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American Morning
BP Plans Static Kill Procedure Today; Virginia Enters Immigration Debate; Escalating Battle with Mexican Drug Cartels; Who is Following your Online Footprints?; Torrential Rains Kills 1,500 in Pakistan; Iraq War Winding Down; Taliban Attacks U.S. Base in Afghanistan; "The Journey Home"
Aired August 03, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Tuesday, August 3rd. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us. We've got a lot to talk about this morning. A lot of news that's going to get made, so let's get right to it.
Going for the kill. BP says today could be the day after yet another delay in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday. The company says it postponed a key test that needs to happen before that so-called static kill operation can begin. There was a small hydraulic leak that they have to patch up. They hope to get to it today. We're live on the Gulf Coast with the latest update for you this morning.
CHETRY: Also, the escalating battle on America's doorstep. A Mexican drug cartel turns a border city into a war zone and the battle caught on tape. Police not only dodging bullets but an explosive device. This morning, new information on the attacks that are now increasing in sophistication.
ROBERTS: Plus, do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched when you're online? Guess what? You are, and you're not alone. More and more advertisers and big businesses are following every point and click that you make. Is online privacy completely dead or can we protect ourselves from big brother 2.0? Some answers coming up.
CHETRY: First, though, new developments in the Gulf of Mexico. We've been told that it is the beginning of the end. But this morning, we're still waiting for the static kill operation to actually get under way. The first shot at plugging the well for good could begin sometime today.
ROBERTS: Meantime, the government has put out a new estimate of just how much oil has leaked from BP's well and it's on the high end, higher than BP ever acknowledged. Almost 206 million gallons, by far the largest accidental oil leak in history.
CHETRY: Jim Acosta is live for us in New Orleans. And back to the static kill. So they had a delay but they are hoping to begin this operation today. What's the latest, Jim? JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, the latest is we're going to find out today whether or not this is "static kill day" or Ground Hog Day, whether or not this will just be another day of waiting for the static kill to begin. But we think at this point that that static kill is going to get going. BP is saying that they had a small leak in a hydraulic system inside the containment cap that is on top of that relief well. That's pretty key that they get that fixed so they can begin what they're calling the injectivity test. This is one of those jargon terms that, you know, sort of springs up in the middle of this process. But essentially the injectivity test involves injecting oil down into the relief well to see if it can handle that injection. And then if that test is a go, if all systems are go for that test, that will be a good indicator that they can start injecting that mud, start putting that mud down into the relief well through the static kill process.
And one thing that we've learned in the last 24 hours listening to briefings from both BP and Thad Allen, the national incident commander, is that there are a lot of variables in this. Yesterday, during a technical briefing, one of the top executives for BP, Kent Wells, talked about this static kill perhaps being the end-all/be-all of this process. Their hopeful that static kill kills this well once and for all and that the relief well that's being drilled as part of the bottom kill procedure is sort of just that last part of this sort of poking the dead guy with the stick to make sure that the well is completely killed. So, at this point, we're all sort of waiting to see if static kill is going to get under way.
Another thing we should mention is just a little note that came from our weather folks at CNN overnight that a tropical system may be developing out in the Caribbean that could potentially adversely affect conditions out at the Deepwater Horizon site within the next five to seven days. That is going to add some sense of urgency to this process as it gets under way.
ROBERTS: And we'll talk to Rob Marciano about that in just a few minutes. Let's turn, Jim, to this issue of how much oil was leaked out of this well and the number of days that it was running. Those early estimates we remember in late April of 5,000 barrels a day seemed I guess, at best, laughable --
ACOSTA: Yes.
ROBERTS: -- and at worst deliberately misleading.
ACOSTA: That's right. And at this point, you know, are we ever going to find out whether BP was deliberately misleading the public about the volume of oil going into the gulf? But one thing that we do know is that yesterday, late yesterday, a team of federal scientists came out with new estimates as to how much oil leaked out into the gulf during this catastrophe and they're talking about somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.9 million barrels of oil. That's an astonishing amount of oil. As you said, around 200 million gallons. And really just blowing away what was thought to be the world's largest oil spill, the one down in Mexico back in the '70s. And so this one is really sort of the mother of all oil spills for the entire world in modern times. And it's a pretty key number because as we all know, the damages that will be levied from BP to pay for all of this in the end from the federal government will be determined based on the volume of oil that goes into the gulf. So, you know, federal officials have been keeping a close eye on this number as this process develops. It's one of those numbers that perhaps we took our eye off of during this process, but I would imagine that folks who want to, you know, collect some damages from BP during all of this, they've been paying attention to it for some time -- John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: You can bet that there's an army of attorneys in Louisiana who have been paying very close attention to all of that. Jim Acosta for us this morning in New Orleans. Jim, thanks.
A desperate attempt to save a dying gulf species is under way right now. Thousands of sea turtle eggs that were carefully picked up by hand from the northern Gulf Coast were transported across Florida to the Kennedy Space Center for incubation. Four hundred of them were released on the beach last night, a risky move but maybe the only option to save an entire generation of sea turtles. Even in perfect conditions, only a tiny fraction of those babies survive into adulthood once they reach the ocean.
CHETRY: Well, new this morning, plans to build a controversial Islamic center and mosque just two blocks from Ground Zero expected to clear a huge hurdle today. New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission is scheduled to vote about whether to grant the landmark property landmark status. One board member is on record that he expects an overwhelming "no" vote. And what that means is the way would then be cleared for construction of the center to begin. Coming up in our next hour, we'll get a live report from Allan Chernoff.
So what do you think about an Islamic center and mosque just two blocks from Ground Zero? There's been a lot of reaction on both sides. Join the conversation, CNN.com/amFIX.
ROBERTS: Also this morning, there's something that comedian Bill Cosby wants you to know. He's alive.
Rumors of Cosby's death went viral on Twitter yesterday. Cosby says it's the fourth time he's being reported dead on the Internet. The 73-year-old responded to the rumors with his trademark humor on his own Twitter account. Cosby wrote, "Again, I'm rebuttaling rumors about my demise but I am confirming that I have an app."
CHETRY: There you go -- 73 years old, tech savvy and still very much alive.
Well, six minutes past the hour. We get a check of this morning's weather headlines with our Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center. And of course, you're watching Colin, now a tropical storm.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, just about an hour and a half ago, the National Hurricane Center upgraded tropical depression number four to tropical storm status with winds of 40 miles an hour. Still pretty far out there, almost 3,000 miles away from the U.S. but heading in this general direction pretty quickly. West-northwesterly moving at 23 miles an hour. The forecast is to keep it going in that direction and then potentially try to curb it in the direction of Bermuda as opposed to the U.S. But we're way too far out to really give any sort of confidence in that sort of forecast.
The other big weather story is the heat again across. Talking about Ground Hog Day, a lot of pinks and oranges on the map again today. 105 to 115 is what it's going to feel like in those states highlighted and that is dangerous heat. We had a slew of records broke. We'll talk more about that in about 30 minutes. Looks like a decent day across the northeast with palatable temperatures.
Speaking of the north, the auroras may be firing up over the next couple of nights. After a long sleep, the sun is beginning to wake up. We'll talk more about whether or not you'll be able to see the aurora borealis later on this evening -- John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Well, head up to the rooftop deck, if we have one. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: OK.
CHETRY: We two are just not allowed on it.
Anyway, seven minutes past the hour. A border city terrorized by drug gangs. And this morning, new video of a brazen attack. We have it and also new details about the war next door just ahead.
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ROBERTS: Eleven minutes after the hour and new this morning. Virginia joining the fray over illegal immigration. The state's attorney general says Virginia law allows officers to check the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest. That's pretty close to one of the key provisions that a federal judge blocked from Arizona's controversial immigration law. However, even with blocking that in Arizona, police officers are allowed to check someone's immigration status. They're just not required to do that.
CHETRY: Right. It would be interesting though if it ends up being a test case in Virginia after all this wrangling over what's going on in Arizona.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, an FBI webpage quotes a senior agent as saying that violent Mexican drug cartels may be more dangerous than Al Qaeda. But a spokesman for the FBI stresses that quote is the opinion of one agent who lives and works on the border. The spokesman also says that some areas along the Mexican border are so violent they're reminiscent of Chicago's gangster era of the 1930s.
ROBERTS: And there's new evidence this morning of the brutal and escalating drug trade violence ravaging Mexico. Officials say what you're seeing here in this video is an explosive that was fired at police during a shoot-out in Juarez on Sunday night. Investigators aren't sure if it was a grenade, but they say it is a reminder of the drug cartel's increased sophistication and strength.
CHETRY: Well, every Web site you visit, every online purchase you make, every file you download you're being watched on the web. Can we hide from the prying eyes of big brother 2.0? That's next. Twelve minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Fifteen 15 minutes past the hour right now. We're "Minding Your Business" this morning.
If you drive a Cadillac Escalade, you may want to buy a car alarm, if you haven't already. It tops the Highway Loss Data Institute's list for most stolen vehicles.
Here's how it breaks down. Out of every 1,000 vehicles taken across the country, 11 of them are Escalades. The second most stolen vehicle is the Chevy Silverado, and the third is the Dodge Charger.
Well, the United Arab Emirates is defending its decision to suspend key Blackberry internet services, arguing that the U.S. requires similar regulations for national security reasons. But the State Department responded by calling the move, quote, "A dangerous precedent," adding that the free flow of information is critical to an innovative economy.
On October 11th, Blackberry Messenger, e-mail and web browsing will be suspended on those Smartphones - John.
ROBERTS: All right. Wait until you hear this. It's not 1984. He's not a secretive dictator, but here in 2010 Big Brother is watching you online. When ads pop up for shoes or a book that you had your eye on, it's no coincidence.
This week, the "Wall Street Journal" is reporting on the death of online privacy in a special series, quote, "What They Know". Joining us now from more is wallstreetjournal.com's technology editor, Julia Angwin, and this - this really is pretty surprising and, to some degree, pretty troubling.
We've all lived with cookies. Most of us know what cookies are, the things that stored your password, let you know what you've got in your shopping cart, but this goes way beyond that.
How much has the technology changed here when it comes to tracking what you're doing online?
JULIA ANGWIN, SENIOR TECHNOLOGY EDITOR, WSJ.COM: Well, so what we did at the "Journal" was we surveyed the top 50 websites, just to try to figure out the answer to that question, because we knew that people are using cookies but we wanted to see, well, what's going on more than that.
So we've found actually the top 50 websites, collectively, when you visit them, installed 3,000 different kinds of trackers on our test computer. And so the scope of the surveillance was pretty shocking.
And the other thing is that - the intrusiveness. So some of these trackers don't just sort of say, oh, John went to such and such website. It says he's moving his mouse over here on the page. He must be really interested in that piece of it. Or, oh, he just typed in a comment, saying this is his favorite movie. That must be his favorite movie.
So we were really amazed at sort of how deep they can go.
ROBERTS: That's really - you found that one website that you went to, one website alone, installed 64 little bits of tracking software?
ANGWIN: Yes. On average, yes. On average.
ROBERTS: That's really incredible.
ANGWIN: Yes. It was amazing (ph).
ROBERTS: The depth that they're going to, as you say.
Now, are some websites worse than others?
ANGWIN: Yes. So the one that was - turned out the worst in our survey, Dictionary.com. It's where you go to look up words.
ROBERTS: A reference website is tracking your every move.
ANGWIN: Yes. Well, the thing is this is all about ad revenue, so these are guys who maybe have a smaller amount of ad revenue. They don't have a big ad sales force. So they work with all these different networks who basically force tracking on you as a - as part of the agreement. So if you want their ads, you have to agree to let them track your users.
ROBERTS: Wow. That's amazing.
You know, there's one website that you've - you've gone on, because it tells you sort of what information is out there about you. It's called Bluekai - B-L-U-E-K-A-I -
ANGWIN: Right.
ROBERTS: -- .com. Bluekai.com. What did you find when you went there?
ANGWIN: So Bluekai is - just for people who have not heard of it - it's a data exchange. So they track you, and then they sell that data off to people who want to buy it.
And what I found on mine is my age, my income, everything that I ever sort of shopped for, including things I didn't buy but just were interested in. It says you're "in market" for them. So, basically advertisers want people who are in market.
So if you're - if you went to eBay, like I did, and looked at a short sleeved t-shirt, I - I was label in there "in market" for short sleeved t-shirts. And then I'm going to get ads for short-sleeved t- shirts forever.
ROBERTS: So this information is out there, and, as you said, you can track them on this Bluekai.com.
ANGWIN: Right.
ROBERTS: What page. Are there other web pages you can track there (ph) as well?
ANGWIN: There are a whole bunch of - now a whole bunch, but some - some of the bigger players in the industry, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, let you see what they know about you.
ROBERTS: So what do you do about it?
ANGWIN: Yes. It's not easy to manage those tracking business (ph). You know, every wants to know, just turn off cookies, but that actually makes your web experience pretty unfriendly because you -
ROBERTS: Yes. Because you've always got to type in your passwords -
ANGWIN: The passwords, and who - who remembers all those passwords anymore? So you can basically try to tune your browser to block third party cookies, which is cookies from people other than the website you're visiting. But, oftentimes, those controls are hard to find. So we recommend that you use these browser plug-in software, which is not so easy, but if you just download it, it can manage your cookies for you.
There's one called Abeen (ph). That's a fun one. It shows you everything that's popping up on every page you go to and it automatically will block it for you.
ROBERTS: And the new browsers also have a - have a privacy setting. I know that Firefox has got one called private browsing -
ANGWIN: Yes.
ROBERTS: It's where they put - they called it the porn shield (ph). They refer to it (ph). Now, will that block all of this stuff from coming in?
ANGWIN: It will, but unfortunately, a lot of those also block your first party cookies, meaning your log-ins and passwords. So, once again, you end up with, like, what did I put in my inbox or shopping cart? I can't remember, and it's gone now.
ROBERTS: Wow. So is this just part of the price we pay, because Bluekai.com, in - in response to your series, said when given a choice between paying for content without tracking or getting free content with tracking, people choose free content with tracking more so than the other.
ANGWIN: Yes. I mean, I think that - well websites are - ROBERTS: So are we responsible for this too?
ANGWIN: Yes. I think the problem here is that we aren't informed about this tradeoff. I think some of us would be totally willing to trade our data for free content and some people wouldn't, and I think most people are just not aware that they're striking that bargain.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, if you want to know what the - what the internet's got on you, Bluekai.com.
Julia Angwin, it's great to see you this morning.
ANGWIN: Great. Thanks for having me.
ROBERTS: Thanks for dropping in - Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, coming up, nightmare scenarios in space. Astronauts, including AMERICAN MORNING's own Cady Coleman, who we've been following from training and beyond, are trying to figure out what they would do if anything went wrong during their stay on the International Space Station. John Zarrella with an "A.M. Original" next.
It's 21 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
NASA is scrambling to deal with a rare emergency on-board the International Space Station. Two spacewalks are scheduled to fix one of the station's two cooling systems that failed over the weekend. NASA officials say that crew members are in no immediate danger, but the malfunction does leave the space station with just one critical cooling system in operation.
ROBERTS: Right now a future space station crew is here on earth training for worse case scenarios like that when they're 220 miles up in space.
CHETRY: And one member of that crew is "A.M.'s" very own astronaut, Cady Coleman. We've been counting down Cady ahead of her mission to the International Space Station later this year.
And John Zarrella is live in Miami with an "A.M. Original." Good morning. And, of course, as you have told us before they train for these scenarios, now one is sort of playing out in space. What's her take on what's going on?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, really is. And, in fact, this ammonia pump that failed is considered the most significant failure, ever, on the International Space Station. The astronauts and cosmonauts, they train repeatedly for these kinds of problems and how to handle them. And, in fact, we caught up with Cady and her crewmates just a couple of weeks ago as they were practicing for even far worse possibilities. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): For the space station crew, it is an uneventful day orbiting the earth. Until - alarms sound, breaking the routine. Something has gone terribly wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attention. Smoke. Smoke in the Node 1. Smoke in Node 1.
ZARRELLA: The six station crew members wearing oxygen masks race to the service module, a central gathering point where heads are counted. No one is missing.
ZARRELLA (on camera): The reality is simple, they're 220 miles up in space. The fire department is not coming. No one is coming to rescue them. The astronauts and cosmonauts are on their own with three options - resolve the crisis, abandon the station, or die.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Fortunately, no one's life is in peril this day. You see, this is a full-scale mock-up of the station at the Johnson Space Center. Cady Coleman and her crew mates, European Space Agency astronaut, Paolo Nespoli, and Russian cosmonaut, Dmitry Kondratiev -
DMITRY KONDRATIEV, RUSSIAN COSMONAUT: Now, we're going to the Node 2.
ZARRELLA: -- practice with another station crew how they would respond in the event something really bad does happen while they're up in space.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cady, go ahead with the fire port, please.
CADY COLEMAN, NASA ASTRONAUT: Fire port?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, fire port.
COLEMAN: Is Node 2.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Starboard 2.
COLEMAN: Starboard 2, 12. Copy.
ZARRELLA: When everyone is not on the same page, it would be chaotic. This is the most critical training the crew goes through. It's simple - if you don't get it right, someone will die.
PAOLO NESPOLI, EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY ASTRONAUT: You have to contain the fire, the smoke. Talk to ground. Shut down equipment.
COLEMAN: One of the things I think that we learned during these exercises is I learned what kinds of mistakes I am likely to make.
ZARRELLA: And when you're dealing with an emergency 200 miles up, there's no room for mistakes.
NESPOLI: Sometimes during procedure you misread a line or do something and you end up shutting off the wrong valve or doing something. So if I have any - any anxiety, it's more that will I be able to perform at the level that I'm supposed to.
COLEMAN: The things that I might be afraid of are making some big mistake. And, for me the way to deal with that is to know that I've done my best to prepare.
ZARRELLA: Practice time is running out. In December, Coleman, Nespoli and Kondratiev will fly to the station on a Russian Soyuz Rocket to begin their six months on orbit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cady.
ZARRELLA: There is still a great deal to study, learn, and in this case, rehearse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see smoke inside. No flames.
ZARRELLA: Fire is only one of several possibilities they run through during this four-hour session.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smoke machine, are you ready?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, smoke machine is ready.
ZARRELLA: Outside the station mock-up, a team of trainers and mission managers observe and work through nightmare scenarios for a toxic leak or an incapacitated crew member, or a rapid depressurization.
COLEMAN: Still dropping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a bit, last we check (ph).
ZARRELLA: From a space debris hit or an equipment failure that punctures the station's skin. On this day, in all the rehearsals, Cady, Dmitry and Paolo deal successful with the emergencies. When they're in space, they'll be ready if that alarm ever sounds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, you know, everyone of the - the space walks that take place up at the space station are rehearsed ahead of time here on earth. So coincidentally, yesterday, Cady was in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, that giant pool at in Houston, John and Kiran, where they do these - these training runs and she was actually in the pool yesterday running through the procedures that the astronauts will carry out later this week for real in space to fix that - that faulty pump - John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Now, is that just, John, in case she ever has to go do it or do they do it on earth and they say, OK, here's the experience we had and they relay that to the astronauts up in space?
ZARRELLA: Exactly. That's exactly why they do it and that's exactly how they do it. She's practicing to see if there are any issues they might run into and they do it for real up there. Issues they don't want to run into when they're doing it for real - John, Kiran.
CHETRY: And as we've seen many times, once it does happen, they have to certainly think on their feet and in some cases improvise. And that's also -
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: -- part of the training.
ROBERTS: Lose a few parts here and there, too.
ZARRELLA: Just a few.
CHETRY: Remember the duct taping they had to do last couple of missions ago?
ROBERTS: Yes. John, thanks.
CHETRY: John, thank you.
And now, we're half past the hour. Time for a look at our top stories this morning.
BP hoping the static kill is a go today. An operation that could plug the source of the worst oil spill in history for good. The company still has to perform a crucial test on the well before it gets started. Bp says it postponed it yesterday because of a small leak.
ROBERTS: For the second time in a week, a prominent House Democrat has opted for a public trial to fight ethics charges. California's Maxine Waters was formally charged yesterday with arranging federal help for a bank her husband had a financial stake in. New York Congressman Charlie Rangel is accused of 13 violations of House rules. He also faces a trial next month.
CHETRY: And a huge hurdle could fall today, clearing the way for construction of an Islamic center and mosque in the shadows of ground zero. New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission is scheduled to vote on whether to grant the property landmark status. One board member is on record saying he expects an overwhelming "no" vote. And that would mean developers can move forward with the construction.
ROBERTS: Also developing this morning, new fears of disease and death as officials in Pakistan say heavy monsoon rains that triggered severe flooding may have killed at least 1,500 people.
CHETRY: The raging waters have also slowed rescue efforts and disrupted the lives of more than 1 million other people.
Our Reza Sayah is live in Islamabad, Pakistan.
What is the situation like this morning? And is any help getting to the area?
REZA SAYAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, based on what we've observed, the situation is bad. But one thing to remember is that government officials and relief groups haven't been able to get to all areas of this flood zone. So, we don't know how bad the situation is.
This flood zone is vast. We went on a helicopter tour with the Pakistan army, and what we saw below was widespread devastation. Very much like the scenes we saw in New Orleans a few years ago when floodwaters swept through after Katrina. But take Katrina and those floods in New Orleans and multiply them by 10 -- at least, maybe more. That's how widespread the devastation was.
Tens of thousands of people are feared to be stranded. One million people homeless. The Pakistani government is receiving some criticism for not getting help to all these victims. Some of that criticism is deserved, some of it is not because this is a colossal undertaking for any government, let alone a government here in Pakistan that doesn't have a lot of money and is rarely efficient with its relief agencies. So, a tough situation here for these relief efforts.
ROBERTS: Are the concerns there, Reza, that in the absence of government assistance in that vacuum, the Taliban could move in and use this to their advantage?
SAYAH: Yes, that's something that they're talking about, especially in the Swat Valley. A little more than a year ago, this was the home to one of the chapters of the Pakistani Taliban. The military came in and swept them out. Now, with these floods coming in, the military distracted, the question is: will the Taliban take advantage? The military acknowledges that it's certainly a possibility. But it's difficult to say how likely it is.
One thing to keep in mind is that many of these Taliban fighters live in this region. Their families are there. So, they're probably suffering through the same challenges that the flood victims are. They're looking for places to live, clean water, food.
With these types of conditions, you know, are they prepared to make a comeback? Some say it's unlikely but it's still a concern.
ROBERTS: Reza Sayah for us today in Islamabad -- Reza, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Meantime, President Obama keeping a promise withdrawing the last of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of this month. After seven years of war and thousands of lives lost, what was accomplished and what are we leaving behind? We're going to be speaking with "TIME" magazine's Bobby Gosh in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Thirty- six minutes past the hour.
President Obama delivering on a promise -- a campaign promise to end the U.S. combat operations in Iraq by the end of this month. Now, over the next few weeks, a force that once numbered 170,000 at its high will be down to 50,000 and all of them will be in support roles.
We will have been at war if Iraq for seven years, five months, and 13 days -- a costly war on many levels. By CNN's count, 4,417 members of the U.S. Military lost their lives. And according to some economists, it also costs our economy $3 trillion.
Bobby Ghosh was the Baghdad bureau chief for "TIME" magazine, spent more time in Iraq than any other print reporter. And he's now "TIME's" deputy international editor.
Thanks for being with us this morning, Bobby.
BOBBY GHOSH, DEPUTY INTL. EDITOR, TIME: Anytime, Kiran.
CHETRY: So, we take a look at those numbers. You spent a lot of time in Iraq. As you watch the combat operations winding down, "A," what's been accomplished, but, "B," where does Iraq stand now?
GHOSH: Well, Iraq now stands at a place where it could go in any number of directions. There's great deal of political instability, and five months after an election, there still isn't a government. There's still violence. July was the most violent month in Iraq in terms of Iraqi live lost in the last two years.
So, things are now at a crossroads. They could easily go very bad from here. There is just a chance that things could improve.
What has been achieved, Iraq has something resembling a democracy. Iraqis have free speech. Iraq has a lively media. Iraqis are free to travel.
On the other hand, they have an economy in tatters. They still have terrorist groups operating on the territory. And they seem to have ethnic and sectarian disagreements that previously were kept suppressed by Saddam Hussein, but have now all bubbled up to the surface.
CHETRY: So, let's tackle a few of those at a time. First, we talk about the elections, the inability to form a government five months out. You noted as well though that it also -- while it's unfortunate that a government isn't in place, they also haven't -- it hasn't completely dissolved into chaos, which is also a positive sign as well.
But what do they need in terms of diplomatic support, political support to be able to move forward with some sort of cohesive government?
GHOSH: Well, they will have to come to terms -- the different Iraqi political parties have to come to terms themselves. What we've learned over the last few years is that external influence doesn't really work very much.
You mentioned at the top of the segment that 4,400 and some American lives were lost. Let's not forget that depending on who you believe, anywhere between 150,000 and 500,000 Iraqis have been killed, many of them by other Iraqis. So, there is a lot of reckoning that still hasn't taken place between communities that only a couple of years ago were killing each other.
So, the political resolution has to come out of that. The world can help with economics. The U.S. can help with aid, with technological expertise. But the political solution, I suspect, will have to come from the Iraqis themselves.
CHETRY: You also talk about the infrastructure problems. Some $5 billion I believe, the U.S. spent on trying to get some sort of electrical system, electrical projects working. They still have about what? Six hours of power in a 24-hour period. And many people resorting to buying generators for themselves, not even expecting that some basic of the services can be provided.
Why has that proven to be such a challenge in Iraq?
GHOSH: Well, there's a lot of -- there's a lot of theft and let's not forget that when -- seven years ago, when the United States and its allies arrived in Iraq, its infrastructure was already in pretty bad shape. But the main problem is that rebuilding will require lots of foreign assistance. Foreign companies have to go in and have to build those power plants and have to build those gas refineries.
CHETRY: But we spent $5 billion trying to get some sort of electrical project or several of them up and running. And we seem to be back at square one.
GHOSH: That's true. But very few foreign companies are willing to go there because the security environment isn't really very good. Their insurance companies will not cover them.
What we've done is the military has handed out money to Iraqi tribes, Iraqi politicians, Iraqi villages, saying, "Here, try and fix your problem." But those are small Band-Aids.
I mean, $5 billion sounds like a lot of money when we -- when we sort of step back and look at it, but these were not handed out in very large chunks. They were handed out in small batches of money that were meant to solve immediate crises in one village, in one village, in one town and sort of essentially put a bandage over a problem.
CHETRY: Because of corruption as well, right?
GHOSH: And a lot of that money disappeared because it was not really accounted for very well, a lot of that money disappeared into people's pockets, didn't get used for purposes they were meant. The big solutions have to come with big projects. But those big projects won't happen, the Alcatels and General Electrics of the world are not going to go to Iraq until the security situation is resolved.
CHETRY: The other big question is what happens now in the power vacuum and the U.S. troop presence is largely going away except for the support role as we said, and you have many competing influences for Iraq. Where does Iraq sit in terms of the global -- in terms of its global presence and its neighbors like Iran, for one?
GHOSH: Well, that's a very good point. Iraq now is much more in the Iranian sphere of influence than it has ever been in its history. And certainly much more in the Iranian sphere than in the American sphere.
I think what we're going to see over the next few years is that Iraq's neighbors will be jockeying for influence in Iraq. I don't think the Saudis are particularly happy that Iraq is now in the Iranian sphere. The Syrians will want influence. The Jordanians, the Kuwaitis -- all of Iraq's neighbors will want a say in how Iraq conducts itself and then how Iraqi politics works out.
The best hope is that this jockeying for influence will take place in the political arena and will not translate into different countries adopting a warlord or two warlords and fighting each other for territory in the way that they did in Afghanistan.
CHETRY: Well, still a lot of questions remain. But at least for the United States, things are proceeding as planned with reducing our presence significantly.
Bobby Ghosh with "TIME" magazine -- thanks so much for being with us this morning.
GHOSH: Anytime.
ROBERTS: And coming up in about 10 minutes' time, a CNN exclusive: "Journey Home." Barbara Starr reports on the extraordinary men and women who risk their lives every day to save wounded U.S. soldiers from the battlefields of Afghanistan. That's just ahead in the next few minutes.
Right now, it's 43 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Breaking news this morning. Reports that a Taliban suicide squad attacked the largest U.S. Military base in Southern Afghanistan this morning. Reuters is reporting that there was an hour-long battle after the initial rocket attack on the base. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the gate. Two other attackers were reportedly killed in the battle, but a spokesman in Kandahar says no one got inside.
CHETRY: We will follow the latest on that. Meantime, we get a check of the morning's weather headlines.
Our Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center for us this morning, and you're having your eyes on the tropic this morning, a newly form tropical storm.
MARCIANO: Yes, a little bit of breaking news from the National Hurricane Center. Tropical storm "Colin" formed at 4:45 or so local or eastern time. Right now, winds are at 40 miles an hour, so just barely a tropical storm. It's moving rapidly to the west-northwest at about 23 miles an hour, but still well over 2,000 miles away from Miami. So, we got some time before we have to deal with this. The forecast is for it to continue on this west-northwesterly track and then, maybe, make a more of a right turn.
So, it looks like the Gulf is out of the picture at this point, but the lower 48 from Florida all the way up to Maine still under the potential of seeing this in the area or at least in the neighborhood by the beginning of next week. Notice at this point, the forecast for intensity does not take it to hurricane strength. We'll see how that verifies. Wichita, Kansas, 108 degrees. How about that yesterday? Topeka, 106, Jackson, Mississippi, 105. We got two boards for you today as far as record high temperatures yesterday. Ft. Smith, Arkansas seeing 107, Joplin 102, Memphis, 100 degrees, and more in the way of heat across the same area today.
Check out this shot of the sun. This was taken Sunday morning. A little coronal mass -- little flare of black. You see the top part of your screen. That is a bunch of plasma that is moving in a hurry towards earth. And it will arrive tonight and tomorrow night, and because of that, we may see some northern lights, maybe even into some of the lower latitudes. So, if you have clear skies tonight or tomorrow night, take a peak outside towards the northern horizon and see if you might see the aurora borealis. I haven't seen that quite some time, so--
CHETRY: That's amazing shot.
ROBERTS: Yes. Here in New York, unfortunately, we might see the billboards of Times Square.
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CHETRY: The Nissin cup noodle sign and its smoke and its steam. That's about it.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
ROBERTS: By the way, when we had Julia Angwin on from the "Wall Street Journal" talking about internet privacy, we mentioned a website where you can track what folks on the website know about you. Here is that website. We had some inquiries. It's www.bluekai.com. You o on there, you click on the consumer section, hit registry, and that'll show you what people know about you and your habits online based on the computer that you're operating. Do it from your home computer. You might be surprised.
CHETRY: Right. Because as you said, there's not as many corporate fire walls in place. Plus, nobody is doing personal business on the computer at work.
ROBERTS: No. People would never do that. Not at work.
CHETRY: Do it at home. This morning's top stories just minutes away. An "A.M. Original," a radical cleric born in America who studied our culture and how we think because he grew up in it. Why experts say that could make him more dangerous than Osama Bin Laden.
ROBERTS: Also, an outspoken Arizona sheriff with a $1 million bounty on his head. His tough stance on illegal immigrants is no secret. How his office is responding this morning?
CHETRY: And right on cue -- sharks showing up off of Cape Cod during shark week. We're going to talk to an expert from the Discovery Channel who tells us more about how to fight a shark if this ever happens to you and come out alive. Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: Fifty-three minutes after the hour. It seems the more the war in Iraq winds down, the deadlier the conflict in Afghanistan becomes. We're losing American lives there every day, sometimes every hour, but many of our wounded warriors are now surviving battlefield injuries that just years ago would have killed them. A CNN exclusive now, Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with "The Journey Home".
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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's before dawn in the trauma bay at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan. Another soldier wounded in the fighting down south, surgeons, nurses, doing everything they can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, two three.
STARR: The journey home starts here. In Vietnam, it could take weeks, but now, wounded can be home in days. CNN was granted exclusive access to see the medical care that makes it possible, and to injured troops, some hours off the front line. In the hospital hallway, army specialist, James Dennis, is being shipped home after being in three attacks in three weeks. He had already been here before. He survived two roadside bomb attacks in the same day and then a couple of days ago --
SPC. JAMES DENNIS, U.S. ARMY: There was indirect fire. I was hit by mortar.
STARR: But still smiling.
DENNIS: I'm good right now. They gave me some medicine.
STARR: In the latest attack, Dennis ordered junior troops under fire to run for safety. He couldn't get away in time.
DENNIS: I didn't even get started running. I guess it knocked me out because I remember pushing myself up off the ground and had all this blood all over me. And then they MEDEVAC me.
STARR: Dennis praises the doctors and nurses.
DENNIS: These people here are awesome. I mean they do their job. I respect these guys a lot.
STARR: Before Dennis is moved to the plane, a last emotional hug from the trauma doc, Captain Joshua Miller.
CAPT. JOSHUA MILLER, AIR FORCE: I saw him over there in that wheelchair, and I just took another look at him. I said, man, what are you doing here again? You know, I'm not supposed to see you again, and sure enough, he'd suffered another explosion injury.
STARR (on-camera): The doors have just shut on this air medical evacuation flight here in Bagram, Afghanistan. The wounded have already been loaded. You can see that medical staff is already taking care of them even before we take off. We are about to go on an eight- hour flight back to Germany. These troops are going to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for further treatment.
STARR (voice-over): Matthew Came, a medic, was on patrol helping our wounded when he was hit.
Your Kevlar didn't protest you? Your vest?
SPC. MATTHEW CAME, U.S. ARMY: It was about one inch right under it. It is right in the bladder (ph).
STARR: Badly wounded, he told his buddies what to do.
CAME: Right away, I just went on to just, you know, talk them through what we need to do and it all went really smoothly. Then a medic from the (INAUDIBLE) went here to help out, and he helped out him (ph) too.
STARR: Now, others are tending to him. He gets relief for his pain. Specialist Came finally under the watchful eye of his nurse. For air evacuation teams easing the pain and devastation can be tough.
CAPT. KATHERINE GARTNER, U.S. AIR FORCE: I've had a couple patients (ph) too were sleeping and just woke up, just couldn't remember what was going on, where they were. And for me, that was the best moment to be there for that patient, to hold their hand and calm them down and let them know I'm here, you're OK, you're going -- and just seeing them relax, OK, I'm good. It's all good.
STARR: For three-time purple heart specialist, Dennis, now on the plane to Germany, it is all good.
You were going from bleeding to hugging your wife and daughters. There's a smile.
DENNIS: It's going to be awesome, you know. When you're near death that close, I mean, I literally thought I was dead when that impact happened. I thought I was dead. But you really don't know what you got until it's almost gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prepare to lift. Lift.
STARR: Tomorrow, the next stop -- Germany.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (on-camera): And in the month of July, 572 Americans wounded in action in Afghanistan. That's approaching double what it was just a couple of months ago. Part two of our journey airs today on "The Situation Room" -- John.
ROBERTS: That was great, great, great story, Barbara. We got to remember though that for, you know, so many people who do manage to make it out to Landstuhl for good medical treatment, there are some that never make it that far, right?
STARR: Indeed.
CHETRY: The stark reality you showed to us this morning, Barbara, but thank you. It's tough to see, but it's happening.
ROBERTS: Yes. At least, they're saving more lives which is terrific.
CHETRY: Two minutes until the top of the hour. We'll have your top stories in just a moment.
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