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At least 27 Dead in Iraq Attacks; Romney on the Attack; Huckabee Fights Back

Aired December 12, 2007 - 09:00   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 are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on Wednesday, December 12th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

Triple strike in Iraq. Three car bombs in five minutes. The casualty count high.

HARRIS: Wall Street rates the interest rate cut. Are stocks in for another big sell-off today? We will know, oh, in about 30 minutes.

COLLINS: A young woman talks about her 24-year drug sentence, and this week's key ruling from the Supreme Court. Crime, time and fairness in the NEWSROOM.

Unfolding this hour, explosions, one after the other, rock the Iraqi city of Amara. At least 27 people dead, more than 150 wounded.

Let's get right to CNN's Harris Whitbeck, live in Baghdad.

And Harris, good to see you.

Anything about this particular town that makes this spate of violence unusual?

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, Amara is the capital of a province that has been the scene of a power struggle between two rival Shia militias that have been operating in the area for quite sometime, so that might have something to do with today's attacks that came really in quick succession. One attack, five minutes later another after people had gathered, and then a third one. And there are reports there was a fourth IED that also went off in this busy commercial district, killing 27 people, injuring dozens more.

Shortly after the attack, the Iraqi prime minister, al-Maliki, made a statement. He was visiting neighboring Basra. And he said that the attacks were response to the fact that the Iraqi government has made great inroads towards bringing stability and relative security to the rest of the country. In fact, the British military is scheduled to hand over control of the Basra province to the Iraqi forces in a couple of days.

But coming on the heels of what happened down south, there were also another -- there was also another attack in Baghdad. A parked car bomb went off in a Shia neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 10 more. So this lull in violence that we had seen, particularly in the Iraqi capital, seems to have been uninterrupted, at least in the last several hours.

HARRIS: Yes. And Harris, just very quickly, the power struggle that you allude to in the Amara attack, is that sectarian in nature? Because we also know that there has been quite a bit of fighting within the sects.

WHITBECK: It is infighting between -- it's between two Shia sects that operate. One of them is loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The other one is the military ring of another radicalized, if you will, Shia sect that is in the area.

HARRIS: OK.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck for us in Baghdad.

Harris, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Also unfolding this hour, an assassination in Lebanon. A top army general killed today in a massive car bombing. Three others also dead in the blast in a Christian suburb of Beirut. The attack intensifying a political crisis as pro and anti-Syrian lawmakers fight to elect a new president.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: On the run in Las Vegas. Police are looking for at least two people they say opened fire at a school bus stop. Six people were wounded. Police say at least four were high school students. The shooting happened just as the students were getting off the school bus Tuesday. Police believe it was linked to a fight over a girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF DOUG GILLESPIE, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA: This is not a random act. We are looking at this as somebody was waiting there for these -- for a particular individual or individuals, and that's how our scope of investigation is proceeding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: School officials have increased security today. The Colorado killing spree, as it turns out, the shooter's final victim was himself. The coroner now says Matthew Murray killed himself. You may remember a church security guard shot Murray after he opened fire at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Apparently once Murray was down, he turned his gun on himself and Murray killed four people and wounded several others in two separate attacks.

COLLINS: The Federal Reserve speaks. Wall Street listens. And investors sell.

Just after the Fed announced it was lowering a key interest rate one quarter of a percentage point, stocks plunged. That was Wall Street's way of saying it wanted a bigger cut. The Dow down almost 300 points at yesterday's closing bell. The Nasdaq slipped about 2.5 percent.

HARRIS: Marion Jones now officially stripped of her medals. The International Olympic Committee deciding just a short time ago to wipe her names from the record books. The disgraced Olympic star had already given back the three gold and two bronze medals she won at the Sydney games. Jones admitted in October that she used performance- enhancing drugs during her record run in 2000.

COLLINS: A 24-year sentence on drug charges. Some call her the poster child for the problem with mandatory sentences. We'll talk with her just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: It's the time of year to feast, but should you actually be fasting instead? Elizabeth Cohen with a fascinating report ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Political countdown and one final showdown just a few hours away. Your last chance to see the Republican presidential candidates before the Iowa caucuses. They're just three weeks from now -- wow.

Mitt Romney may be feeling the heat. His campaign vows to be more aggressive. He's just not showing it to our John King, who is part of the best political team on television.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call this is skywalk scrum, Mitt Romney courting votes and avoiding questions.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we're going to get with the media chat in a moment.

KING: It was a promise he repeated.

ROMNEY: We will chat a little later.

KING: But ultimately did not keep.

ROMNEY: We have got to find the guys that are in charge here. Where's Matt?

KING: As the candidate and his wife, Ann, took their lunchtime stroll, aides insisted this was a photo-op only. And when pressed, Governor Romney would not discuss his new attack ad or the reaction of its target.

(on camera): Would you care respond to what Governor Huckabee said today?

ROMNEY: I haven't seen him yet.

KING (voice-over): It was an odd event for a candidate top aides promised would be much more aggressive in Iowa this week. It is just three weeks until Iowa votes. And, while some campaigns are in jovial moods, the value of Romney's big investment is in question, $20 million of his own money, yet the lead he built here this summer is suddenly gone.

ROMNEY: Get out and vote at the caucus now, all right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Thank you.

KING: Trying to turn things around requires digging deeper, more TV ads, this the first direct attack ad of the 2008 campaign cycle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN AD)

NARRATOR: The difference, Mitt Romney stood up and vetoed in- state tuition for illegal aliens, opposed driver's licenses for illegals. Mike Huckabee supported in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants. Huckabee even supported taxpayer-funded scholarships for illegal aliens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And glossy new mailings in Iowa and other early battleground states.

Huckabee is priority number one in this new Romney South Carolina mailing. "Supports de facto amnesty" is Romney's charge.

High school math teacher Mike Boyd isn't swayed by the new Romney attacks.

MIKE BOYD, HUCKABEE SUPPORTER: I do believe that immigration is a big, big issue.

KING: But this Huckabee volunteer in Iowa's conservative northwest corner acknowledges that with Huckabee's rise comes attention and more and more questions about the Arkansas record.

BOYD: Some people are asking, well, about what his stance on this? I said, you know, go to the Web site. See what Web site has to say, and get the facts there. We have been getting some flyers in the mail from other candidates saying some things about Governor Huckabee that I believe are not true. KING (on camera): As for those promised tougher attacks, or contrasts, as the Romney campaign likes to call them, aides say the governor decided the skywalk was not the proper venue, but that they will come on illegal immigration, taxes and spending, here in Iowa over the next several days.

John King, CNN, Des Moines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Out in front and wearing a big bull's eye, too. Republican Mike Huckabee is fighting to hold his new lead in Iowa.

Details from Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You have a big endorsement.

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, we do, actually.

BASH (voice-over): Mike Huckabee has one word for Mitt Romney and his new ad against him: desperate.

HUCKABEE: The more desperate and frantic campaigns get when they see how much money they have spent, and we're winning, I mean, that -- that causes people to -- to do some sometimes desperate things.

BASH: The come-from-behind GOP candidate insists, he's flattered.

HUCKABEE: I seem to be the recipient of the first negative attack ad in the Republican primary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN AD)

NARRATOR: Two former governors...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Huckabee is trying to turn a negative ad into a positive event, insisting, it will remind voters he's trying to run an above- the-fray campaign. He warns, the ad will turn Iowans off to Romney, but carefully gets his own digs in, Huckabee style.

HUCKABEE: As the tattletale in the third grade, let met tell you what this guy's doing. We didn't like it when we were in the third grade. I don't think we like it electing it a president either.

BASH (on camera): Is Romney acting like a third-grader?

HUCKABEE: No, I didn't say that. I said what I said. I said, it is like -- I use a lot of metaphors. You should know that by now, Dana. You have covered me for a while. BASH (voice-over): That Huckabee showed up here in treacherous weather, despite canceling other Iowa events, is a sign he knows he can fall as fast as he climbed.

Aides hastily arranged a news conference to tout the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen, a private group that patrols the border and tries to keep illegal immigrants out.

HUCKABEE: It is a real pleasure to have Jim with me today, because I think that there are some who want to move away from the fact that the federal government has completely and miserably failed in dealing with this issue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Dana Bash joining us now from -- that would be Des Moines, Iowa, this morning.

Hey, Dana, I wonder about that ad. How truthful is it actually about Huckabee's record on immigration?

BASH: It's true, and Mike Huckabee fully admits it. He did support a college tuition break for children of illegal immigrants when he was back in Arkansas. Not only that, Heidi, he stands by that position today.

However, he fully understands that that is simply an issue that is not that popular here in Iowa, and particularly in this...

COLLINS: Well, that does not look good. You know, I don't know for sure, but it might have something to do with all of the ice and storms that they are experiencing in Iowa. So we will try to get Dana back up with more on what is happening prior to the debates.

In fact, let's tell you a little bit more about that for now.

Two big presidential debates, and you will see them both right here on CNN. This afternoon, the Republicans will face off from Iowa live from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern. And tomorrow it's the Democrats' turn, again live from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

You can see them both right here on CNN, home of the best political team on television.

Also, if you want the most up-to-the-minute political news anywhere available, just check out CNNPolitics.com. It's the Internet's premier destination for political news -- CNNPolitics.com.

HARRIS: A 24-year sentence on drug charges. Some call her the poster child for the problem with mandatory sentences. We will talk with her just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Crack versus cocaine. A federal prisoner serving longer terms for crack can now try to have their sentences reduced. That decision follows a Supreme Court ruling on Monday.

Our guest has been at the center of a debate. In 1995, she was sentenced to 24 and a half years for conspiracy to sell crack and cocaine. Part of a trafficking conviction. And, of course, other charges. She was granted clemency by President Clinton in 2000.

Kemba Smith is with us from Richmond, Virginia.

Kemba, great to see you this morning.

Good morning, Tony.

HARRIS: Got some tough questions for you. Let's dive in here. Are you ready?

SMITH: I am ready.

HARRIS: OK. Here we go. Did you believe at the time of your sentencing that you were being harshly treated because of your race?

SMITH: Yes, of course, because of my race, only because I had a U.S. marshal tell me while I was in a holding cell six months pregnant -- because I did have my son while I was incarcerated as well -- where he said that if I was white he felt as if I wouldn't have been treated that way. But, you know, it's kind of bigger than just that.

It's about sensible drug policy. And unfortunately, it is affecting people of color the most, but while you were mentioning my charges...

HARRIS: Yes.

SMITH: ... I was held accountable for 255 keys of crack cocaine, but yet, still, the prosecutor said I never handled, used or sold the drugs that were involved. So it was basically because of my association, and there was this total amount of weight that was involved with the conspiracy...

HARRIS: Got you.

SMITH: ... that I was sentenced based upon that. And with sentencing guidelines, if you have x amount of weight attributed to you, you get x amount of time. So my sentencing guidelines range was somewhere between 20 to 30 years.

HARRIS: Well, now you've opened up a door to your story. Do -- you know, weren't you really a drug mule for your boyfriend? I know that what you say and what you said then is that you didn't know in many of these cases that you were carrying drugs.

SMITH: No, I never carried drugs. The prosecutor said I never handled, used or sold drugs.

There was money that I did carry, and I never say that there was nothing that I did. But for me to be a first-time, non-violent drug offender... HARRIS: Right. Right.

SMITH: ... sentenced to 24 and a half years in federal prison, the things that I did didn't warrant that kind of time.

HARRIS: Did you honestly know in good faith that you were facilitating a drug operation?

SMITH: No, I didn't.

HARRIS: You didn't?

SMITH: Basically, I knew that I was in love with this particular individual, and I was a college student and I had seen him on campus with other college women who were in relationships with him. And I was in a phase in my life that some women do get involved in, but I did realize that it was a situation that was bigger than myself, especially when the domestic violence and abuse began, and also me eventually seeing some of the things that were going on where I realized, OK, Kemba, this is something that's way bigger than you.

I wanted -- you know, this isn't what I came to Hampton University for. But this is one of the reasons...

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: I don't get that. You said that a couple of times now. You've said that it's something that was bigger than you. What do you mean by that, that it was something bigger than you? I think...

SMITH: Because I was in an abusive relationship...

HARRIS: Yes.

SMITH: ... and there became a point where I didn't want to confront him with certain things because I was fearful for myself. And also, there was a point in time when he killed his best friend because he thought his best friend was cooperating with authorities.

So that kind of complicates my story and gets into certain things. But as far as the issue, I believe typically -- I speak across the country. When people hear my story, they do feel as if it's unfortunate that...

HARRIS: Right.

SMITH: ... as a, you know, only child, coming from a middle class family -- and I don't believe it matters what class you come from...

HARRIS: Right.

SMITH: ... as a first-time non-violent offender serving 24 and a half years in prison, my release date was 2016.

HARRIS: Right. Right. SMITH: You know, my son is 13 today, and I'm grateful that I'm able to raise him and that my parents took care of him.

HARRIS: I've got to tell you, I think anybody on the face of it hears what you did and sort of goes back over the record and looks at that sentence.

I've got to believe that most folks would say, wow, there's something there that doesn't feel right, anyway. But I have to ask you, do you believe that the action by the Supreme Court and by the U.S. Sentencing Commission will mean, as the Justice Department believes, that more dangerous perpetrators will be given an opportunity to get back on the streets almost immediately?

SMITH: No. And I believe that there is a terrible misconception, because even though you're highlighting my situation as being the poster child...

HARRIS: Yes.

SMITH: ... there are hundreds of thousands of Kemba Smiths and also males that are first-time, non-violent drug offenders. And most of the drug offenders that are in federal prison are non-violent offenders.

HARRIS: Yes.

SMITH: So I think that the public really needs to educate themselves and not be so quick to believe things that are being said.

HARRIS: Yes. Is there an opportunity for others first time who are in that category that you found yourself in to make of their life what you have made of your life, which is a segue for you to talk about what you're doing now?

SMITH: Yes. Well, of course, I'm continuously advocating, because I am quite frustrated. I think that the recent decisions are victorious, but I do believe there should be something done on a larger scale, because from my perspective, if I were still in prison today, it wouldn't have affected me. Maybe, if anything, at most, 24 months.

But, you know, for me, I believe that because the U.S. Supreme Court said that there is a racially disparate impact as it relates to crack versus powder cocaine sentencing, that there needs to be a change with this 100 to 1 ratio...

HARRIS: Yes.

SMITH: ... and also an elimination of mandatory minimum drug sentencing, where the judges are given discretion...

HARRIS: Discretion, yes.

SMITH: ... to look at each individual situation and make their own decisions. HARRIS: Hey, Kemba, great to talk to you. Great to talk to you.

SMITH: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: And happy birthday...

SMITH: I appreciate it.

HARRIS: Yes. Happy birthday to your big boy now. What, 13 today? Twelve, 13?

SMITH: Yes, 13.

HARRIS: Thirteen?

SMITH: A teenager.

HARRIS: Good to talk to you. Thanks for your time this morning.

SMITH: Same here. Thank you.

COLLINS: The Fed cuts a critical interest rate amid growing fears of a recession, and the stock market takes a nose dive.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COLLINS: Good morning once again, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.

Good morning.

The head of the CIA is back behind closed doors this morning. Michael Hayden faces lawmakers' questions over the destruction of videotapes. On those tapes, the interrogation of terror suspects. Hayden says he can't answer many of the questions because it all happened long before he took the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HAYDEN, CIA DIRECTOR: It was done under Director Tenet and destroyed under Director Goss. It was before my time. There are other people in the agency who know about this far better than I, and I've committed them to come on down and answer all of the questions that the committee might have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So, what is waterboarding? Is it torture? You're about to see a demonstration. Last night, a journalist who underwent the interrogation technique shared his experience on "Anderson Cooper 360."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJ LARSEN, REPORTER, CURRENT TV: Your body has this natural reaction where your throat closes up and it's difficult to describe but I guess it kind of feels like you're shackled to the bottom of a pool and you can't get any breaths of air and you begin to panic, as the water keeps going down your throat.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But I mean, you know you're not drowning, but it feels like you are?

LARSEN: Sure. Rationally in your mind, you know it's a controlled environment. But that doesn't prevent your body from screaming out in terror and it's not a rational experience. I've had this done to me twice. One time when I was in the service and both times, it felt like I was going to die, even though I knew they weren't trying to kill me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: You can see Larsen's investigation on his network's website. That address, current.com.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A disaster area on the move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We started hearing a rumbling. That sounded like a freight train. I guess we not only need a Christmas tree this year, we'll need a house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Oh boy. Amazing pictures. A river of mud ripping through the homes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Got your coffee fix? A Dunkin Donuts cashier fights a robber with a coffee mug. The story straight ahead.

COLLINS: Speaking of robbers -- no, just kidding. Hey, the opening bell. Just a little while ago. Yesterday, not a great day. That's for sure. The Dow went down nearly 300 points, 294.26. However, how a day makes a difference. Look at that, now we're in the positive 258. Who knows? Yesterday closed at 13432 and we're already at 13688. So, yes, what the heck is going on? Obviously we are going to be talking more about that fed rate cut, a quarter percentage point there and what it all means, coming up in just a little while.

Powerful explosions coming one after the other this morning in Iraq. Three car bombs, one roadside bomb, ripping through the predominantly Shiite city of Amarah. The interior industry confirms at least 27 people dead. More than 150 wounded. Rival Shiite factions have been battling for control of this southern region for quite sometime. British troops, head of security, Iraqi forces last year, we are told the city's police chief has just been fired. And government investigators are now heading to the scene.

HARRIS: Boy, amazing pictures. Look at this. Just a river of mud. Incredible pictures. So, week's worth of rain unleashes a nightmare in one Oregon community. CNN's Katharine Barrett is in Clatskanie, Oregon. Katherine, obviously, I've never been to that wonderful city. Does that even close of the way you pronounce the name of that town? And how are the folks there doing?

KATHERINE BARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Perfectly pronounced. The folks here are shaken but safe. This was, as you said, a massive landslide but people were evacuated ahead of time. Oregon Department of Forestry Geologists have been watching this mountainside for several days. Every since an uphill landowner alerted them that a pile of debris had blocked a creek drainage and was piling up debris and huge quantity of water behind an old rail embankment.

When it became clear, that that bank was eminent danger of collapsing, officials evacuated the houses here and closed down highway 30 just hours before the mountainside collapse and sent that huge amount of debris, water and trees cascading down the hill. One of those evacuated families watched as their home was poured over by the mountain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEGGY CROM, HOME DESTROYED IN MUDSLIDE: We started hearing a rumbling that sounded like a freight train coming through your house. Some of the worst sounds I've ever heard. We started seeing trees just laying down like toothpicks. The telephone poles down. The water started coming through and it picked my trailer up and laid it on its side, picked it back up straight and sat it down on highway 30. Everything we have is gone. But what we have on, our clothes we have on, the vehicle we have with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARRETT: And this morning, that home lies shattered still in the middle of the highway. The family safe, but reeling. This is their second natural disaster in a little over a week. Last Monday's rainstorm flooded their house knee-deep, was filled with mud and water. They were taken out of it by boat more than a week ago and they were just beginning to have finished cleaning up when this latest blow hit them.

HARRIS: Katherine, how many people in that town? And do we know how many homes have been lost?

BARRETT: There were four homes that were badly damaged. No one was in the homes at the time. As I said, they were evacuated, but four families' homes have been all but destroyed at this point.

HARRIS: Wow. All right, Katharine Barrett for us this morning. Katherine, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Its obviously still a story. Kind of all over the country, the weather and Reynolds wolf is in the weather center now to talk more about that. And Oklahoma seems to be just really having some major issues today and for a while now, too.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: As we've been mentioning, much of the Midwest still on ice. Our Veronica De La Cruz takes a look at some of your amazing I- reports coming in from the storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Trying to solve China's food safety problem. Will new rules stop tainted foods from getting to your grocery store? That story is ahead.

COLLINS: But first, we all know, eating too much can be bad for your health, unfortunately. Cannot eating at all, actually be good for you though. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here now to explain why fasting seems to work. It does seem pretty extreme, though. Does it really work?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it does seems extreme but the fact that so many different religions encourage people to fast has made doctors think maybe there is something there, there. Maybe it's actually good for people. And so researchers in Utah said, let's think about this. Let's look at folks who fast. Religious Mormons will often fast the first Sunday of every month. A 24-hour fast, no food, no water. And what they found in this study is that the observant Mormons who fasted had a 39 percent lower risk of having clogged arteries. Now, not a definitive study. No doctor is going to say you ought to fast to be good to your arteries but certainly it's something very intriguing.

COLLINS: Well, it is interesting. I mean, is it possibly a reason for reduced heart disease or risk of heart disease I should say?

COHEN: Right. They have a couple of theories out there as to why it might possibly be good for your heart. And one is, is that if you keep sugar away from your body for 24 hours, it kind of gives the cells the deal with insulin a rest and if they have a rest, then maybe they'll work better when they have to go back into action and that can help for heart health. But there's another explanation which is much more psychological. Which is, if you have the discipline to stay away from food and water for 24 hours once a month, and I see Tony, that's going to say yes.

If you have that kind of discipline, maybe you're just disciplined to making good food choices. You can, you know, say no to that big fat juicy hamburger the next day. That one really does make a lot of sense.

COLLINS: I've had to do it for blood tests before, you know, to do fasting.

COHEN: Right.

COLLINS: Really cranky. COHEN: You know what.

COLLINS: Does that factor in here, the cranky factor?

COHEN: The cranky factor. I have heard people say who fast regularly, that it's tough if you'll only do it occasionally, if you do it regularly, you'll get more used to it. The crankiness goes away a bit.

COLLINS: OK, so you can plan for it.

COHEN: That's right.

COLLINS: All right, excellent. It is interesting, though. All right. Thank you, Elizabeth.

HARRIS: I couldn't resist.

OK, our Veronica De La Cruz has been watching the winter storm from your advantage point. She joins us now with some of your I- reports. You know, Veronica, this is where this whole I-report system really works well, when we get bad weather across the country. Folks seem to know, let's get these pictures on CNN.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's absolutely right. You know, it's really, really sad to see, though, how the nation's midsection is still dealing with the effects of the ice storm but we have been lucky to get a look at all through. The eyes of you out there. Our I-reporters. Take a look at some of these pictures. This first set sent to us by Beth Spicer in eye of Hiawatha, Kansas. She says it is the worst storm, Tony, that she has seen since 1991. You can really see the ice here, Tony, accumulating on the power lines and the weight of the ice so heavy. Look at this, branches on trees snapping like twigs.

HARRIS: Yes. You can forget about those power lines there.

DE LA CRUZ: Can you see that, right there? All those broken branches? Like you just said, it also causing massive power outages. Right now, Tony, about a million people across the Midwest still in the dark and it could be more than a week until they get the power back on.

This next I-reporter, Tony, is from Marilyn Ferguson in Versailles, Illinois. She says she won't dare venture out on her patio because it basically looks like an ice rink.

HARRIS: Yes. Look at that.

DE LA CRUZ: Check out the frozen chair. And Marilyn says that she and her husband filled up this bird feeder before the storm. And she says, this little guy, he is a regular visitor; he was pretty disappointed to learn that all of his bird seed was frozen.

HARRIS: Yes, that something to think about. I mean, boy, the bird seed. You put the feed out and you got weather like this and it impacts everybody, even the birds.

DE LA CRUZ: Even the birds. Betty Shea sent us this next photo from Lincoln, Nebraska. At first glance, Tony, looks like a couple of icicles. But look closely. Hi. Do you see it?

HARRIS: Oh, I do see the, Hi. Yes, I do see it.

DE LA CRUZ: Betty says that this is a message from Mother Nature. Hello to you, Betty.

HARRIS: OK, Betty.

DE LA CRUZ: And a snapshot from Charles Rivera in Lawton, Oklahoma. It looks even where the buffalo roam, it's icy.

HARRIS: That's a great shot there.

DE LA CRUZ: It is. It's a great picture. It is. So, like you said, not only affecting us but affecting the animals, too. But warmer air is on its way. So, hopefully the nation's midsection thaws out. And you guys there in Atlanta, 75 degrees for the high today?

HARRIS: Yes.

DE LA CRUZ: It's so unfair. We're supposed to get snow tomorrow.

HARRIS: So be careful. Take your own photos and video and you can add it to your own I-report. How is that?

DE LA CRUZ: All right. You do the same.

HARRIS: Yes. In 70 degrees, love it. Just another reminder to you. If news is happening where you are, send us your video or photos. We love getting those. Go to cnn.com and click on I-report. Or type, ireport@cnn.com into your cell phone. Again, remember we always remind you be safe.

COLLINS: Speaking of staying safe, got your coffee fix? A Dunkin' Donuts cashier fights a robber with a coffee mug.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Like a house of cards collapsing. That is how one person described a church roof blowing off and crumbling to pieces. That happened in Eastern Kentucky. Strong winds tearing through the church's construction site. Workers scrambled for cover and two people hurt.

HARRIS: Armed with a coffee mug. A Dunkin' Donuts cashier fights off a robber and wins. Dawn Palace of affiliate News 12 New Jersey has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAWN PELLAS, NEWS 12, NEW JERSEY: The surveillance tape shows the suspect ordered a doughnut at a counter. He pays for it and as the clerk opens the register for his change, the suspect lunges over the counter and grabs the cast. The clerk grabs a cup.

CHIEF DON INGRASSELINO, ELMWOOD PARK POLICE: And the (INAUDIBLE) the tenant decided that he was going to hit him over the head with a Dunkin' Donuts cup, a big heavy ceramic one.

PELLAS: The impact sent the robber running 92 bucks in hand. This man was in the store minutes later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were fortunate that the guy did not have a gun. It was very fortunate. He could have been shot at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was so shooken up. Oh, my God, but he was brave.

PELLAS: Mona Shetti (ph) owns the restaurant next door. She spoke with the cup wielding clerk right after the robbery but that clerk, Dustin Hoffman, couldn't talk to us. Over the phone, Hoffman told me, his company wouldn't allow it. Police are just glad, he wasn't hurt.

INGRASSELINO: There was no reason for him to do that, but he reacted. And, you know, we don't want to criticize somebody, but in the future, we tell him, don't do that. Just give the money up and, you know, live to tell about it.

PELLAS: Police believe the guy who robbed this store is the same guy who robbed two other Dunkin' Donuts in this area in the past two weeks.

INGRASSELINO: (INAUDIBLE) in the area, one on this over, both of those, more cash was taken.

PELLAS: But it was his coffee house confrontation in Elmwood Park that may finally get him caught. The robber left his hat behind. Police plan to test it for DNA. In Elmwood Park, Dawn Pellas, News 12, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And the clerk's name, Dustin Hoffman, really? So, here's the thing. When the cashier was asked about what was going through his mind during the fight, he told the local paper that he took on the robber instead of running away because he wanted to look good on YouTube.

COLLINS: There you go. Gay couple harassed by neighbors. They get even and they ask sex offenders to move in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our house has been threatened to be burned down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The neighborhood is extremely upset about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Room for rent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: An al Qaeda group now claiming it's behind the deadly blast in Algeria. The group posting pictures of a supposed suicide bombers on Islamic website saying they used nearly 2,000 pounds of explosives. The United Nations has dispatched a team of investigators to the Algerian capital. A U.N. building was among the targets. Hospital sources say at least 76 were people killed, but search teams are still looking through the wreckage for more bodies or possibly survivors.

COLLINS: Protecting your dinner table. New rules now in place on food coming in from China. CNN's John Vause has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's taken six months but officials from both China and the U.S. believe they now have a way to ensure that food that leaves these shores is safe.

MIKE LEAVITT, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICE SECRETARY: We're putting into place safeguards that have not existed before because this problem has not existed in the way it now exists worldwide.

VAUSE: China's food producers will be required to register with the government. Their exports electronically tracked from farm to factory, all the way they will have to meet U.S. standards. Factories will be inspected not only by Chinese authorities but officials from the U.S. Health Department and FDA will also be allowed to make random checks with just five days notice.

We will punish those whose products have problems. We will put them on our blacklist, warned this Chinese official who added there will be substantial fines as well. But initially, these new regulations will only apply to a few exports like seafood, certain fish and shrimp were banned earlier this year from the U.S. because of high levels of antibiotics and cancer causing chemicals. As well as pet foods and ingredient like wheat gluten which where all this began in March, when dogs and cats in the U.S. became sick and died because their feed had been spiked with melamine. A chemical used to make plastics but is also a cheap way to fake high levels of protein.

CARLOS GUTIERREZ, COMMERCE SECRETARY: This is a watershed moment for China. Their economy is growing on the basis of exports. We are their number one customer.

VAUSE: There is much at stake for china. Last year alone, it sold more than $4 billion worth of food to the United States. This agreement puts responsibility on the American side as well. But it is clearly the Chinese who had the most to do and the most to lose. John Vause, CNN, Beijing. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown. Three car bombs just minutes apart, blood running the streets in some of Iraqi town, evidence of carnage.

COLLINS: A young woman in a war zone, fighting off her co- worker. A shocking allegation of gang rape by American contractors.

HARRIS: A scene you don't want to see out of your window. Mud running wild on this Wednesday, December 12th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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