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CNN Live At Daybreak

Pentagon Gets Ready for Guantanamo Hearings; Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun Allegedly in Lebanon

Aired July 08, 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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay surrenders to authorities later this morning to face criminal charges. A grand jury in Houston has handed up a sealed indictment expected to be open today.
Come sunrise in northern Kansas, residents will get a good look at the damage from severe weather, including several possible tornadoes. Power has been knocked down in some communities.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Carol, good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

The Pentagon says it will hold hearings soon for all 595 detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but there are hurdles to clear, as CNN's national correspondent Bob Franken reports from Cuba.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): With the Pentagon now announcing its procedures to allow the detainees hearings following a Supreme Court order that there must be hearings for the detainees, civilian lawyers are expected to go to courts in the United States to say that it has not met the requirement that these prisoners here at Guantanamo Bay are given the right to legal counsel.

The Pentagon has said that by July 17 they will have established procedures to determine whether each and every one, the nearly 600 detainees here, is an enemy combatant or eligible for release.

Meanwhile, nine were added to the list that's going to be involved in military tribunals. They are kept in a separate section of the prison here. It's called Camp Echo. It is set up with tables for attorneys and now there will be 15 who are in that particular section. There's actually the possibility for 38 different positions for military tribunals, which haven't even been scheduled.

The lawyer for one of them, who is Sharon Shafer, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, who is representing Ibraham Ahmed Pasi (ph), who is from Sudan but was arrested in Pakistan, taken prisoner in Pakistan, she complains that although she is the lawyer, she's been given very few resources.

LT. COL. SHARON SHAFER, DEFENSE LAWYER: Mission impossible. How can it even be accomplished when we're not having -- when we don't have the basic resources we need to do our jobs?

FRANKEN: CNN has been given a new glimpse of life behind the wires, it's called here in the prison complex, a very censored look at life for the detainees. Military officials, in fact, removed some of the shots. We were not given access to anything but the showing a calm setting in the prison with detainees moving around quietly.

We were allowed to witness an interrogation, not hear it, but watch it through a one-way glass. There were no cameras allowed. It was a very, very brief session with the detainee and interrogators, actually two sessions. They were involved in animated conversation. It looked very calm.

This, of course, is a very highly controlled situation as the U.S. continues to chafe at the idea that there were abuse of treatment of the various detainees here, charges that have amplified since charges erupted in Iraq. They say this is different. This is far from the battlefield. But as we are finding out, it is not far from the legal battles ahead.

Bob Franken, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Talk a little bit about Pakistan and Osama bin Laden and an incendiary article in the "New Republic" magazine.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us now, and there are some pretty serious allegations in there.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: It is. It's a story that we had heard of before, but this is sort of a very new version of it. The idea in the "New Republic" magazine in their report this month is that the Bush administration is pushing the Pakistani government to arrange or help them arrange or orchestrate the arrest or killing of Osama bin Laden around the time of the Democratic Convention.

And obviously there are a lot of questions and problems with that report, but let's look at it specifically. The key quotes, they have a number of sources unnamed in this article, but the key quote in the "New Republic" article, if we can bring it up, is the idea that a White House official has called a Pakistani official and said "it would be best if the arrest or killing of (any) HVT," that's high- value target, i.e. Osama bin Laden, "were announced on 26, 27 or 28 of July -- the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston."

Well...

COSTELLO: It's just...

CLINCH: ... first...

COSTELLO: I mean you know it's hard to believe.

CLINCH: It is hard to believe.

COSTELLO: I mean and you...

CLINCH: And...

COSTELLO: As an American, you hope it's not true.

CLINCH: Exactly. And not only hard to believe, we have specific denials from the Pakistani government themselves saying that these calls have not been received. And we also have a national security spokesman in the Bush administration saying that it's not true. If we can bring up that quote, the Bush administration saying "our attitude and actions have been the same since September 11 in terms of getting high-value targets off the street, and that doesn't change because of an election."

And while that doesn't necessary specifically deny this, it basically makes it clear that the story here is yes, of course the Bush administration is interested in the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden. But the idea that they know where he is and can orchestrate it or that the Pakistani government know where he is and can orchestrate it does not seem to be substantiated by anyone, including this article. Really, if you read that quote...

COSTELLO: Well I was just going to ask you, who are their sources?

CLINCH: Well their sources are unnamed Pakistani sources, which, of course, you know, leaves open to question who these people are and what their motives might be. But also, really, even the specific quotes could only really be described as what we call dreamavision (ph) in the sense that perhaps some Bush administration might -- official might wish for this to happen. But there's nothing in the article that quotes anybody as saying that they have the means to make it happen, either the United States government or the Pakistani government.

Lots of people hope they will capture him. There is nothing in this article or anything else that we have heard that gives anybody any hint that there is the ability to do it and certainly not to orchestrate it. So the story is still there, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the idea it's going to be orchestrated does not seem to be real at the moment.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, many thanks to you.

CLINCH: All right.

COSTELLO: It's like the child's game "Where's Waldo?" but it's not Waldo we're looking for, it's Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun. The U.S. Embassy says it has credible evidence Hassoun is in Lebanon this morning. But our correspondent in the Lebanese town where Hassoun -- where Hassoun has a large family, told us at the top of the hour he's not there.

Rusty Dornin has more from the Marine's home in Utah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mystery surrounding the capture and reported release of Corporal Wassef Hassoun deepens. A source close to the family tells CNN that the 24- year-old Marine is in his hometown in Lebanon with family and says he will connect with State Department officials within the next 24 hours.

The source said Hassoun called his families in Lebanon and Utah to tell them he was alive and well and was inside Lebanon, but provided few other details. The source said Hassoun called the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon first before calling his family.

The State Department has now confirmed to CNN that someone claiming to be Hassoun called the embassy in Beirut and said he is safe. A spokesman says they are currently attempting to locate Hassoun.

Secretary of State Colin Powell says there are reports that he is safe and healthy but remains cautious.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have received reports that he may be in contact with various individuals and there are other reports that he might be in Lebanon. But I can't confirm any of these at this time.

DORNIN: Wednesday afternoon, two FBI agents spent nearly an hour with the Hassoun family. A spokesman says the agents were seeking information about the phone call and investigating the circumstances of an American citizen captured overseas.

The family here in West Jordan, Utah remained behind closed doors for most of the day, but a relative did emerge and told reporters the family had received strict instructions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not allowed to talk, that's the problem.

DORNIN (on camera): A source tells CNN that the family will continue to publicly deny any reports about Corporal Wassef Hassoun until they know he is safe in U.S. hands.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, West Jordan, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: A disturbing new trend among teens trying to get that perfect body.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT MARX, SPORTS MEDICINE INSTITUTE: For high school kids, they always want to look good and appeal to the opposite sex. And these drugs are a quicker, faster way to get there and so it's very appealing for kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Later, how steroids and body-shaping pills are fast becoming the in-thing to do among young people.

And ahead, voter rights, how one group is making sure we don't encounter the same problems we saw in the 2000 presidential election. Details when DAYBREAK returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now to the latest on the Scott Peterson trial. For the first time prosecutors presented their theory of how the body of Laci Peterson may have been moved to San Francisco Bay.

But as CNN's Ted Rowlands reports, the day started off with more grizzly details that kept Laci's parents out of the courtroom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the second straight day, graphic photographs of the remains of both Laci and Connor Peterson were shown in court as prosecutors laid out one of the most important parts of their case.

Jurors heard the details of how the two sets of remains were found and then processed by law enforcement. At one point, when a photograph of Connor Peterson's tiny femur bone was displayed, Scott Peterson's mother broke down.

Laci Peterson's family did not attend the morning session because of the graphic nature of the testimony.

For prosecutors, it was also a chance to remind jurors that the bodies were found along the shore of the San Francisco Bay, where Peterson also was the day his wife disappeared. Some legal analysts say the prosecution should have done more with this opportunity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They didn't bring it home to say, yes, this was a horrible thing that did. Now the second piece of the puzzle, Scott Peterson did it, and here's why we think so. And they squandered, I think, another large opportunity.

ROWLANDS: Laci Peterson's family returned to court when the graphic testimony finished. Prosecutors brought up witnesses from the Berkeley Marina to testify on Christmas Eve, there were relatively few people fishing, trying to establish that Peterson could have dumped his wife's body without being detected.

But on cross-examination, Peterson's attorney, Pat Harris, brought up the fact that besides the people fishing, there were others in the area, and more than 100 people actually live in boats docked at that marina.

(on camera): Late in the day, over defense objections, prosecutors showed the jury photographs of a pregnant woman the same size and weight as Laci Peterson, inside Peterson's truck and boat, trying to show jurors that Peterson could have used both his truck and boat to dispose of his pregnant wife's body.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Redwood City, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:44 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency has just wrapped up a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Mohamed ElBaradei wants Israel to discuss its alleged nuclear weapons program. He believes that could reopen Middle East security talks.

Ten years after the death of Kim Il Sung, North Korea spends a week honoring its former leader. The 10 years of rule by Kim's son has been plagued by widespread poverty in the ongoing nuclear crisis.

In money news, good enough is apparently not good enough for Yahoo! The Internet search engine's stock price will open almost 12 percent lower this morning, that's after posting second quarter profits that merely met but did not exceed Wall Street's expectations.

In culture, Chinese officials say no to Spidey, Harry Potter and Shrek, but apparently Bush bashing and the annihilation of American cities are OK. The government is banning some of Hollywood's hottest summer movies in an attempt to strengthen China's morals. But "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "The Day After Tomorrow" have been cleared.

In sports, track and field's world governing body says it won't ban any American athletes from the Olympics unless they have failed a drug test. A number of elite athletes are facing allegations of steroid use, even though they haven't tested positive for drugs. The cases may not be resolved before next month's Summer Games in Athens -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

John Kerry and John Edwards will be in Florida today, which of course is a key battleground state, and of course the site of the 2000 election mess. Outside monitors plan to make sure there is no repeat.

And joining us by phone from Tallahassee, Florida is Sharon Lettman-Pacheco. She's with the watchdog group People for the American Way Foundation.

Good morning.

SHARON LETTMAN-PACHECO, PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY FOUNDATION: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So, Sharon, how can you make sure nothing like what happened in the year 2000 happens again in Florida?

LETTMAN-PACHECO: Well one of the things that People for the American Way Foundation is on the ground today with all of our coalition partners making sure that, first and foremost, that citizens are informed of all of the potential obstacles that confront us from the year 2000 and that potentially could be an issue in the year 2004.

COSTELLO: And you say this is a very aggressive campaign. What exactly are you telling voters?

LETTMAN-PACHECO: Well first, we have things that are already hot and heavy in the state of Florida, like our potential felon purge list that's going on around the state. We have put up a Web site to inform voters whether or not their name is on the potential felons purge list so that they can go to our site and look and make sure that if their name exists that they contact their supervisor of elections office to get their name cleared. There have been over several thousand names found already that are inaccurately put on the list and have the threat of being purged from the voter role.

COSTELLO: And I know there was a long, hard fight to get that list made public, but it is public and it is posted on the Web. Where can people find it?

LETTMAN-PACHECO: It's at www.pfaw.org/go/purge.

COSTELLO: That's a tough one. So if you want to know, please e- mail us and we'll e-mail you right back with that Web address.

The other thing I wanted to ask you about is computers. A lot of people will be voting on computers this time around and there's been a lot of controversy about that.

LETTMAN-PACHECO: We are very concerned in the state of Florida, especially with our touch-screen machines, because there is no audit trail, there is no receipt, there is no guaranteed mechanism that we'll be able to ensure a recount.

COSTELLO: Why?

LETTMAN-PACHECO: That's the question of the month, really, and really of the year. Watchdog groups across the state are working feverishly to bring the data forward. Technology centers are working around the clock to show that it is just not a sure proof situation to have touch screens without an audit trail. And we are doing everything from the local level, county by county with the county commissions and the supervisor of elections, all the way to the state level, to try to bring that point home and find a quick and immediate remedy to make sure that there is audit capability within our voting system.

COSTELLO: Well you don't have much more time. Sharon Lettman- Pacheco, with the People for the American Way Foundation joining us live by phone this morning, thank you.

LETTMAN-PACHECO: Thank you.

COSTELLO: One of the nation's largest drug companies is proposing a plan to help the uninsured afford their prescriptions. But is the plan just a way to stop the flow of lower priced drugs coming in from Canada?

CNN's Jason Carroll has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is how Mildred Furling (ph) spends much of her time, sorting through mail- order medications. The Furlings lost their prescription drug coverage three years ago.

MILDRED FURLING, CONSUMER: I was in total panic because we had been covered for many, years.

CARROLL: They rely on Medicare and lower cost medications from Canada to meet their needs.

Now pharmaceutical giant Pfizer says there's another way to save. Starting next month, uninsured families earning less than $45,000 a year can buy their medications for less. Under the plan, a 30-day supply of the cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor goes from about $79 to little more than $50. But in Canada the price is still better at about $35.

RON POLLACK, FAMILIES USA: Obviously a whole lot more needs to be done to make health care affordable for the large and growing number of uninsured people, but this a welcomed step.

CARROLL: Pfizer's critics say the plan is an attempt to prevent (INAUDIBLE) drugs at lower cost. Springfield, Massachusetts former mayor organized such trips. He says Pfizer is also trying to head off federal legislation, with bipartisan support, that would allow the sales of lower cost import medications.

MICHAEL ALBANO, FMR. MAYOR, SPRINGFIELD, MASS.: It's about profits. Because if reimportation is allowed by the United States Congress and the president, then their profit margins would drop almost overnight.

CARROLL: Pfizer says its discount plan is not aimed at stopping imports, which are legal under certain conditions.

PAT KELLY, CEO, PFIZER AMERICA: The impetus for this program is the 43 million uninsured Americans that unfortunately existed long before any of us went to any other country for prescription medicines.

CARROLL: However, Pfizer has taken action to stop imports, sending letters, like this, to some Canadian pharmacists, saying it won't provide them drugs any longer because of sales to persons outside Canada. (on camera): Pfizer told CNN it could not immediately say how many Canadian pharmacists it had cut off. But it did say its new plan is about ensuring safe and affordable access to its medications.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: What does a body good? Forget milk, some teenagers think performance enhancing drugs are the way to go. Details on this disturbing trend ahead on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Getting that buff look without the sweat that goes with it. Sound too good to be true? Well, a new study shows that 2 million high school teenagers could be taking steroids and other body- shaping drugs.

Details from our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The typical profile of a performance enhancing drug abuser, adult, athlete, male.

But that profile may be evolving. Now add teenager, nonathletic. They want to look better, and they want it now. A new report from Oregon Health and Science University studied about 4,000 Oregon high school students. It shows now more than one-third of teenage girls are turning to body-shaping pills, and more teen boys than ever are taking steroids.

While they're intent on getting that athletic look, remarkably, many of them are not even necessarily involved in athletics.

DR. LINN GOLDBERG, OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: These supplements and drugs and pills that you can purchase over the counter, and the illicit ones as well, are a problem among our high school students. And it's spread now from the athletes to the nonathletes.

GUPTA: For high school boys, the study finds, the drug of choice is steroids. For girls, it's diet pills, amphetamines, methamphetamines, and pseudoephedrine, better known by the brand name Sudafed.

DR. ROBERT MARX, SPORTS MEDICINE INSTITUTE: Well, I think for high school kids, they always want to look good and appeal to the opposite sex. And these drugs are a quicker, faster way to get there. And so it's very appealing for kids.

GUPTA: Signs to look for in a teenager using steroids, mood swings, change in performance in school, extensive acne, preoccupation with working out. For diet pill abuse, the signs are a little different.

GOLDBERG: Not wanting to eat at the dinner table or lunch table with their family, often excusing themselves and going to the bathroom.

GUPTA: Parents are encouraged to recognize the signs, talk with their kids and the family doctor if you're concerned. Remember, it's no longer just a problem for athletes or adults.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: For more on this special teen series, check out "Too Much, Too Soon" on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." That airs tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

In the next hour of DAYBREAK, one letter completely changed his life. He's been out of the military for years, but the Army says it doesn't matter, pack your bags. His story is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired July 8, 2004 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay surrenders to authorities later this morning to face criminal charges. A grand jury in Houston has handed up a sealed indictment expected to be open today.
Come sunrise in northern Kansas, residents will get a good look at the damage from severe weather, including several possible tornadoes. Power has been knocked down in some communities.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Carol, good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

The Pentagon says it will hold hearings soon for all 595 detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but there are hurdles to clear, as CNN's national correspondent Bob Franken reports from Cuba.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): With the Pentagon now announcing its procedures to allow the detainees hearings following a Supreme Court order that there must be hearings for the detainees, civilian lawyers are expected to go to courts in the United States to say that it has not met the requirement that these prisoners here at Guantanamo Bay are given the right to legal counsel.

The Pentagon has said that by July 17 they will have established procedures to determine whether each and every one, the nearly 600 detainees here, is an enemy combatant or eligible for release.

Meanwhile, nine were added to the list that's going to be involved in military tribunals. They are kept in a separate section of the prison here. It's called Camp Echo. It is set up with tables for attorneys and now there will be 15 who are in that particular section. There's actually the possibility for 38 different positions for military tribunals, which haven't even been scheduled.

The lawyer for one of them, who is Sharon Shafer, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, who is representing Ibraham Ahmed Pasi (ph), who is from Sudan but was arrested in Pakistan, taken prisoner in Pakistan, she complains that although she is the lawyer, she's been given very few resources.

LT. COL. SHARON SHAFER, DEFENSE LAWYER: Mission impossible. How can it even be accomplished when we're not having -- when we don't have the basic resources we need to do our jobs?

FRANKEN: CNN has been given a new glimpse of life behind the wires, it's called here in the prison complex, a very censored look at life for the detainees. Military officials, in fact, removed some of the shots. We were not given access to anything but the showing a calm setting in the prison with detainees moving around quietly.

We were allowed to witness an interrogation, not hear it, but watch it through a one-way glass. There were no cameras allowed. It was a very, very brief session with the detainee and interrogators, actually two sessions. They were involved in animated conversation. It looked very calm.

This, of course, is a very highly controlled situation as the U.S. continues to chafe at the idea that there were abuse of treatment of the various detainees here, charges that have amplified since charges erupted in Iraq. They say this is different. This is far from the battlefield. But as we are finding out, it is not far from the legal battles ahead.

Bob Franken, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Talk a little bit about Pakistan and Osama bin Laden and an incendiary article in the "New Republic" magazine.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us now, and there are some pretty serious allegations in there.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: It is. It's a story that we had heard of before, but this is sort of a very new version of it. The idea in the "New Republic" magazine in their report this month is that the Bush administration is pushing the Pakistani government to arrange or help them arrange or orchestrate the arrest or killing of Osama bin Laden around the time of the Democratic Convention.

And obviously there are a lot of questions and problems with that report, but let's look at it specifically. The key quotes, they have a number of sources unnamed in this article, but the key quote in the "New Republic" article, if we can bring it up, is the idea that a White House official has called a Pakistani official and said "it would be best if the arrest or killing of (any) HVT," that's high- value target, i.e. Osama bin Laden, "were announced on 26, 27 or 28 of July -- the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston."

Well...

COSTELLO: It's just...

CLINCH: ... first...

COSTELLO: I mean you know it's hard to believe.

CLINCH: It is hard to believe.

COSTELLO: I mean and you...

CLINCH: And...

COSTELLO: As an American, you hope it's not true.

CLINCH: Exactly. And not only hard to believe, we have specific denials from the Pakistani government themselves saying that these calls have not been received. And we also have a national security spokesman in the Bush administration saying that it's not true. If we can bring up that quote, the Bush administration saying "our attitude and actions have been the same since September 11 in terms of getting high-value targets off the street, and that doesn't change because of an election."

And while that doesn't necessary specifically deny this, it basically makes it clear that the story here is yes, of course the Bush administration is interested in the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden. But the idea that they know where he is and can orchestrate it or that the Pakistani government know where he is and can orchestrate it does not seem to be substantiated by anyone, including this article. Really, if you read that quote...

COSTELLO: Well I was just going to ask you, who are their sources?

CLINCH: Well their sources are unnamed Pakistani sources, which, of course, you know, leaves open to question who these people are and what their motives might be. But also, really, even the specific quotes could only really be described as what we call dreamavision (ph) in the sense that perhaps some Bush administration might -- official might wish for this to happen. But there's nothing in the article that quotes anybody as saying that they have the means to make it happen, either the United States government or the Pakistani government.

Lots of people hope they will capture him. There is nothing in this article or anything else that we have heard that gives anybody any hint that there is the ability to do it and certainly not to orchestrate it. So the story is still there, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the idea it's going to be orchestrated does not seem to be real at the moment.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, many thanks to you.

CLINCH: All right.

COSTELLO: It's like the child's game "Where's Waldo?" but it's not Waldo we're looking for, it's Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun. The U.S. Embassy says it has credible evidence Hassoun is in Lebanon this morning. But our correspondent in the Lebanese town where Hassoun -- where Hassoun has a large family, told us at the top of the hour he's not there.

Rusty Dornin has more from the Marine's home in Utah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mystery surrounding the capture and reported release of Corporal Wassef Hassoun deepens. A source close to the family tells CNN that the 24- year-old Marine is in his hometown in Lebanon with family and says he will connect with State Department officials within the next 24 hours.

The source said Hassoun called his families in Lebanon and Utah to tell them he was alive and well and was inside Lebanon, but provided few other details. The source said Hassoun called the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon first before calling his family.

The State Department has now confirmed to CNN that someone claiming to be Hassoun called the embassy in Beirut and said he is safe. A spokesman says they are currently attempting to locate Hassoun.

Secretary of State Colin Powell says there are reports that he is safe and healthy but remains cautious.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have received reports that he may be in contact with various individuals and there are other reports that he might be in Lebanon. But I can't confirm any of these at this time.

DORNIN: Wednesday afternoon, two FBI agents spent nearly an hour with the Hassoun family. A spokesman says the agents were seeking information about the phone call and investigating the circumstances of an American citizen captured overseas.

The family here in West Jordan, Utah remained behind closed doors for most of the day, but a relative did emerge and told reporters the family had received strict instructions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not allowed to talk, that's the problem.

DORNIN (on camera): A source tells CNN that the family will continue to publicly deny any reports about Corporal Wassef Hassoun until they know he is safe in U.S. hands.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, West Jordan, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: A disturbing new trend among teens trying to get that perfect body.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT MARX, SPORTS MEDICINE INSTITUTE: For high school kids, they always want to look good and appeal to the opposite sex. And these drugs are a quicker, faster way to get there and so it's very appealing for kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Later, how steroids and body-shaping pills are fast becoming the in-thing to do among young people.

And ahead, voter rights, how one group is making sure we don't encounter the same problems we saw in the 2000 presidential election. Details when DAYBREAK returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now to the latest on the Scott Peterson trial. For the first time prosecutors presented their theory of how the body of Laci Peterson may have been moved to San Francisco Bay.

But as CNN's Ted Rowlands reports, the day started off with more grizzly details that kept Laci's parents out of the courtroom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the second straight day, graphic photographs of the remains of both Laci and Connor Peterson were shown in court as prosecutors laid out one of the most important parts of their case.

Jurors heard the details of how the two sets of remains were found and then processed by law enforcement. At one point, when a photograph of Connor Peterson's tiny femur bone was displayed, Scott Peterson's mother broke down.

Laci Peterson's family did not attend the morning session because of the graphic nature of the testimony.

For prosecutors, it was also a chance to remind jurors that the bodies were found along the shore of the San Francisco Bay, where Peterson also was the day his wife disappeared. Some legal analysts say the prosecution should have done more with this opportunity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They didn't bring it home to say, yes, this was a horrible thing that did. Now the second piece of the puzzle, Scott Peterson did it, and here's why we think so. And they squandered, I think, another large opportunity.

ROWLANDS: Laci Peterson's family returned to court when the graphic testimony finished. Prosecutors brought up witnesses from the Berkeley Marina to testify on Christmas Eve, there were relatively few people fishing, trying to establish that Peterson could have dumped his wife's body without being detected.

But on cross-examination, Peterson's attorney, Pat Harris, brought up the fact that besides the people fishing, there were others in the area, and more than 100 people actually live in boats docked at that marina.

(on camera): Late in the day, over defense objections, prosecutors showed the jury photographs of a pregnant woman the same size and weight as Laci Peterson, inside Peterson's truck and boat, trying to show jurors that Peterson could have used both his truck and boat to dispose of his pregnant wife's body.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Redwood City, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:44 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency has just wrapped up a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Mohamed ElBaradei wants Israel to discuss its alleged nuclear weapons program. He believes that could reopen Middle East security talks.

Ten years after the death of Kim Il Sung, North Korea spends a week honoring its former leader. The 10 years of rule by Kim's son has been plagued by widespread poverty in the ongoing nuclear crisis.

In money news, good enough is apparently not good enough for Yahoo! The Internet search engine's stock price will open almost 12 percent lower this morning, that's after posting second quarter profits that merely met but did not exceed Wall Street's expectations.

In culture, Chinese officials say no to Spidey, Harry Potter and Shrek, but apparently Bush bashing and the annihilation of American cities are OK. The government is banning some of Hollywood's hottest summer movies in an attempt to strengthen China's morals. But "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "The Day After Tomorrow" have been cleared.

In sports, track and field's world governing body says it won't ban any American athletes from the Olympics unless they have failed a drug test. A number of elite athletes are facing allegations of steroid use, even though they haven't tested positive for drugs. The cases may not be resolved before next month's Summer Games in Athens -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

John Kerry and John Edwards will be in Florida today, which of course is a key battleground state, and of course the site of the 2000 election mess. Outside monitors plan to make sure there is no repeat.

And joining us by phone from Tallahassee, Florida is Sharon Lettman-Pacheco. She's with the watchdog group People for the American Way Foundation.

Good morning.

SHARON LETTMAN-PACHECO, PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY FOUNDATION: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So, Sharon, how can you make sure nothing like what happened in the year 2000 happens again in Florida?

LETTMAN-PACHECO: Well one of the things that People for the American Way Foundation is on the ground today with all of our coalition partners making sure that, first and foremost, that citizens are informed of all of the potential obstacles that confront us from the year 2000 and that potentially could be an issue in the year 2004.

COSTELLO: And you say this is a very aggressive campaign. What exactly are you telling voters?

LETTMAN-PACHECO: Well first, we have things that are already hot and heavy in the state of Florida, like our potential felon purge list that's going on around the state. We have put up a Web site to inform voters whether or not their name is on the potential felons purge list so that they can go to our site and look and make sure that if their name exists that they contact their supervisor of elections office to get their name cleared. There have been over several thousand names found already that are inaccurately put on the list and have the threat of being purged from the voter role.

COSTELLO: And I know there was a long, hard fight to get that list made public, but it is public and it is posted on the Web. Where can people find it?

LETTMAN-PACHECO: It's at www.pfaw.org/go/purge.

COSTELLO: That's a tough one. So if you want to know, please e- mail us and we'll e-mail you right back with that Web address.

The other thing I wanted to ask you about is computers. A lot of people will be voting on computers this time around and there's been a lot of controversy about that.

LETTMAN-PACHECO: We are very concerned in the state of Florida, especially with our touch-screen machines, because there is no audit trail, there is no receipt, there is no guaranteed mechanism that we'll be able to ensure a recount.

COSTELLO: Why?

LETTMAN-PACHECO: That's the question of the month, really, and really of the year. Watchdog groups across the state are working feverishly to bring the data forward. Technology centers are working around the clock to show that it is just not a sure proof situation to have touch screens without an audit trail. And we are doing everything from the local level, county by county with the county commissions and the supervisor of elections, all the way to the state level, to try to bring that point home and find a quick and immediate remedy to make sure that there is audit capability within our voting system.

COSTELLO: Well you don't have much more time. Sharon Lettman- Pacheco, with the People for the American Way Foundation joining us live by phone this morning, thank you.

LETTMAN-PACHECO: Thank you.

COSTELLO: One of the nation's largest drug companies is proposing a plan to help the uninsured afford their prescriptions. But is the plan just a way to stop the flow of lower priced drugs coming in from Canada?

CNN's Jason Carroll has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is how Mildred Furling (ph) spends much of her time, sorting through mail- order medications. The Furlings lost their prescription drug coverage three years ago.

MILDRED FURLING, CONSUMER: I was in total panic because we had been covered for many, years.

CARROLL: They rely on Medicare and lower cost medications from Canada to meet their needs.

Now pharmaceutical giant Pfizer says there's another way to save. Starting next month, uninsured families earning less than $45,000 a year can buy their medications for less. Under the plan, a 30-day supply of the cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor goes from about $79 to little more than $50. But in Canada the price is still better at about $35.

RON POLLACK, FAMILIES USA: Obviously a whole lot more needs to be done to make health care affordable for the large and growing number of uninsured people, but this a welcomed step.

CARROLL: Pfizer's critics say the plan is an attempt to prevent (INAUDIBLE) drugs at lower cost. Springfield, Massachusetts former mayor organized such trips. He says Pfizer is also trying to head off federal legislation, with bipartisan support, that would allow the sales of lower cost import medications.

MICHAEL ALBANO, FMR. MAYOR, SPRINGFIELD, MASS.: It's about profits. Because if reimportation is allowed by the United States Congress and the president, then their profit margins would drop almost overnight.

CARROLL: Pfizer says its discount plan is not aimed at stopping imports, which are legal under certain conditions.

PAT KELLY, CEO, PFIZER AMERICA: The impetus for this program is the 43 million uninsured Americans that unfortunately existed long before any of us went to any other country for prescription medicines.

CARROLL: However, Pfizer has taken action to stop imports, sending letters, like this, to some Canadian pharmacists, saying it won't provide them drugs any longer because of sales to persons outside Canada. (on camera): Pfizer told CNN it could not immediately say how many Canadian pharmacists it had cut off. But it did say its new plan is about ensuring safe and affordable access to its medications.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: What does a body good? Forget milk, some teenagers think performance enhancing drugs are the way to go. Details on this disturbing trend ahead on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Getting that buff look without the sweat that goes with it. Sound too good to be true? Well, a new study shows that 2 million high school teenagers could be taking steroids and other body- shaping drugs.

Details from our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The typical profile of a performance enhancing drug abuser, adult, athlete, male.

But that profile may be evolving. Now add teenager, nonathletic. They want to look better, and they want it now. A new report from Oregon Health and Science University studied about 4,000 Oregon high school students. It shows now more than one-third of teenage girls are turning to body-shaping pills, and more teen boys than ever are taking steroids.

While they're intent on getting that athletic look, remarkably, many of them are not even necessarily involved in athletics.

DR. LINN GOLDBERG, OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: These supplements and drugs and pills that you can purchase over the counter, and the illicit ones as well, are a problem among our high school students. And it's spread now from the athletes to the nonathletes.

GUPTA: For high school boys, the study finds, the drug of choice is steroids. For girls, it's diet pills, amphetamines, methamphetamines, and pseudoephedrine, better known by the brand name Sudafed.

DR. ROBERT MARX, SPORTS MEDICINE INSTITUTE: Well, I think for high school kids, they always want to look good and appeal to the opposite sex. And these drugs are a quicker, faster way to get there. And so it's very appealing for kids.

GUPTA: Signs to look for in a teenager using steroids, mood swings, change in performance in school, extensive acne, preoccupation with working out. For diet pill abuse, the signs are a little different.

GOLDBERG: Not wanting to eat at the dinner table or lunch table with their family, often excusing themselves and going to the bathroom.

GUPTA: Parents are encouraged to recognize the signs, talk with their kids and the family doctor if you're concerned. Remember, it's no longer just a problem for athletes or adults.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: For more on this special teen series, check out "Too Much, Too Soon" on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." That airs tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

In the next hour of DAYBREAK, one letter completely changed his life. He's been out of the military for years, but the Army says it doesn't matter, pack your bags. His story is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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