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Astronaut Grounded; Mean Streets; Rebuilding Iraq; Gerri's Top Tips

Aired February 07, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Last night for now. A grounded astronaut home in Houston. She's brought along legal troubles from an alleged love triangle gone bad.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Rebuilding Iraq from the rubble, one brick at a time. Are your tax dollars hard at work or going down the drain? We'll ask your guest.

HARRIS: In the middle of a candy bar, two working joes find a kiss -- a moment. The candy maker melts when gay rights activists get fired up. It is Wednesday, February 7th. You are in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Her flight status -- grounded. Her fate, though, up in the air at this time. An astronaut charged with attempted murder in an alleged love triangle arrived back home in Houston within the past hour. Lisa Nowak's bizarre space oddity has left family an friends shocked and puzzled. Details now from National correspondent Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Accompanied by her NASA shuttle commander, Steve Lindsey, Lisa Nowak left a hotel before dawn. Again, shielding her face from cameras, the astronaut made her way to a flight back to Houston from Orlando. Before she was freed on $25,000 bond, she faced a judge Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Murder was the plan and it just was not able to be carried out.

CANDIOTTI: Nowak was stoic in court, but police say she was obsessed with her perceived love rival Colleen Shipman over fellow astronaut Bill Oefelein and had murder on her mind. Her attorney says Nowak just wanted to talk with Shipman. Nowak's family released this statement.

"Considering both her personal and professional life, these alleged events are completely out of character and have come as a tremendous shock to our family"

By all accounts, a loving family. Nowak was thrilled by Neil Armstrong's moonwalk. In Rockville, Maryland, she was co- valedictorian in high school. Her former classmate showed off yearbook photos of Nowak, active in student government and sports.

DENNIS ALLOY, FORMER NOWAK CLASSMATE: She was a good student, a sweet person, you know, serious student athletic. Just never -- didn't find her to be the one in trouble or doing something like this.

CANDIOTTI: She earned an aerospace engineering degree at the U.S. Naval Academy. Nowak finally made it into the Navy's test pilot school after six failed attempts. In the mid '80s she married. Her husband works at mission control. They separated a few weeks ago. They have a teenage son and young twin daughters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff of the space shuttle Discovery.

CANDIOTTI: Last year, she flew on the shuttle Discovery, working a robotic arm.

BRIAN CLEAVES, FORMER NOWAK CLASSMATE: I think she's all about her career and that's why I'm just very surprised that she'd do something outside of normal, you know, and get herself in a jam like this.

CANDIOTTI: Before the shuttle launch, Nowak talked with CNN about the program's future.

LISA NOWAK, MARCH 2005: I'm glad we get to participate in the current program, even if it's retiring soon. But I'm also looking forward to the next things that are coming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: Susan Candiotti joining us now live from Orlando.

Boy, when you look at those pictures in that former interview done a little while ago, it does seem hard to figure out what happened here.

CANDIOTTI: Oh, yes. I mean, her former classmates, her friends, her colleagues, I'm sure, are also looking for some explanation about what was she doing with the four-inch knife, the steel mallet, the BB gun, the rubber gloves, the plastic garbage bags and the rubber tubing? I mean, what was this all about? Will they be getting an explanation from her? What will she be telling her family? I mean these are questions everyone wants to know.

Heidi.

COLLINS: Of course. And it's a long way from finding her guilty of anything, of course, we should always say. But the other thing that struck me, Susan, when we heard some of that sound in your piece of the judge talking about that fourth charge, the one that everyone's talking about today, the first degree murder charge. We saw her reaction to what he was reading and shaking her head as if to say that was definitely, you know, not my intent.

CANDIOTTI: Saw that, too. And also her defense attorney, of course, made a point of saying, how can you possibly extrapolate from all of the things she had with her that she was attempting to murder someone. She only wanted to talk -- of course, he did the talking for her. She only wanted to speak with Colleen Shipman. Well, we'll have to see how this all plays out in court, apparently.

COLLINS: Of course. Because then when you add in this 900-mile trip, she didn't want to stop. She used some of the diapers that everyone's been talking about. It's kind of a strange term, but it is something that they use in the shuttle system so that they don't have to worry about relieving themselves.

CANDIOTTI: That's right.

COLLINS: But it seems like, you know, she had the maps to the home of Colleen Shipman. It seems very, very difficult to put it all together. What happens next? What will happen with Bill Oefelein? Where does he come into play in all of these proceedings?

CANDIOTTI: Well, that's a good question, of course. A fellow astronaut. He is said to be here at the Kennedy Space Center, not far from Orlando. He is on leave, too, just like Lisa Nowak is. Naturally everyone is trying to speak with him. And to no one's surprise, so far no one has been successful in reaching him. Naturally, NASA is being very protective of all of their people right now. Those who work at NASA, of course, have been speaking to reporters on the telephone, but so far no one wants to be quoted for the record.

COLLINS: You know, Susan, have you heard anything about the military court system from where you are? We know that jurisdictionally this happened in, you know, in civilian territory, I should say. This did not happen on a military base of any kind. But we are talking about three veterans. And, in particular, Lisa Nowak, 10 years plus as a Navy captain.

CANDIOTTI: That's right. Well, I certainly saw from covering some of the trials, the court-martials of the -- in the Abu Ghraib scandal, that when some of the people that were involved in that and, in this case, when people are alleged to have committed adultery, officers, that is a potential criminal charge of conduct unbecoming. That is a criminal charge. So, naturally, this is on a dual track here. And that system will be looking at whether there will be any charges involving these officers as well.

COLLINS: Also interesting, too, because she is a Navy captain and Bill Oefelein is a Navy commander. She out-ranks him.

CANDIOTTI: That's right.

COLLINS: So when we talk about a fraternization charge possibly. Again, haven't heard anything about that. Just wanted to double check with you because of where you are in all of this story.

Susan Candiotti, thanks so much.

And just moments ago we were showing you some video that we want to clarify. This is live pictures now coming in to us from Houston, Texas. Our affiliate there KHOU. Somewhere in that cluster of homes is apparently Lisa Nowak's home. As you know, she will be traveling back there. So we'll continue to watch this as it develops here this morning.

HARRIS: A helicopter down in Iraq and now a claim of responsibility. The twin rotor C-9 crashed northwest of Baghdad. There's no word on the crew or the cause of the crash. An umbrella insurgent group called Islamic State in Iraq now boasting that it shot down the air craft, but there is no confirmation of that. This is the fifth helicopter lost in Iraq in just over two weeks.

That helicopter crash, another example of how difficult it is going to be to clear the mean streets in and around Baghdad. U.S. forces know one good day doesn't end a war. CNN's Michael Holmes reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Dawn in a militia stronghold as Operation Arrowhead Strike Six gets underway and the Baghdad security plan rolls out. Two battalions of striker vehicles, Iraqi army units too, sweeping through the suburbs of Shob (ph) and Ur (ph), main base for the Mehdi army. There's long been suspicion that the militia, lead by the fire-brand (ph) cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, would to underground, not take on the Americans. And so it was this day, not a shot fired.

But the American and Iraqi troops were after other things, weapons, suspects, hideouts, targets selected after weeks of intelligence gathering. Five hours into a 14-hour operation and no hitches.

SGT. BILL MONTGOMERY, U.S. ARMY: Running (ph) smoothly. They we, we found some contraband, some of the other objectives. They're already pushing some detainees up.

HOLMES: One of the primary targets, the biggest mosque in Shob, Surufi (ph), suspected of being a Mehdi meeting place. Two workers are held. Iraqi troops, not Americans, enter the mosque. U.S. forces stay outside searching the perimeter. But it's an Iraqi soldier who finds all this.

Well, at the rear of the mosque, the soldiers have managed to unearth quite a little cache here. Magazines for AK-47s. There's a couple of AK-47s there. This is used for balancing a mortar. And this is part of an RPG. These are all for heavy-duty machine guns in the back of a mosque.

Not much in the scheme of things in this city, but evidence that the mosque is used for more than praying. The two suspects become detainees, photographed with the weaponry and taken away.

Patrolling this area is tense for the troops, movement usually at a jog, snipers have been active here and have killed. The key to what's happening today and for the next week or so is that neither the Americans nor the Iraqi army are going away. They will stay here after a massive clearing of thousands of houses and buildings.

At one house evidence of a sectarian blood letting has riveted Iraq. The Shia man tells of having to flee Sunni al Anbar province. Another house, a far more tragic example. Five Shia families who say masked gunmen came into their homes, killed seven of their menfolk and told the rest to leave their Sunni village. Twenty-five men, women and children now live as squatters in a half-finished house. A common theme here, the elusive militia men, none found on the streets, seemingly they've vanished. And talking to the locals, no one seem to have ever seen one. "Mak oh Mehdi" says this woman. No Mehdi army here, no militias at all. Same from this man. I don't know anything, he tells us. Never seen them. Whatever the locals say, the Stryker battalions take no risk. Smoke grenades pop to provide cover in case those snipers are out there. These troops know one quiet day doesn't mean the next will be the same on these streets.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Shob, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And Michael Holmes joins us live now from Baghdad.

Michael, was there any surprise among the troops that the Mehdi army didn't confront them?

HOLMES: You know, they treat it as if they're going to be there. But it's true that the talk on the street, talk that we've heard, talk that the military has heard, too, was that they weren't going to be on the street. That the Mehdi militia is playing a waiting game. Putting down their weapons, going into hiding, if you like and, no, not taking on the U.S.

They're patient people. The feeling is that they're just going to stop those weapons and then come back when the Americans have gone.

Tony.

HARRIS: And, Michael, what was the general mood of the areas, the neighborhoods you visited?

HOLMES: Yes, I've got to tell you, the mood was pretty spooky. As I said in the story, snipers have killed troops there and two days before we were there an IFP, one of these very savage roadside bombs that penetrate armor, had killed an 82nd Airborne soldier who was, by the way, part of the surge and on his very first patrol.

So it's a very nervy place. It's also only the second place I've covered where the troops routinely pop those smoke grenades in order to move from one side of the street to the other or back into the stryker. So it's a measure of how they view the place as well.

Tony.

HARRIS: There he is, Michael Holmes for us in Baghdad.

Michael, thank you.

COLLINS: Want to very quickly tell you about a situation we are learning about in the NEWSROOM happening in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Apparently there has been a school stabbing. You see the pinpoint of where we're talking about here. This is Lauderdale Middle School, if you're familiar with the area. Apparently it happened just before school started in the auditorium where everybody kind of gets together and hangs out a little bit before school starts. They do start school at 8:30. So it was a very early incident this morning.

Apparently we are also learning that the victim was transported to a nearby hospital and the other student is now in custody. All happening at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We'll continue to watch that on for you.

HARRIS: Millions of dollars, countless questions. How has your tax money been spent in Iraq? Congress is demanding answers. Our guest will provide his own insights. He joins us next in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Reaching recruitment goals. Is the military bending the rules, letting dangerous criminals into the military? That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Astronaut Lisa Nowak in Houston this morning. How a space hero landed in court accused of attempted murder. We're following this story in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Iraq and the road to recovery. Its paved with your tax dollars and riddled with potholes. Billions of dollars are missing and Congress is demanding answers. Our next guest attended yesterday's hearings and recently authored a book about coalition efforts to rebuild Iraq. It's called "Imperial Life in the Emerald City." It shares his perspective as the Baghdad bureau chief for "The Washington Post." Rajiv Chandrasekaran is joining us now. He's the assistant managing editor at "The Post."

Thanks for being with us.

Let's go ahead and roll some of that sound from yesterday. I know you were there at the hearings with Paul Bremer. Let's listen to what he said before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL BREMER, FORMER DIRECTOR, COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY: I acknowledge that I made mistakes and that with the benefit of hindsight I would have made some decisions differently. But on the whole, I think we made great progress under some of the most difficult conditions manageable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: I know that you were in Baghdad between the years of 2003 and 2004. When he's talking about progress, he also said healthcare was cut by 90 percent, unemployment, 50 percent, the banking systems shut down, the cash-only system and inflation something like 115,000 percent. Was there progress made?

RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN, "WASHINGTON POST": Well, I think it was definitely a mixed bag. Clearly Saddam Hussein had deprived his country of a lot of vital resources. And when the Americans arrived and the American occupation authority was set up under Paul Bremer, they really did try to go about trying to fix some of those problems by increase spending in the government for basic public services.

And one of Bremer's top priorities was to ensure that Iraqi government workers were being paid. And this was the nub of the controversy yesterday because what Bremer was saying is, there was no working banking system. The only way to pay these people was in cash. And the Iraqi government ministries didn't have sophisticated western style accounting systems. But he was arguing that it was sort of the lesser of two evils. It was better to pay them even if there was a risk of some money going astray than to run the risk of literally thousands upon thousands of angry Iraqis who weren't getting their salaries.

COLLINS: So what are Democrats trying to say should have been done with the money?

CHANDRASEKARAN: Well, the Democrats wanted better record keeping and they wanted, you know, the coalition provisional authority, Paul Bremer's occupation government, to have kept better files and records of how this money was disbursed. But even the Democrats weren't able to show yesterday that any of this money actually wound up getting stolen or going to the wrong places. It's just that auditors haven't been able to firmly show that all the money went to the right hands.

COLLINS: Yes. And we hear Chairman Henry Waxman saying this, "we have no way of knowing whether cash shipped into the green zone ended up in enemy hands." Is that what he's suggesting, that a lot of the violence that we are seeing now, a lot of the ammunition, a lot of the IEDs being funded by this particular money, this $9 million?

CHANDRASEKARAN: Well, perhaps this money might have gone toward people doing bad acts some years ago. It's hard to see that it might be going to things in the present day. But that's clearly what the Democrats were arguing. They were saying, look, some of this money might have gone out the back door. Many of these Iraqi ministries have what they call ghost employees, fictitious people on the payroll and that money just vanishes through corruption.

But the Republicans fired back pretty strongly and argued that there was no clear evidence that any of this money had been, in fact, lost to corruption.

COLLINS: All right. Let's move forward a little bit if we could. The change in leadership, the U.S. leadership in Iraq, General George Casey, of course, and Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad leaving, General Petraeus, Ryan Crocker coming in. Necessary moves?

CHANDRASEKARAN: Well, that's clearly the Bush administration's position, that General Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, a veteran Arab world expert, will bring some new life to the American presence in Iraq, a new strategy. George Casey, the former military commander in Baghdad, was more focused on sort of a schedule to hand over responsibility to Iraqi forces. General Petraeus comes with a very different attitude, that is to really surge troops as the White House wants, but to focus on protecting the civilian population with the hope that restoring security in Baghdad will help lead to political and economic developments that are key prerequisites to bring stability to Iraq. COLLINS: Yes. And as we just heard yesterday, some of the Iraqis complain that it's just not happening fast enough. Enough troops, the president's decision to send in 21,500 troops? Is it enough?

CHANDRASEKARAN: Well, certainly there are military experts that say that amount of troops, while it seems like a large number to all of us, may not be enough to really make a palpable change on the ground. But to military experts also, it's not a question of exactly how many, but it's how those troops are used.

COLLINS: How they're used, exactly.

CHANDRASEKARAN: And Petraeus really will be focusing in on getting more of those troops focused on providing security to the civilian population in Baghdad. And that operation seems to be starting today.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Thanks for being with us.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, appreciate your time here today, from "The Washington Post."

CHANDRASEKARAN: A pleasure to talk to you.

HARRIS: CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here with us this morning.

And, Gerri, thank you for reminding us that we are smack-dab in the middle of tax season here.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the clock is ticking, you know, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: Tax deadline, just eight weeks away. We'll tell you about some of those pesky little changes to your tax form this year. It's coming up next on "Top Tips."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to show you just a little bit of new video. This is just moments ago coming from our affiliate KHOU in Houston. And you see there Lisa Nowak, covered up, going down the stairs to the tarmac as she arrived in Houston from Orlando. Again, new video coming in. Just a little bit better picture than we were able to show you before, even though she has chosen to very much cover her face. She's escorted by her NASA shuttle commander, Steve Lindsey. Going to be going to her house. As you remember from yesterday, a fourth charge was locked on at the very last minute, just before she was leaving court. And that charge, attempted first degree murder now. So she also was wearing a GPS tracking system, an ankle bracelet, if you will, in order to keep her far, far away from Colleen Shipman and the area of Orlando.

HARRIS: Crunching, crunching, crunching numbers. Counting the days. The IRS deadline just about two months away now. Time for you to face up to the possibility that there are going to be some things different this time around. CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis is in New York.

Gerri, good morning to you.

WILLIS: Hey, good morning. Good to see you.

HARRIS: What are we talking about, eight weeks here?

WILLIS: I know. But you've got to get started early, right? I mean it pays to really get everything cranking fast rather than at the last minute.

Tip number one here, Tony, calculate now. You know the alternative minimum tax is catching more and more middle class tax filers. And the taxpayer advocate is a branch of the IRS that helps taxpayers. According to them, the AMT is the number one problem facing taxpayers today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NINA OLSON, TAXPAYER ADVOCATE: People are just astounded that there's this whole other tax system that they get ensnared in. And they're not rich taxpayers. They're solid, middle class tax payers and they're being pulled into this system that was originally designed to hit people who today would make a million dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: There's not much you can do to get out of paying the AMT, but you can get an early heads up on whether you have to pay it. Now the IRS, here's the new thing, has updated its online calculator to help you determine whether you have to pay that AMT tax. Check it out at irs.gov. It's easier to navigate. Better all around. Remember, while there's been some talk about reforming or getting rid of the alternative minimum tax, this is one big fat cash cow for the government and I think it's going to be hard for them to give it up.

HARRIS: I think you're right on that, Gerri.

This next tip cuts into an area where we might see some changes. Folks might be expecting some deductions that they have anticipated in past years and they might not be there this year?

WILLIS: The devil's in the detail here. This year tax forms will be missing some popular deductions. That's because some expired tax perks, like deductions for state and local sales tax and teachers' out of pocket costs, were revived after the IRS printed its forms and instructions. If you normally claim these deductions, you should go to the irs.gov, that website, and click on 1040 central. If you use tax software or the e-file service from the IRS, you should also be in the clear. These programs should be updated with the reinstated tax perks. So they are not gone, they're just missing from some of these forms. So you've got to update the form.

HARRIS: Hey, Gerri, what do you mean went you advise us to be careful of late forms? What are we talking about here?

WILLIS: Right. You know, you have to wait for some folks to give you information before you can file your taxes. And if you have taxable accounts or you file your taxes early, this could be tough for you this year. Some brokerages are sending out their 1099 forms late. If you haven't received a form 1099 by now, you should contact the issuer. Of course, you don't necessarily have to wait for the statements to file your return. As long as you have the correct info you can put it in on your tax form without having the statement in hand. But devil's in the details here.

We'll continue to bring you all the news about taxes over the next few weeks. Keep you updated as it goes.

And, as always, if you have a question for us, send us an e-mail to toptips@cnn.com. We love hearing from you. We answer those questions right here every Friday.

HARRIS: Great, Gerri. Great to see you. See you tomorrow.

WILLIS: See you tomorrow.

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.

HARRIS: Good morning again, everyone. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins.

Among our top stories this morning, back on the ground in Houston, but grounded by NASA. The astronaut charged with attempted murder, attempted first degree murder in an alleged love triangle returns home. Lisa Nowak is out on bond and must wear a GPS satellite tracking device. Nowak is accused of trying to kill Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman. Police say she viewed Shipman as romantic rival for the affections of astronaut Bill Oefelein. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin says the case adds to the challenges NASA already faces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUZZ ALDRIN, FORMER ASTRONAUT: I don't think anybody missed a single one to make it really look bad for that lady. That's a shame. NASA has their own problems right now with the budget, trying to transition from the shuttle and retire it in a couple years and then start with a new program of exploration. So I really kind of feel sorry for Mike Griffin, the administrator at NASA having to the deal with this. Outstanding engineer and now as a manager he has to deal with problems like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: A NASA spokesman says the agency was stunned by Nowak's arrest.

HARRIS: Family and friends concerned about astronaut Lisa Nowak's state of mind and her well-being. One of those friends is a former NASA flight surgeon who lost his wife in the shuttle Columbia disaster. Jonathan Clark talked with our Miles O'Brien on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Laurel and Lisa had a lot in common and, thus, you became friends. Tell us about your relationship with her.

JONATHAN CLARK, FORMER NASA FLIGHT SURGEON: Well, Miles, we started our first astronaut class with a lot of social functions and because Lisa and Laurel were both naval officers and flyers, they had a natural bond. They also were very much into their families. Both of them had young sons. They had a common interest in gardening and flowers and they actually were very similar in many ways. So we got a chance to know the Nowaks pretty well. We certainly would go to their house for parties and vice versa.

O'BRIEN: And you describe her as someone who loved her family, loved her kids, a working mom, I guess?

CLARK: Absolutely. She was a mother before she was an astronaut. I mean, she really was into family life and what's happened in the last few days has just been totally a shock. She is a really wonderful, good, caring person and I think that's important for people to remember that she, above all else, was -- and is a wonderful person. You have to find forgiveness and love in your heart to get her through this.

O'BRIEN: You know, there's a picture you shared with me yesterday of Lisa Nowak with her son, Ian and she was instrumental in helping you and him out after the Columbia tragedy. She sort of stepped in and helped serve the role of an absent mother, didn't she?

CLARK: Oh, absolutely. I think all of the female astronauts who are moms have a common bond there. This is a high-risk endeavor and they're almost torn between being a mom and being a career astronaut and Lisa just stepped right in there with us. Obviously, my son losing his mom has this tremendous void in his life and Lisa, who also looks a lot like Laurel, just was able to come in and be a part of that and it was just a wonderful thing. You could just see a smile on his face whenever she -- he was around her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Family and friends -- we just talked about that, that was the piece you just saw. Still ahead coming up in the NEWSROOM, an alleged plot to kidnap, torture and behead. The latest coming up on the London terror plot in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And an American helicopter down in Iraq today, the fifth since late January. Are militants getting more sophisticated? We'll talk about that coming up in the NEWSROOM, back after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: Nine terror suspects, allegations of a grizzly plot, now two are set free without being charged. The remaining seven suspects still in custody. They were picked up last week after raids in Birmingham. A source tells us the suspects are accused of plotting to abduct, torture and behead a British Muslim soldier who had served in Afghanistan.

Police warned folks in Britain be careful opening your mail. The caution after another letter bomb explodes. It is the fourth since Saturday. And there are media reports of three previous explosions. Enter today a woman at a vehicle leasing agency in Wales. At least some of the bombs seem to have a common thread, targeting companies or agencies involved in traffic-related matters. Police aren't saying whether they're linked. But a British newspaper says they could be the work of a, quote, "militant motorist."

COLLINS: The big chill loosening its grip a little bit on parts of the Northern Plains and Northeast. But in places it is still pretty darn cold. This snowy scene near Buffalo, New York. The wave of arctic air picked up moisture as it swept across the Great Lakes, creating those lake-effect squalls that Chad always talks about. They've dumped three to four feet of snow this week on parts of New York state.

Right now the brutal cold has swept into the Midatlantic states. West Virginia shivering through some soft coldest temperatures in a decade. Nearly a dozen deaths in the Plains and Northeast are blamed on the frigid weather.

Chad Myers joining us now. Boy, you hate to hear that, don't you?

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: A helicopter downed in Iraq. And now a claim of responsibility, too. It is the fifth helicopter lost in Iraq in just over two weeks. Our Barbara Starr is standing by live now at the Pentagon for more information on all this. Barbara, any word yet on the fate of the crew?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, not yet, Heidi. U.S. military officials are still trying to evaluate exactly what did occur according to initial reports. This was a Marine Corps helicopter. You see video coming in here from news agencies that indicate this was quite a traumatic event. The helicopter in flames.

According to initial reports from one U.S. military official, there were something less than 10 personnel on board. This helicopter going down northwest of Baghdad. A U.S. quick reaction force on-site trying to determine exactly what has happened and engage in any recovery or potential rescue, of course.

This is now the fifth helicopter down in just over two weeks. As you say, Heidi. The first four helicopters, the military acknowledging that they were by all accounts brought down by hostile fire. There is a claim by an insurgent Web site. The military not able to say yet what happened here.

There are reports there was enemy action in the area at the time. So if this now, in fact, become a fifth helicopter downed by enemy fire, of course, this is a very significant event for the U.S. military. General Pace, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff already saying yesterday that they were evaluating all of these incidents trying to determine how the U.S. military might change its tactics for how it flies helicopters over the war zone.

And of course, that in itself, Heidi, is a very sensitive matter to discuss. Helicopters, it is well acknowledged, fly at high altitudes sometimes to avoid small arms fire from the ground. But they also fly at low altitudes to try and avoid the threat of shoulder fired surface-to-air missiles. All of these helicopters brought down by different tactics, by different groups apparently, in different areas of the country. So the military trying to determine exactly what it's dealing with here -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes and interesting, too, Barbara, and again, don't ever want you to speculate, but just for the sake of discussion, if in fact it is true that this fifth helicopter goes down due to hostile fire, it is interesting in the wake of the discussion about possible increased role of the Air Force and what the mission would be with bringing in planes instead of possibly helicopters flown by the marines or army.

STARR: Well, most of these helicopters are actually, in fact, army or U.S. marine corps helicopters. One of the things that, as you're indicating, has happened over the last many months, as ground travel, as the roads in Iraq have become so dangerous because of IEDs, one of the ways they do try and move troops is by air.

So some of these larger heavy lift if you will, helicopters are used to move troops or equipment by air from one point to another, of course. But two of the helicopters have been army apache helicopter gunships. Those helicopters, Heidi, of course, provide close air support, air defense if you will, for troops engaged in combat on the ground.

So that air cover by army apaches, of course, is vital to the protection of troops on the ground. They put themselves in harm's way to try and protect the troops. It's going to become a problematic situation.

Look, they will continue to fly. There is no question about that. Helicopters will continue to operate over Iraq but they are going to look for ways, tactics on how to fly, how they might change their methods of operating to try and protect themselves -- Heidi?

COLLINS: All right, understood. Barbara Starr, coming to us live from the Pentagon. Barbara, stick around, we'd love to talk to you again in just about 15 minutes or so, at the top of the hour, thanks.

HARRIS: Still to come, a bizarre space odyssey ends where it began. It grounded astronaut back home in Houston. The latest on the alleged love triangle and a charge of attempted murder, in the NEWSROOM.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. Steve Jobs to the music industry, tear down your digital walls. I'll have details about the radical suggestion from the man behind the iPod. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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HARRIS: The man whose company has made billions from legal downloads is asking the music industry to abandon its primary weapon against online piracy. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details about the online essay from Apple's Steve Jobs. Sounds like, Susan, that would make for some good and interesting reading.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

COLLINS: An ad campaign comes unwrapped. Some say this Super Bowl candy commercial went too far. But is it really offensive? Judge for yourself, in the NEWSROOM.

And salesmen, sign, strategy. Go ahead, make his day. Worth a million bucks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure you've interviewed people that are a lot more crazier than I am, OK? And sure this is a little nutty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: More crazier? I don't know. Is that grammatically correct? Yes, he will do it, if it's legal. Down and out in Beverly Hills, coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This would make a great reality show -- I will do anything legal for a million dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Right now Allen Smulen (ph) figures somebody in Beverly Hills has an extra million he can have. Huh? So he's parked himself at Sunset and Rodeo trying to snag it. Smaller words for a company who hires people to hold signs on the side of the road, so it wasn't a huge leap for Smulen to give it a try himself. We'll let you know if it works out.

One candy commercial goes sour. The ad debuted during the Super Bowl, but now flagged for unnecessary roughness.

CNN entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson has the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE SOLMONESE, PRESIDENT, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN TO END DISCRIMINATION AGAINST GAYS: I feel like we're 20 years back from -- from where we are in this fight.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outrage from gay-rights groups across the country over a commercial that more than 90 million people saw during Sunday's Super Bowl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SNICKERS AD)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I think we just accidentally kissed.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Quick. Do something manly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLMONESE: It's a sort of a haunting reminder once again that we have got a lot more work to do.

ANDERSON: Neither the Human Rights Campaign, nor the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation found the campaign very funny. In fact, they found it homophobic.

Both organizations called for Masterfoods, the parent company of Mars, which makes Snickers, to pull the entire ad blitz. The campaign included an elaborate online element that was quietly removed on Tuesday, in response to the criticism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Is there room for three on this love boat?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Before the Web campaign was taken down, the Snickers site featured three alternate endings to the commercial, now shown on YouTube, including "Love Boat," and this version, called "Wrench."

SOLMONESE: Hate crimes are as prevalent as ever in our country. And this sort of imagery does nothing to help fight against that kind of condition that we have in our country. It only contributes to it.

ANDERSON: Also contributing to it, they say, is the appearance of NFL players responding to the ad on the Snickers Web site.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they actually have to kiss like that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, this -- that is not right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It definitely blew my mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this one is one of those -- one of those that's going to be remembered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: The blogosphere erupted, targeting Mars with posts like this one: "The entire thing is absolutely sickening. They were gay-bashing for fun."

The ladies of "The View" tackled the topic -- Rosie O'Donnell leading the charge -- with mixed feelings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE VIEW")

ROSIE O'DONNELL, CO-HOST: Well, not every gay person thought it was unfunny.

BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST: And I guess not every gay...

(CROSSTALK)

O'DONNELL: And, you know, not every gay person was offended.

(CROSSTALK)

O'DONNELL: ... first saw it, I did have a little bit of an "uh." But, you know...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You did?

O'DONNELL: Just, like, "uh."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: The Colts, one of the teams whose players are featured online, declined comment. And the Bears haven't returned CNN calls.

Masterfoods insists, the ad was merely meant to be funny: "We know that humor is highly subjective, and understand that some people may have found the ad offensive. Clearly, that was not our intent."

No matter the intent, this controversy is proof that a Snickers doesn't always satisfy.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Astronaut Lisa Nowak in Houston this morning. How a space hero landed in court, accused of attempted murder. We are following the story in the NEWSROOM. HARRIS: An American helicopter down in Iraq today, the fifth since late January. Are militants getting more sophisticated? We explore that in the NEWSROOM.

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