Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Digging Out in Albany, New York; Cyber Smarts; Battle Over Anna Nicole Smith's Body

Aired February 15, 2007 - 10:59   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're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

Developments keep coming in to the NEWSROOM on this Thursday, February 15th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

President Bush announcing a NATO offensive again the Taliban this spring. This hour, our guests with a look at the realities of Afghanistan.

HARRIS: The U.S. House of Representatives on the verge of an Iraq vote. Some Republicans breaking ranks. They'll oppose the president's troop buildup.

COLLINS: A legal battle over the body of Anna Nicole Smith. Three people in court today to claim the celebrity corpse. Waiting on a ruling in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And at the top this hour, President Bush talking this morning about taking the fight to the enemy in Afghanistan. Just within the last hour, Mr. Bush talked about doubling the size of the Afghan army to 70,000 by 2008. He also said more U.S. troops would help battle the Taliban this spring. The Pentagon is extending the deployment of some troops to keep U.S. strength at 27,000, the highest since the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've ordered an increase in U.S. forces in Afghanistan. We've extended the stay of 3,200 troops now in the country for four months and will deploy a replacement force that will sustain this increase for the foreseeable future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Britain is adding 5,000 troops in southern Afghanistan to battle Taliban elements there.

Kicking the Taliban out of Afghanistan -- within the last hour, President Bush, as we mentioned, talking about adding muscle to the mission. We'll ask someone who spent years reporting from Afghanistan about the president's plans.

That is straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Something that we were watching a little bit earlier before the president spoke here on CNN, this plane. Want to show you a safe landing.

This Leer jet had a little bit of trouble with its nose gear and whether or not it was locked down and ready to be used in a landing. It looks like, as you see here, it went very well. However, they did not land at Ontario International Airport outside of Los Angeles. We are being told that that landing took place at Chino airport.

So new video and new pictures of that and the safe landing that we wanted to see.

HARRIS: Let's talk about the weather for a moment here. Slick roads, record snow, plane passengers ready to blow. Memories of a northeastern storm will stick around long after the snow melts. That's for sure.

Wow! Man! Look at that picture.

A police dash cam capturing this crash on Interstate 75. The video shows a FedEx truck, as you saw there, slamming into one car and then spinning the police cruiser in a complete circle. Amazingly, seven vehicles involved in the accident, no one was seriously injured.

In Vermont, it wasn't black ice, but whiteout conditions making driving extremely hazardous. Maybe that's a little redundant. The storm a remarkable one for the most hardy of souls there. More than 25 inches of snow fell in Burlington in 24 hours. That's a record. Other areas of Vermont and New York received between 20 and 30 inches of snow.

And a flight to hell that never left the ground. Passengers on a JetBlue plane trapped on the tarmac for eight hours. Stuck on a plane for eight hours? No food was served and the heat even went out for a time.

Buses finally took passengers back to the JFK airport terminal. JetBlue has apologized for the inconvenience and is offering passengers a full refund and a free ticket.

Thank you very much.

COLLINS: Chad Myers at the weather center now to talk more about this situation.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: A lot of work being done out there, too, in the midst of all of this severe weather. Road crews seemed like they moved mountains in the Northeast. But today, with skies clear, concern the snow will still be flying.

CNN's Greg hunter is in Albany, New York, now, atop a mountain of snow.

Hey, Greg.

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a mountain of snow that's about 15, 20 feet high. It's in the middle of the parking lot.

Just to show you, this is the snow removal to the extreme. The folks up here on the road crews did a great job of clearing everything off. The roads are mostly clear, even though they're slick. The schools are mostly closed, even though maybe a few of them are open. But here's what they're worried about now -- wind gusts that could pick up to 40 miles per hour.

The temperature today is going to top out at about 15 degrees. The snow is really light and fluffy. And if you put all that together, what they're worried about is the wind blowing the snow into drifts. That's the next big thing they're worried about. And even after they pile it up, they're worried about these 40-mile-an-hour winds drifting things shut.

So let's hope they get some relief from the wind today.

Back to you guys.

COLLINS: Let's hope. Boy oh boy.

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: At least, you know, the sun is out and it looks pretty. But -- all right. Greg Hunter, thank you so much.

HARRIS: The secret lives of online predators, they thrive on your child's cyber world and easily hide from Internet inept parents. Now a new Web site claims it can help parents stay ahead of those -- well, they're creeps is what they are.

Our Brianna Keilar has details. She's in Washington for us.

Brianna, good morning.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

This is a new Web site that's been launched by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as you said, to help those parents out there who are trying to do what they can to protect their children from online predators. So let's take a look here.

This is the home page, netsmartz411.org. So, if you go into the library on this Web site, it deals with a lot of issues.

One of the very interesting ones, "What do online abbreviations and acronyms mean?" If you've ever seen one of your kid's e-mails or some of their text messaging, it might seem like they're talking in a language you don't understand. Well, this can help you out.

143 means "I love you." Nice, right? But there's also some other things that you should be perhaps alarmed about.

P-911, this is an alert. It means, "My parents are coming." PAW, "Parents are watching." POS, "Parent over shoulder."

Something you would definitely want to pay attention to.

So, if you do think that your child is talking to a predator online, there's a resource for that as well. And it talks about some of the information that you should gather from your child, from your computer before, perhaps, you were to report that to the authorities.

So some of the other issues, specifically some issues that deal with the Xbox -- of course, a lot of young people have an Xbox. You can look and see if the Xbox provides safety features, what are those safety features. And then another question that is answered, what -- what is -- pardon me, having a little bit of difficulty here.

HARRIS: Take your time. Take your time.

KEILAR: What is -- if you want to actually monitor what your child is talking about online on Xbox Live or RuneScape -- these are online interactive video games that are very popular.

And Tony, another sort of very interesting interactive feature on this, if there's a question you have and there is no answer on this Web site, you can e-mail an expert. You can just click a link here, send in a little e-mail with what your question is. You can even put your phone number there, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says someone will look at this question within 24 hours and they'll get back to you with an answer.

HARRIS: I love that.

Hey, Brianna, these acronyms, I've heard them described as "leet speak". How can you read what your child is actually writing, short of -- short of, you know, sort of looking over their shoulder?

KEILAR: Certainly. And you can. What you can do is you can get logs of what they're writing in chat rooms or how they're instant messaging. And the way you would get those logs is through software.

Now, some of the software is specific to exactly how they're cheating, whether it's on AOL Instant Messenger, or if it's on MSN Messenger. So that's really a question, for instance, that you could ask the experts here on this Web site.

Just say this is what my child is messaging on. What software do I need to buy?

HARRIS: That's great information. Brianna Keilar for us in Washington.

Brianna, thank you. COLLINS: Anna Nicole Smith's body, at least three people fighting over it. A Florida judge deciding who gets the "Playboy" model's remains.

Live now to CNN's Susan Candiotti at the Broward County, Florida, courthouse.

Boy, it's just -- it's so morbid, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is that, certainly, to be talking about someone's remains decomposing and how quickly a decision should be made. But for the first time today, we saw Anna Nicole Smith's mother making a public appearance here at the courthouse.

She is here to argue, through her attorneys, that she has the right, as Anna Nicole Smith's mother, to have her daughter's remains and to bring her back to Texas to bury her there. But Howard Stern's lawyers say -- Stern being the partner of Anna Nicole Smith -- no way. He is saying through his lawyers, that, I'm the executor of her will, and I'm here to say that she bought burial plots in the Bahamas and that she wishes to be buried next to her 20-year-old son, Daniel, who, in fact, was buried there in September after he died of an overdose.

And then Stern's attorneys made a direct attack, you could say, against Smith's mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTA BARTH, ATTORNEY FOR STERN: I have people that loved her, that stood by her, that were actually there, that actually knew her. And the woman sitting across from me has not laid eyes on that young lady since 1995. She's never laid eyes on her granddaughter. And she sits here today to take her to Texas and put her in the ground all alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, there is a decidedly different tone in the hearing today before probate Judge Seidlin -- Larry Seidlin. Yesterday, you might recall, he referred to Anna Nicole Smith as a baby on a slab in a very cold, cold place and referred to her remains as "it".

And commentators last night on television took issue with that, even the Broward County medical examiner, who said perhaps that was a poor choice of words. Well, today the judge is taking a different approach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE LARRY SEIDLIN, BROWARD COUNTY PROBATE COURT: We have a body of Mrs. Smith that we want to show respect and dignity to. And that's where we're going to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your honor, I'd like to just provide you with...

SEIDLIN: I don't want to get into -- stay with me on this. I'm positive, I stay positive. And we're all going to stay positive. I'm not going to get into he said-she said.

We're going to proceed and we're going to get a lot accomplished. Unfortunately, we're going -- we're going to unravel this thing. And that's what I'm going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: We counted him saying "dignity" and "respect" at least six times so far this morning.

And, of course, there's another issue at play here, and that has to do with DNA samples from Ms. Smith. Her ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, out of California, wants to argue that he would like to take a fresh sample of DNA from her.

He claims that he is the father of her infant daughter, Dannielynn, who remains in the Bahamas, staying there under court order. And currently on the stand, the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office is there. He is going to talk about the DNA samples and how well they are being preserved and whether new samples need to be taken.

The judge will issue a ruling on that as well on this very windy day in Ft. Lauderdale.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: Everybody hoping that this will wrap up quickly.

CNN's Susan Candiotti.

Thanks, Susan.

HARRIS: Sophisticated weapons first deployed in Iraq, now armed as a political weapon. The claims against Iran through the eyes of an expert. He joins us in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: NATO gearing up for an offensive this spring. President Bush vowing to bring down the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. The other war, in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: A football flap over a Border Patrol ad. Huh? The Super Bowl is over, but we will tell you about one pretty hard shot you didn't see.

Details ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Put down the knife. Back away from the peanut butter. Some batches of Peter Pan may send you to a medical Neverland. Recall, don't miss it, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: Deadly weapons in Iraq, the White House says they come from Iran. But the claim is being met with some skepticism and some backpedaling now.

So let's talk to a weapons expert. David Kay served as the chief weapons inspector for both the United Nations and the United States. He has spent many years focusing on Iraq. He joins us now from our Washington bureau.

Mr. Kay, thanks for being with us.

DAVID KAY, FMR. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning, Heidi.

COLLINS: Good morning.

I want to talk about the Quds force. It seems like there's a lot to be learned about this organization and who they take orders from.

In specific, yesterday we heard the president talking about the weapons in Iraq that are apparently harming U.S. forces because of the Quds force. Listen to this, if you would. A question for you when it's finished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We know they're provided by the Quds force. We know the Quds force is a part of the Iranian government. I don't think we know who picked up the phone and said to the Quds force go do this, but we know it's a vital part of the Iranian government. What matters is, is that we're responding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Mr. Kay, is it your understanding, as many people have said, that the Quds forces do get their orders from the highest levels of the Iranian government?

KAY: I think that's true, generally accepted as true. The Quds force is a very secretive force. It's really the covert -- both the operational arm, as well as an intelligence-gathering arm of the Iranian government. And it operates outside of Iran, largely.

COLLINS: So if they are getting their orders from the highest levels of the Iranian government, what does it say about these weapons that were found in Iraq?

KAY: Well, you know, there are several jumps there. Were these weapons actually supplied by the Quds force?

Anyone who has spent any time in Iran or Iraq, either side of that border, realizes that smuggling goes on all the time. And it has throughout history.

In as early as 2003, there were both arms moving and raw materials moving from Iraq to Iran. Remember, we didn't deploy military forces of the U.S. to secure that border. And the U.S., Ambassador Bremer, abolished the Iraqi force. So it was essentially and remains today largely an open border.

COLLINS: Well, talk about that then. We talk about some of these new checkpoints and a lockdown as far as those borders go that have just now been put into place, talking about it with our correspondent on the ground, Arwa Damon, just today. What needs to be done? Will this new plan that's going into place help with that problem in specific on the Iran-Iraq border?

KAY: Well, checkpoints are great if you stick to roads. Smugglers don't usually stick to roads. So much of the heroin that moves from Afghanistan, across Iran, and often across Iraq into Western Europe, doesn't come across the major roads.

If you fly along that border, you'll see essentially Bedouin tracks, herding tracks, and smuggler -- rather well-developed smuggler routes that are used. The checkpoints are just a small start.

COLLINS: Let's go ahead and take a look, if we can one more time, at these released pictures of those weapons that the U.S. government point out saying that they are Iranian made. You see them there.

Talk to us as a former U.N. chief weapons inspector, if you would, about the process of that type of verification. It almost seems a little bit like forensics that need to be done.

KAY: Well, it is forensics. You look at the numbers. First of all, you've got to be sure -- remember, smugglers often -- well, it's not just smugglers. It's counterfeiters on the street of Washington or New York.

Every Gucci bag you see for sale, believe me, on the streets here is not made by Gucci. Smugglers do the same exact thing. So you've got to be sure it matches up with what you know.

You look for dates, you look for numbers to see if they're sequential, if there's any other way to tie it up. And most importantly, you look where you found the weapons.

COLLINS: Let's get to the crux of the issue, the overall concerns about tensions with Iran. President Bush just said yesterday that he believed the U.S. and its allies were making progress towards solving disputes with Iran and their nuclear program.

How concerned are you today about the capability of Iran's nuclear program?

KAY: I think their capability today is a long way off from what is necessary to produce nuclear weapons. It's a program that's over 18 years. And given enough time and enough money, they will eventually figure out how to do it. But we have a lot of time, and Iran is not an invulnerable state.

It's subjected and it can be subjected to even more international pressure to stop that program. So I think we've got time and it's important to move. What worried about the events of the last three days or so is the briefer in Baghdad who said these weapons were supplied as a result of the highest level decisionmaking in the Iranian government. Look, that's a cause -- if true, is a cause (INAUDIBLE).

We went to war with North Korea, bombing North Korea on the basis of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, based on a lot less evidence than that. I was really surprised by the statement. I don't think it reflects the way we thought the revitalized intelligence system was supposed to work.

COLLINS: David Kay, former U.N. chief weapons inspector.

Appreciate your insight on this one.

KAY: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Nice to see you. Thanks.

HARRIS: Kicking the Taliban out of Afghanistan. Within the last hour, President Bush talking about adding muscle to the mission. We will ask someone who spent years reporting from Afghanistan about the president's plans.

That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Put down the knife, quick, and maybe the jelly, too. Back away from the peanut butter. Some batches of Peter Pan may send you to a medical Neverland. Recall in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.

COLLINS: The bush administration back pedalling now on one big allegation against Iran.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After weeks of promising to get it right, the U.S. military got it wrong. An anonymous civilian intelligence officer in Baghdad made the explosive charge Sunday that high tech armor piercing bombs, so-called EFPs, were being smuggled into Iraq by Iran's Quds force, under direct orders from the highest levels of the Iranian government.

It took the commander-in-chief to set the record straight.

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We know they're provided by the Quds force. We know the Quds force is a part of the Iranian government. I don't think we know who picked up the phone and said to the Quds force go do this. But we know it's a vital part of the Iranian government.

MCINTYRE: The fact is the U.S. military does believe the Quds force is acting on orders from Iran's supreme leader. But that's a strong suspicion, not something the U.S. can prove, especially to a skeptical international audience.

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, U.S. ARMY: I think people want to hype this up. What we are seeing is that within Iran, weapons and munitions are being manufactured that are ending up in Iraq.

MCINTYRE: The U.S. military now says that anonymous official went beyond the intended scope of a briefing that was only supposed to show the extent of Iranian weapons in Iraq, not conclude who sent them there.

CALDWELL: The military analyst was making an inference as to where the chain of command existed for the Quds force.

MCINTYRE: But that briefer's inference was never approved or endorsed at the highest levels of the Pentagon, which still refuses to point an accusing finger at Iran's leaders.

GENERAL PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: That does not translate to that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this.

MCINTYRE (on camera): The backstory is that there was a major mixup in signals. The U.S. military in Baghdad thought it was doing a routine briefing about the threat to U.S. forces from Iranian-made weapons. While top officials here in Washington were touting the event as the definitive case against Iran. The result was an unsupported bombshell and a briefing that laid an egg.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: President Bush just within the last hour, touting successes in Afghanistan, but also telling the nation, more money and more troops are needed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm asking Congress for $11.8 billion over the next two years to help this young democracy survive. I've ordered an increase in U.S. forces in Afghanistan. We've extended the stay of 3,200 troops now in the country for four months. And we'll deploy a replacement force that will sustain this increase for the foreseeable future. The forces and funds are going to help President Karzai defeat common enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Pamela Constable has spent years covering Afghanistan for "The Washington Post." She joins us from Washington.

Pamela, great to talk to you. The president talking about more troops, more money. The Afghanistan, you know, will it make a difference?

PAMELA CONSTABLE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I certainly hope so. I think that we are facing a very fierce insurgency now in Afghanistan, along with a variety of other problems, from drug trafficking to severe poverty. And one hopes that it's not too late to resume the course of progress in that country.

HARRIS: So, Pamela, as the president was describing -- let's take a little foundation here. How many years you have you spent reporting on Afghanistan?

CONSTABLE: Well, I first went there in 1998, during the Taliban regime, and returned there repeatedly. Once the Taliban fell I moved to Afghanistan and lived there through the presidential elections in the beginning of 2005, and I've been visiting there ever since.

HARRIS: A lot of time, a lot of years on the ground. OK, great.

So has the president was describing the successes in Afghanistan -- more women in the government, more health clinics, more children in school, more freedom, was he describing the Afghanistan that you know?

CONSTABLE: He was describing the Afghanistan that has been gaining on all those areas for the past, most of the past five years. The problem has been that in the past one year, because of the resurgence of the Taliban militia, because of the increase in danger, they have been losing ground in many areas.

Schools, for example, was a great success for Afghanistan, after the advent of democracy. But in the past year, more than 300 schools have had to close down because of the insurgency. So there is slippage in many areas.

HARRIS: Why are we even talking about a resurgent Taliban? What has gone wrong here?

CONSTABLE: Many things. Many Afghans, especially in remote, rural areas, feel the government has not delivered on the promises of democracy and development. Also, there are religious issues. There are tribal issues. There is the problem of Pakistan. Many of these insurgents have gotten nourishment, and support and training in Pakistan. So there's an external, as well as an internal, source of the problem.

HARRIS: Did you expect to hear a tougher line from the president on Pakistan and the leadership in Pakistan?

CONSTABLE: Well, you know, I think a lot of private diplomacy is going on as well. I do think Pakistan feels under more pressure now from the West and from the United States, which for several years had been basically looking the other way, because Pakistan has been a strong ally in the war on terrorism. But I do think they are going to get, both publicly and privately, a message now that more needs to be done.

HARRIS: And, Pamela, finally, how poor a country is Afghanistan, all these years after the installation of the Karzai government? I think you mentioned it just a moment ago. Has this government delivered for its people?

CONSTABLE: It remains one of the poorest countries in the world, on a level with some of the poorest Sub-Saharan African countries. Progress has been made. The economy is growing fairly rapidly, but a lot of that growth is coming from drug trafficking. So a great deal still needs to be done to bring Afghanistan up to the level of even a developing nation.

HARRIS: Pamela Constable with "The Washington Post." Pamela, thanks for your time this morning.

CONSTABLE: You're very welcome.

COLLINS: The war in Iraq, the battle in Congress -- House Democrats inching toward a passage of a resolution. The measure is nonbinding, but makes quite a statement against the president's troop buildup in Iraq.

The latest from Capitol Hill, CNN's congressional correspondent, Andrea Koppel.

Andrea, yesterday, we heard the president say, forget about that nonbinding resolution, if you really want to do something, vote against the funding in Iraq.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Republicans right now are pretty much resigned to the fact, Heidi, that this resolution opposing the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq will pass when there's a vote tomorrow. There will be Republican support for that. We don't how many Republicans. Yesterday, there were 11 who crossed over and said that they were going to oppose the president's plan. There could be as many as 50.

So what Republicans are doing right now, their strategy on the floor today and tomorrow, will be to try to move forward, to have people looking ahead to what they believe is the next step in the Democrats' plan, or at least a step in the near future, and that would be to cut off funds for U.S. troops in Iraq.

HARRIS: So remind us then, Andrea, what's happening in the Senate on the Iraq resolution?

CONSTABLE: Well, as we all know, the Senate was tied up in knots last week on this procedural motion. So they were unable to get their resolution off the floor. So that's why the House was doing this today. But there was a little bit of a brouhaha this morning with Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, and Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, both of whom opposed the president's plan. But last week, if you remember that procedural motion that would have blocked the vote, well, they supported that. They essentially voted against their own resolution, or at least the procedural motion to get to their resolution.

Today, they went to the House floor, and they called on the majority leader, Harry Reid, and said, come on, we shouldn't be going on vacation next week; we should be dealing with Iraq right now. Harry Reid basically said, you could have put your money where your mouth is last week, and you didn't.

COLLINS: All right. Interesting. And we will certainly be watching all of it tomorrow.

CNN congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel, thanks.

The cold after the storm -- extremely chilly weather blanketing the East this morning. Yuck! The day after the big snow, in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: And how about this -- a football flap over a Border Patrol ad. The Super Bowl, of course, is over, but we will tell you about one particularly hard-hit, you didn't see detail, coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: The Border Patrol is somewhat upset with the National Football League. The NFL turned down an ad from the agency for its Super Bowl program.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve has details. .

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Department of Homeland Security scanned every truck making a delivery to Super Bowl XVI. Its K-9 team sniffed for bombs. Its helicopters helped police the skies.

But when one of its agencies, the Border Patrol, tried to place a recruiting ad in the official Super Bowl program, the National Football League said, no way.

"It was a little too hard-hitting for our fans," says an NFL spokesman. "We weren't comfortable with some of the language."

The ad copy says Border Patrol agents "... prevent the entry of terrorists and their weapons into the United States, detect and prevent the unlawful entry of documented aliens, and apprehend violators of our immigration laws..."

In 2005, the NFL held a regular-season game in Mexico City, part of an effort to cultivate an Hispanic audience. Some believe the Border Patrol ad was rejected because it could undercut that effort.

T.J. BONNER, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL: They're courting the Latino audience, but they're ignoring the fact that, for example, the Border Patrol is comprised 40 percent Latinos, American citizens. Most American citizens, regardless of their race, regardless of their ethnicity, support the Border Patrol and support secure borders

MESERVE: The Border Patrol ad has been accepted to run in programs for the NBA all-star game, the NCAA Final 4, and the professional bull riding magazine. Homeland Security says it's grateful to those organization for helping them recruit front-line personnel to help secure the nation's borders.

Reaction to rejection by the NFL? "We are disappointed," says a DHS spokesman.

(no camera): When it comes to issues like immigration, the NFL says, we don't take positions, we sit on the 50 yard line.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" coming up at the top of the hour, about 12 minutes from now.

Jim Clancy standing by with a preview -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you and to Heidi there. You know, we've got President Bush's speech today, putting the emphasis back on Afghanistan, saying he's going to send more troops. We're going to talk with Afghanistan's ambassador to get some reaction on what the plan is, and about that prediction of more violence.

As the men who carried out Spain's deadly train bombing go to trial -- that was back in 2004 -- killed hundreds, wounded more than 1,000, the people of Spain pause and wonder how it happened to them.

Plus, remember London of the 1960s, Carnaby Street, what a trendy place it used to be? Well, some say it's coming back. London is back in the swing of things.

Heidi and Tony, all that and more coming up at the top of the hour.

HARRIS: All right, Jim, thank you.

COLLINS: Thanks, Jim. We'll be watching.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

COLLINS: Meanwhile, onto some other stories now, NATO gearing up for an offensive this spring. We've been talking about it today, and President Bush vowing to bring down Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. The other war, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com