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Violence Rages in Iraq as General Petraeus Heads Back to D.C.; Olympic Torch Relay to be Canceled?; Depression Raises Link to Alzheimer's; One-on-One Interview With Senator Hillary Clinton
Aired April 08, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Back from Iraq. General Petraeus brings his war report to Washington facing questions from the next possible commander in chief. Senator Hillary Clinton joins us live.
Wildfire. A symbol of peace at the center of a human rights fight. The Olympic torch coming to America, this hour.
Plus, race and class. Why black colleges are still the choice of this generation on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. Thanks so much for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. Coming up in just 15 minutes, we're going to be hearing from Senator Hillary Clinton. She has a huge day ahead of her as well. She, as well as Barack Obama and John McCain, are going to be questioning about General David Petraeus as well as Ambassador Ryan Crocker on the Iraq situation.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It is a big day on Capitol Hill today. Calls for a cease-fire in Baghdad are going ignored today as new fighting rages between Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army in Sadr City. Rockets and mortars are blowing up parts of the capital. The military says four more U.S. soldiers have died since yesterday.
All this as General David Petraeus returns from Iraq to try to convince Congress that the so-called surge is working. His latest report card in the war comes in front of several skeptical lawmakers and in front of the back drop of extreme bloodshed over the past couple of weeks. All three Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, as Kiran mentioned, will be there with their questions. And as Iraq becomes the focus on Capitol Hill today, Iran is making new noise today with an expansion of its nuclear program.
Barbara Starr is watching all of this now, and she joins me from the Pentagon. Barbara, the latest violence that we've seen in Baghdad and in many cities across Iraq, how much does it complicate the task of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker to convince Congress that things are getting better there?
BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, John, when both men walk into that hearing room later this morning, they know they are walking into political theater, but back in Iraq on the ground the military environment is very tough going right now. With this latest uptick in violence in Iraq, General Petraeus is left saying to Congress what he wants to say, which is that the surge is working, that enough troops on the ground now have given the Iraqis the time to engage in political reconciliation and get their security house in order.
But the reality on the ground in Iraq is this latest fighting shows Iraqi forces still have a long way to go. And as for political reconciliation, well, maybe some, but the fighting is very tough going against the Shia militias now led by Muqtada al-Sadr, and for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to help Petraeus make a convincing case, the Iraqi government has to show real progress against those militias, and so far that's not happening -- John.
ROBERTS: What do we know about the violence there in terms of how much it has increased in the last little while?
STARR: Well, it does go up and down certainly day by day, but by several key measures it has gone up over the last many weeks. Suicide car bombs, suicide vest bombs generally speaking, while they might have declined in the last few days, have been up since December. That's not good news. That means that there are these spectacular attacks, and they gain a lot of public attention.
And as we have been saying, tomorrow there is expected to be a major demonstration through Sadr City, through that Shia stronghold. Thousands of people expected to be there, and a lot of concern that that may spark another round of violence tragically.
ROBERTS: In fact, Barbara, just as you were saying that, an urgent cross from the "Associated Press" saying that two aides to Muqtada al-Sadr says that they are going to call off that mass rally amid rising tensions over the government crackdown. So we'll let you make a couple phones call on that and see exactly what the situation is there.
Barbara Starr for us from the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, thanks.
STARR: Sure.
CHETRY: Well, all three presidential candidates will be among those asking questions to General Petraeus today. Speaking to veterans in Kansas City yesterday, John McCain said that last year's troop buildup in Iraq has led to a sharp drop in sectarian violence, and he blasted his Democratic rivals for their plans to make a quick exit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To promise a withdrawal of our forces from Iraq regardless of the calamitous consequences to the Iraqi people, our most vital interest, and the future of the Middle East is a height of irresponsibility. It is a failure of leadership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: McCain, of course, is a strong advocate of the so-called troop surge in Iraq. He says that no candidate for president should be making promises that they can't keep if elected. Meanwhile, Barack Obama is accusing McCain of being wrong from the beginning about the war and pushing for an open-ended commitment. Hillary Clinton says McCain's stance on Iraq would mean four more years of "policy of continuing to police a civil war." She also said it's time to end the war as quickly, responsibly, and safely as possible.
So what is her plan to get out of Iraq? Well, we're going to ask her. Senator Clinton joins us live in just about 10 minutes here on AMERICAN MORNING.
And also, we have some breaking news out of San Francisco this morning. The Olympic torch, of course, making an appearance in that city. International Olympic Committee is going to be talking about the torch relay this week after some disruptions by pro-Tibetan demonstrators both in London and in Paris. And now, the IOC president is saying that there's no proposal right now to cancel the tour, but some members are calling for an early end.
The torch is expected to arrive in San Francisco this morning ahead of its only relay leg in North America tomorrow. And already, there were some arrests. The California Highway Patrol calling in for backup. The FBI ready to help, and the pictures are amazing when you look at them.
There were seven people arrested for this dramatic stunt on the Golden Gate Bridge. They scaled the cables and were able to attach that sign. It says "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet." That protest lasted several hours.
ROBERTS: It was really quite extraordinary watching them scale those suspension cables there yesterday and how they unfurled that.
CHETRY: And, I mean, how they were able to -- they figured out exactly how to keep it up there because it stayed.
ROBERTS: Almost like a parasail, isn't it?
Six minutes after the hour. Alina Cho here now with other stories new this morning. Good to see you. How are you?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good. We're doing well. Good morning, guys. We have a plan to fix the mortgage mess, but not everybody likes it. Good morning, everybody. New this morning.
A $15 billion plan for fixing the mortgage crisis could go to a vote in the Senate today, but first it's going to have to get past critics who say the bill actually increases the foreclosure rate. They're complaining about a $7,000 tax credit for people who buy foreclosed homes. They say it's going to give banks more incentive to foreclose. The Senate bill also includes tax rebates for the housing industry.
Well, with just a week to go to tax day, new concerns this morning about your private information and the security of IRS computers. Listen to this story. A new report says poor controls could allow a hacker or a disgruntled IRS employee for that matter to steal taxpayers' confidential information. Now, investigators didn't find any cases of wrongdoing, but they say a lack of oversight could mean someone could get your sensitive information and nobody would ever know about it. The IRS processes some 137 million returns.
Well, we know this happens with older children and adults. Now a new study shows infants who don't get enough sleep may be at a greater risk for obesity. The Harvard University study found that babies who slept less than 12 hours a day were twice as likely to be overweight by the age of 3. And if they watched TV for two or more hours a day, well, their risk increases even more. The study's author says this is the first to examine the link between obesity and very young children.
A beer recall to tell you about this morning. The maker of Sam Adams is recalling 12-ounce glass bottles because they may contain little bits of glass. The company found the problem during a routine bottle inspection in Cincinnati. Sam Adams says the number of bottles that actually contain the glass, well, is significantly less than one percent, but that's still a lot.
If you want to know if you're affected by all of this, check the bottom of your Sam Adams bottle. Look for that code right there, N35, you see it circled in red, followed by OI (ph).
Finally, there's joy in Jayhawk nation this morning. The University of Kansas beat Memphis to win the NCAA basketball championship. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: To extend the game. Collins driving, almost lost the handle. Chalmers for the tie. Got it!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Oh, the Jayhawks hit that three-pointer with just two seconds left in the game, tied it, went into overtime. They went on to win it 75-68. That dramatic come-from-behind victory triggered, as you might imagine, lots of celebrating overnight in Lawrence, Kansas.
There you go. And there you see it. It's Kansas' third national title, but their first in 20 years.
CHETRY: They went into rank number one, and they won?
CHO: That's right.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: How about that?
CHO: Sixty-five teams whittled down. And, yes. Perfect. Yes, that's right.
CHETRY: Thanks a lot, Alina.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: There's some new research suggesting that people with depression are more likely to get Alzheimer's disease, and those who suffer an episode of depression were 2 1/2 times more likely to actually develop Alzheimer's.
Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the medical update desk with more on this link between depression and the memory loss that we know as Alzheimer's.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, and oftentimes it's sort of thought of going the other way, meaning you develop Alzheimer's and then develop depression. But this new study is saying just the opposite. That, in fact, depression might be a risk factor and a clue in fact as well that people might develop Alzheimer's later on in life. It was interesting. Take a look at some of the numbers here.
Overall, if a person was depressed, 2.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's. But even more interesting to me was that if you develop depression before age 60, it was actually four times, four times greater link of developing Alzheimer's later on. So that was sort of interesting. That's sort of the gist of the study.
Why exactly this occurs is harder to say. As you know, as a lot of people know, Alzheimer's is sort of characterized by these clumps, if you will, that sort of deposit themselves in the brain. You have these -- they're called neurofibulary tangles and plaques. You don't need to know the name, but they sort of deposit themselves in the brain.
What is interesting is that a lot of people may have lots of these clumps and have no dementia, and other people may have very few and have lots of dementia. So the question is what is different? And that is where the depression comes into play.
Could depression and the associated high levels of what is known as cortisol, a stress hormone, somehow accelerate the Alzheimer's disease? That seems to be one theory. Or it could be that the mechanism that causes depression and Alzheimer's is the same. Unclear, but depression first and then Alzheimer's later on, Kiran.
CHETRY: That's very interesting and along the same topic of Alzheimer's, another interesting study out talking about a potential blood test that could give you earlier warning if you're at risk of possibly getting Alzheimer's down the road. What do you think of this?
GUPTA: I think the jury is still out on this. I have done a lot of digging into this. The test that you're talking about is called NuroPro, N-U-R-O-P-R-O. It's an Oklahoma-based company that's making this. Basically what they've said is they've looked at a lot of people with Alzheimer's and tried to find specific proteins that seem to be consistent among all these people with Alzheimer's, and they're trying to figure out if they can actually detect those proteins early in life.
Could it be a clue or a test, if you will, that the person is going to develop Alzheimer's? Not sure. You can definitely test for those proteins. How accurate it's going to be, we don't know. It's still on trials right now. We'll certainly going to keep an eye on that, though, Kiran.
CHETRY: Sounds good. All right, Sanjay. Thanks.
GUPTA: All right. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Twelve minutes after the hour. You're watching the most news in the morning. Extreme weather on the move right now in the heartland. Rob Marciano tracking it for us. He's got a report just ahead.
And Hillary Clinton says it is time to end the war in Iraq as quickly, responsibly, and safely as possible. We'll ask her about her plan for getting out of Iraq when she joins us live straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be on the panel questioning General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker today as they deliver their progress report on Iraq. Senator Clinton joins us now from Washington. Senator, it's good to see you again.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, John. Nice to talk with you.
ROBERTS: Senator, it's the first opportunity we've had to talk to you since your chief adviser's role was somewhat modified. Let's say, I read some reports about it. I was curious. How angry were you and your husband when you learned that he had had that meeting with the Colombians?
CLINTON: Well, John, we took appropriate action in the campaign. Obviously, I am against the Colombian free trade deal. I have been against it. I've spoken out against it. I intend to vote against it, and the important thing is our campaign is really putting forth solutions about new trade policies and new ways of improving the economy, and that's what I'm going to stay focused on.
ROBERTS: How much pressure was there from the union side of things to fire him? Gerald McEntee of the AFSCME Union says that he called you over the weekend and said hey, you got to get rid of this guy.
CLINTON: Well, I heard from a number of my friends, but I had already determined what the action we were going to take and we took it.
ROBERTS: Right. CLINTON: You know, I'd point out that the real concern of the American people is not who says what in the campaign that they never really follow that. It's what does the person who is running for president believe, what have they always come forward with. And I've been very consistent on my commitment to a new trade policy for America.
ROBERTS: Optics and relationships though are also very important in a political campaign, and the fact that he still remains on the payroll, though, in a diminished role and with free trade being such a sensitive topic in the state of Pennsylvania, could the fact that he is still attached to the campaign hurt you there on the 22nd?
CLINTON: Oh, I don't think so, because I think people want to know where I stand. And I find it kind of curious, you know, we took action, and I think it was appropriate. Contrast that to Senator Obama's campaign, where as far as I know, nothing was ever done when one of his top economic advisers representing the campaign, unlike Mr. Penn who is not representing the campaign. But Mr. Obama's representative told the Canadian government basically not to pay any attention to what Senator Obama was saying about NAFTA, and I haven't seen any action taken in that campaign.
So I think that, you know, what's important is, you know, where the candidate stands...
ROBERTS: Right.
CLINTON: ... and where you know the candidate stands, and you'll be able to see where I stand. I'll be voting against the Colombia free trade deal.
ROBERTS: Well, some people might say that Senator Obama saw the consequences of what happened there in the state of Ohio when they held their primary.
Let me switch gears and go to Iraq here because you're going to be on the Armed Services Committee this morning in the Senate along with Senator McCain which should provide some interesting insights today into how you're thinking on this topic going ahead. Big spotlight moment for you there. What do you want to ask General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker? And will the fact that this is such a spotlight moment affect at all the questions you ask or how you ask them?
CLINTON: You know, John, I'm really not thinking about that so much as I am thinking about how we're going to end this war and bring our young men and women home, and rebuild our military and put the spotlight where it needs, which is the fight against extremism and terrorism and particularly turning attention back to Afghanistan, where I think it rightly belongs, as well as handling a lot of the other pressing matters that have been put on the backburner by the Bush administration.
ROBERTS: Right. So what do you want to ask them this morning? CLINTON: Well, I'm going to, you know, ask what's the way forward? A year ago we were told that this action by the president would give the Iraqi government the space and time to make the decisions it had to make. Even General Petraeus, a few weeks ago, said that hasn't happened. We haven't seen the Iraqi government stepping up.
How much longer is this supposed to go on? A year from now if I'm the president, we're going to begin ending American military involvement in Iraq. I think that's the right decision for America, for our military, and for the Iraqis who have to come to grips with the fact that, you know, it's up to them to decide how to use the freedom that they've been given.
We cannot impose a military solution. That's obvious, and there doesn't seem to be much evidence that they're willing to take that responsibility. And I don't think they should get a blank check from the United States any longer.
ROBERTS: Ambassador Crocker is expected to say this morning that there is political progress finally being made there in Iraq at the same time that General Petraeus and other generals at the Pentagon are very concerned that this increased fighting between the Mahdi militia and the Iraqi forces may end up destabilizing the government, that they are worried that the Iraqi military is not fully capable of taking on these militias. If you were to proceed with your plan, a beginning to withdraw forces a year from now, could you risk losing the whole thing because the Iraqi military is not strong enough to take on the Mahdi Army?
CLINTON: Well, it's not ours to lose, John. That's the whole point. You know, the brave young men and women of the American military have given the Iraqis the greatest gift that they could receive, namely, you know, freedom to make their decisions about how they're going to go forward. What's happened in the last year has not really resulted in much positive change. You just accurately described all the difficulties there.
We saw in the fighting around Basra, which is now moved into the fighting in Baghdad. You know, what is our responsibility? I, frankly, think we have done all we can do, and the best signal we could send the Iraqis is that we're not going to give them a blank check. And as we withdraw, they have to take responsibility.
Continuing to prop them up and continuing to make excuses for them and continuing to say what if, what if, what if, well, one thing we know for sure is staying there has bogged us down, has undermined the capacity of our military to meet other needs, has taken our attention away from very serious problems elsewhere in the world, in particular in Afghanistan, and has cost more than a half a trillion dollars and more than 4,000 lives.
ROBERTS: Right.
CLINTON: I just don't see the point. And everybody can talk about, oh, well, what will happen if we leave? Well, look at what's happening while we're there. You know, you can't with a straight face say that the promise and the rationale of the surge has been achieved. It hasn't.
ROBERTS: We look forward to that hearing this morning.
Let me switch gears and talk to you about the primary season for a second, if I could. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, had said he would like this whole nominating process to be over by July the 1st. Is that a fair date for you?
CLINTON: Well, I don't know. Is he going to resolve in a fair way what the voters of Michigan and Florida deserve to have and that's their votes counted? You know, I think that, you know, we have a primary process. We're proceeding with it. I think that's exactly what we should be doing.
We have two major states who are in limbo despite the fact that they voted, and their votes were certified by their respective secretaries of state.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Do Florida -- do Florida --
CLINTON: And I was willing to do -- I was willing to do a re- vote in both states and Senator Obama was not. So, you know, I think that if we don't resolve those, then we'll be going forward to the convention.
ROBERTS: So are you saying here and now that Florida and Michigan have to be resolved before the nominee is decided?
CLINTON: I think that it's too close a contest. You know, and I don't believe a nominee who doesn't go into the fall election with Michigan and Florida in a competitive position because we've treated the voters of those states appropriately has the legitimacy to really make the kind of campaign that we need in the fall.
ROBERTS: All right. So if a nominee is to be decided, it has to include Florida and Michigan's delegates first?
CLINTON: Yes, it does, and I think that is -- you know, odd for the Democratic Party to be disenfranchising any voters anywhere, but particularly in two states that are so important to our electoral prospects in the fall.
ROBERTS: Senator Clinton, it's good to talk to you. I wish I had more time, but we never do with these things.
CLINTON: I do too, John. But I'll look forward to seeing you again.
ROBERTS: All right. Very soon, I hope. Thanks very much.
CLINTON: Thanks a lot.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, we have some breaking news right now about the Olympic torch. It just touched down in the United States in San Francisco a moment ago. Of course, we've seen troubles both in London and France with the arrival of that Olympic torch. So could this be the end of the road for it and for that ceremony? Well, we're going to talk about it coming up and get a live report.
Also, extreme weather this morning. Watches up in Tornado Alley today, and Rob Marciano tracking it all for us from the weather center, just ahead.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Almost 7:30 here on the East Coast, and Rob Marciano is at the weather update desk tracking extreme weather in Tornado Alley this morning. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kiran. Yes, and this is not going to be the first or the only day I should say this week. We're going to ramp things up and increase the danger, I think, as we go through the next two or three days actually. Here it is this morning, though.
We do have a tornado watch that's in effect until 11:00 later on this morning. That's the red box. The yellow box is severe thunderstorm watch out that will expire a little bit in the next couple of hours.
But severe thunderstorms are rolling through eastern parts of Oklahoma here. Some of these have had a history of having quarter- sized hail. When you see that purple and that right through there, that's when you know you got some hail. Also, 60-mile-an-hour winds are possible with these particular storms.
Cherokee, Delaware, and Adar County, that's where the severe thunderstorm is right now and heading to the east, cooking along at 40 miles an hour. Also, we have seen a tremendous amount of rain back through the Tulsa area. Two to four inches has already fallen. So flash flood warnings are in effect as this heavy rain and wind maker rolls through eastern parts of Oklahoma.
Also, some heavy rain across parts of Kansas. And here is where the action is going to be as we push through the rest of today. It will move east, of course, into Arkansas, Louisiana, and the mid- south. Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: All right. Continue to follow that throughout the morning. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes.
ROBERTS: You are watching the "Most News in the Morning." The new violence in Iraq making the job of the top commander much more difficult. In about two hours, he is set to go before lawmakers. We're going to talk with General Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about what General Petraeus is expected to say today and the overall situation in Iraq.
And the Olympic torch now on American soil, and officials are expecting it will be greeted by big protests when it makes its run tomorrow. Now comes word that the rest of the relay could be canceled. You're watching the most news in the morning on CNN.
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JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Breaking news to tell you about on this Tuesday, April 8th. Good morning. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. John Roberts together with Kiran Chetry.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: Yes. We're talking about the Olympic torch as it makes its stop now officially in the United States, just arriving in San Francisco. And this is the only North American leg for the international torch relay, a relay that's certainly been plagued with problems and protests, and now word that the rest of the relay may actually be scrapped. Our Kara Finnstrom is at San Francisco International Airport with new details this morning. Some tough decisions for the IOC and what they're going to do in light of this high profile protests that had been taking place in many of the cities. Kara.
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Definitely, they are expected to discuss that on Friday, but, of course, the relay going to be taking place much before that, actually on Wednesday. Now, just about an hour ago we did get confirmation that that plane carrying the torch did touch down, and we are just getting in some videotape right now that we want to share with you of the flame actually being brought off of a chartered airplane into this terminal at San Francisco International. It will actually be put on the relay tomorrow, and all of the events leading up to that are expected to really cause some security concerns around here.
But the arrival of that torch here this morning, very low key. From what we can see, there was a lot of extra security around the airport just as a precaution. But again the plane has arrived here in San Francisco. Now, we did speak with David Perry. He is a San Francisco Olympic torch relay organizer. And he did confirm for us that one of the 80 people who was selected to carry that torch throughout San Francisco has now dropped out. He would not elaborate on the cause or the reason why that person made that personal decision, but he did say that he would understand why any person in light of all the chaos that unfolded in Paris and in London, the arrests there, the actual grabbing of the torch away from some of those torch bearers would cause anyone who would be taking part in this torch relay to drop out.
So, we have confirmation of that and also confirmation that this torch has actually landed here in the San Francisco area. Back to you.
CHETRY: And Kara, I'm sure you couldn't have missed the video from yesterday when the protesters actually scaled the Golden Gate Bridge and we have that video as well and were able to hang that humongous -- it almost, as John described it, looks like a parasail if you will along the cables of the bridge. It seems that this is very organized, these protests that have been taking place, and that certainly attention grabbing across the country.
FINNSTROM: Yes. Three people actually scaled that Golden Gate Bridge yesterday. Another four people arrested on the ground. And you're right. That is exactly the word we would use to describe it, very organized protest. These people had had helmets, harnesses. They actually - it was with a dangerous maneuver. They scaled this bridge and hung this huge sign.
We have some big names coming into this area today. The Archbishop Desmond Tutu as well as actor Richard Gere are going to be taking part in some of these protests. So, this is highly organized, but there is also some concern there may be some violence on the streets because of the large nature, thousands of protesters coming into this area. So security here going to be very much beefed up, extra firefighters as well as ambulances along the route just as a precaution.
CHETRY: Kara Finnstrom for us in San Francisco this morning. Thanks. Also, you can follow the torch and all the news on the protest by logging on to our Web site cnn.com/olympics.
ROBERTS: Violence is raging in Baghdad, some of the worst bloodsheds seen in this sixth year of war, all as the U.S.'s top general reports to Capitol Hill today. General David Petraeus will be joined by U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. And again, there are serious concerns that the political process is far behind the security situation. State Department correspondent Zain Verjee joins us now live from Washington. Good morning, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN, STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Remember the Iraq benchmarks? Remember that word we heard a lot about? Those were the key goals the U.S. wanted to meet in Iraq. Well, we took a look at the main ones just to see how much progress has been made.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE (voice-over): The U.S. military surge was supposed to give Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki and other Iraqi leaders breathing space to stop arguing and work together. But progress is painfully slow. A new report from the U.S. Institute of Peace warns without political progress, the U.S. risks getting bogged down in Iraq for a long time to come.
PHEBE MARR, POLITICAL ANALYST: There is a profound struggle for power going on among communities, among political parties which, frankly is not going to come to any end on our time table.
VERJEE: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been on the ground four times since January of last year. Too few, her critics say, leaving most of the prodding to her ambassador, Ryan Crocker. The Bush administration admits key benchmarks have not fully been met. The U.S. urged changes to Iraq's constitution to attract more Sunni's into the Shia-led government. Aside from forming a review committee, nothing has happened.
Iraq's parliament voted to allow former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party back in government. But the new law only applies to low level party members. Washington pushed provincial elections to empower local leaders, but factional disagreements have slowed that down. The Iraqi government is beginning to share oil revenue, but hasn't nailed down a long-term deal. And President Bush wants Iraqis to spend $10 billion on reconstruction. The government spent only a small fraction of that.
MARR: Reconciliation isn't going to come by sitting down at a table and signing a paper. It's going to come over the long term after quiet, after cutting deals.
VERJEE: The U.S. points to progress outside the capitol, where provincial leaders from different factions are cooperating.
PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You know sometimes it requires grassroots politics to get the folks in central government to respond.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: But it may take a long time to come. Iraq experts at the U.S. Institute of Peace say that U.S. expectations, John, are just too high, and they're predicting lasting political progress could take something like five to ten years of full unconditional commitment. John.
ROBERTS: Zain, of course, the big complaint regarding Iraq and the surge is that while there has been an increase in improvement in security, there hasn't been a similar increase in improvement in the political process. What is Ambassador Crocker expected to say on that front today?
VERJEE: Well, he's expected to say that the political progress really lies on the local levels and admit that look, it has been kind of slow but it is considerable, it is there, and they're moving in the right direction. But frankly, that has not filtered up to the national level. Many critics would say that there's too much factional disagreements for that kind of political reconciliation the U.S. really wants to see happen.
ROBERTS: All right. Zain Verjee for us this morning from Washington. Zain, thanks very much.
And that brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. We're going to hear from the general about Iraq, but what is your assessment of how things are going over there? Right now, 10 percent of you say we should give it more time. 5 percent say it's improving but not fast enough. Look at this though, 85 percent say it's a no- win situation for America. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll continue to tally your votes throughout the morning and we also want your e-mails as well. Give us your thoughts, drop us a line at cnn.com/am and let us know what you think. We'll start reading them in about 15 minutes' time. We'll have our first round this morning. CHETRY: It's a topic of conversation today for sure. The Iraq war coming to Washington today. And as we've said, the violence is still raging in Baghdad in Sadr City. The top commander must make his case before lawmakers about the surge and about where the country goes forward from here. Well, General Richard Myers will be joining us live to tell us what we can expect during the showdown today on Capitol Hill. He is the former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, and he's going to be talking to us coming up in just a couple of minutes.
Also, what makes a student choose Howard University over Harvard University. We're kicking off a tour of historically black colleges and asking what draws students there today, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. 41 minutes past 7:00 here on the east coast, and here on the east coast today, at least in Washington, there will be a lot of focus on Capitol Hill, and that's when the top two Americans in Iraq give lawmakers a progress report. Their testimony is going to be coming as the military reports a 90 percent drop in ethno-sectarian violence from June of 2007 until last month. Also a 70 percent drop in coalition and civilian casualties since the middle of last year to now.
However, the news not all good, of course. We've been talking about this recent spike in violence as well. And that's only complicated the job of General David Petraeus who must tell lawmakers how the war is going. And among the senators he will be reporting to today, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain, expected to be quite a showdown when all three have the opportunity to ask about the current and future situation in Iraq.
And who would know better than someone who led the entire effort, the top commander in the military, joining me now from Washington, D.C., is General Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General, great to have you with us today. Thanks so much for being with us.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, FMR. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Good morning.
CHETRY: Now, we have all of these numbers and unless you're there and unless you are able to see it in the larger view, it sometimes is difficult to gauge progress, but can you give us an overview on the successes and the challenges that still lie ahead as we look at Iraq today?
Well, I think in the security front you covered some of the statistics. I think the ethno-sectarian violence was sort of the impetus for the surge, and now it's that violence that was out of control is now pretty much under control. American casualties have come down by a large extent as well. So I think from a security standpoint we've set the conditions for the Iraqi political process to make some progress, and on that front I think what you will hear from Ambassador Crocker today is that there has been some progress.
In parliament, they passed four of the six big laws that they wanted to pass, amnesty, the de-baathification issue and so forth. They passed those laws and provincial elections and so forth. So, there has been progress. You can argue that it's not fast enough but I just remind people that this government has been in power now in Iraq for two years, approximately two years. They haven't gone as fast as most would want, but they have made progress. But a lot of that is still fragile actually.
CHETRY: And some of the increase in recent violence has shown what appears to be an inability by the Iraqi government and military to be able to get a handle on these militias, the Shiite militias. How does that situation get remedied?
MYERS: Well, I think there's two points of view here. One is, you know, a year ago the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Maliki, wouldn't go after the Shia militia. The Shia Sadr's militias were a big part of his political base. And here we are today where he has had the political courage to go after the Shia militias. The second point is that he did it in a way that was uncoordinated and didn't have, I don't think, the desired outcome. And so the violence now, Shia-inspired violence, is a little bit higher than it had been.
But the political points he gained with the Kurds, with the Sunnis and with a lot of the Shia, I think bode well probably for further action in Parliament to pass the remaining Carbon law and so forth and say in the demarcation line between the Sunnis and the Kurds up north, to get those two remaining laws passed and set this country on a path for more progress.
CHETRY: A lot of the criticisms when it comes to saying when we're going to leave is that we can't really give a timetable for the enemy, let them know when we're closing up shop and leaving. Is there any way, however, to set not benchmarks per se, but actions that need to be accomplished by the U.S. -- by the Iraqi forces that can mean U.S. forces can leave? Meaning, what are some of the things that need to happen both politically and also within the Iraqi military so that our guys don't need to be there?
MYERS: Well, I think that would be the judgment of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff here. You may be aware that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been heavily involved in all of this along with the folks in theater, General Petraeus, Ambassador Crocker, and the President. They've met several times here just recently. And I think what they've been doing is - part of what they've been doing is setting those benchmarks, so they know when there's enough progress made where they can continue to reduce our troop strength there and so forth. I think we have seen better but still uneven performance by Iraqi security forces, but clearly better, and much better than when I left office.
They're stronger, they're better equipped. More importantly, you know, a lot of the funding for Iraqi security forces has been on the back of the U.S..
CHETRY: Right.
MYERS: And now that's transferring to the Iraqis. As a matter of fact, as they start to fund that, I think this year they hope to fund 100 percent of their security needs.
CHETRY: Let's hear what some of the presidential candidates have said. Barack Obama releasing a statement yesterday, General Myers, saying that "it's a failure of leadership to support an open-ended occupation of Iraq that has failed to press Iraqi leaders to reconcile." Also talking about how it's "put a strain on our military families, set back our ability to lead the word, and made the American people less safe."
Now, when asked back in September, are we safer? General Petraeus said he didn't know. Are we any closer to knowing whether or not we're safer in America because of what's happened in Iraq?
MYERS: My personal view is that we are safer. It's always been by view and I think it's supported by the intelligence that I used to see. I don't see it anymore, that we are safer because of our activities in Iraq. It certainly has been a place where the Al Qaeda and their ilk have rallied too, and they have been dealt severe blows in Iraq, and I think it also dealt severe blows to their whole ideology and their whole theory of what they were trying to do. Those same people, if they weren't in Iraq, they would be plotting to kill men, women, and children around the world, and that's just the fact.
And I think people need to look at Iraq in the broader context of what it means to our security, and I think it has a lot to do with our security, and I think if we left Iraq in chaos, that we would have an emboldened adversary as it would be very, very dangerous and very, very hard, much harder to deal with.
CHETRY: General Richard Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Thanks for your time this morning. I'm sure you'll be watching today as well when the Senate Armed Services Committee hearings get under way at 9:30 Eastern time here on CNN. General, thanks.
MYERS: Thank you.
ROBERTS: You can also watch those on cnn.com/live and this afternoon too, it's the Senate Foreign Relations committee.
CHETRY: 2:30.
ROBERTS: ... will be appearing before. And we'll have all of that for you.
We sent our Chris Lawrence back to school. He's taking a tour of historically black colleges as part of our series "Black in America." What draws students to those campuses today? Chris' live report is coming up next.
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ROBERTS: Eight minutes now to the top of the hour. CNN is going back to school as part of our "Black in America" series. We are touring historically black colleges. Why were they founded and what's the draw today? AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is on the first stop of CNN's campus tour. He joins us now from the campus of Florida A and M University in Tallahassee. Good morning to you, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John. You know, the "Black in America" tour and the Black College tour is really an interactive experience where students and teachers are informing us just as much as we're telling them. This is just a little bit of what you're going to be seeing on about half a dozen college campuses across the country.
First up, we wanted to take a look at some of the severe economic problems that are facing the black colleges and whether at this point it's still worth trying to solve them.
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LAWRENCE (voice-over): Historically, black colleges have produced some of the icons of black history. From actors to astronauts. A Supreme Court judge and a supremely talented talk show host. Today some schools are thriving. Others are almost broke, and most fall somewhere in between. Compare with big state universities, the black colleges face a huge disparity in state funding, and President Bush has proposed cutting $85 million in federal funds this fall. And since they were founded to educate black students who couldn't attend white schools 100 years ago, some have questioned whether they're even relevant today. Is there something special about these schools?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is.
LAWRENCE: Monique Gillum chose Florida A & M over traditional liberal arts colleges. She says she didn't want to repeat high school where hardly any of her advance placement classmates look like her.
MONIQUE GILLUM, FAMU STUDENT: Now I'm at a campus where there are over 12,000 students who are just as determined, just as intelligent, take school just as seriously as I do. And it's a good feeling to be around that.
LAWRENCE: Administrators say black colleges welcome high achievers and poor students with marginal grades who might not be accepted anywhere else.
DR. JAMES AMMONS, FAMU PRESIDENT: And you will find a disproportionate share of limited resource students at the historically black colleges and universities than you do at the predominantly fine institutions.
LAWRENCE: Tuition at black colleges is typically lower than traditional white schools. In the past 30 years they added professional schools of medicine, business, and law. That combination attracted a more diverse student body. And historically black schools are now about 12 percent white.
AMMONS: I don't see it as a threat. In fact, I look at diversity as a strength.
VERJEE: Monique says she's a stronger student because of her professors' personal attention.
GILLIUM: I can go to any arena. I can go to any area and I can compete with some of world's best has to offer. And I'm not afraid of that. There's a confidence that you gain here that I may not have had in high school.
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LAWRENCE: Now, the Bush administration says that some of that money is being redirected to PEL grants so students will still be able to use it in some way. A lot of the colleges are saying that honors programs, tutors, even efforts to recruit minority students to become math and science teachers will all have to be cut. We'll continue to look at issues like these and tell you more about the Black College tour coming up in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING. John.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that. Chris Lawrence for us this morning in Tallahassee. Chris, thanks very much. And the historically Black College Tour rolls on today. It's Florida A&M. Thursday, North Carolina Central, and Friday North Carolina A&T. You can learn more about CNN's special series on our Web site, cnn.com/blackinamerica. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, the Olympic torch now on American soil arriving within the hour. The flame encased in a lantern touching down, and, of course, it's amid a series of protests as well as calls for a boycott of the Beijing games over China's human rights record. We're going to talk about whether or not the rest of this tour of the flame will be canceled, next.
Also, how killer alligators -- alligators can all be killers -- could save lives. Research suggesting that their blood could be a cure.
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ROBERTS: Quick check of this morning's "Quick Vote" question, what is your assessment on the war in Iraq? Right now, 10 percent of you say we should give it more time, 5 percent say it's improving but not fast enough and the overwhelming majority of you 85 percent say we are in a no-win situation for America. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll continue to tally your votes throughout the morning. We'll have the final results an hour from now.
We've also been asking for your e-mails this morning as well. Let's take a look. Pat from Reno, Nevada writes "multiple reports show 70 percent of the populace believe the Iraqi people want the U.S. to leave. Therefore, surge or no surge, we should honor their wishes and leave.
CHETRY: Nancy from Waterville, Maine says "what better way to stop Jihad than to promote democracy in the Middle East? If we pull out now, there will be a slaughter like nothing before. It's a no brainer to stay and turn our enemies into someone we can deal with."
And thanks for everyone who wrote in. We're going to check in with our "Quick Vote" as well as read more e-mails in the next hour. And the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
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