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American Morning
Tony Blair Announces Troop Withdrawal From Iraq; Deadline Day for Iran; America Votes 2008: Schmoozing The Stars
Aired February 21, 2007 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Victory or retreat? British Prime Minister Tony Blair just announced plans to pull more than a thousand British troops out of Iraq.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Going Hollywood. Big names and big money feeding Barack Obama's White House dream in Beverly Hills.
O'BRIEN: And the McMissile sentencing is what they're calling it. A young mom convicted of throwing a McDonald's cup full of ice now facing years in prison.
We're live this morning in London, in Los Angeles, and in Washington, D.C., on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody, Wednesday, February 21st.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts, in for Miles O'Brien.
Thanks for joining us.
Great story that you did with that woman accused of throwing the ice into the car.
O'BRIEN: Oh, what a sad story. Yes, we're going to talk about that straight ahead this morning.
Our top story, though, is this breaking news out of London, where the prime minister, Tony Blair, announced just moments ago that his country is pulling 1,600 troops out of Iraq.
Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: From the appalling terrorist outrage in August, 2003 that killed the United Nations special representative and many of his colleagues...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Robin Oakley is in London for us this morning. Ed Henry's at the White House for us.
Let's begin with Robin. He's at Number 10 Downing Street. Robin, the prime minister, of course, putting a good face on this, saying it's because it's a successful campaign in Iraq.
Is that the whole story?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, the White House saying the same sort of thing. But basically, what Tony Blair is doing is differentiating between the situation in Baghdad, where President George W. Bush has put in 21,000 extra troops, and the situation in Basra, where he's saying the next chapter in Basra history is going to be written by the Iraqis.
He said Operation Sinbad, conducted to help push much more of the operation and the security operation into the hands of the Iraqis, has been a success. They can now take these steps, pull back British troops, initially to Basra airport and to barracks.
They will watch the situation, see how it develops. But he's hoping that they can get further reductions in British troops by the end of the year. And he's saying there is measurable progress there -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Now, Tony Blair, as you've talked about before, has very low approval ratings currently. Do you think this move is going to affect that either way?
OAKLEY: I think it will start to improve Tony Blair's position, but it won't do enough. And he is already being forced out of office sooner than he would have wished to be by his policies in Iraq.
I think this is an attempt to try and improve his party's position in key elections coming up in May this year, and for the future under his successor, probably Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the Exchequer. Too late to do much for Mr. Blair's record, but he does want to get the focus on his legacy and other issues -- northern Ireland, the Middle East peace process, and he talked more about that today.
So he's hoping this is the beginning, a turning point, the start of bringing British troops back from Iraq, which will give people some hope and enable them to look at other parts of his record -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: I bet he's looking forward to that. All right.
Robin Oakley at 10 Downing Street for us this morning.
Thank you, Robin -- John.
ROBERTS: The White House is putting its spin on Britain's troop withdrawal, saying that it's a sign of the progress that's being made in Iraq, the fact that they're able to go home.
CNN's Ed Henry joins us at the White House. He's live for us this morning.
Ed, surprise to a lot of people, but not the president. He got a heads up about this?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He did get a heads up phone call yesterday from the British prime minister, his close ally. But as you noted, no matter how the White House tries to play this, this is clearly a blow to Mr. Bush.
When you combine it with what's just crossing the wires over the last hour or so, that Denmark is also going to pull its troops from Iraq, the perception is reality. And the perception is that U.S. allies are now walking away and they're shunning what Mr. Bush has repeatedly said, that setting a timetable and withdrawing troops is not the right way to go. His allies are now walking away.
The White House strategy, as you noted, only card they can really play at this point is to say, look, we have to embrace this for Mr. Blair, because it shows there's been some modest success on the ground. Iraqis are taking over. Gordon Johndroe, the White House spokesman, saying, "We're pleased that conditions in Basra have improved sufficiently that they (the British forces) are able to transition more control to the Iraqis. The United States shares the same goal of returning responsibility over to the Iraqi security forces and reducing the number of American troop in Iraq."
But even if Basra is relatively secure right now, it obviously begs the question, what if after the British troops pull out things take a turn for the worse? What then does the U.S. do?
John.
ROBERTS: Ed, this spin from the White House is slightly reminiscent to something the vice president said a few years back in Iraq, when he said that the increased number of attacks against U.S. forces was a sign of success.
What are the Democrats expected to do with this news?
HENRY: You're already seeing Democrats like John Kerry coming out and saying, look, this is a complete repudiation of the president's policy. Overall and specifically the so-called surge, increasing troops, that it makes no sense for the United States to be sending more troops to Iraq at the same time that our allies are actually pulling theirs back -- John.
ROBERTS: Ed Henry live for us at the White House.
Ed, thanks very much. We'll check back with you as the day goes on -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: It's deadline day in Iran. The United Nations giving the country until today to end its uranium enrichment program.
CNN's Aneesh Raman is live for us in London.
And, of course, at the same time, there's this new U.N. report that's expected to say that actually Iran's expanding its program, Aneesh, not shutting down the program. So what happens next?
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deja vu all over again, Soledad. We've been here before -- U.N. demands, U.N. deadlines, even U.N. sanctions to get Iran to stop its nuclear program. Again, Iran is set today to defy the latest deadline.
In terms of what to watch for next, is really the U.N. Security Council. You'll recall a number of deadlines came and went last year before at the end of last year they were able to get a unanimous vote on sanctions, sanctions the U.S. even conceded lacked the teeth really to get Iran to stop its nuclear program.
To take those sanctions to the next level will require a whole other realm of diplomacy with Russia and China specifically. They both have economic and diplomatic interests with Iran.
So that's what we're waiting to see. Can they do that? Will that be enough?
For its part, Iran has shown no indication it will stop its nuclear program. It says it's pursuing it for peaceful civilian purposes and that Iran's president said yesterday, if Iran is going to suspend, then everyone else should suspend -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. So as the deadline is expected to come and go, how do the people in Iran feel about that?
RAMAN: It's interesting. We are seeing growing dissent within Iran, especially as to the comments often controversial of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has been unusually subdued in the past few weeks.
He had said up until January 15th that that day he would announce major developments of Iran's nuclear program. He did not. Instead, he punted and said he'll do it later.
It is all a sign that there is a desire within Iran to see the country not face further confrontation on the nuclear front. In the end, it's all about economic concerns.
The Iranians want their economy fixed. That's why they voted Ahmadinejad in. They don't want harsher sanctions. It will have the opposite effect in improving the economy.
So we'll see how that dissent within might start to soften the Iranian stance on the nuclear front. It is something important to watch -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman watching it all for us from London this morning.
Thanks, Aneesh.
Also happening this morning, in Iraq, another American helicopter is down. It was a hard landing is what military commanders in Baghdad are telling us this morning. Nine people were on board, nobody reported hurt. The U.S. is not saying yet just what brought that Black Hawk down.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Berlin right now, talking Mideast peace with the European Union. These talks come on the heels of her summit with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem. The Israelis say the plan to give Hamas more political clout is a big obstacle in any push for peace. Hamas is refusing, of course, to recognize Israel.
To the jury now. Jurors begin deliberations today in the Scooter Libby trial. Libby's accused of lying to authorities who are investigating just who leaked the name of a CIA operative. Prosecutors say Libby lied to keep his job as the VP's chief of staff. Libby's lawyers say their client was simply forgetful.
Some progress to report for the South Dakota senator, Tim Johnson. He's moving to a private rehab facility, making progress in his recovery from brain surgery back in December.
And yet another food recall to tell you about this morning. This one possibly due to E. coli, mushrooms sold in packages at BJ's Wholesale Clubs. BJ's testing those mushrooms now, and if confirmed, it would be the nation's third E. coli outbreak in the past seven months.
The packages that are recalled are from Wellsley Farms brand Fresh Mushrooms bought between the dates of February 11th and 19th. So far, there are no reports of anybody getting sick.
ROBERTS: Nine minutes after the hour now.
Hollywood has traditionally loved the Clintons, but some showbiz heavyweights were showing Barack Obama the money at a big fund-raiser in Beverly Hills last night.
Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, is live in Los Angeles and joins us.
He raised, by some estimates, Bill, $1.3 million, which is more than 10 times what many people say that even veteran senators could raise. This really sort of solidifying his A-list status, particularly among the Hollywood crowd?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it was definitely the A-list that sponsored that fund-raiser. It was the chief power holders in DreamWorks, Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg. They brought out the A-list crowd in Hollywood.
Barack Obama is supposed to appeal to younger, less well-known people, people who have no long history in politics. But this was the top level of Hollywood moguls, personalities, movie stars who came out for this event.
No one knows exactly the figure that was raised, but when you're talking about over $1 million, you're talking about what typically a sitting president raises when he comes out here. It's remarkable for someone who's relatively unknown this far before an election.
ROBERTS: In addition to the folks who've put on this show from DreamWorks -- George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington, all in attendance there -- Bill Clinton had a lock on this group, Bill. Do they not love Hillary as much as they did Bill?
SCHNEIDER: Well, if you talk to them, as I have done, some of their people behind the scenes, they'll say they still like Hillary. And just because they're supporting Barack Obama doesn't mean that they've endorsed him.
Spielberg, for instance, says that he's also going to hold a fund-raiser for Senator Clinton. She's still got a lot of support here. There is a lot of loyalty to the Clintons, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton. But they're sort of spreading the money around.
They're saying, we want to hear a debate, we want to hear all these candidates, so that it's not exclusively for Barack Obama. Because remember, there is a limit on how much you can give a candidate, $2,300 in the primaries.
ROBERTS: Right.
SCHNEIDER: Well, to a lot of people in Hollywood, that's loose change, and they're going to give it to a lot of different people.
ROBERTS: So a little bit of this is the Hollywood hedge fund, is it?
SCHNEIDER: Of course it is. And they're giving it to a lot of different candidates, most of the Democrats, but not exclusively.
ROBERTS: How important is Hollywood money to these candidates? And particularly when you look at the idea that the first quarter filing deadline for candidates is on April the 15th, and they're going to want to have as much money in the bank as they possibly can to show that they really have got credibility here.
SCHNEIDER: April 15th is a scorecard day. That's when you report your first quarter fund-raising. And a candidate who can show an astonishing figure at the end of the first quarter is going to be very much more impressive.
Other people will want to bet on that candidate. It will be a sign of success. Because remember, no votes are going to be cast until a year from now. So that really is a scorecard.
It's important for another reason. A number of these candidates have said that they won't accept public financing for the primaries. Senator Clinton and others have suggested they won't accept it for the general election.
They're going to have to raise all the money themselves. The estimate is, they're going to have to raise as much -- they may raise as much as $500 million by the end of the campaign in 2008. If you want to do that, by my calculation, you're going to have to raise about $750,000 a day between now and November, 2008.
ROBERTS: That is just unbelievable.
Senior political analyst Bill Schneider joining us this morning.
Thanks very much, Bill. Appreciate it.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
ROBERTS: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, announcing the pullout of some 1,600 troops. Ahead this morning, we have a reality check with that announcement. We'll take a look at just how safe the area in southern Iraq is, which is where the British troops now patrol.
Plus, we visit with a young mother who's sentenced to two years in prison for throwing a cup of ice.
Her story, 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.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair making it official just a short time ago -- 1,600 British troops will soon be pulled out of southern Iraq in the Basra area.
And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressing the European Union in Germany today, trying to get a Mideast peace plan back on track.
Coming up to 16 minutes after the hour. Chad Myers at the CNN weather center, watching some dangerous travel conditions for much of the country this morning.
And not great weather where you are either, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'll tell you what, it rained overnight, it rained in the morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: There was this legal case in Virginia that caught our eye this week. People are calling it the McMissile case. It's a joke, kind of, but the fallout actually is deadly serious.
A jury has sentenced a young mother with three little kids to years in prison for lobbing a McDonald's cup full of ice into a car that she claims cut her off in traffic. 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, but Jessica's scheduled to go before the judge at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time today, about 40 minutes from now.
The judge has a couple of options. He could downgrade her sentence to the time she's served. She's been in jail for about two months now. Or he could let the sentence stand and send her off to prison for two years.
ROBERTS: And any idea which way the judge may lean here, particularly since the victims of this crime, apparently, have said they're flabbergasted that she got this much prison time?
O'BRIEN: Yes. I think there was a sense that she'd get her hand slapped, she'd sort of learn not to do it ever again kind of thing. Everybody's been a little baffled by the extent of what she's been sentenced to. But, no, at this point, no way to know which way the judge is going to go.
ROBERTS: Something interesting to watch, though, to see how this turns out. Poor woman.
Coming up, a reality check on Britain's plans to start pulling out of Iraq and shift to a support mode in Basra. Is that city really secure?
Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Downloaders beware. Record companies have a new target in their crackdown against illegal downloads, and they're starting to file complaints with colleges and universities, where students illegally download music on campus computer networks.
Now, so far, the industry's complained about 15,000 students across 25 universities. Apparently if you're caught twice at Michigan State, you're forced to watch an eight-minute anti-piracy DVD. The third time, though, you can be suspended for the semester.
ROBERTS: Can you burn that anti-piracy DVD?
O'BRIEN: And then watch it at your own convenience?
ROBERTS: Yes. Why don't they just force them to watch a Britney Spears video?
O'BRIEN: Hey, hey. Back off my friend Britney. She's struggling right now. No need to pile on.
ROBERTS: She made those videos long before she was struggling.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leave the bald people alone.
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. IKEA hoping to clean up the environment one nickel at a time. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business," here to explain what that means.
O'BRIEN: That's a great idea.
VELSHI: Do you folks -- do you fancy anchor people shop at IKEA?
O'BRIEN: I do. I love IKEA.
VELSHI: I love IKEA. I think it's great. And...
ROBERTS: I don't shop.
VELSHI: You don't shop?
ROBERTS: Unless it's for motorcycle parts. That's...
VELSHI: Well, there you go. Well, this can catch on.
O'BRIEN: They don't have that at IKEA.
VELSHI: This -- it doesn't have to be IKEA specific.
Twenty-nine stores in the United states, and last year IKEA in the United States went through 70 million plastic bags. Can you believe that?
ROBERTS: Whoa.
VELSHI: So now they're going to start charging you to take plastic bags. It will be 5 cents a bag. And the money is going to go to an organization that is going to plant trees. Perhaps not plastic trees, but real trees, to make up for the damage that trying to get rid of plastic bags causes.
Now, the interesting thing here is, what are you going to take -- carry your stuff away from IKEA in? They have this thing called the big blue bag at IKEA which you can buy for 99 cents. They're going to reduce the price of the big blue bag -- that's the big blue bag -- to 59 cents, and you can keep on bringing that back. It is made of plastic, but you can keep on bringing it back, or you bring your own bag.
And frankly, it's not a bad practice to get into. IKEA is not an impulse buy, typically. You know you're going to one, so you can prepare to go to it. It's different from your corner store not giving you a bag.
So I think it's a fantastic idea.
O'BRIEN: Well, if you could just throw all those plastic bags in the back of your car -- because you have them all over your house -- and then just bring them in.
VELSHI: Yes. No, this is definitely a way -- this is a good move. I think it makes sense. It's going to frustrate some people, because people don't like paying for bags, but it is common in other parts of the world, where, you want the bag, you pay for it.
O'BRIEN: Oh, you're buying a tree. That's good.
VELSHI: Yes. This is -- this is...
ROBERTS: Yes, how many plastic trees -- how many plastic palm trees...
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes. No, I think the plastic trees -- I think they're going to actually plant real trees.
ROBERTS: I'll tell you, packaging, it's a pet peeve of mine, particularly these anti-theft plastic packaging.
VELSHI: Well, you know, this is the thing.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: And we don't -- that's not sort of a movement that we've all gotten involved in protesting, the packaging that things come in, particularly for security reasons, you know, when you go buy electronics. But I was reading the statistics leading up to this story. It is quite remarkable. It's shameful.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it's a waste.
VELSHI: I'm kind of embarrassed on my own for what I do.
ROBERTS: Yes. When you buy a printer cartridge that's this big...
VELSHI: Right, it comes in...
ROBERTS: ... and it comes in a package this big that you have to have a chainsaw to get into...
VELSHI: And there is a big argument that it saves -- it prevents theft to some degree. But there is probably another way around this.
ROBERTS: But at what cost to the environment?
VELSHI: Well, it's a big cost.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks, Ali.
O'BRIEN: That's the question.
All right, Ali. Thank you.
VELSHI: OK.
O'BRIEN: The top stories of the morning are coming up next.
Word from the British prime minister, Tony Blair, this morning that 1,600 troops are leaving Iraq. What are they leaving behind? And will U.S. troops have to fill the void? We're going to bring you a reality check about security in Basra, straight ahead.
Plus, all week we've been "Uncovering America," the faces and stories of a changing nation. Today you'll meet somebody who's taking a pretty drastic action to change some long-standing problems in America's cities.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Heading home. More than a thousand British troops about to be pulled out of Iraq. The prime minister, Tony Blair, making it official within the hour.
ROBERTS: "Uncovering America." A new initiative to solve long- standing problems in America's greatest cities.
O'BRIEN: And checking in. Britney Spears is heading to get some help after kind of an unforgettable weekend.
We've got those stories and much more on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. It's Wednesday, February 21st.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts, in for Miles O'Brien.
Thanks very much for joining us.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for helping us out, by the way.
ROBERTS: Hey, always glad to be here. Yes, this is the last day. Miles will be back tomorrow. So...
O'BRIEN: We appreciate you getting up early with us.
ROBERTS: No problem.
O'BRIEN: Let's begin in Iraq this morning, where plans for the coalition of the willing is about to be downsized.
Within the hour, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, was announcing plans to pull more than a thousand British troops out of southern Iraq. The prime minister says it's a sign of success that Iraqis are ready to take over their own security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Over the coming months we will transfer more of the responsibility directly to Iraqis. I should say that none of this will mean a diminution in our combat capability. The actually reduction of forces will be from the present 7,100, itself down from over 9,000 two years ago, and 14,000 at the time of the conflict to roughly 5,500.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The prime minister says troops will remain through 2008 to help secure Iraq's borders.
So how secure is Southern Iraq, and how's the U.S. mission going to change when the British troops leave?
Let's get to CNN's Arwa Damon. She's live for us in Baghdad this morning.
Arwa, good morning to you.
Basra, is it significantly better than Baghdad?
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, it really is, especially when you do compare it to the violence in Baghdad, for one main reason -- it is predominantly Shia, and therefore it is not plagued by the sectarian violence that we see in the capital and throughout the rest of the country, and nor is it really plagued by these spectacular and devastating attacks carried out by groups like al Qaeda in Iraq.
But what does exist in Southern Iraq is a battle between Shia factions, that some which have infiltrated the Iraqi security forces and others that just roam around the streets pretty much doing as they will. And this is something that we have seen manifest itself in other occasions when British forces have withdrawn from one city, like Al Amara, as an example, which is very close to the Iranian border, within two months of the British troop withdrawal from that city. The security forces that are largely loyal to one militia were clashing with forces loyal to radical Shia cleric Muqtada Al Sadr.
The concern is that by decreasing British boots on the ground, by decreasing their oversight of the area in terms of just being out on the streets is that it will open it up to more of this militia-on- militia violence -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad this morning. Arwa, thanks.
(NEWSBREAK)
O'BRIEN: This morning we're taking a look at some new solutions to some very old problems. Forty years after a war was declared on poverty, the media household income for African-Americans is still $18,000 less than it is for whites. And then listen to some of these numbers. Twenty-two percent of blacks in America live in poverty, compared to 7 percent of whites.
The Chicago Urban League was looking at these same numbers and made what some people are calling a very controversial decision, phasing out traditional social service programs like health care and case management. That led us to ask the question, why?
Well, the president, Cheryle Jackson, is with us this morning as part of our Uncovering America series to explain it.
Nice to see you, Miss Jackson. Thanks.
CHERYLE JACKSON, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO URBAN LEAGUE: Thank you for having me.
O'BRIEN: Many people say this is completely the wrong time. Did you not hear those numbers? things are dire in many of the African- American communities, so why cut those services?
JACKSON: First of all, the services are important, but here's the thing -- there are thousands of agencies in Chicago that are providing those services. There are precious few that are focused on economic development.
I just decided that it's time for the Chicago Urban League to change its focus. It's not enough to just -- looking at those same numbers, it's not enough to just manage the problem; it's time to manage us out of the problem.
O'BRIEN: How does focusing on economic development then manage you out of a problem? And is that too long of a long-term solution?
JACKSON: Right. Well, first, it's about building economic infrastructure within the community. It's about getting folks with few skills or no skills more skills that lead to better paying jobs. You know, small businesses are one of the most important factors in creating jobs. That's much, much more so for African-Americans. So nurturing and growing African-American-owned businesses is such an important way to grow jobs right in the communities, and that's a focus that we've decided to take. How to get people better paying jobs, how to grow more black businesses. Black businesses hire black people more than any other business. So that's where we're focused. And I think that there needs to be one organization that's dedicating itself to creating the kind of society where fewer and fewer social services of any kind are needed. That ought to be the goal.
O'BRIEN: I was talking to folks at the Seattle Urban League not long ago, and it sounded to me like they were doing a similar thing, not necessarily getting rid of some of the social service programs, but certainly beefing up the economic services, if you will. Is there any risk, though, that sort of the poorest of the poor are going to fall through the cracks?
JACKSON: Absolutely not. Like I mentioned, there are thousands of agencies in Chicago. We did a scan. There were literally thousands of agencies that were providing social services, and none that were focused in this way.
Certainly, our job is to partner with these agencies. Anyone that comes to the Chicago Urban League, it's our responsibility to connect them to the resources that they need. And we're not saying they're necessary. We're saying that there are lots of agencies that do it and do it very well, and we're going to connect our constituency into those, but we're going to put our sweat equity in helping them find a better job, and helping black businesses grow so they can create and hire more people. That's where we'll focus.
O'BRIEN: And when you look at someone like Barack Obama, who we just saw in the story, raised a million-some-odd dollars in one night, which is pretty good business, or you look at someone like Cory Booker, who I interviewed earlier in the week, or you look at yourself, you're the first female president after a hundred-year history there.
JACKSON: Right, right.
O'BRIEN: Is this a generational change? I mean, Is part of the reason you're making this change is because there is sort of a new way of looking at problems?
JACKSON: I think so. Certainly, this new generation has a different take on it. And I think that's the role and responsibility of every generation, to bring their experiences to bear, to look at the problems and find a way that's relevant to what people are struggling with, what people are dealing with. And you might get different answers, you might get approaches, approaches like Senator Barack Obama, that is so inclusive, so far, wide-reaching, appeals to a lot of people. This approach -- you know, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my forefathers, if it weren't for the folks that came before me and made important sacrifices. I'm able to take this focus because of those that have, you know, come before me and fought the battle.
O'BRIEN: The last guy held a job for something like 29 years...
JACKSON: Thirty-five.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I'm shorting him, 35 years.
JACKSON: Right.
O'BRIEN: You might be doing the same thing.
Cheryle Jackson, nice to see you. She's president of the Chicago Urban League.
JACKSON: Thank you for having me.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for talking with us. We appreciate it.
Tomorrow we're going to meet an all-American family opening doors and minds at the same time. Miles sat down and talked with the evangelical white parents and the black teenager they've embraced as their own. We'll show you their emotional journey as teammates for life. It was first depicted in the bestselling book "The Blind Side." We'll tell you that story tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING -- John.
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O'BRIEN: All right, another food warning to tell you about this morning. Something at this market's being recalled because of E. coli concerns. We'll tell you what you should do next. Plus, a major pharmaceutical company says it's is dropping its lobbying effort for a controversial vaccine. We've got the latest health news ahead this morning. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
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(NEWSBREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: If you watched the recent Grammy Awards, you saw all the gold being handed out, but questions this morning about hip-hop's influence on American life. We asked CNN's Jason Carroll to bring it out in the open for us.
And a warning, that some of what he found may be offensive to viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Since she was 5 years old, Celestina Henry dreamed of being a serious dancer. But her professional debut came in a hip-hop video with 50 Cent. It involved a lot of exposure.
CELESTINA HENRY, ACTRESS: I never had aspirations to be in aid very. I had aspirations to be a dancer, aspirations to be an actress. And I thought about different ways of getting exposure.
CARROLL: Celestina changed her name to Celestine Rae after her performance, which was mild by the standards of some hip-hop videos. Critics say these portray a negative image of black women, even calling it porn for beginners.
JERMAINE DUPRI, RAPPER-PRODUCER: If people don't like it, then you can always turn it off. You know what I mean? So people act like they can't turn it off. And you don't got to watch the booty videos, but the people that talk about it, they're so intrigued they want to see it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: You can see more of Jason's reporting on a special edition of "PAULA ZAHN NOW" tonight. And Paula joins us now live.
Paula, we just heard that rap producer saying, hey, if you don't like it, you can just turn it off, but there are plenty of hip-hop artists out there, big artists, who believe that this is ruining black culture.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And for as many people as believe that, there are those who absolutely justify -- maybe not the misogyny we just saw in that video, which promotes the degradation of women, but this is a multibillion dollar industry. And by the way, whites consume 80 percent of the stuff that's produced. Tonight we have a fascinating hour because we have Chuck D., a rapper, coming on, who says that he is absolutely outraged by what hip-hop has become, that it has lost its roots, and now he is angry at record producers promoting violence, against men and women, and degrading women and gays.
I don't know about you, we all have kids. I'm not crazy about any of my kids watching a man swipe a credit card across the naked butt of a woman on a video. We don't like what it talks about in terms of women being nothing more than sexual objects. That stuff is disgusting.
But there will be people on our show tonight that fiercely defends this genre, saying it reflects the reality of many of these rappers' lives and the anger.
ROBERTS: It's all about parental guidance as well. I found a couple of 50-Cent songs on my daughter's iPod playlist, and said, those are going off your playlist.
ZAHN: You're a tough dad! Most of us can't get into our kids' iPods.
ROBERTS: Well, hey, I listened to the lyrics, and I said, you're a little too young for that.
ZAHN: But the truth is, you talk to a lot of these kids, and they don't really understand this music. They're caught up in the beat, and it's unfortunate that society allows for these really horrific images of women to continue to be portrayed. It's disgusting.
ROBERTS: And particular songs, too, on her iPod had a fairly benign, too, called "Candy Shop," but you listen to the lyrics, and candy's a little different than it was when I was her age.
ZAHN: Absolutely. But as you know, every genre of music over the last 50 years has inspired a lot of controversy, and this genre is no different.
ROBERTS: True.
ZAHN: But we're going to look at it tonight. It's really fascinating.
ROBERTS: Yes, I'm sure. We'll be watching tonight, 8:00. Thanks, Paula.
ZAHN: Good.
Will you be up, John? Or are you telling your kids?
ROBERTS: I'm not working tomorrow morning here, so I will.
O'BRIEN: I'm up that late, and I am working tomorrow morning.
ZAHN: OK, I'll see you, too.
ROBERTS: She was up until midnight last night.
ZAHN: Daring girl.
ROBERTS: Again that's a "PAULA ZAHN NOW" out in the open special report, "Hip-Hop: Art or Poison?" tonight, 8:00 Eastern here on CNN.
And you can vote on that very question on our Web site, CNN.com/paula. Make sure that you watch tonight.
O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" just a couple minutes away, and Fredricka Whitfield is at the CNN Center. She's got a look at what's ahead this morning.
Hey, Fred. Good morning.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Well, we've got these stories coming up in the "NEWSROOM": British troops moving out of Iraq. Prime Minister Tony Blair orders about a quarter of his soldiers home by the end of 2007.
Presidential candidate Barack Obama going Hollywood. The Democrat drawing a-listers at a star-studded big money fund-raiser.
And we pick up the theme Paula was just talking about. Radio host Tom Joyner in the NEWSROOM live. His foundation and his plan to more African-Americans a shot at a college degree.
Tony Harris is with me in the "NEWSROOM" at the top of the hour here on CNN.
O'BRIEN: All right, Fred, thank you. We'll see you then.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to meet a rising political star who's just sworn into office, and he says he's on a special mission to bring the government to the people. We'll tell you why he's one of the people you should know, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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O'BRIEN: If you don't live in the state of Massachusetts, you might not recognize the name Deval Patrick, but he's one of the people you should know.
CNN's Dan Lothian introduces us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you've got tough questions for the governor, call the number and ask him...
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Deval Patrick is laying it all out on the table.
GOV. DEVAL PATRICK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: If they're illegal immigrants, they broke the law. I understand that.
LOTHIAN: Massachusetts' first black governor is keeping his campaign promise and giving citizens a chance to speak directly to him through a new radio program called "Ask the Governor."
PATRICK: I understand how regular people don't feel as if people in power are actually connected to them.
LOTHIAN: Patrick says his empathy for the common man stems from his own personal journey. He grew up on poverty-stricken streets in Chicago, but his drive and determination led him to the halls of Harvard Law School and eventually to the governor's office.
PATRICK: Thanks again for tuning in.
LOTHIAN: Patrick says anyone can rise to the top with the right attitude.
PATRICK: You know, people are constantly looking at a good idea, a big idea that you can only accomplish over time and saying, you know, it's not possible, it's never been done before. Well, you know, my whole life is about what's possible.
You better believe we can!
LOTHIAN: Governor Patrick hopes the can-do spirit that has brought him this far will help him succeed in government, where major challenges await.
PATRICK: It's a humbling thing to be suddenly an historical figure. It will be an even better historical accomplishment if I can be the best governor Massachusetts has ever seen.
LOTHIAN: Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Governor Patrick says he thanks his school teachers for getting him where he is today. Many were there actually to see him get sworn in, too. And no surprise that improving education in Massachusetts is one of his top priorities -- John.
ROBERTS: Here's a quick look at what CNN's "NEWSROOM" is working on for the top of the hour.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: See these stories in the "CNN NEWSROOM": Leaving Iraq -- Prime Minister Tony Blair ordering about 1/4 of British troops home by the end of the year.
Problems at Walter Reed, the nation's premier hospital for war wounded -- mold, faulty plumbing, pest infestations. Congress demanding answers.
Credit counselors -- there are good ones and bad ones. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis stops by with red flags you need to look for. You're in the "NEWSROOM," 9:00 a.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.
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O'BRIEN: First, a bit thank you for helping us out the last couple of days. We appreciate it, the early morning hours.
ROBERTS: Always a pleasure.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
That's it for AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Fred Whitfield begins right now. Thanks for joining us.
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