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American Morning
Severe Flooding in Texas and Missouri; Obama Speech: From Race to War in Iraq; Markets Rally: Stocks React to Fed Cut; Storm Delays: Flight Backlog
Aired March 19, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome. So glad you're with us this morning. It's Wednesday, March 19th. I'm Kiran Chetry along with Alina Cho. Rob Marciano from Atlanta, good to see you.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi. Glad to do it.
CHETRY: And Ali Velshi, of course.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A full house.
CHETRY: Yes, a full house, except for John Roberts who has the week off. But we're watching Wall Street again today. Ali has much better news and we're talking about yesterday, which is this 400-point rally. Some encouraging news as we follow issue number one for Americans. We're not out of the woods yet, but some positive signs this morning, and we'll be covering all of that for you.
And you may remember the story that we brought you last week about this very popular Web site for college campuses called juicycampus.com, where students go on and post really whatever they want, anonymously about their classmates whether it's true or not. Some of these posts very hurtful.
Well, an investigation now being launched, though we had talked last week about how there was really no legal recourse for what amounts to, you know, writing on the bathroom walls in the Internet pretty much. So we're going to talk about whether or not that's changing.
But we begin with extreme weather, and deadly rains, dangerous winds slamming north central Texas and much of the heartland. In fact, nearly six inches of rain fell in Dallas, flash flooding, closing streets and stranding drivers, forcing hundreds of people out of their homes. Emergency crews searched late into the night for a 14-year-old boy who was apparently sucked into a drainage pipe. This was in Mesquite, Texas, just east of Dallas.
Thousands of people had to spend the night at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Hundreds of flights were canceled, including every American Airlines flight out of Dallas. A control tower also briefly evacuated after a funnel cloud was spotted, and a foot of rain fell across parts of Missouri as well. In fact, in the town of Ellington, there were -- this was about 120 miles southeast of St. Louis, it was reportedly one of the hardest-hit areas. In fact, two people died in the storms and flooding there. Take a look at this. This is an SUV that was swept right off the road in southern Missouri. A driver being rescued by two guys in a FedEx truck pulling that man to safety. All of that captured on film. He was not hurt.
CNN's T.J. Holmes is in Ozark, Missouri, just south of Springfield this morning. I know you've been on the road all night. What is it like there this morning, T.J.?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, as soon as you started talking, you pretty much cued the rain here, Kiran. It's amazing that we made a trek from St. Louis, starting about 11:00 at night. We made our way over here about a 215-mile drive, about 3 1/2 hours or so, and it rained the entire time. It's not just light rain. It was coming down hard on us the entire time, so you can tell or we could tell at least that a good portion of this state was getting hit and getting hit hard for quite sometime.
Again, we are here in Ozark right now, where you can see behind me there's a bridge that is right now being blocked off because the rain waters came up so high, and the Finley River that's right underneath that bridge. You can also tell over my right shoulder here to there, that's also -- you can see a shed. That gives you a good idea of just how high this river has gotten at this point.
Now, around the state, we'll show you some other pictures here from all the flooding that has happened. You mentioned two are dead in Ellington, but also we've gotten word this morning from a state official that three people statewide have in fact been killed by all this rain that's been coming down.
Now, there's concern over the past couple of days, of course. The rain really started on Monday and had several inches as you mentioned. But they're concerned because right now more rain is coming down and also, this could go through out the day. So expecting up to possibly totals of 10 inches or more in some parts of the state. And that is not good.
So again, Kiran, we got hundreds of folks who have been evacuated from their homes all around the state, and it's expected to possibly get worse, Kiran, because just as you started talking, right on cue, here comes this rain. And just in a matter of seconds I've been talking to you, it starting to come down a little harder.
CHETRY: All right, T.J. We'll be checking in with you throughout the morning, keeping abreast of that situation. A tough one there in Missouri today due to that immense amount of rain. Thank you.
MARCIANO: Well, Jacqui Jeras is tracking this extreme weather event from the weather update desk. Jacqui, yesterday, the radar was lit up, covered across this area, any improvement expected today?
JACQUI JERAS, AMERICAN MORNING METEOROLOGIST: No, it's lit up again, Rob. Really from Texas all the way into the northeastern corridor. This is quite a storm and causing quite an impact. We're starting now here in Missouri.
There you can see Springfield and then there's where T.J. is in Ozark. And that rain continuing to move in from the southwest, moving towards the north and east. They can expect an additional quarter of an inch to a half of an inch on top of what they already have. There in Ozark, more than 4.5 inches.
Check out Cape Girardeau. Nearly a foot of rain since Monday. Springfield had about 6.5 rain, and we could see anywhere between one to three inches across parts of Missouri still ongoing. Now, flood watches and warnings continue to be in place from Dallas all the way up into the northeastern corridor. And once all this rain pushes into the northeast, we'll be concerned about not just the rain but a lot of its snow starting to melt off.
Severe weather on the southern tier of this with a tornado watch in effect across much of Missouri, and travel delays will be abundant today from the northeast all the way to parts of the south. So this is quite an incredible storm, and it's going to take days before it's out of here -- Rob.
MARCIANO: For sure, a developing weather story. Thank you, Jacqui. We'll definitely be checking back with you later this hour.
Well, President Bush will address the nation today as we move into the sixth year of the war in Iraq. Bombs from the shock and awe campaign started raining down on Baghdad five years ago today. President Bush meets with top military chiefs at the Pentagon at 10:00 a.m. And in his speech, he's expected to argue the battle is a fight America can and must win.
We have new numbers out this morning about what Americans think. A CNN/Opinion Research poll shows the shift in opinions. When the war started, 68 percent said the situation in Iraq was worth going to war over. Now, 36 percent say that. Nearly 4,000 Americans have lost their lives. More than 29,000 have been wounded. A number of vigils, protests and rallies are planned today. War protesters say they organized large rallies in Washington, New York, Miami and Los Angeles.
As for the Iraqis, a poll conducted this week for the BBC shows more than 50 percent say their lives are good. More than 60 percent of those surveyed say security in their area has improved since last year. We'll talk with our own Kyra Phillips live in Baghdad at 6:30.
CHETRY: Well, Barack Obama is in Fayetteville, North Carolina, this morning to deliver a speech on the war. It follows a major speech that he gave on race generating a powerful reaction today.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live in Philadelphia with the Obama campaign. And Suzanne, what has been the word and the feedback from that speech, that powerful speech, that Barack Obama gave yesterday?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, it certainly was a very important speech. It was a very ambitious speech. Barack Obama really tackling the whole issue of race relations in this country. He talked about black anger, white resentment, how some of this is occasionally expressed in the black church.
He also wanted to answer some of those questions about his former Pastor Jeremiah Wright. Some of the more controversial comments, the criticisms against the U.S. government. He once again repudiated those comments, but he also, too, wanted to make it clear to understand what his relationship is with his religious leader nearly 20 years or so. He wanted to put it out there, and he tried to explain it in a very personal way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother. A woman who helped raise me. A woman who sacrificed again and again for me. A woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world. But a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who have passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are part of me. And they are part of America, this country that I love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So Kiran, Barack Obama really using his biracial background to try to explain to people why it is that he had this relationship with the pastor, and at the same time, really trying to bring the country together. He really kind of came full circle, calling on Americans to deal with the sensitive issue of race.
He wants to talk about the economy. Obviously, he wants to focus on the Iraq war today. They want to move beyond the racial controversy. But they also made it clear as well, Kiran, that this is something that they are going to be willing to discuss. As difficult as it is, they believe that this is the beginning, they hope, of a dialogue on race -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us in Philadelphia this morning. Thanks.
Well, the Michigan primary do-over is in a bit of limbo right now. State lawmakers say that they won't move forward unless they get Barack Obama's support to hold another vote. Hillary Clinton is going to Detroit today to press the case for Michigan's delegates to be counted in this re-do of a primary there. The Obama camp says that a new vote isn't going to make any difference in the delegate fight.
Anderson Cooper is spending all daily today with Barack Obama on the campaign trail. You can catch Anderson's one-on-one with him tonight on "AC 360" 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
MARCIANO: The market rallies after the Fed rate cut. Could more help be in the works? Our Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business." Boy, they -- what happened to sell on? Buying the rumor, selling the news.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I don't' know what's going on yesterday. I tell you. That was quite a day. That was a fantastic day on the Dow. It was the best day in 5 1/2 years. I am not making this stuff up.
Take a look at that, 420 points. Now, about 200 points of that were sort of baked in right from the morning because Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs both came out with numbers that were better than Wall Street was expecting, particularly after, you know, with the problems we had with Bear Stearns. But after that Fed rate cut, look at that. That was soaring.
The percentage gains on the Nasdaq and the S&P were even better. Four percent in one day. That is pretty remarkable. So it's all over. The problem is all over. There's no recession. Stop worrying.
This is a good news day, except that we have a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll which does outline the concerns of Americans because obviously, one day on the market is not going to change things. And, in fact, in an economy like this you probably shouldn't pay too close attention to market gyrations because it's not the average American who's buying in and out of those markets. This is investments.
CHETRY: But we can sort of, I guess, move over the top of a really rough patch with the earnings from these big investment banks who had those mortgage concerns? I mean, are we going --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: There might be some -- yes, there's some sense that it is real, but maybe we've turned the corner on the investment crisis. But, you know, one never knows. These things lurk in dark nooks.
MARCIANO: Here comes the dark place.
CHETRY: He's describing himself right now.
VELSHI: Take a look. Take a look at what you guys are saying about the economy. According to CNN/Opinion Research poll, well, then -- you know what? Don't take a look. Let's just take a listen. I feel like I can probably tell you this better than show you this.
Sixty-five -- Americans are very concerned about the following things; 65 percent of you are concerned about the inflation rate. That jibes with what we've been hearing from people. Fifty-nine percent about unemployment rate. Forty-eight percent about the drop in home value.
Interestingly enough, number four on the list is the drop in the stock market. It's not the primary driver of concern about the economy. And I think that's actually good news, because most Americans shouldn't use the stock market as a gauge for how the economy is doing. But, by and large, it was a good day. Five years.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: How about it?
MARCIANO: Isn't that cool? Thanks, Ali.
CHETRY: Check in with you in about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, you're watching the "Most News in the Morning." The FAA cracking down on airline inspections. We're telling you what they're doing to make sure your next flight is a safe one.
And remember this? We talked about it last week, this Web site that really spreads rumors about college students. Now facing some scrutiny of its own. An update on juicycampus.com.
Plus, our huge story of the day. Extreme weather across several states. Look at the radar picture right now. We're going to be talking about some of the areas hardest hit. What it means for travel especially in the air today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Some new video coming into CNN right now to show you from our affiliate in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is KJRH. And, I mean, is that just pure --
MARCIANO: Saturation around?
CHETRY: Rain and saturation. MARCIANO: Yes.
CHETRY: It just causes that to happen. The roadway literally just crumbles.
MARCIANO: They saw inches and inches of rain in just a handful of hours, and that's the end result. Not only just in Tulsa, but across a huge swathe of the nation's midsection basically from Dallas all the way up to St. Louis.
CHETRY: That's right. And in fact, yesterday, there were at least 900 passengers of American Airlines ended up stranded in Tulsa, ironically because of bad weather and diverted flights coming out of Dallas-Fort Worth.
And it has been raining close to 24 hours in the Dallas area. Hundreds of flights canceled yesterday, and there are delays, of course, and cancellations racking up this morning as well. Airlines across the country backed up from this weather system that Rob was talking about.
Joining us now on the phone is Ken Capps. He's the vice president for public affairs at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Thanks for being with us this morning.
ON THE PHONE: KEN CAPPS, APR, V.P. PUBLIC AFFAIRS DFW AIRPORT: Glad to do it. CHETRY: I know your workers are scrambling yesterday trying to do everything they could to help people out, from distributing cots to baby supplies for families because the weather really sidelined a lot of those flights. What's the situation this morning, Ken?
CAPPS: Well, Kiran, it's still raining here at Dallas-Fort Worth. But we're hoping that the weather is going to vastly improve here in the next few hours. The airlines are hoping to get back to a regular schedule today, but, of course, there is literally a national backup of flights coming in and out of DFW. So it may take most of the day today to unwind.
CHETRY: What's your advice to people who are dealing with a flight that was already canceled, those that may be waiting around or trying to figure out how to get out of Dallas today?
CAPPS: Well, you know, we tried our best overnight. We tried to help this folks, kept concessions open all night long. We did, as you said, handed out baby supplies and cots. But I guess my best advice is just to keep on the Web site, and get in line today at the checkpoints and try to get back on those flights.
They are going to start flying again today, and the weather is vastly improving. But, you know, we had several thousand people in our terminals overnight that they're going to have to find a way out today.
CHETRY: Right. And then for the people who have flights scheduled today, perhaps they haven't already, you know, been stuck at the airport. Should they think about rescheduling?
CAPPS: They might. I mean, normally, the airlines have been really, really good over the last few weeks, as far as not charging any penalties. You know, we've had a really weird weather system going on here for the last couple of weeks. We had this terrible rainstorm yesterday that had two funnel clouds around the airport. It snowed twice 10 days ago. And so, everybody is trying to be very, very patient just knowing that we can't control the weather, but we can try to help out passengers the best we can.
CHETRY: Ken Capps, the vice president of Public Affairs at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, thanks for being with us this morning.
CAPPS: Thank you.
MARCIANO: It snowed just last week. Just a couple weeks ago, they had snow.
CHETRY: That's what he was saying. So snow, and then they actually shut on the control tower for a while because of some funnel cloud sightings.
MARCIANO: Yes.
CHETRY: So I mean, this is spring. You are in that part of the country, but it's been really crazy. MARCIANO: But he makes a good point. Alina, you know this. You can be proactive. You can call the airline ahead of time, say, hey, you know, maybe I should move my date of travel. And they're more than happy to deal with that.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Well, right. But I mean, rare. I mean, we see delays a lot. But it's weird (ph), 500 cancellations. It's creepy. I mean, shut down like that. I mean, this is incredible.
CHETRY: So you're in the worse trouble if you were diverted to Dallas or you had this layover in Dallas, you really have nowhere to go. You know --
MARCIANO: Oh, Dallas isn't such a bad place.
CHETRY: No I'm just saying you're stuck at the airport with kids.
MARCIANO: Alina here with more news this morning.
CHO: That's right. Talking more about planes, guys. Good morning. Good morning, everybody.
New this morning. The FAA is stepping up efforts to make sure you are safer in the air. Now, the government agency has ordered its inspectors to reconfirm that all airlines are complying with federal regulations. Inspectors have 10 days to make sure the airlines are following 10 so-called air worthiness directives. The move follows revelations that Southwest Airlines flew more than 100 planes without mandatory checks.
The White House has three days to explain why it doesn't have to keep e-mails. The order comes from a federal judge in a suit brought by two groups saying the White House didn't archive the e-mails as they should have. The White House has acknowledged it's possible as many as five million e-mails may have been lost. Those missing e- mails were discovered as part of the investigation into the leak of former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson.
Two British newspapers are printing rare front-page apologies articles to the parents of missing 4-year old Madeleine McCann for suggesting they caused her death. The move comes after the McCanns filed a lawsuit against several papers, "The Daily Express" and "The Daily Star," say there's no evidence to suggest the parents were involved in their daughter's disappearance. Both papers have also made substantial donations to the Madeleine fund. The 4-year-old disappeared during a family vacation last May in Portugal.
A new report gives the San Francisco Zoo a mixed review for its handling of that deadly tiger escape on Christmas Day. The report says the zoo's overall response was impressive, but it did criticize a staffer who at first did not believe two brothers when they reported the escape. Now, the brothers were injured in the incident. Their friend was killed. The report was conducted, by the way, by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
And here's a follow-up to a story we first told you about on Friday. New Jersey prosecutors want records from the Web site juicycampus.com. That Web site that lets college kids post comments about each other, often hateful things that may not be true. Our legal analyst Sunny Hostin spoke with a student who said she was called a racist on the site. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL ANALYST: What would you say if you could say something to the founder of juicycampus.com?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for screwing up my freshman year and making everybody think these things about me and they've never even met me, because obviously, it's going to taint the next four years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: A New Jersey attorney general says Juicy Campus may be violating the state's Consumer Fraud Act because it says it doesn't allow offensive material, but it does nothing to enforce the policy.
So, you know, really an open forum for these college students. But a lot of questions about, you know, what should be posted. As you mentioned, Kiran, you know, kind of akin to writing on the bathroom wall and it's really not regulated right now.
MARCIANO: What happened to the days when the Internet promised nothing but good things?
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: They're long gone, I would say.
MARCIANO: Clean entertainment.
CHO: Long gone.
CHETRY: You're right.
Well, eight co-workers from West Virginia flashing their multimillion dollar smiles. They claimed the powerball lottery jackpot. Their total take, $276 million. And they're still showing up for work. We're going to talk to them. Five of the lucky ladies coming up in our next hour.
Also, Barack Obama so-called race speech. Was it history making? Veronica de la Cruz takes a look at what the bloggers have to say about it all, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Time for your "Hot Shot" now. And how about this? Hanging out in low earth orbit. This is Astronaut Rick Linnehan. He's taking a space walk 200 miles above earth. It's so amazing to see those pictures, right?
MARCIANO: Look at that.
CHETRY: Every time it takes your breath away. He's putting the finishing touches on a $209 million robotic handyman. They do a lot of mechanical work up there.
MARCIANO: Yes. That's not real. That's a totally -- that's totally conspiracy theory. We didn't land on the moon either. That's amazing.
CHETRY: Well, we have picture proof. What do you think, he's like about 10 feet off the ground?
MARCIANO: He's in front of a blue screen. I know that trick.
CHETRY: All right. You do. You know it well.
MARCIANO: No, it's gorgeous.
CHETRY: This is all outside of the International Space Station, by the way, really cool.
MARCIANO: Wow.
CHETRY: And real.
If you have a "Hot Shot," send it to us, please, to our Web site CNN.com/am. Just follow the "Hot Shot" link.
MARCIANO: Most outstanding.
Well, eight lucky co-workers are millionaires this morning. They won the $276 million powerball jackpot. Get this. They say they plan to keep working at the County Tax Office in West Virginia because, well, it's tax season. The show must go on.
The lucky ladies must know their tax stuff too because they opted for the lump sum and each gets them about $12 million after taxes. The ring leader who usually buys tickets for the group says she had a good feeling this time around.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA FOMINKO, POWERBALL JACKPOT WINNER: This is the first time we actually put $5 in. It's usually $1 each. And this time, like I said, we had a feeling that -- I had a feeling we were going to win. One of the other girls has a dream we were going to win. I thought, let's try $5 this time, guys. And that's what we put in this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: And they're going to continue working at least through tax season. We'll talk to them and see if they're going to work the rest of the year as well.
CHETRY: How dedicated and wonderful. Good for them.
MARCIANO: Yes, that's fantastic.
CHETRY: They're not going to leave the others who aren't making millions in a lurch.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: You know what? Rob wouldn't give notice. He'd be gone like that.
MARCIANO: That's not true. I'd give 24-hour notice.
CHETRY: So sweet of you, Rob. But it still boggles my mind how it goes down from $276 million down to $12 million.
(CROSSTALK)
DE LA CRUZ: $12 million is not bad.
CHETRY: No.
MARCIANO: Uncle Sam tell you to save, you know.
CHETRY: Very true.
Well, Barack Obama's speech was the talk of the net this morning from his very personal speech on race in America. Veronica de la Cruz is watching what's being said online, gauging reaction on the Web this morning through that speech. Hey, Veronica.
DE LA CRUZ: Hey, good morning to you. You know, reaction obviously all over the Web this morning. The web ablaze with comments. We're going to go and start with the left blogger, James Fallows, from theAtlantic.com saying, "I don't recall another speech about race with as little pandering or posturing or shying from awkward points and as much honest attempt to explain and connect as this one."
Let's look at the flipside now. Kevin Holtsberry from redstate.com. He disagrees and sums it up by saying, "In the end, Obama isn't some brave leader speaking truth to power but a conventional liberal with an interesting story and a way with words."
Now, if you missed Obama's speech, you can read it all online at CNN.com. The transcripts and video all available there. You can also see what our own political analysts had to say. Gloria Borger says, "Politically, I believe he had to do it. You cannot be an African- American candidate for the presidency and not talk about race."
Roland Martin tells us, "The Reverend Wright controversy is now secondary. What Obama did was challenge America at its core."
And what exactly did the Reverend Wright say? If you want to go back and take a look, you know, Obama issued this speech as response to those comments. And since this issue has come to light, lots of people have been posting the video of the reverend to YouTube. You can also find his "Audacity of Hope" speech there at YouTube as well. But we want to hear your thoughts on all of this. We're asking you this morning, does race matter? You can send us your thoughts by logging on to ireport.com.
CHETRY: It also brings us to our "Quick Vote" question of the morning as well, on this very topic, Veronica, which is Barack Obama speech on race, do you think that he still has more to explain, or that he was able to put the matter, which is the controversy regarding the Reverend Wright's comments behind him? Cast your vote, CNN.com/am. We'll have the first tally of votes later in the hour. Veronica, thanks.
MARCIANO: You are watching the "Most News in the Morning." And weather tops our news this morning. We're tracking extreme weather. Rain, floods from the Midwest into the northeast.
And a unique perspective from the Iraq war and our correspondent Kyra Phillips. She was there when the bombs started falling five years ago. And U.S. soldiers today tell her if they think their effort was worth it. That's story and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. A shot of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this morning where it's 43 and cloudy, going up to 64. Showers are expected.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: Is that so?
CHETRY: Today. You know better than I do. Showers everywhere, right? New York City, too, the nation's capital?
MARCIANO: Yes, everyone should get a little piece of the action. Ben Franklin had to bring the umbrella today. Good morning.
CHETRY: Good morning. Good to see you. Rob Marciano with us here in New York today. And certainly fitting since our top story is extreme weather today.
Powerful storms hitting Texas and actually much of the nation's heartland. In fact, nearly 6 inches of rain swamped the Dallas area. Floodwaters spilling into the streets and roads. Emergency crews are still searching for a teenager, who they say may have been pulled into a drainage pipe in the Mesquite, Texas just east of Dallas.
The heavy rains also brought the Dallas Fort Worth Airport to a standstill. The airport spokesman said that it was one of the most vicious storms in years. Hundreds of flights grounded. American Airlines, in fact, canceled nearly all flights into and out of its busy hub.
A foot of rain also fell across parts of Missouri, where at least two weather-related deaths were reported. Ellington, Missouri, about 120 miles from St. Louis, one of the hardest hit. Severe flooding, road closed, and people forced from their homes. Heavy rains and flooding also widespread in Arkansas as well.
Our Jacqui Jeras is in our weather update desk this morning in Atlanta, tracking all of this for us.
Hi, Jacqui.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: Well, as the Iraq War enters its sixth year, this morning President Bush will again argue that the battle has been worth it. Speaking at the Pentagon, President Bush is expected to say removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision and that the war remains winnable.
But in the past five years, attitudes have changed. A new CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll shows a dramatic shift in opinion. When the war started, 68 percent said it was justified. But now, just 36 percent say so.
Nearly 4,000 soldiers have lost their lives. More than 29,000 have been wounded. Hundreds of protests, rallies and vigils will take place across the U.S. today and organizers say they're expecting a large turnout.
CHETRY: Well, today, we're taking a look at the five years of war from the impact on the economy to the presidential race. Our Kyra Phillips is live in Baghdad with a look at some of the progress that's been made and also the setbacks as well.
Hello, Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. And not only we're live in Baghdad, we're live in the International Zone. This has never happened before. Never have I been able to or any other reporter go live outside of our little fortified compound in the red zone, in our little live box, where you always see the dome behind us and we're sitting in a very comfortable spot with all our security around us.
This is the International Zone, formerly known as the green zone, where there is the minister of defense, the minister of the interior, who's in charge of the Iraqi police. There's the U.S. Embassy. There's various military bases. There are Iraqis that live in this compound. You know, there's blast vaults all around. It's security all around. And it's been known as probably the safest area in the Baghdad area.
But there was a time twice a day there would be mortar rounds coming into this area. Now, five years later, Kiran, very rarely are you seeing that type of action, mortars or rockets coming in here. And the fact that I'm here live right now tells you this is a sign of progress.
CHETRY: Yes, it is very interesting. You're right, you talk about the shot that we all got used to seeing out of Iraq because of security concerns. What is behind you right now? Looks like two swords? PHILLIPS: Yes, right. This is Saddam Hussein cross swords area. He actually -- you know, we all know Saddam Hussein had all of these various palaces and all these monuments dedicated to him and his cause. And these were created after the Iran-Iraq War. Now, there's been a lot of controversy to whether they won that war. Iran says it won the war, others say it was a stalemate.
But he had these swords created. An artist actually did the hands, an exact replica of his hands. And what he would do is he would stand from this observation deck over here. You may remember the infamous video of him standing on this observation deck, firing off his rifle. We've used that shot a million times on our air. And his military would walk back and forth in front of him and parade through here from the cross swords on one end to the cross swords on the other.
And during the first Gulf war, remember "Stormin' Norman," Norman Schwarzkopf? He actually wanted to take out these cross swords. And there was a lot of conversations between him and folks at the Pentagon, saying well it's not a military target, let's leave it. And then, he wanted to take it out. Finally, at the end of the day, they decided to leave it where it was because they didn't want to create any more controversy.
The same issue came up during this war, too. Do we blow it up? Does the U.S. not blow it up? And they decided to keep it because they didn't want to create any more rifts between the Sunnis and the Shiites here in Iraq.
CHETRY: Well, that's certainly a fascinating back story. You know, when we talk about the surge and you also mentioned the fact that you're seeing fewer and fewer mortars rounds being fired. While we've seen those types of improvements in the security situation accredited to the so-called surge, what about political progress? Has that been able to progress as well?
PHILLIPS: You know, that's one of the toughest things that U.S. military and Iraqi leaders are trying to achieve. And that's what Iraqis on the street are talking about when I mingle with them and go into the marketplace and go into their homes and talk. They're happy that there is no longer a dictator; that this is more of a free country and that they're working towards democracy.
But the problem is, you have all of these different voices, Kiran. All these different groups that want to be involved in the government process. And they can't seem to reconcile. They can't seem to come together and make a solid decision on where they want to take this country because each group wants to have dominant power.
So, here we are, five years later into this war. And that is one of the most implicated things is try to get a government with all of the various voices to agree on how to move forward in this country. And many of these leaders have never studied what a democracy is and how to move forward and conduct the Democratic government even the people here in Iraq.
CHETRY: Right.
PHILLIPS: So that is what is a constant part of the discussion on a daily basis.
CHETRY: And for the everyday Iraqi, things like wanting electricity and running water, I mean these are still big problems that they haven't been able to overcome, as well as corruption issues.
PHILLIPS: Corruption is huge. You talk with General David Petraeus. He and I talked about corruption from the oil industry to the housing industry. As a matter of fact, I'm working on a story right now about the corruption in the housing industry. You had Iraqis who owned homes, lived in nice areas.
And now you've got insurgents, members of al-Qaeda, militias coming in, and threatening them out of their neighborhoods, because they want control over these neighborhoods. And people are getting paid off left and right. And now, they're having to live in these abandoned areas called Hawashams (ph).
You know, they were wealthy families and now they have nothing. So corruption is a huge part of the culture. And that is one of the biggest obstacles when Americans are trying to work with Iraqi leaders and form something that's legitimate and fair and balanced.
CHETRY: Kyra Phillips with an inside look from Baghdad this morning. Good to see you. Thanks, Kyra.
MARCIANO: Cool shots, like when you took the -- finally took the cover up the lens.
CHETRY: I know. I'm glad we have a chance to see that. And she had an interesting back story about how the U.S. wanted to take out those swords.
MARCIANO: And you can tell that she's definitely excited to be outside of the walls just a little bit.
CHETRY: Exactly.
MARCIANO: Also in the Middle East, Senator John McCain is in Israel today meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. McCain is raising the alarm about Iran's influence in the Middle East. He's warning about the nuclear threat and terrorists training in Iran. McCain says he wants to work with European allies to control Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It would be a broad range of sanctions and punishments to the Iranians to help try to convince them that their activities, particularly development of nuclear weapons, is not a beneficial goal to seek.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: This is McCain's last day of his Mid-East tour. His first as presumptive Republican nominee for president.
Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential bid is being endorsed by Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha. His backing comes just weeks before the state's crucial primary. Murtha is a decorated Vietnam veteran and a vocal opponent of the Iraq war. Murtha says he and Clinton share a similar position on the war.
CHETRY: Well, Iraq may be the prime topic for the presidential candidates. But Barack Obama's speech on race is still reverberating on the campaign trail. It was prompted by the fiery, racially-charged rhetoric of Obama's long-time pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright. CNN's Candy Crowley now on how Obama confronted the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Incendiary sermon that his own church from his good friend and pastor threatened to undermine the premise of Barack Obama's campaign. He had to do this.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Do I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in the church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely.
CROWLEY: The statement was designed to ward off both the sound bites that had been heard and those that may be still to come from the sermons of Jeremiah Wright, the fiery pastor of Obama's church. He called Wright's words wrong and divisive. But Obama says he knows a different man than the caricature whose sound bites endlessly play on the airwave and across the Internet.
REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT, TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: Living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people.
CROWLEY: Where Obama who rarely talks about race, the speech was as sweeping as it was specific as politically risky as it was personally revealing.
OBAMA: I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother. A woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street. And who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
CROWLEY: It was a powerful speech, part history, part personal and very much on message.
OBAMA: if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
CROWLEY: The question is whether it was enough to put out the pastor's fire. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And Obama acknowledged that there is real anger stemming from the country's racial history. He called on Americans to help heal that racial divide. We have a programming note for you as well. Anderson Cooper spending all day today with Barack Obama, on the campaign trail. They will be in North Carolina. And you can see Anderson's one-on-one with Obama on "AC 360" tonight, 10:00 Eastern.
MARCIANO: Well, should the government police their kids' play time. One state is looking at a law that would keep violent video games out of their hands.
And we continue to watch extreme weather across several states. We'll continue to update the forecast and travel delays all along the way. Stay tune. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. If you're just joining us, here's what's new this morning. New video just in to us from Tibet. A new look at the protests there last week. An Australian tourist recorded the chaotic scene. As you can see there, Chinese tanks advancing the protesters were demonstrating against Chinese rule. Up to 80 people recorded dead.
Olympic organizers today say they will carry on with plans to carry the Olympic torch through Tibet. Taking the torch up Mt. Everest is part of the longest torch relay in Olympic history. An 85,000 miles, 130-day route.
Updating a story we first told you about yesterday about a dangerous crack in a stretch of Interstate 95 through Philadelphia. Repair crews working around the clock now. And officials say, they do hope to get the road open by tonight. Not tomorrow. They closed it yesterday after an inspector found a crack eight feet long and up to two inches wide in a support tower.
Heavy rain and flooding across the Midwest this morning. Check out this truck in a sinkhole near Oklahoma City. The driver said when he got to the top of the hill, well it looked like pavement. When he got there, the road which was weakened by heavy rain, of course, collapsed under him. Rescues were able to pull the driver out. The car doesn't look so good. He has some injures but he's going to be OK.
And a small plane makes a hard landing on a street in Mesa, Arizona. The plane lost power almost immediately after take off. A student pilot was at the crows. But thankfully, the instructor took over and was able to bring the plane down safely.
Neither of the people in the plane was seriously hurt. But the plane, as you can see there, was heavily damaged. And you can imagine the road was probably shut down for a while.
MARCIANO: Let me show you how to land this puppy on the highway. I mean, where is that in the manual?
CHO: Step aside, student.
CHETRY: That's what I'm here for.
CHO: That's right.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Alina.
MARCIANO: Ali Velshi here with top of the business news.
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. You know, in May, you're going to get your checks, those rebate checks, and everybody started clamoring for these checks already. They want your business. So it's about $106 billion that's going out in checks that are between $600 and $1200 a piece.
The National Retail Federation says about $43 billion of those checks will actually be used. People will go and spend them. Put them into the retail system. So who's competing for them? Remember, we've had some experience with this back in 2001 and 2002. So Lowes, one of the -- the second biggest home -- you know, renovation -- what do you call it?
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Home improvement.
VELSHI: Yes. That's what you call it.
MARCIANO: Clearly don't frequent.
VELSHI: Yes. My tool box has a checkbook and a hammer in it. So Lowes is considering trying to get -- they're considering allowing you to take your rebate check and cash it there. JCPenney is considering the same thing as well. But you can come in there which obviously, you know, it's like I got this check. It's kind of like a gift card. I'll take you to Lowes and do that.
Home depot is setting up this pitch about how to use your rebate check to buy things for your home that are more energy efficient.
CHETRY: Another upgrader, Home Depot.
VELSHI: Home Depot, upgrader, yes. So you can use, you know, for energy efficient light bulbs and things like that. So there's a sort of a pitch that use it to make your home more green.
The idea is that if retailers get you to spend this big chunk of money there, it's an opportunity. Particularly in economic downturn to gain your loyalty. It's more than just getting your $600, it's the idea that they're going to get you into some sort of things. You expect to see a lot more of that and pretty soon, it'll be pretty bracing. You'll see fliers and things that say come and spend your rebate check.
MARCIANO: Corporate America and the government working together.
VELSHI: That's right. They don't want you paying your credit off or saving their money. They want you using it at those home improvement.
MARCIANO: Improvement and upgraders.
CHETRY: There you go. Ali, thanks.
Also, don't forget all this week. CNN has coverage of "ISSUE #1." And that is the economy. Ali Velshi, Gerri Willis, and the CNN money team, everyday this week, noon Eastern, right here on CNN.
Still ahead, juicycampus.com lets college students post gossip about one another. But does the site make it too easy to destroy people's reputation based on lies. Well, one state thinks so. Do they have a legal fight though? We'll have that story coming up.
Under Fire. Lawmakers who want to protect your kids by policing the PlayStation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's OK as long as I don't do it on the streets in real life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Making violent video games illegal, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Violent shoot them up video games. Kids love them. Parents hate them. But do governments have the power to keep them out of your kids' hands. Well, CNN's Dan Lothian takes a look at a bill being considered in Massachusetts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 15-year-old Kenny Francois loves his video games.
KENNY FRANCOIS, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: They're fun.
LOTHIAN: Even the violent ones, his parent approve.
FRANCOIS: It's OK as long as I don't do it on the street in real life.
LOTHIAN: It's just virtual fun, huh?
FRANCOIS: Virtual fun, yes. LOTHIAN: But Boston Mayor Tom Menino is backing a bill that would make it illegal to sell violent video games to minors in Massachusetts. As Menino spokeswoman tell CNN the games can be as harmful to minor as pornography and should have the same level of restriction. That may sound extreme.
FRANCOIS: It should be parents' decision.
LOTHIAN: But to these two parents who already restrict what their children can play, it's another tool to make their job easier.
PHILLIP KLEIN, PARENT OF HIGH SCHOOLER: Putting obstacles in the way of kids getting this thing is a good idea.
THERESA KNOESS, PARENT OF HIGH SCHOOLER: Supporting parents in saying no to video -- that kind of video games is a great idea.
LOTHIAN: But passing a law that will make it much more difficult for minors to get their hands on these violent video games is easier said than done. It's been tried in many other states. But every single time, it's been knocked down.
Industry officials say failed attempts to restrict the sales of these games in states like Louisiana and most recently, Minnesota, prove that these efforts are not only unconstitutional but unnecessary.
RICH TAYLOR, ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE ASSN: There are many, many tools available to parents right now that will enable them to determine what they want and don't want their children to be accessing.
LOTHIAN: Like a reading system and enforcement at store which he says should already keep minors from purchasing the most violent games without parental consent. Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: A federal appeals court just Monday shot down a law in Minnesota that would have fined kids who bought mature or adult-only games. The court said the law went too far and said there was no proof that the games were bad for kids.
CHETRY: I'm looking at your full head of hair right now, and I'm wondering what you're thinking about this next story. It's a heads-up for men out there.
Apparently, an early warning that yo.u will go bald with a DNA test. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is going to show us. I just asked, though, why would you want to know early, right? And our state manager, Pete, said so you can live your life and marry the pretty girl now, and don't buy the convertible.
I mean, I didn't know guys thought about this stuff. Anyway, would you do it? If you could find out early, would you? We're going to talk more about this DNA test, coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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