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CNN Live At Daybreak
Senate Intelligence Committee Set to Release Report on Prewar Iraq Intelligence
Aired July 09, 2004 - 05:00 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka in for Carol Costello this morning.
Now in the news, four hours from now, the U.N.'s International Court of Justice rules on the legality of Israel's 425-mile long security barrier. An Israeli newspaper says the court will say the barrier violates international law. We'll have a live report from Israel in 30 minutes.
U.S. Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun could be on his way to Germany today. Hassoun, listed as captured in Iraq in June, will be flown to Germany from Lebanon for a medical checkup and debriefing as his claims of abduction and release get stranger and stranger.
In Washington this morning, a Senate Intelligence Committee releases a report expected to be highly critical of intelligence gathering leading up to the war in Iraq. The report will be released at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time and CNN will carry that live.
And in Indonesia, an American Army sergeant accused of defecting to North Korea 39 years ago will be reunited with his wife two hours from now. She is a Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea decades ago.
Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Let's get our first look at the weather this morning -- good morning to you, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Fred, and welcome to the morning show.
WHITFIELD: Thank you very much.
MYERS: Welcome to 5:00 a.m., or 4:00 a.m. Central time, if you will.
WHITFIELD: Oh, yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: On Capitol Hill this morning, the CIA is expected to take a beating. A Senate committee is releasing what we're told will be a scathing report on the intelligence gathering that led up to the Iraqi war.
Our national security correspondent David Ensor has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outgoing Central Intelligence Director George Tenet takes a beating in the Senate committee report just a day after he said farewell at the CIA after seven years in charge.
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: These have been eventful years, filled with exhilaration and triumph, with pain and sorrow, and, yes, with questions about our performance.
ENSOR: Sources say the 400-page committee report is blistering about failures of U.S. intelligence gathering and analysis on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and on possible ties to al Qaeda before the war.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It is an accurate, hard hitting and well deserved critique of the CIA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: George Tenet has a lot of 'splaining to do, as Desi Arnez would say.
ENSOR: According to sources, the report says the CIA relied too much on a defector's claim that this was a biological weapons truck. All now agree it is not. That it relied too much on its own nuclear expert, who was convinced that aluminum tubes smuggled in by Saddam's government were for making enriched uranium. Others said he was wrong. That it should have more quickly identified as forgeries documents suggesting Iraq was trying to buy raw uranium in Niger.
DAVID KAY, FORMER CIA IRAQ WEAPONS INSPECTOR: This is a major failing and it is going to take presidential action, along with support in the Congress, before you're going to straighten it out. It's not going to be internally reformed.
ENSOR (on camera): Democrats are not happy that the report does not cover how the Bush administration may, they say, have misused the intelligence in the run-up to the war. That topic will be covered in another report not likely to come out until after November.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Once again, no specifics, but Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warns that al Qaeda is planning a large scale attack in the United States before the November election. Ridge says the attack could be keyed to the national political conventions and could be what he calls an effort to disrupt the democratic process.
Ridge says he has no plans to raise the official threat level, but a homeland security operations center has opened for business in Washington five months ahead of schedule. We'll hear from Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." That's at 7:30 a.m. Eastern, 5:30 a.m. Pacific.
And we hope to learn more today about the circumstances surrounding the capture and release of U.S. Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun. He was abducted, reported abducted, rather, in Iraq in June and wound up in Lebanon at the home of his relatives this week.
Our Rusty Dornin has been following this story from Hassoun's family home in West Jordan, Utah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The saga of Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun -- twisted and turned into one big confusing knot. Finally back in U.S. hands, but no answers yet as to what happened since he went missing June 19th, showed up in a haunting video a week later, was rumored to have been killed, then released and then on Wednesday he appeared in Lebanon.
A source told CNN Hassoun called the U.S. Embassy in Beirut on Wednesday, but stayed with his mother and other family overnight somewhere in Lebanon.
According to a source, Hassoun's mother accompanied him to the embassy. From there, he will be flown to the U.S. base in Ramstein, Germany. There, he will be debriefed and receive a full medical exam.
In Tripoli, news about the Lebanese born Marine sparked a gun battle. At least two people were killed as fighting broke out between members of the Hassoun family and a rival family. According to witnesses, people were taunting the Hassouns, calling them American agents. No members of the Hassoun family were injured.
Here in West Jordan, Utah, the family has been in seclusion since the corporal's disappearance. For the first time, his brother stepped in front of the cameras to make a short statement. Mohamad Hassoun said the family was very grateful to have their brother back and that he had a very short phone conversation with him.
MOHAMAD HASSOUN, HASSOUN'S BROTHER: He sounded OK. I was told that he had lost some weight, but he's well.
DORNIN (on camera): Mohamad Hassoun refused to answer reporters' questions about how his brother got to Lebanon or who picked him up. He also had no comment on reports into an investigation on whether the kidnapping was a hoax. For the Hassoun family, their prayers and questions have been answered. Corporal Wassef Hassoun is alive and well.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, West Jordan, Utah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: They'd better be hungry. The Democratic team of John Kerry and John Edwards have not one, but two breakfast receptions this morning in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: This land is your land, this land is my land...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: We saw last night he's no Eric Clapton, but Kerry entertained the crowd at a fund raiser at Radio City Music Hall and he talked with CNN's Larry King about running mate John Edwards.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that a team is important. I think America wants leadership, Larry, that just tells the truth, deals with real issues and is willing to lift this country up. I think John is the kind of person who is optimistic, connected to small town, rural America. He knows the problems and he's the kind of person who's going to look me in the eye and not be afraid to say you're wrong, this is the way we've got to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Kerry and Edwards have a rally this afternoon in Beckley, West Virginia, then a long flight across the country for an event tonight in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
President Bush heads for Pennsylvania this morning, with three stops scheduled in that battleground state. At Kutztown University Mr. Bush answers questions at an Ask The President session. Then he speaks in Lancaster and finally holds a campaign rally in York. One of the White House -- one the White House, rather, hopes will draw a crowd of 10,000 supporters.
More on the presidential candidates and their campaign schedules on our Web site. The address is cnn.com/politics.
Guantanamo Bay becoming a headache for U.S. military officials. They're planning hearings for all the nearly 600 detainees at the military prison and they're being accused of trying to work around a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Our national correspondent Bob Franken reports from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Detainee lawyers are already describing the Pentagon's plan to hold military hearings for each prisoner at Guantanamo Bay minus lawyers an effort to circumvent last week's Supreme Court decision requiring legal protections for them. But Navy Secretary Gordon England has made a quick trip to the base to get the hearings quickly up and running. No comment on how the Supreme Court fits in.
GORDON ENGLAND, U.S. NAVY SECRETARY: And that's going to be part of the discussion today.
FRANKEN: The Defense Department is just one of many government agencies trying to sort through this.
RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: I think generally all the government lawyers -- Justice, the State Department, the Pentagon and others -- have been involved in examining this.
FRANKEN: The State Department was intensely involved as detainee Mehdi Mohammed Ghezali was spirited out in secrecy under the cover of darkness. He's been a prisoner here for more than two years, captured in Afghanistan. But he's a Swedish citizen and the Swedish government at the highest levels had demanded his release.
LAILA FREIVALDS, SWEDISH FOREIGN MINISTER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In the end, it became an uncomfortable question for the Americans. But I also hope that the Americans realize the core of our message, that one cannot hold people captive without a trial.
FRANKEN (on camera): Military officials both here and in Washington are scrambling to come up with adequate ways to decide which of the prisoners must stay on Guantanamo and which can go -- before the courts, the diplomats and the politicians tell them.
Bob Franken, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And Bob Franken will have more on this story in a telephone report next hour right here on DAYBREAK.
And there's loads more coming your way.
An international court may put up a barrier to Israel's West Bank wall. But the Israeli government has its own take on that construction project.
A reunion today in Indonesia. It's the complicated story of a U.S. Army deserter and a Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea.
And last but not least, money makes the world go around and America's teens are afflicted with the disease of the almighty dollar.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Ken Lay isn't the only former corporate officer on the police blotter. A New York jury handed down a guilty verdict for the founder of Adelphia Communications. But what about the rest of the cases against allegedly corrupt corporate officers?
CNN's Christine Romans has this update.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than two years of scandals tore through corporate America, prosecutors promised justice. Nine hundred forty-eight days now since Enron's bankruptcy, and only 10 executives in all of corporate America are in jail.
PROF. JIM COHEN, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: The government has not been successful, has not been overwhelmingly successful in getting the verdicts that it wants in a timely manner.
ROMANS: Former star investment banker Frank Quattrone, mistrial. Then a conviction on three obstruction counts.
Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski, also a mistrial. A new trial now set for January, but a judge recently threw out half the charges related to dodging taxes on art.
Tyco former CFO Mark Schwartz, mistrial.
Four former Qwest executives, mistrials and acquittals. That prosecution was supposed to be a showcase of the government's fight against corruption.
Now it's back to square one.
For Ken Lay, it's taken more than two years for an indictment. One former prosecutor isn't surprised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You start at the bottom, you work your way up, you put your evidence in, and eventually -- it may take two-and-a- half years -- you can target the very top people in the company with the testimony that will make that a potential successful case.
ROMANS: Even in successful cases, justice has been uneven. A former HealthSouth CFO pleaded guilty, got five years probation, no jail time there. Similar crime, but Dynegy's tax executive fought his fraud charges, and he got 24 years in prison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Coming up in the next hour of DAYBREAK, legal analyst Kendall Coffey will be along with a closer look at some of the corporate criminal cases.
Your news, money and weather and sports.
It is now quarter after.
Here's what's all new this morning.
The "Tribute In Light" will continue to shine. More than $3 million has been set aside to allow the September 11 memorial to be relit on the anniversary of the attacks for the next five years. The lights symbolize the Twin Towers.
Transportation safety officials say improperly installed oil filters are the likely cause of more than two dozen Honda SUV fires. The "Washington Post" reports that 27 Honda CRVs caught fire shortly after having their first oil change. No one has been reported injured in those fires.
In money, First Energy Corporation has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to clean up its act. The company had been sued over excessive emissions from its coal burning power plant near Steubenville, Ohio.
In culture, singer David Bowie is finally back home following his emergency heart surgery. Bowie spent nearly three weeks in a German hospital after undergoing surgery to unclog a blocked artery. He was forced to cancel the remaining dates on his European tour.
And in sports, one day after capturing the yellow jersey, Lance Armstrong falls back in the pack in the Tour de France. Armstrong is in sixth place now, nine minutes, 35 seconds behind the leader.
But you know what, Chad, I don't think...
MYERS: Wow, that's huge!
WHITFIELD: It is. But you know what? Don't worry. We've still got a long way to go.
MYERS: Well, there had to be some event, maybe like this one, I'm not sure, but you just don't fall back nine minutes.
WHITFIELD: Oh, no.
MYERS: Holy cow. I'll have to look that up.
WHITFIELD: Yes, that is a lot. That's all right, he'll gain some speed.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Well, tech stocks dragged down Wall Street.
Let's see what's happening with the European stocks.
For that we turn to our Todd Benjamin, checking the financial numbers for us in London -- hello to you.
TODD BENJAMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.
Well, Wall Street's dive yesterday causing waves here today.
Right now the FTSE's off just a quarter percent.
But the DAX, which has some pretty heavy tech weightings, off better than 1 percent.
And the CAC in Paris is off almost 1 percent.
You're absolutely right, a rough day for tech yesterday. The Nasdaq was off 1.5 percent. It's off 3.5 percent for the week.
Yahoo! was down 8 percent after Wall Street was disappointed with their latest earnings. Even though they hit the numbers, they didn't blow them out of the water.
The Dow was down better than a half percent and the S&P 500 was down almost 1 percent.
Today we're going to get General Electric, its latest earnings report. It's a good bellwether for the overall economy since it's in so many different areas, from finance to aerospace to medical equipment. And next week we get into the heavy earnings season.
Right now, though, the good news is at least the futures market is pointing to a higher open on Wall Street. But a lot may depend on what General Electric has to say and whether they hit their numbers. They're expected to earn $0.37 a share in the latest quarter.
Have a great day and weekend -- back to you.
WHITFIELD: You, too.
Thanks a lot, Todd.
Well, let the games begin. After a worldwide tour, the Olympic Torch enters its final leg and returns to familiar ground.
Also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pulled out my report form for first aids and I asked her her first name. So we start and she told me her first name was Sparkle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: A call to duty was anything but routine. How life comes full circle for one California firefighter. The heartwarming Sparkle saga straight ahead.
This is DAYBREAK for Friday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, time four our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener." Or, actually, let's do that in a minute.
MYERS: OK.
WHITFIELD: Let's talk first, let's talk a little bit about this Olympic Torch.
MYERS: Almost back to where it came from.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
MYERS: Almost back.
WHITFIELD: Almost. MYERS: All the way now over to Cypress. We have some pictures of it...
WHITFIELD: After 33 countries.
MYERS: Yes, look at this. They really enjoyed it yesterday as it moved all the way across into Cypress. The Turkey side didn't enjoy it very much. I don't know if you know...
WHITFIELD: It goes way back.
MYERS: You have to go onto cnn.com to figure all of that out. Yes, back to 1974.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
MYERS: But there they go. They got it on. They got it on from the airplane and they took it onto a boat and they took it back around to the south side of the island and they had a good time with it yesterday.
WHITFIELD: This after traveling across 33 countries.
MYERS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: And this really is the first time for this torch to make its way to Cypress.
MYERS: And that torch looks exactly like the one Carol Costello has.
WHITFIELD: How did that happen? Everyone has a nice little memorial torch to hold onto.
MYERS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Yes, very nice.
MYERS: Good.
WHITFIELD: Well, I'm looking forward to the Games anyway, August 13.
MYERS: And I'm looking forward because I just bought my new high definition TV.
WHITFIELD: Oooh.
MYERS: And some of those good things are going to be hi def, so I can't wait.
WHITFIELD: It's going to be better than being there.
MYERS: I hope so.
WHITFIELD: It always is. MYERS: It's going to be cheaper.
WHITFIELD: Sometimes. Yes. Sometimes. You get some, you know, pretty good close-up shots that you wouldn't ordinarily had you been there. But, you know, it's all about the experience.
MYERS: Very good.
WHITFIELD: All right, Chad, we'll be checking again with you.
MYERS: All right. Sure.
WHITFIELD: All right, now to that DAYBREAK "Eye Opener."
Let's take a look at this unruly aftermath at, of all things, a homeland security news conference. Ouch. It seems a CBS cameraman and a reporter for the "New York Post" had a slight disagreement that couldn't be resolved through the usual diplomatic niceties.
MYERS: That looks like (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
WHITFIELD: Well, look up in the sky. This is what a bunch of people saw streaking across the night sky in five Southern states earlier this week.
MYERS: Cool.
WHITFIELD: Most official agencies are saying it was probably just a meteor. Many residents ended up calling 9/11 to report the huge fireball. That is pretty peculiar.
Well, here's a sight for sore eyes -- five endangered baby zebra mongooses are on display at a zoo in Berlin. Their arrival came as a surprise to the zoo keepers since they didn't even know that any of the adult mongooses were pregnant. They don't show it, I guess. Well, the babies will be kept on display for a little while before being sent off to live at other zoos. Being separated from the families.
Well, another heartwarming surprise to report, this one a reunion that comes full circle.
Here's our Frank Buckley with a report you're going to love.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a routine call for the firefighters at Station 7, an apartment fire. No one was seriously hurt, but Sparkle Johnson, five months pregnant, had inhaled some smoke, and Captain Allen O'Neil sat her down to help.
CAPT. ALLEN O'NEIL, LONG BEACH FIRE DEPT.: I pulled out my report form for first aids, and I asked her her first name. That's where we start. And she told me her first name was Sparkle.
BUCKLEY (on camera): Sparkle was a name Captain O'Neil had heard before. In fact, it was the name of a girl he had talked about for 20 years.
(voice-over): Twenty years ago, O'Neil was a rookie in the Long Beach California Fire Department. He was riding in the back of an ambulance with a woman in labor who delivered before they could get to the hospital.
O'NEIL: The mom was so excited that we delivered her right there. She says, "I'm going to name this baby after you." And I said, "Well, it's a girl."
BUCKLEY: So instead of Allen, the mom said she would name the baby Sparkle. So when O'Neil was writing that name down, as he showed us, on the first aid form 20 years later, O'Neil just knew.
O'NEIL: I said, "You're about 20, aren't you?" She goes, "Yeah." And I said, "Were you born in the back of an ambulance?" She goes, "Yeah." And I says, "Well, I'm the guy that delivered you 20 years ago."
BUCKLEY: Sparkle was speechless.
SPARKLE JOHNSON, FIRE VICTIM: Yeah, I started crying.
BUCKLEY: They snapped a photo together some 20 years after they had last met. And promised each other not to let 20 more years go by without knowing each other a little better.
JOHNSON: He said he wanted me to be a part of my life, and I said I wanted to be a part of his life.
O'NEIL: Sometimes we come full circle with things. And to be able to have even a small little impact on somebody's life means a lot to you.
BUCKLEY: For captain Allen O'Neil, and Sparkle Johnson, it happened twice.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Long Beach, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And here's what's in the next half hour.
Decades after their story began, a new chapter is set to unfold in Jakarta. Coming up, a story of kidnapping, defection and a long awaited reunion.
We'll have details in a live report.
Also, a live report from Alessio Vinci coming up -- Alessio.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Alessio Vinci in the West Bank.
The International Court of Justice is expected to rule later today whether a controversial barrier separating Palestinians and Israelis is legal. And a local newspaper here says it has already the answer, coming up on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired July 9, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka in for Carol Costello this morning.
Now in the news, four hours from now, the U.N.'s International Court of Justice rules on the legality of Israel's 425-mile long security barrier. An Israeli newspaper says the court will say the barrier violates international law. We'll have a live report from Israel in 30 minutes.
U.S. Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun could be on his way to Germany today. Hassoun, listed as captured in Iraq in June, will be flown to Germany from Lebanon for a medical checkup and debriefing as his claims of abduction and release get stranger and stranger.
In Washington this morning, a Senate Intelligence Committee releases a report expected to be highly critical of intelligence gathering leading up to the war in Iraq. The report will be released at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time and CNN will carry that live.
And in Indonesia, an American Army sergeant accused of defecting to North Korea 39 years ago will be reunited with his wife two hours from now. She is a Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea decades ago.
Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Let's get our first look at the weather this morning -- good morning to you, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Fred, and welcome to the morning show.
WHITFIELD: Thank you very much.
MYERS: Welcome to 5:00 a.m., or 4:00 a.m. Central time, if you will.
WHITFIELD: Oh, yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: On Capitol Hill this morning, the CIA is expected to take a beating. A Senate committee is releasing what we're told will be a scathing report on the intelligence gathering that led up to the Iraqi war.
Our national security correspondent David Ensor has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outgoing Central Intelligence Director George Tenet takes a beating in the Senate committee report just a day after he said farewell at the CIA after seven years in charge.
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: These have been eventful years, filled with exhilaration and triumph, with pain and sorrow, and, yes, with questions about our performance.
ENSOR: Sources say the 400-page committee report is blistering about failures of U.S. intelligence gathering and analysis on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and on possible ties to al Qaeda before the war.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It is an accurate, hard hitting and well deserved critique of the CIA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: George Tenet has a lot of 'splaining to do, as Desi Arnez would say.
ENSOR: According to sources, the report says the CIA relied too much on a defector's claim that this was a biological weapons truck. All now agree it is not. That it relied too much on its own nuclear expert, who was convinced that aluminum tubes smuggled in by Saddam's government were for making enriched uranium. Others said he was wrong. That it should have more quickly identified as forgeries documents suggesting Iraq was trying to buy raw uranium in Niger.
DAVID KAY, FORMER CIA IRAQ WEAPONS INSPECTOR: This is a major failing and it is going to take presidential action, along with support in the Congress, before you're going to straighten it out. It's not going to be internally reformed.
ENSOR (on camera): Democrats are not happy that the report does not cover how the Bush administration may, they say, have misused the intelligence in the run-up to the war. That topic will be covered in another report not likely to come out until after November.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Once again, no specifics, but Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warns that al Qaeda is planning a large scale attack in the United States before the November election. Ridge says the attack could be keyed to the national political conventions and could be what he calls an effort to disrupt the democratic process.
Ridge says he has no plans to raise the official threat level, but a homeland security operations center has opened for business in Washington five months ahead of schedule. We'll hear from Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." That's at 7:30 a.m. Eastern, 5:30 a.m. Pacific.
And we hope to learn more today about the circumstances surrounding the capture and release of U.S. Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun. He was abducted, reported abducted, rather, in Iraq in June and wound up in Lebanon at the home of his relatives this week.
Our Rusty Dornin has been following this story from Hassoun's family home in West Jordan, Utah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The saga of Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun -- twisted and turned into one big confusing knot. Finally back in U.S. hands, but no answers yet as to what happened since he went missing June 19th, showed up in a haunting video a week later, was rumored to have been killed, then released and then on Wednesday he appeared in Lebanon.
A source told CNN Hassoun called the U.S. Embassy in Beirut on Wednesday, but stayed with his mother and other family overnight somewhere in Lebanon.
According to a source, Hassoun's mother accompanied him to the embassy. From there, he will be flown to the U.S. base in Ramstein, Germany. There, he will be debriefed and receive a full medical exam.
In Tripoli, news about the Lebanese born Marine sparked a gun battle. At least two people were killed as fighting broke out between members of the Hassoun family and a rival family. According to witnesses, people were taunting the Hassouns, calling them American agents. No members of the Hassoun family were injured.
Here in West Jordan, Utah, the family has been in seclusion since the corporal's disappearance. For the first time, his brother stepped in front of the cameras to make a short statement. Mohamad Hassoun said the family was very grateful to have their brother back and that he had a very short phone conversation with him.
MOHAMAD HASSOUN, HASSOUN'S BROTHER: He sounded OK. I was told that he had lost some weight, but he's well.
DORNIN (on camera): Mohamad Hassoun refused to answer reporters' questions about how his brother got to Lebanon or who picked him up. He also had no comment on reports into an investigation on whether the kidnapping was a hoax. For the Hassoun family, their prayers and questions have been answered. Corporal Wassef Hassoun is alive and well.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, West Jordan, Utah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: They'd better be hungry. The Democratic team of John Kerry and John Edwards have not one, but two breakfast receptions this morning in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: This land is your land, this land is my land...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: We saw last night he's no Eric Clapton, but Kerry entertained the crowd at a fund raiser at Radio City Music Hall and he talked with CNN's Larry King about running mate John Edwards.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE")
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that a team is important. I think America wants leadership, Larry, that just tells the truth, deals with real issues and is willing to lift this country up. I think John is the kind of person who is optimistic, connected to small town, rural America. He knows the problems and he's the kind of person who's going to look me in the eye and not be afraid to say you're wrong, this is the way we've got to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Kerry and Edwards have a rally this afternoon in Beckley, West Virginia, then a long flight across the country for an event tonight in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
President Bush heads for Pennsylvania this morning, with three stops scheduled in that battleground state. At Kutztown University Mr. Bush answers questions at an Ask The President session. Then he speaks in Lancaster and finally holds a campaign rally in York. One of the White House -- one the White House, rather, hopes will draw a crowd of 10,000 supporters.
More on the presidential candidates and their campaign schedules on our Web site. The address is cnn.com/politics.
Guantanamo Bay becoming a headache for U.S. military officials. They're planning hearings for all the nearly 600 detainees at the military prison and they're being accused of trying to work around a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Our national correspondent Bob Franken reports from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Detainee lawyers are already describing the Pentagon's plan to hold military hearings for each prisoner at Guantanamo Bay minus lawyers an effort to circumvent last week's Supreme Court decision requiring legal protections for them. But Navy Secretary Gordon England has made a quick trip to the base to get the hearings quickly up and running. No comment on how the Supreme Court fits in.
GORDON ENGLAND, U.S. NAVY SECRETARY: And that's going to be part of the discussion today.
FRANKEN: The Defense Department is just one of many government agencies trying to sort through this.
RICHARD BOUCHER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: I think generally all the government lawyers -- Justice, the State Department, the Pentagon and others -- have been involved in examining this.
FRANKEN: The State Department was intensely involved as detainee Mehdi Mohammed Ghezali was spirited out in secrecy under the cover of darkness. He's been a prisoner here for more than two years, captured in Afghanistan. But he's a Swedish citizen and the Swedish government at the highest levels had demanded his release.
LAILA FREIVALDS, SWEDISH FOREIGN MINISTER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In the end, it became an uncomfortable question for the Americans. But I also hope that the Americans realize the core of our message, that one cannot hold people captive without a trial.
FRANKEN (on camera): Military officials both here and in Washington are scrambling to come up with adequate ways to decide which of the prisoners must stay on Guantanamo and which can go -- before the courts, the diplomats and the politicians tell them.
Bob Franken, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And Bob Franken will have more on this story in a telephone report next hour right here on DAYBREAK.
And there's loads more coming your way.
An international court may put up a barrier to Israel's West Bank wall. But the Israeli government has its own take on that construction project.
A reunion today in Indonesia. It's the complicated story of a U.S. Army deserter and a Japanese woman kidnapped by North Korea.
And last but not least, money makes the world go around and America's teens are afflicted with the disease of the almighty dollar.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Ken Lay isn't the only former corporate officer on the police blotter. A New York jury handed down a guilty verdict for the founder of Adelphia Communications. But what about the rest of the cases against allegedly corrupt corporate officers?
CNN's Christine Romans has this update.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than two years of scandals tore through corporate America, prosecutors promised justice. Nine hundred forty-eight days now since Enron's bankruptcy, and only 10 executives in all of corporate America are in jail.
PROF. JIM COHEN, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: The government has not been successful, has not been overwhelmingly successful in getting the verdicts that it wants in a timely manner.
ROMANS: Former star investment banker Frank Quattrone, mistrial. Then a conviction on three obstruction counts.
Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski, also a mistrial. A new trial now set for January, but a judge recently threw out half the charges related to dodging taxes on art.
Tyco former CFO Mark Schwartz, mistrial.
Four former Qwest executives, mistrials and acquittals. That prosecution was supposed to be a showcase of the government's fight against corruption.
Now it's back to square one.
For Ken Lay, it's taken more than two years for an indictment. One former prosecutor isn't surprised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You start at the bottom, you work your way up, you put your evidence in, and eventually -- it may take two-and-a- half years -- you can target the very top people in the company with the testimony that will make that a potential successful case.
ROMANS: Even in successful cases, justice has been uneven. A former HealthSouth CFO pleaded guilty, got five years probation, no jail time there. Similar crime, but Dynegy's tax executive fought his fraud charges, and he got 24 years in prison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Coming up in the next hour of DAYBREAK, legal analyst Kendall Coffey will be along with a closer look at some of the corporate criminal cases.
Your news, money and weather and sports.
It is now quarter after.
Here's what's all new this morning.
The "Tribute In Light" will continue to shine. More than $3 million has been set aside to allow the September 11 memorial to be relit on the anniversary of the attacks for the next five years. The lights symbolize the Twin Towers.
Transportation safety officials say improperly installed oil filters are the likely cause of more than two dozen Honda SUV fires. The "Washington Post" reports that 27 Honda CRVs caught fire shortly after having their first oil change. No one has been reported injured in those fires.
In money, First Energy Corporation has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to clean up its act. The company had been sued over excessive emissions from its coal burning power plant near Steubenville, Ohio.
In culture, singer David Bowie is finally back home following his emergency heart surgery. Bowie spent nearly three weeks in a German hospital after undergoing surgery to unclog a blocked artery. He was forced to cancel the remaining dates on his European tour.
And in sports, one day after capturing the yellow jersey, Lance Armstrong falls back in the pack in the Tour de France. Armstrong is in sixth place now, nine minutes, 35 seconds behind the leader.
But you know what, Chad, I don't think...
MYERS: Wow, that's huge!
WHITFIELD: It is. But you know what? Don't worry. We've still got a long way to go.
MYERS: Well, there had to be some event, maybe like this one, I'm not sure, but you just don't fall back nine minutes.
WHITFIELD: Oh, no.
MYERS: Holy cow. I'll have to look that up.
WHITFIELD: Yes, that is a lot. That's all right, he'll gain some speed.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Well, tech stocks dragged down Wall Street.
Let's see what's happening with the European stocks.
For that we turn to our Todd Benjamin, checking the financial numbers for us in London -- hello to you.
TODD BENJAMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.
Well, Wall Street's dive yesterday causing waves here today.
Right now the FTSE's off just a quarter percent.
But the DAX, which has some pretty heavy tech weightings, off better than 1 percent.
And the CAC in Paris is off almost 1 percent.
You're absolutely right, a rough day for tech yesterday. The Nasdaq was off 1.5 percent. It's off 3.5 percent for the week.
Yahoo! was down 8 percent after Wall Street was disappointed with their latest earnings. Even though they hit the numbers, they didn't blow them out of the water.
The Dow was down better than a half percent and the S&P 500 was down almost 1 percent.
Today we're going to get General Electric, its latest earnings report. It's a good bellwether for the overall economy since it's in so many different areas, from finance to aerospace to medical equipment. And next week we get into the heavy earnings season.
Right now, though, the good news is at least the futures market is pointing to a higher open on Wall Street. But a lot may depend on what General Electric has to say and whether they hit their numbers. They're expected to earn $0.37 a share in the latest quarter.
Have a great day and weekend -- back to you.
WHITFIELD: You, too.
Thanks a lot, Todd.
Well, let the games begin. After a worldwide tour, the Olympic Torch enters its final leg and returns to familiar ground.
Also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pulled out my report form for first aids and I asked her her first name. So we start and she told me her first name was Sparkle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: A call to duty was anything but routine. How life comes full circle for one California firefighter. The heartwarming Sparkle saga straight ahead.
This is DAYBREAK for Friday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, time four our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener." Or, actually, let's do that in a minute.
MYERS: OK.
WHITFIELD: Let's talk first, let's talk a little bit about this Olympic Torch.
MYERS: Almost back to where it came from.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
MYERS: Almost back.
WHITFIELD: Almost. MYERS: All the way now over to Cypress. We have some pictures of it...
WHITFIELD: After 33 countries.
MYERS: Yes, look at this. They really enjoyed it yesterday as it moved all the way across into Cypress. The Turkey side didn't enjoy it very much. I don't know if you know...
WHITFIELD: It goes way back.
MYERS: You have to go onto cnn.com to figure all of that out. Yes, back to 1974.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
MYERS: But there they go. They got it on. They got it on from the airplane and they took it onto a boat and they took it back around to the south side of the island and they had a good time with it yesterday.
WHITFIELD: This after traveling across 33 countries.
MYERS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: And this really is the first time for this torch to make its way to Cypress.
MYERS: And that torch looks exactly like the one Carol Costello has.
WHITFIELD: How did that happen? Everyone has a nice little memorial torch to hold onto.
MYERS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Yes, very nice.
MYERS: Good.
WHITFIELD: Well, I'm looking forward to the Games anyway, August 13.
MYERS: And I'm looking forward because I just bought my new high definition TV.
WHITFIELD: Oooh.
MYERS: And some of those good things are going to be hi def, so I can't wait.
WHITFIELD: It's going to be better than being there.
MYERS: I hope so.
WHITFIELD: It always is. MYERS: It's going to be cheaper.
WHITFIELD: Sometimes. Yes. Sometimes. You get some, you know, pretty good close-up shots that you wouldn't ordinarily had you been there. But, you know, it's all about the experience.
MYERS: Very good.
WHITFIELD: All right, Chad, we'll be checking again with you.
MYERS: All right. Sure.
WHITFIELD: All right, now to that DAYBREAK "Eye Opener."
Let's take a look at this unruly aftermath at, of all things, a homeland security news conference. Ouch. It seems a CBS cameraman and a reporter for the "New York Post" had a slight disagreement that couldn't be resolved through the usual diplomatic niceties.
MYERS: That looks like (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
WHITFIELD: Well, look up in the sky. This is what a bunch of people saw streaking across the night sky in five Southern states earlier this week.
MYERS: Cool.
WHITFIELD: Most official agencies are saying it was probably just a meteor. Many residents ended up calling 9/11 to report the huge fireball. That is pretty peculiar.
Well, here's a sight for sore eyes -- five endangered baby zebra mongooses are on display at a zoo in Berlin. Their arrival came as a surprise to the zoo keepers since they didn't even know that any of the adult mongooses were pregnant. They don't show it, I guess. Well, the babies will be kept on display for a little while before being sent off to live at other zoos. Being separated from the families.
Well, another heartwarming surprise to report, this one a reunion that comes full circle.
Here's our Frank Buckley with a report you're going to love.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a routine call for the firefighters at Station 7, an apartment fire. No one was seriously hurt, but Sparkle Johnson, five months pregnant, had inhaled some smoke, and Captain Allen O'Neil sat her down to help.
CAPT. ALLEN O'NEIL, LONG BEACH FIRE DEPT.: I pulled out my report form for first aids, and I asked her her first name. That's where we start. And she told me her first name was Sparkle.
BUCKLEY (on camera): Sparkle was a name Captain O'Neil had heard before. In fact, it was the name of a girl he had talked about for 20 years.
(voice-over): Twenty years ago, O'Neil was a rookie in the Long Beach California Fire Department. He was riding in the back of an ambulance with a woman in labor who delivered before they could get to the hospital.
O'NEIL: The mom was so excited that we delivered her right there. She says, "I'm going to name this baby after you." And I said, "Well, it's a girl."
BUCKLEY: So instead of Allen, the mom said she would name the baby Sparkle. So when O'Neil was writing that name down, as he showed us, on the first aid form 20 years later, O'Neil just knew.
O'NEIL: I said, "You're about 20, aren't you?" She goes, "Yeah." And I said, "Were you born in the back of an ambulance?" She goes, "Yeah." And I says, "Well, I'm the guy that delivered you 20 years ago."
BUCKLEY: Sparkle was speechless.
SPARKLE JOHNSON, FIRE VICTIM: Yeah, I started crying.
BUCKLEY: They snapped a photo together some 20 years after they had last met. And promised each other not to let 20 more years go by without knowing each other a little better.
JOHNSON: He said he wanted me to be a part of my life, and I said I wanted to be a part of his life.
O'NEIL: Sometimes we come full circle with things. And to be able to have even a small little impact on somebody's life means a lot to you.
BUCKLEY: For captain Allen O'Neil, and Sparkle Johnson, it happened twice.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Long Beach, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And here's what's in the next half hour.
Decades after their story began, a new chapter is set to unfold in Jakarta. Coming up, a story of kidnapping, defection and a long awaited reunion.
We'll have details in a live report.
Also, a live report from Alessio Vinci coming up -- Alessio.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Alessio Vinci in the West Bank.
The International Court of Justice is expected to rule later today whether a controversial barrier separating Palestinians and Israelis is legal. And a local newspaper here says it has already the answer, coming up on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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