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American Morning
Israel Declares War to the Bitter End; Obama's Mideast Test; GMAC Gets a Lifeline; Holocaust Love Story a Hoax
Aired December 30, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Breaking news. New explosions in Gaza. Hamas firing back. The Israeli military going after Hamas leaders where they sleep, as all-out war continues in the Middle East.
And the Holocaust hoax.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A boy in a Nazi concentration camp. A girl who tossed apples over the fence to help him survive.
ROBERTS: Oprah gets fooled again by a made-up memoir on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And good morning. Thanks very much for being with us. It's Tuesday. It's early. It's the 30th of December and I guess just one more day to go and it's New Year's Eve.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CO-ANCHOR: One more day to go put an end on this 2008, a big year, a busy year.
ROBERTS: Unbelievable how quickly it went by. But, you know, all the news with the election and all of that certainly an interesting year.
ROMANS: That's right.
ROBERTS: We got all kinds of news this morning, real news. We got fake news as well. So, Christine is going to start us all off with that.
ROMANS: Nice to be here.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you.
ROMANS: Good morning, John.
We begin this morning with breaking news on Israel's massive bombing campaign against Palestinian militants. Warplanes pounding Gaza for a fourth day. Tanks stand ready on the border.
Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, saying this is just the first of several stages. Palestinian medical sources report more than 375 Palestinians have been killed, most of them Hamas militants.
We'll have more on this breaking story from the war zone in just a moment.
More fresh insight into the Bush administration in its closing hours. Two of the president's former top advisers, Matthew Dowd and Dan Bartlett, making some candid remarks and criticism in "Vanity Fair" saying the government's handling of Hurricane Katrina was the final nail in the coffin leaving President Bush politically powerless.
And it was a bad holiday season for travelers. According to its airline performance watchdog, nearly 9,000 flights were canceled disrupting more than a million passengers' plans. That's up 70 percent from last year. Experts say almost all the delays and cancellations were caused by winter weather.
ROBERTS: Back to our breaking news, it's being called war to the bitter end. Right now, Israel owns the skies over Gaza. Air strikes wiping out suspected Hamas targets and along the border Israeli troops and tanks have rolled to the edge, a possible prelude to a ground invasion. Palestinian death toll reportedly stands at more than 375 now, most of them Hamas militants.
And despite the ferocity of Israel's air strikes, the Hamas rockets keep coming. All over southern Israel, air-raid sirens sounds sending thousands into a state of panic. A total of four Israelis including three civilians have been killed by rocket and mortar fire emanating from Gaza.
CNN is tapping into its global resources to bring you the breaking developments from the front lines. CNN's Paula Hancocks is live along the Israel-Gaza border for us this morning.
Paula, what's the latest from your vantage point?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, if I'm modest it's actually a bit quieter this morning than certainly we saw yesterday morning. We're still hearing the Israeli air strikes and the explosions in the background. We're probably about half a mile or more from the Gaza border here. And certainly, we are seeing Hamas installations still being taken out, Hamas compound.
Also, we know that Israel has said that it's taken out some more missile launches and it's taken out some more vehicles carrying missiles. But for the most part, Israel does seem to be pulling back a little bit from these air strikes.
Just to give you an idea of where we're standing here, as I say, we're I mean less than a mile from the border. And what is amazing to me is you can see a tractor over there.
This is all still on the Israeli side of the border. That's about half a mile away. But this is an area where rockets are still falling, showing that Israel has not dented the militant's capability of firing these rockets into Israel yet at this point. Now we know that one person died in this area yesterday from a rocket attack also. Someone died in Ashqelon and in Ashtab (ph). This is about, I don't know, 15 miles north of Gaza. So they're showing they have long range missiles. And certainly Israel at this point will be wondering why they haven't managed to make more of an impact with well over 300, 350 air strikes since Saturday lunchtime. But unfortunately, John, civilians are still being caught up in Gaza city in this violence.
Twenty-four hours ago we heard from one U.N. official saying at least 62 civilians were killed. And he said at that point that is very conservative. It's far more likely to be higher than that and that was 24 hours ago -- John.
ROBERTS: The Israeli military on the move there, Paula, not clear at this point whether there would be a ground invasion. Some say it might just play into Hamas' hands but certainly as the Israeli military has been moving around, they've been pushing you and your crew around as well.
HANCOCKS: That's right. This is the fourth live shot in an hour that we've done, the fourth hour that we've been moved on from the Israeli military. They are just trying to push journalists further and further away from Gaza as well, as I might point out, not allowing journalists into Gaza. And certainly, they're saying that all these areas are closed military zones so having to circumvent certain roadblocks to actually be able to show you any kind of picture at all.
Now whether this means that they are preparing for a ground operation, we have seen a lot of tanks this morning. We have seen tanks moving up to the border. We saw a long line of probably 20, 30 tanks, bulldozers, armored personal carriers all in a line pointing in the direction of Gaza, piling their weapons up and waiting for that order -- John.
ROBERTS: Paula Hancocks on the move this morning along the Israel-Gaza border. Paula, thanks so much for that.
This morning as Gaza's hospitals struggle to cope with the injured, volunteers trying to deliver medical aid were turned back after their boat Dignity collided with an Israeli warship. Israel says the boat was attempting to defy the blockade of Gaza.
Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and CNN's Karl Penhaul were aboard the yacht, Dignity, at the time of the accident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF: KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The boat though while still in international waters, has been rammed by Israeli patrol boats. The boat, our vessel, has been damaged. There's been some damage to a roof section and to glass windows around the steering area and the captain says that the vessel is taking on a small amount of water.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: That ship, by the way now, headed toward Lebanon. Israel says the collision was an accident -- Christine.
ROMANS: And the White House is calling for a cease-fire in the Mideast. A spokesman says Hamas has shown its true colors as a terrorist group and must stop firing rockets into Israel.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been in touch with senior Palestinian and Israeli officials, working towards what the United States is calling a sustainable and durable cease-fire.
And with just 21 days until the inauguration, a conflict between these bitter enemies in the Middle East will no doubt be competing for attention at the top of President Barack Obama's agenda. CNN's Ed Henry is traveling with the president-elect while he vacations in Hawaii.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, this crisis is a fresh reminder of the challenges ahead for the president-elect. But he's not speaking out until January 20th.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): As his aides continue the mantra, there is only one president at a time. The crisis in Gaza is not stopping President-elect Barack Obama from working on his golf game.
But Mr. Obama has been staying in the loop. A telephone briefing from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over the weekend and phone calls with his own top advisers, retired Marine General Jim Jones and Senator Hillary Clinton. During a July visit to Jerusalem as a candidate, he had high hopes of a peace deal.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT: It's my hope that I can serve as an effective partner, whether as a United States senator or as a president in bringing about a more lasting peace in the region.
HENRY: Now, Mideast experts say the best Mr. Obama can hope for is managing the conflict rather than actually resolving it.
AARON DAVID MILLER, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: He'll inherit the 100-year headache that many of his predecessors have been inherited except with a much weaker American hand because at the end of this, Israel and Hamas will still be at war.
HENRY: Mr. Obama is deferring to President Bush who's also on vacation in Texas and through a spokesman is blaming Hamas for the spiraling situation without urging restraint from Israel.
GORDON JOHNDROE, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY SPOKESMAN: In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable cease-fire.
HENRY: There's not a lot of daylight between the Bush approach and what Mr. Obama said this summer during another round of violence. OBAMA: If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.
HENRY: That statement was made in the heat of the campaign, when Republicans were charging that Mr. Obama was not a strong defender of Israel.
MILLER: When we don't call the Israelis out on actions that they take that undermine and hurt American interests, when we have to run everything in negotiations through the Israelis first, then you have a problem because then America loses its credibility and effectiveness as an independent mediator.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: A major challenge for Mr. Obama if he doesn't want to follow in the footsteps of a string of predecessors who found a peace deal elusive -- John, Christine.
ROBERTS: Ed Henry reporting this morning. And other stories that we're following today.
New details surrounding the mystery of missing cruise ship passenger, Jennifer Seitz. Her family suspects that she jumped off the ship saying that she had "previous emotional issues." Security footage shows what appears to be a woman wearing a white bathrobe falling overboard.
Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that her husband, who was on the cruise along with her, was arrested earlier in the year for domestic violence. The FBI is investigating all of this.
And residents in Kingston, Tennessee, who used private wells are being told to stop drinking water. Samples taken near last week's massive coal ash spill are showing high levels of arsenic. Three homes were destroyed and a dozen families were displaced after a billion gallons of coal ash broke through a retention pond and flooded the area. Luckily though, no one was injured in all of that. So far, no one has gotten sick.
And a lucky break for police after some car thieves accidentally tipped them off. Police say the three men were stripping cars in Middletown New York, when one of them unknowingly pocket dialed 911. That's when you accidentally lean over and you push the button on your phone. When the quick thinking operator heard one of the men mention taking the front tires, he was able to trace the call and lead police to their location.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ORANGE COUNTY 911 DISPATCHER: It sounds like they're ripping a car off.
MIDDLETOWN 911 DISPATCHER: All right.
ORANGE COUNTY 911 DISPATCHER: It dialed in their pocket by accident. And they're taking the tires off a car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: All three of those men were charged with several misdemeanors.
You know, everybody runs into that embarrassing situation if you accidentally pocket dial somebody. Typically, you might be driving along in the car singing to yourself.
ROMANS: And that's what you call dumb luck, right?
ROBERTS: I guess so.
ROMANS: Dumb luck.
ROBERTS: The dumb criminals wanted it too.
ROMANS: Exactly. All right.
You know, it's been a big year for Sarah Palin. First, she was thrust into the national spotlight as the GOP's vice presidential candidate. Now, she's Wasilla Alaska's newest hockey grandma.
Their love story captured the hearts of millions including Oprah but was the talk show host fooled by their too good to be true story?
It's 10 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: We got plenty of money. American taxpayers have plenty of money and everyone wants a piece of it to try to stay in business. GMAC is the next one.
Stephanie Elam is here. Good morning, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It seems like our pockets are endless at this point of the year. Take a look at what's going on.
And in case you didn't here, GMAC is getting a bit of a lifeline here to the tune of about $6 billion we're talking about. What's happening here is this is going to have two different parts here.
What's going to happen, the government is going to step in and give $6 billion. First though, the $5 billion will come from the federal government directly into GMAC. That's the financing arm of General Motors. Obviously, it's key to the survival of GM.
The second part of it will involve the government lending $1 billion to GM so it can invest in the financing arm directly so that they can get lenders lending again, GMAC lenders out there. But the thing is it's not without catches. GM is also going to have to worry about a stake, GMAC. They're going to have to give a stake to the government and that is going to have two parts to it as well. The treasury will get a preferred equity stake in GMAC that will pay an eight percent dividend and then there will be basically warrants, which if they -- if the government decides to go ahead and say they want to exercise those, those will have a nine percent dividend.
ROMANS: They did to try and get money back from the taxpayers. I mean, the United States government doesn't want to be giving out our money without taking any potential of sharing in the profits if there is going to be.
ELAM: If they come back.
ROMANS: Right.
ELAM: Exactly. So that's the reason. They don't want -- they don't want taxpayers just to put the money out there and not get it back. And obviously on top of that, when it comes to who's in charge, their compensation is also going to reigned in and that's the big part of this deal as well.
The top executives cannot get severance packages. The top pull of executives are going to have 40 percent less money to share as far as bonuses are concerned. So there are definitely tie ends here for what's going to happen if not all just a big gift to GMAC.
ROMANS: Just the latest in what -- I think this year will go down as the year of the bailout. You know, 2008, the year of the bailout and in the mid of 2009, we'll have some more. Who knows?
ROBERTS: We'll be counting up the bill for generations to come.
ELAM: I don't think we're done yet. I don't think so.
CHETRY: I don't think we're done here either.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Steph.
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is reportedly a grandmother this morning. According to People.com, her daughter, Bristol, gave birth to a healthy seven pounds, seven ounces baby boy on Saturday. The baby's name is Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston. It takes its last name from his father, Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin's boyfriend of three years. The couple plans to get married in the new year. So they've got what? A Track, a Trig, and a Tripp now.
ROMANS: And three names, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston.
ROBERTS: Yes.
ELAM: That's a lot of teasing. It could trip your tongue.
ROMANS: Oh, yes, indeed.
ROBERTS: It could trip up your tongue as you're trying to track and whatever. ELAM: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. The man who launched his loafer at President Bush is not getting his day in court. Find out why his trial has been postponed.
It's 15 minutes after the hour.
ROBERTS: Love at the Holocaust.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN ROSENBLAT, AUTHOR: The guards from the towers if they see us, they shoot us. So we didn't talk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Their survival story touched everyone. The trouble is, it wasn't true. How one couple duped publishers, Hollywood, even Oprah.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: We're following breaking news. At this hour, bombs continue to fall over Gaza. Israeli warplanes leveling suspected Hamas strongholds. The attacks reducing buildings to rubble overwhelming hospitals and filling Gaza streets with smoke and fire. But Hamas not sitting back quietly, shooting more rockets into southern Israel.
Palestinian medical sources say more than 375 people have been killed in the West Bank. The United Nations says that total includes at least 60 civilians. We'll have more from the war zone coming up.
ROBERTS: Oprah Winfrey called it the single greatest love story that she has ever heard, but the touching Holocaust romance and the book that describes it about to be released turned out to be nothing more than just that, a story. CNN's Randi Kaye has got more for us on that this morning.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, it's one of the most poignant love stories ever told, a boy in a Nazi concentration camp, a girl who tossed apples over the fence to help him survive. A chance meeting more than a decade later, a marriage that lasted 50 years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMA ROSENBLAT, HERMAN'S WIFE: It looks like, you know, they're hungry. I threw the apple over and I threw out a piece of bread.
HERMAN ROSENBLAT, AUTHOR: She was my angel. She was the angel that my mother sent me because my mother told me in my dream that I'm sending you an angel. KAYE (voice-over): When Herman and Roma Rosenblat's love story was first made public 13 years ago, Oprah featured them on her Valentines Day show. She called it the single greatest love story in 22 years of doing this show. The trouble is, it was just a story, it wasn't true.
Oprah was duped, just like she would be years later by James Frey in his memoir, "A Million Little Pieces." But it wasn't just Oprah. Herman Rosenblat told his story on CBS and Lifetime. A children's book was written about it and Penguin's Berkley Books was set to release "The Angel at the Fence" in February, a movie within the works.
But now, Rosenblat's publisher has pulled the plug after receiving new information from his agent that the love story was made up.
Professor Kenneth Waltzer never bought Rosenblat's story.
KEN WALTZER, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: The idea of a prisoner being able autonomously to approach the fence not just once but everyday at the same time, none of it seemed plausible.
KAYE (on camera): There are some grains of truth. Professor Waltzer says Herman Rosenblat was in a concentration camp and did meet his wife on a blind date in New York City in the 1950s. But the professor says during the war, Rosenblat's wife, Roma, was hiding with her family about 200 miles away from the camp where Herman Rosenblat was in prison behind the now famous fence.
(voice-over): So why would a Holocaust survivor make this love story up? In the 1990s, Herman Rosenblat was shot. In a statement released through his agent, Rosenblat said that in the hospital, he dreamt that his mother told him to tell his story. When he came out of the hospital, his business was gone and he began to write.
Rosenblat wrote, "I wanted to bring happiness to people to remind them not to hate but to love and tolerate all people. My motivation was to make good in this world. In my dreams, Roma will always throw me an apple, but I now know it is only a dream."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: A dream for Rosenblat, a nightmare for his publisher which refused to comment on its process for fact checking memoirs -- John, Christine.
ROBERTS: Randi Kaye for us this morning.
We're tracking breaking news for you today. As punishing air strikes reduced parts of Gaza to rubble, the onslaught generating a lot of reaction around the world this morning.
We are live in London with more on the growing outrage.
And you scored the job interview but in this economy can you afford to clothes that you need to impress your perspective employer? We'll tell you how one company is easing the pain for female job hunters. We'll have that story for you.
It's 22 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that it shows that the American people don't all support this brutal attack by the Israelis (INAUDIBLE) by hopeless (ph) population.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Americans hitting the streets, expressing outrage over Israel's military assault in Gaza. This was the scene last night in New York City. And a dozen similar protests are planned across the U.S. today. It all come as outrage at Israel increases overseas from the Mideast to Europe.
CNN's Paula Newton is live in London this morning with the look at the world reaction -- Paula.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine. Here we are in London and they are setting up the barricades yet again for yet another day of protest.
What's going on, Christine, is both Palestinian supporters and the Israel government are locked in a high stakes public relations battle for the moral high ground.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON (voice-over): It didn't take long, the anger on so many faces here just boils over. The crowd of 200 Palestinian supporters lashes out at police while trying to inch ever closer to the front gates of the Israeli embassy in London.
CROWD: Shame on you, shame on you, shame on you.
NEWTON: Shame on you, they bellowed to the Israel government disgusted, they say, by the relentless air strikes and bloodletting in Gaza.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people are angry. The people need to show that they're angry and that despite that the millions of dollars spent on Israeli propaganda and Israeli media, that we won't buy their story.
NEWTON (on camera): This kind of protest really shows the rage at work in some of these communities, the rage at not having their governments condemn Israel outright.
(voice-over): Israel is the problem, they say. But this message is aimed squarely at western government says protesters. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To put some pressure in the Israelis, we need the government to move -- make a move and see what's happening. People are dying and no one is trying to help them at all.
NEWTON: And that fury echoed around the world. In Baghdad, the protesters torched Israeli flags, to Lebanon where tens of thousands of Hezbollah supporters, allies of Hamas, encouraged Palestinians to remain defiant.
And to Iran where the regime is believed to be a battle of Hamas, more anger. And then across Europe, where both in Greece and London, protesters made a point of clashing with police.
These are shrewdly organized protests. The more they escalate, the more media attention they get, attention these Palestinian supporters say Gazans needs now more desperately than ever.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Now, Christine, certainly the Israeli government is prepared for this kind of an onslaught. But sometimes in these countries, in Britain, in Europe, these kinds of protests do make a difference in terms of the governments, the kinds of statements that they put out and what they do to really try and defuse the tension in the Middle East right now. Not sure that it's going to make much of a difference either way -- Christine.
ROMANS: Indeed. All right. Paula Newton. Thank you, Paula.
John?
ROBERTS: It's coming up now on 28 minutes after the hour and here's a check of this morning's top stories.
Breaking news right now. Israeli missiles are tearing through the skies over Gaza. It is the fourth day of fighting as Israel pounds targets it says are linked to Hamas. Palestinians say more than 375 people have been killed.
And despite the strikes, Hamas is still managing to send rockets into Israel. Diplomacy efforts are under way. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been in contact with both Palestinian and Israeli officials trying to work toward what the U.S. is calling a sustainable and durable cease-fire.
The heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad will soon be in Iraqi hands. Under the security deal struck by the U.S. in Baghdad, Iraqis will take control of the four square miles beginning on the 1st of January. U.S. forces will then act as advisers. Iraq will also take charge of its own airspace.
And the case against the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush is now in limbo. Iraq's supreme criminal court postponed the trial after Muntazar al-Zaidi's lawyers appealed to a higher court. A court spokesman says it will now wait for the higher court to issue its decision. Returning now to our breaking news, the Mideast peace process in shambles, as bombs and rockets continue to fall. New threats fly and civilians are dying on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border.
Israel has declared it is in a war to the bitter end against Hamas, a war that's been going on in the region for 60 years now.
Joining me for more on this, retired four-star General Anthony Zinni. He was the former special envoy to the Middle East in the Bush administration.
General Zinni, it's good to see you this morning. What do you think Israel's end game is here? Is it to topple Hamas or is it merely to weaken it to the point where it would quickly accept the cease-fire?
GENERAL ANTHONY ZINNI (RET.), FMR. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: Well, I think they definitely want to topple Hamas. It seems that every measure they're taking is aimed at that, but I don't think in the end that will work.
ROBERTS: Yes. I mean, if not Hamas, then what? Would that not leave a power vacuum in Gaza? I wouldn't expect that Fatah elements could move right in there and restore order. So might that throw the whole are open to chaos?
ZINNI: I believe it would. And you know, with all these deaths, brothers and sons and others, they're creating another new generation of Hamas supporters or Hamas members. You know, violence in either end, whether it's military action or suicide bombers doesn't do anything but perpetuate the problem. The cycle never ends.
ROBERTS: The Bush administration at least for the time being has a date in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, appears to be giving Israel the green light to do whatever it wants to do.
Meantime, protests of blanket support for Israel against the United States growing around the world and here in this country as well.
"The New York Times" general today in an editorial says that quote, "President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should be pressing Cairo and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to use all of their influence with Hamas, and they should be pressing Israel to exercise restraint. If you were counseling the president, what would you be urging him to do in these remaining days of his administration?
ZINNI: Well, I think, obviously, the most important thing in the short term is to get a cease-fire and to stop the violence and the death. But in the long term, really, for the next administration, is to take a new approach in dealing with this problem. The old way of using envoys and summits and us putting plans on the table, that has never worked. And I think we need a fresh start, more involved, a greater presence on the ground, and a commitment to do it throughout the term of an administration. ROBERTS: You were appointed as the special envoy to the Middle East in 2002. Were you given an impossible task back then?
ZINNI: Well, you know, at the time, I was given a very narrow task to get the tenet plan into play, actually, an implementation task. It was clear that the region wasn't ready for it. The leadership wasn't ready for it out there. And even a simple very narrow task like that has to be part of a greater more major effort on our part.
ROBERTS: But these things tend to consume an administration. Remember in the waning days of the Clinton administration, when you head the Camp David peace talks, and it looked like President Clinton had reached a breakthrough, and then Yasser Arafat said no, at the last minute, I'm not accepting this deal. Should -- how much energy should the Obama administration put to try to forge a Middle East deal, one that has proved so elusive overall of this decades, with so many other pressing problems for Americans on the table.
ZINNI: Well, I think you do it at the beginning of an administration, not at the end. You make a commitment that no matter what happens you'll stick with it. You provide a major presence on the ground. You work all the major issues, which are very complicated on a basis where the details and the implementation could be worked out. We have enough agreements and principle that never worked out. I would say start from the beginning, be determined, stick with it, and don't repeat the mistakes of the past or the processes of the past that didn't work.
ROBERTS: What about in terms of policy toward the elected Hamas government in Gaza. President Bush, as we all know, was trying to foster the spread of democracy in that region, encourage elections in the Palestinian territories, just so happened that Hamas won. He didn't really like the outcome.
Daniel Levy, former advisor to former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, now the Defense Minister will be on with us next hour. He wrote this in "The Huffington Post." He said, quote, "Rather than test the Hamas capacity to govern, the U.S.-led international response was to hermetically seal off Hamas, besiege Gaza, work to undemocratically overthrow the Hamas government, and thereby allow Hamas to credibly claim that a hypocritical standard was being applied to the American democracy agenda. Is U.S. policy against Hamas in Gaza partly responsible for what we're seeing today?
ZINNI: Well, at the beginning, I think it was a hand that was reached out to Hamas to say recognize who's across the table and disavow the use of violence as a beginning, as a first step to negotiations. To begin to come to the table, not recognize those you're dealing with, and to continue the violence, to me, doesn't make for a credible partner across the table.
ROBERTS: So would you suggest then that the incoming president- elect engage Hamas?
ZINNI: I would say if Hamas is willing to end the rockets and the violence, and willing to recognize and commit to a peace process those across the table, yes, they're democratically elected. But I think there's certain conditions that have to be met.
ROBERTS: Retired General Anthony Zinnia, it's always good to hear your perspective on this, sir. Thanks for being with us this morning.
ZINNI: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: Appreciate it.
ROMANS: To get a job, you have to dress the part.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her husband just left. She lost her job. She can't afford to go out and buy clothes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: One free outfit for the job lift and a second free one if you get hired. The charity that helps women put their best foot forward. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: And welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." The struggling economy making the job market a tough place to be right now. But if you're lucky enough to score a job interview, it presents a whole new dilemma. What do you wear, and can you afford it? One company is helping female job applicants solve this problem one outfit at a time. CNN's John Zarrella has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Squeeze it harder, harder, like that.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It all begins with the handshake. In the Miami office of the worldwide non-profit Dress for Success, Sonya Jacobson teaches job hunters the basics. She's dressing people in need for free, helping them make that very important first impression. The office is busier now than ever.
SONYA JACOBSON, DRESS FOR SUCCESS: We are turning people away. We really are. We don't have the capacity, we don't have the manpower, we don't have the funds to be able to really meet the demand.
Let's try this for size. I don't know if it's going to fit, but we won't know until we try it on. OK, how do you like that? It's pretty, isn't it? Good. Go in here, try that on for me.
ZARRELLA: Dress for Success provides one free outfit to women for a job interview, another once they land a job. Erline Perdue (ph) is trying to re-enter the work force after being out for several years due to illness. JACOBSON: Come on out. Oh that looks beautiful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I like it.
JACOBSON: I like that on you. Great.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it.
JACOBSON: Fits you perfectly.
ZARRELLA: Widespread job cuts and layoffs have dramatically increased Dress for Successes client load. Miami is up about 100 percent over last year, Denver up 68 percent and Portland, Oregon, up a whopping 144 percent.
JACOBSON: When we get a phone call from a woman who's crying that her husband just left, she lost her job, she can't afford to go out and buy clothes, and she needs to find a job immediately, how can we say no to that?
ZARRELLA: The charitable organization relies on donations like these from a law firm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've met with lots of different clients and friends and neighbors and we have these beautiful clothes that we'd like to donate.
JACOBSON: Here's the complete outfit. How do you feel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel great.
JACOBSON: Good. That's good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And bless.
ZARRELLA: Sometimes, they say, you have to dress from the outside in. John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: And she looks terrific.
ROBERTS: Great program.
ROMANS: She really looks terrific, right. And learning the handshake is just as important as the suit. You know, as a volunteer was giving some clothes away a couple of years ago, this volunteer, same organization here in New York pointed out they need all sizes, and that here in New York, there was an abundance of size zero suits. I thought, oh, please, you know, an abundance of people giving away the designer size zero suits, you know.
ROBERTS: All of those hyperactive people (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: Yes, exactly. Exactly.
ROBERTS: And also, they need full ensembles, right?
ROMANS: Absolutely. You know, just a jacket or just a scarf doesn't help. They need to really put the whole thing together so people can kind of, you know, take it right off the hanger and go to a job interview, so it's terrific.
ROBERTS: Great, great, great thing to do if you've got some, you know, sort of slightly pre-owned clothes hanging around in your closet.
ROMANS: And they want some current, too, you know. If you wouldn't wear it, you don't want somebody else wear it to a job interview. You know, you really need to things that you're -- you know, when you get something new, one in, one out, you get something new, you know, give the other to --
ROBERTS: That's easy in New York, because there's no room to put anything. That's for sure.
ROMANS: That's exactly right. That's exactly right.
ROBERTS: Great story.
ROBERTS: Wind and snow moving into the northeast this morning. So, could it put the brakes on your travel plans? Jacqui Jeras breaks it all down for us, next. It's 40 minutes after the hour.
ROMANS: A holiday cruise mystery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was crazy. I mean, I'm sitting in my room and I see CNN come on and we're on the news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A woman goes overboard on Christmas night. What was caught on surveillance and what her family is saying now. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." A live look for you today, Providence, Rhode Island, courtesy of our friends at WPRI TV. 33 degrees there today. As you can see, a little bit cloudy right now. It will stay cloudy for part of this day, but clouds not the only thing in the northeast for the northeast. Rob Marciano off today. Jacqui Jeras at the weather center in Atlanta.
Well, if it's not clouds, Jacqui, I can only imagine that it's going to be that fluffy white stuff.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Next time a pair of shoe -- a pair of snow shoes next time. Jacqui, thanks so much. 46 minutes after the hour. Let's find out how much Caroline Kennedy really knows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLINE KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY'S DAUGHTER: Well, you know -- you know, I really ought to give it some thought, you know, again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a lot of you knows.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Saying you know a lot does not mean she doesn't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it doesn't no, not at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Jeanne Moos on the senator wannabe's habit, but who's counting? You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." We all have our personal quirks. But when your last name's Kennedy and you're trying to be the next senator of New York, well, you know, every word counts. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know how you know when you're under the media microscope?
KENNEDY: Well, you know -- you know, I really ought to give it some thought, you know, again.
MOOS: When we start counting "you knows."
KENNEDY: You know, people know who I am.
MOOS: She is the all grown-up now, Caroline Kennedy.
KENNEDY: You know, in our family, you know, we always think about, you know --
MOOS: First, she was criticized for not talking to the press while trying to get appointed to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat.
KENNEDY: You know, Hillary Clinton, you know, is a big loss for our state.
MOOS: And now that she is talking, we're on her back about excessive "you knows," as many as four per sentence.
KENNEDY: You know, I can tell you that in, you know, in our family, in my family, in particular, I think, you know, there was a sense that, you know, we have to work twice as hard.
MOOS: A blog called "Perfunction" noted them with a buzzer.
KENNEDY: You know, I think that, you know, I bring, you know, my life experience.
MOOS: In a 2-1/2 minute clip.
KENNEDY: You know, I was really tried to encourage --
MOOS: They buzzed Kennedy 30 times, leaving voice coach Jeffrey Davis to say --
JEFFREY DAVIS, OWNER, SPEAK CLEAR COMMUNICATIONS: Wow, that's a lot of, "you knows."
MOOS: You know it. Saying "you know" a lot does not mean she doesn't know. That she doubt.
DAVIS: No. It doesn't know, not at all. It's a verbal ticks. Basically what happen is you haven't clarified your thought yet, and you start speaking anyways.
MOOS: So you're stalling?
DAVIS: You're stalling.
MOOS: Davis calls it the little phrase that saves us between thoughts thought most of us don't need saving a 142 times. That's how often the Web site Politico counted Kennedy saying, "you know" in a transcript of "New York Times" interview. Of course, we all have ticks.
DAVIS: You just said (INAUDIBLE)
MOOS: President-elect Obama is known for his ahs.
BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: You know, I think they're still working it through.
MOOS: Though lately, he seems to have broken that habit. Sarah Palin had her winking tick.
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: How long have I been at this? Like, five weeks.
MOOS: And we all know President Bush had his linguistic barriers and terrorist.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Terrorists and barriers everywhere.
MOOS: One solution to saying, too many "you knows" is to be told every time you say it. And the Web is helping Caroline Kennedy with that.
KENNEDY: You know, you know, you know, you know, you know --
MOOS: The speech coach recommends allowing silence between thoughts.
DAVIS: Silence has more eloquence than words, and it's powerful.
MOOS: At least Kennedy knows what she doesn't know.
KENNEDY: I have, you know, quite a bit to learn.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Breaking news. More rocket attacks, more airstrikes. Chaos in the Middle East continues. And what's a former presidential candidate doing in this middle of this all out war?
Plus, a Christmas cruise ship mystery. So why did her husband wait more than seven hours to report her missing?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sitting in my room and I see CNN come on, and we're on the news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: What the surveillance tape shows. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Top videos right now on CNN.com. Most popular -- reporting live from a war zone, CNN's Paula Hancocks was interrupted by rockets firing over her head. Watch as she ends up in the line of fire while giving an update on the airstrikes of the Israel-Gaza border.
Also arrested for, of all things, sex on a beach, and now speaking out over it. A night took an unromantic twist for a British couple jailed for public indecency. Where were they? Dubai. Back in October. The couple was release last week. Now home in the U.K., they say, they were naive about Muslim sex laws. Read the book before you go.
And as if $500 million gallons of sludge covering your home wasn't bad enough, how about toxic drinking waters. Officials are now finding that water tested near the site of last Monday's Tennessee spill has high levels of arsenic and other heavy metals. And those are the most popular videos on CNN.com.
ROMANS: The economy and crime, it seems when one goes down, the other goes up. During a recession, you might expect burglary, thief and pick-pocketing to increase. But is there really a connection between the two, and can anything be done to prevent an expected rise in crime.
Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist and professor at University of Missouri in St. Louis is here to tell us. Welcome to the program.
RICHARD ROSENFELD, CRIMINOLOGIST: Thank you.
ROMANS: We know we've been in a recession for more than a year now. When you look at the crime stats that we have, you can see that in some of the major cities, you are seeing upticks in some very long, hard fought gains in terms of keeping crime down.
In New York City, for example, homicide up 5 percent, robberies up 2 percent over just the last year. In Chicago, an incredible jump of 17 percent in homicide, robberies up 8 percent. You know, in some cities like Washington, there haven't really been increases in homicide, but auto theft is up 15 percent. And tell us about the link between tough economic times and these crimes.
ROSENFELD: What we tend to see when we look back over time is during economic downturns crime rates turn up. Property crime rates go up, and in some of my research, I've also found violent crime rates including homicide increases. So there does appear to be a linkage, but that doesn't mean that cities are helpless in the face of economically-driven crime increases. There are things cities can do. The problem is that local governments are also strapped now because of the economic downturn, and that's preventing them from putting the number of police on the streets that they might like.
ROMANS: Let's talk about why recessions breed crimes, then. I mean, is it as if suddenly someone becomes a criminal because times are tough or is it because there's a growth in the black market for goods. You know, there's more theft and people are desperate. Why would suddenly there be more people committing crime?
ROSENFELD: I think there are a couple of reasons. One, when we think about the relationship between the economy and violent crime, there's no question that during economic downturns, people who are beset by other problems are pushed to the edge and that can generate stress and more violence.
In the case of property crime, I think you're right. I think the major link is the demand grows for cheaper goods and stolen goods tend to be cheaper than many goods. And as demand for stolen goods grows, the incentives for property crime go up.
ROMANS: Let's talk about what we can do about it then. I mean, we know that during the "Great Depression," there wasn't, you know, a massive national crime wave, in part because so many people were put to work. Is this a challenge and an opportunity for the incoming administration or are there things that local governments can do. How do we solve it?
ROSENFELD: Well, I think you're absolutely right. One clue we have about our policy that might help mute crime increases is from the "Great Depression." The Civilian Conservation Core Works Progress Administration put hundreds of thousands of people to work and that did seem to have an effect on crime. In the case of local communities, there are proven strategies to reduce crime or mute crime increases brought about by other reasons, so-called hot spot strategies in which enforcement is saturated in those areas in which crime has recently increased. I think most local communities know what to do. It's a question of having the financial means to put, as they say, cops on the dots.
ROMANS: And quickly, how concerned should I be. I mean, people watching this, as if they had one more thing to be concern about, losing their jobs, recession, you know, it's really tough out there. How concerned should someone be that they're going to be robbed on the way back from the, you know, from buying a piece of electronics or in their home?
ROSENFELD: I don't think it's necessary or very useful for people to become alarmist about crime increases. Unfortunately, crime tends to go up in those areas, where it's already high. It will increase in some other areas as well. I think it's important for people to be watchful and careful. And also to support efforts in their neighborhoods and local communities, to keep police on the street, be ever watchful about children, and we'll get through this.
ROMANS: All right. Richard Rosenfeld, University of Missouri, St. Louis. Thank you so much, sir.
ROSENFELD: Thank you.
