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American Morning

The Fight for Iraq; Interview With Senator John Cornyn; 9/11 Commission Wants August 6 Document Declassified; Interview With James Woolsey

Aired April 09, 2004 - 9:00   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN CNN ANCHOR: Exactly one year ago, the statue of Saddam Hussein came down in Baghdad. Today, in that same city square, U.S. troops are doing it all over again. This time, taking down images of Muqtada al-Sadder.
Did the White House downplay warnings that Osama bin Laden wanted an attack inside the U.S.? The answer may lie in a secret document.

Those stories are ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

O'BRIEN: I like it. Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Anderson Cooper is in for Bill Hemmer today because Mr. Hemmer has taken the day off.

Also this morning, we're going to be talking to former CIA director James Woolsey. He has a lot to tell us about the information in those presidential daily briefings, those PDBs. One of them now, of course, is a key question for the White House after Condoleezza Rice's testimony.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, from August 6.

Also, talking to the Senator John Cornyn of the Armed Services Committee. Have the challenges for the United States fundamentally changed in Iraq this week? What is his response? We're going to talk about that. Senator Cornyn.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Cafferty.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: And the FCC has got Howard Stern in the crosshairs. Clear Channel Communications dropped Stern's program from six of its stations permanently yesterday and is facing a $500,000 fine. Is Stern the poster boy for cleaning up America's airwaves? Got to start somewhere, I guess.

COOPER: All right. Let's take a look at our top stories right now.

Japan's prime minister is reiterating that his country will not bow to terrorist threats. A group calling itself the Mujahadeen Squadrons is demanding that Japan pull its forces out of Iraq, or it claims it will kill three hostages. Video of the three Japanese nationals shows them surrounded by mass men with guns. The hostages families are pleading for their release.

A source says former Vice President Al Gore will face questions before the commission investigating September 11 attacks. Today, the meeting comes one day after former President Bill Clinton made an appearance behind closed doors. He was not under oath. In a statement, the commission said they found the former president forthcoming and responsive to questions.

Researchers say a New drug could prevent millions of people from sudden heart failure. A study on mice at the University of Columbia shows the drug prevented death in animals with arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats. Now, researchers in the U.K. say it is too early to tell if the drug is actually going to wore work in humans.

And a parasail ride at a Florida beach turned into a harrowing ordeal for two teenage girls. The line apparently snapped as a boat towed the two 16-year-olds. It took people a half-hour to pull the girls down to the beach. They were not hurt, but they say they will not be parasailing anytime soon. Understandable.

O'BRIEN: Not exactly a shock there.

COOPER: Exactly, yes. Sort of a duh.

O'BRIEN: Yes, duh.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: One year ago today, a cheering crowd of Iraqis watched as the U.S. military brought down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Hundreds of Americans and an untold number of Iraqis have died since then. Well, now, a battle for Iraqis' hearts and minds, as just this morning, U.S. Army troops in that same square taking down pictures of radical Shia Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadder. Some of his followers have battled coalition forces across southern Iraq all this week.

For the latest on all of that, let's go to Baghdad and Jim Clancy, who is standing by there for us live this morning.

Jim, good morning.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good evening to you from Baghdad, Soledad.

We're looking at a very fluid situation, one that the U.S. military is watching very closely in Fallujah. They have, of course, about five hours ago announced that they were putting in place a unilateral cessation of offensive operations. Not quite the same technically as a cease-fire but, nonetheless, it has that advantage for the people of Fallujah.

U.S. military officials telling CNN they want to give the majority, the vast majority of people in the city of Fallujah a bit of a rest, a time to get in food, water and other supplies. After all, over the past week -- and we'll take a look at some of the pictures from the last day or so of what's been happening in Fallujah -- they've been under a lot of pressure there.

More than 300 killed, more than 400 wounded. Part of the reason was to allow the Iraqis a chance to tend to their dead and wounded. The hospitals there critically short of medical supplies. Those are going to be brought in as well.

An Iraqi Governing Council member spearheading the effort, but there were a lot of other people involved. Some of the civic leaders there in Fallujah themselves requesting the talks. There were other groups that were involved as well. The Jordanians even at one point asked to help intervene. The U.S. is sending in a negotiator as well. It may be that some of the leaders of the insurgency are also involved in all of this.

What comes of it? That remains to be seen. But for now, at least, it appears the people of Fallujah have 48 hours to relax.

Meantime, there is an offensive under way in southern Iraq that is aimed at Muqtada al-Sadder. Just a little bit earlier today, his supporters had planned to have a demonstration here in Fidra Square (ph), or Paradise Square, where the Saddam Hussein statue came down. Instead, it was his picture that was coming down from some of the -- well, one of the statues that was put up there by some art students. They weren't all successful in getting it down, but that is the sentiment today.

IN Baghdad, which, by the way, is very calm, although it's under heightened security right now --- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Jim Clancy reporting for us from Baghdad this morning. Jim, thanks a lot.

Anderson?

COOPER: Well, the situation in Iraq is, of course, getting a lot of attention on Capitol Hill. Joining us now to talk about it is Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Armed Services Committee.

Senator, thanks very much for being on the program.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Good to be with you.

COOPER: How -- as you look at events on the ground, do you feel the U.S. is still sort of in control of events on the ground?

CORNYN: Well, there is no question that American military has the power to crush this insurgency. But, obviously, there's competition for power within the Shiite community, the majority of people in Iraq leading to the June 30 turnover of power. So we're seeing, I think, more upheaval and violence than we have in the recent past.

COOPER: As you well know, though, winning a war is more than just the power to crush, as you said. It's also often winning hearts and minds. How is the U.S. doing on that front in your estimation?

CORNYN: Well, the latest polls that I've seen and we've seen here on Capitol Hill of the Iraqi people show that a substantial majority appreciate what America has done, what the coalition has done there. And, indeed, notwithstanding the pictures we see on television and what we read about in the newspapers, which are necessarily directed at the conflict and perhaps the bad news, the majority of Iraq is peaceful today. It's much better off than it ever was, certainly under Saddam Hussein. Obviously, though, we still have a tough road to hoe.

COOPER: One in 10 military personnel call Texas home. Seventeen military installations in your state. What are you hearing from your constituents not only about what is going on in Iraq, but also about the possibility that troops who are there now may have to stay longer than they had anticipated?

CORNYN: Well, our troops are the most professional, best- trained, best equipped fighting force on the face of the Earth, and they know it. And they're proud of the work they're doing there on behalf of the Iraqi people and to protect America's national security interests.

Obviously, families are making tremendous sacrifices, too. The ones that wait behind and worry about their loved one fighting our conflict or war on terror in Iraq. So there is concern, but there is still a lot of pride. I think the one message, though, that we need to make clear to the American people and to these families is that America will not lose its resolve in winning this war on terror, notwithstanding the temporary upheaval that we're seeing now.

COOPER: There had been much talk over the last -- really over the last year and even before that about trying to internationalize this force to some degree, trying to get more allies of the United States into the coalition, getting their forces inside Iraq. It would seem increasingly difficult to do that with the level of violence forces are now facing. Do you have any confidence anyone else is actually going to step up to the plate?

CORNYN: Well, there are more than 30 countries now that comprise the coalition and, indeed, it's an interesting phenomenon to see that Japanese, Ukrainians, Koreans and others have been captured as hostages, which appears to put the lie to those who say this is a unilateral action by the United States military. But I'm also very proud of the Japanese prime minister and others who said this will not deter them in their commitment to working with the coalition to win the war on terror in Iraq and around the world.

COOPER: But do you think there is any hope of trying to get or any -- I mean, do you think the U.S. should be trying to get any other forces to send troops in?

CORNYN: Well, I think we are -- the primary focus of our rests is to rebuild the Iraqi military and police force there. And, indeed, the number of Iraqis who are providing security in Iraq today far exceed the number of Americans and coalition forces. But, yes, we'd like to have other help if we can get it. And we would welcome them, I'm sure.

But it's tough going now. And thank goodness for the coalition, thank goodness for the American forces in the field continuing to do the very tough and ugly work of winning this war.

COOPER: Senator John Cornyn, appreciate you joining us on the program. Thanks very much.

CORNYN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, it was at the center of yesterday's hearing. How soon will the White House declassify a document that could shed light on pre-9/11 terror warnings? We're going to take you live to the White House coming up.

COOPER: And a stern judgment against the self-proclaimed king of all media. Did Howard Stern deserve it? We'll take a look at that.

That ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: The White House plans to cooperate with the 9/11 Commission's request to declassify a CIA report on Osama bin Laden. The presidential briefing was just one of several lines of questioning for National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice at yesterday's hearing.

Jeanne Meserve followed the action. And she's live at the White House with us this morning.

Good morning, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson. And the release of that 1.5 page highly classified document could come as early as today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): The presidential daily brief of August 6, 2001 figured prominently in Rice's appearance before the 9/11 Commission. Because the administration believed that summer that any terrorist attack would likely be overseas, even the PDB's title provoked a tough exchange.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I believe the title was "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States." Now, the...

RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: Thank you.

RICE: No. Mr. Ben-Veniste...

BEN-VENISTE: I will get into...

RICE: I would like to finish my point here.

BEN-VENISTE: I didn't know there was a point.

RICE: You asked me whether or not it warned of attacks.

BEN-VENISTE: I asked you what the title was.

RICE: You said, "Did it not warn of attacks?" It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no New threat information.

MESERVE: But Rice disclosed the brief mentioned 70 FBI investigations into al Qaeda cells in the U.S. and the possibility of hijacking.

BOB KERREY, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: Now, that the FBI indicates patterns of suspicious activity in the United States consistent with preparations for hijacking. That's the language of the memo that was briefed the president on the 6th of August.

RICE: And that was checked out, and steps were taken through FAA circulars to warn of hijackings.

MESERVE: But Rice said she had never been briefed on the use of planes as missiles, though intelligence agencies had warned of the danger as early as 1995. Rice denied claims by her former counterterrorism aide, Richard Clarke, that the Bush administration under-reacted to al Qaeda the summer before 9/11, saying the government was on full alert. At least one panel member was skeptical.

JAMIE GORELICK, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: Have you actually looked at the enlets (ph), the messages that the FBI put out?

RICE: Yes.

GORELICK: To me -- and you're free to comment on them -- they are feckless. They don't tell anybody anything. They don't bring anyone to battle stations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Rice blamed 9/11 on structural problems within the U.S. government, which prevented the sharing of intelligence. That very subject will be the topic of the 9/11 Commission's hearings next week. They'll be hearing from Attorney General John Ashcroft, CIA Director George Tenet, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and his predecessor, Louis Freeh.

Today, by the way, the commission meeting, and sources say hearing privately, the testimony of the former vice president, Al Gore. Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: All right. Jeanne Meserve, from the White House, thanks.

Soledad? O'BRIEN: Well, James Woolsey was CIA director for two years in President Clinton's administration. And earlier today, I asked him about declassifying the presidential brief that is now at the center of this whole debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES WOOLSEY, FMR. CIA DIRECTOR: If they say they're going to do it, I'm sure they will be able to find a way to get any information about intelligence sources and methods out of it. The reason that the president's daily brief is so highly classified is that we always used to -- and I'm sure they've done this for years -- put a lot of material in it where it would help the president understand material about the source and the method by which the intelligence was collected. And most intelligence material doesn't have that. But you can understand a lot of things better if you know how it was obtained and exactly who it came from.

So, presumably, they will edit out anything that might relate to that and leave the substance behind. At least if I were responsible for doing it a few years ago, that's what I would have done.

O'BRIEN: What Dr. Rice said about this particular document was that it was historical, that it had no real New information in it. And I'm curious to know, since you're a person who obviously has prepared easily hundreds of these for President Clinton, is that how these briefs usually are?

Are they historical documents? Are they assessments overall with no New information? And what exactly would historical mean?

WOOLSEY: Sometimes they can be. They could be any of a whole range of things.

I take it what she meant from that was that there was nothing that said that bin Laden was planning to seize aircraft and fly them into buildings. And clearly, that seems logical to me, because if there had been anything remotely like that, the government would have taken a lot more precautions than it did.

So I imagine this was in response to a question the president asked because there was one report that he had said, "Don't just tell me about attacks overseas. I want to know what we know about possible attacks in the United States."

And so whatever they had picked up, I'm sure, was in there. But if there were anything specific, as Condoleezza Rice said yesterday, about planes flying into buildings, certainly they would have done something different than what they did.

O'BRIEN: The public, those of us who have not had an opportunity to take a look at the document, look at the title of the document which is, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the U.S.," and say, well, gee, doesn't that kind of say it all? I mean...

WOOLSEY: Well, no. Is says determined to attack inside the U.S. Not how, where, or when, which is often the problem with intelligence.

You will get things that they got that summer. "Big attack coming." And maybe some of them say in the U.S., maybe many of them said somewhere else. But that isn't enough for you, unfortunately, to prevent it.

It may be enough, for example, back at the millennium. The concern about attacks at the time of the millennium was probably one of the things that led to that wonderful Customs agent up in Washington State being a little more alert. And so she spotted Rasam (ph) coming across the border and helping prevent an attack on Los Angeles Airport.

You can bring people to a somewhat higher state of readiness. But unless you know more than maybe in the U.S. sometime soon, it's hard to figure out exactly what one does about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Well, that's former CIA Director James Woolsey talking to us a little bit earlier this morning.

Anderson?

COOPER: Well, still to come this morning, the men who speak for the coalition in Baghdad are set at the top of the hour to brief reporters. Stay with CNN for that live report from Baghdad.

Also ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, the self-proclaimed king of all media gets yanked from some stations. But is shock jock Howard Stern the real problem?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: And good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It is exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Bill Hemmer has the day off. Anderson Cooper is sitting in for him this morning.

Hello.

COOPER: I'm happy to be here. Nice to see you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. We appreciate that.

COOPER: You look like you don't believe me.

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. Thank you, Anderson. I sense your genuine...

COOPER: That's the phony morning perkiness you like.

Jeff Greenfield will join us here as well to tell us his thoughts on the testimony from Condoleezza Rice yesterday. Did she help or hurt the White House case, that it did everything it could to protect Americans before the 9/11 attacks? We'll talk to Jeff about that. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, a report coming up from Sanjay Gupta on some amazing advances in hip and knee replacements. Hundreds of thousands of Americans go through these procedures every year. Now it actually might not be as grueling. We'll explain.

COOPER: Let's look at what is going on this morning.

The White House is now said to be working to declassify a daily intelligence briefing known as the PDB from August 6, 2001. Now, the document was brought up yesterday during National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission. The panel wanted to know if the document is proof that the White House was warned that al Qaeda may try to hijack American airplanes. Some analysis on Rice's testimony just ahead.

British police have charged five men in connection to terrorist activities. The men were arrested last week during raids that also uncovered a half ton of potentially explosive material. Three of the suspects were charged in connection with the bombing plot. Two other men who face lesser offenses and were released on bond. All five are expected to appear in court over the weekend.

A train line that runs through Paris is back up and running today. French police temporarily shut down part of the suburban network yesterday after a threat of a possible bomb attack. Police say they evacuated five rail stations after the U.S. warned French officials of the threat.

Pope John Paul II is continuing holy week observances as he celebrates Good Friday in Rome. The 83-year-old pope kept up his tradition of hearing confessions. Tomorrow, the pontiff will lead an Easter vigil mass, and on Sunday he'll celebrate Easter in St. Peters Square.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Bringing you up to date now on the very latest from Iraq. At the top of the hour, CNN will bring you coverage of a news conference from Iraq. General Mark Kimmitt and CPA spokesman Dan Senor are going to brief reporters. Also out of Iraq, the U.S. Army troops have removed pictures of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr from a main Baghdad square. It was a year ago today that the statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down in that very same square.

A statement released from Al-Sadr today demanded that U.S. forces leave Iraq. The statement also said that coalition forces are now facing a "civil revolt."

U.S. troops are observing a halt of their offensive operations in Fallujah, where they have battled Sunni insurgence all week. The halt is aimed at allowing Iraqi negotiations with insurgent leaders and letting some humanitarian aid into that city.

And Japan says its troops will remain in Iraq despite an insurgent threat to kill three Japanese civilians who are being held hostage.

Dozens of Americans have been killed during the last week in some of the most ferocious fighting in Iraq since the president declared major combat over back last May. Many of those troops were based at sprawling Ft. Hood in Texas. Our Frank Buckley is there for us this morning.

Frank, good morning.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Sixty-five soldiers from Ft. Hood have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom since the beginning of the conflict in Iraq. Each one of those deaths difficult for the Ft. Hood community and for the community that surrounds this base. But on Sunday, they were hit particularly hard. Seven soldiers were killed in one day, 49 wounded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): It was the single worst day of the war so far for Texas, because it's home to Ft. Hood, which lost seven of its soldiers in a single day in combat. Specialist Israel Garza won't be coming to his wife and three children.

FRANK MATA, GARZA'S UNCLE: I'm having a hard time comprehending that he will no longer be seeing his father.

BUCKLEY: On Tuesday, an eighth Ft. Hood soldier, Sergeant Horardo Moreno (ph) was killed. His mother...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... told me that he wasn't coming back. He had already prepared for that, that he was going to be back. But he was going to be back in a coffin.

BUCKLEY: It is the worst of times for a community that just a few months ago celebrated the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And guess what? They caught Saddam.

BUCKLEY: Soldiers from Ft. Hood were credited with capturing Saddam Hussein. It was a high point of the war for people here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They caught Saddam.

BUCKLEY: Now, a new low, and an awful reminder that every soldier is potentially in harm's way.

LT. COL. BOB FORRESTER, U.S. ARMY: I'm not sure you ever can prepare anybody for an event like this when it happens. And what you've got to fall back on is the training that you've received over the years. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: And that training is for both the soldiers and for their families. The families get free deployment briefings in which they're told exactly what might happen in the case of something that happens like what happened on Sunday, a terrible worst-case scenario. They're also told of what is available to them.

And we're told here from base officials that since Sunday, the counsels and chaplains have been very busy. And other military families have been busy because part of that support process includes military families helping each other in the event of something like this. In some cases, they just sit with them, Soledad, to be with them in this terrible time -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Some terribly sad news. Frank Buckley reporting for us this morning. Frank, thank you.

Anderson?

COOPER: Well, Condoleezza Rice faced a tricky political challenge as she appeared before the 9/11 Commission yesterday. During nearly three hours of testimony under oath, the national security adviser defended the Bush administration's actions and she tried to undo some of the political damage done two weeks ago by former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke.

Jeff green field is here now to talk about it all.

Jeff, nice to see you this morning.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Good morning.

COOPER: A lot of comparison has been made between what she said versus what he said. Let's look at two things that both of them said and talk about it. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD CLARKE, FMR. COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER: I believe the Bush administration in the first eight months considered terrorism an important issue, but not an urgent issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICE: We also moved to develop a new and comprehensive strategy to try and eliminate the al Qaeda network. President Bush understood the threat. And he understood its importance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: When you get down to the core issues, how much do they really differ in their testimony? GREENFIELD: There are a couple of factual discrepancies about what exactly Richard Clarke asked to brief the president about. Was it cyberterrorism or also regular terrorism? But to a startling extent, this a matter of interpretation.

I mean, they're both describing kind of the same event. It's just that in Richard Clarke's view, the Bush administration put it kind of on the back burner as one of many things. And what Condi Rice is saying yesterday is, no, as soon as we thought there was a problem, we moved to do something about it and al Qaeda. It's shades of gray in a lot of these areas.

COOPER: And yet, Richard Clarke has said when he was asked during testimony even of the things he recommended doing would they have prevented 9/11? He said no.

GREENFIELD: Not exactly. And as I say, I'm glad you asked that question.

COOPER: OK.

GREENFIELD: This has been widely I believe misreported.

COOPER: Interesting.

GREENFIELD: Clarke was asked if everything you recommended on January 25 with respect to Afghanistan had been put in play, arming the northern alliance, arming the predator drones, would that have made a difference? And Clarke said in one word, no, because the terrorists were already here.

But when asked if this administration had gone to battle stations in the spring and summer of 2001, shaken the tree, to use a cliche...

COOPER: Right.

GREENFIELD: ... what he says about that is, we don't know, maybe it would have dislodged that information about young Arab men in flight school. So we've got to be careful here about who is saying what.

COOPER: And yet, it was interesting to hear Dr. Condoleezza Rice yesterday saying that she believed the tree was being shaken.

GREENFIELD: Right. And that -- see, I think this is a remarkable study of how people in positions of power, two different people, see things so differently.

In Dr. Rice's view, tasking the FBI to talk to the field offices, sending out circulars to the FAA, showed that they were up to speed. Richard Clarke's view is very different. He is suggesting, no, they went along kind of like at a regular speed and didn't sound alarm bells, even though, to use the other cliche, people's hair was on fire.

COOPER: Mitch McConnell yesterday went on the floor and said that he didn't like the direction the commission was going, that it's become sort of partisan. The commission -- I mean, I've talked to a couple of the commissioners. They all say, look, we are bipartisan. They stick to that very firmly.

But are they really nonpartisan? I mean, if you look at the way the Democrats were asking questions versus how the Republicans were asking questions, there was a big difference.

GREENFIELD: I think, clearly, some of the questioners, particularly Richard Ben-Veniste, was on edge. And I think the toughest questions that were asked substantively were -- came from two Democrats, Jamie Gorelick, the former assistant attorney general, and former Congressman Roemer, when they pushed Condi Rice hard and said, look, you think you were telling the FBI and FAA to get moving. We've talked to the field agents and the acting director of the FBI and they didn't know about this.

I think the real danger for the Bush administration here is that the commission is going to work very hard to put out a unanimous report. That's five Republicans and five Democrats. I think they're going to be very tough on both the Clinton and Bush administrations. But it's not the Clinton administration that's asking for another term in November.

COOPER: And, according to reports, they are talking to former Vice President Al Gore today, more testimony next week.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

COOPER: All right.

GREENFIELD: So that is where the danger is for them, that the commission will be unanimous and tough on both administrations, only one of which is up for reelection.

COOPER: All right. A lot of testimony ahead. Jeff Greenfield, thanks very much.

GREENFIELD: You bet.

COOPER: Soledad?

O'BRIEN: And coming up at the top of the hour, in fact, coalition officials are expected to give an update on the latest developments out of Iraq. CNN is going to carry that alive.

And ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, new joint replacement surgeries are much less invasive and you heal a lot faster. We've got a report from Dr. Sanjay Gupta just ahead.

Plus, you'll meet a woman who left the corporate world to give something back to her city's kids by teaching.

Those stories in a few moments on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: More and more joint replacement surgeries are being performed with minimally invasive techniques. Hips and shoulders and now knees can be done now with less damage to the patient. So just who is a good candidate for the new surgery? Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For 67 years, Essie Barnes have been active. But one of those scourges of old age, arthritis, has caught up with her. Her knees are no longer what they used to be.

ESSIE BARNES, KNEE REPLACEMENT PATIENT: I have things to do. You know, I have my ministry to go out. So it's been holding me back since December. I'm not able to go out.

GUPTA: Four years ago, she had her left knee replaced, one of 300,000 Americans a year to do so. But since December, she's been walking with a cane, and she tires easily. So her doctors recommended replacing her right knee as well, but in a new way. Instead of the standard 12-inch incision, only a three to four-inch incision will be used to implant the man-made knee joint.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You show a patient an eight or 12-inch incision, and you show them a four-inch incision, and in the patient's mind it seems fairly obvious to them that it would hurt less or cause less damage.

GUPTA: And they're right. In the process, no muscles or tendons will be cut. Surgeons have realized it is their healing that could be even more painful than the knee replacement itself.

DR. THOMAS SCULCO, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONS: They're able to walk more quickly. They're able to hopefully get off a cane and recover more quickly.

GUPTA: So quickly, in fact, that instead of days in the hospital, patients are staying just hours. Needless to say, patients are excited. But some doctors say the procedure isn't for everyone.

SCULCO: The patients who are not ideal would be the more obese patient, where there is just more tissue to go through.

GUPTA: If you're thinking about a minimally invasive procedure, be sure to cover some bases with your doctor. How many procedures has your surgeon performed? Experts say at least 50 a year is a good guideline. This particular procedure takes a while to master.

Are there any alternatives to surgery for your condition? How long will your individual recovery be? And what happens if the procedure fails on you? Less than two weeks after her operation, Mrs. Barnes is back on her feet and almost ready to get rid of that cane.

BARNES: It felt good to know that I finally had it done and I can get on with my life. GUPTA: Not a bad recovery for this grandmother in her 60s.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Some experts say that 75 percent to 80 percent of knee replacement patients are good candidates for the procedure. Thinner, younger patients tend to recover faster. And it's important to remember that it's actually the exact same implant but with less damage.

Interesting.

COOPER: All right. Well, here's Aaron Brown with a preview of what is coming up tonight on "NEWSNIGHT."

AARON BROWN, HOST, "NEWSNIGHT": Thank you, Anderson. You are up early today.

Tonight on "NEWSNIGHT," remembering the Alamo. At least a dozen movies have been made about the historic siege. A new one opens nationwide today. It's the first to focus on the history of the Alamo, not the myth.

We'll have that, today's top stories, of course, morning papers and the rest. That's "NEWSNIGHT," CNN tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern -- Anderson.

COOPER: Aaron, thanks very much.

Still to come this morning, a woman who is trying to save a community by first saving its children.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time to check in with Jack Cafferty. I was in -- I don't know where I was.

O'BRIEN: I was going to say, you know, we still have like 10 minutes left in the show, Anderson. Don't give up the...

COOPER: I'm already thinking about my evening program. All right. Let's check in with Jack and see what's going on.

CAFFERTY: Thanks, Anderson.

The question this morning is: Should Howard Stern be the poster child for cleaning up the nation's airwaves? Clear channel Communications yanked him off stations in six markets permanently yesterday, and they're facing a $500,000 fine because Mr. Stern said some naughty words on the radio. So that is the question.

As soon as I get my glasses on, I'll read you the answer. You can tell it's the third hour of this turkey, can't you?.

O'BRIEN: Nine minutes. Come on, you can do it.

CAFFERTY: G.A. in Des Moines, Iowa, says, "When I asked my 10- year-old grandson if he watched Super Bowl half-time, he said, 'Are you asking if I saw Justin rip off Janet's shirt?' When I said, 'Yes,' he said, 'I didn't see it on the Super Bowl, but I saw it on the news.' So much for protecting our children."

Hey, G.A., if it hadn't happened at the Super Bowl, you wouldn't have seen it on the news. OK? So get off our back. I'm just kidding.

Sharon in New Baltimore, Michigan "Most definitely, because his smut" -- Howard Stern's -- "has gone on for so long, many of the celebrity wannabes think it's OK to be obscene in public."

And Jason in New Paris, Pennsylvania: "There are two knobs on the radio. One turns the station, and the other one turns the radio off. The FCC should not worry about what children are listening to. That's the parents' job."

I invite you to join us this weekend for "IN THE MONEY," this tiny little business program we do around here. The topic will be celebrity justice. We'll have Alan Dershowitz on and talk to him about the Tyco trial, where Dennis Kozlowski is facing perhaps another trial after this mistrial was declared in his case.

It cost the taxpayers $12 million. I don't know -- I guess we're paying for that. Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson -- anyway, Mr. Dershowitz has been around the block. He took part in the O.J. Simpson thing, and we're going to talk to him about whether or not the system needs changing.

"IN THE MONEY" airs Saturday at 1:00. And when we do a really good show, as we do each week, then you can watch it again Sunday at 3:00.

O'BRIEN: I caught the Sunday at 3:00 this weekend. It was wonderful.

CAFFERTY: Yes? I haven't seen the show in months.

COOPER: I TiVo the show.

CAFFERTY: Do you?

COOPER: Sure. Absolutely.

CAFFERTY: If you turn the volume up, it keeps the cockroaches out of your apartment.

COOPER: It's a good program!

O'BRIEN: Oh, come on. CAFFERTY: All right. Turning now to our weekly segment which we like to call "Extra Effort," next year marks the 20th anniversary of the Baychester Youth Council, an organization that was founded to address youth violence and drugs and crime in a poverty-stricken area of the Bronx. Here is the story of its founder, Earnestine Russell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EARNESTINE RUSSELL, FOUNDER, BAYCHESTER YOUTH COUNCIL: Make sure it's neat like this. Because if it's not, I'm going to rip out every page.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): She may sound like a drill sergeant with her soldiers, but Earnestine Russell of the Bronx says her approach gets results. Realizing her community was in trouble, Russell quit a good corporate job she struggled to get and started an after school program, all in an effort to stop violence and fight the drug trade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was making the rounds, $500 to $600 a day. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

RUSSELL: A lot of jobs are not up here. A lot of people not working. It's welfare. Children raising children up here, that's what we would call them. Children raising themselves.

O'BRIEN: Using a little tough love, Russeell has run the Baychester Youth Council for 20 years, providing tutoring, athletics and job training. Relying on odd gifts and her own money to pay the bills, Russell has provided a safe haven for neighborhood kids.

RUSSELL: Sometimes it set me back two or three months later in rent. But, you know, when you're doing a good deed for the community or for the children, and you're doing a job you have to do, god will always make a way for you somewhere.

O'BRIEN: Russell's style of education is feisty, but effective. She knows when to be serious.

RUSSELL: Why don't you finish all your homework?

O'BRIEN: And when to have a little fun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give her a hand! Very good! Very good!

RUSSELL: Instead of being on the street looking to sell drugs or fighting and shooting, we have someplace that you can go that's safe. You eat here. You play here. It's a well-kept environment.

O'BRIEN: Russell has managed to build a program which has served over 3,000 children. A sacrifice that's cost her nearly everything.

RUSSELL: My first marriage, this program destroyed it. So I prayed and asked the lord, if you want me to stop the program, let me know. I'll stop it. But if you want me to continue this program, help me.

O'BRIEN: But Russell says the sacrifices have been worth it because of kids clearly appreciating her help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It taught me how to dress, you know? How to speak. She taught me to be responsible. To be a man, basically.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: The Baychester Youth Council was just recently given a grant from the New York State Department of Education, and that marks the first time in the council's 20-year history that Russell has had funding to pursue some of her program's objectives.

Can you imagine? Twenty years before someone gave her a grant.

COOPER: Unbelievable.

CAFFERTY: But what a very cool idea she had, too.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

CAFFERTY: I mean where has everybody been?

COOPER: All right. Coming up on...

O'BRIEN: Some people lead the way and other people follow slowly.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

COOPER: That is truly true.

Coming up on CNN, a year after the fall of Baghdad, U.S. forces still have their hands full in Iraq. A live update from U.S. coalition officials coming up on CNN "LIVE TODAY" with Daryn Kagan.

And AMERICAN MORNING is going to be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: And that's it for us today. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

CAFFERTY: I've got work left to do.

O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, working one day a week...

CAFFERTY: No, Anderson and I have things to do. He has a show tonight, I have to tape "IN THE MONEY." I mean, we're...

O'BRIEN: I'm going home.

CAFFERTY: You're going home?

O'BRIEN: I'm going to go paint some eggs for Easter.

COOPER: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. Don't forget to see the show.

COOPER: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

CAFFERTY: "360."

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Daryn Kagan is standing by at the CNN Center this morning. She's going to take you through the next few hours on CNN "LIVE TODAY."


Aired April 9, 2004 - 9:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN CNN ANCHOR: Exactly one year ago, the statue of Saddam Hussein came down in Baghdad. Today, in that same city square, U.S. troops are doing it all over again. This time, taking down images of Muqtada al-Sadder.
Did the White House downplay warnings that Osama bin Laden wanted an attack inside the U.S.? The answer may lie in a secret document.

Those stories are ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

O'BRIEN: I like it. Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Anderson Cooper is in for Bill Hemmer today because Mr. Hemmer has taken the day off.

Also this morning, we're going to be talking to former CIA director James Woolsey. He has a lot to tell us about the information in those presidential daily briefings, those PDBs. One of them now, of course, is a key question for the White House after Condoleezza Rice's testimony.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, from August 6.

Also, talking to the Senator John Cornyn of the Armed Services Committee. Have the challenges for the United States fundamentally changed in Iraq this week? What is his response? We're going to talk about that. Senator Cornyn.

O'BRIEN: Mr. Cafferty.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: And the FCC has got Howard Stern in the crosshairs. Clear Channel Communications dropped Stern's program from six of its stations permanently yesterday and is facing a $500,000 fine. Is Stern the poster boy for cleaning up America's airwaves? Got to start somewhere, I guess.

COOPER: All right. Let's take a look at our top stories right now.

Japan's prime minister is reiterating that his country will not bow to terrorist threats. A group calling itself the Mujahadeen Squadrons is demanding that Japan pull its forces out of Iraq, or it claims it will kill three hostages. Video of the three Japanese nationals shows them surrounded by mass men with guns. The hostages families are pleading for their release.

A source says former Vice President Al Gore will face questions before the commission investigating September 11 attacks. Today, the meeting comes one day after former President Bill Clinton made an appearance behind closed doors. He was not under oath. In a statement, the commission said they found the former president forthcoming and responsive to questions.

Researchers say a New drug could prevent millions of people from sudden heart failure. A study on mice at the University of Columbia shows the drug prevented death in animals with arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats. Now, researchers in the U.K. say it is too early to tell if the drug is actually going to wore work in humans.

And a parasail ride at a Florida beach turned into a harrowing ordeal for two teenage girls. The line apparently snapped as a boat towed the two 16-year-olds. It took people a half-hour to pull the girls down to the beach. They were not hurt, but they say they will not be parasailing anytime soon. Understandable.

O'BRIEN: Not exactly a shock there.

COOPER: Exactly, yes. Sort of a duh.

O'BRIEN: Yes, duh.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: One year ago today, a cheering crowd of Iraqis watched as the U.S. military brought down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Hundreds of Americans and an untold number of Iraqis have died since then. Well, now, a battle for Iraqis' hearts and minds, as just this morning, U.S. Army troops in that same square taking down pictures of radical Shia Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadder. Some of his followers have battled coalition forces across southern Iraq all this week.

For the latest on all of that, let's go to Baghdad and Jim Clancy, who is standing by there for us live this morning.

Jim, good morning.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good evening to you from Baghdad, Soledad.

We're looking at a very fluid situation, one that the U.S. military is watching very closely in Fallujah. They have, of course, about five hours ago announced that they were putting in place a unilateral cessation of offensive operations. Not quite the same technically as a cease-fire but, nonetheless, it has that advantage for the people of Fallujah.

U.S. military officials telling CNN they want to give the majority, the vast majority of people in the city of Fallujah a bit of a rest, a time to get in food, water and other supplies. After all, over the past week -- and we'll take a look at some of the pictures from the last day or so of what's been happening in Fallujah -- they've been under a lot of pressure there.

More than 300 killed, more than 400 wounded. Part of the reason was to allow the Iraqis a chance to tend to their dead and wounded. The hospitals there critically short of medical supplies. Those are going to be brought in as well.

An Iraqi Governing Council member spearheading the effort, but there were a lot of other people involved. Some of the civic leaders there in Fallujah themselves requesting the talks. There were other groups that were involved as well. The Jordanians even at one point asked to help intervene. The U.S. is sending in a negotiator as well. It may be that some of the leaders of the insurgency are also involved in all of this.

What comes of it? That remains to be seen. But for now, at least, it appears the people of Fallujah have 48 hours to relax.

Meantime, there is an offensive under way in southern Iraq that is aimed at Muqtada al-Sadder. Just a little bit earlier today, his supporters had planned to have a demonstration here in Fidra Square (ph), or Paradise Square, where the Saddam Hussein statue came down. Instead, it was his picture that was coming down from some of the -- well, one of the statues that was put up there by some art students. They weren't all successful in getting it down, but that is the sentiment today.

IN Baghdad, which, by the way, is very calm, although it's under heightened security right now --- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Jim Clancy reporting for us from Baghdad this morning. Jim, thanks a lot.

Anderson?

COOPER: Well, the situation in Iraq is, of course, getting a lot of attention on Capitol Hill. Joining us now to talk about it is Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Armed Services Committee.

Senator, thanks very much for being on the program.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Good to be with you.

COOPER: How -- as you look at events on the ground, do you feel the U.S. is still sort of in control of events on the ground?

CORNYN: Well, there is no question that American military has the power to crush this insurgency. But, obviously, there's competition for power within the Shiite community, the majority of people in Iraq leading to the June 30 turnover of power. So we're seeing, I think, more upheaval and violence than we have in the recent past.

COOPER: As you well know, though, winning a war is more than just the power to crush, as you said. It's also often winning hearts and minds. How is the U.S. doing on that front in your estimation?

CORNYN: Well, the latest polls that I've seen and we've seen here on Capitol Hill of the Iraqi people show that a substantial majority appreciate what America has done, what the coalition has done there. And, indeed, notwithstanding the pictures we see on television and what we read about in the newspapers, which are necessarily directed at the conflict and perhaps the bad news, the majority of Iraq is peaceful today. It's much better off than it ever was, certainly under Saddam Hussein. Obviously, though, we still have a tough road to hoe.

COOPER: One in 10 military personnel call Texas home. Seventeen military installations in your state. What are you hearing from your constituents not only about what is going on in Iraq, but also about the possibility that troops who are there now may have to stay longer than they had anticipated?

CORNYN: Well, our troops are the most professional, best- trained, best equipped fighting force on the face of the Earth, and they know it. And they're proud of the work they're doing there on behalf of the Iraqi people and to protect America's national security interests.

Obviously, families are making tremendous sacrifices, too. The ones that wait behind and worry about their loved one fighting our conflict or war on terror in Iraq. So there is concern, but there is still a lot of pride. I think the one message, though, that we need to make clear to the American people and to these families is that America will not lose its resolve in winning this war on terror, notwithstanding the temporary upheaval that we're seeing now.

COOPER: There had been much talk over the last -- really over the last year and even before that about trying to internationalize this force to some degree, trying to get more allies of the United States into the coalition, getting their forces inside Iraq. It would seem increasingly difficult to do that with the level of violence forces are now facing. Do you have any confidence anyone else is actually going to step up to the plate?

CORNYN: Well, there are more than 30 countries now that comprise the coalition and, indeed, it's an interesting phenomenon to see that Japanese, Ukrainians, Koreans and others have been captured as hostages, which appears to put the lie to those who say this is a unilateral action by the United States military. But I'm also very proud of the Japanese prime minister and others who said this will not deter them in their commitment to working with the coalition to win the war on terror in Iraq and around the world.

COOPER: But do you think there is any hope of trying to get or any -- I mean, do you think the U.S. should be trying to get any other forces to send troops in?

CORNYN: Well, I think we are -- the primary focus of our rests is to rebuild the Iraqi military and police force there. And, indeed, the number of Iraqis who are providing security in Iraq today far exceed the number of Americans and coalition forces. But, yes, we'd like to have other help if we can get it. And we would welcome them, I'm sure.

But it's tough going now. And thank goodness for the coalition, thank goodness for the American forces in the field continuing to do the very tough and ugly work of winning this war.

COOPER: Senator John Cornyn, appreciate you joining us on the program. Thanks very much.

CORNYN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, it was at the center of yesterday's hearing. How soon will the White House declassify a document that could shed light on pre-9/11 terror warnings? We're going to take you live to the White House coming up.

COOPER: And a stern judgment against the self-proclaimed king of all media. Did Howard Stern deserve it? We'll take a look at that.

That ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: The White House plans to cooperate with the 9/11 Commission's request to declassify a CIA report on Osama bin Laden. The presidential briefing was just one of several lines of questioning for National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice at yesterday's hearing.

Jeanne Meserve followed the action. And she's live at the White House with us this morning.

Good morning, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson. And the release of that 1.5 page highly classified document could come as early as today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): The presidential daily brief of August 6, 2001 figured prominently in Rice's appearance before the 9/11 Commission. Because the administration believed that summer that any terrorist attack would likely be overseas, even the PDB's title provoked a tough exchange.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I believe the title was "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States." Now, the...

RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: Thank you.

RICE: No. Mr. Ben-Veniste...

BEN-VENISTE: I will get into...

RICE: I would like to finish my point here.

BEN-VENISTE: I didn't know there was a point.

RICE: You asked me whether or not it warned of attacks.

BEN-VENISTE: I asked you what the title was.

RICE: You said, "Did it not warn of attacks?" It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no New threat information.

MESERVE: But Rice disclosed the brief mentioned 70 FBI investigations into al Qaeda cells in the U.S. and the possibility of hijacking.

BOB KERREY, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: Now, that the FBI indicates patterns of suspicious activity in the United States consistent with preparations for hijacking. That's the language of the memo that was briefed the president on the 6th of August.

RICE: And that was checked out, and steps were taken through FAA circulars to warn of hijackings.

MESERVE: But Rice said she had never been briefed on the use of planes as missiles, though intelligence agencies had warned of the danger as early as 1995. Rice denied claims by her former counterterrorism aide, Richard Clarke, that the Bush administration under-reacted to al Qaeda the summer before 9/11, saying the government was on full alert. At least one panel member was skeptical.

JAMIE GORELICK, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: Have you actually looked at the enlets (ph), the messages that the FBI put out?

RICE: Yes.

GORELICK: To me -- and you're free to comment on them -- they are feckless. They don't tell anybody anything. They don't bring anyone to battle stations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Rice blamed 9/11 on structural problems within the U.S. government, which prevented the sharing of intelligence. That very subject will be the topic of the 9/11 Commission's hearings next week. They'll be hearing from Attorney General John Ashcroft, CIA Director George Tenet, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and his predecessor, Louis Freeh.

Today, by the way, the commission meeting, and sources say hearing privately, the testimony of the former vice president, Al Gore. Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: All right. Jeanne Meserve, from the White House, thanks.

Soledad? O'BRIEN: Well, James Woolsey was CIA director for two years in President Clinton's administration. And earlier today, I asked him about declassifying the presidential brief that is now at the center of this whole debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES WOOLSEY, FMR. CIA DIRECTOR: If they say they're going to do it, I'm sure they will be able to find a way to get any information about intelligence sources and methods out of it. The reason that the president's daily brief is so highly classified is that we always used to -- and I'm sure they've done this for years -- put a lot of material in it where it would help the president understand material about the source and the method by which the intelligence was collected. And most intelligence material doesn't have that. But you can understand a lot of things better if you know how it was obtained and exactly who it came from.

So, presumably, they will edit out anything that might relate to that and leave the substance behind. At least if I were responsible for doing it a few years ago, that's what I would have done.

O'BRIEN: What Dr. Rice said about this particular document was that it was historical, that it had no real New information in it. And I'm curious to know, since you're a person who obviously has prepared easily hundreds of these for President Clinton, is that how these briefs usually are?

Are they historical documents? Are they assessments overall with no New information? And what exactly would historical mean?

WOOLSEY: Sometimes they can be. They could be any of a whole range of things.

I take it what she meant from that was that there was nothing that said that bin Laden was planning to seize aircraft and fly them into buildings. And clearly, that seems logical to me, because if there had been anything remotely like that, the government would have taken a lot more precautions than it did.

So I imagine this was in response to a question the president asked because there was one report that he had said, "Don't just tell me about attacks overseas. I want to know what we know about possible attacks in the United States."

And so whatever they had picked up, I'm sure, was in there. But if there were anything specific, as Condoleezza Rice said yesterday, about planes flying into buildings, certainly they would have done something different than what they did.

O'BRIEN: The public, those of us who have not had an opportunity to take a look at the document, look at the title of the document which is, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the U.S.," and say, well, gee, doesn't that kind of say it all? I mean...

WOOLSEY: Well, no. Is says determined to attack inside the U.S. Not how, where, or when, which is often the problem with intelligence.

You will get things that they got that summer. "Big attack coming." And maybe some of them say in the U.S., maybe many of them said somewhere else. But that isn't enough for you, unfortunately, to prevent it.

It may be enough, for example, back at the millennium. The concern about attacks at the time of the millennium was probably one of the things that led to that wonderful Customs agent up in Washington State being a little more alert. And so she spotted Rasam (ph) coming across the border and helping prevent an attack on Los Angeles Airport.

You can bring people to a somewhat higher state of readiness. But unless you know more than maybe in the U.S. sometime soon, it's hard to figure out exactly what one does about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Well, that's former CIA Director James Woolsey talking to us a little bit earlier this morning.

Anderson?

COOPER: Well, still to come this morning, the men who speak for the coalition in Baghdad are set at the top of the hour to brief reporters. Stay with CNN for that live report from Baghdad.

Also ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, the self-proclaimed king of all media gets yanked from some stations. But is shock jock Howard Stern the real problem?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: And good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It is exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Bill Hemmer has the day off. Anderson Cooper is sitting in for him this morning.

Hello.

COOPER: I'm happy to be here. Nice to see you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. We appreciate that.

COOPER: You look like you don't believe me.

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. Thank you, Anderson. I sense your genuine...

COOPER: That's the phony morning perkiness you like.

Jeff Greenfield will join us here as well to tell us his thoughts on the testimony from Condoleezza Rice yesterday. Did she help or hurt the White House case, that it did everything it could to protect Americans before the 9/11 attacks? We'll talk to Jeff about that. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, a report coming up from Sanjay Gupta on some amazing advances in hip and knee replacements. Hundreds of thousands of Americans go through these procedures every year. Now it actually might not be as grueling. We'll explain.

COOPER: Let's look at what is going on this morning.

The White House is now said to be working to declassify a daily intelligence briefing known as the PDB from August 6, 2001. Now, the document was brought up yesterday during National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission. The panel wanted to know if the document is proof that the White House was warned that al Qaeda may try to hijack American airplanes. Some analysis on Rice's testimony just ahead.

British police have charged five men in connection to terrorist activities. The men were arrested last week during raids that also uncovered a half ton of potentially explosive material. Three of the suspects were charged in connection with the bombing plot. Two other men who face lesser offenses and were released on bond. All five are expected to appear in court over the weekend.

A train line that runs through Paris is back up and running today. French police temporarily shut down part of the suburban network yesterday after a threat of a possible bomb attack. Police say they evacuated five rail stations after the U.S. warned French officials of the threat.

Pope John Paul II is continuing holy week observances as he celebrates Good Friday in Rome. The 83-year-old pope kept up his tradition of hearing confessions. Tomorrow, the pontiff will lead an Easter vigil mass, and on Sunday he'll celebrate Easter in St. Peters Square.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Bringing you up to date now on the very latest from Iraq. At the top of the hour, CNN will bring you coverage of a news conference from Iraq. General Mark Kimmitt and CPA spokesman Dan Senor are going to brief reporters. Also out of Iraq, the U.S. Army troops have removed pictures of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr from a main Baghdad square. It was a year ago today that the statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down in that very same square.

A statement released from Al-Sadr today demanded that U.S. forces leave Iraq. The statement also said that coalition forces are now facing a "civil revolt."

U.S. troops are observing a halt of their offensive operations in Fallujah, where they have battled Sunni insurgence all week. The halt is aimed at allowing Iraqi negotiations with insurgent leaders and letting some humanitarian aid into that city.

And Japan says its troops will remain in Iraq despite an insurgent threat to kill three Japanese civilians who are being held hostage.

Dozens of Americans have been killed during the last week in some of the most ferocious fighting in Iraq since the president declared major combat over back last May. Many of those troops were based at sprawling Ft. Hood in Texas. Our Frank Buckley is there for us this morning.

Frank, good morning.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Sixty-five soldiers from Ft. Hood have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom since the beginning of the conflict in Iraq. Each one of those deaths difficult for the Ft. Hood community and for the community that surrounds this base. But on Sunday, they were hit particularly hard. Seven soldiers were killed in one day, 49 wounded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): It was the single worst day of the war so far for Texas, because it's home to Ft. Hood, which lost seven of its soldiers in a single day in combat. Specialist Israel Garza won't be coming to his wife and three children.

FRANK MATA, GARZA'S UNCLE: I'm having a hard time comprehending that he will no longer be seeing his father.

BUCKLEY: On Tuesday, an eighth Ft. Hood soldier, Sergeant Horardo Moreno (ph) was killed. His mother...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... told me that he wasn't coming back. He had already prepared for that, that he was going to be back. But he was going to be back in a coffin.

BUCKLEY: It is the worst of times for a community that just a few months ago celebrated the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And guess what? They caught Saddam.

BUCKLEY: Soldiers from Ft. Hood were credited with capturing Saddam Hussein. It was a high point of the war for people here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They caught Saddam.

BUCKLEY: Now, a new low, and an awful reminder that every soldier is potentially in harm's way.

LT. COL. BOB FORRESTER, U.S. ARMY: I'm not sure you ever can prepare anybody for an event like this when it happens. And what you've got to fall back on is the training that you've received over the years. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: And that training is for both the soldiers and for their families. The families get free deployment briefings in which they're told exactly what might happen in the case of something that happens like what happened on Sunday, a terrible worst-case scenario. They're also told of what is available to them.

And we're told here from base officials that since Sunday, the counsels and chaplains have been very busy. And other military families have been busy because part of that support process includes military families helping each other in the event of something like this. In some cases, they just sit with them, Soledad, to be with them in this terrible time -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Some terribly sad news. Frank Buckley reporting for us this morning. Frank, thank you.

Anderson?

COOPER: Well, Condoleezza Rice faced a tricky political challenge as she appeared before the 9/11 Commission yesterday. During nearly three hours of testimony under oath, the national security adviser defended the Bush administration's actions and she tried to undo some of the political damage done two weeks ago by former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke.

Jeff green field is here now to talk about it all.

Jeff, nice to see you this morning.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Good morning.

COOPER: A lot of comparison has been made between what she said versus what he said. Let's look at two things that both of them said and talk about it. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD CLARKE, FMR. COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER: I believe the Bush administration in the first eight months considered terrorism an important issue, but not an urgent issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICE: We also moved to develop a new and comprehensive strategy to try and eliminate the al Qaeda network. President Bush understood the threat. And he understood its importance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: When you get down to the core issues, how much do they really differ in their testimony? GREENFIELD: There are a couple of factual discrepancies about what exactly Richard Clarke asked to brief the president about. Was it cyberterrorism or also regular terrorism? But to a startling extent, this a matter of interpretation.

I mean, they're both describing kind of the same event. It's just that in Richard Clarke's view, the Bush administration put it kind of on the back burner as one of many things. And what Condi Rice is saying yesterday is, no, as soon as we thought there was a problem, we moved to do something about it and al Qaeda. It's shades of gray in a lot of these areas.

COOPER: And yet, Richard Clarke has said when he was asked during testimony even of the things he recommended doing would they have prevented 9/11? He said no.

GREENFIELD: Not exactly. And as I say, I'm glad you asked that question.

COOPER: OK.

GREENFIELD: This has been widely I believe misreported.

COOPER: Interesting.

GREENFIELD: Clarke was asked if everything you recommended on January 25 with respect to Afghanistan had been put in play, arming the northern alliance, arming the predator drones, would that have made a difference? And Clarke said in one word, no, because the terrorists were already here.

But when asked if this administration had gone to battle stations in the spring and summer of 2001, shaken the tree, to use a cliche...

COOPER: Right.

GREENFIELD: ... what he says about that is, we don't know, maybe it would have dislodged that information about young Arab men in flight school. So we've got to be careful here about who is saying what.

COOPER: And yet, it was interesting to hear Dr. Condoleezza Rice yesterday saying that she believed the tree was being shaken.

GREENFIELD: Right. And that -- see, I think this is a remarkable study of how people in positions of power, two different people, see things so differently.

In Dr. Rice's view, tasking the FBI to talk to the field offices, sending out circulars to the FAA, showed that they were up to speed. Richard Clarke's view is very different. He is suggesting, no, they went along kind of like at a regular speed and didn't sound alarm bells, even though, to use the other cliche, people's hair was on fire.

COOPER: Mitch McConnell yesterday went on the floor and said that he didn't like the direction the commission was going, that it's become sort of partisan. The commission -- I mean, I've talked to a couple of the commissioners. They all say, look, we are bipartisan. They stick to that very firmly.

But are they really nonpartisan? I mean, if you look at the way the Democrats were asking questions versus how the Republicans were asking questions, there was a big difference.

GREENFIELD: I think, clearly, some of the questioners, particularly Richard Ben-Veniste, was on edge. And I think the toughest questions that were asked substantively were -- came from two Democrats, Jamie Gorelick, the former assistant attorney general, and former Congressman Roemer, when they pushed Condi Rice hard and said, look, you think you were telling the FBI and FAA to get moving. We've talked to the field agents and the acting director of the FBI and they didn't know about this.

I think the real danger for the Bush administration here is that the commission is going to work very hard to put out a unanimous report. That's five Republicans and five Democrats. I think they're going to be very tough on both the Clinton and Bush administrations. But it's not the Clinton administration that's asking for another term in November.

COOPER: And, according to reports, they are talking to former Vice President Al Gore today, more testimony next week.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

COOPER: All right.

GREENFIELD: So that is where the danger is for them, that the commission will be unanimous and tough on both administrations, only one of which is up for reelection.

COOPER: All right. A lot of testimony ahead. Jeff Greenfield, thanks very much.

GREENFIELD: You bet.

COOPER: Soledad?

O'BRIEN: And coming up at the top of the hour, in fact, coalition officials are expected to give an update on the latest developments out of Iraq. CNN is going to carry that alive.

And ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, new joint replacement surgeries are much less invasive and you heal a lot faster. We've got a report from Dr. Sanjay Gupta just ahead.

Plus, you'll meet a woman who left the corporate world to give something back to her city's kids by teaching.

Those stories in a few moments on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: More and more joint replacement surgeries are being performed with minimally invasive techniques. Hips and shoulders and now knees can be done now with less damage to the patient. So just who is a good candidate for the new surgery? Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For 67 years, Essie Barnes have been active. But one of those scourges of old age, arthritis, has caught up with her. Her knees are no longer what they used to be.

ESSIE BARNES, KNEE REPLACEMENT PATIENT: I have things to do. You know, I have my ministry to go out. So it's been holding me back since December. I'm not able to go out.

GUPTA: Four years ago, she had her left knee replaced, one of 300,000 Americans a year to do so. But since December, she's been walking with a cane, and she tires easily. So her doctors recommended replacing her right knee as well, but in a new way. Instead of the standard 12-inch incision, only a three to four-inch incision will be used to implant the man-made knee joint.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You show a patient an eight or 12-inch incision, and you show them a four-inch incision, and in the patient's mind it seems fairly obvious to them that it would hurt less or cause less damage.

GUPTA: And they're right. In the process, no muscles or tendons will be cut. Surgeons have realized it is their healing that could be even more painful than the knee replacement itself.

DR. THOMAS SCULCO, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONS: They're able to walk more quickly. They're able to hopefully get off a cane and recover more quickly.

GUPTA: So quickly, in fact, that instead of days in the hospital, patients are staying just hours. Needless to say, patients are excited. But some doctors say the procedure isn't for everyone.

SCULCO: The patients who are not ideal would be the more obese patient, where there is just more tissue to go through.

GUPTA: If you're thinking about a minimally invasive procedure, be sure to cover some bases with your doctor. How many procedures has your surgeon performed? Experts say at least 50 a year is a good guideline. This particular procedure takes a while to master.

Are there any alternatives to surgery for your condition? How long will your individual recovery be? And what happens if the procedure fails on you? Less than two weeks after her operation, Mrs. Barnes is back on her feet and almost ready to get rid of that cane.

BARNES: It felt good to know that I finally had it done and I can get on with my life. GUPTA: Not a bad recovery for this grandmother in her 60s.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Some experts say that 75 percent to 80 percent of knee replacement patients are good candidates for the procedure. Thinner, younger patients tend to recover faster. And it's important to remember that it's actually the exact same implant but with less damage.

Interesting.

COOPER: All right. Well, here's Aaron Brown with a preview of what is coming up tonight on "NEWSNIGHT."

AARON BROWN, HOST, "NEWSNIGHT": Thank you, Anderson. You are up early today.

Tonight on "NEWSNIGHT," remembering the Alamo. At least a dozen movies have been made about the historic siege. A new one opens nationwide today. It's the first to focus on the history of the Alamo, not the myth.

We'll have that, today's top stories, of course, morning papers and the rest. That's "NEWSNIGHT," CNN tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern -- Anderson.

COOPER: Aaron, thanks very much.

Still to come this morning, a woman who is trying to save a community by first saving its children.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time to check in with Jack Cafferty. I was in -- I don't know where I was.

O'BRIEN: I was going to say, you know, we still have like 10 minutes left in the show, Anderson. Don't give up the...

COOPER: I'm already thinking about my evening program. All right. Let's check in with Jack and see what's going on.

CAFFERTY: Thanks, Anderson.

The question this morning is: Should Howard Stern be the poster child for cleaning up the nation's airwaves? Clear channel Communications yanked him off stations in six markets permanently yesterday, and they're facing a $500,000 fine because Mr. Stern said some naughty words on the radio. So that is the question.

As soon as I get my glasses on, I'll read you the answer. You can tell it's the third hour of this turkey, can't you?.

O'BRIEN: Nine minutes. Come on, you can do it.

CAFFERTY: G.A. in Des Moines, Iowa, says, "When I asked my 10- year-old grandson if he watched Super Bowl half-time, he said, 'Are you asking if I saw Justin rip off Janet's shirt?' When I said, 'Yes,' he said, 'I didn't see it on the Super Bowl, but I saw it on the news.' So much for protecting our children."

Hey, G.A., if it hadn't happened at the Super Bowl, you wouldn't have seen it on the news. OK? So get off our back. I'm just kidding.

Sharon in New Baltimore, Michigan "Most definitely, because his smut" -- Howard Stern's -- "has gone on for so long, many of the celebrity wannabes think it's OK to be obscene in public."

And Jason in New Paris, Pennsylvania: "There are two knobs on the radio. One turns the station, and the other one turns the radio off. The FCC should not worry about what children are listening to. That's the parents' job."

I invite you to join us this weekend for "IN THE MONEY," this tiny little business program we do around here. The topic will be celebrity justice. We'll have Alan Dershowitz on and talk to him about the Tyco trial, where Dennis Kozlowski is facing perhaps another trial after this mistrial was declared in his case.

It cost the taxpayers $12 million. I don't know -- I guess we're paying for that. Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson -- anyway, Mr. Dershowitz has been around the block. He took part in the O.J. Simpson thing, and we're going to talk to him about whether or not the system needs changing.

"IN THE MONEY" airs Saturday at 1:00. And when we do a really good show, as we do each week, then you can watch it again Sunday at 3:00.

O'BRIEN: I caught the Sunday at 3:00 this weekend. It was wonderful.

CAFFERTY: Yes? I haven't seen the show in months.

COOPER: I TiVo the show.

CAFFERTY: Do you?

COOPER: Sure. Absolutely.

CAFFERTY: If you turn the volume up, it keeps the cockroaches out of your apartment.

COOPER: It's a good program!

O'BRIEN: Oh, come on. CAFFERTY: All right. Turning now to our weekly segment which we like to call "Extra Effort," next year marks the 20th anniversary of the Baychester Youth Council, an organization that was founded to address youth violence and drugs and crime in a poverty-stricken area of the Bronx. Here is the story of its founder, Earnestine Russell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EARNESTINE RUSSELL, FOUNDER, BAYCHESTER YOUTH COUNCIL: Make sure it's neat like this. Because if it's not, I'm going to rip out every page.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): She may sound like a drill sergeant with her soldiers, but Earnestine Russell of the Bronx says her approach gets results. Realizing her community was in trouble, Russell quit a good corporate job she struggled to get and started an after school program, all in an effort to stop violence and fight the drug trade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was making the rounds, $500 to $600 a day. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

RUSSELL: A lot of jobs are not up here. A lot of people not working. It's welfare. Children raising children up here, that's what we would call them. Children raising themselves.

O'BRIEN: Using a little tough love, Russeell has run the Baychester Youth Council for 20 years, providing tutoring, athletics and job training. Relying on odd gifts and her own money to pay the bills, Russell has provided a safe haven for neighborhood kids.

RUSSELL: Sometimes it set me back two or three months later in rent. But, you know, when you're doing a good deed for the community or for the children, and you're doing a job you have to do, god will always make a way for you somewhere.

O'BRIEN: Russell's style of education is feisty, but effective. She knows when to be serious.

RUSSELL: Why don't you finish all your homework?

O'BRIEN: And when to have a little fun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give her a hand! Very good! Very good!

RUSSELL: Instead of being on the street looking to sell drugs or fighting and shooting, we have someplace that you can go that's safe. You eat here. You play here. It's a well-kept environment.

O'BRIEN: Russell has managed to build a program which has served over 3,000 children. A sacrifice that's cost her nearly everything.

RUSSELL: My first marriage, this program destroyed it. So I prayed and asked the lord, if you want me to stop the program, let me know. I'll stop it. But if you want me to continue this program, help me.

O'BRIEN: But Russell says the sacrifices have been worth it because of kids clearly appreciating her help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It taught me how to dress, you know? How to speak. She taught me to be responsible. To be a man, basically.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: The Baychester Youth Council was just recently given a grant from the New York State Department of Education, and that marks the first time in the council's 20-year history that Russell has had funding to pursue some of her program's objectives.

Can you imagine? Twenty years before someone gave her a grant.

COOPER: Unbelievable.

CAFFERTY: But what a very cool idea she had, too.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

CAFFERTY: I mean where has everybody been?

COOPER: All right. Coming up on...

O'BRIEN: Some people lead the way and other people follow slowly.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

COOPER: That is truly true.

Coming up on CNN, a year after the fall of Baghdad, U.S. forces still have their hands full in Iraq. A live update from U.S. coalition officials coming up on CNN "LIVE TODAY" with Daryn Kagan.

And AMERICAN MORNING is going to be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: And that's it for us today. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

CAFFERTY: I've got work left to do.

O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, working one day a week...

CAFFERTY: No, Anderson and I have things to do. He has a show tonight, I have to tape "IN THE MONEY." I mean, we're...

O'BRIEN: I'm going home.

CAFFERTY: You're going home?

O'BRIEN: I'm going to go paint some eggs for Easter.

COOPER: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. Don't forget to see the show.

COOPER: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

CAFFERTY: "360."

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Daryn Kagan is standing by at the CNN Center this morning. She's going to take you through the next few hours on CNN "LIVE TODAY."