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Iraq War Funding; Cheney In Iraq; Blair Stepping Down; Gerri's Top Tips

Aired May 10, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That there's no students inside the building that are in harm's way.
CHRIS BARENTE (ph), CNN CORRESPONDENT: And certainly, as far as you know, you've gone here all three years of high school?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BARENTE: You feel pretty safe here at the school?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do, generally. We actually had a threat a couple weeks ago that kind of scared everyone as well.

BARENTE: So you and your friends, at this point, just sort of waiting it out?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, exactly. We're kind of waiting to see what happens.

BARENTE: All right. Thanks for your time this morning. Appreciate it.

She's not alone. Like I say, there were dozens of students who gathered here, who had driven themselves only to find this police tape when they arrived. Again, at this point, from what we're being told, S.W.A.T. teams are inside the school doing a room-by-room search, trying to make sure there is no threat. And, again, we should also emphasize, at this point, there's been no confirmed reports that these suspects actually are in the school or were on school property. It was just a report early from some staff members who saw suspicious activity and phoned it in to police.

We'll be here on location live throughout the morning. We'll let you know the very latest as it happens here at Boulder High School.

For now, I'm Chris Barente reporting live.

Back to you guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown for you this morning. Republican lawmakers on the war. Their blunt and candid message to President Bush. We're with you for now, but we can't make promises about next year.

COLLINS: Strangled by the Iraq War. Tony Blair calls it a decade. He's leaving his job as British prime minister. His accomplishments, his failures, his successor.

HARRIS: And how about this. They go off to war, then come home to fight again on the streets of America's big cities. Gang members in the military.

It is Thursday, May 10th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And at the top this hour, the front lines in Iraq. The bottom line in Washington, House Democrats pushing a new measure today that would divide the war budget into two votes. The first would fund the war only through July. CNN's Brianna Keilar is in Washington.

Brianna, what is happen today?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, the House Democratic caucus is actually meeting as we speak to discuss two votes that we're watching on the House side today. The first vote is that one you mentioned on a bill that would take $96 billion to fund the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan through September and split it in two. The Democrats' plan is to OK about $43 billion of that money for the war, but it would also force President Bush to come back to them in July and report on where Iraq stands on certain benchmarks to get the rest of the money. That being about $53 billion more dollars.

Well, Republicans like Minority Leader John Boehner are slamming this move. He says it puts the troops on a short leash and is basically like doling out allowance to a kid. So before this vote today on the installment plan for war funding, there will be another vote. This is largely a symbolic vote. And in order to satisfy members who are very opposed to funding this war, Democrats are allowing this vote on a measure to completely withdraw troops from Iraq within 90 days.

Tony.

HARRIS: So, Brianna, the votes on this supplemental have been slim at best. What's the best estimate on this piece of legislation? Will it pass?

KEILAR: Well, if we're looking at both of these votes, this first one on the troop withdrawal, the House is not expected to have enough votes to pass this. But Democratic leaders do expect that the bill on this two-part installment plan for funding the war will pass. Now that said, President Bush has said that he'll veto it and the Senate, very likely, will be making -- will be working towards a bill that's going to look very different. They're working with the White House. So it is very unlikely that a bill resembling what we're seeing in the House today will wind up on the president's desk.

HARRIS: CNN's Brianna Keilar for us in Washington.

Brianna, thank you.

COLLINS: Vice President Dick Cheney in Iraq and on message. He's there rallying the troops as debate over the war rages back home. CNN's Arwa Damon in the Iraqi capital with a closer look.

Good morning to you, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Well, the vice president did wrap up his two-day trip here to Iraq and he was carrying a very harsh and direct message to the Iraqi government, that it is now game time. It is time for the Iraqi government to get its act together.

Now yesterday Vice President Cheney did tell reporters that he sensed that there was a greater sense of urgency amongst Iraqi politicians that he did meet with. That would included Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, various members of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki. However, if today's parliament session is anything to go by, it appears that that greater sense of urgency that the vice president was talking about was either a part of political theatrics or that that urgency has not yet permeated through all levels of the Iraqi government.

Today's parliament session ending in complete and utter chaos. Debate broke out, heated debate, regarding the security crisis that is happening in Diyala, right now considered the new front line in the fight for al Qaeda. A female member of parliament standing up, demanding that the parliament take the crisis happening in Diyala in all seriousness. This resulting in an even further debate. At the end of it, the speaker of parliament himself berating the members of parliament, saying that the killing and the displacement that has been going on was the fault of three-quarters of the individuals standing in front of him.

Now this all resulted in parliament coming to complete and total chaos with this session ending abruptly to be resumed on Saturday. But really, a clear indication of the many, many challenges and obstacles that face the government here today.

Heidi.

COLLINS: You know, Arwa, as I look at that video and hear some of the sound from it, I wonder, was this something that was along tribal lines again, Sunni versus Shiite, inside that parliamentary meeting?

DAMON: Well, Heidi, there are a number of ways to look at it. Now, if we are to dissect exactly what the debate was about, it was focusing again on the security crisis happening in Diyala on the atrocities that are taking place there. That female member of parliament standing up and recounting stories about children being barbecued and various other atrocities. The displacement from Diyala has been predominantly Shia. The speaker of parliament is, himself, a Sunni. But, really, this is not the first time that we have seen parliament erupting in such chaos. Whether or not it is along sectarian lines, that could be a conclusion that could be drawn.

But what I really think it underscores is really this government's current state of paralysis. Parliament unable to hold a single full session. And never mind parliament being able to pass any of the necessary legislation to move this country forward or for this current government to meet any of the benchmarks that have been set out for it.

COLLINS: And, quickly, Vice President Cheney. Is his visit likely to have any impact to push Prime Minister Maliki into taking action and meeting those benchmarks?

DAMON: Well, Heidi, if passed, high-level visits are anything to go by, and the impact that they have had on the ground, highly unlikely. What we do see when these visits take place is a lot of nice sounding, political rhetoric, though we don't really see that rhetoric being turned into action and as we have been discussing right now, you can really see that rhetoric being turned into action. And, you know, as we have been discussing right now, you can really see the state that the Iraqi government is in at this point in time.

COLLINS: CNN's Arwa Damon live for us this morning out of Baghdad.

Arwa, thank you.

Taking the Army's pulse. Troop levels and deployments, recruitment goals and medical treatment for the injured. The Army's vice chief of staff answering questions live in the studio coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: The end of an era. British Prime Minister Tony Blair stepping down as head of his party and his country after a decade at number 10. Live now to London and CNN's Paula Newton.

Paula, great to see you.

Will Iraq overshadow just about everything else in the Blair premiership?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty much it already has, Tony. We've had polls here in the last few weeks that show that almost 70 percent of the people in this country think that Iraq will be his legacy. And it has wiped out not just a lot of what he's done here domestically, but a lot of what he had done prior to that in terms of foreign policy.

You know, Tony, you only have to listen, as we just did to Arwa Damon in Iraq, for just a few minutes to understand why people here are still so angry about the fact that Tony Blair took them into the war and Iraq. And, you know, the speech today that Tony Blair gave, Tony was quite a contrite speech. It was humbling. And he said, hand on heart, I did what was right. One thing you have to give Tony Blair is that he's been absolutely consistent throughout. You know, a lot of cartoons here portrayed him as being Tony Blair's poodle and just willingly and blindly going into war with George W. Bush. But many people here now characterize exactly what he did as him being a willing collaborator, someone who actually believed that it was time to take Saddam out.

Tony.

HARRIS: And what about the issue of the war on terror within Britain? What kind of marks does Prime Minister Blair get for being tough on that issue?

NEWTON: You know, Tony, this is key. Security sources have told us over and over again that around the table, when they had their terror attack here on July 7, 2005, Tony Blair was stunned. And the reason is that his security services, even though they continually told him about the threat to this country, told them, look, we're on top of it. We don't believe this will happen. It is unlikely to happen. Then there he is faced with this dilemma.

Ever since they have been trying to deal on various levels with what they call home grown terrorism. They understand it's a problem. It's not just a problem here, Tony. A lot of these people, Michael Chertoff, the Homeland security secretary there, saying it's a threat to people in the United States.

One thing to keep in mind -- Britain's believe that Tony Blair has now made them less secure, less safe in their own country by taking them to war in Iraq. And that is what does not sit well with them.

HARRIS: Boy, that is a striking assessment.

CNN's Paula Newton for us in London.

Paula, thank you.

COLLINS: Quickly want to give you the very latest on a developing story we've been telling you about in Boulder, Colorado. The Boulder High School there, about 1,900 kids go to this school, is on lockdown right now. We have learned that according to some of our reporting out of Denver, a KOA radio station there, as well as Briggs Gamblin (ph) with the Boulder Valley School District, that around 6:00 or 6:30 this morning a food service worker showed up to begin her job preparing meals and saw two suspicious men in camouflage and ski masks trying to make their way into the building. So immediately the school went on lockdown. It had not begun yet, so only faculty members were present.

But right now we know that the school is at least delayed until about 10:00 a.m. this morning. That could change. But inside right now, S.W.A.T. members and police officers searching the building, doing it room by room to make sure that everything is 100 percent safe. Again, at Boulder High School, on lockdown right now. We'll continue to follow that one for you. HARRIS: Islands in the stream. More than a hit song from Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Real-life. High water closes in on homes in the heartland. An update on the Missouri flood in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Using the military to become a better criminal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why were you there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To just gain knowledge, gain understanding. The military made me a better recruiter, organizer, and propagandist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Gang members in uniform, in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Grilling Gonzales again. The attorney general back before lawmakers, fielding questions about fired prosecutors. Live to Capitol Hill in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: The band played on. Meanwhile, in the balcony, a brawl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then there was a big scream and then you could hear chairs falling over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard a thump and a scream and we thought somebody might have fallen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: They don't call it the Pops for nothing. Fists go pop at the Boston Pops. We'll tell you about it in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. You're in the NEWSROOM.

Coming up, buried by time. A civil rights era killing resurrected by an indictment. The suspect is expected to turn himself in today. Details for you in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, it's a story we continue to follow right here for you in the NEWSROOM. Boulder, Colorado, and a Boulder High School. Let's show you some of the pictures that we have here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The school closed right now because of an unknown emergency. A suspicious incident at the high school. Entrances to the school closed. No students at the school. Pretty early in Boulder. Take a look at this scene. A food service worker spotted two men in camouflage gear and possibly ski masks inside the school. Police were called. That scene of police moving into the school still investigating what's described as a suspicious incident. The school closed until at least 10:00 a.m. local time. We'll continue to follow the story for you and bring you the latest updates as we get them right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Heavy rain floods parts of the Midwest and frustrated farmers relive a nightmare. Look at these pictures. We'll tell you more about it coming up in the NEWSROOM.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Gerri Willis. Mother's Day is Sunday. Are you ready. We've got some great ideas for mom, next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Keeping you posted on the situation going on in Boulder, Colorado, where the high school there of about 1,900 kids is on lockout. We say lockout because no one had arrived yet. Classes had not yet begun. But because of two suspicious people and an incident there where police are now searching the building. We want to get you to Greg Nieto of KWGN, our affiliate there in Colorado.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG NIETO, KWGN, COLORADO: We're actually here near the intersection of Broadway and Arapahoe (ph), basically on the west side of the campus, if you will. And you can kind of make out here, there are plenty of emergency-type vehicles here. Boulder emergency squad here kind of directing traffic, keeping people away. In fact, there was a gentleman there that just rolled some police tape there to keep folks from walking through this area.

Now Marie Reid (ph) here actually was heading over to Boulder High and you actually kind of do both, you go to the middle school and the high school as well. And you just kind of found out. I told you.

MARIE REID, BOULDER HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: Yes, I didn't know. They didn't call me or anything. So I was just going to go to school like I do every day.

NIETO: You just talked to your parents. Had they heard prior to you arriving here at our location?

REID: No, they hadn't. So I'm just going to go back to Casey (ph) now.

NIETO: How does that work? And you go to middle school primarily, but you take one class over at Boulder High School?

REID: Yes. I don't have a first period class, so I take a -- I go to first period at Boulder High and then I bike back to Casey every day so I can make my class there. NIETO: Sure. And I know you're learning about as much as we are at this point. But thoughts on hearing that it's actually a lockout not a lockdown but kids, students not being allowed on campus at this point.

REID: I think it's weird because I would have never expected something. Boulder High School starts at 7:30. So to have people not be able to get in, especially with the buses, is definitely bizarre. I haven't heard of anything like that before.

NIETO: Sure. Going to be pretty tough. How do they usually let you know if something has happened overnight? Is it via e-mail? Does someone call you firsthand?

REID: Well, for me, I wouldn't get an e-mail, but other people would get e-mails or get calls from the office usually.

NIETO: Sure.

REID: Or somehow find out another way.

NIETO: Right. Hopefully things will work out. I know you'll probably just head back to the middle school now.

REID: Yes.

NIETO: All right, Marie, thanks for your time.

REID: Thanks.

NIETO: All right. Again, Tom, a live look here. And we're on the west side of campus, if you will. What you're seeing here in the intersection of Broadway and Arapahoe is basically what we saw all along this stretch of Broadway. We came in on Highway 93 and we actually saw a number of law enforcement with lights flashing and sirens blaring making their way along 93 here to this location.

We're being told there are multiple agencies involved here, not just here with the city and county of Boulder, but other jurisdictions, other agencies as well. Again, the official word from Julie Brooks (ph) over at the Boulder Police Department is, again, they're dealing with a lockout, not a lockdown. And apparently earlier this morning someone had reported seeing a couple of individuals dressed in camouflage and, in the words of Julie Brooks with the Boulder Police Department, they are calling this a suspicious incident. So no students allowed in or out.

But, once again, I guess the thinking was that nobody was really on campus when this decision was made so, obviously, in this day and time, better to be safe than sorry. But once again, if you are heading up to the Boulder area, this is more than likely what you're going to encounter near the high school. They also have a number of officers that, if you know at all where Boulder High School is located, it kind of nestles up back toward the CU campus. They have a number of officers there as well. So CU students making their way to campus may also encounter some sort of a delay trying to get their way to class, get their way to campus.

Again, Julie Brooks is saying at this point she is unsure, the Boulder Police Department is unsure, whether or not at some point students will actually have a late start here at Boulder High School or school will be suspended for the entire day. Obviously, we'll keep on top of the situation from our vantage point. We're live in Boulder.

Greg Nieto, News 2.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And that's right. There is a delayed start, at least at this point, that we know of. At least until 10:00 a.m. We'll keep you posted should that change. We do have a news conference coming our way bottom of the hour from Boulder Police and we'll bring that to you as well.

HARRIS: Market check right now. New York Stock Exchange, the big board, down 41, just an hour or so into -- barely an hour into the trading day. And we understand the Nasdaq is down eight points as well. Interest rates left alone by the Fed yesterday. Susan Lisovicz following all of the market news for us today right here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Mother's Day is this weekend, but flowers and chocolate aren't your only gift choices. How about giving mom some pearls of financial wisdom? Here with her "Top Tips," CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

In advance, happy Mother's Day.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, happy Mother's Day to you, Heidi. You actually are a mom. So I'll be wondering what you think of these tips.

Tip number one. Do you realize that in some cases even now there are some women out there still relying all too much on their spouse to make financial decisions? You've got to maintain a credit history. If you choose to stop using credit in your name, meaning you close credit card accounts or stop applying for credit for at least six months, your credit score becomes inactive and creditors will see you as somebody who is 18 again with no credit history. So it's important to have some credit cards in your name and to use them wisely.

COLLINS: And get them a job as fast as you can. Get them out there and working. I don't care if they're five or eight. Get them out there.

WILLIS: Yes. Yours is five. I don't know what your child is going to do.

COLLINS: He's going to be a professional golfer we're hoping.

WILLIS: Awesome. That's a lot of money.

COLLINS: Yes.

WILLIS: They can send back, you know, regular checks that way.

Look, the cost of raising a child, $289,000 to raise a child until age 17. So, like we're saying, you want to put your kids to work, make them financially independent, right? Go to snagajob.com. Now this site lets kids browse job openings by zip code. So right in your area. If junior is older than 14, have him check out teensforhire.com. Now this site gives tips on how to land a job and polish a resume. But it's never too early. Open a lemonade stand. Give some money to mom.

COLLINS: Exactly. No kidding. All right.

And, obviously, probably one of the most important, and the one we hear every day is, keep saving.

WILLIS: Right. You know, look, women live longer than men, so that you need your own retirement nest egg. Get a sense of how much you'll need to save by crunching the numbers at cnnmoney.com or fidelity.com. And, look, once you've maxed out that 401(k), think about opening up a Roth IRA that will lake you take distributions tax free after you're 59 1/2 years old. Bit savings is critical.

COLLINS: And also, when you are working out a salary, negotiate and negotiate well.

WILLIS: We're bad at this, Heidi, you know. According to a recent . . .

COLLINS: I hired an agent.

WILLIS: That was smart.

COLLINS: Yes.

WILLIS: But, you know, if you have to do it on your own, a lot of women just aren't fabulous negotiators. They earn only 80 percent of what male peers earn. Let's remember here, salary is negotiable. First, check out salary.com to see where you rank in your field, get a sense of how much you should be paid. And then to make your best case for a raise, make sure you list accomplishments, goals, and your skillset. Approach your manager when they're not too busy. Be flexible. OK, you may not get a 15 percent raise, but maybe you can negotiate for flex time or something else you want. It's all about making your case, making it intelligently.

Heidi.

COLLINS: Definitely. And we also know you've got that show coming up on Saturday, "Open House." Wwhat are we going to see?

WILLIS: The big "Open House." OK. It's Saturday morning, 9:30 right here on CNN. How to protect your home from dangerous weather. Find out how to get a mortgage without any of those expensive fees and how to travel for less this summer. And, of course, Heidi, happy Mom's Day.

COLLINS: Oh, thank you so much.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

COLLINS: Appreciate that, Gerri. We'll be watching this weekend, too.

WILLIS: All right. Thanks.

HARRIS: And we have an update now. Some new information on the Georgia wildfires. And, Heidi, I guess we've been talking about it for the last month now.

COLLINS: Seems like it, yes.

HARRIS: Well, 200 or so wildfires in Georgia and then crossing over into Florida. It started in Waycross, Georgia. It seems like a month ago. Two juveniles, we understand, have been arrested for three separate wildfires. A 12-year-old boy is charged with criminal damage to property. He has been released to his parents' custody. And a 16- year-old boy was arrested for starting a fire in Wayne County, Georgia, on Monday.

So two juveniles arrested for responsibility for some of the wildfires that we have been reporting. Boy, literally it seems a month now. It's a story we continue to follow. Two hundred wildfires. Those are the numbers we were being given and 100,000 acres burned along the Florida-Georgia line and now arrests. We'll continue to follow the story in the NEWSROOM.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Henry at the White House, where Tony Snow just wrapped up a contentious briefing with reporters. Is the president losing Republican support for the war? I'll tell you what Snow said and didn't say, coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Bottom of the hour, welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins.

Quickly want to remind you about the story that we are following this morning out of Colorado, Boulder, to be specific. The Boulder high school is on lockout this morning. Apparently, a food service worker who was going in, getting ready to prepare the food for the day, noticed two suspicious men apparently wearing camouflage and ski masks, so now police are inside along with SWAT teams doing a room-to- room search, trying to make sure everything is safe.

We know there is a delay for the start of school at least until 10:00 a.m. So we're going to continue to follow this for you and reminding you there will be a press conference coming our way held by the Boulder Police Department at the bottom of this hour. We will watch that for you.

HARRIS: And there's this story, two juveniles now have been arrested for three separate wildfires in Georgia. A story we've been telling you about for the last month it seems. A 12-year-old boy is charged with criminal damage to property. He has been released to his parents' custody.

A 16-year-old boy was arrested for starting a fire in Wayne County, Georgia, on Monday as well as another fire on May 3rd. He faces the same charges and has also been released to his parents.

We understand that neither boy is charged with arson right now. Bill Jones is on the line with us right now. Darryl Jones ...

VOICE OF DARRYL JONES, GA. FORESTRY COMMISSION: Yes sir, how are you doing?

HARRIS: ...of the Georgia Forestry Committee -- good to talk to you. Thanks for your time.

JONES: No problem. Glad to be here.

HARRIS: Darryl, can you tell us anything more about these arrests that we're just reporting, news just into the NEWSROOM?

JONES: Well they -- we formed an arson task force down here. We have several large fires. We noticed some other fires that were of suspicious origin, so we brought in investigators from seven or eight different states, their forestry agencies, wildfire investigators that came to help out. And when we established a fire that we know is not from a confirmed cause, we send an arson investigator out to try and determine how it started and if it was suspicious, we try and figure out who.

So, the investigators have gone out. Some of the teams have bloodhounds and the bloodhound led directly to one of these charges that you've mentioned.

HARRIS: OK, anything specific? I know you have a finely tuned technique, investigative technique that led to this. But what can you tell us? What led you to the suspicion and ultimately, what led you to these arrests and these juveniles?

JONES: Well, the -- fires were reported to the Georgia Forestry Commission and we sent out, you know, fire suppression units to knock down the fire and contain it so it didn't get large. So once they've established control lines around the fire and they try and look back at where the fire started from, if they can't attribute it to a specific cause such as lightning or cigarette butt or something in the (ph) equipment, then they call an investigation team and they -- the teams come in.

The officers -- in one of the cases, they brought bloodhounds and found some evidence at the scene. Through the bloodhounds, the trail that led them to an area where some juveniles just hang out, and from there they started interviewing witnesses and eventually got to a juvenile that confessed to starting that fire.

HARRIS: So, Darryl, if you would, just recap this story for us. How many thousand -- how many acres charred and how many wildfires were your teams battling?

JONES: Well, in the state of Georgia, in the 21 counties where we're having a lot of problems, there have been in the last month over 1,000 wildfires, and of those several have gotten very large. The swept farm road (ph) fire is over 100,000 acres, the bugaboo (ph) fire has crossed the state line out of Georgia, came out of the Okefenokee Swamp and ran into Florida.

So, we've got several fires that are over two or 300 acres that are still ongoing. Then, we've got these really large fires that are being managed by instant management (ph) teams from several different states.

HARRIS: Boy, you -- and you still -- well, you've got a big job on your hands.

JONES: Yes, it hasn't rained yet. So, we're waiting on some rain. And we'll probably be dealing with this for several more weeks until we get significant rain.

HARRIS: We're going to get you an update on the rain situation right now. Darryl Jones ...

JONES: I appreciate it.

HARRIS: ...Georgia Forestry Commission, Darryl, thanks for your time.

COLLINS: And for that, we turn to Reynolds Wolf who is in the weather center for us today. Boy, we have been watching those fires. We've been watching -- I just never thought when I came back from Georgia, that we would be talking about a drought, quite frankly. Such dry conditions down here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Meanwhile, a blunt message to the president about Iraq from members of his own party. Moderate House Republican vent in a private meeting with President Bush. One lawmaker calling it a "no holds barred discussion."

White House Correspondent Ed Henry joining us now live. So, Ed, what did they say?

ED HENRY, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting. It's one of those sky is green days at the White House, if you will. We just had an off-camera briefing with Tony Snow and reporters who were basically saying isn't the sky blue? Tony Snow is insisting, no, it's green, it's green.

In this case, reporters were saying, isn't the president losing Republican support on the war in Iraq because of this meeting Tuesday in which these 11 Republicans were unusually blunt, as you said, really took the bark off and told the president you're losing support all around the country. Time is running out for the mission. And Tony Snow insisted, no. Republicans are more unified than ever right now and he kept saying Republicans are united, Republicans are united. Kept saying it over and over.

So, when we pressed him on, well, what happened in this meeting? What's the White House version of events? He said, number one, we can't talk about it. We're trying to protect the confidentiality of these conversations. Well, reporters -- many of us kept saying, well, first of all, Republicans in this room are now talking on the record about this meeting, saying it was contentious. It's no longer confidential.

And secondly, just a couple days ago, Tony Snow himself came to the White House podium after a private phone conversation between the governor of Kansas and a White House official about the National Guard response to the tornadoes. And Tony Snow came and said here is exactly what happened in that phone conversation. The governor said the White House, the administration is getting her everything they need to deal with these tornadoes.

And I pointed out to Tony Snow, seems to be a contradiction that they'll put out a conversation that basically makes the White House look good because it looks like they're helping Kansas after the tornadoes. But in this case, a more contentious meeting that puts the president on the spot, they don't want to talk about it.

He insisted it's apples and oranges, but I think the bottom line here is that the White House is feeling the heat from fellow Republicans. We knew that before, but it's now spilling out into the open a little bit more. You should caution that these are relatively junior Republican members of Congress, moderates who have previously expressed concerns about the war but now there's more of them coming out. They're being more vocal, more public about it, and this is obviously a warning sign for the White House that there's danger ahead when General Petraeus comes out with his progress report in September, if there's not significant progress, these Republicans are very restless, Heidi.

COLLINS: Everybody in that meeting against him or against the actual plan that he is putting forth for Iraq?

HENRY: Well, actually -- actually, what's interesting, also you raise a good point which is that these 11 moderate Republicans for now are still sticking with the president on this war funding fight. Vetoing the first round and now the president issuing a second veto threat on the Democratic funding bills that have conditions, have strings attached.

And so that is interesting and at least for -- in the president's favor for now. While these Republicans are venting, they are still voting with him in the short term but, again, this is more about the long term. These are danger signs for the White House. Not for today, but for the weeks to come. These Republicans are very concerned. Heidi? COLLINS: Understood. CNN's Ed Henry standing out in front of the White House for us today. Ed, thank you.

HENRY: Thank you.

HARRIS: And Heidi, we are just learning that classes have been canceled for the day. Classes again canceled for the day at Boulder High, obviously in Boulder, Colorado, as investigators continue to work through the details of this unknown emergency. I'm sure authorities have a better idea what they're dealing with now, this suspicious incident at the school this morning about 6:00, 6:30, before the doors swung open for students. A food service worker spotted two men in camouflage gear and possibly with ski masks on inside the school.

Just a short time ago, KWGN spoke with a student and here is what that student had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I got here, they kind of just redirected me to 17th and then they closed 17th, so I kind of pulled into the gas station and they just told us to walk far away, so I did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You and a lot of your friends have been here waiting to hear whether or not classes are canceled. You did hear classes are off for the day?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I was standing next to an officer down on 15th and he said that he had gotten word that classes were officially canceled and that everybody was to go home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what is your reaction? I know a lot of you have been talking to each other. Is it concern? Is it just sort of this is the age we live in? What's been your reaction?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's more or less concern. At first, it was kind of like, we thought it was a senior prank, but it's gone a little too far. But I don't think I'm very concerned about it. It's very well taken care of obviously by the police department and the SWAT team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So if anything, this sort of comforts you that they take it seriously and that they're actually making sure there's no threat?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it does. It comforts me a lot to know that they're here. It'd be a completely different story if they didn't have that many cops here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you'll feel safe to come back to class tomorrow?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, definitely. Yes, definitely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you much for your time, I appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Again, we are awaiting word -- OK, so there we are. Sort of the lay of the land as it stands right now. Classes canceled for the day. Sounds smart, sounds prudent at Boulder High School. We understand a news conference with the Boulder police about to get under way any moment now.

A live picture? There we go. Should we listen in? Let's do that.

CHIEF MARK BECKNER, BOULDER POLICE: ...happened. From what we know, there was a cook in the building this morning in the school getting things ready for the day around 6:00, a little bit after 6:00. She left the kitchen area, opened the door into the hallway and saw what she described as two young males. Looked like they were dressed in camouflage and one of the males had a ski mask on. She yelled at them and they both turned and ran. And that's really the last reported sighting that we've had of them.

She then of course, shut the door and called the police and that's what started this whole process.

QUESTION: What are you doing now in terms of trying to go through the school?

BECKNER: Well, obviously, given the times that we live in and recent events that we've had, we have to take all precautions. You know, we don't know if this is a prank. We don't know if this is a burglary. We don't know if this is something more than that, but we're going to take every precaution we can.

So with that, we obviously did a lockdown on the school. We set up a perimeter, as you can see here, got officers on exit points and now we do have a rather large team of officers inside the building doing a room-by-room, closet-by-closet search. We also have a bomb dog in the building that is also checking for any potential bombs.

Again, we don't know if we have anything at all. This could be a spring, end of school year prank, it could be a burglary, it could be kids goofing around, or it could be something more serious. We just don't know right now, but right now we have cleared at least two levels within the building and we found nothing.

So, we're going to continue to search and once we're convinced that there's nothing dangerous in the school, then we'll leave it up to school officials as to whether they want to open up the school again today.

QUESTION: So then, (INAUDIBLE) pretty much was taking up the time as you go -- the police (INAUDIBLE) make sure that there's nothing in that building?

BECKNER: Well, you really can't take any chances these days. Unfortunately, that's the world we live in right now and we're doing whatever we can to take whatever precautions we can. We want to make sure it's safe and that we're satisfied it's safe before we say, OK, you can open up the school.

QUESTION: Was there any indication that these men or young men were armed? Were any weapons seen?

BECKNER: No weapons were seen. Exactly what I've described to you is all that was described to us and that's all we know because nobody else has had a sighting of these two individuals that we're aware of right now.

QUESTION: So, they're searching for somebody inside the school. Any surrounding schools, (INAUDIBLE)?

BECKNER: No, we've had no reports of anything else happening at any of our other schools.

QUESTION: How long do you anticipate -- how long do you anticipate this process lasting? I know class is canceled for the day. Can we assume it will be back on for tomorrow?

BECKNER: Oh, I certainly hope we're done by tomorrow. I would expect this to take a couple hours to do a thorough search. Yes?

QUESTION: Chief, are there security cameras in the school?

BECKNER: That's a good question. I don't know. We could certainly find out for you, though.

QUESTION: Do you know about how many rooms they have to search through?

BECKNER: Well, I've been in the building a couple times. It's a rather large building and it's got a lot of rooms in it. I know that. And then of course, you've got closets and storage rooms and things like that, locker rooms, bathrooms -- all those have to be checked. So it will take a while.

QUESTION: Chief, how about your training? I know that there was a lot of training involved in recent years to better prepare for this kind of scenario. Did that training pay off this morning?

BECKNER: Oh, I think so. You know, we had officers in there rather quickly in securing the school and in getting -- there were some employees already who had arrived at school and were getting ready for the day and we made sure we got those people out and we actually made an announcement over the P.A. system for anybody that may be left in the school, were these two students who maybe -- you know, maybe they were goofing around or something. We wanted to give them a chance to just come on out and prevent some of this, but nobody came out in response to that announcement. So now we have to do the search.

QUESTION: There are also a lot of tunnels in Boulder High, underneath the theater, et cetera. Some of the students were just saying it might take a couple hours just to search the tunnels, some of which can lead out to the school. Is that going to complicate things or is that ...

BECKNER: Well, it could very well. Like I said, we'll search, you know, every place that we can search in the school that's available to us. So, how ever long it takes, we'll take. We're not going to rush the search to worry about getting school open by noon or any arbitrary time. We're going to take the time that it takes.

QUESTION: How confident are you that they're still in the building?

BECKNER: I'm not confident of that at all. We don't know. You know, when cook saw them and they ran, they could have ran straight outside. We have no idea. But, again, we're acting as though they're still inside until we can say with some confidence that nobody else is inside the school.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

BECKNER: No, no.

QUESTION: Are all the -- this was at 6:30 in the morning, were all the doors in the school open?

COLLINS: Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner giving as much detail as he can about the situation at Boulder High School. Right now, the classes have been canceled for the day. As they continue to do that room-by-room search for any remains of what happened earlier today around 6:00 this morning when the cook actually spotted two young men, we are learning in the hall outside of the kitchen. One of them in camo and one with a ski mask on. She yelled at them. They ran. They don't know where they are right now. It would be nice to be able to question them, of course.

So out of precaution, clearly in the culture of things these days, that school shut down for the day, trying to make sure that everything is safe in Boulder, Colorado.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We're getting word about guilty pleas from the maker of the powerful painkiller Oxycontin, and three current and former executives. They pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the drug's risk of addiction. That's according to a federal prosecutor and the drugmaker, Purdue Pharma. The company and the executives will pay $634 million in fines. Earlier this week the company agreed to pay more than $19 million to 26 different states and the District of Columbia. That was to settle complaints it encouraged doctors to overprescribe Oxycontin.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: Taking the Army's pulse. Troop levels and deployments, recruitment goals, medical treatment for the injured. The Army's vice chief of staff answering questions live right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: A former Alabama trooper expected to surrender today to face charges in a civil rights-era killing. The 1965 shooting death of Jimmy Lee Jackson was a catalyst for the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. Jackson was killed during a civil rights protest. Forty-two years later a grand jury in Marion County, Alabama has issued an indictment. An attorney for the former state trooper, James Fowler, calls it an attempt to rewrite history. He says Fowler fired in self-defense after Jackson grabbed his gun.

COLLINS: Island in the stream -- high water closes in on homes in the heartland. An update on the Missouri flood coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.

And Democrats' war plan -- pay through July, then size up the situation. House vote today. Will it be vetoed tomorrow? Find out in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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