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CNN Live At Daybreak
Update on Fighting Between Iraqi Insurgents, U.S. Military in Najaf; Latest in Controversy Over Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Ads
Aired August 24, 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Coming through -- U.S. tanks (AUDIO GAP) some of the most intense fighting in days.
It is Tuesday, August 24.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, black smoke is rising from the Iraqi city of Najaf this morning and U.S. tanks are barreling through the streets near a mosque where Shiite militiamen are holed up. The two sides are trading fire after a third straight night of U.S. air strikes.
Also in Iraq, two separate car bombings this morning. Apparently they were targeting two Iraqi ministers. The education and environment ministers were not hurt, but at least four other people were killed.
In Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the U.S. military is starting pretrial hearings today for four terror suspects. They include Australian David Hicks, who is accused of fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Is Scott Peterson's former mistress, Amber Frey, telling police all she knows? Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, says she is not. Frey will be back on the stand later today for more cross-examination in Peterson's murder trial.
To the forecast center now and Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: The fighting in Najaf appears to be intensifying this morning.
For the latest, let's go to Baghdad and CNN's Diana Muriel.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heavy machine gun fire heard around the old city of Najaf early on Tuesday morning, as light broke. Also, U.S. tanks in the area. Some seem to be firing.
This follows the third night of bombardment of the city of Najaf by U.S. forces. The bombing began at around 11:00 in the evening on Monday and continued until around 3:00 in the morning on Tuesday.
The situation on the ground remains extraordinarily tense. There are still thought to be a number of Mahdi militia fighters loyal to the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr still in the shrine compound. And the shrine has not yet been relinquished by them.
The U.S. military have categorically denied that they were in any way attacking the shrine or the shrine area. Captain Carrie Batson told CNN that a U.S. air crew had seen militants in the compound fire a rocket that clipped one of the walls and exploded around 10 yards away.
On Monday, a CNN crew witnessed a large hole, around a two foot wide hole, in the compound wall. It's not clear who was responsible for that damage.
In the meantime, two car bombs exploded in Baghdad early Tuesday, one around the Qadisiya area of the city. That is an area which is the residence of many of the government ministers, a very secure compound. The environment minister, Mishkat Moumin, was in a convoy in that area.
Also, separately, in the Jamiyah District (ph) of western Baghdad, another car bomb explosion. This a convoy that was on its way to collect the education minister, Sami al-Mudhaffar, who was, in fact, in the Qadisiya compound. He wasn't in that convoy.
Both ministers, of course, unhurt by this, by these two separate explosions. However, there are confirmed six dead and four wounded as a consequence of those two car bombs. The wounded, of course, being taken to Yarmouk Hospital in central Baghdad, where they are receiving attention for head wounds and other injuries caused by the shrapnel and the bomb blasts.
These all part of almost regular attacks, assassination attempts on ministers. This in an effort to destabilize the government of the interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi.
Diana Muriel, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Turning to the Iraqi prison abuse scandal now, there's word of a possible plea deal. Military sources say accused killer Ivan Frederick may plead guilty to one or two charges against him. He's facing a pretrial hearing in Germany this morning.
In the meantime, the lawyer for Charles Graner says the accused Army specialist was just doing what his commanders told him to do.
For the latest, CNN's Chris Burns will join us live from Germany at the bottom of this hour. And just what led to the prisoner abuse scandal in the first place? We'll find out more today, when a Pentagon panel puts on its review of the U.S. run prison system in Iraq. The review was headed by former Defense Secretary James Schlessinger. It's expected to criticize commanders for inadequate oversight of the prison system.
The battle over political ads is gaining ground. It's now front and center in the race for the White House. And there is no truce in sight.
Our Joe Johns reports on the latest salvos in the attack ads.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reporters asked the president to point blank denounce the ads by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. But Mr. Bush took a broader approach, arguing all activity by the unregulated 527 groups should stop.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That means that ad, every other ad.
QUESTION: ... encourage Republicans...
BUSH: Absolutely. I don't think we ought to have 527s. I can't be more plain about it.
JOHNS: John Kerry's campaign has been pushing for Bush to condemn the Swift Boat ad, which they say contains false assertions about Kerry's service. His running mate, John Edwards, delivered the response.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, George Bush faced his moment of truth and he failed. He failed to condemn the specific attacks on John Kerry's military record. We didn't need to hear a politician's answer. But unfortunately that's what we got.
JOHNS: President Bush has good reason to want a blanket ban on 527s. According to CNN's campaign media analysis unit, pro-Democratic outside groups, including 527s, have spent more than $70 million on ads opposing the president or praising Senator Kerry since March. Republican groups have spent just over $3 million to benefit the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it hurt me more than any physical wounds I had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: However, the impact of the Swift Boat ads, which cost just $1.1 million, has been enormous, thanks to extraordinary media coverage.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An unpaid adviser to the campaign who is featured in one of those ads...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those TV ads...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those controversial ads attacking John Kerry...
JOHNS: Fifty-seven percent of Americans have either seen or heard of them, according to one recent poll, forcing the Kerry campaign to respond with a new ad of its own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM KERRY/EDWARDS CAMPAIGN AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he pulled me out of the river he risked his life to save mine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Both sides have frequently condemned outside groups for attempting to influence the election. But neither candidate has taken forceful action to put an end to it when it's to their benefit.
RICHARD PARKER, JFK SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT: This would be done by the campaigns more directly if campaign finance law allowed them to do it. This cycle, it doesn't, and so they do this kind of work, the negative campaigning, through the surrogates that are legally available to them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: And by law, the groups are independent. That means the candidates are not supposed to have any control over what they do. Jan Baran is a veteran Republican election lawyer.
JAN BARAN, GOP ELECTION LAWYER: Even if John Kerry and George Bush today announced they would like all these 527s to stop, I think there's a serious question as to whether any or most of them would stop.
JOHNS (on camera): Both campaigns have filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission. They have also accused each other of violating the rule against coordination with 527s. But with the campaign in its final weeks, any legal remedy would likely come too late to affect this election.
Joe Johns, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: So we've told you what the candidates think and you've heard what the pundits think. We want to know what do you think? Should soft money ads be banned? E-mail us your responses. The address, daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com. The presidential race is still a squeaker, at least in Florida. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows John Kerry and President Bush are tied at 45 percent each. This is among registered voters. Ralph Nader comes in at 3 percent. But among people who say they are likely to vote, President Bush has a slight edge, 48 percent to Kerry's 46 percent. And an overwhelming 71 percent of Floridians polled say they approve of how President Bush responded to the two big storms that hit Florida.
In News Across America this morning, in California, more tough questions today for Scott Peterson's former mistress, Amber Frey. Defense attorney Mark Geragos will continue to cross-examine her. On Monday, Geragos suggested Frey didn't tape every single phone chat she had with Peterson after police asked her to.
Frey's lawyer says Geragos didn't make his case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLORIA ALLRED, AMBER FREY'S ATTORNEY: This was supposed to be a show for Mr. Geragos. But where was the star? Mr. Geragos forgot to show up with any facts or anything that could even come close to impeaching the credibility of Ms. Frey.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Frey says she taped all the phone calls and gave all of them to police.
In North Carolina, a federal grand jury has indicted a Pakistani man. Police say Kamran Akhtar had videotapes of buildings in six southern cities. The police say they haven't found any links to terrorism. Akhtar is accused of making false statements. Police in Charlotte, North Carolina arrested him last month after he videotaped an office building.
In Texas, a state law maker doesn't have the law on his side this time. A judge has ordered Representative Talmadge Heflin to return a 20-month-old boy to his mother, an African immigrant who once lived in Heflin's home. Heflin and his wife wanted temporary custody, claiming the boy's mother didn't care for him properly.
They are four of the more than 600 detainees at Guantanamo Bay. And this week they'll face a war crimes tribunal. At 17 after, we'll introduce you to suspected terrorist, Australian David Hicks.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With a grenade in one hand and a brand new AK-47 in the other, Khalan Nori (ph) is a volunteer in Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. He's just 10 years old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Children fighting a very adult war. That's at 36 past the hour.
And he's only 20, doesn't show a lot of emotion and just picked up where Michael Johnson left off. At 54 after, the rookie who's making heads turn in Athens.
Right now, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning, the 24th of August.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: U.S. markets will open mixed this morning.
The Dow closed down just over 37 points yesterday.
The Nasdaq was up about a 1/2 point.
And the S&P 500 fell just over 2 1/2 points.
In world markets, Japan's Nikkei closes up 24 points.
And in Europe, Britain's FTSE is trading up less than a 1 point.
France's CAC down 2 1/2 points this morning.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It is 5:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
More fighting has erupted in the Iraqi city of Najaf. Tanks rumbled through the city as U.S. forces stepped up pressure on insurgents to leave the holy site. It follows a night of intense U.S. air strikes that pounded Shiite militia positions.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is in Sudan's violence plagued region of Darfur. He's trying to determine if the Sudanese government is following through on a promise to end a conflict blamed for tens of thousands of deaths.
In money news, after tossing around a few markets, Kmart has settled on 18 stores that it will sell to Home Depot. The price is $271 million. About 1,600 people work at the stores that are being closed.
In culture, his hands created the classic rock of Led Zeppelin. Those hands could see Jimmy Page's prints at London's new British Walk of Fame. Page is the first celebrity to be honored there. His reaction? "It's a great honor. I'm really chuffed."
In sports, quarterback Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers have finally reached an agreement. The Chargers will pay the former N.C. State star more than $40 million for six years. Rivers has missed four weeks of training camp, but he's happy with his money now -- Chad.
MYERS: I bet he is. And he probably got a huge signing bonus for singing late.
COSTELLO: I'm sure.
MYERS: Yes. But anyway, oh, to be him.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.
Guantanamo Bay begins its first pretrial hearings of al Qaeda suspects today. Four detainees will be arraigned before U.S. military tribunals. They include a man who drove and protected Osama bin Laden and an alleged accountant for bin Laden's terror group, a poet who is accused of crafting terrorist propaganda and an Australian accused of fighting with the Taliban.
Our Susan Candiotti reports on the case against the Australian suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's a bull- riding cowboy from southern Australia, and now David Hicks finds himself thrown into a legal arena with worldwide spectators.
His attorney says this photo of Hicks posing with a rocket- propelled grenade launcher was just him goofing off.
MAJOR MICHAEL MORI, HICKS'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He's about five- foot-three, and he just strikes me as a good Aussie.
CANDIOTTI: He grew up in Australia, a freckle-faced boy. This family photo shows one of his two children, reportedly born by the time Hicks was 20.
ANDREW WHITE, FORMER NEIGHBOR: He was a good boy, never done anything wrong while he was here in Australia. So it's hard to believe what he's done.
CANDIOTTI: According to the Pentagon, Hicks joined the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1999, converted to Islam back in Australia, and fought in Pakistan. In 2001, Hicks allegedly joined an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, met Osama bin laden, and translated training materials from Arabic into English.
After the September 11 attacks, Hicks is accused of fighting coalition forces and allegedly was part of a group that included American Taliban John Walker Lindh.
MORI: I can tell you, you know, David Hicks has not injured any U.S. service member, he hasn't injured any U.S. citizen. And his own country has looked at what he's done and said that he has not violated any law of Australia.
CANDIOTTI: The Pentagon has charged Hicks with the attempted murder of coalition forces and helping al-Qaeda. When Hicks appears in court Wednesday, his nervous father and stepmother will be there.
TERRY HICKS, FATHER OF THE ACCUSED: We haven't seen David for five years. We don't know what his condition's like, what his mental state's like. So it's -- I think it's going to be a pretty emotional meeting.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And Susan will join us live from Guantanamo Bay in the next hour of DAYBREAK.
What's hot on the Web? A story of sex, lies and audiotapes. Scott Peterson's mistress on the stand and under fire. But did the cross-examination miss its mark?
And our e-mail Question of the Day. Should soft money ads be banned, you know, like those Swift Boat ads? E-mail us your response. The address at daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
And you are watching DAYBREAK for a Tuesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We have some developing news to tell you about out of Najaf this morning. Apparently the Iraqi defense minister has come out again and issued an ultimatum. We have new pictures, also, from Najaf to show you.
Our Matthew Chance is embedded in Najaf.
He's on the phone with us right now -- Matthew, tough words from the Iraqi defense minister.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Carol. Hazem al- Shaalan is the name of the defense minister and he just gave an impromptu press conference to the reporters who are at this military base on the outskirts of Najaf, issuing a very sharp ultimatum to fighters of the Mahdi Army.
He essentially said that patience had run out in the interim Iraqi government and that tonight, local time, there would be an operation to seal off the exits and the entrances to the Iman Ali Mosque at the center of Najaf, where, of course, that fierce fighting has been taking place between U.S. forces and fighters of the Mahdi Army loyal to that radical Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.
Tonight he says that the exits and entrances to the mosque would be sealed off. Loudspeakers would be used to tell those people inside. There's a great deal of concern about the unarmed supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr that are holed up inside the mosque, along with Mahdi Army fighters, to tell them to actually leave the mosque. If, by daybreak, he said, that the mosque had not been evacuated, then Iraqi troops would lead an operation to clear the mosque themselves.
Now, as you mentioned, there have been ultimatums issued like this by the members of the interim Iraqi government several times in the past. But there is a real sense now that patience is running out with this uprising, which is being seen by members of the Iraqi government as a severe challenge to their authority.
So it does seem they are prepared to go ahead in the hours or in the days ahead with some kind of advance on the Imam Ali Shrine, even though that will be immensely controversial. It is the holiest shrines in Shia Islam and there's a great deal of concern that fighting in the mosque, whether it's by Iraqi troops or American troops alongside them, will provoke a ferocious backlash amongst this country's majority Shia population -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Matthew, tell us what's going on in the city right now. We know that U.S. forces have been striking by air. Tanks have been on the ground. They're fighting alongside Iraqi security forces.
Are they putting the squeeze on these militiamen and gathering them closer to this mosque?
CHANCE: That certainly seems to be what's happening on the ground. Every night for the past several nights, there have been short but ferocious kind of assaults by U.S.-led forces on various targets in an around or just around the Imam Ali Shrine. They've been very careful to stay away from the mosque itself.
Now, what they're saying to us on the ground is that they're conducting these operations to sort of shape the battlefield in preparation for an assault. Now, the actual time line for that assault has been kept very secret. But the Iraqi interim defense minister coming out like this and giving a sort of time line for it is something new. It's something we haven't heard before.
COSTELLO: Do we know how many militiamen or al-Sadr supporters are inside the mosque right now?
CHANCE: You know, it's really difficult to assess that. We're basically working on the assumption or the military are working on the assumption that the Mahdi Army consists of about 1,000 sort of hard core fighters who are relatively well armed and have a proven ability to fight the U.S. forces in their advance.
But the kind of television pictures that we've been seeing coming out of the Imam Ali Shrine over the past few days -- CNN cameras as well as other news media cameras have been permitted to go in there by the Mahdi Army -- we've been seeing basically unarmed supporters, women and children amongst them, and that's something the Iraqi government say they're extremely concerned about, which is why they're going to deploy forces around that mosque in this first stage, use loudspeakers to encourage those people inside to come out, warn them that there will be an assault imminent. And then only after they've issued those hours of warnings, they say, will they stage any assaults.
COSTELLO: Matthew Chance, embedded in Najaf, reporting to us live by phone as the Iraqi defense minister has given an ultimatum -- get out of that mosque, get away from the mosque, he says, or the Iraqi security forces will wipe them out. That's a direct quote. Here's what's all new in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.
Scorned at the Summer Games. Why Olympic gold medalist Paul Hamm received a not so warm welcome.
And it's down to the wire for a Summer Games underdog. But can the Iraqi soccer team complete their quest for gold? We'll take you live to Athens a little later this hour.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Republican and Democrat Parties are just so interested in just condemning each other and just forgetting about the people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So who speakers for the middle class? We'll take a look at the challenges facing working men and women in this country.
And an Army sergeant accused in the Abu Ghraib Prison abuse scandal has his day in court. We'll take you live to Germany for the latest.
This is DAYBREAK for Tuesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired August 24, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Coming through -- U.S. tanks (AUDIO GAP) some of the most intense fighting in days.
It is Tuesday, August 24.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, black smoke is rising from the Iraqi city of Najaf this morning and U.S. tanks are barreling through the streets near a mosque where Shiite militiamen are holed up. The two sides are trading fire after a third straight night of U.S. air strikes.
Also in Iraq, two separate car bombings this morning. Apparently they were targeting two Iraqi ministers. The education and environment ministers were not hurt, but at least four other people were killed.
In Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the U.S. military is starting pretrial hearings today for four terror suspects. They include Australian David Hicks, who is accused of fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Is Scott Peterson's former mistress, Amber Frey, telling police all she knows? Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, says she is not. Frey will be back on the stand later today for more cross-examination in Peterson's murder trial.
To the forecast center now and Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: The fighting in Najaf appears to be intensifying this morning.
For the latest, let's go to Baghdad and CNN's Diana Muriel.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heavy machine gun fire heard around the old city of Najaf early on Tuesday morning, as light broke. Also, U.S. tanks in the area. Some seem to be firing.
This follows the third night of bombardment of the city of Najaf by U.S. forces. The bombing began at around 11:00 in the evening on Monday and continued until around 3:00 in the morning on Tuesday.
The situation on the ground remains extraordinarily tense. There are still thought to be a number of Mahdi militia fighters loyal to the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr still in the shrine compound. And the shrine has not yet been relinquished by them.
The U.S. military have categorically denied that they were in any way attacking the shrine or the shrine area. Captain Carrie Batson told CNN that a U.S. air crew had seen militants in the compound fire a rocket that clipped one of the walls and exploded around 10 yards away.
On Monday, a CNN crew witnessed a large hole, around a two foot wide hole, in the compound wall. It's not clear who was responsible for that damage.
In the meantime, two car bombs exploded in Baghdad early Tuesday, one around the Qadisiya area of the city. That is an area which is the residence of many of the government ministers, a very secure compound. The environment minister, Mishkat Moumin, was in a convoy in that area.
Also, separately, in the Jamiyah District (ph) of western Baghdad, another car bomb explosion. This a convoy that was on its way to collect the education minister, Sami al-Mudhaffar, who was, in fact, in the Qadisiya compound. He wasn't in that convoy.
Both ministers, of course, unhurt by this, by these two separate explosions. However, there are confirmed six dead and four wounded as a consequence of those two car bombs. The wounded, of course, being taken to Yarmouk Hospital in central Baghdad, where they are receiving attention for head wounds and other injuries caused by the shrapnel and the bomb blasts.
These all part of almost regular attacks, assassination attempts on ministers. This in an effort to destabilize the government of the interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi.
Diana Muriel, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Turning to the Iraqi prison abuse scandal now, there's word of a possible plea deal. Military sources say accused killer Ivan Frederick may plead guilty to one or two charges against him. He's facing a pretrial hearing in Germany this morning.
In the meantime, the lawyer for Charles Graner says the accused Army specialist was just doing what his commanders told him to do.
For the latest, CNN's Chris Burns will join us live from Germany at the bottom of this hour. And just what led to the prisoner abuse scandal in the first place? We'll find out more today, when a Pentagon panel puts on its review of the U.S. run prison system in Iraq. The review was headed by former Defense Secretary James Schlessinger. It's expected to criticize commanders for inadequate oversight of the prison system.
The battle over political ads is gaining ground. It's now front and center in the race for the White House. And there is no truce in sight.
Our Joe Johns reports on the latest salvos in the attack ads.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reporters asked the president to point blank denounce the ads by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. But Mr. Bush took a broader approach, arguing all activity by the unregulated 527 groups should stop.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That means that ad, every other ad.
QUESTION: ... encourage Republicans...
BUSH: Absolutely. I don't think we ought to have 527s. I can't be more plain about it.
JOHNS: John Kerry's campaign has been pushing for Bush to condemn the Swift Boat ad, which they say contains false assertions about Kerry's service. His running mate, John Edwards, delivered the response.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, George Bush faced his moment of truth and he failed. He failed to condemn the specific attacks on John Kerry's military record. We didn't need to hear a politician's answer. But unfortunately that's what we got.
JOHNS: President Bush has good reason to want a blanket ban on 527s. According to CNN's campaign media analysis unit, pro-Democratic outside groups, including 527s, have spent more than $70 million on ads opposing the president or praising Senator Kerry since March. Republican groups have spent just over $3 million to benefit the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it hurt me more than any physical wounds I had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: However, the impact of the Swift Boat ads, which cost just $1.1 million, has been enormous, thanks to extraordinary media coverage.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An unpaid adviser to the campaign who is featured in one of those ads...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those TV ads...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those controversial ads attacking John Kerry...
JOHNS: Fifty-seven percent of Americans have either seen or heard of them, according to one recent poll, forcing the Kerry campaign to respond with a new ad of its own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM KERRY/EDWARDS CAMPAIGN AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he pulled me out of the river he risked his life to save mine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Both sides have frequently condemned outside groups for attempting to influence the election. But neither candidate has taken forceful action to put an end to it when it's to their benefit.
RICHARD PARKER, JFK SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT: This would be done by the campaigns more directly if campaign finance law allowed them to do it. This cycle, it doesn't, and so they do this kind of work, the negative campaigning, through the surrogates that are legally available to them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: And by law, the groups are independent. That means the candidates are not supposed to have any control over what they do. Jan Baran is a veteran Republican election lawyer.
JAN BARAN, GOP ELECTION LAWYER: Even if John Kerry and George Bush today announced they would like all these 527s to stop, I think there's a serious question as to whether any or most of them would stop.
JOHNS (on camera): Both campaigns have filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission. They have also accused each other of violating the rule against coordination with 527s. But with the campaign in its final weeks, any legal remedy would likely come too late to affect this election.
Joe Johns, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: So we've told you what the candidates think and you've heard what the pundits think. We want to know what do you think? Should soft money ads be banned? E-mail us your responses. The address, daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com. The presidential race is still a squeaker, at least in Florida. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows John Kerry and President Bush are tied at 45 percent each. This is among registered voters. Ralph Nader comes in at 3 percent. But among people who say they are likely to vote, President Bush has a slight edge, 48 percent to Kerry's 46 percent. And an overwhelming 71 percent of Floridians polled say they approve of how President Bush responded to the two big storms that hit Florida.
In News Across America this morning, in California, more tough questions today for Scott Peterson's former mistress, Amber Frey. Defense attorney Mark Geragos will continue to cross-examine her. On Monday, Geragos suggested Frey didn't tape every single phone chat she had with Peterson after police asked her to.
Frey's lawyer says Geragos didn't make his case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLORIA ALLRED, AMBER FREY'S ATTORNEY: This was supposed to be a show for Mr. Geragos. But where was the star? Mr. Geragos forgot to show up with any facts or anything that could even come close to impeaching the credibility of Ms. Frey.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Frey says she taped all the phone calls and gave all of them to police.
In North Carolina, a federal grand jury has indicted a Pakistani man. Police say Kamran Akhtar had videotapes of buildings in six southern cities. The police say they haven't found any links to terrorism. Akhtar is accused of making false statements. Police in Charlotte, North Carolina arrested him last month after he videotaped an office building.
In Texas, a state law maker doesn't have the law on his side this time. A judge has ordered Representative Talmadge Heflin to return a 20-month-old boy to his mother, an African immigrant who once lived in Heflin's home. Heflin and his wife wanted temporary custody, claiming the boy's mother didn't care for him properly.
They are four of the more than 600 detainees at Guantanamo Bay. And this week they'll face a war crimes tribunal. At 17 after, we'll introduce you to suspected terrorist, Australian David Hicks.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With a grenade in one hand and a brand new AK-47 in the other, Khalan Nori (ph) is a volunteer in Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. He's just 10 years old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Children fighting a very adult war. That's at 36 past the hour.
And he's only 20, doesn't show a lot of emotion and just picked up where Michael Johnson left off. At 54 after, the rookie who's making heads turn in Athens.
Right now, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning, the 24th of August.
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COSTELLO: U.S. markets will open mixed this morning.
The Dow closed down just over 37 points yesterday.
The Nasdaq was up about a 1/2 point.
And the S&P 500 fell just over 2 1/2 points.
In world markets, Japan's Nikkei closes up 24 points.
And in Europe, Britain's FTSE is trading up less than a 1 point.
France's CAC down 2 1/2 points this morning.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It is 5:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
More fighting has erupted in the Iraqi city of Najaf. Tanks rumbled through the city as U.S. forces stepped up pressure on insurgents to leave the holy site. It follows a night of intense U.S. air strikes that pounded Shiite militia positions.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is in Sudan's violence plagued region of Darfur. He's trying to determine if the Sudanese government is following through on a promise to end a conflict blamed for tens of thousands of deaths.
In money news, after tossing around a few markets, Kmart has settled on 18 stores that it will sell to Home Depot. The price is $271 million. About 1,600 people work at the stores that are being closed.
In culture, his hands created the classic rock of Led Zeppelin. Those hands could see Jimmy Page's prints at London's new British Walk of Fame. Page is the first celebrity to be honored there. His reaction? "It's a great honor. I'm really chuffed."
In sports, quarterback Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers have finally reached an agreement. The Chargers will pay the former N.C. State star more than $40 million for six years. Rivers has missed four weeks of training camp, but he's happy with his money now -- Chad.
MYERS: I bet he is. And he probably got a huge signing bonus for singing late.
COSTELLO: I'm sure.
MYERS: Yes. But anyway, oh, to be him.
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COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.
Guantanamo Bay begins its first pretrial hearings of al Qaeda suspects today. Four detainees will be arraigned before U.S. military tribunals. They include a man who drove and protected Osama bin Laden and an alleged accountant for bin Laden's terror group, a poet who is accused of crafting terrorist propaganda and an Australian accused of fighting with the Taliban.
Our Susan Candiotti reports on the case against the Australian suspect.
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SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's a bull- riding cowboy from southern Australia, and now David Hicks finds himself thrown into a legal arena with worldwide spectators.
His attorney says this photo of Hicks posing with a rocket- propelled grenade launcher was just him goofing off.
MAJOR MICHAEL MORI, HICKS'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He's about five- foot-three, and he just strikes me as a good Aussie.
CANDIOTTI: He grew up in Australia, a freckle-faced boy. This family photo shows one of his two children, reportedly born by the time Hicks was 20.
ANDREW WHITE, FORMER NEIGHBOR: He was a good boy, never done anything wrong while he was here in Australia. So it's hard to believe what he's done.
CANDIOTTI: According to the Pentagon, Hicks joined the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1999, converted to Islam back in Australia, and fought in Pakistan. In 2001, Hicks allegedly joined an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, met Osama bin laden, and translated training materials from Arabic into English.
After the September 11 attacks, Hicks is accused of fighting coalition forces and allegedly was part of a group that included American Taliban John Walker Lindh.
MORI: I can tell you, you know, David Hicks has not injured any U.S. service member, he hasn't injured any U.S. citizen. And his own country has looked at what he's done and said that he has not violated any law of Australia.
CANDIOTTI: The Pentagon has charged Hicks with the attempted murder of coalition forces and helping al-Qaeda. When Hicks appears in court Wednesday, his nervous father and stepmother will be there.
TERRY HICKS, FATHER OF THE ACCUSED: We haven't seen David for five years. We don't know what his condition's like, what his mental state's like. So it's -- I think it's going to be a pretty emotional meeting.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: And Susan will join us live from Guantanamo Bay in the next hour of DAYBREAK.
What's hot on the Web? A story of sex, lies and audiotapes. Scott Peterson's mistress on the stand and under fire. But did the cross-examination miss its mark?
And our e-mail Question of the Day. Should soft money ads be banned, you know, like those Swift Boat ads? E-mail us your response. The address at daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
And you are watching DAYBREAK for a Tuesday.
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COSTELLO: We have some developing news to tell you about out of Najaf this morning. Apparently the Iraqi defense minister has come out again and issued an ultimatum. We have new pictures, also, from Najaf to show you.
Our Matthew Chance is embedded in Najaf.
He's on the phone with us right now -- Matthew, tough words from the Iraqi defense minister.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Carol. Hazem al- Shaalan is the name of the defense minister and he just gave an impromptu press conference to the reporters who are at this military base on the outskirts of Najaf, issuing a very sharp ultimatum to fighters of the Mahdi Army.
He essentially said that patience had run out in the interim Iraqi government and that tonight, local time, there would be an operation to seal off the exits and the entrances to the Iman Ali Mosque at the center of Najaf, where, of course, that fierce fighting has been taking place between U.S. forces and fighters of the Mahdi Army loyal to that radical Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.
Tonight he says that the exits and entrances to the mosque would be sealed off. Loudspeakers would be used to tell those people inside. There's a great deal of concern about the unarmed supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr that are holed up inside the mosque, along with Mahdi Army fighters, to tell them to actually leave the mosque. If, by daybreak, he said, that the mosque had not been evacuated, then Iraqi troops would lead an operation to clear the mosque themselves.
Now, as you mentioned, there have been ultimatums issued like this by the members of the interim Iraqi government several times in the past. But there is a real sense now that patience is running out with this uprising, which is being seen by members of the Iraqi government as a severe challenge to their authority.
So it does seem they are prepared to go ahead in the hours or in the days ahead with some kind of advance on the Imam Ali Shrine, even though that will be immensely controversial. It is the holiest shrines in Shia Islam and there's a great deal of concern that fighting in the mosque, whether it's by Iraqi troops or American troops alongside them, will provoke a ferocious backlash amongst this country's majority Shia population -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Matthew, tell us what's going on in the city right now. We know that U.S. forces have been striking by air. Tanks have been on the ground. They're fighting alongside Iraqi security forces.
Are they putting the squeeze on these militiamen and gathering them closer to this mosque?
CHANCE: That certainly seems to be what's happening on the ground. Every night for the past several nights, there have been short but ferocious kind of assaults by U.S.-led forces on various targets in an around or just around the Imam Ali Shrine. They've been very careful to stay away from the mosque itself.
Now, what they're saying to us on the ground is that they're conducting these operations to sort of shape the battlefield in preparation for an assault. Now, the actual time line for that assault has been kept very secret. But the Iraqi interim defense minister coming out like this and giving a sort of time line for it is something new. It's something we haven't heard before.
COSTELLO: Do we know how many militiamen or al-Sadr supporters are inside the mosque right now?
CHANCE: You know, it's really difficult to assess that. We're basically working on the assumption or the military are working on the assumption that the Mahdi Army consists of about 1,000 sort of hard core fighters who are relatively well armed and have a proven ability to fight the U.S. forces in their advance.
But the kind of television pictures that we've been seeing coming out of the Imam Ali Shrine over the past few days -- CNN cameras as well as other news media cameras have been permitted to go in there by the Mahdi Army -- we've been seeing basically unarmed supporters, women and children amongst them, and that's something the Iraqi government say they're extremely concerned about, which is why they're going to deploy forces around that mosque in this first stage, use loudspeakers to encourage those people inside to come out, warn them that there will be an assault imminent. And then only after they've issued those hours of warnings, they say, will they stage any assaults.
COSTELLO: Matthew Chance, embedded in Najaf, reporting to us live by phone as the Iraqi defense minister has given an ultimatum -- get out of that mosque, get away from the mosque, he says, or the Iraqi security forces will wipe them out. That's a direct quote. Here's what's all new in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.
Scorned at the Summer Games. Why Olympic gold medalist Paul Hamm received a not so warm welcome.
And it's down to the wire for a Summer Games underdog. But can the Iraqi soccer team complete their quest for gold? We'll take you live to Athens a little later this hour.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Republican and Democrat Parties are just so interested in just condemning each other and just forgetting about the people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So who speakers for the middle class? We'll take a look at the challenges facing working men and women in this country.
And an Army sergeant accused in the Abu Ghraib Prison abuse scandal has his day in court. We'll take you live to Germany for the latest.
This is DAYBREAK for Tuesday.
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