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CNN Live Today
Former American Hostage Awaits Reunion With Wife in Germany
Aired May 03, 2004 - 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan. We begin with the top headlines.
From Iraq, a U.S. Army base in Najaf came under fire today from the militia of radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Mortar rounds, rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire hit the base; the Americans fired back, sent out tanks and repelled the attackers. No casualties were reported.
Police in Turkey have detained 25 people in a NATO summit bomb plot, 16 of them in a northwestern province and nine in Istanbul. Officers seized guns and bomb making materials. The detainees are suspected of plotting to bomb the NATO summit conference next month in Istanbul, a session president that -- President Bush and other world leaders are set to attend. The detainees are members of a group linked to al Qaeda.
Speaking of al Qaeda, an operative, Mamoud Salim will be sentenced today in New York for the stabbing of a jail guard in 2000. He could get 20 years in prison. A close associate of Osama bin Laden, Salim was awaiting trial in the embassy bombing case when the guard was stabbed and permanently disabled.
A new computer virus called the Sasser worm is threatening unprotected systems worldwide. It doesn't appear to do serious damage. Experts say the Sasser worm can cause systems to crash, but computer users can repel it with anti-virus software and the correct patches.
Live this hour: one step closer to home for Thomas Hamill. He is the American truck driver who escaped his kidnappers in Iraq. Right now he's at a U.S. military hospital in Germany, where doctors are checking him after his three-week ordeal. His wife leaves today to join him and accompany him home to Mississippi.
And we're going to start with the latest on Thomas Hamill, that civilian truck driver who escaped his captors in Iraq this weekend. He arrived this morning at Ramstein Air Base for a medical checkup. U.S. military officials say he's in good health. He does have a gun shot wound that may have been suffered when his truck convoy was ambush and he was captured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLIE HAMILL, WIFE OF THOMAS HAMILL: I spoke with my husband. He's fine. He's doing well. We have no more information on when he'll be coming home. He said that he is doing great. He misses the family. We also want to thank everybody for their prayers, their support. We're still praying for the families that we have no information on. The soldier that is in captivity, we're going to pray and hope they get the same good news that we have received.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Let's go live now to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. That is where Thomas Hamill continues his long journey home. And for more on that, here is our Chris Burns.
Chris, hello.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. The Mississippi dairy farmer who went to Iraq to drive trucks to raise money and pay off his debts, he is a very luck lucky man actually, after having escaped from his captors just a day ago. And he's behind the walls over there of Landstuhl Medical Center, the U.S. medical center where many injured U.S. servicemen and women are cared for on their way back from Iraq and other conflicts. He's undergoing testing. He was shot in the right forearm. There is the belief that maybe there is infection in the arm, so he is being checked closely. We should have some kind of diagnosis from the officials here a little bit later on.
But we also heard more from those who rescued him after he escaped from his captors. The U.S. troops who were on patrol, some members -- reservists from the New York National Guard were patrolling just about 70 kilometers northwest of Iraq -- of Baghdad, when they saw a man running toward him -- toward them. As he was running toward them, he was shouting a certain number of things and here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. JOSEPH MERRILL, U.S. ARMY: He was waving his hands and shouting. He fell a couple of times. He walked up to the truck, and you know, I don't know exactly what he said when he got here. But -- when he got to my soldiers, but he was, obviously, very glad to see us. And once we found out, we recognized who he was; we knew we had gotten somebody good.
He was; obviously, very relieved once he realized we were Americans. He was yelling, "I'm an American. I'm an American. I'm an American POW." At a distance, it was obvious he was unarmed so we did not have a weapons train on him. He had his hands in the air waving his shirt around, so he was yelling, "I'm an American." As he got closer, we found what he was yelling. And as I say, once he got close up, we immediately recognized him.
COL. RANDALL DRAGON, U.S. ARMY: When we picked him up, he was elated. He was happy to see an American patrol. His actions at that point in time were to address his wound. He took the patrol back to the -- took it to the -- took us to the house. The gentlemen here represent the unit that were on the ground at that time. As soon as the house was searched and he identified it, we put him on a medical evacuation and he was lifted out of the area at that point in time. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Now, the house or the building where he was being held was also shown during that press conference in Baghdad. That house where he apparently broke down the door to go out and run out toward the U.S. patrol. The U.S. patrol went back to that House. He led them back to the house where the patrol arrested two Iraqi men and seized an AK-47 rifle there. Those men are in captivity.
But why was that patrol there in the first place? They were there to find a break in a pipeline. Thanks to that break, apparent break in the pipeline, this Mr. Hamill is free now, at least free because he ran to that patrol. The patrol had been in that area to look for that pipeline. No word on whether they found that break. But they found an American who had been captive.
Back to you.
KAGAN: Instead, Tommy Hamill got a break. Any word if we could expect to hear from him?
BURNS: Well, that's a good question. He has not given any press availability yet. We do hope that we'll be able to hear from him in the next 24 hours, but that is what he's discussing with people here at the hospital. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California governor is here as well. Perhaps they might meet. Perhaps we'll hear a little bit more from Schwarzenegger as well.
Back to you.
KAGAN: Very good. Chris Burns in Landstuhl, Germany. Thank you for that.
Let's go to other news from Iraq now. U.S. military officials say that six American soldiers reprimanded for taking part in the abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The mistreatment came to light this past week with these photographs, apparently showing prisoners mocked and sometimes stripped naked by American forces. Six military police officers are facing criminal charges.
Also underway is a third investigation into whether military intelligence was involved in the treatment as reported by the "New Yorker" magazine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEYMOUR HERSH, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: Even before those photographs there was a consistent pattern of very sadistic treatment being done. Not by the kids that you saw, mostly done by the interrogators at the prison. Every prison has an interrogation section with military intelligence offices, CIA and private contractors. And in that side of the facility there were beatings -- regular beatings, threats, threatened rape, sodomy. I mean it's just the usual list of torture stuff that, I guess, we went to Iraq to stop in the prisons there. BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: Well, everything that we've seen so far from the investigation, six criminal counts against individuals, along with quite a few more administrative actions, say, around 10 on the part of others that would indicate that of the thousands of detainees that we had at Abu Ghraib and the hundreds and hundreds of people associated with the supervision and the care, that it is in fact, it is a small group of people and a small number of incidences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And now to news from the city of Najaf. That is where insurgents have launched a blistering attack on a U.S. base. They're using mortars, grenades and small arms fire.
Our Jane Arraf is there, as U.S. troops and tanks face rooftop snipers as they rushed into action. She joins us by videophone now -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Daryn, the attack has been going on, on and off for some five hours now. Now, it started with a heavy barrage of mortar fire, as well as rocket propelled grenades, and small arms fire from virtually every direction (AUDIO GAP) Najaf, it has calmed down quite a bit, but officials expect it might be a lull. The tanks have come back in to be redeployed in the evening. Two Apache helicopters, dispatched here from another base, came under rocket propelled grenade fire but returned safely to the base.
Mortars have fallen not far from here. That appears to be a sniper rifle -- U.S. sniper rifle looking out over -- there is a very wide perimeter here that they're shooting from. There have been no U.S. or coalition casualties, Daryn. But coalition officials here say that they have killed seven suspected members of the Mehdi militia, including four, they say, who were firing the mortar gun -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And Jane, as the U.S. military fires back, talk about the challenges it faces because Najaf is such a holy cities, the sites they have to try to avoid.
ARRAF: It is an incredible challenge. The military came in here about three weeks ago as they -- you can probably hear the gunfire in the distance, as the Spanish troops very quickly pulled out. This also houses the civilian coalition presence; there are a handful of civil coalition officials here. Now, they have to tread very, very carefully; the military officials here are asking for more scope to be able to fight back, because they are very strictly avoiding the holy shrines in Najaf and adjoining Kufa; and indeed, many parts of the city where they're careful not to enter into. They are responding when they need to respond, but they are responding under very strict restrictions to avoid inflaming the local population here -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Jane Arraf taking cover and please be safe there in Najaf. Appreciate your report.
Other news ahead, dairy lovers beware. Milk is taking a bite out of your pocketbook. We will tell you what is causing the prices to soar.
And Medicare approved subscription cards are in effect starting today. So why are some telling seniors not to rush to sign up?
MICHAEL CONNELLY, AUTHOR (voice-over): Times like this, the whole city washed itself out over smooth concrete surfaces. It snaked through the valley and around the mountains to downtown; and from there, west to the ocean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And later, author Michael Connelly joins us to talk about his new book. It's called "The Narrows." What can his perennial hero, detective Harry Bosch expect this time? You know it's going to take place on the streets of L.A..
You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: And now to the crisis in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Sharon says that he will not resign, despite the most bitter challenge yet to his leadership. Mr. Sharon's own party sharply rejected his U.S.-backed plan to withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank.
Our Matthew Chance joins us now from Jerusalem -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suddenly, a very stinging political blow for the Israeli prime minister and for his plans to withdraw Israeli forces and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. Nearly 60 percent of his Likud Party members who voted in Sunday's referendum rather, voted to reject his disengagement plan. A plan which Ariel Sharon personally sold to President Bush on his trip to Washington last month, and on which it staked a great deal of his credibility, both internationally and at home in Israel.
He said, in the hours after the result emerged -- the rejection emerged, that he would respect the act, but in his first address to the television cameras after being delivered this stinging defeat that he said that he would not resign, and indicated that he was not prepared either to back down on his plan to push forward with this Gaza withdraw. Let's have a quick listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIEL SHARON, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL (through translator): I said yesterday that I intend to hold consultations with ministers in the cabinet, with the Likud Party and with other parties, in order to consider the implications and the steps that we intend to take. I would like to stress the people of Israel have chosen us in order to find the way to quiet security and peace, and in order to promote Israeli's economy. And this is exactly what I intend to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Remember, Ariel Sharon is now in a very difficult and unusual situation. He's failed, of course, to get the support of his own political party. But he is still the prime minister of a country, which, if you believe all of the opinion polls in the local Israeli media say is generally behind the idea of pulling Israeli forces and Jewish settlers out of the remote settlements in the Gaza Strip. So he's in this very unique political and very difficult situation -- Daryn.
KAGAN: So give us a government -- an Israeli government primer 101 here, Matthew, on how that works. If he does have the support of the general public, can't he go ahead and act without the support of his party?
CHANCE: Well, you know, we're all in the realm of speculation really, Daryn, because this is quite literally unchartered political territory. It's very rare for any leader of a country, any leader of Israeli at least, to be in this unique political situation.
He has a number of options in front of him. The fact that the opinion polls, at least, show that the majority of Israelis are behind this disengagement plan will give him a certain amount of authority. One of his options, possibly, could be to move forward and put this to a national referendum, to really sort of crystallize that broad public support in Israel for the disengagement plan.
Another option would be just to present it to the Israeli Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and see if he can push it through there. But as I say, he is still now, in the coming days and the coming hours, trying to develop for himself what stance, what position, what tactic he's going to use to move out of this position.
KAGAN: Matthew Chance in Jerusalem. Matthew, thank you.
Coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY, John Kerry hits the road literally. The details are straight ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: In California, today marks the official start of wildfire season. The blazes have already started. Crews are battling three blazes across southern California that have already burned through some 1700 acres and forced hundreds out of their homes. The one big fire rages at Camp Pendleton, at the Marine base that's close to San Diego. and two others are burning in Riverside County. A drop in temperatures overnight has helped crews fight the fires.
It seems like just yesterday I was out there covering the fires from the fall.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know.
KAGAN: Too short of a non-fire season for them.
JERAS: Absolutely.
KAGAN: And it's hot, talking to family and friends out there.
JERAS: Temperatures unbelievable yesterday. A number of record highs.
KAGAN: I've got to ask you a mom question.
JERAS: OK.
KAGAN: With two little ones at home ...
KAGAN: ... I don't think the baby is on regular milk yet...
JERAS: No.
KAGAN: ... but milk has got to be breaking the bank? The family budget.
JERAS: I've always thought it's been very expensive. It's like $3.19 a gallon here.
KAGAN: There you go. And getting more expensive so stay tuned mom, because that's what our next story is about here. If you're talking about the price of milk, you probably need more money to buy your milk. You could say dairy prices are utterly expensive. Why is that?
Our Kathleen Hayes explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN HAYES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ice cream lovers beware. Milk drinkers watch out. Dairy prices are hitting record highs because milk is suddenly in short supply and it's hitting families and businesses across the country.
DAN BASSE, PRESIDENT, AGRESOURCE COMPANY: When you buy that ice cream cone at your local custard stand, you're going to find it's about twice the price it was last year.
HAYES: The price of milk is climbing to $3 a gallon nationwide, in some states even higher. And milk products from yogurt to mozzarella are getting a lot more costly, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prices have never been this high in the cheese market before. They've been this high in the milk market. But it's been about eight years since that's happened.
HAYES: Hard to believe, but just a year ago, the price of milk hit a 25-year record low and forced some money-losing dairy farmers to send their cows to slaughter. That helped cause a shortage of milk- producing heifers. Add to that, the ripple effect of Mad Cow disease, which led to a ban on cows coming in from Canada. There are now 150,000 fewer cows producing milk than this time last year. And the cows that are left are producing less milk due to a shortage of BST, a hormone that boosts milk production, and due to problems with the feed supply.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feed is expensive, so the farmers have to get more money in order to put more animals on feed. and the cycle is so long for milk that you can't just throw another bunch on like you can with chicken. It takes three months; with cows, it's close to two years.
HAYES: Meanwhile, the popularity of high protein Atkins type diets have kept milk products in demand even as their prices move up. This is sweet for dairy farmers whose profits are spurting higher again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are making more money now than they have -- than I know of looking back over the past 40 or 50 years. So on a per cow basis, the dairy business is very good to be in at the moment.
HAYES: And Prices may stay high for a while especially if the summer is exceptionally hot, because dairy cows don't like extreme heat and their milk production falls dramatically; just when ice cream lovers are looking to scoop up a cooling treat.
Kathleen Hayes, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Speaking out about the U.S. mission in Iraq, this time the criticism comes from a soldier. Find out why he decided to challenge the commander's chief handling in Iraq.
And interest rates could be about to do an about face. Gerri Willis joins us to tell you what that could mean for you.
KAGAN: Hey, Ger.
GERRI WILLIS, CNNFN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, Daryn. The Federal Reserve is meeting tomorrow. What do you need to know? We'll tell you all about it when we come back on CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: How about paying for a mortgage and bigger bills on your credit cards? Not what you want to hear but both are likely if current low interest rates rise.
For more on that, we turn to our CNNfn personal finance correspondent Gerri Willis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIS (voice-over): Jobs are growing, consumers are spending, even manufacturing is starting to turn around, but this good news could have a downside. Higher interest rates.
ALAN GREENSPAN, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: The Federal Reserve recognizes that sustained prosperity requires the maintenance of price stability and will act, as necessary, to ensure that outcome.
WILLIS: Translation: the Federal Reserve will move sooner, rather than later, to stop inflation before it gets started by tightening monetary policy, which would lead to higher consumer interest rates. For consumers that means paying more for cars, credit cards, home equity loans, and of course, mortgages.
Already mortgage bankers have started pushing home loan rates higher with dramatic consequences for buyers. Consider. If you had taken out a $300,000 home loan last June when rates were at 45-year lows, your monthly mortgage payment would be $1662. Today, it's $148 higher. And more bad news could be on the way; mortgage rates are expected to go as high as 7 percent by year-end.
In any event, consumers will want to keep an eye on any loan that has a variable rate. That means home equity lines of credit and variable rate credit cards. Even fixed rate card owners may see their fees rise.
GREG MCBRIDE, BANKRATE.COM: The best move you can make is to aggressively pay down that debt. The more debt you have on those credit cards, when interest rates start to rise, the more debt you're going to be carrying uphill in the face of higher interest rates.
WILLIS: But it's not all bad news.
MARK ZANDI, ECONOMY.COM: For savers, rising rates are not a bad thing. I mean many older households with CDs have been hurt very badly in this low rate environment. There is no good CDs out there to be had. But with rising rates, many of these households in a year or two will be able to go out and purchase a CD at a rate that will look darn-right attractive compared to the rates they're getting now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIS: Now, the Federal Reserve is meeting tomorrow but Wall Street is not expecting an increase in interest rates tomorrow. However, they say it could happen sometime this year.
So what do you need to know? Well, No.1, you need to understand exactly what the fed is doing and what it means to you. The fed covers something called the Fed Funds Rate. This is the rate that banks use when they borrow money overnight. Now, you think that might not mean much to mean, but guess what? It's actually the leader of the pack when it comes to interest rates. It affects the prime rate. And the prime rate in return affects all kinds of consumer rates, whether it's home equity lines of credit, home equity loans, even credit cards. So keep an eye out for that -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Gerri Willis, thank you for those tips. Appreciate it.
President Bush is getting on the bus, busing it around some election battleground states. Up next, a live report from the White House on his effort to find supporters.
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a motivation to tell the truth. I don't feel like an accurate picture is being displayed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: A U.S. platoon leader who served in Iraq begins a new mission, a different kind of fight. His story is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 3, 2004 - 10"00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan. We begin with the top headlines.
From Iraq, a U.S. Army base in Najaf came under fire today from the militia of radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Mortar rounds, rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire hit the base; the Americans fired back, sent out tanks and repelled the attackers. No casualties were reported.
Police in Turkey have detained 25 people in a NATO summit bomb plot, 16 of them in a northwestern province and nine in Istanbul. Officers seized guns and bomb making materials. The detainees are suspected of plotting to bomb the NATO summit conference next month in Istanbul, a session president that -- President Bush and other world leaders are set to attend. The detainees are members of a group linked to al Qaeda.
Speaking of al Qaeda, an operative, Mamoud Salim will be sentenced today in New York for the stabbing of a jail guard in 2000. He could get 20 years in prison. A close associate of Osama bin Laden, Salim was awaiting trial in the embassy bombing case when the guard was stabbed and permanently disabled.
A new computer virus called the Sasser worm is threatening unprotected systems worldwide. It doesn't appear to do serious damage. Experts say the Sasser worm can cause systems to crash, but computer users can repel it with anti-virus software and the correct patches.
Live this hour: one step closer to home for Thomas Hamill. He is the American truck driver who escaped his kidnappers in Iraq. Right now he's at a U.S. military hospital in Germany, where doctors are checking him after his three-week ordeal. His wife leaves today to join him and accompany him home to Mississippi.
And we're going to start with the latest on Thomas Hamill, that civilian truck driver who escaped his captors in Iraq this weekend. He arrived this morning at Ramstein Air Base for a medical checkup. U.S. military officials say he's in good health. He does have a gun shot wound that may have been suffered when his truck convoy was ambush and he was captured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLIE HAMILL, WIFE OF THOMAS HAMILL: I spoke with my husband. He's fine. He's doing well. We have no more information on when he'll be coming home. He said that he is doing great. He misses the family. We also want to thank everybody for their prayers, their support. We're still praying for the families that we have no information on. The soldier that is in captivity, we're going to pray and hope they get the same good news that we have received.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Let's go live now to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. That is where Thomas Hamill continues his long journey home. And for more on that, here is our Chris Burns.
Chris, hello.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. The Mississippi dairy farmer who went to Iraq to drive trucks to raise money and pay off his debts, he is a very luck lucky man actually, after having escaped from his captors just a day ago. And he's behind the walls over there of Landstuhl Medical Center, the U.S. medical center where many injured U.S. servicemen and women are cared for on their way back from Iraq and other conflicts. He's undergoing testing. He was shot in the right forearm. There is the belief that maybe there is infection in the arm, so he is being checked closely. We should have some kind of diagnosis from the officials here a little bit later on.
But we also heard more from those who rescued him after he escaped from his captors. The U.S. troops who were on patrol, some members -- reservists from the New York National Guard were patrolling just about 70 kilometers northwest of Iraq -- of Baghdad, when they saw a man running toward him -- toward them. As he was running toward them, he was shouting a certain number of things and here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. JOSEPH MERRILL, U.S. ARMY: He was waving his hands and shouting. He fell a couple of times. He walked up to the truck, and you know, I don't know exactly what he said when he got here. But -- when he got to my soldiers, but he was, obviously, very glad to see us. And once we found out, we recognized who he was; we knew we had gotten somebody good.
He was; obviously, very relieved once he realized we were Americans. He was yelling, "I'm an American. I'm an American. I'm an American POW." At a distance, it was obvious he was unarmed so we did not have a weapons train on him. He had his hands in the air waving his shirt around, so he was yelling, "I'm an American." As he got closer, we found what he was yelling. And as I say, once he got close up, we immediately recognized him.
COL. RANDALL DRAGON, U.S. ARMY: When we picked him up, he was elated. He was happy to see an American patrol. His actions at that point in time were to address his wound. He took the patrol back to the -- took it to the -- took us to the house. The gentlemen here represent the unit that were on the ground at that time. As soon as the house was searched and he identified it, we put him on a medical evacuation and he was lifted out of the area at that point in time. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Now, the house or the building where he was being held was also shown during that press conference in Baghdad. That house where he apparently broke down the door to go out and run out toward the U.S. patrol. The U.S. patrol went back to that House. He led them back to the house where the patrol arrested two Iraqi men and seized an AK-47 rifle there. Those men are in captivity.
But why was that patrol there in the first place? They were there to find a break in a pipeline. Thanks to that break, apparent break in the pipeline, this Mr. Hamill is free now, at least free because he ran to that patrol. The patrol had been in that area to look for that pipeline. No word on whether they found that break. But they found an American who had been captive.
Back to you.
KAGAN: Instead, Tommy Hamill got a break. Any word if we could expect to hear from him?
BURNS: Well, that's a good question. He has not given any press availability yet. We do hope that we'll be able to hear from him in the next 24 hours, but that is what he's discussing with people here at the hospital. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California governor is here as well. Perhaps they might meet. Perhaps we'll hear a little bit more from Schwarzenegger as well.
Back to you.
KAGAN: Very good. Chris Burns in Landstuhl, Germany. Thank you for that.
Let's go to other news from Iraq now. U.S. military officials say that six American soldiers reprimanded for taking part in the abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The mistreatment came to light this past week with these photographs, apparently showing prisoners mocked and sometimes stripped naked by American forces. Six military police officers are facing criminal charges.
Also underway is a third investigation into whether military intelligence was involved in the treatment as reported by the "New Yorker" magazine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEYMOUR HERSH, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: Even before those photographs there was a consistent pattern of very sadistic treatment being done. Not by the kids that you saw, mostly done by the interrogators at the prison. Every prison has an interrogation section with military intelligence offices, CIA and private contractors. And in that side of the facility there were beatings -- regular beatings, threats, threatened rape, sodomy. I mean it's just the usual list of torture stuff that, I guess, we went to Iraq to stop in the prisons there. BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: Well, everything that we've seen so far from the investigation, six criminal counts against individuals, along with quite a few more administrative actions, say, around 10 on the part of others that would indicate that of the thousands of detainees that we had at Abu Ghraib and the hundreds and hundreds of people associated with the supervision and the care, that it is in fact, it is a small group of people and a small number of incidences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And now to news from the city of Najaf. That is where insurgents have launched a blistering attack on a U.S. base. They're using mortars, grenades and small arms fire.
Our Jane Arraf is there, as U.S. troops and tanks face rooftop snipers as they rushed into action. She joins us by videophone now -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Daryn, the attack has been going on, on and off for some five hours now. Now, it started with a heavy barrage of mortar fire, as well as rocket propelled grenades, and small arms fire from virtually every direction (AUDIO GAP) Najaf, it has calmed down quite a bit, but officials expect it might be a lull. The tanks have come back in to be redeployed in the evening. Two Apache helicopters, dispatched here from another base, came under rocket propelled grenade fire but returned safely to the base.
Mortars have fallen not far from here. That appears to be a sniper rifle -- U.S. sniper rifle looking out over -- there is a very wide perimeter here that they're shooting from. There have been no U.S. or coalition casualties, Daryn. But coalition officials here say that they have killed seven suspected members of the Mehdi militia, including four, they say, who were firing the mortar gun -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And Jane, as the U.S. military fires back, talk about the challenges it faces because Najaf is such a holy cities, the sites they have to try to avoid.
ARRAF: It is an incredible challenge. The military came in here about three weeks ago as they -- you can probably hear the gunfire in the distance, as the Spanish troops very quickly pulled out. This also houses the civilian coalition presence; there are a handful of civil coalition officials here. Now, they have to tread very, very carefully; the military officials here are asking for more scope to be able to fight back, because they are very strictly avoiding the holy shrines in Najaf and adjoining Kufa; and indeed, many parts of the city where they're careful not to enter into. They are responding when they need to respond, but they are responding under very strict restrictions to avoid inflaming the local population here -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Jane Arraf taking cover and please be safe there in Najaf. Appreciate your report.
Other news ahead, dairy lovers beware. Milk is taking a bite out of your pocketbook. We will tell you what is causing the prices to soar.
And Medicare approved subscription cards are in effect starting today. So why are some telling seniors not to rush to sign up?
MICHAEL CONNELLY, AUTHOR (voice-over): Times like this, the whole city washed itself out over smooth concrete surfaces. It snaked through the valley and around the mountains to downtown; and from there, west to the ocean.
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KAGAN: And later, author Michael Connelly joins us to talk about his new book. It's called "The Narrows." What can his perennial hero, detective Harry Bosch expect this time? You know it's going to take place on the streets of L.A..
You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.
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KAGAN: And now to the crisis in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Sharon says that he will not resign, despite the most bitter challenge yet to his leadership. Mr. Sharon's own party sharply rejected his U.S.-backed plan to withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank.
Our Matthew Chance joins us now from Jerusalem -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suddenly, a very stinging political blow for the Israeli prime minister and for his plans to withdraw Israeli forces and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. Nearly 60 percent of his Likud Party members who voted in Sunday's referendum rather, voted to reject his disengagement plan. A plan which Ariel Sharon personally sold to President Bush on his trip to Washington last month, and on which it staked a great deal of his credibility, both internationally and at home in Israel.
He said, in the hours after the result emerged -- the rejection emerged, that he would respect the act, but in his first address to the television cameras after being delivered this stinging defeat that he said that he would not resign, and indicated that he was not prepared either to back down on his plan to push forward with this Gaza withdraw. Let's have a quick listen to what he had to say.
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ARIEL SHARON, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL (through translator): I said yesterday that I intend to hold consultations with ministers in the cabinet, with the Likud Party and with other parties, in order to consider the implications and the steps that we intend to take. I would like to stress the people of Israel have chosen us in order to find the way to quiet security and peace, and in order to promote Israeli's economy. And this is exactly what I intend to do.
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CHANCE: Remember, Ariel Sharon is now in a very difficult and unusual situation. He's failed, of course, to get the support of his own political party. But he is still the prime minister of a country, which, if you believe all of the opinion polls in the local Israeli media say is generally behind the idea of pulling Israeli forces and Jewish settlers out of the remote settlements in the Gaza Strip. So he's in this very unique political and very difficult situation -- Daryn.
KAGAN: So give us a government -- an Israeli government primer 101 here, Matthew, on how that works. If he does have the support of the general public, can't he go ahead and act without the support of his party?
CHANCE: Well, you know, we're all in the realm of speculation really, Daryn, because this is quite literally unchartered political territory. It's very rare for any leader of a country, any leader of Israeli at least, to be in this unique political situation.
He has a number of options in front of him. The fact that the opinion polls, at least, show that the majority of Israelis are behind this disengagement plan will give him a certain amount of authority. One of his options, possibly, could be to move forward and put this to a national referendum, to really sort of crystallize that broad public support in Israel for the disengagement plan.
Another option would be just to present it to the Israeli Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and see if he can push it through there. But as I say, he is still now, in the coming days and the coming hours, trying to develop for himself what stance, what position, what tactic he's going to use to move out of this position.
KAGAN: Matthew Chance in Jerusalem. Matthew, thank you.
Coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY, John Kerry hits the road literally. The details are straight ahead. Stay with us.
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KAGAN: In California, today marks the official start of wildfire season. The blazes have already started. Crews are battling three blazes across southern California that have already burned through some 1700 acres and forced hundreds out of their homes. The one big fire rages at Camp Pendleton, at the Marine base that's close to San Diego. and two others are burning in Riverside County. A drop in temperatures overnight has helped crews fight the fires.
It seems like just yesterday I was out there covering the fires from the fall.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know.
KAGAN: Too short of a non-fire season for them.
JERAS: Absolutely.
KAGAN: And it's hot, talking to family and friends out there.
JERAS: Temperatures unbelievable yesterday. A number of record highs.
KAGAN: I've got to ask you a mom question.
JERAS: OK.
KAGAN: With two little ones at home ...
KAGAN: ... I don't think the baby is on regular milk yet...
JERAS: No.
KAGAN: ... but milk has got to be breaking the bank? The family budget.
JERAS: I've always thought it's been very expensive. It's like $3.19 a gallon here.
KAGAN: There you go. And getting more expensive so stay tuned mom, because that's what our next story is about here. If you're talking about the price of milk, you probably need more money to buy your milk. You could say dairy prices are utterly expensive. Why is that?
Our Kathleen Hayes explains.
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KATHLEEN HAYES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ice cream lovers beware. Milk drinkers watch out. Dairy prices are hitting record highs because milk is suddenly in short supply and it's hitting families and businesses across the country.
DAN BASSE, PRESIDENT, AGRESOURCE COMPANY: When you buy that ice cream cone at your local custard stand, you're going to find it's about twice the price it was last year.
HAYES: The price of milk is climbing to $3 a gallon nationwide, in some states even higher. And milk products from yogurt to mozzarella are getting a lot more costly, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prices have never been this high in the cheese market before. They've been this high in the milk market. But it's been about eight years since that's happened.
HAYES: Hard to believe, but just a year ago, the price of milk hit a 25-year record low and forced some money-losing dairy farmers to send their cows to slaughter. That helped cause a shortage of milk- producing heifers. Add to that, the ripple effect of Mad Cow disease, which led to a ban on cows coming in from Canada. There are now 150,000 fewer cows producing milk than this time last year. And the cows that are left are producing less milk due to a shortage of BST, a hormone that boosts milk production, and due to problems with the feed supply.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feed is expensive, so the farmers have to get more money in order to put more animals on feed. and the cycle is so long for milk that you can't just throw another bunch on like you can with chicken. It takes three months; with cows, it's close to two years.
HAYES: Meanwhile, the popularity of high protein Atkins type diets have kept milk products in demand even as their prices move up. This is sweet for dairy farmers whose profits are spurting higher again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are making more money now than they have -- than I know of looking back over the past 40 or 50 years. So on a per cow basis, the dairy business is very good to be in at the moment.
HAYES: And Prices may stay high for a while especially if the summer is exceptionally hot, because dairy cows don't like extreme heat and their milk production falls dramatically; just when ice cream lovers are looking to scoop up a cooling treat.
Kathleen Hayes, CNN Financial News, New York.
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KAGAN: Speaking out about the U.S. mission in Iraq, this time the criticism comes from a soldier. Find out why he decided to challenge the commander's chief handling in Iraq.
And interest rates could be about to do an about face. Gerri Willis joins us to tell you what that could mean for you.
KAGAN: Hey, Ger.
GERRI WILLIS, CNNFN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, Daryn. The Federal Reserve is meeting tomorrow. What do you need to know? We'll tell you all about it when we come back on CNN LIVE TODAY.
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KAGAN: How about paying for a mortgage and bigger bills on your credit cards? Not what you want to hear but both are likely if current low interest rates rise.
For more on that, we turn to our CNNfn personal finance correspondent Gerri Willis.
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WILLIS (voice-over): Jobs are growing, consumers are spending, even manufacturing is starting to turn around, but this good news could have a downside. Higher interest rates.
ALAN GREENSPAN, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: The Federal Reserve recognizes that sustained prosperity requires the maintenance of price stability and will act, as necessary, to ensure that outcome.
WILLIS: Translation: the Federal Reserve will move sooner, rather than later, to stop inflation before it gets started by tightening monetary policy, which would lead to higher consumer interest rates. For consumers that means paying more for cars, credit cards, home equity loans, and of course, mortgages.
Already mortgage bankers have started pushing home loan rates higher with dramatic consequences for buyers. Consider. If you had taken out a $300,000 home loan last June when rates were at 45-year lows, your monthly mortgage payment would be $1662. Today, it's $148 higher. And more bad news could be on the way; mortgage rates are expected to go as high as 7 percent by year-end.
In any event, consumers will want to keep an eye on any loan that has a variable rate. That means home equity lines of credit and variable rate credit cards. Even fixed rate card owners may see their fees rise.
GREG MCBRIDE, BANKRATE.COM: The best move you can make is to aggressively pay down that debt. The more debt you have on those credit cards, when interest rates start to rise, the more debt you're going to be carrying uphill in the face of higher interest rates.
WILLIS: But it's not all bad news.
MARK ZANDI, ECONOMY.COM: For savers, rising rates are not a bad thing. I mean many older households with CDs have been hurt very badly in this low rate environment. There is no good CDs out there to be had. But with rising rates, many of these households in a year or two will be able to go out and purchase a CD at a rate that will look darn-right attractive compared to the rates they're getting now.
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WILLIS: Now, the Federal Reserve is meeting tomorrow but Wall Street is not expecting an increase in interest rates tomorrow. However, they say it could happen sometime this year.
So what do you need to know? Well, No.1, you need to understand exactly what the fed is doing and what it means to you. The fed covers something called the Fed Funds Rate. This is the rate that banks use when they borrow money overnight. Now, you think that might not mean much to mean, but guess what? It's actually the leader of the pack when it comes to interest rates. It affects the prime rate. And the prime rate in return affects all kinds of consumer rates, whether it's home equity lines of credit, home equity loans, even credit cards. So keep an eye out for that -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Gerri Willis, thank you for those tips. Appreciate it.
President Bush is getting on the bus, busing it around some election battleground states. Up next, a live report from the White House on his effort to find supporters.
Plus this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a motivation to tell the truth. I don't feel like an accurate picture is being displayed.
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KAGAN: A U.S. platoon leader who served in Iraq begins a new mission, a different kind of fight. His story is just ahead.
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