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CNN Live Today

Operation Vigilant Rescue Goes on Around Fallujah; Discussion with Two Tyco Jurors; Coalition News Conference on Iraq

Aired April 05, 2004 - 10:36   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to break away from the president right now to bring you some news, that coming out of the Pentagon, as Operation Vigilant Rescue goes on around Fallujah.
Let's go to our Barbara Starr, who is standing by at the Pentagon with more -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.

CNN has now learned that General John Abizad, head of the U.S. Central Command, has asked his senior staff to give him options, options within the next 48 hours for the possibility of additional troops to Iraq.

Now, what senior officials are telling CNN is that General Abizaid, who is a very cautious, conservative military, commander has looked at the situation that has unfolded in Iraq since the weekend. He is concerned about what he has seen and gone to his senior staff, saying if there is a need for more troops, I want options, he says, about where these troops will come from, whether they will come from the continental United States, whether they may come from coalition forces, other countries being asked to send more troops, or from U.S. forces already positioned overseas.

Sources are saying these options will now be presented to General Abizaid within 48 hours so he can be ready. If there were to be additional troops sent to Iraq, of course, this would be a significant development, because until now, the military, the Pentagon, the political leadership of the Bush administration has held to the line that they have enough troops to deal with the situation.

But General Abizaid, sources tell us, looking at what happened over the weekend, is increasingly concerned. He is concerned specifically that if the Shiite militia movement led by Mutada Al-Sadr (ph) in some way was to get additional legs, as we are told, or to hook up with some of the Sunni radicals in the Fallujah region, ideologically hook up with them, develop a broader insurgency. He wants to make sure that there are sufficient forces in Iraq to deal with that situation, to make sure in the words of General Abizaid, that they don't get legs.

So all of this now developing, options to go to the U.S. Central Command commander within 48 hours to be ready if there is a need for more troops. A signal about just how concerned the senior military leadership is about the situation in Iraq -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr with that developing news out of the Pentagon.

Barbara, thank you for that.

It was about this time on Friday that the judge in the Tyco case declared a mistrial. What exactly took place behind the doors where the jury was meeting? We will talk with two of the jurors from the Tyco trial after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Jurors in another high-profile case were not able to decide the fate of the defendants. After a six-month trial and 11 days of deliberations, some jurors in the Tyco trial says none of it matters since the judge in the case has declared a mistrial.

Parker Bosworth and Glenn Andrews were on that jury. They join us now. They are both live from New York City.

Gentlemen, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

So you just spent six months of your life working on this trial all to have it end in a mistrial. Parker, how does that feel?

PARKER BOSWORTH, TYCO JUROR: Well, it was kind of disappointing at first, but justice wasn't served, and I was not part of the justice, so I was kind of disappointed, too.

KAGAN: And, Glenn, what about you? Six months, nothing to show for it.

GLENN ANDREWS, TYCO JUROR: Yes, I was shocked. You know, I think we all deserved closure. Everyone put a lot of work into the case in the trial, and it was just very sad that at the end of the day, you know, it ended the way it did.

KAGAN: OK, so what went wrong? First of all, let's talk about the prosecution. From your mind, what did the prosecution miss on that didn't get a conviction?

ANDREWS: Well, I feel that they could have been a little bit more lenient with the evidence. They really went to overkill. They kept us there entirely too long. They concentrated on his lavish lifestyles, and that really wasn't a key factor in what we were looking at.

KAGAN: Parker, the media picked up on all of the glitz, and the glamour and the fancy parties in all that video, but that kind of lost the jury along the way?

BOSWORTH: I think it did. I think it was too much, and they should have just stuck to the evidence of the embezzlement part, and it would have been a better trial for the prosecutor.

KAGAN: All right, there was no end to what seemed to be like a three-ring circus, especially considering juror No. 4, who now has been identified as Ruth Jordan. She gave an interview to "Newsday" in New York, and she talks about what she thought happened, and she makes these statements. She says, "I wasn't unfair, but I did have a firm resting on a presumption of innocence." And she also says, "I'm not sure they ever got the concept," I think talking about the other jurors. "I don't intend to get into a big thing with these people, but this is just the way that I feel."

Parker and Glenn -- and Glenn, we'll start with you-- what was the deal with juror No. 4?

ANDREWS: Well, let me just start off by saying I totally disagree with that statement. I believe, in fact, that she had began to get maybe like a personal attachment to the two defendants, whereas I think that she still thought that, in her mind, she had good faith efforts towards trying to deliberate, but I think that she just wasn't able to get past that hurdle.

KAGAN: And, Parker, when you heard reports that the atmosphere inside the jury room had become poisonous, just how bad were things?

BOSWORTH: It was very bad for a while. It was a lot of screaming and shouting, a lot of accusations thrown from both sides. The pro-side and the pro-prosecution side, a lot of accusations going between the two parties.

KAGAN: So had there not been a mistrial, Glenn, how do you think this thing would have played out?

ANDREWS: Well, I can honestly there would have been a mix of verdicts. We definitely had some guilties, we had some not guilties.

BOSWORTH: Yes.

KAGAN: And so, Parker, do you think there should be a retrial?

BOSWORTH: Yes, there should be a retrial, but it's going to be very difficult to get jurors to go through what we've been through, very hard for both parties.

KAGAN: And, Glenn, the next time you get the notice in the mail that you're up for jury duty?

ANDREWS: I'm going to go because it's my duty, but I'm going to try to do everything in my power not to ever have to serve jury duty again. I mean, it's really excruciating. I think I'm scarred.

KAGAN: You certainly have put in your time, both of you, six months on a jury, only to see a mistrial. Very frustrating, I know. Parker Bosworth, Glenn Andrews, thank you for your time. I appreciate that.

We have a lot of other business news just ahead. We're going to get to that, after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT) KAGAN: All right, all you baseball fans, grab a bag of peanuts. It is opening day for Major League Baseball. First teams out of the dugout are the Reds and the Cubs as they face off in Cincinnati just a few hours from now. Our Josie Burke will be there for the first pitch, and she joins us live.

Josie, happy opening day to you!

JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy opening day to you, too, Daryn.

Opening day comes with so much pomp and circumstance, especially here in Cincinnati, where it's like a city holiday, but this year, opening day also comes with a measure of concern over what like in Cincinnati but this year, opening day comes with a measure of concern over what to do about steroids.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURKE (voice-over): For months, the cloud of illegal steroid use has hovered over the Major League Baseball superstars. With the dawn of a new season, the steroid questions still remain. But for now, not all fans are asking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, it hasn't really bothered me too much at all, no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love when opening day comes around. If those guys have taken steroids and what not, then, obviously, they shouldn't play, but I don't think it's going to affect baseball at all.

BURKE: Five to seven percent of the players tested positive for steroids in last season's first-time screening, instituted by the Player's Association and the owners. That triggered another testing phase this season. But under the rules, it would take multiple positive tests over several years for a player to be suspended. And even some ballplayers admit that is too lenient.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you get caught this year, you're a moron, you know, basically, last year, OK, you wanted one more year where you wanted to get away with it, you were one of that 5 to 7 percent, fine. But this year, if you get caught, you deserve any kind of punishment you get.

CURT SCHILLING, RED SOX PITCHER: I don't think that we wanted the policy to be in place so people could get away with it. I think we wanted to phase something in to see whether we trusted to see how it was going to work.

LANCE BERKMAN, ASTROS OUTFIELDER: I wanted to get the cloud of suspicion completely eliminated from the game, and if we can do that, I'm all for it. However that has to happen, whether it be testing everybody and making the test results known or -- I mean, whatever they want to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURKE: Over the past couple of months, we've seen just how interested Washington is in the subject of steroids. But today, when Washington comes here to great American ballpark, it'll be for a different reason. The vice president, Dick Cheney, is taking part in the pregame festivities, Daryn. He's going to be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

Back to you.

KAGAN: And the president will be throwing out the first pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals, as they host at Milwaukee. Thank you for that, Josie Burke in Cincinnati.

Golf-ball sized hail hits the Southwest. A complete check of the weather, when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

And coming up in the next hour, the story of the man who might have become rich, had he only know how big the phrase "fab five" was about toe become.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: They say don't mess with Texas, but check out there weather mess in Texas. In the western and southern parts of the states, residents are dealing with the aftermath of heavy rain and hail storms. Part of a grocery store roof in Crystal City, southwest of San Antonio, collapsed under the weight of all that hail.

More fallout from a violent and deadly weekend of Iraq. We are moments away from Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt's live news conference in Baghdad.

And also ahead, on a much lighter note, from sandy beaches to snowy slopes, we will tell you about some great family getaway deals for spring and summer. Plus, why the Fab Five have one upstate New York driver saying, show me some more money. We'll talk with the man at the center of a vanity license plate slap.

The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

And of course we begin with the latest look at the latest headlines. The suspect in the string of highway shootings in Ohio goes back to court today. Charles McCoy Jr. is scheduled to be arraigned about two hours from now. Last week, a grand jury indicted McCoy on several counts, including aggravated murder, assault and vandalism.

Testimony resumes today in the state murder trial of convicted Oklahoma bombing conspirator Terry Nichols. Dozens of witnesses linking Nichols to bomber Timothy McVeigh have testified so far. Nichols is serving a life sentence for the deaths of federal agents killed in the bombing. Prosecutor's are seeking the death penalty on first degree murder charges for the other victims.

The grand jury hearing the child molestation case against Michael Jackson reconvenes today. Jackson has pleaded innocent to the charges. At a preliminary hearing on Friday, the defense said it had uncovered material pointing to Jackson's innocence that should be presented to the grand jury.

Some Colorado residents forced from their homes by a huge wildfire are waiting for word on when they can return. A few homes are still threatened by the 9,100-acre fire, but cooler, wetter weather have helped firefighters get the blaze about 50 percent contained.

It is 11:00 a.m. straight up on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. on the West Coast, from CNN Center in Atlanta.

Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Up first on CNN, the possibility of more U.S. or coalition troops heading to Iraq. The commander of U.S. forces in the region is considering the options at this moment.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is tracking this still developing story.

Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well, as the violence and unrest has continued in Iraq. General John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, now privately expressing his concern to his senior staff, asking them to come up with options in the next 48 hours about the possibility of sending additional troops to Iraq. He wants to know if he needs to send more troops very quickly, where they might come from, the continental United States, U.S. forces overseas or another coalition country.

No decision about whether the troops are needed, but General Abizaid, a very conservative, cautious military commander, we are told looking at the situation over the weekend, and he wants to make sure that the unrest, that the violence in the words of one official, "gets no legs." He wants to control it before it grows any further. So telling his senior staff to come up with some options if more troops are needed.

Now that, of course, would be a very significant development, Daryn, the Bush administration, the Pentagon has said all the way along since the war ended that they have plenty of troops and that they don't need anymore and that their commanders are not asking for any more, but a signal, if you will, from General Abizaid about his concern about the level of violence in Iraq. And as you say, we are awaiting a news briefing from Baghdad, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, with an operational update about the military operation in Fallujah, as well as the military operations in other parts of the country, to deal with the unrest and violence that broke out over the weekend -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara, thank you. And you'll be standing by with us to listen in on that news conference out of Baghdad and General Kimmitt. Meanwhile, let's check in on Baghdad and the U.S. Marines that are engaged in firefights in and around Fallujah. It was a scene of a brutal attack last week on four U.S. civilians. That violence continues to flair in the Iraqi capital.

Our senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers joins us live now from Baghdad with the latest -- Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

It's not clear whether the weekend violence, fighting between the U.S. Army and a Shiite militia group here in Baghdad, as well as elsewhere in Iraq, is an aberration whether this war is entering a new phase at this point, but it was surrealistic today to see U.S. Army Apache helicopters flying over the Iraqi helicopter today. The Apaches shooting down into the city itself.

One of targets was one of the offices of the fiery Muslim Shiite cleric Muqada (ph) Al-Sadr, and he is one of the clerics who has declared a war to end the American occupation of this country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS: Iraq has suddenly become much worse for the Americans. These are militant Shiite Muslims. Previously they waited patiently, giving the U.S. interim regime a chance to govern Iraq, but a fiery Shiite leader, Muqada Al-Sadr, decided to challenge the U.S. military occupation, sending his illegal militia soldiers into the streets in open revolt.

In Basra, supposedly under British control, a large group of protesters muscled their way into the governor's office and took that over Monday morning.

But it was in cities like Najaf and Baghdad's northern suburb of Sadr City the Shiite revolt erupted most violently. According to coalition officials protesting Shiite Muslims in Najaf opened fire on coalition soldiers there and coalition forces, mostly Spanish and Iraqi police, returned fire. At least 20 Iraqis were killed, along with at least one coalition soldier. Well over 100 people were in hospital, consequence of all the shooting.

U.S. officials Sunday warned the Shiite violence would not be tolerated, but Muqada Al-Sadr shrugged off the American warning when he sent his illegal private army into the street to challenge the American military in Sadr City.

It took American tanks to restore a modicum of quiet there, but at a cost of at least eight U.S. soldiers killed. Many more American soldiers were wounded. At least 40 Iraqis were killed as well, and close to 200 Iraqis are now in hospital.

Iraq clearly is not going according to Washington's script.

(END VIDEOTAPE) RODGERS: In Fallujah, the U.S. Marine Corps went on the offensive today. Fallujah, you will recall, is the site of that ambush, murder and mutilation of the bodies of four U.S. civilian on Wednesday of last week. It was said...

KAGAN: Sorry to interrupt. We're going to interrupt Walter Rodgers there. We want to go live to another part of Baghdad. We want to listen in to Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, and Dan Senor from the Coalition Provisional Authority.

DANIEL SENOR, SR. ADVISER, COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY: Good evening. I just have a brief opening statement, and then General Kimmitt will make an opening statement, and then we will be happy to take your questions.

Today, the Iraqi police service formally arrested Mustafa al- Yaqubi, this pursuant to a valid arrest warrant issued by an Iraqi judge.

Mr. al-Yaqubi was arrested in connection with the brutal murder of Ayatollah Az Saed al-Majid al-Koy (ph), who was repeatedly stabbed and shot to death last April in front of one of the world's holiest shrines.

Mr. Yaqubi has been transferred to Iraqi police custody, where he is held at an Iraqi detention facility and will be tried by Iraqi judges in Iraqi courts under Iraqi law.

Today, the Iraqi investigative judge held his first meeting with Mr. Yaqubi to ensure that he fully understand the charges against him and he fully understand his rights.

The arrest and trial are about justice and law and order in Iraq. The Iraqi people want elections, not mob violence, to determine who will govern Iraq.

SENOR: General Kimmitt?

BRIG. GEN. KIMMITT, DEP. DIR. OF OPERATIONS, COMBINED TASK FORCE 7: Good afternoon.

The coalition is accelerating its offensive operations to kill or capture anti-coalition elements and enemies of the Iraqi people. In response to the latest increase in violence, in the past 24 hours, the coalition conducted 1,566 patrols, 10 offensive operations, 18 raids and captured 42 anti-coalition suspects.

In the Al Anbar Province, Iraqi security forces and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force initiated Operation Vigilant Resolve to confront anti-coalition and anti-Iraqi elements in the Fallujah area.

The joint force currently consisting of 1,300 personnel from the 1st MEF, Iraqi armed forces and the Iraqi civil defense services have established a series of traffic control points around the city of Fallujah, along with additional assets to regulate passage and establish a cordon in and out of the city. A curfew from 1900 to 0600 has been established. And these are the first of a series of actions taken to attack anti-coalition and anti-Iraqi forces, to re-establish security in Fallujah and begin the process of civil military assistance projects in Fallujah.

Over the past 36 hours, there have been a number of demonstrations and incidents throughout the central and southern zones of Iraq, some of which turned violent as elements of Madi (ph) army incited and perpetrated violence against Iraqi citizens, Iraqi security forces and the coalition.

In Baghdad yesterday there were six demonstrations in support of Muqtada al-Sadr and demonstrating against the detention of Mustafa Yaqubi.

In Sadr City, three police stations came under attack, but all have been returned to IPS control.

In An Najaf, a large crowd gathered mid-day Sunday to show support for Sadr and Yaqubi, and the demonstration turned violent in the afternoon when elements of the Madi (ph) army attacked coalition facilities on the edge of the city.

In An Nasiriyah, a violent demonstration of approximately 200 Madi (ph) army personnel attempted to secure bridges entering the city. The only hostile action against coalition forces was a rocket grenade fired at a CPA building, which missed. The governor diffused the incident and the demonstration ended peacefully.

In Al Amarah, a crowd of about 2,000 built up peacefully during Sunday afternoon.

KIMMITT: At approximately 1700, an explosive device was thrown at coalition forces that led to violence. Order was re-established later in the evening.

In Basra, there were peaceful demonstrations by about 1,500 Sadr supporters in a number of different locations. There were some RPG attacks after the crowds dispersed without effect on coalition forces.

In Al Kut, a crowd of 1,000 Sadr supporters protesting the detention of Mustafa Yaqubi were dispersed without incident.

Today, those cities are relatively quiet.

There have been a number of demonstrations in Baghdad, to include a peaceful demonstration outside the Al-Hura (ph) police station in western Baghdad and a demonstration in the vicinity of the Sadr bureau in Sadr City.

There have also been demonstrations in An Najaf, Basra and Al Kut, with no reported violence.

There are reports of a takeover of a contractor building in An Nasariyah by Sadr followers, as well as other reports of a takeover of an abandoned building in Basra by approximately 200 Madi (ph) army members. In both cases, there is no violence reported and Iraqi police service and coalition forces are monitoring the situations.

SENOR: With that, we'll be happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Can you tell us what happened today in Shula, where there are reports that there are helicopters that fired on targets there. Is that true? And what were the targets?

KIMMITT: Yes, there were attack helicopters, Apache helicopters used today in Baghdad. It is my understanding that one helicopter was fired upon by small-arms fire, approximately five to six rounds that hit, one round which may have hit the cockpit without injury to any of the pilots.

Acting within the limits and the inherent right of self-defense, the helicopter fired back with approximately 100 or so rounds of 20 millimeter, but no rockets were fired and no anti-tank missiles were fired.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

KIMMITT: That information is wrong.

KIMMITT: As said earlier, the helicopter fired in self-defense after it had been fired on by small-arms fire. No rockets were used, only 20 millimeter rounds.

QUESTION: This is for you, General Kimmitt.

We've heard from senior military coalition officials that say that Sadr should be detained because they know they have evidence that he was coordinating attacks.

So my question is, why hasn't he? Or will he be? And if so, can we...

SENOR: Rachel, I'll answer that.

An Iraqi judge has issued an arrest warrant for Muqtada al-Sadr and that is based on evidence that connects Muqtada al-Sadr to the brutal murder of Mr. al-Koy (ph), a murder in which Mr. al-Koy (ph) was repeatedly stabbed and shot to death in front of the world's -- in front of one of the world's holiest shrines.

And I think the message to all individuals that were involved in that murder is that the Iraqi people want elections, not mob rule to determine who will govern Iraq.

QUESTION: I'm sorry, Dan, just a follow-up.

SENOR: Yes.

QUESTION: Has he been...

SENOR: What I said was there is an arrest warrant against Muqtada al-Sadr.

QUESTION: Dan, has he been served with a warrant? Where is he now? Has he been taken into custody?

KIMMITT: He has not been taken into custody. He has not been served with that warrant at this time.

QUESTION: Do you know where he is? We're hearing reports he's in Kufah, he's in a mosque surrounded by a large number of government. How difficult is it going to be to serve this warrant and arrest him?

KIMMITT: I think a lot will depend on how he intends to take the news of this warrant and whether he decides to come peacefully or whether he decides to come not peacefully.

KIMMITT: That choice is the choice of Muqtada al-Sadr.

SENOR: I would just add to that, the Iraqi Governing Council has issued just earlier today a very strong statement addressing this entire issue. And the governing council has specifically said that Iraqis should show respect for mosques and other holy sites.

QUESTION: These warrants were issued last autumn we heard. Why have you waited until now to try to arrest Yaqubi? And why haven't you detained Sadr earlier?

SENOR: Sure.

The arrests -- there were originally 12 arrests made shortly after the murder of Mr. al-Koy (ph). And there was a view -- and there is a view today in Iraq that when these cases come to trial in the effort to conserve Iraq's scarce judicial resources, that as many of the individuals involved in a particular case be tried at once.

The initial 12 individuals were arrested. Subsequently, after a meticulous investigation, additional warrants were filed. There were additional individuals they intended to pursue. The initial 12 were found early on and detained. It was more difficult to target some of the other individuals.

Recently, they had begun -- the Iraqi judge, the investigative judge had begun to prepare the case for trial. This is about a month of preparation. And in light of the fact that the case was about to go to trail, he thought it important to take another shot at trying to gather up some of the other individuals that had been involved and for whom there were warrants. Mr. Yaqubi falls into that category, and they detained him.

QUESTION: So you could have detained Yaqubi and Sadr months ago then. I mean, they've been freely available to be detained. Why only now?

SENOR: The investigative judge made a determination that as he prepared this trial that it is important to go try again, take another shot at trying to detain Mr. Yaqubi. And so, in consultations with coalition forces, we carried this out.

QUESTION: Can you just say when was the warrant issued for Sadr's arrest and when will the arrest be carried out? SENOR: The arrest for Muqtada al-Sadr, it was issued within the last several months. I can get you an exact date after this meeting. I know the warrant for Mr. Yaqubi was even prior to that.

And as to when the arrest will be carried out...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

KIMMITT: You'll know.

SENOR: Yes. Let's just say, there will be no advanced warning.

QUESTION: I have two questions, and they're king of big, but it's my last day so I feel like maybe you guys will answer them both.

So, OK, the first one is, we've heard from doctors at the Al- Hakim (ph) Hospital in the al-Shula district of Baghdad that U.S. troops have been going in there and asking the doctors to -- anyone that they're treating with a bullet wound, to save the bullets and the fragments and put them aside so that they can then test those bullets afterwards to see if they're from coalition weapons. I'm wondering why they would have a crazy idea like that.

And also, my second question is the arrest warrant for Sadr was issued several months ago. Can you tell us when exactly maybe?

SENOR: Yes.

I just said in the previous question that I would get the exact data after. I said in the last several months.

KIMMITT: I have not heard those reports about coalition forces going into the hospitals.

QUESTION: A question for General Kimmitt.

CNN is reporting that General Abizaid has asked for options for increasing the number of troops in Iraq. Do you think that in the light of the recent events, more troops are needed to stabilize the country going into and following the handover?

KIMMITT: Well, if that was a statement made by General Abizaid, I'd suggest you ask General Abizaid.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SENOR: The Iraqi investigative judge had made it clear that there were a number of individuals that were connected to the brutal murder of Al-Koy (ph). And the first 12 individuals were detained some time shortly after, not immediately after the incident.

Keep in mind that the court system was initially in some mild state of disarray immediately following liberation, so it took some time to get organized. And then the Iraqi investigative judge began to organize the investigation. Twelve individuals were arrested. The Iraqi investigative judge is now prepared to bring the trial to court. And in an effort to conserve scarce judicial resources in Iraq, the goal by many Iraqi investigative judges is to try as many individuals involved in any particular case at one time.

In light of the fact that the trial was going to court and the case was being prepared, he thought he would take another shot at trying to gather up other individuals involved with the case, and that's when warrants were issued. And this matter sort of bubbled, if you will, recently.

To your second question...

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SENOR: Let me answer your second question before you ask the third.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SENOR: It is not our investigation. It is the investigation of an Iraqi investigative judge. And we have been working with this Iraqi investigative judge, and a number of these steps have been taken at his initiative, not ours.

Now, to your second question, we intend to hand sovereignty over on June 30th. That has been our plan. We've made that clear that that is our plan going back to November 15th. And it will continue to be our plan on June 30th when we hand over political sovereignty to the Iraqi people, period.

QUESTION: Dan, there are several points in your account of the arrest warrant for Mr. Sadr that I'm a little bit unclear on. They're all small ones, but if you could help me clarify to understand.

QUESTION: First of all, if I'm not mistaken, we're talking about a total of 37 individuals then who have been implicated in the death of Mr. al-Koy (ph) -- 12 who were arrested shortly after his murder last April and then an additional 25 for whom arrest warrants were issued in the fall.

SENOR: Where is that number coming from?

QUESTION: The 25? Remember yesterday?

SENOR: Yes. It's a total of 25, 12 initial and then 13 subsequent. Now 13, including Mr. Yaqubi.

QUESTION: But you said a short time after.

SENOR: Yes.

QUESTION: So are you saying by the fall? Because yesterday...

SENOR: I don't know the exact date. But in any event, what I said yesterday, it's a total of 25 -- 12 have been arrested, now the 13th has been arrested, Mr. Yaqubi, and now the balance is 12.

QUESTION: Including Mr. Sadr?

SENOR: That's correct.

QUESTION: Can you name the investigative judge in Najaf?

SENOR: I cannot. I will try to do that in the next couple of days, but obviously I have to get authorization from that individual.

QUESTION: When did this judge issue his request for the coalition forces to, A, detain Mr. Yaqubi; and, B, to make public the arrest warrant for Mr. Sadr?

SENOR: I don't know the exact date that a discussion was held, but we have been in consultations with the investigative judge for some time.

QUESTION: And finally, your position is definitely that this announcement of an arrest warrant, of a murder warrant for Mr. Sadr, coming 72 hours after his sermon in Kufah, is just a coincidence and that it's related exclusively to the initiative of this investigative judge?

SENOR: Absolutely. The arrest warrant has been issued some time ago, well before any sermon he gave on Friday.

QUESTION: But the announcement is now.

SENOR: I'm sorry?

QUESTION: But the announcement is now, 72 hours...

SENOR: That's correct, because we are obviously addressing this issue with regard to Mr. Yaqubi and surrounding events.

QUESTION: Is any action being planned against the Mahdi army more generally? And if so, what?

And a separate question. I read an AFP report that said the ICDC turned on American troops in this neighborhood where the Apache fired today. Have you heard anything about that?

KIMMITT: I have heard nothing about the second report. I think it would fall in line with some of the other reports that we've heard over the last couple of days that have proven not to be correct.

We have a very strong policy and a very direct policy toward militias. Militias are inconsistent with a democratic, sovereign nation with a central government. We are particularly focused on militias that start attacking coalition forces, start attacking Iraqi forces, start attacking Iraqi civilians.

The actions of the Mahdi army over the past 48 hours is clearly inconsistent with a safe and secure environment and clearly inconsistent with the security of the people of Iraq. And we will take action as and when necessary to maintain a safe and secure environment in Iraq.

Individuals who create violence, who incite violence, who execute violence against persons inside of Iraq will be hunted down and captured or killed.

KIMMITT: It is that simple.

QUESTION: Could you explain in more details the events yesterday in Sadr City, you mentioned three police stations were attacked. The outcome was eight U.S. military lost lives, so was there real gun battle? What happened?

And my second question -- in Shula today, some of our photographers saw what looked like a burned out American military truck, so was there casualties on the American side, the convoy attacked, or whatever?

KIMMITT: If you would like the specific details, I would recommend you go to the 1st Armored Division. We could spend 15 minutes talking about all of the events of last night.

But, as I understand, the casualties were taken in two separate incidents as coalition forces were moving into Sadr City based on intelligence of anticipated attacks upon those Iraqi police forces.

But the 1st Armored Division has the details on that. And I would commend you to them for those details and the details of the large truck that, I think, many people saw on fire today in the al- Shula district.

QUESTION: General, can you say whether or not al-Sadr is being pursued also criminally in regard to the demonstrations that turned violent over the weekend?

And also, could you elaborate a little bit more on what's going on in Fallujah? There's been a report of at least one Marine killed there. I don't know whether it's related to the operation that's ongoing.

But are they operating on specific intelligence, pulling people out that they have developed information on?

KIMMITT: On the first question, not only are militias banned inside of Iraq, and when those militias turn to violent acts we will take actions against them, but we will also go for their leadership, their leadership organs, the people at the top, the people in the middle, the people that are inciting, the people that are planning, the people that are executing the violence.

As regards Fallujah, I would refer you to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force for the details of their ongoing operation. We did confirm this morning that there was a Marine killed in the Al Anbar region. For more details about the ongoing operation, we have embedded a number of reporters out with the first MEF and I think they could probably give you far more detail than we could from this podium. QUESTION: General, Dan, if we look at everything we've seen in the last week and what you've told us today about the decision to proceed with or without American active cooperation and encouragement with the serving of an arrest warrant against Muqtada al-Sadr, it looks as though you have reached a critical moment on the approach to June 30th, where the attempt to approach June 30th as softly and as cooperatively as you could in your judgment has had to turn to something much tougher; that we get the impression that there's a new steeliness, a new decision to go hard.

Is that correct?

KIMMITT: Well, first, I would say that that decision was not independently made by us. That decision to conduct offensive operations is in response to some others who have made the decision to, as you would say, go hard.

It was not the coalition that caused the casualties in Fallujah. It is the coalition that is responding to those casualties in Fallujah.

It is not the 1st Armored Division who executed combat operations in Sadr City for the purpose of disrupting operations in there. But, in fact, it was Mahdi army members who took on the 1st Armored Division as they were trying to set up control or re-establish control on legitimate government offices and Iraqi police stations.

We are responsive to the level of violence. We have a responsibility, we have an obligation to maintain a safe and secure environment.

We have forces that are absolutely capable, 100 percent of the time, to be in a mode of fixing schools, fixing sewers, fixing health clinics. That's what our soldiers would like to be doing. That's what our Marines would like to be doing and soon in Fallujah they will be doing that.

But their first and foremost responsibility is for safety and security in Iraq.

And when that safety and security is threatened, is challenged, and violence is incited and violence is executed, those same soldiers and those same Marines are capable of putting down their paint brushes and picking up their weapons to defend the people of Iraq and to ensure that the process of taking this country to democracy and sovereignty will not be impeded.

SENOR: I would just add that there are clearly foreign terrorists and former Baathists and other extremists inside Iraq that are trying to derail the process to June 30th in which we hand over sovereignty.

As General Kimmitt has said, we absolutely will not tolerate that. The Iraqi people will not tolerate that.

For example, Samir al-Sumaydah, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, earlier today, was quite explicit on this point, that the debate in Iraq today is not between any two ethnic groups or any two regions; it's between moderates and extremists.

And there's no room for extremists in Iraq, particularly when it comes to issues like the rule of law and justice and ideas like the one I articulated earlier, that elections will determine who governs Iraq, not mob violence.

But I think it's important that this is not only a lead up to June 30th, because after June 30th, even if there are acts of violence after June 30th, American security forces will still be here. We will still be working side by side with the Iraqi security forces to address any violence or efforts to derail the new Iraq that are similar to what we are experiencing before June 30th.

QUESTION: General, Dan, if you looked at the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday, the display in American newspapers today, the media and indeed some politicians on Capitol Hill are presenting the events of the past few days here as a crisis, or at least one of the most critical moments in this entire American enterprise here.

Is that the way it's felt in the Green Zone?

SENOR: I would say that the way we feel is, in interacting with the Iraqis at the grass-roots level, Iraqis out in the provinces, Iraqi political, regional and religious leaders, we hear one thing over and over: It's important when we make a commitment to keep it.

We made a commitment to the Iraqi people that we would hand over political sovereignty on June 30th.

SENOR: We also made a commitment that after June 30th we will still have a major role in helping to reconstruct this country and continuing to secure this country, and that will continue on June 30th.

I think there is somehow this view that there's going to be this dramatic change after June 30th, as though the lights will be switched off and we will depart, and that is simply not the case.

Ambassador Bremer will depart, the coalition control or the coalition role in the political process will be handed over to the Iraqi people, but we will still have a prominent role here in security and we will still be deploying billions and billions of dollars in the reconstruction of Iraq, which will be spread over several years.

We will have the largest U.S. embassy here in the world. We will have, as I said, deploying over $18 billion with civilian reconstruction personnel from the United States and other coalition countries still here.

So while Ambassador Bremer will be gone and our role in the political process will be handed over to the Iraqi people, we will still continue to work with the Iraqi people, work quite closely with the Iraqi people after June 30th. KIMMITT: And I would just tell you that I'm not sure about the Green Zone, but I know on a rooftop yesterday in An Najaf, with a small group of American soldiers and coalition soldiers, Spanish soldiers and Salvadoran soldiers who had just been through about three and a half hours of combat, I looked in their eyes, there was no crisis.

They knew what they were here for, they had lost three wounded. We were sitting there among the bullet shells, the bullet casings, and frankly, the blood of their comrades, and they were absolutely confident. They were confident for three reasons: one, because they're enormously well trained; two, because they're extremely good at what they're doing; and three, because they knew why they were there. There was no doubt in their mind why they were there. There was no doubt of their purpose.

And they knew that they were getting the support from the people back home. And they fully understood, in a very crystal clear way, what they were there for, why they were there, and what their purpose was, and is. And to them, there certainly didn't seem to be a sense of crisis. QUESTION: On the Sadr warrants and the chronology here, I just want to take one last stab at this. I understand that you're working on a timetable urged by an Iraqi judge.

Correct me if I'm wrong in my understanding of the chronology, but the judge made a judgment call -- no pun intended -- in the summer or early fall that there wasn't sufficient capacity or what have you to arrest individuals as prominent as Mr. Yaqoubi and Mr. Sadr.

QUESTION: But because the warrants were issued at that time, there was an official determination that they were likely to have been involved in what I think you yourself said was a very heinous and violent murder of a very prominent individual.

Certainly since that time, they have had an armed militia that you consider to be dangerous and potentially a threat to national stability and they have urged -- they have urged in a number of statements actions which could be interpreted as violent or disruptive actions.

Why was the coalition willing to wait all this time for the Iraqi justice system to get to the point where it could take on a challenge like this? Why did it allow this to linger for so many months if it was such a threat?

SENOR: You're asking us to make an assessment of all these other related factors in determining when action was taken or action was decided to be taken.

I can just tell you that we are dealing specifically with an arrest warrant. That is the basis upon which Mr. Yaqoubi was detained. And it was in consultations with an Iraqi investigative judge because it is an Iraqi arrest warrant. It's an Iraqi process.

Mr. Yaqoubi will be tried in an Iraqi court by Iraqi judges under Iraqi law. These discussions about when to act upon an Iraqi arrest warrant were based on consultations with the relevant Iraqi officials.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

KIMMITT: For those personnel that we have captured in those locations, we will detain them. For those persons that we could identify, we will follow up our operations, conduct future operations, to go after them to capture them, along with the Iraqi police service. We will treat them the same way we treat any anti-Iraqi, anti- coalition elements.

QUESTION: General Kimmitt, what you are talking now, according to your talking now, is there any arresting memos will appear before the 1st of June, especially against Islamic leaders?

KIMMITT: I'm sorry? What's the question?

QUESTION: Arresting memos will be appear...

KIMMITT: I'm not going to comment on any other warrants that may or may not be outstanding.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

KIMMITT: We absolutely do have a middle ground to avoid violence in terms of having the warrants served and Muqtada al-Sadr coming to justice. He's free to surrender. He's free to walk into any police station. He is free to have that warrant served upon him. He'll be treated with dignity. He'll be treated with respect. He'll be treated the same way every other alleged criminal in the Iraqi justice system is treated.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SENOR: We believe that the Iraqi Governing Council is certainly the most representative body in the history of Iraq and it's arguably one of the most representative political bodies in the entire region.

You have political, religious, regional leaders from all over the country, from all backgrounds. There are Sunnis, Shia, Kurd, Turkomen, Christians, men, women, again, from the north, from the south, from the central part of the country. We think it is a very diverse and representative body.

Before we wrap up here, I have one quick announcement that I wanted to make at the end.

Ambassador Bremer today announced the appointment of 28 new deputy ministers in 14 ministries. Nominations for these deputy ministers came from both the Iraqi Governing Council and the ministers themselves. CPA personnel and Iraqi ministry officials have worked intensively over the past year to increase the capacity of the country's ministries to function effectively and deliver vital services to the Iraqi people.

Their work has included everything from identifying qualified managers, renovating and equipping buildings and training staff. The appointment of these deputy ministers is another important step in these efforts.

This group of deputy ministers is expected to have major impact on the ability of the Iraqi ministries to develop their staffs, manage their programs and create effective ministries able to take on the challenges of the interim period.

This is a highly qualified group. The new deputy ministers were educated in Iraq, the U.S., some in the U.K., France and elsewhere. It includes seven Ph.Ds in areas as diverse as agricultural, political, science, law, electrical engineering, animal science, biochemistry. The group includes Iraqis from throughout the country, including six women.

We plan to appoint the second tranche of deputy ministers representing the remaining 11 ministries shortly.

KAGAN: We've been listening to a news conference from Baghdad. That is Dan Senor of the Coalition Provisional Authority, also Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, bringing us the latest after has been a very bloody and difficult weekend in Baghdad and around Iraq, basically bringing us the latest on arrest and arrest warrants out for people they believe insurgents in the violence, and also efforts to get control over Shia communities like in Fallujah, and also in Najaf and also in the Sadr City area of Baghdad.

We will take a break, and we're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to break away from the president right now to bring you some news, that coming out of the Pentagon, as Operation Vigilant Rescue goes on around Fallujah.
Let's go to our Barbara Starr, who is standing by at the Pentagon with more -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.

CNN has now learned that General John Abizad, head of the U.S. Central Command, has asked his senior staff to give him options, options within the next 48 hours for the possibility of additional troops to Iraq.

Now, what senior officials are telling CNN is that General Abizaid, who is a very cautious, conservative military, commander has looked at the situation that has unfolded in Iraq since the weekend. He is concerned about what he has seen and gone to his senior staff, saying if there is a need for more troops, I want options, he says, about where these troops will come from, whether they will come from the continental United States, whether they may come from coalition forces, other countries being asked to send more troops, or from U.S. forces already positioned overseas.

Sources are saying these options will now be presented to General Abizaid within 48 hours so he can be ready. If there were to be additional troops sent to Iraq, of course, this would be a significant development, because until now, the military, the Pentagon, the political leadership of the Bush administration has held to the line that they have enough troops to deal with the situation.

But General Abizaid, sources tell us, looking at what happened over the weekend, is increasingly concerned. He is concerned specifically that if the Shiite militia movement led by Mutada Al-Sadr (ph) in some way was to get additional legs, as we are told, or to hook up with some of the Sunni radicals in the Fallujah region, ideologically hook up with them, develop a broader insurgency. He wants to make sure that there are sufficient forces in Iraq to deal with that situation, to make sure in the words of General Abizaid, that they don't get legs.

So all of this now developing, options to go to the U.S. Central Command commander within 48 hours to be ready if there is a need for more troops. A signal about just how concerned the senior military leadership is about the situation in Iraq -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr with that developing news out of the Pentagon.

Barbara, thank you for that.

It was about this time on Friday that the judge in the Tyco case declared a mistrial. What exactly took place behind the doors where the jury was meeting? We will talk with two of the jurors from the Tyco trial after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Jurors in another high-profile case were not able to decide the fate of the defendants. After a six-month trial and 11 days of deliberations, some jurors in the Tyco trial says none of it matters since the judge in the case has declared a mistrial.

Parker Bosworth and Glenn Andrews were on that jury. They join us now. They are both live from New York City.

Gentlemen, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

So you just spent six months of your life working on this trial all to have it end in a mistrial. Parker, how does that feel?

PARKER BOSWORTH, TYCO JUROR: Well, it was kind of disappointing at first, but justice wasn't served, and I was not part of the justice, so I was kind of disappointed, too.

KAGAN: And, Glenn, what about you? Six months, nothing to show for it.

GLENN ANDREWS, TYCO JUROR: Yes, I was shocked. You know, I think we all deserved closure. Everyone put a lot of work into the case in the trial, and it was just very sad that at the end of the day, you know, it ended the way it did.

KAGAN: OK, so what went wrong? First of all, let's talk about the prosecution. From your mind, what did the prosecution miss on that didn't get a conviction?

ANDREWS: Well, I feel that they could have been a little bit more lenient with the evidence. They really went to overkill. They kept us there entirely too long. They concentrated on his lavish lifestyles, and that really wasn't a key factor in what we were looking at.

KAGAN: Parker, the media picked up on all of the glitz, and the glamour and the fancy parties in all that video, but that kind of lost the jury along the way?

BOSWORTH: I think it did. I think it was too much, and they should have just stuck to the evidence of the embezzlement part, and it would have been a better trial for the prosecutor.

KAGAN: All right, there was no end to what seemed to be like a three-ring circus, especially considering juror No. 4, who now has been identified as Ruth Jordan. She gave an interview to "Newsday" in New York, and she talks about what she thought happened, and she makes these statements. She says, "I wasn't unfair, but I did have a firm resting on a presumption of innocence." And she also says, "I'm not sure they ever got the concept," I think talking about the other jurors. "I don't intend to get into a big thing with these people, but this is just the way that I feel."

Parker and Glenn -- and Glenn, we'll start with you-- what was the deal with juror No. 4?

ANDREWS: Well, let me just start off by saying I totally disagree with that statement. I believe, in fact, that she had began to get maybe like a personal attachment to the two defendants, whereas I think that she still thought that, in her mind, she had good faith efforts towards trying to deliberate, but I think that she just wasn't able to get past that hurdle.

KAGAN: And, Parker, when you heard reports that the atmosphere inside the jury room had become poisonous, just how bad were things?

BOSWORTH: It was very bad for a while. It was a lot of screaming and shouting, a lot of accusations thrown from both sides. The pro-side and the pro-prosecution side, a lot of accusations going between the two parties.

KAGAN: So had there not been a mistrial, Glenn, how do you think this thing would have played out?

ANDREWS: Well, I can honestly there would have been a mix of verdicts. We definitely had some guilties, we had some not guilties.

BOSWORTH: Yes.

KAGAN: And so, Parker, do you think there should be a retrial?

BOSWORTH: Yes, there should be a retrial, but it's going to be very difficult to get jurors to go through what we've been through, very hard for both parties.

KAGAN: And, Glenn, the next time you get the notice in the mail that you're up for jury duty?

ANDREWS: I'm going to go because it's my duty, but I'm going to try to do everything in my power not to ever have to serve jury duty again. I mean, it's really excruciating. I think I'm scarred.

KAGAN: You certainly have put in your time, both of you, six months on a jury, only to see a mistrial. Very frustrating, I know. Parker Bosworth, Glenn Andrews, thank you for your time. I appreciate that.

We have a lot of other business news just ahead. We're going to get to that, after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT) KAGAN: All right, all you baseball fans, grab a bag of peanuts. It is opening day for Major League Baseball. First teams out of the dugout are the Reds and the Cubs as they face off in Cincinnati just a few hours from now. Our Josie Burke will be there for the first pitch, and she joins us live.

Josie, happy opening day to you!

JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy opening day to you, too, Daryn.

Opening day comes with so much pomp and circumstance, especially here in Cincinnati, where it's like a city holiday, but this year, opening day also comes with a measure of concern over what like in Cincinnati but this year, opening day comes with a measure of concern over what to do about steroids.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURKE (voice-over): For months, the cloud of illegal steroid use has hovered over the Major League Baseball superstars. With the dawn of a new season, the steroid questions still remain. But for now, not all fans are asking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, it hasn't really bothered me too much at all, no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love when opening day comes around. If those guys have taken steroids and what not, then, obviously, they shouldn't play, but I don't think it's going to affect baseball at all.

BURKE: Five to seven percent of the players tested positive for steroids in last season's first-time screening, instituted by the Player's Association and the owners. That triggered another testing phase this season. But under the rules, it would take multiple positive tests over several years for a player to be suspended. And even some ballplayers admit that is too lenient.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you get caught this year, you're a moron, you know, basically, last year, OK, you wanted one more year where you wanted to get away with it, you were one of that 5 to 7 percent, fine. But this year, if you get caught, you deserve any kind of punishment you get.

CURT SCHILLING, RED SOX PITCHER: I don't think that we wanted the policy to be in place so people could get away with it. I think we wanted to phase something in to see whether we trusted to see how it was going to work.

LANCE BERKMAN, ASTROS OUTFIELDER: I wanted to get the cloud of suspicion completely eliminated from the game, and if we can do that, I'm all for it. However that has to happen, whether it be testing everybody and making the test results known or -- I mean, whatever they want to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURKE: Over the past couple of months, we've seen just how interested Washington is in the subject of steroids. But today, when Washington comes here to great American ballpark, it'll be for a different reason. The vice president, Dick Cheney, is taking part in the pregame festivities, Daryn. He's going to be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

Back to you.

KAGAN: And the president will be throwing out the first pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals, as they host at Milwaukee. Thank you for that, Josie Burke in Cincinnati.

Golf-ball sized hail hits the Southwest. A complete check of the weather, when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

And coming up in the next hour, the story of the man who might have become rich, had he only know how big the phrase "fab five" was about toe become.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: They say don't mess with Texas, but check out there weather mess in Texas. In the western and southern parts of the states, residents are dealing with the aftermath of heavy rain and hail storms. Part of a grocery store roof in Crystal City, southwest of San Antonio, collapsed under the weight of all that hail.

More fallout from a violent and deadly weekend of Iraq. We are moments away from Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt's live news conference in Baghdad.

And also ahead, on a much lighter note, from sandy beaches to snowy slopes, we will tell you about some great family getaway deals for spring and summer. Plus, why the Fab Five have one upstate New York driver saying, show me some more money. We'll talk with the man at the center of a vanity license plate slap.

The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

And of course we begin with the latest look at the latest headlines. The suspect in the string of highway shootings in Ohio goes back to court today. Charles McCoy Jr. is scheduled to be arraigned about two hours from now. Last week, a grand jury indicted McCoy on several counts, including aggravated murder, assault and vandalism.

Testimony resumes today in the state murder trial of convicted Oklahoma bombing conspirator Terry Nichols. Dozens of witnesses linking Nichols to bomber Timothy McVeigh have testified so far. Nichols is serving a life sentence for the deaths of federal agents killed in the bombing. Prosecutor's are seeking the death penalty on first degree murder charges for the other victims.

The grand jury hearing the child molestation case against Michael Jackson reconvenes today. Jackson has pleaded innocent to the charges. At a preliminary hearing on Friday, the defense said it had uncovered material pointing to Jackson's innocence that should be presented to the grand jury.

Some Colorado residents forced from their homes by a huge wildfire are waiting for word on when they can return. A few homes are still threatened by the 9,100-acre fire, but cooler, wetter weather have helped firefighters get the blaze about 50 percent contained.

It is 11:00 a.m. straight up on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. on the West Coast, from CNN Center in Atlanta.

Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Up first on CNN, the possibility of more U.S. or coalition troops heading to Iraq. The commander of U.S. forces in the region is considering the options at this moment.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is tracking this still developing story.

Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well, as the violence and unrest has continued in Iraq. General John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, now privately expressing his concern to his senior staff, asking them to come up with options in the next 48 hours about the possibility of sending additional troops to Iraq. He wants to know if he needs to send more troops very quickly, where they might come from, the continental United States, U.S. forces overseas or another coalition country.

No decision about whether the troops are needed, but General Abizaid, a very conservative, cautious military commander, we are told looking at the situation over the weekend, and he wants to make sure that the unrest, that the violence in the words of one official, "gets no legs." He wants to control it before it grows any further. So telling his senior staff to come up with some options if more troops are needed.

Now that, of course, would be a very significant development, Daryn, the Bush administration, the Pentagon has said all the way along since the war ended that they have plenty of troops and that they don't need anymore and that their commanders are not asking for any more, but a signal, if you will, from General Abizaid about his concern about the level of violence in Iraq. And as you say, we are awaiting a news briefing from Baghdad, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, with an operational update about the military operation in Fallujah, as well as the military operations in other parts of the country, to deal with the unrest and violence that broke out over the weekend -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara, thank you. And you'll be standing by with us to listen in on that news conference out of Baghdad and General Kimmitt. Meanwhile, let's check in on Baghdad and the U.S. Marines that are engaged in firefights in and around Fallujah. It was a scene of a brutal attack last week on four U.S. civilians. That violence continues to flair in the Iraqi capital.

Our senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers joins us live now from Baghdad with the latest -- Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

It's not clear whether the weekend violence, fighting between the U.S. Army and a Shiite militia group here in Baghdad, as well as elsewhere in Iraq, is an aberration whether this war is entering a new phase at this point, but it was surrealistic today to see U.S. Army Apache helicopters flying over the Iraqi helicopter today. The Apaches shooting down into the city itself.

One of targets was one of the offices of the fiery Muslim Shiite cleric Muqada (ph) Al-Sadr, and he is one of the clerics who has declared a war to end the American occupation of this country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS: Iraq has suddenly become much worse for the Americans. These are militant Shiite Muslims. Previously they waited patiently, giving the U.S. interim regime a chance to govern Iraq, but a fiery Shiite leader, Muqada Al-Sadr, decided to challenge the U.S. military occupation, sending his illegal militia soldiers into the streets in open revolt.

In Basra, supposedly under British control, a large group of protesters muscled their way into the governor's office and took that over Monday morning.

But it was in cities like Najaf and Baghdad's northern suburb of Sadr City the Shiite revolt erupted most violently. According to coalition officials protesting Shiite Muslims in Najaf opened fire on coalition soldiers there and coalition forces, mostly Spanish and Iraqi police, returned fire. At least 20 Iraqis were killed, along with at least one coalition soldier. Well over 100 people were in hospital, consequence of all the shooting.

U.S. officials Sunday warned the Shiite violence would not be tolerated, but Muqada Al-Sadr shrugged off the American warning when he sent his illegal private army into the street to challenge the American military in Sadr City.

It took American tanks to restore a modicum of quiet there, but at a cost of at least eight U.S. soldiers killed. Many more American soldiers were wounded. At least 40 Iraqis were killed as well, and close to 200 Iraqis are now in hospital.

Iraq clearly is not going according to Washington's script.

(END VIDEOTAPE) RODGERS: In Fallujah, the U.S. Marine Corps went on the offensive today. Fallujah, you will recall, is the site of that ambush, murder and mutilation of the bodies of four U.S. civilian on Wednesday of last week. It was said...

KAGAN: Sorry to interrupt. We're going to interrupt Walter Rodgers there. We want to go live to another part of Baghdad. We want to listen in to Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, and Dan Senor from the Coalition Provisional Authority.

DANIEL SENOR, SR. ADVISER, COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY: Good evening. I just have a brief opening statement, and then General Kimmitt will make an opening statement, and then we will be happy to take your questions.

Today, the Iraqi police service formally arrested Mustafa al- Yaqubi, this pursuant to a valid arrest warrant issued by an Iraqi judge.

Mr. al-Yaqubi was arrested in connection with the brutal murder of Ayatollah Az Saed al-Majid al-Koy (ph), who was repeatedly stabbed and shot to death last April in front of one of the world's holiest shrines.

Mr. Yaqubi has been transferred to Iraqi police custody, where he is held at an Iraqi detention facility and will be tried by Iraqi judges in Iraqi courts under Iraqi law.

Today, the Iraqi investigative judge held his first meeting with Mr. Yaqubi to ensure that he fully understand the charges against him and he fully understand his rights.

The arrest and trial are about justice and law and order in Iraq. The Iraqi people want elections, not mob violence, to determine who will govern Iraq.

SENOR: General Kimmitt?

BRIG. GEN. KIMMITT, DEP. DIR. OF OPERATIONS, COMBINED TASK FORCE 7: Good afternoon.

The coalition is accelerating its offensive operations to kill or capture anti-coalition elements and enemies of the Iraqi people. In response to the latest increase in violence, in the past 24 hours, the coalition conducted 1,566 patrols, 10 offensive operations, 18 raids and captured 42 anti-coalition suspects.

In the Al Anbar Province, Iraqi security forces and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force initiated Operation Vigilant Resolve to confront anti-coalition and anti-Iraqi elements in the Fallujah area.

The joint force currently consisting of 1,300 personnel from the 1st MEF, Iraqi armed forces and the Iraqi civil defense services have established a series of traffic control points around the city of Fallujah, along with additional assets to regulate passage and establish a cordon in and out of the city. A curfew from 1900 to 0600 has been established. And these are the first of a series of actions taken to attack anti-coalition and anti-Iraqi forces, to re-establish security in Fallujah and begin the process of civil military assistance projects in Fallujah.

Over the past 36 hours, there have been a number of demonstrations and incidents throughout the central and southern zones of Iraq, some of which turned violent as elements of Madi (ph) army incited and perpetrated violence against Iraqi citizens, Iraqi security forces and the coalition.

In Baghdad yesterday there were six demonstrations in support of Muqtada al-Sadr and demonstrating against the detention of Mustafa Yaqubi.

In Sadr City, three police stations came under attack, but all have been returned to IPS control.

In An Najaf, a large crowd gathered mid-day Sunday to show support for Sadr and Yaqubi, and the demonstration turned violent in the afternoon when elements of the Madi (ph) army attacked coalition facilities on the edge of the city.

In An Nasiriyah, a violent demonstration of approximately 200 Madi (ph) army personnel attempted to secure bridges entering the city. The only hostile action against coalition forces was a rocket grenade fired at a CPA building, which missed. The governor diffused the incident and the demonstration ended peacefully.

In Al Amarah, a crowd of about 2,000 built up peacefully during Sunday afternoon.

KIMMITT: At approximately 1700, an explosive device was thrown at coalition forces that led to violence. Order was re-established later in the evening.

In Basra, there were peaceful demonstrations by about 1,500 Sadr supporters in a number of different locations. There were some RPG attacks after the crowds dispersed without effect on coalition forces.

In Al Kut, a crowd of 1,000 Sadr supporters protesting the detention of Mustafa Yaqubi were dispersed without incident.

Today, those cities are relatively quiet.

There have been a number of demonstrations in Baghdad, to include a peaceful demonstration outside the Al-Hura (ph) police station in western Baghdad and a demonstration in the vicinity of the Sadr bureau in Sadr City.

There have also been demonstrations in An Najaf, Basra and Al Kut, with no reported violence.

There are reports of a takeover of a contractor building in An Nasariyah by Sadr followers, as well as other reports of a takeover of an abandoned building in Basra by approximately 200 Madi (ph) army members. In both cases, there is no violence reported and Iraqi police service and coalition forces are monitoring the situations.

SENOR: With that, we'll be happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Can you tell us what happened today in Shula, where there are reports that there are helicopters that fired on targets there. Is that true? And what were the targets?

KIMMITT: Yes, there were attack helicopters, Apache helicopters used today in Baghdad. It is my understanding that one helicopter was fired upon by small-arms fire, approximately five to six rounds that hit, one round which may have hit the cockpit without injury to any of the pilots.

Acting within the limits and the inherent right of self-defense, the helicopter fired back with approximately 100 or so rounds of 20 millimeter, but no rockets were fired and no anti-tank missiles were fired.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

KIMMITT: That information is wrong.

KIMMITT: As said earlier, the helicopter fired in self-defense after it had been fired on by small-arms fire. No rockets were used, only 20 millimeter rounds.

QUESTION: This is for you, General Kimmitt.

We've heard from senior military coalition officials that say that Sadr should be detained because they know they have evidence that he was coordinating attacks.

So my question is, why hasn't he? Or will he be? And if so, can we...

SENOR: Rachel, I'll answer that.

An Iraqi judge has issued an arrest warrant for Muqtada al-Sadr and that is based on evidence that connects Muqtada al-Sadr to the brutal murder of Mr. al-Koy (ph), a murder in which Mr. al-Koy (ph) was repeatedly stabbed and shot to death in front of the world's -- in front of one of the world's holiest shrines.

And I think the message to all individuals that were involved in that murder is that the Iraqi people want elections, not mob rule to determine who will govern Iraq.

QUESTION: I'm sorry, Dan, just a follow-up.

SENOR: Yes.

QUESTION: Has he been...

SENOR: What I said was there is an arrest warrant against Muqtada al-Sadr.

QUESTION: Dan, has he been served with a warrant? Where is he now? Has he been taken into custody?

KIMMITT: He has not been taken into custody. He has not been served with that warrant at this time.

QUESTION: Do you know where he is? We're hearing reports he's in Kufah, he's in a mosque surrounded by a large number of government. How difficult is it going to be to serve this warrant and arrest him?

KIMMITT: I think a lot will depend on how he intends to take the news of this warrant and whether he decides to come peacefully or whether he decides to come not peacefully.

KIMMITT: That choice is the choice of Muqtada al-Sadr.

SENOR: I would just add to that, the Iraqi Governing Council has issued just earlier today a very strong statement addressing this entire issue. And the governing council has specifically said that Iraqis should show respect for mosques and other holy sites.

QUESTION: These warrants were issued last autumn we heard. Why have you waited until now to try to arrest Yaqubi? And why haven't you detained Sadr earlier?

SENOR: Sure.

The arrests -- there were originally 12 arrests made shortly after the murder of Mr. al-Koy (ph). And there was a view -- and there is a view today in Iraq that when these cases come to trial in the effort to conserve Iraq's scarce judicial resources, that as many of the individuals involved in a particular case be tried at once.

The initial 12 individuals were arrested. Subsequently, after a meticulous investigation, additional warrants were filed. There were additional individuals they intended to pursue. The initial 12 were found early on and detained. It was more difficult to target some of the other individuals.

Recently, they had begun -- the Iraqi judge, the investigative judge had begun to prepare the case for trial. This is about a month of preparation. And in light of the fact that the case was about to go to trail, he thought it important to take another shot at trying to gather up some of the other individuals that had been involved and for whom there were warrants. Mr. Yaqubi falls into that category, and they detained him.

QUESTION: So you could have detained Yaqubi and Sadr months ago then. I mean, they've been freely available to be detained. Why only now?

SENOR: The investigative judge made a determination that as he prepared this trial that it is important to go try again, take another shot at trying to detain Mr. Yaqubi. And so, in consultations with coalition forces, we carried this out.

QUESTION: Can you just say when was the warrant issued for Sadr's arrest and when will the arrest be carried out? SENOR: The arrest for Muqtada al-Sadr, it was issued within the last several months. I can get you an exact date after this meeting. I know the warrant for Mr. Yaqubi was even prior to that.

And as to when the arrest will be carried out...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

KIMMITT: You'll know.

SENOR: Yes. Let's just say, there will be no advanced warning.

QUESTION: I have two questions, and they're king of big, but it's my last day so I feel like maybe you guys will answer them both.

So, OK, the first one is, we've heard from doctors at the Al- Hakim (ph) Hospital in the al-Shula district of Baghdad that U.S. troops have been going in there and asking the doctors to -- anyone that they're treating with a bullet wound, to save the bullets and the fragments and put them aside so that they can then test those bullets afterwards to see if they're from coalition weapons. I'm wondering why they would have a crazy idea like that.

And also, my second question is the arrest warrant for Sadr was issued several months ago. Can you tell us when exactly maybe?

SENOR: Yes.

I just said in the previous question that I would get the exact data after. I said in the last several months.

KIMMITT: I have not heard those reports about coalition forces going into the hospitals.

QUESTION: A question for General Kimmitt.

CNN is reporting that General Abizaid has asked for options for increasing the number of troops in Iraq. Do you think that in the light of the recent events, more troops are needed to stabilize the country going into and following the handover?

KIMMITT: Well, if that was a statement made by General Abizaid, I'd suggest you ask General Abizaid.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SENOR: The Iraqi investigative judge had made it clear that there were a number of individuals that were connected to the brutal murder of Al-Koy (ph). And the first 12 individuals were detained some time shortly after, not immediately after the incident.

Keep in mind that the court system was initially in some mild state of disarray immediately following liberation, so it took some time to get organized. And then the Iraqi investigative judge began to organize the investigation. Twelve individuals were arrested. The Iraqi investigative judge is now prepared to bring the trial to court. And in an effort to conserve scarce judicial resources in Iraq, the goal by many Iraqi investigative judges is to try as many individuals involved in any particular case at one time.

In light of the fact that the trial was going to court and the case was being prepared, he thought he would take another shot at trying to gather up other individuals involved with the case, and that's when warrants were issued. And this matter sort of bubbled, if you will, recently.

To your second question...

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SENOR: Let me answer your second question before you ask the third.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SENOR: It is not our investigation. It is the investigation of an Iraqi investigative judge. And we have been working with this Iraqi investigative judge, and a number of these steps have been taken at his initiative, not ours.

Now, to your second question, we intend to hand sovereignty over on June 30th. That has been our plan. We've made that clear that that is our plan going back to November 15th. And it will continue to be our plan on June 30th when we hand over political sovereignty to the Iraqi people, period.

QUESTION: Dan, there are several points in your account of the arrest warrant for Mr. Sadr that I'm a little bit unclear on. They're all small ones, but if you could help me clarify to understand.

QUESTION: First of all, if I'm not mistaken, we're talking about a total of 37 individuals then who have been implicated in the death of Mr. al-Koy (ph) -- 12 who were arrested shortly after his murder last April and then an additional 25 for whom arrest warrants were issued in the fall.

SENOR: Where is that number coming from?

QUESTION: The 25? Remember yesterday?

SENOR: Yes. It's a total of 25, 12 initial and then 13 subsequent. Now 13, including Mr. Yaqubi.

QUESTION: But you said a short time after.

SENOR: Yes.

QUESTION: So are you saying by the fall? Because yesterday...

SENOR: I don't know the exact date. But in any event, what I said yesterday, it's a total of 25 -- 12 have been arrested, now the 13th has been arrested, Mr. Yaqubi, and now the balance is 12.

QUESTION: Including Mr. Sadr?

SENOR: That's correct.

QUESTION: Can you name the investigative judge in Najaf?

SENOR: I cannot. I will try to do that in the next couple of days, but obviously I have to get authorization from that individual.

QUESTION: When did this judge issue his request for the coalition forces to, A, detain Mr. Yaqubi; and, B, to make public the arrest warrant for Mr. Sadr?

SENOR: I don't know the exact date that a discussion was held, but we have been in consultations with the investigative judge for some time.

QUESTION: And finally, your position is definitely that this announcement of an arrest warrant, of a murder warrant for Mr. Sadr, coming 72 hours after his sermon in Kufah, is just a coincidence and that it's related exclusively to the initiative of this investigative judge?

SENOR: Absolutely. The arrest warrant has been issued some time ago, well before any sermon he gave on Friday.

QUESTION: But the announcement is now.

SENOR: I'm sorry?

QUESTION: But the announcement is now, 72 hours...

SENOR: That's correct, because we are obviously addressing this issue with regard to Mr. Yaqubi and surrounding events.

QUESTION: Is any action being planned against the Mahdi army more generally? And if so, what?

And a separate question. I read an AFP report that said the ICDC turned on American troops in this neighborhood where the Apache fired today. Have you heard anything about that?

KIMMITT: I have heard nothing about the second report. I think it would fall in line with some of the other reports that we've heard over the last couple of days that have proven not to be correct.

We have a very strong policy and a very direct policy toward militias. Militias are inconsistent with a democratic, sovereign nation with a central government. We are particularly focused on militias that start attacking coalition forces, start attacking Iraqi forces, start attacking Iraqi civilians.

The actions of the Mahdi army over the past 48 hours is clearly inconsistent with a safe and secure environment and clearly inconsistent with the security of the people of Iraq. And we will take action as and when necessary to maintain a safe and secure environment in Iraq.

Individuals who create violence, who incite violence, who execute violence against persons inside of Iraq will be hunted down and captured or killed.

KIMMITT: It is that simple.

QUESTION: Could you explain in more details the events yesterday in Sadr City, you mentioned three police stations were attacked. The outcome was eight U.S. military lost lives, so was there real gun battle? What happened?

And my second question -- in Shula today, some of our photographers saw what looked like a burned out American military truck, so was there casualties on the American side, the convoy attacked, or whatever?

KIMMITT: If you would like the specific details, I would recommend you go to the 1st Armored Division. We could spend 15 minutes talking about all of the events of last night.

But, as I understand, the casualties were taken in two separate incidents as coalition forces were moving into Sadr City based on intelligence of anticipated attacks upon those Iraqi police forces.

But the 1st Armored Division has the details on that. And I would commend you to them for those details and the details of the large truck that, I think, many people saw on fire today in the al- Shula district.

QUESTION: General, can you say whether or not al-Sadr is being pursued also criminally in regard to the demonstrations that turned violent over the weekend?

And also, could you elaborate a little bit more on what's going on in Fallujah? There's been a report of at least one Marine killed there. I don't know whether it's related to the operation that's ongoing.

But are they operating on specific intelligence, pulling people out that they have developed information on?

KIMMITT: On the first question, not only are militias banned inside of Iraq, and when those militias turn to violent acts we will take actions against them, but we will also go for their leadership, their leadership organs, the people at the top, the people in the middle, the people that are inciting, the people that are planning, the people that are executing the violence.

As regards Fallujah, I would refer you to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force for the details of their ongoing operation. We did confirm this morning that there was a Marine killed in the Al Anbar region. For more details about the ongoing operation, we have embedded a number of reporters out with the first MEF and I think they could probably give you far more detail than we could from this podium. QUESTION: General, Dan, if we look at everything we've seen in the last week and what you've told us today about the decision to proceed with or without American active cooperation and encouragement with the serving of an arrest warrant against Muqtada al-Sadr, it looks as though you have reached a critical moment on the approach to June 30th, where the attempt to approach June 30th as softly and as cooperatively as you could in your judgment has had to turn to something much tougher; that we get the impression that there's a new steeliness, a new decision to go hard.

Is that correct?

KIMMITT: Well, first, I would say that that decision was not independently made by us. That decision to conduct offensive operations is in response to some others who have made the decision to, as you would say, go hard.

It was not the coalition that caused the casualties in Fallujah. It is the coalition that is responding to those casualties in Fallujah.

It is not the 1st Armored Division who executed combat operations in Sadr City for the purpose of disrupting operations in there. But, in fact, it was Mahdi army members who took on the 1st Armored Division as they were trying to set up control or re-establish control on legitimate government offices and Iraqi police stations.

We are responsive to the level of violence. We have a responsibility, we have an obligation to maintain a safe and secure environment.

We have forces that are absolutely capable, 100 percent of the time, to be in a mode of fixing schools, fixing sewers, fixing health clinics. That's what our soldiers would like to be doing. That's what our Marines would like to be doing and soon in Fallujah they will be doing that.

But their first and foremost responsibility is for safety and security in Iraq.

And when that safety and security is threatened, is challenged, and violence is incited and violence is executed, those same soldiers and those same Marines are capable of putting down their paint brushes and picking up their weapons to defend the people of Iraq and to ensure that the process of taking this country to democracy and sovereignty will not be impeded.

SENOR: I would just add that there are clearly foreign terrorists and former Baathists and other extremists inside Iraq that are trying to derail the process to June 30th in which we hand over sovereignty.

As General Kimmitt has said, we absolutely will not tolerate that. The Iraqi people will not tolerate that.

For example, Samir al-Sumaydah, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, earlier today, was quite explicit on this point, that the debate in Iraq today is not between any two ethnic groups or any two regions; it's between moderates and extremists.

And there's no room for extremists in Iraq, particularly when it comes to issues like the rule of law and justice and ideas like the one I articulated earlier, that elections will determine who governs Iraq, not mob violence.

But I think it's important that this is not only a lead up to June 30th, because after June 30th, even if there are acts of violence after June 30th, American security forces will still be here. We will still be working side by side with the Iraqi security forces to address any violence or efforts to derail the new Iraq that are similar to what we are experiencing before June 30th.

QUESTION: General, Dan, if you looked at the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday, the display in American newspapers today, the media and indeed some politicians on Capitol Hill are presenting the events of the past few days here as a crisis, or at least one of the most critical moments in this entire American enterprise here.

Is that the way it's felt in the Green Zone?

SENOR: I would say that the way we feel is, in interacting with the Iraqis at the grass-roots level, Iraqis out in the provinces, Iraqi political, regional and religious leaders, we hear one thing over and over: It's important when we make a commitment to keep it.

We made a commitment to the Iraqi people that we would hand over political sovereignty on June 30th.

SENOR: We also made a commitment that after June 30th we will still have a major role in helping to reconstruct this country and continuing to secure this country, and that will continue on June 30th.

I think there is somehow this view that there's going to be this dramatic change after June 30th, as though the lights will be switched off and we will depart, and that is simply not the case.

Ambassador Bremer will depart, the coalition control or the coalition role in the political process will be handed over to the Iraqi people, but we will still have a prominent role here in security and we will still be deploying billions and billions of dollars in the reconstruction of Iraq, which will be spread over several years.

We will have the largest U.S. embassy here in the world. We will have, as I said, deploying over $18 billion with civilian reconstruction personnel from the United States and other coalition countries still here.

So while Ambassador Bremer will be gone and our role in the political process will be handed over to the Iraqi people, we will still continue to work with the Iraqi people, work quite closely with the Iraqi people after June 30th. KIMMITT: And I would just tell you that I'm not sure about the Green Zone, but I know on a rooftop yesterday in An Najaf, with a small group of American soldiers and coalition soldiers, Spanish soldiers and Salvadoran soldiers who had just been through about three and a half hours of combat, I looked in their eyes, there was no crisis.

They knew what they were here for, they had lost three wounded. We were sitting there among the bullet shells, the bullet casings, and frankly, the blood of their comrades, and they were absolutely confident. They were confident for three reasons: one, because they're enormously well trained; two, because they're extremely good at what they're doing; and three, because they knew why they were there. There was no doubt in their mind why they were there. There was no doubt of their purpose.

And they knew that they were getting the support from the people back home. And they fully understood, in a very crystal clear way, what they were there for, why they were there, and what their purpose was, and is. And to them, there certainly didn't seem to be a sense of crisis. QUESTION: On the Sadr warrants and the chronology here, I just want to take one last stab at this. I understand that you're working on a timetable urged by an Iraqi judge.

Correct me if I'm wrong in my understanding of the chronology, but the judge made a judgment call -- no pun intended -- in the summer or early fall that there wasn't sufficient capacity or what have you to arrest individuals as prominent as Mr. Yaqoubi and Mr. Sadr.

QUESTION: But because the warrants were issued at that time, there was an official determination that they were likely to have been involved in what I think you yourself said was a very heinous and violent murder of a very prominent individual.

Certainly since that time, they have had an armed militia that you consider to be dangerous and potentially a threat to national stability and they have urged -- they have urged in a number of statements actions which could be interpreted as violent or disruptive actions.

Why was the coalition willing to wait all this time for the Iraqi justice system to get to the point where it could take on a challenge like this? Why did it allow this to linger for so many months if it was such a threat?

SENOR: You're asking us to make an assessment of all these other related factors in determining when action was taken or action was decided to be taken.

I can just tell you that we are dealing specifically with an arrest warrant. That is the basis upon which Mr. Yaqoubi was detained. And it was in consultations with an Iraqi investigative judge because it is an Iraqi arrest warrant. It's an Iraqi process.

Mr. Yaqoubi will be tried in an Iraqi court by Iraqi judges under Iraqi law. These discussions about when to act upon an Iraqi arrest warrant were based on consultations with the relevant Iraqi officials.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

KIMMITT: For those personnel that we have captured in those locations, we will detain them. For those persons that we could identify, we will follow up our operations, conduct future operations, to go after them to capture them, along with the Iraqi police service. We will treat them the same way we treat any anti-Iraqi, anti- coalition elements.

QUESTION: General Kimmitt, what you are talking now, according to your talking now, is there any arresting memos will appear before the 1st of June, especially against Islamic leaders?

KIMMITT: I'm sorry? What's the question?

QUESTION: Arresting memos will be appear...

KIMMITT: I'm not going to comment on any other warrants that may or may not be outstanding.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

KIMMITT: We absolutely do have a middle ground to avoid violence in terms of having the warrants served and Muqtada al-Sadr coming to justice. He's free to surrender. He's free to walk into any police station. He is free to have that warrant served upon him. He'll be treated with dignity. He'll be treated with respect. He'll be treated the same way every other alleged criminal in the Iraqi justice system is treated.

QUESTION: (SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SENOR: We believe that the Iraqi Governing Council is certainly the most representative body in the history of Iraq and it's arguably one of the most representative political bodies in the entire region.

You have political, religious, regional leaders from all over the country, from all backgrounds. There are Sunnis, Shia, Kurd, Turkomen, Christians, men, women, again, from the north, from the south, from the central part of the country. We think it is a very diverse and representative body.

Before we wrap up here, I have one quick announcement that I wanted to make at the end.

Ambassador Bremer today announced the appointment of 28 new deputy ministers in 14 ministries. Nominations for these deputy ministers came from both the Iraqi Governing Council and the ministers themselves. CPA personnel and Iraqi ministry officials have worked intensively over the past year to increase the capacity of the country's ministries to function effectively and deliver vital services to the Iraqi people.

Their work has included everything from identifying qualified managers, renovating and equipping buildings and training staff. The appointment of these deputy ministers is another important step in these efforts.

This group of deputy ministers is expected to have major impact on the ability of the Iraqi ministries to develop their staffs, manage their programs and create effective ministries able to take on the challenges of the interim period.

This is a highly qualified group. The new deputy ministers were educated in Iraq, the U.S., some in the U.K., France and elsewhere. It includes seven Ph.Ds in areas as diverse as agricultural, political, science, law, electrical engineering, animal science, biochemistry. The group includes Iraqis from throughout the country, including six women.

We plan to appoint the second tranche of deputy ministers representing the remaining 11 ministries shortly.

KAGAN: We've been listening to a news conference from Baghdad. That is Dan Senor of the Coalition Provisional Authority, also Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, bringing us the latest after has been a very bloody and difficult weekend in Baghdad and around Iraq, basically bringing us the latest on arrest and arrest warrants out for people they believe insurgents in the violence, and also efforts to get control over Shia communities like in Fallujah, and also in Najaf and also in the Sadr City area of Baghdad.

We will take a break, and we're back after this.

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