Iraqi Officials Explain Political Problems
HARRIS: That camera can catch you doing some weird things.</s>COLLINS: What were you doing?</s>HARRIS: Something weird, the CNN NEWSROOM. Good morning everyone, I'm Tony Harris.</s>COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. President Bush says the future of U.S. Troops in Iraq hinges on the strength of Iraq's government. How are they doing? Well CNN's Area Damon takes a look.</s>NURI AL-MALIKI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: Ladies and gentlemen, members of parliament, I am honored to present your council which will form the basis of the work of our government. I hope to inspire your confidence.</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These were Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Malaki's words when he took office back in May of 2006, a public show of support he would not see again. Now just about a year later, there's been no let-up in violence. Basic services have yet to be restored. No law has been passed to divide up Iraq's oil riches and national reconciliation seems more of an illusion than ever. Iraq's fledgling government is essentially paralyzed.</s>MAYSONN DAMALOUJI, IRAQI MP: I think either the entire political process is going to collapse into an abyss of some kind or there has to be serious changes made.</s>DAMON: Iraq's justice minister was so fed up with the government, he submitted his resignation at the end of March.</s>HASHIM SHIBLI, FMR. MINISTER OF JUSTICE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR: In my opinion there should be a full cabinet reshuffle based on bringing in independent ministers with expertise and skill and true national spirit and loyalty to the country and without sectarian or regional influences.</s>DAMON: Therein lies the problem, many observers agree. Prime minister al Maliki continues to insist that his government is one of national unity. Countless others point to its very structure, carved out along sectarian lines, allowing political parties to pursue their own sectarian agendas and maintain a suffocating grip over parliament, the prime minister and his cabinet.</s>MAHMOUD OTHMAN, IRAQ MP: He is neither strong enough nor free enough to do what he thinks is right. He, himself, is complaining very much about the fact that he has no powers.</s>DAMON: Starting from scratch is not a feasible option. It would signal the failure of America's democracy project in Iraq, and realistically, it would take too long to get Iraq's bickering factions back to the drawing board. But patience with the government's ineffectiveness is wearing thin. Muqtada al Sadr withdrew his six cabinet positions and now Iraq's main Sunni block is threatening to withdraw from the government as well. Al Maliki is going to have a hard time inspiring confidence in Iraq's neighbors when he can't even inspire confidence within Iraq. Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.</s>HARRIS: And on the diplomatic front, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Middle East right now for a two-day meeting on Iraq, about two hours ago now. She arrived in Egypt in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh (ph). She will meet officials from Europe and the Middle East. The topic, how best to stabilize Iraq and by extension, the Middle East. That agenda has been overshadowed by another possibility that Rice could hold talks with Iran and Syria.</s>COLLINS: Immigration reform, once a hot topic on Capitol Hill, now stalled and going nowhere fast. CNN's Joe Johns reports.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So whatever happened to the pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants? Last year so-called comprehensive immigration reform was all the talk on Capitol Hill. Then, as now, there were rallies, speeches, marches, but it all died down with no bill passed into law. The only thing that Congress could really agree on was to build a fence. So why couldn't they get it done? Short answer? The mid-term elections got in the way, transfer of power from the Republicans to the Democrats. Agitators argue the issue helps put the Democrats over the top.</s>REP. LUIS GUTIERREZ (D) ILLINOIS: People marched. They then registered to vote, became citizens in massive numbers and created an impetus for new majority And the Democrats here in the House and in the Senate have a responsibility to respond to the demand of the people.</s>JOHNS: Is that true or is it just wishful thinking? Polling for CNN says that on a list of top 10 issues confronting Congress and the president, immigration is number seven. But it's an unpredictable issue, even dangerous for candidates. Can you vote for reform without getting a scarlet A for amnesty next to your name?</s>JOHN DICKERSON, SLATE.COM: So that they have a very complicated argument about a comprehensive bill and the other side has a simple argument of amnesty and that's worked pretty well politically for opponents of comprehensive reform.</s>JOHNS: Take a closer look at that mid-term election, a high- profile race in Illinois. Republican Peter Roscum (ph) beat Democratic Tammy Duckworth (ph) claiming she was too soft on illegal immigrants. On the other hand, some who took a hard line on immigration, like Republican Congressman JD Hayworth of Arizona, lost their seats. Democrats branded him an immigrant-basher. So who won the immigration skirmish? Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo is among the toughest of the toughest hardliners on illegal immigration. He calls the last election a wash.</s>REP. TOM TANCREDO (R) COLORADO: Some thought it was bad for our point of view, others, good. But it was -- it's a stalemate. We really are at loggerheads, even right now.</s>JOHNS: That hasn't stop people from trying to get an immigration bill. The White House wants something big to crow about in President Bush's second term and build his legacy. So the quiet meetings have been going on for a month. Carrie Budoff is with politico.com.</s>CARRIE BUDOFF, POLITICO.COM: Where we are right now is very back room, hush-hush talks that even people who are involved with the talks, sometimes leave meetings with conflicting accounts of where things stand.</s>JOHNS: Such secrecy on Capitol Hill naturally rankles people on the outside like Congressman Tancredo.</s>TANCREDO: But I think on this particular issue, there are enough people who are going to blow the whistle on it. That the thing, they can't keep it hidden very long.</s>JOHNS: So whatever happened to immigration reform? Depends on your point of view. It's somewhere quiet being born or being talked to death. Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.</s>HARRIS: Taking the hard line against illegal immigration, one North Carolina sheriff makes it his business to enforce Federal laws he says that are being ignored. CNN's Jeanne Meserve reports.</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alamance County North Carolina has a brand-new 240-bed jail and Sheriff Terry Johnson intends to fill it with illegal immigrants.</s>SHERIFF TERRY JOHNSON, ALAMANCE COUNTY, NC: Hopefully within the next day or two, we will be filling the place up.</s>MESERVE: That quickly, huh?</s>JOHNSON: I hope so.</s>MESERVE: Alamance is only one of a handful of local jurisdictions in the whole United States that enforces Federal immigration laws. The fingerprints of every foreigner arrested in the county whether the offense is big or small, are matched with a Federal database. If the person is here illegally, the sheriff's department starts deportation proceedings.</s>JOHNSON: To come here in my country in our country and commit other violations knowing they are not right here to start with, I feel it's my duty as a sheriff of this county and an official of this state, to deal with those people that choose to violate the law.</s>MESERVE: The sheriff has his critics like immigration lawyer Ebher Rossi, who says Johnson has a broader goal.</s>EBHER O. ROSSI JR., DEFENSE ATTORNEY: What they want to do I believe is instill fear in the Hispanics and get them to leave the county.</s>MESERVE: Jobs is manufacturing, construction and agricultural have brought Hispanic immigrants to Alamance County in huge numbers in recent years.</s>JOHNSON: We arrested several gang bangers down here in this mobile home park down here.</s>MESERVE: Johnson says some of them have brought crimes like drug dealing and domestic violence with them. Thirty percent of his jail population on any given day is Hispanic, the sheriff claims, but ironically, by sowing fear in the Hispanic population, Johnson's own tough policy on illegal immigration might be making it more difficult to crack down on crime.</s>NOLO MARTINEZ, UNC CTR. FOR NEW NORTH CAROLINIANS: The community as a whole is not going to participate as a community reporting crime or seeing in a sheriff uniform someone that you can actually come openly and talk about issues.</s>MESERVE: Johnson says part of his motive is practical. He hopes the Federal money he gets for housing immigration detainees will help pay for the county's new $12 million jail. Whether all this hurts or helps him in his next election is besides the point, he claims.</s>JOHNSON: If the people in Washington, D.C. would quit thinking about what was politically correct or what would get them or not get them elected and do the job they were put there to do, we wouldn't be dealing with this issue right now at the local level.</s>MESERVE: Johnson says he swore on a bible to uphold the law, but critics say he has forgotten a key commandment, love thy neighbor. Jeanne Meserve, Alamance County, North Carolina.</s>HARRIS: And CNN's Lou Dobbs is tackling the immigration issue with a primetime special tonight. He is live in the town hall meeting from Hazleton, Pennsylvania. What it's doing to fight broken borders, a Lou Dobbs prime time special, CNN tonight, 8:00 Eastern.</s>COLLINS: want to take you to some interesting pictures we are getting, live pictures, this is happening right now in Seattle. This is the university bridge where a relatively small, I guess, water main break, apparently about 40 inches are so is sweeping away a couple of cars. Nobody was inside of them at the time, so that is very good news. Now as you can see, thousands of gallons of water pouring into the ship channel on the west side, the south approach, I'm told to that bridge. Seattle police is towing away boats that are moored in that area just as a precaution, but boy, what a mess. Department of transportation is investigating to see if there are any foundation problems with the bridge which would really be horrendous. Again, nobody has been injured, but we're going to continue to follow this one for you.</s>HARRIS: And still to come this morning, four dead in Ohio. The day the National Guard opened fire at Kent State.</s>VOICE OF GLEN FRANK: I am begging you right now, if you don't disburse right now, they are going to move in and it can only be a slaughter.</s>HARRIS: Does the newly found tape answer the question why did they shoot? Hear it in the NEWSROOM.