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American Morning

U.S.-Iran Talks: First Formal Meeting in 27 Years; Cheaper to Drive or Fly?; Children of War: Embracing a Son's Survival

Aired May 28, 2007 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Face to face. The U.S. and Iran meet overnight for the first time in 27 years. What do both sides want and will engaging Iran help the U.S. find a way out of Iraq?
Plus, pride, sacrifice and service. Saluting fallen American troops and the families left behind.

And good morning to you, live from the World War II Memorial on The Mall in Washington. It's Monday, May the 28th, Memorial Day, I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York.

A gorgeous shot, John. Beautiful, beautiful to be able to see the monument and the sun coming up right there. What a gorgeous day it's shaping up to be in Washington as we pay tribute to those who lost their lives, as well as those who are still serving today in our armed forces.

ROBERTS: It really is a terrific place to be. And yesterday, you know, this was the sight of the Rolling Thunder Rally. The Ride to the Wall. Thousands and thousands of motorcycles and the roar of all of those big b-twin engines as people were paying tribute to P.O.W.s, M.I.A.s and every serviceman and servicewoman who are fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Really quite a moving day yesterday. And more to come today as well.

CHETRY: And I think we have some pictures of the Rolling Thunder, so we'll show those a little bit later.

Some of the other stories "On Our Radar" as well.

The American morning gas challenge. Memorial Day also signaling the unofficial start to summer, of course. High gas prices threatening the great American road trip. Greg Hunter is hitting the road from the Midwest, heading from there to Myrtle Beach and we're going to check in with him to see how he's doing.

Also, actress Lindsay Lohan issued out of control arrested for DUI after a hit and run crash this weekend. Her father now speaking out about that.

ROBERTS: It's 6:00 a.m. on the East Coast and 2:00 p.m. in Baghdad, where the United States and Iran are holding their first formal talks in 27 years about security in Iraq. The meeting comes as U.S. warships hold war games in the gulf and after Tehran defies the world over its nuclear ambitions. We are expecting to hear from the American representative at the meet, Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, shortly. He's scheduled to hold a news conference coming up at the bottom of the hour and we will be monitoring that for you.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live right now in Baghdad.

And, Paula, these talks mainly about the situation in Iraq. So what's the U.S. looking for from the Iranian regime on that front?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly the one thing the U.S. military is going to be saying, John, is that they want the Iranian effect be canceled out in this particular war. The U.S. million is accusing Iran of funding the Shia militias and also some of the Sunni insurgents, suggesting they are trying to destabilize an already very destabilized situation.

And also they're saying that these new road bombs, these incredibly armor penetrating, very dangerous road bombs have come from Iran. That is very sophisticated technology. And they are going to want to know that Iran is going to pull back from that. The 103 troops already this month have been killed here. Many of them by those roadside bombs.

John.

ROBERTS: Paula, at the same time, the Iranians have got some demands of their own. They're alleging that the United States has got a spy network operating inside Iran. We know that they're holding four Americans, including Haleh Esfandiari, a hostage. She is the head of the Middle East program here at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. What's Iran looking for from the United States?

HANCOCKS: Well, the basic thing that Iran is looking for, John, is they want American troops out of Iraq. They want them, first of all, to stabilize a situation, that they believe the U.S. has destabilized, and then get their troops out of the region.

Now also we know from General Petraeus, the U.S. commander here in Iraq, there are still seven Iranian people in American custody here in Iraq. Now Iran says they are diplomats, but the U.S. has said that they are part of this Quds force in Iran. Part of this force that is funding some of the militants here in Iraq.

John.

ROBERTS: Paula Hancocks there with an update for us, live from Baghdad.

At the half hour we're going to go live to our Aneesh Raman. He's in Tehran. The only U.S. reporter inside Iran. And, of course, we're wait for that news conference from the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, expected to happen sometime around the half hour.

Kiran.

CHETRY: And there's some good news out of Iraq this weekend. The U.S. military says they've freed 14 people being held prisoner by al Qaeda in Iraq. All of them were Iraqi citizens. One, a 14-year- old boy. Some of the former captives were tortured, some even had broken bones. They had been held for as long as four months. Troops also recently seized a how-to torture manual from al Qaeda. Some of them showing disturbing pictures of drilling hands and dragging victims behind cars.

Meanwhile, the search for two American soldiers still missing now in its third week. Soldiers spent the weekend searching the banks of the Euphrates River south of Baghdad. It's the same area where the body of Joseph Anzack Jr. was found last week. The military says it has now detained 16 people directly related to that ambush.

ROBERTS: Happening on this Memorial Day 2007, President Bush is going to take part in the wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. We will be carrying that live at 10:55 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Meantime, thousands of bikers from the 20th Annual Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Ride to the Wall will attend today's Memorial Day event at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. Yesterday, the organizers of Rolling Thunder met with President Bush at the White House, asking for, among other things, assurances that injured vets receive their living expenses on a timely basis. This is a real problem. We're going to be talking about it more with Steve Robinson from Veterans for America. He'll be with us in just a couple minutes.

Kiran.

CHETRY: Now, in the past, you also did ride along with them. Did you go this time? Did you go this year?

ROBERTS: I rode the past couple of years. There were just too many things to do in preparation for today's show, from the World War II Memorial, for me to actually go out there and ride. But I did spend some time with some of the folks who would be riding in it on Saturday night and we had a little dinner and got to chat with them a little bit.

CHETRY: Looks like a good time.

ROBERTS: So I did live some of the spirit of the ride, yes.

CHETRY: All right. We have some breaking news out of Spain this morning. Police arresting 14 suspected Islamic terrorists in Barcelona. Those suspects accused of recruiting people to fight U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Investigators say they also seized a substantial amount of computer material in those predawn raids.

Gay rights, anti-war and anti-abortion organizers were listed as groups that could include terrorists on a Web site operated by the Alabama Department of Homeland Security. The page was then taken down after the agency received complaints. The site described the groups on the list as "single issue extremists."

Protests in Venezuela after the country's most popular TV station was taken off of the air. Thousands protested the decision by President Hugo Chavez not to renew the station's license. The station was an outlet for political opposition and was replace with a state- run channel 20 minutes later. Police used water canons to break up the crowd.

ROBERTS: Some quick hits for you this morning.

Delta and Dawn, the mom and baby whale who ended up in the Sacramento Delta some three weeks ago, are on the move toward the Pacific again. Over the weekend, veterinarians on a boat injected the pair with antibiotics using custom made syringes. It's the first time that antibiotics have ever been given to whales in the wild. The treatment is meant to ward off infection in injuries, possibly inflicted by a boat propeller.

Dario Franchitti won the Indy 500 yesterday. It was cut short by rain. Only 415 of the scheduled 500 miles were completed. Some 166 laps. Danica Patrick, who you'll remember we spoke with Friday here on AMERICAN MORNING, finished eighth for the second year in a row, though she was running second at one point.

Much more from here in Washington on this Memorial Day. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Some quick hits now.

A massive collection of Jackson family memorabilia goes on the auction block in Las Vegas. It will be happening on Wednesday. Eleven hundred items, including Michael Jackson's black fedora. His "Thriller" Gold Award from 1982 is expected to fetch millions from bidders around the world.

New York City's WABC back on the air this morning, but a smoky electrical fire forced them to shut the studio down last night. It happened just before the 11:00 news. No one was hurt. Witnesses say a light bulb exploded and then caught a curtain on fire.

ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. In Chicago, a memorial for U.S. troops killed in Iraq. More than 3,400 pairs of combat boots were lined up in military formation on a patch of Chicago's Grant Park. Each pair of boots was tagged with the name, age, rank and home state of a fallen soldier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MCCONNELL, EXHIBIT CREATOR: We have many boots that are tagged with memorabilia. Loved ones have wanted to tell the story of the life of their loved one who's been killed. And I think that makes this a living memorial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The display the size of nearly two football fields, is part of a traveling anti-war exhibit. It's called "Eyes Wide Open. The Human Cost of the War in Iraq."

On this Memorial Day, we honor U.S. servicemen and women who have been lost and wounded fighting for their country. It has been three months since we first learned about deplorable conditions for wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. How much has the situation there improved? And are there still problems across the country for America's wounded veterans? Steve Robinson is with Veterans for America. He joins us now.

So, Steve, give us an update. As we said, it's been three months. What's the situation there like at Walter Reed now? Have they fixed some of the most deplorable conditions?

STEVE ROBINSON, VETERANS FOR AMERICA: They have. But what they found out is that these conditions exist at other military bases. We met with Brigadier General Tucker, who's the guy that's been put in charge to fix all these problems. They're standing up what's called the Warrior Transition Brigades. These are going to be leaders who understand post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and the bureaucracy that soldiers come to when they come home. They're going to take this concept, develop it at Walter Reed and then push it out through the entire military.

ROBERTS: Do you get a sense that they're really paying attention now? That they are going to fix this situation?

ROBINSON: I do believe so. I've spoken personally with the secretary of the Army, the Vice Chief of Staff Cody (ph), Brigadier General Tucker, who have gone to other military installations. They get it. They're not going to inherit the problems of the past. What they have said is, they're making a 90 degree turn.

ROBERTS: Another problem that was illuminated yesterday was by the organizers of the Rolling Thunder Ride to the Wall. They met with President Bush yesterday afternoon and they urged him to ensure that wounded soldiers who are either receiving treatment or who are in post hospital care, in rehabilitation centers, get their living expenses. There's a problem with that. They're not getting the expenses they need to live?

ROBINSON: Pay is always a problem in the military, especially when you're wounded. And if you have living expenses when you're TDY or you're stationed at Walter Reed or some other hospital, it can be a tremendous burden on the families. So Rolling Thunder passed that message on to the president, along with their other concerns. And, yes, we've got to do a better job of taking care of our veterans.

ROBERTS: Well, he pledged to look into it. He said he was going to task Jim Nicholson, the head of the VA, to look into that.

You know, on this Memorial Day, your thoughts turn to the future. This is so much about looking back, but I'd also like to look forward this morning. What are your thoughts about where the war in Iraq is going?

ROBINSON: Well, everyone that I've talked to said that it's going to take some more time. They're talking in years, three to five years, before there will be a significant reduction in presence there. The military believes this is a long-term struggle and it's a struggle that we're going to be in for some time.

One of the things I'm concerned about is that less than 1 percent of this population is serving. We may have to look at, if this war goes on much longer, increasing the size of our military so that we can give these guys the appropriate break they need when they come out of the war zone before they have to redeploy.

ROBERTS: All right. So many critics are saying that this has already cost the United States far too much in blood and treasure. That it's time to develop an end strategy. Where do you come down on that point?

ROBINSON: Well, there is a real war on terrorism. Some people debate whether or not it's happening in Iraq or if it's happening somewhere else in the world. But there are people there that -- both small elements in Iraq that are terrorists that want to do us harm.

I think that some of the most important things that we can do is really step back and look at where we're at today, are we achieving the goals that we want to achieve, is this strategy working, or do we need to shift our focus to somewhere else and really go after the bad guys?

ROBERTS: These talks with Iran that are going on today, do you think it's a good idea and should they continue in the future?

ROBINSON: I can't see where talking to other nations, even if they are our enemies, is a bad thing. We need to understand what they think, what their pains are and then develop our strategies around that.

I think these talks will bear some fruit. There seems to be a sticking point on both sides about what is important to both sides. But, yes, the talks will be a good thing.

ROBERTS: All right. Steve Robinson from Veterans for America. Thanks for joining us.

ROBINSON: Thank you, John.

ROBERTS: Always good to see you.

Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, John, thanks.

It's about 15 minutes past the hour now. Rob Marciano is here today, bringing us the weather forecast.

Of course, you know, it's to remember our fallen heroes. But at the same time, people also like to barbecue and enjoy some family time on Memorial Day.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Well, some of the other stories we're following right now.

NASA firing the man at the center of that astronaut love triangle. Bill Oefelein reassigned to the U.S. Navy. He admitted having an add fair with fellow astronaut Lisa Nowak. They were both married at the time. Nowak, also a Naval officer, is awaiting trial on attempted kidnapping, burglary and assault charges. Police say she drove from Houston to Orlando, Florida, wearing an adult diaper, so she wouldn't have to stop along the way, to confront another woman that Oefelein was dating.

Well, Duke is in the NCAA lacrosse finals, a little more than a year after the season was canceled following false rape charges against three of its players. Today they face Johns Hopkins in the championship game. They got there by beating previously undefeated Cornell on Saturday.

Coming up, another car smash from a Hollywood star. Lindsay Lohan arrested, charged with DUI. Could these charges ruin her movie career? We're going to talk about that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END": You're mad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END": Thank goodness for that because if I wasn't this would probably never work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, the third time is the charm for "Pirates of the Caribbean" as "At World's Ends" took in $112.5 million over the weekend. Not including some Thursday night previews. That was the fifth biggest three-day opening ever. But, get this, it was only the third biggest this month, trailing both "Shrek the Third," as well as "Spider-Man 3."

Speaking of "Shrek" and "Spider-Man," they actually held on to the number two and three shots over the weekend. "Bug" and "Waitress" round out the top five.

Lindsay Lohan's latest DUI charge and reports of cocaine found in her car over the weekend has a Swedish vodka company now backing out of sponsoring her 21st birthday party bash in sin city. And now her estrange dad, a recovering alcoholic himself, who just got out of jail, is urging the actress to return to rehab and also to find God. Tom O'Neil, senior editor at "In Touch Weekly" joins us now.

You know, and it wasn't a shock. You read, you know, you read a splash on the front page of the paper, Lohan, you know, arrested for DUC, crashed her car and it seems like, here we go again.

TOM O'NEIL, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Here we go again in terms of Lindsey car crashes, yes. She's had so many I've lost count. But this is her first got you in terms of drug and alcohol charges. The blood tests have not yet been returned, or at least disclosed to us. Once this is official and once this is on her record, everything changes for her because not -- she not only has those legal issues to deal with, this is show business, Kiran, and the penalties she'll pay are staggering.

CHETRY: And when you talk about that, are people just going to stay away from casting her in movies?

O'NEIL: Well, her last two movies have bombed. "Bobby" and "Georgia Rules." What I'm talking about is on the other side of the camera. It costs more than $1 million a day to make a movie. You have to have insurance to make a movie. Remember Robert Downey Jr., all the trouble he had with drugs? He had to buy his way back into the business. He had to tell film makers, I'll pay my own insurance. It cost him millions of dollars above and beyond what he was paid in films to do this.

CHETRY: They don't want to take the risk that these people aren't going to show up on set every day.

O'NEIL: Right.

CHETRY: Where they have to delayed filming, is millions and millions of dollars out of their pocket.

O'NEIL: And she's already notorious for that.

CHETRY: She got in trouble, actually, on the set. She got, in a very strange way, that she was called out publicly in a letter by the studio executive?

O'NEIL: Yes, and by I her fellow cast members like Jane Fonda. You don't tick off Hanoi (ph) Jane, you know. But Jane Fonda just let her have it and said, look, kid, we know you're still under 21. You're young here, shape up. And that's the other issue.

CHETRY: What's her problem? What do they tell you about what her major problems are in terms of why she can't seem to get it together?

O'NEIL: Because she's glamorized for this bad girl behavior. And that's all of our fault in the media because we think this is -- this shocking, adolescent kind of bad brat pack behavior is so funny. And in this blogosphere world, in the tabloid headlines. She now thinks this is who she is. And she has to do this.

CHETRY: She also has a dad who has his own set of problems with addiction and a mom who likes to party with her.

O'NEIL: Her dad just served a two-year jail sentence for what she just got nailed for, driving under the influence. CHETRY: Let's talk about Cannes a little bit. Of course, the big buzz at the film festival was a move that wasn't even being screened for an award, which was Michael Moore's documentary about the U.S. health care system, "Sicko." Some behind the scenes interesting things Harvey Weinstein, who's company fronted that movie or paid for it.

O'NEIL: Yes, he picked up the distribution rights for the U.S. And Harvey is a big supporter of Hillary Clinton. And this movie is not, to put it mildly. Michael Moore bashes away at Hillary on all fronts there. And Harvey kept trying to get him to change it. He wouldn't do it.

CHETRY: So Michael Moore actually said publicly that he was asked by Harvey to take out the stuff about Hillary?

O'NEIL: And when he was asked this, Harvey was in the audience. And Moore disclosed how Harvey just kept relentlessly calling him every day, is it still in there? Is that stuff about Hillary still in there? Michael said, yes, and it's staying in.

CHETRY: However, his movie is turning out to be so popular and get so much buzz, I'm sure Harvey will be working with him again in the future.

O'NEIL: I think so.

CHETRY: Tom O'Neil, "In Touch Weekly." Thanks so much for being with us.

O'NEIL: Thanks, Kiran.

ROBERTS: More quick hits for you now from the campaign trail.

Today, Senator Barack Obama and his family campaign around New Hampshire, including a rally at Darmouth College, while Senator Joe Biden attends events in Iowa, including the Veteran's Day Parade in Waterloo.

And GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is in his hometown of New York on a fund-raising swing and celebrating his 63rd birthday today. Tomorrow he's holding a $250 per head fund-raiser on Staten Island.

And on this holiday weekend, how gas prices might affect your summer vacation. Greg Hunter is going on a road trip.

What's it all about, Greg?

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, that's right. I'm in Columbus, Ohio, right now. We are going to head for the coast of South Carolina. We'll be telling you how you can save money and how you can make the trip with a lot more ease at this holiday weekend as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: A misty morning here in Washington. Looking at the Reflecting Pool, climbing up to the World War II Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background there. The pavilions. The one on the left there for the Atlantic Theater. On the south side of the memorial, the Pacific Theater. Fifty-four pillars representing the 50 states and the four territories of the United States, as we honor those who fought, served and died in defense of their country here on this Memorial Day 2007.

Welcome back. It is Monday, May the 28th. I'm John Roberts live from the World War II Memorial here in Washington.

Good morning, Kiran.

CHETRY: Good morning. Good to see you, John. Beautiful shots behind you, especially with the sun coming up on the Washington Monument.

I'm Kiran Chetry, here in New York.

"On Our Radar" this morning, the AMERICAN MORNING gas challenge, how gas prices might affect your summer vacation. Of course, Memorial Day also the unofficial start to summer. And our Greg Hunter is driving from the Midwest to Myrtle Beach, finding out just how much it's going to cost this year if you are thinking about taking the family on the road.

And also, check out this picture. You have to look at it twice. It does not look real, but that is a nine-plus-foot wild boar that an 11-year-old boy shot and killed, weighing in at more than 1,000 pounds. It may be a record.

He is now getting offered a role in a horror movie that was going to be made about hogzilla, a humongous wild boar that was captured. So we're going to tell you more about that strange story.

And just when you see the picture, doesn't it make you look twice, John? It doesn't look real.

ROBERTS: That's a lot of ribs.

CHETRY: And sausage.

ROBERTS: A lot of ribs.

CHETRY: That's what they say. Five to 700 pounds of sausage coming out of that hog.

ROBERTS: Incredible.

Hey, we start this morning with historic talks between the United States and Iran. The two sides sitting down today for their first formal meeting in nearly 30 years. Despite rising tensions between the two countries, the security of Iraq was the only item on today's agenda. The American representative at the meeting, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, is scheduled to address the media. That's about 15 minutes from now. We are monitoring the situation in Baghdad. We will go to it as soon as he comes up.

For now, though, let's go to CNN's Aneesh Raman. He is the only American television journalist in Iran, joins us live from the capital of Tehran.

Aneesh, what were the Iranian representatives empowered to discuss at these meetings? This was just about Iraq, was it not? Nothing about the nuclear program?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: Yes, nothing about the nuclear program, and nothing really more than just airing of grievances. Iran's supreme leader a few weeks ago, John, greatly limited what could be discussed, to just the fact that Iran wants to tell the U.S. to secure Iraq and wanted to demand a U.S. timetable for troop withdrawal.

That will not sit well with the U.S., who wanted more than talk. They wanted specific steps from the Iranians as to how they would curb what the U.S. alleges is a flow of fighters and weapons into Iran.

Iran wanted action from the U.S., a timetable for troop withdrawals. Unlikely either of those things will get resolved. But what we are waiting to see out of this press conference, which will be the first word about the meetings, is what the tenor of the discussions was and whether or not there's a mechanism for future talks. Will this be a first step or the only step?

John.

ROBERTS: In recent days, Aneesh, we have heard charges from the Iranians that the United States is actually operating an active spy ring inside the country. And we do know that Iran is detaining four Americans. Among them, Haleh Esfandiari, who is the head of the Middle East program here at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

What more do we know about these allegations by the Iranians of a spy network?

RAMAN: We know that yesterday the Swiss ambassador to Tehran who represents American interests here was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and a formal protest was lodged against the United States. Iran alleges it has discovered several spy networks that it says are backed by the U.S. operating within the south-southwestern and central parts of the country.

Now, no more specifics were provided. We are told that in the coming days the Ministry of Intelligence will give those specifics. But like you said, everyone on the ground is waiting to see whether the Islamic republic links these allegations with the arrest of Haleh Esfandiari. She has been under suspicion for working against the government, despite vehement denials of that by her colleagues back in the United States. It could also be, John, that this was about posturing ahead of the talks. The U.S. alleges Iran is infiltrating agents into Iraq. Iran now can say, look, we have the same allegations about you.

Again, though, we know very little about these allegations at this point.

ROBERTS: Perhaps a lot of tit for tat going on there.

Aneesh Raman for us this morning from Tehran.

Thanks, Aneesh. We'll talk to you a little bit later on this morning.

And again, we are waiting for that press conference. The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, expected to talk in about 12 to 15 minutes time -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks so much, John.

Well, millions of Americans will be driving to the beach or to a barbecue today. So, how much will they end up paying for gas?

Checking the CNN gas gauge now, the average price for a gallon of self-serve regular, $3.21. That's up from $2.92 last month and $2.85 a year ago.

With prices that high, is it cheaper to fly than it is to drive? Well, Greg Hunter is in Columbus, Ohio. He's starting off a road trip of his own, and also kicking off the "Gas Gauge Challenge".

Hi there, Greg.

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. How you doing?

Well, Columbus, Ohio, is a beautiful city. And Ohio is a place where -- lots of beauty, but it's landlocked. So when people get out of Dodge, they head to the coast of North and South Carolina. That's a typical vacation for people here.

So let's take a look at our route.

We are going to be heading from Columbus, Ohio, through the mountains, to Greensboro, North Carolina -- a lovely city. Used to live there. And then we'll spend the night there.

The next day we'll get up and head down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It's about a 600-mile run.

Now, before we take this trip, we took a little trip to Target. And the reason why, we wanted to get some supplies.

We got a cooler, we got water, we got soft drinks, snacks. Not just for comfort, because those things help you from -- keeping the -- all the stops on the road, keep those stops down to a minimum. That's number one. Number two, when you buy it at a big department store, it's just a lot cheaper to buy it at a department store, as opposed to a gas station along the road.

And then finally, we got on gaspricewatch.com. We put in the areas -- the local zip code here for Columbus, Ohio, we got a Sunoco station for $3.37 a gallon. I know it's higher than the national average, but that's the cheapest gas we found.

We topped off our tank. So therefore, we put $10 in.

So, all that said, here is how the expenses for day one looked -- looked. Not very much.

We had $10 for gasoline at $3.37 a gallon, topping off the tank. Extras included $59.16, for a grand total of $69.16 -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. So, you are keeping score. So far, it still looks like it makes sense to drive.

HUNTER: Well, we'll see. That's what this is all about.

You know, we'll try to show people some fuel-saving ideas on the road. Let me show you the best one ever invented. It works on any vehicle -- a gas gauge, a tire gauge for your -- to save money on your gas gauge.

Believe it or not, I'm such a nerd, I carry this with me wherever I go.

Back to you.

CHETRY: That was good advice. If your tires are a little bit low, you're ending up using more gas than you think.

All right, Greg. So how far are you now? How far into it?

HUNTER: Well, we're starting out today from Columbus, Ohio. That's why you see the beautiful city in the background. It's a lovely place.

CHETRY: And then...

HUNTER: And it will be 600 miles. In a couple days we will be down to our destination.

CHETRY: All right. But before you lay your head down tonight, where are you going to end it?

HUNTER: We are going to end it in Greensboro, North Carolina.

CHETRY: All right. Sounds good. Greg, we'll check in with you a little later. Thanks so much.

Well, if you're finding it hard to give up your SUV but still feel guilty about it, some people are turning to planting trees in return because the trees take in carbon dioxide, presumably offsetting pollution. Researchers though say it's simply not possible to plant enough trees to have a significant effect on global warming -- John. ROBERTS: Well, an 18-year-old in California could face charges for faking her way into Stanford University. Officials say Azia Kim (ph) spent the past eight months posing as a freshman student.

She moved into one of the university's dorms last fall and told her roommates that she was a human biology major, asked them to leave the window open so that she could get in and outside of the residence. A suspicious resident assistant blew her cover, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What drove her to do this are students who were, I think, taken advantage of in this situation. They're very trusting, caring, kind folks. And had every reason to believe that this particular individual was, indeed, a student here at Stanford.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Well, not surprisingly, school officials say they're conducting a full investigation into how security can be improved.

Workers at the Hutchinson, Kansas, zoo are cleaning up after being swamped by floodwaters over the weekend. These are new pictures that are just in to CNN here. The zoo has been closed since Thursday, when more than seven inches of rain fell. Twenty-five animals, including some bison, had to be evacuated from the zoo.

An 11-year-old boy is hogging the limelight today. Find out what he did with a pistol and a half-ton pig. Put it this way: the pistol won.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.

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ROBERTS: You're looking at the Atlantic Pavilion of the World War II Memorial. It's the newest memorial here in Washington. The newest of the big memorials, at least, and the only one representing a 20th century event to be on the big Mall on Washington that stretches from Capitol Hill, on the east side, all the way to the Lincoln Memorial, on the west side.

Two pavilions there, one for the Atlantic, one for the Pacific. And those pillars representing all of the 50 states and the four territories of the United States.

Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Some quick hits for you now.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a European trip to talk about global warming. Pelosi and seven other House members are to meet with scientists and politicians in Greenland, Germany and Belgium over the next few days.

The parents of missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann will meet with Pope Benedict this week. The little British girl disappeared on the 3rd of May while on vacation in Portugal with her parents. Kate and Gerry McCann are launching a worldwide search for their little girl. The pope had expressed an interest in meeting the McCanns, who say that they have drawn strength from their faith during their ordeal.

And Japan's agricultural minister was found dead just hours before he was to face questioning in parliament over a scandal involving suspicious bookkeeping practices in his offices. Police say he was found hanged in his apartment.

CHETRY: As Americans take time this Memorial Day to remember all of our fallen troops, families of war survivors will once again be reminded about the gift of life.

I recently met one military dad who gives thanks for that gift every day. His son lost both legs in an explosion in Iraq. He made it home alive and is ready to embrace his second lease on life with his dad at his side.

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MARK ECKER, SON INJURED IN IRAQ: It was at 6:06 in the morning on February 24th and they called us up.

CHETRY (voice-over): It was the call Mark Ecker feared. His first born son, his namesake, Sergeant Mark Ecker II was severely injured in an IED attack while on patrol in Ramadi.

ECKER: When they started listing off his injuries, you just want them to stop.

CHETRY: But it didn't stop. The damage was so severe Sergeant Ecker lost both of his lower legs.

SGT. MARK ECKER, INJURED IN IRAQ: I was losing a lot of blood and I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker.

CHETRY: What is that like as a parent, having to hear that your child had to suffer like that?

ECKER: The depth of despair that I plummeted into was pretty deep.

CHETRY (on camera): Sergeant Ecker's long journey back from Ramadi ended here at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but his battle wasn't over. For the next several days and weeks, he endured grueling medical procedures including nearly a dozen surgeries. But through it all, he was never alone.

What was it like having to watch him in such excruciating pain in those first days and weeks when he was getting treatment here?

ECKER: Well it was pretty awful, because you have no control over your son's pain, and I'm sitting there holding his hand and trying to soothe him. And as a father, I had no control over it to make it stop. SGT. MARK ECKER, INJURED IN IRAQ: I mean, honestly, had my dad here through all the surgeries and stuff, I don't know if I would have been able to do it without him.

HUNTER: Sergeant Ecker says he looks around at other wounded vets recovering alone and he knows he's lucky, his wife Jen, his mom, sister and wife visit often. What also helps is the outpouring of support the Eckers have received from their hometown, from well wishers across the country and even President Bush.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make sure you get a picture of the tattoo, the man's proud of it.

CHETRY: But the best day for far for both father and son was when Sergeant Ecker walked for the first time with his prosthetic legs.

MARK ECKER: Just seeing him stand up and just seeing how happy he felt. It was just amazing.

SGT. MARK ECKER: One of the most amazing feelings in my life just, you know, I felt like I was getting my life back. Like I had made it -- I felt like I made it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: There you go.

We asked him, "Where do you see yourself in six months?" And he says hopefully back home, with his wife, living in Colorado, being able to do things on his own. He says he can't wait until the day where he can just walk out of his rehab facility and be on his way to his new life.

You can also help out America's vets and their families this Memorial Day by donating your frequent flyer miles. It costs a lot of money for families to fly to the places where their loved ones are being cared for. They are called Hero Miles, and you can donate them to the Fisher House Foundation.

Fisher House provides a place to stay for families of vets being treated at V.A. hospitals around the world.

You can go to CNN.com to find out how you can donate your miles and help reunite soldiers and families.

It's about 15 minutes until the top of the hour now. We check in with Rob Marciano for a look at what we can expect on this Memorial Day weather-wise.

Hi, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not a bad time to travel. Hopefully those airlines will actually allow you to use those miles. You know how difficult that can be.

CHETRY: Right.

MARCIANO: An awful lot of them are (INAUDIBLE).

Not a bad deal there if you want to donate your miles. That would be a nice contribution.

Memorial Day services and parades today. Maybe you have a back yard barbecue planned. Well, there's a little bit of weather to deal with. Here's the forecast weather map.

The Southeast once again looks to be pretty dry. If you are heading to the beach across the Florida-Georgia border, easterly winds pretty strong. There will be rip currents in that area, so beware of that. No rain again, so the drought continues across the Southeast.

There will be a couple of showers across the Northeast, but the main concern as far as strong or extreme weather is concerned, severe weather could be across the northern plains. North Dakota, South Dakota, large hail, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes in that red blotch across the Dakotas.

Right now, a little weather system moving across the western part of North Dakota, but no severe weather to report. Further down to the South, severe weather in the form of flooding has been the main issue across parts of Texas the past few days.

Several inches of rain has fallen. Seven deaths attributed to that rainfall. And flash flood watches continue throughout the day today.

Across the Northeast, you had some rough weather last night move across parts of Jersey and Connecticut. And still, that front has yet to push through. Until it does that, there's still a threat of seeing a couple showers this morning, and maybe through about the lunch hour. But after that, it could be a lot worse for Memorial Day weekend.

Temperatures today will be feeling a little bit more like summertime. And for a lot of folks, today is the unofficial start of summer.

CHETRY: The unofficial start. The only places around 60 degrees, you've got Seattle, L.A., and San Francisco. And that's about it.

MARCIANO: Where it should be 60 degrees.

CHETRY: Exactly. Thanks a lot, Rob.

MARCIANO: OK.

ROBERTS: Hey, Kiran, a quick correction here. Just a couple of minutes ago, I misspoke myself. I said 54 pillars here at the World War II memorial. The number is actually 56.

Here are some quick hits for you this morning. Violence Sunday at a gay rights protest in Moscow. The demonstrators were attacked when they tried to deliver a petition to the mayor of Moscow, demanding the right to stage public marches. Russia decriminalized homosexuality back in 1993.

This morning, OPEC says it sees no reason to increase crude oil output in light of record-high U.S. gasoline prices. An OPEC official says the high prices are due to U.S. supply concerns and international political tensions, not the supply of crude.

Well, coming up, could drinking a can of soda have the same effect as alcohol? A new health warning ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN. Some quick hits for you now.

The U.S. and Iran met for four hours today in Baghdad to talk about the security and future of Iraq. The meeting wrapped up less than 30 minutes ago. The talks were the first formal meeting between the two countries since the U.S. cut off relations. That was 27 years ago.

Spanish police arrested 14 suspected Islamic terrorists today. The suspects said to be recruiters looking for militants to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. The arrests were made mostly around Barcelona.

And Israel hit several targets in Gaza overnight in retaliation for a weekend attack that left an Israeli man dead. Dozens of Palestinians and two Israelis have died in two weeks of fighting there.

CHETRY: Well, some health headlines for you now this morning.

Researchers say they have discovered mutations in the DNA of four genes that they believe play a significant role in triggering breast cancer in women. Scientists say that this opens the door to new screening guidelines. As many as 60 percent of U.S. women may have this genetic mutation.

There's also a new report out of Great Britain raising alarms on a common preservative found in soft drinks. He says that the preservative sodium benzoate may cause serious cell damage, and drinking soda could eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver as well.

And a warning for people who wear contact lenses. The CDC telling the public to throw away AMO Complete Moistureplus Multipurpose Solution. That solution has been linked to a rare eye infection in dozens of people that can result in blindness. The company says it is voluntarily recalling that lens solution.

ROBERTS: And some more quick hits for you.

Actress Lindsay Lohan facing charges of DUI this morning. This video from the Web site TMZ.com just a couple of hours before the incident. She crashed her Mercedes into a pole in Los Angeles early Saturday morning. Police say they found a substance thought to be cocaine at the scene.

It didn't break any box office records, but "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End" raked in $112.5 million to lead the weekend box office and knock "Shrek 3" from the third top spot.

And taking down hogzilla. An 11-year-old bags a giant hog. What did he do it with? That rather large pistol in his hand. More on the monster when we come back.

You are watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.

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CHETRY: We are just three minutes away from the top of the hour. A look at some quick hits now.

Eleven-year-old Jamison Stone brought down this more than nine- foot-long, 1,000-pound hog with a pistol. He was hunting with his dad in east Alabama when they came upon the monster hog.

It's bigger even than the myth logical hogzilla thought to roam southern Georgia back in 2004. There's a movie being made about hogzilla, and the makers of that film are saying they want to take to Jamison maybe about a cameo appearance.

We're going to talk with the producer of "The Legend of Hogzilla" in about an hour.

ROBERTS: What an amazing animal.

Hey, you want fries with that? An artist in Colorado uses only French fries and ketchup to paint his portraits. Jason Baman's (ph) first two portraits were of Ronald McDonald and Morgan Spurlock from the movie "Super Size Me". And as you can see there, he does a pretty good job, gets a pretty good likeness, just with French fries and ketchup.

That's all he uses.

CHETRY: Pretty cool. And it made me hungry on top.

Well, the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

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