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Results of the British Open; Obama in Afghanistan; Tropical Storm Watch; Pittsburgh Baby Case
Aired July 20, 2008 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead this hour, his first ever trip to Afghanistan behind him, Senator Barack Obama now turns his focus to Iraq as he continues his high-stakes foreign policy trip. And tropical weather watch. We're keeping our eye on two storms right now. Cristobal soaks North Carolina as Dolly says hello to the Caribbean.
And you've seen this walk before. We'll talk with one of the first men on the moon on this anniversary of his famous walk.
Hello, everyone. I'm Fredericka Whitfield and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Barack Obama's overseas tour has departed Afghanistan. One of his next destinations, Iraq. Obama held talks in Kabul this morning with Afghan president Hamid Karzai before leaving the country. Karzai's spokesman said the meeting was friendly and touched on the war on terror.
Also in Kabul, the candidate shared breakfast with U.S. troops, some of the three odd thousand now involved in the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. So when Obama gets to Iraq topic number one will be his pledge to end the war there. With the story for us live from Baghdad, CNN's Frederick Pleitgen. It's unclear exactly when Barack Obama might be making his way to Iraq but the expectation is that one of his stops. What will happen once he gets there?
FREDERICK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, there is going to be a lot of interest, Fredricka, in his plans to withdraw U.S. troops here from Iraq. Remember, Barack Obama has pledged that if he's elected president he will have almost all American combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of actually taking office. Now when he hits the ground here in Iraq, he's going to be meeting with top U.S. commanders here, and they are going to give him an honest reality check of his plans for troop withdrawals, and the first thing they're going to be talking about is it actually logistically possible to pull all those combat troops out in such a short period of time and also what would that mean for the stability of this country.
And certainly what we've been hearing from a lot of Iraqis that we've been talking to, they say, of course, yes, we want American troops to leave our country at some point, but there are also many who are afraid that this country could descend back into violence or even worse violence than it's in right now if American troops leave too fast, Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: And so, Fred, you said he's going to be meeting with top U.S. commanders. Is Barack Obama also, and the rest of his delegation, also going to be meeting with Iraqi leaders?
PLEITGEN: Absolutely. He's going to meet with top Iraqi officials, probably also with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki who certainly made some waves today when he was quoted in a German magazine article as saying that he actually endorsed Obama's plans to have U.S. troops out of this country 16 months after taking office.
Now I can tell you after those quotes surfaced, we were hit by a barrage of e-mails, both from the Iraqi government as well as the U.S. military here in Iraq, saying that Maliki had been misquoted, that he in no way endorses presidential candidate for the next upcoming presidential election, that he was probably misinterpreted. Now, it seems as though the wording that both the White House and the Iraqi government have agreed upon is to call it a time line horizon for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
Now no one really knows what that actually means, but one thing that it could mean is that both sides mutually agree that U.S. forces should leave this country, but they will make the timing of that very much dependent on the security situation here on the ground, Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: Oh, interesting. So conflicting reports as to whether the Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki does indeed endorse Senator Obama's plans on this kind of troop withdrawal. So, meantime, let's talk about security, that being a big issue for the senator who is visiting, and that is in part why it's so secretive as to when and exactly where he will be making a landing there.
PLEITGEN: Absolutely. I mean, security is still a big problem. And certainly when Obama does come here and lands here in Iraq he's going to be within that big security bubble. Now, we do expect him to probably meet with U.S. troops maybe on one or the other base here in Iraq, but certainly he'll be in that big security bubble. Now, we do have to say the security situation here on the ground in Iraq has improved somewhat over the past couple of months. Certainly the Iraqi security forces seem to have somewhat of a better grip on security in this country, but certainly by no means is it safe for someone like Barack Obama to be traveling here in Iraq without a massive security bubble, as was the case with John McCain when he visited Iraq last year, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Frederick Pleitgen, thanks so much. We know that you're going to be keeping us posted on exactly when Barack Obama may make his landing there in Iraq and what will transpire after that. Thanks so much.
Meantime, presumptive republican nominee John McCain, well he remains stateside this weekend. His focus this week will be domestic issues but this Sunday, America's pastime. The venue, Yankee Stadium. Rudy Giuliani who is McCain's former rival in the race for the White House was actually the host. McCain talked sports with reporters and left the hardball politics to Giuliani.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUDY GIULIANI (R), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that if you look at senator McCain's record on Iraq, I don't see how you can fail to elect him president. He was right about Iraq when almost everybody else was wrong. It turned out if we had caved in the way Barack Obama and the democrats wanted to do we'd now have a defeat. America would have a defeat rather than a possible victory and I think the fact that Barack Obama is kind of making his first tour in essence of the world gives you an indication that John McCain is the man with the experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. Former mayor Rudy Giuliani there, speaking on behalf of John McCain who he now very much endorses even though that was his once rival on the campaign trail. Meantime, in his own brief remarks McCain described himself as a sports nut there at Yankee Stadium, and a mediocre athlete in his younger years.
Well, Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military campaigns in each have changed dramatically in the recent few months. The generals on the ground reporting major successes in one conflict but serious challenges in another. Is it a case of one step forward and two steps back? White House correspondent Elaine Quijano joins us now from Washington with more on this take. Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPODENT: Well, Fredricka, in a region where terrorists plan the 9/11 attack, the threat is gathering again. The Pentagon's top military officer today said that progress in Afghanistan was mixed though he stopped short of saying the U.S. was losing there. Already has the Taliban have a first step of the fighting with deadly results for American troops. Nine U.S. troops were killed a week ago in the remote eastern province of Kunar by insurgents firing machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Well, today the chairman of the Joint Chief Admiral Mike Mullen acknowledged he's concerned about the threat growing steadily along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, especially in what's called the FATA, Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. MIKE MULLEN, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: What I do see in that part, particularly in the FATA in Pakistan is a joining, a syndication of various extremists and terrorist groups which provides for a much more intense threat, internal to Pakistan as well as the ability to flow greater freedom to flow forces across that porous border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now for the presidential candidates whose campaigns have differed sharply on Iraq, both Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain agree on the need for more help in Afghanistan, but next door in Pakistan extremists continue to find sanctuary. U.S. officials say the government there is working to rein in the terrorists, but they concede more needs to be done. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Elaine Quijano in Washington, thank you so much.
Well, two days after she brought someone else's newborn to the hospital, the body of a mutilated woman was found in her apartment. Pittsburgh police now putting some of the pieces together.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: OK. Count them. A third and a fourth named storm. Our Jacqui Jeras is tracking Cristobal and Dolly. Get used to those names. Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Actually, Cristobal you can probably forget about in another 12 to 24 hours.
WHITFIELD: OK. Forget that name.
JERAS: Eventually, just not today. How about that? But Dolly is going to stick around for a while. This is something that everybody want to have a close eyes on. There are still some uncertainties, of course, as the system just developed today but could have a significant impact on some people. We'll start out with Cristobal because that's the here and now and you can still see it churning off the shore line here off the cape lookout. It's moving up towards the north and east and really it's not doing much more than bringing showers and thundershowers. It is bringing in a little bit of rough surf so you don't want to go out into the water today. I know those waves look great and beautiful and you might want to get out in them but a high threat of rip currents and really some large swells to catch you off guard and wash you away so really heed this very seriously today.
The winds continued to gusts, looking at gusts around 20 miles per. It could get up there around 30, here and throughout the outer banks, but as we head through the evening hours and into the early morning hours of tomorrow, it's going to be pulling well up to the north and east. And look at this by late Monday, it's going to start to strengthen again as it's back over the open waters, not interacting with any land at all and we'll watch it heading up towards the Canadian maritimes so it may not be quite as done for people in Canada with Cristobal so just something to continue to monitor here over the next few days.
Now on to Dolly, and Dolly could end up being a doozie. Right now it's packing winds of 45 miles per hour, gusts a little stronger than that, up to 60. Still more than 200 miles away from Cozumel but it's very likely to be moving over the peninsula late tonight. So we're going to start to see some of the impact very quickly as this is a faster moving storm than what Cristobal is. Now not a lot of time for strengthening, so that's some good news, but it looks very likely that we're going to see landfall over the Yucatan peninsula, and the models is showing really great consensus with this. This is what we call the spaghetti model charts, and each individual line here is a different computer model out putting a forecast for you, and see how they all line up. They bring it right over the Yucatan late tonight.
By tomorrow, back over into the open waters, and then we'll have to wait to see what happens as greater uncertainty, of course, as you head on down the line, but when it gets into the Gulf of Mexico, we'll see more strengthening. So what do you need to know about Dolly? Here are the main headlines for you. Landfall likely late tonight in the Yucatan peninsula and four to six inches of rain expected. Dolly back into the open waters into the Gulf of Mexico on Monday. It will likely strengthen. How much? Still undetermined. But we could possibly see a hurricane out of this and a second landfall expected mid to late week into northern Mexico or Texas as a possibility. So there are some threats down the line here. Certainly Dolly is something to watch out for. And Fredricka, we got a lot happening at home, too. Severe storms and excessive heat. We'll talk more about that before the end of the hour.
WHITFIELD: OK. Jacqui, we look forward to that. Thanks you so much.
And now new developments in a very gruesome case involving the death of a Pennsylvania woman, a newborn baby and now a suspect, a suspect by the name of Andrea Curry-Demus and our Jim Acosta is following this story out of Pittsburgh, and he joins us now with the very latest. Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka, that's right. The superintendent of the Allegheny County Police Department just held a press conference a few moments ago during which he announced that that suspect in this case, Andrea Curry-Demus, has been charged with murder. The 38-year-old woman showed up at a hospital as we've been reporting last week with a baby that she claimed to be hers. Hospital tests proved that that baby was not hers and she was taken into custody. Police then went to the apartment of Andrea Curry-Demus on Friday and discovered the body of 20-year-old Kia Johnson. Her identity was confirmed overnight. Well, during this press conference just a few moments ago, the superintendent of the police department in Allegheny County disclosed to reporters that these two women may have known each other.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUPERINTENDENT CHARLES MOFFATT, PITTSBURGH POLICE DEPT.: We have information that they met one another. How far it goes back we don't know at this time, but we do have evidence that there was contact between the two of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now as for Curry-Demus, she is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, and we should note that she has a history of baby- snatching. Back in 1991 she was sent to prison after charges stemming from two different kidnapping cases involving infants. Apparently according to the "Pittsburgh Tribune Review," one of the local newspapers here in town, Curry-Demus has a history of miscarriages and authorities believe that is what led her down this path. As for Kia Johnson, her body while it has been identified, has not been definitively linked to that baby which is reported by doctors to be in good condition. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So, Jim, kindly help us backtrack or you know fill in some of the gaps here when we're talking about this Andrea Curry-Demus and how in the world people, a, became suspicious of her with suddenly this baby and, she somehow went to the hospital, right, and at the same tie there was some history prior to her showing up with this baby. There was an actual baby shower and everything.
ACOSTA: That's right. Friends of Andrea Curry-Demus say that she acted very strangely at a recent baby shower. She had apparently carried on this act for several months that she was pregnant and then at this baby shower she would not, according to these friends, allow them to touch her stomach which they thought was very odd but, yes, there is a track record here with respect to this suspect which is why police feel at this point that they pretty much have this case wrapped up. It is -- it's a terrible case, but at this point they feel relieved that they at least seem to have most of it buttoned down at this point.
The only remaining sticking point here is exactly how these two women got to know each other. We talked with the superintendent after the press conference, and he said they are looking into the possibility that Kia Johnson met Andrea Curry-Demus while they were both visiting a local prison to visit their respective loved ones. Andrea Curry- Demus visiting a husband and Kia Johnson visiting a boyfriend. Police at this point believe they may have met each other at that point and how that relationship moved on from there is unclear at this point.
WHITFIELD: Wow, very complicated but nonetheless a very disturbing case all the way around. Jim Acosta, thank you so much.
ACOSTA: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Also disturbing is that across the country gang violence seems to be reaching a feverish pitch. Well, just last weekend if you recall being here in the NEWSROOM, we talked to a couple of young people who decided to go to Washington, the nation's capitol, and talk to Congress and tell them about exactly what's taking place and also hoping that they had some listeners there and hoping there might be some results. Well, we have decided to bring those guests back. They're going to talk to us about exactly what may be happening from here on out after their meeting with Congress.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Making history, a multitude of women with a singular purpose, helping others through their sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha also known as A.K.A.. CNN's Jill Dougherty talked with some members as they marked a major milestone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sororities are an institution in the African-American community and Alpha Kappa Alpha is the oldest and one of the most influential, predominantly black sororities in the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy birthday to you. DOUGHERTY: This week 25,000 AKAs dressed in their distinctive pink and green colors celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of their sorority.
ELEANOR WALLACE, AKA MEMBER: It represents the 20 revered women who started and perpetuated the sorority from the very beginning, 20 courageous women in 1908.
DOUGHERTY: Those young women were just one generation removed from slavery. They were studying at Howard University in Washington, D.C., but in those days very few blacks could even dream of attending college.
ANGELA WHITE, AKA MEMBER: It was also at a time when lynching wag rampant in the country, so there was a lot of difficulty in terms of being able to succeed as an African-American, and these women not only came up with the idea to support each other in a university environment but also to affect the community.
DOUGHERTY: Today AKA has 200,000 members worldwide with chapters in six countries. Their motto hasn't changed, service to all mankind.
DAWN LUCKY MANNING, AKA MEMBER: We read to kids all the time, we go to schools and libraries, we help the homeless, we have scholarship funds, we send hundreds of kids every year to black colleges or any college they want to go to.
DOUGHERTY (on-camera): Most of these women joined AKA when they were in college, but it's a lifetime commitment. They even have active members in their 90s. Snookie McGinnis and her sisters joined in the 1960s and '70s and for them it's a sisterhood of like-minded women.
SNOOKIE MCGINNIS, AKA MEMBER: It's meant a lifetime of meeting different people all across the country and doing work, good work in different areas, whatever is need. It's all about AKA.
DOUGHERTY: Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, a group of young people has just spent a week in Washington to help stamp out a much more sobering issue. We're talking about gang violence, and they were part of the youth empowerment summit. And just last weekend we met two of them. They joined us here live on the show to talk about what their intentions were going to be in Washington meeting members of Congress with one of them. We decided to invite them back to find out if there are any results as a result of their meeting.
Ronada Hewitt is in Washington, D.C. and Paul Patu is joining us from Seattle. Paul, let me begin with you because you talked about, last weekend, how gang violence is disrupting so many lives across the country. You had this meeting with members of Congress, and then this very weekend you ended up spending at a funeral because of yet another life cut short as a result of gang violence. PAUL PATU, YOUTH EMPOWERMENT DELEGATE: Yes. You know, we actually got the call while we were out in D.C. preparing to meet our state representatives and, you know, in the midst of that terrible news one of our young people really kind of made the moment real when she said that, you know, this is what we're here for. We're here to represent and to speak up on behalf of young people in our neighborhood that are going through these hard things and so.
WHITFIELD: And this sadly really underscores that there are no quick solutions. This is going to take a long time in which to fix, so as you talk to lawmakers and really tried to hit this point home with many of them, did you feel any signs of encouragement? Do you think that people get it?
PATU: Absolutely. You know, one of the encouraging things that happened is after our young people advocated for a bill known as the Youth Promise Act, the bill basically provides funding for prevention programs in their neighborhood, after we got back to Seattle, we were informed that their state representative is now a co-sponsor of the Youth Promise Act, and so they made an immediate impact on our statement, lawmakers, so we're really proud of them and they represented their neighborhoods well.
WHITFIELD: So you really do feel like at least one thing was accomplished because last weekend you said what you wanted is that you wanted these lawmakers to respond to the passion of the young people, and it sounds like that in part has happened. Meantime, Ronada, you live there in the shadows of Capitol Hill and a lot of these lawmakers perhaps didn't even realize what is going on in your neighborhood on a day-to-day basis. You credited your family structure, friends and family members, to really kind of keep you on the straight and narrow, so what were your expectations from lawmakers and did they deliver?
RONADA HEWITT, STUDENT DELEGATE WITH YEP: It was really nice talking to them. They seemed very engaged and very excited about the fact that there are young people in D.C. actually wanted to make a change. They actually wanted us to follow through with all of our recommendations because - and they were really impressed.
WHITFIELD: What were some of those recommendations?
HEWITT: Well, we recommended a student congress which would help voice our problems and concerns directly to Congress, to the city council, from the students' point of view instead of them guessing and trying to figure out on their own.
WHITFIELD: So meaning you would actually have an assembly of students that would have some presence on Capitol Hill on a regular basis trying to help bring the message home to a lot of these lawmakers of what young people are dealing with?
HEWITT: Something like that. We were going to get two students from each D.C. public high school and we'd meet maybe at like a school or a space big enough for us and we'd have these evaluations that we would look over and build all these data to present to council so that we can actually help in implementing the proposal into new amendments and things like that.
WHITFIELD: And you say they liked that idea.
HEWITT: Yes.
WHITFIELD: So how soon might something like that may actually happen?
HEWITT: Well, we actually sat with Chairman Gray at one of his youth hearings and he gave us homework to get all the things we need together, the budget, you know, things like that, and so we're expected to meet him again in October once we do have these things so that we can press on with the youth congress.
WHITFIELD: So that's pretty quick. Paul, how encouraging is that given a lot of times things happen on Capitol Hill, and it takes a long time from it to go from an idea to fruition, actually happening.
PATU: Yes, definitely. You know, in all of this I think one of the things I've learned is that, you know, the only difference between a young person being a menace to society or an asset to their community is if their community invests in opportunities for them to do productive things in their community and so, you know, this is one of the outlets that our young people have and it's one that they should take advantage of. They do have a voice, and they can make a difference in their community and so this is really encouraging.
WHITFIELD: So youth empowerment summit is one of those opportunities, but sadly in too many neighborhoods there just aren't enough things to do because there aren't the resources available to help make these things happen to get young people off the streets.
PATU: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: All right. Paul Patu and Ronada Hewitt, thanks so much. We appreciate you sharing your experience, and it really does sound like it was a very impressive and active and there are real results coming as a result of your energies being put forward. We appreciate your item. Keep us posted on your progress.
PATU: Thanks for having us.
HEWITT: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.
All right. Let's talk golf straight ahead. Greg Norman, he came so close to becoming the oldest golfer to ever win a major but Irishman Padraig Harrington actually cruised right past him today for his second straight British Open title. Still the 53-year-old Norman showed his younger rivals a few things. Justin Armsden has been covering all the action for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUSTIN ARMSDEN: Greg Norman had created headlines all week as he tried to become the oldest ever player to win a major championship. JUSTIN ARMSDEN (voice-over): The 53-year-old took a two-shot lead into the final round but had trouble keeping the ball on the fairway from the start and bogeyed four of the first six holes before righting the ship.
GREG NORMAN, FINISHED TIED FOR 3RD PLACE: I think at the end of the day a lot of people should take stock no matter how old you are, if you real want to chase something and chase a dream you can go do it. Even though there's failure at the end of it for me I still put myself in a position that really shows a lot of other people that you can do something if you really want it.
ARMSDEN: His playing partner Padraig Harrington was able to take advantage on the back nine as he had two birdies and an eagle on the 17th which allowed him to become the first European player to win back-to-back British opens in more then a century.
Justin Armsden, CNN.
WHITFIELD: And perhaps you're in the market for a new house or maybe a new car. Well how about both?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. The next time you gas up as the costs add up, who do you want to blame? CNN's Ed Henry has an idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Please rise and raise your right hand.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Almost 100 congressional hearings on energy so far this year. Hours and hours of talk but little action, so let's take a walk. There's Dick Durbin, the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate riding the Senate subway.
Mind if I sit with you? Four thirty in the afternoon, middle of the week, no votes, nothing, nothing happening.
SEN. RICHARD DURBIN, (D) ILLNOIS: No, there is something happening. We're bringing a bill to the floor dealing with speculation and oil markets.
HENRY: The speculation, most experts say that going after speculators will only have a marginal impact.
DURBIN: A marginal impact something.
HENRY: Durbin, who is fiercely opposed to offshore drilling, promises Democrats will get an energy bill done. You're going to get it done in the next two weeks?
DURBIN: That's my goal.
HENRY: The goal is one thing.
DURBIN: Well, we're in charge of 51 votes out of 100 so it isn't exactly a hefty majority.
HENRY: Then I find retiring Republican Pete Domenici. As former chair of the energy committee, he's expressing regret that both parties have failed to find consensus on energy over the last quarter century and he speaks of finding common ground but he's as fiercely in support of offshore drilling as Durbin is against it.
SEN. PETE DOMENICI, (R) NEW MEXICO: The people are going to fix it because they understand the simple proposition that this huge outer continental shelf is theirs. They are going to come out 75 percent in the next poll, and we're going to say to the Democrats, just defy them if you would like, at your peril.
HENRY: Well, not the next poll. A new one just found that more Californians than ever support offshore drilling, but it's still less than half, 43 percent of all Californians, so what about a blue ribbon panel to try to find solutions while Congress is gridlocked. Here's one, a dream team of talking heads, everyone from Mack McLarty, president Clinton's former chief of staff, to Don Evans, a Texas oil man who was President Bush's commerce secretary.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): You have so many great ideas in this report, why haven't they been implemented over the last 25, 30 years?
HENRY: The panelists didn't really answer why they didn't do more when they were actually in government, but then Don Evans jumped in.
DONALD EVANS, FMR. COMMERCE SECRETARY: I think the simple answer to your simple question is gasoline is $4.50 a gallon. I mean, it's amazing how that will focus the mind.
HENRY: We can all agree on that. We're all focused. Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, $4 gas has America rethinking its energy policy, namely drilling for oil in places previously considered untouchable like Anwar. A congressional fact-finding delegation is back from the Alaskan wilderness and CNN's senior business correspondent Ali Velshi is there now talking about the oil scape, and I talked with him earlier about what he's finding.
On the energy hunt is our own Ali Velshi, who has made his way to Alaska. So, Ali what are you finding, and what is the promise on continued oil drilling off shore particularly when we talk about the arctic wildlife preserve?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm on a place called Endicott Island in the Beaufort Sea which is just off Alaska's north coast, the was actually the first offshore drilling site ever. Now this is all part of the North Slope oil fields in Alaska which produces about 700,000 barrels of oil per day. That's about 12 percent of America's total daily oil production.
I'm on my way over to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a few miles to the east of here. Now it is off limits to oil drilling right now. But oil drilling has been taking place in this part of Alaska that I'm in for more than 30 years and obviously with the growing demand and rising price of oil there's a chorus of people calling for more oil drilling specifically within the wildlife refuge. Now this is part of our energy hud (ph) as you mentioned. We're here to see what this controversy is all about.
The area in question, Anwr, the area that they want to drill on is about the size of the state of Delaware. Proponents say that the oil could be connected to the Alaska pipeline and shipped to the port of Valdez in Alaska where it can put on ships to be sent to the United States. Opponents say there's not enough oil up here to justify encroaching on a wildlife refuge. Alaskans themselves Fred are split on this issue. They like their wilderness but they also like the revenue that the oil brings into the state and one final point before I leave your Fred.
On this island this morning a polar bear was spotted so I'm talking to you and I've got my eyes open as I'm talking to you to make sure I don't get attacked by a polar bear.
WHITFIELD: Wow, what a beautiful site. Tell me about your observations there. Here we're talking about this natural beauty and the notion of any more types of oil drilling taking place or new oil drilling right off that wildlife preserve. Give me an idea about the complex that is at hand.
VELSHI: Conflict is do we go into a place because there's oil available, or do we say some things are off limits and that's what it comes down to? In the national wildlife refuge, a lot of it would be left alone, an area about the size of South Carolina, would be left alone an area the state of Delaware would be drilled on but the concern is there are caribou and there are native people who live here who live off the land, subsistence, you know, hunting, and should we be tampering with things that are so pristine. That's the debate at the moment.
There's people who say we need every last bit of oil that we can get so we should and others saying maybe we should think about conserving. I'm here with a bunch of Republican congressmen on a fact-finding mission. Generally speaking the Republicans are in favor of drilling and the Democrats are opposed to it but both presidential candidates McCain and Obama are opposed to drilling in Anwr so it's a complex issue.
WHITFIELD: Ali Velshi, thanks so much and enjoy the scenery while you can as well.
VELSHI: Good to talk to you Fred.
WHITFIELD: Thank you.
Of course, the sluggish economy measured in so many ways, not just oil, high gas prices but the real estate market as well, so if you're trying to sell your home, what are the lengths you'd go in order to move that house? Well, Kate Baldwin reports on a family in suburban Washington who is not only selling their house, they are throwing in a car.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Come on upstairs.
KATE BOLDUAN (voice over): Maryland resident Catherine Poe bought this three-bedroom colonial with her daughter as an investment property in 2005 and they share a love for restoring historic houses. They have fixed up and resold two historic properties before no problem. But not this time.
CATHERINE POE, HOMEOWNER: It was the beginning of what people just thought was going to be a blip and it went blip, blip and blop and dropped drastically.
BOLDUAN: The house has been on and off the market twice in two years and Poe's hoping the third time is a charm with the help of a Prius thrown in.
POE: I'm hoping that it makes people say, "Oh let me go take a look."
BOLDUAN: Extreme economic times calling for extreme house-selling measures, a free car, a free vacation, raffling off a house for $100 a ticket and even buy one house, get one free in the case of one San Diego developer. All examples of creative incentives and the lengths people are going in today's floundering housing market. Poe's realtor says it's a first for him but worth a try.
CHUCK MANGOLD, REALTOR: You have to make a specific house more attractive to a buyer so that it can compete with the inventory that is out there.
BOLDUAN: But the National Association of Realtors warns the creative incentive may not be the best way to close a deal.
ELIZABETH BLAKESLEE, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORES: You're going to offer incentive, offer closing cost helps or if it is a condominium offer to pay condo fees for six months. Your incentive ought to deal with what you're doing.
BOLDUAN: Despite the draw of the free Prius is just a handful of people showed for Catherine Poe's open house. She is now expected to take a loss of $60,000, further proof the house slump has not yet passed.
POE: the love affair with historic houses is still there but we have to be realists also.
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BOLDUAN: Well the National Association of Realtors says these kinds of incentives are often negotiated out during the sales process. Poe says if the buyer doesn't want the car, they are prepared to take the 20 grand off the price of the house instead, Fred. WHITFIELD: Whatever it takes to move the house, and that's really, you know, what's at hand here. It's just so hard to move these homes so a lot of homeowners just like this family; they are taking a huge loss in order to get rid of it.
BOLDUAN: Yeah, they sure are. They thought, you know, when they bought the house, they thought they would be able to sell it and make a small profit. They were hoping for $40,000 in profit and clearly that has not worked and they said really, as we've mentioned, they are trying to cut their losses, and if the Prius even gets people in the door, that's a step in the right direction.
WHITFIELD: Wow, pretty drastic measures. Kate Bolduan thanks so much in Washington.
BOLDUAN: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: So incentives being tossed around in order to help move real estate. Who needs an incentive these days to recycle? Josh Levs has been exploring that issue.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Fred, hey everybody, do you ever have a feeling that you want to make a big point but can't get anybody to listen. Well how about this, how about sailing across the ocean in a raft made of trash? You're about to meet someone who is doing just that.
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WHITFIELD: OK. Well two marine scientists have found a novel way to draw attention to ocean pollution and maybe even make you start rethinking recyclables. You could call it a message in a bottle. Josh.
LEVS: Nice, message in a bottle. I like that. It is kind of --
WHITFIELD: I can't take credit but I like it, too.
LEVS: Composed of 15,000 bottles. Oh, actually I'll be showing you how you can put a message in a bottle on this thing. Let me give you the basic idea. There are two guys right now who are traveling from California to Hawaii in a raft made of junk. It includes part of a Cessna aircraft and about 15,000 used plastic bottles. I recorded this interview with one of them from pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. Marcus, tell us why you're doing this.
DR. MARCUS ERIKSEN, DIR. OF RESEARCH ALGALITA MARINE RESEARCH FDN: We've discovered an accumulation of plastic trash in the mid Pacific Ocean and we thought what a great way to get the nation paying attention to plastic waste and build a boat out of the plastic waste itself and go across the pacific.
LEVS: How long do you expect to be on this boat?
ERIKSEN: We began this June 1st and I told everyone and my girlfriend, OK six weeks, that's all it's going to take and then seven weeks later we've still got six weeks to go. The ocean has a tendency to twist caps off the bottles and when the caps come off the bottles fill with water and the boat begins to sink and the crew came out with a lot of glue and helped us glue the caps back on and emptied the water out of the bottles, and it then still took us a month to get south of the island and away from the coast of North America.
LEVS: Do you have enough to survive?
ERIKSEN: Yes. We just made last week about 15 pounds of fish jerky from three Mahi Mahi that we speared.
LEVS: How seasick are you getting on that raft? You're in a raft made out of plastic bottles in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There's not enough Dramine to get me to step foot on that thing. Are you seasick, are you guys getting a little crazy?
ERIKSEN: We brought us tons of Dramine and patches and we haven't gotten seasick once. Our boat is so stable, so low in the water that we ride the waves rather gently.
LEVS: Hold on, I'm hearing a danger here. You're telling me that you're now proving that if you make a boat out of lots of plastic bottles it can be a very smooth ride. What if people get this idea and start making boats out of plastic bottles?
ERIKSEN: I guess that's one alternative to recycling. You can reuse them to make a boat. It works for us.
LEVS: Great to talk with him. I want to say this is not just the environmentalists. This is their Website right here, Junk.com and the guy you were just hearing, we're going to enclose on this section, Dr. Marcus Erikson, they know a lot and the other guy with him Joe Pascal, maybe we'll talk with him the next time and you were talking about message in a bottle.
One more thing Fred, I was talking about message in a bottle. The Marine Research Foundation, which is their foundation, put a message in a bottle. For five bucks you can send them the information and they will put a message in the bottle and if you want them to they will deliver it to lawmakers when they finally get to Hawaii.
WHITFIELD: I like that and the bottom line is saving mother earth.
LEVS: It boils down to something serious and as they are traveling through there they can see all the plastic everywhere and it really is poisoning the ocean environment. They feel that by doing this they can get attention and obviously we're talking about them so it's working.
WHITFIELD: I'm seeing this as all interconnected and you know what, Josh, I've been taking notes here. So far in the last 40 minutes we've talked about selling your home, incentives, repurposing and wait until you meet this one family which has wrapped this up all unselfishly and taken it to a whole other level. You've got to keep watching. It's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Now this is impressive. Lots of people say they want to help end world hunger, but how many would actually give up their homes to do it? Would you? CNN's Rusty Dornin introduces us to a family who really impacted their world, our word, as a matter of fact, by putting their mansion on the market to help others.
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RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When 15 year old Hannah Salwen brought friends to their home in Atlanta they were stunned.
HANNAH SALWEN, HANNAH'S LUNCHBOX: They would walk into the home and say, wow, you live here.
DORNIN: For nine years the Salwen family lived in this 1912 mansion, five fireplaces, 12 rooms and a kitchen to die for and even an elevator in her bedroom and one day the teen saw a Mercedes stopped on the street next to a homeless man.
SALWEN: And I said to my dad if that guy didn't have such a nice car then that guy over there could have a meal.
DORNIN: And so began the amazing tale of what the family calls Hannah's Lunch Box.
KEVIN SALWEN, HANNAH'S LUNCHBOX: We stopped and paused and thought about what are the things that could really make a difference in the world.
DORNIN: Her brother Joseph explains their dream on a youtube video he made for a contest.
JOSEPH SALWEN, HANNAH'S LUNCHBOX: We dreamed of selling this house and moving into one half its size and donating one-half of the sales prices to the needy people of Africa.
DORNIN: And move they did, into a house less than half the size of their 6,500 square foot mansion which is still for sale. Next they had to decide who would get half the proceeds from the house sale, $800,000.
H. SALWEN: We kind of decided as a group we were most interested in hunger.
DORNIN: After nearly a year of research they decided to pick the hunger project. Charity officials say the money will be used to help these villagers in Ghana grow food, build schools and clinics and touching the lives of nearly 20,000 people. While this house was a dream of a lifetime for Joan Salwen.
Hard to give up.
JOAN SALWEN, HANNAH'S LUNCHBOX: Hard to give up.
DORNIN: It was her idea to sell.
J. SALWEN: It was just kind of a challenge. It was a test almost to see how committed are we, how serious are these kids about what we should do, and they all nodded, and then there we were.
DORNIN: It's a tough market to sell any house, let alone a nearly $1.8 million one. It's been on the market for more than a year.
K. SALWEN: Roughly six or seven hours a day in the villages.
H. SALWEN: That's it.
DORNIN: This week the Salwen's will leave for Ghana, a family of four ready to give away half their American dream to help transform the lives of tens of thousands of others.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Atlanta.
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WHITFIELD: And if you would like to make a difference in the lives of others or learn more about those who do, point your browser to CNN.com/impact.
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WHITFIELD: Police take a major step forward in a gruesome mystery in Pittsburgh.
Plus stepped up fighting in Afghanistan begs the question are we losing the war in the region?
And "The Dark Knight" plays Spiderman. Bat man sets a new box office record.
I'm Fredericka Whitfield. You're in THE NEWSROOM. Two days, two wars. Barack Obama left Afghanistan hours ago. He'll be in Iraq soon and if he's there already we haven't been told because of security measures. His movements through the region are a closely held secret. That's standard procedure because of security and in Baghdad is our own CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.
FREDRIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still no word on when Barack Obama plans to come to Iraq but already this leg of his visit in Mid East and Europe is sparking a lot of interest. Both here and Iraq as well as in the United States.
