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CNN Live At Daybreak

Possible Fallujah Breakthrough; Iraq's Voice: After War; Bush, Cheney to Take Questions From 9/11 Panel Today

Aired April 29, 2004 - 06:30   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: Let's put this in perspective. Is this huge?
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well, it could be, as you say. I mean, what we're hearing is that the four former Iraqi generals -- those would be generals under Saddam Hussein's army who have up until now been excluded from any leadership role in the Iraqi army, which the U.S. has rebuilt -- will be given a role in Fallujah specifically in an effort to create an Iraqi-only security force in Fallujah to take on this insurgency.

If they are successful, it's definitely huge, if for no other reason than it prevents what we were being told the U.S. Marines were fearing, which was a heavy loss of life, both on their side and the Iraqi side, both the insurgents and civilians within this massive city of 300,000 people. So...

COSTELLO: And just to make it clear, these Iraqi generals are going to lead this Iraqi army, but there will be U.S. oversight.

CLINCH: There will be U.S. oversight. And some very serious questions. I mean, our people in Baghdad are aware of this, and we are asking some very serious questions. Former Saddam generals taking power over the Iraqi army, how will that sit with the local civilians? Will they be able to do anything? Will the Iraqi army even turn up? We've talked about this. They've been given roles before and just simply not turned up.

Much more easily said that done, but according to the Marines, at least quoted by the "L.A. Times" reporter Tony Perry has given us this story from Fallujah today, the Marines are saying this is worth a try. It's worth the risk, because the risks of going in militarily to end the insurgency are so high.

Some very serious questions about how this will work, how long they will be given to make it work, and what the U.S. Marines do if it doesn't work.

COSTELLO: Well, they're still talking about it, so many of those questions may be answered later today.

David Clinch, many thanks to you.

What are Iraqis saying about how things are going for them?

Let's head live to Princeton, New Jersey now, and Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.

Frank, before we get to the numbers, the Gallup people actually went into Iraq and asked Iraqi citizens to get these numbers, right?

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: That's right. This was a major undertaking, Carol, 3,400 -- over 3,400 interviews completed on the ground in person by indigenous interviewers, obviously not Americans, not even connected to America as far the respondents were concerned. We did this with CNN and "USA Today." And I think we came up with a very, very important portrait of where the average Iraqi stands in this very, very important time in the history of their country.

Carol, "USA Today," I think, had a nice quote from one Iraqi citizen, who said, thank you for removing Saddam Hussein; now you can leave, bye-bye. And that's what we're really finding in the data, a real paradox of sorts. Glad Saddam Hussein is gone, but, boy, is there a lot of antipathy on the part of the average Iraqi towards the American occupation. And I use that word specifically, and I'll show you why in a moment.

Here 61 to 28: Was ousting Saddam Hussein worth it? Iraqis say yes. A two to one ratio, so that's clear.

But look at the next: Should occupation forces leave immediately or stay longer? And here, we have a majority 57 percent saying all right, you may leave now -- 57 percent.

And we find that over 70 questions in this poll, we find that in a lot of different places as we interviewed people as we went through.

I used the word "occupiers" -- and I think this was a key -- kind of symbolically, Carol. We said, do you regard the United States and the British and the other coalition forces as occupiers or as liberators? You see the results here: 71 percent, occupiers. A lot of the data simply suggests that the Iraqi people don't like the idea of occupiers in their country at this point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And these next set of numbers are very interesting. Gallup asked the Iraqis: Can attacks on U.S. forces be justified?

NEWPORT: Well, that's the very important question, obviously, from all of the news we've been watching. Of course, these data were collected in March and into early April, so these don't even reflect the sentiments that we've been seeing over the last week or two.

But here's the response. Overall, of course, Iraqis, 25 percent say not justified at all, 22 percent say usually not, 22 percent say sometimes attacks against the U.S. and British forces can be justified. And look at the top two. If you add those together, that's 30 percent of Iraqis who say at least sometimes attacks against the U.S. forces can be justified.

And by the way, those numbers are quite a bit higher down in the Sunni triangle, in Fallujah and Tikrit and places along those lines.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

NEWPORT: One last point: 90 percent, Carol, say that attacks against the Iraqi police cannot be justified.

COSTELLO: Fascinating numbers. Thank you, Frank Newport, from Gallup headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, telling us some fascinating stuff this morning.

You can get the results of that poll and all kinds of other information about Iraq on our Web site. The address, of course: CNN.com.

History in the making at the White House today as President Bush and Vice President Cheney appear before the 9/11 Commission.

CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash live on the phone with a preview.

This will go down at 9:30 Eastern this morning, right, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. And it is going to take place, of course, in a very important room here at the White House, and that is the Oval Office. All 10 commissioners are expected to be there, and it's supposed to last about two hours, though White House officials are saying that it could last a little bit longer.

But as you'd mentioned earlier, it's not going to be under oath. It's not officially testimony. They're simply being interviewed, if you will, by the 9/11 Commission.

There will be no official transcript. This is obviously an historic event, but there won't be an official transcript for the history books. It won't be recorded -- tape recorded at all. But the chief counsel for the White House will be there, and two other White House lawyers will be present, and they will be allowed to take notes, as will members of the commission.

But, obviously, we know there has been a lot of criticism about the fact that the president and vice president are appearing together, questions of whether or not they are going to try to coach each other or check each other's stories. The White House maintains that this is not a criminal investigation, that they are doing this in order to help the commission, and having them together, the White House says, could help them explain the story, explains the days and months leading up to 9/11.

COSTELLO: Well, Dana, the interesting thing, this is not a criminal investigation. So, why are White House attorneys present?

BASH: Well, the attorneys are present simply as a matter of course. The chief counsel has been somebody who has been talking about this in detail with the president and vice president in terms of preparing. They've also talked to Condoleezza Rice in the past several days, as the two men have sort of buckled down and looked at exactly what issues they are going to be dealing with before the commission.

And we also know that the president and the vice president have spoken to one another about their testimony this morning, and they've been given transcripts of testimony of others, particularly Richard Clarke, who, of course, has been quite critical of the president's actions leading up to 9/11.

So, they certainly have their information given to them, and they have their briefing books to prepare for this morning's testimony.

COSTELLO: And I know where you will be all day. Dana Bash, many thanks to you for joining us live on DAYBREAK.

The political and the spiritual. In many ways the situation in Iraq is influenced by religion. Coming up, a powerful Christian president and his war in a Muslim country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time for a little business buzz right now. U.S. Airways is ready to defend its home turf, and consumers -- yes, you -- may benefit from lower airfares. Oh, I like this.

Joya Doss tells us more live from the Nasdaq Marketsite. Tell us.

JOYA DOSS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Well, U.S. Airways is on the warpath, and mission No. 1 is to defend its hub at the Philadelphia International Airport. If you're wondering why, it's because Southwest Airlines, which is a low-cost carrier, is going to be invading their Philadelphia hub starting May 9.

So, in preparation for this, U.S. Airways is doing a couple of things. For one, they're going to start fares as low as $29 one way to cities such as Providence and Raleigh-Durham, matching those fares of Southwest. It's also dropping the Saturday night stay requirement for the newly-reduced fares, and upping its flight frequency on Southwest's most popular routes.

Now, U.S. Airways did exit bankruptcy just a year ago, but it continues to lose money, and its costs are the highest in the industry. The company lost about $177 million in the January quarter. So, it's doing other things. It's also adding workers, and it's fixing that conveyer belt on the baggage system, which apparently collapsed because of high volume.

COSTELLO: Oh, no!

DOSS: Good news for anyone who has had their baggage, you know, I guess hurt in any way.

COSTELLO: Exactly. A quick look at the futures.

DOSS: Well, you know what? I have some more direction for you now. The tech stocks are actually looking lower, so the futures have gleaned some direction right now, and they are looking lower as well. But we've got a pretty heavy economic calendar today. We're going to get a check on first quarter GDP, and we're going to get our weekly jobless claims. So that's going to maybe give us some more direction, too.

COSTELLO: All right, Joya Doss live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.

We know how much religion plays into politics in the Middle East, but religion also plays a part in American politics. Tonight, PBS' "Frontline" will explore the Jesus factor as it applies to George W. Bush.

Joining us live now, Raney Aronson, who is the producer of that documentary.

Welcome.

RANEY ARONSON, "FRONTLINE" PRODUCER: Thank you so much for having me.

COSTELLO: What's the purpose of this documentary?

ARONSON: Mostly we wanted to look at the president's faith, how important it was to him as a younger man, and now as president. So, we sort of do his entire religious journey, his trajectory to now when we look at him as president and his actions today.

COSTELLO: You say President Bush told a Baptist group, I believe that God wants me to be president. Did he really mean that literally?

ARONSON: I think what he probably meant was that he felt at that moment that he had a calling, that he felt that God was saying to him, it's time to actually step up and run for the presidency. How he actually interprets that is a big question, whether he really meant it, but he did say it, and he did really communicate this to a number of people after the church service back in 1999.

COSTELLO: So, the obvious question is: Is how much does religion play a part in the decisions that the president makes?

ARONSON: Well, that's right. And what we try to do is really be careful here. We want to definitely say that religion does play a part. But also ask the question: Is it really his personal faith, or is it a political necessity that he does certain things? So, it's sort of both is what we conclude.

COSTELLO: I know you're talking specifically about the evangelical vote and how important it is to President Bush's campaign. But there's also evidence in history that such evangelical support can backfire, isn't there?

ARONSON: That's right. And actually, presidents have found over the last 30 years that they have to be very careful and very nimble with this group. I think President Bush and Karl Rove and people around him have been very aware of this constituency, of knowing that they really need to please them, to talk to them, to appeal to them.

So, it goes both ways. But, yes, the evangelical community definitely can be fickle in their vote.

COSTELLO: Interesting. OK, the "Frontline" documentary, "The Jesus Factor," it air, what, at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time?

ARONSON: 9:00 tonight.

COSTELLO: All right, we'll be watching. Thanks so much for joining us live from New York this morning.

ARONSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: A tentative deal cut today between U.S. Marines and Iraqi army generals. The Iraqi army would take over security from the Marines in Fallujah probably in a week or two.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney will answer questions from the 9/11 Commission. The closed-door session begins in just a few hours.

In money news this morning, some lawmakers are pushing for a minimum wage hike. They want it increased from $5.15 an hour to $7.00 an hour. Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy and other others are holdings a news conference today to discuss it.

In sports, the NCAA now says it will allow 17 and 18-year-old players at Division I schools to enter the National Hockey League draft in June, but there are stipulations.

In culture, teenager crooner John Stevens is out. He was bounced off of "American Idol." Host Ryan Seacrest says over 28 million votes were tallied. That is more than in last season's finale.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you. Coming up on DAYBREAK, if a man's home is his castle, then some of us have a long way to go to live like royalty. Coming up, drywall, spackle, brushes and paint, tips to make do-it-yourself projects like the pros. Chad will have that for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to DAYBREAK.

This just in to us right now. We do understand that eight U.S. soldiers have been killed near Baghdad. It's been a deadly April, I'm telling you. On the average, five U.S. soldiers have died per day.

Again, eight U.S. soldiers killed near Baghdad, and we don't know much more than that. Of course, as we get information in, we'll pass it along to you.

Let's head live to New York now and check in with Bill and Soledad.

You know, those deaths come on a day when something positive has come out of Fallujah this morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the give and take in Iraq. It continues. Carol, thanks for that. We'll follow what's happening there in Baghdad today.

Also in Fallujah, 35 miles west, Tony Perry of the "L.A. Times" is saying a deal has been struck to allow the Iraqis to take control of that town. How critical could this be? Why trust it now? A number of questions, and we will get to all of them today out of Fallujah and also Baghdad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also, as the president and the vice president prepare to sit down before members of the 9/11 Commission, we'll take a look at exactly what some of the questions the commissioners might be having for the two of them. We're going to talk with Dana Bash from the White House this morning.

HEMMER: Also, on the American roads, disturbing new numbers about the number of traffic deaths in this country. Why now? And what can be done about it? We'll get to that as well. So...

O'BRIEN: All ahead this morning, Carol. We'll see you in a few minutes.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Bill and Soledad.

OK, let's talk about something much more mundane but interesting at the same time: drywall and spackling.

Chad -- take it away.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, how many times have you drywalled something, Carol?

COSTELLO: Not once. Never going to happen.

MYERS: Yes, probably not. Dave White from Home Depot joins us, as he does always at this day, on Thursday at 6:50 or so. Talking about drywall, talking about whether Johnny came by with his big wheel and then did something to your drywall. Uh-oh, now what do I do, all right?

DAVE WHITE, THE HOME DEPOT: Yes. What we want to talk about today is a little bit of that and painting and prep work and the whole thing. And I don't know if mundane is really the word that I would use.

MYERS: Well, it's exciting for some guys.

WHITE: But, exciting, yes.

MYERS: Right.

WHITE: The first thing, Chad, that I would suggest is don't skimp. If you're going to paint a room, do it right. Buy quality products. That means quality paints, quality brushes. Believe me, you're going to get a lot more professional results as a result of that.

MYERS: All right, so let's put a number on that. You've got a 12 by 18 room, and you have to paint it. Probably 10 bucks for a brush?

WHITE: Yes, depending, something like that.

MYERS: Maybe six bucks for a roller, a little bit of spackling, and buy good paint?

WHITE: Yes.

MYERS: And also probably a little bit of primer, too. There are so many spots that people don't do this on, and this is where you get some spots that you can see through your top coat, because you didn't prime it first.

WHITE: Absolutely.

MYERS: So, let's get to these brushes.

WHITE: Yes, so put the money to it. First the brush. Now, how do you pick your brush? Again, quality first. But then you need to know what kind of paint you're working with. Are you going to be working with latex or oil-based paint? If you're going to be working with oil-based paint, you want to make sure that you use what's called a natural bristle. Actually, they're usually made of animal hair, and they're very fine.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: They're very, very porous. If you're going to use a latex paint, you want to use a synthetic brush, which is nylon or polyester. It won't absorb that water out of the paint.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: And it will release a lot better for you.

MYERS: Most of the ones that I use are shattered at the end. You know, if you take a look at them, they all look like a bunch of split ends, right?

WHITE: Spread out like that? Yes.

MYERS: Is that good or bad?

WHITE: That's absolutely bad. You need to take your...

MYERS: Oh!

WHITE: These brushes, if you buy a quality brush, you can use it for years and years and years. And the pros do that. One tip: See the little cardboard cover? Don't throw that away.

MYERS: Oh, really? WHITE: They actually make this so that you keep it. When you store your brush after you've cleaned it, you fold it right back up.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: And look at this. It's going to keep the shape of the brush right on the edge.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: You hang it up, and it's going to keep that shape for you. You're going to get a nice clean edge when you paint every time. So, there's a good tip for you.

MYERS: See, I'm a one-job Johnny when it comes to these things, because I hate cleaning up. I'll buy a $2 brush and throw it away every time. I should be buying a $10 brush and cleaning it.

WHITE: And cleaning it. And one tip, too, that if you don't really want to clean the brush, let's say you're going to take a coupe of hours' break, and you don't want to get into the cleaning yet, use a plastic baggie or some plastic wrap, and just wrap it around the brush with the paint on it.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITE: Put it in the refrigerator, and it'll keep for a little while for you. So, you don't have to clean it every time you're going to, say, take a lunch break.

MYERS: But also cover up the can of paint, too, because otherwise you're going to get a film on top if you take a break.

WHITE: That's right. Yes, you want to make sure you put the top on.

MYERS: But you know what? I did find that we have a really great little invention here that I wanted to get to here.

WHITE: Yes.

MYERS: This little guy here, this might be the best thing since sliced bread. We'll get to it if we get time, but all you need to know is that when you take the top off, you put this bad boy on there, and then you can take this top off and you can close it and you pour it out. I have never seen this before. Maybe I haven't been looking. Maybe it's been out for a while. But that's a pretty awesome guy.

WHITE: Yes, there are some great, great products out there that make life a little easier and a little neater for painters. That's one, and there are lots of other ones, like little spouts that go on the end to keep the paint job neat.

MYERS: Yes. All right, so let's fix this now.

WHITE: Yes, the thing that you really need to concentrate on besides buying the quality products is prep work. People skimp on the prep work, and they think, well, I'll just slap it on there. Don't. Spend as much time as you can doing your prep. And, again, it's going to make your life so much easier.

MYERS: Here's a pinhole. Here's a pinhole, Dave, right? Here's my prep work on a pinhole.

WHITE: There you go.

MYERS: Take your finger, and you go like this, and you fill it in.

WHITE: Absolutely right.

MYERS: Probably bad?

WHITE: Not necessarily.

MYERS: OK, good, I'm doing something right.

WHITE: Well, yes. So, I mean, one of the things people do is they think the paint is going to fill in all of these little holes with pinholes or picture hangers.

MYERS: Right.

WHITE: It's not going to do that, and you're going to get the little imperfections. So, what we've got, what you're using is lightweight spackling, which is great.

MYERS: OK, right.

WHITE: It's easy to use. You can actually. I do that with my finger as well. I just take a little bit on a small hole, and just cover it with your finger just like that and you're done.

MYERS: I will tell you that I've also used toothpaste in the past as well.

WHITE: I've heard of people using that. There you go. So, you should have a good putty knife. The lightweight stuff is great, because it goes on really easily. It dries quickly, and it requires very, very little sanding.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITE: But you don't want to use this for large, large holes. And, as a matter of fact, maybe I'll come back and show you some drywall repair techniques for large...

MYERS: You know, I've noticed that this is a pretty spackling brush, whatever you call this...

WHITE: Knife.

MYERS: Knife. I like to use a wider one, because you don't get the lines in there. Because you make a line, it's like making a cake, right? You've got one line, you've got one line.

WHITE: Yes.

MYERS: If you get a big one, if you get a six-inch one, you do it one time and you get a nice, flat surface.

WHITE: Right.

MYERS: All right.

WHITE: And you don't want to work it -- you don't want to overwork it either.

MYERS: We've got about 30 seconds left. Let's get to the...

WHITE: Oh, yes.

MYERS: ... how to prep a room.

WHITE: OK. Well, basically, what you want to do is you want to remove everything that you can remove.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITE: Get it out of there. You want to use a nice tarp or a drop cloth on the floor, right?

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: You want to protect that. You want to seal any stain. You talked about that earlier. Use a primer sealer on water stains and so forth. And you want to specifically spackle, like we did.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITE: Take care of any blemishes around the room.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: Make sure everything is clean and grease-free, so that you can paint it and get a nice finish.

MYERS: Protect the floors, clean the walls.

WHITE: Take off all of your -- anything removable like your outlet covers and your plate covers and your (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Don't paint around doors knobs. Take them off.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: And one thing I've got to show you real quick.

MYERS: This is pretty fun, too. Yes.

WHITE: This is really neat.

MYERS: Look at this pink paint for our ceiling. We're going to make a pink ceiling, Carol.

WHITE: Yes, some painting tips really fast. You want to do one wall at a time. You want to cut in, which means, you know, get around the edges and do the actual rolling at once, and then move to the next wall. And you don't want to do straight lines either. You want to mix it up.

MYERS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

WHITE: You want to mix it up, so that you don't get lines.

MYERS: We've got to go, Dave. But this is -- maybe you can't see it on TV. This is pink ceiling paint.

WHITE: Oh, this is great.

MYERS: That dries absolutely white.

WHITE: So, you won't miss a thing on the ceiling.

COSTELLO: Wow!

MYERS: So, you know where you've already painted.

WHITE: And then it dries white, and you get a perfect finish.

MYERS: And I tried it here.

WHITE: It's made by Glidden.

MYERS: And it works.

WHITE: Yes, it's fantastic.

COSTELLO: I'm sure you guys will discuss this for hours to come, because you seem very excited.

MYERS: All right, I know, we've got to go.

WHITE: It's not mundane, though, trust me. Nothing mundane.

COSTELLO: I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

MYERS: Thanks, Dave.

COSTELLO: Thank you both. We're back after a quick break, but first the latest headlines for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just a few minutes ago, we told you about those eight soldiers being killed near Baghdad, and we find out it was the result of a car bomb.

Let's head live to Baghdad now and to Ben Wedeman to tell us more about this -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, according to a military spokesman here in Baghdad, that blast took place at about 11:30 a.m. local time. That's about three and a half hours ago. Eight members of the 1st Armored Division were killed and four were wounded when they were hit by a car bomb in Mahmoudiya, which is a real trouble spot to the south of the Iraqi capital.

Now, according to that military spokesman, the wounded have been flown out.

Now, in addition to that, two other Americans were killed today, two other U.S. soldiers, one in east Baghdad in an attack with a rocket-propelled grenade, and another one was killed in the town of Ba'qubah, which is to the northwest of Baghdad -- rather the northeast of Baghdad.

In addition to that, more casualties elsewhere. One South African civilian apparently killed in an attack by unknown gunmen in Basra in the far south. In addition to that, yesterday apparently seven Iraqi policemen were killed by unknown assailants in the northern town of Mosul.

So, it's turning out to be a very bloody day indeed.

COSTELLO: All right, Ben Wedeman, thanks for bringing us up to date, live from Baghdad this morning.

And again, we understand from "Los Angeles Times" reporter Tony Perry that there has been a tentative deal that four Iraqi generals will assemble an Iraqi army to take over security duties in Fallujah. Of course, there would be U.S. oversight. We'll have much more on this in the hours to come on DAYBREAK.

"AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now. You make it a great day.

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Aired April 29, 2004 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's put this in perspective. Is this huge?
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well, it could be, as you say. I mean, what we're hearing is that the four former Iraqi generals -- those would be generals under Saddam Hussein's army who have up until now been excluded from any leadership role in the Iraqi army, which the U.S. has rebuilt -- will be given a role in Fallujah specifically in an effort to create an Iraqi-only security force in Fallujah to take on this insurgency.

If they are successful, it's definitely huge, if for no other reason than it prevents what we were being told the U.S. Marines were fearing, which was a heavy loss of life, both on their side and the Iraqi side, both the insurgents and civilians within this massive city of 300,000 people. So...

COSTELLO: And just to make it clear, these Iraqi generals are going to lead this Iraqi army, but there will be U.S. oversight.

CLINCH: There will be U.S. oversight. And some very serious questions. I mean, our people in Baghdad are aware of this, and we are asking some very serious questions. Former Saddam generals taking power over the Iraqi army, how will that sit with the local civilians? Will they be able to do anything? Will the Iraqi army even turn up? We've talked about this. They've been given roles before and just simply not turned up.

Much more easily said that done, but according to the Marines, at least quoted by the "L.A. Times" reporter Tony Perry has given us this story from Fallujah today, the Marines are saying this is worth a try. It's worth the risk, because the risks of going in militarily to end the insurgency are so high.

Some very serious questions about how this will work, how long they will be given to make it work, and what the U.S. Marines do if it doesn't work.

COSTELLO: Well, they're still talking about it, so many of those questions may be answered later today.

David Clinch, many thanks to you.

What are Iraqis saying about how things are going for them?

Let's head live to Princeton, New Jersey now, and Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.

Frank, before we get to the numbers, the Gallup people actually went into Iraq and asked Iraqi citizens to get these numbers, right?

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: That's right. This was a major undertaking, Carol, 3,400 -- over 3,400 interviews completed on the ground in person by indigenous interviewers, obviously not Americans, not even connected to America as far the respondents were concerned. We did this with CNN and "USA Today." And I think we came up with a very, very important portrait of where the average Iraqi stands in this very, very important time in the history of their country.

Carol, "USA Today," I think, had a nice quote from one Iraqi citizen, who said, thank you for removing Saddam Hussein; now you can leave, bye-bye. And that's what we're really finding in the data, a real paradox of sorts. Glad Saddam Hussein is gone, but, boy, is there a lot of antipathy on the part of the average Iraqi towards the American occupation. And I use that word specifically, and I'll show you why in a moment.

Here 61 to 28: Was ousting Saddam Hussein worth it? Iraqis say yes. A two to one ratio, so that's clear.

But look at the next: Should occupation forces leave immediately or stay longer? And here, we have a majority 57 percent saying all right, you may leave now -- 57 percent.

And we find that over 70 questions in this poll, we find that in a lot of different places as we interviewed people as we went through.

I used the word "occupiers" -- and I think this was a key -- kind of symbolically, Carol. We said, do you regard the United States and the British and the other coalition forces as occupiers or as liberators? You see the results here: 71 percent, occupiers. A lot of the data simply suggests that the Iraqi people don't like the idea of occupiers in their country at this point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And these next set of numbers are very interesting. Gallup asked the Iraqis: Can attacks on U.S. forces be justified?

NEWPORT: Well, that's the very important question, obviously, from all of the news we've been watching. Of course, these data were collected in March and into early April, so these don't even reflect the sentiments that we've been seeing over the last week or two.

But here's the response. Overall, of course, Iraqis, 25 percent say not justified at all, 22 percent say usually not, 22 percent say sometimes attacks against the U.S. and British forces can be justified. And look at the top two. If you add those together, that's 30 percent of Iraqis who say at least sometimes attacks against the U.S. forces can be justified.

And by the way, those numbers are quite a bit higher down in the Sunni triangle, in Fallujah and Tikrit and places along those lines.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

NEWPORT: One last point: 90 percent, Carol, say that attacks against the Iraqi police cannot be justified.

COSTELLO: Fascinating numbers. Thank you, Frank Newport, from Gallup headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, telling us some fascinating stuff this morning.

You can get the results of that poll and all kinds of other information about Iraq on our Web site. The address, of course: CNN.com.

History in the making at the White House today as President Bush and Vice President Cheney appear before the 9/11 Commission.

CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash live on the phone with a preview.

This will go down at 9:30 Eastern this morning, right, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. And it is going to take place, of course, in a very important room here at the White House, and that is the Oval Office. All 10 commissioners are expected to be there, and it's supposed to last about two hours, though White House officials are saying that it could last a little bit longer.

But as you'd mentioned earlier, it's not going to be under oath. It's not officially testimony. They're simply being interviewed, if you will, by the 9/11 Commission.

There will be no official transcript. This is obviously an historic event, but there won't be an official transcript for the history books. It won't be recorded -- tape recorded at all. But the chief counsel for the White House will be there, and two other White House lawyers will be present, and they will be allowed to take notes, as will members of the commission.

But, obviously, we know there has been a lot of criticism about the fact that the president and vice president are appearing together, questions of whether or not they are going to try to coach each other or check each other's stories. The White House maintains that this is not a criminal investigation, that they are doing this in order to help the commission, and having them together, the White House says, could help them explain the story, explains the days and months leading up to 9/11.

COSTELLO: Well, Dana, the interesting thing, this is not a criminal investigation. So, why are White House attorneys present?

BASH: Well, the attorneys are present simply as a matter of course. The chief counsel has been somebody who has been talking about this in detail with the president and vice president in terms of preparing. They've also talked to Condoleezza Rice in the past several days, as the two men have sort of buckled down and looked at exactly what issues they are going to be dealing with before the commission.

And we also know that the president and the vice president have spoken to one another about their testimony this morning, and they've been given transcripts of testimony of others, particularly Richard Clarke, who, of course, has been quite critical of the president's actions leading up to 9/11.

So, they certainly have their information given to them, and they have their briefing books to prepare for this morning's testimony.

COSTELLO: And I know where you will be all day. Dana Bash, many thanks to you for joining us live on DAYBREAK.

The political and the spiritual. In many ways the situation in Iraq is influenced by religion. Coming up, a powerful Christian president and his war in a Muslim country.

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COSTELLO: Time for a little business buzz right now. U.S. Airways is ready to defend its home turf, and consumers -- yes, you -- may benefit from lower airfares. Oh, I like this.

Joya Doss tells us more live from the Nasdaq Marketsite. Tell us.

JOYA DOSS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Well, U.S. Airways is on the warpath, and mission No. 1 is to defend its hub at the Philadelphia International Airport. If you're wondering why, it's because Southwest Airlines, which is a low-cost carrier, is going to be invading their Philadelphia hub starting May 9.

So, in preparation for this, U.S. Airways is doing a couple of things. For one, they're going to start fares as low as $29 one way to cities such as Providence and Raleigh-Durham, matching those fares of Southwest. It's also dropping the Saturday night stay requirement for the newly-reduced fares, and upping its flight frequency on Southwest's most popular routes.

Now, U.S. Airways did exit bankruptcy just a year ago, but it continues to lose money, and its costs are the highest in the industry. The company lost about $177 million in the January quarter. So, it's doing other things. It's also adding workers, and it's fixing that conveyer belt on the baggage system, which apparently collapsed because of high volume.

COSTELLO: Oh, no!

DOSS: Good news for anyone who has had their baggage, you know, I guess hurt in any way.

COSTELLO: Exactly. A quick look at the futures.

DOSS: Well, you know what? I have some more direction for you now. The tech stocks are actually looking lower, so the futures have gleaned some direction right now, and they are looking lower as well. But we've got a pretty heavy economic calendar today. We're going to get a check on first quarter GDP, and we're going to get our weekly jobless claims. So that's going to maybe give us some more direction, too.

COSTELLO: All right, Joya Doss live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.

We know how much religion plays into politics in the Middle East, but religion also plays a part in American politics. Tonight, PBS' "Frontline" will explore the Jesus factor as it applies to George W. Bush.

Joining us live now, Raney Aronson, who is the producer of that documentary.

Welcome.

RANEY ARONSON, "FRONTLINE" PRODUCER: Thank you so much for having me.

COSTELLO: What's the purpose of this documentary?

ARONSON: Mostly we wanted to look at the president's faith, how important it was to him as a younger man, and now as president. So, we sort of do his entire religious journey, his trajectory to now when we look at him as president and his actions today.

COSTELLO: You say President Bush told a Baptist group, I believe that God wants me to be president. Did he really mean that literally?

ARONSON: I think what he probably meant was that he felt at that moment that he had a calling, that he felt that God was saying to him, it's time to actually step up and run for the presidency. How he actually interprets that is a big question, whether he really meant it, but he did say it, and he did really communicate this to a number of people after the church service back in 1999.

COSTELLO: So, the obvious question is: Is how much does religion play a part in the decisions that the president makes?

ARONSON: Well, that's right. And what we try to do is really be careful here. We want to definitely say that religion does play a part. But also ask the question: Is it really his personal faith, or is it a political necessity that he does certain things? So, it's sort of both is what we conclude.

COSTELLO: I know you're talking specifically about the evangelical vote and how important it is to President Bush's campaign. But there's also evidence in history that such evangelical support can backfire, isn't there?

ARONSON: That's right. And actually, presidents have found over the last 30 years that they have to be very careful and very nimble with this group. I think President Bush and Karl Rove and people around him have been very aware of this constituency, of knowing that they really need to please them, to talk to them, to appeal to them.

So, it goes both ways. But, yes, the evangelical community definitely can be fickle in their vote.

COSTELLO: Interesting. OK, the "Frontline" documentary, "The Jesus Factor," it air, what, at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time?

ARONSON: 9:00 tonight.

COSTELLO: All right, we'll be watching. Thanks so much for joining us live from New York this morning.

ARONSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: A tentative deal cut today between U.S. Marines and Iraqi army generals. The Iraqi army would take over security from the Marines in Fallujah probably in a week or two.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney will answer questions from the 9/11 Commission. The closed-door session begins in just a few hours.

In money news this morning, some lawmakers are pushing for a minimum wage hike. They want it increased from $5.15 an hour to $7.00 an hour. Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy and other others are holdings a news conference today to discuss it.

In sports, the NCAA now says it will allow 17 and 18-year-old players at Division I schools to enter the National Hockey League draft in June, but there are stipulations.

In culture, teenager crooner John Stevens is out. He was bounced off of "American Idol." Host Ryan Seacrest says over 28 million votes were tallied. That is more than in last season's finale.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you. Coming up on DAYBREAK, if a man's home is his castle, then some of us have a long way to go to live like royalty. Coming up, drywall, spackle, brushes and paint, tips to make do-it-yourself projects like the pros. Chad will have that for you, next.

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COSTELLO: Welcome back to DAYBREAK.

This just in to us right now. We do understand that eight U.S. soldiers have been killed near Baghdad. It's been a deadly April, I'm telling you. On the average, five U.S. soldiers have died per day.

Again, eight U.S. soldiers killed near Baghdad, and we don't know much more than that. Of course, as we get information in, we'll pass it along to you.

Let's head live to New York now and check in with Bill and Soledad.

You know, those deaths come on a day when something positive has come out of Fallujah this morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the give and take in Iraq. It continues. Carol, thanks for that. We'll follow what's happening there in Baghdad today.

Also in Fallujah, 35 miles west, Tony Perry of the "L.A. Times" is saying a deal has been struck to allow the Iraqis to take control of that town. How critical could this be? Why trust it now? A number of questions, and we will get to all of them today out of Fallujah and also Baghdad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also, as the president and the vice president prepare to sit down before members of the 9/11 Commission, we'll take a look at exactly what some of the questions the commissioners might be having for the two of them. We're going to talk with Dana Bash from the White House this morning.

HEMMER: Also, on the American roads, disturbing new numbers about the number of traffic deaths in this country. Why now? And what can be done about it? We'll get to that as well. So...

O'BRIEN: All ahead this morning, Carol. We'll see you in a few minutes.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Bill and Soledad.

OK, let's talk about something much more mundane but interesting at the same time: drywall and spackling.

Chad -- take it away.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, how many times have you drywalled something, Carol?

COSTELLO: Not once. Never going to happen.

MYERS: Yes, probably not. Dave White from Home Depot joins us, as he does always at this day, on Thursday at 6:50 or so. Talking about drywall, talking about whether Johnny came by with his big wheel and then did something to your drywall. Uh-oh, now what do I do, all right?

DAVE WHITE, THE HOME DEPOT: Yes. What we want to talk about today is a little bit of that and painting and prep work and the whole thing. And I don't know if mundane is really the word that I would use.

MYERS: Well, it's exciting for some guys.

WHITE: But, exciting, yes.

MYERS: Right.

WHITE: The first thing, Chad, that I would suggest is don't skimp. If you're going to paint a room, do it right. Buy quality products. That means quality paints, quality brushes. Believe me, you're going to get a lot more professional results as a result of that.

MYERS: All right, so let's put a number on that. You've got a 12 by 18 room, and you have to paint it. Probably 10 bucks for a brush?

WHITE: Yes, depending, something like that.

MYERS: Maybe six bucks for a roller, a little bit of spackling, and buy good paint?

WHITE: Yes.

MYERS: And also probably a little bit of primer, too. There are so many spots that people don't do this on, and this is where you get some spots that you can see through your top coat, because you didn't prime it first.

WHITE: Absolutely.

MYERS: So, let's get to these brushes.

WHITE: Yes, so put the money to it. First the brush. Now, how do you pick your brush? Again, quality first. But then you need to know what kind of paint you're working with. Are you going to be working with latex or oil-based paint? If you're going to be working with oil-based paint, you want to make sure that you use what's called a natural bristle. Actually, they're usually made of animal hair, and they're very fine.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: They're very, very porous. If you're going to use a latex paint, you want to use a synthetic brush, which is nylon or polyester. It won't absorb that water out of the paint.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: And it will release a lot better for you.

MYERS: Most of the ones that I use are shattered at the end. You know, if you take a look at them, they all look like a bunch of split ends, right?

WHITE: Spread out like that? Yes.

MYERS: Is that good or bad?

WHITE: That's absolutely bad. You need to take your...

MYERS: Oh!

WHITE: These brushes, if you buy a quality brush, you can use it for years and years and years. And the pros do that. One tip: See the little cardboard cover? Don't throw that away.

MYERS: Oh, really? WHITE: They actually make this so that you keep it. When you store your brush after you've cleaned it, you fold it right back up.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: And look at this. It's going to keep the shape of the brush right on the edge.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: You hang it up, and it's going to keep that shape for you. You're going to get a nice clean edge when you paint every time. So, there's a good tip for you.

MYERS: See, I'm a one-job Johnny when it comes to these things, because I hate cleaning up. I'll buy a $2 brush and throw it away every time. I should be buying a $10 brush and cleaning it.

WHITE: And cleaning it. And one tip, too, that if you don't really want to clean the brush, let's say you're going to take a coupe of hours' break, and you don't want to get into the cleaning yet, use a plastic baggie or some plastic wrap, and just wrap it around the brush with the paint on it.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITE: Put it in the refrigerator, and it'll keep for a little while for you. So, you don't have to clean it every time you're going to, say, take a lunch break.

MYERS: But also cover up the can of paint, too, because otherwise you're going to get a film on top if you take a break.

WHITE: That's right. Yes, you want to make sure you put the top on.

MYERS: But you know what? I did find that we have a really great little invention here that I wanted to get to here.

WHITE: Yes.

MYERS: This little guy here, this might be the best thing since sliced bread. We'll get to it if we get time, but all you need to know is that when you take the top off, you put this bad boy on there, and then you can take this top off and you can close it and you pour it out. I have never seen this before. Maybe I haven't been looking. Maybe it's been out for a while. But that's a pretty awesome guy.

WHITE: Yes, there are some great, great products out there that make life a little easier and a little neater for painters. That's one, and there are lots of other ones, like little spouts that go on the end to keep the paint job neat.

MYERS: Yes. All right, so let's fix this now.

WHITE: Yes, the thing that you really need to concentrate on besides buying the quality products is prep work. People skimp on the prep work, and they think, well, I'll just slap it on there. Don't. Spend as much time as you can doing your prep. And, again, it's going to make your life so much easier.

MYERS: Here's a pinhole. Here's a pinhole, Dave, right? Here's my prep work on a pinhole.

WHITE: There you go.

MYERS: Take your finger, and you go like this, and you fill it in.

WHITE: Absolutely right.

MYERS: Probably bad?

WHITE: Not necessarily.

MYERS: OK, good, I'm doing something right.

WHITE: Well, yes. So, I mean, one of the things people do is they think the paint is going to fill in all of these little holes with pinholes or picture hangers.

MYERS: Right.

WHITE: It's not going to do that, and you're going to get the little imperfections. So, what we've got, what you're using is lightweight spackling, which is great.

MYERS: OK, right.

WHITE: It's easy to use. You can actually. I do that with my finger as well. I just take a little bit on a small hole, and just cover it with your finger just like that and you're done.

MYERS: I will tell you that I've also used toothpaste in the past as well.

WHITE: I've heard of people using that. There you go. So, you should have a good putty knife. The lightweight stuff is great, because it goes on really easily. It dries quickly, and it requires very, very little sanding.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITE: But you don't want to use this for large, large holes. And, as a matter of fact, maybe I'll come back and show you some drywall repair techniques for large...

MYERS: You know, I've noticed that this is a pretty spackling brush, whatever you call this...

WHITE: Knife.

MYERS: Knife. I like to use a wider one, because you don't get the lines in there. Because you make a line, it's like making a cake, right? You've got one line, you've got one line.

WHITE: Yes.

MYERS: If you get a big one, if you get a six-inch one, you do it one time and you get a nice, flat surface.

WHITE: Right.

MYERS: All right.

WHITE: And you don't want to work it -- you don't want to overwork it either.

MYERS: We've got about 30 seconds left. Let's get to the...

WHITE: Oh, yes.

MYERS: ... how to prep a room.

WHITE: OK. Well, basically, what you want to do is you want to remove everything that you can remove.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITE: Get it out of there. You want to use a nice tarp or a drop cloth on the floor, right?

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: You want to protect that. You want to seal any stain. You talked about that earlier. Use a primer sealer on water stains and so forth. And you want to specifically spackle, like we did.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITE: Take care of any blemishes around the room.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: Make sure everything is clean and grease-free, so that you can paint it and get a nice finish.

MYERS: Protect the floors, clean the walls.

WHITE: Take off all of your -- anything removable like your outlet covers and your plate covers and your (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Don't paint around doors knobs. Take them off.

MYERS: OK.

WHITE: And one thing I've got to show you real quick.

MYERS: This is pretty fun, too. Yes.

WHITE: This is really neat.

MYERS: Look at this pink paint for our ceiling. We're going to make a pink ceiling, Carol.

WHITE: Yes, some painting tips really fast. You want to do one wall at a time. You want to cut in, which means, you know, get around the edges and do the actual rolling at once, and then move to the next wall. And you don't want to do straight lines either. You want to mix it up.

MYERS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

WHITE: You want to mix it up, so that you don't get lines.

MYERS: We've got to go, Dave. But this is -- maybe you can't see it on TV. This is pink ceiling paint.

WHITE: Oh, this is great.

MYERS: That dries absolutely white.

WHITE: So, you won't miss a thing on the ceiling.

COSTELLO: Wow!

MYERS: So, you know where you've already painted.

WHITE: And then it dries white, and you get a perfect finish.

MYERS: And I tried it here.

WHITE: It's made by Glidden.

MYERS: And it works.

WHITE: Yes, it's fantastic.

COSTELLO: I'm sure you guys will discuss this for hours to come, because you seem very excited.

MYERS: All right, I know, we've got to go.

WHITE: It's not mundane, though, trust me. Nothing mundane.

COSTELLO: I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

MYERS: Thanks, Dave.

COSTELLO: Thank you both. We're back after a quick break, but first the latest headlines for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just a few minutes ago, we told you about those eight soldiers being killed near Baghdad, and we find out it was the result of a car bomb.

Let's head live to Baghdad now and to Ben Wedeman to tell us more about this -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, according to a military spokesman here in Baghdad, that blast took place at about 11:30 a.m. local time. That's about three and a half hours ago. Eight members of the 1st Armored Division were killed and four were wounded when they were hit by a car bomb in Mahmoudiya, which is a real trouble spot to the south of the Iraqi capital.

Now, according to that military spokesman, the wounded have been flown out.

Now, in addition to that, two other Americans were killed today, two other U.S. soldiers, one in east Baghdad in an attack with a rocket-propelled grenade, and another one was killed in the town of Ba'qubah, which is to the northwest of Baghdad -- rather the northeast of Baghdad.

In addition to that, more casualties elsewhere. One South African civilian apparently killed in an attack by unknown gunmen in Basra in the far south. In addition to that, yesterday apparently seven Iraqi policemen were killed by unknown assailants in the northern town of Mosul.

So, it's turning out to be a very bloody day indeed.

COSTELLO: All right, Ben Wedeman, thanks for bringing us up to date, live from Baghdad this morning.

And again, we understand from "Los Angeles Times" reporter Tony Perry that there has been a tentative deal that four Iraqi generals will assemble an Iraqi army to take over security duties in Fallujah. Of course, there would be U.S. oversight. We'll have much more on this in the hours to come on DAYBREAK.

"AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now. You make it a great day.

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