Improvements In Iraq; FEMA Employees Arrest On Bribery Charges
NGUYEN: Is there good news to report out of Iraq that just isn't making the headlines? Why one U.S. commander in the war-torn nation thinks American troops are on the right track. Good morning, everybody. It's Saturday, January 28th, 2006. From the CNN Center in Atlanta I'm Betty Nguyen.</s>HARRIS: Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. That story ahead, but first a look at other headlines now in the news. Gunmen opened fire today in Baghdad in two separate attacks. The first shooting took place in a bus station. Police say one civilian was killed and about an hour later in the same neighborhood, gunmen opened fire on a police station, killing one police commando and wounding another. Another day of dramatic demonstrations in the west bank in Gaza. Activists from the Fatah Party staged marches and rallies protesting their devastating election loss to Hamas. Several Fatah gunmen briefly stormed the parliament building in Gaza. Activists also demonstrated outside the compound of Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas who they largely blame for their party's defeat. A leader from the winner Hamas party is speaking out from Syria. Khaled Mashaal says Hamas has succeeded in resistance and will also succeed in reforms. On the refusal of Hamas to recognize Israel, Mashaal says, quote, "not accepting them doesn't mean we cannot deal with their realities."</s>NGUYEN: Saddam Hussein's trial resumes tomorrow after a month- long break. It was supposed to begin last Tuesday, but the court ordered a delay, saying some witnesses couldn't show up because they were on the Muslim hajj pilgrimage. A new chief judge will preside over the proceedings for the first time tomorrow following the resignation of the first judge earlier this month.</s>HARRIS: Britain is hoping it can get some of its troops out of Iraq this year. It currently has about 8500 troops in country. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says Britain is looking to decrease that level, but only if the Baghdad government is secure. He was speaking at the world economic forum in Davos, Switzerland. Straw did not provide any numbers or time frame. Meanwhile, one U.S. commander thinks there's been a marked improvement in security in one dangerous corner of Iraq. CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre has that story.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For a decade now, up and coming military officers have studied how, during the Vietnam war, some senior military leaders abdicated their responsibility by not speaking out. The required reading, the 1997 book "Dereliction of Duty" by a bright young West Point graduate, H.R. McMaster. Now an Army colonel, McMaster has his own truth to tell. The war in Iraq, he says, at least in his little corner of it, is going better than a lot of people think.</s>COL. H.R. MCMASTER, US ARMY: The most tangible thing we can see is that people are happy. Hope is rekindled. Children rush to our soldiers. People spontaneously express their gratitude to us and the Iraqi army.</s>MCINTYRE: Colonel McMaster is the commander of the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment which is responsible for western Ninevah province, including Talafar, which was an insurgent stronghold until U.S. and Iraqi troops cleaned it up last year.</s>MCMASTER: The enemy now, they're skulking around like rats at night through the WID (ph) systems and so forth in the city. They can't be seen because it is them who are afraid.</s>MCINTYRE: Far from a broken force, McMaster insists his soldiers, now wrapping up their second tour in Iraq, are energized by the progress they see daily.</s>MCMASTER: Our soldiers ought to be exhausted now, but they're not. I mean, it seems like we're gaining energy every day because we see the difference we're making in real peoples' lives.</s>MCINTYRE: It's not the picture of Iraq that most Americans believe, but McMaster, who literally wrote the book on speaking truth to power, insists it's more accurate than the unrelenting violence would seem to indicate.</s>MCMASTER: I wish we could communicate more clearly is the relationships we develop with people. I mean we have made lifetime friends among the good Iraqi people. There are people in the neighborhoods where we're living who are naming their children after our soldiers. I know people don't see that.</s>MCINTYRE: But as his troops prepare to leave, McMaster says victory is still uncertain.</s>MCMASTER: But certainly it's a fragile victory. I mean this is a brutal and determined enemy who wants to get back into the city, who wants to continue to brutalize these people.</s>MCINTYRE: Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.</s>NGUYEN: Other headlines across America today. The Justice Department announces the arrest of two temporary FEMA employees in New Orleans who are charged with soliciting bribes in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The employees are accused of coercing a $20,000 kickback from a food vendor who provided meals to displaced residents at $35 per meal. Their scheme was to inflate the numbers of meals served. The vendors alerted the FBI to the alleged shakedown. Ford says it's appealing a huge verdict against it. A jury in Texas awarded $29.5 million to a woman in a blown tire case. The jury find Rose Munoz was partially paralyzed because of defects in a Ford designed Mazda Navajo and in a Firestone tire. Ford says the accident was due to driver error and also noted that Munoz wasn't wearing her seat belt. A movie version of the best seller "A Million Little Pieces" reportedly has been yellow lighted. That's right, "L.A. Times" says that Warner Brothers, which paid $125,000 for the film rights, has put the film project on hold. According to the news paper, the company says author James Frey's admission that much of his memoir is fiction has forced it to re-evaluate the proposed screen play.</s>HARRIS: Can Washington residents be expecting more of this kind of mess this week? Your weekend weather forecast is next.</s>NGUYEN: And some might consider them the real stars of the Super Bowl. We're talking about those high priced, highly hyped commercials. We all watch for them. Find out what you can expect this year when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.