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American Morning
Israeli Tanks on Gaza Border; White House Holds Hamas Responsible; GM and Chrysler to Get Bailout; Obama Parody Controversy; First Lady Comments on Shoe Throwing Incident
Aired December 29, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And one minute now, until the top of the hour. We've got breaking news, this morning. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack says, his county's in a quote, "all out war with Hamas." Israel's military has tanks on the move on the border with Gaza, a clear show of course. Palestinian medical sources report that the death toll in Gaza has topped 300, 650 people wounded. Paula Hancocks joins us live from the Israel/Gaza border in just a moment, so stay tuned for that.
All eyes on Wall Street today to see how the markets finish out a very volatile 2008. Plus, General Motors and Chrysler receive the first part of a $17.4 billion bailout today. Under the terms, each will get $4 billion today. GM also gets two more cash infusions over the next two months.
The head of the largest public power company in the nation, the Tennessee Valley Authority is promising to clean up over a billion gallons of sludge and coal waste that spilled into a small town in eastern Tennessee. The byproduct of coal power was being held in a retention pond in Kingston, Tennessee but the wall breached sending the sludge sprawling across 300 acres and into 15 homes.
Returning to our breaking news this morning, a show of strength from Israel's army as tanks advance to the country's border with Gaza. It's not yet known whether this could be the sign of a ground incurred into Gaza. Israel says that it's only targeting combatants but the attacks have hit the campus of an Islamic University and flattened a major prison.
Palestinian sources say the death toll has topped 300 with at least five children among the dead.
CNN's Paula Hancocks is live along the Israeli Gaza border and, Paula, we should mention that the Israeli military told you to get out of the position that you're in with our satellite truck. What was that all about?
VOICE OF PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, basically they tried to move us on about an hour ago when we managed to talk our way out of it. But when they came back, they said that we had to move. They said for security reasons because we're in the range of Qassam rockets. That's pretty ridiculous because we're still in the range of Qassam rockets anywhere we are up to ten miles away.
So certainly, it could be a strategic move by the military. It's now a closed military zone where we were just a few moments ago. But this air strikes I can still see Gaza from my vantage point here, are continuing. It's been quiet for maybe 20 minutes, but we had heard some --have some significant Israeli air strikes on different installations within Gaza.
Israel is saying it is still just going for Hamas installations but the fact is it is such a densely populated area that civilians are going to be hurt and they're going to be killed. And they are being killed. We're hearing at least 300 from the medical sources within Gaza.
Now it's not a one-way street. We're also seeing rockets coming out. This is the reason Israel says it's carrying out these air strikes, but the rockets are still coming out into Israel from this Palestinian militant groups. Another Israeli was killed this morning in Ashqelon just about 10 miles north of Gaza. So at this point Israel is not managing against the ability of these militants to fire these rockets -- John.
ROBERTS: As we saw during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict a couple of years back, Paula, any time they close an area and declare it a closed military zone it was typically an indication that a ground operation was about to begin. The fact that they've closed that area where you were and told you to move back might that be an indication that those mark of attacks that they have amassed along the border there as well as the reinforcements, the infantry that they brought up may be about to go into Gaza?
HANCOCKS: This is certainly possible, John. At this point, we're not -- I'm still watching the road that's going into the area where we just pushed back just to see if there's any movement at all. We can see two bulldozers in there and certainly they're moving around a bit, not heading towards Gaza at this point. Certainly these bulldozers would be near the head of any ground operation to clear the way for the tanks coming behind.
We saw a lot of tank movements about two hours ago. Now they were heading towards Gaza then driving along the security fence, which separates Israel and Gaza. The Israel military at this point saying we don't have any personnel inside Gaza, but this could very well change. The Israeli officials have said this could very well change. So we're just basically watching this border for any change whatsoever in the direction of these tanks.
ROBERTS: All right. Paula Hancocks reporting for us this morning from along the Israel-Gaza border.
Paula, thanks so much. Stay safe as well -- Kiran.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this new outbreak of violence in Gaza is just another challenge for the incoming Obama administration, but for now the president-elect is deferring to the White House. And President Bush is putting the blame squarely on Hamas.
White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is live for us in Crawford, Texas this morning. Hi, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kiran. Well, that's right. The Bush administration is making crystal clear, it is siding with Israel in this latest dispute but officials are also, of course, expressing concern about the mounting death toll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): The images of the devastation replaying over and over in the Middle East are fueling anger in the Arab world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if you don't like Hamas but in the end you blame the other side. And I think the Arab public is very angry, that's showing up.
QUIJANO: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah called President Bush over the weekend to discuss what the official Saudi news agency described as Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip. Bush aides are not commenting on the conversation. They are, however, blaming Hamas saying Israel's actions are justifiable self-defense.
GORDON JOHNDROE, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: Hamas must stop launching rockets into Israel. The United States holds Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire.
QUIJANO: Already more than 250 people have died. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe says the U.S. has urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties and wants all sides to work on getting the people of Gaza humanitarian relief. But Democrats say the outgoing administration's influence has waned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Bush is now in a pretty weakened state. Countries around the world know that. I'm hopeful that as this transition comes, as we look to January that strong presidential leadership can make a difference here.
QUIJANO: Right now, the incoming administration is walking a fine line between deferring to the current president while reaffirming Barack Obama's assertion in July that Israel has a right to defend itself.
DAVID AXELROD, SR. ADVISER TO BARACK OBAMA: He said then that he thought that when bombs are raining done on your citizens, it is obviously unacceptable and there is an urge to act. And so -- but again, I don't want to go beyond that because we only have one government and one president at a time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO: As for President Bush, he is consulting with his top advisers by phone and by secure video including his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, and the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. We should also mention that Secretary Rice did contact by phone President-elect Barack Obama to give him an update on developments as well -- Kiran. CHETRY: All right. Elaine Quijano for us this morning in Crawford. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Well, Christmas is coming a bit late for two of Detroit's ailing automakers but it is coming. GM and Chrysler each getting $4 billion of your tax dollars today. It's the first installment on a $17.4 billion loan.
Our Christine Romans is following all of this for us this morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, and not a moment too soon.
ROBERTS: I guess you could also call it Hanukkah guilt, too.
ROMANS: Yes. I guess you could. That's right.
CHETRY: Fight for it harder than the banks.
ROMANS: And you know, usually a car note is what we borrow from, you know, to buy a car but now it's the car companies borrowing from us to stay in business, literally to stay in business. And one of the recent concerns now with some of these parts manufacturers and parts dealers, you know, the health of those companies, if they're having trouble, you know, how much more trouble are some of these big car companies are going to be in.
Let's talk about the money, the car note then, your money going for a loan for these companies. Chrysler and GM get $4 billion today and GM gets another $5.4 billion on January 16th. And then GM is eligible for another $4 billion on February, February 17th, to be exact, but Congress has to sign off on that one.
Ford, you might recall, in the best position of the three, said it didn't need a low interest loan at this time. It had asked previously, you know, for at least access to some sort of line of credit if it needed it, but Ford said it's in pretty good shape at this point, doesn't need it. We talked a little bit last hour about this edmunds.com report that's fascinating. That you're going to see SUVs and trucks, light trucks outselling cars in December. That hasn't happened in almost a year here. So --
ROBERTS: You know, Ford, because of the falling gas prices called back 1,000 workers to, you know, ramp up production on the F- 150.
ROMANS: That's right. That's right.
CHETRY: And when it's snowing, and snowing in many parts of the country, people want an SUV.
ROMANS: But also how soon quickly we forget the $3 and $4 gas prices.
ROBERTS: I knew it would be back. ROMANS: And some of these dealers are just so happy to be selling anything. I mean you can get huge, great incentives on some of these SUVs and on trucks and the like. So we know that these big car companies are not -- GM and Chrysler -- are not of the woods yet, especially watching the parts issue of this. You know, if you're going to see bankruptcies or trouble at some of these parts dealers that could provide further, you know, problems for the big car companies but at least for now, they're getting their $4 billion today, Chrysler and GM and then we go from here.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll see what they do with it.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Christine, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Hopefully build hybrids.
ROBERTS: And people buy more of them, too. Yes. They make an SUV hybrid, right? So --
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Well, maybe people put their money into that. Thanks, Christine.
It seems that Detroit certainly just can't catch a break at all. They got a problem with the auto industry. Now the NFL has a new worst team in history. The Detroit Lions lost 21-31 to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, and that gives them a perfect season. 0-16. Yikes. That's not good -- 0-16.
ROMANS: Poor Detroit.
CHETRY: Isn't the silver lining they get a much better draft pick next year? Yes? Or they go higher up in the draft?
ROBERTS: They're supposed to, yes.
CHETRY: And they have at least one record.
ROMANS: There's Kiran looking for the silver lining out on Monday morning.
CHETRY: I'm not a Lions fan. It's probably much harder for Carol Costello to swallow.
ROMANS: I know. Poor Carol.
ROBERTS: Well, there's always next year.
CHETRY: All right. Well, how would you feel if someone threw a shoe at your spouse? That's likely a question that you've never had to answer unless you're Laura Bush.
The first lady sizes up the Iraqi shoe thrower. Her take on what happened just ahead.
It's nine and a half minutes after the hour.
ROBERTS: The gift that keeps on infuriating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUSIC: "Barack the Magic Negro" lives in D.C.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Political parody or racist joke? New fury over what they call the next president.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Thirteen minutes after the hour now. Let's fast forward to stories that will be making news later on today.
Breaking right now, Israeli tanks are gathering on the border between Israel and Gaza in an obvious show of force. Israeli air strikes reportedly have killed more than 300 Palestinians over three days. Earlier, a second Israeli was killed by a rocket that was fired into southern Israel in Ashqelon. Israeli police say more than 40 rockets landed in the same area so far today.
The special committee investigating the impeachment of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will meet again at noon today. The panel announced yesterday that it will not subpoena advisers to President- elect Barack Obama. That includes Obama's incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
And parts of the Midwest are under a flood warning today. Temperatures on the rise and massive amounts of snow and ice are melting causing flash floods in low lying areas. Parts of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Missouri currently under flood warnings.
Rob Marciano will have more coming up with the forecast a little bit later on. And, Kiran, that's what we're following this morning.
CHETRY: Well, some are calling it funny but even more are calling it offensive. Chip Saltsman, a current candidate to take over the Republican National Committee, is facing a firestorm of criticism for sending out a Christmas CD with some parody songs, one of them called "Barack the Magic Negro."
Our Jim Acosta is tracking things live from Washington for us this morning. There are a lot of Republicans, even those who received this who didn't find the humor in it at all, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, not much humor there, Kiran. The release of the CD sounds like a rookie mistake, but Chip Saltsman is far from a newcomer on the national political stage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHIP SALTSMAN, NATIONAL CAMPAIGN MANAGER OF MIKE HUCKABEE: We have already got a big crowd here for Governor Huckabee.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Chip Saltsman made a name for himself as national campaign manager of Mike Huckabee's upstart bid for the White House.
SALTSMAN: I'm officially announcing my candidacy for Republican National Committee chairman.
ACOSTA: Now a candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee, Saltsman is doing damage control after mailing RNC members a controversial CD loaded with racially-tinged songs. One of the tunes aimed at the next president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUSIC: "Barack the Magic Negro."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: A crude parody of the children's classic "Puff, the Magic Dragon," the song first touched off a brief firestorm when it aired on Rush Limbaugh during the campaign. Limbaugh blamed the media for stoking the controversy.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Every one of you out there who think you've got something here on "Barack, the Magic Negro," I'm going to try to help you and save you.
ACOSTA: Saltsman defends the CD telling CNN, "I think most people recognize political satire when they see it. I think RNC members understand that."
But current RNC chairman, Mike Duncan, says he's appalled in a statement to CNN. The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party.
JOHN AVLON, INDEPENDENT POLITICAL ANALYST: There's a crowd of conservatives that takes a special pride in being anti-pc (ph). Well, I don't think they fully appreciate it as it comes across somewhere between being indifferent to hostile. And that's how they've gotten in a larger problem they now face, preaching to an ever smaller choir and looking for votes only in a group that is increasingly old, white and rural.
ACOSTA: A concern echoed by Colin Powell, who recently singled out Limbaugh as part of the party's problem.
COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Is this really the kind of party that we want to be?
ACOSTA: Liberal media critics say the issue is bigger than Limbaugh. KARL FRISCH, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: It's unfortunate but it's not surprising. This type of rhetoric, this type of hate speech and fear mongering happens every day on conservative talk radio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: One Republican who's coming to Chip Saltsman's defense is Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio secretary of state and an African- American who's also running for the top job at the RNC. Blackwell blamed the media telling CNN, "Unfortunately there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race" -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Now as I understand it, the songwriter for "Puff the Magic Dragon" has even gotten involved in this whole thing. What is he saying?
ACOSTA: That's right. We reached out to him and he says even puff would be appalled at this. He says there is no excusing this type of use of his lyrics and his song. But more importantly, people like Newt Gingrich are coming out and saying that Chip Saltsman is finished as a candidate for RNC chairman and at a time when the RNC is considering two African-American candidates for its chairmanship and talking about Bobby Jindal running for president in 2012, you have to wonder how these types of antics fit in to the GOP's future, Kiran.
CHETRY: Jim Acosta for us this morning. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Yes. And Newt Gingrich not the only one either. Our Leslie Sanchez ringing in on this coming up in about 25 minutes time, too. So make sure you stay around for that. She's got some pretty harsh words to say.
Now when your husband is the president, you have to have thick skin when people criticize the commander in chief. But when a reporter throws shoes at your spouse, well, that's a little bit different.
Laura Bush talked to FOX News about the incident with the Iraqi journalist in Baghdad recently and the first lady certainly didn't mince words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: When the president was in Iraq recently, an Iraqi reporter threw two shoes at him and a lot of people in this country acted as if it were a joke. I understand you were not amused?
LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, no, of course, I wasn't amused. It was an assault. And that's what it is. And it would be an assault to anyone if anybody had been there.
The president laughed it off. He wasn't hurt. He's very quick. As you know, he's a natural athlete and ducked it. But on the other hand, it is an assault and I think it should be treated that way and I think people should think of it that way. LAWRENCE: Well, let me ask you about when you talk about treated that way. Some crowds, and I understand it's just a small group, but some crowds in Baghdad have acted as if this fellow were a hero and demanded his being pardoned. Do you think someone who attacks anyone, let alone a visiting head of state, should just be released?
BUSH: Well, I don't know about that and that's going to be up to the Iraqis and they'll do whatever. But I know that if Saddam Hussein had been there, the man wouldn't have been released and he probably would, you know, would have been executed. So but it is as bad as the incident is, in my view, it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Surely didn't mince any words there. Of course, she's right, as well. It was an assault against the president of the United States and should be treated seriously.
CHETRY: Yes. And the president as she said did laugh it off but if he wasn't able to duck the way he was, he could have been really hurt.
ROBERTS: Yes, absolutely. But he did duck well to his credit. He really did.
CHETRY: He sure did.
Well, Israel says it's lashing back against Hamas with the air strikes and moving its tanks now to the Gaza border. With hundreds of Palestinians already dead, where is this conflict going? Israel's ambassador to the U.N. joins us ahead at 19 and a half minutes after the hour.
ROBERTS: Major threat without borders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This causes tens of thousands of people to die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Memo to the president -- how can you possibly keep America safe from a cyber attack?
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. We're updating you now on our breaking news this morning.
Israel's defense minister says his country is in an all-out war with Hamas and Israeli defense forces have their tanks moving on its border with Gaza. Palestinian sources say that at least 300 people are dead. That's includes five children and 650 others wounded. So three days in, what are Israel's hopes to accomplish anything in this conflict?
Joining me now to talk more about it is Gabriela Shalev. She is Israeli's ambassador to the United Nations.
Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
GABRIELA SHALEV, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Good morning.
CHETRY: So we talked a little bit about what was happening now, updating our viewers on this. Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak today says that Israel is really in an all-out war. The possibility of moving ground forces in right now in Gaza. They said they're not planning any type of reoccupation of Gaza. So what is the hope to come out of this military action?
SHALEV: The hope is that Hamas will understand finally that Israel has the right to defend itself and the duty to protect its citizens. And this is to stop all the rockets and mortars over Israel.
CHETRY: So there's been a lot of success from some of the reports in taking out key checkpoints or key areas where Hamas has been able to either plan or carry out or make the materials to make these rocket attacks. At the same time, Hamas, the military action has stoked a lot of anger and fury in the streets. So how do you get to peace when there's so much anger and there's still so much resentment over what's been going on militarily?
SHALEV: Don't even speak about peace at this moment. We are negotiating peace with the Palestinian authority, and our wish and our hope is to have a two state solution, two state, Israeli and Palestinian, living side by side in peace and security.
In the meantime, to deal with Hamas with those terrorists, we have to make them understand that they must stop shooting rockets at Israel. For the last six months and even before that, four years, rockets have been fired over Israel. Quarter of a million people in the south of Israel are sitting in shelters and suffering daily, and this has to stop. And this is the main goal of this operation.
CHETRY: You said that the ultimate goal was a two-state solution. Who would be the negotiating partner with Israel?
SHALEV: The Palestinian authority. The Palestinian authority is negotiating even in these days with Israel to find, finally, the solution to live in peace and security and prosperity, two states. We have no war with the people in Gaza.
CHETRY: Is it incorrect to say that the Palestinian people, more of them side with Hamas than Fatah, the movement that wants to have some sort of negotiated peace?
SHALEV: Well, I'm sure this is not true about the people in the West Bank because there there is prosperity and the situation is much better than it is in Gaza. And the people in Gaza suffer because of Hamas. Hamas made them hostage. They are like human shields.
I know that they suffer. We are very sorry about the suffering. We don't target civilians. We don't want civilians to suffer, but this is the fate of the people of Gaza because of Hamas' actions.
CHETRY: It's interesting, earlier, we talked to a member of the Palestinian parliament and she blames Israel saying that people in Gaza are basically living under siege. It's almost like a big prison and that there's no ability for them to go anywhere and that it really is like an occupation because they can't go anywhere freely. And they're reliant on Israel to either allow in aid or supplies. What do you say to that?
SHALEV: We were hoping to finish the situation. Three years ago, we dismantled -- Israel dismantled 30 settlements. Nine thousand settlers were moved, uprooted from their houses.
This was only the hope of achieving peace. But the outcome was that Hamas had basis and launched missiles from the places where there were kindergartens, gardens, schools, business places. So this is not our fault. This is just Hamas to be blamed.
CHETRY: Israel is getting the support of the United States and Britain. Almost every other country in the world at least at the U.N. Security Council has criticized Israel for these actions. How do you get support? How do you get other countries to understand and to help in some way, whether it's through negotiations or trying to help, you know, bridge some of the issues that are keeping peace from happening? How do you get them to understand why this military action is taking place?
SHALEV: We ask these people would your government allow a situation where missiles are shot into inhabited areas in order to murder and kill civilians. Would any sovereign country allow this situation to happen? And we do need, you're absolutely right, we do need the support to understand the operation (ph) in a shattered community. And we hope that we'll get also this message through.
CHETRY: What about the change of administration that's happening here in the United States? What type of support do you think that Israel needs to have and is hoping to get from Barack Obama as he prepares to take over?
SHALEV: I just tell you that in July, just a few months ago, President-elect Obama was visiting Israel and while he witnessed, what happens in Sderot where children have to live in shelters and where houses are being bombed --
CHETRY: This is one of the border areas where rockets are fired.
SHALEV: Absolutely, twelve kilometers from the border. So President-elect Obama said if anybody would shoot rockets over the house where my children -- where my daughters sleep at night, I would do everything, everything to change this situation. And he even added and I expect Israel to do the same.
CHETRY: Is the answer that Hamas needs to cease to exist as an organization and is that realistic?
SHALEV: Absolutely. This is the -- Hamas is a terrorist gang, and it should stop its intention to destroy and wipe Israel off the map.
CHETRY: Thanks for being with us this morning, Gabriela Shalev, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. Appreciate your time.
SHALEV: Thank you very much. Thank you.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: It is now 29 minutes after the hour.
General Motors and Chrysler will finally get their hands on some of the billions of dollars in bailout money today. Phase one is $4 billion. It's the first of three payouts. Another one comes in mid- January, the final in mid-February.
And you don't expect to come home from the movies with a bullet in your arm, police say that's exactly what happened in Philadelphia on Christmas day when one moviegoer watching "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" told another one to be quiet and then shot him. The shooter has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons violations.
And more on our breaking story this morning. Israeli tanks on the move again gathering on the Israeli-Gaza border. And we just heard Israeli's ambassador to the United Nations take on the fighting.
But how did things get to this fever pitch? ITN's Lindsay Hillson takes us up close to what Israel's defense minister is calling an all-out war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LINDSAY HILLSOM, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 250 air strikes in 24 hours. An unprecedented assault on Gaza. The Suriyah compound, heart of Hamas security infrastructure was targeted. Prisoners escaped, buildings were destroyed. At least four people, probably Hamas officials were killed and 25 injured.
In Rafah, Israeli air strikes hit an oil tanker and the conflagration spread around the neighborhood. A dozen houses went up in flames. They hit a pharmaceutical supplier as well believed to be run by Hamas and 40 tunnels used to bring in supplies, food, medicines, weapons, all from Egypt.
There was panic all over the Gaza strip as raids continued throughout the morning. The U.N. said the hospitals are near to collapse. They were short of drugs and supplies before, now they just can't cope. Israel says its aiming only at those who work for Hamas. Policemen, politicians, what it calls terrorists, but amongst the estimated 600 wounded, 200 of them seriously, there are children, too, even babies. Some would say that Hamas has brought this on the people of Gaza by continuing to target Israeli towns with rockets. But they say they'll carry on, there will be no let-up.
FAWZI BARHOUM, HAMAS SPOKESMAN (through translator): This open war on Gaza will increase our resistant to the Zionist enemy and we will continue it in all its forms including martyrdom operations as a response to this attack.
HILLSON: This is what Gaza it looks like from the cockpit of an Israeli fighter plane. This one is targeting what Israeli said are bunkers used as cover to fire rockets into Israel. They say that Hamas deliberately places civilians at risk by locating their militants in residential areas. They sent text messages to civilians warning them to keep away from any likely targets.
ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI MINITER: We do not necessarily intend to conquer Gaza but of course we are reviewing all options and if necessary, we will take whichever steps to end fire from Gaza on our citizens.
HILLSON: An Israeli funeral. (INAUDIBLE), a resident of Netivah, killed by a rocket, the Israeli aim is to destroy the militants' capability. Troops are now gathering on the border for a possible ground attack. More than 6,000 reservists have been called up. And in Gaza, there were mass funerals, mourning on a scale not seen since the six-day war in 1967. So many are dead, the morgue has run out of space. Grief is everywhere and anger and anger and desperation, too. As Israel says its operation will continue for as long as it takes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Lindsey Hillson reporting this morning. In addition to the more than 300 people killed, as of this morning more than 650 have been wounded in the fighting according to Palestinian medical sources.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: In another type of war to tell you about this morning, this one is taking place online and it's one that the new administration must take seriously. In today's "Memo to the President," CNN's Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve shows as what's at stake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Mr. President, the White House you will soon occupy, the Pentagon, virtually every agency of government, has come under cyber attack. The extent of the hacking may never be known. Experts including the nation's top intelligence officials say you have to secure the country against this threat and fast.
MIKE MCCONNELL, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: The United States is the most vulnerable nation on earth to cyber attack. The most vulnerable. Simple reason. We're the most dependent. MESERVE: Cyber attacks could halt transportation, freeze finances, knock out water, sewer and most frighteningly electricity.
SCOTT BORG, U.S. CYBER CONSEQUENCES UNIT: You shut down the electric power for a third of the country for three months. This causes tens of thousands of people to die. It causes major social dislocation. It's just a level of damage that we've only talked about before when we've been discussing limited nuclear exchanges.
MESERVE: The U.S. must now launch a cyber race, experts say, training top notch cyber security talent in our graduate schools, encouraging development of more secure computer software and hardware and enlisting in the fight, businesses who control so many of the country's critical computer systems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really need to recruit the private seconder folks as part of what I'll call a cyber militia to be standing ready to defend our country against strategic attack.
MESERVE: Financial incentives and regulation should be used as tools, many experts say, to motivate business to protect critical infrastructure and intellectual property. The risk of doing nothing, they say, is too high.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (on-camera): The web is a global phenomenon and experts say international cooperation on cyber security is a must. Experts also say there has to be a coordinated approach across the U.S. government and the one place with the authority and clout to lead the effort and get results is the White House. John, Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve, thanks. And tomorrow in our "Memo to the President," there's worldwide anticipation for Barack Obama to be able to improve relations with the Muslim world. We'll see how he can take on the challenge of fighting terrorists without alienating moderate Muslims.
ROBERTS: Well, what did you get for Christmas? Friends and family come over. How would you like to have a sea of sludge slam into your home over the holidays? That's exactly what happened in eastern Tennessee when a billion gallons of sludge breached the coal plants retaining wall a week ago. That is enough sludge to fill 1,660 Olympic sized swimming pools. Our Brooke Baldwin is there on the ground this morning, telling us how residents are coping with all of this. I take it that they're coping with it with a lot of anger this morning. Brooke.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of anger, a lot of frustration, John. People are just incredulous that this thing happened. You mentioned Christmas, sort of funny, one of the people out here talking about the fact that you know sometimes if you get coal in your stocking for Christmas. Now they have 300 acres of coal ash.
This stuff, this is the sludge. Just a sea in their backyard. All of this, this massive mess on the other side. This is the Kingston Steam Plant. The outrage factor, John, it's so huge that they had held city council of Kingston, held a special meeting last night. So many people showed up, they had to move it across the street to the local high school gym, it was creating a fire hazard.
Here's the situation as it stands right now. TVA spoke at that meeting last night. They essentially said that their priority of course is the immediate safety of some of these citizens. About 42 homes were damaged in some way. Three of them are uninhabitable and the big question, the water. This is what some of the river water looks like. The question is obviously this isn't safe to drink but what about the well water and some of the tap water? Some of the folks we talked to yesterday when we were able to get permission and get beyond some of the TVA check points and take a look at the sludge firsthand. The question is can they drink it? The biggest concern is the unknown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM VEREB, HOMEOWNER: We're hearing all kinds of stories. We're hearing everything from this is perfectly fine to be around to get away you know as far as you can from it. So we really don't know what the right answer is there. We're not going to panic about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: TVA is conducting air and water quality tests and so is the EPA. They've been called in and yesterday EPA released some findings saying that they did detect, "very high" arsenic levels in the river water but they say that it seems that the treated water is OK. So questionable, the well water, the cleanup, the water, the air quality tests, John, they say should continue for at least the next couple of months.
ROBERTS: So the big question a lot of people may have, Brooke is other than testing the air and testing the water and testing the well water, the soil, what are they planning to do with all that sludge?
BALDWIN: Good question. I talked to the Roan county emergency management director. They're sort of throwing around a couple of options. Because how it works in a facility like this is they have all these coal ash that piles up in these retention ponds and the retention wall broke. So you have all the sludge, 300 acres worth of it on the other side of the plant. They're talking about you know taking dump trucks, and who knows how long that would take to get to some other site. They may be talking about just covering it over with grass or gravel so anyone who moves back there, wanted a beautiful lake or river view, forget that, it will just be covered with grass.
Those are some of the options on the table right now, but for now, I think the biggest concern is the cleanup.
ROBERTS: All right. Brooke Baldwin for us this morning. Messy situation there in eastern Tennessee. Thanks so much, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yes. CHETRY: Well, while we were enjoying 60 degree weather on the East Coast, winter weather again hitting the western U.S.. Thousands of people are now without power and some places are looking at five feet of snow. Rob Marciano is joining us with a look at the extreme weather still ahead.
Also, where should you live if you want to be 100 or older? We're paging Dr. Gupta who is looking at so-called blue zones. Find out why people are living longer in certain parts of the world. It's 39 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: A little quanis (ph) this morning. We were supposed to play that in honor of a lovely picture of Miami where it's going to be 80 degrees today unlike much of the country. But unfortunately our friends at WSBN didn't take the cap off the camera. That's Rick Sanchez's alma mater. So I have to give Rick a call.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Maybe Rick didn't pay the bill.
CHETRY: You can send it on twitter and say turn off the color bar, folks.
MARCIANO: You can say just about anything to Rick. Hey good morning, guys. I want show you some fun video. Have you met Maury, the sled dog?
CHETRY: No.
MARCIANO: Check him out. Hey, Maury. You're on, buddy. This is Middleton, Wisconsin where you got 40 inches of snow. And Maury very at home on the sled for sure. Taking it downhill, no problems. Looks like it got some corn stalks on either side of him. And yes that is beyond cute and the other dog obviously very jealous and the rumble ensues.
ROBERTS: Did you see Maury like that or -
MARCIANO: Somebody Maury, you have to bring the sled back up the hill.
CHETRY: Oh, not a stick.
MARCIANO: Maury's got a lot to learn, doesn't he? Well a lot of snowfall across parts of the Midwest. Record snowfall in some cases and that led to some flooding because we had that snow melt and we had a lot of rain over the weekend. So a lot of the rivers across parts of northern Illinois, the Kankakee, Des Plains, the Illinois River among it, just a few, the Fox River as well in flood stage right now. And that's going to continue at least through tomorrow and in some cases right on through Wednesday but the temperatures are beginning to drop. Here are the flood stage map, seen against sprinkled across parts of the western Great Lakes and through the Midwest as well. Check out some of these numbers that we saw yesterday. If you live anywhere east of the Mississippi, you know it has been rather warm. 71 in Maryland, for a record high. Trenton got a high of 66, right here in the Big Apple, 65 degrees. Bridgeport, Connecticut 59 degrees. So very unseasonably warm as we wrap up this 2008 year.
Day time highs today will be a little bit more seasonable. 49 degrees in New York City. So still mild but not as warm as it has been. 41 degrees in Chicago. So the extremes that we've seen of late will be a little bit less extreme, we will see a few travel delays potentially, maybe some wind across parts of Chicago if you're traveling through that airport among others, Detroit as well. Maybe the metro area airports too.
CHETRY: People were talking about Chicago nightmares. Trying to get out of there. I mean they were under what - negative 30 with the wind chills.
MARCIANO: It was pretty nasty. A little bit more mild now. You know, when all is failed, you can maybe hitch a ride with Maury.
CHETRY: On the sled, he will pull you the entire way.
ROBERTS: -- as long as it's all downhill. All right. That's just got to teach him how do bring that sled back up.
MARCIANO: He got to bring it up, like you said.
ROBERTS: It's 25 and a half minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY (voice-over): Want to live to 100?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This 80-year-old has the vigor of a 40-year- old.
CHETRY: Four places with a secret. Live here and you'll live longer. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with what they do that you don't. You're watching the most news in the morning
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. You know, unfortunately there may not be a fountain of youth but all weekend, a special series called "Living Longer," chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is offering some tips and some tricks to prolong your life and today a secret made just be where you live.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the Nikoia Peninsula in Costa Rica, families are close, hard work is the norm and there is no such thing as retirement. Take this man, (Avinzio). He's 80, and still wakes at 4:30 every morning to work on this ranch.
DAN BUETTNER, FOUNDER, QUEST NETWORK, INC.: This 80-year-old has the vigor of a 40-year-old.
GUPTA: Dan Buettner and his research team have found Avinzio (ph) and other men here 60 and older are four times as likely to reach 100 as compared to their counterparts in the United States or Europe. Buettner travels to longevity hot spots around the globe. He calls them blue zones.
BUETTNER: Because most of longevity is dictated by a lifestyle as opposed to a gene. We believe that by going to these blue zones and methodically looking at what these people do, we can distill out a de facto formula for longevity.
GUPTA: Costa Ricans on the Peninsula eat a healthy diet, plenty of vegetables and fruits like papaya and citrus fruits. The tortillas they eat are made using a special process that takes the husk off the corn and puts more calcium into it, helping to keep bones strong into old age. Buettner's team has also studied why people live so long in Sardinia, Italy, Okinawa, Japan and Loma Linda, California. Buettner says the blue zones offer a recipe for healthy living that could add eight good years to you life. And he offers this advice.
BUETTNER: Eat a plant-based diets, mostly plants; number two, regular low intensity exercise, and then number three, invest in family and friends.
GUPTA: Buettner hopes the blue zones will ultimately teach people how to extend their golden years. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
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CHETRY: Very interesting. Sanjay also mentioned Loma Linda, California, the town has the highest concentration of Seventh Day Adventists in the world. They don't smoke or drink, and many are vegetarians and maybe most importantly they also take a stress relieving break on the Sabbath. Tomorrow in our "Living Longer" series, Sanjay takes us to Okinawa, Japan where they eat more, yet stay thinner and live longer. A look at the volumetrics diet. Tomorrow, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice-over): How to get a rock hard presidential physique.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he can make the time and he makes the commitment, I think you know, you owe it to yourself to try to get in shape also.
ROBERTS: Fit for office, what does it take?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got the paparazzi photo that's been seen all over the world. How do I get from there to there? ROBERTS: Plus the bombs, the rockets and raids. As the violence escalates in Gaza, we're live with the latest with now what's being called an all-out war on the most news in the morning.
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ROBERTS: It's 55 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the hour. Updating you on our breaking story today. Israel's defense minister says his country is in an all-out war with Hamas. Israeli forces moving their tanks to the country's border with Gaza. Palestinian sources say Israeli air strikes have left more than 300 people dead, including five children. Israeli police say more than 40 rockets from Gaza landed in the same area so far today.
President Bush is putting the blame scarily on Hamas in this conflict, and Barack Obama has stepped back letting the White House handle the situation, but the violence between Israel and Gaza is just another challenge facing the incoming Obama administration.
Joining me now to talk more about this and other things political, republican analyst and CNN contributor Leslie Sanchez and democratic analyst and CNN contributor Hilary Rosen. Both of them in Washington. So let's throw this out. Hilary, because you're on the democratic side, is this going to increase or lessen the chances for peace during the first four years of President Obama's administration?
HILARY ROSEN, CNN DEMOCRATIC ANALYST: Well, it increases the importance of putting the situation on the front burner which I think will happen now clearly. President-elect Obama has talked to Secretary Rice now it appears almost every day getting an update. He talked last night on the phone with the incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Admiral Jones, his national security adviser. I think that what they are - what most people are taking the Israelis' words for now that Hamas is the one that broke the -
ROBERTS: The ceasefire agreement or just didn't renew it. Let's -
ROSEN: So they have a big job ahead of them to stay firm for Israel but make the Palestinians trust them enough to come to the table.
ROBERTS: All right. Leslie, what's your take on this, the Bush administration wanted to get a peace deal in place by pretty much now. Looks like there's absolutely no hope of that and this might delay the process even further.
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN ANALYST: I think a lot of people have expected some type of boiling point in this, and there's no doubt about it. This was the goal of the peace process. People have been following this for years knowing how difficult that's actually going to be. I think if you look at the signals that President-elect Barack Obama put forward in the campaign, he was talking about defending Israel. I think you're going to see a lot of caution as they move forward strategically and I think it's interesting. People are going to watch specifically Secretary of State, the new one, Hillary Clinton, and where she goes and if she's really 2.0 of her husband's administration.
ROSEN: There is a certain amount of trust that's required here and we saw that President Bush really engaged way too late in his administration. It really wasn't until the last year that he engaged in really trying to get a peace process going and was probably too ambitious thinking that he could build that trust with both sides over the course -
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: I think there are a lot of lessons learned from the Clinton administration as well starting very early on and I think people wondered -
ROBERTS: Some people suggested he overreached during the Camp David talks in the summer of 2000 and a lot of people pointing fingers and probably will continue on this issue.
Let me completely switch gears here. Chip Saltzman, who was Mike Huckabee's campaign manager from Tennessee. He is the candidate to become the RNC chairman sent out a Christmas CD over the holidays, our holidays season, whatever you want to call it. And one of the songs that was on this CD was a parody that was originally in the "Rush Limbaugh Show," called "Barack, the Magic Negro."
Let's listen to just a little bit of that.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barack the magic Negro, lives in D.C. The "L.A. Times" they called him that because he's a cynic like me
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: All right. That's not Chip Saltzman singing it but he sent this out. Leslie, what do you think the effect is on the republican party?
SANCHEZ: You I think it continues to perpetuate an incorrect stereotype that republicans have a problem when it comes to being inclusive and building communities of color. This does not help that. You know, I'm really saddened that you even played that much of it. It's hard to listen to. Yes, this is a parody. Yes, this is something that was put forward, you know, on Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. He's somebody who likes to point out the idiocy of liberal positions.
ROBERTS: So what does it do to Chip Saltzman and his candidacy?
SANCHEZ: I think essentially it shows he has a tenure when it comes to understanding where this republican party needs to go and ultimately I hope it defeats his candidacy for RNC chairman. ROBERTS: Hilary, the "Los Angeles Times" talked about this idea, "Barack the Magic Negro," in a column back in March 19, 2007. It's quote "the magic Negro is a figure of post modern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown versus Board of education."
It's a Hollywood plot device, as described elsewhere where an African-American comes along to help the white leading character get out of trouble. Spike Lee denounced this. He parodied it in a movie. He actually went on to say, "It's the super duper magical Negro" in the film "Bamboozled."
I mean, does that make it doubly offensive that this would go out?
ROSEN: I think that the thing that's clear is that politicians are really not allowed to be funny this way. And because it's not funny when politicians do it. It sounds -- it's a bad taste, it's offensive. And it doesn't perpetuate the stereotype. I mean, Republicans have an African-American issue that there are only two African-Americans on the entire Republican National Committee, out of hundreds of members.
There's just -- they have no credibility to then go ahead and try and create parody because they don't even have a legitimate analysis of what's going on with race.
ROBERTS: Do you want to give us one final thought here, Leslie, and then we've got to run.
SANCHEZ: John, there's so many other things to be talking about. I mean, there's a song on the CD, "Star Spanglish Banner." I mean, there' just so many ways this is wrong. It's great to do parody. But, I agree with Hilary. This is -- people are very sensitive. It can be perceived very hurtful. In this case, it is. And I think there's just so many ways we want to move beyond that with a new, revived renewal of the Republican Party. And move as far away from that as possible.
ROBERTS: Leslie Sanchez, Hilary Rosen. It's always great to see you folks. Happy holidays, Happy New Year to you.
ROSEN: You too, John.
ROBERTS: Thanks.
