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John Negroponte Named for Intelligence Director; Assassination Fuels Concerns about Middle East; United Iraqi Alliance Gets Slight Majority in National Assembly
Aired February 17, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN NEGROPONTE, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENCE NOMINEE: I appreciate your confidence in choosing me for what will no doubt be the most challenging assignment I have undertaken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: He's been America's ambassador to Iraq and the United Nations. Now, he has been picked to be America's first ever national intelligence director. What it means to you, in a "CNN Security Watch" this hour.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Show me the money -- the budget money that is. Mr. Schwarzenegger goes to Washington. California's governor, live this hour, from Capitol Hill.
M. O'BRIEN: An explosive lesson. A high school instructor blasted for apparently teaching his students how to make a bomb.
PHILLIPS: So who's more likely to clip a coupon, Donald Trump or the guy who parks his car? A new survey on who is most likely to pinch a penny.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, we are far from tightwads, right, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm a penny pincher, Kyra. Thanks for being with us. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Diplomat one day, DNI nominee the next. That is director of national intelligence, the newly minted post designed to oversee the collection and coordinate the flow of other people's secrets. If the Senate goes along, the job will go to John Negroponte, career foreign service officer, currently U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
CNN's Elaine Quijano with more from the White House -- Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles.
President Bush says John Negroponte understands America's global intelligence needs because of his years in the foreign service. The ambassador served at several posts in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
But today, President Bush cited specifically his experience over the past few months in Iraq, saying it will give the ambassador an advantage for an intelligence chief, namely an up close look at the enemy.
But this newly created position of director of national intelligence is an enormous one. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Negroponte will oversee the nation's 15 intelligence agencies. And while he won't have an office in the White House itself, he will brief the president on day-to-day intelligence matters.
The president also making it clear with concerns in the past over different agencies having competing interests, jockeying for control of budgets. Mr. Negroponte will have the authority to do his job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will set the budgets. Listen this is going to take awhile to get a new culture in place, a different way of approaching the budget process.
That's why I selected John. He's a diplomat. He understands the -- and he's an experienced person. He understands the power centers in Washington. He's been a consumer of intelligence in the past. And so he's got a good feel for how to move this process forward in a way that addresses the different interests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: The president today also named the deputy to John Negroponte. That person, Lieutenant General Michael Hayden, who serves as a director of the National Security Agency now.
Now this is a choice which may blunt some of the potential criticism of Mr. Negroponte, that while he may possess tremendous diplomatic skills, he does not have a deep intelligence background. So the choice of Mr. Hayden, a career Air Force intelligence officer, may quiet some of those criticisms.
As for Ambassador Negroponte, he is a surprising choice for many here in Washington. His name was not among those that were circulated here as a potential candidate for the job. Nevertheless, President Bush saying clearly today that he -- he trusts John Negroponte's judgment -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano on the north lawn, thank you very much.
Later in this hour, we'll get some Democratic reaction to the Negroponte nomination, from the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman.
CNN is committed to providing the most credible coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.
PHILLIPS: No conclusions but consternation aimed at Syria from the White House today. As you may have seen live here on CNN, President Bush declared Damascus out of step with the greater Middle East, but he stopped short of laying blame for Monday's hugely destruction assassination of former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We support the international investigation that is -- will be going on to determine the killers of Mr. Hariri. We've recalled our ambassador, which indicates that the relationship is -- is not moving forward, that Syria's out of step with the progress being made in the greater Middle East, that democracy's on the move and this is a country that isn't moving with the democratic movement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Monday's attack brought new attention and sudden urgency to some long-festering feelings and grievances.
We get more now from CNN's Soledad O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING" (voice-over): While Syria denies any involvement in Monday's assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, the Bush administration is turning up the diplomatic heat on Damascus.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Syrian presence and the Syrian involvement in Lebanese affairs has, of course, created a destabilized environment in Lebanon.
S. O'BRIEN: Syria's had an occupying presence in Lebanon for nearly three decades. Some 13,000 Syrian troops are currently stationed there. The U.S. is demanding Syria abide by a recent U.N. resolution and withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
But Syria's grip on Lebanon is only part of the U.S. concern. CNN Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler has spent his career extensively covering the region.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Syria is under the close scrutiny of the United States, because it's viewed as a force to destabilize the peace process and emerging democracy in Iraq.
S. O'BRIEN: He says the U.S. considers Syria a de facto member of the axis of evil.
SADLER: A country that supports extremist, militant, violent anti-Israeli Palestinian groups based in Damascus, a country that's creating, trying to create weapons of mass destruction.
S. O'BRIEN: And there's new concern about Syria and Iran, another U.S. adversary, forming an alliance that could threaten the Bush administration's master plan for the Middle East.
SADLER: You have emerging democracy in neighboring Iraq. You have one of the Middle East's most enduring semi-democracies, some would say, here in Lebanon.
In Syria, an enduring country, a one-man, iron-fist ruled, that's endured, lasted for decade. Syria does not fit in that equation in its current form, vis-a-vis, U.S. plans for this region.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: That was Soledad reporting -- Soledad O'Brien reporting, along with Brent Sadler.
Where you stand determines where you sit and how many of your comrades sit with you in the Iraqi National Assembly. And as the results of last month's elections are finally certified and assembly seats are divvied up, the United Iraqi Alliance emerges even stronger than it did in the popular vote. The UIA claims a slender majority in the 275-seat assembly, though it captured fewer than half the ballots cast.
We get the latest from CNN's Nic Robertson, live now in Baghdad -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, while they've certified the results today, perhaps really doesn't change anything in the big political picture, if you will.
The percentages are still the same. The United Iraqi Alliance needs the Kurds to get that two-thirds majority. Most of the other parties come in with very small figures. The Sunnis, relatively underrepresented proportional to their population in the country.
But what it does do, really, for the politicians here is tell them exactly how many seats they have, exactly what their strengths are, exactly what their weaknesses are, as they bargain for those key positions of prime minister, defense minister, interior minister, and the presidency, as well. And that, perhaps, is going to energize that negotiation.
But what we're hearing at the moment is there are deep divisions. Some politicians really digging up old enmities and not coming to any agreement around this bargaining table. These enmities are making the process very, very slow. And we're being advised that this process could, in fact, take some while.
And of course in Iraqi politics, it could -- we're also advised it could happen very quickly. But what we're understanding from the process right now is that now they have these final results. They really can get in and negotiate really toughly on their positions, Miles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Yes, it's important if it will be secular or Islamic government, because we're passing through very critical circumstances. And if there will be Islamic government for one sect will lead to tendencies among other sects, which we do not need in this circumstance. We want to rebuild our country and develop it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The circumstances of our country cannot let us tell if the result of the elections will be fair as there is no stability and security. Besides that, it is not clear politically. We can't tell if the results will be fair 100 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And that's a concern of a lot of people here, is they want this process, the horse-trading to get the key positions, to allow the government to get up and running. They want it to happen quickly.
The fear is that the ministries can't work, that in the vacuum, the insurgents will get stronger, take advantage of the sort of lull in political activity. A lot of people telling us that today, Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you very much -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: For every soldier sent to fight there are personal battles along the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. MAJ. GALLAGHER: I did not finish high school. I just decided on my own, either I'm going to stay in this town and probably wind up in jail or I'm going to get up and go. And I got up and went.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Sergeant Major Gallagher shares his personal war stories. You're going to hear from him straight ahead.
And lethal lesson, a high school teacher allegedly shows his students how to make a bomb. That story on LIVE FROM. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: News across America now, with a clinical theme, Michael Jackson on the mend. That's according to doctors who discharged him from a Santa Maria, California, hospital last evening. The diagnosis, viral symptoms. Jackson's child molestation trial begins again Tuesday.
Exciting news from the fight against prostate cancer: a vaccine that harnesses the power of the body's own immune system. Results of a three-year trial are positive. Testing continues. A big medical conference going on in Florida is all abuzz about it.
Talk about a tough kid -- Jerrick De Leon, born three months premature, today recovering from open heart surgery. He's the youngest and smallest such patient ever. He's less than two pounds. His little heart is the size of a grape. The surgery was successful. He's hanging in there. Jerrick's doctors will make a statement in just a couple of hours. We plan to carry that live. O'BRIEN: The trials and tribulations of some of our favorite painkillers. Makers of some of the most widely used pain medications in D.C. today, defending their products before a Food and Drug Administration panel assembled to consider restricting or even banning the drug.
The prescription, only Vioxx, one of the so-called COX-2 inhibitors. It is linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The panel includes more than 30 doctors and will decide tomorrow on any restrictive action.
PHILLIPS: This hour, that FDA panel is hearing not from scientists or bureaucrats, but from people, patients, many of whom rely on prescription pain medication just in order to function. They are the ones ultimately impacted by any decisions made after the hearings.
Our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, reports on the challenges faced by physicians in treating something they can't see, feel or even measure.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Relax your muscle.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the prick of a needle to a broken bone, physical pain is familiar to all of us. But what happens when pain can't be measured?
ASHLEY TAYLOR, PAIN PATIENT: Walking around is very difficult. And it usually takes just a few minutes before I get very tired and I have to rest. And even when I do rest, I don't feel better.
GUPTA: Since the age of 10, Ashley Taylor has felt pain in her neck, shoulders, back and legs. Now 20 years old, she's seen neurologists, rheumatologists, even psychiatrists. In all, Ashley has been to more than 20 different doctors in just the past few years.
TAYLOR: The doctors don't know. I've had X-rays done and MRIs and numerous blood tests and a spinal tap, and everything is negative, everything is OK and no doctor can tell me what's going on.
GUPTA: It's more than discomfort. She takes up to seven pain pills a day, including Celebrex and Vicodin, and had to drop out of school last semester.
DR. MICHEL DUBOIS, NYU PAIN MANAGEMENT CENTER: A young lady who obviously we expect to be in perfect health, who is going through a critical time of her life, with a major handicap. Our role is to try to help her going through this phase.
GUPTA: Despite all the advances of modern medicine, when doctors measure pain, they rely primarily on the verbal analog scale.
DUBOIS: What number would you put to your pain, zero is no pain, and 10 maximum possible. TAYLOR: Now it's about six.
GUPTA: A complicated name for a simple test: how much does it hurt on a scale of zero to 10?
DUBOIS: Since it is a subjective measurement based only off the patient's feedback, you can imagine situations where the patient is not truthful when he reports his or her pain.
GUPTA: And there are variations. What one person calls a nine could easily be a four for another. While there is no reliable way to gauge honesty in these tests, the pain is very real to patients like Ashley.
TAYLOR: Right now, I just have to learn to live with the pain as best as I can, because it's not going away anytime soon.
GUPTA: A somewhat immeasurable price for a frustratingly immeasurable pain.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Hill, he says he needs more money for his state, $8 billion more. Let's listen in.
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: ... together. The more coordinated we are and the more we work together, and not let other states kind of divide us, divide our state and use the divide and conquer, let us unite and conquer. That's really what we're trying to do.
So if you have any questions, please feel free. Maybe you want David...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you are...
SCHWARZENEGGER: Chairman Lewis (ph) is here.
Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) get this budget if it doesn't contain more money for California?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Say again?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should California members of Congress vote against the current budget proposal if it doesn't contain more money for California?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I think the most important thing is that we now together work so that we get everything possible for California.
And we are not asking the White House and we are not asking the federal government or anyone here in Washington to bail us out. We are not asking to go and get a handout.
We just want our fair share, because we have our own problems in California that were created in California by Californians, not by the federal government. So we have to take care of that ourselves.
But the same time, we want to make sure that the federal government is helping us and that we are not continuing that trend that we see now that federal funding for the state is going down. We wanted to bring it back again. That's really what our objective is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think the general (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHWARZENEGGER: I have been having the greatest time since I become the governor. I love my connection with the people. I love the partnership that I've formed with the people of California.
And I think because of that, I think we will do some really true reforms this year in many different area, if it is the budget reform, education reform, redistricting reform and pension reform, all of that will be accomplished because the people of California are true partners. So pay no attention to the special interests when you seem them protesting out there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How close are you to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, Kim Roche (ph) is working very hard to -- we are going over from here to the Department of Health and Human Services to work with them and -- we've got some really great input today when we had our meeting here, from both Democrats and Republicans.
So hopefully, with Democrats and Republicans working together, I think we will get a good deal. So that's what the objective is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you regret calling yourself (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president always (UNINTELLIGIBLE) campaign. Do you feel the president owes you and will your relationship with him help improve the budget?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I think it's very important for everyone to know that I don't operate like that in my life. When I do a favor for someone, like campaigning, going to one campaign stop for President Bush, it was because I felt he was the better man. And I was campaigning for him because of that.
I hope that -- that they do not give us extra money because I campaigned and did that one campaign stop. Because if they were, there's something wrong with our system. Favors go in, favors go out.
What I don't want to see is just that because I stopped at one stop, that maybe we get an extra billion dollars and Pataki stopped at 15 stops and gets $15 billion more. That would be terrible for our state.
So I hope that they keep things straight and only give us more money, or help us with Brack (ph) and all different immigration issues that are facing us, because we are one of the 50 states, and we are one of the greater states. And we deserve the attention and deserve more.
PHILLIPS: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger there on the Hill, meeting with congressional leaders and Bush administration officials, saying he needs more money for his state. We'll follow it.
More LIVE FROM after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM.
DET. KELLY BOAZ, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: It's 360 degrees of just mass mayhem.
PHILLIPS: A chemistry class that's a real blast. A teacher gets in trouble for his explosive lesson plans.
Later on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically an adult's paradise.
PHILLIPS: A playboy's palace turned into a military base. It's the setting for a new documentary that lets soldiers tell their Iraq war stories their way.
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, the king of NASCAR gets number 43 ready to roll again in the Daytona 500. Racing legend Richard Petty joins us for the LIVE FROM interview.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We've been talking about this from Orlando, Florida. A high school science teacher there is out on bail after his arrest on explosive charges. The teacher says he was showing science in action. Some students say he taught them how to make a bomb. Decide for yourself.
Here's Nancy Alvarez from affiliate station WKMG in Orlando.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOAZ: It's 360 degrees of just mass mayhem and destruction.
NANCY ALVAREZ, WKMG REPORTER (voice-over): Detectives say the blast could have been deadly. But the teenager behind the camera told authorities he was simply following step-by-step instructions, lessons he learned from his chemistry teacher, 42-year-old David Pieski.
BOAZ: This goes well beyond a regular chemistry project.
ALVAREZ: Detectives say Pieski used an overhead projector in his classroom at Freedom High to give his chemistry students detailed instructions in bomb making. He also admitted to building the devices for his class, then detonating the explosives behind the school.
BOAZ: He placed every one of his students in jeopardy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was uncalled for, for him to do such a thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who knows what they could have done with it? They could have put it in someone's locker, and then the whole school would have exploded.
ALVAREZ: Students and parents are unnerved by the details and the influence detectives say Pieski had on his students. A month after this blast, authorities responded to this home in Hunter's Creek after another of his students built an acid bomb.
But detectives say Pieski doesn't see the harm in his lesson plans.
BOAZ: In his mind, it was a chemistry project, and he likes his students to go out and try new things. And he didn't see any harm in it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Today's high earners, embracing some very middle class values. Kathleen Hays at the stock exchange to talk about that.
Reminds me of that book a few years ago, "The Millionaire Next Door," you know. Rich people and they're clipping coupons after all, right?
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired February 17, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN NEGROPONTE, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENCE NOMINEE: I appreciate your confidence in choosing me for what will no doubt be the most challenging assignment I have undertaken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: He's been America's ambassador to Iraq and the United Nations. Now, he has been picked to be America's first ever national intelligence director. What it means to you, in a "CNN Security Watch" this hour.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Show me the money -- the budget money that is. Mr. Schwarzenegger goes to Washington. California's governor, live this hour, from Capitol Hill.
M. O'BRIEN: An explosive lesson. A high school instructor blasted for apparently teaching his students how to make a bomb.
PHILLIPS: So who's more likely to clip a coupon, Donald Trump or the guy who parks his car? A new survey on who is most likely to pinch a penny.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, we are far from tightwads, right, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm a penny pincher, Kyra. Thanks for being with us. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Diplomat one day, DNI nominee the next. That is director of national intelligence, the newly minted post designed to oversee the collection and coordinate the flow of other people's secrets. If the Senate goes along, the job will go to John Negroponte, career foreign service officer, currently U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
CNN's Elaine Quijano with more from the White House -- Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles.
President Bush says John Negroponte understands America's global intelligence needs because of his years in the foreign service. The ambassador served at several posts in Asia, Europe and Latin America.
But today, President Bush cited specifically his experience over the past few months in Iraq, saying it will give the ambassador an advantage for an intelligence chief, namely an up close look at the enemy.
But this newly created position of director of national intelligence is an enormous one. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Negroponte will oversee the nation's 15 intelligence agencies. And while he won't have an office in the White House itself, he will brief the president on day-to-day intelligence matters.
The president also making it clear with concerns in the past over different agencies having competing interests, jockeying for control of budgets. Mr. Negroponte will have the authority to do his job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will set the budgets. Listen this is going to take awhile to get a new culture in place, a different way of approaching the budget process.
That's why I selected John. He's a diplomat. He understands the -- and he's an experienced person. He understands the power centers in Washington. He's been a consumer of intelligence in the past. And so he's got a good feel for how to move this process forward in a way that addresses the different interests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: The president today also named the deputy to John Negroponte. That person, Lieutenant General Michael Hayden, who serves as a director of the National Security Agency now.
Now this is a choice which may blunt some of the potential criticism of Mr. Negroponte, that while he may possess tremendous diplomatic skills, he does not have a deep intelligence background. So the choice of Mr. Hayden, a career Air Force intelligence officer, may quiet some of those criticisms.
As for Ambassador Negroponte, he is a surprising choice for many here in Washington. His name was not among those that were circulated here as a potential candidate for the job. Nevertheless, President Bush saying clearly today that he -- he trusts John Negroponte's judgment -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano on the north lawn, thank you very much.
Later in this hour, we'll get some Democratic reaction to the Negroponte nomination, from the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman.
CNN is committed to providing the most credible coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.
PHILLIPS: No conclusions but consternation aimed at Syria from the White House today. As you may have seen live here on CNN, President Bush declared Damascus out of step with the greater Middle East, but he stopped short of laying blame for Monday's hugely destruction assassination of former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We support the international investigation that is -- will be going on to determine the killers of Mr. Hariri. We've recalled our ambassador, which indicates that the relationship is -- is not moving forward, that Syria's out of step with the progress being made in the greater Middle East, that democracy's on the move and this is a country that isn't moving with the democratic movement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Monday's attack brought new attention and sudden urgency to some long-festering feelings and grievances.
We get more now from CNN's Soledad O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING" (voice-over): While Syria denies any involvement in Monday's assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, the Bush administration is turning up the diplomatic heat on Damascus.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Syrian presence and the Syrian involvement in Lebanese affairs has, of course, created a destabilized environment in Lebanon.
S. O'BRIEN: Syria's had an occupying presence in Lebanon for nearly three decades. Some 13,000 Syrian troops are currently stationed there. The U.S. is demanding Syria abide by a recent U.N. resolution and withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
But Syria's grip on Lebanon is only part of the U.S. concern. CNN Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler has spent his career extensively covering the region.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Syria is under the close scrutiny of the United States, because it's viewed as a force to destabilize the peace process and emerging democracy in Iraq.
S. O'BRIEN: He says the U.S. considers Syria a de facto member of the axis of evil.
SADLER: A country that supports extremist, militant, violent anti-Israeli Palestinian groups based in Damascus, a country that's creating, trying to create weapons of mass destruction.
S. O'BRIEN: And there's new concern about Syria and Iran, another U.S. adversary, forming an alliance that could threaten the Bush administration's master plan for the Middle East.
SADLER: You have emerging democracy in neighboring Iraq. You have one of the Middle East's most enduring semi-democracies, some would say, here in Lebanon.
In Syria, an enduring country, a one-man, iron-fist ruled, that's endured, lasted for decade. Syria does not fit in that equation in its current form, vis-a-vis, U.S. plans for this region.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: That was Soledad reporting -- Soledad O'Brien reporting, along with Brent Sadler.
Where you stand determines where you sit and how many of your comrades sit with you in the Iraqi National Assembly. And as the results of last month's elections are finally certified and assembly seats are divvied up, the United Iraqi Alliance emerges even stronger than it did in the popular vote. The UIA claims a slender majority in the 275-seat assembly, though it captured fewer than half the ballots cast.
We get the latest from CNN's Nic Robertson, live now in Baghdad -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, while they've certified the results today, perhaps really doesn't change anything in the big political picture, if you will.
The percentages are still the same. The United Iraqi Alliance needs the Kurds to get that two-thirds majority. Most of the other parties come in with very small figures. The Sunnis, relatively underrepresented proportional to their population in the country.
But what it does do, really, for the politicians here is tell them exactly how many seats they have, exactly what their strengths are, exactly what their weaknesses are, as they bargain for those key positions of prime minister, defense minister, interior minister, and the presidency, as well. And that, perhaps, is going to energize that negotiation.
But what we're hearing at the moment is there are deep divisions. Some politicians really digging up old enmities and not coming to any agreement around this bargaining table. These enmities are making the process very, very slow. And we're being advised that this process could, in fact, take some while.
And of course in Iraqi politics, it could -- we're also advised it could happen very quickly. But what we're understanding from the process right now is that now they have these final results. They really can get in and negotiate really toughly on their positions, Miles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Yes, it's important if it will be secular or Islamic government, because we're passing through very critical circumstances. And if there will be Islamic government for one sect will lead to tendencies among other sects, which we do not need in this circumstance. We want to rebuild our country and develop it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The circumstances of our country cannot let us tell if the result of the elections will be fair as there is no stability and security. Besides that, it is not clear politically. We can't tell if the results will be fair 100 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And that's a concern of a lot of people here, is they want this process, the horse-trading to get the key positions, to allow the government to get up and running. They want it to happen quickly.
The fear is that the ministries can't work, that in the vacuum, the insurgents will get stronger, take advantage of the sort of lull in political activity. A lot of people telling us that today, Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you very much -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: For every soldier sent to fight there are personal battles along the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. MAJ. GALLAGHER: I did not finish high school. I just decided on my own, either I'm going to stay in this town and probably wind up in jail or I'm going to get up and go. And I got up and went.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Sergeant Major Gallagher shares his personal war stories. You're going to hear from him straight ahead.
And lethal lesson, a high school teacher allegedly shows his students how to make a bomb. That story on LIVE FROM. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: News across America now, with a clinical theme, Michael Jackson on the mend. That's according to doctors who discharged him from a Santa Maria, California, hospital last evening. The diagnosis, viral symptoms. Jackson's child molestation trial begins again Tuesday.
Exciting news from the fight against prostate cancer: a vaccine that harnesses the power of the body's own immune system. Results of a three-year trial are positive. Testing continues. A big medical conference going on in Florida is all abuzz about it.
Talk about a tough kid -- Jerrick De Leon, born three months premature, today recovering from open heart surgery. He's the youngest and smallest such patient ever. He's less than two pounds. His little heart is the size of a grape. The surgery was successful. He's hanging in there. Jerrick's doctors will make a statement in just a couple of hours. We plan to carry that live. O'BRIEN: The trials and tribulations of some of our favorite painkillers. Makers of some of the most widely used pain medications in D.C. today, defending their products before a Food and Drug Administration panel assembled to consider restricting or even banning the drug.
The prescription, only Vioxx, one of the so-called COX-2 inhibitors. It is linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The panel includes more than 30 doctors and will decide tomorrow on any restrictive action.
PHILLIPS: This hour, that FDA panel is hearing not from scientists or bureaucrats, but from people, patients, many of whom rely on prescription pain medication just in order to function. They are the ones ultimately impacted by any decisions made after the hearings.
Our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, reports on the challenges faced by physicians in treating something they can't see, feel or even measure.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Relax your muscle.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the prick of a needle to a broken bone, physical pain is familiar to all of us. But what happens when pain can't be measured?
ASHLEY TAYLOR, PAIN PATIENT: Walking around is very difficult. And it usually takes just a few minutes before I get very tired and I have to rest. And even when I do rest, I don't feel better.
GUPTA: Since the age of 10, Ashley Taylor has felt pain in her neck, shoulders, back and legs. Now 20 years old, she's seen neurologists, rheumatologists, even psychiatrists. In all, Ashley has been to more than 20 different doctors in just the past few years.
TAYLOR: The doctors don't know. I've had X-rays done and MRIs and numerous blood tests and a spinal tap, and everything is negative, everything is OK and no doctor can tell me what's going on.
GUPTA: It's more than discomfort. She takes up to seven pain pills a day, including Celebrex and Vicodin, and had to drop out of school last semester.
DR. MICHEL DUBOIS, NYU PAIN MANAGEMENT CENTER: A young lady who obviously we expect to be in perfect health, who is going through a critical time of her life, with a major handicap. Our role is to try to help her going through this phase.
GUPTA: Despite all the advances of modern medicine, when doctors measure pain, they rely primarily on the verbal analog scale.
DUBOIS: What number would you put to your pain, zero is no pain, and 10 maximum possible. TAYLOR: Now it's about six.
GUPTA: A complicated name for a simple test: how much does it hurt on a scale of zero to 10?
DUBOIS: Since it is a subjective measurement based only off the patient's feedback, you can imagine situations where the patient is not truthful when he reports his or her pain.
GUPTA: And there are variations. What one person calls a nine could easily be a four for another. While there is no reliable way to gauge honesty in these tests, the pain is very real to patients like Ashley.
TAYLOR: Right now, I just have to learn to live with the pain as best as I can, because it's not going away anytime soon.
GUPTA: A somewhat immeasurable price for a frustratingly immeasurable pain.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Hill, he says he needs more money for his state, $8 billion more. Let's listen in.
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: ... together. The more coordinated we are and the more we work together, and not let other states kind of divide us, divide our state and use the divide and conquer, let us unite and conquer. That's really what we're trying to do.
So if you have any questions, please feel free. Maybe you want David...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you are...
SCHWARZENEGGER: Chairman Lewis (ph) is here.
Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) get this budget if it doesn't contain more money for California?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Say again?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should California members of Congress vote against the current budget proposal if it doesn't contain more money for California?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I think the most important thing is that we now together work so that we get everything possible for California.
And we are not asking the White House and we are not asking the federal government or anyone here in Washington to bail us out. We are not asking to go and get a handout.
We just want our fair share, because we have our own problems in California that were created in California by Californians, not by the federal government. So we have to take care of that ourselves.
But the same time, we want to make sure that the federal government is helping us and that we are not continuing that trend that we see now that federal funding for the state is going down. We wanted to bring it back again. That's really what our objective is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think the general (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHWARZENEGGER: I have been having the greatest time since I become the governor. I love my connection with the people. I love the partnership that I've formed with the people of California.
And I think because of that, I think we will do some really true reforms this year in many different area, if it is the budget reform, education reform, redistricting reform and pension reform, all of that will be accomplished because the people of California are true partners. So pay no attention to the special interests when you seem them protesting out there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How close are you to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, Kim Roche (ph) is working very hard to -- we are going over from here to the Department of Health and Human Services to work with them and -- we've got some really great input today when we had our meeting here, from both Democrats and Republicans.
So hopefully, with Democrats and Republicans working together, I think we will get a good deal. So that's what the objective is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you regret calling yourself (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president always (UNINTELLIGIBLE) campaign. Do you feel the president owes you and will your relationship with him help improve the budget?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I think it's very important for everyone to know that I don't operate like that in my life. When I do a favor for someone, like campaigning, going to one campaign stop for President Bush, it was because I felt he was the better man. And I was campaigning for him because of that.
I hope that -- that they do not give us extra money because I campaigned and did that one campaign stop. Because if they were, there's something wrong with our system. Favors go in, favors go out.
What I don't want to see is just that because I stopped at one stop, that maybe we get an extra billion dollars and Pataki stopped at 15 stops and gets $15 billion more. That would be terrible for our state.
So I hope that they keep things straight and only give us more money, or help us with Brack (ph) and all different immigration issues that are facing us, because we are one of the 50 states, and we are one of the greater states. And we deserve the attention and deserve more.
PHILLIPS: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger there on the Hill, meeting with congressional leaders and Bush administration officials, saying he needs more money for his state. We'll follow it.
More LIVE FROM after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM.
DET. KELLY BOAZ, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: It's 360 degrees of just mass mayhem.
PHILLIPS: A chemistry class that's a real blast. A teacher gets in trouble for his explosive lesson plans.
Later on LIVE FROM...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically an adult's paradise.
PHILLIPS: A playboy's palace turned into a military base. It's the setting for a new documentary that lets soldiers tell their Iraq war stories their way.
Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, the king of NASCAR gets number 43 ready to roll again in the Daytona 500. Racing legend Richard Petty joins us for the LIVE FROM interview.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We've been talking about this from Orlando, Florida. A high school science teacher there is out on bail after his arrest on explosive charges. The teacher says he was showing science in action. Some students say he taught them how to make a bomb. Decide for yourself.
Here's Nancy Alvarez from affiliate station WKMG in Orlando.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOAZ: It's 360 degrees of just mass mayhem and destruction.
NANCY ALVAREZ, WKMG REPORTER (voice-over): Detectives say the blast could have been deadly. But the teenager behind the camera told authorities he was simply following step-by-step instructions, lessons he learned from his chemistry teacher, 42-year-old David Pieski.
BOAZ: This goes well beyond a regular chemistry project.
ALVAREZ: Detectives say Pieski used an overhead projector in his classroom at Freedom High to give his chemistry students detailed instructions in bomb making. He also admitted to building the devices for his class, then detonating the explosives behind the school.
BOAZ: He placed every one of his students in jeopardy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was uncalled for, for him to do such a thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who knows what they could have done with it? They could have put it in someone's locker, and then the whole school would have exploded.
ALVAREZ: Students and parents are unnerved by the details and the influence detectives say Pieski had on his students. A month after this blast, authorities responded to this home in Hunter's Creek after another of his students built an acid bomb.
But detectives say Pieski doesn't see the harm in his lesson plans.
BOAZ: In his mind, it was a chemistry project, and he likes his students to go out and try new things. And he didn't see any harm in it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Today's high earners, embracing some very middle class values. Kathleen Hays at the stock exchange to talk about that.
Reminds me of that book a few years ago, "The Millionaire Next Door," you know. Rich people and they're clipping coupons after all, right?
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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