they call it here at the CNN Center?

LISOVICZ: What?

LEMON: The freshman 25, because of the cafeteria.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: I think you're eating too much fried food there.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: And you know about that place downstairs, right?

LISOVICZ: Yes.

LEMON: Very convenient.

LISOVICZ: That's a satellite dish, right?

LEMON: Yes. There you go.

LISOVICZ: Yes.

LEMON: Right. LISOVICZ: Yes, I have frequented that as well.

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: The company offers, as you noted, some entertainment, a Wi-Fi-enabled shuttled bus service, on-site car washes, laundry services and gyms to work off that Google 15.

And Google employees are eligible for cash rewards in everything from referring a friend for paying for takeout food after having a baby. And, if you miss your dog, by the way, no problem. You can bring him or her with you. Google allows pets on a temporary basis.

The policies seem to be paying off. Google is just eight years old, but it's expected to surpass $10 billion in sales for '06. And its stock, which debuted at $85 less than two-and-a-half years ago, now trades at nearly $500 a share.

So, that's nice for your 401(k), too, right?

LEMON: Yes. I know our bosses are listening, and they feel very guilty. And they're going to do all the same things that Google...

LISOVICZ: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: ... is doing right there.

You should see Kyra's face. She's like, oh, my Gosh, must be nice.

(MARKET REPORT)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Simon at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco.

Well, it's called the iPhone, and it is Apple's entry into the cell phone market. We will tell you about it coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips in the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.

December 21st, 1970, a day that will live in pop culture infamy and we've got the story from the man who was there. If you don't stick around for this, you ain't nothing but a hound dog. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM

LEMON: Well, we start with this. A new front in America's war on terror or in al Qaeda's jihad. Somalia may be both. You just want proof of that, listen to the latest terror tapes our senior editor of Arab Affairs has for us.

Octavia Nasr joins us now. Airstrikes over the weekend and now these tapes. What are they saying?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, ARAB AFFAIRS: You know, the intelligence community of course is not surprised -- this makes perfect sense. Of course, as our Barbara Starr has been reporting all day, information saying that U.S. intelligence with African intelligence have led to belief that target was, indeed, a place where al Qaeda members have been meeting.

But all we needed to do is really go back to the tapes from al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, back in June of 2006, and also a message from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two man in al Qaeda, which was posted on the internet only a week ago at the beginning of this year.

Basically, the Zawahiri message, you're looking here at the video that was produced by a Sahab (ph) group was all about Somalia calling for aid to Somalia, cheering on the mujahideen in Somalia -- same with the message that was released in 2006 by the number one man in al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden.

Eleven times in a few minutes, eleven times he mentioned the word Somalia. Again same message, staying on message, talking to the Islamists of Somalia saying that they should be steadfast in the face of what is yet to come. Of course, we're witnessing what is happening now.

LEMON: Here is what I think most people want to know. You don't usually hear Somalia when you think about al Qaeda. It's a very interesting, I guess, change of events here at least or maybe it's always been going on and we weren't aware of it.

NASR: It's always been going on. Somalia has always been an important hub for al Qaeda. Now, of late we started hearing more about Somalia because remember, the focus after 9/11 was Afghanistan. After Afghanistan, it was Iraq.

Now it seems, in the last few messages that we got from al Qaeda that were posted on the internet, the African front has been pushed to the front burner, if you will.

They talk a lot about Sudan and they talk a lot about Somalia, Algeria, Yemen. So, basically, the whole area is now in the forefront and it seems, if you read the messages clearly, there is a shift. It seems like they want to shift the attention to Africa right now.

LEMON: Very interesting. Let's talk about these air strikes now and the suspected al Qaeda members. It came as a result of U.S. and African intelligence. Now, did al Qaeda members give any clues to this as well? did they help out at least?

NASR: If you listen to those messages clearly, they did, they did help out.

LEMON: OK.

NASR: Because, let's take some examples here. Let's take the Bin Laden example from June of 2006. Here is what he said. He started by saying I salute the mujahideen in Somalia and I ask God to give them power, precision, and victory over their enemies. Then he goes onto say I ask God, he is telling the Somalians now, ask God for guidance and prepare yourself especially with the tanks and the RPGs and be patient like your brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also tells them also remember you have seen the defeat of America and it's allies once before on your soil. He is reminding them of how America was -- you know, the viewers might remember, the "Blackhawk Down," early '90s, and basically the unfortunate events of the U.S. intervention in Somalia.

LEMON: Octavia, how big a hit is this for al Qaeda? Not only in Africa but everywhere?

NASR: If they nab the al Qaeda leader in Africa, which a U.S. official is saying perhaps they did, they're still no confirmation that they did. If they nab him, this will be a bit of a derailment.

Now, all our reporters, including Barbara Starr, from all her sources, are saying that it's not that easy to finish al Qaeda, to knock them out. But this can derail them.

And, also, you get clues from the al Qaeda themselves as to how big of a hit this is. Al Qaeda depends on help. You take, for example, the al-Zawahiri message from January of this year, earlier, a couple of weeks ago, basically, he's saying I appeal to my Muslim brothers everywhere to respond to the call for jihad in Somalia. I appeal to the lions of Islam in Yemen, the Arabian peninsula, Egypt, Sudan, and the Arab states to help the brothers in Somalia.

So, basically, he knows that he has supporters in all these countries surrounding Somalia and he is asking for help. So, you know, you nail one that's good, but it doesn't mean they're over. There should be more air strikes, you know? Experts, intelligence experts, especially and terrorism experts say this is good, but you need to be consistent with these attacks, nab more leaders and also try to cut off this line of support to help these people train and get weapons and get money.

LEMON: Senior editor for Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr, always loaded with information. We appreciate it. Thank you so much.

NASR: Any time.

PHILLIPS: Ken Barnes is back home in California four days after his rescue from a disabled sailboat off Chile. Barnes was trying to circle the globe alone when a bad storm in the south Atlantic left him adrift for three days. Finally, a Chilean fishing crew found him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN BARNES, RESCUED SAILOR: You got to live life, you know? There is consequences to any action, but we all have dreams. Some of us have an opportunity to pursue them and some of us don't. It doesn't mean that we don't want to. But you got to live life. You got to do what you need to do. You're only going around here once, so enjoy yourself, do what you want to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Amen, brother. I feel you. Barnes doesn't expect to try another voyage saying he hasn't got that kind of money.

LEMON: Very funny. All right.

Richard Milhous Nixon, Elvis Aaron Presley -- both are gone allegedly, one of them. Might be still here, but the story of their meeting will never be forgotten.

Up next, the man who brokered the summit between a president and a King. Don't go anywhere. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

PHILLIPS: December 21st, 1970 -- the conversation at the White House goes something like this. A staff member approaches a presidential aide Bud Krogh and says, "Are you sitting down? The King is here." Well, Krogh says, "there are no kings on the schedule today." The staffer says, "Not any king, but The King, Elvis!"

And thus began of the most bizarre days at the White House that led to this iconic image, Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon meeting in the Oval Office, rummaging through Nixon's desk for gifts and talking about drugs and rock 'n' roll.

And get this: This photo is the most requested item in the National Archives' collection. The meeting is documented in Krogh's book, "The Day Elvis Met Nixon," and it's the subject of a special exhibit now that opened yesterday at the Nixon Library.

So, Bud, Elvis is at the gate. What did do you?

EGIL "BUD" KROGH, FORMER NIXON AIDE: Well, he sent a letter in from the northwest gate, Kyra, and that letter got to me in which he said he wanted to help the president out, he wanted to do something for his country. I think he was a very patriotic guy and that came through in the letter, and he wanted to help with a drug program specifically.

So I talked to Dwight Chapin, and I said, well, let me meet with Elvis beforehand. I called over to the hotel to where he was staying, the Hotel Washington, and they came over for an audition before he went into the Oval Office.

PHILLIPS: All right, we actually have a copy of the letter that we're looking at. I just want to read a little part of this, Bud. It said, "Dear Mr. President. First, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Elvis Presley and I admire you and have great respect for your office. I talked to Vice President Agnew in Palm Springs three weeks ago and expressed my concern for our country. The drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS, Black Panthers et cetera do not consider me as their enemy or as they call it, the establishment. I call it America and I love it. Sir, I can and will be of any service that I can to help this country out. I have no concern or motives other than helping the country out."

Did you think it was a little crazy?

KROGH: Well, I thought at the start that this might have been a very elaborate practical joke that my friend Dwight Chapin was playing on me. And then as I went through the letter, I said, you know, this is really a pretty technical -- I mean, I don't think that Dwight could have pulled this off.

So I read the whole letter and he asked for a credential. He also asked that the meeting be kept completely private. He didn't want anybody to know about it. And that is pretty difficult to do in the West Wing of the White House.

PHILLIPS: When it's Elvis Presley. Yes, right, especially the way the leaks go in that time, hello!

KROGH: Well, that's right. I tell you, keep things secret, bring a rock star in.

PHILLIPS: OK. So you send this note to Dwight Chapin. Dwight Chapin sends a note to the Haldeman, the chief of staff, and here's what the memo says: "I've talked to Bud Krogh about this whole matter and we both think that it would be wrong to push Presley off on the vice president since it will take very little of the president's time and it can be extremely beneficial for the president to build some rapport with Presley. In addition, if the president wants to meet with some bright young people outside of the government, Presley might be the perfect one to start with."

Now, here is what I love the most about this memo that Haldeman writes on the side of the memo, "You must be kidding."

KROGH: That's right, but he approved it. He put his big H in the approved column as well. So we had the meeting set up, so I called back over to the hotel after I had the earlier meeting with Elvis with his two staff guys, Sonny West and Jerry Shilling, and said well, we're on, come on over around 11:45.

And they showed up at the West Wing and I got a call from the Secret Service, said "we got a little problem here, Bud." I said, "what's that"? He said, "well Elvis has brought a gun." I went oh, no! I didn't know anything about this gun. And so I had to run over and explain to Elvis that no guns in the Oval Office was standard policy around here.

PHILLIPS: But he ended up giving that Colt .45 pistol to the president, right?

KROGH: Well, he didn't give it to him directly, Kyra, because we couldn't let him take it into the Oval Office.

PHILLIPS: Oh, wow.

KROGH: It had bullets in the display case as well so -- but we did accept it on his behalf and I told Elvis, I said, look, this gun is going to end up in a presidential library where it is. It's in Yorba Linda right now at the Nixon Library. He accepted it in good grace, but when we went into the meeting, he did tell the president that he had this great gun that he wanted to give him.

PHILLIPS: So why did Elvis want a federal agent badge from Nixon?

KROGH: You know, I think he wanted something that would give some maybe unofficial status to what he wanted to do was help the country out and through his music and singing, try to convey the message that drugs can be dangerous.

He had tried to get a badge over at the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs before he came to the West Wing. They had turned him down and he told John Finlator, the deputy director of the Bureau of Narcotics, "well, I'm going to the White House to get it" and Finlator said "that's the only way you'll get it."

PHILLIPS: And it's so ironic because he died from a drug overdose, which leads me to my next question.

KROGH: Yes.

PHILLIPS: You actually put together this memo. They were talking points for the president on how to relate to Elvis Presley and maybe what they maybe should discuss. And you said the purpose was to thank Elvis Presley for his offer of help in order to stop the drug epidemic in this cup. It mentions stats on drug problems in America. It mentions the recent death of "folk heroes," as you put it, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.

And then you made suggestions for the Presley activities. "Encourage the creation of an hour television special in which Presley narrates while he and other songs sing popular songs and interpret them for parents and others to show drug and other anti-establishment themes," and "encourage fellow artists to develop a new rock musical theme, 'Get high on life.'"

KROGH: Well, I will tell you, I don't know whether my muse was on vacation when I was writing that but I was trying to find some basis to justify the meeting, but when he actually went into the Oval Office, they didn't follow that script at all.

I was trying to write a one act play that Elvis would say certain things and the president would respond, but it was just wide open when they went in there, total improvisation.

PHILLIPS: So I'm curious. When Elvis left, did Nixon look at you and just say, holy smokes, what was that?

KROGH: Well, he gave me a couple of looks during the meeting and particularly the one after Elvis asked him directly for a badge. The president said "Could we get him a badge, Bud"? And I said, "Mr. President, we can do that." And he said, "Well, get him one." And Elvis stepped out and he hugged the president. And I hadn't seen the president hugged in the Oval Office before. This was a new experience.

And then just before they left, Elvis had brought in his bodyguards. The two of them, Elvis and the president, went to the president's desk and opened the bottom drawer where the gifts are, and Elvis and the president rooting around in that bottom drawer is one of my abiding memories of that meeting.

They all left with their hands full. It was four days before Christmas. They did their Christmas shopping right there in the Oval Office.

PHILLIPS: That's amazing. So he takes off with the loot. And, you know, I just have to ask you this, because he did -- he died of a drug overdose. At any time did you think wow, this is strange, he is meeting with Nixon wanting to help America fight drugs among the youth and here he was possibly on drugs at that time?

KROGH: Well, I didn't see anything, Kyra. I mean, he was scratching at a rash on his neck but I didn't see anything that I thought would mean that he was high on drugs at the time. I thought it was an authentic, sincere, honest effort to try to help the country out, help the president and I really liked him.

I was a huge fan of Elvis. I need to give that full disclosure. So I think the meeting remains in my mind one of really the happiest and the most fun days that I had on that staff.

PHILLIPS: And your book, of course, sold out and now you're probably going to have to publish it again because...

KROGH: We're going to publish...

PHILLIPS: Oh, we lost Bud Krogh!

Anyway, what a fantastic story.

Thanks again to Bud Krogh, former Nixon aide. The most famous picture at the National Archives, more famous than anything that people ask for there in the system.

Thanks to Bud.

LEMON: And guess what Elvis has to do with this next story?

PHILLIPS: He has something to do with the next story?

LEMON: Yes, you can listen to him , of course. But this time, it's a gizmo. A gizmo, mind you. They all flock to San Francisco for a big Mac world attack. We'll tell you what we're talking about straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is an iPod. It's a cell phone. It's both. And it's the next new thing or the next big thing, whatever you want to call it. Developing news out of the tech world today: Apple with a juicy announcement at the Mac World Expo in San Francisco.

And our Dan Simon is there.

Hey, Dan.

SIMON: Hey, Don.

It's got one button. It's like having a laptop in the palm of your hand. This thing is really cool. It's going to retail for about $500 starting in June. But you're right, it's called an iPhone. What it allows is everything that you've got on your iPod, all your videos, music, photos. You can put all that on your iPhone. And it also allows you to use the Internet. And, you know, it's like having a full computer and also every imaginable bell and whistle when it comes to using your cell phone.

Steve Jobs talked about it just a little a while ago. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE JOBS, CEO, APPLE, INC.: An iPod, a phone and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone -- are you getting it?

(APPLAUSE)

JOBS: These are not three separate devices. This is one device.

(APPLAUSE)

JOBS: And we are calling it iPhone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Oh, yes, they went crazy for it. Cingular is going to be the exclusive cell phone service provider for the iPhone. The iPhone will be sold beginning in June and, again, $499.

Now, let's talk about the other device that Steve Jobs talked about today. This is Apple Television. And what it allows you to do is take everything that you have on iTunes, everything there: your music and videos. It allows you to wirelessly transmit all of that stuff to your wide screen television.

And one final thing. Apple Computer is no longer called Apple Computer. It's now called Apple, Inc. to reflect the fact they're now a broad-based electronics company.

Back to you. LEMON: Dan Simon, thank you very much for that.

Lots of folks will be watching there iTV, watching this next guy. Don't you think?

PHILLIPS: That's right. Wolf Blitzer is standing by. I'm sure he's going to get himself an iPhone. Then he can call us up here on a regular basis.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: You guys are so happening and you will be even more happening very soon. Thanks very much.

Just one day before President Bush's announcement of a troop increase for Iraq, Senator Ted Kennedy calls the move an immense mistake. He's demanding a congressional vote. Senator Kennedy joins us right here in the "SITUATION ROOM" to talk about it.

Also, fierce new fighting in Iraq. We'll get the latest from Baghdad and CNN's Arwa Damon. She's embedded with U.S. troops.

And California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for universal health insurance in his state. Is it a trend that could spread to the rest of the country?

All that coming up right here in the "SITUATION ROOM".

Back to you.

LEMON: All right. Thanks, Wolf.

PHILLIPS: Closing bell and a wrap of action on Wall Street straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Closing bell about to ring on Wall Street. We've got to say good-bye.

(MARKET REPORT)

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