Women Train for Checkpoint Work in Iraq
COLLINS: A quick check of the political headlines now. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, word coming from the Clinton camp the former president will sit down with Obama sometime in the next few days. They're also denying reports Bill Clinton is upset with Obama.</s>TERRY MCAULIFFE, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: As it relates to Barack Obama, he will go 24/7. He is fine. Is he's somewhat angry, as I am and others at some of the treatment Hillary received from the press? Sure. But, you know, that's life. We don't talk about it anymore. We're past that.</s>COLLINS: John McCain met with the Reverend Billy Graham and his son Franklin at their home in North Carolina on Sunday. McCain said he appreciated the chance to meet with the</s>NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Definitely.</s>COLLINS: Nkepile, unfortunately we're having a really hard time hearing you. We are trying to follow the story the best that we can, and we appreciate your reporting as always out of Johannesburg, South Africa. We'll stay on top of the story throughout the day here. Meanwhile, moving now to this story, a secret plan, in fact, to take out Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. "The New York Times" is reporting details of the plan which it says was drafted late last year. According to The Times, the plan would have made it easier for U.S. Special Forces to go into tribal Pakistan. That's where military commanders think bin Laden has been hiding. But the proposal, said to have been drawn up in secret, remains just a paper document. The Times says policy disagreements and battles among American counterterrorism agencies have stymied the plan. Also a problem, missteps in Washington's relations with Pakistan. The Times quotes a senior Defense Department official who says there is "mounting frustration at the Pentagon." Violence is down and security is improving in Iraq. The latest security report submitted to Congress this month shows major violence down, 40 to 80 percent, from levels seen before the so-called surge. And total security incidents have fallen to the lowest level in more than four years. The report goes on to say coalition and Iraqi forces have reduced al Qaeda in Iraq's ability to launch attacks. But the report points out the group still poses a major threat. Iraqi checkpoint backup, countering women suicide bombers with female security guards. Here now, CNN's Jill Dougherty.</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a checkpoint in Yusufiya, Iraq, southwest of Baghdad, a woman dressed in the traditional long, black abaya approaches security. Iraqi cultural norms forbid a man to pat down a woman, so a U.S. female soldier carries out the check. Is she a peaceful, local woman, or could she be hiding a bomb? In mid-May, an Iraqi army officer was killed in this town by a female suicide bomber.</s>CAPT. MICHAEL STARZ, U.S. ARMY: When he came out to meet her to help her with a problem that she was having, she detonated the vest and killed him and injured some of his soldiers.</s>DOUGHERTY: Now, in a U.S.-sponsored pilot program, Iraqi women are being hired and trained to carry out security checks on females. It's called Daughters of Iraq, a spinoff from the Sons of Iraq program which hires local men to run checkpoints. Each woman is fingerprinted and has biometric data registered.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just did a square knot.</s>DOUGHERTY: Their training includes first aid. An Iraqi colonel explains what the job entails. They'll work two to three days a month and will be paid $200 to $300 a month. Here in Yusufiya where families struggle to survive, that's good money. (on camera): These are farm women from local towns, many of them are widows with numerous children and almost no income. (voice-over): Fawzia has six children. Her husband was shot to death when his car broke down. "I am ready to work as long as it helps me financially," she says. "I have five children in school. My daughter is at home. She's sick. She's very weak, and her medication is so expensive." Having women work in this tradition-bound society is a social revolution, Fatima, a volunteer leader woman tells me. "Many women would like to do it," she says, "but their parents would not agree because it's a rural society and it's shameful for girls to go outside the home." Increasingly, Iraqi insurgent groups are using women as suicide bombers and to smuggle weapons because they know women are rarely checked. The U.S. and Iraqi military hope the Daughters of Iraq will help solve this critical security gap. Jill Dougherty, CNN, Yusufiya, Iraq.</s>COLLINS: The Iraq war, five years and counting. It's our focus, driving a lot of coverage today on CNN with updates on the violence, the funding and the troops. And perhaps it's the most important foreign policy issue in the 2008 election. So we want to hear from those of you directly affected by the war. Tell us the most important thing the next president needs to know about the war. If you had a chance, what would you show the next president about it? Share your stories and your photos at ireport.com/iraq. New avenues for oil exploration. The melting North Pole may uncover billions of barrels of black gold.