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President Bush Unveils His New Iraq Plan; Minimum Wage Hike on House Agenda Today
Aired January 10, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins. For the next three hours, watch events as they come into the NEWSROOM live on this Wednesday, the 10th of January.
Here's what's on the rundown.
New Iraq strategy -- President Bush outlines it in a prime time address tonight. A detailed preview in THE NEWSROOM, live coverage and analysis throughout the evening on CNN.
HARRIS: Baghdad battle -- CNN's xlv video of a daylong firefight between American G.I.s and insurgents on Haifa Street.
COLLINS: An NFL player tasered.
His case raising questions -- does skin color play a role in who gets jolted?
An arrest in Houston, in THE NEWSROOM.
President Bush's plan for Iraq. First, he hits the air, then he hits the road. President Bush bracing for battle over his new war strategy. He unveiled it tonight on TV, then he takes his case to the American people.
Here with a preview of what we will hear, CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano -- and, Elaine, we have heard now for days 20,000 additional troops.
But we understand that Baghdad will not be their only mission.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. Baghdad it's going to be the centerpiece. Most of those 20,000 will, in fact, be tasked with addressing the security challenges in the capital city. But about 4,000 will be focused on the security challenges in the rest of Anbar Province.
Now, the administration's hope is that this time the Iraqis will stand up and take over control, security wise, of their country by November, doing so with U.S. support. Now, certainly there have been past unsuccessful operations to secure Baghdad in particular, most notably, most recently, Operation Together Forward.
Well, White House Counsel Dan Bartlett said this morning a couple of things that the administration believes will make a difference this time around.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "AMERICAN MORNING")
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: The sectarian violence we're seeing in Iraq can only be solved by Iraqis. And the plan put forward tonight is an Iraqi initiative. What it requires, though, is our support. What we have seen time and time again, Miles, in these security operations we've attempted in the past in Baghdad had two real fundamental flaws.
One, there weren't enough Iraqi troops and U.S. troops to help clear -- hold the neighborhoods we had cleared throughout Baghdad. Secondly, and just as importantly, the rules of engagement -- where those troops could go, who they could go after, were severely restricted by politics in Baghdad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: And tomorrow, one of the president's first moves will be to try to build public support for his plan. He will be heading to Fort Benning to talk to troops there and make remarks. And then starting Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be traveling to a number of capitals in the Middle East and in Europe to try to garner support among U.S. allies -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And we know the administration is really putting a lot of responsibility now on the shoulders of the Maliki government, as well.
Is there confidence within the administration that his government is up to the task?
QUIJANO: Well, they certainly are taking another gamble. What they say is that the president has received a personal assurance, according to a U.S. official, by Prime Minister Maliki that, in fact, the Iraqi troops will be there this time. And, also, as you heard Dan Bartlett say, that the rules of engagement are going to be different.
It's been a difficult political situation for Prime Minister Maliki because, of course, the militia that he's had to deal with, under Muqtada al-Sadr, really has been quite a problem. And Muqtada al-Sadr, though, is a person who helped bring Prime Minister Maliki into office.
And what the White House wants to see is action. And it believes that it has made very clear to Prime Minister Maliki that this is, in essence, a last chance.
So that will be laid out when the president speaks to the nation later tonight -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, very good.
Elaine Quijano from the White House this morning.
Thank you.
HARRIS: Show me the money -- the president's plan is expected to include a billion dollar program to get Iraqis back to work.
The question is will the money go where it is supposed to?
Here's CNN's John Roberts.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Iraq's tattered economy, militias and insurgent groups are about the best employers around. They'll pay $500 to $5,000 to plant roadside bombs and good money just to videotape the attack. The goal of this new jobs initiative is to give poor Iraqis an alternative.
FREDERICK BARTON, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: I think it's too little too late. We've tried this before. We've had as many as 40,000 to 60,000 Iraqis in sort of make work jobs. That's not what people are looking for right now. We -- they're looking for something that's going to be a bit more promising, that has a bit more of a future.
ROBERTS: And how to ensure the money goes where it's supposed to -- Iraq has been something of a black hole for reconstruction funds. In 2003-04, the U.S. coalition Provisional Authority lost track of $8.8 billion raised largely from Iraq's Oil for Food Program. The money is still unaccounted for.
Following the dollar remains a huge challenge says the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
STUART BOWEN, SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL, IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION: It's a mixed story and there's no one place to point the finger. The fact is, is that the Iraqis need to get their house better in order to manage their own infrastructure. And it's very difficult to do that in the unstable environment that is Iraq today.
ROBERTS: In the early going, coalition employees were part of the problem. In one Iraqi town where nearly $100 million went unaccounted for, seven million of it outright missing, the inspector general's office seized money, weapons, expensive watches, cars, even a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and brought charges against several American officials. In Iraq, the bad guys don't go away. They just change faces and names.
BOWEN: Corruption continues to be an issue within the Iraq government. It's been an issue for a couple of years now. And that's part of the effort of my office is to bolster the anticorruption entities in Iraq. ROBERTS: If the Bush economic proposal goes through, U.S. patrols could soon be carrying thousands in cash to spread around Iraqi streets. The plan is to clear and secure neighborhoods and hire locals to clean up garbage, paint schools or other odd jobs. But how to ensure the money goes into the pockets of residents and not the coffers of local militias.
BARTON: We should be giving the money to existing employers, hospitals, businesses, grants and loans to them, so they hire more employees. That's a much better way of doing it than saying we're going to clean the streets for the next six weeks and then we go back to another model.
ROBERTS (on camera): During his first tour of duty, General David Petraeus ran a similar program in the northern city of Mosul that was pretty successful. But the money ran out, Petraeus left and Mosul went back downhill.
While General Petraeus would oversee this new jobs program, since he has been out of the country, the militias have become far more powerful, sectarian divisions in Iraq far more passionate.
John Roberts, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: The president's plan already under fire on Capitol Hill. Top Democrats are calling the troop increase an escalation of war.
How far will they go in opposing the president?
Here now, Congressional correspondent, Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If the president wants to send more troops to Iraq and spend billions more dollars to support them, Democrat Ted Kennedy says Congress must first vote on it.
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Let the American people hear, yes or no, where their elected representatives stand on one of the greatest challenges of our time. Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam.
BASH: The liberal Senate veteran is not just challenging the president, but also fellow Democrats, scrambling behind the scenes to figure out how far they can and should go with their new majority power to oppose the war.
KENNEDY: We cannot simply speak out against an escalation of troops in Iraq. We must act to prevent it.
BASH: But instead of Kennedy's hard-hitting approach, the majority leader announced the Senate would vote on a symbolic resolution opposing more troops in Iraq. SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: If there is a bipartisan resolution saying we don't support this escalation of the war, then the president's going to have to take vote of that. I think that's the beginning or the end, as far as I'm concerned.
BASH: Republican leaders are urging caution.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: I think it is inappropriate for the Congress to try to micromanage, in effect, the tactics in a military conflict.
BASH: But the president can no longer rely on a GOP firewall of support. Republican Senator Gordon Smith, who recently soured on the war, tells CNN he thinks Kennedy's idea for a new Congressional authorization is a good one.
SEN. GORDON SMITH (R), OREGON: The more the Congress can be involved in the decision-making, the better. And that's what the American people are asking for. They're going to hold us accountable, then let's have the tools of accountability so we can be held responsible.
BASH (on camera): For now, Democrats say their main focus will be to scrutinize the president's Iraq plan in committee hearings. There is still intense debate about whether Democrats should try to block funding for additional troops to Iraq.
But Senator Ted Kennedy is trying to convince colleagues by the time they get that $100 billion request it will be too late, the troops will already be in the field and Democrats will be in the untenable position of withholding funds for troops in combat.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HARRIS: OK, we have heard from critics. We will hear later this evening from the president.
Now we want to hear from you and we really need your help with this one. Our e-mail question of the morning -- what do you want to hear from the president tonight?
E-mail your thoughts, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com, and we will share some of your e-mails in THE NEWSROOM this morning.
COLLINS: Let's look at current troop numbers now.
How many American forces are already in Iraq and where are they serving?
The answers in this CNN Fact Check.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Right now, there are about 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Of those, about one third are combat troops. More than 20,000 of the total are U.S. Marines.
American forces are deployed in four major areas in Iraq -- central Iraq, including the capital, Baghdad; western Anbar Province, northeastern and northwestern Iraq.
More than two thirds of the 30,000 troops in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar Province are Marines. Some of the heaviest fighting in the was has occurred in Anbar.
In addition to Baghdad, Army troops are operating in and around the north-central cities of Tikrit and Kirkuk, and the northwestern city of Mosul. Recently, U.S. commanders have been shifting thousands of combat troops into advisory positions with Iraqi Army and police units, especially in Baghdad. It's the latest attempt to get the upper hand on sectarian violence.
This change of mission is also taking place in Tikrit. So far, the U.S.-led coalition has turned security responsibilities over to the Iraqis in three of Iraq's 18 provinces. But the ultimate objective is to turn all of the remaining 15 provinces over to the Iraqis.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS: The president's plan under the microscope and in THE NEWSROOM. Today, the preview. Tomorrow, the scrutiny.
CNN is the place to be. Our extensive prime time coverage gets underway at 7:00 Eastern, with a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.
Then at 9:00, the president's speech.
Then the reaction -- a special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" follows at 9:30 Eastern. Then Anderson Cooper takes the reigns.
And CNN is the most trusted name in news.
HARRIS: Let's get a check of weather now -- and Chad Myers over my shoulder here.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello.
HARRIS: And Chad Myers there in the Weather Center -- Chad, what are you keeping an eye on this morning for us?
MYERS: It's funny when you're on the air and I can see myself over here, like way in the...
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: I'm literally about this big, but I can still see myself.
Good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT) COLLINS: We want to show you some pictures that have just come into us here now at CNN.
This is President Hugo Chavez being sworn in for a third term. That term will last until 2013. He's at the National Assembly. He says he wants to create a new 21st century socialist state. He is going to -- live pictures now as we hear him -- or see him, I should say, at the podium.
He plans to nationalize strategic power and telecommunications companies. These are obviously companies that serve the public interest, so that has generated some concern from White House Press Secretary Tony Snow.
The reaction, he said, you know, this kind of thinking has really had a long and quite inglorious history of failure around the world. The United States also worried about four different very lucrative oil projects that Hugo Chavez would like to put under state control. Right now those four oil projects are actually controlled by foreign companies.
So some changes in the way for President Hugo Chavez's country, as, again, he is sworn in for the third term, live here on CNN.
HARRIS: And still to come, weighing a wage hike -- the House debates a plan to boost minimum hourly pay. Countdown on the Democrats' 100 hours agenda, ahead in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Also, air strikes in Somalia. The U.S. now doing more than just watching.
But who exactly are the targets?
HARRIS: Plus, fire during a fill-up. Look at this. The man gets out of the truck. OK, what he doesn't do will amaze you.
COLLINS: And life in the fast lane. Sometimes you've got to slow down and see the lights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They go by here like a bat out of you know what. It's frightening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: A Florida woman signals speeders -- highway flasher, sort of, today in THE NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: In Somalia, reports of a big victory in the war on terror. Somali officials say a U.S.-led air strike has killed a senior Al Qaeda suspect, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. That is not confirmed yet by the Pentagon. Mohammed is on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists, with a $5 million bounty on his head. He is accused in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Those attacks killed 225 people.
On the ground in Somalia today, reports of more fighting. A Somali military commander says his forces and Ethiopian troops are battling Islamist fighters and Al Qaeda operatives in southern Somalia. The commander says American air support is backing up the operation, but the Pentagon has not confirmed that.
Here now, CNN's Barbara Starr with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Navy aircraft from the deck of the carrier Eisenhower heads off for Somalia, a reconnaissance mission a day after U.S. attacks there. An AC-130 launched from a based in Jubadi (ph) carrying Gatling guns and cannons fires on an al Qaeda camp along Somalia's southern border, in the Horn of Africa.
The U.S. hunting five top Al Qaeda operatives. Three of them, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Talha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, are wanted for bombing the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, where hundreds died and thousands were wounded long before 9/11.
The U.S. has offered up to $5 million for help capturing Fazul.
U.S. officials say Osama bin Laden personally approved the embassy attacks and knew these operatives had been hiding in Somalia for years.
This past summer, when a radical Islamic militia called The Islamic Courts Union, or ICU, took control of the country, U.S. worries only grew.
REAR ADMIRAL RICHARD HUNT, TASK FORCE HORN OF AFRICA COMMANDER: That's what we were really concerned about, is there seemed to be much more recruiting, much more training going on. They were positioning themselves to expand their area of influence beyond the Somalia borders.
STARR: One senior U.S. official tells CNN the worries about al Qaeda in Somalia became so great "we couldn't live with it anymore."
The ICU was driven from power in the past couple of weeks by the invading Ethiopian Army. Al Qaeda went south, on the run.
JENDAYI FRAZER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: We had felt that -- and seen evidence, intelligence evidence -- that these three al Qaeda operatives were also very much influencing the leadership of the Council of Islamic Courts. For example, they were providing logistics, providing fuel, arms, etc. to the militia.
STARR: CNN has learned that U.S. and African intelligence services have been secretly cooperating for weeks, tracking the men. The U.S. began surveillance missions late last year and U.S. commandoes have been on stand-by, ready to go into Somalia. No one will say if they are already there.
The Islamic militia is gone from power and a fragile new government is in place in Mogadishu.
But is there just a new power vacuum?
Mogadishu is wracked with gun battles, explosions and violence, but warlords show little inclination to give up their weapons. And Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, is calling for Islamic fighters to regroup and start a new insurgency.
(on camera): Even with al Qaeda on the run in Somalia, there is still great concern here that in East Africa there are functioning al Qaeda cells capable of planning and possibly launching new attacks.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Nairobi.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HARRIS: Weighing a wage hike -- the House debates a plan to boost minimum hourly pay. Countdown on the Democrats' 100 hours agenda. That is ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
Funerals for James Brown, but more than two weeks after his death, he hasn't been buried.
What's going on?
Find out in THE NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Baghdad battle -- CNN exclusive -- the day long shootout between American troops and insurgents -- soldiers at work in THE NEWSROOM.
And ahead of President Bush's speech coming up tonight about the new plan he may have for Iraq at 9:00 p.m. we'd like to know what you think. E-mail your thoughts, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. We want to know what you would like to hear from the president tonight. You see the e-mail address there, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. We'll share some of your thoughts, in just a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: The president's plan under the microscope and in THE NEWSROOM.
Today, the preview. Tomorrow, the scrutiny. CNN is the place to be. Our extensive prime time coverage gets underway at 7:00 Eastern with a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM with Wolf Blitzer.
Then at 9:00, the president's speech. Then the reaction, a special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" follows at 9:30 Eastern. Then Anderson Cooper takes the reigns.
CNN, the most trusted name in news.
And we want to hear from you this morning on our e-mail question.
What do you want to hear from the president tonight?
We really need your help on this. E-mail your thoughts, your thinking, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com, and we will share your thoughts later in the program this morning.
COLLINS: Urban warfare in the heart of Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's by that front lawn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's right by the front lawn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's by the front lawn (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go down to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: U.S. and Iraqi forces take on insurgents in some of the most intense street fighting since the start of the war.
And CNN's Arwa Damon is right there, embedded with the U.S. Army 3rd Stryker Brigade.
Here now, her exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there, right there!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move, move, move, move, move!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, come on (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I would say a total of 10! You got a total of 10!
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten insurgents are on the move below.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're moving in pairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not the normal (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
DAMON: The insurgents moving in pairs, maneuvering for sustained gun battle with the Americans, not simply firing and running away, as they usually do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Check.
DAMON: American troops are fighting the battle for Haifa Street from the roofs of the apartment buildings lining this main Baghdad thoroughfare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the far side. Watch the far side.
DAMON: The enemy today -- Sunni extremists, an explosive blend of both former Baathists and al Qaeda in Iraq. Facing them, some 400 American troops and 500 Iraqi soldiers, fighting for control of a two mile strip of road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The window far left. The window far left.
DAMON: The Iraqi soldiers are fighting side by side with the Americans on this rooftop. The Americans are giving the orders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
DAMON: This is more than an intense battle. This is training the Iraqis to do the job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody's there. Just watch it. He'll pop out again.
DAMON: The Americans and Iraqis are trying to get a fix on an insurgent in a window, but they are taking fires from all sides. They've got to get off this roof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go! Go!
DAMON: They move towards a building next door, moving to higher ground in this urban battlefield.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cover your face. We just got a ricochet over here.
DAMON: The zing of bullets whistling past these soldiers' ears, the snipers shooting at them, the ricochets just feet away -- it's hour five. The Iraqi troops below have gone door to door, to a number of buildings, but the insurgents keep moving and keep firing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you make of that there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a flood of RPGs from the right side of that front lawn!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The right side of the front lawn. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go down. Let's go down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Let's go down.
DAMON (on camera): This soldier is trying to positively identify the gunmen whom they believe are shooting at them from the mosque located just 600 yards beyond this window.
They have received rocket-propelled grenade, machine gun and small arms fire from that location. This battle has been going on for seven hours now, and, as the day progresses, is only getting more chaotic.
(voice-over): Finally, 10 hours after it began, the insurgents stop firing, 10 hours against a combined U.S.-Iraqi force of nearly 1,000 men. In this case, the Iraqis could not have done it alone.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Visions of victory leading people into battle.
But is it enough to carry the country through a long, drawn out war?
COLLINS: They sling hash all day. Democrats say give them more pay. A minimum wage increase on the table today in THE NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: An NFL lineman calls it the hardest hit he's ever taken -- not a tackle, but a taser.
Now, the question is -- the case is raising questions about racism.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Now the question is -- the case is raising questions about racism.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(MARKET UPDATE)
HARRIS: In the meantime, months in the making and already under fire, President Bush unveils his new Iraq plan. In a primetime television address tonight, Democrats are already planning to challenge the new strategy. Sources say the plan calls for sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq. U.S. official say the first deployments will begin by the end of this month. We're told the goal is for Iraqi forces to take control of security throughout the country by November. U.S. troop also remain to support the Iraqi forces. Sources say the plan also calls for about $1 billion in new economic aid to Iraq. That's on top of the more than $30 billion already committed. CNN's special coverage of the president's speech begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, with comprehensive coverage before and after -- before and after the address.
COLLINS: Iraqi oil profits were supposed to help pay for reconstruction but is that still a realistic expectation? Let's check the facts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If not for the war, Iraq would be awash in oil money. The country has 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. The third largest in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Canada. But it could be much larger. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, only about 10 percent of the country has been explored. Estimates of additional oil reserves range from 45 billion to 100 billion barrels. But insurgent and sectarian attacks have all but stopped oil exploration. Most of the oil fields lie in the Shiite-dominated south in the Kurdish northern Iraq. Sunnis with little or no oil land are demanding a fair share of the oil riches. Today Iraq is producing about 1.9 million barrels of oil per day. That's well below prewar levels of about 2.6 million barrels per day.
The main problems are war related -- sabotage, corruption, polluting. The U.S. government estimates that in 2005 Iraq oil revenues were about $18.5 billion. At the start of the war, daily oil production of 3.5 million barrels was considered a realistic figure. At current oil prices that could have resulted in oil revenues of a whopping $130 billion a year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Get to the computer. Help us out on this one. We really want your thoughts on our e-mail question today. Well, tonight's the night. What do you want to hear from the president in his primetime address as he unveils his plan for Iraq? E-mail us your thoughts, CNNnewsroom@CNN.com, and we will share some of your thoughts in the NEWSROOM this morning.
Visions of victory: Leading people into battle, but is it enough to carry the country through a long drawn-out war?
COLLINS: They sling hash all day and Democrats say give them more pay. A minimum wage increase on the table today in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And an NFL lineman calls it the hardest hit he's ever taken: Not a tackle, but a taser. Now the case is raising questions about racism. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Congress on the clock, a minimum wage hike on the House agenda today. A number of states have already raised their minimum wage.
CNN's Allan Chernoff looks at how one business and its customers cope. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the secret sauce that makes Country Sweet the place for chicken wings in Rochester, New York. The fast food chain in three locations has been one of Rochester's distinctive, yet affordable eateries for three decades. Until recently general manager Skip Delorme was able to run the business without worrying about rapidly rising labor expenses. No more.
SKIP DELORME, GENERAL MGR., COUNTRY SWEET: It puts a little stress on the business.
CHERNOFF: On January 1st, the minimum wage in New York state has raised 40 cents, to $7.16, the third increase in three years. It's welcome by Country Sweet's 48 employees.
DELORME: It is nice to have that extra money every week.
CHERNOFF: But it's a challenge for skip and his assistant general manager Rich Ragland.
RICH RAGLAND, ASST. MANAGER, COUNTRY SWEET: I see the dollars that come in, the dollars that go out and, you know, it's hard.
DELORME: Important to us is the Social Security tax.
CHERNOFF: A jump in the minimum wage means businesses like Country Sweet also have to pay more in Social Security taxes and workers' compensation insurance. Add it all up, skip estimates the wage hike is costing his business an additional $1,200 a month, a jump of more than six percent in the cost of labor, his second highest expense after food.
(on camera): Country Sweet has had no choice but to raise prices, up about 3 percent across the menu. In fact, the restaurant chain has had to do that every time the New York minimum wage has gone up.
(voice-over): The price hikes have done nothing to boost profits. They simply cover the added labor expense.
DELORME: I never like to increase prices. Customers tend to be a little cranky when you do that. But that's the only way that we can survive; it's only way we keep the doors open.
CHERNOFF: Indeed, Skip says. The restaurant chain earns far less than it did years ago. So far this new year, business at Country Sweet is just fine. Thanks, in part, Skip says, to Mother Nature. Mild weather makes it easier for customers to come out to the restaurant in a city that is often covered with snow this time of year.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, Rochester, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COLLINS: One senator is missing from the 110th Congress. South Dakota Democrat Tim Johnson is still hospitalized, four weeks after suffering a life-threatening brain hemorrhage. Doctors say Johnson is doing better. They have upgraded his condition from critical to fair. Johnson still has not spoken. Rehabilitation could begin within one week.
Health news coming up, hot flashes, mood swings. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has news on managing menopause, ahead in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Life in the fast lane. You know, sometimes you've got to slow down to see the lights.
COLLINS: They go by here like a bat out of you know what. It's frightening.
HARRIS: A Florida woman signals speeders. Highway flasher, in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: And slow down, you better obey the speed limit. That's all one woman said she wanted. So...
HARRIS: Here's what she did. She put up a flashing light, but police put the brakes on it fast.
Josh Rojas of our affiliate Bay News 9 has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think that's 30 miles an hour? it's a good example. Interesting.
JOSH ROJAS, BAY NEWS 9 (voice-over): Kelly Gillespie (ph) put up a yellow flashing light in her front yard to warn drivers to slow down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People try to cross the street with their animals.
ROJAS: She says too many people go speeding by her home, and something need to be done about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They do by here like a bat out of you know what. It's frightening. I don't believe that the police are doing enough to control the speed.
ROJAS: But Kenneth city police say speeding is not a problem. They say studies show 85 percent of drivers obey the 30 mile-per-hour speed limit. Police say if anyone's breaking the law, it's Gillespie with her flashing light. They warned her to take it down. She refused, and got a $200 ticket for illegally putting up a traffic signal on a public right of way. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't consider it a traffic signal at all. I just think that when I see a light like this, it's cautionary to me. Hurry up, get out of town.
ROJAS: Gillespie says she plans to fight that ticket in court, that she was just trying to shed some light on a problem, and it seems to be working.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See, I think they slowed down when they saw the light. I'm convinced that they do.
ROJAS: Gillespie also has a video camera pointed towards her mailbox, after she says a driver ran it over. Police say Gillespie's a chronic complainer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't consider myself a chronic complainer; I consider myself a concerned citizen.
ROJAS: Police say because of Gillespie her and her flashing light, they've ordered a new traffic radar sign that's going to be permanently placed on this street. It'll show drivers how fast they're going, and -- you guessed it -- it'll have a flashing light on top.
In Kenneth City, Josh Rojas, Bay News 9.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Police declined an on-camera interview with our affiliate.
As for Gillespie, her court date is set for Friday.
HARRIS: I'm going to follow this one. I'm curious. Aren't you curious as to how this turns out?
COLLINS: You see a lot of screaming and yelling when people go by, with the children around, you know, scary.
HARRIS: This next one, hard to understand, difficult to -- hard to believe. Singer James Brown still has not been buried. More than two weeks now after his death. Well, his body is being kept in this temperature-controlled room inside of his locked home...
COLLINS: Strange.
HARRIS: Brown's attorney says the singer's children and trustees for his will are working to resolve estate issues. That includes deciding on a final resting place. Until that happens, the Godfather of Soul -- strange to say -- will stay right where he is. Sorry about that.
COLLINS: And some more video for you to take a peek at. Now, your truck catches fire in a gas station. Rule No. 1, don't get back inside, OK? Hot wheels in the NEWSROOM. And health news coming up -- as if that wasn't some health news -- hot flashes, mood swings: Dr. Sanjay Gupta has news on managing menopause. Don't miss it. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: This is your brain, this is your brain during menopause. Irritable, sleep deprived, forgetful. But there are ways to mentally manage menopause.
Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most see Pat Dodson living a charmed life. Her 60th birthday last year at her home, an old San Francisco speakeasy. Her life, a whirlwind of political campaigns and parties, a stark contrast to 14 years ago, when her mood crashed.
PAT DODSON, SYMPTOMS OF MENOPAUSE AT 47: I was scared and I was very irritable. I was like being a different person.
GUPTA (voice-over): Throughout her 30s and 40s, Dodson juggled family life with career. At 47, she began having problems sleeping. Her tipping point, the day she confronted her husband with a list of his flaws.
DODSON: I was feeling alone. I was feeling angry. I was feeling sad. I was feeling as though I should get a divorce.
GUPTA: While there is no research suggesting a solid link between divorce and menopause, after the age of 50, 65 percent of all divorce papers are filed by women.
But luckily for Dodson, before it went that far, she found neuropsychiatrist Dr. Louann Brizendine, who told her, like 30 percent of all women, her trouble sleeping was an often missed sign of menopause.
DR. LOUANN BRIZENDINE, NEUROPSYCHATRIST: The biggest complaint in my office is often intense irritability, decreased libido, and lots of times mood fluctuations.
GUPTA: Brizendine says that when women reach 51 years old, they experience a seismic shift in hormones.
BRIZENDINE: Our estrogen and progestrogen starts to have our brain fluctuating on a wave up and down, estrogen, progesterone, through our menstrual cycle. So that changes our reality as we go through our cycle.
GUPTA: How do you manage menopause? Citing a recent breast cancer study, the FDA's revised guidelines state "hormone therapy should be used for short-term relief of menopausal symptoms." GUPTA: Brizendine says she prescribes hormones just to get over the transitional bump of menopause, but she also prescribes anti- depressants.
BRIZENDINE: Small doses that just take the irritability off and rebalance in the brain the things that estrogen usually does most of our lives, but is now becoming erratic.
GUPTA: Dodson now exercises daily and briefly took hormones and anti-depressants. Now at 61, she's experiencing menopausal zest.
DODSON: It's not something to look at, you know, with any kind of fear. It's something for women just to make sure, I think, that they get the right kind of care.
GUPTA: And with the right information, women can have a new mindset toward menopause.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And still to come, we asked for your thoughts in our e- mail question of the morning: What do you want to hear from the president's speech tonight? And, man, have you responded? A flood of e-mails filling the e-mail bag. We will read some of your responses coming up next in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Here's our e-mail question. Man, have you responded. We appreciate that so much. What do you want to hear from the president tonight?
Heidi, do you want me to start or do you want to start?
OK, let's start with Tyler from New York who writes, "As a firefighter and future soldier, I would like to see a complete withdrawal from Iraq simply because it is not our war and we can't do much if their own government is corrupted."
COLLINS: And this next one coming to us from Sergeant J. He says, "I wish the president would say the news media would have to leave the country and let the military do what they know how to do. When you sign up for the military you know at some point you will have to be in combat. So Mr. Bush get the media out, and let us do our job."
HARRIS: How about this from Roberta who writes, "What I want to hear before committing any U.S. troops is, number one, the promised Iraqi troops are already in position before any additional troops leave the U.S.. Number two, the Iraqi government is removing any restrictions on U.S. troop movement and actions now not at some future date. Why should we wait to get this? We already have troops there. The U.S. has already lived up to its end of past agreements. It is Iraq that has to prove itself and unless it does (not a promise but actual action) we should not commit additional troops." Roberts, thanks.
COLLINS: And Chad Hunt now, "I would like President Bush to announce the additional troop number that he plans to send to Afghanistan. Remember, the other war we never finished."
HARRIS: All right. Our e-mails so far, we have many more. We just don't have the time to get to them right now. But we will throughout the morning here in the NEWSROOM. Thank you so much for your response. And we'll get to more of those e-mails next hour.
And still to come, the president's plan under the microscope and in the NEWSROOM today, the preview tomorrow, the scrutiny. CNN is the best place to be. Our extensive prime time coverage gets underway at 7:00 Eastern with a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM." Then at 9:00, the president's speech. Then the reaction, a special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE" follows. At 9:30 Eastern, then "ANDERSON COOPER" takes the reins, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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