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Myers Says U.S. Military Under Strain; Rash of Hoaxes: Something in the Air?

Aired May 03, 2005 - 14:30   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, has given the go-ahead for a 13-year-old girl to have an abortion. That girl has been at the center of a controversial legal battle with the state over ending her 14-week pregnancy. The judge ruled today that she will not be emotionally or physically harmed by that procedure.
The data storage company that lost tapes containing personal data on up to 600,000 current and former Time Warner employees is saying little about the matter. Iron Mountain Incorporated told CNN today: "We don't really think it's in our best interest or anyone's best interest to perpetuate the story. We think that it's been pretty well covered. And at the end the day, we are talking about a lost box." We must note that Time Warner is CNN's parent company. As we do for any other person or company in the news, we requested an on-camera interview. Time Warner declined.

Back now to the top story. Questions raised about America's military preparedness from none other than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers. In a report to Congress, General Myers suggests conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are limiting America's ability to deal with other potential hot spots down the road.

Joining me now to talk about that, CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Major General Don Shepperd. General Shepperd, good to have you back with us.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: My pleasure, Miles.

O'BRIEN: It appears General Myers is in contradiction with the president at his news conference here. What's the real story? I mean, I suppose, looking at it, you don't have to be a member of the military to realize the U.S. military is trying to do an awful lot right now.

SHEPPERD: Absolutely. This is some dueling rhetoric. The president, in a press conference last week, basically said General Myers had told him that we had the capacity to do what we needed to do. And we do. But in this report issued by General Myers to Congress -- it's a yearly report -- he made it very clear that we are already stretched and if something should break out serious, such as a North Korea, such as an Iran, our forces would be clearly stretched and it would take us a lot longer to get there than if you didn't have Iraq and Afghanistan going on. O'BRIEN: So what are the implications of that? That ultimately really translates into if the U.S. military faces one of these skirmishes, that translates into casualties, doesn't it?

SHEPPERD: It does, indeed. There's no question that if something else broke out, what you have to do is reallocate your sea lift, which is the main way you move things to a conflict, and your airlift, which we're already always short of. And basically you'd have to reallocate it to the new conflict and you would have to cut short things that going on. And while that's going on, it takes you time to move forces in there. And once you get the forces there, it's take you time to resupply them. So all of that's going to translate into an extended conflict and more casualties, no question about it.

O'BRIEN: All right, so really, the only logical way out of this is for the U.S. military to do everything it can to get out of Iraq and soon. But that doesn't seem realistic at this point.

SHEPPERD: No, we're training the forces as fast as possible. We're putting a lot of pressure on the insurgency. But we are going to be in Iraq for some time. It looks like we're going to start reducing forces later this year and probably more reductions in '06, but we can't just cut and run and we can't create forces overnight that are effective within the Iraqi military. So we're just going to have to play this very, very carefully, and we're going to move out when they ask us to move out and it will probably be before we think that we should and probably later than they think we ought to.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right, let's talk quickly about this apparent collision between two hornets, two FA-18s, carrier-based fighter attack aircraft, flown by Marines. Flying in formation on a sortie, southern Iraq, at nighttime. Now, this is obviously dangerous stuff, doing what they do. And really when you think about the amount of sorties that have occurred since we invaded Iraq, when you think of all the sorties, it's amazing it doesn't happen more frequently. What -- tell us what is done to try to keep these missions safe and what can go wrong.

SHEPPERD: Flying fighters is dangerous. Flying fighters off carriers is very dangerous. Flying fighters at night of any kind is extremely dangerous. It takes a lot of training, a lot of practice. You use night vision goggles. They can malfunction. You also put in -- tend to effect procedures. In other words, you separate by altitude. You stay on separate sides of a target that you're attacking.

When all of those things are subject to human error and night vision goggles do not turn day -- or night into day. They help you see other things at night, but they do not give you depth perception. They don't give you closure rate. So you have to train very, very carefully. And the Marines have had a very, very tough year, last year. Lots of accidents and they're suffering from it.

O'BRIEN: All right. Do you expect there will be a stand-down of some kind? SHEPPERD: Well, there's probably already been stand-downs and there will probably be more. You concentrate, you have these waves in aviation all the time. They're actually -- last year was twice what they had set as a goal. And so it's a tough time for the Marines. They'll get back on it and get up to speed, but it's just a difficult time for them.

O'BRIEN: Major General Don Shepperd, our military analyst. Thanks for your time.

SHEPPERD: Pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, if you want to talk about troop strength, let's talk about army of one named Captain David Rozelle. We've been following his story for quite a while now. He lost his leg in battle. Now he's back in Iraq, redefining the role of the nation's war- wounded.

Here's CNN's Ryan Chilcote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Captain David Rozelle isn't the first soldier on his second tour in Iraq. But he is the first to return minus much of a limb. His first tour ended abruptly.

CAPT. DAVID ROZELLE, U.S. ARMY: I ran over an anti-tank mine, which is what took off the right front end of my humvee and also, destroyed my foot. Didn't actually blow my foot off. Blew part of my -- parts of my foot of, but destroyed all the bones and tendons.

CHILCOTE: The Army offered him a way out of the service, complete with a retirement package and the half-pay that comes along with it eight years early.

ROZELLE: It's just standard operating procedure, to hand me the paperwork for me to get out of the service. Some people think that, you know are going back to war like I have is crazy. Yes, why would you do that when you can go retire? It's like, you know, I'm 32 years old. I'm not going to retire.

I was messing with this one...

CHILCOTE: Ten miles from where his foot and ankle were amputated two years ago, the military says Captain Rozelle is the first U.S. soldier to return to a combat zone, a pioneer with a unique set of problems.

ROZELLE: But I've already sent home for another foot, because I didn't like the way one of them was working here. I said I need something softer to walk through these rocks and stuff. And so I got a new foot in the mail. Probably the first guy to change his foot, you know, in combat. CHILCOTE: But Captain Rozelle likes to pull his own weight, and much of what he does is right in step with his fellow soldiers. His dedication has earned him the respect of his subordinates.

SPEC. GRACE GIBSON, U.S. ARMY: Whenever I first heard that he was still, like, in the troop the first thing that popped to my head was, like, I can't believe that he's still in the Army. I probably would have gone out. So that gives me a lot more respect for him, that he's still out here and that he's out here again.

CHILCOTE: Captain Rozelle commands his company's headquarters. It's primarily an administrative job. Next frontier, he believes, is the front line.

ROZELLE: Truly, if I was going and kicking doors down every single day and fighting and fighting and fighting, that would be -- that truly would be the next test of, can my body physically handle it?

CHILCOTE: This summer, he goes back to Walter Reid Army Medical Center to manage its amputee program, to prepare more soldiers to follow in his footsteps.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Ahead in the program, giving credit where it is due. How much would stay-at-home moms make if they actually got a salary?

PHILLIPS: She's sort of the stay-at-home type, I guess. Martha's got a new pitch for advertisers.

O'BRIEN: No choice there.

PHILLIPS: We're going to tell you what she's got planned.

O'BRIEN: And a string of public hoaxes, like the runaway bride. Is that a coincidence or maybe there is a common denominator?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: So, is the Pentagon stretched too thin? If you have a family member in the reserves or the National Guard and is serving a long-tour duty in Iraq, you know the answer to that question. Well, now the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff which validates a lot of this. He spoke to reporters just a few moments ago on the steps of the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: We have very high standards in our -- in how we measure ourselves against our current plans. And so that's what we're measuring. We're measuring against the timelines that are already in plans, that have been established several years ago, a year ago. And, so, we measure ourselves against that, and what we've said is, we will be successful, we will prevail. It -- the timelines may have to be extended. We may have to use additional resources, but it doesn't matter because we're going to be successful in the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That was the chairman of the joint chief of staff, Richard Myers -- apparently, a slight contradiction to what the president said, the commander in chief, at his news conference a few days ago.

President Bush meanwhile, in Mississippi today, not talking about this. He's on Social Security today, ideas to change that program. Mr. Bush is at a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi, where workers joined him on the stage for a town hall-style meeting. The reception was warm. People are handpicked, after all, for these things, but how are Americans at large taking to the president's push for a Social Security overhaul? Time now to check in with our Gallup poll editor- in-chief Frank Newport for that. Frank?

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Hello, Miles.

Indeed, lots and lots and lots of polling about Social Security since George Bush made it the number one priority, domestically, for his administration this year. I think it's fair to say that it's not going all that well. Here's approval ratings for George W. Bush's handling Social Security. It was a little higher, but not robust. At any rate, at the beginning of the year, it fell to 35 percent, and now, in three consecutive polls, including our CNN/USA Today poll over the weekend, 35 percent. That's about 13 points below his overall approval rating, so, clearly, at the moment -- maybe not surprisingly, since no one has a solution yet -- Americans not giving the president a lot of credit for his efforts on Social Security.

Democrats traditionally have done well on domestic issues when we pit them against Republicans. This is decades old that this has been the case. Still the case now -- some signs that Democrats really are benefiting a lot, but nevertheless, forced to make a choice, Democrats' 10-point margin -- which party can better handle Social Security. And, Miles, you mentioned the Thursday night press conference. The president at that point promulgated this new idea of indexed curbs on Social Security. Over the weekend, our CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll described that for people, said, do you favor or oppose it -- laid an egg, so far: only about 38 percent tell us they favor it, in the weekend poll. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Promulgated an egg?

NEWPORT: That's right, promulgated an egg. That's right.

O'BRIEN: All right, how about the overall job approval rating for the president? Where does that stand right now?

NEWPORT: At 48 percent, but I want -- I think we need to be very careful here. A lot of people have continued to say Bush is in a terrible slump, he's in a free-fall and all that. But, look at the data. The 48 percent right now is just a couple points below his whole quarterly average for the first quarter of this year. Last year at this time, in the second quarter, April through July, he had 48 percent. That was his average for the whole quarter. So, I would say this is not great, average for all presidents since Truman is about 55, 56 percent -- Bush, below average, but he's really not sliding tremendously lower than he's been before -- back where he was last year at this time. Miles?

O'BRIEN: All right! Frank Newport, your approval rating with us is always sky high.

NEWPORT: I appreciate that. Thank you very much, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it. Thank you for stopping by.

PHILLIPS: Coming up next, paying mom what she's really worth. If your mom got a paycheck for all her hard work around the house, she'd probably be very, very rich.

O'BRIEN: It's like that Visa, or MasterCard, ad -- priceless.

And the downside of 21st technology. There is a downside of technology?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody in the world now has the potential capability fooling millions of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's blue video there.

O'BRIEN: A trifecta of hoaxes in the news lately. Is there something in the air perhaps?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're a stay-at-home mom, do you ever wonder what you're worth for all the things that you do? Well, according to Salary.com, stay-at-home moms wear many hats. They're the family CEO, daycare provider, housekeeper, chauffeur, cook, nurse, general maintenance worker, psychologist -- whew -- and that's just to name a few. Now, based on a 100 hour workweek, Salary.com estimates the fair wage for a typical stay-at-home mom would be about $131,471 -- and that includes a base pay of more than $43,000 for a 40-hour workweek and the $88,000 for 60 hours of overtime. If you raise someone like Miles O'Brien, you probably need to double that.

O'BRIEN: Sandy's still raising me! Actually, it would be a bargain at twice the price, honestly.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Well, his family -- this is way off the measurement scales. His family is thrilled. We talked to his former boss and former commissioner in Buffalo, just weeping in tears. Everybody's amazed over this story.

PHILLIPS: We're talking about a very courageous firefighter who suffered a major head injury while fighting a fire. And he does something that hasn't -- he hasn't done for more than nine years -- he started talking, just out of the blue. First person he wanted to talk to was his wife. We're going to talk to a doctor about his recovery and the capacity of the brain to heal after a trauma. That's just ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, former "American Idols" are feuding, but A-list Hollywood Couple Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith are coming together for a special project. Sibila Vargas joins me now from L.A. with all the entertainment headlines. Hi, Sibila.

VARGAS: Hey, Kyra.

I know you haven't lost any sleep trying to figure out who the next "American Idol" is going to be, but just in case you wanted to play catch-up, here's your chance, Kyra.

Ten former "American Idol" contestants are involved in a very serious competition, but it doesn't involve singing. The idols are duking it out on "The Family Feud." Contestants are divided by gender and they're competing all week long on the syndicated game show.

Moving on to more news, Martha Stewart and Mark Burnett are promising a softer, funnier side to the domestic diva. In her new variety talk show, called "Martha," the trend-setter promises lots of interaction with her New York studio audience and, of course, cooking and decorating tips. Both Stewart and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia have a lot riding on this new TV show. The company posted back-to- back annual losses in 2003 and 2004.

Well, they're a good team in marriage, but how about hosting? Actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith will join forces to host the 2005 BET Awards. The award show honors achievement in music, entertainment and sports. Denzel Washington and his wife Pauletta will receive the humanitarian award and Gladys Knight will be honored with a lifetime achievement award. Nominations for the BET Awards will be announced May 16th.

And that's your news from Hollywood. Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sibila, thank you so much.

O'BRIEN: The incredible missing bride, funny money, a digit in a bowl of chili. You feeling a little duped lately? As CNN's Tom Foreman has learned, there are reasons we're seeing a run on hoaxes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The finger in the chili, the money in the backyard and now the bride and the blanket. Jennifer Wilbanks' whopper completes a trifecta of recent hoaxes being enshrined in San Diego's Museum of Hoaxes.

Alex Boese is curator and says, with 24-hour news channels, the Internet and instant messages, there's a reason hoaxes seem to hit more often.

BOESE: The fact is that we're asked to accept a lot more information from a far wider variety of sources. So, as a consequence, we're far more vulnerable to misinformation than I think we ever were in the past.

FOREMAN: He says Jennifer's story began like all great hoaxes do, with the truth. She really did disappear, leaving behind baffled police, anxious parents and a worried fiance.

MIKE SATTERFIELD, UNCLE OF JENNIFER WILBANKS: We love Jennifer very much. We would give our life and everything that we own to have her returned.

FOREMAN: So when she showed up telling a tale of abduction hours before her grand wedding was to occur...

BOESE: You don't want to think that this bride is actually running away from this and is just terrified by this whole thing. You want the fairy tale wedding.

FOREMAN: Studies at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have found that, while women favor white lies to protect other people's feelings, men lead toward lies of self-preservation. Scott Peterson murdered his wife, but claimed she was missing.

Boston's infamous Charles Stewart killed his wife and said a black man was to blame.

(on camera): Maybe that's why polls have shown, for many years, that people trust women more than they do men. Maybe that accounts for some of the outrage over the runaway bride.

These days, the Internet has sharks attacking helicopters and instructions for making miniature bonsai kittens, all worth about as much as Enron stock. Back at the Hoax Museum, Alex says all it takes is a computer and a connection.

BOESE: Anybody in the world now has the potential capability of fooling millions of people.

FOREMAN: Oh, and when you're in San Diego, don't try to visit the Museum of Hoaxes. Living up to its name, it exists only online.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: "Now in the News," Iraq makes it official. A longtime Shiite Arab politician is sworn in as Iraq's prime minister. Ibrahim al Jaafari took the oath of office earlier today in Baghdad, followed by the rest of his approved cabinet. Legal nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Iran's foreign minister says that, and that alone, is what his country seeks. Addressing members of the United Stations, Kamal Kharrazi says that it wasn't fair to limit access to such technology to certain countries.

She asked for it, she's getting it. Private First Class Lynndie England is now watching as a military jury is chosen to decide her punishment. The Army Reservist pleaded guilty yesterday to seven counts related to inmate abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

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Aired May 3, 2005 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, has given the go-ahead for a 13-year-old girl to have an abortion. That girl has been at the center of a controversial legal battle with the state over ending her 14-week pregnancy. The judge ruled today that she will not be emotionally or physically harmed by that procedure.
The data storage company that lost tapes containing personal data on up to 600,000 current and former Time Warner employees is saying little about the matter. Iron Mountain Incorporated told CNN today: "We don't really think it's in our best interest or anyone's best interest to perpetuate the story. We think that it's been pretty well covered. And at the end the day, we are talking about a lost box." We must note that Time Warner is CNN's parent company. As we do for any other person or company in the news, we requested an on-camera interview. Time Warner declined.

Back now to the top story. Questions raised about America's military preparedness from none other than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers. In a report to Congress, General Myers suggests conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are limiting America's ability to deal with other potential hot spots down the road.

Joining me now to talk about that, CNN military analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Major General Don Shepperd. General Shepperd, good to have you back with us.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: My pleasure, Miles.

O'BRIEN: It appears General Myers is in contradiction with the president at his news conference here. What's the real story? I mean, I suppose, looking at it, you don't have to be a member of the military to realize the U.S. military is trying to do an awful lot right now.

SHEPPERD: Absolutely. This is some dueling rhetoric. The president, in a press conference last week, basically said General Myers had told him that we had the capacity to do what we needed to do. And we do. But in this report issued by General Myers to Congress -- it's a yearly report -- he made it very clear that we are already stretched and if something should break out serious, such as a North Korea, such as an Iran, our forces would be clearly stretched and it would take us a lot longer to get there than if you didn't have Iraq and Afghanistan going on. O'BRIEN: So what are the implications of that? That ultimately really translates into if the U.S. military faces one of these skirmishes, that translates into casualties, doesn't it?

SHEPPERD: It does, indeed. There's no question that if something else broke out, what you have to do is reallocate your sea lift, which is the main way you move things to a conflict, and your airlift, which we're already always short of. And basically you'd have to reallocate it to the new conflict and you would have to cut short things that going on. And while that's going on, it takes you time to move forces in there. And once you get the forces there, it's take you time to resupply them. So all of that's going to translate into an extended conflict and more casualties, no question about it.

O'BRIEN: All right, so really, the only logical way out of this is for the U.S. military to do everything it can to get out of Iraq and soon. But that doesn't seem realistic at this point.

SHEPPERD: No, we're training the forces as fast as possible. We're putting a lot of pressure on the insurgency. But we are going to be in Iraq for some time. It looks like we're going to start reducing forces later this year and probably more reductions in '06, but we can't just cut and run and we can't create forces overnight that are effective within the Iraqi military. So we're just going to have to play this very, very carefully, and we're going to move out when they ask us to move out and it will probably be before we think that we should and probably later than they think we ought to.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right, let's talk quickly about this apparent collision between two hornets, two FA-18s, carrier-based fighter attack aircraft, flown by Marines. Flying in formation on a sortie, southern Iraq, at nighttime. Now, this is obviously dangerous stuff, doing what they do. And really when you think about the amount of sorties that have occurred since we invaded Iraq, when you think of all the sorties, it's amazing it doesn't happen more frequently. What -- tell us what is done to try to keep these missions safe and what can go wrong.

SHEPPERD: Flying fighters is dangerous. Flying fighters off carriers is very dangerous. Flying fighters at night of any kind is extremely dangerous. It takes a lot of training, a lot of practice. You use night vision goggles. They can malfunction. You also put in -- tend to effect procedures. In other words, you separate by altitude. You stay on separate sides of a target that you're attacking.

When all of those things are subject to human error and night vision goggles do not turn day -- or night into day. They help you see other things at night, but they do not give you depth perception. They don't give you closure rate. So you have to train very, very carefully. And the Marines have had a very, very tough year, last year. Lots of accidents and they're suffering from it.

O'BRIEN: All right. Do you expect there will be a stand-down of some kind? SHEPPERD: Well, there's probably already been stand-downs and there will probably be more. You concentrate, you have these waves in aviation all the time. They're actually -- last year was twice what they had set as a goal. And so it's a tough time for the Marines. They'll get back on it and get up to speed, but it's just a difficult time for them.

O'BRIEN: Major General Don Shepperd, our military analyst. Thanks for your time.

SHEPPERD: Pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, if you want to talk about troop strength, let's talk about army of one named Captain David Rozelle. We've been following his story for quite a while now. He lost his leg in battle. Now he's back in Iraq, redefining the role of the nation's war- wounded.

Here's CNN's Ryan Chilcote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Captain David Rozelle isn't the first soldier on his second tour in Iraq. But he is the first to return minus much of a limb. His first tour ended abruptly.

CAPT. DAVID ROZELLE, U.S. ARMY: I ran over an anti-tank mine, which is what took off the right front end of my humvee and also, destroyed my foot. Didn't actually blow my foot off. Blew part of my -- parts of my foot of, but destroyed all the bones and tendons.

CHILCOTE: The Army offered him a way out of the service, complete with a retirement package and the half-pay that comes along with it eight years early.

ROZELLE: It's just standard operating procedure, to hand me the paperwork for me to get out of the service. Some people think that, you know are going back to war like I have is crazy. Yes, why would you do that when you can go retire? It's like, you know, I'm 32 years old. I'm not going to retire.

I was messing with this one...

CHILCOTE: Ten miles from where his foot and ankle were amputated two years ago, the military says Captain Rozelle is the first U.S. soldier to return to a combat zone, a pioneer with a unique set of problems.

ROZELLE: But I've already sent home for another foot, because I didn't like the way one of them was working here. I said I need something softer to walk through these rocks and stuff. And so I got a new foot in the mail. Probably the first guy to change his foot, you know, in combat. CHILCOTE: But Captain Rozelle likes to pull his own weight, and much of what he does is right in step with his fellow soldiers. His dedication has earned him the respect of his subordinates.

SPEC. GRACE GIBSON, U.S. ARMY: Whenever I first heard that he was still, like, in the troop the first thing that popped to my head was, like, I can't believe that he's still in the Army. I probably would have gone out. So that gives me a lot more respect for him, that he's still out here and that he's out here again.

CHILCOTE: Captain Rozelle commands his company's headquarters. It's primarily an administrative job. Next frontier, he believes, is the front line.

ROZELLE: Truly, if I was going and kicking doors down every single day and fighting and fighting and fighting, that would be -- that truly would be the next test of, can my body physically handle it?

CHILCOTE: This summer, he goes back to Walter Reid Army Medical Center to manage its amputee program, to prepare more soldiers to follow in his footsteps.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Ahead in the program, giving credit where it is due. How much would stay-at-home moms make if they actually got a salary?

PHILLIPS: She's sort of the stay-at-home type, I guess. Martha's got a new pitch for advertisers.

O'BRIEN: No choice there.

PHILLIPS: We're going to tell you what she's got planned.

O'BRIEN: And a string of public hoaxes, like the runaway bride. Is that a coincidence or maybe there is a common denominator?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: So, is the Pentagon stretched too thin? If you have a family member in the reserves or the National Guard and is serving a long-tour duty in Iraq, you know the answer to that question. Well, now the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff which validates a lot of this. He spoke to reporters just a few moments ago on the steps of the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: We have very high standards in our -- in how we measure ourselves against our current plans. And so that's what we're measuring. We're measuring against the timelines that are already in plans, that have been established several years ago, a year ago. And, so, we measure ourselves against that, and what we've said is, we will be successful, we will prevail. It -- the timelines may have to be extended. We may have to use additional resources, but it doesn't matter because we're going to be successful in the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That was the chairman of the joint chief of staff, Richard Myers -- apparently, a slight contradiction to what the president said, the commander in chief, at his news conference a few days ago.

President Bush meanwhile, in Mississippi today, not talking about this. He's on Social Security today, ideas to change that program. Mr. Bush is at a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi, where workers joined him on the stage for a town hall-style meeting. The reception was warm. People are handpicked, after all, for these things, but how are Americans at large taking to the president's push for a Social Security overhaul? Time now to check in with our Gallup poll editor- in-chief Frank Newport for that. Frank?

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Hello, Miles.

Indeed, lots and lots and lots of polling about Social Security since George Bush made it the number one priority, domestically, for his administration this year. I think it's fair to say that it's not going all that well. Here's approval ratings for George W. Bush's handling Social Security. It was a little higher, but not robust. At any rate, at the beginning of the year, it fell to 35 percent, and now, in three consecutive polls, including our CNN/USA Today poll over the weekend, 35 percent. That's about 13 points below his overall approval rating, so, clearly, at the moment -- maybe not surprisingly, since no one has a solution yet -- Americans not giving the president a lot of credit for his efforts on Social Security.

Democrats traditionally have done well on domestic issues when we pit them against Republicans. This is decades old that this has been the case. Still the case now -- some signs that Democrats really are benefiting a lot, but nevertheless, forced to make a choice, Democrats' 10-point margin -- which party can better handle Social Security. And, Miles, you mentioned the Thursday night press conference. The president at that point promulgated this new idea of indexed curbs on Social Security. Over the weekend, our CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll described that for people, said, do you favor or oppose it -- laid an egg, so far: only about 38 percent tell us they favor it, in the weekend poll. Miles?

O'BRIEN: Promulgated an egg?

NEWPORT: That's right, promulgated an egg. That's right.

O'BRIEN: All right, how about the overall job approval rating for the president? Where does that stand right now?

NEWPORT: At 48 percent, but I want -- I think we need to be very careful here. A lot of people have continued to say Bush is in a terrible slump, he's in a free-fall and all that. But, look at the data. The 48 percent right now is just a couple points below his whole quarterly average for the first quarter of this year. Last year at this time, in the second quarter, April through July, he had 48 percent. That was his average for the whole quarter. So, I would say this is not great, average for all presidents since Truman is about 55, 56 percent -- Bush, below average, but he's really not sliding tremendously lower than he's been before -- back where he was last year at this time. Miles?

O'BRIEN: All right! Frank Newport, your approval rating with us is always sky high.

NEWPORT: I appreciate that. Thank you very much, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it. Thank you for stopping by.

PHILLIPS: Coming up next, paying mom what she's really worth. If your mom got a paycheck for all her hard work around the house, she'd probably be very, very rich.

O'BRIEN: It's like that Visa, or MasterCard, ad -- priceless.

And the downside of 21st technology. There is a downside of technology?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody in the world now has the potential capability fooling millions of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's blue video there.

O'BRIEN: A trifecta of hoaxes in the news lately. Is there something in the air perhaps?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're a stay-at-home mom, do you ever wonder what you're worth for all the things that you do? Well, according to Salary.com, stay-at-home moms wear many hats. They're the family CEO, daycare provider, housekeeper, chauffeur, cook, nurse, general maintenance worker, psychologist -- whew -- and that's just to name a few. Now, based on a 100 hour workweek, Salary.com estimates the fair wage for a typical stay-at-home mom would be about $131,471 -- and that includes a base pay of more than $43,000 for a 40-hour workweek and the $88,000 for 60 hours of overtime. If you raise someone like Miles O'Brien, you probably need to double that.

O'BRIEN: Sandy's still raising me! Actually, it would be a bargain at twice the price, honestly.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Well, his family -- this is way off the measurement scales. His family is thrilled. We talked to his former boss and former commissioner in Buffalo, just weeping in tears. Everybody's amazed over this story.

PHILLIPS: We're talking about a very courageous firefighter who suffered a major head injury while fighting a fire. And he does something that hasn't -- he hasn't done for more than nine years -- he started talking, just out of the blue. First person he wanted to talk to was his wife. We're going to talk to a doctor about his recovery and the capacity of the brain to heal after a trauma. That's just ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, former "American Idols" are feuding, but A-list Hollywood Couple Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith are coming together for a special project. Sibila Vargas joins me now from L.A. with all the entertainment headlines. Hi, Sibila.

VARGAS: Hey, Kyra.

I know you haven't lost any sleep trying to figure out who the next "American Idol" is going to be, but just in case you wanted to play catch-up, here's your chance, Kyra.

Ten former "American Idol" contestants are involved in a very serious competition, but it doesn't involve singing. The idols are duking it out on "The Family Feud." Contestants are divided by gender and they're competing all week long on the syndicated game show.

Moving on to more news, Martha Stewart and Mark Burnett are promising a softer, funnier side to the domestic diva. In her new variety talk show, called "Martha," the trend-setter promises lots of interaction with her New York studio audience and, of course, cooking and decorating tips. Both Stewart and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia have a lot riding on this new TV show. The company posted back-to- back annual losses in 2003 and 2004.

Well, they're a good team in marriage, but how about hosting? Actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith will join forces to host the 2005 BET Awards. The award show honors achievement in music, entertainment and sports. Denzel Washington and his wife Pauletta will receive the humanitarian award and Gladys Knight will be honored with a lifetime achievement award. Nominations for the BET Awards will be announced May 16th.

And that's your news from Hollywood. Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sibila, thank you so much.

O'BRIEN: The incredible missing bride, funny money, a digit in a bowl of chili. You feeling a little duped lately? As CNN's Tom Foreman has learned, there are reasons we're seeing a run on hoaxes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The finger in the chili, the money in the backyard and now the bride and the blanket. Jennifer Wilbanks' whopper completes a trifecta of recent hoaxes being enshrined in San Diego's Museum of Hoaxes.

Alex Boese is curator and says, with 24-hour news channels, the Internet and instant messages, there's a reason hoaxes seem to hit more often.

BOESE: The fact is that we're asked to accept a lot more information from a far wider variety of sources. So, as a consequence, we're far more vulnerable to misinformation than I think we ever were in the past.

FOREMAN: He says Jennifer's story began like all great hoaxes do, with the truth. She really did disappear, leaving behind baffled police, anxious parents and a worried fiance.

MIKE SATTERFIELD, UNCLE OF JENNIFER WILBANKS: We love Jennifer very much. We would give our life and everything that we own to have her returned.

FOREMAN: So when she showed up telling a tale of abduction hours before her grand wedding was to occur...

BOESE: You don't want to think that this bride is actually running away from this and is just terrified by this whole thing. You want the fairy tale wedding.

FOREMAN: Studies at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have found that, while women favor white lies to protect other people's feelings, men lead toward lies of self-preservation. Scott Peterson murdered his wife, but claimed she was missing.

Boston's infamous Charles Stewart killed his wife and said a black man was to blame.

(on camera): Maybe that's why polls have shown, for many years, that people trust women more than they do men. Maybe that accounts for some of the outrage over the runaway bride.

These days, the Internet has sharks attacking helicopters and instructions for making miniature bonsai kittens, all worth about as much as Enron stock. Back at the Hoax Museum, Alex says all it takes is a computer and a connection.

BOESE: Anybody in the world now has the potential capability of fooling millions of people.

FOREMAN: Oh, and when you're in San Diego, don't try to visit the Museum of Hoaxes. Living up to its name, it exists only online.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: "Now in the News," Iraq makes it official. A longtime Shiite Arab politician is sworn in as Iraq's prime minister. Ibrahim al Jaafari took the oath of office earlier today in Baghdad, followed by the rest of his approved cabinet. Legal nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Iran's foreign minister says that, and that alone, is what his country seeks. Addressing members of the United Stations, Kamal Kharrazi says that it wasn't fair to limit access to such technology to certain countries.

She asked for it, she's getting it. Private First Class Lynndie England is now watching as a military jury is chosen to decide her punishment. The Army Reservist pleaded guilty yesterday to seven counts related to inmate abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

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