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American Morning
Children Held Hostage; Standoff With Iran; Gonzales Under Fire
Aired March 28, 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: Breaking news this morning. Preschoolers and teachers held hostage all night. A daycare owner hijacking the bus. What are his demands? Is it going to end safely. We've got a live report from the scene this morning.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Battle lines. The Senate keeps its withdrawal deadline to bring troops home from Iraq, and today President Bush readies his answer to that.
Plus, storm zones. Destructive winds out West, high water in the South, tornadoes and a blizzard predicted today.
O'BRIEN: What a mess.
And cancer in American, hitting people and parents in the prime of their lives. There's a new recommendation out overnight to fight breast cancer and a new call from famous faces to find a cure for a disease that effects so many of us.
We're live from Manila, from Washington, D.C., and in New York on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It's Wednesday, March 28th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts, in for Miles O'Brien. Thanks very much for joining us.
Got a jam-packed show today and John McCain, Sheryl Crow both coming up a little bit later on.
O'BRIEN: They both have political agendas, of course. And also involve cancer, their agendas in many ways.
ROBERTS: Maybe we can talk to McCain about cancer and about the situation in Iraq as well. We'll look forward to that.
O'BRIEN: Cancer survivors both.
All right. We're going to begin this morning with that bus load of children being held hostage. Word that their all-night drama might actually be coming to a close. It's happening right now in Manila, in the Philippines. CNN's Anjali Rao is at the scene where the owner of that daycare center is holding his hostages on the bus.
Anjali, good morning.
ANJALI RAO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad. Thank you very much.
Yes, indeed, as you say, Jun Ducat funded this daycare center and he is the one who's holding these children and teachers captive on the bus that you can see just behind me there. In about an hours time, he said that he will be releasing the children. And an hour after that he said that he will surrender himself.
First, though, let me just tell you a little bit about the scene here. There is sort of an eerie calmness about things, to be perfectly honest, Soledad. But there are throngs of people. It looks like literally thousands of people here, spectators and also members of the media. And as people finished work for the day, it's just getting more and more crowded and security officials working very hard to keep people back from the front lines.
You may be able to see that the curtains opening now and the little kids peaking out. They've been able to do that at certain points during the day. And what's really noticeable about this is that they don't seem panicked or frightened in any way, even though you might expect them to be.
In fact, one of the government officials is appealing to Jun Ducat saying, you know, how about you start releasing at least some of the children. One girl he did release because she was sick. But he said, well, you know what, the children don't want to leave the bus. They're actually perfectly happy here. And just echoing that, they started chanting his name, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let me ask a couple questions, because this is a bazar one. He's the owner of the daycare center. You're talking about 31 children between the ages of four and six who thought they were going on a field trip and ended up being hostages, along with their teachers. What are his demands? What does he want? And why did he do it this way?
RAO: Well, what his demands are is that he wants free housing and also free education for the kids in his day center, which he runs in an area of Manila called Tunda (ph). It is incredibly poor. It does now seem, though, that the government has given into those demands and they will facilitate free housing and free education for the 145 or so children under his charge.
As you say, though, it is a very, very odd way of going about things. So Jun Ducat, he has been known to do this before. This is not the first time that he's taken hostages. He did say (ph) in the '80s taking two priests hostage, of all people. So he is very well known to the people of this country. Perhaps they weren't terribly surprised that it was him that was doing this. And it does seem, Soledad, that when he makes his demands, they are met.
O'BRIEN: Well, we will follow what happens. As you mentioned, in the next hour or so, we're expecting to see the release of these 31, at least or more or less, children between if ages of four and six. And maybe after that we'll see the hostage taker himself.
Anjali Rao for us this morning from Manila. John.
ROBERTS: Wow. That is down right unusual.
In Washington this morning, the White House is bracing for its biggest challenge yet on the Iraq War. Congress is now poised to send President Bush a bill that funds the war and establishes a deadline for bringing the troops home. Senate Republicans tried to kill the troop withdrawal plan yesterday, but Democrats squeaked out a two-vote victory. And today the Senate pushes the overall bill toward a vote. The House passed its version last week.
Of course, President Bush is promising to veto any bill that sets a date for bringing troops home. Mr. Bush is in Texas this morning and expected to talk about Iraq. We'll have coverage of his comments. That's starting at 10:05 Eastern.
Well, in Iraq this morning, the new ambassador is on the job. Ryan Crocker sworn in, in a no-frills ceremony in Baghdad today. Crocker comes to Iraq from Pakistan where he's been ambassador since 2004.
O'BRIEN: The standoff with Iran is reaching some tense heights this morning. The British are reportedly ready to prove that their sailors were not closer to the Iranian coast when they were captured last week. CNN's Tom Foreman has a look this morning at some of the military options.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Both the United States and Iran say they are not spoiling for a fight, but it doesn't look that way. Two U.S. aircraft carriers are now conducting exercises off the Iranian coast. More than 100 war planes and a dozen escort ships running anti-submarine, surface fighting and mine clearing drills. The Pentagon certainly wants Iran's attention.
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: They are watching what the United States and our coalition partners are doing and will draw their own conclusions about the reliability of other word and the strength of our commitments.
FOREMAN: The display follows Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines. Prime Minister Tony Blair says ominously, if they are not released, the situation will move into a different phase.
Those men were seized somewhere in this area by Iran's revolutionary guard, which says the men had ventured into Iranian waters over here. The British say the men were in Iraqi waters operating under the protection of a U.N. mandate.
But that's not really what this is about. The underlying issue is down here at the Strait of Hormuz. It's only about 30 miles across, but close to 20 percent of the world's oil flows through this point. The Iranians have been conducting their own military exercises in recent months and international analysts say the implication is clear. If Iran feels too much pressure over its involvement in Iraq, its nuclear program or anything else, it may try to shut down the Strait.
GAL LUFT, INSTITUTE FOR ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL SECURITY: If there is a disruption in Strait of Hormuz, all of us, every American, will feel the pain.
FOREMAN: Worldwide oil prices jumped dramatically following a rumor that the Iranians had fired on a U.S. ship during these drills. It was just a rumor. But the tension and the stakes remain very real.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now as for those seized British sailors, Iran may soon let Turkish diplomats visit with them. In the meantime, the British prime minister, Tony Blair, is meeting with reporters this morning. We're going to monitor his remarks, let you know if there are any new developments on that front.
John.
ROBERTS: Back here state side, in Chicago, the superintendent of police finally speaking out about two beatings that were caught on tape that involved members of his force. In the latest incident to surface, six police officers are accused of beating up a group of businessmen. Those officers have now been pulled off the streets, but they remained on the job for at least three months since the incident occurred back in December. Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline expressed his frustration in all that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL CLINE, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: The past two weeks have been disheartening and embarrassing for me personally and professionally. In hindsight, this incident should have been handled differently and these officers should have been stripped of their police powers sooner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: In the other incident, an off duty Chicago cop accused of beating up a female bartender, prosecutors have upgraded the charges now. Officer Anthony Abate, a 12-year veteran of the Chicago police force now faces a felony aggravated battery charge and there are reports that he's going to be fired.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. We've got some new developments for you in this pet food recall this morning. Class action suits have now been filed against Menu Foods. Lori Osbourn's (ph) cat, named Gizmo, died of kidney failure right before Menu Foods announced the recall. Now Osbourn and four others in Connecticut are joining the class action suit. She says she's convinced that Gizmo was killed by the food he was eating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CARA SWEET, VETERINARIAN: Given the timing of the food recall and that she was feeding the food that was on the recall list, you know, it's a lot of circumstantial evidence that's building a, you know, pretty certain case just with missing that final confirmation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: That's Gizmo's veterinarian.
So far, 471 cases of kidney failure linked to Menu Foods have been reported. The company is confirming 16 deaths. But as we told you yesterday, the Nationwide Organization of Veterinarians is putting that number at over 100. AMERICAN MORNING's repeatedly invited the president and CEO of Menu Foods to talk about the recall right here on AMERICAN MORNING, but so far all requests have been turned down.
Some brand-new recommendations to tell you about to try to prevent breast cancer. The American Cancer Society is encouraging annual MRI scans in addition to mammograms in women who have a family history of breast cancer. If you've had cancer in one breast, they recommend that you get an MRI of the other breast as well.
And that news is what kicks off our in-depth look this morning at cancer in America. It's a disease that we've certainly seen strike well-known Americans still in their 40s and their 50s, with families and children and full lives to lead. Cancer is going to kill more than half a million people this year. Roughly a million and a half people will learn that they've been diagnosed with cancer this year. The most prevalent cancer for men is prostate cancer. For women, it's breast cancer.
And as we know, cancer crosses party lines. Fifty-one-year-old White House Spokesman Tony Snow is debating his options this morning after he learned that his colon cancer has spread to his liver. That just comes less than a week after Elizabeth Edwards, who's 57-years- old, heard that her breast cancer has returned. Now both of Edwards and the Snows have young children.
We're going to talk to breast cancer survivor and nine-time Grammy Award winner Sheryl Crow this morning. She's speaking on Capitol Hill about cancer and funding and research. We'll talk about skin cancer survival and (ph) Presidential Candidate John McCain. And CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta's going to join us as well.
And then yesterday, I decided to undergo a whole body scan. Going to show you what that's like to get scanned by an MRI head to toe. We'll tell you what they can find and what they cannot find straight ahead this morning.
Plus, we'll take a look at the cancer's effect on a whole family, the patient, the spouse and, of course, the children as well. What's the best way to talk about cancer with the family. All that ahead in our special report.
ROBERTS: Now you really went for the Rolls-Royce of these body scans too. A lot of people go for CAT scan. You went for an MRI.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, the MRI -- this is the top of the line. And what's interesting is where the technology is. Boy, you'll see the resolution in these pictures is great. But because of some of the chemicals that they're still working on developing, they're not 100 percent able to really detect what you have. So it's a good news/bad news kind of scan. It costs a lot of money, raises a lot of questions, too, about, you know, is it worth it.
ROBERTS: But we'll get to know you in a whole different way this morning.
O'BRIEN: Yes, you'll know my kidney, know my liver, that's what I say.
ROBERTS: Excellent.
Coming up, parts of the South already reeling from heaving flooding. We're on alert now for more rain, hail and tornadoes today.
Plus, Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, in the hot seat on Capitol Hill tomorrow. We'll take a closer look at his role in the scandal coming up.
And a bizarre bank robbery. Mysterious communications keep police in Miami guessing. We'll explain all of that.
The most news in the morning is on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
Extreme weather is roaring across parts of the country overnight. In southern California right now, hundreds of people are without electricity, thousands more trying to clean up after storms that packed hail and 40 miles an hour winds took down trees and power lines with them. Homes in the greater L.A. area were also damaged. Nobody was hurt, though.
In the northwest corner of Louisiana, pounding rain turned streets around Shreveport kind of into rivers. Take a look at these pictures. Unsuspected drivers got stuck and had to be rescued. The storm is triggering tornado warnings. Several people reported seeing funnel clouds, but there was no major damage on the ground to tell you about.
Now those storms eventually spread right into eastern Texas. The pounding rains there caused floods too. Store owners turned into full-time cleaners using their brooms and their mops, trying to get the mess out of the stores. Out in the streets, dozens of cars and trucks stalled. You know Chad always says, do not go through the water logged roads. If you cannot see the bottom, do no do it.
Quarter past the hour.
Chad, you know, I listen to you. Is it any consolation? I listen to you when you give that advice. Some people don't, though.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: So we've got scandal coming up in Washington in the next couple of days with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' trying to desperately keep his job. His former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, is going to be up on The Hill testifying. We wanted to get a look who this fellow, Kyle Sampson, is and what he's likely to say. Our Bob Franken live now in Washington with more on that.
Hey, Bob. How are you?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, John.
Well, you know them well, the Washington type who is both influential and anonymous. Well, that would be him, until now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN, (voice over): Kyle Sampson, who has resigned as chief of staff with the Justice Department, is about to head into the Senate Judiciary Committee lion's den on the firings of the eight U.S. attorneys.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: The Sampson testimony is now more crucial than ever. He was at the center of it all. He can tell us what the attorney general knew, when he knew it and what he did about it.
FRANKEN: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is fighting for his political life against charges he's been less than honest about the role he had in getting rid of the eight. Wherever he goes these days, he has to defend himself.
GONZALES: What was public out there was the fact that there was this review process. What was also public is that Kyle Sampson had been directed to conduct that review process.
FRANKEN: One of the thousands of documents released so far is an e-mail from Sampson in which he suggests ranking the 93 prosecutors on whether they "exhibited loyalty to the president and attorney general," which is a far cry from the initial explanations for why they were fired.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of the changes that we made were performance related.
FRANKEN: While Sampson says he will testify without a subpoena, Monica Goodling, the council to the attorney general, has taken leave from her top job and says if she's called to testify, she'll take the fifth. Meanwhile, a battle rages over weather White House officials like Karl Rove and Harriet Miers will appear, or will the president claim executive privilege?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: As for Gonzales, the public outcries that he resign have thus far been ignored. At least publicly. The president and the attorney general insist that he's going to hang on, so far.
John.
ROBERTS: Yes. But I wonder if that opinion might change after Sampson testifies on Thursday. There's a lot of people who are expecting some bombshells to come out of this.
FRANKEN: Well, yes. Now Sampson is one of these people who plays it close to the vest. And it's going to be interesting to see if he is very, very careful it's because, as you point out, going to be interesting to see just how much damage he does to his former boss, the attorney general.
ROBERTS: And this morning I've been reading some of the blogs and other things and Republicans not saying very kind things about it.
Bob Franken in Washington, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. We're getting this news just in to CNN. We're talking about these 15 British sailors and marines who were captured last week by the Iranians. Now the report comes in, shows that, according to the United Kingdom, global positioning data is showing now that those 15 sailors and marines were well inside Iraqi waters when they were captured by Iran. It happened, they say, 1.7 nautical miles within Iraqi waters.
That, of course, is key to this whole dispute. Iran has said, no, that those 15 were in Iran territorial waters. Now the United Kingdom saying they have GPS evidence showing that, in fact, those 15 sailors were within where they were supposed to be. They were doing searches on vessels coming through the Iraqi waters.
We also are getting news this morning that Iran may allow some Turkish diplomats to see these 15. No word yet exactly on where the men are being held by Iran and they haven't really given much information to the detained men and women we're told. They were seized on Friday and we continue to follow that story for you this morning.
John.
ROBERTS: Iran looking increasingly like it's on the losing end of this particular dispute.
Still to come this morning, the housing headache just got a lot worse. A new report is out this morning and it's spelling trouble. We'll break it down, whether you're a buyer or a seller.
Plus, paper. Paper. A city bans plastic bags at the grocery store and shoppers may feel the pinch, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Bizarre is what Miami police are calling yesterday's failed bank robbery. It happened in Miami Beach. And here's how it went down apparently. A bank manager e-mailed a friend, "the bank's being robbed." He was told not to pull any alarms. The friend notified the cops, who stopped traffic, locked down schools. A suspect was arrested. There was no note, no gun.
Then it got even weirder. A guy calls into the bank and says, I am the suspect's brother-in-law, so police need to let him go or I'm going to shoot. And, in fact, people started reporting seeing a man with a gun. Well, the Miami Beach S.W.A.T. was called to the scene. They investigated police say, actually probably what people saw was an undercover officer with a gun, not any kind of gunman.
Here's how it ends up. The bank robber is still in custody. They had no intention of turning him over. And the brother-in-law, no sign of him quite yet.
Now police in New Jersey are looking for a suspected bank robber. He's known as the hat bandit. Look at all the different hats he wears. Authorities say he's robbed 12 banks since September, each time wearing a different hat or cap. They say he approaches the bank tellers, gives them a simple note, not very elaborate, says, "I just want large bills." In this latest robbery, got $10,000. And one of the notes said this, "do not press the alarm. Give me all large bills." $50,000 it's believed that he's been made off with over the last, whatever, 12 robberies.
ROBERTS: Wow. But, you know, buddy, you're supposed to cover the face, not the head.
O'BRIEN: You know, I think that -- look at the quality of this video now.
ROBERTS: Yes, it's pretty good, isn't it?
O'BRIEN: You've got to think, it's just a matter of time until someone says, hey, that's my neighbor (ph).
ROBERTS: That's my uncle.
O'BRIEN: I mean, come on. Look at that guy.
ROBERTS: Uncle Pete, what are you doing?
O'BRIEN: That's a pretty clear shot of somebody. I don't know him, but there's someone out there who does.
ROBERTS: Definitely wears a lot of hats. CNN's very own Lou Dobbs is going to be answering the tough questions today instead of asking them when he testifies in Washington. Lou is going to be talking about free trade in a hearing on how trade and foreign policy affects the American worker. He's going to be on The Hill at 10:00 this morning. It's his first time testifying, by the way. And then later on today, join Lou in Washington. He's hosting a primary time special from D.C., 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific.
Uncertainty over Iran rolling (ph) the markets as well as the oil markets, as well. It's 25 minutes after the hour. Stephanie Elam, "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
Boy, we had a real spike in oil and now what are the markets expected to do?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly. It kind of gave us a little freak out yesterday because of the Iran issues. Yesterday, if you didn't know, oil spiked about $5, about 8 percent yesterday. So that overall spooked the markets just a little bit.
And when you look at how oil reacted, it was about whether or not Iran had fired on U.S. Navy ships. Well, it turned out that that did not happen. So once that came back out into the news, then oil came back down and settled at a more agreeable level here yesterday.
Moving from that and taking a look at what happened with home prices yesterday. Single family homes in January actually the worst scene in 13 years. This is according to Standard & Poor's. And this is year-over-year.
This is the first annual decline in home values in more than a decade. All cities showed either a flat or negative return in January, compared with December, except for Charlotte, North Carolina, based on the cities that are on that index that the S&P puts together there.
One other thing worth looking at is consumer confidence. Yesterday we got the numbers out and it seems like U.S. consumer confidence was actually weaker in March. Higher gasoline prices, as well and that recent volatility that we've seen in the markets has freaked out consumers and they're sort of holding back right now.
Also, the rise in the sub-prime mortgage lending issues is hutting high-risk borrowers who have weak credit. And that's another issue there. And the Center for Responsible Lending says 2.4 million holders of sub-prime mortgage loans between 1998 and 2006 will actually lose their properties to foreclosure.
And what this means, Soledad and John, is that home ownership loss, we're looking at a loss there of a million homes. So households will not be without homes. So, obviously, that's a big deal. All of this freaking out the markets. The Dow is down 71. And the Nasdaq was off 18 yesterday.
O'BRIEN: All right, Stephanie, thank you.
The top stories of the morning are coming up.
The very latest on that tense hostage situation. Live from Manila this morning. A bus load full of preschoolers and their teachers being held by gunmen with grenades. We'll update you on what's happening there.
And a new call on Capitol Hill from star power arriving today, demanding more for cancer research. We'll be talking to Sheryl Crow live. She's one of those stars on The Hill. We're taking an in-depth look at cancer in America this morning.
And ban plastic and save the earth? Not everybody thinks it's such a good idea. We'll explain straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It's Wednesday, March 28th.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts, in for Miles O'Brien.
Good Wednesday morning to you.
We begin that lovely slide into the weekend now. It's sort of like making it to the top of the hill and then, yahoo, here we go.
O'BRIEN: Yes, we're almost there.
All right. Two developing stories we're watching for you this morning, including a hostage standoff. Gunmen with grenades holding dozens of small children hostage on a bus. These are live pictures. That's the bus right there in the center of your screen.
As you can imagine, lots of people have come out to the scene. Four-year-olds and 6-year-olds, dozens of them, are on that bus. The hostage-taker with grenades. Oh, by the way, it also happens to be the owner of the daycare center.
ROBERTS: And he's done this before, something similar, anyway.
Word from Britain this morning that they have got proof, GPS coordinates, that prove that those 15 British sailors who were taken hostage on Iran on Friday were inside Iraqi territorial waters. The British government says they were 1.7 miles inside. And today word out of Turkey that Turkish diplomats may be allowed to see those hostages in Iran.
O'BRIEN: We're also taking an in-depth look this morning at cancer this morning and the staggering number of people who are coping with the disease in their 40s and their 50s. And some important news overnight, too, about breast cancer. We'll tell you about that in just a moment. First, though, let's get right to the scene in Manila. A busload of children are being held hostage. This is strange as hostage situations go.
CNN's Anjali Rao is on the scene for us in Manila.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANJALI RAO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The drama unfolded some nine and a half hours ago when a man armed with guns and grenades overpowered 30 children and seven adults to make a sort of bizarre protest about the state of education and housing here in the Philippines. Bizarrely, though, the man, that we now know is Jun Ducat, funded the daycare center that these children came from. We're still not sure, though, of exactly who the adults are. It's all very confused on the bus that you see behind me.
It would appear that the four females are teachers. Three other males would appear to be hostage-takers, though, as I say, it is still not sure.
Now, it does seem that the government has agreed to his demands to give free schooling and also free housing to the kids that go to his school. There are about 145 of them. And the government has now said that they will do that.
In return, though, they wanted him to let some of the children go. He said, well, you know, no. The children are actually pleasantly happy to stay here and they don't want to leave.
And just hours before, we've seen them chanting "Ducat! Ducat!" Chanting the name of this man who they seem to revere as some sort of a hero figure.
Now, let me just tell you exactly what Mr. Ducat is up against here, as well, in terms of fighting the situation with education here. I mean, this is a place where math and science are in the lowest 10 percent in the whole world. Plus, also, children are now having to take lessons in toilet blocks and in hallways of their schools because there are just so many of them and not enough resources to take care of all of them.
So we are expecting him to free the children and the teachers at some point in the very near future, at the time that you're seeing this report, probably in the next half hour or so. Mr. Ducat, though, has asked that some candles be there to pave the way for the children when they leave the bus, in sort of a vigil. As for him himself, though, he says he's ready to take whatever is coming to him.
Anjali Rao, CNN, Manila.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: In Washington this morning, the White House is bracing for its biggest challenge yet on the Iraq war. Congress is now poised to send President Bush a bill that funds the war but establishes a deadline for bringing the troops home.
Senate Republicans tried to kill the troop withdrawal portion of the bill yesterday, but Democrats pulled out a two-vote victory on that. Today, the Senate pushes the overall bill toward a vote. The House passed its version of it last week.
And, of course, President Bush is promising to veto any bill that sets a date for bringing troops home. Mr. Bush is in Texas this morning, expected to talk about Iraq, as he does usually on a daily basis. We'll have live coverage of his comments starting at 10:05 Eastern Time.
While in Iraq this morning, the new ambassador is on the job. Ryan Crocker is sworn in, in a no-frills ceremony in Baghdad. Crocker comes to Iraq from Pakistan, where he's been ambassador since 2004 -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: One of America's most respected war veteran is now painting a pretty dire picture of the situation in Iraq. It's retired General Barry McCaffrey. He's met twice with President Bush to discuss the war. He's a veteran of Vietnam and the first Gulf War. He's just returned from Iraq, where he's met with military leaders, including General David Petraeus.
In his view, the Iraqi population is in despair, the U.S. military faces serious problems. In his report, McCaffrey says that "U.S. armed forces are in a position of strategic peril," that no part of Iraq's government "operates effectively." He says, "Armed sectarian militias probably exceed 100,000," that "most of their money, explosives, and leadership are all generated inside of Iraq." McCaffrey does say that under General Petraeus, "The situation on the ground has clearly and measurably improved."
ROBERTS: All this morning, we're taking on the subject of cancer in America. Revelations that cancer has returned for now one, but two prominent political figures, is putting attention back on the disease, as well as the funding to fight it, and cuts in funding.
A closer look now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice over): For all the progress medical science makes against cancer, the statistics are still astounding. According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 10 million Americans are living with the disease. This year alone, there will be nearly 1.5 million new cases, and more than a half a million people will die from it.
In the past week, a new spotlight has been shined on this often incurable disease with the back-to-back revelations that Elizabeth Edwards' and White House spokesman Tony Snow's cancer is back. Snow got the bad news just days after he sent out words of encouragement to Edwards on AMERICAN MORNING.
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Are thoughts and prayers are with John and Elizabeth Edwards, because there are a lot of people around the country who have been through the experience not only of cancer, but cancer follow-up. So I'd like to lay down that, because, trust me, I know.
ELIZABETH EDWARDS, JOHN EDWARDS' WIFE: This is what happens to every cancer survivor. Not that you ultimately get a bad diagnosis, but every time you get something suspicious, you go into alarm mode.
SNOW: On Tuesday, the Edwardses offered their praise and prayers to Snow.
At every stop along the campaign train, Elizabeth Edwards' renewed fight takes center stage. Other presidential candidates, like skin cancer survivor John McCain, have used their personal stories to bring attention in Washington to fighting the disease, yet advocates are deeply worried that the federal government is actually reducing funds for cancer research, a move they say could undermine the gains made so far.
For the second year in a row, President Bush has proposed to cut funding for the National Cancer Institute, a reduction of more than $30 million. Today, musician and cancer survivor Sheryl Crow is on Capitol Hill, urging more federal dollars for breast cancer research.
Cancer survivor and seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has long called on Washington to do more. But he says it's not all about funding.
LANCE ARMSTRONG, CANCER SURVIVOR: We can always use more money. Again, I think the biggest issue is leadership. And leadership, you know, that not only starts in the White House, but it trickles down through Congress, through the NIH.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And coming up later on in the show, we're going to speak with cancer survivor and presidential candidate John McCain about his battle with it. And singer Sheryl Crow is also going to join us with a look at her fight against cancer. And she'll tell us why she's teaming up with senators to expand research into the causes of breast cancer. She's up on Capitol Hill today.
O'BRIEN: Plus, everyone talks about early detection, and I actually wanted to get a full body scan. Ever since I turned 40, I thought that would be a good way to see if there's anything sort of percolating in your body. We'll tell you about the pros and the cons of the full body MRI.
Do I look relaxed and comfortable?
ROBERTS: Wow. I was going to say, you look like a cover of "National Geographic" there.
O'BRIEN: Huh. Yes.
ROBERTS: This is you?
O'BRIEN: Well, this is -- that's -- that's all me.
ROBERTS: Wow.
O'BRIEN: We'll tell you how it went and we'll tell you...
ROBERTS: It leaves nothing to the imagination, then.
O'BRIEN: Well, depending on your imagination, I guess.
That's straight ahead this morning.
Also coming up, we're going to talk about the weather. Heavy winds, downing trees causing big trouble out West. Severe weather expert Chad Myers tells us what folks can expect today.
And a good night's sleep may be more important than what everybody thought. New information about how it affects your heart.
Plus, one city approves a ban on plastic shopping bags. They say they want to help the environment. But not everybody thinks it's such a great idea.
We'll tell you why, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
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ROBERTS: The most news in the morning is here on CNN.
There you can see it in the background. Wow, extreme weather roaring across parts of the country.
In southern California, a freakish windstorm. Right now, hundreds of people without electricity. Homes in the greater Los Angeles area were also damaged, but thankfully no one was hurt.
In the northwest corner Louisiana, pounding rains turned streets around Shreveport into rivers. Unsuspecting drivers got stuck in the floods and had to be rescued. The storm is triggering a tornado warning now. Several people reported seeing funnel clouds, but no major damage on the ground.
Pounding rains in eastern Texas, as well. Store owners turned into full-time cleaners, using brooms and mops to clean up the mess that's left behind. Out on the streets, dozens of cars and trucks stalled while trying to drive through the deep water.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to a developing story now.
The British government says it has proof that a group of British marines were not in Iranian waters when they were captured by Iran last week.
For the very latest on this story, let's get right to CNN's Robin Oakley. He's live for us in London.
Robin, good morning.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Good morning, Soledad.
And we've had news from Vice Admiral Charles Style (ph), a senior naval officer, confirming the British authority's claim that the sailors and marines who were captured by the Iranians were all the time that they were conducting their operation firmly within Iraqi waters, where they were entitled to be under the organization -- under the orders of the United Nations.
This was how the situation was described by Admiral Style (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The merchant vessel was 7.5 nautical miles southeast of the Al-Faw Peninsula, and clearly in Iraqi territorial waters. Our master has confirmed that his vessel was anchored within Iraqi waters at the time of the arrest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OAKLEY: So, 1.7 miles within Iraqi waters, not just on the edge of Iraqi waters. That's the confirmed claim from the British, backed up by examples they have shown us of a handheld piece of machinery pointing down at the dowel, which the boarding party had boarded.
The big question being asked is why the British sailors and marines didn't fight back when the Iranian boats came and took them and shepherded them into Iranian waters. And senior British officers and foreign office officials are explaining that basically the Iranians got there within three minutes while the boarding party were climbing down rope ladders from the vessel that they had been investigating. There was simply no time for them to fight back -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. We'll see how this story develops, too.
Robin Oakley for us this morning.
Thank you, Robin.
(NEWSBREAK)
The city of San Francisco forcing grocery stores to be more environmentally friendly. The city council approved a ban on most plastic shopping bags. Now, not everything thinks it's a good idea.
Amber Lee is with our affiliate KTVU. She's got our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMBER LEE, REPORTER, KTVU (voice over): San Francisco stores distributed an estimated 180 million plastic bags last year. Today, in a 10-1 vote, the board of supervisors passed groundbreaking legislation that will ban large super markets and pharmacies in the city from using petroleum-based plastic bags. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi sponsored the legislation, saying bags made of canvas, compostable plastic or paper should be used instead to protect the environment.
ROSS MIRKARIMI, SAN FRANCISCO SUPERVISOR: We, in the United States, starting here in san Francisco, cannot sleepwalk into the future.
LEE: The California Grocers Association, which represents major chains such as Safeway, Albertson's and Calla (ph), is critical of the ban.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a number of questions associated with the compostable bag as far as availability and the integrity of the -- of the bag itself. There is a cost concern. The bag is considerably more expensive.
LEE: Opponents say the new bag could cost the super markets up to 8 cents more than the old. Shoppers we spoke with had mixed reactions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know we're always first to do everything in San Francisco, and some of it's good and some isn't. I don't think it's good if it's going to cost the grocers more and the consumers more. No, I'm not in favor of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't really care if they pass the costs along. You know, I think most -- I think it's affordable. Most people can afford to pay that much for a bag.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: That was Amber Lee with our affiliate KTVU reporting for us -- John.
ROBERTS: Still to come this morning, the very latest on the hostage standoff happening right now in the Philippines.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
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(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: As oil prices spike and gas gets closer to that $3 mark, Wal-Mart sounds a warning on rising fuel prices and what that could mean for its bottom line.
Fifty-seven minutes after the hour now. Stephanie Elam here "Minding Your Business".
Good morning, Stephanie. STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, see, this is something we all pay attention to. When Wal- Mart, which is the largest retailer in the world, says they're concerned about oil prices, the cost of gasoline, then you know this is something everyone is really watching here.
They're saying they're going to take a cautious stance for 2007. It may be a challenging year. And they also point out that higher fuel prices hurt their basic customer, and, of course, that could hurt Wal-Mart's bottom line. And so, people will be watching to see what Wal-Mart says about gas prices moving forward.
But one other interesting note here about the Wal-Mart story. They've also come out yesterday and said, we don't need to be in New York. This is according to the CEO.
He actually said that they're now giving up. They were trying to get here with eight million customers. Obviously, you could see why Wal-Mart would want to be here. But he says the cost of doing business here is exasperating and is just too much to deal with. He should see what it's like living here.
ROBERTS: Yes, I was about to say, pobrecito.
ELAM: Yes, I know.
O'BRIEN: Try renting a two-bedroom apartment for less than $2,000 a month.
ELAM: Completely. But this was when he was talking to a group of "New York Times" editors, saying that he doesn't want to do that. But his spokeswoman saying, we're not ruling it out just yet, trying to smooth it out.
O'BRIEN: Those spokespeople earn their money after meetings like that.
ELAM: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: All right, Stephanie. Thanks.
Coming up at the top of the hour. Chad Myers at the CNN weather center for us.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Breaking news this morning. Gunmen holding preschoolers and teachers hostage right now. A daycare owner hijacking the bus and making unusual demands. We've got a live report from the scene straight ahead.
ROBERTS: Battle lines. The Senate keeps its deadline to bring troops home from Iraq. And today the president readies his answer.
Storm zones. Destructive winds out West, high water in the South, tornadoes, and a blizzard all predicted today.
O'BRIEN: And cancer in America hitting people and parents in the prime of their lives. A new recommendation out overnight to prevent breast cancer. And there's a new call from some famous faces to do more in the fight.
We're live this morning from Manila, from London, from Washington, D.C., and in New York, all on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. It's Wednesday, March 28th.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts, in for Miles O'Brien.
Thanks very much for joining us.
We're going to be speaking with a couple of those famous faces in just a few minutes here.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Sheryl Crow, and, of course, Senator John McCain, who cannot only talk about cancer, but can talk about politics, as well.
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