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CNN Live At Daybreak

Eye on the World; Bush-Cheney 9/11 Questions; Fight for Iraq; Tossing Tradition; Bionic Hiker

Aired April 30, 2004 - 05:30   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: About 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into a marsh 30 miles northeast of San Francisco. The spill is at a nesting ground for migratory birds.
In Bakersville, California, a judge will decide today if John Stoll should be freed after serving 20 years for child (INAUDIBLE) charges.

In Warsaw, the European Economic Summit is examining the challenges of an enlarged European Union. Eight former Soviet Block nations join the EU on Saturday.

Now to Chad for a look at the forecast.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

COSTELLO: You know my parents complain that you never mention Cleveland.

MYERS: Well, OK, Minerva, Cleveland, Erie.

COSTELLO: Just give me a temperature to make them happy to get them off my back.

MYERS: Wind coming off the lake, how about, making it up, about 79.

COSTELLO: OK, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: All right, let's get a little serious now and bring you up to speed on what's going on in the fight for Iraq. New pictures this morning show Marines removing barricades and U.S. armored vehicles driving away from Fallujah. Marines say they plan to pull back from the city and into its rural areas, no word on when the redeployment will actually happen though.

Arabs are reacting today to new photographs that appear to show American soldiers abusing detainees at a prison outside of Baghdad. The pictures first aired on CBS' "60 Minutes" and are now appearing on Arab TV and in newspapers oversees.

And April ends with the distinction of being the deadliest month for American troops in Iraq. A total of 126 U.S. troops were killed this month alone.

We want to talk more about these pictures that are now appearing on Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, because, well, we don't know what the outcome will be.

Our senior international editor David Clinch is here to explain more.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: And show us some of these pictures.

CLINCH: Yes, Carol, good morning.

What we're covering here is a story, the prisoner abuse story, in a prison near Baghdad, Abu Ghraib. It's actually a story that we had seen and have been reporting for quite some time. The facts of the story were unclear at the beginning. But then "60 Minutes" got their hands on some photographs that were shown.

This is the prison, some pictures that were shown on "60 Minutes" a couple of nights ago. Many people in America saw them. Some horrific pictures, apparently showing American soldiers in the prison abusing the Iraqi prisoners, and then, of course, photographing them as well.

We're coming back to the story again today, because, as you say, these pictures are now, having been grabbed off "60 Minutes'" Web site and elsewhere,...

COSTELLO: Now tell us what we're seeing, these are appearing on an Al-Arabiya.

CLINCH: Right, these are pictures that were on...

COSTELLO: And what is this?

CLINCH: ... "60 Minutes" the other day, some of them showing what appeared to be prisoners with hoods on. We're told from, you know again, going from the "60 Minutes" accounts and others that we have heard of that prisoners were -- had hoods put over them. They were told they would be electrocuted if they stepped off the boxes they were on. Others were made to stand naked. Others were made to do terrible things. And again, photographed all the time.

We sort of have covered that part of the story. And many people, as I said, in America were horrified when they first saw it. The U.S. military made it absolutely clear they are investigating six people facing charges.

The reason we are coming back to it today is that because it is now all over Arab television in the region and playing in Iraq on a Friday, prayer day and Friday. What we are watching out for is the reaction to this. At this point, because it's Friday, no newspapers come out on a Friday morning, we haven't had seen people walking around reading it. But we do know that people are watching this on Al-Arabiya, Al Jazeera and the other Arab networks. We do know they are listening to it on the radio. And seeing the pictures, because they have heard the story before, but seeing the pictures, we're watching to see what the reaction will be there.

What we do know already elsewhere in Europe, for instance, is that it's all over the newspapers there today, too. They, too, have grabbed these stills off Web sites and elsewhere. It's in the newspapers, front page newspapers in Britain and elsewhere.

Again, in some ways, it's not really that big of a deal what Europeans think about it at this point, because we already know that they will be disgusted, as anybody would be. What's interesting to see is whether or not it will be an embarrassment for the leaders in the coalition. Tony Blair and others having to sit there, read their British newspapers this morning with apparently showing American soldiers abusing prisoners, so.

COSTELLO: Well, and in fairness, fellow soldiers took these photographs and turned them over and ratted out these...

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: ... this small number of bad soldiers.

CLINCH: That is -- that is what we are hearing. Some questions still unanswered about exactly how the pictures came out, but that is apparently the case. And again, the U.S. military stressing again and again that if anybody is found responsible here, if anyone is found guilty, and nobody has yet, they will be punished to the absolute limit of military law. And that's a pretty high limit, obviously. So the U.S. taking it very seriously. We're keeping an eye on that part of the story.

But now watching again with the insurgency, the anger in the streets of Baghdad as well, this may feed into that. We'll be watching during the day.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- David.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

We'll probably have to wait for this summer to find out what President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney told the 9/11 Commission. That's when its final report comes out. But we do know a few things about the historic question-and-answer session in the Oval Office.

More now from CNN's John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Rose Garden after answering the 9/11 Commission's questions glad he did it was the president's take, no apologies for insisting the vice president be at his side.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we had something to hide we wouldn't have met with them in the first place. We answered all their questions.

KING: The commission called the session extraordinary and said members "found the president and vice president forthcoming and candid."

LEE HAMILTON, CO-CHAIR, 9/11 COMMISSION: We had a marvelous meeting with the president. The president's comments were very candid, very forthcoming.

KING: Administration and commission sources say the topics included the administration assessment of the al Qaeda threat pre-9/11 and August, 2001 intelligence warning that al Qaeda was planning to strike, former White House official Richard Clarke's testimony that Mr. Bush all but ignored the terrorist threat and how Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney directed the government's response after the attacks.

BUSH: I was impressed by their questions and it was a -- I think it helped them understand how I think and how I run the White House and how we deal with threats.

KING: The president's talk of cooperation struck some as ironic.

JAMES THURBER, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Historically this is a unique circumstance where the president of the United States and the vice president have met with a commission that he didn't want to exist and didn't want to appear before.

KING: The historic session in the Oval Office ran three hours and ten minutes. The president and vice president were joined by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and two of his deputies.

The entire 10-member commission was on hand, as well as a staff member to take notes. Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney were not under oath and there was no stenographer or tape recording. The commission's final report is due out this summer in the middle of the presidential election.

Congressional Republicans already say Democrats on the 9/11 panel are overly partisan and, just Wednesday, the Bush Justice Department released documents Republicans say show commission member Jamie Gorelick made it tougher to track down terrorists when she worked in the Clinton administration.

(on camera): But so eager was the president to stress cooperation that the White House publicly rebuked its own Justice Department for making those documents public and Mr. Bush began the Oval Office meeting by telling Gorelick and other commission members he was disappointed and that he wanted no part of the finger pointing.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: The World Trade Center leaseholder has lost a round in a 9/11 compensation case. Attorneys for Larry Silverstein had argued the attacks on the towers should be considered as two separate events. That would have allowed him to collect the maximum amount from insurers, something like $7 billion. But jurors decided the attack should be considered a single event. That cuts in half the amount Silverstein can collect. Thirteen insurance companies are involved in this suit. The jury has not been able to reach a verdict on the case against the largest insurer. The judge has instructed jurors to keep on deliberating.

More troubling news in the porn industry. That tops this look at stories 'Across America' this Friday. The director of an AIDS testing service says a third adult movie actor has tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. Fifty-three people are on a volunteer quarantine list. Producers have halted work until more tests are done.

Nancy Reagan just says no. Organizers of a new university in Colorado wanted to name the school Ronald Reagan University, but the former first lady says she and her husband do not support such a move. She suggests the focus should be on the education program at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

John Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, has a message for the Reverend Al Sharpton, come on down. Kerry told Black Entertainment Television that if his former rival wants to address the Democratic National Convention, have at it. Adds Kerry, I think he would do a terrific job.

Barricades are up, security is tight, it could be another wild day at the Santa Maria courthouse when Michael Jackson shows up. In the next hour, we'll have a live report for you out of California.

And ahead, a bridal registry for a mortgage. Wedding traditions certainly are changing.

This is DAYBREAK for Friday, the 30th of April.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Remember Mission Accomplished? Tomorrow marks the anniversary of President Bush's declaration of the end of major combat in Iraq. The president made that announcement after landing on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

Democratic critics of the war are using the anniversary for new attacks on the president's policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: The invasion of Iraq has stoked the fires of terrorism against the United States and our allies. Najaf is smoldered, Fallujah is burning and there is no exit in sight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What he said is still correct, but there are still certainly combat operations and dangers that remain in Iraq. I mean our troops are doing an outstanding job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Since the president's speech, nearly 600 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, more than 400 from hostile fire.

Other than Fallujah, the holy city of Najaf is another flash point in Iraq. American troops have not entered the holy city, but they are patrolling the streets nearby.

And as CNN's Jane Arraf tells us in this dramatic report, there's a calm but also a storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a simple checkpoint near Najaf. There's nothing routine though about a city controlled by a Shia militia with U.S. forces on the edges. On only the second day U.S. soldiers have operated these control points there were a few friendly waves and a lot of wary looks.

Then suddenly the traffic stopped, a warning to these soldiers from the 2nd Battalion 37th Armored Regiment who had been in Baghdad for a year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time the street is clear we get attacked.

ARRAF: Has it happened before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was on top of an IP station it happened and then I was in a convoy. We had to stop because they had blocked the road with an overturned truck. There we go. Take cover. Take cover. Take cover. It came from our rear. This is the direction. Stay down.

ARRAF: We did, taking cover near an armored vehicle.

(on camera): Just a few minutes ago this was a normal busy street with traffic going back and forth. Now we're in the middle of rocket-propelled grenade and mortar attacks. They're small arms fire and the unit we're with has called in for tanks.

(voice-over): Across the bridge at the first American checkpoint there was a virtually simultaneous attack, both believed launched by Muqtada al-Sadr's militia and where we were with the soldiers a mortar platoon attached to the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment bided their time. They would have liked to be more aggressive but they're under orders to avoid inflaming tension. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is anybody hit, anybody injured?

ARRAF: One of the soldiers from headquarters company was grazed by a bullet in the leg. They were all relieved it wasn't worse.

CPL. KADE CLARK, 37TH ARMORED REGIMENT: It really wasn't that bad. I mean usually when they do hit us it's a lot more but I guess that was just kind of the -- trying to, I don't know a territory spot or I don't know.

ARRAF: Just minutes after the firing ended, Iraqis started to venture out again. An hour later, the soldiers resumed the checkpoint. No one killed in this shootout but a message sent on both sides.

Jane Arraf, CNN, between Kufa and Najaf, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:46 Eastern Time. Here is what's all new this morning.

Packing up in Fallujah. U.S. Marines pull back after a tentative agreement for a group of former Iraqi army generals to secure the city.

In Cleveland, protests over a police officer's shooting of a 21- year-old man who used his car to pin an officer up against a house.

In money news, Gateway says it's cutting 1,500 jobs by the end of the year. That's about 40 percent of its work force. The computer maker closed all of its 188 stores this month.

In sports, the New York Yankees Derek Jeter finally breaks out of a hitting slump. He had a home run last night, breaking an 0 for 32 drought. New York beat Oakland 7 to 5.

In culture, Colombian singer Juanes has won songwriter of the year at Billboard's Latin Music Awards Ceremony. The late Celia Cruz won for top album artist, top female tropical album and top greatest hits album -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

Couples are breaking the rules when it comes to tying the knot these days.

Our J.J. Ramberg looks at how tradition is being tossed out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here comes the bride, all dressed in red? Yes, red. While perhaps not the most common color for a wedding gown, it's symbolic of a trend going on in the bridal world, couples taking old conventions and turning them upside down.

DIANE FORDEN, "BRIDAL GUIDE" MAGAZINE: They're making their own traditions to really suit their personalities and their lifestyles.

RAMBERG: Take the wedding party.

FORDEN: In the past, the wedding party was the men on the grooms side, the women on the bride's side.

RAMBERG: Now they're mixing it up.

FORDEN: You can have a guy or two on the bride's side, and a woman on the groom's side.

RAMBERG: And the registry? It used to help newlyweds fill up their new house.

FORDEN: Fine china, crystal flatware, bedding, linens, towels.

RAMBERG: Now it's helping some newlyweds buy a new house.

FORDEN: You can register for a house mortgage, a new car.

RAMBERG: Other trends, couples footing the bill for their own party, and grooms who do more than just show up.

FORDEN: He's getting involved in definitely selecting the place, determining the style of the wedding, going with the bride to the caterer, doing food tasting.

RAMBERG: But while invitations are getting less formal and bridesmaid dresses less, well, bridesmaid-y, there is one tradition that seems to be staying put.

FORDEN: Diamond ring traditions is one those traditions that's still pretty solid. You have yellow diamonds, pink diamonds, but it's a diamond.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAMBERG (on camera): After all, she may love the groom, but diamonds are still her best friend.

J.J. Ramberg, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That the truth.

Before the race has even started, the Kentucky Derby jockeys score a victory. The story in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

And next, slowing the aging process, one way you can look younger and live longer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And welcome back to DAYBREAK. 'Health Headlines' for you this morning.

Exercise staves off aging in both the body and the brain. New research shows older people who work out regularly are more likely to maintain mental sharpness.

And enrollment for the new Medicare approved drug discount card begins on Monday, and polls show that most seniors know very little about the program. The government is setting out to change that through a huge ad campaign.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that doctors switch to a different drug to treat gonorrhea in gay men. That's because gays have developed strains that are increasingly resistant to the drug commonly used to treat the sexually transmitted disease.

For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site, the address, CNN.com/Health.

Imagine, if you can, hiking the Appalachian Trail 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine. Now imagine that trek on only one leg and the other a bionic leg called a C-Leg.

I talked with Scott Rogers who is making that slow, painful journey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I know you have an amazing prosthetic leg. It's powered by solar batteries and driven by hydraulics. Explain this to us.

SCOTT ROGERS, HIKER: The C-Leg is a computer assisted hydraulic leg and it is battery dependent. And I have a solar charger that I'm taking along with me to recharge and allow me to do this. I am pretty much putting the leg to the limit and doing things it wasn't designed to do. So I have had a little bit of problems with it.

COSTELLO: I understand you have had problems. Tell us about some of them, because many times you are traveling up very steep inclines.

ROGERS: Yes, ma'am. The biggest problem I have had recently was I had the battery go in the leg totally deplete and the computer malfunctioned. And instead of going into the safe mode, it went into free swing. And I was in a very remote section of the park. We ended up splinting the leg with my hiking pole, hiking into a shelter. And one of the Smokey Mountain Rangers had to actually hike in some Allen wrenches so I could tighten it and continue the hike.

COSTELLO: My goodness! ROGERS: So now I have Allen wrenches as part of my pack now.

COSTELLO: And it does cause blisters, too. And I imagine that would be very painful for you as you're, you know, balancing on that prosthetic leg.

ROGERS: Yes, it does. And I had one section that the blisters were so severe on my leg that I ended up leaving the leg at the motorhome and then crutching a section. And I ended up with blisters on my hands as a result of that. So it's kind of a two-edged sword.

COSTELLO: Why are you doing this?

ROGERS: It's something I have always wanted to do.

COSTELLO: Really? I know you have a Web site called onelegwonder.com, and it consists of your diary. And I have been reading it. It's been fascinating. But a lot of people have been reading it as well and you have got a lot of admirers and followers. And you have become a mentor even.

ROGERS: Yes, the mentoring part, I guess that would be the little boy Lane Milliken in west Tennessee. He is about to undergo an amputation of his right leg above the knee. And I think it's really neat because I am providing encouragement for him and he is providing encouragement for me as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: An awesome guy. Onelegwonder.com is his Web site. And you know he is in Hot Springs, North Carolina, so he has hiked some 200 miles already. And he won't finish and get all the way to Maine for another five, six, seven months.

MYERS: Right. And he decided to start in the south because it was warmer here and then hike to the north, because, obviously, it will get warmer as he goes rather than go the other way.

COSTELLO: Summer starts. That's for sure.

MYERS: Wow!

COSTELLO: That would be terrible, wouldn't it?

MYERS: What an -- what an amazing guy. I hope you -- I hope you keep following that as he gets up and down, so.

COSTELLO: Yes, he's a pretty awesome guy.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: Takes him so much time to just hike one mile.

Let's talk more about this "Nightline" thing, because "Nightline" has decided to honor those killed in the war in Iraq...

MYERS: Correct.

COSTELLO: ... by listing their names and their pictures tonight...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... at 11:35 p.m. Eastern in most markets.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns seven ABC stations across the country,...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... have decided not to carry "Nightline" tonight because they believe "Nightline" is making a political statement. We have been soliciting e-mails.

MYERS: And they have been coming in fast and furious. And I'll tell you what, I'm getting a lot of them here saying you know if this wasn't political, how about let's doing this, why didn't they do it on Memorial Day. But the reason why they are doing it today is because this was actually the one-year anniversary to the official end of combat.

COSTELLO: Active combat.

MYERS: Active combat.

COSTELLO: President Bush declared an end to active combat one year ago tomorrow.

MYERS: OK. So there are -- there are goods and there are bads. And I'll tell you, the e-mails are probably coming in about 10 to 1 in favor of Sinclair putting these on.

COSTELLO: Do we have time to read a couple?

MYERS: We really don't. We're really out of time for this hour. But most of them are saying please just put it on, let us see it. Don't censor this for us. Let us decide whether we want to watch it or not.

COSTELLO: And we will read your e-mails in the next hour of DAYBREAK, we promise.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: And, by the way, Ted Koppel will be on Anderson Cooper's show at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

MYERS: Excellent.

COSTELLO: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A pull back from the Iraqi flash point city

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Aired April 30, 2004 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: About 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into a marsh 30 miles northeast of San Francisco. The spill is at a nesting ground for migratory birds.
In Bakersville, California, a judge will decide today if John Stoll should be freed after serving 20 years for child (INAUDIBLE) charges.

In Warsaw, the European Economic Summit is examining the challenges of an enlarged European Union. Eight former Soviet Block nations join the EU on Saturday.

Now to Chad for a look at the forecast.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

COSTELLO: You know my parents complain that you never mention Cleveland.

MYERS: Well, OK, Minerva, Cleveland, Erie.

COSTELLO: Just give me a temperature to make them happy to get them off my back.

MYERS: Wind coming off the lake, how about, making it up, about 79.

COSTELLO: OK, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: All right, let's get a little serious now and bring you up to speed on what's going on in the fight for Iraq. New pictures this morning show Marines removing barricades and U.S. armored vehicles driving away from Fallujah. Marines say they plan to pull back from the city and into its rural areas, no word on when the redeployment will actually happen though.

Arabs are reacting today to new photographs that appear to show American soldiers abusing detainees at a prison outside of Baghdad. The pictures first aired on CBS' "60 Minutes" and are now appearing on Arab TV and in newspapers oversees.

And April ends with the distinction of being the deadliest month for American troops in Iraq. A total of 126 U.S. troops were killed this month alone.

We want to talk more about these pictures that are now appearing on Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, because, well, we don't know what the outcome will be.

Our senior international editor David Clinch is here to explain more.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: And show us some of these pictures.

CLINCH: Yes, Carol, good morning.

What we're covering here is a story, the prisoner abuse story, in a prison near Baghdad, Abu Ghraib. It's actually a story that we had seen and have been reporting for quite some time. The facts of the story were unclear at the beginning. But then "60 Minutes" got their hands on some photographs that were shown.

This is the prison, some pictures that were shown on "60 Minutes" a couple of nights ago. Many people in America saw them. Some horrific pictures, apparently showing American soldiers in the prison abusing the Iraqi prisoners, and then, of course, photographing them as well.

We're coming back to the story again today, because, as you say, these pictures are now, having been grabbed off "60 Minutes'" Web site and elsewhere,...

COSTELLO: Now tell us what we're seeing, these are appearing on an Al-Arabiya.

CLINCH: Right, these are pictures that were on...

COSTELLO: And what is this?

CLINCH: ... "60 Minutes" the other day, some of them showing what appeared to be prisoners with hoods on. We're told from, you know again, going from the "60 Minutes" accounts and others that we have heard of that prisoners were -- had hoods put over them. They were told they would be electrocuted if they stepped off the boxes they were on. Others were made to stand naked. Others were made to do terrible things. And again, photographed all the time.

We sort of have covered that part of the story. And many people, as I said, in America were horrified when they first saw it. The U.S. military made it absolutely clear they are investigating six people facing charges.

The reason we are coming back to it today is that because it is now all over Arab television in the region and playing in Iraq on a Friday, prayer day and Friday. What we are watching out for is the reaction to this. At this point, because it's Friday, no newspapers come out on a Friday morning, we haven't had seen people walking around reading it. But we do know that people are watching this on Al-Arabiya, Al Jazeera and the other Arab networks. We do know they are listening to it on the radio. And seeing the pictures, because they have heard the story before, but seeing the pictures, we're watching to see what the reaction will be there.

What we do know already elsewhere in Europe, for instance, is that it's all over the newspapers there today, too. They, too, have grabbed these stills off Web sites and elsewhere. It's in the newspapers, front page newspapers in Britain and elsewhere.

Again, in some ways, it's not really that big of a deal what Europeans think about it at this point, because we already know that they will be disgusted, as anybody would be. What's interesting to see is whether or not it will be an embarrassment for the leaders in the coalition. Tony Blair and others having to sit there, read their British newspapers this morning with apparently showing American soldiers abusing prisoners, so.

COSTELLO: Well, and in fairness, fellow soldiers took these photographs and turned them over and ratted out these...

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: ... this small number of bad soldiers.

CLINCH: That is -- that is what we are hearing. Some questions still unanswered about exactly how the pictures came out, but that is apparently the case. And again, the U.S. military stressing again and again that if anybody is found responsible here, if anyone is found guilty, and nobody has yet, they will be punished to the absolute limit of military law. And that's a pretty high limit, obviously. So the U.S. taking it very seriously. We're keeping an eye on that part of the story.

But now watching again with the insurgency, the anger in the streets of Baghdad as well, this may feed into that. We'll be watching during the day.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- David.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

We'll probably have to wait for this summer to find out what President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney told the 9/11 Commission. That's when its final report comes out. But we do know a few things about the historic question-and-answer session in the Oval Office.

More now from CNN's John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Rose Garden after answering the 9/11 Commission's questions glad he did it was the president's take, no apologies for insisting the vice president be at his side.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we had something to hide we wouldn't have met with them in the first place. We answered all their questions.

KING: The commission called the session extraordinary and said members "found the president and vice president forthcoming and candid."

LEE HAMILTON, CO-CHAIR, 9/11 COMMISSION: We had a marvelous meeting with the president. The president's comments were very candid, very forthcoming.

KING: Administration and commission sources say the topics included the administration assessment of the al Qaeda threat pre-9/11 and August, 2001 intelligence warning that al Qaeda was planning to strike, former White House official Richard Clarke's testimony that Mr. Bush all but ignored the terrorist threat and how Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney directed the government's response after the attacks.

BUSH: I was impressed by their questions and it was a -- I think it helped them understand how I think and how I run the White House and how we deal with threats.

KING: The president's talk of cooperation struck some as ironic.

JAMES THURBER, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Historically this is a unique circumstance where the president of the United States and the vice president have met with a commission that he didn't want to exist and didn't want to appear before.

KING: The historic session in the Oval Office ran three hours and ten minutes. The president and vice president were joined by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and two of his deputies.

The entire 10-member commission was on hand, as well as a staff member to take notes. Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney were not under oath and there was no stenographer or tape recording. The commission's final report is due out this summer in the middle of the presidential election.

Congressional Republicans already say Democrats on the 9/11 panel are overly partisan and, just Wednesday, the Bush Justice Department released documents Republicans say show commission member Jamie Gorelick made it tougher to track down terrorists when she worked in the Clinton administration.

(on camera): But so eager was the president to stress cooperation that the White House publicly rebuked its own Justice Department for making those documents public and Mr. Bush began the Oval Office meeting by telling Gorelick and other commission members he was disappointed and that he wanted no part of the finger pointing.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: The World Trade Center leaseholder has lost a round in a 9/11 compensation case. Attorneys for Larry Silverstein had argued the attacks on the towers should be considered as two separate events. That would have allowed him to collect the maximum amount from insurers, something like $7 billion. But jurors decided the attack should be considered a single event. That cuts in half the amount Silverstein can collect. Thirteen insurance companies are involved in this suit. The jury has not been able to reach a verdict on the case against the largest insurer. The judge has instructed jurors to keep on deliberating.

More troubling news in the porn industry. That tops this look at stories 'Across America' this Friday. The director of an AIDS testing service says a third adult movie actor has tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS. Fifty-three people are on a volunteer quarantine list. Producers have halted work until more tests are done.

Nancy Reagan just says no. Organizers of a new university in Colorado wanted to name the school Ronald Reagan University, but the former first lady says she and her husband do not support such a move. She suggests the focus should be on the education program at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

John Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, has a message for the Reverend Al Sharpton, come on down. Kerry told Black Entertainment Television that if his former rival wants to address the Democratic National Convention, have at it. Adds Kerry, I think he would do a terrific job.

Barricades are up, security is tight, it could be another wild day at the Santa Maria courthouse when Michael Jackson shows up. In the next hour, we'll have a live report for you out of California.

And ahead, a bridal registry for a mortgage. Wedding traditions certainly are changing.

This is DAYBREAK for Friday, the 30th of April.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Remember Mission Accomplished? Tomorrow marks the anniversary of President Bush's declaration of the end of major combat in Iraq. The president made that announcement after landing on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

Democratic critics of the war are using the anniversary for new attacks on the president's policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: The invasion of Iraq has stoked the fires of terrorism against the United States and our allies. Najaf is smoldered, Fallujah is burning and there is no exit in sight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What he said is still correct, but there are still certainly combat operations and dangers that remain in Iraq. I mean our troops are doing an outstanding job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Since the president's speech, nearly 600 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, more than 400 from hostile fire.

Other than Fallujah, the holy city of Najaf is another flash point in Iraq. American troops have not entered the holy city, but they are patrolling the streets nearby.

And as CNN's Jane Arraf tells us in this dramatic report, there's a calm but also a storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a simple checkpoint near Najaf. There's nothing routine though about a city controlled by a Shia militia with U.S. forces on the edges. On only the second day U.S. soldiers have operated these control points there were a few friendly waves and a lot of wary looks.

Then suddenly the traffic stopped, a warning to these soldiers from the 2nd Battalion 37th Armored Regiment who had been in Baghdad for a year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time the street is clear we get attacked.

ARRAF: Has it happened before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was on top of an IP station it happened and then I was in a convoy. We had to stop because they had blocked the road with an overturned truck. There we go. Take cover. Take cover. Take cover. It came from our rear. This is the direction. Stay down.

ARRAF: We did, taking cover near an armored vehicle.

(on camera): Just a few minutes ago this was a normal busy street with traffic going back and forth. Now we're in the middle of rocket-propelled grenade and mortar attacks. They're small arms fire and the unit we're with has called in for tanks.

(voice-over): Across the bridge at the first American checkpoint there was a virtually simultaneous attack, both believed launched by Muqtada al-Sadr's militia and where we were with the soldiers a mortar platoon attached to the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment bided their time. They would have liked to be more aggressive but they're under orders to avoid inflaming tension. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is anybody hit, anybody injured?

ARRAF: One of the soldiers from headquarters company was grazed by a bullet in the leg. They were all relieved it wasn't worse.

CPL. KADE CLARK, 37TH ARMORED REGIMENT: It really wasn't that bad. I mean usually when they do hit us it's a lot more but I guess that was just kind of the -- trying to, I don't know a territory spot or I don't know.

ARRAF: Just minutes after the firing ended, Iraqis started to venture out again. An hour later, the soldiers resumed the checkpoint. No one killed in this shootout but a message sent on both sides.

Jane Arraf, CNN, between Kufa and Najaf, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:46 Eastern Time. Here is what's all new this morning.

Packing up in Fallujah. U.S. Marines pull back after a tentative agreement for a group of former Iraqi army generals to secure the city.

In Cleveland, protests over a police officer's shooting of a 21- year-old man who used his car to pin an officer up against a house.

In money news, Gateway says it's cutting 1,500 jobs by the end of the year. That's about 40 percent of its work force. The computer maker closed all of its 188 stores this month.

In sports, the New York Yankees Derek Jeter finally breaks out of a hitting slump. He had a home run last night, breaking an 0 for 32 drought. New York beat Oakland 7 to 5.

In culture, Colombian singer Juanes has won songwriter of the year at Billboard's Latin Music Awards Ceremony. The late Celia Cruz won for top album artist, top female tropical album and top greatest hits album -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

Couples are breaking the rules when it comes to tying the knot these days.

Our J.J. Ramberg looks at how tradition is being tossed out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here comes the bride, all dressed in red? Yes, red. While perhaps not the most common color for a wedding gown, it's symbolic of a trend going on in the bridal world, couples taking old conventions and turning them upside down.

DIANE FORDEN, "BRIDAL GUIDE" MAGAZINE: They're making their own traditions to really suit their personalities and their lifestyles.

RAMBERG: Take the wedding party.

FORDEN: In the past, the wedding party was the men on the grooms side, the women on the bride's side.

RAMBERG: Now they're mixing it up.

FORDEN: You can have a guy or two on the bride's side, and a woman on the groom's side.

RAMBERG: And the registry? It used to help newlyweds fill up their new house.

FORDEN: Fine china, crystal flatware, bedding, linens, towels.

RAMBERG: Now it's helping some newlyweds buy a new house.

FORDEN: You can register for a house mortgage, a new car.

RAMBERG: Other trends, couples footing the bill for their own party, and grooms who do more than just show up.

FORDEN: He's getting involved in definitely selecting the place, determining the style of the wedding, going with the bride to the caterer, doing food tasting.

RAMBERG: But while invitations are getting less formal and bridesmaid dresses less, well, bridesmaid-y, there is one tradition that seems to be staying put.

FORDEN: Diamond ring traditions is one those traditions that's still pretty solid. You have yellow diamonds, pink diamonds, but it's a diamond.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAMBERG (on camera): After all, she may love the groom, but diamonds are still her best friend.

J.J. Ramberg, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That the truth.

Before the race has even started, the Kentucky Derby jockeys score a victory. The story in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

And next, slowing the aging process, one way you can look younger and live longer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And welcome back to DAYBREAK. 'Health Headlines' for you this morning.

Exercise staves off aging in both the body and the brain. New research shows older people who work out regularly are more likely to maintain mental sharpness.

And enrollment for the new Medicare approved drug discount card begins on Monday, and polls show that most seniors know very little about the program. The government is setting out to change that through a huge ad campaign.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that doctors switch to a different drug to treat gonorrhea in gay men. That's because gays have developed strains that are increasingly resistant to the drug commonly used to treat the sexually transmitted disease.

For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site, the address, CNN.com/Health.

Imagine, if you can, hiking the Appalachian Trail 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine. Now imagine that trek on only one leg and the other a bionic leg called a C-Leg.

I talked with Scott Rogers who is making that slow, painful journey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I know you have an amazing prosthetic leg. It's powered by solar batteries and driven by hydraulics. Explain this to us.

SCOTT ROGERS, HIKER: The C-Leg is a computer assisted hydraulic leg and it is battery dependent. And I have a solar charger that I'm taking along with me to recharge and allow me to do this. I am pretty much putting the leg to the limit and doing things it wasn't designed to do. So I have had a little bit of problems with it.

COSTELLO: I understand you have had problems. Tell us about some of them, because many times you are traveling up very steep inclines.

ROGERS: Yes, ma'am. The biggest problem I have had recently was I had the battery go in the leg totally deplete and the computer malfunctioned. And instead of going into the safe mode, it went into free swing. And I was in a very remote section of the park. We ended up splinting the leg with my hiking pole, hiking into a shelter. And one of the Smokey Mountain Rangers had to actually hike in some Allen wrenches so I could tighten it and continue the hike.

COSTELLO: My goodness! ROGERS: So now I have Allen wrenches as part of my pack now.

COSTELLO: And it does cause blisters, too. And I imagine that would be very painful for you as you're, you know, balancing on that prosthetic leg.

ROGERS: Yes, it does. And I had one section that the blisters were so severe on my leg that I ended up leaving the leg at the motorhome and then crutching a section. And I ended up with blisters on my hands as a result of that. So it's kind of a two-edged sword.

COSTELLO: Why are you doing this?

ROGERS: It's something I have always wanted to do.

COSTELLO: Really? I know you have a Web site called onelegwonder.com, and it consists of your diary. And I have been reading it. It's been fascinating. But a lot of people have been reading it as well and you have got a lot of admirers and followers. And you have become a mentor even.

ROGERS: Yes, the mentoring part, I guess that would be the little boy Lane Milliken in west Tennessee. He is about to undergo an amputation of his right leg above the knee. And I think it's really neat because I am providing encouragement for him and he is providing encouragement for me as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: An awesome guy. Onelegwonder.com is his Web site. And you know he is in Hot Springs, North Carolina, so he has hiked some 200 miles already. And he won't finish and get all the way to Maine for another five, six, seven months.

MYERS: Right. And he decided to start in the south because it was warmer here and then hike to the north, because, obviously, it will get warmer as he goes rather than go the other way.

COSTELLO: Summer starts. That's for sure.

MYERS: Wow!

COSTELLO: That would be terrible, wouldn't it?

MYERS: What an -- what an amazing guy. I hope you -- I hope you keep following that as he gets up and down, so.

COSTELLO: Yes, he's a pretty awesome guy.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: Takes him so much time to just hike one mile.

Let's talk more about this "Nightline" thing, because "Nightline" has decided to honor those killed in the war in Iraq...

MYERS: Correct.

COSTELLO: ... by listing their names and their pictures tonight...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... at 11:35 p.m. Eastern in most markets.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns seven ABC stations across the country,...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... have decided not to carry "Nightline" tonight because they believe "Nightline" is making a political statement. We have been soliciting e-mails.

MYERS: And they have been coming in fast and furious. And I'll tell you what, I'm getting a lot of them here saying you know if this wasn't political, how about let's doing this, why didn't they do it on Memorial Day. But the reason why they are doing it today is because this was actually the one-year anniversary to the official end of combat.

COSTELLO: Active combat.

MYERS: Active combat.

COSTELLO: President Bush declared an end to active combat one year ago tomorrow.

MYERS: OK. So there are -- there are goods and there are bads. And I'll tell you, the e-mails are probably coming in about 10 to 1 in favor of Sinclair putting these on.

COSTELLO: Do we have time to read a couple?

MYERS: We really don't. We're really out of time for this hour. But most of them are saying please just put it on, let us see it. Don't censor this for us. Let us decide whether we want to watch it or not.

COSTELLO: And we will read your e-mails in the next hour of DAYBREAK, we promise.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: And, by the way, Ted Koppel will be on Anderson Cooper's show at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

MYERS: Excellent.

COSTELLO: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A pull back from the Iraqi flash point city

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