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Bush to Speak at Town Hill Meeting about Iraq Policy; Congress Debates War Strategy as Policy Report Expected; NASCAR Officials Dead in Florida Plane Crash
Aired July 10, 2007 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Stay the course, pull the plug, or something in between? The U.S. troop surge in Iraq may still be in its early stages, but the political fight in Washington has end game written all over it.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is speaking this hour in Cleveland. The primary audience is huddled on Capitol Hill, and even some Republicans are tuning out.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
It's billed as a town hall forum on the next phase of war in Iraq. The town is Cleveland, Ohio. President Bush is the speaker, and you're going to see it live at 45 past the hour right here on CNN.
In Washington, meanwhile, more lawmakers by the day are insisting the next phase of the Iraq war be the last. Much more on that in just a minute. First, a White House attempt to downplay an upcoming progress report on the surge. The issue here is benchmarks. Sighs of progress the Iraqi government and military are supposed to be meeting.
White House spokesperson Tony Snow said this on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: Benchmarks are not a device for trying to figure out how to get out of Iraq. They're a device for figuring out how to succeed in Iraq. And so I think it's going to set off an important debate. But this is not the beginning of the end. This is the beginning of a new way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: CNN's Elaine Quijano is traveling with Mr. Bush.
Elaine, what's the White House trying to accomplish today?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
He has staunch defense of his Iraq policy. In fact, earlier today while on a tour of a factory, the president was touting his energy agenda. President Bush today essentially previewed the Iraq remarks he'll make just a short time from now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to remind the people in the audience today that troop levels will be decided by our commanders on the ground. Not by political figures in Washington, D.C. And that we've got a plan to lead to victory.
And I fully understand that this is a difficult war. And it's hard on the American people. But I will once again explain the consequences of failure to the American people, and I will explain the consequences of success, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, certainly we have heard that before from President Bush. What is different now, those politicians who are adding their voices to those calling for a change in the president's Iraq strategy include an increasing number of Republicans, including the Republican senator from this state, Senator George Voinovich. He will not be accompanying President Bush on his trip today, as is customary when the president visits areas.
The senator's office saying that the senator wanted to make sure he was back in Washington, back in the Senate for a vote as the Senate considers that defense bill.
But essentially, Kyra, you can expect the president again to echo familiar themes while at the same time, trying to appeal to lawmakers for patience for the troop increase plan to work -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK, Elaine Quijano. We'll be following, obviously, the president's speech in just about 40 minutes. We do expect to see at about 1:45 Eastern Time, 10:45 a.m. Pacific. You'll see it live, right here on CNN.
LEMON: Now to Congress, where a Pentagon spending bill is the battle ground for a new campaign to bring troops home. The outcome will hinge on Republican senators who supported the war and the White House in the past but now are thinking twice.
But now at least that group does not include John McCain. He's just back from the sixth trip to Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senators are tired of this war, tired of the mounting death toll, tired of the many mistakes we've made in this war and the great effort that it requires to reverse them.
Tired of the worst politicization, and the degree to which it has become embroiled in partisan struggles and election strategies. I understand this fatigue. And yet I maintain that we, as elected leaders, with a duty to our people and the security of their nation, cannot let fatigue dictate our policies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: On the other side, GOP Senator Olympia Snowe is said to be seriously considering a Democratic bid to pull out U.S. combat troops by the spring of '08.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. OLYMPIA SNOWE (R), MAINE: I think, certainly, for a troop redeployment and a change of mission for the remaining troops by a specific period of time, certainly is critical at this -- I think at this moment. Given the fact that the Iraqi government has failed to implement the political initiatives to achieve national reconciliation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: CNN's Dana Bash is keeping track of who is on which side of the battle lines.
And Dana, is the president likely to win hearts and minds, or does he even really need to?
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he does need to, and he certainly is trying. And I can tell you, Don, his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, just left the U.S. Capitol. We just walked him out, and he was -- he was in here, meeting with some of the -- of the allies that the president has.
To be honest, there aren't very many left when it comes to his Iraq strategy. But there are a few. You heard John McCain. He is one of them. Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Jon Kyl. They are meeting right off the Senate chamber.
And according to Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, he came out and said that what they wanted to do, these allies of the president here, is make sure that the White House is -- really still has what he called resolve when it comes to the current strategy in Iraq, and he insisted that the White House still does.
So what you heard from John McCain and a few others on the Senate floor today is trying to beat the drum and trying to push back against this -- this rising tide of opposition, even within the Republican ranks for the war in Iraq.
And what we're going to see and we're already seeing now, Don, is essentially a scramble, especially by Democrats, to try to take advantage and capitalize on Republican opposition and turn that into actual votes. That's going to happen.
LEMON: So, Dana -- so Dana, does -- does this end this debate, despite the GOP opposition? Is it possible that the Senate may not vote on a new plan for Iraq?
BASH: It is possible. What we're going to see, maybe by week's end, maybe early next week, is an important vote. And that is on a Democratic plan which has a date certain for troop withdrawal by April -- the end of April of next year.
You heard Republican Olympia Snowe. It probably won't get many more than three, maybe four Republican votes.
Then what they're going to try to do, Don, is Republicans and Democrats who are kind of in the middle on this, and there are more and more of those, try to come up with something that can get the 60 votes necessary for anything really to pass here.
LEMON: Right, right.
BASH: But it's unclear if that's really going to happen, because of the extreme pressures from the left and the right on this.
LEMON: All right, Dana Bash, thank you so much.
PHILLIPS: Well, we keep talking about benchmarks, but what are we and members of Congress talking about? What exactly constitutes progress in Iraq?
CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has been looking into that side of things.
Hey, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kyra.
Well, you know, that really is the question. Now, a report is due no later than Sunday from the administration to Capitol Hill on that very question. Where does progress stand right now in Iraq?
By all accounts, that report will have very minimal indicators of progress in it. Certainly, insurgents have been killed, weapons have been captured. There is some security in towns where there has not been security in the past.
But make no mistake, al Qaeda is still a formidable presence in Iraq. Violence is still at record levels in some areas, and political and economic reconciliation far from accomplished, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, what about an alternative strategy for success?
STARR: That is really what some of the focus is on now. The surge certainly cannot last forever. Already, top commanders are looking at this question. How long can you keep that so-called surge, the higher troop levels in Iraq, without activating again the National Guard or having some real pain for the troops? So they're looking at that.
How long can they keep higher troop levels going? What kind of numbers would they need? If they're going to reduce troops, as there is a political incentive to do so, what bases would they keep? What bases would they give up? Where would they put the troops? And what would their mission be?
By all indications, what they are looking at is reconstruing the mission. Going after al Qaeda, going after border security and training Iraqi forces -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr, live at the Pentagon.
And again, we do expect to see the president at 1:45 Eastern Time, 10:45 a.m. Pacific. You'll see it live right here on CNN.
LEMON: A sad story we're following here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Several lives lost and several people who have died in this, and several homes really destroyed in this.
Let's get to the news room now. New information on a plane crash in Florida. CNN's T.J. Holmes is on top of the for us.
What do you have, T.J.?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we know -- and I get people calling up here -- that five people have died in this plane crash. It's in Sanford, Florida, a little north of Orlando. Five dead that we know of, at least three others seriously injured, seriously burned.
This is the scene we were looking at a little earlier. We were looking at this live picture earlier this morning. But two homes that were hit by this small plane that declared an emergency as it was going from Daytona Beach to Lakeland. And it tried to make an emergency landing at the Sanford Airport and did not make it, missed the airport, just came up about a mile or so short of that airport.
Declared an emergency that there was a smoke in the cockpit. And then went down a short time later in this neighborhood.
Again, five have been killed. At least two of those, authorities believe, were on that plane, and the other three were either on the ground, in the homes or somewhere near those homes.
Three people are seriously injured, seriously burned. Two adults and a boy that officials believe is around 10 years old, who has burns over 80 or 90 percent of his body. And one of the fire investigators we're going to listen to now who is describing the condition of those victims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT MINNETTO, SANFORD FIRE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATOR: They're all critical conditions. It seems as though the 10-year-old boy received the most damage, the most burns. He did give a thumbs-up when he was getting put into the rescue. He gave me a thumbs-up. We just kind of helped him out, did what we could, started an I.V. on him to give him some fluids.
The adults seemed to be sitting on their own, just kind of talking to the fire department, giving them what information they could. But yes, the child seems to be the one with the most -- most damage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So again, just awesome pictures we were seeing earlier. Those two homes appear to not have roofs anymore from the latest pictures. We were able to see, but again not sure exactly what was the problem on that plane, but smoke in the cockpit was the word that we got. And the plane did not make it to the airport to make that emergency landing, went down.
Five killed, at least two of those believed to be on the plane, three of those on the ground, in the home or somewhere near those homes there on the ground.
So developing story. We're continuing to get details on it. We're following it here, Don. We'll get more to you when we have it.
LEMON: Yes. Then we'll check back. If you get something, let us know.
HOLMES: All right.
LEMON: Thank you, T.J.
Hot and windy, not what firefighters in Utah need. About 300 are on the front lines of that state's largest ever wildfire. Two hundred more are on the way.
The fire, sparked by lightning, has raced through 311,000 acres. Again, 311,000 acres so far. And it's just 10 percent contained.
Well, it's hot and sticky again in the nation's capital and points north. Temperatures expected to reach the upper 90s for a second straight day. Some schools in the D.C. area are closing early. No air conditioning.
Cooling centers are open, though, and there -- and in the Big Apple, as well.
And you won't believe who else is feeling the heat. A bit outside of the ordinary, wouldn't you say, Jackie Jeras, who else is feeling the heat? And what is out of the ordinary about that?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Well, a little bit. You know, that heat in the southwest is spreading up towards the north now. Temperatures are going to be 20, 30 degrees above average.
Excessive heat warnings for Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. It's not unprecedented, but you know, maybe once a year you're going to get this warm. So pretty incredible. And I think we'll probably break a record today in Portland, as well.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: All right, Jacqui, thank you.
PHILLIPS: He cops to a serious sin linked to the D.C. Madam case. Louisiana Senator David Vitter says his wife has forgiven him. But will Republican conservatives do the same?
LEMON: Plus, scientists turned some rats into alcoholic rats and then gave them a pill that curbed their desire for alcohol without sending them to rehab. Could it work for humans?
You're watching CNN. We're going to answer that question. The most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. A may day from the air, a fiery crash and a heartbreak for many families, including NASCAR's.
We're just getting a statement in. Just as we were coming out of the break here. It is from NASCAR. And the person they're talking about is Dr. Kennedy, Dr. Bruce Kennedy and Michael Clem (ph), a senior captain with NASCAR aviation. Both were killed in this crash. Again, I mean, this just coming over just as we came out of the break here.
According to this statement from NASCAR, it says, "This morning" -- this is a quote -- "at approximately 8:48 Eastern Time, a Cessna 310 registered to Competitor Liaison Bureau Inc. of Daytona Beach crashed in a Sanford, Florida, area neighborhood. At this time, we can confirm there were two people on board, including the pilot, Dr. Bruce Kennedy, and Dr." -- excuse me -- "Michael Clem, a senior captain with NASCAR aviation. Both were killed in the crash. Dr. Kennedy was a husband of NASCAR board member and IFC president Lesa France Kennedy."
And then it goes on. They talk more about these two gentlemen in this press release. But again, this just coming over from NASCAR in regards to who died on the plane.
Let's go to the ground now and reporter there from our affiliate WFTV in Sanford, Florida, Steve Barrett.
Steve, what do you know?
STEVE BARRETT, WFTV CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, in addition to those two people on the plane, about an hour and a half ago, we learned that there are now five people confirmed dead. So that means in the plane, and then we're talking three people, at least three people, in the houses behind me.
Let me give you a look at these houses back here. You can see, one of them was a one-story house. It has no roof. The other was a two-story house. It has no second floor. So this plane came in, according to witnesses, almost sideways and just plummeted into the ground.
There is some speculation that the pilot was trying to get to nearby Lake Monroe, but that didn't happen.
Of course, only two confirmed fatalities. At one point, because they knew there were two people on the plane had died, but then, after they were able to get into the house, they learned that people inside these homes died.
There were also three injuries: a mother, a father, and a 10- year-old boy rescued, amazingly, by a firefighter who lived across the street. This firefighter even had bunker gear with him, was able to get in there and save three people.
The 10-year-old boy, unfortunately, 80 percent burns over his body. Those are third-degree -- second- and third-degree burns, we're told. And he's going to be taken up to Cincinnati to a burn center, the Shriners Burn Center at 3 p.m. this afternoon. It doesn't look good for that little boy.
And it appears that his 4-year-old sister was inside the house, unable to get out and died. That -- that leaves, to my count, two more people, possibly from the house next door. Nobody has been able to contact the family that lived in the one-story house next door.
So the tragedy could continue to mount throughout the day. In fact, one fire chief says that is likely.
I'll send it back to you in Atlanta.
LEMON: All right. Steve Barrett from our affiliate there, WFTV in Sanford, Florida. We thank you for your report there on the ground.
And again, we're just getting word coming from NASCAR that Dr. Bruce Kennedy and Michael Clem (ph), a senior captain with NASCAR aviation, have both died in this crash. Dr. Kennedy was the husband of NASCAR board member and IFC president Lesa France Kennedy.
And they said their deepest sympathies and prayers are with all of those who were involved in this tragic accident and their families, even of those there on the ground -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Want to get to Miles O'Brien. He's our in-house aviation expert. He's also our technological guru. He's joining us via web cam. He always knows how to set it up for us. So we can get him live whenever he is on the planet.
Miles, you're learning a lot about the pilots right now. Do you want to start there, or do you want to talk to us more about this plane?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, let's -- we were just talking to the pilots -- about the pilots. Let's start with that.
I have not had an opportunity to get the pilot records for Michael Clem (ph). But I did get an opportunity to pull up the airman's certificate for Bruce Kennedy. And he has a lot of qualifications. He's instrument rated, meaning he can fly in bad weather. He is multi-engine rated. But that appears to have been fairly recently, perhaps as recently as May of this year. In other words, he can fly an airplane like this one with two engines, which takes quite a bit of additional training.
What you have to understand on these small planes -- this is a six-seat aircraft, the Cessna 310. Doesn't have a lot of tremendous extra power when it's flying on one engine. And so you have to go through a fairly significant training process to understand how to fly the airplane, if an engine should fail at a critical moment in flight.
And could this have possibly been a training mission of some kind? A more senior pilot flying with Bruce Kennedy, that perhaps they were testing some sort of emergency procedures? This sort of flying, this sort of training, is actually very dangerous.
PHILLIPS: So Miles, there was word that there was smoke in the cockpit. How should we interpret that? Could it have been electrical fire?
O'BRIEN: Well, a couple of things. First of all, smoke in the cockpit is probably up there with, you know, structural failure, and the kind of scenario that a pilot dreads the most, mid-air collision kind of things. Smoke in the cockpit is up there with it.
Because you don't have a lot of options. First of all, the difficult just breathing, seeing. You can't even see the instruments, that kind of thing.
What could it have been? Well, immediately you would think about an electrical fire. But we do know that, in fact, the reason we know there was smoke in the cockpit, is they got a radio call out. So there must have been enough electricity in that system to power that radio.
So if there was an electrical problem, maybe it was on a separate circuit from the radio. Maybe there wasn't an electrical problem at all.
In the nose of the airplane is the heating system. The heating system is a kind of an old-fashioned design which has a tank, a spark plug and some fuel that goes into it. And makes combustion and makes heat.
Is it possible that that -- there was a problem with that, and that caused an explosion or some sort of fire? And that sent smoke back into the cockpit? Either way, it's a pilot's worst nightmare.
PHILLIPS: And just looking at the kind -- at the damage the plane caused there on the ground. I mean, small or big, I mean, you can see what happened just from these pictures, via our affiliate WFTV, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Yes, we've run some numbers. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association helping me out with this. Running through some NTSB federal government figures on how frequently this happens, small planes, general aviation aircraft, causing injuries on the ground.
For the four-year period, from 2002 to 2006, there were nine accidents in all, causing three fatalities and nine injuries. Given the number of flights, you have to put that in perspective.
Having said that, you have -- what you have are a lot of airports around this country that are hemmed in by residences. And they -- it just diminishes the margin for error, unfortunately, around these airports.
PHILLIPS: All right. Miles O'Brien, following up on the pilots. Also, the crash that we're monitoring there. Appreciate it, Miles. Thank you.
LEMON: It has been shown to help smokers kick the habit. Could it also be the magic bullet for treating alcoholics? Killing two habits with the same pill. Details on a promising new study up next on the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So does your brain's pleasure center have an off switch? That's the tantalizing prospect behind a study on a drug called varenicline. It's also being sold as a pill called Chantix in the U.S. The Pfizer company markets it to smokers to help them kick the nicotine habit.
A preliminary study in rates showed the drug also seemed to curb dependence on alcohol. Could it work that way in humans? Again, experts caution this is a very early stage study, and they say more research is definitely needed.
LEMON: Judgment day is looming for millions of homeowners who took out risky mortgages two or three years ago. Let's get the details from Stephanie Elam, who's standing by at the New York Stock Exchange.
Steph, are we talking about ARMs or is it subprime? Or much more than that?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How about a little bit of both? Let's put them both together, Don. It covers more than two million subprime adjustable rate mortgages. That's obviously what ARM stands for. And they're going to reset at much higher rates over the next coming months, so sending monthly payments, that means, through the roof.
In this case, we're talking about what's called a hybrid ARM. That's an adjustable mortgage that gives buyers a low teaser rate, as it's called, for the first two or three years, perhaps, only then to go ahead and reset at a much higher rate, Don.
LEMON: OK. So then break it down for us. Are we talking about an extra $10, maybe $20 a month or will this mean a real pain for some homeowners?
ELAM: Yes.
LEMON: We're talking about a lot more than that, aren't we?
ELAM: It's going to probably be a lot more than that for more homeowners. And that's the scary part about this. It's really going to affect their budgets.
And here's a good example. A $200,000 hybrid ARM taken out in 2005 would have locked in a rate of 4 percent for the first two years. The monthly payment, $955. Sounds rather manageable.
But after resetting to a rate of 7 percent, the monthly payment jumps to over $1,300. And that rate can continue to fluctuate for the rest of the 30-year term. And that's the reason why this is so scary.
The fear is that hundreds of thousands of subprime borrowers won't be able to afford those higher payments and eventually will then lose their homes, foreclosing, as it were. That could further extend the nation's housing crisis that we've seen here for the last couple of months.
And there's more evidence the downturn is spreading, with the nation's biggest home improvement retailer being the latest victim. Home Depot is slashing its earnings forecast for the year. Despite that news, Home Depot shares are slightly higher today. But its dismal forecast and that of another big retailer, well, they're hurting sentiment in the overall market.
(STOCK REPORT)
ELAM: And ahead, doing the bump. Airlines are bumping more and more customers these days, but now the government is thinking about giving the airlines a bump of their own. I'll tell you how they might have to give you a little bit more for your time. Um-hum.
Are you guys talking about my teeth?
LEMON: Kyra said they're going to bring The Bump back. Do you remember the double bump?
ELAM: I do remember The Bump. You turn around?
LEMON: You do the double bump.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. You jump. You've got to hop. Hop around, bump again. There you go.
LEMON: We're going to do it on the break, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We're aging ourselves.
Steph, bringing The Bump back.
LEMON: Thanks, Steph.
ELAM: Sure. PHILLIPS: Well, President Bush on the road. Will he chart a new path in Iraq? A critical week, maybe some revealing comments. We're going to bring the president's comments to you live in the NEWSROOM, 1:45 Eastern Time.
LEMON: And an admission and an apology.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone I'm Kyra Phillips live from CNN Headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: And, I'm Don Lemon. Under fire from Democrats, and under pressure from his own party the President's set to give a speech on the War in Iraq.
PHILLIPS: He's due to step up to the mike in a few minutes we'll take you there live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
President Bush standing firm on his Iraq War policy in a town hall meeting in Cleveland, Ohio just about in just about 15 minutes. The President is expected to spell out once again why he thinks it would be a serious mistake to pull out of Iraq. We're going to bring it to you live. It comes in amid defections from Mr. Bush's own party, and new reports Iraq is failing to meet U.S. benchmarks.
So, what are Iraqis saying about it all? CNN's Hala Gorani is live in Baghdad with some answers. First Hala, how realistic are these benchmarks? You've been there in Baghdad for a number weeks now.
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well it depends if you are looking at the political benchmarks or the military benchmarks. As far as politics are concerned, you can look at laws such as legislation to share oil revenues, that law was passed by the Iraqi cabinet albeit without the presence of a major Sunni block, and those loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr.
So on the surface you could say, symbolically some of these laws are being passed, they will end up on the Parliament floor. You have to look at the military benchmarks. One of the benchmarks that is required in this -- in the legislation in the United States is to reduce the level of sectarian violence and disarm militias. Well, quite honestly here on the ground, that is an impossibility in the short term.
For several reasons, first because it's easy to measure. Sectarian violence has not gone down in June. It dipped slightly in April and March, but the number of bodies found on the streets of Baghdad in the month of June alone numbered more than 600. Also, disarming militias is something that is quite impossible to do in the near term. Every Iraqi has the right to bear a weapon, and groups are turning on themselves to protect themselves to fight other groups.
So, this is looking a lot like militia warfare right now, even though the troop surge strategy, according to U.S. military commanders has not been given time to take effect. Those who criticize this strategy say, this is not what's going to convince Iraqis that they should lay down their arms and stop protecting themselves even though they feel threatened, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Hala, let me get -- I want to get some personal reflections from you. You've not only spent time with troops, but you've also spent a lot of time with Iraqi people in and around Baghdad, specifically I remember a piece that you did on Iraqis losing limbs because of IEDS, normally we just think of U.S. troops losing limbs because of those hidden explosives.
As you visit people like that, who are the first-hand -- they feel the first-hand effects of what is happening over there, personally, do you see progress in certain areas? Not just security, but other areas?
GORANI: Quite frankly, I don't. I see a lot of desperation. I see many young people who have been injured, who don't know what to think anymore about the future of their country. Who have huge chunks of their family that live abroad because it is just unsafe to live in some of these mixed neighborhoods.
We're working on a story right now, about whether or not ordinary Iraqi civilians want American troops to leave or whether they want them to stay? And, I found the answers very interesting. The Shiites say, sure they can leave. The Sunnis, who realize they are a minority, either say no, we'd like them to stay, or sure if the Americans leave we're going take up arms ourselves and we're going to protect ourselves. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Hala Gorani, I look forward to that peace. Thanks, Hala. And don't forget, we expect to see the President 1:45 eastern time, 10:45 pacific. You're going to see it live right here on CNN.
Now, a mother whose only son who is shipping out to Iraq at the end of the month is also speaking out. She wrote very eloquently in the "Washington Post" this week, my son gets his final leave before deployment. I'll do my best to remain upbeat to make his time enjoyable. Less any of you who are not sending your children off to war forget, it is not easy.
Mary-Jo Cooney mother of Marine Alec Cooney (ph), joins us live in the NEWSROOM at 2:30 eastern time.
LEMON: Done in by his phone number. A Louisiana senator owns up to some sin after that number is linked to the so-called D.C. Madam. Republican David Vitter didn't go do you into detail, but we'll try to get some from our Sean Callebs who is live on the streets of New Orleans for us. Sean, what did you find out?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly the constituents here in Louisiana, David Vitter's are going to be quite surprised by this. Some are certainly going to feel a certain sense of disconnect. Vitter of course, a 46-year-old Republican has built the cornerstone of his political career around a couple of things. One, touting high moral fiber, and secondly championing family values. Well, certainly this admission flies in the face of both. I want to read to you a little bit of a very short release that Senator Vitter issued last night. He said quote, about being linked to the D.C. Madam, "This is a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife, in confession and in marriage counseling."
And he goes on to say out of respect to his family, he isn't going to say anymore publicly about this. But, interestingly enough, back in 2000 when Vitter was a U.S. Congressman, not a senator. The Newhouse News Service asked his wife, Wendy Vittter, what she would do if indeed Vitter was linked to an extra-marital affair such as Bill Clinton was.
And here is her response, and I'm quoting here "I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary. If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me." Well, to be clear, no one knows exactly what the relationship Vitter had or has with the D.C. Madam only that the Madam posted a wealth of phone numbers on her web site.
Apparently one of those traced back to Vitter in 2001, before he entered the U.S. Senate. I talked to a lot of political types here in Louisiana, New Orleans this morning, Don to see what they had to say about all of this. And the big question is, folks want to know if this is an isolated incident or if there are more skeletons in his closet. And indeed they go on to say, this is the kind of thing that's going to demand that the press dig to find out what's going on. Don?
LEMON: All right, Sean Callebs. Thank you for that.
PHILLIPS: President Bush is getting firm on his Iraq War policy. I want to take you live right now to Cleveland, Ohio. He's just about to step up to the podium and begin his speech. He is expected to spell out once again why he thinks it would be a serious mistake to pull out of Iraq. A lot of pressure, even defectors from his own party saying troops must leave Iraq or at least figure out some new strategy on what is happening there militarily.
Elaine Quijano is traveling with the president.
Elaine, what do we expect as he gets ready to start his speech?
ELAINE QUIJANO, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House continues to say, don't expect any strategy shifts this week when it comes to Iraq. The president is expected to reiterate essentially his staunch defense of his Iraq policy. In fact, the president earlier today said that he was going to remind people in these remarks that are set to take place or are taking place right now that the troop levels in Iraq are going to be decided by commanders on the ground, not politicians in Washington.
Now, that's certainly something we've heard before, but as you've noted, the president is under increasing pressure from members of his own party, really, to change the strategy in Iraq, and among those Republicans who have turned against the president, Senator George Voinovich, the Republican senator from this state, Ohio. He is in Washington, he wanted to be there for votes, as opposed to accompanying the president today.
His office saying that he wanted to ensure he was in place, especially as the Senate considers the defense authorization funding bill, so certainly it's not unusual for lawmakers to be in Washington and not be here when the president is necessarily in their home state, but his very presence in Washington underscoring, Kyra, the intense political debate that is taking place in Washington, as the president again tries to essentially appeal for patience and time for his so- called surge strategy to work.
PHILLIPS: All right, Elaine, let's go ahead and listen to the president.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ...thank Toby Cosgrove (ph) -- Doc, thank you for being here -- from the hospital there across the street.
I thank the docs, by the way, for taking time to show me some amazing technology.
Let me first talk about our economy. Our economy is changing and it's strong. I remember back to early on in my administration, when we were confronted with some very difficult times. There was a recession, the economy had gotten overheated and it was correcting. And then we got hit by an enemy that killed nearly 3,000 of our citizens, which such an attack obviously would have an effect on the economy.
Then there were some corporate scandals that had a psychological effect on our economy. I mean, people were beginning to worry about the system where people were not, you know, upholding the law, taking advantage of the situation, taking advantage of shareholders. And yet we acted and cut taxes, and cut them hard. Because I believe ...
(APPLAUSE)
Because one of the philosophical drivers of this administration is, is that if you have more money in your pocket to spend, save or invest, the economy is more likely to grow.
In other words, there's always a conflict in Washington about what's the proper amount of money in Washington and what is the proper amount of money in your pocket? I'm one of these fellows that err on the side of trusting people to spend their money more than trusting government. And therefore we cut ...
(APPLAUSE)
I'm not trying to elicit applause, thank you, but -- and our plan has worked. I don't know if you noticed last month that we added another 132,000 new jobs. We've added over 8 million new jobs since August of 2003.
Entrepreneurship flourishes when people have got more capital in their pocket. One of the interesting things about the tax cuts that we proposed is that a lot of the tax cuts were aimed at small businesses. One of the statistics that makes our economy interesting and I believe robust is that 70 percent of new jobs are created by small business owners. And that's an important thing for our fellow citizens to remember, particularly those in Congress, who are thinking about something to do with the tax code.
Most small businesses are subchapter S corporations or limited partnerships. In other words, they pay tax at the individual income tax rate.
So, therefore, when you cut income taxes on everybody who pays taxes -- in other words, when you lower the rates -- it affects the ability of small businesses to keep capital -- in other words, keep more of what they earn.
And when a small business keeps more of what they earn, it is more likely that business will expand. And, therefore, when you hear me say that 8 million new jobs have been created since August of 2003, I might as well have said, as well: The small business sector of America is strong. And the best way to keep it that way is to keep taxes low.
And now we're going to have a debate on that in Washington, and that's going to be the interesting philosophical argument. You'll hear people say in Washington, "Well, we need to raise taxes in order to either pay for new programs or balance the budget."
I happen to believe we can balance the budget without raising taxes if we're wise about how we spend your money, and we're proving it possible. Tomorrow I'm going to talk about the size of the deficit.
I'm not going to guess what that will be, but I can predict it's going to be substantially lower than it was three years ago, and we didn't raise your taxes. We kept your taxes low which caused the economy to grow, which yielded more tax revenues. And because we set priorities, the deficit is shrinking.
And the big fight in Washington is going to be whether or not the budgets that this Congress is trying to now pass is going to go through. It's not. I'll veto them if they're excessive in spending. I'm not going to let them raise your taxes. I think it would be bad for the economy. I think it would be bad for entrepreneurship.
(APPLAUSE)
Let me talk about health care, since it's fresh on my mind. The objective has got to be to make sure America is the best place in the world to get health care, that we're the most innovative country, that we encourage doctors to stay in practice, that we are robust in the funding of research and that patients get good quality care at a reasonable cost. The immediate goal is to make sure there are more people on private insurance plans. I mean, people have access to health care in America. After all, just go to an emergency room.
The question is: will we be wise about how we pay for health care? And I believe the best way to do so is to enable more people to have private insurance. The reason I emphasize private insurance, the best health care plans, best health care policy is one that emphasizes private health.
In other words, the opposite of that would be government- controlled health care. And there's a debate in Washington, D.C. over this. It's going to be manifested here shortly by whether or not we ought to expand what's called SCHIP.
SCHIP was a program designed to help poor children get insurance. I'm for it. It came in when I was governor of Texas. I supported that.
But now there are plans to expand SCHIP to include families, some proposals are families making up to $80,000 a year. In other words, the program is going beyond the initial intent of helping poor children. It's now aiming at encouraging more people to get on government health care.
That's what that is. It's a way to encourage people to transfer from the private sector to government health care plans.
My position is we ought to help the poor -- and we do, through Medicaid. My position is we ought to have a modern medical system for the seniors -- and we do, through Medicare.
But I strongly object to the government providing incentives for people to leave private medicine, private health care to the public sector. I think it's wrong and I think it's mistake, therefore I will resist Congress's attempt ...
(APPLAUSE)
I'll resist Congress' attempt to federalize medicine.
I mean, think of it this way. They're going to increase the number of folks eligible through SCHIP. Some want to lower the age for Medicare.
And then all of a sudden you begin to see a -- I wouldn't call it a plot, just a strategy ...
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: ...to get more people to be a part of a federalization of health care. In my judgment that would be -- it would lead to not better medicine, but worse medicine. It would lead to not more innovation, but less innovation.
And so -- but you got to be for something in Washington. You can't be against federalization, you got to be for a plan that enhances the relationship between doctor and patient, and that's what I'm for. Here's what I believe in.
One, I believe in health savings accounts as an alternative to the federalization of medicine. It gives people the opportunity to save tax free on -- for routine medical costs and at the same time have a catastrophic health care plan to back them up.
I like the idea of people making decisions that are -- that will, one, enhance their health, and, two, save money.
The doc told me -- we were looking at one of the brilliant heart guys working for him. You're not going to believe the technology in this hospital, by the way. If you're a Cleveland resident, you ought to be proud of this hospital, it's unbelievable.
(APPLAUSE)
He said something pretty wise, though. He said you can have all the technology that man can conceivably create but if you continue to smoke, you know, we're going backwards. If you're not exercising, if you're not taking care of the body yourself, you know, it's -- you know, all the technology isn't going to save -- save your life.
In other words, there's a certain responsibility that we have as citizens to take care of ourselves, and a health savings account actually provides a financial incentive for you to do that.
I believe in plans that enable small businesses to congregate across jurisdictional lines so they can afford insurance, afford spreading risk, just the way big corporations can do.
In other words, one way to control costs is to enable small businesses, many of which are having trouble affording insurance, to pool, pool risk.
I'm a strong believer in medical liability reform. We've got a legal system which is driving up the cost of medicine because docs are practicing defensive medicine and driving good doctors out of practice. And it makes no sense to have a legal system that punishes good medicine. And therefore I strongly believe that the Congress ought to pass federal medical liability insurance for our doctors and our providers.
I believe in information technology. The first time I came to Cleveland Clinic, we were talking about how to modernize our hospitals' systems and our doctors' offices into the 21st century.
Perhaps the best way to describe the problem is we've got too many doctors still writing out prescriptions by hand. Most of them can't write to begin with.
(LAUGHTER)
And then they pass the file from one person to the next. That's inefficient in this new era. I mean, technology is changing the way we live, it ought to be changing the way medicine operates. And it is at Cleveland Clinic. I envision the day one day when all of us will have our own medical electronic record that will be safe from snoopers -- in other words, it'll be private -- but will make health care more efficient.
Cleveland Clinic did something interesting. I went to four different stations, and after every station they gave me an outcomes book. In other words, "We're willing to be measured," says the good doc.
There ought to be transparency in medicine. How many of you have ever actually tried to price a medical service? Probably not many.
How many of you ever said, "Gosh, I wonder whether this health care quality is better than the neighbors?"
I doubt many of you have done that. Why? Because this system is not geared toward that. Somebody else pays your bills. If you really think about it and you're working, say, for a company in America and they provide a health care plan for you, there's a third-party payer.
Well, if somebody else pays the bills, why do you care what the cost is at the time of purchase? In other words, the whole plan has got to be to bring more accountability into health care, to make the consumer more responsible for making proper and rational decisions. That's what accountability does. I applaud you for that, Doc. That's what transparency in pricing means. In other words, you'd be able to shop for price.
But the system, by the way, the tax system does not enable the individual to be incented to buy insurance in the private sector. If you work for a company and you get insurance, you get a good tax benefit. If you're an individual and buy insurance, you don't get the same tax benefit. That doesn't make any sense. The tax code needs to be reformed.
The tax code ought to treat everybody equally when it comes to health care.
And therefore, one proposal, one way to deal with that is something I talked to the Congress about, and said, if you're a married person and you're working, you ought to get a $15,000 deduction, just like a mortgage deduction, from your income, whether you're working for corporate America or you're working on your own, whether you're working for a small business owner or you're looking for a job.
And that way, you begin to make sure the tax code is a level playing field. And that way, an individual market begins to grow because you have got an incentive, at that point in time, to go out and purchase health care.
As a matter of fact, you won't get your deduction unless you purchase health care, if you're in the individual market.
The whole point I'm trying to make is there's an alternative to the federalization of health care. It doesn't make a nice, neat sound bite. It's not something that's easy to sell.
What do you care about making sure you expand SCHIP? It sounds nice and cozy. But nevertheless, it is an alternative that will work. And it is working, right here in America today.
The technological changes in the hospital across the street have been amazing. The quality of care has been fantastic. There's just more we can do to make sure we continue to be the leader, without wrecking the health care system.
Energy: in order to keep this economy strong -- and we do have a strong economy -- not only have we added 8.2 million new jobs since August of 2003, interest is low. Inflation's down. I mean, this thing is buzzing there.
There are some parts of the country that are hurting. The manufacturing sector up here isn't doing as well as other parts of the country.
However, I would remind you that the unemployment rate in Ohio is 5.8 percent. Is that perfect? No. Is it better than it has been? You bet it is.
But one of the issues to make sure that we continue to grow strong ...
LEMON: Again, pardon the interruption of the president there, with all due respect. But we want to bring you up to date on some breaking news that we have out of Oakland, California. We told you about the Oakland Airport. You are looking at pictures just a moment ago of the Oakland Airport there. Two terminals had been closed after a man went through the wrong way, went through an exit instead of an entryway upon screening.
Now, we are told by our affiliate, and also from a Public Information officer at the Oakland Airport that terminals one and two were closed, and if I'm not mistaken, there are only two terminals there, so that would mean the -- both of the terminals, the entire airport had been closed down.
They are starting to open back -- open some of those terminals, or at least one of those terminals back up, but everyone, here's the thing: you will have to leave the airport when it was evacuated, they all have to be re-screened. And so those people that you see waiting there are people who are either just getting to the airport or who were evacuated and now having to go back through security. We're also told by the affiliate that they are looking for this person, and they have not found this person yet.
We'll try to give you some more information on that, but again, the airport terminals one and two, closed at the Oakland International Airport. The airport had to be evacuated, and now they're re- screening passengers and allowing them to go back in, but we're also getting reports from our affiliate, KGO, that they're looking for the man who went through an exit instead of an entry. We're going to go back to the president. He's now speaking in Cleveland, expected to talk about the so-called surge in the strategy in Iraq.
BUSH: ...new technologies to enable us to become less dependent on oil and better stewards of the environment.
Imagine one day being able to drive your car with hydrogen as its power source and water -- water (INAUDIBLE) -- as the output of your engine. And that day is coming. Now, it's down the road a little bit but, nevertheless, it is a part of a comprehensive plan to make sure we become less dependent on oil.
In the meantime, when it comes to powering your cars, I want to tell you, I'm a big believer in having (AUDIO GAP) product that will enable us to drive our cars. I think it makes sense to spend your money to invest in new technologies or to research new technologies, so if a fellow grows switchgrass, for example, that grass can be processed into ethanol to power your automobile.
Now, I don't know if you know this or not. We're up to about seven billion gallons of ethanol being produced and used in America. That's up from two billion three or four years ago. It's a good deal if you're interested about energy independence, because that energy is coming from corn growers here in America.
The problem, is we're growing a lot of corn for ethanol, which means that price of corn is going up for the pig farmer. So we've got to relieve the pressure on the pig farmer.
(LAUGHTER)
Well, not everybody -- pig farmers use a lot of corn. And, therefore, we're spending money on technologies. And I believe more and more people are going to be using ethanol to power their automobiles.
It's happening in the Midwest a lot now. Cellulosic ethanol breakthroughs will mean that we're going to be having ethanol produced from wood chips or switchgrasses, which means the market will spread across the United States, which will make us less dependent on oil.
And by the way, the exhausts will be a lot cleaner than the exhausts from (AUDIO GAP). We need to be promoting nuclear (AUDIO GAP) like a lot of people are, a renewable source of energy that emits no greenhouse gases.
And one of the places where your government's spending money and as part of this comprehensive plan to change our energy mix is to figure out a better way to deal with the waste, nuclear waste. And I'm a big believer in reprocessing and fast burner reactors, which is fancy words for, we can burn down the fuel, reuse it, burn it down to less volume and less toxicity.
We've got 250 years of coal at least in America. If we're interested in becoming less dependent on foreign sources of energy, we ought to be using energy here at home in a wise way. Coal can be dirty and therefore we're spending a lot of your money on developing clean coal technologies.
And my only point to you is that one of the reasons I've come to Cleveland is to herald some of the new technologies. As a matter of fact, (AUDIO GAP) came up to me at this place and he said (AUDIO GAP) lot of hot air here. And we've got new industry evolving here -- windmills.
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