Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
War of Words; Interview With Congressman Christopher Shays; War Stories
Aired September 08, 2004 - 9:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. A spike in violence in Iraq takes the U.S. death toll above 1,000, and rising again just today.
John Edwards says Dick Cheney is using words that are un- American. The campaign heat getting hotter today.
And how do you bring back from space the teeny atoms captured from a solar breeze? Call in the helicopter stunt pilots on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: All right. Good morning, everyone. Nine o'clock here in New York City. Kelly Wallace with us today. Soledad and Heidi are out.
But good morning to you. Nice to have you here again.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. You guys keep moving here.
HEMMER: Yes, that we do.
HEMMER: In a few moments here, we're looking at the war in Iraq through the eyes of a photographer embedded with the Marines in the town of Ramadi. David Swanson took some amazing photographs, and an incredible story, too, of the human side and the human connection now is forged in battle, and also the stories that are -- excuse me -- brought back home from war in a moment. We'll get to his story.
WALLACE: Also, Bill, the Congress now considering all the main recommendations of the September 11th Commission. Will those recommendations be enacted into law? We'll ask that to House Republican Chris Shays.
HEMMER: Jack's out on vacation.
WALLACE: Hope he's having fun.
HEMMER: Think he's watching?
WALLACE: I think he's watching every hour, every day.
HEMMER: No chance. WALLACE: I think it.
HEMMER: You don't know Jack.
WALLACE: Hi, Jack. Hope you're doing well.
HEMMER: Good morning, Jack. We get back to Toure in a moment, helping us out with Jack's absence.
To Daryn Kagan now at the CNN Center watching the other stories there.
Hey, Daryn. Good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you once again, Bill.
President Bush is now meeting with key lawmakers from the intelligence community. They're expected to discuss some of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, including the creation of a post for national intelligence director. That meeting is set to begin at the White House very soon.
Within the half-hour, Democratic candidate John Kerry will give an address in Cincinnati. The speech will focus on what the Kerry campaign calls President Bush's poor choices. The senator will give the address in the same building where just about two years ago President Bush made his case for the war in Iraq.
The 10-year-old assault weapons ban is due to expire on Monday. Police chiefs will meet this morning in Washington to demand that President Bush renew the law that bans the sale of 19 specific semiautomatic and automatic weapons. Congress has no plans to extend that law.
DNA evidence and a strand of hair will likely be the focus today in the Scott Peterson double murder trial. Prosecutors are trying to link the hair to the boat that they believe Peterson used to dump wife Laci's body into San Francisco Bay. Testimony is set to resume later this morning.
Within the past 15 minutes, President Bush signed a $2 billion relief aid Bill that is to help Florida recover from the double whammy of hurricanes Charley and Frances. And of course the president heading down to Florida today to see that damage for himself.
Back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Daryn. Thanks.
You talked about it, Senator Kerry's speech scheduled this hour. Ed Henry's live in Cincinnati now with a preview.
Ed, good morning there.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill, from the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. The room already filling up with anticipation for John Kerry's speech.
Kerry is expected to get aggressive. He wants to demonstrate a more "in your face" style against President Bush with this speech on Iraq and domestic matters. This speech comes as the campaign on both sides is getting nastier by the day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): All four contenders slugged it out on the campaign trail, with the toughest punch thrown by Vice President Cheney. He suggested that victory by the Democratic ticket might invite another terrorist attack.
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2, we make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that -- that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mindset.
HENRY: That enraged Senator John Edwards.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Dick Cheney's scare tactics today crossed the line. What he said to the American people was, if you go to the polls in November, and elect anyone other than us, then -- and another terror attack occurs, it's your fault. This is un-American.
HENRY: The harsh exchange among the vice presidential candidates capped two days of sparring between John Kerry and President Bush over Iraq. At a stop in North Carolina, Kerry charged that the president made a mess of the war.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, all of America is paying this price. Almost all of the casualties that sons and daughters of American families...
HENRY: The president fired back in Missouri. He mocked Kerry's claim that Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He even used the same words Howard Dean did back when he supposedly disagreed with him. Look, no matter how many times my opponent flip-flops, we were right to make America safer by removing Saddam Hussein from power.
HENRY: At his last stop of the day in Cincinnati, Kerry displayed a more somber tone.
KERRY: Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq. More than 1,000 of America's sons and daughters have now given their lives on behalf of their country, on behalf of freedom in the war on terror.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: This is the same room where President Bush made the case for war in October of 2002. John Kerry will charge this morning that the president did not live up to the promises he made in that speech. And we've gotten in advance some excerpts of the speech.
Kerry will say that $200 billion has been wasted on this war. And Kerry believes the money would have been better spent on domestic priorities, like education and health care -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ed Henry, we'll be listening there in Cincinnati -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
A meeting on September 11th reforms is set to take place at the White House at this hour. President Bush is set to be outlining to Republican and Democratic leaders from both houses of Congress which reforms he wants passed. A bill was introduced in the Senate yesterday. The House is still working on one, but Congress usually breaks in October for the November elections.
Earlier, I asked Connecticut Republican Christopher Shays about the timing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Will this legislation actually be able to be passed before lawmakers leave?
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: We'll pass a bill in the House. There'll be a bill passed in the Senate. And the question will be, will we work out our differences and be able to send a bill to the president? We'll be able to do that, particularly if the president takes an active role in helping, you know, resolve some of the differences that might occur.
WALLACE: Do you have assurances from the White House that the president will take an active role?
SHAYS: Well, I think he will. He is meeting today with leaders from both sides of the aisle, stating what his opinions are and what his hopes will be for legislation.
And we submitted the full commission recommendations in the Senate, the McCain-Lieberman bill. We're taking that same legislation and submitting it in the House. So I have assurances from our leadership that they intend to bring out a bill in the next three to four weeks.
WALLACE: But you also know, Congressman, some statements from the Republican leadership in the House and the Senate really warning against a rush to judgment. Armed Services Committee chairman, Senator John Warner, in fact, urging great caution, saying, "To avoid turbulence or disruption in the intelligence system that now I think serves this nation reasonably well." Isn't this going to stand in the way of speedy passage?
SHAYS: Well, I think the biggest dispute we're going to have are with those that have a keen interest in the Defense Department and its intelligence apparatus. Over time, the Defense Department has built up quite an operation. It's about approximately 80 percent of the budget.
It's probably too much. Some of that work should be done by other institutions. So there will be some interesting dialogue between defense and non-defense folks.
WALLACE: And you know, of course, Congressman, this is all coming in the middle of the presidential campaign season...
SHAYS: Yes.
WALLACE: ... congressional campaign season. Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman saying he hopes Congress "will rise above party loyalty to put the nation's security first." Is that going to be possible in the midst of this election year?
SHAYS: Well, the commission did. And they were tempted to be political. And they began to realize they had a sacred responsibility.
I think Lieberman and Collins and McCain and others have -- have shown that they can do it in the Senate. Carol Maloney and I are introducing this bill in the House. And there'll be a bipartisan effort to get a bill done, I think.
WALLACE: And of the 41 recommendations, which would you say are the most important, the ones that would make the U.S. safest immediately?
SHAYS: Getting a handle on our intelligence community and really making sure it has the powers it needs to detect and prevent so that we don't have to face terrorist attacks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Our conversation earlier with Congressman Christopher Shays of Connecticut, who sits on the Homeland Security and Government Reform committees.
Also, expected this hour, President Bush to meet with House and Senate leaders, talking about September 11th recommendations, upcoming legislation. We'll bring you those details as we get them -- Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly, thanks.
Ten minutes past the hour now. And a grim milestone for the war in Iraq. More than 1,000 Americans have now died there since the conflict started 17 months ago.
"Philadelphia Inquirer" photographer David Swanson is remembering 12 fallen Marines from Echo Company who died in a firefight this past April. Swanson embedded with that unit. And what you're about to see is part of his video tribute to their final days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID SWANSON, PHOTOGRAPHER: I intended to be out there for maybe three or four days, and it turned into two weeks after the fighting started. The first night was a patrol, the second day was a raid, the third day was a cordon and knock, and then this firefight happened.
HEMMER: This DVD that you produced is -- is very strong.
SWANSON: Thank you.
HEMMER: To say the least. On the first day of a firefight, you were actually injured, hit with a bullet. What do you remember from that day?
SWANSON: We were just walking through a field. I was with Captain Royer (ph), and it was about 6:00 in the morning.
Some shots heard. I didn't know if it was us or them. And I thought the Marine behind me pulled my arm and I realized I was hit.
And we were taking small arms fire, dove forward into a ditch, and spent the next 15 minutes there, you know, waiting out the firefight. Deuce (ph) in front of me, he climbed on my back, started firing his weapon off on top of me.
He was hit in the leg, the captain was hit in his helmet. A Marine, two behind me, broke his leg diving in the ditch. And we just crawled forward for about 100 yards until we got to safety.
HEMMER: What was their attitude as they went through this?
SWANSON: Get some. They wanted to get some. They're there -- they're there to do their job. They were very gung-ho.
HEMMER: Tell me about the photograph of Private First Class Eric Iyon (ph).
SWANSON: The Tuesday before was another firefight. And it had ended around five or six in the afternoon.
Two Humvees were destroyed, and he got behind the wheel of the first one, had about two dozen bullet holes in it. Eight Marines died there, and he tried to get it started. Three days later, he was driving a seven-ton truck over the same intersection, and an IED, a bomb, went off. He jumped from the truck and was killed there.
HEMMER: There was also a photograph of Lieutenant John Rublesky (ph). And you were walking through a neighborhood in Ramadi. And apparently he had an uneasy feeling about what was happening.
SWANSON: I spent a good 14, 15 hours with him, walking along their supply route. And we entered a bad section of Ramadi, and he said, "Keep alert here. They haven't come out to say 'hi' to us, or the children walking with us." And the next day he was shot in the jaw at the same intersection that Iyon (ph) died.
HEMMER: Since you've come back to the U.S., though, you went and visited his wife. SWANSON: I did.
HEMMER: What did she say to you? OR what did you relay to her about what you could?
SWANSON: She is an amazing woman. He would always end his phone calls with, "I love you babe," or something. In the last phone call a few days before he said, "I'll always be with you." And he died, and she knew it.
HEMMER: There's a photographs also that shows a pair of glasses, eye glasses on the desert floor. Tell me about those.
SWANSON: They belonged to Ryan Gerovich (ph). And I wanted to pick them up and take them home to his family but I didn't. And when I got home, I visited the Gerovichs (ph), flew to Green Bay, made it to the driveway and completely lost it.
The father came out and put his arm around me and just said, "Come in. Come in relax. Let me take care of you."
HEMMER: So they were giving you comfort?
SWANSON: Yes.
HEMMER: They showed you strength, in effect.
SWANSON: Yes.
HEMMER: How has this changed you? Can you say yet?
SWANSON: I don't think it's hit me yet what I've gone through. And, again, it's not -- it's not 1,000 soldiers and Marines that have died. It's one, plus one, plus one. And all of the families that have been affected for their losses.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: David Swanson embedded for a time, two weeks, in fact, with Marines in Ramadi. That DVD tribute is called "Echoes of War" -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Bill, incredible photographs. Thanks for that.
We're turning gears right now, checking back on the weather. Chad Myers at the CNN Center in Atlanta with the latest.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment here, a few weeks back, New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey making that stunning admission. Now for the first time, he's talking publicly about that and his resignation. We'll get to that story.
WALLACE: Also, Bill, ahead, there is a scary trend on college campuses, teens turning to a new and dangerous way to stay awake. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has that.
HEMMER: Also, how do you catch the sun, huh, in mid-air? NASA trying to do just that today. We'll explain this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey is speaking out for the first time publicly since announcing he's gay and that he had an extra-marital affair with a man. Yesterday, he spoke about his decision to leave office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JIM MCGREEVEY (D), NEW JERSEY: I made a difficult yet incredibly important personal decision to ensure that the governor's office, to ensure that state administration was run competently, and not to subject the state to any harm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: The governor plans to step down on November 15. Until then, he says he will work on high-priority issues, including a stem cell research center in New Jersey -- Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly, now to one of the most interesting stories of the day, and perhaps the most exciting, too. Later today, NASA tries to retrieve this multi-million-dollar space capsule from high above the desert in Utah during what no doubt will be a daring and possibly exciting midair recovery.
Here's Miles O'Brien, watching this at the CNN Center.
Good morning, Miles. How are they going to pull this off?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's interesting. Talk about a high wire act, Bill.
But before they even try this rather tricky capture of this capsule, this Genesis capsule, folks in Oregon, parts of Nevada, parts of Idaho and Utah, in about two-and-a-half hours time should look up in the sky. They'll see a streaking meteor, as the Genesis capsule comes back to Earth at about 25,000 miles an hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Here comes the sun. And the chopper pilots for the stars are ready to snag it.
It is a $264 million special delivery package containing ingredients of our sun, ingredients of our solar system. The spacecraft left Earth in 2001 and loitered for 27 months in a gravitational sweet spot between Earth and the sun.
Ultra-pure wafers made of silicon, diamonds, sapphires and gold caught something even more precious to scientists, atom-sized bits of the solar wind, which is reflected by Earth's magnetic field and thus can only be captured in space. The Frisbee-shaped, five--foot diameter capsule is carrying the first sample to return from space since the Apollo mission in 1972. But instead of a splashdown, the ultra-fragile wafers will hopefully head for an Air Force testing range in the Utah Salt Flats.
The plan is for the capsule to be slowed by a parachute. And then about 4,000 or 5,000 feet above the ground, a pair of helicopters will swoop in and try to hook the shoot before Genesis hits the ground.
DON BURNETT, GENESIS LEAD SCIENTIST: We did not have great confidence that we could parachute this to the ground and not have a lot of breakage of our materials.
O'BRIEN: So instead of using a lot of bubble wrap, NASA sought out the best helicopter pilots in the world. They happen to be the steady sticks who shoot those spectacular aerials you see on the silver screen.
DAN RUDERT, HELICOPTER STUNT PILOT: We're coming in and acquiring this parachute, getting formation with it, getting low, slow and coming right across it with precision. And we're kind of asked to do that in our film careers, to do that with the camera.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, they have tried this thing a dozen times, Bill. They have captured the parachute every time. They still say it is -- on a scale of one to 10 in difficulty, it's an eight or a nine. And in this case, there will be no second takes -- Bill.
HEMMER: What's the altitude, Miles?
O'BRIEN: Well, it's about 5,000 feet above the ground, but getting close to 9,000 feet above sea level. And if you know a little bit about flying, that is very close to the ceiling which a helicopter can operate. The air is kind of thin, so it just adds to the degree of difficulty.
HEMMER: Kind of cool, don't you think?
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. I wish I was -- I tried to get a ride.
HEMMER: Yes? Maybe next time. Thanks, Miles, for that.
Just so our viewers know, by the way, we're going to have coverage later today on that intercept. It starts around 12:15 Eastern Time. And Miles certainly is standing by live for that later today.
Tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll talk with one of the stunt pilots, Cliff Fleming (ph). He's going to pilot one of the helicopters during today's mission. So we'll be watching and waiting.
Thank you, Miles. Here's Kelly again.
WALLACE: Fascinating stuff. Thanks, Bill.
Still to come, Bobby Fischer is fighting a deportation order back to the United States. Now it looks like another country has made a strong move on the chess champ's behalf.
Stay with us. That's all right ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Want to get you straight over to the White House. The president there meeting with lawmakers today in the cabinet room. About to address them there. We will listen on videotape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: ... strengthen intelligence reform, strengthens intelligence services. We believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budget authority. We'll talk to members of Congress about how to implement that.
I look forward to working with new members to get a -- to build (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as quickly as possible. It's important we get our intelligence-gathering correct. After all, we're still at war.
We've got to find the enemy before they hurt us. We've got to everything we can to protect the homeland.
We're still on the offense here in this country, chasing down these killers overseas so we don't have to face them here at home. We're making good progress.
Ultimately, we will prevail because liberty changes countries, and liberties changes the habits of people. Liberty promotes peace. And that's why we appreciate the sacrifice of the men and women who wear the uniform.
They're serving in a great cause. We mourn every loss of life. We'll honor their memories by completing the mission.
Thank you all for coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: All right. There's the short statement with the president, bipartisan meeting today at the White House, talking about a couple things, the full budget authority for the national intelligence director.
This comes on the heels yesterday, the push by Senator Lieberman and Senator McCain to adopt immediately those 41 recommendations that came out of the 9/11 Commission. Also with a mention today about the sacrifice of the men and women in uniform. A very poignant day today, with that grim milestone now being passed with 1,000 dead Americans in Iraq since conflict began 17 months ago there in Iraq.
And Kelly, you used to work at the White House. You know these meetings quite well.
WALLACE: You know. And you heard a reporter asking a question. Obviously, any time the president is in front of you, you try and ask a question.
It sounded like a reporter asking about Vice President Dick Cheney. I can only assume they were probably asking about his comments yesterday, about if you make the wrong choice, in his words, there might be another attack against the United States.
HEMMER: And an angel in my ear saying you were exactly right about that. But there was no answer given, which is customary a lot. But that's what we saw on videotape. That meeting is going to continue. Just a slice of what we had here.
WALLACE: And we also saw Congressman Shays, a Republican. We talked with him.
The key issue will be, how quickly will they move? How much partisan fighting, turf battles? What will they really do? How sweeping will this reform be on the September 11th recommendations? A lot of people watching.
HEMMER: Always good to have a former White House correspondent to your side here.
WALLACE: Well, sometimes it comes in handy.
HEMMER: Yes, all the time, I think.
Senator Kerry, by the way, getting ready to talk in Cincinnati. We'll get you there live in a moment, too, monitor that.
Also, un-American or just the facts? The war of words escalating now on the campaign trail. Could it get meaner? Carlos Watson has some thoughts on that in a moment when we come back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Well, welcome back. Almost 9:30. Get you to Cincinnati. Watching Senator John Kerry about to make his speech in a few moments about Iraq.
Also, Carlos Watson in a moment talks about the significance.
WALLACE: Also, Bill, the emotional toll in Russia from the Beslan school massacre now being made even worse by video shot inside the school by the terrorists. We'll have a report on that.
HEMMER: Tough, tough story.
WALLACE: Tough indeed.
(CROSSTALK)
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 September 8, 2004 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. A spike in violence in Iraq takes the U.S. death toll above 1,000, and rising again just today.
John Edwards says Dick Cheney is using words that are un- American. The campaign heat getting hotter today.
And how do you bring back from space the teeny atoms captured from a solar breeze? Call in the helicopter stunt pilots on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: All right. Good morning, everyone. Nine o'clock here in New York City. Kelly Wallace with us today. Soledad and Heidi are out.
But good morning to you. Nice to have you here again.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. You guys keep moving here.
HEMMER: Yes, that we do.
HEMMER: In a few moments here, we're looking at the war in Iraq through the eyes of a photographer embedded with the Marines in the town of Ramadi. David Swanson took some amazing photographs, and an incredible story, too, of the human side and the human connection now is forged in battle, and also the stories that are -- excuse me -- brought back home from war in a moment. We'll get to his story.
WALLACE: Also, Bill, the Congress now considering all the main recommendations of the September 11th Commission. Will those recommendations be enacted into law? We'll ask that to House Republican Chris Shays.
HEMMER: Jack's out on vacation.
WALLACE: Hope he's having fun.
HEMMER: Think he's watching?
WALLACE: I think he's watching every hour, every day.
HEMMER: No chance. WALLACE: I think it.
HEMMER: You don't know Jack.
WALLACE: Hi, Jack. Hope you're doing well.
HEMMER: Good morning, Jack. We get back to Toure in a moment, helping us out with Jack's absence.
To Daryn Kagan now at the CNN Center watching the other stories there.
Hey, Daryn. Good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you once again, Bill.
President Bush is now meeting with key lawmakers from the intelligence community. They're expected to discuss some of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, including the creation of a post for national intelligence director. That meeting is set to begin at the White House very soon.
Within the half-hour, Democratic candidate John Kerry will give an address in Cincinnati. The speech will focus on what the Kerry campaign calls President Bush's poor choices. The senator will give the address in the same building where just about two years ago President Bush made his case for the war in Iraq.
The 10-year-old assault weapons ban is due to expire on Monday. Police chiefs will meet this morning in Washington to demand that President Bush renew the law that bans the sale of 19 specific semiautomatic and automatic weapons. Congress has no plans to extend that law.
DNA evidence and a strand of hair will likely be the focus today in the Scott Peterson double murder trial. Prosecutors are trying to link the hair to the boat that they believe Peterson used to dump wife Laci's body into San Francisco Bay. Testimony is set to resume later this morning.
Within the past 15 minutes, President Bush signed a $2 billion relief aid Bill that is to help Florida recover from the double whammy of hurricanes Charley and Frances. And of course the president heading down to Florida today to see that damage for himself.
Back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Daryn. Thanks.
You talked about it, Senator Kerry's speech scheduled this hour. Ed Henry's live in Cincinnati now with a preview.
Ed, good morning there.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill, from the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. The room already filling up with anticipation for John Kerry's speech.
Kerry is expected to get aggressive. He wants to demonstrate a more "in your face" style against President Bush with this speech on Iraq and domestic matters. This speech comes as the campaign on both sides is getting nastier by the day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): All four contenders slugged it out on the campaign trail, with the toughest punch thrown by Vice President Cheney. He suggested that victory by the Democratic ticket might invite another terrorist attack.
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2, we make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that -- that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mindset.
HENRY: That enraged Senator John Edwards.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Dick Cheney's scare tactics today crossed the line. What he said to the American people was, if you go to the polls in November, and elect anyone other than us, then -- and another terror attack occurs, it's your fault. This is un-American.
HENRY: The harsh exchange among the vice presidential candidates capped two days of sparring between John Kerry and President Bush over Iraq. At a stop in North Carolina, Kerry charged that the president made a mess of the war.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, all of America is paying this price. Almost all of the casualties that sons and daughters of American families...
HENRY: The president fired back in Missouri. He mocked Kerry's claim that Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He even used the same words Howard Dean did back when he supposedly disagreed with him. Look, no matter how many times my opponent flip-flops, we were right to make America safer by removing Saddam Hussein from power.
HENRY: At his last stop of the day in Cincinnati, Kerry displayed a more somber tone.
KERRY: Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq. More than 1,000 of America's sons and daughters have now given their lives on behalf of their country, on behalf of freedom in the war on terror.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: This is the same room where President Bush made the case for war in October of 2002. John Kerry will charge this morning that the president did not live up to the promises he made in that speech. And we've gotten in advance some excerpts of the speech.
Kerry will say that $200 billion has been wasted on this war. And Kerry believes the money would have been better spent on domestic priorities, like education and health care -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ed Henry, we'll be listening there in Cincinnati -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
A meeting on September 11th reforms is set to take place at the White House at this hour. President Bush is set to be outlining to Republican and Democratic leaders from both houses of Congress which reforms he wants passed. A bill was introduced in the Senate yesterday. The House is still working on one, but Congress usually breaks in October for the November elections.
Earlier, I asked Connecticut Republican Christopher Shays about the timing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Will this legislation actually be able to be passed before lawmakers leave?
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: We'll pass a bill in the House. There'll be a bill passed in the Senate. And the question will be, will we work out our differences and be able to send a bill to the president? We'll be able to do that, particularly if the president takes an active role in helping, you know, resolve some of the differences that might occur.
WALLACE: Do you have assurances from the White House that the president will take an active role?
SHAYS: Well, I think he will. He is meeting today with leaders from both sides of the aisle, stating what his opinions are and what his hopes will be for legislation.
And we submitted the full commission recommendations in the Senate, the McCain-Lieberman bill. We're taking that same legislation and submitting it in the House. So I have assurances from our leadership that they intend to bring out a bill in the next three to four weeks.
WALLACE: But you also know, Congressman, some statements from the Republican leadership in the House and the Senate really warning against a rush to judgment. Armed Services Committee chairman, Senator John Warner, in fact, urging great caution, saying, "To avoid turbulence or disruption in the intelligence system that now I think serves this nation reasonably well." Isn't this going to stand in the way of speedy passage?
SHAYS: Well, I think the biggest dispute we're going to have are with those that have a keen interest in the Defense Department and its intelligence apparatus. Over time, the Defense Department has built up quite an operation. It's about approximately 80 percent of the budget.
It's probably too much. Some of that work should be done by other institutions. So there will be some interesting dialogue between defense and non-defense folks.
WALLACE: And you know, of course, Congressman, this is all coming in the middle of the presidential campaign season...
SHAYS: Yes.
WALLACE: ... congressional campaign season. Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman saying he hopes Congress "will rise above party loyalty to put the nation's security first." Is that going to be possible in the midst of this election year?
SHAYS: Well, the commission did. And they were tempted to be political. And they began to realize they had a sacred responsibility.
I think Lieberman and Collins and McCain and others have -- have shown that they can do it in the Senate. Carol Maloney and I are introducing this bill in the House. And there'll be a bipartisan effort to get a bill done, I think.
WALLACE: And of the 41 recommendations, which would you say are the most important, the ones that would make the U.S. safest immediately?
SHAYS: Getting a handle on our intelligence community and really making sure it has the powers it needs to detect and prevent so that we don't have to face terrorist attacks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Our conversation earlier with Congressman Christopher Shays of Connecticut, who sits on the Homeland Security and Government Reform committees.
Also, expected this hour, President Bush to meet with House and Senate leaders, talking about September 11th recommendations, upcoming legislation. We'll bring you those details as we get them -- Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly, thanks.
Ten minutes past the hour now. And a grim milestone for the war in Iraq. More than 1,000 Americans have now died there since the conflict started 17 months ago.
"Philadelphia Inquirer" photographer David Swanson is remembering 12 fallen Marines from Echo Company who died in a firefight this past April. Swanson embedded with that unit. And what you're about to see is part of his video tribute to their final days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID SWANSON, PHOTOGRAPHER: I intended to be out there for maybe three or four days, and it turned into two weeks after the fighting started. The first night was a patrol, the second day was a raid, the third day was a cordon and knock, and then this firefight happened.
HEMMER: This DVD that you produced is -- is very strong.
SWANSON: Thank you.
HEMMER: To say the least. On the first day of a firefight, you were actually injured, hit with a bullet. What do you remember from that day?
SWANSON: We were just walking through a field. I was with Captain Royer (ph), and it was about 6:00 in the morning.
Some shots heard. I didn't know if it was us or them. And I thought the Marine behind me pulled my arm and I realized I was hit.
And we were taking small arms fire, dove forward into a ditch, and spent the next 15 minutes there, you know, waiting out the firefight. Deuce (ph) in front of me, he climbed on my back, started firing his weapon off on top of me.
He was hit in the leg, the captain was hit in his helmet. A Marine, two behind me, broke his leg diving in the ditch. And we just crawled forward for about 100 yards until we got to safety.
HEMMER: What was their attitude as they went through this?
SWANSON: Get some. They wanted to get some. They're there -- they're there to do their job. They were very gung-ho.
HEMMER: Tell me about the photograph of Private First Class Eric Iyon (ph).
SWANSON: The Tuesday before was another firefight. And it had ended around five or six in the afternoon.
Two Humvees were destroyed, and he got behind the wheel of the first one, had about two dozen bullet holes in it. Eight Marines died there, and he tried to get it started. Three days later, he was driving a seven-ton truck over the same intersection, and an IED, a bomb, went off. He jumped from the truck and was killed there.
HEMMER: There was also a photograph of Lieutenant John Rublesky (ph). And you were walking through a neighborhood in Ramadi. And apparently he had an uneasy feeling about what was happening.
SWANSON: I spent a good 14, 15 hours with him, walking along their supply route. And we entered a bad section of Ramadi, and he said, "Keep alert here. They haven't come out to say 'hi' to us, or the children walking with us." And the next day he was shot in the jaw at the same intersection that Iyon (ph) died.
HEMMER: Since you've come back to the U.S., though, you went and visited his wife. SWANSON: I did.
HEMMER: What did she say to you? OR what did you relay to her about what you could?
SWANSON: She is an amazing woman. He would always end his phone calls with, "I love you babe," or something. In the last phone call a few days before he said, "I'll always be with you." And he died, and she knew it.
HEMMER: There's a photographs also that shows a pair of glasses, eye glasses on the desert floor. Tell me about those.
SWANSON: They belonged to Ryan Gerovich (ph). And I wanted to pick them up and take them home to his family but I didn't. And when I got home, I visited the Gerovichs (ph), flew to Green Bay, made it to the driveway and completely lost it.
The father came out and put his arm around me and just said, "Come in. Come in relax. Let me take care of you."
HEMMER: So they were giving you comfort?
SWANSON: Yes.
HEMMER: They showed you strength, in effect.
SWANSON: Yes.
HEMMER: How has this changed you? Can you say yet?
SWANSON: I don't think it's hit me yet what I've gone through. And, again, it's not -- it's not 1,000 soldiers and Marines that have died. It's one, plus one, plus one. And all of the families that have been affected for their losses.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: David Swanson embedded for a time, two weeks, in fact, with Marines in Ramadi. That DVD tribute is called "Echoes of War" -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Bill, incredible photographs. Thanks for that.
We're turning gears right now, checking back on the weather. Chad Myers at the CNN Center in Atlanta with the latest.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment here, a few weeks back, New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey making that stunning admission. Now for the first time, he's talking publicly about that and his resignation. We'll get to that story.
WALLACE: Also, Bill, ahead, there is a scary trend on college campuses, teens turning to a new and dangerous way to stay awake. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has that.
HEMMER: Also, how do you catch the sun, huh, in mid-air? NASA trying to do just that today. We'll explain this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey is speaking out for the first time publicly since announcing he's gay and that he had an extra-marital affair with a man. Yesterday, he spoke about his decision to leave office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JIM MCGREEVEY (D), NEW JERSEY: I made a difficult yet incredibly important personal decision to ensure that the governor's office, to ensure that state administration was run competently, and not to subject the state to any harm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: The governor plans to step down on November 15. Until then, he says he will work on high-priority issues, including a stem cell research center in New Jersey -- Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly, now to one of the most interesting stories of the day, and perhaps the most exciting, too. Later today, NASA tries to retrieve this multi-million-dollar space capsule from high above the desert in Utah during what no doubt will be a daring and possibly exciting midair recovery.
Here's Miles O'Brien, watching this at the CNN Center.
Good morning, Miles. How are they going to pull this off?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's interesting. Talk about a high wire act, Bill.
But before they even try this rather tricky capture of this capsule, this Genesis capsule, folks in Oregon, parts of Nevada, parts of Idaho and Utah, in about two-and-a-half hours time should look up in the sky. They'll see a streaking meteor, as the Genesis capsule comes back to Earth at about 25,000 miles an hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Here comes the sun. And the chopper pilots for the stars are ready to snag it.
It is a $264 million special delivery package containing ingredients of our sun, ingredients of our solar system. The spacecraft left Earth in 2001 and loitered for 27 months in a gravitational sweet spot between Earth and the sun.
Ultra-pure wafers made of silicon, diamonds, sapphires and gold caught something even more precious to scientists, atom-sized bits of the solar wind, which is reflected by Earth's magnetic field and thus can only be captured in space. The Frisbee-shaped, five--foot diameter capsule is carrying the first sample to return from space since the Apollo mission in 1972. But instead of a splashdown, the ultra-fragile wafers will hopefully head for an Air Force testing range in the Utah Salt Flats.
The plan is for the capsule to be slowed by a parachute. And then about 4,000 or 5,000 feet above the ground, a pair of helicopters will swoop in and try to hook the shoot before Genesis hits the ground.
DON BURNETT, GENESIS LEAD SCIENTIST: We did not have great confidence that we could parachute this to the ground and not have a lot of breakage of our materials.
O'BRIEN: So instead of using a lot of bubble wrap, NASA sought out the best helicopter pilots in the world. They happen to be the steady sticks who shoot those spectacular aerials you see on the silver screen.
DAN RUDERT, HELICOPTER STUNT PILOT: We're coming in and acquiring this parachute, getting formation with it, getting low, slow and coming right across it with precision. And we're kind of asked to do that in our film careers, to do that with the camera.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: All right. Now, they have tried this thing a dozen times, Bill. They have captured the parachute every time. They still say it is -- on a scale of one to 10 in difficulty, it's an eight or a nine. And in this case, there will be no second takes -- Bill.
HEMMER: What's the altitude, Miles?
O'BRIEN: Well, it's about 5,000 feet above the ground, but getting close to 9,000 feet above sea level. And if you know a little bit about flying, that is very close to the ceiling which a helicopter can operate. The air is kind of thin, so it just adds to the degree of difficulty.
HEMMER: Kind of cool, don't you think?
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. I wish I was -- I tried to get a ride.
HEMMER: Yes? Maybe next time. Thanks, Miles, for that.
Just so our viewers know, by the way, we're going to have coverage later today on that intercept. It starts around 12:15 Eastern Time. And Miles certainly is standing by live for that later today.
Tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll talk with one of the stunt pilots, Cliff Fleming (ph). He's going to pilot one of the helicopters during today's mission. So we'll be watching and waiting.
Thank you, Miles. Here's Kelly again.
WALLACE: Fascinating stuff. Thanks, Bill.
Still to come, Bobby Fischer is fighting a deportation order back to the United States. Now it looks like another country has made a strong move on the chess champ's behalf.
Stay with us. That's all right ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Want to get you straight over to the White House. The president there meeting with lawmakers today in the cabinet room. About to address them there. We will listen on videotape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: ... strengthen intelligence reform, strengthens intelligence services. We believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budget authority. We'll talk to members of Congress about how to implement that.
I look forward to working with new members to get a -- to build (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as quickly as possible. It's important we get our intelligence-gathering correct. After all, we're still at war.
We've got to find the enemy before they hurt us. We've got to everything we can to protect the homeland.
We're still on the offense here in this country, chasing down these killers overseas so we don't have to face them here at home. We're making good progress.
Ultimately, we will prevail because liberty changes countries, and liberties changes the habits of people. Liberty promotes peace. And that's why we appreciate the sacrifice of the men and women who wear the uniform.
They're serving in a great cause. We mourn every loss of life. We'll honor their memories by completing the mission.
Thank you all for coming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: All right. There's the short statement with the president, bipartisan meeting today at the White House, talking about a couple things, the full budget authority for the national intelligence director.
This comes on the heels yesterday, the push by Senator Lieberman and Senator McCain to adopt immediately those 41 recommendations that came out of the 9/11 Commission. Also with a mention today about the sacrifice of the men and women in uniform. A very poignant day today, with that grim milestone now being passed with 1,000 dead Americans in Iraq since conflict began 17 months ago there in Iraq.
And Kelly, you used to work at the White House. You know these meetings quite well.
WALLACE: You know. And you heard a reporter asking a question. Obviously, any time the president is in front of you, you try and ask a question.
It sounded like a reporter asking about Vice President Dick Cheney. I can only assume they were probably asking about his comments yesterday, about if you make the wrong choice, in his words, there might be another attack against the United States.
HEMMER: And an angel in my ear saying you were exactly right about that. But there was no answer given, which is customary a lot. But that's what we saw on videotape. That meeting is going to continue. Just a slice of what we had here.
WALLACE: And we also saw Congressman Shays, a Republican. We talked with him.
The key issue will be, how quickly will they move? How much partisan fighting, turf battles? What will they really do? How sweeping will this reform be on the September 11th recommendations? A lot of people watching.
HEMMER: Always good to have a former White House correspondent to your side here.
WALLACE: Well, sometimes it comes in handy.
HEMMER: Yes, all the time, I think.
Senator Kerry, by the way, getting ready to talk in Cincinnati. We'll get you there live in a moment, too, monitor that.
Also, un-American or just the facts? The war of words escalating now on the campaign trail. Could it get meaner? Carlos Watson has some thoughts on that in a moment when we come back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Well, welcome back. Almost 9:30. Get you to Cincinnati. Watching Senator John Kerry about to make his speech in a few moments about Iraq.
Also, Carlos Watson in a moment talks about the significance.
WALLACE: Also, Bill, the emotional toll in Russia from the Beslan school massacre now being made even worse by video shot inside the school by the terrorists. We'll have a report on that.
HEMMER: Tough, tough story.
WALLACE: Tough indeed.
(CROSSTALK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
