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U.S. & Russia Presidential Elections; FBI Cracks Down on Pornography; Same-Sex Marriages

Aired March 04, 2004 - 05:30   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.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Mounir el Motassadeq was accused of aiding the Hamburg cell of hijackers. No word on just why a retrial was ordered.
In Venezuela, the violence is dying down after five days of riots in which at least seven people died. Protesters want to be able to vote on recalling President Hugo Chavez.

In 1992 the Supreme Court came extremely close to overturning the Roe versus Wade abortion decision. The late Justice Harry Blackmun's notes and papers are being released today. They say that Justice Anthony Kennedy changed his mind at the last minute.

And playwright Neil Simon is recovering in a New York hospital after receiving a kidney transplant from his publicist. The 76-year- old Simon had been undergoing kidney dialysis for a year and a half now.

We update the top stories for you every 15 minutes. Our next update coming up at 5:45 Eastern Time.

President Bush's reelection campaign is shifting into high gear. The first Bush television ads began airing this morning, and they show the president as a steady leader in uncertain times. And during a fund raiser in Los Angeles last night, the president accused John Kerry of waffling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He spent two decades in Congress, he's built up quite a record. In fact, Senator Kerry has been in Washington long enough to take both sides on just about every issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: There will be a lot of speculation in coming weeks about John Kerry's possible running mate, but you won't be hearing anything from Kerry himself. He says that he wants to keep the process private and will not throw around any names.

Two potential running mates, Senators Bob Graham and Bill Nelson were campaigning with Kerry in their home state of Florida on Wednesday. Kerry promises to keep education at the forefront of his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here is my pledge to you, we will crisscross this country together over these next months and we will hold this president accountable for making a mockery of the words leave no child behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: Kerry is taking today off from the campaign trail. He will go to Louisiana on Friday.

Well President Bush's Russian friend, Vladimir Putin, is having an easier time in his reelection bid.

And CNN's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty is joining us with a look at President Putin's uncampaign.

Hello -- Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Hey, Catherine.

You know it is a bit strange here. The predictions here were originally that this was going to be predictable, maybe even boring. No question that President Vladimir Putin would be reelected. And indeed it is true that all the predictions are that he will be reelected. In fact, the latest poll we just saw this morning, 90 percent of Russians think he will be reelected and 65 percent of them say that they would vote for him if the election were held today.

But it has not turned out to be a very boring race. No. 1, look at Mr. Putin, he is not campaigning. He is not debating. He is not running TV ads. And in a sense, he really doesn't have to. He's got the high ratings. And then also the Russian media, most of which are state controlled, are essentially all Putin all the time. His news leads the news every single night.

And then the challengers, you have a strange group there. You have a former bodyguard. You have a campaign -- a campaigner, one candidate who, if you remember, went to the Ukraine, got lost, nobody knew where he was. He came back. Then he went to London. He's running his campaign from there.

Then you have Irina Khakamada who is running a virtual campaign, a virtual debate with President Putin because she says that's all I can do. So she's on the Internet debating with President Putin.

CALLAWAY: Wow!

DOUGHERTY: In contrast to the U.S., it's a different situation here, and some do call it a non-campaign. In fact, some people are saying we should just boycott it.

CALLAWAY: Jill, different would be quite an understatement in this case, from what you have said. Now I know you traveled with President Putin and went to Siberia, I believe. He wasn't really campaigning. Was he just... DOUGHERTY: Yes.

CALLAWAY: What was he doing, exactly?

DOUGHERTY: It was -- well he was being the president. It was described as a working tour. And that's what he did. He met with some students, he met with local officials, et cetera, didn't do really much of anything, didn't really talk with very many people. In fact, he tried to give an autograph at one point and the pen froze because, after all, it was in Siberia. He eventually got another pen. But that aside, they -- that was still on the news. That was still leading the news. So, as you can tell, he gets coverage whether he is campaigning or not.

CALLAWAY: All right, Jill, very interesting. Thank you for keeping us up to date.

That's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty.

Well security in Iraq remains a huge problem.

And our senior international editor David Clinch is with us this morning to tell us all about that and the new No. 1 enemy.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right.

Catherine, good morning.

Yes, Zarqawi. We've heard this name a lot today and over the last few days and few months from the U.S. authorities in Iraq. They are blaming him. They said yesterday, General Abuzaid, actually in Washington, speaking yesterday said he had significant reason to believe that Zarqawi was behind these attacks, the vicious attacks we saw in Baghdad and Karbala the other day.

Now Zarqawi, what do we know about him? Well there are some very interesting things we know and some things we don't know. And I think we -- it's worth going through those sort of very quickly.

We hear a lot about this letter that the U.S. coalition says was from Zarqawi asking for al Qaeda's help to do exactly this kind of thing, create attacks that might lead to a civil war.

We need to go back a step there and remember that we are told that that letter was from Zarqawi, but there is no indication that it was signed by Zarqawi. In fact, we know that it was not signed by Zarqawi. So we are -- we have to remember all the time that we are being told that the impression is that this letter was from Zarqawi, we don't know it was from Zarqawi, we're being told that. That's one thing to remember.

Secondly, there was some quite strong indications after we heard about that letter that while it was a request to al Qaeda to help, that is Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, to help in these kind of attacks and to create civil war, there was some fairly strong indications after that that the U.S. intelligence community believed that al Qaeda was rejecting that appeal, that Zarqawi is acting on his own and not getting help from al Qaeda. Now that's obviously not ever going to be 100 percent confirmable, but there were some strong indications there.

So that boils down, again, to the idea that the U.S. coalition says they think he is behind these attacks. They are not telling us exactly what the evidence is for saying that. So we're watching very, very closely to see how much they are prepared to tell us about why they believe he is in Iraq, who he is working with, if not al Qaeda, and whey they believe he is behind the attacks.

CALLAWAY: All right.

CLINCH: So we're watching that closely.

On the more sort of unconfirmable side, we're watching a couple of interesting things. Some reports out there from Jordan, where he originates, that his mother may have died last weekend. Now that hasn't been confirmed, and it doesn't really mean anything, but it's interesting to sort of look at that sequence that his mother may have died just last weekend, according to his family. So we're checking into that.

CALLAWAY: And the other story we're following in Israel today.

CLINCH: In Israel, just an interesting thing, it's been in the background and it's one of those stories over the last few weeks, obviously with Iraq, it's one of those stories that links Israeli domestic politics with international politics.

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: And that is Israeli Prime Minister Sharon hitting yet another scandal. This time, I don't know if you remember the story we covered months ago of Israel's interesting exchange of prisoners, giving Hezbollah back a lot of its prisoners...

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: ... in exchange for, basically, bodies of dead soldiers, which was greeted with enthusiasm, but curiously, also this businessman with some very strange background. Tanenbaum is his name. And now Sharon, who was always questioned for why he was prepared to give away so much for the return of only Tanenbaum, is now facing the scandal that it's reported that he had a link to a business friend of his to Tanenbaum. Now a very...

CALLAWAY: That's interesting.

CLINCH: ... a very tenuous link, but it's created even more pressure on him. And interestingly, he denies even knowing that he had this link. So the polls in the Israeli papers today piling the pressure on Sharon saying that a majority, or actually just over 50 percent, of Israelis don't believe him.

CALLAWAY: Well we'll be looking for a report on that. David, thank you very much. CLINCH: All right.

CALLAWAY: David Clinch, thank you.

Cyber crime investigators are taking photos from child porn Web sites and have been putting them on the FBI Web site and on television.

And as CNN's Kelli Arena reports, the audacious approach is putting some suspected child abusers and child pornographers behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): FBI special agent Stacy Bradley was working a particularly gruesome child pornography case when she repeatedly came across photos of children being abused by the same predators.

STACEY BRADLEY, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: I used to take those images of bank robberies and put them on the news media. Why can't I do that with these guys?

ARENA: Now she can. There are thousands of pictures of children being exploited. Their abuser's faces are also being shown. The FBI isolates the most recent photos to be sure the victims are still children. For suspects who cannot be identified, agents work on getting so-called John Doe indictments, then, publish pictures of the suspects. So far, photos of three men have been published on the FBI's Web site and on "America's Most Wanted."

JOHN WALSH, HOST "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Keep getting them. You get the indictments, we'll put them on the air. We'll take them down. You put them in jail.

ARENA: Two of the men are already in custody. The effort is part of the FBI's innocent images program. Agents there spend hours on the Internet posing as young girls to snare pornographers.

They are even coached by actual teenagers. Here we see agents tackling a multiple choice quiz.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: D, playing the eyes (ph). My mom likes her, but I don't.

ARENA: That, too, was one of Bradley's ideas.

BRADLEY: I want to keep every child as safe as my own.

ARENA: Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: Well Martha Stewart is awaiting her fate. That tops this hour's 'Legal Briefs.' Jury deliberations resume in New York this morning in the obstruction of justice case against Stewart. Jury members are deciding if the domestic diva lied about her sale of ImClone stock. Each of the four charges against Stewart carries a possible five-year sentence.

And in California, jury selection begins today in Scott Peterson's murder trial. Two hundred perspective jury members will receive questionnaires. And it's expected to take four to six weeks to seat the jury. Peterson is accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son.

And so-called "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla has met with his attorneys for the first time in nearly two years. The meeting was videotaped and took place under the close watch of the military. The Brooklyn-born man is accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive dirty bomb in the U.S. He's being held at a Navy brig in South Carolina. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear his case in April.

And our legal analyst Kendall Coffey will be along in the next hour of DAYBREAK, and he will have some more on what you can expect in the cases against Martha Stewart and Scott Peterson. Stay with us for that.

Right now, though, Rob is back with the forecast.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Hi.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CALLAWAY: A hot button issue around America getting hotter, hundreds line up as another major U.S. city starts sanctioning same- sex unions. But are officials wrong to perform gay rights?

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLAWAY: It is about a quarter until the hour now and here is a quick look at our top stories this morning.

President Bush is launching his first reelection campaign television ads this morning. The ads say that he is a steady leader in uncertain times.

The federal jury hearing of obstruction of justice charges against Martha Stewart resumes deliberations this morning.

The FBI is posting on its Web site the faces of people suspected of being involved in child pornography. The day-old effort already has resulted in the arrest of two people.

We update the top stories every 15 minutes. Our next update coming at the top of the hour at 6:00 Eastern Time. Wedding bells are ringing for gay and lesbian couples from coast to coast. But the legality of same-sex marriage is being challenged now. Even so, that's not stopping the lovebirds.

And our Adaora Udoji reports on this polarizing issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At P&G, the New York small village of New Paltz, feelings about same-sex marriage mirror the big question sweeping the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no problem with same-sex relationships, marriages, unions, whatever you want to call it. I have no problem with it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't agree with it. From what I've heard it's against the state laws and so...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now declare you legally wed.

UDOJI: Right now Mayor Jason West faces criminal misdemeanor charges for marrying 25 gay and lesbian couples last week. 19 charges of solemnizing same-sex unions without marriage licenses. The state refused to issue them. New York's attorney general, though, personally in support of gay marriages reluctantly concluded they are not legal in the state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The statute repeatedly uses terms such as husband and wife and bride and groom.

UDOJI: Undeterred, the mayor of Nyack, New York in an act of civil disobedience says he'll begin performing same-sex marriages as promised because it's the right thing to do. In Portland, Oregon, gay and lesbian couples started tying the knot officially after the county began issuing marriage licenses. Hundreds lined up. While debates rage in individual states, on Capitol Hill, legislatures debated President Bush's vow to push for a constitutional amendment, limiting marriage to a man and a woman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The union of mother and father is the optimal most stable foundation for the family and for raising children.

UDOJI: But others in New Paltz are not sure it's that simple.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at how many heterosexual marriages end up in divorce? What union are they talking about exactly.

UDOJI: As it stands Mayor Jason West will be in court tonight.

(on camera): As for the 25 gay and lesbian couples Mayor West married last week, the attorney general says it's up to the courts to decide whether those marriages are legal or not.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, New Paltz, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: We will check your wake-up weather straight ahead. And coming up in the next hour of DAYBREAK, staying cancer free. We'll tell you what foods could be a key factor in keeping you healthy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLAWAY: Hey, Rob, we're going to try something a little different this morning.

MARCIANO: What's that?

CALLAWAY: With the big map behind you, we thought we'd take a look at some of the headlines on newspapers' front page newspapers across the country.

MARCIANO: OK.

CALLAWAY: Just a little sampling of what is on the front pages out there.

This is from the "Red Streak." It's an edition of the "Chicago Sun Times." Barry Bonds, did Barry juice? Former trainer says he is the reason Barry Bonds morphed into a home run titan. Of course that trainer was, of course, Greg Anderson who has been indicted.

MARCIANO: Wow!

CALLAWAY: Was Bonds' personal trainer.

MARCIANO: Well whether he did or didn't, he's a lot bigger than me, so I'm not going to say much about that.

CALLAWAY: Well you know what, speaking of that, the baseball commissioner, you know Selig, he's saying nobody can talk about this anymore. No more club members, team members aren't allowed to talk about the steroid issue anymore.

MARCIANO: It's going to be an interesting start of the season, that's for sure, I think.

CALLAWAY: Yes, its' going to be a good one.

All right, let's move on now to the "Rutland Herald." Have you heard about this story, this is interesting?

MARCIANO: Yes.

CALLAWAY: Killington, Vermont doesn't want to be with Vermont any longer. They say the new tax is not going to work for them, property tax is too high. They are trying to succeed and go to New Hampshire. And it's... MARCIANO: That's -- I wonder if they are going to move the Latin (ph) Mountain with it? I mean that's one of the biggest ski resorts in the northeast as well.

CALLAWAY: Well, yes, it is, but it's like 25 miles away from the New Hampshire line, this ski resort town. It should be interesting to see how this -- how this plays out, so.

MARCIANO: Maybe they can become their own little country.

CALLAWAY: Well I don't know about that, but I'm, you know, we'll see how it plays out.

All right, here's one that you probably found really interesting. Of course we saw the coverage on CNN of this. This is from "The Gazette" in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

MARCIANO: Right.

CALLAWAY: Signs show that Mars once had water.

MARCIANO: That's -- I mean that's just very cool.

CALLAWAY: That is cool, isn't it?

MARCIANO: And that brings up a lot of things, a lot of questions.

CALLAWAY: If you have water, then you have got life. I don't know. It's interesting.

MARCIANO: Well it sure -- it sure makes it a lot easier, that's for sure. If we find a fossil up there, then we're talking, then we are talking, Catherine. That would be...

CALLAWAY: I know, but it's interesting that's on the front page of the paper in Colorado Springs. Hey, maybe that's what they are interested in there.

What's the weather look like -- Rob?

MARCIANO: Well, where was that paper, Colorado Springs?

CALLAWAY: Yes.

MARCIANO: Yes, well they haven't seen a whole lot of rain lately, so maybe, you know, water is appealing (ph).

CALLAWAY: All they care about is snow. They just want snow.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CALLAWAY: Coming up next on DAYBREAK, smoking is a no-no in bars and restaurants in the Big Apple, so what happens when desperate times call for desperate measures? Well our Jeanne Moos knows. She smokes out the details coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLAWAY: Nicotine refugees no longer huddle on a cold street corner outside one New York restaurant. Now they just hop into the smoker's limousine to indulge.

CNN's Jeanne Moos sniffs out the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Talk about a perfect match. Smokers in a limo, a smoker's speak easy on wheels, though it never goes anyplace.

(on camera): This is the most politically incorrect vehicle on the planet.

(voice-over): If you think limos are something stars get out of, imagine one that smokers get into.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry. We're like smoking in front of your face.

MOOS (on camera): I don't care.

(voice-over): Every night the smoking limo sits outside DavidBurke and Donatella's restaurant where New York City's anti- smoking laws mean you can't even have a cigarette with that martini.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Puff your brains out, baby. Hi.

MOOS: The restaurant spends over 1,000 bucks a week to have this stretch Ford Excursion parked outside. Seats 24 smokers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's nice to do it in style.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not feel like a smoker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like a loser standing outside.

MOOS: No more freezing. Even non-smokers can't resist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't smoke. But this is wild. I'll take it up.

MOOS: Complete with lava lamps and music. Sometimes what's burning is passion rather than cigarettes. Ask Owen the driver.

OWEN CHAMBERS, LIMOUSINE DRIVER: And she had her dress over her head.

DAVID BURKE, CO-OWNER, DAVIDBURKE & DONATELLA: I was, like, hello. It's a smoking limo.

MOOS: He's David Burke the chef. She's co-owner, Donatella. The two plan to park a smoking horse and buggy outside the restaurant come spring, and maybe even a cigarette boat come August.

BURKE: Leave it on a trailer, little steps (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MOOS: The smoking limo even comes supplied with gum and breath mints. Come on, baby. Light my limo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're all (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nicotine out here.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: Good morning, everyone, it is Thursday, March 4. And from the CNN Global Headquarters here in Atlanta, I'm Catherine Callaway. Thank you very much for being with us this morning. We begin with the headlines.

Portland, Oregon is the latest...

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Pornography; Same-Sex Marriages>


Aired March 4, 2004 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Mounir el Motassadeq was accused of aiding the Hamburg cell of hijackers. No word on just why a retrial was ordered.
In Venezuela, the violence is dying down after five days of riots in which at least seven people died. Protesters want to be able to vote on recalling President Hugo Chavez.

In 1992 the Supreme Court came extremely close to overturning the Roe versus Wade abortion decision. The late Justice Harry Blackmun's notes and papers are being released today. They say that Justice Anthony Kennedy changed his mind at the last minute.

And playwright Neil Simon is recovering in a New York hospital after receiving a kidney transplant from his publicist. The 76-year- old Simon had been undergoing kidney dialysis for a year and a half now.

We update the top stories for you every 15 minutes. Our next update coming up at 5:45 Eastern Time.

President Bush's reelection campaign is shifting into high gear. The first Bush television ads began airing this morning, and they show the president as a steady leader in uncertain times. And during a fund raiser in Los Angeles last night, the president accused John Kerry of waffling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He spent two decades in Congress, he's built up quite a record. In fact, Senator Kerry has been in Washington long enough to take both sides on just about every issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: There will be a lot of speculation in coming weeks about John Kerry's possible running mate, but you won't be hearing anything from Kerry himself. He says that he wants to keep the process private and will not throw around any names.

Two potential running mates, Senators Bob Graham and Bill Nelson were campaigning with Kerry in their home state of Florida on Wednesday. Kerry promises to keep education at the forefront of his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here is my pledge to you, we will crisscross this country together over these next months and we will hold this president accountable for making a mockery of the words leave no child behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: Kerry is taking today off from the campaign trail. He will go to Louisiana on Friday.

Well President Bush's Russian friend, Vladimir Putin, is having an easier time in his reelection bid.

And CNN's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty is joining us with a look at President Putin's uncampaign.

Hello -- Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Hey, Catherine.

You know it is a bit strange here. The predictions here were originally that this was going to be predictable, maybe even boring. No question that President Vladimir Putin would be reelected. And indeed it is true that all the predictions are that he will be reelected. In fact, the latest poll we just saw this morning, 90 percent of Russians think he will be reelected and 65 percent of them say that they would vote for him if the election were held today.

But it has not turned out to be a very boring race. No. 1, look at Mr. Putin, he is not campaigning. He is not debating. He is not running TV ads. And in a sense, he really doesn't have to. He's got the high ratings. And then also the Russian media, most of which are state controlled, are essentially all Putin all the time. His news leads the news every single night.

And then the challengers, you have a strange group there. You have a former bodyguard. You have a campaign -- a campaigner, one candidate who, if you remember, went to the Ukraine, got lost, nobody knew where he was. He came back. Then he went to London. He's running his campaign from there.

Then you have Irina Khakamada who is running a virtual campaign, a virtual debate with President Putin because she says that's all I can do. So she's on the Internet debating with President Putin.

CALLAWAY: Wow!

DOUGHERTY: In contrast to the U.S., it's a different situation here, and some do call it a non-campaign. In fact, some people are saying we should just boycott it.

CALLAWAY: Jill, different would be quite an understatement in this case, from what you have said. Now I know you traveled with President Putin and went to Siberia, I believe. He wasn't really campaigning. Was he just... DOUGHERTY: Yes.

CALLAWAY: What was he doing, exactly?

DOUGHERTY: It was -- well he was being the president. It was described as a working tour. And that's what he did. He met with some students, he met with local officials, et cetera, didn't do really much of anything, didn't really talk with very many people. In fact, he tried to give an autograph at one point and the pen froze because, after all, it was in Siberia. He eventually got another pen. But that aside, they -- that was still on the news. That was still leading the news. So, as you can tell, he gets coverage whether he is campaigning or not.

CALLAWAY: All right, Jill, very interesting. Thank you for keeping us up to date.

That's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty.

Well security in Iraq remains a huge problem.

And our senior international editor David Clinch is with us this morning to tell us all about that and the new No. 1 enemy.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right.

Catherine, good morning.

Yes, Zarqawi. We've heard this name a lot today and over the last few days and few months from the U.S. authorities in Iraq. They are blaming him. They said yesterday, General Abuzaid, actually in Washington, speaking yesterday said he had significant reason to believe that Zarqawi was behind these attacks, the vicious attacks we saw in Baghdad and Karbala the other day.

Now Zarqawi, what do we know about him? Well there are some very interesting things we know and some things we don't know. And I think we -- it's worth going through those sort of very quickly.

We hear a lot about this letter that the U.S. coalition says was from Zarqawi asking for al Qaeda's help to do exactly this kind of thing, create attacks that might lead to a civil war.

We need to go back a step there and remember that we are told that that letter was from Zarqawi, but there is no indication that it was signed by Zarqawi. In fact, we know that it was not signed by Zarqawi. So we are -- we have to remember all the time that we are being told that the impression is that this letter was from Zarqawi, we don't know it was from Zarqawi, we're being told that. That's one thing to remember.

Secondly, there was some quite strong indications after we heard about that letter that while it was a request to al Qaeda to help, that is Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, to help in these kind of attacks and to create civil war, there was some fairly strong indications after that that the U.S. intelligence community believed that al Qaeda was rejecting that appeal, that Zarqawi is acting on his own and not getting help from al Qaeda. Now that's obviously not ever going to be 100 percent confirmable, but there were some strong indications there.

So that boils down, again, to the idea that the U.S. coalition says they think he is behind these attacks. They are not telling us exactly what the evidence is for saying that. So we're watching very, very closely to see how much they are prepared to tell us about why they believe he is in Iraq, who he is working with, if not al Qaeda, and whey they believe he is behind the attacks.

CALLAWAY: All right.

CLINCH: So we're watching that closely.

On the more sort of unconfirmable side, we're watching a couple of interesting things. Some reports out there from Jordan, where he originates, that his mother may have died last weekend. Now that hasn't been confirmed, and it doesn't really mean anything, but it's interesting to sort of look at that sequence that his mother may have died just last weekend, according to his family. So we're checking into that.

CALLAWAY: And the other story we're following in Israel today.

CLINCH: In Israel, just an interesting thing, it's been in the background and it's one of those stories over the last few weeks, obviously with Iraq, it's one of those stories that links Israeli domestic politics with international politics.

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: And that is Israeli Prime Minister Sharon hitting yet another scandal. This time, I don't know if you remember the story we covered months ago of Israel's interesting exchange of prisoners, giving Hezbollah back a lot of its prisoners...

CALLAWAY: Right.

CLINCH: ... in exchange for, basically, bodies of dead soldiers, which was greeted with enthusiasm, but curiously, also this businessman with some very strange background. Tanenbaum is his name. And now Sharon, who was always questioned for why he was prepared to give away so much for the return of only Tanenbaum, is now facing the scandal that it's reported that he had a link to a business friend of his to Tanenbaum. Now a very...

CALLAWAY: That's interesting.

CLINCH: ... a very tenuous link, but it's created even more pressure on him. And interestingly, he denies even knowing that he had this link. So the polls in the Israeli papers today piling the pressure on Sharon saying that a majority, or actually just over 50 percent, of Israelis don't believe him.

CALLAWAY: Well we'll be looking for a report on that. David, thank you very much. CLINCH: All right.

CALLAWAY: David Clinch, thank you.

Cyber crime investigators are taking photos from child porn Web sites and have been putting them on the FBI Web site and on television.

And as CNN's Kelli Arena reports, the audacious approach is putting some suspected child abusers and child pornographers behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): FBI special agent Stacy Bradley was working a particularly gruesome child pornography case when she repeatedly came across photos of children being abused by the same predators.

STACEY BRADLEY, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: I used to take those images of bank robberies and put them on the news media. Why can't I do that with these guys?

ARENA: Now she can. There are thousands of pictures of children being exploited. Their abuser's faces are also being shown. The FBI isolates the most recent photos to be sure the victims are still children. For suspects who cannot be identified, agents work on getting so-called John Doe indictments, then, publish pictures of the suspects. So far, photos of three men have been published on the FBI's Web site and on "America's Most Wanted."

JOHN WALSH, HOST "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Keep getting them. You get the indictments, we'll put them on the air. We'll take them down. You put them in jail.

ARENA: Two of the men are already in custody. The effort is part of the FBI's innocent images program. Agents there spend hours on the Internet posing as young girls to snare pornographers.

They are even coached by actual teenagers. Here we see agents tackling a multiple choice quiz.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: D, playing the eyes (ph). My mom likes her, but I don't.

ARENA: That, too, was one of Bradley's ideas.

BRADLEY: I want to keep every child as safe as my own.

ARENA: Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: Well Martha Stewart is awaiting her fate. That tops this hour's 'Legal Briefs.' Jury deliberations resume in New York this morning in the obstruction of justice case against Stewart. Jury members are deciding if the domestic diva lied about her sale of ImClone stock. Each of the four charges against Stewart carries a possible five-year sentence.

And in California, jury selection begins today in Scott Peterson's murder trial. Two hundred perspective jury members will receive questionnaires. And it's expected to take four to six weeks to seat the jury. Peterson is accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son.

And so-called "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla has met with his attorneys for the first time in nearly two years. The meeting was videotaped and took place under the close watch of the military. The Brooklyn-born man is accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive dirty bomb in the U.S. He's being held at a Navy brig in South Carolina. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear his case in April.

And our legal analyst Kendall Coffey will be along in the next hour of DAYBREAK, and he will have some more on what you can expect in the cases against Martha Stewart and Scott Peterson. Stay with us for that.

Right now, though, Rob is back with the forecast.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Hi.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CALLAWAY: A hot button issue around America getting hotter, hundreds line up as another major U.S. city starts sanctioning same- sex unions. But are officials wrong to perform gay rights?

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLAWAY: It is about a quarter until the hour now and here is a quick look at our top stories this morning.

President Bush is launching his first reelection campaign television ads this morning. The ads say that he is a steady leader in uncertain times.

The federal jury hearing of obstruction of justice charges against Martha Stewart resumes deliberations this morning.

The FBI is posting on its Web site the faces of people suspected of being involved in child pornography. The day-old effort already has resulted in the arrest of two people.

We update the top stories every 15 minutes. Our next update coming at the top of the hour at 6:00 Eastern Time. Wedding bells are ringing for gay and lesbian couples from coast to coast. But the legality of same-sex marriage is being challenged now. Even so, that's not stopping the lovebirds.

And our Adaora Udoji reports on this polarizing issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At P&G, the New York small village of New Paltz, feelings about same-sex marriage mirror the big question sweeping the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no problem with same-sex relationships, marriages, unions, whatever you want to call it. I have no problem with it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't agree with it. From what I've heard it's against the state laws and so...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now declare you legally wed.

UDOJI: Right now Mayor Jason West faces criminal misdemeanor charges for marrying 25 gay and lesbian couples last week. 19 charges of solemnizing same-sex unions without marriage licenses. The state refused to issue them. New York's attorney general, though, personally in support of gay marriages reluctantly concluded they are not legal in the state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The statute repeatedly uses terms such as husband and wife and bride and groom.

UDOJI: Undeterred, the mayor of Nyack, New York in an act of civil disobedience says he'll begin performing same-sex marriages as promised because it's the right thing to do. In Portland, Oregon, gay and lesbian couples started tying the knot officially after the county began issuing marriage licenses. Hundreds lined up. While debates rage in individual states, on Capitol Hill, legislatures debated President Bush's vow to push for a constitutional amendment, limiting marriage to a man and a woman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The union of mother and father is the optimal most stable foundation for the family and for raising children.

UDOJI: But others in New Paltz are not sure it's that simple.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at how many heterosexual marriages end up in divorce? What union are they talking about exactly.

UDOJI: As it stands Mayor Jason West will be in court tonight.

(on camera): As for the 25 gay and lesbian couples Mayor West married last week, the attorney general says it's up to the courts to decide whether those marriages are legal or not.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, New Paltz, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: We will check your wake-up weather straight ahead. And coming up in the next hour of DAYBREAK, staying cancer free. We'll tell you what foods could be a key factor in keeping you healthy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLAWAY: Hey, Rob, we're going to try something a little different this morning.

MARCIANO: What's that?

CALLAWAY: With the big map behind you, we thought we'd take a look at some of the headlines on newspapers' front page newspapers across the country.

MARCIANO: OK.

CALLAWAY: Just a little sampling of what is on the front pages out there.

This is from the "Red Streak." It's an edition of the "Chicago Sun Times." Barry Bonds, did Barry juice? Former trainer says he is the reason Barry Bonds morphed into a home run titan. Of course that trainer was, of course, Greg Anderson who has been indicted.

MARCIANO: Wow!

CALLAWAY: Was Bonds' personal trainer.

MARCIANO: Well whether he did or didn't, he's a lot bigger than me, so I'm not going to say much about that.

CALLAWAY: Well you know what, speaking of that, the baseball commissioner, you know Selig, he's saying nobody can talk about this anymore. No more club members, team members aren't allowed to talk about the steroid issue anymore.

MARCIANO: It's going to be an interesting start of the season, that's for sure, I think.

CALLAWAY: Yes, its' going to be a good one.

All right, let's move on now to the "Rutland Herald." Have you heard about this story, this is interesting?

MARCIANO: Yes.

CALLAWAY: Killington, Vermont doesn't want to be with Vermont any longer. They say the new tax is not going to work for them, property tax is too high. They are trying to succeed and go to New Hampshire. And it's... MARCIANO: That's -- I wonder if they are going to move the Latin (ph) Mountain with it? I mean that's one of the biggest ski resorts in the northeast as well.

CALLAWAY: Well, yes, it is, but it's like 25 miles away from the New Hampshire line, this ski resort town. It should be interesting to see how this -- how this plays out, so.

MARCIANO: Maybe they can become their own little country.

CALLAWAY: Well I don't know about that, but I'm, you know, we'll see how it plays out.

All right, here's one that you probably found really interesting. Of course we saw the coverage on CNN of this. This is from "The Gazette" in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

MARCIANO: Right.

CALLAWAY: Signs show that Mars once had water.

MARCIANO: That's -- I mean that's just very cool.

CALLAWAY: That is cool, isn't it?

MARCIANO: And that brings up a lot of things, a lot of questions.

CALLAWAY: If you have water, then you have got life. I don't know. It's interesting.

MARCIANO: Well it sure -- it sure makes it a lot easier, that's for sure. If we find a fossil up there, then we're talking, then we are talking, Catherine. That would be...

CALLAWAY: I know, but it's interesting that's on the front page of the paper in Colorado Springs. Hey, maybe that's what they are interested in there.

What's the weather look like -- Rob?

MARCIANO: Well, where was that paper, Colorado Springs?

CALLAWAY: Yes.

MARCIANO: Yes, well they haven't seen a whole lot of rain lately, so maybe, you know, water is appealing (ph).

CALLAWAY: All they care about is snow. They just want snow.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CALLAWAY: Coming up next on DAYBREAK, smoking is a no-no in bars and restaurants in the Big Apple, so what happens when desperate times call for desperate measures? Well our Jeanne Moos knows. She smokes out the details coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CALLAWAY: Nicotine refugees no longer huddle on a cold street corner outside one New York restaurant. Now they just hop into the smoker's limousine to indulge.

CNN's Jeanne Moos sniffs out the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Talk about a perfect match. Smokers in a limo, a smoker's speak easy on wheels, though it never goes anyplace.

(on camera): This is the most politically incorrect vehicle on the planet.

(voice-over): If you think limos are something stars get out of, imagine one that smokers get into.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry. We're like smoking in front of your face.

MOOS (on camera): I don't care.

(voice-over): Every night the smoking limo sits outside DavidBurke and Donatella's restaurant where New York City's anti- smoking laws mean you can't even have a cigarette with that martini.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Puff your brains out, baby. Hi.

MOOS: The restaurant spends over 1,000 bucks a week to have this stretch Ford Excursion parked outside. Seats 24 smokers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's nice to do it in style.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not feel like a smoker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like a loser standing outside.

MOOS: No more freezing. Even non-smokers can't resist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't smoke. But this is wild. I'll take it up.

MOOS: Complete with lava lamps and music. Sometimes what's burning is passion rather than cigarettes. Ask Owen the driver.

OWEN CHAMBERS, LIMOUSINE DRIVER: And she had her dress over her head.

DAVID BURKE, CO-OWNER, DAVIDBURKE & DONATELLA: I was, like, hello. It's a smoking limo.

MOOS: He's David Burke the chef. She's co-owner, Donatella. The two plan to park a smoking horse and buggy outside the restaurant come spring, and maybe even a cigarette boat come August.

BURKE: Leave it on a trailer, little steps (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MOOS: The smoking limo even comes supplied with gum and breath mints. Come on, baby. Light my limo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're all (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nicotine out here.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: Good morning, everyone, it is Thursday, March 4. And from the CNN Global Headquarters here in Atlanta, I'm Catherine Callaway. Thank you very much for being with us this morning. We begin with the headlines.

Portland, Oregon is the latest...

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Pornography; Same-Sex Marriages>