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American Morning
More Bloody Confrontations in a Number of Iraqi Cities; Train Bombings
Aired April 05, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
From two Iraqi cities, it looks like war again today. Battles with Shiite and Sunni extremists. Can the U.S. gain and maintain control?
A warning for U.S. cities -- beware terrorists looking to attack trains and buses. Will it force tough new security changes?
And what really happened during Tyco deliberations? Two members of the jury join us this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: A whole new week here.
Eight o'clock in New York.
Soledad O'Brien is off this week.
We welcome Heidi Collins back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello.
HEMMER: Good morning to you.
COLLINS: Thank you. Thank you.
I'm glad that you powered up your suit again.
HEMMER: Oh, thank you very much. I change the batteries once a day.
COLLINS: It's looking good.
Stories that we're following this morning, the editor of the Iraqi newspaper "Iraq Today" with us talking about dangers for the U.S. posed by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
HEMMER: Also, the question of whether or not they underestimated the seriousness of those claims. We'll get to all that in a moment.
Also this hour, how much emphasis in medical news on finding treatments for memory loss? A bit later Sanjay tells us about the drive to find a pill to make people forget. If you've seen this new movie out there with Jim Carey, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," they tackle that issue, too. So it's a good film, too.
COLLINS: Interesting.
HEMMER: Hello.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, a spotless mind.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A pill to make people forget?
HEMMER: That's what Sanjay is talking about.
CAFFERTY: I really...
HEMMER: It really is kind of different.
CAFFERTY: That's a good idea, actually.
Coming up in the Cafferty File in about 20 minutes, we're going to tell you about a restaurant in San Francisco that features a donut specialist called "The Cop's Snack." That's probably going to get them shut down pretty early out there playing on that stereotype, you see.
And you will never, ever guess who's been invited to appear on that pretentious, rather tedious program called "Inside The Actor's Studio." The identity will be revealed at the time of the File.
HEMMER: Oh, terrific.
COLLINS: This is a tease. All right, very good.
CAFFERTY: So tired.
HEMMER: At the time of your choosing.
COLLINS: We will wait for that.
CAFFERTY: What's happening in Cincinnati? Anything today?
HEMMER: A big baseball day out in Jackson, as a matter of fact.
CAFFERTY: Right.
HEMMER: We'll update you a little later, enquire.com (ph).
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: And on that note, we're going to move to news now this morning.
The White House will review the support from the September 11 Commission before it's released. Commission Chairman Tom Keene says the text will be examined to prevent potentially harmful intelligence from being leaked. Critics say this raises the prospect of White House censorship. The Commission will hear this week from National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and CNN will have special live coverage of the testimony starting Thursday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
Federal investigators now looking into funding practices by the non-profit foundation that handled the reopening of the Statue of Liberty. The "New York Times" reports the investigation centers around how the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation spent donations. There have also been questions raised about fair bidding practices for contracts.
A new study suggests watching television may contribute to the development of attention deficit problems later in life. The study looked at 1,300 children participating in a government sponsored health survey. The findings appear in this month's issue of "Pediatrics." The focus was on children at one and three years of age. The results suggested TV might over stimulate and permanently rewire the developing brain. We'll talk more about that later.
Low cost airlines may provide passengers with a better flight experience than their full service competitors. Three of the top airlines in a recent quality survey were budget airlines, with JetBlue leading the pack. The three largest airlines -- United, American and Delta -- were close to the bottom. Last in the survey was Atlantic Southeast Airlines. That is owned by Delta.
If you used a Visa or a MasterCard on Wednesday, you may have been charged three times. Officials say a computer glitch caused more than 800,000 credit and debit transactions to be double or even triple charged. The charges have been reversed now. The customers are being told to check their statements. Andy Serwer will have a little bit more on this later in the day.
That's what I'm going to tell my husband about all those charges.
HEMMER: Yes?
COLLINS: Yes, there was a triple charge mistake.
HEMMER: Think that'll fly?
COLLINS: No.
HEMMER: It's coming, Matt.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Let's start again this hour in Iraq. More bloody confrontations in a number of Iraqi cities there. The violence now leaving 13 U.S. troops and scores of Iraqis dead. As the fighting escalates, the U.S. now vowing that law and order be put back in place.
And from Baghdad, let's start this hour with Walter Rodgers in the capital city -- Walter, hello there.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill. Well, the American led coalition was blindsided over the weekend, surprised by a revolt by militant Shiite Muslims in Iraq. It was so startling that this morning it was surrealistic to watch American Apache helicopters flying over the Iraqi capital, firing rockets into the city. It was deja vu. This was a year ago when U.S. forces moved into the city. And again the Apaches were out this morning firing rockets.
There were large columns of smoke rising from the city. One of the buildings which was targeted was the -- was one of the offices of Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite Muslim who has called for war against the Americans here, an intifada to throw the Americans out. It was his people which caused all the violence on Sunday in Baghdad and in al-Najaf, as well -- Bill.
HEMMER: Walter, how much support is it believed that the Shiites give him, Muqtada al-Sadr, in Iraq?
RODGERS: It's hard to say. When he wishes to put his Mahdi army on the street, as he did last Friday, in what was a peaceful demonstration, he turned out upwards of 100,000 young men walking around, black uniforms, green headbands around their head. These were young men who were at the time openly vowing they would die, seek martyrdom to kill the Americans and throw the Americans out of this country.
Now, Shiites are 60 percent of the population and not all of them, by any stretch, follow Muqtada al-Sadr. But if you have to ask their sympathies, you can imagine Shiites are probably going to side with Shiites against the Americans and not against other Shiites.
Again, we don't have an open revolt on our hands in the sense that the whole Shiite community in Iraq has risen up against the Americans. But a very substantial portion has. This one particular, Muqtada al-Sadr, is flexing his muscle here and he's showing the Americans that if they want to play rough, his guys can do it. And they did over the weekend. Eight American soldiers killed in Baghdad alone. In that one incident in Sadr City. Forty Iraqis were killed, close to 200 in the hospitals.
The Shiites can play rough even if those who are putting the people out on the streets aren't in a majority -- Bill.
HEMMER: Walter, thanks for that.
Walter Rodgers in Baghdad.
An awful lot to talk about today. We will not leave this story for long.
We appreciate the update now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: French police conducted raids in Paris this morning looking for suspected terror bombers. Train bombing suspects apparently blew themselves up yesterday when they were surrounded by police in Madrid. And last week, major cities in the U.S. received a warning that terrorists may be targeting transportation systems this summer.
Raymond Kelly, New York City's police commissioner, is here now to talk more about this.
As we just said, the FBI sent out a bulletin that terrorists may be planning an attack on rail lines some time this summer in the U.S., in New York City in particular.
Is New York City ready for that?
COMM. RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE: Well, we're doing everything we can to prevent any sort of terrorist event here. As far as the transit system is concerned, we have 2,800 officers assigned to our transit bureau. I think it's a very effective part of the department. We have sweeps. We have surges of officers in the transit system. We've increased our plainclothes officers.
So we're doing everything we reasonably can to protect the system.
COLLINS: You have to wonder about where the money would come from to bump up that type of security, though. In fact, Representative James Turner, a member of the House Select Committee for the Homeland Security, pointed out that as far as the number of people go that are using the system, it's three times the amount of people that are using -- I'm sorry, many more people are going through the stations on a daily basis than all three New York City airports put together.
KELLY: Yes. You're talking about Penn Station.
COLLINS: That's right.
KELLY: Yes. Obviously it's a very busy facility. We work with the Amtrak police, the MTA police and our own officers to protect the entire transit and commuter system that comes into the city. It's a big system, no question about it. We have four and a half million passengers just on our subway system and another couple of million that use the commuter lines.
So it's big. It's vibrant. We're doing a lot to protect it.
COLLINS: But yet almost every penny goes to protection of airports and airlines.
KELLY: Well, would we like more federal funds? Absolutely. Could we use them? We could use them very effectively, no question about it. But I think, you know, we're doing everything that I can think you can reasonably expect us to do. You know, Mayor Bloomberg has made a commitment to seeing to it that we get all the resources that we need. But it takes from other parts of the city budget. So we'd like to get more federal funds, no question about that.
COLLINS: I know you sent detectives to Madrid to study the rail lines there and what happened there because they resemble the system in New York City. What are you able to take away? What are those detectives learning from that city?
KELLY: Well, we did get some very specific information that I believe helped us. We changed some of our tactics. We did some adjustments as a result of that. And we're committed to getting any piece of information we can get to better protect this city. We do have detectives in other capitals throughout the world -- in Tel Aviv, Toronto, London, Singapore -- and we were able to respond quickly to Madrid.
Again, we want that little piece of information that better protects New York.
COLLINS: Now, you already mentioned some of these security sweeps. But you have to wonder, will there ever be a day when a person is going to use the rail line here in New York City, or anywhere else, for that matter, when they're going to go through the same type of security that we see at the airports today?
KELLY: Maybe. But it's, I think, a long way off. The technology really isn't there. Just the volume, the sheer volume, as I say, we, you know, probably close to seven million people a day use the commuter and subway system here in New York. The technology is just not there to handle that sort of volume.
But I know that homeland security is looking at that precise issue.
COLLINS: Quickly, before we let you go, August 30th, RNC convention going to be taking place at Madison Square Garden.
Do you have concerns?
KELLY: Well, we have some concerns, but we have a big experienced police force. We've been planning for this for over a year. We're working with other agencies, federal agencies, the Secret Service. I think we'll be in fine shape.
COLLINS: All right, New York City's police commissioner, Raymond Kelly.
Thank you so much for your time this morning.
KELLY: Thank you.
COLLINS: Bill.
HEMMER: We want to get back to Iraq right now. The ongoing violence in that country was at least partly triggered by the closure last week of a newspaper that supports the Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Hassan Fattah is the editor of the newspaper in Iraq called "Iraq Today."
He's live in Istanbul, Turkey to talk about what's happening back in his home country.
And we welcome you back here to AMERICAN MORNING.
To our viewers, a substantial delay here on the satellite.
You wrote in the "USA Today" last Thursday's edition -- I'll pull a portion of that for our readers to hear, our viewers to watch this now. "The coalition used the blunt instrument of force to make a political point and in the process may have set back the course of all media and institutions of civil society in Iraq."
Hassan, tell us why the closing of this newspaper, you believe, triggered the violence over the weekend, , knowing that al-Sadr had been a target for some time by the coalition, knowing that he'd be a problem for some time, as well?
HASSAN FATTAH, EDITOR, "IRAQ TODAY": Well, certainly al-Sadr was actually being targeted. He was somebody that they were going to arrest at some point and then they chose not to. He has been somebody who has been trying to encourage a confrontation with the coalition. And in many ways, the closure of the paper last week was the confrontation he really wanted.
This is a man who was actually not managing to get the same number of people out in the streets as usual. He didn't have the standing that he was getting. And all of a sudden, a day later -- or, actually, the same day -- he managed to bring out thousands and thousands of people in support.
The problem with what's going on here is that the institutions of civil society in Iraq don't yet exist. They're very weak, very nascent. And by shutting down a newspaper and the coalition proving that it can, number one, and is willing to do it, it, in its essence, puts all those other institutions, those fledgling institutions, at risk.
HEMMER: Yes. I asked this question of Walt Rodgers a few minutes ago, do you know how much Shiite support Sadr has in Iraq?
FATTAH: Well, it's not exactly clear. Certainly he controls a significant portion of the poorest Shia, the slums of Baghdad and other cities. But let's face it, it doesn't take a lot of people to create a lot of damage in a situation like that. Four thousand or 10,000 people, you've still got a huge problem. The question is how to handle it.
What effectively happened with the closure of the paper, and, just as important, the arrest of one of his key advisers the other day, was actually the coalition was effectively poking the dragon. And the hope is is that this is something that will come and die away. We don't know where this is going to go from here.
HEMMER: I have heard for the past year, probably even longer than that, that Iraqis respond to force, they respect the use of force, going back to the days of Saddam Hussein.
Is that a true statement and a fair statement made about the Iraqi people?
FATTAH: I think they respect strength, not necessarily force. If you slap somebody, you're not going to get the same reaction as if you speak firmly with him and justly. What Iraqis understand is justice, and that's what they want to hear and see.
HEMMER: Hassan Fattah, thanks, from the "Iraq Today" newspaper, in Istanbul, Turkey, talking about the latest on what's happening back in his home country.
Nice to talk to you, as always.
Appreciate it.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, inside the Tyco jury -- were jurors about to reach a verdict when a mistrial was called? We'll talk to two of them, coming up next.
HEMMER: Also, Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at new therapies aimed at helping troubled patients forget the past and past trauma, all ahead this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
COMMERCIAL
HEMMER: A solid week of turmoil in the Tyco trial ended with a bombshell last week when the judge granted a mistrial due to intense outside pressure on the woman known as juror number four.
Former Tyco chief Dennis Kozlowski and his former top financial officer, Mark Swartz, now likely to face a second trial.
But what has been the reaction now of the jury to that mistrial? And were they on the verge of reaching a verdict?
Here to talk about it, two of the jurors themselves, Gregory Sutton is here and Pete -- say your last name.
PETE MCENTEGART, TYCO JUROR: McEntegart.
HEMMER: I don't want to screw it up.
MCENTEGART: That's all right.
HEMMER: Nice to see you, Pete.
Thanks.
Good morning to you.
You also read a current article in "Time" magazine, as well, that I want to get to.
MCENTEGART: Right.
HEMMER: What was your reaction, Pete, on Friday when the judge made that ruling? MCENTEGART: Well, at that point, I mean things had been so emotional, so up and down the last week or two that I was sort of out of emotion right at the moment.
HEMMER: You were just ready to put it behind you and move on?
MCENTEGART: No, I was just numb. You know, it was different when we went out to the courtroom and the judge explained, you know, how they would have respected any verdict we did return. Then I started getting a little more upset, you know, because I did think we were close.
HEMMER: Take that Greg. How close were you guys to getting a verdict?
GREGORY SUTTON, TYCO JUROR: We were tech -- within hours probably. We would have been done on Friday had we had the opportunity. But unfortunately something happened and we were not given the opportunity.
HEMMER: OK, so before the judge made his ruling, you guys were deliberating for 12 days.
MCENTEGART: Right.
SUTTON: Right.
HEMMER: What changed on Friday that makes you think you were that close to getting a verdict?
SUTTON: It didn't...
MCENTEGART: It wasn't really Friday.
SUTTON: Yes, it wasn't Friday, it was Thursday.
MCENTEGART: From Monday through that...
SUTTON: Yes.
MCENTEGART: That whole week was different.
HEMMER: So you were making progress every day you believe?
MCENTEGART: Right.
SUTTON: Exactly.
MCENTEGART: There was just a lot of...
SUTTON: Yes. We were almost done.
MCENTEGART: ... you had to get through.
HEMMER: Help me understand this. We've talked a lot for the past year about $6,000 shower curtains. SUTTON: Right.
HEMMER: Why did that not have an impact on your deliberations?
MCENTEGART: Well, it just -- it was sort of beside the fact. I mean some of the charges that, you know, we were perhaps more likely to find them guilty on were more how they got their money, not how they spent their money. We felt, you know, if -- they could spend it however they wanted. But the issue was, in some cases, whether or not they were authorized to take it.
SUTTON: Exactly, whether or not they were authorized was the point. It was more of a philosophical question versus what they did with it. How -- if they were actually authorized or not, I mean if they were, then who cares what they did with it, you know? It's their money so go ahead. You can spend it however you'd like.
HEMMER: So do you believe the prosecution went after the wrong charges in this case? Is that what you're suggesting?
MCENTEGART: Well, they spent a lot...
SUTTON: Some...
MCENTEGART: They spent way too much time on some of the wrong issues, like shower curtains and Jimmy Buffett in Sardinia...
SUTTON: Right.
MCENTEGART: ... rather than focusing on...
HEMMER: So then -- stop a second. What should they have focused on, then? What were the charges that you thought were applicable?
MCENTEGART: The, some of the grand larceny. I mean the charges were there. I mean they, it's not like they didn't charge the right things. But they maybe over shot things a little bit.
SUTTON: I agree a hundred percent. They actually did not -- I mean, again, like we were saying in the jury room, the Sardinia party, the shower curtain, those things didn't matter to us.
MCENTEGART: Right.
SUTTON: They should have focused more, again, on the philosophical background of whether Dennis -- or Mr. Kozlowski and Mark Swartz actually believed they were entitled to actually have this money in the first place.
HEMMER: Yes, I know you two were on the with Paula on Friday night here on CNN.
MCENTEGART: I wasn't, actually.
SUTTON: No, he -- I was, correct.
HEMMER: And you said, what, juror number four was one tough lady. Is that what you said?
SUTTON: No, that's -- I did not say that. No.
HEMMER: Who said that?
SUTTON: Another juror said that.
HEMMER: All right. Was she tough?
SUTTON: She was a very intelligent woman who held her -- held strong in her beliefs.
HEMMER: Held strong.
Was she stubborn?
SUTTON: I don't think I'd go that far, no.
HEMMER: You think she was justified?
SUTTON: It's her right to do whatever she...
MCENTEGART: I think she believed she was justified.
SUTTON: Yes. That's good. Good.
SUTTON: In good faith.
HEMMER: Had she come around earlier do you think you guys would be sitting here on top of a mistrial at this point?
MCENTEGART: Well, I don't know, because it was so hard to predict what was going on outside. I mean we knew, you know, I certainly suspected that the defense -- after our letters -- that the defense would be calling for a mistrial every five or 10 minutes. So any time there was a delay, I certainly already always presumed that they were about to call it off. So that's what I meant, emotionally, you keep thinking, all right, they're going to call it off, it's over. And then you'd have to get geared back up to what was still quite a bit of work to do to get through all these counts.
SUTTON: Right.
HEMMER: Listen, I don't have much time, Greg.
Is there -- if he retried Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, what do you think the verdict is?
SUTTON: I think it's mixed again. So I'm not sure what's going to happen. But I do believe that there are some things they need to be prosecuted for and some things they don't, and they need to figure out which ones they want to do.
HEMMER: Gregory Sutton, thanks.
SUTTON: Thank you. HEMMER: Pete McEnetegart, nice to see you, as well.
MCENTEGART: Thanks.
HEMMER: Thank you, gentlemen.
SUTTON: Thanks.
HEMMER: All right, here's Heidi.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, take a pill, forget your troubles. What's wrong with that? Well, plenty, some medical professionals say. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will talk more about it.
And U.S. troops battling a new enemy in Iraq after a bloody weekend.
Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
COMMERCIAL
COLLINS: We want to check in with Jack now -- we haven't heard from him in a while -- and the Cafferty File.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Heidi.
The -- there's a new product on the market. If nothing's too good for your pet, they now have gourmet food for Fido. The company is called Bon Apawtit. Bon Apawtit. It says it has -- that's bon apetit. You know, it's precooked organic food for pets. The meals include salmon souffle, chicken lo mein and pizza and they sell for $3.49 each, which is more than a lot of pets are worth.
Theyll mean more donuts for California cops when a restaurant called Cops Donuts opens in San Francisco, assuming it doesn't burn down before then. The logo shows a cop handcuffed to a donut and the motto is "if our food was any better, it would be criminal." It's a 1940s themed kind of joint that'll have hamburgers and fries and donuts. The menu includes the Cops Snack, which is two donuts and a coffee or the Cops Feast, which is a dozen glazed donuts and a dozen assorted donuts and a -- well, you get the idea.
Coming soon to cable TV, based on box office recipients, arguably the worst actress in Hollywood, Jennifer Lopez, will be a guest on "Inside The Actor's Studio." The show's host, James Lipton, told a New York newspaper that his students are thrilled that J-Lo will be appearing for an interview. One can only imagine what she might say about the craft. Lipton says they've never had a Latina on the show and so it's "appropriate." It may be appropriate, but, well...
HEMMER: Now, wait, you're suggesting there's not a lot of material there? Do you want us to get you a copy of that program or...
CAFFERTY: If -- let me see if I can do this this way. They should put these on "Inside The Actor's Studio." If -- you understand what I'm saying?
HEMMER: Say she does.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Yes, you know.
CAFFERTY: And speaking of which...
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: She's not doing very well either.
CAFFERTY: ... these are dead. Look at these.
HEMMER: They're not dead.
CAFFERTY: They're dying. Look at how wilted these are.
HEMMER: They smell good.
CAFFERTY: That's awful.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Oh, goodness.
CAFFERTY: That -- well.
HEMMER: Are you finished?
COLLINS: Moving right along...
CAFFERTY: That's all I've got.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: OK.
HEMMER: In a moment here, the hope and the controversy about a possible treatment for people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sanjay is back in a moment with that.
Also, the top stories just a few moments away here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 5, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
From two Iraqi cities, it looks like war again today. Battles with Shiite and Sunni extremists. Can the U.S. gain and maintain control?
A warning for U.S. cities -- beware terrorists looking to attack trains and buses. Will it force tough new security changes?
And what really happened during Tyco deliberations? Two members of the jury join us this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: A whole new week here.
Eight o'clock in New York.
Soledad O'Brien is off this week.
We welcome Heidi Collins back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello.
HEMMER: Good morning to you.
COLLINS: Thank you. Thank you.
I'm glad that you powered up your suit again.
HEMMER: Oh, thank you very much. I change the batteries once a day.
COLLINS: It's looking good.
Stories that we're following this morning, the editor of the Iraqi newspaper "Iraq Today" with us talking about dangers for the U.S. posed by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
HEMMER: Also, the question of whether or not they underestimated the seriousness of those claims. We'll get to all that in a moment.
Also this hour, how much emphasis in medical news on finding treatments for memory loss? A bit later Sanjay tells us about the drive to find a pill to make people forget. If you've seen this new movie out there with Jim Carey, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," they tackle that issue, too. So it's a good film, too.
COLLINS: Interesting.
HEMMER: Hello.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, a spotless mind.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A pill to make people forget?
HEMMER: That's what Sanjay is talking about.
CAFFERTY: I really...
HEMMER: It really is kind of different.
CAFFERTY: That's a good idea, actually.
Coming up in the Cafferty File in about 20 minutes, we're going to tell you about a restaurant in San Francisco that features a donut specialist called "The Cop's Snack." That's probably going to get them shut down pretty early out there playing on that stereotype, you see.
And you will never, ever guess who's been invited to appear on that pretentious, rather tedious program called "Inside The Actor's Studio." The identity will be revealed at the time of the File.
HEMMER: Oh, terrific.
COLLINS: This is a tease. All right, very good.
CAFFERTY: So tired.
HEMMER: At the time of your choosing.
COLLINS: We will wait for that.
CAFFERTY: What's happening in Cincinnati? Anything today?
HEMMER: A big baseball day out in Jackson, as a matter of fact.
CAFFERTY: Right.
HEMMER: We'll update you a little later, enquire.com (ph).
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: And on that note, we're going to move to news now this morning.
The White House will review the support from the September 11 Commission before it's released. Commission Chairman Tom Keene says the text will be examined to prevent potentially harmful intelligence from being leaked. Critics say this raises the prospect of White House censorship. The Commission will hear this week from National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and CNN will have special live coverage of the testimony starting Thursday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
Federal investigators now looking into funding practices by the non-profit foundation that handled the reopening of the Statue of Liberty. The "New York Times" reports the investigation centers around how the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation spent donations. There have also been questions raised about fair bidding practices for contracts.
A new study suggests watching television may contribute to the development of attention deficit problems later in life. The study looked at 1,300 children participating in a government sponsored health survey. The findings appear in this month's issue of "Pediatrics." The focus was on children at one and three years of age. The results suggested TV might over stimulate and permanently rewire the developing brain. We'll talk more about that later.
Low cost airlines may provide passengers with a better flight experience than their full service competitors. Three of the top airlines in a recent quality survey were budget airlines, with JetBlue leading the pack. The three largest airlines -- United, American and Delta -- were close to the bottom. Last in the survey was Atlantic Southeast Airlines. That is owned by Delta.
If you used a Visa or a MasterCard on Wednesday, you may have been charged three times. Officials say a computer glitch caused more than 800,000 credit and debit transactions to be double or even triple charged. The charges have been reversed now. The customers are being told to check their statements. Andy Serwer will have a little bit more on this later in the day.
That's what I'm going to tell my husband about all those charges.
HEMMER: Yes?
COLLINS: Yes, there was a triple charge mistake.
HEMMER: Think that'll fly?
COLLINS: No.
HEMMER: It's coming, Matt.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Let's start again this hour in Iraq. More bloody confrontations in a number of Iraqi cities there. The violence now leaving 13 U.S. troops and scores of Iraqis dead. As the fighting escalates, the U.S. now vowing that law and order be put back in place.
And from Baghdad, let's start this hour with Walter Rodgers in the capital city -- Walter, hello there.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill. Well, the American led coalition was blindsided over the weekend, surprised by a revolt by militant Shiite Muslims in Iraq. It was so startling that this morning it was surrealistic to watch American Apache helicopters flying over the Iraqi capital, firing rockets into the city. It was deja vu. This was a year ago when U.S. forces moved into the city. And again the Apaches were out this morning firing rockets.
There were large columns of smoke rising from the city. One of the buildings which was targeted was the -- was one of the offices of Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite Muslim who has called for war against the Americans here, an intifada to throw the Americans out. It was his people which caused all the violence on Sunday in Baghdad and in al-Najaf, as well -- Bill.
HEMMER: Walter, how much support is it believed that the Shiites give him, Muqtada al-Sadr, in Iraq?
RODGERS: It's hard to say. When he wishes to put his Mahdi army on the street, as he did last Friday, in what was a peaceful demonstration, he turned out upwards of 100,000 young men walking around, black uniforms, green headbands around their head. These were young men who were at the time openly vowing they would die, seek martyrdom to kill the Americans and throw the Americans out of this country.
Now, Shiites are 60 percent of the population and not all of them, by any stretch, follow Muqtada al-Sadr. But if you have to ask their sympathies, you can imagine Shiites are probably going to side with Shiites against the Americans and not against other Shiites.
Again, we don't have an open revolt on our hands in the sense that the whole Shiite community in Iraq has risen up against the Americans. But a very substantial portion has. This one particular, Muqtada al-Sadr, is flexing his muscle here and he's showing the Americans that if they want to play rough, his guys can do it. And they did over the weekend. Eight American soldiers killed in Baghdad alone. In that one incident in Sadr City. Forty Iraqis were killed, close to 200 in the hospitals.
The Shiites can play rough even if those who are putting the people out on the streets aren't in a majority -- Bill.
HEMMER: Walter, thanks for that.
Walter Rodgers in Baghdad.
An awful lot to talk about today. We will not leave this story for long.
We appreciate the update now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: French police conducted raids in Paris this morning looking for suspected terror bombers. Train bombing suspects apparently blew themselves up yesterday when they were surrounded by police in Madrid. And last week, major cities in the U.S. received a warning that terrorists may be targeting transportation systems this summer.
Raymond Kelly, New York City's police commissioner, is here now to talk more about this.
As we just said, the FBI sent out a bulletin that terrorists may be planning an attack on rail lines some time this summer in the U.S., in New York City in particular.
Is New York City ready for that?
COMM. RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE: Well, we're doing everything we can to prevent any sort of terrorist event here. As far as the transit system is concerned, we have 2,800 officers assigned to our transit bureau. I think it's a very effective part of the department. We have sweeps. We have surges of officers in the transit system. We've increased our plainclothes officers.
So we're doing everything we reasonably can to protect the system.
COLLINS: You have to wonder about where the money would come from to bump up that type of security, though. In fact, Representative James Turner, a member of the House Select Committee for the Homeland Security, pointed out that as far as the number of people go that are using the system, it's three times the amount of people that are using -- I'm sorry, many more people are going through the stations on a daily basis than all three New York City airports put together.
KELLY: Yes. You're talking about Penn Station.
COLLINS: That's right.
KELLY: Yes. Obviously it's a very busy facility. We work with the Amtrak police, the MTA police and our own officers to protect the entire transit and commuter system that comes into the city. It's a big system, no question about it. We have four and a half million passengers just on our subway system and another couple of million that use the commuter lines.
So it's big. It's vibrant. We're doing a lot to protect it.
COLLINS: But yet almost every penny goes to protection of airports and airlines.
KELLY: Well, would we like more federal funds? Absolutely. Could we use them? We could use them very effectively, no question about it. But I think, you know, we're doing everything that I can think you can reasonably expect us to do. You know, Mayor Bloomberg has made a commitment to seeing to it that we get all the resources that we need. But it takes from other parts of the city budget. So we'd like to get more federal funds, no question about that.
COLLINS: I know you sent detectives to Madrid to study the rail lines there and what happened there because they resemble the system in New York City. What are you able to take away? What are those detectives learning from that city?
KELLY: Well, we did get some very specific information that I believe helped us. We changed some of our tactics. We did some adjustments as a result of that. And we're committed to getting any piece of information we can get to better protect this city. We do have detectives in other capitals throughout the world -- in Tel Aviv, Toronto, London, Singapore -- and we were able to respond quickly to Madrid.
Again, we want that little piece of information that better protects New York.
COLLINS: Now, you already mentioned some of these security sweeps. But you have to wonder, will there ever be a day when a person is going to use the rail line here in New York City, or anywhere else, for that matter, when they're going to go through the same type of security that we see at the airports today?
KELLY: Maybe. But it's, I think, a long way off. The technology really isn't there. Just the volume, the sheer volume, as I say, we, you know, probably close to seven million people a day use the commuter and subway system here in New York. The technology is just not there to handle that sort of volume.
But I know that homeland security is looking at that precise issue.
COLLINS: Quickly, before we let you go, August 30th, RNC convention going to be taking place at Madison Square Garden.
Do you have concerns?
KELLY: Well, we have some concerns, but we have a big experienced police force. We've been planning for this for over a year. We're working with other agencies, federal agencies, the Secret Service. I think we'll be in fine shape.
COLLINS: All right, New York City's police commissioner, Raymond Kelly.
Thank you so much for your time this morning.
KELLY: Thank you.
COLLINS: Bill.
HEMMER: We want to get back to Iraq right now. The ongoing violence in that country was at least partly triggered by the closure last week of a newspaper that supports the Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Hassan Fattah is the editor of the newspaper in Iraq called "Iraq Today."
He's live in Istanbul, Turkey to talk about what's happening back in his home country.
And we welcome you back here to AMERICAN MORNING.
To our viewers, a substantial delay here on the satellite.
You wrote in the "USA Today" last Thursday's edition -- I'll pull a portion of that for our readers to hear, our viewers to watch this now. "The coalition used the blunt instrument of force to make a political point and in the process may have set back the course of all media and institutions of civil society in Iraq."
Hassan, tell us why the closing of this newspaper, you believe, triggered the violence over the weekend, , knowing that al-Sadr had been a target for some time by the coalition, knowing that he'd be a problem for some time, as well?
HASSAN FATTAH, EDITOR, "IRAQ TODAY": Well, certainly al-Sadr was actually being targeted. He was somebody that they were going to arrest at some point and then they chose not to. He has been somebody who has been trying to encourage a confrontation with the coalition. And in many ways, the closure of the paper last week was the confrontation he really wanted.
This is a man who was actually not managing to get the same number of people out in the streets as usual. He didn't have the standing that he was getting. And all of a sudden, a day later -- or, actually, the same day -- he managed to bring out thousands and thousands of people in support.
The problem with what's going on here is that the institutions of civil society in Iraq don't yet exist. They're very weak, very nascent. And by shutting down a newspaper and the coalition proving that it can, number one, and is willing to do it, it, in its essence, puts all those other institutions, those fledgling institutions, at risk.
HEMMER: Yes. I asked this question of Walt Rodgers a few minutes ago, do you know how much Shiite support Sadr has in Iraq?
FATTAH: Well, it's not exactly clear. Certainly he controls a significant portion of the poorest Shia, the slums of Baghdad and other cities. But let's face it, it doesn't take a lot of people to create a lot of damage in a situation like that. Four thousand or 10,000 people, you've still got a huge problem. The question is how to handle it.
What effectively happened with the closure of the paper, and, just as important, the arrest of one of his key advisers the other day, was actually the coalition was effectively poking the dragon. And the hope is is that this is something that will come and die away. We don't know where this is going to go from here.
HEMMER: I have heard for the past year, probably even longer than that, that Iraqis respond to force, they respect the use of force, going back to the days of Saddam Hussein.
Is that a true statement and a fair statement made about the Iraqi people?
FATTAH: I think they respect strength, not necessarily force. If you slap somebody, you're not going to get the same reaction as if you speak firmly with him and justly. What Iraqis understand is justice, and that's what they want to hear and see.
HEMMER: Hassan Fattah, thanks, from the "Iraq Today" newspaper, in Istanbul, Turkey, talking about the latest on what's happening back in his home country.
Nice to talk to you, as always.
Appreciate it.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, inside the Tyco jury -- were jurors about to reach a verdict when a mistrial was called? We'll talk to two of them, coming up next.
HEMMER: Also, Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at new therapies aimed at helping troubled patients forget the past and past trauma, all ahead this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
COMMERCIAL
HEMMER: A solid week of turmoil in the Tyco trial ended with a bombshell last week when the judge granted a mistrial due to intense outside pressure on the woman known as juror number four.
Former Tyco chief Dennis Kozlowski and his former top financial officer, Mark Swartz, now likely to face a second trial.
But what has been the reaction now of the jury to that mistrial? And were they on the verge of reaching a verdict?
Here to talk about it, two of the jurors themselves, Gregory Sutton is here and Pete -- say your last name.
PETE MCENTEGART, TYCO JUROR: McEntegart.
HEMMER: I don't want to screw it up.
MCENTEGART: That's all right.
HEMMER: Nice to see you, Pete.
Thanks.
Good morning to you.
You also read a current article in "Time" magazine, as well, that I want to get to.
MCENTEGART: Right.
HEMMER: What was your reaction, Pete, on Friday when the judge made that ruling? MCENTEGART: Well, at that point, I mean things had been so emotional, so up and down the last week or two that I was sort of out of emotion right at the moment.
HEMMER: You were just ready to put it behind you and move on?
MCENTEGART: No, I was just numb. You know, it was different when we went out to the courtroom and the judge explained, you know, how they would have respected any verdict we did return. Then I started getting a little more upset, you know, because I did think we were close.
HEMMER: Take that Greg. How close were you guys to getting a verdict?
GREGORY SUTTON, TYCO JUROR: We were tech -- within hours probably. We would have been done on Friday had we had the opportunity. But unfortunately something happened and we were not given the opportunity.
HEMMER: OK, so before the judge made his ruling, you guys were deliberating for 12 days.
MCENTEGART: Right.
SUTTON: Right.
HEMMER: What changed on Friday that makes you think you were that close to getting a verdict?
SUTTON: It didn't...
MCENTEGART: It wasn't really Friday.
SUTTON: Yes, it wasn't Friday, it was Thursday.
MCENTEGART: From Monday through that...
SUTTON: Yes.
MCENTEGART: That whole week was different.
HEMMER: So you were making progress every day you believe?
MCENTEGART: Right.
SUTTON: Exactly.
MCENTEGART: There was just a lot of...
SUTTON: Yes. We were almost done.
MCENTEGART: ... you had to get through.
HEMMER: Help me understand this. We've talked a lot for the past year about $6,000 shower curtains. SUTTON: Right.
HEMMER: Why did that not have an impact on your deliberations?
MCENTEGART: Well, it just -- it was sort of beside the fact. I mean some of the charges that, you know, we were perhaps more likely to find them guilty on were more how they got their money, not how they spent their money. We felt, you know, if -- they could spend it however they wanted. But the issue was, in some cases, whether or not they were authorized to take it.
SUTTON: Exactly, whether or not they were authorized was the point. It was more of a philosophical question versus what they did with it. How -- if they were actually authorized or not, I mean if they were, then who cares what they did with it, you know? It's their money so go ahead. You can spend it however you'd like.
HEMMER: So do you believe the prosecution went after the wrong charges in this case? Is that what you're suggesting?
MCENTEGART: Well, they spent a lot...
SUTTON: Some...
MCENTEGART: They spent way too much time on some of the wrong issues, like shower curtains and Jimmy Buffett in Sardinia...
SUTTON: Right.
MCENTEGART: ... rather than focusing on...
HEMMER: So then -- stop a second. What should they have focused on, then? What were the charges that you thought were applicable?
MCENTEGART: The, some of the grand larceny. I mean the charges were there. I mean they, it's not like they didn't charge the right things. But they maybe over shot things a little bit.
SUTTON: I agree a hundred percent. They actually did not -- I mean, again, like we were saying in the jury room, the Sardinia party, the shower curtain, those things didn't matter to us.
MCENTEGART: Right.
SUTTON: They should have focused more, again, on the philosophical background of whether Dennis -- or Mr. Kozlowski and Mark Swartz actually believed they were entitled to actually have this money in the first place.
HEMMER: Yes, I know you two were on the with Paula on Friday night here on CNN.
MCENTEGART: I wasn't, actually.
SUTTON: No, he -- I was, correct.
HEMMER: And you said, what, juror number four was one tough lady. Is that what you said?
SUTTON: No, that's -- I did not say that. No.
HEMMER: Who said that?
SUTTON: Another juror said that.
HEMMER: All right. Was she tough?
SUTTON: She was a very intelligent woman who held her -- held strong in her beliefs.
HEMMER: Held strong.
Was she stubborn?
SUTTON: I don't think I'd go that far, no.
HEMMER: You think she was justified?
SUTTON: It's her right to do whatever she...
MCENTEGART: I think she believed she was justified.
SUTTON: Yes. That's good. Good.
SUTTON: In good faith.
HEMMER: Had she come around earlier do you think you guys would be sitting here on top of a mistrial at this point?
MCENTEGART: Well, I don't know, because it was so hard to predict what was going on outside. I mean we knew, you know, I certainly suspected that the defense -- after our letters -- that the defense would be calling for a mistrial every five or 10 minutes. So any time there was a delay, I certainly already always presumed that they were about to call it off. So that's what I meant, emotionally, you keep thinking, all right, they're going to call it off, it's over. And then you'd have to get geared back up to what was still quite a bit of work to do to get through all these counts.
SUTTON: Right.
HEMMER: Listen, I don't have much time, Greg.
Is there -- if he retried Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, what do you think the verdict is?
SUTTON: I think it's mixed again. So I'm not sure what's going to happen. But I do believe that there are some things they need to be prosecuted for and some things they don't, and they need to figure out which ones they want to do.
HEMMER: Gregory Sutton, thanks.
SUTTON: Thank you. HEMMER: Pete McEnetegart, nice to see you, as well.
MCENTEGART: Thanks.
HEMMER: Thank you, gentlemen.
SUTTON: Thanks.
HEMMER: All right, here's Heidi.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, take a pill, forget your troubles. What's wrong with that? Well, plenty, some medical professionals say. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will talk more about it.
And U.S. troops battling a new enemy in Iraq after a bloody weekend.
Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
COMMERCIAL
COLLINS: We want to check in with Jack now -- we haven't heard from him in a while -- and the Cafferty File.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Heidi.
The -- there's a new product on the market. If nothing's too good for your pet, they now have gourmet food for Fido. The company is called Bon Apawtit. Bon Apawtit. It says it has -- that's bon apetit. You know, it's precooked organic food for pets. The meals include salmon souffle, chicken lo mein and pizza and they sell for $3.49 each, which is more than a lot of pets are worth.
Theyll mean more donuts for California cops when a restaurant called Cops Donuts opens in San Francisco, assuming it doesn't burn down before then. The logo shows a cop handcuffed to a donut and the motto is "if our food was any better, it would be criminal." It's a 1940s themed kind of joint that'll have hamburgers and fries and donuts. The menu includes the Cops Snack, which is two donuts and a coffee or the Cops Feast, which is a dozen glazed donuts and a dozen assorted donuts and a -- well, you get the idea.
Coming soon to cable TV, based on box office recipients, arguably the worst actress in Hollywood, Jennifer Lopez, will be a guest on "Inside The Actor's Studio." The show's host, James Lipton, told a New York newspaper that his students are thrilled that J-Lo will be appearing for an interview. One can only imagine what she might say about the craft. Lipton says they've never had a Latina on the show and so it's "appropriate." It may be appropriate, but, well...
HEMMER: Now, wait, you're suggesting there's not a lot of material there? Do you want us to get you a copy of that program or...
CAFFERTY: If -- let me see if I can do this this way. They should put these on "Inside The Actor's Studio." If -- you understand what I'm saying?
HEMMER: Say she does.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Yes, you know.
CAFFERTY: And speaking of which...
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: She's not doing very well either.
CAFFERTY: ... these are dead. Look at these.
HEMMER: They're not dead.
CAFFERTY: They're dying. Look at how wilted these are.
HEMMER: They smell good.
CAFFERTY: That's awful.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Oh, goodness.
CAFFERTY: That -- well.
HEMMER: Are you finished?
COLLINS: Moving right along...
CAFFERTY: That's all I've got.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: OK.
HEMMER: In a moment here, the hope and the controversy about a possible treatment for people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sanjay is back in a moment with that.
Also, the top stories just a few moments away here.
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