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Death Toll Rising in Gaza; Panetta Causing Controversy; Citgo Cancels Oil Donations
Aired January 06, 2009 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Here I am. Where do I sit? Roland Burris arrives in Washington. The Illinois Senate seat, will he get to sit down or not?
Beyond the smoke, the sirens, the rubble. What's happening to the children of Gaza, caught between Hamas and Israel.
And here's a creative way for a school system to raise money. Ask the teachers to give their raises back. Why not? They make enough money anyway, right?
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We're going to start off with nine new senators, 54 new representatives and all the attention goes to the guy who doesn't get in. That would be Roland Burris. The one-time Illinois attorney general who tried and failed to claim Barack Obama's old Senate seat on a cold and rainy morning at the U.S. Capitol.
It's day one of the 111th Congress, minus Burris, who was turned away because he didn't have the right signatures on his certificate of appointment. There is also the fact that his appointment came from a governor who allegedly was scheming to sell it.
Brianna Keilar it is a paperwork problem for Burris and the state of Illinois, and the U.S. Senate. But it's politics, too, right?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, no, it certainly is. Because Democrats do not want to seat someone who was appointed by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich accused of selling this very Senate seat.
There are the cone blocking their very own fellow Democrat, Roland Burris, from taking the seat. Basically what happened today, Burris came, he showed up. There was a whole mess of reporters around him. He came into the capitol, he presented his credential, and he was turned away, as he was yesterday, but this time, in person, because his credential was incomplete. He didn't have the signature of the secretary of state of Illinois, who also doesn't want to sign this credential for the same reason stated by Senate Democrats here.
But just to give you the sense of the civility of the Senate Democrats -- while blocking him -- are trying to carry across. Just a couple of things, they really don't want to appear to be mean spirited, especially in this controversy, where race has now become an issue, because Burris would be the only African-American Senator. Burris was actually met by the sergeant at arms, Terry Gainer, and escorted into the capital. And as well, I just want to show you a little bit of Harry Reid's opening statement. This is the opening statement of the 111th Congress by Harry Reid, the most powerful Democrat in the Senate. And it mentions Burris.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID, (D) MAJORITY LEADER: The court case in Illinois is pending to determine the Secretary of State Jesse White is obligated to sign this certification. We're waiting that court decision. If Mr. Burris takes possession of valid credential, the Senate will proceed in a manner that is respectful to Mr. Burris, while ensuring there's no cloud of doubt over the appointment to fill this seat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: There's a meeting between Harry Reid and Dick Durbin, the top two Democrats in the Senate, with Mr. Burris tomorrow. Mr. Burris' lawyer today saying there's two routes they can take here, either to work things out with these Senate Democratic leaders, or to file a lawsuit in federal district court, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, with all the drama going on, there's also the pomp and circumstance, Brianna. We got video just in, Nancy Pelosi being sworn into the 111th Congress. Explain to our viewers why this happened each time around.
KEILAR: Well, this is what happens every Congress. You're seeing there, right behind Nancy Pelosi, that is Jon Boehner, he's the top Republican in the House, so she has been sworn in again. He is actually the one who swore her in, as the top Republican. And this scene right here, Kyra, this is what today is all about, normally. These kind of moments of, I guess kind of warm and fuzzy moments. Especially for Democrats who want to be patting themselves on the back for increasing the majority in the House and Senate, at the same time that an incoming president is a Democrat. That's what they want to be focused on.
The top story here today, again, Roland Burris. This is not exactly the scene that people are focusing on, what you are seeing right here, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: That's true. We just want to be fair and get it all in.
KEILAR: Yeah.
PHILLIPS: Brianna Keilar, thanks a lot.
We're going to talk more about the new business facing the new Congress with the new leadership of the Senate Small Business Committee. For the first time both the chair and the ranking minority members are women. And both Mary Landrieu and Olympia Snowe will join me live at quarter past the hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The 11th day of the conflict in Gaza has Israel coming under fire, again, for an attack on a school. And Israeli official says that militants had fired from the courtyard of the school, which was being used as a shelter for civilians. He says the building also was being used to store weapons, and that's why Israel shelled the area. The U.N., along with Palestinian medics, say at least 30 people were killed in that attack, many of them children. The U.N. and Palestinian officials now count nearly 600 Palestinians killed since the conflict began 11 days ago; 10 Israelis reported dead.
Israel's stated goal of bringing Hamas to heel hasn't worked yet, and the militants are still firing rockets. Caught in the middle, civilians, children, dying by the hour. How long can Israel keep up the strategy? CNN's Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Israel's withering assault against Hamas in Gaza does not stop. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian sources. They say at least 100 women and children have been killed and nearly 2,500 Palestinian civilians have been wounded. Israel says it's trying to protect civilians, but the war is necessary, and insists it's trying to target only Hamas.
MARK REGEV, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: We want an end to those deadly rockets coming in from Gaza launched by Hamas. We want our people protected.
STARR: But is this raging conflict giving Israel what it wants?
LT. COL. JOHN NAGL, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Raw military power is never enough when you're fighting an irregular war.
STARR: Retired Lt. Colonel John Nagl, a protege of General David Petraeus, helped write the U.S. army's book on fighting insurgents. Nagl says the lesson of Iraq, that eventually you have to talk to at least some of your enemies, a lesson Israel cannot ignore.
NAGL: Israel is going to have to find some way to work with the majority of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
STARR: Nagl says Israel learned from its failed 2006 war in southern Lebanon, which relied heavily on air attacks to try to quash Hezbollah.
NAGL: They've done that far more effectively this time than they did in 2006. They are starting to block off the different sectors of Gaza. They're making it harder for Hamas to move forces and move reinforcements and weapons from one part of Gaza to another.
STARR (on camera): Israel may succeed in reducing the number of rockets that Hamas can fire. But it is the pictures of civilian casualties, and dire humanitarian crisis, that reverberate around the world and are putting pressure on both sides to take the next difficult step, a political settlement. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Let's go now to CNN's Paula Hancocks. She's on Israel's border with Gaza.
Paula the big talk today is about the strike on that school. Israel is saying militants were actually firing from within that school.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT": That's right, Kyra. Yes, according to the U.N. Rights and Works agency, which is the U.N. agency in Gaza, there have been dozens of people killed in this latest attack.
John Ging, the director UNRWA said that three artillery shells landed just outside the school where 350 people were sheltering inside. He says that he's not casting blame, he's not making judgments, he's trying to deal with the consequences and he wants accountability for what has happened.
But from the Israeli side, the military says that they did come under mortar fire from positions either inside the school, or just behind the school. And so they returned fire. They said that was an initial investigation. And Israel citing previous occasions when Hamas has used children and its own Palestinian people in Gaza as human shields.
But certainly John Ging, the head of UNRWA, is calling for an immediate cease-fire, saying things on the ground are dire. The fact is, everyone knows that eventually there will be a cease-fire, so why not now before more people are killed, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Paula, thanks so much.
Every day brings a whole new string of developments. Josh Levs joining me now with the big picture, literally.
Josh, could you show us some of those key locations that we should probably know about today?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. We are going to zoom in on this here. I want to trace you through the bigger picture, where things stand. A lot of what we've been seeing lately is focusing on Gaza City, inside the Gaza Strip. Keep in mind, this small area, only twice the size of Washington.
Gaza City, now, a lot of the Hamas militants have used northern Gaza, areas around Gaza City, sometimes in Gaza City, to launch rockets. So, one thing that Israel has been trying to do is cut off this section of Gaza from southern Gaza, making it a lot tougher for Hamas to get these new supplies of rockets up to the area.
That is why, for example, we have some video here of some of the violence we've been seeing in Gaza City. Keep in mind, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live in that area. It's one of the most populous areas in the strip of Gaza.
But I also want to tell you that the fight is not limited to that area. Eyewitnesses, for example, are reporting that troops, Israeli tanks, have moved into this area further south in Gaza, called Khan Yunis. Also, there have been air strikes in that area. We have some video now of some people who were taken to a hospital there, wounded Palestinians, following an air strike in Khan Yunis.
Do we not have that? OK. If we don't -- there you go. That's it. They were taken to an ambulance in Khan Yunis. So, what we're seeing there, Kyra, is that it has extended, it shows ground troops and air strikes are reaching more areas.
PHILLIPS: So, we're hearing also, about these new rocket attacks by Hamas, into Israel. Could you show us those locations?
LEVS: Sure. Yes, they are reaching farther into Israel. Let's do this. We're going to zoom northward now, out of the Gaza Strip, up into Israel. Ashdod is one of the cities we've been hearing about, a kindergarten was there, last night it was hit.
But there is something even farther I want to show you now. Let's zoom right over to Gadara, which is farther out, this is it, and I have this here; 25 miles from Gaza. We have some video there, after a rocket hit Gadara. This is very significant, Kyra, because Israel is saying this is the farthest a Hamas rocket has reached into Israel ever. Not just in the last few days, ever.
So, factually, what we are seeing is that on both sides of this conflict now, more and more civilians are in the potential cross fire and certainly in danger, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Josh, appreciate it. We'll continue to follow all of those locations with you.
Also straight ahead, big news on small business. A Senate panel makes history in the new Congress. We'll meet the women who are making it happen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: There is outrage in Oakland, California, over a fatal police shooting of a 22-year-old father early New Year's Day. An attorney for the victim's family says a transit agency police officer intentionally shot Oscar Grant at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station. Officers had gone to the station to check reports of a fight on a train.
A friend who says he was with the victim says Grant pleaded with officers not to hurt him and yelled, I've got a four-year-old daughter. The family says it will sue the agency for $25 million. Law enforcement officials are asking for patience as they investigate the shooting. The BART police chief says the investigation will be unbiased, thorough and detailed. The district attorney's office also is investigating.
Powerful storms in the Southeast, snow and ice in other parts of the country. Chad Myers tracking it all for us.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
PHILLIPS: Surprising choice for the new head of the CIA. We're going to speak live with Bob Barr and Robert Baer about President- Elect Obama's nomination of Leon Panetta to lead the spy agency. Both men worked for the CIA.
Big news on small business; a Senate panel makes history in the new Congress. We're going to meet the women who are making it happen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: History is about to be made at the Colorado state house. For the first time, two African-Americans will preside over both houses of the state legislature, in the same session. Terrance Carroll is the incoming house speaker and Peter Roth will take over as president of the senate of the president. Colorado's black population is just 4 percent, by the way. And the two lawmakers are the only black members of their respective chambers.
A barrier also falls on Capitol Hill, for the first time in the history of the U.S. Senate a committee chair and ranking minority member are both women, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. And I'm joined now by incoming Chairwoman Mary Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, and ranking Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine.
Great to see you both.
SEN. MARY LANDRIEU, (D-LA), CHAIRWOMAN, SMALL BUSINESS CMTE.: Thank you.
SEN. OLYMPIA SNOWE, (R-ME), RANKING REPUBLICAN, SMALL BUSINESS CMTE.:
PHILLIPS: OK, we've got a Republican and a Democrat. We've got two strong feisty women. Ladies, can you get along?
(LAUGHTER)
LANDRIEU: Absolutely. Olympia and I have worked so well together. Actually, I've had the great pleasure of serving on the committee as Senator Snowe chaired it for many years and now looking forward to working with her as my ranking member.
PHILLIPS: Olympia...
SNOWE: I -- go ahead.
PHILLIPS: No, Senator Snowe?
SNOWE: Oh, we got along great. We worked on so many issues in spite of all the partisanship over the years in the Senate. Mary and I have worked together on so many issues, including the Small Business. I'm delighted that she's going to be a great partner, great chair on the committee.
PHILLIPS: OK, you guys are the perfect politicians. It's all good, you're smiling. Warm and fuzzy. Now, let's talk about promoting women and promoting women in small business. I mean, this definitely was not a priority, shall we say, in the Bush administration. So let's talk about how you ladies are going to make things different. Senator Landrieu?
LANDRIEU: First of all, you're correct. It wasn't a priority in the past administration, but it's always been a priority to Senator Snowe, and to me. We have advocated as members of the committee for it. We would like to see the government focus on the expansion of women-owned and minority-owned businesses, and to provide the kind of atmosphere where businesses can grow.
But most importantly we want to see a new focus on small business, I think, becoming a key engine for the economic recovery of the nation and respecting the fact that most jobs in the country are created by very small businesses. Not the ones you've been hearing about on Wall Street and others. So we're going to follow, you know, I'm going to follow a lot of what Senator Snowe has set out as a former chair in that focus.
PHILLIPS: And so Senator Snowe, give me an example or two about what you two plan to do immediately. Because as you know, we are struggling right now in this economy. And I know both of you think building up small business, and you know, women have an incredible sense of business and leadership. We see it through you two, so tell me what step one is.
SNOWE: Well, what's really interesting about all of this is both Mary, as chair, and myself as ranking, including President-Elect Barack Obama's selection of the administrator, as a fellow Mainer, and woman, for the Small Business Administration, I think that the key issue here, as Mary has indicated, is we've got to elevate the profile of Small Business Administration. We'd like to see it as a Cabinet level position, as it was during the Clinton administration.
It's appropriate that women will be leading the committee, as well as the SBA, because women are the fastest-growing segment of our economy, in terms of entrepreneurship. They employ more than 13 million Americans and generate $1.9 trillion in revenues. So we have got to maximize their participation at a time when we're trying to revitalize this economy.
We -- unfortunately, in the last eight years, this agency has been reduced the most of any federal agency by more than 27 percent, it has been marginalized, and underestimated, at a time which we could leverage, with little resources, I think, more jobs. Because it is the area in which it creates the jobs in this economy. It makes no sense to be minimizing the role that SBA and small businesses play in this economic recovery.
PHILLIPS: Which leads me to my next question. We need a secretary of Commerce. Bill Richardson, that was a bit of a surprise for folks. Senator Landrieu, have you and Senator Snowe talked about who you would like to see as secretary of Commerce?
LANDRIEU: We have not. But we probably will. We've been talking but we'll meet formally tomorrow, and visit about the agenda - or Thursday to visit about the agenda for the committee. But as you can tell, we've worked together now for a number of years on this subject and have a passion for expanding small business and for the federal government to play a more aggressive role in helping.
Anyway, cutting taxes where we can, reducing paperwork for small businesses, really focusing on, as Olympia said, leveraging the power of small business to help get this economy moving again. It's something that both she and I are going to bring to the president- elect, for the stimulus package, and see some things we can get focused as the Congress starts focusing on that important issue.
PHILLIPS: Senator Snowe, any names out there for Commerce secretary that could be interesting?
SNOWE: Well, you know, I'll leave that to President-Elect Obama. Suffice it to say that Commerce, as well as Small Business Administration, play key roles in job creation. We have to figure out what are the jobs of the 21st century. And small business is going to be front and center, as it has been, and yet it has been overlooked and minimized. We have to elevate it. They create two-thirds of all the net new jobs in America. Where to look but small business, that would be true in Congress and it will be true in the Small Business Administration, and true for the country.
PHILLIPS: I know you two have two specific heroes, Mary Landrieu, knowing you from New Orleans, Lindy Boggs, has been a tremendous influence for you. Senator Snowe, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, has been a tremendous role model. I see you two kind of stepping into those roles and moving forward and doing great things, just like those women did.
LANDRIEU: We're very fortunate to have wonderful mentors. We're going to be great partners and really focus on what's good for this country and particularly focus on what small business can do. Thank you so much.
PHILLIPS: Thank you, Senators.
SNOWE: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Economists recently confirmed what we already knew, that we were in the throes of recession through all of 2008. And those tough times forced many consumers to do the previously unthinkable, file for bankruptcy. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with more.
Hey, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.
Well, 2008, as we all know, was a terrible year economically, with about 2 million jobs lost, sliding home values, and tumbling stock prices. As a result, consumer bankruptcies jumped by nearly a third last year.
The American Bankruptcy Institute says overall consumer filings rose to more than 1 million in 2008, compared to just over 800,000 the prior year. The major factor in this surge? The difficult economic conditions, of course. But it also came thanks to an improved understanding of a key piece of bankruptcy legislation. You may recall that back in '05 Congress made it harder for individuals to file for Chapter 7 protection, because of an increase in the fees attached to the filing. That was the perception anyway. But today consumers seem to have a better grasp of that law which allows a fresh financial start.
We would like to see a fresh financial start on Wall Street. And we're seeing some gains. Modest gains despite a series of weak economic reports out today. And minutes from the last historic Federal Reserve meeting, those minutes came out at the top of the hour, that show the central bank members believe the recession could drag through this entire year with unemployment rising significantly, even into next year.
Still, the Dow industrials are gaining 77 points. The Nasdaq is up 28 points. Kyra, one of the things you have to remember, unemployment, or job cuts are a lagging indicator of the economy, where the stock market is a leading indicator. So stock market looks forward. It's been behaving pretty well lately. At least that's what some bulls, some optimists would like to believe.
PHILLIPS: Let's not jinx it. Yes, exactly. All right. Thanks, Susan.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: Fingers crossed.
He's President-Elect Obama's pick for top spy, but is Leon Panetta the right guy at the right time for the CIA? We're going to talk with a former spy and a former CIA analyst.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. And you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, it's just a few moments after 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. Here's some of the stories we're working on for you right now.
The death toll in Gaza continues to rise. The Israeli military attacks hit the U.N. school building, a place for refuge for hundreds of Palestinians, dozens of people many of them children killed.
High drama on Capitol Hill as Congress gets back to work. Former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris turned away when he tried to claim Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat. Senate leaders say that Burris doesn't have the need credentials to fill it.
And five former Blackwater guards due in federal court this hour. They're facing manslaughter charges in what prosecutors describe as a gruesome attack on Iraqi men and women and children in 2007. The guards say they were attacked and defended themselves.
Critics are questioning President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Leon Panetta as head of the CIA. Panetta has a wealth of government experience, including White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration.
But he's not an intelligence expert. Even some Democrats are raising eyebrows. The incoming intelligence chairwoman in the Senate, Diane Feinstein, is complaining about Panetta's lack of intel experience.
And she says the president-elect did not consult her about the choice.
So what are the pros and cons with the Panetta pick? Joining us now, two men who have worked for the CIA, former presidential candidate and Georgia Congressman Bob Barr.
Also in Berkeley, California, Robert Baer, Time.com's intelligence columnist and author of "The Devil We Know: A Book About Iran."
Gentlemen, good to have you both.
(CROSSTALK)
All right. Bob Barr, why don't we start with you. If you look at previous heads of the CIA, ones that were successful, did they all have inside experience, intelligence experience?
BOB BARR, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not all of them. John McCone, for example, under presidents Kennedy and Johnson, did not have intelligence background, but actually turned out to be one of -- you know, the consensus, the best DCIs, directors of central intelligence.
But if you look back over the broad range of fulfilling that key position, going back to the immediate post-world war II days, one would have to conclude that particularly where you have a time where the Central Intelligence Agency is under fire and morale is low, and right now it's probably never been lower, except perhaps early in the Carter administration, then I think most people would agree that having the bureaucratic skills that Mr. Panetta clearly brings and budgetary skills that he has, which are very important, need to have, and would be wasted if he were not to have, as he does not have intelligence background.
Morale is so bad at the agency, you need someone really is steeped and understands that sort of background, like a Jane Harman, for example.
Somebody that has skills on the Hill, that has political skills. But also has background through her many, many years of service on the intelligence committee in the House, and intelligence background and feel for it.
PHILLIPS: Bob Baer, what do you think? I mean, is it someone that knows how to deal with political manipulation and back door deals and schmoozing?
Is that more important than somebody that has intelligence experience?
ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Well, I agree with half of with what Bob Barr says.
We need somebody in that office with political clout. And the reason I like Panetta is, that he will be able to stand up to the State Department and Defense Department. The CIA indeed is on the ropes. It needs a political advocate, even at the expense of expertise.
Now, it's going to depend what Panetta does once he gets in. But the CIA drastically needs help. It needs reform. And a lower level officer, even some a (ph) Congressman is not going to have the clout of somebody like Leon Panetta.
PHILLIPS: So, Bob Barr, you know, you ran for president. You heard all the political speeches. You heard what Obama said he really wanted to put time and money and effort into, a lot of it covert operations in various countries, specifically Afghanistan.
So, does this make sense to pick Leon Panetta?
BARR: If you look at it from that standpoint, then no, it does not make sense.
Running covert operations, particularly with all of the restrictions that now have been placed on intelligence over the years, the very fine line, the dissatisfaction, including many from within the agency with regard to the recent practices of torture and very questionable counterinterrogation techniques.
You know, really, I think, require, if that is going to be as it should be, I suppose, an important element in the new DCI, that is somebody that really understands covert operations inside and out.
Leon Panetta clearly does not have that. And you cannot -- you don't have time for on-the-job training in that area.
PHILLIPS: Bob Baer, you write in one of your recent articles, move the CIA out of Washington. Get it away from the politicians, get the CIA out of covert action once and for all, and pay CIA employees what they deserve for the hard work demanded of them.
All right, is that just pie in the sky or are you serious?
BAER: I'm absolutely serious. I mean, we should get out of covert operations. They've absolutely been a disaster for the CIA going back to its beginnings. Because once you start combining some sort of political action with collecting intelligence, you pollute the intelligence. Someone else should be doing covert action. Let the Pentagon do it, let the State Department create a new agency.
But the CIA is an objective observer of the truth and should tell the president the truth. Covert action just messes things up.
And every time a CIA employee is called down to the White House, as we saw before the Iraqi war, the intelligence gets manipulated. And that is what we don't want to do. And that is pie in the sky.
I don't see Obama expending the political capital now to reform the CIA. But if he could, that's what I would do.
PHILLIPS: That's an interesting point, Bob Barr. What do you think?
BARR: It's very interesting, and it's been raised a number of times, splitting it up.
It's like when I first went into the Congress 12 or 14, whatever number of years ago it was, there was a lot of talk about, you know, taking ATF and putting it under the FBI and so forth.
People constantly want to shuffle all of these organizational entities around, split them, put them back together, split them a different way and put them back a different way.
The fact of the matter is though, if you were to completely split covert action from intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination, than even more so in the past the right hand would not know what the left hand is doing. And that would be extremely dangerous.
PHILLIPS: Well, and Bob Baer, when you think about the importance of intelligence, when it came to the war in Iraq, it was about, there was intelligence, there was intelligence.
Well, there really wasn't proper intelligence, and the CIA wasn't really involved in that at all, it was sort of the Bush administration deciding, OK, this is what we're going to use to go into war.
BAER: Well, it was the White House cherry picking intelligence. If you'd left the CIA and the operators and the analysts alone, they would say, listen, we don't know enough about his weapons of mass destruction to start a preemptive war. We'll get back to it.
But the way it worked out Dick Cheney came down to the CIA, and said, listen, I want your best information. Not your best, but any information that supports the case for war.
And that's why the CIA is in trouble. It's politicized, not just because it's incompetent, it's politicized and that's what we have to change.
PHILLIPS: Kind of seems like it makes sense that if someone from the outside, totally separate from anybody who's been inside and been there for a number of years. And if indeed, I mean, do you feel that it's completely politicized?
BARR: Under this administration, it has been politicized to probably the greatest extent ever. And that's saying a lot. Given the fact it was politicized so heavily under President Nixon and gave rise to many of the problems that he faced with Watergate and his eventual resignation.
It was -- it has been very politicized. And it's under this administration. And it takes a lot of time to rebuild that. And a director coming in, without that sort of deep understanding of intelligence, without coming into an agency where, you know, there's some feeling of sympatico with him or whatnot, there's an alienation there.
You know, despite his people skills which are tremendous, Leon Panetta is going to be at a severe disadvantage in beginning to rebuild that morale.
PHILLIPS: Bob Barr and Bob Baer, I'm glad I got all the BBs right because I was worried about getting that mixed up.
Thank you, gentlemen, very much. Great discussion.
And Robert Baer is going to join Rick Sanchez in the next hour CNN NEWSROOM with more on the choice of Leon Panetta.
We know that selling a house isn't easy right now. But a creative Texan has found incentive or an inventive incentive to sweeten the deal.
We'll tell you about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A mother wakes up from a nightmare to discover it's real. What caused her baby's death, and why was the body apparently thrown out in the trash? The latest on a very tragic story, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, now the stories today that made us cringe, even angry. Listen to this one.
A young mother in New Jersey is pretty heart broken right now, and she's demanding and deserving some answers.
Kalein Moore gave birth to a son last month at Christ's Hospital in Jersey City. She says that her baby died minutes after birth but hasn't been told the cause.
So, officials at the hospital, said that the baby was stillborn and placed in the hospital morgue. However, at some point, the baby apparently was thrown out with the trash. The hospital says it doesn't know how that could have happened, and police are searching garbage dumps in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The mother, as you can imagine, is distraught, saying that she doesn't know if she'll ever get a chance to bury her baby.
And here's outrage story number two. Public school teachers, they shape the minds and futures of our youth. And they make peanuts compared to doctors and lawyers.
And now listen to this, school officials in Georgia, in Georgia's Fayette County, are asking teachers to voluntarily give up their raises that they got in the spring. That raise, by the way, that's in question, two and a half percent.
Officials in the metro Atlanta counties say if all the systems, 1,800 teachers, returned the money, that it would generate $4 million. Officials say it's help that they need to help the schools stay afloat. Well, here's my suggestion. Give the teachers a break and let them keep the raise.
Rick Sanchez, what are you working on back there?
Hopefully you're going to tell this story, too. Is that just brutal to ask teachers to give back a two and a half percent raise?
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Well, not to mention what's going on right now in Washington; where they're thinking about actually having teachers say, you know what, you only get paid according to how well you work.
Which some are saying is not a bad idea. But let me tell you about this also, this is interesting.
It's one of the most amazing pieces of video you'll ever see. This has happened in the Bay area out there, Oakland and San Francisco.
A police officer comes across a scene, at a subway station, and he sees two people in a fight. He tries to break them up. But then in the middle of it, and you'll see this on tape, he takes out his gun and shoots the guy. And the guy dies.
There's a lot of questions. We're going to bring Mike Brooks into this, and let you see the report and actually see the video for yourself.
Did he think that he was reaching for his taser gun or stun gun instead of his gun? Did he change them and put them in the wrong place?
It's a fascinating story. Obviously the police department is now going to have to answer a whole lot of questions. And you'll also see democracy in action during our show. Because the 111th Congress will be sworn in live on the air.
The Senate was sworn in earlier today by Dick Cheney. It's interesting to watch. Our system is perfect and imperfect at the same time. And when it comes to the Burris thing that happened earlier today, it seemed rather imperfect, didn't it.
PHILLIPS: Pretty interesting. Wouldn't even let him on the Senate floor. Does he need the signature or not need a signature. Can he negotiate, can he not negotiate? Is he the senator or not the senator.
SANCHEZ: What did Dana call it, a madhouse?
PHILLIPS: It's always a madhouse. Kind of like our newsroom.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
PHILLIPS: See you in a little bit, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Thanks.
PHILLIPS: Following up on a story that we told you about yesterday, people struggling to pay their heating bills this winter has one less to turn for help.
CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our Energy Fix from New York.
Hey, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey there, Kyra. Yes.
We told you about this on your show yesterday. Some more details from some families dealing with this. Some sound to bring to you, here are the facts.
The oil giant Citgo suspending its free heating oil for low- income residents citing falling oil prices coupled with the global economic crisis.
Back in 2007, this company donated $100 million worth of heating oil to some 200,000 households across more than 20 states. But some families who are counting on that help this winter say now they're not sure quite what to do. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICIA CONWAY, FUEL ASSISTANCE RECIPIENT: My mind was churning, trying to think about where we could get the money. Because we are in a fixed income. We live from Social Security check to check.
RICHARD CONWAY, FUEL ASSISTANCE RECIPIENT: We were feeling pretty that we were getting by with the help of the assistance, it was helping a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: The free oil program that started in 2005, it was in partnership with a nonprofit group called Citizens Energy. That group says it will continue to run some other programs to help folks out this winter.
There is also the low-income home energy assistance program. That is a federal program. It's implemented at the state level. Look at all the information you need to be able to contact them for some help.
We want to mention this free oil program has been extremely controversial. As we mentioned yesterday, Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan government, the President Hugo Chavez some say was using it as a propaganda tool as he battled the U.S. and Bush.
Now former Congressman Joe Kennedy, who founded this nonprofit we told you about, Citizens Energy, says he was forced to turn to other countries like Venezuela for help.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH KENNEDY, CHAIRMAN, CITIZENS ENERGY: I mean, what about U.S. oil companies? How come I can't get one barrel of oil from one U.S. oil company? Not one. Provides us with a gallon. What are they doing with all this money?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Kyra, keep in mind, this is after the year 2008 when the big oil companies, Exxon Mobile namely, made record profits, unheard of in this history company, of this country. We called the American Petroleum Institute for a response. It had no comment.
We'll keep on this story. We'll find out if any U.S. oil companies jump onboard.
Kyra --
PHILLIPS: All right, Poppy, thanks.
When Barack Obama becomes president, he'll be cruising in a fancy new ride. We're going to check out the options package.
Chad myers --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Chad Myers, what's happening on the weather front?
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: President-elect Barack Obama is getting a sweet new ride for Inauguration Day, a souped-up Caddie that's nicknamed The Beast. And as our Jeanne Meserve explains, it's part of a motorcade makeover.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Secret Service agents call the presidential limousine The Beast. And if spy photos are any indication, President Obama's new ride lives up to the name.
KEN LUCCI, PRESIDENTIAL LIMOUSINE OWNER: It's a rolling tank with windows.
MESERVE: At the turn of the last century when President McKinley was inaugurated, he relied on an entirely different horsepower. President Harding's inaugural parade in 1920 was the first to use a car. President Franklin Roosevelt used the first bulletproof ride, one seized from mobster Al Capone. President Johnson's limo was armored and enclosed, a byproduct of the Kennedy assassination. Ken Lucci owns a limo used by presidents Ford and Carter.
LUCCI: This is a 1975.
MESERVE: Though the doors and undercarriage are armored, it seems quaint next to the high-tech limousine President Obama will use.
(on camera): I like this. No campaign, no election, instant president. Great.
(voice over): Lucci notes the new limo's windows are smaller to make it less vulnerable. Some of the body appears to be built of a different material. He speculates it's a tougher composite. Lucci says rubber gaskets could protect against chemical weapons and guesses the holes in the door are a mechanism to lock it like a bank vault.
LUCCI: That door probably weighs as much as a 757's aircraft door. And the inside of that cab is as sealed as a jet plane.
MESERVE (on camera): And that may surprise Obama, says Joe Funk, a former Secret Service agent who drove President Clinton's limo.
JOE FUNK, U.S. SECRET SERVICE (RET.): It's a cocoon. And the everyday noises will be gone. And he will be totally isolated in this protective envelope.
MESERVE: When Ken Lucci bought this limousine, he removed the bulletproof glass. Here's a piece of it. You can see it's about 1.5 to 2 inches thick. A number of pieces of safety glass sandwiched together, and it is very heavy. Lucci says just taking out this glass reduced the weight of this vehicle by about 6,000 pounds.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Clearwater, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: The presidency. You go in looking like Brad Pitt and come out looking like Wilfred Brimley. Who is it about that Oval Office that seems to make time go by twice as fast on your body?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Barack Obama will be 47 years old when he takes the oath of office this month. And at the end of his first term he will be 55. Now, before you claim our math's way off, remember, we're talking president's years. CNN's Alina Cho explains how the office can take your youth away.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barack Obama is about to become leader of the free world. But that job comes with a hefty price.
DR. MICHAEL ROIZEN, CLEVELAND CLINIC: The typical person who lives one year, ages one year. The typical president ages two years for every year they're in office.
CHO: Two years for every year as president? Dr. Michael Roizen, bestselling author, has studied the relationship between stress and aging, particularly in presidents.
ROIZEN: You're alone and you're relatively isolated. So you don't see any poker games in the White House. Everything is formal. Everything is on the record.
CHO: Take Bill Clinton. Good habit, running. Bad one, fast food. One thing that changed? The stress. And eight years later it showed.
Despite 9/11, Roizen says George W. Bush fared well during his first term, but made up for it in his second. A troubled war and economy, bad poll numbers have taken a toll. Yet some say gray hair or not, Bush is nothing, if not fit.
DAVID ZINCZENKO, "MEN'S HEALTH" MAGAZINE: I mean, did you see him dodge that shoe?
CHO: So how will Barack Obama fare? the admitted gym rat is also a foodie. And the cover story of "Men's Health" magazine.
ZINCZENKO: This is not a broccoli-shunning, pork rind-eating, McDonald's popping-into guy.
CHO: Another point in his favor? Besides the basketball, the president-elect is known to be calm, "No Drama" Obama.
ZINCZENKO: He's better suited than any former president, than any predecessor to weather it emotionally and physically.
CHO: But there's only so much you can do.
ZINCZENKO: I know. And if the worst that happens is your hair goes a little gray, so be it.
CHO (on camera): The doctor who came up with this formula says he looked at 191 factors. Stress, he says, was No. 1, followed by diet. And interestingly enough, the No. 3 factor, the loss of friends. Remember, when you become president, friendships do change because everything is so closely monitored. Dr. Roizen says his advice to Obama: Try to keep your basketball buddies. They're not just here to keep the president-elect in shape, they're there when he can vent when the stress of the office demands it.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So, Rick Sanchez?
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
PHILLIPS: What's your execute?
SANCHEZ: I got to tell you, that's just -- I just don't buy that.
PHILLIPS: You don't?
SANCHEZ: Do you know why presidents look like they're aging when they're --
PHILLIPS: Why?
SANCHEZ: Because they're aging. Because when you get to be in your 50s and 60s, you start to show signs of getting a little bit older. We watched them for eight years. Duh!
PHILLIPS: I thought I was going to say your 12 kids is what gives you your gray hair.
SANCHEZ: That's my story. And I'm sticking to it.
PHILLIPS: See you tomorrow.
SANCHEZ: Thanks.
