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CNN Live At Daybreak

Car Bomb in Jakarta; Moscow Reveals More on School Killings

Aired September 09, 2004 - 05:28   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: A deadly car bomb in Jakarta. Was the Australian embassy the target of terrorists? We have a live report for you coming up.
It is Thursday, September 9.

This is DAYBREAK.

Good morning to you.

Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.

From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Now in the news, a locally based terror group is the prime suspect in this morning's car bomb explosion outside of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. The powerful blast killed six people and wounded 100, most of them security officers or passersby. Some Australian staff members suffered minor injuries.

Secretary of State Colin Powell testifies about the violence in Sudan this morning. He'll be speaking before the Senate Committee On Foreign Relations.

The White House threatens a veto of a big spending bill if House Democrats push through an amendment blocking new overtime rules. Democrats say the rules would cost millions of workers their overtime pay.

Hurricane Ivan now packs sustained winds of 160 miles per hour. That is a rare category five storm. And, Chad, look at this damage in Grenada with me.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

COSTELLO: It's astounding.

MYERS: Yes. They were saying...

COSTELLO: Four people killed here.

MYERS: How many?

COSTELLO: I think there are actually more than four, 15 in all.

MYERS: Fifteen is the number right now, yes. And I'm afraid that that number could go higher. Those buildings actually look in pretty good shape. They're actually on the west side of the island. The eastern side of the island, that really took the brunt of it, I heard one marina had 100 boats. Three are still floating. The rest are down below. So, yes, it was an ugly, ugly night last night across Grenada. Some of the winds there gusting to over 150 miles per hour, Carol.

We have the latest here. The numbers come out around 5:00, but the discussion that we call it actually comes out a little bit later than that. The new discussion at 650 feet above sea level where the plane flew and dropped the little drop sign, as we call it, a thing that they drop into the storm and it blows around, just recorded a wind gust to 201.6 miles per hour. Not at the surface, but above the surface. That's why you don't want to be in a high rise if a hurricane is coming at you. You want to be at the lowest level possible. The winds are always lower down at the surface.

Right now, category 5, winds at 160, gusting to 195 miles per hour. Forecast to move right over Jamaica. Some of the newer models are missing Jamaica a little bit. And that would be great news for Kingston, because that line right there, the center of the error cone right over Kingston, Jamaica. And then making a beeline at Havana and then maybe somewhere up here in the Florida Straits. The problem is the error cone goes all the way into the Bahamas, and in fact, goes all the way almost to the Yucatan Peninsula. So by the time we get out four or five days, the error could be left or right of that line.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Carol, it's a busy day up here this morning, haven't even got my tie on yet.

COSTELLO: That's OK, you keep working. Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: To that bombing in Jakarta now, no one has claimed responsibility for the powerful blast, but there are suspects.

Maria Ressa is our bureau chief in Jakarta. She joins us live now with the latest. Bring us up to date.

MARIA RESSA, CNN JAKARTA BUREAU CHIEF: Carol, the radius of the blast is large. At least seven buildings in the area felt the shock waves. Windows in high rise buildings were shattered by the blast.

We spoke with an eyewitness inside the Australian Embassy who said he saw a car inching along the fence and saw it explode. When we got to the scene right in front of the Australian Embassy, that area was littered with several body parts. It was extremely chaotic. In fact, there was one man who had been thrown by the blast across to the other side.

It's unclear at this time whether it was a suicide bomber or what type of explosive was used. These details are expected relatively early, however. There are conflicting numbers on the death toll so far. The Jakarta police chief says four people were killed, while Australia's Prime Minister John Howard puts the toll at six people killed.

No group has claimed responsibility, as you said; however, Australian officials are now saying they are suspicious of Jemaah Islamiyah. This is a group that's linked to al Qaeda. Al Qaeda used the group for the Bali bombing in 2002 and the JW Marriott bombing just last year -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I was just going to ask you why the Australian Embassy?

RESSA: Australia, as you know, in the Bali bombing in 2002, 88 of 202 people killed were Australians. They have taken a very high profile role in Iraq, seen as a strong U.S. ally.

Here in Indonesia, the Australian government has been working very closely with the Indonesian police. In fact, they trained the Indonesian police to track down the terror network here. They have arrested about 150 people. Fifty of those have been prosecuted now.

So Australia has taken a very strong role in Indonesia's war on terror and that could be one of the reasons. In fact, just the beginning of this month, Australia updated its travel warning. Since October 2002, Australia has warned its citizens to stay away from unnecessary travel to Indonesia -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Maria Ressa reporting live for us from Jakarta this morning.

Moscow is now revealing more details about last week's horrific school hostage massacre. The siege ended with the deaths of more than 300 hostages, most of them children.

CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty has more on the fallout.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Still reeling from a terrorist massacre of hundreds men, women, and children held hostage in a southern Russian school, Moscow vowed to strike back.

Russian Chief of Staff General Yuri Baluyevsky said, "Russia will take steps to liquidate terror bases in any region." The General noted he was not implying Russia would resort to nuclear weapons in its fight against terrorism. The remarks echoed a stance taken by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, that it retains the right to launch preemptive strikes on terrorists virtually anywhere.

A senior administration officials tells CNN, every country has the right to defend itself in the war against terrorism. In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the Russian position understandable. JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: The United Nations' charter does give a right of self-defense. And the United Nations itself has accepted that an imminent or likely threat of terrorism certainly entitles any state to take appropriate action.

DOUGHERTY: Meanwhile, Russians heard the first definitive version of what happened in that school in southern Russia. The prosecutor general, Vladimir Ustinov, reporting to president Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, the meeting broadcast at length on Russian television.

The report contained the first official public acknowledgement that there were 1,200 men, women and children taken hostage, far more than first reported. The prosecutor general told the president, one terrorist questioned the ringleader called the Colonel, "Why seize a school?" The Colonel shot him dead and later killed two female terrorists as a warning, triggering a remote control to detonate explosives they had strapped to their bodies.

Anger over the behavior of Russian authorities spilled into the streets of the nearby town of Vladikavkaz Wednesday, the regional president promising his government and possibly he will resign. As more families in Beslan laid to rest their loved one, Russian authorities announced an unprecedented $10 million reward for information leading to the neutralization of two Chechen rebel leaders whom they accuse of organizing the assault that killed so many.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And you can learn more about how the hostage situation played out and Russia's reaction to it on our Web site. Just log on to CNN.com/world.

John Kerry is spending the morning campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa. This afternoon he'll speak at the National Baptist Convention in New Orleans. He wraps up the day in St. Louis, Missouri.

George Bush has two rallies today. Both are in the hotly contested battleground state of Pennsylvania. A campaign aide says Mr. Bush will lay out his vision for the economy.

A group calling itself Texans for Truth will soon begin running TV ads with the latest salvo in the political war about Vietnam wartime service. The ads question whether President Bush fulfilled his obligations in the Texas Air National Guard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard George Bush get up and say I served in the 187th Air National Guard in Montgomery, Alabama. Really? You know that was my unit and I don't remember seeing you there.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: White House says the president's honorable discharge in 1973 is proof he did what was required of him. Two months ago, a veterans group launched ads accusing John Kerry of lying about his own service in Vietnam.

So, have you had enough of that? We've still got nearly two months to go before Election Day and the race could get nastier. So it's time to read some e-mail after our e-mail "Question of the Morning" was are you sick of all this negative campaigning? And we have got many responses already this morning.

This from Rick in New Jersey. I don't mind candidates pointing out the weaknesses of their opponent. I do mind when they lie and distort the truth about another candidate's record.

This is from John (ph) from Albany, New York. Has this election become too negative? No, it hasn't. The political atmosphere in this country has been extremely negative for almost a decade. This election is simply reflecting that reality. There's a realist for you.

This is from Sarah (ph). She says the campaigns are more distracting than negative. The United States faces important issues like unemployment, health care and a rapidly rising death count in Iraq. Negative campaigns that threaten domestic terrorism if a candidate is not elected only serve as a distraction to lure the public away from the fact.

And this from Suzanne (ph) in Columbus, Indiana. She says seems I remember you covering the Swift Boat Vets for Truth relentlessly without mentioning how negative the campaign had become. That's not true, though. Now the Democrats are fighting back. The media is worried that the campaign has become too negative. Please, you should have pointed out a month ago that the smears against Kerry were too negative. You also could have used head-to-head facts instead of running the Swift Boat vets PR spin day after day.

Keep the e-mails coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Are you looking to kick start your career? I know I am. Then stay tuned for the next hour of DAYBREAK where our experts will tell us how to break the progress barrier.

And in 14 minutes, as students gear up for school this fall, we'll tell you why caffeine and coffee are not the drugs of choice for handling heavy workloads. More on that ahead.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:43 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning. Australian bomb experts are on their way to Indonesia. A huge car bomb outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta kills at least four people and injures dozens more.

Four thousand people in San Francisco are spending the week training for terror. The firefighters, police officers and public health officials are focusing on preventing and responding to a terrorist attack.

In money news, NASA says getting the space shuttle program airborne again is going to cost $2.2 billion. That's twice what the agency told Congress it would cost a year ago.

In culture, it was quite a stunning ceremony as the crowned prince of Brunei finally took a wife. After the ceremony, the 30- year-old prince and his 17-year-old bride paraded around the capital in a gold Rolls Royce.

In sports, Lindsay Davenport once again advanced to the U.S. Open finals -- semifinals, rather. She needed just 46 minutes to beat unseeded Shinobu Asagoe. It will be the third straight U.S. Open semifinal for Davenport -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you.

Earlier this week, American forces past a grim milestone in Iraq, more than 1,000 of them had died there. Who were these Americans? And how did they die?

CNN correspondent Beth Nissen has some answers for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the language of the military, they are the fallen warriors, the 1,000 U.S. troops who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 860 of them since May 1st of last year when major combat operations were declared at an end.

Combat continued in the streets and alleys of Baghdad, in the hot dust of Fallujah and Ramadi, in the cemetery of Najaf. Troops deaths peaked this spring, 50 in March, 134 in April the deadliest single month of the war, 81 in May.

How they died is not always clear in the Department of Defense releases or in the fog of war on the ground. At lest 80 troops are listed simply as killed in enemy or hostile action. As many as one in five died the way soldiers have in every modern war, shot in firefights, on patrol, by snipers. Another 125 were killed by rocket-propelled grenades, mortars. Almost double that number have been killed by one of this war's greatest threats, IEDs, improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs. At least 237 U.S. troops have been killed by IEDs set along roads, thrown into vehicles, detonated on passing convoys.

Vehicles are dangerous places in Iraq even in the absence of enemy attack. At least 107 troops, just over ten percent of the war dead, were killed in motor vehicle accidents when their Humvees and Bradleys and trucks collided in dust storms, rolled over on Iraq's poor roads, went off road and tumbled into ravines and canals.

Helicopters, another vital means of transport and supply, are also a constant danger. Eighty-three U.S. troops have died when their helicopters were shot down or crashed, 17 on one day alone last November 15th when two Black Hawk helicopters collided over Mosul.

In this war, in any war, there are accidents, non-combat deaths. In Iraq, at least 30 U.S. troops have died in accidental shootings, often as they or their comrades cleaned their weapons. Some of these weapon discharges were not accidents.

The Pentagon has confirmed that at least 26 Operation Iraqi Freedom troops have committed suicide. Other deaths have been caused by the same kind of accidents that might befall a population of 137,000 anywhere.

At least 16 U.S. military personnel have drowned in Iraq, crossing or swimming in rivers and canals. Seven were electrocuted. Troops in Iraq have also died of illnesses that claim thousands of civilian lives each year. At least 13 have died of heart failure, others suffered strokes, died of acute leukemia, cancer.

Who were these 1,000 Americans in uniform? The great majority, more than 720 were in the Army, the 101st Airborne, 1st Armored Division, 1st Infantry Division.

Since April when the Marines replaced Army units in the explosive Al Anbar province, a growing number of the dead have been Marines. More than 240 have died in Iraq so far, 33 last month alone.

Every branch of the service has seen losses, the Navy, the Air Force, even the Coast Guard. Those fighting for the U.S. in Iraq and those who have died represent the American population in broad strokes.

African Americans accounted for an estimated 13 percent of the dead, Hispanics another 12 percent. Seventy percent of the war dead were Caucasian, white men. Only 22 of the military fatalities have been women, almost half of them killed when their convoys hit roadside bombs.

The common denominator for most of these casualties is youth. Just over half of those killed in Iraq have been age 25 or younger. The youngest were 18, 19 years old. At least 77 were teenagers, the oldest 51, 55, 59. An unprecedented number of regular enlistees and reservists in the all voluntary military are older in their 30s and 40s and married. The Defense Department does not release information on families but, according to the Associated Press and reports in obituaries in local newspapers, more than 400 of the troops killed in Iraq were married, a third had children, most of them young. At least 389 children under the age of 12 have lost a father and five have lost a mother in Iraq. The numbers say so much and so little.

One thousand American lives lost, 1,000 individuals who had middle names that someone proudly chose for them, who had pictures taken on the first day of Kindergarten and at high school graduation, who had plans for the future, to be a police officer or a college student or a dad for the third time who wanted to serve their country and did at such great price.

Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Former President Bill Clinton is out of intensive care this morning. His office says he is walking with help, he's sitting up. Clinton had quadruple bypass surgery on Monday to clear blocked arteries in his heart. He's expected to recover at his New York hospital room for the next several days.

Adderall is a prescription drug gaining popularity with college students. And there are no anti-doping rules for them like there are for Olympic athletes. Adderall may help a student cram for exams, but it can also have serious side effects as Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, SR. CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the time, Stephanie didn't think the was doing anything wrong. But every year, when she went back to college, she also went back to using a drug.

STEPHANIE, RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE: I used Adderall. When I took it to study, I would just stay at the library for hours, until I had everything done and I knew everything front to back.

GUPTA: Adderall is actually a stimulant, and was approved in 1996 to treat attention deficit hyperactivity order.

But the problem is, Stephanie was never diagnosed with ADHD. She simply got the Adderall from a friend, and she's not alone.

DR. DREW PINSKY, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: This is an attractive drug to the college-age set, because the barrier is so low to use. Think about it, many of their peers have been on it their whole life, didn't hurt them, helps them study. Why not?

STEPHANIE: It was pretty easy for me to get it through people I knew, and people I knew that took it.

GUPTA: That's because in 2001 alone, prescription for drugs like Adderall increased 15 percent.

In a recent statement Shire Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Adderall said, "Ultimately parents, patients and school personnel are necessary partners with physicians and Shire in ensuring that Adderall and Adderall XR are used appropriately in patients diagnosed with ADHD."

But without a doctor's supervision, ensuring that you're taking the right dose is tough, and that may put you at risk for serious side effects.

PINSKY: What we would see for people using high doses, the same thing we see with other amphetamines, which is brain damage, chronic memory disturbances and chronic depressions.

GUPTA: Other side effects can include high blood pressure, insomnia, heart arrhythmias and stroke, possibly addiction.

Despite the risks, though, Stephanie has no regrets.

STEPHANIE: For some people who I know who are kind of like myself, who get distracted really easily when it comes to things like that, I probably would probably recommend it, but definitely not to everybody.

GUPTA: Now that she's recently graduated, she has no plans to use the drug in the future.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.

In the next hour of DAYBREAK, as the 9/11 anniversary looms, intelligence reforms were on the agenda in the nation's capital. We'll head live to Washington, tell you what happened at the high level huddle.

This is DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired September 9, 2004 - 05:28   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly car bomb in Jakarta. Was the Australian embassy the target of terrorists? We have a live report for you coming up.
It is Thursday, September 9.

This is DAYBREAK.

Good morning to you.

Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.

From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Now in the news, a locally based terror group is the prime suspect in this morning's car bomb explosion outside of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. The powerful blast killed six people and wounded 100, most of them security officers or passersby. Some Australian staff members suffered minor injuries.

Secretary of State Colin Powell testifies about the violence in Sudan this morning. He'll be speaking before the Senate Committee On Foreign Relations.

The White House threatens a veto of a big spending bill if House Democrats push through an amendment blocking new overtime rules. Democrats say the rules would cost millions of workers their overtime pay.

Hurricane Ivan now packs sustained winds of 160 miles per hour. That is a rare category five storm. And, Chad, look at this damage in Grenada with me.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

COSTELLO: It's astounding.

MYERS: Yes. They were saying...

COSTELLO: Four people killed here.

MYERS: How many?

COSTELLO: I think there are actually more than four, 15 in all.

MYERS: Fifteen is the number right now, yes. And I'm afraid that that number could go higher. Those buildings actually look in pretty good shape. They're actually on the west side of the island. The eastern side of the island, that really took the brunt of it, I heard one marina had 100 boats. Three are still floating. The rest are down below. So, yes, it was an ugly, ugly night last night across Grenada. Some of the winds there gusting to over 150 miles per hour, Carol.

We have the latest here. The numbers come out around 5:00, but the discussion that we call it actually comes out a little bit later than that. The new discussion at 650 feet above sea level where the plane flew and dropped the little drop sign, as we call it, a thing that they drop into the storm and it blows around, just recorded a wind gust to 201.6 miles per hour. Not at the surface, but above the surface. That's why you don't want to be in a high rise if a hurricane is coming at you. You want to be at the lowest level possible. The winds are always lower down at the surface.

Right now, category 5, winds at 160, gusting to 195 miles per hour. Forecast to move right over Jamaica. Some of the newer models are missing Jamaica a little bit. And that would be great news for Kingston, because that line right there, the center of the error cone right over Kingston, Jamaica. And then making a beeline at Havana and then maybe somewhere up here in the Florida Straits. The problem is the error cone goes all the way into the Bahamas, and in fact, goes all the way almost to the Yucatan Peninsula. So by the time we get out four or five days, the error could be left or right of that line.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Carol, it's a busy day up here this morning, haven't even got my tie on yet.

COSTELLO: That's OK, you keep working. Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: To that bombing in Jakarta now, no one has claimed responsibility for the powerful blast, but there are suspects.

Maria Ressa is our bureau chief in Jakarta. She joins us live now with the latest. Bring us up to date.

MARIA RESSA, CNN JAKARTA BUREAU CHIEF: Carol, the radius of the blast is large. At least seven buildings in the area felt the shock waves. Windows in high rise buildings were shattered by the blast.

We spoke with an eyewitness inside the Australian Embassy who said he saw a car inching along the fence and saw it explode. When we got to the scene right in front of the Australian Embassy, that area was littered with several body parts. It was extremely chaotic. In fact, there was one man who had been thrown by the blast across to the other side.

It's unclear at this time whether it was a suicide bomber or what type of explosive was used. These details are expected relatively early, however. There are conflicting numbers on the death toll so far. The Jakarta police chief says four people were killed, while Australia's Prime Minister John Howard puts the toll at six people killed.

No group has claimed responsibility, as you said; however, Australian officials are now saying they are suspicious of Jemaah Islamiyah. This is a group that's linked to al Qaeda. Al Qaeda used the group for the Bali bombing in 2002 and the JW Marriott bombing just last year -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I was just going to ask you why the Australian Embassy?

RESSA: Australia, as you know, in the Bali bombing in 2002, 88 of 202 people killed were Australians. They have taken a very high profile role in Iraq, seen as a strong U.S. ally.

Here in Indonesia, the Australian government has been working very closely with the Indonesian police. In fact, they trained the Indonesian police to track down the terror network here. They have arrested about 150 people. Fifty of those have been prosecuted now.

So Australia has taken a very strong role in Indonesia's war on terror and that could be one of the reasons. In fact, just the beginning of this month, Australia updated its travel warning. Since October 2002, Australia has warned its citizens to stay away from unnecessary travel to Indonesia -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Maria Ressa reporting live for us from Jakarta this morning.

Moscow is now revealing more details about last week's horrific school hostage massacre. The siege ended with the deaths of more than 300 hostages, most of them children.

CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty has more on the fallout.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Still reeling from a terrorist massacre of hundreds men, women, and children held hostage in a southern Russian school, Moscow vowed to strike back.

Russian Chief of Staff General Yuri Baluyevsky said, "Russia will take steps to liquidate terror bases in any region." The General noted he was not implying Russia would resort to nuclear weapons in its fight against terrorism. The remarks echoed a stance taken by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, that it retains the right to launch preemptive strikes on terrorists virtually anywhere.

A senior administration officials tells CNN, every country has the right to defend itself in the war against terrorism. In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the Russian position understandable. JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: The United Nations' charter does give a right of self-defense. And the United Nations itself has accepted that an imminent or likely threat of terrorism certainly entitles any state to take appropriate action.

DOUGHERTY: Meanwhile, Russians heard the first definitive version of what happened in that school in southern Russia. The prosecutor general, Vladimir Ustinov, reporting to president Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, the meeting broadcast at length on Russian television.

The report contained the first official public acknowledgement that there were 1,200 men, women and children taken hostage, far more than first reported. The prosecutor general told the president, one terrorist questioned the ringleader called the Colonel, "Why seize a school?" The Colonel shot him dead and later killed two female terrorists as a warning, triggering a remote control to detonate explosives they had strapped to their bodies.

Anger over the behavior of Russian authorities spilled into the streets of the nearby town of Vladikavkaz Wednesday, the regional president promising his government and possibly he will resign. As more families in Beslan laid to rest their loved one, Russian authorities announced an unprecedented $10 million reward for information leading to the neutralization of two Chechen rebel leaders whom they accuse of organizing the assault that killed so many.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And you can learn more about how the hostage situation played out and Russia's reaction to it on our Web site. Just log on to CNN.com/world.

John Kerry is spending the morning campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa. This afternoon he'll speak at the National Baptist Convention in New Orleans. He wraps up the day in St. Louis, Missouri.

George Bush has two rallies today. Both are in the hotly contested battleground state of Pennsylvania. A campaign aide says Mr. Bush will lay out his vision for the economy.

A group calling itself Texans for Truth will soon begin running TV ads with the latest salvo in the political war about Vietnam wartime service. The ads question whether President Bush fulfilled his obligations in the Texas Air National Guard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard George Bush get up and say I served in the 187th Air National Guard in Montgomery, Alabama. Really? You know that was my unit and I don't remember seeing you there.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: White House says the president's honorable discharge in 1973 is proof he did what was required of him. Two months ago, a veterans group launched ads accusing John Kerry of lying about his own service in Vietnam.

So, have you had enough of that? We've still got nearly two months to go before Election Day and the race could get nastier. So it's time to read some e-mail after our e-mail "Question of the Morning" was are you sick of all this negative campaigning? And we have got many responses already this morning.

This from Rick in New Jersey. I don't mind candidates pointing out the weaknesses of their opponent. I do mind when they lie and distort the truth about another candidate's record.

This is from John (ph) from Albany, New York. Has this election become too negative? No, it hasn't. The political atmosphere in this country has been extremely negative for almost a decade. This election is simply reflecting that reality. There's a realist for you.

This is from Sarah (ph). She says the campaigns are more distracting than negative. The United States faces important issues like unemployment, health care and a rapidly rising death count in Iraq. Negative campaigns that threaten domestic terrorism if a candidate is not elected only serve as a distraction to lure the public away from the fact.

And this from Suzanne (ph) in Columbus, Indiana. She says seems I remember you covering the Swift Boat Vets for Truth relentlessly without mentioning how negative the campaign had become. That's not true, though. Now the Democrats are fighting back. The media is worried that the campaign has become too negative. Please, you should have pointed out a month ago that the smears against Kerry were too negative. You also could have used head-to-head facts instead of running the Swift Boat vets PR spin day after day.

Keep the e-mails coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Are you looking to kick start your career? I know I am. Then stay tuned for the next hour of DAYBREAK where our experts will tell us how to break the progress barrier.

And in 14 minutes, as students gear up for school this fall, we'll tell you why caffeine and coffee are not the drugs of choice for handling heavy workloads. More on that ahead.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:43 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning. Australian bomb experts are on their way to Indonesia. A huge car bomb outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta kills at least four people and injures dozens more.

Four thousand people in San Francisco are spending the week training for terror. The firefighters, police officers and public health officials are focusing on preventing and responding to a terrorist attack.

In money news, NASA says getting the space shuttle program airborne again is going to cost $2.2 billion. That's twice what the agency told Congress it would cost a year ago.

In culture, it was quite a stunning ceremony as the crowned prince of Brunei finally took a wife. After the ceremony, the 30- year-old prince and his 17-year-old bride paraded around the capital in a gold Rolls Royce.

In sports, Lindsay Davenport once again advanced to the U.S. Open finals -- semifinals, rather. She needed just 46 minutes to beat unseeded Shinobu Asagoe. It will be the third straight U.S. Open semifinal for Davenport -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you.

Earlier this week, American forces past a grim milestone in Iraq, more than 1,000 of them had died there. Who were these Americans? And how did they die?

CNN correspondent Beth Nissen has some answers for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the language of the military, they are the fallen warriors, the 1,000 U.S. troops who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 860 of them since May 1st of last year when major combat operations were declared at an end.

Combat continued in the streets and alleys of Baghdad, in the hot dust of Fallujah and Ramadi, in the cemetery of Najaf. Troops deaths peaked this spring, 50 in March, 134 in April the deadliest single month of the war, 81 in May.

How they died is not always clear in the Department of Defense releases or in the fog of war on the ground. At lest 80 troops are listed simply as killed in enemy or hostile action. As many as one in five died the way soldiers have in every modern war, shot in firefights, on patrol, by snipers. Another 125 were killed by rocket-propelled grenades, mortars. Almost double that number have been killed by one of this war's greatest threats, IEDs, improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs. At least 237 U.S. troops have been killed by IEDs set along roads, thrown into vehicles, detonated on passing convoys.

Vehicles are dangerous places in Iraq even in the absence of enemy attack. At least 107 troops, just over ten percent of the war dead, were killed in motor vehicle accidents when their Humvees and Bradleys and trucks collided in dust storms, rolled over on Iraq's poor roads, went off road and tumbled into ravines and canals.

Helicopters, another vital means of transport and supply, are also a constant danger. Eighty-three U.S. troops have died when their helicopters were shot down or crashed, 17 on one day alone last November 15th when two Black Hawk helicopters collided over Mosul.

In this war, in any war, there are accidents, non-combat deaths. In Iraq, at least 30 U.S. troops have died in accidental shootings, often as they or their comrades cleaned their weapons. Some of these weapon discharges were not accidents.

The Pentagon has confirmed that at least 26 Operation Iraqi Freedom troops have committed suicide. Other deaths have been caused by the same kind of accidents that might befall a population of 137,000 anywhere.

At least 16 U.S. military personnel have drowned in Iraq, crossing or swimming in rivers and canals. Seven were electrocuted. Troops in Iraq have also died of illnesses that claim thousands of civilian lives each year. At least 13 have died of heart failure, others suffered strokes, died of acute leukemia, cancer.

Who were these 1,000 Americans in uniform? The great majority, more than 720 were in the Army, the 101st Airborne, 1st Armored Division, 1st Infantry Division.

Since April when the Marines replaced Army units in the explosive Al Anbar province, a growing number of the dead have been Marines. More than 240 have died in Iraq so far, 33 last month alone.

Every branch of the service has seen losses, the Navy, the Air Force, even the Coast Guard. Those fighting for the U.S. in Iraq and those who have died represent the American population in broad strokes.

African Americans accounted for an estimated 13 percent of the dead, Hispanics another 12 percent. Seventy percent of the war dead were Caucasian, white men. Only 22 of the military fatalities have been women, almost half of them killed when their convoys hit roadside bombs.

The common denominator for most of these casualties is youth. Just over half of those killed in Iraq have been age 25 or younger. The youngest were 18, 19 years old. At least 77 were teenagers, the oldest 51, 55, 59. An unprecedented number of regular enlistees and reservists in the all voluntary military are older in their 30s and 40s and married. The Defense Department does not release information on families but, according to the Associated Press and reports in obituaries in local newspapers, more than 400 of the troops killed in Iraq were married, a third had children, most of them young. At least 389 children under the age of 12 have lost a father and five have lost a mother in Iraq. The numbers say so much and so little.

One thousand American lives lost, 1,000 individuals who had middle names that someone proudly chose for them, who had pictures taken on the first day of Kindergarten and at high school graduation, who had plans for the future, to be a police officer or a college student or a dad for the third time who wanted to serve their country and did at such great price.

Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.

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COSTELLO: Former President Bill Clinton is out of intensive care this morning. His office says he is walking with help, he's sitting up. Clinton had quadruple bypass surgery on Monday to clear blocked arteries in his heart. He's expected to recover at his New York hospital room for the next several days.

Adderall is a prescription drug gaining popularity with college students. And there are no anti-doping rules for them like there are for Olympic athletes. Adderall may help a student cram for exams, but it can also have serious side effects as Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, SR. CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the time, Stephanie didn't think the was doing anything wrong. But every year, when she went back to college, she also went back to using a drug.

STEPHANIE, RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE: I used Adderall. When I took it to study, I would just stay at the library for hours, until I had everything done and I knew everything front to back.

GUPTA: Adderall is actually a stimulant, and was approved in 1996 to treat attention deficit hyperactivity order.

But the problem is, Stephanie was never diagnosed with ADHD. She simply got the Adderall from a friend, and she's not alone.

DR. DREW PINSKY, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: This is an attractive drug to the college-age set, because the barrier is so low to use. Think about it, many of their peers have been on it their whole life, didn't hurt them, helps them study. Why not?

STEPHANIE: It was pretty easy for me to get it through people I knew, and people I knew that took it.

GUPTA: That's because in 2001 alone, prescription for drugs like Adderall increased 15 percent.

In a recent statement Shire Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Adderall said, "Ultimately parents, patients and school personnel are necessary partners with physicians and Shire in ensuring that Adderall and Adderall XR are used appropriately in patients diagnosed with ADHD."

But without a doctor's supervision, ensuring that you're taking the right dose is tough, and that may put you at risk for serious side effects.

PINSKY: What we would see for people using high doses, the same thing we see with other amphetamines, which is brain damage, chronic memory disturbances and chronic depressions.

GUPTA: Other side effects can include high blood pressure, insomnia, heart arrhythmias and stroke, possibly addiction.

Despite the risks, though, Stephanie has no regrets.

STEPHANIE: For some people who I know who are kind of like myself, who get distracted really easily when it comes to things like that, I probably would probably recommend it, but definitely not to everybody.

GUPTA: Now that she's recently graduated, she has no plans to use the drug in the future.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

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COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.

In the next hour of DAYBREAK, as the 9/11 anniversary looms, intelligence reforms were on the agenda in the nation's capital. We'll head live to Washington, tell you what happened at the high level huddle.

This is DAYBREAK.

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