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American Morning
Iraqi Interim Prime Minister: Country Will Take Charge of All Detainees, Including Saddam Hussein
Aired June 15, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A struggle over Saddam -- power will soon be handed over to Iraq. But what happens to Saddam Hussein? Both sides want him.
Mall threat -- an al Qaeda suspect is suspected of planning to bomb a shopping mall. Details of the plot revealed in court documents.
And a lost boy's best friend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYLE REID, LOST HIKER: It's really hard to get out of that without her help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: After a night lost in the woods, a young boy's dog leads him to safety. He's back with his family on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody.
Eight o'clock here in New York.
Good morning and welcome here.
The Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi, says negotiations still under way to hand over Saddam Hussein. The U.S. does not seem willing to give him up when power is transferred. They say it's going to take some time. We talked to the prime minister last hour. You'll hear what he had to say about the future, not just for Saddam Hussein, but thousands of detainees being held throughout Iraq.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, more of those Enron tapes that appear to show how the company rigged the energy market. Washington Senator Maria Cantwell wants a billion dollars paid back to power customers. We're going to hear from her in just a moment.
HEMMER: Also, this case in northern California. Police say Scott Peterson's anger raised their suspicions. But it's Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, who was the one who got angry in court yesterday. He's calling for a mistrial in only week two. We're talking about what he had to say yesterday and how the judge reacted. More on all that.
O'BRIEN: He wanted the court cleared. The judge said...
HEMMER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... ah, it only happens on TV, Mr. Geragos -- good morning to you, Mr. Cafferty.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Coming up in the Cafferty File, John Kerry's wife tells an interviewer why at 65 years of age she thinks she's sexy.
And it's a universal problem -- dogs hate the mailman, everywhere -- here and overseas. We'll tell you what's being done to try and resolve the conflict in Germany.
O'BRIEN: Excellent.
HEMMER: The German shepherds. Thank you, Jack.
Let's start this hour in Iraq. As the new government gets ready to take charge at the end of this month, less than two weeks ago, in fact. The interim prime minister says it will take charge of all detainees, including Saddam Hussein. That's what he said yesterday. The Pentagon, however, does not see it the same way. Officials say there are no immediate plans to transfer custody of Saddam Hussein and thousands of other Iraqi detainees.
A bit earlier, I talked with Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, asking him what the U.S. has told him about handing over the former Iraq leader.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQ'S INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: We are trying our best to get custody of Saddam and the other criminals. We have so far some definite promises from the coalition that this would be the case. The negotiations are under way and are progressing well.
HEMMER: The Pentagon is saying that it will happen when more it is worked out.
What do you believe has to be worked for this to happen?
ALLAWI: Well, I guess (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Iraq out within the U.S. administration. We Iraqis want to get control of the criminals who committed the crimes against the Iraqi people. CPA, we are in constant negotiations and discussions on this issue.
HEMMER: On another front, sir, knowing that the heart of Baghdad has been hit so many times in the month of June alone -- 17 car bombs alone -- what is your strategy for defeating those who are trying to assassinate all new members of the Iraqi government?
ALLAWI: Well, the escalation of terrorist activities in Iraq have been expected. It will increase even more. We have laid a lot of contingency plans to face terrorist activities in Iraq and that will be implemented once sovereignty is transferred. We definitely are determined that we will win and we are going to win and we are going to prevail.
HEMMER: Some of the protesters in the streets of Baghdad yesterday shouting, "Where's the Democracy?," shouting "Down With America!"
I mentioned 17 car bombs in this month alone. You know the handover officially takes place in about two weeks, a little less than that.
How long do you believe this war will last?
ALLAWI: Well, I don't really know. But those who burned the flags yesterday were not representatives of the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people, by and large, the majority, the vast majority, really, are indebted to the United States and to Britain and to the coalition for ridding Iraq of Saddam and his evil regime. Definitely we and the government of Iraq respect what the coalition have done and we, as I said, expect terrorists would increase their activities against us. And we are ready to face it.
HEMMER: I didn't hear a time frame in your answer.
Does that mean it is impossible to say at this point?
ALLAWI: It is very difficult to put a time frame on events and things. We need to build our capabilities and forces, which we are doing. We need to build our security assets to confront the evil forces of terrorism. And this is what we are doing. And we hope that our plans will be put into action when sovereignty is transferred to the -- to our government and to the government of Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, with us earlier in Baghdad.
A spate of bombings in Baghdad yesterday killing at least 16 there. In this month of June, 17 car bombings in the country of Iraq -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Federal officials say a Somali man plotted to blow up a shopping mall in the Columbus, Ohio area. Nuradin Abdi has been indicted on two counts of providing material support to al Qaeda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN BROCK, FBI INVESTIGATOR: As the investigation uncovered, there was a threat to blow up a shopping mall. There can be a presumption, perhaps, that because the conspirators were in our area that they were looking at malls in our area. But we don't have that specificity and our investigation proceeded as -- without limiting it to any specific mall. (END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: A detention hearing for Abdi is to be held on Wednesday and the indictment does not charge Abdi with the bomb plot -- Bill.
HEMMER: There is new alleged evidence that Enron illegally made more than a billion dollars off Western utility rate payers. On audiotapes, you can hear two Enron traders apparently talking about how to drive up electricity prices during the energy crisis in California.
An excerpt here from that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the line's not congested, then I just look if I can congest it. Because then it's worth my -- because those are going to be your shoulder hours anyways. And that's when replacement is super cheap, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So like those hours, if you can congest it, that's a money maker no matter what, because you're not losing any money to move it down that line.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're actually just making money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: As Andy Serwer explained last hour, the shoulder hours are the peak hours.
And Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State calling for the FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to open a new investigation into Enron in light of this and other new evidence.
She's live in our D.C. bureau.
That was a long lead-in.
Good morning to you, Senator.
Thanks for your time today.
SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D), WASHINGTON: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: The evidence you gave yesterday, what do you contend that shows regarding Enron?
CANTWELL: Well, it shows specifically that ratepayers have been hurt and the federal regulators need to give them justice by coming in and revoking Enron's market-based authority. That way we can get out of these long-term contracts. But right now, ratepayers across the West are actually being sued by Enron and becoming the deep pockets for their bankruptcy.
HEMMER: You say your consumers have been hurt.
Specifically in the State of Washington, in what way?
CANTWELL: Well, we had 14,000 people in 2002 that actually had their power shut off because we had a 50 percent rate increase. People have lost jobs. People have had, in the county that I live in, a 50 percent rate increase on their energy prices. And if we have to live with these Enron contracts, we'll be paying that 50 percent rate increase for the next five years.
HEMMER: We...
CANTWELL: That's...
HEMMER: I'm sorry for the interruption there.
We played one excerpt there, Senator.
Here's another one from yesterday.
And then I want to come back and kind of explain it to our viewers. A little bit of complication here. Listen and we'll talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So as far as Washington is concerned, that 25 megawatts, they won't even see it, because it's just going to, I guess, to Arizona.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the Western will still you, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Western, you're telling me Western won't even see this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, technically Western will see it, but it's bouncing out -- just in and out of their system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, I see what you're talking about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A ricochet I guess is a good way of putting it. Although that seems to be a pretty...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bounce is good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bounce, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ricochet is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) border on the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). (END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Senator, take that phrase ricochet.
What does that mean?
CANTWELL: Well, it's a very disgusting scheme that was promulgated by Enron. And what it means is in California, the regulators had a cap on how much you could sell power for. So Enron took the power outside of the State of California -- sometimes to Oregon, sometimes to Arizona -- and then sold it back into California and thereby got to sell it at a higher rate. They made hundreds of thousands of dollars on these kinds of ricochet actions in just a few hours. And we showed that there are many days in which they did these kinds of ricochet actions.
HEMMER: You also talked yesterday in your presentation in Washington about sinister schemes -- market manipulation.
Is that what you were describing yesterday, taking energy out and reselling it?
CANTWELL: Well, the...
HEMMER: Which is essentially double dipping, I would assume.
CANTWELL: Well, you just played two tapes. The first one was the death star scheme. And what that did is it created congestion and then when an energy company actually provides energy to relieve congestion, you get bonus payments. So that first tape talked about how they created congestion and then got the benefits from those bonuses.
And then the ricochet, again, how they circumvented the caps that California had by taking power and then just selling it back.
In one instance, they actually took surplus power from California that they got for zero dollars and sold it back into California for $750 a megawatt, gouging Californians.
HEMMER: Quickly, Senator, on the screen a statement from Enron. It came out some time ago. "We have been and we're continuing to cooperate with all investigations."
A, is that your understanding at this point? And B, what can the federal government do if you allege this is going on and it's illegal and it's hurting your constituents back in the Northwest?
CANTWELL: Well, certainly everybody wants to know when some of the other Enron executives are going to jail for promulgating these schemes. But the key issue is about 10 states and the utilities in those states have contracts with Enron. The question is whether the federal government is going to continue to make rate payers in those states pay those contracts.
If contracts have been fraudulent, if they've been manipulated, the federal government should make sure that justice is delivered and that rate payers don't have to pay on those contracts.
HEMMER: Maria Cantwell is a senator from the State of Washington.
Thanks for talking this morning.
CANTWELL: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Courtroom fireworks in Scott Peterson's double murder trial yesterday. The defense angrily demanded a mistrial. That came after the jury heard from police officers who were called to the Peterson home the night that Laci disappeared.
Rusty Dornin has more for us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was testimony from Modesto police officers first on the scene at Scott Peterson's house the night his wife disappeared that prompted defense attorney Mark Geragos to ask for a mistrial. Two officers told the court they heard Scott Peterson swear and throw a flashlight after being interviewed by one of the officers.
Geragos claimed the behavior was never described in any report by either officer and prosecutors admitted to the judge they had only heard about the incident recently.
Judge Alfred Delucchi turned down the request for a mistrial, but warned prosecutors to turn over any new evidence immediately to the defense.
Both officers said they heard Scott Peterson stumble and not answer when questioned about what kind of fish he was angling for the day his wife disappeared. They testified there was no evidence of foul play, however, at the Peterson home, and described the house being so neat it looked like a model house. Investigators were suspicious of a wet mop in a bucket outside the house, some dirty towels on top of the washer, a duffel bag and a rumpled rug -- all items taken from the house, as defense attorney Mark Geragos pointed out, without a search warrant.
It was a tough moment for the family of Laci Peterson when prosecutors showed autopsy photos of the pants she was wearing when her body washed ashore in San Francisco Bay. A maternity clothing store manager identified the pants as those bought by Peterson.
More police investigators are expected to testify this week.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Redwood City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: And coming up in our next hour, we're going to have a live report from the courthouse where Scott Peterson's trial is set to resume a little bit later today -- Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: The 80th birthday sky dive for the former president George Bush got the attention of David Letterman last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": How can I break it to George that I'm voting for Kerry? Number four, I don't remember having so much jowl resistance last time.
Number three, if this doesn't impress Carmen Electra, I give up.
Number two, read my lips -- holy crap, I'm going to die.
And the number one thing going through former President Bush's mind at this moment -- it's a good thing I'm drunk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Read my lips, good stuff from David Letterman last night.
O'BRIEN: That was pretty funny.
HEMMER: He had a lot of fun with that yesterday, too. Eighty years old and still going strong.
O'BRIEN: I was impressed, but Jack was not impressed. But I was impressed by that yesterday. I thought it was pretty cool.
HEMMER: Well done.
O'BRIEN: Almost quarter after the hour. Time to take a look at some of the other stories making news today with Heidi Collins -- good morning again.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.
Good morning to you, everybody.
President Bush hosting Afghan leader Hamid Karzai at the White House today. The two leaders are expected to discuss security in Afghanistan and plans for long awaited elections. Karzai will address a joint meeting of Congress before holding talks with President Bush. The two will hold a news conference in the Rose Garden at 11:25 a.m. Eastern and CNN will, of course, have live coverage of that for you.
The U.S. general once in charge of Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison claims she is the scapegoat for the abuse of detainees. Brigadier General Janis Karpinski tells the BBC she blames the abuse on her counterpart at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Karpinski was suspended last month. U.S. Army investigators say she did not pay enough attention to the every day operations at Abu Ghraib. Karpinski maintains interrogation procedures were run by a military intelligence unit. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to learn today whether he will be indicted on bribery charges. The prime minister has been under investigation on suspicion he accepted bribes from an Israeli real estate developer. Sharon has denied the allegations. Speculation in the Israeli media is the case will be dropped against the prime minister.
Combat wear getting its first makeover since 1981. The redesigned uniforms feature a digitized camouflage pattern. The U.S. Army says the new uniform is a combination of tan, green and gray intended to blend into all types of terrain. The entire Army expected to get the new uniforms by 2007.
And an 11-year-old boy is back with his family today after spending a night out in Middle Canyon, Utah. Kyle Reid had separated from his siblings during a hike and got lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REID: I was scared that I wouldn't make it down and never reach mom and dad again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Kyle and his dog were spotted by mountain bikers yesterday. A county sheriff says the boy walked about five miles in rugged terrain barefoot. All that with only minor scratches. The puppy dog is OK, too, I guess.
HEMMER: Good ending.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: All right, thank you, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Jack's got the "Question of the Day" -- hello.
CAFFERTY: Why didn't he have any shoes?
O'BRIEN: He was just walking around with his family, maybe.
CAFFERTY: It said he was on a hike. You go hiking in the mountains without shoes?
O'BRIEN: Well, in a grassy knoll.
CAFFERTY: What kind of deal is that?
O'BRIEN: It was a very...
CAFFERTY: A grassy knoll? That's in Dallas.
O'BRIEN: No, a different grassy knoll.
HEMMER: Jack. CAFFERTY: Financial disclosure forms of U.S. senators show that many of their incomes go well beyond the senators' yearly salaries. For example, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama reports he owns an apartment complex valued at between $5 and $25 million. Then there's Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who says he earned $33,000 in royalties last year from patriotic and religious songs. Quite the vocalist, Senator Hatch.
So the question we're asking this morning is how much do you have in common with your U.S. senator?
Tomorrow's question will be do you wear shoes when you go hiking in the mountains?
HEMMER: Only in a grassy knoll. Nothing.
CAFFERTY: Well, that's what I thought you said.
Patricia in Madison, Alabama: "Absolutely nothing other than that we all belong to the human race. Most of them have no clue how hard it is for people to decide whether to get that pain in their chest checked out or pay the grocery bill or pay the insurance."
Marie in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma: "I have very little in common with my senator, Don Nickles. I have a residence in my state. He does not. He votes himself a raise. I lost my job to outsourcing and have little chance of getting it back."
Patricia in Lafayette Indiana: "I have more in common with the senators from Indiana than the others you mentioned. Of course, I'm from Indiana. My parents are farmers and people here tend to live a simple life."
And Bill in St. Pete Beach, Florida: "Why, we have a lot in common. He doesn't know my name and I don't know his either."
HEMMER: How many people do you think could actually name their two senators?
CAFFERTY: That'd be an interesting quiz.
HEMMER: Lautenberg and Corzine, right?
CAFFERTY: Right. And Schumer and Clinton in New York.
HEMMER: That's right. Correct.
CAFFERTY: And I couldn't name the two from Connecticut.
HEMMER: Ado -- oh, what was I going to say? Yes, sure you could -- Dodd and Lieberman.
CAFFERTY: Yes, OK.
O'BRIEN: That's true.
CAFFERTY: Dodd and Lieberman.
HEMMER: All right?
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.
O'BRIEN: Sure you could. Now you could.
CAFFERTY: I've got it.
HEMMER: Hey buddy, I'm here for you. I'm hanging out by the grassy knoll if you ever need me.
CAFFERTY: If you're hiking in the mountains...
HEMMER: Yes?
CAFFERTY: Why wouldn't you put shoes on the child? Inquiring minds want to know these things.
O'BRIEN: I don't know.
CAFFERTY: It just occurred to me listening to this pop...
COLLINS: He lost his shoes.
O'BRIEN: He lost his shoes.
CAFFERTY: How can you lose your shoes?
O'BRIEN: He's five, right?
COLLINS: He's 11.
O'BRIEN: Oh, he's 11.
HEMMER: We're on the phone to Utah to figure this bad boy out.
Thank you, Jack.
Practical medical news in a moment. For years, dentists say people don't floss enough. But it might be time to rethink that notion. Sanjay looks into that in a moment here when we continue.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, fewer eyes in the skies -- why some people are warning of a crisis in America's air traffic control towers.
HEMMER: Also, in his latest role, Governor Schwarzenegger plays an egocentric, polygamist prince. And his peers say he's great.
O'BRIEN: With a bad weave in his hair.
HEMMER: Yes. Political pop this morning, when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HEMMER: The Pentagon says it will not hand over Saddam Hussein to the Iraqi government when the transfer of power takes place in about two weeks. But as the former dictator remains under wraps, one of the men who knew his story best wants to tell that story now.
Saman Abdul Majid was Saddam Hussein's personal translator -- for about 15 years, in fact. He has a book about those years, about the Saddam, he says, that nobody knows.
Written in French, the title means "The Saddam Years," and he's trying to get it published here in the United States.
Majid was there when Dan Rather interviewed Saddam back in February of 2003.
When I talked to him recently, I asked him at that point if Saddam believed war was a certainty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMAN ABDUL MAJID, AUTHOR, "THE SADDAM YEARS": At that moment when it were, during the interview, he was almost sure that it will happen. But when Dan Rather told him that this will be the last time we see each other, he smiled and he seemed very confident that although the war is unavoidable, he will come out somehow safe and sound from it, because he reminded the American reporter, journalist, that in 1990, he had also made an interview with him and it seems Mr. Rather had told him the same thing.
So he told him, "In 1990 you said this is the last time, but here we are now in 2003. So I'm sure that after this crisis, we will meet again and we will laugh about it."
HEMMER: There is an obvious question here, sir. If he thought that war was imminent and that war was going to happen, why did he not take greater steps to avoid it?
MAJID: Well, you see at that time, at that stage of events, he had made all the concessions that he couldn't possibly make. And the last demand that came from the American administration as a condition for not attacking Iraq was that he should, with his family, leave the country and ask for exile somewhere else, in some other third country.
This, for Saddam Hussein, was the condition that he could never accept because he would give any sort of concession except leaving power and living in exile.
HEMMER: You have said that Saddam was known for generosity, courtesy and a sense of humor.
Did you also see him as a brutal dictator, or not?
MAJID: You see, the times I saw Saddam Hussein was when I was interpreting for him. That is to say, by definition, that I met him in -- between brackets -- diplomatic situations. I was either -- we were either with some foreign journalists or with a diplomat, an envoy from a foreign country. And in these occasions in which I saw him and I heard him talking, I saw a very nice man, very much a gentleman, very nice to everyone around him, patient. He never got angry. And, you know, even small things, like the man who served us tea or coffee, sometimes he would make a mistake or slip or that. He wouldn't look at him in an angry way.
He was, in a general way, a very compassionate man to be admired, in fact. And I (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
HEMMER: You have also said, though, that you felt like a prisoner in your own country.
What do you mean by that?
MAJID: Yes, well, you see, being an interpreter to the president meant that I really had not any freedom of moving around, I mean in the sense of leaving the country was out of the question, of course. And even I had to be careful in choosing my friends because I wouldn't want to be seen with someone who say -- from the opposition or someone who is not -- who was against the regime who had any activities.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: In addition, Majid says he noticed Saddam's advisers often lied to the Iraqi leader, especially before the war, he says. That's when military advisers told Saddam they were well equipped and exaggerated how ready they were to carry the fight against the U.S. and the coalition -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, there might be a looming crisis in the nation's air traffic control towers. We're going to take a look at that just ahead.
Plus, you brush your teeth after every meal, but maybe you don't floss as often as you should. Well, maybe you don't need to. We'll explain as AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired June 15, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A struggle over Saddam -- power will soon be handed over to Iraq. But what happens to Saddam Hussein? Both sides want him.
Mall threat -- an al Qaeda suspect is suspected of planning to bomb a shopping mall. Details of the plot revealed in court documents.
And a lost boy's best friend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYLE REID, LOST HIKER: It's really hard to get out of that without her help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: After a night lost in the woods, a young boy's dog leads him to safety. He's back with his family on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody.
Eight o'clock here in New York.
Good morning and welcome here.
The Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi, says negotiations still under way to hand over Saddam Hussein. The U.S. does not seem willing to give him up when power is transferred. They say it's going to take some time. We talked to the prime minister last hour. You'll hear what he had to say about the future, not just for Saddam Hussein, but thousands of detainees being held throughout Iraq.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, more of those Enron tapes that appear to show how the company rigged the energy market. Washington Senator Maria Cantwell wants a billion dollars paid back to power customers. We're going to hear from her in just a moment.
HEMMER: Also, this case in northern California. Police say Scott Peterson's anger raised their suspicions. But it's Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, who was the one who got angry in court yesterday. He's calling for a mistrial in only week two. We're talking about what he had to say yesterday and how the judge reacted. More on all that.
O'BRIEN: He wanted the court cleared. The judge said...
HEMMER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... ah, it only happens on TV, Mr. Geragos -- good morning to you, Mr. Cafferty.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Coming up in the Cafferty File, John Kerry's wife tells an interviewer why at 65 years of age she thinks she's sexy.
And it's a universal problem -- dogs hate the mailman, everywhere -- here and overseas. We'll tell you what's being done to try and resolve the conflict in Germany.
O'BRIEN: Excellent.
HEMMER: The German shepherds. Thank you, Jack.
Let's start this hour in Iraq. As the new government gets ready to take charge at the end of this month, less than two weeks ago, in fact. The interim prime minister says it will take charge of all detainees, including Saddam Hussein. That's what he said yesterday. The Pentagon, however, does not see it the same way. Officials say there are no immediate plans to transfer custody of Saddam Hussein and thousands of other Iraqi detainees.
A bit earlier, I talked with Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, asking him what the U.S. has told him about handing over the former Iraq leader.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IYAD ALLAWI, IRAQ'S INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: We are trying our best to get custody of Saddam and the other criminals. We have so far some definite promises from the coalition that this would be the case. The negotiations are under way and are progressing well.
HEMMER: The Pentagon is saying that it will happen when more it is worked out.
What do you believe has to be worked for this to happen?
ALLAWI: Well, I guess (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Iraq out within the U.S. administration. We Iraqis want to get control of the criminals who committed the crimes against the Iraqi people. CPA, we are in constant negotiations and discussions on this issue.
HEMMER: On another front, sir, knowing that the heart of Baghdad has been hit so many times in the month of June alone -- 17 car bombs alone -- what is your strategy for defeating those who are trying to assassinate all new members of the Iraqi government?
ALLAWI: Well, the escalation of terrorist activities in Iraq have been expected. It will increase even more. We have laid a lot of contingency plans to face terrorist activities in Iraq and that will be implemented once sovereignty is transferred. We definitely are determined that we will win and we are going to win and we are going to prevail.
HEMMER: Some of the protesters in the streets of Baghdad yesterday shouting, "Where's the Democracy?," shouting "Down With America!"
I mentioned 17 car bombs in this month alone. You know the handover officially takes place in about two weeks, a little less than that.
How long do you believe this war will last?
ALLAWI: Well, I don't really know. But those who burned the flags yesterday were not representatives of the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people, by and large, the majority, the vast majority, really, are indebted to the United States and to Britain and to the coalition for ridding Iraq of Saddam and his evil regime. Definitely we and the government of Iraq respect what the coalition have done and we, as I said, expect terrorists would increase their activities against us. And we are ready to face it.
HEMMER: I didn't hear a time frame in your answer.
Does that mean it is impossible to say at this point?
ALLAWI: It is very difficult to put a time frame on events and things. We need to build our capabilities and forces, which we are doing. We need to build our security assets to confront the evil forces of terrorism. And this is what we are doing. And we hope that our plans will be put into action when sovereignty is transferred to the -- to our government and to the government of Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, with us earlier in Baghdad.
A spate of bombings in Baghdad yesterday killing at least 16 there. In this month of June, 17 car bombings in the country of Iraq -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Federal officials say a Somali man plotted to blow up a shopping mall in the Columbus, Ohio area. Nuradin Abdi has been indicted on two counts of providing material support to al Qaeda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN BROCK, FBI INVESTIGATOR: As the investigation uncovered, there was a threat to blow up a shopping mall. There can be a presumption, perhaps, that because the conspirators were in our area that they were looking at malls in our area. But we don't have that specificity and our investigation proceeded as -- without limiting it to any specific mall. (END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: A detention hearing for Abdi is to be held on Wednesday and the indictment does not charge Abdi with the bomb plot -- Bill.
HEMMER: There is new alleged evidence that Enron illegally made more than a billion dollars off Western utility rate payers. On audiotapes, you can hear two Enron traders apparently talking about how to drive up electricity prices during the energy crisis in California.
An excerpt here from that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the line's not congested, then I just look if I can congest it. Because then it's worth my -- because those are going to be your shoulder hours anyways. And that's when replacement is super cheap, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So like those hours, if you can congest it, that's a money maker no matter what, because you're not losing any money to move it down that line.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're actually just making money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: As Andy Serwer explained last hour, the shoulder hours are the peak hours.
And Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State calling for the FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to open a new investigation into Enron in light of this and other new evidence.
She's live in our D.C. bureau.
That was a long lead-in.
Good morning to you, Senator.
Thanks for your time today.
SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D), WASHINGTON: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: The evidence you gave yesterday, what do you contend that shows regarding Enron?
CANTWELL: Well, it shows specifically that ratepayers have been hurt and the federal regulators need to give them justice by coming in and revoking Enron's market-based authority. That way we can get out of these long-term contracts. But right now, ratepayers across the West are actually being sued by Enron and becoming the deep pockets for their bankruptcy.
HEMMER: You say your consumers have been hurt.
Specifically in the State of Washington, in what way?
CANTWELL: Well, we had 14,000 people in 2002 that actually had their power shut off because we had a 50 percent rate increase. People have lost jobs. People have had, in the county that I live in, a 50 percent rate increase on their energy prices. And if we have to live with these Enron contracts, we'll be paying that 50 percent rate increase for the next five years.
HEMMER: We...
CANTWELL: That's...
HEMMER: I'm sorry for the interruption there.
We played one excerpt there, Senator.
Here's another one from yesterday.
And then I want to come back and kind of explain it to our viewers. A little bit of complication here. Listen and we'll talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So as far as Washington is concerned, that 25 megawatts, they won't even see it, because it's just going to, I guess, to Arizona.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the Western will still you, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Western, you're telling me Western won't even see this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, technically Western will see it, but it's bouncing out -- just in and out of their system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, I see what you're talking about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A ricochet I guess is a good way of putting it. Although that seems to be a pretty...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bounce is good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bounce, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ricochet is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) border on the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). (END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Senator, take that phrase ricochet.
What does that mean?
CANTWELL: Well, it's a very disgusting scheme that was promulgated by Enron. And what it means is in California, the regulators had a cap on how much you could sell power for. So Enron took the power outside of the State of California -- sometimes to Oregon, sometimes to Arizona -- and then sold it back into California and thereby got to sell it at a higher rate. They made hundreds of thousands of dollars on these kinds of ricochet actions in just a few hours. And we showed that there are many days in which they did these kinds of ricochet actions.
HEMMER: You also talked yesterday in your presentation in Washington about sinister schemes -- market manipulation.
Is that what you were describing yesterday, taking energy out and reselling it?
CANTWELL: Well, the...
HEMMER: Which is essentially double dipping, I would assume.
CANTWELL: Well, you just played two tapes. The first one was the death star scheme. And what that did is it created congestion and then when an energy company actually provides energy to relieve congestion, you get bonus payments. So that first tape talked about how they created congestion and then got the benefits from those bonuses.
And then the ricochet, again, how they circumvented the caps that California had by taking power and then just selling it back.
In one instance, they actually took surplus power from California that they got for zero dollars and sold it back into California for $750 a megawatt, gouging Californians.
HEMMER: Quickly, Senator, on the screen a statement from Enron. It came out some time ago. "We have been and we're continuing to cooperate with all investigations."
A, is that your understanding at this point? And B, what can the federal government do if you allege this is going on and it's illegal and it's hurting your constituents back in the Northwest?
CANTWELL: Well, certainly everybody wants to know when some of the other Enron executives are going to jail for promulgating these schemes. But the key issue is about 10 states and the utilities in those states have contracts with Enron. The question is whether the federal government is going to continue to make rate payers in those states pay those contracts.
If contracts have been fraudulent, if they've been manipulated, the federal government should make sure that justice is delivered and that rate payers don't have to pay on those contracts.
HEMMER: Maria Cantwell is a senator from the State of Washington.
Thanks for talking this morning.
CANTWELL: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Courtroom fireworks in Scott Peterson's double murder trial yesterday. The defense angrily demanded a mistrial. That came after the jury heard from police officers who were called to the Peterson home the night that Laci disappeared.
Rusty Dornin has more for us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was testimony from Modesto police officers first on the scene at Scott Peterson's house the night his wife disappeared that prompted defense attorney Mark Geragos to ask for a mistrial. Two officers told the court they heard Scott Peterson swear and throw a flashlight after being interviewed by one of the officers.
Geragos claimed the behavior was never described in any report by either officer and prosecutors admitted to the judge they had only heard about the incident recently.
Judge Alfred Delucchi turned down the request for a mistrial, but warned prosecutors to turn over any new evidence immediately to the defense.
Both officers said they heard Scott Peterson stumble and not answer when questioned about what kind of fish he was angling for the day his wife disappeared. They testified there was no evidence of foul play, however, at the Peterson home, and described the house being so neat it looked like a model house. Investigators were suspicious of a wet mop in a bucket outside the house, some dirty towels on top of the washer, a duffel bag and a rumpled rug -- all items taken from the house, as defense attorney Mark Geragos pointed out, without a search warrant.
It was a tough moment for the family of Laci Peterson when prosecutors showed autopsy photos of the pants she was wearing when her body washed ashore in San Francisco Bay. A maternity clothing store manager identified the pants as those bought by Peterson.
More police investigators are expected to testify this week.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Redwood City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: And coming up in our next hour, we're going to have a live report from the courthouse where Scott Peterson's trial is set to resume a little bit later today -- Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: The 80th birthday sky dive for the former president George Bush got the attention of David Letterman last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": How can I break it to George that I'm voting for Kerry? Number four, I don't remember having so much jowl resistance last time.
Number three, if this doesn't impress Carmen Electra, I give up.
Number two, read my lips -- holy crap, I'm going to die.
And the number one thing going through former President Bush's mind at this moment -- it's a good thing I'm drunk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Read my lips, good stuff from David Letterman last night.
O'BRIEN: That was pretty funny.
HEMMER: He had a lot of fun with that yesterday, too. Eighty years old and still going strong.
O'BRIEN: I was impressed, but Jack was not impressed. But I was impressed by that yesterday. I thought it was pretty cool.
HEMMER: Well done.
O'BRIEN: Almost quarter after the hour. Time to take a look at some of the other stories making news today with Heidi Collins -- good morning again.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.
Good morning to you, everybody.
President Bush hosting Afghan leader Hamid Karzai at the White House today. The two leaders are expected to discuss security in Afghanistan and plans for long awaited elections. Karzai will address a joint meeting of Congress before holding talks with President Bush. The two will hold a news conference in the Rose Garden at 11:25 a.m. Eastern and CNN will, of course, have live coverage of that for you.
The U.S. general once in charge of Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison claims she is the scapegoat for the abuse of detainees. Brigadier General Janis Karpinski tells the BBC she blames the abuse on her counterpart at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Karpinski was suspended last month. U.S. Army investigators say she did not pay enough attention to the every day operations at Abu Ghraib. Karpinski maintains interrogation procedures were run by a military intelligence unit. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to learn today whether he will be indicted on bribery charges. The prime minister has been under investigation on suspicion he accepted bribes from an Israeli real estate developer. Sharon has denied the allegations. Speculation in the Israeli media is the case will be dropped against the prime minister.
Combat wear getting its first makeover since 1981. The redesigned uniforms feature a digitized camouflage pattern. The U.S. Army says the new uniform is a combination of tan, green and gray intended to blend into all types of terrain. The entire Army expected to get the new uniforms by 2007.
And an 11-year-old boy is back with his family today after spending a night out in Middle Canyon, Utah. Kyle Reid had separated from his siblings during a hike and got lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REID: I was scared that I wouldn't make it down and never reach mom and dad again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Kyle and his dog were spotted by mountain bikers yesterday. A county sheriff says the boy walked about five miles in rugged terrain barefoot. All that with only minor scratches. The puppy dog is OK, too, I guess.
HEMMER: Good ending.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: All right, thank you, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Jack's got the "Question of the Day" -- hello.
CAFFERTY: Why didn't he have any shoes?
O'BRIEN: He was just walking around with his family, maybe.
CAFFERTY: It said he was on a hike. You go hiking in the mountains without shoes?
O'BRIEN: Well, in a grassy knoll.
CAFFERTY: What kind of deal is that?
O'BRIEN: It was a very...
CAFFERTY: A grassy knoll? That's in Dallas.
O'BRIEN: No, a different grassy knoll.
HEMMER: Jack. CAFFERTY: Financial disclosure forms of U.S. senators show that many of their incomes go well beyond the senators' yearly salaries. For example, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama reports he owns an apartment complex valued at between $5 and $25 million. Then there's Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who says he earned $33,000 in royalties last year from patriotic and religious songs. Quite the vocalist, Senator Hatch.
So the question we're asking this morning is how much do you have in common with your U.S. senator?
Tomorrow's question will be do you wear shoes when you go hiking in the mountains?
HEMMER: Only in a grassy knoll. Nothing.
CAFFERTY: Well, that's what I thought you said.
Patricia in Madison, Alabama: "Absolutely nothing other than that we all belong to the human race. Most of them have no clue how hard it is for people to decide whether to get that pain in their chest checked out or pay the grocery bill or pay the insurance."
Marie in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma: "I have very little in common with my senator, Don Nickles. I have a residence in my state. He does not. He votes himself a raise. I lost my job to outsourcing and have little chance of getting it back."
Patricia in Lafayette Indiana: "I have more in common with the senators from Indiana than the others you mentioned. Of course, I'm from Indiana. My parents are farmers and people here tend to live a simple life."
And Bill in St. Pete Beach, Florida: "Why, we have a lot in common. He doesn't know my name and I don't know his either."
HEMMER: How many people do you think could actually name their two senators?
CAFFERTY: That'd be an interesting quiz.
HEMMER: Lautenberg and Corzine, right?
CAFFERTY: Right. And Schumer and Clinton in New York.
HEMMER: That's right. Correct.
CAFFERTY: And I couldn't name the two from Connecticut.
HEMMER: Ado -- oh, what was I going to say? Yes, sure you could -- Dodd and Lieberman.
CAFFERTY: Yes, OK.
O'BRIEN: That's true.
CAFFERTY: Dodd and Lieberman.
HEMMER: All right?
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.
O'BRIEN: Sure you could. Now you could.
CAFFERTY: I've got it.
HEMMER: Hey buddy, I'm here for you. I'm hanging out by the grassy knoll if you ever need me.
CAFFERTY: If you're hiking in the mountains...
HEMMER: Yes?
CAFFERTY: Why wouldn't you put shoes on the child? Inquiring minds want to know these things.
O'BRIEN: I don't know.
CAFFERTY: It just occurred to me listening to this pop...
COLLINS: He lost his shoes.
O'BRIEN: He lost his shoes.
CAFFERTY: How can you lose your shoes?
O'BRIEN: He's five, right?
COLLINS: He's 11.
O'BRIEN: Oh, he's 11.
HEMMER: We're on the phone to Utah to figure this bad boy out.
Thank you, Jack.
Practical medical news in a moment. For years, dentists say people don't floss enough. But it might be time to rethink that notion. Sanjay looks into that in a moment here when we continue.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, fewer eyes in the skies -- why some people are warning of a crisis in America's air traffic control towers.
HEMMER: Also, in his latest role, Governor Schwarzenegger plays an egocentric, polygamist prince. And his peers say he's great.
O'BRIEN: With a bad weave in his hair.
HEMMER: Yes. Political pop this morning, when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HEMMER: The Pentagon says it will not hand over Saddam Hussein to the Iraqi government when the transfer of power takes place in about two weeks. But as the former dictator remains under wraps, one of the men who knew his story best wants to tell that story now.
Saman Abdul Majid was Saddam Hussein's personal translator -- for about 15 years, in fact. He has a book about those years, about the Saddam, he says, that nobody knows.
Written in French, the title means "The Saddam Years," and he's trying to get it published here in the United States.
Majid was there when Dan Rather interviewed Saddam back in February of 2003.
When I talked to him recently, I asked him at that point if Saddam believed war was a certainty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMAN ABDUL MAJID, AUTHOR, "THE SADDAM YEARS": At that moment when it were, during the interview, he was almost sure that it will happen. But when Dan Rather told him that this will be the last time we see each other, he smiled and he seemed very confident that although the war is unavoidable, he will come out somehow safe and sound from it, because he reminded the American reporter, journalist, that in 1990, he had also made an interview with him and it seems Mr. Rather had told him the same thing.
So he told him, "In 1990 you said this is the last time, but here we are now in 2003. So I'm sure that after this crisis, we will meet again and we will laugh about it."
HEMMER: There is an obvious question here, sir. If he thought that war was imminent and that war was going to happen, why did he not take greater steps to avoid it?
MAJID: Well, you see at that time, at that stage of events, he had made all the concessions that he couldn't possibly make. And the last demand that came from the American administration as a condition for not attacking Iraq was that he should, with his family, leave the country and ask for exile somewhere else, in some other third country.
This, for Saddam Hussein, was the condition that he could never accept because he would give any sort of concession except leaving power and living in exile.
HEMMER: You have said that Saddam was known for generosity, courtesy and a sense of humor.
Did you also see him as a brutal dictator, or not?
MAJID: You see, the times I saw Saddam Hussein was when I was interpreting for him. That is to say, by definition, that I met him in -- between brackets -- diplomatic situations. I was either -- we were either with some foreign journalists or with a diplomat, an envoy from a foreign country. And in these occasions in which I saw him and I heard him talking, I saw a very nice man, very much a gentleman, very nice to everyone around him, patient. He never got angry. And, you know, even small things, like the man who served us tea or coffee, sometimes he would make a mistake or slip or that. He wouldn't look at him in an angry way.
He was, in a general way, a very compassionate man to be admired, in fact. And I (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
HEMMER: You have also said, though, that you felt like a prisoner in your own country.
What do you mean by that?
MAJID: Yes, well, you see, being an interpreter to the president meant that I really had not any freedom of moving around, I mean in the sense of leaving the country was out of the question, of course. And even I had to be careful in choosing my friends because I wouldn't want to be seen with someone who say -- from the opposition or someone who is not -- who was against the regime who had any activities.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: In addition, Majid says he noticed Saddam's advisers often lied to the Iraqi leader, especially before the war, he says. That's when military advisers told Saddam they were well equipped and exaggerated how ready they were to carry the fight against the U.S. and the coalition -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, there might be a looming crisis in the nation's air traffic control towers. We're going to take a look at that just ahead.
Plus, you brush your teeth after every meal, but maybe you don't floss as often as you should. Well, maybe you don't need to. We'll explain as AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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