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American Morning
JetBlue Canceling a Quarter of its Flights Today; Mountain Rescue Mission; Tough Talk: Clinton's Campaign Ultimatum on Iraq
Aired February 19, 2007 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, Monday, February 19th.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Roberts, in for Miles O'Brien for the next few days.
Thanks very much for joining us on this Presidents Day.
O'BRIEN: Our top story this hour, the problems of JetBlue. The airline is canceling nearly a quarter of its flights today. JetBlue is still reeling from last week's snow an ice storms that left passengers trapped on planes for hours.
CNN's Allan Chernoff is live for us this morning at New York's JFK airport.
Good morning to you, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Of the flights that are scheduled to depart and arrive from JFK airport here in New York this morning, four are delayed so far. JetBlue is going to have to do much better than that if it hopes to revive its battered reputation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice over): JetBlue's reputation as one of the nation's efficient, most comfortable small airlines has come plummeting back to earth five days after a winter storm left its passengers stranded and trapped on runways for up to eight hours. The company says they still needed to cancel almost a quarter of flights on Presidents Day weekend. The cancellations affects flights in and out of 11 cities across the country.
A statement posted on the company's Web site called the cancellations part of an operational recovery program and said, "JetBlue is taking this aggressive, unprecedented action to end rolling delays and cancellations, and to operate a new schedule reliably." Essentially, JetBlue is canceling flights now in order to avoid canceling future flights, which doesn't seem to help irate passengers just looking to either get home or away on vacation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night our flight was canceled last minute going to D.C. We were put on a 2:00 a.m. flight here to JFK. We arrived, our baggage was missing. We're told it was put on another flight. We had to go home, come back, pick it up. It's been a brutal two days, definitely, with JetBlue.
CHERNOFF: The problems with JetBlue all started on Valentine's Day, when northeast ice storms left planes and hundreds of passengers literally frozen on runways for hours, which then triggered what the company said was a domino effect, causing them to cancel hundreds of flights since Wednesday. JetBlue says passengers can choose either to convert the value of their travel to a JetBlue credit, or a full refund to the original form of payment. And that is clearly not enough for those stranded.
GEORGE MATRONI, STRANDED JETBLUE PASSENGER: If the CEO of JetBlue is watching, I would like to say, either your resignation should be tenured, or you should implement a new dynamic within JetBlue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: Well, the chief executive has apologized, and tomorrow he plans to announce a passenger bill of rights which will include the right to actually get paid if you are stranded on an airplane -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, a little bit too late, many people might think, especially if they were one of the ones that spent 10 hours on a plane on the tarmac.
Let me ask you a question, though. JetBlue, of course, a kind of low-cost carrier. Is all of this restructuring and a change in plans going to make the tickets cost more?
CHERNOFF: Most likely. The company isn't yet saying that prices are going to be going up, but if they're going to be paying people if they're sitting on a plane, making all these refunds, you have to expect down the road at some point they are going to have to raise their fares if they're going to bulk up and make sure this does not happen again -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Allan Chernoff for us this morning. He's at Kennedy airport.
Thank you, Allan.
About 20 high school students from the Boston area are pretty angry about some airline problems themselves. They're now home, but they're supposed to be in Spain for a class trip.
The students and their teachers say Delta Airlines gave away their seats. Delta says the group showed up late, the seats were already claimed by others. So as compensation, the kids got $200 vouchers for future travel on Delta.
Oh, yes, they're pissed.
ROBERTS: They're what?
O'BRIEN: Angry is what I was trying to say. Well, you know what? They always give you this voucher. And you could not be more furious with the airline at the moment that they hand -- I don't want to ever fly you again. Don't hand me a voucher.
I can say that. That's not a bad word.
Anyway, Congress, of course, is now looking -- like you have never said that word in your life.
ROBERTS: I have, but not on television.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: I say it all the time. Not with the cameras looking at me.
O'BRIEN: My children know not to say that, not to repeat mommy.
The proposed law actually starting moving through the House and the Senate over the weekend. Among some of the recommendations, it would give you the right to get off a plane that's been delayed on the ground for more than three hours. The bill would also force airlines to tell you about a delayed or canceled flight before you buy a replacement ticket.
And trouble on the ground this morning at Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida. Two airport shuttle buses had a head-on collision late last night.
Gosh. Look at this.
Two people were killed. Seven people were hurt. It happened on Perimeter Road at the airport. They're still trying to clear off the wreck and figure out exactly what happened.
ROBERTS: Now to a developing story in Oregon. A rescue mission right now on Mt. Hood -- yes, a sense of deja vu to this whole thing -- to find three climbers who fell from a ledge on Sunday believed to be deep in a crevasse.
CNN's Dan Simon is at the base of Mt. Hood.
Dan, about an hour and a half ago we had one of the lead rescuers on who thought that they might be reaching them in about an hour. That would be half an hour ago. What's the status?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, I actually just got some updated information, and I'm told that the rescuers have hunkered down because of the lack of daylight. The lack of daylight is making navigating the difficult terrain even more dangerous, combined with these deteriorating weather elements. So, John, I'm told that they're basically going to wait it out at least for another hour and a half or so until there's actually some daylight here on the ground. In terms of where those three climbers are, they're on the south side of the mountain at about 8,000 feet. I'm told that they're not injured.
There's two women. Maybe a few bumps and bruises, but not seriously injured. There is also a man who is with them.
They are in sleeping bags, they're trying to stay warm. There's actually a Labrador dog who is with them that has cuddled up to them, also giving them some warmth.
This started out as a party of eight people. They were scaling the mountain yesterday. Three of those five -- or three of those eight, rather, fell off a ledge, and now search and rescue crews are trying to find them. In terms of those other five, they were rescued, and one of those people spoke out about their friends still up on the mountain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TREVOR LISTON, RESCUED CLIMBER: They've been in verbal contact with them. They're still working out there tonight. Conditions are horrible, so kudos to them. They're all doing great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: John, as is often the case when you have missing climbers, weather a factor. We are told that the weather is going to continue to get worse. That's why these next few hours are critical for search and rescue crews to reach those three missing climbers.
John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Dan, do you know how the dog got with them? Was that a rescue dog?
SIMON: Not a rescue dog. I'm told that that dog actually went with them, if you can believe that. So -- and I'm told that the dog is actually providing them some warmth.
ROBERTS: Wow.
SIMON: So interesting case there.
ROBERTS: I bet the dog is not too happy about that.
Dan Simon, thanks. We'll keep checking back with you for the latest. Thanks.
(NEWSBREAK)
ROBERTS: Senator Hillary Clinton being dogged on the campaign trail by her vote for the Iraq war in 2002. She's now tried to change the debate.
On her Web site, the Democratic presidential candidate delivering an ultimatum to the White House -- begin phased withdrawals in 90 days.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken is keeping track of Hillary Clinton's campaign. He is live in Washington for us now.
An interesting way of fighting back by deflecting attention here, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is, but one thing you are definitely not going to see from candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, you are not going to see very much ad libbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice over): Senator Clinton's campaign has been bedeviled by her vote in 2002 to authorize the Iraq invasion. And now perhaps even more so for refusing to apologize for it. This weekend in New Hampshire, she was ready with the latest carefully formulated impromptu response.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I have to say that if the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or who has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from. But to me, the most important thing now is trying to end this war.
FRANKEN: Could she be talking about her opponents? John Edwards, for instance, who says he too voted to authorize Iraq, but now does call it a mistake. Or Barack Obama, who wasn't in the Senate, but says he wouldn't have made that mistake.
Candidate Clinton is tiptoeing between what is variously viewed as the politics of toughness and the politics of stubbornness. Ultimately, it may not be a matter of principle, but more how will it play? And advice is coming from all sides. Her side and the unwelcome advice from the Republican side.
FRANK LUNTZ, GOP STRATEGIST: If I were her adviser, I would tell her that the most human thing you possibly can do is to say those two words, either "I'm sorry" or "I apologize".
FRANKEN: Adopted New Yorker that she is, she has one word, forget about it, and another of those Clinton conversations on her Web site. This one about a troop pullback.
CLINTON: Now it's time to say the redeployment should start in 90 days or the Congress will revoke authorization for this war.
Thanks for listening. And please, let's keep the conversation going.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: And how does she structure those conversations? Well, John, to paraphrase an old joke, very carefully.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes. I mean, it's a conversation, but at least the way that it's presented on her Web site it's one way. But this is a technique that she used all the way going back to her first run for senator when she was on that "listening tour." I mean, she really wants to get out this idea that she's engaging voters, engaging her constituents.
FRANKEN: Well, my response is very carefully vetted, John. You're right.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Bob, thank you. Appreciate it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nobody go off their script there.
In New Jersey, as of midnight, civil unions are legal. That's midnight last night for same-sex couples. It's the third state in the union to allow them.
Ken Rosato is with our affiliate WABC. He is live in Woodbridge, New Jersey this morning.
Ken, good morning. How many people have applied for these kinds of licenses already?
KEN ROSATO, REPORTER, WABC: Well, several dozen, believe it or not, Soledad. It all happened exactly 12:01. That's when they were allowed do that.
The town halls made sure they waited until 12:01 just to be sure, but several dozen couples were waiting to do that. And several communities around this area, including Teaneck, New Jersey, where about two dozen couples waited.
Now, New Jersey is only the third state in the nation to allow gay partners to publicly ratify their relationships. A few town halls across the state, as we mentioned, opened up just so that those anxious couples could file their applications, but no one got married yet.
There's a 72-hour waiting period, just like with heterosexual marriages. A few hundred of the state's estimated 20,000 gay couples, though, already have civil unions or marriages from other states or nations. Those relationships are automatically considered civil unions now in New Jersey.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we can't yet celebrate is their marriage, for New Jersey still wrongly and unnecessarily withholds from this loving couple and too many others like them the freedom to marry that is our birth right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSATO: Now, about 45 states currently ban same-sex marriages or unions coast to coast. Only three, as we mentioned earlier, allow such ceremonies to take place. And where we are here, at this Hilton hotel in New Jersey, they're going to be celebrating for all those people who worked to get this legislation passed.
So, from here, we're live in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Ken Rosato, for CNN.
O'BRIEN: Hey, Ken, can I ask you a quick question? Does that mean that in 72 hours we start seeing a slew of these -- the civil ceremonies coming up, do you think?
ROSATO: Oh, likely. Absolutely.
In fact, we had a list of those who can perform those ceremonies. In New Jersey, by the way, mayors of towns who perform heterosexual ceremonies are now required by law to perform same-sex ceremonies. So it's going to be interesting to see what happens in all the town halls in 72 hours.
O'BRIEN: Wow. I've got to imagine there are some mayors who are not going to go for that. That will be something to follow.
ROSATO: Then they'll have to stop doing heterosexual weddings altogether.
O'BRIEN: Yes. The legal implications will be interesting there.
All right. Thanks, Ken. Appreciate it.
ROSATO: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, will Congress yank the president's power to wage war? Democratic senator Charles Schumer is going to join us to talk about that.
Plus, danger on the mountain. A string of deadly avalanches out West. We'll update you on what's happening there.
You are watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, where you can always find the most news in the morning.
Word today that Britain's Prince Harry could be shipping off to Iraq within the next couple of months.
And JetBlue trying to clear a huge passenger backlog and P.R. nightmare by cutting a quarter of all flights today to try to get everything back on track.
Fifteen minutes after the hour. Chad Myers at the CNN weather center for us, following some storm watches this morning and some cold weather heading down to Florida there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: The Democratically-controlled Senate failed to force debate on their non-binding resolution opposing a troop buildup in Iraq, and yet some Democrats are still claiming victory and planning the next move, too.
Senator Chuck Schumer was there for the vote. He's also got a new book out. It's called "Positively American." He's with us this morning to talk about both things.
Good morning, Senator. Nice to see you.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Now, the vote was to bring this resolution to the floor, and at the end of the day, Saturday, we should point out, unusual, it was 56-34, which means you fell short of the -- by four votes of what you'd need to bring the resolution to the floor. And yet, Democrats are saying it was a victory.
Why?
SCHUMER: Yes. This was a vote -- look, make no mistake about it, they can proceed whatever -- they can spin whatever procedural webs they want to. This was a vote, are you for or against the surge?
We had 56 votes against the surge -- seven Republicans, John Warner, leading expert on military affairs in the Senate, Republican. So we feel pretty good about it.
You have to remember one thing. Many people think there's a silver bullet, one vote that will change everything. It can't happen the way the founding fathers set up the Constitution.
You need 60 votes to bring anything to the floor. We Democrats have 51. And even more importantly, you need 67 to overcome the presidential veto.
So what this is, Soledad -- and this is very important for people to understand -- this is a process. It's -- we are constantly going to be debating the Iraq war, discussing the Iraq war, ratcheting things up, because ultimately...
O'BRIEN: People will say, though, it's a non-binding process. And if you listen to Lindsey Graham over the weekend -- we have a little chunk of what he had to say -- and I know you're familiar with it, but we'll play it for the audience.
SCHUMER: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: If you believe this is a lost cause and our victory can't be achieved, that our people are in the middle of a mess, a civil war, and not one person should get injured or killed because we've made huge mistakes that cannot be turned around, then cut off funding. Have a vote on something that matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: What he is saying is, you have other options, and some of those options are stronger, tougher options.
SCHUMER: But we also have an option to change the strategy.
Lindsey is right. We are policing a civil war. The Sunnis and Shiites hate each other, have for generations, and are shooting at each other, and our troops in the middle. No American...
O'BRIEN: But is he right to say cut the funding? If you are so unhappy about it, if it's a mistake, cut the funding.
SCHUMER: Change -- we'll see. What we are going to do is force the president -- we're going to do our best -- he can veto things -- to change the strategy.
No longer police a civil war. No longer have our troops down Haifa Street as they shoot at each other. And just go after what could hurt America, terrorism.
So if there's an al Qaeda camp in Anbar Province, we should have enough troops there to go in, take out that camp, and leave it. But not police a civil war, because make no mistake about it, Lindsey is exactly wrong here. Not -- there will be that civil war if our troops are there for three months or three years. And the president, Soledad, has stubbornly, stubbornly, stuck to this strategy which everyone can see isn't working.
O'BRIEN: But Senator Graham's point is essentially this: You want points for having this non-binding resolution, but you don't want to lose the points for doing something that would be controversial...
SCHUMER: Oh, no, no, no.
O'BRIEN: ... which would say essentially we're going to cut funding for the troops.
SCHUMER: Absolutely not. We...
O'BRIEN: I mean, he says you want to have it both ways.
SCHUMER: We're not going to cut funding for the troops, but we are going to t -- you will see in the next month -- in the next month -- the first step was the non-binding resolution. He is wounded there, because seven of his colleagues, including John Warner and Chuck Hagel, switched to our side.
We're only four votes short of getting where we need, and next resolution is going to force the president to change the strategy. Can we get the 60 or 67? I don't know. But if we get 58 next time, we'll then go for 59, and then we'll go for 60.
O'BRIEN: It sounds like baby steps. But I want to bring... SCHUMER: It is baby steps.
O'BRIEN: ... about your book a little bit...
SCHUMER: OK, great.
O'BRIEN: ... because you talk about the middle class...
SCHUMER: I do.
O'BRIEN: ... and how, you know, reaching out to the middle -- well, the middle class really wants something done about the war.
SCHUMER: They do.
O'BRIEN: I mean, every day we see polls...
SCHUMER: And they sure don't -- they sure don't want business as usual, and the middle class, two-thirds are against the surge.
O'BRIEN: OK. But votes on a non-binding resolution that fall short -- so you can't even get the measure to the floor.
SCHUMER: It's a first step, again.
O'BRIEN: But are voters going to say as you edge toward 2008, OK, you had -- you fell short even if it was four votes, two votes, one vote, whatever...
SCHUMER: You know what they're going to say? Give us more...
O'BRIEN: They're going to say it didn't happen.
SCHUMER: Give us more votes in the Senate, and it will happen. You watch. By 2008, there will be such pressure on the president because his strategy is misguided.
O'BRIEN: 2008 the president is not running. So people might say, listen...
SCHUMER: They're going to say...
O'BRIEN: ... there's not the anti-Bush vote. There's only the what did the Democrats do vote?
SCHUMER: Tat is true. Look, I wrote that book. I wrote the book "Positively American" because I believe the president is going to be forced by the actions we're taking, more importantly by the failure of what's going on the ground where we're policing a civil war and we can't stop it unless we add two million troops or something on every street corner, the president is going to be forced withdraw troops.
I believe that it's likely by 2008 the president will have changed his strategy and said, you know, we only need 30,000 or 40,000 troops out of harm's way to go against terror, which is what we're trying to get him to do. So what I have written the book about is, well, what are the Democrats -- what kind of platform are the Democrats going to run on?
And I say we have to refocus the government to help the middle class. The average middle class person is not doing terribly, but for the first time in a long time...
O'BRIEN: Struggling.
SCHUMER: ... they're worried about their future and, more importantly, their kids' future. We compete against jobs in China and India. Our schools aren't as good as she they should be. Our healthcare isn't as good. Democrats are going to propose meat and potato things that I outline in the book that appeal to the middle class.
O'BRIEN: So people would say it will end as we began, which is, depending on what happens with the war, though, is going to be how the votes go.
SCHUMER: The war -- let me tell you, this last vote, a CNN poll, I think, "USA Today," 51 percent supported what the Democrats did, 19 percent supported the Republicans. They want us to keep at it. It doesn't matter the specifics of the resolution, because we can't win any of those when the president has a veto power, 67 votes, but if we keep pressuring and debating -- the old congresses under Republicans didn't even debate this issue.
Now we're forcing the president to explain himself, to re- examine. He will have to change because his policy is a failure. And we're going to keep at it.
O'BRIEN: We'll see if that works.
Senator Chuck Schumer, nice to see you, as always.
SCHUMER: Nice to see you. Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Thanks coming in and talking with us. Appreciate it.
SCHUMER: A pleasure.
O'BRIEN: John.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Soledad.
We're "Minding Your Business" coming up. Why NASCAR is a winner, and not just for drivers and their fans. Carmakers also stand to gain. We'll explain.
And when words collide. How Beijing is trying to clean up its Chinglish ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: An exciting finish to the Daytona 500, but it's not just a sport. It's big business for the automakers.
It's 25 minutes after the hour. Stephanie Elam here "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Who thinks about the business angle of these things? I don't think many people do.
ROBERTS: Oh, it's huge.
ELAM: But it really is a big one. For people who enjoy it, it's really more about the fun. But let's take a look at some of the things that happened at the Daytona 500.
It was the closest finish on record. It was very close, actually.
Kevin Harvick won by two-one-hundredths of a second, beating out over Mark Martin. Harvick dives a Chevy, but there were actually several automakers who were in focus at Daytona. Let's take a look at that.
Starting off with Ford. Ford actually had nine cars in the race, and they say their total NASCAR spending is about $100 million. The company lost nearly $13 billion in 2006, so you might wonder, is this really a good idea for them to be involved in that?
But they say they don't stop their marketing efforts despite the fact that they have all those losses. You still have to do that in hard times.
Then moving on and taking a look at Toyota, Toyota, another sign that they're moving in on the Detroit three. What's interesting there, this is the first time that they had a car in the Daytona 500. None of their cars finished in the top 10, however. But one interesting thing here.
They point out that the Toyota Camry is made in the United States, while the big three, their models that are there racing are actually, Soledad and John, made outside of the U.S. So it's kind of interesting thing there, that Toyota has a car that's made here.
O'BRIEN: A turn.
ELAM: Yes.
ROBERTS: But it's totally symbolic, though, because the racecars are made here. They just look like the car that they're supposed to emulate.
ELAM: They're supposed to look like. But yes -- but the weird thing is that the American cars are made elsewhere. So it's an interesting little dynamic there.
O'BRIEN: It's all symbolism, isn't it?
ELAM: All symbolism everywhere. Yes. O'BRIEN: Stephanie, thank you very much.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Stephanie.
Top stories of the morning coming up next.
Terror on the tracks in India. Explosions fired, dozens have been killed. We have got a report from the scene.
And a weekend full of deadly avalanches out West. We'll find out why and how you can stay safe if you are ever trapped in one.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Monday, February 19th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien this morning. Thanks very much for joining us.
U.S. troops are the target of a suicide bomber north of Baghdad today. It was deadly. At least two U.S. soldiers were killed, and it comes on top of a string of bombings in and around Baghdad today. Also comes as U.S. forces try to enforce a security crackdown.
Let's get right to CNN's Arwa Damon. She's in Baghdad for us this morning.
Arwa, good morning.
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And that violence that you just mentioned really serving to underscore that just because there might be a crackdown in Baghdad, that in no way means bringing an end to the violence in the capital or elsewhere.
As you just mentioned, the U.S. military just put out a press release, saying that two of its soldiers have been killed, another 17 wounded in a coordinated attack on a military outpost north of the capital Baghdad that was initiated by a suicide bomber.
Also, yesterday an utterly devastating attack in the capital when two car bombs exploded, yet again targeting a busy commercial district in the southeastern portion of the city, and that attack left over 60 Iraqis dead and over 120 wounded. This, of course, coming the day after the Iraqi government had announced an 80 percent decrease in violence, perhaps prematurely -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, sounds like now prematurely. How have Iraqis been responding to this new crackdown, Arwa?
DAMON: Well, Soledad, to be completely honest, if there was any optimism that was generated by the announcement of this crackdown by the three, four days that we saw of a relative lull in the violence, really the attacks yesterday and today serve to only underscore to the Iraqis a couple of points.
First off, that the insurgency does have a vote, in the sense that they can decide when, where, and how to attack. Additionally -- and this is what U.S. officials are cautioning -- they believe that the insurgents for the time being are merely stepping back into the shadows, blending back into the population to observe how this plan is going to unfold before they stage their attack.
And as we saw yesterday and as we saw today, that violence here still does continue -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad this morning. Thank you, Arwa -- John.
ROBERTS: New this morning, U.S. intelligence officials are reportedly seeing the resurgent al Qaeda operation in Pakistan. "The New York Times" reporting that al Qaeda has set up training camps in the mountains. That tribal region there on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The times also saying Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri have regained significant control over the terror network in the past year.
(NEWSBREAK)
ROBERTS: Developing news in India this morning. Deadly explosions late last night in a train heading from New Delhi to Pakistan. Two train cars completely burnt out in the attack. The train is called the "Friendship Express," named to symbolize a new era of cooperation between long-time rivals India and Pakistan. It all happened about 50 miles outside of the capital of New Delhi.
CNN's Satinder Bindra is on the scene right now, joins us by phone.
Satinder, any idea yet who was behind this deadly bombing?
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.
The Indian police have launched an investigation. So far they don't know much about who's responsible. What they are saying, though, is that this was an act of sabotage, it was an act of terrorism. Earlier this morning, Indian time, this train, the Friendship Express, was making its way from New Delhi to the Pakistani border. That's when police say there were two explosions. These explosions were caused by two petrol-based bombs, and it set two wagons of this train on fire. Many of the passengers were asleep, so they had no chance to manage to escape. Other passengers tried to, but they failed. Several people who lived by the tracks tried to help, but they just couldn't put out these huge flames.
Now in all, Johns, some 67 people were killed. Dozens of injured were taken to a local hospital as well. This incident comes just one day before the Pakistani foreign minister was scheduled to visit India for talks, and today both the Indian and the Pakistani government have said they won't let these talks be derailed. The Pakistani foreign minister's trip is on as scheduled. He will arrive in New Delhi tomorrow, and both sides will still push forward with ongoing peace process -- John.
ROBERTS: So, Satinder, that's what they're saying about this visit. What do the Pakistani government saying about this bombing in particular?
BINDRA: John, many of those killed onboard the train were Pakistani nationals, and the Pakistani government is also describing this as an act of terrorism. They're pushing the Indian government to try to find answers so that the guilty can be found and brought to justice.
ROBERTS: Satinder, thank you very much. Satinder, thanks very much. We'll get back to you as this scene unfolds. Appreciate it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: The Senate Democrats are planning some bold moves, they say, despite failing to get the votes to pass the rebuke of the president's war plans over the weekend.
CNN's Dana Bash live for us on Capitol Hill, where Saturday's session Dana failed at the end. We talked to Chuck Schumer a minute ago, Senator from New York, and he sounds and is clearly very emboldened. Why?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He and other Democrats are emboldened, because they may be deadlocked on the issue of a resolution opposing the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq, but, Soledad, seven Republicans broke ranks and voted with them, and that is why Democrats feel that they could go forward on what we understand CNN has learned is their next move. Democrats met last week and decided that they are going to go forward with a new idea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): CNN is told that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has tentatively agreed to try to modify Congress's 2002 broad authorization for war.
SEN. JOE BIDEN, (D) CHAIRMAN, FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Saddam Hussein is no longer there. The 2002 authorization, in my view, is no longer relevant to the situation in Iraq.
BASH: Senate Foreign Relations Chairman, and presidential candidate, Joe Biden floated legislation limiting U.S. troops in Iraq to a support role instead of combat.
SEN. JACK REED, (D) RHODE ISLAND: We have to start thinking hard about a change mission in Iraq for our military forces, support them in that mission, but not an open-ended commitment to the Iraqis. BASH: But there are other Democratic ideas. Presidential candidates Chris Dodd and Barack Obama already introduced bills requiring congressional authorization for more troops in Iraq. And over the weekend, Hillary Clinton detailed her plan.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) NEW YORK: Now it's time to say the redeployment should start in 90 days or the Congress will revoke authorization for this war.
BASH: And Republicans, from the president on down, are taunting Democrats to choke money for the mission.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: Have the courage of your convictions to stop this war by cutting off funding.
BASH: In the House, Democrat John Murtha has a plan to set strict conditions on the president's war funding request.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Now what Congressman Murtha's plan is not to cut funding, but restrict it, saying that U.S. troops need to be back in the States for a year, and that they can't actually even go to Iraq unless they have the proper gear and training.
Now, Democrats in the Senate, Soledad, are lukewarm to that plan. In fact, they're lukewarm, at best.
O'BRIEN: And in fact, the Democrats are divided on where to cut the funding, aren't they?
BASH: Very much. You know, That is the main reason we saw this resolution stall over the weekend in the Senate. Republicans are trying to exploit that. They said, look, we're not even going to go ahead and support moving to a debate on that, unless you vote on a resolution promising to fund troops in Iraq. And Democrats didn't want to do that. They said that they were not going to allow that primarily because they know the issue divides them, but they are going to have to deal with this very soon, Soledad. Congress is going to have to take up a $93 billion funding request the president sent, and that is when they're going to be forced deal with whether or not to give the president all he wants in terms of that money.
O'BRIEN: Dana Bash for us this morning. Thank you, Dana.
(NEWSBREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up, freezing cold in the Northeast, and would you believe in Florida? Chad Myers has got the extremes. Plus, more on those avalanches out west. Tips on how to survive if you are caught in a slide, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.
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(WEATHER REPORT) ROBERTS: We're still waiting for news on that rescue attempt of the three stranded climbers, and we'll keep following the story for you. So stay right here with us.
Elsewhere across the West, it was a deadly weekend for outdoor enthusiasts. Five snowmobilers and one skier were killed in avalanches in Montana, Idaho and Utah.
Craig Gordon is a forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center. He is out in the elements in Little Cotton Wood Canyon, outside of Salt Lake City, not far from the ski resorts of Snow Bird and Alta.
Craig, that would bring to 11 the number of people -- or 10 the number of snowmobilers killed in avalanches since December. Is this a particularly bad avalanche year?
CRAIG GORDON, UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER: Well, what we've been experiencing across many parts of the rocky mountains is a lower than average snow year. So what that does to our snow pack is it makes it weak and fragile, and actually, make it kind of sugary, and then when we put heavy dense snow on top of that, we see avalanches.
ROBERTS: Now, Utah has got an avalanche-advisory system, that goes all the way from green, which is safe, up to red over a checkered black background, which is extreme danger. In Idaho and Montana, though, they don't have any kind of an avalanche-advisory system. Is that unusual?
GORDON: Well, actually, there are avalanche advisories all across the nation. And in both Montana and Idaho there are avalanche advisories that are provided. However, in the recent avalanches and recent avalanche fatalities that we've seen, those are just on the outskirts of where these advisories are available.
ROBERTS: Right. Hey, I want to show some pictures for you here of a snowboarder who just barely managed to outrun an avalanche. He was skiing, obviously, down in -- boarding down in the back country, and there you see him go down. I know that you can't see the picture. Gets carried along by the snow, manages to pop back out, leaps over a ridge there, and manages to survive. But it would seem as though this avalanche was triggered by the fact that he was boarding on this precarious snow.
Are most, Craig, of the avalanches that we see that trap people, are they caused by human activity?
GORDON: Yes, as a matter of fact, that's a great example, an extremely lucky snowboarder riding in the back country. And nearly 93 percent of the avalanches that we trigger are the ones that actually either lead to close calls incidents or avalanche fatalities. So we're the ones that are triggering the avalanche that kill us. It's actually very rare that natural avalanches are occurring and we're outrunning them in the back country.
ROBERTS: It looks like that fellow managed to escape through momentum and sheer skill, but if the average person is caught in an avalanche, what should they do, Craig?
GORDON: Well, the first thing that we want to do is not get caught in the avalanche, you know, in the first place. The best avalanche is no avalanche at all.
But what people should do if they are going to the back country, first of all, they should have some skills under their belt, a basic avalanche-awareness class, and these are provided for free all across the nation, through the various avalanche centers. And then next check in with your local avalanche advisory. Get up-to-minute or up- to-date information, and then certainly you're going to want to have all the rescue gear, and then you're going to want to have an avalanche beacon, and we would like to have an avalanche beacon. Everybody in the party needs to also have a sturdy shovel. And then, finally, an avalanche probe. So we need all of this gear if we're headed into the back country.
And, again, I can't emphasize strongly enough that the best avalanche is no avalanche at all. If we've got to use this gear, then it means that we've kind of made a mistake, we've kind of, you know, messed up. So this just helps to find a body.
A third of all avalanche victims are actually killed by trauma, so we want to avoid these avalanches.
ROBERTS: All right, you bet. Thanks very much. Good tips. Utah Avalanche Center forecaster Craig Gordon. Appreciate your time, sir, despite the fact that it's a pretty heavy snowfall where you are. Thanks for coming out -- Soledad.
GORDON: You bet. Thank you.
O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" is just a few minutes away, and Tony Harris is at the CNN Center. He's a look at what's ahead for them.
Good morning.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Soledad. Good morning to you.
We have got these stories in the "NEWSROOM" rundown for you this morning, Mt. Hood rescue crews struggling to find three stranded climbers, blinding snow making the job difficult.
Six bombings in Iraq, one a suicide attack on a U.S. base. The explosion followed Sunday's attack that killed more than 60, testing the U.S.-led security crackdown, that's for sure.
And we are talking live with basketball great Kareem Abdul- Jabbar. His new book, his award during this weekend agency All-Star game, and we will ask him about Tim Hardaway's headline-grabbing remarks on gays.
Betty joins me in the "NEWSROOM" today. We get started at the top of the hour here on CNN.
Soledad, back to you. O'BRIEN: All right, Tony, thank you very much. We'll see you then.
HARRIS: Sure thing.
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, signs of confusion in China. We'll take a look at how Beijing's working on its English, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: To take notice of safe, the slippery are very crafty. Does that make any sense to you? Well, it's an example of "Chinglish," a language barrier that the Chinese are trying to fix before the world arrives at their doorstep for the Olympics.
CNN's John Vause gets lost in translation.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sometimes when English and Chinese collide, the result can be downright terrifying. And if you think "Keep off the grass" would be fairly simple, in China that translates to "Tiny grass has a life. Sincere concern shows under your feet." But with the Olympics fast approaching, Beijing is trying to correct what's commonly referred to as Chinglish, often humorous, sometimes mysterious translations.
DAVID TOOL, ENGLISH TEACHER: The Chinese are very, very anxious that everything go very, very well and that they look very sophisticated and things come off very smoothly.
VAUSE (on camera): For the Olympics.
TOOL: For the Olympics, right.
VAUSE (voice over): David Tool is a teacher and one of dozens of volunteers trying to demuddle Beijing's English. His biggest success so far, he says, taking the "anus" out of the Anus Hospital.
TOOL: I'm really amazed at how quickly they've put it up. This has been less than a month.
VAUSE: Restaurant menus, though, are another matter.
TOOL: (INAUDIBLE) soup. It's just a typo.
VAUSE (on camera): What does crap taste like?
TOOL: Actually, fortunately, I've never eaten crap, but the carp is very good.
VAUSE (voice over): Typos are one thing, but sometimes it's not even worth trying to guess.
(on camera): OK. I think a serve of the husband and wife lung slice, the stab the body platter.
Ah, yes, the hexangular (ph) germ fries, the cowboy bone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
VAUSE: And that's good?
So this is what the order looks like. The husband and wife lung slices are, in fact, heart and stomach. The stab the body platter is sashimi, which doesn't look too bad. And the hexangular (ph) germs, well, they're mushrooms and beef ribs.
(voice over): Across Beijing, the rush is on for better English from one of the volunteers...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm speaking English.
VAUSE: ... to taxi drivers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our taxi driver, they will come for foreign people to Beijing.
VAUSE: But along the way, some fear a little something is being lost, the old world charm, that special Chinglish.
John Vause, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: That is such a funny piece.
ROBERTS: Let's see how you can Chinglish this promo here.
O'BRIEN: We've got to clean up those menus, right.
I can do it all. No problem.
A quick look at what "CNN NEWSROOM" is working on at the top of the hour for us.
HARRIS: See these stories in the "CNN NEWSROOM: JetBlue canceling almost one quarter of its flights today: The budget airline trying to get operations on track following winter storms. Some passengers stranded on planes for hours.
India terror -- explosions ripping apart a train. More than five dozen people are killed.
Icy rescue -- a teen jumps out of bed to save three boys who fell through the ice.
You're in the "NEWSROOM," 9:00 a.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.
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