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Taliban Forced Out After Land Grab; Torture Investigation; Ford Beats Expectations; Afghan Army General Replaced After Voicing Concerns About Political Interference in Drug War; Airplane Enters Restricted Capitol Airspace, All Clear Now

Aired April 24, 2009 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The Taliban forced out after trying to make a land grab in Pakistan. Just days ago militants occupied the Buner District some 60 miles northwest of the capital. Now the Taliban are picking up and heading back to their Swat Valley neighborhood, their stronghold there. Pakistani television showed armed and masked militants loading trucks and driving off.

Joining me now, CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with the latest.

Barbara, good to see you.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Tony.

Well, we see these pictures of the militant allegedly getting in their trucks and driving out of the Buner District after occupying it. But what do these pictures really mean? What's the real story going on here?

Earlier today on Capitol Hill, General David Petraeus, the top commander for the region, said that Pakistani Frontier Corps forces had moved in and pushed these guys out. Well, OK, they've pushed them out for now in Pakistan, but there is a good deal of concern about what is to come, because earlier today, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, weighed in with his view, and he sounded a worrisome note about what is going on in Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. MICHAEL MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, JOINTS CHIEFS OF STAFF: I think we're certainly closer to the tipping point. I don't think that we're there, but events continue to move in the wrong direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Well, you know, moving in the wrong direction is not exactly what the U.S. wants to see going on in Pakistan.

I have to tell you that there are a number of senior officials in the administration we've spoken to who say they are very concerned. They see the situation deteriorating. And here's really the critical thing -- the Taliban might have packed up and driven a few trucks out of Buner, but the Taliban, officials tell us, are in control of several areas of Pakistan, far from the border region, much closer to Islamabad than anybody is comfortable with.

That's the reality on the ground -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr for us.

Barbara, thank you.

Mixed signals coming from the Obama administration about whether to prosecute those who approve so-called torture tactics during the Bush era.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The man with the power to prosecute Bush officials said he will not lead a political witch hunt, but Attorney General Eric Holder vowed to pursue wrongdoing over alleged torture of terror suspects as far as it goes.

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I will not permit the criminalization of policy differences. However, it is my responsibility as the attorney general to enforce the law. It is my duty to enforce the law. If I see evidence of wrongdoing, I will pursue it to the full extent of the law.

HENRY: Holder's declaration came as White House aides suggested the president has decided against the Democratic push for an independent commission to investigation the enhanced interrogations.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president determined that the concept didn't seem altogether that workable.

HENRY: Aides say the president privately considered a 9/11-style commission but ruled it out earlier this month, even though Mr. Obama talked about the hypothetical outline of an outside panel earlier this week.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To the extent that there are independent participants who are above reproach and have credibility that would probably be a more sensible approach to take.

HENRY: The White House is also dealing with the mixed signal from the cabinet. With Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying he's worried last week's release of interrogation memos could help al Qaeda.

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I also was quite concerned, as you might expect, with the potential backlash in the Middle East and in the theaters where we're involved in conflict, and that it might have a negative impact on our troops.

HENRY: But Gates added he felt it was inevitable the memos would come out. White House aides insist everyone is on the same page.

GIBBS: The full national security team of this administration determined that the totality of this and the use of these techniques has made this country less safe.

HENRY (on camera): White House aides say the president ultimately ruled out an outside panel because he feared it would evolve into a "Battle Royale." But there's some indications that it's already reached the stage of partisan fisticuffs.

Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Do us all a favor. Put Wednesday evening on your schedule. You'll be doing yourself a favor as well.

Wednesday night at 7:00, a CNN/"Time" event, "100 DAYS OF THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY." It's an entire evening with the best political team on television. CNN's "NATIONAL REPORT CARD" is your chance to grade the president and Congress on the job they've done so far. In the middle of it all, at 9:00, Barack Obama's self-assessment during his live news conference.

Who will make the grade? Join Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and TV's best political team for the CNN "NATIONAL REPORT CARD," CNN Wednesday night. It all starts at 7:00 Eastern on CNN and CNN.com/reportcard.

Detroit may be approaching an unwelcome mile marker. Reports today say the Obama administration has told Chrysler to get ready to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "The Wall Street Journal" and "The New York Times" say it may happen next week.

The government has given Chrysler until Thursday to work out a financial alliance with Fiat if it wants more government financing, but Fiat says the Obama administration wants it to put too much cash into Chrysler. So it's now looking at a partnership with GM.

Plus, Chrysler's creditors don't like the debt for stock deal that's on the table. Bankruptcy could mean Chrysler is sold off in pieces.

As Chrysler and General Motors face bankruptcy deadlines, Ford is out with its quarterly report card. It is the only one of the big three that hasn't received government bailout money.

How did the company do? And what's the outlook?

CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow is in New York.

And Poppy, what are the numbers and what do they tell us about Ford?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Tony.

A mixed report card, but overall a strong headline for Ford today. Shares getting a huge bounce, up 15 percent right now on the New York Stock Exchange. Let's take a look at these numbers, because Ford beat expectations. The CEO, Alan Mulally, confirming today the company will not need bailout money, will not need TARP money. That is, unless the economy gets significantly worse or there is an uncontrolled bankruptcy of GM or Chrysler, which of course could disrupt significantly Ford's supply chain.

Let's take look at the numbers here quickly so you see what we're talking about.

The loss for the quarter, $1.4 billion. That is a lot of money, but is half what analysts were expecting. They expected $2.8 billion.

Now, Ford has been able to cut their spending, cut their costs, and cut what is called the burn-through rate, the amount of money that they burn through every quarter, cutting that down from over $7 billion in the fourth quarter of last year to $3.7 billion this year, saying they're on track to meet their internal target to break even by the year 2011. Take a look there. The improvement in Ford's cash burn rate, if you will, the amount they're spending over what they're taking in from the fourth quarter of last year to this quarter, Tony, a big improvement there.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes, Poppy. So why is Ford in better shape than GM and Chrysler? Is it selling more cars?

HARLOW: It's all relative; right? I mean, the U.S. auto industry has just been slammed over the past few years.

When you look at Ford, it has lost over $31 billion since 2006, but a lot of people, Tony, call it the healthiest patient in the ICU. And what we've seen is that, as consumer confidence dwindles for GM and Chrysler, the sales for Ford in this country are picking up a little bit.

We've seen its market share accelerating slightly in comparison to its other competitors in this country, but I spoke to an auto analysts last night and I asked him all about this. And he said, "Listen, Poppy, we're selling about 10 million cars in this country a year. That is down 40 percent from the peak we saw in 2000."

We haven't seen anything this bad for the industry as a whole since the Great Depression -- Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. And you're actually speaking to Ford's CEO in a couple of minutes, Poppy?

HARLOW: Yes. We're going to speak to Alan Mulally, the president, the CEO of Ford, at about 12:30 Eastern Time. That full interview will be on CNNMoney. We'll bring you some sound later on today in the 2:00 hour.

HARRIS: Great.

HARLOW: But what's really interesting is that Mulally came from Boeing. When he came over in 2006, he sold off some assets, sold off Jaguar and Land Rover, took out some big loans before the credit crunch. Those were things that GM and Chrysler did not do. That is certainly helping put Ford in a better position.

We'll ask him all of that and more just ahead -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Poppy. Appreciate it. Thank you.

HARLOW: Sure.

HARRIS: More indications today the recession may be reaching bottom. The slide in manufacturing and housing eased a bit last month. The Commerce Department says orders for durable goods, things like home appliances, dropped .8 percent in March. That's about half the decline most economists expected. And the new home sales fell just .6 of a percent last month, but home sales are off 31 percent from March of 2008.

Find out the best companies to work for. Get the list from "Fortune "magazine when you log on to our Web site, CNNMoney.com.

So, as President Obama's team in Washington tries to get a handle on the financial crisis, are they doing enough to rein in Wall Street?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis is facing new calls to resign today. Shareholders were already angry at Lewis over Bank of America's merger with Merrill Lynch. Now word the Bush administration forced Lewis to keep shareholders in the dark over Merrill's sorry state.

Here's more from CNN's Kitty Pilgrim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bombshell letter from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office to the SEC and Congress. It said last December then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke threatened to fire Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis and the bank's board, if it pulled out of its merger with Merrill Lynch.

They said abandoning the merger would mean systemic risk to the financial system. At the time, Bank of America was concerned by what it called the staggering deterioration at Merrill Lynch. CEO Ken Lewis testified he first told Paulson he wanted BOA to pull out of a proposed merger last December 17th. He was summoned to Washington that very night for a closed-door meeting.

Four days later Paulson made the threat to remove the board and management. Lewis responded, "Let's deescalate this." The letter states that Secretary Paulson largely corroborated Lewis' account, but also said he made the threat at the request of Chairman Bernanke. The Federal Reserve denies it, saying "no one at the Federal Reserve advised Ken Lewis or Bank of America on any questions of disclosure."

Lewis also testified before Cuomo in February that Paulson and Bernanke put pressure on him to stay silent about Merrill's losses. I was instructed that, quote, "We do not want a public disclosure." Andrew Cuomo charges that throughout the process, it appears the SEC was kept in the dark and demands greater transparency in decision- making.

The merger resulted in devastating losses for Bank of America. Those losses eventually triggered a federal bailout of $20 billion for Bank of America and huge losses for Bank of America stockholders. Today, the White House declined comment.

GIBBS: In many ways, the account is -- the account is something that our guys weren't involved in, as it took place, last fall.

PILGRIM: Congress today met with the head of the Troubled Asset Relief Program without commenting on the letter. Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for TARP, later released this statement. "As our investigation is ongoing, we cannot comment on the details of the disclosures made by the attorney general earlier today."

Kitty Pilgrim, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: That's just one example of what happens when Wall Street and Washington collide.

Joining me to discuss the growing power struggle between the two giants, Simon Johnson. He is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington and a former chief economists at the International Monetary Fund.

Simon, great to talk to you. We've been trying to get you on for a while now. We appreciate you being here.

Let's start with this. The special IG monitoring the TARP program, Neil Barofsky, ,issued a report this week that essentially reads in part, "The partnerships between the government and private investors were potential targets for fraud."

Now, the report, as I know you're aware of, is critical of the Treasury Department's failure to get details from the banks on how they were using rescue funds. And here's the direct quote from the report: "The American people have a right to know how their tax dollars are being used."

At this moment, Simon, are the interests of the American people being adequately, in your view, protected?

SIMON JOHNSON, SENIOR FELLOW, PETERSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS: No, they're not. And that's what the inspector general is saying. I think that's also what other critics or other people concerned with oversight over the Treasury's activities are saying, such as Elizabeth Warren with the Congressional Oversight Panel.

HARRIS: And how concerned are you that some on Wall Street are in a position now to take advantage of the systems that are being put in place as part of the financial rescue to, in some people's idea and words, game the system anew?

JOHNSON: Well, they've obviously for a long time been in the game of managing Washington and managing taxpayer money in the way it comes to help them. I think it used to be more subtle, more indirect. With the onset of the crisis, it's become quite blatant, and it continues to today. So this is a pattern of behavior, really, that we've seen for 20 or 30 years getting worse and worse and worse, and now suddenly it strikes us full in the face.

HARRIS: Yes. Do the banks and hedge funds still, in your view, have the upper hand in dealing with this government? And if you think that's the case, what does the government have to do to get the street to play a little more fairly?

JOHNSON: Well, I think it's not all of the financial services. I think the particular issue is big finance.

I think it's big banks in particular. And I'm sure we could find some other very powerful players.

I think they need to be broken up. I think now is the time to take our antitrust principles developed over a hundred years ago. Back then the problem was John D. Rockefeller, Standard Oil, and other big industrial conglomerates. Now the problem is banks.

Anything that's too big to fail is too big to exist, because otherwise they could hold the U.S. economy and the Treasury hostage. That has to end.

HARRIS: Should the -- looking back just a bit, should the Bush administration have saved Lehman Brothers?

JOHNSON: That is, of course, the very tough question we're going to debating for all time.

I think at that very moment, they had to do what they did. I think they could have done many different things prior to that, in the six months prior to that, when I was working at the IMF. It's now a matter of public knowledge that we were pushing the Treasury towards different policies, an alternative approach that could have avoided that kind of meltdown.

But when you get to the day, when you get to the moment and you get to the minute, and you're looking at a cataclysm, sure, if they could have sold it to Barclays, that would have been better on that Sunday. Did they have a lot of alternatives? No, because they weren't prepared and because they had ignored all reasonable counsel to prepare themselves for that moment. HARRIS: OK. Simon, help us here. Give us a grade for our list of key players in the management of this crisis, if you would. How is the president doing?

JOHNSON: I think the president is doing very well on the whole. He's obviously got a lot of pieces that he's keeping going. But he has an Achilles' heel. The Achilles' heel is banking and big finance, and Achilles was a mighty warrior. You just need one serious weakness to bring you down.

HARRIS: And so what grade would you give him? A letter grade?

JOHNSON: At MIT we give incompletes.

HARRIS: Incomplete -- that's good. That's good.

JOHNSON: He has to come back and finish it in the summer.

HARRIS: OK.

Simon, how is Treasury Secretary Geithner doing?

JOHNSON: Well, there obviously is the issue, because banking is his responsibility. That's his major focus.

He's doing stuff on housing which I like. He's done other things in terms of managing the G-20 relationship. I thought that was very good. I gave them an A, A plus on the G-20, given the cards that they were dealt with. But on banking, you know, B minus, and that's with a lot of modern grade inflation.

HARRIS: Sure. Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve?

JOHNSON: I like the approach to monetary policy. And I had a piece in "The Washington Post" a couple of weeks ago giving them an A for that.

But of course, they're also involved in the subsidy, the backdoor supporters, the financial system. And it's not just about the TARP money that comes from Treasury, it's about the soft credits you get from the Fed. So they are awfully entwined in the problematic bank behavior also.

HARRIS: Wow.

Sheila Bair at the FDIC?

JOHNSON: I think she gets an A. She has a very focused portfolio, a limited set of things that she can actually work on. But she's pushed the agenda and she's moved the debate, particularly at the end of the Bush era, when it was her versus Hank Paulson on a number of key issues. She didn't back down, and Sheila Bair's ideas I think are more of what has carried the day.

HARRIS: Nice.

And Simon, one last one here. Congress in its role as watchdog?

JOHNSON: Well, Congress, obviously, a lot of people doing a lot of different things. I think purely on the watchdog angle, they're trying hard, they're beginning to get their act together.

If they can support the Elizabeth Warren initiative in the Congressional Oversight Panel, if they can push that forward, and if they can create a sensible, well defined new commission of inquiry, which, of course, the Senate this week said they wanted, and Speaker Pelosi has indicated she probably wants, if they can focus that and make that productive, that would really help a lot.

HARRIS: Simon, that was very helpful.

Simon Johnson with us.

And Simon, thanks for your time.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

HARRIS: You know, not all the stories about the economy are negative. In our "Survival of the Fittest" report, we will tell you about a woman who found her passion when her career crashed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's see -- just about three hours into the trading day. Let's look at the -- oh, CNNMoney.com. There's an opportunity there.

Tony, Tony, Tony. Hello?

Drive everybody to CNN.com, where we update this page all the time with the latest information for you. Just go to CNNMoney.com.

And as we look at the Dow three hours into the trading day, wow. Getaway Day Friday. Look at this.

The Dow up 125 points three hours into the trading day. That has to translate into a pretty nice day for the Nasdaq. And yes, yes, the Nasdaq up 35.

We will be following the numbers throughout the day with Susan Lisovicz. Getaway Day Friday, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

You know, we keep hearing the doom and gloom about the economy, but there's always a silver lining, as they say.

Our Brooke Baldwin caught up with an Atlanta realtor who says she wouldn't have found her passion if the market hadn't tanked.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Selling homes was the lucrative job to have if you wanted to make quick money in 2004. The Atlanta market was hot and Tracy Sharp knew it. TRACY SHARP, FORMER REALTOR: I had always been interested in real estate. Entered into it, was relatively successful quickly.

BALDWIN (on camera): So you were more than making ends meet as a realtor?

SHARP: Supporting a family of three, yes.

BALDWIN: And then the housing market just busted.

SHARP: It's a very nervous time, a single mother of two children. I was concerned about security.

BALDWIN (voice-over): The fewer houses this 42-year-old sold, the more time Tracy had to pursue some things she had never done before. What started off as misfortune turned into a blessing.

SHARP: It was an incredible emotional release to get in the studio and to paint, sort of lose yourself for a short period of time.

BALDWIN: Tracy had always grown up around painting with an artist as a mother, but never dabbled in it. It was pure therapy for this single mother, but turned into so much more.

(on camera): The escape turned into an entrance, into a whole new career.

SHARP: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BALDWIN (voice-over): Just weeks after she started painting, a curator visiting her mother's home stumbled upon a piece Tracy had been painting with her son Max. After that, galleries began to take notice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her solo show a year ago this month, sold out completely. And not only did it sell out completely, but the pieces that were still in the back that were wet ready to be hung after, all sold.

(on camera): Was that a "pinch-me" moment for you?

SHARP: It was. It was. It was unexpected.

BALDWIN (voice-over): Tracy has never taken a painting lesson in her life. Now, her learning curve is exponential.

(on camera): All the dark is coffee?

SHARP: All the dark is coffee.

BALDWIN: How did you come up with that?

SHARP: Experimentation. You know, you just try things and see if you like them.

BALDWIN (voice-over): Tracy's work is now in five galleries nationwide from Atlanta to Santa Monica. It's a career she says she never would have discovered if the bottom hadn't dropped out of the market. Her pieces sell from $700 to more than $5,000.

SHARP: It's a journey piece. It's about moving forward. It reflects a sense of independence and charging into something unknown.

BALDWIN: Charging into the unknown is something this mother of two knows a lot about and she encourages anyone who is struggling not to be afraid.

SHARP: I would encourage anyone in this time if they are faced with a slowdown in what they do or the great misfortune of losing their job, to, you know, really look at this period of quiet in terms of space to think about what you would really like to do.

Some of the best things in life come when you are stepping outside of that comfort zone a little bit. You know, when you're really stretching yourself.

BALDWIN: Brook Baldwin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Wow. It is hard to do that. It is hard to step...

BALDWIN: Easier said than done.

HARRIS: Yes, it is.

BALDWIN: Frightening.

HARRIS: Yes, but what you hear from her Tracy is really suggesting that you get that moment. You know when you're not working on the wheel, on the wheel of life. You get a moment to reflect.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. You think so much about how much money can I make. She has the two children. She's trying to provide for them and suddenly it sort of starts painting as a (INAUDIBLE) and then discovers her passion.

HARRIS: Does she have any advice for folks who might be something of a similar position who might be thinking about taking a leap?

BALDWIN: She does. Beyond the philosophical that we sort of delved into in the interview.

Let's get to some hard facts. Number one, she says get a mentor. Tracy says hers is a (INAUDIBLE) painter in Colorado, older gentleman. The purpose she says is to find someone within your field who can provide encouragement but also feedback and speaking up.

This really applies to everyone here, you have to ask for feedback folks. Not just the kind that massages your ego. We like that kind. But also get a critique, a good hard critique of your work or ideas or business and not only that she says, listen and respond to it. That is what one of the gallery owners said that's why her stuff sold so well.

Three, do not be afraid to barter. Yes, we know times are tight especially if you have been laid off, you're starting a new career. In Tracy's case early on she told me she actually offered up some of her own art work to get frames that cost hundreds of dollars.

So get creative people out there. They accept trades instead of cash. There's a whole section on Craigslist, we checked it out, bartering, a lot of people are doing it.

HARRIS: I love it, that's great advice there. Jump out of the comfort zone. Look, don't be afraid, face the fear, right?

BALDWIN: So many people were doing this -- saying the recession could be a blessing in disguise for a lot of people.

HARRIS: Terrific stuff, Brooke thank you.

BALDWIN: You're welcome.

HARRIS: Good talking to you, good weekend.

BALDWIN: Thank you, to you.

HARRIS: President Obama closing in on his first 100 days in office. So which political party is winning the message war? Our Brian Todd has a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(VIDEO CLIP, DNC WEB VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Precisely zero republicans voted for the stimulus plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: something other than saying no to Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're the party of Dr. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's the new web video from the Democratic National Committee. Its "100 Days of No Message" is a slight alteration from its current part of no ideas attacks on the GOP.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obama's economic recovery plan.

TODD: You'll find a similar theme in a new TV commercial coming out this weekend by a top union and an advocacy group that are aligned with the democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There have always been those who said no to progress. But in times of crisis, Americans have never taken no for an answer.

TODD: Republicans are fighting back saying they aren't just the party of no. And they say the economic prescription favored by the president and congressional democrats will only make matters worse.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), MINORITY LEADER: If you look at the first 100 days you can sum it up pretty simply. Spending, taxing, borrowing, and ducking the hard choices. The democrat policies like raising taxes on everyone in the middle of a recession is going to hurt our economy and hurt jobs in America.

TODD: So what do Americans think? Nearly six in 10 questioned in a recent CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll said that President Obama has a clear plan to solve the country's economic problems. That's more than double the 24 percent who thought republicans had the right prescription.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Wouldn't it be cool to sort of rate the politicians you elected? Wednesday night at 7:00 a CNN prime time event, "100 DAYS OF THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY."

It is an entire evening with the best political team on television. "CNN's NATIONAL REPORT CARD" is your chance to grade the president and congress on the job they've done so far.

In the middle of it all at 8:00 Barack Obama's self-assessment during his live news conference. Who will make the grade? Join Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, and TV's best political team for the "CNN NATIONAL REPORT CARD." CNN Wednesday night it all starts at 7:00 eastern on CNN and cnn.com/reportcard.

Why would a successful television anchor have her hair cut off? She's going to tell me right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Narcotics is Afghanistan's leading export and it is hard to stop. One Afghan army general tried and failed, or perhaps I should say he was replaced.

Our Atia Abawi says the general was blaming political influence. She reports now from Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A beaded blanket confiscated at Kabul's international airport. Why? Because inside the thread was heroin.

Smugglers known as mules in the drug trade have come up with many ingenious ways to export Afghanistan's number one commodity, narcotics. Body suits, shampoo bottles, even designer shoes. But these mules were busted and taped by an army general, head of security at Kabul Airport. After more than 100 arrests over a 16-month period, he was suddenly suspended from his position in 2006, after this final bust.

On this tape, a woman who just had been arrested calls him a little fish and promises that he'll be fired. She was right.

GEN. AMINULLAH AMARKHIL, AFGHAN ARMY (through translator): In the end the drug mafia and those hands in the government worked together and opened a front against me with a dirty aim.

ABAWI: Amarkhil says he was suspended because senior officials had ties with the drug mafia. And Amarkhil's seizure of drugs including an estimated 100 kilograms of heroin had become bad for business.

AMARKHIL: The law only affects the poor and powerless but those who steal, kill, deal drugs, for them the law does not apply.

ABAWI: This is a man that Amarkhil blames for his suspension. Former attorney general Abdul Jabar Sabit is a candidate to become country's next president. He says the general is lying.

ABDUL JABAR SABIT, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: I put in jail more than 320 people for corruption all over the province. Every one of them had something against me. He's one of them.

ABAWI: In fact, Sabit says this is a conspiracy to ruin his run for office.

SABIT: Someone who is going to tarnish my reputation with my people by bringing up all of these lies again. A pack of lies again.

ABAWI: Corruption, the drug trade and intrigue all woven into the fabric of Afghanistan's politics and making the task of stabilizing the country more difficult.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Atia Abawi joining us live from Kabul. Atia, great to see you. What are coalition forces doing to help fight this drug trade?

ABAWI: Well, Tony, the coalition countries are here and they are helping. What they're doing is they're working with Afghan narcotics police.

We were actually in Helman province in February where the drug trade is at its worse, the drug mafia is at its worst. We met with the counter narcotics please and we also met with their police mentor who was teaching them to go beyond the static checkpoints, to actually go into the community and to go under cover and to find these smugglers.

HARRIS: What is the big picture, if you would, of this drug trade? How is it affecting the world and not just Afghanistan? ABAWI: You're absolutely right, Tony. This is a problem in Afghanistan, but it's a bigger problem for the world. Afghanistan provides over 90 percent of the world's opium. This is a problem in America. This is a problem in England.

As you saw on that video, much of those tapes General Amarkhil had dozens and dozens of tapes from the airport alone and those are primarily foreigners trying to smuggle it out. Since Amarkhil was suspended, we don't have the exact figures of drug arrests at that airport but we do know from the combined joint task force that there were only 28 convictions in 2008 and only one of those was a non Afghan - Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. OK, CNN's Atia Abawi in Kabul Afghanistan. Atia, great to see you. Thank you.

Doctors at the Centers for Disease Control are watching what they call an unusual strain of swine flu. Seven cases have been reported in California and Texas. Doctors will compare the virus to influenza samples collected in Mexico. At least 60 people have died there from swine flu. Scientists say this flu contains a genetic mix of human, swine and bird viruses. Officials say none of the Americans who got sick had any contact with pigs.

If you served in the military, can you get help with your student loans? Gerri Willis gets the answer from her team at "The Help Desk."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Time now to check in with Gerri Willis and her crew at "The Help Desk." Gerri and her panel answering questions about your finances.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: We want to get you answers to your financial questions. Let's get straight to "The Help Desk."

Alison Brower is the executive editor of "Redbook" and Jack Otter is a financial journalist.

All right, guys, let's get right to the questions.

Chad in California asks, "Do you know of any new programs for student loan forgiveness based on military service?"

All right, Alison?

ALISON BROWER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, "REDBOOK": There is a new program, public student loan forgiveness. It's for people in all kinds of public sector jobs including the military. After 10 years of eligible employment and good repayment, they actually will forgive the remainder of the debt. And during those 10 years, there's also a possibility of a sliding scale of payments based on your income.

It's new. The payments clock back to October 2007. You can find out more at rbiinfo.org.

WILLIS: Oh great, there's a website, I love that. You know, also, if you volunteer, you often can get some of your debt forgiven. People don't realize that. Peace Corps does it. AmeriCorps does it. A lot of them do it and so it's a good deal.

BROWER: A lot of nonprofit jobs are eligible. A lot of different jobs are eligible so you should really go to the website and figure it out.

WILLIS: All right, let's get the next e-mail question in here. Emily asks, "Where do I get reliable free information about the foreclosed properties in my area."

That's Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"And the process of acquiring property as a first-time home buyer? Are there benefits to working with an agent or a particular mortgage brokerage, i.e. the bank holding the property? I want to do my homework and know what questions to ask. Are there any online tutorials regarding these and related home-buying topics?"

Jack, that's a big lengthy question.

JACK OTTER, FINANCIAL JOURNALIST: A lot of stuff there.

WILLIS: Check your (INAUDIBLE).

OTTER: I'll start with just three letters that anyone interested in foreclosed property needs to know REO. It stands for real estate owned.

WILLIS: Bank properties, right?

OTTER: Exactly. You can go to usreoproperties.com and there's lots of websites like that. Plug in your Milwaukee, Wisconsin zip code, any other zip code, find properties in your area.

WILLIS: Can I just add in here, you can read your newspaper it will have lists of delinquent houses that are in delinquency or foreclosed on. It can be easy to find.

OTTER: What's not easy as you know though is the process of researching and buying one of these things. You think it's a great deal and then it turns out the inside has been trashed. There are all sorts of dangers here. There could be liens on the property. I would hire not just an agent familiar with it but also an attorney.

WILLIS: I love those ideas. Great job guys.

"The Help Desk" is all about getting you answers. Send me an e- mail to gerri@CNN.com or log on to CNN.com/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions.

And "The Help Desk" is everywhere. Make sure to check out the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: All right, happening now, we want to get you to our White House correspondent Dan Lothian.

Dan, the information that I'm getting just into the CNN NEWSROOM is that there has been an airspace alert in Washington, D.C. What can you tell us?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): I can't confirm this alert.

What I can tell you is that we're essentially here at the White House in lockdown mode. Everyone who was out on the North Lawn has been moved inside. All of the crews were told to come inside the building.

I noticed there were at least a couple of uniform secret service officers running around outside. I don't know what they were doing, but I can tell you that we are not being permitted to go out on the North Lawn we have to stay indoors for now.

We, of course, are trying to find out any additional information - Tony.

HARRIS: OK, we also have a CNN wire suggesting that the U.S. Senate was adjourned Friday due to an emergency. Maybe they're connected as Dan just mentioned. We're still trying to get additional information so we won't get ahead of the story at this point. senator

Dan, appreciate it. Thank you.

Paying for protection. We will show you where bulletproofing your car has become a pretty big business.

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HARRIS: We want to get you a quick update on the story we just told you about just a moment ago with our White House correspondent Dan Lothian. Maybe we can get some clarification on all of this with our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash.

Dana, to this point what we know, Dan was reporting just moments ago, that the staff and everyone, reporters, everyone at the White House, was essentially on lockdown. But we don't know why. Can you help us with this story?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi there, Tony.

We still don't know why, but I can tell you over at the Capitol, the headline is that we have the all clear. Everything is normal here. We are at what's called "Level Green," which again does mean normal.

What did happen temporarily was the Senate was actually shut down and the Senate floor went into recess probably for about five or 10 minutes. As it went into recess, what they announced was it was because they thought a plane had violated the airspace in and around the Capitol.

So, then what happened, is the security level went to what's called "Air Con Orange," which means that they think that there might be a plane in and around the airspace which shouldn't be there.

But then, I guess maybe within five minutes again, it went back down to yellow, which means they feel pretty confident that everything is OK. And now it's green, that means everything is normal.

So the big question is, what happened? Was there actually a plane that violated the airspace? We don't know the answer to that now.

HARRIS: Dana, I can tell you the answer is, yes. We just received word from the FAA that a light aircraft flew into the restricted airspace.

BASH: There you go. You have the answer there.

It doesn't happen very often, Tony, but it does happen occasionally that planes do come close to the Capitol or close to the White House and violate the airspace and the perimeter which is pretty wide post- 9/11. And since 9/11 as we all know there are very different security measures in place when that happens. So what you saw here in Washington is those measures going into effect.

HARRIS: OK, our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash for us. Dana, appreciate it, thank you for the update.

A quick break, we're back in just a moment with more CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: We're going to try to get you every bit of information we can on this developing story of a light aircraft flying into restricted Washington, D.C. airspace. Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is on the line with us.

Jeanne, what can you tell us?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Tony, I can tell you the all clear has been given, according to an official from the Department of Homeland Security.

The Federal Aviation Administration tells us that a light aircraft flying towards Washington from the northeast came into this restricted airspace around Washington, D.C. We're told that the plane is as we're speaking being escorted out of that airspace. It will be landing in Indianhead, Maryland.

The Department of Homeland Security said that proper procedures were followed here. That the pilot was compliant. We presume that means that when he got the signal that he was where he shouldn't be he agreed to turn around and go somewhere else. And as I said, the all clear now given.

I might add that violations of this airspace are not unusual. This does happen from time to time. And in fact, they tend to see a little bit more of them in the spring time because a lot of people are up in airplanes enjoying the good flying weather.

HARRIS: That's interesting. OK, Jeanne Meserve for us. Jeanne, thank you.

And just a quick recap here. We heard from our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash that the U.S. Senate was briefly adjourned Friday and the White House went into lockdown mode.

We heard that from our White House correspondent Dan Lothian who reported that essentially everyone was told to stay exactly where they were at that moment. They weren't allowed to leave the White House and that was lifted. So the lockdown has been lifted, the all clear has been given at the White House according to our White House correspondent Dan Lothian.

The U.S. Senate briefly adjourned. The U.S. Senate given the all clear as well.

And we know why now. As Jeanne Meserve just reported, a light aircraft flew into the Washington, D.C. airspace as Jeanne just mentioned. It happens on occasion. Seems to happen more frequently in the spring and summer weather when the conditions are more favorable for flying.

We will continue to follow developments on this story. But it looks like, at least at this point, the all clear has been given. The U.S. Senate and at the White House.

We are pushing forward now with Kyra Phillips in the CNN NEWSROOM.