New Report Casts Doubt on Protection of U.S. Troops
WHITFIELD: A look now at our top stories. A doctor treating the sole survivor of the West Virginia mine disaster says Randy McCloy is improving. It is possible he may be transferred this evening back to West Virginia from the hospital where he has been treated in Pittsburgh. He has been undergoing some specialized treatment there in Pittsburgh. We expect to get a briefing at the top of the hour. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in critical condition. Doctors say a decision is nearing on when to begin to remove the Israeli leader from his medically induced coma. One of Sharon's surgeons says he's almost certain that he has suffered some sort of cognitive loss from the stroke he suffered last week. A poll finds most Americans are against government eavesdropping on telephone calls without court orders. In an A.P./Ipsos poll, 56 percent said the government needs to seek warrants. Forty-two percent say the program defended by President Bush is fine as it is, as a tool in the war on terror.</s>DELAY: I guess, as most of you have probably heard by now, earlier today, I asked Speaker Hastert to convene the House Republican Conference as soon as possible as the -- for the purpose of electing a new majority leader.</s>WHITFIELD: Well, that was Congressman Tom DeLay announcing he is permanently stepping down as House majority leader. The Republican was elected to the post back in November of 2002. Almost three years later, he was indicted and forced to step aside. DeLay insisted the move would be temporary. But the indictment in Texas on felony campaign finance charges hasn't been DeLay's only problem. CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, joins me now with a closer look -- good to see you and Happy New Year, Bill.</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you. Happy New Year to you, Fredericka.</s>WHITFIELD: Well, you have to wonder about the timing because at the time of his first hearing in Texas, we saw a DeLay who was very defiant and said he is sticking to his guns. Now we're seeing him say I'm willing to step aside. What's different?</s>SCHNEIDER: What's different is two things that happened this week. First of all, and what made all the difference, was Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist, plead guilty in two different cases and appears to be ready to sing, by which I mean he's going to tell all to federal investigators and prosecutors, as well as prosecutors in Miami. He may implicate a number of other members of Congress, some Democrats, but mostly Republicans; congressional aides, some of whom worked with or for Tom DeLay in the past. So this has gotten far more complicated. And DeLay cannot argue that the Abramoff case -- remember, he wasn't just indicted, he pleaded guilty to those charges. That's not a partisan vendetta, the charge that he made against the Texas prosecutor who indicted him, who indicted Tom DeLay.</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: He is sticking to his guns. Now we're seeing him say, I'm willing to step aside. What's different?</s>BILL SCHNEIDER: What's different is two things that happened this week. First of all, and what made all the difference, was Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist, pled guilty in two different cases and appears to be ready to sing. By which I mean he's going to tell all to federal investigators and prosecutors, as well as prosecutors in Miami. He may implicate a number of other members of Congress. Some Democrats, but mostly Republicans. Congressional aides, some of whom worked with or for Tom DeLay in the past. So this has gotten far more complicated. And DeLay cannot argue that the Abramoff case -- remember, he wasn't just indicted, he pleaded guilty to those charges -- that's not a partisan vendetta, the charge that he made against the Texas prosecutor who indicted him. Who indicted Tom DeLay. And second of all, DeLay is facing a full-scale revolt among Republican members of Congress who were petitioning the speaker to hold an election to go ahead and replace DeLay whether he chose to step aside or not. So he got the message.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow. And he might also be getting the message from congressional leaders who were saying that they're a little concerned now about Abramoff's plea deal.</s>SCHNEIDER: Yes, a lot of people are concerned about that. Who's he going to implicate? Both members and staff members? And how much damage could this do to the Republican Party? Remember, they've got to face re-election this year. The Democrats have been talking about the culture of corruption, which they claim is an issue that will enable them to, they hope, win back control of Congress against a Republican majority. And you've got to say Republicans are very nervous about this and extremely nervous about Abramoff. This is likely to be the biggest congressional scandal since the House banking controversy over 10 years ago.</s>WHITFIELD: Now we still don't know what kind of role, if any, the White House may have played, given that Mr. Bush and Mr. DeLay are fairly cozy friends, both being Texans. But we have to instead potentially wonder if the White House is a little bit concerned or how invested they may be on who the next leader would be.</s>SCHNEIDER: Well, I think they are a bit concerned because DeLay held the skill to hold the House Republican majority, which is a fairly slim majority, together behind the White House's initiatives. Now they're going to be faced with a new majority leader. The one who's expected to stay in place is Speaker Dennis Hastert. But there is pressure from among Republicans, not just to replace DeLay as majority leader since he's stepping aside, but perhaps to replace the entire leadership team. All new leader in the Republican majority. This could be a big change and it could well be that these new leaders could include some who are not particularly loyal to the White House and the White House agenda with an unpopular president. They have to face re-election this year. You could find a Republican majority that's going to try to seek its own way and not simply follow the White House.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow, this is going to be some midterm elections. A hot political year. Bill, you are going to be very busy.</s>SCHNEIDER: Indeed.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot.</s>SCHNEIDER: Sure.</s>WHITFIELD: Here's some news from around the world now. A terror warning for Jordan. The British government closes its embassy in Amman. It says terrorists may be in the final stages of planning an attack against westerners there. The statement urges caution at Jordan's boarders with Iraq and Israel. The World Health Organization is investigating the deaths of three siblings in Turkey. At least two of whom have died from bird flu. They are the first confirmed bird flu deaths outside East Asia. One of the looming questions is whether the siblings passed the virus to one another or whether each was infected individually by exposure to sickened poultry. And officials in Indonesia have lowered the number of people listed as missing or dead in mudslides to 180. The government says dozens of survivors were found to be staying with family or friends. Rescue workers continue to search for bodies amid suggestions that widespread logging may have played a role. Iraqi police targeted in Baghdad today. A suicide car bomber blew himself up as a police commando patrol was passing by. At least 13 people were wounded. Six were police commandos. A secret Pentagon study is sure to add more fire to the debate over the adequacy of body armor given to troops in Iraq. The study, reported in "The New York Times," finds as many as 80 percent of the Marines who have been killed from wounds to the upper body could have survived had they had better protection. The Pentagon has defended its protection of troops. Will that change now? Joining me with his thoughts is Retired Air Force Major General, CNN Military Analyst Don Shepperd. Hello to you and happy new year.</s>MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Same to you, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: Well, you have to wonder at this point when we talk about inadequate armor for some of the troops, particularly in the Marines. The Marines -- perhaps the original plan was, the Marines wouldn't be in the line of fire or subject to the IEDs at the scale that it has been and thereby consequently leading to a number of deaths. Is the issue the lack of body armor or is the issue the fact that they are engaged in a war that perhaps no one expected Marines to be in?</s>SHEPPERD: Well, it's neither of those, Fredricka. First of all, it's not a lack of body armor and it is not the fact that the Marines were not expected to be in combat. It's very clear that the Marines are in a lot of the hot areas. But it's not a lack -- the article in "The New York Times" that really kicked this off in the last couple of days that would lead one to believe that there was not enough body armor out there. There is enough body armor. Every soldier in the theater over there has the new body armor, if you will. The question is, the armor that you wear is a trade-off between the areas you protect, the weight of it and your ability to do your job. You can't cover the whole body with thick armor and still do your job. So some areas are going to be uncovered and that's what this study really focused on is, how can we improve the body armor that we have in order to protect the troops better.</s>WHITFIELD: Well, when you say everyone has the body armor and then reportedly, through "The New York Times," this report is suggesting that the Marines perhaps may now have the body armor they didn't have prior to September because the Marines started purchasing and equipping their people with the body armor. But still you have to wonder if this is going to impact any kind of future engagements because there is some criticism that the body armor doesn't go far enough.</s>SHEPPERD: Yes, remember, we've always had body armor over there, but we are constantly learning -- and the body armor we have now is made up of two types of armor. One of them is a protective vest. It's an outer shield, if you will, and that protective vest will protect you against certain types of weapons. I don't want to go into the weapons because it might help the bad guys. But also inside that vest then are inserted plates. Now we are constantly improving the plates. The outer vest is made of Kevlar. The inner plates is made of a boride carbon ceramic, if you will. And if you stack more plates or if you stack bigger plates around, it will cover more areas of the body. And then you also have inserts that are available for the throat, for the crotch, for the underarm, that type of things, areas that are unprotected. So it's a question of, how much of this do you want to put on for everybody, how much does it weigh, and then what will it do to you when the weather is hot and when you're running forward and backward and also shooting. That has to be studied, it has to be tested, it has to be approved and then deployed. So the Marines have gone up and down through several series and now I think everybody is buying the same type of body armor and it's about as well as we can. But we may be able to make better plates and give more inserts to cover more areas of the body.</s>WHITFIELD: OK. And, quickly, before I let you go. I know we're running out of time. But a quick yes or no answer. Does this underscore the vulnerabilities of the military personnel over there, especially in light of other criticisms about their vehicles not being armored enough?</s>SHEPPERD: Our military personnel are always vulnerable. When you protect somebody, either in a vehicle or with body armor, it is a question of what size projectile is fired at them, what angle does it hit and the size of the projectile itself.</s>WHITFIELD: OK.</s>SHEPPERD: All of that is a matter of protection. You can only do so much, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, General Don Shepherd, thanks so much. Always good to see you.</s>SHEPPERD: A pleasure.</s>WHITFIELD: Well in two days an Iraqi baby suffering a birth defect will undergo life-saving surgery in this country. In Atlanta, in particular. Baby Noor arrived in the U.S. one week ago thanks to a team of troops based in Iraq. The troops are back at work in Iraq. But as CNN's Michael Holmes explains, their thoughts are still a half world away.</s>MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Just days ago, their focus was a tiny baby named Noor. Soldiers from Georgia found her while on a search for insurgents. She had spina bifida and would not have survived in Iraq for long. Those soldiers arranged to have her sent to the U.S. for state of the art treatment.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, Roger, be advised, audible, small arms fire.</s>HOLMES: But today, back to business. Another mission for the men of 1st Brigade 10th Mountain Division, including those men from the Georgia National Guard who took on baby Noor as if she were their own. Their west of Baghdad, a rural area, seemingly quiet but intelligent sources say a refuge for insurgents and kidnappers. A place where car bombs and roadside bombs are built before being send to cities and towns. And a growing trend, Iraqis are leading this mission, Americans largely in the background.</s>GEN. ABDUL AZIZ, IRAQI ARMY: In that time they -- I worry about this area because that is a strategic area</s>HOLMES: It's a big operation, too. Troops, bomb-sniffing dogs, metal detectors. Searchers of humble country homes. Even a chicken farm where several men are detained. The bounty ranges from an old mine's rifle.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know you're not supposed to have this.</s>HOLMES: To literally truck loads of suspects.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: C-4.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And these batteries for IEDs.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and this is bullet for</s>IED. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.</s>HOLMES: To this, in the grounds of a village mosque, an informant tells the soldiers where to dig. They find pipes used for launching rockets, homemade bases from which to launch them, explosives, automatic weapon, artillery shells, batteries. The digging continues. Tense moments as more explosives are found. Also grenades and more.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Standing by. We just found another Italian mine.</s>HOLMES: This mission is the result of months of intelligence gathering mainly by the Iraqis. But this is an area that they have not been able to sweep into, enforce, until now. And so today with several hundred troops involved, is a day that both the Iraqis and the Americans have long been waiting for.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It went very well. This is a huge success for the Iraqi army. A huge success for us because, as you know, what's important right now is that we transition the Iraqi security to the Iraqi security forces.</s>HOLMES: The mission, a morale booster for a</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The emotions are high because some of the individuals really have taken to this very personally and they want to see that young baby come out of it in good shape.</s>HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, west of Baghdad.</s>WHITFIELD: At 10:00 tonight, an update on baby Noor's planned surgery. Recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Most New Orleans homeowners have had to deal with water damage. Next, we'll show you one community that has a much more crude problem. And from weather to fashion to lifestyle predictions, the new Farmer's Almanac has it all. And believe us, it's a far cry from your grandmother's planting guide.