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Odierno Clarifies; Toxic Trailers; Wildfire Alert; Tears And Sympathy
Aired July 20, 2007 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: December time line -- rather the September time line when he threw in November. Let's listen to what he said yesterday about how long it will take him to do a good assessment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RAY ODIERNO, CMDR, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCES-IRAQ: In order to do a good assessment, I need at least until November to do that assessment. And if I get, you know, 45 days from now, September 1st, I will have a better -- I was talking about our trends. The fact that our trends are all going in the right direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: So he's saying -- you here there, Tony, that he says that he needs until November to do a good assessment. But today the general issued a statement clarifying his remarks, saying that "there is no intention to push our reporting of the requirement beyond September." He said, "nothing I said yesterday should be interpreted to suggest otherwise. My reference to November was simply suggesting that as we go forward beyond September, we will gain more understanding of the trends."
One thing that is clear, Tony, is that all of the commanders in Iraq are looking beyond September for U.S. troops to continue to have a significant presence in Iraq. And the real question of how soon they can begin a draw down, especially of some of these surge battalions, is answered a little bit by what's going on in Anbar Province. Anbar, you may recall, is the province where they're having the most success because of the cooperation of many of the local sheikhs there.
And the commander of that province just briefed reporters a short time ago, confirming that, at least in the short term, he wants to hold on to some of those extra surge troops, the 13th Marine expeditionary unit, for an extra 30 days to make sure that he can hold on to that success. And that really sort of points a picture of where things are going to be going in September. If there is significant success to report, you're going to see a lot of pressure to keep some of the troops there to build on it.
Tony.
HARRIS: So just another point of clarification here. So General Odierno really believes he can report in September on the growing trend lines and where things seem to be headed. But for a real -- and you used the word at the top of your reporting, for a real assessment, he would like to have a bit longer. Is that correct?
MCINTYRE: Well, he's going to say that they're going to continue to look at the trends after that. But, you know, I think the point here is not to get fixated on the November time. They're definitely looking beyond September. But they're looking even further than that. Looking into the early next year and the spring.
And they can do that, essentially, Tony, because the troop surge is going to be maintained through the spring unless they make a decision otherwise. That is, they don't have to make any adjustment to the deployment schedule to keep the troops there through March or April. And there's going to be a lot of pressure to do that because the -- they believe the biggest mistake they made in the past was pulling out too soon.
HARRIS: Ah, senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre for us this morning.
Jamie, thank you.
COLLINS: President Bush meeting this morning with military support groups. This hour, he makes a statement from the Rose Garden. You can hear more about Iraq and the pressure for progress. We'll have live coverage on the president's remarks at 10:35 a.m. That's a little bit of a time change, in the NEWSROOM right here.
HARRIS: Genarlow Wilson. Today Georgia's Supreme Court could decide whether he'll walk free. Wilson is serving a 10-year sentence for having consensual sex with another teen. At the time he was 17, she was 15. Her age led to his conviction on child molestation. The case has drawn the national spotlight, that's for sure, and the attention of at least one presidential candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's now been in prison for two years and they have not been willing to commute his sentence. It just gives you some perspective on our justice system at the moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, a state judge had ordered that Wilson be set free. The supreme court will decide whether that order should stand.
COLLINS: An earthquake hits northern California this morning. It hit just a few hours ago, magnitude 4.2. The people who measure earthquakes label it a light one. That typically means minimal damage, broken dishes, and windows and bottles of wine. And that appears to be what happened in the San Francisco Bay area. No injuries reported, but still the shaking did last almost a minute. The quake centered two miles ease/northeast of Oakland and about 3.5 miles deep. So good to know, no injuries reported, Chad. But you were telling me a little bit earlier that it kind of seemed like this thing came out of nowhere.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: I want to turn overseas now. Pakistan's president overruled by the supreme court. Celebrations in Islamabad today after justices reinstate the country's top judge. The court ruled his suspension by Pervez Musharraf was illegal. The chief justice had been showing independence in his handling of cases involving the disappearance of terrorist suspects and human rights activists. Mr. Musharraf said he was misusing his powers. But analysts suspect the president was worried about the judge allowing constitutional challenges to block his bid for a new five year term.
HARRIS: New terror related arrests in Britain. Authorities charge two men after finding a suspicious substance at an apartment in Bristol. The arrest follow last month's failed car bombings in central London and at Scotland's Glasgow Airport. Four people have been charged in that investigation.
COLLINS: New poll figures in from South Carolina. Former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, on your left there, is leading Republican presidential hopefuls. Eight points better, in fact, than Senator John McCain, if the election were held tomorrow. That's according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey of likely South Carolina Republican voters.
On the Democratic side, Senator Hillary Clinton leads Senator Barack Obama by a whopping 14 points. And Clinton's lead over Obama is even larger amongst South Carolina's African-American voters by 16 points.
HARRIS: OK. What would you ask the presidential candidates if you could? Well, you can and you have. CNN is teaming up about YouTube for the upcoming presidential debates. We've been collecting your questions for the candidates. Here's a sampling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMIAH PASTERNACK (ph): Hello, candidates. My name is Jeremiah Pasternack. Recently there's been a lot of discussion and coverage about how much each of you have raised for your respective campaigns. And some of the numbers are pretty astronomical, $30 million, $40 million. So my question for all of you is this. Rather than waste this money on commercials and private planes, don't you think it would be more honorable and beneficial to distribute this money to people and causes that really need it?
AMANDA (ph): My name is Amanda. I live in Auburn, Alabama. And this question is for all the candidates. I've been waiting since I was in high school for any politician to actually have an idea that is practical enough to fix Social Security. Do you have a plan to fix Social Security that goes beyond talking? And, if so, what would that be? (END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Good questions. Join John Roberts, Kiran Chetry and this snappy music, of course, more of your video questions as we count down to the debate. That is tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.
COLLINS: FEMA officials in the hot seat over toxic trailers in New Orleans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HENRY WAXMAN, (D) CALIFORNIA: Your staff a year and a half ago said you should be testing the occupied trailers. The testing didn't take place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And Congress wants to know why.
HARRIS: Talent and trouble. Two big names in sports face controversy. CNN contributor Roland Martin offers his perspective.
COLLINS: On highest alert. Firefighters battling blazes in several days. We'll have the very latest coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. Good morning to you. I'm Tony Harris.
A young man serving time for teen sex. The Georgia Supreme Court gets involved this morning. Will it meet freedom for Genarlow Wilson?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: In New Orleans, some Katrina victims say FEMA trailers are making them sick. Now Congress wants to know what FEMA plans to do about it. CNN's Susan Roesgen reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Robert Green says his FEMA trailer is making him sick, literally.
ROBERT GREEN, TRAILER RESIDENT: So to keep from rubbing my eyes, I actually put it in my eyes to wash it out and try not to rub it, because it's an all-day thing.
ROESGEN: Itchy eyes is just one of the symptoms of what some say are toxic trailers. EPA testing of FEMA trailers last year found the culprit is chemical formaldehyde, which can cause serious respiratory problems and even cancer. The tests found formaldehyde levels much higher than federal safety standards allow, in the trailer cabinets, the furniture, even in the walls.
Worst of all, some of the highest concentrations are found here, in the particle boards that hold up the beds.
More than 200 trailer residents have complained to FEMA about their health concerns. But at this congressional committee hearing, FEMA was accused of not warning trailer residents of the dangers because FEMA's lawyers were more worried about the agency's liability than about people's health.
REP. HENRY WAXMAN, (D) CALIFORNIA: Where your staff a year and a half ago said you should be testing the occupied trailers. The testing didn't take place. Your lawyers sent an e-mail saying, if you test them, you may take ownership of it.
DAVID PAULISON, FEMA DIRECTOR: We're looking at things in hindsight and not how they were at the time. We are now recognizing, as we have all along, that we do have an issue and we're going to deal with it.
ROESGEN: Now FEMA is promising to start an investigation and to finally warn people, like Robert Green, of the possible danger he and 76,000 other families still face living in FEMA trailers along the Gulf Coast.
Susan Roesgen, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And a raging wildfire in Idaho to tell you about threatening to char an entire town. Officials are warning residents of Murphy Hot Spring that they will be trapped if the flames spread. All 50 families now urged to evacuate. Crews have contained a fire that burned 14 square miles near a nuclear fuel facility in eastern Idaho. Thousands of other wildfires are scorching western states.
The nation's fire fighting alert status has been raised to its highest level. Cooler temperatures, calmer winds helping firefighters with dozens of blazes burning out west. The break isn't expected to last, however. CNN's Casey Wian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): This Monday, 15,000 new wildfires have started in the western United States. And the threat is so great, officials have raised the nation's fire alert level to 5, the highest possible. Idaho, Nevada and Utah are the hot spots now, but wildfires have hit 17 U.S. states during the past month. Some are manmade.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe that it was off of a truck that was hauling some scrap iron that had been cut with a cutting torch.
WIAN: Others sparked by lightening. Nationwide, officials recorded 200,000 lightening strikes in a single day this week. But all the fires are being fueled by a devastating drought that has now spread to more than 60 percent of the continental United States.
RANDY EARDLEY, NATIONAL INTERAGENCY FIRE CENTER: Because it's been going on for so long and then we get into this summer and we have been seeing record high temperatures across much of the West, that long-term drought we've been seeing, it just creates tinderbox situation conditions out there that when an ignition occurs, these fires spread very rapidly and they're very resistant to control.
WIAN: Resources are stretched thing, as this of ariel firefighting crews shows.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Given all the large fires in the nation, we've just about reached our capacity for what's available to us in the helicopter world and then that we definitely have all our air tankers activated. So we get a lot of aircraft moving around. It's a big project.
WIAN: So big some governors are preparing to activate the National Guard to fight fires if necessary. Another possibility is international help from Canada and even Australia. Last year set a record for wildfires in the United States with nearly 10 million acres burned.
Fire officials say it's too early to tell if that record will be broken this year. But they do notice a trend, of longer, more intense fire seasons, so it's clearly a possibility.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: President Bush on Iraq. We expect to hear from the president this hour, 10:35 a.m. Eastern Time. Live coverage on his comments from the Rose Garden right here for you in the NEWSROOM.
And who says men don't cry?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I miss players, geez (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Our Jeanne Moos takes a closer look at famous men who let down their defenses.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Hey, let's do the -- whoa!
HARRIS: Hey, what happened?
COLLINS: That's not so good. I mean, you know, if you're hoping for things to stay above 14. It closed above 14,000 yesterday, but now we are quickly off the mark, down about 103 points or so for the Dow Jones Industrial averages. Also the Nasdaq, I am hearing, is down about 25 points there, 26 or so. You see it on the bottom, right-hand side of your screen. We're going to continue to watch this story. It's very interesting. HARRIS: Man.
COLLINS: We'll talk with Susan Lisovicz in just a bit.
HARRIS: Prisoners on the loose on purpose. The West Bank, today. Israel freeing more than 250 Palestinian prisoners. Most of them aligned with the Fatah party. The release is part of a series of goodwill gestures. Israel's aim, busing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his standoff with Fatah rival Hamas. Israel says none of the prisoners has, "blood on their hands."
COLLINS: From the president, to the defense secretary, to high- profile members of Congress, big boys do cry. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): You're looking at a defense secretary about to let down his defenses.
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The lion of Fallujah was laid to rest at Arlington.
MOOS: Robert Gates was speaking about Marine Major Douglas Zembiec, whose picture hangs in the secretary's conference room.
GATES: Every evening I write notes to the families of young Americans like Doug Zembiec. They're not names on a press release or numbers updated on a Web site. They are our country's sons and daughters.
MOOS: There's a lot of sadness to go around these days. This Iraq vet lost his legs, but not he capacity to cry. And when President Bush introduced him to applause ...
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a good man. We're going to get him some new legs.
MOOS: It seemed to choke up the president.
MOOS: Usually I prefer to laugh till I cry, but not with this story.
Be it a father, emotional about his son ...
GEORGE H. W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: I can do it.
MOOS: A husband distraught over the death of his wife. Or a coach leaving his team.
DICK VERMEIL, FORMER COACH, ST. LOUIS RAMS: I miss players, geez. Excuse me.
MOOS: Nothing to be excused for. But try telling that to men.
Do you ever cry in public? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
MOOS: Never?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Publicly, no. Certainly not.
MOOS: Does he cry much?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Not in the past five minutes.
MOOS: Do you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I cried when my mother died, my brother died, my father died.
MOOS: What do you cry about?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When my daddy spanks me.
MOOS: Sort of like when former Congressman Duke Cunningham got spanked with a prison sentence for taking bribes.
DUKE CUNNINGHAM, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: The trust of my friends and family ...
MOOS: Sometimes crying men get no respect. For instance, House Minority Leader John Boehner talking about the war on terror.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) MINORITY LEADER: It's provided for the safety and security of the American people. That's at the top of our list.
MOOS: Boehner crying ended up on YouTube and the blogs, where he got little sympathy. "Oh, please." "Does this guy keep an onion in his pocket?"
Tears are memorable from crying anchor men to crying Indians. This one became an anti-litter symbol. Be careful how you cry.
BOEHNER: When are we going to defeat them?
MOOS: Tears can be self-defeating. When big boys do cry, sometimes the world cries with them.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, talent and trouble. Two big names in sports face controversy. CNN contributor Roland Martin offers his perspective.
COLLINS: San Francisco gets a morning jolt. Cleaning up after an earthquake and crying over all that spilled wine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good morning once again, everybody. Hey, it's Friday. Usually we make a big to-do about that long before 10:30 in the show. But in case you didn't know, it's Friday. And I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. Good Friday to you. I'm Tony Harris.
Among our top stories this morning, the pressure to see progress in Iraq and the time table for gaging it. This morning a top general clarifies when the assessment of the troop buildup will come. It was this comment by Lieutenant General Ray Odierno that raised eyebrows and questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RAY ODIERNO, CMDR, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCES-IRAQ: In order to do a good assessment, I need at least until November to do that assessment. And if I get, you know, 45 days from now, September 1st, I will have a better -- I was talking about our trends. The fact that our trends are all going in the right direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, this morning, the general issued this clarifying comment as to what he meant. He says, "there is no intention to push our reporting requirement beyond September. Nothing I said yesterday should be interpreted to suggest otherwise. My reference to November was simply suggesting that as we go forward beyond September, we will gain more understanding of trends."
President Bush on Iraq. We expect to hear from the president this hour just a couple of minutes from now. Maybe five minutes or so, 10:35 a.m. Eastern Time. Live coverage of his comments from the Rose Garden this morning in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: One day after the Dow Industrials closed above 14,000 for the first time ever, stocks are deep in the red. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details.
Hi there, Susan.
I guess this is why we call it the stock market. It's up, it's down and it's up and it's down.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
HARRIS: Two pro athletes making news this week, Atlanta Falcons star quarterback Michael Vick, indicted on dog-fighting charges, and Barry Bonds closing in on Hank Aaron's home run records, as rumors of steroid use lingers. CNN contributor Roland Martin weighs in.
Roland,great to see you. You know what, let's start with Michael Vick. ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Tony.
HARRIS: Good to see you, doctor.
Is this young man, Michael Vick, is he entitled -- because I'm hearing so much of this debate, where folks want to say, he's entitled to a fair hearing, and then the commentators spend the next hour ripping him. Is he entitled to due process or not here?
MARTIN: Every person is entitled to due process, I don't care whether your name is Michael Vick, Roland Martin or Tony Harris. And I so I think it's an unfortunate -- look, these are serious charges, they're serious allegations, they're heinous allegations, but that's what they are.
You know, we talked about my radio show this morning, and I reminded people of the McMartin trial in California. Remember we had salacious details, all of these children, hundreds of charges, but they were found innocent because they weren't proven. and so we have to remember that, always innocent until proven guilty.
HARRIS: Then why do we always go down this road? For example, with Michael Vick, this case is largely built on the temperature of confidential informants. Don't we really want to see how this whole case came together?
MARTIN: Well, because, again, we have a natural instinct to trust the police in these cases, happens all the time. We trust what the prosecutors and the police say. And so I understand that, but again, unless you have been in that position, trust me, you don't really want to have folks all of a sudden saying you're guilty when in fact it needs to be proven.
Remember, guilt -- it's all about reasonable doubt. That's the whole issue here. So given -- I think we have to give the person a benefit of the doubt.
HARRIS: Roland, given that, what do you think of the NFL's position, the position of the owner of the Falcons, Arthur Blank? What do you think of the position they've taken so far on this?
MARTIN: Well, look, I think they've taken the right decision, because, again, we just got the indictment. He's going to be arraigned on Monday. They have to figure out, OK, what is our next process? Roger Goodell has instituted a new policy in terms of conduct detrimental to the league off the field. And so they have to protect their brand. I understand that.
Keep in mind also, R. Kelly, it's been five years since he was indicted. He still hasn't gone to trial. So if you suggest that Michael Vick should not play ball, he should be suspended until this runs its course, we don't know how long it's going to last. He may not play two, three, four, five years. Is that fair? I don't think so. HARRIS: All right, let's talk about -- because you're pushing back in a way I haven't heard a lot of folks push back, and maybe it's because you're a black man pushing back. OK, we can get into that in a moment. But talk and we could get into that in a moment.
But talk about Barry Bonds, and what do you think of the campaign that feels, to me, like a hate campaign against this guy, Barry Bonds, as he approaches one of the most cherished records in all of sports?
MARTIN: A lot of this has to do with the fact that Barry Bonds is not a guy who the sports writers and the journalists are enamored with. He's not the greatest guy in the world. I had one encounter with him with the Texas Rangers down in Arlington, Texas, and he didn't come off as a great guy.
But I can separate his attitude from what he does on the field. I actually, Tony, went back and checked and compared his stats to Hank Aaron. And so this guy has had a remarkable career. It's unfortunate that people are looking at the allegations of steroid use. But again, same thing, allegations have not been proven. The court of public opinion says, oh, he's guilty, but he hasn't been caught.
And for Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, to sit here and say, well, I haven't decided if I'm going to be there when he breaks the record, that is offensive. It's because of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, two other guys who have accused of steroids, that Major League Baseball was able to get over that strike in 1994, so he should stand up and say, hey, enough of this, I'm going to be there when he breaks the record.
HARRIS: I don't want to suggest that black people would have a different view of Barry Bonds than the views expressed by so many white folks in the country so far, but we ran a piece last hour from...
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: Yes, but they do.
HARRIS: Yes, but here's the point. We ran a piece last hour from Richard Roth, one of our most prized and valued correspondents here on the network. Not one black person interviewed in the piece on this story. It has to be a bit frustrating to you to hear the lack of voices, diversity of voices, on the Barry Bonds story, regardless of what you think about it.
MARTIN: Well, look, we talked about this issue on my radio show on Friday, and I probably had anywhere in 15 to 20 people who called in and expressed their viewpoints. Maybe three to five of those people said Barry Bonds shouldn't break the record, that he is guilty.
The fact of the matter is, look, we have seen the various studies where African-Americans have one view, whites have another view. We've seen the same from the Carney (ph) Commission in 1988. It says African-Americans may watch a different television show; whites they watch a different show. It's a whole different viewpoint. A lot of people feel as if Barry Bonds is being persecuted for some reason, so that's why it falls down those lines.
I think, forget the fact of race, forget the fact that he's a black guy, forget the fact that you may have folks that don't like it. Hank Aaron is an African-American. That means absolutely nothing.
The reality is, has Barry Bonds ever failed a drug test? No. Did Major League Baseball test for steroids for a long period of time? No.
We can sit here and talk all day about whether he failed or not, the bottom line is there's no proof as of yet, so you have to go on that. He's a great baseball player before all of a sudden he broke the single-season record, and so, hey, I say, be quiet, he's had an awesome career. Give the guy his due. He's a great star and deserves everything that he gets.
HARRIS: CNN contributor Roland Martin this morning. As we say in the neighborhood, showing out. Roland, great to see you. Good Friday. Great weekend to you.
MARTIN: Thanks, tony.
HARRIS: And still to come this morning, mixing up -- that just changed in a heartbeat, sorry, Heidi.
COLLINS: Mixing up Christianity, that is, with Harry Potter?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a Christian, I am desperate for people to find out about God. And if this book helps one other person find out about Jesus and the great news he shares, then that's great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The young wizard not the only one with a new book out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Countdown to the witching hour, or rather the wizarding hour. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," out at midnight. It is author J.K. Rowling's seventh and final book in the series. Fans of the young wizard will learn if Harry survives. Several book stores are holding Potter parties to celebrate the book's release. It's already a top seller. Online retailer Amazon.com says it pre-sold -- listen to this -- 2.2 million copies. Barnes and Noble, more than 1.4 million pre-orders.
COLLINS: President Bush on Iraq. We expect to here from the president this hour, in fact, any moment now. We've got live coverage of his comments. They'll be coming from the Rose Garden right here in the NEWSROOM.
We understand that he has met a little bit earlier today with military support organizations, and to be more specific, about ten individuals who are active members of military support organizations. He's going to be talking here now more about the war in Iraq, and specifically the surge.
Let's go ahead and listen in to President Bush.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ...I'm joined by veterans and military families who are here to express support for our troops and their mission in Iraq, and I want to thank you all for being here today.
We've just finished a really good meeting. In our discussions, these folks had a message that all of us in Washington need to hear. It is time to rise above partisanship, stand behind our troops in the field, and give them everything they need to succeed.
February (ph) estimated to Congress that Defense Department spending bill for the upcoming fiscal year that will provide funds to upgrade our equipment for our troops in Iraq, provides a pay raise for our military. It's a comprehensive spending request that Congress has failed to act on.
Instead, the Democratic leaders chose to have a political debate on a precipitous withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. The House and Senate are now scheduled to leave for their August recess before passing a bill to support our troops in their missions. Even members of Congress who no longer support our effort in Iraq should at least be able to provide an increase in pay for our troops fighting there.
When Congress returns after Labor Day, there will be less than one month before the fiscal year ends and current funds for Defense Department operations run out. Congress still has an opportunity to do right by our men and women in uniform and our national security. So today, I call on Congress to take action, get this vital piece of legislation to me to sign, on budget and on time.
I also ask Congress give our troops time to carry out a new strategy in Iraq. Like all wars, the fight in Iraq has had frustrating setbacks, it's also had important successes. We've seen dramatic turnarounds in places such as Anbar Province, which was once thought lost to the enemy.
Just this week, our military forces announced the capture of one of al Qaeda's top Iraqi leaders. He helped to form what al Qaeda calls the Islamic state in Iraq, an attempt to replicate what the Taliban had created in Afghanistan. Today, that leader is under arrest, and his followers are under siege.
These successes demonstrate the gains our troops are making in Iraq, and the importance of giving our military the time they need to give their new strategy a chance to work.
Earlier this year, the Senate seemed to share that view. They confirmed General David Petraeus as commander of our forces without a single dissenting vote. And now, barely a month after his strategy became fully operational, many of those same senators are saying that that strategy has failed. Our nation deserves a serious debate about Iraq, because the outcome of this conflict will have enormous consequences for our country. Failure in Iraq would allow terrorists to operate from a safe haven with access to the world's third largest oil reserves. Failure in Iraq would increase the probability that at some later date, American troops would have to return to Iraq, to confront an enemy more dangerous and more entrenched. Failure in Iraq would send an unmistakable signal to America's enemies, that our country can be bullied into retreat.
America's involvement in Iraq does not have to end this way. A free and stable Iraq is still in reach. It has the potential to transform the Middle East and bring us closer to the day when radical regimes are replaced by peaceful allies, when terrorists have fewer places to train and operate, and when moms and dads in the Arab world see a future of hope for their children.
One of the folks with us today is an Air Force reservist named Eric Eglund (ph). Here's what he said, he said, "We live in the world's oldest democracy and have been blessed with the strength to protect our freedoms and to help others who seek the same."
This has always been America's mission, and today, that mission is being carried out by brave men and women who have stepped forward to keep our country secure. I thank them and I thank their families for the sacrifices they're making, and I thank you all for supporting them.
Thank you very much.
COLLINS: We've learned obviously as you see there, that the president will not be taking any questions. That statement coming your way from the Rose Garden on the heels of a meeting with several military support organizations.
You heard President Bush saying many different things here, most of them things we have heard before, but talking a lot about Congress and going to adjourn without passing what he called a bill to support troops, and that a free and stable Iraq still within reach.
HARRIS: And still to come in the NEWSROOM this morning, searching for clues at Brazil's Sao Paulo airport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Controllers there were warning before the -- just before the accident about the slipping, the slick (ph) runway, the conditions because of the rain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: CNN's Harris Whitbeck with the latest on the investigation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: You already know to catch us weekday mornings from 9:00 until noon Eastern, but did you know you can take us with you anywhere on your iPod? We've been telling you about it, it's fascinating. CNN NEWSROOM podcast available 24/7 right on your iPod.
HARRIS: An earthquake hits northern California this morning. It struck just a few hours ago, magnitude 4.2. The people who measure earthquakes label it kind of a light one. You can see the broken glass there. That typically means minimal damage, broken dishes, and in this case, windows and sometimes some wine bottles.
That appears to be the extent of the damage in the San Francisco Bay area. No injuries reported. Still, the shaking lasted about a minute. If you're in it, that's a long time. The quake centered two miles east-northeast of Oakland and about 3 1/2 miles deep.
COLLINS: Searching for answers in Brazil. CNN's Harris Whitbeck following the plane crash investigation.
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HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Days after the crash of the TAM Airlines Airbus at Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo, investigators search for clues and take measurements on the main runway where the crash took place. Overhead, planes roar in to land on another runway. Congonhas has an average of nearly 50 takeoffs and landings per hour. And now, its infrastructure is under scrutiny as a cause for the crash.
This woman, who asked not to be identified, is an air traffic controller at nearby Guarulhos Airport. She says her colleagues at Congonhas warned pilots of difficult conditions during the rainy afternoon before the crash.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The controllers there were warning before the -- just before the accident about the slipping, the slippery (ph) runway, the conditions because of the rain. Every pilot was complaining about it the same day, and for some reason, they couldn't close it, they kept it running.
WHITBECK: Pilots have complained in the past about the main runway at Congonhas. They say it is too short for safe operation, particularly during rain. Pilots routinely abort their landings at the airport when they feel it is not safe. This aborted landing by another TAM jet occurred Thursday morning.
Earlier, airport authorities released this video taken by runway cameras to bolster its theory that the crashed airbus had landed too fast, maybe hoping to shift blame to the pilot. Others believe the pilot realized he didn't have enough room to stop the plane.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We think he was trying to take off again, that's why he was so fast.
WHITBECK: Congonhas is in the midst of an improvement scheme that includes repaving its runways. But that construction could be a factor in the crash. Critics say the recently repaved runway had drainage problems, and have renewed calls for Congonhas to be closed indefinitely.
(on camera): Some of the answers may be inside the flight data and voice recorders now in the hands of investigators. Wherever blame lies, in the weather, runway surfaces, the pilots or all three, investigators' conclusions could have a big effect on the future of Brazil's busiest airport and the millions of people who use it.
Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Sao Paulo.
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HARRIS: Grading the U.S. troop build-up in Iraq, a top general clarifies his comments and the calendar.
COLLINS: What now, DOW? Blue Chip stocks opened at a record 14,000 this morning, and then -- shoom (ph)! We're watching the numbers kind of go down a bit all morning long.
HARRIS: Former president Clinton taking on one of his wife's critics. Details ahead.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way we were looking, we could see people running away from that intersection, and from where we were, it looked like it could be coming from Grand Central Station, and being post- 9/11, one of our worries that it could have been a terrorist attack.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My sister and I were watching television when our lights flickered. We could sort of feel the building vibrating a little bit. The first thing we saw was this sort of (ph) huge column of dark smoke going up, and had no idea what was happening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a roar, like a fire or something like that. It was steady and pretty loud from where we were. It was almost like -- there were people standing around watching like Old Faithful or something in the middle of Manhattan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you can see more of these amazing videos and send in your own. Just point your browsers to CNN.com, and look for the i-Report logo.
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T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there.
This weekend, bridging the God gap. Religion and politics go hand in hand this campaign season. And while some say it's a good thing, others bit more skeptical. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you do too much God talk, especially if you're a Democrat, you really do risk turning off a significant group.
HOLMES: So, does faith matter? We'll examine the candidates seeking respect and trying to connect.
Plus, best buys on the best days? If you knew you would pay less money to purchase clothes, groceries, even a car, would you wait a day to buy?
And also, it is the most wanted book in the world. We're counting down the official release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," that's tomorrow. And you'll hear from the people cracking open that book and unveiling the mysteries.
So please, start your weekend right here, CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING beginning tomorrow at 7:00 Eastern.
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HARRIS: And good morning again everyone. You're with CNN, you're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi everybody, I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming into the CNN NEWSROOM on Friday, the 20th day of July. Here's what's on the rundown. Assessing the troop build-up in Iraq. September or November? A top general clarifies.
HARRIS: A young man sent to prison for teen sex gets a hearing before the Georgia Supreme Court, happening right now. Will it mean freedom?
COLLINS: The shaking, almost a minute long. San Francisco wakes to a jolt. Earthquake, in the NEWSROOM.
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