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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iraq: The Next Chapter; Detainee Decisions; The New Iraq; Chronic Hiccups
Aired June 29, 2004 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: party lost outright control of Parliament. Prime Minister Paul Martin will head the country's first minority government in 25 years.
In money, it's sue and countersue in the e-tail business. Amazon.com has asked a court to dissolve its partnership with Toys 'R' Us, saying it consistently violated its contract. The suit is in response to a lawsuit filed by Toys 'R' Us back in May.
In culture, Beverly Hills is known for its theaters, fancy shops, hotels. Well now it's poised to get a cultural center. "The New York Times" reports the Annenberg Foundation is providing a $15 million grant to build the center.
In sports, more legal trouble for former NFL receiver Andre Rison. For the fourth time, a Georgia judge has issued a warrant for his arrest for failing to pay child support. Rison reportedly owes nearly $185,000 in payments and legal fees.
Well there is no fee for today's forecast, and for that we go to Chad Myers.
Good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Betty.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: All right, thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
NGUYEN: This is the day after the handover surprise. It's Iraq's first full day as a sovereign nation after 15 months of occupation, and already there is violence.
We want to talk about that now with senior international editor David Clinch who joins us.
And we understand this violence really targeted Americans this time.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well, yes. Now there's nothing unpredictable about this. The United States military on the ground in Baghdad making it clear that just because the handover happened, the insurgency will not end, the violent attacks on U.S. troops will not end.
And that is apparently the case video this morning from Baghdad showing an IED attack on a U.S. convoy in Baghdad, something we've been seeing, obviously, many times over the past few weeks. And reports on the ground of U.S. soldiers there saying that a number of Marines have been killed. But as yet, that has not been confirmed. So following that in Iraq today.
In fact, I think we have Brent Sadler now available in Baghdad to give us the latest from there.
Brent, are you with us, good morning?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, go on, David, go ahead.
CLINCH: Sorry, just checking with you whether you had the latest information. We've got this video of an attack on a U.S. convoy in Baghdad today. Wondering whether you have heard any specific information on that this morning.
SADLER: David, yes, details still pretty thin at this stage. We do know that there was a bomb attack, a roadside bomb detonated about 24 hours, in fact, after that historic handover of sovereignty to an interim government yesterday. It was targeted against a convoy of a military convoy of U.S. troops.
We don't know what unit they are from, but certainly a soldier on the scene told journalists that there have been casualties. We don't know about deaths or injuries, but certainly casualties among the convoy that was moving equipment from one part of the city to another. And really this was the first attack against U.S. forces since that crucial handover of sovereignty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SADLER (voice-over): The legal handover of power was completed in a flash. Iraqis unaware of the event until it was over. But within hours they saw on television the swearing in of their newly empowered interim government setting its own agenda, the Iraqi flag flying with new purpose. And on the streets of Baghdad, caution and optimism.
"I ask God to give them success," says pensioner Hamid Khudeir (ph), "that is what I want.
"Of course I'm happy," say Ali Jawad (ph), a businessman, "we want peace and normality, God willing, Iraq has a bright future."
But a future that continues to be heavily influenced by the presence of coalition forces. Many Iraqis believe that an occupation persists, cloaked by the handover.
"I'm optimistic," explains pensioner Ali Hussein Ali (ph), "but we must have law and order and speed up an end to the occupation." In central Baghdad, U.S. soldiers began removing stretches of barbed wire and dismantling large concrete barricades, reopening a main road and public square where Saddam Hussein's statue once stood. While in Basra, southern Iraq, British troops re-enacted a symbolic handover of power with their Iraqi counterparts, bonding as partners in the struggle to build a new Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And that struggle, of course, Betty, is still going on. Struggle in the form of hostage taking, bomb attacks against convoys. We saw one against the U.S. troops this morning here in Baghdad and attacks against police stations.
One piece of good news, however, three Turkish hostages who were under threat of beheading by Islamic militants, they, according to Turkish officials, have now been released in response to appeals from the company who these people work for, the Turks work for, that that company would no longer do business in Iraq. And also the kidnappers saying that they wanted to show a positive response to their Muslim brothers in Turkey who had put on big demonstrations, they said, against the appearance of President George W. Bush at a NATO Summit in Istanbul -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Brent, those three Turkish hostages have been released, but what about that Pakistani hostage and the U.S. Marine?
SADLER: Yes, indeed. We have news came out some hours ago that Al Jazeera, the Arabic television network out there, had reported that a U.S. soldier has been killed. Matt Maupin, a 20-year-old from Ohio, had been executed. That's not been confirmed.
The kidnappers said that they put a bullet in his head and he was seen on video, not being shown on television by Jazeera, a body slumping into a ditch. But certainly no confirmation of that alleged execution of the U.S. soldier from coalition authority officials here, military officials in Baghdad.
As far as the other U.S. Marine is concerned, he's from West Jordan, Utah, of Lebanese origin. Still, he is abducted, although not officially described as a hostage by U.S. military officials. But again, he faces execution by beheading by those who hold him. Plus a Pakistani also still remains under a death threat -- Betty.
NGUYEN: CNN's Brent Sadler in Baghdad. All right, thank you, Brent.
Now we want to go back to senior international editor David Clinch to talk about this violence.
CLINCH: Yes.
NGUYEN: Yesterday NATO really wanted to help Afghanistan, plus Iraq, but they'll get to that a little bit later with specifics, but they are specifically helping Afghanistan with troops.
CLINCH: Well, yes, beyond Iraq there are a number of other stories that we're covering.
And in Afghanistan, as you say, the president or the interim president of Afghanistan at NATO today thanking them for their offer of more troops to go to Afghanistan, but saying it's not good enough that they are promising to send them in a few months. In his words, they need them today and not tomorrow.
Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, making the same point that the prime minister in Iraq is making that the potential for democracy is there, the potential for success in this huge engineering, political engineering, social engineering experiment, if you want to put it that way, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, the potential is there. But it can only be followed through with a massive follow through in terms of troops and money by the Western world.
NGUYEN: And they need this now because of all the violence surrounding the elections.
CLINCH: Right, you can't hold the Afghan elections in September, in his view, unless there is security now to help arrange them. So we're following that in Afghanistan.
Also, a little bit below the radar following both Colin Powell and Kofi Annan going to Sudan in the next couple of days. Reports there of a potential genocide going on. Again, beneath the radar, while people are concentrating on Iraq. We're sending our reporter there to make sure that we have, as Colin Powell and Kofi Annan are doing, our own eyewitness of whether there really is a genocide going on there in the Darfur region of Sudan. So following that there today as well.
NGUYEN: Yes, Powell calls that a catastrophe area.
CLINCH: Yes, and we don't know. He is saying he wants to go and see it for himself, so we'll go too.
And one other quick point, this Supreme Court decision yesterday on detainees, specifically Guantanamo. We have reports now from Australia and Britain, families threatening to sue the U.S. following that decision at the Supreme Court yesterday.
NGUYEN: And those are a lot of lawsuits, up to 600. All right.
CLINCH: Yes.
NGUYEN: CNN's senior international editor David Clinch, thank you.
CLINCH: All right.
NGUYEN: Here are some stories making headlines 'Across America' this Tuesday.
One railroad worker is dead and a massive cleanup is ongoing following a train collision in Texas. At least 40 train cars were tossed from the tracks in this accident. That crash sent a toxic cloud of chlorine gas and ammonium nitrate into the air. Officials are investigating whether the gas cloud is responsible for the deaths of two women who were found about a mile away from the crash site.
A mistrial has been declared in the case of three teens charged with raping a 16-year-old girl. One of the boys also videotaped the entire episode. The jury, though, deadlocked on all 24 accounts. The three teens had been accused of raping the intoxicated girl after she passed out. Prosecutors have not decided if they will retry this case.
The lead detective in the Laci Peterson case spent another day on the witness stand. Defense attorneys questioned Detective Allen Brocchini about other possible suspects in the case. Included was a tip given to police that Laci Peterson was being held in a storage bin outside Modesto, California. Brocchini is expected to be back on the stand today.
And a mixed ruling from the Supreme Court on the issue of enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Bay, which we just spoke of. Justices upheld the president's authority to detain prisoners for an indefinite period, but they also ruled that some detainees have a legal right to appeal their incarceration.
CNN's Bob Franken sorts it all out for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): The rulings rejected the administration's claim that the president had near absolute power in times of war over declared enemy combatants, the courts, little or no power. The justices by a 6-3 margin ruled in favor of Yaser Hamdi, a U.S. citizen but he was captured by U.S. allies in Afghanistan. And even with the president's sweeping wartime powers, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor insisted, "an unchecked system of detention carries the potential to become a means for oppression and abuse of others." And therefore, Hamdi has the right to challenge in court why he's being held.
FRANK DUNHAM, YASER HAMDI'S ATTORNEY: The king can't lock you up and forget about you, throw away the key. He's got bring you forward before a neutral magistrate.
FRANKEN: At the same time, the court upheld the president's power to detain terrorist suspects -- possibly indefinitely, possibly without charges.
DAVID RIVKIN, MILITARY LAW EXPERT: The plurality opinion of a Supreme Court has upheld the basic viability of a legal model that the administration has been using, namely the model of detaining, capturing enemy combatants.
FRANKEN: But the Justices ruled the courts even had jurisdiction beyond the boarders -- that the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base had a right to challenge their imprisonments, even though Guantanamo is technically part of Cuba.
Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice John Paul Stevens pointed out, "the United States exercises complete jurisdiction and control over the Guantanamo Base."
THOMAS GOLDSTEIN, SUPREME COURT LEGAL ANALYST: There's clear repudiation of the government's absolute position that the courts have no role.
FRANKEN: The Court did not specify what form the Guantanamo detainee hearings would take. The justices effectively made no determination in the Jose Padilla matter, saying his lawyers had filed in the wrong court. Padilla is also locked away, designated as an enemy combatant. He, too, is a U.S. citizen. He'd been arrested on U.S. soil at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, accused of planning a dirty bomb attack.
His attorney says she will refile. In these cases, those involved will know that whatever they do they will have to answer to the courts.
Bob Franken, CNN, the Supreme Court.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well a surprise handover of power in Iraq, so what happens next? We'll get some insight into the situation in Iraq and the challenges that lie ahead.
This is DAYBREAK for Tuesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Your news, money, weather and sports. The time right now is 5:45 Eastern. And here's what's all new this morning.
The NATO Summit in Turkey is winding down. President Bush is set to deliver a speech to world leaders there less than 90 minutes from now and CNN will, of course, bring that to you live when it happens.
A U.S. Marine convoy is hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Want to give you some pictures just in this morning from the scene of that blast. Check it out. A Marine there says fellow Marines were killed, but we have not gotten military confirmation.
In money, Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, has lowered its June sales forecast. Wal-Mart blames weaker-than-expected Father's Day sales and unusually cool weather. The weather supposedly curbed demand for air conditioners and swimming pool supplies.
In culture, The Donald has a new venture. Real estate tycoon and star of the reality show "The Apprentice" is relaunching "Trump World." It's a slick vanity magazine for those who aspire to live a lifestyle of the rich and famous, like Donald Trump.
In sports, 14-year-old golf sensation Michelle Wie took a beating from another team putter. Taiwanese Ya-Ni Tseng won big at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia.
So is it a good day for golf? Let's check in with Chad Myers. Good morning.
MYERS: Looks like pretty good weather there, yes, yesterday. Should be a decent day again today. A couple of showers, though, popping up.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Chad. Looks like a good day in many parts.
Now that the transfer of power is complete and Iraq is a sovereign nation, what's next? Many political and security issues still need to be resolved.
And joining us from Baghdad to talk about it is Pamela Falk, an International Law Scholar. In fact, I understand she is from New York. And now from Baghdad, Robert Alt, who is a Legal and International Affairs Scholar.
We want to thank both of you for getting up so early to be with us.
Let's talk with you first, Robert, since we have you up and running. There's a lot of pomp and circumstance over the handover, yet a lot of the crucial elements in this government still have to be put in place. Was this handover premature?
ROBERT ALT, LEGAL & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS SCHOLAR, ASHLAND UNIVERSITY: Well I think when you look at that question, the first thing you have to understand is that the timing was largely dictated by the requests of the Iraqis themselves. They, for a long time, had --actually many had been pushing to move the date back. They wanted to get control of their own government as soon as possible.
And I think if you look at the -- many of the political structures, which is what we're really talking about, we're talking less about the security structures, more about the political structures, many of them had actually been transferred beginning over two months ago with the last of those particular institutions transferred a full week ago. So in fact the transition -- the transition was not as hasty, I think, as some are suggesting.
NGUYEN: Pamela, was security a huge issue, infrastructure an issue? Was this premature in your view?
PAMELA FALK, INTERNATIONAL LAW SCHOLAR, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: No, the handover is well timed, and the idea of moving it up avoided any issue of security questions. Obviously it was a big bull's eye to have all of the Iraqi government, U.S. government officials and even the press all in one place at one time. But the handover itself is good news. That's the end of an occupation. And it takes off the American face on the U.S. occupation or the coalition occupation of Iraq. The other side of it is though that the multinational force now kicks in and becomes this U.N. stamp of approval force that is -- that stays in Iraq and the mandate doesn't end for 18 months. That means American troops are still there. And in some ways that is the biggest problem for the United States in Iraq that there may be not enough troops for the violence that may continue.
NGUYEN: Now despite how this looks on paper, realistically U.S. troops are their -- is their role really going to change that much -- Pamela?
FALK: No, their role will not change really at all because the way the U.N. resolution worked was that U.S. commanders still command U.S. troops and Iraqi commanders -- Iraq command Iraqi troops and every government commands its own.
The biggest problem that the French and the Russians and the -- and the Chinese pointed out when the U.N. -- with the U.N. resolution was that there was not a discussion or resolution about the fact that the -- if there is a conflict between the new Iraqi government and American commanders, particularly on offensive military maneuvers, entering Fallujah or something along those lines, or ethnic conflicts between Sunnis and Shia in Iraq, that will not be -- that has not been resolved. And so it may end up within short order with a showdown between American forces and Iraqi forces. That's one of the biggest problems.
There is a second one that was a failed resolution at the U.N. a week ago and that was that the U.S. troops would be given immunity. That has lapsed and that means that U.S. troops in any situation, such as civilian casualties or prisoner abuse, such as there have been in Abu Ghraib, there could be war crimes charges in the international criminal court against U.S. troops.
And finally, the detainees, there is no resolution about when detainees will be turned over to Iraq.
NGUYEN: Right, there's a lot of issues here -- Pamela.
FALK: Obviously Saddam Hussein will be turned over to Iraq.
NGUYEN: We want to go back to Robert to get his opinion because he is -- he is in Baghdad, been dealing with these troops, speaking with them. Obviously they are excited about the handover, but realistically they know they are going to have to stay for some time. But how long do they think is a safe amount of time in which they can leave?
ALT: Well I think -- I think actually I have spent quite a bit of time with the troops. And I think most of them realize that this is not a short-term endeavor, that the U.S. is going to have a significant presence in Iraq for a long time yet to come. Obviously there's a need to assure stability and security, at the very least through the elections in 2005, and we can anticipate that there's probably going to be a greater need for U.S. presence and U.S. security at that time. But it's doubtful that the U.S. presence will even necessarily end then.
As President Bush made clear, the U.S. is obligating itself in this region as long as the Iraqi people request our presence here to guarantee the safety and security of the locals and to provide the Iraqi government with the time necessary to develop security forces which will be capable of carrying out the mission for themselves.
NGUYEN: So it could be a long-term commitment.
All right, Robert Alt in Baghdad and Pamela Falk in New York, we thank you both this morning.
FALK: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Iraq's national security adviser will be a guest on "AMERICAN MORNING." That begins at 7:00 Eastern.
Stay with us, we have much more to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well for most of us the hiccups are an occasional annoyance, but they can pose a bigger problem.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has one man's unique cure.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When most of us get hiccups it's because we swallowed air or ate too much too fast or got excited. Hiccups cause the diaphragm to spasm.
But in Shane Shafer's case he had a stroke two years ago that damaged his brain stem causing his brain to send a signal to hiccup over and over again. He'd had the hiccups for nine months straight. He hiccupped every four seconds whether he was awake or asleep.
He tried everything. The regular cures and then the drugs normally prescribed for chronic hiccups. Nothing worked. Shane was reduced to gagging himself to vomit which brought him about an hour and a half of relief.
He would also give himself injections of a narcotic called Stadol. But the drug would wear off in about an hour so he had to inject himself again up to 10 to 12 times a day at a cost of $10 an injection. At 100-plus dollars a day and with insurance not covering it, he had to find a better answer.
Finally, he went to see Dr. Brian Paine, a neurosurgeon at the LSU Health Science Center. He brainstormed with other doctors and they decided to try attaching a stimulator to the Vegas nerve, which is the nerve that carries the impulse that tells the diaphragm to spasm.
The battery for the stimulator is implanted in the chest and a stimulator wire is wrapped around the Vegas nerve in the neck. The stimulator sends an impulse to break the hiccup signal from the brain and the spasms stop.
This is the first time the stimulator has ever been used to treat chronic hiccups. But in his case it seemed to do the trick. After surgery, Shane is feeling great. No hiccups.
SHANE SHAFER, CHRONIC HICCUP PATIENT: A hundred percent different. The hiccups are gone. A little raspy in the throat, but I can deal with that.
GUPTA: He went home Friday. Doctors will leave the implant in until the battery wears out. It will take five or six years. If the hiccups come back, it will be easy to fix. Just get the battery replaced.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well one day of sovereignty in Iraq and insurgents launch a deadly offensive against coalition forces. That story is just ahead.
Stay tuned to CNN DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired June 29, 2004 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: party lost outright control of Parliament. Prime Minister Paul Martin will head the country's first minority government in 25 years.
In money, it's sue and countersue in the e-tail business. Amazon.com has asked a court to dissolve its partnership with Toys 'R' Us, saying it consistently violated its contract. The suit is in response to a lawsuit filed by Toys 'R' Us back in May.
In culture, Beverly Hills is known for its theaters, fancy shops, hotels. Well now it's poised to get a cultural center. "The New York Times" reports the Annenberg Foundation is providing a $15 million grant to build the center.
In sports, more legal trouble for former NFL receiver Andre Rison. For the fourth time, a Georgia judge has issued a warrant for his arrest for failing to pay child support. Rison reportedly owes nearly $185,000 in payments and legal fees.
Well there is no fee for today's forecast, and for that we go to Chad Myers.
Good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Betty.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: All right, thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
NGUYEN: This is the day after the handover surprise. It's Iraq's first full day as a sovereign nation after 15 months of occupation, and already there is violence.
We want to talk about that now with senior international editor David Clinch who joins us.
And we understand this violence really targeted Americans this time.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well, yes. Now there's nothing unpredictable about this. The United States military on the ground in Baghdad making it clear that just because the handover happened, the insurgency will not end, the violent attacks on U.S. troops will not end.
And that is apparently the case video this morning from Baghdad showing an IED attack on a U.S. convoy in Baghdad, something we've been seeing, obviously, many times over the past few weeks. And reports on the ground of U.S. soldiers there saying that a number of Marines have been killed. But as yet, that has not been confirmed. So following that in Iraq today.
In fact, I think we have Brent Sadler now available in Baghdad to give us the latest from there.
Brent, are you with us, good morning?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, go on, David, go ahead.
CLINCH: Sorry, just checking with you whether you had the latest information. We've got this video of an attack on a U.S. convoy in Baghdad today. Wondering whether you have heard any specific information on that this morning.
SADLER: David, yes, details still pretty thin at this stage. We do know that there was a bomb attack, a roadside bomb detonated about 24 hours, in fact, after that historic handover of sovereignty to an interim government yesterday. It was targeted against a convoy of a military convoy of U.S. troops.
We don't know what unit they are from, but certainly a soldier on the scene told journalists that there have been casualties. We don't know about deaths or injuries, but certainly casualties among the convoy that was moving equipment from one part of the city to another. And really this was the first attack against U.S. forces since that crucial handover of sovereignty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SADLER (voice-over): The legal handover of power was completed in a flash. Iraqis unaware of the event until it was over. But within hours they saw on television the swearing in of their newly empowered interim government setting its own agenda, the Iraqi flag flying with new purpose. And on the streets of Baghdad, caution and optimism.
"I ask God to give them success," says pensioner Hamid Khudeir (ph), "that is what I want.
"Of course I'm happy," say Ali Jawad (ph), a businessman, "we want peace and normality, God willing, Iraq has a bright future."
But a future that continues to be heavily influenced by the presence of coalition forces. Many Iraqis believe that an occupation persists, cloaked by the handover.
"I'm optimistic," explains pensioner Ali Hussein Ali (ph), "but we must have law and order and speed up an end to the occupation." In central Baghdad, U.S. soldiers began removing stretches of barbed wire and dismantling large concrete barricades, reopening a main road and public square where Saddam Hussein's statue once stood. While in Basra, southern Iraq, British troops re-enacted a symbolic handover of power with their Iraqi counterparts, bonding as partners in the struggle to build a new Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And that struggle, of course, Betty, is still going on. Struggle in the form of hostage taking, bomb attacks against convoys. We saw one against the U.S. troops this morning here in Baghdad and attacks against police stations.
One piece of good news, however, three Turkish hostages who were under threat of beheading by Islamic militants, they, according to Turkish officials, have now been released in response to appeals from the company who these people work for, the Turks work for, that that company would no longer do business in Iraq. And also the kidnappers saying that they wanted to show a positive response to their Muslim brothers in Turkey who had put on big demonstrations, they said, against the appearance of President George W. Bush at a NATO Summit in Istanbul -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Brent, those three Turkish hostages have been released, but what about that Pakistani hostage and the U.S. Marine?
SADLER: Yes, indeed. We have news came out some hours ago that Al Jazeera, the Arabic television network out there, had reported that a U.S. soldier has been killed. Matt Maupin, a 20-year-old from Ohio, had been executed. That's not been confirmed.
The kidnappers said that they put a bullet in his head and he was seen on video, not being shown on television by Jazeera, a body slumping into a ditch. But certainly no confirmation of that alleged execution of the U.S. soldier from coalition authority officials here, military officials in Baghdad.
As far as the other U.S. Marine is concerned, he's from West Jordan, Utah, of Lebanese origin. Still, he is abducted, although not officially described as a hostage by U.S. military officials. But again, he faces execution by beheading by those who hold him. Plus a Pakistani also still remains under a death threat -- Betty.
NGUYEN: CNN's Brent Sadler in Baghdad. All right, thank you, Brent.
Now we want to go back to senior international editor David Clinch to talk about this violence.
CLINCH: Yes.
NGUYEN: Yesterday NATO really wanted to help Afghanistan, plus Iraq, but they'll get to that a little bit later with specifics, but they are specifically helping Afghanistan with troops.
CLINCH: Well, yes, beyond Iraq there are a number of other stories that we're covering.
And in Afghanistan, as you say, the president or the interim president of Afghanistan at NATO today thanking them for their offer of more troops to go to Afghanistan, but saying it's not good enough that they are promising to send them in a few months. In his words, they need them today and not tomorrow.
Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, making the same point that the prime minister in Iraq is making that the potential for democracy is there, the potential for success in this huge engineering, political engineering, social engineering experiment, if you want to put it that way, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, the potential is there. But it can only be followed through with a massive follow through in terms of troops and money by the Western world.
NGUYEN: And they need this now because of all the violence surrounding the elections.
CLINCH: Right, you can't hold the Afghan elections in September, in his view, unless there is security now to help arrange them. So we're following that in Afghanistan.
Also, a little bit below the radar following both Colin Powell and Kofi Annan going to Sudan in the next couple of days. Reports there of a potential genocide going on. Again, beneath the radar, while people are concentrating on Iraq. We're sending our reporter there to make sure that we have, as Colin Powell and Kofi Annan are doing, our own eyewitness of whether there really is a genocide going on there in the Darfur region of Sudan. So following that there today as well.
NGUYEN: Yes, Powell calls that a catastrophe area.
CLINCH: Yes, and we don't know. He is saying he wants to go and see it for himself, so we'll go too.
And one other quick point, this Supreme Court decision yesterday on detainees, specifically Guantanamo. We have reports now from Australia and Britain, families threatening to sue the U.S. following that decision at the Supreme Court yesterday.
NGUYEN: And those are a lot of lawsuits, up to 600. All right.
CLINCH: Yes.
NGUYEN: CNN's senior international editor David Clinch, thank you.
CLINCH: All right.
NGUYEN: Here are some stories making headlines 'Across America' this Tuesday.
One railroad worker is dead and a massive cleanup is ongoing following a train collision in Texas. At least 40 train cars were tossed from the tracks in this accident. That crash sent a toxic cloud of chlorine gas and ammonium nitrate into the air. Officials are investigating whether the gas cloud is responsible for the deaths of two women who were found about a mile away from the crash site.
A mistrial has been declared in the case of three teens charged with raping a 16-year-old girl. One of the boys also videotaped the entire episode. The jury, though, deadlocked on all 24 accounts. The three teens had been accused of raping the intoxicated girl after she passed out. Prosecutors have not decided if they will retry this case.
The lead detective in the Laci Peterson case spent another day on the witness stand. Defense attorneys questioned Detective Allen Brocchini about other possible suspects in the case. Included was a tip given to police that Laci Peterson was being held in a storage bin outside Modesto, California. Brocchini is expected to be back on the stand today.
And a mixed ruling from the Supreme Court on the issue of enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Bay, which we just spoke of. Justices upheld the president's authority to detain prisoners for an indefinite period, but they also ruled that some detainees have a legal right to appeal their incarceration.
CNN's Bob Franken sorts it all out for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): The rulings rejected the administration's claim that the president had near absolute power in times of war over declared enemy combatants, the courts, little or no power. The justices by a 6-3 margin ruled in favor of Yaser Hamdi, a U.S. citizen but he was captured by U.S. allies in Afghanistan. And even with the president's sweeping wartime powers, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor insisted, "an unchecked system of detention carries the potential to become a means for oppression and abuse of others." And therefore, Hamdi has the right to challenge in court why he's being held.
FRANK DUNHAM, YASER HAMDI'S ATTORNEY: The king can't lock you up and forget about you, throw away the key. He's got bring you forward before a neutral magistrate.
FRANKEN: At the same time, the court upheld the president's power to detain terrorist suspects -- possibly indefinitely, possibly without charges.
DAVID RIVKIN, MILITARY LAW EXPERT: The plurality opinion of a Supreme Court has upheld the basic viability of a legal model that the administration has been using, namely the model of detaining, capturing enemy combatants.
FRANKEN: But the Justices ruled the courts even had jurisdiction beyond the boarders -- that the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base had a right to challenge their imprisonments, even though Guantanamo is technically part of Cuba.
Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice John Paul Stevens pointed out, "the United States exercises complete jurisdiction and control over the Guantanamo Base."
THOMAS GOLDSTEIN, SUPREME COURT LEGAL ANALYST: There's clear repudiation of the government's absolute position that the courts have no role.
FRANKEN: The Court did not specify what form the Guantanamo detainee hearings would take. The justices effectively made no determination in the Jose Padilla matter, saying his lawyers had filed in the wrong court. Padilla is also locked away, designated as an enemy combatant. He, too, is a U.S. citizen. He'd been arrested on U.S. soil at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, accused of planning a dirty bomb attack.
His attorney says she will refile. In these cases, those involved will know that whatever they do they will have to answer to the courts.
Bob Franken, CNN, the Supreme Court.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well a surprise handover of power in Iraq, so what happens next? We'll get some insight into the situation in Iraq and the challenges that lie ahead.
This is DAYBREAK for Tuesday.
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NGUYEN: Your news, money, weather and sports. The time right now is 5:45 Eastern. And here's what's all new this morning.
The NATO Summit in Turkey is winding down. President Bush is set to deliver a speech to world leaders there less than 90 minutes from now and CNN will, of course, bring that to you live when it happens.
A U.S. Marine convoy is hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Want to give you some pictures just in this morning from the scene of that blast. Check it out. A Marine there says fellow Marines were killed, but we have not gotten military confirmation.
In money, Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, has lowered its June sales forecast. Wal-Mart blames weaker-than-expected Father's Day sales and unusually cool weather. The weather supposedly curbed demand for air conditioners and swimming pool supplies.
In culture, The Donald has a new venture. Real estate tycoon and star of the reality show "The Apprentice" is relaunching "Trump World." It's a slick vanity magazine for those who aspire to live a lifestyle of the rich and famous, like Donald Trump.
In sports, 14-year-old golf sensation Michelle Wie took a beating from another team putter. Taiwanese Ya-Ni Tseng won big at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia.
So is it a good day for golf? Let's check in with Chad Myers. Good morning.
MYERS: Looks like pretty good weather there, yes, yesterday. Should be a decent day again today. A couple of showers, though, popping up.
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Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Chad. Looks like a good day in many parts.
Now that the transfer of power is complete and Iraq is a sovereign nation, what's next? Many political and security issues still need to be resolved.
And joining us from Baghdad to talk about it is Pamela Falk, an International Law Scholar. In fact, I understand she is from New York. And now from Baghdad, Robert Alt, who is a Legal and International Affairs Scholar.
We want to thank both of you for getting up so early to be with us.
Let's talk with you first, Robert, since we have you up and running. There's a lot of pomp and circumstance over the handover, yet a lot of the crucial elements in this government still have to be put in place. Was this handover premature?
ROBERT ALT, LEGAL & INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS SCHOLAR, ASHLAND UNIVERSITY: Well I think when you look at that question, the first thing you have to understand is that the timing was largely dictated by the requests of the Iraqis themselves. They, for a long time, had --actually many had been pushing to move the date back. They wanted to get control of their own government as soon as possible.
And I think if you look at the -- many of the political structures, which is what we're really talking about, we're talking less about the security structures, more about the political structures, many of them had actually been transferred beginning over two months ago with the last of those particular institutions transferred a full week ago. So in fact the transition -- the transition was not as hasty, I think, as some are suggesting.
NGUYEN: Pamela, was security a huge issue, infrastructure an issue? Was this premature in your view?
PAMELA FALK, INTERNATIONAL LAW SCHOLAR, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: No, the handover is well timed, and the idea of moving it up avoided any issue of security questions. Obviously it was a big bull's eye to have all of the Iraqi government, U.S. government officials and even the press all in one place at one time. But the handover itself is good news. That's the end of an occupation. And it takes off the American face on the U.S. occupation or the coalition occupation of Iraq. The other side of it is though that the multinational force now kicks in and becomes this U.N. stamp of approval force that is -- that stays in Iraq and the mandate doesn't end for 18 months. That means American troops are still there. And in some ways that is the biggest problem for the United States in Iraq that there may be not enough troops for the violence that may continue.
NGUYEN: Now despite how this looks on paper, realistically U.S. troops are their -- is their role really going to change that much -- Pamela?
FALK: No, their role will not change really at all because the way the U.N. resolution worked was that U.S. commanders still command U.S. troops and Iraqi commanders -- Iraq command Iraqi troops and every government commands its own.
The biggest problem that the French and the Russians and the -- and the Chinese pointed out when the U.N. -- with the U.N. resolution was that there was not a discussion or resolution about the fact that the -- if there is a conflict between the new Iraqi government and American commanders, particularly on offensive military maneuvers, entering Fallujah or something along those lines, or ethnic conflicts between Sunnis and Shia in Iraq, that will not be -- that has not been resolved. And so it may end up within short order with a showdown between American forces and Iraqi forces. That's one of the biggest problems.
There is a second one that was a failed resolution at the U.N. a week ago and that was that the U.S. troops would be given immunity. That has lapsed and that means that U.S. troops in any situation, such as civilian casualties or prisoner abuse, such as there have been in Abu Ghraib, there could be war crimes charges in the international criminal court against U.S. troops.
And finally, the detainees, there is no resolution about when detainees will be turned over to Iraq.
NGUYEN: Right, there's a lot of issues here -- Pamela.
FALK: Obviously Saddam Hussein will be turned over to Iraq.
NGUYEN: We want to go back to Robert to get his opinion because he is -- he is in Baghdad, been dealing with these troops, speaking with them. Obviously they are excited about the handover, but realistically they know they are going to have to stay for some time. But how long do they think is a safe amount of time in which they can leave?
ALT: Well I think -- I think actually I have spent quite a bit of time with the troops. And I think most of them realize that this is not a short-term endeavor, that the U.S. is going to have a significant presence in Iraq for a long time yet to come. Obviously there's a need to assure stability and security, at the very least through the elections in 2005, and we can anticipate that there's probably going to be a greater need for U.S. presence and U.S. security at that time. But it's doubtful that the U.S. presence will even necessarily end then.
As President Bush made clear, the U.S. is obligating itself in this region as long as the Iraqi people request our presence here to guarantee the safety and security of the locals and to provide the Iraqi government with the time necessary to develop security forces which will be capable of carrying out the mission for themselves.
NGUYEN: So it could be a long-term commitment.
All right, Robert Alt in Baghdad and Pamela Falk in New York, we thank you both this morning.
FALK: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Iraq's national security adviser will be a guest on "AMERICAN MORNING." That begins at 7:00 Eastern.
Stay with us, we have much more to come.
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NGUYEN: Well for most of us the hiccups are an occasional annoyance, but they can pose a bigger problem.
CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has one man's unique cure.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When most of us get hiccups it's because we swallowed air or ate too much too fast or got excited. Hiccups cause the diaphragm to spasm.
But in Shane Shafer's case he had a stroke two years ago that damaged his brain stem causing his brain to send a signal to hiccup over and over again. He'd had the hiccups for nine months straight. He hiccupped every four seconds whether he was awake or asleep.
He tried everything. The regular cures and then the drugs normally prescribed for chronic hiccups. Nothing worked. Shane was reduced to gagging himself to vomit which brought him about an hour and a half of relief.
He would also give himself injections of a narcotic called Stadol. But the drug would wear off in about an hour so he had to inject himself again up to 10 to 12 times a day at a cost of $10 an injection. At 100-plus dollars a day and with insurance not covering it, he had to find a better answer.
Finally, he went to see Dr. Brian Paine, a neurosurgeon at the LSU Health Science Center. He brainstormed with other doctors and they decided to try attaching a stimulator to the Vegas nerve, which is the nerve that carries the impulse that tells the diaphragm to spasm.
The battery for the stimulator is implanted in the chest and a stimulator wire is wrapped around the Vegas nerve in the neck. The stimulator sends an impulse to break the hiccup signal from the brain and the spasms stop.
This is the first time the stimulator has ever been used to treat chronic hiccups. But in his case it seemed to do the trick. After surgery, Shane is feeling great. No hiccups.
SHANE SHAFER, CHRONIC HICCUP PATIENT: A hundred percent different. The hiccups are gone. A little raspy in the throat, but I can deal with that.
GUPTA: He went home Friday. Doctors will leave the implant in until the battery wears out. It will take five or six years. If the hiccups come back, it will be easy to fix. Just get the battery replaced.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well one day of sovereignty in Iraq and insurgents launch a deadly offensive against coalition forces. That story is just ahead.
Stay tuned to CNN DAYBREAK.
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