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CNN Live At Daybreak

The Fight For Iraq; Najaf Front Lines; Surviving Charley; Game Time

Aired August 17, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPC JAMES TALLANT, U.S. ARMY: You're driving down the road and an IED goes off or something like that, it just makes it like, you know, why are we even here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A battle on sacred ground, the fight in Najaf. Troops among the tombs.

It is Tuesday, August 17. 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."

Charred store fronts and burned out cars in central Baghdad this morning. About two hours ago, an explosion killed at least four people. The blast happened on a crowded street. Some two dozen are hurt.

More pressure on a radical Iraqi cleric whose militia has been fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces in Najaf. Members of Iraq's National Conference are talking to Muqtada al-Sadr today to try to end the crisis.

Back home, Scott Peterson once told his former mistress that his wife, Laci, did not mind their affair. That's the latest detail from secretly taped phone calls between Peterson and Amber Frey. Jurors are hearing the tapes in his murder trial.

A fifth day of clean up in Florida where the number of deaths blamed on Hurricane Charley has climbed to 19. Some 760,000 people still don't have electricity as they face 90-degree heat.

To the Forecast Center and -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And 100-degree heat index, too. It's the heat and humidity and very big bugs down there, Carol. And a lot of folks don't even have windows, let alone screens.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad. MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: A deadly explosion this morning in Baghdad. The blast comes as delegates to an Iraqi National Conference were meeting to pave the way for a January election.

Let's go live to Baghdad and John Vause to find out more.

Hello -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

I'd like to bring you up to date with that explosion in central Baghdad. We're now being told by the Iraqi Interior Ministry that the death toll stands at 5 people killed, 23 wounded. The Interior Ministry believes it was in fact a mortar which was fired into central Baghdad. It landed in an area around Rasheed Street, a very old street in Baghdad, an area where marketplaces are very common. This is a powerful blast. It damaged a residential building and destroyed as many as seven cars.

There's also been a number of explosions heard here at the convention center in Baghdad. A few hours ago, we heard two very loud blasts. And the Iraqi police tell us that one mortar actually landed outside the checkpoint to the convention center where more than a thousand delegates are meeting. This is their third day of this National Conference. And we've heard from this conference that they are now sending a delegation to Najaf. But that is in fact being put on hold because of security concerns.

There was intelligence earlier today that the road between Baghdad and Najaf had in fact a number of ambushes, there was a number of unexploded roadside bombs, that kind of thing. And so the Iraqi government is now saying it will provide security for upwards of 70 delegates to head to Najaf to try and convince Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi militia to lay down their weapons and leave the Imam Ali Mosque.

For security reasons, we are not being told how the delegates will get there, whether it be by road or by air. We are not being told when they leave. We will only be told when they arrive -- Carol.

COSTELLO: John Vause live in Baghdad this morning.

And having said that, we want to go to the front lines in Najaf now for a look at what U.S. forces there are up against.

Matthew Chance takes us to the sacred battleground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The tombstones of the Valley of Peace, the ancient cemetery where U.S. troops have been fighting the Mehdi Army in Najaf. This has been an eerie battle on sacred ground that few want.

PFC BRENDAN HARTSBURG, U.S. ARMY: Actually, sir, it's very scary at night tell you the truth when you don't know where the enemy is. You don't know who they are, the insurgents, and it's an old cemetery so I kind of feel bad for the people in a certain way. It's their cemetery, their mosque right there.

CHANCE: And everyone is a suspect. Troops even open coffins yet to be buried in a grim search for weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to pray especially today for the repose of the soul of all the Marines that have died.

CHANCE: In times of war the church has its own battles to fight. Soldiers and Marines attended this makeshift service to seek solace and advice. For some, the burden of killing or witnessing it is heavy.

CAPT. PAUL SHAUGHNESSY, U.S. NAVY: Last Friday night, it was during a mortar attack, it was a young corporal that was killed. It was about 50 feet from me. A lot of his friends were right there.

We were trying to lift him out between two tombs so we could get him to the medical station and his friends had to do that and many of them because the blood was pretty profuse really affected them that somebody they had known that well kind of was dying before them.

CHANCE: And the threat of attack is constant. Here a network of IEDs or roadside bombs is uncovered, 43 in all, designed to kill. They're disarmed and destroyed this time but soldiers are killed and injured in attacks like this almost every day here.

SPC JAMES TALLANT, U.S. ARMY: Half the time, you know, you wave to somebody and they give you thumbs down and whatever, you know. You're driving down the road and an IED goes off or something like that it just, it makes it like, you know, why are we even here when most of the people don't, it seems like most of the people don't even want us here.

CHANCE: After nearly 16 months of post war Iraq it's a question many now ask.

(on camera): Some of the troops here are uncomfortable about the idea of fighting in sacred places, especially ones that are so politically sensitive. But there is a more general frustration, too. For many it seems that the peaceful and stable Iraq they thought they were fighting for is getting more distant.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Najaf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Talk a little bit more about the situation in Najaf and Muqtada al-Sadr.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us now.

We heard from John Vause about this delegation.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: And actually it's been -- it's going but not yet.

CLINCH: Well they are not going. And I mean let me take you inside our little world here in Atlanta versus -- you know we're seeing a live picture from Baghdad now of this conference going on in Baghdad.

And here in Atlanta today we're discussing our options in terms of covering this delegation going. Well in terms of discussing our options, we're also finding out that not only is the delegation having problems arranging their departure going to Najaf because no security has been supplied, any coverage of their departure and arrival in Najaf also requires, from our point of view, of their being some kind of security.

Well a few months ago the U.S. military was supplying that kind of security. If we were to cover an event going on in a military zone, the U.S. military would approach us, we would go with them, with the U.S. military contingent, perhaps Iraqis as well. Safety, security supplied to a reasonable degree and we would go. Well that security and even a convoy of Iraqi military vehicles was nonexistent at the point at which the delegation was meant to depart.

COSTELLO: But isn't that in part because the Iraqis now have the say so in who guards who?

CLINCH: Well that's exactly it. I mean to be sympathetic for a moment, it's frustrating. But to be sympathetic, they're new to this. So when a delegation says we're going to Najaf, the Iraqi government is waking up to the fact that it is now their responsibility as well as of course the U.S. But Iraqi government involved in this process also has the responsibility to get that delegation not just simply stick them on a bunch of buses and go down the road.

COSTELLO: Right, media aside, and I know you're frustrated.

CLINCH: Yes.

COSTELLO: But really the more important people to go to Najaf are this group of people...

CLINCH: Absolutely true.

COSTELLO: ... that want to negotiate with Muqtada al-Sadr and whether they will finally have enough security to be able to go safely?

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: Will that happen?

CLINCH: It is being worked out right now. All of it is being worked out. Their departure and the security for the journalists who will go with them is being worked out. Whether or not it will happen today, given that we're running out of daylight in Iraq, is another question.

Violence tying everything together here. The conference that's going on in Baghdad wants to wait until the delegation comes back before they do anything. The delegation can't go until the security situation improves. Violence is the glue that's tying all of these parts together, so very complicated.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, many thanks to you.

The recovery process now under way, but homes are gone and hundreds of thousands of people still without power. Coming up in six minutes, we'll get Chad's firsthand account of the devastation from Hurricane Charley.

And in 12 minutes, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, we'll tell you how Michael Phelps fared in the 200-meter freestyle, which brings us to our e-mail "Question of the Day." Are you even watching the Olympics? Do you even know who this Phelps guy is? E- mail your response, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Another deadly explosion in Baghdad, it happened about two hours ago. Officials are now saying 5 people are dead, 23 wounded. You're looking at pictures just in to CNN from the scene. We'll show you more as they come in to our CNN studios.

In the latest taped phone calls between Scott Peterson and Amber Frey, Peterson tells his former mistress that his wife, Laci, had no problem with their affair. Jurors are hearing the tapes in Peterson's murder trial.

In money news, have you noticed, gas prices have dropped about a nickel a gallon over the past three weeks. But do not count on that trend continuing. Experts warn that rising crude oil prices will soon mean higher prices at the pump.

In culture, NASA says its Cassini spacecraft has spotted two new moons around Saturn. They are little tiny moons. Each is about two miles across. That brings the total number of moons around the ringed planet to 33.

In sports, the NFL Players Association is getting involved in quarterback Quincy Carter's dismissal from the Dallas Cowboys. The union filed a grievance saying the Cowboys violated the collective bargaining agreement.

To the Forecast Center and -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol, things look pretty good across a lot of the country this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Want to talk a little bit more about Hurricane Charley. I watched your coverage over the weekend...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... and some of it was quite moving.

MYERS: It was moving to me. There were times that I had tears in my eyes and I couldn't speak. I was there with a microphone to do interviews, I had nothing to say. The words would not come out of my mouth.

COSTELLO: Well we have found one from Saturday, I believe, that's very moving...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... and we want to show folks. Here it is now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What did it sound like?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like a train going through. And we had...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything shook.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the whole building shook.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it was just devastating.

MYERS: Were you scared?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MYERS: I mean, obviously a very emotional time, but I mean, how long did it last?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, for me it felt like -- well, for five minutes -- five minutes, 10 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was 15 to 20 minutes, real bad storm for maybe 10, 15 minutes.

MYERS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then when the storm passed through or tornado, whatever it was, and it subsided a little bit...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then the sun came out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then the sun came out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the drizzle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was really strange.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And we returned to our place on the other side to find out that we had minimal damage compared to the top floor on this side.

MYERS: Now if you were going to tell somebody how to prepare, could you have prepared yourself better for this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Other than leaving, no.

MYERS: Why didn't you leave?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know, we thought it would...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought it was coming up higher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Higher. We thought it would be safer up higher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. But we thought the storm was coming in up higher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we thought the storm would also hit higher up Tampa so the winds wouldn't be as devastating. And then we would worry, I guess, about our place. So we said if we can feel safe here, we would stay here.

MYERS: You stayed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did.

MYERS: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This unit we had looked around and around and this just appeared to be so solid. So my son said, mom, you know it's built like a bank vault. And I believed it. I really did.

MYERS: Watch out, watch the nails.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, be very careful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you are a strange girl. Thank God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're alive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm alive. Thank you for coming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So the woman running didn't know she was alive...

MYERS: No. No.

COSTELLO: ... and she came to find her?

MYERS: The daughter that you saw running, we yelled at her because she was running across this field of nails and broken glass, slow down, did not know her mom was OK. Was on the phone with her 12 hours before that. Line went dead. Obviously all the lines went dead. She flew down from Virginia, flew into Fort Myers, got a car, drove to the storm. Knew where she -- she knew where she was going. Got into the parking lot, saw the devastation, had no idea what to think, and then came across the courtyard and saw her mom for the first time. And I...

COSTELLO: But you got -- I mean like I have tears in my eyes now.

MYERS: What do you say to that one, you know?

COSTELLO: This is -- you know the surprising thing from listening to your interviews is how people really didn't believe the hurricane would touch them.

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: They believed it would either go by or their unit would be strong enough to withstand the winds or...

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: ... is it hope springs eternal? I mean what is that?

MYERS: What it was was that the official forecast line, everybody followed the line and not what we call the cone. The line took the storm through Tampa. And so these folks were 70 miles south. They thought OK, we'll get winds to 60, we can deal with that. But the three hours to go before it was actually heading up to Tampa, it turned to the right.

Now I've heard a lot of bad stuff from the Hurricane Center about the Hurricane Center about this forecast. Let me tell you, the forecast path did always, always, always, always include the Fort Myers area. It could have turned left; it could have turned right. That's that error cone we talked about. Folks here were warned, they just didn't think it was coming.

By the time they knew it was coming, they thought to themselves, what am I going to do now? I can't go south, the storm is there. I can't go north because that's where the storm was going to go. I can't go east because that's where the storm is going. I guess we'll just hunker down.

COSTELLO: Yes, it's so difficult to predict exactly where any weather pattern is going.

MYERS: Especially a category four hurricane, 145 mile per hour winds. I will say that the damage was in a very narrow band, maybe 20, 30 miles wide. And every place else one way or the other way was pretty much in good shape. So if you still haven't heard from your loved ones, I'll tell you what, a lot of folks did hunker down.

The great news here is one thing, I know I'm out of time, but the great news about this is that this place is full of snowbirds. Snowbirds live in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Buffalo, blah, blah, blah, all the way up there through the summertime. They are not down there yet.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: Now their place is down there and their place is damaged. And they are going to have to, we're talking about 75, 85-year-old people, they're going to have to come down from their Buffalo home, down to their winter home, their mobile home, though, which really was mobile as it was blowing around, torn apart, try to save and salvage their things and then go back and try to put their lives back together. But at least they are alive.

COSTELLO: That's right, and that's the most important thing.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad, for sharing.

MYERS: You're welcome. Bye.

COSTELLO: DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Hey, have you been watching the Olympics?

MYERS: From where?

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: Punta Gorda.

COSTELLO: I'm sorry, that was a silly question.

MYERS: No, I haven't watched any Olympics. I'm sorry.

COSTELLO: Well they were on yesterday. You were home yesterday. Don't give me that.

MYERS: I was sleeping. Anyway.

COSTELLO: All right. Well let's talk about the Olympics. China is having a gold rush at the Olympics. But judging from the empty seats there, it looks like not many people are rushing to see The Games.

MYERS: The whole place is empty.

COSTELLO: It's like a ghost town in those venues. Our Larry Smith is there. He joins us live from Athens.

Larry, why are so many seats empty?

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well so many seats are empty because they haven't bought tickets pretty much, although this morning or this afternoon, I should say, the Greek Olympic Committee does say that half of the tickets have been sold, 5.1 tickets available, 5.4 tickets available. They say 3.1 million tickets have been sold. That was actually their original goal. But just they are all being sold in swimming and basketball and nowhere else, I guess, I don't know.

Speaking of the swimming though, Michael Phelps, well he could still win eight Olympic medals and tie this record for the biggest haul in a single Summer Olympics. However, he won't win eight Olympic gold medals and that would be a record. That question ended Sunday in the bronze medal finish in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay.

Last night, Phelps' bid to equal Mark Spitz's record of seven golds dashed when he finished third in the 200-meter freestyle. Second gold of The Games for Australia's Ian Thorpe. So Phelps now has a gold and two bronze. And then again tonight 200-meter butterfly final. That is tonight.

Some other gold medal winners though, all three U.S. gold medals have been won in the pool. Natalie Coughlin adding gold to a relay silver she won earlier in these Games. She triumphed in the 100-meter backstroke. The 21-year-old Cal student joining Erin Peirsol as American gold medallist in the 100-meter backstroke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE COUGHLIN, OLYMPIC GOLD WINNER: It would have been nice to break a world record, but you could break a world record at any meet and you could only get an Olympic gold medal here and that's what really matters. And that's something I'll always have with me no matter what happens in my career.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: By the way, now everything is all golden in the swimming pool for the U.S. The United States men this morning were shut out of tonight's 100-meter freestyle final. Jason Lezak and Ian Crocker both failing to reach that, a bit of a surprise.

However, U.S. men's gymnastics, a breakthrough for them. They took silver last night. Their first medal since 1984 and the first time that they had medaled in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932. So good news for the guys in the gym.

Let's go back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, Larry Smith live from Athens.

We're going to read some of your e-mails in the next hour of DAYBREAK. We've got to take this short break, though. You stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A bomb goes off in Baghdad exploding near a crowded market. These pictures new to CNN this morning.

It is Tuesday, August 17.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired August 17, 2004 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPC JAMES TALLANT, U.S. ARMY: You're driving down the road and an IED goes off or something like that, it just makes it like, you know, why are we even here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A battle on sacred ground, the fight in Najaf. Troops among the tombs.

It is Tuesday, August 17. 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."

Charred store fronts and burned out cars in central Baghdad this morning. About two hours ago, an explosion killed at least four people. The blast happened on a crowded street. Some two dozen are hurt.

More pressure on a radical Iraqi cleric whose militia has been fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces in Najaf. Members of Iraq's National Conference are talking to Muqtada al-Sadr today to try to end the crisis.

Back home, Scott Peterson once told his former mistress that his wife, Laci, did not mind their affair. That's the latest detail from secretly taped phone calls between Peterson and Amber Frey. Jurors are hearing the tapes in his murder trial.

A fifth day of clean up in Florida where the number of deaths blamed on Hurricane Charley has climbed to 19. Some 760,000 people still don't have electricity as they face 90-degree heat.

To the Forecast Center and -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And 100-degree heat index, too. It's the heat and humidity and very big bugs down there, Carol. And a lot of folks don't even have windows, let alone screens.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad. MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: A deadly explosion this morning in Baghdad. The blast comes as delegates to an Iraqi National Conference were meeting to pave the way for a January election.

Let's go live to Baghdad and John Vause to find out more.

Hello -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

I'd like to bring you up to date with that explosion in central Baghdad. We're now being told by the Iraqi Interior Ministry that the death toll stands at 5 people killed, 23 wounded. The Interior Ministry believes it was in fact a mortar which was fired into central Baghdad. It landed in an area around Rasheed Street, a very old street in Baghdad, an area where marketplaces are very common. This is a powerful blast. It damaged a residential building and destroyed as many as seven cars.

There's also been a number of explosions heard here at the convention center in Baghdad. A few hours ago, we heard two very loud blasts. And the Iraqi police tell us that one mortar actually landed outside the checkpoint to the convention center where more than a thousand delegates are meeting. This is their third day of this National Conference. And we've heard from this conference that they are now sending a delegation to Najaf. But that is in fact being put on hold because of security concerns.

There was intelligence earlier today that the road between Baghdad and Najaf had in fact a number of ambushes, there was a number of unexploded roadside bombs, that kind of thing. And so the Iraqi government is now saying it will provide security for upwards of 70 delegates to head to Najaf to try and convince Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi militia to lay down their weapons and leave the Imam Ali Mosque.

For security reasons, we are not being told how the delegates will get there, whether it be by road or by air. We are not being told when they leave. We will only be told when they arrive -- Carol.

COSTELLO: John Vause live in Baghdad this morning.

And having said that, we want to go to the front lines in Najaf now for a look at what U.S. forces there are up against.

Matthew Chance takes us to the sacred battleground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The tombstones of the Valley of Peace, the ancient cemetery where U.S. troops have been fighting the Mehdi Army in Najaf. This has been an eerie battle on sacred ground that few want.

PFC BRENDAN HARTSBURG, U.S. ARMY: Actually, sir, it's very scary at night tell you the truth when you don't know where the enemy is. You don't know who they are, the insurgents, and it's an old cemetery so I kind of feel bad for the people in a certain way. It's their cemetery, their mosque right there.

CHANCE: And everyone is a suspect. Troops even open coffins yet to be buried in a grim search for weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to pray especially today for the repose of the soul of all the Marines that have died.

CHANCE: In times of war the church has its own battles to fight. Soldiers and Marines attended this makeshift service to seek solace and advice. For some, the burden of killing or witnessing it is heavy.

CAPT. PAUL SHAUGHNESSY, U.S. NAVY: Last Friday night, it was during a mortar attack, it was a young corporal that was killed. It was about 50 feet from me. A lot of his friends were right there.

We were trying to lift him out between two tombs so we could get him to the medical station and his friends had to do that and many of them because the blood was pretty profuse really affected them that somebody they had known that well kind of was dying before them.

CHANCE: And the threat of attack is constant. Here a network of IEDs or roadside bombs is uncovered, 43 in all, designed to kill. They're disarmed and destroyed this time but soldiers are killed and injured in attacks like this almost every day here.

SPC JAMES TALLANT, U.S. ARMY: Half the time, you know, you wave to somebody and they give you thumbs down and whatever, you know. You're driving down the road and an IED goes off or something like that it just, it makes it like, you know, why are we even here when most of the people don't, it seems like most of the people don't even want us here.

CHANCE: After nearly 16 months of post war Iraq it's a question many now ask.

(on camera): Some of the troops here are uncomfortable about the idea of fighting in sacred places, especially ones that are so politically sensitive. But there is a more general frustration, too. For many it seems that the peaceful and stable Iraq they thought they were fighting for is getting more distant.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Najaf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Talk a little bit more about the situation in Najaf and Muqtada al-Sadr.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us now.

We heard from John Vause about this delegation.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: And actually it's been -- it's going but not yet.

CLINCH: Well they are not going. And I mean let me take you inside our little world here in Atlanta versus -- you know we're seeing a live picture from Baghdad now of this conference going on in Baghdad.

And here in Atlanta today we're discussing our options in terms of covering this delegation going. Well in terms of discussing our options, we're also finding out that not only is the delegation having problems arranging their departure going to Najaf because no security has been supplied, any coverage of their departure and arrival in Najaf also requires, from our point of view, of their being some kind of security.

Well a few months ago the U.S. military was supplying that kind of security. If we were to cover an event going on in a military zone, the U.S. military would approach us, we would go with them, with the U.S. military contingent, perhaps Iraqis as well. Safety, security supplied to a reasonable degree and we would go. Well that security and even a convoy of Iraqi military vehicles was nonexistent at the point at which the delegation was meant to depart.

COSTELLO: But isn't that in part because the Iraqis now have the say so in who guards who?

CLINCH: Well that's exactly it. I mean to be sympathetic for a moment, it's frustrating. But to be sympathetic, they're new to this. So when a delegation says we're going to Najaf, the Iraqi government is waking up to the fact that it is now their responsibility as well as of course the U.S. But Iraqi government involved in this process also has the responsibility to get that delegation not just simply stick them on a bunch of buses and go down the road.

COSTELLO: Right, media aside, and I know you're frustrated.

CLINCH: Yes.

COSTELLO: But really the more important people to go to Najaf are this group of people...

CLINCH: Absolutely true.

COSTELLO: ... that want to negotiate with Muqtada al-Sadr and whether they will finally have enough security to be able to go safely?

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: Will that happen?

CLINCH: It is being worked out right now. All of it is being worked out. Their departure and the security for the journalists who will go with them is being worked out. Whether or not it will happen today, given that we're running out of daylight in Iraq, is another question.

Violence tying everything together here. The conference that's going on in Baghdad wants to wait until the delegation comes back before they do anything. The delegation can't go until the security situation improves. Violence is the glue that's tying all of these parts together, so very complicated.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, many thanks to you.

The recovery process now under way, but homes are gone and hundreds of thousands of people still without power. Coming up in six minutes, we'll get Chad's firsthand account of the devastation from Hurricane Charley.

And in 12 minutes, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, we'll tell you how Michael Phelps fared in the 200-meter freestyle, which brings us to our e-mail "Question of the Day." Are you even watching the Olympics? Do you even know who this Phelps guy is? E- mail your response, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Another deadly explosion in Baghdad, it happened about two hours ago. Officials are now saying 5 people are dead, 23 wounded. You're looking at pictures just in to CNN from the scene. We'll show you more as they come in to our CNN studios.

In the latest taped phone calls between Scott Peterson and Amber Frey, Peterson tells his former mistress that his wife, Laci, had no problem with their affair. Jurors are hearing the tapes in Peterson's murder trial.

In money news, have you noticed, gas prices have dropped about a nickel a gallon over the past three weeks. But do not count on that trend continuing. Experts warn that rising crude oil prices will soon mean higher prices at the pump.

In culture, NASA says its Cassini spacecraft has spotted two new moons around Saturn. They are little tiny moons. Each is about two miles across. That brings the total number of moons around the ringed planet to 33.

In sports, the NFL Players Association is getting involved in quarterback Quincy Carter's dismissal from the Dallas Cowboys. The union filed a grievance saying the Cowboys violated the collective bargaining agreement.

To the Forecast Center and -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol, things look pretty good across a lot of the country this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Want to talk a little bit more about Hurricane Charley. I watched your coverage over the weekend...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... and some of it was quite moving.

MYERS: It was moving to me. There were times that I had tears in my eyes and I couldn't speak. I was there with a microphone to do interviews, I had nothing to say. The words would not come out of my mouth.

COSTELLO: Well we have found one from Saturday, I believe, that's very moving...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... and we want to show folks. Here it is now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What did it sound like?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like a train going through. And we had...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything shook.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the whole building shook.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it was just devastating.

MYERS: Were you scared?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MYERS: I mean, obviously a very emotional time, but I mean, how long did it last?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, for me it felt like -- well, for five minutes -- five minutes, 10 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was 15 to 20 minutes, real bad storm for maybe 10, 15 minutes.

MYERS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then when the storm passed through or tornado, whatever it was, and it subsided a little bit...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then the sun came out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then the sun came out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the drizzle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was really strange.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And we returned to our place on the other side to find out that we had minimal damage compared to the top floor on this side.

MYERS: Now if you were going to tell somebody how to prepare, could you have prepared yourself better for this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Other than leaving, no.

MYERS: Why didn't you leave?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know, we thought it would...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought it was coming up higher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Higher. We thought it would be safer up higher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. But we thought the storm was coming in up higher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we thought the storm would also hit higher up Tampa so the winds wouldn't be as devastating. And then we would worry, I guess, about our place. So we said if we can feel safe here, we would stay here.

MYERS: You stayed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did.

MYERS: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This unit we had looked around and around and this just appeared to be so solid. So my son said, mom, you know it's built like a bank vault. And I believed it. I really did.

MYERS: Watch out, watch the nails.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, be very careful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you are a strange girl. Thank God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're alive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm alive. Thank you for coming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So the woman running didn't know she was alive...

MYERS: No. No.

COSTELLO: ... and she came to find her?

MYERS: The daughter that you saw running, we yelled at her because she was running across this field of nails and broken glass, slow down, did not know her mom was OK. Was on the phone with her 12 hours before that. Line went dead. Obviously all the lines went dead. She flew down from Virginia, flew into Fort Myers, got a car, drove to the storm. Knew where she -- she knew where she was going. Got into the parking lot, saw the devastation, had no idea what to think, and then came across the courtyard and saw her mom for the first time. And I...

COSTELLO: But you got -- I mean like I have tears in my eyes now.

MYERS: What do you say to that one, you know?

COSTELLO: This is -- you know the surprising thing from listening to your interviews is how people really didn't believe the hurricane would touch them.

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: They believed it would either go by or their unit would be strong enough to withstand the winds or...

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: ... is it hope springs eternal? I mean what is that?

MYERS: What it was was that the official forecast line, everybody followed the line and not what we call the cone. The line took the storm through Tampa. And so these folks were 70 miles south. They thought OK, we'll get winds to 60, we can deal with that. But the three hours to go before it was actually heading up to Tampa, it turned to the right.

Now I've heard a lot of bad stuff from the Hurricane Center about the Hurricane Center about this forecast. Let me tell you, the forecast path did always, always, always, always include the Fort Myers area. It could have turned left; it could have turned right. That's that error cone we talked about. Folks here were warned, they just didn't think it was coming.

By the time they knew it was coming, they thought to themselves, what am I going to do now? I can't go south, the storm is there. I can't go north because that's where the storm was going to go. I can't go east because that's where the storm is going. I guess we'll just hunker down.

COSTELLO: Yes, it's so difficult to predict exactly where any weather pattern is going.

MYERS: Especially a category four hurricane, 145 mile per hour winds. I will say that the damage was in a very narrow band, maybe 20, 30 miles wide. And every place else one way or the other way was pretty much in good shape. So if you still haven't heard from your loved ones, I'll tell you what, a lot of folks did hunker down.

The great news here is one thing, I know I'm out of time, but the great news about this is that this place is full of snowbirds. Snowbirds live in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Buffalo, blah, blah, blah, all the way up there through the summertime. They are not down there yet.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: Now their place is down there and their place is damaged. And they are going to have to, we're talking about 75, 85-year-old people, they're going to have to come down from their Buffalo home, down to their winter home, their mobile home, though, which really was mobile as it was blowing around, torn apart, try to save and salvage their things and then go back and try to put their lives back together. But at least they are alive.

COSTELLO: That's right, and that's the most important thing.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad, for sharing.

MYERS: You're welcome. Bye.

COSTELLO: DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Hey, have you been watching the Olympics?

MYERS: From where?

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: Punta Gorda.

COSTELLO: I'm sorry, that was a silly question.

MYERS: No, I haven't watched any Olympics. I'm sorry.

COSTELLO: Well they were on yesterday. You were home yesterday. Don't give me that.

MYERS: I was sleeping. Anyway.

COSTELLO: All right. Well let's talk about the Olympics. China is having a gold rush at the Olympics. But judging from the empty seats there, it looks like not many people are rushing to see The Games.

MYERS: The whole place is empty.

COSTELLO: It's like a ghost town in those venues. Our Larry Smith is there. He joins us live from Athens.

Larry, why are so many seats empty?

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well so many seats are empty because they haven't bought tickets pretty much, although this morning or this afternoon, I should say, the Greek Olympic Committee does say that half of the tickets have been sold, 5.1 tickets available, 5.4 tickets available. They say 3.1 million tickets have been sold. That was actually their original goal. But just they are all being sold in swimming and basketball and nowhere else, I guess, I don't know.

Speaking of the swimming though, Michael Phelps, well he could still win eight Olympic medals and tie this record for the biggest haul in a single Summer Olympics. However, he won't win eight Olympic gold medals and that would be a record. That question ended Sunday in the bronze medal finish in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay.

Last night, Phelps' bid to equal Mark Spitz's record of seven golds dashed when he finished third in the 200-meter freestyle. Second gold of The Games for Australia's Ian Thorpe. So Phelps now has a gold and two bronze. And then again tonight 200-meter butterfly final. That is tonight.

Some other gold medal winners though, all three U.S. gold medals have been won in the pool. Natalie Coughlin adding gold to a relay silver she won earlier in these Games. She triumphed in the 100-meter backstroke. The 21-year-old Cal student joining Erin Peirsol as American gold medallist in the 100-meter backstroke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE COUGHLIN, OLYMPIC GOLD WINNER: It would have been nice to break a world record, but you could break a world record at any meet and you could only get an Olympic gold medal here and that's what really matters. And that's something I'll always have with me no matter what happens in my career.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: By the way, now everything is all golden in the swimming pool for the U.S. The United States men this morning were shut out of tonight's 100-meter freestyle final. Jason Lezak and Ian Crocker both failing to reach that, a bit of a surprise.

However, U.S. men's gymnastics, a breakthrough for them. They took silver last night. Their first medal since 1984 and the first time that they had medaled in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932. So good news for the guys in the gym.

Let's go back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, Larry Smith live from Athens.

We're going to read some of your e-mails in the next hour of DAYBREAK. We've got to take this short break, though. You stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A bomb goes off in Baghdad exploding near a crowded market. These pictures new to CNN this morning.

It is Tuesday, August 17.

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