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Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Rejects Calls For Resignation; Stock Markets Tumble; Joint Chiefs Chairman Under Fire
Aired March 13, 2007 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry, in for Kyra Phillips.
Yes, mistakes were made, but, no, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is not stepping down over the controversy over those fired federal prosecutors.
LEMON: And we have heard from the general. We have heard from those who disagree. But what do you have to say about don't ask/don't tell? We're reading your e-mails.
CHETRY: And the chips are down on Wall Street again. With one hour of trading left, we are watching the numbers for you.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: It is the top of the hour.
Alberto Gonzales, under fire, speaking out, standing firm -- at a news conference you may have seen live here last hour, the U.S. attorney general acknowledged the firings of eight federal prosecutors last year. He said they were mishandled, and he accepts responsibility for that.
But he's not resigning. Gonzales' chief of staff has quit over his role in the controversy, a controversy the White House insists is a routine personnel matter linked to poor performance.
Critics say the U.S. attorneys were fired for not being hard enough on Democrats. Gonzales said he would find out what went wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: What I know is that there began a process of evaluating strong performers, not-as-strong performers, and weak performers. And, so, as far as I knew, my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining, who were the weak performers? Where -- where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district? And that's -- and that's what I knew.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena is standing by in Washington.
Kelli, I saw you at that news conference. What's your take on it?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you heard him.
You know, he says -- he likened himself to a CEO. He said that he accepts responsibility. He did acknowledge mistakes.
Let's play one more sound bite from that press conference for our viewers, Don.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GONZALES: I believe in accountability. Like every CEO of a major organization, I am responsible for what happens at the Department of Justice.
I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility. And my pledge to the American people is to find out what went wrong here, to access accountability, and to make improvements so that the mistakes that occurred in this instance do not occur again in the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARENA: But, you know, Don, just as soon as he said that, he actually distanced himself from the whole affair, saying that it was his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, who resigned today, who was in charge of the process.
Gonzales says that he was not intimately aware of communications that Mr. Sampson was having. And, so, in effect, on the one hand he says: Yes, I take responsibility.
On the other hand, he says: But I didn't really know what was going on and had nothing to do with this.
LEMON: OK, Kelli, you know what I want to know? Will this -- because, you know, several members of Congress have spoken out about this. Will this Gonzales statement mollify -- or, I guess, maybe appease is a better way to put it -- members of Congress?
ARENA: He wishes it does, I guess.
But we heard from Senator Charles Schumer today, the Democrat from New York, who said that Sampson's resignation today didn't appease him at all. He is still calling for the attorney general to resign. When the attorney general was asked that question today, he said that he serves at the pleasure of the president, much like the U.S. attorneys did. And he said that he is going to work to regain Congress' confidence.
He said that that's very important, in order for him to do his job. But he also says that he stands behind the decision to dismiss the U.S. attorneys that were dismissed. He says he does not believe that any mistakes were made in that regard.
He only -- he only feels that the way that the whole thing was handled, that there were some errors.
LEMON: All right. Justice correspondent Kelli Arena, thank you so much for that report.
And, as Kelli was speaking there, you saw Senator Chuck Schumer. That was live. He's speaking on the floor now.
Now, just a -- a couple of minutes ago, he spoke about what Alberto Gonzales -- Gonzales had to say. And, basically, he called this kind of the straw that broke the camel's back.
Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: He said: I was not involved in any memos or discussions of what was going on.
That's his quote. Quote, he said, "Many delegations -- many decisions are delegated."
Mr. President, did the attorney general not know that eight U.S. attorneys were to be fired? If he didn't know, he shouldn't be attorney general, plain and simple. That is not a minor personnel decision. That is a major act that has now shaken the integrity of the U.S. attorney's offices, not only those in question, but all of them, to the core.
To simply say decisions were delegated? That is a sorry excuse. And then, of course, if the attorney general knew, that one doesn't work either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK.
Well, you know, congressional Democrats are demanding more information on this. As a matter of fact, just moments ago, Chuck Schumer called for an investigation into this. And he's also called for Alberto Gonzales to resign -- more in the NEWSROOM coming up.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, it was two weeks ago that our jaws dropped, as the Dow industrials tumbled more than 400 points. We were told to hang on, because the ride was just beginning. And it looks like the slide, unfortunately, is resuming today.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with the details.
I guess we want to know. How far down did we go so far?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're down 227 points right now, Kiran. And you're right. This is the worst we have seen. Two weeks ago today, we were talking a lot about Asian contagion.
Well, today, it's the mortgage meltdown. There you see the bad news there. It pretty much tells the story. They have been selling off all day. Retail sales came in worse than expected -- that was before the opening bell -- retail sales up just one-tenth of 1 percent, worse than expected. That raised concerns about economic growth.
Once again, a lot of action in the subprime housing market, Accredited Home Lenders in freefall today -- that stock is down 64.5 percent, one day. It said that it was looking for additional funding. New Century, another player in the subprime market, it's being delisted here at the NYSE. It disclosed the SEC is investigating it.
The whole housing sector is getting slammed. It's a big sector, home-builders, appliance companies, furniture-makers, home improvement retailers, like Home Depot and Lowe's. So, there's a lot of pressure on a sector that's already been cooling off, and had already been a lot of concern about -- about it.
So, why -- why is it all melting down today? Well, it's harder for people with bad credit to get financing. You see these companies in a lot of trouble right now. And the rates for people with good credit are going up. That could affect consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic activity.
So, the numbers are, the Dow industrials just very close to their session lows, down 1.75 percent. And some of the things that folks have been watching for -- watching for is the level. See the level there, 12108? Two weeks ago, when the market was selling off, the closing low for that Friday was 12114. A lot of folks say, what the market is doing right now is testing its lows. And it's pretty much there right now.
The Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, is down even worse. Percentage terms, it's down nearly 2 percent. The broader S&P -- S&P 500 is down 2 percent as well. It's a -- it's a sell-off with a lot of conviction here. For every stock that's going up, Kiran, there are four that are going down.
CHETRY: All right -- and one of them, Google, Google shares moving lower, too. And I understand they are facing a big lawsuit. What's going on?
LISOVICZ: That's a big story, too, that we haven't gotten to. The media giant Viacom is suing YouTube and Goggle, its parent, for $1 billion.
Viacom is one of the biggest content providers in the world. It owns MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central Network. I mean, "Daily Show With Jon Stewart" alone is hugely popular on -- on YouTube. What YouTube has been doing is, apparently, according to Viacom, putting them up without authorization.
So, Viacom is claiming copyright infringement. It wants the clips removed. Viacom maintains that, under copyright law, YouTube must remove the content it doesn't hold the rights to if it receives a complaint from the owner.
It was about a month ago Viacom demanded the removal of its content from YouTube's site. They had been in talks to work out the deal. Viacom says the negotiations, clearly, have been unproductive.
I talked to a spokesman this morning. He said that YouTube has the ability to filter out porn and hate speech; it has the ability to filter out its -- its content as well.
So, that's a quick look at what's happening here on Wall Street.
(LAUGHTER)
LISOVICZ: A busy day.
I will be back for the closing bell -- in the meantime, Don and Kiran, back to you. And fasten my seat belts.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we will keep our fingers crossed that maybe it will be at least somewhat better. Susan, thanks.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
LEMON: Well, he was asked. He answered. And now he's clarifying -- Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace issuing a statement last hour, saying he should have focused more on his support of the military's don't-ask/don't-tell policy, and less on his -- quote -- "personal moral views."
The nation's top man in uniform is referring to an interview he gave "The Chicago Tribune"'s editorial board.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENERAL PETER PACE, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: My upbringing is such that I believe that there are certain things, certain types of conduct, that are immoral.
I believe that military members who sleep with other military members' wives are immoral in their conduct, and that we should not tolerate that. I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral, and that we should not condone immoral acts.
So, the -- the don't-ask/don't-tell allows an individual to serve the country, not (INAUDIBLE) but that allows individuals to serve the country.
If we know about immoral acts, regardless of committed by who or -- then we have a responsibility. I do not believe that the armed forces of the United States are well served by saying, through our policies, that it's OK to be immoral in any -- in any way, not -- not just with regards to homosexual acts.
So, from that standpoint, saying that gays should serve openly in the military, to me, says that we, by policy, would be condoning what I believe is immoral activity. And, therefore, as an individual, I would not want that to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that, if we were to find out that so and so was sleeping with someone else's wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not.
We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior between members of the armed forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, gay-rights advocates are demanding Pace apologize for those remarks.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which has represented gay troops kicked out of the military, calls his comments outrageous, insensitive, and disrespectful to the 65,000 lesbian and gay troops now serving in our armed forces. The general's senior aides say he has no plans to apologize for expressing his personal opinion.
CHETRY: So, his comments were sure to spark controversy. And you certainly have been weighing in. The e-mails have been pouring in.
So, We asked you to weigh in on Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace's comments about homosexuality. And many of you said that his comments were not appropriate.
LEMON: Yes.
And this, of course, Kiran, Julie writes: "His beliefs are his beliefs, but he's a public servant, which means his personal beliefs have no place in the public arena."
CHETRY: Tyler writes: "Is that really the biggest thing we are worried about? How about we focus on -- on getting America's sons and daughters out of Iraq? Judging on one's sexual preference is about as irrelevant as it gets."
LEMON: And this is what Tim says. He has a twist on Pace's statements: "It's ironic that the man whose profession involves the collateral damage of murdering women and children might have any opinion regarding what's immoral or not."
CHETRY: And, finally, U.S. writes: "General Pace was definitely within his right to share his opinion on homosexuality. It's refreshing to see that he's willing to speak out about something. Now if he would just share his true thoughts about Iraq."
Some thoughtful comments from everybody -- thanks for doing that. And we want you to please keep sending us your e-mails. We will have more later in the NEWSROOM.
LEMON: Absolutely, Kiran.
You can also log on to CNN.com and answer our "QuickVote": Should the U.S. military change its don't-ask/don't-tell policy and allow openly gay men and women to serve? Vote yes -- let's go ahead and look and see exactly what's going on -- vote yes or no. Right here, you can click on the thing.
And then the results, so far -- let's see -- the computer is a little slow here today.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Fifty-six percent say yes. Forty-four percent say no. Wow. A lot of folks have voted. Almost 65,000, 70,000 people have voted. Fifty-six percent say yes. Forty-four percent say no.
We want you to continue to e-mail us. Go to our Web page, CNN.com, and then look down. It's on the bottom right. It's "QuickVote."
CHETRY: All right.
Well, meantime, in Mexico, a train ride to the American dream -- locals, though, call these tracks the passage of the dead -- the journey, through the eyes of those willing to risk it all in hopes of a better life. And "AMERICAN MORNING"'s Soledad O'Brien will bring us their story -- coming up in the NEWSROOM.
LEMON: And loyal opposition? Is it a risky proposition in Zimbabwe? That story is straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. It is 17 past the hour. And here's what's on our rundown -- there, you saw it -- right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, he's not about to go anywhere. We have heard from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a short time ago. He says mistakes were made in the firings of several federal prosecutors, but he's rejecting calls to step down.
Peter Pace -- Peter Pace says he shouldn't -- he shouldn't have kept some things to himself -- or he should have, I should say, kept some things to himself. The Joint Chiefs chairman says he should have talked more about military policy and less about personal views when he told "The Chicago Tribune"'s editorial board he thinks homosexuality is immoral.
Should John Couey die for raping and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford? Florida prosecutors are asking the jury to convict Couey -- to recommend -- that convicted Couey to recommend a death sentence. Couey's lawyers say he is mentally retarded.
CHETRY: Well, President Bush came into office seeking stronger ties with Mexico. Then came 9/11, the war, and stalled immigration reform. Well, now the president is hoping for a fresh start, ending his Latin America trip in Mexico with two days of meetings with Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon. The major issue was, of course, immigration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States respects rule of law. But, in the debate on migration, I remind my fellow citizens that family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River, that there are decent, hardworking, honorable citizens of Mexico who want to make a living for their families.
And, so, Mr. President, my pledge to you and your government, but, more importantly, the people of Mexico, is, I will work as hard as I possibly can to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Calderon has criticized current U.S. immigration policies, especially plans to build 700 miles of fence along the border.
Well, some call it a gravy train, others, the passage of the dead. It is a rail line that connects Mexico and the U.S. Illegal immigrants find it highly dangerous, always difficult, and sometimes impossible to resist.
CNN's Soledad O'Brien saw for herself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Behind a small store along the train tracks in Tultitlan, Mexico, 10 men have the same dream: to get to the U.S. and to make money.
JOSE LUIS ESPINADA, TRYING TO ENTER U.S. (through translator): What motivated me is to get a better future and a brighter future for my wife and kids.
O'BRIEN: Jose Luis Espinada is from Honduras. He left behind his wife and five children 16 days ago to ride the trains north. He has cousins in Georgia who will help him, if he gets there, but he's been turned back before.
So has Santiago Ortiz. Ortiz begins to cry when we ask him why he left behind his wife and two kids.
SANTIAGO ORTIZ, TRYING TO ENTER U.S. (through translator): Sometimes, you take a chance, even death, to bring your family out of poverty.
O'BRIEN (on camera): Giant cargo trains like this one run right through the heart of Tultitlan, and it's a jumping-off point of sorts for Mexicans and Hondurans and Guatemalans who are trying to get up north. And what they can do is just hang on to one of these ladders, like this, climb up on to the train, and then ride along for free, obviously, as this train heads up north.
But, clearly, it's very dangerous. Clearly, it can be deadly. And it's truly an indication of just how desperate people are to risk everything to try to get out of their poverty.
(voice over): Locals call the tracks El Paso de la Muerte, the passage of the dead.
Maria del Carmen Lopez Espindola (ph) lives with her family along the tracks. Six months ago, she saw a young man lose his legs. They were cut off when he tried to jump on board. She often helps the immigrants she sees, giving clothing or food.
The Hondurans we meet say they haven't eaten a real meal in days. They haven't slept. So, when a train passes heading north, they let it go. They will sleep behind the store tonight and try to hop on board tomorrow.
Soledad O'Brien, CNN, Tultitlan, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: The issues, the stories, the personal insights -- you can find out so much more about Soledad O'Brien's extensive reporting in Mexico, including her photo gallery. It's all online, CNN.com/AM.
LEMON: Ugly words fueled by alcohol, hate crime or not? A look beyond the surveillance tapes -- straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Nasty? Yes. Violent? Briefly. Hateful? Obviously. But is it hate? Prosecutors in Seattle certainly think so. They filed hate crime charges against a couple caught behaving very badly on a convenience store surveillance tape.
CNN's Ted Rowlands has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This surveillance video from a Seattle convenience store shows a couple getting out of a taxi and walking in.
STEVEN SALEH, STORE OWNER: These two individuals walked in, and they appeared to be intoxicated.
ROWLANDS: On the tape, the woman seems to lose her balance as she reaches for a six-pack of beer. Then when she gets to the counter...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me get a pack of Marlboro Reds box.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: ... she has trouble paying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't give him a card yet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did give him a card but the mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED) didn't run it through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SALEH: She was intoxicated, to a point where she was giving us a Safeway card to pay for her beer.
ROWLANDS: It's hard to see everything that happens next, but you can hear most of it. First, the woman calls the store owner -- quote -- "un-American."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not an American.
SALEH: Excuse me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what I just said. He didn't grow up here. He's un-American.
SALEH: You know, I hate to do this to you, but, if you're going to be like this, I'm going to ask you to leave.
You're un-American. You're not American. You should go back to your own country. At some point of time, she called me Gandhi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: Things quickly escalate, with the store owner telling the couple to leave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALEH: Don't be like that, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kiss my (EXPLETIVE DELETED). OK? Guess what?
SALEH: Get out. Get out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guess what, you un-American mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED)?
SALEH: She's drunk. She's drunk. Get her out of her of here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SALEH: When I was fed up with that, I told her that I will not serve her.
ROWLANDS: It eventually turns physical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALEH: Get your woman out of here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't want me to kick (EXPLETIVE DELETED)? You really don't -- you really don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: The male customer takes off his coat and then reaches for the store owner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are not (EXPLETIVE DELETED) American. You are a piece of (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
SALEH: Don't touch me!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: In the scuffling, the store owner hits the man at least twice with a metal rod.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Arabian (EXPLETIVE DELETED) You (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Gandhi. Go back to your own country, you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Arabian.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: At one point, he pushes the woman to the floor. The police end up taking the couple away. They now both face felony hate crime charges.
MIKE HOGAN, PROSECUTOR: If someone is targeted because of their national origin, then everybody of that national origin is going to feel uncomfortable by that crime. And that's why it's a felony.
ROWLANDS: They both pled not guilty. The attorney for the woman, 25-yea-old Nicole Kirk, says, don't believe what you see and hear on that tape.
ROBERT JOURDAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The fact of the matter is, I have no concern she's a racist. And I believe that the primary force behind this was her use of alcohol that night. She was extremely intoxicated.
ROWLANDS: Prosecutors say it wouldn't matter if the couple was drunk.
The lawyer for the man, 35-year-old Brian Lappin, says this was not a hate crime.
RANDALL HALL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The facts, in my opinion, aren't really something that would justify the charge. It's usually for something that's more extreme than what happened here, such as cross- burning or a gay-bashing, or something along those lines.
ROWLANDS: The store owner, Steven Saleh, has been the victim of hate before. In 2003, someone wrote the words "towel head" on a dumpster outside his store.
Steven was born in Yemen and has been in the U.S. for 23 years. He's a naturalized citizen, with 14- and 9-year-old daughters. He's owned the Seattle store for 11 years.
Since the attack, Steven has received flowers and cards from concerned customers.
SALEH: You wouldn't know how hard it is to be discriminated against and -- and to be in a situation where I have been for years. I think they should be punished by whatever law there is for hate crime. This is as hate crime as it gets.
ROWLANDS: According to the law, if convicted, the couple could each face between three and nine months in jail.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Seattle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, a personal opinion causes a public firestorm.
Ahead in the NEWSROOM: a four-star general, an interview, and a viewpoint that's riling gay-rights advocates, as well as many others.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry in for Kyra Phillips. Well, we asked and boy did you answer. Your e-mails are still pouring in about gays in the military and the comments by Joint Chiefs chairman Peter Pace. We're reading them here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
No apologies but a clarification from the nation's top man in uniform. In an interview with the "Chicago Tribune" about gays in the military and the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, General Peter Pace says he considers homosexual acts to be immoral. He says he should have focused more on military policy and less on his, quote, "personal moral views."
Earlier in the NEWSROOM we talked with a form marine who left the military after revealing he was gay, as well as a former rear admiral who had to enforce the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Both said they thought the policy was outdated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN FRICKE, GAY FORMER MARINE: You come out to people that you trust. That helps with your working environment. You start to be able to work without being fearful of what you are going to say next or what you are going to do. When in Iraq, if something were to explode and you had to take cover and maybe you were on your down time and you were writing a letter, the first thing on your mind is to conceal your evidence. Conceal any evidence that you might have -- that they can link for you to being gay. So you start getting off track. You are not always focused on the mission because of "don't ask, don't tell." You're constantly paranoid.
REAR ADM. JOHN HUTSON, U.S. NAVY, (RET): We were very concerned in the early '90s about unit cohesion. That's the key to an effective military. The mission of the military being to fight and win the nation's wars. You know, cohesion is the essence of that. In '92 and '93, we weren't sure what the impact would be of bringing gays into the units openly.
CHETRY: Right.
HUTSON: Now, I think that in 2007, we are at a stage where it won't degrade unit cohesion. It actually will enhance unit cohesion to tell both the gays and the straights, you are mature, you are disciplined, you can deal with this.
CHETRY: Right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And support seems to be growing to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." Massachusetts Congressman Marty Meehan introduced a bill that would do just that.
LEMON: And Kiran, boy, our inbox here is filling up with all those e-mails about statements made by Joint Chiefs chairman Peter Pace.
CHETRY: That's right. We're going to read more to you now. Nelson writes, "What kind of bone-headed statement is this. He thinks homosexuality is immoral. Isn't this war immoral? Isn't the treatment of our returning injured vets immoral?"
LEMON: People were outspoken. Jones had this take on it. He said, "Let the chairman of the Joint Chiefs say what he wants. It's his personal opinion and last time I checked, that's what we're fighting for, the right to state our opinion."
CHETRY: And Mark is having none of it. He writes, "It was totally inappropriate for the highest ranking military official in the country to denounce homosexuality. Mr. Pace needs a reality check. It's 2007 and you can be sure that gays are fighting and dying in this administration's war on terror."
Thanks to all of you for hitting the send button. We also had a poll as well.
LEMON: Yeah. You can also log on to cnn.com as Kiran just said and answer -- it's our quick vote, Kiran. Should the U.S. military change its "don't ask, don't tell" policy and allow openly gay men and women to serve. It's a yes and no. And check the results right here. Turn here to my trusty computer. Which is always slow. But I can read it.
CHETRY: It's faster than last hour. LEMON: Yes. Fifty six percent say yes. Should the military change its don't ask, don't tell policy and allow openly gay men and women to serve? Fifty-six percent say yes. Forty-four percent say no. Almost 70,000 people have voted. So it's definitely generating a lot of response. Go on to our home page, cnn.com. Right at the bottom right. You can vote and also you can send your e-mails to us at cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. Wanna get that right for you.
Military policy on gays has often been driven by public attitudes. But gays aren't the only minority to face discrimination while serving their country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (voice-over): African-Americans experience discrimination in the military going all the way back to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Bans on their service were lifted briefly, in part because of troop shortages. During World War II, blacks served in huge numbers but in segregated units usually led by black officers.
It was President Harry Truman who ended the government's policy of racial segregation in the military. But the process was slow and sometimes violent. During Vietnam, there were cases of racial violence between white and black troops in the field. Some of the same arguments against mixing white and black troops have been used against gays.
Bad for morale, harms recruitment and undermines unit cohesion. In the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton vowed to lift the military ban on gays. Once in the White House, and facing overwhelming opposition, Clinton agreed to the compromise now known as "don't ask, don't tell."
In the 14 years since, nearly 11,000 military personnel have been discharged under this policy. Of those, about 750 were in jobs critical to President Bush's war on terror, including translators and medical personnel.
Efforts to overturn the ban seem unlikely in the short term. But some polls show a growing acceptance of gay troops. The joint chiefs chairman under Clinton John Shalikashvili, who once supported the ban, now says it should be lifted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, you'll remember the story when little Baby Mychael was taken after she was only a few days old from a hospital in Texas. Well, she and her parents were bonding over the weekend after getting her back. The woman accused of stealing her was brought up on federal charges. Twenty-one year old Rayshaun Parson didn't enter a plea at her arraignment. She is facing state charges as well. According to a court document, Parson as you see here on the surveillance video leaving with little baby Mychael in her bag, confessed to abducting the three-day-old baby from a hospital nursery in Lubbock, Texas. She allegedly posed as a hospital worker taking the newborn for tests. Both were located about a day later in Clovis, New Mexico. LEMON: Well, a homeless woman is charged in a deadly fire in Chicago. She won't be back on the streets anytime soon. That's because Mary Smith was ordered held without bond today after having allegedly set a string of fires near Wrigley Field over the weekend. One fire killed a young mother and three men in their apartments. Chicago police say Smith has made incriminating statements and she faces four counts of first-degree murder and two of aggravated arson.
CHETRY: Well, the State of Georgia never wants to see something like this again on its roads. The state plans safety improvements on some of its left-hand interstate exits after this horrific bus crash ended up killing seven young people. Authorities believe the driver might have taken the exit for just another lane. The state now plans to add signs, raised pavement and reflective stripes to seven exits in metro Atlanta that veer off from the left from so-called commuter or high occupancy vehicle lanes.
The bus slammed into a retaining wall earlier this month and plunged 30 feet on to the interstate below. It was carrying a college baseball team from Ohio.
Home from the hospital and talking about his ordeal. Bluffton University baseball player Kyle King. Reporter Blake Chennault of CNN affiliate WOIO caught King's homecoming in Ohio.
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BLAKE CHENNAULT, WOIO-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Battered, broken, but certainly not beaten. Kyle King was wheeled into the Akron-Canton Airport today, nearly two weeks after surviving that deadly bus accident in Atlanta that involved baseball players from Bluffton University.
KYLE KING, INJURED IN BUS CRASH: My injuries are a broken back ...
CHENNAULT: That's right. The young man's back is broken. The doctors say the prognosis for recovery is good, because his spinal cord remained intact.
K. KING: I am expected full recovery from everything. I'll be able -- no limitations.
CHENNAULT: The 20-year-old King's right hand, heavily wrapped, was also severely damaged. The hand is on his throwing arm, but right now he's looking forward to getting back to his old routine.
K. KING: I just need to get back to school and get with my teammates and go from there. That's my biggest obstacle.
CHENNAULT: The King family, gracious to everybody for their support.
DENISE KING, MOTHER: Just thank you to everyone for your support. The prayers that have gone out. People everywhere have just been fantastic and the community here, back home in Dover and in Atlanta, the doctors, everyone in Atlanta, the community, was just fantastic with us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And the team's coach and another player are still in a hospital recovering in Atlanta.
LEMON: Less than 20 minutes to go until the closing bell. The Dow is still way down. Susan Lisovicz, of course, tracking the day for us. She'll have all the updates. The very latest straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
CHETRY: Down a little bit. Couple points.
Loyal opposition. It's a risky proposition in Zimbabwe. We have that story ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
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LEMON: Zimbabwe's best known opposition leader was in court appearing badly injured after being arrested along with others at a rally opposing their nation's government. CNN's Jeff Koinange filed this report from neighboring South Africa because Zimbabwe's government routinely denies CNN and other major western networks entry into that country.
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JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Members of the opposition in Zimbabwe gathered this past weekend in the country's capital for what they called a peaceful prayer meeting. Suddenly, and without warning, heavily armed riot police swooped in firing teargas and water cannons.
They then opened fire with live rounds, killing one and injuring scores more. Among the injured, the opposition's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. He and several dozen others were arrested. They appeared in court Tuesday, most battered, bruised and in obvious pain.
MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, ZIMBABWEAN OPPOSITION LEADER: It was a sadist attack on defenseless people.
KOINANGE: People there say that Tsvangirai sustained deep wounds to the head. Scores of Zimbabweans gathered at Zimbabwe's High Commission in Johannesburg, South Africa. They are demanding Tsvangirai and his jailed colleagues released.
ROY BENNETT, EXILED OPPOSITION POLITICIAN: This is the beginning they're not going to relent. It's going to continue until we're free.
KOINANGE: They call it the Save Zimbabwe campaign, a campaign to try and save a country fast spiraling out of control.
(on camera): This is but a fraction of the 3 million or so Zimbabweans currently living in South Africa. That's slightly more than 20 percent of Zimbabwe's population, forced to leave their country under what they call Mugabe's repressive regime. (voice-over): Mugabe has been the country only ruler since independence in 1980. He says this weekend he will run for re- election next year. Zimbabwe has the world's worst inflation, around 1700 percent. Eight in 10 are unemployed. Desperation is at an all- time high.
BENNETT: We will not go back. We have started to voice our opinion. The future is in our hands. Only we can make the change. Now more than ever do we need to stand in solidarity with our leaders, do we need to stand in solidarity for our cause as one.
KOINANGE: Many here are hoping Mugabe's latest announcement is a bluff. They fear six more years of his rule in the country whose name literally means House of Stone, seems to be crumbling with each passing day.
Jeff Koinange, CNN, Johannesburg.
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CHETRY: And check out this video. It's not Colorado. It's not upstate New York. No, we're going to tell you who got this snowfall right here in March.
Next, Rob Marciano has more in the NEWSROOM.
LEMON: Ouch.
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LEMON: So Kiran is learning the good part about being in Atlanta.
CHETRY: Beautiful weather.
LEMON: Isn't it fantastic? Everybody's been freezing. We've been in shorts, we've been in shirt sleeves for a while.
CHETRY: He's in shorts right now. You just can't tell because of the desk.
LEMON: Shh. Rob Marciano, can you save me over here?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Now listen, you have it easy. It's one of the cushier reasons of being an anchor right there. Don't actually have to wear a full suit.
CHETRY: No pants, except for you.
MARCIANO: Exactly.
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LEMON: I'm glad you know metric. We're saying, three meters? What is that? And then you said it So..
CHETRY: No math majors here.
LEMON: All right. Thank you, Rob Marciano.
Well, quite a show in Las Vegas. Ah, a landmark comes crashing down. Details straight ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
CHETRY: Also, the closing bell and a wrap of the action on Wall Street. It was another down day. We're going to assess the damage with Susan Lisovicz coming up in just a second.
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LEMON: I'll have a martini, very dirty, very dry.
CHETRY: Well, from Stardust, unfortunately, to just dust in seconds. Check this out.
But a Vegas sendoff because there were fireworks at the beginning of that. Everything is a show on the Las Vegas Strip. And in a hail of fireworks, the Stardust Casino and Hotel came crashing down overnight. When it opened almost 50 years ago, the Stardust called itself the world's biggest resort hotel. The implosion makes way for a new one that, of course, is a whole lot bigger. In Vegas now, all the old school hotels are going.
LEMON: Are going.
Maybe there should be some - I don't know if they ever had the architectural value that Miami Beach did. If they did, maybe someone would be fighting for them.
CHETRY: Well, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.
LEMON: Susan Lisovicz standing by with a final look at the trading day. I said martini, very dirty, very dry. Here on Wall Street today you may need a drink, right?
LISOVICZ: Yeah, and talk about a metaphor for the markets.
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