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CNN Saturday Morning News
Donald Trump Attacks Bush Administration; Reporting from Baghdad; NYC Groom Shooting Indictments; Congress Wants to Talk to Presidential Aides about Fired Attorneys; Grand Jury Indicted Officers In NYC Shooting Death of Groom; Valerie Plame Wilson Speaks Out
Aired March 17, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP: President Bush is probably the worst president in the history of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, how does he feel, do you think, Betty?
This is kind of the buzz online this morning. Donald Trump lashing out at the White House. And that's not all he had to say to our Wolf Blitzer.
We've got that plus this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we're in a Shia neighborhood and you can see we have an Iraqi police escort in front of us with armed police officers and also behind us. We've got three trucks behind us. And you can see there's members of the military and also the police that are constantly talking to us. We have...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: A reporter's reality check -- Kyra Phillips on assignment talking about the dangers of working in Baghdad.
HOLMES: Also, who's that girl?
NGUYEN: The one in a back.
HOLMES: The pink there.
Is that a guy?
NGUYEN: I'm not sure.
HOLMES: Who is that person who stole the show at Valerie Plame's hearing?
From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is St. Patrick's Day, March 17th.
Good morning.
I'm the guy, T.J. Holmes.
This is the girl this morning.
NGUYEN: Betty Nguyen.
And we both forgot our green today.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Don't even think about pinching me.
HOLMES: Not a chance.
NGUYEN: Thanks for starting your day with us.
Let's get you up to speed on what is happening right now in the news.
We do have more white than green, actually, on this St. Patrick's Day across much of the Northeast. Just check this out. You can forget about that spring-like weather that we've been having.
Drivers have been dealing with snow and freezing rain. This shot from Connecticut is typical of the wintry mess stretching all the way from Ohio to Maine. Even a vehicle in President Bush's motorcade got tangled up with another car while traveling a slick highway in Maryland to Camp David. No one was hurt in that incident.
And lots of other places are also dealing with the mess. New Jersey officials so far have logged about 1,300 accidents -- can you believe that? -- 1,300, on the turnpike. At least eight traffic deaths are blamed on the weather, including three people killed in this van when it slid across the median and hit a truck head-on.
Well, air travel is no better. This is new video from the Philadelphia airport. You see people sleeping there. Hundreds of canceled flights left many passengers cooling their heels while they wait for conditions to improve.
HOLMES: Well, Bonnie Schneider in with this -- this weekend. People waiting for conditions to improve.
Will they have a long wait, Bonnie?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST: You're right, it seems like winter does not want to end.
NGUYEN: No.
SCHNEIDER: And of all times, on St. Patrick's Day, to unfortunately have such nasty weather in New England, when there's so much festivities going on.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, from snowstorms to a political firestorm now over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. The White House hasn't decided yet whether key administration officials will testify before a House committee.
Democrats investigating the firings want to hear from political adviser Karl Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and others.
The controversy is threatening the job of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Some lawmakers say he should resign if he misled Congress about the firings.
NGUYEN: Well, it's not just Democrats calling for Alberto Gonzales to step down. Some Republicans think it may be time for the attorney general to go.
But it may come down to presidential loyalty versus political liability.
The story now from CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): How long can President Bush hold out in defending his attorney general?
STEPHEN HESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Well, what we're talking about is a person who has become a liability to the president, but the president cares about him deeply. So that's the equation.
Do you throw him overboard?
The president has done it before with Harriet Miers.
SCHNEIDER: Like Miers, Gonzales is not a favorite of conservatives, who regard him as wobbly on abortion. But he's a personal friend of President Bush. If President Bush's job rating were high, that might be enough to save Gonzales. But it's not.
So Republicans are asking, is Gonzales becoming a political liability for us?
REP. JOHN SUNUNU (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: Many Republican senators have expressed these concerns on the record and, quite frankly, there are a lot of others that talk very frankly in private conservatives.
SCHNEIDER: The president has the right to fire federal prosecutors. It's usually done after the president is reelected.
So what's the problem? HESS: It's a scandal because he was handled so badly from the get go, not because there's anything illegal about it.
SCHNEIDER: Had President Bush fired the attorneys when he began his second term in 2005, with a Republican Congress, he might have avoided a scandal. But he did it at the worst possible time politically -- just after the Democrats took over Congress.
HESS: It was out of sync to propose this and then to do this after another election in which they had lost control of the Congress. It was -- if not suicidal, it was amateurish.
SCHNEIDER: Now, the Democrats have subpoena power and they intend to look into whether there was improper political interference and whether Justice Department officials deliberately misled Congress.
When will Republicans start clamoring openly for Gonzales to go?
When they feel the scandal has become politically threatening to them.
(on camera): Many Republicans have bad memories of the Donald Rumsfeld case. They defended the defense secretary and paid a bitter price for it, only to see the president get rid of him after the damage was done.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOLMES: And speaking of Alberto Gonzales and President Bush, somebody else weighed in here -- Donald Trump. He joined our Wolf Blitzer last night in THE SITUATION ROOM and, as you may know, "The Donald" is not known for holding back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE SITUATION ROOM")
TRUMP: Everything in Washington has been a lie. Weapons of mass destruction -- that was a total lie. It was a way of attacking Iraq, which he thought was going to be easy and it turned out to be the exact opposite of easy.
He reads 60 books a year, he reads a book a week -- that's -- do you think that's -- do you think the president reads a book a week? I don't think so.
He doesn't watch television. Now, one thing I know is that, when I'm on television, I watch, or I try. Because you do. Your own ego says, you know, let's watch, let's see, whether it's good or bad, you want to watch, right?
He doesn't watch television. So he's on television, being interviewed by you or somebody else, he doesn't watch.
Does anybody really believe that? Now they're doing this whole scandal with the U.S. attorneys. Now they're finding e-mails, and it's proven to be a lie. Everything's a lie. It's all a big lie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: I like to watch myself on television, too, Betty.
NGUYEN: I know you do.
HOLMES: And you can join Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM this afternoon at 4:00 Eastern and for the prime time edition at 7:00 Eastern. That's Monday through Friday.
NGUYEN: Yes, the funny part is he's not joking.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: All right, we're going to move on to a serious story, though, because three New York police officers indicted in the shooting death of a man hours before his wedding. Well, we won't know the exact charges until Monday.
But lawyers for the officers say their clients are innocent.
We want to get more now from senior correspondent Alan Chernoff in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The grand jury that met right here is going to be handing up three indictments against the three police officers who took the most shots at the car of Sean Bell, the man who was to be married later that day.
The indictments to be handed up -- Detective Michael Oliver, 31 shots taken; Detective Gescard Isnora, 11 shots; and Detective Marc Cooper, four shots.
The exact charges are to be revealed on Monday. But the head of the detectives' union said this decision will have a chilling effect on the New York City Police Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL PALLADINO, DETECTIVES' ENDOWMENT ASSOCIATION: The message that's being sent now is that even though you're acting in good faith and pursuant to your lawful duties, there is no room, no margin for error. And they want to indict our officers and they have done that. And I firmly disagree with it.
But let me just say this. The only thing that's been done today is they have been indicted. They have been convicted of nothing. They have simply been indicted.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHERNOFF: Indeed, one of the attorneys pointed out this is only the very beginning of the legal process. The detectives will plead not guilty and these cases will most definitely go to court, so a jury would have to convict.
So, of course, again, the beginning of the entire legal process. The exact charges to be revealed Monday morning, 11:00. District Attorney Richard Brown will have the details then.
HOLMES: And that was our Alan Chernoff reporting there.
Now we want to tell you about some of the more popular stories at cnn.com this morning.
First, turmoil in the Texas juvenile corrections system. That has led to the resignation of all six members of the Texas Youth Commission. State lawmakers strongly recommended they step down due to complaints that sexual and physical abuse had gotten out of hand at the state's juvenile detention facilities.
NGUYEN: Also very popular at .com today, a possible solution to your mortgage worries. Yes, the answer could be actually in Anderson, Alaska. The tiny town of 300 souls in Alaska's interior is holding a modern day land giveaway. Dozens of plots are up for grabs and to claim you're, you just put down a $500 deposit by Monday. But, be sure to bring your hammer. You also have to build a home on that site within two years.
HOLMES: That's no good.
And the talk of the NEWSROOM this morning, a green light for the movie that we all knew was just a matter of time.
NGUYEN: It was coming.
HOLMES: Shooting on the Anna Nicole Smith story is actually supposed to begin next month.
NGUYEN: So we got to thinking here in the CNN NEWSROOM -- and I know that can be quite dangerous...
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: And here's what we were thinking about -- who should be the players in the Anna Nicole Smith movie?
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: So...
HOLMES: We do have other things to think about, though, trust me.
NGUYEN: Here you go.
HOLMES: That's my pick over there, on the left. NGUYEN: Sharon Stone.
HOLMES: Sharon Stone. I think she -- she would maybe need to put on a few pounds or something, get a little...
NGUYEN: Get some hair extensions.
HOLMES: Yes, a little bit. But still, I'm going to...
NGUYEN: A few pounds, what are you talking about?
HOLMES: Well, I'm just saying she's kind of...
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: Righto.
HOLMES: Go ahead.
NGUYEN: Thanks to you, Dave, for that visual.
HOLMES: OK.
Sorry.
NGUYEN: OK, my pick is Scarlett Johansson, right there in the middle. See, I can see a little bit of a resemblance there.
HOLMES: She's too -- she's kind of a pure, sweet girl. I can't see the sweet starlet (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
NGUYEN: She's an actress.
HOLMES: OK. So she's...
NGUYEN: They know how to do this.
HOLMES: She could pull it off, I'm sure.
NGUYEN: And then the NEWSROOM pick, Pamela Anderson, for many reasons.
And so that's interesting.
But we had some other ones that we were thinking about, as well, because several of the folks in our NEWSROOM thought Nicholas Cage should play Howard K. Stern, the lawyer/lover.
HOLMES: And then the other big player here, Larry Birkhead, who was the ex-lover, Owen Wilson was the name that some people came up with.
NGUYEN: Hmmm, that's a little bit of a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there.
HOLMES: But I...
NGUYEN: All right.
HOLMES: ... I assure you, folks, we were thinking about other things in THE NEWSROOM besides this movie.
NGUYEN: More important things.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Well, but we're not going to let this go, because we do want to know what you're thinking this morning. We're just trying to have a little fun with this.
Who would you cast in the Anna Nicole Smith movie?
Show us your cast of characters. E-mail us those thoughts at the address on the screen -- CNN -- actually, it's weekends@cnn.com.
Well, it is called the proper way to hang a Confederate flag.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCHA BARBER, MUSEUM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The flag represented part of our culture that we didn't like. And we responded to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: We'll tell you more about this controversial art exhibit just a little bit later.
HOLMES: Also, four years later and the mission not accomplished in Iraq.
CNN's Josh Levs has a reality check on why the president says it's OK for the British to withdraw but not the U.S.
But first, this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIE PLAME WILSON, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: I found out very early in the morning when my husband came in and dropped the newspaper on the bed and said, "He did it." And I quickly turned and read the article. And I felt like I had been hit in the gut.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Valerie Plame Wilson in the spotlight on Capitol Hill. We're going to take a closer look at her testimony.
That is straight ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE WILSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR: She served her country for 20 years. Her cover was compromised by senior officials in the administration. She had a story to tell. There had been lies told about her and about me for the past four years. The opportunity presented itself to come and put paid to those lies and to make sure that the American people understand precisely what happened and how it happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The husband of an outed CIA operative defending his wife and taking aim at her critics. Now, Valerie Plame Wilson is speaking out himself. She testified before lawmakers about the leak that she says blew her cover and ruined her career.
We get more on her public exposure from CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a cold, wet, Washington Friday, the kind that makes lawmakers just want to get out of town, they were nailed to their chairs by a blond with a secret and a story to tell.
PLAME WILSON: My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior government officials in both the White House and the State Department.
FOREMAN: Three things put Valerie Plame Wilson into that position -- a war, some words and whatever it was that went on at the White House that turned life upside down for this forty-something Alaska native and mother of twins, who was undercover for the CIA.
Not anymore.
JAMES MARCINKOWSKI, FORMER CIA EMPLOYEE: She can't even go out for work with a beer with those people anymore, because since everyone knows her, by association, her friends in the agency will have their own cover put at risk should they be seen out in public with her now.
FOREMAN: But with this testimony she is more public than ever before.
ANNE SCHROEDER, POLITICO.COM: Let's be honest, Washington is known as the Hollywood for ugly people. And so all of a sudden you have this beautiful blonde walk in. She's a spy. She also is a mother of twins and married to a former ambassador. The entire package is just completely, you know, jaw dropping.
FOREMAN: It started with the war. In the run-up, Valerie Plame Wilson was busy. The former Penn State student had been recruited by the CIA out of college, had risen in the agency and was secretly investigating Saddam Hussein's suspected weapons of mass destruction.
PLAME WILSON: I love my career because I love my country. I was proud of the serious responsibilities entrusted to me as a CIA covert operations officer and I was dedicated to this work. FOREMAN: Then the words -- as months went by and no WMDs were found, her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, went to Niger, Africa, in search of the smoking gun that would prove Iraq was trying to develop nuclear weapons. Who sent him is still being debated. But Joe Wilson concluded very publicly that the original information about Iraq's weapons was badly flawed.
In short order, conservative columnist Bob Novak wrote a column exposing Valerie Plame Wilson's job with the CIA. That meant her days as a covert operative were over. She read it in the newspaper.
PLAME WILSON: And I felt like I had been hit in the gut. I -- it was over in an instant and I immediately thought of my family's safety, the agents, the networks that I had worked with -- and everything goes through your mind in an instant.
FOREMAN: The information came from the White House. And since it is illegal to out a covert CIA operative, an investigation was soon underway to find out who was involved and if this was payback to get even with Joe Wilson.
KARL ROVE, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: I didn't know her name and didn't leak her name.
FOREMAN: Fingers pointed at top Bush adviser Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney. White House officials and others have suggested all along no one did anything to endanger American intelligence sources, certainly not on purpose.
REP. TOM DAVIS (R), VIRGINIA: There's no evidence here that the people who were outing this and pursuing this had knowledge of the covert status.
FOREMAN: The only person convicted of anything wrong at this point is "Scooter" Libby, one of Vice President Cheney's confidantes. And Plame Wilson is furious about that.
PLAME WILSON: Karl Rove clearly was involved in the leaking of my name and he still carries a security clearance to this day, despite the president's words to the contrary that he would immediately dismiss anyone who had anything to do with this.
FOREMAN (on camera): For a long time, most people in Washington had no idea what Valerie Plame Wilson looked like. Her husband, at one point, even said she would rather chop off her arm than be photographed or talk about what happened.
(voice-over): But she's become a spy world celebrity, posing with her husband for "Vanity Fair" like Jane Bond with Mr. Money Penny, turning heads in a white gown at a big reporters dinner, leaving Washington insiders breathless to see how this spy story will end.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE) NGUYEN: It's intriguing.
HOLMES: Yes, and as intriguing as that was, Valerie Plame wasn't the only one getting attention at that hearing yesterday.
NGUYEN: That's true.
HOLMES: We'll tell you more about that person that you probably -- even if you were listening, you probably couldn't keep your eyes off what was going on in the back there.
We'll tell you more about that protester in pink coming up.
NGUYEN: But first, check out this video -- sure -- ooh.
HOLMES: Oh.
NGUYEN: Ooh. I told you it was kind of rough. Well, reporting can be a dangerous job. We all know that. But that's ridiculous. It's the YouTube video of the day and you can see why. We're going to show it to you again.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Live pictures this morning from a chilly Boston on this St. Patrick's Day. The chilly weather just helps keep that beer cold for the celebrations later.
Now, much of the Northeast under this late winter big chill. Snow and freezing rain creating a mess for many.
And reporter Jessica Mokhiber of our CNN affiliate, Capital News 9, she joins us now live from Albany, New York -- good morning to you, Jessica.
JESSICA MOKHIBER, CAPITAL NEWS 9 CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J.
That's right, we are in the heart of Albany, New York here, in Albany's Washington Park, where this city and the region have been clobbered now for the second time in just more than about a month. Our last big storm being back on Valentine's Day.
Now, St. Patrick's Day, Albany is once again buried in more than a foot of snow. And earlier this morning, we caught up with a few people digging out. The sun is just coming out now here in Albany and it is still lightly snowing and we do expect that snowing to last for a good part of the day.
It started yesterday, Friday afternoon, around 1:00. And it's been pretty much snowing nonstop ever since.
A lot of drivers around here taking it easy, spending a lot of their morning hours digging out. We shot some video of that earlier -- people just trying to got ahead of the storm. There is just so much snow out here and we have really -- I mean since it's still going on and it could continue for the rest of the day, a lot of people here in Albany just trying to get ahead of that, dig out so they don't have to have more snow to contend with later in the day.
And like I said, it was just about a month at this point we were buried on Valentine's Day.
So here we go again, St. Patrick's Day. The same scenario. And people in the entire region just probably going to spend more of their St. Patrick's Day burrowing out of this snow. Albany's annual St. Patrick's Day actually being postponed until next week due to all the heavy snow and safety concerns.
But we're not unused to this here in the Northeast. So I think that pretty much, as much as people are going to spend their day digging out, we'll probably make it through.
HOLMES: All right, I guess they have experience making it through.
Our Jessica Mokhiber from our affiliate Capital News 9.
Jessica, thank you so much.
NGUYEN: Well, the Confederate flag -- just the mere words stirs all kind of emotions -- hate, hurt, even pride. Now, not surprising, a Confederate flag exhibit in Florida is stirring a big controversy.
Brittany Benner of our affiliate station WTSP reports.
BRITTANY BENNER, WTSP CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Lama says he couldn't wait to see the latest exhibit at the Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science.
JOE LAMA, MUSEUM VISITOR: It caused me to start thinking what this is all about, what our nation is about, what we've come through as a people.
BENNER: The artist, John Sims, titled his work "The Proper Way To Hang A Confederate Flag." He says it symbolizes the end of the Civil War and white supremacy.
BARBER: What he wanted was dialogue. That was the result that he was seeking, that the Confederate flag evokes passion among different kinds of people.
BENNER: But some people call this exhibit tasteless and offensive.
ANITA DAVIS, NAACP CHAPTER PRESIDENT: I didn't like looking at that, the hanging noose there. But I knew that they -- most people that were hung were African-Americans or black Americans at that time.
But it didn't offend me because I'm seeing a part of history. But I don't want that history to come back. LAMA: What I would like people to know, when they see the hung Confederate flag, is that we have grown so much as a people and a nation, and from that we can go forward.
BENNER (on camera): Museum curators say they've been asked to take down not only this display with the noose, but also the artist's remaining 14 pieces.
BARBER: The flag represented part of our culture that we didn't like, and we responded to it.
BENNER (voice-over): John Sims says his art work clearly continues reminding Americans of the cultural controversy that continues today. He says finally the color of white supremacy has been brought to justice.
In Tallahassee, Brittany Benner, First Coast News.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
NGUYEN: And despite requests to have the display removed, the museum director says it can stay .
HOLMES: Well, we're going to be talking next about the battle over withdrawing from Iraq.
And CNN's Joshua Levs has been looking into that for us -- good morning to you, sir.
NGUYEN: Yes, good morning.
JOSHUA LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to both of you.
Yes, you know what's going on?
This is wild. You know, the Bush administration is slamming Democrats for talking about pulling out of Iraq. But at the same time, the Bush administration praised Britain's pullout from Iraq.
What is that all about?
That is coming up this morning in the CNN reality check.
But first...
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
PHILLIPS: Security is the number one concern, whether it's for journalists or the military or the Iraqis living here. I had a real reality check as soon as I touched down in Baghdad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: She is not in Kansas anymore, not even Atlanta. In fact, Kyra Phillips on assignment in Baghdad. Her own reality check, as you heard, straight ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Just to give you an idea of how dangerous it still is here in Baghdad four years after the war started, right now we're in a Shiite neighborhood and you can see we have an Iraqi police escort in front of us, with armed police officers, and also behind us we've got two trucks behind us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Baghdad reality check. Combat reporting duties in Iraq. We're going to check in with our Kyra Phillips on her new assignment.
HOLMES: Protests here at home marking the Iraq War's fourth anniversary. We'll talk about that, as well. Also, pretty in pink? What do you think? That's a protester back there trying to steal the scene on Capitol Hill. Just who is that man or woman, or whatever?
NGUYEN: Yes, we're going to find out. Interesting story there. Meantime, we do want to welcome you back. Good morning, everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. We're so glad you could start your day right here with us. And we will start this half hour with Iraq. Monday marks the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War. And in the opening salvo you may remember President Bush went on national TV and announced U.S. and coalition forces had begun military strikes in Iraq.
It was just after 9:30 p.m. March 19th in Washington. But it was already just around dawn March 20th in Baghdad. Fast forward to today. Since the war began, there have 3,210 U.S. service members killed in Iraq. More than 24,000 wounded in action. And instead of a pullback in Iraq, there's now a bit of a buildup, 31,000 more service members being sent to the war zone.
Many Americans are frustrated and outraged over the war. Protests against the war are planned in Washington and other cities this weekend. Last night dozens of people were arrested at an anti- war rally outside the White House.
NGUYEN: Well, how do you make things better in Iraq four years later? That is a question Washington is facing. Joshua Levs joins us now with a CNN "Reality Check."
And the question to you is, any luck finding an answer to that?
JOSHUA LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDNT: Yes. You know, I think it depends who you're listening to these days. Plenty of answers being floated out there, but who's going to win? That's really the battle going on right now.
As you may know, Democrats this week failed in their effort to get an official U.S. pullout plan. And the Bush administration fought against that really hard, saying it would be really bad for America. However, at the same time, the Bush administration is praising Britain's withdrawal from Iraq. So the question this morning is this. Are there mixed messages about Iraq coming from the White House?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're taking sides in a civil war.
LEVS (voice-over): The Democratic effort to pass a resolution setting a timetable for withdrawal failed with no small push from the Bush administration.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So let me say that a precipitous American withdrawal from Iraq would be a disaster for the United States, and the entire Middle East.
LEVS: But last month, when Britain announced its withdrawal plans, Vice President Cheney praised it as a sign things are moving forward. Huh? Here's the explanation. Britain has focused primarily on a section of southern Iraq where U.S. officials say Iraqi forces seem to be taking control.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The British have done what is really the plan for the country as a whole.
LEVS: But Britain could have moved forces to some place racked by heavy violence. Many lawmakers in Britain do not see the pullout as a sign of the war's success.
DAVID CAMERON, CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADER: There have been many, many bad mistakes. Isn't it essential that we learn the lessons of those mistakes?
LEVS: Senator Barack Obama says Britain's pullout really shows Iraq's problems can't be solved militarily.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now Tony Blair can understand that, then why can't George Bush and Dick Cheney understand that?
LEVS: Praising Britain's pullout is not the only move by this administration that makes it tougher to argue for thousands more U.S. troops to be sent to Iraq. There is also the fact that President Bush previously argued against it.
GEORGE W. BUSH. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight. And sending more Americans would suggest that we intend to stay forever.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: Now, the president did also say back then that if military commanders said, you know what, we need more troops, than the U.S. would send more troops. But that's not what happened. What did happen is that the Bush administration and Republicans lost the November elections.
Democrats came into power, that totally changed the balance of power in Washington, that left President Bush looking for a new strategy, and it got new military commanders, and together they support now this idea, Betty, of bringing in more troops, and if they're going to make it happens, it means President Bush facing the biggest political battle of his entire presidency.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. And this is what he will probably be known for. Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks.
HOLMES: Well, kidnappings, torture and murder. This weekend on an all new CNN Special Investigations Unit, the brutality of rogue Shia militias secretly operating within the Iraqi government security forces. Are they putting U.S. troops in danger? Can they be stopped? Don't miss an all-new CNN SIU, "Death Squads," that's tonight at 8:00 Eastern.
NGUYEN: For reporters covering the war in Iraq, it's nearly impossible. The violence, the security problems make it more dangerous than you could even imagine.
HOLMES: And CNN's Kyra Phillips, usually here in Atlanta, sitting right where we are anchoring the news. Now she's in Baghdad. And she told her co-anchor Don Lemon about how difficult covering the story can be.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Security is the number one concern, whether it's for journalists or the military or the Iraqis living here. I had the real reality check as soon as I touched down in Baghdad and I was greeted by our security, and you put on your bulletproof vest, and you've got guns all around you, and very tight security.
And you have to have your head on a swivel. As a matter of fact, you can even hear the military choppers right behind me, as Arwa has probably told you, all through the day and night. They come by twos and they actually come over the area here and patrol the skies.
So if you're hearing the helicopters, they're constantly watching what's going on around on the ground. But, just that small stretch from the airport to our compound, I mean, you're looking everywhere, the security is talking on the mikes and you are having to be on the lookout for snipers and people that you don't recognize on the ground.
You're worried about IEDs. So I've got to tell you, once I got to that compound, I was relieved that we made it there safely. It is definitely a tense ride and that was my first sense of how serious this assignment is -- Don.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And, Kyra, weren't you out -- you were out once -- you went out to cover something. And I guess it took you, I don't know, maybe a couple of hours to go not very far. And then once you got there, the scene that you were actually trying to cover, the camp you were going to was gone. Talk to us about the security there and the check points along the way within just a couple of miles?
PHILLIPS: Sure, I never realized what it's like to go through to get -- what you have to go through in order to get a story here in Baghdad. Back there in Atlanta, we sit around there in our meetings and we brainstorm and there are certain stories that we want, say, Arwa to go out and do for us.
Now I realize how hard it is even to go a half mile outside of the compound where we live and how dangerous it is. Today we set out the do a story on a tent city where there are refugees living. Through our sources we found out -- because a lot of people don't want to say where they're living and don't want to say where they are because they're worried about their security.
But we found out about this one refugee camp and trying to get to that area, less than a mile, just take a look at what we had to go through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Just to give you an idea of how dangerous it still is here in Baghdad four years after the war started, right now we are in a Shiite neighborhood. And you can see we have an Iraqi police escort in front of us with armed police officers and also behind us, we've got two trucks behind us.
And you can see there's members of the military and also the police that are constantly talking to us. We have check points every 600 yards. And the curfew is in place from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You can see how difficult it is just to travel less than a mile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: There is a real perspective as to what our correspondents have to deal with there in Iraq in a war zone. So of course we'll be checking in with Kyra throughout the shows. In the meantime, great ideas, we all have them, right? Have you ever just thought, that's the money-maker, that's the one. Well, we're going to show you how you can cash in on them.
HOLMES: Yes. Up next we're going to talk to one woman who has her idea, and here idea was really so simple. It's called, what is that?
NGUYEN: A Wuvit.
HOLMES: A Wuvit. It's literally fabric and corn. Now you might think...
NGUYEN: You "Wuvit," don't you just "Wuvit"?
HOLMES: I "Wuvit" because it made her a millionaire. She's going to tell us how she did it coming up next.
NGUYEN: And speaking of millionaires. Take a look at this cold cash. Have you ever seen this much? Can you guess how much is there? Here's a hint, those stacks are mostly $100 bills.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: How about feeling like a millionaire? Because check this out. It's just a small blanket with little ribbons and tabs along the side of it. Would you believe this is a million dollar idea. So simple it seems somebody would have thought of it before now. But as more and more people are learning, somebody hasn't. Kim Lavine knows that firsthand because her idea has made her a millionaire. And she's spilling her secrets in a new book, thank you -- no, that's not what book is called, it's called "Mommy Millionaire: How I Turned My Kitchen Table Idea into a Million Dollars and How You Can, Too!". She joins us from Grand Rapids, Michigan. A lot of folks are wanting to thank you this morning for sharing those secrets with us. But we want to thank you for being with us, good morning.
KIM LAVINE, AUTHOR, "MOMMY MILLIONAIRE": Good morning. Thanks for having me.
NGUYEN: Sure.
LAVINE: I'm glad to be here.
NGUYEN: Well, we are thrilled because we want to know the secret to your success. So how did you come up with your particular idea?
LAVINE: Actually made it as a Christmas present for a kid's teachers just over five years ago. I gave it away and before I knew it, I had strangers calling me from all over town, and it was just a bag filled with corn.
My husband had left a bag of feed corn next to my sewing machine and I had that classic eureka moment and you heat it up in the microwave, two to three minutes, it stays hot up to hours.
NGUYEN: Really?
LAVINE: I was selling dozens and dozens off the back of my truck and then one day my husband came home and he told me he was without a job. He was laid off, and I found myself with two little kids, ages 2 and 4...
NGUYEN: And you had to do something?
LAVINE: ... a $200,000 mortgage, and I had to find a way to support my family.
NGUYEN: Well, you know, there's more to it, though. Because it's one thing to have an idea, one thing to be faced with, you know, a husband who is out of a job. And then there's the fear that oh, my goodness, is this really going to be what it takes to feed my family and pay the bills? How did you know that your idea had what it took? LAVINE: You know, back then I didn't know. And I had a lot of people telling me that I was going to fail. And I tell people, you know, if you have a good idea and you have a gut feeling about it, follow your dreams and understand that there's no reward without risk.
And number one, you need to write a business plan. You can evaluate the opportunity. I tell people you can mitigate all risk with information. And that's what a business plan is going to do for you.
NGUYEN: So how do you start out? I mean, how much money does it take to get started in something like this?
LAVINE: I tell people you need a business plan and at least $20,000. And that's realistic. And believe it or not, most people get that first $20,000 from their credit cards. I did, too. And I know people are afraid of running up $20,000 of debt on their credit cards, but just remember, there's good debt and bad debt. Good debt generates revenue, bad debt consumes revenue.
NGUYEN: What kind of guidance did you get? Because, I mean, that's a lot of money, that's a lot of debt. In fact, at one point you were faced with bankruptcy. What kind of guidance did you get to help you walk through these steps, because a lot of moms out there really have no idea where to start?
LAVINE: You know, there's a million consumer products yet to be brought to the marketplace. And nobody understands what this consumer marketplace needs more than moms. And you had -- there are so many places to get good, free information. The first place to go is SCORE, the Service Core Retired Executives. You can go to score.org and find your local office. But probably the best resource is the Small Business Development Center. You can find your local office by going to sba/sbdc.gov. And these are serious people usually based at universities.
NGUYEN: You know, it's one thing to have the money, the principal for this, of course, the idea, and then the guidance. But at some point how do you know where to go to just put your idea out there, so that you can sell it but you're not giving away that idea so that someone can just rip it off?
LAVINE: There are a lot of things you need to do to protect yourself. My company is valued in the millions today, and it's almost all exclusively based on intellectual property, which are patents, trademarks and copyrights. And a lot of people don't think to protect these things right at the beginning.
And the first thing you should do is download a free nondisclosure agreement that you can get at the SCORE template gallery at score.org and this is something you ask people to sign, it protects you in the marketplace and keeps them from ripping you off.
Another thing, people don't know that they can file a provisional patent application for $80.
NGUYEN: Really?
LAVINE: This -- yes, I meet so many inventors who get mired in the patent process, spending $10,000, $40,000. All you need to do is go to uspto.gov, that's the United States Patent and Trademark Office, you can even take a tutorial. It will teach you how to file your own trademark and patent, and a provisional patent application is three pages long. A cover sheet, a description and a drawing and it costs $80 to file and you can -- you know, you should consult with an attorney always. It's always the best case. But a lot of this work you can do yourself.
NGUYEN: And you're proof that you can. In fact you went from being financially stressed to a millionaire just because you had a great idea. And I think the key here is -- what I'm hearing in all of this, yes, you have to have your information, but at the same time you have to stay positive. So Kim Lavine, author of "Mommy Millionaire," we appreciate you sharing the secrets. Because a lot of times, people want to hold those secrets back. But we do appreciate that. So thanks for being with us today.
LAVINE: Thanks for having me. And I want to encourage every woman to follow their dreams.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. Take care.
LAVINE: Thank you.
HOLMES: I'm a guy, can I follow my dreams, too?
NGUYEN: You can do that, as well.
HOLMES: OK. Well, sit tight, everybody. "The WaterCooler" is coming up next. You don't want to miss this one-sided cat fight. That is just ahead. We have got a quick break, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: OK. That video wasn't shocking enough, just wait until you see this. Here's something that they don't teach in journalism school. It happened during a live shot on a story about animal abuse. Now just watch what happens next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... out of their car and killing them.
(HOLDING MEOWING & STRUGGLING CAT)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now as part of their sentence -- this little guy is having fun, but now as part of their sentence the couple is going to have to come right...
(CAT ATTACKS REPORTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Oh, ouch!
HOLMES: Wow.
NGUYEN: That was painful. And you know, it was kind of ironic. She said, the kitty looks like he's having fun. Oh, no.
HOLMES: Right-o. This is a story about cat abuse. Looks like reporter abuse. The cat wasn't too pleased about being in a live shot. Don't know if the reporter's going to get some hazardous duty pay for that story.
NGUYEN: She should.
HOLMES: But of course, every funny piece of video ends up on YouTube.
NGUYEN: And we're going to show it over and over again. OK. So you ever wonder what $200 million looks like?
HOLMES: Every day, baby, every day.
NGUYEN: Feast your eyes on this. Police in Mexico City found it stacked in a neat pile there in a villa in a very posh neighborhood.
HOLMES: Yes. And seven people were actually arrested in what police say was a meth operation. They say it was the largest drug cash seizure ever that they've ever made, at least. And by the way, most of what you're looking at is $100 bills, and it weighs about two tons.
NGUYEN: Wow. That's more cash than I could imagine. Although, I could handle it. If anyone wants to throw it my way. Well, blonde on blonde. You see what we're talking about? One of the persons there is highlighted. And everyone is talking about that lady in pink, or is she? In the background during Valerie Plame Wilson's congressional testimony yesterday.
HOLMES: That is actually Midge Potts, which is a member of the Code Pink anti-war group. Now, you may think or have noticed that Midge may look a little masculine. That is not your imagination.
NGUYEN: Absolutely not. Because Midge herself describes her as a transgender woman. This was Midge when she used to be a man. In fact, a sailor in the U.S. Navy.
HOLMES: Huh. OK. Well.
NGUYEN: We'll move on to our viewer e-mails.
HOLMES: Yes, we will. Betty, quickly, could we please.
NGUYEN: And speaking of women out there, our e-mail today is dealing with the Anna Nicole Smith story and who should really play the prime spots in that story. And we've got a lot of interesting responses. This first one from Rebekah in Kernersville, North Carolina. She says: "How about the talk show host Howard Stern to play Howard K. Stern? " I don't think Howard Stern would want to. But hey, we're throwing it out there.
HOLMES: We've got another one here from Patrick in Toronto, says maybe Melanie Griffin, Stern also a -- what Adam Sandler in here to play...
NGUYEN: Howard K. Stern.
HOLMES: Howard K. Stern. And Johnny Depp, maybe could be Birkhead.
NGUYEN: Well, Natalie in North Carolina says: "Cast Bob Saget as Howard K. Stern."
HOLMES: Another one here, Drew says that Drew Barrymore maybe should be Anna Nicole. And "that could be an easy transformation." OK.
NGUYEN: I'm not really seeing it but OK, yes.
HOLMES: Well, we've move on here and tell you that it looks like the real thing, even feels like it. CNN's Jamie McIntyre takes us for a ride inside the world of virtual combat training.
NGUYEN: Then at 8:30, if you're tired of searching for the fountain of youth, all you have to do is tune in to "WEEKEND HOUSE CALL" because Sanjay Gupta has tips on how you can slow the effects of aging both inside and out.
Plus this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP MUSIC & WAR IMAGES)
HOLMES: A powerful anti-war message posted by a girl too young to remember Vietnam, or the first Gulf War, for that matter. We'll meet the 16-year-old behind peacetakescourage.com. That's in our 10:00 hour. CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIE PLAME WILSON, OUTED CIA OPERATIVE: All of my training, all of the value of my years of service were abruptly ended when my name and identity were exposed irresponsibly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: A reluctant celebrity shares her story for the first time. Valerie Plame Wilson spills on the Hill and it is high drama. We have that ahead.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Also, could terrorists be targeting school buses? The FBI and Homeland Security are warning drivers to be extra aware. We'll tell you why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say we're taking some kind of large- caliber fire RPG.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Insurgents using new tactics to target U.S. choppers in Iraq. We're going to have an exclusive report on the training of new army helicopter pilots. From the CNN Center right here in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Happy St. Patrick's Day. We both forgot our green, but still, we're here. Good morning, I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. We're glad you could be with us on this St. Patrick's Day. And the calendar says March 17th on this day, but the landscape says it's the dead of winter. Much of the Northeast today socked in with snow, sleet and freezing rain. The late-winter storm caused countless accidents across the region, including at least eight fatalities. Air travelers are feeling this as well. This is video from the Philadelphia Airport. You can see a lot of cancelled flights left some folks packed up, nowhere to go. And CNN's Bonnie Schneider is in the Weather Center for us with the latest on if those folks will be hanging out for a while. Good morning to you, Bonnie.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, the White House and the fired U.S. attorneys, something we want to talk about now, because Congress wants to talk to key presidential aides, but the White House says not so fast. At issue, questions about whether the firings were politically motivated. Let's go now to our Kathleen Koch who's at the White House this morning with more on this developing story. What do you have there, Kathleen? Good morning.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty. Several new developments on this front.
First of all, the White House had initially said that the idea for firing the U.S. attorneys came from former U.S. counsel Harriet Miers. Now it says it doesn't know. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow saying only that top political advisor Karl Rove recalls that it was Miers who first raised it with him.
But a new e-mail from January 2005 that's just been released, shows Rove inquiring about how those firings, how the attorney general -- excuse me, U.S. attorney matter was going to be handled, if some of the U.S. attorneys would be fired or if all of them would be fired. Well, furious Democrats say that this proves now that a White House that Karl Rove were involved much earlier and much more intensely in this matter than had initially been indicated. Initially the Justice Department saying it was largely an interior, a matter -- interior matter being handled by the justice department. Now all of this has increased the pressure, of course, on Attorney General Gonzales to resign or be fired, but White House Press Secretary Tony Snow says that's not happening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He continues on his job. I mean, I don't quite understand how to -- the notion is that somehow everything stops because you guys are on a story.
There are more than 100,000 attorneys working for the U.S. Department of Justice doing a lot of important business, including corruption investigations, very good record on that. More than 1,000 prosecutions per year out of the Department of Justice, in some cases approaching 1,500. So the point here is that the Department of Justice, it's a big, important department and continues to function. But we understand there's a certain amount of controversy here.
QUESTION: Is it the president's intention then to keep Attorney General Gonzales in his current position for the remainder of the Bush administration?
SNOW: You're asking me what's going to happen for the next two years, Cheryl (ph). I'm not going to answer it.
QUESTION: How about for the next two weeks?
SNOW: He intends to keep him in the position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Meanwhile, despite a Friday deadline, the White House now says it is not going to be able to let Congress know until some time early next week whether or not it will allow Rove, Miers, or any other current or former White House officials to testify before Congress up on Capitol Hill, as many lawmakers are requesting.
It's now, again, going to only be getting back to them at some point early next week. With that answer, also the Justice Department putting off the release of some 200-plus pages of documents that it has promised congressional committees on this matter.
Now that won't be released - or those documents won't be released until some time Monday. So needless to say, Congress is not pleased about this, Betty, but the White House point that they keep coming back to here is that this is much ado about something that the president certainly has the right to do, and that is to fire U.S. attorneys who serve at his pleasure.
NGUYEN: Well, we hope to hear more next week on all of this. Thank you so much, Kathleen Koch at the White House for us today - T.J.?
HOLMES: Going public, for the first time, an outed CIA operative answers questions about the leak that exposed her identity and as CNN's Brian Todd reports, she's pointing fingers and naming names.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Valerie Plame Wilson blames the White House for blowing her CIA cover.
PLAME WILSON: My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior government officials in both the White House and the State Department. All of them understood that I worked for the CIA.
TODD: But did anyone know she was covert or was blowing her cover just the accidental side-effect of a spin war?
REP. TOM DAVIS (R), VIRGINIA: Because there's no evidence here that anyone out there had any idea that it was an undercover agent.
TODD: A special prosecutor did not charge any administration officials for knowingly leaking classified information and the leakers themselves did not testify today.
But two White House security officials did.
REP. HARRY WAXMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: Because the president said he was investigating this matter and was going to get to the bottom of it.
You don't -- you're not familiar that any -- you're not aware that any investigation took place?
JAMES KNODELL, WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF SECURITY: Not within my office, sir.
TODD: That does not sit well with Valerie Plame Wilson.
PLAME WILSON: Karl Rove clearly was involved in the leaking of my name and he still carries a security clearance to this day, despite the president's words to the contrary, that he would immediately dismiss anyone who had anything to do with this.
TODD: In an interview with CNN in 2004, Rove denied that he leaked her name. But columnist Robert Novak testified in the Scooter Libby trial that Rove was one of his sources for Plame Wilson's identity.
What's the point of her testimony now?
JIM VANDEHEI, POLITICO.COM: What Democrats want to do is put a human face on what's been a very long and complicated scandal. They want people to know that this wasn't just an abstract case about nothing. It's about somebody whose identity was blown and whose career was essentially ruined.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: We contacted the White House about Plame Wilson's remark that the administration did nothing to discipline Karl Rove for his alleged involvement in leaking her identity. A spokesman there would not comment. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
NGUYEN: In trouble in New York. A police officer's attorney says a grand jury has indicted three of five officers involved in the shooting death of a groom just hours before his wedding. The district attorney's office will make the official announcement on Monday. Officers fired 50 rounds at Sean Bell and his friends as they were leaving his bachelor party last November. Bell was killed. His friend survived. An investigation found that none of the three men was armed.
Well, the little black book and the so-called Washington madam. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to stop the sale of Deborah Jean Palfrey's phone and business records. Palfrey's attorney says she's already turned over copies to an unnamed media outlet. The records contain contact information on 15,000 former clients. Palfrey said she sold the records to pay her legal bills.
HOLMES: Setting up shop in the nation's capitol. Protestors ready to mark Monday's Iraq war anniversary. Plus an inside look at what it takes to be a helicopter pilot in the army. Sometimes trainees don't even have to leave the ground.
Also, living longer could slow down wrinkles, even heart disease. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a preview for us.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Betty thanks. Coming up on "HOUSE CALL," we're giving you tips for living a longer, healthier life. Sound good? Well from preventing heart disease and staving off memory loss to advice about boosting your metabolism. All that's coming up on "HOUSE CALL" at 8:30. And Betty, I know you and T.J. aren't going to want to miss this. There's something for everyone in the show. Thanks for watching.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, the verdict is guilty. The charge, negligent homicide. An army staff sergeant is found guilty in the deaths of three Iraqi detainees -- 24-year-old Ray Girouard was acquitted on a much more serious charge of premeditated murder. He could have gotten life in prison, but the reduced conviction could mean a maximum of three years in prison.
We're also approaching the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. That is on Monday. Anti-war protestors plan demonstrations in the nation's capitol today. And late last night, protestors gathered in front of the White House. Some were even arrested. Nearby an anti- war prayer service was held at the National Cathedral.
HOLMES: And while those demonstrations continue, also continuing, the training for combat troops. A new group of helicopter pilots learning lessons from the battlefield. Jamie McIntyre visited the army's top helicopter flying school. It's a report you'll see only on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the army's aviation war fighting center in Fort Rucker, Alabama, it's the job of aging veterans to keep rookie students from getting shot down. The pilots and students are all well aware that this year in Iraq U.S. helicopters have become a favorite target of insurgents, too often with deadly results. But it's not first thing on their mind. LT. CURTIS WILLIAMS, APACHE STUDENT PILOT; I want to focus on training to make sure that I'm ready for when my time comes, if something like that is to arise.
MCINTYRE: First lieutenant Curtis Williams has been a soldier since the first Gulf War in 1991 and now he's itching to fly an Apache in a war zone. In particular, he's grateful his I.P., instructor pilot, is just back from the front lines.
(on camera): Did you have any close calls when you were in Iraq?
CWO GREG SANDERS, APACHE INSTRUCTOR PILOT: I sure did.
MCINTYRE: You're flying in Iraq, in a combat situation, you're the pilot. What are you thinking?
SANDERS: Self-preservation. You have to take care of yourself and the aircraft to be effective in a combat multiplier.
MCINTYRE (voice-over): Alan Mays is another veteran instructor with Iraq experience. He sat down in the cockpit of his Kiowa scout helicopter to show me how not to get shot out of the skies.
CWO ALAN MAYS, KIOWA INSTRUCTOR PILOT: Our primary thing is air speed is life. We never stop flying. We never come to a stationary hover. We don't have to as a scout pilot, because we go forward on the battlefield.
MCINTYRE: Mays is reluctant to give away the latest tactics. He knows anything he reveals on CNN could help the enemy, but he confirms that reports from the front lines are incorporated into every lesson.
MAYS: We pass it off to our students. These are the things that are happening, these are the tactics the enemy are using and this is how to combat those tactics.
W.O ERICK KNARZER, KIOWA STUDENT PILOT: I'm extremely confident. The IPs we have here I think are the best pilots around. And the machine is fantastic. I wouldn't have wanted to fly this helicopter if I wasn't confident and I love this helicopter.
MCINTYRE: It won't be along before Erick Knarzer and his fellow army pilots test their metal in Iraq or Afghanistan. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, Fort Rucker, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Kidnapping, torture, murder. This weekend on an all new CNN "SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT," the brutality of rogue Shia militias secretly operating within the Iraqi government's security forces. Are they putting U.S. troops in danger? Can they be stopped? Don't miss a new "CNN SUI: Death Squad." That's tonight and tomorrow night at 8 Eastern.
NGUYEN: Well thousands of cans of pet food are recalled. How it could harm your cat or your dog, that is coming up. HOLMES: Also, this is nuts to think about here, terrorists behind the wheel of a school bus? A look at a possible link between some wanna-be bus drivers and terrorist groups.
NGUYEN: And Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at living longer and healthier and some of the ways to fight aging and disease.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a top athlete?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an NFL player in the making right here.
COSTELLO: Justin Johnson is the No. 1 high school running back in the country, according to "Sports Illustrated."
JUSTIN JOHNSON, HIGH SCHOOL RUNNING BACK: If you want to be the best, you have to train.
COSTELLO: Chip Smith has trained over 600 professional NFL players at competitive-edge sports. Most of these elite athletes spend four to six hours a day training. While studying at the Soviet Sport Institute in Moscow, he uncovered three key components that he believes are essential to athletes enhancing their sports performance.
CHIP SMITH, TRAINER: So we train with consistence in the movement, overspeed in the movement and reaction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has this thing called Chip abuse. It's like an existent band, and if you put those on, it keeps constant resistance on your muscles. We run with them, then take them off. We feel like we can run a two-flat 40-yard dash.
COSTELLO: Chip says all athletes can improve their sports performance by staying committed to training hard. Carol Costello, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, a diving adventure turns deadly. Now the dangerous mission is to recover the bodies. Authorities say three scuba drivers died off the Florida Keys yesterday while trying to explore a wrecked military ship. It's not clear how they died. One person did survive, though. Rescue drivers say the two remaining bodies are deep inside the ship. They plan another effort today to recover those bodies.
Also, before you feed the dog or cat this morning, you'll want to check the label, because pet food maker Menu Foods is initiating a recall of millions of cans and foil pouches of dog and cat food. Now this after 10 animals actually died from kidney failure. The recall includes an extensive list of brand names and a lot of lot numbers, including store brands and wet pouches by Iams and Eukanuba. You can get the recall information on the company's Web site, www.menufoods.com/recall.
HOLMES: Terror on wheels! It's a possibility, and CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena tells us now about a potentially new threat in the CNN "Security Watch."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This bulletin says that some school districts have reported what they call an unusual increase in the number of foreign nationals that are seeking positions as school bus drivers. FBI investigators have revealed that a number of those applicants had either connections to or sympathized with known terrorist groups.
Now it's not saying these people are terrorists, and that's an important distinction. The bulletin does go on to say, though, that the most troublesome to investigators were these individuals who the FBI reported had expressed an interest in the terrorists' use of explosives, and that's important, because historically, terrorists prefer to use large vehicles to conduct their attacks.
Now at this point, this is just a concern. The bulletin says that there is new information indicating that these individuals are involved in terrorist plots or ever would be. FBI's spokesperson Richard Palkow (ph) insists that parents and children have nothing to worry about. He says that this bulletin was sent out to educate law enforcement about trends that federal authorities are seeing so that they'll be on the lookout for any suspicious activity. Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right, this just into CNN. We are getting word from the U.S. military that some 350 Iraqi civilians and six U.S. troops are being treated for chlorine gas exposure after suicide bombings south of Fallujah. That's really the only information we have at this time.
Of course, we're trying to obtain more for you. But again, the U.S. military says some 350 Iraqi civilians and six U.S. troops are being treated for chlorine gas exposure after suicide bombings just south of Fallujah. As soon as we get more information on this, of course, we'll bring it straight to you.
Well in other news, it was coming, art imitating life. We're talking about the drama surrounding the life and death of Anna Nicole Smith.
HOLMES: Also, the nation's mortgage meltdown. Is it shrinking the value of your home? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We knew that prices were going to trend downwards here this year, probably through the third or possibly even the fourth quarter. Now it looks like the down side is going to be even deeper.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Just how low will they go? We'll take an in-depth look at the sinking subprime lending market, coming up on CNN's "OPEN HOUSE" at 9:00 Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: In Albany, New York, the mayor postponed today's St. Patrick's Day parade until next week because of heavy snowfall. Reporter Jessica Mokhiber of our CNN affiliate Capital News Nine joins us from Albany, New York, where you're surrounded by snow this morning and I understand more's going to be falling today. Hi, there.
JESSICA MOKHIBER, CAPITAL NEWS NINE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty. That's right, Albany is dealing with its second snowfall on a holiday this year. It is St. Patrick's Day, and we are once again clobbered with snow.
Just about a month ago on Valentine's Day, we were clobbered back then, too. We're in the city's Washington Park, where there's definitely more than a foot of snow. As you can see here, there is a huge mound to get over. I'm going to take a little walk and show you just how much snow there is.
Now, I don't know if you can see this, but it's about up to my knees at this point. And right down here in Albany's beautiful Washington Park is a running trail. You can't see it at all now. We were starting to melt and see the ground just yesterday or the day before, but now we are once again clobbered with snow. And like I said, the second time in just more than a month.
A lot of snow, people here are going to be spending a great part of their St. Patrick's Day digging out. Cars are going to be buried, but people here are going to dig out. We are from the northeast, and we are used to this type of weather. So once again, we can handle it.
NGUYEN: Yes, they'll be trading in those running shoes for some snow plows today. Thank you, Jessica. We appreciate it.
We want to get you now to Bonnie Schneider now for a quick look at those storms we just saw a peek of.
HOLMES: Yes, just a little peek there. Is there much more to come, Bonnie?
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NGUYEN: All right, thank you Bonnie. We do have an update on a developing story that we're trying to get to today. We're getting word now from the U.S. military that, as we mentioned earlier, some 350 Iraqi civilians and six coalition forces members have been treated for chlorine gas exposure after two suicide bombers detonated their dump trucks in separate areas south of Fallujah.
Again, some 350 people being treated. Do want to let you know that according to the U.S. military, suicide car bombers had used chlorine against Iraqis and al Anbar a total of five times since January 28. These bombs occurred late yesterday. Again, some 350 Iraqi civilians, six U.S. troops treated for chlorine gas exposure, I should say, after suicide bombings occurred near Fallujah.
We'll stay on top of this story for you.
REYNOLDS: And another big story. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been a hot water.
Your next check of the headlines, including that story's going to be up at the top of the hour.
NGUYEN: First though, living longer, what you can do to slow aging inside and out. HOUSECALL with Dr. Sanjay Gupta starts right now.
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