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American Morning
U.S. Troops Go After Pockets of Insurgents; Claims a Second American Hostage Murdered in Iraq
Aired September 22, 2004 - 08:00 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: A battle rages in Baghdad's Sadr City, as U.S. troops go after pockets of insurgents.
Claims that a second American hostage has been murdered in Iraq. His kidnappers wanted female prisoners released and now one could go free.
Is there a serious threat to President Bush from a New York man hunted by the Secret Service? We look at what it takes to protect the president.
And a desperate search for a 12-year-old girl who disappeared with a registered sex offender. The investigation 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 morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins in today for Soledad O'Brien.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bill Hemmer.
Some of the other news making headlines this hour, President Bush, Senator Kerry using some of the strongest language yet, going after each other on the topic of Iraq, saying it all comes down to credibility. We'll look at whether or not this is the debate that will carry us to November. Over the weekend, we were given an indication that would be from the Kerry side. Debate number one starts in eight days.
COLLINS: Yes.
Also, Sanjay Gupta will be with us a little bit later on, talking about diet news. A new study finds one of the most delicious diets out there is also one of the healthiest.
HEMMER: I like that.
COLLINS: Why do they call it a diet, by the way?
HEMMER: Because it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COLLINS: Jack Cafferty now.
HEMMER: Jack, what's happening?
Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming up in the "Cafferty File," we'll tell you which actress says she has toes that are long enough to enable her to hold onto a branch.
And why Mrs. John Kerry -- and she hates to be called that -- the senator's wife, the guy who's running for president, Mrs. Kerry -- she thinks clothing is optional for hurricane victims. This woman is not helping his election effort, you know what I'm saying? She's not helping.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
I remain silent.
CAFFERTY: Look at how quiet they all get.
HEMMER: That's OK. I'm remaining silent.
Let's get to Kelly Wallace, the top of the hour again -- Kelly, great to have you.
Good morning, again, starting in Iraq. And a tough day of violence yet again.
Good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A tough day, indeed.
Good morning to you all.
And good morning to everyone.
Another attack targeting Iraqi police recruits. Officials say a suicide bomber detonated outside a shop in Baghdad. At least seven people were killed, some 47 others were injured.
And the new U.S. operation launched in Baghdad's Sadr City. Forces are confiscating weapons in sweeps for insurgents. More on the situation in Iraq, including the plans to release a female prisoner, coming up.
The government is asking airlines to turn over records of passengers who took commercial flights in June so they can test a new system aimed at identifying terrorists. The Transportation Security Administration plans to order airlines to turn over the data in November. Passengers' names will be checked against FBI terrorist watch lists as part of a new screening system called Secure Flight.
And the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to rule today on, yes, the now infamous Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident last January. The FCC is expected to fine the 20 CBS-owned and operated stations a record half million dollars for airing the half-time show during which Jackson bared her breast. Each station would owe just over $27,000 -- Bill, Heidi, a costly wardrobe malfunction.
HEMMER: Well, it took them eight months to get around to it, too. That was the 1st of February that thing went down, so to speak.
COLLINS: I wonder how many times we've seen that video? Anybody know?
WALLACE: We keep airing it and airing it and airing it.
COLLINS: And airing it.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly.
WALLACE: OK.
HEMMER: Starting again this hour in Iraq, Islamic militants there say they have beheaded a second American hostage in as many days. Jack Hensley, abducted along with American Eugene Armstrong and a British national. The terrorists threatened to kill the hostages if Iraqi female prisoners were not released from U.S. custody.
This morning, there are reports now that a top Saddam Hussein scientist known as "Dr. Germ" may go free.
Walter Rodgers live in Baghdad with more there.
Is this possible release, Walter, linked to the reported killing of Jack Hensley or do we know that -- Walter?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, no one's saying that officially, but it certainly has the appearance of more than coincidence, doesn't it? The Iraqi government, the Council of Ministers has announced that it is reviewing the status of two high profile, high value female detainees, one of them Rihab Taha. She was alleged to have been part of Saddam Hussein's unconventional weapons program. She's going to be released on bail later this week.
Now, the real question is, is this going to do any good. You'll recall that two American hostages were killed already this week, beheaded because the government here was holding these Iraqi detainees, the female prisoners. The most recent to have died was Jack Hensley, 48 years old, from the U.S. state of Georgia. He was a private contractor here. He was beheaded last night. There was a statement coming from the Islamist militants, rejoicing in what they called the slaughter of yet another American hostage. Indeed, their statement smacked very much of a declaration of religious war by the Muslim militants against the United States.
The release of at least one of the female Iraqi detainees may offer some measure of hope to the British. One of their detainees, Kenneth Bigley, the last off that trio of abducted men from Thursday a week ago, is still alive. The Iraqi insurgents say they will execute him, but with the release of at least one of these Iraqi women there may be some hope for him.
It did no good for Eugene Armstrong, another American. He was beheaded graphically on a grizzly television video Monday of this week -- Bill.
HEMMER: Walter Rodgers watching that story in Baghdad -- Heidi.
COLLINS: John Kerry has seized on Iraq as the main point of his attack on President Bush. All this week, the two have lobbed charges back and forth about whose position is more believable.
Bob Franken is covering the Kerry campaign live in West Palm Beach, Florida for us now, and joins us -- good morning to you, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
And you could say that the frontrunner on the ticket brought in some reinforcements, that is to say, number two, John Edwards. And what we found out is that they are both on the same page, the Iraq page.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): It's been a while since John Kerry and John Edwards have been together, but Edwards has definitely been listening.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Iraq is a mess and Iraq is a mess because of two people -- George Bush and Dick Cheney. That's why Iraq is a mess.
FRANKEN: The joint appearance wasn't the day's only departure from the routine. Kerry even called his first news conference in many a week to keep up the attack. It was a way of drawing some attention away from the president, who was defending his Iraq policy at the United Nations, and, when he could, heaping scorn on John Kerry.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My opponent has taken so many different positions on Iraq that his statements are hardly credible at all.
FRANKEN: Credibility, Kerry shot back, was exactly the point.
KERRY: And the president needs to live in the world of reality, not in a world of fantasy spin. At the United Nations today, the president failed to level with the world's leaders.
FRANKEN: Kerry will spend the day here in Florida before heading out to some of the battlegrounds. But he'll be back next week.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FRANKEN: Back for the first of the debates, the all important debates where, Heidi, President Bush and John Kerry will get to fire sound bites at each other at close range.
COLLINS: All right, and Bob Franken, thanks so much for that, coming to us from Florida this morning -- Bill.
HEMMER: Heidi, this morning the Secret Service continues its search for 59-year-old Lawrence Ward. He's a software engineer from upstate New York who the Secret Service has classified as a "credible threat against President Bush."
Let's talk about that now, talk about what's involved in protecting the president from such threats, with Bill Daly, a former counterintelligence official with the FBI, my guest here now in New York.
And good morning to you.
BILL DALY, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CONSULTANT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: How often do these threats get leveled against sitting presidents?
DALY: Oh, those statistics aren't out there in the public vein. There are scores of these occur during any one year. If we go back to even early 1800s, there have been 11 attacks against U.S. presidents, of which four have resulted in death. So they do occur out there.
These threats, such as we're just talking about now with this individual from upstate New York, are always out there. The Secret Service is concerned about them. There are individuals who they know and they don't know about.
In fact, just last week, there was the conviction of a gentleman up in Seattle who had made threats, death threats against President Bush. And a week before that, there was someone from Halifax, Nova Scotia who was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for making death threats against President Bush.
HEMMER: Is it different, though, because the name is out and age is out, the home state is out and the president was here for the past two days?
DALY: Yes, this is a bit different. And I would suspect that the Secret Service would -- was not putting this forward. This is something that came about as a result of local observations and digging in by reporters in upstate New York. It was not something that they made an announcement of.
But there are people out there that are constantly on a watch list that the Secret Service keeps tabs on when somebody, a president or even a presidential candidate, might be in town.
So it is something that they're always concerned about and they have people that they're watching.
HEMMER: If you go back to Washington in 1981 and Ronald Reagan, how different are things today, 23 years later, when it comes to security for presidents?
DALY: It is much different. And although the Secret Service doesn't talk about the specific trade craft, as we might call it, the protective measures, you know, they've reevaluated things since the Hinckley incident, even going back before that when Jerry Ford was approached by Squeakie Fromm out in California.
They look at these incidents. They look at how we can better protect them, protect the presidents. No longer is it just a bodyguard. We're talking about an entire spectrum of measures, including threat assessment profiling, protective intelligence; people on the periphery, very -- several rings of security around the president or any protectee. So no longer is it just what we might have seen back with President Reagan. It's gone beyond that.
HEMMER: If it's gone beyond then, 23 years later, is it much different during an election cycle?
DALY: Well, it is, Bill, because we have candidates. We have candidates, both the current president, in this case, and as well as someone looking for the office. And so we have the Secret Service looking at a variety of people who may have posed different threats to different individuals.
At the same time, simultaneously, here in New York just in the past few days, we also have the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, where we have heads of state in town who also bring with them their own little baggage of people who might be looking to talk with them.
So for the Secret Service, we give them a lot of credit. It's a tremendous task. It's a daunting task. And they're always dealing with not just the known and names that might be out there, like we've just seen in this story, but all those other people who could be somewhere in the woodwork.
HEMMER: Thanks, Bill.
Bill Daly here in New York.
DALY: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Nice to see you again.
DALY: Good seeing you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.
COLLINS: The death toll is still rising in Haiti, ravaged by floods after tropical storm Jeanne. Haitian officials tell the Associated Press more than 700 people have been killed, 600 of them in the northwestern city of Gonaives. That is the nation's third largest city. More than 1,000 others are still missing. U.N. peacekeepers plan their first major distribution of food and water today. Jeanne left a quarter million Haitians homeless.
Let's check back on the weather now and Chad Myers at the CNN Center.
Boy, those waters were just rushing so fast, they said a lot of the victims were children.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In the very first pictures that we were seeing there, you could see the mountain in the background. There's a spine that goes all along Hispaniola, from the Dominican Republic right on through and into Haiti. That's where the rain was raining hard, right on that mountain range. And then that rain came right down the mountains and made all that flooding and all those mud slides.
And Jeanne is still out there. Jeanne could still make a run at the U.S. before it finally gives up the ghost at some point here.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still ahead this morning, we'll speak with the brother of the latest American hostage claimed to have been killed in Iraq. We'll find out how his family has been coping.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, a musician ending up on a terrorist watch list. A plane gets diverted. We'll explain what's happening there in a moment.
COLLINS: Plus, a family's search for a missing girl and the clues that led her parents to a suspect, a suspect relationship, that is, between her and a registered sex offender.
That's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Iraqi police have turned a headless body over to American officials in Baghdad. They're trying to determine whether it is American hostage Jack Hensley. A terrorist group claims to have killed him. That group is demanding the release of all female Iraqi prisoners. Iraqi officials say they will release one of two female prisoners held by the U.S., but insist they are not giving in to the terrorists. American officials say the status of Dr. Rihab Taha is still under review. Taha headed Saddam Hussein's biological weapons program and was known to the West as "Dr. Germ."
Jack Hensley's family is hoping and praying that the reports saying he's been killed are wrong.
His brother Ty Hensley is here now to tell us how the family is doing.
Ty, thanks so much for being here.
We appreciate your time so much this morning.
Tell us how you and the family are holding up.
TY HENSLEY, JACK HENSLEY'S BROTHER: Well, the events leading up to the possible news yesterday are actually sometimes more horrific than the news. I feel now that other -- these people cannot control my emotions anymore and now I have something that I can begin to cope with.
COLLINS: Is that why you're here today? HENSLEY: No, ma'am. The primary reason for my being here is a couple of things. One is to let the world know who Jack Hensley was. His story will be out for a day or two, but the pain is going to be suffered for generations in my family. Jack Hensley was an extraordinarily innocent man. He went over there to provide a money or an income for his family as a last resort.
Jack Hensley was a volunteer in a rescue squad. He was by T-ball coach. He put my toys together at Christmas and he was the most incredible father to his 13-year-old daughter, a softball coach to her. And, as a matter of fact, I -- I mean he was my role model for my children, of course.
COLLINS: A lot of people would say that he was over there working on a humanitarian effort.
What did he tell you about his life in Iraq and the Iraqi people?
HENSLEY: We corresponded a lot through e-mail. And the conversations were, he'd let me know what projects -- he was rebuilding a museum. He was working on the water supply. And he was doing this with -- he was the interface to the Iraqi people. He worked with the workers, people who probably haven't had jobs in many years or else it was -- they were being told what they could do and if there was any money they would -- they might receive that.
But he worked hard to build trust with these people and I guess that gave him confidence that he would be OK over there, because he became their friends. I received so many e-mails from the Iraqi folks that he had worked with...
COLLINS: Really?
HENSLEY: And it's, they are extraordinarily devastated.
COLLINS: I can only imagine.
What has the U.S. government told you at this point about what happened?
HENSLEY: Well, Heidi, I've been out of contact with the media, I mean with everyone. I have not been able to talk to my sister-in-law since 3:00, roughly a little after 3:00 yesterday. Her phones are jammed, mine are jammed, we have no way to get in touch with each other because of this. It's an international outcry and we're -- people are just letting us know of anything they can do.
But a 13-year-old daughter, in hearing of this news, it's devastating. They desecrated my family.
COLLINS: I know that you, as you said, you were in correspondence with him every day or so, talking about what he was doing there.
Toward the last correspondence with him, was there any sort of indication that things were getting scary or threatening to his life? HENSLEY: From my talking to Patty a little earlier in the last few days, that she and Jack had talked about it and the risks were this. They were starting to have guards not show up. And they lived in a very, you know, quiet home and they just had, I guess, very modest guards posted. I heard they were even unarmed.
They stopped showing up and they were tipped off that one was not even -- he came back and said that he was threatened if he came and worked again and he'd be killed.
COLLINS: Did he mention anything about wanting to leave, wanting to just get out of there? I know he'd been trying to hang on for a year because of...
HENSLEY: You're right.
COLLINS: ... the financial benefits.
HENSLEY: Right. Patty wanted him home. She had -- she just, her nerves couldn't take it anymore and she pretty much had pleaded with him. But, you know, and he's free, I guess, to get up and come home, but he did want to, you know, make it. And I guess he just felt that he wouldn't be treated like this.
COLLINS: I'm assuming that you'll work very hard to keep your brother's memory alive, especially for his daughter Sarah?
HENSLEY: Yes, ma'am. There's been a lot of people trying to help me, close friends. And they want to know what they can do. And actually they took action. And what they did is they created a fund to pay for Jack's little girl's college. And I don't know if you -- do you all have that posted?
COLLINS: Yes, we've got it here.
HENSLEY: OK.
COLLINS: It's on the screen right now.
HENSLEY: You know, I just want -- the world needs to help take care of this child, not now, but 20 or 30 years from now. This -- she needs help. We all need help. And not, we just need people to help us and remember us and make us feel that Jack had and he is remembered for a good -- being a good man.
COLLINS: And we also know that it would be Jack's birthday today.
HENSLEY: Yes.
COLLINS: So I'm sure that's making it just as -- that much more difficult to be here and talking to us. But you did an excellent job in telling us what he was about and what kind of a person he was and we so appreciate your time today.
HENSLEY: It's just, it's just so hard to talk about it. Thank you.
COLLINS: Thank you for being here.
Ty Hensley, thanks so much.
And we'll be back right here on AMERICAN MORNING in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We want to check in with Jack once again and the Question of the Day now.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Heidi.
We're talking about the fallout from the CBS document gate. Joe Lockhart, a high ranking member of the Kerry campaign, allowed as how he did talk to Bill Burkett, the guy responsible for giving those phony documents to CBS. However, Lockhart insists they did not discuss the documents in question. They were discussing other issues.
The conversation was arranged between Lockhart and Burkett by the CBS News producer Mary Mapes, who at the end of the day probably won't survive. I doubt they're going to fire Rather, but my hunch is they'll fire her.
There is plenty of damage to go around from all of this. But at the end of the day, it could be the Kerry campaign that winds up with the most to lose.
That's the question, has the CBS scandal damaged the Kerry campaign?
Dave in Japan writes: "The CBS scandal has nothing to do with Kerry. What does hurt the Democratic campaign is Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart losing his temper on AMERICAN MORNING. Mr. Lockhart's defensiveness certainly didn't do the Kerry campaign any favors. Some advice for adviser Lockhart -- try the decaf."
Dee in Atlanta, Georgia: "I hope you're not suggesting that an after the fact phone conversation between Joe Lockhart and the CBS source has the same nexus with CBS gate that the numerous Bush campaign advisers who worked with the debunked Swift Boaters had."
Dale in Chicago writes: "Yes, it absolutely hurts the Kerry campaign, if only for the reason that Dan Rather and CBS are leading the news, and not John Kerry and the issues. As a Bush supporter, I say, thanks, Dan. Can you set up an interview with Michael Moore as an encore?"
And finally, Matt writes from Columbia: "Jack, it's September. The election is in November. Americans' attention spans don't last that long in the meantime. Bush has to survive three debates. Debates involve speaking English. Kerry will be OK. Jack, go with the comb over." You're cruel, Matt.
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Cruel.
HEMMER: Forty-one days.
CAFFERTY: There's nothing left to comb over, you know? It's over.
HEMMER: You look great.
CAFFERTY: It's a dead issue.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: That's what it is.
HEMMER: In a moment here, parts of Iraq mired in violence. The president says now is not the time to cut and run, but John Kerry says Mr. Bush is not living in reality. Our political gurus Kamber and Watkins look at that in a moment here.
Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 22, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A battle rages in Baghdad's Sadr City, as U.S. troops go after pockets of insurgents.
Claims that a second American hostage has been murdered in Iraq. His kidnappers wanted female prisoners released and now one could go free.
Is there a serious threat to President Bush from a New York man hunted by the Secret Service? We look at what it takes to protect the president.
And a desperate search for a 12-year-old girl who disappeared with a registered sex offender. The investigation 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 morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins in today for Soledad O'Brien.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bill Hemmer.
Some of the other news making headlines this hour, President Bush, Senator Kerry using some of the strongest language yet, going after each other on the topic of Iraq, saying it all comes down to credibility. We'll look at whether or not this is the debate that will carry us to November. Over the weekend, we were given an indication that would be from the Kerry side. Debate number one starts in eight days.
COLLINS: Yes.
Also, Sanjay Gupta will be with us a little bit later on, talking about diet news. A new study finds one of the most delicious diets out there is also one of the healthiest.
HEMMER: I like that.
COLLINS: Why do they call it a diet, by the way?
HEMMER: Because it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COLLINS: Jack Cafferty now.
HEMMER: Jack, what's happening?
Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming up in the "Cafferty File," we'll tell you which actress says she has toes that are long enough to enable her to hold onto a branch.
And why Mrs. John Kerry -- and she hates to be called that -- the senator's wife, the guy who's running for president, Mrs. Kerry -- she thinks clothing is optional for hurricane victims. This woman is not helping his election effort, you know what I'm saying? She's not helping.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
I remain silent.
CAFFERTY: Look at how quiet they all get.
HEMMER: That's OK. I'm remaining silent.
Let's get to Kelly Wallace, the top of the hour again -- Kelly, great to have you.
Good morning, again, starting in Iraq. And a tough day of violence yet again.
Good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A tough day, indeed.
Good morning to you all.
And good morning to everyone.
Another attack targeting Iraqi police recruits. Officials say a suicide bomber detonated outside a shop in Baghdad. At least seven people were killed, some 47 others were injured.
And the new U.S. operation launched in Baghdad's Sadr City. Forces are confiscating weapons in sweeps for insurgents. More on the situation in Iraq, including the plans to release a female prisoner, coming up.
The government is asking airlines to turn over records of passengers who took commercial flights in June so they can test a new system aimed at identifying terrorists. The Transportation Security Administration plans to order airlines to turn over the data in November. Passengers' names will be checked against FBI terrorist watch lists as part of a new screening system called Secure Flight.
And the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to rule today on, yes, the now infamous Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident last January. The FCC is expected to fine the 20 CBS-owned and operated stations a record half million dollars for airing the half-time show during which Jackson bared her breast. Each station would owe just over $27,000 -- Bill, Heidi, a costly wardrobe malfunction.
HEMMER: Well, it took them eight months to get around to it, too. That was the 1st of February that thing went down, so to speak.
COLLINS: I wonder how many times we've seen that video? Anybody know?
WALLACE: We keep airing it and airing it and airing it.
COLLINS: And airing it.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly.
WALLACE: OK.
HEMMER: Starting again this hour in Iraq, Islamic militants there say they have beheaded a second American hostage in as many days. Jack Hensley, abducted along with American Eugene Armstrong and a British national. The terrorists threatened to kill the hostages if Iraqi female prisoners were not released from U.S. custody.
This morning, there are reports now that a top Saddam Hussein scientist known as "Dr. Germ" may go free.
Walter Rodgers live in Baghdad with more there.
Is this possible release, Walter, linked to the reported killing of Jack Hensley or do we know that -- Walter?
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, no one's saying that officially, but it certainly has the appearance of more than coincidence, doesn't it? The Iraqi government, the Council of Ministers has announced that it is reviewing the status of two high profile, high value female detainees, one of them Rihab Taha. She was alleged to have been part of Saddam Hussein's unconventional weapons program. She's going to be released on bail later this week.
Now, the real question is, is this going to do any good. You'll recall that two American hostages were killed already this week, beheaded because the government here was holding these Iraqi detainees, the female prisoners. The most recent to have died was Jack Hensley, 48 years old, from the U.S. state of Georgia. He was a private contractor here. He was beheaded last night. There was a statement coming from the Islamist militants, rejoicing in what they called the slaughter of yet another American hostage. Indeed, their statement smacked very much of a declaration of religious war by the Muslim militants against the United States.
The release of at least one of the female Iraqi detainees may offer some measure of hope to the British. One of their detainees, Kenneth Bigley, the last off that trio of abducted men from Thursday a week ago, is still alive. The Iraqi insurgents say they will execute him, but with the release of at least one of these Iraqi women there may be some hope for him.
It did no good for Eugene Armstrong, another American. He was beheaded graphically on a grizzly television video Monday of this week -- Bill.
HEMMER: Walter Rodgers watching that story in Baghdad -- Heidi.
COLLINS: John Kerry has seized on Iraq as the main point of his attack on President Bush. All this week, the two have lobbed charges back and forth about whose position is more believable.
Bob Franken is covering the Kerry campaign live in West Palm Beach, Florida for us now, and joins us -- good morning to you, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
And you could say that the frontrunner on the ticket brought in some reinforcements, that is to say, number two, John Edwards. And what we found out is that they are both on the same page, the Iraq page.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): It's been a while since John Kerry and John Edwards have been together, but Edwards has definitely been listening.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Iraq is a mess and Iraq is a mess because of two people -- George Bush and Dick Cheney. That's why Iraq is a mess.
FRANKEN: The joint appearance wasn't the day's only departure from the routine. Kerry even called his first news conference in many a week to keep up the attack. It was a way of drawing some attention away from the president, who was defending his Iraq policy at the United Nations, and, when he could, heaping scorn on John Kerry.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My opponent has taken so many different positions on Iraq that his statements are hardly credible at all.
FRANKEN: Credibility, Kerry shot back, was exactly the point.
KERRY: And the president needs to live in the world of reality, not in a world of fantasy spin. At the United Nations today, the president failed to level with the world's leaders.
FRANKEN: Kerry will spend the day here in Florida before heading out to some of the battlegrounds. But he'll be back next week.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FRANKEN: Back for the first of the debates, the all important debates where, Heidi, President Bush and John Kerry will get to fire sound bites at each other at close range.
COLLINS: All right, and Bob Franken, thanks so much for that, coming to us from Florida this morning -- Bill.
HEMMER: Heidi, this morning the Secret Service continues its search for 59-year-old Lawrence Ward. He's a software engineer from upstate New York who the Secret Service has classified as a "credible threat against President Bush."
Let's talk about that now, talk about what's involved in protecting the president from such threats, with Bill Daly, a former counterintelligence official with the FBI, my guest here now in New York.
And good morning to you.
BILL DALY, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CONSULTANT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: How often do these threats get leveled against sitting presidents?
DALY: Oh, those statistics aren't out there in the public vein. There are scores of these occur during any one year. If we go back to even early 1800s, there have been 11 attacks against U.S. presidents, of which four have resulted in death. So they do occur out there.
These threats, such as we're just talking about now with this individual from upstate New York, are always out there. The Secret Service is concerned about them. There are individuals who they know and they don't know about.
In fact, just last week, there was the conviction of a gentleman up in Seattle who had made threats, death threats against President Bush. And a week before that, there was someone from Halifax, Nova Scotia who was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for making death threats against President Bush.
HEMMER: Is it different, though, because the name is out and age is out, the home state is out and the president was here for the past two days?
DALY: Yes, this is a bit different. And I would suspect that the Secret Service would -- was not putting this forward. This is something that came about as a result of local observations and digging in by reporters in upstate New York. It was not something that they made an announcement of.
But there are people out there that are constantly on a watch list that the Secret Service keeps tabs on when somebody, a president or even a presidential candidate, might be in town.
So it is something that they're always concerned about and they have people that they're watching.
HEMMER: If you go back to Washington in 1981 and Ronald Reagan, how different are things today, 23 years later, when it comes to security for presidents?
DALY: It is much different. And although the Secret Service doesn't talk about the specific trade craft, as we might call it, the protective measures, you know, they've reevaluated things since the Hinckley incident, even going back before that when Jerry Ford was approached by Squeakie Fromm out in California.
They look at these incidents. They look at how we can better protect them, protect the presidents. No longer is it just a bodyguard. We're talking about an entire spectrum of measures, including threat assessment profiling, protective intelligence; people on the periphery, very -- several rings of security around the president or any protectee. So no longer is it just what we might have seen back with President Reagan. It's gone beyond that.
HEMMER: If it's gone beyond then, 23 years later, is it much different during an election cycle?
DALY: Well, it is, Bill, because we have candidates. We have candidates, both the current president, in this case, and as well as someone looking for the office. And so we have the Secret Service looking at a variety of people who may have posed different threats to different individuals.
At the same time, simultaneously, here in New York just in the past few days, we also have the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, where we have heads of state in town who also bring with them their own little baggage of people who might be looking to talk with them.
So for the Secret Service, we give them a lot of credit. It's a tremendous task. It's a daunting task. And they're always dealing with not just the known and names that might be out there, like we've just seen in this story, but all those other people who could be somewhere in the woodwork.
HEMMER: Thanks, Bill.
Bill Daly here in New York.
DALY: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Nice to see you again.
DALY: Good seeing you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.
COLLINS: The death toll is still rising in Haiti, ravaged by floods after tropical storm Jeanne. Haitian officials tell the Associated Press more than 700 people have been killed, 600 of them in the northwestern city of Gonaives. That is the nation's third largest city. More than 1,000 others are still missing. U.N. peacekeepers plan their first major distribution of food and water today. Jeanne left a quarter million Haitians homeless.
Let's check back on the weather now and Chad Myers at the CNN Center.
Boy, those waters were just rushing so fast, they said a lot of the victims were children.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In the very first pictures that we were seeing there, you could see the mountain in the background. There's a spine that goes all along Hispaniola, from the Dominican Republic right on through and into Haiti. That's where the rain was raining hard, right on that mountain range. And then that rain came right down the mountains and made all that flooding and all those mud slides.
And Jeanne is still out there. Jeanne could still make a run at the U.S. before it finally gives up the ghost at some point here.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still ahead this morning, we'll speak with the brother of the latest American hostage claimed to have been killed in Iraq. We'll find out how his family has been coping.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, a musician ending up on a terrorist watch list. A plane gets diverted. We'll explain what's happening there in a moment.
COLLINS: Plus, a family's search for a missing girl and the clues that led her parents to a suspect, a suspect relationship, that is, between her and a registered sex offender.
That's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: Iraqi police have turned a headless body over to American officials in Baghdad. They're trying to determine whether it is American hostage Jack Hensley. A terrorist group claims to have killed him. That group is demanding the release of all female Iraqi prisoners. Iraqi officials say they will release one of two female prisoners held by the U.S., but insist they are not giving in to the terrorists. American officials say the status of Dr. Rihab Taha is still under review. Taha headed Saddam Hussein's biological weapons program and was known to the West as "Dr. Germ."
Jack Hensley's family is hoping and praying that the reports saying he's been killed are wrong.
His brother Ty Hensley is here now to tell us how the family is doing.
Ty, thanks so much for being here.
We appreciate your time so much this morning.
Tell us how you and the family are holding up.
TY HENSLEY, JACK HENSLEY'S BROTHER: Well, the events leading up to the possible news yesterday are actually sometimes more horrific than the news. I feel now that other -- these people cannot control my emotions anymore and now I have something that I can begin to cope with.
COLLINS: Is that why you're here today? HENSLEY: No, ma'am. The primary reason for my being here is a couple of things. One is to let the world know who Jack Hensley was. His story will be out for a day or two, but the pain is going to be suffered for generations in my family. Jack Hensley was an extraordinarily innocent man. He went over there to provide a money or an income for his family as a last resort.
Jack Hensley was a volunteer in a rescue squad. He was by T-ball coach. He put my toys together at Christmas and he was the most incredible father to his 13-year-old daughter, a softball coach to her. And, as a matter of fact, I -- I mean he was my role model for my children, of course.
COLLINS: A lot of people would say that he was over there working on a humanitarian effort.
What did he tell you about his life in Iraq and the Iraqi people?
HENSLEY: We corresponded a lot through e-mail. And the conversations were, he'd let me know what projects -- he was rebuilding a museum. He was working on the water supply. And he was doing this with -- he was the interface to the Iraqi people. He worked with the workers, people who probably haven't had jobs in many years or else it was -- they were being told what they could do and if there was any money they would -- they might receive that.
But he worked hard to build trust with these people and I guess that gave him confidence that he would be OK over there, because he became their friends. I received so many e-mails from the Iraqi folks that he had worked with...
COLLINS: Really?
HENSLEY: And it's, they are extraordinarily devastated.
COLLINS: I can only imagine.
What has the U.S. government told you at this point about what happened?
HENSLEY: Well, Heidi, I've been out of contact with the media, I mean with everyone. I have not been able to talk to my sister-in-law since 3:00, roughly a little after 3:00 yesterday. Her phones are jammed, mine are jammed, we have no way to get in touch with each other because of this. It's an international outcry and we're -- people are just letting us know of anything they can do.
But a 13-year-old daughter, in hearing of this news, it's devastating. They desecrated my family.
COLLINS: I know that you, as you said, you were in correspondence with him every day or so, talking about what he was doing there.
Toward the last correspondence with him, was there any sort of indication that things were getting scary or threatening to his life? HENSLEY: From my talking to Patty a little earlier in the last few days, that she and Jack had talked about it and the risks were this. They were starting to have guards not show up. And they lived in a very, you know, quiet home and they just had, I guess, very modest guards posted. I heard they were even unarmed.
They stopped showing up and they were tipped off that one was not even -- he came back and said that he was threatened if he came and worked again and he'd be killed.
COLLINS: Did he mention anything about wanting to leave, wanting to just get out of there? I know he'd been trying to hang on for a year because of...
HENSLEY: You're right.
COLLINS: ... the financial benefits.
HENSLEY: Right. Patty wanted him home. She had -- she just, her nerves couldn't take it anymore and she pretty much had pleaded with him. But, you know, and he's free, I guess, to get up and come home, but he did want to, you know, make it. And I guess he just felt that he wouldn't be treated like this.
COLLINS: I'm assuming that you'll work very hard to keep your brother's memory alive, especially for his daughter Sarah?
HENSLEY: Yes, ma'am. There's been a lot of people trying to help me, close friends. And they want to know what they can do. And actually they took action. And what they did is they created a fund to pay for Jack's little girl's college. And I don't know if you -- do you all have that posted?
COLLINS: Yes, we've got it here.
HENSLEY: OK.
COLLINS: It's on the screen right now.
HENSLEY: You know, I just want -- the world needs to help take care of this child, not now, but 20 or 30 years from now. This -- she needs help. We all need help. And not, we just need people to help us and remember us and make us feel that Jack had and he is remembered for a good -- being a good man.
COLLINS: And we also know that it would be Jack's birthday today.
HENSLEY: Yes.
COLLINS: So I'm sure that's making it just as -- that much more difficult to be here and talking to us. But you did an excellent job in telling us what he was about and what kind of a person he was and we so appreciate your time today.
HENSLEY: It's just, it's just so hard to talk about it. Thank you.
COLLINS: Thank you for being here.
Ty Hensley, thanks so much.
And we'll be back right here on AMERICAN MORNING in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We want to check in with Jack once again and the Question of the Day now.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Heidi.
We're talking about the fallout from the CBS document gate. Joe Lockhart, a high ranking member of the Kerry campaign, allowed as how he did talk to Bill Burkett, the guy responsible for giving those phony documents to CBS. However, Lockhart insists they did not discuss the documents in question. They were discussing other issues.
The conversation was arranged between Lockhart and Burkett by the CBS News producer Mary Mapes, who at the end of the day probably won't survive. I doubt they're going to fire Rather, but my hunch is they'll fire her.
There is plenty of damage to go around from all of this. But at the end of the day, it could be the Kerry campaign that winds up with the most to lose.
That's the question, has the CBS scandal damaged the Kerry campaign?
Dave in Japan writes: "The CBS scandal has nothing to do with Kerry. What does hurt the Democratic campaign is Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart losing his temper on AMERICAN MORNING. Mr. Lockhart's defensiveness certainly didn't do the Kerry campaign any favors. Some advice for adviser Lockhart -- try the decaf."
Dee in Atlanta, Georgia: "I hope you're not suggesting that an after the fact phone conversation between Joe Lockhart and the CBS source has the same nexus with CBS gate that the numerous Bush campaign advisers who worked with the debunked Swift Boaters had."
Dale in Chicago writes: "Yes, it absolutely hurts the Kerry campaign, if only for the reason that Dan Rather and CBS are leading the news, and not John Kerry and the issues. As a Bush supporter, I say, thanks, Dan. Can you set up an interview with Michael Moore as an encore?"
And finally, Matt writes from Columbia: "Jack, it's September. The election is in November. Americans' attention spans don't last that long in the meantime. Bush has to survive three debates. Debates involve speaking English. Kerry will be OK. Jack, go with the comb over." You're cruel, Matt.
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Cruel.
HEMMER: Forty-one days.
CAFFERTY: There's nothing left to comb over, you know? It's over.
HEMMER: You look great.
CAFFERTY: It's a dead issue.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: That's what it is.
HEMMER: In a moment here, parts of Iraq mired in violence. The president says now is not the time to cut and run, but John Kerry says Mr. Bush is not living in reality. Our political gurus Kamber and Watkins look at that in a moment here.
Back after this.
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