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Beginning the 10th Year of Combat; White House Oil Disaster ; Four Tornadoes Slam North Arizona; Sgt. 1st Class Vogeler Coming Home; Vets: Stop Deploying Wounded Troops; News on the Political Ticker; President Obama's People Skills; Deadly Blasts at Pakistan Shrine

Aired October 07, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And live pictures, once again, from Savannah, Georgia, where you're seeing the casket of Sergeant First Class Lance Vogeler, Army Ranger, husband, father, finally coming home to his family and his brother. They're waiting there on the tarmac along with other Army rangers.

Why are we carrying this live? Why are wanting to tell you about this particular story today? Because we are entering our tenth year of combat in Afghanistan, and this is something that we see not very often.

We hear about the deaths. We hear about how our men and women die in battle. But today we wanted to tell you specifically about this unique young man.

Twelve tours of duty. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Four times in Iraq, seven times in Afghanistan. He joined the military just prior to 9/11. His comrades said that he realized for sure he had done the right thing once the Twin Towers came down in New York and he knew exactly what his destiny was supposed to be.

Right now, that casket will be carried to the hearse, and an incredibly warm welcome will happen along his hometown there as he makes his way to the funeral home and then finally his resting place.

You know, I told you, we're marking nine years that the U.S. has carried out combat operations in Afghanistan, and it's a long measure, not only for the military personnel risking their lives, but the families back home dealing with the sacrifices of their own.

Our Jason Carroll is going to take you inside one such home where loved ones struggled for words. Boy we've heard that a number of times Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know, Kyra. You've seen it many, many times. It is definitely one of the hardest part of deployment for soldiers. The time when it comes to say goodbye. Sergeant First Class Randy Shorter has had to say good-bye many times because he has had to serve on multiple deployments but does not mean saying it gets any easier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SGT. FIRST CLASS RANDY SHORTER, U.S. MARINES: Hey, sweetie.

CARROLL (voice-over): It's Sergeant First Class Randy Shorter's last night at home.

SHORTER: Hey, this is the last time in the states.

CARROLL: But his daughters Melanie and Ariana (ph) aren't ready to say good-bye before dad leaves on his third deployment to Afghanistan.

Shorter: I know it's really difficult for you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't want him to go.

CARROLL (on camera): You can see the emotion there on your daughters' faces. I'm sure you have been through this before.

SHORTER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think each deployment you know what you're going to tell your kids, you know, to smooth things over, but you can't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say cheese!

CARROLL (voice-over): The next morning - I know this is going to be tough for you guys now that we're down to just minutes before you have to say good-bye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't explain the emotions, you know. You can't convey the feelings we're going through. It's hard to explain it. You can't put it in words.

SHORTER: Whether it's one week, one day, it doesn't matter. Saying good-bye is hard.

CARROLL: Before the goodbye, the family makes sure they have their special keep sakes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daddy doll.

CARROLL (on camera): Your daddy doll.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're going to put what in here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dad's picture.

CARROLL (voice-over): For shorter, words from his wife give him the most comfort.

SHORTER: There's a note that I always keep. My wife gives it to me every deployment. When times are rough, I will sit back and read the letter. It's inspirational words and brings a sense of home and actually, you know, brings peace.

CARROLL: Finally, last embraces as Sergeant Shorter and others in the platoon say their good-byes. The separation is real as the unit's one-year deployment is about to begin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And, Jason, while I have you here, just watching your piece and talking about the good-byes that these families have to endure when their loved one goes off into battle, at the same time, Jason, we're seeing these live pictures out of Savannah, Georgia, where the Vogeler parents walked up to their son's casket, kissed it, and now getting ready to watch what we hope families that you just profiled won't have to go through, Jason.

CARROLL: Absolutely, Kyra. And you know, this is one of the harsh realities of enduring a war that lasted this long. It's the saying good-byes, and whenever you say that good-bye, being there at home while your loved one is away and hoping that you don't ever get that knock at the door telling them that something like this has happened.

It's something that they deal with every single day. Spoke to another man, a father, actually, Kyra, whose son is serving with Sergeant Shorter's unit and he told me, Kyra, every morning he gets down on his knees and prays that it's another day that his son survives.

PHILLIPS: Wow. And this is one family that did not get to experience that survival, and we're telling the stories both - the good stories and also the ones that are really hard to swallow when you see live pictures like this.

Jason Carroll, we appreciate the series that you have been doing following these families, going off into battle, and at the same time we want to continue also the grim reality of how many of our heroes do not come home alive, and this is one of them and we are going to tell you more about Army Ranger Sergeant First Class Lance Vogeler throughout the morning, this morning as we follow his funeral procession.

You know, right now, nearly 100,000 pairs of U.S. boots are on the ground in Afghanistan, almost three times as many as when President Obama took office, and those Americans are engaged in the fiercest fighting of that war. The militants not just attacking our troops but their life line as well. At least six attacks on NATO convoys this week alone in Pakistan. I actually had a chance to talk with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the security there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADM. MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: It's not just Afghanistan and it's Afghanistan and Pakistan. I have been to Pakistan a lot, engaged with them. That's a country that's critical to the region and actually to the strategy that we re-establish a relationship that we abandoned for almost a dozen years, and re- establish trust that we had and no longer do, and we're trying to rebuild that as well.

And that's, that border area, is the epicenter of terrorism in the world, not just in the region, but in the world right now, and more and more of those organizations are reaching out globally, threatening us globally, talking about doing or executing the kinds of terrorist activities that we saw in Detroit, we saw recently in Times Square. So that's why that region is so important, and this mission is so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN's Ivan Watson is live in Kabul. You know, Ivan, you have been covering this war for nine years. You were actually there on October 7th, 2001 when the first shots were fired in this war on terror.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, the first shots, and it began with a series of U.S. air strikes against Taliban positions here in Afghanistan. I recall that in 2001, the Taliban controlled more than 90 percent of this country, and the way this war was fought then was with air strikes. Boots on the ground consisted of basically covert U.S. special forces, and mostly Washington was relying on anti-Taliban northern alliance rebels, and within a month's time, this combined campaign was able to overthrow the Taliban. Basically, it collapsed and went running and fleeing the country. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And now we're having discussions about a possible peace initiative. President Hamid Karzai may be talking with members of the Taliban. How effective could this be?

WATSON: Well, it's a very good question right now. I mean, we've seen since those initial days and we thought the Taliban was history, the movement regroup and incrementally get more and more stronger, the violence spread across this country to the point now that this is, without question, the bloodiest year yet for U.S. troops, more than 1,300 Americans have died over the course of this nine-year war.

Very deadly for Afghan civilians. They're bearing the brunt of this. More than 1,100 Afghan civilians killed in just the last six months. Afghans are exhausted by war. Basically there's been a conflict here nonstop since 1980. And what President Karzai has been trying to do for years is try to convince Taliban commanders to put down their weapons, to stop this war. He has formed a new Council of Elders. He calls it a high peace council. They are supposed to talk and try to find a way to reach out to the Taliban.

We have gotten a lot of messages, including from the Pentagon today, that there are some kind of high-level talks between Karzai and the Taliban, but his aides, his presidential spokesmen, is denying this in direct conversations with CNN. So a multi-pronged process under way to try to break this cycle of violence which only seems to be getting worse.

PHILLIPS: All right. Our Ivan Watson, we will continue to cover every angle of it. That's for sure. Just about everyone was confident that the Taliban would be defeated when President Bush launched that invasion. Nine years later, American service men and women are still fighting the war, still being wounded and still being killed. Here's a look at where we are right now. September 11th, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The U.S. blames Osama Bin Laden. And a month later, we invade. By November, the Taliban is driven out of Kabul, fleeing to the south and neighboring Pakistan. December 2001, a bid to capture Bin Laden fails. He slips away, apparently into Pakistan. 2003, NATO takes command as U.S. forces shift to Iraq and the Taliban regroups.

By 2006, heavy fighting erupts in areas under Taliban control. Last year Barack Obama was sworn in as president, boosting troop levels to where they are now. General David Petraeus takes over command of U.S. forces, a new leader but that fight continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The Gulf oil disaster, the leak is fixed but the political damage may be rippling to the White House, and some of it is coming from the very commission that the president created.

CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry joining us with a closer look. Hey, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you're right. I mean, this is a commission started by the President to investigate what went wrong in the Gulf oil spill and prevent another disaster like that, so this panel has some credibility.

They have now put together a series of really blistering reports suggesting that the administration was overly enthusiastic and overly optimistic about how much oil was still in the Gulf near the end of this crisis, but also that at the very beginning, they are charging basically the administration was hiding from the public some key information about worst case scenarios, and basically in private, just two weeks after the well exploded, there were government scientists who had worse case scenarios and wanted to tell the public, worse case scenarios about how much oil was flowing into the Gulf and the administration did not want that information to come out.

The report saying in part "The federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem. It is possible that inaccurate flow rate figures may have hindered the subsea efforts to stop and to contain the flow of oil at the wellhead."

Obviously, as you suggested, administration not agreeing with these findings, but this now suggests that this commission appointed by the president - these are just preliminary findings, we should note. So they're going to come out with a final report down the road and we'll have see whether it is as harsh or whether they'll change their findings. But it's very clear, this is not going away, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. So how is the White House responding to this report?

HENRY: Well, you know, on that specific charge that two weeks after the well exploded they basically hid information from the public about worst case scenarios. The administration is insisting that those sort of worst case scenarios were preliminary. It was not fully vetted, fully reviewed and that they wanted to spend more time analyzing it to make sure it was all accurate and they go on to say in an official statement 'Senior government officials were clear with the public what the worst case flow rate could be as directed by the president.

The response was based on science even when that pitted us against BP and state or local officials, and the response pushed BP every step of the way. I think a significant part of that statement is they mention BP several times, not so subtle message from this White House that while the commission maybe attacking the administration a bit, this White House still believes the focus should be on BP and what they said to the public throughout this crisis. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Henry from the White House.

What can Brown do for you? Well, it might be able to get you back into the workforce. UPS adding thousands of jobs. We got the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, for most people, linchpin of this economy is the job market and we all know that it's not a pretty picture but today we do have a rare bit of good news and Carter Evans is bringing it to us. Hey, Carter.

CARTER EVANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Yes, and it comes from UPS, which is hiring 50,000 seasonal workers this year for the holidays and hiring starts this month. UPS is also saying that a significant number of these positions will lead to permanent jobs.

So here are the jobs that are available, package sorters and driver helpers. Let me talk about some of the other recent announcements that we have heard from retailers. I feel like I need a white board to detail this all out. Macy's is hiring 65,000 holiday workers, Toys "R" Us, hiring 45,000, Kohl's hiring 40,000 and Best Buy is hiring 29,000.

This is normal. Stores generally hire extra workers during the holiday season but they are just touting it right now because of the horrible job market. Although there is a glimmer of hope that it does appear that most of these stores are hiring more than they did in previous years although today we got another reminder of the weak job market.

445,000 people joined the unemployment lines last week. In a healthy economy new claims typically would be in the 300,000 range. Wall Street initially took this as good news because new claims actually fell by 11,000 last week. It could be a sign that layoffs are slowing, but it doesn't look like investors are thinking that, at least right now.

Let's go ahead and take a look at the early numbers here at the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow currently down about 18 points, the NASDAQ up about 0.5. Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: OK. Carter, thanks.

Well, one lady's job hunt really grabbed our attention. Too bad it hasn't grabbed an employer's attention yet. We are talking about Denise Reece-Jennings. She put her resume on a big board and just started walking around Detroit's business district. Well, so far she's gotten on the news but she hasn't gotten a job.

She's been out of work for 18 months now. So we're going to give it a try here and ask her to do our 30-second pitch. Maybe this will do the trick. First though, Denise. Tell us about this board and what gave you this idea.

DENISE REECE-JENNINGS: Well, I have been searching for a job online for about a year and a half. Then I decided to go - I looked in the yellow pages and joined a lot of temporary agencies, trying to seek employment, and I try to stay positive, and every couple of days, if no one's responded, then I decided to take my resume, you know, and I caught the bus downtown and I went to several businesses like door to door, trying to seek employment, but most people would say, go online. So I just -

PHILLIPS: Go ahead, I'm sorry.

REECE-JENNINGS: I'm sorry, what made me do that was, you know, you see the people that's homeless and the people wanting handouts. I thought to myself, I don't want any handouts. I'm capable and able to and ready to work. So I said, well, I wonder if anybody ever put their resume on a poster. So I went to Kinko's (ph) and said would you be able to put my resume as tall as I am, and they said, yes. I said, "OK."

PHILLIPS: That's a first. Sure, Denise, we'll do that for you.

REESE-JENNINGS: Yes. I kept trying to convince myself, this seems positive, so I'm going to do it. I just went for it. I got up at 8:00, went to Kinko's, got it done. They weren't able to put it on the board that I saw. It cost a little bit more money than I wanted to. So I thought let me go down to the arts and crafts, and a lady there helped me.

She gave me a cardboard. I got a glue stick, I took it home, had my son to help me to glue this on there. I had my mom and my son to drop me off downtown and I went between 12:00 and 3:00 and I figured that people are going to lunch, and maybe some CEO or someone from a business would see me and say, "OK, she's serious," and that's truly what I am. I was serious.

PHILLIPS: Well, bless your heart. How have people responded? Do they honk at you? Do they wave? Do they stop? Do they read the resume? I mean, anybody give you any bites?

REECE-JENNINGS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Yes. REECE-JENNINGS: Yes, they did.

They were giving me the thumbs up. A few people were saying if I had a business, I would give you a job, today. Then I had a pastor to give me some information, and Channel Four's Rob Maloney. He did a story on me and he helped me out quite a bit.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's how we found out about you.

REECE-JENNINGS: Yes. I mean, I was very happy that he took me seriously, and by him doing that the goodwill respond to that, and I sent a resume there. And I'm just waiting and then Channel 4, I just sent my resume and I was waiting for maybe an interview to get a job.

PHILLIPS: Well, I tell you what, let's get down to business. Are you ready for your 30-second pitch?

REECE-JENNINGS: Wonderful.

PHILLIPS: All right. Denise, take it away. Denise Reece-Jennings.

REECE-JENNINGS: My name is Denise Reese Jennings. I have 15 years of executive level experience. I possess skilled assets that would be beneficial to your company. I'm a great multi-tasker. I have a very positive attitude. I will bring uncanny dedication to your job each day. I am a very personable - I can take orders and I will be able to give, carry out orders with little instruction, and I'm a very good team player and can take leadership if I need to.

PHILLIPS: You are extremely creative. Denise Reece, and that's Reece, denisereece, one word, @yahoo.com. You let us know if you get any bites, Denise, OK.

REECE-JENNINGS: Wonderful.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks so much.

REECE-JENNINGS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You bet. And if you're out of work and you want to sell yourself to prospective employers just like Denise did, let us know. Send us your resume and a letter to 30secondpitch@CNN.com. Also, if you want to hire one of our 30-second pitchers like Denise Reece, just go to our blogs at CNN.com/kyra, all their info and their e-mails will be there.

All right. Let's take a look at our top stories. Mexican police tell the U.S. that they're going to ramp up their search for American David Hartley but it's not clear when they're going to do it. Last night they called off the search after they were threatened with an ambush. Hartley and his wife were jet skiing on Falcon Lake, between Texas and Mexico last week. His wife says pirates shot him in the head.

In 102 years, the FBI has never crackdown on police corruption like this. 750 agents sent to Puerto Rico to bust law officers who might have protected drug dealers. 133 people have been charged so far in that sting. 89 of them cops.

Today, there' more questions and more subpoenas for John Edwards. The former senator and former presidential candidate already under a grand jury investigation. Well, now they're looking at payments that were made to his mistress from his campaign fund. Edwards' attorney says new subpoenas have been issued but he's not sure what those investigators want.

The case has been called corruption on steroids. The guy at the center of it finally out of jail, well, for now. We're taking you back to Bell, California.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: These days, everyone seems to tell everyone everything. There's no shame going on, Twitter, Facebook, we're not talking about your sex lives but there is one group that says we're not nearly as open about sexual issues as we should be. And that's the nation's gynecologists.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to explain why we need to listen to this.

You got to tell your gyno everything.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And we tell everybody else everything, right? Every week. Well, you know, some people do, right? So we are in this sort of open society, the gynecologists tell me that they feel like they often don't get the full picture from their patients because patients are embarrassed or afraid they're going to be judged. So in this week's "Empowered Patient," we talk about the top five secrets you should not keep from your gynecologist.

PHILLIPS: OK. Tell us.

COHEN: Let's starts with number three. You should always tell your gynecologist how many sexual partners you have. You don't want to hide that from them. So if you are having affairs with five or six different people, you need to say that because and I'm sure I don't need to explain this to you.

PHILLIPS: Just don't tell your mother.

COHEN: Right. Just tell your gynecologist.

PHILLIPS: Exactly.

COHEN: Because you could have all sorts of terrible diseases and you might need to get tested. So that's number three. Number two is if you had abortions. You know, this is obviously a very loaded issue. Many women don't like to talk about this. And it's OK to keep it a secret from everyone except your gynecologists. There may be scar tissue from those abortions and that could come into play with your fertility, with having other surgeries. You need to let them know.

And now, we have the number one secret you should not keep from your gynecologist, and that is who the baby daddy is.

PHILLIPS: Whose the baby daddy.

COHEN: Gynecologists tell me that very respectable married women will come in with their husbands, and they just assume that the husband is the father and if the mother doesn't tell them, you know what, I had a little thing going on the side and he's not the father. That's a problem.

PHILLIPS: And let's talk about why it's important to know who fathered the baby because everybody's got different genetics and issues.

COHEN: Right.

PHILLIPS: And you can prevent things that could be bad.

COHEN: Right. Depending upon the father's ethnicity and the mother's ethnicity, you might want to have tests for things like sickle cell anemia or (INAUDIBLE), the ethnicity of the father matters. Also the blood type of the father matters. If the father has a positive blood type and the mom has a negative type, that mom has got to take some injections during the course of her pregnancy or she will - her future pregnancies will really be in trouble.

PHILLIPS: Now, full tips - where do we go to learn more?

COHEN: We got all five of them, cnnhealth.com, look for this week's "Empowered Patient." "Things you should not hide from your gynecologist."

PHILLIPS: Got it. Thank you.

You're right. It looks like you and I don't have to worry about that but this is good advice for everybody else. Thanks, Elizabeth.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's start to look now at cross country in Bell, California. Remember, that tiny poor town that alleged corruption put on the map. Well, good news for Robert Rizzo. He is now out on $2 million bail. The bad news is he has to wear an electronic monitoring device and surrender his passport. He is facing trial for corruption. You remember he was the guy making nearly $800,000 a year as city manager before fed up citizens just ran him off. Rizzo was released after the judge was convinced that the bail money didn't come from shady activity.

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has an idea, he wants to make it illegal for people to use food stamps to buy soda and other sugary drinks. The mayor has ask the Department of Agriculture to approve his idea. He says it's part of the fight against obesity. New York City has about 1.7 million people on food stamps.

Groups fighting for gay rights and against cyber bullying points to this web site. It attacks the openly gay University of Michigan student president for pushing a deeply homosexual agenda. Well, it's no longer being published. Chris Armstrong, the target of that blog finally reacted to this attack on "AC 360" with Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS ARMSTRONG, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDENT PRESIDENT: I think this is really just an opportunity. Like, I think this chance to really speak out and - and say something, give a message to other kids who might be, like me (ph), be facing something. Obviously not - not as extreme, but like, something, you know, just like - like being heckled in the classroom.

I think that, like, honestly I think that that's really what - I think really the most positive thing I can make out of the situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: -- that Andrew Shirvell, an assistant attorney general from Michigan, seen right here, created that blog. Well, he's now taken a leave of absence.

A frightening sight in Northern Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, have you ever seen anything like this up here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, Sir. I came from the northeast, so I've seen ice storms and hail storms and snowstorms, but nothing like this.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Four tornadoes swept through, overturning trucks, cars, even a freight train. We've got a live report.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Pretty frightening day in Northern Arizona. At least four tornadoes swept through the town of Bellemont yesterday. Seven people hurt. Those twisters so powerful they even blew a train off the tracks.

Mike Watkiss with affiliate KTVK joins us now live from Bellemont. Mike, tell us what it was like.

MIKE WATKISS, KTVK CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Kyra.

We've got a glorious, clear, crisp day dawning here at Arizona's high country, but what a difference a day makes. Yesterday this was Arizona's version of tornado alley, and really, I thought I'd never say something like that. I've been covering the news here for a long time.

We just don't see a lot of that kind of weather phenomena here in the Grand Canyon state. Only a handful of tornadoes annually.

But yesterday, as you say, we had four of them hit here in Arizona's high country, two of them targeting the little town of Bellemont. And when they raced through here, they knocked over railroad cars, nearly 30 vehicles from the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe railroad, just tossed about. Also, a big recreation developer and realtor here, their vehicles just tossed around, again, like children's toys.

And then the tornado targeting a suburb here in Bellemont, a little area known as Flagstaff Meadows, 200 homes affected in that suburb, according to the sheriff here in Coconino County, Arizona. Thirty of the homes now completely uninhabitable.

But, really, the miraculous story here's that only a - a handful of people, six or seven people, sent to the hospital with minor injuries and no fatalities. You go through that neighborhood and it is just complete devastation. Several of the homes with the roofs off, their walls separated.

So it was really an extraordinary day. We've had a lot of amazing weather here in Arizona all week long, just sheets of hail and rain, heavy winds and now all of this tornadic activity that is unprecedented for the Grand Canyon state.

Cleanup now underway. Folks in that suburb are going to have a lot of work ahead of them, and this area has had a lot of heavy weather during the last several months. Heavy - we had some fires and then flooding, and now these tornadoes. So these folks are just sick of the weather, and now the cleanup is beginning.

PHILLIPS: Got it. Mike Watkiss, appreciate it.

Meteorologist Rob Marciano following all the developments out of Arizona for us as well.

Highly, highly usual, as you say.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I mean -

PHILLIPS: Usually four in a year, and this was four in a day?

MARCIANO: Yes. Exactly.

So that's one point I wanted to echo from Mike. The other one was the extreme amount of damage that you saw in some of that video, and the fact that there were no fatalities. So that - that's definitely a lucky thing, and we'll certainly take it.

The storm that created that is this thing. And yesterday, at this time, we were - we had these tornadoes dropping out of the sky. We were right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We had a flow that was coming up this way, with some energy around the jet stream. Now, that is beginning to weaken as this slips off to the north, just the back side of this now, just some showers across the Sierras. So, for all intents and purposes, the severe weather threat out west is over, at least for now.

This storm, you'd like it to be over if you live in the northeast. It's been here all week long, refuses to move, finally getting up into the Canadian Maritimes, the back side of this bringing some cooler, drier air. But still the - and through parts of Southern New England, we're seeing some rain that's quickly moving towards Cape Cod.

So we are now starting to dry out, and folks who live in New York and Philly and D.C. may see something I haven't seen in quite some time tomorrow, and that's the sun.

Forty-two yesterday morning in Austin, Texas; Hot Springs, Arkansas 40; it was in the 30s in Louisiana; and this morning we have record- breaking low temperatures across Florida and Orlando, in Jacksonville and Daytona Beach. So it's been chilly for sure, albeit sunny and the southern tier states will see sunshine and a little bit of a warm up as we get - as we get towards the weekend.

Want to touch on what's going on in the tropics, because this certainly is interesting. Subtropical storm Otto - it's subtropical because it's kind of intertwined with a - a mid and upper level low. But just in the past couple of hours we're starting to see a flare up of thunderstorms right around the center, so that's indicative that it's becoming a little bit more tropical. Either way, it's got a lot of heavy rain across Puerto Rico. U.S. and British Virgin Islands have seen some flood warnings the past couple of days, and they want this thing to go away, and it will.

We are protected by a strong jet stream this time of the year, so this thing is not going to make it to the U.S. It - it may make it all the way to Europe as a - at least a tropical storm, maybe even be a hurricane before the day is done today, with winds getting up close to 70 miles an hour. Otto.

We're getting close to the end of hurricane season, but it isn't over yet. So far, so good as far as getting a direct hit by a hurricane in the States, and we'll take that as well - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, a group of veterans getting ready for a march and rally in D.C. on this ninth anniversary of the Afghan War. They've got a simple message for the Pentagon - stop sending wounded soldiers back into war zones.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): This morning, a reminder of the heart- wrenching reality of war. This is the homecoming of Sergeant First Class Lance Vogeler at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Georgia. He was killed just last week in Iraq on his 12th tour of combat duty. That's right - 12 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You see, Vogeler was an Army Ranger, and while their tours are shorter, they're also more numerous. But we're told that 12 is a pretty remarkable number, and a lasting tribute to a man who loved serving his country.

Sergeant First Class Lance Vogeler was only 29 years old.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: You know, when you think of Lance Vogeler, we think about our warriors that fight and die serving our country and defend our freedom every single day. And some of the ones fortunate enough to return to their families are actually damaged mentally, physically, many times both from lost limbs and severe brain injuries to depression and PTSD.

Some survive the battlefield only to take their own lives later. Matter of fact, military suicides are at an alarming high right now. In fact, Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told me yesterday that addressing suicide in the ranks is his top priority.

Well, a number of vets are saying here's one way to stop it - stop sending wounded troops back into war zones before their minds and bodies actually heal. Well, it's hard to believe that the military is doing that in the first place, but a veterans group says it is happening, and it happened to some of them, and that it's an invitation to suicide, and it has to stop.

They're actually holding a rally today at D.C. to get that message out, meeting at Walter Reed right now and then marching to Capitol Hill.

It's bad enough to have troops serve rotation after rotation, but sending someone back into battle who hasn't had the chance to heal, well, that's just inexcusable. You know, they put their lives on the line every day to protect us. Protecting them should be a much, much higher priority.

Well, the president's top adviser sizes up the 2012 White House field. He's handicapping ahead in our Political Ticker.

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PHILLIPS: Can you believe we're just 26 days away from an election that could change the balance of power in Congress? We've been talking about that a lot in our Political Ticker.

Let's go and check in with CNN senior political editor Mark Preston in Washington. He's at the desk. So what's crossing now, 26 days before the big - the big event?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: The big event. The big day.

Well, Kyra, do you remember that famous beer summit that President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden had in the - at the White House? Well, Michael Steele might want to sit down and have a beer with President Obama.

I sat down with him a few weeks ago, and we talked a lot about a lot of things, you know, about his future, about politics. I also talked about him sitting down and having a discussion with President Obama, not about politics, but about being an African-American and achieving so much.

Michael Steele first approached President Obama back in 2005 to see if he would sit down and - and have this meeting is when Obama was a senator, and Steele was lieutenant governor. He was rebuffed at that time. However, Steele says that the offer is still on the table. And, in fact, you can see the full story on CNNPolitics.com. He says some very interesting things.

Moving on, not very good news for former Senator John Edwards. As everybody will know, he has ran for president. He's the former North Carolina Democratic senator. We have learned now that a sizable number of subpoenas have been issued in the investigation of John Edwards.

This investigation centers around whether or not he made payments to his mistress, Riele Hunter. I'm sure our viewers all remember that very tardy episode. Of course, now, John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth have legally separated. We'll wait to see more developments in this case.

In closing with this, maybe perhaps a little bit of fun. David Axelrod, the Senior Adviser to President Obama was on "The Late Show" last night. He had a couple of things to say about the potential 2012 field including Sarah Palin. For Sarah Palin, Axelrod said he had a soft spot for her and he joked around and said that during one of the vice presidential debates she winked at him.

Moving on, he also talked about Donald Trump and whether Donald Trump was seriously considering running for president. Axelrod said it requires a big ego to run for president. I don't think he can handle that. I think we all agree with that Donald Trump has a big ego. He went on to talk about Mike Huckabee and several others. Again, another story you can see it on CNNPolitics.com - Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Donald trump, a big ego? You don't say?

PRESTON: You don't say.

PHILLIPS: It's just confidence. Come on, Mark.

PRESTON: I'm all about confidence.

PHILLIPS: Absolutely.

All right. We're going to have our next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder for all of the latest political news, you can always go to our website CNNPolitics.com.

Well, CNN's new primetime newscast, "PARKER SPITZER," is taking up the big issues of the day. And, last night, panelists really got into the topic of why the president hasn't communicated more effectively to criticisms. They say the president lacks empathy and is just not tough enough. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON SCHAMA, HISTORY PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: He should have started firing people. He's loyal to a fault. Doesn't understand that Americans actually respect people who have the guts to fire people.

ELIOT SPITZER, CNN HOST: Right. Right.

SCHAMA: And he should have done that then. Michael is quite right about the mad priorities.

SPITZER: But who would you fire? Who do you fire?

SCHAMA: I'd fire Axelrod - who's a sweet guy, wonderful - straight away. I - I would have said to Rahm Emanuel, let's - let's all agree to -

(CROSSTALK)

SPITZER: The axe is coming down.

SCHAMA: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

KATHLEEN PARKER, CNN ANCHOR: Yesterday they fired Geithner, now Axelrod.

SCHAMA: Rahm Emanuel, they have a mistake about when are you going to be tough, when are you going to be - you know, when the machine is really going to work? And it works in Congress. It eventually did the job it was supposed to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: For more opinions, ideas and analyses, don't miss CNN's newest show "PARKER SPITZER" tonight, 8:00 P.M. Eastern.

We'll be right back.

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PHILLIPS: All right. Wanted to take you to Karachi, Pakistan. We're just getting word in now as we're monitoring all our international feeds here.

Apparently, there's been two explosions near a prominent shrine there in Karachi. Five people killed, 20 injured. We have, obviously, our international reporters are - are there trying to get more information. But it's breaking right now out of Karachi, Pakistan. We will follow it for you. Two explosions near a prominent shrine, 20 injured, five killed so far, and, of course, that death toll could go up.

Don't know what's behind this attack, what led to this attack. We're working on it now. We'll bring you more information as soon as we get it.

All right. Now, we'll take you over to Washington, D.C., and we've been telling you about this rally that's taking place in our nation's capital today. There are a number of war vets that have gathered there. They started at Walter Reed Medical Center and they've been working their way down to the capital.

These are Iraqi and Afghan war vets that are urging the Pentagon to stop sending wounded troops back into the war zones. They say it's taking a tremendous toll on vets.

One of those whose leading this rally, Chantelle Bateman, she's actually an Iraq war veteran and she's one of the organizers of that rally that's taking place today. And, Chantelle, tell me how you came together and organized this and - and what exactly you're trying to get the Pentagon to do.

I was reading more of your efforts here, this launch of Operation Recovery. Tell me about that.

CHANTELLE BATEMAN, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: Hi, Kyra. Good morning.

Operation Recovery: Stop the Deployment of Traumatized Troops aims to gain compensation as well as support and care for troops who are currently dealing with trauma and also facing redeployment. And what we're asking for is just those things and not just of the Pentagon but of the American public at large to support our troops in a real way.

PHILLIPS: So, now - and I was reading - you know, we've covered a lot of - of these issues here in our newscasts. We've talked about how our vets are coming home and we've got this alarming rate of suicides that - that just continues to go up.

Chantelle, you've got traumatic brain injuries, you've got depression, PTSD. I mean, it's unbelievable what our vets are - are going through. And you mentioned something and I wasn't familiar with this, something that's called MST, military sexual trauma. Tell me about this and how many vets are dealing with this and what exactly does this - does this mean, and you, as a female, did you deal with this when you were overseas?

BATEMAN: Military sexual trauma, Kyra, it encompasses several things including sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape, and virtually all women in the military are dealing with some form of military sexual trauma.

I have not met a single woman who has not been sexually harassed repeatedly, self-included. I've been harassed as well as assaulted as a woman in the military. And this is an issue that is pretty rampant. About 20 percent of the women who are using the V.A. report instances of military sexual trauma.

PHILLIPS: Chantelle, also, just before I let you go, today we've been covering live a funeral procession of a young man who died just last week in Afghanistan. He had been on 12 tours of duty. And this is one of the points that you're trying to make that our men and women that are going overseas are - are coming back and going back, not always totally healthy, mentally and physically, and you say that should stop. What have you observed and why is that taking such a toll in your mind on our men and women in war?

BATEMAN: Service members are not being afforded the opportunity to heal completely in between deployments. Our care is being put second to the mission, and we're not even being told completely what that mission is. And as we continue on these deployments, trauma is compounding, and we're asking a lot of our troops and not giving a great deal in return.

And at the same time, healing is a basic human right, and we're denying that right of our service members, and asking them to fight for the rights of other people. How can we be expected to fight for those rights if we're not given the same?

PHILLIPS: Chantelle Bateman, we will follow up and see if the Pentagon indeed responds to your message and we'll follow the rally today. Thank you for your time.

More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.

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PHILLIPS: I'm Kyra Phillips. Thanks for joining me. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 9:00 A.M Eastern Time.

Tony Harris picks it up from here.