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Java Sea Quake Was 180 Miles Beneath Ocean Floor; Did Not Trigger Tsunami; Panicked Residents Of Jakarta Rushed To The Streets, But Little Damage Has Been Detected; Java Earthquake; Torrential Rains Flood Streets & Subways in NYC; Extreme Heat in St. Louis; Iraq Commander Speaks Out on Iran and War; Barry Bonds Hits Home Run 756; Bucks for Bonds' Ball; I-Reporter Sends CNN Photo of Trapped Miner Manuel Sanchez; Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch

Aired August 08, 2007 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Well, the red states are heating up and politics has nothing to do with it. On this map, red equals stifling, even sometimes deadly heat and humidity. And there's lot to go around.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Take St. Louis where it feels like 104 degrees at 1:00 p.m. Central. New York feels like 101, and passing storms did nothing to help.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the World Headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: All right. We've got more details coming in from Indonesia, the side of that power undersea earthquake. This one about 70 miles east of Jakarta. Seismologists report that the magnitude 7.5 quake struck the main island of Java just after midnight. It was about 180 miles deep. And at the moment, we have no reports of casualties and no tsunami alert has been issued.

Our producer Kathy Quiano is in Jakarta. She, along with a lot of others, felt the quake. She's on the phone with us now.

Kathy, tell us what it felt like.

KATHY QUIANO, CNN PRODUCER, JAKARTA: Well, Kyra, it really felt like -- it was very long. It went on for at least a minute here in Jakarta. It was very strong. The building I was in -- I was in a four story apartment building that was swaying back and forth. And just when you thought it would stop, it would go on again, and just a bit stronger. Many residents here ran out of their homes. There are many high-rise apartment buildings and condominiums here in Jakarta.

We heard reports of people living just on the coast here, in Jakarta on the northern tip of the Java coast, ran out of their buildings fearing that there would be a tsunami. However, scientists say that there was none. That the quake happened very deep in the ocean.

However, what we're watching for are the areas just outside of Jakarta in west and central Java. There were two major earthquakes on this island last year, killing thousands of people, and the concern now is there may have been more damage than expected. However, there are no reports so far of that happening. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, Kathy Quiano, we'll keep in touch with you, from Jakarta. Thank you.

LEMON: Our Chad Myers is monitoring all of the weather systems we have, checking out situation, the water, and the ground. Here's the question, when this happened last time, we were wondering about all these sensors and monitoring devices. That they were supposed to put in the ocean. Change anything?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, they're going to be in by 2009, but this isn't -- yet, right? This is still 2007. Now, I will say that NOAA, the dart buoys that we talk about, all of the big red dots that you see here. Here's Alaska, Canada, U.S., obviously, South America.

I'll put my cursor over one of these dots and what you'll notice, this is probably the closest dart buoy to where the quake was. This is the tide for the past couple days. Here's the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and this is where we are currently. What the dart buoys do, in fact, it measures the amount of water above it. This buoy is just kind of on top as a transponder.

The sensor is all the way down the bottom of the ocean, and it can measure the weight of the water above it to the inch, and so here it is. This is how many meters, 4,435 meters deep here, then it went up to 36 meters, down to 35 and a half, and up. So this is a tide of about three feet or so. What the dart buoy will show you, if there was a bubble of water that went over it, this line would no longer be smooth, it would jump. It would go one way or the other, down or up, because remember, a wave goes down kind of before it goes up. And that's what they would use to issue warnings.

So, because this was so deep, because there are no big jagged lines in the dart buoys, there will be no tsunami with this. There will be no tsunami warning with this. The depth of that changed it. Now, when we talked to the producer, probably -- a producer, not even sure what his name was -- probably half an hour ago, he said this isn't even the real side that we're supposed to be looking at.

David, go to Google for me. This isn't even the side of the island that we want to be able to watch for where big tsunamis come from. This is on the north side or the Java Sea. The 9.0 or 9.1 quake was actually on the other side in the Indian Ocean, where -- you had, what, the magnitude compared to 7.5 to 9.0 is 10 times more violent, 10 of times more violent than what we had here.

But we know what kind of wave that big tsunami caused, and because it was on that side, on the deep side, on the Indian Ocean, not on the Java Sea side, which only would have been here, in some fairly shallow water -- Kyra, Don.

LEMON: All right. Chad Myers, we'll keep checking back. Keep working your equipment there.

MYERS: Absolutely.

LEMON: Thank you very much.

It's a small hole just two and a half inches across, but for the families of six men trapped in a collapsed Utah coal mine, it holds huge hopes. Rescuers have drilled nearly a third of the way down to where the miners are believed to be. Meantime, loved ones are waiting and they're hoping as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT ROBERTSON, COUSIN OF TRAPPED MINER: I think they're alive. You know, I'm sure there are some injuries that way. It's going take a while to get to them. There's no doubt about that. But everybody's doing everything they can. There's no more that people can do. You can't send rescue teams into a dangerous environment and lose more people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Let's got straight to Emery County, Utah, CNN's Dan Simon. The owner of that mine, Mr. Murray, he said it was good news, but he tempered it.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, he just held a news conference just a few minutes ago. As you said, he came up, said he was going to deliver what he said was good news. He's talking specifically about the drilling. And we're talking about two drills here. He says at least one of those drills will reach the cavity where the miners are, within two days.

That's critical for a couple of reasons. First, it will allow rescuers to see if, in fact, the miners are still alive. And if they are, it will allow rescuers to deliver essential things like food, water, and air, and in fact could keep those miners alive indefinitely according to Mr. Murray.

Now, one thing Murray also talked about, he talked about meeting with the families and keeping them abreast of everything that's been going on with this crises. He talked about how sensitive those meet having gone. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MURRAY, PRES., CEO, MURRAY ENERGY: I'm not a professional, in talking to you or Americans. I am a professional one-on-one in talking with families that are in distress. Because I've had a lot of it in my life. And what goes on between me, personally, and them is a matter of trust. And I can tell you that trust is there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: What is going on here in Utah is providing a real education for this country in terms of how you go about doing rescues in mines. Very specific here, but there are two drills that are going into the mine. There's a two and a half inch drill and there's an eight-inch drill. The two and a half inch drill is the one that has gone a third of the way. The problem is they're not entirely sure that it's going to go into the cavity. They say it's quite possible that it might just hit some coal and it ends there, and then they have to basically start all over again.

The second drill is on a slope. This is the eight-inch drill. They think they know exactly where that one is going. They say that one is definitely going to reach the cavity by Friday. So, in terms of where we are now, the drill offering the best hope for keeping these miners alive because if, in fact, they are, it will create a wide enough opening where you can deliver food, oxygen, and water -- Don.

LEMON: Maybe you're right. If anything comes out of this, maybe it'll help improve mine safety in the country. Thank you so much for your report.

PHILLIPS: When we get to the Minneapolis bridge collapse, there's still no closure for eight families. Each has someone is presumed dead in the Mississippi River. But murky waters, dangerous currents and unstable debris is turning the search for their bodies into a slow-moving nightmare. CNN's Susan Roesgen is in Minneapolis with the latest -- Susan.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, this has turned out to be a much bigger job than anyone first imagined, so much trickier than they thought it was going to be. You still see the cares on the bridge behind me, they don't plan to move any of that debris because they say now there might be a chain reaction.

That if they move even some of those cars you see right at the base there, where they have collapsed off the bridge. If they move even one or two of those, it might cause a chain reaction that would cause debris to fall onto the divers that are working under water.

We have new video of the divers, by the way. This comes to us today new video of the divers above ground, as they get ready to go under water, in what has become a very dangerous job.

One thing they've decided to do is they've decided to leave, Kyra, six cars on the bottom of the river, leave those cars there because the cars are actually right now stopping some of the flow of the undercurrents. And it's a fast-moving undercurrent that has apparently made this job so tricky and so treacherous.

Divers you see are wearing wet suits, but they're not wearing scuba gear. They have umbilical cords so they're getting surface air, and you can imagine that those umbilical cords can get caught up, entangled in some of the debris, and it could kill somebody. So they're moving very, very carefully.

And in the meantime, above ground, here where I am, only about 25 yards away from the bridge collapse. This is as close as they want anyone to be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. MIKE MARTIN, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: The important part of maintaining that perimeter is that it allows the workers that are in there, first of all, the most important part is to maintain the dignity and the honor of this -- this is a death scene. There are still human beings who we believe are there. And we don't believe that people should be coming in there, and violating that dignity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: And Kyra, one more thing to tell you about the underwater dive. Just as people in this country are learning about what it takes to reach miners who are trapped, we're learning a lot about underwater dive operations.

Yesterday we talked quite a bit about the FBI's technology and the FBI divers had brought in specific equipment to do body retrieval, specifically an unmanned submarine, a little rover with a mechanical arm.

And you know what, Kyra, it turns out we find out today they are not able to use that unmanned submarine, again, because the underwater currents are just too strong. So, we really don't know how much longer it will be before they start finding some of those eight missing people --Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Susan Roesgen live from Minneapolis.

Thanks, Susan.

LEMON: NASA will endeavor to launch a space shuttle this evening after a day's delay to make a small repair. Meet the teacher preparing for a trip of a lifetime. That's next in the NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: And danger outdoors: Millions of Americans warned to stay inside. A closer look at the deadly combination of heat and humidity. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's 2:14 Eastern Time. Here are three of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM. Java, Indonesia, struck by a powerful earthquake. Quake measured 7.5. It sent people running out of their homes. No immediate reports of casualties or damage, and no tsunami warnings issued.

New progress and efforts to reach six trapped Utah coal miners. Rescuers have drilled a small hole about a third of a way down toward the men. They hope to drill all the way down by Friday.

A little more than four hours to go before Space Shuttle Endeavor is scheduled to lift off. So far the weather appears to be cooperating. CNN will bring you the launch live 6:36 p.m. Eastern Time.

LEMON: New progress and new hope in the effort to reach six trapped coal miners in Utah. Rescuers have drilled a small hole nearly a third of the way down to where they think the men are trapped. Even though it's a little more than two inches across, the hole can provide air and access. And that would be good news if they can get that.

Now, yesterday, mining company CEO Bob Murray said it could take a week to reach the miners. Today, well, he had some better news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MURRAY, PRES., CEO, MURRAY ENERGY: The two and a half inch hole from the drilling rig that was brought in by a helicopter, as of 7:00 a.m. this morning, was down 450 feet. On the 1,500-foot path to where we know the miners are trapped. In two days, if they continue this pace, that hole will be down to where we want it to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Those miners have been trapped since early Monday. Utah Governor John Huntsman is at the mine rescue command center in Huntington and he joins us now with the very latest on that.

Thank you for joining us, Governor.

GOV. JOHN HUNTSMAN, UTAH: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Before I get to you, before I ask you questions, I just want to tell our viewers, we just got some new video in, Governor. The aerials, the closest we were able to get to the site, this new video coming in from our affiliate KSL.

And as this rolls, Governor, I just want to ask you about the news Mr. Murray this morning. Robert Murray said there was good news, but he also tempered it saying even though he may get down -- the drill may get down, they're not sure if it's actually going to reach them because of GPS, they're doing it by GPS.

HUNTSMAN: Well, I think what you have here, Don, and what has been, I think, frustrating for some people, is you have the whims and the unpredictability of Mother Nature at work.

So, the progress that you might make one day seems to disappear and evaporate the next. So, we're all confident and having hope, particularly the good families that are right down this road, in a town called Huntington. They're waiting for word, and we hope we get word as quickly as possible. But I think everyone at this point, Don, is banking upon the drilling effort that is ongoing, two drills, one large and one small. And we hope that that penetration is made in the cavern in which the miners are situated.

LEMON: Yeah.

HUNTSMAN: In the next 24 to 48 hours.

LEMON: And of course, you know, our hearts and our prayers are with the family, but there are folks who are concerned about the safety of this mine, cited a number of times for safety violations. In your opinion, what should be done in order to improve mine safety in your area, and especially in the country?

HUNTSMAN: Well, mine safety in this case is under the direction of the Department of Labor. They are here on site. The assistant secretary of Labor, who runs MSHOP, is here directing the efforts. And they're going to do a thorough investigation.

LEMON: It is your state, though.

HUNTSMAN: And I, for one, look forward -- I, for one, look forward to the results of that investigation because I think we're all going to learn a lot about what they find. There are questions. There's conjecture about this and that, questions that are largely not able to be answered that the point. And I think we're going to learn a lot from that federal investigation that will begin fairly soon.

LEMON: What do you say to the people of Utah who, you know, are invested in jobs as coal miners, and many of them want better safety, and have asked for it but nothing has happened or has seemed to have happened to improve mine safety? What do you say especially in a situation like this where you have six miners? I know you said it's under federal rule, but it is your state, governor?

HUNTSMAN: Yes. We have a great town, Huntington. And a great county, Emery County. It's been tied to mining, most all of the residents here, along with three other counties. Our hearts go out to all of those involved. They've been involved in mining probably for over 100 years, in this particular area. This canyon, this mine, back to the 1930s.

We have had some disasters in this state that have been very, very unfortunate going back to 1900. And increasingly, it has gotten better. And I think the result -- the results are largely because of congressional action and legislation that has been passed most recently. People are going to learn from this incident. And we're going to get better and faster and smarter and safer as well.

And we hope that the residents of this state, specifically those that live in these mining communities, have every assurance that out of this investigation we're going to get some information that will make our future a little better, a little brighter and a little safer.

LEMON: How are the families doing?

HUNTSMAN: The families are terrific. As you can imagine, you want as much information as possible. Are you totally satisfied with the flow of information? I don't think anyone would be totally satisfied with the flow of information, because the information is very hard to come by. But one thing is for sure, and I'm absolutely confident of this -- when there is information to pass on, they are the first to know about it.

LEMON: Yeah.

HUNTSMAN: But they are pulling a remarkable way with -- thanks to the good town in which they currently reside.

LEMON: Utah Governor John Huntsman, we wish you the very best. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: One of the top U.S. commanders in Iraq has some questions for the leaders of Iran. Ahead in the NEWSROOM. Our interview from Baghdad with the outspoken General Ray Odierno, about when U.S. troops might be able to come home. And his family's personal sacrifice in the country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Virgin America's first flight launch with a deluge of publicity, but an actual deluge delayed its on-time takeoff. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with all the details.

Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. Boy, this one we can certainly relate to. British billionaire Richard Branson says the American airline industry is abysmal, but his flashy new airline, which boasts leather seats, mood lighting and personal entertainment systems didn't quite deliver the goods on service this morning.

The airlines' maiden voyage did take off but only after a delay due to those massive downpours here in New York. Branson spent nearly two years under regulatory scrutiny and won approval to operate from the Department of Transportation only after promising to restructure its ownership and distance itself from Virgin Atlantic Airways.

Virgin America's first flight from San Francisco to L.A. and New York, more flights expected to be added in coming weeks. Hopefully not more delays as well, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Stocks are flying high today. What's going on?

LISOVICZ: They are certainly flying high today. This rally is building today. One trader said trading is like trading in a Quisinart these days, because we're all over the map. But this is a nice rally that we've seen pretty much throughout the day. Leading the gains today, financial stocks. Thanks to yesterday's upbeat comments about the economy from the Federal Reserve. Over at the Nasdaq, shares of Cisco Systems doing some heavy lifting jumping nearly 8 percent after that company posted better-than-expected earnings.

And in a sector plagued by terrible news, investors are seeing the positives today. Home builders Toll Brothers said it expects quarterly revenue to drop but not by as much as analysts had been bracing for. Home building shares today are higher. They have been beaten down, folks. As for the major averages, a simple rally. The Dow right now up 170 points, or 1.25 percent. There are three stocks on the upside for every one that's selling off.

The Nasdaq composite is up 2.5 percent. So, a terrific rally; 90 minutes to go before the closing bell. We'll see if that holds.

In the next hour of NEWSROOM, an old familiar face returning to the grocery store. A well-known peanut butter brand. Kyra, I'll tell you about next hour.

PHILLIPS: Unfortunately, we just gave it away on the banner right below you, Peter Pan. That's OK, you tried.

LISOVICZ: I wanted it to be a tease.

PHILLIPS: OK, sorry about that Susan. We kind of hosed you. We'll see you in a little bit.

LISOVICZ: You got it.

PHILLIPS: OK.

LEMON: Speaking of pan, Peter Pan. How about bond, Barry Bonds? King of the home runs. How much is a baseball worth? We'll find out coming up. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

More details coming in this hour from Indonesia, site of a powerful undersea earthquake. This one, about 70 miles east of Jakarta. Seismologists report that magnitude 7.5 quake struck the main island of Java just after midnight. It was about 180 miles deep. A the moment we have no reports of casualties and no tsunami alert has been issued.

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're in the heat wave and praying for rain, pray for gentle rain. This morning's commute in New York City was even more of a nightmare than usual. Sudden torrential rains flooded streets and subway tunnels from Queens to Brooklyn.

One person was killed when her car got stuck in the high water and another car hit it. The storm also delayed hundreds of flights at the three major airports.

The national Weather Service is checking to see whether a tornado did all of this. And folks along Bay Bridge Avenue in Brooklyn said they woke up to fierce winds and thunder, giant trees crushing their cars.

A 70-year-old St. Louis man in a home with his air conditioner that was turned off, his death is one of at least three blamed on excessive heat.

Our national correspondent, Keith Oppenheim, is there braving the sizzling temperatures.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Another sweltering day in the nation's midsection with another opportunity for the heat to take lives. So far, the only heat wave-related death that we know of is that of a 70-year-old man this weekend in East St. Louis. Having said that, officials are quite concerned that the death toll could rise, especially if the needy and the elderly don't get good access to air conditioning.

That's why, for example, one church group in St. Louis is raising money to distribute 250 air conditioners to, get this, anyone who gets a prescription from a doctor saying that the patient has a medical condition which requires the safety of good cooling.

The Reverend Larry Rice explained why history in St. Louis teaches that a heat wave can be so dangerous.

REVEREND LARRY RICE: I think back to 1980 when hundreds of people died. St. Louis brick makes wonderful houses, but it also creates ovens that people find themselves in. And it's not unusual when it's 100 degrees outside to be 110, 115 degrees in that house. And even higher when you're on the second floor with that tall roof.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People could die.

RICE: Yes. People die every summer those conditions.

OPPENHEIM: People are trying to cope with the heat in all kinds of ways. Yesterday, we were riding along and we just came across a group of kids on the hot streets of St. Louis cooling off in a fire hydrant that was open. That is, until, some firefighters came along and turned off the spigot. Oh, well. The excessive heat warnings are expected to continue here until Friday evening.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, St. Louis.

LEMON: Extreme heat across much of country and also we're following a tsunami -- or I should say an earthquake in Indonesia. Chad Myers on top of it. Don't know about a tsunami yet. We haven't had any reports of that yet, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. It was so deep. All of the tsunami warning centers are saying this did not create a tsunami. This is not one of those subduction areas where the earth is slowly, slowly, slowly collapsing and it buckles all at one time. It didn't happen like that. It was much, much too deep.

Now let's get zooming in on it. What I'm concerned about is actually the shaking that happened in Jakarta. Now they've updated the distance between the earthquake in Jakarta to 65 miles but they put the depth down at another five miles, so it's 180 miles deep now, not 175. And a magnitude 7.5 earthquake.

Here's the shore. Clearly, if there was a tsunami, it would have been very quick. Because it was only about 18 miles to the shore. But about 65 miles and a large cape protecting Jakarta proper.

But as we zoom in, 8 million people live in Jakarta. Look at all these buildings. I can't imagine that with an earthquake that was that close that there wasn't some type of damage.

Now I want to take you to something that I consider fascinating. This is Black Mountain, Utah's helicorder. This is the recorder that recorded the shake of the 3.9 near the mine. And this happened, obviously, a couple days ago.

I want to take you to the same recorder. This is the same recorder and it just picked up the Indonesia quake. Now, that's not saying people in Idaho felt the quake. There's no possible way. But these recorders, these seismographs, are so amazingly sensitive, thousands, tens of thousands of miles away, that same recorder, this is the same recorder in the same place in Utah, picked up the shaking from Indonesia. Is that amazing?

LEMON: That is amazing.

MYERS: I find that fascinating when I saw it.

LEMON: Just fascinating. It is fascinating, actually, Chad. Can't come too soon, all those sensors. Would you say 2009 before we get them?

MERYES: There's going to be a lot more buoys in the ocean yes, around Indonesia to find out whether a tsunami is formed well in advance of before it hits the coast, because when it hits the coast, there's no reason to get a warning. It's too late. It's like putting out a tornado warning after it's already hit. The same idea. You have to get to it before it hits the coast.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much for that, Chad Myers. We'll check back.

And from land, let's up into space now or at least this thing that will be going into space. We're looking at the space shuttle "Atlantis" there on the launch pad. Launch expected soon but I want to tell you about the astronauts just suited up a short time ago and they're getting a new space suit.

Check that out. I don't know if you'll notice a difference, but they certainly will. The new space suit of the International Space Station with interchangeable parts, we are told, from our Miles O'Brien, who knows about all things space.

It's supposed to make it easier to maintain and operate. According to one of the NASA officials, they say the important thing about this suit is that in the future, should a component of the suit fail, well, they have the capability of just taking that particular piece down and changing it as opposed to what they call re-flying another suit. So, there you go. They're suiting up. New video into the CNN NEWSROOM.

We'll check in with Miles O'Brien as any new information coming out of this. We also want you to remember you can watch the launch of the space shuttle "Endeavor" right here on CNN. Liftoff is scheduled for 6:36 Eastern this evening. PHILLIPS: He's the day to day commander of the U.S. military in Iraq and now he's talking to us about Iran's role in arming Iraqi insurgents. I talked with General Ray Odierno this morning from Baghdad and asked him what he would ask Iranian leaders if he were side by side with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at today's meeting in Iraq.

LT. GEN. RAY ODIERNO, CMDR., MULTI-NATL. CORPS-IRAQ: What's the point of this? All you're doing is destabilizing the region. You're not helping the government of Iraq at all as they continue to move forward. You're continuing to create violence in a country that is trying to move forward.

So, if you want, truly want regional stability, let's stop the import of and export of weapon, money, and other things that are causing more violence inside of Iraq.

PHILLIPS: But isn't it true that the last thing Iran wants is for Iraq to have some sort of democratic government, so no matter what they will just continue to fund and support extremists and bring weapons into that country?

ODIERNO: I would just say publicly they've supported the government of Iraq and the way forward. So, we should force them to stand by that, that, in fact, they want stability in Iraq. Let's hold them to their word and what they're saying in public.

PHILLIPS: Sir, not only are you fighting Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda, but I think a lot of analysts and politicians are also missing the point that a big part of your job is influencing Iraqis, all Iraqis, to participate in the new governmental system. Would you agree with that, and tell me about that part of your battle and what you're trying to do?

ODIERNO: Sure. There's many things we're trying to do. One is we're trying to build confidence between the citizens of Iraq and the government. And I think we're doing this through some of the engagement activities that we're now involved in. We're seeing Sunnis reaching out to us every single day wanting to become part of the government of Iraq. They're now helping us to fight al Qaeda. The people of Iraq have rejected al Qaeda. They want to fight al Qaeda. They want to join the governmental process within the government of Iraq. And so, now we need the government of Iraq to reach back, and they are beginning to do that.

PHILLIPS: And a big part of your success has been working with these tribal sheikhs, specifically in Al Anbar province.

Tell me why that's working and how you're convincing these sheikhs to start fighting al Qaeda when previously they were fighting U.S. troops.

ODIERNO: I think it's a couple reasons. First, they realize that their life with al Qaeda is not worth it. They kill their relatives. They take their money. There's no future with al Qaeda. They know they have a much better future with the government of Iraq. They now realize that they can reach out to us. They also realize with the additional combat we've had on the ground, we've been able to have a significant effect on al Qaeda. And we freed them from al Qaeda, and they now want to join us against them to eliminate them completely from Iraq.

PHILLIPS: When people here in the U.S. talk about when will troops be able to come home, I think a lot of people don't realize that for the rest of eternity there will continue to be some type of U.S. presence in Iraq.

When I was there, I saw this massive construction project building the U.S. Embassy. Explain to Americans, sir, why there needs to be a continuous U.S. presence like that and the benefit of that.

ODIERNO: Well, first, I think we need to have a deliberate strategy that slowly draws down our presence, and I think that will happen in the future.

But the importance here is about regional stability, which affects international stability. And this is a key country within the Middle East. It lies between the Persians in the east, the Arabs in the west. It has large oil reserves that can affect the world. It's a country that wants to be part of the international community. They want to be part of the regional stability. And I think it's important for us to do that. And the most important thing for the United States is we do not want this to become a safe haven for al Qaeda to train and conduct attacks around the world.

PHILLIPS: So, do you believe that with a continuous U.S. presence of some sort in the country of Iraq that decades from now it will have an impact on all the other countries and the growth of terrorism?

ODIERNO: I think if we do it in a very deliberate fashion, working with this government, allowing them to continue to grow, I believe there's a great possibility that that can happen.

PHILLIPS: Sir, you led the 4th Infantry Division at the time that Saddam Hussein was captured. You're credited with that capture.

How do you think that changed the face of this war? Do you think it quelled the violence? Do you think it increased the violence? What type of impact did that capture make?

ODIERNO: I think it's an extremely complicated question. But I would say is we've lifted that cloud of evil that was over Iraq.

Saddam Hussein being captured was important because he had such a control over the population of Iraq that now they know for sure now that they will move forward. And it's had that effect. They have struggled in moving forward because they were for so long under his dictatorship. And now they are grappling with moving forward. And we need to help them to do that.

PHILLIPS: Now the general and I also talked about the personal sacrifice that his family has made in this war. Ordierno's son, Tony, lost an arm in Iraq by an RPG. Later in the NEWSROOM, you're going to hear how that affected the general's approach to running this war.

LEMON: Baseball fans love him and they hate him as well, but this home run king is celebrating today. More on Barry Bonds and the ball he hit out of the ballpark here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Going, going, gone, the old home run record that is. Three days after tying Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs, Barry Bonds broke that record last night.

Despite continuing controversy over Bonds has used performance- enhancing steroids, the hometown crowd cheered loudly as the San Francisco slugger hit his 756th career homer taking sole possession of baseball's most coveted record.

A New York man wearing a Mets jersey, no less, emerged with the home run ball and was escorted out of the stands by police. 22-year- old Matt Murphy's clothes were torn, his face was bloodied, the apparent aftermath of a struggle in the bleachers. Experts say that ball could bring $500,000, maybe more. Bonds says that he has no interest in getting the prized ball.

LEMON: Sounds more like a boxing match or maybe even a hockey game judging from his torn shirt and his bloodied face. The fan who emerged with Barry Bonds' home run ball last night, well he put up quite a struggle for it as you saw there in the video.

The record-breaking ball is an instant baseball icon. But how much is it really worth? How much is it really worth? Brianna Keilar, how much is it worth?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it depends who you talk to. If you talk to the experts on this kind of thing, memorabilia collectors, auctioneers, they estimate this ball is worth somewhere between $350,000 and $500,000. And there's a lot of factors that go into determining just about how much money this ball would garner.

And the man who caught it, of course, is the one who stands to enjoy some of this money, matt Murphy, that 22-year-old from Queens, New York.

So a few things would determine the cost when the ball goes on the market, we talked with one person who collects items like this, and he said that with each passing day he would bid less on it, so that's something to think about. And then also, whether Bonds hits another homer, because then that's the ball that makes the record that all of the players are going to be chasing. And then, of course, the last one, that's pretty interesting, Bonds' personality. Barry Bonds, the man. How people feel about Barry Bonds could play into the market value of this ball. Here is what one expert on the subject said.

TIM WENDEL, USA TODAY SPORTS WEEKLY: I think what we're going to potentially have right now is a little bit of a Barry Bonds backlash; especially the team's not that good. There's going to be more scrutiny potentially on Bonds, especially if what happens with the grand jury, if that zings him in some way, then the value of that ball continues to go down.

KEILAR: So, Barry Bonds being embroiled in the steroids and baseball controversy could play a role. That's what people are saying. In fact, one particular collector told CNN he would, if Barry Bonds were not involved in the steroids controversy, he would have paid a million dollars for this ball. So, you can see how at least in the eyes of one collector, Don, it really makes a big difference, about half a million dollars of a difference.

LEMON: Yes and you know what? Not a bad take for just going to a ballgame, don't you think? Come out with at least $350,000.

KEILAR: No. I'd say it's worth his investment with the ticket and then the pint of blood, whatever it was.

LEMON: And the torture and what have you, what have you.

KEILAR: Yes.

LEMON: But Barry Bonds got a -- there it is right there. My gosh. Look at that video. Barry Bonds got a phone call from a very important guy today, didn't he?

KEILAR: He sure did. Now, keep in mind, the Giants were playing the Washington Nationals, so a lot of people here in Washington were watching. Now the interesting thing, President Bush, the one who called him, wasn't watching apparently when this record happened. He'd already gone to bed. President Bush notorious for going to bed pretty early, 9:00 P.M. or so. But today at about 1:00 P.M. Eastern, he did, after a couple of tries, get a hold of Barry Bonds and he told him congratulations, of course, he said you've always been great hitter and you broke a great record, referring to Hank Aaron's record.

And something that was on a serious note here, because we've been talking about the steroids controversy, Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary, was asked, did steroids come up in this three-minute conversation, and he said that it didn't, Don.

LEMON: Yes. It's really funny. I was reading the thing you're reading here. Tony Snow said the president was asleep when Barry Bonds hit his home run and then Snow explains, Barry Bonds was asleep when the president came to work today.

KEILAR: That's right. Because the president probably comes to work I think around 7:00 a.m. is the time he came in this morning. Obviously, that's pretty early for Barry Bonds there on the west coast.

LEMON: All right. Thank you. Brianna Keilar on top of it.

PHILLIPS: Well, a year to go until the Beijing games, but China isn't waiting to celebrate. The countdown is on. Straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

VARGAS: And I'm Sibila Vargas in Hollywood. Leo DiCaprio is doing his part to save the world. We're one-on-one with the superstar when the NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: With this I-report just in to CNN, this is Manuel Sanchez, one of the miners trapped in that mine in Utah. This picture we believe is from his sister, and it's from an I-reporter from the sister saying "I believe I want to share this with the world in hopes that I will see him again alive." That's according to an I-reporter in to CNN. That's a picture of one of the miners there.

We're looking at new video on the right. That's the closest we've gotten the rescue operations, them drilling in the ground, as you heard Bob Murray, the owner of the mine, saying because of the terrain they were having some issues getting the drills in. But they've made some progress today.

Also, the governor, as well, Governor Huntsman on our air earlier today saying the same thing. They are optimistic, they are hopeful, but they also temper that saying that these operations are very tedious and because of the terrain it's tough.

But, again, from a CNN I-reporter, Manuel Sanchez, the I-reporter wanting to share this with the world, wanting folks to see a face to the people who are trapped in that mine.

Also, some new information we want to report to you. CNN's Gary Tuchman is on his way to the mine along with other media, and they're going to go down -- as soon as Gary gets back from that, reports back, we're going to bring it to you either in this broadcast or later on in "THE SITUATION ROOM" or throughout the evening here on CNN.

PHILLIPS: Well, the shuttle is fuelled and getting ready for the evening launch. And our Miles O'Brien is there. He's going to be tracking it all for us. We're hoping good weather will continue for launch time. NASA has fuelled it up in preparation for the launch.

It's a bit of a climax, a two-decade wait for the one woman you see in this seven person crew as they get ready to get into the trailer and head straight to the shuttle. This is that famous final walk where they wave and head themselves to the shuttle.

You know, we talked about that one individual that's getting so much attention, we're talking about Barbara Morgan, the teacher turned astronaut. You may remember in 1986, Morgan was Christa McAuliffe's backup for the "Challenger" flight, that was the mission that was meant to send NASA's first teacher into space. Morgan was actually watching just a few miles from the launch pad, and then you'll remember what happened. The "Challenger" exploded barely a minute into flight.

Our Miles O'Brien is actually going to take a look back at that time and how all these years later, 20 years later now, Barbara Morgan is going to have the chance to be that teacher to go up in flight, the backup to Christa McAuliffe. Pretty historical moment, an emotional moment for McAuliffe's widow.

We're going to talk more about this with Miles O'Brien coming up in the next hour. You can watch the launch too of the space shuttle "Endeavour" right here on CNN. Lift off, once again, scheduled for 6:36 Eastern time this evening.

LEMON: Well, it is no surprise for a Hollywood mainstay like Leonardo DiCaprio to star in a movie about saving the planet from total destruction. What a shock. This time, the A-lister, well, he's playing himself. OK. Sibila Vargas, explain that.

VARGAS: Well, it looks like Leo DiCaprio is following the trail blazed by former VP Al Gore and his Oscar-winning film, "An Inconvenient Truth." The actor has a new documentary out about the imminent danger of global warming.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR: I think it's the media's responsibility, too, at the end of the day in trying to shift the focus on some of these trivial stories that come out from Hollywood and really look at, you know, mother earth and what's happening to our planet.

VARGAS: Both produced and narrated by the award-winning actor, "The 11th Hour" investigates the consumer culture which has contributed greatly to the environmental crisis.

The film hits theaters August 17th and it also offers several solutions people can use to help the planet, including food education, light bulb efficiently, hybrid cars, and how important it is to vote for leaders with a strong plan for the environment.

While DiCaprio told us he is undecided on who he's backing for the next presidential race, when it comes to his own future in politics, there is something else he has in common with Al Gore.

DICAPRIO: I have no political aspirations, no.

VARGAS: We'll catch up with him in about ten years. But it's kind of nice to see a celebrity doing something good for a change. Not all of them. But you know we do end up reporting about a lot of celebrities that, you know, well -- I won't even mention their name, not in this segment.

LEMON: Care to go on?

VARGAS: No.

LEMON: I'm glad you said it. You're covering Hollywood, so I'm going to leave that all to you. You're absolutely right. It's always good to see people doing good things.

OK. Let's talk about this, the culture, now, in entertainment. There's a new study that deals with gays in television. What's that about? VARGAS: Well this is a very interesting study. Gay rights organization, G.L.A.D., spent a year studying more than 4,500 hours of prime time TV and came up with its first ever network responsibility index ranking how many gay characters and story lines there are on TV. Well, no major TV network received an excellent rating. Programs like "Ugly Betty" and "Brothers and Sisters" which feature regular gay characters helped ABC earn a good rating with 15 percent of its lineup having lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans-gendered representation. The CW network followed. Then reality programs like "The Amazing Race," "Big Brother" and "Survivor" helped CBS come in third followed by NBS. Now, Fox was the only one to have a failing grade. As soon as the study came out though, Fox has responding saying they are committed to recognizing diversity across the entire schedule and acknowledge that they have work to do.

Well, tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," we're shifting gears. Britney's baby battle, will Britney Spears' latest wildest behavior lead to her losing her children?

And why are so many biggest Hollywood names involved in knockdown, drag-out fights over custody of their kids?

The top topics tackled on TV's most provocative entertainment show, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," 11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

I tried, Don. I just had to mention some of them.

LEMON: There you go. Back to the bad behavior. All right, Sibila. We'll be watching. Thank you so much.

And we're gathering new information on the earthquake that hit Indonesia just about two hours ago. The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you.

You're watching CNN.

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