CNN's John King reports from Cincinnati on Iraq

From the transcript yesterday:

John King is in Covington, Kentucky, this morning with some gold- star parents.

John, good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

And you see the city of Cincinnati behind me. Ohio has paid a high price in this war. So as we await the president's speech and we track the debate in the Congress about whether a troop surge is a good idea, about whether the Democrats will take the bold step of actually trying to cut off funding for the war, we thought it also important to touch base with some people for whom Iraq is not such a faraway place. And for them, the war is intensely personal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KING (voice over): The heroes of Lima Company are remembered in somber public memorials, and remembered 17 months later in the private shrines of parents who still gasp when the doorbell rings, still hesitate to watch the news.

JOHN DYER, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: Every time I hear another casualty report, it's just -- it's like a knife going through me, because I know what that serviceperson's family is going to feel like.

KING: Lance Corporal Christopher Dyer was 19 when he was killed by a roadside bomb in Haditha. Back then, the U.S. death toll was at the 1,800 mark, and his father, who had questioned the war, wrote the president, urging him to win it.

DYER: But if that could happen, then I might be able to reconcile myself to seeing that my son's death had contributed to something.

KING: Dyer still feels that way but worries Iraq has become too political and the war itself off course.

DYER: Because I don't think we're any better off in Iraq than we were a year and a half ago with another 1,200 servicemen killed. In some ways, we're worse off.

KING: Isolde Zierk's son Gus (ph) is a Lima Company staff sergeant, back home and married now. So talk of a troop surge, it's hard.

ISOLDE ZIERK, MOTHER OF LIMA COMPANY MARINE: My son could be another one that's -- you know, has to go back, even though we are not slated to go. But you have to find 20,000 or 30,000 people somewhere.

KING: Zierk supports the war, but knows Democratic gains in last year's elections proves she's outnumbered.

ZIERK: The majority is not satisfied and wanted a change.

KING: The Lima Company deaths were a turning point for public opinion here in Ohio, the state where Mr. Bush began the march to war with such certainty.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The threat comes from Iraq. It possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons.

KING: Four years later, 72 percent of Americans disapprove of how Mr. Bush is handling Iraq, and 61 percent in a "USA Today"-Gallup poll oppose increasing troop levels.

JEREMY ROSNER, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: The man giving that speech is in a lonely position and one of the loneliest jobs in the world.

KING: John Dyer keeps thinking it's time to put most of this away.

DYER: This is obviously not even close to what we had in our dreams, or in his dreams.

KING: But he wants to believe Chris's death was not in vain and will be listening to see if the president gives him hope.

DYER: Obviously, it's very depressing. Sometimes I can't even watch the news because of what's going on. But I just don't see an alternative to not staying and seeing it through. I'm trying to be hopeful and optimistic, but it is very difficult.(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Spend time with an anguished parent like John Dyer, Miles, and what is most striking is that the conversation is much less black and white than what you get back in Washington. There you have the Democrats and the Republicans positioning over just how to react and how to handle the president's speech.Speak to a parent like John Dyer, who has suffered the ultimate loss, and what you hear is someone who says, yes, the president has made a lot of mistakes, yes, the president should probably candidly acknowledge those mistakes in his speech tonight. But Mr. Dyer also says look, Mr. Bush will be president for two more years, there will be tens of thousands of troops in Iraq for more than that, and he wishes the politicians in Washington would discuss this, debate their ideas, but be much less partisan -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's such a tragedy to lose a child, but then to think that loss was in vain, it's hard to comprehend, isn't it, John?

KING: It sure is. I spoke first with Mr. Dyer a year and a half ago, just after he buried his son. He's a very thoughtful man, and you can see him wrestling.You had the shrine in his house -- and we've seen this in the parents of other children who have lost their lives in Iraq, two young men and women who have lost their lives in Iraq -- and he has all this stuff out, and knows it's time to put it away. But you can tell he's waiting for a turn for the better in Iraq.He'll feel much better putting it away if he believes Iraq is headed in the right direction. And he's hoping, hoping, although he's a bit skeptical, to get some of those answers from the president tonight.

M. O'BRIEN: A lot of shades of gray there.John King in Covington, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati.Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. And then multiply it by 3,000, plus.