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Homeland Security and You; Snowmageddon's Reprise
Aired February 09, 2010 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Department of Homeland Security wants to hear from you. Yes, officials want to know what could be done better. What can they do to keep you safe without wasting your money and they have put a suggestion box online and they want your ideas.
Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is at the security desk with this story. They really want to hear from us?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's true, Betty. You know just about everybody wants to say something to the department at one point or another. Just about everybody has a complaint. Now you can go online to dhs.gov/open.
Go to this Web site, click here on "online participation tool". It takes you to page you can sign up and share your ideas. They vary. Many posted at this point because this just started up but here is one.
"Please start enforcing our borders and securing our safety in America. Illegal immigration is becoming a huge, huge burden especially for those of us that live in California.
Let's click over here on "Innovation", I think we'll find a couple of these more about the TSA. Here's one, currently (INAUDIBLE) passed through checkpoints with only a glance or an equally ineffective trip through the x-ray machine. Replace this with actual screening or reduce screening of passenger liquids to match."
So you can post your gripes, post your suggestions. They say don't put up any personal identifying information like your phone number or they are going to have to take it down. The idea is they want to make government more open, more effective. They claim they will be looking at all these ideas.
They did something internally called the idea factory at TSA and they say that some of those suggestions actually did lead to changes in screening procedures. And after all, Betty, it could also be very good therapy for you if you have a gripe you want to get off your chest.
NGUYEN: We all need to vent every now and then, don't we? So Jeanne, I know that you've been following another story at the security desk this morning, one that involves White House counter terrorism adviser John Brennan. He made some comments over the weekend about the politics of terror. Today, he is speaking out again. What is he saying?
MESERVE: Yes, he did an op-ed in "USA Today," this morning. This is what it said, in part, it said, "Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al Qaeda." He said terrorists are not 100-feet tall nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill. He said it was absurd to think that American counter terrorism forces couldn't deal with these people. Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. Jeanne Meserve joining us live. As always, thank you so much.
Top stories now for the second time in less than a week, Toyota is issuing a global recall. Overnight the carmaker announced more than 400,000 new hybrids have a braking problem. Toyota says a 40- minute repair will fix the software glitch in the anti-lock braking system. Now this latest announcement is in addition to the eight million Toyotas already under recall for gas pedal problems.
Another survivor has been pulled from the rubble in Haiti. This is just an amazing story. Doctors believe that he has been trapped since the quake struck a month ago, four weeks under the rubble. He was discovered when people were clearing out a marketplace in Port-au- Prince. Well, now he is in a field hospital being treated for extreme malnutrition and dehydration.
A medical mistake may be to blame for Congressman John Murtha's death. A source tells CNN doctors accidentally nicked Murtha's intestine during routine gallbladder surgery. The Pennsylvania Democrat was the first Vietnam vet elected to Congress. John Murtha was 77 years old. We'll have more on his death coming up just a little bit later this hour.
Republican leaders on their way to the White House joining their Democratic counterparts and meetings with President Obama this morning. It's something the president promised in his "State of the Union" speech. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us now live. Suzanne, what is on the agenda for today's meeting?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, this is the first, as you know, of these monthly meetings that the president did promise. It would be interesting to see what comes out of this. Obviously, both the house and the Senate, the leadership, Democrats and Republicans, getting together.
The White House aides tell me this morning they are going to focus on the economy and jobs, namely that bipartisan jobs bill that they hope to introduce in fairly and short order when members of Congress are all here and a good number of full force in light of the storm here, the winter weather. But the other thing that the president is going to be talking about is that $30 billion directing it what was to be used for the bailing out those big banks, unused funds to try to direct that and help provide for loans for small businesses. It's not an idea that Republicans are terribly excited about. They believe that that money should be used to lower the federal deficit, but Democrats, as well as the president, think that this is a way that they could actually loan to small businesses and, in addition, that that would turn around and create some jobs. These are just some of the ideas that's going to be talking about today, and perhaps more importantly, Betty, is that it really is going to set the tone and the tenor for what we're going to see in a couple of weeks, that is February 25th.
That is when the president, in a Super Bowl interview over the weekend announced that he wants to hold a half-day summit on live television with Republicans and Democrats alike to talk about a way moving forward with health care reform. Already that has created quite a bit of a stir, if you will, controversy, because the president says, look, he's not starting this thing from scratch like some Republicans are suggesting. He wants to build on the ideas that have already been put forward on the Democrats side and the House and Senate bills for health care reform.
He doesn't want to start over. There's some Republicans who say, look, if we don't start over, this is just going to be some sort of photo-op, some sort of fan fare on television and that is not worth it to at least attend. Some of those ideas and some of those questions are going to coming up, we think, at this meeting with Democrats and Republicans today. Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. We will be watching for that. And also, you know, the president this morning signed an executive order dealing with kids. Tell us a little bit more about that.
MALVEAUX: It's the "Let's Move" campaign. We saw the president with the first lady over his shoulder there. He said he was very proud of her work because this, of course, is going to be the first lady's signature issue and that is tackling childhood obesity. It's a huge problem. The first lady's office putting out some rather startling statistics.
They say one in three children in this country are either overweight or obese. So they are trying to figure out ways to how health care workers, doctors, teachers, parents, entertainers, sports figures get together and tackle some of the things that are really plaguing our children and that is, obviously, poor diets, poor nutrition, eating just too much, and not getting enough exercise.
Betty, I had a chance to talk to Tiki Barber, the NFL player there. He and I had a good discussion. I will be showing you some of that in a little bit. But he has gone from squatting 700 pounds to doing yoga now. He eats very well and he says, look, his message to a lot of the kids at the White House is you don't have to do all that but you got to do something, perhaps we will all be shoveling some more snow, huh, Betty?
NGUYEN: The best thing to do today is shovel some of that snow off the sidewalks today. All right. Suzanne, I'm not going to ask you to get to work on it because you have other things to do, but hey it's a good way to stay in shape. Thanks so much. We'll talk to you a little bit later.
MALVEAUX: We'll be shoveling here -
NGUYEN: You will?
MALVEAUX: We'll be shoveling, believe me.
NGUYEN: I want to see that on tape, all right. Let's get a camera there for that. All right. Thanks, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Betty.
NGUYEN: So we are waiting on the other shoe to fall, as in another foot of snow. Yes, a monster-sized storm that's tracking towards the northeast has already made its mark in upper Tennessee. Shutting down a number of school systems and parts of the mid south.
As the storm moves eastward though it is gaining strength and intensity and caution from those in the storm's track. Forget the shovels for now as the snow piles are expected to grow. And so we have teams all over the place for this second round. The apparent bull's-eye. Again, the i-95 corridor of Washington and Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Meteorologist Rob Marciano and Reynolds Wolf on the case. Rob in the severe weather center. Reynolds is live in D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood. Let's start with you, Reynolds, you've been out there all morning long, helping some cars that were stuck. Still seeing a lot of people on the roadways despite the weather outside.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a lot of people out here. I'm with CNN photo journalist Dave Cantrell. We are taking a look at all these cars - soft spot here in the snow, particularly looking at these cars that coming through here. M street is actually part of the snow emergency route. We got here early in the morning, around 4:35 a.m. and you would think this road, which is empty at that time have been free from snow.
That's not the case at all and certainly nothing to honk at. And we still have some of it out there and even more snow in the forecast. In fact, some of us could see quite a bit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF (voice-over): Around the nation's capital, a symphony of snow. But after a brief intermission, few are excited about the second act.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More.
WOLF: Te coming storm could add a foot or more to the mounds of snow that brought life to a standstill here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Insult to injury, I think, is the term that comes to mind.
WOLF: So for those who could get rubber to the road, it was time to hit the store and stock up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to go and buy some more food.
WOLF: Others weren't nearly as lucky. In this neighborhood, no plows, which meant no way out!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very frustrating, you know? If we run out of baby food, you know, we can't do anything.
WOLF: He is worried about his seven-month-old baby. His neighbors have a full house and their own concerns about the coming storm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be a problem. It will be a problem.
WOLF: They've been trapped since Friday, struggling to entertain their four kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is nothing more we can do but just sit and look.
WOLF: Also weighing heavy on rescue crews, the pure half of all that snow. It was enough to partially destroy the roof on this fire station and sent crews in shovels scrambling to rooftops.
CAPT. DAN SCHMIDT, FAIRFAX COUNTRY FIRE AND RESCUE: When something collapses, you never really know when it's going to happen.
WOLF: That's far from the only concern. Power lines are still down and access to critical services remain spotty for many.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I fell and may have fractured my arm. I'm not entirely sure. Of course, my doctor's office isn't open to tell me that!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Now, one thing that is really interesting is although you do see a lot of people out here on the road, people are still urged to stay off many of the main thoroughfares, of course, the freeways and the back roads are all different mess altogether. They are still in bad shape. Still a lot of downed trees and what not.
One thing to mention about people who are out and about and are designed to drive, is you want to clear off the snow that you have on the top of the roof of your car. You see a car there that has some of it on. We've been playing the hundred dollar bill game. What we mean but that is with every car where you have heavy snow on the top of the roof, well the police, if they catch you they are going to charge you a hundred bucks. The reason why is as you're speeding along and that snow is going to come off and it's going to hamper the visibility of the people that are driving behind you.
So case in point like this car you see over here. On the far lane of the traffic, the heavy snow piled up there. And of course, Betty, Rob is going to tell you in mere moments we are going to see another round of that heavy stuff coming through in the coming hours. Let's send it back to you in the studio.
NGUYEN: The hundred dollar bill game? Wow, that can get pretty expensive.
WOLF: $100.
NGUYEN: Make sure you get all of that off.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you so much, Reynolds.
WOLF: Absolutely.
NGUYEN: We want to get the latest now on a developing story we got to get to out of Helmand province in Afghanistan this morning. CNN's Atia Abawi is live in the province for us. Atia, give us the latest on what you know.
ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, today U.S. commanders as well as Afghan commanders came here as well (INAUDIBLE) as well as other bases in Helmand province with Marines and Afghan soldiers that will be a part of the fight, the fighting (INAUDIBLE), which is the worst kept secret of the Afghan war, as well as the biggest NATO operation since the war began in 2001. U.S. Marine Brigadier General Larry Nicholson was actually here and talked to the Marines. Let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. LARRY NICHOLSON, MARINES: I think it will be a little bit of a mixed bag. I think some of our units will go into some pretty heavy contact and I think some of our units may have less contact. We don't know. All I know is we've done everything we can to prepare and on the eve of this big operation, I think we're ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABAWI: As you can see, Betty, it's really unknown the challenges that they are going to face in Marja. Marja is an area that has a population of 80,000 to 100,000 people. It's unsure of just how many insurgents might be there. But one thing is clear with the Marines that the NATO forces and the Afghan soldiers will be facing IEDs that are improvised explosive devices.
IEDs are responsible for more than 80 percent of the casualties here in Helmand province alone and is said to be the number one killer of NATO forces throughout Afghanistan. Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. Atia Abawi, joining us live. Thank you so much for that. We do appreciate it.
And we've heard from Reynolds Wolf about the snow in D.C., right? Well, we want to check in with Rob Marciano. He is watching it all and is going to show us where it's heading to. ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's heading to D.C. where they are already buried in the snow but it's also heading to some other major cities, not only along the East Coast but across the Midwest, already being affected a large complex weather system and we are fine- tuning the forecast that is coming up next.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Rob.
And the senators - they are rushing to the store to get milk and bread. No, they are working today. The budget committee talking this hour about the economic outlook and risks for the federal budget and debt.
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NGUYEN: The "who dat" nation live and well today. Excited about tonight's parade to celebrate the Super Bowl champions. Today, we are also checking in with you. We're going to get the news pulse, what you're looking at on the web so let's go right to it. Cnn.com/newspulse.
And what are you looking at? Well, the unemployment tax slam businesses. That is one of the main story you are watching, also this Palm-gate that deals with Sarah Palin. She's getting bashed for scribbling notes on her palm and then writes hi mom to mock critics.
And the third most popular here is a girl wrestler who conquers the mat. Guess what? She is only 12 years old but she is dominating the competition in her middle school. There's a story on that. So if you want to see the rest of it, all you have to do is go to our web site and hit newspulse. And you know, the page is updated every 15 minutes so it constantly changes so keep checking back for that.
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NGUYEN: Well, if you think it's cold outside and kind of snowy, especially if you're on the East Coast, well, get used to it because more is coming. Rob Marciano has been watching this for us this morning. And Rob, it looks like it's going to stick around for a little while.
MARCIANO: It does. The pattern that we're really is very stubborn right now and it doesn't turn warm at least for the eastern half of the country for at least a week. So what you see on the ground is going to stay with you and a lot of spots what you see on the ground you won't see any more because tomorrow there's going to be new snow on top of that.
Let's talk about the storm. A very complex one but it's a large one. So it's encompassing a good chunk of the easterly third of the country as it barrels off towards the east. As it does so, it's going to dump some snow. Already doing that part of the Western Great Lakes and the Midwest and we'll highlight that in just a second. Twelve inches of snow or up to 12 inches of snow potentially in places like Cincinnati, Indianapolis, back through Chicago and then, of course, heavy rains to the south where we are starting to tap some of this moisture. Here it is on the radar scope. You see the brighter whites across parts of Ohio in through Cincinnati. Dayton, back through Louisville, Indianapolis also seeing some.
Back through Chicago, we're seeing lighter amounts but it's been pretty sustained for much of the morning and Chicago O'Hare is reporting delays and at one point they were over two hours, now only 35 minutes. Also, some delays being reported in Minneapolis. San Francisco, west coasters, my friends out there. You are seeing a storm coming your way as well. And they have evacuated parts of La Quinita areas once again. The same areas that got the devastating mudslides over the weekend.
More rain heading towards your area today and tomorrow. And then as we go through tomorrow, this thing heads through the northeast quickly. We're still going to about 10 to 20 inches of snow. I think it will be the greatest amounts will probably be Philly towards New York rather than D.C. either anyway, any more snow on top of it that they've already got and is obviously a big headache.
We will talk more about what could be our next blizzard here later on in the morning.
NGUYEN: Goodness. OK. We have been warned. Thank you, Rob.
MARCIANO: You bet.
NGUYEN: $860 billion and some change, it is a massive pile of your money that is supposed to put the economy back on track. How big of a slice of this recovery pie has your state gotten? Our Josh Levs is looking into that from the stimulus desk and he joins us now. A lot of people very interested in seeing these numbers.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are. Everything we look at in this massive $862 billion stimulus that passed last year, this is the thing most people want to see. How much money did your state get and also within that, how many jobs have been created so far from your state?
Now, keep in mind a lot of that massive pile went to certain benefits. It went to funding unemployment, those kinds of things but about $160 billion funded projects. And that's what I'm going to show you now. let's take this computer behind me. I want to show you this map that we have for you at CNN. And take a look at this.
And just for Betty, I'm going to start off at Texas. So we need to do is highlight any state here and, boom, we give you at CNN the updated figures, any state. I know it's tiny print in your screen but it says how many are funds awarded, how many jobs have been created or saved. It saved 28,000 jobs. You can jump over to Georgia, where we are right now. It seems to be Louisiana's week.
Check this out. As I move around, any state you want. We've been taking a look at the figures that are out there. This is the up- to-date numbers on how many jobs are created in your state and the way to find is all right here at the stimulus project at cnn.com/stimulus. It's packed with information for you on how all of that spending is going. We break it down for you because we want you to know where your tax dollars are going. Betty.
NGUYEN: That is really cool. We all want to see where the money is going and actually what it's doing once it gets there. OK. You've been manning this stimulus desk for a while and actually you're tackling some of those viewer questions and you're getting a lot of them from people. What are they asking?
LEVS: We are. The responses that we're getting from viewers are pretty amazing. So many people with so many questions. And one of the biggest ones is about clean energy. People are saying, hey, is the administration's money where its mouth is? Are they funding a lot of clean energy program?
So we're going to zoom in now into a couple for you. This one is really interesting. We're going to start zooming into Wilmington, North Carolina. We have a Google Earth. I think we can show you. And the reason why I want to show you this is that this site, I didn't know about this. Maybe you knew about this.
The city hall in Wilmington, North Carolina is also an opera house, dating back to the 1800s. It's called Vallon Hall. They've gotten more than a million dollars now to retrofit for clean energy. We have some photos here. They've been doing this renovation project already, trying to shape what is going on inside.
What they are doing now is try to add the energy to it as well and get some stimulus money for that. Part of this - and by the way, they don't do opera there anymore but apparently they do some community music theater there. And, you know, Wilmington, has a lot of that. Because that is the place where they shoot a bunch of movies, where they shot "Dawson's Creek." People around here are shocked that I know that.
And before I go, one more thing that I want to show you - interesting program in Utah is getting a lot more. Let's show you Google earth there. And the reason for that, we can show you the screen $35 million for one project in Salt Lake city. They are showing you there how many jobs they think it will create. Fifteen jobs so far plus some part-time.
And if you want to show us what your questions are, you want to get in touch with us, it'll show you on the screen where you can send your questions. Go ahead and get in touch with us! We got post at the blogs, CNN.com/josh.
Also, Betty, it's posted to you. CNN.com/betty, Facebook and twitter, josh Levs CNN, also. Anything you want to know about how your stimulus dollars are being spent we're going to break it down for you right here at the stimulus desk. Betty.
NGUYEN: Show us the money! LEVS: See you tomorrow.
NGUYEN: All right. Appreciate it. Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks a lot.
NGUYEN: Some top stories right now. The check, in fact, is in the mail for Haiti. $35 million from the hope for Haiti telethon is being given to aid groups for relief and recovery projects. That is just the first installment. The rest of the $66 million that was raised will be handed out in May. And tonight at 10:00 Eastern, before the quake, corruption, greed, and hundreds of millions of dollars vanished.
We're following the money, folks. "Stealing Haiti," is a special ac "AC 360" investigation that starts tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
Deadly tainted milk powder may be back on store shelves in China. Authorities there see 75 tons of it, but there's another 100 million tons unaccounted for. The milk powder is tainted with melamine. It has sickened hundreds and thousands of children back in 2008. You might recall that. Six died. And the milk was recalled and was supposed to be destroyed.
Let me give you a check of the big boards, up there, the Dow. Let's take a look at the number, 147. That's already up this morning. It's a good thing because it was below 10,000, it looks like it have gotten up above it so far today. We'll keep a check on the markets for you.
And then, of course, there is this - Congressman John Murtha has died. Sources tell CNN he is the victim of a medical mistake made at the same hospital that treats the president.
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NGUYEN: All right. So how often have we heard it? A routine medical procedure ends in death. Well, this time we are talking about veteran Congressman John Murtha.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now live. You know, Elizabeth, some say that a medical error may to be blame for this.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We talked to a source close to the late congressman. And he said that his intestines were nicked in a routine laparoscopic surgery to remove his gallbladder. A surgery that millions of people have and recover from quite nicely.
Let's take a look at what the source told us exactly. "He went in" - He meaning Murtha, "went in for a routine minimally invasive surgery, was discharged, they hit his intestines. He was taken to the hospital two days later" where he went into intensive care and then died. NGUYEN: OK. Well, I mean, how often does this occur? I mean, is this something, does this happen fairly often? Hopefully, it never happens but, unfortunately, it does.
COHEN: Unfortunately, it does happen. Now, the vast majority of people who get their gallbladders removed do quite or do very, very well. This is a known complications. And if you look at complications in general from all sorts of surgeries, this was a really telling survey that the Mayo Clinic did. They asked surgeons hey if you can involved in a surgical error, have you made an error in the past three months? Nine percent said, yes, they had made a major error in the past three months. Nine percent may seem like a small number but nine percent of all surgeries in the United States, that's a lot of people.
NGUYEN: The fact that it's been called of a surgical error means that it could have been prevented, correct?
COHEN: Well, it's not being called anything right now. I mean, intestines sometimes get nicked and it's unavoidable. There's nothing anybody could have done. But surgeons tell me that sometimes when they are nicked somebody is being sloppy.
So it's hard to know exactly what happened here. But what I think people do want to know is how do I keep this from happening to me? So there's a couple of important things to remember. When you're about to have a surgery ask the surgeon, you know, what is your experience with doing this particular surgery and you want someone who has done it a lot.
I mean you want someone who is really used to doing this and also, postoperatively after the surgery if you feel any pain, you need to go right back. And that's the mistake I think those people make is they kind of like, oh, it's OK. I'm not going to worry about it but you need to get right back to the doctor.
NGUYEN: Yes but I think a lot of people think, you know, I've just had surgery, pain comes with the territory there. But if you have it, call and make sure someone knows about it.
COHEN: Right. Better safe than sorry. Maybe it is a big nothing but you know what, you don't want to find out if it's not.
NGUYEN: Especially once it's too late.
COHEN: That's right.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you so much, Elizabeth. We do appreciate it.
Well, you know, it is the anniversary of the Iran's 1979 revolution that's happening this week and it's a cause to celebrate for some but reason to protest for others.
Our Iran desk is keeping tabs with what is happening and our Ivan Watson will show us how some Iranians are keeping opposition and hope alive.
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NGUYEN: All right. We are waiting to speak on this new offensive in Afghanistan. In the meantime, we're getting some tape that is being fed into CNN. We are get it momentarily dealing with the president. He had a bipartisan meeting at the White House this morning talking economy and jobs. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, everybody. Well, I want to thank both Democratic and Senate leaders that -- Democratic Senate leaders and Democratic House leaders, as well as Republican leaders from the House and Senate for joining us.
As I said in my State of the Union, part of what we'd like to see is the ability of Congress to move forward in a more bipartisan fashion on some of the key challenges that the country is facing right now. I think it's fair to say that the American people are frustrated with the lack of progress on some key issues, and although the parties are not going to agree on every single item, there should be some areas where we can agree and we can get some things done, even as we have vigorous debates on some of those issues that we don't agree on.
A good place to start, and what I hope to spend a lot of time on in these discussions today, is how we can move forward on a jobs package that encourages small business to hire, that is helping to create the kind of environment where now that we have economic growth, people actually are starting to add to their payroll. I think there's some ideas on both the Republican and Democrat side that allow us to potentially, for example, lower rates for small businesses on their taxes to help spur on some growth, and my hope is that both in the House and the Senate we'll see some packages moving over the next several weeks that can provide a jump-start to hiring and start lowering the unemployment rate.
Another area where I hope we can find some agreement is on the issue of getting our deficits and debt under control. Both parties have stated their concerns about it. I think both parties recognize that it's going to take a lot of work. I have put forward the idea of a fiscal commission, and I'm going to be discussing both with my Democratic and Republican colleagues how we can get that moving as quickly as possible so that we can start taking some concrete action. I think the American people want to see that concrete action.
I'm also going to be talking about some more mundane matters, things like making sure that we have our government personnel in place on critical positions -- in critical positions that involve our basic government functioning and seeing if we can accelerate that and to try to find some agreement in those areas.
And then I'm going to spend some time listening because there may be some priorities that both the Republican and Democratic leaders have that they want to raise at this meeting. My hope this is not going to be a rare situation. We're going to be doing this on a regular basis, and I'm very thankful that everybody here is taking time to come. I'm confident that if we move forward in the spirit of keeping in mind what is best for the American people, that we should be able to accomplish a lot.
All right? Thank you very much, everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AND FEMALE (off camera): Thank you, Mr. President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And there you have it. The president giving us an update on that bipartisan meeting today at the White House where they were focusing on jobs and the economy. As he said, they really want to move forward on job creation, encouraging small businesses to hire. We will continue to follow that story for you.
Want to get back to this one. U.S. troops are set to take part in a major offensive in Afghanistan. International forces are planning a ground assault on a Taliban stronghold in the volatile Helmand province. And it is no secret -- NATO warned people, and many left the area. Troops, they going after the Taliban and the money- making trade.
Joing me now in Washington is Patrick Cronan, senior adviser to the Center for a New American Society. He is going to be talking about this. And Patrick, I got to ask you. The U.S. military is being extremely vocal about this offensive. What is the strategy with that, just coming out and saying what they are planning on doing?
PATRICK CRONAN, SENIOR ADVISER, CENTER FOR A NEW AMERICAN SOCIETY: Well, the element of surprise was surrendered a long time ago. We began this major operation to clear Helmand province last summer, so this is the last redoubt (ph) of Taliban in Helmand province. The Taliban had to know the NATO forces would catch up, especially as forces started to surge in Afghanistan.
I think the strategy could be called what Charles V defined power as, namely "an iron fist in a velvet glove." And the iron fist here is the warning sign to the Taliban a new sheriff is coming to town. That new sheriff is the Afghan government. It's going to reclaim control over all of Helmand province.
And the velvet glove is to the people, the population, which was part of the whole McChrystal report and reassessment of going back to a real counterinsurgency strategy, which is not killing the enemy so much as protecting the population and the people. So, this is giving the population who don't want to be a part of this fight, a chance to trickle out of Helmand province and get out of the battlefield.
NGUYEN: It sounds all good in theory, but is this another way, too, of, you know, sounding the alarm and the Taliban saying, all right, bring it, we are dug in. This is not going to scare us.
CRONAN: Well, I think when the battle is over, although it's a long campaign, this will signal to the Taliban in the next fight, in Kandahar, the capital of the Taliban, that they cannot win militarily. The NATO forces that are with the Afghan security forces that are getting stronger everyday, can reclaim this territory for their own, can control this area and services -- essential jobs and services can push out the narco trafficking trade and get a real economy going, at least in these population centers and then build out from there.
So, yes, it does allow some of the Taliban to dig in and allows them to plant more improvised explosive devices and a lot of snipers to get into place. All very dangerous to be sure but, at the same time, they are not going to win this fight.
NGUYEN: We're hearing from a British general this is for the security of the population, not to fight down the insurgents. So, what are they trying to do here? Separate the Taliban from civilians?
CRONAN: Yes, because the Taliban strategy is infiltrate the population and make sure no separation between the 80,000 people who live in Marji, for instance, and the Taliban fighters, the few thousand Taliban fighters. Our aim is obviously to separate the population from the fighters.
Look at what the Pakistanis did very well in SWAT Valley last year when they had to clear out the population. They warned the population we're coming in after the Pakistan Taliban, and allowed the population to get out. It created a huge refugee or internally displaced people crisis, but they were able to then deal with that crisis after they eradicated the Taliban.
NGUYEN: All right. Patrick Cronan, thank you so much for spending a little time and sharing your insight with us. Do appreciate it.
CRONAN: My pleasure.
NGUYEN: It is the anniversary week of Iran's 1979 resolution -- or revolution, I should say -- and that is cause to celebrate for some, but reason to protest for others. Our Iran Desk is keeping tabs what is happening and Ivan Watson will show us how some Iranians are keeping opposition and hope alive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, this is the anniversary week of Iran's 1979 revolution, and a young Iranian in the United States is keeping opposition and hope alive. His hope, though, to be reunited with his father in a free Iran. CNN's Ivan Watson has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Last week, 28-year- old Mehdi Saharkhiz sent an online message to his father. "My friend, my comrade, today is your birthday," he wrote. "But, father, these are days of pain and blood. It's been more than 200 days since you've seen freedom." Security forces arrested Mehdi's father, Izza (ph), in Iran last July. He has been in prison there ever since. MEHDI SAHARKHIZ, IRANIAN EXILE BLOGGER: During his arrest, they broke his ribs and then they put him in solitary confinement for 70 days without any medical treatment.
WATSON: Izza Saharkhiz is a prominent Iranian journalist and during the Iran's presidential elections last June, he worked as a spokesman for a reformist candidate. Mehdi says his father is just one of the thousand of victims of the crackdown that followed that disputed election.
SAHARKHIZ: So, basically, July the freedom of speech, I think, is his crime.
WATSON: So Mehdi stepped in to fill the gap armed with little more than a laptop and a T-shirt with his father's face on it.
SAHARKHIZ: For us who live outside, it's important for us to get the word out for us that live on the outside and support them in getting that word out.
WATSON: From New Jersey, where Mehdi lives and works full-time as a graphic artist, the young Iranian launched a blog and a YouTube channel that is home to thousands of videos secretly uploaded from the streets of Iran.
(on camera): You're taking an incredible risk sending this video, right?
SAHARKHIZ: Yes. They are basically giving up their lives trying to record our Iranian history.
WATSON (voice-over): Some videos are sent by trusted contacts. Others are posted anonymously.
SAHARKHIZ: You can see an innocent girl being beaten who is not in the protest. She is begging, I mean, you can see her.
WATSON: How do you feel when you see this?
SAHARKHIZ: Don't they have family? How could they beat their own people?
WATSON: Mehdi one-man information campaign, often carried out from neighborhood coffee shops, shows everything from defiant music videos. ..
(MUSIC PLAYING)
SAHARKHIZ: It's called spring for freedom.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
WATSON: ... to the latest photos of new government crowd control methods.
(on camera): I mean, the irony is, you're getting these things out, but now other people in the country can see them?
SAHARKHIZ: Yes, because from cities-to-cities, people won't be able to get information because there is no newspapers. All of the newspapers are shut down. Basically, everything is shut down so getting those images back in are very important.
(CROWD CHANTING)
WATSON: Iran's opposition often seems like a movement that lives on little more than hope. The same goes for this young Iranian exile.
(on camera): Do you think you'll ever see your father again?
SAHARKHIZ: Of course. I know that one day, we'll celebrate in a free Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Ivan Watson is working our Iran Desk this morning and joins me live. Ivan, you know, in the piece, you highlighted one family member, one arrest. But this is just one story among many, isn't it?
WATSON: Absolutely. Human rights organization estimates thousands of people have been swept up over the course of the last eight months. Opposition activists in jails across Iran. And it says at least 65 journalists have been arrested as well, making Iran the largest prison in the world. That's according to the organization Reporters Without Borders.
Now, Mehdi gave me an update on his father, Izza, who has been in prison more than 200 days. He says that Sunday night he was taken out of his prison cell around 1:00 a.m., along with another prisoner, and they were told to take their shoes and socks off and do exercises for two hours outside in subfreezing temperatures until one of the prisoners began throwing up. Betty?
NGUYEN: (INAUDIBLE) All right, Ivan, thank you so much for bringing us the latest and jus the stories that are many times the stories are untold and unheard. We do appreciate your work. Thank you.
What does winter have against metro D.C.? First there was Snowmageddon and now there's talk of a sequel? We'll check in with Rob next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN, your Severe Weather Headquarters.
NGUYEN: Yes, well, we need to be watching meteorologist Rob Marciano. Why? Because he has the latest on this second round of storms that is expected to hit Washington again. People talking earlier it's like a bad sequel, right? The second once is always worse than the first. (WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Goodness! All right. Thank you, Rob. We do appreciate it.
First lady Michelle Obama launches her fight against childhood obesity today, and that is what we're talking about on our blog. We're asking you what do you think it's going to take to win the fight against obesity? We want to give you some of your responses today.
First from Chuck. Says, "Nutritious food is a start. But parents should limit the modern conveniences kids have."
And then Cynthia says this. "I don't think that this fight can be won. The parents have the primary responsibility for the child's health, and schools cannot undo what parents have created as a lifestyle."
Now, I want to take you to my Facebook site because Jim Field says this: "Put down the X-Box and go out and play." That's some good advice.
And quickly now to my Twitter page, this person says, "We don't have a problem with childhood obesity, we have a problem with parental complacency."
And last one here really quickly, Crew99 says, "Pretty much they have to cut TV programming and limit Internet and make healthy food as affordable as junk food." That's a good point there, too.
Thanks for your comments today. Remember, we still want to hear from you. Logon to CNN.com/betty or go to my Twitter and Facebook pages at BettyNguyenCNN. Share your comments with us.
In the meantime, though, he's in boot camp getting ready for the battlefield, but hundreds of miles away his folks back home notice how he is changing as he prepares for this next phase in life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Welcome back, everybody. We've been following a story of Will McLain, an Army recruit. While Will goes through boot camp, his folks back home are worried about his future. But they also noticed some positive changes in him. Our Jason Carroll picks up the story.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Betty, so far, much of the focus has been on Will McLain's impressions and his experiences. Now we turn the camera in a different direction to get his parents point of view of what it's like to have a recruit in the family for the very first time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LORI MCLAIN, MOTHER: This is William's last letter. It says hey, mom and dad. How are things going at home? I hope well. CARROLL (voice-over): Nearly every time Lori McLain reads a letter from her son Will or Junior, as they call him here at home in Rosamond, California, it's hard for her not to become emotional.
L. MCLAIN: I love you guys and I'll talk to you when I can. Love Junior.
It doesn't take much. But I keep all of his letters.
CARROLL: The letters come from for the Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri where new recruit Will has been at boot camp for the past nine weeks.
RECRUITS: Yes, drill sergeant.
CARROLL: From the beginning, we followed him through his training...
RECRUITS: One, two, three.
CARROLL: ... chronicling his toughest challenges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get off the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you seriously coughing and crap?
CARROLL (on camera): How would you explain to a parent who doesn't have a son or daughter going through this what it's been like for you so far?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You couldn't explain it if they didn't have a son or daughter.
L. MCLAIN: It's because if you don't have one, you have no clue how you would treat it or what you would do.
CARROLL (voice-over): His parents say they've seen the impact military service is having on Will. There's the physical transformation. They saw it when Will was home on holiday leave, but it's his letters, they say, where they see the most striking change in him.
L. MCLAIN: William's (ph) never been a person to pour his emotions out. He's always held them in and been strong. And now he doesn't so much as pour his emotions in as he's wondering what the rest of us are all doing and how we're getting along without him.
CARROLL: His two brothers feel the void as well.
JEFF MCLAIN, BROTHER: I think sometimes you say you miss him, you know. You go through life or work or something, and you forget the fact that he's gone. You come home and you want to relax, and let's go play something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not here.
CARROLL: Will's father says his son is no longer the young 18- year-old who left home. He's had to grow up in a matter of weeks.
(on camera): Sort of a crash course, right.
BILL MCLAIN, FATHER: Yes, it's a crash course. It's not just physical but mental. You can see mentally he's never been farther than Rosemont, you know what I'm saying? And now, he's clear across the country with nobody is here to bail him out. So he has to do it on his own.
CARROLL (voice-over): And along with pride comes the concerns with every passing day as will comes closer to learning whether his next step from boot camp will lead to war.
(on camera): As we draw closer to the end of his training, we draw closer to, you know, word of his deployment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.
BILL MCLAIN: You got to do what you got to do. They'll send him wherever. He'll survive it.
CARROLL: That is still worrisome to you?
BILL MCLAIN: Nobody wants their child to go into war, but I mean, it's something we're fighting for.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Will should get his orders for deployment in just a few more weeks. He still has some specialized training to complete. And our next installment, we take a look at that training and get Will's feelings about deployment as it draws closer. Betty?
NGUYEN: We'll be looking forward to that.
And hopefully, you're looking forward to this. You should be because the NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour with my good friend, Tony Harris.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Very nice. Good to see you, Betty.
NGUYEN: You, too.
