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Missing In Iraq; Florida Wildfires; Search For Madeleine; Gas Boycott? Comey Testimony

Aired May 15, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Tony Harris. You're staying informed here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here is what we have on the rundown.

They call this army post home. Three Fort Drum soldiers missing, presumed held by al Qaeda. The search in Iraq, the wait in New York. Live to both coming up here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And sky high gas prices. This hour, Congress asks why. Motorists fume and call a pump boycott. They say, why not?

HOLMES: And a little girl stolen during a family vacation. This morning, police say they have a suspect. The search for Madeline.

It's Tuesday, May 15th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: We are learning new details about those American troops missing in Iraq. Here's what we know right now.

Just this morning we were told the three soldiers are from Fort Drum in New York. Their families at home getting word from the U.S. government about the soldiers' status. And some family members speaking out.

On the ground in Iraq, the military questioning hundreds of people now as its search intensifies today. We want to get straight to CNN's Hugh Riminton for the very latest coming out of Baghdad this morning.

Hugh, good morning to you.

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, good morning to you too.

A very sad process, but a necessary one taking place in the next few hours. This as the four bodies of American soldiers recovered from the scene of this ambush will be returned to the United States. DNA testing will proceed. This is because three of those bodies have been positively identified. The fourth has not been positively identified.

And while that identification is not clear, it cannot be known precisely who are the three soldiers who are still missing. Plainly, seven families and all the people who know them waiting desperately for information on the face, on the current knowledge of the fate of their loved ones. And while that process continues, of course, an enormous search continues here on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIMINTON, (voice over): Even as the search continues, a taunting message from the al Qaeda-backed Islamic State of Iraq. O an insurgent website, "searching for your soldiers will exhaust you and bring you misery. Your soldiers are in our hands. If you want their safety, do not search for them."

Now in its third day, the search around Mahmudiyah, in an insurgent strong south of Baghdad, known as the Triangle of Death, has brought no apparent breakthrough.

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, MULTINATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ: At this time we believe they were abducted by terrorists belonging to al Qaeda or an affiliated group. And this assessment is based on highly credible intelligence information.

RIMINTON: The capture of U.S. personnel touches the most sensitive nerve in the U.S. military. The determination to leave no one behind.

"We know," says the al Qaeda-based group, "you would rather have your entire army die than have one crusader in captivity."

CALDWELL: We are doing everything we can to locate our soldiers, who did nothing but come here to serve our country and to help the Iraqi people.

RIMINTON: It plays here on every American mind.

MAJ. CHIP DANIELS, U.S. ARMY: It's horrible for me to think about what they're going through right now. And I pray that we can figure out where they're at and get them back.

RIMINTON: The three missing men have not been seen since their two-vehicle team was ambushed. Four other U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi were killed at the scene of the pre-dawn attack. Analysts say there is little to no hope of negotiating their release.

PETER NEUMANN, KING'S COLLEGE: Al Qaeda, of all the various insurgent groups in Iraq, they are probably the most fanatical and it is very unlikely that they can be bought off with money or they can be persuaded to compromise on other terms.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIMINTON: Now, two names have been confirmed among the soldiers. Confirmed is killed. Confirmed not by the Pentagon, but by the families themselves. One is Sergeant First Class James D. Connell Jr. He was 40 years old from Lake City in Tennessee. The other, a teenager, just 19 years old, Private First Class Daniel W. Courneya from Vermontville in Michigan. Just 19 years old. Heidi.

COLLINS: Just devastating.

All right, CNN's Hugh Riminton for us live from Baghdad.

Thanks, Hugh.

HOLMES: And our Barbara Starr has some new developments right now from the Pentagon about the soldier and that ambush.

Barbara, what do you have?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., a senior U.S. military official, indeed, has confirmed to CNN that the remains of the soldiers who did perish in this attack, at least four sets of remains, will be returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware today. They will begin perform that DNA testing on the one set of remains, as Hugh described, that they have yet to been able to identify, so they can inform all of the families as best they can about the fate of their loved ones. Once that DNA testing is complete and that family is notified, we then do expect to have the Pentagon release the names of those who were killed in action.

It still remains to be seen whether they will officially release the names then of those who are missing, because it is very clear, as of today, the U.S. military is still operating on the assumption that those three are alive and being held somewhere in captivity. We are told the most senior levels, for example, of the U.S. special operations community are involved in the hunt for these men. They are desperately looking for them hour by hour.

But what we also know now is, according to this senior military official, when this attack happened on Sunday, this official describes it as a "planned snatch." Those are his words. He says this was a very complex attack. The working assumption is perhaps more than 10 enemy forces were involved in this attack because of the complexity of it. They moved very rapidly. They were able to abduct some U.S. troops alive.

And they say that they believe now, when they talk about a complex attack, more than one type of weapon was involved. Perhaps RPGs, rocket propelled grenades, snipers, other types of weapons. They're not specifying yet because it may give away too much about what the U.S. knows about it. But this was a very complex attack.

T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Our Barbara Starr with the very latest information for us from the Pentagon.

Thank you so much, Barbara.

COLLINS: Want to take you straight to an update on the stories that we've been following. The wildfires that have been jumping all over the place in Florida. Mainly we've been talking about the 100,000 plus acre Bugaboo fire. Now a press conference to bring to you. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Showed up. We're able to put those that are dozers and those dozer plows are able to get on those spots. And midway through the night, we were able to nearly pinch all of them off. We're still assessing this morning several hundred new acres that were burned. But we do have lines around them and we're trying to mop up and get those corralled now.

Today's the same thing. We're going have this weather, lower humidities, higher temperatures and winds. So we're expecting the same kind of push and problems today. And we'll keep pounding away at those. The resources are getting tired, but they continue to do good work and they were pretty successful last night.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Tom.

Next we'll have Tony Edwards with the National Weather Service to give us an update on predicted weather. Kind of maybe what happened yesterday with the weather and how that effected the fire and what you anticipate will happen today.

Tony Edwards.

TONY EDWARDS, NOAA METEOROLOGIST: Well, again, the winds was the big deal yesterday. And we got those winds. Today, another critical weather day expected. The winds will be a little lower today.

They'll still continue to blow from the east. Probably average seven to 11 miles an hour with some gusts, up to 18 during the afternoon. That's a little less than yesterday.

Today we will have lower relative humidity and higher temperatures. So a little less wind, but dryer air mass should continue to have another active fire day just like yesterday on the fire.

Besides that, the smoke should continue to head mostly due west today. The winds will switch around to the southeast late in the day. Lake City, those areas should continue to be fine with the smoke.

The winds will drop down tonight. As we head into the middle part of the week, light winds. However, we will continue to have low relative humidity those days.

Looking ahead a little later, another wind event. Lower relative humidity possible this weekend. So we're not out of the woods. The weather is still going to challenge us through the week and into the weekend.

COLLINS: All right. So we've been listing in to a couple people speaking about the latest in the Bugaboo fires that we've been tell you about in northern Florida. One hundred thousand plus acres. People evacuated from their homes because this thing jumped a fire line and now it is creating, obviously, more of a situation for the firefighters on the ground.

Our Rob Marciano is there. He wants to give us the very latest on the situation.

Rob, we were listening in to the meteorologist there talking about this dryer air mass. So, OK, maybe you don't have terrible winds, but certainly higher temperatures and lower humidity.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, you know, it's pick your poison kind of thing. Yesterday we had higher levels of humidity, a little cooler air mass, higher winds to fan those flames. Today, not so much wind but a little bit warmer temperatures, therefore relative humidity will be lower. So it's, you know, pretty much a wash. So you're going to find a very active day weather-wise for these fires as that meteorologist mentioned.

We are on the staging area where these fire trucks and crews are about to head up the road here, 441, where the fire likely will get to later on today. They're trying to protect structures of people who have evacuated their homes. These are not the guys out there digging the lines, trying to fend off or stop this fire or contain it. These guys are actually in people's yards, on their rooftops, trying to soak their property as the fire approaches and do that in a very surgical type of way.

I mean, this is a tanker right here of water. And as you can imagine, you know, you don't want to be wasting that water. So these guys have to be very precise as to where they put their water. There's numerous struggles out there, including the weather. And we talked to a number of firefighters this morning. Here's what one had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mother nature and us, we're doing battle here. So we'll win. We'll win this eventually. One way or the other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Eventually. That's the key. And as the meteorologist from the National Weather Service said, you know, once we get to the weekend, we may very well have a similar situation to what we had yesterday, which is high winds gusting possibly 20, 30 miles an hour.

Fifty percent containment at last check. That pressure is ongoing. So that number may have gone up or gone down. But most of that containment is on the southern and the eastern part of this fire. Winds are blowing east.

So the western flank, which we are part of right now, this is the line that's vulnerable. And up the road here off Highway 441, about five to 10 miles up the road, that's where they think the fire will likely get to and then possibly, you know, take out more homes. We talked to a few homeowners who are certainly worried and have been allowed back to their property from time to time to get valuable belongings and also turn their sprinklers on in order to help some of these crews. But as you can imagine, it's quite a task.

This fire, Heidi, over 100,000 acres have burned. And that's just Florida. As you know, across the border in Georgia, another 100,000 or so acres have burned with this fire. And the main reason, this incredible drought that the southeast has endured the past several months. And that's been the key.

COLLINS: Boy, it is horrendous. All right. We're going to continue to watch this one with you. Rob Marciano live for us this morning from Lake City, Florida.

Rob, we'll check back a little bit later on. Thank you.

HOLMES: Missing in Portugal and now word of a suspect in the search for a four-year-old girl. Her name is Madeleine McCann. You may have been hearing that name for the past couple of days here now. CNN's Phil Black has the latest for us in Madeleine's hometown in England.

Hello to you, Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, T.J.

Yes, a significant development in Portugal. Police there now have an official suspect in this case. He is British man Robert Nurette (ph). He has been questioned. His house has been searched. That house is located very close to the resort where four-year-old Madeleine went missing 12 days ago. But he has not been arrested.

Technically, under Portuguese law, that is now possible. This man now also has the right to remain silent and he also has access to legal representation if he wants it. So this is significant news. A big development for anyone who cares about the whereabouts of missing Madeleine.

And few people care more than here in Madeleine's hometown of Rothley in central England. The fact is that one person cares -- who knows this family very well is Valerie Armstrong.

Valerie, can I, please, bring you in here and, please, give me your reaction to these significant developments out of Portugal today.

VALERIE ARMSTRONG: Well, it gives us renewed hope, you know. We've had pits and we've had such highs when we've heard that they've had leads and what have you, only to learn that there's nothing come out of it. And when we heard the movements yesterday, yesterday evening, it really gave us a boost to give us even more hope. We're sure that Madeleine is going to come home safe and well.

BLACK: The support in this town has been impressive.

ARMSTRONG: It's hugely, overwhelmingly. The whole village has come together. And not just this village, all the outlying villages and further afield from that. There are thousands and thousands ribbons being tied in the village green here just to pin hope for Madeleine. BLACK: And for you, someone who knows this family well, what have these 12 days been like?

ARMSTRONG: It's been ups and downs. You know, I've felt that the village has looked for somebody to kind of guide them to where they want to be and to show their support. As a family friend and knowing Madeleine and Kate and Jerry, it's been difficult at times. But we have to keep upbeat. We have to believe that Madeleine is still safe and well.

BLACK: Valerie, thank you.

ARMSTRONG: Thank you.

BLACK: There you go, a cautious and yet positive reaction here in Madeleine's hometown. The residents here are perhaps allowing themselves to hope that this is perhaps the breakthrough they have been looking for. And they also desperately hope that they will not be disappointed again.

T.J.

HOLMES: All right. We will continue to follow it and hope for the best there.

Phil Black for us in England.

Thanks so much, Phil.

COLLINS: Record-setting gas prices. Now the Internet fuels the gas boycott. Stay tuned for the gas-out in the NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: And collecting the toll. When you drop in a quarter or two, do you know where your change is really going? The answer may surprise you. We'll fill you in, here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Fake crime, real punishment. A teacher and an assistant principal pay the price for staging a prank on students. An update in the story we brought you yesterday, coming up here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, good morning, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm T.J. Holmes.

The good and bad and maybe even some ugly in air travel. The industry lagging in customer satisfaction. Which airlines are at the bottom of the list? Those details ahead here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins.

Swearing and swerving. The roads are filled with rude drivers. What city has the rudest? We'll take a look in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: Powerless at the pump, but not suffering in silence. Millions of motorists urged to boycott gas today. But how many of them actually did it? CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff joining us now from outside New York in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Allan, I'm just not buying it.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.

Well, if people are boycotting, I certainly can't see it over here because we've got plenty of people who have been coming over, filling up today, even though the price of gasoline is pretty high. Here in New Jersey right now, regular is $2.899. And, of course, keep in mind, in New Jersey, the prices are low because state taxes are very low.

But let's talk to one of the drivers here and see.

Sir, did you know that today is boycott gasoline day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I heard about it.

CHERNOFF: You heard about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I saw it on the Internet.

CHERNOFF: But you're here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. What happened is, I have a board meeting and I only had like a very -- I need gas to get to the board meeting. So I had to break that rule today.

CHERNOFF: So much for the boycott.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHERNOFF: I think that is pretty typical of a lot of drivers because people, as they've been pulling up, have been telling us that, yes, they've heard about this boycott, but they don't really think that they can do it because, if their tank is on empty, they've got to have that gas. In fact, that's one reason that gas prices have been moving up so rapidly. The average price around the country now $3.09 according to AAA. Up from $2.85 just a month ago. And one of the reasons, is that demand is actually higher. Demand has been picking up. It's up 1 percent compared to a year ago. So, bottom line, people are going to buy their gas boycott or not.

Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. And in Jersey, it's full service, too, as you well know, Allan.

CHERNOFF: You get good service here. You don't have to pump yourself. That's right.

COLLINS: I know. All right, Allan, we'll keep our eye on the situation with you. Thanks so much.

HOLMES: Miami, congratulations, you topped New York today. You are the number one hot spot for road rage. Congratulations. Your prize is in the mail. You are number one for the second straight year, actually, Miami, in the rude driving survey by AutoVantage. It looked at things like running red lights and tailgating. Rounding out the top five, Boston L.A. and Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, on the other end, you sweet, sweet folks out there in Portland, Oregon, ranked as the most courteous of the 25 cities surveyed. St. Louis gets the distinction for being the least likely place that you will get cussed out on the road.

COLLINS: OK. The stuff you learn in the CNN NEWSROOM, right?

HOLMES: Yes, those good surveys out there.

COLLINS: All right. Out of bounds, off campus. College students take a Cinco de Mayo themed party too far. Outrage follows. We'll tell you about it coming up in the NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: Also, 10th mountain division soldiers missing in Iraq. Their base here at Fort Drum, New York. The anxious wait here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And now is that time where we show the big board to you and zero in on that particular spot right there which shows that the Dow Industrials up about 102 points right now. Up triple digits today. Also the Nasdaq not fairing as well. Up about 11 points. But, still, in positive territory here on this Tuesday.

COLLINS: Want to go ahead and take you to Washington now. The Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into the fired prosecutors case that we've been telling you about for quite some time here on CNN. You are looking at the former deputy attorney general James Comey. Let's go ahead and listen in for just a moment to what he says.

JAMES COMEY, FORMER DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: As acting attorney general I would not certify the program as to its legality. And explained our reasoning in detail, which I will not go into here, nor am I confirming it's any particular program. That was Tuesday that we communicated that.

The next day was Wednesday, March the 10th. The night of the hospital incident. And I was headed home at about 8:00 that evening. My security detail was driving me. And I remember exactly where I was, on Constitution Avenue, and got a call from Attorney General Ashcroft's chief of staff telling me that he had gotten a call --

SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER (D) NEW YORK: What's his name?

COMEY: David Aryes (ph). That he had gotten a call from Mrs. Ashcroft from the hospital. She had banned all visitors and all phone calls. So I hadn't seen him or talked to him because he was very ill. And Mrs. Ashcroft reported that a call had come through and that, as a result of that call, Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to the hospital to see Mr. Ashcroft.

SCHUMER: Do you have any idea who that call was from?

COMEY: I have some recollection that the call was from the president himself, but I don't know that for sure. It came from the White House. And it came through. And the call was taken in the hospital.

So I hung up the phone, immediately called my chief of staff, told him to get as many of my people as possible to the hospital immediately. Hung up. Called Director Mueller. And with whom I'd been discussing this particular matter and had been a great help to me over that week, and told him what was happening. He said, I'll meet you at the hospital right now.

I told my security detail that I need to get to George Washington Hospital immediately. They turned on the emergency equipment and drove very quickly to the hospital. I got out of the car and ran up -- literally ran up the stairs with my security detail.

SCHUMER: What was your concern? You were in, obviously, a huge hurry?

COMEY: I was concerned that given how ill I knew the attorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that.

SCHUMER: Right. OK.

COMEY: I was worried about him, frankly. And so I raised to the hospital room, entered. And Mrs. Ashcroft was standing by the hospital bed. Mr. Ashcroft was lying down in the bed. The room was darkened. And I immediately began speaking to him, trying to orient him as to time and place and try and see if he could focus on what was happening. And it wasn't clear to me that he could. He seemed pretty bad off.

SCHUMER: And at that point it was you, Mrs. Ashcroft, and the attorney general and maybe medical personnel in the room? No other Justice Department or government officials?

COMEY: Just the three of us. Just the tree of us at that point.

I tried to see if I could help him get oriented. As I said, it wasn't clear that I had succeeded. I went out in the hallway, spoke to Director Mueller by phone. He was on his way.

He handed the phone to the head of the security detail and Director Mueller instructed the FBI agents present not to allow me to be removed from the room under any circumstances. And I went back in the room. I was shortly joined by the head of the office of legal counsel, Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith, and a senior staffer of mine who had worked in this matter, and associate deputy attorney general. So the three of us Justice Department people went in the room. I sat down.

SCHUMER: Can you just give us the names of the two other people.

COMEY: Jack Goldsmith, who was the assistant attorney general, and Patrick Fillman (ph), who was associated deputy attorney general.

I sat down in a armed chair by the head of the attorney general's bed. The two other Justice Department people stood behind me. Mrs. Ashcroft stood by the bed holding her husband's arm. And we waited. And it was only a matter of minutes that the door opened and in walked Mr. Gonzales carrying an envelope and Mr. Card.

They came over and stood by the bed, greeted the attorney general very briefly and then Mr. Gonzales began to discuss why they were there, to seek his approval for a matter and explained what the matter was, which I will not do. And Attorney General Ashcroft then stunned me. He lifted his head off the pillow and, in very strong terms, expressed his view of the matter, rich in both substance and fact, which stunned me, drawn from the hour-long meeting we'd had a week earlier, and in very strong terms expressed himself. And then laid his head back down on the pillow -- seemed spent and said to them, but that doesn't matter because I'm not the attorney general.

SCHUMER: But he expressed his reluctance or he would not sign this statement that they give the authorization that they had asked, is that right?

COMEY: Yes. And as he laid back down he said, but that doesn't matter because I'm not the attorney general. There is the attorney general and he pointed to me, and I was just to his left. The two men did not acknowledge me. They turned and walked from the room. And within -- just a few moments after that, Director Mueller arrived. I told him quickly what had happened. He had a brief -- memorable, brief exchange with the attorney general and then we went outside in the hallway.

SCHUMER: OK. Now, just a few more points on that meeting. First, am I correct that it was Mr. Gonzales who did just about all of the talking, Mr. Card said very little?

COMEY: Yes, sir.

SCHUMER: OK. And they made it clear that there was in this envelope an authorization that they hoped Mr. Ashcroft, Attorney General Ashcroft, would sign?

COMEY: In substance. I don't know exactly the words. But it was clear that's what the envelope was.

SCHUMER: And the attorney general was -- what was his condition? I mean, he was -- he had pan -- as I understand it, he had pancreatitis, he was very, very ill, in critical condition, in fact.

COMEY: He was very ill. I don't know how the doctors graded his condition. This was -- this would have been his sixth day in intensive care. And as I said, I was shocked when I walked in the room and very concerned as I tried to get him to focus.

SCHUMER:: Right, OK, let's continue. What happened after Mr. Gonzales and Card ...

COLLINS: All right, we are listening to some of the testimony from James Comey, he is the former attorney general -- deputy attorney general, I should say. He's referring back to Attorney General John Ashcroft when he was the attorney general. He was in the hospital, to have his gallbladder removed.

But during that time, the relevance here is that this is now the first time that James Comey has been speaking publicly about this March 2004 incident where he was actually asked to give continued approval to the NSA regarding a domestic surveillance program. We've not heard this testimony before. His side of it, I should say. And we will continue to follow it and bring you any news should it happen from those proceedings today.

HOLMES: The soldiers killed in that al Qaeda ambush in Iraq, who were they? We look at their lives and their service to this country, that is ahead here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: A one-day gas boycott? Driven by the Web and, well, travel on the information highway. A closer look, coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hello again, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for Mr. Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Glad to have you, T.J., and I'm Heidi Collins. Thanks for being here everybody.

Among our top stories this hour, word a short time ago, the three U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq are based at Ft. Drum in New York. CNN's Jim Acosta is right outside the base.

Jim, tell us what you're finding out this morning from where you are.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're standing just outside of Ft. Drum here in upstate New York. And we're still waiting a word from military officials here at the base as to some kind of statement about these missing soldiers.

But at this point, it has been confirmed by military officials at the Pentagon in Washington that all seven of those soldiers who were attacked in that ambush over the weekend in the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad, all seven either killed or captured have been confirmed to be from the Ft. Drum community. And so, this will be a difficult day for this military community. This kind of news does not go over well here with so many loved ones waiting to find out exactly what has happened to these soldiers.

Two of the soldiers have been identified so far as being killed in that ambush. They are -- and I have the names here. Sergeant First Class James Connell Jr., a 40-year-old from Lake City, Tennessee. That is just outside of Knoxville. And Private First Class Daniel Courneya, a 19-year-old from Vermontville, Michigan. Those family members have identified those two soldiers as being killed in that ambush over the weekend.

And we're learning some more about these soldiers. Sergeant First Class James Connell Jr. has been in the army for 17 years. And according to his family, was just home two weeks ago before this ambush happened. This was his third time in Iraq.

As for Private First Class Daniel Courneya, he is from Eaton County, Michigan, has dreamed of being in the military or had dreamed of being in the military since he was three-years-old. And according to his family, was a gunner.

But both of those families, again, confirming two local reporters in those two areas that they have received the worse possible news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA REYNOLDS, FALLEN SOLDIER'S SISTER: I'm extremely proud of him. It's hard to say at this time with the emotions so raw whether or not the sacrifice was worth it.

COURTNEY CONNELL. FALLEN SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER: I'm proud of my dad because he didn't really fight for himself, he fought for the country.

WENDY THOMPSON, FALLEN SOLDIER'S MOTHER: She said, Daniel's dead. And I -- I just started screaming. Begging her to tell me it was a joke. Just some stupid, sick Mother's Day prank, and it wasn't. I am more proud of Daniel now than it was the day I signed the papers and watched him take his oath.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And as for those three missing soldiers, they're believed to be kidnapped, a group identifying itself as the Islamic State of Iraq, as been reported all morning long, is claiming responsibility for those kidnappings and actually going even further and saying that the U.S. military should call off its search for these missing soldiers. That's not deterring obviously what's happening in Iraq right now. The military at this point, very eagerly searching for those missing soldiers.

And at this point, it has not been confirmed as to whether or not we actually know the -- or the military knows exactly who these missing soldiers are because while some have been confirmed killed, only three of the four have been identified. Apparently, one according to our reporters at the Pentagon, has not been positively identified because of the condition of that soldier being unrecognizable because of the wounds he suffered in that attack -- Heidi?

COLLINS: That's right, in fact, we did hear from the Pentagon and Barbara Starr just a little while ago Jim, that the DNA testing on the remains of that soldier is actually going to be going on. So, we will try to follow that story as well. Military never leaving a fallen comrad behind. We'll continue to watch this story.

Jim Acosta from Ft. Drum, thanks, Jim.

HOLMES: Gas prices go up, the gauntlet comes down. Motorists urged to boycott gas nationwide today. The goal of e-mail campaign: curb demand and watch prices plummet. There's just one problem here, that pesky little thing we like to call reality. Experts say without changing driving habits, we'll all use the same amount of gas today. We're just going to pay for it on a different day, either yesterday or maybe tomorrow.

The boycott idea usually surfaces each spring and there's no evidence it's ever had the slightest impact on gas prices. And again, reality, often just a mere speed bump on the information super highway.

And here with a closer look, CNN Internet Correspondent Jacki Schechner. Jacki, the boycott, I swear I remember getting this e-mail when I was in college, not to buy gas on a certain day. I was a broke college student, I wasn't buying gas anyway on that day. But, certainly, this thing has been around a long time, hasn't it?

JACKI SCHECHNER, INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't know how old you are, T.J., and I'm not going to venture to guess. But we do know from snopes.com, which is a Web site that debunks urban legends, that it has at least been circulating since 1999. This Web site itself has been up since '95. And they say that this time every year, people dust off that old e-mail and slap on a new date and send it around.

It is not going to work. Today is not an official day. This is just a popular e-mail that keeps turning up over and over again. We know that the contents of the e-mail are actually factually incorrect. But people like to think that they can do something, so they're sending this around, calling for a gas boycott. But it's not really going to do very much of anything, T.J.

HOLMES: All right, and you said '99. That was my graduation year, Jacki.

SCHECHNER: Of what, high school or college?

HOLMES: It was college.

SCHECHNER: Wait, that makes me ...

HOLMES: OK. We'll deal with it later. Now, again, who keeps putting this thing out there? Who keeps the news fresh? I mean, we are -- we all used to seeing it, but here we are talking about it in the news again. So, who keeps this thing cycling? SCHECHNER: Disgruntled motorists with e-mail access. Seriously, people just find it. They're angry. They want to feel like they've got some control. They remember it from -- probably like you do, from years prior. So, they pull it out again and they put on the new updated year and they send it out with the hopes that maybe they could have an impact. It's one of these things where people feel so helpless, they don't know what they can do, so they figure maybe this will make the difference. Maybe it -- it may not work, but at least they feel like they're doing something.

HOLMES: OK, and it spreads. How does it end up in everybody's inbox? How does it jump from person to person? It just continues to go far and wide.

SCHECHNER: Well, yes. I mean, people think it's a good idea, so they send it to their friends and then people post it on their blogs so that their readers see it. We've shown up -- we've seen it show up in MySpace, the social networking site. People will get the e-mail and post it there.

So, you know, one of the interesting things that we wanted to point out was where people get their news. And, according to a recent study by the PEW/Internet and American Life Project, at least half of people online are getting their news -- around half, are getting their news from TV Web sites, CNN.com or getting it from newspaper Web sites. Only about nine percent are getting news from blogs.

So hopefully, if we can debunk the rumor on CNN or CNN.com, people will be more likely to stop doing this again next year, although I doubt it.

HOLMES: Yes, we doubt it. We'll see you back here same time same place next year.

SCHECHNER: Same time next year.

HOLMES: All right, Jacki Schechner, thank you so much.

SCHECHNER: Sure.

COLLINS: A growing risk of thunderstorms on the Florida fire front, but with the rain comes lightning. We'll go live to Lake City coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. When NEWSROOM returens, I'll tell you why Nevada holds the dubious distinction in the housing market. The latest numbers on foreclosures next on NEWSROOM. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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COLLINS: Housing market woes continue to plague neighborhoods nation wide. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with the latest on the number of foreclosures.

Hi, there, Susan. We're talking about actually Las Vegas or state of Nevada?

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HOLMES: Well, it was a fake crime, but the punishment is going to be the real deal? A teacher and an assistant principal pay the price for staging a prank on students. We'll get an update on the story we first told you about yesterday. That's coming up.

Also, take a listen to this. That's the sound of four inches of hail falling on Colorado. See and hear more here in the NEWSROOM.

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HOLMES: The flames are closing in and more people in North Florida are the run from a huge wildfire. More evacuations ordered after the blaze jumped a fire line and spread west. Several hundred families were told to leave their homes as a precaution. And officials say more evacuations could be on the way. Now despite that all worrisome news, there is a couple of developments here. Firefighters making some headway, significant progress even, reported on the eastern side of the blaze. The western side, however, the big trouble spot. About half the blaze now set to be under control.

COLLINS: That's pretty good. But we are still talking only about 50 percent containment. So obviously a long way to go.

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HOLMES: The stories for three missing soldiers in Iraq. We're learning more about who they are and where they're from. Those new developments coming up in the NEWSROOM.

Also new developments in the search for a missing British little girl. Is it a breakthrough? We'll have an update in the NEWSROOM.

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