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Dubai Ports World to Transfer Control of U.S. Ports to American Company; United Nations Security Council Expected to Respond to Iranian Nuclear Dispute; Author Sets Up Schools In Afghanistan And Pakistan; Interview With Eric Kingson, Author Of "Lessons From Joan"; Tax Concerns For Married Couples

Aired March 09, 2006 - 14:59   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Severe weather topping the hour right now in parts of the U.S.
Let's check in with CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf -- Reynolds.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: To the White House now, where the president has gotten his wish, the Patriot Act reworked, renewed and resigned, and a controversial deal over U.S. ports revised in the face of near certain rejection.

CNN's White House correspondent Dana Bash joins us live from the White House, also Ed Henry on the Hill.

Dana, let's start with you.

Well, let's see, Patriot Act or ports? What...

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: What do you want to begin with?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, since you have got it on, and this is really the story of the day, it seems, I guess we should perhaps start with ports, the fact that, as Ed will tell you, I'm sure, momentarily, this is pretty dramatic, in terms of what went down today.

The big picture here, this White House, this president, has been dug in against his own party on this issue. And what has happened, we think, is that DP World, the -- the company at the heart of this, has understood that the political reality here is that this deal is simply not going to go through.

Now, the president was told that in private here at the White House, really told something that senior aides he didn't necessarily need to hear, that the votes simply are not there to let this go through. In fact, it's just the opposite. The votes are there on Capitol Hill to block this particular deal from going through.

So, what we have now is this company saying that what they're going to do is hand over the operation of U.S. port terminals to a U.S. company.

Now, Kyra, a lot of questions about how that's going to happen. But the bottom line here, our understanding is that the deal as we knew it for DP World to have control over this -- these U.S. ports is not going to happen.

PHILLIPS: Ed Henry, a victory for Democrats?

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're trying to sell it that way already, Kyra.

I mean, I would -- just left a briefing with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. And the immediate message from them is that the devil is in the details. As Dana is putting out, we have to couch everything, because, frankly, leaders in both parties still have no clue as to exactly what this so- called compromise from Senator John Warner really, in fact, says.

I mean, when you read the statement that he read on the Senate floor about DP World transferring operations of these U.S. ports, U.S. entities, it doesn't say, really, that they're selling it all off. And there are lawmakers in both parries saying, whoa, wait a second. Let's sort this out. They're not certain that, in fact, this is good enough to get it all done.

And another thing to add, another wrinkle, is, just a short while ago, the Senate finally did have that procedural vote on whether or not to move forward on Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer's amendment to kill this port deal. And that procedural by Senator First to block Schumer failed.

So, what that means is, now the Senate is eventually headed for a vote, an up-or-down vote, on Schumer's amendment to kill this port deal. And, so, what Democrats are saying is, they actually want to have this vote to stall, block, whatever you want to say, but stop the deal, while they sort out the details.

Take a listen to what Schumer had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: If the U.S. operations are fully independent in every way, that could indeed be promising. If, on the other hand, there is still ultimate control exercised by DP World, I don't think our goals would be accomplished. And, obviously, we will need to study the -- this agreement carefully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: And I can tell you, this is an issue that has finally driven some Democrats and Republicans together.

We have seen so much bitter partisanship. But, basically, what Senator Schumer said, I heard a very similar thing a minute ago from a senior Republican aide up here, Who said, the devil is in the details. And if DP World still has its hands at all in U.S. ports, this is not going to fly -- this source adding that the only way this will be a -- quote, unquote -- "fix" is if, in fact, DP World has nothing do with U.S. ports.

Then the -- basically, the Republican leaders up here in the House could care less about whether DP World gets the other 90 percent of the deal, other ports and entities around the world. If they have their hands in any way on the other 10 percent, the U.S. -- of this deal -- the U.S. ports here, the Republicans up here, not going to go for that, is the early indication we're getting.

We saw this 62-2 vote yesterday in the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, saying, stop this deal. Again, they don't really care about the other 90 percent of the deal. They care about the 10 percent here in the U.S. And they are basically saying, this thing with Warner doesn't change it that much. They still don't want DP World operating, running, however you want to put it, the U.S. ports -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Dana, you had another point.

BASH: Well, I just want to add to that, that a senior official here essentially says that their understanding of the way this is going down is, in fact, that DP World will not have any control over the U.S. ports, which, of course, was, as Ed was just pointing out, the fundamental point of controversy here is whether or not an Arab company, owned by an Arab and run by an Arab country, would have the ability.

So, what the deal here is, is the understanding here at the White House and another source I talked to who is very close to these negotiations, is that the bottom line is that this company will not have control in the end, that their goal is to give over the control of that, and really to sell off that control to some U.S. company. Which company? We don't know.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, just real quickly, Dana is saying the deal is off. It will be sold to some other company that will be operating those U.S. ports.

But, Ed, you're still saying...

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: ... that that amendment is alive, this amendment that Charles Schumer has been pushing to -- to stop this deal completely.

HENRY: Yes. And I don't think that is, you know, contradictory of what Dana is reporting at all. Dana has it right on the money.

And what I think -- the reason why the amendment from Schumer is still going forward is that the Democrats, like the Republican leaders up here, want to see the details. And all the Democrats are saying is, they want this amendment, which, effectively, stalls, blocks the port deal, to go forward, because they know it's going to get an overwhelming vote in the Senate, like it did in the House committee yesterday. And they want to just put a freeze on this deal altogether. Let all the other details be worked out, find out whether there are loopholes. We -- everybody has to comb through the details. I don't -- it -- it's clear the company doesn't even have all the details yet. The White House doesn't have all the details. The Hill doesn't have all the details, leaders in either party.

The bottom line is, this amendment from Schumer is going to go forward, because they want to make sure that it is stopped in its tracks, while everyone sorts out the details.

PHILLIPS: It's doubling up on the move.

HENRY: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Doubling up on the move..

HENRY: Yes. If there's any loophole in there that allows the company to get their hands on U.S. ports...

PHILLIPS: This...

HENRY: ... in the eyes of leaders...

PHILLIPS: This will....

HENRY: ... up here, stop it, stop it, stop it...

PHILLIPS: Got it.

HENRY: ... dead.

PHILLIPS: All right. It covers...

HENRY: Yes.

PHILLIPS: ... every single gap.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All right.

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

HENRY: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: CNN's Lou Dobbs has kept a very close watch on the Dubai debate as well. And he joins us from New York.

Now, I'm sure you have been watching everybody -- or watching everything and listening to everything. We have been -- we hit a little bit on the economics, Lou, with Susan Lisovicz there at the New York Stock Exchange.

What else here? What's another gap we need to fill...

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: ... in a very confusing day, in many ways?

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I think the first gap we have got to fill is understanding the spectacle of watching Senator John Warner, from the floor of the United States Senate, reading a government-owned corporation's press release -- that's quite a remarkable spectacle -- and then the speculation as to what transfer to a U.S. entity really means.

It is not a clear statement. This administration has been engaged in political games of artifice from the outset. And, in point of fact, I think the skepticism that you heard Ed Henry reporting on, on the part of many senators and, certainly, the members of the House, who -- both Republican and Democrats, is well-placed.

The games are not over. And the fact is that the Dubai Ports World deal, which it looks, in all ways, to be certainly dead, in terms of the prospect of both legislation to block it and also override that threatened -- that threatened veto by the -- on the part of the president, that's all but assured.

Right now, the fact is that, the politics aside, it looks like, for the first time in recent memory, the United States Congress is acting on the will of the American people. And I have to tell you, I'm sitting here, at 3:08 Eastern Time on the East Coast of the United States, delighted to see American government once again being responsive to the will of the people.

PHILLIPS: So, Lou, let me ask you. So, you're -- do you have confidence that it's going to be an American company that will take over these ports, or do you think...

DOBBS: No.

PHILLIPS: ... there's still some sort of partnership that's going to take...

DOBBS: Let me...

PHILLIPS: ... place here?

DOBBS: Let me be -- yes, let me be clear, Kyra.

The games that are being played with DP World, which is a corporation owned by a government, in this case the Dubai government, the idea that a U.S. senator is reading their press releases on the floor of the U.S. Senate, to me, is absolutely disgusting.

But I think the United States government, in the representation of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate, is finally asserting itself and declaring that the United States is still a superpower and will make the determination about what is in its sovereign national interests.

And that, every one of us should be cheering. What DP World does is -- you know, it's -- first, it's immaterial. They're a company. This is a country. And this is a community. And to see it working, I mean, you have got to be thrilled.

PHILLIPS: How are you going to tackle this tonight on your show?

DOBBS: Oh, we're going to report on this from nearly every angle you can imagine, Kyra.

It is a -- it's a great day in America. To see Congress responsive to the will of the people and to see a White House that threatens what would have been its only veto of legislation -- we may still see it -- this is good stuff. We are seeing the national security being asserted, politics and partisanship put aside in some cases, and in many cases, certainly not all, in -- to -- to secure the national interest.

PHILLIPS: Well, when it comes...

DOBBS: Aren't you excited?

PHILLIPS: Well, when it comes down to it -- Lou, you always get me excited -- but, when it comes down to it -- you know, we have been talking so much about the politics, all these decisions going on, the Democrats, the Republicans.

But, for, you know, average Americans sitting at home, they -- I think what they're concerned about, number one, is security. Am I going to be -- are my ports going to be safe? Do I need to worry about cargo coming from the United States over here?

DOBBS: The answer is, hell, yes...

PHILLIPS: Is it going to be a...

DOBBS: ... they have got to be concerned.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: That's right.

DOBBS: The fact of the matter is, only 4 percent of the cargo into this country right now is being inspected.

We have a Homeland Security Department that is that in name only. We have three million illegal aliens crossing our porous borders, while the president is saying there is a war on terror. We have ports that are basically wide open. We have 80 percent of the terminals in the country being run by foreign interests.

This is insane, and particularly -- and it -- and, frankly, it is, in my opinion, disgustful and shameful.

PHILLIPS: Lou, is it possible...

DOBBS: This is occurring while we're engaging our young men and women in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. PHILLIPS: Let me ask you this. Let -- let's say we got another $50 billion to add to Homeland Security, to Customs, to the Coast Guard. Is it still possible to inspect every piece of that cargo?

DOBBS: Let me say again, this is the United States of America. This idea that the United States cannot do anything is abroad in the land. This is a country that is built on can-do. And, yes, of course, we can do it.

The issue is, what the will of the people? What is the will of the state? And the fact of the matter is, we are starting to see a fresh wind blow in Washington. And it is carrying the hopes of a lot of Americans that this government is going to return to them.

PHILLIPS: Do you have feelings about what company should take this deal and operate these ports?

DOBBS: It's immaterial to me, so long as a -- so long as it's a responsible, sound, well-run U.S. company.

PHILLIPS: Lou Dobbs, appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

DOBBS: Good to be with you.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: It was great.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: You got us all excited, Lou. We will see you tonight.

DOBBS: You have got a deal.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Iranian nukes, American, European, Israeli suspicions, now in the hands of the U.N. Security Council. Sanctions are possible, but Iran's volatile president says his nation won't be bullied.

CNN's Richard Roth at the U.N. headquarters in New York -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you say Lou Dobbs excites you. What about Iran and a nuclear bomb?

That is what worries...

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH: ... Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state.

She testified on Capitol Hill today, and she said, for the United States, Iran poses the biggest challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: They already pose, I think, a significant challenge and even threat to our interests. They also, of course, are of concern to many of our allies in the region, that their activities might be aimed, ultimately, at destabilizing the entire region.

If you can take that and multiply it by several hundred, you can imagine an Iran with a nuclear weapon and the threat that they would then pose to that region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Various U.S. officials now saying, look for a full statement by the full U.N. Security Council next week at some time, with the first response to Iran's failure to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

You're looking at key members of the U.N. Security Council, representatives from the five countries which have veto power. They met for the first time on Iran privately last night. They're going meet again tomorrow.

Watching all of this, the secretary-general of the U.N., Kofi Annan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I suspect all -- al sides would want to find a way out of this. I don't know what action or decision the council will take. But the efforts of Atomic Agency, of Mr. ElBaradei and the other parties, working with Iran, must continue. And Iran must work with the international community, to give them the assurance that the Atomic Agency needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The first statement from the Security Council next week is likely to criticize and condemn Iran for failure to cooperate. And, then, eventually, there will be some calibrated timetable, giving Iran perhaps a few weeks to cooperate. And then the measures go up. And they ratchet it up here on the diplomatic circuit -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: To answer your question, Richard Roth, yes, we always get excited to talk to you and talk about Iran and possible nuke programs. Hopefully, that won't happen. Richard Roth, thank you.

A teacher says he knows how to win the war on terror. And he's putting it to the test in Afghanistan and Pakistan, one child at a time. We are going to talk live with Army veteran and mountain climber turned teacher Greg Mortenson straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: She was overpowered, beaten, and left for dead. But she survived. Now we're hearing her voice and her story for the first time today. It was one year ago this week Deputy Cynthia Hall of the Fulton County Sheriff's Department, brutalized by the man who would eventually be gunned down -- or gun down, rather -- four people. Hall survived, but was hurt so badly, she will never be the same.

Her attorney released some videotaped comments from Hall, in which she reminded her former law enforcement colleagues to always expect the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYNTHIA HALL, INJURED DEPUTY: Make sure you watch over one another while you're working together. Keep each other safe until you go home for the evening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Hall suffered serious head and brain injuries when Brian Nichols beat her and took her gun. His -- her attorney says that she has only recently been able to walk without help.

Now, this weakened marks the one-year anniversary of a courthouse shooting spree that rocked this nation. It all began right here in Atlanta at the Fulton County Courthouse. A rape suspect escapes from his holding cell. Four people are brutally killed. And a woman by the name of Ashley Smith, a woman struggling with a crystal meth addiction, becomes an unlikely hero.

This is what she's doing now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ASHLEY SMITH, FORMER HOSTAGE: He said he thought that I was an angel sent from God, and that I was his sister, and he was my brother in Christ.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): The day after Brian Nichols is captured, a shaken Ashley Smith tells her story for the first time.

A. SMITH: And I told him that, if he hurt me, my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy.

PHILLIPS: A year ago, Ashley had been desperately to escape a life of drugs, but the night she talked Brian Nichols into letting her see her daughter again was when she finally found the will to quit.

A. SMITH: I think the only thing that scared me straight was Brian Nichols, because I saw my life in front of me. I was -- I mean, I shouldn't be sitting here right now. I should have been the fifth person. But God had a bigger plan for my life.

PHILLIPS: Ashley is now back in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia.

A. SMITH: I have often told people that I'm very good at everything that do, as long as I set my mind to. Even I was doing drugs, I wanted to be the best drug head there was in the world.

PHILLIPS: As she pieces together her new life, landmarks from her troubled past still remind her how easily it can all fall apart.

A. SMITH: We used to burn a lot of wood out here, and stand around the fire, and just think that people were in the woods watching us.

PHILLIPS: Ashley takes us to the house in Augusta where she fed her crystal meth addiction, retracing, for the first time, those dark days following her husband's fatal stabbing.

A. SMITH: Oh, this is absolutely disgusting.

This is shocking to me to see this table here. When I moved out of the house that Mack and I lived in, that was when all of this started for my life. And that was something that I gave to somebody. And it ended up here.

This chair was mine, too. Very weird. These marks right here are from people throwing knives. That was one of the things that one of the boys did, was he threw knives a lot when he got high.

This point in my life, I almost lost my life because I was just in such a state of psychosis, and, mentally, physically, just unhealthy.

PHILLIPS: Clean now, she's well aware of how far she has come.

A. SMITH: I thought my life was so far gone, and that God turned his nose up to me, and he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. But I know so different now.

You know, God took a very miserable drug addict who had really nothing in her life at the time, and he has used me in a way that has helped hundreds, maybe thousands, of people. No matter what have done in your life, God is waiting on you to turn your life around.

PHILLIPS: Speaking to people across the country...

A. SMITH: For four years, this stuff ran my life.

PHILLIPS: ... Ashley's story is an inspiration to many.

A. SMITH: That that was the last chance that God was going to give me to never, ever do it again.

PAIGE SMITH, DAUGHTER OF ASHLEY A. SMITH: Aunt Kim, try to get it past me.

PHILLIPS: Ashley lives with her aunt in Augusta and is rebuilding her relationship with her 6-year-old daughter, Paige.

A. SMITH: Once I realized what I had done, and once I had -- I had given her to Aunt Kim, I knew it was going to be hard for me to get her back, because my Aunt Kim is a tough woman. And, even towards the Brian Nichols thing, I mean, even towards that, I knew that I wasn't ready for Paige.

(LAUGHTER)

A. SMITH: Very good.

I'm just now ready for Paige.

(LAUGHTER)

A. SMITH: I'm just now ready to be her mom.

Now, duck your head.

And not ready in a selfish way, but I'm just now good enough for Paige. I'm what Paige needs now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has healed spiritually, physically, mentally. And she seeks guidance: OK, Aunt Kim, what do I do with this situation with Paige. And what do you think I should do here? And, you know, I slowly turned over the parenting role. And it's all hers now.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And she's doing a great job. I think, sometimes, she is like: Oh, Aunt Kim, I can't handle this.

And I said, normal.

(LAUGHTER)

A. SMITH: I can start in here.

PHILLIPS: Ashley is fixing up a home of her own to move in to with Paige. But regaining custody is the next hurdle.

A. SMITH: The way we all want it is, I go and live with Paige for a little bit on my own, and make sure that everything is OK, so we don't play with Paige's head.

I'm going to win.

(LAUGHTER)

A. SMITH: I mean, there's really no doubt about that. But it's just for precaution. That's the way we all want it.

This is Paige's room.

Obviously, I have completed a program. And my aunt knows that I'm ready. It's all up to her.

PHILLIPS: Aunt Kim agrees, the time has come.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hallelujah.

(LAUGHTER) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And it has been just a great gift to watch this past year. I never gave up. And I think, of all the things that she appreciates, that I just kept pushing her and pushing her, because I knew it was there.

A. SMITH: Sometimes, I just wanted to smack her and say, you know, I'm not listening to you. But I had to listen to her. You know, she has not ever given up on me. And I really believe that I would be dead if she didn't continue to challenge me. I would have just given up on my life.

PHILLIPS: Ashley is now involved in her church and has a whole new circle of friends. She's enrolled in college and plans to study psychology this fall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In many ways, I don't know that a -- rehab program or other things could have done -- had the same impact, the way this did. We have seen, through it, just incredible transformation.

PHILLIPS: And at the center of that transformation is Ashley's deep faith.

A. SMITH: Yes, I know people are looking at me, going, oh, is she going to mess up again? Is she going to mess up again? I can't live my life in fear that I'm going to mess up, because I know I'm going to mess up.

But I have learned from a lot of the mistakes that I have made before. And I won't make the same ones.

Do you want to spin around?

I have another chance to prove to my daughter that I do love her, by my actions. And I do that every day.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, this Saturday and Sunday, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, tune into to our special two-hour edition of "CNN PRESENTS: 26 Hours of Terror."

I will bring you the untold story of the Fulton County Courthouse shooting spree, how the dramatic events unfolded that day, exclusive interviews, and what suspect Brian Nichols faces, come this October.

And, tomorrow, we will be live from the Fulton County Courthouse with a preview of our two-hour special. Ashley Smith will take us back to her apartment for the first time since she moved out. And widows of those killed speak out about courthouse security. That's all tomorrow.

And we will take a look now at a tower-cam shot from Nashville, Tennessee -- Reynolds Wolf with more on the severe weather. And of course, other -- we have got it up on Pipeline, too, which is great.

Reynolds, I know you're new to the show, but this is something we're pumping here in our live coverage. And that's CNN.com/Pipeline, where you can get constant severe weather coverage by the second.

And we will bring you Reynolds Wolf live as soon as we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, more on that severe weather.

We have got that tower-cam shot from Nashville, Tennessee. I thought we were going to you, Reynolds. I apologize. But tell us what's going on there and around other parts of the country.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right, Reynolds Wolf, thanks so much. So how do you win the war on terror? Some say with guns, others say it's diplomacy. Our next guest says you win it this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG MORTENSON, AUTHOR: Finger.

CROWD: Finger.

MORTENSON: Finger.

CROWD: Finger.

MORTENSON: Finger.

CROWD: Finger.

MORTENSON: Hand.

CROWD: Hand.

MORTENSON: Elbow.

CROWD: Elbow.

MORTENSON: Shoulder.

CROWD: Shoulder.

MORTENSON: Nose.

CROWD: Nose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The teacher you see here, Greg Mortenson, says trading books for bombs and literacy for hateful rhetoric, will conquer global terrorism. He's an American who has set up more than 55 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He's written about his experiences in "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations, Once School at a Time."

Greg Mortenson, founder of the Central Asia Institute, joins me now from our Washington news room. We have had so much breaking news, Greg, thanks so much for sticking with us, I'm so glad we got to you and your book.

MORTENSON: I get excited about education.

PHILLIPS: Well, I can understand. Both of my parents are teachers. I know how important it is and how hard they work. And they never give up the fight, no matter where they are. And I just want you to sort of set the scene for us and tell our viewers. There you were -- I love this story, climbing K2 and all of the sudden you had this amazing spiritual awakening about what you needed to do with your life.

MORTENSON: I went to K2, I had a sister named Christa, she had severe epilepsy and she passed away in '92 very early. And I was very distraught so I decided to pick a big, bad mountain to climb and that was K2. I didn't quite make it to the top, went stumbling down the mountain, I had to walk five days to the nearest village and I spent a few days there where the people nursed back to health. I noticed the kids sitting in a dirt field, 88 kids writing with sticks in the sand and I realized I had come there not to climb a mountain, but help them build a school.

PHILLIPS: Wow, and you have done that, all throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan. I just want to take a look at these kids in Afghanistan for a minute and then I want to ask you about the school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now Greg, we see something like this and it's just -- it's heartwarming because on a regular news day, we're talking about the insurgency and the deaths and the destruction in this country. Yet you see something like this and I guess it sort of changes your mindset and you think, "OK, things are moving forward. Women and girls are being educated and there is a chance for these kids to live without the Taliban."

MORTENSON: It only cost about $1 a month to educate a child. There's 154 million children in the world deprived of education due to religious intolerance, sexual discrimination and corrupt governments. The investment in that could take, to achieve global literacy, is about $8 billion per year.

Last year we spent $94 billion in Iraq fighting the war on terror and that was a costly price. I think we need to make more of an investment in education. The one thing about Islam is that when a young man goes on jihad, he has to get permission from his mother to go on jihad. If a woman is educated, its highly unlikely that she will allow her son to go on jihad.

And the other thing is that mostly the large rural swaths of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the rural areas, are controlled by despot mullahs. And when you bring about -- they're the only literate person in the village, so when you bring about literacy, that immediately disempowers the mullahs. So we need to invest more in education. It's effective and it can change societies.

PHILLIPS: Now Greg, you've been kidnapped, you've been involved in fire fights. You have lost your -- you have almost lost your life a number of times. Why do you continue this? Why do you keep hanging in there?

MORTENSON: I have two children, nine and five and I think as adults we fail miserably to bring peace to the world. But I think there is hope. We live in fear today and we're pessimists, but I think there's hope when we look into the eyes of our children and see that children in Pakistan and Afghanistan and know that we can build bridges of peace through education. A penny buys a pencil and a pencil will empower a child to read and write.

PHILLIPS: Well I know that the elders have tremendous respect for you now and so many of these locals have joined you in building these schools and being a part of your mission. That must have been hard to break those barriers.

MORTENSON: It was in the beginning. I had a fatwa issued against me to prohibit me from working there. So I instead went to the site of Bas Lursley (ph), the head of the Shiite clerics in Pakistan and he issued a ruling. It basically said in the Koran, education is encouraged for all children and what I was doing was in the highest principle of Islam. So with that, we've had requests for hundreds of schools.

PHILLIPS: And let's get this right. "Three Cups of Tea," is the title of the book. The first cup of tea is meeting the people. The second cup of tea is actually becoming friends and the third cup of tea means you've got the loyalty. Am I close?

MORTENSON: Exactly. First cup, stranger, second cup, friend and the third cup, family. But the process takes several years. Here we have 30-minute power lunches, two minute football drills and 10-second soundbytes, but over there it takes three cups of tea.

PHILLIPS: Well threecupsoftea.com. How can people help in your mission? Donate, get involved and help create more schools?

MORTENSON: A penny buys a pencil and the investment I think both privately and as a government, 154 million children in the world without education. It's about $1 per month. We definitely need to invest more in education and I think there's hope if we can make that investment.

PHILLIPS: Well as we go to break, I want to bring up this picture that's in your book. We got a big kick out of this, your Christmas card of you and your wife and your beautiful daughter Amera (ph). Peace on earth is the title, obviously we see the tales of two worlds.

Oh, we can't find it, we're still looking for it. There is it, I see it right now, it's coming up on the screen. There it is. Classic Christmas card, I hope I get one of those from you next year. Greg Mortenson, thanks for your time today.

MORTENSON: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: News keeps coming, we'll keep bringing it to you. We'll be right back.

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PHILLIPS: We've been looking at cancer this week and the impact it has on patients and the people who love them.

The Kingson family felt that impact for two-and-a-half years, until Joan Kingson died of colon cancer in 2001. Later, her husband Eric, a professor at Syracuse University, wrote about he, Joan and their children continued to be a family. It's a pretty amazing story.

Eric Kingson joins me now from Syracuse to talk about his book, "Lessons From Joan." Great to meet you.

ERIC KINGSON, AUTHOR, "LESSONS FROM JOAN": Nice to me you, Kyra. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, this book is definitely so different from so many other books out there. You have a pretty amazing personal story to tell. Your wife was not only an amazing woman before she died, but just during the cancer exemplified such strength.

KINGSON: She reached in deep and found extraordinary strength. At the same time, it wasn't easy. I don't want to pretend to others that it is easy.

PHILLIPS: But what kept her -- I mean, she never wanted to be known as a cancer patient. She was constantly teaching, constantly loving, constantly being a positive person, even through the most painful moments. Why did she take this approach? What did she say to you?

KINGSON: Her feeling was she didn't want to be seen as just someone with cancer, that she was a person, she wanted to be there as much as possible and live as much as she could through the cancer and be there for our kids and for friends and family.

PHILLIPS: How did you talk to the kids? I mean, because she knew what was happening, you knew what was happening, the kids were young. How did you address that?

KINGSON: We told them very directly that this was a serious cancer and that they would be told the truth throughout, that, as parents, we would enjoy and love their having fun in spite of things, but we didn't want them to have to pretend that they were having fun if they weren't. PHILLIPS: She made tape recordings for them, right?

KINGSON: She did.

PHILLIPS: And what did she say on those tape recordings?

KINGSON: Well, she left -- she passed on extraordinary wisdom. Part of what she said at the very end was that she would be there, she would be waiting for those kids. Joan had a deep sense that life would continue, that she would be waiting for our children, for family and friends when they got there. Her imagery was of setting a campfire, setting up a campfire on a lake and waiting for the rest to get there.

PHILLIPS: Well, you talk a lot about what we need to know about our healthcare and about insurance if someone we love is stricken with cancer. What is it you want to get across that's so important that we may not realize?

KINGSON: A number of things. First, I'm very mindful that not everyone has the same experience. People approach illness and cancer differently and also, not everyone has the same resources and opportunities that we have. We had good insurance. We had wonderful friends who helped guide us and very good healthcare. We tended to know how to negotiate it. That's not the case for everyone.

One thing that I would want to say is we need in our country mechanisms that help people move through this kind of illness, particularly in hospitals or in terms of negotiating systems. There are many people out there we saw who didn't have the kind of support or didn't have the kind of insurance necessarily that we did. That's a piece of it.

But there are other parts of the story, too. Joan was very clear that she wanted to be able -- when it came time to die -- when she was -- she said, I don't want to die, but if I have to, I want to teach people you don't have to be so afraid of dying.

And she did that. She lived right through the dying process, and she had extraordinary humor. She maintained interest in others. And we were -- you know, we found -- she found and her friends and family found a lot to laugh with. She maintained a home where children were very comfortable bringing in their friends and -- it's quite a gift that she left for everybody.

PHILLIPS: Eric, have either one of your kids looked at you and said, dad, I learned a lot from mom. I'm not afraid to die?

KINGSON: Oh, they haven't said that and I wouldn't expect that, but they have said they've learned a lot from mom. They know they've learned a lot in many ways, also in being tenacious.

Part of dealing with healthcare issues is you have to think carefully, you have to be able to ride a roller coaster where some things -- where there are lots of ups and downs and you have to keep on going. And probably, very importantly, you live in hope. Hope beats fear and I think our kids did learn that.

PHILLIPS: Eric Kingson, the book is "Lessons From Joan." Thanks for sharing not only the book, but what a beautiful wife -- or beautiful life your wife led. Thank you, Eric.

KINGSON: Well, thank you very much, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Our pleasure.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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PHILLIPS: Tax tip time and some marriage advice, too. Husbands and wives share a lot of things, and that goes for tax returns, too. CNN's Valerie Morris reports on the role your marriage plays at the IRS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may now kiss the bride.

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For most married taxpayers, filing a joint return, meaning combing your and your spouses incomes and deductions just makes sense. That's because income limits that move you into more costly tax brackets, are much higher when earnings are pooled than when your incomes are considered individually.

And tax law changes during the last few years have eased the marriage penalty, which had taxed married couples at a higher rate on the assumption that they share expenses and therefore live less expensively than two singles. But there are some cases where filing together still might be a bad partnership.

GARY AMBROSE, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER: As a general rule, it's a very good idea to calculate your taxes both jointly and separately because you might be surprised. The real flacks to look for is if your incomes are very separate or if it's a big disparity in deductions.

MORRIS: Filing jointly can cost married couples more when it comes to certain deductions, including medical expenses. Deductions, which are deductible only when the total cost exceeds a certain percentage of your income. Filing separately lowers that income requirement. Another reason not to file jointly?

AMBROSE: If you file separately, then you're only liable for whatever you've said, whatever you've earned, whatever you've deducted and whatever you've signed for. If you're signing for a spouse's return, it opens up a whole other set of questions. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MORRIS: New York-based certified financial planner Gary Ambrose also says that remember, if you sign a joint return, you are legally liable for any issues that come up later. And another fact, Kyra, a lot of times when a marriage is on the rocks, many couples will split their tax returns before the divorce so that they can avoid being tied together after the marriage is over. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Valerie Morris, great stuff. Thanks so much.

Well one of the biggest fears about taxes is being audited. Are you worried? Send us your concerns and tune into LIVE FROM tomorrow. Valerie will be back to answer some of your questions on the air.

Closing bell is next. You're watching LIVE FROM.

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PHILLIPS: Well a government star witness in the Enron case is back on the witness stand today. Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange with the latest on that and then she's going to go to the closing bell. I'm just, I'm saying good-bye, I'm looking at the time. I probably better say good-bye now, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN ANCHOR: The afternoon has just flown by.

PHILLIPS: I'll tell you.

LISOVICZ: We didn't even get to this story. Kyra, great show, thanks so much. Day two of another brutal cross-examination for Enron's former CFO, Andrew Fastow, facing another grilling from defense attorneys. His testimony today centered on a key hand-written memo that Fastow says incriminates former chief executive Jeff Skilling.

The memo, which Fastow has photocopies of, allegedly outlines a list of shady side deals used to help Enron hide its debt. But defense attorneys are challenging Fastow's credibility and the authenticity of the documents.

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