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CNN Live At Daybreak

Congress Moves Closer to Enacting 9/11 Panel Recommendations; 'Educational Apartheid in the United States'?

Aired September 09, 2004 - 06:00   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: And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Now in the news, a huge explosion has killed at least four people and wounded about 100 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Witnesses say a powerful car bomb blew up outside of the Australian embassy.

The Pakistani Air Force bombed a suspected meeting of al Qaeda operatives this morning. Officials say 40 people were killed, including Pakistanis and foreigners. It happened along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

In Iraq, a U.S. air strike today on a building allegedly used by followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. U.S. officials say al-Zarqawi has close ties to al Qaeda. The attack killed 10 to 12 people, including women and children.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are also on the attack in the northern city of Talafar near Mosul. The U.S. military says the operation is aimed at ousting terrorists who have overrun the city.

And a ferocious hurricane Ivan also is on the attack. Ivan has caused at least 15 deaths. Most of the homes and buildings in Grenada have been damaged.

Let's head to the forecast center now to check in with Chad to see exactly where this hurricane is now.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That was a category four, Carol, as it went over Grenada. Literally the right side of the eye wall, the most dangerous part of the eye wall, went right over Grenada. Now, now, folks, it's a category five. It's been upgraded in the overnight hours. Winds at 160 miles per hour right there. You can see how symmetric the storm is, what a great looking eye it has. I mean that's all a weather term. A great looking eye means that it's actually very round, it's very symmetrical and it's actually moving into that area and the winds are popping up and going out.

Great outflow, as we call it. This storm couldn't get much better than what it is right now, 160 miles per hour, gusting to 195. Typically storms can't last at this for all that long. It can't be a category five for long. It's going to circulate up and down, kind of weaken, going to get stronger. It could be very, very strong, though, right there. A category four as it moves over Jamaica. And this is really just an estimate. It's all about what we call eye wall replacement cycles. The eye, like it is right now, is very, very strong. This is about how Charley came over the west coast of Florida, as strong as you can get.

And then later on today, that eye wall will kind of break itself up and kind of fall apart. And the winds may go back down to about 130. And then by tomorrow morning, Carol, those winds could be right back in, packed into that small eye wall again. It's just that's how a major hurricane kind of cycles itself.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Just who is going to control the purse strings for intelligence? President Bush wants the new national director to have the checkbook. But will Congress go along with the plan?

For some answers, let's go live to Washington and CNN's Skip Loescher -- good morning, Skip.

SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Congress has yet to enact any of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations for revamping the nation's intelligence agencies. But now it appears that law makers may be moving to make something happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LOESCHER (voice-over): The 9/11 Commission made its recommendations for reforming the intelligence community in July and now it appears as though there may be reason for optimism.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budgetary authority.

LOESCHER: That was music to the ears of 9/11 families, if it happens. Right now, the Pentagon controls most of the funding for intelligence activities. Giving the director power of the purse could assure that he or she could force the nation's intelligence agencies to really work together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A national intelligence director needs to be able to say to his operating or her operating agencies I need five from you and five from you and five from you.

LOESCHER: But there may be differences in House and Senate proposals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question will be will we work out our differences and be able to send a bill to the president?

LOESCHER: And can Congress get the job done by October, when it is supposed to adjourn so members can go home and campaign?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For those who would seek to delay, for those who would seek to temporize, the burden will be very heavy. (END VIDEO TAPE)

LOESCHER: And law makers don't like to anger voters in an election year -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I was just going to say, Skip, I bet something will be done before November.

LOESCHER: I think you can bank on the fact that something will be done, whether it's all 41 recommendations from the commission acted upon by Congress, but at least the major ones look like they'll be done before November.

COSTELLO: Skip Loescher live from D.C. this morning.

Thank you.

LOESCHER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: The White House says no amount of paperwork from the 1970s will change the fact that President Bush served honorably during the Vietnam War. Memos obtained by CNN do indicate the president's commanders in the Texas Air National Guard felt pressured to give him a good performance evaluation. The White House says the president fulfilled all of his service obligations and was honorably discharged.

But "The Boston Globe" says its investigation found the president didn't show up for duty on a number of occasions and his commanding officers looked the other way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER ROBINSON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": He was honorably discharged from the Texas Guard by the very same officers who, it is clear from these records and even clearer from the records that CBS obtained, these very same officers who condoned his non-attendance at drills for most of the last 17 months he was in the Guard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Stay close. Our hot button political discussion at the half hour focuses on the latest round of partisan attacks on Vietnam War service.

In news across America this morning, the 10-year-old assault weapons ban is on its last legs. Republican congressional leaders say they have no plans to bring the bill back up for a vote before it expires on Monday. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says he won't budge, even if President Bush requests a vote on the bill.

Lionel Tate of Florida could be heading back to prison for anywhere from a few days to life. Tate appeared before a judge on charges that he violated his probation. You might remember that Tate was the youngest person ever sentenced to life in prison. He was released from prison in January. Tate was picked up after midnight last Friday by police, who found a knife in his possession. The 17- year-old is now being held without bail.

In Missouri, police are searching for more bodies that may be linked to a possible serial killer in the Kansas City area. Six bodies have been recovered so far. Police are also trying to determine if the deaths are linked to a series of arsons in the area.

To Redwood City and a single strand of hair. The prosecution in the Scott Peterson murder trial tried to establish that hair was Laci's and prove she was on Peterson's boat when she disappeared forever.

Live to Miami and our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, for some "Coffey Talk" this morning -- good morning, Kendall.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about that hair. It was found on a pair of pliers on Scott Peterson's boat. Prosecutors contend they proved through DNA it was, indeed, Laci's.

Did Geragos poke holes in this assertion?

COFFEY: Well, I think the good news from the prosecution's standpoint is the mitochondrial DNA evidence is accepted. And while it doesn't have the spectacular certainty that other forms of DNA does, it's not sort of a one in a million thing, it's a one in maybe 100, one in 112 samples would match. So that's pretty convincing in terms of this being Laci's hair.

But the big question is if you've got a single strand of hair, which we also know, Carol, was apparently in some fashion broken up during passage, is that really going to be enough, especially given the lack of any other convincing forensic evidence elsewhere in this prosecution case?

COSTELLO: Yes, that's the sole piece of physical evidence. And besides, so the hair was Laci's? They lived together. Couldn't it have been on Scott Peterson's person and somehow got on the pliers?

COFFEY: Very clearly the defense is going to argue that a single -- especially a single strand -- could be migrating on the husband's clothes. I mean husbands and wives have all kinds of positive contact and why not a hair or two somehow getting its way there? It's definitely not a blockbuster. But, strikingly, it seems to be the most important piece of scientific evidence that the prosecution has.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

Let's move on to the pregnant women who took the stand yesterday for the prosecution to say they were pregnant at the very same time that Laci Peterson was pregnant and perhaps witnesses in the area might have mistaken them for Laci Peterson.

COFFEY: It shows how much the prosecution is on the defensive, because they are basically trying to counter what the defense is going to say is, hey, there are sightings of Laci Peterson by people who had nothing to do with the prosecution case, nothing to do with the defense case. And, of course, those sightings of Laci Peterson walking the dog or in the park that morning, is totally inconsistent with the prosecution theory that by then she had already been murdered.

So what's the prosecution trying to do? Create other explanations for what the defense witnesses saw. But, again, if the burden is a reasonable doubt, this kind of back and forth tells you that there are some questions.

COSTELLO: You know what I found most compelling is the testimony that came out that Scott Peterson wanted to sell their house and then he asked a friend and real estate agent at a volunteer search site for Laci about selling the house.

COFFEY: The best thing the prosecution has is all the strange, bizarre, guilty things that Scott Peterson did, whether it's evading police through all kinds of strange things. We saw some of the weird and deceitful shenanigans on the conversations with Amber Frey, trying to sell the house, trying to sell her car. It's Scott Peterson's own conduct himself which I think the prosecution is relying upon to convince the jury that he did one of the most horrible imaginable acts, murdering his wife and unborn child.

COSTELLO: Kendall Coffey live on the phone for us on DAYBREAK.

Thank you.

Lately when Bill Cosby speaks, we all listen, which is one reason he was invited to speak about education at the Congressional Black Caucus Wednesday. I'll talk to the woman who hosted that panel discussion, coming up at 13 minutes past the hour. And, yes, Bill Cosby did deliver.

Also, an unhappy ending for Genesis. What the heck happened?

And then later, did one of the 9/11 hijackers do surveillance on this power plant? A new documentary raises some eyebrows and some tempers about U.S. national security.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: As we've been telling you this morning, terrorists have struck again. Indonesian police blame al Qaeda linked terrorists for this morning's powerful car bomb that killed at least four people and injured about 100 others.

Joining us from London to discuss the terrorist problem in Indonesia and how it might affect all of us is M.J. Gohel, head of the Asia-Pacific Foundation.

Good morning.

M.J. GOHEL, CEO, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: Good morning to you.

COSTELLO: This attack apparently targeted the Australian embassy.

Why?

GOHEL: I think the intention by the terrorists was multi- dimensional. The Australians are a target for the simple reason that there are Australian troops in Iraq. There's an Australian election coming up later this year. Australia was also involved in the independence of East Timor in 1999. And the Australians are, of course, a major key U.S. ally.

And on top of that, there are Indonesian elections, presidential elections, taking place in about 10 days time.

COSTELLO: Australia has also been pretty instrumental in helping, well, try to solve the terrorist problem within Indonesia.

GOHEL: Well, you see, indeed, the Australian intelligence service has been working extremely closely with the Indonesian intelligence. And this, again, makes the Australians a target.

On top of all of this, the political scenario in Australia is very similar to Spain. You will recall that in March there was a multiple train bombing. And, of course, the incumbent government in Spain wanted to keep the troops in Iraq. The opposition party wanted to get out of Iraq. And the same thing is happening in the Australian election, where the incumbent Liberal Party wants to maintain the troops in Iraq. The opposition Labor Party wants to get the troops out.

So, you know, I think these terrorists are trying to disrupt and influence elections.

COSTELLO: This terror group has links to al Qaeda.

Have there been arrests? Do we know who's orchestrating these attacks?

GOHEL: Well, the Jemaah Islamiyah group was established in about the late 1980s by a couple of clerics. And a lot of Jemaah Islamiyah members went to Pakistan and to Afghanistan in the 1990s, linked up with bin Laden's al Qaeda and became very radicalized.

Now, their intention is to create an Islamic caliphate, an Islamic super state, in Southeast Asia, which would encompass Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and even parts of northern Australia, it's alleged.

This group has suffered some setbacks. Its key leader, Himbali, and Fadr al-Gozi (ph), have been killed. And it was thought that Jemaah Islamiyah's back had been broken. But this latest atrocity shows that it still maintains operational capability.

And the one individual suspected of being involved in this is a guy called Azahari Husin. Azahari Husin is a Malaysian, a man who, it is alleged, has written a book on how to make a bomb.

So it seems Jemaah Islamiyah is still very dangerous.

COSTELLO: M.J. Gohel, head of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, joining us live from London this morning.

Thank you.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:16 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

Bill Clinton is now out of intensive care. But he'll remain in the hospital for at least a few more days. The former president had quadruple bypass surgery in New York on Monday. His doctors expect a full recovery.

A prosecutor in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case says his accuser pulled out of the case because she became ill from stress shortly before the trial was to begin. The prosecutor says the 20- year-old alleged victim was raped when she went to Bryant's room for an autograph.

In money news, Delta Airlines plans to cut up to 7,000 jobs as part of its reorganization. The plan also calls for Delta to stop using Dallas-Fort Worth as a hub.

In culture, Donald Trump fans take notice. "Apprentice 2" begins tonight. I know how excited you are. Over the next 16 weeks, "The Donald" will once again fire a bunch of schemers and over achievers.

And in sports, another season premier, and this is exciting. The pro-football season kicks off tonight with defending champion New England Patriots taking on the Indianapolis Colts -- Chad.

MYERS: In a muggy Foxboro, Carol.

There's going to be heavy rain there, especially heavy rain now this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

It is a thought provoking title -- "Educational Apartheid in the United States." What it means to some in this country is that our schools have become dangerously segregated. It and more topics before the Congressional Black Caucus.

Front and center to offer advice, Bill Cosby. And, again, he was blunt in his views concerning parenting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WILLIAM H. COSBY, ENTERTAINER: If your parents come and sit in the classroom or come to meetings and know what classes you have, your game is gone. And you will behave. These children need that. With all of the systematic racism that pounds away at us every day, there is nothing that will defeat parenting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The moderator for the panel joins us live from Washington.

She's Maya Rockeymoore, vice president of research and programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Good morning.

MAYA ROCKEYMOORE, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS FOUNDATION: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: You know, the title of this discussion before members of Congress, "Educational Apartheid in the United States," it seems extreme. Tell me about that.

Who came up with that and what evidence if there of it?

ROCKEYMOORE: Well, the evidence is basically in the numbers in every classroom, and especially in urban cities. We're on the 50th anniversary of "Brown v. The Board of Education" and what we're finding is is that many African-Americans, especially African-American males, are segregated within schools because they are tracked into low performance classes, special education classes, as opposed to gifted and talented classes.

So we have a situation where we have under representation of African-Americans in gifted and talented classes and basically university bound classes, and an over representation in special education. And it's a problem because we're seeing it in terms of dropout statistics. We're seeing it also in terms of the rate of people who are or are not going to the university level.

COSTELLO: The high school dropout rate for African-Americans is, what, above 14 percent now.

ROCKEYMOORE: Actually, when you're looking at total dropouts, it's 50 percent. And so it's really, really disturbing when you look at the numbers and understand that we actually really have a problem in this country.

COSTELLO: You know, in part the blame, you say, is institutional. But Bill Cosby was invited to speak before the panel and he says it's more than that.

Let's listen to what else he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COSBY: When a child witnesses helplessly the mother being battered and then making love to the man and then being battered and then putting him out and taking him back in, then this child is helpless and scarred forever. Sometimes the children are molested. There's a very ugly life some of these children live and they can't talk about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You know, that's perhaps a deeper problem.

Were there ideas presented in how to combat that?

ROCKEYMOORE: Yes. Actually, Dr. Cosby called for more psychologists in the schools. I mean he really called attention to the fact that a lot of these kids come to school, they're angry. They're facing problems in their family life. And he really called for a movement, a nationwide movement, not just for the African- American community, but for all Americans, to basically take control over our families, over our neighborhoods and over our schools so that we can uplift our kids and so that we can have a better future.

And so Dr. Cosby really laid it down. And he was well received by the audience members.

COSTELLO: So what are African-American members of Congress doing about this?

ROCKEYMOORE: African-American members of Congress have, especially the Congressional Black Caucus, have been at the forefront of calling for full funding for education, for calling for smaller classroom sizes, for calling for more attention to the problems, especially that urban center cities face in terms of providing adequate funding for their school systems.

And so the Congressional Black Caucus has really been a leader in the Congress on this. We're really calling for President Bush, as well, to fully fund no child left behind.

So, you know, the Congressional Black Caucus has really been a leader.

COSTELLO: Maya Rockeymoore, vice president of research and programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

ROCKEYMOORE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll be back with much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

I'm Carrie Lee at the Nasdaq market site. Fed Chief Alan Greenspan telling Congress yesterday that the U.S. economy has regained some traction, thus reinforcing expectations of higher interest rates during the final stretch of the presidential campaign. Fed policymakers meet next on September 21.

Greenspan also said that the economic pickup follows a soft patch caused, in large part, by soaring energy prices, but that rising oil costs are not likely to have a lasting impact on inflation. Greenspan comments not upbeat enough yesterday to get stocks in positive territory. At the close, all of the major market indices ending fractionally lower. And for today, this Thursday, stocks looking flat to slightly weak, as well.

One name to watch, Texas Instruments, gaining 2 percent last night in the after hours session, lowering sales forecasts for the third quarter, but raising profit numbers and profit expectations just slightly. Texas Instruments up 2 percent, the number one maker of chips used in cell phones.

And that is the latest business news.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Is New York City vulnerable to a nuclear cloud? An environmental group warns that a terrorist attack at a nuclear plant 35 miles outside the city could be devastating. The group Riverkeeper says the Indian Point plant is vulnerable and an attack would kill more than 40,000 in midtown Manhattan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX MATTHIESSEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RIVERKEEPER: And most recently, the 9/11 Commission report confirmed that Mohamed Atta, who was the 9/11 attack ringleader, had actually been casing a New York area nuclear power plant before the 9/11 attacks. There is a strong reason to believe that that plant that he's talking about was, in fact, Indian Point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Nuclear Regulatory Commission members say the group is taking liberties with the facts and examining a worst case scenario.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa takes a look at the plant in an upcoming HBO documentary on Indian Point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Indian Point nuclear power plant is so close to residential areas that people can see it from their local parks, close enough for environmental activists to release rubber ducks to show just how close terrorists could get.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "IMAGINING THE UNIMAGINABLE")

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: On September 11, 2001, the hijackers actually used the Hudson River as a navigational point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: Close enough for a famous brother and sister, Bobby and Rory Kennedy, to legally fly a helicopter right over a nuclear plant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "IMAGINING THE UNIMAGINABLE")

ROBERT KENNEDY JR.: If they had banked left and hit Indian Point rather than proceeded down to the World Trade Center, this area could be uninhabitable today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA (on camera): What is in fact declared a no-fly zone now in a post-September 11 reality?

ROBERT KENNEDY JR.: It's not too hard to get declared a no-fly zone. Disneyland has a no-fly zone. Disney World has one. The Super Bowl has a no-fly zone. My cousin Caroline Kennedy's wedding had a no-fly zone.

HINOJOSA (voice-over): As September 11 approaches, the debate about safety at Indian Point is heating up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "IMAGINING THE UNIMAGINABLE")

RORY KENNEDY, FILMMAKER: On the day the World Trade Center was attacked...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: An HBO documentary made by Rory Kennedy called "Imagining the Unimaginable" raises new fears about security.

RORY KENNEDY: New York City is only 24 miles south of Indian Point. There's just too much at stake. There's simply too much at stake.

HINOJOSA: A group of scientists favoring nuclear power accuses Kennedy of basing her conclusions on fear, not science.

DR. LETTY G. LUTZKER, ST. BARNABAS MEDICAL CENTER: A slow release of proportions large enough to damage the community or any outlying areas is virtually impossible.

HINOJOSA: But after 9/11, activists say no scenario is too farfetched.

DAVID LOCHBAUM, NUCLEAR SAFETY ENGINEER: All of these past reactor access has have been caused by people making mistakes in the control room. The fully-loaded jet airplane hitting the control room can do far more damage than those people did with their mistakes over the years.

HINOJOSA: Or could it?

JERRY KREMER, NEW YORK STATE DIRECTOR, AREA: The construction of this plant is such that, even if you crashed an airliner into it, every test shows that, with the depth of the plant, 100 feet below, plus the six feet of concrete, there's just no way that you can penetrate the core and create the kind of disaster they're talking about.

HINOJOSA: Maria Hinojosa, CNN New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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Aired September 9, 2004 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Now in the news, a huge explosion has killed at least four people and wounded about 100 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Witnesses say a powerful car bomb blew up outside of the Australian embassy.

The Pakistani Air Force bombed a suspected meeting of al Qaeda operatives this morning. Officials say 40 people were killed, including Pakistanis and foreigners. It happened along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

In Iraq, a U.S. air strike today on a building allegedly used by followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. U.S. officials say al-Zarqawi has close ties to al Qaeda. The attack killed 10 to 12 people, including women and children.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are also on the attack in the northern city of Talafar near Mosul. The U.S. military says the operation is aimed at ousting terrorists who have overrun the city.

And a ferocious hurricane Ivan also is on the attack. Ivan has caused at least 15 deaths. Most of the homes and buildings in Grenada have been damaged.

Let's head to the forecast center now to check in with Chad to see exactly where this hurricane is now.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That was a category four, Carol, as it went over Grenada. Literally the right side of the eye wall, the most dangerous part of the eye wall, went right over Grenada. Now, now, folks, it's a category five. It's been upgraded in the overnight hours. Winds at 160 miles per hour right there. You can see how symmetric the storm is, what a great looking eye it has. I mean that's all a weather term. A great looking eye means that it's actually very round, it's very symmetrical and it's actually moving into that area and the winds are popping up and going out.

Great outflow, as we call it. This storm couldn't get much better than what it is right now, 160 miles per hour, gusting to 195. Typically storms can't last at this for all that long. It can't be a category five for long. It's going to circulate up and down, kind of weaken, going to get stronger. It could be very, very strong, though, right there. A category four as it moves over Jamaica. And this is really just an estimate. It's all about what we call eye wall replacement cycles. The eye, like it is right now, is very, very strong. This is about how Charley came over the west coast of Florida, as strong as you can get.

And then later on today, that eye wall will kind of break itself up and kind of fall apart. And the winds may go back down to about 130. And then by tomorrow morning, Carol, those winds could be right back in, packed into that small eye wall again. It's just that's how a major hurricane kind of cycles itself.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Just who is going to control the purse strings for intelligence? President Bush wants the new national director to have the checkbook. But will Congress go along with the plan?

For some answers, let's go live to Washington and CNN's Skip Loescher -- good morning, Skip.

SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Congress has yet to enact any of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations for revamping the nation's intelligence agencies. But now it appears that law makers may be moving to make something happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LOESCHER (voice-over): The 9/11 Commission made its recommendations for reforming the intelligence community in July and now it appears as though there may be reason for optimism.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budgetary authority.

LOESCHER: That was music to the ears of 9/11 families, if it happens. Right now, the Pentagon controls most of the funding for intelligence activities. Giving the director power of the purse could assure that he or she could force the nation's intelligence agencies to really work together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A national intelligence director needs to be able to say to his operating or her operating agencies I need five from you and five from you and five from you.

LOESCHER: But there may be differences in House and Senate proposals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question will be will we work out our differences and be able to send a bill to the president?

LOESCHER: And can Congress get the job done by October, when it is supposed to adjourn so members can go home and campaign?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For those who would seek to delay, for those who would seek to temporize, the burden will be very heavy. (END VIDEO TAPE)

LOESCHER: And law makers don't like to anger voters in an election year -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I was just going to say, Skip, I bet something will be done before November.

LOESCHER: I think you can bank on the fact that something will be done, whether it's all 41 recommendations from the commission acted upon by Congress, but at least the major ones look like they'll be done before November.

COSTELLO: Skip Loescher live from D.C. this morning.

Thank you.

LOESCHER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: The White House says no amount of paperwork from the 1970s will change the fact that President Bush served honorably during the Vietnam War. Memos obtained by CNN do indicate the president's commanders in the Texas Air National Guard felt pressured to give him a good performance evaluation. The White House says the president fulfilled all of his service obligations and was honorably discharged.

But "The Boston Globe" says its investigation found the president didn't show up for duty on a number of occasions and his commanding officers looked the other way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER ROBINSON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": He was honorably discharged from the Texas Guard by the very same officers who, it is clear from these records and even clearer from the records that CBS obtained, these very same officers who condoned his non-attendance at drills for most of the last 17 months he was in the Guard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Stay close. Our hot button political discussion at the half hour focuses on the latest round of partisan attacks on Vietnam War service.

In news across America this morning, the 10-year-old assault weapons ban is on its last legs. Republican congressional leaders say they have no plans to bring the bill back up for a vote before it expires on Monday. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says he won't budge, even if President Bush requests a vote on the bill.

Lionel Tate of Florida could be heading back to prison for anywhere from a few days to life. Tate appeared before a judge on charges that he violated his probation. You might remember that Tate was the youngest person ever sentenced to life in prison. He was released from prison in January. Tate was picked up after midnight last Friday by police, who found a knife in his possession. The 17- year-old is now being held without bail.

In Missouri, police are searching for more bodies that may be linked to a possible serial killer in the Kansas City area. Six bodies have been recovered so far. Police are also trying to determine if the deaths are linked to a series of arsons in the area.

To Redwood City and a single strand of hair. The prosecution in the Scott Peterson murder trial tried to establish that hair was Laci's and prove she was on Peterson's boat when she disappeared forever.

Live to Miami and our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, for some "Coffey Talk" this morning -- good morning, Kendall.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about that hair. It was found on a pair of pliers on Scott Peterson's boat. Prosecutors contend they proved through DNA it was, indeed, Laci's.

Did Geragos poke holes in this assertion?

COFFEY: Well, I think the good news from the prosecution's standpoint is the mitochondrial DNA evidence is accepted. And while it doesn't have the spectacular certainty that other forms of DNA does, it's not sort of a one in a million thing, it's a one in maybe 100, one in 112 samples would match. So that's pretty convincing in terms of this being Laci's hair.

But the big question is if you've got a single strand of hair, which we also know, Carol, was apparently in some fashion broken up during passage, is that really going to be enough, especially given the lack of any other convincing forensic evidence elsewhere in this prosecution case?

COSTELLO: Yes, that's the sole piece of physical evidence. And besides, so the hair was Laci's? They lived together. Couldn't it have been on Scott Peterson's person and somehow got on the pliers?

COFFEY: Very clearly the defense is going to argue that a single -- especially a single strand -- could be migrating on the husband's clothes. I mean husbands and wives have all kinds of positive contact and why not a hair or two somehow getting its way there? It's definitely not a blockbuster. But, strikingly, it seems to be the most important piece of scientific evidence that the prosecution has.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

Let's move on to the pregnant women who took the stand yesterday for the prosecution to say they were pregnant at the very same time that Laci Peterson was pregnant and perhaps witnesses in the area might have mistaken them for Laci Peterson.

COFFEY: It shows how much the prosecution is on the defensive, because they are basically trying to counter what the defense is going to say is, hey, there are sightings of Laci Peterson by people who had nothing to do with the prosecution case, nothing to do with the defense case. And, of course, those sightings of Laci Peterson walking the dog or in the park that morning, is totally inconsistent with the prosecution theory that by then she had already been murdered.

So what's the prosecution trying to do? Create other explanations for what the defense witnesses saw. But, again, if the burden is a reasonable doubt, this kind of back and forth tells you that there are some questions.

COSTELLO: You know what I found most compelling is the testimony that came out that Scott Peterson wanted to sell their house and then he asked a friend and real estate agent at a volunteer search site for Laci about selling the house.

COFFEY: The best thing the prosecution has is all the strange, bizarre, guilty things that Scott Peterson did, whether it's evading police through all kinds of strange things. We saw some of the weird and deceitful shenanigans on the conversations with Amber Frey, trying to sell the house, trying to sell her car. It's Scott Peterson's own conduct himself which I think the prosecution is relying upon to convince the jury that he did one of the most horrible imaginable acts, murdering his wife and unborn child.

COSTELLO: Kendall Coffey live on the phone for us on DAYBREAK.

Thank you.

Lately when Bill Cosby speaks, we all listen, which is one reason he was invited to speak about education at the Congressional Black Caucus Wednesday. I'll talk to the woman who hosted that panel discussion, coming up at 13 minutes past the hour. And, yes, Bill Cosby did deliver.

Also, an unhappy ending for Genesis. What the heck happened?

And then later, did one of the 9/11 hijackers do surveillance on this power plant? A new documentary raises some eyebrows and some tempers about U.S. national security.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: As we've been telling you this morning, terrorists have struck again. Indonesian police blame al Qaeda linked terrorists for this morning's powerful car bomb that killed at least four people and injured about 100 others.

Joining us from London to discuss the terrorist problem in Indonesia and how it might affect all of us is M.J. Gohel, head of the Asia-Pacific Foundation.

Good morning.

M.J. GOHEL, CEO, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: Good morning to you.

COSTELLO: This attack apparently targeted the Australian embassy.

Why?

GOHEL: I think the intention by the terrorists was multi- dimensional. The Australians are a target for the simple reason that there are Australian troops in Iraq. There's an Australian election coming up later this year. Australia was also involved in the independence of East Timor in 1999. And the Australians are, of course, a major key U.S. ally.

And on top of that, there are Indonesian elections, presidential elections, taking place in about 10 days time.

COSTELLO: Australia has also been pretty instrumental in helping, well, try to solve the terrorist problem within Indonesia.

GOHEL: Well, you see, indeed, the Australian intelligence service has been working extremely closely with the Indonesian intelligence. And this, again, makes the Australians a target.

On top of all of this, the political scenario in Australia is very similar to Spain. You will recall that in March there was a multiple train bombing. And, of course, the incumbent government in Spain wanted to keep the troops in Iraq. The opposition party wanted to get out of Iraq. And the same thing is happening in the Australian election, where the incumbent Liberal Party wants to maintain the troops in Iraq. The opposition Labor Party wants to get the troops out.

So, you know, I think these terrorists are trying to disrupt and influence elections.

COSTELLO: This terror group has links to al Qaeda.

Have there been arrests? Do we know who's orchestrating these attacks?

GOHEL: Well, the Jemaah Islamiyah group was established in about the late 1980s by a couple of clerics. And a lot of Jemaah Islamiyah members went to Pakistan and to Afghanistan in the 1990s, linked up with bin Laden's al Qaeda and became very radicalized.

Now, their intention is to create an Islamic caliphate, an Islamic super state, in Southeast Asia, which would encompass Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and even parts of northern Australia, it's alleged.

This group has suffered some setbacks. Its key leader, Himbali, and Fadr al-Gozi (ph), have been killed. And it was thought that Jemaah Islamiyah's back had been broken. But this latest atrocity shows that it still maintains operational capability.

And the one individual suspected of being involved in this is a guy called Azahari Husin. Azahari Husin is a Malaysian, a man who, it is alleged, has written a book on how to make a bomb.

So it seems Jemaah Islamiyah is still very dangerous.

COSTELLO: M.J. Gohel, head of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, joining us live from London this morning.

Thank you.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:16 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

Bill Clinton is now out of intensive care. But he'll remain in the hospital for at least a few more days. The former president had quadruple bypass surgery in New York on Monday. His doctors expect a full recovery.

A prosecutor in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case says his accuser pulled out of the case because she became ill from stress shortly before the trial was to begin. The prosecutor says the 20- year-old alleged victim was raped when she went to Bryant's room for an autograph.

In money news, Delta Airlines plans to cut up to 7,000 jobs as part of its reorganization. The plan also calls for Delta to stop using Dallas-Fort Worth as a hub.

In culture, Donald Trump fans take notice. "Apprentice 2" begins tonight. I know how excited you are. Over the next 16 weeks, "The Donald" will once again fire a bunch of schemers and over achievers.

And in sports, another season premier, and this is exciting. The pro-football season kicks off tonight with defending champion New England Patriots taking on the Indianapolis Colts -- Chad.

MYERS: In a muggy Foxboro, Carol.

There's going to be heavy rain there, especially heavy rain now this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

It is a thought provoking title -- "Educational Apartheid in the United States." What it means to some in this country is that our schools have become dangerously segregated. It and more topics before the Congressional Black Caucus.

Front and center to offer advice, Bill Cosby. And, again, he was blunt in his views concerning parenting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WILLIAM H. COSBY, ENTERTAINER: If your parents come and sit in the classroom or come to meetings and know what classes you have, your game is gone. And you will behave. These children need that. With all of the systematic racism that pounds away at us every day, there is nothing that will defeat parenting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The moderator for the panel joins us live from Washington.

She's Maya Rockeymoore, vice president of research and programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Good morning.

MAYA ROCKEYMOORE, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS FOUNDATION: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: You know, the title of this discussion before members of Congress, "Educational Apartheid in the United States," it seems extreme. Tell me about that.

Who came up with that and what evidence if there of it?

ROCKEYMOORE: Well, the evidence is basically in the numbers in every classroom, and especially in urban cities. We're on the 50th anniversary of "Brown v. The Board of Education" and what we're finding is is that many African-Americans, especially African-American males, are segregated within schools because they are tracked into low performance classes, special education classes, as opposed to gifted and talented classes.

So we have a situation where we have under representation of African-Americans in gifted and talented classes and basically university bound classes, and an over representation in special education. And it's a problem because we're seeing it in terms of dropout statistics. We're seeing it also in terms of the rate of people who are or are not going to the university level.

COSTELLO: The high school dropout rate for African-Americans is, what, above 14 percent now.

ROCKEYMOORE: Actually, when you're looking at total dropouts, it's 50 percent. And so it's really, really disturbing when you look at the numbers and understand that we actually really have a problem in this country.

COSTELLO: You know, in part the blame, you say, is institutional. But Bill Cosby was invited to speak before the panel and he says it's more than that.

Let's listen to what else he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COSBY: When a child witnesses helplessly the mother being battered and then making love to the man and then being battered and then putting him out and taking him back in, then this child is helpless and scarred forever. Sometimes the children are molested. There's a very ugly life some of these children live and they can't talk about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You know, that's perhaps a deeper problem.

Were there ideas presented in how to combat that?

ROCKEYMOORE: Yes. Actually, Dr. Cosby called for more psychologists in the schools. I mean he really called attention to the fact that a lot of these kids come to school, they're angry. They're facing problems in their family life. And he really called for a movement, a nationwide movement, not just for the African- American community, but for all Americans, to basically take control over our families, over our neighborhoods and over our schools so that we can uplift our kids and so that we can have a better future.

And so Dr. Cosby really laid it down. And he was well received by the audience members.

COSTELLO: So what are African-American members of Congress doing about this?

ROCKEYMOORE: African-American members of Congress have, especially the Congressional Black Caucus, have been at the forefront of calling for full funding for education, for calling for smaller classroom sizes, for calling for more attention to the problems, especially that urban center cities face in terms of providing adequate funding for their school systems.

And so the Congressional Black Caucus has really been a leader in the Congress on this. We're really calling for President Bush, as well, to fully fund no child left behind.

So, you know, the Congressional Black Caucus has really been a leader.

COSTELLO: Maya Rockeymoore, vice president of research and programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

ROCKEYMOORE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll be back with much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

I'm Carrie Lee at the Nasdaq market site. Fed Chief Alan Greenspan telling Congress yesterday that the U.S. economy has regained some traction, thus reinforcing expectations of higher interest rates during the final stretch of the presidential campaign. Fed policymakers meet next on September 21.

Greenspan also said that the economic pickup follows a soft patch caused, in large part, by soaring energy prices, but that rising oil costs are not likely to have a lasting impact on inflation. Greenspan comments not upbeat enough yesterday to get stocks in positive territory. At the close, all of the major market indices ending fractionally lower. And for today, this Thursday, stocks looking flat to slightly weak, as well.

One name to watch, Texas Instruments, gaining 2 percent last night in the after hours session, lowering sales forecasts for the third quarter, but raising profit numbers and profit expectations just slightly. Texas Instruments up 2 percent, the number one maker of chips used in cell phones.

And that is the latest business news.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Is New York City vulnerable to a nuclear cloud? An environmental group warns that a terrorist attack at a nuclear plant 35 miles outside the city could be devastating. The group Riverkeeper says the Indian Point plant is vulnerable and an attack would kill more than 40,000 in midtown Manhattan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX MATTHIESSEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RIVERKEEPER: And most recently, the 9/11 Commission report confirmed that Mohamed Atta, who was the 9/11 attack ringleader, had actually been casing a New York area nuclear power plant before the 9/11 attacks. There is a strong reason to believe that that plant that he's talking about was, in fact, Indian Point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Nuclear Regulatory Commission members say the group is taking liberties with the facts and examining a worst case scenario.

CNN's Maria Hinojosa takes a look at the plant in an upcoming HBO documentary on Indian Point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Indian Point nuclear power plant is so close to residential areas that people can see it from their local parks, close enough for environmental activists to release rubber ducks to show just how close terrorists could get.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "IMAGINING THE UNIMAGINABLE")

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: On September 11, 2001, the hijackers actually used the Hudson River as a navigational point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: Close enough for a famous brother and sister, Bobby and Rory Kennedy, to legally fly a helicopter right over a nuclear plant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "IMAGINING THE UNIMAGINABLE")

ROBERT KENNEDY JR.: If they had banked left and hit Indian Point rather than proceeded down to the World Trade Center, this area could be uninhabitable today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA (on camera): What is in fact declared a no-fly zone now in a post-September 11 reality?

ROBERT KENNEDY JR.: It's not too hard to get declared a no-fly zone. Disneyland has a no-fly zone. Disney World has one. The Super Bowl has a no-fly zone. My cousin Caroline Kennedy's wedding had a no-fly zone.

HINOJOSA (voice-over): As September 11 approaches, the debate about safety at Indian Point is heating up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "IMAGINING THE UNIMAGINABLE")

RORY KENNEDY, FILMMAKER: On the day the World Trade Center was attacked...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: An HBO documentary made by Rory Kennedy called "Imagining the Unimaginable" raises new fears about security.

RORY KENNEDY: New York City is only 24 miles south of Indian Point. There's just too much at stake. There's simply too much at stake.

HINOJOSA: A group of scientists favoring nuclear power accuses Kennedy of basing her conclusions on fear, not science.

DR. LETTY G. LUTZKER, ST. BARNABAS MEDICAL CENTER: A slow release of proportions large enough to damage the community or any outlying areas is virtually impossible.

HINOJOSA: But after 9/11, activists say no scenario is too farfetched.

DAVID LOCHBAUM, NUCLEAR SAFETY ENGINEER: All of these past reactor access has have been caused by people making mistakes in the control room. The fully-loaded jet airplane hitting the control room can do far more damage than those people did with their mistakes over the years.

HINOJOSA: Or could it?

JERRY KREMER, NEW YORK STATE DIRECTOR, AREA: The construction of this plant is such that, even if you crashed an airliner into it, every test shows that, with the depth of the plant, 100 feet below, plus the six feet of concrete, there's just no way that you can penetrate the core and create the kind of disaster they're talking about.

HINOJOSA: Maria Hinojosa, CNN New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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