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CNN Live At Daybreak
Multiple Blasts in Baghdad, Karbala; 10 States Hold Primaries or Caucuses
Aired March 02, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq, an explosion of deadly violence in Iraq. Multiple blasts in Baghdad and Karbala during the height of a Shiite Muslim holiday.
Good morning.
It's Tuesday, March 2.
And from the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in for Carol Costello.
Several explosions in Iraq's holy city of Karbala come as thousands of pilgrims celebrate the year's holiest day for Shiites. More explosions at a mosque in Baghdad add to the death toll. In 60 seconds, we'll have live reports from both cities.
Now, in the United States, today is Super Tuesday. Ten states hold election contests. More than 1,100 delegates are up for grabs. John Kerry hopes to put an iron grip on his front runner status.
Haiti's former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide says the U.S. forced him out of office in a coup d'etat. The White House calls that nonsense.
In Colorado, an independent committee begins investigating allegations that the University of Colorado football program used sex and alcohol to recruit high school players.
NASA plans what it calls a significant announcement today regarding its Mars rover. There is speculation NASA will reveal the red planet was once capable of sustaining microscopic life forms.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes and our next news update is at 5:15 Eastern.
In the meantime, bloody -- blood and body parts splatter a Shiite mosque in Baghdad. Deadly explosions there mark a horrific end to holy celebrations.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us now live with the latest -- Jane, we have been watching the pictures all morning. It is indescribable what you have seen today.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Carol, particularly in the backdrop of this being such a holy day, a holy commemoration for Iraqi Shias. They had been waiting for more than 30 years to be able to celebrate this publicly, the commemoration of the killing of the Imam Hussein 14 centuries ago.
And as we were following one of those processions to the Khadimiya mosque, the third holiest site for Shia Muslims in the world, four explosions rang out. Immediately after, sirens blaring, ambulances drove by, sped by, other cars and trucks with wounded people in them. And when we got to the mosque itself, in the courtyard it was horrific, just pools of blood, body parts and incredibly angry people.
The imam at the mosque told us that no Muslim could have done this. Other people blamed it on the American soldiers. And as that happened, American soldiers moved closer to the mosque to try to defuse the situation. They were driven back.
The chaos has eased somewhat. It's somewhat under control. But still a horrific tragedy on this holiest of days -- Carol.
LIN: Jane, when you say holding the American soldiers responsible, not for the explosions itself, but for what, not securing the area as well as it should have been?
ARRAF: I think we have to understand that when something like this happens, particularly when you're starting with such strong religious emotion in the first place, people just lash out and blame everyone. They blame the American soldiers for being there in the first place, for not having proper security. Some of them blame the Americans working with Israelis, they said, for setting the explosions themselves.
It's not rational, but these are not rational times and that was not a rational circumstance -- Carol.
LIN: Yes. We're seeing some pictures right now, Jane, that you fed in a little bit earlier of people throwing stones at American soldiers. There's chaos on the street, obviously a lot of litter from the explosions there.
What is the theory as to who might be responsible? Who are you hearing?
ARRAF: Well, there could be a long list of suspects. Now, the fear, of course, has been that something like this would happen, as it did in Karbala and in the holy Shia places in Baghdad and other places, to try to foster civil war, if you will. This had been one of the working theories, that foreign groups were trying to split Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims.
Now, thankfully, the people we spoke with -- and we spoke to a lot. A lot of them coming up to us and very heatedly telling us who they thought was responsible. They were not pointing the finger at other Iraqis. They were pointing the blame at foreign groups.
Now, it's much too early to tell from the official point of view who might have been behind it. But as for the sentiment on the street, they say no Iraqi, no Muslim could have done this.
LIN: All right, thank you very much.
Jane Arraf live in Baghdad.
We want to give you the big picture here to give you some background in case you're just catching up and just waking up this morning. The explosions in Baghdad happened about three hours ago and the CNN staff on the ground reports seeing piles of bodies stacked in pickup trucks following those blasts. And we were just talking with our Jane Arraf, who also earlier was describing a very graphic scene of pools of blood filling the courtyard of the Khadimiya mosque, one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims.
Now, several blasts also rocked the Shiite holy city of Karbala, where pilgrims were also celebrating the Ashura holiday. Ashura is the holiest day for Shia Muslims and its observance was banned under the regime of Saddam Hussein. So this is the first time they were able to have this festival in 30 years.
Now, the casualty figures are not official yet. Reuters News Agency is reporting more than 100 people combined in Karbala and Baghdad have been killed. At least one U.S. soldier we can count among the dead. CNN is doing its own confirmation of the death toll and the injuries. Tens of thousands of Shias were attending the ceremonies in both Baghdad and Karbala, so we certainly do expect a pretty high death toll.
Now, one other deadly attack to tell you about in Iraq. An American soldier, as I mentioned, was killed, and another was seriously wounded today when a homemade bomb was thrown at their Humvee. It happened in Baghdad. The soldiers were from the 1st Armored Division.
In the meantime, on to campaign news right here in the United States. It is Super Tuesday. It's like leap year, it comes around once every four years. Today, 10 states hold primaries or caucuses in what is the single biggest delegate day in the run for president.
And as senior political correspondent Candy Crowley reports, it's basically down to a two man race.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two men with little that divides them on the political spectrum spent the eve of the biggest day of the primary season campaigning mostly in the same states. Their days could not have been more different. One may just be starting.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: God, when November comes, George Bush is going, we're coming, and don't let the door hit you on the way out, folks.
CROWLEY: The other may be near the end.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I came here today to ask you to go to the polls tomorrow... CROWLEY: One for 21, John Edwards faces the possibility of a shutout in Tuesday's 10 state contest. He is running against time. He is working against odds. And now, as John Kerry begins to gather the party faithful around him, John Edwards finds himself justifying why he stays in the race.
EDWARDS: As long as there's a serious substantive discussion going on among Democrats, which is what we've seen over the last few weeks between Senator Kerry and myself, we get a lot of attention from the American people. And it's harder for George Bush to get attention. And that's, I think, part of the reason that both myself and John Kerry are beating President Bush nationally in the polls.
CROWLEY: Mathematically, Kerry cannot win even if he sweeps Super Tuesday. Politically, he can put it away. Strategically, he has already moved on.
KERRY: This president has, in fact, created terrorists where they didn't exist and I believe, I believe this president has run the most arrogant, inept, reckless and ideological foreign policy in the modern history of our country and we need to hold him accountable.
CROWLEY: Both men end their day in Georgia. For both, things will be different tomorrow.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Now, as part of our coverage of Super Tuesday, Democratic front runner John Kerry will be a guest on AMERICAN MORNING. And that comes your way at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.
In the meantime, of course, the entire network here is revved up for complete Super Tuesday coverage coast to coast.
Wolf Blitzer kicks off our prime time reports as the first results roll in this evening at 7:00 Eastern, 7:00 p.m.
Now, Larry King picks up the ball at 9:00 p.m. Eastern with live updates from the campaign trail.
And later at 10:00 Eastern, Wolf returns for another two hours with new results and reaction from California.
Hang out late with us for a special edition of "Larry King Live" at midnight.
And at 1:00 a.m. Eastern, we'll put it all in perspective for you with a special edition of "NewsNight."
All right, let's go live now with our breaking news this morning to Karbala for the latest on the bomb attacks.
Brent Sadler is on the scene in that holy site city -- Brent, we heard Jane Arraf's report from Baghdad. How bad is it at your location?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Yes, indeed, we've seen a series of devastating bomb attacks. They took place at about the same time as that Baghdad mosque was being hit. And we can show you some exclusive pictures -- they're pretty gruesome, I can tell you -- that we've just got in from one of the pilgrims who was taking part in a procession to the Imam Hussein mosque, which is in the center of the holy city of Karbala. And you'll see from these exclusive pictures a pretty gruesome sequence of events.
The pilgrims are marching from one of the gates, the Baghdad Gate, into Karbala. There is a blast. You see smoke in the distance and then you see pilgrims turning around to see what's happening. The camera then moves back along the trail of pilgrims and starts picking up some pretty ugly scenes of terrible injuries among the pilgrims, the Shiite pilgrims, many of them from Iran as well as from Iraq. And certainly many, many injuries and certainly deaths as a result of that one blast.
There were one of perhaps as many as nine we counted over a period of about an hour. The pictures you're seeing now were from a series of about four or five blasts. At the moment, the security forces on the ground -- that's the police and the security from Islamic parties -- are suggesting that some sort of mortar bomb might have been responsible for these deaths and injuries, scores of deaths and injuries according to latest reports in a number of locations.
The imams, the religious leaders in mosques, have been calling for pilgrims to donate blood to help alleviate the suffering of those who have been injured.
And, indeed, the mood changed from one of invoking great religious passion to one of instability and chaos as the aftermath of these explosions was felt among the countless hundreds of thousands of worshippers who have descended on Karbala for this very, very important holiest of days in the Shia religious calendar -- Carol Lin, back to you.
LIN: Brent, what sort of security was in place before this? I mean obviously this would have been a likely target if somebody wanted to make a big impact on this very holy day, knowing that thousands, if not millions, of worshippers were going to be all in one city in one place.
SADLER: Indeed. This was certainly a target that coalition officials had been talking about for some time before this event, raising voices of concern that this would be a prime target for any group or individual that wants to attempt to stir a civil war to break the sectarianism between the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq.
And we know for a fact that a letter released by the coalition a few weeks ago, by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian with suspected links to al Qaeda, was planning to do just that, to attack the Shia to provoke, to foment a civil war between Iraq's two major religious groups.
Now, what we've seen on the ground both here and in Baghdad, but specifically here in Karbala, is continued attachment to the religion of the day. The passion is still here, even though we've seen this carnage and heavy loss of life as a result of this series of deadly bomb attacks, most of them on the outskirts of the city, not in the heart of Karbala, but no less devastating on this, the most important of days in the Shia religious calendar -- Carol Lin.
LIN: All right, thank you very much.
Brent Sadler reporting live in the holy city of Karbala.
We know that these pictures that we're getting in are extremely graphic. We're trying to be very careful about what we do show you on the air. But this is breaking news. We are working on it throughout the day, to get some analysis on what exactly and why it happened in Karbala and Baghdad.
In the meantime, we've got a very busy morning for you.
Did Martha Stewart lie? Closing arguments in this fiery trial take center stage today.
Plus, why some theatergoers to the new Mel Gibson movie are getting mad over the actual tickets.
Also, will e-voting equal e-trouble? Concerns about whether your vote will count when you go to the polls.
And we'll have continuing coverage of the multiple explosions in Iraq that have killed so many people.
It is Tuesday, March 2, and you're watching DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: It's about quarter past the hour and here's a quick look at our top stories in the DAYBREAK early briefing.
Several deadly explosions in Iraq today have killed at least 100 people. Blasts in Baghdad and Karbala targeted the observance of a major Shiite Muslim holiday that had been banned for 30 years by Saddam Hussein.
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide claims the United States forced him to leave office and the country. The White House denies the allegation.
The judge in the Kobe Bryant case has postponed today's expected testimony from Bryant's accuser. She may appear later this month.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes and our next update is at 5:30 Eastern.
In the meantime, we want to go to the crisis in Haiti now and accusations by ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of U.S. skullduggery. Well, in his letter of resignation provided to the news media, Aristide wrote that he was resigning, quoting here, "in order to avoid a bloodbath." But Aristide tells CNN the letter he signed omitted a key phrase that read, "I am obliged to leave in order to avoid a bloodbath."
The bottom line is Jean-Bertrand Aristide is making these claims and the U.S. says it's nonsense, he signed a piece of paper that explained why he was leaving. Anyway, the White House is calling the accusations that it orchestrated the forced Haitian leader out ridiculous, nonsense.
More on this controversy now from our David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a bitter phone call with CNN from exile in Africa, the former Haitian president claimed he was hustled out of his country as part of what he called a coup d'etat, involving, he said, American officials who lied to him.
JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE, FORMER HAITIAN PRESIDENT: They told me in a clear and blunt way that thousands of people will get killed once they start. So I had to do my best to avoid that bloodshed. They used force to push me out. That's why I call it again and again a coup d'etat, a modern way to have a modern kidnapping.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The allegations that somehow we kidnapped former President Aristide are absolutely baseless, absurd.
ENSOR: In fact, a senior State Department official said Aristide has a history of "unusual and erratic statements" and officials say while he may be having second thoughts now, he left Haiti with 15 bodyguards of his own free will after requesting U.S. help to leave. He even signed this letter of resignation, made available to CNN by a source, in which he says, "I am resigning in order to avoid a bloodbath."
POWELL: We did not force him onto the airplane. He went onto the airplane willingly and that's the truth.
ENSOR: Aristide told CNN he and his wife were kept on a plane out of touch for nearly a full day and a night, not told where they were going.
ARISTIDE: We spent 20 hours in that plane without knowing where we go, without having the right to contact our people.
ENSOR: True, say U.S. officials, but that was because they could not officially find a country that would take him.
POWELL: We went through about an hour and a half of difficult negotiations with various countries and with friends of ours to find alternative locations that he might go to while the plane was in the air. ENSOR: Some critics and other Caribbean governments charge even if the Bush administration did not kidnap Aristide, it left him with no choice but to leave, sending a disturbing message to other democratically elected leaders.
SEN. CHRIS DODD (D), CONNECTICUT: The fact of the matter is we said to President Aristide, look, you can stay and be killed or you can leave -- you make the choice. That's hardly a voluntary departure.
ENSOR (on camera): The critics say by refusing to protect Aristide, the U.S. becomes at least partly responsible for what follows. It must now undertake nation building in Haiti, they say, and should be rightly condemned if it gives up too soon.
David Ensor, CNN, the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: More controversy for "The Passion of the Christ." That tops our DAYBREAK Eye-Opener. This time, all the fuss concerns a movie ticket machine in Rome, Georgia. It seems the machine is printing "Passion" tickets with the number 666 on it. Christians believe 666 is the mark of the devil or the anti-Christ. Now, some movie patrons are complaining. The theater says really it's just a coincidence. It's just, computer wise, that's just how the machine decided to print out the tickets. Amazing.
Dick Clark is being sued for, of all things, age discrimination. A 76-year-old former game show producer, Ralph Andrews, claims the 74- year-old Clark refused to hire him because of his age and says Clark even referred to him as a dinosaur.
In Toronto, more than 1,800 people attended exhibitions during the first gays and lesbian wedding show. Yes, you heard me right. Exhibitors showed off the latest in wedding cakes, dresses and same- sex honeymoon excursions.
You hear it all on this program, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can picture it now...
LIN: Never miss a beat...
MYERS: ... two guys in tuxes on top of the cake.
LIN: Yes. Yes, with matching cummerbunds.
MYERS: Right. Exactly.
LIN: It's a good thing.
MYERS: It would be all right.
Hey, good morning, Carol.
LIN: Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LIN: Well, we're going to talk about a voting booth challenge. Will new electronic systems make the grade on Super Tuesday?
Also, violence in Iraq -- a series of blasts takes a deadly toll. We are going to take you live to Baghdad.
An amazing story of love lost and then found -- a determined mother is reunited with a daughter she thought was dead.
More in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Primaries or Caucuses>
Aired March 2, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In Iraq, an explosion of deadly violence in Iraq. Multiple blasts in Baghdad and Karbala during the height of a Shiite Muslim holiday.
Good morning.
It's Tuesday, March 2.
And from the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in for Carol Costello.
Several explosions in Iraq's holy city of Karbala come as thousands of pilgrims celebrate the year's holiest day for Shiites. More explosions at a mosque in Baghdad add to the death toll. In 60 seconds, we'll have live reports from both cities.
Now, in the United States, today is Super Tuesday. Ten states hold election contests. More than 1,100 delegates are up for grabs. John Kerry hopes to put an iron grip on his front runner status.
Haiti's former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide says the U.S. forced him out of office in a coup d'etat. The White House calls that nonsense.
In Colorado, an independent committee begins investigating allegations that the University of Colorado football program used sex and alcohol to recruit high school players.
NASA plans what it calls a significant announcement today regarding its Mars rover. There is speculation NASA will reveal the red planet was once capable of sustaining microscopic life forms.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes and our next news update is at 5:15 Eastern.
In the meantime, bloody -- blood and body parts splatter a Shiite mosque in Baghdad. Deadly explosions there mark a horrific end to holy celebrations.
Our Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf joins us now live with the latest -- Jane, we have been watching the pictures all morning. It is indescribable what you have seen today.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Carol, particularly in the backdrop of this being such a holy day, a holy commemoration for Iraqi Shias. They had been waiting for more than 30 years to be able to celebrate this publicly, the commemoration of the killing of the Imam Hussein 14 centuries ago.
And as we were following one of those processions to the Khadimiya mosque, the third holiest site for Shia Muslims in the world, four explosions rang out. Immediately after, sirens blaring, ambulances drove by, sped by, other cars and trucks with wounded people in them. And when we got to the mosque itself, in the courtyard it was horrific, just pools of blood, body parts and incredibly angry people.
The imam at the mosque told us that no Muslim could have done this. Other people blamed it on the American soldiers. And as that happened, American soldiers moved closer to the mosque to try to defuse the situation. They were driven back.
The chaos has eased somewhat. It's somewhat under control. But still a horrific tragedy on this holiest of days -- Carol.
LIN: Jane, when you say holding the American soldiers responsible, not for the explosions itself, but for what, not securing the area as well as it should have been?
ARRAF: I think we have to understand that when something like this happens, particularly when you're starting with such strong religious emotion in the first place, people just lash out and blame everyone. They blame the American soldiers for being there in the first place, for not having proper security. Some of them blame the Americans working with Israelis, they said, for setting the explosions themselves.
It's not rational, but these are not rational times and that was not a rational circumstance -- Carol.
LIN: Yes. We're seeing some pictures right now, Jane, that you fed in a little bit earlier of people throwing stones at American soldiers. There's chaos on the street, obviously a lot of litter from the explosions there.
What is the theory as to who might be responsible? Who are you hearing?
ARRAF: Well, there could be a long list of suspects. Now, the fear, of course, has been that something like this would happen, as it did in Karbala and in the holy Shia places in Baghdad and other places, to try to foster civil war, if you will. This had been one of the working theories, that foreign groups were trying to split Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims.
Now, thankfully, the people we spoke with -- and we spoke to a lot. A lot of them coming up to us and very heatedly telling us who they thought was responsible. They were not pointing the finger at other Iraqis. They were pointing the blame at foreign groups.
Now, it's much too early to tell from the official point of view who might have been behind it. But as for the sentiment on the street, they say no Iraqi, no Muslim could have done this.
LIN: All right, thank you very much.
Jane Arraf live in Baghdad.
We want to give you the big picture here to give you some background in case you're just catching up and just waking up this morning. The explosions in Baghdad happened about three hours ago and the CNN staff on the ground reports seeing piles of bodies stacked in pickup trucks following those blasts. And we were just talking with our Jane Arraf, who also earlier was describing a very graphic scene of pools of blood filling the courtyard of the Khadimiya mosque, one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims.
Now, several blasts also rocked the Shiite holy city of Karbala, where pilgrims were also celebrating the Ashura holiday. Ashura is the holiest day for Shia Muslims and its observance was banned under the regime of Saddam Hussein. So this is the first time they were able to have this festival in 30 years.
Now, the casualty figures are not official yet. Reuters News Agency is reporting more than 100 people combined in Karbala and Baghdad have been killed. At least one U.S. soldier we can count among the dead. CNN is doing its own confirmation of the death toll and the injuries. Tens of thousands of Shias were attending the ceremonies in both Baghdad and Karbala, so we certainly do expect a pretty high death toll.
Now, one other deadly attack to tell you about in Iraq. An American soldier, as I mentioned, was killed, and another was seriously wounded today when a homemade bomb was thrown at their Humvee. It happened in Baghdad. The soldiers were from the 1st Armored Division.
In the meantime, on to campaign news right here in the United States. It is Super Tuesday. It's like leap year, it comes around once every four years. Today, 10 states hold primaries or caucuses in what is the single biggest delegate day in the run for president.
And as senior political correspondent Candy Crowley reports, it's basically down to a two man race.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two men with little that divides them on the political spectrum spent the eve of the biggest day of the primary season campaigning mostly in the same states. Their days could not have been more different. One may just be starting.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: God, when November comes, George Bush is going, we're coming, and don't let the door hit you on the way out, folks.
CROWLEY: The other may be near the end.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I came here today to ask you to go to the polls tomorrow... CROWLEY: One for 21, John Edwards faces the possibility of a shutout in Tuesday's 10 state contest. He is running against time. He is working against odds. And now, as John Kerry begins to gather the party faithful around him, John Edwards finds himself justifying why he stays in the race.
EDWARDS: As long as there's a serious substantive discussion going on among Democrats, which is what we've seen over the last few weeks between Senator Kerry and myself, we get a lot of attention from the American people. And it's harder for George Bush to get attention. And that's, I think, part of the reason that both myself and John Kerry are beating President Bush nationally in the polls.
CROWLEY: Mathematically, Kerry cannot win even if he sweeps Super Tuesday. Politically, he can put it away. Strategically, he has already moved on.
KERRY: This president has, in fact, created terrorists where they didn't exist and I believe, I believe this president has run the most arrogant, inept, reckless and ideological foreign policy in the modern history of our country and we need to hold him accountable.
CROWLEY: Both men end their day in Georgia. For both, things will be different tomorrow.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Now, as part of our coverage of Super Tuesday, Democratic front runner John Kerry will be a guest on AMERICAN MORNING. And that comes your way at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.
In the meantime, of course, the entire network here is revved up for complete Super Tuesday coverage coast to coast.
Wolf Blitzer kicks off our prime time reports as the first results roll in this evening at 7:00 Eastern, 7:00 p.m.
Now, Larry King picks up the ball at 9:00 p.m. Eastern with live updates from the campaign trail.
And later at 10:00 Eastern, Wolf returns for another two hours with new results and reaction from California.
Hang out late with us for a special edition of "Larry King Live" at midnight.
And at 1:00 a.m. Eastern, we'll put it all in perspective for you with a special edition of "NewsNight."
All right, let's go live now with our breaking news this morning to Karbala for the latest on the bomb attacks.
Brent Sadler is on the scene in that holy site city -- Brent, we heard Jane Arraf's report from Baghdad. How bad is it at your location?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Yes, indeed, we've seen a series of devastating bomb attacks. They took place at about the same time as that Baghdad mosque was being hit. And we can show you some exclusive pictures -- they're pretty gruesome, I can tell you -- that we've just got in from one of the pilgrims who was taking part in a procession to the Imam Hussein mosque, which is in the center of the holy city of Karbala. And you'll see from these exclusive pictures a pretty gruesome sequence of events.
The pilgrims are marching from one of the gates, the Baghdad Gate, into Karbala. There is a blast. You see smoke in the distance and then you see pilgrims turning around to see what's happening. The camera then moves back along the trail of pilgrims and starts picking up some pretty ugly scenes of terrible injuries among the pilgrims, the Shiite pilgrims, many of them from Iran as well as from Iraq. And certainly many, many injuries and certainly deaths as a result of that one blast.
There were one of perhaps as many as nine we counted over a period of about an hour. The pictures you're seeing now were from a series of about four or five blasts. At the moment, the security forces on the ground -- that's the police and the security from Islamic parties -- are suggesting that some sort of mortar bomb might have been responsible for these deaths and injuries, scores of deaths and injuries according to latest reports in a number of locations.
The imams, the religious leaders in mosques, have been calling for pilgrims to donate blood to help alleviate the suffering of those who have been injured.
And, indeed, the mood changed from one of invoking great religious passion to one of instability and chaos as the aftermath of these explosions was felt among the countless hundreds of thousands of worshippers who have descended on Karbala for this very, very important holiest of days in the Shia religious calendar -- Carol Lin, back to you.
LIN: Brent, what sort of security was in place before this? I mean obviously this would have been a likely target if somebody wanted to make a big impact on this very holy day, knowing that thousands, if not millions, of worshippers were going to be all in one city in one place.
SADLER: Indeed. This was certainly a target that coalition officials had been talking about for some time before this event, raising voices of concern that this would be a prime target for any group or individual that wants to attempt to stir a civil war to break the sectarianism between the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq.
And we know for a fact that a letter released by the coalition a few weeks ago, by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian with suspected links to al Qaeda, was planning to do just that, to attack the Shia to provoke, to foment a civil war between Iraq's two major religious groups.
Now, what we've seen on the ground both here and in Baghdad, but specifically here in Karbala, is continued attachment to the religion of the day. The passion is still here, even though we've seen this carnage and heavy loss of life as a result of this series of deadly bomb attacks, most of them on the outskirts of the city, not in the heart of Karbala, but no less devastating on this, the most important of days in the Shia religious calendar -- Carol Lin.
LIN: All right, thank you very much.
Brent Sadler reporting live in the holy city of Karbala.
We know that these pictures that we're getting in are extremely graphic. We're trying to be very careful about what we do show you on the air. But this is breaking news. We are working on it throughout the day, to get some analysis on what exactly and why it happened in Karbala and Baghdad.
In the meantime, we've got a very busy morning for you.
Did Martha Stewart lie? Closing arguments in this fiery trial take center stage today.
Plus, why some theatergoers to the new Mel Gibson movie are getting mad over the actual tickets.
Also, will e-voting equal e-trouble? Concerns about whether your vote will count when you go to the polls.
And we'll have continuing coverage of the multiple explosions in Iraq that have killed so many people.
It is Tuesday, March 2, and you're watching DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: It's about quarter past the hour and here's a quick look at our top stories in the DAYBREAK early briefing.
Several deadly explosions in Iraq today have killed at least 100 people. Blasts in Baghdad and Karbala targeted the observance of a major Shiite Muslim holiday that had been banned for 30 years by Saddam Hussein.
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide claims the United States forced him to leave office and the country. The White House denies the allegation.
The judge in the Kobe Bryant case has postponed today's expected testimony from Bryant's accuser. She may appear later this month.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes and our next update is at 5:30 Eastern.
In the meantime, we want to go to the crisis in Haiti now and accusations by ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of U.S. skullduggery. Well, in his letter of resignation provided to the news media, Aristide wrote that he was resigning, quoting here, "in order to avoid a bloodbath." But Aristide tells CNN the letter he signed omitted a key phrase that read, "I am obliged to leave in order to avoid a bloodbath."
The bottom line is Jean-Bertrand Aristide is making these claims and the U.S. says it's nonsense, he signed a piece of paper that explained why he was leaving. Anyway, the White House is calling the accusations that it orchestrated the forced Haitian leader out ridiculous, nonsense.
More on this controversy now from our David Ensor.
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DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a bitter phone call with CNN from exile in Africa, the former Haitian president claimed he was hustled out of his country as part of what he called a coup d'etat, involving, he said, American officials who lied to him.
JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE, FORMER HAITIAN PRESIDENT: They told me in a clear and blunt way that thousands of people will get killed once they start. So I had to do my best to avoid that bloodshed. They used force to push me out. That's why I call it again and again a coup d'etat, a modern way to have a modern kidnapping.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The allegations that somehow we kidnapped former President Aristide are absolutely baseless, absurd.
ENSOR: In fact, a senior State Department official said Aristide has a history of "unusual and erratic statements" and officials say while he may be having second thoughts now, he left Haiti with 15 bodyguards of his own free will after requesting U.S. help to leave. He even signed this letter of resignation, made available to CNN by a source, in which he says, "I am resigning in order to avoid a bloodbath."
POWELL: We did not force him onto the airplane. He went onto the airplane willingly and that's the truth.
ENSOR: Aristide told CNN he and his wife were kept on a plane out of touch for nearly a full day and a night, not told where they were going.
ARISTIDE: We spent 20 hours in that plane without knowing where we go, without having the right to contact our people.
ENSOR: True, say U.S. officials, but that was because they could not officially find a country that would take him.
POWELL: We went through about an hour and a half of difficult negotiations with various countries and with friends of ours to find alternative locations that he might go to while the plane was in the air. ENSOR: Some critics and other Caribbean governments charge even if the Bush administration did not kidnap Aristide, it left him with no choice but to leave, sending a disturbing message to other democratically elected leaders.
SEN. CHRIS DODD (D), CONNECTICUT: The fact of the matter is we said to President Aristide, look, you can stay and be killed or you can leave -- you make the choice. That's hardly a voluntary departure.
ENSOR (on camera): The critics say by refusing to protect Aristide, the U.S. becomes at least partly responsible for what follows. It must now undertake nation building in Haiti, they say, and should be rightly condemned if it gives up too soon.
David Ensor, CNN, the State Department.
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LIN: More controversy for "The Passion of the Christ." That tops our DAYBREAK Eye-Opener. This time, all the fuss concerns a movie ticket machine in Rome, Georgia. It seems the machine is printing "Passion" tickets with the number 666 on it. Christians believe 666 is the mark of the devil or the anti-Christ. Now, some movie patrons are complaining. The theater says really it's just a coincidence. It's just, computer wise, that's just how the machine decided to print out the tickets. Amazing.
Dick Clark is being sued for, of all things, age discrimination. A 76-year-old former game show producer, Ralph Andrews, claims the 74- year-old Clark refused to hire him because of his age and says Clark even referred to him as a dinosaur.
In Toronto, more than 1,800 people attended exhibitions during the first gays and lesbian wedding show. Yes, you heard me right. Exhibitors showed off the latest in wedding cakes, dresses and same- sex honeymoon excursions.
You hear it all on this program, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can picture it now...
LIN: Never miss a beat...
MYERS: ... two guys in tuxes on top of the cake.
LIN: Yes. Yes, with matching cummerbunds.
MYERS: Right. Exactly.
LIN: It's a good thing.
MYERS: It would be all right.
Hey, good morning, Carol.
LIN: Good morning.
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LIN: Well, we're going to talk about a voting booth challenge. Will new electronic systems make the grade on Super Tuesday?
Also, violence in Iraq -- a series of blasts takes a deadly toll. We are going to take you live to Baghdad.
An amazing story of love lost and then found -- a determined mother is reunited with a daughter she thought was dead.
More in a moment.
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