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American Morning

Iraq War Nearing End: Iran Gaining Influence as U.S. Troops Leave; Highlights of the Emmys; Designing Women; The Female Team That's Changing the Auto Industry Designing Women: Ford's Green Team of Female Engineers; More Floodwaters in Pakistan; The End of War in Iraq

Aired August 30, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning to you. Thanks so much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. It's the 30th of August, about to kiss month goodbye. Went by like that, didn't it?

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Summer, I mean, summer is over. It's already -- some kids are already in school.

ROBERTS: It's not "over" over officially yet. Quite. Almost.

CHETRY: Almost there.

ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts. Good morning to you.

CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. We have a lot to talk about this morning. Let's get right to it.

Rescue effort set to begin today to save those trapped Chilean miners. We're live at the mine with new details about the plan to get them out and one miner's message to his sweetheart, "Marry Me."

ROBERTS: Remnants of hurricane Danielle causing deadly rip currents up and down the East Coast and an even more powerful storm system right on its heels. And this one is going to come much closer to the eastern seaboard. Rob Marciano's tracking the extreme weather for us.

CHETRY: And America's combat role in Iraq officially comes to an end tomorrow. And as our troops draw down, the Iranian are moving in, creating a problem for the Pentagon. We'll get a Special report from Chris Lawrence embedded with U.S. troops along the Iraq-Iran board.

ROBERTS: But first developing news as we speak this morning regarding the 33 trapped Chilean miners. Rescuers right now are making final preparations to begin drilling the rescue shaft. It could take more than three months to reach the men who this morning are alive, living in a cramping sweltering space some 2,300 feet below the surface.

And as the rescue drags on, officials are lowering food, games, even MP3 players through small bore holes. They are the only way to reach these men and the only way for the miners to connect to the world above. Our Karl Penhaul is live for us this morning in Chile with the very latest. He's been following this for days now. Karl, what's the very latest on these miners this morning?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, through the fog there up on the hillside there, rescue operations are continuing around the clock. Today we're expecting the start of drilling to drill the rescue hole half a mile into the bowels of the earth to pull those men out. It is going to be a long, long operation and there has already been a delay.

The drilling was due to start this morning in the wee small hours, but that's not going to happen. We're waiting for a now power plant to attach to the drill to arrive from Germany.

Meanwhile, while that's going on, the miners have to be kept alive. Right now they're living their lives through a hole that big. Three bore holes. Everything that they receive has to go down to the earth through holes that big -- food, water, MP3 players, camp beds, and medicine that they need.

But also, key, letters, and yesterday for the first time the families had a chance to talk to their loved ones via phone line. One of the miners had a very special proposal for his girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENHAUL: Jessica And Esteban have been together 25 years, have three children and two grandchildren, but they never got married in church. Now in this dingy cabin, the miners are calling it "Refuge 33," Esteban has had time to think.

In a letter to Jessica, he proposed they have a full Catholic wedding. "Please keep praying that we get out of this alive. And when I do get out, we will buy you a dress and get married. Good-bye, Esteban Rojas."

Jessica of course said "yes." "I read what he had to say and it made me shout with happiness," she said.

On Sunday families had the first chance to speak one on one to their loved ones. It was mine's minister Lawrence Goldborne himself who dropped the phone line into the ground.

PENHAUL (on camera): This is what rescue workers are calling the umbilical cord. This is how they're keeping the miners, trapped 700 meters and 2,300 feet underground, alive.

PENHAUL (voice-over): A metal cylinder dubbed the "carrier pigeon" takes down food, water, clothes, letters, and now a phone line. Each relative had only about 20 seconds to speak.

"I was the last one to speak so I just grabbed the phone and didn't want to let go," she said. But in those few brief seconds, Esteban and Jessica found time to make some marriage plans. It's a love that's half a mile deep, that stretches from the desert above to the very bowels of the earth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Now before the family members spoke to those 33 miners down there buried underground, they were briefed by psychologists because the psychologists are saying to the families, please send them messages of support. Don't worry them with any money problems they may have up here on the surface. Don't worry them with family problems. Send them positive messages.

And that is really what the family have done. In terms of the additional support that these miners are getting, well, this week on Wednesday we are told the experts from NASA, the astronaut experts from NASA are on the way to give additional support to the Chilean government to help keep those men alive, John.

ROBERTS: Karl, they've got two drilling plans. Plan a, as they call it, which would be drilling the traditional larger bore hole down, then a plan b, using technology they'd typically employ in drilling holes for water. Which one of those are they more likely to use?

PENHAUL: Both plans, as we understand, may be conducted in parallel. The first plan to get off the ground is going to be plan a. That's to say some time today on a hill that is through the fog there, that first drill will start to go down. It will drill a six-inch hole first, then after that it will go down and drill a hole about 28 inches wide.

What does that mean to you and me? Well, that's about the size of a bicycle tire, and it's going to be big enough, they say, to bring the men out.

But in four or five days from now they may bring in this other drill, the plan b drill. That's normally used for drilling water wells. It is a bit faster. It will go in from a different angle.

The problem is it is an untried plan because the idea there is it will use one of the existing bore holes, one of the four-inch holes that's a pilot, it will drill down there once, twice, ever increasing the diameter of that hole. It could be quicker.

The original plan a says that the miners could be out within three to four months. If plan b works, technicians there say it could half the time, John.

ROBERTS: Karl Penhaul with the very latest for us this morning. Karl, thanks so much.

KURTZ: I just can't imagine what it would be like. Even though there is communication, to know that you could possibly be stuck in the same place underground for three to four months.

ROBERTS: I would think it would be difficult enough spending 12 hours underground like that let alone a week or potentially four months. You can't even get your head around it. CHETRY: Hopefully the operations will go smoothly, they'll be able to move that along a little bit. We'll keep you posted.

Also new this morning, BP engineers are set to begin work on the temporary cap on the damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico. They will do that to raise the blowout preventer which officials say is key to help determine what caused the gulf oil disaster.

ROBERTS: Former baseball star Roger Clemens has a date in federal court today. Clemens be arraigned this D.C. on six felony counts. He's accused of lying to Congress about using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens has steadfastly denied using either steroids or human growth hormone. He is expected to plead not guilty today.

CHETRY: Also bad weather being blamed for a massive pileup on a highway in Phoenix this weekend -- 69 vehicles involved over a two- mile stretch. It was Interstate 10. Police say a sudden rainstorm caught many drivers off-guard. Paramedics treated dozens of people at the scene. Seven were treated for serious injuries.

ROBERTS: Hurricane Danielle is moving out to sea but still causing dangerous and deadly rip currents along the east coast from New Jersey all the way south to Florida. Lifeguards rescued dozens of swimmers off the Florida coast. A surfer was killed in Cocoa Beach and a 20-year-old man is missing and presumed drowned in Ocean City, Maryland.

CHETRY: While hurricane Danielle is making it dangerous to swim, meanwhile, hurricane Earl could pose an even greater threat along the eastern seaboard.

(WEATHER BREAK)

ROBERTS: Designing women, only these ladies aren't working in an interior design firm or fashion. They're helping to create cars of the future.

CHETRY: Also, American combat forces set to leave Iraq, as we know. Well, Iran is looking to gain some leverage off of the troop withdrawal. Chris Lawrence is embedded with U.S. troops near the Iran-Iraq border where there is a battle right now for the hearts and minds of the Iraqis people. It's ten minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's 13 minutes now after the hour. We're back with the Most News in the Morning.

America's military combat mission in Iraq officially concludes tomorrow night after seven grueling years. By the end of 2011, all of our troops have to be out of Iraq. But before that happening, there is a lot of work to do, especially along the border with Iran.

CHETRY: And our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence has been embedded with U.S. soldiers living along that border in Camp Adder, Iraq, where the growing presence of the Iranians is a growing concern for America.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, we just got back from the border, and while you can clearly see the U.S. and Iraqi forces working together, it is a wake-up call to see how much influence Iran already has and how much more their getting every day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Now the clock is really ticking on American troops in Iraq -- 18 months to beef up Iraq's border patrol before all U.S. forces plan to leave. Then what?

LAWRENCE (on camera): How big of an influence does Iran have in what goes on here?

LT. COL. JOHN HOWERTON, DAKAR PROVINCE: Well, I think it is huge. Iran didn't sign a security agreement like we did. Iran doesn't have a responsible draw-down of forces like we do. Iran doesn't have a timetable to be out when we do.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Out to the tarmac, then on-board the Blackhawk, we fly all the way out to Iraq's border with Iran, a small amount of troops man the rugged outpost.

STAFF SGT. ADAM STEFFENS, THIRD BRIGADE, FOURTH INFANTRY: You have to pay attention to the fact we have a mildly aggressive nation next door, a nation that has interest here.

LAWRENCE: So soldiers have to be extremely careful they don't cross the dividing line, which doesn't divide much at all. For years people have lived on top of what's now an arbitrary line between Iraq and Iran.

FIRST LT. WILL SWEARINGEN, 4-10 CAVALRY: It's a difficult situation because you have villages who have family ties, tribal ties in both countries.

LAWRENCE: Just a few years ago, parts of the border were wide open and completely unprotected. Iraqi militants, backed by Iranian money, controlled a lot of what came in to the country. Now there are numerous stations like this one where Iraqi officials keep an eye on their own border.

(voice-over): The Department of Border Enforcement is better, but the border itself -- too big. It stretches for 1,500 kilometers, nearly 1,000 miles and U.S. commanders accuse Iran of using Iraqi truck drivers to smuggle weapons to militants.

(on camera): The thing is, everything is connected. Iran's influence may start at the border, but it spreads deep into the provinces and cities like here in Nasiriyah (ph).

(voice-over): And that's where Iran is buying even more influence. Iran is giving water and electricity to Iraqi families whose own government can't keep the power on. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as they continue to accept that, they're not producing it themselves so it becomes an economic battle as well as a military battle.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Neither of which is one where American troops can engage their rival.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, we can't fight our own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Yes, there's no Iranian troops here and obviously no war between the two countries. Now the U.S. military has no control over whether the Iraqi government provides basic services, so they're concentrating on building up the border patrol and encouraging them to build better relationships with the people that live here -- John, Kiran.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Chris Lawrence for us this morning. Chris, thanks so much.

At 7:40 Eastern, we're going to get some perspective on Iraq from two men who served there. Brian Feldmayer, who did two tours including one as a tank platoon leader, and John Allegra, who served two tours with the Connecticut National Guard and got back home from his second tour just last Wednesday.

And President Obama plans to deliver a major address on Iraq from the Oval Office tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. You can watch it live right here on CNN.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, coming up, a study about the happiness gap between African-Americans and whites. It's actually shrinking over the past several decades. There's new research showing the change has been quite dramatic, but it's not the same based on where you're coming from, where you might be living and what your life might be like right now. We're going to take a look at what's behind the cultural shift.

Also, was (ph) the new kids on the block who scored big at this year's Emmy Awards? We've got the complete list of the winners and the must- see moments from last night.

Seventeen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Well, forget the repeats, it was all about the newcomers at this year's Emmy Awards.

CHETRY: Yes, it was one fresh face after another at the prime time Emmys claiming their gold. And our Brooke Anderson has a rundown of all of the winners plus some of the must-see moments that you might have missed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED DANSON, PRESENTER: And the Emmy goes to "Modern Family."

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Emmys are sometimes accused of going stale, but this time around the results were modernized.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're so happy that you have let us into your families.

ANDERSON: "Modern Family" led a parade of first-time winners at the ceremony, earning Best Comedy over "Glee," another newcomer to the category. The ABC sitcom won half-a-dozen Emmys all together including one for supporting actor Eric Stonestreet.

ERIC STONESTREET, EMMY WINNER: This is really incredible.

TOM SELLECK, ACTOR: "Mad Men."

ANDERSON: There was no modernizing on the drama side. Emmy voters looked back to the '60s again awarding Best Drama to the retro series "Mad Men" for the third year in a row.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next time just have one meeting.

ANDERSON (on camera): This is what it's all about at the Emmys, winning one of these things, although the actual award is slightly smaller. But check out those prongs. It's been called the most dangerous trophy in entertainment.

JANE LYNCH, EMMY WINNER: This is rather dangerous but it's solid gold.

JIM PARSONS, EMMY WINNER: It's not dulled. I mean, it's really not. These are very sharp. Threatening.

ANDERSON (voice-over): "The Big Bang Theory"'s Jim Parsons joined the array of fresh-faced winners. His came for Best Actor in a Comedy. "Glee's Jane Lynch won her first Emmy, too, for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. The openly gay actress acknowledged her family from the stage.

LYNCH: I love you, my wife Laura, and my little girl Hayden.

ANDERSON: Emmy host Jimmy Fallon kept the audience entertained with a variety of musical numbers. And he made a sly allusion to Conan O'Brien's firing as host of the tonight show.

JIMMY FALLON, EMMY HOST: NBC asking the host of "Late Night" to come to Los Angeles to host a different show. What can possibly go wrong?

ANDERSON: Presenter Ricky Gervais made a crack about an absent star.

RICKY GERVAIS, PRESENTER: Mel Gibson. Come on. No, come on. I'm not going to go at him. He's been through a lot. Not as much as the Jews -- to be fair. ANDERSON: The late summer party set the stage for the new fall season which begins in just a few weeks.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: Jimmy Fallon had a great run as a host. He had a great opening number. He was singing "Born to Run," Bruce Springsteen. It was cool.

ROBERTS: Looks like it was a great show. I'm sorry I missed it. Maybe next year.

CHETRY: I'm sorry I missed all the shows everybody loves, like "Mad Men."

ROBERTS: We have to go to sleep so early at night, you can't watch these things. But, they do have DVR. So --

CHETRY: Thank goodness.

Well, a shift in power is under way in an industry typically left to men. Our Carol Costello introduces us to a team of women creating the cars of the future. It's an "A.M. Original," "Making It in a Man's World." It's coming next.

Twenty-four minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. Your top stories a few minutes away. First though, an "A.M. Original." It's something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.

The auto industry has traditionally been dominated by men.

ROBERTS: But women are now making their mark. For example, at Ford, a green team of all women are designing the next generation of eco- friendly cars.

Our Carol Costello is live this morning with the first part in her series "Making It in a Man's World." And when it comes to designing cars, women have a lot of great ideas.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They certainly do. And we are everywhere, I might add. The title of our series "Making it in a Man's World," I'm not sure that fits any longer. Women outnumber men in the workforce. We've already made it, but there are a few professions out there where there are few women. But at Ford, those few women are not only making their mark, they're ahead of their time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBBIE MIELEWSKI, TECHNICAL LEADER, PLASTICS RESEARCH: Here I am sitting in front of an electron spin resonance spectrometer. COSTELLO (voice-over): Debbie Mielewski remembers what it was like being one of the first female chemical engineers at Ford Motor Company 24 years ago.

MIELEWSKI: They would guard the male -- the men's restroom for me so I could run in there and go and not have to make the hike across the building to the women's restroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the sides of the seats?

COSTELLO: Mielewski no longer needs to sneak into the men's room. Today, she leads a team of women, all engineers designing cars of the future using green technology, recyclable and renewable materials, like wheat straw and soy.

MIELEWSKI: My group went from working with all men to, in this case, working with all women. So it has been a big change.

COSTELLO (on camera): Was it difficult at times?

MIELEWSKI: At times. I remember sometimes in the past where I was the only woman in a meeting and I would have an idea and maybe everybody would ignore that idea. And then a man would say that idea and they would call him doctor, even though I had my Ph.D. as well.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Today when it comes to women in the automotive manufacturing industry, still only one in four workers are female. And just over one in 10 auto executives are women.

(on camera): Why don't more women gravitate to this field, do you think?

ANGELA HARRIS, ENGINEER, PLASTICS RESEARCH: I think it's not just -- it's just not a traditional career path. And you have to really kind of seek it out when you're a woman. It's not like engineering really gets presented to you at the high school levels.

ELLEN LEE, TECHNICAL EXPERT, PLASTICS RESEARCH: I think things are starting to come around in education, but it takes a while, you know, for all of the women to go through their education and then filter in. So it doesn't change overnight.

COSTELLO: What do you bring to the field that maybe men don't, do you think?

MIELEWSKI: I think we're really persistent. We're really passionate about it. Everybody here feels that we have to leave a good legacy for our children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wow.

PATTI TIBBENHAM, TECHNICAL EXPERT, PLASTICS RESEARCH: We had a meeting a couple of weeks ago and a guy came in and he looked at our group and he said, do they only let women work here? And I said, no, only the smart ones. COSTELLO (voice-over): Between the five of them, the team has been awarded 10 prize patents. Even so, they can see they still have to toot their own horn.

LEE: I have noticed that when many men think something, some fact is true, they're maybe 50 percent sure, they say it with confidence and everyone believes them. A woman can be maybe 95 percent sure of something and she'll say, well, I think it's this. And so they may not tend to notice. So I really tried to change my ways and, you know, be more confident.

COSTELLO (on camera): How will you inspire the passion in your daughters for science and engineering?

LEE: I think to some extent we already have because we often have events here. You know, my daughters are very excited every time I mention maybe coming in to see the lab. They get all excited.

MIELWESKI: I think Ellen's daughters drew her this year on her Mother's Day card with a beaker and a little test tube in her hand. So they're catching on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I saw that. It was a very cute card. The one thing that really struck me came from Ellen Lee. She said men are confident even if they suspect their ideas half-baked. While women say, well, I think it will be OK. We have to get over that, ladies. Confidence is the number one secret to making it. John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: Confidence is key. No question about it.

CHETRY: Makes sense.

COSTELLO: That really struck me. How many times have you been in a meeting and there is a woman in the meeting who is very smart and you know she is brilliant, and she says, well, I think it will be OK. I've done this research and - instead of saying, I know this will be the thing to do.

CHETRY: Or sometimes, "well this may be a really stupid thing but," well, if you preface it that way, nobody's going to listen.

COSTELLO: Exactly. So confidence is key.

CHETRY: Thanks, Carol. I learned something today.

Well, coming up tomorrow, we're going to take a look at women in Wall Street. Talk about confidence, man. You have to have it to work here. Right now, there is not a single woman at the helm of a major financial institution. But, things are changing. That's tomorrow. "Making it in a Man's World."

ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour. It's time for this morning's top stories. Today crews hope to begin the process of grinding through 2,300 feet of rock to free those trapped Chilean miners. The rescue could take more than three months to so fight the boredom, crews are sending down mp3 players and films. They're also providing the miners with clothes, towels, even aluminum bed frames so they don't have to sleep on the hard rock mine floor.

CHETRY: Amazing.

Well, Hurricane Earl is right now in the Atlantic battering the Leeward Islands. It is a category 2 storm but growing more powerful. Forecasters warn that it could blow up into a category 4 storm soon. It is too soon to tell if the storm will make landfall along the East Coast but the outer bands of Earl could hit the Carolinas by Thursday.

ROBERTS: In just a few hours, former baseball star Roger Clemens will be arraigned in federal court in D.C.. Clemens faces six felony charges, including obstructing justice, making false statements and perjury concerning his alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. Clemens has denied using steroids or human growth hormone. He is expected to plead not guilty.

CHETRY: Well, with six million people already homeless, 1,600 dead, the worse may not be over in Pakistan. More flooding is coming and that has what one million Pakistanis on the move this morning.

ROBERTS: CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is live in the largest city of Karachi, Pakistan this morning. And you got to wonder, Sanjay, there's so many weeks into this now, how much more can people take?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They've already - so many of these people living on the edge to begin with very few resources to start. And then this flood really pushes so many people over the edge. It is hard to believe just how much flooding is still occurring more than one month into this. I saw some of this with my own eyes.

As you might imagine, getting aid to people in these situations, in these places becomes increasingly difficult. We went to a city where this is happening right now. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (on camera): Here's how it works. You see police vehicles like this actually coming through the streets, telling people to leave. They say that this particular area of this town of Bailah (ph), will be under water in the next several hours. Certainly by tomorrow. People are listening. This town would normally be bustling. Thousands of people milling around, shops open. None of that is happening now.

Most people actually are leaving like this. By foot in the hot sun walking for kilometers with no real idea of where exactly they're going or what they're going to find there. It is easy to see why they are leaving. We are literally surrounded by water and they are worried that that water is just going to get higher and higher so they're fleeing the floods with the thing, the priority, they value the most, their livestock and just starting to walk.

This is where so many of them ended up. They were just walking for kilometers and kilometers down that hot road looking for highland. Anything that could protect them from the floodwaters. Look at what their lives are like now. Thousands of people literally they have this little barrier here. It is so hot outside. Anything to try and keep themselves cool.

But this is the new normal life for lots of folks over here. This family, for example - he says about 15 miles, 10 kilometers. Then, with small children, they walk here again in this hot weather, very, very difficult. He's telling me they really haven't received any kind of help at all. They're saying they really have no food at all. All they have is this bag of sugar here which they use to make tea.

This is how it is. This is what's happening here in the middle of this evacuation. There's also been no water here they tell me for three days. In fact a woman died in this area from dehydration just last night.

There's no question that relief is slow coming here, but even as we're filming today at the camp, this Pakistani Army helicopter comes over and drops parcels of food. This is just one camp. There are thousands of camps like this. There are more than 20 million people displaced. One-fifth of this country is under water.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And I don't know, to your question, how this exactly gets fixed but I can tell you just how fast these floodwaters move. The town that you just saw there where I was reporting, they kept saying while we were there that by tomorrow this entire area is going to be flooded. That was pretty hard to believe.

But in fact we went there the next day. I don't know if you can see some of this video now. The same area that I'm now in a boat walking through water that is now 10 to 15 feet deep. That's the same area where I was the day before where it is dry. That just gives you an idea of just how much water is coming out of this particular river and just this entire area is getting flooded. It is remarkable. I've never seen anything quite like that before.

But again as a result people are evacuating, not sure where they're going, how far they're going to be going or if they're going to be getting aid. That's still happening right now.

ROBERTS: Sanjay, we've talk about this a lot with so much water and so many of the roadways and the bridges not passable, how are people getting aid? Are basic supplies being provided? Can they get deliveries out to people?

GUPTA: Well, a lot of it, you know, sometimes by aerial support as you saw there in the helicopters, and some of it in large tractors that can get over some of the water. But you know when I sat down to talk to the military here, they are convinced that the majority of people are getting aid. When we actually went to a lot of these camps, we would be there and see a lot of supplies, relief supplies, go right by us.

So it became a question for us that we've been investigating over the last couple of days, where exactly is the aid going. Some of it is here in country, some is even close to these relief camps. Where exactly is it going? And that's exactly what we're trying to answer. Hopefully we'll have answers for you by tomorrow. John.

ROBERTS: All right. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning in Karachi, Pakistan. Sanjay, thanks so much.

With the end of combat operations officially tomorrow, we're going to get some reflections from two Iraq war soldiers, veterans of the Iraq war as the combat mission comes to a close.

CHETRY: Also changes in how people describe their own happiness levels. There was once a wide gap between the way that African- Americans and whites describe their own personal happiness. Back in the '70s when they were first asked, some major changes. But you'll be interested to find out more information behind the numbers. We're going to be talking about that. Still ahead.

It's 38 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's 40 minutes after the hour.

By tomorrow afternoon, "Operation Iraqi Freedom" will officially become "Operation New Dawn." After seven bloody years, America's military mission in Iraq is ending. Nearly 50,000 remaining U.S. troops are ready to focus on training Iraq's security forces. We wanted to get a boots on the ground perspective of the handover.

We're joined this morning in Washington by Brian Feldmayer. He served two tours in Iraq, one as a tank platoon leader and here in our New York studio, Army Specialist John Allegra who also served two tours of duty with the Connecticut National Guard and returned from Iraq last Wednesday. John, welcome back and thank you for your service.

ARMY SPECIALIST JOHN ALLEGRA, CONNECTICUT NATIONAL GUARD: Thank you, sir.

ROBERTS: Must be great to be back.

ALLEGRA: Oh, absolutely. Words can't describe how I feel.

ROBERTS: So you were a combat engineer, building bridges, hunting down IEDs. What's your sense of the way things are there today and what do you think about the Iraqi forces? Are they able to take over the security?

ALLEGRA: Oh, absolutely, I definitely think they can do it. When I was there in 2007, the security forces we actually had to hold their hand and guide them through it and show it how it's done. Now they're definitely taking the initiative and getting the job done now.

ROBERTS: How much better is it now compared to the way that it was in 2007 when you were first there?

ALLEGRA: Well, when I was there in '07, we experienced a lot of attacks. We were under small arms fire and we had a lot of IED attacks. And this time around, I didn't experience that much at all.

ROBERTS: All right. Brian, the situation has improved obviously since the way it was in 2006 and 2007 but as U.S. troops pulled out last week, we saw some of these widespread attacks across the country. What's your sense of where we are with security now, the Iraqi military's ability to handle it? There are some people who believe that when the U.S. forces left as they did last week, combat forces at least, that Iraq would begin to fall apart. What's your take on that?

BRIAN FELDMAYER, U.S. ARMY: Right. Good morning, John. I think with the withdrawal of the combat troops and the recent uptick, the violence, as you mentioned, it is still in my opinion perhaps a little too early to overly assess how significant this is and the troops are remaining still in Iraq just under 50,000 soldiers are still there. As you know, advising and assisting Iraqi security forces and are still there and capable of helping secure violent areas, if necessary.

So I think we've seen violence in the past over the last seven years up tick and come back down and I think it is still early at this point to really overly read how significant these attacks have been.

ROBERTS: What's your sense, Brian, of the Iraqi forces capability, particularly the police forces in dealing with the violence?

FELDMAYER: Right. As my counterpart mentioned, from my first deployment in 2006 and the most recent one in 2009, it is a significant increase. As he said, had to hold the hands a lot and kind of lead the way. Whereas my last tour they were definitely leading the way more often, especially with the Iraqi army and the federal police in the city of Baghdad.

The police itself, I think, still has many issues from counterparts I've spoken with and my personal experience, but a lot of the actual combat operations are being conducted by the Army and the - and other Iraqi security forces, not so much the Iraqi police itself.

ROBERTS: You know, John, some of these attacks that we've seen have been directed at the military, military recruits, suicide bombers blowing themselves up in lineups outside as people try to get some jobs with the Iraqi military. What's your sense of what might be the effect on morale here? Will it chip away at the confidence that Iraqi forces are trying to build up or might this give them more impetus to crack down because they have proven themselves in the past to be capable of military force?

ALLEGRA: Right. I believe it will chip away a little bit but I feel as if the security forces definitely will prevail. They definitely showed that they have the power and ability to withstand whatever they get thrown at them.

ROBERTS: What gives you that sense of confidence?

ALLEGRA: When I was there and my first deployment in 2007, like I told you earlier I had to hold their hand throughout the entire process and towards the end they've actually done a very fine job and they were able to take care of themselves.

ROBERTS: So you've work side by side with these people>

ALLEGRA: Absolutely.

ROBERTS: And you think they're capable of doing this.

ALLEGRA: They sure are.

ROBERTS: Brian, in terms of the remaining 50,000 American forces, you say they are capable and able to, under the rules of engagement, go out there and conduct operations, a lot of counterterrorism operations potentially in the future for them, as well.

It's a new label on it that went from combat forces to advise and assist. but is it really that much of a change?

FELDMAYER: Right. I think the change is the priority of the effort of U.S. forces from combat operations to advise and assist. Certainly since we've been there and since the Iraqi forces have been stood up we've been advising and assisting, so that's no change. And it's just a shift of priorities from combat operations to that advise and assist operation.

Certainly as I mentioned, the troops there are certainly capable of going back to combat operations if the Iraqi government and our government deem that to be necessary. The brigades that are currently there have been there several times. Soldiers that have been there have been there multiple tours and are very familiar with the combat operations that have occurred in Iraq and can certainly, if need be, return to that type of operation.

ROBERTS: Well, let's hope that the need does not arise.

Brian Feldmayer and John Allegra, great to see you this morning. And again, John, welcome back. Thanks for your service.

ALLEGRA: Thank you, sir.

FELDMAYER: Thank you.

ROBERTS: President Obama plans to deliver a major address on Iraq tomorrow night from the Oval Office. That'll be tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, and of course, you can watch it live, right here live on CNN - Kiran.

CHETRY: John, thanks. Still ahead, warnings have been posted now for hurricane Earl, as well as 90-degree temperatures hitting parts of the Midwest, stretching all the way to the northeast. Rob Marciano's in the Extreme Weather Center tracking all of this for us.

We'll be right back.

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ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, once again. I'm Rob Marciano in CNN Severe Weather Center.

I've got the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center on hurricane Earl, it's strengthened now. Still a category 2 storm but on the verge of becoming a major hurricane, likely will do that today. The outer bands are getting close to Puerto Rico. It has winds of 110 miles per hour so we've come up five since the last advisory. And we'll update that graphically in the next hit. As far as where this thing is going, it's getting towards the U.S. So, the track, obviously, is of great concern, much more so than Danielle.

Here's the forecast track from the National Hurricane Center. We do expect it to make a bit of a northerly turn, but not before it becomes a category 3 or potentially a category 4 storm. And then the cone which indicates the margin of error on day four and five does bring in the U.S. coastline into consideration, as far as seeing a potential direct hit if not a sideswipe as we get towards Thursday, Friday, into Saturday. This is obviously what we're most concerned about, what it's going to do going forward. This front coming through will have some effect.

Meantime the East Coast is baking, once again today. If you do head to the beach, be careful. Dangerous rip currents still out there from hurricane Danielle. That's a quick check on weather.

AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.

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CHETRY: Six minutes until the top of the hour right now. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

There's been a significant development in research which tracks the changes in happiness levels by race since the 1970s. It's found that the gap between white and black people who said they were happy has actually declined by about 40 percent. Sound pretty good. But when you take a closer look, there is a lot more actually behind the numbers.

Joining us from Philadelphia, this morning, Wharton Business School professor Betsey Stevenson, a co-author of the study.

Thanks so much for joining us this morning, Betsey.

PROFESSOR BETSEY STEVENSON, WHARTON BUSINESS SCHOOL: My pleasure. CHETRY: So, first of all, explain why you embarked on the study.

STEVENSON: Well, we know that there were tremendous strides made with the civil rights movement, but actually what we've seen when it comes to looking at income data, is that it's been a little bit disappointing.

The black/white happiness gap in wages has really stagnated over the last 30 years. Black men still earn around 70 percent of what white men earn. And we wonder whether the fruits of the civil rights movement might lay elsewhere and other dimensions.

CHETRY: And so what you found when you take a look at the data -- and this is why you were referring to the civil rights movement -- mostly is it related to African-Americans, so you didn't include Hispanics or Asians in the study. But you're talking about the differences of people's subjective feeling, am I happy, do I feel happy, and you found the gap between the blacks and whites slunk 40 percent since the '70s.

Why do you think that is?

STEVENSON: Well, our job wasn't to figure out why but actually just to document the trend and to see where the trend was coming from.

The most striking fact is if you looked in the 1970s, let's imagine we took 10 blacks and 10 whites and we lined them up in terms of who was the richest, right? So guy number 10 being the richest and number 1 being the least well off, we found that the ninth richest black had about as much money as the guy around the seventh richest white. So we know that whites have more income than blacks.

But the startling thing was, the guy with -- the 90th percentile of the income distribution for blacks, so almost the richest black was only as happy as the guy at the bottom of the white income distribution, the 10th percentile of the white income distribution, so the number 1 guy in the ranking from 1 to 10. That's a big gap. And we're trying to figure out what explains why they were so much less happy even when we took account of differences like income and education.

What we found is that blacks became happier and those happiness gains did not come from income gains or education gains. They came from other dimensions harder to measure, perhaps due to a large reduction in discrimination that we also document.

CHETRY: So it's interesting when you take a look at it, you talk about the shrinking feeling of discrimination, hope for the future, other things like that you say are to quantify. But it's interesting when you look at the gender differences, the gains in happiness largest among black women.

STEVENSON: Yes. We see that the gains in happiness are largest among black women, both the absolute gain and the relative gain. The relative gain is largest both because black women because happier but also because white women became less happy over this period. CHETRY: Explain to that, as well, you talk about perhaps the feminist movement not necessarily keeping up with the civil rights movement when it came to those types of gains because white women found themselves less happy than they were in the '70s.

CHETRY: Well, it's difficult to understand why white women have become less happy.

The puzzling thing of the 1970s was the happiest group of people by far were white women. They were much happier than white men. They were much happier than black men or black women. And what we found is that white women became less happy, both absolutely relative to white men.

When we looked around the industrialized world, we found that women in general became less happy relative to men. We don't clearly see the pattern among blacks, but actually we can't rule the pattern out.

So why is it that women because less happy relative to men? Again, I think that's a bit of a puzzle but it's important to know that that trend is happening for women, regardless of whether they work or don't work, whether they're married or not married. So this isn't something we can easily chalk up and say this is a failure of the women's movement.

CHETRY: Very interesting. Sounds like another study in the works to figure that one out.

Professor Betsey Stevenson with the Wharton School of Business at UPenn. Thanks so much.

We're going to take a quick break. Your top stories coming your way in just a couple minutes.

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