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Barack Obama Visits Afghanistan; U.S., Iran Ofiicials Meet in Switzerland
Aired July 19, 2008 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Well, our top story though, troops secure the streets of Kabul for Barack Obama. Obama arrived in the Afghan capital after a brief stop in Kuwait. This is the start of the foreign policy tour that's meant to boost his bid for the White House.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: As for now they're not giving up Obama's specific whereabouts. We do know he's supposed to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. We want to take you now live to Afghanistan, CNN's Reza Sayah is in Kabul with the latest this morning. You have been giving us updates all morning. The little information we have been able to get about his movements. What's the latest now about where the senator and his delegation are?
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., an important day for Senator Barack Obama, his first visit ever to Afghanistan. Many back in America including Senator John McCain and his camp have described this trip as nothing but a photo opportunity but two very interesting decisions by Senator Obama to perhaps respond to that criticism. A source here in Kabul from the U.S. government tells CNN that Senator Barack Obama plans to stay the night in Kabul and meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai tomorrow. So maybe an effort by Senator Obama to tell the American voters that this is more than a dash in and a dash out. Four hours ago according to reports, Senator Obama moved east from Kabul to a region where in recent weeks there has been a significant spike in Taliban and insurgent activity. Again, maybe Obama making an effort to show American voters and his opponent Senator John McCain that this is his first visit to Afghanistan but he's not afraid to go into a region where he thinks things may be a little bit more uncomfortable. But certainly an important visit for Senator Barack Obama. An effort on his part to improve his image and change the perception that he's weak on national security. T.J.?
HOLMES: All right. Reza Sayah, has been updating us all morning about the whereabouts as much as we've been able to learn about Senator Obama. Reza, we appreciate you again this morning. Thank you so much.
KEILAR: So as not to be forgotten, John McCain sounding off today on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His taped address included a little jab at Barack Obama.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My opponent, Senator Obama, announced a strategy for Afghanistan and Iraq before departing on a fact finding mission that will include visits to both those countries. Apparently he's confident enough that he won't find any facts that might change his opinion or alter his strategy. Remarkable.
(END OF AUDIO CLIP)
KEILAR: As for McCain's specific views on Afghanistan, they are evolving. Here's CNN's Jonathan Mann on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John McCain was in Afghanistan before Barack Obama. Back in 2006 five years after the fall of the Taliban regime, U.S. and NATO forces were facing a determined Taliban insurgency. Back then McCain said Afghanistan needed more troops though not necessarily American ones. He called for more NATO forces. Now as the Taliban gained in strength, U.S. casualties climbed and Obama calls for a bigger U.S. troop presence, McCain is highlighting his own new proposals, calling for more troops with specific numbers, up to 15,000.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our commanders on the ground in Afghanistan say that they need at least three additional brigades. Thanks to the success of the surge these forces are becoming available and our commanders in Afghanistan must get them.
MANN: But the McCain campaign says NATO troops should still be among those new reinforcements. McCain is also calling for other new commitments to the country. A bigger Afghan army doubled in size to about 160,000. More outside aid to fund it and more nonmilitary aid as well. A White House czar on the Afghanistan war and a special envoy to focus on U.S. diplomacy in the region.
MCCAIN: I know how to win wars. If I'm elected president I'll turn around the war in Afghanistan just as we have turned around the war in Iraq with a comprehensive strategy for victory. I know how to do that.
MANN (on camera): John McCain has been a supporter of the Bush administration's surge in Iraq and he says it is working. He would apply his lessons to Afghanistan. Obama says Iraq has been a dangerous distraction from Afghanistan but McCain disagrees. He's convinced the U.S. can prevail in both places. Jonathan Mann, CNN, Atlanta.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Don't call it a troop withdraw timeline. Call it a time horizon. President Bush and Iraq's prime minister have agreed to discuss what they are in fact calling a quote, "General Time Horizon," for reducing U.S. combat troop levels in Iraq. Whatever you want to call it and whatever you think it means, the presidential candidates putting their own spin on that agreement. John McCain on one hand saying that it's more evidence that the surge has worked in Iraq. Meanwhile, Barack Obama saying that it's another sign the administration is moving toward his position on negotiating the removal of forces. The future for British troops in Iraq is on the agenda today for Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He's in Iraq right now meeting with Iraqi leaders. Brown says plans are being made to cut the number of British troops in Iraq but says there's no quote, "artificial timetable for withdrawal." Britain has about 4,000 soldiers in Iraq right now.
KEILAR: Nuclear talks with Iran have been taking place in Geneva, Switzerland with Iran saying there is no chance that it will suspend uranium enrichment. U.S. diplomat William Burns is sitting in on these talks between Iran and the European Union. The six-nation team is offering incentives for Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions.
HOLMES: CNN's Jill Dougherty now explains how Burns' appearance in Geneva may signal a new direction in Washington's relationship with Tehran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than two weeks ago tensions with Iran were at the boiling point. Tehran test firing a long range missile capable of hitting Israel. Rumors that Israel or the United States might launch a military strike on Iran. Suddenly, after years of the Bush administration insisting it would talk to Iran only after it stopped its nuclear program, the U.S. state department announces its third highest ranking diplomat, William Burns, will sit down Saturday with Iran's top nuclear negotiator and a group of senior international diplomats including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to listen, not negotiate.
SEAN MCCORMACK, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: Is this a new tactic, if you will? Yes. Does it send a signal? Yes. Is the substance any different? No.
DOUGHERTY: Then another surprise. 30 years after Iranians seized American hostages during the Islamic revolution and Washington broke off diplomatic relations, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has been hinting at the possibility of opening a U.S. diplomatic post in Tehran called an interests section. The U.S. has an interests section in Cuba, which helps Cubans get visas to the U.S.
(On camera): Iran has its own interests section here in Washington since Tehran has no diplomatic relations with the U.S. it is housed in this building as part of the embassy of Pakistan.
(Voice-over): Why the overtures to Iran and why now? U.S. officials believe international sanctions are hurting the Iranian regime and its people. They say a debate is beginning in Iran over whether the country is paying too high a prize for defying the world over its nuclear program. The scars from 30 years ago are still there but a former hostage says it's in the United States' interest to start talking with Iran.
AMB. BRUCE LAINGEN, FORMER HOSTAGE IN IRAN: What we really need as far as Iran is concerned is a Nixon and China approach. Is it going to take that kind of change at the top to really open up Tehran and the U.S. But this is a beginning. DOUGHERTY: A beginning of a new U.S. strategy on Iran or new tactical maneuvers in a complex diplomatic game? U.S. officials won't say but something is shifting. Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Confrontation at sea. Drug smugglers try a new way to sneak drugs past authorities and you know what? It didn't work.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A huge drug bust on the high seas to tell you about. Mexico's navy says it seized close to six tons of cocaine inside a small semi-submersible vessel. It was intercepted two days thanks in part to a U.S. tip. We have Coast Guard video of it here now. Authorities were zeroing in on a 31 foot vessel. It looks like a cross between a submarine and a cigarette boat. Four Colombian crew members were taken into custody. They claimed to be fishermen forced by a drug cartel to transport the cargo. Officials says Colombian drug gangs are using semi submersibles more often to move drugs eventually into the U.S.
KEILAR: One of two men charged with murdering four people on the high seas is changing his plea to guilty. That is according to a victim's relative. Kirby Archer, the man that you see on the left side of your screen will change his plea next week as part of a deal with prosecutors. They in turn will not seek the death penalty against him. Archer and Guillermo Zaragosa are accused of robbing, kidnapping and killing the four-person crew of the "Joe Cool" charter fishing boat. Coast Guard officials found the boat abandoned last year. The crew members' bodies still not found.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KEILAR: A developing story. Iran's nuclear ambitions are the topic of talks between the EU and Iran today in Geneva, Switzerland. CNN's chief correspondent Christiane Amanpour is on the phone now with us from Geneva. What's the latest Christiane?
VOICE OF CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, there was a great deal of excitement about these talks because the U.S. had reversed itself in a major policy shift and sent a top level state department official, under secretary of state William Burns, to sit at these talks, not to negotiate but to hear Iran's response to the world's proposals over its nuclear program. We have just seen at the press conference, you can see that it's still going on, and the bottom line is that they have come to an inconclusive end to this. Javier Solana, the EU policy chief, foreign policy chief, has basically said we did not get an answer. We didn't get a yes or a no and we hope we get it soon. The yes or no was to a specific renegotiation proposal that the U.S. and the Europeans and the Russians and the Chinese had put for Iran as a way of unblocking the current nuclear impasse. It involved a six week for six week freeze on any additional Iranian uranium enrichment and any additional U.N. sanctions. They're saying Iran, we're told by western diplomats, did not engage on that specific issue. Wanted to talk about long-term issues of political and economic development and even of eventual links with the United States. But we understand that the EU and the U.S. are giving Iran a short period. We understand a couple of weeks, to go back and get further instructions from Tehran and come back with a final answer. We also understand that if Iran's answer is similarly inconclusive in two weeks or it is negative, there will be no more meetings, no more talks about talks in Iran, could and will likely fall into another cycle of sanctions and isolation. Brianna?
KEILAR: Ok, so this could be pivotal herein a couple weeks. We'll be watching that, we know you will too. Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent from Switzerland. Thanks.
HOLMES: The air force's top brass being accused of trying to use anti-terror money for luxury. Their $20 million plan to give some of their aircraft first class upgrades isn't sitting well with lower ranking officers. CNN's Brian Todd reports it's not sitting too well with congress or a watchdog group either.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By definition this is supposed to be no thrills flying. Big, clunky Air Force transport planes that carry troops, cargo and occasionally top brass all over the world. Now Air Force generals are on the defensive over their efforts to upgrade their own accommodations on these aircraft. They've ordered so-called conference capsules that can be placed inside the massive planes. Pods with comfortable chairs, desks, convertible sofas, sleeping areas. But a watchdog group is calling the generals out for trying to pay for them with nearly $20 million from the government's counterterrorism funds.
NICK SCHWELLENBACH, PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT: The war on terrorism budget is supposed to be for funding the wars abroad and the troops on the front line. Not for generals and their cushy flights around the world.
TODD: The air force's funding request was denied by congress and air force officials tell us they've drastically cut down the number of these capsules on order and that it's all now coming out of the air force's own budget. But there are other complaints about the project. According to internal air force e-mails provided to CNN by the defense watchdog group project on government oversight which also gave us these images, top air force generals personally ordered features in the design of the capsules that drove up the cost by thousands of dollars. Things like a full length mirror and aesthetically pleasing wall treatments and coverings.
SCHWELLENBACH: It's just amazing when you contrast what these generals wanted to fly in with the deplorable state of the seating for regular troops and airmen inside the defense department.
TODD: Seats he describes as old and chewed up. Air force officials couldn't provide anyone on camera but they steered us to a "Washington Post" interview with General Robert McMahon who was involved with the project. McMahon said the goal was to design space where officials could work as they went into the area of responsibility and rest so they could be ready to work for short periods on the ground before leaving again. Air force officials also tell us they need space for secure communications, places to plug in computers to work during those long flights.
(On camera): But the project on government oversight says the planes can already be outfitted with more basic pods that have those secure communications capabilities. And one member of that group says these new capsules are just souped up versions of those. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: You hear a lot from Barack Obama and John McCain every day out there on the campaign trail. But do you know how to find out whether they're actually telling the truth?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: One way and maybe a good way and maybe the best way to gauge the tone of the U.S. presidential campaign is in the candidate's political ads and their attacks out there.
KEILAR: Josh Levs has been checking out some of the recent ones from John McCain and Barack Obama and you found a few holes, Josh.
JOSH LEVS: We have an endless supplies of holes to work with here. You know we do reality checking to look at those. We also take a look at the good sites. We have fact check here. We have politafact which does a lot of similar things as reality check. Later this hour we're going to be taking a look at John McCain but for now we'll start with Barack Obama. Starting with this from one of his latest ads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As president he'll rebuild our alliances to take out terrorist networks and fast track alternatives so we stop spending billions on oil from hostile nations.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Now factcheck.org says Obama's proposal is to spend $150 billion over the coming decade on energy research. Ten years does not sound at all that fast to us they say and there's no guarantee that the research will result in less oil being imported. Obama has repeatedly attacked McCain about this same issue, about oil. And here is one line in a recent attack ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: McCain and Bush support a drilling plan that won't produce a drop of oil for seven years. McCain will give more tax breaks to big oil.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP) LEVS: Now experts do agree that drilling will not produce a significant amount of oil for perhaps many years, that offshore oil drilling. But as for the tax breaks line, politafact looked at that and they say, you know what, Obama's cherry picking here. They say the corporate tax rate deduction would apply to all corporations. So singling out oil companies suggest McCain has targeted oil companies for tax breaks. Finally now, something that -- listen to the first few words of this Obama ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He worked his way through college and Harvard Law, turned down big money offers and helped lift neighborhoods stunned by job loss.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: You know the key phrase there, worked his way conjures up his image of a student holding down jobs while taking courses. Fact check thought to look at this and they say Obama took out loans but the campaign provided information on just two jobs that Obama had in those years and they were both in the summer. They go on to say that unless Obama had a good bit more employment it's a real stretch to claim he worked his way through school. In just a few minutes we're going to look at McCain, including his statements about taxes and about equal pay for women.
KEILAR: That is fascinating, Josh. It really is. Thanks for doing that report. Appreciate it.
U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Family members sharing their emotional memories.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're coming up on the bottom of the hour here. Here's what's happening now across the world. A major shift in U.S. policy on Iran. U.S. diplomat William Burns sitting in on nuclear negotiations in Geneva. Six nation teams offering incentives for Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. We heard a short time ago those talks wrapped up however without an agreement but they did agree at least to meet again in two weeks.
Meanwhile, Senator Barack Obama is in Afghanistan this morning. His first visit there and the first stop on a trip that will take him throughout the Middle East and Europe. The democratic presidential candidate boosting his foreign policy credentials ahead of the November election.
KEILAR: This really highlights Afghanistan's deepening state of crisis. The battle last Sunday that killed nine American troops. The U.S. contingent it was the deadliest clash there in three years. These are the nine men that we lost shown to us by CNN's Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were just weeks away from coming home after 15 months fighting in Afghanistan. Sergeant Israel Garcia's wife learned of his death just hours before she was due to fly to Italy to meet him. Garcia's little brother is devastated.
RAMSSES GARCIA, SOLDIER'S BROTHER: He's not going to see my kids. He ain't going to be in my wedding or my graduation.
STARR: Nine young men of the 173rd airborne brigade combat team, some just a few years out of high school, killed in a firefight with 200 insurgents near the Pakistan border. It was to be one of their last missions on this tour of duty. Corporal Gunar Zwelling's uncle says Zwelling's father has already suffered greatly.
GARY ZWELLING, SOLDIER'S UNCLE: He has cancer. He's just been so sick. His wife just passed away last year. It's just been a horrible year for him.
STARR: Lieutenant Jonathan Bostrom's(ph) biology teacher remembers a great youngster.
MIKE NORMAND, SOLDIER'S TEACHER: Every now and then (INAUDIBLE) making a joke here and there.
STARR: Suzanne Ayers planned to surprise her son, Corporal Jonathan Ayers, the minute he touched down in the U.S.
SUZANNE AYERS, SOLDIERS MOTHER: He already had his plane ticket. I had bought a ticket to surprise him because he had a layover in New York.
STARR: Michael Bogart spoke with a father's pride. His son, Jason, had served in Iraq in 2003 and wanted to help children in war zones.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my opinion Jason did in 25 years what it takes a lot of people a lifetime to do.
STARR: Corporal Jason Hovater was all set to go backpacking in Europe with his wife Jenna. They had been sweethearts since they met at the age of 14.
JENNA HOVATER, SOLDIER'S WIFE: Driving home last night I saw the prettiest sunset. I just said thank you, Jason. You know, I mean that's him. He's in that.
STARR: Now the planning begins for funerals and remembering young boys who in war served as men. Barbara Starr, CNN, the pentagon.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Peter Bergen is a noted terrorism expert and as such he's deeply acquainted with Afghanistan and the intensifying the war there. It's really this intensifying war that's bringing more attention to it. One of the major reasons no doubt that Senator Barack Obama is paying a visit to Afghanistan during his tour of Europe and the Middle East. Peter joining us now on the phone from Kabul. Peter, what will the senator really be able to see on his trip to Afghanistan?
VOICE OF PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Of course he's here for a limited time and he's also sort of in the security bubble for obvious reasons is pretty intense. He's going be at Bagram Air Force base and CNN is reporting that he's overnighting in Afghanistan. So he'll obviously meet with a number of U.S. military officials and others and get a little sense of what's going on. But of course the trip is brief and it was well prepared. But I'm sure they will have the situation on the ground here which as you know has deteriorated pretty (INAUDIBLE) in the last several months. The pentagon's own account says that violence in the east has increased 40 percent in the last several months. The Taliban has resurged on the Pakistan side of the border and on the Afghan side of the border.
KEILAR: Peter, the senator headed to eastern Afghanistan as you just mentioned eastern Afghanistan. Why is it significant that he went there?
BERGEN: Well, that is of course where the uncertainty is mostly in east Afghanistan, mostly in the south, the insurgency is largely located on the border with Pakistan and the senator has made a number of very strong statements about Pakistan, suggesting if he became president that he would take a perhaps stronger line with the Pakistanis, advocating cross border incursions into Pakistan. And of course that's been an extremely sensitive issue with the Pakistanis who are opposed to any form of U.S. military presence on that territory moving into a number of polls that have been taken on this subject. But I think there is a sort of growing frustration not only with Senator Barack Obama but with many officials about Pakistan's continuing role in terms of a safe haven with helping the insurgency in Afghanistan sustain itself. We have seen statements from a number -- we've had the head of the joint chiefs leading Pakistan -- officials presuming it was to deliver some kind of a strongly worded statement that American patience is running out. The situation in Afghanistan deteriorating for many reasons but one of the key ones is for continued safe haven the Taliban has in Pakistan.
KEILAR: Peter, we have just learned a short time ago that Senator Obama will be spending the night tonight in Afghanistan. He's going to be spending the night at Bagram air base. Wondering if there's any significance to him not staying at the presidential palace.
BERGEN: Bagram air force base is obviously a secure location a long way from Kabul. I don't know what the protocol of all this is but Senator Barack Obama is not head of state or president of the United States. I think it would be very surprising if he -- I don't think he would be staying at the presidential palace any way. Bagram is a very secure location about an hour's drive north of Kabul, a major American air force base and a secure location for any visiting American lawmaker.
KEILAR: Terrorism analyst Peter Bergen with us from Kabul. Thanks.
HOLMES: A short time ago we brought you the facts on the Obama campaign. Now our Josh Levs is going to be checking out the McCain side of things.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Too much whining. You remember that. The man who called the U.S. a nation of whiners. Well Phil Gramm is resigning as co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign. Gramm says that he's become a distraction. Democrats of course pounced on the former Texas senator when he called the United States a nation of whiners and said also that the country is in a mental recession.
A few minutes ago we put some of Barack Obama's latest campaign messages really under the microscope and now its John McCain's turn.
HOLMES: Our Josh Levs who is an equal opportunity fact checker is here with us again this morning for part two of this morning's political reality check. Josh?
JOSH LEVS: That's right. It was to be continued and here we are. This morning we're taking a look at what some of the leading fact check websites have picked up on. We're going to start off with something that John McCain has repeatedly said this month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you are one of the 23 million small business owners in America who files as an individual rate payer, Senator Obama is going to raise your tax rates.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Factcheck.org says this is a false and preposterously inflated figure. They say the vast majority would see no change and that many would actually get a cut. Along similar lines, the McCain campaign has also said that Obama has voted 94 times for higher taxes. I pulled up a press release from his website where he's saying it right here. In fact during the first three years in the U.S. Senate Barack Obama has voted 94 times for higher taxes. The republican national committee has said the same thing. Well, fact check study does not (INAUDIBLE). I love when they dig into numbers like this. Look at this, here's what they found. Of that 94, 53 they say were on budget measures that would have resulted in no tax change. Seven would have lowered taxes for a lot of people. They say the 94 includes multiple votes on the same measure. Finally now, "The Washington Post" has someone called "the fact checker" and he's pointing to this statement from McCain about equal pay for men and women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: We haven't done enough. We have not done enough. I'm committed to making sure that there is equal pay for equal work and that there is an equal opportunity in every aspect of our society and our economy.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Now, according to "The Post" McCain opposes the Ledbetter Act which is aimed at achieving equal pay. Now this write up that they have says this. It says, "To oppose the Ledbetter act on the grounds that it will lead to a swarm of new lawsuits is fair enough, but John McCain has not proposed a realistic alternative." And of course to get more information on all of this, at any time just go to cnnpolitics.com and we link to some of these fact check sites. There you go guys, equal opportunity.
KEILAR: Thank you. Putting them both under the microscope. It's so interesting Josh. A really good report. Appreciate it.
LEVS: Thank you. Thanks a lot.
HOLMES: They are called the youth squad and their goal is to reduce gang violence.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We'll show you what we've been keeping an eye on all morning long. That is Barack Obama in Afghanistan. Some of the first pictures we got. We just lost them that quickly. But those are some of the first pictures we have gotten in. Of course he got there a matter of hours ago. We're getting that tape cued up for you again. Again, here at a meeting, we're not exactly sure where this is. Not exactly sure who he's meeting with but certainly it appears that there is possibly some U.S. military members sitting around this table or some members of possibly the coalition there in Afghanistan. But of course, this is part of an official congressional delegation he's with but of course the political implications here about him possibly shoring up his foreign policy credentials by having these pictures being shown to the American public. Many of whom don't believe that he has a lot of foreign policy experience but here on his first official visit to Afghanistan again not exactly sure where this is and who he's meeting with but these are the first pictures we've gotten. He got there around 3:00 in the morning east coast time here in the U.S. He landed there at Bagram air base and now he's moving around Afghanistan. Got word that he is in fact going to be spending the night in Afghanistan. But the first pictures we wanted to pass those along to you as soon as we got them. We'll continue to follow his journey.
KEILAR: A group of 80 teens and young adults doing their part to take back L.A.'s most dangerous streets. They're called the youth squad, part of a plan to reduce gang violence. Kara Finnstrom takes us to the streets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We found them recruiting on Los Angeles' most violent streets. Streets thrust into the national spotlight by a rash of murders this year. Streets where the LAPD is now cracking down on gangs but those arrests alone won't solve the problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's to reduce gang violence in our community.
FINNSTROM: But these youth are not recruiting for gangs. They're working to free their neighborhoods from fear.
DETRAIL YOUNG, YOUTH SQUAD: Bullets don't have no name on them and anything can happen.
FINNSTROM: Detrail Young is part of the youth squad. 80 kids handpicked by city leaders. They're helping secure and reenergize community parks, organizing positive events like skateboarding, tennis and African drumming hosting it all during the night hours when violence is usually highest. And using their street credibility to convince neighbors it's safe to come.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The kids that some people might perceive to be problem kids who have some connection or association with gangs sometimes just because they live in that particular neighborhood.
FINNSTROM: Jeff Carr was tapped by L.A.'s mayor to lead the city's gang intervention program and created the youth squad.
JEFF CARR, L.A. GANG INTERVENTION: My belief is if you invest in those kids and you help them cast a vision for how things can change, they actually can be part of the solution.
YOUNG: I believe I can do it.
FINNSTROM: 20-year-old Detrail says his father is in prison for selling drugs. So his mom appointed him man of the house. He's one of six children and also has a wife and a baby on the way.
JOY EVANS, MOTHER OF YOUTH SQUAD MEMBERS: Once he got his life on the straight and narrow he chose to do it the right way.
FINNSTROM: Detrail is getting paid and getting leadership training. Jeff Carr believes this summer could be pivotal in Detrail's life and in the lives of those he touches. Detrail's clearest success so far happens to be with his own brother.
ANTWANN WATTS, YOUTH SQUAD MEMBER: Everybody calls me this nickname. That's my wrestling name, its called bruiser.
FINNSTROM: Antwann Watts has autism. Everyone here is familiar with his love of wrestling and the WWF belt that rarely leave his shoulder. The fact he's even here is astonishing. His mother says last year when Antwann didn't respond to a gang member's questions, he was shot four times. Antwann healed physically but autism had already made it difficult for him to connect emotionally and suddenly Antwann refused to leave home.
EVANS: He start regressing something terrible. He did.
FINNSTROM: When his big brother started talking about the youth squad and police patrols in the park, something changed.
WATTS: Having my brother up here at the park just like making me safe 24 hours a day.
EVANS: The first day I was really emotional. I had to get away from him because he was like you're embarrassing me mom. But that's what I yearn for, you know, to see them happy. Not having to look over their shoulder or worry about if somebody's going to come up and do a drive-by.
FINNSTROM: And that's the hope, that creating islands of safety in L.A.'s entrenched gang territories can help break down the fear one family at a time. Kara Finnstrom for CNN, Los Angeles.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And NEWSROOM continues at top of the hour with Fredricka Whitfield.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, good to see both of you. I said both of you, see? He always thinks I, like, go beyond the man here and go to the woman. Anyway, good to see both of you guys.
HOLMES: Thanks for acknowledging me today.
WHITFIELD: All right, high gas prices, is it making you change your ways?
HOLMES: Not yet.
WHITFIELD: Really?
KEILAR: I've been changing.
WHITFIELD: You got a big old SUV.
KEILAR: I have been taking the train more.
WHITFIELD: Ok, good for you. A lot of folks have become very creative, very inventive because of these high gas prices. Creating ways in which people are pinching pennies and it also means that some very vital needs such as medical needs are also kind of getting shafted a little bit. Our Joe Johns will be exploring that situation. And then, Barbies versus Bratz. Did you play with Barbies Brianna way back when?
KEILAR: My sister made me. I did, yes.
WHITFIELD: She made you?
KEILAR: She was really into it and I sort of did it just to go along.
WHITFIELD: I was a Barbie girl as well. Nowadays kids have choices and Bratz are certainly giving Barbie dolls the competition but so much so that it's now found its way in court. Who has creative right over Barbies versus Bratz. Why is it in court? Our legal guys are gong to delve into it. T.J. I can tell you were just so riveted by the whole Barbie/Bratz idea.
HOLMES: You know, I always pay attention to everything you say.
WHITFIELD: We have other legal cases that you're going to like as well. I know you're not into the little dolls there.
HOLMES: I'll listen to whatever you say.
KEILAR: That crazy karaoke Bratz doll, rock on.
WHITFIELD: Ok, see. All of that and more at Noon and beyond! Check in at 4:00 eastern too. If you just can't get enough of the NEWSROOM, so there.
KEILAR: All right. Thank you Fred. We'll check it out then.
HOLMES: We'll see you soon.
KEILAR: Trash in the streets, call in the garbage king.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, one of our CNN iReporters raised a pretty big stink last week. She sent us video of piles and piles of trash lining the streets of Naples, Italy.
KEILAR: Yeah, we've reported on it over the years, too, and now the city is cleaning up its act in order to clean up its image but is it just a short-term fix? Here's Alessio Vinci.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what happens when the garbage mains uncollected.
The garbage crisis took me to Naples on several occasions.
Well, it is a stench, the smell. There isn't much time to clean up this mess. The emergency began more than 14 years ago. It flared most recently late last year when official dumps were declared full and garbage was left in the streets. Three months after Silvio Berlusconi won an election promising to deal with the crisis that has damaged this nation's image abroad, he sat down for a rare and exclusive interview with CNN to tell the world the worst of the crisis is over.
SILVIO BERLUSCONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER: The streets in the squares of Naples and in the rest of the region are back to being what they are always supposed to be like, western. Therefore clean cities, stabilized and without the shadow of garbage left in the streets.
VINCI: These are some of the pictures you saw back in January. And this is the same area today. As recently as last May, you could drive for miles and see mountains of trash piled up on sidewalks. Now there is considerably less. It took a massive cleanup operation involving the military and the security forces to guard newly open landfills from protesting residents, who don't want trash dumps in their neighborhoods.
BERLUSCONI: The state returns what it is supposed to be. We impose legality, even with the use of force. Here in Naples, I used the armed forces, which are presiding over the dumps and protect the sites where we are building the incinerators.
VINCI: While the emergency may be considered solved in the short term, concerns remain over long-term plans. In fact, Prime Minister Berlusconi warns it will be at least two, perhaps three years before the region can handle garbage in a permanent way. In many areas, we witnessed improvement, but a viable lasting garbage collection program is still missing. Guido Bertolaso is the man, Prime Minister Berlusconi put in charge to solve the crisis.
GUIDO BERTOLASO, ITALIAN CIVIL PROTECTION DEPT.: We are to start differentiating the garbages in order to separate.
VINCI: Recycling.
BERTOLASO: Recycling, of course, yeah. Because we have to separate the different, you know, the paper from the plastic and so on. And this is the kind of culture that we are trying to share with the populations.
VINCI: The government says a total of four incinerators will be built over the next few years. Officials also say this one, which is almost completed, should start operating by the end of this year. Until then, many say the biggest challenge will be keeping the streets of Naples clean. Alessio Vinci, CNN in Naples.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Imagine the smell.
HOLMES: Oh, rather not.
KEILAR: I know, right, so bad.
All right, well CNN NEWSROOM continues with Fredricka Whitfield.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, you all. I can't imagine the smell either. I'm glad we only have to try and imagine it and we're not there. All right, you all have a great day. All right, lots straight ahead here. We're watching two very big stories breaking overseas today. In Switzerland, nuclear talks with Iran. For the first time ever, a place at the table for Washington. Is the Bush administration seeking compromise? Our top story though, Barack Obama in Afghanistan, just moments ago, we received these first pictures of him meeting with a group of U.S. officers as well as some local Afghan leaders. We don't know exactly the content of all that is being said right now, but these are the newest images that are arriving. Obama arrived in the Afghan capital after a brief stop in Kuwait. It is the start of the foreign policy tour meant to boost his bid for the White House. And of course, when we get anymore information about exactly what's being said there, we'll be able to bring that to you right away.
As for now, they're not giving us exact whereabouts about where Obama is. His trip is under very tight security, understandably, and of course we have a reporter that is there in Afghanistan. When we're able to establish contact with him, we'll be able to take you to Kabul as soon as possible.
Meantime, still on the topic of Afghanistan, but a different candidate for the presidency, John McCain, well, he sounded off today on the wars in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. His taped address included a little jab, indeed, at Obama.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My opponent, Senator Obama announced his strategy for Afghanistan and Iraq before departing on a fact-finding mission that will include visits to both those countries. Apparently he's confident enough that he won't find any facts that might change his opinion or alter his strategy. Remarkable.
(END OF AUDIO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, those remarks aside on Afghanistan, there is agreement between McCain and Obama.
