Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.N. Secretary-General Unharmed as Rocket or Mortar Lands in Green Zone; John and Elizabeth Edwards to Hold News Conference; Senate Committee Expected to Authorize Subpoenas; Helicopters Making Water Rescues; Apple TV has Arrived; Arrests Made In Iraq; Causes of Unhealthy Hair

Aired March 22, 2007 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins. Good morning to you.

Watch events in the NEWSROOM live on Thursday, March 22nd.

Here's what's on the rundown.

An announcement today from Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. New concerns about the health of his wife, Elizabeth, who has fought breast cancer since 2004.

HARRIS: Child protective services in South Carolina threatening to take this boy from his mother because of his weight. At 254 pounds, he is heavier than some NFL linebackers.

COLLINS: A brutal attack shocks Chicago. A female bartender is beaten by a man more than twice her size. The suspect, a veteran Chicago police officer.

You're in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And let's show you these pictures once again. You saw them just moments ago here on CNN.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Iraq on a surprise visit, in the middle of a news conference -- wow, in the middle of a news conference with Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, when there is that explosion that you heard just moments ago. You see Secretary Ban's reaction was to duck a bit. Not much of a reaction from the prime minister.

Kyra Phillips is inside Baghdad inside the Green Zone, not far from that location.

Kyra, what did you hear?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, we're not in the Green Zone. I can't tell you exactly where we are. I think many of us wish sometimes we were in the Green Zone, because it appears to be a bit more safe, Tony, in that area.

But where we are in our compound, we aren't far away. We felt the windows shake, we felt the newsroom shake, and immediately started making calls, because anytime that happens and you feel it with such intensity, you get a little bit concerned for your own safety.

We're getting word, two mortar rounds our sources are telling us, landed just outside where that press briefing was taking place in the Green Zone. It was actually happening in the convention center.

The Green Zone, of course, is the former central area of Saddam Hussein's operations and one of his main palaces. It's now turned into a fortified zone, U.S. military. That's where all the operations are located and the press briefings that happen.

So, these two mortar rounds come in, and you can see -- let's go ahead and roll it again. I'll kind of explain what happened there between the prime minister and also the U.N. secretary-general. Let's take a listen for a second.

OK. You can see actually Ban Ki-moon, he's startled, he ducks down, he's not quite sure what he wants to do, yet Nuri al-Maliki, he's saying in Arabic, "Makushi (ph), makushi (ph)."

We weren't quite sure if he was talking to the U.N. secretary- general or his guards. We're now realizing he was saying in Arabic to his guards, "It's all right, it's all right."

He wanted to stay there. The guards wanted to shuffle him out. And he immediately, in a very calm nature, just said, "Makushi (ph), makushi (ph)." He didn't want to move, he didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay there.

For him, Tony, obviously this is just another day in Baghdad, something that happens in Iraq every day. You feel the mortar attacks, they happen all around this country. But obviously, in this situation, it startled the new secretary-general, his first trip to Iraq, quite a reality check for him.

HARRIS: Wow. Kyra, proof positive that you can talk about it, you can watch it on television, but it is something different when you have to live through it every day.

Kyra Phillips for us in Baghdad.

Kyra, thank you. Appreciate it.

COLLINS: Her health, his political future. Presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, discussing both today. They are holding a news conference at noon Eastern Time. It comes one day after a doctor's visit to follow up on her treatment for breast cancer.

Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley joining us now from Washington.

Candy, what do we know about this news conference?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, not much. It's a very tight-lipped group around the Edwards campaign right now.

We obviously know the time and the place in North Carolina in Chapel Hill. We also know that on Monday, Elizabeth Edwards had a checkup. You know, obviously her post-cancer checkup that she's been going through regularly, and was asked to come back.

It was at that point that John Edwards, who was in Iowa at the time, cut short his travel schedule there and came home to be with her at the doctor's yesterday. We now know that they're going to have this news conference, so obviously we've also been told by a source that it is possibly about her health.

COLLINS: Yes. Candy, we do know, obviously, as you've stated, that she has a history of breast cancer. What can you tell us about that?

CROWLEY: She felt a lump in the closing days of the campaign in 2004. Shortly after, I think a day after, it was confirmed that she did, indeed, have cancer.

She has had radiation therapy. She has had a lumpectomy. And she's had chemotherapy.

She wrote a book about the experience. She has been -- thought to be in remission since that time, but she's been having regular checkups. And I'll tell you that her husband, before he got into this campaign, John Edwards, said, "I won't get in unless she has a clean bill of health." So, as late as last year, she had a clean bill of health.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Candy Crowley watching the situation for us.

Candy, thank you.

HARRIS: More now on the specifics of Elizabeth Edwards' battle against breast cancer. It is a fight waged by more than two million women in the United States.

Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.

And Elizabeth, great to see you.

What can you tell us about breast cancer survival rates?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Breast cancer survival rates are actually very good compared to years ago. Many of us who are old enough to remember that decades ago a woman's chances were really not nearly as good as they are now. So, let's take a look at what they call five-year survival rates.

That means a woman is diagnosed, as 178,000 women are diagnosed every year. And the kind of breast cancer she has accounts for 80 percent of all breast cancers. The five-year survival rate is 88 percent.

So, 88 percent after people are diagnosed with the cancer that you see up there on your screen, five years later they are still alive. Ten years later, 80 percent of those women are still alive. So those are very good statistics.

HARRIS: Talk to us about recurrence. What are the chances that breast cancer will, in fact, come back?

COHEN: Unfortunately, there are no really good numbers to say, look, once you've had breast cancer the chances that it's going to come back are X. Unfortunately, that number doesn't exist.

However, what doctors can say is that when it does come back, it's because at the time that somebody is declared cancer free, in fact there are probably microscopic tiny bits of cancer that no test, no doctor could detect, and then or months later it came back. Now, there is one thing that makes a recurrence more likely, and that is -- a recurrence more problematic, is if it comes back in the first five years after diagnosis. Mrs. Edwards was diagnosed in 2004.

So the cancer is more than likely to come back within the first five years, and it is often a more difficult situation when it does come back at that point in time.

HARRIS: Boy, we will certainly be watching.

Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen with us.

Elizabeth, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

HARRIS: And again, you can see the news conference with John and Elizabeth Edwards live in the NEWSROOM. That's coming up at noon Eastern from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Subpoenas at the White House, a showdown inching closer to the Supreme Court. Well, round two gets under way next hour. The Senate Judiciary Committee expected to authorize subpoenas for top administration aides. At issue, the firing of federal prosecutors. At stake, the power of the White House versus Congress.

CNN Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash sets the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hours after the president warned them not to do it, House Democrats defied him and authorized subpoenas for Karl Rove and other top White House aides.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.

BASH: Democrats flat-out rejected the White House proposal for Bush aides to talk to lawmakers in private with no oath and no transcript. But the House Judiciary chairman promised not to issue the subpoenas unless he has to. He called it leverage, a backup plan.

REP. JOHN CONYERS (D), MICHIGAN: To hold these subpoenas in abeyance and hope that we will continue the discussions. So far, the discussions have been very disappointing.

REP. LINDA SANCHEZ (D), CALIFORNIA: We must prepare for the possibility that the Justice Department and the White House will continue to hide the truth.

BASH: Republicans opposed authorizing subpoenas now, saying it was premature and political.

REP. CHRIS CANNON (R), UTAH: The only purpose of subpoenas issued to the White House now is to fan the flames of -- and photo-ops of partisan controversy for partisan gain.

BASH: But in the Senate, some of the president's fellow Republicans are siding with Democrats. They, too, have complaints about the White House's take it or leave it offer.

John Conyers, a staunch Bush ally, tells CNN: "I'm a little bit dubious about an interview behind closed doors. If there is going to be information provided, it best be provided in public."

The Senate Judiciary Committee's top Republican agrees, and says he's worried having no transcript or formal record could create conflicting accounts of what Rove and others say.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: It would be very helpful to have a transcript. My own preference would be to have it open so that people see what -- what is going on. There is a tremendous amount of public interest.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COLLINS: Dana Bash joining us now live.

Dana, I'm not sure if it will really be a deja vu, but very similar to what happened yesterday is what we expect to happen today?

BASH: Exactly. I think by the end of the morning what we're going to see is sort of a double-barreled threat coming from both sides of this Capitol now, of course, run by Democrats, down Pennsylvania Avenue, towards the White House, making it abundantly clear, Democrats hope, that they -- that they really mean it when they say that this is really no deal for them in terms of the offer the White House sent. No transcripts, no oath, no public testimony for Karl Rove and other White House officials.

This is the public kind of dance, if you will, going on right now. Behind closed doors, there is some talk about perhaps sending -- getting a counteroffer together.

The ranking Republican, Arlen Specter, who you just saw in that piece, he said that he is trying to work something out. We know that he's perhaps going to try to work something out with the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy.

They're not saying anything about what that could be in public. It doesn't seem ripe yet, but this is -- what you're going to see later is again sort of the public kabuki dance, if you will, while in private they're trying to figure out how to work this out so this doesn't continue to escalate -- Heidi.

COLLINS: A kabuki dance. All right. Hey, that's a good word.

Quickly, Dana, though, because we've had the authorization approved in the House committee, likely the same thing to happen in the Senate committee today. Does that mean one step closer to the Supreme Court?

BASH: That's a good question. You know, both the chairmen in the Senate and the House, Senator Patrick Leahy in the Senate, the House chairman, John Conyers, they both have made it clear that they are going to get this authority. In the House, he already has it. In the Senate, he'll get it this morning.

But he's not going to use it just yet. He's going to kind of hold this in his back pocket as leverage, as they sort of move along and try to deal with the White House. They do both say that if they don't get what they want, they're not afraid to issue the subpoena, but they're not just ready to do that yet.

COLLINS: Got it. All right.

Dana Bash following this story for us all day.

BASH: Thank you.

COLLINS: And minutes from now, we will hear from one of the Democrats who will decide the issue this morning. Senator Dianne Feinstein, there she is, before the Senate hearing. She's going to be talking with us right here in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: What do you say we get a check of weather? Our first visit this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Well, she was shocked when she learned her attacker was a police officer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, I couldn't believe it. I was like, police is to serve and protect, not to beat up people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: It is the outrage story of the morning. Look at this -- bartender beating caught on tape in the NEWSROOM. COLLINS: Also, the terrain changes, but the combat search and rescue mission does not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would have thought when we left for the war that we'd be doing water rescues in the desert?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Bringing them back alive in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: He's 7 years old and he weighs, listen to this, 254 pounds. Now his mother has some explaining to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do the best I can to give him healthy meals and everything, and if I'm doing something wrong, somebody come show me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. Ultimatum from the state: the boy loses weight or she loses the boy. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And a high-profile case low on funds for the defense. It adds up to a trial delay for an alleged courthouse shooter. Testimony on hold in the NEWSROOM.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins.

A bartender attacked by a customer, the brutal beating caught on tape. But the real shock came later.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The regulars gathered at this neighborhood bar in Chicago while a security camera recorded tape. In this surveillance video, notice the man in the upper right corner of your screen. The bartender, Karolina, didn't know it at the time, but that customer was an off-duty Chicago police officer. Karolina would give her first name only, but agreed to review the tape with me.

KAROLINA, BEATING VICTIM: I think I've been telling him that I'm not going to serve him anymore.

OPPENHEIM: Because you're concerned that he's getting wasted?

KAROLINA: Yes. Exactly.

OPPENHEIM: He has since been identified as Officer Anthony Abbate. At one point, Abbate surprises Karolina and comes around to her side of the bar. But when Abbate bumps into the bar, he explodes. He punches her repeatedly.

Keep in mind, according to prosecutors, Abbate is 6'1" and 250 pounds. Karolina says she's 5'4" and 130 pounds. As frightened bystanders keep a difference, Officer Abbate walks away. Karolina gets up, despite multiple hits to her head, back and ribs.

DAVID NAVARRO, ASST. COOK COUNTY STATES ATTORNEY: It is one of the most brutal and savage attacks that I've ever seen caught on tape.

OPPENHEIM: Prosecutors have charged Officer Abbate with aggravated assault, a felony. Abbate's attorneys did not return CNN's calls.

Karolina, what is your reaction that the person who beat you is a police officer?

KAROLINA: Actually, I couldn't believe. I was like, police are to serve and protect, not to beat up people.

OPPENHEIM: Chicago police released a statement about Officer Abbate which said, "A recommendation for termination is expected pending the completion of the internal investigation." Karolina says she's left with bad headaches, and as you might imagine, bad memories from what happened in this bar.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: The terrain changes, but the come bat search and rescue mission does not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would have thought when we left for the war that we'd be doing water rescues in the desert?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Bringing them back alive, in the NEWSROOM.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Ali Velshi.

If you're one of those people who likes to download video but doesn't want to watch it on a tiny little screen, things might just be getting better for you. I'm "Minding Your Business" when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Low on cash for a high-profile murder case, that's led the judge in the trial of alleged Atlanta courthouse shooter Brian Nichols to delay the trial again. Nichols is charged with killing a judge and three other people in a shooting rampage at an Atlanta courthouse two years ago.

Questioning of potential jurors was expected to begin this week, but the judge says that won't happen until September because of problems with funding the defense. So far, the public defender's office has spent almost $1.5 million on the case. An earlier delay was also blamed on funding.

COLLINS: Apple TV is here. After much hype and a bit of a delay, sales start for the latest product to hit this market.

Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business".

Everybody on board with this, Ali, or is it going to be sort of a slow launch, if you will?

VELSHI: You know, I always underestimate Apple. In fact, I've stopped underestimating them, because they sort of figured out what their market likes. And here's the issue.

There are all sorts of people who download all sorts of things. This is kind of like an iPod for your TV. But there's no way -- I don't want to watch video on my iPod screen. I've got a video iPod. I don't want to watch it on my computer.

I'd love to be able to download what I want and watch it on these big screens that everybody's using. So that's what this thing does.

COLLINS: So can you do that?

VELSHI: Well, that's what this device does.

COLLINS: OK.

VELSHI: It wirelessly does that. And here's how it works.

You downloaded stuff on to your computer, you choose what of that that you download on to this apple TV device, and then you can watch it on your screen. It's got nothing to do with your computer at that point. It's basically a hard drive where you're storing video.

So, it's kind of like an iPod for your TV. And it's not the only one out there, Heidi.

Netgear has a model, the Microsoft Xbox 360 does it. So, for early adopters, you know, you've got to make a decision, which one are you going with? It's also not an iPod, so you've got an iPod and you've got this and you've got that.

So I think we're moving in the right direction, but this is -- you know, it's certainly another step. You have got to give Apple credit. They give people things that they didn't think they wanted, and then all of a sudden create a need for them.

COLLINS: Yes. They are on the forefront, no question about that.

VELSHI: Yes.

COLLINS: What about the cost, though? Are we pretty high in the beginning?

VELSHI: It's about 300 bucks for this thing, and the competitive models are in that range, $300 to $400. So that's kind of the price you're going to pay if you're going to want to, you know, connect your computer and your downloadables to your TV.

You can do this all with cables and wires. It's a less elegant solution. This is typical Apple, sort of sexy, wireless. It appeals to that crowd of people who likes that sort of thing.

I don't know that this will have wide appeal immediately, because people don't even know what it's for. They don't really know why they'd need it.

COLLINS: Yes.

VELSHI: But as this becomes more popular, where people will say, oh, yes, I'll just pull it off of my Apple TV, or some similar device, I think it will become more and more popular. I mean, there are people out there who don't use DVRs and TiVos, and there are some people for whom that's been something they have been using for, you know, five or six years.

So, who knows where this fits into the landscape, but it's one more development.

COLLINS: Yes. Real quickly, before we let you go, can you TiVo with it?

VELSHI: You can't. You can't actually go into your cable and retrieve things.

COLLINS: Right.

VELSHI: This has to come off of your computer. So, there' one thing that it doesn't do.

COLLINS: There's too many steps.

VELSHI: Yes. Well, that's what some people are concerned about, a lot of steps.

COLLINS: All right.

Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business".

Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: OK. Bye.

HARRIS: Elizabeth Edwards' health concerns. Her husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, plans an announcement today. We will cover it for you here live in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: A South Carolina mother could lose custody of her obese son. The state says he has got to lose weight.

That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Ladies and Gentlemen, the opening bell. There you have it for Thursday.

Yesterday, the big story was whether or not interest rates were going to go up, down, or stay the same. Not too much of a surprise, but it is true, the interest rates are unchanged at 5.25 percent, for six consecutive meetings now. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 159 points, up 42 points yesterday. I don't know if you call that a rally or not.

We'll find out the correct terminology will be, coming up a little later from Susan Liscovicz. Right now sitting at 12,447. We'll watch it for you.

HARRIS: Among our top stories this hour, health concerns for a presidential candidate and his wife. John and Elizabeth Edwards are holding a news conference in about 2 1/2 hours from now. Sources say they'll discuss possible developments with her health.

Elizabeth Edwards underwent treatment for breast cancer in 2004. Sources say she had a routine follow up appointment on Monday and was asked to come in again yesterday. Edwards cut his campaign trip short to be with her. No word yet on what the announcement will be or how it might impact his presidential campaign.

Once again, you'll see the news conference with John and Elizabeth Edwards live, in the NEWSROOM, coming up at noon Eastern from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: White House aides under oath. A showdown under the dome. This morning, a Senate Judiciary Committee expected to authorize subpoenas for the president's inner circle. They want political guru Karl Rove to publicly answer questions about the firings of eight federal prosecutors. The subpoenas could also force sworn testimony from former White House counsel, Harriet Miers.

The White House says it will allow the aides to answer questions in private and not under oath. Some lawmakers are working behind the scenes to avoid a constitutional showdown of sorts. Otherwise, the issue could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.

Well, the White House is in a bunker mentality. That's the assessment of one Senate Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Dianne Feinstein heads into that hearing at the top of the hour, but first, she is joining us right here in the NEWSROOM.

Senator, nice to see you. Welcome to the show.

Quickly, I want to first have you listen with me to White House Spokesman Tony Snow on "AMERICAN MORNING" this morning.

Let's listen to this for a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: Congress doesn't have oversight authority over the White House, the Constitution says that. But what we've done, is we've made a very generous and extraordinary an offer by saying OK, but you need to have at your disposal every single available fact.

So we are going to make it available. We'll make available any communication from the White House to the Justice Department to outsiders, to members of Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Senator, isn't this enough? I mean, why are subpoenas necessary in this case?

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, (D) CALIFORNIA: Well, subpoenas are necessary to really compel compliance. And compliance is coming before the Judiciary Committee, taking an oath, being on record, being in the public and stating the facts. Who made the decisions, who knew what when, about this? What was the motivation for these firings?

We have just learned that three out of the eight are in the top 10 U.S. attorneys in the nation. Why were they fired if they're three of the very best the department has?

COLLINS: Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with a former U.S. attorney himself, Bob Barr. He said a couple interesting things.

One of them, his concern was that it's thought the White House is using the Justice Department as sort of a political pawn, if you will, to figure out who's the biggest hombre in the room. Is this a showdown of sorts, or are we really talking about the correct process here?

FEINSTEIN: I think we're talking about the correct process. The two branches of government are equal, believe it or not. This is a power rarely used, I grant, but present for the United States Senate to utilize.

If the subpoena authority is given to Chairman Leahy, he can still negotiate, and he has said he will still negotiate. But essentially, there are certain requirements and that one of them is transparency, which means the hearing is in public, not in closed session. We had one of those in closed session.

COLLINS: Forgive me, senator, but how does everyone know that they're not going to hear what they need to hear by way of information and disclosure without testimony, without oath, without transcripts? FEINSTEIN: Well, they aren't. That's the point. And that's why an oath, the public, a formal hearing, is very important. You go on record. You raise your hand that what you say is the truth, so help you God. And that is critical.

COLLINS: I know that Senator Trent Lott yesterday also said this. Quote, "I think the Democrats are overplaying their hand."

Your response to this in light of the fact that, as we pointed out yesterday here, you can't just go in and lie to Congress.

FEINSTEIN: Well, that's exactly right. But the point is, these people won't come before the committee. If they will come before the committee, it isn't a problem. And Senator Leahy will and has tried and will again try to negotiate that. The subpoena may not be necessary, but it is a backup if necessary.

COLLINS: Are you saying it is possible that there could be lying that will go on?

FEINSTEIN: Yes. Of course, it's possible. It is still possible to negotiate something. You know, the White House has unilaterally said if that the subpoena is issued, their offer is off the table. Their offer is unacceptable because it is not in public, it is not under oath and they can lie.

COLLINS: And they can lie.

FEINSTEIN: And they can lie. That's right.

COLLINS: Last question for you here. What about the Democratic agenda? I brought this up a little bit yesterday.

When all of this is going on, however important your party thinks it is, however important the Republican party thinks it is, who's doing all the work right now?

FEINSTEIN: We still are doing all the work. This afternoon, the appropriations committee, of which I'm a member, will mark up the emergency supplemental. And in that supplemental is the Iraq resolution, which was on the floor of the Senate just last week. It's $124 billion supplemental. It is a very critical piece of ...

COLLINS: The vote on that has been delayed, however, correct?

FEINSTEIN: Not to my knowledge. All I know is, I will be in the appropriations committee this afternoon.

COLLINS: Alright. Well, we certainly appreciate your thoughts on all of this. Senator Dianne Feinstein, thanks for your time.

FEINSTEIN: Thank you, Heidi. Bye-bye.

HARRIS: Battle brewing, Republicans and Democrats facing off over troop withdrawal and funding in Iraq. The debate in the NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Showdown session on Capitol Hill. House lawmakers set to debate a measure aimed at pulling troops from Iraq, specifically, a spending bill that calls for American forces to come home by next year. A vote on the bill was postponed until tomorrow.

We're told Democrats are scrambling to find the 218 votes needed to pass it. A Senate committee could vote today on the version of a pullout plan. President Bush vows to veto any such legislation that reaches his desk.

HARRIS: New developments in a deadly incident. The military says it has detained two brothers in connection with the killing of five U.S. troops in Iraq.

CNN's Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins us live. And Jamie, this is one of those attacks I don't think we'll forget. It was in Karbala, as I recall. What do we know about this operation?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, the U.S. military is saying that two suspects have been arrested who are believed to have been behind that brazen attack in January in Karbala in which Iraqi insurgents passed themselves off as Americans to penetrate Iraqi security. In that January 20th attack, five U.S. soldiers were killed, four of them were abducted and brutally murdered several miles away.

The U.S. military is being tightlipped about the arrests, which they say happened over the past few days. A one sentence statement issued this morning says, quote, "coalition forces in Basra and Hillah captured Kay Kizali (ph) and his brother, Leith Kizali (ph) and several other members of the so-called Kizali Network, an organization that is said to be directly connected to the kidnappings and murders." The U.S. Military Officials are not saying what evidence they had to link the Kizali Network to the Karbala attack, but one official told CNN the evidence was, quote, "significant."

That official also says the brothers were involved in smuggling Iranian-made IEDs, those explosively formed projectiles, the deadly sophisticated IEDs that can penetrate even the thickest armor.

The January 20th attack had all the earmarks of an inside job. The insurgents seemed to know exactly where the Americans were inside a secure compound. The attackers were also driving American SUVs, wearing American-style uniforms, carrying American weapons and they spoke English, all in an effort to fool the Iraqi police who were guarding the compound.

Tony?

HARRIS: Jamie, at the time of the attack back in January, there was a suggestion by the Pentagon that Iran might have had a hand in it. How do these arrests play into that scenario?

MCINTYRE: Well, you know, there was, you're exactly right. But that was based mostly on the suspicion, based on the sophistication of the attack. That maybe even the Kutz (ph) Force had provided money, weapons or even expertise.

We still don't know if that's the case, although as I noted, these suspects do have an Iranian connection and they're believed to be smuggling those high-tech Iranian IEDs into the country, but as for a direct Iranian connection, we still haven't seen that.

HARRIS: Yes. CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, for us. Jamie, thank you.

COLLINS: The terrain changes but the combat search and rescue mission does not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Who would have thought, when we left for the war, that we'd be doing water rescues in the desert?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Bringing them back alive in the NEWSROOM. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Chopper down in Iraq. A rescue team scrambles to make pinpoint urban or desert landings. But what happens when crashes are in the water?

CNN's Alex Quaid has an exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX QUAID, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They rescued survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Went literally from Afghanistan, and rode halfway around the world for Hurricane Katrina relief in about a 28- hour period.

QUAID: But combat search and rescue is their mission. Pilot T.C. worked the very first water rescue of the Iraq war.

PILOT T.C.: That was the F-18 that went down in Lake Karbala. The other one was, Marine 46 flying down the Tigris River, and hit wires and it flipped over and went in the water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would have thought, that when we left for the war, that we'd be doing water rescues in the desert? But the P.J.s train for that stuff.

QUAID: P.J.s or pararescue men. Like Mark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do have dive missions going on in Iraq, humvees into the canals, helicopter crashes in the canals. QUAID: P.J.s like Kyle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People don't realize that water is just one of those things that somebody's going to find their way into it and it's going to be bad and, you know, helicopters will go down in it ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty seconds.

QUAID: In a C-130, the P.J.s tell me they train constantly based on these war realities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we're good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to make sure that no matter what the winds are you're going to be able to get to the target or the survivor you're going after.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five seconds.

QUAID: P.J. Nate explains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Keep your eyes open.

QUAID: As they deploy a hard duck, a fully inflated, Zodiac raft.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Error is as little as five, 10, 15 degrees. Means that if we don't make it, especially in the water, if we don't make it to the survivor, you know, we could be 100, 200, 300 meters apart in the middle of a raging storm and you're never going to get to them, you know, that will be the last time you saw them was when you got out of the airplane.

QUAID: At sea level, PJ Mark (ph) shows me how they handle a mass casualty situation.

PJ Mark: Rescue, rescue, spider 71.

When you're doing a water mission, because you're surrounded by something that could make things terribly, terribly wrong.

QUAID: From helicopters, the PJs drop bundles, boat, sail, assemble. They also use arcs, advanced water craft -- translation -- souped (ph) up jets. Then (INAUDIBLE) in.

The scenario, 13 crewmen scattered in the water after their aircraft went down. They gather the survivors, triage them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're also checking to make sure that they're OK as far as physically, they're not injured, suffering from hypothermia.

QUAID: And PJ Kyle (ph) says hoist them out according to the severity of their injury.

PJ KYLE: You might have to restrain them just to keep them out of the water and away from the winds beating on you like that, it can get tough.

QUAID: In hostile territory, the PJs also watch for threats.

PJ NATE: A lot of folks experience that, especially in Vietnam.

PJ KYLE: You have a weapon on you, if you have to, I guess you can shoot while you're hoisting, you know, that's a bad day if you're having to shoot from the hoist.

QUAID: Then my turn. As a reporter embedded with the unit as an aircraft went down, PJ will make sure I'm not hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was all jocked up, and making sure everything was ready to go in, stabilize them, get blood pressure, get IV monitor and whatnot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's pull these guys in first, and are we secure in the back?

QUAID: While PJ Kyle and Nate (ph) are on their way.

PJ NATE: We got around the helicopter with two PJs on it. Located her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

PJ NATE: They come into a hover over the top of us, so then it gets real stormy. That's a hurricane there for you.

QUAID: I'm gulping for air, but PJ Nate (ph) reassures me.

PJ Nate: Sometimes folks get a little bit combative in a situation like that, they get very desperate and they just start to fight you, so you have to be careful of how you handle a survivor. It helps too, to tell them what's going to happen. You say, look, don't worry about it, it's going to suck a little bit, but I'll get you through it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. PJ.

QUAID: PJ Kyle hoists me up.

PJ KYLE: As we're going up, I'm just making sure that you're inside the secure with the device, that you're not flipping out, making sure that the hoist cable isn't getting wrapped around so I'm trying to make sure that's not getting wrapped around anybody's neck. The helicopter is drifting and it can draft all around. Try to make sure that, you know, you're not going to hit your head on the other side of the aircraft.

QUAID: Their job doesn't end once we're in the helicopter.

PJ NATE: No. It's just the beginning. Now we have to figure out if there's anything wrong with you, and if there is, we'll try to fix it or at least stabilize it.

QUAID: This isn't just a drill. The next time you see this ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another marine helicopter ch-46 made an emergency landing in a lake in al Anbar province. There were 16 on board.

QUAID: ... think of them.

Alex Quaid, CNN, Key West.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Cutting their way to freedom, from a country in crisis. Fleeing Zimbabwe, desperate to feed their families -- extreme measures, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, I feel like we're always bragging about this. Just because you're so good when -- the podcast, Heidi?

COLLINS: Don't bring me into this. It's all you.

HARRIS: You know to catch us each and every weekday morning from 9:00 a.m. until noon. There you go, there's the sound effect, there we are. But did you know you can take us anywhere on your iPod? CNN NEWSROOM podcast available 24/7. Steve Brusk, good morning to you. Right there on your iPod.

COLLINS: Every year Americans spend billions on products to make their hair sassy, silky and stunning and stylish.

HARRIS: Wow.

COLLINS: But as we strive for the perfect coif, are we damaging our hair? Here's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEYONCE KNOWLES, SINGER: How you all doing tonight?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Beyonce has it, so does McDreamy, and Farrah still has it. We're talking about hair. Lots of it. Yet as we age, even someone with beautiful locks can start to see changes in their hairline.

DR. LYNN MCKINLEY-GRANT, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: Hair reflects a lot of -- reflects your heredity, reflects your health, it reflects what you do externally to your hair in terms of maintaining it.

GUPTA: In her 30s, we begin to notice damage from drying, processing, dyeing and perming. Hair becomes thinner, more brittle. And a bad diet can damage hair follicles, stunting hair growth.

Thirty-year-old Thandi Warner is a professional stylist. She sees all kinds of problems from dandruff to split ends, but Thandi has her own hair issues. It isn't growing in properly.

THANDI WARNER, HAIR SPECIALIST: It's thinning areas, you know, around the front, and my back just takes off and it grows like a weed and the front stays, like, you know, it just doesn't grow.

GUPTA: The cause? Thandi isn't eating well and has lots of stress. Her dermatologist suggested diet full of vegetables and fruits.

MCKINLEY-GRANT: Eat a certain amount of protein in the hair. You do need water. You need vitamins to grow a healthy head of hair.

GUPTA: In our 40s, we get more gray. That's because we begin to lose the pigment in our hair called melanin. It gives hair its color.

MCKINLEY-GRANT: There's not a pill that will get it back. There are things in bottles that will help, yes.

GUPTA: Some people like American Idol Taylor Hicks and Anderson Cooper are prematurely gray. Doctors say it's hereditary, along with premature baldness.

In our 40s and 50s, we begin to lose hair faster. More than 50 percent of men over the age of 50 have male pattern hair loss, and once they reach menopause, 40 percent of women will experience hereditary hair loss. But there is medical help for bald spots.

Also, in our 50s, some people begin to take prescription drugs that affect the hair. Those on high blood pressure and cholesterol medication have thinner hair. Some doctors recommend changing medications if it's making your hair unhealthy.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Good morning everybody, I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed in the NEWSROOM this morning. Here's what's on the rundown. An announcement from Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. It concerns the health of his wife Elizabeth who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com