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American Morning
Winter Storm Hitting Northeast U.S.
Aired March 16, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And again, e-mails released on Monday, indicate that she first began discussing that idea in February of 2005. However, an e-mail just released from January of 2005 now shows that top political adviser Karl Rove was, indeed -- he had a hand in the matter.
I'll read it to you, quote, "Rove stopped by to ask you how he planned it proceed regarding U.S. attorneys. Allow all to stay, request resignations from all, and accepting only some, or selectively replace them."
Now that e-mail was from White House aide Colin Newman to another aide.
Democrats are very angry. They say this shows, this particularly from Senator Charles Schumer, he says it shows that Rove was in the middle of all of this from the beginning. However, Rove for his part, in his speech in Alabama yesterday, said that it is politics that is driving all this criticism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARL ROVE, SR. WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR: This, in my mind, is a lot of politics. I understand that is what Congress has the right to play around with, and they're going to do it. I just asked the American people and asked Congress to look fairly and carefully what's being said and done now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: The White House insists also that the newly released e- mail from January of 2005 is, indeed, consistent with earlier statements. Dana Perino says that during this transition period, after the 2004 elections, that they already said that a question was raised about replacing all 93 of the U.S. attorneys.
Quote, "Karl's recollection is he heard about this idea from Harriet Miers and thought it was a bad idea, and would be unwise."
And Miles, a final point is, the White House says all of this flap over something the president had every right to do. Replace these attorneys who served at his pleasure. Back to you.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Kathleen, Democrats in Congress would love to see Karl Rove and Harriet Miers testify about this. What are the chances that is going to happen? KOCH: Looking like slim and none right now, Miles. There is supposed to be some sort of decision reached on this today. White House Council Fred Fielding has been on the Hill this week talking with House and Senate leaders.
As Tony Snow put it yesterday, we're trying to get Congress the information it needs consistent with presidential privilege. But the president's practice in the past has been to fight this and that's what we expect him to do.
Kathleen Koch at the White House, thank you.
Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN AMERICAN MORNING: Let's turn now to the blast of winter that is hitting the mid-Atlantic and New England right now. A winder storm warning is now in effect for New York City. Storm watches for all of New England. We could see eight to ten inches of snow. Many flights have already been delayed or canceled and many closures at airports could be possible.
Very, very busy morning for Chad. He's at the CNN Weather Center working hard. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho also working hard at LaGuardia Airport, in New York City.
Alina, let's start with you. How are the people around you taking this news?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're taking it in stride, but there is some bad news to report this morning, Soledad.
If you're heading to Chicago, Denver, Dallas, New Orleans, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Raleigh/Durham, or Washington, D.C. this morning on American Air Lines out of La Guardia Airport, take note, you may be able to go back to bed. Some of those flights have already been canceled.
We have also just gotten word that Delta airlines have protectively (sic) canceled 100 flights in anticipation of the bad weather. Let's talk about the other airports in the area. Over at Newark we got word that 132 outbound flights have been canceled today and 118 inbound flights.
Over at JFK, that is JetBlue's hub. Let's talk about that operational meltdown you remember from last month during the infamous Valentine's Day storm. Today, JetBlue has protectively (sic) canceled 230 flights. The majority of those flights either in or out of New York's three major airports.
Well, earlier we spoke to two girls who are still hoping to make it to Dallas in time for St. Patrick's Day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're a little delirious, I think, from the lack of sleep. But the person at the desk was really, really nice. We can't help the weather, so, it happens. At least we get to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, we'll still be, we're hopeful. We're definitely still hopeful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We woke up this morning and looked out the window and saw the snow coming down and was wondering if our flight would be canceled or not. But so far, so good.
CHO (on camera): You got lucky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we got lucky.
CHO: 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, it is still snowing lightly here in New York City, but the weather is actually improved in the past hour, so we'll have to wait and see what happens. What a difference a day makes. Just yesterday it was almost 70 degrees in New York City. A 30 degree drop today and that is affecting travel, quite a bit this morning.
And, Soledad, as you well know, what happens in New York will affect travelers all across the country today.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yeah, it's going to be a mess. Alina Cho, thank you, we'll keep checking in with you throughout the morning to see how it's going.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: As Alina mentioned, if you don't like the weather this time of year, just wait a minute. Severe Weather Expert Chad Myers is watching it all unfold from the weather center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: We know her name and now we'll get to see and hear Valerie Plame, in just a few hours. She's testifying for a House committee who is looking into ways to protect the names of CIA agent agents. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken on Capitol Hill for us this morning.
Bob, good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We think she's going to testify. The Republicans might exercise a parliamentary option and want the meeting closed, and then the Democrats say that they're going to reschedule. But assuming it goes forward, the world will be treated to the first detailed conversation with Valerie Plame.
She, the former covert CIA representative, under cover CIA person, whose identity became known during the whole controversy over her husband, Joseph Wilson, who was an administration critic. Her -- as we found out -- her name was leaked by various White House operatives that resulted, ultimately, in the conviction of Scooter Libby, not for the leaks, but for lying about them to investigators. He's appealing that, of course.
Now, there is a serious question that has been raised in Washington, whether in fact leaking her name was illegal. And that is going to be debated before the committee today. But, really, the interest is hearing from Valerie Plame and watching her. Somebody who has come, as "The Washington Post" called her, kind of a Greta Garbo- type, but today she speaks out -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Everybody wants to hear what she's going to say. Now, is she going to be limited in what she can actually say in this hearing, because, of course, she was a CIA operative?
FRANKEN: As a matter of fact, yes, and as a matter of fact, she has a book coming out -- or trying to come out. But right now going through the very stringent CIA vetting process. As we heard before the CIA reserves the right to clear anything that's said by former employees. So, she's going to be somewhat constrained in what she can talk about.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Bob Franken, thank you.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: John McCain is trying to jump start his presidential campaign by hopping on a symbol of his political past. The Straight Talk Express is back. CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley is in the real River City this morning, Mason City, Iowa.
We have trouble, right there in River City, right? Begins with "T" and rhymes with "P" and stands for politics, right?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You know it really easy to spot as John McCain travels through Iowa all the similarities to his 2000 campaign, Miles. But what in the end will matter in 2008, are the differences.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Morning, how are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.
CROWLEY (voice over): In need of a little something to power up his campaign, John McCain brought the Straight Talk Express out of mothballs and took off across Iowa. Talking, talking, talking.
MCCAIN: Deja vu, all over again.
CROWLEY: The bus was the symbol of his 2000 campaign. It carried the iconoclast, the no-holds-barred, independent thinking Westerner who almost beat George W. Bush.
But the maverick McCain has spent the last few years going mainstream, courting the party faithful, making up with evangelicals he once dissed. Picking up Bush staffers, Bush fundraisers, and Bush supporters. For some, McCainiacs, it has taken off the glow.
MCCAIN: I'm the same guy that I always was. And my position are always the same. I mean, I can't help it if people want to -- you know, it's a free country. They can say what they say, but I haven't changed.
CROWLEY: The war also hurts McCain's bid. The Arizona senator is so hawkish, it often seems to be his war as much as the president's. But McCain greets it head on, bringing it up before they do.
MCCAIN: I am convinced that if we lose this conflict and leave, they will follow us home. They will follow us home.
CROWLEY: McCain tosses off any notion that his campaign has lost the magic. Though Rudy Giuliani has enjoyed a double-digit lead for month, McCain says this is only spring training and he is on his game.
MCCAIN: We are doing fine. I think that we have the kind of base and support we didn't have in 2000, politically and financially. We're working away, one day at a time. And now we're back in the most enjoyable part. And that's the riding around on the bus, talking to jerks like you and having town hall meetings.
CROWLEY: Some things haven't changed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: More of the same today, Miles, as the campaign heads off to Cedar Falls, and then weather permitting, to New Hampshire -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: So the let me get this straight, "jerk" is a term of endearment, is that right?
(LAUGHTER)
CROWLEY: Yeah. He sounded very much like he did in 2000. Trust me, there was a lot of that.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Candy. We'll be back with you in a little while. Talk more about this.
Of course, all the day's political news is available any time of the day or night on the CNN political ticker, cnn.com/ticker the place to find it.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The magic is back. A strongly-worded verdict is just in, a coroner is calling that friendly fire death of a British soldier an unlawful killing. A U.S. warplane had fired on that soldier's convoy. CNN's Paula Hancocks has been falling these developments for us from Oxford this morning.
Good morning, Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Yes, that verdict recorded just about 20 minutes ago. And it was the strongest verdict that Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker could have recorded. Unlawful killing. He said that the incident, which ended in the death of Mattie Hall (ph), a 25-year-old lance corporal, was entirely avoidable.
He also criticized the U.S. officials for not giving all the information and the evidence that he had asked for. He said that not all of the facts have come to light in this particular case.
As all along the way the coroner and the lawyers and Mattie Hall's (ph) family have been saying that many pages of the evidence have blacked out areas. Now, we did see his Mattie Hall's (ph) widow, Susan Hall (ph), give a personal plea to President Bush on Thursday. But they had no reaction from that.
Now a very emotional reaction from the family when that verdict was read out. Susan Hall (ph), the widow, broke down in tears, as did Mattie Hall's mother. The father and the sister also in attendance in the court. Now, they're expected to talk in just the next half hour or so giving some kind of statement about their reaction to this verdict -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: We'll be waiting to hear that. Paula Hancocks, for us this morning, from Oxford. Thank you, Paula.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right this just in O'Brien kids, snow day for you. Yep. Messy winter storm and a lot of kids in the Northeast will get a day off.
Take a look at these live pictures right now. Outside our window, actually, that is on top of our building there. Looking there at the Hudson River. There we go, that appears to be Central Park South, Columbus Circle, lower part of your screen. A little bit of dusting of snow there on Central Park. We haven't seen much snow here this year, so, maybe, just maybe we'll have a snowman today. Just maybe.
Good day to check with your airline to say the least, a lot of delays and cancellations already. The airlines trying to get ahead of this one, especially JetBlue, you remember what happened to them on Valentine's Day.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning right here on CNN, always on time. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Former CIA agent Valerie Plame is on Capitol Hill today. That will be a hearing to watch. She'll speak publicly for the first time about being outed by administration officials back in 2003.
Global warming: Well, we're going through the warmest winter on record. The warmest since 1980. Cold comfort to folks in the Northeast this morning. But, nonetheless, warming trends and a moderate El Nino in the Pacific are factors.
Chad Myers at the Weather Center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, a closer look at the scandal in Washington, D.C. over those fired U.S. attorneys. A second Republican senator is now calling for Alberto Gonzales to step down.
Oregon's Gordon Smith telling "USA Today" that "it would be helpful" -- that's a quote -- "f the attorney general stepped aside."
New e-mails are revealing that Karl Rove was actually involved earlier than the White House first said. Jeff Toobin's here to help us sort it all out.
There's a lot to sort out. Let's start first, legally. Anybody legally in jeopardy? President, Karl Rove, Gonzales, anybody?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Not as far as I can tell. In fact, if the White House simply from the very beginning had said, look, these are political appointees. We had political discussions about whether to get rid of them and we had every right to do it. This whole thing might have -- if not gone away -- certainly been very different.
Instead, every explanation that has been put out by the White House has been contradicted by the e-mails and that happened again yesterday.
S. O'BRIEN: So, it is the twists and turns that are really getting everybody. Hey, we can fire anybody we want.
TOOBIN: Right. That wouldn't have gotten rid of the whole thing, but it could have gone a long way towards making it less than it is.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about one e-mail that reveals Karl Rove's involvement, much earlier than anybody thought. Back in January of 2005, and it said this, "Rove stopped by to ask you how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. attorneys. Allow all to stay, request resignations from all, and accepting only some, or selectively replace them?"
So, it's pretty clear. Spells out what happens there. The bottom line would be, can and will, do you think Karl Rove testify? TOOBIN: Well, he can testify. He probably won't testify because the Bush administration has been very zealous in guarding its own prerogatives in saying that internal White House deliberations are off limits. And one things this whole scandal illustrates so far, is that administration has lived for five plus years with no oversight from Congress.
Congress has been completely docile so they never had to deal with issues about what e-mails do we disclose, and who testifies, from a hostile Congress. And they're obviously floundering around and can't get their story straight.
S. O'BRIEN: They could claim executive privilege on all of this. To you expect that is in the ground support that? They could make the claim for anything.
TOOBIN: It is unlikely that Congress could go to court and force them under contempt of court, especially for Harriet Miers, who is the former White House counsel who has the issue of a legal privilege, perhaps, not to testify. Rove is obviously a close counselor to the president. This is a political matter. It seems unlikely that he can be forced to testify. However, by not testifying, he creates more of a political problem than and extends the story even farther.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the political problem because at the end of the day, it might be legal, but you can still lose your job. Politically he might face pressure, enough of it. We had one Republican, yesterday, when we were talking, today it's two.
TOOBIN: Gonzales is in bigger trouble today than he was yesterday and yesterday he was in bigger trouble than he was the day before. Another e-mail, in the group released yesterday, says suggests very strongly that Gonzales was involved in this issue when he was the White House counsel, about which U.S. attorneys should be forced out.
Think about the White House explanations. The first explanation was this was all the Justice Department, the White House had nothing to do with it. Second explanation was --
S. O'BRIEN: Wait a minute, no, it's not.
TOOBIN: It was all Harriet Miers' idea. Karl Rove had nothing to do with it.
S. O'BRIEN: Wait a minute, no, it's not.
TOOBIN: Now, the new explanation is, well, the e-mails show that Karl Rove was involved, but everybody was talking about it. This is the classically bad way to handle something like this.
And, also, even though they did have the right to get rid of these U.S. attorneys, getting rid of some of them because they weren't prosecuting enough Democrats or they weren't prosecuting enough Democratic voters for vote fraud.
S. O'BRIEN: Or too aggressive with Republicans. TOOBIN: Too aggressive with Republicans. That's improper. May not be illegal, but it's not something that the White House will be able to defend, if that turns out to be the case.
S. O'BRIEN: We'll see how they do over the weekend in the talk shows. The political talk shows are going to have a field day.
TOOBIN: And, there are more e-mails still to come.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yeah, a lot to talk about. We'll have you back on Monday. CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeff Toobin, for us. Thank you, Jeff.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: No snow day for Jeff, that's for sure.
New inflation numbers out today. What are they? And what do they mean for you? Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" ahead. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Most news in the morning is here on CNN.
Winter blast is now pounding the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast. Up to 10 inches of snow are expected in some places. JetBlue, Delta already canceling hundreds of flights to and from the Northeast.
We'll take a look at these pictures. A wooden train trestle on fire near Sacramento. People 50 miles away can see it burning. Now Amtrak, and freight lines in Northern California have been affected, too.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Well some bureaucrats in the government might call it rising consumer price indices. You call it a thinner wallet. It's about 25 minutes past the hour and Ali Velshi is here to tell you how thin it may be.
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to oversell another economic report, because I have to explain why this all matters to you.
But the Consumer Price Index, the CPI, affects every single American. Why? Because it's used to adjust your income, your rent, your retirement benefits, your alimony if you pay that, and your taxes. It is the way the government measures inflation.
Now, basically, they have a basket of goods. Here are some of them, that the typical American would consume. Food, housing, clothes, transportation, health care, education, recreation, a host of other things. It's pretty scientific. They compare prices for the same things in 87 urban areas, and from almost 25,000 businesses. Rent information, for instance, is collected from 50,000 landlords and tenants.
One of the biggest issues is that while inflation may be volatile, the number used by businesses and economists is actually just a part of the official number. It's called the core rate. The core rate strips out the most volatile things like food and energy prices, which have large swings, depending on the season, or unusual changes in supply and demand. And that makes it easier to compare.
But when you measure things that are relatively stable, while that makes sense, the problem is I don't know anybody who doesn't consume food or energy.
The other problem with this is when it comes to measuring inflation all the items are given a particular weight, proportion to what the government thinks people spend. Like, Miles. We all don't spend the same way Miles does.
Depending on who you are and where you live, your spending habits might be different than his. You might spend more on health care, less on recreation, might have kids in college, or a parent you're supporting. You might like steaks or you smoke. And you might have gas guzzling SUVs.
We'll watch this number very closely, Miles, but in the end, as you said, no inflation number is necessary. You all know exactly how much you spend.
M. O'BRIEN: Or those pesky children, they constantly want meals.
VELSHI: They're cost centers.
M. O'BRIEN: They are.
S. O'BRIEN: They suck you dry. It's so true.
M. O'BRIEN: You've been in my Quicken, haven't you? All right. Thank you, Ali.
S. O'BRIEN: Top stories of the morning are coming up next. You can expect a lot of snow along with some green on this St. Patty's Day weekend. A winter storm warning is in effect right now for the Northeast. Chad has an update right after the break.
Plus, e-mail trail: Following the president's closest adviser right into the middle of firing of those U.S. attorneys.
And caught on tape: The shooting spree on crowded New York City streets. We'll show you the tape.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, welcome everybody. It's March 16th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us. We're watching a major winter storm hitting the northeast as we speak. Storm warnings are up. A lot of pictures now, that's mid-town Manhattan right on top of our building there looking at the Hudson River and a few of the piers there. You can see a dusting of snow. There's a boater out there, I hope they're not water skiing this morning, unlikely. Snow is coming down, hundreds of flights are canceled. You name the airline, they got cancellations. They're doing it kind of in advance. They don't want to repeat that Jetblue scenario of Valentine's Day. Look at the low clouds here. You can see if you need to travel today and you don't have to, might want to just stay home.
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, we're following some of the developments in Iran and the United Nations. They're setting up for a showdown. Iran's president ready to fight, wants to come here to do it. We're live in Washington, DC and Tehran for you this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: And a heart-breaking buzzer beater. It depends on which side of the fence you're on heartbreaking for who. Your office pool off the deep end this morning. The late-night shot that sent one favorite packing. It's not a heart breaker for Brian Bell (INAUDIBLE). We'll tell you how Duke went down.
S. O'BRIEN: I was rooting for them, actually.
M. O'BRIEN: You were not.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes I was.
M. O'BRIEN: You were up late watching March madness?
S. O'BRIEN: No, I don't watch any of it. Someone later tells me who won. Come on man, you know that.
Let's start with the winter storm this morning. Deep snow, dangerous ice, it's going to be very very messy. Flight delays, cancellations that the major northeast airports. Severe weather expert Chad Myers busy, busy, busy today. Where do you want to start, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We'll start with the warnings, Soledad because the snow is already coming down now. This is not the moisture that came in yesterday with that rain that I mentioned maybe kind of ended as some kind of some spitting mist and drizzle. This is the storm that actually came out of the south. Now the rain from the south is trying to get up into the north and it's already cold there and look at the number of counties here with winter storm warnings. All the way from West Virginia all the way up into Canada. And so, the warnings now mean that it's happening.
The difference is going to be dramatic, depending on where you live. If you're along the coast from Boston through Hartford and Long Island, you're going to see snow changing to sleet and even to rain washing a lot of the snow away. It's never going to get to rain in New York City or if it does, it may only be just an hour or so. And then it's back to sleet again. This is going to be a snow event, heavy, heavy snow, though, is west of New York City because it does get to sleet for you. Now, that sleet is going it be a problem for the airplanes. There are 30 planes in the sky right now out of La Guardia and they're still taking off. There's still doing OK. Many of them already pre-canceled but when we get the sleet and the freezing rain coming down, these planes are going to be grounded so we're going to see when that happens. It'll be later on, somewhere around noon, 2:00 this afternoon, it's going to be a real problem. Soledad?
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you for watching it for us. You're more likely to face more flight delays even in good weather. The government says the skies and the airports are getting more and more crowded every single year adding 1.5 million flights, they predict, every year until the year 2020.
M. O'BRIEN: The U.S. attorney firing flap growing more politically volatile this morning. The e-mail trail leading right to the office door of Karl Rove, the president's most trusted political adviser. A big deadline today, a Senate committee wants to know if Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and some other key Bush staffers will testify under oath. Otherwise, the subpoenas will be flying.
And another Republican call for the attorney general to step down. Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon now says it is time for Alberto Gonzales to go.
S. O'BRIEN: Now in the fight for Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordering 3,000 more troops to the battle front while the U.S. commander in Iraq General David Petraeus says he needs more helicopters to support the ground forces. An aviation brigade out of Ft. Stewart, Georgia, is likely to leave for Iraq in May. Back in Washington, Democrats are trying to force a withdrawal. A bill in the House calls for troops to leave Iraq by September 1st, 2008. In the Senate, Republicans defeated a resolution that would have given President Bush four months to pull combat troops out. Miles?
M. O'BRIEN: Iran's president is setting up a showdown over sanctions. The permanent members of the UN Security Council agreeing on new sanctions to try to slow down Iran's nuclear program. The full council debate is slated for next week and the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would like to be there. We have two reports on this. Zain Verjee is in Washington, Aneesh Ramon is in Tehran. Let's begin with Zain. Good morning Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... in one corner, Iran in the other. The UN Security Council, a tougher, stronger sanctions resolution against Iran may only be days away.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE (voice-over): A roar of approval for the man and his message. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is defiant, once again insisting Iran will defend its right to a nuclear program and he wants to go to the UN, in person, to argue Iran's case. Ahmadinejad mocked the latest UN sanction's plan calling it torn pieces of paper.
SEAN McCORMACK, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: It's not just a torn piece of paper. We take this very seriously.
VERJEE: The goal, get Iran to stop enriching uranium that could be used for a nuclear bomb. Iran ignored the latest deadline, February 21st, so now comes punishment. The new proposal would ban Iranian weapons exports, place key officials linked to Iran's weapon' programs on a watch list, freeze assets of more individuals and companies involved in nuclear activities.
MARTIN INDYK, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: The message from the Security Council is we will increase the pain, the economic pain to you, to the point where you will eventually see that it's in your interest to accept this.
VERJEE: The U.S. is using both carrots and sticks. It's offering to talk directly to Iran about Iraq, rubbing shoulders just recently in Baghdad, at the same time, turning up the heat at the UN
INDYK: Iran is a proud nation with an ancient civilization and it does not like the stigma of the UN sanctions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: The State Department says Ahmadinejad's pathway is misguided and unfortunate and that the only way out is to take the attractive economic offer that's on the table and stop enriching uranium. Miles?
M. O'BRIEN: Zain Verjee in Washington. Let's go to Iran now and let's talk a little bit more about those sanctions if they were put in place, how would that affect everyday Iranians? CNN's Aneesh Raman live from Tehran with more. Aneesh.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning. When you talk about sanctions with the Iranian people, their eyes really gloss over. This country has faced sanctions since the Islamic revolution in 1979 and the UN sanctions have been incremental. We have yet to see sanctions come over Iran's nuclear program that directly affect the average person. That said, there is growing opposition to the way President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pursued what everyone here feels is Iran's right, a peaceful civilian nuclear program. We just saw a new currency note that was released over the past few days in Iran, the highest value currency note, $5.50 U.S. worth and on the back is an atomic symbol, the Persian saying from the prophet Mohammed about the importance of scientific achievement.
Iranians I spoke to said maybe this is a bit too much and that this note represents something else, inflation. For them, the economy is the biggest concern. Sanctions they don't think will really impact it. It has to come from within. They expected it from their government when they voted Ahmadinejad in, they haven't seen it yet. They're out shopping for the Iranian New Year and everyone we spoke to said, look, I can't buy enough. We want nuclear program. We want peaceful civilian nuclear energy, but we don't want to make things worse for our economy. So, when you talk about sanctions, you know, the sanctions that could come down the line will really impact the people. But they have economic concerns they want dealt with.
M. O'BRIEN: Given all of that, is there kind of a simmering discontent with Ahmadinejad and how do folks feel about him with this trip, whatever it is, political drama, this showdown in New York?
RAMAN: Yeah, we've seen since the elections, city council elections in December a resounding voice in the voters, at least, that something has to change in the policies of the president. We see increasing opposition to his statements and we've seen him relatively quiet and muted in terms of stuff he said before. As for this trip, there are calls by the reformists and critics of the president, saying you're just going to add fuel to the fire if you go to the UN and also saying, Ahmadinejad has called the UN Security Council illegitimate, so why does he feel the need to speak to them at the UN headquarters in New York? So people are really walking on eggs here. Ahmadinejad really a lot of times is acting of his own desires, principles he feels he needs to pursue. But the people are hoping that he sort of reins things in. They want nuclear energy, but they don't want to lose everything in its pursuit.
M. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman in Tehran. Thanks very much. Soledad?
S. O'BRIEN: We're continuing to watch this major winter storm that is working its way into the northeast right now. Chad is tracking it. We've also got our eyes on the airports, as well. Bad news coming out of there. We'll update you on that, as well.
Plus caught on tape, video surfacing from that deadly shooting spree on the streets of New York. And the desperate try to save two auxiliary police officers. I have that story, update you right after this short break. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
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S. O'BRIEN: The numbers are startling and difficult to hear. Iraq's bloody civil war has killed more than 34,000 civilians in the last year alone. Sunni insurgents launched terror attacks. Shia militias torture and murder. This weekend on CNN special investigations unit, John Roberts follows rogue Shia death squads operating deep with Iraq's government security forces. Here is a portion of death squads and we must warn you, it does include some graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Mehdi army controls large sections of Baghdad, its leader Muqtada al Sadr. Nearly every one is affected by the militia and many need protection from them. So they come here to the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni religious and civic group because they do not trust the police or security forces. Hamad is a Sunni living in a mixed neighborhood. The Mehdi army he says has given his family two days to leave their home or be killed. SHEIKH YUNIS AL GAUDI, ASSN. OF MUSLIM SCHOLARS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): They attack houses and threaten the citizens, all of it under the nose of the government, the army and the police.
ROBERTS: The sheikh has dozens of videos, like this one showing 36 Sunnis who he says were tortured and killed by the police for no reason other than living in ethically mixed neighborhood.
TRANSLATOR: It's been a week since it happened. I'm his brother. The people who took him away at dawn wore the uniforms of police commander.
ROBERTS (on-camera): The violence is an everyday occurrence for American forces. The commander of this company tells me that they find dead bodies in this neighborhood every day. What they're going to do is spend about the next six hours here going building to building and house to house in a clearing operation searching through the buildings. They might find caches of weapons. They might find explosives. They might even find a few militia members who they suspect might be behind some of these sectarian killings. Sometimes those who are kidnapped are later released. Sometimes they're not.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: One of the major body dumping grounds is right down at the end of the street.
ROBERTS: Kidnapped, bodies dumped in the streets, IEDs, suicide bombers. Baghdad is gripped in a cycle of sectarian killing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Now most of this points to the commando units of the national police who were formed under then minister of interior (INAUDIBLE). He has now since gone on to the finance ministry and you might remember that last fall the eighth brigade of the national police was actually taken off the streets by the U.S. military because it was believed to be heavily infiltrated by militia members. That brigade was sent back for retraining. Now, in a lot of these kidnappings eyewitnesses report that there were at least one, there was at least one official vehicle involved.
We take you to a neighborhood called Hariah (ph) where we introduce you to six widows. In November of 2005 they say 10 official vehicles pulled up in front of their home. Commandos dressed in uniforms came in and killed most of the men in the house. One victim who survived was shot in the stomach, himself a police officer says he recognized the gunmen as fellow officers. We're going to take you through all of this through the roots of the sectarian warfare in Iraq. The battle between the Sunnis and why the Shias are now taking their revenge, sort of give you a background on that. It is true to say that the violence in Baghdad has been reduced somewhat since this new security plan was initiated, but military commanders from the United States are concerned that some of these death squads are just laying low for now, getting an idea of how the security crackdown is going to go and they may reemerge very soon. So while the violence and number of people who have been found dead in the mornings every day in Baghdad has somewhat reduced, Soledad, there are fears that it could increase, again, very soon.
S. O'BRIEN: John Roberts, you can see more of the CNN special investigation's unit report death squads, this weekend Saturday and Sunday 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. Miles?
M. O'BRIEN: It's about a quarter of the hour right now, Chad Myers at the CNN weather center watching that severe weather situation all throughout the mid-Atlantic up into the northeast. Good morning Chad.
MYERS: Good morning, Miles. It's going to get very messy, in fact it's already messy in some spots, but it's going to get a whole lot worse. A lot of snow is going to develop. It's going to get back into the Pocono's, the Adirondacks, even back into the Alleghenies for that matter, but this big swath of heavy snow that's going to develop with a coastal low or basically what we like to call a nor'easter runs up from the southwest up towards the northeast and then it brings winds in from the northeast. In fact, winds right now at La Guardia are north, northeast at 20 miles per hour.
Here's the snow. Everywhere that you see this dark purple, that is a foot of snow or more and there are spots in here now, I'm noticing with 24 inch snow totals from this computer model that will model what we think will happen in the next 48 hours. It's getting colder now, Newark went from 34 at 5:00 now down to 29 and so, now, beginning to stick. Even though it was very warm yesterday, some of this, at least the original snow, the first stuff didn't stick because it melted off. Well now it's going to start to stick when the temperatures get colder. So be careful out there. Miles?
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad. Back with you in just a little bit.
Coming up, cold blooded murder caught on tape. They were young, unarmed volunteers, but they wore the blue of New York's finest and that made them a target.
Plus, do you know what to do if someone near or dear to you has a heart attack? Mouth to mouth, right? Maybe not. We'll tell you the latest thinking on CPR. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
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S. O'BRIEN: Surveillance tape is now coming in from that dramatic shootout the other night in the streets of New York. A gunman killed two unarmed auxiliary police officers after killing a bartender in a restaurant. The images are tough to watch. Anderson Cooper has our report this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The surveillance video picks up the shooter, David Garvin (ph) as he begins running along Sullivan Street in New York's Greenwich Village moments after he shot Alfredo Romarro (ph) to death in a local restaurant. We can see 28-year-old unarmed auxiliary police officer Nicholas Pecaro (ph) racing up the other side of the street, then taking cover behind a parked car. Police say Garvin may have seen armed police officers coming towards him. He suddenly crosses the street, takes aim and shoots Officer Pecaro over and over and over again.
Police say Pecaro had six bullet wounds in his back and side. Garvin begins running again towards another unarmed auxiliary officer, 19-year old Eugene Marshall (ph). You can see Marshall running back across Sullivan Street and ducking behind another parked car, but Garvin is right behind him and as armed NYPD officers race to save their comrades, Garvin executes officer Marshall, shooting him at least once in the head. That would be David Garvin's last killing. As he disappeared around the corner and into another store police pursued him. They say they ordered him to drop his weapons and when he refused, they opened fire killing the man who murdered two of New York's finest.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Wow, that is hard to watch, oh, my goodness. That was Anderson Cooper reporting for us. According to New York City police Commissioner Ray Kelly, the gunman may have gone on a shooting rampage starting at that restaurant after a friend of his was fired as chef from the restaurant. Miles?
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, it's a snow day in much of the northeast, school kids cheer, air travelers jeer. We'll plow through all the delays and cancellations at the airports.
And some bad news for military families this morning. Even more will get the call as the Iraq war troop buildup continues. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. We have our marching orders, the most news in the morning.
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M. O'BRIEN: Well, Blue Devils indeed. This morning the team that dominated the NCAA tourney for a decade is out before reaching the sweet 16. Take a look at the action! Nothing but net! That's Virginia Commonwealth University. Brian Bell's (ph) alma mater, one of our producers here. He's quite excited. Aaron Maner (ph) with that shot, a 15-footer, 1.8 seconds left. Coach Mike Krzyzewski (ph) (INAUDIBLE) of Duke was rather philosophical. He said, you know, winning each year is not our birth right. It just sort of seems that way, coach K, sort of seems that way. So maybe this is a new Cinderella team. We'll watch them.
S. O'BRIEN: New this morning that junk food between marriage of soda pop and candy.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the biggest confectionary company in the world, happens to also be a very big beverage company.
S. O'BRIEN: Why would you want to separate them?
VELSHI: We all know, this is all very familiar, but they are also Dr Pepper and Snapple. They want to split the company into two pieces. In the beverage part, they got Dr Pepper, Snapple, (INAUDIBLE) Hawaiian Punch, Nantucket Nectar. In the confectionary side there (INAUDIBLE) very big companies and there is some feeling that if you split them up, you can do better with them separated.
S. O'BRIEN: How is that better?
VELSHI: You can sell them private equity. They already sold their European beverage business to private equity. The company goes back to 1783, John Jacob Schwep (ph), who was a watch maker and an amateur scientist carbonated water and he founded the Schweps (ph) Company. He merged with Cadbury as a chocolate maker. Other news, please, help yourself.
S. O'BRIEN: I was going to say, are you opening this --
VELSHI: Enjoy. Other news, Bolivian farmers want coca taken out of Coca-Cola.
S. O'BRIEN: That's not going to happen.
VELSHI: That's not going to happen. They say that the shrub, it's potent, but it's sacred to the Andean people. They are calling on the UN to decriminalize the leaf because they can use it to produce tea and flour and liquor and toothpaste. Coke for its part says it is the most valuable, most recognized brand in the world and it's never used cocaine as an ingredient. Nice try.
M. O'BRIEN: Originally they did.
VELSHI: I thought that they used it as flavoring. They were buying the coca leaf. Now Coke will not confirm this. How is the chocolate?
S. O'BRIEN: I don't remember anything about your segment, but I'm loving the chocolate.
M. O'BRIEN: You're a sweet fella.
VELSHI: Enjoy.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes you are. Coming up to the top of the hour, Chad Myers is watching the weather for us this morning.
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