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American Morning
War of Words Between Campaigns After the War Report; Record Oil Prices; Exercise Delays Aging Process; American Airlines Cancels Flights; President to Address Troop Rotations
Aired April 10, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: As you know, John, a tracking poll goes day to day and sort of takes the mix of three days at a time moving forward. And if you look at the trajectory of these polls, starting in late March, and that's about the time that the Wright controversy began to fade. It's also the time when the Bosnian controversy came up, questions about Hillary Clinton's version of what happened when she got to the airport there. She talked about sniper fire. It turned out it was a very friendly, peaceful airport arrival as shown on a variety of clips.
Then we moved into that for almost three or four days of Hillary Clinton ought to get out of the race, she can't win. She was sort of pushing those things off. And then following that, we had Mark Penn, her senior adviser, it turns out meeting with Colombian officials. They were a client of his. He pushing a trade deal that she opposes. So she's kind of been down on the mat here for a couple of weeks, and I think that accounts for the trajectory of the polls and his 10-point lead.
But we should also note that right after Super Tuesday, Hillary Clinton had a huge lead and because Obama did very well on Super Tuesday, he cut that lead in half. So, so much depends on Pennsylvania because we will see those tracking polls, I imagine, kind of close up a little bit.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: The idea this Colombian trade deal is not off the table for Hillary Clinton yet, because recent articles have reminded people that her husband is a firm proponent of it. So there is obviously a difference of opinion in the Clinton family here.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. And not just that, John, it's also revealed that former President Clinton collected about $800,000 from a development group that is based in Bogota for making appearances in various places. This development group being pro to Colombian trade deal.
Now, Hillary Clinton says, look, he has long been opposed to this. He and I have always differed on trade deals, and she sort of tosses it off as spousal disagreement.
ROBERTS: And let's come back to Barack Obama for a second here and this idea of a call for a boycott of the opening ceremonies at the Olympics. He says that the idea should "be firmly on the table," but he has stopped short of saying that President Bush should not go, which Hillary Clinton came out and did earlier this week. Why does he stop short?
CROWLEY: Well, you know, I think he sort of got into the conversation. It's been kind of an evolution of what he's had to say, John. He first said I'm of two minds of this. I mean, I understand, you know, that the games are important and they're a way to come together, and yet this Tibet thing really is awfully troubling.
So he's sort of inching forward but not wanting to make that break and say he ought to do it now. What he says is this is too early to make that decision. We ought to look at the situation when we move closer to those Olympics.
ROBERTS: Candy Crowley for us this morning following the campaign in South Bend, Indiana. Candy, thanks very much -- Kiran.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we're following extreme weather as well this morning. Here's a live look at the radar picture. Our Rob Marciano has been tracking these watches and warnings for us.
Parts of Texas, especially along the Dallas/Fort Worth area hit quite hard overnight. They're even talking about the possibility that tornadoes did touch down near San Angelo, packing 70-mile-an-hour winds, hail, tearing shingles off of roofs and shattering glass. Even trucks flipping over.
The National Weather Service said there was quarter-sized hail just after midnight, and forecasters were getting reports of both cars and tractor-trailers flipped over and at least one building in downtown San Angelo suffering some damage. Also in Breckenridge, Texas, about 125 miles west of Dallas, five homes were destroyed. Three people suffering minor injuries and needing to get medical attention due to injuries from the storm.
Oklahoma also getting the brunt of this weather, slammed with heavy rain. Flooding shut down five highways in the state, and police say one woman was killed in an accident that was due to the weather as well.
As I said, Rob Marciano tracking all of that for us. We'll check in with him in a minute.
Meanwhile, American Airlines canceling 900 more flights today. This makes the third day of mass cancellations for the nation's busiest airline. Well over 100,000 passengers were stranded across the country. Many of them in American hub cities like Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago O'Hare.
American has grounded its fleet of MD-80s. They were inspecting wiring bundles after the FAA started a new push to get tough on safety. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is live this morning at New York's LaGuardia Airport with more on what travelers can expect and when we may see this problem resolved. Hey, Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Kiran, well, there's a lot of uncertainty here this morning at LaGuardia Airport where American Airlines passengers, many flights are going out but many of them are not. You take a quick look at the departure and arrival board behind me, dozens of flights canceled. The short list includes flights to Atlanta, Austin, Orlando, Phoenix. Many people overnighted in cities they certainly had not intended on, and that caused just a lot of disruption and certainly tremendous frustration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just no organization here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been here over an hour, and no one has told us anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to spend the night. I can't get out until tomorrow. My luggage is on its way to Detroit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to get to Love Field in about the next 30 minutes, or we're really in trouble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now the problem has to do with wires in the wheel well. If those are not properly secured, it could cause a fire, an explosion. Also, it might short circuit, so that's what they're looking at now. It doesn't mean that the planes are unsafe. What it means is that all the planes have to be examined to make sure that the wires are exactly as they should be. American Airlines has acknowledged this situation is unacceptable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN GARTON, EVP, MARKETING, AMERICAN AIRLINES: We're, you know, extremely sorry for this great inconvenience. You know, we are humbled by the loyalty of our customers, and we are very, very disappointed to ever let them down. And we know how difficult this has been whether you're on a leisure trip or business trip. This kind of interruption is truly unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: And Kiran, American Airlines plans to hire an independent contractor to review all future FAA directives to make sure that the airline complies certainly in a timely manner so that this kind of meltdown never happens again. But certainly for all those people who were disrupted, that's very little comfort -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. What a mess. Deborah Feyerick for us this morning. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Security officials in China say that they broke up a plot to kidnap Olympic athletes, foreign journalists, and other visitors during the Beijing games. Thirty-five people have been arrested. Police say they also seized explosives and firearms from another group plotting an attack.
The head of the International Olympic Committee says the torch relay will go on despite the anti-China protests that have greeted it. The torch took a shortened alternate route yesterday in San Francisco barely visible to the crowds.
It was really an extraordinary afternoon as they played hide and seek with the torch for a couple of hours. A closing ceremony was canceled. The torch wasn't even seen before it was put on a plane. The Olympic flame is now on its way to Buenos Aires.
Coming up, we're going to talk with two of the protesters who risked their lives and scaled the Golden Gate Bridge earlier this week, to unfurl banners protesting China's human rights record and calling for a free Tibet. We're going to be joining us at 7:35 Eastern, just a little less than 30 minutes from now -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, Alina Cho is here with other stories new this morning as well, including that new and disturbing details about this polygamous compound in Texas.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, as you know, we've been watching this for quite some time now. Good morning, guys. Good morning, everybody.
And disturbing new details are out this morning from inside that polygamous compound in Texas. CNN has identified the shelter where the 16-year-old girl first called for help, and she goes by the name of Sarah (ph) apparently. Court documents say she identified 50-year- old Dale Evans Barlow as her husband. She says Barlow beat her, choked her, and forced her to have sex with him. That she has an 8- month-old child and is pregnant again.
Also investigators say they found a bed inside the group's temple that adult men used to have sex with underage girls immediately after wedding ceremonies. The temple also apparently contained multiple locked safes, vaults, and desk drawers that may contain records showing marriages of underage girls as young as 12.
An Ohio man indicted on charges he made racially motivated threats against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Federal prosecutors say the suspect targeted African-American males in relationships with white females. Justice Thomas' wife is white. The suspect is also charged with threatening to blow up the Supreme Court building and sending threats to athletes and entertainers.
Caught on tape, a teacher brutally beaten by a student in her own classroom. Take a look at this. The video came from another student's cell phone. It happened at a high school in Baltimore. The video is grainy there, but you get the picture.
The female art teacher says the student repeatedly punched her in the face after the student refused to take her seat in class. How about that? The teacher also says fellow students cheered on the attacker and that it only stopped when other teachers came to the rescue. The video, by the way, was posted on MySpace. Now you're seeing it here.
And a wild truck chase near Charlotte, North Carolina. Take a look at this. Now, here is what happened. Police say suspected home burglars ditched their car, carjacked a city truck that was hauling a lawnmower. The truck jackknifed on the highway, but stayed upright. The suspects as you saw there went on the run. They fled on foot, but not for long. A motorcycle cop caught one of them, and as you can see there, a sanitation worker also came to the rescue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF GILL, SANITATION TRUCK DRIVER: Run down the alleyway here and the one state trooper was chasing him. I came out from around the truck. I think I slowed him up enough for the state trooper to apprehend the one guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Good for him. A third suspect was caught nearby. Police say they may be responsible for dozens of other burglaries.
CHETRY: Unbelievable.
CHO: Yes.
CHETRY: The garbage truck is the one that ended up like stopping the guy in the pickup truck with a lawnmower.
CHO: Minding his own business and decides -- yes, exactly.
ROBERTS: He was also chased by the guy on the motorcycle.
CHETRY: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: How many different vehicles could be involved here?
CHETRY: And also headed him off at the pass.
(LAUGHTER)
CHO: That's what we didn't include. Yes, exactly.
CHETRY: Hey, well, at least they caught him.
CHO: It was a group effort.
CHETRY: Alina, thanks.
CHO: You bet.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Alina.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Now, try to see if that evens out the amount of gas that was used in the various devices. Nobody was on the lawnmower, so that's what it is. Obviously I'm talking about that because oil hitting $112.21 yesterday. That's the highest it's ever been, and you can do the math. You know how that's going to relate to you. I'll be back with the impact that it's having on all sorts of things, including the price you're paying for gasoline. AMERICAN MORNING comes back in a minute. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Ali Velshi. I try not to do this too often. When I bring this oil barrel up here, it's my trusty -- those of you who are right who know it's a 55-gallon barrel, it means something is going on with oil.
Oil jumped yesterday to $112.21 after a report showed that we use more oil in the United States last week. We get a weekly report to tell us sort of where our oil inventories are. They were a bit low. It's a week-to-week report. Wouldn't put too much stock in it except that it relates to the price you pay for gasoline.
The latest numbers we've got are about $3.34 a gallon as a national average, and that trend has been going up, probably will until Memorial Day. Who knows what happens after that. But at these prices, you got to pay a lot for gasoline.
The other problem that we've got right now just given the environment of economic difficulties we've got in the United States is the expectation that within a couple of weeks the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again. That tends to have the effect of lowering the U.S. dollar, and while these are not record numbers that the dollar is at right now, the dollar has weakened again yesterday.
So for those of you planning your vacation this summer, the euro running about $1.59 right now. The pound $1.98. Again, it's been -- you know, the dollar has been worse against the pound and the Canadian dollar. But it's particularly the euro that is weakening against. We're less than a cent away from the worst that it's ever been against the euro.
So lets start planning that staycation and one that doesn't involve a big drive probably or a drive in a fuel-efficient vehicle.
ROBERTS: Now, you told us last year that oil should be about $60 a barrel per 42-gallon.
VELSHI: $60 to $70. Yes.
ROBERTS: Is there any downward pressure on oil prices at all or just constant pressure?
VELSHI: Yes. You know, there's a lot -- why oil should be $60 or $70 a barrel is because that's what the supply and demand picture shows. What you've got a lot of -- all over the market, in commodities but particularly in oil is speculation. It's sort of hedge fund money. Not people who are buying oil for the purpose of making it into gasoline and using it... ROBERTS: Right.
VELSHI: ... they're buying it so that they can sell it to other people.
ROBERTS: But again, is there any indication that there will be any downward pressure on oil prices in the next few months?
VELSHI: At some point -- at some point when the speculative bubble gives in, if it gives in, you will see all sorts of commodity prices come down, and only those stay up that really are in demand. So there are still some people who hold to that forecast that it should be $60 on the low end, $80 on the high end. There's no economic forecast that says oil should be $112. But again, it's the market.
CHETRY: No, but it will be interesting to see because we've had some of these surveys come out in the polling of people said they are changing their habits.
VELSHI: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Maybe they're not doing things --
VELSHI: And that will cause people to pull back.
CHETRY: So we'll see what happens whether or not people really do that.
VELSHI: But we have to remember while we are the biggest consumer of oil in the world, American drivers consume 10 percent of all the oil produced on a daily basis just to drive. That's drivers and truckers. The increases in China and India and other places definitely push that up.
So even if we were to conserve, it may be net because somebody else is growing. But I do think there's no reason for oil to be $112 a barrel.
ROBERTS: As you said, lots of people in line for the stuff we don't use.
VELSHI: Yes. That's exactly right.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks.
CHETRY: We're also watching extreme weather this morning both in Texas as well as Oklahoma. Here are some of the video of just the devastation there. Tornado watches issued this morning. Rob Marciano is tracking all of it for us this coming up. Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran. Yes, we've got a number of watches that are out. A couple of warnings already this morning. And blizzard conditions expected in some spots. This is a monster storm. We're going to break it down for you. Weather is coming up after the break. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rob Marciano watching this monster storm system. It is huge. Look at the expanse of real estate it's covering. Almost from the Canadian border all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, and we've got not only flooding concerns, but we've got blizzard warnings that are posted for parts of the plains.
Let's talk about the tornado threat as well. We've got three tornado watch boxes that are out. That means in these particular areas the threat for tornadoes exists for the next several hours, and we had a number of tornadoes touch down mostly in the state of Texas last night.
We also have flooding concerns across parts of Missouri. You know, this is an area that has seen a tremendous amount of moisture over the past month. There are now 23 counties that are under a flash flood warning until noon local time. Mostly in south central Missouri, and that includes the areas around the Springfield area.
Fort Smith, you just got hammered with a line of thunderstorms rolling eastward across Arkansas. Also, a state that has been plagued with severe weather this season. And this is a line that came through Dallas last night.
Breckenridge, which is right about there, they had a tornado touchdown. So serious weather happening in Texas. We're trying to get this out of here and move it along. But once it moves along, it doesn't mean that the threat is over. We're looking for large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes to persist and push into the Midsouth and the mid-Mississippi Valley, eventually into the Ohio Valley as well.
And this thing is going to expand as well as you go through tomorrow and then tomorrow night. The threat for thunderstorms will continue. Maybe some strong tornadoes extending all the way into western Pennsylvania.
Big storm, John, affecting a lot of folks. We'll keep you posted. Back up to you.
ROBERTS: All right, Rob. Thanks very much.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." As protesters follow the Olympic torch around the world, should the U.S. boycott Beijing? We'll ask White House Press Secretary Dana Perino about that just ahead.
CHETRY: We also want to know how you can live longer, maybe even look a decade younger. Yes, the secret lies in getting a little sweaty, right, Sanjay? DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, there's a lot of gimmicks that people talk about when it comes to longevity, but some of the basics apply. I'll tell you just how good exercise can be and why it can be so effective as well. That's a new study that's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, forget the botox, forget plastic surgery. There's a study in the "British Journal of Sports Medicine" that says a long run more often can actually delay biological aging by 10 to 12 years. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the medical update desk. So are they not only saying -- I mean, we know it's good for your heart, we know it's good for, you know, staying healthy, but you actually look younger if you exercise?
GUPTA: Not only look younger, but I would say that they take it even a step farther than math, that they say you become biologically younger. If you think about it, I mean, the whole way that we measure age is a pretty arbitrary thing. It's all based on sort of revolutions of planets. But this idea of what your body is doing physiologically, that's very different from person to person.
So a 50-year-old can be more like a 40-year-old or more like a 60-year-old, depending on the person's physiology. Right now, the average age expectancy, life expectancy is about 80 years. The idea that you can improve that, increase that to 90, even 100 years through exercise is something that's starting to gain some traction.
If you exercise and you continue that sort of aerobic activity through your 60s, you increase your body's oxygen consumption and you increase your energy expenditures. Those things are important as far as overall life expectancy.
What are some of the specific things that happen as well? Well, you decrease your risk, for example, of developing things like diabetes, heart disease as well. There's significant cardiovascular benefits. You increase your muscle strength and bone mineral density. You know, osteoporosis, for example, is a big culprit as you get older, reduced falls and fractures.
So those are all things that can help. I'll say to this as well, Kiran. It can help your mind. Lots of studies showing that aerobic activity actually increases the size of certain areas of your brain and improves your cognitive function as you get older.
CHETRY: I mean, I see it. My parents are always out there exercising, running, playing tennis, and they look very different than their parents did at the same age. So, you know, perhaps there's something to be said for that. What type of exercise? How long do you have to do it?
GUPTA: Well, in this study, they talk specifically about aerobic exercise and they talked about 30 minutes or so a day. It's hard to give hard and fast rules when it comes to the length of time. But I would say to that as well this idea of adding upper body training. Something that, you know, we talk about a lot, but upper body training for men and women.
We find that if you do upper body training in addition to aerobic activity, you increase your muscle mass which helps increase your metabolism. So you burn more calories at rest, but also this idea it improves your pulmonary capacity, your lung capacity, which can help ward off pneumonia and other problems later on in life. That's pretty big as well.
CHETRY: You talked about a lot of this in your book, "Chasing Life," and you talk a lot about biological age being just a number. What else can you do if you're looking for longevity?
GUPTA: Well, you know, there were so many fascinating things we found that researching that book. One, for example, something that a lot of people do is something known as caloric restriction. There were a lot of animal studies saying that if you reduce your calorie intake by a third, you can increase your life span by a third.
Now, those are animal studies, but that was a federally-funded human trial as well. There's also a lot of momentum with regard to stem cells in lots of places around the world. A lot of that research is still sort of evolving, but this idea that stem cells could somehow be these rejuvenative cells in your body, I think that has some traction.
Also red wine. You'd like this after you deliver your baby, Kiran. But resveratrol, the substance in there, that is believed to actually help reverse aging as well. So, you know, there's lots of promise out there and a lot of people obviously are very interested in it.
CHETRY: All right. You're right. After the baby.
GUPTA: After the baby.
CHETRY: The red wine.
GUPTA: All right.
CHETRY: Break it open for celebration.
GUPTA: I'll buy you a bottle. Absolutely.
CHETRY: Sanjay, great to see you, thanks.
ROBERTS: You know, this idea of caloric restriction really is incredible. About 10 years ago, I did a story on it. I went to the NIH Animal Center in Maryland and they had monkeys of the same age, one of which had a regular diet, the other one was calorically restricted. The calorically-restricted monkey looked half the age of the other one. It's really extraordinary.
CHETRY: And then, you know, the argument against is hey, I don't want to live longer if I can't eat what I want to eat.
ROBERTS: Yes. There you go. CHETRY: That's what a lot of people say.
ROBERTS: As we've been telling you this morning, if you're planning to fly on American Airlines today, better check ahead. American has canceled more than 900 additional flights today to inspect and fix wiring in hundreds of jets. It means that more than 100,000 people are stranded at airports all across the country.
In all, American has canceled more than 2,400 flights in the past three days. Company executives are offering apologies along with travel vouchers to try to keep passengers calm. A difficult task, though.
That brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. What do you do when you're delayed at the airport? Twenty-five percent of you say that you scramble to rebook a flight. Twelve percent just kind of hit the bar and try to forget about it. Thirty-eight percent read a book. Twelve percent do work. Twelve percent also sleep.
Cast your vote for us this morning at CNN.com/am. We'll keep on tallying the votes, and we also want to know what you think. What are the creative ways that you pass, that you use to pass the time when you're waiting for a plane?
Are you in an airport right now? Send us an e-mail. Go to CNN.com/am. We'll be reading some of those coming up in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: End run.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't know where it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: San Francisco plays hide and seek with the Olympic torch.
Plus, risking it all to deliver a dramatic message. The Golden Gate Olympic protesters join us live.
And the first word from the White House. Boycott Beijing?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-eight minutes after the hour. President Bush will address the nation in just a few hours after a breakfast meeting with General David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker. The top U.S. officials in Iraq spent two days on Capitol Hill.
Now, we're waiting to hear from the president, and joining me now live from the North Lawn at the White House to talk more about what we're expected to hear, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. Dana, it's good to see you. What can we expect to hear from the president this morning? DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, you'll hear him give a comprehensive assessment of his recommendations -- I'm sorry of the general's recommendations and his decision based on that. You'll hear him talk about the -- how far we've come in Iraq, especially because of the surge strategy that he put in place last year, but he'll also talk about how far we have to go.
Now, one of the things he'll talk about is the troop level recommendation that General Petraeus put forward in which we would continue to bring troops home based on success going from 20 brigades down to 15 in July. That will continue. And then there will be a short period of assessment. That's 45 days of just consolidation and assessment, which the president thinks is the right recommendation, and he will say that that's the right thing to do before we start making the decision to bring more troops home.
ROBERTS: What about this idea of reducing the length of deployment from 15 months back down to 12?
PERINO: That's something that the president will talk about as well. Obviously, this is going to be welcome news for the active duty force. The president is very concerned about the stress on the force, especially when it comes to the families who are at home waiting for their loved ones to get back. So, the fact that we can go down from 15 to 12 is a good thing.
ROBERTS: And on the idea this 45-day pause that General Petraeus is recommending after the surge troops had been taken out, what will determine whether or not the troop levels can be reduced beyond that?
PERINO: Well, it will be based on conditions on the ground, and the fact that we've been able to put it in place a new strategy that has reduced the -- well, has improved the security situation so much, and at the same time the Iraqis are starting to take root on their political reconciliation. It is hopeful we will start to be able to bring home some more after that period, but the President is not going to make any guarantees. I think that's the prudent decision.
ROBERTS: Questions have been asked this week during these hearings as to what is the end game in Iraq? Where do we need to get to before we can bring the troops home?
PERINO: Well, I think it's for us - it is where we can have an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself, and also defend itself. So that they can handle their own security in their neighborhood, and I think when we feel comfortable they are going to be able to do, that we will be able to bring troops home, but it's going to be a little bit of time before we can get all the troops home.
Go ahead.
ROBERTS: No, go ahead. Finish your thought.
PERINO: I was just going to say that we've been able to bring five brigades home, going from 20 to 15. That will happen in July, and then a period of assessment is the right thing to do before we decide on bringing some more home, but that's going to be based on the conditions on the ground at the time and what this commander in chief has shown is he is willing to listen to his commanders on the ground and make decisions based on, based on that.
ROBERTS: At the same time we're talking about bringing the surge troops home and the pause and reduction in the length of deployments, the President is also speaking with Iraq about a long-term security arrangement. And members of Congress are saying hey we would appreciate it if you didn't go ahead and just sign that without checking with us. Will he check with members of Congress before he signs a long-term security arrangement with Iraq?
PERINO: We already are and we will continue to do so. I think that this long term agreement with Iraq has been demagogued a bit by those who want to play politics with it. It makes sense for us to have a legal framework for our soldiers to operate under once the U.N. mandate expires this December.
In addition to that, there's other aspects of the agreement on economics and politics and diplomacy, but we've already met with members of the Congress, will continue to, and Ambassador Crocker made that promise this week.
ROBERTS: John McCain suggested on the campaign trail that U.S. troops could be there for 100 years in the same way that we're still in Germany and still in Japan and still in South Korea. Can you see any situation in which U.S. troops would be there that long?
PERINO: Well, I think Senator McCain, I'll let them answer that question because I think they disputed some of the characterizations of what he said but obviously...
ROBERTS: I think I can characterize it pretty accurately because I listened to McCain's explanation.
PERINO: OK. I know there's been - OK. Well, I know there's been dispute over that. So, let me not get into that. Let me just say that we do think that we will have troops there for a while to come, and I think that all of the candidates in the '08 election have recognized that as well. What the President wants to do is to make sure that we continue on a path to get Iraq to a place where it can sustain, defend, and govern itself so that we can bring more troops home and that the next president will have a very smooth transition. But our national security concerns regarding Iraq are very real, and the President is concerned about that and is going to talk about that with the American public today.
ROBERTS: Let me switch gears and ask you about the Olympics here. Gordon Brown became the latest world leader to say that he is not going to go to the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. What is the President's thinking on all of that.
PERINO: I would also point out that the way I understood it, Gordon Brown was never planning to go to the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. He was planning to go to the closing ceremonies of the Olympics so they could take the torch then to London. So, I think we need to put that in context.
ROBERTS: But what is the President's taking on this idea of not going to the opening ceremonies?
PERINO: What the President's thinking is that right here, right here and now, what we have got to do is to continue to pressure the Chinese on human rights, and that's what he did publicly yesterday and he's done it privately as well in phone calls that he's had had with President Hu. And he, unlike regular citizens in the United States, he is a head of state that can speak directly to him and speak very frankly and have conversations with him that none of us could have. And so the President, who strongly believes in religious freedom, as you know, John, you have covered him for many years, no one has to tell him how important that is. He understands it fully. But we also need to remember that the Olympics and the spirit of Olympics is for the athletes. The President has said that that's why he's going to go. But while he's there, he can also take an opportunity to press them on religious freedoms because this is something that's going to continue after the Olympics.
ROBERTS: But...
PERINO: And not attending an opening ceremony whether anyone does or not is not really going to change the fact that we need to continue to press them before, during, and well after the Olympics.
ROBERTS: So does he think that not going to the opening ceremonies could have a constructive impact on their human rights record?
PERINO: You know, we don't spend a lot of time talking about the opening ceremony. We do talk about how important it is to support the athletes and also to continue to pressure China and we can do that because the President has established good relations with them. If you don't have good relations with the Chinese, and you're not going to be able to pressure them on anything.
ROBERTS: Dana Perino for us from the front lawn of the White House. Dana, thanks very much. Good to see you.
PERINO: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
PERINO: Bye.
CHETRY: Well, the Olympic torch is now on its way to Buenos Aires after a hectic trip through San Francisco. In fact, protesters forced officials to actually change the torch's route, to cancel a waterfront closing ceremony. Protesters very upset about China's recent crackdown on Tibet. Also upset as well of the decision by the IOC to approve China's plan to take that torch to the top of Mt. Everest through Tibet. Tibetans and their supporters believe that that is really a means of possibly legitimizing the presence of China in Tibet, and officials say that the turnout was larger than expected because organizers were able to use the Internet and text messaging to alert demonstrators.
Earlier this week several people risked their lives by scaling the Golden Gate Bridge and hung that enormous banner protesting China and calling for a free Tibet. Three of the protesters were charged with misdemeanors and joining me now from the Golden Gate Bridge, Laurel Sutherland and Dwayne Martinez, both of them students -- members of Students for a Free Tibet, which organized that protest. You guys actually scaled the Golden Gate Bridge, right?
DWAYNE MARTINEZ, MEMBER, STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET: That's right.
LAUREL SUTHERLAND, MEMBER, STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBER: Yes, we did.
CHETRY: First of all, just logistically speaking, how the heck did you guys do it? Laurel, go ahead and start.
SUTHERLAND: Well, we were quick. We were safe with our equipment, but we had about a 90-second window to be ahead of the security on the bridge, and we were able to pull it off smoothly and safely and get our message out loud and clear to the world.
CHETRY: All right. And do you think you accomplished that, Dwayne?
MARTINEZ: Yes, I think what we did was a good action to call attention to the human rights abuses in Tibet and then to really apply public pressure to both heads of state and the IOC to rethink their plans for taking this torch through Tibet and to Mt. Everest, which is an occupied territory right now.
CHETRY: Just back to the logistics a little bit, I want to ask you guys, how were you able to with all of the police present and San Francisco, the city of San Francisco were certainly expecting that they were going to be protests and try to prepare, how were you able to get up there and how were you able to sneak everything in?
SUTHERLAND: Well, we wore plainclothes onto the bridge and, you know, used a baby stroller and a rolling suitcase to disguise the banners, and were able to attach our gear and be up and out of reach awfully quickly.
CHETRY: And Dwayne, when you say attach the gear -- Dwayne, you can answer this one, you know, these cables seem like they're very difficult to, you know, actually affix yourself to even if you are an experienced climber. Did you know how to do this and did you worry for your safety?
MARTINEZ: We were both -- or all three of us are experienced climbers and we had really secure gear that had not been used for any action before this or any climbing before this. So it had all been tested, and we knew we were safe. The cables themselves are solid. It's the Golden Gate Bridge. We knew that, you know, there were some unknowns of what the cables would be like up higher, but we knew our gear was safe and we knew the conditions of the bridge as best as we could.
CHETRY: You and Laurel, both of you spent almost two days in jail. You are facing some felony conspiracy charges as well as some misdemeanor charges as well. Looking back, was it all worth it?
MARTINEZ: Well the conspiracy charges were actually dropped, and for a small action that we did here to face a little bit of time and some consequences within our legal system is nothing compared to what people are facing in Tibet for calling out for the same freedoms that we're voicing here in San Francisco.
CHETRY: You know, there's an argument to be made that you know, can't the Olympics at least for the athletes and those who spent so many years training and have nothing to do with politics be about the Olympics without having to have some of these ceremonies be disrupted, Laurel?
SUTHERLAND: You know, Kiran, I share the same wish. I think it's very unfortunate that the Olympics and torch relay have been politicized so extremely, but it's really China's behavior and their approach to using this as a political tool that's forced our position. And we climbed that bridge to make some very specific demands to the International Olympic Committee and to the Chinese government.
We are demanding that the International Olympic Committee cancel the scheduled torch run through Tibet. We have seen statements issued by the Chinese government who have said they will use all means necessary to secure stability when that torch passes through Tibet, and we know what that means when the Chinese government says all means necessary. It means brutal suppression of descent and at this point if the torch goes through Tibet, there is likely to be bloodshed and the International Olympic Committee will have a role in any violence that occurs if they allow this to go forward knowing full well the situation on the ground in Tibet.
CHETRY: Laurel Sutherland as well Dwayne Martinez scaled the Golden Gate Bridge to get their point across with Students for Free Tibet. Thanks for being with us this morning.
SUTHERLAND: Thank you.
MARTINEZ: Thank you, Kiran.
ROBERTS: The economy in crisis. Americans feel a recession coming on. Now some say that we could be headed for a depression. Find out what the difference is, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We're talking about recession and then trying to figure out how you really decide if you're in that, and now a possibility that we could be --
ROBERTS: Don't say it.
CHETRY: Kicking around the "d" word. ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Depression word. I think it's probably important to let people know what the differences are between these things. I think if you ask most people on the street, no matter how many times you read it. You feel the economy, you feel inflation, home prices, things like that. The technical definition of a recession, well what is a recession? Let me just show you what a recession is.
A recession is basically described as a significant decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months. And the way you measure economic activity is economic growth. We often talk about GDP, income, employment, production, and sales, wholesale and retail sales. So when those things go down for a few months we're in a recession. We might be in one now. A lot have actually, smart people think we are.
Now, depression is a much more serious version of that. It's the same element but it's deeper, it's longer, and it's more serious. We spoke yesterday to Robert Reich. He was the secretary of labor of the United States under Bill Clinton. And this is what he told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT REICH, FMR. LABOR SECRETARY: A realistic way that we're going to go into 2009 with a very serious recession. Hopefully not a depression. I hate to use that word. It scares people. I think there's no more than a 20 percent chance of a depression, but it's going to be serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. He's talking about going into 2009. We're in April of 2008. Are we in April? Yes, we are. April of 2008. Totally right. So, look, it's not one of those things, we certainly don't want to pass it on to make people fearful. But as we see, you know, you pick up your newspapers in the last week and a half, you have seen the word depression. So we want to let people know where we are. We are not sure we're in a recession at the moment.
ROBERTS: So he said no more than a 20 percent chance of going into a depression.
VELSHI: But I think 20 percent is pretty high. Would you?
ROBERTS: Did he just pull that out of his hat?
VELSHI: One doesn't know. He's a smart man, he's an economist. He studied these things for a long time. Part of his case that he made in the discussion was the government needs to do much more on the stimulus front. And he said there are two things the government can do. One is the Fed can cut rates and the other one is the government can do things that give people more money. So one of them is the stimulus package that they're getting. The other one is he said bottom line is wages have been going down, jobs have been lost. So, you got to get people with more money in their pockets. And there are various ways to do that. I think his point is do something now. This will be serious for those president candidates who are saying this could come and go because recessions last eight to ten months. By the time, they're in office, they could be coming in on the upswing. I think his message was watch out, this could be more serious than you think.
ROBERTS: Well.
VELSHI: Think about that right now.
ROBERTS: Let's hope it's the former and not the latter.
CHETRY: And isn't this the time of year when you think wow, I could really stimulate the heck out of the economy if I didn't have to pay all these taxes.
VELSHI: That's right. I'll be out there stimulating the economy left, front and center.
ROBERTS: That's right. Ali, thanks.
VELSHI: OK.
ROBERTS: A blizzard in the Rockies, tornadoes in the heartland. It's the latest storm track and new video just coming into AMERICAN MORNING. Our Rob Marciano tracking extreme weather. He'll be back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up now on 12 minutes to the top of the hour. Storms on the move right now after a really violent night down at Texas. And we're getting some of the new pictures in to prove that.
CHETRY: Yes, talking about quarter-sized hail, very strong winds, and doing some damage in many cities, both in Texas and Oklahoma. Rob Marciano at the Texas, at the Weather Center right now tracking extreme weather focused though on Texas this morning. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Certainly. Hi, Kiran. Hi, John. Yes, Texas, you know, there's probably a good dozen states that are affected by this storm, which is just now pulling out of the Rocky Mountains, which by the way is tossing a tremendous amount of snow, and we have blizzard warnings that extend up into the plains. Let's talk about severe weather, some fresh video. You spoke about it coming out of our Dallas affiliate there, WFAA. Big time gusty winds and hail and rain, the whole nine yards, making it just difficult to get around. This has happened, this happened obviously overnight last night, late last night, but luckily most of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area has not sustained much in the way of damage. That's the good news.
But just down the pipe, just down i-20, this is video out of Breckenridge, Texas, where there was a tornado that touched down. A pretty big one, it looked like, at least on the radar scope. There you see the damage, homes destroyed, cars flipped over, and the damage that we are used to seeing with -- when a tornado runs through an area. And then, unfortunately, for those folks who live there, they're going to have to pick up the pieces this morning.
All right. The severe weather threat extends off to the east with this massive storm system. We have three tornado watch boxes that are in effect until 10:00, 11:00 and noon local time. And so anywhere in this watchbox, you can see a tornado pop out of the clouds. We're concerned about that. Also concerned about the threat for flooding, especially the southern half of Missouri. Right now, some heavy rain moving just to the northwest of Springfield. This is an area that has seen a tremendous amount of rain already this spring and winter, so this is not good news.
23 counties right now under a flash flood warning. East of Ft. Smith, this is rolling towards Little Rock. So we're watching this line of storms. And the last line of storms that has produced some severe weather and a couple of tornado warnings out of Dallas, but rolling into Tyler, Texas. So a big storm Kiran and John, but it's pushing off to the east, and by tomorrow night it will be done. So, we'll just have to get through the next 36 hours.
CHETRY: And a couple days ago we talked about the concerns about the Mississippi River and whether those levees would hold. How is that situation holding up?
MARCIANO: Well, we're still looking at the beginning of next week for the waters to crest down in Baton rouge and New Orleans and the moisture that we're getting out of this system certainly not going to help. So I expect that threat to be ongoing, unfortunately. Kiran.
CHETRY: That's what I was thinking when I was looking at the radar picture light up behind you. All right, Rob. Thank you.
ROBERTS: So performance enhancing drugs, we always talk about athletes using them, right?
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: But what if you're not an athlete, what if you're brainiac, would you want to use performance enhancing drugs?
CHETRY: And would they help.
ROBERTS: Yes. Sanjay Gupta is here with more of that. Hey, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm absolutely fascinated by this. It's amazing stuff. You would be surprised at how many people use performance-enhancing drugs, as you call them, for the brain and even who these people are. I want to introduce you to somebody who has been taking these medications, find out what they've done for him, and what some of the risks are. We'll have that for you, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUPTA: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. You know everybody wants a little edge, whether it's for the body or for the mind. Sometimes they'll take a pill to get there. How far would you go and how dangerous is it? Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice=over): Scott Kinney isn't a famous athlete. Like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens, but he does take a performance-enhancing drug for the brain.
SCOTT KINNEY, GRAPHIC DESIGNER: I take a generic version of Adderall. It focuses all my attention more or less on one specific task.
GUPTA: He's a graphic designer and a former radio deejay. And he's ones of tens of millions of Americans who take a pill to help them concentrate or help their memory or to just plain stay awake. Most, like Kinney, have a doctor's prescription. Adderall and Ritalin are approved to treat attention deficit disorder but scientists say they have the same effect on almost anyone.
MARTHA FARAH, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: It does work for many if not all normal, healthy people with normal attentional systems. They also enhanced attention.
GUPTA: Take a look at these brain scans. Red indicates low levels of a certain brain chemical, a chemical you need in order to concentrate. And now the same brain after a dose of Ritalin. But here is something that may really surprise you. A brand new survey in the journal "Nature" finds that 1 out of 5 of its readers who responded have used cognition-enhancing drugs to boost their brain power. Other surveys find as many as 1 in 4 college students have taken prescription stimulants with or without doctors' orders. That's risky. The drugs can cause cardiovascular problems and can lead to addiction. No one knows much about the long-term effects.
FARAH: I sometimes call this phenomenon America's biggest uncontrolled experiment in psycho pharmacology.
GUPTA: This poker champ fessed up to using Ritalin to help his game. So we asked the World Series of Poker, the U.S. Chess Federation and the people who administer the SAT, none has any rule against brain-enhancing drugs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: About half the people say they do get some unpleasant side effects, it may be headache, maybe anxiety, sleeping troubles but 69 percent of the people surveyed in that particular survey said that boost that they got was still worth it, Kiran.
CHETRY: Perhaps we're being naive but we always ask this when we hear about these things like using performance enhancing drugs, how do you get them? Prescription or a medical need. GUPTA: Well, some of them do get prescriptions because they sort of have a medical need or they have some complaints that the doctor says OK, well that may qualify. About a third of people just get them off the Internet, and a lot of people we found out as well are getting them from family and friends. So people who were taking the medication, they started taking a few pills and then eventually started taking more and more of them. That's how they got started.
ROBERTS: What about the legality of all of this stuff?
GUPTA: Well, I mean, you know, if someone has a particular attention deficit disorder and a doctor prescribes the pill for them, and they start taking the medication and then obviously it's something that's being treated specifically. If they're taking pills from somebody else, you're not supposed to do that. Everybody knows that but it does happen, and you know, it's hard to enforce as you might imagine.
ROBERTS: Because these are controlled drugs, right?
GUPTA: These are prescription medications.
ROBERTS: I mean, just beyond regular prescription. They're controlled substances.
GUPTA: Well, yes. There's three levels of control so they're not narcotics specifically, but they're a controlled substance, right.
ROBERTS: All right. Sanjay, thanks very much.
GUPTA: All right. Thanks.
ROBERTS: As we have been telling you this morning, if you're planning to fly on American Airlines today, you better check ahead. American has canceled more than 900 additional flights today, to inspect and fix the wiring in hundreds of jets. It means more than 100,000 people are stranded at all the airports across the country. In all, American has canceled more than 2,400 flights in the past three days. Company executives are offering apologies along with travel vouchers to help calm down passengers.
CHETRY: Well, it brings us to this morning's this morning's quick vote question, what do you do when you're delayed at the airport? We offered some choices. 19 percent of you say that you scramble to rebook. 33 percent hit the bar and 33 percent read a book. I guess you could put those in one category and say 66 percent hit a bar and read a book. Do work 6 percent and 9 percent sleep. Well, you got to do something, of course, the frustrations are certainly there. We have been getting some e-mails this morning about them. A lot of people say that at one airport in particular, L.A.X., I look for celebrities. So far I have seen Hulk Hogan, Zach Morris, and Shrek.
ROBERTS: I guess he doesn't know Shrek is actually a cartoon character. CHETRY: Pretty interesting. Maybe someone who look like Shrek. Well, cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll tally your votes throughout the morning. We'll try to get in some of your e-mails as well. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Too expensive to drive, too frustrating to fly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do we, the common folks, have to suffer?
CHETRY: A thousand more cancellations. While you're waiting, tips to avoid your next travel nightmare.
And this just in --
Here's the headlines just this minute.
The history of covering history in the making. Opening day of the museum devoted to the news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. We're following breaking news out of China this morning. A terror plot to kidnap Olympic athletes, foreign journalist and other visitors during the Beijing summer games. Authority say 35 people are under arrest and they are linked to the East Turkistan Islamic movement. A radical independent group in China. This is the second plot that security officials have uncovered since January and the news comes as the International Olympic Committees is pressing Chinese leaders on human rights and the Olympic torch is headed to Buenos Aires after barely there visit to San Francisco yesterday. City officials ordering last minute changes.
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