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FDA Finds Multiple Problems with Egg Farms; Iraq War Combat Operations End; New EPA "Report Cards" for Cars; Obama Speaks to Troops in Texas; Anticipating President Obama's Oval Office Address; Globe Trekking: Drilling Starts in Chile, Months to Go; Fix Our Schools: Great Teachers + Engaged Students = High School Diplomas

Aired August 31, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm feeling claustrophobic just watching the piece. Got to go. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, that's exactly how I feel, hearing about it. These guys are heroes down there.

Thanks very much. You have a great afternoon.

I'm Ali Velshi. Consider me your news guide through the next couple of hours. We're mapping out important information for today and tomorrow, breaking down ideas and seeking out innovation. We're about access and understanding.

Let's get started right now. Here's what I've got on the rundown.

After seven and a half years, hundreds of billions of dollars, and thousands of American lives, the U.S. combat mission in Iraq is, at least officially, coming to an end. We're going to put this war in perspective through its history, through its geography, and through the men and women who fought in it.

Plus, I'm going give you a math lesson. Don't worry; it's not about numbers. It's about empowering kids. If you don't think your kid can get excited about math, think again.

And you are driving down the road. There's a bus in front of you, but instead of going around it, you go under it. Being thrown under the bus gets a whole new meaning in our "Big Eye."

The big story today, wow, the Food and Drug Administration releases its report of its inspections of two Iowa egg factories implicated in the recall of more than 500 million eggs. Wow. You're going to find this fascinating. I certainly did. Let's talk about it.

We're talking about the Wright County egg facility in -- in Iowa. This company has a fairly checkered history of labor issues, environmental issues, worker issues.

The company says inspectors visited 73 barns on five of its so- called farms. Like I said, they're more like factories. That's one of the two farms that the egg recall has been traced to. The other one are farms owned by Hillendale Farms. Salmonella has now been found at both farms. But let me tell you what the FDA said it found.

First of all, a pile of manure at one of them eight feet high. A pile of manure eight feet high, leaking. Leaking into other areas, where the hens actually were. In fact, there were some uncaged hens that were actually getting access, walking around, over these piles of manure. Some of them were four feet. Some of them were eight feet. Flies and maggots, too many to count. Rodents, rodent holes. In one case, the access to one of the barns couldn't be closed because there was so much manure there. They found frogs and wild birds, all sorts of things.

I want to make -- try and make sense of this. Before I do, I will tell you that Wright County Eggs has given us a statement. And I just want to tell you what that statement is. They say, "To demonstrate our continued commitment to running our farms in the most responsible manner and to ensuring the safety of the eggs we produce, our team has worked around the clock to address concerns that were raised verbally during the FDA's inspections, with many of those being fixed as soon as they were identified."

And Hillendale Farms, the other farm involved, has given us this statement: "We are in the process of responding to the FDA's written report to provide further explanation and clarification of what was observed. Several of the issues have been identified by the facilities prior to the FDA inspection, and we were already in the process of being addressed -- were already in the process of being addressed during the inspection period. Additionally, some of the issues were immediately corrected as soon as they were identified."

Let me bring in Bill Marler. He's a personal injury lawyer who specialized in food-borne illnesses; has some involvement in this case, as well.

But Bill, you've got some history of this. First of all, the FDA, which we have -- we, meaning society -- has been critical of for not inspecting all of these facilities. And in many cases, an understaffed agency to get to every farm. But the bottom line is, why would the understaffed agency be able to identify things that the farm couldn't identify itself? It strikes me that a four-foot pile of manure and maggots and rodents and an eight-foot pile of manure does not need an FDA inspector to come in and tell you, "Hey, you guys need to move this."

BILL MARLER, PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER: No, I mean, this is one of the worst 483s -- four eight three is the name of the inspection report, FDA inspection report -- that I've ever seen. This is -- these facilities were out of control. And there's absolutely no question that these sorts of activities and these problems were the cause of this systemic salmonella outbreak that's really gone on for, you know, two-and-a-half, almost three months. Half a billion eggs recalled and 1,500 people sick.

VELSHI: Let me ask you about this. MARLER: It's really no surprise.

VELSHI: It is not scientifically clear that manure and flies and frogs and all sorts of other things equals salmonella, and you can have salmonella in a plant that doesn't all of those other things, correct?

MARLER: Well, when you have a systemic problem that's this bad, you've got, you know, infected feed, you've got infected water, you've got infected, you know, everything in that plant. It's just a bad cycle of everything getting recontaminated and recontaminated again, which then ultimately, you know, makes American consumers ill.

VELSHI: Bill, when we -- when we hear about all these recalls that we've seen over the last few years, and salmonella and food-borne illnesses, whenever there is a report or an inspection or changes are made, they seem to be things that regular folks who don't farm think were obvious in the first place, i.e., the manure piles. I mean, it's always got to do with something dirty --

MARLER: Right.

VELSHI: -- and something infected and animals eating something they shouldn't be eating. Who is supposed to be regulating this? And I ask that rhetorically, because we know the FDA does. But we also know that there are a lot of farms in this country, and it can't all depend on an FDA inspector going in there and telling them obvious things.

MARLER: You know, Ali, you've really, I think, focused in on the real problem. The real problem is, you know, we're talking not all farmers farm like this. Not all peanut producers produce peanuts like the guy last year that poisoned 700 people and killed nine folks. You know, those are plants that are out of control.

You know, they're going to -- there are always going to be folks like that, and the reason why we need more FDA inspection is just to keep these folks honest. But one of the things -- a critical part that's missing here is the role the retailers play.

You know, this particular plant, this egg facility, had never been inspected by the FDA, had never been inspected by the USDA, and -- but no one else had inspected it either.

VELSHI: Right.

MARLER: I mean, no big box store had ever sent a representative in there. And, you know, Ali, I guarantee you, when I get the court order to go in there --

VELSHI: Yes.

MARLER: Or if I take you in there with me --

VELSHI: Yes.

MARLER: -- you would look around and go, you know, we shouldn't be growing eggs in here.

VELSHI: Right.

MARLER: It's just commonsensical that it's not the right thing to do.

VELSHI: It's interesting, because where there's pressure on child labor or bad labor laws, you find retailers making sure that their factories in China are up to muster, and yet we don't seem to have the same thing.

MARLER: Exactly.

VELSHI: We don't trace the eggs back or the peanuts back.

When you sue on behalf of clients, typically, in a food-borne illness situation, what is the thing that makes people change? Is it the publicity? Is it the fine? Is it the changes in regulation? What's the thing that you're looking for in this -- in this case?

MARLER: It's a little complex. You know, the personal injury part of this is, in many respects, a very small part of the equation. You know, it may cost this company, its insurance carrier, you know, 20, 30, 40 million to take care of the victims of this.

But it's much broader than that. The recall costs are going to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Lost sales are going to be in the tens of millions of dollars. You know, ultimately, this may be a 2, $300 million fiasco caused by one bad actor.

In the peanut butter outbreak, that was estimated to have cost the peanut industry over a half a billion dollars. So you know, it should be the economics that run this decision-making.

VELSHI: Yes.

MARLER: But ultimately, retailers have got to step up and realize that, you know, going after low price points on these products --

VELSHI: Yes.

MARLER: -- whether it's eggs or peanuts, going after low price points just puts a squeeze on these manufacturers --

VELSHI: Right.

MARLER: -- to, you know, cut corners.

VELSHI: Yes.

MARLER: And when they cut corners, it causes problems. So, you know, I really reach out to those retailers to, you know, ask themselves, you know, are these the kinds of products that you should be selling in your stores to your customers?

VELSHI: Yes. All right. Bill, good to talk to you. Thanks very much.

Bill Maher -- Marler is an advocate, personal safety advocate and a lawyer joining us from Chicago. We'll continue to cover this story about the eggs.

The other story that we're going to stick on for a long time or as long as it takes is what those 33 miners in Chile have been waiting for since that cave-in trapped them a half a mile underground three weeks ago.

Engineers have started drilling that rescue shaft that they hope will eventually free those miners. The 70-year-old father of one of the miners, who's been a miner all his life, now is waiting above ground with his son's wife, both of them talking about the son and the husband that they love. That's our "Sound Effect."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE VEGA, FATHER OF TRAPPED MINER (through translator): I told my son two months before the cave-in, "Son, that mine is sending you a warning. Stop working there."

But he said, "Dad, I'm fixing up my house. I need to carry on."

JESSICA SALGADO, WIFE OF TRAPPED MINER: At the time, it didn't sink in that the accident had been so big. I cried a lot, but I was trying to keep my spirits up because of our children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Well, mine officials say the rescue shaft could take anywhere from three to four months to complete. Right now, essential supplies are being sent down through three narrow shafts.

Also today, the miners got their first solid food, as well as some music and a book called "Tactics of Oration" to help them prepare for the media blitz once they are back above ground.

All right. Declaring U.S. combat operations over in Iraq. President Obama's Oval Office speech and a look at the reality on the ground in Iraq after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: On March the 20th, 2003, former president, George W. Bush, launched the Iraq war. Tonight, in an Oval Office speech, President Obama will declare U.S. combat operations officially over.

The president left this morning for Texas. He's spending some time with some veterans at Ft. Bliss in Texas before returning to the White House.

The pressing question on his mind, is this. It's on everybody's mind, really. Is Iraq ready to defend itself? Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Malaki, in a television speech today, gave an unqualified answer. Iraqi forces are both ready and capable to protect the country from both domestic and foreign enemies.

But critics inside and outside the Obama administration are not so sure about this. They point to a recent spike in violence. One example: two days ago, a wave of 20 bomb attacks -- 20 bomb attacks -- struck 13 Iraqi cities, killing 49 people -- 48 people, wounding more than 280 people.

Plus, there's a serious political problem. Prime Minister Maliki declared today Iraq is sovereign and independent. That is correct. But the government is in limbo. Six months after inconclusive national elections, there is no effective new government.

Today the White House once again expressed its impatience, calling on Iraq, quote, "to move forward with a sense of urgency," end quote, in forming a new government.

There's at least one important thing to remember, as President Obama declares tonight that combat operations in Iraq are over. The war itself is not over, and keep this in mind. This war started more than seven years ago.

Plus, this nation has paid dearly, both in terms of money spent; more importantly, in terms of American military men and women who have lost their lives. But others have also paid a huge price.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: While you might think of this as a U.S. war or U.S. and British war, the fact is, the war in Iraq was an international effort. More than 60 countries took part of it, 60 to 70 countries. Some sent troops. Some sent material. Some of those countries have started drawing it down.

Now, the U.S. And the U.K. were by far the biggest participants in the war in Iraq, the U.S. by far the single biggest. Let's talk about U.S. troops in Iraq. When this thing started in 2003, the initial invasion involved 94,000 troops, and that quickly moved up to 149,000 at the peak of the invasion. But then that was drawn down in 2003 to 124,000 troops.

But the situation, the security situation on the ground, didn't improve dramatically, so you can see between 2003 and 2005, gradual increases in the number of troops in Iraq.

By 2008, a decision was made for a troop surge, to put more troops in. There were 132,000 troops on the ground, U.S. troops, at the time that that decision was made, peaking at 170,000 troops in 2007.

The surge then ended, and the Obama administration decided on a drawdown of troops. And you can see how that works. In 2009, troops left the cities. There were 132,000 troops left in Iraq. And you can see all the way down to now with the end of combat operations in Iraq, 50,000 troops remaining there, eventually going down to zero, or at least that's the administration's intent. Now, a lot of U.S. troops lost their lives in Iraq, starting with the first year of the war in 2003; 486 people died that year. But that death toll, take a look at this, continued higher and higher and higher until now, where the total death toll is about 4,420.

Now, there's another picture I want to show you that will give you a more full picture of what's going on. It's not just troops who were killed; it was troops who are injured. Thirty-one thousand, nine hundred and eleven U.S. troops were injured in this war so far. Almost 18,000 have returned to duty; 14,000 have not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Of course, we cannot and won't forget America's other war, Afghanistan. Fighting there has spiked in recent days. Five American service members were killed today. Four of them in a roadside bomb attack in the eastern part of the country. A fifth American soldier was killed in an insurgent attack in the south. And three Afghan Supreme Court staff members were killed, 12 wounded in an attack in Kabul province.

These follow yesterday's attacks, in which seven NATO trips were killed.

Prime Minister -- I'm sorry, President Obama will address the nation on Iraq tonight from the Oval Office. He'll also talk about Afghanistan and the broader war on terrorism. CNN will have live coverage of the speech at 8 p.m. Eastern, followed by our breakdown of the president's remarks, and reports from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Well, it could change the way you shop for your next car. The government has a new plan up its sleeve. I'll unveil it for you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK on "Your $$$$$" today, the government's list of banks at risk of failing has hit the highest level since 1993. The number of banks at risk, 829. That's 53 more than the previous three months. That's according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and that is twice the number of troubled banks that were on the list a year ago.

As bad as it sounds, only about 13 percent of the banks on the watch list ever get seized by regulators.

On a bit more positive note, consumer confidence is up this month. We've all been talking about how lousy people feel. Apparently, we're wrong. In August, consumer confidence, or the index that measures it, rose to 53.5. That's up from 51 in July. Fifty- three point five, still pretty low, but it's heading in the right direction after two previous monthly declines.

I'm telling you, that's going to change if everybody keeps talking about a double-dip recession. But we'll talk about that more later.

I want to tell you something about the way a change in something -- I'm going to tell you about something that might change the way you shop for a new car. Let's put it that way.

Fuel efficiency standards for our new cars and trucks are changing in a big way. The Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Transportation Department, they both decided it's time to change those fuel-economy window stickers to keep up with the times.

Over here, Mark, let's just show this one on the right, for starters. That's what you're kind of used to seeing. If you buy a new car, you go to the lot, that's what's in the window. On the left, it shows you how many miles per gallon a car gets in the city; on the right, how many it gets in the -- on a highway; in the middle, it says that based on 15,000 miles driven at a price per gallon, the estimated annual fuel costs of that car will be "X."

I'm not sure what was all wrong with that. But here's what they're proposing. There are two different designs that are being proposed. The first one is a color-coated letter grade. This one is a "B." "A" would be given to electric and hybrid cars. And then it would be "B," "C" and "D." The "A" is green; "B" is yellow. I don't know what the other colors are. But bottom line is, you don't want a "D." You're looking for an "A" or a "B," theoretically.

Here's the other one that they're proposing. It looks a little bit -- it's over here. It looks a little bit more like what we're used to. It's a bit of a change. I don't know why they're changing and what the benefit of it is, so I'm going to bring in an expert. Peter Valdes-Dapena is CNNmoney.com senior writer and automotive editor. He joins us now.

Peter, tell me what you think about this stuff. First of all, why are they doing it, and will it matter?

PETER VALDES-DAPENA, CNNMONEY.COM WRITER/AUTOMOTIVE EDITOR: Well, there's two reasons. One, you said you don't know what's wrong with that old label. I'll tell you one thing that's wrong with it. Nobody drives on the highway all the time; nobody drives in the city all the time.

The information you really need, which is that estimated annual cost of fuel and also your combined fuel economy, those things are small and hard to find on that label.

I think one thing we need to do is make those features more prominent, so customers can have something they can actually compare. I don't know how to compare a car that gets, you know, 14 in the city and 25 on the highway. How does that compare to something that gets 32 and 12?

VELSHI: I see what you're saying. So you need the math done for you a little bit more? Consumers need the math done a little bit more?

VALDES-DAPENA: Right. We want to make it simpler so you can have something you can compare directly.

But also, everybody's driving style is different. So at the same time, we need a little bit more information about things like, you know, how many gallons do I use per hundred miles? That's a lot easier to compare than miles per gallon. If a vehicle uses 3.8 gallons per 100 miles, that's a nice, easy figure to compare.

So we're trying to do two things at once. Simplify, but at the same time, also provide more genuinely useful information. And there's another factor here, and that is new technology in the industry. By the end of this year, Nissan is going to have an all- electric car.

VELSHI: Yes, the Leaf.

VALDES-DAPENA: And General Motors is going to have the Chevy Volt that drives on electricity for 40 miles. And then goes on gasoline after that. Current fuel economy labels can't even begin to deal with that kind of stuff. So we need some fuel economy labels that have some flexibility to deal with completely different kinds of ways of driving a car.

VELSHI: Do you like either of the two new designs? Which one do you think is going to get the nod?

VALDES-DAPENA: I'd go for the second one, the one without the letter grade. I think it's a simpler label. Ironically, the idea of the letter grade is to make things simpler, but that label actually looks more complicated to me.

Second of all, the letter grade does put the government in kind of a weird position. I mean, if you make an SUV, there's no way you're going get an "A."

VELSHI: Right.

VALDES-DAPENA: You're basically telling customers that this small car is better than a big car. Obviously, the industry has some issues with that. And I sort of understand what they're saying. It does put the government in an odd position of telling customers a certain type of car is better than another. We can compare numbers. We know --

VELSHI: You can figure that out, right.

VALDES-DAPENA: Yes. And I think the second label gives you that information, and it's simple, clear way, without putting any kind of a moral aspect to it on there.

VELSHI: Yes.

VALDES-DAPENA: You can make the decision; you can see what's there. And I think it does a good job of doing it. Between those two, what we're going to get in the end is probably neither one of these but some combination of the two. VELSHI: Well, keep us posted. Read Peter's stuff on CNNmoney.com. It's fantastic. He tries every single car out there and knows what -- what they're all about. Thanks, Peter.

If you want more information on things having to do with your money, watch "YOUR $$$$$" on CNN, Saturdays at 1 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Let me bring you up to speed with some of the top stories that we're following here on CNN.

Hurricane Earl could brush by North Carolina's Outer Banks by Friday. Storm surges are possible. The Category 4 hurricane brought rain and high winds to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. As of last report, it was about 1,000 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with 135 mile-an-hour winds. We, of course, will keep a very, very close eye on that, as we always do here at CNN.

U.S. officials are downplaying yesterday's arrests at a Netherlands airport. Dutch officials are holding two Yemeni citizens on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. They were arrested after a flight from Chicago, but a U.S. source tells CNN, quote, "This looks like nothing." There's no indication the two men even knew each other.

A new study suggests that people with multiple sclerosis tend to suffer more in the spring and summer. About 40,000 Americans suffer from M.S., an autoimmune disease that attacks fibers in the central nervous system. Writing in the journal "Neurology," researchers say some patients are two to three times more likely to show scarring during the spring and summer months.

Well, our goal is to get your kids a better education in this country. All this week, we're looking at different ways to fix our schools, and the best tools are our teachers. We're calling on the best and the brightest, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. I want to go down to Ft. Bliss, Texas, where the president was speaking a little while ago. These are his comments. Let's listen in to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, everybody.

(APPLAUSE.)

Everybody have a seat.

Well, listen, I am extraordinarily honored to be with all of you today, and I want to thank General Pittard, I want to thank Command Sergeant Major Dave Davenport, who have shown such extraordinary leadership here.

I wanted to come down to Fort Bliss mainly to say thank you and to say welcome home.

I'm going to make a speech to the nation tonight. It's not going to be a victory lap. It's not going to be self-congratulatory. There's still a lot of work that we've got to do to make sure that Iraq is an effective partner with us. But the fact of the matter is that because of the extraordinary service that all of you have done, and so many people here at Fort Bliss have done, Iraq has an opportunity to create a better future for itself, and America is more secure.

Now, I just met with some Gold Star families, and yesterday I was at Walter Reed. And there are no moments when I feel more keenly and more deeply my responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief than during those moments. I know we lost 51 fellow soldiers from here in Fort Bliss. A lot more than that were injured, some of them very severely. A million men and women in uniform have now served in Iraq. And this has been one of our longest wars.

But the fact of the matter is that there has not been a single mission that has been assigned to all of you in which you have not performed with gallantry, with courage, with excellence. And that is something that the entire country understands.

There are times where, in our country, we've got political disagreements. And appropriately we have big debates about war and peace. But the one thing we don't argue about is the fact that we've got the finest fighting force in the history of the world.

(APPLAUSE.)

And the reason we have it is because of the men and women in uniform, in every branch of service, who make so many sacrifices, and their families make those sacrifices alongside them.

And so the main message I have tonight and the main message I have to you is congratulations on a job well done. The country appreciates you. I appreciate you. And the most pride I take in my job is being your Commander-in-Chief.

It also means that as we transition in Iraq, that the one thing I will insist upon for however long I remain President of the United States is that we serve you and your families as well as you served us.

So we spent a lot of time over the last couple of years making sure that we're increasing our support of veterans: that we are making sure that our wounded warriors are cared for; that some of the signature injuries of our war, like post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, that we are devoting special services there; that we've got a post-9/11 GI bill that ensures that you and your family members are able to come back and fully contribute and participate in our economy; that our veterans are constantly getting the care and honor that they have earned.

So that's part of my message to the country. And one of the great things about the last several years has been to see how unified the country is around support of our veterans and of our men and women who are currently serving.

Now, I know that, as I said at the beginning, our task in Iraq is not yet completed. Our combat phase is over, but we've worked too hard to neglect the continuing work that has to be done by our civilians and by those transitional forces, including some folks who are going to be deploying I understand today. And I'm going to be talking to them later.

The work that continues is absolutely critical: providing training and assistance to Iraqi security forces because there's still violence in Iraq, and they're still learning how to secure their country the way they need to. And they've made enormous strides thanks to the training that they've already received. But there's still more work to do there.

We're going to have to protect our civilians, our aid workers and our diplomats who are over there, who are still trying to expand and help what's going to be a long road ahead for the Iraqi people in terms of rebuilding their country.

We're still going to be going after terrorists in those areas. And so our counterterrorism operations are still going to be conducted jointly. But the bottom line is, is that our combat phase is now over. We are in transition. And that could not have been accomplished had it not been for the men and women here at Fort Bliss and across the country.

The other thing that I'm going to talk about this evening is the fact that we obviously still have a very tough fight in Afghanistan. And a lot of families have been touched by the way in Iraq. A lot of families are now being touched in Afghanistan. We've seen casualties go up because we're taking the fight to al Qaeda and the Taliban and their allies.

It is going to be a tough slog, but what I know is that after 9/11, this country was unified in saying we are not going to let something like that happen again. And we are going to go after those who perpetrated that crime, and we are going to make sure that they do not have safe haven.

And now under the command of General Petraeus, we have the troops who are there in a position to start taking the fight to the terrorists. And that's going to mean some casualties and it's going to mean some heartbreak. But the one thing that I know from all of you is that when we put our minds to it, we get things done. And we're willing to make some sacrifices on behalf of our security here at home.

So to all of you, and to your families, I want to express my deepest gratitude, the gratitude of Michelle, the First Lady, and our entire family. But also I just want to say thank you on behalf of the country, because without you we couldn't enjoy the freedoms and the security that are so precious. And all of you represent that long line of heroes that have served us so well generation after generation. You know, when I was talking to the Gold Star families there, there were some widows dating back to World War II, and then there was a young woman who had just had a baby and had just lost her husband. And that describes the arc of heroism and sacrifice that's been made by the men and women in uniform for so many generations. You're part of that line, part of that tradition, part of that heroism.

So what I'd like to do is just to come around and shake all of your hands personally, to say thank you to all of you, to say thank you for a job well done, and to know that you are welcome home with open arms from every corner of this country. People could not be prouder of you, and we are grateful.

Thank you very much, everybody.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: President speaking in Ft. Bliss, Texas. Interesting his last comments. You are welcome home with open arms from all quarters. This is a war that many people have thought not to have been successful. But he was telling the troops that while there may be disputes about what mission U.S. troops should be on, there is no dispute about the quality of the force and the support for the force and that they will be welcomed home as they all return from deployment when they do come home.

All right, it's a fact of life you can't talk about war without talking about politics. We're going to talk about the politics of this war, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. President Obama just talking to troops in Ft. Bliss, Texas. A preview, really, to tonight's Oval Office speech on ending the U.S. combat role in Iraq.

I want to talk to you a little bit about that. Gloria Borger is joining me now. She's our CNN senior political analyst.

Gloria, what do we expect the president to be saying today? This was the date he set for the end of combat operations in Iraq. He set this sometime ago. They have achieved that, although too many casual observers, this looks a little strange. There's still 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Apparently the people waging war on those troops haven't been informed that it's over.

What does this all mean?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think the president in a way gave a preview to his own speech tonight.

It's going to be very much a thank you to the troops, a salute to the troops who have done their jobs. And what it also is, is a fulfillment of a campaign promise. This is a president who pledged that he would withdraw combat troops by a date certain. He is doing that. As you point out, there are also security forces there, which will be withdrawn at the end of 2011.

But politically, Ali, what's quite interesting here, and Republicans are raising this issue, is that this is a plan that was largely devised by President George W. Bush, that Barack Obama has followed. And as a senator and as a presidential candidate you'll recall, Barack Obama was opposed to the surge in Iraq, which many people credit with allowing our nation to proceed with this withdrawal.

VELSHI: Let me just --

BORGER: So will he mention George W. Bush tonight?

VELSHI: Let's play something that Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary said to John Roberts this morning. John Roberts on "AMERICAN MORNING" asked Robert Gibbs if we've won the war.

Listen to what Robert Gibbs said to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: The president promised to end the war. Has he won the war?

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, look, John, I don't think that winning the war is going to look like it has in previous decades. There will be no surrender ceremony on a battleship out the at sea. But there's no question that today marks a significant transition in our relationship with Iraq. Our combat mission ends. Iraqi security forces are in the lead. And quite frankly, the future of Iraq will be determined and written by the Iraqi people.

That's as it should be, because, quite frankly, John, and you'll hear the president discuss this tonight, we've got some very big challenges here at home and a nation here that we must rebuild.

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VELSHI: What do you make of that? Because that was not a yes or no for a war that hasn't had a lot of yes or no's over the last seven and a half years.

BORGER: Well, and also, you know, quite frankly, there are a lot of big question marks in Iraq. Not only whether the Iraqi security forces are up to the job, or will be up to the job by the end of 2011, but also, there's a caretaker government there right now, coalition government has the not been formed.

It's still arrive rife with ethnic rivalries and that's why you have the vice president over there trying to figure out whether these folks are going to get together and actually form a government. I think if the administration had had its druthers, they would have wished a government had been formed by this date. But, you know, that's not the case. Also, what you see Gibbs doing though, is transitioning, as he puts it, to another discussion which you have to have, heading into the election, which is, OK, this gives us more flexibility to take the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan. But also, in terms of resources, Ali, this gives us more money to put in domestic resources.

VELSHI: Right.

BORGER: And so you're going to see the president making that shift.

VELSHI: There will be -- this is one of those Oval Office addresses that we will be looking for the nuances in to see what he says about that.

Gloria, thanks so much.

Gloria Borger is CNN senior political analyst. Of course, we'll have full coverage of this tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, and then analysis of the speech thereafter.

Drilling has started in Chile, where 33 miners are trapped underground. We're going to have a live report on the other side of this break. Stay with us.

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VELSHI: All right. Time now for -- time now for "Globe Trekking." We are not going to leave the story of those miners in Chile. There have been developments. The biggest development of all, quite possibly, before the rescue that we will see a few months down, the drilling of the rescue hole has begun.

Let's go right to Karl Penhaul, who is following this story very closely in Chile with the details.

Karl, what have you got?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, that really is the -- Ali, sorry, that is the best piece of news that families here have been waiting for, the start of that rescue drill shaft. And so far -- rescue workers have just been talked and talk to me, he said that so far they have drilled about eight meters. Now that, I guess, is about 24 feet. Still, of course, a long way to go; a total of 2,300 feet. Still expected to take until Christmas, but the good news is that that has begun.

Now underground, as well, there is good news for the miners themselves. They're starting to receive solid food. They've had a ham sandwich, they've had a jam sandwich, they've had yogurt mixed with cereal, they've had kiwi fruit, as well. And tomorrow, for the first time in three-and-a-half weeks sense since that cave-in, their first hot meal. Now that is going to be rice and meat or possibly shredded chicken. So is all these things designed to lift the spirits of the miners. Even if they do have to stay down there for a long time, the idea is to make them as comfortable as possible. Now as well on top of that, the astronaut experts. NASA, they are in town, well at least in the capital of Santiago, Chile, and expecting them here at the mine head tomorrow where they'll be contributing advice on keeping the miners fit in body and in mind.

They'll be giving them nutritional advice and they'll also be giving them logistics advice to how to speed up the supply of food and the living supplies down those three four-in boreholes. The boreholes that are no bigger than that, that are being called the umbilical cords, the lifeline between the miners below and the surface here in the deserts of northern Chile, Ali.

VELSHI: All right, Karl, you will stay on that story, we'll stay on it with you.

Karl Penhaul in Chile.

Getting your kids excited about math. Don't laugh at this, I'm not kidding. There are some dedicated teachers out there who are getting kids to cheer about math. It's not just about numbers, it's creative. I'm going to tell you about it. You got to see it to believe it on the other side of this break.

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VELSHI: "Fix Our Schools," those three words will drive much of what you see on CNN this week and on this week, as we regularly do, we are shining the light on teachers. We're not bashing teachers, we're going to highlight some of the instructors who are making a difference in our schools and really reaching our kids.

And they need it. When it comes to math, science, American students, as we know are underperforming compared to the rest of the world. Public school kids in Detroit have some of the lowest test scores on record in this country.

Take a look at this, this math problem -- 301 minus 75. What's the number to that? Simple question from a national test given to fourth grade readers. The answer, obviously, is A, 226. Simple arithmetic.

Only one in every three students in Detroit got that right. Clearly, there's a problem; 331 minus 75, 226.

There are some aspiring teachers in Detroit who are doing their best to turn these numbers around.

CNN's Poppy Harlow joins me now. Poppy and I both spent a lot of time in Detroit because of our coverage of the auto industry, and when you spend a lot of time there, you get to know a lot of other things about the community. Tell me what you found.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: You know, it's interesting, because by most accounts, Detroit is sort of in the worst situation economically and when it comes to the education system, by most expert standards, the public school system, Ali, as you know in Detroit, you've seen it, it's failing the children there. They have massive debt, they have mounting dropouts.

But what we did is we found the students you see here literally cheering about learning math, and it's all because of the change that two teachers are making. These teachers determined to change the lives of their students.

Take a look.

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HARLOW (voice-over): Detroit may be trying to reinvent itself, but when it comes to educating its children, the word "struggle" only begins to describe the situation.

PROF. LEONARD BOEHM, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, MATH CORPS: Almost every kid has to walk through a metal detector just to go off to school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of my students said he and his friends mentally prepare themselves for what to do if somebody puts a gun in your face.

HARLOW: Only 59 percent of Detroit public school students graduate from high school and right now the school system is battling a $363 million budget deficit.

But as desperate as the situation may be, two Wayne State university professors have found success in inspiring Detroit kids at of all places, a math camp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember, you want to play mathematics up here, you better keep it simple.

HARLOW: In 1991 with just a few kids at first, Professors Leonard Boehm and Steve Kahn started Math Corps, a free six-week program for youngsters grades seven and up. What's different? Complex and often scary math problems are transformed into team challenges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's perfect.

HARLOW: The curriculum creates an environment where supporting others is central to learning.

LASHONTE LUKE-OWENS, STUDENT, MATH CORPS: We have a support system. We support people like this. And when they get it right, we agree. So it like makes them feel happy when they turn around and see all these people agreeing with them.

HARLOW: Math Corps now accepts 500 students per year, they come from different backgrounds with different abilities, not only to learn but also to teach. PROF. STEVE KAHN, DIRECTOR, MATH CORPS: Kids teaching kids works unbelievably well because it's not kids teaching kids, it's kids caring about kids.

HARLOW: And the proof is in the numbers, 90 percent of students who complete Math Corps graduate from high school and 80 percent go on to college.

BOEHM: The fact that you have them on the college environment at a young age -- I'm sorry, I'm going to lose it, but that plants that seed in them. You're worth something. You're worth a hundred points.

KAHN: We believe we cannot just change the school system, but change the city in a fundamental way.

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HARLOW: So obviously their dreams, Ali, a lot bigger than just in that math classroom. And one of the students even told me she thinks that just by going through this program, becoming a better leader, going on to do great things, she thinks she and the others can change Detroit as well, Ali.

VELSHI: What a great story, Poppy. Thanks so much for bringing it to us.

Poppy Harlow, CNNMoney.com. Tune in to CNNMoney.com to see all of Poppy's fantastic work.

And listen, we're asking you for your ideas on how we can fix our schools. Here are some ideas from my Facebook page.

Justin says, "The Department of Education should be done away with, along with national standardized testing. Schools should end at the tenth grade, students should be encouraged to attend a junior college for what used to be the last two years of high school."

Keep the comments coming. It makes for good discussion on my Facebook page, Facebook.com/alivelshicnn.

We're taking a break. I'll be right back on the other side.

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