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CNN Saturday Morning News
Haiti Facing Cholera Outbreak; President Obama on the West Coast; Countdown to Election Day; WikiLeaks Releases Iraq War Docs; Stopping Women for Sale; Helmet-to-Helmet Hits Banned
Aired October 23, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: The whistleblower website WikiLeaks is at it again. They have just put out thousands of pages of classified documents from the Iraq war.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Also, we know that the midterm elections, critical midterms are just 10 days away now, but in one particular state, if you head to the polls in the wrong attire, you might be asked to leave. We'll explain the wardrobe malfunctions to come.
Hello to you all from the CNN center, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING for this October 23rd. I'm T.J. Holmes.
MALVEAUX: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Thanks for starting your day with us.
HOLMES: We start in Haiti here, the death toll in Haiti is going up now after a fast-moving cholera outbreak. It's at 194 dead and now 2,300 people are sick. Now, the witnesses are describing scenes of bedlam and chaos, people are fighting literally to try to get care.
Imogen Wall is a spokeswoman for the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. She is on the phone for us from Port-au-Prince.
Ma'am, thank you for being here. Do we know the source yet of this cholera outbreak?
IMOGEN WALL, UN HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (via telephone): No, frankly, the source is not our primary concern right now. It's managing this very serious outbreak.
HOLMES: We know now the number is up to 194. Can you imagine what it's going to be like if we don't get this under control? What are we looking at here?
WALL: Well, I think we're looking at possibly a crisis that's going to last several weeks. We don't believe we're at the peak of the epidemic yet. This is an extreme situation. The most important thing is to do our best to contain it.
Part of the problem here is that Haiti - this is not an endemic disease to Haiti. The last cases in 1960. There's very little resistance among the population. There is also very little expertise in the medical profession here about how to handle this.
One of the most important things right now is isolation and patience and isolation of those suspected. We've got two units going up in the hospital (INAUDIBLE) at the moment and report (ph) to the clinics so they can actually manage the case load effectively and try and contain this.
HOLMES: And ma'am, try to put in context for us that case load you speak of. Just how many are coming out to get treatment at how many places by how many physicians or other health care providers right now?
WALL: Well, the health facilities in (INAUDIBLE) which is the area where this outbreak is centered, which is not an area primarily affected by the earthquake were extremely rudimentary. (INAUDIBLE) cope for the next three days so that gives us a little bit of time to get them the replenishments they need. We have the materials in country to get there to cope with this.
There's a logistical problem. Some areas are flooded because it's the rainy season. But we are moving equipment and personnel into the area as fast as we possibly can.
Cholera is treatable. One of the most basic things you can do is just get fluids into people. So a huge part of this (INAUDIBLE), but if they recognize the symptoms early enough and they can get safe water and rehydration source into their family members who appear to be suffering, they can recover themselves.
So we're doing a huge effort to empower the population to actually recognize and manage themselves as well as getting --
HOLMES: Imogen Wall, again, with the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Ma'am, thank you for hopping on the line with us. We'd like to stay in close contact with you to continue to get updates about what's happening there. But we appreciate you taking the time now. We know there's a heavy task on your hand right now, but thank you so much for your time.
WALL: You're welcome. Thank you so much.
MALVEAUX: Another developing story happening this morning. The release of almost 400,000 -- yes, 400,000 classified documents dealing with the Iraq war. Now, the documents published late yesterday come from the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
CNN was offered access to these documents in advance of the release. We've declined because of conditions for accepting the material. WikiLeaks' founder and editor Julian Assange says that the documents list far more Iraqi civilian deaths than previously reported.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JULIAN ASSANGE, FOUNDER, WIKILEAKS: In that material, the deaths of some 109,000 people are documented, internally declared 66,000 civilians working with the Iraq body counts. We have seen that there are approximately 15,000 never previously documented or known cases of civilians who have been killed by violence in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The documents released also included the names of 300 Iraqis aiding American forces. And a Pentagon official says that the U.S. military in Iraq is notifying those people, quoting here, to try to safeguard them.
HOLMES: We want to take a look now at some of the stories that are making headlines. Militants wearing suicide vests attacked a UN compound in the western Afghan city of Herat today. A local government spokesman says UN forces killed at least three of the attackers. This part of Afghanistan has not experienced the high level of violence that other regions have endured.
Also, take a look at what's happening in France. This has been happening over the past weeks. They've had a week of strikes there that have led to fuel shortages. Millions of people have hit the streets. They're upset over pension reform that the government wants to put in place. The French senate has approved a controversial retirement bill that raises the minimum age for pension benefits from 60 to 62. Despite all this public outcry, that pension bill could become law as early as next week.
MALVEAUX: Well, it's just 10 days before the midterm elections, President Obama is busy, very busy campaigning for fellow Democrats this weekend.
My colleague Ed Henry is traveling with the president. He's joining us live in Las Vegas where Mr. Obama just stumped for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Ed, covering the president during the campaign, we saw tens of thousands of folks in the crowd. There's been some frustration early on that we didn't see those numbers just in the last couple of weeks, but I understand that those crowds now are growing.
What are you seeing?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, Suzanne. Over the last few days, you had a pretty big crowd in Seattle, for example, University of Washington. He's doing a lot of these big rallies at college campuses to reactivate some of the young people that supported his presidential campaign in 2008, maybe voted for the first time ever and may stay home in 2010. The president wants to get them to the polls.
He's also urging people to mail in those early ballots. Nevada here is one of the states where you can go vote early at some of the malls. They have polling stations set up already. You can get out early, you don't have to wait until November 2nd. In terms of crowds, yesterday at USC, another college campus stumping for Senator Barbara Boxer. The president has 37,500 people. So the crowds are growing. He's getting a little bit of a touch of reaching back to 2008, maybe.
But the big question is going to be, will the people show up to these rallies? Are they just showing up because it's a big show and they get to see the president? Or are they going to follow up and actually go to the polls?
The president's trying to make the sale by saying look, this is not a referendum on his leadership or Harry Reid's leadership. It's all about a choice.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and the policies that are helping to get us out of this mess. It's a choice between the past and the future, between falling backwards and moving forward, a choice between hope and fear. I don't know about you, but I want to move forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: I just got an e-mail, though, from a top Republican aide who is saying how can the president claim it's not a referendum on his leadership or Harry Reid's leadership when you've got 15 percent unemployment in the city of Las Vegas, far worse than the national average, foreclosure capital of the nation as well.
So it's a tough sale for this president right now as well as Harry Reid. He's trying to avoid the fate of Tom Daschle, another majority leader six years ago who went down in defeat back home, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Ed, this week I'm following the first lady Michelle Obama out west in California. Where are you going to be?
HENRY: Yes, well, she is going to be going to California and Washington state helping Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray, some of the senators that the president was been with. In November, of course, she's coming back here to Vegas because she wants to help Harry Reid. I think that kind of star power that Vice President Biden was here in Nevada as well a couple of days ago earlier this week. It shows you just exactly how worried the White House is right now.
I'm going to be staying here to do "BALLOT BOWL" later today. It's coming back 3:00 p.m. Eastern live, Jessica Yellin (ph) and I, she'll be in Florida. I'll be here in Nevada talking about this race. President going head-to-head, helping Harry Reid who is going head-to- head with Sharron Angle, a Tea Party favorite here giving Harry Reid the fight of his political life.
MALVEAUX: All right, Ed, thank you so much. Good to see you.
Well, remember, kicking off CNN's very first "BALLOT BOWL" in frigid Iowa, snow, just two years ago during the campaign and it is back as Ed said. To hear the candidates, President Obama, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, they're all saying, what they're saying about the races and the issues as we count down to those important midterm elections with the best political team on television. That is "BALLOT BOWL" airing from 3:00 to 6:00 Eastern this afternoon only on CNN.
HOLMES: Well, this sounds like a great room to be in, the women who are the movers and shakers that make things happen. "Fortune" magazine got all these women together in the same room and I was not invited to be there to hang out with them. But they were there to give some words of wisdom about their own success. We're getting their opinions on everything from politics to business coming up.
MALVEAUX: They would have welcomed you, T.J., I think. Midterm elections drawing near. Third party ads are heating up. How this ad by a Chinese professor is causing quite a stir in the political world.
HOLMES: But first, for you folks, out there looking for a job, would you believe there are some 1,500 available right now? Despite being under fire for its part in the economic collapse and currently under investigation by attorneys general from all 50 states for their home foreclosure practices, one bank is still offering some 1,500 jobs. They have that many listed right now as open.
Which bank is it -- JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Ally Financial? That answer for you coming up right after the break.
It's 10 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Well, before the break, we asked the question of our jobs quiz. Which bank has over 1,500 jobs listed right now? JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo or Ally Financial? Well, the answer is B, Bank of America. They have 1,693 listings right now.
We are keeping a close eye on the tropics this morning with tropical storm Richard that is down in the Caribbean.
HOLMES: Yes, Bonnie Schneider, Richard seems like such a nice guy. But how is Richard treating us these days?
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Sixteen minutes past the hour now.
Usually, you got all kinds of other things on your mind when you go into the voting booth. You know your future, things like that. But you've got to be worried about what you're wearing, guys, when you go to Connecticut. Linda McMahon, as you know, the candidate for the Senate there in the state of Connecticut. And she is -- OK. You see some WWE stuff. Guys, I think you all know this story. You're familiar with this, but Linda McMahon closely tied to WWE, the World Wrestling Entertainment that she and her husband built from the ground up.
Some of this stuff you're seeing you might not be able to wear because, guys, they are saying it's possibly election or campaign material.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Because it's associated --
MALVEAUX: Too closely tied.
LEVS: It could be praising. And you're not supposed to wear things to the polling site in Connecticut that encourage others to vote a certain way. So they're saying it might be this way.
It's interesting also because she's up against Richard Blumenthal and in general, her whole WWE background has been something of a controversy throughout the campaign, people raising questions about it and depictions of women.
So now this is just the latest time that people are reminded of this part of her history. Then again, it's how she got where she is in a lot of ways.
MALVEAUX: I wonder if someone's going to wear it accidentally and maybe not know.
HOLMES: That's the thing. And again, we need to make clear that the secretary of state's office is not saying you can't do it. Quite frankly, you'd have a lawsuit on your hands if you told people what they can and can't wear. But they're telling people around the state, the registrars, people who are working at the actual offices, you may ask them to change it if on a case by case basis you think something's up.
LEVS: Cover up a hat, cover up a shirt. No one will be denied the right to vote, they can be asked to go change.
HOLMES: But one person walking in, not going to be that much of a difference. But the example they used, say 50 people walked in with WWE, they're clearly trying to make a message. That's a little different.
LEVS: Maybe some people will.
HOLMES: Now they put it out there like this. It wouldn't have been a problem before. I haven't seen this video yet. Go ahead and roll it. I haven't even seen this myself. Let's just watch this together. I'm told something a little incredible is going to happen as we see the truck approach.
MALVEAUX: Oh, my goodness. HOLMES: You see a guy on a bike there slams into the truck and goes flying. Now the rider we told did survive the accident. Not exactly sure what kind of shape he is in. Don't have the locater here for where this is. But we saw this video on YouTube. (INAUDIBLE) It seems like he was in a yellow shirt. Clearly he survived. Well I know what kind of shape he's in, he's worried about his bike. Can you roll that again for me?
LEVS: So he just --
HOLMES: Can you cue that up for me one more time? OK. We're going to cue this back up. I can't imagine after flipping like that that the guy would get up so quickly, but it looks like it was the same yellow shirt.
LEVS: I think it's the guy.
HOLMES: The same guy. So when you see the truck approach, you need to pay close attention.
LEVS: Yes, there he is in the yellow shirt.
MALVEAUX: (INAUDIBLE) and then he walked back.
HOLMES: He does -- I'll just point out --
MALVEAUX: Wow. That's a double flip.
HOLMES: So the guy -- clearly he survived because he got up and he looked concerned about his little bike there. That's amazing.
MALVEAUX: It really is. Well, T.J., you've been traveling all week which goes to shows you life on the election express can be exhausting. He's just taking a little snoozer there.
HOLMES: Our Josh Rubin who takes care of the bus, the producer there --
LEVS: Were you aware of these pictures?
HOLMES: No, I had no idea until the next day. This is kind of his thing. So many people have used the bus over time. You're out there traveling a lot and every time he sees somebody go to sleep, he snaps a picture.
LEVS: Oh, great. Interesting collection for him.
HOLMES: Yes. I don't know what he does with them.
LEVS: We've got to talk with this guy.
HOLMES: I don't know what he does with them.
MALVEAUX: Did you have a good time?
HOLMES: I learned a lot. It's always good to get out there like that. And really, when you have a week to immerse yourself in the community and story, that's different than just going out for one story, one shoot. But it was exhausting, five days, six stops. And two phones that I'm charging as I'm sleeping.
LEVS: And you get the sleep where you can get it.
HOLMES: Twenty minutes past the hour. This seat is a little comfy. Quick nap, we'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: They're the movers and shakers from inside the White House, the board rooms, even on the cat walk. They're offering up words of wisdom on all the hot topics. "Fortune" magazine held a women's summit in Washington recently and I had an opportunity to sit down with some of the most powerful women in the world to get their opinions on business, politics, how to break through the glass ceiling, all a part of our series on women who rule the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: They are mothers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My passion is I have to say my kids.
MALVEAUX: Models.
TYRA BANKS, BANKABLE ENTERPRISES: They were like oh, you could never be a successful model because you're a black girl.
MALVEAUX: Media moguls and movers and shakers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I rule the company with my head, heart and hand.
MALVEAUX: Women who rule the world. What do you rule?
KAY KRILL, CEO, ANN TAYLOR: I rule Ann Taylor.
INORA NOOYI, CEO, PEPSICO: I run PepsiCo.
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: I am the secretary of Health and Human Services.
DEBRA LEE, CEO, BET: I rule BET networks.
MELODY BARNES, DIR., WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY: Right now probably just my household and even my husband would probably question that.
MALVEAUX: We sat down with some of "Fortune" magazine's 50 most powerful women and their featured speakers, many of them CEOs to get their take on the big issues starting with any words of wisdom for President Obama.
What do you think about the Obama administration's economic policies? Is it good for big business like yours?
KRILL: The health care reform is going to be tough for a lot of big businesses.
LEE: This administration needs to do a lot more and understand business a little bit more. And I think with Larry Summers leaving and some of the other turnover in the White House, maybe this is the opportunity to get more business leaders involved in the discussion.
MELODY BARNES, DIR., WHITE HOUSE DOMESTIC POLICY: Getting into the discussion has meant figuring out how to punch through the glass ceiling.
ANDREA JUNG, CEO, AVON: I think I think slightly differently, but differently than other women, not just other men.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Knowing your subject matter, being the expert.
NOOYI: I bring a lot of emotion to work. I look at all of my employees at PepsiCo as members of my family.
BANKS: People telling me I couldn't do it and it's been like that throughout my entire career. And it used to frustrate me and now it excites me.
MALVEAUX: The excitement comes from following their passion. For some it was instilled early in life.
SEBELIUS: My dad ran for office when I was five. I grew up thinking that's what people did. They went door-to-door, put up yard signs.
BARNES: I did. I was about eight years old and my parents were always very active in the community.
MALVEAUX: For others, it was a hard-earned struggle to be on top.
BANKS: I was very strategic in figuring out how to breakthrough. And I was like just be yourself. Also being myself had to do with gaining a little weight.
MALVEAUX: As mothers and wives balancing professional success with family life means sacrificing.
SEBELIUS: We've been married for 35 years and we're sort of now in a commuter marriage.
KRILL: I try to leave there by 5:00 or 5:30 at night because I want to have dinner with my boys.
MALVEAUX: So any advice for young women today?
SEBELIUS: I think women have to be willing to take a few more risks. BANKS: Not be ashamed of the dream, to not be ashamed to want to be the best.
MALVEAUX: One thing they all have in common, they love what they do.
NOOYI: I think it's true for all CEOs today, work is life and life is work and we actually love it. I love my job.
MALVEAUX: If your job is hanging out with P. Diddy, what do you do for fun?
LEE: That's a good question. I guess my job is fun. You know, I enjoy it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Coming up at 10:00, I'm going to sit down further with media mogul Tyra Banks to talk about shattering the glass ceiling, gaining some weight, and being a head of a corporation. But in part of my interview, you'll see she turns the tables on me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BANKS: You need a better answer for why you pretty and you smart and how it's OK.
MALVEAUX: It is OK.
BANKS: Ask her why she is successful and pretty and smart and didn't get held back by all the pretty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: She's a trip, Tyra Banks. Her story coming up at 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Checking top stories: We have new details on a developing story out of Afghanistan. Government officials in the western province of Herat say three or four militants were killed earlier this morning in a failed attack on the United Nations compound there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON ANDRUS, DEP. DIR., PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORG.: This outbreak is likely to get much larger, given our experience with cholera epidemics in the past. Particularly in a population that has really no protective immunity not having been exposed recently to cholera. So we expect it to get bigger. We have to expect that and react -- and react to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: The medical assessment from Pan American Health officials monitoring the cholera outbreak in Haiti. The nation's health ministry now says there are 194 confirmed dead and another 2,300 people have gotten sick. American relief agencies are sending help.
Back in the United States, a shark attacked and killed a 19-year- old man as he was boogie boarding off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, yesterday. It happened about 100 feet offshore when the shark bit the man's leg of and pulled him under water. Lifeguards closed the beach and two others nearby.
Well, ten days and counting until all those important midterm elections and candidates of the political rock stars are coming out and they're busy campaigning for votes. And a rock star with us, deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, joining us live from Washington.
Paul, we've seen you many, many times this week with our "Political Ticker". I understand that Sarah Palin and Michael Steele are stumping together again, right? This weekend?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: They sure are. You know, you were just talking to Ed Henry out in Vegas you've got the president today on the Democratic side; you can't get a bigger rock star than him.
But Sarah Palin is extremely -- is extremely popular with Republicans. And you're absolutely right. She'll also be teaming up today in Orlando, Florida with Michael Steele, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. They did it last week in Orlando -- I mean in Anaheim, California, and the idea here is it's a fundraiser and a rally.
They wanted two things, they want to raise some money for the Republican Party for those candidates in this last week and they also want to excite Republican voters who are already pretty excited. So that happens this afternoon.
I believe it will be part of "BALLOT BOWL". We have our Jessica Yellin there in Orlando.
And also today, let's talk about. Let's talk about Ted Strickland, the Governor of Ohio. He is running for re-election this year and Suzanne he faces a pretty tough re-election. So he's jumping in the RV today. That's right he's jumping in an RV and he's going to be cruising through southeast Ohio, which is a more and more countryside part of the state, a kind of rural part of the state. And he'll be reaching out to voters this weekend with the RV.
An interesting way to campaign and he's in a fight for his life with John Kasich the Republican nominee who is a former Congressman -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Ok, so he's in an RV but I understand former President Bill Clinton is going to be doing a little bit of tailgating. Tell us a little bit about that?
STEINHAUSER: Oh, yes well, its football season right?
MALVEAUX: Yes, sure.
STEINHAUSER: The former president is going to end up tomorrow in Minnesota. And there's a big game, a big NFL game between the Vikings and the Packers. That is a big rivalry up there.
So what's the former president is going to do? He's going to be at a tailgate party and a watch party where they're going to watch the game.
He's going to be teaming up with the state's two Democratic senators. But it's not for them. It's for a state lawmaker called Tarryl Clark who is running against Michelle Bachmann a Republican Congresswoman up there who is pretty popular with Tea Party types.
So the president will be tailgating and mixing some politics together. We'll see what happens -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, have -- have fun, Paul. And we'll see you soon.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
HOLMES: Now, one way that this political season is different from others. A whole lot of money going into what are called third- party ads. A lot of them are focusing on an issue that usually doesn't get a lot of attention.
Bring Josh Levs back in here now to explain.
LEVS: Yes.
HOLMES: Throwing money at something that usually doesn't get a lot of attention. What's that?
LEVS: Yes at this point in the race they usually don't. And I'll tell you, we have a new ad that we can show you that's doing just what we're talking about. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE AD)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: What you're seeing here is what's supposed to be a Chinese professor in 2030 talking about societies that have fallen down. Now skip to the end of this video -- end to this ad and what you see is them talking about the United States and said, of course, we owned most of their debt.
This is a new ad that has just come out. It's from citizens against government waste. And this is a group that you all know because we talk to you about it every year. The pig book comes out and they take a look at pork -- pork barrel spending in Congress.
This is what's called a nonpartisan group, they call themselves nonpartisan. And they are far from the only third-party group that is focusing on the national debt this year.
Right here is another one that many of us have seen it's called "Stop Digging". Let's take a look at a quick clip of that and what you see here -- this one from Public Notice, you've probably seen it a couple of times -- and it talked about the same idea about Congress creating big debt and creating an unsolvable problem for the future of this country.
Well, our expert here on political ads, Evan Tracy of the Campaign Media Analysis Group told me that this election is a whole new story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVAN TRACEY, CAMPAIGN MEDIA ANALYST GROUP: The national debt has been a losing issue for candidates going back to the 1990s. In this election because people have experienced debt on a personal basis during the foreclosure crisis, to the crash in Wall Street and even things like Greece in the backdrop, these messages are going to help in these elections. They're going to help the candidates that are really positioning against government spending.
So, yes, these groups are going to have an impact. They're helping, again, just reinforcing these macro themes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And he also told me a lot more money is flying around this year partly as a result of a Supreme Court decision that ultimately freed up some corporate money, basically, to be involved in more of these third party ads that are using corporate funds.
He also told me that in recent races Republicans were sitting it out, holding on to a lot of their money because they didn't see a lot of opportunity to get a lot of advancement, a lot of bangs without buck. But this time around now Republicans are putting money into these kinds of ads that they feel play against the president and the administration.
Whereas, a lot of Democrats are not feeling so excited about this race, a lot of Democrats -- holding on to their money this time around. We're asking you what you think about these third-party ads.
I'm at Facebook and Twitter go ahead and weigh in. Are they impacting your vote? What do they make you think? What do you think about some of these ads including the controversial one I just showed you? I will be following that.
And T.J. and Suzanne, based on the massive amounts of money we're seeing, a lot more of these ads leading up to the election.
HOLMES: All right, Josh, we appreciate you as always. LEVS: You bet.
HOLMES: Thanks so much. And while we're on the political note here, I need to remind you that "BALLOT BOWL" is back. This is something we came up with a couple of years ago where we allow you to hear directly from these candidates, the president, as well, the former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin all in there. And see what they're saying about the race, the issues, as we countdown to the midterm elections with "Our Best Political Team on TV".
The "BALLOT BOWL" airs today 3:00 to 6:00 Eastern with our Jessica Yellin and also Ed Henry being a part -- again, 3:00 to 6:00 Eastern Time only here right here on CNN.
It's 37 minutes past the hour. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: WikiLeaks is out with nearly 400,000 classified documents from the war in Iraq. And the Pentagon says that the release of the information could put both U.S. service members and Iraqis who assist them in danger.
Live now is the CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence who is in Washington. And Chris, we know that there are nearly 400,000 documents that have been released. They were classified, now they're out to the public to see. This is an awful lot of material that you've been sifting through. What got your attention?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, a couple things. One, that WikiLeaks estimates the Iraqi civilian death toll at tens of thousands of people higher than what the U.S. military estimated. Also, it details what looks to be systemic abuse by the Iraqi authorities and allegations that the Americans ignored that abuse.
So in fact, I asked the Pentagon spokesman about one incident just last December in which the Americans were given a videotape of Iraqi authorities executing a prisoner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: The Iraq war has been looked at as President Bush's war. A lot of these, as you say, having the gun in the past. And yet a lot of the information in these documents is fairly recent.
For example, an incident just last December, well into President Obama's administration of the Iraqi Army executing prisoners. A video of which was passed on to U.S. forces. And in their reports it stated no investigation necessary. How -- how can you explain that?
GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: Chris, again, I am not going to sit here and speak to you about classified documents on national television. It just would not be appropriate of me to do so.
But I would reiterate to you that it has always been our policy in accordance to international law for us to report up the chain of command any incidents we were to witness that -- that involve that the mistreatment of Iraqis and Iraqi prisoners. And that information I am sure would then have been passed on to Iraqi authorities given that we're dealing with a sovereign country here, then to figure out how to enforce discipline and change that kind of behavior in their ranks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: We should be noting that WikiLeaks redacted and removed much more of the names and locations in this report than they did in the last one about Afghanistan back in the summer -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Chris, we know that through the Bush administration, that President Bush got a lot of flak for what people thought was really kind of inflating Iran's role in all of this. But what have you learned from these documents in the terms of how Iran plays into this?
LAWRENCE: That's right. You've covered the White House for years, so you know that a lot of that criticism was -- was directed at him. Thinking that he was -- he was trying to trump up his "get tough" policy with Iran.
But when you look at these documents, it details over and over Iranian aggression in Iraq, including, you know, equipping and training militia in Iraq and at -- and at some points, even engaging American troops. There was one incident in which a patrol of American forces was almost ambushed by them.
Take a look at this exact quote. This is from the WikiLeaks document. This is from a field report by the American military. "The Iranians to the northwest of the column started to engage the patrol. The entire column was under fire, in return fire, as they conducted U- turns to leave the area."
That patrol goes on to say that the Iranians fired on them almost their entire time driving back to the check point well inside that -- that Iraqi border.
And not all of these incidents were well in the past. We remember the -- the Iranian hikers. Or I guess we should call them now the "so-called Iranian hikers". These were the three Americans who were seized by Iran, accused of crossing over into Iranian territory.
Well, this report seems to state fairly clearly that they were on the Iraqi side of the border and that they were seized on the Iraqi side of the boarder and then brought over into Iran. Of course, one of those hikers that you're looking at now was released. But two more still in captivity in Iran -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Chris, thank you so much for that update on the 400,000 pages released leaks from WikiLeaks and what that means for the Pentagon, the Obama administration, and previous administrations. Thanks again Chris.
We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: All right. Quarter to the top of the hour.
Take a good, close look at these pictures here. These are women for sale at a mall in Tel Aviv. You heard me right. They have price tags on them. A lot of people were shocked when they saw this. And that's supposed to be the point.
Nadia Bilchik, our editorial producer back with me now. Let's keep these pictures up for a second and look at more of these. And as we look at them, not just women standing there; these women look battered.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Yes, the Dizengoff Center Mall in Tel Aviv has a display of battered women. And the idea is to draw attention to the huge problem of sex trafficking. And on the side is a bar code and it says "Woman to Go". And these models have large tags and it says their height, their weight, where they come from.
And the idea, again, is to sign a petition that will become part of a bill to end sex trafficking. But really the idea is -- the member of parliament behind this says let's end prostitution altogether.
Because right now in Israel, prostitution is legal, brothels are not, pimping is not, but she would like to see that anybody that procures anybody or pays for sex is, in fact, gets prosecuted.
HOLMES: Of course that message can resonate with the huge problem of trafficking of young women, of girls. But also there's a political message in here. Sounds like a legislator is trying to make it political --
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BILCHIK: She would like. At the end of last year, 2009, there was a proposed bill to parliament to end all prostitution. And that she says has gathered dust. And this particular member of parliament would like to see prostitution made illegal completely like it is in Sweden she says.
HOLMES: Now, we're seeing the Web site here. It directs people to the Web site. And what happens when you go to the Web site?
BILCHIK: What happens is you go on to the Web site and it says women to go and it's very deceiving. You think this is wonderful, I can have a woman to go. Click on to the Web site and it says you are entering a Web site and look at what you're doing. It's deceptive. And the idea is to draw attention --
HOLMES: Now, wait a minute. They're actually trying to trick people? Fool people? There are some out there who would actually see those women and think they could actually buy one? BILCHIK: I would say, yes. That's what they're trying to do.
HOLMES: How is this being received?
BILCHIK: Mixed feelings. Some people think that it's an excellent idea. And some people think it's horrifying. But the idea is -- I mean around 2 million people are involved in human trafficking every year. They say of that a vast majority women and girls.
It is the second biggest organized crime in the world. Yesterday we were talking about Mexico and France. Well, human trafficking is massive.
So here you have an organization saying let's try and end this in some way. And you have these models. Imagine walking into the mall and you see this window display and you take a second look. And there are these women -- so it's certainly -- if they call it an installation, quite shocking.
HOLMES: It is.
BILCHIK: And it'll be interesting to see if the bill gets passed.
HOLMES: But effective possibly as well. It'll certainly get people's attention.
Nadia Bilchik as always, we appreciate the stories you bring to us here every single Saturday and Sunday morning. Thank you so much.
We're coming up on 12 minutes to the top of the hour.
Going by historical statistics, 6 in 10 of you watching right now are not going to be going to the polls and voting in the midterms. I want to talk to you at the top of the hour. We're going to let you know why you need to get up and vote this time around. Stay with us.
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HOLMES: All right. Fifty-one minutes past the hour now.
It is the hottest topic probably in professional sports right now. You have seen, it has been a week-long of the debate back and forth about these hits, these debilitating hits, certainly helmet-to- helmet. All this stuff is illegal; you're not supposed to have a helmet-to-helmet hit. But now the NFL is going to be coming down with tougher rules and bigger fines for what they deem as improper tackling.
We'll talk about that and also we're going to be talking about the NBA, as well, reaching out to its Latino fan base. We'll explain how.
But we want to get to our Rick Horrow now, our business and sports analyst joining us here.
Rick good morning to you. This has been a serious, a serious week of conversation in the NFL right now about these hits. This all came about because there were three or four just devastating hits last Sunday.
Explain exactly what the NFL is trying to do now going forward.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Well, 30 years ago we did a thesis on sports violence when I was at Harvard Law. And the one thing we found is it's incredibly difficult to define the standard between an aggressive, normal part of the game hit and excess of violence.
Thirty years later, 46 concussions since training camp with NFL athletes and Roger Goodell is making a stand based on what is a devastating hit. Hard to enforce, T.J., but Roger Goodell made a stand on image issues in the NFL --
HOLMES: Yes.
HORROW: Now, he's making a very significant stand on violence.
HOLMES: Some are saying here, this could possibly fundamentally change the game of football in that you're taking some aggressiveness out of it and you're having defensive players having to back off and worry about being fined. I mean, shouldn't the safety be first no matter if the game changes a bit or not?
HORROW: Absolutely, my friend.
And here's the issue. By the way, there are 2 1/2 million kids under high school age who play tackle football. So the guy's at Pop Warner, the top executive director, he's focused on a couple of things; concussion recognition and taking the helmet out of football. Head-to-head contact is not part of the game.
The American Sport Education program teaches that. Others teach that, and that's the call to action we've got to focus on.
HOLMES: Ok. Again, we don't have new rules necessarily. What they're going to do, they're just saying they're going to is enforce the rules they have. But what are they trying to call? How can you define a devastating hit? Maybe not illegal, but just one of these bone-crushing hits? It was kind of hard to understand how they were defining it.
HORROW: Yes, well, this is not a criminal law lecture, but when you talk about intent to injure then you get into a gray area. so basically you shouldn't be tackling with the helmet, you shouldn't be leading with the helmet. And a lot of people are saying well, it's going to make the game less aggressive. I think it's a call of action to coaches to coach the right way and then to make sure it's enforced evenly. That's the issue.
HOLMES: Oh man. God forbid. I mean some of these hits -- it's amazing these guys got up. But man, these guys are 250-pound big, strong, fast guys knocking each other around. It's just a matter of time before things get a little more serious.
But let me move on to the other topic here. The NBA trying to -- they're trying to expand a fan base here?
HORROW: Yes. Expanding the fan base to Hispanic fan base; they're up 17 percent, by the way, last year. This is a very important week. The Heat opens up the new arena in Orlando and the NBA season opens up this week.
So you've got a television commercial which focuses on a lot of this stuff. And viewership is up 9 percent to 18 percent all across the board and they're trying to penetrate that fan base.
HOLMES: And just quickly, what was the increase? You said 70 percent last year. What do they attribute that to?
HORROW: Well, they attribute it to promotion and marketing. Al Horford who is Atlanta Hawk All-Star is a spokesman for this. So the NBA is consciously trying to move this forward.
HOLMES: All right. Let me move over to Bonnie Schneider, who's standing by for us. Bonnie, I don't know how big of a football fan you are, but I appreciate you doing this for us, at least. You've got to give people a forecast about what it's going to be like when they watch the big game today.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh absolutely. We have your college football forecast. And we have it right here and I have good news to report. Most places, you're actually looking at some really nice weather.
Let's zoom in here and I can show you what's going on. Oklahoma versus Missouri -- 69 degrees, some clouds out there, but the game is at night 8:00 p.m. so you should be ok. LSU versus Auburn and we're looking at nice weather for Alabama today, lots of sunshine, 73 degrees.
Michigan State versus Northwestern, this is in Chicago. And you know, Chicago's actually facing some clouds and showers today. So we may see a little bit of rain. Temperatures will hold steady in the mid-60s.
Alabama versus Tennessee in Knoxville, that looks good too. 69 degrees at 7:00 and skies should be mostly clear. And finally Ole Miss versus Arkansas -- Fayetteville, Arkansas T.J.'s home state -- we are looking at nice weather. 70 degrees, chance of showers, but overall, a good-looking forecast. That's some good news.
Elsewhere, just to let you know in weather, we are still tracking some severe weather working its way through Texas right now. And we're going to be watching this throughout the day today. There is a chance of severe thunderstorms throughout the afternoon -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Bonnie, I know you're keeping a close eye. We appreciate you.
Rick, appreciate you this morning as always. Looking forward to seeing what happens down the road. Really it's a very serious issue with these hits and these helmets buddy. Good to see you as always. We'll talk to you soon.
HORROW: Absolutely.
HOLMES: We're getting close to the top of the hour here. Quick break -- we are right back.
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