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Suspects in Boston Bomb Scares Plead Not Guilty; Winter Weather Grips Southeast; General George Casey Defends Stewardship of Iraq War

Aired February 01, 2007 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

Developments keep coming in to the NEWSROOM on this Thursday morning, February 1st.

Here now is what's on the rundown.

Product placement. Two men in court over an electronic promotion meant to sell a cartoon character. Some Bostonians thought the devices were bombs.

HARRIS: The U.S. Air Force reportedly set to play a bigger role in the war in Iraq policing Iraq's border with Iran. We talk to our military analyst about the strategy.

COLLINS: Winter gripping Georgia and the Carolinas today. Traffic troubles, hundreds of flights canceled. Southern snow, in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: At the top of this hour, new developments in a case of bad publicity or publicity gone bad. Two men went to court this morning to face charges in a marketing stunt that got out of hand. The campaign set off a series of bomb scares, shutting down parts of Boston.

Our Boston bureau chief, Dan Lothian, joins us live from Charleston, Massachusetts, with the latest.

And Dan, let's begin with the demeanor of these two men in court this morning.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Tony, you know, they appeared a little bit nervous, certainly scared to be there. When I talked to some of their relatives, they said they're sort of overwhelmed by what has taken place over the last few hours.

Both of the men -- you have Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky -- are charged with one count of placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct. They were held overnight on $100,000 bail each, but that bail has been reduced now to $2,500 each. A not guilty plea was entered on their behalf. But certainly what you have here are two young men who, according to their relatives, are starving artists who were simply doing their job. They were given this contract. They were paid to go out and do what's being called guerrilla marketing, never thinking there would be anything more than what it was meant to be.

On the other side, you have the prosecution that says, hey, we know that this -- in the end, at least this one device that they're being charged with was a hoax, but on the other hand, these were devices that were placed in areas where you could typically find a bomb. If someone wanted to cause damage, they would put it under a bridge or in some transportation hub area where it could have maximum damage. And so here was a device that had batteries, that had wire, that had Duct tape, and they believe this is quite serious -- Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, Dan, just another -- maybe a couple of quick ones here. Is it the burden of the prosecution -- does the prosecution have to prove intent here that these two men, in acting in this way, in planting these devices, intended to cause a panic?

LOTHIAN: Very good legal question, you know, and that was something that was posed to the attorney general last night. And she said under this new statute, what they're being charged with, this hoax, you don't really have to show intent.

What it is, is the disruption. What did it cause?

HARRIS: Yes.

LOTHIAN: Did it cause havoc in a city? And, if so, then they believe they can charge with that. So that's really the road that they're going down right now.

HARRIS: Plenty of disruptions for the folks in the Boston area, as you know full well. Is anyone seeking to get paid back on all of this?

LOTHIAN: Well, obviously a lot of money spent. If you listen to the mayor, he says anywhere from, you know, $500,000 to at least a million dollars here.

Everyone's talking about wanting to get some money back, payment back, that Turner Broadcasting, which is the parent company of the Cartoon Network, which this advertising was done on the behalf of, and also the parent company of CNN, should be held accountable. We're also hearing now that the NBTA, which is over the transportation, the subways and busses and so forth, are drafting a letter as they seek to get some compensation for shutting down their operations yesterday.

HARRIS: Our Boston bureau chief, Dan Lothian.

Dan, thank you.

COLLINS: First snow, now bracing for things to get really messy in the South. Some folks woke up to a pretty picture, but it could turn ugly pretty fast. Sleet and freezing rain moving into the Carolinas. And what's on the ground now could freeze when the sun goes down.

Atlanta, Georgia, out of the woods. The worst came and went in the wee hours. Trouble, though, for air travelers. Hundreds of flights at Hartsfield-Jackson airport canceled because of the storm.

Let's go back now to CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf. He's got his eyes on the sky, of course, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It doesn't look too sunny there, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, it really doesn't. And you know what's interesting? The way it has looked, we've had the gray skies, we've had just a wide variety of weather conditions in terms of frozen precipitation today.

We started off with -- with actually nothing when we first came out here early this morning. Then we had some sort of tremendous snowflakes. Had about an inch and a half to maybe two inches of snow in some locations in our live shot. Then after that, we had a combination of not only snow, but a little bit of sleet, some freezing rain mixed in.

But at this point, at our location, temperatures are actually a little bit above the freezing point. And with that we're just seeing some steady rain.

Right now the roadways that you can see behind me, this is part of I-77. It looks pretty good. And the reason why this road is in such great shape is -- well, as you take a look at this video, some of the efforts put out by the city of Charlotte just over the last 24 hours.

In this video you're seeing salt trucks, you're also seeing trucks that have spread some brine through the city. The put the brine down first on the surfaces yesterday. Today, we've seen salt trucks. They've been putting an additional layer out there, and that really has made a tremendous difference.

Now, that isn't to say that we haven't had some accidents. We have had accidents on the roadways, but certainly no fatalities to report at this time.

And some other video I'd like to show you is one of the happy sides of this -- the kids getting out there to enjoy the snow. It's always a great thing.

The schools, no doubt, are closed here. The Charlotte city schools are closed for today, and kids are getting out to make the most of it.

But as you come back to me live on the shot, we've got, again, not really snowflakes at the time, just raindrops. Steady rain that continues to fall. We still have that winter storm warning that's going to remain in effect through tomorrow morning, until 6:00 tomorrow morning. And what the National Weather Service is anticipating is that much of this precipitation, much of this rain, will switch over to freezing rain, which, of course, is going to cause quite a few problems. Not just on trees, but possibly on power lines as well, although at this point we don't have any widespread power outages to report. So that is certainly some good news.

And by tomorrow afternoon, temperatures in the Charlotte, Heidi, should easily be into the mid, possibly upper 40s, maybe even some low 50s which means all this icy goo will be long gone.

COLLINS: All right. Well, that is some great news. And we see those trucks whizzing behind you there...

HARRIS: Slow down.

COLLINS: ... right now. They seem to be comfortable, to say the least.

All right. Reynolds Wolf, thank you.

WOLF: So far, so good.

HARRIS: So, Chad Myers, clearly, a break for the Carolinas by tomorrow afternoon.

Where does this whole system go after it visits the Carolinas?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, it's not even -- for that matter, not even much of a system, Tony.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: We'll get to Fredricka Whitfield in the newsroom now. And Fred is following -- Fred, what has been described to me as just some incredible pictures coming out of Middleton, Idaho?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Some pretty intense pictures of flames right there. And this is at a high school.

This is Middleton High School, and the emergency crews are responding. They think the fire may be originating in the gym area.

Now, what's interesting here is that the Middleton High School students today did not have classes. The school was closed for the Middleton High School students. However, there were some students at the school. And so they have been bused away from the school to take to their respective homes.

We don't know exactly, you know, why some students were at school today and most of the other student body was not. But this fire is pretty serious, and it is originating in the gym area, which is where they're concentrating the efforts to try to put it out.

HARRIS: Yes, look at that.

WHITFIELD: We're going to continue to watch it, but we're glad to hear that the majority of the students didn't have to be at this building today. So that certainly makes the rescue efforts minimal.

HARRIS: And no reports of any injuries at this time?

WHITFIELD: No reports as of yet.

HARRIS: OK. That's great news.

WHITFIELD: But it is still early, so we don't know if any lives are in danger. But at least they're on the scene trying to put it out.

HARRIS: OK, Fred. Thank you.

COLLINS: General George Casey defending his stewardship of the Iraq war this morning. He is taking hits in front of a key Senate panel as he tries to get the job of Army chief of staff.

CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon now.

And Barbara, what have you noticed in these proceedings today.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, General Casey is standing his ground. You know, he did lead the war in Iraq for about two and a half years or so. Now up for Senate confirmation as Army chief of staff, the top job in the Army.

He knew when he went into this hearing this morning -- and you see Senator Webb of Virginia continuing to question General Casey now. General Casey knowing he was going to be on the hot seat for his portrayal of the war in Iraq.

And one of senator -- one of the senators, Senator McCain, of course, of Arizona, making it very clear off the top that he had what he called strong reservations about General Casey given the top Army job. The two men had this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: So you disagree with the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Admiral Fallon that we had a failed policy?

GEN. GEORGE CASEY, U.S. ARMY: I do, Senator. I do not believe that the current policy has failed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Heidi, General Casey absolutely standing his ground on this point, saying that he indeed had asked for more troops some half a dozen times during his tour of duty and that he believes the policy of training and equipping and turning security over to the Iraqis is the fundamental route to success in Iraq, that that's the way he thinks they need to go. Of course, the senators were trying to press him to say that the current policy has failed, but Casey wouldn't go there.

He says he still believes that Iraq can be a success. But he does acknowledge the violence has really taken a turn upwards in the last month -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Barbara, is it possible that he could not be confirmed? I mean, I guess, of course it is, but what are the chances? What are you hearing at the Pentagon?

STARR: Right. You know, this is a political calculation at the moment, of course, with the Democrats in control.

I think Senator McCain is likely to make further statements about his very strong reservations. I think there are other senators who will also do the same thing. But the question of whether General Casey is a suitable officer to be the Army chief of staff, that probably isn't under debate.

There will be a lot of questions about the political route by which this is happening, but the chances are at this point he is going to get confirmation after an awful lot of additional commentary from the senators -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Is there a possibility that his role as Army chief of staff, if he were to be confirmed, would change a bit or could change a bit?

STARR: Well, General Casey is going to walk into the growing problem that the Army is having, stretched thin by the war in Iraq. There is no question.

Consider this. One of the key issues on the table for General Casey, if and when he takes office, will be, will there be enough equipment, enough protective gear for these additional surge troops that are going into Baghdad? That's a big question on the table right now.

Four years into the war, they are still trying to get enough money, enough funds to buy the heavy armor, the equipment that the troops need. That's going to be a major challenge no matter who is the next Army chief of staff.

COLLINS: All right. Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon. I know you'll be watching those proceedings for us.

Thanks so much.

And waging war from the air -- the role of the U.S. Air Force in Iraq. A CNN military analyst weighs in. We'll have that discussion for you ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Police describe a gruesome plot. A new twist on terror, ahead in the NEWSROOM. COLLINS: Their car skidded on ice. Their fiery spirit kept them alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking back on it, it's like -- it's just a miracle how we survived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Wow. I guess so. Two teens weather an icy plunge and a night stuck in the freezing cold. Survivors, in the NEWSROOM, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to get straight to Fredricka Whitfield in the newsroom, who is watching this story happening in Middleton, Idaho.

Wow, Fred, this was a huge five-alarm fire at a high school, huh?

WHITFIELD: Yes, and you can see the pictures. The fire still raging at Middleton High School in Middleton, Idaho.

On the phone with me now is the mayor of Middleton, Mayor Frank McKeever.

Mr. Mayor, give me an idea of how extensive this fire is. The good news, I understand, very few students were at the building at the time of the fire.

MAYOR FRANK MCKEEVER, MIDDLETON, IDAHO: Well, that's not entirely true. The school was -- the school day had already begun and the fire started in the extreme -- this is hearsay, because I don't know this to be exactly true.

It started in a gymnasium weight room on the west side of the school and has quickly spread to the east because the prevailing winds are from the west, you know. And it's quickly moved and has engulfed the office space and classroom space of the -- of the senior high school. And the word we have, that it's -- the high school is going to be a total loss. You know, it's -- it's a high school that houses -- I think, something like 600 students go to the high school.

WHITFIELD: And so is this school in a fairly rural area where -- while you say about 600 students are attending this school, does that represent a good majority of the people in the community, or is there another high school that will be able to accommodate this now overflow of students?

MCKEEVER: Well, we're one of the fastest-growing communities in the state of Idaho. And we have plans to build a new senior high school that -- they've purchased ground to build a new high school campus and all this. So, yes, we're going to have a tremendous problem, I'm sure, housing students to get them through the rest of this year and until a new school could be rebuilt. Their plans for this was to make it a junior high as soon as the new school was built, which it wasn't supposed to be started until latter in '08. So...

WHITFIELD: So, contrary to earlier reports that the school was closed for middle and high schools, this school was very much in session. How about the students there? Were any in any immediate danger as a result of this fire?

MCKEEVER: No, ma'am. As far as we know there were no injuries at all. We get regular updates and everything's under control.

The city, of course, we have several deep wells that provide water for our big water tank. And we've turned all wells on to make sure that they have plenty of water pressure.

WHITFIELD: OK.

MCKEEVER: But when the fire started it was a two-alarm fire, and it has quickly grown to a five-alarm fire.

WHITFIELD: Well, it is indeed a big fire that emergency crews certainly have their hands full with this one. But we're glad to hear no reported injuries and all the students and faculty are out of danger.

Mayor Frank McKeever of Middleton, Idaho, thanks so much.

And Tony and Heidi, we're going to continue to watch this story.

HARRIS: OK, Fred. Thank you.

Let's bring you a bit of a give-and-take from this morning's arraignment in Boston. Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, in connection with that device, that promotional device that looked to many like a bomb that set off lot of police activity yesterday, here's the prosecutor laying out the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I talked to the bomb squad who responded there last night -- or yesterday morning. They tell us that what they look for is a power source which existed here. And they knew that because the light (INAUDIBLE) were emitting light.

They looked for a circuit, and there was a circuit board with wires attached to it. And that wire was running to what, to their eye, appeared to be a possible explosive material.

It was wrapped in Duct tape and it was -- had the appearance of C-4 or a similar device wrapped in Duct tape. Whether there was a power -- whether that turned out to be the batteries, like the D batteries -- but their belief was the power source could have been one battery and the rest was explosives, or a watch battery, and that that had the appearance of explosives with the wire coming out of it and attached to a circuit board. So they believed it was very possibly a bomb. And the location was such that it was the type of location one would put a bomb if you wanted to interrupt the infrastructure of the commonwealth. Again, it was under a major highway and over a T (ph) station.

There's two other points about this device that I think are important. I think you'll hear from -- from defense counsel that the broad intent here was to draw attention to a new movie that's coming out. And while that may have been...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Advertisement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Guerilla marketing, I think it's called, Your Honor. While that may have been the broad intent, it's clear that by placing a bomb-like device where they did, the intent was to get that attention, at least initially, by causing fear, unrest that there was a bomb located in this location. They were seeking attention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Counsel, even under 266102A (ph), with the subsection there, isn't there a specific intent...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is, your honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... to cause anxiety and discomfort or whatever to the public or to individuals at large? Isn't that -- isn't that a key element of this particular charge?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe it is, Your Honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But didn't you just tell me the intent of them was to be able to advertise for a marketing purpose in order to get the...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their intent was to get attention, Your Honor. And they got attention by causing fear and unrest by placing a bomb-like device, would be the argument.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This may be for hearing later on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It may well be, Your Honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are only here on a question of bail on the arraignment. So...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. It may well be, but...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Intent. It's going to come down to intent.

Now, the two men are charged with one count of disorderly conduct and placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic. The two men entering not guilty pleas this morning.

And we learned just a short time ago that the transit authority there in Boston is asking Turner Broadcasting -- of course the parent company of CNN -- to reimburse the transit authority for its expense in responding to yesterday's scare.

COLLINS: Is this the way the U.S. is rebuilding Iraq?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The plumbing appears shoddy, the report describes the work as poor quality, using nonstandard construction methods, live electrical wires dangling from ceilings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: CNN's Joe Johns is keeping them honest, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A pretty busy Thursday morning. And good morning, everyone.

I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins.

We want to go ahead and give you some news we are just learning now coming out of Iraq. Hilla, to be exact.

We are learning from the Hilla police -- this is an area that is just about 100 kilometers south of Baghdad, to give you some reference -- about two major explosions that ripped through a very crowded marketing in central Hilla. This is a Shiite city.

Apparently, there were two suicide bombers who exploded themselves in this crowded market. The casualties are not known exactly at this point, but we are hearing from Hilla police that dozens of people were wounded and killed. So that information we will continue to follow for you.

Meanwhile, U.S. air power called in to help finish this weekend's fierce battle for Najaf. Now the U.S. Air Force is reportedly preparing for an expanded role in the Iraq war.

CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd spent his military career in the U.S. Air Force, and he's joining us now live from Tucson, Arizona.

Always nice to see you, General Shepperd.

Tell us, make it clear for us, if you would, at this point, what type of role would the U.S. Air Force play in Iraq?

MAJ. GEN. DONALD SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, the Air Force is playing a big role, along with the Navy. There is no one service that has a corner on warfare, Heidi. Stuff that gets to the Army, which we see every day on the tube, basically comes -- the heavy stuff comes by the Navy, the lighter stuff comes by the Army, and then on top of the resupply, getting things to the theater and resupplying the theater as combat goes on, you have intelligence, man and unmanned systems, satellites that look at the entire theater. You develop an electronic order of battle for the defenses on the other side. You develop photographic intelligence, communications intelligence. And then, of course, you always have your kinetic forces, in other words the ability to drop bombs, fire missiles and that type of thing when it's needed in warfare -- Heidi.

COLLINS: There is also always the role, is there not, of the Air Force as far as deterrence goes. Showing those airplanes overhead to the enemy is always a way to hopefully keep them from backing down on their attacks, in specific, along the Iran and Iraq border.

SHEPPERD: Yes, we're hearing a lot about Iran right now, infiltration from Iran, resupply from Iran coming to forces in Iraq. What you can do with airpower, of course, you can fly along the border. You can watch with your intelligence devices. You can fly across the border. You can aim supersonic booms. You can develop an electronic order of battle so that you force their defenses,their missile sites to light up. You can fire at those missile sites, and then you can conduct strike across the border, as well as along the infiltration routes. So you have all sorts of capabilities.

In addition, we just deployed a second carrier over there, and you can deploy additional airpower. All of these are messages to the other side, to Iran particularly, that we are serious and have the capability to strike if ever needed.

COLLINS: All right. So let's say along with that second carrier that sending a message then directly to Iran's Ahmadinejad, is there a risk of any type of retaliation, even for just showing some type of air superiority?

SHEPPERD: Yes, there is. There's always a risk. There's a risk in doing something; there's a risk in doing nothing. We don't want to kick off another war. We want diplomacy to succeed. We sanctions to succeed. But you have to tell the other side that we are willing to do whatever it takes to preserve our interests.

The whole purpose of all of these, of course, is to keep Iran from intruding in Iraq and causing problems for the Iraqi government and for the U.S. forces and coalition forces there, and also the bigger picture is to make sure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons. That's what it's all about, Heidi.

COLLINS: Could the Air Force be doing more? Should they be doing more?

SHEPPERD: Well, it's going to be in accordance with the national objectives. You have to be very, very careful. You do not want to kick off a war by precipitous action. But again, you want to do slow escalation, you want to do demonstrations, again, of noise along the border, of overflights, of developing intelligence. All of these things develop the capability to go to war if you ever have to. But the whole idea of all of this escalation and these moves is to prevent war, and that's what the deterrence is about.

COLLINS: Sure. And we just learned from our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr today, that according to the Pentagon one of their biggest worries, of course, right now is IED attacks, and possibly with the influence coming in from Iran, ones that are constructed in Iran, or by Iranians. How can the U.S. Air Force help in that? Would that just be a role, as you say, strictly of intelligence?

SHEPPERD: No, not necessarily. First of all, you can develop intelligence on the infiltration routes, how these projectiles are coming in. And you can attack those infiltration routes. You can attack storage areas within Iraq itself. You could do it on the other side of the border within Iran.

But what you want to do, by all of these moves, is to let Iran know that if they keep meddling, that they face serious escalation on our part.

COLLINS: Major General Don Shepherd, our CNN military analyst and former fighter pilot himself.

Thanks so much for your insights here today, General.

HARRIS: Let's get you to Fredricka Whitfield in the NEWSROOM.

And, Fred, I think I've figured what happened here, the pictures you're about to show us from Los Angeles, but I will let you tell the story.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, let's look at it. This is what happens when a car goes off the roadway and maybe into a sidewalk and then crashes into a fire hydrant.

Voila!

A nice little water show, a nice water fountain, and we can laugh about this, Tony, because it appears as though nobody got hurt. But instead the roads have been flooded there. This is downtown Los Angeles, and it's a mess, to say the least, but at least it also mean as free car wash for everybody who goes by.

HARRIS: There you go. So a nice little water show, big old water spout, but everyone's fine, OK?

WHITFIELD: That's right. That's right.

HARRIS: And that's the story, right?

WHITFIELD: But a real waste of water, to say the very least, there. But folks seem to have a pretty good sense of humor about it, because it hasn't stopped traffic too much.

HARRIS: That's right. OK, Fred, appreciate it. Thanks. COLLINS: It's a good picture, too, let's be honest.

HARRIS: Yes, it's a good picture. There you go, and television loves great pictures.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, police describe a gruesome plot, a new twist on terror. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

Southern snow, drivers in Charlotte and other cities navigate slick roads this morning. Wintry mix, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A marketing campaign gone wrong lands two men in court and triggers outrage in Boston. The men pleaded not guilty this morning to placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct. They are accused of setting up electronic signs promoting a program on Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. That's part of Turner Broadcasting, parent company of CNN. The devices triggered series of bomb scares that shutdown highways, bridges and even a section of the Charles River in Boston.

Today officials asked Turner Broadcasting to reimburse the cost of responding to that scare. City officials blasted the company.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYR. THOMAS MENINO, BOSTON: I just think that this is outrageous, what they've done. Now, they send this one-paragraph press release out saying they apologize, but they didn't -- never gave us the locations of any of these packages in the city of Boston.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The statement from Turner broadcasting says, quote, "We apologize to the citizens of Boston that part of a marketing campaign was mistaken for a public danger. We appreciate the gravity of this situation and, like any responsible company would, are putting all necessary resources toward understanding the facts surrounding it as quickly as possible."

And we are learning more this morning about an alleged terror plot to torture and behead a British Muslim soldier. Police in Birmingham, England are questioning nine suspects. They say the plan, if carried out, would have stunned great Britain, a grisly killing posted on the Internet. The plan would mimic the fate of Ken Bigley back in 2004. Bigley was beheaded by the former al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

We'll have a live report from England coming up next hour in the NEWSROOM.

Misery by degrees in the Southeast. Cities that stayed above freezing are dealing with just a cold, steady rain. Their colder neighbors are dealing with this. Take a look at these pictures. Snow blanketing parts of the Carolinas. But it is changing over to freezing rain and that can mean toppled trees, downed power lines. Air travel is bogged down in the region. Airlines have canceled some 450 flights through Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Dozens of flights are also canceled into Charlotte.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Two Idaho teens in trouble. It started when their car careened down a steep embankment. It got much worse.

Reporter Alisson Oakton (ph) of affiliate KTVD has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking back on it, like, it's just a miracle, how we survived.

ALLISON OAKTON, KTVD REPORTER (voice-over): Broken and bruised, 18-year-old Jennifer Brookes, her friend, Cody King, and her dog, Lou, returned to a curve in the Bank Sloman (ph) road that very nearly took their lives.

CODY KING, SURVIVED ACCIDENT: That was like the best worst day of my life.

OAKTON: After hitting a patch of ice in the early morning hours of January 20th, Jennifer's car launched over the side of the embankment, where yet another threat lurked, the fast-moving frigid waters of the Payette (ph) River far below, waters that still swirl around the wrecked remains.

KING: I was just thinking, oh, gosh, this is going to hurt.

OAKTON (on camera): Did you think it was going to be the end?

KING: I thought it was.

OAKTON (voice-over): It was neither the end of their lives nor the end of this remarkable story. With the car quickly sinking into the river, the teens went into instinctive survival mode, but even that proved a bit ill-fated.

KING: I just start looking for the nearest land and got out and got on the piece of ice down there, and looked up and noticed we were on the wrong side of the river. This isn't good.

JENNIFER BROOKES, SURVIVED ACCIDENT: And Cody said we've got strip our clothes because, of course, we had to, they were all soaked.

OAKTON (on camera): Can you put into words how cold you were?

BROOKES: I can't, no.

KING: I can't.

BROOKES: It's so cold that you kind of stop being cold. You just like stop shivering. I don't know. It was cold though, that's for sure.

OAKTON (voice-over): The two injured teens found themselves scantily clad and stranded on a tiny ledge of ice. You can still see their clothes and blood stains from a cut on Cody's head, and this is where they huddled, all night long.

BROOKES: Cars would go by and we'd try to yell at them, and of course they couldn't hear us, and then it started getting really cold and started snowing, and we started freezing, and that's when I was like, oh, God, we might not make it out of here tonight.

OAKTON (on camera): In the morning, Jennifer and Cody have another death-defying decision to make. Somehow they have to cross this icy river once again and then climb up this incredibly steep ravine in hopes of finally finding help.

BROOKES: It was the only way we were going get out, and we just wanted to get warm again.

OAKTON (voice-over): Removing even more clothes for this final swim, the friends plunged in and prayed. On the other side, they found not only help, but Lou Dog, alive but limping. Jennifer and Cody were airlifted to St. Al's (ph), both treated for their injuries, including frostbite, from which Jennifer is still recovering. Lou Dog is also mending from a broken leg, all relatively minor injuries from one major ordeal.

BROOKES: It's pretty scary.

KING: Everybody i've talked to so far, they're just like, oh, you guys are so lucky. And was like, luck only takes you so far; this was an act of God. He must have some kind of plan for us.

OAKTON: New Garden Valley, Allison Oakton, Idaho's News Channel 7.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Just want to give you a quick update on a story that we've been telling you about over the last couple of minutes, the market blast in Hilla, Iraq. Hilla police now telling CNN 45 people were killed in that marketplace blast, and 150 others wounded.

The official telling us that two suicide bombers were near one another, and one of the suicide bombers was actually stopped by Iraqi police, but he blew himself up before they could get him under control and to keep him from detonating his explosive device. And a second suicide bomber exploded himself shortly after the first one. Once again, the update out of Hilla, Iraq, in that market blast, 45 people dead,another 150 wounded. We will continue to follow this story and update it for you as we get additional information.

COLLINS: Tens of millions of dollars in reconstruction aid for Iraq wasted. That's according to a new report. CNN's Joe Johns with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How has the government been spending your money? $100 million of it and counting to rebuild police stations and police training facilities in Iraq.

Some of the spending may constitute fraud and almost deplorable waste of your money. A scathing assessment from the government's own special watchdog, the Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. In Washington, reaction to the report: stunned.

LEE HAMILTON, IRAQ STUDY GROUP: When you have this incompetence, when you have unauthorized work, when you have shoddy facilities, when you have money that is squandered, there are very, very few things that hurt our effort more in trying to succeed in Iraq than that kind of performance.

JOHNS: Take a look at these pictures of a police college built in Baghdad. A U.S. contractor started it. Later the Army Corps of Engineers took over the project.

The plumbing appears shoddy, the report describes the work as poor quality, using nonstandard construction methods. Live electrical wires dangling from ceilings, light fixtures filled with urine, water leaking from sewer pipes. You get the picture.

The report also features the $51 million spent for a training facility and residential camp for the Iraqi police that, well, turned into a fiasco. It started three years ago, a non-U.S. firm hired to produce more than 1,000 trailers for the police project, but shortly after the trailers were built, the government canceled the contract.

That meant the government was stuck trying to figure out what to do with the trailers. The inspector general also found more than $4 million spent on items not authorized, including 20 trailers for VIPs and even incredibly an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

RICK BARTON, CTR FOR STRATEGIC AND INTL. STUDIES: So much of what we've seen go wrong there was not having a good feeling for the context of Iraq. So people keep trying to do stuff as if they're talking about rebuilding Vegas.

JOHNS: In fact, it's like a very bad night in Vegas. Why? because they've actually lost or can't account for another $36.4 million worth of equipment. And finally, keeping them honest, you should know that police college with all the problems, it cost $70 million, and now the Army Corps of Engineers is still trying to fix the place up. Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Muggles, hogwarts? He who must not be named. If you recognize any of this, chances are you are a Harry Potter fan and Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange has some important information for you. All right Susan, spill. (BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: And before you go, speaking of survival and surviving, hey you survived your scram yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange floor with the president. Oh, roll the tape and let's see this.

See, you didn't have a camera on you, so we -- how was that experience yesterday, elbowing and elbowing back?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Tony, I can't explain it. It was amazing. When we talked yesterday at this hour I knew that the president might come, but I knew very little. And you know, some of my contacts here was saying it depended as to whether the stocks were actually having a good day.

But it seemed like such a logical thing for the president to do. The Dow has been hitting records, as I just was talking about. We got a great number on the GDP just before the president arrived. He was right across the street. This is his core base.

And you know in some ways, it was so exciting on the floor, you know, it reminded me of the great days, the long bull run in the '90s before 9/11 happened.

It was so exciting on the floor. I'm sure this is old hat to our Washington people. But, you know, we have very heavy security here every day. And right before the president arrives, this place became vacuum sealed. It's unbelievably exciting.

HARRIS: Very cool.

LISOVICZ: And it was a great moment for the traders on the floor.

HARRIS: Very cool. All right, Susan.

COLLINS: Thanks, Susan, good for you.

Post-game brawl leads to fan ban. Reporter Ty Milburn from our Milwaukee affiliate WTMJ has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAMILA PAYNE, STUDENT: Petrified, I swear. It was -- we shouldn't have games like that no more.

TY MILBURN, WTMJ CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kamila Payne says she was frightened to death. Her friends started having a seizure as the brawl at Bradley Tech broke out. She didn't know if they would make it out of the school alive.

PAYNE: When they were rushing down the stands, I was like at the bottom. And everyone was just rushing. And I was scared I was going to get trampled.

MILBURN: School officials are still piecing together the events that led to the mayhem. They say several students started fighting on the court after the game that led to a chain reaction of other fights. Police tried to break them up, but it was clearly out of control.

ROBERT ELLIS, STUDENT: It was just crazy to me. Police beating up the kids. Kids was beating up the police. It was just crazy.

ADRIANNA JONES, STUDENT: I was trying to get out of there because that's the worst thing to do is to fall in a riot like that.

MILBURN (on camera): The brawl has once again forced school officials to take another look at their security policy. For the time being, Bay View and Bradley Tech students are banned from attending basketball games.

BILL MOLBECK, MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Nothing anybody can do makes everything 100 percent, you know, sure. I think we're doing what we can right now.

MILBURN (voice-over): Some students feel the penalty unfairly punishes the entire student body.

RAQUEL MONTENEGRO, STUDENT: Now that they're taking it away, it's not good but that's what they got to do in order for us to behave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Man.

COLLINS: CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now.

HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. We'll see you tomorrow, everybody.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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