War of Words; "Extra Effort"
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about the war in Iraq. As we reported about more violence in Iraq, the debate over the war in Iraq continues. Democratic Congressman Jack Murtha making something pretty sharp statements, essentially saying get out of Iraq right now, get the troops out. Well, Ron Brownstein is CNN's political analyst. He's also an "L.A. Times" columnist. He joins us with more analysis of this. Good morning to you, Ron. Nice to see you, as always.</s>RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POL. ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it, what was said. First, let's listen to what Congressman Murtha had to say.</s>REP. JOHN P. MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: It's time to bring them home. They've done everything they can do. The military has done everything they can do. This war has been so mishandled from the very start. Not only was the intelligence bad, the way they disbanded the troops. There's all kinds of mistakes that have been made. They don't deserve to continue to suffer.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Not long after that we heard from Stephen Hadley. He is the national security adviser. Here's what he had to say.</s>STEPHEN HADLEY, NATL. SECURITY ADVISER: He's a veteran, a veteran Congressman and a great leader in the Congress. On this issue, the president believes he's wrong.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Well, Ron, let's get right to it. Who do you think in that short battle there wins this fight?</s>BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think Congressman Murtha coming out is a very dramatic event, given because of who he is and his record on these issues. Look, this is not where the debate is today. This may be where it's going, especially in the Democratic Party. Very few other members of Congress, I don't really know of any, who support specifically what Murtha talked about yesterday, an immediate withdrawal, beginning an immediate withdrawal of American troops, but the movement in the Democratic Party is clearly toward proposing the acceleration of the withdrawal of American troops. Soledad, you really see this out on the campaign trail, especially with people who do not have a vote for the war in 2002 hanging over them. Democratic challengers in 2006, more of them, talking about deadlines for removing the troops, or timelines for removing the troops. And I do think by next spring, if the president has not moved to preempt this in some way, either through progress in Iraq or by announcing troop withdrawals of his own, we will see more Democrats edging in the direction that Jack Murtha laid out yesterday.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Well, how about this preemptive move. We heard from the White House, really, in a statement they released shortly after hearing from Congressman Murtha where they basically tried to link Congressman Murtha to left-wing Democrats and also Michael Moore, the filmmaker. Do you think that strategy is going work?</s>BROWNSTEIN: Well, look. Where we are is an extraordinary point in the debate of Iraq, because we talked many times over the past year, it's been almost been submerged for the last year, very little debate in Washington while the country was growing increasingly anxious. Now, I think remarkably, you see both parties concluding that it is in their interest to escalate and sharpen this argument. And we have a two-front war going on in Washington. We're simultaneously debating how we got into Iraq and how we might get out. And I do think that we're seeing very sharp language on both sides. The White House has clearly made a decision to dramatically escalate their responses, even reports this morning that the Republican National Committee will be running television ads against Harry Reid on his criticism about Iraq. And I think the end result of this is going to be a more polarized debate about Iraq and deepening the divisions in the country, which already exist over the war. And again, I'm not sure in the long run that it's in the interest of the White House, but that is the course they are on.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Well, especially when you look at the poll numbers, that certainly show a fatigue of the war, not necessarily having people weigh in on what the strategies should be, but just the fatigue, kind of bringing the issue to a back-and-forth yelling fight. That's not necessarily going to help anybody.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Right, that's the question. I mean, you do have a country that is very deeply divided about the war and also about the president's performance overall. Overall this kind of sharp response is what many Republicans want to hear, and it's the kind of thing that is likely to rally his base. The question is, does it deepen the underlying polarization that we've seen about the war, with enormous opposition among Democrats, and increasing anxiety among independents. But the White House feels that with the Democrats attacking at such a high volume themselves, that they have no choice but to respond in a more aggressive way. And the indications I have from the people inside and familiar with the planning is get used to it, because we are going see a much more aggressive posture from the White House responding almost in a campaign-style fashion to every charge that comes up. What's unusual, though, is that Democrats are not backing down in the face of that, continuing their own criticism, as the Murtha remarks suggest, and that points to a very tumultuous period on the war.</s>S. O'BRIEN: It's certainly like reliving the campaign over again. And who knows exactly what the end results will be of this strategy on both sides. Ron Brownstein for us this morning. Ron, thanks -- Miles.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Thank you Soledad.</s>MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Jack Murtha's comments drawing fire from all quarters today. We just heard from the Pentagon. Kathleen Koch is there with the latest. Kathleen, good morning.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. This morning we had a chance to talk with a commander directly in Iraq, in the Balad area, Colonel James Brown. He's commander of the 56th Combat Brigade combat team. They escort convoys throughout Iraq, and I asked him just what his thoughts were on these very tough comments from the Congressman, a Congressman who obviously has a very long and distinguished record in the U.S. military.</s>COL. JAMES K. BROWN, U.S. ARMY: Our job's not finished, and we need to stay here and finish the job that we began. I think the soldiers, my soldiers, believe that we've made great strides in supporting the democracy of Iraq, and I think all those soldiers want to see their job finished.</s>KOPPEL: Colonel brown as to Congressman Murtha's concerns that the U.S. forces there actually are contributing to the violence by their very presence. He said as long as they are helping support the fledgling Iraqi democracy, they understand that they are going to be targets. But he has said he and his forces believe they have to stay there, they have to remain, and he, again, said he believes they are making great strides, despite the ongoing violence -- Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon, thank you very much.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Let's turn and talk about a really nice story to tell you. This week's "Extra Effort" is about a woman from Florida. She's affectionately known as Big Mama, and CNN's John Zarrella tells us why she truly is a blessing to her neighbors in need.</s>BIG MAMA (voice-over): We're with you, Lord, and everything is possible.</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every morning before starting her day, Big Mama stops by her church.</s>BIG MAMA: I just want to thank you, Lord, for keeping your angels kept around me, Lord.</s>ZARRELLA: Many people in this inner-city Fort Lauderdale neighborhood where Big Mama has spent most of her life will tell you she is the angel.</s>BIG MAMA (on camera): No pain. Up there. God is paying me. He's giving me a long life and strength to do what needs to be done to help our families in our communities.</s>ZARRELLA: Big Mama, that's the only name she goes by, has been helping people in need for as long as anyone here can remember.</s>BIG MAMA: Tonight we're going to have fried chicken. We're going have barbecued chicken.</s>ZARRELLA: It's not as if Big Mama has deep pockets. This single mother of three grown children lives off Social Security in a two- bedroom apartment. She relies on the goodness of those who have, to help her provide to those who don't. After Hurricane Wilma, with the power out and people going hungry ...</s>BIG MAMA: All right, y'all! Big Mama ready!</s>ZARRELLA: ... she put out a nightly feast. Sometimes it was more than food they needed.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got myself a mat to sleep on tonight and a blanket. A blanket and a mat. That's just how incredibly cool she is.</s>ZARRELLA: When she's not feeding the community, she's working with children. She spends her days at New River Middle School helping to counsel and mentor the kids who need it most. Children are her top priority and they all know her.</s>BIG MAMA: Hey, baby. I win their heart because that's the heart is what I'm looking for. Keep it from aching and paining. They do have somebody that they can talk to.</s>ZARRELLA: She won't allow any child to be left behind. She won't allow anyone to go hungry.</s>BIG MAMA: The bible says it's more blessed to give than to receive.</s>ZARRELLA: More than anything else, Big Mama gives hope to the people she touches. John Zarrella, CNN, Fort Lauderdale.</s>S. O'BRIEN: A reminder, next week on AMERICAN MORNING we have the week of giving. If you were affected by the season's hurricanes and want to thank somebody who helped you, maybe somebody like Big Mama, you can send us your story. Just go to CNN.com/am and we'll post some of your responses to the web site. Some people will be selected to share their stories right here on AMERICAN MORNING. A look at business news ahead. Andy, what's coming up?</s>ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Google smashes through a milestone and, as promised, Soledad gets her reward.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Too bad it's not stock.</s>M. O'BRIEN: The markets are open for a few minutes now. Where's Google now? About $1,000 a share? It's way up. It keeps going. We kept saying it wasn't going happen and sure enough...</s>SERWER: He likes to prove me wrong. I think he has a personal vendetta. Let's go down to the big board and see what's happening. The rally continues. Up 31 points, the Dow Jones Industrials. You know, this is something, I think, that we could all anticipate, which is falling oil prices, falling gas prices making the stock market go up. That's what we've seen for the past couple of weeks here. Oil prices at a five month low. The Nasdaq at a four and a half year high. Google breaks through 400, now at 402 this morning. And as we promised, Soledad gets a cake, bring the cake in please, Adam.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Make a little space. Right here. Right here.</s>SERWER: Right here is good. Thank you. This is Soledad's cake.</s>SOLEDAD: Look, it says Google, $400.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Well you've got to tell the back story.</s>SERWER: There is no back story, Miles. The back story is don't ask so many question, we're just having fun. The story here is I told people not to buy the stock. I said the stock would never go that high and I was wrong.</s>S. O'BRIEN: At 200, I got chocolate. At 300, I got cupcakes. 400, this. 500, what? Baked Alaska?</s>S. O'BRIEN: A car.</s>SERWER: No. Bananas foster. It won't go up from there. Google shareholders love me. Do we have plates?</s>S. O'BRIEN: I'd take baked Alaska.</s>SERWER: Baked alaska at 500. We're going to do it. Too bad we're cutting the cake.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Do you think it's going to go to 500?</s>SERWER: It sure could. It's got a stock market value of $112 billion, that's 10 times bigger than General Motors. The country is worth 10 times more than General Motors.</s>M. O'BRIEN: To quote a great sage. That is irrational exuberance.</s>SERWER: listen to this, it's got $5 billion a year in sales, as opposed to GM's $192 billion.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Cake, Andy?</s>SERWER: It will shut me up at some point. But it's got profits and GM doesn't have any profits.</s>M. O'BRIEN: We used to make money about bending metal.</s>SERWER: It's just web sites and here's to you, Google.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Congratulations on $400.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Let him eat cake.</s>SERWER: We are eating cake.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Betty Nguyen, we'd send you some cake, but I'm afraid it won't do so well in the shipment. We'll e-mail it to you.</s>BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: You could always freeze it, come on, Miles.</s>M. O'BRIEN: Dry ice.</s>NGUYEN: What I want more, though than the cake, give me some of that Google stock. I'll take that over the cake any day. We have a lot coming up at the top of the hour. New wildfires burning in Southern California right now. We are following this developing story and we're going to give you the latest. Also, fighting bird flu. We'll show you how some major U.S. airports are preparing against a possible pandemic. And speaking of travel, many of us are getting ready to hit the road for the holidays. Our top five tips will help you steer clear of a traffic nightmare. And as you know, it is a nightmare out there on the roadways as you travel home for the holidays.</s>S. O'BRIEN: All right, Betty, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.</s>M. O'BRIEN: We just...</s>S. O'BRIEN: Moving on.</s>M. O'BRIEN: We've got to move on. A short break ahead and we're back with much more AMERICAN MORNING just to come.</s>S. O'BRIEN: I dropped a knife.</s>M. O'BRIEN: She dropped a knife.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Ahead on "A.M. Pop."...</s>JOAQUIN PHOENIX, ACTOR: I'm Johnny Cash.</s>S. O'BRIEN: A box office battle between the man in black and a young wizard.</s>DANIEL RADCLIFFE, ACTOR: I don't want eternal glory.</s>S. O'BRIEN: Joaquin Phoenix hits the big screen as Johnny Cash, but will "Walk the Line" get burned by "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"? That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.