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Pat Tillman Hearing; Dozens Killed in Baghdad Bombings; Obama on Terrorism
Aired August 01, 2007 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You're with CNN.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming into the NEWSROOM here on this Wednesday, August 1st.
Here's what's on the rundown.
High-level testimony given right now in the Pat Tillman investigation. Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld taking questions.
HARRIS: A plan for Pakistan. Barack Obama unveils a new get- tough approach.
COLLINS: And swept away by flash floods. Desperate rescues in Arizona as roads become rivers.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Happening right now, a hearing into the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman. Live pictures right now of the hearing. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testifying before a House committee.
Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is tracking developments from her post.
Barbara, good morning to you. And what have you heard so far?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the words, Tony, that we keep hearing from Secretary Rumsfeld and several top retired generals are, "I don't recall," repeatedly, under questioning from the House Government Oversight Committee, asking what they knew and when they knew it about the death of Corporal Tillman by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004. These men are saying they simply do not recall most of the events.
It should be explained, of course, as they are saying, that at the time this happened in April 2004, the fighting in Iraq, especially in Falluja, was very hot and heavy. That was taking a lot of their time. So they don't recall, they say, a lot of details about this.
One of the men who is not present is retired Lieutenant General Philip Kensinger, the man who was censured yesterday by the Army and may lose a star over all of this.
Earlier in the hearing, the committee chairman talked about their effort to try and track down General Kensinger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D), OVERSIGHT & GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE: General Kensinger refused to appear today. His attorney informed the committee that General Kensinger would not testify voluntarily, and if issued a subpoena would seek to evade service. The committee did issue a subpoena to General Kensinger earlier this week, but U.S. Marshals have been unable to locate or serve him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: I have to tell you, one of the generals coming under intense questioning is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, who acknowledges that some time in late April 2004, a few days after Corporal Tillman's death, he was understanding -- he knew that there was an investigation into the possibility of friendly fire. He did not publicly talk about that, but that, of course, was several days before the memorial service for Corporal Tillman and a couple of weeks before the family, the Tillman family, was actually informed it was friendly fire. General Myers getting a lot of tough questioning about why he didn't say something -- Tony.
HARRIS: Well, Barbara, "I don't recall" not satisfying members of the Tillman family in that hearing room. The Tillman family believes there is still much more that can be learned and uncovered about this investigation.
STARR: Absolutely, Tony. There is no indication that the Tillman family is going to change their view. They are very distressed.
HARRIS: Yes.
STARR: There have been some seven investigations. They are not satisfied. We are likely to hear from them again later in the day.
HARRIS: From the Pentagon, Barbara Starr for us this morning.
Barbara, thank you.
STARR: Sure.
COLLINS: August off to a bloody start in Iraq. Dozens of people losing their lives in bombings today. At least 50 at a Baghdad gas station. More than a dozen others at a busy square.
CNN's Arwa Damon is in Baghdad now. Arwa, why are we seeing so much violence even as the U.S. military says it is seeing positive trends related to the U.S. troop buildup?
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, this is merely the insurgency proving itself once again, proving itself in the sense that it does continue to maintain this ability to morph and attack the civilian population here. That attack that you mentioned that left at least 50 people dead happened when a fuel tanker packed with explosives detonated just outside of a gas station.
The other attacks that took place today -- one, for example, in an area known as Karrada in central Baghdad -- it was a suicide car bomb that was targeting a busy commercial street that had electronic shops on either side. The attack taking place close to an ice cream parlor. That incident left at least 15 Iraqis dead.
The two other attacks that we saw today, one also targeting a busy commercial street. The other targeting a marketplace.
Now, these attacks happening in such an indiscriminate way, taking place throughout the entire capital, are really the insurgency's way of reinforcing its own authority, trying to terrorize an already frightened population into staying indoors and trying to further reduce any sort of faith in the government, and perhaps to try to counteract any sort of statements from the U.S. military that the surge is, in fact, working -- Heidi.
COLLINS: CNN's Arwa Damon live from Baghdad this morning.
Arwa, thank you.
HARRIS: President Bush's right hand man speaking out about the administration's Iraq policies. It is not often Vice President Dick Cheney gives TV interviews, but he sat down with CNN's Larry King to talk about a number of issues. Among them, the president's troop buildup in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have made progress on that front. We have also, obviously, with the surge the President decided on last January, I think made significant progress now into the course of the summer. The real test is whether or not the strategy that was put in place for this year will, in fact, produce the desired results.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The vice President sitting down with CNN's Larry King in Washington.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Boy, how about this? Awash in Arizona. Heavy storms brought almost an inch and a half of rain in just over an hour yesterday. Authorities say a 60-year-old man died in Tucson when his SUV became submerged in the downpour. Several people had to be rescued from their cars.
COLLINS: Want to take a moment to show you some new video here. You see Senator Barack Obama.
He will be delivering a speech today in Washington. He has entitled it "The War We Need to Win".
Going to be talking about his strategy to fight terrorism worldwide. Going to be discussing in particular how the war in Iraq and failed leadership in Washington has made America less safe than before 9/11, in his words.
Once again, this coming to us live now. Lee Hamilton, you see him there at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for scholars.
We'll be watching that for you.
HARRIS: Donald Rumsfeld on the witness list. Lawmakers looking into the military's handling of Pat Tillman's friendly fire death.
COLLINS: Living in fear in their own homes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're fighting a war zone every single day. And that's what I feel like, I'm fighting a battle zone in Iraq and I'm not even there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Dangerous days and terrifying nights in a government housing project. Families losing hope.
HARRIS: Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick sacked by another sponsor. The latest fallout from dog fighting allegations against the NFL star.
COLLINS: A helping hand for farmers. Tax dollars used to seed farms, but you may not believe some of the people getting a government check.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Senator Barack Obama talking tough about fighting terrorism. The Democratic presidential candidate delivering a speech this hour, blasting the Bush administration.
Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley is watching it with us.
Candy, great to see you.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
HARRIS: What is -- I have two questions. I'm wondering what it is he is likely to say, specifically talking tough, and what is he hoping to accomplish with this speech?
CROWLEY: Well, let me take the last question first.
HARRIS: OK.
CROWLEY: And that is that you know in the most recent debate, Barack Obama said that he would be willing to sit down with some leaders of some of the rogue nations, Cuba and North Korea, that sort of thing. This is the other side of that. This is the tough, muscular speech on terrorism.
It's designed to show that he can be tough. In one part, he's even to the right of George Bush, suggesting that if Pakistan -- if they had intelligence that told them that al Qaeda, particularly Osama bin Laden, was in Pakistan, if Pakistan would not go after him the U.S. would, which, as you know, is something the current administration has not been able to say.
This is also in some ways a response to Hillary Clinton, when you hear him say, in fact, that the U.S. is not any safer than it was because the war in Iraq has distracted us from the real war in Afghanistan. That sort of aimed at Hillary Clinton, who also in a previous debate said that she believed the U.S. was safer.
So, this is sort of twofold. This is a frontal attack on the Bush administration. It is a more subtle suggestion against Hillary Clinton.
HARRIS: The advisers and handlers in the Obama campaign, they feel it was just time for this kind of muscular speech?
CROWLEY: They say this speech was planned long before he and Hillary Clinton got into a tiff about whether or not one should sit down with these dictators.
HARRIS: Sure.
CROWLEY: But nonetheless, it probably wasn't written before then. So, yes, remember that Hillary Clinton described him as inexperienced and naive. This is aimed not just at President Bush, but at the perception -- hang on one second, because we want to listen here to a little bit of his speech.
HARRIS: OK. Great. Thanks, Candy.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We did not develop new capabilities to defeat a new enemy or launch a comprehensive strategy to dry up the terrorist base of support. We did not reaffirm our basic values or secure our homeland. Instead, we got a color-coded politics of fear; patriotism as the possession of one political party; the diplomacy of refusing to talk to other countries; a rigid 20th century ideology that insisted that the 21st century's stateless terrorism could be defeated through the invasion and occupation of a state; a deliberate strategy to misrepresent 9/11 to sell a war against a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.
And so, a little more than a year after that bright September day, I was in the streets of Chicago again, this time speaking at a rally in opposition to the war in Iraq. I did not oppose all wars, I said. I was a strong supporter of the war in Afghanistan, but I said I could not support a dumb war, a rash war in Iraq.
I worried about a U.S. occupation of undetermined length and undetermined costs with undetermined consequences in the heart of the Muslim world. I pleaded that we finish the fight with bin Laden and al Qaeda.
The political winds were blowing in a different direction. The president was determined to go to war. And there was just one obstacle, the U.S. Congress.
Nine days after I spoke, that obstacle was removed. Congress rubberstamped the rush to war, giving the president the broad and open-ended authority he uses to this day.
With that vote, Congress became co-author of a catastrophic war. And we went off to fight on the wrong battlefield with no appreciation of how many enemies we would create and no plan for how to get out. And because of a war in Iraq that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged, we are now less safe than we were before 9/11.
According to the national intelligence estimate...
HARRIS: OK. Let's bring back in our Candy Crowley.
Candy, I think you are beginning to hear -- well, in a sense, he's rapping similar themes that we have heard in the debates thus far.
Would you agree with that?
CROWLEY: Absolutely. And again, one of the sort of foreign policy ace in the hole that the Obama team thought they had was that he was against the war from the beginning.
HARRIS: Yes.
CROWLEY: And that contrasts to Hillary Clinton, who voted for the war. He has very frequently said this is a war that should never have been waged, never been approved. That's sort of a direct assault on her and her vote.
Now, we have to say that so far, Hillary Clinton has done a good job reminding people that she is opposed to the way the war was conducted, that she now wants the troops out of Iraq. And given her poll numbers, I'm not sure that we can say that this sort of stuff has really had any effect.
HARRIS: Yes. OK.
We just wanted to give everyone a little bit of analysis of what was to come and a bit of a flavor of the speech itself.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, with us this morning.
Candy, great to see you. Thanks.
COLLINS: Clinton in first. A new poll shows Senator Hillary Clinton widening her lead over Senator Barack Obama in the Democratic race for president.
In "The Wall Street Journal"-NBC News poll, Clinton leads Obama 43 percent to 22 percent. That's up from a 14-point lead in a June poll.
The poll also shows Clinton leading Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani by six points, 47 percent to 41 percent. That's almost identical to the June survey.
HARRIS: Donald Rumsfeld facing questions about a friendly fire death. A hearing this morning in the Pat Tillman investigation.
COLLINS: A daughter comes home to find her mom and siblings dead. Investigating a tragedy in Ohio.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A woman and her two children found dead inside their Cincinnati home. The coroner has not revealed the cause of death or the names.
The children who died, a 10-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl. Their mom was 44. An older daughter found the bodies on Tuesday.
The coroner says the deaths are being investigated as homicides, but it could turn out to be a murder-suicide case.
HARRIS: Cash crops. Farmers paid millions by the government, but really, do all those farmers need the money?
CNN's Dan Simon takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Al Montna, rice farming is good business right now.
AL MONTNA, FARMER: There's great rewards in growing crops, especially crops like rice. SIMON: So, you would think the third-generation family farmer wouldn't get government handouts, right? Wrong. Over three years, from 2003 to 2005, he and his children received more than $900,000 in federal subsidies. Montna says that kind of money provides a vital safety net for farmers.
MONTNA: Agriculture is an investment in our national security and the well-being of this country.
SIMON: That argument has been used for decades to justify the billions spent every year on subsidies for crops like rice, corn and wheat.
But, to critics...
DAN SUMNER, PROFESSOR, U.C. DAVIS: I think it's hard to see a legitimate reason why we're still subsidizing these industries.
SIMON: Professor Dan Sumner says the government's policy, a product of the Great Depression, deserves an F.
SUMNER: As taxpayers, we're spending a bunch of money to hand to individuals who are relatively wealthy people.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some very wealthy. "Keeping Them Honest," we looked to see who else has been getting your tax dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pippen. Whoa!
SIMON: Basketball star Scottie Pippen got $289,000 for his farm in Arkansas, David Letterman $8,000 for farming on his Montana ranch. The list from an environmental watchdog reads like a who's who, billionaire David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, the founder of this network. Even members of Congress got in on the game.
There are also wealthy people you have never heard of, like 88- year-old widow Constance Bowles, whose family has a cotton farm in California.
(on camera): Ms. Bowles lives here in one of San Francisco's most prestigious neighborhoods, called Presidio Heights. Anyone who lives here hardly needs government subsidies to get by. Yet, from 2003 to 2005, her family farm business received more than $1.2 million in government subsidies.
Ms. Bowles told CNN, "We could do without it."
How could this happen? It's simple. Farmers apply for subsidies based on their acreage. The largest farms get the most of your tax dollars.
JIM LYONS, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLICY AND COMMUNICATIONS, OXFAM: Ten percent of producers get 75 percent of the benefits from subsidies. So, there's no doubt that wealthy farms continue to profit at a considerably higher rate than other farmers. SIMON: It's not just rich people getting payments. Turns out, dead people are, too. The Government Accountability Office says, between 1999 and 2005, more than a billion dollars went to the deceased. Some payments went on for a decade.
David Harrison III died five years ago. His estate got $140,000 of your tax dollars, even as it gave tens of millions to the University of Virginia. The UVA football field is named for Harrison.
KEN COOK, PRESIDENT, ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP: We really ought to make sure that, when someone is getting farm subsidy checks, they deserve it.
SIMON: Rice grower Al Montna thinks most the money goes to honest and hardworking farmers. He also points out, the government outlay is just a drop in the bucket compared to other programs.
MONTNA: When you look at defense, when you look at all the other issues, I mean, it doesn't even make a line.
SIMON: And, as long as the government continues to write the checks, he will gladly accept.
Dan Simon, CNN, Yuba City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: More bloodshed in the streets of Baghdad. Dozens of people killed as attackers set off deadly bombs at a gas station and in a busy square.
HARRIS: Stuck under two 10,000-pound steel beams. What happened to the man at the bottom of this collapsed highway bridge? You'll hear from him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Good Wednesday morning, everybody. It is August 1st.
I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM.
What did Pentagon leaders know about Pat Tillman's death and when? A House committee hearing on the friendly fire death happening right now. Live pictures there.
Among those testifying, former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. You'll recall Tillman was the NFL-star-turned-Army-Ranger killed in Afghanistan. His death was initially blamed on hostile fire. Rumsfeld says he doesn't recall when he learned there was a chance Tillman was killed by friendly fire, but he expressed sympathy for the Tillman family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, FMR. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I stated in my opening remarks a great deal of heartbreak for the Tillman family and deep concern and a recognition that the way the matter was handled added to their grief. And it is a most unfortunate situation that anyone has to agree is something that the department has to find ways to avoid in the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Yesterday, the army announced a censure of a retired three-star general over the Tillman investigation.
COLLINS: More American lives lost in Iraq, but signs of hope for the Pentagon. As July ended, four more U.S. soldiers were killed, three of them when a bomb exploded near their combat patrol in eastern Baghdad. The fourth killed by small arms fire. The death toll for the month, 77. That is the lowest monthly total since November. The military hopes the recent troop build-up is making strides. Since the war began, 3,656 American troops have lost their lives in Iraq.
HARRIS: Well, the month of August off to a bloody start in Iraq. Attackers set off powerful bombs in Baghdad today, killing dozens of people. The deadliest blast from a fuel tanker rigged with explosives. It happened near a gas station in western Baghdad. The toll there, at least 50 deaths, at least 60 other people wounded.
In another attack, a suicide car bomb exploded in a busy square. More than a dozen people were killed, dozens others were wounded. Several other people were killed by separate car bombings in other areas of the Iraqi capital.
COLLINS: Iraq's troubled prime minister and his coalition government facing a serious new setback. The country's biggest Sunni political bloc pulling out of Nouri al Maliki's cabinet, six members submitting their resignations today. The prime minister is a Shiite. The Sunni group, the Iraqi Accord (ph) Front says it is withdrawing because of his failure to meet their demands. It's also critical of legislative stalemates and the failure of the national reconciliation efforts.
HARRIS: Tracking Fred Thompson, there may already be problems with this possible presidential run.
More from CNN's Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley, part of the best political team on television.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fred Thompson raised $3.4 million in June. It is not "blow them away" money.
ALEX VOGEL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You can't make it to the White House when you're only raising $3 million a month when you're up against Giuliani and Romney on your own side and obviously Hillary and Obama on the other side.
CROWLEY: It's OK money, but OK is not enough for Team Thompson, burdened with great expectations. One Republican strategist not affiliated with any campaign, put it this way. If McCain is damaged because he only raised $10 million or $11 million, how is Fred a juggernaut with $3 million? The Thompson crowd begs to differ, calling its 9,167 donors inspiring and supporters note it's the beginning, not the end.
REP. ZACH WAMP, (R) TENNESSEE: Once he becomes a candidate and he will, he will raise plenty of money to be competitive. But frankly, when you're in the top of the polls or real close to the top, money is not as big an issue as most people make it out to be.
CROWLEY: Regardless of how you view the $3.4 million, it's clear that the Republican party's "knight on a white horse" is getting roughed up. His time as a Washington lawyer and lobbyist is under scrutiny. His anti-abortion position is being questioned. He changed staff at the urging of his wife, said to be taking a lead role in a campaign that's running on tease (ph).
FRED THOMPSON, (R) FORMER U.S. SENATOR: I don't have any big announcements to make here tonight, but I'll just say this. I'll just say this, I plan on seeing a whole lot more of you, how about that?
CROWLEY: Now, after months of running without officially running, the act may be getting old. Sources say he will announce some time after Labor Day, but the natives are restless.
WAMP: We've got such a pent-up demand for him out here on the grassroots level, that I believe all this needs to be a definitive month so that September can be the month that we rock and roll.
CROWLEY: Rocking and rolling will have to include raising some real money. Team Thompson has its sights set on Mitt Romney in the fall. The way they figure it, Giuliani will not past muster with the party faithful, leaving Romney, a guy with very deep pockets, the one to beat.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick takes another hit in the wallet. Sporting goods company Rawlings is ending its relationship with Vick. The company used his image and promotional displays. Rawlings is the latest sponsor to drop Vick because of the dogfighting charges against him. Nike has suspended its contract and Reebok stopped selling Vick's number 7 jersey. Vick has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
COLLINS: In California, a FedEx truck crushed by a collapsed highway overpass. The driver, very lucky, and talking about it this morning. You may have watched the story unfold on CNN right here yesterday. The truck was pinned under tons of steel and debris. The driver was trapped for more than two hours. Incredibly, he suffered only a sprained ankle and cuts and bruises.
Earlier, the driver and one of his rescuers talked with CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BATTALION CHIEF RUSS FOWLER, BUTTE CO. FIRE DEPT.: Well, wasn't sure of the outcome, but we knew at that moment that we had a serious situation, both for Robert's safety and for the rescuers' safety because of the structure that was standing was very precarious to fall. And we had met with some of the bridge engineers from Cal Tran (ph), and they made it very clear to us the situation was very dangerous. So, that was our primary concern was to make sure our rescuers and Robert and the other injured patients were protected first and foremost.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: But did you know he was OK in there?
FOWLER: We did have one of our paramedic firefighters with Robert, and we were assessing him at that point. I didn't know his status. I knew we had a patient that was trapped in a vehicle under the falsework.
CHETRY: Right. You know, Robert, what was going through your mind? You're there, were they talking you through it, saying it's just going to be a little bit more time. We're trying to secure these beams? Were you aware that they were -- it was going to take them a while to get to you?
ROBERT SYLVESTER, TRAPPED IN TRUCK: You know, I knew they were doing everything they could. They wanted to get me out just as bad as I wanted to get out. And I knew that the situation was a little precarious with the beams and all that. But, so, I just had to -- these guys are great. And I just sort of put my trust in them to -- they knew what they were doing, so ...
CHETRY: Right.
SYLVESTER: ...I just tried to hang in as best as I could.
CHETRY: How did you keep yourself calm not knowing the extent of your injuries? I understand one of the beams was pinned over your legs.
SYLVESTER: Well, you know, the firefighters are great, and they kept talking to me and calming me down. I wasn't calm the entire time, so, but in those situations, there's not much I could do, but ...
CHETRY: Right.
SYLVESTER: ...but put myself in their hands, and they're, you know -- between the doctors and nurses and paramedics and firefighters, you know, they saved me, so, I'm very grateful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Boy, I bet.
A construction worker was on the overpass when it collapsed. He is still hospitalized in serious condition.
HARRIS: A family's secrets and a decades-old mystery. One man's search for answers.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange where the bulls are facing resistance again. But a new study says hanging in there is the right thing to do.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Barack Obama talking about terrorism right now. The Democratic presidential candidate delivering a speech blasting the Bush administration.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D-IL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is time to turn the page. It is time to write a new chapter in our response to 9/11.
I'll be clear. Just because the president misrepresents our enemy does not mean that we do not have enemies. The terrorists are at war with us. The threat is from a violent -- is from violent extremists or a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, but the threat is real.
COLLINS: Obama says terrorists are holed up in Pakistan's mountainous areas plotting strikes. He says if Pakistan's president won't act to wipe those terrorists out, the U.S. will.
HARRIS: The recent volatility in the financial markets has led many people to reconsider their investments, but a few studies reinforce the idea that holding, well, steady is key.
Susan Lisovicz, there she is at the New York Stock Exchange. You know what, Susan, here's the thing. You do sort of just need to hold steady. That way we can get to the real bottom here in the sell-off. That would be helpful.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
COLLINS: Uncovering a shameful chapter of America's past and one family's journey towards healing and helping others.
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is joining us now with details on this unbelievable story that I know you've been working on for a very long time.
ELIZABETH COHEN, MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, we've been working on this story for months. It is such a touching story that more families can relate to than you might think. This is a story of a brother who loved his sister so much that he defied his family's wishes to keep her hidden.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): All his life, Jeff Delay knew that when he was a little boy, he had a sister named Molly. He had hazy memories of playing with her, laughing with her, loving her.
JEFF DELAY: I didn't really want to play with other people. I spent all of my time with her.
COHEN: But then one day, when Jeff was six and Molly was three, someone took Molly away.
DELAY: I kept just saying, where's Molly, where's Molly, where's Molly?
COHEN: And he got this answer.
DELAY: Stop talking about Molly. Go to your room.
COHEN: The mystery of why Molly Jo (ph) Delay disappeared would eventually send Jeff searching through his family's darkest secrets and through a shameful chapter of American history.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Wow, you can just see the pain on his face.
COHEN: Oh, yes, all these years later.
COLLINS: I can't wait to see this piece that you have. Did -- is there any idea -- I mean, did he learn what happened to Molly?
COHEN: He did learn what happened to Molly. And what happened to her happened to tens of thousands of children in the '40s, '50s, '60s, and '70s. She was sent to an institution. This video, as hard as it is to watch, this is what parents did in that time. Many parents were told the best place for your child who is born disabled or was diagnosed disabled as a young child, is an institution.
And so, nine days before Molly's third birthday, she was sent to an institution. And when Jeff asked about her and said where's my little sister Molly, he was told to stop asking.
COLLINS: Wow. Did he find her? Have they been reunited? Can you tell me that before we see the whole piece?
COHEN: Well, what I can tell you is that if you go to CNN.com/health right now, you can find out about Jeff's incredible search to find his sister Molly. Even when he was told for decades, stop asking about Molly, he didn't listen. He went out and he searched for her. It's really an incredible story. It's also on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" tonight, we'll have the entire piece.
COLLINS: Wow, well, I can't wait to see this one.
Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for that.
COHEN: Thanks.
COLLINS: And I just want to remind everybody to see what happens with this amazing story, tune into "PAULA ZAHN NOW" tonight. That's at 8:00 Eastern.
HARRIS: And still to come in the NEWSROOM, return to sender. An address mix-up leading one community with nothing but empty mail boxes. More of a problem than you might think.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's take you back to Washington now as we continue to follow the testimony before the House oversight and Government Reform Committee. The investigation into the handling of the investigation of the death of army ranger Pat Tillman. We've been listening to testimony from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Centcom commander -- former Centcom commander, General John Abizaid (ph), former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Richard Myers (ph).
Former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld offering apology to the Tillman family in the hearing a short time ago, over the way the investigation was handled and the pain it caused the family. We will continue to monitor the hearing and bring you information as we get it here in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: OK, we have some news to share with you here. We are learning that "The View," the morning talk show over on ABC will be welcoming that woman to their show as a co-host. Whoopi Goldberg has been announced that she will sit in one of those -- I guess it will be still four chairs, yes, or are we talking about another person, too? I'm not sure, but there will probably be more to announce on that. But I do believe it will be as a fifth member of that cast. And ...
HARRIS: Who is she replacing?
COLLINS: Well ...
HARRIS: Is it Meredith? Is it, let's see, Star? Is it ...
COLLINS: Well, Rosie and Star are the ones that needed to be replaced at this point because it was seeing (ph) that Rosie replaced Meredith ...
HARRIS: She did?
COLLINS: ...I believe.
HARRIS: I can't keep up.
COLLINS: It's another replacement, of course, to be announced. So, that will make for the crew of five. So, there you go, Whoopi Goldberg.
HARRIS: Love it. COLLINS: My parents saw her and my brother ...
HARRIS: Love it.
COLLINS: ...years and years ago before she was ever ...
HARRIS: The Broadway show?
COLLINS: ...famous back in Minneapolis ...
HARRIS: Oh.
COLLINS: ...and absolutely loved her. So, this is a long time ago, though. Still pretty cool.
HARRIS: It's going to be good, good, good, good, for "The View."
Living in fear, no real segue there. But families left to fend for themselves is what we're talking about.
CNN's John Zarella takes a look at one troubled community.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Citoya Greenwood lives with her 4-year-old daughter in a back apartment in a place called Dunbar Village in west Palm Beach.
CITOYA GREENWOOD, DUNBAR VILLAGE RESIDENT: If you notice, the majority of my pictures, Joya (ph) carried (ph) a smile, she really does (ph).
ZARRELLA (on camera): She really does, look at that.
(voice-over): Joya's smiling photos were taken at school, at relatives' and friends' homes, but not here in this public housing project. Because this place, many residents say, does not breed smiles. They call it hell.
GREENWOOD: She said mommy, we have to get out. I'm tired of hearing gun shots. I'm tired not being able to go outside.
ZARRELLA: These days, the fear is greater than ever. Greenwood, a single mother, lives four doors down from this now-boarded up apartment, an apartment where last month, no one seems to have heard the screams, the cries for help. For another single mother and her 12-year-old son, hell that night, lived up to its name.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The one had a big gun in the front and two others had, with a -- another shot gun.
ZARRELLA: The victim says up to 10 young men forced their way into her apartment, and the nightmare began.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of them have sex with me twice. Some have sex with me three times. They beating me up and make me do those things over and over.
ZARRELLA: The horror lasted three hours. Before they were finished, the victim says the attackers forced her to perform oral sex on her son.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told him it doesn't matter. To save your life, try to do it. I know you love me and I love you, too. But you have to protect yourself.
ZARRELLA: The crime has led to an outpouring of support for the mother and child. St. Anne's Catholic Church gets 25 to 30 checks a day, thousands in donations. The crime has also focused attention on Dunbar Village, federally subsidized public housing that was built in 1940.
MAYOR LOIS FRANKEL, WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: You have poverty. You have poor people in projects that are really are outdated.
ZARRELLA: Dunbar Village needs to be torn down, says Mayor Lois Frankel. The kids need mentors and more youth programs. But every year, Frankel says, federal funds, the primary source of support to run public housing in west Palm Beach, have gone down, and millions of federal dollars that used to be ear-marked by drugs and crime in housing projects, have now been eliminated. Frankel says she went to Washington looking for $30 million to rebuild Dunbar. What did she get? Nothing.
FRANKEL: You know what, we don't have $30 million to give. And really, the -- with the federal government cutting off the funds, those people are left to fend for themselves.
ZARRELLA: So, people continue to live in fear.
TED WHITE, WEST PALM BEACH POLICE: They deserve to be safe here. And that's something that our city is not overlooking.
ZARRELLA: And cameras may be installed and street lights fitted with bullet-proof covers to keep them from being shot out. Police say fear is hampering their investigation. Residents won't talk. No one sees or hears anything. Citoya Greenwood is one of the few who speaks out.
GREENWOOD: We're fighting a war zone every single day. And that's what I feel like. I'm fighting a battle zone in Iraq and I'm not even there.
ZARRELLA: Greenwood hopes some good can come out of last month's tragic event. Perhaps now something will be done, she says, about this place she calls home and others call hell.
John Zarrella, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Just into us now here at the CNN NEWSROOM. Fredericka Whitfield working on a story for us. Another terrible one, Fred, coming right here from west Cobb County in Georgia.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: An absolutely horrible situation just outside of Georgia. We're now -- investigators are looking into the beating deaths of three people. They are considering this a triple homicide there in Powder Springs, Georgia. The lone survivor, a child, is now being hospitalized. Police are trying to piece together the details -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Boy, oh boy. Live shot there coming in from our affiliate WSB (ph). Once again, Powder Springs, Georgia. Fred, thank you.
Donald Rumsfeld facing questions about a friendly fire death. A hearing this morning in the Pat Tillman investigation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: You always know where you live, right?
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: Well, for some folks in southern California, the answer's no. Here's the deal. Housing is exploding in the Moreno (ph) Valley. In fact, it is moving so fast that some city officials got confused. They assigned wrong address numbers to 23 new homes. People living there, not getting their mail, that includes bills. The city says the numbers on the houses have been fixed, but homeowners say their paperwork is still wrong.
HARRIS: D'oh.
COLLINS: I wonder if the company is -- are they supposed to be paying?
HARRIS: They're not understanding at all.
COLLINS: Well, yes, I know they're not getting it (ph).
CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now.
HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home.
I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. Have a great day, everybody.
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