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Georgia Wildfires; When U.S. Troops Leave Iraq Will Iraqi Military be Ready?; Democrats Debate
Aired April 27, 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 Friday to you, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Heidi Collins today.
Watch events come in to the NEWSROOM live for this Friday, April 27th.
Here is what is on the rundown.
Winds, they are whipping up wildfires that had died down in south Georgia. But just look at this. Now there are fears these fires will spread, and they're forcing hundreds from their homes and closing a highway.
HARRIS: Ready or not. Iraqi troops challenged to take over the fight from U.S. forces. We go to their training camp.
NGUYEN: And a Mississippi mayor used a sledgehammer to smash what he called a crack house.
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: A jury takes a crack at this case.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: In south Georgia, hundreds of people chased from their homes and wondering if they'll have anything to return to. Winds have rekindled wildfires that were contained just a week ago. They're burning near Waycross, along the Florida state line. Over the past week and a half, 95 square miles have burned, 18 homes destroyed, and countless hearts broken.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISTY CARTER, WILDFIRE EVACUEE: I got a phone call telling me to evacuate, go ahead and get out. So we already had stuff packed and ready to go.
I started moving it to the car, and then another sheriff deputy pulled in my yard and said, "You don't have time. You have got to go ahead and go now." (END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: How about this -- the fire is threatening to jump US Highway 1, and even the firefighters' command center has had to be evacuated. Fire officials say weather conditions today could make the threat much, much worse.
NGUYEN: Well, let's get the latest now from those efforts that are taking place as we speak. Joining us on the telephone is Susan Reisch of the Georgia Forestry Commission.
And I understand you just got out of a meeting, Susan. What do we know about the number of folks who have been evacuated?
SUSAN REISCH, GEORGIA FORESTRY COMMISSION: The fire activity is very intense here. About 100 people have been evacuated from the community of Astoria and Goat Farm Road. The community of Astoria's evacuation has been lifted.
NGUYEN: And I understand the fire kicked up yesterday. How many homes have been destroyed so far?
REISCH: Eighteen homes have been destroyed so far. The activity has been very intense. It made a one-mile push through heavy timber yesterday in about an hour, and flame lengths were 60 to 70 feet during periods of high winds.
NGUYEN: My goodness.
REISCH: Several spot fires have occurred to about a half a mile away as well.
NGUYEN: OK. So, in total, how many acres are burning?
REISCH: In total, we've had 61,246 acres that have burned.
NGUYEN: My goodness. And so, is it the wind? What is it that is keeping this fire on the move?
REISCH: The fire is on the move because of the dry conditions that are here that exist in the fuel. Once it hits that dry fuel, it just burns.
The weather is also an issue here. We haven't had rain. We're in a drought condition. And it's very dry.
NGUYEN: At this point, how much is contained?
REISCH: The fire is 50 percent contained right now.
NGUYEN: Well, that's good. At least half of it at this point.
REISCH: Yes.
NGUYEN: Now, we know that this started by a downed power line, and it's been burning for about 11 days now. Besides the dry conditions and the wind, are your crews dealing with exhaustion, or are they dealing with any injuries because of this?
REISCH: There haven't been any injuries to the crews at this time. Everybody's really dealing with it very well. We have other recruits coming in from other parts of the state to help us out.
NGUYEN: All right. Well, good luck today.
A hundred people out of their homes, 18 homes already destroyed because to of this.
Susan Reisch with the Georgia Forestry Commission.
And, of course, we're going to have much more on this, Tony, a little bit later in the show today...
HARRIS: Yes.
NGUYEN: ... as we get more people on the ground to tell us where it's moving to and how much they're able to get a handle of it today.
HARRIS: So what do you say we do this? Let's check in with Chad Myers in the severe weather center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: We'll be talking to you about this next story throughout the morning, as well. Severe weather leaving its mark from the Great Plains to the Northeast. Ominous skies for parts of Illinois yesterday, and damage on the ground.
High winds tore off parts of a nursing home roof, flipped a minivan, and damaged several homes. No injuries reported.
Thunderstorms moved across Indiana. The worst of it in La Porte County. Trees ripped from the ground, winds tossed a police cruiser over a three-foot-high fence, Betty. The officer was OK.
And in the Northeast, as Chad just mentioned, the problem, heavy rain and flooding. Evacuations were ordered in an area of New Jersey. The wet weather caused flight delays, as you can imagine. There could be more problems as some areas get even more rain today.
NGUYEN: Well, when U.S. troops do leave Iraq, it will be up to the Iraqi military to keep the country from exploding. So, will they be ready?
CNN's Hugh Riminton reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): While America debates troop withdrawal, the men with the most intimate knowledge of Iraq's ability to secure itself are on this helicopter. The commander of the coalition's Iraq Assistance Group, Brigadier General Dana Pittard, has joined the head of Iraqi head ground forces, General Ali Ghidan-Majeed, to visit a dusty base north of Baghdad. They have come to see this. Under the eye of Americans, these men are learning how to survive and prevail in a dirty war. By the end of this week, these men and 1,500 others will be deployed in Baghdad.
(on camera): What is the standard of these guys by the time they leave here for the job ahead?
CAPT. MARK TOMOLA, U.S. ARMY: The standard -- the standard is -- obviously, we don't hold them to quite the same standard I would hold an American unit to.
RIMINTON (voice over): The training attempts to give the Iraqi soldiers real answers in fighting an insidious enemy.
(on camera): They train on this range for the sorts of conditions that Iraqi army soldiers will meet every day. There is a highway just over here, and that is for convoy training. As they pass a village, a typical rural setting in Iraq, suddenly, there are the men with the guns, there are the men with the rocket-propelled grenades.
(voice over): The trainees come under fire. Real enough to impress a veteran.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man, it brings back memories.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure doesn't like it. When you're looking down the road, down the street, and one's coming at you and there's sparks coming off of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It happens so quickly.
RIMINTON: General Ali (ph) says Iraq still needs help, but he acknowledges the price.
"The sacrifice of U.S. soldiers and the families of soldiers, it's incredible," he says. In Iraq, we will never forget them."
General Pittard says progress is being made. There were just two Iraqi divisions two years ago. Now he says there are 10.
GEN. DANA PITTARD, COMMANDER, COALITION IRAQ ASSISTANCE GROUP: We cannot leave Iraq in disarray. I mean, we came here in 2003. We cannot leave here, leave this nation as a failed state in disarray.
RIMINTON: A direct appeal to the politicians thousands of miles away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And Hugh Riminton joins us now live from Baghdad.
Hugh, let me ask you this -- one of the U.S. soldiers in your piece says that Iraqi troops aren't held to the same standard as U.S. units. So, what kind of standards are they being held to? RIMINTON: Well, essentially, they've got to get them out in the field as fast as they can. They get such training as they can to get them out there. There is no one set golden standard. But I think emblematic of all this, if you look back at that report, was the sound of the bugle player.
Now, he's tooting away on his horn there, he sounds like he knows what he wants to be doing, but it doesn't sound quite right. And in many ways, that is how the Iraqi army might be seen. It looks like an army, they now have 10 divisions in the field, more joining all the time, but they're still not ready.
They don't have MedEvac facilities, they have no air support. They're reliant on the Americans for supplies, equipment, and for further training. They're simply not ready -- so say the Iraqis, so say the U.S. military, to stand up by themselves just yet -- Betty.
NGUYEN: OK. Well, that being said, when will they be ready? When will they be considered to be ready?
RIMINTON: Well, this is the million-dollar question, of course. That is a political decision as much as a military one at the moment, it would appear.
But you know, you heard that Iraqi general in there talking movingly of the sacrifice that he acknowledges that Americans have made. How's this for a scandal? The whole purpose behind the current so-called surge is to establish some security with extra American troops in Baghdad so politicians here can get on with the business so Americans can finally stand down.
Or, get this. The politicians here have decided they're going to go ahead with their summer vacation. July and August parliament will not be sitting. It's all well and good to thank the Americans for their sacrifice, but they're not going to sacrifice their own summer vacation -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Really?
HARRIS: Wow.
NGUYEN: All right. That is very, very interesting.
Hugh Riminton joining us live from Baghdad.
Thank you.
HARRIS: Still more than a year to go before you go to the polls to make your pick for president, but the stage is already set for 2008. Democrats vied for the spotlight in the first debate of the presidential election season.
CNN's Candy Crowley watched it unfold.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): No blood spilled in this first of umpteen presidential debates. You had to listen hard for the low-impact jabs.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Clinton and anyone else who voted for this war has to search themselves and decide whether they believe they voted the right way.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I've said many times that if I knew then what I now know, I would not have voted that way.
CROWLEY: Fresh off a vote to authorize more spending in Iraq with a deadline to bring troops home, nearly all agreed the president should sign the bill, except for the most anti-war lawmaker in the group.
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because every time you vote to fund the war, you're reauthorizing the war all over again.
CROWLEY: Questions ran the gamut from Iraq to abortion, from health care to what they would do if two U.S. cities were attacked by al Qaeda.
CLINTON: I think a president must move as swifty as is prudent to retaliate.
CROWLEY: Answers differed in the details, but not the broad strokes, so it was a largely cordial gathering.
Much of the heat came from the second tier trying to puncture the rarefied atmosphere around the frontrunners.
RICHARDSON: I think the American people want candor. They don't want blow-dried candidates with perfection.
CROWLEY: As interesting moments go, the hands-down winner was the little known former senator from Alaska who more than once shook up the stage.
MIKE GRAVEL (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Barack, who do you want to nuke?
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not planning to nuke -- I'm not planning to nuke anybody right now, Mike. I promise you.
GRAVEL: Good. Good, we're safe.
CROWLEY: In the end, no faux pas, no unretrievable errors. The eight Democrats running for president cleared their first debate pretty much unscathed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And Candy Crowley joins us now live.
Good morning to you, Candy.
OK, so no blood spilled, but did the candidates get a real opportunity to talk about the substance of their policy ideas?
CROWLEY: Some of them complained that they didn't get enough time, but certainly, particularly in the Iraq debate, which was the longest of any of the subjects that were brought up, we saw that they did agree on the broad detail, which is get out of Iraq. But we had everything from Dennis Kucinich, who said, fine, let's cut off the funds, that's a way to get out of Iraq, to Joe Biden, who said, what we need to do is divide Iraq up into three separate states to keep the factions apart from each other, to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both of whom want a more phased-out withdrawal of the troops to try and minimize the chances there would be chaos left behind.
They did talk about gun control. They all agreed about having tighter restrictions that could keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. So, there were various things like that.
On health care, John Edwards was asked about his plan. He has a very detailed plan out there about universal health care coverage. He was challenged on how he was going to pay for it, and he said he would roll back part of the Bush tax cuts for those making $200,000 and over.
So, there was time for them to get out some substance. They were limited to a minute on each question, so sometimes just a raise of the hand would tell you something.
HARRIS: Yes.
CROWLEY: Dennis Kucinich, as you know, has filed some articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney, and so the group was asked, please raise your hand if any of you think that this impeachment ought to go forward, and nobody raised their hands. So, sometimes just silence told you something.
HARRIS: How about that?
It is debate season. We are just getting started. Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, for us.
Candy, thanks.
CROWLEY: Sure.
HARRIS: And stay with CNN for the best political coverage on television. And tune in on Sunday, June 3rd, and again on Tuesday, June 5th, as CNN hosts live presidential debates from the nation's first battleground state. That's New Hampshire.
NGUYEN: Well, East meets West. President Bush meeting with the prime minister of Japan. And on the agenda, North Korea's nuclear program. You'll hear the two leaders live in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Also, a drug bust gone bad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They kicked our door in talking about drugs. There's no drugs in that house. And they realized that. They done the wrong house. And they killed her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Police pleading guilty. Could more be in trouble? The story ahead.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Sean Callebs in Jackson, Mississippi.
It sounds like a tired old movie plot. A crusading mayor goes after a crack house with a sledgehammer, but he ends up in criminal court. Why? I'll explain coming up in the NEWSROOM..
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Jackson, Mississippi, mayor Frank Melton is expected back in the office this morning. Now acquitted of felony charges for taking a sledgehammer to a suspected crack house.
CNN's Sean Callebs reports.
CALLEBS (voice over): As mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, 57-year- old Frank Melton cultivated a tough-guy image. He dressed the part in his war on drugs.
Then in late August, Melton and two of his bodyguards laid waste to what they called a crack house located in a rundown section of the city. These photos were taken with a cell phone the night the mayor led the raid on the house using sledgehammers.
The district attorney said the gun-toting, club-wielding mayor went too far.
FAYE PETERSON, JACKSON DISTRICT ATTORNEY: They went to that home without a search warrant, without probable cause, while this individual was watching TV in his home, and broke in and kicked in the door. Then they proceeded to demolish his property under the pretext of looking for drugs that they never found.
CALLEBS: The D.A. charged Melton with a string of felonies that could have put him away for 50 years. The defense didn't deny the home was damaged, but said no crime was committed because the mayor was trying to clean up the city.
After a three-day trial...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not guilty. CALLEBS: ... Melton and his bodyguards were acquitted of all charges.
DALE DANKS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think that he understands now that there's a process that he has to comply with. I will encourage him to comply with it.
CALLEBS: The prosecution says the ruling is a disappointment, adding she can only hope this eight-month ordeal will rein in the mayor.
PETERSON: A lot of things that he does, they do seem like things out of a movie. And you think the law does not apply to you.
DANKS: It's got to humble anybody, and it's something I certainly wouldn't want to go through, and I'm sure he doesn't want to go through it again. And that's why I think that he's learned his lesson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Sean Callebs joins us now live from Jackson, Mississippi.
No search warrant, starts destroying this home? Sean, how did the community react to this?
CALLEBS: It's interesting, because some of the community wholeheartedly supported what the mayor did. This is a city that has seen a somewhat dramatic spike in violent crime in this area, a lot of drug-related crime. However, the prosecutor says, look, there are avenues, legal avenues that the mayor could have gone down quite easily -- get a search warrant, go in there with police, go in there with people who are trained to go in and try and tear down what he called a crack house.
Now, the mayor didn't deny that he and his bodyguards went in there and tore up the building, but they said they did it to clean up the city. And his defense said there was no malice involved. And the 12-person jury agreed, finding him not guilty of all charges.
NGUYEN: Yes. He was acquitted, but let me ask you this -- has this ordeal made him think that maybe he went too far in this instance? Does he still believe that he did the right thing?
CALLEBS: Well, he has apologized, so we'll take that for a what it's worth. But this is somebody who has had a very interesting so far less than two years in office.
About six months ago, he was involved in another legal case here -- excuse me. He issued a plea in a case involving him carrying a gun in such areas as a school and government property. So, this is somebody who has already run twice afoul of the law.
The district attorney, I think you heard her say, she believes this is somebody who thinks that the law doesn't -- doesn't include him. But the defense attorney said, look, yesterday when you saw Mayor Melton leave the courthouse here, he left a humbled man and vowed that he would not be back in front of a judge any time soon.
NGUYEN: A humble man, but a man who was acquitted, nonetheless.
Sean Callebs, we thank you for that report.
HARRIS: A popular dean of college admissions, her stunning admission about her credentials. Now she's out of a job. It is a matter of degrees.
Details in the NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: Soldiers' secret mission on the home front. He's picking up his boy and everyone's spirits.
You have to see this story in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: How about this? She campaigned against the pressure for students to pump up their resumes to get into college. Now the dean of admissions at MIT is out of a job following stunning admissions about her own credentials.
The school says Marilee Jones was forced to resign because she lied about earning degrees from three institutions. Officials say they have no evidence she ever graduated from college.
Jones worked at MIT for 28 years. She became a popular voice for lowering the pressure in the college admissions process. OK.
Jones released a statement saying she was deeply sorry for disappointing those who believed in her.
NGUYEN: Well, a new high-tech take on cheating. Students are now using iPods and MP3s to cheat on their tests. And in some cases, kids download the answers, then play them back in class while pretending to listen to music.
Schools across the country are taking action, banning the devices from classrooms. And the problem is, it's not limited to the U.S., though. Cheating via MP3 is reported in schools from Canada to Australia.
HARRIS: Reporter involvement. A TV news crew does more than just cover a missing child's story. They bring the girl back home. Scary story, happy ending, in the NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: Showdown over Iraq. A war spending bill tied to a timetable for troop withdrawal. Congress versus the White House.
That is ahead here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A developing story we are watching this hour -- a terrorist attack foiled. That report coming a short time ago from Saudi Arabia. Officials there say they've uncovered a massive plot targeting Saudi oil fields. More than 170 people arrested and more than $32 million seized.
Also uncovered, a large stash of weapons buried in the desert. The Saudi government says the militants also plotted to attack public figures and military targets inside and outside of the country.
With us now, our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson -- Nic, great to see you.
What more can you tell us about what appears to be, well, we just -- we just mentioned it -- a massive plot here?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does appear to be a massive plot. And what we do know is that these arrests, the 172 arrests, have been taking place over the last nine months. So this has been a process...
HARRIS: I see.
ROBERTSON: ... that has been going on for some time.
The weapons -- some of them are old weapons, because we know that they've been stored in the desert for a long time. The targets -- oil installations, senior government officials.
Some of these people, we're told, in fact, quite a number, are non-Saudi Arabs. Some of them, we're told, are Africans.
We've also been told that they -- a lot of them are young. The people that have been arrested are young.
Now, the Saudi intelligence source I've been talking to has been stressing that the people that they have been arrested, although they have access to the weapons, they don't have a lot of military training.
Also, on the issue of the training that they've been getting to fly aircraft into Saudi oil installations was another report we've been receiving. The clarity on that is that they had been getting some training. They've been reading flight manuals. But they weren't capable of flying aircraft, that they hadn't received proper aircraft flight training.
HARRIS: Nic, it sounds like an al Qaeda operation.
ROBERTSON: What we're being told by our sources is "this is the old al Qaeda that we've been following for some time." This is al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, that the Saudi officials have been following and tracking for some time.
I think the nature of the long process of the investigation -- of the arrests points to the fact that the Saudis have been tracking this group to follow them, learn exactly who's in the group, the extent of the group, where they hide their weapons and what their plans were.
This is their biggest -- biggest sort of group arrest, if you will.
HARRIS: And we know that Osama bin Laden has -- has asked for attacks on Saudi targets.
ROBERTSON: His principal goal is to bring down the Saudi monarchy. And that is one of the key motivational factors for the Saudi intelligence officials, security officials, to keep tracking al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, because they threaten the stability of the country.
The threats here against the oil facilities, the Saudis repeatedly say we're ready to defend our facilities. We have anti- aircraft guns at the oil facilities. I've been to some of them on the coast. They are vulnerable to attack from the air. The Saudis have put machine gun, heavy anti-aircraft machine gun facilities and other facilities they won't talk about, to protect these -- to protect the oil facilities.
But if al Qaeda was planning in this detail, this shows a continuation of their strategy that we first saw begin to develop last year, where they are now attacking the oil facilities, the economy of the country, rather than the homes of Westerners and beheading Westerners.
HARRIS: Another disturbing aspect of this, to what extent is Saudi Arabia becoming this destination for foreign fighters, for Jihadists?
ROBERTSON: Saudi Arabia has the money. There are people there with extreme enough views. You can't do terrorism, perpetuate terrorism, without money. The religious teachings that have gone on in Saudi Arabia, particularly in the last 25 years or so, we all know, in some cases, are very extreme. And there are some people there that continue to harbor very extreme views and they have the money to fund their organizations. And they attract people there.
HARRIS: And what does this say about the efforts of the intelligence apparatus in Saudi Arabia, the work of the Interior Ministry, that they were able, over the course of months, to get at the -- at the roots of this operation?
ROBERTSON: I think it shows that they're taking a very measured approach, rather than rushing out and arresting somebody as soon as they find out who they are and where they're hiding. You know, a few years ago...
HARRIS: Working up the ladder?
ROBERTSON: Working up the ladder.
HARRIS: Yes.
ROBERTSON: A few years ago, when we were in Riyadh and Jetta and places like that, we would get a call -- there's a gun battle going on up the street, they're raiding and their capturing five of these al Qaeda guys.
We'd go up and that's what was happening.
Now, it's a more -- it seems to be a more measured approach -- know who they are, track them, follow them, round them all up.
Now, I don't think the Saudis are fooling themselves that they've got everyone right now, but it does show, perhaps, a more nuanced and detailed approach than was seen in the past.
HARRIS: Where do you suspect the money trail will lead?
This is a lot of money funding this kind of an operation.
Where do you suspect that money trail will lead?
ROBERTSON: I don't think we'll ever fully know because the people who are giving the money to this kind of terrorist -- to support this kind of terrorism -- are never going to admit to it.
HARRIS: Sure.
ROBERTSON: And it's very murky. And we're talking about cash, often. We're not talking about bank transfers.
Saudi Arabia is a rich country. There are other rich countries in the Gulf that have a lot of money and it would be wrong just to point the finger of blame at the Saudis.
But there are people there whose views are sympathetic to these radical isms and are willing to put their money to support them.
HARRIS: What a story, developing this morning.
Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson.
Nic, great to see you.
Thanks.
ROBERTSON: Thank you.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, severe weather leaves its mark from the Great Plains to the Northeast. Ominous skies over parts of Illinois yesterday. Take a look at the these pictures. There is damage on the ground. High winds tore off parts of a nursing home roof, flipped a minivan and damaged several homes. There are no injuries reported.
But thunderstorms did move across Indiana and the worst of it Laporte County. Trees ripped from the ground. Winds tossed a police cruiser over a three foot high fence. That officer is OK.
We want to show you this, though. In the Northeast, the problem is heavy rain and finding -- lots of it. Evacuations were ordered in an area of New Jersey. The wet weather caused flight delays and there could be more problems as some areas get more rain today.
HARRIS: And as we check in with Chad Myers, wondering -- we mentioned flight delays.
NGUYEN: Right.
HARRIS: I would suspect it's still probably an issue at 9:36 in the morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is a big issue. There's seven airports now on delay, many of them now over an hour.
We'll get to that in about six or seven frames right behind me here, as soon as I keep pushing the button.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: In South Georgia, hundreds of people chased from their homes and wondering if they'll have anything to return to. Winds have rekindled wildfires that were contained just a week ago. They're burning near Waycross. That is along the Florida state line. Over the past week-and-a-half, 95 square miles have burned, 18 homes destroyed and countless hearts broken.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISTY CARTER, WILDFIRE EVACUEE: I got a phone call telling me to evacuate, go ahead and get out. So I -- we already had stuff packed and ready to go. I started moving it to the car and then another sheriff deputy pulled in my hard and said you don't have time, you've got to go ahead and go now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And listen to this. The fire is threatening to jump U.S. Highway 1 and even the firefighters' command center has had to be evacuated. Fire officials say weather conditions today could make the threat even worse.
NGUYEN: Congress versus the White House. President Bush standing firm in his vow to veto any Iraq War spending bill with a timetable for troop withdrawal.
Here's CNN's Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By a vote of 51-46, the conference report is adopted.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With that Senate vote, the stage is set for a dramatic wartime showdown between Congress and the White House, the likes of which not seen since Vietnam. SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL), DEMOCRATIC WHIP: When the president receives this bill early next week, I hope he'll ask himself some basic questions -- how many lives, how many wounds, how many soldiers must America sacrifice waiting for the Iraqis to accept their responsibility?
BASH: It is a confrontation with the president the Democratic majority says war weary Americans demanded with their votes last November.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: We have carried forth the wishes of the American people.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: In the last election, the American people called for a new direction. Nowhere were they more firm in that new direction being necessary than in the war in Iraq.
BASH: The $124 billion emergency spending bill would fund the war, but order U.S. troops to start coming home October 1st, with a goal of withdrawing all combat forces by this time next year.
Republicans call that a surrender date.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: If the Iraqis make progress, we leave. If they don't, we leave. This is not a choice. It is a mandate for a defeat that al Qaeda desperately wants.
BASH: They also called Democrats irresponsible for, in the middle of the war, sending the president a spending bill they know he won't sign.
DANA PERINO, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president will veto this legislation and he looks forward to working with Congressional leaders to craft a bill that he can sign.
BASH: The veto will put Democrats in a difficult bind. They'll have to come up with a new war spending plan fast to minimize GOP attacks they're endangering troops in combat and to get the president's signature, it will have to be a plan without withdrawal deadlines, which could jeopardize support from lawmakers who want to keep pushing for an end to the war.
REID: It will take us a while to put it together, because you have to start it all over again.
BASH: The Senate's top Democrat says his goal is a new proposal by June 1st.
(on camera): Democratic sources say one leading idea is setting a series of benchmarks Iraqis must meet for U.S. troops to stay. Surprisingly, senior Republicans said that's a concept they could support.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
NGUYEN: Well, a drug bust gone very bad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH DOZIER, VOICE-MAIL'S NIECE: They kicked her door in talking about drugs. There ain't no drugs in that house and they realized that. They done the wrong house. They went and they killed her.
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NGUYEN: Police pleading guilty.
Could more be in trouble?
That is ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And a war of words over the war in Iraq.
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REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Imagine a presidential candidate making a joke about IEDs when these kids are blown apart?
It's outrageous.
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HARRIS: What John McCain said to Jon Stewart that set off these verbal fireworks.
You are in THE NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: A botched drug raid, a 92-year-old woman shot to death in her own home. Two Atlanta police officers have entered guilty pleas in connection with the killing.
But this case is far from over.
CNN's Rusty Dornin reports.
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RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These two Atlanta police officers admitted they were guilty, admitted they shot 92-year- old woman Kathryn Johnston to death.
A grand jury initially indicted officers Greg Junnier and Jason Smith for murder. They pleaded guilty to reduced charges, including voluntary manslaughter and making false statements. Smith also admitted to planting three baggies of marijuana at Johnston's house. A third officer, Arthur Tessler, was charged with false statements and imprisonment in connection with the shooting. He maintains his innocence.
The twisted tale of drugs, lies and police misconduct began at this small Atlanta house, with a handicapped ramp leading to the front door. Family and friends say elderly Kathryn Johnston lived in fear or crime. Sometimes she wouldn't even let neighbors who bought her groceries step into her house.
So when her family heard she had been killed after narcotics officers broke down her door in what's known as a no-knock drug warrant last November, they were livid.
DOZIER: They kicked her door in talking about drugs. There ain't no drugs in that house and they realized that. They done the wrong house. They went and they killed her.
DORNIN: The elderly woman had a gun and fired a single shot, but hit no one. The officers said then they killed her in self-defense. They also said that just hours earlier, an informant had bought drugs at Kathryn Johnston's house.
But the informant told reporters and investigators that wasn't so.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY WAGA, ATLANTA)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never went to that house. I'm telling you, I never went to the house.
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DORNIN: That caused an uproar in the community. Federal agents came in to conduct an independent investigation. Five months after the shooting, both state and federal grand juries returned indictments against the three narcotics officers involved in the botched raid. And federal officials claim it's both troubling and deplorable and said they're not finished yet.
GREG JONES, FBI: The FBI will continue to pursue additional allegations of corruption and violations of civil rights as we have learned through this investigation that other Atlanta police officers may have engaged in similar conduct.
DORNIN: One local community leader says many people there don't think justice has been done.
MABEL THOMAS, GEORGIA STATE HOUSE: We are not happy in this community with the plea bargain. We think that they should have went to court and they should have been convicted. And we feel that as strong a sentence as possible, they should get, because you can't bring Miss. Kathryn Johnston back.
DORNIN: The story isn't over yet. As part of their plea agreement, the narcotics officers have promised to cooperate with an ongoing investigation into wrongdoing in the Atlanta Police Department.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Atlanta.
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NGUYEN: There's a message for voters from the mayor of New York -- he is not running for president.
So, what's all the talk about?
That's ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And a soldier's secret mission on the home front. He is picking up his boy and everyone's spirits right here in THE NEWSROOM.
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NGUYEN: A top secret mission for a soldier. Don't tell anybody, especially his son.
Here's Melissa McGuire of affiliate KVUE reporting.
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MELISSA MCGUIRE, KVUE NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Staff Sergeant Joseph Will is home from Iraq for a short two week break.
STAFF SERGEANT JOSEPH WILL: Hey, how are you doing?
PRINCIPAL JENNIFER LUCAS: Good.
Welcome back.
MCGUIRE: And this mission at Gattis Elementary is one he's been waiting six months for.
LUCAS: Are you shaky and excited?
WILL: Yes. I ain't seen my boy in six months.
MCGUIRE: It's a secret mission -- not secret to us or school officials -- a secret to his son, 11-year-old Sidney.
WILL: It's like, it's cool, you know?
I ain't going to cry. I ain't going to do that.
VANESSA MOBLEY-JOHNSON: It's been a long, long road. The other day he woke up and said, "Mom, I had a dream that my dad was here."
MCGUIRE: Sidney's dad took position behind the curtain in the school cafeteria. Sidney was eating lunch and he had no idea what was coming.
LUCAS: I need to have Sidney Mobley. I need you to come up here.
LUCAS: It's exciting. I think it's really cool. I'm -- I can't wait to see his face.
I want to come stand right here next to me and I want you to look at that -- I want you to look at these curtains right here. Ready, set, go.
SIDNEY MOBLEY: Yes!
WILL: Yes.
LUCAS: This is Sidney's dad.
WILL: This is our boy.
LUCAS: He hasn't seen his dad in six months. He didn't know his dad was coming to surprise him today with us.
WILL: There's my boy.
MCGUIRE: The mission was a success.
S. MOBLEY: I was happy and I wasn't scared of him. (ph) It was very good.
MCGUIRE: Sergeant Will joined his son at lunch, cherishing every moment until his next mission begins.
WILL: Yes, that's my baby boy.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HARRIS: Baby boy. Sorry, love that.
Still to come this morning in THE NEWSROOM, for this movie star, a kiss is not just a kiss.
NGUYEN: That was some kiss, though.
HARRIS: Hey, that's a full on grope session, isn't it?
Richard Gere facing charges...
NGUYEN: That's more than one kiss.
HARRIS: Wow!
NGUYEN: That was several kisses.
HARRIS: All right. The story coming up in THE NEWSROOM for you this morning.
NGUYEN: Yes.
And also unfolding this hour, reports of a big terror bust -- 172 people detained in an alleged plot to getting oil fields in Saudi Arabia. We've got that story coming up in THE NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And President Bush, the prime minister of Japan -- the two leaders meeting this morning at Camp David. One issue on the agenda -- North Korea's nuclear program.
The president and the prime minister will hold a joint news conference at 11:00 Eastern. You will see it here live in THE NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: The NFL draft is this weekend. But there's one NFL player who's been preparing for life after the pros ever since his first kickoff.
Christine Romans has today's Life After Work.
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TROY VINCENT, NFL PLAYER: The day that you're drafted is the day that you prepare at leaving the game.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The average NFL career lasts less than four years. So entering his 16th season, Troy Vincent has been preparing for life beyond the field for quite some time.
VINCENT: As far as I'm concerned, you just need to get to school.
ROMANS: On the sidelines, most of Vincent's business and philanthropic work centers around the rough neighborhood where he grew up -- Trenton, New Jersey.
VINCENT: But this is where I learned how to play football on this concrete, not any grass.
ROMANS: In fact, the financial services company Vincent founded is just two blocks from his boyhood home.
VINCENT: It still puzzles me why my community, which I grew up in, looks the same, and why the people are not changing. The environment is still hostile.
ROMANS: Vincent is also focused on helping other NFL players deal with the often sudden end to their careers.
VINCENT: And we've been working on a vision.
ROMANS: As president of the NFL Players Association, he helped launch the NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurial program.
VINCENT: At the end of the day, the story is I've created options for myself. I have some companies that I could obviously go to and work in. But my heart and my soul is with -- with the men in the National Football League. ROMANS: The program offers more than 100 NFL players the opportunity to take part in three day business workshops during the off season.
As for Vincent, he has his eye on a lofty off-field goal.
VINCENT: I've always thought about owning a football team, or being part owner of a National Football League team.
ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
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