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American Morning
Talk with John Burns; 'Promises, Promises'
Aired September 20, 2004 - 07:00 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Is the U.S. military planning something big in Iraq? An all-out offensive on Fallujah by the end of the year?
President Bush and Senator Kerry reportedly iron out their differences on debates. Will there be three?
Towns in the Northeast under water. It is Ivan again.
And Tropical Storm Jeanne turns into a killer, leaving a track of destruction across Haiti.
We'll check writ goes next, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
COLLINS: Good Monday morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins, in for Soledad.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Bill Hemmer.
On the political front this morning, many more comments over the weekend by a top Republican suggesting that Al Qaeda is pulling for a John Kerry presidency. We'll have a look at that.
Today, also, Kelly Wallace looking at where the two candidates really stand on the issues, starting a new series called "Promises, Promises." We'll get to that in a moment.
COLLINS: Yes, looking forward to that. Also, starting today, the government is planing even tougher security checks at the nation's airports now, including now procedures for patdown searches. The plan also involves a device you could be meeting soon. It's called the "People Puffer." We're going to find out what that is in just a few minutes.
HEMMER: Doesn't sound good, does it, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Get away from me with your People Puffer.
With campaign heading into the homestretch here, there is a growing perception that John Kerry may not have what it takes to win this thing. A couple of stinging op-ed pieces in one of the nation's big newspapers this morning. We'll take a look at what his problems at least are perceived to be. COLLINS: All right, Jack. Thanks so much for that.
We want to check in with Kelly Wallace now with the stories now in the news.
Good morning, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi, and Jack and Bill. Good morning, everyone.
We begin with CBS News. It is expected to acknowledge as early as this morning that it misled its viewers. At issues are documents Dan Rather used on "60 Minutes" to question President Bush's National Guard service. Sources say the statement may include an apology for airing the memos, despite some doubts they may have been forged.
President Bush may left the remaining sanctions against Libya as soon as today. The move is expected to free as much as a billion dollars in compensation of those killed in the 1988 jet bombing in Lockerbie, Scotland. Libya had agreed to pay $10 million to families of each of the 270 victims.
And President Bush's pick to head the CIA is back on Capitol Hill this morning. Congressman Porter Goss will face a Senate Intelligence Committee for the second time in less than a week. The Florida Republican is expected to win the Senate's approval. Those are some of the stories in the news now.
Back to you, Bill and Heidi.
HEMMER: All right, Kelly. See you in a couple of minutes for "Promises, Promises," right?
WALLACE: Absolutely, yes.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly.
More violence to talk about in Iraq today. A U.S. convoy hit this morning by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, wounding at least 15 Iraqi civilians, according to witnesses on the scene there. It follows a suicide bombing over the weekend in Samara that left at least two dead, and new U.S. strikes in Fallujah. Also militants threatening to kill two Americans and one British citizen unless female inmates are freed from two U.S.-run prisons. Militants are also said to be holding 10 workers for a U.S.-Turkish company and 15 Iraqi National Guard members. But the Iraq government says it has no reports of Iraqi troops being held.
Much more on these topics in a moment. John Burns, reporter on the scene for "The New York Times," my guest in a matter of moments here on AMERICAN MORNING -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, Hurricane Ivan, as you know, is gone, but definitely not forgotten. Heavy rain battered parts of the East Coast this weekend. And this morning, flooding is now a major concern in at least five states. Thousands of New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents fled their homes yesterday along the Delaware River.
On Sunday, President Bush declared disaster areas in eight states, from Florida up to Pennsylvania.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: I want to get back to Iraq. I mentioned John Burns a short time ago. He's a reporter for "The New York Times." He's been on the ground in Baghdad since just about day one, and has seen just about everything develop in that country. I talked to Mr. Burns a short time ago about the violence we're seeing now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Is there an idea at this point how deep the resource may be for the insurgents?
JOHN BURNS, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, I think the pool of recruits to do these sorts of things is probably pretty well inexhaustible. You have, in the Shiite community, the impoverished Shiites who are the bedrock of support for Muqtada Al Sadr. You have young men who have hung around in the mosque and have saw militant Islamic philosophy and are persuaded that their route to paradise lies through suicide bombs.
In the Sunni community, you have a huge stockpile of weapons, and let's not forget money. Saddam Hussein took $1 billion in cash out of the central bank here last April 9th as American forces arrived. That money has never been found, and we know is financing the insurgency. So they have weapons, they have money, and they pay people to do it. Two-hundred dollars will get you somebody who will go up and fire a rocket-propelled grenade at an American Humvee and kill two or three American soldiers.
HEMMER: "Inexhaustible" was the word you used. Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister, was in London over the weekend. He's here in New York this week. He says this about elections, and again, this is a headline back in this country today -- "we are definitely going to stick to the timetable, the elections of January of next year." The talk in Baghdad today is what regarding this, feasible or not?
BURNS: Well if Mr. Allawi, Dr. Allawi, Ambassador Negroponte, and General Casey, the American military commander here, resolve to hold elections, and they say they are, they will hold elections. The question is, what sort of elections are they likely to be. So you might get an election in which you would get a small turnout. It could possibly be 20 percent or less, deeply dissatisfied populous, and you still have an insurgency. And how much closer would American troops be then to the exit?
HEMMER: On another topic over the weekend, you wrote about Saddam Hussein and his confinement, you describe as a gardener at this point. What are you learning about his confinement?
BURNS: Well my guess is that Saddam, we know a lot about him now. We were able to discover quite a lot about him for that article, sitting there in his cell out at Camp Croprow (ph), about 10 miles from where I'm standing, in the grounds of one of his old palaces, gardening during his three-hour exercise break, reading the Koran, reading ancient Arab tomes of poetry and tales of Arab glory, and listening, one may expect, to the sounds of war all about him. He's between the city of Baghdad and the city of Fallujah. He will see attack helicopters passing over. He will hear suicide bombs. And he will say, well, now they know that what I said was true, what he said before American troops invaded Iraq, you come into Iraq, you may be able to invade us and overrun us, but you wait, we'll have another war waiting for you, and that's what came about.
Saddam Hussein is such a narcissists. It's not impossible, facing the death penalty at trial as he is, that he's sitting there dreaming about restoration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Again, John Burns on the scene there in Baghdad, a writer for "The New York Times."
Let's move away from Iraq right now, in a way anyway, and to the elections of 2004, where the candidates hit the ground running this morning.
Kelly Wallace here to talk to us about a number of issues, three in fact.
Kelly, good morning to you. Nice to see you here.
WALLACE: Nice to see you.
HEMMER: House Speaker Dennis Hastert over the weekend made a suggestion that Al Qaeda wants John Kerry to win this election. What was the reaction after that?
WALLACE: We watched this unfold throughout the day yesterday, because he implied that basically Al Qaeda would think John Kerry would be weaker when it comes to terrorism and might plan something before the election to try and bounce President Bush from office. Well, Democrats basically just jumped on that. Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe saying it's disgraceful. John Edwards, the vice presidential candidate, saying this is fear mongering.
Republicans for their part, Republican party chair Ed Gillespie sort of stepped away from it, but, Bill, it's another sign of how this issue, who can keep Americans safer, is becoming a key one in the days ahead.
HEMMER: Second topic we're focused on today, debates, there may be agreements we're hearing, possibly three debates. For a while though, it looked like the White House might have been fighting for two, three debates -- surprise you?
WALLACE: It does surprise us, I think, in a way, because we were hearing that it could come down to two debates. Candy Crowley, our senior political correspondent, has a Democratic source saying there's a tentative agreement for three debate.
We do know that the co-chairs for the debate commission wanted to hear from both sides today. The clock is ticking here. The first debate is supposed to be September 30th. You have James Baker for the Republicans, Vernon Jordan for the Democrats leading the negotiations. We are expecting some details.
John Kerry is here in New York today. He's going to make a speech today regarding Iraq at New York University. And there's a lot of talk over the weekend now he's shifting his focus to go strictly over the next six or seven weeks just to the issue of Iraq. How will this play?
WALLACE: Well, the strategy here is Kerry's advisers think that basically President Bush is most vulnerable now based on the condition on the ground in Iraq, more than a thousand Americans killed, questions about the future. So they think if they can hit him hard in the days ahead, they can make some gains. But they also need to put to rest any questions about John Kerry's position. So you'll see him be talking about his positions, drawing distinctions about the president. Also, Bill, today, we understand, five women, mother's of American soldiers, will be there with John Kerry, criticizing President Bush.
HEMMER: Thanks, Kelly.
We are putting you to work today.
WALLACE: I am earning my pay today on AMERICAN MORNING.
HEMMER: We'll see you at the bottom of the hour, OK. Kelly is back with her series. We'll start it today. It's called "Promises, Promises," runs throughout the week here, looking at the candidates and the issues in election 2004 -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, labor troubles have some hotels holding their collective breath. Should you be rethinking any of your vacation plans. Hope not. Andy Serwer is going to talk about that, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Also, in a moment, if you could not stay up to watch the Emmys last night, don't worry, all you need to know in a moment here, including the biggest surprise of the night last night.
And is taking off your jacket at the airport really going to keep you safe from terrorists, or make things safer at all? We'll talk about that, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The federal government is taking airline passenger screening up a notch. Beginning today, new checkpoint procedures will be in place at airports nationwide. They're designed for better detection of explosives hidden in clothing or carry-on bags.
Admiral David Stone is the head of the Transportation Security Administration. He is joining us this morning from Reagan National Airport in Washington.
What is going to be different today? What will passengers notice?
DAVID STONE, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, we've put in some new procedures at the checkpoint that we think mitigate the risk of an explosive being able to be brought through the checkpoint on to the commercial aircraft.
And so, you'll see some additional folks divesting their jackets and sport coats, as well as we're really focusing on using the explosive trace detection devices that we have there to pick up the explosive residue on any carry-on items. And then we have our screeners doing some additional pat down of the torso area, on suspicious areas.
And so, we think the combination of those three actions further mitigates the risk of explosives being brought onboard aircraft.
COLLINS: But, Admiral, why now? I mean, as you know, it's been three years since September 11th and some people are wondering, shouldn't all of these procedures have been in place before?
STONE: Well, this all has to do with evaluation of risk.
And we have taken a look at the threat particularly in light of the recent incidents in Russia where we had explosives brought onboard an aircraft there. So as a result of that and our continuous evaluation of our procedures, we thought it prudent to put these measures in place.
And we've been monitoring already this morning here at Ronald Reagan and we're pleased to see that it's rather seamless. We're able to get the flow through the checkpoint that we expect; at the same time having these measures in place.
COLLINS: You also mentioned some of these new machines that will be used. In particular, we talked a little bit earlier this morning about the people puffer. A lot of folks not really sure what that is. Can you explain how it works for us?
STONE: Sure.
We have a number of airports that we put in a puffer machine, where it blows little puffs of air. And from that we're able to measure the explosive residue that may be on a person's body.
And so, those machines have been deployed to five airports, along with document scanners, where a number of our airports we've been able to put the document scanner in place, which also focuses on being able to detect explosive residue.
And so, you can tell from these initiatives that we really are working to ramp up our ability to detect explosives at our checkpoint.
COLLINS: The other question that frequent flyers are really going to want to know about: Does all of this mean longer lines?
STONE: No.
In fact, we think this will really be able to be carried off -- these additional procedures -- without longer lines. We have seen the traffic return at our nation's airports to the pre-9/11 levels this summer and we were able to average about 11 minutes for wait times.
And we think this new procedure will be able to be executed without significantly impacting on that.
And also, we're happy that here at Ronald Reagan is another one of our airports where the registered traveler program is in effect, where we are using a biometric iris scan and fingerprinting to enable us to smooth the transition through that checkpoint.
So these procedures along with the use of biometrics we think will be a powerful combination.
COLLINS: We certainly appreciate your time this morning. Admiral David Stone, thanks again.
HEMMER: Well, the mob and the angels big winners at the 56th Annual Emmy Awards last night in L.A. HBO's "The Sopranos won for best drama series, this on its fifth try. Michael Imperioli won best supporting actor. The HBO miniseries "Angels in America," about the 1980s AIDS crisis, won 11 awards in all, including statues for Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Mary Louise Parker, Jeffrey Wright and the writer, Tony Kushner. That epic broke the record for most wins for a miniseries set by "Roots" way back in 1977. After six consecutive nominations, Sarah Jessica Parker finally won for best actress in a comedy for her role in HBO's "Sex and the City." "Frasier's" Kelsey Grammer won his fourth Emmy for best comedy actor. And the surprise of the night, best comedy series went to Fox's "Arrested Development," after a critically acclaimed, but low-rated first season. Much more on the winners and losers from last night. Have a look at that on "90 Second Pop" a bit later this hour here.
Also in a moment this morning, back to politics -- two candidates, one issue and one position. When it comes to homeland security, each side says it will keep you safer than the other, but there is the perception and the reality. Part one of our week-long series, "Promises, Promises" this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: All right, welcome back, everyone. The tourism industry holding its breath now in three big cities, and Andy's "Minding Your Business," back with us, first check of the morning, and the week for that matter.
Good morning. Which cities where?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you, Bill. Business travelers want to keep their eye on this story. Hotel workers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C., threatening to go on strike. The hotels that would be impacted all the big high- end chains, including Hilton, Marriott and Starwood, Weston St. Francis, for instance, hotels like that. Talks have stalled. They're scheduled to resume either today or tomorrow.
And the real critical issue here, which is interesting, is that the union wants a two-year contract. It would expire in 2006 to coincide with the expiration of contracts in cities across the country, giving them nationwide leverage in 2006. Obviously management not very interested in settling that particular issue.
Let's talk about the markets, though, quickly. Can we do that? Let's do it. Last week a mixed session. Here we can see Nasdaq and S&P up, blue chips taking a little bit on the chin, and this morning futures are looking weak. That's because the price of oil is going up towards $46. Storms in the Gulf not helping, also Yukos in Russia not helping the situation there.
HEMMER: On another topic.
SERWER: Yes, what other topic will that be?
COLLINS: How did you do with the NFL this weekend?
SERWER: Not so bad. Let's take a look here. I was 1-1 in the big games, and the Redskins lost, but let's not talk about that.
Here's how we did overall. Heidi, you could be getting to .500 on the Monday night game. And let's see, the Colts-Titans, I picked that one. Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James doing very well. Bill doing OK. Executive producer, a guy named Will, he's 10-5 also, and I thought Jack might be interested in that.
COLLINS: Again, this is not a compilation from week one to week two.
SERWER: Right, just week two.
COLLINS: Just week two.
HEMMER: Eagles...
SERWER: Eagles-Vikes.
HEMMER: ... Vikes tonight -- who do you have?
SERWER: I've got the Eagles, and so do you, and she has the Vikings.
COLLINS: That's a very poor choice, I'm sorry gentlemen.
SERWER: You're looking to go back to .500.
COLLINS: All right, time now for "The Cafferty File," and the Question of the Day from Jack.
CAFFERTY: This would make Jimmy the Greek throw up, did you know that?
COLLINS: Probably.
SERWER: Or roll over in his...
CAFFERTY: Yes.
As the campaigns head toward the homestretch, the questions about whether John Kerry has what it takes to win this thing are getting louder. There are two scathing op-ed pieces in "The New York Times" this morning, critical of Kerry's approach on several fronts. William Safire lists 10 things that Kerry needs to do to stop the erosion in the polls and turn the race around. He says that Kerry has failed to connect with voters on who he is and what he believes in. Quote, "John Kerry has not yet closed the deal with voters who are dissatisfied with President Bush," unquote.
Bob Herbert says Kerry has run a -- quote -- "cautious, soulless campaign, based on his action of 30 years ago." He cites a long-time Democratic operative who says Kerry is -- quote -- "not displaying a moral center. It's all about tactics. Where's the passion?"
It's not like President Bush isn't vulnerable either. The polls show the majority of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. So here's the question this morning, what does John Kerry need to do to turn this race around? You can e-mail us as am@CNN.com.
COLLINS: Lots of talk this morning about debates, too. Are there going to be two? Are there going to be three? And when are they going to be?
CAFFERTY: The big question is, are they going to be any good?
COLLINS: Yes, well, that is the big question, that's for sure.
All right, Jack, thanks.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, a special Emmy's edition of "90-Second Pop."
We've got you covered with the recap of last night's 56th annual prime time Emmy Awards. We have the good, bad and ugly on the upset, the surprises and the fashion.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 20, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Is the U.S. military planning something big in Iraq? An all-out offensive on Fallujah by the end of the year?
President Bush and Senator Kerry reportedly iron out their differences on debates. Will there be three?
Towns in the Northeast under water. It is Ivan again.
And Tropical Storm Jeanne turns into a killer, leaving a track of destruction across Haiti.
We'll check writ goes next, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
COLLINS: Good Monday morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins, in for Soledad.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Bill Hemmer.
On the political front this morning, many more comments over the weekend by a top Republican suggesting that Al Qaeda is pulling for a John Kerry presidency. We'll have a look at that.
Today, also, Kelly Wallace looking at where the two candidates really stand on the issues, starting a new series called "Promises, Promises." We'll get to that in a moment.
COLLINS: Yes, looking forward to that. Also, starting today, the government is planing even tougher security checks at the nation's airports now, including now procedures for patdown searches. The plan also involves a device you could be meeting soon. It's called the "People Puffer." We're going to find out what that is in just a few minutes.
HEMMER: Doesn't sound good, does it, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Get away from me with your People Puffer.
With campaign heading into the homestretch here, there is a growing perception that John Kerry may not have what it takes to win this thing. A couple of stinging op-ed pieces in one of the nation's big newspapers this morning. We'll take a look at what his problems at least are perceived to be. COLLINS: All right, Jack. Thanks so much for that.
We want to check in with Kelly Wallace now with the stories now in the news.
Good morning, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi, and Jack and Bill. Good morning, everyone.
We begin with CBS News. It is expected to acknowledge as early as this morning that it misled its viewers. At issues are documents Dan Rather used on "60 Minutes" to question President Bush's National Guard service. Sources say the statement may include an apology for airing the memos, despite some doubts they may have been forged.
President Bush may left the remaining sanctions against Libya as soon as today. The move is expected to free as much as a billion dollars in compensation of those killed in the 1988 jet bombing in Lockerbie, Scotland. Libya had agreed to pay $10 million to families of each of the 270 victims.
And President Bush's pick to head the CIA is back on Capitol Hill this morning. Congressman Porter Goss will face a Senate Intelligence Committee for the second time in less than a week. The Florida Republican is expected to win the Senate's approval. Those are some of the stories in the news now.
Back to you, Bill and Heidi.
HEMMER: All right, Kelly. See you in a couple of minutes for "Promises, Promises," right?
WALLACE: Absolutely, yes.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly.
More violence to talk about in Iraq today. A U.S. convoy hit this morning by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, wounding at least 15 Iraqi civilians, according to witnesses on the scene there. It follows a suicide bombing over the weekend in Samara that left at least two dead, and new U.S. strikes in Fallujah. Also militants threatening to kill two Americans and one British citizen unless female inmates are freed from two U.S.-run prisons. Militants are also said to be holding 10 workers for a U.S.-Turkish company and 15 Iraqi National Guard members. But the Iraq government says it has no reports of Iraqi troops being held.
Much more on these topics in a moment. John Burns, reporter on the scene for "The New York Times," my guest in a matter of moments here on AMERICAN MORNING -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, Hurricane Ivan, as you know, is gone, but definitely not forgotten. Heavy rain battered parts of the East Coast this weekend. And this morning, flooding is now a major concern in at least five states. Thousands of New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents fled their homes yesterday along the Delaware River.
On Sunday, President Bush declared disaster areas in eight states, from Florida up to Pennsylvania.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: I want to get back to Iraq. I mentioned John Burns a short time ago. He's a reporter for "The New York Times." He's been on the ground in Baghdad since just about day one, and has seen just about everything develop in that country. I talked to Mr. Burns a short time ago about the violence we're seeing now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Is there an idea at this point how deep the resource may be for the insurgents?
JOHN BURNS, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, I think the pool of recruits to do these sorts of things is probably pretty well inexhaustible. You have, in the Shiite community, the impoverished Shiites who are the bedrock of support for Muqtada Al Sadr. You have young men who have hung around in the mosque and have saw militant Islamic philosophy and are persuaded that their route to paradise lies through suicide bombs.
In the Sunni community, you have a huge stockpile of weapons, and let's not forget money. Saddam Hussein took $1 billion in cash out of the central bank here last April 9th as American forces arrived. That money has never been found, and we know is financing the insurgency. So they have weapons, they have money, and they pay people to do it. Two-hundred dollars will get you somebody who will go up and fire a rocket-propelled grenade at an American Humvee and kill two or three American soldiers.
HEMMER: "Inexhaustible" was the word you used. Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister, was in London over the weekend. He's here in New York this week. He says this about elections, and again, this is a headline back in this country today -- "we are definitely going to stick to the timetable, the elections of January of next year." The talk in Baghdad today is what regarding this, feasible or not?
BURNS: Well if Mr. Allawi, Dr. Allawi, Ambassador Negroponte, and General Casey, the American military commander here, resolve to hold elections, and they say they are, they will hold elections. The question is, what sort of elections are they likely to be. So you might get an election in which you would get a small turnout. It could possibly be 20 percent or less, deeply dissatisfied populous, and you still have an insurgency. And how much closer would American troops be then to the exit?
HEMMER: On another topic over the weekend, you wrote about Saddam Hussein and his confinement, you describe as a gardener at this point. What are you learning about his confinement?
BURNS: Well my guess is that Saddam, we know a lot about him now. We were able to discover quite a lot about him for that article, sitting there in his cell out at Camp Croprow (ph), about 10 miles from where I'm standing, in the grounds of one of his old palaces, gardening during his three-hour exercise break, reading the Koran, reading ancient Arab tomes of poetry and tales of Arab glory, and listening, one may expect, to the sounds of war all about him. He's between the city of Baghdad and the city of Fallujah. He will see attack helicopters passing over. He will hear suicide bombs. And he will say, well, now they know that what I said was true, what he said before American troops invaded Iraq, you come into Iraq, you may be able to invade us and overrun us, but you wait, we'll have another war waiting for you, and that's what came about.
Saddam Hussein is such a narcissists. It's not impossible, facing the death penalty at trial as he is, that he's sitting there dreaming about restoration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Again, John Burns on the scene there in Baghdad, a writer for "The New York Times."
Let's move away from Iraq right now, in a way anyway, and to the elections of 2004, where the candidates hit the ground running this morning.
Kelly Wallace here to talk to us about a number of issues, three in fact.
Kelly, good morning to you. Nice to see you here.
WALLACE: Nice to see you.
HEMMER: House Speaker Dennis Hastert over the weekend made a suggestion that Al Qaeda wants John Kerry to win this election. What was the reaction after that?
WALLACE: We watched this unfold throughout the day yesterday, because he implied that basically Al Qaeda would think John Kerry would be weaker when it comes to terrorism and might plan something before the election to try and bounce President Bush from office. Well, Democrats basically just jumped on that. Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe saying it's disgraceful. John Edwards, the vice presidential candidate, saying this is fear mongering.
Republicans for their part, Republican party chair Ed Gillespie sort of stepped away from it, but, Bill, it's another sign of how this issue, who can keep Americans safer, is becoming a key one in the days ahead.
HEMMER: Second topic we're focused on today, debates, there may be agreements we're hearing, possibly three debates. For a while though, it looked like the White House might have been fighting for two, three debates -- surprise you?
WALLACE: It does surprise us, I think, in a way, because we were hearing that it could come down to two debates. Candy Crowley, our senior political correspondent, has a Democratic source saying there's a tentative agreement for three debate.
We do know that the co-chairs for the debate commission wanted to hear from both sides today. The clock is ticking here. The first debate is supposed to be September 30th. You have James Baker for the Republicans, Vernon Jordan for the Democrats leading the negotiations. We are expecting some details.
John Kerry is here in New York today. He's going to make a speech today regarding Iraq at New York University. And there's a lot of talk over the weekend now he's shifting his focus to go strictly over the next six or seven weeks just to the issue of Iraq. How will this play?
WALLACE: Well, the strategy here is Kerry's advisers think that basically President Bush is most vulnerable now based on the condition on the ground in Iraq, more than a thousand Americans killed, questions about the future. So they think if they can hit him hard in the days ahead, they can make some gains. But they also need to put to rest any questions about John Kerry's position. So you'll see him be talking about his positions, drawing distinctions about the president. Also, Bill, today, we understand, five women, mother's of American soldiers, will be there with John Kerry, criticizing President Bush.
HEMMER: Thanks, Kelly.
We are putting you to work today.
WALLACE: I am earning my pay today on AMERICAN MORNING.
HEMMER: We'll see you at the bottom of the hour, OK. Kelly is back with her series. We'll start it today. It's called "Promises, Promises," runs throughout the week here, looking at the candidates and the issues in election 2004 -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, labor troubles have some hotels holding their collective breath. Should you be rethinking any of your vacation plans. Hope not. Andy Serwer is going to talk about that, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Also, in a moment, if you could not stay up to watch the Emmys last night, don't worry, all you need to know in a moment here, including the biggest surprise of the night last night.
And is taking off your jacket at the airport really going to keep you safe from terrorists, or make things safer at all? We'll talk about that, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The federal government is taking airline passenger screening up a notch. Beginning today, new checkpoint procedures will be in place at airports nationwide. They're designed for better detection of explosives hidden in clothing or carry-on bags.
Admiral David Stone is the head of the Transportation Security Administration. He is joining us this morning from Reagan National Airport in Washington.
What is going to be different today? What will passengers notice?
DAVID STONE, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, we've put in some new procedures at the checkpoint that we think mitigate the risk of an explosive being able to be brought through the checkpoint on to the commercial aircraft.
And so, you'll see some additional folks divesting their jackets and sport coats, as well as we're really focusing on using the explosive trace detection devices that we have there to pick up the explosive residue on any carry-on items. And then we have our screeners doing some additional pat down of the torso area, on suspicious areas.
And so, we think the combination of those three actions further mitigates the risk of explosives being brought onboard aircraft.
COLLINS: But, Admiral, why now? I mean, as you know, it's been three years since September 11th and some people are wondering, shouldn't all of these procedures have been in place before?
STONE: Well, this all has to do with evaluation of risk.
And we have taken a look at the threat particularly in light of the recent incidents in Russia where we had explosives brought onboard an aircraft there. So as a result of that and our continuous evaluation of our procedures, we thought it prudent to put these measures in place.
And we've been monitoring already this morning here at Ronald Reagan and we're pleased to see that it's rather seamless. We're able to get the flow through the checkpoint that we expect; at the same time having these measures in place.
COLLINS: You also mentioned some of these new machines that will be used. In particular, we talked a little bit earlier this morning about the people puffer. A lot of folks not really sure what that is. Can you explain how it works for us?
STONE: Sure.
We have a number of airports that we put in a puffer machine, where it blows little puffs of air. And from that we're able to measure the explosive residue that may be on a person's body.
And so, those machines have been deployed to five airports, along with document scanners, where a number of our airports we've been able to put the document scanner in place, which also focuses on being able to detect explosive residue.
And so, you can tell from these initiatives that we really are working to ramp up our ability to detect explosives at our checkpoint.
COLLINS: The other question that frequent flyers are really going to want to know about: Does all of this mean longer lines?
STONE: No.
In fact, we think this will really be able to be carried off -- these additional procedures -- without longer lines. We have seen the traffic return at our nation's airports to the pre-9/11 levels this summer and we were able to average about 11 minutes for wait times.
And we think this new procedure will be able to be executed without significantly impacting on that.
And also, we're happy that here at Ronald Reagan is another one of our airports where the registered traveler program is in effect, where we are using a biometric iris scan and fingerprinting to enable us to smooth the transition through that checkpoint.
So these procedures along with the use of biometrics we think will be a powerful combination.
COLLINS: We certainly appreciate your time this morning. Admiral David Stone, thanks again.
HEMMER: Well, the mob and the angels big winners at the 56th Annual Emmy Awards last night in L.A. HBO's "The Sopranos won for best drama series, this on its fifth try. Michael Imperioli won best supporting actor. The HBO miniseries "Angels in America," about the 1980s AIDS crisis, won 11 awards in all, including statues for Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Mary Louise Parker, Jeffrey Wright and the writer, Tony Kushner. That epic broke the record for most wins for a miniseries set by "Roots" way back in 1977. After six consecutive nominations, Sarah Jessica Parker finally won for best actress in a comedy for her role in HBO's "Sex and the City." "Frasier's" Kelsey Grammer won his fourth Emmy for best comedy actor. And the surprise of the night, best comedy series went to Fox's "Arrested Development," after a critically acclaimed, but low-rated first season. Much more on the winners and losers from last night. Have a look at that on "90 Second Pop" a bit later this hour here.
Also in a moment this morning, back to politics -- two candidates, one issue and one position. When it comes to homeland security, each side says it will keep you safer than the other, but there is the perception and the reality. Part one of our week-long series, "Promises, Promises" this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
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HEMMER: All right, welcome back, everyone. The tourism industry holding its breath now in three big cities, and Andy's "Minding Your Business," back with us, first check of the morning, and the week for that matter.
Good morning. Which cities where?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you, Bill. Business travelers want to keep their eye on this story. Hotel workers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C., threatening to go on strike. The hotels that would be impacted all the big high- end chains, including Hilton, Marriott and Starwood, Weston St. Francis, for instance, hotels like that. Talks have stalled. They're scheduled to resume either today or tomorrow.
And the real critical issue here, which is interesting, is that the union wants a two-year contract. It would expire in 2006 to coincide with the expiration of contracts in cities across the country, giving them nationwide leverage in 2006. Obviously management not very interested in settling that particular issue.
Let's talk about the markets, though, quickly. Can we do that? Let's do it. Last week a mixed session. Here we can see Nasdaq and S&P up, blue chips taking a little bit on the chin, and this morning futures are looking weak. That's because the price of oil is going up towards $46. Storms in the Gulf not helping, also Yukos in Russia not helping the situation there.
HEMMER: On another topic.
SERWER: Yes, what other topic will that be?
COLLINS: How did you do with the NFL this weekend?
SERWER: Not so bad. Let's take a look here. I was 1-1 in the big games, and the Redskins lost, but let's not talk about that.
Here's how we did overall. Heidi, you could be getting to .500 on the Monday night game. And let's see, the Colts-Titans, I picked that one. Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James doing very well. Bill doing OK. Executive producer, a guy named Will, he's 10-5 also, and I thought Jack might be interested in that.
COLLINS: Again, this is not a compilation from week one to week two.
SERWER: Right, just week two.
COLLINS: Just week two.
HEMMER: Eagles...
SERWER: Eagles-Vikes.
HEMMER: ... Vikes tonight -- who do you have?
SERWER: I've got the Eagles, and so do you, and she has the Vikings.
COLLINS: That's a very poor choice, I'm sorry gentlemen.
SERWER: You're looking to go back to .500.
COLLINS: All right, time now for "The Cafferty File," and the Question of the Day from Jack.
CAFFERTY: This would make Jimmy the Greek throw up, did you know that?
COLLINS: Probably.
SERWER: Or roll over in his...
CAFFERTY: Yes.
As the campaigns head toward the homestretch, the questions about whether John Kerry has what it takes to win this thing are getting louder. There are two scathing op-ed pieces in "The New York Times" this morning, critical of Kerry's approach on several fronts. William Safire lists 10 things that Kerry needs to do to stop the erosion in the polls and turn the race around. He says that Kerry has failed to connect with voters on who he is and what he believes in. Quote, "John Kerry has not yet closed the deal with voters who are dissatisfied with President Bush," unquote.
Bob Herbert says Kerry has run a -- quote -- "cautious, soulless campaign, based on his action of 30 years ago." He cites a long-time Democratic operative who says Kerry is -- quote -- "not displaying a moral center. It's all about tactics. Where's the passion?"
It's not like President Bush isn't vulnerable either. The polls show the majority of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. So here's the question this morning, what does John Kerry need to do to turn this race around? You can e-mail us as am@CNN.com.
COLLINS: Lots of talk this morning about debates, too. Are there going to be two? Are there going to be three? And when are they going to be?
CAFFERTY: The big question is, are they going to be any good?
COLLINS: Yes, well, that is the big question, that's for sure.
All right, Jack, thanks.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, a special Emmy's edition of "90-Second Pop."
We've got you covered with the recap of last night's 56th annual prime time Emmy Awards. We have the good, bad and ugly on the upset, the surprises and the fashion.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
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