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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bob Woodward Book Stirring Up Controversy; Classes Canceled at Columbine High School Today

Aired April 20, 2004 - 06:00   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: The politics behind the war -- promises made and allegations denied.
It is Tuesday, April 20.

This is DAYBREAK.

Good morning to you.

From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

More on our top story in just a minute.

But first, the latest headlines for you.

The Senate wants to add its two cents worth to the transition to democracy in Iraq. The Foreign Relations Committee holds a hearing this morning on U.S. plans to return sovereignty to Iraq on June 30.

In Sweden, police have arrested four people suspected of being linked to Islamic extremists. A Swedish newspaper says they were arrested on suspicion of supporting attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

A memorial is set tonight to remember the victims of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado. Students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 classmates and a teacher five years ago today.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Like a gnat on a hot summer day, reports about when President Bush planned to go to war against Iraq, who knew about it and when did they know just won't go away. Bob Woodward, the author of a new book that's stirring up controversy, talked about the players and a time line on CNN's "Larry King Live."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")

BOB WOODWARD, "WASHINGTON POST": On January 11, a Saturday, Cheney and Rumsfeld, the defense secretary, called Bandar in with the chairman of the joint chiefs -- who, by the way, has said my account is correct, publicly -- and presented the war plan. And Don Rumsfeld is on the record, if you look on the Pentagon Web site, saying that he said this war plan, you can take it to the bank, it's going to happen. LARRY KING, HOST: And Bandar was there?

WOODWARD: And Bandar was there. And Cheney then said when we start, not if, but when we start, Saddam is toast. The president confirmed all of this when I interviewed him four or five months ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Woodward's book also paints Secretary of State Colin Powell as being on the sidelines of war planning and it puts the Saudi prince in the game.

Live to D.C. and CNN's Bill Prasad.

He has that angle for you -- good morning.

BILL PRASAD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

The book implies that Secretary of State Colin Powell was out of the loop when it came to a secret administration plan to invade Iraq. In "Plan of Attack," author Bob Woodward claims the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, was briefed on war plans before Powell. It's something Powell refutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: A question that has arisen seems to be that Prince Bandar received a briefing on the plan with some suggestion that I hadn't. Of course, I had. I was intimately familiar with the plan and I was aware that Prince Bandar was being briefed on the plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRASAD: Another controversial book claim is that the Saudi prince promised to help drive down oil prices just before the election. But the Saudi kingdom is claiming it is not trying to manipulate U.S. elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")

PRINCE BANDAR, SAUDI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: We hoped that the oil prices will stay low because that's good for America's economy, but, more important, it's good for our economy and the international economy. And this is nothing unusual. President Clinton asked us to keep the prices down in the year 2000. In fact, I can go back to 1979, President Carter asked us to keep the prices down to avoid the malaise.

So, yes, it's in our interests and in America's interests to keep the prices down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRASAD: The White House says there were talks about how a war with Iraq would affect gas prices, but there was no talk of any kind of a secret deal to influence the elections -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Bill Prasad live from Washington this morning.

U.S. officials in Iraq say time is running out before the military will resume its offensive against insurgents in Fallujah. Fallujah has been relatively quiet the last few days. Iraqis and coalition officials have agreed to a number of steps for a lasting cease-fire in the city. But the key is getting the insurgents to commit to any plan.

U.S. Marines have uncovered a large weapons cache while patrolling the outskirts of Fallujah. The stockpile included rockets, mortar and anti-aircraft rounds and rocket propelled grenades.

And Honduras has joined Spain in pulling its forces out of Iraq. The president of Honduras says his country's 370 troops would withdraw in the shortest time possible.

For more information on this or any other story, head to our Web site. The address, cnn.com.

Those terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, legal or not? The U.S. Supreme Court takes up the matter today. At issue, do U.S. courts have authority over the military's control of foreign detainees being held in another country? More than 600 prisoners are being held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba base.

The justices will hear arguments in the two cases brought by families of 16 Australian, British and Kuwaiti citizens. The U.S. military says the detainees are enemy combatants.

The mother of Kobe Bryant's accuser spoke in public for the first time since the alleged incident. She was attending a victim's rights rally in support of a new law that would allow judges to keep a victim's identity secret. She spoke about the lessons learned from her daughter's case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to thank my daughter for teaching me about courage. I'm proud to be her mom. Keep fighting. Keep trying. Keep supporting victims' rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Bryant's accuser wasn't at the rally, but her father and Eagle, Colorado D.A. Mark Hurlbert did attend. Also, we are not identifying the mother since it's CNN's policy not to report the names of alleged sexual assault victims.

Flying, are you? The rules may change again at the airport, but you'll probably like this. It tops our look at stories making news across America this Tuesday.

You may soon be able to kiss your loved ones good-bye at the gate. Officials are considering a rollback of post-9/11 rules that allow only ticketed airline passengers at departure and arrival gates. Pittsburgh International Airport is maintained as a possible test case for the changes.

A judge's ruling in favor of Michael Jackson may have come too late. The judge ruled last week that a New Jersey man can't sell any of the Jackson family memorabilia he received in a prior court case. But the man says he sold the items weeks ago for more than a million dollars.

In North Carolina, a group of youth soccer players returned home after a tragic trip to France. A tour bus carrying the team overturned, killing one teenager. Three other teammates were seriously injured and remain in a Paris hospital this morning. The bus driver and the bus company manager are scheduled to appear in a French court today.

Classes are canceled at Columbine High School today. Friends, family and others across the country are taking the day to remember the tragic events of April 20, 1999.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they're stalking around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're wearing all black clothing. They had shotguns and rifles and they were just shooting anybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw at least five, 10 (UNINTELLIGIBLE) shot.

FRANK DEANGELIS, PRINCIPAL, COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL: It sounded like firecrackers exploding. I walked out into the hallway and I said this is really happening. I was just saddened that 13 people lost their lives. It seems like it happened just yesterday, but at other times it seems like it's been many years ago. Hopefully when people see the flowers budding or they see the sun coming up or the grass turning green, that that will serve as a memory to those 13 who lost their lives. No one knows why Columbine High School was chosen to be put in this situation and we could decide which direction we want to go.

And we could have quit. We could have been negative and we could have said poor us. Or we can say we will learn from this, we will build upon the strength of the people who lost their lives. Don't allow them to die in vain.

I truly believe that if we closed Columbine High School, that Klebold and Harris would have won. I can remember students coming up and telling me, Mr. D, don't let them take our building away from us. We want to go back in there, as difficult as it's been for people. I think it was important to come back into Columbine High School. For one, we're Columbine and that represents us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And we'll have more with Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis later this morning. He'll join Soledad and Bill on "American Morning." Of course, that comes your way at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Well, the violence we saw unfold at Columbine changed the way many Americans look at their children's schools. Coming up, a man who knows a lot about keeping your children safe. We'll see how far the nation has come on school safety.

And paying more for some foods -- another sign of the state of our economy.

And then, forget special effects, rocket man takes this stunt to a whole new level.

This is DAYBREAK for April 20.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time to give away our paper cup this morning.

COSTELLO: I'm sorry, I forgot my mug in the drawer. You know, I'm too lazy to wash the mug each morning, so I have a mug here and then I have this paper cup.

MYERS: I guess that's a throwaway.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: Hey, the questions for yesterday were Bob Woodward's new book, he claims that Saudi Prince Bandar was notified about Iraq before which cabinet member? Obviously, Colin Powell. And then in the Julie Vallese report, what organization conducted those side impact crashes of the midsized cars with the SUV? The answer, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

And the winner, from Wake Forest, North Carolina, Wayne Harp this morning. Congratulations, Wayne. In fact, there were over 490 correct answers from this one yesterday.

COSTELLO: You're kidding?

MYERS: We need to make these questions harder. Or start giving away more than one mug.

COSTELLO: I think we make the questions very difficult sometimes.

MYERS: These people are paying attention. I don't know.

COSTELLO: That is awesome.

MYERS: That's great.

COSTELLO: To have that kind of retention early in the morning is something. MYERS: It certainly is.

COSTELLO: Time for a little business buzz right now.

Do you like Spam?

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: Well, oh, the food.

MYERS: You know why.

COSTELLO: Well, soon it may cost more for that tasty treat, you know, the kind you eat.

MYERS: Yes?

COSTELLO: Oh, no. Carrie Lee has more live from the NASDAQ market site. I don't know a person that buys Spam.

MYERS: Oh, yes.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't either.

COSTELLO: Do you know people who buy Spam?

MYERS: Oh, sure. Oh, sure.

LEE: Well, I don't know anyone who buys Spam either, but we're not just talking about Spam here, Carol and Chad, but Dinty Moore stew, Hormel chili. Hormel Foods makes hundreds of food products, a lot of packaged food. And they're set to raise prices across-the- board. And we're talking about a pretty significant hike here. The "Wall Street Journal" reporting that in June, Hormel is going to raise prices of all of its packaged food items from between four and a half to six and a half percent. And this is because of rising commodity prices.

And what's happening here is other food giants, such as General Mills, Kraft, Kellogg, could very well follow Hormel's lead.

We've talked about this before -- beef prices on the rise. Last week we were talking about milk prices increasing. So Hormel the first food giant to raise prices across-the-board. Others could very well follow.

You know what this means economically speaking. We've heard a lot about price hikes, gasoline prices. We'll get into that a little bit later. That all means that the Federal Reserve could be very well inclined to raise interest rates to cool things off a little bit. So that's what investors are thinking. Obviously, price hikes not good news for consumers.

COSTELLO: No, not at all, because they're high enough already, especially for milk. That still slays me. LEE: I couldn't believe it. I went to my grocery store. And I know New York is a little more expensive than the average. $4.29 for a half gallon.

MYERS: Whoa!

COSTELLO: Oh, come on. Where are you shopping? You're kidding?

LEE: I'm telling you. I'm telling you. Now, this is a little gourmet deli. It's not a big grocery store. But you have to pay it.

COSTELLO: You need to go to the 7-Eleven, girl.

LEE: Go to New Jersey and load up the car, right?

COSTELLO: A quick look at the futures.

LEE: OK, things looking a little bit flat this morning. We're not seeing too much action to the up or down side. We don't really have any economic news today, although I want to talk about U.S. Airways. The company's CEO is leaving the company. The move comes as the airline struggles to regain its financial footing a year after emerging from bankruptcy. So we'll be watching that stock.

But across-the-board, futures looking I'd say flat to a little bit higher for this Tuesday.

COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee live from the NASDAQ market site this morning.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:15 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds hearings on today. Senators will hear testimony on the proposed hand over set for June 30.

Your overtime pay may be safe. The Bush administration is apparently bowing to pressure. It plans to revise proposed labor rules making more people eligible for overtime, including police officers and firefighters.

In money news, investors will be listening when Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan appears on Capitol Hill this afternoon. You heard Carrie mention that. There is speculation the Fed could soon raise interest rates.

And the world of sports, former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett has been ruled ineligible for this weekend's NFL draft. A federal Appeals court turned down his attempt to bypass NFL draft rules.

In culture, want to seed Darth Vader's new look? Hmm, I can even see his old one there. Well, you can see his new look. There's a sneak preview of the next chapter in the Star Wars series in the DVD trilogy. That will be released tomorrow.

MYERS: Right. Luke, I am your mother.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: And the Boston Marathon, it was what, in the '90s?

MYERS: It was smoking. It was 87 yesterday.

COSTELLO: And the runners were still smoking. We'll tell you about that later, though.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You bet.

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

A comic strip that's not so funny. Next, how the hugely popular "Doonesbury" is depicting the war in Iraq.

And after a deadly week in Iraq and the release of two books taking aim at the president, what the public thinks of the commander- in-chief now.

And our DAYBREAK Photo of the Day. Take a look. What it is? We'll be back with the answer after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we're going to show you the DAYBREAK Photo of the Day. So everybody can take a gander at what it is.

MYERS: Can you see the little -- oh, nope. We're not doing that.

COSTELLO: We're going to do "Doonesbury" first.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: So, let's do "Doonesbury" first, because the comic strip is out and it's featuring a soldier from Iraq losing his leg.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: And a lot of papers won't run it, not because of any political reason, but because the character, upon realizing he loses his leg, utters...

MYERS: Yes, profanity. Yes.

COSTELLO: Not serious profanity, I think. He says "SOB," but he says it in the word. And a lot of papers don't like that, so they're not running the strip. But apparently most newspapers are, because even U.S. soldiers like the strip because it's sort of paying attention to the problems that they face.

MYERS: Well, you know, we do the death toll every day and how many this weekend and whatever. But there are an awful lot of other casualties that don't get reported and these...

COSTELLO: The injured, right?

MYERS: These guys are really working hard for us over there, so we need to give them our best.

COSTELLO: So be looking in your newspaper for that "Doonesbury" cartoon.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: OK. So did you figure out the DAYBREAK Portland?

MYERS: Hmmm. Can you tell that's a foot on the right? That's a shoe.

COSTELLO: And a shadow.

MYERS: Probably not. Maybe that was a turtle. There you go. At the one mile mark, the Boston Marathon. There's still a lot of people running. I would just be about going over to the side right now.

COSTELLO: You know, it's amazing, the winners, the female winner ran it in two hours, 24 minutes and 27 seconds. It was so hot that when she crossed the finish line, a wheelchair was there waiting offer her because she just collapsed.

MYERS: Wow!

COSTELLO: She was exhausted, she was dehydrated.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: But what a time.

MYERS: It started very late in the day. Was it a noon start or something like that, 11:30 for the women? And obviously it was already hot by then.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: It was well into the '90s at the finish of the race. The male winner, two hours, 10 minutes, 37 seconds.

MYERS: No records?

COSTELLO: No. It was too hot, I think. It was amazing, though.

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

Five years after Columbine, what have we learned and are your children safer at school?

Plus, what do Americans think of the job their president is doing? We've got some new Gallup poll numbers to share with you this morning.

And from the right and from the left, we'll debate the real impact of Bob Woodward's new book about the Bush White House and the war in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is Tuesday, April 20.

This is DAYBREAK.

Good morning to you.

From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Here are the latest headlines for you now.

Marines operating on the outskirts of Fallujah have discovered and destroyed a large cache of weapons. The weapons include anti- aircraft guns with ammunition and rocket propelled grenades.

The Supreme Court will hear appeals today on behalf of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The court must decide if U.S. courts have jurisdiction over the so-called enemy combatants.

South Korean media reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will have a second meeting with his Chinese counterpart today. Kim Jong Il arrived in Beijing unannounced to discuss economic aid and nuclear weapons.

Prosecutors in the Terry Nichols murder trial are expected to bring their key witness to the stand today. Michael Fortier was sentenced to 12 years for knowing about the bomb plot but failing to alert police.

To the forecast center now and Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired April 20, 2004 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The politics behind the war -- promises made and allegations denied.
It is Tuesday, April 20.

This is DAYBREAK.

Good morning to you.

From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

More on our top story in just a minute.

But first, the latest headlines for you.

The Senate wants to add its two cents worth to the transition to democracy in Iraq. The Foreign Relations Committee holds a hearing this morning on U.S. plans to return sovereignty to Iraq on June 30.

In Sweden, police have arrested four people suspected of being linked to Islamic extremists. A Swedish newspaper says they were arrested on suspicion of supporting attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

A memorial is set tonight to remember the victims of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado. Students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 classmates and a teacher five years ago today.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Like a gnat on a hot summer day, reports about when President Bush planned to go to war against Iraq, who knew about it and when did they know just won't go away. Bob Woodward, the author of a new book that's stirring up controversy, talked about the players and a time line on CNN's "Larry King Live."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")

BOB WOODWARD, "WASHINGTON POST": On January 11, a Saturday, Cheney and Rumsfeld, the defense secretary, called Bandar in with the chairman of the joint chiefs -- who, by the way, has said my account is correct, publicly -- and presented the war plan. And Don Rumsfeld is on the record, if you look on the Pentagon Web site, saying that he said this war plan, you can take it to the bank, it's going to happen. LARRY KING, HOST: And Bandar was there?

WOODWARD: And Bandar was there. And Cheney then said when we start, not if, but when we start, Saddam is toast. The president confirmed all of this when I interviewed him four or five months ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Woodward's book also paints Secretary of State Colin Powell as being on the sidelines of war planning and it puts the Saudi prince in the game.

Live to D.C. and CNN's Bill Prasad.

He has that angle for you -- good morning.

BILL PRASAD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

The book implies that Secretary of State Colin Powell was out of the loop when it came to a secret administration plan to invade Iraq. In "Plan of Attack," author Bob Woodward claims the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, was briefed on war plans before Powell. It's something Powell refutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: A question that has arisen seems to be that Prince Bandar received a briefing on the plan with some suggestion that I hadn't. Of course, I had. I was intimately familiar with the plan and I was aware that Prince Bandar was being briefed on the plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRASAD: Another controversial book claim is that the Saudi prince promised to help drive down oil prices just before the election. But the Saudi kingdom is claiming it is not trying to manipulate U.S. elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")

PRINCE BANDAR, SAUDI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: We hoped that the oil prices will stay low because that's good for America's economy, but, more important, it's good for our economy and the international economy. And this is nothing unusual. President Clinton asked us to keep the prices down in the year 2000. In fact, I can go back to 1979, President Carter asked us to keep the prices down to avoid the malaise.

So, yes, it's in our interests and in America's interests to keep the prices down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRASAD: The White House says there were talks about how a war with Iraq would affect gas prices, but there was no talk of any kind of a secret deal to influence the elections -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Bill Prasad live from Washington this morning.

U.S. officials in Iraq say time is running out before the military will resume its offensive against insurgents in Fallujah. Fallujah has been relatively quiet the last few days. Iraqis and coalition officials have agreed to a number of steps for a lasting cease-fire in the city. But the key is getting the insurgents to commit to any plan.

U.S. Marines have uncovered a large weapons cache while patrolling the outskirts of Fallujah. The stockpile included rockets, mortar and anti-aircraft rounds and rocket propelled grenades.

And Honduras has joined Spain in pulling its forces out of Iraq. The president of Honduras says his country's 370 troops would withdraw in the shortest time possible.

For more information on this or any other story, head to our Web site. The address, cnn.com.

Those terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, legal or not? The U.S. Supreme Court takes up the matter today. At issue, do U.S. courts have authority over the military's control of foreign detainees being held in another country? More than 600 prisoners are being held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba base.

The justices will hear arguments in the two cases brought by families of 16 Australian, British and Kuwaiti citizens. The U.S. military says the detainees are enemy combatants.

The mother of Kobe Bryant's accuser spoke in public for the first time since the alleged incident. She was attending a victim's rights rally in support of a new law that would allow judges to keep a victim's identity secret. She spoke about the lessons learned from her daughter's case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to thank my daughter for teaching me about courage. I'm proud to be her mom. Keep fighting. Keep trying. Keep supporting victims' rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Bryant's accuser wasn't at the rally, but her father and Eagle, Colorado D.A. Mark Hurlbert did attend. Also, we are not identifying the mother since it's CNN's policy not to report the names of alleged sexual assault victims.

Flying, are you? The rules may change again at the airport, but you'll probably like this. It tops our look at stories making news across America this Tuesday.

You may soon be able to kiss your loved ones good-bye at the gate. Officials are considering a rollback of post-9/11 rules that allow only ticketed airline passengers at departure and arrival gates. Pittsburgh International Airport is maintained as a possible test case for the changes.

A judge's ruling in favor of Michael Jackson may have come too late. The judge ruled last week that a New Jersey man can't sell any of the Jackson family memorabilia he received in a prior court case. But the man says he sold the items weeks ago for more than a million dollars.

In North Carolina, a group of youth soccer players returned home after a tragic trip to France. A tour bus carrying the team overturned, killing one teenager. Three other teammates were seriously injured and remain in a Paris hospital this morning. The bus driver and the bus company manager are scheduled to appear in a French court today.

Classes are canceled at Columbine High School today. Friends, family and others across the country are taking the day to remember the tragic events of April 20, 1999.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they're stalking around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're wearing all black clothing. They had shotguns and rifles and they were just shooting anybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw at least five, 10 (UNINTELLIGIBLE) shot.

FRANK DEANGELIS, PRINCIPAL, COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL: It sounded like firecrackers exploding. I walked out into the hallway and I said this is really happening. I was just saddened that 13 people lost their lives. It seems like it happened just yesterday, but at other times it seems like it's been many years ago. Hopefully when people see the flowers budding or they see the sun coming up or the grass turning green, that that will serve as a memory to those 13 who lost their lives. No one knows why Columbine High School was chosen to be put in this situation and we could decide which direction we want to go.

And we could have quit. We could have been negative and we could have said poor us. Or we can say we will learn from this, we will build upon the strength of the people who lost their lives. Don't allow them to die in vain.

I truly believe that if we closed Columbine High School, that Klebold and Harris would have won. I can remember students coming up and telling me, Mr. D, don't let them take our building away from us. We want to go back in there, as difficult as it's been for people. I think it was important to come back into Columbine High School. For one, we're Columbine and that represents us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And we'll have more with Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis later this morning. He'll join Soledad and Bill on "American Morning." Of course, that comes your way at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Well, the violence we saw unfold at Columbine changed the way many Americans look at their children's schools. Coming up, a man who knows a lot about keeping your children safe. We'll see how far the nation has come on school safety.

And paying more for some foods -- another sign of the state of our economy.

And then, forget special effects, rocket man takes this stunt to a whole new level.

This is DAYBREAK for April 20.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time to give away our paper cup this morning.

COSTELLO: I'm sorry, I forgot my mug in the drawer. You know, I'm too lazy to wash the mug each morning, so I have a mug here and then I have this paper cup.

MYERS: I guess that's a throwaway.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: Hey, the questions for yesterday were Bob Woodward's new book, he claims that Saudi Prince Bandar was notified about Iraq before which cabinet member? Obviously, Colin Powell. And then in the Julie Vallese report, what organization conducted those side impact crashes of the midsized cars with the SUV? The answer, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

And the winner, from Wake Forest, North Carolina, Wayne Harp this morning. Congratulations, Wayne. In fact, there were over 490 correct answers from this one yesterday.

COSTELLO: You're kidding?

MYERS: We need to make these questions harder. Or start giving away more than one mug.

COSTELLO: I think we make the questions very difficult sometimes.

MYERS: These people are paying attention. I don't know.

COSTELLO: That is awesome.

MYERS: That's great.

COSTELLO: To have that kind of retention early in the morning is something. MYERS: It certainly is.

COSTELLO: Time for a little business buzz right now.

Do you like Spam?

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: Well, oh, the food.

MYERS: You know why.

COSTELLO: Well, soon it may cost more for that tasty treat, you know, the kind you eat.

MYERS: Yes?

COSTELLO: Oh, no. Carrie Lee has more live from the NASDAQ market site. I don't know a person that buys Spam.

MYERS: Oh, yes.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't either.

COSTELLO: Do you know people who buy Spam?

MYERS: Oh, sure. Oh, sure.

LEE: Well, I don't know anyone who buys Spam either, but we're not just talking about Spam here, Carol and Chad, but Dinty Moore stew, Hormel chili. Hormel Foods makes hundreds of food products, a lot of packaged food. And they're set to raise prices across-the- board. And we're talking about a pretty significant hike here. The "Wall Street Journal" reporting that in June, Hormel is going to raise prices of all of its packaged food items from between four and a half to six and a half percent. And this is because of rising commodity prices.

And what's happening here is other food giants, such as General Mills, Kraft, Kellogg, could very well follow Hormel's lead.

We've talked about this before -- beef prices on the rise. Last week we were talking about milk prices increasing. So Hormel the first food giant to raise prices across-the-board. Others could very well follow.

You know what this means economically speaking. We've heard a lot about price hikes, gasoline prices. We'll get into that a little bit later. That all means that the Federal Reserve could be very well inclined to raise interest rates to cool things off a little bit. So that's what investors are thinking. Obviously, price hikes not good news for consumers.

COSTELLO: No, not at all, because they're high enough already, especially for milk. That still slays me. LEE: I couldn't believe it. I went to my grocery store. And I know New York is a little more expensive than the average. $4.29 for a half gallon.

MYERS: Whoa!

COSTELLO: Oh, come on. Where are you shopping? You're kidding?

LEE: I'm telling you. I'm telling you. Now, this is a little gourmet deli. It's not a big grocery store. But you have to pay it.

COSTELLO: You need to go to the 7-Eleven, girl.

LEE: Go to New Jersey and load up the car, right?

COSTELLO: A quick look at the futures.

LEE: OK, things looking a little bit flat this morning. We're not seeing too much action to the up or down side. We don't really have any economic news today, although I want to talk about U.S. Airways. The company's CEO is leaving the company. The move comes as the airline struggles to regain its financial footing a year after emerging from bankruptcy. So we'll be watching that stock.

But across-the-board, futures looking I'd say flat to a little bit higher for this Tuesday.

COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee live from the NASDAQ market site this morning.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:15 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds hearings on today. Senators will hear testimony on the proposed hand over set for June 30.

Your overtime pay may be safe. The Bush administration is apparently bowing to pressure. It plans to revise proposed labor rules making more people eligible for overtime, including police officers and firefighters.

In money news, investors will be listening when Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan appears on Capitol Hill this afternoon. You heard Carrie mention that. There is speculation the Fed could soon raise interest rates.

And the world of sports, former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett has been ruled ineligible for this weekend's NFL draft. A federal Appeals court turned down his attempt to bypass NFL draft rules.

In culture, want to seed Darth Vader's new look? Hmm, I can even see his old one there. Well, you can see his new look. There's a sneak preview of the next chapter in the Star Wars series in the DVD trilogy. That will be released tomorrow.

MYERS: Right. Luke, I am your mother.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: And the Boston Marathon, it was what, in the '90s?

MYERS: It was smoking. It was 87 yesterday.

COSTELLO: And the runners were still smoking. We'll tell you about that later, though.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You bet.

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

A comic strip that's not so funny. Next, how the hugely popular "Doonesbury" is depicting the war in Iraq.

And after a deadly week in Iraq and the release of two books taking aim at the president, what the public thinks of the commander- in-chief now.

And our DAYBREAK Photo of the Day. Take a look. What it is? We'll be back with the answer after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we're going to show you the DAYBREAK Photo of the Day. So everybody can take a gander at what it is.

MYERS: Can you see the little -- oh, nope. We're not doing that.

COSTELLO: We're going to do "Doonesbury" first.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: So, let's do "Doonesbury" first, because the comic strip is out and it's featuring a soldier from Iraq losing his leg.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: And a lot of papers won't run it, not because of any political reason, but because the character, upon realizing he loses his leg, utters...

MYERS: Yes, profanity. Yes.

COSTELLO: Not serious profanity, I think. He says "SOB," but he says it in the word. And a lot of papers don't like that, so they're not running the strip. But apparently most newspapers are, because even U.S. soldiers like the strip because it's sort of paying attention to the problems that they face.

MYERS: Well, you know, we do the death toll every day and how many this weekend and whatever. But there are an awful lot of other casualties that don't get reported and these...

COSTELLO: The injured, right?

MYERS: These guys are really working hard for us over there, so we need to give them our best.

COSTELLO: So be looking in your newspaper for that "Doonesbury" cartoon.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: OK. So did you figure out the DAYBREAK Portland?

MYERS: Hmmm. Can you tell that's a foot on the right? That's a shoe.

COSTELLO: And a shadow.

MYERS: Probably not. Maybe that was a turtle. There you go. At the one mile mark, the Boston Marathon. There's still a lot of people running. I would just be about going over to the side right now.

COSTELLO: You know, it's amazing, the winners, the female winner ran it in two hours, 24 minutes and 27 seconds. It was so hot that when she crossed the finish line, a wheelchair was there waiting offer her because she just collapsed.

MYERS: Wow!

COSTELLO: She was exhausted, she was dehydrated.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: But what a time.

MYERS: It started very late in the day. Was it a noon start or something like that, 11:30 for the women? And obviously it was already hot by then.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: It was well into the '90s at the finish of the race. The male winner, two hours, 10 minutes, 37 seconds.

MYERS: No records?

COSTELLO: No. It was too hot, I think. It was amazing, though.

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

Five years after Columbine, what have we learned and are your children safer at school?

Plus, what do Americans think of the job their president is doing? We've got some new Gallup poll numbers to share with you this morning.

And from the right and from the left, we'll debate the real impact of Bob Woodward's new book about the Bush White House and the war in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is Tuesday, April 20.

This is DAYBREAK.

Good morning to you.

From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Here are the latest headlines for you now.

Marines operating on the outskirts of Fallujah have discovered and destroyed a large cache of weapons. The weapons include anti- aircraft guns with ammunition and rocket propelled grenades.

The Supreme Court will hear appeals today on behalf of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The court must decide if U.S. courts have jurisdiction over the so-called enemy combatants.

South Korean media reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will have a second meeting with his Chinese counterpart today. Kim Jong Il arrived in Beijing unannounced to discuss economic aid and nuclear weapons.

Prosecutors in the Terry Nichols murder trial are expected to bring their key witness to the stand today. Michael Fortier was sentenced to 12 years for knowing about the bomb plot but failing to alert police.

To the forecast center now and Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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