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CNN Live At Daybreak
British Sailors Now in Iranian Custody; At Least 46 Killed During Fighting in Region of Russia Next to Chechnya
Aired June 22, 2004 - 06:00 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: British sailors now in Iranian custody. They may face prosecution this morning. It is Tuesday, June 22. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello. Here are the latest headlines for you now. Iran says it will prosecute eight armed British sailors and Marines for illegally entering Iranian waters. The crewmen were detained while in the main waterway that divides Iraq and Iran near the Persian Gulf. Britain says the sailors were delivering a boat to Iraq's new patrol service.
At least 46 people were killed during fierce fighting in the region of Russia next to Chechnya. Chechen fighters are among the rebels who tried to seize government buildings in that region.
In money news, gas prices have fallen for the fourth straight week. Yes, they have. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded now stands at $1.93. Of course, that's still 44 cents more than it cost a year ago.
In culture, hey, Chad, did you ever wonder what Beyonce smells like?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No.
COSTELLO: Well, Tommy Hilfiger did. He'll unveil a new fragrance this fall that's supposed to capture her spirit. It will be called True Star. A nice gift for Sally, don't you think?
MYERS: Yeah. Yeah.
COSTELLO: Yeah. In sports, 47-year-old Martina Navratilova was victorious in her first-round match at Wimbledon. The nine-time Wimbledon champion lost just one game en route to her win over 24- year-old Catalina Costano.
MYERS: Wow.
COSTELLO: Navratilova is the oldest woman to win at Wimbledon since 1922.
MYERS: Did you see how good the court looked there, too? It was all nice and green? Wait until it's over, there will be barely any grass left over. These guys are running on it all day. Anyway, good morning, everybody. Scattered rain showers and thunderstorms across parts of Texas, and some of the areas here had some severe weather. There is a wall cloud hanging down there, from our affiliate KAMR, Amarillo, Texas. Also, baseball-size hail pounding out the windows in many cars yesterday. I used to live in Oklahoma City, and I can tell you, those hail dents are hard to get out. The sun brings some of them out, but I'll tell you what, you have to go and it's just -- you might as well, when you get a car that's that beat up, you might as well just drive it around the way it is. Otherwise -- there you go. That's what the windows look like in some of those cars yesterday. Getting pounded. Well, you can think about baseballs coming out of the sky at 100 miles an hour. You certainly don't want to get hit by that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Iran at the very least talking tough this morning, saying it will prosecute eight British navy sailors for trying -- for straying, rather, into Iranian waters. That's first up on DAYBREAK. Sailors were detained while in a main waterway that divides Iraq and Iran. Iranian media says that British crew is now being interrogated. According to Britain, the boats were unarmed, but the crews were carrying their personal weapons, and they were delivering a boat to Iraq's new patrol service in Basra.
Turning now to the prisoner abuse scandal and the woman pictured in some of the disturbing photos from Abu Ghraib. A preliminary hearing for Private 1st Class Lynndie England has been rescheduled. An attorney says it's been pushed back to next month, partly because one member of her defense team has left the case. England faces numerous charges, including assault against Iraqi detainees.
Eight days to go before the U.S. hands over the reins to the new Iraqi government, but the violence isn't going away. On Monday, five U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, four were Marines, and the military is not saying this morning how they died -- but that's not all. To Washington now, for more from CNN's Skip Loescher. Good morning, Skip.
SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. The violence in Iraq not only continues but it becomes more intense, taking a toll on soldiers and civilians as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOESCHER (voice-over): Iraq's interim president met with U.S. Coalition Administrator Paul Bremer, the two discussing security concerns, with the deadline for turning over power to an Iraqi government looming next week.
Not unexpectedly, Iraqi insurgents have stepped up their attacks on both civilians and coalition forces. An American soldier was killed, and six others, including a contract worker, were wounded in a mortar attack in Baghdad. Four U.S. Marines were found dead in Ramadi. Seven Iraqis were also killed.
The coalition says it may have been the work of al Qaeda's top man in Iraq.
DAN SENOR, CPA SPOKESMAN: I don't know if they were certainly behind the killing of these four soldiers, but the spirit, the strategy, the sentiment is the same.
LOESCHER: Hundreds of angry Iraqis took to the streets of Fallujah, protesting a U.S. air strike on terrorist safehouses that killed more than a dozen people.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: We had very, very strong pre-strike intelligence suggesting that that house at that location in Fallujah was occupied by members of the Zarqawi terrorist network.
LOESCHER: At pretrial hearings for two MPs charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners, the judge ruled that defense lawyers can question the head of the U.S. Central Command, General John Abizaid, and the commander of ground forces, General Ricardo Sanchez. The soldiers claimed their tactics were approved by their superiors.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOESCHER: Still no definitive word on the fate of that South Korean civilian who was abducted last week. His abductors threatening to kill him. Despite that, South Korea says it is going ahead with plans to send another 3,000 troops to Iraq.
We're live in Washington, I'm Skip Loescher -- Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Skip Loescher, many thanks to you. Thank you.
CNN is taking the pulse of the world this week as the countdown to the handover of Iraq nears. Join us at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, to find out the European view. We're going to have a special report. And we'll get a check of the American pulse on Friday, same time, 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
Let's talk about Bill Clinton's new book, "My Life." It's been on sale since midnight, and buyers in New York City began lining up for hours. I should say for hours early outside of a Barnes & Noble to snap up a copy. A book seller in Washington says it's like "Harry Potter" mania, only for adults. Some buyers told us why they want to read this book so badly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM KEMPLAND, BOOK BUYER: Wanted to read it firsthand, get my own viewpoint on Bill Clinton's view of his own presidency, not really needing anybody to tell me one way or the other, as the media has done so far.
JOEL BHUIYN, BOOK BUYER: I think he knew what he wanted to do throughout his whole life. Just his ambition, he stuck with his goals, and I think he really felt the American dream, and he's the JFK of my generation.
ARNOLD BERNARD, BOOK BUYER: I want to know, you know, how he overcame it, how he was able to pull everybody back together. It's very interesting stuff. It's all real-life stuff. You know, it's not fantasy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: I'm telling you, in New York City, they're still lined up to buy the book because President Clinton will be in a Barnes & Noble in New York a little later this morning. Some of those people have been waiting in line since, oh, 12:30 yesterday afternoon. That would be Eastern time. We're going to take you live to New York City in just a bit on DAYBREAK. And by the way, President Clinton's first live, prime-time interview will be right here on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE," and the former president will take your phone calls. So don't miss it, that's Thursday night at 9:00 Eastern.
Now, to our e-mail question of the day. What difference if any will Bill Clinton's memoir have on his legacy? E-mail us at daybreak@cnn.com. Want to read a couple, Chad?
MYERS: Sure can.
COSTELLO: OK.
MYERS: I got one from Archangel1. Don't know who...
COSTELLO: That's pretty scary.
MYERS: Yeah. Interesting question. "The book will only affect his legacy if he really covers the key subjects, some of them such as Whitewater, Ron Brown, Vince Foster. Just let us have your opinion, Mr. President, and see what you have to say."
COSTELLO: OK. This is from Susan from Kentucky. She says: "Bill Clinton will always be remembered most for his adultery in the White House. I doubt any book could change that."
MYERS: "Clinton admitted to being a liar and a cheat before he wrote the book. Now, why would I want to stand in line to pay good money for it?" That's from Steve in North Carolina.
COSTELLO: We've been getting a lot of negative comments from North Carolina this morning.
MYERS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Steve.
COSTELLO: Keep the e-mails coming at daybreak@cnn.com.
Illinois Republican Senate hopeful Jack Ryan is facing pressure from his own party to drop out of the race. The calls came after some lurid details of his divorce were made public. Ryan was married to actress Jerry Lin Ryan. She alleged that he planned trips to several sex clubs and wanted her to perform sex acts in public there. Jack Ryan has denied the allegations and says the details should remain private for the sake of the couple's son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK RYAN ( R), ILLINOIS SENATE CANDIDATE: No one has ever said I haven't abided by every single law, or abided by my marriage vows, or abided by commitments I've made to people. And we're running a campaign that talks about the issues that address our country. The defense of our country, or our workers, or the pro-family issues, or in issues in parts of this state and the suburbs. And so, think of what just happened. We had someone paying a lot of money to break into a file that a mom and dad wanted to have sealed to protect their son, and now we're asking about what happened between a husband and a wife in the most intimate part of the relationship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Ryan says he has absolutely no plans, no plans to drop out of the Senate race. We'll keep you posted.
Here is some -- actually, we're going to take you live to New York now, to that Barnes & Noble that I was telling you about just a short time ago, where people have been waiting hours and hours in line to get into the Barnes & Noble to buy the Clinton book and also to see the president live and in person. So let's head out to New York City and WABC reporter -- I'm sorry, they didn't give me your name. Introduce yourself.
ANTHONY JOHNSON, WABC CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. I'm Anthony Johnson, standing out here on West 48th Street in New York City. And let me just show you the line of people out here, halfway down the block, since very early this morning. Many of these folks that have been here since 12:30 yesterday, getting in line, getting the best spots so they can get it, and get their books signed by the former president of the United States. And a friend of mine, Bill, is here buying Bill Clinton's book. Now, you already got the book.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Already got the book, last night at midnight, 12:01, actually. Uptown, they were giving them out, and thought maybe Bill would show up. Never did, though. But it's still great to have the first copy, or one of the first copies. Got to read it overnight, and I look forward to meeting him and having him sign it.
JOHNSON: And he is going to come in, he is going to sign the book. You won't take any pictures, but just the fact that you are here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just I'll hopefully shake his hand, and get a signature. It's more than enough. Going to be great.
JOHNSON: Well, a lot of folks, as you can see out here, also, ma'am. I didn't get your name, what's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elizabeth Collins (ph).
JOHNSON: Elizabeth, why are you out here so early for this? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm out here because I love Bill Clinton, and think that he -- he was one of the greatest presidents in my lifetime. And I'm excited about his book. And I look forward to reading it.
JOHNSON: Now, once again, Bill Clinton will be here this afternoon at 12:30. He is doing another event here in New York, up in Harlem. That one is taking place at 6:30 this evening. That event has been sold out since Saturday. They sold 2,000 tickets for that event. But just once again, look at the line of people, they've been out here, they're having their coffee, their water, their breakfast. They're really excited about this. Clinton mania is alive here in New York City.
Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Anthony, Anthony, can you give us -- give us an estimate of how many people you think there are in line right now?
JOHNSON: Well, to tell you the truth, I think there were at least 100 people out here when we got out here around 4:00 this morning. Many of them were sleeping. We didn't really want to wake them up, but as soon as they saw us coming out here, they started to wake up and realized that this was really a very big event. Now, we probably have 200 to 300. A lot of folks woke up at 4:00 this morning, the streets were busy, people were arriving, they just didn't realize that they had to way back there to get on line.
COSTELLO: And you thought that you would have a boring assignment this morning, Anthony.
JOHNSON: This is one of the better ones, believe me.
COSTELLO: Anthony Johnson, from WABC, thank you.
When we come back, a live report from Eagle, Colorado, where the issue of race came up in the latest proceedings in the Kobe Bryant rape case. Does it matter to the potential jury?
Then, does it pay to be a repeat passenger? A new report reveals the truth about some airlines discount plans. Oh, no. And a religious experience from one seasoned pilot. We'll hear about his trip to the very edge of space. There were a few problems, though.
And then, your thoughts and a few from all (UNINTELLIGIBLE) right and left-wingers on the new Clinton book out today. This is DAYBREAK for June 22.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: On the court docket this morning, late August. That's when basketball great Kobe Bryant may face his sexual assault trial. That's not to say the pretrial hearings are over. Oh, no. But there are some new developments to tell you about this morning, so let's head live to Eagle, Colorado, and Adrian Baschuk.
Good morning, Adrian.
ADRIAN BASCHUK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Next week will mark one year since Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault, and yet one year later we still do not yet have a trial date set, but we may be close. Monday -- in yesterday's hearing, as you said, Carol, the judge asked both sides when they will be ready to go to trial, and both replayed late August. The judge said that he will do his best to make that happen, but yet there is no guarantees.
Now, yesterday's hearing hit a snag when addressing the jury questionnaire. Questionnaires are normal, but here the defense wants to send out a 115-item questionnaire to the potential jury pool before they are summoned to court. Then, they petitioned the judge to include three controversial questions, asking people what their views are on interracial relationships and dating. Thing is, the prosecution rebutted saying that, wait a second, Kobe Bryant and his accuser were never in a relationship and they were never dating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG SILVERMAN, FORMER DENVER, COLORADO DEPUTY DA: As to whether or not they had a relationship, there was testimony that there was prolonged consensual kissing and hugging before the intercourse took place. Some would characterize that as a relationship. Apparently, the prosecution would not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASCHUK: Now, today the pivotal issue of the accuser's sexual past may finally get wrapped up. Hearings will continue behind closed doors. Witnesses will take the stand, and the judge may issue a ruling soon after on whether or not her past can be admitted into trial evidence -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I was just wondering if she appeared in any of these pretrial hearings most recently?
BASCHUK: She's only appeared twice over the course of this entire nine-month process. In the last three hearings, she has not yet appeared in court.
COSTELLO: All right, Adrian Baschuk, reporting live for us from Eagle, Colorado, thank you.
Your news, money, weather and sports at 6:17 Eastern. Here's what we're telling you this morning. We are just getting word that militants holding a South Korean hostage in Iraq -- you know the one that begged for his life -- well, apparently the captors have agreed to extend the deadline. The kidnappers had vowed to behead the man. Reuters is reporting the kidnappers are allowing more time for negotiations.
Suspected Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph has a change of venue hearing in Alabama today. Says he can't get a fair trial in Birmingham, where he's charged with murder in a bombing of a women's clinic.
In money news, Martha Stewart is fresh from meeting stockholders. She told them her conviction for lying about a stock sale should not affect her namesake company.
And in culture, Whitney Houston is heading to Shanghai next month for her first concern in China. She says China is her very favorite country.
And in sports, Mike Tyson has been granted a boxing license in New Jersey, but the governor says Tyson will not be allowed to fight in any state-owned or operated facilities. It's been six years since Tyson swore at New Jersey regulators during a licensing hearing -- Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad. Those are the latest headlines for you. Time for a little business buzz now. You may have a lot of frequent flyer miles, but can you cash them in? Oh, hope this is good news and not bad. Carrie Lee has more live from the Nasdaq marketsite.
I have like 150,000 frequent flyer miles. Please tell me I can...
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're not the only one, Carol. Well, I hate to tell you this, but according to this story in "The New York Times" today, it looks like it's actually getting more difficult to cash them in. There is a new survey from a company called E- Rewards, a consulting firm in Dallas, and the study finds that a lot of airlines are actually quietly cutting the number of seats available at the 25,000 redemption mile point, while quietly promoting their more expensive redemption plans. The study found that almost 44 percent of frequent travelers reported difficulty in booking an award seat more than once last year, and 26 percent described their recent experiences in booking award travel as much more difficult or virtually impossible, and that's up 5 percentage points from the same survey last year.
Now, for its part, Continental Airlines says its number of conventional award seats has stayed the same. Northwest says that more frequent flyers are occupying more seats than they were five years ago, but bottom line, Carol, unfortunately, according to this survey, it's actually getting harder to use those miles.
COSTELLO: Does the study cite all airlines, or just some?
LEE: Just some of them. Taking a look at Continental, Northwest, but this is kind of an aggregate -- an aggregate look. So I guess the best thing to do is, if you have a good experience with a particular airline, maybe stick with that one.
Kind of interesting because Priceline.com, just staying in the airline space, is upping its profit guidance for this quarter, mainly because of an increase in airline ticket sales. Maybe people are frustrated with the frequent flyers and going to Priceline.com. Who knows. But those are the two trends we're seeing.
COSTELLO: Maybe so. Carrie Lee, live from the Nasdaq marketsite. Thank you.
Coming up, another high-flying story. This one will make it into the history books -- to the edge of space and beyond. And our DAYBREAK photo of the day. What is it? Oh, I think that's an easy one, don't you? I can tell what it is. Of course, I know what it is.
MYERS: But you know what it is.
COSTELLO: I know. We'll be back with an answer after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: I was just reading our e-mails about Bill Clinton. We're going to get to them a little later. My favorite is, "I'm not buying the book now. I'm waiting to get it at like a flea market for a quarter."
Anyway, back to our photo of the day. Do you know what it is? Any guesses? Chad?
MYERS: No, no.
COSTELLO: You know what it is.
MYERS: Well, maybe contrails. Maybe smoke coming out of the back of airplanes?
COSTELLO: Maybe you're absolutely 100 percent correct. Maybe.
MYERS: Maybe the Thunderbirds.
COSTELLO: Yes, air fleet, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, flying in formation over Rhode Island. It's a beautiful picture, isn't it?
MYERS: It is a great shot.
COSTELLO: Speaking of flying, in the Mojave desert, a big success story. SpaceShipOne.
MYERS: Sixty-two miles up there.
COSTELLO: Can you believe it? They did it. The pilot said it was like looking down, he felt as if he were in heaven, because you could look down and actually see the Earth.
MYERS: Now, this project has cost them $20 million to do this so far, and they win $10 million if they do it again in two weeks.
COSTELLO: I bet they will. Bet you, bet you, bet you.
MYERS: Well, that seems like a negative return on equity here to me, but obviously they are going for the PR, they're going for... COSTELLO: You know how much...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: You know how much money they're going to make?
MYERS: Yeah.
COSTELLO: It's going to be incredible. Anyway, Miles O'Brien was out there in the desert watching the flight. Here is a report for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a high-flying triumph for the little guy. Airplane and now spaceship designer Burt Rutan and his small company, Scaled Composites, sent SpaceShipOne on a sub-orbital flight for little more than $20 million.
MIKE MELVILL, PILOT: You really do get the feeling that you've touched the face of God when you do something like this, believe me.
O'BRIEN: The history making flight was not trouble free. Shortly after Melvill lit the rocket motor fueled by a mixture of rubber and nitrous oxide -- laughing gas -- there was a no-laughing- matter problem with the critical flight controls. The small craft veered off its vertical course.
BURT RUTAN, FOUNDER, SCALED COMPOSITES: We have just a five-mile box to reenter in. The spaceship actually reentered 22 miles away from that box. It could have gone twice that far and still glided back to Mojave, though.
O'BRIEN: The problem lowered SpaceShipOne's apogee, but the craft squeaked into the record books, reaching 328,491 feet -- 400 feet beyond the official boundary of space, just enough for Melvill to earn his astronaut wings awarded by the FAA. The effort was bankrolled by billionaire Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, who hopes this is the beginning of a new space race for the rest of us.
(on camera): Rutan and his team will troubleshoot that control problem and then may very well announce an attempt at the $10 million X Prize, a private purse awarded to the first civilian team to fly to space in a three-person vehicle twice in as many weeks. There are at least a half-dozen other teams vying for that prize, but clearly SpaceShipOne is the horse to beat.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, Mojave, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Here's what's all new in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK. Memoirs of a president. Will Clinton's new book do anything to effect the outcome that is his legacy? What happens when the U.S. military is judge and jury? We'll find out as America's soldiers face trial for abuse allegations at Abu Ghraib. I'll speak with a man who knows the process very well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired June 22, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: British sailors now in Iranian custody. They may face prosecution this morning. It is Tuesday, June 22. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello. Here are the latest headlines for you now. Iran says it will prosecute eight armed British sailors and Marines for illegally entering Iranian waters. The crewmen were detained while in the main waterway that divides Iraq and Iran near the Persian Gulf. Britain says the sailors were delivering a boat to Iraq's new patrol service.
At least 46 people were killed during fierce fighting in the region of Russia next to Chechnya. Chechen fighters are among the rebels who tried to seize government buildings in that region.
In money news, gas prices have fallen for the fourth straight week. Yes, they have. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded now stands at $1.93. Of course, that's still 44 cents more than it cost a year ago.
In culture, hey, Chad, did you ever wonder what Beyonce smells like?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No.
COSTELLO: Well, Tommy Hilfiger did. He'll unveil a new fragrance this fall that's supposed to capture her spirit. It will be called True Star. A nice gift for Sally, don't you think?
MYERS: Yeah. Yeah.
COSTELLO: Yeah. In sports, 47-year-old Martina Navratilova was victorious in her first-round match at Wimbledon. The nine-time Wimbledon champion lost just one game en route to her win over 24- year-old Catalina Costano.
MYERS: Wow.
COSTELLO: Navratilova is the oldest woman to win at Wimbledon since 1922.
MYERS: Did you see how good the court looked there, too? It was all nice and green? Wait until it's over, there will be barely any grass left over. These guys are running on it all day. Anyway, good morning, everybody. Scattered rain showers and thunderstorms across parts of Texas, and some of the areas here had some severe weather. There is a wall cloud hanging down there, from our affiliate KAMR, Amarillo, Texas. Also, baseball-size hail pounding out the windows in many cars yesterday. I used to live in Oklahoma City, and I can tell you, those hail dents are hard to get out. The sun brings some of them out, but I'll tell you what, you have to go and it's just -- you might as well, when you get a car that's that beat up, you might as well just drive it around the way it is. Otherwise -- there you go. That's what the windows look like in some of those cars yesterday. Getting pounded. Well, you can think about baseballs coming out of the sky at 100 miles an hour. You certainly don't want to get hit by that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Iran at the very least talking tough this morning, saying it will prosecute eight British navy sailors for trying -- for straying, rather, into Iranian waters. That's first up on DAYBREAK. Sailors were detained while in a main waterway that divides Iraq and Iran. Iranian media says that British crew is now being interrogated. According to Britain, the boats were unarmed, but the crews were carrying their personal weapons, and they were delivering a boat to Iraq's new patrol service in Basra.
Turning now to the prisoner abuse scandal and the woman pictured in some of the disturbing photos from Abu Ghraib. A preliminary hearing for Private 1st Class Lynndie England has been rescheduled. An attorney says it's been pushed back to next month, partly because one member of her defense team has left the case. England faces numerous charges, including assault against Iraqi detainees.
Eight days to go before the U.S. hands over the reins to the new Iraqi government, but the violence isn't going away. On Monday, five U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, four were Marines, and the military is not saying this morning how they died -- but that's not all. To Washington now, for more from CNN's Skip Loescher. Good morning, Skip.
SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. The violence in Iraq not only continues but it becomes more intense, taking a toll on soldiers and civilians as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOESCHER (voice-over): Iraq's interim president met with U.S. Coalition Administrator Paul Bremer, the two discussing security concerns, with the deadline for turning over power to an Iraqi government looming next week.
Not unexpectedly, Iraqi insurgents have stepped up their attacks on both civilians and coalition forces. An American soldier was killed, and six others, including a contract worker, were wounded in a mortar attack in Baghdad. Four U.S. Marines were found dead in Ramadi. Seven Iraqis were also killed.
The coalition says it may have been the work of al Qaeda's top man in Iraq.
DAN SENOR, CPA SPOKESMAN: I don't know if they were certainly behind the killing of these four soldiers, but the spirit, the strategy, the sentiment is the same.
LOESCHER: Hundreds of angry Iraqis took to the streets of Fallujah, protesting a U.S. air strike on terrorist safehouses that killed more than a dozen people.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: We had very, very strong pre-strike intelligence suggesting that that house at that location in Fallujah was occupied by members of the Zarqawi terrorist network.
LOESCHER: At pretrial hearings for two MPs charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners, the judge ruled that defense lawyers can question the head of the U.S. Central Command, General John Abizaid, and the commander of ground forces, General Ricardo Sanchez. The soldiers claimed their tactics were approved by their superiors.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOESCHER: Still no definitive word on the fate of that South Korean civilian who was abducted last week. His abductors threatening to kill him. Despite that, South Korea says it is going ahead with plans to send another 3,000 troops to Iraq.
We're live in Washington, I'm Skip Loescher -- Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Skip Loescher, many thanks to you. Thank you.
CNN is taking the pulse of the world this week as the countdown to the handover of Iraq nears. Join us at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, to find out the European view. We're going to have a special report. And we'll get a check of the American pulse on Friday, same time, 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
Let's talk about Bill Clinton's new book, "My Life." It's been on sale since midnight, and buyers in New York City began lining up for hours. I should say for hours early outside of a Barnes & Noble to snap up a copy. A book seller in Washington says it's like "Harry Potter" mania, only for adults. Some buyers told us why they want to read this book so badly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM KEMPLAND, BOOK BUYER: Wanted to read it firsthand, get my own viewpoint on Bill Clinton's view of his own presidency, not really needing anybody to tell me one way or the other, as the media has done so far.
JOEL BHUIYN, BOOK BUYER: I think he knew what he wanted to do throughout his whole life. Just his ambition, he stuck with his goals, and I think he really felt the American dream, and he's the JFK of my generation.
ARNOLD BERNARD, BOOK BUYER: I want to know, you know, how he overcame it, how he was able to pull everybody back together. It's very interesting stuff. It's all real-life stuff. You know, it's not fantasy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: I'm telling you, in New York City, they're still lined up to buy the book because President Clinton will be in a Barnes & Noble in New York a little later this morning. Some of those people have been waiting in line since, oh, 12:30 yesterday afternoon. That would be Eastern time. We're going to take you live to New York City in just a bit on DAYBREAK. And by the way, President Clinton's first live, prime-time interview will be right here on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE," and the former president will take your phone calls. So don't miss it, that's Thursday night at 9:00 Eastern.
Now, to our e-mail question of the day. What difference if any will Bill Clinton's memoir have on his legacy? E-mail us at daybreak@cnn.com. Want to read a couple, Chad?
MYERS: Sure can.
COSTELLO: OK.
MYERS: I got one from Archangel1. Don't know who...
COSTELLO: That's pretty scary.
MYERS: Yeah. Interesting question. "The book will only affect his legacy if he really covers the key subjects, some of them such as Whitewater, Ron Brown, Vince Foster. Just let us have your opinion, Mr. President, and see what you have to say."
COSTELLO: OK. This is from Susan from Kentucky. She says: "Bill Clinton will always be remembered most for his adultery in the White House. I doubt any book could change that."
MYERS: "Clinton admitted to being a liar and a cheat before he wrote the book. Now, why would I want to stand in line to pay good money for it?" That's from Steve in North Carolina.
COSTELLO: We've been getting a lot of negative comments from North Carolina this morning.
MYERS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Steve.
COSTELLO: Keep the e-mails coming at daybreak@cnn.com.
Illinois Republican Senate hopeful Jack Ryan is facing pressure from his own party to drop out of the race. The calls came after some lurid details of his divorce were made public. Ryan was married to actress Jerry Lin Ryan. She alleged that he planned trips to several sex clubs and wanted her to perform sex acts in public there. Jack Ryan has denied the allegations and says the details should remain private for the sake of the couple's son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK RYAN ( R), ILLINOIS SENATE CANDIDATE: No one has ever said I haven't abided by every single law, or abided by my marriage vows, or abided by commitments I've made to people. And we're running a campaign that talks about the issues that address our country. The defense of our country, or our workers, or the pro-family issues, or in issues in parts of this state and the suburbs. And so, think of what just happened. We had someone paying a lot of money to break into a file that a mom and dad wanted to have sealed to protect their son, and now we're asking about what happened between a husband and a wife in the most intimate part of the relationship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Ryan says he has absolutely no plans, no plans to drop out of the Senate race. We'll keep you posted.
Here is some -- actually, we're going to take you live to New York now, to that Barnes & Noble that I was telling you about just a short time ago, where people have been waiting hours and hours in line to get into the Barnes & Noble to buy the Clinton book and also to see the president live and in person. So let's head out to New York City and WABC reporter -- I'm sorry, they didn't give me your name. Introduce yourself.
ANTHONY JOHNSON, WABC CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. I'm Anthony Johnson, standing out here on West 48th Street in New York City. And let me just show you the line of people out here, halfway down the block, since very early this morning. Many of these folks that have been here since 12:30 yesterday, getting in line, getting the best spots so they can get it, and get their books signed by the former president of the United States. And a friend of mine, Bill, is here buying Bill Clinton's book. Now, you already got the book.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Already got the book, last night at midnight, 12:01, actually. Uptown, they were giving them out, and thought maybe Bill would show up. Never did, though. But it's still great to have the first copy, or one of the first copies. Got to read it overnight, and I look forward to meeting him and having him sign it.
JOHNSON: And he is going to come in, he is going to sign the book. You won't take any pictures, but just the fact that you are here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just I'll hopefully shake his hand, and get a signature. It's more than enough. Going to be great.
JOHNSON: Well, a lot of folks, as you can see out here, also, ma'am. I didn't get your name, what's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elizabeth Collins (ph).
JOHNSON: Elizabeth, why are you out here so early for this? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm out here because I love Bill Clinton, and think that he -- he was one of the greatest presidents in my lifetime. And I'm excited about his book. And I look forward to reading it.
JOHNSON: Now, once again, Bill Clinton will be here this afternoon at 12:30. He is doing another event here in New York, up in Harlem. That one is taking place at 6:30 this evening. That event has been sold out since Saturday. They sold 2,000 tickets for that event. But just once again, look at the line of people, they've been out here, they're having their coffee, their water, their breakfast. They're really excited about this. Clinton mania is alive here in New York City.
Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Anthony, Anthony, can you give us -- give us an estimate of how many people you think there are in line right now?
JOHNSON: Well, to tell you the truth, I think there were at least 100 people out here when we got out here around 4:00 this morning. Many of them were sleeping. We didn't really want to wake them up, but as soon as they saw us coming out here, they started to wake up and realized that this was really a very big event. Now, we probably have 200 to 300. A lot of folks woke up at 4:00 this morning, the streets were busy, people were arriving, they just didn't realize that they had to way back there to get on line.
COSTELLO: And you thought that you would have a boring assignment this morning, Anthony.
JOHNSON: This is one of the better ones, believe me.
COSTELLO: Anthony Johnson, from WABC, thank you.
When we come back, a live report from Eagle, Colorado, where the issue of race came up in the latest proceedings in the Kobe Bryant rape case. Does it matter to the potential jury?
Then, does it pay to be a repeat passenger? A new report reveals the truth about some airlines discount plans. Oh, no. And a religious experience from one seasoned pilot. We'll hear about his trip to the very edge of space. There were a few problems, though.
And then, your thoughts and a few from all (UNINTELLIGIBLE) right and left-wingers on the new Clinton book out today. This is DAYBREAK for June 22.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: On the court docket this morning, late August. That's when basketball great Kobe Bryant may face his sexual assault trial. That's not to say the pretrial hearings are over. Oh, no. But there are some new developments to tell you about this morning, so let's head live to Eagle, Colorado, and Adrian Baschuk.
Good morning, Adrian.
ADRIAN BASCHUK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Next week will mark one year since Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault, and yet one year later we still do not yet have a trial date set, but we may be close. Monday -- in yesterday's hearing, as you said, Carol, the judge asked both sides when they will be ready to go to trial, and both replayed late August. The judge said that he will do his best to make that happen, but yet there is no guarantees.
Now, yesterday's hearing hit a snag when addressing the jury questionnaire. Questionnaires are normal, but here the defense wants to send out a 115-item questionnaire to the potential jury pool before they are summoned to court. Then, they petitioned the judge to include three controversial questions, asking people what their views are on interracial relationships and dating. Thing is, the prosecution rebutted saying that, wait a second, Kobe Bryant and his accuser were never in a relationship and they were never dating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG SILVERMAN, FORMER DENVER, COLORADO DEPUTY DA: As to whether or not they had a relationship, there was testimony that there was prolonged consensual kissing and hugging before the intercourse took place. Some would characterize that as a relationship. Apparently, the prosecution would not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASCHUK: Now, today the pivotal issue of the accuser's sexual past may finally get wrapped up. Hearings will continue behind closed doors. Witnesses will take the stand, and the judge may issue a ruling soon after on whether or not her past can be admitted into trial evidence -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I was just wondering if she appeared in any of these pretrial hearings most recently?
BASCHUK: She's only appeared twice over the course of this entire nine-month process. In the last three hearings, she has not yet appeared in court.
COSTELLO: All right, Adrian Baschuk, reporting live for us from Eagle, Colorado, thank you.
Your news, money, weather and sports at 6:17 Eastern. Here's what we're telling you this morning. We are just getting word that militants holding a South Korean hostage in Iraq -- you know the one that begged for his life -- well, apparently the captors have agreed to extend the deadline. The kidnappers had vowed to behead the man. Reuters is reporting the kidnappers are allowing more time for negotiations.
Suspected Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph has a change of venue hearing in Alabama today. Says he can't get a fair trial in Birmingham, where he's charged with murder in a bombing of a women's clinic.
In money news, Martha Stewart is fresh from meeting stockholders. She told them her conviction for lying about a stock sale should not affect her namesake company.
And in culture, Whitney Houston is heading to Shanghai next month for her first concern in China. She says China is her very favorite country.
And in sports, Mike Tyson has been granted a boxing license in New Jersey, but the governor says Tyson will not be allowed to fight in any state-owned or operated facilities. It's been six years since Tyson swore at New Jersey regulators during a licensing hearing -- Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad. Those are the latest headlines for you. Time for a little business buzz now. You may have a lot of frequent flyer miles, but can you cash them in? Oh, hope this is good news and not bad. Carrie Lee has more live from the Nasdaq marketsite.
I have like 150,000 frequent flyer miles. Please tell me I can...
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're not the only one, Carol. Well, I hate to tell you this, but according to this story in "The New York Times" today, it looks like it's actually getting more difficult to cash them in. There is a new survey from a company called E- Rewards, a consulting firm in Dallas, and the study finds that a lot of airlines are actually quietly cutting the number of seats available at the 25,000 redemption mile point, while quietly promoting their more expensive redemption plans. The study found that almost 44 percent of frequent travelers reported difficulty in booking an award seat more than once last year, and 26 percent described their recent experiences in booking award travel as much more difficult or virtually impossible, and that's up 5 percentage points from the same survey last year.
Now, for its part, Continental Airlines says its number of conventional award seats has stayed the same. Northwest says that more frequent flyers are occupying more seats than they were five years ago, but bottom line, Carol, unfortunately, according to this survey, it's actually getting harder to use those miles.
COSTELLO: Does the study cite all airlines, or just some?
LEE: Just some of them. Taking a look at Continental, Northwest, but this is kind of an aggregate -- an aggregate look. So I guess the best thing to do is, if you have a good experience with a particular airline, maybe stick with that one.
Kind of interesting because Priceline.com, just staying in the airline space, is upping its profit guidance for this quarter, mainly because of an increase in airline ticket sales. Maybe people are frustrated with the frequent flyers and going to Priceline.com. Who knows. But those are the two trends we're seeing.
COSTELLO: Maybe so. Carrie Lee, live from the Nasdaq marketsite. Thank you.
Coming up, another high-flying story. This one will make it into the history books -- to the edge of space and beyond. And our DAYBREAK photo of the day. What is it? Oh, I think that's an easy one, don't you? I can tell what it is. Of course, I know what it is.
MYERS: But you know what it is.
COSTELLO: I know. We'll be back with an answer after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: I was just reading our e-mails about Bill Clinton. We're going to get to them a little later. My favorite is, "I'm not buying the book now. I'm waiting to get it at like a flea market for a quarter."
Anyway, back to our photo of the day. Do you know what it is? Any guesses? Chad?
MYERS: No, no.
COSTELLO: You know what it is.
MYERS: Well, maybe contrails. Maybe smoke coming out of the back of airplanes?
COSTELLO: Maybe you're absolutely 100 percent correct. Maybe.
MYERS: Maybe the Thunderbirds.
COSTELLO: Yes, air fleet, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, flying in formation over Rhode Island. It's a beautiful picture, isn't it?
MYERS: It is a great shot.
COSTELLO: Speaking of flying, in the Mojave desert, a big success story. SpaceShipOne.
MYERS: Sixty-two miles up there.
COSTELLO: Can you believe it? They did it. The pilot said it was like looking down, he felt as if he were in heaven, because you could look down and actually see the Earth.
MYERS: Now, this project has cost them $20 million to do this so far, and they win $10 million if they do it again in two weeks.
COSTELLO: I bet they will. Bet you, bet you, bet you.
MYERS: Well, that seems like a negative return on equity here to me, but obviously they are going for the PR, they're going for... COSTELLO: You know how much...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: You know how much money they're going to make?
MYERS: Yeah.
COSTELLO: It's going to be incredible. Anyway, Miles O'Brien was out there in the desert watching the flight. Here is a report for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a high-flying triumph for the little guy. Airplane and now spaceship designer Burt Rutan and his small company, Scaled Composites, sent SpaceShipOne on a sub-orbital flight for little more than $20 million.
MIKE MELVILL, PILOT: You really do get the feeling that you've touched the face of God when you do something like this, believe me.
O'BRIEN: The history making flight was not trouble free. Shortly after Melvill lit the rocket motor fueled by a mixture of rubber and nitrous oxide -- laughing gas -- there was a no-laughing- matter problem with the critical flight controls. The small craft veered off its vertical course.
BURT RUTAN, FOUNDER, SCALED COMPOSITES: We have just a five-mile box to reenter in. The spaceship actually reentered 22 miles away from that box. It could have gone twice that far and still glided back to Mojave, though.
O'BRIEN: The problem lowered SpaceShipOne's apogee, but the craft squeaked into the record books, reaching 328,491 feet -- 400 feet beyond the official boundary of space, just enough for Melvill to earn his astronaut wings awarded by the FAA. The effort was bankrolled by billionaire Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, who hopes this is the beginning of a new space race for the rest of us.
(on camera): Rutan and his team will troubleshoot that control problem and then may very well announce an attempt at the $10 million X Prize, a private purse awarded to the first civilian team to fly to space in a three-person vehicle twice in as many weeks. There are at least a half-dozen other teams vying for that prize, but clearly SpaceShipOne is the horse to beat.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, Mojave, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Here's what's all new in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK. Memoirs of a president. Will Clinton's new book do anything to effect the outcome that is his legacy? What happens when the U.S. military is judge and jury? We'll find out as America's soldiers face trial for abuse allegations at Abu Ghraib. I'll speak with a man who knows the process very well.
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