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American Morning
British Troop Pullout From Iraq; How Secure is Basra?; Condoleezza Rice Talks Mideast Peace in Germany
Aired February 21, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Is it victory or is it retreat? A major announcement is expected in London this morning for thousands of British soldiers to leave Iraq.
Also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. RICHARD CODY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: I have never come to this place. I wish I had had. I'm somewhat disappointed in myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Patients coming home from war to an ugly, new battlefield. One of the Army's atop officers speaking out only to CNN.
O'BRIEN: And by backing off, Merck says it pushed too hard to get states behind its new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. We're live for you this morning from London, Berlin and Pennsylvania, all on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It's Wednesday, February 21st. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts, in today for Miles O'Brien. Thanks for joining us. A lot to get to today. A lot of news overnight.
O'BRIEN: Yes, a lot to get to. And let's begin this morning, in fact, in London. Just as the U.S. is sending more troops into Iraq, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, is announcing today that some British troops will be leaving. CNN's Robin Oakley is live for us in London.
Robin, good morning to you.
We're talking about 1,500 troops of the 7,000 that are there. Is that right?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, Soledad.
And Tony Blair has been under considerable political pressure for months to begin announcing the a withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. Today we are going to see a response.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OAKLEY, (voice over): Tony Blair has been dogged by his policies in Iraq. It's his government's unpopularity over Iraq and the way he made the case for war that is forcing him to quit early as prime minister. But he's long insisted that British troops would stay in Iraq so long as they were need.
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It is our policy to come out of Iraq when the job is done. What is very dangerous is any suggestion we get out before the job is done.
OAKLEY: But government officials are now saying Mr. Blair will announce Wednesday the time has come for the first significant pullout of British troops. He's expected to announce 1,500 will come home soon after their tour of duty ends in April, possibly to be followed by another 1,500 before the end of the year if conditions on the ground allow. That would reduce the number of British troops to just 4,000, compared with the present 7,000. A government minister's hope that most of the rest could be home by the end of 2008.
While the British pullback can be contrasted with President Bush's move to increase the number of troops in Iraq by 21,000, Mr. Blair will argue that there's no change in strategy. He says there's an essential difference between Baghdad and the sector of Iraq for which the U.S. has responsibility and where the majority of civilian deaths are occurring and in the British-controlled sector in the south around Basra. There, he says Operation Sinbad, designed to speed the handover to Iraqi security forces, has been a success.
BLAIR: In Baghdad you have Sunni/Shia extremism. You have the al Qaeda suicide missions and terrorism. And you also have the Sunni insurgency. These three things aren't present in the same way down in Basra.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OAKLEY: Tony Blair and his government have been hinting for some time at the possibility of troop withdrawals, but the timing of this announcement will be seen by the opposition as no coincidence whatsoever, just two days after Tony Blair and his government saw the worst opinion poll results they've had since being elected nearly 10 years ago.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, certainly it's interesting timing.
Robin Oakley for us this morning in London.
Thank you, Robin.
Tony Blair is going to address the House of Commons at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time. We're going to carry that for you live right here on CNN.
John. ROBERTS: The White House calls Britain's decision to withdrawal troops from Iraq, "a sign of success." Releasing a statement saying, "we're pleased that conditions in Basra have improved sufficiently that they (British forces) are able to transition more control to the Iraqis. The United States shares the same goal of turning responsibility over to the Iraqi security forces and reducing the number of American troops in Iraq.
A bit later on this hour, a reality check. Is Basra a big success story in Iraq and will U.S. troops have to fill the void once British troops leave?
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Back here in the U.S., the Army is moving to clean up some shocking conditions inside its premiere medical facility for injured soldiers -- Walter Reed. Now those conditions were first reported by "The Washington Post" and today the Army meets with outraged family members. CNN's Jamie McIntyre got a look inside.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Walter Reed Army Medical Center is considered one of the best medical facilities in the world for treating soldiers wounded in combat. But this is another part of Walter Reed. A part many people don't often see -- building 18. It's a rundown hotel now used to house wounded veterans who are well enough to leave the main hospital but too sick to go home.
This is the inside of building 18. It's become a symbol for a bureaucracy that's not working.
As revealed in a story first reported by "The Washington Post," building 18 has serious problems, including pest infestations, mold, and faulty plumbing. CNN got a firsthand look.
So this is the day room. They have pool tables. They've got a flat screen TV. But even here you can see, on the roof, they've got water damage.
Top Army leaders said they were unaware of the problems until they read about it in the paper Sunday. They were shocked. After a tour, the top officials told CNN, in an exclusive interview, there would be quick action.
GEN. RICHARD CODY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: I have never come to this place. I wish I had had. I'm somewhat disappointed in myself, not understanding. I was briefed that it was in pretty good condition. It's getting better today.
FRANCIS HARVEY, SECRETARY OF THE ARMY: It's all about leadership. It's all about seeing a problem, getting an action plan together and then following up to ensure that the actions are taken.
MCINTYRE: Dozens of wounded troops have been living here for months as they go through outpatient care. Veterans groups blame military bureaucracy for the rundown conditions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The commander of the hospital has deemed the situation to be "problematic," and that they are in a process to try and get things fixed. However, calling something problematic and actually doing something about it are two different things.
MCINTYRE: In an exclusive interview with CNN, Army Secretary Francis Harvey promised to review conditions not just here at Walter Reed, but outpatient facilities across the country.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Later this morning, going to be talking a closer look at some of the problems of Walter Reed through the eyes of one injured soldier who is being treated there.
John.
ROBERTS: Five minutes after the hour now. Merck is backing off of its lobbying campaign for the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. Merck has been pushing states to make the vaccine mandatory for young girls, like those required for chicken pox and measles. The vaccine, though, is for a sexually transmitted disease. CNN's Ali Velshi here to tell us what went wrong with the whole thing.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
This is probably an instance of a drug that is going to do good things, a good drug, where the efforts to get it out there might have been a little too pushy. Gardasil was approved last year by the FDA as the only drug to fight cervical cancer. What it does, is it prevents two strains of HPV, which is one of the most widely sexually transmitted diseases. They're also the two strains that are responsible for cervical cancer in large part.
So this drug has been introduced as a vaccine to pre-teen girls in many states. In fact, 20 states have introduced legislation to vaccinate girls. And this has created some problem for parents, partially because some parents don't like vaccines. They don't like the fact that it's mandated. It's expensive. It's about $360 for three doses.
But you see at the bottom there, Texas is where -- which became the lightening rod for this. Governor Perry introduced a bill in February. It was an executive order requiring girls in the sixth grade to get the vaccine as of next year. Well, that triggered a lot of protests partially because as you said, John, this is a sexually transmitted disease and some people said the idea that you're vaccinating young girls against this might reintroduce the discussion about when they should be having sex and, you know, it just got into the sort of dicey one lobby versus another.
And the industry, Merck, has decided it's going to stop its aggressive efforts because in Texas, part of what complicated this whole thing, is former Governor Rick Perry's chief of staff was one of the key lobbyists for Merck. So, you know, the whole thing got muddied and now Merck is going to pull back from it.
ROBERTS: Yes, but the corporation is pulling back, but are the states pulling back?
VELSHI: Well, right, there's a lot of pressure on those states. They're getting pressure from particularly religious groups and parents advocates groups that say, don't make us take any of this stuff. We'll have to see how this develops.
In the end, the drug seems to be good. There's still some, you know, obviously we haven't had long-term trials of it, other than the FDA trials. But the drug seems to be good. We'll have to see whether it works out. It's a big blow for Merck, though, because they're still reeling from Vioxx.
ROBERTS: Right, a hot button issue.
VELSHI: A hot button issue.
ROBERTS: All right, thanks, Ali.
O'BRIEN: Yes, the political, the cost of it. I mean . . .
VELSHI: The big lobbies involved, sure.
O'BRIEN: It's, I don't know, kind of a mangled message there I guess.
Ali, thank you very much.
And we have yet another food recall to tell you about a this morning, possibly due to E. Coli. Mushrooms sold in packages at BJ's Wholesale Clubs. BJ's testing the mushrooms now. And, in fact, if it's confirmed, it will be the nation's third E. Coli outbreak in just the past seven months. Now the recalled packages are Wellsley Farms Brand Fresh mushrooms, bought between February 11th and February 19th. So far there are no reports of anybody getting sick.
ROBERTS: Is Nevada the new New Hampshire? It sure looks that way. Eight Democratic presidential contenders are swooping in for a noon forum right here at the Carson City Community Center. Nevada's primary falls between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Nevada's actually a caucus itself as well.
More party politics now. It's the morning after Hollywood's star-studded gala for one of those Democratic candidates. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider, he was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): First stop, the streets of Los Angeles, to say, show me the love. Then to Hollywood to say, show me the money. MARTIN KAPLAN, DIRECTOR, NORMAN LEAR CENTER: Obama has something that Hollywood is uniquely qualified to recognize, and that's star power.
SCHNEIDER: Barack Obama is supposed to be the outsider. The scrappy kid who appeals to young people and political newcomers.
JOY BRYANT, ACTRESS: I kept saying over and over again that, you know, I'm hoping. We're not sure yet, but, you know, hoping that Barack's going to run. But for me, like he's the one that's going to -- embodies that spirit of Bobby Kennedy, of hope and inspiration.
SCHNEIDER: But he's drawing the ultimate a-list Hollywood crowd to his fundraiser here, which is sponsored by three of the most powerful figures in the movie industry.
LAWRENCE BENDER, PRODUCER, "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH": The amount of money they're raising is equivalent to what a president comes into town and raises, not someone who's just announced.
SCHNEIDER: Think of it as Oscar week for politicos. There's a huge amount of money for politics here. Congress is in recess. Washington is frozen over. The primary schedule is earlier than ever, and an important deadline looms.
KAPLAN: The more dough you can show in the first quarterly filing on April 15th, the more credible a candidate you are and the more you can attract the big, glitzy names who used to go with, say, Hillary Clinton, the more formidable a contender you seem to be.
SCHNEIDER: Does that mean Hillary Clinton is chop liver in Hollywood. Not at all. People here feel strong loyalty to the Clintons. And many Obama supporters are supporting her too. After all, the most you can give a candidate is $2,300. And in Hollywood, that's loose change.
Bill Schneider; CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And, of course, all the day's political news is available any time, day or night, at cnn.com/ticker. Log on and check it out.
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, fog and icy roads could make for some very dangerous conditions across much of the country today. Chad Myers is going to join us, tell us what to expect straight ahead.
Plus, deadline today for Iran's nuclear program, but does anybody really expect Iran's going to comply. We've got a live report for you.
And a closer look this morning at the deteriorating conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center, though the eyes of a veteran who was treated there.
Those stories and much more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The most news in the morning is here on CNN.
Within the hour, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce a timetable for bringing thousands of British troops home from Iraq. We're going to carry that announcement live here on CNN, so stay tuned for that.
And the jury expected to begin deliberating this morning in the Scooter Libby trial. Prosecutors say he lied to keep his job as the vice president's chief of staff. Libby's attorneys say he's merely forgetful.
Iran is facing a deadline the United Nations set today to order an end to its uranium enrichment program. CNN's Aneesh Raman is live for us in London this morning.
And, Aneesh, a new U.N. report actually expected to say, rather than suspending uranium enrichment, Iran is actually expanding that program.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, John.
We've been here before. U.N. deadlines, U.N. demands, U.N. sanctions that have tried to compel Iran to stop its nuclear program. Instead, at every step, Iran has openly defied those demands and requests and pushed ahead with a program that Iran says is for peaceful civilian nuclear energy.
Now this report is significant only because it triggers potentially new action from the U.N. Security Council. We aren't expecting Iran today to suddenly suspend that nuclear program. Just yesterday Iran's president said Iran would only suspend its program if other countries that have nuclear programs suspend theirs.
Iran has really maintained that suspension is not on the table at the moment, but it has pushed ahead and tried to embark on a diplomatic solution. But the critical impasse in all of this is suspension. The U.N. is requiring it. Iran is refusing to do so. We expect that impasse to just continue and be confirmed again today.
John.
ROBERTS: So, Aneesh, is there going to be -- are there going to be any repercussions for Iran's defiance? We have seen one package of sanctions that even the United States admits don't have the teeth to bring Iran around to the table. So what's going to happen this time? I mean what can the U.N. Security Council agree on that would really put the arm on them?
RAMAN: That is the huge question out there that Iran is waiting to see answered. Those sanctions, you mentioned, that came at the end of December, were not easy to come by. Unanimous sanctions, of course, but it came after a number of deadlines had already passed. And as you mentioned, the U.S. itself agreed that those sanctions lacked the teeth to really get Iran to suspend its nuclear program.
The difficulty the U.S. will face, along with Britain, as it pushes for a new round of harsher sanctions, is again Russia and China. Those countries were key to coming on board to that unanimous vote, but will be harder to get as the sanctions become more harsher against Iran.
Meantime, though, Iran, while it's doing the wrong things in terms of the U.N. and doing this nuclear program, it's saying the right things. It's nuclear negotiators saying Iran is open to dialogue. Its president, who has been so controversial in the past and usually subdued, because of growing dissent within the country, that he not make things worse.
John.
ROBERTS: Aneesh, we'll keep checking back with you throughout the day. Thanks very much.
Sixteen minutes after the hour now. Chad Myers watching some extremely hazardous travel weather in the Midwest this morning. Visibilities near zero, black ice on the roadways.
What's going on out there, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, this morning we tell you about a place that's taking case of wounded soldiers coming home from war for decades. Now they're facing a slew of criticism this morning. There's a new report out that details accusations that parts of Walter Reed Army Medical Center are filthy and way below standards. It's just five miles or so from the White House. A complex that's right in the middle of Washington D.C. And there's one building in particular at Walter Reed that's getting the most attention, but for all the wrong reasons.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN, (voice over): The details of Army Major Chuck Ziegenfuss's injuries from an IED attack in Iraq back in 2005 are brutal.
MAJ. CHUCK ZIEGENFUSS, FORMER WALTER REED PATIENT: My left thigh was blown open. The thumb on my right hand was blown into my right leg.
O'BRIEN: At Walter Reed Army Medical Center he says he got the very best medical care, but sometimes basic cleanliness fell short.
ZIEGENFUSS: It got so bad that my mom kept mentioning it to the housekeeping folks that they need to mop the floors. And they kept saying, oh, yes, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. And after a couple more weeks of that, she ended up, you know, wetting a towel and doing it herself.
O'BRIEN: He was discharged to a hotel, used to house outpatients. The air conditioning didn't work and there were few pillows.
ZIEGENFUSS: They seem like really small gripes now. But, you know, at the time, when you're laying flat on your back and when you stretch your leg out, because you can't lay on your side, and that pulls at the skin graft on your leg, it's a pretty big deal.
O'BRIEN: Ziegenfuss spoke with us after a series of damning reporting in "The Washington Post" outlined substandard housing and terrible administrative support for injured troops recovering at Walter Reed. Soldiers described it as "stressful." Parents said it "absolutely took forever to get anything done." And one facility, known as building 18, was filthy, with "mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets and cheap mattresses."
This is building 18. And, in many ways, it's the most notorious in the greatest disrepair. It's where soldiers who have been severely wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are housed as outpatients. Now, just three days after the first of the series of articles appeared, they're already doing work on the building. They're scraping mold off the walls and they're patching holes in the sheetrock.
DANNY SOTO, DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS: I think they've done more in the last 48 hours than they've done in a while.
O'BRIEN: All this is hugely embarrassing for the military. Walter Reed is its crown jewel. Open since 1909, a quarter of all the troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are treated there. The president visited in December, promising the best care.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We owe them all we can give them, not only for when they're in harm's way, but when they come home, to help them adjust, if they have wounds.
O'BRIEN: General Richard Coty, the vice chief of staff for the Army, spoke with CNN after seeing some of the conditions for the first time.
GEN. RICHARD COTY, ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: I have never come to this place. I wish I had had. I'm somewhat disappointed in myself not understanding. I was briefed that it was in pretty good condition.
O'BRIEN: Army Secretary Francis Harvey blames a failure of leadership for the substandard conditions in building 18 and vows to move more quickly to fix the problem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: The White House and congressional leaders are calling for immediate fixes at Walter Reed as well.
John.
ROBERTS: Looks like they may get them as well now.
Coming up, another record-setting day on Wall Street. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business."
Plus, charging the police. Hear the story behind police trying to coral this one-ton longhorn. And, no, charges weren't pressed.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The most news in the morning is here on CNN.
Within the hour, British Prime Minister Tony Blair set to announce a timetable to bring thousands of British troops home from Iraq. We will carry that announcement for you live here on CNN.
And Vice President Dick Cheney is in Japan says U.S. troops will stay in Iraq until they finish the mission and "get it done right."
O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.
A scalding hot crime spree to tell you about in the Philadelphia area. Police say two suspects have been robbing convenience stores and they've been using hot coffee as a weapon. Here's what happens. One guy splashes the clerk, the other guy grabs the cash. Wawa and 7- Eleven has been the targets. The stores are now offering a reward of up to $10,000 for the arrests of the robbers you can see right there in that videotape.
Nicole Richie is pleading not guilty to charges of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Twenty-five-year-old Richie was arrested back in December when her -- I think she had an SUV -- her SUV was found blocking the carpool lane on an L.A. freeway. Yes, that will get you attention. She failed a sobriety test after there. Apparently another driver saw her entering the freeway going the wrong way.
ROBERTS: Oops.
O'BRIEN: Britney Spears back in rehab, back in the headlines too. There she is, the newly bald Spears. Her manager is telling "People" magazine that he's checked herself into an undisclosed treatment facility on Tuesday. And Britney, of course, has been a constant target of the tabloids, although she often seems to grab attention all on her own. Seemed to bottom out this weekend, though, for sure when she shaved her head at a California salon. That poor girl. She's just kind of in a mess.
Move over in rural Massachusetts. Take a look at this. Take a look at this cow. Yes, caught on the police cruiser cam. It's a slow-speed chase. Very, very, very, very slow. Oh, now getting a little faster because they're trying to catch him. Went on for four miles. A 2,000-pound cow, a Scottish Highlander we're told, for people who know their cows, got a little testy at one point and slammed right into a police cruiser also, you know, was walking along the highway. Luckily for all, the cow was eventually corralled and is back on the farm this morning. All's well that ends well. ROBERTS: As you could imagine, Massachusetts wasn't the only place where the bulls were running. Twenty-six minutes after the hour. A new high on Wall Street. Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business."
VELSHI: I've got to say, that camera -- that video shot made that cow look bigger that is was in that first picture. Cameras are not fair to people.
ROBERTS: It did look a little bit romey (ph).
O'BRIEN: Adds 10 pounds.
ROBERTS: It did look a little romey through the hips, didn't it?
VELSHI: And some of us get our head shaved every week.
You're right, the Dow powered ahead . . .
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) how long until rehab, Ali?
VELSHI: There's no rehab for this shave.
The Dow gained 19 points yesterday to close at another record high. That's the 31st record that it set since it broke into these all-time highs back in October.
Now what was pushing the Dow higher? Lower oil prices. Enthusiasm about this merger we told you about yesterday, the potential merger between Sirius and XM. Some comments from a Federal Reserve official that the housing market may have bottomed out. And working against the markets, we had some earnings yesterday, including those from Home Depot, which had lower earnings, blamed in part because on the fact that people don't renovate their houses as much anymore with interest rates where they are but house prices a little bit lower.
Now we did get earnings as well from Hewlett-Packard. They were stronger. Hewlett-Packard's earnings are up. They were driven up by 26 percent over the holiday quarter with people buying new computers.
Interestingly enough, most of the money at Hewlett-Packard comes from printers and its laptop division. In fact, its sales of desktops, as you might expect, are a little bit lower. Late last year Hewlett-Packard overtook Dell as the world's largest computer maker and that trend looks set to continue.
And in Texas, there was a refinery fire on Friday at a refinery that handles about 170,000 barrels of oil. Workers are going back to the plant today. Some of them were injured. However, that plant is not going to start up for some time.
You'll recall that when gas prices are up in the high $2 and $3 a gallon, we talk a lot about refinery capacity. But even in the range that we're at now, we don't have enough refinery capacity in this country. So taking that much oil offline is going to be a problem. We'll keep an eye on that and on gas prices for you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Ali, thank you.
VELSHI: OK.
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, top stories.
Also, it looks like Britain is going to start pulling troops out of Iraq. We'll take you live to London for a look at just how it could affect U.S. troops.
Plus, a legal case in Virginia that caught our eye. This one is really baffling. A woman gets two years in prison for road rage. A mother with three young kids. Her crime? She chucked a cup of ice into another car. We'll tell you what she faces and give you her side of the story straight ahead.
Plus, a trip home. We told you about it yesterday. Well, that was put on hold for this little girl, one of the tiniest babies that was ever born. We'll tell you why. That's straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Heading home. Thousands of British troops set to be pulled out of Iraq. A major announcement from London coming within the hour.
ROBERTS: Call off the lobbyists. Merck says it pushed too hard to get lawmakers behind a new vaccine that could prevent cancer, cervical cancer in women.
O'BRIEN: And the McMissile sentencing is what they're calling it. A young mother has been convicted of throwing a McDonald's cupful of ice into another car. Now she faces years in prison.
We'll tell you her story straight ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. It's Wednesday, February 21st.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts, in today for Miles O'Brien.
Thanks for joining us.
Can I tell you? I'm about to make a McMissile out of this.
O'BRIEN: Oh, you're laptop is giving you trouble today.
ROBERTS: I've got a connectivity problem this morning, and there are probably...
O'BRIEN: Kum ba yah. It's all going to work out.
ROBERTS: ... thousands of people across the country who are saying right now, "You know, my damn thing won't work either."
I'm there with you.
O'BRIEN: You can have mine if you prefer.
ROBERTS: Oh. You're so nice.
O'BRIEN: Let's start with our top story this morning.
Just about half an hour from now, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, is going to tell the House of Commons that the time is right to start bringing home troops from Iraq. Now, 1,500 troops will leave as soon as April, another 1,500 could follow by the year's end. That would reduce the number of British troops from the current level of 7,000 that are there now.
CNN's Robin Oakley is in front of 10 Downing Street in London for us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: The question being asked about Tony Blair's expected announcement of the pullback of some British troops from Iraq is, why now? Mr. Blair has long insisted that British troops would stay in Iraq, so long as there was a job to be done.
The answer is that Mr. Blair and his generals now believe that Operation Sinbad conducted in Basra and the southern Iraqi district around Basra has been sufficient of a success for them to begin passing power and control to the Iraqi security forces. Some British generals have been arguing, too, that the presence of British troops in Iraq has, in fact, created greater security difficulties and will welcome the pullback.
The second reason, of course, is a political one. Tony Blair has been under massive pressure to start the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. His party is badly behind in the opinion polls, facing a major round of elections in May. And many opposition politicians are seeing it as no coincidence that Tony Blair's announcement is coming just two days after an opinion poll gave Tony Blair and his new Labour Party the worst result they've had since being elected nearly 10 years ago.
Robin Oakley, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Mr. Blair is going to address the House of Commons at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time. We're going to carry that for you live when it happens -- John.
ROBERTS: With British troops planning a partial pullout from Basra in southern Iraq, the question becomes, just how secure is that area?
CNN's Arwa Damon is live for us in Baghdad with a reality check on all of that now.
Arwa, we keep hearing that Basra is in so much better shape than Baghdad is. Is it in fact the case?
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, when you compare the violence levels in Basra to those in the capital, it is relatively stable. But it is also mainly because a lot of these sectarian violence and the dramatic al Qaeda in Iraq attacks that we see in the capital and throughout the rest of the country do not exist for the most part in southern Iraq, because it is predominantly Shia.
What does exist down there is Shia militias and Shia political parties battling for power. You do still see clashes between the Iraqi security forces that are infiltrated mainly by one militia battling armed factions that are loyal to another militia. And what the British troops have established down there is not necessarily an elimination of these militias, but they've established a delicate balance between them. And the question is, when you do draw down British troops, are the Iraqi security forces going to remain loyal to the government or are we going to see loyalties shifting toward the militias?
John.
ROBERTS: As you and I discussed, Arwa, when I was there last fall, any place where responsibility has been turned over to the Iraqi army, they've never been able to maintain the level of security that foreign troops have.
Do you expect that's going to be the case again? And could Iran's influence in that area of the country increase because of that?
DAMON: Well, John, I mean, most certainly, as you did just mention, the trend here has been that hen you pull out coalition forces, the levels of violence do tend rise. The Iraqi security forces, put simply, are not able to sustain those lower levels of violence.
And, of course, southern Iraq is where we have seen the majority of the Iranian influence here. It is, you know, right up against the Iranian border.
You take the southern city of Amara as an example, there British troops withdrew, handed over their main base to the Iraqis. They were unable to notify them of this hand-over ahead of time because they didn't fully trust them, and then the base was looted.
And also, those explosively-formed penetrators that have utterly devastated any sort of armor that coalition forces here have, they were discovered by the Brits in Basra. So drawing down British forces there most definitely does open up a vacuum that could very likely be filled by Iran -- John.
ROBERTS: Yes. Certainly there's a number of concerns by the British as to having the troops there, things that we'll discuss a little bit later on in the program this morning with General Don Shepperd.
Arwa, thanks very much. Appreciate it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Berlin this morning. She's discussing her Mideast peace summit in Jerusalem earlier in the week.
CNN's Zain Verjee live for us in Berlin.
Zain, good morning to you.
What is the main issue at this meeting today?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you from Berlin, Soledad.
The main issue is really how to deal with the Palestinian unity government. The militant group Hamas has joined forces with Fatah. They've decided that they're going to share power to try and end this deadly and vicious Palestinian-on-Palestinian violence.
Now, the United States and the Europeans agree on one thing. They agree that they want to wait and see until the unity government is actually formed before they make any final decision on it. But Soledad, there are some key differences.
The Europeans say, look, this is an opportunity, the glass is half full. We want to try to engage this unity government now, and maybe there's a way where we can moderate the extremist force of Hamas and influence the Palestinian platform.
The United States says that there's no way that they would engage Hamas in any way. U.S. policies essentially have been to try and isolate Hamas. Secretary Rice, though, met with Arab leaders yesterday in Jordan, and she's really seeking for their help in trying to pressure Hamas and to get them to back down (INAUDIBLE) they're trying to work out -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, let me ask you a question about the money, which is a key issue here. Are the Palestinians actually going to get the aid money that they really desperately need?
VERJEE: That's right. That's a very key issue, and it's actually unlikely that they're going to get that money. We're talking about $1 billion that's at stake here.
The international community cut that off when Hamas came to power in January of 2006. And what they're saying is, is if you want that money, what you've got to do is three things. You need to recognize Israel, reject violence, and abide by all agreements in the past that the Palestinians have made with Israel, and abide by them exclusively -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Zain Verjee is in Berlin for us this morning.
Zain, thanks -- John. ROBERTS: Another food recall to tell you about a this morning possibly due to E. coli bacteria -- potentially contaminated mushrooms sold in packages at BJ's Wholesale Clubs. The recalled packages are Wellsley Farms brand Fresh Mushroom bought between February the 11th and February the 19th. So far, no reports of anyone getting sick.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to be along in the next hour with more on that.
Drug maker Merck is suspending its lobbying campaign to require school-aged girls to get the cervical cancer vaccine. That vaccine is expensive and controversial since it prevents HPV, the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease. Merck says it will instead focus on educating students on HPV and cervical cancer.
And little Amillia Taylor is going to spend a few more days in a hospital in Miami. On Tuesday we told you that she'd be going home, but doctors are being cautious after routine tests showed that she was vulnerable to infection.
She was born last October, after spending 21 weeks in the womb. That made her 19 weeks premature. That is a long, long time.
O'BRIEN: Poor little girl. I hope she recovers fully.
ROBERTS: Yes, our best wishes with the family and with little Amillia as well.
O'BRIEN: That's tough. That's tough.
Coming up this morning, fog and icy roads could make for a dangerous mix across much of the country today. Chad is going to update us on what to expect this morning.
Plus, we're going to head to Democrat John Murtha's home state. He's got a controversial plan to keep the president from sending more troops into Iraq. We'll see what his constituents think about that.
The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN.
Is Congress willing to cut off funding in order to end the war in Iraq? The latest CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 60 percent of Americans want Congress to block money from going to war -- President Bush's planned troop increase, the 21,500 new troops for Iraq. Thirty-eight percent are against the resolution, or at least believe that Congress should vote against the resolution.
The man who may be ready to take the lead in this fight is already a vocal opponent of the war, Democrat and veteran Jack Murtha.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken is live in Murtha's home district of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
And Bob, what are people there saying about this whole idea?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, he's not even here, even though they call this a district working period. But the fact of the matter is, he probably doesn't need to. After more than 32 years in Congress, his presence here is everywhere.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice over): John Murtha's name is seen everywhere here -- the airport, health centers, and he's brought in lots and lots of federal money for jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Murtha is the man. I mean, you look at all of the buildings in Johnstown that have his name on it, and they just don't do that out of kindness of their hearts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's our savior. He's done so much for this area, we'd be in trouble if it wouldn't have been for him.
FRANKEN: Even though this hardscrabble Pennsylvania area is instinctively patriotic and conservative, it's two-to-one Democratic. And if the man who's brought so much pork barrel funding here wants to restrict troop funding, pork rules.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think whatever Congressman Murtha wants to do is probably good for the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a veteran, he's a decorated veteran, and I think he knows what -- what he's talking about.
FRANKEN: Murtha won the last election with more than 60 percent of the vote, as he did in the previous election, when President Bush carried this county.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a registered Republican, but at the same time, he's the type of Democrat, up until this point, that I could really get behind. So I see this as a -- as a -- kind of a turn that may make him consider something different next time around.
FRANKEN: Still, if anyone ever wanted proof that politics is local, Jack Murtha is it.
CHIP MINEMYER, EDITOR, "THE TRIBUNE DEMOCRAT": In some cases, hell or high water. You know, basically regardless of what the issues are, they're going to say, this is my guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, he's a great man. He's hands-on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a slogan within him -- "When they go pray, they should pray, I believe in the almighty Jack Murtha."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: He's been in Congress 32 years -- 32 years, which means that he doesn't have to worry too much, because he brings home the bacon -- John.
ROBERTS: But, you know, Bob, when it comes to this issue of Democrats cutting funding for the troops, the Democrats are very careful staying away from that, the president and Republicans in Congress are trying to make this all about funding.
What's the support level there for maintaining funding levels for the current deployments?
FRANKEN: Well, the real thinking here among most of the people -- and Murtha just has that kind of stature -- is whatever Jack says is probably the right thing.
ROBERTS: Wow, they really have a lot of faith in him.
FRANKEN: Yes, they do.
ROBERTS: All right. Bob Franken, thanks very much, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Appreciate it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Forty-six minutes past the hour. Let's get right to Chad, who's watching some very dangerous travel weather in the Midwest this morning for us.
Hey, Chad. Good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, another food recall to tell you about. Again, E. coli looks like it's the possible culprit. We're going to talk this morning to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about this and really the recent rash of contaminated food.
Plus, we visit with a young mother who's now looking at two years in prison, all for throwing a cup of ice. We'll explain her case to you straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.
A baffling legal case in Virginia caught our eye this week. People are calling it the McMissile case. It's a joke, kind of, but the fallout is actually deadly serious.
A jury has sentenced a young mother with three young kids to years of prison, all for lobbing a McDonald's cup full of ice into another car that she claims cut her off. Well, this morning she goes before a judge to see if the sentence that she's been given is going to stand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA HALL, CONVICTED OF TOSSING ICE: Without my kids, I'm nothing, and they can't, you know, obviously like teach their selves what mom would teach them, you know.
O'BRIEN (voice over): Twenty-five-year-old Jessica Hall is a convicted felon. She's serving time at the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Virginia, which is about an hour south of Washington, D.C.
HALL: That felony -- just my life is over, is all I see.
O'BRIEN (on camera): Twenty-five years old is very young to have your life over.
HALL: It is.
O'BRIEN (voice over): In January, she was convicted of propelling a missile at an occupied vehicle and other minor charges.
(on camera): Here's Jessica's side of the story. Three kids in the back seat, pregnant sister next to her. A small red car kept cutting her off in traffic.
The couple in the red car have said they weren't cutting anybody off. They were just trying to navigate this massive traffic jam like everybody else.
Regardless of who you believe, here's what happened next. Jessica took a large McDonald's cup full of ice, threw it across her sister and into the red car.
So you're charged with propelling or throwing a missile into an occupied vehicle. Do you think that accurately describes what you did?
HALL: No, of course not.
LAJEANNA PORTER, JESSICA HALL'S SISTER: It seems ludicrous for her not to be here for a cup, and no one's injured, no one's hurt.
O'BRIEN (voice over): The jury gave Jessica the minimum, two years in prison. It means leaving behind her three small children, 4- year-old Jay Lee (ph); 6-year-old Janiya (ph); and 8-year-old Jayon (ph). Jessica's mother is watching the kids in North Carolina while Jessica says her husband, Cordell (ph), pulls a third tour of duty in Iraq.
HALL: That's the second painful thing, is he's over there dodging bullets.
O'BRIEN: Now a judge will have the final word.
HALL: I don't know which way it's going to go. I just hope it will go that way, that, you know, they'll have mercy on me tomorrow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Well, tomorrow is today. The prosecutor in the case was unavailable to talk to us. Jessica, is, in fact, scheduled to go before the judge at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time today. Now, the judge has a couple of options. He could downgrade her sentence to time served. She's been in jail for two months. Or he could let the sentence stand at two years. And then there's another twist. She's in military housing, and so if it's unoccupied by March 1st, she loses it.
ROBERTS: She loses it.
O'BRIEN: Loses the home, too.
ROBERTS: What about the people who were subject to the missile? Are they going to put in a word here?
O'BRIEN: They've been inundated by press, and what they've already said in the media is that they didn't think it was going to go so far. They were thinking maybe community service. Many people sort of though, let's teach her a lesson.
ROBERTS: So are they going to get a message to the judge? Do you know?
O'BRIEN: Unclear what's going to happen today.
ROBERTS: Well, it would be good if they could, particularly if they think that the sentence was a little harsh.
Great story, though.
We want to show you some live pictures from London right now. It's Britain's House of Commons. Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to announce a timetable for pulling British troops out of Iraq very shortly.
We'll carry that live for you.
Also, multibillion-dollar accounting scandal forces Fannie Mae to break a big promise.
We'll explain in "Minding Your Business" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Here's one way to get tough with your executives: refuse to pay their bonuses.
Coming up on the top of the hour. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business."
Fannie Mae.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, with all the scandals that go on, we sort of forget this one. This one was a little while ago.
But back in December, Fannie Mae, you know, restated its earnings from 2000 and 2004. It turns out they had overstated its earnings by $6.3 billion. So now the company announcing that it is not going to pay bonuses in stock worth some $45 million to 46 executives.
Now, by overstating your earnings by $6.3 billion over that period, that meant that some executives were getting shares, getting bonuses based on those earnings. Now that those earnings weren't there, the company is turning back the clock on that, it is not paying those earnings.
Included in the executives who will not be getting this pay-out, $11 million to former CEO, Franklin Raines' stock, by the way. More than $4 million to the current CEO, and $3.4 to the former chief financial officer.
Fannie Mae is also eliminating some financial perks like counseling, financial counseling, travel, and country club memberships.
We'll stay on all of these scandals to see how they affect you, your investments, and the business you do with these companies.
But the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
O'BRIEN: Ali, thank you.
Victory or retreat? A major announcement is expected out of London within just minutes for thousands of British troops to leave Iraq.
Also ahead this morning...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have never come to this place. I wish I had. I'm somewhat disappointed in myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The Army's top officer speaking out to CNN about conditions inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Injured soldiers coming home from war to an ugly new battlefield.
O'BRIEN: And backing off. Merck says it pushed too hard to get states behind its new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.
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