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CNN Live Today

Day 2 of Operation Swarmer; Women Gamblers

Aired March 17, 2006 - 11:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY.
From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan.

We start off this hour with U.S. and Iraqi forces. They are on the hunt for insurgents in the desert near Samarra on day two of Operation Swarmer.

Troops are scouring a 10 by 10 mile area of Iraqi desert. The U.S. military calls it the largest air assault since the start of the Iraq war.

Our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson was embedded with troops carrying out the operation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we have seen, what we've been shown is Iraqi troops and U.S. troops working side by side. We're seeing helicopters re-supplying troops, taking more troops into the field.

We've been able to see the slow, painstaking work of looking for the weapons caches. Six caches so far we've been told have been discovered.

What we saw as we flew past some of these ongoing operations, we could see the soldiers fanned out, walking through the fields. A very thorough search of fields, of sand berms, looking for weapons caches. We've been told AK-47s, explosive -- parts of improvised explosive devices, bomb-making equipment has been found in some of these weapons caches.

We've also been told that there have been about 50 people detained. We've been told as well during this operations there's still elements of the operation going on here.

Up on the top of the hill here, we saw an Iraqi soldier looking out with binoculars. When he was looking out with the binoculars, he spotted a vehicle going across the horizon. Then he called for his interpreter. He said, "Tell the Americans get a helicopter over there, get them to look at that vehicle. We think it's trying to get away from this particular area."

That's the way we've seen the operations being conducted here, 1,500 troops, 800 Iraqis, 700 U.S. troops involved. There's no information at all about high-value targets here, although there is some specific information perhaps linking in the -- linking in the people responsible for blowing up the holy shrine in Samarra a few weeks ago that precipitated much of the sectarian violence.

We've been told that the perpetrators of that attack lived in this area, although the planning for this operation, Operation Swarmer, we're told, began before, before that attack on the shrine in Samarra. They tell us that they hope that this is a warning for the insurgents so they can now see the Iraqi security forces can move with U.S. support in fast-moving and large operations.

Nic Robertson, north of Samarra, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The military campaign under way in Iraq is being billed as the largest air assault since the 2003 invasion. We took a look to see why it's being billed that way, and here's what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice over): Pentagon officials say that at the start, Operation Swarmer involved about 1,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops, 200 vehicles and 50 helicopters. The mission is targeting the area around Samarra, where as many as 100 insurgents are believed to be operating.

What makes this the largest air assault since the invasion is not attacks from the air. In fact, there were more in Operation Vigilant Resolve in Falluja in 2004. Navy FA-18 Hornets conducted scraping (ph) runs and dropped laser-guided bombs. Marine helicopters were involved, and even an AC-130 gun ship lent its fire power to that operation.

So if not air power, how does Operation Swarmer stack up in terms of manpower? Well, more troops have been used in previous exercises. In Operation Steel Curtain last fall, a combined force of about 3,500 U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers fought insurgents in the western Anbar province near the Syrian border.

So what really makes Operation Swarmer the largest air assault since the invasion of Iraq in 2003? Well, air assault is actually often used to refer to operations undertaken by the 101st Airborne Division. The 101st even bills itself as the only air assault division in the world.

So, in that sense, this does appear to be the largest air assault since 2003.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: A group of war protesters marching from Mobile, Alabama, to New Orleans has made it as far as Mississippi. The marchers are calling for the U.S. to pull its troops out of Iraq. They're also protesting the government's botched response to Hurricane Katrina.

The group is made up of veterans and peace activists. They're expected to arrive in New Orleans on Saturday. A rally is planned for Sunday.

Dramatic crash video this morning. A chartered bus traveling along New York's Long Island Expressway -- whoa -- when a big rig swerved across the lane and plows into the median. A camera mounted on the chartered shows the horrifying accident.

Did you see the car that got stuck there in the middle of that?

The bus was filled with children and parents and it slammed into the 18-wheeler. What you don't see, but you can see if you watch carefully, the car that jams under the rig.

Fortunately, and almost unbelievably, no one suffered life- threatening injuries. Police say the tractor trailer was eight tons overweight. Police have now cited the trucker.

There will be a second trial for Andrea Yates, the woman accused of drowning her five children in a bathtub in 2001. Defense attorneys had argued that a retrial would put Yates in double jeopardy, but a Texas appeals court rejected that claim yesterday, saying the defense failed to prove misconduct in Yates' first trial. That's a requirement for double jeopardy.

That ruling clears the way for Yates' second trial to begin Monday in Houston. Yates has again pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Her first conviction was thrown out because of false testimony.

It's being called an amazing act of courage caught on tape. A surveillance camera was rolling when a gunman opened fire at a Denny's restaurant in Pismo Beach, California, this week. Police say the tape shows 73-year-old Harold Hatley, a customer, walking right into the line of fire in an effort to stop the rampage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JOE CORTEZ, PISMO BEACH POLICE: Like many brave soldiers and peace officers, Mr. Hatley was walking toward trouble rather than away from it. It appears that Mr. Hatley intended to intervene by tackling this armed gunman, but unfortunately the gunman shot Mr. Hatley repeatedly.

However, the videotape clearly shows that this event allowed the injured person to quickly run out of the shooter's path and out of the building. We have absolutely no doubt that the heroic actions of Mr. Harold Hatley saved at least one life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Police say the suspect was 60-year-old Lawrence Woods. Killed Hatley and another customer before turning the gun on himself.

Investigators say they have found letters belonging to Woods that reveal a possible motive, but they aren't revealing details on that.

Let's go to southern California, serious traffic situation. And Fredricka Whitfield has that -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A very ugly situation on a ramp at the intersection of I-10 and 110, a familiar territory for you, Daryn, here in southern California. We're looking at the accident scene of what appears to be a truck crashing into another truck that was carrying some sort of paper products or cotton to eventually make into paper products.

It looks like a very fiery scene. Miraculously, we're getting no reports of any injuries. A tighter shot of that. Right now you're seeing an aerial shot, but a tighter shot of it will allow you to see that it was a very fiery intersection of these two vehicles.

And as far as we know, no reported injuries. Again, this taking place at I-10 and 110 on a ramp there in the Los Angeles area -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes. And Fred, that's close to the downtown area. And as you can see, it's, what, just about a little after 8:00 in the morning? So rush hour still very much happening in downtown Los Angeles.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And certainly impacting it further. It was already slow-going, and now even slower.

KAGAN: Yes. That looks like that's going to be one mess that will take a long time to clean up.

Thank you, Fred.

Janet Jones, the wife of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, will be subpoenaed to testify in a betting case. The Associated Press reports that a grand jury will be convened in New Jersey in the next few months. Jones has been linked to the ring allegedly run by a Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach.

Betting on sports and other gambling is no longer just a man's world, and women can just as easily succumb to gambling problems. But their addictions are rooted in a different ground.

CNN's Adaora Udoji has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The lure of fast money, the lights and the glamour simply can be irresistible.

KAREN, FMR. COMPULSIVE GAMBLER: The very first time I stepped foot in a casino, I knew that it was just the most exciting thing I'd ever done.

UDOJI: For most women who gamble, it's just good old fun, but for a growing number it's a fast ticket to the misery of compulsive gambling.

KAREN: I know people who have committed suicide. I know people who have ended up in jail. Educated people from upper class families who have done horrible things to fund their gambling.

UDOJI: We'll call her "Karen," a young professional who has survived the round-the-clock desperation. For fear of being judged, she's asked CNN to conceal her identity.

She was only 16 on her first trip to the casino, and she was hooked.

KAREN: The lights and just the sounds, just everything just drew me in.

UDOJI: Karen lives in New York City. At her worst, she spent night after night, up to 15 hours at a time, in Atlantic City casinos, 115 miles away from home. She was in her mid 20s, playing blackjack and racking up tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

She would then try to go to work, but too often she wouldn't make it. And she switched jobs five times in two years. Nothing else mattered, not her career, not a boyfriend, not her girlfriend. Only gambling.

KAREN: It was a lot of covering up, a lot of lying, a lot of half-truths. And...

UDOJI (on camera): It must have been a terrible burden.

KAREN: It was. It was a terrible burden and it was emotionally taking a toll on me to the point, like I said before, that I just -- I thought the only way out was to commit suicide.

UDOJI: It's a vicious cycle for thousands of women across the country who head into casinos like these here in New Jersey every day. No one knows exactly how many are battling an addiction to gambling, but experts say more women than ever before are seeking help.

(voice over): Some say because access has never been easier. Gambling is everywhere from celebrity games on television to thousands of Web sites online promising big jackpots.

KAREN: It's an emotional roller-coaster. It's -- the highs were the highest highs I had ever felt and the lows were so low.

UDOJI: Psychotherapist Joanna Franklin has been treating gamblers for 25 years. She says women are not always taken seriously. Most people think only men become compulsive gamblers.

JOANNA FRANKLIN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: One of the important things that I think we've learned along the years is that women can most effectively be treated if they're treated differently than the males.

UDOJI: She says that's because men and women generally gamble for different reasons. Most men gamble for the thrills they find inside the casino. Most women gamble to escape their problems outside the casino -- problems like depression or sexual abuse or stressful lives. Carol O'Hare was a poster child for escapist gambling. She was driven to it by stress. She had just moved to Las Vegas with her three children and was trying to deal with a divorce. Then she discovered video poker.

CAROL O'HARE, NEVADA COUNCIL ON PROBLEM GAMBLING: Putting that first quarter in was like launching the vacation ship. My brain was able to just go away. I went to a quieter, calmer, more peaceful, more wonderful place in my head.

UDOJI: She quickly lost control. The lies, the debts, they piled up fast. She borrowed money from friends and family. She couldn't keep a job. She says she was a terrible mother to her sons.

Caught in a frenzied cycle of guilt and shame and gambling, she came to think that suicide was the only way out.

O'HARE: There certainly wasn't much of anything being said about women and gambling. And so for me, I didn't know that my problem was related to gambling. I just thought I'd gone crazy. So in the end, I really believed that if I swallowed a bottle of pills, at least I would stop the pain.

UDOJI: She asked a friend for sleeping pills. Instead, he suggested Gamblers Anonymous.

Slowly and painfully, she has learned to cope with life's ups and downs. With help, she paid her debts. She says she hasn't gambled in 15 years.

O'HARE: And problem gamblers are part of the story. The rest of the story...

UDOJI: Now she helps others confront their addiction.

Karen also turned to Gamblers Anonymous. She hasn't gambled in six years. She's paid off more than $100,000 in debts and she has a steady job.

But they both know relapse rates are high. Nearly 90 percent of problem gamblers fall off the wagon.

FRANKLIN: They can feel so isolated, you know, so alone, like there's nobody out there that's ever done what I've done.

UDOJI: That's why Karen still guess to GA meetings once a week.

KAREN: By helping other people and sharing my story, which is why I agreed to do this interview, maybe I can help someone.

UDOJI: She wants women who are addicted to gambling to know there is hope if they just ask for help.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KAGAN: We head to the West Coast. Fredricka Whitfield has more breaking news -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: This time in Washington State, in the central Puget Sound area just outside of Seattle. Folks are looking at what appears to be some sort of oil or gas slick in Elliott Bay.

On the phone with us is Petty Officer of the United States Coast Guard Adam Eggers.

And Petty Officer, what do you -- what have you learned so far about this gas or oil slick?

PETTY OFFICER ADAM EGGERS, U.S. COAT GUARD: Well, good morning.

We actually have crews responding right now trying to figure out that exact question. As far as the size of the sheen, it's pretty tough to determine at this point in time. But also, the exact product that we're looking at.

To say it's oil is a little premature. There's a lot of things that it could be. So our pollution investigators are on scene trying to go through their processes to figure out exactly what it is. We also have some small boats from the small boat station here in Seattle responding, as well, to assist.

WHITFIELD: So just looking at the aerial pictures that we've obtained, we get an idea of how extensive this slick just might be, which looks pretty sizable. In your estimation, how many feet or miles are we talking?

EGGERS: Well, the problem when you're talking about a sheen of any kind is the viscosity of the product that's in there. That's why it's extremely important that we figure out what product it is.

For example, a gallon of oil in the water can cause a sheen two acres in size. Now, that looks really bad and it looks like a large slick when actually it's not a lot of product. So that's one of the challenges that faces our crews out there right now, especially with the currents and everything that go on in Elliott Bay with the winds and some of the weather that we've had the past couple days. Product down there is more likely to spread and do what they call a ribbon, where it forms long patterns, kind of stream across the water.

WHITFIELD: So once you're able to determine the source of this slick, how do you go about trying to contain it?

EGGERS: Well, we have a number of different capabilities that we use both with the Department of Ecology and the U.S. Coast Guard. We have what's called geographic response plans for the area. Those are predetermined highly-sensitive areas that we've already set out as the most important to protect.

So we have boom (ph). Also, one of the things, if the product is even recoverable, sometimes it's even too thin to recover and it'll just evaporate. So there's a lot of different things that in the first couple of hours of a response that we have to look at to exactly see exactly what we need to do.

WHITFIELD: And we're looking at an aerial view right now of a small boat with some sort of tank attached to the rear of it. Would that be an apparatus that you all would be using? Or would you be familiar with whether that is part of the apparatus used to determine what kind of slick this is?

EGGERS: Well, because I'm not able to see the picture of exactly what you're seeing, it's kind of tough to be able to answer that question. I know there's been a couple varying reports of exactly what it is, where it might be coming from, everything like that, but I've worked with the folks that we have down there quite extensively in the area on other oil spills and gas leaks and everything like that, and I know that they're very good and they're very thorough in their job to find out exactly what it is so we can get the right facts out there.

WHITFIELD: All right. Petty officer Adam Eggers with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Thanks so much for those details on what seems to be some sort of slick. We don't know just yet, Daryn. They're still looking into it taking place at Elliott Bay, Washington.

KAGAN: All right, Fred. Thank you.

Huffing and sniffing. Parents, are you in the loop on inhalant abuse? I'll talk with one teen who knows the highs and lows of sniffing, what you need to look out for, just ahead.

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KAGAN: No decision yet, but baseball commissioner Bud Selig says he's thinking over, perhaps, a formal investigation of Barry Bonds. Two new books accuse bonds of steroid use beginning after the 1998 season. Bonds denies using the enhancers. He's never failed a baseball drug test.

Two reports indicate that Selig will launch a fact-finding mission, perhaps next week. And if that happens, some say the investigation could rival the Pete Rose gambling scandal.

History may be in the making this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway should one driver in particular qualify for a spot in Sunday's Golden Corral 500.

CNN's Sports' Larry Smith has the story of one man's dream that could ultimately inspire an entire race.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL LESTER, NASCAR DRIVER: I come from a fairly atypical background. I mean, I don't know, I look like a typical NASCAR driver, right? I mean, there's nothing different about me, right?

(APPLAUSE)

LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Kidding aside, Bill Lester is all business when it comes to racing. The 45- year-old has been driving full time on NASCAR's truck series for the past four seasons, but on Friday night he'll attempt to qualify for Sunday's Nextel Cup Race in Atlanta. That would make him just the third African-American ever to drive on NASCAR's top circuit.

LESTER: It will be an accomplishment, it will be basically justification that everything I've worked so long and hard to do.

SMITH: With some prodding by his wife Cheryl, it would be an accomplishment that began in 1998 when Lester left the security of a six-figure salary at Hewlett-Packard to chase his lifelong dream of being a professional driver.

CHERYL LESTER, DRIVER'S WIFE: And I kept telling him, "Look, you really want to do this. This is your passion. You need to do it full time."

B. LESTER: But I didn't want to live my life not being able to do what I wanted to do with it. And so I was willing to take the risk and my wife was willing to support me in taking the risk. And so everything so far has been paying off.

SMITH: But Lester's opportunity didn't come easily, and it didn't come without some second-guessing.

B. LESTER: And there's always been creeping doubt. You know, when you get rejected by, you know, sponsorship proposals or approaching people and, you know, you're not what they're looking for, or whatever the case might be, obviously it's hard to swallow that.

C. LESTER: And he's always demonstrated that he has talent any time he's had an opportunity behind the wheel. And he thought that when he demonstrated what he had to offer, that, you know, sponsors would be at least accessible to him, at least have the conversation with him. And it's been much, much harder than we thought.

SMITH: Lester is currently the only African-American driver on any of NASCAR's top three circuits and understands the significance of qualifying for Sunday's race.

C. LESTER: We get comments all the time for kind of closet race fans who are African-American who said, "Until Bill was on the circuit, you know, I really didn't talk to my other friends much about racing. But now when I can say that there's Bill on the track, I can get them interested."

B. LESTER: This move that we're making to race on Sunday is really going to kick the door down because, you know, we'll be on network television and a lot of people will be able to know that this is a mainstream sport they can be a part of.

SMITH: Larry Smith, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Good for you, Bill. Going for your dream. We love to hear those kinds of stories.

Here's a story taking place in Savannah, Georgia. They love St. Patrick's Day in Savannah, Georgia. Over 400,000 people come to the city. Keep in mind that usually only 150,000 people live there. It's the second largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the country, second only after New York City.

And Chad, it looks like it's a beautiful day.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Going all the way to 80 degrees there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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