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American Morning

John McCain on the Defensive About Phil Gramm's Remarks; McCain Faces Awkward Moment; Are Missile Test Photos Bogus?; Legally Adopted Teen Faces Deportation; Oil Prices Up Again

Aired July 11, 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: Because there were some questions as to whether or not they were suffering from various ailments after being stuck in the jungles for five years with no medical care.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: What an extraordinary series of stories they have to tell. It's just incredible stuff. Wow.

Just crossing the top of the hour. And here are this morning's top stories for you. The bodies of two missing U.S. soldiers found in Iraq according to one of the families. Sergeant Alex Jimenez and Private Byron Fouty were ambushed May 12th, 2007, in an area known as the "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad.

The wildfires charring California moved north. Washington State now dealing with the fast moving flames. The fires are out of control. Spokane this morning sitting square in the cross hairs. At least four suburban homes destroyed so far.

And John McCain on the defensive this morning after his chief economic adviser, Phil Gramm, suggested America is becoming a nation of whiners. And he didn't stop there.

CNN's Dana bash is tracking the story from Washington. She joins us now live. Good morning, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. You know, Phil Gramm is not only the chairman of McCain's campaign and a long time friend, he's an economist who McCain has pointed too often as a guide for him on economic issues. That's why McCain advisers tell me as soon as they heard what Gramm said about voters' top issue they knew they had a problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): In hard hit Michigan, this is the McCain mantra on the economy.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People are hurting. People are hurting very badly.

BASH: A carefully measured message that's part feel your pain, part realist, but all optimist.

MCCAIN: But they need to have trust and hope and confidence in the future. BASH: Given that, quotes in the "Washington Times" from Phil Gramm, one of John McCain's top economic advisers, were a big oops.

PHIL GRAMM, FMR. SEN. MCCAIN ECON. ADVISER: You just hear this constant whining, complaining about our loss of our competitiveness.

BASH: Gramm also said --

GRAMM: You've heard of mental depression. This is a mental recession.

BASH: McCain couldn't distance himself fast enough from his friend.

MCCAIN: Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me. So I strongly disagree.

BASH: He struggled to steer his economic message back on course.

MCCAIN: The person here in Michigan that just lost his job isn't suffering from a mental recession. I believe the mother here in Michigan, around America, who is trying to get enough money to educate their children isn't whining.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not all in your head.

BASH: Minutes earlier Barack Obama shoved a dig about Phil Gramm's comments into his speech.

OBAMA: That America already has one Dr. Phil. We don't need another one.

BASH: Now surrogate slip ups have plagued both campaigns. Obama recently rebuked Retired General Wesley Clark, his supporter, for questioning McCain's military service.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And John McCain has character.

BASH: The problem for McCain is that he relies on Gramm, a PhD in economics for policy advice and as a character witness for voters worried McCain doesn't get the economy.

MCCAIN: The reason why I have the support of people like Jack Kemp and Phil Gramm is because of their confidence in my proven record of handling the economy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now I spoke to Phil Gramm by phone yesterday. He said he wanted to clarify some of his comments. He insisted he didn't mean to say Americans are whining about the economy, but rather many of the country's leaders are. Here's what he said, John. He said, "The whiners are the leaders. Hell, the American people are victims, but it didn't quite come out that way in the story." But Gramm did tell me he's standing by another controversial thing. He said that we're in a "mental recession." He said he believes the steady drumbeat of bad news is simply making Americans feel worse about the economy, and they should.

ROBERTS: And at the same time, as he stood by that comment, John McCain was running away from it just about as fast as he could.

BASH: Could not get far enough, fast enough, because they understood. Phil Gramm is an economist and that perhaps he was speaking as an economist, not a politician. In fact, that is something that Gramm pretty much admitted to me when I spoke to him on the phone yesterday. And politics, especially when it comes to the economy and saying the right things, striking the right tone matters more than anything right now.

ROBERTS: Absolutely does. Dana Bash for us this morning from Washington. Dana, thanks.

BASH: Thank you.

CHETRY: You know, there are also comments from another McCain top adviser that have left the candidate at a loss for words. It's all because of her recent comments about insurance companies and Viagra. CNN's Joe Johns explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Straight Talk Express started sputtering a little when a reporter asked John McCain whether it was fair that many insurance companies that don't cover birth control pills for women do cover Viagra for men.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I certainly do not want to discuss that issue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I think you voted against it.

MCCAIN: I don't know what I --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You voted against the coverage of purposeful forcing of the drug companies to cover birth control in the past. Is that still your position?

MCCAIN: I'll look at my voting record on it. But I have -- I don't recall the vote right now. But I'll be glad to look at it.

JOHNS: What triggered that uncomfortable exchange? Comments from McCain's campaign co-chairwoman Carly Fiorina, the high profile CEO who is helping McCain win over women voters.

Earlier this week, Fiorina blasted insurance companies saying, "There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth control medication. Those women would like a choice."

McCain later faced a grilling about Fiorina's charge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess her statement was that it was unfair that health insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control. Do you have an opinion on that?

MCCAIN: I don't know enough about it to give you an informed answer because I don't recall the vote. I have cast thousands of votes in the Senate. I will respond to that -- it's a --

JOHNS: For the record in 2003, McCain voted "no" on legislation requiring insurance coverage of birth control. His campaign says contraception is a personal matter, best left up to individuals not government.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: We're going to be talking about that much more a little bit later with two of our political analysts in just a couple of minutes.

Also, the Justice Department wants a lawsuit by a U.S. soldier who says that the army violated his religious freedom dismissed. It's a story that our Randi Kaye brought you just this week.

Attorneys for the government say Army specialist Jeremy Hall, who's an atheist, should have followed the chain of command instead of filing a civil suit. The military also says it has a number of policies to protect its members from religious discrimination. Hall says his beliefs cost him his military career and also put his life at risk.

ROBERTS: This morning there was increasing skepticism over Iran's two day show of force. One reason, what appears to a blatant attempt by Tehran to digitally alter a photo from its missile tests.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is live in Washington for us this morning. And Jamie, I guess they've got a copy of photo shop, too, in Tehran?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, we put this picture in photo shop to sort of show you how easy it is to add a missile to it. And when I first saw the picture it looked more like this. And then we saw the original picture where you could actually see the -- down here at the bottom this just looks like an SA-2 that U.S. intelligence believes was actually fired later.

But if just to show you, if you're familiar with photo shop at all, you just use the cloning tool to take a little bit of the smoke from the bottom of another missile over here, which it looks like they did because this cloud matches over here. And then you just grab up here some of the missile there. You sort of add that in and in no time you've got four missiles instead of three.

Now, they were a little more sophisticated in how they sort of added some more clouds at the bottom and stuff. But that's basically how you digitally alter the picture. And it's -- what it does is it undermines their claim that -- that they fired as many missiles as they said, although U.S. intelligence is pretty clear.

They think seven were fired on one day and they think this one missile that wasn't there, they think that was -- they think that was fired the next day, which -- that one there. Whoop, we'll make that go back.

Anyway, they think that one was fired the next day and they don't think there's a big second round of missiles. But again, it shows you how in this day and age visual imagery, especially digital visual imagery, really it's -- you can't trust it.

ROBERTS: But basically, Jamie, what American officials are saying is that there was a dud in Wednesday's missile test. Iran didn't want people to know that there was a dud, so they cloned in this copy of one of the missiles firing to make it look like they all went off. And then the next day when we had those spectacular shots of that missile going up in the middle of the night, that was the dud that they managed to fire off?

MCINTYRE: That's a theory. I mean, you know, in intelligence you say what you know. They know when the missiles were fired. Their theory is that that might have been a missile that misfired and was fired later. And who knows why they cloned it?

Maybe the missilers were a little concerned that they were going to be in trouble for not getting their missile up when it was supposed to and were trying to cover that up. Or maybe they just want to make this picture look more fearsome.

ROBERTS: All right. Jamie McIntyre for us in Washington this morning. Jamie, thanks so much.

CHETRY: This morning a woman is suing for $10 million after she says she was roughed up by police at Reagan International Airport in Washington. Security camera video shows police throwing Robin Kassner (ph) into a chair. There you see that happening. And then, apparently slamming her head on a table then handcuffing and arresting her.

You're seeing the video right now. Kassner (ph) says she was cooperating when she was pulled out for extra screening. But police say that she refused to follow security procedures.

ROBERTS: IPhone frenzy version 2.0. Coming up at 13 minutes after the hour, the new phone, the new features and the new price. All the pros and cons of that.

CHETRY: Also at 32 after, it's called touch DNA. And our Brian Todd got an exclusive look inside the lab that knows it best. Their big case, the JonBenet Ramsey murder and how this new testing was finally, after 12 years, able to clear her family.

ROBERTS: And at 43 minutes after, he's loud. He talks a mile a minute, and he's an Internet hit. Welcome to Fred's world. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Move the stuff just take your mind off everything?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it let's me forget about everything that's going around. Broadway music.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: So we're -- we're making most of our calls these days on little devices like this one that I'm holding in my hand here. This is kind of the hot thing these days.

CHETRY: You posted your number there.

ROBERTS: No, no, no. My number is not on there. But apparently, this is so 2008.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right.

ROBERTS: Yes, right.

VELSHI: This is the future.

ROBERTS: Yes.

VELSHI: This is the iPhone.

ROBERTS: IPhone frenzy returns. Brand new lower price model of the hot new item, and it's hitting stores today. And Ali's got a real one.

VELSHI: I've got a real one. Until now I had to make like ones out of paper and boxes and stuff.

CHETRY: I just want Apple to know this. I mean, the iPhone. You were so nice about it that you actually washed your hands -- wiped your hands off.

VELSHI: I wiped my hands. I wiped the whole thing down because it's got a very shiny little case and I wanted it to look good. This is the second incarnation of the iPhone, but you'll hear it referred to as the Apple 3G because it's a third generation Internet. And one of the things that's excellent about this is that it moves faster than the previous one.

I've been, you know, I've been a little skeptical about iPhones in the past. I haven't got one. But this one is impressive on a few levels. It's fixed some of the things that people were complaining about in the last one. First of all, it is cheaper than the last iPhone, although --

ROBERTS: That's an important fix.

VELSHI: It is an important fix but you remember the first iPhone came down in price. These are $200 to $300. However, the monthly fee is $10 more. So over the life of it, you'll actually pay a little bit more for this one. But it does run on the faster 3G Internet system, the sort of newer faster way of running a network. So it is faster. It's noticeably faster if you use it.

Also, one of the big complaints is the e-mail limitations. This has more e-mail options including the ability to work off of your corporate e-mail system and other e-mail systems that you may have.

ROBERTS: Definitely will work -- like an enterprise service?

VELSHI: Like a BlackBerry of an enterprise server now. I use to -- your company has to allow you to do that. But the bottom line is companies can now choose to use this device if they want to.

CHETRY: It went dark now.

VELSHI: Oh, you just press it and it goes on. And the other thing that's interesting about this that I really like is that you can be on the phone and you can use the Internet at the same time. Now the bottom line is when the iPhone came out --

CHETRY: Wow. You can't do that with a BlackBerry, right?

VELSHI: You can't do that with a BlackBerry.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: You actually have to go, hello.

VELSHI: You have to put an earphone in.

ROBERTS: Oh.

VELSHI: But the thing that's neat about this is that when obviously things that Apple does are game changers. And this one was a game changer but it had so many limitations when it came out for the price that people were sort of concerned that it wasn't going to be adopted widely enough. It was a kid's toy sort of thing.

This definitely makes it much more of a grown-up's choice. It's got a bunch of other features on it, and Apple's not buying ad space. So I'm not going to tell you more about it except to say that it's out in 45 minutes.

And neat little gadget. I kind of like it. I think I lost the attention of my colleagues here.

ROBERTS: I still don't like the way it feels.

CHETRY: I do.

VELSHI: There you go. Fair and balanced.

CHETRY: All right. Here's your iPhone back.

VELSHI: There you go. Yes.

CHETRY: Congratulations.

ROBERTS: Our producer Bryan (ph) Bell who bought one of the original ones for $699 is saying time to go, time to go.

CHETRY: He doesn't want to hear this.

ROBERTS: Thank you, Ali.

VELSHI: All right.

ROBERTS: Still to come, the fight to become an American citizen. A parent struggle with the government to save their daughter. A legal adoption that may not have been legal at all. Should this teenager be deported because of it?

CHETRY: And also, getting a deal on the dig. Does Representative Charlie Rangel getting reduced rent on his New York pad?

ROBERTS: And, fast talking phonetic Fred. Our Brooke Anderson and a rising YouTube sensation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My brain is going crazy. I'm going to go insane if I don't get my meds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You either automatically love Fred or you automatically hate Fred. It's either one of the two. It's never really in between to set up voice. It may get annoying after you watch it a few times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: It is just now turning 20 minutes after the hour. Can you imagine adopting a baby legally and then 14 years later finding out that your child could be thrown out of the country? It's happening to a Pennsylvania girl and her family right now.

Our Zain Verjee caught up with Allie Mulvihill and here's her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ZAIN VERJEE, STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Allie Mulvihill turns sweet 16 next month. She's ready to drive and wants an after school job. But she's afraid she can't do either because the U.S. government won't grant her legal status.

ALLIE MULVIHILL, TEEN WITHOUT A COUNTRY: All along I've really known that I'm not like everyone else.

VERJEE: Scott and Lori Mulvihill legally adopted Allie from Guatemala in 1994. The U.S. government told them they were worried the child was stolen. Still, The Mulvihills were allowed to bring Allie to the U.S. but her immigration status expired two years later. Getting citizenship has turned into a 14-year battle.

VERJEE (on camera): Do you feel scared sometimes?

A. MULVIHILL: Yes. Because I don't know where I'm going to end up after all this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, letters back and forth to immigration, it's the State Department, the American Embassy.

VERJEE (voice-over): The Mulvihills won't stop fighting.

VERJEE (on camera): What is really the brick wall that you're running up against when you boil it down?

LORI MULVIHILL, ALLIE'S MOTHER: Immigration.

SCOTT MULVIHILL, ALLIE'S FATHER: The climate of immigration right now is such that the immigration office is going to hold on to whatever cards they have because it's such a hot -- such a hot topic right now.

VERJEE (voice-over): The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services told CNN, "They've been trying to work with the Mulvihill family, and we continue to urge them to provide evidence that this minor is eligible for permanent residency."

What the government has been demanding all along is DNA evidence proving the woman who gave Allie up for adoption was her biological mother and not a baby trafficker. The agency that arranged the Mulvihills' adoption has since gone under. And the couple says they have no way of tracking down Allie's biological mother.

L. MULVIHILL: That's an impossibility to find her now. They said that is your only option.

VERJEE (on camera): What would be the consequences if after all of this you still don't get the citizenship, you don't get visa?

L. MULVIHILL: She faces deportation.

VERJEE: Wow.

L. MULVIHILL: So that's, you know, that's hanging over our heads.

VERJEE (voice-over): A frightening reality for a teen who only knows Allentown, Pennsylvania, as home.

A. MULVIHILL: It's been great growing up here. My parents mean everything to me. And we have so much fun together. They treat me as if I was the same as like my sister.

VERJEE (on camera): What would it mean for you to have U.S. citizenship?

A. MULVIHILL: It would mean the world to me because I'd be able to be a normal teenager.

VERJEE (voice-over): Zain Verjee, CNN, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: After a new law took effect in April, experts say adopting in Guatemala at this time may be especially risky because of a stricter interpretation of the word "orphan."

CHETRY: And when we come back, some good news to report this morning about the health of your teenager. We're paging Dr. Gupta and you're watching the "Most News in the Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Breaking news is that unfortunately we set another high record price for a barrel of oil. Our Ali Velshi tracking all this for us. We just found this out a couple of minutes ago, and you have some of the reasons why.

VELSHI: Yes, it just happened that we have gained more than $9 in two days on oil. There are a couple of reasons. One of them is tension in Iran. The second one is what we're looking at now, what we were looking at a while ago, some problems in Nigeria.

Nigeria is the fourth largest supplier of oil to the United States, typically would be providing about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Now, look at the southern part of Nigeria. Here we've zoomed in. This is the Niger Delta region. It's the delta of the Niger River where you can just sort of see right across the R. This is a very heavy oil producing part of the country, but there are rebels there who for the last 2 1/2 years have been fighting the government.

What they do is attack oil installations. Major companies have oil installations in this area. There's been a cease fire in place until midnight tonight, Saturday morning their time, which is approaching quickly. And the rebels have said that that cease fire will end at midnight tonight Nigeria time. And that is why we are expecting trouble.

We are expecting attacks on pipelines and facilities in the Niger Delta that is causing the price of oil to go up right now. We are now at a new record. We have never seen at this price, $145.98.

We'll be tracking this, of course, through the day on CNN. That's why your oil is a little higher today. This is a bit of an issue because we are now -- we didn't see a new record in gas prices today worth $4.10. But these gas prices that we have, have not been accounting for that $140 plus oil that we've been seen in the last couple of weeks.

ROBERTS: But that drop that we had in the last few days down into the 130s --

VELSHI: All gone. All gone. We lost $10 in oil the last few days. It's all been wiped out.

ROBERTS: Do us a favor. See if you can find it again, would you?

VELSHI: I absolutely will report.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: All right.

CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.

Well, New York Congressman Charlie Rangel facing some tough questions about a reported sweetheart deal on four luxury apartments in New York City.

According to "The New York Times," Rangel is paying less than $4,000 a month for all of the rent stabilized apartments. Apparently, that's less than half their market value. Also, apparently he uses one as an office. Rent stabilized apartments are supposed to only be used for primary residence.

This morning the House Justice Committee is accusing former White House adviser Karl Rove of breaking the law. Yesterday he ignored a subpoena to testify before Congress. The committee wants to question him about allegations of political pressure in the firings of several U.S. attorneys. Rove's lawyer says he's immune from that subpoena.

And John McCain says he would not allow mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to go under, even as fears mount that the two are too broke to stay afloat. McCain said the government must step in if needed because the two companies are vital to ensure that Americans can own homes.

ROBERTS: And for more up to the minute political news, just head to CNN.com/ticker.

This morning there are serious questions about Tehran's two day display of military force and whether pictures of their missile tests were digitally altered.

Joining us now from London is CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour. Christiane, these tests were conducted Wednesday and Thursday, said to be a couple of volleys of missiles. What are we hearing about it now?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're not hearing a whole lot on this from Iran, I must say. They maintain that they sent off a volley on Wednesday and they did again on Thursday. The United States military intelligence and radar surveillance has a different view of that. They feel that there weren't that many sent off on Thursday.

But the fact of the matter is that there were some sent off and it happened at a time when the nuclear negotiations are under way. And it's a very tense period in that region particularly given that Israel has said in the past that it needs to take out Iran's nuclear facilities if there's no diplomatic resolution, and that there have been those massive Israeli exercises.

So what's happening is a cycle of rhetoric and counter-rhetoric with threats coming to Iran's nuclear facilities and Iran saying that it's going to defend itself.

ROBERTS: You know, Christiane, we saw this photograph. I guess -- I don't know if it was an official photograph or what, but it showed four missiles being launched in the desert. And then we have this other photograph on the right here that shows, no, it was only three and that there was one that was left over.

There was some contention from the U.S. that that fourth missile that did not go off on Wednesday was the one that was fired on Thursday. Do we have any confirmation of that from anywhere else other than U.S. officials?

AMANPOUR: No. Although, obviously, others in the region and those with surveillance capability have been looking at it as well. And frankly, as Ben Wedeman reported from Jerusalem, the first day of these missiles or the second day, perhaps, it has not received a huge amount of attention in the Israeli press. Perhaps because they are aware as well that there was discrepancy to Iran's claims. But also, Iran has for years consistently over exaggerated its military capability in terms of ballistic missile targeting and range and accuracy.

And even in terms of its nuclear program with its centrifuges there's been an huge dispute of a whether or not it is actually capable of doing what it threatens but the fact remains that it is concerned. It is sending out these signals. It is muscle flexing. Because it feels that it is under belligerent and bellicose rhetoric from the United States and from Israel as well.

And right now I do have a little bit more news about the nuclear negotiations. That they will take place in Geneva on July 19th between the Javier Solana and the Iranian negotiator, Jalili. And these are to negotiate prenegotiations, if you like. Iran still has not fully given its response to the latest E.U. and U.S. proposal. John.

ROBERTS: Well, it's a long and convoluted process. Christiane Amanpour for us from London this morning. Christiane, thanks. CHETRY: It's 7:30 here on the east coast. And top stories we're following today, fighting fires in California. The National Guards men, the newest force on the frontlines. It's the first time in more than 30 years, the guardsmen have been called in to battle wildfires in the state.

Hurricane Bertha getting weaker this morning. It's a category one now still headed toward Bermuda. Last check Bertha was about 350 miles southeast of the island.

And some sad and breaking news this morning. The families of two American soldiers who went missing in Iraq more than a year ago say their bodies have been found. Army Sergeant Alex Jimenez and Private Byron Fouty were abducted along with another soldier. This was back in May of 2007 when their convoy was ambushed. CNN's Allan Chernoff spent time with the family of Alex Jimenez last year and joins me now live with the sad update for them.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the sort of story that really just makes your heart sink. Just imagine waiting, wondering and praying for 14 months only to get this tragic news. Well, there is no more waiting now for the families of Alex Jimenez of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Byron Fouty of Waterford, Michigan. They got the terrible news yesterday. The bodies were found in Iraq on Wednesday.

These two soldiers were kidnapped back in May of 2007 in an area 20 miles south of Baghdad known as the triangle of death. Now, the Jimenez family said that Alex was very strong, very courageous, could take care of himself. And that really gave them some hope that he might have survived. Of course, that hope is now shattered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMON "ANDY" JIMENEZ, FATHER OF SGT. ALEX JIMENZE (through translator): It's closure that now we know what's happening. But I don't know if it alleviates it for me. We now know what it is. If it's one thing or the other. He decided since he was young to join the Army. I'm very proud of my son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: The family says that Alex had always wanted to be a soldier, even when he was a young boy. And he really did die what he loved doing, Alex Jimenez was 25 years old. His colleague, Byron Fouty, only 19. Kiran, John.

CHETRY: Such a shame. But the family is going to be - I think there are plans for Jimenez's body to be brought back to his family?

CHERNOFF: Yes. The bodies are now in the United States. They've been positively ID'd through the dental records. It's just so, so sad. The family had been holding a vigil last year. A lot of family support. Religious family, the Jimenez group. And it's just -- what else can you say?

CHETRY: Yes. I know, not much. Allan Chernoff, thank you.

ROBERTS: It's coming up on 34 minutes after the hour. Investigators, this morning they may never catch JonBenet Ramsey's killer. They say right now there is no DNA match. Experts say even if the suspect's DNA has been taken because he was arrested for another crime it could be among the huge backlog of DNA samples still waiting to be processed. We're learning more about the new method of DNA testing that finally cleared the family of JonBenet Ramsey in her murder. CNN's Brian Todd actually went inside the lab that did the DNA test on JonBenet's clothes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a cold case more than 11 years old, a dramatic turn. JonBenet Ramsey's family is cleared of her murder by prosecutors who tapped into a new world of DNA testing. This office park in Lorton, Virginia, may seem an unlikely setting. But this is where the evidence finally turned in the Ramsey's favor. The labs of Bode technology where prosecutors from Boulder, Colorado, came for what's called touch evidence DNA testing. How is it different from traditional body fluid DNA test?

ANGELA WILLIAMSON, DNA ANALYST, BODE TECHNOLOGY: Touch samples are samples you can't see. You can't look at an item and say there's touch evidence. It's not a bloodstain or it's not a seminal stain. It's an area where you think that person may have been grabbed.

TODD: DNA analyst Angela Williamson handled the Ramsey case. She can't show us the long johns belonging to JonBenet Ramsey they tested here. But she takes us through the process with a pair of shorts.

TODD (on-camera): This is essentially where the analysis process begins. Say I'm the perpetrator and I grabbed these piece of clothing, pulled down or pulled in any other direction and then left it. Angela, you're going to tell me how you take the sample from this particular piece of clothing, a skin sample.

WILLIAMSON: So once we know that information, we would mark the area where we think that you have made contact. In this case, I'd mark quite a large area like this and I would also include the inside. And you just get your scalpel blade and take a fine layer of shavings from the top surface.

TODD: The shavings from my skin cells are placed in a small vial. For hard surfaces, swabs are used. Next step, extraction, using machines like this centrifuge to remove dyes, dirt, bacteria from the skin cell DNA sample.

WILLIAMSON: That one takes two hours. We have one that takes almost two days.

TODD: Next the samples are copied, amplified. Extraneous DNA is cleaned out in these hoods with UV rays. Then they can get a profile.

WILLIAMSON: In the Ramsey case - the DNA profile that we obtained is attributed to an unknown male. There is an XY chromosome present.

TODD: One important part of this, touch evidence is used at the state and local levels on cases. But federal agents tell us there are certain types of touch evidence they don't use because the technology has not been protected yet. This is when there are only minute amounts of skin cell DNA available and you could get a false positive. Brian Todd, CNN, Lorton, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And yesterday JonBenet's father said he wants a law requiring police to take DNA from people arrested for felonies and put it in the national database.

Our Rob Marciano is watching extreme weather. He's going to have that for us coming up in just a little while. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Oh, a beautiful shot this morning. Good morning, Cape May, New Jersey. Hey, it's a great time to get out there and stake a spot on this Friday morning if you don't have to work. Beautiful. Today it's going to be sunny, high of 82. And what better place to be than the beach. Our Rob Marciano is here in New York this morning. He's got a look at the forecast for us.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: How nice is that? It's fantastic.

CHETRY: What do you mean, go to New Jersey or are you going to listen to New Jersey's favorite son, Bon Jovi in the park today?

MARCIANO: The choices, they're tough here in the Big Apple. Yes.

CHETRY: Endless.

MARCIANO: Exactly. Hey, Kiran. Good morning again. Some rough weather moving across parts of the Midwest. It will be heading towards the East Coast, typically summertime stuff but it did cause some issues in Wisconsin yesterday. Trees down. Power lines down. You name it. They had some winds gusting at times to 70 miles per hour. And there you see the damage. We still have some thunderstorms that are rolling across the state. Some flash floods and warnings in effect for us in the south county and another line just about to cross the border. So, a harsh wakeup for cheese country.

All right. Let's talk about what else is going on. Chicago, by the way, you're going to see some showers and thunderstorms. Bertha is a category one storm. Winds of 85 miles an hour. This gal doesn't want to go away. Pretty symmetrical cloud symmetry there. For sure, heading towards Bermuda, northwesterly moving about seven miles an hour. Here's the latest track though. Looks like it should miss Bermuda. May get tropical storm winds on the east side of island. But at this point, hopefully we'll continue to see this head off towards the north and east. How about your forecast nationally? Daytime highs will be typical summertime stuff for the middle of July. 85 degrees in New York City. It will 92 degrees in Nashville, 89 in Kansas City, 98 degrees in Dallas. 102 in Vegas and 94 degrees in Phoenix. By the way, desert southwest during the monsoon, you're going to see some showers and some thunderstorms and some of those thunderstorms may sneak up into California and cause a few more problems for the firefighters that are dealing with the fires that are burning away cross that state. Not such a bad weekend if you're going to head to the beach or to the concert.

CHETRY: Sounds good. Keep us posted if you actually get to Bon Jovi. It's a free concert that's going on in Central Park.

MARCIANO: Nothing is free in this town.

ROBERTS: They gave us tickets, right?

CHETRY: They gave out these free tickets and now the scalpers are putting them on ebay.

ROBERTS: It's New York. What do you expect?

MARCIANO: Exactly.

CHETRY: Well how about this one. This is an example of desk rage. Apparently it's on the rise right now.

ROBERTS: Really.

CHETRY: Yes. In fact, apparently your office is simply becoming a hot bed for stress and hostility. That's according to experts who say that so-called desk rage is on the rise. They say it's a result of Americans having to pay more for just about everything and also the job uncertainty. According to one study almost half of Americans say they've succumbed to on the job anger with almost 25 percent saying it's driven them to tears. You can come closer.

ROBERTS: Are you sure? This wasn't real.

MARCIANO: That's very violent. I'm not sure it works anymore.

CHETRY: Oh, the laptop. No, it's fine. Oops, no it's fine.

ROBERTS: I hope she never experiences it for real. That looked dangerous.

Still to come, he's loud. He talks a mile a minute. And he's an internet hit. It's Fred's world and we're all just living in it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED: I need the medication. My brain is going crazy. I'm going to go insane if I don't get my meds.

ROBERTS (voice-over): A quick peek inside Fred's YouTube family. You're watching the most news in the morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: A fictional internet phenom is redefining the word hyper. He's a fast talking tyke with a temper that he's dominating YouTube.

CNN's Brooke Anderson introduces us to the teen behind Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred is a fast talking six- year-old who's frenetic behavior will make your head spin. And he's quickly becoming an internet superstar.

FRED: I need medication. I need medication.

ANDERSON: The relatively new Fred channel on YouTube boasts more than 275,000 subscribers. Surpassing Disney superstars Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.

LUCAS CRUIKSHANK, "FRED": I expected it to be big, but definitely not this big. I think what makes people like Fred so much is just because he's so innocent and the facial expressions and the voice. And the catch phrases.

ANDERSON: The real Fred is actually Lucas Cruikshank, a 14-year- old from Smalltown, Nebraska. Cruikshank says he created Fred out of boredom to parody other online bloggers' trivial revelations.

CRUIKSHANK: They complain the whole entire day and think everyone's so interested in it.

ANDERSON: The 18 episodes include Fred goes swimming, gets detention and loses his meds.

FRED: I need some medication. My brain is going crazy. I'm going to go insane if I don't get my meds.

CRUIKSHANK: You either automatically love Fred or you automatically hate Fred. It's either one of the two. It's never really in between. The voice may get annoying after you watch it a few times.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Fred.

ANDERSON: The video is most popular with kids under 18, have received more than 50 million views. And routinely get about 25,000 comments each. Most go something like this. Sweet vid, Fred! Lol. You are so funny.

DAVID SARNO, WRITER, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": It's my job to know about what's going on, on YouTube. And I'd absolutely never heard of Fred at all. ANDERSON: "L.A. Times" blogger David Sarno says that's proof positive adults aren't tapping into the same thing as kids.

SARNO: There's a split happening in the culture now. And what I think it comes from is that we now have a generation of young people that have never not known a world without internet.

ANDERSON: Cruikshank is planning more episodes. But fans should be warned, don't get too attached to Fred.

CRUIKSHANK: I have a few planned ways I'm going to kill Fred off. I thought he could get trampled by horses.

ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Santa Monica, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: And look out. Fred's now moving beyond the computer. He's already appearing in a commercial for text messaging devices on Nickelodeon. There you go.

ROBERTS: A kid creating his own career.

CHETRY: He sure is.

ROBERTS: It's really incredible the way they can do that.

CHETRY: 50 million hits. That's unbelievable as well.

ROBERTS: And it is a lot. Yes. Whoa.

Here's what we're working on for the next hour here on the most news in the morning. At 20 minutes after the hour, from Jesse Jackson's cutting comments to Obama's energy plan, we're talking with Obama supporter Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico this morning. Then at 40 after, talk about beating the odds. A 41-year-old mother, nine time Olympic medalist and now she is set to become the oldest female Olympic female swimmer ever. Meet Dara Torres. She's an inspiration.

And at 56 after, a chorus for Obama. The Caribbean crooners and their homage to their candidate we're jamming and you're watching the most news in the morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: There's a new federal report card out on the status of our nation's children. And there was some surprising findings about teen pregnancy and smoking. Here to take a look is chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Great to see you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks.

CHETRY: Now for years we were seeing declines in teen pregnancy -

GUPTA: Right.

CHETRY: What happened now?

GUPTA: We're not sure what exactly is happening. This is some sort of cultural phenomenon or we're just seeing a lot more teen pregnancies in the media and people are thinking it's OK. But it could just be a red flag, just a blip hopefully on the monitor as opposed to a trend. But it definitely is going up. We're seeing more teen pregnancies over the last year than really in the last 15 or 16 years before that. And, you know, if you take a look over at all of the numbers, 21 births per 1,000 in 2005 went up to 22. I mean, that may not sound like a huge gain but the point is it's going in the wrong direction. I think that's what everyone is so focused on.

Teen pregnancies have a whole host of problems as you might imagine. Overall, they have poor outcomes in terms of the babies. The mothers are less likely to get prenatal care. They're less likely to gain the appropriate weight. So it could be a serious problem overall for these young mothers. But why it's happening? That's sort of the $64,000 question here.

CHETRY: Very interesting. All right. And there's also some new stats on about teen smoking. So a bit of a bright spot in the report.

GUPTA: Yes. I get to give good news every now and then. But you know it's funny because you think about eighth graders. When I was in the eighth grade, maybe it was just me, but I wasn't exposed to a lot of the stuff. But it turns out that several years ago about 10 percent of eighth graders were actually smoking daily back in 2006. And now if you look at - I'm sorry 1996. In 2007 it's gone down to three percent. So, that's good overall with regard to smoking. There may be other problems, though, there may be other drugs that are being used more frequently and that is a concern as well that this report is looking at. It's harder to gauge because these things are done on surveys and not everyone is forthright in terms of what they are and are not doing.

CHETRY: Great to see you as always. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Thanks. It's nice to be here. Thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS (voice-over): Mixed messages about Iran's military might. Where photos found. CNN's Christiane Amanpour with exactly what happened.

Plus, happy dance from Texas to Turkey. The dance is taking the web by storm. What's he up to now? We'll talk to him live, next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: We have breaking news right now. Oil setting another record this morning, $145.98 a barrel. It's gained $9 in just the past two days. And markets are reacting in growing tensions with Iran.

Also news that a cease fire in Nigeria is expected to end at midnight tonight local time between rebels and the Nigerian government. So, again we'll keep you posted on that. Ali Velshi is following all the latest developments on the price of oil this morning.

Meanwhile, the McCain camp is struggling to get back on message after McCain's top economic advisor and long time pal Phil Graham suggested that America is becoming a nation of whiners. He then later clarified that he meant politicians and leaders are the whiners, not the American people. But he also is not backing down from something else he said, which is that "we're in a mental recession." That things are not all that rosy for Barack Obama either, though after some of his strongest supporters are outraged over his senate vote on surveillance. So joining us to talk about political hot topics is "Conservative Talk Radio Show" host, Armstrong Williams. Great to have you with us today.

ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS, HOST, "CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO SHOW": Hi, Kiran, good morning.

CHETRY: So yesterday John McCain found himself rejecting these comments that Phil Graham said in an interview when he talked about that mental recession. And that people who complained about the economy are whiners. How damaging is it in these tough economic times when poll after poll shows most Americans are feeling the pinch? How damaging is this news for McCain?

WILLIAMS: Well, you know, I think Senator John McCain and Senator Phil Graham both were correct. I do think there are many people suffering and struggling. And the fuel, the gas, and the housing crisis really have people in a frenzy. But I do think that Americans need to mature. Americans need to understand that we cannot live in good times always that there are going to be blips in our economy. I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to seem. And I do think that all you ever here is bad news, bad news, which causes people to surrender and not try to find the genius within themselves.

CHETRY: I see what you're saying but should that be coming from McCain's camp when the economy has been a target? Let's say for his political rival. Let's say this is where he's out of touch and then we hear this from one of his surrogates, Phil Graham.

WILLIAMS: You know, I actually think that Senator McCain should have some backbone and some principle not to just abandon Phil Graham, just as he abandoned so many other people that he disagree with but to say, he is correct. He makes a point, but we cannot ignore the fact that people are suffering and we've got to do something about that. But just total abandonment as if he cannot relate to what he's saying. I think that's what people will have a problem with.

CHETRY: All right. Also John McCain was left speechless yesterday as well from another one of his surrogates, Carly Fiorina, top advisor. She talked about Viagra and birth control. Let's listen to the exchange. She made the comment that perhaps that something a lot of women talk to her about when she meets with them is that they wish that birth control was covered by their insurance companies. Here's what John McCain said when he was asked about that later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess here statement was that it was unfair that health insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control. Do you have an opinion on that?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know enough about it to give you an informed answer because I don't recall ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well then later come to find out two different times McCain voted against measures that would have called for insurance companies to provide birth control. He seemed to be really caught off guard there. Is this going to be a tough moment for him?

WILLIAMS: You know, Kiran, that was really a sad and ridiculous moment for him. Because, you know, if he had any kind of guiding principles, he would have remembered his vote, which in my opinion was the right vote. I mean, there's one thing for us to insure health care and in many areas we should. But we're talking about lifestyle here, whether it's Viagra, whether it's birth control, what are we going to come up with next? With vasectomies. Where is it going to stop? It's out of control. We don't have an obligation to insure someone's lifestyle and choices that they make. And Senator John McCain should have been very clear on that. And that his adviser was clearly wrong and clearly out of step. And I think most Americans would embrace the fact that at some point we've got to say no because the government cannot be all things to all people.

CHETRY: You still haven't committed to either side. Are you thinking more about voting for Barack Obama as you had hinted to last time you were with us?

WILLIAMS: You know, I respect Senator Barack Obama. I think he's gotten a bum rap on the FISA legislation. I think there's far more information available today than there were some time ago. I mean, people forget that America is at war. And I think it's good for us to see people like John McCain and Senator Barack Obama who are willing to move up to a position that makes sense, especially given the fact there are people who would stop at nothing from harming us and this is another step in the right direction to make sure that's not possible.

So I think it's something that we should celebrate. No, I'm not committed to either candidate. I'm still neutral. But I'm still open to both but I do like the fact he's moving toward the center, because it does show that he can't be evolve. And he did say years ago that he's the kind of candidate that would reach across the aisle and that's exactly what he's doing and I think we should applaud him. CHETRY: All right. Armstrong Williams, great to have you with us this morning. Thanks for talking to us.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

CHETRY: John.

ROBERTS: Just coming up at the top of the hour, wildfires are forcing hundreds of people to evacuate from neighborhoods in suburban Spokane, Washington. At least 1,200 acres burned in a heavily wooded area. Eight homes have been destroyed. Dozens more are in danger.

200 National Guard troops just home from Iraq and Afghanistan are being called in to help fight more than 320 active wildfires in California. It is the first time in more than three decades that guardsmen have been asked to fight wildfires in the state. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says more could be called into to help.

And breaking news this morning, the remains of two American soldiers kidnapped last year in Iraq have reportedly been found. No confirmation yet from the Pentagon, but relatives of Army Sergeant Alex Jimenez and Private Byron Fouty say that they have been notified.

And there was a new threat facing our soldiers in Iraq. Insurgency using so-called I-RAMS, or improvised rocket assisted munitions.