Time Frame for Iraqi Troops to Take Full Control of Security; Active Duty Opposition; Republicans in Danger of Losing One or Both Houses of Congress
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It is Wednesday, October 25th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.</s>MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us. Lots happening. Let's get right to our news wall. A violent day in Iraq. Four civilians killed this morning as U.S. and Iraqi forces clash with a Shiite militia. The troops storming an area trying to find a man suspected of organizing death squads.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Also happening this morning, more testimony about just who knew what and when in the Mark Foley e-mail scandal. A key aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert goes before the House Ethics Committee.</s>M. O'BRIEN: The Federal Reserve will decide today whether to raise interest rates. Likely there'll be no change.</s>S. O'BRIEN: And Paul has been downgraded to a tropical storm. The streets, though, in Cabo San Lucas in Mexico are flooded, schools are closed, and one U.S. tourist is presumed dead. Chad Myers is watching all of that and more at the CNN weather center. Good morning to you.</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: In Iraq, the talk of "stay the course" now replaced by word of "timetables" and "milestones". Iraqi leaders are agreeing to specific benchmarks, hoping to stabilize the country. The hope, Iraqi security forces can take the reins from the U.S. forces in a year, or perhaps a year and a half. So does this mean U.S. troops are coming home? CNN's Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon with more on that. Good morning, Kathleen.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. And the answer is not any time soon, I'm afraid. The U.S. military, both in Iraq and here at the Pentagon, is standing by that possible time frame of 12 to 18 months before Iraqi troops can take full control of their country's security on their own. But at the same time, the U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, is saying that more U.S. troops might be needed still in the interim to help quell the increasing violence in Baghdad. So, U.S. commanders are looking for signs of improvement, but they're still very, very far from even discussing whether or not the U.S. is winning the conflict there.</s>GEN. PETER PACE, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: People talk about, "Are you winning?" First you have to define, what is winning? And I don't mean to be glib about that. Winning in this war on terrorism is having security in the countries we're trying to help that allows for those governments to function and for their people to function.</s>KOCH: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, does insist that progress is being made in Iraq, but it's certainly not enough for some frustrated Republicans struggling to hang on to control of Congress. Thirty-three House Republicans sent a letter to President Bush on Tuesday asking that the military immediately send more Iraqi battalions into the heart of battle in Iraq -- Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon. Thank you. As the military and political leaders re-evaluate strategy in Iraq, there's new opposition from an unexpected source.</s>M. O'BRIEN (voice over): Calls to end the war in Iraq are nothing new, but now those calls are coming from a surprising source.</s>SGT. LIAM MADDEN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I adamantly oppose the war in Iraq. I don't feel American people, Iraqi civilians or American service members benefit from it.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Marine Sergeant Liam Madden is home from a seven- month tour of duty in Iraq. He's still on active duty and he's one of 118 active duty service members speaking out against the war.</s>BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: For active duty members, I think it's very unusual. The 30 years I served in the military, I don't recall that ever happening.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Military rules prohibit active duty soldiers from lobbying in uniform or denouncing elected officials.</s>GARY SOLIS, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER: If they were to insult the president personally or the secretary of defense personally, yes, they could face charges, particularly, most clearly, if they were officers.</s>M. O'BRIEN: They say they're shielded by whistleblower protection laws that give soldiers the freedom to file complaints with members of Congress. Senators in both parties are denouncing the protest, but the White House is downplaying the opposition.</s>TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's not unusual for soldiers in a time of war to have some misgivings.</s>MADDEN: There are some important issues that people need to raise. And this is one very close to my heart.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Now, Madden is trying to recruit more troops to join his campaign. He's launched a Web site to get the word out -- Soledad.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Some confusion and anger about a raid against an Iraqi death squad today. Iraqi troops, with American support, went after a militia commander. The raid targeted the forces of the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and four people were killed in that firefight. But now, according to The Associated Press, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is distancing himself from the raid. He says he wasn't consulted. He's also criticizing the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and also U.S. commander General George Casey. Al-Maliki says no timeline is going to be imposed on his government. Yesterday, Khalilzad and Casey, you'll remember, endorsed the idea of a timeline. We were carrying their press conference on our air yesterday morning. Also, a missing American soldier not yet found, despite a massive search that's been under way. U.S. troops are searching a Baghdad neighborhood house to house now. The soldier is an Iraqi-American. He disappeared on Monday. The Army has been told apparently that he was kidnapped by masked men while he was on an unauthorized visit to his family in Baghdad. There has been no word about any demand for ransom. Spanish photographer Emilio Morenatti, kidnapped in Gaza, has now been released. Listen.</s>EMILIO MORENATTI, FREED PHOTOGRAPHER: I am OK. I am OK. Everything is OK. They treat me well and everything is finished.</s>S. O'BRIEN: He's OK. Morenatti, who works for The Associated Press, was abducted yesterday morning as he left his temporary apartment. And his translator saw what happened, said that Morenatti was taken at gunpoint. After his release, Morenatti was taken to the office of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Morenatti is based in Jerusalem but often works in the West Bank. He said he was tired, but he was unharmed. Thirteen days until Election Day, and Republicans are in danger of losing one or both houses of Congress. Their leader, President Bush, not on the campaign trail. CNN's Elaine Quijano is live at the White House for us this morning. Elaine, good morning. Why not?</s>ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well -- good morning to you, Soledad. Publicly, President Bush's aides insist that despite the fact we're less than two weeks out now from those all-important congressional midterm elections, they say that the president is not shying away from hitting the campaign trail. But as you noted, just one event on the president's public schedule today so far, and that is a meeting later on in the Oval Office. Now, they say that the president has continued to campaign quite hard and vigorously and that he'll will continue to do so. In fact, the president was on the campaign trail yesterday in Florida. White House spokesman Tony Fratto insisted that the president is not focusing on a possibility that Republicans will lose control of Congress. He said the White House is confident about the outcome of the midterm elections, saying, "We're still in the game. And if you're in the game, you're in it to win." But, of course, this election is coming at a time when the president has certainly watched his approval ratings continue to hover in the 30s, weighed down in large part by Iraq. His fellow Republicans are quite nervous about the effect that the war will have on their re-election prospects, so Mr. Bush is finding himself having to walk that very fine line between defending his Iraq policy, trying to remain resolute, while at the same time, as we've seen in recent days, Soledad, trying to send the message as well that his administration is remaining flexible in its tactics -- Soledad.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Well, the first lady's got great approval numbers, so she's hitting the road, isn't she? What's she going to be doing?</s>QUIJANO: Yes. You know, it's interesting, because that's certainly a fact that is not lost on this White House. While the president might be staying home today, the first lady is out on the campaign trail. And she'll be heading to Pennsylvania -- or to Minnesota, rather, and Indiana, following up on yesterday. She was out in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Now, polls consistently show that her approval ratings are much higher than her husband's. Sometimes twice as much. The White House really is hoping that by having her out there in a very public way, she'll be able to reach out, perhaps, in a way that her husband can't, particularly to moderates. And so for those Republicans who are moderates facing some tight elections this year, they are hoping that, in fact, Laura Bush will be able to bring some of that campaign luck their way. President Bush likes to joke about it all the time, Soledad, as you know, how he always says that the first lady, of course, is the first choice. But certainly a ring of truth to that now as we're heading into the home stretch.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely a ring of truth. And those low numbers nothing to laugh at. It might be the case after the election. All right. Thanks. Elaine Quijano at the White House for us -- Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: A Republican congressional candidate in California is staying the course, ignoring calm calls from his own party to bow out. Tan Nguyen says he won't withdraw even if he's charged with a crime. Nguyen denies he approved an intimidating letter to voters. The FBI raided his campaign office for evidence. That letter, you'll recall, implied that naturalized citizens, not just illegal immigrants, could be jailed if they tried to vote. And, of course, that's not true. More testimony today about who knew what and when in the Mark Foley page scandal. A counsel to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Ted Vandermeade (ph), will go before the House Ethics Committee. The speaker himself testified yesterday, made a short statement as he left.</s>REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), HOUSE SPEAKER: I thank the committee for prompt action, for moving forward on this committee, on this inquiry. They did so. I answered all the questions they asked to the best of my ability. I also said that they needed to move quickly to get to the bottom of this issue, including who knew about the sexually explicit messages and when they knew about it. So they needed to do make sure that they ask all the questions of everybody. Thank you very much.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Hastert has said he did not know about the e-mails until one month ago when Foley resigned. Illegal immigration a divisive subject for voters heading to the polls in less than two weeks. Check out the latest numbers in our CNN Opinion Research poll. More than two-thirds, 67 percent, say the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. should be decreased, but 53 percent are opposed to building a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Fifty- eight percent are in favor of large fines for employers who hire illegal immigrants. And once again, that poll done with the Opinion Research Corporation. All this week, the best political team on television is looking at America's "Broken Government" Tonight at 7:00 Eastern, Lou Dobbs to host a town hall meeting on our broken borders. And stay tuned. After "Broken Borders" for "CNN PRESENTS," "Immigrant Nation" -- Soledad.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Some of the stories we're following for you this morning. The civilian death toll climbs in Baghdad. One family shares their painful story with CNN straight ahead. And Rush Limbaugh accuses Michael J. Fox of faking symptoms of Parkinson's in a new political ad. That story, much more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.