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CNN Live At Daybreak
Storm Tracker; Al-Sadr War Casualty; Foreign Buying Power; Bombshell; Antidepressant Risk
Aired August 13, 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: Rolling fury heading straight for America's playground. Charley sets its sights on Florida.
It's Friday, August 13. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
"Now in the News," the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is wounded in the battle for Najaf. His spokesman says he was hit in the chest, leg and arm with shrapnel in the Imam Ali Mosque. Al-Sadr is expected to make a full recovery. He was wounded as his militiamen tangled with U.S. and Iraqi troops.
A British journalist has been kidnapped by gunmen in Basra. The kidnappers threaten to kill him unless U.S. troops withdrawal from Najaf in 24 hours.
Still burning out of control, a 7,500-acre wildfire has destroyed 67 homes near Shasta Lake, east of Redding, California. Nearly 400 other homes have been evacuated.
And Tropical Storm Bonnie spins off a tornado in Jacksonville, Florida. It damaged buildings and cars but didn't hurt anyone.
In the meantime, Hurricane Charley takes aim at Tampa, and Chad is there waiting for Charley.
It's Friday the 13th, too -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Is it really, Carol? Wow, yes, I didn't think about that.
You know what, we were driving, actually, from Panama City yesterday, all the way up and over to Lake City, and then down to Tampa, because all of the flights were canceled. There was no way to get between the two cities here. And the skies were gray. The clouds were hanging down. It felt like every cloud could have been a little tornado spinning off. Obviously we didn't see any or we would have shadowed the camera, but all these little fingers were coming down. It was an eerie sight as we were driving over and then back down the Florida peninsula.
And now the eeriness is that the wind has already picked up. And the deal we are going to see today, typically we look at satellite pictures for hurricanes. Here is the satellite picture, here it is. Well now this thing, you can see it on the radar. You can see the eye on the radar out of the Key West radar site.
And let me tell you, we'll have our eye on it all day long. But the weather here is very, very serious. Could be a category three storm. That's what it's forecast to be. And if that happens and it runs itself up to where I am right now, the water will be 10 feet over my head. So that's why we have higher ground for later live shots -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Do you have a time for us, Chad, a time we should be aware of?
MYERS: It's hard to say, Carol, because the eye fall, the landfall of the eye. but all of the boats here, I mean these are all pretty much all tied down. They are all ready to go. The only problem is that the water is going to start to come up slowly, the water starts to rush into the bay. And then as the eye gets very close, it's -- I mean this thing has been a vacuum cleaner for a long time.
For many, many days, it's been sucking water into its belly, into the under the storm as the air keeps pushing water in. There's a bubble of water, if you will, and then that bubble of water will actually run right up this bay. And it's only maybe two feet out in the ocean.
But when you force that bubble into a very narrow place, like we are, into this river, that bubble just goes straight up like you'd be pouring water down a canyon. When you get to the narrow part of the canyon, the water has got to go up because there's the same volume there and the volume is actually going to bring this up.
So the numbers, I'm telling the crew we're safe here until 10:00. After that, we get six feet higher. After that, around 2:00, we're going to be 12 feet higher because that's when the real storm surge, that's when the bubble of water is going to be running up Tampa Bay.
COSTELLO: Well you be careful.
MYERS: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: I certainly will, no problem.
COSTELLO: Topping our Iraq "Situation Report" this morning, Muqtada al-Sadr a casualty. The renegade Shiite cleric was hit by shrapnel today at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf as his militiamen battled U.S. troops. Al-Sadr was treated for his wounds and is expected to recover.
The Najaf battle echoes in Basra where gunmen have kidnapped a British journalist outside of a hotel. Later, one of the kidnappers threatened to kill the journalist unless U.S. troops leave Najaf in 24 hours.
At the United Nations, the Security Council has voted unanimously to extend the U.N. mission in Iraq for another year. Secretary- General Kofi Annan will send a small team to Baghdad this week.
And we want to talk more about the military campaign in Najaf, Iraq, and the efforts to get Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr out of there.
Our senior international editor Eli Flournoy joins us now.
There's some mystery surrounding -- I mean who shot him?
ELI FLOURNOY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well we just spoke with the U.S. military in Najaf. They did not have direct information about al-Sadr being injured or any specifics about it themselves. Of course they are on one side, al-Sadr and his forces are on the other side. So all of our information about al-Sadr, his condition and what happened, is coming from al-Sadr's people themselves. So we have to...
COSTELLO: So, but he was wounded inside the mosque?
FLOURNOY: Well that is a source of contention as well. And that's a very important point, because if he was wounded inside of the mosque by fire that actually went into the mosque, that would be a very significant development. Now the U.S. military has just told us definitively that they have no information that the mosque itself has been hit. And they have been trying very, very hard, as have Iraqi forces who are fighting against al-Sadr's people, not to hit the mosque.
COSTELLO: But they brought al-Sadr -- we know they brought al- Sadr inside the mosque for treatment, right?
FLOURNOY: That's right, but that -- well according to the U.S. military, that would have been after he was hit.
COSTELLO: You would think.
FLOURNOY: Now he has a house right next to where -- he stays right next to the mosque. So, and you know what is part of the mosque and isn't part of the mosque, his people may be considering that his compound is part of the mosque.
COSTELLO: This is his, by the way, viewers, this is his compound right here. They went into his house, but they didn't really find anything. That thing is really close to the mosque, though, the U.S. forces.
FLOURNOY: That's true. I mean on the ground there they're right in there.
Now the timing of this being yesterday and then overnight fighting could have been -- he could have gone back to this place or it could be yet another place, a house where he was staying. Again, we're not getting a whole lot of detail about it precisely where he was at that time. It's just that al-Sadr's people say he was in the mosque, but the mosque compound is quite a large area and may not be what you think of as the actual mosque proper where people go in to pray. But it is an important point, because that is what the U.S. forces and Iraqi forces are desperately trying to avoid hitting that itself.
COSTELLO: I want to talk about this British journalist who has been kidnapped. Who is it? Is it a he, a she?
FLOURNOY: It is a he, and that's -- we're being very careful with that because we want to make sure that his family has been notified. There is a name out there. He works for the "Sunday Telegraph," among other organizations. And so we are looking at that, trying to make sure that his family has been notified and we're waiting for British authorities to get back to us.
COSTELLO: But the weird part about this is supposedly he was taken hostage by a group demanding that U.S. forces leave Najaf, but then Muqtada al-Sadr's people issued some sort of statement about it?
FLOURNOY: Yes, exactly. I mean you've got to recognize that these different groups of militants are not necessarily closely connected. They're not necessarily communicating with each other. So you've got the guys who took the journalist down in Basra, which is a long way away from Najaf. And...
COSTELLO: It's in the southern part of Iraq.
FLOURNOY: Yes. Al-Sadr's people have come out and say you know we don't want to have anything to do with that and please don't -- you know please let him go.
COSTELLO: It's a strange situation (ph).
FLOURNOY: It's interesting.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Eli. We'll let you get more information about the journalist. Thank you.
Talk about the American election. Lobbyists hoping to influence legislation spend or distribute hundreds of millions of dollars every year in Washington. Some of those hundreds of millions come from overseas. But it's harder than you might think to follow the money.
In our fourth of several reports aimed at "Your Money and the Best Government it Can Buy," our Lisa Sylvester looks at foreign buying power. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Johnny Chung, a Taiwanese- American, was a familiar face during the Clinton years. He pled guilty for giving illegal campaign contributions, including $8,000 in 1996 to Senator Kerry.
Kerry returned Chung's donations. Later it was revealed that some of the money came from foreign nationals. Under U.S. campaign finance laws, only U.S. citizens and permanent residents can contribute to political campaigns
But special-interest groups representing foreign interests still try to influence U.S. policy by hiring an army of lobbyists.
STEVE WEISS, CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS: The United States is the world's last super-power, and what we do legislatively impacts the world greatly.
That's going to bring a lot of money to this country and a lot of lobbyists as well.
SYLVESTER: Groups advocating on behalf of foreign interests spent $157 million in the first half of 2003, according to a detailed analysis of Justice Department records done by "The National Journal."
Saudi Arabia has been seeking to improve its image since 9/11 with a more than $20 million image face lift. Libya is eager to get into the United States' good graces. Years after the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, it just signed a million dollar contract with a Washington firm.
And countries like India are hoping to expand trade even further with the United States. According to Senate records, India's National Association of Software and Service Companies spent $200,000 on lobbying in 2003.
Congressional travel records show the Confederation of Indian Industry sponsored several fact-finding trips to India; including one Representative Joseph Crowley went on earlier this year.
Both Indian groups declined an interview request. Foreign lobbying firms like to keep a low profile quietly influencing policy.
KEVIN MCCAULEY, O'DWYER'S P.R. DAILY: I don't think Americans are aware of that. If they were aware of it, they would be angry about it. I think the more exposure there is on foreign influence in D.C., maybe that would generate interest.
SYLVESTER: Groups representing foreign governments have to register with the Justice Department Office of Foreign Agents Registration Act. But critics say the government does not go out of its way to make the documents accessible to the public.
The Center for Public Integrity sued the government to get a copy of the foreign registry to post on its Web site. What was told:
BOB WILLIAMS, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: They basically told us was, "We cannot make a copy because this system is so old and so decrepit that we will destroy it literally by making a copy," which is pretty novel argument. You're getting close to the "dog ate my homework" argument.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: On "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT," a look at America's most powerful lobbying groups and how they influence lawmakers and policy in this country. That's at 6:00 Eastern, 3:00 Pacific Time. There is now some nonpartisan proof that President Bush's tax cuts shift the federal tax burden from the richest Americans to middle class families, something the Democrats have been saying for a long time.
Now "The Washington Post" reports the Congressional Budget Office, headed by a former Bush White House economist, is coming out with these figures. They show the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, those with incomes over $1 million, saw their share of federal taxes drop 2.1 percent. At the same time, taxpayers with incomes between $51,000 to $75,000 a year saw their tax burden jump 0.8 of a percent. The full report comes out today.
A political war of words may have backfired on Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney criticized Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry for promising to wage a more sensitive war on terror. Cheney told supporters in Ohio those who kill innocent people don't need to be treated with sensitivity, but the president himself made similar remarks just after taking office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Precisely, because America is powerful, we must be sensitive about expressing our power and influence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Aides say at last week's speech where Kerry promised to destroy terrorist networks by promising to be more sensitive, he meant more diplomatic ties with other countries.
For an update on all of today's campaign news, including the candidate's stop in Oregon, tune in to "INSIDE POLITICS WITH JUDY WOODRUFF." That begins at 3:30 Eastern.
Hurricane Charley takes the Florida Keys by storm, and it's now heading for the mainland. A live hurricane update from Chad in five minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JAMES MCGREEVEY (D), NEW JERSEY: I engaged in adult consensual affair with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We'd like to hear from you on our e-mail "Question of the Morning." Governor McGreevey's resignation, is it an abuse of power issue or is it a gay issue for you? RSVP DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:46 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.
Michael Jackson just might attend an unusual court hearing Monday in his child molestation case. His defense team has subpoenaed the prosecutor in the case because they say his investigation violated the attorney-client privilege.
In Iraq, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is reportedly a casualty of war. Spokesman says al-Sadr suffered shrapnel wounds to his arm and chest during fighting in Najaf.
In money news, let the bidding begin. Google, the Web's No. 1 search engine, is expected to open the bidding for its initial public offering this morning. Google plans to announce the IPO price next week.
In culture, now you can step all over "Laverne and Shirley." Actresses Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams are the latest to get stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
And in sports, it was a stunner at The Games in Athens. Iraq's soccer team scored an unlikely four to two win over the heavily favored Portugal in a preliminary round match.
Now out to Tampa and Chad who is waiting for Charley.
MYERS: Yes, waiting for Charley to come up now south and west of the Dry Tortugas. You could see the satellite or radar, whatever you want to see. But behind me, all of these very nice vessels here, and this one here called the Dreamcatcher (ph), the owner just came by. She's going to get her sewing machine off this boat now, just now, because it's a good sewing machine. She doesn't want to lose it. There's nothing really you can do with the boat now.
The best case scenario would be to have this boat into the wind somewhere on a big mooring ball way out in the middle of Tampa Bay that was hurricane proof. Now how many mooring balls are hurricane proof to 150, 120 miles per hour? I don't know that answer. Most of them are just big concrete blocks that they sink in the ocean, put a big chain on. But this thing is kind of sideways to the wind, because the wind is going to be coming this direction all day.
And these boats are going to get higher and higher as this storm surge begins to move the water up, up and up. And in fact, Carol, where I'm standing could be and will be 10 feet under water. So that water is another four feet over my head. And think about all these boats going up and trying to stay where they are now with winds blowing at 110. This isn't going to be pretty.
COSTELLO: Well I was going to ask you about those people behind you. That's a pretty expensive boat. What are they going to do with it?
MYERS: They took everything that was valuable off of it yesterday. And now he's going in there now to get the sewing machine, as I said, because that's the one last thing that they still want that's on the boat right now.
The power is going to be shut off here at 10:00, and all of these boats are hooked up to shore power. And the shore power charges the batteries. The batteries actually take the water that might come in the boat, whether it's rain or seepage, whatever it might be, and pump it out. The bilge pump comes out of the bottom. So when the power goes out, it's going to be all on batteries. Boats float only, Carol, because more water gets pumped out than goes in. As long as those pumps are working, the boat will keep floating.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: Well I hope the boat makes it through.
Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Chad live from Tampa, Florida this morning.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: To the other storm now, the political one brewing in New Jersey. Governor James McGreevey is out of the closet and he's about to be out of his job. He's resigning after admitting to an affair with another man. There's a whole lot to this story.
Reporter Lisa Colagrossi of CNN affiliate WABC joins us live from Woodbridge, New Jersey.
Lisa, good morning.
LISA COLAGROSSI, WABC-TV REPORTER: Good morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: How much of a surprise was this?
COLAGROSSI: I think really anyone in New Jersey and even in the Tri State Area was absolutely stunned by this revelation. I mean it really came as a shock. Governor McGreevey is someone who has campaigned and portrayed himself as a family man, an Irish Catholic with strong values. So it really came as quite a shock, not only the disclosure that he was gay, but also that there is possibly this pending lawsuit by this former aide. So it really, as a political scandal as far as that goes, there's certainly many layers to it.
COSTELLO: Well you know a lot of people are talking about his wife's appearance. She stood there right there beside him. I don't know of many women who would agree to do that.
COLAGROSSI: There are certainly a lot of questions, because Governor McGreevey was married once before. He had a daughter with his first wife, and then he's been married to Dina for some time. Now they also have a daughter. So I think once you get beyond the political aspect of it, I think a lot of people are wondering what exactly is going on. And McGreevey would not answer any questions yesterday regarding this, and he would not talk about the status of his marriage. But certainly that's what everyone is really curious about now is what is going on with his family, which must be an extremely difficult time for all of them.
COSTELLO: Is there something more to this? A lot of viewers have been e-mailing us this morning saying so he's gay, why resign?
COLAGROSSI: Well everything seems to be precipitated by this pending lawsuit by Golan Cipel. He's a 35-year-old man. He was the former New Jersey Homeland Security advisor. And his appointment by McGreevey was very controversial. For one thing, he does not have any security background. He's like an Israeli poet. And he also did not go through the proper background check.
So when McGreevey appointed him, there was a lot of controversy, a lot of criticism. And now we're hearing that Golan Cipel is actually going to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the governor. And aides to the governor say that Cipel had demanded $5 million to make this lawsuit go away. So there is still a lot more that is yet to come out regarding this issue.
COSTELLO: Boy, you're not kidding. Lisa Colagrossi reporting live for us this morning. And I'm going to say hello to an old friend. Nice to see you again -- Lisa.
COLAGROSSI: Hi, Carol. How you doing? Good to see you.
COSTELLO: Hi. I'm doing fine. Thanks so much for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
COLAGROSSI: Sure thing.
COSTELLO: We want to hear what you think about McGreevey's resignation, was it an abuse of power or was it a gay issue for you? E-mail us at DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
And I have a couple already that I'm going to read to you right now. They're very interesting this morning.
This is from Mark (ph) from New Jersey. He says this is the year 2004 not 1950. Nobody cares who the heck other people sleep with. As a New Jersey resident, I think he should not have resigned as long as he can do his job.
This is from Frank (ph) also from New Jersey. He says our Governor McGreevey has, since the day he has been in office, has been questionable in his ethics. This is not a gay issue, but yet just another feeble attempt to try and play the good people of New Jersey.
This is from Cole (ph) from Minnesota. He says it's not about an abuse of power, it's about the sanctity of marriage. He blew it.
And one more, this is also from New Jersey. Right or wrong, it's nice to see a politician being honest about what happened rather than trying to hide it.
Keep the e-mails coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
Millions of children are taking antidepressants, but popping pills to combat depression just may not be the cure-all parents are hoping for. We're going to page Dr. Gupta.
Have you heard, don't go in the water, it's full of thrashing fins. Tom O'Neil takes us to the movies in the next hour of DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Antidepressant drugs have worked wonders in many children who suffer from depression, but now there are new concerns these same drugs are linked to the unthinkable.
Here's more for you from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Though you haven't heard it from the FDA, depressed children who take some anti- depressants are more likely to exhibit suicidal behavior than depressed children who avoid those medications.
DR. STEVE HYMAN, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: We don't want treatments that are meant to help to inadvertently harm.
GUPTA: But they do sometimes cause harm by increasing the risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts by almost two times.
According to Dr. Steven Hyman, Harvard Provost and former director of the National Institutes for Mental Health.
The alarm bells were sounded in Britain a year ago -- here in the United States the FDA is going to release results of its own studies next month.
The studies are done and Dr. Hyman has already seen the preliminary results.
HYMAN: We have data now, which raises the possibility that with a variety of these SSRI antidepressants, some children have an increased likelihood of suicide-related behaviors and I think this data has never been available to be seen before.
GUPTA: The data that shows the very drugs that treat depression can sometimes also lead to the most tragic outcome of depression itself. Nobody really knows why this happens, but Dr. Hyman has a theory.
HYMAN: But there's long been concern that for a certain number of people, soon after starting treatment they might gain the energy or have side effects, which might lead them to attempt suicide.
GUPTA: And, therefore, the riskiest times are at the beginning of treatment or when a dose is being changed. Interestingly, Prozac appears to be the safest with regards to suicidal tendencies.
HYMAN: In fact, based on the current data, one should probably begin treatment with Prozac and only use the other drugs if Prozac is intolerated by that child.
GUPTA: Depression can be treated effectively in adults and children but when starting or changing medications, close monitoring is always a must.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Hurricane Charley is picking up speed. The category two storm sets its sights on the Sunshine State. We'll get the latest in a live report. Chad is there.
This is DAYBREAK for Friday the 13th.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired August 13, 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: Rolling fury heading straight for America's playground. Charley sets its sights on Florida.
It's Friday, August 13. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
"Now in the News," the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is wounded in the battle for Najaf. His spokesman says he was hit in the chest, leg and arm with shrapnel in the Imam Ali Mosque. Al-Sadr is expected to make a full recovery. He was wounded as his militiamen tangled with U.S. and Iraqi troops.
A British journalist has been kidnapped by gunmen in Basra. The kidnappers threaten to kill him unless U.S. troops withdrawal from Najaf in 24 hours.
Still burning out of control, a 7,500-acre wildfire has destroyed 67 homes near Shasta Lake, east of Redding, California. Nearly 400 other homes have been evacuated.
And Tropical Storm Bonnie spins off a tornado in Jacksonville, Florida. It damaged buildings and cars but didn't hurt anyone.
In the meantime, Hurricane Charley takes aim at Tampa, and Chad is there waiting for Charley.
It's Friday the 13th, too -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Is it really, Carol? Wow, yes, I didn't think about that.
You know what, we were driving, actually, from Panama City yesterday, all the way up and over to Lake City, and then down to Tampa, because all of the flights were canceled. There was no way to get between the two cities here. And the skies were gray. The clouds were hanging down. It felt like every cloud could have been a little tornado spinning off. Obviously we didn't see any or we would have shadowed the camera, but all these little fingers were coming down. It was an eerie sight as we were driving over and then back down the Florida peninsula.
And now the eeriness is that the wind has already picked up. And the deal we are going to see today, typically we look at satellite pictures for hurricanes. Here is the satellite picture, here it is. Well now this thing, you can see it on the radar. You can see the eye on the radar out of the Key West radar site.
And let me tell you, we'll have our eye on it all day long. But the weather here is very, very serious. Could be a category three storm. That's what it's forecast to be. And if that happens and it runs itself up to where I am right now, the water will be 10 feet over my head. So that's why we have higher ground for later live shots -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Do you have a time for us, Chad, a time we should be aware of?
MYERS: It's hard to say, Carol, because the eye fall, the landfall of the eye. but all of the boats here, I mean these are all pretty much all tied down. They are all ready to go. The only problem is that the water is going to start to come up slowly, the water starts to rush into the bay. And then as the eye gets very close, it's -- I mean this thing has been a vacuum cleaner for a long time.
For many, many days, it's been sucking water into its belly, into the under the storm as the air keeps pushing water in. There's a bubble of water, if you will, and then that bubble of water will actually run right up this bay. And it's only maybe two feet out in the ocean.
But when you force that bubble into a very narrow place, like we are, into this river, that bubble just goes straight up like you'd be pouring water down a canyon. When you get to the narrow part of the canyon, the water has got to go up because there's the same volume there and the volume is actually going to bring this up.
So the numbers, I'm telling the crew we're safe here until 10:00. After that, we get six feet higher. After that, around 2:00, we're going to be 12 feet higher because that's when the real storm surge, that's when the bubble of water is going to be running up Tampa Bay.
COSTELLO: Well you be careful.
MYERS: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: I certainly will, no problem.
COSTELLO: Topping our Iraq "Situation Report" this morning, Muqtada al-Sadr a casualty. The renegade Shiite cleric was hit by shrapnel today at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf as his militiamen battled U.S. troops. Al-Sadr was treated for his wounds and is expected to recover.
The Najaf battle echoes in Basra where gunmen have kidnapped a British journalist outside of a hotel. Later, one of the kidnappers threatened to kill the journalist unless U.S. troops leave Najaf in 24 hours.
At the United Nations, the Security Council has voted unanimously to extend the U.N. mission in Iraq for another year. Secretary- General Kofi Annan will send a small team to Baghdad this week.
And we want to talk more about the military campaign in Najaf, Iraq, and the efforts to get Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr out of there.
Our senior international editor Eli Flournoy joins us now.
There's some mystery surrounding -- I mean who shot him?
ELI FLOURNOY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well we just spoke with the U.S. military in Najaf. They did not have direct information about al-Sadr being injured or any specifics about it themselves. Of course they are on one side, al-Sadr and his forces are on the other side. So all of our information about al-Sadr, his condition and what happened, is coming from al-Sadr's people themselves. So we have to...
COSTELLO: So, but he was wounded inside the mosque?
FLOURNOY: Well that is a source of contention as well. And that's a very important point, because if he was wounded inside of the mosque by fire that actually went into the mosque, that would be a very significant development. Now the U.S. military has just told us definitively that they have no information that the mosque itself has been hit. And they have been trying very, very hard, as have Iraqi forces who are fighting against al-Sadr's people, not to hit the mosque.
COSTELLO: But they brought al-Sadr -- we know they brought al- Sadr inside the mosque for treatment, right?
FLOURNOY: That's right, but that -- well according to the U.S. military, that would have been after he was hit.
COSTELLO: You would think.
FLOURNOY: Now he has a house right next to where -- he stays right next to the mosque. So, and you know what is part of the mosque and isn't part of the mosque, his people may be considering that his compound is part of the mosque.
COSTELLO: This is his, by the way, viewers, this is his compound right here. They went into his house, but they didn't really find anything. That thing is really close to the mosque, though, the U.S. forces.
FLOURNOY: That's true. I mean on the ground there they're right in there.
Now the timing of this being yesterday and then overnight fighting could have been -- he could have gone back to this place or it could be yet another place, a house where he was staying. Again, we're not getting a whole lot of detail about it precisely where he was at that time. It's just that al-Sadr's people say he was in the mosque, but the mosque compound is quite a large area and may not be what you think of as the actual mosque proper where people go in to pray. But it is an important point, because that is what the U.S. forces and Iraqi forces are desperately trying to avoid hitting that itself.
COSTELLO: I want to talk about this British journalist who has been kidnapped. Who is it? Is it a he, a she?
FLOURNOY: It is a he, and that's -- we're being very careful with that because we want to make sure that his family has been notified. There is a name out there. He works for the "Sunday Telegraph," among other organizations. And so we are looking at that, trying to make sure that his family has been notified and we're waiting for British authorities to get back to us.
COSTELLO: But the weird part about this is supposedly he was taken hostage by a group demanding that U.S. forces leave Najaf, but then Muqtada al-Sadr's people issued some sort of statement about it?
FLOURNOY: Yes, exactly. I mean you've got to recognize that these different groups of militants are not necessarily closely connected. They're not necessarily communicating with each other. So you've got the guys who took the journalist down in Basra, which is a long way away from Najaf. And...
COSTELLO: It's in the southern part of Iraq.
FLOURNOY: Yes. Al-Sadr's people have come out and say you know we don't want to have anything to do with that and please don't -- you know please let him go.
COSTELLO: It's a strange situation (ph).
FLOURNOY: It's interesting.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Eli. We'll let you get more information about the journalist. Thank you.
Talk about the American election. Lobbyists hoping to influence legislation spend or distribute hundreds of millions of dollars every year in Washington. Some of those hundreds of millions come from overseas. But it's harder than you might think to follow the money.
In our fourth of several reports aimed at "Your Money and the Best Government it Can Buy," our Lisa Sylvester looks at foreign buying power. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Johnny Chung, a Taiwanese- American, was a familiar face during the Clinton years. He pled guilty for giving illegal campaign contributions, including $8,000 in 1996 to Senator Kerry.
Kerry returned Chung's donations. Later it was revealed that some of the money came from foreign nationals. Under U.S. campaign finance laws, only U.S. citizens and permanent residents can contribute to political campaigns
But special-interest groups representing foreign interests still try to influence U.S. policy by hiring an army of lobbyists.
STEVE WEISS, CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS: The United States is the world's last super-power, and what we do legislatively impacts the world greatly.
That's going to bring a lot of money to this country and a lot of lobbyists as well.
SYLVESTER: Groups advocating on behalf of foreign interests spent $157 million in the first half of 2003, according to a detailed analysis of Justice Department records done by "The National Journal."
Saudi Arabia has been seeking to improve its image since 9/11 with a more than $20 million image face lift. Libya is eager to get into the United States' good graces. Years after the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, it just signed a million dollar contract with a Washington firm.
And countries like India are hoping to expand trade even further with the United States. According to Senate records, India's National Association of Software and Service Companies spent $200,000 on lobbying in 2003.
Congressional travel records show the Confederation of Indian Industry sponsored several fact-finding trips to India; including one Representative Joseph Crowley went on earlier this year.
Both Indian groups declined an interview request. Foreign lobbying firms like to keep a low profile quietly influencing policy.
KEVIN MCCAULEY, O'DWYER'S P.R. DAILY: I don't think Americans are aware of that. If they were aware of it, they would be angry about it. I think the more exposure there is on foreign influence in D.C., maybe that would generate interest.
SYLVESTER: Groups representing foreign governments have to register with the Justice Department Office of Foreign Agents Registration Act. But critics say the government does not go out of its way to make the documents accessible to the public.
The Center for Public Integrity sued the government to get a copy of the foreign registry to post on its Web site. What was told:
BOB WILLIAMS, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: They basically told us was, "We cannot make a copy because this system is so old and so decrepit that we will destroy it literally by making a copy," which is pretty novel argument. You're getting close to the "dog ate my homework" argument.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: On "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT," a look at America's most powerful lobbying groups and how they influence lawmakers and policy in this country. That's at 6:00 Eastern, 3:00 Pacific Time. There is now some nonpartisan proof that President Bush's tax cuts shift the federal tax burden from the richest Americans to middle class families, something the Democrats have been saying for a long time.
Now "The Washington Post" reports the Congressional Budget Office, headed by a former Bush White House economist, is coming out with these figures. They show the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, those with incomes over $1 million, saw their share of federal taxes drop 2.1 percent. At the same time, taxpayers with incomes between $51,000 to $75,000 a year saw their tax burden jump 0.8 of a percent. The full report comes out today.
A political war of words may have backfired on Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney criticized Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry for promising to wage a more sensitive war on terror. Cheney told supporters in Ohio those who kill innocent people don't need to be treated with sensitivity, but the president himself made similar remarks just after taking office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Precisely, because America is powerful, we must be sensitive about expressing our power and influence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Aides say at last week's speech where Kerry promised to destroy terrorist networks by promising to be more sensitive, he meant more diplomatic ties with other countries.
For an update on all of today's campaign news, including the candidate's stop in Oregon, tune in to "INSIDE POLITICS WITH JUDY WOODRUFF." That begins at 3:30 Eastern.
Hurricane Charley takes the Florida Keys by storm, and it's now heading for the mainland. A live hurricane update from Chad in five minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JAMES MCGREEVEY (D), NEW JERSEY: I engaged in adult consensual affair with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We'd like to hear from you on our e-mail "Question of the Morning." Governor McGreevey's resignation, is it an abuse of power issue or is it a gay issue for you? RSVP DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:46 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.
Michael Jackson just might attend an unusual court hearing Monday in his child molestation case. His defense team has subpoenaed the prosecutor in the case because they say his investigation violated the attorney-client privilege.
In Iraq, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is reportedly a casualty of war. Spokesman says al-Sadr suffered shrapnel wounds to his arm and chest during fighting in Najaf.
In money news, let the bidding begin. Google, the Web's No. 1 search engine, is expected to open the bidding for its initial public offering this morning. Google plans to announce the IPO price next week.
In culture, now you can step all over "Laverne and Shirley." Actresses Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams are the latest to get stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
And in sports, it was a stunner at The Games in Athens. Iraq's soccer team scored an unlikely four to two win over the heavily favored Portugal in a preliminary round match.
Now out to Tampa and Chad who is waiting for Charley.
MYERS: Yes, waiting for Charley to come up now south and west of the Dry Tortugas. You could see the satellite or radar, whatever you want to see. But behind me, all of these very nice vessels here, and this one here called the Dreamcatcher (ph), the owner just came by. She's going to get her sewing machine off this boat now, just now, because it's a good sewing machine. She doesn't want to lose it. There's nothing really you can do with the boat now.
The best case scenario would be to have this boat into the wind somewhere on a big mooring ball way out in the middle of Tampa Bay that was hurricane proof. Now how many mooring balls are hurricane proof to 150, 120 miles per hour? I don't know that answer. Most of them are just big concrete blocks that they sink in the ocean, put a big chain on. But this thing is kind of sideways to the wind, because the wind is going to be coming this direction all day.
And these boats are going to get higher and higher as this storm surge begins to move the water up, up and up. And in fact, Carol, where I'm standing could be and will be 10 feet under water. So that water is another four feet over my head. And think about all these boats going up and trying to stay where they are now with winds blowing at 110. This isn't going to be pretty.
COSTELLO: Well I was going to ask you about those people behind you. That's a pretty expensive boat. What are they going to do with it?
MYERS: They took everything that was valuable off of it yesterday. And now he's going in there now to get the sewing machine, as I said, because that's the one last thing that they still want that's on the boat right now.
The power is going to be shut off here at 10:00, and all of these boats are hooked up to shore power. And the shore power charges the batteries. The batteries actually take the water that might come in the boat, whether it's rain or seepage, whatever it might be, and pump it out. The bilge pump comes out of the bottom. So when the power goes out, it's going to be all on batteries. Boats float only, Carol, because more water gets pumped out than goes in. As long as those pumps are working, the boat will keep floating.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: Well I hope the boat makes it through.
Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Chad live from Tampa, Florida this morning.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: To the other storm now, the political one brewing in New Jersey. Governor James McGreevey is out of the closet and he's about to be out of his job. He's resigning after admitting to an affair with another man. There's a whole lot to this story.
Reporter Lisa Colagrossi of CNN affiliate WABC joins us live from Woodbridge, New Jersey.
Lisa, good morning.
LISA COLAGROSSI, WABC-TV REPORTER: Good morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: How much of a surprise was this?
COLAGROSSI: I think really anyone in New Jersey and even in the Tri State Area was absolutely stunned by this revelation. I mean it really came as a shock. Governor McGreevey is someone who has campaigned and portrayed himself as a family man, an Irish Catholic with strong values. So it really came as quite a shock, not only the disclosure that he was gay, but also that there is possibly this pending lawsuit by this former aide. So it really, as a political scandal as far as that goes, there's certainly many layers to it.
COSTELLO: Well you know a lot of people are talking about his wife's appearance. She stood there right there beside him. I don't know of many women who would agree to do that.
COLAGROSSI: There are certainly a lot of questions, because Governor McGreevey was married once before. He had a daughter with his first wife, and then he's been married to Dina for some time. Now they also have a daughter. So I think once you get beyond the political aspect of it, I think a lot of people are wondering what exactly is going on. And McGreevey would not answer any questions yesterday regarding this, and he would not talk about the status of his marriage. But certainly that's what everyone is really curious about now is what is going on with his family, which must be an extremely difficult time for all of them.
COSTELLO: Is there something more to this? A lot of viewers have been e-mailing us this morning saying so he's gay, why resign?
COLAGROSSI: Well everything seems to be precipitated by this pending lawsuit by Golan Cipel. He's a 35-year-old man. He was the former New Jersey Homeland Security advisor. And his appointment by McGreevey was very controversial. For one thing, he does not have any security background. He's like an Israeli poet. And he also did not go through the proper background check.
So when McGreevey appointed him, there was a lot of controversy, a lot of criticism. And now we're hearing that Golan Cipel is actually going to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the governor. And aides to the governor say that Cipel had demanded $5 million to make this lawsuit go away. So there is still a lot more that is yet to come out regarding this issue.
COSTELLO: Boy, you're not kidding. Lisa Colagrossi reporting live for us this morning. And I'm going to say hello to an old friend. Nice to see you again -- Lisa.
COLAGROSSI: Hi, Carol. How you doing? Good to see you.
COSTELLO: Hi. I'm doing fine. Thanks so much for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
COLAGROSSI: Sure thing.
COSTELLO: We want to hear what you think about McGreevey's resignation, was it an abuse of power or was it a gay issue for you? E-mail us at DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
And I have a couple already that I'm going to read to you right now. They're very interesting this morning.
This is from Mark (ph) from New Jersey. He says this is the year 2004 not 1950. Nobody cares who the heck other people sleep with. As a New Jersey resident, I think he should not have resigned as long as he can do his job.
This is from Frank (ph) also from New Jersey. He says our Governor McGreevey has, since the day he has been in office, has been questionable in his ethics. This is not a gay issue, but yet just another feeble attempt to try and play the good people of New Jersey.
This is from Cole (ph) from Minnesota. He says it's not about an abuse of power, it's about the sanctity of marriage. He blew it.
And one more, this is also from New Jersey. Right or wrong, it's nice to see a politician being honest about what happened rather than trying to hide it.
Keep the e-mails coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.
Millions of children are taking antidepressants, but popping pills to combat depression just may not be the cure-all parents are hoping for. We're going to page Dr. Gupta.
Have you heard, don't go in the water, it's full of thrashing fins. Tom O'Neil takes us to the movies in the next hour of DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Antidepressant drugs have worked wonders in many children who suffer from depression, but now there are new concerns these same drugs are linked to the unthinkable.
Here's more for you from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Though you haven't heard it from the FDA, depressed children who take some anti- depressants are more likely to exhibit suicidal behavior than depressed children who avoid those medications.
DR. STEVE HYMAN, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: We don't want treatments that are meant to help to inadvertently harm.
GUPTA: But they do sometimes cause harm by increasing the risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts by almost two times.
According to Dr. Steven Hyman, Harvard Provost and former director of the National Institutes for Mental Health.
The alarm bells were sounded in Britain a year ago -- here in the United States the FDA is going to release results of its own studies next month.
The studies are done and Dr. Hyman has already seen the preliminary results.
HYMAN: We have data now, which raises the possibility that with a variety of these SSRI antidepressants, some children have an increased likelihood of suicide-related behaviors and I think this data has never been available to be seen before.
GUPTA: The data that shows the very drugs that treat depression can sometimes also lead to the most tragic outcome of depression itself. Nobody really knows why this happens, but Dr. Hyman has a theory.
HYMAN: But there's long been concern that for a certain number of people, soon after starting treatment they might gain the energy or have side effects, which might lead them to attempt suicide.
GUPTA: And, therefore, the riskiest times are at the beginning of treatment or when a dose is being changed. Interestingly, Prozac appears to be the safest with regards to suicidal tendencies.
HYMAN: In fact, based on the current data, one should probably begin treatment with Prozac and only use the other drugs if Prozac is intolerated by that child.
GUPTA: Depression can be treated effectively in adults and children but when starting or changing medications, close monitoring is always a must.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Hurricane Charley is picking up speed. The category two storm sets its sights on the Sunshine State. We'll get the latest in a live report. Chad is there.
This is DAYBREAK for Friday the 13th.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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