Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Lawmaker looking To Reinstate the Draft; President Bush Greeted With Protestors in Indonesia; More Violence in Iraq
Aired November 20, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN HOST: Forced to wear the uniform. It hasn't happened in this country since the Vietnam era. Now, against the backdrop of Iraq, a high-profile congressman says he will introduce legislation to bring back the draft. Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre now, with details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice over): With Senator John McCain leading the charge for more U.S. troops in Iraq...
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Are we winning? And I think the answer is no.
MCINTYRE: ... Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel is renewing his call for a return to the draft.
REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: Having our young people commit themselves to a couple years in service of this great republic, whether it's our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals -- and at the end of that to provide some educational benefits -- it's the best thing for our young people and the best thing for our country.
MCINTYRE: While U.S. commanders insist sending more American troops is not the answer, they concede they really couldn't maintain a much bigger force in Iraq than the 150,000 there now. The U.S. military is simply too small.
GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: When you look at the overall American force pool that's available out there, the ability to sustain that commitment is simply not something that we have right now with the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.
MCINTYRE: There are some 1.4 million active-duty troops in the U.S. military, but less than half, roughly 500,000, are ground troops. Of that, four-fifths, about 390,000, are either deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, returning home or getting ready to go back.
But the Pentagon, the administration, most members of Congress and virtually all U.S. commanders agree, a return to forced conscription would be expensive, unnecessary, and would undermine the all-volunteer force that's been performing superbly.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: We just need to get more people to join, better benefits, better pay. I think we can do this with an all-voluntary service, all-voluntary Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy. And if we can't, then we'll look for some other option.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Jamie McIntyre joining us now from the Pentagon. Jamie, having a voluntary military has always been something that this country has prided itself on, especially as of late with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. How likely is it that the draft could return?
MCINTYRE: Well, it's almost not really much of a possibility at all. Congressman Rangel is going to introduce this bill next year, when he takes over as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He admits it's somewhat symbolic. It's a way of sending the message that people really ought to consider the consequences when they get into a war, and he's introduced legislation like this before. It's -- hardly anyone on Capitol Hill thinks it has much of a chance
COLLINS: How will the military get more troops, Jamie?
MCINTYRE: The amazing thing is that, despite the problems with Iraq, recruiting and retention is pretty high. In fact, one of the secrets that people may not realize is the U.S. Army is significantly bigger than it was just a few years ago. That's one of the reasons they have had some recruiting challenges, because they have not only had to recruit people to replace troops, but also to increase the size of the military.
But enlistment rates are up. The army made its goals last year. If the country decides it wants a bigger military force, it will probably be able to do that through the system it has now. It's -- you may find it surprising, but a large number of people do want to serve in the U.S. military, and they find the work rewarding and important.
COLLINS: Don't find it surprising. Jamie McIntyre, live from the Pentagon. Thanks, Jamie.
TONY HARRIS, CNN HOST: Charting the course in Iraq: the Pentagon completing a secret military review and coming up with three options, according to the Washington Post. They are: pouring more troops into Iraq; pulling down the troop size but making them stay longer, or simply pulling out altogether. The newspaper says insiders have dubbed the three alternatives Go Big, Go Long and Go Home. Each choice has prominent supporters in Congress.
Lawmakers are awaiting suggestions on the war from the blue- ribbon panel, the Iraq Study Group.
In Iraq, proof that no one is safe: less than a day after gunmen abducted Iraq's deputy Health minister, attackers strike again. The target this time, the other deputy Health minister. CNN's Arwa Damon is in Baghdad for us. Arwa, good morning.
ARWA DAMON, BAGHDAD: Good morning, Tony. That's right: in a period of less than 24 hours, both of Iraq's deputy Health ministers were attacked -- the most recent attack coming this afternoon against Hakim Azamili (ph). He was not in the convoy at the time. However, gunmen opened fire on his vehicles in central Baghdad, killing two of his bodyguards and wounding another -- this attack coming less than 24 hours after the other deputy Health minister was kidnapped from his home in central Baghdad. In that case, six vehicles, filled with at least two dozen gunmen, who were masquerading as Iraq police and trying to masquerade as Iraqi government officials, pulled up to his home and kidnapped him from it. Really, no one is safe here.
The health care industry has suffered greatly because of the violence. Recent estimates say that the industry has lost at least 800 of its employees, including doctors and administrators, and at least 31 of its employees are right now missing, believed to have been kidnapped over the course of the violence here for the last three and a half years, Tony.
HARRIS: Arwa, wasn't it supposed to be very difficult, close to impossible, to duplicate the police uniforms? How is this happening?
DAMON: Well, Tony, it was. Here's what happened: originally, the first police uniforms that were issued, essentially you could go to the mark in central Baghdad, pay $20 and buy a uniform. So the ministry issued these new hard-to-copy uniforms that are starting to be distributed, and we have seen them distributed. But it's still a mix of both old and new out there, Tony.
HARRIS: Okay. CNN's Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad. Arwa, thank you.
COLLINS: The world's most populous Muslim nation, the last stop on President Bush's visit to Southeast Asia: a six hour stop in Indonesia, and on the agenda a meeting with the country's president and a state dinner. In the streets, though, rowdy demonstrations. President Bush's Iraq war policies are immensely unpopular with Indonesians.
CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is with us now from Bogor, Indonesia -- that's near Jakarta. Elaine, thanks for being with us. Tell us exactly what the situation is, security-wise. Before the president left, there was obviously a lot of discussion about how secure the area would be.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, there was a lot of security, and I can tell you just from the bus ride in to the area where I'm talking to you from right now, we saw barbed wire, we saw plenty of police gear, seemingly at the ready, out on public grass areas -- lawns, if you will -- that were seemingly being prepared just in case there might be trouble.
Now, there, of course, were protesters, but President Bush, for his part, in his quick stop here to Indonesia is trying to deepen ties with this country. As you noted, Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, some 190 million Muslims live in this country. It is a critical ally in the United States-led war on terrorism. But of course, the president's policies, particularly on the Middle East, have drawn strong opposition in this part of the world.
Today, thousands of demonstrators chanted and carried signs here in Bogor, south of Jakarta. They expressed sharp opposition to the Iraq war. And at the news conference with the president of Indonesia, Mr. Bush was asked about those demonstrations. He said that they were a good sign of a healthy society.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I applaud a society where people are free and come and express their opinion. And it's to Indonesia's credit that it's a society where people are able to protest and say what they think. It's not the first time, by the way, where people have showed up and expressed their opinion about my policies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: And President Bush was also asked about the possibility of adding possibly more U.S. troops to Iraq. The president's answer: that he hasn't made a decision yet on whether to increase or decrease troop levels in Iraq.
Now, meantime, the president is winding up his visit here in Indonesia, at that state dinner, as you mentioned, with the leader of Indonesia. After his stop here, he'll be making a brief visit to Hawaii before returning to Washington. Heidi?
COLLINS: Elaine Quijano. Thanks so much, Elaine.
HARRIS: Let's check in with Rob Marciano in the Weather Center for us. Rob, a lot of protesters there in Indonesia, mostly all wet.
No Rob. No Rob. Okay, Rob, thank you. Turn your mike on next time.
Still to come this morning, a gunman storms a German school, several people are wounded, late details coming up in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: A cold war thriller, a former spy and claims of a botched assassination. Was it the sushi? That story, coming up.
HARRIS: And he took an oath to protect lives, but a former air marshal says it cost him his job. That story, straight ahead, in the NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. Hi. Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather -- I had put together something clever, I thought I was tying into the Heidi story, talking about Indonesia, all the protesters, all wet there, and then you hung me out high and dry. My friend.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN WEATHER CENTER: I realized you were on your way to an award-winning transition, which by the way, was my idea. Not to throw anybody else under the bus, but it wasn't my fault that the mike wasn't --
HARRIS: It's good to see you anyway, Rob.
MARCIANO: Nice to be here, as well. Hello, Heidi, as well.
COLLINS: I'm not here.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Okay, Rob, thank you.
School standoff in Germany: police say a masked gunman stormed a middle school this morning. They say he wounded several people before he was killed. No firm number, but police believe eight people were injured. It is not clear how the gunman died. German TV identified the gunman as an 18-year-old former student.
HARRIS: In Detroit, police have a suspect in a deadly shooting spree in custody this morning. They say Contrel Harbin (ph) has been charged with murder after a series of random attacks last week. Two people were killed, three others injured. One of the alleged victims identified the suspect in a police line-up. Authorities are still investigating whether there was a second shooter.
A shooting at a mall -- the suspect hospitalized this morning, as is the federal agent who intervened. It started Saturday night at a mall in Annapolis, Maryland. Police say an off-duty Secret Service agent stepped in to break up a fight among a group of teens. The agent was shot in the leg. He pulled his own gun, hitting the suspect twice. The teen is under police guard at a hospital. He is expected to face charges. The agent is hospitalized in stable condition. A third person was also shot, and was treated and released. Police believe the incident may have been connected with a series of fights at Annapolis High School.
COLLINS: A Russian spy drama playing out in real life: a former agent turned Kremlin critic, high profile -- now, hospitalized under suspicious circumstances. CNN's Matthew Chance with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It reads like the plot from a Cold War thriller: a former Russian agent, who says he was hunted down and poisoned in a botched assassination. Alexander Litvinenko has been a controversial critic of the Kremlin. He says he fell sick after meeting a contact in a London sushi bar earlier this month. Doctors say he's in serious condition, with thalium poisoning -- even tiny quantities can be lethal. Close friends allowed to his hospital bed say they believe he was targeted.
ALEX GOLDFARB, LITVINENKO'S FRIEND: He is in a very poor state. He -- actually he looks like a ghost. He's lost all his hair. He looks like a patient who -- a cancer patient who has been given heavy chemotherapy. He can barely speak because his throat is swollen. And it's horrible, because just a months ago he was a fit, handsome young man. CHANCE: A former colonel in Russia's security services, he was granted asylum in Britain in 2001, after turning on his own government -- accusing the Kremlin of orchestrating a series of deadly apartment bombings in 1999. The Kremlin blames them on Chechen separatists.
He also accused the Russian FSB, the successor of the KGB, of planning to assassinate Kremlin opponents, like Boris Berezovsky, a powerful Russian tycoon. The FSB denied it.
But it had been the recent killing of Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, that he says he was investigating when he was poisoned. Herself a fierce critic of the Kremlin, she was gunned down in her Moscow apartment building last month. Litvinenko says he found evidence of official involvement, something the Kremlin has strenuously denied.
(On camera): There's been no reaction so far from the Russian authorities about this poisoning, nor has any evidence been made public that would indicate who may have carried it out. But detectives at Scotland Yard in London say they are thoroughly investigating what they view as a suspicious poisoning carried out on British soil.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Reaction from the Kremlin this morning: a spokesman calling accusations of the Russian government's involvement, quote, "sheer nonsense."
We are "Minding Your Business" today. Eamon Javers is here now with a preview. Hello there -- something about a big football game this weekend.
EAMON JAVERS, BUSINESS WEEK: We are going to talk about football. We're also going to talk about the new business at Yahoo -- they have got something called the `Peanut Butter Manifesto.' I will explain what that's all about, coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
HARRIS: Common ground -- President Bush and Democrats may find it on a major issue facing the new Congress. CNN's Kareen Wynter has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They were the shockwaves felt from the Congressional midterm elections.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER-ELECT: Today we have made history. WYNTER: Republicans lost control of both houses, but President Bush may have gained one advantage in the Democratic takeover, an unlikely base of allies on a top national security issue -- illegal immigration
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe we can find some common grounds with the Democrats.
WYNTER: Newly elected House Democrats like Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona are just a few eager to work with President Bush on his comprehensive immigration reforms. A heavily debated plan which House Republicans have blocked for two years.
HARRY MITCHELL, (D), CONRGESSMAN-ELECT, ARIZONA: I suspect that that will be one of the first things going through, but I'm a freshman here, I don't know, but I think that since it's the number one issue, it seems all over this country, or an important issue anyway, that it will be dealt I think with very quickly.
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS,(D), CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT, ARIZONA: If an idea, is a good idea, it's a good idea. It doesn't matter whether or not it's a Republican idea or Democratic idea.
WYNTER: The president has had more support from Democrats and moderate Republicans on the guest worker plan than with hard line Republican conservatives who favor firmer immigration enforcement.
MITCHELL: It's an economic problem and that has to be dealt with. I think that's exactly what, from what I understand, the McCain-Kennedy bill and the president's bill wanted to do.
WYNTER: Congressman-elect Harry Mitchell says nowhere is the problem more pervasive than in Arizona, a frontline state in immigration. Here in Tucson, border patrol agents bus nearly 2,000 illegal crossers each day from Mexico, a job that would be eased by the placement of more agents along the border if Bush's policy passes.
Analysts say that could happen, with the Democratic majority in Congress that stands ready to trump the approach of the president's own party.
Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: The perils of leadership in Iraq. One government figure abducted, another apparently escapes assassins. The latest in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Defining victory in Iraq. A political player offers his view. Henry Kissinger, what he says about the options and the war's outcome, coming up.
HARRIS: Police caught on tape. Watched on the web. What does it mean for officers on the beat? Ahead, in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Iraq, more bodies, more fear of civil war. Today, authorities say they found the bodies of more than a dozen men. Some of the gunmen that kidnapped them from their Baghdad homes were disguised as Iraqi policemen. The victims appear to have been handcuffed and tortured.
Also killed today, a well-known comedian on Iraqi TV. Walin Housan (ph) routinely criticized the government and joked about terrorists.
And gunmen have again targeted a government official. The deputy health minister was not in the convoy that was attacked. Two of his guards, though, were killed. Just yesterday, gunmen abducted Iraq's other deputy health minister.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ SPOKESMAN: Ultimately everybody wants a safe and secure Iraq. I mean, that's exactly what the vast majority of the Iraqi people want, and that's exactly what the security forces, the Iraqi security forces and the coalition forces are working diligently to achieve. There are those forces, the extremist elements that exist out there, that would want nothing more than to disrupt that entire process, to discredit this government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Four American contractors kidnapped in Iraq, their families can do little but wait and hope. CNN's Dan Lothian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In suburban Buffalo, and in Minneapolis, the families of two American contractors being held hostage in Iraq anxiously wait for good news. 23-year-old Jonathon Cote, an Army veteran from the Buffalo area, served with the 82nd airborne division in Afghanistan and Iraq. He had returned to the region as a private security guard last summer. In a statement his father tells CNN, "We continue to request prayer and support from all concerned about Jonathon."
And 39-year-old Paul Reuben, a former police officer, near Minneapolis, went to the war zone three years ago, motivated by a high-paying security job. Now his mother wonders, is he OK?
JOHNNIE REUBEN, MOTHER OF PAUL REUBEN: I sat up wondering if he's cold, if he's hungry, if he's injured -- or if he's here.
LOTHIAN: They were part of a security team, four Americans and an Austrian abducted in southern Iraq last Thursday, while escorting a convoy. All work for the Crescent Security Group. Reuben had recently told his family that the job was becoming too dangerous and violent, and that he'd soon be returning home. REUBEN: I always saw his strength, every time, when he could admit, that part of that fear. That was the reality fear, but not let it overtake him.
LOTHIAN: Cote understood the dangers, too. In a past interview with "The Buffalo News", the Iraq veteran said, "You go into a village, and you didn't know who was who. The bad guys blend in with the good guys." Dan Lothian, CNN, Buffalo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: A new take on the Iraq debate now from an old hand at war politics. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger says a U.S. victory in Iraq is no longer possible, at least, under the conditions the Bush administration hopes to achieve.
In an interview with the BBC, Kissinger says, "If you mean by clear military victory, an Iraqi government that gets the civil war under control, and sectarian violence under control in a time period, that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible."
Kissinger also says withdrawing troops now would be a disaster. He says the U.S., it's allies, and Iraq's neighbors need to come up with a common agreement, to quote Kissinger, "They need to find a legitimate outcome for the war."
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Afghanistan today, but it's his comments about Iraq that have some people talking. In an interview on Al Jazeera's new English- language channel, Mr. Blair appeared to agree with the interviewer's assessment that the war in Iraq has been a disaster.
The prime minister's office later said he was simply acknowledging the question in a polite way before going on to explain his view. And that Mr. Blair did not use the word "disaster".
HARRIS: Heidi Collins, take a look at this, the opening bell being sounded this morning by Katherine Harless of Idearc Corporation.
Heidi, because I know you love to know what these corporations are responsible, what they make for this great country of ours, this company is one of the nation's largest providers of yellow and white pages directories.
COLLINS: See, I knew that.
HARRIS: Now you -- oh, you knew?
COLLINS: Oh, totally.
HARRIS: Now everybody else knows.
The Dow, we get started, down 22 points, 23 points, but it is so early right now, coming off of Friday. Friday's close, where the Dow was up 36 points. We will check all of the business news of the day. Will this be another merger Monday? We will check in with Susan Lisovicz a little later this morning.
COLLINS: Caught on tape for the world to see, a brush with police captured on camera a lot nowadays. Officers taking note. Peter Viles has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM (voice over): At UCLA, a commotion caught on tape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, I was Tased!
VILES: A student is tasered by campus police after refusing to show his I.D., nearly a million people have seen the video on the website YouTube.
This incident at an anti-illegal immigration in rally in L.A., in July, also posted on YouTube.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't breathe.
VILES: So was this arrest in Hollywood in August, a neighbor taped it. Veteran police watchers say all these videos seen by so many are changing police behavior.
JOE DOMANICK, UNIV. OF SO. CALIF: Before, police officers could simply deny eyewitness accounts, or they can simply deny what a suspect, who had been roughed up or abused, had to say. But now with these cameras, it's very difficult to deny what's right in front of your eyes.
VILES: No city knows better than Los Angeles the power of video. It was these images, the 1991 beating of Rodney King, that divided the city, leading to riots that killed 52 people. William Cardenas, the man being arrested in this video, has been released from jail and is suing the Los Angeles police. His supporters say the video is what freed him.
JOAQUIN CIENFUEGOS, COP WATCH, LOS ANGELES: They would have brushed this brutality under the rug and William Cardenas would still be in jail today. We forced the system and institution of the LAPD to take a step back and be on the defensive.
VILES: The police department is investigating the Cardenas arrest and denies it handles cases differently if they are caught on tape.
CHIEF WILLIAM BRATTON, LOS ANGELS POLICE: This vigilance, your vigilance, your attention, nothing wrong with it. Because I get to tell a story that, I think, by and large, is a story of transparency, a story of process, a story of commitment on the part of our officers. And a story going where the truth will take us. So, I have no problem with all this attention.
VILES: Attention now also on UCLA's campus police, who are investigating an incident had a the whole nation can now watch. Peter Viles for CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Want to head over to the Weather Center now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Still to come, sick on the ship. Illness sends the Carnival Liberty to port. The latest in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: And he took an oath to protect lives, but a former Air Marshal says it ended up costing him his job. His story, coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A carnival cruise ship should be on a Caribbean voyage right now. Instead, the Carnival Liberty is anchored off Ft. Lauderdale getting a massive cleaning. Almost 700 passengers and crew became sick on the transatlantic. Preliminary tests point to norovirus. It causes stomach flu symptoms and is highly contagious. Carnival says several passengers were sick before they got on board the ship.
HARRIS: Fired for trying to save lives. The claim from a former air marshal now fighting to get his job back. Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve Reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM (voice over): Federal Air Marshals are law enforcement officers, sworn to protect lives. But Robert MacLean believes upholding that oath cost him his job.
In July of 2003, the nation was on edge because of intelligence that Al Qaeda might attack airliners using weapons disguised as cameras and cell phones.
GORDON ENGLAND, FMR. HOMELAND SEC. DEP. SECY.: They were going to try to do everything they can to defeat the systems we put in place.
MESERVE: At almost the very same time the Department of Homeland Security was telling Air Marshals they would stop flying on non-stop, long distance flights to save money.
ROBERT MACLEAN, FIRED FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL: I thought the plan was -- was crazy. Suddenly, it was all of these planes that were -- that were targets were not going to have any protection.
MESERVE: MacLean says he was unsuccessful, raising his concerns within his agency so he leaked to MSNBC. There was an immediate uproar.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cuts in Air Marshals should not happen now.
MESERVE: The policy was reversed. The leak was traced to MacLean and he was fired for unauthorized disclosure of sensitive security information, which could reveal vulnerabilities and endanger the public.
CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: If terrorists know there is absolutely no Air Marshal coverage on long-distance flights, then obviously they are more likely to take those long-distance flights, and use those flights to perpetrate terrorist attacks.
MESERVE: Because MacLean is suing to get his job back, the federal Air Marshals declined to comment for this story. MacLean's supporters argue the firing was an act of retaliation by an embarrassed agency.
JONATHAN TURLEY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIV.: This guy hit an artery. He revealed a policy, which was incredibly stupid, and put passengers at risk.
MESERVE: But did MacLean break the law? The government says the order about cutbacks was sensitive security information, or SSI, but MacLean says it wasn't marked as such when he received it via text message on an unencrypted cell phone.
NICK SCHWELLENBACK, PROJECT ON GOV'T. OVERSIGHT: That's not a very secure way of communicating these messages, if they are indeed legitimately secret.
MESERVE (on camera): MacLean's lawsuit may clarify currently fuzzy rules covering the release of SSI, and whether people in national security positions have whistle-blower protection.
(Voice over): MacLean says if he loses the effect will be chilling.
MACLEAN: Nobody is going to come forward. Everybody is going to turn a blind eye and ignore the oath that they took.
MESERVE: But the central question may be this. Did MacLean's actions make aviation more secure, or less so? Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Video violence, even before the console comes home. What happens when a new toy is too hot? We'll show you in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And buying furniture? Think about more than how it looks. You may want to consider how it burns. Furniture and house fires, ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Color, fabric, comfort. People usually choose furniture based on how it looks and feels, right?
HARRIS: But, here's the thing, your choice could actually have life or death consequences. CNN's Greg Hunter on furniture and fires.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody in that room is no longer alive.
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN NEWSROOM (voice over): You probably don't realize it but when it comes to home fires, your furniture can be deadly.
Just weeks ago, a woman in Fort Myers, Florida, woke up to smoke and a small fire on her sofa. She ran to get an extinguisher from a neighbor. But by the time she got back, minutes later, it was too late. Her two toddlers were dead.
CAROLINE ROUEN-DIXON, FURNITURE FIRE VICTIM: Wait, is this from your bedroom?
HUNTER: It was almost too late Caroline Rouen-Dixon, back in 1987. A cigarette left carelessly smoldering on a sofa by a friend almost cost her, her life.
ROUEN-DIXON: The smoke was very black and thick.
HUNTER: She thought she had enough time to get out. But quickly, the fire engulfed the house and Rouen-Dixon was trapped inside. She suffered third degree burns over 65 percent of her body.
ROUEN-DIXON: The only part of me that doesn't have some sort of scar on it is my face.
HUNTER: Incredibly, even though almost 20 years have passed since Rouen-Dixon was burn, there are still no federal regulations mandating furniture companies to make their products fire resistant. On average, 10 people die every week as a result of furniture-related fires.
(On camera): Magazines, leather couches, curtains, all the things in your home just make you more comfortable, but if you study fire the way they do at Underwriter's Laboratories, to them all this really represents is fuel.
And they just have two main questions. How fast will it burn, and how long will it give you to get out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a synthetic room.
HUNTER: The experts at UL, an independent, not-for-profit product safety testing organization, say different furniture burns differently. And they showed us just how much that matters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, ignition.
HUNTER: A candle was left burning on a micro fiber couch in this room created for the demonstration. The furniture is made up and covered by synthetic materials. After 1:48, the smoke alarm went off. Less than two minutes later, the fire was out of control and our crew forced out of the room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, ignition.
HUNTER: A second test, another candle. The difference, everything in this room was made of natural fiber, leather, cotton, wood. It took almost 7:30 for the smoke alarm to go off. And another five minutes before the rest of the room caught fire.
(On camera): Leather is heat resistant, flame resistant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's much more resistant to the flame obviously than the synthetic materials.
HUNTER (voice over): We analyzed the two fires side by side with UL's fire safety expert, Tom Chapin.
When the smoke alarm went off in the synthetic room, the candle was still only smoldering on the leather couch in the room with natural materials. And remember how two minutes after the smoke alarm went off in the synthetic room it was engulfed with so much fire we had to clear out?
(On camera): What does that mean to homeowners?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have very little time to get out of this fire.
HUNTER: The bottom line? According to this test, if you've got a home filled with synthetic furniture, the experts say you have much less time to escape. There are no mandatory fire safety standards for upholstered furniture, although safety advocates have been asking for them for decades.
JOHN DEAN, NAT'L. ASSN. OF STATE FIRE MARSHALS: We have been waiting for more than a quarter century for someone here in Washington to answer our call for help.
HUNTER: The industry's largest trade group says the best solution at this time is to adopt the current voluntary standard, as a mandatory national standard. The group, American Home Furnishings Alliance, says that compliance with what is known as the UFAC standard is, in part, responsible for the significant reduction in upholstered furniture fires over the last 20 years.
Fire marshals want national standards like the ones California adopted decades ago, and are credited with a 25 percent drop in home fire deaths.
It's not without precedent. As of next July, the Consumer Products Safety Commission will require every mattress sold in the U.S. to be fire safe. The CPSC says its staff is still researching and testing similar methods for upholstered furniture, but it could be years until a rule comes out. Greg Hunter, CNN, North Brook, Illinois.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Bringing back the draft. One congressman says it's time. Will Charles Rangel manage to push his plan through the new Congress? We take a look in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: President Bush wrapping up his trip to Southeast Asia, final stop, Indonesia. We will have that for you in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: How can you not like them, right? The Beatles are back. Well, their music is anyway. The new CD is called "Love." Just released in England today. It hits shelves in the U.S. tomorrow. It is a mixture of classic Beatles songs remastered, rearranged by original studio engineer George Martin and his son. Founding member Paul McCartney seems pretty happy with the new take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL MCCARTNEY, MUSICIAN: I always liken it to great people like Churchill, you know, great writers, Tolstoy, their original papers are in museums, they are only getting browner and more crinkly. But the Beatles stuff is getting shinier and newer and cleaner. It's like magic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: It's like magic! The new CD comes on the heels of the Beatles themed-Cirque De Soleil show -- which I saw, it's fabulous -- in Vegas.
HARRIS: Video game violence. You don't have to plug into the new PlayStation3 to get it. In some cases all you need to do is line up to buy one. CNN's Allan Chernoff reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN MORNING (voice over): Shoppers stampede a Best Buy store in Fresno, California, in pursuit of a PlayStation3, one of the season's hottest toys. In Wisconsin, the rushing crowd catapults a 19 year old into a flagpole.
CRAIG WESTON, INJURED SHOPPER: I was completely airborne when I hit the pole.
CHERNOFF: Even worse, elsewhere for retailers and shoppers hoping to lay hands on the PlayStation3, which costs up to $500. At this Wal-Mart in Connecticut, robbers shot a man waiting on line, in the middle of the night, when he refused to hand over his money. In Kentucky, waiting shoppers, even reporters, turned sitting ducks, shot at with a BB gun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ouch, that really, really hurt. CHERNOFF: Across the country the volatile mix of hype, aggressive shoppers, and criminal minds, seeing opportunities in the lines of people carrying large sums of money late at night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up!
CHERNOFF: By allowing gamers to line up for days outside of their stores, some with first sales at midnight, retailers were trying to build excitement and get free publicity from the growing crowds. A strategy that backfired.
JOSEPH FELDMAN, TELSEY GROUP: If there's a mad rush into the store, you could argue that, yes, maybe the store should have kept some better order and structure in place, in order for that to not occur.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got number 19. They won't even let me in, man.
CHERNOFF: A retailer in Boston tried to keep control, handing out coupons to those first on line, but there weren't enough PlayStations for all the players.
MAYOR TOM MENINO, BOSTON: It's wrong. And to take advantage of the public the way they are. It's wrong by the manufacturer, and by the retailer.
CHERNOFF: Best Buy told CNN it tried to play it all down well before opening day.
DAN PROCTER, BEST BUY: Because we were very tight with the group that was waiting online, from the very moment that line formed, we were very clear about expectations.
CHERNOFF: Wal-Mart tells CNN that that the safety and security of its customers is a top priority. One that it will keep in mind for future sales.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Good morning, everyone. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Spend a second hour in the NEWSROOM this morning. Stay informed. Here's what's on the run down.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
