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CNN Live At Daybreak

University of Wisconsin Student Found Alive and Well; Two More Roadside Bombs in Iraq

Aired April 01, 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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Reason to celebrate this morning -- a missing University of Wisconsin student found shaken, but alive.
Good morning to you.

From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, this is DAYBREAK for Thursday, April 1st. It's April Fool's Day.

I'm Carol Costello.

Here are the latest headlines for you at this hour.

A highway near Baghdad is the scene of the latest violence by Iraqi insurgents. Two roadside bombs today, at least one apparently meant for a convoy of fuel trucks.

NATO forces raid a residential building looking for a fugitive war crimes suspect. The troops fail to find former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, on the run now for seven years.

Italian police arrest five people suspected of international terrorism. The same operation nets at least nine other suspects in three other countries.

One year ago today, she was being rescued by U.S. special forces from an Iraqi hospital. Former POW Jessica Lynch still spends several hours a day in rehabilitation therapy.

To the forecast center now and Chad -- good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

How are you this fine morning?

COSTELLO: It's April Fool's Day. I couldn't be better.

MYERS: Well, I haven't fooled you yet. I'll try not to.

COSTELLO: I'm waiting. I'm waiting for the joke.

MYERS: No, I'll try not to.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: All right, and we do have our lovely Happy April Fool's Day banner for all of you this morning because we love you. MYERS: Ah, yes. Only 83 days till summer.

COSTELLO: And that's no fooling.

Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Up first on DAYBREAK this morning, that missing University of Wisconsin student found alive and well. She says she was abducted at knifepoint four days ago.

Here's more for you from CNN's Jonathan Freed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four days of searching, worrying and praying ended Wednesday afternoon with the key word -- alive. Audrey Seiler was found in a marshy area about two miles from her home when a passerby spotted her and called authorities. Police quickly set up a perimeter and started searching for a suspect believed armed with a gun and a knife. While at the hospital...

KEITH SEILER, STUDENT'S FATHER: Just relieved, glad to be warm, to see her friends and family, a bit surprised at the big hullabaloo.

FREED: The 20-year-old student at the University of Wisconsin disappeared early Saturday morning. A security camera in her apartment building caught her leaving without a coat. Doctors were impressed by her condition.

DR. PHILIP SCHULTZ, ST. MARY'S EMERGENCY SERVICES: She's really gotten through her ordeal remarkably well physically. She has lots of muscle aches from being confined during this period of time and she's relatively dehydrated. So what we've been doing basically is just kind of replenishing her fluids. But she already looks a lot better than she -- when she came in. She's smiling a lot and clearly is a lot more comfortable.

FREED: A few hours later, Seiler left the hospital.

Investigators paid extra attention to the missing person case because Seiler says she was attacked two months ago, knocked unconscious while out walking after midnight. But she wasn't robbed or badly hurt.

During the four day ordeal, her family tried to focus on positive thoughts.

STEPHANIE SEILER, STUDENT'S MOTHER: We needed to stay strong for Audrey and Audrey needed to stay strong for us. And we believed in that.

FREED: Jonathan Freed, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Missing person's cases are far more common than you might think. In 2001, for example, the FBI reports that more than 840,000 adults and children were reported missing. That's about 2,300 cases a day. But only about 28,000 a year are considered abductions or kidnappings.

There are a lot of questions, though, that remain about this Wisconsin student who was found after four days. Hopefully, we will get some more answers in just a couple of hours. Larry Kamholz of the Madison Police Department will be on CNN's "American Morning," which, of course, starts at same.

The quest for more oil, that leads our look at other stories across America this Thursday.

With gas prices surging and OPEC cutting production by four percent today, the energy secretary is pushing for oil drilling in Alaska. He discusses his department's 2005 budget with the House Energy and Commerce Committee this morning.

Also on the Hill this morning, members of Congress introduce a bill to fine tune the armed pilots program. Some pilots reportedly complained the Transportation Security Administration tries to discourage guns in cockpits.

And at an elaborate White House ceremony this afternoon, President Bush will sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The Act makes it a crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman. Both sides of the abortion issue say the law will have far reaching consequences.

All right, now on to Iraq this morning. Two more roadside bombs there wounding two people. Fortunately, those attacks were nothing on the scale of Wednesday's deadly incidents.

Our Walter Rodgers shows us the horrific violence in Falluja.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS (voice-over): When the TV cameras arrived, Iraqis were stoning the two burning vehicles. Four civilian contractors, Americans, ambushed. Witnesses said their SUVs were stopped by exploding hand grenades, the vehicles then sprayed with gunfire and set alight.

There is much more we will not show but we believe some images are necessary to fully illustrate the extent of the violence. These Iraqis seem to revel in mutilating and displaying the dead bodies.

Bystanders shouted "Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans" and "We sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam."

But the blood and sacrifice this day was from four civilian contractors come to Iraq to try to rebuild this country. The crowd then dragged the corpses through the streets of Fallujah, an area which has seen some of the worst violence in Iraq this past year. Two of the victims' charred bodies were later hung from this bridge over the Euphrates River. U.S. officials blamed insurgents.

DAN SENOR, SENIOR COALITION ADVISER: They are people who want Iraq to turn back to an era of mass graves, or rape rooms and torture chambers and chemical attacks. They want to turn back to the era of Saddam Hussein.

RODGERS: Nearby, in Habbaniyah, in a separate incident five American soldiers were also killed by a powerful explosion that left a 15-foot crater in the road.

GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: There's a small core element that doesn't seem to get it. They're desperate to try to hold out, desperate to try to turn back the hands of time and that just isn't going to happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We want to take you live to Baghdad now to talk more about this with our Jim Clancy -- Jim, I'm going to ask you a question you probably don't know the answer to.

But in looking at these pictures, just the -- it just seemed like such psychotic behavior. What goes through the minds of these people and why did they go so far in their violence?

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that if you were an Iraqi looking at those pictures, there would be two reactions. One would be shock that people would behave in that manner, something they wouldn't expect. Then perhaps on a second level, they would blame it on the U.S. occupation. They would blame the U.S. military. They would say that they have suffered at the hands of the U.S. and they are still under pressure from the U.S. The Marines still there very aggressively going in, kicking down doors, looking for some suspects.

And so they would explain it away saying it was simply a reaction to occupation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You might think that the Iraqis would feel sympathy after something like this happens to Americans.

But you don't think that will happen?

CLANCY: Some of them do. Some of them do. And I talked to one just this morning who said his own children said why are they attacking the Americans? We don't understand. They came here to help us. I don't understand why these attacks are taking place. But that doesn't account for everyone's behavior.

I think many Iraqis are frustrated by the occupation. I think many Iraqis see it as open-ended. They don't know whether or not it's going to end, how much influence the U.S. is going to exert over them in the coming months and years.

And most of all, they suspect why the U.S. is here. They have never really believed that the U.S. came here to give them freedom. They suspect there's another motive. That's a reason for a lot of the different reactions.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about these contractors who were killed.

Have authorities managed to recover their bodies? Because, you know, they have loved ones here...

CLANCY: I understand that...

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

CLANCY: I understand that some of the bodies have been recovered. But, you know, if you look back in Iraqi history, if you look back to the first prime minister under the monarchy, he was a man that had worked for his country, established some of its borders, safeguarded the City of Mosul in the north and done so many positive things. He was ripped apart by a mob. They never found his body. He has no grave.

These things are not unprecedented in Iraq.

COSTELLO: Do we know who these contractors are now? Are they releasing any more information about them?

CLANCY: Most of that information, I believe, is going to be coming out of the United States. Here, we are not getting the information. You know, we have heard that this is the same company, security company that provides security for the U.S. administrator, Ambassador Paul Bremer here. And so I would imagine the names will be forthcoming. But we don't have them yet. It's now been revealed, I'm sure, as you know, that these, all four of them, were Americans.

COSTELLO: The Iraqi security forces, they seem to be nowhere to be found in Falluja.

Where were they?

CLANCY: Well, I think they back off when they see a situation like this one. I don't think that they want to intervene, get involved in a gun fight.

Now, they will tell you that they simply don't have the equipment, they don't have the personnel so far. But because U.S. Marines and others that have worked in Falluja are relying less on the Iraqis there, they may more or less be establishing a bit of a truce with the insurgents. That is, don't shoot at us and we won't shoot at you.

Is this a normal thing? In some ways, yes, it is to be expected. But on another sense, that means that there isn't going to be any pacification inside Falluja, that the Iraqi police force, security forces that the U.S. is trying to build up right now are not going to be effective in those areas where the public sentiment is so anti- American, so anti-occupation, as Falluja. COSTELLO: Well, then what do you do? I mean a final question for you, what's next for U.S. forces? How do you control a place like Falluja?

CLANCY: Well, you know, there is a sense -- when you look at these pictures, when you look at so many others, you see the attacks on U.S. forces, on U.S. supply lines. The other side of the coin here is that there are consistent raids that are being carried out against the insurgents. Remember, they're under a lot of pressure, too. Thousands of them are being detained. Fifty were arrested in a single day this week by U.S. forces. They've been kicking down doors. They've been seizing tens of thousands of dollars, hundreds of millions of dinars, arms, explosives, and, most of all, they've been gathering intelligence about the entire network that supports it.

One of the main questions now, are these outside terrorists? Are these foreigners that are coming in here to do this or is this a nationalist movement that has the sympathy of a lot of people, something that's really against the United States and against occupation itself? This is a major question.

COSTELLO: Jim Clancy live in Baghdad this morning.

Of course, as you probably know, we're three months from the U.S. handover and the violence in Iraq just doesn't seem to let up.

In the next hour, we're going to take you back live to Baghdad. We'll talk to Jim Clancy again.

Also, there are deadly risks for civilian contractors in Iraq. What more can be done to protect them? How can they protect themselves? We'll talk about that with our counter-terrorism expert, Kelly McCann.

Here's a look at what's ahead this Thursday morning.

Donors pledge to pour billions of bucks into Afghanistan. But is that enough to keep the country from becoming a haven for drugs and terrorism? We're going to take you live to Kabul.

Plus, tackling that ugly race card again. Was former Notre Dame star Paul Hornung out of bounds with his hard-hitting comments? It's a replay of the controversies we've seen so many times before. We will give you a play by play this morning.

And getting your zzzs. We've got lots of great tips for those of you who are having trouble sleeping.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM

CHRIS FARNEY, SLAPPED BY SIMMONS:

I don't think he has any idea what his intentions were. But they are, they obviously came across as, you know, it was a violent act. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: How could we ignore this story? We'll hear more from the man who was slapped by Richard Simmons. And we'll tell you what charge the court has slapped Simmons with.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It is 5:16 Eastern time.

Here's what's new this morning.

One hundred seventy people accused of being part of a U.S.- Canadian drug ring are arrested. The suspects, most of them Vietnamese, may be responsible for 15 percent of all Ecstasy smuggled into the United States.

The World Court tells the U.S. to review the cases of 51 Mexicans on death row. The Court says the U.S. should have allowed them to meet with a Mexican consular officer.

In money news, you've got g-mail. That's what Google's new e- mail service will be called. It's free, but computers will scan your e-mail and include ads related to what you're talking about.

In sports, attention all of you NFL players watching this morning, and I know you are, team owners have voted to impose a 15 yard penalty for excessive celebrations.

In culture, can you count to 35? That's how many years since "Sesame Street" first went on the air. Sunday night a special program will look back at all those sunny days -- Chad.

MYERS: And, Carol, some rain across the Northeast today, the same rain we had yesterday. Cool temperatures there, as well. In fact, the highs today not out of the 40s in a lot of spots, even in the upper 50s down here in Atlanta -- back to you.

COSTELLO: Whoa. I wish that were an April Fool's joke.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

Well, they asked for it and they got it. Afghanistan has secured $4.4 billion in pledges from international donors.

Let's head live to Kabul for details on how they plan to use that money.

Nic Robertson is there -- hello, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello.

Good morning, Carol.

Well, they plan to spend that money on the health care inside Afghanistan. They desperately want to put more money into hospitals, into maternity wards, into infectious diseases. They want to build the road network here. The roads in Afghanistan are in a terrible state. They also want to improve education.

Government officials I talked with earlier today told me that they thought that this was a good step, that they thought this money would be sufficient for the next couple of years. But they do stress that their needs here are absolutely huge. One important thing for them, the government here having told their people they will get international support. They say they need to be able to deliver it to show the people here that they are a credible government -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It always worries me when I heard pledges, because that means the money is not there. But this money is definitely going into Afghanistan?

ROBERTSON: Well, that is a big worry here, as well. The government -- one government official I talked with this morning said, you know, I don't believe it until I see it. A government makes a pledge, then there's an election in that democratic country, the new government comes in and they change their mind. Typically what we are being told here is that pledges are very slow to be fulfilled, that the Afghan government officials say that they've seen increasingly big shortfalls over the last few years in donor pledges, back in Tokyo two years ago.

So while they feel good about what's on offer, they're really reserving judgment to wait to see when it gets delivered exactly -- Carol.

COSTELLO: On another, well, actually, a related topic, because some of that money that's pledged and some U.S. money will go towards fighting drugs there in Afghanistan, how is the fight on, I guess, poppies, how is that going in Afghanistan?

ROBERTSON: This is the critical time of year, Carol. This is the harvest time. And a lot of farmers here have put their savings into buying poppy seeds. They have grown poppies. Poppy production has been very, very high. Ninety percent of the opium, heroin in Europe comes out of Afghanistan. A lot goes to China, Pakistan, places like that.

Drug laboratories here, the refining of the poppy into opium and heroin, they have been, some of them have been destroyed. One particular laboratory was destroyed in one area then another local that the warlord whose laboratory was destroyed went out and destroyed somebody else's laboratory as sort of retribution.

So there is a crackdown. But it's being based along the lines of enforcement, eradication and alternatives. Alternatives telling the farmers what else they can do. The difficulty, though, Carol, here is providing enforcement. That's the tough one for the international community here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's even tough here in the United States.

Nic Robertson live from Kabul this morning.

OPEC cuts production today.

Is it having an effect on the markets overseas?

Well, let's see.

Let's head live to London and Todd Benjamin -- good morning to you, Todd.

TODD BENJAMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

That decision was widely anticipated by the markets, so really having no impact. The big focus here today, Carol, is the European Central Bank is meeting. This is the equivalency of the Fed here in Europe. They're going to consider interest rates. And the economy in Europe is quite sluggish on the continent, in places like France and Germany. And a lot of people want to see the European Central Bank cut rates.

But they're not likely to do it today. They will likely keep their powder dry. They're a very cautious bank, unlike the Fed, which is very aggressive. And most people think then they'll make a move in June.

Now, why should the U.S. investor care about this at all? First of all, if the economy doesn't pick up in Europe, that's not good for U.S. exporters. Also, it affects the currency. You can see right now the euro is at the 123 level. And the longer they delay a cut, that means the euro will remain strong and it's more expensive for Americans to come to Europe.

Meanwhile, sterling is almost at that 185 level. So a tough time for Americans to travel.

The futures in the U.S. right now are pointing to a slightly higher open. But we'll get important manufacturing data out of the U.S. today, as well as the latest jobless claims numbers -- back to you.

Have a great morning.

COSTELLO: You, too.

Todd Benjamin live from London.

Next on DAYBREAK, the end of an era -- familiar faces along the strip. Ah, it is the end of the era for those three.

Looking for the best place to live? Well, we've got the number one spot in the country. Here's a hint -- a former president once lived here. Stay tuned. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: Over.

COSTELLO: My god that was loud.

MYERS: Did you say over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Well, it's not over now. Who's with me?

COSTELLO: Oh, I know what you're doing. You're doing a John Belushi impersonation.

MYERS: Yes, a poor one. He's getting a star.

COSTELLO: On the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

MYERS: Twenty-two years after he died, he's getting a star.

COSTELLO: Well, it took them long enough.

But it's nice because his brother is going to be there...

MYERS: Look at that.

COSTELLO: ... accepting the star in his honor and, of course, his widow is there.

MYERS: How funny was he in "Blues Brothers?"

COSTELLO: Oh, he was hilarious.

MYERS: Oh, my gosh. Dan Aykroyd is going to be there as well.

COSTELLO: Yes.

You know, it is Stump the Weatherman Day, as well, of course, every Thursday.

MYERS: Stump? Did you say stump?

COSTELLO: Please, not another impression. I don't think I can take it.

MYERS: Yes, hey, send in a couple of questions for me.

I had one that I had wanted to do from last week. "Why are there some tornadoes that spin the wrong way?" We hear about some that spin one way, some that spin the other way. But, in fact, 99 percent, 99.9 percent, according to the National Weather Service, all spin the same direction, the same direction as a hurricane...

COSTELLO: Yes, but what about the .1 percent?

MYERS: It's actually a -- the word is perturbation. It's a, when one spins so hard one way, there can be a counteracting spin, a smaller storm that might spin over here on the other side of the storm. We see large tornadoes and then little counter-rotating storms on the other side of it sometimes. So that's where the .1 comes from.

COSTELLO: Where you just perturbation, whatever that word was, us right now.

MYERS: Careful.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: Time for some DAYBREAK Eye-Openers right now.

And apparently times have changed in Las Vegas. The landmark Siegfried & Roy marquis on the Las Vegas strip no more. It's been about six months since a white tiger nearly killed Roy Horn, forcing the long running show to close. The big panels featuring the faces of the duo in front of The Mirage Hotel Casino are replaced with ones promoting another act.

And a sign of the times in Seattle -- record high gas prices are sparking increased interest in alternative fuel vehicles. Answering the demand, a new electronic car dealership in Seattle. The car is one of several models of NEVs or neighborhood electric vehicles. The legislature legalized them for Washington streets last year.

In Phoenix, it's a misdemeanor charge for Richard Simmons. The exercise guru reportedly slapped a guy who made a sarcastic remark about Simmons' "Sweating to the Oldies" videos. Gosh. Here's what the victim has to say about the slapping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FARNEY: There was no cruel intentions there. I don't feel I was heckling him. I wasn't vulgar in any way. It was an attack to maybe set me in my place or humiliate me. I have no idea what his intentions were. I don't think he has any idea what his intentions were. But they obviously came across as, you know, being -- it was a violent attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A violent attack.

MYERS: On a very big guy.

COSTELLO: On a very big guy. It would be terrible to be humiliated by Richard Simmons. Anyhow, Simmons has been charged with misdemeanor assault. Of course, we will keep you posted.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: Football legend Paul Hornung says of his alma mater, the problem with Notre Dame football is that its academic standards are too high, too high to get black athletes. Hmmm.

CNN's Josie Burke was there when the apology came. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the golden dome and touchdown Jesus and a record number of championships to its name, Notre Dame is a place that loves tradition and heroes almost as much as winning itself. But the team is losing and heroes don't always act the part and, on this day, Paul Hornung said he was sorry.

PAUL HORNUNG, PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAMER: I didn't mean to say just the African American athlete. I should have said all athletes. It's tough to get into Notre Dame. I don't have to tell that to anybody.

BURKE: The apology comes a day after remarks he made on a radio station in Detroit about winning and standards and race.

HORNUNG: We can't stay as strict as we are as far as the academic structure is concerned, because we got to get the black athlete. We must get the black athlete if we're going to compete.

We open up with Michigan State -- I mean Michigan, Michigan St. and Purdue. Those are the first three games, you know, and you can't play a schedule like this unless you have the black athlete today. You just can't do it.

MARQUES BOLDEN, NOTRE DAME SOPHOMORE: It was kind of offensive just basically saying that African American students couldn't get into a school without standards being lowered. It shows that, you know, maybe this feel is probably widespread and it's just not probably him.

BURKE: True or not his alma mater was quick to respond.

"Paul Hornung in no way speaks for the university and we strongly disagree with the thesis of his remarks. These are generally insensitive and specifically insulting to our past and current African American student athletes."

He does, however, join a list of sports notables who have spoken on the subject in haste. Former ESPN analyst Rush Limbaugh on Eagle's quarterback Donovan McNabb.

RUSH LIMBAUGH, FORMER ESPN ANALYST: I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well (UNINTELLIGIBLE) black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well I think there is a little hope invested in McNabb.

BURKE: He lost his job. So did Al Campanas and Jimmy the Greek. Like the dome and touchdown Jesus, a tradition, just nothing to brag about.

Josie Burke, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And here's what's all new in our next half hour.

Are you getting a good night's sleep? No? Well, coming up, simple solutions for getting your zzzs and staying healthy.

Chad?

MYERS: Yes?

COSTELLO: She's down, but certainly not out. Home and garden guru Martha Stewart gears up for the next round of her legal battle.

And a step by step guide to starting a terror cell. We'll get an up close and personal look at a blueprint for global domination.

This is DAYBREAK for Thursday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired April 1, 2004 - 05:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Reason to celebrate this morning -- a missing University of Wisconsin student found shaken, but alive.
Good morning to you.

From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, this is DAYBREAK for Thursday, April 1st. It's April Fool's Day.

I'm Carol Costello.

Here are the latest headlines for you at this hour.

A highway near Baghdad is the scene of the latest violence by Iraqi insurgents. Two roadside bombs today, at least one apparently meant for a convoy of fuel trucks.

NATO forces raid a residential building looking for a fugitive war crimes suspect. The troops fail to find former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, on the run now for seven years.

Italian police arrest five people suspected of international terrorism. The same operation nets at least nine other suspects in three other countries.

One year ago today, she was being rescued by U.S. special forces from an Iraqi hospital. Former POW Jessica Lynch still spends several hours a day in rehabilitation therapy.

To the forecast center now and Chad -- good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

How are you this fine morning?

COSTELLO: It's April Fool's Day. I couldn't be better.

MYERS: Well, I haven't fooled you yet. I'll try not to.

COSTELLO: I'm waiting. I'm waiting for the joke.

MYERS: No, I'll try not to.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: All right, and we do have our lovely Happy April Fool's Day banner for all of you this morning because we love you. MYERS: Ah, yes. Only 83 days till summer.

COSTELLO: And that's no fooling.

Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Up first on DAYBREAK this morning, that missing University of Wisconsin student found alive and well. She says she was abducted at knifepoint four days ago.

Here's more for you from CNN's Jonathan Freed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four days of searching, worrying and praying ended Wednesday afternoon with the key word -- alive. Audrey Seiler was found in a marshy area about two miles from her home when a passerby spotted her and called authorities. Police quickly set up a perimeter and started searching for a suspect believed armed with a gun and a knife. While at the hospital...

KEITH SEILER, STUDENT'S FATHER: Just relieved, glad to be warm, to see her friends and family, a bit surprised at the big hullabaloo.

FREED: The 20-year-old student at the University of Wisconsin disappeared early Saturday morning. A security camera in her apartment building caught her leaving without a coat. Doctors were impressed by her condition.

DR. PHILIP SCHULTZ, ST. MARY'S EMERGENCY SERVICES: She's really gotten through her ordeal remarkably well physically. She has lots of muscle aches from being confined during this period of time and she's relatively dehydrated. So what we've been doing basically is just kind of replenishing her fluids. But she already looks a lot better than she -- when she came in. She's smiling a lot and clearly is a lot more comfortable.

FREED: A few hours later, Seiler left the hospital.

Investigators paid extra attention to the missing person case because Seiler says she was attacked two months ago, knocked unconscious while out walking after midnight. But she wasn't robbed or badly hurt.

During the four day ordeal, her family tried to focus on positive thoughts.

STEPHANIE SEILER, STUDENT'S MOTHER: We needed to stay strong for Audrey and Audrey needed to stay strong for us. And we believed in that.

FREED: Jonathan Freed, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Missing person's cases are far more common than you might think. In 2001, for example, the FBI reports that more than 840,000 adults and children were reported missing. That's about 2,300 cases a day. But only about 28,000 a year are considered abductions or kidnappings.

There are a lot of questions, though, that remain about this Wisconsin student who was found after four days. Hopefully, we will get some more answers in just a couple of hours. Larry Kamholz of the Madison Police Department will be on CNN's "American Morning," which, of course, starts at same.

The quest for more oil, that leads our look at other stories across America this Thursday.

With gas prices surging and OPEC cutting production by four percent today, the energy secretary is pushing for oil drilling in Alaska. He discusses his department's 2005 budget with the House Energy and Commerce Committee this morning.

Also on the Hill this morning, members of Congress introduce a bill to fine tune the armed pilots program. Some pilots reportedly complained the Transportation Security Administration tries to discourage guns in cockpits.

And at an elaborate White House ceremony this afternoon, President Bush will sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The Act makes it a crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman. Both sides of the abortion issue say the law will have far reaching consequences.

All right, now on to Iraq this morning. Two more roadside bombs there wounding two people. Fortunately, those attacks were nothing on the scale of Wednesday's deadly incidents.

Our Walter Rodgers shows us the horrific violence in Falluja.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS (voice-over): When the TV cameras arrived, Iraqis were stoning the two burning vehicles. Four civilian contractors, Americans, ambushed. Witnesses said their SUVs were stopped by exploding hand grenades, the vehicles then sprayed with gunfire and set alight.

There is much more we will not show but we believe some images are necessary to fully illustrate the extent of the violence. These Iraqis seem to revel in mutilating and displaying the dead bodies.

Bystanders shouted "Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans" and "We sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam."

But the blood and sacrifice this day was from four civilian contractors come to Iraq to try to rebuild this country. The crowd then dragged the corpses through the streets of Fallujah, an area which has seen some of the worst violence in Iraq this past year. Two of the victims' charred bodies were later hung from this bridge over the Euphrates River. U.S. officials blamed insurgents.

DAN SENOR, SENIOR COALITION ADVISER: They are people who want Iraq to turn back to an era of mass graves, or rape rooms and torture chambers and chemical attacks. They want to turn back to the era of Saddam Hussein.

RODGERS: Nearby, in Habbaniyah, in a separate incident five American soldiers were also killed by a powerful explosion that left a 15-foot crater in the road.

GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: There's a small core element that doesn't seem to get it. They're desperate to try to hold out, desperate to try to turn back the hands of time and that just isn't going to happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We want to take you live to Baghdad now to talk more about this with our Jim Clancy -- Jim, I'm going to ask you a question you probably don't know the answer to.

But in looking at these pictures, just the -- it just seemed like such psychotic behavior. What goes through the minds of these people and why did they go so far in their violence?

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that if you were an Iraqi looking at those pictures, there would be two reactions. One would be shock that people would behave in that manner, something they wouldn't expect. Then perhaps on a second level, they would blame it on the U.S. occupation. They would blame the U.S. military. They would say that they have suffered at the hands of the U.S. and they are still under pressure from the U.S. The Marines still there very aggressively going in, kicking down doors, looking for some suspects.

And so they would explain it away saying it was simply a reaction to occupation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You might think that the Iraqis would feel sympathy after something like this happens to Americans.

But you don't think that will happen?

CLANCY: Some of them do. Some of them do. And I talked to one just this morning who said his own children said why are they attacking the Americans? We don't understand. They came here to help us. I don't understand why these attacks are taking place. But that doesn't account for everyone's behavior.

I think many Iraqis are frustrated by the occupation. I think many Iraqis see it as open-ended. They don't know whether or not it's going to end, how much influence the U.S. is going to exert over them in the coming months and years.

And most of all, they suspect why the U.S. is here. They have never really believed that the U.S. came here to give them freedom. They suspect there's another motive. That's a reason for a lot of the different reactions.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about these contractors who were killed.

Have authorities managed to recover their bodies? Because, you know, they have loved ones here...

CLANCY: I understand that...

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

CLANCY: I understand that some of the bodies have been recovered. But, you know, if you look back in Iraqi history, if you look back to the first prime minister under the monarchy, he was a man that had worked for his country, established some of its borders, safeguarded the City of Mosul in the north and done so many positive things. He was ripped apart by a mob. They never found his body. He has no grave.

These things are not unprecedented in Iraq.

COSTELLO: Do we know who these contractors are now? Are they releasing any more information about them?

CLANCY: Most of that information, I believe, is going to be coming out of the United States. Here, we are not getting the information. You know, we have heard that this is the same company, security company that provides security for the U.S. administrator, Ambassador Paul Bremer here. And so I would imagine the names will be forthcoming. But we don't have them yet. It's now been revealed, I'm sure, as you know, that these, all four of them, were Americans.

COSTELLO: The Iraqi security forces, they seem to be nowhere to be found in Falluja.

Where were they?

CLANCY: Well, I think they back off when they see a situation like this one. I don't think that they want to intervene, get involved in a gun fight.

Now, they will tell you that they simply don't have the equipment, they don't have the personnel so far. But because U.S. Marines and others that have worked in Falluja are relying less on the Iraqis there, they may more or less be establishing a bit of a truce with the insurgents. That is, don't shoot at us and we won't shoot at you.

Is this a normal thing? In some ways, yes, it is to be expected. But on another sense, that means that there isn't going to be any pacification inside Falluja, that the Iraqi police force, security forces that the U.S. is trying to build up right now are not going to be effective in those areas where the public sentiment is so anti- American, so anti-occupation, as Falluja. COSTELLO: Well, then what do you do? I mean a final question for you, what's next for U.S. forces? How do you control a place like Falluja?

CLANCY: Well, you know, there is a sense -- when you look at these pictures, when you look at so many others, you see the attacks on U.S. forces, on U.S. supply lines. The other side of the coin here is that there are consistent raids that are being carried out against the insurgents. Remember, they're under a lot of pressure, too. Thousands of them are being detained. Fifty were arrested in a single day this week by U.S. forces. They've been kicking down doors. They've been seizing tens of thousands of dollars, hundreds of millions of dinars, arms, explosives, and, most of all, they've been gathering intelligence about the entire network that supports it.

One of the main questions now, are these outside terrorists? Are these foreigners that are coming in here to do this or is this a nationalist movement that has the sympathy of a lot of people, something that's really against the United States and against occupation itself? This is a major question.

COSTELLO: Jim Clancy live in Baghdad this morning.

Of course, as you probably know, we're three months from the U.S. handover and the violence in Iraq just doesn't seem to let up.

In the next hour, we're going to take you back live to Baghdad. We'll talk to Jim Clancy again.

Also, there are deadly risks for civilian contractors in Iraq. What more can be done to protect them? How can they protect themselves? We'll talk about that with our counter-terrorism expert, Kelly McCann.

Here's a look at what's ahead this Thursday morning.

Donors pledge to pour billions of bucks into Afghanistan. But is that enough to keep the country from becoming a haven for drugs and terrorism? We're going to take you live to Kabul.

Plus, tackling that ugly race card again. Was former Notre Dame star Paul Hornung out of bounds with his hard-hitting comments? It's a replay of the controversies we've seen so many times before. We will give you a play by play this morning.

And getting your zzzs. We've got lots of great tips for those of you who are having trouble sleeping.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM

CHRIS FARNEY, SLAPPED BY SIMMONS:

I don't think he has any idea what his intentions were. But they are, they obviously came across as, you know, it was a violent act. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: How could we ignore this story? We'll hear more from the man who was slapped by Richard Simmons. And we'll tell you what charge the court has slapped Simmons with.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It is 5:16 Eastern time.

Here's what's new this morning.

One hundred seventy people accused of being part of a U.S.- Canadian drug ring are arrested. The suspects, most of them Vietnamese, may be responsible for 15 percent of all Ecstasy smuggled into the United States.

The World Court tells the U.S. to review the cases of 51 Mexicans on death row. The Court says the U.S. should have allowed them to meet with a Mexican consular officer.

In money news, you've got g-mail. That's what Google's new e- mail service will be called. It's free, but computers will scan your e-mail and include ads related to what you're talking about.

In sports, attention all of you NFL players watching this morning, and I know you are, team owners have voted to impose a 15 yard penalty for excessive celebrations.

In culture, can you count to 35? That's how many years since "Sesame Street" first went on the air. Sunday night a special program will look back at all those sunny days -- Chad.

MYERS: And, Carol, some rain across the Northeast today, the same rain we had yesterday. Cool temperatures there, as well. In fact, the highs today not out of the 40s in a lot of spots, even in the upper 50s down here in Atlanta -- back to you.

COSTELLO: Whoa. I wish that were an April Fool's joke.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

Well, they asked for it and they got it. Afghanistan has secured $4.4 billion in pledges from international donors.

Let's head live to Kabul for details on how they plan to use that money.

Nic Robertson is there -- hello, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello.

Good morning, Carol.

Well, they plan to spend that money on the health care inside Afghanistan. They desperately want to put more money into hospitals, into maternity wards, into infectious diseases. They want to build the road network here. The roads in Afghanistan are in a terrible state. They also want to improve education.

Government officials I talked with earlier today told me that they thought that this was a good step, that they thought this money would be sufficient for the next couple of years. But they do stress that their needs here are absolutely huge. One important thing for them, the government here having told their people they will get international support. They say they need to be able to deliver it to show the people here that they are a credible government -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It always worries me when I heard pledges, because that means the money is not there. But this money is definitely going into Afghanistan?

ROBERTSON: Well, that is a big worry here, as well. The government -- one government official I talked with this morning said, you know, I don't believe it until I see it. A government makes a pledge, then there's an election in that democratic country, the new government comes in and they change their mind. Typically what we are being told here is that pledges are very slow to be fulfilled, that the Afghan government officials say that they've seen increasingly big shortfalls over the last few years in donor pledges, back in Tokyo two years ago.

So while they feel good about what's on offer, they're really reserving judgment to wait to see when it gets delivered exactly -- Carol.

COSTELLO: On another, well, actually, a related topic, because some of that money that's pledged and some U.S. money will go towards fighting drugs there in Afghanistan, how is the fight on, I guess, poppies, how is that going in Afghanistan?

ROBERTSON: This is the critical time of year, Carol. This is the harvest time. And a lot of farmers here have put their savings into buying poppy seeds. They have grown poppies. Poppy production has been very, very high. Ninety percent of the opium, heroin in Europe comes out of Afghanistan. A lot goes to China, Pakistan, places like that.

Drug laboratories here, the refining of the poppy into opium and heroin, they have been, some of them have been destroyed. One particular laboratory was destroyed in one area then another local that the warlord whose laboratory was destroyed went out and destroyed somebody else's laboratory as sort of retribution.

So there is a crackdown. But it's being based along the lines of enforcement, eradication and alternatives. Alternatives telling the farmers what else they can do. The difficulty, though, Carol, here is providing enforcement. That's the tough one for the international community here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's even tough here in the United States.

Nic Robertson live from Kabul this morning.

OPEC cuts production today.

Is it having an effect on the markets overseas?

Well, let's see.

Let's head live to London and Todd Benjamin -- good morning to you, Todd.

TODD BENJAMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

That decision was widely anticipated by the markets, so really having no impact. The big focus here today, Carol, is the European Central Bank is meeting. This is the equivalency of the Fed here in Europe. They're going to consider interest rates. And the economy in Europe is quite sluggish on the continent, in places like France and Germany. And a lot of people want to see the European Central Bank cut rates.

But they're not likely to do it today. They will likely keep their powder dry. They're a very cautious bank, unlike the Fed, which is very aggressive. And most people think then they'll make a move in June.

Now, why should the U.S. investor care about this at all? First of all, if the economy doesn't pick up in Europe, that's not good for U.S. exporters. Also, it affects the currency. You can see right now the euro is at the 123 level. And the longer they delay a cut, that means the euro will remain strong and it's more expensive for Americans to come to Europe.

Meanwhile, sterling is almost at that 185 level. So a tough time for Americans to travel.

The futures in the U.S. right now are pointing to a slightly higher open. But we'll get important manufacturing data out of the U.S. today, as well as the latest jobless claims numbers -- back to you.

Have a great morning.

COSTELLO: You, too.

Todd Benjamin live from London.

Next on DAYBREAK, the end of an era -- familiar faces along the strip. Ah, it is the end of the era for those three.

Looking for the best place to live? Well, we've got the number one spot in the country. Here's a hint -- a former president once lived here. Stay tuned. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: Over.

COSTELLO: My god that was loud.

MYERS: Did you say over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Well, it's not over now. Who's with me?

COSTELLO: Oh, I know what you're doing. You're doing a John Belushi impersonation.

MYERS: Yes, a poor one. He's getting a star.

COSTELLO: On the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

MYERS: Twenty-two years after he died, he's getting a star.

COSTELLO: Well, it took them long enough.

But it's nice because his brother is going to be there...

MYERS: Look at that.

COSTELLO: ... accepting the star in his honor and, of course, his widow is there.

MYERS: How funny was he in "Blues Brothers?"

COSTELLO: Oh, he was hilarious.

MYERS: Oh, my gosh. Dan Aykroyd is going to be there as well.

COSTELLO: Yes.

You know, it is Stump the Weatherman Day, as well, of course, every Thursday.

MYERS: Stump? Did you say stump?

COSTELLO: Please, not another impression. I don't think I can take it.

MYERS: Yes, hey, send in a couple of questions for me.

I had one that I had wanted to do from last week. "Why are there some tornadoes that spin the wrong way?" We hear about some that spin one way, some that spin the other way. But, in fact, 99 percent, 99.9 percent, according to the National Weather Service, all spin the same direction, the same direction as a hurricane...

COSTELLO: Yes, but what about the .1 percent?

MYERS: It's actually a -- the word is perturbation. It's a, when one spins so hard one way, there can be a counteracting spin, a smaller storm that might spin over here on the other side of the storm. We see large tornadoes and then little counter-rotating storms on the other side of it sometimes. So that's where the .1 comes from.

COSTELLO: Where you just perturbation, whatever that word was, us right now.

MYERS: Careful.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: Time for some DAYBREAK Eye-Openers right now.

And apparently times have changed in Las Vegas. The landmark Siegfried & Roy marquis on the Las Vegas strip no more. It's been about six months since a white tiger nearly killed Roy Horn, forcing the long running show to close. The big panels featuring the faces of the duo in front of The Mirage Hotel Casino are replaced with ones promoting another act.

And a sign of the times in Seattle -- record high gas prices are sparking increased interest in alternative fuel vehicles. Answering the demand, a new electronic car dealership in Seattle. The car is one of several models of NEVs or neighborhood electric vehicles. The legislature legalized them for Washington streets last year.

In Phoenix, it's a misdemeanor charge for Richard Simmons. The exercise guru reportedly slapped a guy who made a sarcastic remark about Simmons' "Sweating to the Oldies" videos. Gosh. Here's what the victim has to say about the slapping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FARNEY: There was no cruel intentions there. I don't feel I was heckling him. I wasn't vulgar in any way. It was an attack to maybe set me in my place or humiliate me. I have no idea what his intentions were. I don't think he has any idea what his intentions were. But they obviously came across as, you know, being -- it was a violent attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A violent attack.

MYERS: On a very big guy.

COSTELLO: On a very big guy. It would be terrible to be humiliated by Richard Simmons. Anyhow, Simmons has been charged with misdemeanor assault. Of course, we will keep you posted.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: Football legend Paul Hornung says of his alma mater, the problem with Notre Dame football is that its academic standards are too high, too high to get black athletes. Hmmm.

CNN's Josie Burke was there when the apology came. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the golden dome and touchdown Jesus and a record number of championships to its name, Notre Dame is a place that loves tradition and heroes almost as much as winning itself. But the team is losing and heroes don't always act the part and, on this day, Paul Hornung said he was sorry.

PAUL HORNUNG, PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAMER: I didn't mean to say just the African American athlete. I should have said all athletes. It's tough to get into Notre Dame. I don't have to tell that to anybody.

BURKE: The apology comes a day after remarks he made on a radio station in Detroit about winning and standards and race.

HORNUNG: We can't stay as strict as we are as far as the academic structure is concerned, because we got to get the black athlete. We must get the black athlete if we're going to compete.

We open up with Michigan State -- I mean Michigan, Michigan St. and Purdue. Those are the first three games, you know, and you can't play a schedule like this unless you have the black athlete today. You just can't do it.

MARQUES BOLDEN, NOTRE DAME SOPHOMORE: It was kind of offensive just basically saying that African American students couldn't get into a school without standards being lowered. It shows that, you know, maybe this feel is probably widespread and it's just not probably him.

BURKE: True or not his alma mater was quick to respond.

"Paul Hornung in no way speaks for the university and we strongly disagree with the thesis of his remarks. These are generally insensitive and specifically insulting to our past and current African American student athletes."

He does, however, join a list of sports notables who have spoken on the subject in haste. Former ESPN analyst Rush Limbaugh on Eagle's quarterback Donovan McNabb.

RUSH LIMBAUGH, FORMER ESPN ANALYST: I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well (UNINTELLIGIBLE) black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well I think there is a little hope invested in McNabb.

BURKE: He lost his job. So did Al Campanas and Jimmy the Greek. Like the dome and touchdown Jesus, a tradition, just nothing to brag about.

Josie Burke, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And here's what's all new in our next half hour.

Are you getting a good night's sleep? No? Well, coming up, simple solutions for getting your zzzs and staying healthy.

Chad?

MYERS: Yes?

COSTELLO: She's down, but certainly not out. Home and garden guru Martha Stewart gears up for the next round of her legal battle.

And a step by step guide to starting a terror cell. We'll get an up close and personal look at a blueprint for global domination.

This is DAYBREAK for Thursday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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