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Karl Rove Leaving Job End of August; Missouri Church Shooting; Utah Mine Rescue Effort; MRI vs. Mammogram

Aired August 13, 2007 - 09:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And now you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I am T.J. Holmes, sitting in right now for Tony and Heidi.

You can watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Monday morning. It is August the 13th.

Here is what we have on our rundown.

White House brain drain. Key political strategist Karl Rove resigns. President Bush with live remarks coming up this morning.

Also, a suspect in the deadly church shooting in a Missouri court today. News conference ahead. That will be live, as well.

And crews drilling a third hole, desperate to locate six Utah miners. They've been trapped for a week.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A bit of a political shocker this morning. Karl Rove resigning. The trusted adviser to President Bush is leaving at the end of this month.

Want to head now to the White House and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

Suzanne, kind of a shock to a lot of folks. Why do it and why now?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, sure, T.J.

I can't overstate the significance of all of this. He was clearly at the center of just about everything that happens here in the Bush administration.

I got a chance to catch up with him by e-mail this morning. We exchanged some e-mails, and August 31st is going to be his last day. He turned in his letter of resignation on Friday.

I asked Karl Rove to respond to those who say that he is being run out of town. Karl Rove responded by saying -- and I'm quoting here -- it says, "That sounds like the rooster claiming to have called up the sun."

Clearly, keeping his wilt, his sense of humor up until the very end. This is voluntary, this resignation. But why now? It's a good question.

This is something that he floated about a year ago, according to Rove and senior administration officials. And his family has struggled with when would be the good time.

Well, Chief of Staff Josh Bolten very recently took senior aides aside and said, look, if you're not going to stay after Labor Day, now is the time to go. Because if you're here after Labor Day, you're going to be here for the rest of the term.

Karl Rove decided that now was the time that he would leave. Senior administration officials, the White House reacting very strongly and supportively this morning, saying, "Obviously it's a big loss to us. He is a great league colleague, good friend and a brilliant mind. He will be greatly missed, but we know he wouldn't be going if he wasn't sure this is the right time to be giving more time to his family, his wife Darby and their son. He will continue to be one of the president's greatest friends."

Just a little context here, T.J. As you know, Karl Rove has also not been someone who accomplished much in terms of putting Bush in office twice, taking him from Texas governor, here to the White House. But also, at the center of controversy as well.

His profile greatly diminished. This, after Congress was taken over by the Democrats, Republicans lost control.

You know that he was one of the people who leaked the identity of the CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, but was never legally or formally charged with any type of crime. He was in charge of the Social Security reform, immigration reform. Both of those were policy failures, essentially. They died, were not passed.

So there's a lot of things that people look at Karl Rove -- there are a lot of investigations. Democrats have a lot of questions for Karl Rove. He may still have to answer those questions, even when he is out of office.

T.J., we do expect to see him, as well as the president. They're going to be at the south lawn, boarding Marine One in less than a couple of hours. They're going to take -- they're going to at least make some statements. I don't think they're going to take questions.

We're also told that Karl Rove, as well as his wife and son, will all be at Andrews Air Force Base. They'll boarding Air Force One together, spend some time together in Texas, Karl Rove and the president, and then he'll return here for the weekend -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Suzanne Malveaux for us from the White House.

Suzanne, thank you so much.

And, of course, President Bush, Karl Rove go back a long way. First met in 1973, when both men were in their 20s. They've worked together as a political team since the president first ran for governor of Texas in 1994. Rove was born in 1950 in Denver, Colorado. He attended several colleges but he never graduated.

We turn now to Missouri and a shocker there, as well. A suspect in a deadly church shooting in court today to face charges.

Our Sean Callebs is in Neosho, Missouri. This is a small town, a really small town there. It certainly has to be reeling from this and just in shock.

Good morning to you there, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, this is certainly something that's left its mark on people. Very difficult to comprehend over the last 24 hours.

We do know the suspect, said to be in his 40s, is being held in the Newton County Jail. We had a chance to speak with a law enforcement official who said basically the suspect has clamped up, is providing absolutely no information.

A source went on to tell us that when the suspect went into this church you see behind me, he apparently was saying "Liar, liar" to people inside the church. And then at one point, held a gun to one of the -- one of the hostages, for lack of a better term, inside the church and said, is anybody prepared to give up his or her life in exchange for his?

When no one came forward, the suspect then fired. That coming from a law enforcement official.

Also, we know that of the five people who were injured, three killed, five injured, at least two of those had to go into surgery with somewhat significant injuries. And authorities have also talked about an incident that happened late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, that was a precursor apparently to what happened here on Sunday. We now know that this was some kind of alleged assault on a 14-year-old girl, where the 14-year-old girl named the shooting suspect as a suspect in that assault.

One final bit of information for you, T.J. This is a community that has a very large Micronesian population. It's said to be in the hundreds in this town of about 10,500.

They're extremely close. Both the suspect and everybody in the congregation from the Micronesian islands. And authorities say that right now they're getting very little cooperation from the suspect and they hope to get more information from the host of witnesses, somewhere been 20 and 50 who were in the church at the time. And we also are expecting a news conference from the police chief here in just a couple of hours to bring us up to date on all the latest information, as well.

HOLMES: All right. And we do expect to cover that for you live. Let our viewers know that.

Sean Callebs for us in Neosho, Missouri.

Sean, thank you so much.

Also, just in to us here in the CNN NEWSROOM, hostages freed in Afghanistan. Taliban militants have freed two female South Korean hostages.

The governor of Ghazni province tells CNN they've been handed over to the province's political offices. The two were among 23 volunteer South Korean workers kidnapped in mid-July. The militants have since killed two male hostages.

Nineteen other hostages are still being held. The Taliban has demanded nearly two dozen militant prisoners be released in exchange for the South Koreans' lives.

A ninth body recovered from the Mississippi River, 11 days now after that bridge collapse in Minnesota. The medical examiner has identified the remains of the 20-year-old Richard Chit (ph). His mother still missing, along with three other victims.

Forty-four vehicles have been removed from the wreckage. Transportation officials say about 100 vehicles were on the bridge when it fell.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, NASA facing a critical decision today. Engineers deciding whether to repair gouges on shuttle Endeavor's belly. The heat-protecting tiles damaged during liftoff last week. Engineers will test tiles with similar damage.

Here now is a live look inside of the shuttle, or maybe the International Space Station there, as the astronauts do their work. And they want to see what might happen when those tiles are exposed to 2,300-degree heat. A repair job would require another spacewalk.

Coming up live at 11:00 Eastern, insight from our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella at the entrance to the Crandall Canyon Mine, where work continues to free those six trapped miners. I'll have that story coming up.

HOLMES: Also, screening for breast cancer. Mammograms? That's so old school. MRIs, the new. Which test is best?

Plus, considering a military draft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it makes sense to certainly consider it. And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And the president's point man on Iraq and Afghanistan raising a red flag. Also, an Iraqi news anchor accustomed to reading the deadly toll day by day, but what happened when the violence touched her family?

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Don't go anywhere. We're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It has been a long, frustrating week at a coal mine in Utah. Still no sign of six men trapped underground.

Our John Zarrella has been covering this for us, and he's covering the rescue efforts there in Huntington, Utah.

Hello to you. Any good news yet to report there, John?

ZARRELLA: Boy, nothing new yet this morning, T.J.

You know, the mine officials and the federal safety officials that were here had said that they hoped to get that third drilling started early this morning, late last night. They'd have the drill in place and begin drilling that third hole, that third eight-and-five- eighths-inch hole so they can get a camera down in there.

Now, why they're trying to drill in this particular spot and drill this third hole is because there are a lot of escape areas and pockets within this giant cavernous area where they believe the miners are trapped. And there's a possibility that they may have gone to another area of the mine in order to seek safety.

So, once they get this hole drilled down 1,400 feet, they'll put the camera down in there in hopes of looking in this area of this cavity to find those miners. And it is going to take several days to get that hole drilled.

Now, at the same time, the effort is ongoing at the main tunnel entrance to try and break through all of that debris that initially collapsed. It has been painstakingly slow. And, in fact, Bob Murray, who owns the mine here, said that the conditions underground that those 42 miners, those rescue miners are working in, are just brutal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MURRAY, PRESIDENT & CEO, MURRAY ENERGY: There's some of the most difficult mining conditions in attempting to get access to these miners. And they're the most difficult conditions that I have ever seen in my 50 years of mining.

As you know, I have been underground myself about every other day and have viewed the conditions. People are dedicated. Every item that they would need has been committed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Over the weekend, of course, they dropped a camera down through that first eight-and-five-eighths-inch hole that they drilled. Unfortunately, they were only able to see about 15 feet. There wasn't enough light down there. They're going to try and figure out a way to get some more light into the cavity so that they can see out further to see if there's anything that they can spot, any evidence of the miners.

And of course, you know, T.J., this is a closely-knit community, and all through the weekend there have been vigils, prayer vigils, candlelight vigils. One yesterday at a Catholic church in Huntington, which is just a few miles from the entrance here to the Crandall Canyon Mine. People all over this area of Utah spent their weekend praying for these miners and praying for their families -- T.J.

HOLMES: And John, just quickly, do we have any idea yet of the air quality in that cavity? And any plans to test the air quality in that cavity to see if they were in there, that they could even survive with the air?

ZARRELLA: No idea on what the air quality is. What they are doing is to continue pumping air down into the cavity to try and boost that number up. We did not get a new reading from mine officials on whether the air quality down there is sufficient to support human life -- T.J.

HOLMES: OK.

John Zarrella for us there in Huntington.

John, thank you so much, as always.

Turn to some medical news now and screening for breast cancer. New research favors the MRI over the mammogram.

Elizabeth Cohen is here now.

Now, what? Does this mean the mammogram is about to go bye-bye?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No. It doesn't mean that.

HOLMES: OK.

COHEN: And this is confusing, because women are told every year, get your mammogram.

HOLMES: Yes.

COHEN: And then you hear news that perhaps another kind of imaging is better. So here's the news that women and the men who love them need to know.

This was a study in a British journal called "The Lancet". And when they looked at the breast cancers that they were studying, MRIs picked up tumors in 92 percent of the cases, compared to 56 percent for mammograms.

So when you think about it, you think, gosh, 92 versus 56 percent. I want to be in that 92 percent group. I want to be getting the imaging that catches more of these tumors. But there are several important things to remember.

First of all, MRIs, while they might catch more of these kinds of tumors, they catch also a lot of things that are OK. In other words, there's a lot of false positives, so women get worried for nothing, they have biopsies for nothing, more money is spent. So that's one thing to keep in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind is that mammograms are much less expensive than MRIs. MRIs are about $1,500, $1,000 a pop. The American Cancer Society that's 10 times more expensive than mammograms. So, if all of a sudden you were going to tell all women get an MRI instead of a mammogram, there's a huge financial issue there.

HOLMES: OK. How are they supposed to reconcile this? It's kind of confusing, but are there at least some women that an MRI would be better for than the mammogram? Are there some cases, where, hey, maybe you should get that, and maybe it doesn't work for this lady?

I mean, what do you do?

COHEN: Yes, absolutely. There are some women who should be getting mammograms and MRIs every year. And I'll explain.

Those are women who are at a high risk for breast cancer. Women, for example, who have a close relative who had breast cancer or who carries a certain genetic mutation. And there are women in this group as well.

They're considered high risk, and experts say get an MRI and a mammogram. The reason for that is that mammograms also will catch some tumors that MRIs will miss. So, the advice there for that group to get both. And if there's any confusion about what risk a woman is in, what group she is in, she can ask her doctor.

HOLMES: And remind women again, and the men who love them, as you say, how often they should be getting the mammogram, how often they should be doing it.

COHEN: Mammograms, once a year starting at age 40.

HOLMES: Starting at age 40.

COHEN: Starting at age 40.

HOLMES: All right. Elizabeth Cohen with some new information there for us.

Elizabeth, thank you so much.

COHEN: Thanks.

HOLMES: Well, still ahead here in the CNN NEWSROOM, stranded travelers, well, they're on the move again, but no time to relax at LAX. What the city's mayor wants to do after weekend airport troubles.

Also, don't drive drunk. Well, how about a little gentle reminder from your vehicle?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After a few sips of beer, the car's sensors go to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Being an idiot. Your car does the thinking for you, and is a lot smarter.

Stay tuned for that story.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Ali Velshi in New York "Minding Your Business".

Dow futures right now looking at a very strong opening to the exchange in about 10 minutes.

I'll have that for you when we come back in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Airport backlog ends. Today, plenty of questions now about a computer crash. And Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants an investigation.

More than 20,000 travelers stranded at Los Angeles International Airport this weekend. The trouble started when Customs' computers crashed and many passengers were stuck on runways. Others entered the airport but not the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We sat for three hours on a plane, and then we sat for two more hours in an aisle, and then we sat for an hour in another room. And then we sit in line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came over the microphone and they said that there would be a little bit of a delay. That little bit of a delay turned into four hours. They had two laptops that were running. So everybody had to go -- I think there was about 400 people that had to go through two laptops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: L.A.'s mayor wants homeland security changes that would speed passenger processing.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, stay here, folks. One of President Bush's most trusted advisers is leaving the White House. Karl Rove decides it's time to call it quits.

Also, a gunman bursts into a Missouri church, turning Sunday services into a bloodbath.

And six miners trapped underground for a week. The mine owner still holding out hope for rescue.

And considering a military draft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it makes sense to certainly consider it. And I can tell you this has always been an option on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The president's point man on Iraq and Afghanistan raising a red flag?

Stay here. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And hello again, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in right now for Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.

Political shocker this morning to tell you about. Karl Rove packing up and heading home to Texas. Rove is quitting as deputy White House chief of staff at the end of the month. He, of course, a long-time friend of President Bush.

He came up with the strategy that put the president in the Oval Office and kept him there for a second term, and that earned him the nickname "The Architect". For months now, though, a criminal investigation put Rove under the microscope. That prove, of course, into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson's name. But Rove has not been charged with any crime.

He tells "The Wall Street Journal" he plans now to write a book. The White House calls his decision to quit a big loss. We are expecting to hear from the president and Karl Rove in a couple of hours before they leave Washington for Crawford, Texas, and we will bring that to you live here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And, whoa, let's try this again this week. We're watching here the opening bell, expected of being here in just any moment, starting off a new week after just an up-and-down week last week. Saw some big ups and some big downs. However, the Dow, the markets did end up in positive territory last week, but a lot of issues, concerns, of course, with the credit crunch.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT) T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Also, charges expected to be filed today in a fatal shooting. The suspect burst into a church in Southwest Missouri during services and opened fire. The worshipers and an assistant pastor were killed. That was two worshipers that were killed. Five other people were wounded. No word yet on a specific motive, but police say the gunman is related to some of the victims and apparently had a run-in with members of the church Saturday night.

The church is in the town of Neosho. That's near Joplin, Missouri.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAVE MCCRACKEN, NEOSHO POLICE: This is something that normally doesn't happen in Neosho or this area, for that matter. And we've -- we've worked through the case. We have the person in custody. It's a tragedy that people were killed and injured, but it could have been a lot worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, that gunman held between 25 to 50 people hostage before he finally surrendered.

Well, rescue teams drilling a third hole today at a collapsed mine in Utah. Six men trapped underground for about a week now. A camera that was lowered into the mine showed what crews called survivable space. But so far it didn't show any sign of the men.

BOB MURRAY, PRESIDENT & CEO, MURRAY ENERGY: I've said from the beginning, if the initial earthquake or seismic activity did not kill them with a concussion, outright, immediately, there are numerous scenarios by which they could still be alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The trapped men are said to be nearly three miles from the mine entrance. It could be several more days before crews reach them.

Well, Shuttle Endeavour astronauts making another spacewalk today. NASA deciding what to do about gouges on the shuttle's belly.

Here now, CNN's space correspondent, Miles O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It happened 58 seconds after launch -- a chunk of insulating foam fell off Endeavour's external fuel tank, ricocheted off a strut and then scraped across some of the orbiter's heat- resistant tiles.

There are four gouges in all, first spotted in pictures snapped by the space station crew as Endeavour back flipped just before docking on Friday. It was enough for engineers to order up a closer look at the gouges with a laser ranging device, which generates a three- dimensional picture of the damage.

MATT ABBOTT, LEAD FLIGHT DIRECTOR: We got all the data that we expected to get for the engineering teams and that data is being analyzed as we speak.

O'BRIEN (on camera): Engineers will now conduct a blast furnace test on some tiles with similar damage and a computer simulation to see what might happen when the gouge is exposed to the 2,300 degree heat of re-entry.

(voice-over): The shuttle team says the largest and deepest gouge may go all the way to Endeavour's aluminum skin. But they say it is below a sturdy strut in the wing, not sensitive wiring or hydraulics. And they point to these damaged tiles from Discovery back in 1988. Even though the damage was even more extensive then, the orbiter's skin was unscathed.

But the jury is still out.

JOHN SHANNON, DEPUTY SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER: I don't have an idea right now whether a repair will be required or, if so, which type of repair would be required.

O'BRIEN: The crew can paint the gouge with a heat-resistant liquid, fill it in with some high tech bondo or cover it with a plate. Astronauts have practiced doing the repairs, but NASA managers have never staked the safety of a crew on them.

Miles O'Brien, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: Republican presidential hopeful Tommy Thompson -- well, he's not so hopeful anymore. He's thrown in the towel, apparently done in by this weekend's Iowa straw poll. He finished sixth in the GOP trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY THOMPSON (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I had my chance and didn't come out the way I thought it was going to, but that's -- that's life.

QUESTION: Let me make sure I'm hearing you correctly.

You're out of the race?

THOMPSON: I'm out of the race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Oh, Mitt Romney easily won that Iowa straw poll. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, he finished a surprising second. Rudy Giuliani, the frontrunner nationally, and John McCain, both did not participate actively in that straw poll.

And we head over to Bonnie Schneider in the Weather Center. I guess it's the Hurricane Center currently.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

HOLMES: Because we've got Flossie doing her thing.

SCHNEIDER: And expected to be at the Hurricane Center in the weeks to come, T.J.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Comments from the White House point man on Iraq and Afghanistan stirring up some controversy.

CNN's Kathleen Koch has the story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The comments that have sparked a furor from came from Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, when asked by National Public Radio whether a return to the draft makes sense militarily.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, COURTESY NPR)

LT. GEN. DOUGLAS LUTE: I think it makes sense to certainly consider it. And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But, ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another.

KOCH: The statement seemed a contradiction to longstanding administration policy on the draft.

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Forget all this talk about a draft. We're not going to have a draft so long as I'm the president.

KOCH: Outraged Democratic presidential candidates released statements condemning the general's remarks. "A draft is not the answer," said Hillary Clinton.

John Edwards called the suggestion, "a profound measure of how much this president has failed our brave men and women in the military and the American people."

White House Spokesperson Dana Perino, in a statement, said: "The president believes an all volunteer military serves the country well and there is no discussion of returning to a draft."

Two congressman who served in the Vietnam War when the draft was in place maintain forcing people to serve in the military today is unnecessary, expensive and hurts troop morale.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN's "LATE EDITION") REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), CALIFORNIA: A draft means you're taking somebody who hasn't signed up to go and you're pushing a person who volunteered out of the way so you can put a draftee in his place. That doesn't make sense.

REP. JOE SESTAK (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: I saw a draft and I saw a volunteer Army. People who join because they want to be there really help us.

KOCH (on camera): Pentagon insiders suggest Lute's comments are less about renewing the draft and more about expressing the severe strain the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are placing on the U.S. military.

Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: And a live look -- all eyes on the markets this week, after all eyes were trying to shield themselves from the markets last week. A volatile week, of course, last week. A lot of ups and downs, big ups and downs. Right now, the Dow up about 80 points. The Nasdaq in positive territory, as well, about 24 points.

So, so far, so good. But we are just getting started for the week.

Well, stick around here with CNN.

You are in THE NEWSROOM.

We're going to tell you what's happening here. An SUV that plunges into a canal with a woman still inside. She is OK, but we'll show you how she made it out.

Also, an Iraqi news anchor accustomed to reading the daily death toll, but what happened when the violence touched her family?

That's ahead.

Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: He brought us "Jeopardy" and the "Wheel of Fortune". And today entertainer and businessman Merv Griffin being remembered. Griffin died Sunday of prostate cancer.

He hosted his own talk show on television for more than 20 years. Griffin sold the rights to "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" in 1986 for $250 million. The entertainer was a constant name on "Forbes" list of richest Americans. He was also a pallbearer at the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan.

Merv Griffin was 82-years-old.

Well, an Iraqi woman thought her doctor husband was just caring for the casualties. Then her worst fears came true.

CNN's Arwa Damon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nahna (ph) news reader and everyday, she has to read the daily death toll.

NAHNA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): You always think that you are exempt from the numbers.

DAMON: On April 14th, that changed. Nahna's (ph) husband, Mohammed (ph), was a doctor, the type of man who gave his own blood to help his patients, a man whose lust for life was contagious, doting on his autistic son, 6-year-old Usaid (ph), meaning "Little Lion."

That day in April, he never arrived to pick up his family.

NAHNA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): One of my friends called and said there was an explosion on Jajiyah Bridge (ph) -- the bridge that Mohammed (ph) would have been crossing.

NAHNA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The worst thing that I imagined is that since he's a doctor, that maybe he was treating the wounded.

DAMON: She began searching hospitals.

NAHNA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): It's completely different when you put your finger on the records and scan the names. That's when it began to feel serious.

DAMON: Nahna (ph) says she no longer lives in color. Now she feels like life is black and white.

NAHNA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I remember a blue colored sheet covering something. At one end, the pigtails of a little girl with a red ribbon; at the other, a tiny white foot, the sheet drenched in blood. At the moment, I forgot why I was standing there. I was crying for those people and then I remembered that I had to go into the morgue.

There, 10 charred bodies melted together. Nahna couldn't bring herself to go inside.

NAHNA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): My father-in-law took pictures of the teeth. The first picture I said, "This is him. Absolutely."

It was just the teeth and around the lips were scorched and the skull was scorched."

The only marking left to identify Mohammed (ph)?

A pin in his knee from an earlier accident.

NAHNA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Suddenly, the scorched thing is the same thing that used to be a beating heart with human life. That a day before he had blood in his veins. That a day before you would hold his face.

DAMON: Nahna (ph) shows us the contents of what she calls the case of memories -- baby books, CDs to help with her Usaid's (ph) autism, photographs.

NAHNA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mohammed would write down his son's every movement, as if he imagined that his son would need to know that he loved him and that he wouldn't be around to tell him how much he loved him and cared for him.

DAMON: Little Usaid (ph) thinks his father is traveling.

NAHNA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In this picture, Usaid (ph) is four months old. He used to sleep to his father's heartbeat, until the very end.

In spite of her incredible strength, sometimes, even for Nahna (ph), it's more than she can bear.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: Well, new corruption to tell you about in the Crescent City. An official who has fought for New Orleans' recovery must now fight to clear his own name.

Also, sexy seniors putting on the moves.

But are they putting on the protection?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSE CRESCENZO, SENIOR CITIZEN: In a dance, they want to go to bed with you right away.

So you've got to be very careful, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Whoo, never too old to learn about HIV and AIDS.

Also, meet Mac. Mac's got a really cool crib. That's because Mac's got air conditioning in his dog house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of the people, you know, thought well, that was just hilarious. But, you know, I just feel like that if you have a pet, you need to take care of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: OK.

Not that good, really? An air conditioning unit in his dog house. Mac wants to know what heat wave are you talking about?

He's just chilling.

And we're also chilling here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Just in -- our first pictures now of two female South Korean hostages freed by Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

The governor of Ghazni Province tells CNN that they were handed over to the province's political offices. The two were among 23 volunteer South Korea workers kidnapped in mid-July. The militants have since killed two male hostages. Nineteen other hostages are still being held now. The Taliban has demanded another two dozen militant prisoners released in exchange for the South Koreans' lives.

To New Orleans now. The city still struggling two years after Hurricane Katrina and now a published report of a highly visible city official facing corruption charges. The "Times-Picayune" says Councilman Oliver Thomas will enter a plea deal today. Sources telling the newspaper Thomas allegedly demanded illegal payments from a firm holding a parking lot contract.

Thomas was planning to run for mayor in a couple of years. Now the paper reports he'll resign from his council post.

We're watching for a statement from federal authorities later today.

Well, they're always talking about you should talk with your teen about unprotected sex. You may also want to have a chat with your grandmama.

Let me know how that conversation goes.

CNN's Allan Chernoff reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A slice a day. Very good bread.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Along with a nutritious lunch at a senior center in Flushing, New York are free condoms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I take it all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know. You need it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not with me, baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?

CHERNOFF: Courtesy of city hall, official NYC subway logo condoms.

FRANK GARCIA, SENIOR CITIZEN: I look at on the logo here and it says "NYC." Is it limited to the city limits?

CHERNOFF: A joke to some, but it's more than a laughing matter for women and men who are frisky well past their 50s.

CRESCENZO: And if they ask you to dance, they want to go to bed with you right away.

So you've to be very careful, you know?

CHERNOFF: New York City is spending $1 million for seniors AIDS education this fiscal year, partly because drug cocktails mean those already infected are living longer and because drugs like Viagra increase sexual options for many seniors.

CARYN RESNICK, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT FOR AGING: We are now at a point where 32 percent of those infected with HIV or AIDS are people over the age of 50. And so we wanted to raise awareness among the senior population.

CHERNOFF: The educators are seniors who are HIV positive, like 66-year-old Myron Gold, a regular speaker at retirement centers.

MYRON GOLD, AIDS EDUCATOR: When I presented them with a bowl of condoms, they were grabbing the condoms and saying to me, "Well, it's not for me. It's for my son, or grandson."

But the director told me that they're having unprotected sex -- that people in their 80s, men and women, were having sex.

CHERNOFF: Gold and Brenda Lee Curry, who has had AIDS for eight years, say their message needs to be reinforced by physicians.

(on camera): When a senior goes to see their doctor, this is not really something that comes up.

BRENDA LEE CURRY, HIV/AIDS EDUCATOR: No. He's too embarrassed to ask her.

This is like asking your mother or your Aunt Sarah, ma, are you having sex?

No. He's not going to ask an older woman that, when he should.

CHERNOFF: The Centers for Disease Control says seniors aged over 65 accounted for just 2 percent of HIV diagnoses in 2005, the latest year on record. But researchers say as people with HIV/AIDS, sexually active seniors face a growing risk of infection.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: All right, well, political genius, Bush's brain -- some of the labels on Karl Rove. The White House strategist is now heading home to Texas.

What does that mean for the president?

You will hear from him, 11:30 Eastern. You'll hear it live here in THE NEWSROOM.

Also, an SUV plunges into a canal with a woman still inside. She is OK and we'll show you how she made it out.

And now, your car can be the designated driver, and this one knows when you're tipsy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The sensor has detected alcohol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Stick around. We'll take you on a sobering ride here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hey, make some room on that iPod of yours for the CNN pod cast. You get the best video, the biggest stories delivered right to that iPod of yours. The CNN pod cast -- make sure you check it out, as the daily pod cast updated fresh for you every single day.

Well, I'll show you here some scary moments for a woman in Grand Junction, Colorado. Check this out. Look at what happened in her SUV. This is Virginia Northrop's SUV. It went into the water.

Can you see her there?

Police say she overran a stop sign and plunged into a canal. She was able to free herself from the nearly submerged vehicle and climbed to safety. You saw her there on that embankment. She is OK. But she is actually now facing some charges.

Well, your car may have a GPS system, but a new concept car has a DDS system -- or a DDD. That means don't drive drunk.

CNN's Kyung Lah explains it.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's as Japanese as sushi -- the nightly communion of sake and beer. The government believes this custom is contributing to a national problem -- drunk driving.

A string of accidents where children were killed is disturbing the social psyche.

Enter Japanese innovation -- a concept car being developed by Nissan conceptualizing the end of the drunk driving. It's not aimed at the celebrity offender, like, say, Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan, or at the repeat offender, but at the average consumer.

MINORU SHINOHARA, NISSAN MOTOR COMPANY: Be careful or do not -- don't drink. That kind of rather soft reminding is very easy to do and it has some impact for the ordinary people.

LAH: Here's how it works. An onboard computer detects any erratic driving. Facial recognition technology detects if the driver is becoming sleepy and a number of sensors mounted all around the car detect alcohol in the air or on the driver's sweats.

(on camera): For the purposes of demonstration only, not to drive, Nissan is allowing us to test out their drunk driving prevention system.

(voice-over): After a few sips of beer, the car's sensors go to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The sensor has detected alcohol. You have become negligent. Please stop your car in a safe place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (on camera): If I drank even more, the transmission would lock.

CHARLES HURLEY, CEO, MADD: The technology isn't quite ready now, but we are very hopeful that it will be tested in various ways and it will literally hold the promise of eliminating the drunk driving in the United States and other countries beginning in about 10 years.

LAH: A number of automakers, like Volvo and Toyota, are developing similar smart cars -- a change of how society approaches the problem, stopping the driver before he commits a crime.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: All right, it's time for me to get on out of here.

I'm going to be back at 1:00 Eastern.

Meanwhile, hello and good morning to you dear Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello.

Thanks for being here, T.J.

HOLMES: No worry.

It's a pleasure.

COLLINS: The first day of school and mommy had to stick around for that one. HOLMES: Had mommy duties. No worry.

COLLINS: All right.

Thank you so much.

Have a good rest of the day, T.J.

And good morning to you, everybody.

I'm Heidi Collins.

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