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Who Knew About the Plans for Iraq War, and When Did They Know?; Spain's Decision to Withdraw Troops From Iraq

Aired April 19, 2004 - 05:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you.
From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, this is DAYBREAK for Monday, April 19.

I'm Carol Costello.

Let me bring you up to date right now.

The homeland security secretary has a message for local authorities this morning. Tom Ridge wants them to accelerate plans to deal with terrorist attacks. Ridge says he's concerned several upcoming high profile events could give terrorists a chance to strike.

Across Israel today, traffic came to a standstill as Israelis marked Holocaust Remembrance Day. The observance honors the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in WWII.

About 500 people attended a memorial last night for Dru Sjodin. The body of the University of North Dakota student was found on Saturday. She had been missing since November 22.

A replacement crew lifted off today for the international space station. A Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut will take over from the crew that has been in space since October.

To the forecast center now.

Let's check in with Chad -- good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Who knew about the plans for the Iraq war and when did they know them? A new book from the "Washington Post" journalist, Bob Woodward, says initial war planes were kept secret from key members of the Bush administration. Woodward's book, "Plan of Attack," goes on sale today.

On CBS' "60 Minutes," Woodward spoke about a conversation the president had in November of 2001, shortly after the collapse of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CBS' "60 MINUTES") BOB WOODWARD, "WASHINGTON POST": President Bush, after a National Security Council meeting, takes Don Rumsfeld aside, collars him physically, and takes him into a little cubbyhole room and closes the door. And says, "What have you got in terms of plans for Iraq? What is the status of the war plan? I want you to get on it. I want you to keep it secret."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Elaine Quijano has more on Woodward's account.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than three months after the September 11 attacks, President Bush told Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to start drawing up plans for war in Iraq, according to Bob Woodward's new book, "Plan of Attack." In it, Woodward asserts that long before the Bush administration's diplomatic efforts publicly ended, the president's tentative war plans had already privately begun. Woodward says after that meeting with Rumsfeld, General Tommy Franks, then head of the U.S. Central Command, started building runways and pipelines and doing all the preparations in Kuwait specifically to make war possible. Where did the money come from? According to Woodward, $700 million came from funds Congress had appeared for the war in Afghanistan, a move Woodward says happened without Congress knowing.

But administration officials defend that action.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The secretary of defense, I am quite certain, would propose to the president things that he believes are inside his purview to do with the allocation that he gets from Congress.

QUIJANO: The book also describes a CIA briefing in December 2002 to President Bush on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability, one of the main reasons for going to war. Woodward says the meeting left President Bush skeptical. According to "60 Minutes," Woodward wrote, "Then President Bush turns to George Tenet and says, 'This is the best we've got?'" Woodward says Tenet replied, "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk case."

A U.S. official tells CNN Tenet believed what he was saying based on intelligence then.

Just a few weeks after that, Woodward says Vice President Dick Cheney invited the Saudi ambassador, Prince Bandar, to his West Wing office and allowed him to see a secret war plan map that was supposed to be off limits to foreigners. Those who were there confirm Woodward's account.

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: It sounds basically correct and at that time, we were looking for support of our allies and partners in the region.

QUIJANO (on camera): Sunday, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice appeared to deny another issue raised in the book, that Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar knew of the Iraq war plan even before Secretary of State Colin Powell. Rice said that Powell was privy to all of this and knew what the war plan was.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Also in "Plan of Attack," Bob Woodward offers a time line of events leading to the war in Iraq. Here are a few key dates.

In late July, 2002, the president approves spending $700 million to prepare for a war on Iraq. The money is diverted from a congressional appropriation for the war in Afghanistan. That's according to Bob Woodward.

On December 21, 2002, CIA Director George Tenet briefs the president and vice president on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Tenet assures them the case Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction is a slam dunk.

On January 13, 2003, the president meets with Secretary of State Colin Powell, telling him, "I really think I'm going to have to do this," meaning invade Iraq. Powell, despite his reservations about a war, agrees to support the president's decision.

And then on March 19, the president issues the order to go to war.

Bob Woodward will talk about his new book on CNN's "Larry King." That airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

We want to know what you think of Bob Woodward's account of events leading to war. E-mail us at daybreak@cnn.com. We'll read some of your opinions later on in the show. Do you believe him? Do you want to hear more? Are you going to buy his book? That's daybreak@cnn.com.

Eleven more American troops were killed in Iraq this weekend alone. That tops our situation report this morning. Those deaths bring the total number of U.S. troop deaths in Iraq to 700. Most were killed after President Bush declared an end to major combat.

The U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, says Iraqi forces will not be ready to fight insurgents alone by the June 30 hand over date. That means a large number of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq.

Spain delivers a blow to the coalition. The new prime minister says he will withdraw his 1,400 troops from Iraq in the shortest possible time and not wait for the U.N. to step in.

And two Japanese citizens kidnapped in Iraq are now free. That leaves 16 people, including nine Americans, who are still missing or who are being held by Iraqi insurgents.

Now, let's go to Iraq and get the latest on the security situation there.

Jim Clancy is live in Baghdad for us this morning -- hello, Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

And good afternoon to you from the Iraqi capital.

It was just about three or four minutes ago we heard a large blast. It was very close to us here at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, apart from the green zone in what appears to be a mixed commercial/residential area. I have no more details about that blast, but emergency vehicles, Iraqi police going to the scene there.

Speaking of Iraqi police and the Iraqi military, in the bluntest terms yet, the U.S. administration for the coalition here in Iraq, Paul Bremer, saying over the weekend that it was not possible that the Iraqis were going to be able to assume security duties. This is exactly what he had to say: "It is clear that Iraqi forces will not be able on their own to deal with these threats by June 30, when an Iraqi government assumes sovereignty. Instead, Iraq and troops from many countries, including the United States, will be partners in providing the security that Iraqis need.

Not exactly a new statement, but very blunt terms there to back up some of the disappointments over the last two weeks that U.S. officials and coalition officials have expressed over the performance of the Iraqi security forces, both in Fallujah and in the south, where sometimes they mixed in, joined the opposition to patrol streets or simply refused to go into combat, as ordered by U.S. commanders.

But there is one less coalition member, perhaps, that can be counted on on the ground here today. Spain's prime minister saying he was going to move forward the date when he would withdraw the troops, telling his defense minister just a day after he assumed office that he wanted those Spanish troops, some 1,300 or 1,400 of them, to remove -- be removed, in his words, as soon as possible.

Now, this does have an impact, but coalition authorities telling CNN this morning they don't believe it's going to be a major problem. Most of those troops are deployed in the south, many of them around Najaf, a city that's been a flashpoint in recent days. But at the same time the U.S. has said it's going to reduce slightly its deployment of troops around Najaf that had been beefed up there only days ago.

So we have a situation developing here that is one of concern for the coalition, perhaps the psychological, perhaps the image change here is the most important thing about Spain's decision.

Also, a response from Muqtada al-Sadr down in Najaf. He praised the Spanish move and encouraged people in other nations to call on their governments to withdraw their troops, as well, from Iraq -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jim Clancy live from Baghdad this morning.

For more on Spain's decision to withdraw those troops from Iraq as soon as possible, let's head live to Madrid.

CNN's Al Goodman on the phone now

Why the speed up -- Al?

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the government officials briefing CNN and some other international media after the new socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, made this unexpected statement on national television in Spain on Sunday. They said that he decided to move it up for two reasons. One, they've been doing quiet contact and diplomacy for the last couple of weeks, just on the eve of becoming actually the government in power. They've only been in power since this weekend. And they did -- they determined in that that they really didn't think there was going to be a United Nations resolution by June 30 that was going to give political and military control of Iraq to the United Nations.

That was the condition that Mr. Zapatero set and his envoys, including the new defense minister and the new foreign minister, just in the days before they actually took charge in their new positions, were out sounding out the United Nations, Britain, Poland, other coalition partners; also Central American nations, because there are some Central American troops serving with the Spaniards. And they got the sense that there is not going to be this resolution.

Having that sense, they decided that it would -- to wait and have this public debate waged on and on and on for days or weeks could put their troops more at risk. There could be kidnappings of Spanish troops, complicating the situation politically for them. So they decided let's take the decision right now.

I'm at the foreign ministry, where the new foreign minister has just spoken, Carol, to the diplomatic corps, a lot of them in those grey pinstriped button down suits that you would expect of male diplomats; a lot of well-dressed lady diplomats, as well. And the foreign minister expressing basically what his boss, the prime minister, said on Sunday, that this does not mean that Spain is stepping away from its commitment to help bring stability and democracy to Iraq. They think this is the best group for them right now.

And, very quickly, the majority of Spaniards seem to be with the government on this one. There are voices of dissent from the outgoing conservative government, calling it the wrong decision; also a leading conservative paper saying they should have waited longer to see if they could get that U.N. resolution.

But they've made the decision and they're off and running -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, Al, the symbolism of this, just pulling those troops out of Iraq, how are they going to go forward in the move to help fight the war on terrorism?

GOODMAN: Right. Well, they're saying there may be non-military -- there could be things like non-military aid that would be put in there. They haven't very been -- they haven't, Carol, really been very specific about what other types of aid.

But they are saying that they are not moving away from their commitments in other hot spots. For instance, they have 125 troops in Afghanistan. There's been indications that they might double that. They've got hundreds of troops in other U.N.-sponsored international peacekeeping missions in places like Bosnia and other places around the world. They say they're not pulling those out.

They're saying basically that they think the Iraq war was an illegal war, from their point of view, the socialist government point of view. This has been said many times during their campaign while they were in the opposition and they're just fulfilling their pledge. Politically, domestically, they pretty much had to fulfill this pledge. If they had gone back on this one, their political life could have been very short, indeed -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Al Goodman live on the phone from Madrid this morning.

Army Private First Class Matt Maupin of Batavia, Ohio is one of the people being held hostage in Iraq. On Sunday, former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch and her mother talked with Maupin's mother. They offered her moral support and let her know what her son may be facing in captivity.

Our Chris Lawrence is in Batavia and filed this report on a community waiting for a soldier's return.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lord, it's a very tough day today for the family.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunday church services broke from the usual in Matt Maupin's hometown, as a community tried to help a family cope with his capture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important thing that we can do to see Matt become a free man again is to pray.

LAWRENCE: And by the hundreds, they did, hoping it brings home a local hero.

ROBERT MAXWELL, FRIEND OF MAUPIN FAMILY: He's loved by everyone here and he's a hard worker and he's just loving.

LAWRENCE: The Reverend Jesse Jackson is offering to help based on what he heard in this videotape released Friday. In it, Maupin's captors offer to trade him for prisoners being held by the coalition in Iraq. U.S. officials say they don't negotiate with hostage takers, but that's not stopping this private citizen from getting involved.

REVEREND. JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: And I think that in a situation like this, as they seek to get back to the table in Fallujah, the issue of negotiation and prisoner swap must not be out of the picture.

LAWRENCE: But until Maupin is released, even the oldest songs have a different meaning here...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and the home of the brave.

LAWRENCE: ... when one of their bravest isn't free to come home.

(on camera): Now, even though the U.S. government won't negotiate for Matt Maupin's release, it is giving his family a lot of support. They've got a team of about 10 people at his family's home, including some counselors specially trained to deal with hostage situations.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Batavia, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The fears, the dangers, the concern -- Kellie Hamill, the wife of missing American contractor Thomas Hamill of Macon, Mississippi will talk about her concerns on "American Morning." Of course, that comes your way at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Important nuclear talks are under way in China this morning. Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il arrived in Beijing this morning for talks. We're going to take you there live later this hour.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vows of revenge from Hamas for the death of its leader. But how long before the militant group strikes back? We'll have more of that on DAYBREAK, coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Also ahead, a convicted child rapist awaits his arraignment. He says he's molested more than 200 victims. So what was he doing out of jail in the first place? We will have the surprising details for you.

And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And booster ignition. And we have lift-off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A new crew is rocketing toward the international space station. We'll take you live to Russia for that.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:18 Eastern time.

Journalist Bob Woodward's new book, entitled "Plan of Attack," out today. The book says President Bush ordered a war plan for Iraq drawn up just three months after the 9/11 attacks.

The murder trial of Terry Nichols in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building resumes this morning. It comes as families of victims and others observe today's ninth anniversary of the bombing.

In money news this morning, the numbers are going up. A report says two in five Internet users in the United States now have high speed access at home. Much of that growth has come since November.

In sports, the University of Connecticut's men's and women's basketball teams were honored during a parade in Hartford. The teams won the NCAA championships. One sign read, "U. Conn., You Can, You Did!"

In culture, bad language is leading C-SPAN to consider a time delay of its programming. The head of C-SPAN says there's been a spike in vulgar comments on the cable network's live programs.

Cursing on C-SPAN, Chad.

MYERS: Oh, no. Gee, is nothing sacred?

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines.

Well, this comes as a bit of a surprise. North Korea's nuclear weapons program back on the front burner. And guess what? The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, has traveled from North Korea to Beijing for talks.

CNN's Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz joins us live now with more -- when did this come about, Jaime, and how?

JAMIE FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, yes, this may be a major summit underway here now. But unlike most summits, this one is shrouded in secrecy. Korean President Kim Jong Il is believed to be visiting Beijing now, seeking political support and economic aid from his long time Chinese allies.

Now, he is believed to be holding meetings now with China's top leaders, his first summit with them since they took over in office about a year ago. Kim is here also to try to seek the political support from the Chinese in the light of the stand-off between North Korea and the U.S. His visit follows U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's visit last week. Cheney pressed the Chinese to do more to speed up the process of finding a solution to North Korea's nuclear weapons. And he says time is not necessarily on our side and that the North Koreans are still cheating on this.

So the Chinese have held two rounds of multi-party talks, both of which produced very little progress. And Kim Il Sung -- Kim Jong Il, I'm sorry, is expected to discuss what to -- how to proceed in the next few months -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jaime FlorCruz live in Beijing, China this morning.

Time now to check the overseas markets to see how, well, we'll see how they may influence Wall Street. Maybe it will jump start Wall Street's week.

For that, we head live to London and Jim Boulden, who's checking the numbers for us -- good morning, Jim.

Jim, are you with us?

Obviously Jim cannot hear us. We'll try to get back to him in a bit. Sorry about that. You know, it's Monday.

Revelations from Bob Woodward -- can they be trusted. A new tell all book goes behind-the-scenes as the U.S. heads down the road to war.

So tell us what you think -- and boy have you ever. E-mail us at daybreak@cnn.com. Did you see Bob Woodward on "60 Minutes" last night? What did you think? Do you believe him? Do you not? Is he just making a buck on a book? Daybreak@cnn.com.

Plus, a day of remembrance as Israel relives the horrors of the Holocaust. We take you live to Jerusalem.

This is DAYBREAK for Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CBS' "60 MINUTES")

WOODWARD: So he told Condi Rice. He told Rumsfeld. He knew Cheney wanted to do this. And they realize they haven't told Colin Powell, the secretary of state. So Condi Rice says to the president...

MIKE WALLACE, HOST: Are you serious?

WOODWARD: I'm serious.

And so Condi Rice says, "You'd better call Colin in and tell him."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And we have been asking for your opinions on what Bob Woodward said on "60 Minutes" last night. His new book comes out today and we've been soliciting e-mails. As I said, the book is called "Plan of Attack." You see it there.

This we get from Mike in New Hampshire. He says: "Good morning. I'm afraid that I do believe Mr. Woodward. There seems to be far more corroborating evidence to support that once again we have been lied to and misled by Mr. Bush and his crew."

This comes from Vivian from Memphis, Tennessee: "Woodward's credibility," she says, "is down there with Richard Clarke, Paul O'Neill and the like. We know from Dr. Rice's testimony to the 9/11 Commission that Woodward takes quotes out of context and inserts them in his book to fit his story. I have not, will not, read the book. But I understand that in most of it, he has no source for what he alleges."

And this from Roy from north Florida. He says: "Mr. Woodward is one of our most credible journalists. His work on Watergate was the definitive work. I have the feeling that his new book will be viewed in the same light when we look back on the Iraq war."

We want more of your e-mails this morning, daybreak@cnn.com. What do you think of Bob Woodward's claims? We want to know.

Here's what's all new in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict comes to a head as Hamas calls for revenge after killing its leader. Is there any end in sight to this cycle of violence? We'll have the latest live for you.

Presidential contender John Kerry campaigning for votes and finding himself on the defensive. We'll hear how he tries to set the record straight.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, four, three, two, one. We have booster ignition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Blasting off -- a new crew bound for the international space station gets a stellar sendoff.

This is DAYBREAK for Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN ROBERTS, CEO, WORLDWIDE SAATCHI & SAATCHI: I love coaching people. I love mentoring people. I love being part of a team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): That enthusiasm and his formidable reputation in management and marketing landed Kevin Roberts the top position at one of the world's leading advertising agencies despite having no experience in the field. Saatchi & Saatchi was in trouble until Roberts took the reigns. His gift of empowering employees to believe they are capable of anything aided in the company's turnaround.

ROBERTS: When you'd show them that they can perceive failure and failure is fine as long as they learn from it, show them that you have tremendous ambition and that you have faith that they can reach the stars, people never let you down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired April 19, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you.
From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, this is DAYBREAK for Monday, April 19.

I'm Carol Costello.

Let me bring you up to date right now.

The homeland security secretary has a message for local authorities this morning. Tom Ridge wants them to accelerate plans to deal with terrorist attacks. Ridge says he's concerned several upcoming high profile events could give terrorists a chance to strike.

Across Israel today, traffic came to a standstill as Israelis marked Holocaust Remembrance Day. The observance honors the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in WWII.

About 500 people attended a memorial last night for Dru Sjodin. The body of the University of North Dakota student was found on Saturday. She had been missing since November 22.

A replacement crew lifted off today for the international space station. A Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut will take over from the crew that has been in space since October.

To the forecast center now.

Let's check in with Chad -- good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Who knew about the plans for the Iraq war and when did they know them? A new book from the "Washington Post" journalist, Bob Woodward, says initial war planes were kept secret from key members of the Bush administration. Woodward's book, "Plan of Attack," goes on sale today.

On CBS' "60 Minutes," Woodward spoke about a conversation the president had in November of 2001, shortly after the collapse of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CBS' "60 MINUTES") BOB WOODWARD, "WASHINGTON POST": President Bush, after a National Security Council meeting, takes Don Rumsfeld aside, collars him physically, and takes him into a little cubbyhole room and closes the door. And says, "What have you got in terms of plans for Iraq? What is the status of the war plan? I want you to get on it. I want you to keep it secret."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Elaine Quijano has more on Woodward's account.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than three months after the September 11 attacks, President Bush told Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to start drawing up plans for war in Iraq, according to Bob Woodward's new book, "Plan of Attack." In it, Woodward asserts that long before the Bush administration's diplomatic efforts publicly ended, the president's tentative war plans had already privately begun. Woodward says after that meeting with Rumsfeld, General Tommy Franks, then head of the U.S. Central Command, started building runways and pipelines and doing all the preparations in Kuwait specifically to make war possible. Where did the money come from? According to Woodward, $700 million came from funds Congress had appeared for the war in Afghanistan, a move Woodward says happened without Congress knowing.

But administration officials defend that action.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The secretary of defense, I am quite certain, would propose to the president things that he believes are inside his purview to do with the allocation that he gets from Congress.

QUIJANO: The book also describes a CIA briefing in December 2002 to President Bush on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability, one of the main reasons for going to war. Woodward says the meeting left President Bush skeptical. According to "60 Minutes," Woodward wrote, "Then President Bush turns to George Tenet and says, 'This is the best we've got?'" Woodward says Tenet replied, "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk case."

A U.S. official tells CNN Tenet believed what he was saying based on intelligence then.

Just a few weeks after that, Woodward says Vice President Dick Cheney invited the Saudi ambassador, Prince Bandar, to his West Wing office and allowed him to see a secret war plan map that was supposed to be off limits to foreigners. Those who were there confirm Woodward's account.

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: It sounds basically correct and at that time, we were looking for support of our allies and partners in the region.

QUIJANO (on camera): Sunday, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice appeared to deny another issue raised in the book, that Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar knew of the Iraq war plan even before Secretary of State Colin Powell. Rice said that Powell was privy to all of this and knew what the war plan was.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Also in "Plan of Attack," Bob Woodward offers a time line of events leading to the war in Iraq. Here are a few key dates.

In late July, 2002, the president approves spending $700 million to prepare for a war on Iraq. The money is diverted from a congressional appropriation for the war in Afghanistan. That's according to Bob Woodward.

On December 21, 2002, CIA Director George Tenet briefs the president and vice president on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Tenet assures them the case Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction is a slam dunk.

On January 13, 2003, the president meets with Secretary of State Colin Powell, telling him, "I really think I'm going to have to do this," meaning invade Iraq. Powell, despite his reservations about a war, agrees to support the president's decision.

And then on March 19, the president issues the order to go to war.

Bob Woodward will talk about his new book on CNN's "Larry King." That airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

We want to know what you think of Bob Woodward's account of events leading to war. E-mail us at daybreak@cnn.com. We'll read some of your opinions later on in the show. Do you believe him? Do you want to hear more? Are you going to buy his book? That's daybreak@cnn.com.

Eleven more American troops were killed in Iraq this weekend alone. That tops our situation report this morning. Those deaths bring the total number of U.S. troop deaths in Iraq to 700. Most were killed after President Bush declared an end to major combat.

The U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, says Iraqi forces will not be ready to fight insurgents alone by the June 30 hand over date. That means a large number of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq.

Spain delivers a blow to the coalition. The new prime minister says he will withdraw his 1,400 troops from Iraq in the shortest possible time and not wait for the U.N. to step in.

And two Japanese citizens kidnapped in Iraq are now free. That leaves 16 people, including nine Americans, who are still missing or who are being held by Iraqi insurgents.

Now, let's go to Iraq and get the latest on the security situation there.

Jim Clancy is live in Baghdad for us this morning -- hello, Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

And good afternoon to you from the Iraqi capital.

It was just about three or four minutes ago we heard a large blast. It was very close to us here at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, apart from the green zone in what appears to be a mixed commercial/residential area. I have no more details about that blast, but emergency vehicles, Iraqi police going to the scene there.

Speaking of Iraqi police and the Iraqi military, in the bluntest terms yet, the U.S. administration for the coalition here in Iraq, Paul Bremer, saying over the weekend that it was not possible that the Iraqis were going to be able to assume security duties. This is exactly what he had to say: "It is clear that Iraqi forces will not be able on their own to deal with these threats by June 30, when an Iraqi government assumes sovereignty. Instead, Iraq and troops from many countries, including the United States, will be partners in providing the security that Iraqis need.

Not exactly a new statement, but very blunt terms there to back up some of the disappointments over the last two weeks that U.S. officials and coalition officials have expressed over the performance of the Iraqi security forces, both in Fallujah and in the south, where sometimes they mixed in, joined the opposition to patrol streets or simply refused to go into combat, as ordered by U.S. commanders.

But there is one less coalition member, perhaps, that can be counted on on the ground here today. Spain's prime minister saying he was going to move forward the date when he would withdraw the troops, telling his defense minister just a day after he assumed office that he wanted those Spanish troops, some 1,300 or 1,400 of them, to remove -- be removed, in his words, as soon as possible.

Now, this does have an impact, but coalition authorities telling CNN this morning they don't believe it's going to be a major problem. Most of those troops are deployed in the south, many of them around Najaf, a city that's been a flashpoint in recent days. But at the same time the U.S. has said it's going to reduce slightly its deployment of troops around Najaf that had been beefed up there only days ago.

So we have a situation developing here that is one of concern for the coalition, perhaps the psychological, perhaps the image change here is the most important thing about Spain's decision.

Also, a response from Muqtada al-Sadr down in Najaf. He praised the Spanish move and encouraged people in other nations to call on their governments to withdraw their troops, as well, from Iraq -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jim Clancy live from Baghdad this morning.

For more on Spain's decision to withdraw those troops from Iraq as soon as possible, let's head live to Madrid.

CNN's Al Goodman on the phone now

Why the speed up -- Al?

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, the government officials briefing CNN and some other international media after the new socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, made this unexpected statement on national television in Spain on Sunday. They said that he decided to move it up for two reasons. One, they've been doing quiet contact and diplomacy for the last couple of weeks, just on the eve of becoming actually the government in power. They've only been in power since this weekend. And they did -- they determined in that that they really didn't think there was going to be a United Nations resolution by June 30 that was going to give political and military control of Iraq to the United Nations.

That was the condition that Mr. Zapatero set and his envoys, including the new defense minister and the new foreign minister, just in the days before they actually took charge in their new positions, were out sounding out the United Nations, Britain, Poland, other coalition partners; also Central American nations, because there are some Central American troops serving with the Spaniards. And they got the sense that there is not going to be this resolution.

Having that sense, they decided that it would -- to wait and have this public debate waged on and on and on for days or weeks could put their troops more at risk. There could be kidnappings of Spanish troops, complicating the situation politically for them. So they decided let's take the decision right now.

I'm at the foreign ministry, where the new foreign minister has just spoken, Carol, to the diplomatic corps, a lot of them in those grey pinstriped button down suits that you would expect of male diplomats; a lot of well-dressed lady diplomats, as well. And the foreign minister expressing basically what his boss, the prime minister, said on Sunday, that this does not mean that Spain is stepping away from its commitment to help bring stability and democracy to Iraq. They think this is the best group for them right now.

And, very quickly, the majority of Spaniards seem to be with the government on this one. There are voices of dissent from the outgoing conservative government, calling it the wrong decision; also a leading conservative paper saying they should have waited longer to see if they could get that U.N. resolution.

But they've made the decision and they're off and running -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, Al, the symbolism of this, just pulling those troops out of Iraq, how are they going to go forward in the move to help fight the war on terrorism?

GOODMAN: Right. Well, they're saying there may be non-military -- there could be things like non-military aid that would be put in there. They haven't very been -- they haven't, Carol, really been very specific about what other types of aid.

But they are saying that they are not moving away from their commitments in other hot spots. For instance, they have 125 troops in Afghanistan. There's been indications that they might double that. They've got hundreds of troops in other U.N.-sponsored international peacekeeping missions in places like Bosnia and other places around the world. They say they're not pulling those out.

They're saying basically that they think the Iraq war was an illegal war, from their point of view, the socialist government point of view. This has been said many times during their campaign while they were in the opposition and they're just fulfilling their pledge. Politically, domestically, they pretty much had to fulfill this pledge. If they had gone back on this one, their political life could have been very short, indeed -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Al Goodman live on the phone from Madrid this morning.

Army Private First Class Matt Maupin of Batavia, Ohio is one of the people being held hostage in Iraq. On Sunday, former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch and her mother talked with Maupin's mother. They offered her moral support and let her know what her son may be facing in captivity.

Our Chris Lawrence is in Batavia and filed this report on a community waiting for a soldier's return.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lord, it's a very tough day today for the family.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunday church services broke from the usual in Matt Maupin's hometown, as a community tried to help a family cope with his capture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important thing that we can do to see Matt become a free man again is to pray.

LAWRENCE: And by the hundreds, they did, hoping it brings home a local hero.

ROBERT MAXWELL, FRIEND OF MAUPIN FAMILY: He's loved by everyone here and he's a hard worker and he's just loving.

LAWRENCE: The Reverend Jesse Jackson is offering to help based on what he heard in this videotape released Friday. In it, Maupin's captors offer to trade him for prisoners being held by the coalition in Iraq. U.S. officials say they don't negotiate with hostage takers, but that's not stopping this private citizen from getting involved.

REVEREND. JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: And I think that in a situation like this, as they seek to get back to the table in Fallujah, the issue of negotiation and prisoner swap must not be out of the picture.

LAWRENCE: But until Maupin is released, even the oldest songs have a different meaning here...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and the home of the brave.

LAWRENCE: ... when one of their bravest isn't free to come home.

(on camera): Now, even though the U.S. government won't negotiate for Matt Maupin's release, it is giving his family a lot of support. They've got a team of about 10 people at his family's home, including some counselors specially trained to deal with hostage situations.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Batavia, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The fears, the dangers, the concern -- Kellie Hamill, the wife of missing American contractor Thomas Hamill of Macon, Mississippi will talk about her concerns on "American Morning." Of course, that comes your way at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Important nuclear talks are under way in China this morning. Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il arrived in Beijing this morning for talks. We're going to take you there live later this hour.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vows of revenge from Hamas for the death of its leader. But how long before the militant group strikes back? We'll have more of that on DAYBREAK, coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Also ahead, a convicted child rapist awaits his arraignment. He says he's molested more than 200 victims. So what was he doing out of jail in the first place? We will have the surprising details for you.

And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And booster ignition. And we have lift-off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A new crew is rocketing toward the international space station. We'll take you live to Russia for that.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:18 Eastern time.

Journalist Bob Woodward's new book, entitled "Plan of Attack," out today. The book says President Bush ordered a war plan for Iraq drawn up just three months after the 9/11 attacks.

The murder trial of Terry Nichols in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building resumes this morning. It comes as families of victims and others observe today's ninth anniversary of the bombing.

In money news this morning, the numbers are going up. A report says two in five Internet users in the United States now have high speed access at home. Much of that growth has come since November.

In sports, the University of Connecticut's men's and women's basketball teams were honored during a parade in Hartford. The teams won the NCAA championships. One sign read, "U. Conn., You Can, You Did!"

In culture, bad language is leading C-SPAN to consider a time delay of its programming. The head of C-SPAN says there's been a spike in vulgar comments on the cable network's live programs.

Cursing on C-SPAN, Chad.

MYERS: Oh, no. Gee, is nothing sacred?

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines.

Well, this comes as a bit of a surprise. North Korea's nuclear weapons program back on the front burner. And guess what? The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, has traveled from North Korea to Beijing for talks.

CNN's Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz joins us live now with more -- when did this come about, Jaime, and how?

JAMIE FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, yes, this may be a major summit underway here now. But unlike most summits, this one is shrouded in secrecy. Korean President Kim Jong Il is believed to be visiting Beijing now, seeking political support and economic aid from his long time Chinese allies.

Now, he is believed to be holding meetings now with China's top leaders, his first summit with them since they took over in office about a year ago. Kim is here also to try to seek the political support from the Chinese in the light of the stand-off between North Korea and the U.S. His visit follows U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's visit last week. Cheney pressed the Chinese to do more to speed up the process of finding a solution to North Korea's nuclear weapons. And he says time is not necessarily on our side and that the North Koreans are still cheating on this.

So the Chinese have held two rounds of multi-party talks, both of which produced very little progress. And Kim Il Sung -- Kim Jong Il, I'm sorry, is expected to discuss what to -- how to proceed in the next few months -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jaime FlorCruz live in Beijing, China this morning.

Time now to check the overseas markets to see how, well, we'll see how they may influence Wall Street. Maybe it will jump start Wall Street's week.

For that, we head live to London and Jim Boulden, who's checking the numbers for us -- good morning, Jim.

Jim, are you with us?

Obviously Jim cannot hear us. We'll try to get back to him in a bit. Sorry about that. You know, it's Monday.

Revelations from Bob Woodward -- can they be trusted. A new tell all book goes behind-the-scenes as the U.S. heads down the road to war.

So tell us what you think -- and boy have you ever. E-mail us at daybreak@cnn.com. Did you see Bob Woodward on "60 Minutes" last night? What did you think? Do you believe him? Do you not? Is he just making a buck on a book? Daybreak@cnn.com.

Plus, a day of remembrance as Israel relives the horrors of the Holocaust. We take you live to Jerusalem.

This is DAYBREAK for Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CBS' "60 MINUTES")

WOODWARD: So he told Condi Rice. He told Rumsfeld. He knew Cheney wanted to do this. And they realize they haven't told Colin Powell, the secretary of state. So Condi Rice says to the president...

MIKE WALLACE, HOST: Are you serious?

WOODWARD: I'm serious.

And so Condi Rice says, "You'd better call Colin in and tell him."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And we have been asking for your opinions on what Bob Woodward said on "60 Minutes" last night. His new book comes out today and we've been soliciting e-mails. As I said, the book is called "Plan of Attack." You see it there.

This we get from Mike in New Hampshire. He says: "Good morning. I'm afraid that I do believe Mr. Woodward. There seems to be far more corroborating evidence to support that once again we have been lied to and misled by Mr. Bush and his crew."

This comes from Vivian from Memphis, Tennessee: "Woodward's credibility," she says, "is down there with Richard Clarke, Paul O'Neill and the like. We know from Dr. Rice's testimony to the 9/11 Commission that Woodward takes quotes out of context and inserts them in his book to fit his story. I have not, will not, read the book. But I understand that in most of it, he has no source for what he alleges."

And this from Roy from north Florida. He says: "Mr. Woodward is one of our most credible journalists. His work on Watergate was the definitive work. I have the feeling that his new book will be viewed in the same light when we look back on the Iraq war."

We want more of your e-mails this morning, daybreak@cnn.com. What do you think of Bob Woodward's claims? We want to know.

Here's what's all new in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict comes to a head as Hamas calls for revenge after killing its leader. Is there any end in sight to this cycle of violence? We'll have the latest live for you.

Presidential contender John Kerry campaigning for votes and finding himself on the defensive. We'll hear how he tries to set the record straight.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, four, three, two, one. We have booster ignition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Blasting off -- a new crew bound for the international space station gets a stellar sendoff.

This is DAYBREAK for Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN ROBERTS, CEO, WORLDWIDE SAATCHI & SAATCHI: I love coaching people. I love mentoring people. I love being part of a team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): That enthusiasm and his formidable reputation in management and marketing landed Kevin Roberts the top position at one of the world's leading advertising agencies despite having no experience in the field. Saatchi & Saatchi was in trouble until Roberts took the reigns. His gift of empowering employees to believe they are capable of anything aided in the company's turnaround.

ROBERTS: When you'd show them that they can perceive failure and failure is fine as long as they learn from it, show them that you have tremendous ambition and that you have faith that they can reach the stars, people never let you down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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