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Interview With 'Washington Post' Reporter Jackie Spinner; Plane Crash in Missouri Kills Four; Subliminal Advertising Returns?; Parents of War Dead Disagree on Iraq War
Aired March 20, 2006 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get straight to Tony Harris in the newsroom, working that plane crash for us in Branson.
Tony, what do you know?
TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, aviation officials are telling us that four people have actually died in that plane crash in Branson, Missouri.
And this is very near -- this is -- I'm sorry. Let me grab my mike here just a second.
Oh. OK. You can?
All right.
Once again, aviation officials are telling us that four people have died in that plane crash. This is in Branson, Missouri, as you just mentioned, Kyra, very near the Branson Strip and very near a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum.
The plane is a Piper Seneca. And it was leaving Branson. It was actually taking off from the M. Graham Clark Airport at the College of Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri.
We understand that the pilot reported having problems and tried to get back to the airport, but didn't make it. Once again, the plane went down shortly after takeoff. And the FAA is reporting, aviation officials on the ground are telling us that four people are known dead in this crash.
And we will continue to follow this for you -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Appreciate it, Tony.
HARRIS: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Thanks for bringing us up to date.
It has been a while since President Bush has faced anyone, other than supporters and the occasional reporter. Today, three years after the U.S. invaded Iraq, he went before of the City Club of Cleveland, the nation's oldest free speech forum, where speakers have to answer unfiltered, unrehearsed questions.
Here's one from a high school student.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, with the war in Iraq costing $19,600 per U.S. household, how do you expect a generation of young people, such as ourselves, to afford college at a time like this, when we're paying for a war in Iraq?
(APPLAUSE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: Well, hold on for a minute. Hold on.
We can do more than one thing at one time. And when -- when you grow your economy, like we're growing our economy, there is an opportunity to not only protect ourselves, but also to provide more Pell Grants than any administration in our nation's history and increase student loan program.
So, I think, if you were to take a look, I think you will find that we're robust in helping -- at the federal level, helping people go to college.
And it's essential you go to college. It's essential that there be a -- a -- a group of youngsters coming up that are well-educated, so that we can maintain our economic leadership position in the world. And we have got a robust program to do just that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The president is confident democracy will take hold in Iraq and insistent the war is worthwhile. Still, he can't avoid the anti-war protesters.
Outside his speech in Cleveland, about 100 people banged drums and held up signs, saying "Bush, Step Down." Back in Washington, about 200 people marched from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon, wearing costumes and carrying a makeshift coffin. Police arrested more than 50 of them for crossing a fence near the Pentagon. In San Francisco, riot police arrested 17 protesters for blocking a street in the city's Financial District this morning.
Well, politics aside, the Iraq war's impact and its cost and consequences can only be found in the streets, in the homes, in the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq.
And who better to show us than a man who has covered that war since day one, our own Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Power stations have been built, politicians elected, de- selected, reelected, democracy put into action.
Around it all, concrete barriers have grown higher, bigger, longer, security tighter. Progress is being fenced in. Innocent Iraqis are being killed by insurgents, sectarian death squads, even accidentally by the U.S. troops, who liberated them from Saddam Hussein's tyranny.
It is a confusing time, this father of five, who doesn't want to be identified, explains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I wish that we go back to the old days, in regards to security. People didn't have any mental stress. Now we are living in a turbulence. We don't know what could happen tomorrow.
ROBERTSON: I have been invited into his middle-class home. They are trying to understand what's happening in Iraq. They have more questions than I do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Do you feel safe as a journalist when you leave your office and try to report the incidents that take place in Baghdad?
ROBERTSON (on camera): Well, the answer is no, I -- I can't. I can't go outside, and I don't feel safe. And, also, you -- you don't feel safe talking to me either.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You're right. I don't feel safe talking to you on camera.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): They live in fear of insurgents. But they also live with anger. The sister blames U.S. soldiers for killing her brother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Of course the situation got worse. We lost many people that are dear to us, one of which is my brother. We are losing many people, paying a high price, and for what?
ROBERTSON: Later, she told me, financially, the family is now better off.
Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars financing rebuilding and security projects have helped boost the economy. Earnings are up. But so, too, is the cost of living. Tea, 500 dinars before the war, 3,000 now, up sixfold, milk the same, sugar up four times its pre-war costs. Staggeringly, for a country rich in oil, it's petroleum products that have suffered the biggest hikes. Cooking oil, 500 dinars before the war, 15,000 now, up 30 times -- and gas for cars up more than tenfold, and still in short supply.
"I can't believe that, after three years, and we are still waiting in long lines for fuel," he says. "It's because our politicians are negligent and selfish."
I hear two significant changes -- gone, heaping the entire blame on the U.S., now dolled out in equal measure to their own politicians -- gone, too, rage over their problems, replaced by resignation.
"Removing Saddam was good," this factory worker explains. "But now we have explosions, an economic crisis. And basic services, like electricity and fuel, are hurting.
(on camera): Three years ago, this is where I was, on the roof of the Ministry of Information. After the war, it was looted and burnt out. Now it's still a gutted shell.
And just across the road, over here, is where the government supermarket was. It was also looted, burnt out, reduced to rubble.
Indeed, this downtown neighborhood of Baghdad looks the worst I have seen it in the 15 years I have been coming to Iraq.
(voice-over): The whole city has grown shabbier. Trash piles up. And three-year-old war time shell holes still scar city center landmarks. Some, particularly the educated young, are leaving. Others, like this medical student, plan to stay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope a good future for the -- for Iraq, because the people of Iraq don't -- don't like the situation now. And the bombers, you know, they (INAUDIBLE) kills.
ROBERTSON: Hope of a better future is what Iraqis were dreaming of three years ago. So far, hope is proving only a limited defense against the forces that would drag the country into chaos.
Nic Robertson, CNN Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: A first-time war correspondent risks her life, her health, her family ties, all in pursuit of a dangerous story.
"Washington Post" reporter Jackie Spinner is the author of "Tell Them I Didn't Cry," an unflinching portrait of her time in Iraq. And, if you doubt her dedication, consider what she said: "I didn't become a journalist to serve my country. I became a journalist to serve the story."
Jackie joins me live from Washington.
Good to see you, Jackie.
JACKIE SPINNER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Thanks for having me, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: You -- you write in your book: "I can write that Iraq felt like it was falling apart, because every Iraqi I met on the street, whether they supported the American invasion or not, told me that they felt like their country was falling apart. And they said it from the day I stepped on Iraqi soil until the day I -- I left."
Do you think that it's because not necessarily that they want Saddam Hussein in power, but just that the life was maybe easier, less chaotic, when Saddam Hussein was in charge, if I can say that, I guess?
(LAUGHTER)
SPINNER: Well, that's -- I mean, it's a great question. And I think Nic's piece really reflects this. And the complexity of the answer is that, of course, most Iraqis do not want Saddam back in power.
I mean, nobody is going to argue, unless they're a supporter of his, that he was not a horrible dictator, who killed hundreds of thousands of people.
I think the frustrating part for most Iraqis that I interviewed was that they expected, three years out from the invasion, that -- that the security situation would not be as bad as it still is. And these images that see on television, we -- we don't make up those up as -- as journalists. I'm they're -- they're really happening.
PHILLIPS: It sounds like, from your book, too, that you really fell in love with this country. You really respected the Iraqi people. It sounded a lot like your friend Jill Carroll, and the stories that we have heard about her getting involved in the community, being objective in the storytelling, but also really respecting and loving the culture and the country.
SPINNER: Well, I think, any time you -- go into a -- a situation like that, or go into a foreign country, you -- you have to be respectful. You have to go on as -- go in as a guest.
And I always felt like a guest in Iraq. And I made certain that the Iraqis I interacted with knew that I understood that. I wasn't tromping through.
And you -- you brought up my friend Jill Carroll. And I think that Jill was always very respectful, wanted to get to know the culture, wanted to get to know the language, wanted to look as Iraqi as possible, in part for a disguise, security reasons, but also because she really felt like this honored guest in -- in this horribly violent place that also had great moments of beauty.
PHILLIPS: Now, you did have a close call. And when you see this videotape of your friend Jill, do you sometimes think, wow, that could have been me?
SPINNER: I do think about that.
And I did have a close call. I was almost kidnapped outside of Abu Ghraib prison. I -- I was fortunate the Marines saw what was happening and came and rescued me. It has been very difficult for me to watch those images of Jill, because I do. I think not only about her.
But I also think about what -- how awful it must be for her family to see her pleading for her life, as she has done in the -- in the three videos we have seen.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the insurgency. You're saying that it's mostly Iraqis. It's not foreign fighters.
SPINNER: Well, I think the detention population bears that out. Of the thousands of people the U.S. military has -- and -- and Iraqi security forces have picked up for insurgent activities, they're -- the majority of them are Iraqis.
Iraqis them -- Iraqis themselves don't want to believe them. And they often point to the foreigners who have infiltrated their country. And, certainly, they have. I mean, you do have foreign fighters in Iraq. You have al Qaeda in Iraq. And you didn't have al Qaeda, necessarily, under Saddam.
But my experience was, the majority of these people are disgruntled Sunni Saddam loyalists. And there's also -- you may look at the fact that the foreigners are even there. Somebody is harboring them. Somebody is allowing them into the country and allowing them to stay.
PHILLIPS: So, what is your take on the civil war? Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi coming forward and saying, you know, basically -- actually, we have the exact quote -- what he said is -- is, "If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."
What is your take on the controversy of whether there is a civil war taking place there right now or not?
SPINNER: Well, I -- I'm -- I'm not -- I'm not an expert on civil strife. I don't know if we're at that tipping point, if this is civil war.
I would point out that we started to see this sectarian violence 18 months ago, a year ago. I mean, this is nothing new. There were these death squads who were roaming the country for the past year. There were attacks on Shiite mosques. There were attacks on Sunnis, specifically.
What I'm seeing in the last few days is -- is nothing that I haven't seen, as I said, for the last year-and-a-half.
PHILLIPS: Do you Iraqis want the troops to get out of there?
SPINNER: The Iraqis want peace.
And I think they do want truth, which is why the majority of people I came across with were grateful I was there as a journalist, you know, really appreciated the fact that you have a free press developing now in Iraq. They -- they want their story told. And, as journalists -- as a journalist, I'm compelled to tell it.
PHILLIPS: Well, Jackie, final question -- you talk a lot about your feminine impulses. They helped you cover this story, didn't they?
SPINNER: They did.
I mean, I think I -- I -- I brought something to the story as -- as a woman. I -- I certainly went into sort of den mother, caretaker mode -- mode in our bureau. I love to cook and take care of our staff. And I also was able to disguise myself in a way that many of my male colleagues couldn't. I could disappear into Iraqi -- into Iraqi society. And, for the most part, I did.
PHILLIPS: "Washington Post" reporter Jackie Spinner. The book is "Tell Them I Didn't Cry."
You didn't cry, right, Jacki?
SPINNER: I didn't cry.
PHILLIPS: You didn't cry. You bore it out. It's a great book. Jackie, thanks a lot.
SPINNER: Thanks for having me.
PHILLIPS: Brave woman.
Well, one war, two vastly different ways of looking at it -- three years after the U.S. invaded Iraq, two American families share a bitter loss, but not much else.
Their stories are coming up on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Weather in the Southeast -- let's get to the meteorologist Dave Hennen -- Dave.
DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks, Kyra.
Tracking some strong to severe thunderstorms moving through parts of Mississippi right now -- we have seen strong moves move through the Jackson area, and a couple of clusters of storms that continue to move through.
Let's show you where the warnings now are at the present time. First of all, a tornado watch box, this is in effect until 5:00 this afternoon. And then, north of McComb -- this is back through Lincoln County -- we do have a tornado warns in effect until 2:25 Central Time, and then severe thunderstorms north of that. So, just north of McComb, Mississippi, is where we are finding the worst of the weather right now.
In fact, let's zoom you in now on our radar and show you. There's the line of thunderstorms back through Jackson, as it continues to move through. And we will watch these throughout the afternoon -- no reports of a confirmed touchdown yet, but these storms have rotation with them, so they could produce a tornado at any given time.
Further to the north, the problem is in the form of snow. We are looking at significant know back around Omaha. Parts of I-80, into Nebraska, are closed ,about a 150-mile stretch, because the snow is coming down at about two to three inches per hour. We have seen upwards of 17 to 18 inches of snow in some areas, including parts of South Dakota, where the interstate is closed there as well -- and looking significant snowfall to come in.
Once again, this is our computer model, which updates numerous times during the day. In fact, we just got a new one in. And this is showing you the forecast for the snowfall amounts over the next 24 hours -- the area in pink, four to eight inches of snow. So, you see this swathe of heavier snowfall just north of Saint Louis, and back into Indianapolis, just north of Cincinnati.
That's where the heaviest snowfall is expected, later on tonight and into tomorrow. So, this is going to be ongoing through the rest of the day. And this is the first day of the spring. One-twenty-six this afternoon, Kyra, spring officially began, but anything but like spring...
PHILLIPS: Wow.
(CROSSTALK)
HENNEN: ... back through the Ohio River Valley today.
PHILLIPS: All right. Dave Hennen, thanks so much.
HENNEN: OK.
PHILLIPS: All right, news breaking in weather and news breaking in the newsroom.
Tony Harris with more on that plane crash.
HARRIS: Yes, Kyra.
The first pictures now into CNN, we want to bring those to you right now, of this plane crash that we have been reporting on for the last hour or so.
Aviation officials now tell us that four people have died in that plane crash in Branson, very near the Branson Strip, near the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum.
In fact, the plane hit a storage unit, as you can see here, behind the museum. The plane in question, a Piper Seneca, was leaving Branson, heading to Lubbock, Texas. And the plane went down shortly after takeoff.
The plane took off from M. Clark Airport in Point Lookout, Missouri.
We want to -- Melissa Yeager is our affiliate reporter from KYTV. And she has this report for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA YEAGER, KYTV REPORTER: Well, I want to give you a look, first of all, of what we're seeing out here right now. Behind me, you can see this white plume of smoke that is going on here -- out here, up into the sky. Earlier, this was much bigger, and it was full of black smoke. And you can see firefighters gathered just below there. Many of them are already back there. And it appears they're -- they're perhaps trading out who -- who is actually fighting this fire.
This is a storage area here, where people would store their -- their items from their homes, perhaps things of -- when they are moving. And it appears that's where the plane crashed in. Witnesses told us that they saw the plane circling around. And they didn't see any smoke coming from the plane or anything, but they saw it take a dive into that storage unit there.
We understand that there are four people, four passengers in that plane, a pilot and three passengers, who are all dead at this -- at this point, and -- and that that is a -- from Gerry Adams (ph), one of the people with the city of Branson.
They believe that the plane was heading towards Lubbock, it had taken off, and that, just before the crash, the pilot radioed in with problems, but, as we have said, all four passengers on that plane, dead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: All right, that's, Kyra, Melissa Yates (sic) from our Springfield, Missouri, affiliate, KYTV -- live pictures now of that storage area behind the Ripley's Believe It or Not. And that's in Branson, Missouri, that seven-mile stretch in Branson that houses all of the entertainment, the hotels, the theaters, that -- that bustling entertainment district there in Branson, Missouri -- and, of course, the worst possible outcome for the four people on that plane -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Tony Harris, thanks so much.
HARRIS: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Bird flu being blamed for its first human death in Africa -- while dozens of African leaders prepare for a possible pandemic on the world's poorest continent, topmost on many minds is the weekend death of a woman in Egypt, one of four African countries to confirm bird flu in poultry.
Official results are still pending. Medical resources in many African nations are already overwhelmed by epidemics of HIV, AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Here in the U.S., drug regulators want to ban the unapproved use of potential bird flu drugs, such as Tamiflu, in poultry. The benefits of those drugs could be jeopardized if the mutated virus has already gone up against them and developed resistance.
For the U.S. government, bird flu means two things, planning and perspective. At a meeting a short time ago in Washington, Interior Secretary -- Secretary Gale Norton discussed migratory maps. Agriculture Chief Mike Johanns assured consumers that U.S. poultry is safe. And Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt again stressed the importance of getting ready on all levels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL LEAVITT, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: It has been mentioned before, but let me emphasize it. Preparedness starts with good communication.
We must learn to speak about this in ways that will inform, but not inflame, in -- in -- in a fashion that inspires us to prepare, not to panic. We need to speak openly and candidly and honestly about this.
One of the dilemmas of dealing a pandemic is, anything that is said before a pandemic happens seems alarmist. Anything we have done after it starts seems inadequate.
And, therefore, talking about it early, preparing, but keeping perspective is an -- is the importance -- important objective. Preparation is a continuum. Every day, we need to get better prepared.
Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will, at the last moment, be able to come to the rescue, will be, tragically, wrong, not because the federal government lacks will, not because we lack wallet, but because there is no way in which 5,000 different communities can be responded to simultaneously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, Leavitt also noted is a pandemic in birds, not, at this point, people. So far, there have been no cases of H5N1 detected in the U.S.
We have hurricanes. The Aussies have tropical cyclones. And a huge one just ravaged a popular tourist spot -- a storm update coming up on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, what do some British garden gnomes have in common with Willie Nelson? It's not just the beards. They have also run afoul of the tax man, sort of.
It seems, a disabled widow who lives near London has staunchly refused to pay local service taxes. Gwyneth Lester (ph) is now in arrears about 1,200 bucks. Find little else to confiscate, officials threatened to seize Lester's (ph) collection of garden gnomes to settle the debt. But Gwyneth (ph) fixed that. She told reporters she gave them all away. So, there.
You have heard of subliminal advertising, right? Well, it's back -- sort of -- with a 21st century twist.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: CNN's Ali Velshi is here with all the details. And he's going to tell us how much he loves fried chicken.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I -- I love my fried chicken.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: I'm not even going to -- going to -- going to pretend I don't.
You know, until March 30 -- March 3, KFC ran this ad. And -- and it was meant to be sort of like a TiVo buster. For those of us who have these DVRs who blow through the commercials, Kyra, the -- the idea was that you would be forced to watch this ad for Buffalo Snacker. I have got it here on my Internet.
I think we may have it, to be able to show you. To -- to actually figure out the code, you had to stop the ad, rewind it and then advance it, either in your VCR or your TiVo or DVR frame by frame. You would get a code. And then you would go to the Internet, enter the code. And you would be able to claim a free Buffalo Snacker coupon.
Well, Kyra, 130,000 people did that, which means it worked. The very people who skip through their commercials actually stopped and -- and -- and watched this commercial...
PHILLIPS: Because it's free food.
VELSHI: ... to get the code.
Well, this is what I'm trying to figure out.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: It's free...
VELSHI: The business journalist in me is trying to figure out whether this was ingenious advertising, or, when you give away free food, people will do whatever they have to do, including watch television commercials. But whatever you -- you know, whatever you say, it worked. They got people -- it got 2.75 million people to go to the KFC Web site, which is 40 percent higher than normal.
Again, I don't know if everybody can use this kind of ad, because, you know, if you're not inclined for the free chicken, I'm not sure whether you would bother, but kind of neat.
PHILLIPS: It's pretty interesting. I wonder if -- if this will create a domino effect.
VELSHI: Yes. We will be getting a whole lot of free stuff, because we actually...
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: ... watch the ad. Look, the -- this is a real problem, Kyra, because those people who use DVRs and TiVos, I mean, we all skip through the commercials. That's what we do. And advertisers are having a terrible time with this.
How do you get actually people to go back to watching the ads? So, I -- I think we will probably see a lot of this kind of stuff. You don't have to do much. You don't have to give away free chicken to have me stop to watch a KFC ad.
PHILLIPS: What about Super Bowls? You think even -- do you think that -- I don't think that would ever...
VELSHI: Well, because they -- people -- I mean, I think there are a number of people who watch the Super Bowl for the ads. There are...
PHILLIPS: Right.
VELSHI: ... a lot of people who aren't sports fans...
PHILLIPS: So...
VELSHI: ... who will watch it.
PHILLIPS: ... that would be the perfect time to...
VELSHI: Right. I mean, that's...
PHILLIPS: Imagine free food and a really interesting ad.
VELSHI: But, you see, you have got the audience there, so I don't know if...
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: ... you want to be giving them anything free. What you want is the audience who is watching "CSI" or LIVE FROM, you know, who are here for the content...
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: ... not -- not for the ads.
PHILLIPS: Interesting.
VELSHI: I -- I -- I mean, I skip through to see more of you.
PHILLIPS: Oh, of course. You -- you never skip a beat, do you, Ali Velshi?
Every -- the whole newsroom is going, awwww, Ali.
We love Ali Velshi, don't we? Yes, we do.
All right. We will see you in a little bit, OK? VELSHI: All right. See you in a minute.
PHILLIPS: All right, closing bell coming up.
PHILLIPS: Well, Americans, Iraqi, politicians, pundits are divided on the war in Iraq, and so are military families. Just ahead, we are going to hear from families united by tragedy and loss and who now find themselves in opposing camps.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: How long will U.S. troops have to stay in Iraq? Three years into the war, the answers still don't come easy, even for the man in charge. General George Casey calls it a very fragile time, but the leader of coalition troops in Iraq denies there's a civil war. Casey tells our Wolf Blitzer that he toured Baghdad himself to get a handle on everyday life. But he admits most troops don't have that luxury.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Are you suggesting now that U.S. troops can leave the base where you operate and simply get into a car and drive around Baghdad?
GEN. GEORGE CASEY, CHIEF U.S. COMMANDER IN IRAQ: Not at all, Wolf. I never said anything like that. I said I went out and drove around Baghdad for three hours.
BLITZER: You were in a heavily armored vehicle, I assume.
CASEY: Of course. I'm not trying to present or a rosy picture. I'm just telling you I went out and looked around. What I saw actually gave me some confidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Casey also touched on Operation Swarmer, saying the military's latest offensive got a bit more hype than it deserved.
Casey's boss isn't mincing his words, but some say he's messing with history. In an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld writes, "Turning our backs on post-war Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing post-war Germany back to the Nazis." Rumsfeld's critics say he needs a history lesson along with a new job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, FORMER NAT'L SECURITY ADVISOR: The situation in Iraq is totally different. For Secretary Rumsfeld to be talking in this way suggests either he doesn't know history or you're simply demagoguing.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE) FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE.: Imagine what would happen if we announced in the headlines tomorrow in the papers in America and throughout the world that Rumsfeld was fired. It would energize the rest of the world to be willing to help us. It would energize American forces. It would energize the political environment. Yes, he should step down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: More than mere politicians feel the same way. Retired Army General Paul Eaton was in charge of training the Iraqi military in 2003 and 2004. In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Eaton says about Rumsfeld, "He has shown himself incompetent, strategically, operationally and tactically, and is far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq. Mr. Rumsfeld must step down."
Three years into the war in Iraq, successes with failures in a mission unaccomplished. Here's a CNN fact check.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS (voice-over): The war began with an air strike, aimed at taking out Saddam Hussein. The ground invasion came two days later. Just three weeks into the Iraq campaign, U.S. troops burst into Baghdad and the Hussein regime collapsed.
In an ominous sign of what was to come, looting and shooting erupted on the streets. On May 1, when President Bush declared an end to major compact, the number of U.S. troop deaths up to that point was 139. Today the number has risen to 2,316, including 136 this year. The oldest American to have died in combat was Army Sergeant Roger Rowe of Monaqua (ph), Tennessee. Sergeant Rowe was 54. Twenty Americans as young as 18 have died in Iraq, including PFC Sam Huff of Tucson, Arizona, one of 52 women who have died in the effort.
As the war now enters a fourth year, U.S. officials emphasize the progress being made.
There was the capture of Saddam Hussein, the ongoing trial meant to bring him to justice. The Iraqi security forces number nearly a quarter of a million. The Pentagon is studying ways to cut the American force from it's current level of 133,000.
Most hopeful of all, Iraqis hunger for freedom. More than 75 percent of those eligible to vote braved threats by insurgents to take part in parliament elections last December. The Bush administration hopes that Iraq's example will inspire a wave of democracy throughout the Arab word.
But here's another fact. On the eve of the invasion, President Bush's approval rating was 67 percent. Today it has sunk to 36 percent, an all-time personal low for the leader to who launched the war three years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Fallen heroes overseas. Deep divisions back home. Parents of dead American soldiers share a bond of sacrifice, but they can and do difficult on the war. Our Chris Huntington talks with two parents about their loss.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lieutenant Seth Dvoran (ph) was a platoon leader in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Lieutenant J.T. Wroblewski, a platoon leader for the Second Battalion of the Fourth Marines. Two young men from the New Jersey suburbs who were killed in action in Iraq in 2004. Dvoran's mother, Sue, and Wroblewski's father, John, carry similar burdens of parent's loss.
Both are passionately outspoken about what their son's died for, from completely different points of view.
SUE NIEDERER, SON KILLED IN WAR: What did my child -- I have to use the word child -- die for? If you can't think of something that your child died for or was killed for, then your child has died in vein.
JOHN WROBLEWSKI, SON KILLED IN WAR: My son, not only my son, but all of those heroes that fell, all of the wounded that are in the hospitals and lost limbs and so forth, they did not die in vein. They died honorably.
HUNTINGTON: Wroblewski, a high school athletic director and father of four, is proud his oldest son was a Marine and fervently believes the war in Iraq is necessary.
WROBLEWSKI: It's a war that, if we're not in it and on the offensive, I -- we will be fighting it here on these shores. I think 9/11 proved that.
HUNTINGTON: Sue Niederer, a real estate broker, has actively protested that premise since her son was killed while leading a search for improvised explosive devices, a mission she believes he was under trained and under equipped to do.
NIEDERER: How the heck did a piece of shrapnel get up and under my son's helmet and blow the back of his head off? Somebody explain that one to me.
HUNTINGTON: Neiderer say her son told her that he lost confidence in the U.S. mission in Iraq, but was committed to leading his soldiers. Now she says, he is leading her.
NIEDERER: I will continue speaking, marching and being arrested until my son tells me to stop. I'm not stopping.
HUNTINGTON: John Wroblewski doesn't consider himself a pro war activist, but last fall he spoke at a rally to honor military families.
WROBLEWSKI: And thank you to our commander in chief --
HUNTINGTON: Last summer, Wroblewsi travelled to Crawford, Texas, to confront Cindy Sheehan, who also lost her son in Iraq and was protesting the war outside President Bush's ranch.
WROBLEWSKI: I understand Cindy Sheehan. I feel her loss. I think that there's a line that's drawn. She, at one point in time, I think she crossed that line.
HUNTINGTON: Lieutenant J.T. Wroblewski died in a firefight outside of Ramadi. His father visits with him many mornings at a small memorial, where a poem is etched into a stone. If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I would walk right to heaven and bring you home again.
Sue Niederer says that's one thing she and John Wroblewski completely agree upon.
Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: As we mark the third anniversary of the war in Iraq, we're saluting some of the military men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice. We want to take you beyond the numbers and show you the names and faces of the fallen heroes.
Air Force Tech Sergeant Jason L. Norton of Miami, Oklahoma. His wife said he was the best father in the world. His family was everything to him. He leaves behind a son and a daughter. He was killed in January of this year by an improvised explosive device in Taji, Iraq.
Army Specialist Elizabeth Robles of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, was 31 when she died at a military hospital in Tikrit. She was hurt in a military vehicle accident in the nearby town of Baji.
We also salute the 278 U.S. troops who have given their lives in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
Among them, Navy Petty Officer Third Class John T. Fralish of New Kingston, Pennsylvania. He was killed February 6th of this year when enemy forces open fired on his patrol. He's survived by his father and mother.
Two thousand, three hundred and sixteen men and women have died in the Iraqi war.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Almost seven months after Katrina, more apparent victims are still being found. Student volunteers in New Orleans found human remains in the city's devastated Lower Ninth Ward yesterday. Search dogs then led crews to a second body. Body found at another location may be the remains of a third victim. The state medical examiner says hundreds of bodies have yet to be found.
A sex offender is being held without bond in South Carolina today, accused of assaulting two teenage girls in an underground bunker behind his backyard. A judge denied bond for Kenneth Hinson over the weekend on charges of kidnapping and assaulting the 17-year- olds. He faces a second bond hearing this week on a burglary charge. The girls say Hinson tied them up with duct tape and left them in a secret room under a shed. He's already served nine years in prison for assaulting a 12-year-old girl.
Reading, writing and riot control. Well, some teachers can relate. But for a middle school teacher in New Jersey, that means a transfer to a war-torn African country.
Nora Muchanic of CNN affiliate WPBI explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NORA MUCHANIC, WPBI REPORTER (voice-over): Forty-eight-year-old Beatrice Munah Sieh is a special education teacher at Grace Dunn Middle School in Trenton, but not for long. By the end of month, this single mother of three will return to her homeland to become the first leader of the National Police Force in Liberia.
BEATRICE MUNAH SIEH, MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER: I'm going down there to try and bring back law and order.
MUCHANIC: The West African nation of Liberia has been torn by a lengthy civil war, but when the country's first elected female leader was sworn in January, Beatrice says the president went looking for someone with character, competence and respect for human rights to lead the police force, and found her half a world way in a Trenton classroom.
SIEH: In our country, we were going through civil war and there were a lot of, you know, abuses.
MUCHANIC: Beatrice was a cop long before she became a teacher. She started on a motorcycle, worked on riot patrol and moved up through the ranks to become the deputy director of operations for Liberia's National Police Force. But with civil war raging, she fled.
(on camera): When Beatrice came to the United States in 1996, she wasn't sure she would ever go home, let alone go back to assume such a position of authority.
SIEH: The crime rate at this time has increased. And it's a tough job, but somebody have to do it.
ROBIN STRAND, TEACHER: I didn't know she was involved in law enforcement in her country. None of us knew. You know, we just thought we were all educators together. And I'm going to miss her so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's so cool that my teacher is famous.
MUCHANIC (voice-over): Students say they'll miss her teacher, as she trades her colorful dresses for a uniform.
SIEH: That's my only regret. I'm so close to my students. MUCHANIC: Beatrice Munah Sieh will lead a force of 2,000 and says she can't wait to return to Liberia to help enforce the rule of law in the country she loves and misses.
In Trenton, I'm Nora Muchanic, Channel 6 Action News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
A South Carolina landmark is in danger, and not even the Internet may be able to save it. A college student has launched an online petition to keep the Pavillion Amusement Park open in Myrtle Beach. The park has been in business for more than 50 years, but poor attendance is forcing owners to close it down this fall. They say even if the thousands of people who signed the petition, the park would still be bleeding red ink.
The Atlantic hurricane season doesn't begin until June, but things are different down under, and the tropical cyclone season is in full swing. We're going to take you there, straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Mudslinging in Minsk causes a land slide. Election stirs up suspicions of a fix. The long-time president of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko was reelected yesterday with more than 80 percent of the vote. His leading opponent posted just six percent. Lukashenko calls the opposition worthless.
But some European observers smell a rat. They complain and Washington agrees. The vote didn't meet international standards for a Democratic election. For one thing, hundreds of Lukashenko opponents were reportedly locked up during the campaign. In 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Belarus the last outpost of tyranny in Europe. The U.S. is supporting calls for a new vote.
Another step closer for Hamas and still it walks alone. Having failed to find allies in Palestinian politics, the militant group names loyalists, mostly hard lines, who oppose Israel entirely to the new Palestinian cabinet. It is now up to President Mahmoud Abbas to accept the list then call a special session of parliament for a competence vote. Aids say he's holding off until after Israel holds elections next week.
The storm, the snakes and the crocodiles, the first has past. The others still menace the northeast coast of Australia, ground zero for cyclone Larry. Larry slammed ashore today with winds as high as 180 miles and hour, causing vast destruction. But so far no known deaths or serious injuries.
Thousands of people have lost their homes or at least their power. And the danger is not over. Authorities warn most cyclone deaths happen after the storm when people cross paths with dangerous animals stirred up by the weather.
Are cyclones different from hurricanes and typhoons? Here's the facts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All hurricanes and typhoons are cyclones, and they all pack strong winds and rain with the potential to cause death and widespread destruction. Storms called cyclones occur in the Indian Ocean like the one that slammed into Australia Monday and the southern Pacific Ocean. There are three types, tropical, severe cyclonic storm and severe cyclone.
Typhoon is another name for a tropical cyclone that occurs in the northwest Pacific Ocean west of the International Date Line. Hurricane are tropical cyclones that for the most part develop in the north Atlantic and northeast Pacific Oceans.
A unique difference, cyclones in the northern hemisphere always rotate counterclockwise. In the southern hemisphere it is clockwise. As with terminology, just when these storms normally occur depends on their geographic location.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" to tell us about what's coming up at the top of the hour.
Hi Wolf.
BLITZER: Hi Kyra. Thanks very much.
President Bush in Ohio today trying to boost American's opinions about how things are going in Iraq. How big of a factor will the war in Iraq be in this November elections? The chairman of Republican Party standing by live.
Plus, so many bills, so little time. Why does the House of Representatives have so many days off this year? Can lawmakers get their jobs done?
And Condoleezza Rice's dream job just opened up, but what could be better than being secretary of state? We're going to tell you. That's coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: What about more of that interview with General George Casey? You asked him the tough questions.
BLITZER: He's a very smart guy. We asked him some tough questions. He had some good answers.
PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf, look forward to it. Thanks.
Several U.S. winter Olympians back on the medal stand. We are going to tell you why straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: So how's your bracket? If you're a college basketball fan, you know what I'm talking about. The NCAA Tournament now down to the sweet 16. Look at the bottom right corner of your TV. No, Angelina Jolie's boyfriend wasn't moonlighting as a college player yesterday. It was Bradley University from Illinois, which went to play the University of Pittsburgh. That's pretty good huh? We are reaching.
History on the hard floor too, as a freshman hoopster shows us how it is done. Check out Tennessee's Candace Parker. The six foot four red shirt is the first woman to dunk in an NCAA Tournament game. In her win over Army yesterday, Parker did it not once -- hello -- but twice. She's only the fourth woman in college history to dunk in any game. Her first dunk came when she was 15 years old. She was a sophomore in high school.
The winter Olympics are over, but the wins keep coming for some well known American competitors. Torino silver medalist Shani Davis got a world record yesterday in the men's 1,500 at the world all around speed skating championships in Calgary. Skier Bode Miller turned his Olympic underachievement around in Sweden last week winning the Super G at the world cup.
And our old pal, gold medalist Shawn White won over the weekend as well. The flying tomato took the half pipe at Saturday's U.S. Open in Vermont. He finished first in his last 11th snowboard event. But this the first time he's won at the U.S. Open. Look at that, 19 years old, once again it's champagne. Maybe it's sparkling cider. We'll ask him. We're going to try to get him this week and talk to him.
And racing to today's finish line on Wall Street, Ali Velshi.
Hey where's your gold medal, pal?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it's a good thing there are other things for people to pay attention to and to bet on because the Dow's not doing it today. You know, last week we had four straight sessions where the Dow continued to go higher, the S&P continued to go higher. And they started approaching the all-time record.
In fact, we are about 400 and some odd points away from the absolute high that the Dow has ever seen back in January of 2000. Well, today that's not happening very much. And part of the issue is that people are starting to say, hey, how high can this go? How crazy is this? Is it really making sense?
And there is some fear that the one thing that really has a great deal of impact on our economy -- and that is interest rates -- well, that the Fed might not be fully finished raising those interest rates. So, we're -- Kyra, we're seeing a slightly softer market today. There's news out there that is going on, but people aren't just charging into this market, the way they are charging to watch those games.
PHILLIPS: Oh, that's true. Still the talk around here, everybody with their brackets, brackets this, brackets that. You're talking about the NCAA right when you talk about the games?
VELSHI: Yes.
PHILLIPS: There are no other games to talk about right now.
VELSHI: Oh, totally. Yes, do I even have to say that?
PHILLIPS: Are you in the pool? Well, I don't know some folks not to hip to the b-ball.
VELSHI: Kyra, I am a terrible athlete, and I am a worse gambler. Good to see you.
PHILLIPS: Good to see you too. I broke my finger playing basketball. That was a real event. Then I sawed off the cast, but other than that...
VELSHI: At least you broke your finger playing basketball, that's more than I can say.
PHILLIPS: Ali, we'll see you tomorrow.
VELSHI: Talk to you later Kyra.
So it doesn't look like it is going to be a win for you folks on the Dow. Who knows? It is actually pretty close. The Dow is off two and a third points. We are coming into that close right now. The bell has started ringing. It is going to be almost flat there, 11,277. The Nasdaq composite is up though. It slipped almost eight points to 2,314.
Let's take it over to Wolf Blitzer. He is standing by right now in "THE SITUATION ROOM.
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