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Opposing the 'Surge'; Energy Challenge; Second Air Strike Against Suspected al Qaeda Targets in Somalia
Aired January 24, 2007 - 14:01 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: And I'm Don Lemon.
Killed by a crash or by insurgents' bullets? The latest on civilian bloodshed in Iraq and security agents who willingly put their lives on the line.
PHILLIPS: You put up and we'll shut up. Mississippi homeowners band together to get post-Katrina insurance money.
LEMON: And an actor turns a running joke into a fund-raising scheme. Kevin Bacon and six degrees of charity. We'll get to the story at Sundance.
You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: A Senate committee has spoken with words and votes. And it's one more thing the president does not want to hear. The troop surge, it's contentious, it's a done deal and it's already beginning.
So why debate it? Why vote on it? And why are growing numbers of Republicans not willing to, in President Bush's words, give it a chance?
CNN's congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, is on the Hill.
Hey, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, it was in the past hour that we saw the first formal repudiation of the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq. As you said, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted by 12-9 to say in a nonbinding resolution that it is not in the national interest of the United States to increase troop levels in Iraq.
This just hours after the president was here on Capitol Hill, as you mentioned, pleading with Congress to give his new plan more time to work. But after intense debate all morning long in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, it was very clear that there is not very much support at all. Heavy skepticism for Mr. Bush's plan.
And many members, Republicans and Democrats, said that it was important to make Congress -- to get Congress in the game essentially and to get -- make Congress' views known to the president, known to the country. And there were some discrepancies and disagreements over whether a nonbinding or symbolic resolution is really the way to go. And that is something that the chairman, the Democratic chairman, Joe Biden, said he supports. But his counterpart, the ranking Republican, said that he does not think that this is the way to go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R), INDIANA: Usually non-binding resolutions are designed to show unity on an issue or to highlight an issue that few members know about. In this case, we are laying (ph) open our disunity without the prospect that the vehicle will achieve meaningful changes in our policy. This vote will force nothing on the president, but it will confirm to our friends and allies that we are divided and in disarray.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: My experience with this administration after six years is -- and maybe yours is different -- is the only way to get its attention is to make it crystal clear, crystal clear and publicly clear, that you take issue with what they're proposing. I think they read, and I've observed from the vice president, the former secretary of defense and others, they read the failure to directly confront and openly do it in public view as weakness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now there was just one Republican on this committee who switched and voted with the Democrats on this, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who was a sponsor of this resolution. And he is somebody who spent a long time this morning really, in a way, lecturing his colleagues, saying it is now important for all 100 senators to make clear to their constituents back home where they stand and that they are going to be actively involved in this Iraq debate.
He said that if members of Congress aren't interested in that, then they should go back home and sell shoes. That was the comment that he gave to his colleagues.
But, Kyra, although he was the only Republican to vote for this resolution, several, even on this committee, said that they don't support the president's plan and that they will be looking for other ways to make that clear in perhaps other resolutions down the road. Maybe when this debate, we expect as early as next week, on the Senate floor.
One thing I should mention, that the -- that Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden, the chairman, said that he is not done just with this nonbinding resolution. He agreed, especially after many of the Democrats on the committee pressured him, that he is going to work with them to have something more substantial, a binding resolution -- or a binding legislation, I should say -- that will try to hold the president's feet to the fire, or at least recommend a clear strategy going forward on Iraq -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dana Bash on the Hill.
Thanks so much.
Also, we want to remind you, we're waiting to hear from Senator John Kerry. He should be stepping up to the mic there on the Senate floor. We're going to take that live as soon as it happens. We are being told we are expected to hear him say he is not going to run for the presidency in 2008.
We'll bring it to you live as soon as it happens.
LEMON: Kyra, it is a modern day political tradition, the post-State of the Union sales trip. Just hours after driving home his alternative energy ideas, President Bush followed up at a research site in Delaware.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the White House with details for us.
Hi, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. And yes, the president's focus in particular in Wilmington, Delaware, today was to pitch his new energy proposal. Particularly his plan to have some additional 35 million gallons of alternative fuels produced in the United States come the year 2017.
The DuPont facility that the president toured this morning does focus on researching something called cellulosic ethanol. That's ethanol that's made not from corn, but from non-food materials like switch grass and wood chips. And the president said that using such alternative fuels to lessen American's dependence on foreign oil would make the country safer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you're dependent on oil overseas, it means that -- and in a hostile regime, a regime hostile to the United States produces that oil, you become vulnerable to the activity of a hostile regime. In other words, somebody doesn't like us, they produce the oil, they decide to do something about it. They caan affect us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: President Bush also announced that he had signed an executive order mandating that the federal government itself take the lead in helping the country meet the goal that the president announced last night of reducing gasoline consumption in the U.S. by 20 percent over the next 10 years. The president said among the steps he would require would be for the federal government to use more hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Kathleen Koch, thank you very much.
KOCH: You bet.
PHILLIPS: Seventeen months after Katrina, 17 months after their homes were wiped out and their lives turned inside out, homeowners on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are finally hearing the words that they've been waiting, praying and fighting for: insurance settlement.
CNN Gulf Coast Correspondent Susan Roesgen has all the details -- Susan.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra, you know what really happened along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, if you want to think of it this way, is a tsunami, a tidal surge of water pushed by the winds from Hurricane Katrina miles inland along the Mississippi coast. But people all along the Gulf Coast area have been watching this case very closely because it could affect not just those Mississippi property owners, but property owners all along the Gulf Coast area.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN (voice-over): This was the beachfront home of Claire and John Tuepker in Long Beach, Mississippi until a 29-foot wall of water from hurricane Katrina swept the home away. But even worse for the Tuepker's, State Farm refused to pay the $350,000 policy.
JOHN TUEPKER, HOMEOWNER: We've been paying premiums for 17 years and to just say, no, we're not going to pay anything. Look at the house. It's gone.
ROESGEN: The Tuepkers argued that State Farm hadn't required them to carry flood insurance and they argued that wind, which was covered by their policy, is what pushed the water that destroyed their home. Thousands of other property owners said the same thing and now facing a class action lawsuit, State Farm has agreed to settle.
JEFF JACKSON, STATE FARM ATTORNEY: This gives us an opportunity to resolve pending litigation and to insure that we can resolve other issues in the state and move forward.
ROESGEN: State Farm has agreed to pay at least $50 million to 35,000 policy holders and the settlement could climb to hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on the amount of the claims. In return, the policy holders agree not to sue State Farm individually. Representing them is prominent trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs, who also lost his house to Katrina.
DICKIE SCRUGGS, POLICYHOLDER ATTORNEY: So many people were looking to us and our legal team to set it right and to give them a fighting chance and I'm so gratified because when you can have a chance to be a hometown hero, it means a lot more to you than almost anything.
ROESGEN: If a Federal judge approves it, policyholders could start getting some of the money in 60 days and the settlement gives hope to thousands of other property owners on the Gulf Coast who've lost the fight with their insurance companies but might now have a second chance at getting something back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: And by the way, State Farm had also faced possible criminal charges, Kyra, involving allegations of fraud and the way State Farm handled those Mississippi claims. But the Mississippi attorney general now says that he is pleased and satisfied with the settlement.
PHILLIPS: Susan, any idea how much each individual homeowner may receive in the settlement?
ROESGEN: Well, you know, I was intrigued to hear the figure given by the Mississippi attorney general, Jim Hood, yesterday in announcing the settlement. He says that people who lost everything, like the Tuepkers in that report, would get an average of $200,000 each. That's pretty good. In fact, that's really good down here in terms of what people have been getting from their insurance companies.
PHILLIPS: And I keep wondering how much goes to lawyers' fees. That's always a pretty astronomical amount as well.
All right. Susan Roesgen, thanks.
LEMON: Another U.S. air strike in Somalia. Islamic militants under fire for the second time this month.
CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr joins us with that -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, word now being confirmed by U.S. military officials. There was a second air strike in southern Somalia. It came earlier this week. The second one this month, as you say, against suspected al Qaeda targets in southern Somalia, quite close to the southern border with Kenya.
Again, an AC-130 gunship flying out of Ethiopia. A U.S. Crude AC-130 flying and attacking targets, suspected al Qaeda targets, in southern Somalia.
According to what officials are saying, about half a dozen people perhaps killed. One person wounded. A -- someone described as a midlevel al Qaeda operative who now is believed to be in custody of the Ethiopians. They have troops in that region, of course, because they have been there trying to run off the Islamic militia that had been running Somalia.
But U.S. troops also keeping a very close eye on this situation. There are U.S. warships still off the coast, U.S. planes flying over Somalia.
The mission, the job there is to look for al Qaeda targets on the run. A lot of concern that Somalia still is a safe haven for al Qaeda. A lot of worries that they need to round these people up before they can escape and begin plotting again -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Barbara Starr, thank you so much.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, Sunni-Shia violence, a fact of life in Baghdad. Will it spread throughout the Middle East? We're going to look ahead straight in the NEWSROOM.
LEMON: And the world's most dangerous mission. Would you choose to accept them? Ahead in the NEWSROOM, insight on what it takes to be a member of the elite Blackwater USA team.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And at 2:30 Eastern Time we're expecting to hear from Senator John Kerry on the Senate floor. Our sources telling us he's going to announce that he will not run for the presidency in 2008. As soon as he steps up to the mic, we'll take it live.
LEMON: Shia versus Sunni, Sunni versus Shia. If the two Islamic sects ever really wage an all-out war, the Middle East, unstable and uncertain by nature, would cease to be. That scenario was evoked last night by President Bush, and many analysts believe it's closer than ever.
CNN's Aneesh Raman reports from Cairo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It started here on the streets of Iraq as a historic divide between Shia and Sunnis, violently deepened by the day. And now thing are getting so bad that the same divide threatens to spread further to tear apart the entire Middle East.
HISHAM KASSEM, MIDEAST ANALYST: It's a very disturbing situation. The region has never been on the brim of a catastrophe as such in recent history.
RAMAN: For years, Sunnis, given their reach, have dominated Middle Eastern affairs. Shia, based mainly in Iran, claimed little clout. But when Saddam Hussein's regime fell amid the instability that followed, an opportunity emerged for Iran to change the landscape. And that it did, ramping up influence in Baghdad through Shia militias, in Lebanon through Shia Hezbollah, and in the Palestinian areas through Hamas. All while pursuing a nuclear program in open defiance of the world.
It's a strategy that, in short, has worked. In the course of a year, Iran has become the dominant player in the Middle East, forcing Sunni states, especially U.S. allies like Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, to confront a whole new level of regional uncertainty, one that could drag them all into the fight.
KASSEM: It could end up as like the big confrontation, the big Sunni- Shia confrontation.
RAMAN: The signs are there. One example, responding to Iran's several Sunni states are now planning nuclear programs of their own.
(on camera): It is a dauntsing question. What comes next for the Middle East? On the Arab street there are as many opinions as there are people willing to voice them. (voice over): For decades, those that sat here witnessed change of all kinds. But those that sit today seem more concerned than ever before.
"I am afraid," says Mohammed, "the fight between Shia and Sunnis in Iraq will spread, perhaps to Lebanon and Syria. And it could then have a bad effect on all Arab countries."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iran, in case of having (INAUDIBLE) will try to take control.
RAMAN: It is a doomsday scenario, a centuries-old Shia-Sunni divide spreading to all Arab streets. But unthinkable as it may seem, people here are bracing for anything.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: One of his predecessors said the job wasn't worth a warm bucket of spit. But what does the current vice president think of his perch these days? Wolf Blitzer joins us with more on his exclusive chat with Dick Cheney.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Who rembers? Or should I say who remembers better? Let's take a look at whether it's more accurately or more honestly -- the answer decided by a jury will determine whether Lewis "Scooter" Libby is convicted or acquitted of lying to investigators to investigators in the CIA leak case.
Today, under cross-examination, the lead prosecution witness admitted that his own accounts of his conversations with Libby haven't been consistent. Mark Grossman is the former number three official at the State Department. Libby is former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney.
His lawyers insist that he never meant to mislead anybody in his role in outing Valerie Plame. He just misrembered.
LEMON: Well, until his indictment, Libby's lofty position was a fitting culmination of a sterling career. Here's his resume.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice over): He's the man with a sterling neo-conservative resume. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby served under Republican presidents in the State Department, the Pentagon, and the White House itself. He wielded the greatest influence as Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and national security adviser.
Some friends and critics refer to Libby as "Dick Cheney's Dick Cheney." Libby also served as an assistant to President Bush. He made his name as a hawk on national security issues, especially the threat of biological and chemical attacks on the U.S. In 2005, Libby resigned after being indicted in the CIA leak case.
One of Libby's first mentors was Paul Wolfowitz, President Bush's former deputy defense secretary. They first met when both were at Yale. Libby took a political science course taught by Wolfowitz. Wolfowitz brought Libby into the State Department in the Reagan administration in 1981. He later served in the Pentagon under President Bush's father.
Libby was born in Connecticut in 1950 and attended the elite prep school Phillips Academy. He graduated with honors from Yale and received a law degree from Columbia University.
Libby is the author of the novel "The Apprentice," published in 1996 to decent reviews. Libby is married and the father of two children.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, the world's most dangerous missions. Would you choose to accept them?
Straight ahead from the CNN NEWSROOM, what it takes to be a member of the elite Blackwater security team.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.
Who will carry the Democratic banner in '08? It won't be John Kerry. Sources say he'll skip the race. His announcement could come any minute.
We're keeping an eye on the story right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: They were killed in the crash or were shot to death. Five Americans dead in Iraq, they weren't military, but they looked like it. They didn't die in a military helicopter, but it looked like it.
They were civilians, privately trained security specialists that have been in Iraq since the first days of the war. If you didn't know such people existed, don't feel bad. Their employer, Blackwater is nothing, if not camera shy.
CNN's Nic Robertson got unusual access.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The company has never let a TV crew in like this before. Blackwater Vice President Chris Taylor escorts us around. He shows us police officers shooting on a practice range.
On mock ships, Blackwater trains sailors in force protection after the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. Would-be private military contractors train to defeat insurgents.
CHRIS TAYLOR, VP, BLACKWATER USA: What we're on right now is the country's largest tactical driving track.
ROBERTSON: 2.6 miles custom built. Training here matches daily realities in Baghdad.
TAYLOR: We're going to do a little slalom work here. Again, imagine that you're -- you've been attacked and now you're weaving in and out of traffic to get your principal off the X, to get to the safe zone.
ROBERTSON: Blackwater is the brain child of camera-shy, multimillionaire Eric Prince. After 9/11, business boomed. They just built a brand-new headquarters.
(on camera): See the gun barrels on the doors.
TAYLOR: Yes.
ROBERTSON: A nice touch.
TAYLOR: A little bit of the Blackwater motif.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Yes. And here it is as well, Blackwater. Wartime demands allowed them to expand. They're now the second largest employer in northeastern North Carolina.
TAYLOR: 8,000 square feet in the original building, 64,000 square feet here.
ROBERTSON (on camera): That's a big expansion.
TAYLOR: It's a rather big expansion but it's needed. Certainly we've left room for growth.
ROBERTSON: Growth because, Taylor believes Blackwater has a bright future.
CHRIS TAYLOR, VICE PRESIDENT, BLACKWATER USA: There's opportunities all over the world. Where we think that we can make a very big impact immediately is in peacekeeping operations.
ROBERTSON: The protection of innocence in Darfur, Sudan, is just one of the global hot issues the company says it is ready to tackle. It's so committed to expansion in new markets, Blackwater hired 30- year CIA veteran Cofer Black, who for years headed the U.S. hunt for Osama bin Laden.
COFER BLACK, VICE-CHAIRMAN, BLACKWATER USA: My company could deploy a reasonably small force under the guidance and leadership of any established national authority and do a terrific job.
ROBERTSON: As vice chairman of Blackwater, he's using his global contacts to search out new lucrative contracts. And not just in the realm of peacekeeping. The company is developing airships for surveillance in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, heavily armed Blackwater protection teams were among the first on the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you notice the hull is in a v-shape.
ROBERTSON: And frustrated by the high U.S. troop death toll from roadside bombs, Blackwater has built a prototype for an armored alternative for the humvee. The company says it can assemble hundreds of battle ready men, a small private army at a moment's notice.
BLACK: Those companies that limit themselves, particularly to providing only security services, will be increasingly challenged over time.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So why do countries like Iraq require private security forces like Blackwater? CNN Military analyst Retired Major General David Grange knows. He's been to the Blackwater training grounds. He also knows the men that come from there. General, I know it's a sad time for, obviously, the members of Blackwater and the loss of life that happened in that helicopter crash. Maybe we can put into perspective why these men decided to go and why they believed in the mission to go there in the first place.
MAJ. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, a lot of the employees of these organizations, whether they be Blackwater, Triple Canopy, via global groups, these kind of organizations. They hire people that have served in the military or police forces in the past and so they already have a level of experience that when they are hired they don't have to go through a lot of the basic training. They just make sure that they're up to date, they're qualified. They meet certain standards to be deployed for different jobs around the world. And it's -- the people that take these jobs, one, they like the excitement. They like that kind of work, and it's very good pay.
PHILLIPS: And who is it exactly that hires members of Blackwater. Is it the Iraqi government because Blackwater might be trained in certain areas or can come into certain areas and do things that maybe the military can't?
GRANGE: These private security companies, and some are logistics companies, you know they have over 25,000 security people, for instance in Iraq area. And then if you count all the logistics, people that are providing public services, not only to the military GI, but the civilians, I mean, the Iraqi civilians, those organizations, and maybe you have 100,000, in that conflict alone. They're hired by our State Department, they're hired by our military, they're hired by foreign governments, they're hired by a lot of employers.
PHILLIPS: There has been a controversy as well because of legal issues. Because members of Blackwater can, how should I say it, maybe be a little more risky or sort of push the envelope a bit more than military can because military -- the members of the military are under strict rules.
GRANGE: The military come under the status of forces agreements, rules of land warfare and that. But actually a lot of these contractors are -- the American government is responsible by international law for these contractors overseas. This was discussed extensively in our McCormack Tribune Foundation Conference on understanding privatization of national security. And actually, a lot of these organizations have a very rigorous standards process that the people involved must go through before they are deployed. And they are held accountable. I think the accountability, the oversight, rules and regulations, are getting more strict as time goes on. Especially now that Iraq, for instance, is a sovereign country. Killing civilians by accident, those type of things, accidents that may happen, it can be some pretty tough legal issues.
PHILLIPS: Give an example of what members of Blackwater could do, say, in Iraq. Give an example of a mission that they could carry out that military couldn't.
GRANGE: Well, it's not that the military cannot. It's just the military is so small that they are stretched too thin to provide all these different requirements in war. Or in peacekeeping operations.
PHILLIPS: But legally, though, members of Blackwater can sometimes push the limit a bit. They can do things that maybe the military might say, I can't do that. My chain of command says no or I'm not able to do that by military standards.
GRANGE: You know, I don't think it's a lot of that. I think it's really that they can move people out quicker than, let's say, the State Department can organize people to do it. They still have to abide by rules of a nation that they operate in or by international law. Have often been prosecuted for any issues that have happened? No, they have not. And there are incidents. But it's not so much that I can violate a law but the military can't. It's just that there's too many requirements out there for the government, especially our government, to meet around the world on this range of operations that we're currently engaged in.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the range of the operations. These men were killed carrying out air operations. Talk about the capability of these men and what they are able to do. For example, with air ops. What could they -- what have they been carrying out in Iraq?
GRANGE: Well in this particular case, I believe they were providing air cover for a convoy. A convoy that was an official convoy providing air cover for it as it moved from point "a" to "b" through the outskirts or inside of Baghdad itself when it was shot down. They have rules of engagement on when they can fire, if that convoy is in danger or not. And so they were performing very similar to how a military helicopter would provide the same kind of convoy escort if it was a military convoy using military air cover.
PHILLIPS: And so many of these guys are former special forces, special operations, right?
GRANGE: Oh, yeah. The majority are former law enforcement officers or they have a military background. Quite often, you know, ranger special forces, counter terrorist-type organizations. And it's not just U.S., of course. It's a lot of foreign security personnel as well hired by the companies. I mean, this is a very -- it's a growing business. And maybe it will kind of come to a plateau here in awhile. But the way the world is right now, whether it be in Sudan or Djibouti or Iraq or wherever. There is a need to provide security in order to perform the different tasks, a nation-building task, whatever it may be.
PHILLIPS: And general, final thought too, just looking at the deaths of these members of the Blackwater community. Every day it seems we're talking about the death of U.S. military. Now we see what has happened here. It really shows and defines what kind of threat we're talking about. Everybody is a target, no matter how specialized you are.
GRANGE: Everybody is targeted, especially Americans. And I know that these organizations do take it seriously. I know that some of them, I know Blackwater actually has a memorial park in honor of those that have fallen in their particular organization. So it's not that these people are expendable. I think in the most cases, the American people don't realize how many die when we report every night how many GIs die. But they are American citizens for the most part in these -- like the Blackwater as an example. And they do, I think, they are very concerned about the families involved and they do honor those that have fallen.
PHILLIPS: General David Grange, appreciate your time.
GRANGE: My pleasure.
LEMON: For all the changes, since President Bush addressed Congress in 2006, one thing stayed the same. The presence of Dick Cheney over Mr. Bush's right shoulder as he reported on the state of the union. Vice president listened as the president asked for more time to let his plan for Iraq bear fruit. The plan centers on additional U.S. troops to help control the violence plaguing Baghdad and Anbar Province. Today in an exclusive interview, Cheney talked about the state of the war with Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY: No, there is not. There is not. There is problems, ongoing problems, but we have, in fact, accomplished our objectives of getting rid of the old regime and there is a new regime in place that's been there for less than a year, far too soon for you guys to write them off. They have got a democratically written constitution. First ever in that part of the world. They've had three national elections. So there's been a lot of success.
WOLF BLITZER: How worried are you Mr. Vice President?
CHENEY: We still have more work to do to get a handle on the security situation but the president has put a plan in place to do that.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: The state of the union, Iraq, the trial of his former chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Tonight the full interview as Vice President Cheney goes one on one with Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" exclusive, that's at 7:00 p.m. eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
PHILLIPS: Any minute now, Senator John Kerry is expected to speak on the Senate floor. Word is he is not going to run for the presidency in 2008 and he's going to tell us that officially. We'll bring it to you live as soon as it happens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson in Park City, Utah, where I caught up with film star Kevin Bacon, who wants to connect with you for a worthy cause. Those details coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Ever play that game? It's an internet craze and it's pre-youtube. Now a force for good in the world or so Bacon hopes. Our Brooke Anderson connected with Bacon, I guess, in less than six degrees to find out --
ANDERSON: Yeah, less than six -- two degrees.
LEMON: Yeah, two degrees, you are in Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival. How are you doing?
ANDERSON: Doing great, thanks Don. Yeah Kevin Bacon joked with me that he hasn't yet been able to figure out how to make money off that light-hearted game that's been synonymous with his name for years, so he's decided to use his many celebrity connections to give money to charitable organizations. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Kevin Bacon, movie star, celebrity. One of the dozens who have made their way to Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival.
Nice to see you, Kevin.
ANDERSON: But surprisingly, Bacon isn't here promoting a movie. He's here to launch his first online venture appropriately called sixdegrees.org, for a good cause.
KEVIN BACON, ACTOR/ACTIVIST: It's just an idea, six degrees of Kevin Bacon and six degrees in general, six degrees of separation, you know how the fact that we're all connected.
ANDERSON: Bacon is now embracing that idea, which started as a light-hearted game where any actor in Hollywood could be linked to Bacon through film roles within six steps. Now he's changing the rules. BACON: I knew that I wanted it to be charity based and I knew that I wanted it to involve this idea of connectivity of all of us as human beings.
ANDERSON: Bacon's website links people to his famous pals and their causes such as long-time friend and actor Bradley Whitford.
BRADLEY WHITFORD, ACTOR: Anything that spreads that out and mainstreams it so that charities, you know, really become part of people's lives, I think, is great.
ANDERSON: Bacon spent the first few days at Sundance trying to enlist the help of even more celebs.
BACON: I try to make it as easy as possible for celebrities. I say you don't need to show up, you don't need to send me a dime, you don't need to sing a song. You don't need to give me anything.
ANDERSON: Jessica Simpson, Cheryl Hines and Kanye West are just a few of the celebrities already signed on with more joining every day.
PAUL RUDD, ACTOR: I saw him earlier today and was talking about the organization. There's the project ALS is, I'm going to go on to their website.
ANDERSON: Bacon's vision for sixdegrees.org goes far beyond the Hollywood community. To him it's a way to connect people in need with anyone who is willing to lend a hand.
BACON: I also want a place where people can become celebrities for their own causes. Regular people can say, well, that's great that Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman and Kanye West are into this kind of thing. But this is something that I really care about and it's kind of this idea of social networking with a social conscience.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Bacon has partnered with AOL and "Entertainment Weekly" for this effort. And listen to this. He has made a pledge to match the top six non-celebrity donations with grants of up to $10,000 each. And nearly $70,000 has already been donated and he just launched this website less than a week ago. Don, I was connected to Bacon not through film roles or film stars but through his publicist. So there's your two degrees.
LEMON: Amazing. Have you ever played that game? I've played that game where you do six degrees of Kevin Bacon.
ANDERSON: It's a lot of fun. He's been in so many ensemble casts, it's not that difficult. It is a lot of fun.
LEMON: All right, Brooke Anderson, thank you so much for that.
PHILLIPS: Five new babies on board without any pesky birds or bees. How did this sister do it for herself? Leapin lizards, the NEWSROOM has that answer coming up next.
LEMON: And Japan comes up with a monster that might even scare Godzilla. Look at that thing. This freak of nature is for real. Everybody out of the water, huh? The CNN NEWSROOM is coming right back at you.
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PHILLIPS: Live to the Senate Floor, Senator John Kerry announcing he will not run for the presidency.
SEN. JOHN KERRY: -- as well as a moral obligation, Mr. President, to find not just a new way forward in Iraq, but the right way forward. That's what we owe the families. That's what we owe those fighting forces. It's clear that the administration's litany of mistakes has made an incredibly difficult task that much harder and reduced what we could reasonably expect to accomplish. Still, as the saying goes, and we hear it around here, we are where we are. The mistakes of the past don't change the fact that Congress bears some responsibility for getting us into this war and, therefore, must take responsibility for getting us out. That responsibility starts by having a real bipartisan dialogue on where we go from here. And I believe we are finally at the point where that can happen. We all agree about the nobility of the service of our troops. We all agree about the incredible bravery of the men and women of our armed forces who put their lives on the line every single day in Iraq. We all want to see a stable Iraq. We all know Iraqis want to see it, too. We all agree on the need to preserve our vital national security interests in the region and we all agree on the importance of preventing the violence in Iraq from spreading into a broader regional conflict. And we all understand the need to prevent Iraq from becoming a safe haven for al Qaeda and like-minded terrorists. And we all understand the potential of regional chaos and of failed states spreading one to the other.
In order to understand, however, where we go from here, we have to, Mr. President, remind ourselves of the real nature of this conflict. It's not enough to sort of find some safe haven in rhetoric that points out all the down sides, but continues to pursue a policy that in fact increases those down sides, invites those down sides, actually makes matters worse. The civil war that we are in the middle of now, Mr. President, didn't begin when we went there. It's been tampered down, quashed by dictatorship and by history. Recently, I had the chance to read a book just before I went back to visit the Middle East by Valle Nassar who wrote a book called "The Shia Revival." In which he traces the history of Shiism and what is really happening in the Middle East today. What we learned from that is constructive and critical to determining whether troops will make a difference or how we resolve what is happening in Iraq today.
When the Prophet Muhammad died, Ali, who was his cousin and stepson and virtual son was passed over at that time to be the caliph. In fact three people were chosen in between him. And ultimately he did become the caliph but that was the beginning of a difference of a separation if you will, within Islam. That became far more pronounced about 1300 years ago in 680 something when the grandson of Ali was slaughtered in the desert along with 72 of his followers. Seventy two, a number that comes back to haunt us today because that was, indeed, an event at Karbala in 682 that defined martyrdom. The martyrdom that we see played to by the extreme religious efforts that are taking place today in the Middle East. Why do I mention this today? I mention this today because that is really where the great Shia/Sunni divide began. Ali and his followers were beheaded in the desert, their bodies left to rot in the sun. And their heads were posted first in Najaf and then later in Damascus. And that began to instill a depth of both anger and of suppression that has gone on all of these centuries.
The fact is that we, through our invasion and our election, have given the Shia at the ballot box what they never could achieve in all of those years. And the Sunni, who have continually been the dominant, more secular faction that has managed the affairs of state, are suddenly finding themselves in the minority. Many of whom believe they were born to the right to rule and are determined to restore it. This is the civil conflict that we have put ourselves slap dag plunk in the middle of.
PHILLIPS: Senator John Kerry right now obviously talking about Iraq there on the Senate floor. But the reason why we were checking in on what he had to say is because word has it he's going to announce that he is not going to run for the presidency in 2008. That's what our sources are telling us. So what we're going to do is monitor what he is saying there on the Senate floor. Once he starts talking about the presidency in 2008, we will take it live. Meanwhile, you can also go to cnn.com/pipeline and watch the speech in its entirety right now. But we'll go back to it once he starts talking about the race in 2008.
Meanwhile, President Bush is on the road promoting his new energy plan. Our Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with all the details. Hey Susan?
SUSAN LISOVICZ: Hey Kyra. That's right, President Bush was talking a lot about energy last night in his state of the union address. Today he went to Wilmington, Delaware, to, I guess, get more research on renewable fuels. He went to Wilmington, Delaware, to see one of the experimental greenhouse facilities operated by DuPont. And of course DuPont is a huge chemical maker. The president telling the crowd that he signed an executive order requiring the federal government to cut back on energy consumption. One way, the government would use more alternative fuel vehicles. Alternative fuel one of the cornerstones of the president's new plan, first outlined in his state of the union address last night. The president set the goal of cutting projected gasoline usage by 20 percent over the next 10 years as part of this energy companies would have to produce five times more ethanol and other alternative fuels than currently required. The president's plan also calls for boosting fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks by up to 4 percent annually. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right, let's take a quick check of the markets.
LISOVICZ: Well the quick check of the markets is they've got a lot of fuel it seems today. Oil prices are up just fractionally after a very big jump yesterday. But it's tech stocks leading the way. Yahoo! and Sun Microsystems each up about nearly 8 percent, that's what's giving the NASDAQ such a big pop today. NASDAQ's up about 1- 1/3 percent. The Dow as you can see is up 66 points or half a percent. And that is the latest from Wall Street. Coming up, I'll tell you about one company that's giving some residents of its hometown the gift of an education. NEWSROOM continues in a moment, you're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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