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American Morning

Rove Under Fire: E-mail Connection to Firings; More Troops to Iraq; Coroner: U.S. 'Friendly Fire' That Killed British Soldier in Iraq Unlawful, Criminal

Aired March 16, 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: Bitter blast. A late winter punch for the mid Atlantic and the Northeast happening right now. Guess what? Your Friday flight might be in jeopardy.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Judgment day. A coroners verdict any minute now on a U.S. war plane's friendly fire that killed a British soldier.

S. O'BRIEN: And burning bridge. A trail trestle goes up in dramatic flames. Take a look at that. Leaving rail traffic at a standstill.

We're live this morning from Washington, from London, from Tehran and from New York on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Welcome, everybody. It is Friday, March 16th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with the weather, shall we? It's a big reminder today it is not spring just yet. A blast of winter is hitting us from the mid Atlantic to the New England area right now. A winter storm warning, in fact, in effect for New York City. Storm watches up for New England. We could see eight to 10 inches of snow. Some flights have already been canceled. And you certainly can count on significant delays and even closures at some major airports.

A very busy morning for Chad. He's at the CNN Weather Center this morning. We also have Alina Cho. She's at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Let's begin with Alina before we get to Chad.

Alina, how's it looking so far?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, if you are heading to Orlando, Raleigh Durham, Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale, Chicago, Denver or Washington, D.C., on American Airlines out of LaGuardia Airport, you may be able to go back to bed because some of those flights have already been canceled. Check with the airport and check ahead.

Now delays and cancellations also at Newark and JFK Airports. Those are by destination, so you will want to call ahead. And keep in mind, this will affect travelers all over the country.

Now let's talk a bit about JetBlue. You'll recall they had what amounted to an operational meltdown last month during that infamous Valentine's Day storm. Well today the airline has protectively canceled 230 flights, most of them out of the hub at JFK.

Meanwhile, travelers here at LaGuardia are already experiencing problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He goes, I'm going to put you on standby for an earlier flight. And I said, why not my 7:00 flight? And he goes, because you're going to go standby on earlier. And I said why? And he said, because it's been canceled. So, you know, there was no indication whatsoever beforehand that the flight had been canceled. It showed on time.

CHO: You a little worried?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Hell, yes, I'm worried. I want to go home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We woke up this morning, looked out of the window, saw the snow coming down and was wondering if our flight would be canceled or not. But, so far, so good.

CHO: You got lucky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we got lucky.

CHO: Well, you're beating the weather.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to beat the weather. It's a good time to get out of New York City.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Well, I don't know about that, but one pilot we spoke to just a moment ago said he does not think it will be as bad this time around as it was during the Valentine's Say storm. He was here then, as well. He said that he expects most of the delays to be on the tarmac because of de-icing problems. All three of the major airports in the New York area do have their de-icing equipment ready in case this storm gets really big.

But, Soledad, as you well know, what a difference a day makes. Yesterday it was almost 70 degrees in New York City. Today, a 30 degree drop. And that, of course, is having a big effect here on travel.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, just for the record, I liked yesterday better, Alina.

CHO: Me, too.

S. O'BRIEN: Alina Cho for us. Thanks, Alina.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Just when we thought it was safe to put the winter coats in moth balls, alas, if you don't like the weather this time of year, just wait a minute. Severe weather expert Chad Myers is watching it all from the Weather Center.

You know, Chad, we hear about this freezing rain at the airports. That's about the worst thing a pilot can hear.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: All right, take a look at the right-hand corner of your screen. Need to glance there. There's a radar loop to the Northeast. Over there. And airport delays will be in there. We call it our blizmo, that's gizmo meets blizzard, blizmo. And Chad will be here every 15 minutes with the latest forecast for you, of course.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we know her name. Now we're going to get to see and hear from Valerie Plame. In just a few hours, she is testifying before a House committee that's looking into ways to protect the secret identities of CIA agents. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is on Capitol Hill for us this morning.

Good morning to you, Bob.

What do you expect to hear from Valerie Plame today?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, this could otherwise be titled Democrats sticking it to the Bush administration by hearing from Valerie Plame. Valerie Plame is the former CIA operative whose husband had criticized the Bush administration. And as a result, many people say, her identity was made known, her cover was blown and that that has resulted in a whole long list of things.

In any case, she has kept her silence. She is scheduled to testify today. For the first time really speaking out. Now, the Republicans might try and make this a closed hearing. And if they're successful, using their parliamentary maneuvers, it would just be rescheduled.

But in the meantime, we're expecting to hear from Valerie Plame. We should point out that her testimony is going to be limited. She cannot really still talk about her role at the CIA.

But one of the big issues, and there will be lawyers arguing an opposite point, is that the law was not really broken when her identity was disclosed. The law that was at hand was called the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and it specifies that you cannot reveal the identity of covert agents, which mean those serving overseas or after five years. Nevertheless, all of this is going to come up and it's going to be an interesting day, Soledad, if she testifies.

S. O'BRIEN: Scooter Libby has been found guilty in this case, as you well know. So after the testimony today, assuming it happens, what happens with this case, Bob?

FRANKEN: Really, nothing. Scooter Libby was not convicted for any of the offenses under this act, real or imagined. He was convicted of lying during the investigation to investigators, and that is why he is now facing possible jail time, unless there's a successful appeal or, of course, a pardon.

S. O'BRIEN: Which could happen. All right, Bob Franken for us this morning.

Thank you, Bob.

M. O'BRIEN: Also in Washington today, they will be following the e-mail trail inside the White House decision to fire U.S. attorneys. The traffic makes it clear the president's top political advisor, Karl Rove, was immeshed (ph) in the debate over how many prosecutors should be pink slipped. CNN's Christina Park is in Washington. She joins us this morning.

Good morning, Christina.

CHRISTINA PARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

You're exactly right. Democrats on Capitol Hill have a case of you've got mail or perhaps you've got proof. New e-mails put presidential adviser Karl Rove right into the thick of things, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. And that's something the White House has been fighting hard to prevent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PARK, (voice over): Previous statements from the White House put the blame of former presidential counsel Harriet Miers alone, but now it appears Karl Rove was involved as well. A January 9, 2005 e-mail between a White House aide and the aide of the attorney general discuss the idea of replacing all 93 U.S. attorneys in the president's second term and notes the Gonzales aide talked to his boss about it a couple of weeks ago. Congressional Democrats want Rove to testify about it.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: If the White House prevents Karl Rove from testifying, it will be thumbing its nose at the American people and at the rule of law.

PARK: The Bush administration defends the firing of the eight prosecutors.

ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: What I know is that there began a process of evaluating strong performers, not as strong performers and weak performers.

KARL ROVE, PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: Every president's entitled to do it. President Clinton was entitled to come in and, if we wanted to, as he did, ask for the immediate resignation or removal from office of all 93 U.S. attorneys.

PARK: But some others remain skeptical.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2005 and 2006 was not a case where they were examining holdovers from a Democratic administration. These were Republican loyalists who had been appointed, confirmed by the Senate with the support of their Republican senators or members of the Congress who were Republicans. And that's what makes these removals somewhat suspicious.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PARK: And now the showdown centers on who will testify, Miles. A Senator Judiciary Committee is still holding off on approving the issuing of subpoenas to top White House officials, hoping they'll do so voluntarily.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Christina Park in Washington, thank you.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.

The Pentagon getting a briefing on Iraq security operations at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is ordering 3,000 additional troops to Iraq. More than 31,000 troops now are part of the buildup. Nearly 10,000 more than the president initially said were need.

And take a look at these pictures. This is a massive fire. It's happening at a railroad trestle burning through the night near Sacramento. AmTrak and freight traffic obviously effected this morning. Now flames and smoke could be seen as far away as 50 miles. No trains were actually involved. No injuries were reported. And so far there's no word on just how this fire got started.

A very sad ending to a story we've been telling you about for the last couple of days. The body of six-year-old Christopher Barrios has been found. He'd been missing nearly for a week from his home in southern Georgia. Police found his body in a trash bag near a road about three miles from his home and now police say they have four suspects in custody.

M. O'BRIEN: The widow of a British soldier killed in Iraq in a friendly fire attack is pleading with President Bush to help the investigation. The results from a coroner's inquest due any minute now. Lance Corporal Matty Hull was killed four years ago in Iraq after his unit mistakenly drew fire from U.S. war planes. Cockpit video you see there captures the horrifying moment when the pilots realize they have aimed at the wrong target. CNN's Paula Hancocks, live for us in London, has been following this story.

Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Well, it has been four years this month since Lance Corporal Matty Hull was killed in that friendly fire incident. And Susan Hull, the widow, and Matty Hull's family has been struggling for all that time to try and find out the truth. But they say, along with the lawyers, that they have been obstructed all along the way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS, (voice over): This attack happened four years ago in Iraq. The pilots of an A-10 U.S. tank buster aircraft fired on a British convoy, thinking it want an enemy target. Lance Corporal Matty Hull was killed. A British inquest into his death is ongoing, but the coroner says lack of cooperation from U.S. authorities is making his job more difficult. Hull's widow made a personal plea on Thursday.

SUSAN HULL, MATTY HULL'S WIDOW: In November 2003, I met President Bush. He asked me if there was anything he could help with and assured me that he would do all he could to help.

President Bush, this is the last day you can help us. We ask that you give the coroner just one single page.

HANCOCKS: That single page contains evidence from Manila Hotel (ph), the code name for the U.S. ground control advising the two pilots at the time of the incident. The evidence was given in a U.S. investigation in 2003, but 11 lines of it were blacked out by U.S. authorities. A U.S. inquiry cleared the two pilots of any wrongdoing, saying they "followed the procedures and processes for engaging targets." But a British board of inquiry found the rules of engagement have not been followed, saying "there are examples of non- standard procedures and lack of situational awareness."

As well as recording a verdict on the death of 25-year-old Hull, the coroner may also make recommendations on how such a tragedy could be averted in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: Now here at Oxford Coroners Court, we are expecting that verdict within an hour or so.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula, I'm curious here. The U.S., the Pentagon, does not dispute that there was a friendly fire incident. They say the pilots acted properly with the best knowledge they knew at the time. What will the coroner possibly say there that is not already sort of in the realm of fact?

HANCOCKS: Well, the main options the coroner has at this point is whether or not he's going to record an open verdict or a verdict of unlawful killing. Now this isn't actually legally binding in the sense that the U.K. will be able to press charges against these two U.S. pilots. But if he does record a verdict of unlawful killing, it would be incredibly embarrassing for both governments. The U.K. and the U.S. governments are standing side-by-side in Iraq. The allies are fighting together side-by-side. But then when something like this happens, and it could record a verdict of unlawful killing, that could be pressure on the U.S. government to either start a new investigation or there could be pressure coming from the U.K. government that, obviously, if they're fighting side-by-side, they want to find out the truth.

Now what we've been hearing from the family and the coroner himself, who has been rather annoyed at certain points, is that there has been information being withheld from the U.S. government itself. U.S. officials are not giving all the evidence that they have from the pilots and also from the ground controllers during their own Pentagon investigation. So this is what could be embarrassing for both sides.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks in London, thanks.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: A David and Goliath battle is brew. Bolivian President Evo Morales leading the charge to force Coca-Cola to lose the Coca part of its name. Morales and coca growers say the coca plant belongs to the culture heritage of Bolivia. They're also trying to rehabilitate the coca plant's image because, of course, it's the base ingredient for cocaine.

Well, the people of Coca-Cola says, not so fast.

M. O'BRIEN: It kind of gets a bad rap because of that, doesn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. But the people at Coca-Cola say, that's kind of an important brand for us.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: They claim it's the most recognized brand in the world. They even say it's protected under Bolivian law. I don't think that was ever going to work.

M. O'BRIEN: No. No. You know since . . .

S. O'BRIEN: Just go with Cola, not Coca-Cola?

M. O'BRIEN: Coca-Cola used to have cocaine in it. It's original recipe.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, not for a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.

M. O'BRIEN: It's been a while, yes. It's been a little while. Don't rush out to the store, kids. All right. A big winter storm in the Northeast. Chad Myers all over it like white on snow.

And if you plan to fly today to or from the Northeast, forget about it if you can because it's a mess. We're going to plow through the delays and cancellations.

Plus, God help them. A California congressman comes out of the religious closet and announces he is an atheist. Will voters bless him out of office?

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. And we swear it's the most news in the morning right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The most news in the morning is right here.

Bundle up and hold on tight. A big, late season winter storm is bearing down on the Northeast today. Philly to Boston, Inland to Albany. JetBlue, Delta, American and others already canceling hundreds of flights.

And Democratic calling Karl Rove into the hearing room hot seat. Newly released e-mails show the president's top political adviser right in the middle of that decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys.

It's about quarter past the hour right now. Chad Myers watching the snowfall and the freezing rain and all the other problems here in the Northeast.

Hello, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Iran's president is trying to force a showdown over sanctions. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is asking for a visa to come to New York. Under U.N. rules, Iran has the right to argue right before the Security Council votes on more sanctions. Debate begins next week on Iran's nuclear program. The leaders in Iran insist that their nuclear program is peaceful. And they're proud of it. They're putting out a new bank note with the atomic symbol on it. CNN's Aneesh Raman is live for us in Tehran.

Good morning, Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

First with that bank note. It came out. It was issued just a few days ago. I'm holding a couple here. It's the highest currency value note in Iran, worth about $5.5 U.S. dollars. And we sent some video in to show you what is on the back. What is causing a great deal of attention.

On the back, over a map of Iran, is, as you mentioned, an atomic symbol. Below it is a saying from Prophet Mohammed about the greatness of scientific achievement. You'll also notice perhaps a satellite in the air just to the right of Iran. And they were very keen to make sure that the water below Iran was, in fact, called the Persian Gulf.

Timing, of course, is everything. It comes as Iran is pushing ahead with its nuclear program, which is routed in fierce nationalist pride over Iran's ability on its own to enrich uranium. But among the people, and we've been out for the past few days, this note signifies something else, inflation. The very need for Iran to have another high currency value note shows to them that the economy is faltering, and the economy is their biggest concern.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAMAN, (voice over): It is no easy stroll into Tehran's main market. Just days remain until No-Rooz, Iran's new year. And everyone it seems is here buying gifts at once. But this year, the traditional new year's optimism is tempered by everyday reality.

SAHAR, ENGLISH TEACHER: The people can't buy anything they want to.

RAMAN: Why?

SAHAR: Because the payment is very low and I'm teaching in English, but my payment was very low and I can't buy everything that I need.

RAMAN: Inflation here is up, salaries are stagnant and a new round of U.N. sanctions looms, triggered by the west's anxiety over Iran's nuclear program. Nadir has been selling Persian carpets for 17 years. This year, business is down but spirits, he says, are up. And there's less concern that Iran's nuclear push will propel the country into war.

NADIR, SHOP OWNER, (through translator): The worry among people have subsided. There was much more concern at the end of last year because the United States was moving its military into the Persian Gulf.

RAMAN: By day and by night, among all Iranians we met, fear has given way to hope, that a new year will bring a new dynamic between Iran and the world, especially after the U.S. and Iran met face-to- face last week at a regional conference in Iraq.

JAFAR, SHOPPER: Well, it's a good start. They stick together and, in the meantime, Iranian they stick together and hopefully in the next meeting in Turkey maybe they have another meeting.

RAMAN: But there's no doubt who should take the first step. Just ask Jafar's friend Vahid.

VAHID, SHOPPER: (INAUDIBLE) cooperation together. Also they have to understand each other. Unfortunately, American government doesn't understand the Iranian people, what nature they are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAMAN: But the Iranian people, Soledad, know really, until the nuclear dispute gets resolved, the economy will not get better.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman for us this morning.

Thank you, Aneesh.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, passports, please. If you're in a rush to get that little blue book, you're in for a rude awakening.

And double, double, quadruple toil and trouble for Wall Street today as the witches stir the trading pot. Our business wizard, Ali Velshi, will throw some words into the news caldron head on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: OK. This is kind of a weird thing. Kind of a strange contest unfolded in Washington, D.C., this week. It was a search for the most powerful atheist inside the beltway. AMERICAN MORNING's faith and values correspondent, Delia Gallagher, explains.

Good morning.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.

S. O'BRIEN: Kind of unusual contest. You've got to give me that.

GALLAGHER: Yes, absolutely. This was something that was launched by a group called the Secular Coalition of America. They are a group of atheists and agnostics looking for the highest ranking public official who's an atheist. Congressman Pete Stark of California came out and said . . .

S. O'BRIEN: Drum roll, please. The winner.

GALLAGHER: Said, I am, indeed, an atheist. And so he was the winner of this contest and that's how this news has become national news.

S. O'BRIEN: He didn't win the $1,000. The person who named him did win the money. But Congressman Stark actually had to verify it. Confirm it.

GALLAGHER: That's right. That's what happened. He didn't wake up one morning and say, today's the day I'm going to announce I'm an atheist. This was brought about by a contest.

S. O'BRIEN: He's been in politics for a long time out in California. What's his political risk, do you think? GALLAGHER: Well, I don't think he's worried about it. He's 75- years-old, 18-term congressman. He, obviously, doesn't have much worry in terms of coming out. In fact, let's take a look at something that he said about it.

He said, "I look forward to working with the Secular Coalition to stop the promotion of narrow religious believes in science, marriage contracts, the military and the provision of social services."

So this is something that he takes as one of his things that he's going to accomplish.

And the interesting thing here is that he's got a lot of support from some groups. There was a group that took an ad out in "The Washington Post" saying congratulations to you for doing this. Not a whole lot of backlash yet that we've seen. His office has gotten like 200 e-mails of support from atheists and agnostics in the country saying, thank you for doing this.

S. O'BRIEN: And it may not be backlash because he's been around for so long, doesn't have a lot to lose politically.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, Mitt Romney was on "Larry King Live" last night, along with his wife, and he was asked by Larry, you know, can an atheist be president? And here's what Mitt Romney had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the American public, generally, would like to have a person of faith lead the country. They want somebody who fundamentally believes that every single person is a child of God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: What does your research tell you? Is that true?

GALLAGHER: That certainly seems to be true right now. The interesting thing is, there was a poll taken in February about who would Americans vote for for president and it listed several religions. The catholic religion, 95 percent said they would vote for a catholic. Jewish, 92 percent. Mormon, 72. And atheist, 45 percent.

Now the interesting thing about that is that that same poll was taken in the 60s when JFK was running and the catholic number was in the 70s. So you see in the last 40 years that that's changed and there's nothing to say that in another 40 years the atheist number wouldn't change as well. But certainly for the moment . . .

S. O'BRIEN: Was the atheist number low back in the 60s?

GALLAGHER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE).

GALLAGHER: So, you know, I mean that has changed. There's been more acceptance of atheists nowadays. And certainly they're more vocal and more visible. But whether America is ready to vote for an atheist for president, at least for this election, we don't have one running anyway . . .

S. O'BRIEN: I was going to say, with -- how many . . .

GALLAGHER: Not yet.

S. O'BRIEN: People who are in this race right now, not one . . .

GALLAGHER: Unless Pete Stark puts himself in there.

S. O'BRIEN: It could happen. Everybody else is in.

Faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher.

Thank you, Delia.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: You know they say ignorance is bliss. Sometimes too much information can be a bad thing for a market. And, boy, they're going to get information overload today, Ali Velshi.

About 25 minutes past the hour, by the way.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Have you felt that. We've had a lot of information. The last few weeks we've had . . .

M. O'BRIEN: To much. Turn off the fire hose.

VELSHI: Yes, we've had these major sell-offs. Two of them on a stock market. We've had reports that consumers are abandoning their spending habits. That's been confirmed. We've got more and more folks talking about the possibility of a recession. Yesterday morning we got a slightly alarming report on inflation at the wholesale level and today we get the big number, retail inflation.

The Consumer Price Index is releasing in about two hours. Most of us don't need a report on inflation. We can feel that things are costing more. But the Federal Reserve uses that information because it holds its regular meeting about interest rates on Wednesday in Washington.

Now I'm going to be back in about an hour with more on what that means, but I'm going to leak a big secret right now. Rising gas prices are a major cause of inflation.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, you're way out on a limb there now.

VELSHI: Yes. And we've seen that. Almost 40 cents a gallon since January. Now but don't look for any relief in the price of oil because OPEC has just said, and it's not going to produce more oil to bring the prices down. At a meeting in Vienna yesterday, OPEC's minister said, kind of like the price where it is. So get used to it.

Now let's look at that market. The Dow is down about 120 points for this week. The inflation report could drive it up or down today. But whatever happens, if you're a market watcher today, don't get spooked if you see massive volume and big swings.

Why? Because it is quadruple witching Friday today. That doesn't mean you're going to see four witches.

M. O'BRIEN: Double, double . . .

VELSHI: Double -- yes, exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: Toil and trouble.

VELSHI: What it means is that four types of futures and options expire today and the stocks, upon which those futures and options are based, need to be traded. It's just an expression. No point in explaining any further than that. It just makes guys like me seem very approachable.

M. O'BRIEN: Once again, the voice of calm and reason here.

VELSHI: Yes. Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Ali, thank you. I hope everybody's listening. We'll have another Ali rally.

VELSHI: Absolutely.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Top stories of the morning coming up next.

A major winter storm is blowing its way to the Northeast as we speak. A lot of flights already canceled in and out of this part of the world. So if you're headed this way or trying to get out, if you can, stay home.

Plus, Karl Rove, the president's most trusted advisor, thrown right into the middle of the U.S. attorney firing scandal. We'll be on the e-mail trail for you.

And are you ready for your close-up red planet. Oh, I'm sorry, that's Saturn. Yes, there you go. There's -- there's Mars. Need a little more rouge, maybe?

An amazing Mars fly-over, and you're in the cockpit, as well as a view of Saturn that we've never seen before right there.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning all throughout the solar system right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It is Friday, March 16th.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

Thanks for being with us. Developing stores we're watching for you this morning.

(NEWSBREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin this morning in Washington, D.C. President Bush's most trusted adviser is now taking center stage in the scandal over those eight fired U.S. attorneys. E-mails may now prove that Karl Rove had a hand in it from the beginning.

CNN's White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The e-mail shows that Karl Rove raised the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys nearly a month before the White House previously acknowledged. The electronic conversation between two White House officials dated January 6, 2005, says, "Rove stopped by to asked how we plan to proceed regarding U.S. attorneys. Allow all to stay? Requests resignations from all and accept only some? Or selectively replace them?"

So the White House is sticking by its claim that it was Harriet Miers who originally suggested getting rid of all 93 U.S. attorneys and that Rove dismissed it as a bad idea. However, the White House has provided no documentation supporting that.

So, why does this matter? Democrats, like New York Senator Chuck Schumer, pounded on this newly-surfaced e-mail, saying this is just another example of the White House not being up front about Rove's role, and that he is insisting he be compelled to testify before Congress. The White House says this is more partisan politics aimed at damaging the administration.

Now, this battle comes to a head later today, with the Senate deadline for White House lawyers to decide whether Rove, Miers and other White House staff will testify before Congress or whether the White House will invoke executive privilege.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(NEWSBREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The latest now on the fight for Iraq. Defense Secretary Gates ordering 3,000 more troops in, and Senate Democrats at home facing a defeat. Senate Republicans defeated a resolution that would have given President Bush four months to withdraw combat troops. So now there's a total of 31,000 additional troops going into Iraq. The U.S. commander in Iraq says he needs more boots on the ground and more helicopters in the air.

Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr has our report this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): General David Petraeus, the new commander in Iraq, has made it clear. He wants to mesh as many troops as fast as he can. While some levels of violence are down, there are still many skeptics.

LAWRENCE KORB, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: The Petraeus doctrine is, too little, too late. If we were going to do this, we should have done it right from the beginning. Listen to General Shinseki, had enough troops on the ground to get the situation under control after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

STARR: And for the first time, the Pentagon has openly acknowledged in a congressionally mandated report that some of the violence in the last quarter of 2006 in Iraq is properly descriptive of a civil war. With signs the troop increase is making a difference, that acknowledgement is winning kudos from at least one long-time Pentagon critic.

MURTHA: I just read the report that we get every quarter. We are starting to get realistic reports. Since Secretary Gates came in, we are getting much more realistic reports.

STARR (on camera): The request for the helicopter unit was made just a few weeks ago. For now, it means a plus-up in overall troop levels in Iraq.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

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M. O'BRIEN: Ice jams causing flooding this morning in upstate New York. About 30 homes evacuated as the Susquehanna River overflowed its banks in Conklin. That's about 150 miles northwest of New York City. Cresting rivers expected to bring some minor flooding today.

Which brings us to Chad Myers at the weather center. He's watching that big storm as it barrels into the Northeast.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: If you don't have a passport, it's going to take you a while to get one. The State Department is swamped apparently with requests because of the new rules this year that say that every American who's traveling by air to any country has to have a passport. So that includes Canada, it includes Mexico, it includes the Caribbean. You now can expect to wait 10 weeks. Once you've got your passport, you'll still be waiting to take off, apparently. The government says airports are more crowded and it's getting worse every year. They expect to see an increase of 1.5 million more flights each year until the year 2020.

That's a lot more flights.

M. O'BRIEN: That's a lot more flights. Crowded skies, crowded runways.

Blue Devils, indeed. This morning, the team that dominated the NCAA Tournament for a decade is out before reaching the sweet 16. Watch this.

Nothing but net. That's Virginia Commonwealth. Virginia Commonwealth?

What's their ranking, boys? Do we know?

Pete says thumbs down. He has got no money on them.

You should have last night, pal.

Eric Maynor his a 15-foot jumper with 1.8 seconds left. Coach Mike Krzyzewski -- Coach K. -- of Duke was rather philosophical afterward. He said, "You know, it's not our birthright to win each year."

It just seemed that way.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, it's a game.

M. O'BRIEN: It's a game, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Go BCU.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Let them be the Cinderella team this year.

S. O'BRIEN: Why not?

M. O'BRIEN: Why not?

S. O'BRIEN: All right.

Well, we've got a complete political roundup coming for you up next. John McCain takes his straight talk express straight to an important town hall meeting. We'll show you what happened there.

And what's it like to fly a helicopter over Mars? We're going to show you with some pretty incredible new images from space.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: We do have a little piece of news coming into us right now. The Associated Press reporting that that coroner's inquest has delivered a verdict in England. This is looking into the friendly fire death of Lance Corporal Matty Hull, who died after his unit was attacked by U.S. warplanes. According to the coroner there, that friendly fire attack that killed the British soldier was unlawful and criminal.

That just coming out just a couple of moments ago. Our Paula Hancocks is there. We're going to hear from her after the break.

Also coming up, you've heard it a thousand times -- eat your fruits and veggies. But there are a lot of Americans who are turning a deaf ear to mom's advice. Oh, say it ain't so. The government is not feeling to peachy about this.

Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

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S. O'BRIEN: This breaking news to report for you this morning. It's coming from The Associated Press.

The coroner is saying that it was U.S. friendly fire attack that killed a British soldier in Iraq and that it was unlawful and criminal.

Paula Hancocks has been covering this story for us. She's in Oxford this morning, which is where that court is.

Paula, good morning.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, that inquest has just closed. The verdict recorded is one of unlawful killing.

Now, this was one of the strongest verdicts that the coroner here, Deputy Assistant Andrew Walker (ph), could have recorded. The family were very emotional as this was read out.

Susan Hull, Matty Hull's widow, broke down in tears, as did Matty Hull's mother. The father and the sister also in court.

Now, Andrew Walker (ph), the coroner, did say that this incident was entirely avoidable. He said there was a catalog of errors along the way, things were not checked, the coordinates were not checked, identification of the British armored convoy was not checked. And if this had been checked in such a way as the rules of engagement state that they should be, then this could have been entirely avoidable -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The widow, as you know, really wanted and begged, frankly, President Bush to help cooperate in all of this, which I guess didn't happen. What happens now? What happens next?

HANCOCKS: Well, this particular verdict isn't legally binding for either the U.K. legal courts or the U.S. courts. This won't lead to any prosecution or such of the U.S. pilots themselves. But what this does is this really does embarrass the U.K. government and the U.S. government.

The two governments working side by side in Iraq. Allies, they're fighting side by side, the soldiers from the U.K. and from the U.S. But in fact, there were many different documents that were withheld by the U.S. authorities.

This is why Susan Hull, the widow of the soldier that was killed in Iraq, gave that person plea to President Bush on Thursday, saying she wanted to see all the evidence, she wanted to see the evidence from the U.S. investigation, which cleared these two U.S. pilots of any wrongdoing. The evidence she had and the coroner had had many blacked-out lines -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks in Oxford for us this morning.

Thank you, Paula -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A lot of new and stunning images from space this week. I thought I'd share them with you. Let's take a little roundup, if you will, through the solar system.

First, let's go to Mars. Shall we?

Ever wondered what it would be like to fly a helicopter over Mars? These are images from the Mars reconnaissance orbiter that have been digitally synthesized to give you kind of this fly-over effect.

This is right where the Opportunity lander is, and still roaming about the edge of the Victoria Crater. And if you look carefully along here, there it is. They depict a little shot of Opportunity there.

Take a look on the other side of the planet. Spirit doing its job. These are the Columbia Hills.

Let's take our little chopper right now. We ought to have some chopper noise here. Anyway, this is once again manufactured from wonderful imagery from the Mars reconnaissance orbiter which is orbiting overhead.

These rovers now have been on there for four years. Between them, they have about 11 miles on the odometer and about 180,000 images sent back to Earth.

Now, another spacecraft that orbiting Mars right now -- it's a good time to be doing stuff on -- if you're into science on Mars. There's a lot of spacecraft out there.

Take a look at all these pictures. This is the south pole of Mars. Wherever you see the red images, that's a really thick piece of ice, upwards of 2.5 miles thick.

Now, let's go and show you a picture from a previous image, from the Hubble, of the south pole of Mars. They've discovered that there is a lot more water in the south pole, ice, than they first thought. They thought it was more dry ice or carbon dioxide ice.

If it were to melt -- this is about the size of Texas here -- if it were to melt, it would cover the planet in a pool of water 36 feet deep. Water is a big deal on Mars, because wherever there is water here on Earth, you'll find life.

All right. Onward we go now. Let's go a little deeper into space, shall we?

Saturn -- this is Saturn as we've never seen it before. In the -- back in the day, Voyager and Pioneer and all those probes, when they came by Saturn, they went off to the side, kind of like this.

Well, Cassini is out there and finally got into this orbit, which puts it looking down on the wonderful rings of Saturn. Let's take a look at those rings of Saturn a little more closely. We got kind of a little movie we can play for you.

Of course, everybody knows by now what the rings are made of, right? Does everybody know? Those are disintegrated moons of Saturn.

They get pulverized by the gravity. You know, and each one of these little bands represents a moon that's now just a bunch of dust.

Do you want to know how think those rings are? That's another moon that hasn't been pulverized yet, by the way. It just went by. Only about 130 feet thick.

And the reason we can see them so well is they're kind of wavy, like corrugated cardboard. And -- but it's amazing how vivid they can be. And yet, we're talking about something extremely narrow -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles. Thanks. That's pretty cool.

Still to come this morning, Alan Greenspan is speaking out again. We'll see what he has to say about the mortgage crisis.

Plus, e-mail trail connects Karl Rove to the firing of U.S. attorneys. So what now?

And an even uglier side of war -- rogue death squads within Iraq's security forces. We preview a special report straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.

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S. O'BRIEN: Bitter blasts. A late winter punch to the Mid- Atlantic and the Northeast right now. There are storm warnings. There's snow. And your Friday flight could be in jeopardy.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming out. Former CIA agent Valerie Plame speaking out today for the first time publicly about the whole thing. She'll be appearing before Congress, and all eyes will be upon her.

S. O'BRIEN: And Rove's role. E-mails reveal what he knew and when he knew it before the U.S. attorneys were fired.

We're live this morning from Washington, Iowa and New York, all on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody, Friday, March 16th.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

We're glad you're with us on this Friday.

We begin in Washington today, following the e-mail trail inside the White House decision to fire those U.S. attorneys. The traffic makes it clear the president's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was meshed in the debate over how many prosecutors should be pink-slipped.

CNN's Kathleen Koch live from the White House with the latest.

Good morning, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

And the White House has said all along that it was former counsel Harriet Miers' idea to dismiss not just the eight fired U.S. attorneys, but all 93. Well, now -- and again, e-mails released on Monday indicate that she first began discussing that idea in February of 2005.

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