Holiday Travel; Arbitrator Upholds 4-Game Suspension of Terrell Owens; Is Iraqi Army Ready to Fight? Georgia Aquarium Opens Today
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's the stories that we're working on for you right now. Traffic tie-ups and winter weather delaying travelers heading home for the holiday. What you need to know before you hit the road. Protecting public health. Will it invade your privacy? A new move for quarantines and passenger lists raises some tricky issues. And one fish, two fish. How about thousands of fish and sharks and whales and penguins? Yes, we love Dr. Seuss. The grand opening of a gigantic aquarium. We're going to take you there live. All that and more as the second hour of LIVE FROM starts right now. Whoever said getting there is half the fun probably didn't say it the day before Thanksgiving, right? But there are some things for weary travelers to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Eve 2005. For one, decent weather in most of the country -- I said most. Snow is on the menu for the Great Lakes, through much of the Appalachians, including Cincinnati. But if your relatives tell you that they're snowed in, they probably just decided to stay home. We ratted them out. Another bright spot, sharply lower gas prices than most places saw just a month ago. Though they're still up from last year. And air travel is expected to set a record 21.7 million passengers over Thanksgiving week, slightly more than 2004, despite higher fares. Airlines are thankful for that. CNN meteorologists Dave Hennen and Bonnie Schneider watching the weather still for us and how it's affecting your travel.</s>PHILLIPS: Road travel is said to be brisk in Detroit and Michigan in general. But air travel so far light. Reported Lourdes Duarte of CNN affiliate WJBK spent the morning at Detroit Metro Airport.</s>LOURDES DUARTE, REPORTER, WJBK (voice over): This weekend's holiday travel didn't quite take off the way it has previous years. This morning's lines short...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So far, check-in was great.</s>DUARTE: ... and sweet, with the Radio City Rockettes handing out candy as people lined up to take off.</s>AMANDA FOX, RADIO CITY ROCKETTE: We thought we could bring a little bit of Christmas spirit to the people who are traveling on this hectic day.</s>DUARTE: No cancellations, no real delays this morning, but remember the busiest travel time is still days away.</s>MICHAEL CONWAY, AIRPORT SPOKESMAN: Now, on Sunday, the boardings are higher, which indicates to us that perhaps a lot of Michigan residents are staying home, or they're not flying, as least. But other people from out of town are coming in to visit the Detroit area for the holidays.</s>DUARTE: And as far as the snow that's coming our way, a Metro Airport spokesperson saying they are more than ready.</s>CONWAY: We've made special preparations. I looked out my window yesterday and I saw a zillion snow trucks flying down Runway 22F, which means they're practicing, they're getting the dust off of everything.</s>PHILLIPS: And if you tried to beat the traffic early this morning on I-95, just north of Washington, better luck next year. A tanker truck that had just filled up with gasoline in Baltimore exploded and burned and burned and burned and burned. And traffic all around it was frozen in place. No one was hurt, but last we heard the interstate was still open -- or only partly reopened. Let's go now to Fredricka Whitfield. She's in the newsroom with more news on the developing story regarding NFL player Terrell Owens, otherwise known as</s>T.O. FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. Well, it looks like no more game time for wide receiver Terrell Owens this season. An arbitrator upheld a four-game suspension of T.O. The Philadelphia Eagles suspended T.O. on November 5, and that took place after he badmouthed the team and quarterback Donovan McNabb. The arbitrator heard 13 hours of arguments last week, and now he has spoken that the Eagles were justified in suspending Owens for four games, and the Eagles can deactivate Owens for the remaining five games this season if they want to. Owens wanted to be reinstated or cut from the Eagles altogether so he could sign with another team, but still not sure whether the Eagles will let him go and let him do that. Meantime, T.O. has five years remaining on a seven-year, $48.7 million contract. And guess what, Kyra? This is a blow to T.O.'s ego, perhaps, because the team is 0-3 without him. Meantime, there has been a statement that has been released from the Eagles. They are saying, "We couldn't have written it any better ourselves." And the NFL is also releasing a statement saying, "We are pleased the arbitrator has upheld the right of a club to suspend a player for conduct detrimental to the team." So, once again, Terrell Owens, the suspension of four more games upheld by the arbitrator. And now it is up to the team to decide whether or not they want to let him go or keep him on for the rest of his contract, another five years -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Fred, thanks. Senator Joe Lieberman is in Iraq, where he'll spend Thanksgiving with the U.S. troops. This is distancing himself from some of his fellow Democrats. Though Lieberman promised Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari that U.S. forces will remain in Iraq until their mission is complete. In an interview with CNN, Lieberman said failure in Iraq would be catastrophe for the United States and the entire Middle East. The debate over an exit strategy in Iraq resounds throughout Washington, and often lost in the political banter are the facts. Here's what the president has been saying for more than a year.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our strategy can be summed up this way: as the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.</s>PHILLIPS: That was the president last June talking to the troops at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.</s>BUSH: As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, that was the president last week in South Korea. We just wanted to check the facts. Are the Iraqis standing up? Here is CNN's Nic Robertson.</s>LT. COL. ROSS BROWN, U.S. ARMY: When did he last clean his weapon?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A revealing look inside the Iraqi army.</s>BROWN: That's the answer. But look at that weapon. What did he clean it with?</s>ROBERTSON: Inside, Lieutenant Colonel Ross Brown's daily battle -- getting an Iraqi army unit ready to fight alongside U.S. soldiers.</s>BROWN: Yes, tell him -- tell him -- look.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes?</s>BROWN: The reason I ask the questions, the reason I'm hard on these things is because I want these soldiers to survive.</s>ROBERTSON: Brown's mission is not easy. The Iraqi officers he's mentoring are not shaping up fast.</s>BROWN: They didn't do too much work yesterday. They didn't do too much work the day before. They haven't done too much work since they've been here.</s>ROBERTSON: Sixty miles north, this Iraqi Army officer, Colonel Thear, is about as close to a hero for U.S. troops as an Iraqi can become.</s>COL. STEVEN SALAZAR, U.S. ARMY: He is an outstanding leader and he is just simply a patriot.</s>ROBERTSON: So which is the real face of the Iraqi Army -- under- prepared and underperforming or dedicated and on the verge of breaking through?</s>GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, MULTINATIONAL SECURITY COMMAND: Progress is uneven. And it's uneven across the country. It's uneven in units. It's uneven between the Army and the police.</s>ROBERTSON: Of the 212,000 men and women in the security forces, almost 100,000 are in the Army. Of those, only about 23,000 are battle-ready. That's 30 out of a total of 130 battalions. According to Dempsey, getting the rebuilding right, making the Iraqi Army strong and cohesive, is more important than rushing training.</s>DEMPSEY: What we're looking to produce is something that will actually be fully capable and last, and will be something that is an institution of national cohesion as opposed to, you know, 212,000 men and women running around with rifles.</s>ROBERTSON: Colonel Thear is one of the battle ready battalion commanders. He has taken over from U.S. troops in his area, but lacks even an up-armored Humvee. He is at level two readiness.</s>COL. ISMAEL THEAR, IRAQI ARMY: We told coalition forces just, we need like support. Still, you know, Iraq Army soldiers don't have helicopter.</s>ROBERTSON: Level one readiness means no support from U.S. forces required, and that's still hard to find.</s>DEMPSEY: And I don't know what the particular number today is on level one. But...</s>ROBERTSON: In the latest offensive, Operation Steel Curtain, close to the Syrian border, 3,000 U.S. Marines led the way, with 550 Iraqi troops mostly bringing up the rear. Developing the Iraqi Army to this point has been hampered by Iraq's changing political leadership, according to Dempsey. Despite that, he's confident they are on track, as planned.</s>DEMPSEY: And I am going to get it done in the way that -- that we have agreed is right, and I'm not going to be pressured by the -- what is necessarily a, at the end of the day, probably a healthy debate back in Washington.</s>ROBERTSON (on camera): Ready or not, the Iraqi Army is coming under increasing pressure to take control. The current recruitment plan expires in the summer of 2007. Likely by then, the Iraqi Army will be standing more alone than it is today. Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.</s>PHILLIPS: Cheap home heating oil just in time for winter. So what's wrong with that? Critics say it's where the oil is coming from and how the deal was made. We're going to debate the issue next on LIVE FROM.