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American Morning
The Case Against Casey Anthony; What to Expect from Obama's Speech Chicago Storms; Hockey Rioters Charged; Obama to Announce Afghan Drawdown; Sectarian Riots Rock Northern Ireland; "Beautiful People" Site Hacked
Aired June 22, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Setting the course for ending the war. President Obama's Afghanistan decision. We now know how many troops will be coming home and how fast on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you. It is Wednesday, June 22nd. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Carol Costello. Ali and Christine have the day off.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We start with decision day. President Obama will speak to the nation tonight in primetime about the way forward in Afghanistan. A Congressional source is now telling us that he will announce plans to pull out 30,000 troops by the end of 2012, 10,000 starting this year, and then, another 20,000 next year.
COSTELLO: But, there is a but attached, the source says the timeframe may be too tight for Defense Secretary Gates and his top general who have pushed for an initial draw down of between 3,000 and 5,000 troops this year.
CHETRY: Right now, we're going to bring in our White House correspondent, Dan Lothian. Also with us here in New York is our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. So, Dan, let's start with you. When we talk about pulling back the curtain behind this decision- making process, how did the president come up with a number of troops that he did? Because, clearly, he was facing competing interests on both sides.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He really was, and White House aides say that the president consulted with senior members of his national security team for weeks. He was mindful, as one aide put it, of the cost of this conflict, understanding that the U.S. does not have an unlimited amount of resources.
He also looked at the killing of Osama bin Laden as sort of a broader success in this region. But really this goes back to 2009 when the president laid out the mission for Afghanistan, laid out that timeline, and said that conditions would be -- would dictate the decisions going forward.
And so while everyone here will admit that there's still work to be done on the ground in Afghanistan they believe progress has been made in going after Al Qaeda and reversing the momentum of the Taliban and in stabilizing the government of Afghanistan.
COSTELLO: Wow. There is some sense among some that president Obama is doing this in part to get re-elected and that's how he's making his decision and I want to pose this question to you, Barbara Starr, because his generals are saying, wait a minute, too many men to pull out of Afghanistan right now. We should reduce that number. Why are you pulling out so many? How did this decision get made and are on the generals -- can the general live with the president's decision?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the job of U.S. generals in the military is to live with the president's decision. He is the commander in chief so they will salute smartly and carry on.
I think military commanders are always a little bit more cautious than the political side of the House. I don't think it's a huge surprise, but they know that the president is facing -- I mean General Petraeus himself has spoken about this, so has Secretary Gates. The president is facing political pressure to ratchet down in Afghanistan, isn't he?
So the idea here is to have a politically credible withdraw. Gates has talked about that, enough to make it seem like real withdraw is underway, we're really pulling back, getting the troops home. Not so much that you would risk the security gains that have already been made. Really fine line to walk.
CHETRY: So a lot of the focus has been, oh, you know, the generals don't want him to pull out this many people. When you take a look at the general response that even we've gotten from our e-mailers and that a lot of other people think it's wait a minute, we still have 70,000 plus troops there. I mean, technically, it's not that -- we're calling it a withdraw, calling it a drawdown, but there are so many more troops still there.
STARR: That's it, isn't it? This is really only the -- only I say -- the withdraw of the 30,000 surge forces that were some 18 months ago. This, perhaps, is just the beginning of the beginning if you will. Still when it's all said and done, there will be another 70,000 or there so left, twice as many as when president Obama came into office. The end goal at the end of all of this is 2014 when most U.S. troops are supposed to be out of Afghanistan. But, of course, even then does anybody think they'll all be gone?
COSTELLO: When American voters hear that, many of them, makes them angry. I want to pose this question to Dan Lothian, the president is going to say something tonight but the American people think spending money in Afghanistan is not a good deal right now. Why are we spending so much money to repair Afghanistan's infrastructure when our own is crumbling and people don't have jobs?
LOTHIAN: When you talk to aides here they do understand how Americans feel about this. They see the polling numbers that Americans are tired of so much money being spent overseas in these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya, the involvement the U.S. is there with NATO.
Ultimately you saw a preview of this yesterday during the briefing with jay carney, when he said listen, there's a reason why the U.S. is in Afghanistan. And you'll hear this narrative from the president tonight, where he'll spell out that we are there because of the threat that is posed to the U.S., taking Americans back to 9/11, and almost 3,000 Americans killed during that attack. And so that will be sort of how the president will frame this. We are there for a reason, because it was a threat against the United States and the U.S. is going after that threat.
COSTELLO: It will be interesting to see what the president actually says about this and how he can calm the American people, because they need calming right now, frankly. Thank you, Dan, thank you, Barbara, appreciate you being here this morning.
CHETRY: A reminder, the president speaks on Afghanistan tonight from the White House. CNN will have live coverage. It all starts at 8:00 eastern time tonight.
We want to hear from you. Our question of the day this morning -- what do you want to hear from the president tonight? Send us an e- mail, a tweet, or tell us on Facebook. We will read your thoughts a little bit later in the hour. We've gotten some comments already, and pretty spicy.
COSTELLO: Yes, they are.
A new poll is showing that the president's bin Laden bounce is pretty much over. A new Gallup poll showing his approval rating suffered a four-point drop in a few days, down to 45 percent, 48 percent disapprove of the job the president is doing.
A couple more hiccups for Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. His spokesman confirms the former House Speaker had a second line of credit for up to $1 million at Tiffany's. He's insisting all of Gingrich's debts paid and account closed.
In the meantime Gingrich said his campaign for the White House will continue even though two more members of his team have resigned. Gingrich's two top fundraisers stepped down less than two weeks after 16 other staffers quit.
CHETRY: There was a big announcement, of course, yesterday, Jon Huntsman jumping in the fray to be president in 2012. Check out the press pass given to media members covering the campaign. The candidate's first name is misspelled not on that part, but when you go down, Huntsman. There's an "h" in the game. They tried to round up the credentials and correct them but it was too late.
We will be talking to Jon, without an "h," Huntsman, about more substantive issues when the Utah governor joins us live at 8:30 eastern. Some have said he is President Obama's worst nightmare if he makes it to -- past the primary and into the general election. Yet he still remains largely unknown by many people, polling about one percent in our poll. We're going to find out more about him, what his positions are on some of these key topics like the debt ceiling, like Afghanistan, like same-sex marriage and others.
COSTELLO: We thought it was a plus working for president Obama because he was President Obama's ambassador to China. That will be interesting too.
On another topic this morning, we're learning about a frightening close call at JFK international airport here in New York reportedly happened Monday night. According to the "New York Post," a jumbo jet carrying 286 passengers was speeding down runway 22R when an Egyptian airplane made a wrong turn and ended up on the same runway.
CHETRY: An air traffic controller realized what was about to happen, thank goodness, and ordered the jet to slam on the brakes. The quote was "Cancel takeoff, cancel takeoff plans."
COSTELLO: Still no word on how close those two planes came to colliding, but one official telling the "Post," quote, "It was close." The jet's brakes were checked because they became dangerously hot but the plane departed safely an hour and 40 minutes later.
CHETRY: It was a wrong turn by the Egypt airplane they're saying, a wrong turn ending up on the same runway. I mean --
COSTELLO: I think a lot of that stuff happens and we don't hear about it.
CHETRY: Much more often than we think. You're right.
California's budget crisis getting a bit personal. The state's controller, John Chiang saying because of a proposition passed last year lawmakers won't see a paycheck of their own until they pass a balanced budget for the state. And as you can imagine, some lawmakers are fired up about finding out they say they've been working hard and no longer getting paid for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think it's very difficult to go back home and tell people we've been working 18 hours a day, passed two budgets and, one guy has said that they don't meet his satisfaction so he's not going to pay us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: One guy he's referring to is Governor Brown. He vetoed what lawmakers called a balanced budget they submitted last week, saying that numbers simply don't add up.
COSTELLO: Wildfires have scorched more than 2,100 square miles in 12 states. That would be 1.4 million acres. In Texas, northwest of Houston, one fire has destroyed dozens of homes and 4,000 acres of land. Fire caused by homeowners grilling.
The sheriff of a county in Arizona, say drug smugglers from Mexico may have started a wildfire that has destroyed dozens of homes in his state north of the U.S./Mexico border. Those comments support statements by Senator John McCain, who took heat for suggesting last weekend that illegal immigrants could be to blame for some of his state's fires.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: I'm still puzzled by that. The fire service testified before Congress in 2006 that was the case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fact that these immigration groups came out and talked about, you know, remarks that were over the top?
MCCAIN: You know, I just -- all I can say is the facts are stubborn things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The sheriff says the fire in his county was caused by man and started in an area that's known to police for its high intensity drug and human trafficking.
CHETRY: Critics are calling a tough new immigration bill in South Carolina legalized profiling, but the governor says she's going to sign it into law.
COSTELLO: That's going to happen today or tomorrow we think. Ines Ferre joins us with that story. Is this the same as Arizona's controversial law?
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a similar law. The ACLU is very worried about it, and they are already promising to file a lawsuit to block this bill from becoming law. The measure would allow South Carolina officials the right to revoke the business license of any employer who knowingly hires unauthorized immigrants.
The bill also requires police to check the immigration status of any individual they suspect is in the country illegally. Some this morning are calling that legalized profiling. Governor Nikki Haley has confirmed she'll sign the Bill into law. She's been critical of federal officials accusing them of preventing South Carolina from enforcing its current anti-illegal immigration laws by denying the state access to electronic records used to verify a person's citizenship.
If the bill becomes law, anyone stopped by police even, for example, for a minor traffic violation, would be subjected to an immigration check if the officer suspects they may be in the country illegally. Arizona, Utah, Indiana, Georgia, Alabama, even North Carolina with a milder law, being targeted now by civil rights groups because of similar anti-immigration laws.
COSTELLO: I was going to say, when is the lawsuit going to be filed?
FERRE: They are all on it right now.
CHETRY: In the meantime are law enforcement putting it into practice? Even though this could be in courts?
FERRE: Many of these are in court right now and it just is a matter of time to see how they play out. Most people expect, for example, Arizona's SB-1070 to eventually hit the Supreme Court. CHETRY: Currently are they actually conducting these checks?
FERRE: No. Some of these are already -- they are -- no. They are in court right now, being blocked by federal judges but they are in court of appeals as well. They're trying to right now, determine what to do with this, even Georgia's recent one as well.
CHETRY: Right.
FERRE: Next one to look out for is Texas also has a bill that they say will be passing in the House soon that's blocking sanctuary cities in Texas.
CHETRY: Thanks so much.
Ahead on "American Morning," the sky is turning black over the college world series. Scary moments for the fans who were told, get out as severe weather rolled in.
COSTELLO: They were running too, weren't they?
Spirit Airlines, which charges you for a carryon, is about to hit passengers with another fee. Bet you can't guess what it is. We'll tell you after the break.
CHETRY: Prosecutors in the Casey Anthony murder trial are now investigating a woman who spent time in jail with the defendant. They want to know if Casey Anthony may have gotten her story on what happened to Caylee from her. It's 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
A dark and stormy night across the Midwest. The severe weather prompting tornado warnings as it moved through the Chicago area. More than 300,000 people still without power this morning. Crews are working to get the lights back on, but officials say it could take days to return service to all customers.
CHETRY: And that stormy weather also left passengers stranded at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. More than 300 flights were canceled at O'Hare. Seventy-five mile an hour winds had airport officials telling people stuck in airport terminals: "stay away from the windows in there."
This morning, though, no weather delays at O'Hare, at least so far.
But there were some scary moments at the College World Series. This was in Omaha, Nebraska, after powerful tornadoes and thunderstorms rolled through the area. Winds were hitting 70 miles per hour in Omaha and the skies started turning pitch-black. Well, that's when sirens went off and fans were literally running to escape the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, coming here for 30 years, the first time that I've seen something other than a warning occur. This is 75-mile- an-hour gusts of wind or more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were on Tenth Street and the police officer came up and said, hey, out of your car and into the Qwest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wind started blowing hard. So, that kind of give a little indication it might be coming. So, it's better to get covered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People who are from here knew to go up. We started walking with the sirens going off and you just heard them going on the air saying that was a high wind advisory, which is why the sirens were going off and we were walking out. (END VIDEO CLIPS)
CHETRY: Interviewing them once safely at the Qwest Center -- I guess that's where they got sent for shelter. How about interviewing the poor guy standing there in the midst of the storm? So, why are you being asked to get the heck out?
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Just want to stop your run for a second and ask that.
Anyway, it ended up being -- the game resumed yesterday morning. So, it ended up being a 14-hour delay. And I know you were wondering who won. Florida topped Vanderbilt, 3-1.
COSTELLO: Yes.
Rob, actually, Rob Marciano is in Atlanta. It was nice to see people running for shelter instead of staying where they were when the sirens went off?
CHETRY: Right.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And, you know, we always talk about the folks in the Midwest and tornado alley, how tough they are and how they know what to do. You may be tough and may know what to do, but when it's coming you better move quick, that's for sure.
CHETRY: And they did.
MARCIANO: Good morning, guys.
So, that was two nights ago, that tornado warning. We showed you the video of the tornado that rolled through west of Omaha, west of Lincoln.
And that storms came through last night in Chicago, boy, they packed a punch. We had winds gusting over 80 miles an hour in parts of Illinois. O'Hare had 70-mile-an-hour winds. As we mentioned, hundreds of flights canceled. Thousands of people stranded there. Although a bit more calm today, but the low, the storm that produced all this action the past couple of day is not moving very quickly, slowly drifting into Canada and a wide circulation around this. So, we're going to look for a wide area that will see thunderstorms. Some of them will produce much needed rain.
San Antonio to Austin, heading towards Corpus Christi, this is -- this area is all in severe drought. So, they will take every drop and we've already received over an inch of rain in some of these spots. So, bring it on, Mother Nature. A little bit of flow coming on off the Gulf of Mexico, we haven't seen that in a while.
All right. New York City, you're going to see some thunderstorms this afternoon as that slow-moving storm moves east and we kick up the atmosphere throughout the day. Probably we'll over an hour delay there. Probably won't see hundreds of flights canceled like in Chicago, but it could get rough for a short time, D.C. metros as well, and Memphis.
And Houston looking at thunderstorms potentially. Actually, there's ground stop right now at Houston for the next hour because of the storms that are rolling through there, and continued very, very hot across the desert southwest. It could be the hottest weather of the season, 113 in Phoenix.
No critical fire danger, but the heat is certainly not helping. The winds out here will kick up over the next couple days. Hopefully, firefighters will do better today.
Guys, we'll toss it back to you.
COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Rob.
CHETRY: This story is making me mad already.
COSTELLO: She's angry, I can't control her.
CHETRY: You might want to think twice before renting big ticket items at Rent-A-Center because they're probably taking you for a ride. We're going to tell you about the interest rates.
COSTELLO: Insane! OK, I'm getting angry now.
CHETRY: See?
COSTELLO: Yes.
Our question of the day is also inspiring anger this morning. What do you want to hear from President Obama tonight when he makes this big speech at 8:00 p.m. Eastern? Send us an e-mail, a tweet, tell us on Facebook. We will read your comments throughout the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-three minutes past the hour right now. A look at your business headlines this morning. The Dow surged ahead of the confidence vote in the Greek parliament yesterday. All three major market indicators were up at the closing bell. A smaller than expected decline in existing home sales also pushed stocks up.
The Greek prime minister wins a critical vote of confidence in parliament. This moves the country further from debt default and closer to receiving a piece of the second bailout from the E.U. The next step will be more austerity measures. It also includes new taxes, as well as government job cuts which could eventually spur more protests.
In a rare press conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak in Washington today immediately following the Federal Reserve policy announcement on interest rates. Those rates are expected to remain unchanged.
If you shop at Rent-A-Center or other rent-to-own places, you could be paying as much as 311 percent interest for certain items. "Consumer Reports" did an investigation and they found that you may be better off buying big ticket items like flat screen TVs and other electronics instead of renting them. They found deals including a $600 computer that would cost nearly $1,900 after less than a year's worth of payments.
Low-cost carrier Spirit Air tacking on additional $5 fee for printing boarding passes by the airline's check-in agents instead of printing them out yourself at home, $5. The new fee which started Tuesday applies to all flights booked for travel on or after November 1st.
Don't forget. For the very latest news about your money, check out the all-new CNNMoney.com.
We're going to take a quick break. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: More twists and turns in the murder trial of Casey Anthony.
CHETRY: Actually resumed yesterday after that break --
COSTELLO: Yes, that was a plus.
CHETRY: Yes, because the judge was very angry the day before.
But the defense is trying to discredit forensic evidence against the suspected child killer. This picture you're looking at is something different actually. Prosecutors pulling a surprise move, unveiling a potential new witness who served jail time with the defendant.
COSTELLO: It's an interesting twist.
Joining us now, former federal prosecutor and truTV's "In Session" anchor Sunny Hostin. And, Sunny, so let's start with this woman who was an inmate in jail at the same time as Casey Anthony and supposedly -- according to prosecutors -- Casey Anthony heard this woman's story and said, wow, that sounds like a great story, I think I'll use that.
SUNNY HOSTIN, TRUTV, "IN SESSION": Or, could have heard it. I mean, interestingly enough, we've learned that this woman, April Whalen, was held in the same prison dorm from June 4th through June 8th of 2009 with Casey Anthony. Apparently, her little boy did drown in a pool and her grandfather -- the little boy's grandfather did find the boy.
And so, there is no direct connection right now between April Whalen and Casey Anthony, other than the fact that they were both in the same dorm. And we found out that the cell blocks aren't really soundproof.
So, April Whalen has mentioned she's never met Casey Anthony, but the prosecution has indicated that they're going to continue investigating for indirect connections because this would sort of dovetail with the prosecution's theory, right, that Casey Anthony gets little pieces of information and then fabricates a story, sort of like that usual suspect phenomena.
CHETRY: Well, let me -- just to we're clear, because we keep showing a mug shot of her, April Whalen, that's because that's what they have. That's a photo. She's not -- she's not in prison for -- they believe her son died accidentally drown.
HOSTIN: Exactly. She's not in prison for murdering her child.
CHETRY: But this is the other interesting thing. Headline news producer who had a chance to speak to her said she never spoke to Casey. She was only in jail for a few days, driving with a suspended license and she said she was a few cells down.
It seems to me the defense could easily poke holes in that, saying you're a few cells down and you claim you never have spoken to her, how could Casey make up this story based on this woman?
HOSTIN: That's right. And that's why the prosecution says they're still investigating it and they'll only use her if it becomes relevant. Now, we know the only way that really becomes relevant, right, is if Casey Anthony gets on the witness stand and testifies to this drowning.
I still say everybody sort of disagrees with me, at this point --
COSTELLO: You're alone on this.
HOSTIN: I'm alone on this. I think Casey Anthony still has to testify to prove up what Jose Baez said in his opening statement.
COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about the mistress, because in these types of cases, a mistress always seems to pop up, right? But this is supposedly George Anthony, Casey's stepfather?
HOSTIN: That's right. COSTELLO: Had a mistress.
HOSTIN: Her biological father.
COSTELLO: Had a mistress and --
HOSTIN: Well, she has come forward and talking about the fact that he said that this was a terrible accident and so she is on the witness list for the defense because, again, that sort of dovetails with the defense theory that this, indeed, was a tragic accident.
But that George Anthony knew about it and covered up Caylee's accidental drowning. I don't know if we'll see that come to play. I mean, it's sort of like the defense is jumping the shark at this point, right? People start to feel like it's going downhill.
CHETRY: I want to believe, before his daughter took the stand -- before his daughter's defense attorneys said he sexually abused her, which he vigorously denies and those around him deny or say didn't happen.
He could have said it was a terrible accident because he was trying to protect his daughter. I mean, if Caylee was killed by Casey it would have had to be an accident. You don't want to believe as a grandfather that your child could kill your grandchild.
HOSTIN: That evidence really hasn't been fleshed out to my liking, so I'm not quite sure how that's going to come into play.
COSTELLO: We'll see, maybe later today. Sunny Hostin, thanks as always for joining us. We appreciate it. It's 31 minutes past the hour. Time to check our top stories.
President Obama has promised to start bringing U.S. troops home from Afghanistan this year. Tonight in a prime time address, we'll find out when and how the president plans to do that.
CHETRY: Also heavy thunderstorms and rain pounding the Midwest. In Chicago, more than 300,000 customers are still in the dark this morning. Utility officials say it could take days for everyone to get their power back.
COSTELLO: Ugly. The first charges have now been filed against suspects in the Vancouver riots that followed the Canucks loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final. More than 100 people were arrested in connection with the rioting. Some were ousted on Facebook, YouTube and other social media.
CHETRY: President Obama is going to be speaking to the nation tonight, 8:00, about the future of Afghanistan and the congressional source telling us, here at CNN, that he will announce plans to pull out 10,000 troops this year and then another 20,000 troops by the end of 2012.
COSTELLO: When President Obama announced the troops surge back in late 2009, he set out a few goals so is Afghanistan stable enough to start bringing the troops home?
Joining us again is CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr and also Brett McGurk, a former special assistant to President Bush for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Welcome to both of you. OK, let's start with you, Barbara, because you reported that the generals on the ground aren't so happy about the number of troops the president plans to pull out of Afghanistan.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, it's not a surprise, generals are always a bit cautious as we've discussed, but I think what they were looking for ways to keep as much fire power, as much combat power on the ground through another fighting season.
Some of them have why reduce so much right now, we have time to go, keep the firepower on the ground and really deal the Taliban another blow so you really lessen their ability to come back and fight another day.
COSTELLO: They would be more comfortable with 3,000 to 5,000 troops being pulled out.
STARR: That's what we're hearing, you know, 3,000 to 5,000 heavy on getting those support forces out. The troops that are out there helping build roads and schools. Do you need them so much anymore? Get them out. Leave the rifles and the firepower on the ground.
CHETRY: You know, Brett, this could possibly be as much of a political calculation as a military one. The president's clearly in a tough spot.
All of our opinion research polling here showing 74 percent of people wants either all or some of the troops out. We're talking $1.3 trillion in this 10-year fight between Iraq and Afghanistan.
For many, it just doesn't seem good enough that he's pulling out 10,000 soon and 30,000 later. In your opinion, is that much of a difference going to be made between now and when more of these troops come home to say Afghanistan's a success or we're leaving it in a good place?
BRETT MCGURK, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT, IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN: Well, I think it's important to -- we're not leaving it. I think what the president will say tonight is that we're committed to a long-term strategy, but what we're doing now is not sustainable.
I think it's important to keep some things in mind. I think this is much ado about very little. It's been 18 months since Obama first announced the strategy, the surge strategy. Eighteen months after President Bush announced a surge in Iraq, the surge was over.
All the surge troops had already left Iraq. So you're talking now about the full surge in Afghanistan being in place for three years. I don't think he'll commit the commanders to a specific timeline for withdrawing the surge brigades over the course of next year.
So they'll have a lot of force in place over the fighting season and then even after that, you'll have nearly 70,000 troops in Afghanistan.
COSTELLO: But I guess, Brett, the bottom line is that I think the American people are tired of war. We're spending something like, what, $118 billion in Afghanistan which is -- which is a huge --
CHETRY: In 2011, that's what -
COSTELLO: In 2011, which is a huge increase over 2003, so when people look at Afghanistan, voters, and they see the unemployment rate in this country and they see that 14 million Americans don't want jobs, they don't really care about what happens in Afghanistan anymore.
MCGURK: Well, you know, that's certainly true. That's why the president needs to explain to the American people about why we need to stay committed. Not at the levels we're at now.
Barbara said some commanders won't be happy and that's certainly true, but only the president can balance the recommendations from the commanders on the ground, the recommendations from the Joint Chiefs of Staff who measure the overall readiness of the military forces, congressional pressure, domestic pressure and economic pressure.
And the key for the president is to get Afghanistan in place that the strategy is sustainable over the long term.
CHETRY: Let me bring Barbara in here. When you talk about sustainability, you look at Afghanistan, a country that's 80 percent illiterate. The economy is backwards by many accounts. The Afghan troops since we talked about since 2004, getting them trained hasn't necessarily worked. So when does it end?
STARR: Well, what the president will have to do and by all accounts will do tonight, is make the case about why U.S. troops are still there.
The case he will make is that Afghanistan poses a threat to -- to the United States if it again becomes a safe haven for the Taliban and al Qaeda with a - this very point with a weak government in that country, with people, perhaps, unable to look after their own security.
Could it become a Taliban and al Qaeda safe haven even more so than it is? Does that pose a direct threat to the United States? Of course the complication is, the whole security picture because now, it's not just Afghanistan, it's Pakistan, it's Yemen, it's Somalia.
CHETRY: Syria perhaps.
STARR: It's all these places where you have terrorism taking hold in countries where the governments are not able to fully control their own security picture.
Especially in Yemen right now. So it will be a very tough case to make. But that's the case he has to make if he's going to keep 70,000 troops there after the surge is over, why are they there.
COSTELLO: Barbara Starr, Brett McGurk, thanks for joining us. It will be fascinating to hear what the president has to say tonight and he speaks on Afghanistan tonight from the White House. CNN will have live coverage for you, starting at 8:00 Eastern. Be sure to tune in to CNN.
CHETRY: Still to come -- $2,400, free merchandise, food, beverages, it's still not enough. What fans who lost their seats, remember that whole drama at last year's Super Bowl? Well, they're asking for even more now.
Plus, new details into how fast "Jackass" star Ryan Dunn was traveling when he crashed, killing himself and another passenger. It's 37 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Violence again erupting in Northern Ireland. It's like a flashback in time, police clashing with rioters in Belfast for a second straight night of sectarian fighting.
CHETRY: CNN's Zain Verjee is live in London with details this morning. The pictures are really disturbing when you see what's going on there. What caused this flashpoint to erupt?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Let's show you some of those dramatic pictures. We've just got these in from our photographer on the ground in Belfast. Just take a look at this video.
I mean, it's been years of relative calm between Catholics and Protestants, but now as you can see from these pictures the tensions are up. What's causing it?
Well, you know, Kiran, this is generally a time of year between now and kind of the end of July. It's known as "Marching Season," where a group of Protestants known as Orangemen will march through a Catholic area and it does create tensions.
But this time, the main thinking is that there was some kind of a renegade commander who's been under pressure for an investigation, and he's kind of upped the ante and ordered this coordinated attack in a Catholic area.
And there's been a severe reaction to that and this has been the result. Seven hundred people out on the streets fighting each other, Molotov cocktails, bricks, fireworks and as you can see from these new pictures that we've gotten, this is the result.
COSTELLO: Unbelievable. Let's turn the corner and talk about something a lot less serious.
VERJEE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Popular website for beautiful people, infiltrated by ugly people, no.
VERJEE: I know! Can you believe that? What a scandal! Beautifulpeople.com is outraged because apparently there was this Shrek virus is what they're calling it and it let in 30,000 ugly people, they say, on to this website.
And, you know, it's got to be vetted by the other beautiful people on this site and so they were very upset about this and they kicked them out and the managing director, Greg Hodges, told "The Guardian" this, "we have to stick to our founding principles of only accepting beautiful people. We can't just sweep 30,000 ugly people under the carpet."
And how did they even realize guys that there was this virus? Well, he says they got suspicious when over only a six-week period all these people suddenly got accepted. He said many of whom, were no oil painting.
CHETRY: That's so mean. I love that they call the virus Shrek. OK, and they also said that they believe it was a former employee who implanted that virus on the system before they left.
Because, I mean, the way it usually works is members of the opposite sex have to approve the people because they feel if they let members of the same sex that there would be jealousy and people would deny people just because they didn't want competition.
VERJEE: Yes. That's true, but then the other thing they're doing not only that they get rid of these 30,000, they also got rid of an additional 5,000 existing members because over the years they put on weight and became less attractive and became ugly.
So out they went and 5.8 million people around the world, guys, were deemed too ugly and they were rejected. You know, I kind of feel strongly about this. I think that beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
COSTELLO: I agree with you, Zain.
CHETRY: She said "beer holder" just so everybody knows.
COSTELLO: Don't you agree with her? I think hackers should unite and do something about that site.
CHETRY: They've been uniting, having a lot of hacking problems with our personal information.
COSTELLO: They need to work on beautiful people.
CHETRY: You know what, get what you deserve. You want to find somebody on that site, you're going to have to live with them if you get together so good luck with that.
Hey, Zain, thanks so much.
VERJEE: Thanks, guys.
CHETRY: And you can watch Zain every morning 5:00 a.m. on "WORLD ONE" right here on CNN.
COSTELLO: OK. It is a cat with an identity crisis. Really. (VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's a cat that think she's a watchdog.
COSTELLO: Yes, she's not coughing up a hairball. She's actually barking at people walking by her home and keeping lookout from the window. But when she realizes she's busted by her owner with the camera --
CHETRY: Then she starts meowing. So, look. She's going to turn. Can you believe it or do you think -- I think it's fake.
COSTELLO: Wow. That's insane.
CHETRY: That's fake. Come on. They're getting a dog to bark and then she turns around to the camera --
COSTELLO: Watching that has actually changed my life. I'm just kidding.
CHETRY: It gave you something to think about, though, didn't it?
COSTELLO: It really did. I'm going to think about that all day.
CHETRY: Speaking of something to think about, we want to know what you want to hear from the president tonight. It's our question of the day. The president's set to address the nation on Afghanistan tonight. What do you want to hear from him?
Send us an e-mail, a tweet or tell us on Facebook. And we will be reading some of your thoughts in just a couple minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: A lot going on this morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
Tonight President Obama is expected to announce 30,000 U.S. troops will be leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2012. He's also expected to announce 10,000 troops will be withdrawn by the end of this year.
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann will formally announce her candidacy for president next Monday in Waterloo, Iowa. That's where the Minnesota Congresswoman was born.
Authorities in Pennsylvania say "Jackass" star Ryan Dunn was traveling at 130 miles per hour when he crashed his Porsche, killing himself and the passenger. Police still waiting for toxicology reports to come back to see if alcohol was involved.
Canada doing away with paper money. Starting this fall, new plastic $100 bills will replace paper notes. The new bills last two and a half times longer. Canada hopes to have all of its paper money replaced by plastic money by the end of 2013.
Jack in the Box becoming the first major food chain to stop putting toys in its kids' meals. The company says instead they're focusing on offering kids more nutritious offerings like grilled chicken strips.
And if you're in the market for a used car prepare to pay for more an older car with higher mileage. One reason, there's fewer late model cars out there since folks stopped leasing during the recession.
And Krispy Kreme known for its glazed doughnuts is going healthy. The doughnut chain will reportedly begin offering yogurt, oatmeal and fruit juice.
You're now caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING back in 60 seconds.
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CHETRY: Fifty-one minutes past the hour and this morning's AM House Call. There's been a of attention paid to concussions and pro athletes. And there's a new study out saying young athletes who suffer head injuries can risk death if they return into action too soon.
COSTELLO: Yes, because they always want to go back and play no matter whether they're hurt or not, which is a bad thing.
Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here with more on that.
That's a big problem.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. And some of it's a culture thing, because they watch professional athletes play, and, you know, the high school players, the younger players want to do the same thing.
The numbers have not gone down in the last 30 years in terms of younger players who are going out there, getting a second hit, a second concussion and having sudden death as a result of that. These are obviously very tragic stories but it's exactly the situation that you described. They got a concussion, kind of blew it off, went back out there, got a second hit and that caused a problem.
I want you to take a look at this picture, sort of, of what happens specifically in the brain. You know, you have this two players hit. Someone's already has had a concussion. What happens a second time around is that as opposed to just sort of the brain moving around, it starts to actually develop catastrophic swelling as you can sort of see there in that animation. And that's the real problem.
CHETRY: And so I guess part of the effort -- and you've talked about this before is A, having unified standards, you know, on the sidelines so it's not the players' decision and it's maybe even not the coaches' decision.
But, how do they figure it out?
GUPTA: That's right. I think it has to be an outside force because there is a lot of pride and, obviously, it's a very competitive sport, football and other sports, as well, I should mention.
CHETRY:
GUPTA: So it needs an outside governing force to say there must be a sideline exam, for example, and someone has to be cleared before they go back to play. And also the idea that someone's brain has to be able to rest in between.
See, the problem is someone doesn't need to be knocked out to have a concussion. The symptoms can be pretty vague and take a look at the symptoms specifically. And these are the questions that are sometimes asked on the sideline. Just simply if someone has a headache, if they feel any pressure on their head, for example, nausea, vomiting, balance problems, dizziness, vision problems.
For a football game they might ask questions like, do you remember who you played last week? Did you win or lose? If they can't answer questions like that, they need to be sitting outside for a bit.
COSTELLO: Isn't that a pretty severe concussion? I mean, aren't lesser concussions -- I mean, is it possible to have a concussion and not even know?
GUPTA: Oh, absolutely. There's no blood test, there's no scan. And even these sideline exams, I think you're eluding to, they're by no means perfect.
But, keep in mind, there are players who clearly were having, you know, vision problems, they were feeling dizzy, they had memory problems who were being allowed to go back in and play. And that's part of the concern.
That's starting to change incidentally at the professional level. Two things. This fall when you watch, you'll see sideline exams happening. Watch closely. Someone takes a hard hit, watch that player. They'll be on the sideline, a doctor will be checking their eyes and asking them questions.
Also, they're moving the kickoff line further forward. The kickoff returns are one of the most dangerous parts of the game. They want more of the balls to end up in the end zone and not have the kickoff return. It's a less exciting game, but possibly safer.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: But they're fining you for harder hits --
GUPTA: That's right.
CHETRY: -- and they're trying to do things to take the culture of those hard head hits out.
GUPTA: Yes.
LEMON: And, you know, it's terrifying to think for the young kids playing as well, because your brain is -- I mean, it's so much more vulnerable when you're young, right?
GUPTA: It is developing. It is more vulnerable. And it's -- you know, none of the protective gear. Even in all of that in aggregate can make you completely safe.
People talk about mouth guards potentially transmitting concussions it's because you don't have as much force from the chin to the lower mouth. Helmets obviously getting better. They're talking about generic testing to find you who's most susceptible to concussions. But none of that's going to make it perfect. So --
CHETRY: My kid's playing tennis. That's it.
COSTELLO: Oh, don't say that. I have a friend who is refusing to go let her kid play football.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Great to be here. Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Remember that, they will hate you for that.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: They've already been reimbursed for travel, hotel, meals and tickets. Now fans who lost their tickets during last year's Super Bowl in Dallas are asking for even more and they're doing that in court, They have now filed a lawsuit saying they should be compensated for lost income, too.
LEMON: Come on.
COSTELLO: I'm serious.
CHETRY: You had me at the free tickets and the flight and the hotel.
COSTELLO: Now, we're Americans. We want more.
Remember, the fans were moved after more than 1,200 temporary seats were declared unsafe just hours before the Packers played the Steelers. The league has already given them triple the face value of the tickets and a ticket to another Super Bowl but, you know, maybe you were going to be at work that day and you took the day off and you lost your wages and you went to the Super Bowl and that's lost income.
CHETRY: I know. And the chance that the Steelers are going to be back. I mean, I love the Steelers but I'm saying, you know, that can't just -- I mean, magic doesn't happen two years in a row.
COSTELLO: Exactly. It'll probably be the Ravens next year.
CHETRY: You wish.
Time for our question of the day. President Obama set to address the nation tonight in primetime on the future of the war in Afghanistan. There are more people here at home getting worried about the toll. All of the polling showing the majority of people want us out. And there's also the economic toll as well.
Our question of the day is: what do you want to hear from the president tonight?
Mike Waltz (ph) writes, "That my son, who is soon to be enlisted, will be able to serve stateside."
COSTELLO: This from Carol. "I would like to --"
I don't think this is from Carol. Is this from Carol?
CHETRY: No, it's from horsefly but Carol is supposed to read it.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Thank god Kiran is here or I couldn't make -- stop laughing, Sanjay.
This is from Horsefly. "I would like to hear him say we are withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan and putting them on the Mexican border."
CHETRY: And this one's from Kiran. Oh, not it's not. It's from MKelton19 (ph) on Twitter. " I want the truth, not another hollow promise bout troop withdrawal. We, the people, are sick of the politically sugar coated lies."
COSTELLO: And this from Daniel out of Facebook. "Out now, not next year. Out now!"
In fact, pretty much all of our comments --
CHETRY: We did search for people to say -- I mean, it's been overwhelmingly. But if you feel we should say and if you feel that this is a bad call, please write in, as well, because we haven't seen a lot of that.
COSTELLO: Yes.
CHETRY: All right. E-mail us, send us a Tweet, tell us on Facebook and we'll read more of your comments coming up in the 8:00 show.
We're going to take a break. AMERICAN MORNING's right back.
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