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CNN Live At Daybreak
Rumsfeld in Baghdad; Where's the Oil?; Learning to Interrogate; It's in the Cannes
Aired May 13, 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.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Chad.
We are following breaking news at this hour. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld making a surprise visit to Baghdad. He is there right now, so let's go there, too.
Live to Baghdad and Ben Wedeman to tell us more.
Hello -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello, Carol.
Well this is the Secretary Rumsfeld's seventh visit to Iraq. He was last here on February 23. And it's his fifth visit since the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Now we are given to believe it's fairly clear that Secretary Rumsfeld is here to deal with the prisoner abuse scandal, which has dogged him now for the last week and a half or so. And he's also here to try to lift the morale of the troops. It's been a very difficult month and a half now with fighting in Karbala, Najaf, Baghdad and Fallujah. Thirty-six U.S. troops have been killed in May alone. So he's got a lot of work to do.
He will be meeting in addition to senior members or officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority, he will be meeting with troops as well. Speaking with them, trying to convey that of course these soldiers still have the support of the United States and that Secretary Rumsfeld has a lot of faith in what they are doing here. But, as I said, it's been a hard month and a half now for U.S. troops. So Secretary Rumsfeld, he's probably only going to be here for a day, but obviously going to try to meet with as many people, U.S. troops as possible -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Ben Wedeman reporting live from Baghdad.
Let's talk more about this now with our senior international editor David Clinch.
So Donald Rumsfeld is going to Iraq. With him, General Myers,...
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right.
COSTELLO: ... and are some Pentagon lawyers with him as well? CLINCH: So we're led to believe. And as Ben has been pointing out, that sounds like a good idea in the sense that there are a lot of issues at stake here on the prisoner abuse scandal, exactly who ordered who to do what. Some of those issues need to be discussed on the ground in real time with the people who are still there.
And also the more general issue of how to treat prisoners, what to do with Abu Ghraib Prison. There are some people who say you should just blow it up and move everybody somewhere else, others who say that there needs to be reform.
But clearly the most urgent issue for Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers is both the prison abuse scandal in terms of the exact time scale of what happened, who ordered who to do what. When we heard the Congress members yesterday saying that they -- saying that they had seen even more images that were worse than anything that we have seen so far in public, their overriding interest is in finding out who ordered, if anyone, these soldiers to do what they did.
COSTELLO: Well then that leads you to wonder exactly who Donald Rumsfeld will be talking to. Will he be talking to, you know, the prison guards?
CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: Will he be talking to the...
CLINCH: Well the man...
COSTELLO: ... officer supposedly in charge?
CLINCH: Right, we'll have to see. But obviously, the man who is in charge in Iraq right now and the prisoners -- of the prisons in Iraq, General Miller, we talked about this very...
COSTELLO: But he's a controversial figure, too.
CLINCH: ... very -- exactly. And brings up another point of our coverage today. General Miller, the man who instituted a lot of the prison practices in Guantanamo Bay, the question of not only whether those practices were brought to Iraq, which is one question, but also whether those practices themselves in Guantanamo Bay being highlighted today, for instance, in Australia.
The government there saying they are looking into now claims of abuse by an Australian who is still in Guantanamo Bay. Families of British people who are still in Guantanamo Bay saying they urgently want to look into the treatment their family members are receiving in Guantanamo Bay. So this scandal is still spreading. We have Afghanistan, too, a man there claiming he has been abused in prison in Afghanistan.
COSTELLO: So even though it's supposedly a small number of prison guards responsible for this abuse, this is going to get bigger and bigger? CLINCH: Right. It's the institutional level that we're getting into now. It's the question of -- it's sort of you could equate it to sort of the FCC looking into Howard Stern or something like that. Howard Stern does what he does all the time and then all of a sudden it becomes an issue. What goes on in Guantanamo Bay goes on all the time, now it's an issue. It's a question, are these things in contravention of the Geneva Convention?
Now, obviously, there isn't, at this point, any suggestion in Guantanamo Bay that it's as bad as it was in Iraq. But just the highlight on this story has now got every detail of who is ordering who to do what right in the front of our profile of our coverage today. And Donald Rumsfeld starting where he needs to start in Baghdad today.
COSTELLO: We'll see what he finds out.
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: David Clinch, thanks to you.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has a big job, too, this morning. He is trying to get more money out of Congress for Iraq and Afghanistan. Wolfowitz appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 9:30 Eastern. He is asking for a reserve fund of $25 billion. That would help pay the almost $5 billion a month it costs to operate in Iraq. Among items the reserve money would fund, $705 million for armored Humvees and $295 million for body armor. The White House estimates the war could cost up to $200 billion.
Look for gas prices to keep on going higher. And as CNN's Diana Muriel reports, you can look at Iraq as one of the possible reasons for this price spike.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as coalition forces stormed towards Baghdad last year, Iraq's oil supplies were under attack. Before the war, Iraq was pumping around three million barrels a day. But in the past year, Iraq's oil industry has been the victim of widespread looting and sabotage.
Last weekend, the southern pipeline was attacked by saboteurs, affecting flows to the Basra terminal where around 1.7 barrels are loaded each day. Iraq's total production rate is just over two million barrels per day. But speaking in Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraq's Oil Minister was optimistic the country could resume normal flows in the south quickly.
IBRAHIM BAHR AL-ULLOM, IRAQI OIL MINISTER: After that task, for the previous two days, the average oil production was slightly abused (ph). And now yesterday and today's was about one million. But today is about 1.1 million barrels a day (ph).
MURIEL: The Oil Ministry's aim is to get total production back up to 3.5 million barrels a day, a level last seen in 1990 before the first Gulf War. But industry experts say that's a tough target to hit.
JULIAN LEE, OIL INDUSTRY ANALYST: To boost production capacity from the current level, we need substantial investment, probably by foreign oil companies. And with the security situation as it is at the moment, I don't think there is anybody, either foreign or domestic, who is going to be in a position to invest or carry out work in the Iraqi oil industry.
MURIEL: The southern pipeline assault comes just two weeks after U.S.-led forces foiled suicide boat attacks on tankers at the Basra oil terminal. And Iraq's northern pipeline to Turkey is heavily patrolled after a series of attacks there. Before the war, that pipeline carried 800,000 barrels per day, but only 14 million barrels have been exported through it since the U.S.-led invasion.
LEE: We were repeatedly being promised, both by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and by the Iraqi Oil Ministry, that the country's oil production and its oil exports would begin to increase quite dramatically in the very near future. So everybody expected more oil to come from Iraq. And every time those expectations were raised, it failed to deliver.
MURIEL: Experts say the OPEC oil cartel overestimated how much oil Iraq would be pumping into the market, and that tightness in supply is helping to push world oil prices to record highs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Industry observers warn that Iraq could find it difficult to maintain even the current levels of supply. Much of the oil industry infrastructure there needs to be rehabilitated and improved. And if that doesn't happen, they warn, then production could slip and world oil prices could go even higher -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Diana Muriel reporting live from London this morning.
The naked Iraqi on a leash, the sexual humiliation of prisoners, the U.S. military says such treatment is definitely not permitted. So what are troops allowed to do to get prisoners to give up information?
At a hearing on Capitol Hill, the Pentagon gave Congress a list of interrogation rules of engagement. It allows for isolation for longer than 30 days, sleep adjustment, sensory deprivation and stress positions for up to 45 minutes at a time. The list has prompted this exchange between a Democratic senator and the Joint Chiefs chairman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Let me tell you, your interrogation rules of engagement, the ones that are published, go far beyond the Geneva Convention.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: Those are appropriate and that's what we're told by legal authorities and by anybody that believes in humane behavior.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So how do U.S. troops learn to question prisoners? CNN's Ed Lavandera went to their training camp to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is site (ph) Uniform, our field training exercise.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the dusty hills of southeastern Arizona, the newest Army intelligence interrogators are completing their final training exercise. The Army wants the world to know that when these soldiers leave here, they are not equipped with techniques of torture and humiliation.
MAJ. GEN. JAMES MARKS, U.S. ARMY: We train soldiers to do what's right. Our Army is values based. So if a soldier feels like he or she is moving down a path that they are uncomfortable with, we also have a thing called the chain of command. And you go up through the chain of command and get support from them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I'm asking to find out is your chain of command here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well how do I know I can trust an American?
LAVANDERA: Inside Fort Huachuca, soldiers are taught the fine points of interrogation. Role-playing teaches each soldier how to approach different personalities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How often did you dump out (ph) the garbage cans?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well we doused the garbage cans with gasoline and lit a match.
LAVANDERA: The 16-week training course teaches soldiers to get into a prisoner's mind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, you're not going to let them finish whatever they are asking. Eventually, the person is going to want to be heard.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Army officials here say up to 90 percent of useful intelligence in Iraq comes from interrogations. But to get that information from a hardened terrorist or a militant fighter can require a tough approach.
MARKS: We don't strip anybody of their dignity, but I want them to be tired, I want them to be afraid of me. I want them when they -- when they breathe, I want them to think that the interrogator gave them the right to expand their lungs.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Officials here say it's all done under strict guidelines, no touching, no humiliation. Chief Warrant Officer Lon Castleton just returned from Iraq. He found a kinder, gentler approach is the most effective way of dealing with Iraqi prisoners.
CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER LON CASTLETON, U.S. ARMY: Yes, the things I saw with these people, they expected to be beaten, and that's the way Saddam Hussein used to treat them. In fact, they figured they'd never be seen again. So when you treat them with kindness, they are a lot more open. In fact, in a lot of cases, they are surprised.
LAVANDERA: The need for interrogators is so great that more than 500 soldiers will be put through this course this year.
SPEC. JASON HICKMAN, INTERROGATOR TRAINEE: I have a foundation for what it's going to take to do my job in the real world. So I will actually get out there and do it in the real world, I'm not going to know what it's going to be like (ph).
LAVANDERA: No matter how real the training might appear, soldiers won't know what it will take to be effective until they come face to face with an enemy prisoner.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And the power in the pictures from Iraq. In the next hour, we'll talk with media critic Martin Shram (ph) about the decisions behind bringing these disturbing images into your home.
We're taking your e-mails on this topic. How do you think the media have handled the release of pictures from Iraq? Have we shown you too many pictures? Have we shown them too often? The address, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
This is DAYBREAK for Thursday, May 13.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:45 Eastern. He is what's all new this morning.
A surprise visit to Baghdad. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chair General Richard Myers arrived in Baghdad a short time ago. This is Rumsfeld's seventh visit to Baghdad since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The death toll mounts in Gaza. Ten Palestinians were killed in two helicopter gunship attacks today in the Rafah refugee camp. In another incident, five Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack on their convoy.
In money news, listen up students, Alan Greenspan and Bill Ransick. He is the winner of "The Apprentice." They will address more than 100 high school students in Chicago today. They will talk about personal finance and about education. In sports, Smarty Jones is no dummy. The Kentucky Derby winner is the 8 to 5 favorite for Saturday's second leg of the Triple Crown. That would be the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore.
In culture, she took the test, raised her hand and now it is official. Former "Baywatch" babe Pamela Anderson is now a U.S. citizen. But Anderson says she'll also keep her Canadian citizenship.
Chad, I didn't even realize she wasn't a U.S. citizen.
MYERS: I didn't either. Pam Anderson and Kid there, looks like they're still together. Hey, not yet. No, they are not married.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you.
We've been asking you our e-mail question of the morning, and it is do you think we're showing those prisoner abuse photos too much? Should we be showing you more, if that is possible, of course? And should we show you more of the Nicholas Berg, or what happened to Nicholas Berg, I should say?
This from Eldon (ph) from Kokomo, Indiana. He says I believe the pictures have been shown too many times already. If the investigation is taking place, what purpose does it serve for the media to show the pictures over and over. It certainly doesn't help the morale and also the treatment of our troops around the world. Why endanger their lives any more than necessary.
This from Jane (ph) from here in Atlanta. She says please show the rest of the photos or else our imaginations and worst fears will be worse than the photos.
And this one from Anne (ph). She says no more pictures should be released. They were taken in violation of the Geneva Conventions. And every time they are shown, the Iraqis are further degraded and the distributors are complacent in an on-going violation of their rights.
Thank you for your e-mails. Keep them coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
Big cheers for Thomas Hamill, he is the American who escaped his Iraqi captors. Hamill threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Houston Astros baseball game and he used his wounded arm to do that. And the fans absolutely loved it. They gave him a standing ovation. Hamill is always quick to put the focus, though, back on the Americans still in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS HAMILL, FORMER HOSTAGE IN IRAQ: I want to make sure that my safe return doesn't distract everyone's commitment to continue praying for our troops and the thousands of civilian contractors who risk their lives every day, just like I did, to improve the lives of the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Hamill was among seven American contractors who disappeared last month. The bodies of four of them have been found, two others remain missing today.
Hold on to your seats or you will miss a trip to the French Riviera. Yes, it is that time again for the gathering of egos at the Cannes Film Festival.
And it's vice-versa time. Keeping the cold inside and the heat outside. Dave White (ph) of Home Depot, along with Chad, shows us how in the next hour of DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time for our 'DAYBREAK Eye-Openers' right now.
Do I hear three? If you want to pump premium, you'll pay a three buck a gallon premium. Millionaires in Malibu or just ordinary Joes and Janes are having to empty their bank accounts just to pay for gas these days. Three bucks a gallon for regular unleaded. That's just crazy.
A Dayton, Ohio restaurant did not plan on serving venison and this deer, obviously, didn't relish being on the menu. But there she was, on the hook, nonetheless, after the animal crashes through the restaurant's front window. And in case you are wondering, no, she was not the special of the day. And I think she's going to be OK. Awe, she was just scared. You know when they see their reflection in the glass, they get scared and they run through.
In Michigan, just call him Footsie, because this once handicapped German Shepherd has new hind legs. It wasn't easy, say the two docs who did the work. Took them a year to finally get these artificial legs that Footsie is happy with. Awe, that's just precious.
In France, it is time for movie madness at the 57th Cannes Film Festival. Dozens of movies will be screened over the next two weeks but only a few will compete for the big prize.
Our Chris Burns drew the short straw.
Can't believe it, Chris, you have got this thankless assignment. What's going on there?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, can you believe it, it's great to trade a flack jacket for a dinner jacket this time.
There are 18 films in competition, and quite a few American films. Today, however, (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE), "The Consequences of Love," an Italian film is in competition.
But forget about that, the one that's really drawing all the attention is "Troy" starring Brad Pitt. That epic swords and sandals, babes and brawns movie. I just have been watching it. I stepped out for a few minutes just to talk to you.
It is -- it is pretty amazing. Cecil B. DeMille wouldn't be disappointed. It's huge. It's big. But the -- it's getting passed, though. The "New York Times" says Pitt essentially plays himself, a hunky and a bit vacant part. But "Variety" magazine says that it really is just a -- in fact the guys, they say, look better than the babes.
And it's a $175 million film, they say. It's got to be amortized not only in America, where it opens up tomorrow, but next week worldwide. And what's the best place to shop that thing out is here in Cannes. Four thousand journalists from around the world, it's one- stop shopping to try to shop this film. And you go to the Grand Dame Hotel (ph) along the Quaset Beach Walk (ph) is hanging from balconies "Troy" banners. So they are shopping this thing big time. There's going to be a big promoting (ph) party promoting it tonight -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well should I ask you about the fashion -- Chris?
BURNS: About the -- I'm sorry, about the what?
COSTELLO: The fashion.
BURNS: The fashion, my God, it's beautiful. You watch the red -- the red carpeted stairs going up to the Festival Palace every night, they are all decked out. And there will be babes and brawn there. Brad Pitt walking up over the next few days, Tom Hanks, Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, Uma Thurman, all kinds of Hollywood here. And around the world, that's really what draws the attention. And they know it's not just here to have fun, it's to shop movies and hundreds of them.
COSTELLO: Chad has a question for you, Chris.
MYERS: Hey, Chris, I know probably our travel department, how is the Motel 6 there in Cannes?
BURNS: Forget about it, they are booked solid. You can't -- I'm living -- I'm living in Alceed (ph) next -- it's about half an hour away. It's impossible to get a place here. The weather, by the way, is absolutely stunning today.
COSTELLO: Look at that. Well, Chris, we envy you. You have a great time and watch some more movies.
BURNS: OK, thanks a lot. Talk to you later.
COSTELLO: Chris Burns.
MYERS: Look at Woody Allen. All the stars are out there promoting their stuff. I mean they are all there.
COSTELLO: Why not? It's probably a big tax write-off, if you think about it, because it's part of their business, right?
MYERS: Maybe some should stay there. COSTELLO: Chad Myers.
MYERS: Badda-ba-bing (ph).
COSTELLO: Let's talk about "Frasier" because...
MYERS: Last episode tonight.
COSTELLO: ... it's kind of been overshadowed by the "Friends" finale.
MYERS: Of course.
COSTELLO: But tonight is "Frasier's" finale, and you know that was truly a well-written, great show.
MYERS: But you don't hear a lot about these finales, I have not, compared to the "Friends."
COSTELLO: No.
MYERS: I mean compared to even the "Survivor" last week. This is just like coming and going. It's like all right, it's the last one, bye-bye.
COSTELLO: Well this really didn't like tap into pop culture like "Friends" did,...
MYERS: I guess, right.
COSTELLO: ... because it's sort of like you know the main characters aren't really the hip, cool, you know, guys and gals.
MYERS: Right. Right.
COSTELLO: But it was very smartly written. And I think that it probably was on for just a bit too long.
MYERS: I wonder if anyone from "Cheers" shows up on this last episode?
COSTELLO: Interesting, maybe so. We'll have to watch it tonight.
MYERS: Yes, we'll see. Well I can...
COSTELLO: TiVo it.
MYERS: I can tape it.
COSTELLO: In the next hour of DAYBREAK, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and the top Pentagon brass make a surprise visit to U.S. commanders in Iraq.
And are U.S. sanctions against Syria unjust and unjustified? The White House says Syria supports terrorism. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 13, 2004 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Chad.
We are following breaking news at this hour. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld making a surprise visit to Baghdad. He is there right now, so let's go there, too.
Live to Baghdad and Ben Wedeman to tell us more.
Hello -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello, Carol.
Well this is the Secretary Rumsfeld's seventh visit to Iraq. He was last here on February 23. And it's his fifth visit since the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Now we are given to believe it's fairly clear that Secretary Rumsfeld is here to deal with the prisoner abuse scandal, which has dogged him now for the last week and a half or so. And he's also here to try to lift the morale of the troops. It's been a very difficult month and a half now with fighting in Karbala, Najaf, Baghdad and Fallujah. Thirty-six U.S. troops have been killed in May alone. So he's got a lot of work to do.
He will be meeting in addition to senior members or officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority, he will be meeting with troops as well. Speaking with them, trying to convey that of course these soldiers still have the support of the United States and that Secretary Rumsfeld has a lot of faith in what they are doing here. But, as I said, it's been a hard month and a half now for U.S. troops. So Secretary Rumsfeld, he's probably only going to be here for a day, but obviously going to try to meet with as many people, U.S. troops as possible -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Ben Wedeman reporting live from Baghdad.
Let's talk more about this now with our senior international editor David Clinch.
So Donald Rumsfeld is going to Iraq. With him, General Myers,...
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right.
COSTELLO: ... and are some Pentagon lawyers with him as well? CLINCH: So we're led to believe. And as Ben has been pointing out, that sounds like a good idea in the sense that there are a lot of issues at stake here on the prisoner abuse scandal, exactly who ordered who to do what. Some of those issues need to be discussed on the ground in real time with the people who are still there.
And also the more general issue of how to treat prisoners, what to do with Abu Ghraib Prison. There are some people who say you should just blow it up and move everybody somewhere else, others who say that there needs to be reform.
But clearly the most urgent issue for Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers is both the prison abuse scandal in terms of the exact time scale of what happened, who ordered who to do what. When we heard the Congress members yesterday saying that they -- saying that they had seen even more images that were worse than anything that we have seen so far in public, their overriding interest is in finding out who ordered, if anyone, these soldiers to do what they did.
COSTELLO: Well then that leads you to wonder exactly who Donald Rumsfeld will be talking to. Will he be talking to, you know, the prison guards?
CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: Will he be talking to the...
CLINCH: Well the man...
COSTELLO: ... officer supposedly in charge?
CLINCH: Right, we'll have to see. But obviously, the man who is in charge in Iraq right now and the prisoners -- of the prisons in Iraq, General Miller, we talked about this very...
COSTELLO: But he's a controversial figure, too.
CLINCH: ... very -- exactly. And brings up another point of our coverage today. General Miller, the man who instituted a lot of the prison practices in Guantanamo Bay, the question of not only whether those practices were brought to Iraq, which is one question, but also whether those practices themselves in Guantanamo Bay being highlighted today, for instance, in Australia.
The government there saying they are looking into now claims of abuse by an Australian who is still in Guantanamo Bay. Families of British people who are still in Guantanamo Bay saying they urgently want to look into the treatment their family members are receiving in Guantanamo Bay. So this scandal is still spreading. We have Afghanistan, too, a man there claiming he has been abused in prison in Afghanistan.
COSTELLO: So even though it's supposedly a small number of prison guards responsible for this abuse, this is going to get bigger and bigger? CLINCH: Right. It's the institutional level that we're getting into now. It's the question of -- it's sort of you could equate it to sort of the FCC looking into Howard Stern or something like that. Howard Stern does what he does all the time and then all of a sudden it becomes an issue. What goes on in Guantanamo Bay goes on all the time, now it's an issue. It's a question, are these things in contravention of the Geneva Convention?
Now, obviously, there isn't, at this point, any suggestion in Guantanamo Bay that it's as bad as it was in Iraq. But just the highlight on this story has now got every detail of who is ordering who to do what right in the front of our profile of our coverage today. And Donald Rumsfeld starting where he needs to start in Baghdad today.
COSTELLO: We'll see what he finds out.
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: David Clinch, thanks to you.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has a big job, too, this morning. He is trying to get more money out of Congress for Iraq and Afghanistan. Wolfowitz appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 9:30 Eastern. He is asking for a reserve fund of $25 billion. That would help pay the almost $5 billion a month it costs to operate in Iraq. Among items the reserve money would fund, $705 million for armored Humvees and $295 million for body armor. The White House estimates the war could cost up to $200 billion.
Look for gas prices to keep on going higher. And as CNN's Diana Muriel reports, you can look at Iraq as one of the possible reasons for this price spike.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as coalition forces stormed towards Baghdad last year, Iraq's oil supplies were under attack. Before the war, Iraq was pumping around three million barrels a day. But in the past year, Iraq's oil industry has been the victim of widespread looting and sabotage.
Last weekend, the southern pipeline was attacked by saboteurs, affecting flows to the Basra terminal where around 1.7 barrels are loaded each day. Iraq's total production rate is just over two million barrels per day. But speaking in Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraq's Oil Minister was optimistic the country could resume normal flows in the south quickly.
IBRAHIM BAHR AL-ULLOM, IRAQI OIL MINISTER: After that task, for the previous two days, the average oil production was slightly abused (ph). And now yesterday and today's was about one million. But today is about 1.1 million barrels a day (ph).
MURIEL: The Oil Ministry's aim is to get total production back up to 3.5 million barrels a day, a level last seen in 1990 before the first Gulf War. But industry experts say that's a tough target to hit.
JULIAN LEE, OIL INDUSTRY ANALYST: To boost production capacity from the current level, we need substantial investment, probably by foreign oil companies. And with the security situation as it is at the moment, I don't think there is anybody, either foreign or domestic, who is going to be in a position to invest or carry out work in the Iraqi oil industry.
MURIEL: The southern pipeline assault comes just two weeks after U.S.-led forces foiled suicide boat attacks on tankers at the Basra oil terminal. And Iraq's northern pipeline to Turkey is heavily patrolled after a series of attacks there. Before the war, that pipeline carried 800,000 barrels per day, but only 14 million barrels have been exported through it since the U.S.-led invasion.
LEE: We were repeatedly being promised, both by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and by the Iraqi Oil Ministry, that the country's oil production and its oil exports would begin to increase quite dramatically in the very near future. So everybody expected more oil to come from Iraq. And every time those expectations were raised, it failed to deliver.
MURIEL: Experts say the OPEC oil cartel overestimated how much oil Iraq would be pumping into the market, and that tightness in supply is helping to push world oil prices to record highs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Industry observers warn that Iraq could find it difficult to maintain even the current levels of supply. Much of the oil industry infrastructure there needs to be rehabilitated and improved. And if that doesn't happen, they warn, then production could slip and world oil prices could go even higher -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Diana Muriel reporting live from London this morning.
The naked Iraqi on a leash, the sexual humiliation of prisoners, the U.S. military says such treatment is definitely not permitted. So what are troops allowed to do to get prisoners to give up information?
At a hearing on Capitol Hill, the Pentagon gave Congress a list of interrogation rules of engagement. It allows for isolation for longer than 30 days, sleep adjustment, sensory deprivation and stress positions for up to 45 minutes at a time. The list has prompted this exchange between a Democratic senator and the Joint Chiefs chairman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Let me tell you, your interrogation rules of engagement, the ones that are published, go far beyond the Geneva Convention.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: Those are appropriate and that's what we're told by legal authorities and by anybody that believes in humane behavior.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So how do U.S. troops learn to question prisoners? CNN's Ed Lavandera went to their training camp to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is site (ph) Uniform, our field training exercise.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the dusty hills of southeastern Arizona, the newest Army intelligence interrogators are completing their final training exercise. The Army wants the world to know that when these soldiers leave here, they are not equipped with techniques of torture and humiliation.
MAJ. GEN. JAMES MARKS, U.S. ARMY: We train soldiers to do what's right. Our Army is values based. So if a soldier feels like he or she is moving down a path that they are uncomfortable with, we also have a thing called the chain of command. And you go up through the chain of command and get support from them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I'm asking to find out is your chain of command here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well how do I know I can trust an American?
LAVANDERA: Inside Fort Huachuca, soldiers are taught the fine points of interrogation. Role-playing teaches each soldier how to approach different personalities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How often did you dump out (ph) the garbage cans?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well we doused the garbage cans with gasoline and lit a match.
LAVANDERA: The 16-week training course teaches soldiers to get into a prisoner's mind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, you're not going to let them finish whatever they are asking. Eventually, the person is going to want to be heard.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Army officials here say up to 90 percent of useful intelligence in Iraq comes from interrogations. But to get that information from a hardened terrorist or a militant fighter can require a tough approach.
MARKS: We don't strip anybody of their dignity, but I want them to be tired, I want them to be afraid of me. I want them when they -- when they breathe, I want them to think that the interrogator gave them the right to expand their lungs.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Officials here say it's all done under strict guidelines, no touching, no humiliation. Chief Warrant Officer Lon Castleton just returned from Iraq. He found a kinder, gentler approach is the most effective way of dealing with Iraqi prisoners.
CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER LON CASTLETON, U.S. ARMY: Yes, the things I saw with these people, they expected to be beaten, and that's the way Saddam Hussein used to treat them. In fact, they figured they'd never be seen again. So when you treat them with kindness, they are a lot more open. In fact, in a lot of cases, they are surprised.
LAVANDERA: The need for interrogators is so great that more than 500 soldiers will be put through this course this year.
SPEC. JASON HICKMAN, INTERROGATOR TRAINEE: I have a foundation for what it's going to take to do my job in the real world. So I will actually get out there and do it in the real world, I'm not going to know what it's going to be like (ph).
LAVANDERA: No matter how real the training might appear, soldiers won't know what it will take to be effective until they come face to face with an enemy prisoner.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And the power in the pictures from Iraq. In the next hour, we'll talk with media critic Martin Shram (ph) about the decisions behind bringing these disturbing images into your home.
We're taking your e-mails on this topic. How do you think the media have handled the release of pictures from Iraq? Have we shown you too many pictures? Have we shown them too often? The address, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
This is DAYBREAK for Thursday, May 13.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:45 Eastern. He is what's all new this morning.
A surprise visit to Baghdad. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chair General Richard Myers arrived in Baghdad a short time ago. This is Rumsfeld's seventh visit to Baghdad since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The death toll mounts in Gaza. Ten Palestinians were killed in two helicopter gunship attacks today in the Rafah refugee camp. In another incident, five Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack on their convoy.
In money news, listen up students, Alan Greenspan and Bill Ransick. He is the winner of "The Apprentice." They will address more than 100 high school students in Chicago today. They will talk about personal finance and about education. In sports, Smarty Jones is no dummy. The Kentucky Derby winner is the 8 to 5 favorite for Saturday's second leg of the Triple Crown. That would be the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore.
In culture, she took the test, raised her hand and now it is official. Former "Baywatch" babe Pamela Anderson is now a U.S. citizen. But Anderson says she'll also keep her Canadian citizenship.
Chad, I didn't even realize she wasn't a U.S. citizen.
MYERS: I didn't either. Pam Anderson and Kid there, looks like they're still together. Hey, not yet. No, they are not married.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you.
We've been asking you our e-mail question of the morning, and it is do you think we're showing those prisoner abuse photos too much? Should we be showing you more, if that is possible, of course? And should we show you more of the Nicholas Berg, or what happened to Nicholas Berg, I should say?
This from Eldon (ph) from Kokomo, Indiana. He says I believe the pictures have been shown too many times already. If the investigation is taking place, what purpose does it serve for the media to show the pictures over and over. It certainly doesn't help the morale and also the treatment of our troops around the world. Why endanger their lives any more than necessary.
This from Jane (ph) from here in Atlanta. She says please show the rest of the photos or else our imaginations and worst fears will be worse than the photos.
And this one from Anne (ph). She says no more pictures should be released. They were taken in violation of the Geneva Conventions. And every time they are shown, the Iraqis are further degraded and the distributors are complacent in an on-going violation of their rights.
Thank you for your e-mails. Keep them coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
Big cheers for Thomas Hamill, he is the American who escaped his Iraqi captors. Hamill threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Houston Astros baseball game and he used his wounded arm to do that. And the fans absolutely loved it. They gave him a standing ovation. Hamill is always quick to put the focus, though, back on the Americans still in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS HAMILL, FORMER HOSTAGE IN IRAQ: I want to make sure that my safe return doesn't distract everyone's commitment to continue praying for our troops and the thousands of civilian contractors who risk their lives every day, just like I did, to improve the lives of the Iraqi people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Hamill was among seven American contractors who disappeared last month. The bodies of four of them have been found, two others remain missing today.
Hold on to your seats or you will miss a trip to the French Riviera. Yes, it is that time again for the gathering of egos at the Cannes Film Festival.
And it's vice-versa time. Keeping the cold inside and the heat outside. Dave White (ph) of Home Depot, along with Chad, shows us how in the next hour of DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time for our 'DAYBREAK Eye-Openers' right now.
Do I hear three? If you want to pump premium, you'll pay a three buck a gallon premium. Millionaires in Malibu or just ordinary Joes and Janes are having to empty their bank accounts just to pay for gas these days. Three bucks a gallon for regular unleaded. That's just crazy.
A Dayton, Ohio restaurant did not plan on serving venison and this deer, obviously, didn't relish being on the menu. But there she was, on the hook, nonetheless, after the animal crashes through the restaurant's front window. And in case you are wondering, no, she was not the special of the day. And I think she's going to be OK. Awe, she was just scared. You know when they see their reflection in the glass, they get scared and they run through.
In Michigan, just call him Footsie, because this once handicapped German Shepherd has new hind legs. It wasn't easy, say the two docs who did the work. Took them a year to finally get these artificial legs that Footsie is happy with. Awe, that's just precious.
In France, it is time for movie madness at the 57th Cannes Film Festival. Dozens of movies will be screened over the next two weeks but only a few will compete for the big prize.
Our Chris Burns drew the short straw.
Can't believe it, Chris, you have got this thankless assignment. What's going on there?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, can you believe it, it's great to trade a flack jacket for a dinner jacket this time.
There are 18 films in competition, and quite a few American films. Today, however, (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE), "The Consequences of Love," an Italian film is in competition.
But forget about that, the one that's really drawing all the attention is "Troy" starring Brad Pitt. That epic swords and sandals, babes and brawns movie. I just have been watching it. I stepped out for a few minutes just to talk to you.
It is -- it is pretty amazing. Cecil B. DeMille wouldn't be disappointed. It's huge. It's big. But the -- it's getting passed, though. The "New York Times" says Pitt essentially plays himself, a hunky and a bit vacant part. But "Variety" magazine says that it really is just a -- in fact the guys, they say, look better than the babes.
And it's a $175 million film, they say. It's got to be amortized not only in America, where it opens up tomorrow, but next week worldwide. And what's the best place to shop that thing out is here in Cannes. Four thousand journalists from around the world, it's one- stop shopping to try to shop this film. And you go to the Grand Dame Hotel (ph) along the Quaset Beach Walk (ph) is hanging from balconies "Troy" banners. So they are shopping this thing big time. There's going to be a big promoting (ph) party promoting it tonight -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well should I ask you about the fashion -- Chris?
BURNS: About the -- I'm sorry, about the what?
COSTELLO: The fashion.
BURNS: The fashion, my God, it's beautiful. You watch the red -- the red carpeted stairs going up to the Festival Palace every night, they are all decked out. And there will be babes and brawn there. Brad Pitt walking up over the next few days, Tom Hanks, Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, Uma Thurman, all kinds of Hollywood here. And around the world, that's really what draws the attention. And they know it's not just here to have fun, it's to shop movies and hundreds of them.
COSTELLO: Chad has a question for you, Chris.
MYERS: Hey, Chris, I know probably our travel department, how is the Motel 6 there in Cannes?
BURNS: Forget about it, they are booked solid. You can't -- I'm living -- I'm living in Alceed (ph) next -- it's about half an hour away. It's impossible to get a place here. The weather, by the way, is absolutely stunning today.
COSTELLO: Look at that. Well, Chris, we envy you. You have a great time and watch some more movies.
BURNS: OK, thanks a lot. Talk to you later.
COSTELLO: Chris Burns.
MYERS: Look at Woody Allen. All the stars are out there promoting their stuff. I mean they are all there.
COSTELLO: Why not? It's probably a big tax write-off, if you think about it, because it's part of their business, right?
MYERS: Maybe some should stay there. COSTELLO: Chad Myers.
MYERS: Badda-ba-bing (ph).
COSTELLO: Let's talk about "Frasier" because...
MYERS: Last episode tonight.
COSTELLO: ... it's kind of been overshadowed by the "Friends" finale.
MYERS: Of course.
COSTELLO: But tonight is "Frasier's" finale, and you know that was truly a well-written, great show.
MYERS: But you don't hear a lot about these finales, I have not, compared to the "Friends."
COSTELLO: No.
MYERS: I mean compared to even the "Survivor" last week. This is just like coming and going. It's like all right, it's the last one, bye-bye.
COSTELLO: Well this really didn't like tap into pop culture like "Friends" did,...
MYERS: I guess, right.
COSTELLO: ... because it's sort of like you know the main characters aren't really the hip, cool, you know, guys and gals.
MYERS: Right. Right.
COSTELLO: But it was very smartly written. And I think that it probably was on for just a bit too long.
MYERS: I wonder if anyone from "Cheers" shows up on this last episode?
COSTELLO: Interesting, maybe so. We'll have to watch it tonight.
MYERS: Yes, we'll see. Well I can...
COSTELLO: TiVo it.
MYERS: I can tape it.
COSTELLO: In the next hour of DAYBREAK, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and the top Pentagon brass make a surprise visit to U.S. commanders in Iraq.
And are U.S. sanctions against Syria unjust and unjustified? The White House says Syria supports terrorism. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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