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CNN Live At Daybreak

Insurgents in Najaf Take Pounding from U.S. Forces; Nearly Three Year Fight Over Privacy in White House Policymaking Comes to a Head

Aired April 27, 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: A fierce and deadly battle, this time in Najaf. We'll take you there live -- well, actually, we'll take you live to Iraq in just a few minutes.
It is Tuesday, April 27.

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.

U.S. forces have killed 43 Iraqi insurgents in fighting near the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf. An anti-American Shiite cleric is holed up in that city. He is wanted by U.S. forces.

The U.S. Supreme Court today hears arguments on whether Vice President Dick Cheney should reveal the inner workings of an energy task force he headed.

South Africa celebrates 10 years of democracy today, a decade since the end of apartheid. Part of the celebration includes the swearing in of President Thabo Mbeke to his second term.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao will unveil an overtime pay task force today, an overtime pay task force. The group will focus on protecting workers' eligibility rights to get overtime. The Department is facing heat over new overtime pay rules.

To the forecast center now and Chad -- good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Insurgents in Najaf have taken a pounding from U.S. forces, while in Fallujah the situation does remain tense this morning.

Let's get the latest live out of Iraq.

From Baghdad, it's Ben Wedeman -- hello, Ben. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, coalition spokesmen say that 43 people were killed overnight in fighting outside of Najaf. The spokesmen describing them as insurgents, members of the Mahdi Army, which is loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The battle apparently raged yesterday evening to the northeast of the city. Also deployed in that fighting was an AC-130 gunship, which coalition spokesmen say was used to take out an anti-aircraft system there.

Now, of course, it is in Najaf where the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr is holed up. The U.S. accuses him of -- or, rather, his supporters -- of attacking coalition forces. Nonetheless, it does appear that the U.S. forces in and around -- rather, around Najaf are staying where they are. They're hoping, it's believed, that other Shiite leaders will try to contain Sadr's rebellion. Many of those Shiite leaders wary of his political ambitions.

Meanwhile in the rebellious town of Fallujah to the west of Baghdad, the situation there remains very tense. Yesterday there was a fierce firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents, leaving one Marine dead and at least eight insurgents dead, as well.

Now, today we are told that Marines are allowing Fallujah residents in and out of the city from the eastern side. The coalition had hoped that insurgents would begin to hand over some of their weapons today and that there would be joint Iraqi security-U.S. Marine patrols going out on the streets. No word, however, if any weapons have been handed over, but all indications point to the fact that there will be no joint security, rather, joint patrols today. We are told, however, that there is an increased Iraqi police presence on the streets of Fallujah today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ben, in talking about that deadline for the anti- coalition, I guess guerrillas, in Fallujah to hand over the heavy weaponry, when does that deadline end? Because that deadline has been extended. And what might happen next, besides those Iraqi patrols?

WEDEMAN: Well, what we're hearing is that the Iraqis involved in the negotiations between the insurgents and the coalition need more time. They say that they cannot deal with deadlines at this point. They want to be able to really work out a peaceful solution because as we've seen, the fighting in Fallujah can get very deadly. And at this point it would appear the Governing Council, the coalition and possibly the insurgents want to avoid some sort of U.S. onslaught into the city that would result in a repeat of such huge casualties that we saw before -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad.

That fighting in Najaf that Ben was talking about came after Spanish troops moved out of the city. Some 200 U.S. troops provided security for their Spanish -- for the Spanish, rather, as they completed their withdrawal. About 2,500 U.S. troops are poised outside of Najaf.

Al-Arabiya TV has broadcast video of three Italian hostages in Iraq. Their captors say they will kill them in five days if the Italian people fail to demonstrate against their government's policy backing the United States in Iraq.

And in New York, Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. envoy helping develop a transitional government for Iraq, gives an update this afternoon to the U.N. Security Council.

Now to the problem of protecting the troops as they do their jobs on Iraqi streets. The Pentagon is rushing to refit Humvees with armor plating. The idea, of course, is to help make the troops safer. But not all agree it would accomplish that.

CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With U.S. troops still dying in deadly roadside attacks, the Pentagon is spending $400 million racing to replace the Army's basic thin-skinned Humvees with reinforced up armored versions. But the better armor is still not providing adequate protection, writes a four star general in a memo obtained by CNN.

"Commanders in the field are reporting to me that the up armored Humvee is not providing the solution the Army hoped to achieve," writes General Larry Ellis, commanding general of the U.S. Army Forces Command, in a March 30 memo to the Army chief of staff.

Critics say even with better armor, the Humvees' shoulder level doors make it too easy to lob a grenade inside. Its four rubber tires burn too readily. At two tons, it's light enough to be overturned by a mob.

General Ellis wants to shift Army funds to build twice as many of the Army's newest combat vehicle, the Striker, which has eight wheels, weighs 19 tons and when equipped with a special cage, can withstand an RPG attack.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): The Striker is going to take too long to produce that many. So I'd get something out there now during this very intense period in Iraq.

MCINTYRE: Critics like General Grange say the Army is overlooking an even cheaper, faster solution than the $3 million Striker, thousands of Vietnam era M113 armored personnel carriers that the Army has in storage and which can be upgraded with new armor for less than $100,000 apiece.

(on camera): In his memo, General Ellis pleads for quick action, lamenting while the U.S. is at war, some in the Army are in a peacetime posture. He writes, "If our actions impede our ability to train, equip or organize our soldiers for combat, then we've failed the soldier and the nation."

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: For the latest on the situation in Iraq, you can log onto our Web site at cnn.com.

On the campaign trail, President Bush heads to Maryland today. He will visit a veterans hospital in Baltimore and promote the benefits of computers and health care. He's following up on a pitch he issued in Minneapolis yesterday. In the meantime, a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows President Bush's favorable rating stands at 56 percent. His unfavorable rating is 42 percent. John Kerry's favorable rating is nearly the same, at 54 percent. His unfavorable rating is 37 percent.

And after spending a day in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, John Kerry's four state bus tour takes him to the battleground state of Ohio today. He'll take part in a rally with federal workers at Youngstown and he will hold a roundtable with mayors in Cleveland. Also, a new book on Kerry is due out today. It is called -- get ready -- it is called "The Complete Biography by the 'Boston Globe' Reporters Who Know Him Best."

A nearly three year fight over privacy in White House policymaking comes to a head today in the Supreme Court. The Bush administration wants to keep Vice President Cheney's work on a national energy policy confidential.

Here's CNN's Bob Franken to sort it all out for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The fight over Vice President Cheney's right to confidentiality is a battle that goes all the way back to 1803 and the Supreme Court's decision supporting judicial review and oversight over the White House.

The Vice President claims this time the lists of participants in his meetings to formulate energy policy are the business of the executive branch alone. Court involvement, in effect, is meddling.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES: We start down that road; we're setting a terrible precedent. We're saying the Vice President cannot have confidential meetings.

FRANKEN: The Vice President has refused to provide a list of those who participated. His adversaries argue it would show heavy influence by corporate energy interests including the likes of ousted Enron Chief Executive Ken Lay.

DAVID BOOKBINDER, SIERRA CLUB LEGAL DIRECTOR: The final report of the energy task force reads as if it was written by the energy industry.

FRANKEN: Add to the intrigue one adamant Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia who has rejected demands to remove himself from the case after disclosures Cheney had taken him on a duck-hunting trip. If it is reasonable, said Scalia, to think that a Supreme Court justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined.

BOOKBINDER: This is a question of public confidence in the courts.

FRANKEN: The entire matter, says the Vice President, amounts to a tempest in a teapot.

CHENEY: It's a classic sort of feeding frenzy in Washington.

FRANKEN (on camera): And food for thought for the Supreme Court justices. All nine of them, who will decide whether the Vice President must answer charges his advisors had a conflict of interest. Very much a political issue in this election year. Bob Franken, CNN, the Supreme Court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So, White House executive privilege or not? Our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, joins us in the next hour live for his take on the case before the Supreme Court.

A decision from the Witmer sisters of Wisconsin tops our look at stories making news across America this Tuesday.

The sisters will announce today whether they will return to Iraq or ask for a transfer out of the war zone. The military has left the decision up to Rachel and Charity Witmer. Their sister Michelle was killed in action in Iraq earlier this month.

It is about to get more difficult to get an A at Princeton. New university guidelines will limit the number of top grades given out to undergraduates. They're going to allow no more than 35 percent of undergrads to get As. The faculty approved the change to combat so- called grade inflation.

In Los Angeles, June Pointer Whitmore is charged with cocaine possession. The former and youngest member of the Pointer Sisters was arrested last night in front of her sister Bonnie's apartment. June is the one, the third from the left there. She was kicked out of the group several years ago because of repeated substance abuse problems.

Still ahead on DAYBREAK, a terrorist plot of potentially massive proportions foiled in Jordan. We'll give you an extraordinary look at the plot and the people behind it.

Also ahead, after more than a decade of international ostracism, Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi visits the West.

And in the next half hour, the rape case of NBA star Kobe Bryant -- the controversy over the sexual history of his 19-year-old accuser heats up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It is 5:15 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

U.S. forces kill 43 insurgents in Najaf. An anti-aircraft position also has been destroyed. A leading anti-American Shiite cleric is, of course, holed up in Najaf with his paramilitary force.

At issue before the Supreme Court today, whether Vice President Dick Cheney should reveal the inner workings of his energy policy group. Two groups want to learn what influence energy officials had in the deliberations.

In money news, home sales are up. The Commerce Department says sales of new homes in March jumped 8.9 percent. That's the highest sales rate since September.

In sports, the president of the University of Colorado is expected to decide the fate of suspended football coach Gary Barnett by May. One bumper sticker making the rounds in Boulder: "Forget Da Bet (ph), Free Barnett."

In culture, shock jock Howard Stern has caught flak from the government, but his ratings aren't suffering. For the quarter, he had major gains in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

Time now to check the overseas markets to see what may be in store for Wall Street investors today.

For that, we head live to London and Diana Muriel -- good morning, Diana.

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, rather a lackluster trading day on the main European markets. We're seeing most of the markets lower, with just Paris managing to keep its head above water. We're seeing a lot of stocks going ex-dividend here in the London market, which is taking four points off the FTSE, taking the market lower.

One of the main areas of interest for European investors is B.P. The giant oil company coming in with record first quarter profits. It was up in earlier trading, but investors have been selling off the stock. This company coming in with $4.71 billion of profit in the first quarter versus an expectation of $4.6 billion. The company says it's also going to sell around half of its petrochemical businesses, possibly in an initial public offering, possibly at the end of 2005. Analysts are saying it might get as much as $6 billion for the sale of half of that business.

The company has also done very well out of its Russian assets. Of course, it went into a joint venture with the Russian company TNK last year. That's been coming through and we've seen daily production of oil barrels are up over four million per day, which is the first time that B.P. has enjoyed that since the early 1970s.

So, B.P. lower in the market today, despite those record results.

We've got Shell coming out with its numbers later on this week. Of course, that company had been troubled by having to restate its reserves three times since the start of this year and it's lower in the London market. More about Shell also trading lower in Amsterdam and also in Paris, down around half a percentage point -- back to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Diana Muriel live from London this morning.

The planned rehabilitation of Libya is taking the next step this week. Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi is in Brussels this morning for planned meetings with leaders of the European Union.

CNN's Sheila MacVicar has more from London on Colonel Gadhafi's attempt to change Libya's image.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Very quickly, the former pariah state, Libya, and its leader, Moammar Qaddafi, are becoming very respectable. Tony Blair's trip to Tripoli last month and this handshake in the Colonel's tent confirming that Western nations are now willing to believe that Libya's days as a sponsor of terrorism are over, and even more astonishingly that Libya might now be an ally in the war against al Qaeda.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The world is changing. And we've got to do everything we possibly can to tackle the security threat that faces us.

MACVICAR: What has most impressed London and Washington is Libya's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction. In January, Libya turned over to the U.S. this equipment it says it was using to build a nuclear bomb. Last week, Washington eased sanctions imposed on Libya since the mid-1980s, a time when then President Ronald Reagan called Colonel Qaddafi a "mad dog" and U.S. jets bombed Tripoli in retaliation for terrorist acts. Mr. Gadhafi's trip to Brussels one more step along what seems to be an accelerating journey to normalization.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Coming up next on DAYBREAK, the accuser in the Kobe Bryant case cannot live in her own hometown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she shouldn't be afraid to come back. I think more she should be ashamed.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: We'll find out if she has good reason to be afraid, as Eagle County residents take up sides.

And if you snooze, you lose, literally. No, it's not the Kentucky Derby. But we will have all the details about this bedlam, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: Obviously it's a big estate.

COSTELLO: This is a really strange story. Apparently this cafeteria worker in Pennsylvania named Abigail filed for a Hawaiian princess' tax return of $2.1 million and she actually received it.

MYERS: And got it.

COSTELLO: But she really wasn't the princess.

MYERS: Even...

COSTELLO: But she somehow got the princess' Social Security number and used it to get the big tax refund.

MYERS: She did grow up in Hawaii, but she said -- you said if she could just pronounce the princess' name, it'd be good enough.

COSTELLO: Go ahead, try.

MYERS: Kapiolani Kawananakoa.

COSTELLO: See, if they had just asked Abigail if she pronounced the princess' name...

MYERS: Or spell it.

COSTELLO: ... they would have known. Exactly. But this cafeteria worker's attorney says she's suffering from an irrational insistence upon an identity that is not her own.

MYERS: They already spent $100,000 of that refund. Now the IRS has got the rest of it back, except for that $100,000. And they want the rest back, too.

COSTELLO: Unbelievable.

MYERS: Good luck.

COSTELLO: All right, a California tan ban. A tan ban, Tad.

MYERS: On a beach?

COSTELLO: I called you Tad.

MYERS: Tad, bad, Chad.

COSTELLO: That tops our DAYBREAK Eye-Opener this morning.

Can you tell I need more coffee?

A state assemblyman is proposing legislation to keep teens from getting fake tans. Joe Nation -- that's really his name -- Joe Nation is pushing a bill that would ban anyone under the age of 18 from using a tanning bed without a doctor's note. But, the proposed ban does not include those spray on tanning products, so that kind of fake tan is just fine.

MYERS: Does he own one of those fake tanning bed spray on companies?

COSTELLO: Good question.

Mona Lisa is fading. Art experts are worried that Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece is changing shape and shade too quickly. As it is, the nearly 500-year-old painting is kept in an air conditioned case. And next year, Mona Lisa gets her own room at The Louvre. Every year an estimated six million people come to see that sly smile.

Hey, who needs a horse when you can race a bed? Racing beds once again highlighted the 14th Annual Derby Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. Forty teams took part in the competition, which was anything but a snoozer.

MYERS: I want to say love American style. Remember that old show?

COSTELLO: That's perfect.

MYERS: They're pushing the beds down the street.

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

A country celebrates. It's been 10 years since South Africa officially shed the shackles of apartheid. But enormous challenges lie ahead. And later this hour, we'll take you live to Pretoria.

Terrorism foiled. Chilling revelations about an al Qaeda plot. Coming up, how the secret police got their man and a confession on tape.

And with war at its doorstep and a relationship on the line, did a long time ally lend critical support to U.S. forces in Iraq? We'll have the answer for you just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you.

Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.

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

Thank you for joining us this morning.

Here's what's happening right now.

Moammar Qaddafi is making a historic trip to Brussels today. In fact, he has just arrived. He's going to meet with leaders of the European Union. These pictures, by the way, just in to CNN. The Libyan leader is working to improve relations and set the groundwork for inclusion in aid programs.

Fresh pictures for you out of Iraq this morning. U.S. troops killed more than 40 Iraqi insurgents during fighting near Najaf. Troops also managed to knock out an anti-aircraft installation in the area.

The Canadian government is set to announce a new national security policy today. Among the initiatives will be improved security at the country's ports.

And the Supreme Court hears arguments today in a governmental privacy case. The case involves finding out who helped Vice President Dick Cheney develop a national energy policy -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT:. Good morning, Carol.

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Aired April 27, 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: A fierce and deadly battle, this time in Najaf. We'll take you there live -- well, actually, we'll take you live to Iraq in just a few minutes.
It is Tuesday, April 27.

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.

U.S. forces have killed 43 Iraqi insurgents in fighting near the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf. An anti-American Shiite cleric is holed up in that city. He is wanted by U.S. forces.

The U.S. Supreme Court today hears arguments on whether Vice President Dick Cheney should reveal the inner workings of an energy task force he headed.

South Africa celebrates 10 years of democracy today, a decade since the end of apartheid. Part of the celebration includes the swearing in of President Thabo Mbeke to his second term.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao will unveil an overtime pay task force today, an overtime pay task force. The group will focus on protecting workers' eligibility rights to get overtime. The Department is facing heat over new overtime pay rules.

To the forecast center now and Chad -- good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Insurgents in Najaf have taken a pounding from U.S. forces, while in Fallujah the situation does remain tense this morning.

Let's get the latest live out of Iraq.

From Baghdad, it's Ben Wedeman -- hello, Ben. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, coalition spokesmen say that 43 people were killed overnight in fighting outside of Najaf. The spokesmen describing them as insurgents, members of the Mahdi Army, which is loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The battle apparently raged yesterday evening to the northeast of the city. Also deployed in that fighting was an AC-130 gunship, which coalition spokesmen say was used to take out an anti-aircraft system there.

Now, of course, it is in Najaf where the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr is holed up. The U.S. accuses him of -- or, rather, his supporters -- of attacking coalition forces. Nonetheless, it does appear that the U.S. forces in and around -- rather, around Najaf are staying where they are. They're hoping, it's believed, that other Shiite leaders will try to contain Sadr's rebellion. Many of those Shiite leaders wary of his political ambitions.

Meanwhile in the rebellious town of Fallujah to the west of Baghdad, the situation there remains very tense. Yesterday there was a fierce firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents, leaving one Marine dead and at least eight insurgents dead, as well.

Now, today we are told that Marines are allowing Fallujah residents in and out of the city from the eastern side. The coalition had hoped that insurgents would begin to hand over some of their weapons today and that there would be joint Iraqi security-U.S. Marine patrols going out on the streets. No word, however, if any weapons have been handed over, but all indications point to the fact that there will be no joint security, rather, joint patrols today. We are told, however, that there is an increased Iraqi police presence on the streets of Fallujah today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ben, in talking about that deadline for the anti- coalition, I guess guerrillas, in Fallujah to hand over the heavy weaponry, when does that deadline end? Because that deadline has been extended. And what might happen next, besides those Iraqi patrols?

WEDEMAN: Well, what we're hearing is that the Iraqis involved in the negotiations between the insurgents and the coalition need more time. They say that they cannot deal with deadlines at this point. They want to be able to really work out a peaceful solution because as we've seen, the fighting in Fallujah can get very deadly. And at this point it would appear the Governing Council, the coalition and possibly the insurgents want to avoid some sort of U.S. onslaught into the city that would result in a repeat of such huge casualties that we saw before -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad.

That fighting in Najaf that Ben was talking about came after Spanish troops moved out of the city. Some 200 U.S. troops provided security for their Spanish -- for the Spanish, rather, as they completed their withdrawal. About 2,500 U.S. troops are poised outside of Najaf.

Al-Arabiya TV has broadcast video of three Italian hostages in Iraq. Their captors say they will kill them in five days if the Italian people fail to demonstrate against their government's policy backing the United States in Iraq.

And in New York, Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. envoy helping develop a transitional government for Iraq, gives an update this afternoon to the U.N. Security Council.

Now to the problem of protecting the troops as they do their jobs on Iraqi streets. The Pentagon is rushing to refit Humvees with armor plating. The idea, of course, is to help make the troops safer. But not all agree it would accomplish that.

CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With U.S. troops still dying in deadly roadside attacks, the Pentagon is spending $400 million racing to replace the Army's basic thin-skinned Humvees with reinforced up armored versions. But the better armor is still not providing adequate protection, writes a four star general in a memo obtained by CNN.

"Commanders in the field are reporting to me that the up armored Humvee is not providing the solution the Army hoped to achieve," writes General Larry Ellis, commanding general of the U.S. Army Forces Command, in a March 30 memo to the Army chief of staff.

Critics say even with better armor, the Humvees' shoulder level doors make it too easy to lob a grenade inside. Its four rubber tires burn too readily. At two tons, it's light enough to be overturned by a mob.

General Ellis wants to shift Army funds to build twice as many of the Army's newest combat vehicle, the Striker, which has eight wheels, weighs 19 tons and when equipped with a special cage, can withstand an RPG attack.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): The Striker is going to take too long to produce that many. So I'd get something out there now during this very intense period in Iraq.

MCINTYRE: Critics like General Grange say the Army is overlooking an even cheaper, faster solution than the $3 million Striker, thousands of Vietnam era M113 armored personnel carriers that the Army has in storage and which can be upgraded with new armor for less than $100,000 apiece.

(on camera): In his memo, General Ellis pleads for quick action, lamenting while the U.S. is at war, some in the Army are in a peacetime posture. He writes, "If our actions impede our ability to train, equip or organize our soldiers for combat, then we've failed the soldier and the nation."

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: For the latest on the situation in Iraq, you can log onto our Web site at cnn.com.

On the campaign trail, President Bush heads to Maryland today. He will visit a veterans hospital in Baltimore and promote the benefits of computers and health care. He's following up on a pitch he issued in Minneapolis yesterday. In the meantime, a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows President Bush's favorable rating stands at 56 percent. His unfavorable rating is 42 percent. John Kerry's favorable rating is nearly the same, at 54 percent. His unfavorable rating is 37 percent.

And after spending a day in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, John Kerry's four state bus tour takes him to the battleground state of Ohio today. He'll take part in a rally with federal workers at Youngstown and he will hold a roundtable with mayors in Cleveland. Also, a new book on Kerry is due out today. It is called -- get ready -- it is called "The Complete Biography by the 'Boston Globe' Reporters Who Know Him Best."

A nearly three year fight over privacy in White House policymaking comes to a head today in the Supreme Court. The Bush administration wants to keep Vice President Cheney's work on a national energy policy confidential.

Here's CNN's Bob Franken to sort it all out for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The fight over Vice President Cheney's right to confidentiality is a battle that goes all the way back to 1803 and the Supreme Court's decision supporting judicial review and oversight over the White House.

The Vice President claims this time the lists of participants in his meetings to formulate energy policy are the business of the executive branch alone. Court involvement, in effect, is meddling.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES: We start down that road; we're setting a terrible precedent. We're saying the Vice President cannot have confidential meetings.

FRANKEN: The Vice President has refused to provide a list of those who participated. His adversaries argue it would show heavy influence by corporate energy interests including the likes of ousted Enron Chief Executive Ken Lay.

DAVID BOOKBINDER, SIERRA CLUB LEGAL DIRECTOR: The final report of the energy task force reads as if it was written by the energy industry.

FRANKEN: Add to the intrigue one adamant Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia who has rejected demands to remove himself from the case after disclosures Cheney had taken him on a duck-hunting trip. If it is reasonable, said Scalia, to think that a Supreme Court justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined.

BOOKBINDER: This is a question of public confidence in the courts.

FRANKEN: The entire matter, says the Vice President, amounts to a tempest in a teapot.

CHENEY: It's a classic sort of feeding frenzy in Washington.

FRANKEN (on camera): And food for thought for the Supreme Court justices. All nine of them, who will decide whether the Vice President must answer charges his advisors had a conflict of interest. Very much a political issue in this election year. Bob Franken, CNN, the Supreme Court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So, White House executive privilege or not? Our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, joins us in the next hour live for his take on the case before the Supreme Court.

A decision from the Witmer sisters of Wisconsin tops our look at stories making news across America this Tuesday.

The sisters will announce today whether they will return to Iraq or ask for a transfer out of the war zone. The military has left the decision up to Rachel and Charity Witmer. Their sister Michelle was killed in action in Iraq earlier this month.

It is about to get more difficult to get an A at Princeton. New university guidelines will limit the number of top grades given out to undergraduates. They're going to allow no more than 35 percent of undergrads to get As. The faculty approved the change to combat so- called grade inflation.

In Los Angeles, June Pointer Whitmore is charged with cocaine possession. The former and youngest member of the Pointer Sisters was arrested last night in front of her sister Bonnie's apartment. June is the one, the third from the left there. She was kicked out of the group several years ago because of repeated substance abuse problems.

Still ahead on DAYBREAK, a terrorist plot of potentially massive proportions foiled in Jordan. We'll give you an extraordinary look at the plot and the people behind it.

Also ahead, after more than a decade of international ostracism, Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi visits the West.

And in the next half hour, the rape case of NBA star Kobe Bryant -- the controversy over the sexual history of his 19-year-old accuser heats up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It is 5:15 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

U.S. forces kill 43 insurgents in Najaf. An anti-aircraft position also has been destroyed. A leading anti-American Shiite cleric is, of course, holed up in Najaf with his paramilitary force.

At issue before the Supreme Court today, whether Vice President Dick Cheney should reveal the inner workings of his energy policy group. Two groups want to learn what influence energy officials had in the deliberations.

In money news, home sales are up. The Commerce Department says sales of new homes in March jumped 8.9 percent. That's the highest sales rate since September.

In sports, the president of the University of Colorado is expected to decide the fate of suspended football coach Gary Barnett by May. One bumper sticker making the rounds in Boulder: "Forget Da Bet (ph), Free Barnett."

In culture, shock jock Howard Stern has caught flak from the government, but his ratings aren't suffering. For the quarter, he had major gains in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

Time now to check the overseas markets to see what may be in store for Wall Street investors today.

For that, we head live to London and Diana Muriel -- good morning, Diana.

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, rather a lackluster trading day on the main European markets. We're seeing most of the markets lower, with just Paris managing to keep its head above water. We're seeing a lot of stocks going ex-dividend here in the London market, which is taking four points off the FTSE, taking the market lower.

One of the main areas of interest for European investors is B.P. The giant oil company coming in with record first quarter profits. It was up in earlier trading, but investors have been selling off the stock. This company coming in with $4.71 billion of profit in the first quarter versus an expectation of $4.6 billion. The company says it's also going to sell around half of its petrochemical businesses, possibly in an initial public offering, possibly at the end of 2005. Analysts are saying it might get as much as $6 billion for the sale of half of that business.

The company has also done very well out of its Russian assets. Of course, it went into a joint venture with the Russian company TNK last year. That's been coming through and we've seen daily production of oil barrels are up over four million per day, which is the first time that B.P. has enjoyed that since the early 1970s.

So, B.P. lower in the market today, despite those record results.

We've got Shell coming out with its numbers later on this week. Of course, that company had been troubled by having to restate its reserves three times since the start of this year and it's lower in the London market. More about Shell also trading lower in Amsterdam and also in Paris, down around half a percentage point -- back to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Diana Muriel live from London this morning.

The planned rehabilitation of Libya is taking the next step this week. Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi is in Brussels this morning for planned meetings with leaders of the European Union.

CNN's Sheila MacVicar has more from London on Colonel Gadhafi's attempt to change Libya's image.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Very quickly, the former pariah state, Libya, and its leader, Moammar Qaddafi, are becoming very respectable. Tony Blair's trip to Tripoli last month and this handshake in the Colonel's tent confirming that Western nations are now willing to believe that Libya's days as a sponsor of terrorism are over, and even more astonishingly that Libya might now be an ally in the war against al Qaeda.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The world is changing. And we've got to do everything we possibly can to tackle the security threat that faces us.

MACVICAR: What has most impressed London and Washington is Libya's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction. In January, Libya turned over to the U.S. this equipment it says it was using to build a nuclear bomb. Last week, Washington eased sanctions imposed on Libya since the mid-1980s, a time when then President Ronald Reagan called Colonel Qaddafi a "mad dog" and U.S. jets bombed Tripoli in retaliation for terrorist acts. Mr. Gadhafi's trip to Brussels one more step along what seems to be an accelerating journey to normalization.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Coming up next on DAYBREAK, the accuser in the Kobe Bryant case cannot live in her own hometown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she shouldn't be afraid to come back. I think more she should be ashamed.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: We'll find out if she has good reason to be afraid, as Eagle County residents take up sides.

And if you snooze, you lose, literally. No, it's not the Kentucky Derby. But we will have all the details about this bedlam, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: Obviously it's a big estate.

COSTELLO: This is a really strange story. Apparently this cafeteria worker in Pennsylvania named Abigail filed for a Hawaiian princess' tax return of $2.1 million and she actually received it.

MYERS: And got it.

COSTELLO: But she really wasn't the princess.

MYERS: Even...

COSTELLO: But she somehow got the princess' Social Security number and used it to get the big tax refund.

MYERS: She did grow up in Hawaii, but she said -- you said if she could just pronounce the princess' name, it'd be good enough.

COSTELLO: Go ahead, try.

MYERS: Kapiolani Kawananakoa.

COSTELLO: See, if they had just asked Abigail if she pronounced the princess' name...

MYERS: Or spell it.

COSTELLO: ... they would have known. Exactly. But this cafeteria worker's attorney says she's suffering from an irrational insistence upon an identity that is not her own.

MYERS: They already spent $100,000 of that refund. Now the IRS has got the rest of it back, except for that $100,000. And they want the rest back, too.

COSTELLO: Unbelievable.

MYERS: Good luck.

COSTELLO: All right, a California tan ban. A tan ban, Tad.

MYERS: On a beach?

COSTELLO: I called you Tad.

MYERS: Tad, bad, Chad.

COSTELLO: That tops our DAYBREAK Eye-Opener this morning.

Can you tell I need more coffee?

A state assemblyman is proposing legislation to keep teens from getting fake tans. Joe Nation -- that's really his name -- Joe Nation is pushing a bill that would ban anyone under the age of 18 from using a tanning bed without a doctor's note. But, the proposed ban does not include those spray on tanning products, so that kind of fake tan is just fine.

MYERS: Does he own one of those fake tanning bed spray on companies?

COSTELLO: Good question.

Mona Lisa is fading. Art experts are worried that Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece is changing shape and shade too quickly. As it is, the nearly 500-year-old painting is kept in an air conditioned case. And next year, Mona Lisa gets her own room at The Louvre. Every year an estimated six million people come to see that sly smile.

Hey, who needs a horse when you can race a bed? Racing beds once again highlighted the 14th Annual Derby Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. Forty teams took part in the competition, which was anything but a snoozer.

MYERS: I want to say love American style. Remember that old show?

COSTELLO: That's perfect.

MYERS: They're pushing the beds down the street.

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

A country celebrates. It's been 10 years since South Africa officially shed the shackles of apartheid. But enormous challenges lie ahead. And later this hour, we'll take you live to Pretoria.

Terrorism foiled. Chilling revelations about an al Qaeda plot. Coming up, how the secret police got their man and a confession on tape.

And with war at its doorstep and a relationship on the line, did a long time ally lend critical support to U.S. forces in Iraq? We'll have the answer for you just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you.

Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.

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

Thank you for joining us this morning.

Here's what's happening right now.

Moammar Qaddafi is making a historic trip to Brussels today. In fact, he has just arrived. He's going to meet with leaders of the European Union. These pictures, by the way, just in to CNN. The Libyan leader is working to improve relations and set the groundwork for inclusion in aid programs.

Fresh pictures for you out of Iraq this morning. U.S. troops killed more than 40 Iraqi insurgents during fighting near Najaf. Troops also managed to knock out an anti-aircraft installation in the area.

The Canadian government is set to announce a new national security policy today. Among the initiatives will be improved security at the country's ports.

And the Supreme Court hears arguments today in a governmental privacy case. The case involves finding out who helped Vice President Dick Cheney develop a national energy policy -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT:. Good morning, Carol.

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