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Iraqi Cabinet Condemning Turkish Incursion; Iraq's Air Force Flying High Now; YouTube Blackout Hits across the Globe
Aired February 26, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Final check of this morning's "Quick Vote" question. We are asking about America's leap of faith. Fifteen percent of you say you have made a change in your religion. Twenty- six percent kept the faith that they were raised with. And 59 percent called it quits.
To all of you who voted, thanks very much.
I guess we can say, too, that when you made a change it was either denomination or religion outright.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That's right.
ROBERTS: There you go.
Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you again tomorrow.
CHETRY: Glad you're with us.
CNN NEWSROOM with Heidi Collins starts right now.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins.
Good morning, everybody. Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Tuesday morning, February 26th. Here's what's on the rundown.
Battle for Ohio. Will a combative Hillary Clinton show up for tonight's debate? The stake critical to her campaign's survival.
And messy winter weather. Tripping up travelers from the Great Lakes to New England. Airports could see long delays today.
The U.S. and North Korea making beautiful music together in Pyongyang. Diplomacy hits a high note, in the NEWSROOM.
Presidential politics. It's a week that could shape the November showdown. CNN has learned former presidential candidate Chris Dodd will endorse Barack Obama today and a new poll shows Obama is winning supporters who used to back Hillary Clinton. He now leads among white men, middle income earners and liberals.
The same poll shows Obama and Clinton locked in a virtual tie for overall support. Both candidates are stumping hard for next Tuesday's all-important races. They include the delegate-rich states of Texas and Ohio.
Meanwhile, Republican John McCain vows the Iraq war will be over soon. But he says the U.S. military will have to stay a long time.
The Democratic race not just heating up but getting downright nasty.
CNN's Candy Crowley with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Democrat to Democrat, it's the unkindest cut of all. A comparison to George Bush.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've seen the tragic result of having a president who had neither the experience nor the wisdom to manage our foreign policy and safeguard our national security. We can't let that happen again.
CROWLEY: The Clinton and Obama campaigns clashed over resumes, trade policy, health care and this picture -- Barack Obama in 2006 visiting Kenya in traditional Somali dress.
The Obama campaign accused the Clinton campaign of shameful and offensive fear mongering stoking some voter concern about his background. The picture appeared on the "Drudge Report" but it's unclear if any other outlet got it. Several officials in the Clinton campaign say they personally know nothing about it. They suggest it's an Obama ploy to distract voters from real issues.
It is the stuff of tense times.
Clinton took it up a decibel or two over the weekend mocking what he calls the politics of hope.
CLINTON: Let's get unified. The sky will open. The light will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect.
CROWLEY: In Ohio, which, according to some estimates, has lost 50,000 jobs as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Clinton also took exception with an Obama flier citing her past support for NAFTA.
CLINTON: Shame on you, Barack Obama. It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public. That's what I expect from you. Meet me in Ohio. Let's have a debate.
CROWLEY: The Obama campaign concedes Clinton never said NAFTA was a, quote, "boon to the economy," but he argues the larger picture.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Clinton as part of the Clinton administration supported NAFTA. In her book, she called it one of the administration's successes. CROWLEY: Keeping them both honest, she has said consistently through the campaign that she has problems with NAFTA and wants to re- evaluate all trade deals. It's also true that in the past she spoke favorably about it. Once in '96 while touring New York's garment district.
CLINTON: Oh, I think that everybody is in favor of free and fair trade. And I think that NAFTA is proving its worth.
CROWLEY: Though she goes after him, Obama engages only selectively. Mostly he sticks with the program.
OBAMA: Yes, we can. We can do these things if you are ready for change. But I've got to say the waning days of this campaign, other people are saying, oh, no, no. Don't believe him.
CROWLEY: It is the frontrunner's game. Steady as he goes.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Dayton, Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: We are watching the weather on a couple of fronts this morning. Bad thunderstorms are rolling through the southeast.
Here in Atlanta, lots of rain and lightning, too, as you can see. Forecasters say winds could be as strong as 60 miles an hour. In fact, one death was reported in Alabama.
A winter storm that slammed into the Midwest is heading east now. Rain, sleet and thick, heavy snow covered Chicago. Hundreds of flights were canceled at O'Hare and that's one of the big airport hubs, obviously, along with Atlanta where major delays are also expected today.
The storm made for a chance to stop and smell the roses. Isn't that sweet? Or in some cases eat them. Sort of pretty winter snapshot except for those who own those shrubs there.
Jacqui Jeras is joining us from the weather center.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Some days you feed them.
COLLINS: Yes. Big Midwest storm. I guess what are we looking at there in Chicago again?
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: OK. Very good. Appreciate that.
Jacqui Jeras, we'll check back with you later on.
A possible step towards a perjury investigation of one of baseball's biggest stars is coming from that congressional hearing on drug use in baseball. Just a couple of weeks ago, Roger Clemens testified under oath he never used steroids or human growth hormone. Now "The New York Times" reports House committee staffers have a letter ready for the Justice Department. It asks for an investigation of Clemens's testimony, but does not name his accuser Brian McNamee. No decision on whether the committee will send that letter but the Justice Department could act on its own without an official request.
Politically out of step, musically in tune. The New York Philharmonic performed in a historic concert in the heart of communist North Korea today.
And it was beautiful. We had a little bit of this playing live on CNN this morning much earlier today.
CNN's Alina Cho, in fact, was there for this landmark performance. But she also went to Pyongyang on a personal mission.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This concert by the New York Philharmonic has really been historic on so many different levels. The first time an American orchestra has been invited to play here, the largest American delegation to come to North Korea since the end of the Korean War. That conflict ended in 1953 with so many tens of thousands of Korean families torn apart including my own.
(Voice over): Looking at my parents today, you would never know how much they've suffered. They are survivors of the Korean War.
JAI CHO, ALINA CHO'S FATHER: All of this wasn't here at that time.
A. CHO: Much of their story I'm hearing and seeing for the first time. There are people I am meeting for the first time, too, like this man who my father says taught him how to farm during the war to help feed the family. My dad was just 13.
J. CHO: How are we going to survive? Having enough food to eat, having enough firewood to, you know, warm the house.
A. CHO: After the North Korean army invaded Seoul in 1950, my dad's family fled the city and walked here to the countryside. It took them four days. My 90-year-old grandmother says food was scarce. She starved so her children could eat. It is only the second time I have ever seen my dad cry.
(On camera): Today looks totally different.
KIM CHO, ALINA CHO'S MOTHER: Totally different.
A. CHO (voice over): My mom was only 7 when the war broke out. She remembers hearing North Korean soldiers marching outside her home. Her family was afraid, especially for her older sister because those soldiers were kidnapping girls in their teens. But only the healthy ones. So my mom's sister deliberately starved herself. K. CHO: She was thin and always sick.
A. CHO: She and the rest of my mom's family survived. But the fate of two of my dad's uncles, to this day, is still unknown. They disappeared during the war. No one is quite sure if they were kidnapped or defected because they were never seen again.
K. CHO: Hopefully you can find it. Hopefully miracle happens.
A. CHO: Which brings me here to North Korea.
(On camera): Being here in Pyongyang has been an extraordinary experience for me personally. I know I have relatives here in North Korea somewhere. That's why every time I look at somebody, I can't help wondering, could I be related to them? I also can't help thinking, if things had been just a little bit different, I could be living here, too.
(Voice over): The North Korean government says there's just not enough time. This time to find the lost uncles, my government guide Mr. Jong told me he has sadness for the separated Korean families.
(On camera): It's sad, isn't it?
(Voice over): He said if I come back, maybe I'll have better luck then.
(On camera): When I came here to North Korea, I never in my mind believed I'd actually get to meet my dad's two uncles. But in my heart, I still held out hope. So in that sense it's been a particularly sad moment for me personally, but remember the story of my family is a classic Korean story. So many families torn apart. The two Koreas still technically at war.
Alina Cho, CNN, Pyongyang.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: That's right, from Alina.
We want to get you this information just coming in now to the CNN NEWSROOM. We have been able to confirm that the campus of Ferrum College, which is in Ferrum, Virginia -- if you know the area, that would be Franklin County -- is on lockdown right now. We have been able to confirm through the police there that there is a suspicious person on campus. But not exactly sure why this person is suspicious.
Students are, in fact, safe, we're told, but the university alert system was activated within the hour. So, obviously, this is a developing story. Not sure exactly what it will turn into, of course, but we will keep our eye on it for you.
Once again, CNN has confirmed that Ferrum College in Ferrum, Virginia is on lockdown right now. So we will watch that story and keep checking our sources and give you the very latest just as soon as we get it. Meanwhile, catching a killer. Police listen to a new clue in the shooting at a woman's clothing story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
No more stitches. A new band-aid could replace the needle and thread. And get this, it works like lizard feet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN, the most trusted name in news. Now back to the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Outside Chicago, a new clue today in that deadly shooting at a women's clothing store. Illinois police say the killer's voice is on the 911 tape.
Our Susan Roesgen is in Chicago this morning with more on this story.
In fact, Susan, any leads about the suspect's identity now?
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CHICAGO CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Heidi, it's been about three weeks now and this case apparently is getting pretty cold. That's why the Tinley Park Police Department in this suburb of Chicago has decided to release part of this 911 tape in which you can hear the gunman but not very well. It's pretty garbled.
Now the scene was there were four women in the Lane Bryant store. A couple of employees, a couple of customers back on February 2nd, when a guy walked in and started talking to them and chatted them up, apparently a nice guy. And then the next thing they knew it was an actual robbery.
In the course of this, two more customers walked in. Altogether, six women were herded into the back of the store by this gunman. The police have released a couple of new sketches of who they think this guy is, what they think he looks like. These six women were herded into the back of the store, they were forced to lie down face down. Apparently their heads were covered with something and that's when the store manager was able to get her cell phone and she was whispering to the 911 operator, hurry, Lane Bryant store, hurry, 911, trying to give them the information.
And that's apparently something that enraged the gunman. But here is a little bit of that 911 call where you can hear not the women's voices but you can hear the guy in the background. They've cut out the woman's voice. You just hear him for a moment or two before he apparently became so angry that he shot all six women.
Here's part of this 911 tape.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED SHOOTING SUSPECT: (INAUDIBLE) cell phone can do, woman. Put it on the desk. (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Now as you can tell, that's practically indecipherable. But the police are hoping that somebody somewhere will recognize a little bit of it. Again, they only have the gunman speaking there. They say that when they slow it down they can hear thing like "lose that foolishness" or something like that.
This man shot all six women again in the back of the head but one woman survived. One employee survived. She played dead. She was shot in the neck. And that woman now is in police custody. She's in hiding. She's the one who was able to provide the description that the police have used to make their sketches. They just can't seem to find this guy anywhere in spite, Heidi, in spite of a $60,000 reward.
COLLINS: Gosh. Boy, it is just a horrible story.
All right. CNN's Susan Roesgen with the very latest this morning from Chicago.
Thanks, Susan.
Also want to take a minute to get the latest from our Candy Crowley who is traveling with the Barack Obama campaign.
Candy, I know you're standing by in Cleveland there. We are going to be taking a look at an event a little bit later on where there will be an endorsement of the senator.
CROWLEY: Senator Chris Dodd who, as you know, ran for president himself. It's going to be really interesting. Obviously, Dodd is a longtime senator -- senior senator on Capitol Hill. And, in fact, this does send a message at a time when the Clinton campaign probably doesn't need it. It gives sort of added momentum, the kind that Barack Obama has been riding for the past couple of weeks.
Obviously, as a colleague of Clinton's, the Dodd people say that they believe that the message that it sends is that Dodd supports him on matters of foreign policy. Dodd being an expert on foreign policy, particularly Central America. And as you know, Hillary Clinton has been questioning it as recently as yesterday did a speech at George Washington University and said, "Listen, we don't need another president who goes in without experience in foreign policy."
So that's where the Dodd office believes that they can be of some assistance in sending a message about Obama.
COLLINS: So the Hillary Clinton campaign likely to see this as another blow then, Candy?
CROWLEY: Well, any time someone grabs the headline, regardless of why, as long as it's in a positive fashion, it's something that you don't want to have happen because you want your message going out. It clearly is a choice for Obama rather than her. They, obviously, would rather have it be her. But I must say there's a big debate tonight and that's likely to sort of blow everything else out of the headline.
COLLINS: Yes, it makes sense.
All right. CNN's Candy Crowley, part of the best political team on television. Appreciate that. Thank you, Candy.
Get this now: a surgical bandage that's inspired by a gecko. Could it replace stitches?
Well, we are paging our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta with more on this.
All right. So what can we possibly learn from a gecko about the construction of a bandage? DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I love stories like this...
COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: ...because, you know, they say necessity is the mother of invention. If you follow a gecko, sort of look at it and see what it can do.
COLLINS: Love geckos.
GUPTA: Geckos are nice.
COLLINS: Cute.
GUPTA: They are small to medium lizards, by the way. That's what a gecko is. They can scale just about any surface - a slippery surface, a hard surface. They can scale upside down.
What is it about their paws that are so unique? That's what researchers at MIT specifically wanted to look at and determine whether or not they might be able to assign any of those attributes to a band-aid.
So what they have -- take a look at this image here. This is exactly what the band-aid looks like. It's clear actually. All the colors are sort of behind it. It looks clear.
COLLINS: Little gecko feet.
GUPTA: Little gecko feet is what that band-aid is.
Let's zoom in on that a little bit and take a look at what it looks like under the microscope. And here's where it gets very interesting. These all these tiny little hairs on the band-aid. This is what a gecko's paw looks like. And you have the hairs there, and in between, you have these little valleys. And together -- you know, take an area like that. If you look at the peaks and valleys, if you will, together when you place at on the wound it sort of cinches it together, much in a way, as you pointed out, Heidi, that sutures would, much in the way staples would. This is...
COLLINS: Or a butterfly bandage, right?
GUPTA: Or butterfly bandage. It's the same sort of things except this sort of cinches together maybe after heart surgery, after lung surgery, after gastric bypass surgery. You want to do the operation quickly. At the end, just put this band-aid on.
COLLINS: I'll buy it.
GUPTA: It's not out yet. Just available to animals.
COLLINS: No.
GUPTA: It's not out yet. It's just available to these animals, only in animal study. That was the closer line.
COLLINS: OK. Where are they going to get all the gecko feet from? How many geckos are going to have to perish?
GUPTA: I don't think they're actually using the gecko feet. I think there are using a model of how the gecko paw is designed by nature.
COLLINS: Ah.
GUPTA: And they're going to use that to create these band-aids.
COLLINS: Oh, I think we just ruined the whole segment.
GUPTA: I know.
COLLINS: No, that is very -- that is fascinating really.
GUPTA: You did imagine little geckos...
COLLINS: No, not really. Just wanted to make you laugh.
But there are other advantages where they have this sort of really interesting technology. Shrimp shells. That another one.
GUPTA: Yes. So again, you know, this is interesting. I love stories like this because we actually take things that exist in -- out in nature and actually apply it to science.
Shrimp cells -- no, shrimp shells, say that a couple of times fast, that they actually take that and put it underneath band-aids.
Take a look at an image here. It looks like just a regular band- aid. But it does a couple of things. One of it is actually very good at warding off bacterial infections as sort of a natural antibiotic in it. So it's also good at stopping bleeding. So, for example, in the military they use this sort of substance quite a bit to try and stave off bleeding immediately in the field, also control infection rates as well.
COLLINS: Yes. All right. Well, very interesting.
GUPTA: Yes.
COLLINS: Well, thank you, Sanjay.
GUPTA: No problem.
COLLINS: We'll check in later. More gecko stories to come.
GUPTA: Gecko feet, all right.
COLLINS: All right. Appreciate it.
Well, he was turned on by Tom Cruise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The movie "Top Gun"?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I saw this movie three times. So he motivated me to be a pilot. So.
PHILLIPS: So you're Maverick and I'm Goose?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Our Kyra Phillips arrived shot gun with an Iraqi "Top Gun" in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Back on Terra Firma after a vacation some passengers will never forget. A Holland America cruise ship arrived back in San Diego yesterday after more than 100 passengers and crew came down with Norovirus. The virus is highly contagious. People who were infected were asked to stay in their rooms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGER: Mask and gloves going in and out of all the rooms that were being isolated. And it was just a different look.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: An 81-year-old passenger was hospitalized with dehydration. The ship was scrubbed down and is already off on another voyage.
Snow, wind and thunderstorms are busy and dangerous weather mix. In fact, the latest forecast ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins. Welcome back, everybody, to the CNN NEWSROOM. Want to take a look at the opening bell now. There you have it live this morning, 9:30 Eastern Time, obviously.
Let's take a look at these numbers. How things ended up yesterday. Pretty darn good. Up about 190 points or so for the Dow Jones Industrial Averages.
We're going to be talking with Susan Lisovicz a little bit later on. More about homes that were lost to a bank repossession. Kind of a big story today and has been, as you know, for quite some time. We'll check on all those numbers and other business headlines.
Also, among the stories making headlines this morning. Not in our backyard. The Iraqi cabinet today condemning Turkish incursion. It's in Northern Iraq. Turkish troops push into the region Thursday to target Kurdistan Workers' Party bases. That group commonly called the PKK has launched cross border attacks into Turkey. The PKK wants autonomy for mostly Kurdish in Southeastern Turkey.
Iraq is calling for the immediate withdrawal of the Turkish troops calling the movement a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Iraq called on Turkey to engage the PKK in talks. The U.S. considers the PKK a terrorist group. But Iraqi and American officials are concerned the incursion could cause civilian casualties and destabilize the region. Turkish officials say their only target is the rebels.
Well, Iraq's Air Force flying high now. Part of the country's new military. Our Kyra Phillips took to the skies with one young top gun. And Kyra is joining us now from Baghdad.
So, Kyra, how do they find these Iraqi pilots?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's the former Iraqi pilots that are picking these new young guys to come in and fly, Heidi. And I had a chance to spend a lot of time with some of these former pilots that flew for Saddam Hussein. They actually flew MiGs. And they said, you know what, it was such a waste of time because the mission was all about protecting Saddam. It had nothing to do with the Iraqi people.
So now, they are coming in. They're flying all types of aircraft as they build this Iraqi Air Force. And they're saying, now, we're doing things to protect Iraqi troops on the ground, Americans troops on the ground, Iraqi civilians and it finally feels right.
So for the first time, we got exclusive access into the building of this Iraqi Air Force and how the U.S. Air Force is helping them training these Cessna to eventually fly strike fighters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Colonel Ali was 16 when he joined the Iraqi Air Force.
COL. ALI, IRAQI AIR FORCE: I never forget the smell of the cockpit. Very loud sounds and I feel the kick and more thrust.
PHILLIPS (on camera): The thrust from the after burner?
ALI: Yes. It's unforgettable.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): When Saddam's military was destroyed in 2003, so, too, was Ali's dream. He could no longer fly his MiG.
ALI: It's hard for me. Actually, that time I missed it. Same as somebody missing his love.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In-flight checks.
PHILLIPS: Lieutenant Majid is picking up where Colonel Ali left off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two, one.
PHILLIPS: However, these brave pilots won't be defending a dictator. They'll be taking down terrorists. The old Iraqi Air Force flew its first sortie in 1939.
LT. MAJID, IRAQI AIR FORCE: Before you start to take off, hold the brakes. Check your instrument before you take off. 100, so, OK. Make the flaps turning. Left the nose down a little bit.
PHILLIPS: Nose down a little bit. OK.
MAJID: 55 knots.
PHILLIPS: Now, in 2008, it's like starting over again.
Put me in a tough situation.
MAJID: A tough situation?
PHILLIPS: Yes. Give me a tough situation. OK.
MAJID: More, more, more.
PHILLIPS: More?
MAJID: Push.
PHILLIPS: OK. OK. Come back up. Come back up. Pull. Majid is teaching me how he learned to fly.
MAJID: We must (INAUDIBLE).
PHILLIPS: Treat him like a woman.
An engineering grad from Baghdad University, this 25-year-old officer is Iraq's future. So why do you want to be a pilot?
MAJID: I have three answers. First, this is my dream. And the second, I want to serve my country. And, actually, "Top Gun." PHILLIPS: "Top Gun." The movie "Top Gun"?
MAJID: I saw this movie three times. So he motivated me to be a pilot.
PHILLIPS: So you're Maverick and I'm Goose?
MAJID: We are.
PHILLIPS: Do you ever get nervous?
MAJID: At first time, yes. In the beginning, all of us get nervous. We left our family and this is dangerous for them.
PHILLIPS: What does it feel like to be flying a plane, being at the controls?
MAJID: 10,000 feet above the ground. You feel like a bird. Just fly and it's wonderful.
PHILLIPS: We're now airborne with Majid. It's his first formation.
LT. COL. MARK BENNETT, 52ND EXPEDITIONARY FTS: We have to not only train them to be pilots and have the skill to operate the aircraft, but we're also training them to be warriors.
Majid is highly educated, very motivated individual and the Coalition Air Force Training Team is partnering with the Iraqis to build an air force that can protect the sovereignty of the nation and they just have to be dedicated to the cause.
PHILLIPS: Majid, without a doubt, knows his cause. Why does Iraq need the air force?
MAJID: Every country needs the air force. Especially in Iraq, because we have insurgents, we have terrorists. A lot of terrorist. So we must fight them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And this is the first training school of its kind built from the very bottom up to where it is now, Heidi, by the U.S. Air Force. It's the 52nd expeditionary flying training squadron. And they hope to have 130 pilots graduate by the end of the year. So 130 new Mavericks yet to come by December.
COLLINS: Yes. You know, he had the glasses already. I mean, right off the top. He's got the correct, I think, they are Ray-bans, aren't they? Hey, doesn't you working on another story, Kyra, about Iraqi Intelligence efforts. What's that one all about?
PHILLIPS: Well, you bring a good point about the lieutenant, Heidi. He does. He's got that whole look, doesn't he? The way he wears the flight suit, the way he walks, the sunglasses. You hit it right on. But coming up tomorrow, we're actually going to take you inside an actual mission. An ISR mission -- Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. And this is pretty awesome to see because during the war, I was able to fly with the marines and the navy in the P-3, where they were sort of the eyes in the sky to protect the troops on the ground. Well, now, here we are with an Iraqi mission commander. He's also a former pilot under Saddam's regime. He is so glad to make the switch from being under Saddam to really working for the Iraqi people.
So we go flying with him, with this new technology. This MX-15. The pictures are pretty unbelievable. What you can see from the sky to the ground. And we patrol the pipelines, the power plants. And there's also something else very interesting that happens that involves a terror threat that the captain there was able to notice while we are flying this mission. And we'll bring that all to you tomorrow. An inside exclusive look to how they are actually flying these missions.
COLLINS: All right. Very interesting. Thanks so much. CNN's Kyra Phillips live from Baghdad this morning. Thank you, Kyra.
Hey, quite a wakeup in the southeast. It was a day after lightning lit up the skies in Georgia and Alabama. Bad thunderstorms rolled through before dawn. Trees are down and tens of thousands of people lost their electricity in Alabama. One woman was reportedly killed when a tree fell on a mobile home.
In the northeast, the issue is snow. It's the same system that rolled through the Midwest yesterday. The storm caused hundreds of flight cancellations at O'Hare. And the aftermath is expected to cause delays today. Jacqui Jeras is standing by the weather center now to give us more info on this.
And boy, the storms in the southeast. The tooth fairy couldn't even come last night. She was taken out by the storms.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: The critical Texas primary a week from today. Can Hillary Clinton win? We get new numbers from CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider, part of the Best Political Team on Television.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before last week's debate, the Democratic race in Texas was close. And after the debate, still close. Barack Obama, 50 percent, Hillary Clinton 46 percent. Obama may have gained from the debate.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Whatever happens, we're going to be fine. You know, we have strong support from our families and our friends.
SCHNEIDER: Among Texas Democratic primary voters who watch the debate, Obama leads Clinton by 20 points. Among the 42 percent who followed news about the debate, Clinton and Obama are neck and neck. Among Democrats who paid no attention to the debate, Clinton leads Obama by nearly 20 points. In Texas, as in other states, Clinton does best with older blue collar and rural voters. They want a leader who can deliver.
BILL BISHOP, AUTHOR: I think rural areas have a tough time in the last 20 years. And so they are looking for candidates that have some specific answers about changes in the economy.
SCHNEIDER: Clinton delivers. Obama inspires. He appeals to voters who identify with his values. Like the ones who rallied for him in Austin, Friday night.
BISHOP: They approach politics as self-identification. And it's not what can this person do for me. It's how can this person represent me and be like the kind of person that I am.
SCHNEIDER: Identity politics has a lot to do with how Democrats are lining up in the Texas standoff. White men for Obama. White women for Clinton. African-Americans 6 to 1 for Obama. Latinos nearly 2 to 1 for Clinton, who claims to identify with Latino voters' needs and aspirations. She's even got a new Spanish language theme song.
(on camera): How does the Democratic race look in the other three states voting on March 4th? Three Ohio polls show Clinton leading by an average of ten points. She has a 12-point lead in Rhode Island. But Obama has a big lead in Vermont. The Super Tuesday two states appear to be split. Just like the super Tuesday one states. Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: The Pakistani government pulls the plug and a YouTube blackout hits across the globe. How it happened? Veronica de la Cruz explains. Coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Lost and found. Tokyo police now overrun by too much stuff. CNN's Kyung Lah has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a city of 12 million people, things are bound to get lost. Disappearing into the urban vortex or maybe not. Cell phones, strollers, wallets with cash intact, and a wheelchair? However, it happened, what's lost is found in Tokyo's lost and found. Bagged, tagged, and itemized, millions of lost odds and ends are turned in every year to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. So much that it's too much.
Oh, yes, says Police Chief Takashi Ayuma (ph). It's forcing the police to officially shorten the time it holds lost items from six to three months.
(on camera): But perhaps the biggest challenge are the piles and piles of umbrellas that get turned in. There are 130,000 of them stored here at the lost and found collected just over the last few months. They are literally swimming in umbrellas.
(voice-over): Why do you keep track of so many umbrellas? Chief Ayuma seemed confused by my question. Why wouldn't they?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it's stolen, why would I call the police?
LAH: Ask a New Yorker and it's unfathomable. Not just tracking lost items in a giant city, but any one turning it in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very rare for someone to turn something in, especially cell phones though.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If my name and address wasn't inside of it, therefore, I had no chance of getting it back.
LAH: That's not the way it works in Tokyo says Atsuo Okino (ph). He got his track shoes back after leaving them on the subway. Naturally, he says, someone turned them in.
Returning what's not yours is a Japanese philosophy says Chief Ayuma thought to us when we were children. Perhaps, that's one reason Tokyo enjoys one of the lowest urban crime rates in the world. And why, even though, it's a struggle to maintain this, the police say they are still please to keep up the system that reminds its citizens honesty is a society's best policy.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.
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COLLINS: YouTube is still trying to figure it out. How did Pakistan manage to take down the Web site across the globe on Sunday? The two-hour blackout happened after Pakistan tried to restrict its own citizens from accessing the popular video sharing site. Our Veronica de la Cruz has the details.
Boy, yes, how did it happen?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, I have an update for you. We are learning, Heidi, that Pakistan's telecommunications companies have actually lifted that ban. So we're staying on top about that. But here's how it started.
The whole thing started with authorities in that country saying that they were worried about a trailer to a new anti-Islamic film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, Heidi. The trailer was posted to YouTube. Wilders has publicly described Islam as a fascist religion. So there in lies the problem. And that YouTube has since removed the clip for violating its terms of service.
COLLINS: Any word yet on what exactly caused the world wide blackout? Like technically, though.
DE LA CRUZ: OK. Stay with me here because it's a little technical.
COLLINS: Yes.
DE LA CRUZ: It's a little difficult to explain. But Pakistan ordered local Internet service providers to block access to the site. And then, experts say the way in which those companies set up the block caused providers around the world to mistakenly think the order was coming from YouTube itself. So Internet providers around the globe started redirecting traffic to YouTube to a so-called black hole. They call it a black hole.
And officials in Pakistan say it wasn't really their intention to block the site worldwide. And that's kind of how the whole thing happened. YouTube did release this statement. They said, "We are investigating and working with others in the Internet community to prevent this from ever happening again." Because, as you can imagine, people are saying, you know, the Internet is vulnerable. This probably could happen again.
Checking out the blogs, Heidi. A user from CNET was trying to put this in perspective. He said, "This was a hack by a country on a Web site." And then from our own blog on cnn.com sound off, Adam says, "If anyone surfs YouTube like I do, they'd be surprised to see the amount of anti-Islamic material on it. Blatant raw hatred to the religion in many forms. It's disgusting as a Muslim to see this."
Finally, this from someone named Tony. "If you cannot allow others to criticize, satirize, or otherwise comment on your religion, then you do not have enough faith in your religion. With strong faith, it wouldn't matter what others say. So that's what we found on the blogs, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. Well, has anything like this happened before? Is Pakistan really the only country to block YouTube?
DE LA CRUZ: No. Apparently, in January, a court in Turkey blocked the site because of material that they saw as offensive to the country's found father. Thailand also did so because of a similar reason. And the Web site is also been banned at one time or another in Morocco, Brazil, Myanmar and also in Syria.
COLLINS: Weird. All right.
DE LA CRUZ: But supposedly, it's back up and running. So something we're staying on top of.
COLLINS: OK. Very good. Thanks so much. CNN's Veronica de la Cruz. Thanks, Veronica.
Federal marshals track a fugitive. They found a scaly surprise.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not exactly what I want to do for a living.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: See you later, alligator in the NEWSROOM.
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COLLINS: You already know to catch us weekday mornings from 9:00 a.m. until noon Eastern. But did you know, you can take us with you anywhere you go on your iPod. The CNN NEWSROOM podcast available 24/7, right on your iPod.
Not your average fugitives. Four-legged critters nabbed in Ohio. Here now is Jordan Burgess with affiliate WDTN.
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JORDAN BURGESS, WDTN REPORTER: Police didn't need the cuffs when they captured these two, but a cage would have been nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Not exactly what I want to do for a living.
BURGESS: The U.S. Marshals So-Fast Task Force went looking for a man who they say violated his probation. But instead, found at this Norville Court home two four-legged fugitives with much sharper teeth.
JOSHUA HILLARD, U.S. MARSHALL: That's the first time I'm seeing alligator. That's for sure.
BURGESS: Of course, those gators didn't go quietly. Outreach for Animals had to come in to bring them to justice.
TIM HARRISON, OUTREACH FOR ANIMALS: It's becoming more common that people run across these exotic animals, especially in drug houses.
BURGESS: But the gators aren't expected to do any hard time. Harrison says they'll either be sent to a rescue facility in West Alexandria or the Kentucky Reptile Zoo.
HARRISON: We're trying to prevent this from happening. Keep these animals out of people's homes, the locations, so the police officers and firefighters are always the first on the scene. They are the ones who have to deal with these things.
BURGESS: But the gators weren't the only thing the task force discovered. They say they found cocaine in little caplets on a table and in a case behind two motorcycles, a couple of guns. That's on top of the two puppies they carried out and the car with suspicious plates. Now, they just need the man they came for, Devon Nelms.
HILLARD: This warrant might not seem, you know, the most severe out of the ones we're looking for. But, yes, we come here. And two guns are off the street. Cocaine is off the street. Got a stun gun off the street and two alligators seized.
BURGESS: Just another wild day for the task force.
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COLLINS: Strange.
Under fire in Iraq. It did the delay in Washington leave U.S. troops exposed? The marines want to know.
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COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Here's what's coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Clinton turning up the temperature on Obama. Will her strategy pay dividends in Ohio? Tonight, the debate in Cleveland.
What took this armored truck so long to get to Iraq? A marine say bureaucratic fondling may have cost American lives.
Grocery prices surging, don't get eaten alive. Our guest with supermarket survival strategy today, Tuesday, February 26th, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Presidential politics. It's a week that could shape the November showdown. CNN has learned former presidential candidate Christopher Dodd will endorse Barack Obama today. And the new poll shows Obama is winning supporters who used to back Hillary Clinton. He now leads among white men, middle income earners, and liberals.
The same poll shows Obama and Clinton locked in a virtual tie for overall support. Both candidates are stepping hard for next Tuesday's all important; they include the delegate-rich state of Texas and Ohio.
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