Former Gonzales Aide Testifies on Capitol Hill; Violent Storms; Standoff With Iran; Former U.N. Ambassador Weighs in on Capture British Marines
HARRIS: And hello, everyone. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.</s>COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. Good morning, everybody. Among our top stories this hour, Iran backtracks on a pledge to release a British woman, one of 15 British marines and sailors detained last Friday. British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he doesn't want a confrontation, but Britain is appealing to the U.N. and its allies for support. An Iranian negotiator told state TV today that British leaders have "miscalculated the issue" and he hinted at possibly putting the British troops on trial. Iran accuses them of trespassing in its territorial waters. Britain maintains they were in Iraqi waters.</s>HARRIS: And for more now on the standoff with Iran, let's talk with former U.N. ambassador John Bolton. He's now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Ambassador, great to see you. Thanks for your time this morning.</s>JOHN BOLTON, FMR. U.S. AMB. TO U.N.: Glad to be here.</s>HARRIS: Any doubt in your mind that Iran is at fault when we talk about the latest crisis, the capturing of the British sailors and marines?</s>BOLTON: Well, you can never be entirely sure, but this looks to me to be a deliberate provocation by Iran designed to test how strong the Brits and the Europeans, more generally, will react to it. And I must say so far, the results are not encouraging. I don't think the United Kingdom has shown the decisiveness that they need to show here. And I'm sure they're worried about the impact that this incident will have on their efforts to get Iran to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons, but I think they're miscalculating. I think what Iran sees so far is passivity and acquiescence, and if that perception turns to a perception of weakness, ironically, the Brits will hurt whatever slim chance they have of getting a negotiated deal on the nuclear weapons.</s>HARRIS: OK. Let's listen to Tony Blair. He is going to issue a warning in the sound bite we're going to play for you. And then let's talk about what the new, stronger language might be. But let's listen first.</s>TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We had hoped to see their immediate release. This has not happened. It is now time to ratchet up the diplomatic and international pressure in order to make sure that the Iranian government understands their total isolation on this issue.</s>HARRIS: So ambassador, what would you recommend as a tougher stand from the U.K. toward Iran?</s>BOLTON: Well, I think the United Kingdom should be talking with us, talking with the rest of the European Union about making it clear that they want those sailors and marines released right now, without any further conversation, or Iran will suffer real pain, real economic sanctions. Instead, what I understand the Brits are doing is talking about something like a three-sentence press statement by the Security Council. I'm sure that will get Iran's attention in a big way, reacting just the same way Iran has rejected sanctions that the council has passed on its nuclear program. I think Britain has got to be tougher here. As I say, ironically, an effort to go be -- to go softly, softly as the British foreign office likes to say, in connection with this incident will simply embolden Iran on the nuclear program.</s>HARRIS: Mr. Ambassador, Iran -- Iran doesn't care about sanctions. Come on.</s>BOLTON: Well, I think that's the point. They certainly don't care about the sanctions that the Security Council has adopted.</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>BOLTON: That's why even if a so-called press statement is issued by the Security Council, Iran will ignore that, too. You've got to get beyond the idea that what happens in the council is really going to affect Iran. If Britain wants these people back safe and unharmed in anything like a hasty manner, they need to act with will and resolve and do it very clearly now.</s>HARRIS: Is the military option on the table?</s>BOLTON: Well, I don't -- I don't think this is the time to talk about that, necessarily. I think the military option has to be on the table in the far -- because of the far greater threat of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. But, you know, it's been seven days now since these sailors and marines were captured by the Iranians. I think there's simply no doubt, given that length of time, that Iran did this deliberately in response to the Security Council actions on the nuclear program. And I think they're probing the British and, more generally, the Europeans. And I think what they're seeing so far, as I say, is this kind of passivity.</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>BOLTON: They're not seeing a tough response.</s>HARRIS: Let's talk about the military option. Let's pick up on that point you made just a moment ago. You have said that Iran will never give up its nuclear ambitions and regime change is the only way to get Tehran to give up its nuclear weapons and those ambitions. How do you -- what are you suggesting here?</s>BOLTON: Well, I'm not suggesting the use of military force to accomplish the regime change, at least not yet. But I do think there's enormous dissatisfaction inside Iran. Iran's government has mismanaged their oil revenues. The economic conditions are not nearly what they could be. There's a lot of ethnic dissatisfaction. The population of Iran is educated; they're sophisticated. They know there's a different kind of life they could lead without this theocratic regime in power. So I really think over the long term the evidence is clear that the best way to get Iran to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons is to change the regime in Tehran. That won't be easy, and it won't happen soon. But that's the course we should be pursuing.</s>HARRIS: Changing topics for just a moment now, Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, is going to be testifying in just a couple of minutes here about the firings of federal prosecutors. Is this -- is this a big deal or is it much ado about nothing?</s>BOLTON: Well, frankly, I think the whole thing is much ado about nothing. The Congress ought to know that U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. I've been honored to serve in many positions in government at the pleasure of the president, and what that means is you have no job security. If you don't like that as a kind of career path, then you shouldn't become a U.S. attorney. Now, this may have been mishandled in the way it was presented or how these individuals were dealt with. There are good ways and bad ways to change senior officials in the government. But let's be clear. This is the president's authority. This is core executive branch power here. And the notion that somehow the president should be limited in what his attorney general does is fundamentally subversive of the separation of powers.</s>HARRIS: How about applying the law impartially? The politics stop at the door of the Justice Department?</s>BOLTON: Well, of course the law should be applied impartially, but there are different priorities that you can have. Different administrations will give different emphasis to different areas of the law. And it is fundamentally the job of the attorney general to carry out the broad policies articulated by the president. That doesn't mean he's politicizing the Justice Department. It means the Justice Department is part of the executive branch of government.</s>HARRIS: Let me ask you one last sort of open-ended question here. What are your thoughts these days? You've been away from the U.N. for while now. What are your thoughts on Iraq?</s>BOLTON: Well, I think the president's surge remains the only coherent strategy available to the United States. I think we have met and are meeting our obligation to the Iraqi people to give them a chance to put their own government together. That obligation is not infinite in duration, and I think that it needs to be made clear and it is being made clear to the various sectarian factions in Iraq that if they want a peaceful, civil society to emerge, this is the time to get serious about it.</s>HARRIS: Former U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, with us this morning. Mr. Ambassador, thanks for your time.</s>BOLTON: Glad to be here.</s>COLLINS: And on the heels of that discussion with Ambassador John Bolton, we want to make sure we get this news out to you, the very latest on the Iranian British sailor situation. You know there are 15 that are being detained right now. Want to let you know that, according to Iran's supreme national counselor now, we have just learned and CNN has been able to confirm, that Britain's rough language, again according to Iran Supreme National Council, and sensational actions, will cause a suspension in the release of its detained woman sailor. That's Faye Turney, who yesterday we had heard from Iran's foreign minister that she would likely be released soon as sort of a first step in resolving this situation. But now a different individual, the Supreme National Council's Secretary, Ali Larijani, said this tough stance adopted by Britain would cause the release to be delayed. And to remind you, British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett -- we played some of that sound for you here yesterday -- said that Britain would be freezing all bilateral diplomatic business with Iran until the Brits were freed. They have also said today that they are not interested in escalating this situation. They want things to be resolved. "We do not," quote, "want a confrontation over this. We want this resolved as quickly as possible." Again quoting two of the British officials in all this. And we will watch this situation. It appears to be escalating, at least on the side of the Iranians. And we will make sure to bring all the information as it comes in to us. This also coming into us now, coming out of Tennessee. We have here quite a tanker fire, as you can see. Look at the flames and huge black smoke coming up. A traffic accident in Memphis. Not quite sure what happened here, obviously, but it appears that that tanker has certainly exploded. Can't quite tell what sort of area this is, but it doesn't look to be residential. Of course, taking care of that situation by way of fire rescue and so forth is very difficult, because you can't get too close to a tanker. So, we will continue to watch this one for you. Again, coming to us out of Memphis there. Some pretty spectacular flames.</s>HARRIS: Man. What did the attorney general know and when did he know it? Those questions likely to be posed to a former top aide to Alberto Gonzales. Kyle Sampson is expected to defend his former boss in the firings of eight federal prosecutors. He will testify next hour before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he's likely to invite more criticism. Sampson is expected to say the U.S. attorneys did not sufficiently support the president's priorities, but he says the firings had nothing to do with ongoing corruption probes.</s>COLLINS: March is going out like a lion in the plains. Look at that. More bad weather could be on the way after a night of violent storms and tornadoes. Two people in Oklahoma were killed. Reporter Greg Nieto of affiliate KWGN is in the hard-hit town of Holly, Colorado.</s>GREG NIETO, KWGN CORRESPONDENT: Some folks here, they were actually stuck in this tree. Believe it or not, that actually used to be a trailer. A family of three was living inside that trailer when the tornado touched down. It swept the trailer up and onto that tree. The family of three was actually stuck in the tree, had to be rescued after that tornado did touch down. One of the children, I was told, was taken to a local hospital. We talked to a family that had passed by and is obviously shaken by what happened to that family. Again, no fatalities at that point, but at least eight confirmed folks were taken to a local hospital. And obviously the cleanup and a lot of the inspection is only beginning. We're live this morning in the town of Holly in southeastern Colorado. Greg Nieto, News 2.</s>COLLIN: We want to update you on the situation, and we hate having to do this. But the mother and daughter Greg that mentioned who were blown into the tree, CNN has just learned the mother has died.</s>HARRIS: Oh, boy. That's horrible. Heidi, what do you say we get a check of the weather now? Chad Myers is in the weather center. And Chad, what can you decipher from those pictures of that damage that you -- F-1, F-2? Is it too early?</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Bigger than that.</s>HARRIS: Bigger than that?</s>MYERS: Yes. Well, when you lose major limbs of a big tree, you're talking probably F-3 damage. And some of the reports said major multi-vortex, which means different suction spots moving around each other in a very large tornado. And the warning was issued after the tornado was already sighted on the ground. It wasn't close enough, I guess, to a Doppler site to pick it up, to know that it was going to be a tornado. So there wasn't all this -- there wasn't 15 or to 20 minutes worth of advance notice on this storm. Someone saw the tornado one mile south of town, called it in. That got to the Pueblo, Colorado, weather service office, and three minutes later a warning was typed out and issued, which is pretty fast. But by that time, the tornado was already through town, so the sirens didn't even have a chance to blow and warn people there. And I'm not sure if that family was still in that mobile home, whether it would have made any difference anyway whether they knew or not, because that was completely gone.</s>HARRIS: Thank you.</s>COLLINS: That's for sure. I can't believe the strength of some of these storms. It's really unbelievable. All right, Chad, we know you're watching it. Thank you.</s>MYERS: You're welcome.</s>HARRIS: And Heidi, let's take everyone to the New York Stock Exchange, New York City, this morning. The bell sounded just a few minutes ago. We're just inside the first hour of the trading day. Let's take a look at the Dow, off to a good start: plus 65, plus 66. The NASDAQ up 11 points in early trading. What is going to move the markets today? We will check all of the business headlines with Susan Lisovicz here in the</s>NEWSROOM. COLLINS: An annual ritual. The president and the press roasting each other over dinner. And for dessert, one liners.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The press is a lot tougher the second term. It's reached the point I sometimes call on Helen Thomas just to hear a friendly voice.</s>COLLINS: No pass to the press in the</s>NEWSROOM. SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Roesgen in Lake Charles, Louisiana. How would you like to have one of these in your front yard? How would you like to have 20 barrels of oil of our own a day? We'll have the story coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.