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Rumsfeld to Testify Before House Committee in Tillman Probe; Dozens Killed in Baghdad Bombings; Mom in Suburban Dallas Kills Family, Then Kills Herself
Aired August 01, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Wednesday morning. It's August 1st and here's what's on the rundown.
Questioning the military's handling of Pat Tillman's friendly fire death. Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld expected to testify today.
HARRIS: Residents call it hell. Uncovering horrible secrets in one public housing project.
COLLINS: Plus, think before you drink. Alcohol companies may be changing labels. A better look at what's in the bottle in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And at the top this hour, questions over a friendly fire death. Looking for answers from the former defense secretary. Donald Rumsfeld testifying in the Pat Tillman investigation at a hearing that begins next hour.
Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr joins us live.
And Barbara, good morning to you.
We have Rumsfeld and General Abizaid agreeing to appear today. Unusual, it seems.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Very unusual, Tony. According to the committee, both men will be on Capitol Hill just about one hour from now, appearing before a House committee, answering questions about what they knew and when they knew it about the friendly fire death of Corporal Pat Tillman in Afghanistan in 2004.
It is listed that both men will testify. People who know them say they are expected to appear, that they want to talk about this, and that they want to put to rest any notion out in the public that there was any sort of cover-up about Corporal Tillman's death.
It has been a matter of great controversy. The Tillman family, of course, has been very upset about all of this for years. But there's a wrinkle here, Tony. We will see.
Lieutenant General Philip Kensinger, the three-star general who was censured yesterday over his role in all of this, he was subpoenaed apparently to testify. He's been out of town. He is expected to appear. We will see about an hour from now if he does, as well -- Tony.
ROBERTS: OK. Following it all for us, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Barbara, thank you.
And just another reminder for you. Live coverage of Donald Rumsfeld's testimony in the Pat Tillman investigation in the NEWSROOM. The hearing set to begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning.
COLLINS: More Americans' lives lost in Iraq. The signs for -- of hope for the Pentagon as July ended. Four more U.S. soldiers were killed. Three of them when a bomb exploded near their combat patrol in eastern Baghdad. The fourth killed by small arms fire.
The death toll for the month, 77. That is the lowest monthly total since November. The military hopes the recent troop buildup is making strides. Since the war began, 3,656 American troops have lost their lives in Iraq.
August off to a bloody start in Iraq. Dozens of people losing their lives today as bombs ripped through a gas station and a busy square.
CNN's Dan Rivers in the Iraqi capital for us this morning.
Dan, good morning to you.
DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
It's a terrible start to August here in Baghdad. Four car bombs now have exploded across the city at various points during the day. Let me walk through what happened.
At 10:30 this morning, the first bomb went off in Karrada, in central Baghdad, near an ice cream shop frequented by both Sunnis and Shiites. Fifteen people dead, 20 wounded.
Then, about an hour and a half later, at about midday, in Dura, in a Christian enclave in Dura, in southern Baghdad, another car bomb, another three people killed. And another five wounded.
Then, at 1:45, another car bomb in Mansour, in western Baghdad, where a fuel tanker rigged with explosives blew up near a petrol station. We actually heard it here. A huge, great thump. And the windows rattled in our office. You could see a huge plume of black smoke in the horizon.
Fifty people were killed in that one attack and 60 wounded. And then we've just been told about yet another car bomb, the fourth of the day in western Baghdad, leaving one dead and seven wounded in a commercial area.
So, 69 people killed so far in Baghdad in four separate car bombings -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Certainly a lot going on there this morning. We appreciate the report.
Dan Rivers, thanks so much.
HARRIS: President Bush's right hand man is speaking out about the administration's Iraq policies. It is not often Vice President Dick Cheney gives TV interviews, but he sat down with CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" to talk about a number of issues. Among them, the president's troop buildup in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have made progress on that front. We've also, obviously, with the surge that the president decided on last January, I think, made significant progress now in the course of the summer. The real test is whether or not the strategy that was put in place for this year will, in fact, produce the desired results.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The vice president sitting down with CNN's Larry King in Washington.
COLLINS: An upscale Texas neighborhood, a shocking crime. Police say a mom shot her family as they slept and then killed herself. Today, investigators are analyzing a suicide note found at the home in suburban Dallas.
More now more from Chris Hawes of affiliate WFAA.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was a great person and she was easy going. Just a sweet personality.
CHRIS HAWES, REPORTER, WFAA (voice over): A shy but protective big sister, 11-year-old Makala (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She just how a real innocence about her. A very sweet heart.
HAWES: A 7-year-old boy, Dylan (ph), who wanted to be just like his dad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'd sit out in the front yard and he'd hit golf balls, plastic golf balls from his yard to my yard, to his yard, to my yard. He would just do it for hours and hours and hours.
HAWES: And a father, Mike, who loved them all. BRIAN ADAMS, NEIGHBOR: As a matter of fact, they'd be celebrating their 20th anniversary wedding here I think -- actually, last Wednesday.
HAWES: Mike's anniversary gift to his wife, this family friend tells us, was to delay a business trip to spend time at home with the family.
ADAMS: I really have no answers as far as why something like this would happen. Why Andrea (ph) would take her husband and her children. And it's devastated us all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Michael Roberts' mother, along with one of the family's neighbors, found the bodies. Police say each victim suffered a single gunshot wound to the head.
HARRIS: Persistence pays off for media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He sealed a deal to buy "Wall Street Journal" publisher Dow Jones & Company. Word overnight of the board of Murdoch's News Corp approving a $5 billion deal.
Murdoch has wanted The Journal for years. Negotiations have been intense over the past three months. The Bancroft family, who control the paper for more than 100 years, initially rejected the Murdoch's offer. Some of them and some newspaper staffers worried about the paper's editorial independence.
As part of the deal, a five-member committee will keep an eye on the paper's editorial integrity.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: A deadly deluge. People trapped in their own cars after rain filled up the streets.
HARRIS: More money troubles for Michael Vick. Dog fighting allegations taking a bite out of his wallet big time. Another company pulling an endorsement deal.
COLLINS: So, how many calories are in that glass of beer? Possibly new rules will let folks see exactly what they drink.
HARRIS: Lucky to be alive. A delivery deliver caught under a collapsing bridge now talking to CNN about the unreal ordeal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick takes another hit in the wallet. Sporting goods company Rawlings is ending its relationship with Vick. The company used his image and promotional displays.
Rawlings is the latest sponsor to drop Vick because of the dog fighting charges himself him. Nike has suspended its contract. And Reebok stopped selling Vick's number 7 jersey.
Vick has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
COLLINS: Tracking Fred Thompson. There may already be problems with his possible presidential run.
More now from CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley, part of the best political team on television.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Fred Thompson raised $3.4 million in June. It is not blow them away money.
ALEX VOGEL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: You can't make it to the White House when you're only raising $3 million a month when you're up against Giuliani and Romney on your own side and obviously Hillary and Obama on the other side.
CROWLEY: It's OK money, but OK is not enough for team Thompson, burdened with great expectations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The country needs you, man.
CROWLEY: One Republican strategist not affiliated with any campaign put it this way: "If McCain is damaged because he only raised $10 million or $11 million, how is Fred a juggernaut with $3 million?"
The Thompson crowd begs to differ, calling its 9,167 donors inspiring. And supporters note it's the beginning, not the end.
REP. ZACH WAMP (R), TENNESSEE: Once he becomes a candidate, and he will, he will raise plenty of money to be competitive. But frankly, when you're in the top of the polls or real close to the top, money is not as big an issue as most people make it out to be.
CROWLEY: Regardless of how you view the $3.4 million, it's clear that the Republican Party's knight on a white horse is getting roughed up. His time as a Washington lawyer and lobbyist is under scrutiny. His anti-abortion position is being questioned. He changed staff at the urging of his wife, said to be taking a lead role in a campaign that's running on tease.
FRED THOMPSON (R), FMR. U.S. SENATOR: I don't have a big announcements to make here tonight, but I'll just say this -- I'll just say this: I plan on seeing a whole lot more of you. How about that?
CROWLEY: Now, after months of running without officially running, the act may be getting old. Sources say he will announce sometime after Labor Day, but the natives are restless.
WAMP: We have got such a pent-up demand for him on the grassroots level that I believe August needs to be a definitive month so that September can be the month that we rock and roll. CROWLEY: Rocking and rolling will have to include raising some real money. Team Thompson has its sites set on Mitt Romney in the fall. The way they figure it, Giuliani will not pass muster with the party faithful, leaving Romney, a guy with very deep pockets, the one to beat.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Chelsea Clinton, silent so far. What impact could she have on her mother's campaign?
HARRIS: Donald Rumsfeld on the witness list. Lawmakers looking into the military's handling of Pat Tillman's friendly fire death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: You see them on food and soft drinks, and now the government is considering requiring nutritional labels on wine, beer and liquor.
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here now with more on all of this.
People are probably wondering what the heck we're doing with all these bottles of alcohol this early.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Or they're having a good time, right?
COLLINS: Yeeha.
So this could be a very good thing for lots of people who either have allergies or who are really trying to watch alcohol content.
COHEN: That's right, because sometimes you just start drinking and you don't think about all the calories that you are downing because it's not food.
COLLINS: Right.
COHEN: And it just kind of feels different. I'm not saying you in particular. I just mean...
COLLINS: No. I forego the calories for the wine, I have to say.
COHEN: There you go. There you go.
COLLINS: Is there a healthier choice though if you are wanting to consume an alcoholic beverage like this? I mean, if you're offered wine or beer or hard liquor, you should do what?
COHEN: You know what? It's interesting.
When you look at calories, there is not that much of a difference. And that's what these labels would do. Labels like you see on food, the calories should be the first thing, followed by protein and carbs and all of that. So let's take a look.
A bottle of beer is about 153 calories. So 153. A glass of red wine is about 126. So...
COLLINS: I knew it.
COHEN: ... not that much of a difference. Not that much of a difference.
COLLINS: It's better.
COHEN: It's better, but not by much. But not by much.
And a shot glass of rum -- that's what this is, apparently -- this is rum -- is 97 calories. So that's a little bit less. But of course you're not just drinking rum. You're drinking all the stuff that goes with the drink.
COLLINS: Yes. I don't know too many people who just do a big old shot of rum straight.
COHEN: No, no, no. You're mixing it with something, yes. Something. I don't really drink much, so I don't know what you're mix it, but you're mixing it with something.
And a glass of sparkling wine, which is what this is, or champagne, or whatever you want to call it, 76 calories. But probably because you're using one of these cute little flutes here.
COLLINS: Right.
COHEN: but the bottom line is, calorie-wise, there's not much of a difference. And what's interesting is we have heard so much about drinking alcohol, good for your heart. You know, a drink a day for women. Two drinks, let's say, a day for men. That it really doesn't matter what kind of alcohol you are drinking.
A lot of people get red wine in their head and they think, oh, it's got to be red wine. Not true. Any kind of alcohol can be good for your heart.
COLLINS: Wow. Interesting. All right.
So what about this labeling now? What are we going to see on these labels?
COHEN: What you would see, something that looks very much like a nutritional label that you see on food. And so it would list calories and it would list proteins and carbs and all the other nutrients. And something that you can definitely learn when you look at one of these labels would looks like is there's not a lot of other nutrients in there.
COLLINS: There's not a whole lot, no. COHEN: You're not getting a whole lot.
COLLINS: No, no. Anticoagulation factors, though, in red wine.
COHEN: Right. Well, in all of the alcohol. All of the alcohol, right.
COLLINS: All of it. OK. Good.
So how soon are we going to see these labels on there? It kind of makes you wonder why we haven't seen them before.
COHEN: Right, because it takes sense. I mean, you consume it just like you consume a soda or a food or anything else.
COLLINS: Sure.
COHEN: But it's -- yes, it's taking a while. It would be at least about three years.
COLLINS: Really?
COHEN: These things take a long time. The government has to propose them and publish them, and comments and the whole thing.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: And you can bet that the alcohol industry will have something to say about this. It would be yet another thing they need to label, because you can see on these -- on these bottles here, there are labels about pregnant women, the warnings for them...
COLLINS: Sure.
COHEN: ... and warnings that it will impair your ability to drive. So they're already putting a bunch of stuff on these labels.
COLLINS: All right. So, remind us now, before we see these labels, how much should we be drinking or not drinking?
COHEN: Right. If you want to look at it that way. Well, heart health experts say that the studies show that you get benefits, heart health benefits. For women, about a glass a day, and for men, a glass or two a day of alcohol.
COLLINS: I really never thought I would hear those words.
COHEN: Isn't that amazing?
COLLINS: Yes, it is kind of amazing. All right.
Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for bringing the bar.
COHEN: Thanks. You're welcome.
HARRIS: Let's talk about security in Darfur now. The U.N. approving a peacekeeping mission, a 26,000-strong force to help end four years of rape and killing in Sudan.
Here's CNN Senior United Nations Correspondent Richard Roth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The ambassadors from Sudan and Britain exchanged pleasantries after passage of the resolution. But will Sudan's cooperation continue on the ground in Darfur?
The Security Council expects cooperation after authorizing the United Nations' largest peacekeeping force, 26,000, combined military peacekeepers and police. Perhaps a lot, but too late for the 200,000 people reported dead and millions forced to flee during years of murder and rape, allegedly by Sudanese-backed militias.
ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Just as all eyes are on the council to help protect the civilians of Darfur, so, too, are all eyes upon Sudan. And we look to its government to do the right thing and pursue the path of peace.
ROTH: The United States threatened Sudan with more sanctions if the force is interfered with, but such warnings were taken out of the U.N. resolution in order to win votes and Sudan's permission for troops to enter the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Threats and intimidation would not serve any objective. If anything, the resolution of today demonstrates -- is that we have to work together in partnership.
ROTH: The U.N. Blue Helmets' main job will be to protect civilians and humanitarian caravans. They will not be hunting down militias or seizing weapons. But the sheer larger presence may be enough to stabilize a region that has seen what the U.S. calls genocide.
EMYR JONES PARRY, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The catastrophe of Darfur will not be ended by the raising of 15 hands in this chamber. The suffering will not be ended by our vote. But today's decision and the actions that flow from it are for the prospect of a new start for Darfur.
ROTH (on camera): The U.N.'s peacekeeping director said the push into Sudan will be on the scale of D-Day. But despite the high stakes, it will take months to recruit troops, build camps and link up with the beleaguered African Union forces already on the ground.
Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Donald Rumsfeld on the witness list. Lawmakers looking into the military's handling of Pat Tillman's friendly fire death.
HARRIS: Trapped under water. Violent storms catch many off guard in Arizona, and rescuers can't reach everyone. COLLINS: Stuck under two 10,000-pound steel beams. What happened to the man at the bottom of this collapsed highway bridge? You see the cleanup going on this morning.
Live pictures coming in from our affiliate KCRA, Oroville, California. We will hope to bring them to you in just a few more minutes. And we're going to hear from the man in that truck in just a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And coming up on the half hour.
Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi there, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
The month of August off to a bloody start in Iraq. Attackers set off powerful bombs in Baghdad today, killing dozens of people.
The deadliest blast from a fuel tanker rigged with explosives. It happened near a gas station in western Baghdad. The toll there, at least 50 deaths. At least 60 other people were wounded.
In another attack, a suicide car bomb exploded in a busy square. More than a dozen people were killed there. Dozens of others wounded.
And in southern Baghdad, three people were killed in a car bombing.
HARRIS: Iraq's troubled prime minister and his coalition government facing a serious new setback. The country's biggest Sunni political bloc pulling out of Nuri al-Maliki's cabinet. Six members submitting their resignations today.
The prime minister is a Shiite. The Sunni group the Iraqi Accord Front says it is withdrawing because of his failure to meet their demands. It is also critical of legislative stalemates and the failure of the national reconciliation efforts.
COLLINS: Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld facing questions about a friendly fire death. Rumsfeld testifying in the Pat Tillman investigation at a House committee hearing that begins next hour.
We go live now to Capitol Hill and Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash.
Dana, it is somewhat of a surprise that Rumsfeld is showing up this morning, isn't it?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a big surprise, Heidi. The committee all day yesterday did not expect him to show up. They invited him some time ago.
We are told that they didn't actually confirm that the former defense secretary will testify until 7:00 last night, after the close of business. A spokesman said that they just had to work out some logistical hurdles in order to make this appearance happen, which will start in about a half an hour.
Now, Rumsfeld really hasn't been seen or heard in public since he retired from the Pentagon -- really was fired from the Pentagon late last year. And certainly, his presence at this hearing here on Capitol Hill about how Pat Tillman died will add a very different dynamic to the hearing, to the testimony, and to the investigation, because it was already expected to be quite combative, because this is something that is very raw. And there is certainly bipartisanship desire among Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives and on this committee to try to find out what exactly went wrong.
The committee yesterday didn't expect him to show up. We're told that they didn't actually confirm that the former defense secretary will testify until 7:00 last night. After the close of business. A spokesman said that they just had to work out some logistical hurdles to make this appearance happen which will start in about half an hour. Rumsfeld really hasn't been seen or heard in public since he retired from the Pentagon -- really was fired from the Pentagon -- late last year.
And, certainly, his presence at this hearing here on Capitol Hill about how Pat Tillman died will add a very different dynamic to the hearing, to the testimony and to the investigation. Because it was already expected to be quite combative. Because this is something that is very raw and there is certainly bipartisanship desire among Republicans and Democrats in the House and Committee to find out what went on, specifically looking at who knew what when at the highest levels of Pentagon and the White House, and what they said in public.
That being said, I wonder, too, Dana, if it's possible that the lawmakers will maybe try to bring up questions to Rumsfeld about the Iraq War in general.
You know, I asked the committee spokeswoman if they made any kind of deal or gentleman's agreement with the former defense secretary not to ask him questions that many lawmakers -- Democrats and Republicans -- have about the Iraq War in general.
There -- and she said that there was no agreement. But there probably will be a focus on this Tillman investigation because, as I said, there really is a bipartisan desire to question these officials -- former officials -- about this issue.
But I can tell you, there is still a lot of anger, not just among Democrats here, Heidi, but Republicans, at Donald Rumsfeld for the way the war was executed and the political ramifications for Republicans, especially in November, for Donald Rumsfeld not resigning until after November's election.
Many Republicans think they could have held on to more seats had Donald Rumsfeld, really the symbol for this Iraq War, resigned before November.
COLLINS: All right.
CNN's Dana Bash from Capitol Hill this morning.
Dana, the fact that.
BASH: Thank you.
COLLINS: And live coverage of Donald Rumsfeld's testimony in the Pat Tillman investigation right here in THE NEWSROOM.
That hearing set to begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.
HARRIS: And in California, a FedEx truck crushed by a collapsed highway overpass.
Take a look at the these live pictures.
Heidi, did this story unfolded in THE NEWSROOM yesterday?
COLLINS: Yesterday.
Yes.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: We actually thought -- it came down as a -- it was bread truck. But what they meant was a bread truck type or a bread truck style -- you know, a big square.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: And so finally we saw that...
HARRIS: But aren't all -- aren't all delivery trucks like square now these days? Or we see (INAUDIBLE)...
COLLINS: Well, yes, but didn't know what it was...
HARRIS: Right.
COLLINS: Because we thought maybe a semi or a regular vehicle.
HARRIS: Yes, I've got you. Right.
COLLINS: All we saw was the very front windshield until way in the back we saw that little green X and we kind of tried to figure out what it was and now we know for sure.
HARRIS: Well, I saw bits and pieces of it. My understanding, the truck was pinned under steel, debris.
The rest of the story -- the driver was trapped for more than two hours. Incredibly, he suffered only a sprained ankle, cuts and bruises. And, earlier, the driver and one of his rescuers talked with CNN's Kiran Chetry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING")
RUSS FOWLER, BUTTE COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well, I wasn't sure of the outcome. But we know at that moment that we had a serious situation, both for -- for Robert's safety and for the rescuers' safety, because of the -- the structure that was standing was very precarious to fall. And we had met with some of the bridge engineers from Cal Trans. And they made it very clear to us the situation was very dangerous. So that was our primary concern, was to make sure our rescuers and Robert and the other injured patients were -- were protected, first and foremost.
KIRAN CHETRY, "AMERICAN MORNING" CO-ANCHOR: Now, did you know he was OK in there?
FOWLER: We did have one of our paramedic firefighters with Robert and we were assessing him at that point. I didn't know his status. I knew we had a patient that was trapped in a vehicle under the...
CHETRY: Right.
FOWLER: ...the false work.
CHETRY: You know, Robert, what was going through your mind?
You were there.
Were they talking you through it, saying it's just going to be a little bit more time, we're trying to secure these beams?
And were you aware that they were -- it was going to take them a while to get to you?
ROBERT SYLVESTER, SURVIVED TERRIBLE ACCIDENT: You know, I knew they were doing everything they could. They wanted to get me out just as bad as I wanted to get out. And I knew that the situation was a little precarious with the beams and all that.
But, so I just had to, you know, these guys are great and I just sort of put my trust in them to -- they knew what they were doing.
CHETRY: Right.
SYLVESTER: So I just tried to hang in as best as I could.
CHETRY: How did you keep yourself calm not knowing the extent of your injuries?
I understand one of the beams was pinned over your legs.
SYLVESTER: Well, you know, the firefighters are great and they kept talking to me and calming me down. I wasn't calm the entire time so -- but, you know, in those situations, there's -- there's not much I could do.
CHETRY: Right.
SYLVESTER: But I put myself in their hands and they're, you know -- between the doctors and nurses and the paramedics, the firefighters, you know, they saved me. So I'm very grateful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: So Robert's OK.
The construction worker was also on the overpass when it collapsed. He is still hospitalized in serious condition.
COLLINS: Awash in Arizona -- heavy storms brought almost an inch- and-a-half of rain to Tucson in just over an hour yesterday. Roads flooded, as you can see here. Several people had to be rescued from their cars, in fact. Authorities say a 60-year-old man died when his SUV became submerged in the downpour.
HARRIS: So Tucson gets to dry out a little bit -- Rob Marciano, what is happening?
What's on your map?
I'm trying to take a peek behind you for the rest of the country.
Good to see you, guy.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good to see you, Tony, Heidi.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Families in fear in a place some call hell. But it's home to hundreds of others -- a dangerous public housing project.
HARRIS: A helping hand for farmers. Tax dollars used to seed farms, but you may not believe some of the people getting a government check.
COLLINS: There you have it. August 1st.
Maybe it's a start of something really terrific, right?
HARRIS: Could it happen today?
COLLINS: Today is Wednesday, as you well know. We'll be looking at the numbers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 54 right now, resting at 13,270 or so. The Nasdaq is up 10.
Obviously, the big, big story, you know, that deal -- Rupert Murdoch, the Dow Jones. We'll be talking about that a little bit later in our business sections. We'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We need to give you a little bit more information regarding this story of the Korean hostages that we have been telling you about for quite some time now held in Afghanistan.
Last hour on CNN, we had been reporting to you about something we were hearing from Reuters News Agency.
We need to correct that information for you here now.
We had been told by Reuters that there was apparently an operation to rescue those 21 South Korean hostages held by the Taliban, as we've been saying. That report is apparently wrong. No operation rescue going on at this time. Apparently, the official cited in that Reuters' story said he did not make that comment that they were reporting.
So, once again, a few moments ago, the last hour on CNN, we had been telling you about a Reuters report that an operation to rescue the 21 South Korean hostages being held by the Taliban was underway. That, in fact, is not the case. We do regret any confusion on that story.
HARRIS: Living in fear -- families left to fend for themselves.
CNN's John Zarrella takes a look at one troubled community.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Citoya Greenwood lives with her 4-year-old daughter in a back apartment in a place called Dunbar Village in West Palm Beach.
CITOYA GREENWOOD, DUNBAR VILLAGE RESIDENT: You know, there's a majority of my pictures, Joya carry a smile.
ZARRELLA (on camera): She really does. Look at that.
(voice-over): Joya's smiling photos were taken at school, at relatives' and friends' homes -- but not here in this public housing project, because this place, many residents say, does not breed smiles. They call it hell.
GREENWOOD: And she said, "Mommy, we have to get out. I'm tired of hearing gunshots. I'm tired of not being able to go outside."
ZARRELLA: These days, the fear is greater than ever. Greenwood, a single mother, lives four doors down from this now boarded up apartment -- an apartment where last month no one seems to have heard the screams, the cries for help.
For another single mother and her 12-year-old son, hell that night lived up to its name. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The one had a big gun in the front. And two others had -- with a -- another shotgun...
ZARRELLA: The victim says up to 10 young men forced their way into her apartment and the nightmare began.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of them have sex with me twice. Some have sex with me three times. They're beating me up and make me do those things over and over.
ZARRELLA: The horror lasted three hours. Before they were finished, the victims says the attackers forced her to perform oral sex on her son.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You told them it doesn't matter, to save your child -- to do it. I know you love me and I love you, too, but you have to protect yourself.
ZARRELLA: The crime has led to an outpouring of support for the mother and child. Saint Ann's Catholic Church gets 25 to 30 checks a day, thousands in donations. The crime has also focused attention on Dunbar Village -- federally subsidized public housing that was built in 1940.
MAYOR LOIS FRANKEL, WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA: You have poverty. You have poor people in projects that really are outdated.
ZARRELLA: Dunbar Village needs to be torn down, says Mayor Lois Frankel. The kids need mentors and more youth programs. But every year, Frankel says, federal funds -- the primary source of support to run public housing in West Palm Beach -- have gone down. And millions of federal dollars that used to be earmarked to fight drugs and crime in housing projects have now been eliminated.
Frankel says she went to Washington looking for $30 million to rebuild Dunbar.
What did she get?
Nothing.
FRANKEL: You know what?
We don't have $30 million to give. And, really, with the federal government cutting off the funds, those people are left to fend for themselves.
ZARRELLA: So people continue to live in fear.
TED WHITE, WEST PALM BEACH POLICE: They deserve to be safe here. And that's something that our city is not overlooking.
ZARRELLA: And cameras may be installed and street lights fitted with bullet-proof covers to keep them from being shot out. Police say fear is hampering their investigation. Residents won't talk. No one sees or hears anything. Citoya Greenwood is one of the few who speaks out.
GREENWOOD: We're fighting in a war zone every single day and that's what I feel like.
I'm fighting in a battle zone in Iraq, and I'm not even there.
ZARRELLA: Greenwood hopes some good can come out of last month's tragic events. Perhaps now, something will be done, she says, about this place she calls home and others call hell.
John Zarrella, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS: A woman and her two children found dead inside their Cincinnati home. The coroner has not revealed the cause of death or the names. The children who died, a 10-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl. Their mom was 44. An older daughter found the bodies on Tuesday. The coroner says the deaths are being investigated as homicides, but they could be a murder-suicide case.
HARRIS: Donald Rumsfeld facing questions about a friendly fire death. A hearing this morning in the Pat Tillman investigation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. We are pod casting later today and the team -- Michael, do we have a shot of the team working to put the pod cast together?
Brilliant, as always.
Thank you, Michael.
You know to catch us each weekday morning from 9:00 until 12:00 Eastern right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
But you can take us with you anywhere right there on your iPod. We call it the CNN NEWSROOM pod cast. It is available when you log on to CNN.com and you can get it 24-7.
Make it a part of your life. No excuses not to download the pod cast today right onto your iPod.
COLLINS: Cash crops -- farmers paid millions by the government.
But do all of those farmers really need the money?
CNN's Dan Simon takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Al Montna, rice farming is good business right now.
AL MONTNA, FARMER: There's great rewards in growing crops, and especially crops like rice.
SIMON: So you'd think the third generation family farmer wouldn't get government handouts, right?
Wrong.
Over three years, from 2003 to 2005, he and his children received more than $900,000 in federal subsidies. Montna says that kind of money provides a vital safety net for farmers.
MONTNA: Agriculture is an investment in our national security and in the well-being of this country.
SIMON: That argument has been used for decades to justify the billions spent every year on subsidies for crops like rice, corn and wheat. But to critics...
PROFESSOR DAN SUMNER, U.C. DAVIS: I think it's hard to see a legitimate reason why we're still subsidizing these industries.
SIMON: Professor Dan Sumner says the government's policy -- a product of the Great Depression -- deserves an F.
SUMNER: As taxpayers, we're spending a bunch of money to hand to individuals who are relatively wealthy people.
SIMON: some very wealthy. Keeping them honest, we looked to see who else has been getting your tax dollars.
Basketball star Scottie Pippen got $289,000 for his farm in Arkansas.
David Letterman, $8,000 for farming on his Montana ranch.
The list from an environmental watchdog reads like a who's who -- billionaire David Rockefeller; Ted Turner, the founder of this network; even members of Congress got in on the game.
There are also wealthy people you've never heard of, like 88- year-old widow Constance Bowls, whose family has a cotton farm in California.
(on camera): Miss. Bowles lives here, in one of San Francisco's most prestigious neighborhood, called Presidio Heights. Anyone who lives here hardly needs government subsidies to get by.
Yet from 2003 to 2005, her family farm business received more than $1.2 million through government subsidies.
(voice-over): Miss. Bowels told CNN, "We could do without it."
How could this happen?
It's simple. Farmers apply for subsidies based on their acreage. The largest farms get the most of your tax dollars. JIM LYONS, OXFAM: Ten percent of the producers get 75 percent of the benefits from subsidies. So there's no doubt that wealthy farmers are continuing to profit at a considerably higher rate than other farmers.
Standing by It's not just rich people getting payments. It turns out dead people are, too. The Government Accountability Office says between 1999 and 2005, more than a billion dollars went to the deceased. Some payments went on for a decade.
David Harrison III died five years ago. His estate got $140,000 of your tax dollars, even as it gave tens of millions to the University of Virginia. The UVA football field is named for Harrison.
KEN COOK, ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP: We really ought to make sure that when someone is getting farm subsidy checks, they deserve it.
SIMON: Rice grower Al Montna thinks most of the money goes to honest and hardworking farmers. He also points out the government outlay is just a drop in the bucket compared to other programs.
MONTNA: When you look at defense and you look at all the other issues, I mean it doesn't even make a line.
SIMON: And as long as the government continues to write the checks, he'll gladly accept.
Dan Simon, CNN, Yuba City, California.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HARRIS: Campaigning with Hillary Clinton -- daughter Chelsea keeping quiet so far. Will that may be changing soon?
COLLINS: Live coverage of Donald Rumsfeld's testimony in the Pat Tillman investigation in the NEWSROOM. That hearing set to begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
HARRIS: Vice President Cheney standing by President Bush's Iraq policies. We will hear what the president's right hand man had to say to CNN's Larry King.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The Bulusan volcano spewed ash and steam Tuesday in the Philippines, blanketing towns as far as three miles away in ash.
Our I-Reporters were on the scene and sent in images like this one from John Berkevasco -- plumes of smoke and ash shooting from the active volcano, which is over 5,000 feet high and has been erupting on and off since March of 2006.
These pictures of smoke rising above the trees were sent in by Philip Bartilet. He says that many people in his community were afraid that the ash would settle on their town.
And wherever you are in the world and see news happening around you, send us an I-Report.
You'll find a link to I-Report and details at CNN.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We see pictures now, just a few moments ago, of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arriving to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
This will be happening in just a few moments from now. Things will be getting underway in the Pat Tillman hearing.
This is, again, something that will be going on for quite some time, I believe, today. Several different people will be testifying. We have a list here of General John Abizaid, General Richard Myers, General Brian Douglas Brown and Lieutenant General Phillip Kensinger, who was actually censured yesterday regarding this case.
We're going to learn as much more as we can about what the Defense Department knew in relation to Pat Tillman's death. So we will be following this story, obviously, for you just as soon as things get underway in a couple of minutes.
HARRIS: The Hillary Clinton campaign -- former President Bill Clinton already making appearances. His daughter Chelsea far behind.
Here's CNN's Mary Snow, part of the best political team on television.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator Hillary Clinton has called her daughter a great adviser and one of her biggest supporters. But so far Chelsea Clinton has been seen, but not heard, fin her mother's presidential campaign.
Even in this "Sopranos"-spoofing campaign video, she remains in the background.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CAMPAIGN VIDEO)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Where's Chelsea?
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Parallel parking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: But Chelsea Clinton is so well known that curiosity about her potential role in her mother's presidential campaign made front page news in "The New York Times" without her even uttering a word. Now 27, she lives in New York and works for a hedge fund -- a long way from the days when she was introduced to America at the 1992 Democratic Convention. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1992)
CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON: Sometimes my dad, to make me laugh, makes like funny faces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: In the 2004 presidential election, saying the stakes were too high not to speak, she campaigned for Democrats John Kerry and John Edwards.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2004)
C. CLINTON: I'm not accustomed to public speaking, and this is my first political speech.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
C. CLINTON: Thankfully, I have a couple of experts in the family.
(LAUGHTER)
C. CLINTON: And I hope to do them proud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: The Clinton campaign isn't saying if Chelsea Clinton will have an official role and the Clintons have been guarded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LARRY KING LIVE")
B. CLINTON: She cares a lot about the politics and she wants her mom to win. But she's got a life to live. We don't want to interrupt that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Chelsea Clinton did interrupt her life as a college student to campaign for her mother in the final months of her 2000 Senate race.
MICHAEL TOMASKY, AUTHOR, "HILLARY'S TURN": It added a little something, and I think the Clinton campaign knew that, that -- that Chelsea's presence would add a little bit of -- a little twist toward the end.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: In 2000, reporters say they hardly remember Chelsea Clinton speaking to them and they left her alone. But some say should she take on a more active role in 2008 and start speaking on the trail, the rules of engagement would change.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO TAPE) COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Here's what's on the run down.
The Pat Tillman investigation -- testimony beginning this hour. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld among those expected to speak.
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