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CNN Live At Daybreak

Latest On the U.S. Offensive in Falluja; Arafat's Wife and Palestinian Officials Disagree Over Yasser Arafat's Affairs

Aired November 08, 2004 - 05:00   ET

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

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Gunfire echoing through the streets of Falluja this morning as U.S. and Iraqi forces prepare to invade.
It is Monday, November 8.

This is DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you.

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

Now in the news -- at this moment, Iraqi lawmakers are hearing from their leader. Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is addressing Iraq's National Assembly. The address comes ahead of an expected assault on insurgents in Falluja. That assault now under way.

U.S. forces are seeing some action before the all out assault on Falluja. War planes and tanks have been firing on Iraqi positions in the city this morning. An official from a Falluja clinic says several insurgents have been killed.

Word in from the West Bank this morning, Palestinian officials have postponed a trip to see their leader, Yasser Arafat, who remains at a Paris hospital. They're not saying exactly why. Earlier, Arafat's wife accused them of trying to seize power.

In northern Japan, shaky ground this morning. A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit the area today, reportedly injuring several people. Officials believe the shaker is an aftershock to the deadly quake that struck northern Japan last month.

To the forecast center now to say good morning to Chad.

Hell -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Bracing for battle from Baghdad to Washington this morning. The focus is on the Iraqi city of Falluja. We will take you just outside the rebel stronghold. Our Karl Penhaul is embedded with some of the U.S. troops missing there -- or massing there, I should say. And for Washington's take on the coming fight, we'll head to the Pentagon and CNN's Kathleen Koch.

But let's start with you, Karl, to bring us up to date about exactly what's happening now in Falluja.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.

We're about a mile-and-a-half from the northern edge, from the northern edge of Falluja. To my west, to my south just now, what we've been hearing are tanks firing into the city and we've also heard heavy artillery, .155 millimeter, firing into the city onto the eastern edge of the city.

Now, over toward the west of the city, there is still some smoke rising there. Fighter jets have been in action there, dropping bombs and missiles on that part of the city and there has also been artillery fire there.

(AUDIO GAP)

COSTELLO: We're having some technical difficulty.

We're going to have to get back to Karl Penhaul a little later on.

(AUDIO GAP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we have fixed our technical problems and we apologize for that. It figures it would happen on a Monday.

Let me bring you back to what Karl Penhaul was saying live from near Falluja. He is embedded with the Marines there. He can see smoke rising from several places within that city. That means air strikes are ongoing.

We do understand an offensive took place on the ground in Falluja at a hospital led by the Iraqi forces and that apparently was successful.

Let's talk more about this with our Pentagon reporter Kathleen Koch.

She's live in Washington this morning.

What can you tell us -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, obviously it's very tense here, a very tense feeling at the Pentagon right now. Everyone watching developments as this offensive begins in Falluja, watching them very carefully because the belief on many fronts is that this is, perhaps, not only the most important battle in Iraq since the U.S. went into that country some 19 months ago, but potentially this could be the bloodiest since that time.

Falluja being a city that presents very many challenges. Obviously, insurgents there have had quite a lot of time to learn the city. They know it like the back of their hands, the places to hide, the places to fight from. They also have had a chance to lace the city with booby traps, with car bombs, with mines. We are also learning from the U.S. military they believe they have even built tunnels connecting mosques and schools so that they can use those to fight from.

So, Carol, it's believed this will be a very nasty battle.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding.

The last time U.S. troops were there, they were driven out of Falluja. I don't know if that's too strong a word to use. But you tell me. Are they approaching this differently this time, though?

KOCH: They are, Carol. Basically, the last time it was in April, when the U.S. Marines went into Falluja. One major difference was that there was a belief at that point that they could essentially break the back of the resistance. That has changed now.

They -- with the U.S. throughout Iraq facing what they believe may be as many as 12,000 insurgents, they realize that while Falluja is very important, it is a cancer that must be eliminated if the country is to have free and fair elections come January, that this will certainly not end the resistance in the country nationwide.

Also, a major difference is that this time when the U.S. forces go in, they say that they will go in and they will stay until the job is done -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Kathleen Koch reporting live from the Pentagon this morning.

Thank you.

We do have two correspondents embedded with U.S. forces near Falluja.

On the video phone right now, Jane Arraf. She is with an Army unit there.

Jane -- what can you tell us?

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we're on the northeastern side of the city, just on the outskirts of Falluja. We've been here for a few hours in a staging area. The main battle has not yet started but the has been sporadic firing, including quite heavy artillery being fired at insurgent positions within the city.

Now, the sector that we are in, that we will be going into once the word is given, is essentially an area where they have had a lot of attacks. It's almost deserted of civilians. And they believe that might be because large parts of it have been booby-trapped, that there are homemade bombs, improvised explosive devices set to go off.

Right now what they're doing is sporadic fighting with insurgents there, trying to flesh them out before the main fighting starts. And they've been told here that this could be the decisive battle intended to end the insurgency and allow U.S. soldiers and the soldiers and the soldiers coming after them to go home -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jane, with your unit, are there Iraqi soldiers along with the U.S. Army?

ARRAF: There are, Carol. There are special police commanders, special forces commandos. And they are not from here. This is one of the strategies that they're adopting. It would be problematic if they were from here, probably impossible. So they're from another area. They've been brought here and they've been training.

What they'll do is some of the more sensitive tasks -- going into mosques, going into schools, going into places where it would be even more inflammatory than it already is to have American troops in this very conservative city.

This morning we saw them ride out in the backs of trucks flying the Iraqi flag. It was really -- this really is historic, Carol, this cooperation between U.S. forces and the emerging Iraqi security forces on this scale. And it's a test of sorts -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Another question for you. We believe there are 4,000 to 5,000 insurgents within Falluja. This new offensive on the part of American forces, it's not exactly been kept a secret. Wouldn't they all just fade away and go someplace else, the insurgents, I mean?

ARRAF: Except the thing is there are different kinds of insurgents and they fall into a few main groups. There are the former regime Baath Party elements, there's a hard core religious extremists and there are the foreign fighters. And from intelligence that has been picked up over the last few weeks, what we have been told by military sources is they've actually seen insurgents coming into Falluja.

This has become a magnet for insurgents of all kinds. It has become a calling for people to come here and fight the American forces.

So while civilians certainly have fled and certainly some of the cells have been dismantled and some of those people would have fled, those who feel that this is the decisive battle, that this is their chance to battle American forces have stayed and will stay until death -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jane Arraf reporting live from somewhere near Falluja this morning.

Thank you.

We have more now on Yasser Arafat.

As the Palestinian leader remains in a French hospital, there seems to be some trouble within the ranks.

(AUDIO CLIP IN ARABIC)

COSTELLO: You don't have to understand the words, you can hear the tone. You're hearing a very angry Arafat's wife, Suha, on the Arab network Al Jazeera. She's accusing her husband's top aides of trying to oust him prematurely.

For more, let's go to CNN's Michael Holmes in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

What are they making of this there?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there is an unseemly dispute, if you like, that has evolved or, indeed, erupted was one word used, between Suha Arafat, Yasser Arafat's wife, and Palestinian officials.

They had been planning to fly to Paris today to see Yasser Arafat, see for themselves his condition and take over some of the decision-making on what will happen to him and what his condition is, because the reality is that under French law, Suha Arafat, as next of kin, has the right to say what she likes and release what information she likes and make decisions.

The Palestinian leadership is saying well, he's not her property, he's the property of the Palestinian people. That outburst, as it was described to us by one Palestinian official, was on Arabic language television. And Suha Arafat saying her husband was, in her words, all right and that those officials were coming here to, again her words, "bury him alive."

Well, as the response to that has been very forthright. The Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qorei, saying he is not her property and telling us that today, he said it is a decision of the Palestinian leadership, not her, whether we go or not.

Now, for the moment that trip, which was meant to have taken place today, has been postponed. The Palestinian cabinet is meeting to discuss the issue as we speak and a decision is going to be taken after that meeting on whether the trip will go ahead. But we should call it postponed and not canceled.

This is a real rift between Yasser Arafat's wife and the Palestinian leadership, which wants to show some sort of control, some sort of unity to the Palestinian people.

COSTELLO: I guess one of the problems is is that Suha Arafat, she's not letting anyone in but Arafat's doctors, so no one else can really see exactly what condition Yasser Arafat is in.

HOLMES: Indeed, that's the problem. And that's why you hear so many conflicting reports about his condition. Is he in a coma or is he not in a coma? Was it medically induced? Is it liver failure? Is it this? Is it that? That's because there is so little information being released. And she is the one, as next of kin under French law, who controls that flow of information.

And even Palestinian officials who are already in Paris and have been there for days are privately complaining they're not getting the full story. They don't know what's going on, which is where these conflicting reports are coming from.

The idea of this delegation going to Paris -- and it was a high level delegation -- we're talking about the prime minister, the senior PLO official and also the foreign minister going -- was to take over the role of controlling this information, find out, in essence, what the heck is going on with Yasser Arafat.

COSTELLO: Michael Holmes reporting live from Ramallah this morning.

Thank you.

Still ahead on DAYBREAK, as American troops brace for an all out assault on Falluja, we'll give you an inside look at how special ops forces train for urban combat. That comes your way at 6:37 Eastern.

And how far would you go to have a sparkling smile? Teeth whitening junkies at 54 past.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It is 5:18 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

U.S. troops and Iraqi soldiers are preparing for an all out assault on insurgents in Falluja. U.S. warplanes and artillery have stepped up their firing on insurgent positions inside that city.

In Redwood City, California, another day of deliberations scheduled for the jury in the Scott Peterson trial. The jurors got the case last week, but did not conduct any deliberations over the weekend. Scott Peterson faces two counts of murder.

In money news, Delta Airlines is cutting around 7,000 jobs in an effort to avoid bankruptcy. Among the cuts, 2,000 maintenance workers and 3,100 customer service people. Delta has around 60,000 employees.

In culture, multi-talented actor Howard Keel has died of colon cancer. He was 85. Keel started such classic musicals as "Showboat" and "Kiss Me Kate," but he may be even more well known for a 10-year run as Clayton Farlow on the TV drama "Dallas." And if you saw the "Dallas" reunion show last night, oh, it was something else.

In sports, the New England Patriots started a new winning streak. The Pats beat the St. Louis Rams 40-22. New England had its 21-game winning streak snapped last week by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh beat up on Philadelphia this past weekend, too, Chad.

I think it is Pittsburgh's year.

MYERS: Twenty-seven to three.

COSTELLO: Isn't that amazing?

MYERS: It really was. And then the Bills beat the Jets. I mean I was thinking what is this, the solar eclipse thing going on here?

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: Holy cow! The Lions got spanked by the Redskins?

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

MYERS: Oh. Not a good day for a lot of teams that have been doing very well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, the tones have it. Yes, ripped right from the Billboard music charts, we'll tell you what ringtones are tooting top honors. Yes, the top 10 ringtones. "Billboard" magazine has it.

Also, can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? How cell phone giant Verizon is making Boston speak a top priority. We'll explain.

You're watching DAYBREAK for a Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: You're listening to one of the top ringtones on the "Billboard" magazine chart. It's a new chart that's coming out today.

MYERS: I don't even know how to do this.

COSTELLO: I don't either.

MYERS: My phone says ringtones and I go yes, next, you know, keep going, keep going.

COSTELLO: I have mine on vibrate because I just think that's more polite, so people don't have to listen to that...

MYERS: Especially when you're talking to the president, you don't want to be ringing in your interview.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: That's why we do that.

Do you have a ringtone on yours?

COSTELLO: No.

MYERS: No, I don't... COSTELLO: Because I don't know how to do it either.

MYERS: Mine's international. Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. It's like everybody else's, so when my phone rings, everybody else's rings, as well.

Serious, though, today is the first day of "Billboard" releasing ringtone charts. Who is the top 10? Where are the top 10? Where are they coming from? Recognize this one?

COSTELLO: No.

MYERS: "Sunshine" by Lil' Flip.

COSTELLO: Oh, Lil' Flip.

MYERS: The Flip.

COSTELLO: Silly me.

MYERS: And it's number six. Here are the top six, or at least we'll give you six through 10. We'll give you the one through five coming up later. "Goodies" by Ciara. Then the rest are going through, "Freek-A-Leek," "Sunshine," "Yeah!" "Game Over."

COSTELLO: "Freek-A-Leek?"

MYERS: "Freek-A-Leek."

COSTELLO: I don't recognize any of these songs. So this is making me feel really old and not very hip.

MYERS: Well, we are really old and not very hip.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Actually, that brings us to today's e-mail question. What is your favorite ringtone? Do you even know what a ringtone is? Do ringtones annoy you, because they annoy the you know what out of me.

MYERS: Hey, hey, hey, hey.

COSTELLO: I'm sorry, they do. I think we should ban...

MYERS: This is a family show.

COSTELLO: Send us your responses to daybreak@cnn.com. Daybreak@cnn.com. And of course, we'll read some of your more pointed responses later on in our show.

MYERS: It is a market worth that, they say, $3 billion buying these ringtones. I don't know who's buying them.

COSTELLO: Young people.

MYERS: I guess so. COSTELLO: Young hip people who know what "Freek-A-Leek" is.

That famous Boston accent? You've heard it before. But if you have a little trouble understanding it, you're certainly not alone.

Jorge Quiroga from our Boston affiliate WCVB has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JORGE QUIROGA, WCVB CORRESPONDENT: Where do the Red Sox play?

CHRISSIE CONROY: Fenway Park.

QUIROGA: And where do you park your car?

CONROY: In the parking lot.

QUIROGA: In the parking lot.

And where is the reception for your wedding?

CONROY: At the Barker Tavern.

QUIROGA (voice-over): No doubt Chrissie Conroy has a Boston accent. And when she calls Verizon 411 information for the Barker Tavern in Scituate...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What listing?

CONROY: Barker Tavern.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry. What listing?

CONROY: Barker Tavern.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

One moment.

QUIROGA: More often than not, she ends up talking to a real live operator.

CONROY: She understood me.

JOHN VINCENZO, VERIZON: We certainly recognize that Boston has got some unique accents and we take a close look at how the service responds to the accents of the Boston and the Massachusetts area.

QUIROGA: Verizon's new voice recognition system is still learning the ways of Boston speak, as old as it is unique.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The great place we are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Worcester, W-O-R-C-E-S-T-E-R. VINCENZO: Worcester is one of those examples of things that we've had to put into the voice recognition system so they could understand what we were meaning.

QUIROGA: OK, how about a simpler name.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: City and state, please.

SARAH DUNLEAVY, BOSTON RESIDENT: Newton, Massachusetts.

QUIROGA (on camera): And how many times did it take?

DUNLEAVY: Three. She made me repeat it once, it went through to the computer twice and then I went to a human being.

QUIROGA (voice-over): Verizon says that more often the new system hears certain words pronounced, the quicker it will learn to recognize the Boston accent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dorchester.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dorchester.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dorchester.

VINCENZO: And over time it'll become just as if you're talking to a human.

QUIROGA: And until then, now that the nation has rejected our local candidate, add this insult to injury.

DUNLEAVY: That's right, the accent is out, too. Bingo.

QUIROGA: For News Center 5, I'm Jorge Quiroga.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That's from affiliate WCVB in Boston.

You know, I visit Boston often because it's such a wonderful, beautiful city. But if you ask someone directions and they have that accent, I couldn't understand them. It's like they were talking a foreign legislation.

MYERS: Well, it's kind of foreign. It's almost Canada. I just don't know where that came from. I mean so many, obviously hundreds of years ago, brought over from England, brought over from Europe and the U.K.

COSTELLO: It just never left Boston.

MYERS: I guess. It's still there.

COSTELLO: Since we speak Grade A American English, being from the great Midwest.

MYERS: From Ohio.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Here's what's all new in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.

If your pearly whites are top priority -- and Chad, I know yours are, teeth whiteners must be your thing. Stick around, Chad, because we're going to show you some hard lessons learned for gaining that perfect smile.

MYERS: Don't do this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Modern day renaissance man Ben Stein has found success in such diverse fields as show biz, politics and law. Known for his role as the boring teacher in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and host of the Emmy-winning game show "Win Ben Stein's Money," Stein also served as a speechwriter and lawyer for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He says part of being successful is recognizing the importance of saving your earnings.

BEN STEIN, ACTOR/WRITER: And I've seen really successful people devastated because they have extremely high end lifestyles and they do not have the savings to keep up the payments when their income falters. The world is changing much faster than any one of us can change, but we can at least run after it and try to keep up with it, while maintaining some sense of our inner integrity. If you can do that, you can keep on being successful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired November 8, 2004 - 05:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Gunfire echoing through the streets of Falluja this morning as U.S. and Iraqi forces prepare to invade.
It is Monday, November 8.

This is DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you.

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

Now in the news -- at this moment, Iraqi lawmakers are hearing from their leader. Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is addressing Iraq's National Assembly. The address comes ahead of an expected assault on insurgents in Falluja. That assault now under way.

U.S. forces are seeing some action before the all out assault on Falluja. War planes and tanks have been firing on Iraqi positions in the city this morning. An official from a Falluja clinic says several insurgents have been killed.

Word in from the West Bank this morning, Palestinian officials have postponed a trip to see their leader, Yasser Arafat, who remains at a Paris hospital. They're not saying exactly why. Earlier, Arafat's wife accused them of trying to seize power.

In northern Japan, shaky ground this morning. A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit the area today, reportedly injuring several people. Officials believe the shaker is an aftershock to the deadly quake that struck northern Japan last month.

To the forecast center now to say good morning to Chad.

Hell -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Bracing for battle from Baghdad to Washington this morning. The focus is on the Iraqi city of Falluja. We will take you just outside the rebel stronghold. Our Karl Penhaul is embedded with some of the U.S. troops missing there -- or massing there, I should say. And for Washington's take on the coming fight, we'll head to the Pentagon and CNN's Kathleen Koch.

But let's start with you, Karl, to bring us up to date about exactly what's happening now in Falluja.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.

We're about a mile-and-a-half from the northern edge, from the northern edge of Falluja. To my west, to my south just now, what we've been hearing are tanks firing into the city and we've also heard heavy artillery, .155 millimeter, firing into the city onto the eastern edge of the city.

Now, over toward the west of the city, there is still some smoke rising there. Fighter jets have been in action there, dropping bombs and missiles on that part of the city and there has also been artillery fire there.

(AUDIO GAP)

COSTELLO: We're having some technical difficulty.

We're going to have to get back to Karl Penhaul a little later on.

(AUDIO GAP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we have fixed our technical problems and we apologize for that. It figures it would happen on a Monday.

Let me bring you back to what Karl Penhaul was saying live from near Falluja. He is embedded with the Marines there. He can see smoke rising from several places within that city. That means air strikes are ongoing.

We do understand an offensive took place on the ground in Falluja at a hospital led by the Iraqi forces and that apparently was successful.

Let's talk more about this with our Pentagon reporter Kathleen Koch.

She's live in Washington this morning.

What can you tell us -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, obviously it's very tense here, a very tense feeling at the Pentagon right now. Everyone watching developments as this offensive begins in Falluja, watching them very carefully because the belief on many fronts is that this is, perhaps, not only the most important battle in Iraq since the U.S. went into that country some 19 months ago, but potentially this could be the bloodiest since that time.

Falluja being a city that presents very many challenges. Obviously, insurgents there have had quite a lot of time to learn the city. They know it like the back of their hands, the places to hide, the places to fight from. They also have had a chance to lace the city with booby traps, with car bombs, with mines. We are also learning from the U.S. military they believe they have even built tunnels connecting mosques and schools so that they can use those to fight from.

So, Carol, it's believed this will be a very nasty battle.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding.

The last time U.S. troops were there, they were driven out of Falluja. I don't know if that's too strong a word to use. But you tell me. Are they approaching this differently this time, though?

KOCH: They are, Carol. Basically, the last time it was in April, when the U.S. Marines went into Falluja. One major difference was that there was a belief at that point that they could essentially break the back of the resistance. That has changed now.

They -- with the U.S. throughout Iraq facing what they believe may be as many as 12,000 insurgents, they realize that while Falluja is very important, it is a cancer that must be eliminated if the country is to have free and fair elections come January, that this will certainly not end the resistance in the country nationwide.

Also, a major difference is that this time when the U.S. forces go in, they say that they will go in and they will stay until the job is done -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Kathleen Koch reporting live from the Pentagon this morning.

Thank you.

We do have two correspondents embedded with U.S. forces near Falluja.

On the video phone right now, Jane Arraf. She is with an Army unit there.

Jane -- what can you tell us?

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we're on the northeastern side of the city, just on the outskirts of Falluja. We've been here for a few hours in a staging area. The main battle has not yet started but the has been sporadic firing, including quite heavy artillery being fired at insurgent positions within the city.

Now, the sector that we are in, that we will be going into once the word is given, is essentially an area where they have had a lot of attacks. It's almost deserted of civilians. And they believe that might be because large parts of it have been booby-trapped, that there are homemade bombs, improvised explosive devices set to go off.

Right now what they're doing is sporadic fighting with insurgents there, trying to flesh them out before the main fighting starts. And they've been told here that this could be the decisive battle intended to end the insurgency and allow U.S. soldiers and the soldiers and the soldiers coming after them to go home -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jane, with your unit, are there Iraqi soldiers along with the U.S. Army?

ARRAF: There are, Carol. There are special police commanders, special forces commandos. And they are not from here. This is one of the strategies that they're adopting. It would be problematic if they were from here, probably impossible. So they're from another area. They've been brought here and they've been training.

What they'll do is some of the more sensitive tasks -- going into mosques, going into schools, going into places where it would be even more inflammatory than it already is to have American troops in this very conservative city.

This morning we saw them ride out in the backs of trucks flying the Iraqi flag. It was really -- this really is historic, Carol, this cooperation between U.S. forces and the emerging Iraqi security forces on this scale. And it's a test of sorts -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Another question for you. We believe there are 4,000 to 5,000 insurgents within Falluja. This new offensive on the part of American forces, it's not exactly been kept a secret. Wouldn't they all just fade away and go someplace else, the insurgents, I mean?

ARRAF: Except the thing is there are different kinds of insurgents and they fall into a few main groups. There are the former regime Baath Party elements, there's a hard core religious extremists and there are the foreign fighters. And from intelligence that has been picked up over the last few weeks, what we have been told by military sources is they've actually seen insurgents coming into Falluja.

This has become a magnet for insurgents of all kinds. It has become a calling for people to come here and fight the American forces.

So while civilians certainly have fled and certainly some of the cells have been dismantled and some of those people would have fled, those who feel that this is the decisive battle, that this is their chance to battle American forces have stayed and will stay until death -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jane Arraf reporting live from somewhere near Falluja this morning.

Thank you.

We have more now on Yasser Arafat.

As the Palestinian leader remains in a French hospital, there seems to be some trouble within the ranks.

(AUDIO CLIP IN ARABIC)

COSTELLO: You don't have to understand the words, you can hear the tone. You're hearing a very angry Arafat's wife, Suha, on the Arab network Al Jazeera. She's accusing her husband's top aides of trying to oust him prematurely.

For more, let's go to CNN's Michael Holmes in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

What are they making of this there?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there is an unseemly dispute, if you like, that has evolved or, indeed, erupted was one word used, between Suha Arafat, Yasser Arafat's wife, and Palestinian officials.

They had been planning to fly to Paris today to see Yasser Arafat, see for themselves his condition and take over some of the decision-making on what will happen to him and what his condition is, because the reality is that under French law, Suha Arafat, as next of kin, has the right to say what she likes and release what information she likes and make decisions.

The Palestinian leadership is saying well, he's not her property, he's the property of the Palestinian people. That outburst, as it was described to us by one Palestinian official, was on Arabic language television. And Suha Arafat saying her husband was, in her words, all right and that those officials were coming here to, again her words, "bury him alive."

Well, as the response to that has been very forthright. The Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qorei, saying he is not her property and telling us that today, he said it is a decision of the Palestinian leadership, not her, whether we go or not.

Now, for the moment that trip, which was meant to have taken place today, has been postponed. The Palestinian cabinet is meeting to discuss the issue as we speak and a decision is going to be taken after that meeting on whether the trip will go ahead. But we should call it postponed and not canceled.

This is a real rift between Yasser Arafat's wife and the Palestinian leadership, which wants to show some sort of control, some sort of unity to the Palestinian people.

COSTELLO: I guess one of the problems is is that Suha Arafat, she's not letting anyone in but Arafat's doctors, so no one else can really see exactly what condition Yasser Arafat is in.

HOLMES: Indeed, that's the problem. And that's why you hear so many conflicting reports about his condition. Is he in a coma or is he not in a coma? Was it medically induced? Is it liver failure? Is it this? Is it that? That's because there is so little information being released. And she is the one, as next of kin under French law, who controls that flow of information.

And even Palestinian officials who are already in Paris and have been there for days are privately complaining they're not getting the full story. They don't know what's going on, which is where these conflicting reports are coming from.

The idea of this delegation going to Paris -- and it was a high level delegation -- we're talking about the prime minister, the senior PLO official and also the foreign minister going -- was to take over the role of controlling this information, find out, in essence, what the heck is going on with Yasser Arafat.

COSTELLO: Michael Holmes reporting live from Ramallah this morning.

Thank you.

Still ahead on DAYBREAK, as American troops brace for an all out assault on Falluja, we'll give you an inside look at how special ops forces train for urban combat. That comes your way at 6:37 Eastern.

And how far would you go to have a sparkling smile? Teeth whitening junkies at 54 past.

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

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COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It is 5:18 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

U.S. troops and Iraqi soldiers are preparing for an all out assault on insurgents in Falluja. U.S. warplanes and artillery have stepped up their firing on insurgent positions inside that city.

In Redwood City, California, another day of deliberations scheduled for the jury in the Scott Peterson trial. The jurors got the case last week, but did not conduct any deliberations over the weekend. Scott Peterson faces two counts of murder.

In money news, Delta Airlines is cutting around 7,000 jobs in an effort to avoid bankruptcy. Among the cuts, 2,000 maintenance workers and 3,100 customer service people. Delta has around 60,000 employees.

In culture, multi-talented actor Howard Keel has died of colon cancer. He was 85. Keel started such classic musicals as "Showboat" and "Kiss Me Kate," but he may be even more well known for a 10-year run as Clayton Farlow on the TV drama "Dallas." And if you saw the "Dallas" reunion show last night, oh, it was something else.

In sports, the New England Patriots started a new winning streak. The Pats beat the St. Louis Rams 40-22. New England had its 21-game winning streak snapped last week by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh beat up on Philadelphia this past weekend, too, Chad.

I think it is Pittsburgh's year.

MYERS: Twenty-seven to three.

COSTELLO: Isn't that amazing?

MYERS: It really was. And then the Bills beat the Jets. I mean I was thinking what is this, the solar eclipse thing going on here?

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: Holy cow! The Lions got spanked by the Redskins?

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

MYERS: Oh. Not a good day for a lot of teams that have been doing very well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, the tones have it. Yes, ripped right from the Billboard music charts, we'll tell you what ringtones are tooting top honors. Yes, the top 10 ringtones. "Billboard" magazine has it.

Also, can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? How cell phone giant Verizon is making Boston speak a top priority. We'll explain.

You're watching DAYBREAK for a Monday.

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COSTELLO: You're listening to one of the top ringtones on the "Billboard" magazine chart. It's a new chart that's coming out today.

MYERS: I don't even know how to do this.

COSTELLO: I don't either.

MYERS: My phone says ringtones and I go yes, next, you know, keep going, keep going.

COSTELLO: I have mine on vibrate because I just think that's more polite, so people don't have to listen to that...

MYERS: Especially when you're talking to the president, you don't want to be ringing in your interview.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: That's why we do that.

Do you have a ringtone on yours?

COSTELLO: No.

MYERS: No, I don't... COSTELLO: Because I don't know how to do it either.

MYERS: Mine's international. Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. It's like everybody else's, so when my phone rings, everybody else's rings, as well.

Serious, though, today is the first day of "Billboard" releasing ringtone charts. Who is the top 10? Where are the top 10? Where are they coming from? Recognize this one?

COSTELLO: No.

MYERS: "Sunshine" by Lil' Flip.

COSTELLO: Oh, Lil' Flip.

MYERS: The Flip.

COSTELLO: Silly me.

MYERS: And it's number six. Here are the top six, or at least we'll give you six through 10. We'll give you the one through five coming up later. "Goodies" by Ciara. Then the rest are going through, "Freek-A-Leek," "Sunshine," "Yeah!" "Game Over."

COSTELLO: "Freek-A-Leek?"

MYERS: "Freek-A-Leek."

COSTELLO: I don't recognize any of these songs. So this is making me feel really old and not very hip.

MYERS: Well, we are really old and not very hip.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Actually, that brings us to today's e-mail question. What is your favorite ringtone? Do you even know what a ringtone is? Do ringtones annoy you, because they annoy the you know what out of me.

MYERS: Hey, hey, hey, hey.

COSTELLO: I'm sorry, they do. I think we should ban...

MYERS: This is a family show.

COSTELLO: Send us your responses to daybreak@cnn.com. Daybreak@cnn.com. And of course, we'll read some of your more pointed responses later on in our show.

MYERS: It is a market worth that, they say, $3 billion buying these ringtones. I don't know who's buying them.

COSTELLO: Young people.

MYERS: I guess so. COSTELLO: Young hip people who know what "Freek-A-Leek" is.

That famous Boston accent? You've heard it before. But if you have a little trouble understanding it, you're certainly not alone.

Jorge Quiroga from our Boston affiliate WCVB has more.

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JORGE QUIROGA, WCVB CORRESPONDENT: Where do the Red Sox play?

CHRISSIE CONROY: Fenway Park.

QUIROGA: And where do you park your car?

CONROY: In the parking lot.

QUIROGA: In the parking lot.

And where is the reception for your wedding?

CONROY: At the Barker Tavern.

QUIROGA (voice-over): No doubt Chrissie Conroy has a Boston accent. And when she calls Verizon 411 information for the Barker Tavern in Scituate...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What listing?

CONROY: Barker Tavern.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry. What listing?

CONROY: Barker Tavern.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

One moment.

QUIROGA: More often than not, she ends up talking to a real live operator.

CONROY: She understood me.

JOHN VINCENZO, VERIZON: We certainly recognize that Boston has got some unique accents and we take a close look at how the service responds to the accents of the Boston and the Massachusetts area.

QUIROGA: Verizon's new voice recognition system is still learning the ways of Boston speak, as old as it is unique.

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The great place we are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Worcester, W-O-R-C-E-S-T-E-R. VINCENZO: Worcester is one of those examples of things that we've had to put into the voice recognition system so they could understand what we were meaning.

QUIROGA: OK, how about a simpler name.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: City and state, please.

SARAH DUNLEAVY, BOSTON RESIDENT: Newton, Massachusetts.

QUIROGA (on camera): And how many times did it take?

DUNLEAVY: Three. She made me repeat it once, it went through to the computer twice and then I went to a human being.

QUIROGA (voice-over): Verizon says that more often the new system hears certain words pronounced, the quicker it will learn to recognize the Boston accent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dorchester.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dorchester.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dorchester.

VINCENZO: And over time it'll become just as if you're talking to a human.

QUIROGA: And until then, now that the nation has rejected our local candidate, add this insult to injury.

DUNLEAVY: That's right, the accent is out, too. Bingo.

QUIROGA: For News Center 5, I'm Jorge Quiroga.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That's from affiliate WCVB in Boston.

You know, I visit Boston often because it's such a wonderful, beautiful city. But if you ask someone directions and they have that accent, I couldn't understand them. It's like they were talking a foreign legislation.

MYERS: Well, it's kind of foreign. It's almost Canada. I just don't know where that came from. I mean so many, obviously hundreds of years ago, brought over from England, brought over from Europe and the U.K.

COSTELLO: It just never left Boston.

MYERS: I guess. It's still there.

COSTELLO: Since we speak Grade A American English, being from the great Midwest.

MYERS: From Ohio.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Here's what's all new in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.

If your pearly whites are top priority -- and Chad, I know yours are, teeth whiteners must be your thing. Stick around, Chad, because we're going to show you some hard lessons learned for gaining that perfect smile.

MYERS: Don't do this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Modern day renaissance man Ben Stein has found success in such diverse fields as show biz, politics and law. Known for his role as the boring teacher in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and host of the Emmy-winning game show "Win Ben Stein's Money," Stein also served as a speechwriter and lawyer for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He says part of being successful is recognizing the importance of saving your earnings.

BEN STEIN, ACTOR/WRITER: And I've seen really successful people devastated because they have extremely high end lifestyles and they do not have the savings to keep up the payments when their income falters. The world is changing much faster than any one of us can change, but we can at least run after it and try to keep up with it, while maintaining some sense of our inner integrity. If you can do that, you can keep on being successful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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