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Bracing for Hurricane Bill; Deadly Days in Baghdad; Hopes and Fears of Afghans; Conclusions about Clunkers; U.S. Soldiers Charged; Creeping Credit Card Fees; Chicago's Deadly Streets; Two-Person Police Force Saved
Aired August 21, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, cue the music up. Sly and the Family Stone, "Hot Fun in the Summertime."
Look, here's the deal. Summer slipping away fast. We all know it to be the truth here. Soon it will be, what, just a memory? So, how about a little more fun before it's gone?
We want to know what song best sums up your summer. The one that when you hear it years from now, it will bring back the sweetest of the sweet memories of the summer of '09. Give us a little feedback. Just go to CNN.com. It's our blog page, CNN.com/tony. Tell us what your song is. We will go down the list and maybe even try to play a few on the air.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Well, we are tracking Bill. Let's get you to our hurricane headquarters, and our Chad Myers is there. And, Chad, why don't you walk us through the latest information, the path of Hurricane Bill.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Bill, you know what Bill is?
HARRIS: What's that?
MYERS: Swing and a miss!
HARRIS: Yes!
MYERS: At least for Bermuda, thank goodness. I mean, they are going to get waves, and they are going to get something from this, but they're not going to get 115-mile winds gusting to 140. That's the good news.
And then we talked about how the islands were going to get missed, too. What the difference is about the islands is they're really getting slammed with these northerly waves all across the northern part of San Juan and all the way through Puerto Rico.
I mean, that island right there just getting -- 14-footers crashing onshore. The DR, a little bit less, a little bit farther away from the eye. But I'll tell you what, those are some really big waves coming in.
And so where's the projected path? A little bit different than where we had it earlier today simply because it's moved out to sea a little bit. And that's -- the funny part with this, Tony, ,I think, is how good this forecast really was from the very first day.
HARRIS: Oh yes. Yes.
MYERS: You know, we could have had this thing, or the hurricane center could have had it coming onshore, people panicked, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh. But this thing has not deviated 50 miles, I don't think, one way or the other from a five-day-ago forecast, which means it would be a 10-day-old forecast. And so, kudos to the hurricane center and obviously all the hurricane models coming out here, too.
You saw that little bit of cloud cover coming in to Bermuda, and there's the rain showers with it. Radar out of Bermuda, actually. Nice shot there. You can actually go online and see that as well.
So, what do we expect? I think the biggest threat for anybody across the United States will be along the shore, not from wind, but from coastal erosion...
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: ... because we are we going to get waves 10, maybe 15 feet high in some spots, and even up into the Carolinas. They're saying 15 to 20.
Now, Tony, I don't know if you've ever been to the outer banks...
HARRIS: Yes, I have. Yes.
MYERS: ... but if you get a wave -- I know there's a reef. There's a reef that will break up some of these waves. But if you get a 15-foot wave along the outer banks, literally some of those waves could end up on the other side.
HARRIS: That's right.
MYERS: They could end up right in the sound. And that over-wash could be washing out roadways.
It's going to be a touch-and-go situation. And I don't think you really want to be there unless you have to be, unless there's something you want to protect. But if it's just your vacation, it's like, oh, I could take it or leave it, I would leave it and stay home, and go get a hotel and get a pool at the hotel, rather than be here, because this is going to be dangerous surf. I don't think anybody wants to be in it.
Surfers are really excited. They all want to get out there and surf. When the winds are blowing onshore and the waves are foamy, the water doesn't float as well. It's not the time to be out there without at least a life preserver on, and, you know, surfers don't want to put life preservers on. Oh, my gosh, I'm not wearing that. HARRIS: Exactly.
MYERS: But at least maybe put one of those little shorty -- you know, those little shorty three millimeter wetsuits on, because that will give you some floatation if you do lose the board and you do get floated out. At least you're out here floating around and they'll find you. You don't get as tired if you have some kind of flotation on.
But it's going to be a dangerous weekend. I just highly recommend don't know in, but I know it goes in this ear and out this ear.
HARRIS: No, no, no. When you speak, we're on it.
Hey, maybe we can get back to you a little later and we can show some of that amazing tornado footage.
MYERS: Yes, I kind of ran out of time with all this, but the tornado's out of Ontario, and debris in the air.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: It was pretty phenomenal.
HARRIS: No, no, no, we're going to find some time for that. It's an amazing video.
All right. Chad, appreciate it. Thank you.
MYERS: You bet.
HARRIS: Baghdad is reeling from this week's horrific attacks. More than 100 people killed, another 500 wounded. It of course is raising fears the dark days of terror may be back.
Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence reports on how it is affecting both Iraqis and U.S. troops.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The families of Baghdad's bombing victims came to collect their remains Thursday after the deadliest day of coordinated attacks all year. Now Iraqis are blaming their own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We warned the security forces no to the be lax, but those troops didn't carry out their duties.
LAWRENCE: The American commander in charge of training those Iraqi forces admitted...
LT. GEN. FRANK HELMICK, MULTINATIONAL SECURITY TRANSITION COMMANDER, IRAQ: Clearly, there was a lapse of security. LAWRENCE: The bombs killed nearly 100 people and came less than two months after U.S. troops left Iraq's cities. The Americans are only minutes away, but must wait until Iraqis ask for help, which may not come until well after.
HELMICK: They did get request some intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. We provided that. They've also requested some medical assistance which we provided as well.
LAWRENCE: Some blame Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for pushing the Americans out too soon.
WESLEY GRAY, FORMER IRAQI ARMY ADVISER: He's telling the Iraqi people, hey, I'm the guy that freed you from the bonds of American occupation.
LAWRENCE: Wesley Gray is a former Marine officer who spent more than 200 days living with and mentoring Iraqi forces. He says they can do basic patrols and combat missions, but could fracture if religious tensions rise. Gray says al-Maliki's strategy gives the opposition good reason to make his security forces look ineffective.
GRAY: Disenfranchised Sunni groups have huge incentives to force him to have to go crawling back to the Americans, because then they say, hey, look, ,this guy is weak, he couldn't do it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence joining me now.
And Chris, what do U.S. commanders think of all of this, this uptick in the violence? Are they frustrated? They aren't being called in to actually do more here?
LAWRENCE: Well, publicly, they say they are not frustrated. But the U.S. commander in Iraq says he does want to get American troops more directly involved. Not in Baghdad, but up north, because up there, the tensions are rising between the Arabs and the Kurds. And General Ray Ordierno feels that putting American troops on patrol with them will sort of allow these two groups to stop blaming each other and learn to trust each other.
Now, a lot of that area up north is rural, so it may or may not violate the security agreement that keeps U.S. forces out of the cities. If it does, then that obviously would have to be renegotiated, or the U.S. would have to be granted an exemption to go to work up there.
HARRIS: Yes, that makes sense. All right.
At the Pentagon, Chris Lawrence for us.
Chris, appreciate it. Thank you.
Afghanistan's national elections are being called a test of that country's young democracy, but will the results be respected?
CNN's Atia Abawi talked with the voters, who shared their hopes and fears.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Little Anish (ph) was out with his dad on voting day in Kabul. They are among those that braved the polls after days of Taliban intimidation and bloodshed.
"What should we be afraid of?" Abdul says. "There is one life and one death. We are never scared. We've been here through all the wars. We never abandoned our nation."
A nation that has seen 30 years of continuous violence, and Thursday was no different. At least 26 Afghans reported killed in election-related attacks.
In the capital of Helmand Province, where the Taliban are strong, rockets landed near a polling station, killing at least one child.
Even so, many women in the province defied the Taliban and came out to vote. "The rockets are coming, and we don't care," Nasima says. "Women will vote."
(on camera): When Afghans come to vote, their first stop is here at this table. They show their voter registration cards and their number is written down.
They then dip their finger in ink and head over to this table, where they pick up ballots. One is for the presidency and the other is for provincial council seats.
They then take those ballots to these cardboard boxes, where they make their picks in secrecy. When they're done, they bring it here to the ballot boxes, where they drop it in.
(voice-over): Voting lines formed in areas of northern and western Afghanistan, but residents in the south and east were more hesitant to head to the polls after threats from the Taliban. But it wasn't just fear that kept Afghans at home. Some were skeptical the vote wouldn't be fair.
One international observer stopped this child who had voted. He had a fake voting card, but admitted he was 13.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Atia Abawi joining us now from Kabul.
And Atia, do you know what the overall turnout was for this election?
ABAWI: Tony, we don't know the exact number, but what we do know is that it was a very low turnout, even lower than the 2004 presidential elections and the 2005 parliamentary elections. Again, most of that was from Taliban intimidation.
It was a very bloody week leading up to the elections, but many Afghans did not feel it was worth risking their lives to go to the poll, primarily because they don't believe in their government -- governmental system at the moment. They don't believe in the political process at the moment, and they've been disenchanted by democracy -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Atia, one more quick question here. When are election results expected?
ABAWI: What we do know is that 30 out of 34 provinces have already counted their ballots, and we expect results to trickle in starting August 25th. We get preliminary results on September 3rd and then final results on September 17th. But let's remember that fraud allegations are deep at the moment.
Many presidential candidates also claiming fraud throughout the provinces, claiming that ballots were stuffed. Obviously, we saw that picture of that 13-year-old child who actually went out to vote, and he was not the only one. People are using fake registration cards and actually voting multiple times -- Tony.
HARRIS: Atia Abawi for us in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Atia, good to see you. Thank you.
You know, it is their biggest monthly jump in 10 years. The National Association of Realtors says existing home sales shot up 7.2 percent in July. Sales spurred by a tax credit for first-time buyers that expires in the fall.
And more unabashed optimism here from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. He says the prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good. Bernanke spoke today at an annual Federal Reserve conference in Wyoming.
Time and money running out for the government's popular Cash for Clunkers program. This is your last weekend to get in on the rebate incentives. Monday night, deal over. The program has generated nearly 500,000 vehicle sales, but many dealers complain they've had to wait too long to get their money back from Uncle Sam.
I will discuss the program's successes, difficulties, later this hour with Jeffrey Pohanko (ph), who operates dealerships in the Washington area, and automotive analyst Lauren Fix.
The president is headed off for vacation. The fight for health care is far from over. We will get the latest on the administration's push to get a bill passed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: President Obama and the push for health care reform. After a tumultuous week in the fight over reform, the president gets a private consultation from a trusted adviser on the issue. CNN's Kate Bolduan live from the White House with details.
And Kate, first of all, I want to get to the question you asked in the daily briefing a moment ago, because that was good. But first, talk about this conference, this conversation the president had with former senator Tom Daschle.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest we have from press secretary Robert Gibbs in the briefing that I just jumped out of is that the meeting started a little late and we're still waiting for a readout on that. But as we've been talking about this morning, Tony, he's the former Senate majority leader, Democrat Tom Daschle. He was Obama's first choice to head up the Department of Health and Human Services, and serves as an informal adviser to the president. And Gibbs says that he does listen and he definitely does hear what Daschle says, and does listen to what he has to say on the issues.
So, we're hoping to get a little more of a readout of that a little later today -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Kate, as I asked a moment ago, I thought you asked a really good question of Robert Gibbs during the daily briefing. You wanted to know if the president has learned anything during the congressional recess. And he was reluctant to take that one on, wasn't he?
BOLDUAN: Sometimes it takes a little cajoling to get an answer straight, but the question simply was, you know, the president's heading into vacation, leaving for vacation this evening. And it has been no doubt a difficult month for the White House and the administration, and trying to keep pushing forward and keeping momentum in the health care debate.
So, I simply asked him, "What has the president learned?" And Robert Gibbs simply says, well, we don't like to look at predetermined amounts of time. We like to look forward.
But here's his answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I do think the president has used August and the town hall meetings that we've had, and the appearances, including the one we had yesterday, and we'll do it again in September to continue to tell people about why health care reform is important, why we can't afford to do nothing, the stakes that are involved, and to try to push back on the mistruths and misrepresentations that we all know are still out there about health care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And Tony, we've heard that. We heard that yesterday and we continue to hear that. That seems to be really the president's position, at least of recent. He's kind of back out on the campaign to try to, as he says, combat the misinformation and noise out there that he says is kind of confusing and not helping the health care debate.
And we're told from Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, that while the schedule will be much more tamped down this coming week, as he's now on vacation, the president will still be checking in, conference calls, making calls to people on Capitol Hill to get an update on progress.
HARRIS: Kate Bolduan at the White House.
That was a good question.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Tony.
HARRIS: Kate, appreciate it. Thank you.
Productive talks on health care reform, you don't hear that every day, but that's the description from a conference call involving the so-called Gang of 6 senators. They pledged to keep working on a bipartisan bill after their talks late yesterday.
Now, last hour, I spoke with the chief White House correspondent for "Politico" about whether the lack of a completed bill has hurt the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE ALLEN, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "POLITICO": If you have too many cooks in the kitchen...
HARRIS: Yes, you make a great point.
ALLEN: ... as my grandma would say, you can have trouble. And so, I think that's why this fall, Democrats are hoping that the president will be a little tougher and clearer in saying, OK, this is what I want. And he and his staff to go out and knock some heads.
Presidents do have ways of getting what they want. Even the Democrats on Capitol Hill, who are worried about things right now, who think that mistakes have been made, are convinced that, in the end, the president will get a health care bill.
HARRIS: Got you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Looking for more of what you've been seeing here on CNN? Check out CNN.com/healthcare. There you can find out where the closest town hall meeting is to you, the key players in the debate, and the different plans, and, of course, the controversial sticking points to the various plans.
A new book by the former head of Homeland Security raising questions about the role politics played in setting America's terror threat level. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: Our top stories now.
President Obama gets a private consultation on health care reform. He was meeting last hour with former senator Tom Daschle, a trusted adviser on the issue, before leaving for vacation.
Hurricane Bill, big and bad, but not expected to hit the mainland. Still, warnings are out for East Coast beachgoers from northeast Florida to New England. Watch out for those dangerous rip currents.
An overnight plane crash with a strange twist in Teterboro, New Jersey. When the first police officer arrived, he couldn't find anyone. He later found the pilot and the passenger sitting at a nearby bus stop, both in shock, one in serious condition, the other critical.
The next check of headlines in 20 minutes right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Charges of fear politics in the Bush administration. The nation's first homeland security chief, Tom Ridge, accusing former top Bush officials of pressuring him to raise the terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election. Ridge makes the claim in his new book.
CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Friday before the 2004 election, only two or three points separated Democrat John Kerry from President Bush. Suddenly, a twist. Osama bin Laden released a shocking new videotape, and it played non-stop on the Arab language network, Al Jazeera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN, TERRORIST (through translator): Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: The next morning, just 72 hours before the polls open, the president's top security advisers including Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft huddled for an urgent meeting to decide whether to raise the color-coded threat level from yellow to orange. Then Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge reveals in an explosive new book, a vigorous some might say dramatic discussion ensued.
Ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level and was supported by Rumsfeld. He goes on. "There was absolutely no support for that position within our department. None. I wondered, is this about security or politics? Post-election analysis demonstrated a significant increase in the president's approval ratings in the days after the raising of the threat level."
The Bush campaign was already pushing the envelope on frightening voters. Listen to then-Vice President Cheney just ten days before the bin Laden tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The ultimate threat is the possibility of them succeeding and getting, say, a biological nature or nuclear weapons smuggling into the United States into one of our cities and raising the spectrum of being able to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: In the summer of 2004, just a few days after the Democrat National Convention, the White House had raised the threat level. John charges a political manipulation were sharply denied by Bush officials like Ridge at the time.
TOM RIDGE, FORMER SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security.
HENRY: But now at that tense meeting the weekend before the election, Ridge writes that it "seemed possible to me and to others around the table that something could be afoot other than simple concern about the country's safety."
In the end, however, the threat level was not raised after Ridge claim he and others pulled Rumsfeld and Ashcroft "back from the brink." But Ridge says the episode left him disillusioned.
He writes, "I knew I had to follow through on my plans to leave the federal government. He tendered his resignation within a month of the election. He concluded, "I consider that episode to be not only a dramatic moment in Washington's recent history but another illustration of the intersection of politics, fear, credibility and security."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: But other Bush officials in the meeting, like CNN contributor Fran Townsend, a former homeland security adviser, insists Ridge is wrong. Townsend says politics was not discussed at the meeting and the whole discussion was based on intelligence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCES TOWNSEND, FORMER BUSH HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: Not only do I not think that it played -- politics played any part in it at all, it was never discussed. In fact, the only thing that was discussed was the summer -- earlier that summer, there had been a threat against the financial district. There was the bin Laden tape, and then there was another tape, Kiran, by Adam Gadahn, who was a U.S. citizen who was a member of al Qaeda, and it was a very threatening tape. And so, the discussion really revolved around what the intelligence was. There was no discussion of politics whatsoever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, a warning from the World Health Organization to prepare for an explosion of H1N1, or swine flu, cases. An official predicts most countries will see cases double every three to four days for several months. The group is urging nations to speed up preparations for the pandemic and warns as many as two billion people could become infected in the next two years.
If you want cash for your clunker, you'd better hurry. The car rebates are going, going, gone! Soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's see, 28 minutes after the hour.
Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
Again, let's direct you to -- it's what we do every day at about this time -- to our magnificent Web site, CNNMoney.com. Our financial team doing an awesome job keeping you up to speed on the latest financial news and analysis -- CNNMoney.com.
Let's get everyone to the Big Board, the New York Stock Exchange now.
Boy, from the opening moments here, this has been a nice little rush into positive territory for the Dow. As you can see, the Dow up 143 points. Let's see, three straight days of positive numbers for the Dow. Trying to close out the week on a four-day winning streak.
Again, 142 points. Just about three hours into the trading day. And the Nasdaq is up 26.
We are following the numbers for you throughout the day right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
So, with the money running out, the government is pulling the plug on the wildly successful Cash for Clunkers program. So, what do you need to know?
Stephanie Elam has the breakdown from New York.
Stephanie, good to see you. Looking all tan there. Good to see you.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know, Tony. I feel like I haven't seen you in so long.
HARRIS: Yes.
ELAM: It's been a long time. It's good to be here with you.
HARRIS: Like it was yesterday.
ELAM: Just like it was yesterday, yes.
Well, you know, if you've got a gas-guzzler, which I'm sure you don't, Tony, but if you do, time is running out to get some cash for that clunker. The government is shutting down the $3 billion program on Monday because, well, it's almost out of money.
Auto dealers have to submit all paperwork by 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday to guarantee they'll get paid back for vouchers worth up to $4,500. Some will stop offering the deals on Sunday or sooner to make sure that they have enough time to get the paperwork done.
So far, 450,000 clunker deals have been recorded. And Tony, that's worth $1.9 billion in rebates.
HARRIS: Wow.
ELAM: A lot of money.
HARRIS: That is a lot of money. So, are we going to see a huge rush this weekend?
ELAM: That's what the dealers are gearing up for. They're hoping on that fact right there.
One tells us he's planning a big advertising push, as he doesn't want to leave any dollars on the sidelines. But as you know, a lot of dealers have really been frustrated by the whole program.
In New York, hundreds have pulled out of the program all together. They said the government was taking too long to pay them back for these vouchers.
The Transportation Department is adding more workers to try to speed up dealer reimbursements. But for some people, it's just too big of a gamble for these dealers, and they don't want to take the chances with that, Tony. And that's what they're working on.
HARRIS: No, I got it.
So, if people want to still take advantage of the program, what should they look out for?
ELAM: Yes, there's definitely some things people need to be aware of. Some customers are being asked to sign a form saying you'll pay back the voucher money just in case the government reimbursement doesn't come through. There are also reports that some dealerships are asking customers to wait to take their new car home until the government approves the paperwork.
Here's the deal. That's just not allowed. That is not the way it's done. If you do have a clunker deal, they have to give you the new car immediately.
And here's the deal on what you need to qualify. Your old car has to get 18 miles per gallon or less. It can't be more than 25 years old. So that basically means the car would be older than you, Tony. You can't, you know, it's a little young car there, you know, it's not going to work. And you need to have owned it for at least a year for this to all work out, Tony.
So definitely a lot of people are probably going to be looking to do that this weekend. But just remember to be aware of these pitfalls.
HARRIS: Oh, that's good news, as always. Stephanie, good to see you. Have a great weekend, lady.
ELAM: You too, Tony.
HARRIS: My next guests joined me in the NEWSROOM when Cash for Clunkers got rolling last month. We've invited them back now that the program is near the end of the road. Geoffrey Pohanka operates dealership in the Washington, D.C., metro area. He is in Marlowe Heights, Maryland.
Geoffrey, good to see you again, sir.
GEOFFREY POHANKA, POHANKA AUTOMOTIVE GROUP: Good to be back.
HARRIS: And automotive expert Lauren Fix is in Buffalo.
Lauren, as always, great to see you.
LAUREN FIX, AUTOMOTIVE ANALYST: Great to see you, too, Tony.
HARRIS: All right, Jeffrey, I'm going to start with you.
You know, I've got to tell you, I think you've been really balanced in your conversation about this program. You've said the program has been wildly successful, but the bureaucracy has been an absolute nightmare. Let's break this apart here. Explain the wildly successful part from your point of view.
POHANKA: Well, the program has been very successful to the consumer. This has been -- they've responded. I think the last four weeks, our industry, we've sold about 750,000 cars under the Cash for Clunker program. So I would say wildly successful from the consumer standpoint. Somewhat of a frustration from an administrative standpoint.
HARRIS: Tell me why. What's been the nightmare, the headache for you?
POHANKA: Well, what should be a pretty simple process, trading in an old car for a new car, the law was 18 pages. The regulations were 160 pages. We had great difficulty even submitting claims in the first week of the program. It would take two hours or more to submit one claim. The computer would crash. And that has been fixed. But we have -- we'll sell up to 800 cars through this program by come Monday. But of the 550 we've already submitted, very few have been reviewed yet and only 10 have been paid. HARRIS: Only 10?
POHANKA: Only 10. We have -- we'll have about $3 million -- our company alone will have about $3 million into this program come Monday.
HARRIS: Lauren, you -- look, you've been pretty clear on this. You have not been a fan of this program. So give me the list of "I told you so's". Come on.
FIX: Well, first off, it is great that people like Geoff and the rest of the dealers around the country are getting rid of their 2008 and 2009 models, because traditionally, and he'll tell you, Labor Day is a huge weekend from that point on, with all the new models coming in. So this is good for them to clear their lots for the new cars.
Now the I told you so, is I knew that there would be a bigger impact than what you saw on the surface. Yes, it's great for the consumer. But look at the local repair shops. I've talked to many of the different chains that thought sales would be up because people are not keeping their cars and trading in for new cars, which is good, it has caused the repair business to actually lay people off. So that hasn't helped either. And I'm sure that it's going to impact all the dealerships as far as their service department. You want people to bring their cars back and get them serviced. It's really important because there's a lot of profit to be made for the dealership network there.
Also, on the other hand, I knew that the governments would have some issues in paying back (ph) consumers because Citibank is the one that's handling all the paperwork on the financial end of that.
HARRIS: OK.
FIX: I know that there's a lot of government stuff, but this is a much bigger picture. And again, I know the impact was -- again, a knee-jerk reaction. We should have done this before the bankruptcy so no dealers was affected in a negative way.
HARRIS: All right, well, Geoff, let me ask you something. Do you believe ultimately that you will get your money for these deals?
POHANKA: I'm confident that we will be paid. But we're worried that this might be musical chairs. That more cars have been sold than maybe there's funding for the program. We don't really know. Now there -- Monday, 8:00, is the last time we can submit a claim for the program to be paid. But we're worried if there are more than 750,000 applications put in, there won't be enough money. So it's possible someone will be left standing once the musical chairs is over. That's our concern.
And, also, they've given us three days' notice to put these deals through. We've been doing it. It's a complex program. There's about 16 different things we must supply. And it's been a really difficult administrative program.
HARRIS: Yes.
POHANKA: Now, it's one thing to have stimulus, but you've got to be able to back it up with support, and they just haven't given it to us.
HARRIS: Lauren, in a final analysis here, was this a good idea? Maybe poorly executed, but was it a good idea? I'm trying to think of, you know, where we would be. Would we be talking about moving 450,000 to 600,000 cars in about a month's time if not for this program?
FIX: Well, I think it would have happened over a period of time. People eventually need to have their cars replaced, whether it's a lease or their car wears down and it needs to be repaired. So in the bigger picture, it's great for the dealer. It should have been done before the bankruptcy and it should have been broader, allowed more people to be eligible for it.
My big concern is the repossession factor and I'm sure that we won't know that until down the road. We may be having that conversation and then I can say, I told you so. But a lot of people went and purchased cars and they have insurance payments and you have to think that we don't know what their future is. Hopefully, I'm hoping, the economy will continue to grow. It will be really great for everyone.
But the big picture is, I think that the auto dealers should have tried this before going through the bankruptcy route and I really feel bad for the many, many dealers who have had less than a third of their money received. Some dealers none, with thousands of deals paid out. And it affects their cash flow and they can't meet their payroll when you've got to pay your bills. You've got -- you know, how are you going to do it?
HARRIS: Yes. I will tell you this, Geoff, the last time you were here, you were a lot more energetic. Something tells me this whole bureaucratic process has beat you down a little bit. Do I have that right?
POHANKA: I'm beaten down. You're going to be surprised, shocked. There are going to be some sales records made this month. I heard from our Honda regional manager that Honda was on track to have the best August sales in their history. So once the smoke clears, the dust settles, this program will be amazingly successful in terms of generating sales.
It's put major stress on America's auto dealers who were given promises that we'd be paid within 10 days. And I know that's not how the government pays, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. But we went in -- and it's in the law -- that we must be paid within 10 days, and that's not happening. And we're not seeing any improvement really in the payment cycle. They could put some dealers really close to out of business because there's hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars of cash probably they don't have.
HARRIS: Wow. POHANKA: But it's a great program. I think they should fix the administrative programs, continue the program. And one other thing to think about, this is cheap stimulus. It only costs 60 cents on the dollar. The reason for that is, up to 40 percent or more of the stimulus money goes right back to the state in terms of sales tax right away. So tell me another stimulus that only gets a dollar's worth of bang, only costs 60 cents.
There isn't one. It's great stimulus. It doesn't cost a lot. And workers are being hired right now. The factories are cranking back up. You're going to be surprised when the results are in once this is over.
HARRIS: Well, Jeff, hang in there. Hang in there. I know it's been a long day for you. It's going to be a really long weekend. But hang in there.
And, Lauren, great to see you, as always.
FIX: Great to see you.
HARRIS: You guys have a great weekend.
POHANKA: Thank you.
HARRIS: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a freed terrorist returns home to a triumphant welcome. Now, anger grows from Britain. It is warning Libya to tone down the party.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: A warning for weekend beachgoers tops our news right now. Hurricane Bill isn't expected to make landfall in the U.S., but it is expected to create dangerous rip currents along the East Coast. Warnings are up from Florida to New England.
To the presidential election in Afghanistan. Officials say vote counting is complete in 30 of 34 provinces. We expect remarks from President Obama on the election next hour, 1:20 Eastern.
And just in to CNN, four U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq have been charged with cruelty and maltreatment of four subordinates. CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with the latest.
Barbara, what can you tell us?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, it really doesn't get more disturbing than this. The U.S. military just putting out a statement a few minutes ago from Iraq that four U.S. Army soldiers serving in southern Iraq have now been charged with multiple counts of cruelty and mistreatment of other U.S. Army soldiers serving in their unit, maltreatment of their subordinates. The charges include verbal abuse, ridicule, and cruelty, physical punishment, we are told. A U.S. military spokesman describing it to CNN says the physical punishment of these soldiers involved matters such as, as he described it, undue calisthenics. But there was also verbal abuse and ridicule. More disturbing, perhaps, if at all possible, is how this all came to light. We are told back on August 4th a young soldier in the unit committed suicide. In the investigation of that suicide, this entire matter of alleged maltreatment and cruelty within the unit came to light. The investigation now is looking at the specific maltreatment of four soldiers in the unit and possibly, though not confirmed, any involvement in that suicide case -- Tony.
HARRIS: That's pretty horrible.
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.
Barbara, thank you.
STARR: Sure.
HARRIS: They are moms and dads, just like you and me, and they're sharing the tragedy of loss. The terrible killing spree going on among young people. Our Don Lemon talks with them about Chicago's deadly streets.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Has your credit card company raised your rates? If so, you're not alone. Some experts say credit card companies are trying to head off expected losses from new federal rules. More now from CNN's Mary Snow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty-six-year-old Matthew St. Clair has been digging his way out of the $12,000 mound of debt he racked up in college. He's made quite a dent, but was alarmed by a recent bill.
MATTHEW ST. CLAIR, CREDIT CARD CUSTOMER: We're increasing your rate. That caught my attention.
SNOW: St. Clair learned that American Express raised rates on cash advances by four percentage points. Enough, he says, for him not to use it. Because his rate would then be 25.24 percent. American Express cites the business and economic environment for the hike. And it's not alone. Those who follow the credit card industry report widespread hikes of rates and fees.
CURTIS ARNOLD, CARDRATINGS.COM: We've seen a dramatic uptick up, particularly in the last 60 to 90 days.
SNOW: Adam Levin founded a credit education Web site. He says credit card issuers are raising rates while they still can. Phase one of reform legislation signed by President Obama in May is now kicking in, with the bulk of the new rules to follow in February.
ADAM LEVIN, CREDIT.COM: They're using this period of time in order to jockey and front run before the implementation of the legislation. SNOW: The Web site, billshrink.com, compared cards between January and June and found of major issuers, Capital One changed rates the most, raising purchase rates and balance transfers 50 percent. When asked about changing rates, Capital One said it had to make "adjustments to reflect external conditions." The Pew Safe Credit Cards Project surveyed hundreds of credit card providers and found even the lowest advertised rates went up 20 percent to 11.99 percent in the first half of the year.
SHELLEY HEARNE, PEW SAFE CREDIT CARDS PROJECT: It happened at a time right when banks were actually getting money cheaper from the federal government.
SNOW: But the group representing the credit card industry says they're not out to get customers.
SCOTT TALBOTT, FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE: The bulk of Americans are seeing a change in their interest rate or in their credit limit because of a change in the borrower's risk profile.
SNOW: But Matthew St. Clair says he doesn't get it, since his profile has improved as he's whittled down his debt. He's hoping to avoid using credit card in the future, but worries about his friends.
ST. CLAIR: And I've got friends now that are filing for bankruptcy at 26. So that's something I know my parents probably didn't see in their lifetime, but it's pretty common now with my friends, which is pretty scary, truthfully.
SNOW (on camera): Among the new rules starting in February, there will be tighter restrictions on cards issued to anyone under 21.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Wait a minute. What is this? Tennis stars in the NFL? It's what we're talking about in our "What Matters" segment in partnership with "Essence" magazine. Sisters Venus and Serena Williams are venturing into pro football. You heard me right. Word is the Williams sisters are the latest celebrities buying a stake in the Miami dolphins. They would join other celebrities, like Jimmy Buffett and singer Mark Anthony, as limited partners in the team. The deal could happen Tuesday. Right now, no team in the NFL has a black majority owner.
The first lady is making her debut on the list of the world's 100 most powerful women. Michelle Obama is number 40 on "Forbes" magazine's annual list. Mrs. Obama has quickly become a worldwide sensation. She even bet out Oprah Winfrey and Queen Elizabeth, who came in at numbers 41 and 42 respectively. German Chancellor Angela Merkel tops the list for the fourth year in a row.
From powerful women to a tragic situation in Chicago. Young people are dying in record numbers on the city's streets. This past school year alone, more than 500 shootings, dozens of deaths. Our Don Lemon sat down with some of the parents who have lost children to the violence on Chicago's deadly streets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's that raw. Is he right, it takes you back? It is always just raw pain and (INAUDIBLE)?
ANNETTE NANCE-HOLT, BLAIR HOLT'S MOTHER: Every time we talk about what happened that day, it breaks me down all the time.
RONALD HOLT, BLAIR HOLT'S FATHER: I'm just as numb as that night, that afternoon and they called me and she told me Blair had been shot. You talk about the worst feeling in the world. Instant trauma to the emotions.
NANCE-HOLT: And, you know, when I think back to what kind of child I had, it hurts me so bad. It hurts so bad.
LEMON: Most of you are carrying some sort of memento or something. What are you guys carrying?
MARIA RAMIREZ, MATTHEW RAMIREZ'S MOTHER: My son was killed three and a half years ago, and as you can see, I still have his cell phone on. I just can't bear to turn it off because I keep having that stupid little thought in the back of my head, when he walks back through the door, if he doesn't have a phone, he's just going to die, you know.
LEMON: Does it ever ring?
RAMIREZ: I leave it on for his friends, you know, for them to, you know, text him and, you know, they text him a lot.
LEMON: What are some of the text messages say? Do you get the text messages?
RAMIREZ: Just, you know, poems to him. I love you. I miss you. Things like that.
LEMON: Do you have any on there? You can you read it. Do you want to read it?
RAMIREZ: I don't want to lose anybody else. This hurts a lot. I love you.
LEMON: You brought something of your . . .
MICHELE LINTON-DELASHMENT, KERMET DELASHMENT JR.'S MOTHER: I brought the program, the obituary and also the newspaper article, because he told me he would be in the paper.
LEMON: This is how he's in the paper.
LINTON-DELASHMENT: Yes.
LEMON: College student is city's 500th homicide of the year. This isn't how you expected your son to be in the paper. LINTON-DELASHMENT: Huh-uh.
LEMON: Tell me your story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, Terrell was a bass player, a gospel bass player. He was at a church coming out to help his friends get drums out of the car and somebody came shooting and shot Terrell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I drove him to high school for four years. I drove him every day so that he wouldn't have to take public transportation. And the one place that I never worried about was church. I never worried about him being at church. And to get a phone call that your son got shot coming out of church, it was just unbelievable.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I get a call from a complete stranger. They're coming from -- her and her friend were coming from a church function. And I get a call, you know, on my cell phone. It has her name. So, I'm, you know, calling -- calling to get an update. How's your afternoon going? It's 5:00 in the afternoon. A complete stranger telling me that my daughter is laying in that alley bleeding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We almost lost Christina. I feel very lucky that we still have her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I could say anything to that parent whose child caused my parent -- my child to lose his life, I hope you never feel like I feel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Don will be hosting an in-depth hour on Chicago's deadly streets tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The show will feature more of Don's reporting from Chicago, including interviews with current and former gang members and community leaders. That's tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Well, if you think federal stimulus money is just going to big cities, think again. We will show you one community that's doubled its police force. It's easy math. One plus one equals two.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: $1 billion in stimulus money is going to help law enforcement keep officers on the job. In Wardenville, Vest Virginia, that means saving half the police force. Here's CNN's Kate Bolduan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Officer Rick Burrows making the rounds in small town Wardensville, West Virginia, population 275.
OFFICER RICK BURROWS, WARDENSVILLE POLICE: It's one mile from the west -- or the east end to the west end. And we have a variety of everything here. From, like I said, from petty theft to drugs. BOLDUAN: After 14 years in law enforcement, Burrows faced certain unemployment because of the economy and a budget shortfall. Scottie Miller (ph) is the town's mayor.
SCOTTIE MILLER, MAYOR OF WARDENSVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA: If you don't have the money, you don't have the money.
BOLDUAN (on camera): You were supposed to be laid off come July.
BURROWS: Right. Right.
BOLDUAN: That must have been rough.
BURROWS: Yes, it was scary. Yes, ma'am.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): The thing is Burrows represents half the department. Jeff Driskill is the police chief.
CHIEF JEFF DRISKILL, WARDENSVILLE POLICE: Small community, where you're talking about losing 50 percent of your department, 50 percent of your operational capacity, that's a lot.
BOLDUAN: But, then, they say the stimulus came to the rescue. A $156,000 rescue for this rural community. Wardensville is one of more than 1,000 agencies, a fraction of the total grant request, picked for a stimulus boost through the Justice Department program Community Oriented Policing Services, known as C.O.P.S. But that small town assistance has some big city police departments complaining they were passed over. Last month, Attorney General Eric Holder explained how agencies were selected.
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We received applications from more than 7,000 cities and towns and made funding decisions based on crime rate, financial need and community policing activities.
BURROWS: You want a sucker?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh. Thanks.
BURROWS: Two for the price of one today. There you go.
BOLDUAN: And for a soft-spoken officer who admits he tries to fight more crime with sweets than with firepower, Burrows said he's just glad this time around Washington didn't forget towns like Wardensville.
BURROWS: I don't know how to put it in words. I just thank God the money came through.
BOLDUAN (on camera): These grants pay for both salary and benefits for the next three years and require the local agencies to cover those costs for at least one additional year. Towns like this one across the country are counting on the economy to turn around by then.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: And that was CNN's Kate Bolduan.
It is go time! We're pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips!
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, Tony.
HARRIS: Yes.
