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American Morning

Battle for Falluja; Huge Development in Scott Peterson Case

Aired November 10, 2004 - 07:00   ET

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

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


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. The battle for Falluja, a top commander says the U.S. is now ahead of schedule. But that may not mean a quick end to the fight there.
Meanwhile, terror hits home with Iraq's prime minister. His family is now the latest target.

Yasser Arafat gravely ill. Officials making plans for his funeral, including a possible date.

And a huge development in the Scott Peterson case, why the jurors might be back to square one, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.

HEMMER: Good morning. It's a beautiful day here in Manhattan. 7:00 here in New York. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the middle of the week. How are you?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Very well, thank you. And you?

HEMMER: I'm fine, thank you very much. I'll be checking in for three hours.

In a moment here, a shakeup yesterday in the Bush cabinet. Attorney General John Ashcroft was one of two officials submitting resignations, already rumors of possible replacements in Washington. One of the names floated about suggest the direction for the second term. We'll talk to "L.A. Times" columnist and political analyst Ron Brownstein about some of those issues in a moment.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, one of the jurors, one of the jurors have been dismissed in the Scott Peterson trial. And some experts now think that some of the reasons behind juror No. 7's dismissal may have created grounds for an appeal. This morning we speak with legal analyst Dean Johnson about just why juror No. 7 was booted.

HEMMER: All right, Jack Cafferty, good morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How're you doing? The search for the Holy Grail and the Fountain of Youth pale to Americans never-ending search to lose weight without either eating less or exercising. Well, the answer may be at hand. There's a miracle pill that may be on the market in less than a year. Not only can you lose weight, it prevents heart attacks, it'll grow hair on a billiard ball. It's pretty amazing stuff, and we'll take a look at it in a few minutes. HEMMER: Oh, yes, what until you see that, too, Jack, thanks.

We have embedded reporters now with the U.S. military in Falluja, as the ongoing battle continues there. Jane Arraf is one of them with the U.S. Army, calling in now by telephone.

Jane, what do you have there?

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, we've been going through the industrial section in the southeast of Falluja, and soldiers here are finding a trail of bombs, weapons, and bomb-making sites. It's an absolutely surreal scene. This place has been deserted of civilians. The only people here are those shooting at the soldiers. There's gunfire ringing out, soldiers shooting back, and just in the space after last couple of hours, Bill, they found, as we've gone with them, an anti-tank land mine, a treasure trove of mortars. We're standing in front of a trailer with at least 10 mortars and tubes inside. And just a few feet away, Bill, there's a hut that appears to have been used for making homemade bombs. There are detonators, explosives, food, printed materials, a tape recorder. It looks as though it was vacated quite hurriedly.

They also say, Bill, they have found tunnels. They say three threw a grenade into what they say a fighting position, and they say there are many more fighting positions dug into the ground, some of them connected by tunnels -- Bill.

HEMMER: Jane, we heard an explosion there while you're talking. Is that one of the grenades you're referring to in the tunnel? And as a second part, does the fighting continue at this point where you are?

ARRAF: There is sporadic fighting in this sector of the city. One of the things they're doing is re-clearing streets that they had cleared just a couple of days ago when the fighting really started. Now, the fighting is described as sporadic. It's -- they're described as small cells of insurgents, but it is continuing. In this sector, certainly, the soldiers are almost constantly coming under fire.

HEMMER: And again, the explosion we heard, what was that, Jane?

ARRAF: That one sounded like a machine gun, a tank-mounted machine gun mounted on an armored vehicle, rather. What has been happening is when snipers come from out of the buildings and there are a lot of places to hide here, shooting at the soldiers, they shoot back with much more powerful weapons. Kind of a backdrop here.

HEMMER: All right, Jane Arraf, embedded with the U.S. army there in Falluja, describing her situation as surreal. A number of bomb- making devices discovered and tunnels, as well. When Jane checks back in later this morning, we'll talk to her then by way of telephone -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Now the failing health of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Several developments to report this morning. A top Islamic cleric has arrived in Paris and plans have now been approved for Arafat's eventual burial in Ramallah. CNN's Michael Holmes is there this morning. He's got details for us.

Michael, good morning.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Yes, as Palestinian officials continue to point out, as did that Islamic cleric, Yasser Arafat is still alive, however preparations for his death are very well advanced? How well advanced? Well, we've been told by a senior source that his headstone is already being worked on. I can tell you that a PLO executive committee has met just a little while ago, and they came out with the announcement that Yasser Arafat's body, when he does die, will be taken to Cairo, where there was talk earlier of a state funeral. We are now being told that he will lay in state, in Cairo, for a period of time, probably not more than an hour, or two or three, and then his body will be brought here to Ramallah.

The Israelis have signed off on that, given there blessing to the burial here in Ramallah. Of course, there was a dispute over whether he would be buried in Jerusalem or Gaza; Ramallah has been the compromise. In fact, he's going to be buried right over my right shoulder there, at the Palestinian Authority Headquarters, the Mukata (ph), on the site of a destroyed mosque that was destroyed during the incursions in 2002 -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Michael Holmes is in Ramallah for us this morning. Michael, thanks for that update -- Bill.

HEMMER: I want to get to Kelly Wallace now, looking at other news.

Kelly, good morning to you, and we start again with news in Iraq.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly, Bill. Good morning, Bill. Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, everyone.

In Iraq, at least two members of Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's family have been kidnapped. The prime minister's office said it was aware of the abduction of two family members, Allawi's cousin and his cousin's cousin's daughter-in-law. They apparently went missing after gunmen raided their Baghdad home yesterday. An Allawi spokesman called the kidnapping another terrorist attack, and said it would not defeat the government's effort to bring security to Iraq.

In health news this morning, a new study finds older, overweight women may be at higher risk of getting leukemia. Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that excessive weight can double an older woman's chances of developing one of the deadliest type of leukemia. But the findings do not explain how being overweight might contribute to getting the disease, and researchers say that more study is needed.

And 12 U.S. airlines have agreed to more checks of the drinking water used on their planes. The safeguards are being put in place, after the Environmental Protection Agency found evidence of a certain type of bacteria in the drinking water on one out of every eight planes tested back in September.

Under the new agreement, drinking water systems on planes will also be required to be flushed every three months.

Probably not the best story to hear if you are getting on a plane this morning.

O'BRIEN: Yuck.

WALLACE: But that's the latest from here. Exactly.

O'BRIEN: Every three months?

That doesn't seem, like, not very often. I mean, maybe that's just me, but every three months?

HEMMER: Go for the bottled water.

WALLACE: I was going to say that as well.

O'BRIEN: I'll take the Perrier.

WALLACE: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: All right, Kelly, thanks.

WALLACE: Sure.

O'BRIEN: Dramatic development in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial to talk about this morning. On the fifth day of jury deliberations, it was back to square one. The judge dismissed one of the jurors for misconduct and instructed the panel to start over again with her replacement.

Dean Johnson is a former San Mateo County prosecutor joining us from Redwood City, in California.

Dean, more to talk about today. Let's begin with juror No. 7, who was dismissed. Specifically, what are we being told about why she's out?

DEAN JOHNSON, FMR. SAN MATEO CO. PROSECUTOR: What we're being told is she violated her oath as a juror. She actually engaged in some independent research, probably Internet research, which is, of course, prohibited by the jury instructions. You have to decide these cases on the facts that are presented to you and on the law as instructed by the judge. So the judge has let the original juror No. 7 go.

O'BRIEN: Do we have any idea how she was caught, No. 1? And, No. 2, if there's any indication that she shared any of the information she got from her independent research with any of the other jurors? JOHNSON: Well, we have very few details, but we have to assume that she did this research prior to being sequestered, because of course the jurors don't have access to the Internet during sequestration. And we also have to assume she let some fact about her independent research slip during the deliberations, and she was ultimately reported to the judge by the jury foreman, No. 5.

O'BRIEN: Any indication that she shared it?

JOHNSON: No, we don't think she shared it. If she did, it was to a very limited extent. After juror No. 7 was excused, the judge gave the jury a very gentle admonition, reminding them not to do any independent research, to decide the case only on the facts and law. That seems to be sufficient to protect the integrity of the trial from any questions on appeal, and the judge didn't seem all that upset.

O'BRIEN: All right, Let's talk about alternate juror No. 2. She's in; the other juror is out. Who is this alternate juror? What do we know about her?

JOHNSON: Juror No. 2 is known by everybody who covering the Peterson case as "Strawberry Shortcake," because of her very distinctive dyed red hair, which is sometimes a little bit pink, sometimes a little bit orange. She has nine tattoos. She's a 30- something mother with four sons. She's been seen to be the most emotional of any of the jurors or alternates. She cried during Scott Peterson's tearful interview with Diane Sawyer, which was played for the jury, but she also cried at the autopsy photos of Laci Peterson and Conner Peterson.

O'BRIEN: So one has to imagine that both the defense and prosecution have been really watching her closely to see which way she might tip for them or against them. What's your read on that?

JOHNSON: Well, there are two schools of thought right now. Those who think that she's helpful for the defense point out that she's somewhat of a free thinker and may have her own independent voice in the jury. Those of us who believe she's helpful for the prosecution point out that she is a mother of four, that ultimately, she may identify very closely with Laci Peterson, and perhaps even more closely with Scott Peterson's other victim, Amber Frey.

O'BRIEN: In other words, we continue to watch and wait, because we really don't know. All right, Dean Johnson for us this morning. Nice to see you, as always, thanks -- Bill.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

HEMMER: Ten minutes past the hour. Politics now. Changes under way in the president's second term. The Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigning their cabinet positions. CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein, also author -- writer with "The L.A. Times," in D.C. To talk about it.

Ron, good morning.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POL. ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Welcome back, post-election 2004. He had, John Ashcroft, a significant role in the prosecution of the war on terror. When he leaves after his successor is approved through the Senate, what changes in the war on terror, do you believe?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I believe that, by and large, the policies that John Ashcroft pursued were driven from the White House and reflected the will of the president. I think that probably less will change in substance than in style. John Ashcroft was a lightning rod as you know during the Democratic primaries. You could get as big applause from a Democratic audience saying you've replace John Ashcroft as saying that you were going to beat George W. Bush.

But in fact, if you look back through our history when high- profile, highly controversial cabinet officers get replaced, usually they try to find someone who has a more conciliatory style; they don't necessarily change direction.

HEMMER: Less talk about successors. white House counsel Alberto Gonzalez, at the top of a lot of lists. Do you believe he could be the successor?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think there's a lot to recommend him. He's certainly someone who has the president's trust. They go back to their time in Texas, when he appointed him to the Texas Supreme Court. As a Hispanic, potentially, of course, the first Hispanic attorney general, he would reflect the growing Republican strength in that voting community. One of the biggest changes in the electorate was the president's growing strength among Hispanic voters. There would be controversy over his own role in the war on terror, the memo he wrote in January of 2002 on where the Geneva Convention applied to Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees. But he would be someone who would be a very strong nominee, and I don't think too many Democrats would be leery of opposing him, giving those trends we talked about in the Hispanic vote in 2004.

HEMMER: There is some buzz in some circles about Rudy Giuliani. Would he take this job?

BROWNSTEIN: I myself am dubious. You know, I think Rudy Giuliani is in a very good situation right now, where he's in the private sector, he's making a lot of money, and he's also moving toward a 2008 presidential bid. If you're in the cabinet, obviously you have a very high profile. It would give him some opportunities to mend fences with more conservative elements of the Republican Party, particularly on social issues, but he would sacrifice a lot of operational freedom he has to plot out his own course.

HEMMER: Two other names to consider, Mark Racicot, the former governor, Bush campaign chairman of 2004. In addition to that, Larry Thompson, the former top Ashcroft deputy.

Let's move forward now, Commerce Secretary Don Evans says he will leave. This coming a day after Andy Card says he will stay. Any significance in those announcements? BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the Card announcement really is striking. You know, we may be in a different era in presidential service over two terms. In the Clinton years, we saw a surprising number of senior officials stay through the second term, whether several cabinet secretaries, several key White House officials. We may see more of that in the Bush years. Traditionally, it's been a much shorter tenure at both ends, both the senior White House jobs and cabinet. But we may, in fact, be in a period where we're seeing some more continuity, and I think Andy Card is a signal of that. You're probably going to see a number of the other top people stay as well.

HEMMER: Thank you, Ron, Ron Brownstein from "The L.A. Times," CNN political analyst down in D.C. We'll talk again, thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Bill.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the U.S. military does not have much doubt about victory in Falluja, we're told. We're going to hear from a Marine colonel who says the defeat of the insurgents won't be accomplished, though, on the battlefield. We'll explain.

HEMMER: Also that the mysterious terrorist is suspected to be a young man from California, and one of the FBI's most wanted men. We'll talk about that in a moment.

O'BRIEN: Plus "The Rebel Billionaire" -- Richard Branson regularly risks his own life. Now he's offering a million bucks and more to someone who can match him stunt for stunt. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: The battle for Falluja in its third day now, and U.S. forces pushing deeper into the stronghold there. Our next guest is the author of "The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century." Marine Colonel Thomas Hammes is also a senior military fellow at the National Defense University.

And we welcome you, colonel, here to AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you.

COL. THOMAS HAMMES, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Good morning.

HEMMER: You say there is no doubt the U.S. will win against the insurgency in Falluja, but whether or not they win the total battle in Iraq against the insurgency is still in doubt. Explain that to us, and how do you go about it?

HAMMES: They can win the tactical fight, there's no question. In March of 2003, we moved through the entire country easily. There's no question we have conventional military dominance.

The problem is that insurgency is really about governance. It's about whether you can provide a government that makes people feel confident and that they're willing to support. So your goal is to provide governance; their goal is to try break the will of your side, or try to break the will of the American people and the Iraqi people.

HEMMER: How far is that country from that point today, colonel?

HAMMES: I think actually there's a number of encouraging signs. Certainly the U.S. still is resolved to continue with this. And the Iraqi military forces are making a fairly good showing. Remember, this is an army where the oldest unit is only one year old, and the new unit is only three months old. It's not unusual for an army in the first year to have problems in combat. But it's encouraging that a number of the units are doing well.

HEMMER: We are on day three now for the battle in Falluja. Already some people are asking questions about, what is next there. What is next in your estimation?

HAMMES: I think that will be a, obviously, a decision for the commanders on the ground. But it looks like they are using what the British call the spreading ink spot. You take an area, you secure it, you provide governance to it, and then you move on to the next area. The limiting factor is going to be how fast is the Iraqi government ready to provide additional Iraqi security forces, and just as important, Iraqi civil service -- education, power systems, waste, water, all those sorts of things that have to be done in order to govern an area.

HEMMER: You constantly talk about the issue of time when you discuss the insurgency in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. "The New York Times" back in October. You wrote, "Insurgencies are long struggles, measured in decades, and not measured in months." Is that indication that you think this is a decade struggle in Iraq?

HAMMES: Yes, even the most successful counterinsurgents that everybody points to is the British in Malaya (ph). It took them 12 years, from 1948 to 1960. Now, there were three years they we're losing from '48 to '50, then they got the Brigs (ph) Plan, and they had about three years before they broke the back of the insurgency, finally six more years before they wiped it out.

HEMMER: Ultimately, what are the objectives there in Falluja today then, given that?

HAMMES: The objective in Falluja is to root out particularly the foreign fighters, To get them out of there, so the Iraqi civil government can come in and free up the Iraqi people that are being held by these people.

HEMMER: Colonel, thanks. Thomas Hammes is an author, from our D.C. bureau this morning. Appreciate your thoughts today, Colonel. Thank you -- Soledad.

HAMMES: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Have you seen the videotape? It's a disturbing story coming to us out of Oregon this morning. Police say that two teenagers recorded their beating of a high school student, then set it to music, and distributed it on a DVD throughout their school. The footage shows, as you can see here, bun boy punching the student in the face, continues with the other boy chasing the victim down then slamming his head into a car window. One of the assailants, a 17- year-old boy, has been charged with assault. Police believe the victim that required medical treatment was a random target. Set to rap music. It's really completely sick.

HEMMER: In a moment here, funeral plans for Yasser Arafat sidestep the tricky issues. Is that a preview of Middle East politics? We'll examine that today.

And investors think they know what the headline will be from the Fed. They'll likely spend the afternoon reading between the lines. Back in a moment here, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. The Federal Reserve Bank meets today to discuss interest rates. Andy Serwer is here with a little preview. He's "Minding Your Business."

Hello.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

Well, as sure as the stores put up Christmas decorations, earlier every year, Soledad, the Federal Reserve will be raising rates. This morning, 2:15 is the witching hour, and we're talking about the Federal Funds Rate, from 1.75 percent to 2 percent. A quarter point would be the first -- the fourth raise, excuse me, this year. That's the rate that banks charge each other.

Here's what happened on Wall Street yesterday, kind of a mixed session, a holding pattern, four down, four up, you can see there. Basically what's going on, of course, Soledad, is that the Federal Reserve has been raising rates to make sure that the economy doesn't overheat. In particular, it wants to keep a lid on inflation. So the important thing is to watch that. And of course, also, we'll be parsing through the Fed's statement to see what happens in December. If not for the job's report we got last Friday, that showed the economy was adding a lot of jobs, 337,000, the Fed may not have raised rates. But now with that, it's almost a certainty this afternoon.

O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: To Jack, Question of the Day.

CAFFERTY: It's being called a miracle pill. It's one that helps you lose weight, quit smoking and help fight heart disease. It's the first in a new class of experimental drugs that are designed to fight cravings for things like food and nicotine. Short-term studies have shown promising results. One-third of the people that took this thing lost 10 percent of their body weight, and kept it off for two years, which is much longer than any other drug that's out there. People who went off the drug and took a placebo gained the weight back, though. A drugmaker, called Santa Fe Adventis (ph), hopes to get FDA approval to help marketing this thing under the name Acomplia (ph) sometime next year. Like any drug, there are probably side effect. The long-term effects are unknown at this point. Some patients involved in the study complained of nausea, anxiety and depression, much like the viewers of the Fox Television news network.

In our pill-popping culture, though, rest assured, there will be an appetite for this thing. Are the risks worth the rewards? The question is this, how far are you willing to go to lose weight? Am@CNN.com.

O'BRIEN: Not far enough to get on a treadmill or anything.

SERWER: I'm concerned about that hair on the billiard ball thing.

CAFFERTY: It'll do that, too.

O'BRIEN: Yes, that could be embarrassing.

SERWER: Yes, that's a little scary, yes.

O'BRIEN: Oh, well, that I could use.

CAFFERTY: It will also remove the hair from the palm of your hand -- Andy.

SERWER: Jack.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Mr. Cafferty.

Still to come, the Wednesday edition of "90-Second Pop." Call it "The Apprentice" meets "Fear Factor." Richard Branson's "Rebel Billionaire," offers the biggest prize in reality TV history to someone willing to risk his life to win. And is the world safe without 007. A leading actor refuses to play James bond, but some new names might be ready for the role.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired November 10, 2004 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. The battle for Falluja, a top commander says the U.S. is now ahead of schedule. But that may not mean a quick end to the fight there.
Meanwhile, terror hits home with Iraq's prime minister. His family is now the latest target.

Yasser Arafat gravely ill. Officials making plans for his funeral, including a possible date.

And a huge development in the Scott Peterson case, why the jurors might be back to square one, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.

HEMMER: Good morning. It's a beautiful day here in Manhattan. 7:00 here in New York. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the middle of the week. How are you?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Very well, thank you. And you?

HEMMER: I'm fine, thank you very much. I'll be checking in for three hours.

In a moment here, a shakeup yesterday in the Bush cabinet. Attorney General John Ashcroft was one of two officials submitting resignations, already rumors of possible replacements in Washington. One of the names floated about suggest the direction for the second term. We'll talk to "L.A. Times" columnist and political analyst Ron Brownstein about some of those issues in a moment.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, one of the jurors, one of the jurors have been dismissed in the Scott Peterson trial. And some experts now think that some of the reasons behind juror No. 7's dismissal may have created grounds for an appeal. This morning we speak with legal analyst Dean Johnson about just why juror No. 7 was booted.

HEMMER: All right, Jack Cafferty, good morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How're you doing? The search for the Holy Grail and the Fountain of Youth pale to Americans never-ending search to lose weight without either eating less or exercising. Well, the answer may be at hand. There's a miracle pill that may be on the market in less than a year. Not only can you lose weight, it prevents heart attacks, it'll grow hair on a billiard ball. It's pretty amazing stuff, and we'll take a look at it in a few minutes. HEMMER: Oh, yes, what until you see that, too, Jack, thanks.

We have embedded reporters now with the U.S. military in Falluja, as the ongoing battle continues there. Jane Arraf is one of them with the U.S. Army, calling in now by telephone.

Jane, what do you have there?

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, we've been going through the industrial section in the southeast of Falluja, and soldiers here are finding a trail of bombs, weapons, and bomb-making sites. It's an absolutely surreal scene. This place has been deserted of civilians. The only people here are those shooting at the soldiers. There's gunfire ringing out, soldiers shooting back, and just in the space after last couple of hours, Bill, they found, as we've gone with them, an anti-tank land mine, a treasure trove of mortars. We're standing in front of a trailer with at least 10 mortars and tubes inside. And just a few feet away, Bill, there's a hut that appears to have been used for making homemade bombs. There are detonators, explosives, food, printed materials, a tape recorder. It looks as though it was vacated quite hurriedly.

They also say, Bill, they have found tunnels. They say three threw a grenade into what they say a fighting position, and they say there are many more fighting positions dug into the ground, some of them connected by tunnels -- Bill.

HEMMER: Jane, we heard an explosion there while you're talking. Is that one of the grenades you're referring to in the tunnel? And as a second part, does the fighting continue at this point where you are?

ARRAF: There is sporadic fighting in this sector of the city. One of the things they're doing is re-clearing streets that they had cleared just a couple of days ago when the fighting really started. Now, the fighting is described as sporadic. It's -- they're described as small cells of insurgents, but it is continuing. In this sector, certainly, the soldiers are almost constantly coming under fire.

HEMMER: And again, the explosion we heard, what was that, Jane?

ARRAF: That one sounded like a machine gun, a tank-mounted machine gun mounted on an armored vehicle, rather. What has been happening is when snipers come from out of the buildings and there are a lot of places to hide here, shooting at the soldiers, they shoot back with much more powerful weapons. Kind of a backdrop here.

HEMMER: All right, Jane Arraf, embedded with the U.S. army there in Falluja, describing her situation as surreal. A number of bomb- making devices discovered and tunnels, as well. When Jane checks back in later this morning, we'll talk to her then by way of telephone -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Now the failing health of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Several developments to report this morning. A top Islamic cleric has arrived in Paris and plans have now been approved for Arafat's eventual burial in Ramallah. CNN's Michael Holmes is there this morning. He's got details for us.

Michael, good morning.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Yes, as Palestinian officials continue to point out, as did that Islamic cleric, Yasser Arafat is still alive, however preparations for his death are very well advanced? How well advanced? Well, we've been told by a senior source that his headstone is already being worked on. I can tell you that a PLO executive committee has met just a little while ago, and they came out with the announcement that Yasser Arafat's body, when he does die, will be taken to Cairo, where there was talk earlier of a state funeral. We are now being told that he will lay in state, in Cairo, for a period of time, probably not more than an hour, or two or three, and then his body will be brought here to Ramallah.

The Israelis have signed off on that, given there blessing to the burial here in Ramallah. Of course, there was a dispute over whether he would be buried in Jerusalem or Gaza; Ramallah has been the compromise. In fact, he's going to be buried right over my right shoulder there, at the Palestinian Authority Headquarters, the Mukata (ph), on the site of a destroyed mosque that was destroyed during the incursions in 2002 -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Michael Holmes is in Ramallah for us this morning. Michael, thanks for that update -- Bill.

HEMMER: I want to get to Kelly Wallace now, looking at other news.

Kelly, good morning to you, and we start again with news in Iraq.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly, Bill. Good morning, Bill. Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, everyone.

In Iraq, at least two members of Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's family have been kidnapped. The prime minister's office said it was aware of the abduction of two family members, Allawi's cousin and his cousin's cousin's daughter-in-law. They apparently went missing after gunmen raided their Baghdad home yesterday. An Allawi spokesman called the kidnapping another terrorist attack, and said it would not defeat the government's effort to bring security to Iraq.

In health news this morning, a new study finds older, overweight women may be at higher risk of getting leukemia. Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that excessive weight can double an older woman's chances of developing one of the deadliest type of leukemia. But the findings do not explain how being overweight might contribute to getting the disease, and researchers say that more study is needed.

And 12 U.S. airlines have agreed to more checks of the drinking water used on their planes. The safeguards are being put in place, after the Environmental Protection Agency found evidence of a certain type of bacteria in the drinking water on one out of every eight planes tested back in September.

Under the new agreement, drinking water systems on planes will also be required to be flushed every three months.

Probably not the best story to hear if you are getting on a plane this morning.

O'BRIEN: Yuck.

WALLACE: But that's the latest from here. Exactly.

O'BRIEN: Every three months?

That doesn't seem, like, not very often. I mean, maybe that's just me, but every three months?

HEMMER: Go for the bottled water.

WALLACE: I was going to say that as well.

O'BRIEN: I'll take the Perrier.

WALLACE: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: All right, Kelly, thanks.

WALLACE: Sure.

O'BRIEN: Dramatic development in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial to talk about this morning. On the fifth day of jury deliberations, it was back to square one. The judge dismissed one of the jurors for misconduct and instructed the panel to start over again with her replacement.

Dean Johnson is a former San Mateo County prosecutor joining us from Redwood City, in California.

Dean, more to talk about today. Let's begin with juror No. 7, who was dismissed. Specifically, what are we being told about why she's out?

DEAN JOHNSON, FMR. SAN MATEO CO. PROSECUTOR: What we're being told is she violated her oath as a juror. She actually engaged in some independent research, probably Internet research, which is, of course, prohibited by the jury instructions. You have to decide these cases on the facts that are presented to you and on the law as instructed by the judge. So the judge has let the original juror No. 7 go.

O'BRIEN: Do we have any idea how she was caught, No. 1? And, No. 2, if there's any indication that she shared any of the information she got from her independent research with any of the other jurors? JOHNSON: Well, we have very few details, but we have to assume that she did this research prior to being sequestered, because of course the jurors don't have access to the Internet during sequestration. And we also have to assume she let some fact about her independent research slip during the deliberations, and she was ultimately reported to the judge by the jury foreman, No. 5.

O'BRIEN: Any indication that she shared it?

JOHNSON: No, we don't think she shared it. If she did, it was to a very limited extent. After juror No. 7 was excused, the judge gave the jury a very gentle admonition, reminding them not to do any independent research, to decide the case only on the facts and law. That seems to be sufficient to protect the integrity of the trial from any questions on appeal, and the judge didn't seem all that upset.

O'BRIEN: All right, Let's talk about alternate juror No. 2. She's in; the other juror is out. Who is this alternate juror? What do we know about her?

JOHNSON: Juror No. 2 is known by everybody who covering the Peterson case as "Strawberry Shortcake," because of her very distinctive dyed red hair, which is sometimes a little bit pink, sometimes a little bit orange. She has nine tattoos. She's a 30- something mother with four sons. She's been seen to be the most emotional of any of the jurors or alternates. She cried during Scott Peterson's tearful interview with Diane Sawyer, which was played for the jury, but she also cried at the autopsy photos of Laci Peterson and Conner Peterson.

O'BRIEN: So one has to imagine that both the defense and prosecution have been really watching her closely to see which way she might tip for them or against them. What's your read on that?

JOHNSON: Well, there are two schools of thought right now. Those who think that she's helpful for the defense point out that she's somewhat of a free thinker and may have her own independent voice in the jury. Those of us who believe she's helpful for the prosecution point out that she is a mother of four, that ultimately, she may identify very closely with Laci Peterson, and perhaps even more closely with Scott Peterson's other victim, Amber Frey.

O'BRIEN: In other words, we continue to watch and wait, because we really don't know. All right, Dean Johnson for us this morning. Nice to see you, as always, thanks -- Bill.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

HEMMER: Ten minutes past the hour. Politics now. Changes under way in the president's second term. The Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigning their cabinet positions. CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein, also author -- writer with "The L.A. Times," in D.C. To talk about it.

Ron, good morning.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POL. ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Welcome back, post-election 2004. He had, John Ashcroft, a significant role in the prosecution of the war on terror. When he leaves after his successor is approved through the Senate, what changes in the war on terror, do you believe?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I believe that, by and large, the policies that John Ashcroft pursued were driven from the White House and reflected the will of the president. I think that probably less will change in substance than in style. John Ashcroft was a lightning rod as you know during the Democratic primaries. You could get as big applause from a Democratic audience saying you've replace John Ashcroft as saying that you were going to beat George W. Bush.

But in fact, if you look back through our history when high- profile, highly controversial cabinet officers get replaced, usually they try to find someone who has a more conciliatory style; they don't necessarily change direction.

HEMMER: Less talk about successors. white House counsel Alberto Gonzalez, at the top of a lot of lists. Do you believe he could be the successor?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think there's a lot to recommend him. He's certainly someone who has the president's trust. They go back to their time in Texas, when he appointed him to the Texas Supreme Court. As a Hispanic, potentially, of course, the first Hispanic attorney general, he would reflect the growing Republican strength in that voting community. One of the biggest changes in the electorate was the president's growing strength among Hispanic voters. There would be controversy over his own role in the war on terror, the memo he wrote in January of 2002 on where the Geneva Convention applied to Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees. But he would be someone who would be a very strong nominee, and I don't think too many Democrats would be leery of opposing him, giving those trends we talked about in the Hispanic vote in 2004.

HEMMER: There is some buzz in some circles about Rudy Giuliani. Would he take this job?

BROWNSTEIN: I myself am dubious. You know, I think Rudy Giuliani is in a very good situation right now, where he's in the private sector, he's making a lot of money, and he's also moving toward a 2008 presidential bid. If you're in the cabinet, obviously you have a very high profile. It would give him some opportunities to mend fences with more conservative elements of the Republican Party, particularly on social issues, but he would sacrifice a lot of operational freedom he has to plot out his own course.

HEMMER: Two other names to consider, Mark Racicot, the former governor, Bush campaign chairman of 2004. In addition to that, Larry Thompson, the former top Ashcroft deputy.

Let's move forward now, Commerce Secretary Don Evans says he will leave. This coming a day after Andy Card says he will stay. Any significance in those announcements? BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the Card announcement really is striking. You know, we may be in a different era in presidential service over two terms. In the Clinton years, we saw a surprising number of senior officials stay through the second term, whether several cabinet secretaries, several key White House officials. We may see more of that in the Bush years. Traditionally, it's been a much shorter tenure at both ends, both the senior White House jobs and cabinet. But we may, in fact, be in a period where we're seeing some more continuity, and I think Andy Card is a signal of that. You're probably going to see a number of the other top people stay as well.

HEMMER: Thank you, Ron, Ron Brownstein from "The L.A. Times," CNN political analyst down in D.C. We'll talk again, thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Bill.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the U.S. military does not have much doubt about victory in Falluja, we're told. We're going to hear from a Marine colonel who says the defeat of the insurgents won't be accomplished, though, on the battlefield. We'll explain.

HEMMER: Also that the mysterious terrorist is suspected to be a young man from California, and one of the FBI's most wanted men. We'll talk about that in a moment.

O'BRIEN: Plus "The Rebel Billionaire" -- Richard Branson regularly risks his own life. Now he's offering a million bucks and more to someone who can match him stunt for stunt. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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HEMMER: The battle for Falluja in its third day now, and U.S. forces pushing deeper into the stronghold there. Our next guest is the author of "The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century." Marine Colonel Thomas Hammes is also a senior military fellow at the National Defense University.

And we welcome you, colonel, here to AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you.

COL. THOMAS HAMMES, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Good morning.

HEMMER: You say there is no doubt the U.S. will win against the insurgency in Falluja, but whether or not they win the total battle in Iraq against the insurgency is still in doubt. Explain that to us, and how do you go about it?

HAMMES: They can win the tactical fight, there's no question. In March of 2003, we moved through the entire country easily. There's no question we have conventional military dominance.

The problem is that insurgency is really about governance. It's about whether you can provide a government that makes people feel confident and that they're willing to support. So your goal is to provide governance; their goal is to try break the will of your side, or try to break the will of the American people and the Iraqi people.

HEMMER: How far is that country from that point today, colonel?

HAMMES: I think actually there's a number of encouraging signs. Certainly the U.S. still is resolved to continue with this. And the Iraqi military forces are making a fairly good showing. Remember, this is an army where the oldest unit is only one year old, and the new unit is only three months old. It's not unusual for an army in the first year to have problems in combat. But it's encouraging that a number of the units are doing well.

HEMMER: We are on day three now for the battle in Falluja. Already some people are asking questions about, what is next there. What is next in your estimation?

HAMMES: I think that will be a, obviously, a decision for the commanders on the ground. But it looks like they are using what the British call the spreading ink spot. You take an area, you secure it, you provide governance to it, and then you move on to the next area. The limiting factor is going to be how fast is the Iraqi government ready to provide additional Iraqi security forces, and just as important, Iraqi civil service -- education, power systems, waste, water, all those sorts of things that have to be done in order to govern an area.

HEMMER: You constantly talk about the issue of time when you discuss the insurgency in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. "The New York Times" back in October. You wrote, "Insurgencies are long struggles, measured in decades, and not measured in months." Is that indication that you think this is a decade struggle in Iraq?

HAMMES: Yes, even the most successful counterinsurgents that everybody points to is the British in Malaya (ph). It took them 12 years, from 1948 to 1960. Now, there were three years they we're losing from '48 to '50, then they got the Brigs (ph) Plan, and they had about three years before they broke the back of the insurgency, finally six more years before they wiped it out.

HEMMER: Ultimately, what are the objectives there in Falluja today then, given that?

HAMMES: The objective in Falluja is to root out particularly the foreign fighters, To get them out of there, so the Iraqi civil government can come in and free up the Iraqi people that are being held by these people.

HEMMER: Colonel, thanks. Thomas Hammes is an author, from our D.C. bureau this morning. Appreciate your thoughts today, Colonel. Thank you -- Soledad.

HAMMES: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Have you seen the videotape? It's a disturbing story coming to us out of Oregon this morning. Police say that two teenagers recorded their beating of a high school student, then set it to music, and distributed it on a DVD throughout their school. The footage shows, as you can see here, bun boy punching the student in the face, continues with the other boy chasing the victim down then slamming his head into a car window. One of the assailants, a 17- year-old boy, has been charged with assault. Police believe the victim that required medical treatment was a random target. Set to rap music. It's really completely sick.

HEMMER: In a moment here, funeral plans for Yasser Arafat sidestep the tricky issues. Is that a preview of Middle East politics? We'll examine that today.

And investors think they know what the headline will be from the Fed. They'll likely spend the afternoon reading between the lines. Back in a moment here, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.

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O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. The Federal Reserve Bank meets today to discuss interest rates. Andy Serwer is here with a little preview. He's "Minding Your Business."

Hello.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

Well, as sure as the stores put up Christmas decorations, earlier every year, Soledad, the Federal Reserve will be raising rates. This morning, 2:15 is the witching hour, and we're talking about the Federal Funds Rate, from 1.75 percent to 2 percent. A quarter point would be the first -- the fourth raise, excuse me, this year. That's the rate that banks charge each other.

Here's what happened on Wall Street yesterday, kind of a mixed session, a holding pattern, four down, four up, you can see there. Basically what's going on, of course, Soledad, is that the Federal Reserve has been raising rates to make sure that the economy doesn't overheat. In particular, it wants to keep a lid on inflation. So the important thing is to watch that. And of course, also, we'll be parsing through the Fed's statement to see what happens in December. If not for the job's report we got last Friday, that showed the economy was adding a lot of jobs, 337,000, the Fed may not have raised rates. But now with that, it's almost a certainty this afternoon.

O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: To Jack, Question of the Day.

CAFFERTY: It's being called a miracle pill. It's one that helps you lose weight, quit smoking and help fight heart disease. It's the first in a new class of experimental drugs that are designed to fight cravings for things like food and nicotine. Short-term studies have shown promising results. One-third of the people that took this thing lost 10 percent of their body weight, and kept it off for two years, which is much longer than any other drug that's out there. People who went off the drug and took a placebo gained the weight back, though. A drugmaker, called Santa Fe Adventis (ph), hopes to get FDA approval to help marketing this thing under the name Acomplia (ph) sometime next year. Like any drug, there are probably side effect. The long-term effects are unknown at this point. Some patients involved in the study complained of nausea, anxiety and depression, much like the viewers of the Fox Television news network.

In our pill-popping culture, though, rest assured, there will be an appetite for this thing. Are the risks worth the rewards? The question is this, how far are you willing to go to lose weight? Am@CNN.com.

O'BRIEN: Not far enough to get on a treadmill or anything.

SERWER: I'm concerned about that hair on the billiard ball thing.

CAFFERTY: It'll do that, too.

O'BRIEN: Yes, that could be embarrassing.

SERWER: Yes, that's a little scary, yes.

O'BRIEN: Oh, well, that I could use.

CAFFERTY: It will also remove the hair from the palm of your hand -- Andy.

SERWER: Jack.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Mr. Cafferty.

Still to come, the Wednesday edition of "90-Second Pop." Call it "The Apprentice" meets "Fear Factor." Richard Branson's "Rebel Billionaire," offers the biggest prize in reality TV history to someone willing to risk his life to win. And is the world safe without 007. A leading actor refuses to play James bond, but some new names might be ready for the role.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

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