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House Expected To Pass Bill Bumping Up Minimum Wage; Hours To Go Until President Bush Unveils New War Plan For Iraq; New Orleans Starts 2007 With Stunning Pace Of Homicides; New Gizmos At Consumer Electronics Show; Easy For Americans To Forget We're At War; Robert Young Pelton Interview
Aired January 10, 2007 - 13:59 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, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon.
PHILLIPS: Big trouble in the Big Easy. A surge in crime wave spurs talk of curfews and checkpoints. We're going to get a live report.
LEMON: It is one of the most famous speeches in American history, but Dr. Martin Luther King almost didn't give it. Soledad O'Brien has details on the dream nearly denied.
PHILLIPS: Badly dressed or barely dressed, no matter if you're a tacky star, Mr. Blackwell will give you a dressing down. Who is on the list? Don is not on that list.
LEMON: I hope we're not on there.
PHILLIPS: The NEWSROOM tells all.
What can you buy for $5.15? Not much these days. And Democrats in Congress say that's why a boost in the minimum wage is long overdue. The House is expected to pass a bill this afternoon bumping up the minimum to $7.25 an hour over the next two years.
Let's check in with Brianna Keilar. She's in Washington.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, in the Democrats' so- called first 100 hours, this legislative blitz they are in the middle of right now, this is one of the issues they are tackling that really has a chance to become law. This bill would increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over two years. Democrats say 13 million Americans will be better off, but Republicans say small businesses will be forced to cut jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Independent studies confirm that the proposal by the House Democrats to raise the minimum wage without including considerations for those who pay the minimum wage and their workers would halt the momentum of recent economic growth dead in its tracks. REP. LYNN WOOLSEY (D), CALIFORNIA: I was a single mother with three small children, and although I was employed, I was forced to go on welfare. Today there are many, many Americans who are working so hard, who are earning the minimum wage, who are still coming up short.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: President Bush has said he'll sign off on the bill only if it includes tax breaks for small businesses since they'll be paying their workers more. That condition is not included in this House bill, but, Kyra, it's possible the Senate could add that later.
PHILLIPS: Well, how do people making minimum wage fare right now?
KEILAR: Well, right now if you're earning minimum wage, you're making $5.15 an hour. Say you are working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. You're making $10,300 a hear. And with the increase in the minimum wage, you'd earn about $4,000 more a year, but that's still below $16,090, and that's the government's latest poverty guideline for a family of three, say a single parent and two kids who are living in the lower 48 states.
Now, the minimum wage has not increased since 1997. Of course, inflation has. So the value of the minimum wage has decreased.
Last year, in 2006, $1 bought you what 80 cents bought you in 1997. And the price of some staple items have gone up even more than that.
For instance, in 1997 you paid on average $2.53 for a gallon of milk. That was up to $3.20 in 2005. Gas cost you on average $1.25 a gallon in '97, up to $2.31 a gallon in 2005 -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: It's amazing to think that anyone could survive on $10,000 a year, especially depending on where you live.
KEILAR: I know. It's certainly mind-boggling when you see those numbers.
PHILLIPS: Brianna, appreciate it.
LEMON: Well, the plan is ambitious, the gamble enormous, and the stakes have never been higher. Just hours to go until President Bush takes the wrap off his new war plan for Iraq.
Let's go straight to the White House now, CNN's Elaine Quijano.
Hi, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, nearly four years into the Iraq war, President Bush tonight lays out his new plan for Iraq. Senior administration officials say that the president will certainly acknowledge that the situation on the ground is not acceptable. This, of course, just months after the president said that the U.S. was winning in Iraq. Now, these senior officials say that the president will acknowledge tonight that there were hopes back in 2005, late 2005, in particular, that there might be political progress in Iraq. What these senior advisers to the president say is that in 2006, sectarian violence simply overtook U.S. forces, as well as Iraqi forces on the ground. And now, in order to quell that violence, the president plans to send some 21,000 additional U.S. troops to pacify, in particular, Baghdad, but also 4,000 roughly will be headed to Al Anbar province to tackle the problem of al Qaeda insurgents.
Now, these senior advisers also acknowledged, of course, that much depends on the government of Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki and his ability to deliver Iraqi troops to help in pacifying Baghdad and other areas. These senior advisers say President Bush continues to think that al-Maliki is the best man, is the right man for the job, and they say that it has been made very clear to the Iraqi prime minister that there is a plan in place and that it is now time for the Iraqi government to perform.
The White House trying to frame this essentially as an outgrowth really of a plan outlined by al-Maliki earlier this past week, in fact, when Maliki said he would not be afraid to go after all kinds of outlaws, he called them. Whether they be Shia, Sunni or Kurds.
Here is White House counselor Dan Bartlett outlining why the administration feels that this particular plan will succeed when other plans to pacify Baghdad have failed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN BARTLETT, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT BUSH: 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've 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 were not enough Iraq key troops and U.S. troops to help 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: Now, something we will not necessarily hear the president talk about is the cost. But senior advisers say it will be some $5.6 billion for the military efforts, some $1 billion to help with reconstruction and other efforts in Iraq.
Now, the president plans to try to aggressively sell this new plan. Tomorrow, in fact, Don, he is headed to Ft. Benning, Georgia, to talk to troops there. And his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, starting Friday will be traveling to several Middle East capitals, as well as a European capital, in order to garner support, essentially, among U.S. allies -- Don. LEMON: All right. We shall see. Thank you much, Elaine Quijano.
And tonight, stay with CNN and the best political team on television. Beginning at 7:00 Eastern, Wolf Blitzer and Paula Zahn host a special two-hour "SITUATION ROOM," where 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 of what happens next.
Complete coverage right here on CNN.
PHILLIPS: As some troops gear up to ship out, others are coming home in flag-draped coffins. Three more American soldiers have been killed in the fight against insurgents outside Baghdad. Two died in Anbar province, another in Diyala province.
Thirteen U.S. military deaths this month already, 3,017 since the war began.
Sixty more bodies turned up in and around Baghdad today, 41 were found yesterday. It's a daily occurrence. Many of the victims showing signs of torture.
Sectarian violence is blamed for it, and Iraq's Anbar province is a prime example of that. Today, gunmen ambushed Shiites returning from the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, killing 10 people and wounding 15 others.
LEMON: Mopping up on Haifa Street. U.S. and Iraqi forces reportedly rounded up 15 suspects a day after a major battle on a major thoroughfare in Baghdad. Photographer Dominique Swan (ph) shot exclusive video of the fighting and CNN's Arwa Damon reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there, right there!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move, move, move, move, move!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, come on (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First Sergeant, I would say a total of 10! You've 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).
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 Ba'athists 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: (INAUDIBLE).
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)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, striking Somalia. The U.S. goes after al Qaeda strongholds in the Horn of Africa. Was a top terrorist killed? We'll tell you.
LEMON: Get this -- eight days, nine deaths. This isn't Iraq. It's New Orleans. Crime is back in a big way in the Big Easy.
We're on it, on the case right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, it was a banner year -- for murder. New Orleans starts 2007 with a stunning pace of homicides. Nine in the first eight days. Citizens want to crack down, and the mayor plans to deliver.
CNN's Sean Callebs in on the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A makeshift memorial to Helen Hill (ph), a 36-year-old filmmaker shot dead by an intruder in her New Orleans home Thursday.
BRAD OTT, FRIEND OF VICTIM'S FAMILY: And Helen was sort of, you know, the lead of enthusiasm to come back and make it better, you know. New Orleans, we really need the world to take care of us.
CALLEBS: Hill's husband, a doctor who dedicated himself to the city's poor, was wounded in the attack. Friends are packing up the couple's belongings, saying the doctor has no intention of returning.
Just how dangerous is New Orleans? Well, the first eight days of the year, nine people were killed, the same number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq in that same period. Police blame a lot of the violence on drugs and gangs.
Mayor Ray Nagin and city leaders have adopted a catch phrase from citizen sick of murder -- "Enough is enough."
MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: I don't think anybody has lost control of the city. We have gone through a spike in murders. We're being very honest about that. It's something that the city has seen before.
CALLEBS: Nagin says the city is attacking the spike in violent crime by aggressive prosecution of murder cases, cracking down on people out between the hours of 2:00 and 6:00 a.m., and adding sheriffs deputies to neighborhood police patrols.
SUPT. WARREN RILEY, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: What took so long? The community finally woke up. We had a tragedy or two. The community should have, in fact, probably spoke up sooner.
CALLEBS: But some residents are dumbfounded by that sort of response from the people who are being paid to protect them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would expect to see more of an outcry from the city leaders.
CALLEBS: Jeanette Kelly (ph) and her two daughters live two blocks from where Helen Hill was killed. Kelly only recently moved back and is simply appalled.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm tired of hearing about all this dismissal of violence as thug-on-thug crime. I think that that really downplays the fact that people are being murdered.
CALLEBS: Especially for those coping with the loss of a loved one.
Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, in Vegas, no TVs too big and no cell phones too small. In other words, size matters at the Consumer Electronics Show. We're going to take you there live.
We plugged it -- well, we're plugged in with the latest always here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: If it beeps, bleeps, pays music, takes your picture, or makes you look like you're talking to yourself, it's all on display in Vegas this week. And the techno-geeks are loving it. CNN's Renay San Miguel, he's not a techno-geek, but he's oohing and aahing his way around the Consumer Electronics Show.
Hey, Renay.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'm taking one for the team here this week.
I am a techno-geek, and I'm loving this. But there are (INAUDIBLE) companies here. A lot of products, 130,000 people.
We have to cut through (INAUDIBLE), the cream of the crop here. What we're going to do is play the home version once again of our reality show here (INAUDIBLE) product. Thirty seconds to tell me why I would want to spend money as a consumer on your particular type of gadget.
Our first contestant, please tell us who you are and what your -- what your product is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Renay. My name is Chad with Q3 Innovations. I have here the UV Hawk with (INAUDIBLE), which is linked to skin cancer, sunburns and other sorts of skin abnormalities. It retails for (INAUDIBLE). What you need to do is (INAUDIBLE) your skin tone, and it will immediately warn you if you are exposed to the sun, which would mean you want to reapply sunblock or get out of the sun.
SAN MIGUEL: OK. And this works (INAUDIBLE) on certain conditions or, you know, that kind of thing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's going to be directly impacted of the condition of the ozone layer above where you are at on the Earth, actually. So you won't be able to feel ultraviolet light. And as 2006 was the sixth hottest year in history, and 2007 is predicted to be the hottest year in recorded history, it's just expected that our exposure to ultraviolet light will increase.
SAN MIGUEL: Chad (ph), thank you very much.
Contestant number two, hi there. (INAUDIBLE), and what's your product?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), and I am presenting the Pepper Pad 3. (INAUDIBLE) to bring to you. Sometimes we have our windows PCs and they act like (INAUDIBLE).
PHILLIPS: All right. How ironic is this?
Renay San Miguel, we're going to have to come back to you.
We're live at the Consumer Electronics Show with all the hottest technology there in Vegas, but our signal is really bad. We can't seem to get our technology right.
So we'll try and, you know, plug a few more things in and work on that signal and get back to Renay San Miguel.
LEMON: We'll get back to that.
Somalia boils over. But who has been turning up the heat? Up next, more on a tag team terror takedown from a man who knows a thing or two about danger.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hello again, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.
Ethiopian troops cross the border. U.S. air strikes follow. Why the sudden heat on Somalia? We'll talk with a man who has been there.
You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
But first, from briefing rooms and war rooms, straight to your living room, we already heard plenty about President Bush's new plan for Iraq which he unveils tonight. But he'll also talk about what went wrong in the old plans, including too few Iraqi and U.S. troops, and flawed rules of engagement.
Now, here's what we know about the new strategy.
U.S. sources say President Bush wants to send more than 21,000 extra troops to Iraq. Most of them to Baghdad, others to Anbar province, the heart of the Sunni insurgency. The goal is to hand control of Iraq to Iraqi troops by November, but U.S. troops would stay as backup. The plan also calls for a billion dollars in new economic aid earmarked for jobs.
We're at home, at work, at rest, at play, but we're also at war. It's hard for many Americans to keep that in mind. For others, though, it's much easier.
CNN's Jill Dougherty reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look at the play by number 34 Dawn Halfaker on the fly making a very athletic play.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Back in her college days at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Dawn Halfaker, top-scoring basketball player, thought of sacrifice as a theory. Now it's a reality, every time she tries to open a bottle. When she was 24, serving in Iraq, a grenade blew off her right arm.
Dawn doesn't look back much. She knows that in today's America, in spite of an almost four-year war, life goes on.
DAWN HALFAKER, IRAQ VETERAN: I also think that there is a part of America that, you know, maybe doesn't understand what this is about and, really, because it doesn't affect them. It doesn't affect their daily lives.
You know, there's -- and that's understandable, in a sense. This war is inconvenient to them in the sense that, you know, they have to hear about it on the news. But, you know, they can avoid it if they want to.
DOUGHERTY: Malls, like this one in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., are still filled with shoppers. The war is taking no immediate economic toll, and yet it ripples through the life of many here, people like 19-year-old Tamar Aghkekian, a shop clerk who wears a bracelet with the ring her high school friend gave her when he finished boot camp. He's now in Iraq. She thinks about him and the war even as she deals with customers.
TAMAR AGHKEKIAN, STORE CLERK: I mean, I think some people probably do block it out of their mind, because I guess they don't want to think about all the people that's dying.
DOUGHERTY: Shirley Grant (ph) lived through World War II, the rationing, coupons to buy gas, the sacrifice. This war, she says, is different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody was willing to cooperate. This time, all you have in your mind is, let's get out of there. It's terrible. Everybody has been killed. It's a disgrace.
DOUGHERTY: Tiana Christensen, a young mother, thinks about the war, too but she says that doesn't mean everything can stop.
TIANA CHRISTENSEN, MOTHER: I don't think me sitting at home and moaning about us being in a war is going to help the troops over in Iraq anymore.
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All defenses must be invulnerable -- our security absolute.
DOUGHERTY: Other U.S. presidents in other wars have called upon their fellow citizens to sacrifice their sons and daughters for the cause.
(on camera): George W. Bush is doing the same, but he doesn't use the word sacrifice much. Americans are being asked to risk sacrificing their lives, but not their lifestyle.
(voice-over): So a prosperous nation goes on with its life and Dawn Halfaker does, too, even if it will never be the same.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON; And tonight, make sure you stay with CNN and the best political team on television beginning at 7:00 Eastern. Wolf Blitzer and Paula Zahn host a special two-hour "SITUATION ROOM" before President Bush unveils his revised Iraq strategy. Minutes after the president finishes, Larry King and his guest 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.
PHILLIPS: U.S. military involved again in Somalia -- definitely. A long sought al Qaeda leader dead -- possibly. At least once this week, Americans in the air backed up Somali and Ethiopian troops on the ground.
Their target? Whatever is left of an Islamist militia that took over much of the country last summer. The Pentagon is not saying, but a Somali official tells CNN that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was killed. He's no stranger to the FBI. Mohammed is believed to be behind the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Well, the horn of Africa, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, chaos there is nothing new, nor is American involvement in that chaos.
Robert Young Pelton knows that. He is an author who specializes in regional warfare. We brought him in for some insight. Robert, good to see you again.
ROBERT YOUNG PELTON, AUTHOR, ADVENTURER: Hi, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about what is happening in Somalia. You are saying this is one of the CIA's few successes that we're missing here in the media.
PELTON: Right. We've opened a new front. When I was in Afghanistan in 2001, with special forces troops, I was surprised to find many of my friends working out of Djibouti.
There was a camp out called Camp Lemunye (ph), which was used to stage attacks on suspected al Qaeda targets in Yemen, Somalia and the surrounding area.
Also there's been a very robust CIA presence in Puntland, which is the actual country north of Somalia. Somalia is really three countries. Somalialand, Punt and Somalia. And this is actually been one of our few successes. We've basically swept out a Taliban-type government within 10 days.
PHILLIPS: And the U.S. has always been looking for those embassy bombers, the ones I was talking about in Kenya and Tanzania.
PELTON: Well surprisingly this fellow surfaced in Liberia shortly after September 11. He showed up in Charles Taylor's neck of the woods and was then running diamonds and cash through a lot of the contacts there to fund al Qaeda operations.
He returned under the protection of the Islamic Courts Union and when he broke cover basically, I guess, someone in the U.S. government said, OK, we have to go in there. We were funding the various militias. But that wasn't successful, so finally someone got on the phone and got Ethiopia to invade. PHILLIPS: So, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, you are talking about him, that's who we're talking about, so you're saying not only was he tied to those bombings, but Charles Taylor in Liberia, his corruption, his human rights abuses. What else do you tie him to? Obviously supporting al Qaeda, building up al Qaeda in the region. What else?
PELTON: His other major event was in 2002 there was a bombing of the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa and also in the same year, a missile attack on an Israeli airliner.
When he returned to northern Kenya in 2003, European officials were so afraid that they shut down a lot of air traffic in that region because the idea of an RPG being fired at an aircraft or a surface to air missile was enough of a threat to shut down traffic.
PHILLIPS: So, what does his death mean to the uprising of al Qaeda in Somalia and other parts of the horn of Africa which we've been talking about?
PELTON: If his death is correct, which I have no reason to disbelief it, it means we've taken out a very aggressive young sort of franchise leader of al Qaeda in the horn of Africa.
They are obviously are a number of other people who can take his place. Normally we're famous for taking out number two or number three. This time we took out number one.
PHILLIPS: And we've been talking about the airstrikes that took place yesterday. The Air Force involved in those airstrikes allegedly taking out this leader and responding to the build-up of al Qaeda.
Also, Navy assets on standby, possibly could get involved. Do you think there's going to be longer term consequences of these airstrikes or is this the way the U.S. needs to go to fight terrorism? Is this the next focus in addition to Iraq and Afghanistan?
PELTON: I am a big fan of special operations doing these anti- terrorism moves. For example, these aircraft are staged out of Djibouti. The actual targets are tracked either with people on the ground or using unmanned aerial vehicles.
But there's nobody for the Islamists to fight back against. In other words if we don't have a footprint on the ground, they can't strike us. There will be some retribution of course in the coming days against Ethiopians but essentially this is the way you fight terrorism.
PHILLIPS: Somalia has been extremely important strategically for a number of regions. But maybe we can look at that map again and the location. If you look at where it is, we're not just talking about the various countries that you are talking about like Kenya and Ethiopia.
But if you move up, you're not far from Saudi. Then you're not far from Iraq, you're not far from Afghanistan. So there could be an interesting connection here that we really haven't paid attention to. And the waterways, too. I mean maritime security.
PELTON: Well, strategically, most people don't know, but most ship traffic has to be narrowed into a very sort of thin line as it comes through the canal there, which makes it an absolutely perfect target for anybody with sea-born facilities.
As you remember, there was a cruise ship that was attacked by three boats and just guys with RPGs and AK-47s. Now step that up a little bit and look at what you could actually threaten. You can threaten a lot of oil and transport coming through that very strategic region.
PHILLIPS: Robert, is it easier to get a hold on Somalia and the terrorism activity there versus in Iraq or in Afghanistan?
PELTON: Yes. The difference between Iraq and Afghanistan and Somalia. Afghanistan and Somalia were absolutely destitute failed nations. So it doesn't take much to inject money, jobs, stability, security.
Places like Iraq are much more difficult. It was a socialized nation, it was a wealthy nation. But we have prospects for great success in Somalia. And not just Somalia, but also the areas of Uganda and Kenya that are quite lawless.
PHILLIPS: How did you get into Somalia, by the way. Final question.
PELTON: You fly out of Wilson Airport out of Kenya. There's a charter airport.
PHILLIPS: But you can't get in there now though. But as a journalist, you can't get in there now can you? Or you always figure out a way?
PELTON: I'm not a journalist. But money basically handles everything.
PHILLIPS: Hey, you write books.
PELTON: I know.
PHILLIPS: I'm being serious. A lot of people are thinking, well how the hell does he get in there? But you know, there is a way that you teamed up with, unlikely sources, to be able to get the story.
PELTON: Right. The bottom line is that there are (INAUDIBLE) that sail into the coast, there's pearl fishermen. There are a number of criminal groups that go in and out of Somalia and tribesmen.
If you like to go on the ground, you'll need an armed escort, but the bottom line is you can get into anywhere in Somalia. Money talks. There is no law, there is no border guards.
PHILLIPS: Robert Young Pelton, "Licensed to Kill" and "The World's Most Dangerous Places." Both great books, appreciate your time.
PELTON: Thank you very much.
(MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The big speech to the nation hasn't even happened yet but Democrats and Republicans are already coming forward and responding to what the president is going to say tonight in his nationwide speech at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Dana Bash on the Hill, grabbing Democrats and Republicans, trying to get reaction up there, and getting a lot of resistance from Republicans on this speech.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's really interesting, Kyra.
If you want to really get a sense of how much things have changed when it comes to the Iraq war and the political climate, all you have to do is look at the Senate floor in the past couple of hours. We are, of course, six, seven hours away from the president's big address where he will formally announce his new plan for Iraq.
And just a short while ago, we heard from a Republican, a Republican senator, Norm Coleman from Minnesota, coming out and making clear in a formal way that he has looked into this and he says that he refuses to put more American lives on the line in Baghdad without knowing what the Iraqis will do. He essentially made the case on the Senate floor that he does not think the president's plan will solve the problems of sectarian violence in Iraq. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. NORM COLEMAN (R), MINNESOTA: I oppose the proposal for a troop surge. I oppose the proposal for a troop surge in Baghdad where violence can only be defined as sectarian.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: So there you have a Republican senator, as I said, coming out, you know. Obviously, he could have done what other Republicans have been doing, which is saying, we're going to keep our powder dry. We're going to hold off, wait to hear what the president said.
But he did not wait to do that. He wanted to get on the record formally in the Senate and for his constituents back home in the state of Minnesota, which, it should be noted, just took a Republican seat away from Minnesota. They just elected a Democrat to replace -- excuse me, who beat a Republican there. But it is certainly noteworthy that that happened.
Another thing that happened just a short while ago, a Democrat from a red state, from the state of Montana, Senator Max Baucus, comes from a state where the president is still very, very popular. Senator Baucus has not really said much at all about any kind of opposition to the war, anything much since he voted for the war almost four years ago.
He came out again just a short while ago and said that he now regrets his vote for the war in Iraq, thinks it is a mistake and he, too, opposes the president's plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D), MONTANA: Going into Iraq was a mistake. The premise was wrong. After September 11, 2001, we had international support to go after al Qaeda and to find Osama bin Laden.
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BASH: So Senator Baucus is sort of an interesting story in that, for him, unlike every other member of Congress here, it is really personal. In July, Kyra, Senator Baucus lost his nephew, somebody who he just said on the Senate floor he considered a son. He lost him. He was killed in the Al Anbar province in Iraq.
He said that he understands and sympathizes, empathizes with the fact that there are many people out there who don't want their sons and daughters to die in vain. But he has a legislator, as a member of Congress has now concluded for the first time that he does not think the war in Iraq is correct and that he thinks that troops should now start coming home, start that within six months, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash on the Hill. Thanks so much.
Well, it's one thing on paper but in the field and under fire, President Bush's new Iraq plan might be something else. Less than seven hours to go before the president outlines his strategy.
Let's look further ahead with CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd.
General, I know you are there in Washington. You are able to get in on a number of these briefings. You're able to talk to military types, also get the political side at times. What are your impressions as we are just seven hours away?
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I'll tell you what, Kyra.
The president has a tall order on his hand. We're all anticipating his speech tonight, but let me just zero in on two of the major problems that the president is facing as he seeks to reportedly add troops. We'll know tonight.
First of all, I'd like to zoom in on Iraq and the Sunni provinces in western Iraq. We've seen these on maps before, but as you go into the Sunni area, you are looking at four major provinces: Al Anbar province, Salah Ad Din province, Nineveh prince, Diyala province. And all of these are where the insurgency is -- must be defeated. You have to go in these provinces to defeat the insurgents. At the same time you cannot make enemies out of them because they are the key to peace in Iraq. They must join the peace process. They must become loyal to the central government in Iraq for Iraq to work.
Let's zero in on Baghdad and see the other part of the problem that the president is dealing with, reportedly adding 20,000 troops. Baghdad has seven major neighborhoods. We're just going to look at four of them. We've heard of Sadr City, the ground (ph) of Muqtada al-Sadr.
Several of these other neighborhoods, Adhamiyah, Kadhimiyah, Mansour, you have mixed Sunni and Shia either within the neighborhood itself or living in proximity to each other, all protected by militias attacking each other.
If you zero in on Sadr City itself, just take a look at the complexity of Sadr City. Think of the worst neighborhoods in New York and Mexico City and Chicago and L.A., narrow streets, alleyways, row houses, apartment houses, houses jammed close together, places for all kinds of snipers and that type of thing.
That city, that area of the city itself alone, about 2.5 million people in that area of the city. That can eat up 20,000 troops. This is a tall order for the president, Kyra. We're all hoping it will be successful.
PHILLIPS: Well, tall order no doubt. And just looking at the landscape there and everything that you are pointing out, and then you talk about the number of troops going in. No matter what, it is stretching the military thin.
I had a chance to interview General Richard Cody. You know who he is, vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army, and he's in charge of this cycle of getting these troops, these soldiers trained, especially to fight the insurgency. And I asked him, look, you've got guys and women in this rotation where they aren't getting that full extension that they need to get ready. Listen to what he said, and I want to get your response.
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GEN. RICHARD CODY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: The problem is that because of what you just said, where units come back after 12 months and have about 12 to 13 months back in the states, they are only training on that portion of the military spectrum of warfare, the counterinsurgency.
And this country needs to have a strategic reserve above and beyond just fighting counterinsurgency so that we can also fight full spectrum if something else happens in this world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: What do you do about that strategic reserve? And you are seeing now this push in Somalia and talking about other parts of the Horn of Africa. This is the same branches of military. How do you do it?
SHEPPERD: Well, you don't, Kyra. The military is extremely stressed in all services. Their equipment is wearing out. They need to recapitalize. All of this is very expensive. And as General Cody points out, when you train for the war in Baghdad, you may also be called upon to do war in Somalia.
Should conflict break out in Iran, that would be a different type of warfare. Should conflict break out with Korea, the same troops that are due in Afghanistan and Iraq would be called upon. So this is a tall order on a military that's already stressed and there's no easy answer to it. You do what you have to do and you do it with the same people.
PHILLIPS: Final question. All right, you bring in all these new troops. Do you get in there, flush the area, do your best to take out the insurgency as fast as you can and then just start bringing troops home and tell the Iraqis, "Look, you've got to take over"?
SHEPPERD: It depends. Basically, I think what the smartest thing to do is to bring in these extra troops, accelerate the training of Iraqi forces by embedding more American troops with those forces, turning over areas, provinces and areas of Baghdad as quickly as possible and then slowly working our way out, not cutting and running, but making them capable as early as possible. They are the key to the future of Iraq. No number of American troops is going to bring security to Iraq, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: General Don Shepperd, appreciate your time.
LEMON: Minimum wage, maximum arguing. As Democrats vow to push through an increase, Republicans gripe they're being shut out of the amendments. Politics of paychecks ahead in the NEWSROOM.
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PHILLIPS: All right. Let's get straight to the NEWSROOM. Fredricka Whitfield working details on a pretty sad story coming out of Hollywood today.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Sadly, we want to report to you a death in Hollywood. You may not know her name but you know her face. Yvonne de Carlo -- she had -- she was an actress whose career spanned 35 years. You remember her as Lily Munster, the mother in "The Munsters," a TV show that was a great hit from the 60s which had lasting legs throughout the 70s and 80s.
Well, she died at the age of 84 in Woodland Hills, California. She died of a massive stroke and heart failure. Yvonne de Carlo at the age of 84 dying in Woodland Hills.
Remember her from that family right there, "The Munsters." Who could forget?
PHILLIPS: I know you watched that show.
WHITFIELD: I loved it. One of my favorites.
PHILLIPS: That theme, you know, you never forget it. It sticks in your mind. And those characters, too, and the sense of humor that they had on that show.
WHITFIELD: Yes, all of them were great. And she really stood out.
PHILLIPS: Yes, she sure did.
Thanks, Fred.
LEMON: We have another sad story to report in the entertainment industry today. He discovered then married one of the most beautiful women in cinema or anywhere else. Carlo Ponti is best known in America as the husband of Sophia Loren. But he also produced more than 100 movies. One of his biggest being "Dr. Zhivago" in 1965. Ponti met Loren when he judged her at a beauty contest. He later cast her in one of his films. Carlo Ponti died overnight in Geneva after 10 days in the hospital. He was 94.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, more entertainment news with A.J. Hammer of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT".
Hey, A.J., what else is on tap?
A.J. HAMMER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, yet another sad story in the entertainment industry today. The battle of he said/she said continues between Rosie, Barbara and Donald.
We're going to tell you which Hollywood stars are also labeled fashion foul-ups today. That's coming up next in the NEWSROOM.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If one of your New Year's resolutions was to get out of debt, then check CNN.com for a few tips to guide you along the way. According to cardweb.com, the average American household has at least one credit card and carries $9,200 in credit card debt.
Control your spending by making a budget. This interactive tool can help you calculate where your money is being spent and help identify where you can cut back and pay the balance toward your credit card debt.
Experts say you should pay off the highest interest cards first and make it a positive experience by rewarding yourself every six months for a job well done.
And you can share with us your disaster or success stories. You can find it all online at CNN.com/debt.
For the Dot-com Desk, I'm Veronica de la Cruz.
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