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Alleged Missouri Kidnapper Speaks Out; President Bush Prepares to Deliver State of the Union; At Least 100 Dead in Iraqi Bombings; Interview with Senator Ben Nelson; New Videotape From Al-Zawahiri

Aired January 22, 2007 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Kyra Phillips today.

The surge begins, but the president stands increasingly alone. In the House, the GOP wants monthly updates, in writing. And, in the Senate, some members of the Armed Services Committee have made their own concerns very loud and clear. And a new plan is being announced very shortly. We will take it live.

LEMON: And we keep telling you who is in for '08. It might be easier to tell you who is not. But do you wonder who is definitely out of the running? Well, Dan Quayle, for one. And we have got a list of others who say they will sit this one out.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The fight for Iraq, the White House says it will be a big part of the president's State of the Union address tomorrow night.

But, as the president prepares, more senators are taking issue with his troop surge plans. They are set to speak to reporters this hour on Capitol Hill. We will carry that for you live.

But, for now, we find our congressional correspondent Dana Bash live. And she's going to tell us all about it -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, in the next hour, we are going to hear from Republicans on both sides of the Capitol and the Senate and the House. And it will be a real sign of how much things have changed for the president, when it comes to Iraq, on the eve of his State of the Union.

He will be addressing a Congress, a Democratic Congress, that is obviously a lot more skeptical about the war, but, even more importantly, his fellow Republicans. What you just saw is a news conference we're waiting for from a very influential Senate Republican. This is the senior senator from Virginia, John Warner, somebody who was the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, who is a very respected voice on the war.

He is going to put forward a nonbinding resolution that states flatly that he opposes -- opposes -- the president's plan to send additional troops to Iraq. We just got some -- got this resolution. And I will read you the key point.

It says, "The Senate disagrees with the plan to augment our forces by 21,500, and urges the president instead to consider all options and alternatives for achieving the strategic goals."

And, then, this resolution sets forward some alternatives that include making -- making clear to the Iraqi leaders that they make political compromises to foster reconciliation in their government, and also focus the military strategy on -- on what the Iraq Study Group has -- has made -- made clear on helping to really focus more on training Iraqi combat forces.

So, this is really a significant moment in the Republican -- among the Republican Party, to hear from somebody like John Warner. He is going to be with another Republican, Susan Collins, and a conservative Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska. That's something we're going to -- we're going to hear, apparently. We're going to see another Republican there, another conservative who had supported the president, Norm Coleman. He will also be supporting this.

Now, on the other side of the Capitol, we are going to have something else significant, Don. The House Republican leadership has -- they have written a letter to the House speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, saying that what they now want is their president, the -- President Bush, to give them a progress report on Iraq every 30 days.

This is a significant change -- a significant change -- for the House Republican leaders, who really, for the past three, three-and-a- half, or four years, what they have tried to do is try to stick with the president as much as possible, when it comes to the rhetoric and also the policy on Iraq.

But it is so clear that things are changing so much, in terms of the polls when it comes to Iraq and the pressure that these Republicans are facing, especially in light of what happened in November. So, what they're doing is, they are saying to the president that they want him to give a progress report on what is going on with his new plan.

Now, it is kind of a compromise position among Republicans, because there is a split among Republicans, whether or not they support the president's plan to send more troops or oppose the president's plan. But this is a way to try to make clear to their constituents back home, their Republican constituents, even, that they are going to do something that the Democrats had some success on criticizing them about during the campaign, that they, that the Republicans, were in control of Congress, and, from the Democrats' point of view, they -- they gave the administration kind of a free ride.

Well, free ride no more -- this is a -- a whole new day in Congress, that Republicans in the House and the Senate side are trying to make it abundantly clear, on the eve of the president's State of the Union, that they are -- that they are going to, in one sense, oppose the president's plan, in another sense, make sure, with progress reports, that the new strategy is actually working -- Don. LEMON: And, Dana, lots of questions for you, as we wait for this to get under way here, looking -- monitoring it for you.

We're going to bring it to you live -- lots of questions.

But we have some -- some breaking news we want to take care of.

NGUYEN: Yes, we do.

Straight to the NEWSROOM now, and CNN's T.J. Holmes with details on this developing story.

What do you have, T.J.?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Betty, we talked a little earlier about that explosion, huge explosion, in Gaza.

We are bringing you pictures, new video we're just getting in. Again, this was in Gaza City, where the Al-Arabiya Arabic satellite channel was apparently the target of a huge bombing, a huge blast here at this office. You're looking at the newest pictures we're getting in here.

Now, first, no reports right now of any injuries, because of when the blast happened -- it happened a short time ago, at a time when there weren't people in that building -- so, no damage done, at least in terms of lives, but -- however, a lot of damage done to that building.

Now, Al-Arabiya, the network, had been in some kind of a dispute with Hamas -- Hamas, of course, which has come to power in the Palestinian government. There had been some kind of dispute between Al-Arabiya and some of the programs and some specials they had run that were critical of Hamas, critical of that government there.

Some of the people who worked at Al-Arabiya reportedly had been the target of death threats. But now we're seeing this bombing, huge blast, reportedly, at the office. This is some of the newest video we're getting in -- again, no reports right now that anyone was killed or injured, but don't know what this -- this might do to really continue to inflame tensions there between -- between, really, the Palestinian government itself, two factions of that government, Hamas, Fatah, some -- two different sides, a more hard-line and more moderate sides, trying to come together and form a coalition government.

That hasn't been the case, been some infighting, also been some violence between those two. But don't know what this might do to inflame that situation. But, again, you're seeing Gaza here and the Al-Arabiya satellite -- satellite channel, which has been bombed this evening, a blast there -- again, nobody injured right now, but we're keeping an eye on that, trying to get more information.

We will bring it to you when we have it -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, thank you, T.J.

HOLMES: Mm-hmm.

NGUYEN: Now we want to take you live to Washington, D.C., as the senators are about to mention this new resolution that they have created dealing with Iraq.

You see there Senator John Warner, along with Susan Collins, Ben Nelson of Nebraska. This is a bipartisan resolution.

Let's take a listen what they have to say.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: ... here at this press conference.

But I just want to explain what our objective has been, and what we hope we have achieved and will achieve. First, we're not here to, in any way, contravene the constitutional authorities of the president of the United States, by way of our resolution.

But we're here to accept an offer that the president made to the Congress and to others to come forward. And he said: "If members have improvements that can be made, we will make them. If circumstances change, we will adjust" -- end quote.

And that is precisely why we're here today.

It's clear that the United States strategy and operations in Iraq can only be sustained and achieved with the support of the American people and with a level of bipartisanship here in the Congress of the United States.

I'm a veteran of the Vietnam period, when I was secretary of the Navy. And, while I suggest that that conflict does not have any direct parallels to this, I did witness the decline of the public support and the decline of congressional support.

The purpose of this resolution is not to cut our forces at the current level or to set any timetables for withdraw, but, rather, to express the genuine -- and, I repeat, the genuine concerns -- of a number of senators from both parties about the president's plan. It is not meant to be confrontational, but, instead, to provide a sense of bipartisan resolve that I hope we can achieve with regard to our new strategy in Iraq.

We agree with the president. A failed state of Iraq will threaten world peace for a long time to come. Our report, in some respects, parallels much of the thinking in Baker/Hamilton. I had a modest role, with others, in establishing a framework, so that that panel could come forward and do what I believe was a very valuable contribution to this debate.

The primary objective of our overall U.S. strategy should be the following: to encourage the Iraqi leaders to make political compromises that will foster reconciliation and strengthen the unity government, ultimately leading to improvements in the security situation.

Our policy states that the military part of the strategy should focus on -- and I said military part, because there is an economic component, largely which we support. There is a diplomatic component that the president's plan has.

But I will focus now on the military: one, maintaining the territorial integrity of Iraq, denying international terrorists a safe haven; conducting counterterrorism operations; and, lastly, promoting regional stability, and training and equipping Iraqi forces, so that they can take full responsibility for their security.

Further, our proposal states that the United States military operation should, as much as possible, be confined to those goals, and charges -- I repeat, and charges -- the Iraqi military with the primary mission of combating sectarian violence. I personally, speaking for myself, have great concern about the American G.I. being thrust into that situation, the origins of which sometimes go back over 1,000 years, and try and sort out, with the difficulty of language, with the difficulty of understanding the culture, how best to react to Sunni upon Shia, Shia upon Shia, Sunni upon Sunni, and other things.

That -- we feel we should charge the Iraqi military with that primary responsibility. As such, our resolution states -- and I quote from the last paragraph -- "The Senate disagrees with the plan to augment our forces by 21,500, and urges -- I repeat, urges -- the president, instead, to consider all options and alternatives for achieving our strategic goals, enumerated above, with reduced force level than proposed at 21,500."

Thank you -- Ben.

SEN. BEN NELSON (D), NEBRASKA: Well, thank you very much, Senator Warner.

I want to thank Senator Warner and Senator Collins for helping forge this bipartisan resolution, and thank Senator Coleman for joining with us today.

One of the things I -- I think is important is to know that this resolution is aimed at broadening the support for the -- the resolution dealing with the president's plan. We want to make sure that it has broad appeal.

We have now just recently, in the last hour or two, circulated drafts. I have been talking to a number of my colleagues, many of whom have an interest in being supportive. Obviously, they want to look at the language and study it. And they are.

But I think it send -- it's important to send a strong message to the White House. And it's a stronger message when it has significant bipartisan support to be able to do that. This resolution will really, I think, be a very strong message to the -- to the White House. Now, the -- the content is more inclusive of the Iraq Study Group and their recommendations, and steers clear of -- of any partisan rhetoric as part of it. Senator Warner has explained the contents of it. Obviously, you will all have some questions regarding it. But I think that, at the end of the day, this -- this will be looked at as the bipartisan resolution dealing with -- with the -- the president's plan to deal with -- with a surge or increasing the -- the Iraqis' -- the -- the U.S. military's strength in Iraq, in particular in Baghdad.

So, with that, let me introduce my colleague, Senator Susan Collins.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: Thank you.

Let me begin by thanking my colleagues for their very hard work on this resolution. I think we are presenting a balanced, carefully drafted resolution, that distinguishes between the sectarian violence in Baghdad and the situation in Anbar Province.

My views on this issue, and on the president's plan, are shaped by my trip to Iraq in December. I came back convinced that inserting more American troops into Baghdad, into the midst of a sectarian struggle, would be a major mistake.

By contrast, I also am convinced that we do need more troops in Anbar Province, where the fight is not sectarian; the battle is against al Qaeda and foreign fighters.

I personally believe the answer is to reallocate troops out of the Baghdad to Anbar Province. But, obviously, the resolution does not get into that kind of detail.

The resolution firmly says that the Senate disagrees with the plan that the president presented, but it also respectfully urges the president to consider alternatives to that plan, and to work with us on a bipartisan basis to come up with a plan that would achieve our goals, that would encourage the Iraqi government to take the long overdue steps that are needed toward political reconciliation, to form a true unity government, to more fully integrate the Sunni minority.

It also...

NGUYEN: So, you have been listening to Senator Susan Collins, Ben Nelson and John Warner talk about this new partisan resolution that they have formed.

We will also hear more about this a little bit later in this newscast today, as we will be speaking live with Senator Ben Nelson about the details of this resolution.

And, of course, tomorrow, we're going to hear a whole lot more from the president, as he talks about his plan in Iraq during the State of the Union address.

In the meantime, though, if you want to watch more of that press conference live, as it is happening right now, all you have to do is go to CNN.com/Pipeline.

And don't forget, the best political team on television covers the president's State of the Union address tomorrow night. That's starting at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. CNN's Wolf Blitzer is in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with a preview of the speech.

You can watch the president at 9:00. Then, Anderson Cooper picks up the postgame at 10:30 from Washington. And Larry King stays up late with a midnight edition right here on CNN.

LEMON: Michael Devlin on the record, the suspected kidnapper now speaking from his Missouri jail cell -- what he said straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: No fair, says Michael Devlin's attorneys. They want the accused kidnapper of two young boys kept out of reach of the media, after an enterprising reporter scored not one, but two jailhouse scoops.

CNN's Rick Sanchez has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The accused kidnapper talked to "The New York Post" in two 15-minute interviews given from the Franklin County jail.

Michael Devlin admitted to "The Post" that he hasn't talked to his parents yet, saying -- quote -- "It's much easier talking to a stranger about these things than your own parents."

Devlin, who comes from a large family, told the paper, the only visitors he's had in jail were his attorneys. He also told the reporter that he became lonely and withdrawn in 2002, when he was diagnosed with diabetes.

When talking about the past four years, the amount of time that Shawn Hornbeck was missing, Devlin told "The Post" -- and we quote -- "I guess I was relatively happy."

The newspaper reports, when asked if he was attracted to women, Devlin answered -- quote -- "I can't talk about that, because it has to do with the case."

Last week, Shawn Hornbeck's parents told Oprah they thought their son was sexually abused during his captivity. Devlin has pleaded not guilty to one charge of felony kidnapping in regards to Ben Ownby. And he is expected to be arraigned on kidnapping charges in the case of Shawn Hornbeck as well.

Rick Sanchez, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, in another kidnapping story, reported sightings in a manhunt for a missing Indiana family.

Police in Elkhart will only say they have received information that the mother and the four children are alive. They are checking every lead. And the search has expanded to Chicago, where police believe Jerry White may have taken his ex-girlfriend and their children.

But a cousin says none of his relatives in Chicago has heard from him. Police allege White took the family by gunpoint from their home on Saturday. The children range from 16 months to 9 years old.

LEMON: We keep telling you who is in for '08, but wonder who is definitely out of the running? Well, Dan Quayle, for one. And we have got a list of others who say they will sit this one out.

You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Kyra Phillips today.

Sectarian strife in Iraq, it inspires bipartisan unity on Capitol Hill. Key lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle speak out against the president's plan to increase troop levels. Democrat Bill (sic) Nelson joins us live on the resolution just announced by the three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

First up, though, Black Hawk down in Diyala Province -- a dozen Americans killed. It happened on one of the deadliest days for U.S. troops since the start of the war in Iraq. The Pentagon suspects hostile fire.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre has the latest. And he joins us now.

Hi, Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Betty.

You know, one of the reasons the U.S. military relies so much on helicopters is because of the danger of traveling on the ground. But, of course, helicopter travel can be dangerous as well. This -- this crash is now suspected to be the result of hostile fire from the ground. Now, that is the operating theory that they are looking at, based on the fact that they found a -- a missile launch tube that would indicate that perhaps a shoulder-fired missile would have been fired at the -- at the Black Hawk helicopter.

Again, twelve people on board, four crew members and eight others, all died in that crash, which -- the leading theory now is that it was caused by hostile fire. None of the identities of the dead soldiers have been released yet, as the military continues the investigation -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Jamie, no one is claiming responsibility. This happened over the weekend. No word yet on who might be claiming responsibility?

MCINTYRE: Well, CNN has heard of an Islamist group that has claimed responsibility for downing the aircraft.

But, you know, those kind of claims of responsibility come all the time. And we have no independent way of verifying it at this point.

NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Jamie McIntyre with the latest on that story -- thank you, Jamie.

More bombs at more outdoor markets in and around Baghdad -- 100 people, maybe more, are dead. A pair of car bombs did most of the damage today, damage the Iraqi government calls horrible. At least 88 people are dead in those attacks, almost twice as many wounded. Hours later, a bomb ripped through a marketplace outside Baquba, north of the capital, killing 12, wounding 40.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, is trying to get to the bottom of a weekend attack in Karbala. Attackers there infiltrated a security compound, reportedly disguised as U.S. military officials. They killed five U.S. soldiers, before escaping. Their fate today isn't clear.

LEMON: We have got new information and new pictures coming in about that explosion in Gaza.

Let's head to the NEWSROOM -- T.J. Holmes working all the details for us on that -- T.J.

HOLMES: Well, again, like you said there, Don, this is in Gaza City.

And this was the office -- the office of Al-Arabiya, the Arabic satellite channel -- a huge explosion at that office this evening. These -- these are the new pictures we're seeing. You have seen the damage there, glass blown out, a lot of damage done to this building.

However, the building was empty at the time. The employees were not there. Again, this is Al-Arabiya, the Arab -- Arabic satellite channel, where a huge blast has happened tonight in Gaza City.

What we do know is that there has been some kind of a -- a dispute between Al-Arabiya and the Hamas government that has come to power there in the Palestinian government. There was a dispute over some -- some of the reporting that Al-Arabiya had been doing. Some of the reporters at Al-Arabiya had been the subject, the target of death threats.

And, so, tonight, we are seeing an explosion. Possibly the target is possibly to get back for some of that -- some of that reporting -- that information just coming in to us as well. But, again, the key here is that no one was injured, because no one was at the building at the time. We're just looking at the new pictures here and some of the aftermath.

So -- so, again, don't exactly know. And, certainly, no one has claimed responsibility here. A spokesperson for Hamas has come out and actually condemned this bombing, saying that, even though there has been a dispute between Hamas and Al-Arabiya, they certainly do not condone this type of -- this type of retaliation or this kind of action at all.

But, again, Al-Arabiya television been bombed, a huge explosion that damaged this building, an eight-story building there in Gaza City, but no one injured.

Going to keep an eye on this, details still coming in -- but, again, nobody injured. Don't know what this might do to really inflame the situation that has been going on, the infighting in the Palestinian government.

But we're watching it for you -- Don.

LEMON: The amazing part, nobody injured in all of that.

HOLMES: And nobody was there. That was the good thing, nobody had to be at work this evening.

LEMON: T.J., thank you so much for that.

The road to the White House just got a lot more crowded. Over the weekend as widely expected, Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton said she's in the race. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, also a Democrat, declared he, too, is forming an exploratory committee. Kansas Senator Sam Brownback joined the field of Republican contenders.

Well, with so many hopefuls already in, we thought it might be easier to tell you who is not running for president in 2008.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice-over): President Bush is the most prominent noncandidate. The constitution bars him from running for a third term. Vice President Cheney might be the logical Republican nominee to succeed him. But Cheney, who survived four heart attacks over the years, isn't running. Neither are any former vice presidents.

Al Gore have have come within a few dangling chads of winning the presidency in 2000. But here is an inconvenient truth for those who'd like to see him run again. For all Gore's talk about global warming, he says so far at least, he's not warming to another presidential race.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle made a brief attempt at running for president in 2000, but this year he appears to be a presidential couch potato. In a "Newsweek" magazine survey, Quayle lists only three personal goals: taking his family to Greece, going on safari in Botswana and not going sky-diving ever.

So who else is missing from the race? Virginia's Senator George Allen was once considered presidential timber, but his hopes were chopped down in November when he lost his reelection bid. Then there is Senator Joe Lieberman, an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 after losing his bid to become vice president on the Gore ticket in 2000. Unlike Allen, Lieberman did manage to get reelected to the Senate, but only as an independent after his fellow Democrats rejected him.

One candidate got out of the 2008 presidential race before he officially got in. Indiana Senator Evan Bayh withdrew just two weeks after forming an exploratory committee. He offered what for politics is an unusually candid explanation. He didn't think he could win.

Others who were considered possible candidates but who just said no, Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who is passing up the opportunity to attempt to succeed his brother.

So the next time someone tells you everyone and his brother are running for president, tell them, everybody isn't running and neither is his brother.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, we're also getting a new look at whom Americans favor in the race for the White House in '08, 34 percent of Democrats say they support Senator Hillary Clinton for their party's nomination. She is followed by Senator Barack Obama, former Senator John Edwards and former Vice President Al Gore.

Now on the GOP said, almost a third of Republicans would like to see former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as their party's candidate. Senator John McCain is close behind with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney rounding out the top four.

A U.S. soldier wins the fight of his life. They said he wouldn't live. They said he wouldn't walk, but they didn't whom they were writing off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Almost 23,000 American troops have been wounded in Iraq. The injuries can be devastating and the psychological wounds can run just as deep. Well today, the story of a young G.I. who has had dozens of operations and faces many more. His is a story not only of surviving, but of thriving. Here is CNN's Soledad O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Jim Benoit was one of the first U.S. soldiers deployed to Iraq in 2003. He spent a year, then returned for a second tour of duty in 2005. Just eight months after his return, an IED, an improvised explosive device, blew up under Jim's Humvee. Jim was driving.

JIM BENOIT, CRITICALLY INJURED IN IRAQ: I didn't know I was, you know, injured or anything. It was kind of like, right when all of a sudden my vision just kind of went black.

O'BRIEN: Doctors told Jim he died on the operating table four times. Barely alive, Jim was transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical center where his mother, Missy, got the terrible news from doctors.

MISSY BENOIT, JIM BENOIT'S MOTHER: I said tell me straight out, I want to know the worst, and he said, I don't think he'll make it through the night, and if he does, we will probably have to amputate at his trunk.

O'BRIEN: Doctors wanted to amputate everything below Jim's waist. Missy refused.

M. BENOIT: And I looked at the doctor, and I said there's nothing wrong with my son's legs. Go in there and you fix the broken middle. I was just determined my son was walking out of that hospital.

O'BRIEN: Jim had the first of what would be 79 surgeries. His muscles and tendons were cut and stretched over his backside, and he needed painful skin grafts taken from the side of his legs and back. Every step of the way keeping Jim company, a young woman named Pam Callahan. She'd been a casual friend, then a pen pal while Jim was overseas. Hour after hour, day after day Pam sat by Jim's bedside, and they talked. On July 1st, still in his hospital bed, Jim proposed to Pam and vowed he would walk by their wedding.

(on camera): Did you have any doubts about saying yes to the proposal?

PAM BENOIT, JIM BENOIT'S WIFE: No.

O'BRIEN: Not a moment?

P. BENOIT: No. I'd been with him and gone through so much with him already that I knew that he was the one.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): On November 18th, the soldier doctors said would never walk again escorted his bride down the aisle.

P. BENOIT: I was waiting for my turn to come up the aisle, and somebody came back and they were, like, he walked up the aisle.

M. BENOIT: When he got up and danced, no, he didn't leave a dry eye in there.

O'BRIEN: Then even more surprising, the breathtaking generosity of total strangers. Local school students raised $22,000 for Jim and Pam. The town is building them a home. So far just the foundation has been finished. The labor was donated. It's standing on land the town donated and volunteers designed it. Jim and Pam say they take it one day at a time. The soldier who was not expected to live, and never expected to walk, is now living a new life.

M. BENOIT: How are you, sweetie?

O'BRIEN: And his family is overwhelmed with gratitude.

M. BENOIT: Saying thank you, it's a simple word, but the impact it has, I can never thank these people enough for what they're doing for my son.

O'BRIEN: Soledad O'Brien, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Such a good story there.

Well we did tell you about the Warrior One auction. The goal was to help wounded soldiers such as Jim. So far, Fisher House has 38 homes on military bases and near V.A. hospitals to accommodate the families of servicemen and women under long-term medical care.

Well, Warrior One was auctioned off for Saturday and get this. It fetched $1 million plus another $250,000 in a straight donation and all of that money goes to the Fisher House.

So if you would like to make a donation, you can. All you have to do is hop online at fisherhouse.org or you can mail it to Fisher House Foundation. The address is on the screen, 1401 Rockville Pike, Suite 600, Rockville, Maryland, 20852. Make checks payable to Fisher House Foundation.

LEMON: Oh, it just won't let up. We're talking about the weather. More snow in places that already have had quite enough. Some in places that usually don't get any snow at all and the first major storm of the season in the nation's capital. Icy roads a big concern there, as well as in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia.

In the heartland, snow plows are working overtime. Still at least 11 traffic deaths in Nebraska and Kansas are blamed on the latest storm, which also brought down more power lines in Oklahoma and Missouri. And check out Tucson, Arizona. This is Tucson, Arizona. It's usually sunny there. These folks aren't sure what to make of the storm or the inch and a half of snow it left behind. Any surprises in store for this week? Rob Marciano is a man in the know and he's in the CNN Severe Weather Center checking it all out for us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Well he's reportedly fired his publicist and agreed to meet with gay activists, but actor Isaiah Washington still may have blown his prime gig on "Grey's Anatomy." According to a source at Disney parent company ABC, Washington's recent use of an anti-gay slur for the second time may be grounds for dismissal under the company's anti-discrimination policy. Neil Giuliano is president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. He is one of the people scheduled to speak with Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL GIULIANO, PRESIDENT, GLAAD: Our role is to have a broader dialogue and now that Mr. Washington has apologized, we're going to take him up on his offer to sit down, talk about anti-gay bigotry in this country, talk about the use of this very offensive and unacceptable language and hopefully engage him in changing the climate in this country and educating Americans about these kind of situations.

LEMON: What are you going to ask him? What are you going to say to him?

GIULIANI: Well, I'm going to first listen. It is a very interesting comment that he puts out there, so I want to listen. I want to hear him talk about what some of those issues really are. Maybe there is something in his history, his background or his understanding of lesbian and gay people that caused him to say that.

So I don't know anything more than I've read in the statements so far, but I'm going to listen, and then we're going to have a dialogue about the state of affairs for lesbian and gay Americans in this country right now and what he can do a very visible person who has a lot of star status to help raise the awareness of the kind of issues that we face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And thousands of people have signed an online petition demanding Washington be fired.

NGUYEN: Another story, 34 years later, Roe v. Wade is still a lightning rod and today, activists on both sides of the abortion issue take their fight to Washington. We have a live report ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Now earlier this hour, we brought you a live news conference by key members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. They talked about a new resolution criticizing President Bush's call for a U.S. troop increase in Iraq. And joining me now is one of the sponsors, Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska. Senator, we appreciate your time.

First off, I want to talk to you about the primary objective of this new resolution because this is something that is being sent out there as an alternative to the president's plan. So how does yours differ?

SEN. BEN NELSON (D), NELSON: Well, we're not offering an alternative to the president's plan. What we're saying is we disagree with the president's plan and we think that the president ought to look at alternatives and other options, rather than going into Baghdad with American troops to try to quell violence between Sunnis and Shias in an area that -- and try to solve a battle that's been going on for at least a thousand years. So we think that the president ought to look at other options before he commits 21,500 troops to that commitment.

NGUYEN: What kind of other options are you talking about? And, also, I want to get to the issue of accountability because that is a main point within this resolution.

NELSON: One of the options is to make sure that the Iraqis are the senior partner in this, that they will show up. We've had surges before and the Iraqi troops didn't show up, the Iraqi government hasn't been as supportive as we'd like to have it.

As a matter of fact, there are serious questions as to whether Iraqi government supports this plan, which has been shown to be, by the administration, as the Iraqi plan. We think that more thought needs to be given to this before this plan is put in place or is fully implemented.

NGUYEN: And when you talk about more thought, you also, as I mentioned, want accountability. What kind of a timeline are you giving the president to show that accountability? Updates, maybe monthly?

NELSON: Yes. What I think -- we ought to get monthly updates. Sometimes you get weekly updates. I think we can set up a series of reports that some things you're going to get reported on more quickly than other things, such as the number of troops there, all kinds of things relating to troops.

But we think that there is accountability coming back to the Congress that needs to be established and followed. After all, there are some things that we're going to know almost immediately, do the Iraqi troops show up? Does the prime minister call off some of the efforts in certain areas to protect high-ranking political leaders? These are questions that I think probably could be answered rather quickly. Many of the other things would take more time.

NGUYEN: And when we talk about accountability, the president has been criticized for not having a timetable. Now your resolution doesn't have a timetable either. Why not?

NELSON: Well, I think -- well, I don't think it's up to us to set a timetable. I don't think we're in a position to offer an alternative plan to the president, but I think it's important that the president has some sort of a time frame, timetable for certain things to occur.

That's part of the benchmark process. For two years, I've been saying we need benchmarks, we need measurable goals. This resolution puts in place the requirement and request that that be accomplished. That this -- our whole goal here is to not create, or in some instances, sustain a cycle of dependence of the Iraqi government on U.S. and coalition forces. This plan could do just that. We're very concerned about that.

NGUYEN: Senator Ben Nelson, one of the sponsors of this resolution, we appreciate your time today. Thank you.

NELSON: Thank you.

LEMON: And that is exactly what "THE SITUATION ROOM" covers every day. Why don't we check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer to find out what's going on in "THE SITUATION ROOM," coming up at the top of the hour.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks guys, lots coming up here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Pressure on the president from members of his own party. We're going to tell you how some Republican senators are sending their own major message to the White House regarding a troop increase in Iraq.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, more blood in the streets. Attackers appear to be getting even bolder in their assaults. There are new developments on an attack where gunmen dressed like American military offices targeting U.S. troops.

Also, CNN goes on an exclusive fact-finding mission regarding explosive claims about Senator Barack Obama's past. We're chasing down the story all the way to Indonesia. We're on the scene there. We're going to tell you what's true about these rumors and what is not. This is something you will see only here on CNN.

And her mother is now the first female speaker of the House, but Alexandra Pelosi is blazing her own past as well. She's an award- winning filmmaker with a brand new film. I'll speak this coming hour with Alexandra Pelosi about "Friends of God," which examines the nation's evangelical movement. All that guys, coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

LEMON: All right Wolf, thank you, sounds interesting. We'll be watching. The closing bell and a wrap of all the action on Wall Street straight ahead.

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LEMON: We have this just into the CNN NEWSROOM. Ayman al- Zawahiri, the second in command for al Qaeda, it is believed that a videotape appears to be imminent. A new videotape specifically referencing the president's State of the Union address tomorrow night. He is saying if we are struck and killed, you will definitely with Allah's permission, be struck and killed as well. The video again appears to coincide with the president's State of the Union address tomorrow night. Details on this in "THE SITUATION ROOM" right after this broadcast.

NGUYEN: Right now though, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.

LEMON: Susan Lisovicz is standing by with a final look at the trading day for us -- Susan?

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