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CNN Live At Daybreak

Iraq Hostage Crisis; Iraq Security; Gravity Optional

Aired September 24, 2004 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A British hostage in Iraq, a life on the line. We'll take you live to his hometown in two minutes.
It is Friday, September 24. This is DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

"Now in the News."

Two Egyptian engineers have been kidnapped from their office in Baghdad. Armed gunmen tied up the guards and drove away with the two men who work for an Egyptian telecommunications company.

Palestinians have attacked a Jewish settlement in Gaza with mortars and Israelis say one woman was killed. Earlier, three Israeli soldiers died in a raid by Palestinian gunmen on another Jewish settlement. Security is tight ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday.

The first beans, rice and other supplies are being handed out to thousands of survivors of the flooding in Haiti, and donor nations have pledged $84 million to help Haiti recover from Tropical Storm Jeanne.

To the Forecast Center now and Chad.

Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And here is Jeanne, still around, Carol. This thing started over St. Croix, ran over Puerto Rico and then over the Dominica Republic and kind of stalled over Haiti. That's why it rained so much there. Then traveled on up toward the north, was forecast to make a left into Florida, it didn't. It made a right. Made a loop all the way around, and now it's coming at Florida on the backside of that loop.

There it is. A little unorganized this morning, but the winds are still at 100 miles per hour, although the Hurricane Center says that may be a little bit too much this morning. We don't want to drop it yet until we get a plane in it later today.

But here is the forecast track taking it right over Cape Canaveral, then through Jacksonville, St. Augustine and then back up and around. That No. 3 right there that you might see on your screen, if you have a big enough TV, that means it's a category 3 as it gets very close to Florida there. And so we're going to have to keep watching that, obviously, at about 115 or so miles per hour.

This is what's left of Ivan, not much, finally. The good news is it looks like this whole thing is really just going away. It will make a left hand turn and head down south toward Corpus Christi. That's the center of what was Ivan, a dissipating low-pressure system. But it could make some rainfall, but right now, not too bad.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.

Two more people have been kidnapped in Iraq. The latest victims are Egyptian engineers abducted from their office overnight in Baghdad. Armed kidnappers tied up the guards outside of that office, put the Egyptians in a black BMW and sped away. The two work for an Iraqi subsidiary of an Egyptian-owned telecom firm.

Still no word this morning on the fate of Kenneth Bigley, the British engineer who was kidnapped in Iraq along with two Americans, both of whom have since been beheaded. Bigley's 86-year-old mother is now in the hospital after making a tearful appeal for her son's life.

CNN's Robyn Curnow live in Liverpool, England, where Bigley's family is just trying to cope.

Good morning.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Indeed they are. It's an agonizing wait. He has been taken -- he was taken hostage nine days ago, and it has just been a traumatic nine days for Mrs. Bigley, in particular. She lives at a house just a few meters down the road here in Liverpool. And late last night, as you said, she was taken ill, collapsed after making a very emotional and tearful plea to the kidnappers. This is what she had to say Elizabeth Bigley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIL BIGLEY, HOSTAGE'S MOTHER: Would you please help my son?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go on, mama. Take a breath, breath. Go on, take a breath.

BIGLEY: He is only a working (ph) man who wants to support his family. Please show mercy to Ken and send him home to me alive. This family needs him and I need him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Mrs. Bigley is back in her house. The doctors have advised that she stay in bed. But that call for the kidnappers to have mercy, to be merciful, a scene echoed by his mother, his wife, his brothers and his sons, Carol. Very much a very sad and traumatic time as they wait for some news out of Iraq.

COSTELLO: Such an agonizing wait.

Robyn Curnow live in Liverpool, England this morning. Thank you. In London, no change in the position of the British government, although Prime Minister Tony Blair talked by phone again last night with members of the Bigley family. The political fallout for Blair?

CNN's Robin Oakley reports live from the British capital.

Hello.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well the whole of the British nation, really, has been gripped by the fate of Kenneth Bigley and impressed, it has to be said, by the tremendous efforts being made by the Bigley family to get messages to his captors in every possible way they can appealing for his release.

But at the same time, this affair has a political dimension. Tony Blair has been under huge criticism for his policy in Iraq. He is now facing intensifying demands for an early pullout by British troops. And this whole Bigley affair is putting a new political pressure on Tony Blair.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OAKLEY (voice-over): The fate of hostage Kenneth Bigley has been dominating the British media. The video released by Bigley's captors of his emotional appeal to Tony Blair as the only man who could save him has intensified the huge political pressures on Mr. Blair over Iraq.

So far the prime minister, who insists he'll cut no deals with terrorists, has left it to his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to define his government's reaction in public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: What we are doing everything we can to do is to find a way through so that Mr. Bigley's life can be saved. But it has to be a way through which is consistent with the very firm policy we and every other government around the world has, which is that you can't bargain with evil people like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OAKLEY: Mr. Blair's original decision to go to war sparked the biggest demonstrations ever seen in Britain, and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has deeply damaged his relationship with British electors.

PETER KELLNER, CHAIRMAN, YOUGOV POLLS: What we at Yougov have found is that Tony Blair's trust ratings have fallen off a cliff in the last two years. Iraq is not the sole cause, but it's a dominant cause.

OAKLEY: But the hostage crisis may not be the further crunch point, which many expected, at least in the short term. Both opposition leaders, Michael Howard for the Conservatives and Charles Kennedy of the Liberal Democrats, have stepped forward to bat Mr. Blair's refusal to negotiate with terrorists. And pollsters point to Britain's past experience of terrorist killings by the Irish Republican Army.

KELLNER: However awful those things were and however outraged the public were none of them really affected the internal political party battle inside Britain. It was felt that here was a nation at risk or at threat from an outside force. I think in reality much of that attitude would transfer to Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OAKLEY: With opposition party leaders backing Tony Blair's stand in refusing to do any deal with terrorists, the immediate political damage to Mr. Blair will be limited. But his problem is that this new focus on what is going wrong in Iraq and his comparative powerlessness to act in the situation of Kenneth Bigley is just undermining the whole concern with his wider policy on Iraq -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Robin Oakley live in London this morning. Thank you.

The Italian government says it's trying to verify whether claims are true that two Italian women kidnapped in Iraq have been killed. The women, both humanitarian aid workers, were kidnapped more than two weeks ago. Statements posted on two separate Islamic Web sites claim the two were killed. News of the women's death brought a somber mood to Italy. The government suggests the Web site posting could be part of a terrorism campaign through the media.

Memorial services have now begun for Jack Hensley. He's the American hostage killed in Iraq this week. About 250 people gathered in Hensley's hometown of Marietta, Georgia last night for a candlelight prayer vigil. Another ceremony held by the Hensley family church is set for Saturday afternoon. His family does plan to attend.

Iraq's interim prime minister says elections will be held in his country on schedule in January. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld agrees, but says voting may not be possible in some areas where the potential for violence is great. So will Iraq be secure enough for elections?

CNN's Brent Sadler is in Baghdad where he has talked with some Iraqis about this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Baghdad, Iraqis watch their prime minister deliver an upbeat assessment to the U.S. Congress. To some here, Ayad Allawi's is a rose tinted view, a progress report that struggles to resonate here in Iraq.

"One bad situation has been replaced with another bad situation," says engineer Halid Fahad (ph). "Eighteen months of occupation and nothing's changed that much." But among some there's hope it will. "We just need more time," explains Mothana Shihad (ph), a currency dealer. "The old regime is kicking back and others, insiders or outsiders, want Iraq in chaos."

And chaos reigns this month in major towns and cities with suicide bombings and street battles. Just this week persistent fighting and the battles control the giant Shiite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad. The beheading of victims has turned into a strategic weapon of some terror groups.

FAWAZ GERGES, MID EAST ANALYST: The insurgency is spreading and becoming more sophisticated and deadlier by the day. Far from winning the war against the insurgents, I think this is the beginning of the Iraq War, the beginning, not the end of it.

SADLER: A grim prediction that leads some to question the practicality of holding January elections in such dire circumstances.

But Iraq's most influential Shi'a cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, warns that any delay would be catastrophic for security and democracy in Iraq. But he's also concerned that the election process is being stacked in favor of former exiles like Allawi himself.

(on camera): Iraq's Shi'a majority expect to wield the most power after an election. But if the Sunni minority, former rulers of Iraq, were unable to vote in key cities engulfed by violence, the concept of a free and fair election, say observers, would be seriously undermined.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And this morning "The New York Times" is weighing in on the Iraqi prime minister's comments at the White House, and it's not flattering. Here is what "The Times" has to say on its editorial page this morning. I'm quoting here. "Challenging news reports that Americans get daily, Mr. Allawi claimed that security is improving, economic reconstruction is progressing and democratic institutions are taking root. It was everything the Bush re-election campaign could have asked for. Unfortunately, most of it was wrong."

Vice President Dick Cheney certainly disagrees with that. He's also got reaction to Senator Kerry's comments questioning the Iraqi prime minister's view of what's going on in Iraq. Here's what Dick Cheney has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was appalled at the complete lack of respect Senator Kerry showed for this man of courage when he rushed out to hold a press conference and attacked the prime minister, the man America must stand beside to defeat the terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And the Democratic vice presidential candidate, John Edwards, courted women voters in Iowa, and he lashed out at President Bush's rosy view of progress in Iraq. He also called on the president to rein in his vice president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Dick Cheney is trying to divide this country on an issue of safety and security. This is an American issue. George Bush should denounce what Dick Cheney said. He should tell the American people that it was wrong. That it was un-American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We're going to have much more on that in the 6:00 hour of DAYBREAK.

Coming up next, though, a private family matter that's become public. In four minutes, the ruling over the fate of a brain-damaged Florida woman.

It's our e-mail "Question of the Morning," should the government get involved in life and death medical decisions? We're going to read some of your e-mails ahead. But if you'd like to send one, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Also, Hurricane Jeanne may be setting its sights on the Florida coast. Up next, how the locals are handling it.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Wow, that is a cool shot. That's outside in our giant atrium high above. This is a huge building here in Atlanta.

But it's time to talk about your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:47 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

No word yet on the fate of Kenneth Bigley. He's the British engineer kidnapped in Iraq with two Americans who have now been beheaded. Bigley's 86-year-old mother is now hospitalized due to stress.

In the pipeline, possibly more aid for refugees in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. The U.S. Senate has approved up to $680 million for refugees. The House has already come up with $311 million.

In money news, even compared to other billionaires, Bill Gates is, well, he's rich. With $48 billion, Gates tops the list of, get this, 313 billionaires in the United States. In culture, creditors are said to be lining up for a piece of the $21 million estate left by actor Marlon Brando when he died. An attorney for the estate says he believes the claims will not exceed $1 million.

In sports, U.S. Olympic cyclist Tyler Hamilton will get to keep his gold medal thanks to a screw up at the testing lab. After an initial positive doping test, the backup sample came back inconclusive because it had been mistakenly frozen -- Chad.

MYERS: It's always something with those people, isn't it?

COSTELLO: That's terrible.

MYERS: I know. Anyway, here let me get this phone. It's New York. Hold on.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

The Florida Supreme Court rules Governor Jeb Bush was wrong when he interfered in a right to die case. Terri Schiavo, remember her, a severely brain-damaged woman. She's at the center of this case. The court struck down a law that was rushed through the legislature last fall allowing the governor to keep Schiavo hooked up to a feeding tube against her husband's wishes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: I'm disappointed for the moral reasons of the taking of innocent life and without having I don't think a full hearing on the facts of what her intents were. Now, with that, you know we will review what the ruling says. We will make a determination if there are any additional steps that can be taken. If there are, we'll take them. If not, we will let the action of the Supreme Court stand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Schiavo has been in a persistent vegetative state for 14 years now. Her husband has been in a bitter right to die dispute against his in-laws.

We've been soliciting e-mail from you. The question this morning, should the government get involved in life and death medical decisions? And we've been getting a lot of interesting comments, as always.

This is from Edson (ph) from Bayside, New York. If I elected the government with my decision and with my choice, if I want to live or if I want to die, it should be my decision or my choice. Because the only thing I own is my body and I don't have intention to give the government say on whether I can live or die. This is from Marlon (ph). He's from Wisconsin -- Rapids, Wisconsin. As a 34-year member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, with the exception of two of my colleagues over the years who are physicians, the last people on earth I would consult on life or death decisions, or any medical procedure, for that matter, would be state legislators or members of Congress.

Keep the e-mails coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. We'll read more later on in the show.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: I'm not saying this to gross you out this morning, but NASA does call it the Vomit Comet. It's a specially equipped plane to help astronauts train for weightlessness. But now there's another version that allows anyone with $3,000 to go up, float around and get sick.

Will CNN's Jeanne Moos be brave enough to take the ride? Let's watch and see.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It starts like a regular flight with the usual warnings. But though your tray table may stay in the upright and locked position, you won't. For 3,000 bucks you can experience weightlessness in a padded 727. A 727 that flies up and then down like an 8,000-foot roller coaster. And each time you go over the hump, you're weightless for about 30 seconds, until you hear the warning, feet down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feet down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feet down.

MOOS: This is how real astronauts train. This is how they filmed the weightless scenes in Apollo 13, and now the public can do it. At the press preview flight, four intrepid CNNers went up and one cowardly correspondent waved good-bye from the hangar.

PETER DIAMANDIS, CEO, ZERO GRAVITY CORP.: People, the first time they go up tend to think they are swimming. Of course moving your arms and your legs do no good.

MOOS: Take it from this poor little rabbit or this bird during a NASA weightless experiment. On the press flight, folks were having a ball. Miles O'Brien was playing superman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeanne, you're missing out. You're missing out -- Jeanne.

MOOS: But then to borrow a phrase,...

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: Houston, we have a problem. MOOS: Clutching motion sickness bags, some scurried to the seats in the back. For most of the flight, this reporter was merrily floating around, but then she had to be helped away uttering ey, ey, ey (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel totally sick right now, but it was amazingly worth it. It was so fun. Nothing happened yet.

MOOS: It happened later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Casualty award.

MOOS: Out of 27 flyers, at least 6 either got sick or came...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very, very close.

MOOS: And speaking of close, a porn scene was once shot on a no gravity flight. While any body mingling here was merely accidental.

Once G-Force One landed,...

TIFFANY MCELROY, WB11 REPORTER: It was amazing. It was amazing. It was like terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. But on that last run, it caught up with me.

MOOS: The $3,000 flights will take off out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A former astronaut comes along.

BOB CENKER, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: It's like skydiving, only you never hit the ground. It's like scuba diving, only you don't have to hold your breath.

MOOS: What you do have to hold is your lunch.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, Newark, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Crazy.

Things are heating up on the political front. What else is new? We'll discuss the latest political potshots in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Empty shelves and boarded up homes. This is definitely getting old for the people in Florida.

It is Friday, September 24. This is DAYBREAK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired September 24, 2004 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A British hostage in Iraq, a life on the line. We'll take you live to his hometown in two minutes.
It is Friday, September 24. This is DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

"Now in the News."

Two Egyptian engineers have been kidnapped from their office in Baghdad. Armed gunmen tied up the guards and drove away with the two men who work for an Egyptian telecommunications company.

Palestinians have attacked a Jewish settlement in Gaza with mortars and Israelis say one woman was killed. Earlier, three Israeli soldiers died in a raid by Palestinian gunmen on another Jewish settlement. Security is tight ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday.

The first beans, rice and other supplies are being handed out to thousands of survivors of the flooding in Haiti, and donor nations have pledged $84 million to help Haiti recover from Tropical Storm Jeanne.

To the Forecast Center now and Chad.

Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And here is Jeanne, still around, Carol. This thing started over St. Croix, ran over Puerto Rico and then over the Dominica Republic and kind of stalled over Haiti. That's why it rained so much there. Then traveled on up toward the north, was forecast to make a left into Florida, it didn't. It made a right. Made a loop all the way around, and now it's coming at Florida on the backside of that loop.

There it is. A little unorganized this morning, but the winds are still at 100 miles per hour, although the Hurricane Center says that may be a little bit too much this morning. We don't want to drop it yet until we get a plane in it later today.

But here is the forecast track taking it right over Cape Canaveral, then through Jacksonville, St. Augustine and then back up and around. That No. 3 right there that you might see on your screen, if you have a big enough TV, that means it's a category 3 as it gets very close to Florida there. And so we're going to have to keep watching that, obviously, at about 115 or so miles per hour.

This is what's left of Ivan, not much, finally. The good news is it looks like this whole thing is really just going away. It will make a left hand turn and head down south toward Corpus Christi. That's the center of what was Ivan, a dissipating low-pressure system. But it could make some rainfall, but right now, not too bad.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.

Two more people have been kidnapped in Iraq. The latest victims are Egyptian engineers abducted from their office overnight in Baghdad. Armed kidnappers tied up the guards outside of that office, put the Egyptians in a black BMW and sped away. The two work for an Iraqi subsidiary of an Egyptian-owned telecom firm.

Still no word this morning on the fate of Kenneth Bigley, the British engineer who was kidnapped in Iraq along with two Americans, both of whom have since been beheaded. Bigley's 86-year-old mother is now in the hospital after making a tearful appeal for her son's life.

CNN's Robyn Curnow live in Liverpool, England, where Bigley's family is just trying to cope.

Good morning.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Indeed they are. It's an agonizing wait. He has been taken -- he was taken hostage nine days ago, and it has just been a traumatic nine days for Mrs. Bigley, in particular. She lives at a house just a few meters down the road here in Liverpool. And late last night, as you said, she was taken ill, collapsed after making a very emotional and tearful plea to the kidnappers. This is what she had to say Elizabeth Bigley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIL BIGLEY, HOSTAGE'S MOTHER: Would you please help my son?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go on, mama. Take a breath, breath. Go on, take a breath.

BIGLEY: He is only a working (ph) man who wants to support his family. Please show mercy to Ken and send him home to me alive. This family needs him and I need him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Mrs. Bigley is back in her house. The doctors have advised that she stay in bed. But that call for the kidnappers to have mercy, to be merciful, a scene echoed by his mother, his wife, his brothers and his sons, Carol. Very much a very sad and traumatic time as they wait for some news out of Iraq.

COSTELLO: Such an agonizing wait.

Robyn Curnow live in Liverpool, England this morning. Thank you. In London, no change in the position of the British government, although Prime Minister Tony Blair talked by phone again last night with members of the Bigley family. The political fallout for Blair?

CNN's Robin Oakley reports live from the British capital.

Hello.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well the whole of the British nation, really, has been gripped by the fate of Kenneth Bigley and impressed, it has to be said, by the tremendous efforts being made by the Bigley family to get messages to his captors in every possible way they can appealing for his release.

But at the same time, this affair has a political dimension. Tony Blair has been under huge criticism for his policy in Iraq. He is now facing intensifying demands for an early pullout by British troops. And this whole Bigley affair is putting a new political pressure on Tony Blair.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OAKLEY (voice-over): The fate of hostage Kenneth Bigley has been dominating the British media. The video released by Bigley's captors of his emotional appeal to Tony Blair as the only man who could save him has intensified the huge political pressures on Mr. Blair over Iraq.

So far the prime minister, who insists he'll cut no deals with terrorists, has left it to his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to define his government's reaction in public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: What we are doing everything we can to do is to find a way through so that Mr. Bigley's life can be saved. But it has to be a way through which is consistent with the very firm policy we and every other government around the world has, which is that you can't bargain with evil people like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OAKLEY: Mr. Blair's original decision to go to war sparked the biggest demonstrations ever seen in Britain, and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has deeply damaged his relationship with British electors.

PETER KELLNER, CHAIRMAN, YOUGOV POLLS: What we at Yougov have found is that Tony Blair's trust ratings have fallen off a cliff in the last two years. Iraq is not the sole cause, but it's a dominant cause.

OAKLEY: But the hostage crisis may not be the further crunch point, which many expected, at least in the short term. Both opposition leaders, Michael Howard for the Conservatives and Charles Kennedy of the Liberal Democrats, have stepped forward to bat Mr. Blair's refusal to negotiate with terrorists. And pollsters point to Britain's past experience of terrorist killings by the Irish Republican Army.

KELLNER: However awful those things were and however outraged the public were none of them really affected the internal political party battle inside Britain. It was felt that here was a nation at risk or at threat from an outside force. I think in reality much of that attitude would transfer to Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OAKLEY: With opposition party leaders backing Tony Blair's stand in refusing to do any deal with terrorists, the immediate political damage to Mr. Blair will be limited. But his problem is that this new focus on what is going wrong in Iraq and his comparative powerlessness to act in the situation of Kenneth Bigley is just undermining the whole concern with his wider policy on Iraq -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Robin Oakley live in London this morning. Thank you.

The Italian government says it's trying to verify whether claims are true that two Italian women kidnapped in Iraq have been killed. The women, both humanitarian aid workers, were kidnapped more than two weeks ago. Statements posted on two separate Islamic Web sites claim the two were killed. News of the women's death brought a somber mood to Italy. The government suggests the Web site posting could be part of a terrorism campaign through the media.

Memorial services have now begun for Jack Hensley. He's the American hostage killed in Iraq this week. About 250 people gathered in Hensley's hometown of Marietta, Georgia last night for a candlelight prayer vigil. Another ceremony held by the Hensley family church is set for Saturday afternoon. His family does plan to attend.

Iraq's interim prime minister says elections will be held in his country on schedule in January. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld agrees, but says voting may not be possible in some areas where the potential for violence is great. So will Iraq be secure enough for elections?

CNN's Brent Sadler is in Baghdad where he has talked with some Iraqis about this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Baghdad, Iraqis watch their prime minister deliver an upbeat assessment to the U.S. Congress. To some here, Ayad Allawi's is a rose tinted view, a progress report that struggles to resonate here in Iraq.

"One bad situation has been replaced with another bad situation," says engineer Halid Fahad (ph). "Eighteen months of occupation and nothing's changed that much." But among some there's hope it will. "We just need more time," explains Mothana Shihad (ph), a currency dealer. "The old regime is kicking back and others, insiders or outsiders, want Iraq in chaos."

And chaos reigns this month in major towns and cities with suicide bombings and street battles. Just this week persistent fighting and the battles control the giant Shiite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad. The beheading of victims has turned into a strategic weapon of some terror groups.

FAWAZ GERGES, MID EAST ANALYST: The insurgency is spreading and becoming more sophisticated and deadlier by the day. Far from winning the war against the insurgents, I think this is the beginning of the Iraq War, the beginning, not the end of it.

SADLER: A grim prediction that leads some to question the practicality of holding January elections in such dire circumstances.

But Iraq's most influential Shi'a cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, warns that any delay would be catastrophic for security and democracy in Iraq. But he's also concerned that the election process is being stacked in favor of former exiles like Allawi himself.

(on camera): Iraq's Shi'a majority expect to wield the most power after an election. But if the Sunni minority, former rulers of Iraq, were unable to vote in key cities engulfed by violence, the concept of a free and fair election, say observers, would be seriously undermined.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And this morning "The New York Times" is weighing in on the Iraqi prime minister's comments at the White House, and it's not flattering. Here is what "The Times" has to say on its editorial page this morning. I'm quoting here. "Challenging news reports that Americans get daily, Mr. Allawi claimed that security is improving, economic reconstruction is progressing and democratic institutions are taking root. It was everything the Bush re-election campaign could have asked for. Unfortunately, most of it was wrong."

Vice President Dick Cheney certainly disagrees with that. He's also got reaction to Senator Kerry's comments questioning the Iraqi prime minister's view of what's going on in Iraq. Here's what Dick Cheney has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was appalled at the complete lack of respect Senator Kerry showed for this man of courage when he rushed out to hold a press conference and attacked the prime minister, the man America must stand beside to defeat the terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And the Democratic vice presidential candidate, John Edwards, courted women voters in Iowa, and he lashed out at President Bush's rosy view of progress in Iraq. He also called on the president to rein in his vice president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Dick Cheney is trying to divide this country on an issue of safety and security. This is an American issue. George Bush should denounce what Dick Cheney said. He should tell the American people that it was wrong. That it was un-American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We're going to have much more on that in the 6:00 hour of DAYBREAK.

Coming up next, though, a private family matter that's become public. In four minutes, the ruling over the fate of a brain-damaged Florida woman.

It's our e-mail "Question of the Morning," should the government get involved in life and death medical decisions? We're going to read some of your e-mails ahead. But if you'd like to send one, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Also, Hurricane Jeanne may be setting its sights on the Florida coast. Up next, how the locals are handling it.

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

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COSTELLO: Wow, that is a cool shot. That's outside in our giant atrium high above. This is a huge building here in Atlanta.

But it's time to talk about your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:47 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

No word yet on the fate of Kenneth Bigley. He's the British engineer kidnapped in Iraq with two Americans who have now been beheaded. Bigley's 86-year-old mother is now hospitalized due to stress.

In the pipeline, possibly more aid for refugees in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. The U.S. Senate has approved up to $680 million for refugees. The House has already come up with $311 million.

In money news, even compared to other billionaires, Bill Gates is, well, he's rich. With $48 billion, Gates tops the list of, get this, 313 billionaires in the United States. In culture, creditors are said to be lining up for a piece of the $21 million estate left by actor Marlon Brando when he died. An attorney for the estate says he believes the claims will not exceed $1 million.

In sports, U.S. Olympic cyclist Tyler Hamilton will get to keep his gold medal thanks to a screw up at the testing lab. After an initial positive doping test, the backup sample came back inconclusive because it had been mistakenly frozen -- Chad.

MYERS: It's always something with those people, isn't it?

COSTELLO: That's terrible.

MYERS: I know. Anyway, here let me get this phone. It's New York. Hold on.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

The Florida Supreme Court rules Governor Jeb Bush was wrong when he interfered in a right to die case. Terri Schiavo, remember her, a severely brain-damaged woman. She's at the center of this case. The court struck down a law that was rushed through the legislature last fall allowing the governor to keep Schiavo hooked up to a feeding tube against her husband's wishes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: I'm disappointed for the moral reasons of the taking of innocent life and without having I don't think a full hearing on the facts of what her intents were. Now, with that, you know we will review what the ruling says. We will make a determination if there are any additional steps that can be taken. If there are, we'll take them. If not, we will let the action of the Supreme Court stand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Schiavo has been in a persistent vegetative state for 14 years now. Her husband has been in a bitter right to die dispute against his in-laws.

We've been soliciting e-mail from you. The question this morning, should the government get involved in life and death medical decisions? And we've been getting a lot of interesting comments, as always.

This is from Edson (ph) from Bayside, New York. If I elected the government with my decision and with my choice, if I want to live or if I want to die, it should be my decision or my choice. Because the only thing I own is my body and I don't have intention to give the government say on whether I can live or die. This is from Marlon (ph). He's from Wisconsin -- Rapids, Wisconsin. As a 34-year member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, with the exception of two of my colleagues over the years who are physicians, the last people on earth I would consult on life or death decisions, or any medical procedure, for that matter, would be state legislators or members of Congress.

Keep the e-mails coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com. We'll read more later on in the show.

DAYBREAK will be right back.

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COSTELLO: I'm not saying this to gross you out this morning, but NASA does call it the Vomit Comet. It's a specially equipped plane to help astronauts train for weightlessness. But now there's another version that allows anyone with $3,000 to go up, float around and get sick.

Will CNN's Jeanne Moos be brave enough to take the ride? Let's watch and see.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It starts like a regular flight with the usual warnings. But though your tray table may stay in the upright and locked position, you won't. For 3,000 bucks you can experience weightlessness in a padded 727. A 727 that flies up and then down like an 8,000-foot roller coaster. And each time you go over the hump, you're weightless for about 30 seconds, until you hear the warning, feet down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feet down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feet down.

MOOS: This is how real astronauts train. This is how they filmed the weightless scenes in Apollo 13, and now the public can do it. At the press preview flight, four intrepid CNNers went up and one cowardly correspondent waved good-bye from the hangar.

PETER DIAMANDIS, CEO, ZERO GRAVITY CORP.: People, the first time they go up tend to think they are swimming. Of course moving your arms and your legs do no good.

MOOS: Take it from this poor little rabbit or this bird during a NASA weightless experiment. On the press flight, folks were having a ball. Miles O'Brien was playing superman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeanne, you're missing out. You're missing out -- Jeanne.

MOOS: But then to borrow a phrase,...

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: Houston, we have a problem. MOOS: Clutching motion sickness bags, some scurried to the seats in the back. For most of the flight, this reporter was merrily floating around, but then she had to be helped away uttering ey, ey, ey (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel totally sick right now, but it was amazingly worth it. It was so fun. Nothing happened yet.

MOOS: It happened later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Casualty award.

MOOS: Out of 27 flyers, at least 6 either got sick or came...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very, very close.

MOOS: And speaking of close, a porn scene was once shot on a no gravity flight. While any body mingling here was merely accidental.

Once G-Force One landed,...

TIFFANY MCELROY, WB11 REPORTER: It was amazing. It was amazing. It was like terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. But on that last run, it caught up with me.

MOOS: The $3,000 flights will take off out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A former astronaut comes along.

BOB CENKER, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: It's like skydiving, only you never hit the ground. It's like scuba diving, only you don't have to hold your breath.

MOOS: What you do have to hold is your lunch.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, Newark, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Crazy.

Things are heating up on the political front. What else is new? We'll discuss the latest political potshots in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

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COSTELLO: Empty shelves and boarded up homes. This is definitely getting old for the people in Florida.

It is Friday, September 24. This is DAYBREAK.

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