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American Morning
President Obama to Issue Marching Orders to U.S. Troops; How Will More Troops Change War Strategy?; States Scramble as Driver's License Deadline Nears; Getting Real ID; Tiger: Still the Golden Boy; Cadets Await Obama's Plan
Aired December 01, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks for being with us on this Tuesday, December 1st. The first of December already flying by.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: What happened to November?
CHETRY: It's gone. It was nice and warm, but it's gone.
ROBERTS: Just a month ago we were saying it's November 1st, and now here is December.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us.
ROBERTS: Good morning, I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being with us. Here are the big stories that we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes here in the Most News in the Morning.
Just 14 hours until President Obama's long-awaited public announcement on Afghanistan, but already the Pentagon is putting his plan into effect. We're live at the White House with details on tonight's speech.
CHETRY: The couple that allegedly crashed the White House state dinner last week is now accused of sneaking into another function attended by the president back in September. There's also another new development involving Tareq and Michaele Salahi. It seems that they e-mailed a Pentagon official requesting an invitation to the White House event they're accused of crashing.
ROBERTS: And attention holiday travelers, say it ain't so. Airport security is about to get more complicated. Why a valid driver's license may not be enough to get you on board. Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is tracking a story that you'll want to hear about this morning.
CHETRY: We begin, though, with President Obama's new strategy for fighting the war in Afghanistan. Right now, that strategy is already in the works. Marching orders for 30,000 additional troops went out Sunday to military commanders, but giving the orders may be the easy part. Using West Point as a backdrop, tonight, the president must explain his mission and end game to a divided country and a skeptical Congress.
Our Suzanne Malveaux is the only reporter live at the White House this early. And, Suzanne, so there are a lot of critics out there when it comes to Afghanistan. What does the president need to say to convince those critics it's important to not only be in the country but also to increase our presence there going forward?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, this is a very different circumstance in Afghanistan now than President Bush. I covered President Bush for eight years and essentially what you saw is it was the central location for Al Qaeda. This video became really iconic, this climbing -- what looks like a jungle gym or monkey bars. They had a leader, Osama bin Laden, who essentially was leading Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan.
It's a different picture now. Al Qaeda is dispersed around the world. There is no clear-cut enemy. And then also you take the fact that the September 11th attacks, it was very fresh in the minds of Americans when President Bush presented the war in Afghanistan. It is a distant memory to many Americans.
And finally, Kiran, the third challenge here is that President Obama as well as this administration has been very reticent to use the same kind of tone or language that we heard from President Bush about the possible terrorist attacks, the real possibilities of danger that's presented out of Afghanistan, because they feel that that's fear mongering and that's not something that they want to take part in -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Also, what about the decision to speak from West Point? There are obviously some symbolic benefits to that, but some risks as well.
MALVEAUX: Well, certainly. You know, it was President Bush who went before West Point when he actually talked about this idea of a preemptive war, preemptive strike. This was known as the Bush Doctrine. I recall that.
It really does lay out a presentation, a very dramatic platform, where he has the kind of support from the troops. That is something that President Bush did often. And President Obama can show, yes, he gets it. He understands these are the folks who're making the ultimate sacrifice.
The danger, however, Kiran, is the fact that they could see this as using the troops as props. That is something that President Bush came under criticism when he would stand in front of them as well.
CHETRY: All right. So a lot going on tonight and we'll be here to cover it every step of the way. Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning, thanks.
And a remainder to stay with CNN. Our special coverage of President Obama's speech starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern with the best political team on television.
ROBERTS: And as the president's order for more troops go out, the big question remains, what will it mean for the troops that are already in Afghanistan? Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence just back and he's here with us in New York this morning with that side of the story.
First of all, welcome back. Secondly, fabulous job over there. You did a tremendous job of bringing us the stories of the troops. So what does this all mean for them?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's going to mean a lot of things, depending on which unit you're talking about. These troops are going to be dispersed in a lot of different areas. But we've been so focused lately on just the numbers, you know, 30,000, 34,000, 40,000. But really, the real question is how and where will these troops be used?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Most of the new combat forces will be sent south to help shrink the huge battle spaces troops are trying to cover in places like Kandahar province.
CPL. JIMMY PARKER, U.S. ARMY, 11TH INFANTRY: We need the help down here. Even though we're handling it on our own but we need more forces down here.
LAWRENCE: NATO has nearly 37,000 troops in southern Afghanistan, more than the rest of the country combined. But officials admit it hasn't been enough manpower to remove the Taliban from parts of Helmand province and other areas.
SPC. BRIAN SCHOENBECK, U.S. ARMY, 11TH INFANTRY: More infantry, get another battalion or brigade out here to help us out.
LAWRENCE: A defense official says the U.S. Marines will nearly double their numbers there, with 1,000 expected to deploy in late December and 8,000 more over the next few months. Troops say it will allow them to get to know Afghans in their area, which could encourage more of them to cooperate.
SCHOENBECK: To give us any information if they have anything about where the Taliban are and what they're doing.
LAWRENCE: Roadside bombs kill more troops in Afghanistan than any amount of enemy artillery. And a key mission for new troops would be putting more eyes on Highway One, a road known as IED alley.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.
LAWRENCE: The goal is to catch insurgents planting bombs, and then replanting them after route clearance teams go through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to make sure that the routes stay clear.
LAWRENCE: The Obama administration also emphasizes quickly increasing the size of Afghan forces, nearly 40,000 more soldiers and nearly 70,000 more Afghan police in the next year. That's why the U.S. troop increase will include thousands of additional trainers.
The key will be the trainers' backgrounds and how experienced they are in actual police work. Right now, units like the 82nd Airborne are training Afghan police, but combat paratroopers are no experts in evidence collection or investigations.
MAJ. SCOTT BRANNAN, U.S. ARMY, 82ND AIRBORNE: A lot of the guys don't have that skill set, so we're working now to try to get more law enforcement professionals to catch to us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: In fact, the Afghan army and police just got a pay raise last week. In U.S. dollars, they're now making about $165 a month. We'll have to see if that solves some of the problems not only with recruiting but retention because, John, Kiran, it will be impossible to meet these goals if the same number of officers keep quitting.
ROBERTS: Chris, we here stateside have a perception of what the situation is like in Afghanistan. You traveled extensively through the country. What are your impressions of what the situation is like there?
LAWRENCE: In certain cases, small cases, it seemed better than I thought. When I saw the Afghan army, I actually thought they were more capable than my initial impression. We saw them working with the Canadians down south. The Afghan police were much worse than I thought.
We were at some of these posts where the soldiers would come up and they'd be sleeping. One of the posts, they had taken their body armor out and they were using it to grill -- you know, grill meat on. Uniforms just laying around. So at times you looked at this and say, wow, these guys are so disorganized. They're in and out of these units. You just wonder how in the world are they going to stand up hundreds of thousands of Afghan police officers. So I think that will be a great challenge in the next year or two years.
ROBERTS: That is a crucial component to an exit strategy.
LAWRENCE: Yes.
ROBERTS: Again, great work over there, Chris. Good to see you back.
LAWRENCE: Thanks.
ROBERTS: And stay with us because all morning we'll be breaking down President Obama's new plan for Afghanistan, what it means for that country, for our country and the president's political future. In about 15 minutes' time, Deborah Feyerick is in West Point where the president will deliver his speech tonight. She talks with the community and asks if our military sacrifice in Afghanistan is worth it.
In 20 minutes' time, we're going to speak with two military experts on the new strategy, including Matthew Hoh. You remember he stepped down from the State Department in protest of the war there. And at 7:10 Eastern, we're talking live with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. That's all ahead here on the Most News in the Morning.
CHETRY: So a lot going on with Afghanistan but other stories also new this morning at seven minutes past the hour.
It's been a frustrating setback for police in Washington State. Late last night, officers thought that they had suspected cop killer Maurice Clemmons surrounded in a house. But it was the second search in 24 hours to come up empty.
Authorities are rounding up family and friends suspected of helping him. There are also more questions over why this suspect was freed in the first place. Last night, Anderson Cooper spoke with a judge who urged leniency for Clemmons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARION HUMPHREY, PULASKI COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE: His rap sheet in the year 2000 is different from his rap sheet in the year 2009. Maurice Clemmons, according to the records before me, was 16 years old when the issues that were presented to me were committed. He was sentenced at the age of 17.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: On the rap sheet, there's burglary, burglary, probation -- two burglaries, theft of property, aggravated robbery, theft of property, burglary, theft of proper, possession of firearm in a school.
HUMPHREY: Yes. And he also served time in prison. I think the point that's been lost among some people is that he actually served 10 years, 10 calendar years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Yes, those 10 years were part, though, of a 95-year sentence for a 1990 conviction that included armed robbery. Police say they believe that Clemmons is dangerous, obviously. Also, they also believe that he suffered an injury in Sunday's attack.
ROBERTS: The couple that allegedly crashed last week's White House state dinner is now accused of crashing a Congressional Black Caucus dinner that was back in September. Reports out of Washington suggest that Tareq and Michaele Salahi may have snuck in through an entrance for caterers and bus boys. Organizers say they were eventually caught and asked to leave. There are also reports the Salahis e-mailed Pentagon official Michele Jones requesting an invitation to last week's state dinner at the White House. Jones insists that she did not grant that request.
CHETRY: Tiger Woods says he will not attend a tournament he's supposed to be hosting this week in California. Tiger is still remaining tight-lipped about what happened last Friday when he crashed his SUV into a tree outside of his suburban Orlando home, but he says that the injuries he suffered in that accident will keep him from playing in the Chevron World Challenge. It's an event that makes a lot of money for his charity foundation.
ROBERTS: The Salvation Army now accepts plastic. Gold is still good, too. Someone dropped a Krugerrand in a red kettle outside of a Kmart near York, Pennsylvania. The total donation given the value of gold these days, $1,201 because the $1,200 Krugerrand was wrapped in a $1 bill.
CHETRY: How sweet. Anonymous and very generous.
It's 10 minutes past the hour. A showdown over new security requirements for driver's license. And this could make flying even more of a nightmare for many Americans. Real ID takes us back January 1st, but what will it mean to you when you show up to the airport? We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. A little bit of good news on the swine flu front. It appears that the spread of H1N1 virus is slowing. The CDC now says that 32 states are reporting widespread swine flu activity. That's down from 48 states just three weeks ago.
Federal health officials emphasize just because H1N1 is waning in some areas it doesn't mean it can't pick up again. The CDC says 35 more children have died from the flu. Twenty-seven had H1N1.
ROBERTS: Thousands of unemployed Americans could soon lose their health insurance. A federal subsidy to the COBRA plan is set to expire today. The program allows workers to keep their company's health insurance plan after they leave their job or lose their job. If Congress doesn't act, insurance premiums could jump by hundreds of dollars.
CHETRY: And Chelsea Clinton is engaged. The former first daughter will marry her boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky next summer. The two met in Washington, D.C. as teenagers and both went to Stanford University. They now live in New York where Mezvinsky works at a Manhattan hedge fund and Clinton is pursuing a graduate degree at Columbia University's School of Public Health. The couple made the announcement in an e-mail to friends on Friday.
ROBERTS: It's called Real ID. The new federal program created in the aftermath of 9/11. It requires all states to issue more secure driver's licenses by the end of this year. But many states are taking a stand against it and as a result, you may not be free to move about the country. Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is following that for us this morning.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, there is a possibility air travel could soon get a lot more complicated for a lot of people because of a showdown over new security requirements for driver's licenses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MESERVE (voice-over): Most people show a driver's license to pass security and board an airplane or enter a federal building. But as of January 1st, licenses from as many as 36 states may not be accepted because those states are not complying with the requirement of Real ID, a law passed after 9/11 to make licenses more secure.
REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: Real ID, first and foremost, is to make sure that we don't have terrorists coming through and posing as Americans and able to get on aircraft and access chemical refineries and all the other places where terrorists might go to kill Americans.
MESERVE: But the states say it will cost $4 billion to implement real ID and 24 states have passed laws or resolutions saying they will not comply. Other states which won an extension on the December 31st real ID deadline have until Tuesday to demonstrate they're making progress, but as many as 12 states may not be able to do so, making 36 states in all noncompliant.
DAVID QUAM, NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION: You're talking a very large portion of the population. You're talking large states, small states. We don't have the specific list of states. It is across the country. It's not geographic. It's not by size. There's a lot of people who could be affected come January 1.
MESERVE: Governors, some members of Congress and even the secretary of Homeland Security support an alternative called pass ID. Supporters say it would be cheaper and easier to implement, but critics maintain it doesn't provide enough security, and Congress has yet to pass it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Some say that unless Congress enacts pass ID quickly on January 1st, driver's licenses from those 36 noncompliant states may not be accepted as identification at airports, snarling security lines over the holiday season and beyond.
But others doubt events will unfold that way. They predict the secretary of Homeland Security will intervene and push back real ID deadlines. That would avert a travel catastrophe but postpone implementation of a key 9/11 Commission recommendation.
John and Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve for us. Thanks.
Well, still ahead, we've been talking about the controversy surrounding Tiger Woods. Well, it looks like the sponsors that made Woods the richest athlete in the world are sticking with the golfing great despite a little bit of the controversy surrounding an accident outside of his home on Friday.
Stephanie Elam's "Minding Your Business." She's going to join us with details.
Sixteen-and-a-half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It is a new day because if you were looking for those deals on Black Friday -- well, Cyber Monday, that was yesterday and now they're gone. But it looks like people really did clean up. They surfed and they clicked and they bought.
Online shopping sites reporting a 43 percent surge in traffic on Cyber Monday, which was yesterday, early returns indicating that web shoppers were busy spending. As of last night, sales up 11 percent from last year.
ROBERTS: Why go to the stores when you can get the bargains on your computer?
CHETRY: There you go.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDET: (INAUDIBLE) here. So, you know, just stay at home, get that shopping done.
ROBERTS: Exactly. Perfect.
Stephanie Elam here "Minding Your Business" this morning. A little bit of controversy surrounding the incident with Tiger Woods early in the morning the day after Thanksgiving, a lot of speculation as to what fueled it making its way around the internet. But certainly the advertisers don't seem to care, the sponsors.
ELAM: Yes. You know, this story has captured the minds of Americans. And then they had all weekend to mull it over and come up with their own ending to the story. Well, regardless of that, the sponsors are saying, Tiger, we've got your back and that's a pretty huge deal because he's like the most sponsored athlete in history.
So if you take a look at it, you've got Nike saying that Tiger has their full support, Gatorade saying that they wish Tiger well while he recovers and that the partnership continues. Gillette said they haven't changed its marketing strategy. This is a big deal because "Forbes" said in September that he is the first athlete to cross the one-billion-dollar mark in a career as far as these sponsorships are concerned.
Now, some are saying that he's probably been the most successful athlete sponsor in the history of sponsoring athletes, maybe because he's got such an impeccable career. He just -- he's grown up in the spotlight. He's been there and he's pretty much been a clean cut guy who's just been all about killing it on the golf course. And so, because of that, it's worked out.
But take a look at these numbers here. His salary winnings -- this is just 2008, folks --almost $23 million. Then endorsements, about $105 million. That's more than two times any other athlete in the world. That's pretty huge. So for a total there of basically about $128 million, according to "Sports Illustrated" just for this year. But for right now, sponsors are standing behind him. A lot of people like there's no --look, he wasn't drinking. It was a one-car accident, something going on with him and his wife, perhaps. We don't really know, but it doesn't look like it has anything to do where he was, you know, having issues...
CHETRY: It wasn't like he was out clubbing.
ELAM: No, he was not -- although...
ROBERTS: OK! Don't even say it! Don't even go there.
ELAM: Luckily, we're not saying the same thing about his wife (INAUDIBLE). But, at this point, when you take a look at it, from this standpoint it looks fine. And even if those allegations that he was having an affair were true, point to an athlete that hasn't had an affair and endorse -- you know, companies have been endorsing people. That's something that's old hat at this point.
So, right now we'll have to see what happens. If he thinks it's all going to stay quiet, good luck, Tiger.
CHETRY: Silence is golden sometimes.
ELAM: Sometimes.
CHETRY: All right. Stephanie Elam, thank you.
Still ahead, we're going to be talking with West Point cadets and parents. Of course, the president tonight is giving a speech at West Point about his plan for Afghanistan. What do they think?
It's 22 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
President Obama will announce his new military strategy for Afghanistan tonight from the US military academy at West Point in New York.
CHETRY: You know, the cadets there right now enrolled at a time of war and know the risks. Well, now the commander in chief could be writing their futures right in front of them.
Our Deb Feyerick got reaction to the president's plan and the war from right outside West Point's gates and is live with an "AM Original" for us this morning. Good morning, Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there, Kiran and John. Well, you know, this is where the president is going to be speaking at Eisenhower Hall at West Point. It's really a city unto itself, but what happens in here really impacts the people just outside the stone walls.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): Before you get to West Point, you first have to drive through the town of Highland Falls, population 4,000. The mayor runs a liquor store here just outside the gates of the US military academy known to locals as The Point.
His son graduated last May, a second lieutenant in the US Infantry, putting him on the frontlines should he be deployed.
FEYERICK (on camera): One day, if he calls you up and says, hey, dad, guess what? They're sending me. What do you say? What do you think?
MAYOR JOSEPH D'ONOFRIO, HIGHLAND FALLS, NEW YORK: Well -- well...
FEYERICK: You must have thought of that.
D'ONOFRIO: I think of -- to be honest with you, I think of my wife, because she's going to have a hard time.
FEYERICK: Like many in town, the mayor wouldn't talk publicly about his views on the war or the anticipated troop buildup in Afghanistan, only that he supports the cadets.
D'ONOFRIO: No matter who the commander in chief is, they respect and they admire him and they -- I don't want to say obey, but I guess that's what it is. They follow his --what he says the mission is, that's their mission.
FEYERICK: And clearly, when they start, they know what they're getting into.
D'ONOFRIO: Exactly.
FEYERICK: Right.
D'ONOFRIO: They know.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Some 70 West Point graduates have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, when the global war on terrorism began. People in town often recognize the faces of the dead or wounded.
FEYERICK (on camera): You've lived with this concern.
KEVIN DUMAIN, VALUE HARDWARE: I breathe (ph) it, I lived with it. I'm here. I see it. I see it firsthand.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Kevin Dumain runs the True Value Hardware Store. His 15-year-old son has talked about applying to West Point, making Dumain especially aware of the ramifications the president's new strategy may have not only on the geopolitical landscape, but on his own hometown.
FEYERICK (on camera): If the American involvement continues, that -- it could ultimately affect your son, and he's aware of that.
DUMAIN: Big time. He told me he might want to go to West Point.
FEYERICK: And so what does that mean to you as a father?
DUMAIN: If he wants to go, he can go, but I wouldn't want him to go.
FEYERICK (voice-over): In a town where everyone seems to know each other and where cadets often stop into Vasily's Souvenir Shop to buy an army t-shirt, people here say fighting terrorism is important. Still, they wonder how long it will take and who will come back.
MIKE PERLMAN, VASILY'S SOUVERNIR SHOP: My opinion would be, I'd like to end it as quickly as possible, with a positive end to it, if that's at all possible, so whatever that would take. But I certainly would not want to send 30,000 troops there and have it linger on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now, another woman I spoke with said that she attended the wedding of two brides who are marrying West Point cadets. Within eight months, both of those cadets were dead, the brides themselves widows. And clearly, that's got to be something weighing very heavily on the president's mind as he makes this decision to send in more troops -- John.
ROBERTS: And the emotion inside that man there who said that his son was considering going to West Point, my goodness!
FEYERICK: Well, absolutely. And that's -- that's the reality of the choices that are made. So a really serious impact there.
ROBERTS: All right. Deb Feyerick for us in West Point this morning. Deb, thanks so much for that.
Coming up to the half hour now and checking our top stories this Tuesday morning, new information on what health care reform could really mean for you. The Congressional Budget Office says the bill up for debate right now in the Senate could significantly cut costs for more than half of the 32 million people who buy health insurance on their own, thanks to subsidies in the bill. It also says premiums for most people with employer-based health insurance wouldn't be any higher than they are now.
Roman Polanski will remain in a Swiss jail until at least Friday. Authorities say the 76-year-old director will not be placed under house arrest until he pays his $4.5 million bail. Switzerland is deciding whether to extradite him to the United States. Polanski pled guilty in 1977 to having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
And the Treasury Department sending out so-called S.W.A.T. teams to make sure that banks are helping people with troubled mortgages and it plans to publish a list next week of lenders that are lagging behind. It's part of a new administration effort to speed up the government's $75 billion effort to end the foreclosure crisis. Kiran. CHETRY: All right, half past the hour. Now back to our top story. President Obama is set to speak to the world tonight and he's expected to make his case for a troop surge in Afghanistan. A plan expected to send another 30,000 American soldiers into battle. Here with a front line perspective, two men with combat experience.
Joining me in New York, Mathew Hoh who resigned from the State Department in protest over the war in Afghanistan and served in Iraq as a Marine Corps Captain and against sending more troops to Afghanistan. Thanks for being with us this morning.
MATTHEW HOH, RESIGNED FROM STATE DEPARTMENT TO PROTEST WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: Morning.
CHETRY: Also in Washington, Captain Thomas Cotton in the U.S. Army Reserves and also a veteran of both the Afghan and Iraq wars and he are supporting a troop surge. Tom, great to have you with us as well.
THOMAS COTTON, RETURNED FROM AFGHANISTAN IN JULY 2009: Thank you, Kiran.
CHETRY: Let me start with you, it looks like the President, Matt, is going to be sending in 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. It's not what you want. You're against a surge in general. Is there anything the President can say tonight to convince you that perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel.
HOH: Exactly. I hope that he does talk about going towards a diplomatic or political solution for this conflict. This is -- I think what we're doing here is mistaking an insurgency for -- I'm sorry, a civil war for an insurgency. We're trying to apply a counter insurgency solution to what is really a civil war.
What we need is to find a political solution, find a way to resolve this conflict that's been going on in Afghanistan for over 30 years and bring the two sides together with a power-sharing agreement that will probably reform the government of Afghanistan but I see it as the only way to end the violence. More military forces, particularly foreign military forces will only increase the conflict.
CHETRY: What about you Tom, do you think adding more troops is going to be a successful strategy in terms of the counter insurgency and in terms of putting a dent in the Al Qaeda and Taliban network?
COTTON: Absolutely, I do, Kiran. I agree with Matt that we need ultimately a political and diplomatic solution in Afghanistan, but in the short term, we have to have a security solution, which can only be achieved by greater military force there. In the long run, once we have security, the Afghan people will be able to work out political compromises between themselves and the government is able to provide basic services and be viewed as legitimate. But now we need security for the people of Afghanistan.
CHETRY: And Tom, let me ask you this first and get you to weigh in as well, Matt. How do we define success in terms of a military strategy there? I think it's a question a lot of people at home have. How do we know that this is going too successfully?
COTTON: I think first you'll see an increase in fighting, an increase in violence. Unfortunately, an increase in casualties over the next year in 2010. But in the long run, as we saw in Iraq, we'll see violence come down both against NATO forces and against Afghan civilians. That will give the Afghan government some breathing room to achieve stability, to provide basic services and for the Afghan people to view it as legitimate and ultimately choose to side with the government, not with the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the other insurgencies.
CHETRY: Matt, you've said before you don't think it's that easy. You also just mentioned when we were talking about the 30 years of conflict. However, the whole Al Qaeda equation is not 30 years old, is it?
HOH: No, it's not. And I see Al Qaeda as a separate piece of this. My understanding, there's no threat of Al Qaeda going back into Afghanistan. Al Qaeda's not -- they don't need safe havens. They already have safe havens all around the world in other failed states -- Somalia, Yemen, so forth.
And Al Qaeda as an organization does not require a physical ground. They're an organization that recruits worldwide, uses individual or small cells, and those cells come from Europe, North Africa, and the Gulf States. We've even just arrested some people in Minnesota. So the idea that ground combat troops are going to affect Al Qaeda is completely wrong. Our troops in Afghanistan right now are having no effect on Al Qaeda operations. Al Qaeda is an organization we have to fight with intelligence and law enforcement assets.
CHETRY: Do you agree with that assessment, Tom?
COTTON: No, I don't. Al Qaeda certainly has safe havens, to some degree, in places like East Africa and in Yemen. But this is their homeland. This is where they were formed 20 years ago. This is where they had a symbiotic relationship with the Taliban. And we can't discount the value of having a physical safe haven where they can train, where they can plan and ultimately where they can launch attacks. So we do need to concentrate on their homeland in Afghanistan and we do need to take the fight to them. While we certainly don't need to neglect intelligence operations and other covert operations elsewhere throughout the world.
CHETRY: And then Matt, when we talked before, you said you're not taking issue with the how we do this. It's sort of the -- what exactly is the broader picture, what exactly we are doing. Why --
(CROSSTALK)
HOH: And why are we in Afghanistan.
CHETRY: Why are we there. What is the alternative, though? I mean as the President talks tonight about sending possibly 30,000, 35,000 additional troops there, if he were to say you know what we're going to dial it back and we're going to start pulling troops out, what would be left?
HOH: I think if you went with that approach, what are you going to do, is right now putting troops into Afghanistan it does two things. It strengthens the Karzai Regime, which means the Karzai Regime has no incentive to negotiate. It also emboldens our opposition there. You know roughly half of Afghanistan wants us in Afghanistan and the other half doesn't.
The other half that doesn't will fight us harder because they're fighting because they're occupied by foreign powers. So adding more troops will only increase the conflict. You start to pull back troops and now, one, it gives the Taliban incentive to negotiate but also gives the Karzai Regime incentive to negotiate because they're not going to do that as long as we keep propping them up.
CHETRY: And last question to you, Tom, about an exit strategy. What do you think the troops there are thinking these terms of an exit strategy? Where do they define success or at least enough success that we can get out of Afghanistan?
COTTON: I don't believe the troops there are thinking in terms of an exit strategy. They're thinking in terms of a victory strategy. Our troops are there for anywhere from 6 to 12 months at a time and they know that this will be a long and hard war and that to achieve the kind of lasting security that the Afghan people need and that the Afghan government needs is going to be a two, three, four year operation. So they're focused not so much on touchdowns so to say but more of the first down of providing security in their local area for the time they're here.
CHETRY: All right, I want to thank both of you for insight and perspective. Captain Thomas Cotton and Matthew Hoh, thanks for both of you.
Thank you.
CHETRY: John. Oh also, one quick note. We are going to be covering this all day long. The President's speech begins at 7:00 o'clock Eastern and we'll be here with the best political team on television including you, John, tonight.
ROBERTS: A big day for the President. Obviously, a big day for the military and the war in Afghanistan. It's also world AIDS day today. Coming up next we'll tell you what designer Kenneth Cole is doing to raise awareness and money for AIDS treatment for the world over. Stay with us, 37 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. Today is World AIDS day. Thirty-three million people are living with the disease. The number of new cases is down, but more women and younger people are getting infected. Designer Kenneth Cole, a longtime activist was the first to promote AIDS awareness. In AIDS that have helped chattered the silence about the virus around the world. Our Alina Cho recently spent the day with him and with this "A.M. Original."
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hey, John and Kiran. You know Kenneth Cole was introduced to the AIDS crisis early on. As a fashion designer he knew many people who were infected back when most didn't know what aid was and many didn't care. Today the world knows Kenneth Cole for his provocative socially conscious ads, his way of making a difference.
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CHO (voice over): Take look at these eye-popping ads and by now they are instantly recognizable. The man behind them, Kenneth Cole, fashion designer with a $1.5 billion empire and an even bigger conscience. His passion, AIDS awareness. Cole got involved early on in 1985 when few people cared.
KENNETH COLE, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, and KENNETH COLE PRODUCTIONS: The groups knew who they were. They were Haitians, they were intravenous drug users, and gay mean for the most part in this country. I was a single male designer, so I knew everybody would assume that I was Haitian but...
CHO: Using his platform as a businessman seemingly not at risk, this married father of three was able to raise awareness fast through a series of provocative ads always pushing the envelope.
COLE: It was illegal to advertise condoms when we ran this add
CHO: Really.
COLE: Yes, and what we did was air brushed off so you can't really -- there's no word that says condom here, so you don't know for sure what it is. Could be a graduation halt.
CHO: Pull is the force behind this 1985 Annie Leibovitz photo featuring some of the world's most famous models, with the tag line, for The Future of Our Children. Then there's this ad circa 2009 using another word for condom to sell rubber boots with profits going toward AIDS research. The need has never been greater.
KEVIN FROST, CEO AMFMR/THE FOUNDATION FOR AIDS RESEARCH: The economic downturn leads people into behaviors that can put them at risk. That may be sex work because people have to pay to put food on the table. People who are despondent in a world where they cannot find work often sometimes turn to drug use and that puts people at risk of HIV infection.
CHO: The second wave of the Crisis, the designer famous for his shoes maintains what we stand for is more important than what we stand in. The goal, finding a cure for AIDS, which Cole hopes is not too far off.
CHO (on camera): When you look at this today, what goes through your mind?
COLE: It's -- we've come a long way, but in some ways we haven't come that far. So...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Still a lot of work to be done. What you probably don't know is the man behind the ads is really the man behind the ads. Kenneth Cole actually writes many of the ads himself and says he never met a pun he didn't like. A fashion provocateur in a different way, a way he says is bigger than himself, John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Alina Cho for us this morning. Alina thanks. Great story giving back.
CHETRY: Sure is. I remember a lot of his ads racing controversy but as Alina said, money at the same time.
ROBERTS: We'll be right back, lots ahead for you, and its 44 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: We do have some breaking news to report out of Seattle today. According to local affiliate KIRO as well as the associated press, a man who is wanted in connection with the killings of four police officers outside of Seattle -- there you see him right now, Maurice Clemmons is said to be dead.
Now, this is yet another twist and turn to a long story that started Sunday night after police surrounded a home in a neighborhood for about 12 hours, and then Monday morning -- they thought they had him surrounded. Monday morning, they found out that indeed he was not there, that he had managed to escape, and, again, this manhunt continued on throughout the night and again this morning, we're hearing word that he was fatally shot by police.
ROBERTS: Yes. It's not clear whether he was shot in a recent incident or if this was the gunshot that he was believed to have sustained when he shot those four officers dead in that Tacoma coffee shop on Sunday morning. The four officers were Sgt. Mark Renninger, Officer Ronald Owens, Officer Tina Griswold and Greg Richards; all of them singled out. They were just in the coffee shop on their laptops filling out reports when Clemmons walked in, was up at the counter, suddenly turned around, pulled a gun and shot them.
Didn't take aim at anyone else in the coffee shop. Obviously, he was getting solely for the police officers. One of those officers managed to get off a shot apparently hit him in the torso, so he's been suffering from that wound. Police believe that his family has been helping him. One of his family members may have even tried to treat that wound, so not clear this morning whether he succumbed to that bullet wound or this is a new incident that police have yet to tell us the complete details about.
CHETRY: There's a lot of controversy surrounding this case, so this is somebody who was quite familiar with the law. In fact, he had served ten years of what was supposed to be a 95-year prison sentence for varying crimes. Several years ago, that sentence -- the parole board then recommended that it be commuted and it was by -- in 2000 by then Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and so, again, this is somebody who has had a long rap sheet, but again, is now accused of killing these four police officers in this ambush style shooting and then managing to escape.
Investigators doing their best to try to get their hands on him, even rounding up several of his relatives and friends trying to sort of block off all passageways that he could possibly have to either get away, get further away from the area, or be hidden from sight from these police officers.
ROBERTS: As you said, a huge point of controversy this granting of clemency and his release. Many people have said what the heck was this guy doing on the streets? When asked about it yesterday, the former Governor Of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, said I granted him clemency based on what was on my desk then, not what he was going to do nine years from now, so we're obviously going to hear a whole lot more about this in the days and weeks to come.
Meantime, Rob Marciano is at the Weather Center. He is in at Atlanta this morning checking on extreme weather across the country. Had some rain up and down the East Coast yesterday. Rob, how's it looking today?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's just a little preview of a couple of storms that roll up the East Coast here over the next couple of days. Good morning, guys. Looking at this, this storm here, which was a bunch of energy that came out of the four corners dumping some snow in parts of West Texas and New Mexico, and it's really going to tap some moisture into the Gulf of Mexico.
We could see some severe weather ahead of it. We certainly will see some wind from, say, Mobile, Alabama, all the way up to the metropolises or metropoli of New York and D.C. over the next two days. Look at this rain begin to fill in from Brownsville, Corpus Christi, New Orleans, and Houston; we will see this rain increase and move North and East toward, and flood watches have been posted for the Northeastern Gulf states and Southern Alabama and through Southern Georgia as well.
These will likely be extended, three to six, maybe more inches of rain than that as the storm gets itself together. A little bit of cold air coming in behind the storm that moves through the New York City area yesterday; just a little bit of lake-effect snow from Buffalo East toward Syracuse, Utica and Ithaca. I think we'll see lake-effect snow bands shape up later in the week as well. We're getting into that time of year.
Wind in New York, Boston and D.C., might see some delays there. Cleveland and Detroit also some wind but Dallas, Houston and New Orleans, those are the main focal points for seeing more intense rain and likely more significant delays. Fifty-nine degrees in Memphis; it will be 49 degrees, not a bad looking fall day in New York City. John, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much for that. We'll see you again soon.
CHETRY: The Seattle police say that he gunned down four of their own fellow officers in cold blood Sunday morning. A manhunt has continued for this suspect. Now we're getting word from the associated press and other news reports out of Seattle that the suspect has been killed. We're going to get more details on what exactly is going on with this situation. We're going to be talking with the spokesperson for Pierce County Sheriff's Department coming up in just a moment.
ROBERTS: And Robert Gibbs, the Press Secretary for President Obama, will be joining us in about 20 minutes' time, so make sure you stay around for that. The President's big speech tonight. What will he say in terms of new troop deployments to Afghanistan. Stay with us for that. It's eight minutes now at the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: The breaking news this morning, after being on the run for a couple of days after gunning down four police officers, Maurice Clemmons was shot dead early this morning in a Seattle suburb. Police finally have their man.
CHETRY: That's right, and we're joined now on the telephone by Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman, Ed Troyer, who has more details for us this morning. Thanks for being with us.
ED TROYER, DETECTIVE, PIERCE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT. (voice-over): Yes, thank you.
CHETRY: Tell us with a happened. I know this was a long manhunt for you guys.
TROYER: Well, we've been doing some operations from different places throughout Western Washington, (UNINTELIGGIBLE) the Seattle Police Department watching some locations for us, and they came in contact with the suspect about an hour ago, and when they came in contact the suspect, shots were fired, and the suspect was shot and killed.
CHETRY: Do you know if the suspect, Maurice Clemmons, was still armed at the time? I mean, was there an exchange of gunfire.
TROYER: Hello?
CHETRY: Hi, are you able to hear me?
TROYER: Yes, your audio is cutting out.
CHETRY: Sorry. Let me repeat the question for you. I know we have a phone connection so it might be hard. Do you know if there was an exchange of gunfire? Was this suspect, Maurice Clemmons, still armed?
TROYER: That information will have to come from the Seattle Police Department. We are about to arrive at the scene, and we're going to have a press conference in about 30 minutes. When we get there, I will -- we'll have more information, and we'll be able to get it to you.
CHETRY: I got you. All right, so we do know now that the suspect is dead. Earlier, over the past few days, there were some questions as to his condition. I understand he...
TROYER: That is correct. We cannot confirm that the suspect is deceased with the Seattle Police Department.
CHETRY: You, as Pierce County, cannot confirm that, but Seattle police are telling you that they shot him and killed him?
TROYER: Correct. The Seattle Police Department is the agency that shot and killed him after when the incident occurred. We had supplied information to them earlier on multiple locations where the suspect could possibly be at, along with a bunch of other police agencies that were running multiple operations, and at this point, we do have the suspect. He's no longer out there, and we'll have further details soon.
CHETRY: All right. Well, then we will let you go. I know, as you said, you're on your way to that press conference right now, and we will, of course, take it live if we have the capability to do that when you guys are able to give us more information.
TROYER: Thank you.
CHETRY: Ed Troyer with Pierce County Sheriff's Department. They were leading this at some point. Again, they were sharing information obviously with the Seattle Police Department. Seattle Police Department is saying, yes, they did shoot and kill the suspect who has been on the run since Sunday morning.
ROBERTS: Yes, so that clears up what we were unclear about this morning, whether or not it was the gunshot wound that he sustained on Sunday when one of the officers fired back or if this was a new encounter, so the latest on that, and we'll check with the Seattle Police Department as well to see what they have to say about all of this.
President Obama unveiling a ew plan for Afghanistan. We're going to talk about it with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, so all that and more ahead in just 90 seconds. Stay with us. Three minutes now in the top of the hour.
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