[Heidi Collins, Cnn Anchor:] Good morning, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off today. Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on Monday morning, September 10th. Here's what's on the rundown. The president's top military man in Iraq reporting for duty on Capitol Hill. The state of the so-called surge. On second thought Senator Larry Craig trying to get out of a guilty plea today. It's related to a men's room sex sting. And trapped in a wrecked car for a week. Incredible survival story, in the NEWSROOM. The Iraq war at a crossroads on Capitol Hill. The war's top American commander delivering a long-awaited assessment and facing a lot of skepticism. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr sets the stage for us this morning. Barbara, what are we expecting to hear today from General Petraeus?
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Well, I think everyone is going to watching for those key words, Heidi, what General Petraeus will recommend about when the first troops can come back home from Iraq. There's about 160,000 U.S. troops there. Thirty thousand of them are the so-called surge forces, the extra forces that have been in Iraq since February. When can some of those 30,000 start coming home? What everyone will be looking for is for General Petraeus' recommendations on when that first brigade, the first 4,000 or so forces, might be able to return to the United States. There's two schools of thought right now that he might recommend perhaps in the December-January time frame security is good enough right now that he can do without them, let them come home early, send that signal. The other school of thought is, no, he will wait and say they cannot come home until April. April is a key month on the calendar, because no matter what, the surge begins to run out at that time. There aren't enough troops to keep it going past the spring of '08. So everyone will be looking at the calendar when he starts to talk the December-January time frame, and then the April time frame. It's all about when those first fist troops will be able to come home Heidi.
[Collins:] Yes, it sure is. Meanwhile, Barbara, Iran obviously still a source of concern for military officials in Iraq. Tell us the latest on that.
[Starr:] Well, absolutely, because no matter how much progress has been made in the security picture on the ground in Iraq, what General Petraeus will also talk about, and he is talking about it a lot lately, is Iran's involvement there. The U.S. strongly believes that Iran is continuing to smuggle weapons and fighters into Iraq. So what are they doing? The strategy that's now emerging is they're building the U.S. is building a number of checkpoints along the border crossings out to the east to check all vehicles and traffic coming into Iraq from Iran. Those checkpoints will be monitored by both Iraqi and coalition forces. But once you put coalition forces out in that remote area, you have to have a base for them. And now the U.S. is going to start building a small base out in that region to house and maintain the U.S. forces that will be in that very troubled border area Heidi.
[Collins:] Wow. Interesting. All right. CNN's Barbara Starr for us this morning from the Pentagon. Barbara, thanks. I'm sure we'll check back later with you. Meanwhile, some background for you this morning on General David Petraeus. He took command of multinational forces in Iraq in February of this year. In June, 2004, the general was charged with training the new Iraqi army. He held that position for more than a year. And during the 2003 Iraq invasion, he led the 101st Airborne Division, his first combat assignment. General Petraeus also viewed as a scholar-soldier. He's a 1974 graduate of West Point. He holds a doctorate in international relations form Princeton University. Count on CNN throughout the day to bring you the best coverage and analysis of the Iraq war progress report. And even when you're not in front of the television, you can still watch the hearings live on your computer. You just go to CNN.com. You will find live coverage throughout the day. On the ground today in Iraq, indications of the dangers that remain. Word of seven U.S. troops killed in an apparent accident near Baghdad. U.S. officials tell CNN the service members were killed when their vehicle rolled over. And it does not appear any hostile fire was involved. Also today, reports of another soldier's death. The military says a member of Task Force Lightning was hit by rocket fire during a patrol in northern Iraq. A new legal bid this morning by Senator Larry Craig. He wants to try to undo his plea in a sex sting. The Idaho Republican pleaded guilty last month to disorderly conduct. He was accused of soliciting sex, arrested by an undercover police officer in a Minneapolis airport men's room. Craig's attorney, Billy Martin, filing documents today to try to reverse that plea.
[Billy Martin, Larry Craig's Attorney:] I think the senator had just gone under a tremendous interview with "The Idaho Statesman" where he was under investigation for being gay. They were walking around Washington and other cities with photographs in gay bars. They were embarrassing him. He had just gone through an interview where he put to sleep, put to rest any argument that he was gay. And they were going to publish this article. So he stepped in this bathroom shortly after that interview. And I know the pressure and the stress, as well as the panic from what this could do, did not have him thinking clearly. And he waved his constitutional rights, and we're asking that that be reversed.
[Collins:] Just over a week ago, Craig announced his intention to resign from the Senate at the end of this month. Days later he told Senate leaders he would remain in office if he could clear his name. Legal experts say it is a long shot. Flags lowered to half staff in Provo, Utah, today in memory of a college student. The body of Camille Cleverley was found at the bottom of a 200-foot cliff yesterday. The site was near a popular canyon waterfall. That's where authorities had centered much of their 10-day search. Cleverley had been scheduled to start her senior year at Brigham Young University last week. At a memorial last night, her parents thanked everyone involve in the search. Investigators are trying to determine how Cleverley fell. They're not ruling out foul play. Missing girl mystery update. Portuguese police hand over the Madeleine McCann case to prosecutors today. Her parents, still considered suspects but no longer in Portugal. CNN's Phil Black explains.
[Phil Black, Cnn International Correspondent:] They left without saying a word. One hundred and twenty-nine days since their daughter disappeared, Kate and Gerry McCann drove out of the town from where they have directed the Find Madeleine campaign. A spokesperson said they did so with the consent of Portuguese authorities. But even in their home country, Kate and Gerry will remain aguido, official suspects in the police investigation. [on camera]: Is it unusual for an aguido to be allowed to leave the country?
[Oliveira Trinade, Lawyer:] No, it's not unusual, and it happens a lot.
[Black:] Criminal lawyer Oliveira Trinade says the status of aguido applies for eight months. For that time, even in Britain, the McCanns must obey the Portuguese law of judicial secrecy. It is illegal for them to talk about the investigation.
[Trinade:] Anywhere in this world they still and they must remain silent about the facts. They cannot give the facts to anyone else.
[Black:] Prosecutors did not seek a court order forcing Kate and Gerry to stay in Portugal. But, at any time, they could ask for one, insisting on their return.
[Trinade:] If necessary, the prosecutor or the police will then call them to be questioned again, if necessary, in Portugal.
[Black:] Portuguese lawyers say it is possible the police will complete their investigation without the McCanns having to come back here. But if one or both is charged and ordered to stand trial, they will be required to attend. [voice over]: The McCanns' announcement that they were leaving came as a surprise after earlier insisting they would stay in Praia da Luz.
[Carla Rodrigues, Portuguese Journalist:] It's sudden and it's strange for maybe for the Portuguese community here in Praia da Luz. In less than 48 hours, the McCanns are considered suspects and they are leaving Portugal, they are going back to the
[U.k. Black:] The first official aguido to be named in this case, a British man, has yet to be either charged or cleared. The McCanns insist they had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance, but clearing the suspicion that now hangs over them could take sometime yet. Phil Black, CNN, Praia da Luz, Portugal.
[Collins:] No welcome mat in Pakistan for the country's former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. After seven years of exile, he returned home today. But after his plane arrived in Islamabad from London, he was put on another plane bound for Saudi Arabia. Then violent clashes between Sharif's supporters and police. Sharif was convicted of tax evasion and treason after President Pervez Musharraf seized power eight years ago. Sharif agreed to 10 years in exile, but last month, Pakistan's supreme court lifted the exile order. A symbol of hatred found hanging on a college campus. The investigation and the outrage. Also, a missing teen's incredible survival story. Trapped for a week in an overturned car, finally able to crawl out to safety. And a pain in the neck sends Laura Bush into surgery. Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen updates the first lady's condition ahead right here in the NEWSROOM.