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American Morning

Next Step in Iraq?; Utah Wildfire Only 10 Percent Contained; Family Swears Off Chinese Imports; Fred Thompson's Past

Aired July 10, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush may be ready to talk about the next step in Iraq today. He's going to be at a community forum in Cleveland, and he is expected to answer questions about his plans for U.S. troops.
CNN's Ed Henry is live at the White House this morning.

Ed, is this all meant to calm restive Republicans?

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

When you're facing a stampede, what you try to do is get ahead of it and call it a parade. That's what the president is trying to do.

He's got a stampede of Republicans saying they don't have much patience anymore, they can't wait until the September progress report for a change in strategy. What we're hearing from the president's aides is that he's likely to talk a little bit, change his message, recalibrate it, if you will, to try to talk to the American people about patience and also talk to them, as he has before, about how in theory he wants to get to a place where there will be enough security on the ground and enough political reconciliation in Baghdad that he can start bringing large numbers of U.S. troops home.

The problem is he has said that before, but in -- you know, in theory. But in action, it's not happening.

There's a report the White House is about to send to Capitol Hill. Most, if not all of the benchmarks for the Iraqi government, are not being met. So the public reconciliation is not happening.

And then in terms of dealing with security on the ground, there have been very mixed signals about successes and failures on the ground in Baghdad. So while the president wants to talk about it, what Republicans like Dick Lugar are saying is they want action. They don't just want a change in message, they want a change in strategy -- John.

ROBERTS: So, and try to head off the stampede and turn it into a parade -- and that was a great line, Ed -- the president is already trying to downplay the idea of how important benchmarks are.

Take a listen to what Tony Snow told us in our first hour of AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Benchmarks are not a device of trying to figure out how to get out of Iraq. They're a device for figuring out how to succeed in Iraq. And so I think it's going to set off an important debate. But this is not the beginning of the end. It's the beginning of a new way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: That sounds like, don't look at this hand, look at this hand.

HENRY: That's right. The challenge for Tony Snow is that day after day, he's sort of shifting the argument.

If you go back to January, the president himself was saying in his big speech to the nation that benchmarks would be important. Now it's looking like the benchmarks aren't going to be met. Well, they're not so important.

Yesterday, Tony Snow was insisting when I was asking him about Republican senator Dick Lugar saying he doesn't believe the surge is working, he wants a new strategy, Tony Snow was trying to convince me and other reporters that in fact Dick Lugar and other Republicans are still agreeing with the White House. When you read Dick Lugar's Senate floor speech, he is not agreeing with the White House strategy anymore. So they're saying one thing, but it's not matching the facts on the ground -- John.

ROBERTS: Yes. We asked Tony Snow if this was -- this week would mark the beginning of the end of the war and he dismissed this idea of turning points. And then we put the same question to Lamar Alexander, and he said it could be a turning point.

HENRY: That's right.

ROBERTS: Ed Henry for us -- Ed Henry for us at the White House this morning.

Ed, thanks.

HENRY: Thank you, John.

ROBERTS: And later on this hour, Senator Olympia Snowe is going to be live with us. She's a Republican, one of the Republicans at odd with the White House's current strategy.

CHETRY: All right. And let's turn now to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

You know, this progress report due out, set to show that Iraqis have reached few, if any, of these benchmarks. But Tony Snow said something interesting. He said that there were successes and that the reporting is painting a very morbid picture.

What do you think, Barbara? BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kiran, while the political heat in Washington stirs on, those young troops out on the front lines in Iraq are fighting literally in the blistering summer heat of Baghdad, and they are meeting with a very mixed picture on the ground.

By all indications, this report coming up will say that fundamentally, none of the benchmarks have really been met. Sure, there have been insurgents killed, there have been weapons captured, there are some towns where there is now more progress, more security than there had been in the past. But the bottom line, fundamental, enduring progress in bringing the violence down, in bringing political reconciliation to Iraq, in getting economic progress like the oil law, it fundamentally is not happening. And that is the political reality and the military reality for both commanders and these young troops on the ground -- Kiran.

CHETRY: So when we talk about successes, we're usually talking about U.S. troops. When we're talking about the benchmarks not being met, we're talking about the Iraqis holding up their end of the bargain. But there is it, it seems, at least, some consensus about possibly changing military strategy.

Tell us more about that.

STARR: Well, you know, we know that the president is going to now start talking about the post-surge and what is going to happen. Top commanders that we are speaking to say, look, one way or the other, some U.S. troops are going to start coming home, voluntary or involuntary, because of the political situation. So they are starting to look, of course, at exactly what you would expect.

After the first of the year, how much security, how much progress, what do you need to see before you can start bringing some of those troops home? One idea that is being floated out there is to essentially reconfigure everything, have U.S. troops simply go after al Qaeda, go after the terrorists.

But military commanders say that's not much of a strategy. There's so much violence, there are so many attacks. How can you really parse out who is doing what? You have to go after the overall security picture in the country -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon.

Thanks.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: All right. Time now to check on what else is new this morning with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents.

The largest wildfire in Utah history is only 10 percent contained right now.

Kara Finnstrom is live in the fire zone with more on progress being made.

Hi, Kara.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Well, we've got the perimeter of the fire behind us. And we've been watching pockets of flames kind of burst up throughout the morning.

Got some new numbers from firefighters out here this morning -- 311,000 acres have been charred out here. As you mentioned, 10 percent contained. They've still got a lot of work to do, but they have a lot more resources coming today. They should be building up to upwards of 500 firefighters, may also be bringing in some air tankers.

The big concern today, keeping this fire away from the main interstate, how people are getting in and out of town. And they're also hoping that any strong wind gusts which were forecast for yesterday but never materialized will also not show up today.

Back to you in New York.

CHETRY: All right. Kara Finnstrom, thanks so much.

Also, we're also watching severe weather, the heat in the Northeast. No relief from that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: And we're talking about things heating up, but it's a Washington sex scandal this morning. The D.C. madam posting her phone records online.

Internet reporter Jacki Schechner has more on that for us.

Hi, Jacki.

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Hi, Kiran.

Yes, Deborah Jeane Palfrey put all of her phone numbers online so you can go through them yourself from August of 1994 until August of 2006. They just look like phone records. No names attached, but Senator David Vitter of Louisiana says you're going to find his phone number in those records, apologizing.

As you might imagine, the liberal blogs are saying go out there and find some good family value votes and quotes from David Vitter. They didn't have to look very far. In fact, Think Progress, the blogging arm of the Center for American Progress, went to Vitter's own Web site and found a quote where he talks about preserving the sanctity of marriage.

Conservatives are paying attention to this. Obviously, not so much as the liberals. Everybody's wondering, if Vitter's the first, who is going to be next?

Kiran.

CHETRY: Jacki Schechner, thanks so much -- John.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: Thirteen minutes now after the hour.

Well before contaminated pet food, toys and fish came to America from China, one family swore off from buying Chinese-made products for an entire year. Why did they do it and how hard was it?

Sara Bongiorni wrote about the experience in her book "A Year Without Made in China," and she joins me now.

This is a great little kind of how-to and experimental about how to try to get away from China for a little while.

How did you come up with the idea? Why did you want to write a book about it?

SARA BONGIORNI, "A YEAR WITHOUT MADE IN CHINA": Well, it wasn't about beating up on China. It's not a political book or a protectionist effort in any way. It was a way to try to understand in a very real and personal way my own family's connections to this big fuzzy concept of the global economy, and specifically to China.

ROBERTS: This was one Christmas morning you got the idea?

BONGIORNI: We were sitting around two days after Christmas. The debris from the holiday, the presents and the toys and everything were still -- they were all strewn across the living room floor. And I was sitting there with my husband and I started to look at where things came from that were all over the floor from Christmas.

ROBERTS: So you separated them out into two piles?

BONGIORNI: Right. I went through and I looked at them, I counted them. And most of them came from China.

And as I flashed my eyes around the house, I start to think China is everywhere in this house. And it was an impromptu idea to -- most probably wouldn't think it was fun, but I thought, you know, it would be fun just to see if we could go a whole year and would happen if we tried to go without China.

ROBERTS: So was it fun or frustrating? Because one of the reviewers in the book says that to keep China out of your life for a year required surprising feats of willpower and ingenuity.

BONGIORNI: That's right. Well, I thought it was kind of fun. My husband might give a different answer. But it certainly took over our whole life. It became an all-consuming project. And a lot of the stories -- ordinary, mundane tasks like running to the grocery store to buy birthday candles, or getting new shoes for our son became days or sometimes weeks-long ordeals that didn't necessarily have a satisfactory conclusion, and sometimes had an expensive conclusion as well.

So, a lot of the story is everything about what we could and couldn't buy and how we coped. But it's also a human interest story in the sense that I had to scramble to keep some of my rebellious family members in line for this project throughout the year despite the difficulty.

ROBERTS: In fact, as you write in the book, you had to break down one day and allow your son to have a plastic pumpkin?

BONGIORNI: That's right. That's right. He was really a tremendously good sport for the first 10 months, but during a family trip to target for Halloween decorations, all of a sudden he reached the breaking point and fell head over heels in love with a Chinese- made electric pumpkin. And the story of how that pumpkin made it into our house despite the ban on China for the year is really telling and revealing of how difficult it was and how the reality of the human limits ran up against the experiment.

ROBERTS: You know, 10 months of denial...

BONGIORNI: That's right.

ROBERTS: ... I mean, those plastic pumpkins not bad.

How ubiquitous are Chinese products in our lives?

BONGIORNI: It is impossible to live (ph) anything approximating a normal -- an ordinary consumer life without Chinese merchandise. We depended on not just for things like toys and electronics that people might be familiar with, but everything from clothing, to furniture, to -- I came across some food items that surprised me at the time. Of course, we now know that that is more pervasive than...

ROBERTS: And it's not just the entire article. It's component pieces, too.

BONGIORNI: Right. And our task was just to avoid the label "Made in China". And if we knew there was a Chinese component, we would avoid that as well.

But what's been so interesting in light of these recent reports on, you know, things from China in pharmaceuticals, as well as food and so forth, is how much those labels really don't tell you. Despite reading thousands of labels, little did I know.

ROBERTS: And how much more expensive is it to shut China out of your life?

BONGIORNI: Well, you know, it's really -- overall, the year was probably a wash, because we simply couldn't buy so many items. So we had to keep our money in our wallet.

ROBERTS: You did without, yes.

BONGIORNI: However, in the case of, for instance, trying to find new tennis shoes, non-Chinese tennis shoes for our son, I ended up spending almost $70 for -- and it took about three weeks to find tennis shoes from Italy. And that compares to something like $14 or $15 for sneakers that you could buy from China at Payless Shoes.

ROBERTS: Well, it's a fascinating exercise and a great little book to read.

Sara Bongiorni, thanks very much for joining us today.

BONGIORNI: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Thank you for coming all the way up from Baton Rouge to be with us this morning.

BONGIORNI: Right. Thank you so much.

ROBERTS: Appreciate that, too.

Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks a lot, John.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: Well, Fred Thompson has not officially announced a run for the White House, but his past in Washington is already getting a closer look. In fact, CNN's Mary Snow found new evidence that raises questions about Thompson's stance on abortion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If Fred Thompson decides to run for president, he is counting on the support of anti- abortion social conservatives. That strategy may have taken a hit Saturday, when the "Los Angeles Times" reported that in 1991, Thompson agreed to work for a pro-abortion rights group, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association.

According to the minutes of the group's September 14, 1991 meeting, which CNN has obtained, Judith DeSarno, the group's president at the time, said the association had hired Thompson as counsel to "... aid us in discussions with the Administration." Neither the group nor anyone else has come forward with any other written evidence that Thompson was hired to work with the abortion rights group.

The former senator's spokesman, Mark Corallo, told CNN, "Fred Thompson has no recollection of doing any work on behalf of this group. He may have been consulted by one of the firm's partners who represented this group in 1991."

Former Democratic congressman Michael Barnes, who was Thompson's law partner at the time, told CNN that he told her to talk to Thompson for help getting the White House to rescind a war prohibiting abortion counseling at federally-funded clinics. From that point on, he said the "... only person who worked on it was Fred."

John Sununu, White House chief of staff at the time, told CNN today that, "I did not talk to Fred at all about this and I have no awareness whatsoever about Fred lobbying about this."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fred Thompson is not pro-life.

SNOW: Thompson has already been feeling the heat from some anti- abortion activists. One posting on YouTube shows his answer in a 1994 Senate debate to a question about supporting or opposing laws permitting abortion on demand.

FRED THOMPSON, FMR. SENATOR: I do not believe that the federal government ought to be involved in that process.

SNOW: Thompson's voting record in the Senate is consistently anti-abortion. One issue where he did part ways with social conservatives was the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill. Thompson supported it, while many conservatives opposed it.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: All right. And of course all the day's political news is available any time, day or night, cnn.com/ticker.

ROBERTS: Twenty-three minutes now after the hour.

Stephanie Elam here "Minding Your Business".

You node the old adage, squeaky wheel gets the grease. Well, in some cases, the squeaky wheel gets the boot.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They got dropped.

ROBERTS: Wow.

ELAM: Yes, in this case, that's what's happening.

Sprint has gone ahead and decided to cut 1,000 of their customers. They have about 54 million customers, so it is a drop in the bucket. But the issue here is, you're annoying. Please leave.

That is really what has happened here. They're saying these people called customer service just too much, and they decided to just go ahead and let them go.

They will not have to pay the end of the bill, and they don't have to pay because they're getting out of their contracts early. They also told them that they have until the end of July to find a new service provider.

Now, this is a quote that they had in the mass mailing on June 29th. "... The number of inquiries you have made to us... led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs."

And here is the other interesting thing here, too. Is that these people each made an average of 40 to 50 calls a month to customer service. The average client calls less than one time a month. So if you think about it, if you're trying to call to have an issue with Sprint and you have a legitimate issue, these are the people who are clogging up the phone lines so that you can't get through.

So this is obviously a story here that has caught a lot of attention, but it is a small percentage of people who are being affected by this. And if you...

CHETRY: That's an interesting business practice. You annoy me, so here is your money back.

(CROSSTALK)

ELAM: But if you have a problem with them, at the same time it could be good for you, because now you've found a way out of your contract.

One other thing about Sprint I want to tell you. There was a report that a South Korean country was interested in buying them by taking over management, then bringing private equity into it. Sprint -- the company out of Korea, which is SK Telecom, to this point has denied that that is true.

CHETRY: Wow.

ROBERTS: Was there any particular pattern to the complaints?

ELAM: It varied. And actually, the one interesting thing, some customers were actually calling to get information about other customer phone usage. And, of course, customer service can't give that out.

CHETRY: Wow.

ELAM: Yes.

ROBERTS: Something a little odd there.

CHETRY: So now AT&T and Verizon are like, great, they're going to be signing on to our plan.

ELAM: Exactly. All the duds are coming over here.

CHETRY: Stephanie, thank you.

ELAM: Sure.

(NEWSBREAK) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Oh, the sun just about to come up on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. Our thanks to our friends at KGO. It's going to be a cool, cloudy day today. Only in the low 60s. Not great weather for the all-star game tonight at AT&T Park.

CHETRY: What do they say? The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco?

ROBERTS: Yes.

CHETRY: Chilly this time of the year.

ROBERTS: Good morning to you. It's Tuesday, the 10th of July.

I'm John Roberts, along with Kiran Chetry.

CHETRY: Good to see you this morning.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: President Bush is going to talk about Iraq today, and senior White House officials are telling us this morning he will be unveiling his plans to a post surge phase of the operations in Iraq. A progress report is due Sunday. And it is set to show that the Iraqis have reached few, if any, of the benchmarks that were set out by the U.S.

But, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told us this morning it is still too quick to judge the so-called troop surge. CNN Analyst General David Grange is with us now. Thanks for being here, General.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.

CHETRY: I think we are, it seems, talking about two different things. One is whether or not our so-called surge with our U.S. military troops is successful. And whether or not it's too early to judge. You weigh in on that first, and then we'll talk about the Iraqi benchmarks.

GRANGE: Okay. You know, right now, this strategy is called a clear hold and build strategy. It is a new strategy. You hear a lot of talk about we need a new strategy. Well in fact, this is the new strategy and it's only part way through the implementation. They are in a clear and a hold face phase.

Once that happens in Baghdad and the belts around Baghdad, which are key to bomb-making al Qaeda and other elements that infiltrate back into the city, and you see a lot of offensive operations in there now, then they'll get into the build phase where they get more of the confidence of the people. And, the political process cannot work until the security is accomplished.

CHETRY: See -- and you talked about it. You said the clear hold and build. We have heard from commanders on the ground saying this is working that they're doing what they need to do. The problem, though, is if Iraqis are not meeting any of these benchmarks either politically, economically or in terms of getting their military up and running, who do you hand over something to once it's held?

GRANGE: Well, I agree with the benchmarks that you have to have some kind of standard set. That the Iraqi leadership has to meet. But just to be clear, I think, and what I'm saying is that you can't meet some of those benchmarks unless you have a secure environment. And so I think they can cooperate much better.

I think the riot act has been stated to Iraqi leadership that you better get on with it, we're not here forever. But certain things in security and the environment must happen before they can be successful.

CHETRY: And, then when we talk about giving time for this to go on. I mean, do you believe that if we continue to go forward with the so-called surge, they are able to stabilize some of these areas that then the Iraqi government will be able to stand up and take control of these areas?

GRANGE: You know, I believe so. And, I say that only because of some dialogue with some of the senior commanders on the ground which I have total confidence in. You know, just picture a commander out there, he's talking to his troops and there's Private Snuffy he's saying -- listening to the commander talk.

And we're saying, okay men, we're in the clear and hold phase, then we're going to get into this building phase. At the same time, they hear a political leader -- and I'm not talking about the right to debate -- but a political leader saying we need a new strategy.

And, the troops scratch their head saying, hey wait a minute I thought we were doing a new strategy right now. I don't understand what is going on with my nation. And so, the troops get a little confused when they hear this. It's very tough on them.

CHETRY: One of the things that apparently is being floated is the idea of a redeployment withdrawing troops at a future date. In your opinion, would that leave Iraq more vulnerable? Or, is that something that just practically speaking, we need to start thinking about?

GRANGE: Well, I think we do have to start thinking about it. And it would be prudent to do so. And we don't have the force structure. The military is too small to do these kind of things forever. There's no doubt about it. There's not enough rest for troops. The Army is too small, there's recruiting problems, et cetera.

But right now, we think -- we're too linear in our thinking about time. And a timeline is only good at the time you make that timeline with the conditions that are present. And in war, conditions constantly change. So, your assessment is usually flawed right after you make -- establish that timeline.

And, if you look at the enemy side of it, the enemy love to see timelines because they plan their operations around a timeline you set. So, yes we do need some timelines. I don't think they should be advertised. I think they should be flexible depending on the situation on the ground.

And I think we ought to talk a little bit more about winning and not think, well, if we lose, we lose. I mean, why did we do this in the first place? We have to think about winning, and that is how the timeline should be set up.

CHETRY: Brigadier General David Grange, U.S. Army retired, thank you. Thank you.

ROBERTS: Thirty-six minutes after the hour, one of the first rules of war is never change commanders in mid battle. But that's exactly what happened at the National Hurricane Center. The agency's director is out. His fate sealed by a staff rebellion. The shake-up comes right smack in the middle of hurricane season.

John Zarrella is live in Miami for us. And, John I can't remember anything like this ever happening at the National Hurricane Center before.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. I've been covering the National Hurricane Center for more than a quarter of a century. And, this level of tension and turmoil absolutely unheard of in the past. And the public airing of issues and dirty laundry, unprecedented. And, yesterday, it cost the center director his job after only six months.

Bill Proenza never sugar-coated the issues. He spoke his mind. That candor has, at least in part, cost him his job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL PROENZA, FMR DIRECTOR, NATL. HURRICANE CTR: They wanted me to be quiet about it.

ZARRELA: Muzzle you?

PROENZA: Essentially.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARELLA: The director of the National Hurricane Center, Proenza was talking about a satellite he felt was critical to forecasting, but was on its last leg with no replacement in the works. Proenza went public with his concerns. But many of his own senior forecasters didn't share his opinion. Last week, half of the center's staff signed a petition asking for Proenza to be removed, saying he didn't listen to them, he didn't seek their opinions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIXION AVILA, SENIOR HURRICANE SPECIALIST: We're going to make a very good damn forecast this year with Bill or without Bill. And I think that's -- I've been very emotional on this because I was his strongest supporter and I feel betrayed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARELLA: In an interview last Friday, Proenza told me he did not regret the way he handled things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROENZA: When I'm asked, I've got to answer honestly and sincerely. And, I feel that it is part of my responsibility, I work for the America people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARELLA: NOAA officials tell us, quote, "he remains a NOAA employee and is on leave," end quote. But he no longer works for the American people as director of the hurricane center. Ed Rappaport, who has been deputy director for many years now, has taken over as director on an interim basis.

And, really, John, officials at NOAA, National Weather Service had to move now and move quickly, to bring some stability here which Ed Rappaport is expected to do because we're moving into the heart of the hurricane season very quickly when we get to the beginning of August and they wanted to get stability back by then.

John?

ROBERTS: John, last hour, we talked to Wally Barnes who is a meteorologist there. He admitted, yes the QuikSCAT satellite thing is an issue. So, there seems to be a disconnect here where some of the meteorologists, and he was one of the ones who signed on to this letter are saying, yes, there's a problem, but still, Proenza had to go.

ZARELLA: There's a real disconnect because some of the forecasters we've talked to have said, listen, sure it's an issue, but it's not a priority. The real priority ought to be the hurricane hunter aircraft and modernizing that fleet.

That's the battle they say Proenza should have been fighting not the QuikSCAT satellite which they they say they can do without. So you're absolutely right some are saying they need it, others are saying it shouldn't be the priority.

ROBERTS: Sounds like they just wanted him out of there one way or another. John Zarella for us in Miami this morning. John, thanks.

CHETRY: A hospital visit from Beyonce. Two people slightly hurt when fireworks spilled into the audience at a Beyonce show. Well, they certainly got some good medicine, because Beyonce herself showed up at the hospital. Both fans are expected to be fine.

In a massive pileup at the Tour de France. Thirty riders involved here. There you have a look at -- eventually that crash -- it's a chain reaction. They just keep falling into each other. It actually cut off the street. Twenty riders only were ahead of the mess.

Everyone else was either stuck in the accident or stuck behind it. It happened about a mile from the finish of the second stage. They just look annoyed at that point. Not hurt, but just annoyed.

Pushed back from his own party. More Republicans urging President Bush to change course in Iraq. Well, now GOP Senator Olympia Snowe might even vote with the Democrats to bring the troops home. We're going to talk to her next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news morning.

We've been talking all morning about whether this week will be remembered as a turning point in the war in Iraq. We got a bad progress report due out when it comes to Iraqis meeting benchmarks, and Congress is again considering legislation to scale back. Maine Senator Olympia Snowe was one Republican who says that she might side with Democrats on that legislation if they come up with a good alternative, and she joins us this morning from Capitol Hill.

Thanks for being with us, senator.

SEN. OLYMPIA SNOWE (R), MAINE: Thank you.

CHETRY: One of the things is this current strategy you have said it's unacceptable, and that we need to move on a different course, but are you prepared to vote for legislation that has a definite withdrawal deadline?

SNOWE: I think certainly for a troop reemployment and change of mission for the remaining troops by a specific period of time, certainly is critical at this -- I think at, this moment, given the fact that the Iraqi government has failed to implement the political initiatives to achieve national reconciliation.

So, clearly, we're at the crossroads of hope and reality, and now I think we have to address the reality, and that includes the president.

CHETRY: When you say troop redeployment, is that the same thing as supporting a measure for a definite withdrawal date?

SNOWE: I think most of the initiatives, Democrats and Republicans, include a redeployment of the surge troops, withdrawing those troops, and a changer of mission for the remaining troops consistent with the Iraq Study Group's recommendation in support of force protection, training the Iraqis and continued counter terrorism measures. So I think that is something that both sides agreed to in terms of change of mission.

But the scheduled redeployment and the change of mission would occur by the middle of next year, by the end of March or early April at the latest, and that should occur and send a very important message to the Iraqi government that our time, you know, has evaporated, along with our patience with respect to their failures to implement the political objectives. Our troops are making the military sacrifice and, yet, they're not willing to make the political compromises.

CHETRY: Are we prepared to deal with, and are you prepared to deal with what happens after that, meaning what we leave behind?

SNOWE: Well, I think that certainly given the change of mission that we can contain, I think, the impact. Certainly, you know, that's going to be important. I think in conjunction with concerted regional diplomatic initiatives as also recommended by the Iraq Study Group that has not been undertaken by the administration, or by the countries in the region or the Iraqi government. I think that that is essential.

It can't be solely a military solution. That's been evident so far. It requires political, economic and diplomatic initiatives, all of which have failed so, obviously, that can't happen without all of them being part and parcel of the final objective.

CHETRY: Well, we are expecting to hear from the president later today, expected to talk about the post-surge phase of Iraq.

But, Senator, have you sort of lost faith in whether or not you think this administration can do the right thing when it comes to dealing with Iraq?

SNOWE: Well, I think the president, unfortunately, continues to move the bar. The surge was designed, ostensibly, to provide breathing room, the final window of opportunity to the Iraqi government to initiate the political objectives for national reconciliation, to make the policy political concessions among all parties. That hasn't happened, so...

CHETRY: But Tony Snow even said today, and we talked to a general yesterday, a commander, who said it's only been three weeks that the surge has fully been implemented. Why not wait until September?

SNOWE: Well, that's the key, what he just said -- fully implemented. The reminder of the troops came three weeks ago, the 7,000. There have been 23,000 there for the last five months. And by all indications the political objectives have not been met by the Iraqi government. That's going to be demonstrated by the interim report that will be released this week, and there is no indication of that occurring within the Iraqi government or the Iraqi parliament. In fact, the Sunnis are boycotting it. There may be a no-vote of confidence against Prime Minister Maliki, among other things, and none of the benchmarks have been accomplished. And it's not likely to be accomplished, so why waste more, you know, time and not moving on to the next phase of the strategy, which is to change a mission and redeployment of our troops?

CHETRY: Senator Olympia Snowe out of Maine, thanks for your time this morning.

SNOWE: Thank you. ROBERTS: CNN NEWSROOM is just minutes away now. Heidi Collins at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead.

Hey, Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, John.

That's right, Washington wrangles over Iraq. As you know, we will be following all of the moves right here in the NEWSROOM. After the troop buildup, a report expected to show the Iraqis are not meeting benchmarks set by the U.S. Congress.

And Utah, fire crews detailing a tiny bit of progress against the state's largest wildfire ever. We'll talk about that.

Plus, a U.S. senator apologizing now what he calls a serious sin. He is linked to the alleged D.C. Madam.

Tony Harris and I keep you posted all morning long. NEWSROOM top of the top of the hour right here on CNN -- John.

ROBERTS: Looking forward to that. Welcome back, by the way, Heidi.

COLLINS: Thank you so much.

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: Personal pictures posted online put Miss New Jersey in a very public scandal. So what do you need to know before leaving your snapshots on a social networking site, like facebook.com. That's coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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ROBERTS: 51 minutes after the hour, coming up at 52 now.

The controversy surrounding Miss New Jersey in an attempt to blackmail her is heating up. She says pictures of her were taken off her own private Web page on Facebook and now somebody is threatening to use them against her.

Our Jacki Schechner live now with the latest details.

Jacki, how can you pull somebody's private pictures off of Facebook if you haven't been invited in?

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's one of the things about Facebook that people really like, is it's locked down to networks, originally started with college networks, where you had to have an "edu" address. It expanded to high schools, and then to organizations, like we can be part of the Turner Broadcasting Network of people.

So you can't be on somebody's Facebook page unless they've invited you to take a look at their full profile, and that's what's interesting here, is that while she doesn't know who's sending her packages of photographs, it is most likely somebody who had access at some point to her Facebook profile -- John.

ROBERTS: So does this indicate it's perhaps somebody that she knows?

SCHECHNER: Well, somebody she knows, somebody who has an e-mail address at Wagner College, where she is a senior. It's somebody could be a friend of a friend. You just have to get access into that network on Facebook in order to get access to her page, which, by the way, is no longer there.

ROBERTS: You know, what -- the thing I find extraordinary here is that there would ever be pictures posted on a Facebook page that could be in the least bit controversial.

SCHECHNER: Well, she is saying that they're not. I mean, one of the things she's saying through her attorney and in interviews is that these are not controversial pictures.

What they're concerned with are the captions that are being put under the photographs. They say those are the ones that they have a problem with.

But she says she is not doing anything illegal in these photographs. There's no nudity. There's no impropriety. She's not drinking under age. So it'll be interesting to see, John, what comes out if we ever do see them.

ROBERTS: All right, Jacki, I'm sure that you're going to stay on the story.

Here's a quick look now at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM: Six months after the U.S. troop buildup, a report expected to show little political progress by the Iraqi government.

Headway in Utah -- crews battle the state's biggest wildfire in history.

A U.S. senator apologizes. He is linked to the alleged D.C. Madam.

And a wrecking ball breaks loose and ends up in someone's car.

NEWSROOM just minutes away at the top of the hour on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: All year long, CNN is shining the spotlight on some very special people. We call them CNN Heroes, and today we introduce you to a woman who is fighting a problem that affects every corner of the world.

Somaly Mam is today's CNN Hero. I need the people but nobody help me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOMALY MAM (through translator): In Cambodia prostitution is illegal. But right now you can see everywhere we have the prostitute, because of the corruption.

The brothel owners, they force them have sex. They hit them. They receive a lot of violence.

I remember when I was young, I was sold into the brothel. I was forced to have sex, and I was raped. When I need the people to help me, I need the people but nobody helped me.

My name is Somaly Mam, and my mission is to help the victims, to take them out from the brother. Many of them, they have HIV/AIDS. Sometimes they cut themselves. Sometimes they try suicide. I just say to them you have your pain full. Everybody treats you so bad. Why you treat yourself bad? It's not your fault.

My work is so dangerous. You face the police who are corrupted. You go in the courts, sometimes they are so corrupted.

I have a lot of people trying to destroy me everywhere. They are trying, trying. But I just want to say them, no way. My organization, we have we have counseling. We have all kinds of (INAUDIBLE), and then give them opportunities to work, and then integrate them into society.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I feel like I have a new life. I was so upset before. It seems like everything was destroyed. Now I have a new life.

MAM: I just want to give them live, for real. It's what I needed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: If you'd like to learn more about Somaly Mam's organization, or make a contribution, you can visit CNN.com/heroes. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com