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CNN Live At Daybreak

Deadly Day in Iraq; 10th Anniversary of Rwanda Genocide

Aired April 01, 2004 - 06:30   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this morning on DAYBREAK, those horrific attacks in Iraq. Those images of Americans killed and their bodies desecrated in Fallujah, well, to say the least, they were disturbing.
Let's head live to Baghdad now and Jim Clancy. He's covering the attacks for us this morning.

What can you tell us this morning -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, U.S. military convoys and supply lines are coming under fire once again, Carol. This has been a day that started out with some explosions, one outside of Fallujah, where there was a Humvee seen along a roadside burning, the only evidence of that. Some Iraqis gathered nearby and probed the vehicle, and then tried to turn it over.

No word from the U.S. military. They say they don't have any information about this incident. No report of any casualties either.

Meantime, in Baghdad itself, in northwest Baghdad, there were two roadside bombs that exploded as a U.S. fuel convoy was approaching. The first one hit a civilian car. But a few minutes later, as U.S. troops were beginning to use a robot to search for any other ISDs, or improvised explosive devices, a second blast occurred along that roadway near the middle of the convoy, and it was a big fuel tanker convoy. However, it did not ignite any of those fuel trucks.

One of the drivers was injured, unclear whether he was a member of the U.S. military; a civilian contactor is more likely. Now, he could be an Iraqi or a foreign national. The U.S. military has no details on that as yet either.

So, two casualties from that incident. So, the fight goes on, if you will, in Iraq as April gets under way. March being marked as one of the bloodiest months since the U.S. declared an official end to combat operations -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Clancy bringing us up-to-date live from Baghdad.

Of course, many Americans this morning are calling for some kind of justice in light of what happened yesterday in Fallujah. Can there be justice? What should be done in Fallujah?

Live on the phone this morning, our security analyst and counterterrorism expert, Kelly McCann. Good morning -- Kelly.

KELLY MCCANN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: You know, some witnesses in Fallujah called these attackers mujahideen, who popped into Fallujah, killed and popped out. Is this an apt description of who did this?

MCCANN: Well, we don't know yet, but I'd suggest to you, if you remember the letter that Zakari (ph) had written to the al Qaeda saying that they needed to get some traction and they needed to get more motivation. This is the way that you do it. I mean, if you look at and think of the effect that Mogadishu had, there's nothing that makes people more viscerally react than to see corpses desecrated, and I think that that's an indication of things to come, unfortunately, Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're right. These attackers were able to whip up the young men in this city into an absolute frenzy. The Iraqi Security Forces, Kelly, trained by the United States, said to be scare-scare (ph), where were they?

MCCANN: From my understanding, Carol, there were four policemen on the scene that actually turned and drove away. Now, I would suggest to you that that was just from self-survival. Four people couldn't have handled that mob.

There was also a disturbing report that military, of course, didn't respond, but a lot of people have to remember that respond to what? I mean, once the scene is over and the adversary retreats back into the people there, who are you going to go shoot? Who do you go get? It's not a very definable enemy.

So, I'd suggest to you that the military wasn't asleep. It's just that they didn't have any recourse.

COSTELLO: But, you know, some might say, you know, the attackers did indeed slip away after throwing their grenades, but the townspeople, they were stringing up bodies for hours, desecrating the corpse. Shouldn't some of them have been arrested? Is that even possible?

MCCANN: Well, I mean, think about here in the U.S. Arrested for what? I mean, I don't even know what you'd charge them with or what individuals would you actually go and arrest. Again, it goes to the problem of you have to identify individuals.

I think this is really a kind of an indication of that mob mentality, where people do things with anonymity that they wouldn't do if they had an individual identity that was apparent. It was just a terrible thing, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, what should happen in Fallujah? Should the city be locked down? Should there be a military clampdown on it? I mean, what should be done? MCCANN: I think what you're going to see is super-saturation patrolling, real high-visibility patrolling, where they're actually going to increase the level of troops there, so that they can actually kind of quell things just by presence, make the attacks less able to be conducted just through the threat of force being present.

COSTELLO: Kelly McCann with us live on DAYBREAK to provide some insight this morning -- much-needed insight for this horrible event.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, thousands of innocent people slaughtered and few attempted to stop it. It's a tale of death that will haunt those who were there for a lifetime. Coming up, I will talk to the creator of a new documentary. He tries to explain how it happened.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Today marks a grizzly 10th anniversary. On this day, the Rwandan genocide began. It was state-sponsored; 800,000 Rwandans were methodically killed by Hutu extremists as the United States and the international community stood by.

Tonight, "Frontline" on PBS will air a two-hour documentary called "The Ghosts of Rwanda."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rwanda will never ever leave me. It's in the pores of my body. My soul is in those hills. My spirit is with the spirits of all of those people who were slaughtered and killed that I know of.

And lots of those eyes still haunt me, angry eyes or innocent eyes. No laughing eyes. Yet the worst eyes that haunt me are the eyes of those people who were totally bewildered. They're looking at me with my Blueberry, and they're saying, what in the hell happened?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Here to talk more about it, Greg Barker, the writer, producer and director of the documentary.

Good morning, Greg.

GREG BARKER, "FRONTLINE" PRODUCER: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Why examine this now?

BARKER: You know, for all of use who worked on this film, it is simply the most haunting story that we've ever come across. I mean, it's 10 years later. So, the time was right. A lot of the key players involved, from General Delaire (ph), who you just saw, to people like Kofi Annan and Madeleine Albright, who were involved at the time. They wanted to reflect. They wanted to talk about it, many times, as in the case of Annan, for the first ever.

So, we used the 10th anniversary as a way of going back to look at this, but, you know, it's just one of the most horrific stories of our time.

COSTELLO: Well, tell us more about that. This was neighbor hunting down neighbor to kill at the order of extremists, and kill they did, using machetes oftentimes.

BARKER: They did. You know, it's almost incomprehensible that human beings were capable of doing what they did. It was. It was neighbors killing people who -- you know, their children played together. They worked together. They lived side by side.

But, you know, it wasn't just ethnic violence like we sort of think of that happens sometimes in parts of the world. This was state-sponsored genocide. And the leaders of it were very sophisticated and well-educated, and they used the population to -- they filled them on to propaganda, and they used the instruments of the state, the media and the army, to implement their plan.

COSTELLO: Very frightening. The United States stood by, the United Nations did, too, as did the rest of the world while Rwandans begged for help. Why?

BARKER: Well, that's the great question: Why? You know, there are all sorts of practical reasons. It was six months after the Black Hawks went down in Somalia on a U.N. peacekeeping mission. So, nobody wanted, from the U.N. Security Council to the White House, the Pentagon, nobody wanted another humanitarian disaster in the heart of Africa, you know. And Rwanda is not a strategic country. It wasn't really in anyone's national interest to go there.

And it also happened very quickly. So, by the time they realized what was going on at the highest levels, a lot of the killing had already happened.

Having said all of that, there were signs. There were -- there was a clear policy within the U.S. government not to intervene and to actually not call it a genocide when they all knew, as we made clear in the film, they all knew that it was a genocide, and they decided not to call it.

COSTELLO: So, it was a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) logical decision that was within the U.S. interests at the time. What lesson can we learn from this documentary?

BARKER: Well, I think for me a personal lesson is a bigger strategic lesson. A personal lesson is that that there were people who stayed behind there -- U.N. peacekeepers, an extraordinary man who stayed with the Red Cross, and saved tens of thousands of lives. The Red Cross saved 65,000 lives just by staying.

So, individual acts of heroism actually make a difference, and they made a huge difference in Rwanda. On a bigger level, you know, you can't save -- you can't intervene everywhere, but don't leave, because a person -- is the lesson I take from that. Don't leave. And simply by calling it a genocide, by taking very small steps, they could have saved lived. President Clinton in the film says that he now thinks that with 5,000 troops going in there, they could have saved -- the U.S. could have saved half of the people who were killed, 405,000 lives with a few thousand troops.

COSTELLO: Food for thought this morning. Greg Baker (sic), the documentary is called "Ghosts of Rwanda," and it airs on PBS' "Frontline" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:42 Eastern Time. Here's what's happening now.

Near Baghdad this morning, two roadside bombs apparently aimed at a fuel truck convoy. An Iraqi and a U.S. civilian were wounded.

What goes up must go up some more. OPEC is cutting oil output today. That will cause gas prices to rise further.

In money news, high school students better do more cramming before they go out into the real world. In a nationwide survey on personal finance, 12th graders got only 52 percent of the questions right.

In sports, as the hockey season winds down, Mark Messier says he's leaning towards retirement. The 43-year-old New York Ranger has played more games than anyone except Gordie Howell (ph).

In pop culture, British billionaire Richard Branson is getting a so-called reality TV series. It will be like the one Donald Trump has, except Branson will eliminate his young contestants while traveling with them around the world.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COSTELLO: Oh, but spring is in the air, and so is America's pastime. Coming up, a very special guest. Yes, he is taking time out from his busy schedule just for us on DAYBREAK. One of the other -- it's a live picture out of Baltimore for you this morning.

Plus, women everywhere have copied her style. Now, honors for (UNINTELLIGIBLE) star.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back. We're having a lot of fun this morning on DAYBREAK.

But we want to head to New York for just a minute to check in with Bill and Heidi, who is in for Soledad this morning to see what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning to you. HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol. Listen, watching your program today and a great conversation with Jim Clancy a few hours ago in Baghdad. We'll talk to Jim again about the day after these really gruesome photos that we all talked about yesterday.

Also, Carl Levin back from Iraq, we'll talk to him about the violence and the impact there.

COLLINS: We are also going to be talking about that missing student who has been found, as we know. We've been talking about it now for at least a day. Audrey Seiler had been missing since Saturday. We have an interview with Office Larry Kamholz of the Madison Police Department, finding out a little bit more about that situation and the alleged suspect.

HEMMER: We certainly will.

Also, Martha's team wants a new trial, Carol. Did you hear about this late yesterday?

COSTELLO: Oh, I did.

HEMMER: Jeff Toobin is a little skeptical, though, about whether or not they're going to have much success on this. A big surprise there.

COSTELLO: Well, you've got to try something.

HEMMER: Yes, I guess you're right. Is it a sign of desperation? Or is there a true legitimate point by the defense team here? So, we'll talk to Jeff about that.

And Jack's got a great e-mail question, too, going back to the same issue in Iraq yesterday and about the violence. We'll watch.

COLLINS: Right.

COSTELLO: Hey, Bill and Heidi, guess who we have on live in just a few minutes?

HEMMER: Tell us.

COLLINS: Who's that?

COSTELLO: The Oriole bird.

HEMMER: Chad Myers?

COSTELLO: Oh, him, too.

COLLINS: Oh!

HEMMER: Nice.

COLLINS: That'll be good.

HEMMER: Is the bird talking these days there, Carol?

COSTELLO: No, he has a translator who speaks fluent fowl.

COLLINS: That was good.

COSTELLO: Thanks. We'll see you guys in a bit. Thanks.

HEMMER: All right.

COLLINS: All right.

COSTELLO: Before we get to the Oriole bird, though, we're going to run down the best places to live in the United States, and some of the answers might surprise you.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They surprised me. In fact, even the bottom three surprised me as well. But the top one probably not, because I've been to Charlottesville, Virginia, and it's a fabulous place to live.

From cities ranked and rated, the top five: Charlottesville, Virginia. Santa Fe, New Mexico, a great place to retire, too. Very inexpensive from Albuquerque on up to Santa Fe, and great weather there all year. San Luna Obispo. Santa Barbara. Honolulu, Hawaii, that's because it's so (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COSTELLO: That's a no brainer.

MYERS: That's why that.

And the next five, I think we probably have them, or maybe we don't. Ah, good stuff, though.

COSTELLO: There they are.

MYERS: There we go. Ann Arbor, Michigan, a college town, a great place, go to the deli there. I can't think of it. It's either Cassigner's (ph) or Zingerman's (ph). It depends on the city. Atlanta, Georgia. Asheville, North Carolina. Reno, Nevada. And Corvallis, Oregon. I've been to both of those delis, so I know -- one is in Columbus and one is in Ann Arbor.

COSTELLO: What a surprise.

MYERS: Surprise, I'm eating.

COSTELLO: All right, Chad, stick around for this, because I know you're a former mascot.

MYERS: I am.

COSTELLO: So, you'll be able to relate.

I know it's chilly outside for many of you, but spring is here. Really. Baseball season is here, and while the players have been honing their skills during spring training, the mascots have, too. You may think being the Philly Fanatic or the Oriole Bird is easy. It is not. Consider this: According to a recent Johns Hopkins study, more than half the mascots have been stricken with heat-related injuries, 44 percent suffer from chronic lower back pain, and a fifth have sustained knee injuries while working.

So, let's head live to Baltimore and the Oriole Bird, and Bromley Lowe, who is fluent in native fowl, because the bird doesn’t speak.

BROMLEY LOWE, "THE BIRD'S" TRANSLATOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Oh, good morning, Bromley.

I take it...

LOWE: Yes, that's right. The bird chirps and whistles a lot. Good morning.

COSTELLO: Well, he's a bird. I take it, Mr. Bird, you are ready for the upcoming season. Bromley, would you translate?

LOWE: Absolutely. The bird has been ready for quite some time. He's been very busy -- what's that?

COSTELLO: Oh, no, I didn't say anything. I was just going to talk about the big controversy. Last year it was violent.

LOWE: Oh, yes. He's saying he's been very busy.

COSTELLO: Yes, whatever. Let's move on to last year, though, because the big story was the violence against the mascots. Who can forget when first baseman Randall Simon (ph) whacked a mascot dressed as a sausage with his bat? The sausage this year had to go in for an MRI, and we're going to show you pictures of that while we talk about this.

LOWE: Tragic.

COSTELLO: It was tragic. But this wasn't the first time a mascot came under attack. How ugly does it get? Bromley, how ugly does it get?

LOWE: Well, sometimes -- you know, 99 percent of the time -- I -- are we OK? Sometimes, you know, the fans every once in a while get a little too crazy, a little too excited when the Bird is in their presence. But quite frankly, 99 percent of the time it's all good fun and games.

COSTELLO: Yes, but we understand that the Oriole Bird was knocked off the right field wall in '99 and was injured.

LOWE: Yes. Someone tried to test out his flying ability. You know, it didn't work out too well. And yes, he did sustain some injuries to his wings. And yes, it got a little messy at first. But that -- yes, it does -- it doesn't happen quite as much... COSTELLO: A little messy! The Bird sued and he won some money. Let's talk about the heat, though, Mr. Oriole Bird. How hot does it get inside there? How hot does it get inside there?

LOWE: Pretty hot. I mean, if you can imagine doing an aerobics class in a sauna, I'd say -- geez. Temperature-wise, about, what do you think? One, two -- actually, we think it's about 120 degrees at some points during a hot summer day.

COSTELLO: Oh. We actually hear that mascots lose eight pounds per performance. Is that true?

LOWE: Yes. Yes, give or take on, you know, a really warm Sunday afternoon, the Bird will be out there. I mean, look at him. He's got black fur on. That absorbs every ray of sunlight you can see. So, yes, losing about 10 pounds in water weight is not uncommon at all.

COSTELLO: All right, Bromley, along with the Oriole Bird, thanks for joining us live from Baltimore this morning.

I think he was having trouble hearing us at first.

MYERS: Are you sure they weren't in Iraq? Because he had about an eight-second delay between the satellite up and the satellite down. Wow!

COSTELLO: Well, I guess Bromley was waiting for the Bird to speak, and then translate it.

MYERS: I think you're right.

COSTELLO: Didn't you get it?

MYERS: I didn't.

COSTELLO: OK, it's time for the mug giveaway of the day.

MYERS: Yes. And I hope you were paying attention, because the producers are making these harder and harder, trying to give fewer and fewer mugs away, I think.

We profiled the "Frontline" documentary that's going to be on PBS, 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. How many Rwandans died in the massacre?

And No. 2, and you have to answer them both: In Kelli Arena's report on the terrorist screening center, how many names are now on the new consolidated terror watch list?

COSTELLO: Oh, those are tough. E-mail your answers to Daybreak@CNN.com. And, of course, we'll name the winner tomorrow.

MYERS: Yes. Don't look on our Web site for CNN and look for a link. Just go put CNN.com up in your "to," and hit send e-mail.

COSTELLO: Good advice, Chad. Thanks. And you'll win one of these beautiful cups.

Chad will join me for "The Lightning Round" coming up, but first the latest headlines for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Waiting and waiting. Chad, do you got that "Lighting Round" sound effect up there ready?

MYERS: Yes. Here you go.

COSTELLO: There you are.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: Just waiting patiently. So, let's get going with our "Lightning Round" this morning.

You know, all of those pricey heels and red carpet gowns have paid off for Sarah Jessica Parker.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: The actress is getting a fashion icon award from the Council of Fashion Designers. They describe her style as quintessentially New York, which translates to expensive.

MYERS: Very sheik.

COSTELLO: Some people choose to show off their style with funky furniture. Starting this weekend in Washington, you can see some of the most unusual pieces like these pieces of furniture on display right now at the Smithsonian.

MYERS: Nice.

COSTELLO: What's unusual about that chair?

MYERS: I like that. Well, it's all hand-carved. But I did like that curved furniture piece right there. Nice curved fronts.

COSTELLO: Very nice. Yee-ha. And it's free at the Smithsonian.

He's been called the LeBron James of soccer. Freddie Adu, the 14-year-old phenom (ph) makes his pro-debut this Saturday. His team, the D.C. United, takes on the San Jose Earthquakes on national television. Fourteen years old, Chad.

MYERS: All our best to him.

COSTELLO: Yes. And years after "Animal House," the Blues Brothers and "Saturday Night Live," you know, they made him famous, the late actor John Belushi will be remembered today with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

MYERS: Jim will be there to accept it. COSTELLO: Yes, he will -- his brother.

"AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now. You make it a great day.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.


Aired April 1, 2004 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this morning on DAYBREAK, those horrific attacks in Iraq. Those images of Americans killed and their bodies desecrated in Fallujah, well, to say the least, they were disturbing.
Let's head live to Baghdad now and Jim Clancy. He's covering the attacks for us this morning.

What can you tell us this morning -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, U.S. military convoys and supply lines are coming under fire once again, Carol. This has been a day that started out with some explosions, one outside of Fallujah, where there was a Humvee seen along a roadside burning, the only evidence of that. Some Iraqis gathered nearby and probed the vehicle, and then tried to turn it over.

No word from the U.S. military. They say they don't have any information about this incident. No report of any casualties either.

Meantime, in Baghdad itself, in northwest Baghdad, there were two roadside bombs that exploded as a U.S. fuel convoy was approaching. The first one hit a civilian car. But a few minutes later, as U.S. troops were beginning to use a robot to search for any other ISDs, or improvised explosive devices, a second blast occurred along that roadway near the middle of the convoy, and it was a big fuel tanker convoy. However, it did not ignite any of those fuel trucks.

One of the drivers was injured, unclear whether he was a member of the U.S. military; a civilian contactor is more likely. Now, he could be an Iraqi or a foreign national. The U.S. military has no details on that as yet either.

So, two casualties from that incident. So, the fight goes on, if you will, in Iraq as April gets under way. March being marked as one of the bloodiest months since the U.S. declared an official end to combat operations -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Clancy bringing us up-to-date live from Baghdad.

Of course, many Americans this morning are calling for some kind of justice in light of what happened yesterday in Fallujah. Can there be justice? What should be done in Fallujah?

Live on the phone this morning, our security analyst and counterterrorism expert, Kelly McCann. Good morning -- Kelly.

KELLY MCCANN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: You know, some witnesses in Fallujah called these attackers mujahideen, who popped into Fallujah, killed and popped out. Is this an apt description of who did this?

MCCANN: Well, we don't know yet, but I'd suggest to you, if you remember the letter that Zakari (ph) had written to the al Qaeda saying that they needed to get some traction and they needed to get more motivation. This is the way that you do it. I mean, if you look at and think of the effect that Mogadishu had, there's nothing that makes people more viscerally react than to see corpses desecrated, and I think that that's an indication of things to come, unfortunately, Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're right. These attackers were able to whip up the young men in this city into an absolute frenzy. The Iraqi Security Forces, Kelly, trained by the United States, said to be scare-scare (ph), where were they?

MCCANN: From my understanding, Carol, there were four policemen on the scene that actually turned and drove away. Now, I would suggest to you that that was just from self-survival. Four people couldn't have handled that mob.

There was also a disturbing report that military, of course, didn't respond, but a lot of people have to remember that respond to what? I mean, once the scene is over and the adversary retreats back into the people there, who are you going to go shoot? Who do you go get? It's not a very definable enemy.

So, I'd suggest to you that the military wasn't asleep. It's just that they didn't have any recourse.

COSTELLO: But, you know, some might say, you know, the attackers did indeed slip away after throwing their grenades, but the townspeople, they were stringing up bodies for hours, desecrating the corpse. Shouldn't some of them have been arrested? Is that even possible?

MCCANN: Well, I mean, think about here in the U.S. Arrested for what? I mean, I don't even know what you'd charge them with or what individuals would you actually go and arrest. Again, it goes to the problem of you have to identify individuals.

I think this is really a kind of an indication of that mob mentality, where people do things with anonymity that they wouldn't do if they had an individual identity that was apparent. It was just a terrible thing, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, what should happen in Fallujah? Should the city be locked down? Should there be a military clampdown on it? I mean, what should be done? MCCANN: I think what you're going to see is super-saturation patrolling, real high-visibility patrolling, where they're actually going to increase the level of troops there, so that they can actually kind of quell things just by presence, make the attacks less able to be conducted just through the threat of force being present.

COSTELLO: Kelly McCann with us live on DAYBREAK to provide some insight this morning -- much-needed insight for this horrible event.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, thousands of innocent people slaughtered and few attempted to stop it. It's a tale of death that will haunt those who were there for a lifetime. Coming up, I will talk to the creator of a new documentary. He tries to explain how it happened.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Today marks a grizzly 10th anniversary. On this day, the Rwandan genocide began. It was state-sponsored; 800,000 Rwandans were methodically killed by Hutu extremists as the United States and the international community stood by.

Tonight, "Frontline" on PBS will air a two-hour documentary called "The Ghosts of Rwanda."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rwanda will never ever leave me. It's in the pores of my body. My soul is in those hills. My spirit is with the spirits of all of those people who were slaughtered and killed that I know of.

And lots of those eyes still haunt me, angry eyes or innocent eyes. No laughing eyes. Yet the worst eyes that haunt me are the eyes of those people who were totally bewildered. They're looking at me with my Blueberry, and they're saying, what in the hell happened?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Here to talk more about it, Greg Barker, the writer, producer and director of the documentary.

Good morning, Greg.

GREG BARKER, "FRONTLINE" PRODUCER: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Why examine this now?

BARKER: You know, for all of use who worked on this film, it is simply the most haunting story that we've ever come across. I mean, it's 10 years later. So, the time was right. A lot of the key players involved, from General Delaire (ph), who you just saw, to people like Kofi Annan and Madeleine Albright, who were involved at the time. They wanted to reflect. They wanted to talk about it, many times, as in the case of Annan, for the first ever.

So, we used the 10th anniversary as a way of going back to look at this, but, you know, it's just one of the most horrific stories of our time.

COSTELLO: Well, tell us more about that. This was neighbor hunting down neighbor to kill at the order of extremists, and kill they did, using machetes oftentimes.

BARKER: They did. You know, it's almost incomprehensible that human beings were capable of doing what they did. It was. It was neighbors killing people who -- you know, their children played together. They worked together. They lived side by side.

But, you know, it wasn't just ethnic violence like we sort of think of that happens sometimes in parts of the world. This was state-sponsored genocide. And the leaders of it were very sophisticated and well-educated, and they used the population to -- they filled them on to propaganda, and they used the instruments of the state, the media and the army, to implement their plan.

COSTELLO: Very frightening. The United States stood by, the United Nations did, too, as did the rest of the world while Rwandans begged for help. Why?

BARKER: Well, that's the great question: Why? You know, there are all sorts of practical reasons. It was six months after the Black Hawks went down in Somalia on a U.N. peacekeeping mission. So, nobody wanted, from the U.N. Security Council to the White House, the Pentagon, nobody wanted another humanitarian disaster in the heart of Africa, you know. And Rwanda is not a strategic country. It wasn't really in anyone's national interest to go there.

And it also happened very quickly. So, by the time they realized what was going on at the highest levels, a lot of the killing had already happened.

Having said all of that, there were signs. There were -- there was a clear policy within the U.S. government not to intervene and to actually not call it a genocide when they all knew, as we made clear in the film, they all knew that it was a genocide, and they decided not to call it.

COSTELLO: So, it was a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) logical decision that was within the U.S. interests at the time. What lesson can we learn from this documentary?

BARKER: Well, I think for me a personal lesson is a bigger strategic lesson. A personal lesson is that that there were people who stayed behind there -- U.N. peacekeepers, an extraordinary man who stayed with the Red Cross, and saved tens of thousands of lives. The Red Cross saved 65,000 lives just by staying.

So, individual acts of heroism actually make a difference, and they made a huge difference in Rwanda. On a bigger level, you know, you can't save -- you can't intervene everywhere, but don't leave, because a person -- is the lesson I take from that. Don't leave. And simply by calling it a genocide, by taking very small steps, they could have saved lived. President Clinton in the film says that he now thinks that with 5,000 troops going in there, they could have saved -- the U.S. could have saved half of the people who were killed, 405,000 lives with a few thousand troops.

COSTELLO: Food for thought this morning. Greg Baker (sic), the documentary is called "Ghosts of Rwanda," and it airs on PBS' "Frontline" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:42 Eastern Time. Here's what's happening now.

Near Baghdad this morning, two roadside bombs apparently aimed at a fuel truck convoy. An Iraqi and a U.S. civilian were wounded.

What goes up must go up some more. OPEC is cutting oil output today. That will cause gas prices to rise further.

In money news, high school students better do more cramming before they go out into the real world. In a nationwide survey on personal finance, 12th graders got only 52 percent of the questions right.

In sports, as the hockey season winds down, Mark Messier says he's leaning towards retirement. The 43-year-old New York Ranger has played more games than anyone except Gordie Howell (ph).

In pop culture, British billionaire Richard Branson is getting a so-called reality TV series. It will be like the one Donald Trump has, except Branson will eliminate his young contestants while traveling with them around the world.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COSTELLO: Oh, but spring is in the air, and so is America's pastime. Coming up, a very special guest. Yes, he is taking time out from his busy schedule just for us on DAYBREAK. One of the other -- it's a live picture out of Baltimore for you this morning.

Plus, women everywhere have copied her style. Now, honors for (UNINTELLIGIBLE) star.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back. We're having a lot of fun this morning on DAYBREAK.

But we want to head to New York for just a minute to check in with Bill and Heidi, who is in for Soledad this morning to see what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning to you. HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol. Listen, watching your program today and a great conversation with Jim Clancy a few hours ago in Baghdad. We'll talk to Jim again about the day after these really gruesome photos that we all talked about yesterday.

Also, Carl Levin back from Iraq, we'll talk to him about the violence and the impact there.

COLLINS: We are also going to be talking about that missing student who has been found, as we know. We've been talking about it now for at least a day. Audrey Seiler had been missing since Saturday. We have an interview with Office Larry Kamholz of the Madison Police Department, finding out a little bit more about that situation and the alleged suspect.

HEMMER: We certainly will.

Also, Martha's team wants a new trial, Carol. Did you hear about this late yesterday?

COSTELLO: Oh, I did.

HEMMER: Jeff Toobin is a little skeptical, though, about whether or not they're going to have much success on this. A big surprise there.

COSTELLO: Well, you've got to try something.

HEMMER: Yes, I guess you're right. Is it a sign of desperation? Or is there a true legitimate point by the defense team here? So, we'll talk to Jeff about that.

And Jack's got a great e-mail question, too, going back to the same issue in Iraq yesterday and about the violence. We'll watch.

COLLINS: Right.

COSTELLO: Hey, Bill and Heidi, guess who we have on live in just a few minutes?

HEMMER: Tell us.

COLLINS: Who's that?

COSTELLO: The Oriole bird.

HEMMER: Chad Myers?

COSTELLO: Oh, him, too.

COLLINS: Oh!

HEMMER: Nice.

COLLINS: That'll be good.

HEMMER: Is the bird talking these days there, Carol?

COSTELLO: No, he has a translator who speaks fluent fowl.

COLLINS: That was good.

COSTELLO: Thanks. We'll see you guys in a bit. Thanks.

HEMMER: All right.

COLLINS: All right.

COSTELLO: Before we get to the Oriole bird, though, we're going to run down the best places to live in the United States, and some of the answers might surprise you.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They surprised me. In fact, even the bottom three surprised me as well. But the top one probably not, because I've been to Charlottesville, Virginia, and it's a fabulous place to live.

From cities ranked and rated, the top five: Charlottesville, Virginia. Santa Fe, New Mexico, a great place to retire, too. Very inexpensive from Albuquerque on up to Santa Fe, and great weather there all year. San Luna Obispo. Santa Barbara. Honolulu, Hawaii, that's because it's so (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COSTELLO: That's a no brainer.

MYERS: That's why that.

And the next five, I think we probably have them, or maybe we don't. Ah, good stuff, though.

COSTELLO: There they are.

MYERS: There we go. Ann Arbor, Michigan, a college town, a great place, go to the deli there. I can't think of it. It's either Cassigner's (ph) or Zingerman's (ph). It depends on the city. Atlanta, Georgia. Asheville, North Carolina. Reno, Nevada. And Corvallis, Oregon. I've been to both of those delis, so I know -- one is in Columbus and one is in Ann Arbor.

COSTELLO: What a surprise.

MYERS: Surprise, I'm eating.

COSTELLO: All right, Chad, stick around for this, because I know you're a former mascot.

MYERS: I am.

COSTELLO: So, you'll be able to relate.

I know it's chilly outside for many of you, but spring is here. Really. Baseball season is here, and while the players have been honing their skills during spring training, the mascots have, too. You may think being the Philly Fanatic or the Oriole Bird is easy. It is not. Consider this: According to a recent Johns Hopkins study, more than half the mascots have been stricken with heat-related injuries, 44 percent suffer from chronic lower back pain, and a fifth have sustained knee injuries while working.

So, let's head live to Baltimore and the Oriole Bird, and Bromley Lowe, who is fluent in native fowl, because the bird doesn’t speak.

BROMLEY LOWE, "THE BIRD'S" TRANSLATOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Oh, good morning, Bromley.

I take it...

LOWE: Yes, that's right. The bird chirps and whistles a lot. Good morning.

COSTELLO: Well, he's a bird. I take it, Mr. Bird, you are ready for the upcoming season. Bromley, would you translate?

LOWE: Absolutely. The bird has been ready for quite some time. He's been very busy -- what's that?

COSTELLO: Oh, no, I didn't say anything. I was just going to talk about the big controversy. Last year it was violent.

LOWE: Oh, yes. He's saying he's been very busy.

COSTELLO: Yes, whatever. Let's move on to last year, though, because the big story was the violence against the mascots. Who can forget when first baseman Randall Simon (ph) whacked a mascot dressed as a sausage with his bat? The sausage this year had to go in for an MRI, and we're going to show you pictures of that while we talk about this.

LOWE: Tragic.

COSTELLO: It was tragic. But this wasn't the first time a mascot came under attack. How ugly does it get? Bromley, how ugly does it get?

LOWE: Well, sometimes -- you know, 99 percent of the time -- I -- are we OK? Sometimes, you know, the fans every once in a while get a little too crazy, a little too excited when the Bird is in their presence. But quite frankly, 99 percent of the time it's all good fun and games.

COSTELLO: Yes, but we understand that the Oriole Bird was knocked off the right field wall in '99 and was injured.

LOWE: Yes. Someone tried to test out his flying ability. You know, it didn't work out too well. And yes, he did sustain some injuries to his wings. And yes, it got a little messy at first. But that -- yes, it does -- it doesn't happen quite as much... COSTELLO: A little messy! The Bird sued and he won some money. Let's talk about the heat, though, Mr. Oriole Bird. How hot does it get inside there? How hot does it get inside there?

LOWE: Pretty hot. I mean, if you can imagine doing an aerobics class in a sauna, I'd say -- geez. Temperature-wise, about, what do you think? One, two -- actually, we think it's about 120 degrees at some points during a hot summer day.

COSTELLO: Oh. We actually hear that mascots lose eight pounds per performance. Is that true?

LOWE: Yes. Yes, give or take on, you know, a really warm Sunday afternoon, the Bird will be out there. I mean, look at him. He's got black fur on. That absorbs every ray of sunlight you can see. So, yes, losing about 10 pounds in water weight is not uncommon at all.

COSTELLO: All right, Bromley, along with the Oriole Bird, thanks for joining us live from Baltimore this morning.

I think he was having trouble hearing us at first.

MYERS: Are you sure they weren't in Iraq? Because he had about an eight-second delay between the satellite up and the satellite down. Wow!

COSTELLO: Well, I guess Bromley was waiting for the Bird to speak, and then translate it.

MYERS: I think you're right.

COSTELLO: Didn't you get it?

MYERS: I didn't.

COSTELLO: OK, it's time for the mug giveaway of the day.

MYERS: Yes. And I hope you were paying attention, because the producers are making these harder and harder, trying to give fewer and fewer mugs away, I think.

We profiled the "Frontline" documentary that's going to be on PBS, 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. How many Rwandans died in the massacre?

And No. 2, and you have to answer them both: In Kelli Arena's report on the terrorist screening center, how many names are now on the new consolidated terror watch list?

COSTELLO: Oh, those are tough. E-mail your answers to Daybreak@CNN.com. And, of course, we'll name the winner tomorrow.

MYERS: Yes. Don't look on our Web site for CNN and look for a link. Just go put CNN.com up in your "to," and hit send e-mail.

COSTELLO: Good advice, Chad. Thanks. And you'll win one of these beautiful cups.

Chad will join me for "The Lightning Round" coming up, but first the latest headlines for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Waiting and waiting. Chad, do you got that "Lighting Round" sound effect up there ready?

MYERS: Yes. Here you go.

COSTELLO: There you are.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: Just waiting patiently. So, let's get going with our "Lightning Round" this morning.

You know, all of those pricey heels and red carpet gowns have paid off for Sarah Jessica Parker.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: The actress is getting a fashion icon award from the Council of Fashion Designers. They describe her style as quintessentially New York, which translates to expensive.

MYERS: Very sheik.

COSTELLO: Some people choose to show off their style with funky furniture. Starting this weekend in Washington, you can see some of the most unusual pieces like these pieces of furniture on display right now at the Smithsonian.

MYERS: Nice.

COSTELLO: What's unusual about that chair?

MYERS: I like that. Well, it's all hand-carved. But I did like that curved furniture piece right there. Nice curved fronts.

COSTELLO: Very nice. Yee-ha. And it's free at the Smithsonian.

He's been called the LeBron James of soccer. Freddie Adu, the 14-year-old phenom (ph) makes his pro-debut this Saturday. His team, the D.C. United, takes on the San Jose Earthquakes on national television. Fourteen years old, Chad.

MYERS: All our best to him.

COSTELLO: Yes. And years after "Animal House," the Blues Brothers and "Saturday Night Live," you know, they made him famous, the late actor John Belushi will be remembered today with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

MYERS: Jim will be there to accept it. COSTELLO: Yes, he will -- his brother.

"AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now. You make it a great day.

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