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American Morning
U.S. Consulate Attack; Interview with Senator Joseph Biden; Food Safety
Aired December 06, 2004 - 9:00 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An attack in Saudi Arabia with militants going after an American consulate's office.
Breaking news in Spain. A terrorist set off bombs today in seven cities across that country.
CNN security watch: looking at the risk to America's food supply. If terrorists did strike, how would they do it?
And the hard rain in southern California turning the streets into a brutal obstacle course. Insurance phone lines are ringing on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
The morning commute is under way. Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Bill Hemmer is off today. Miles with us this week.
Hello.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, those scarves look pretty good out there. Let's check those out.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, the street vendors?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, right there. Let's get those scarves.
S. O'BRIEN: You just might want to look closely at...
M. O'BRIEN: Sandy's watching at home. She's going to e-mail me which one she wants me to get her, right?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Those were stolen out of the back of your car while you were in here.
(LAUGHTER)
S. O'BRIEN: They're $10 cashmere...
M. O'BRIEN: Ten dollar cashmere.
S. O'BRIEN: Pashminas.
M. O'BRIEN: Is that "cashmerre" spelled with two "R"s? That's kind of interesting. All right. We'll check that out in just a few moments.
All right. Well, good morning to you.
Much more on the attacks in Spain and Saudi Arabia coming up. But also, we'll look at security in Iraq. Can U.S. commanders handle the increasing violence in the country as the elections draw near?
We'll get the view from Senator Joe Biden, who is just back from over there. And he can give us a first-person account of what he saw.
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, authorities taking a DNA sample from inside of Michael Jackson's mouth as they get ready for his trial. Jeff Toobin's going to talk about that. What could that DNA be needed for, and does it tip the prosecution's case? We'll ask Jeff just ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: And Jack Cafferty is here.
CAFFERTY: That would be an assignment, wouldn't it?
M. O'BRIEN: Detective.
CAFFERTY: Your job today is to go out to Neverland and take -- yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Swab the mouth.
CAFFERTY: What's it going to take to get an intelligence reform bill through the Congress? They're around down there in Washington for a couple of days this week before they head home for the rest of the year. But there's some question about whether this legislation will actually ever see the light of day. AM@CNN.com.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Heidi's got the headlines this morning.
Good morning again, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. And good morning to you, everyone.
"Now in the News," a developing story out of Spain. Within the last two hours, seven bombs went off in several cities in that country. We're just getting these pictures in.
Now, the first ones this morning from the scene, Ciudad Real is the name of the town. The Basque separatist group, ETA, had called in threats about the bombings. And Spain's interior ministry saying at least five people injured there. We'll watch that one for you.
Iraq's planned elections dominating talks this morning at the White House. President Bush is meeting at this hour with Iraq's interim president, Ghazi al-Yawer. Both leaders pushing for the January 30 elections to go forward as scheduled while some Sunni groups in Iraq have been calling for a delay.
There's word this morning eight U.S. soldiers are filing suit today, challenging the Army's stop-loss policy. According to "The New York Times," seven of the eight soldiers will not be named in the suit, fearing reprisals from the military.
The stop-loss policy bars soldiers from leaving the service, even though their terms of enlistment have run out. The new legal challenge would be the first by a group of soldiers.
And the baseball Players Union today opens a week of meetings on the steroid controversy. Commissioner Bud Selig has repeatedly called for stronger drug testing policies. The steroid issue has been in the spotlight again after reports of steroid use by some of baseball's top stars. And Arizona Senator John McCain also jumping into the fray now, saying if baseball doesn't zeal with the problem, Congress will be forced to take action.
S. O'BRIEN: That's an interesting development, isn't it?
COLLINS: Yes. Kind of a strange...
M. O'BRIEN: The plot thickens on that one, doesn't it?
COLLINS: It does. You got it.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Maybe it's what's needed, you know? All right. Heidi, thanks.
COLLINS: You bet.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Heidi.
Al Qaeda is suspected of attacking the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, while you were sleeping. Saudi officials say five gunmen stormed the building with explosives, three of them killed in a gun battle. The U.S. embassy says no Americans were injured or taken hostage. Andrea Koppel at the State Department watching things for us there.
Good morning, Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
A very scary morning for Americans and Saudis alike. But I can tell you right now, according to Saudi and U.S. officials, the incident is over.
It began, as you said, in the middle of the night here. But early morning, in Saudi Arabia, although no Americans were injured or taken hostage, a number of third country nationals -- these are local hires who work for the U.S. consulate there -- were taken hostage this morning.
Gunmen forced their way into the visa section of the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, which is on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. Some of these third country nationals were injured during this exchange of gunfire and during the hostage-taking. But again, U.S. and Saudi officials say that the incident is over.
It started with a gun battle outside the U.S. embassy. Militants threw explosives at the gates of what is really a huge compound, a sprawling compound there in Jeddah, and forced their way inside. One Saudi official told me that they believe that the militants threw a grenade to try to divert attention, and then force their way inside to the area where people apply for visas in Jeddah.
It was a very, very scary situation. Certainly for the third country nationals. We don't know how many who were taken hostage.
Negotiations ensued. And then it ended with three of the five attackers who are believed to be linked to al Qaeda being killed. Two of them have been taken into custody.
U.S. diplomats, Miles, have also been bracing for an attack of this sort really for years now. In May, they told all nonessential U.S. personnel in Jeddah to leave, for their families to leave. But this is the first time that a U.S. installation, that a U.S. consulate or embassy has been attacked in Saudi Arabia.
Right now, they're in a lockdown situation. They're obviously closed for the immediate future.
The incident is over. They're investigating as to how they were able to -- how these militants were able to get inside. But I should also mention that there were Saudi national guardsmen who were killed in the incident -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department this morning. Thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: At this hour in the White House, President Bush is set to meet with Iraq's interim president. Iraq's elections are a critical part of the Bush administration's exit strategy in Iraq.
So 150,000 U.S. troops will be on the ground there by the January 30 vote. That will be the largest U.S. troop presence since the war began.
But Delaware Senator Joe Biden says it might not be enough. He's the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. And joining us this morning from Wilmington is the senator.
Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Nice to see you, Soledad. Happy to be back. S. O'BRIEN: Well, thank you.
Give me a sense, in light of all the headlines that we have seen this weekend alone, more U.S. soldiers dying, 17 civilians dying in Iraq. Sometimes the news feels only bad from our vantage point. But you were there with a tour of the Middle East, Israel, Egypt, Iraq. What's your sense?
BIDEN: Well, my sense is that there is some good news. But the overwhelming concern here is that our Marines and our military, our Army, they keep securing objectives but have difficulty maintaining that security because they're stretched awfully thin.
As you know, before the election I was on your program and suggested that we were going to have to add additional troops leading up to the election. The president is now -- having said, no, we weren't going to, now has added another 12,000 troops, by holding people over a couple more months and putting in the new forces a little bit early. So we're going to have a bulge there which we need for the election.
My concern is that we may then go ahead and draw down those troops and have an inability to secure what we've already won. That's been the problem from the beginning, securing what we've won.
S. O'BRIEN: So are you saying the 150,000 number, the largest in 19 months, is enough? You're satisfied with that number?
BIDEN: Well, I think quite frankly the military's stretched so thin I don't see how we can get much more in there. We should have never drawn down that 150,000 in the beginning.
Remember, that was a raging debate in the Congress. John McCain and myself and others saying don't draw down those troops because we have to secure what we've won.
What happens is, we send these brave young men out there and women, they secure an objective, like they have in Falluja -- and I spent the day in Falluja with our Marine commanders -- and now they say, "Look, we're going to have to move on to other cities around here where they have scattered out, and we're not going to have enough troops to secure Falluja if we do that."
So it's like -- it's like, you know, a water balloon. You squeeze one place, and, you know, the water goes to the other end of the balloon.
S. O'BRIEN: But some military commanders would say another reading of that is actually good news, that you secured Falluja. That there's so much progress being made, they're trying to leverage off that progress; hence, you need more of the troops.
BIDEN: Well, see, that's true. But what happens -- let me tell you what the Marine commanders told us.
Their worry is now, if they don't maintain force in Falluja before an Iraqi force is trained up to be able to maintain order there, that when they leave there to go on to the next spot, it's going to fill back up again like it has in the past. And so the point is, how do you have -- when do you get enough forces to secure a objective you have accomplished? And that's the problem throughout the Sunni Triangle.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, what kind of role does the election play? I mean, once you have the election January 30, aren't a lot of those problems alleviated?
BIDEN: Well, I hope they are. I don't think they will be. But they -- that's what we're all counting on.
We're counting on, once the insurgents -- and these are 90 percent indigenous, these are not outside al Qaeda-types. There are some there, but the overwhelming number of former sophisticated military commanders from the Ba'athist Party and loyalists to Saddam who were in charge of this, once they see an election take place, that that will stiffen the resolve of the Iraqi people not to, in fact, indirectly be supporting them in this triangle.
That's the hope. I think it is -- I'm not nearly as confident as others are that that will occur. I think you're going to need force.
And we're paying a high price for the major mistakes we made at the front end by not sending enough force in to begin with, by not taking seriously the training of Iraqi forces so that we had real Iraqi forces there. There are some, but they say we have 120,000. I wouldn't count on more than 15,000 total being able to really go out there and take on responsibility.
So -- but we can hope. We can hope that will occur. But in the meantime, I hope we do not draw down that force immediately after the election and see this swamp fill up again.
S. O'BRIEN: All sounding only somewhat optimistic. Senator Joe Biden, nice to see you, sir. Thanks for your time.
BIDEN: Necessarily optimistic.
S. O'BRIEN: I guess.
BIDEN: No choice. Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's check the nation's weather. Rob Marciano in the Weather Center.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: Miles, back to you. M. O'BRIEN: Rob, let me ask you this: now, you're a skinny guy. I don't want you to take this the wrong way. But if you can take a pill that would take weight off, would you take that pill?
MARCIANO: Well, if you think I'm skinny -- you and my mother think I'm skinny, so, no, I wouldn't take that pill.
M. O'BRIEN: You would not take that pill?
MARCIANO: If I wasn't skinny? Is that the question?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, let's say you had to take a few pounds off. Would you just do it the old-fashioned way?
MARCIANO: Well, you know I'm pretty lazy, so I probably would take the pill.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. That's the American way, isn't it? Right?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Sign me up for the pill. It's a miracle pill. It takes care of obesity, it eliminates smoking, it may grow hair. Who knows.
But -- no, it doesn't do that. There's some reasons it may not be -- you know what they say, if it sounds too good to be true...
S. O'BRIEN: Probably not true.
M. O'BRIEN: ... probably not true. Dr. Gupta will give us the lowdown.
S. O'BRIEN: Also, investigators go back to the Neverland ranch for a surprise raid. Jeff Toobin tells us how the search could be a sign of how the prosecution's case is going.
M. O'BRIEN: Plus, a CNN security watch. How might terrorists infiltrate the U.S. food supply? One expert tells us the three main ways. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Starting this morning, we're bringing you a series of special reports we call "CNN Security Watch." Today we focus on the potential threat to the nation's food supply. On Friday, as you know, outgoing Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson issued a warning during his resignation speech about the vulnerability.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY THOMPSON, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I for the life of me cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply. Because it is -- it is so easy to do. And we're importing a lot of food from the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Tom Foreman tracks our independence -- or dependence, I should say, on imported food and the measures taken to ensure its safety.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More pork, more beef, more vegetables, fruit, wine and cheese. American consumption of foreign food is rising rapidly. The Department of Agriculture says next year America will import as much food as it exports, unheard of for generations. And in Washington, alarm bells are ringing.
SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN) MAJORITY LEADER: We know that at least three of the major pathogens or germs that could be used as bioterror agents can be put in food.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), INCOMING MINORITY LEADER: I'm worried about it, as all the American people are worried about it.
FOREMAN: Security around foreign food is tightening. Suppliers must now register with the U.S. government, and inspections of shipments have increased from 12,000 a year to 98,000. A fact noted by the outgoing secretary of Health and Human Services, even as he said the food supply is vulnerable to terrorists.
THOMPSON: We've increased the number and the percentage, but it still is a very minute amount that we're doing.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're a large company -- country, with all kinds of avenues where somebody could inflict harm. And we're doing everything we can to -- to protect the American people.
FOREMAN: The greatest bulk of America's imported food comes from the European Union. Canada is next, then Mexico. The Middle East sends very little food to the U.S., and most of that is from the country of Turkey.
Still, lawmakers say, at very least, all food should bear explicit labels, showing the country of origin as Americans consume more of everything foreign, from soup to nuts.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: So how might terrorists attack America's food supply? We won't give you a how-to, but we're going to explore it a little bit. Former FBI employer Randall Murch, now the associate director for research and program development at Virginia Tech.
Mr. Murch, good to have you with us.
RANDALL MURCH, VIRGINIA TECH: Thank you. Good morning. M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about -- let's talk about the first way that a potential terrorist group might do this, which would be to introduce some sort of disease which isn't present in the food chain in the United States. Let's talk about that.
MURCH: Right, right. If we think about the vulnerabilities of the food supply system, in a system's approach, we begin by production, by raising crops and raising animals, both here and abroad, for our eventual consumption.
So if we -- if a terrorist or some sort of adversary introduced a foreign animal disease or a foreign crop disease into this country, it could be devastating. No one would necessarily die, but the economic impact would be substantial.
M. O'BRIEN: So you're talking about something like foot and mouth or that kind of thing that we've heard about?
MURCH: Foot and mouth disease or soybean rust (ph), something like that.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Next step might be -- and once again, these are all hypotheticals -- some like -- some sort of living organism being introduced into the food supply, like salmonella. How could that be done?
MURCH: Well, if I think about salmonella, I go back to the example that was used earlier this morning by Dr. Gupta with the spreading of salmonella on salad bars in Oregon back some years ago by the Rajneeshee cult. And so something like salmonella could be introduced at the manufacture or production phase in fresh produce, something like that. But it also could be at the point of consumption by -- by the consumer.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. And then a third possibility would just be plain old poison, some sort of toxin put on the food stuff. You know, a crop duster, who knows how that could be introduced.
MURCH: Well, it could be something that extraordinary or something quite simple and elegant by something like the Tylenol-type of event, where it's introduced after packaging occurs and then consumed directly. And it's a sort of shell game.
We're not sure where a terrorist might have introduced it and how, and what the effect might be. And it may take awhile for us to determine what the -- what the effect is, what the attack was, how to deal with it, but also how to recover from it and attribute it.
M. O'BRIEN: As far as inspections go, though, when you consider the amount of food consumed in this country, there really is no way to inspect everything, clearly. What could be done as a practical measure to enhance our security?
MURCH: Well, I think that point solutions are -- one particular approach will not serve us well. We really need to think about this in the systems approach. It begins with good intelligence, working with foreign governments to understand how our adversaries may be thinking about using biological agents of some sort in the food supply against us. I think inspection, testing, surveillance in the sort of biosurveillance, early warning, response and recovery is important for us to have a number of tools in our kit. And lastly, attribution, the ability to investigate and attribute attack to bring the perpetrators to justice, or some other governmental action.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Just quickly, final thought. Do you share Tommy Thompson's concern? Is this a big worry that this could happen?
MURCH: Yes, it is a big worry. And actually, my colleagues and I in the FBI, as well as colleagues in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as long ago as 1997 raised our concerns to our seniors.
We were very concerned with anthrax, smallpox, and so forth in those days, and just getting started in governmental programs. But today we have an opportunity that I think we need to push forward very aggressively, and a systems approach.
M. O'BRIEN: Randall Murch, thanks for your time. Appreciate it.
MURCH: Thank you. And have a great day.
M. O'BRIEN: You, too -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, how the newest military operation in Iraq is being led by a 14-year-old girl.
Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: It is the newest military maneuver. It's called Operation Grateful. It does not involve guns or tanks, but instead Beanie Babies.
Twenty-seven thousand of the plush toys have been collected by a 14-year-old girl in Arizona. She's donating them. The Pentagon is going to help distribute them to U.S. troops in Iraq who will then give them to as gifts to Iraqi children.
That's sweet.
M. O'BRIEN: That will be cute. They'll be stuffed in the Kevlar vests as they're going around their patrols.
S. O'BRIEN: No, they're going to the children.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, the children. I'm sorry.
S. O'BRIEN: Now Jack has to break up his Beanie Baby collection to contribute.
(LAUGHTER) S. O'BRIEN: That's funny. Come on.
CAFFERTY: Does Regis have any openings? He does that show across the street. Maybe he can...
"Question of the Day," it's been 138 days since the 9/11 Commission issued its report. Congress has done absolutely nothing about implementing any of those major recommendations.
There's an intelligence reform bill that's stuck in the House of Representatives. The public supports it. Most of the families of the 9/11 victims support it. The Senate supports it. The president says he supports it.
There are more than enough votes in the House to pass it, and yet it looks like Congress may well adjourn for the year without doing anything. Let's see now, Congress not doing anything. Yes, that's a switch.
The question is this: what has to be done to get Congress to pass the intelligence reform bill?
Karl in Hernando, Florida, writes: "What will it take for it to pass is the adoption of the border security issues and other safeguards as suggested by the holdouts of many of the 9/11 victims' families. As written now, this bill dangerously rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic."
Bruce in Chicago: "Jack, the intelligence bill should not leave the Congress until illegal aliens can no longer get driver's licenses. Many of the September 11 terrorists had driver's licenses."
Ed in Davenport, Iowa, writes: "Dennis Hastert doesn't want to allow bipartisan support to appear responsible for passing intelligence reform. It's the perfect legislative storm which is likely to prevent any meaningful action because of intransigent Republican Party hacks who place preserving their political turf above the welfare of our country."
Nicely said, Ed.
Graham in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, "You're exactly right. The last election showed us precisely what the public wants changed: nothing. You can't have intelligence reform in a country that lacks intelligence."
What did you say about my Beanie Baby collection?
S. O'BRIEN: I think sometimes it's hard to break that thing because they're so cuddly-wuddly.
I know you have some.
M. O'BRIEN: You're so cute with them.
(LAUGHTER) S. O'BRIEN: We could go on with this forever.
CAFFERTY: I heard NASA on the phone for you, Miles. The next flight is leaving.
M. O'BRIEN: One way.
CAFFERTY: And they want you on it.
S. O'BRIEN: Because he's so cuddly-wuddly.
CAFFERTY: What is wrong with you?
S. O'BRIEN: I don't know. All right.
M. O'BRIEN: The Irish coffee this morning.
CAFFERTY: Collect yourself, woman.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm trying. I'm trying.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I know you are.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Still to come this morning, a big old Monday helping of "90-Second Pop."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): It's the best and the rest. What was big in '04? VH1 tells us.
Plus, "National Treasure" strikes it rich. But does that mean Nicholas Cage is box office gold? Find out as AMERICAN MORNING rolls on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired December 6, 2004 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: An attack in Saudi Arabia with militants going after an American consulate's office.
Breaking news in Spain. A terrorist set off bombs today in seven cities across that country.
CNN security watch: looking at the risk to America's food supply. If terrorists did strike, how would they do it?
And the hard rain in southern California turning the streets into a brutal obstacle course. Insurance phone lines are ringing on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
The morning commute is under way. Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Bill Hemmer is off today. Miles with us this week.
Hello.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, those scarves look pretty good out there. Let's check those out.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, the street vendors?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, right there. Let's get those scarves.
S. O'BRIEN: You just might want to look closely at...
M. O'BRIEN: Sandy's watching at home. She's going to e-mail me which one she wants me to get her, right?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Those were stolen out of the back of your car while you were in here.
(LAUGHTER)
S. O'BRIEN: They're $10 cashmere...
M. O'BRIEN: Ten dollar cashmere.
S. O'BRIEN: Pashminas.
M. O'BRIEN: Is that "cashmerre" spelled with two "R"s? That's kind of interesting. All right. We'll check that out in just a few moments.
All right. Well, good morning to you.
Much more on the attacks in Spain and Saudi Arabia coming up. But also, we'll look at security in Iraq. Can U.S. commanders handle the increasing violence in the country as the elections draw near?
We'll get the view from Senator Joe Biden, who is just back from over there. And he can give us a first-person account of what he saw.
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, authorities taking a DNA sample from inside of Michael Jackson's mouth as they get ready for his trial. Jeff Toobin's going to talk about that. What could that DNA be needed for, and does it tip the prosecution's case? We'll ask Jeff just ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: And Jack Cafferty is here.
CAFFERTY: That would be an assignment, wouldn't it?
M. O'BRIEN: Detective.
CAFFERTY: Your job today is to go out to Neverland and take -- yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Swab the mouth.
CAFFERTY: What's it going to take to get an intelligence reform bill through the Congress? They're around down there in Washington for a couple of days this week before they head home for the rest of the year. But there's some question about whether this legislation will actually ever see the light of day. AM@CNN.com.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Heidi's got the headlines this morning.
Good morning again, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. And good morning to you, everyone.
"Now in the News," a developing story out of Spain. Within the last two hours, seven bombs went off in several cities in that country. We're just getting these pictures in.
Now, the first ones this morning from the scene, Ciudad Real is the name of the town. The Basque separatist group, ETA, had called in threats about the bombings. And Spain's interior ministry saying at least five people injured there. We'll watch that one for you.
Iraq's planned elections dominating talks this morning at the White House. President Bush is meeting at this hour with Iraq's interim president, Ghazi al-Yawer. Both leaders pushing for the January 30 elections to go forward as scheduled while some Sunni groups in Iraq have been calling for a delay.
There's word this morning eight U.S. soldiers are filing suit today, challenging the Army's stop-loss policy. According to "The New York Times," seven of the eight soldiers will not be named in the suit, fearing reprisals from the military.
The stop-loss policy bars soldiers from leaving the service, even though their terms of enlistment have run out. The new legal challenge would be the first by a group of soldiers.
And the baseball Players Union today opens a week of meetings on the steroid controversy. Commissioner Bud Selig has repeatedly called for stronger drug testing policies. The steroid issue has been in the spotlight again after reports of steroid use by some of baseball's top stars. And Arizona Senator John McCain also jumping into the fray now, saying if baseball doesn't zeal with the problem, Congress will be forced to take action.
S. O'BRIEN: That's an interesting development, isn't it?
COLLINS: Yes. Kind of a strange...
M. O'BRIEN: The plot thickens on that one, doesn't it?
COLLINS: It does. You got it.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Maybe it's what's needed, you know? All right. Heidi, thanks.
COLLINS: You bet.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Heidi.
Al Qaeda is suspected of attacking the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, while you were sleeping. Saudi officials say five gunmen stormed the building with explosives, three of them killed in a gun battle. The U.S. embassy says no Americans were injured or taken hostage. Andrea Koppel at the State Department watching things for us there.
Good morning, Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
A very scary morning for Americans and Saudis alike. But I can tell you right now, according to Saudi and U.S. officials, the incident is over.
It began, as you said, in the middle of the night here. But early morning, in Saudi Arabia, although no Americans were injured or taken hostage, a number of third country nationals -- these are local hires who work for the U.S. consulate there -- were taken hostage this morning.
Gunmen forced their way into the visa section of the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, which is on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. Some of these third country nationals were injured during this exchange of gunfire and during the hostage-taking. But again, U.S. and Saudi officials say that the incident is over.
It started with a gun battle outside the U.S. embassy. Militants threw explosives at the gates of what is really a huge compound, a sprawling compound there in Jeddah, and forced their way inside. One Saudi official told me that they believe that the militants threw a grenade to try to divert attention, and then force their way inside to the area where people apply for visas in Jeddah.
It was a very, very scary situation. Certainly for the third country nationals. We don't know how many who were taken hostage.
Negotiations ensued. And then it ended with three of the five attackers who are believed to be linked to al Qaeda being killed. Two of them have been taken into custody.
U.S. diplomats, Miles, have also been bracing for an attack of this sort really for years now. In May, they told all nonessential U.S. personnel in Jeddah to leave, for their families to leave. But this is the first time that a U.S. installation, that a U.S. consulate or embassy has been attacked in Saudi Arabia.
Right now, they're in a lockdown situation. They're obviously closed for the immediate future.
The incident is over. They're investigating as to how they were able to -- how these militants were able to get inside. But I should also mention that there were Saudi national guardsmen who were killed in the incident -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department this morning. Thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: At this hour in the White House, President Bush is set to meet with Iraq's interim president. Iraq's elections are a critical part of the Bush administration's exit strategy in Iraq.
So 150,000 U.S. troops will be on the ground there by the January 30 vote. That will be the largest U.S. troop presence since the war began.
But Delaware Senator Joe Biden says it might not be enough. He's the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. And joining us this morning from Wilmington is the senator.
Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Nice to see you, Soledad. Happy to be back. S. O'BRIEN: Well, thank you.
Give me a sense, in light of all the headlines that we have seen this weekend alone, more U.S. soldiers dying, 17 civilians dying in Iraq. Sometimes the news feels only bad from our vantage point. But you were there with a tour of the Middle East, Israel, Egypt, Iraq. What's your sense?
BIDEN: Well, my sense is that there is some good news. But the overwhelming concern here is that our Marines and our military, our Army, they keep securing objectives but have difficulty maintaining that security because they're stretched awfully thin.
As you know, before the election I was on your program and suggested that we were going to have to add additional troops leading up to the election. The president is now -- having said, no, we weren't going to, now has added another 12,000 troops, by holding people over a couple more months and putting in the new forces a little bit early. So we're going to have a bulge there which we need for the election.
My concern is that we may then go ahead and draw down those troops and have an inability to secure what we've already won. That's been the problem from the beginning, securing what we've won.
S. O'BRIEN: So are you saying the 150,000 number, the largest in 19 months, is enough? You're satisfied with that number?
BIDEN: Well, I think quite frankly the military's stretched so thin I don't see how we can get much more in there. We should have never drawn down that 150,000 in the beginning.
Remember, that was a raging debate in the Congress. John McCain and myself and others saying don't draw down those troops because we have to secure what we've won.
What happens is, we send these brave young men out there and women, they secure an objective, like they have in Falluja -- and I spent the day in Falluja with our Marine commanders -- and now they say, "Look, we're going to have to move on to other cities around here where they have scattered out, and we're not going to have enough troops to secure Falluja if we do that."
So it's like -- it's like, you know, a water balloon. You squeeze one place, and, you know, the water goes to the other end of the balloon.
S. O'BRIEN: But some military commanders would say another reading of that is actually good news, that you secured Falluja. That there's so much progress being made, they're trying to leverage off that progress; hence, you need more of the troops.
BIDEN: Well, see, that's true. But what happens -- let me tell you what the Marine commanders told us.
Their worry is now, if they don't maintain force in Falluja before an Iraqi force is trained up to be able to maintain order there, that when they leave there to go on to the next spot, it's going to fill back up again like it has in the past. And so the point is, how do you have -- when do you get enough forces to secure a objective you have accomplished? And that's the problem throughout the Sunni Triangle.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, what kind of role does the election play? I mean, once you have the election January 30, aren't a lot of those problems alleviated?
BIDEN: Well, I hope they are. I don't think they will be. But they -- that's what we're all counting on.
We're counting on, once the insurgents -- and these are 90 percent indigenous, these are not outside al Qaeda-types. There are some there, but the overwhelming number of former sophisticated military commanders from the Ba'athist Party and loyalists to Saddam who were in charge of this, once they see an election take place, that that will stiffen the resolve of the Iraqi people not to, in fact, indirectly be supporting them in this triangle.
That's the hope. I think it is -- I'm not nearly as confident as others are that that will occur. I think you're going to need force.
And we're paying a high price for the major mistakes we made at the front end by not sending enough force in to begin with, by not taking seriously the training of Iraqi forces so that we had real Iraqi forces there. There are some, but they say we have 120,000. I wouldn't count on more than 15,000 total being able to really go out there and take on responsibility.
So -- but we can hope. We can hope that will occur. But in the meantime, I hope we do not draw down that force immediately after the election and see this swamp fill up again.
S. O'BRIEN: All sounding only somewhat optimistic. Senator Joe Biden, nice to see you, sir. Thanks for your time.
BIDEN: Necessarily optimistic.
S. O'BRIEN: I guess.
BIDEN: No choice. Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's check the nation's weather. Rob Marciano in the Weather Center.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: Miles, back to you. M. O'BRIEN: Rob, let me ask you this: now, you're a skinny guy. I don't want you to take this the wrong way. But if you can take a pill that would take weight off, would you take that pill?
MARCIANO: Well, if you think I'm skinny -- you and my mother think I'm skinny, so, no, I wouldn't take that pill.
M. O'BRIEN: You would not take that pill?
MARCIANO: If I wasn't skinny? Is that the question?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, let's say you had to take a few pounds off. Would you just do it the old-fashioned way?
MARCIANO: Well, you know I'm pretty lazy, so I probably would take the pill.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. That's the American way, isn't it? Right?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Sign me up for the pill. It's a miracle pill. It takes care of obesity, it eliminates smoking, it may grow hair. Who knows.
But -- no, it doesn't do that. There's some reasons it may not be -- you know what they say, if it sounds too good to be true...
S. O'BRIEN: Probably not true.
M. O'BRIEN: ... probably not true. Dr. Gupta will give us the lowdown.
S. O'BRIEN: Also, investigators go back to the Neverland ranch for a surprise raid. Jeff Toobin tells us how the search could be a sign of how the prosecution's case is going.
M. O'BRIEN: Plus, a CNN security watch. How might terrorists infiltrate the U.S. food supply? One expert tells us the three main ways. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Starting this morning, we're bringing you a series of special reports we call "CNN Security Watch." Today we focus on the potential threat to the nation's food supply. On Friday, as you know, outgoing Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson issued a warning during his resignation speech about the vulnerability.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY THOMPSON, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I for the life of me cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply. Because it is -- it is so easy to do. And we're importing a lot of food from the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Tom Foreman tracks our independence -- or dependence, I should say, on imported food and the measures taken to ensure its safety.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More pork, more beef, more vegetables, fruit, wine and cheese. American consumption of foreign food is rising rapidly. The Department of Agriculture says next year America will import as much food as it exports, unheard of for generations. And in Washington, alarm bells are ringing.
SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN) MAJORITY LEADER: We know that at least three of the major pathogens or germs that could be used as bioterror agents can be put in food.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), INCOMING MINORITY LEADER: I'm worried about it, as all the American people are worried about it.
FOREMAN: Security around foreign food is tightening. Suppliers must now register with the U.S. government, and inspections of shipments have increased from 12,000 a year to 98,000. A fact noted by the outgoing secretary of Health and Human Services, even as he said the food supply is vulnerable to terrorists.
THOMPSON: We've increased the number and the percentage, but it still is a very minute amount that we're doing.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're a large company -- country, with all kinds of avenues where somebody could inflict harm. And we're doing everything we can to -- to protect the American people.
FOREMAN: The greatest bulk of America's imported food comes from the European Union. Canada is next, then Mexico. The Middle East sends very little food to the U.S., and most of that is from the country of Turkey.
Still, lawmakers say, at very least, all food should bear explicit labels, showing the country of origin as Americans consume more of everything foreign, from soup to nuts.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: So how might terrorists attack America's food supply? We won't give you a how-to, but we're going to explore it a little bit. Former FBI employer Randall Murch, now the associate director for research and program development at Virginia Tech.
Mr. Murch, good to have you with us.
RANDALL MURCH, VIRGINIA TECH: Thank you. Good morning. M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about -- let's talk about the first way that a potential terrorist group might do this, which would be to introduce some sort of disease which isn't present in the food chain in the United States. Let's talk about that.
MURCH: Right, right. If we think about the vulnerabilities of the food supply system, in a system's approach, we begin by production, by raising crops and raising animals, both here and abroad, for our eventual consumption.
So if we -- if a terrorist or some sort of adversary introduced a foreign animal disease or a foreign crop disease into this country, it could be devastating. No one would necessarily die, but the economic impact would be substantial.
M. O'BRIEN: So you're talking about something like foot and mouth or that kind of thing that we've heard about?
MURCH: Foot and mouth disease or soybean rust (ph), something like that.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Next step might be -- and once again, these are all hypotheticals -- some like -- some sort of living organism being introduced into the food supply, like salmonella. How could that be done?
MURCH: Well, if I think about salmonella, I go back to the example that was used earlier this morning by Dr. Gupta with the spreading of salmonella on salad bars in Oregon back some years ago by the Rajneeshee cult. And so something like salmonella could be introduced at the manufacture or production phase in fresh produce, something like that. But it also could be at the point of consumption by -- by the consumer.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. And then a third possibility would just be plain old poison, some sort of toxin put on the food stuff. You know, a crop duster, who knows how that could be introduced.
MURCH: Well, it could be something that extraordinary or something quite simple and elegant by something like the Tylenol-type of event, where it's introduced after packaging occurs and then consumed directly. And it's a sort of shell game.
We're not sure where a terrorist might have introduced it and how, and what the effect might be. And it may take awhile for us to determine what the -- what the effect is, what the attack was, how to deal with it, but also how to recover from it and attribute it.
M. O'BRIEN: As far as inspections go, though, when you consider the amount of food consumed in this country, there really is no way to inspect everything, clearly. What could be done as a practical measure to enhance our security?
MURCH: Well, I think that point solutions are -- one particular approach will not serve us well. We really need to think about this in the systems approach. It begins with good intelligence, working with foreign governments to understand how our adversaries may be thinking about using biological agents of some sort in the food supply against us. I think inspection, testing, surveillance in the sort of biosurveillance, early warning, response and recovery is important for us to have a number of tools in our kit. And lastly, attribution, the ability to investigate and attribute attack to bring the perpetrators to justice, or some other governmental action.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Just quickly, final thought. Do you share Tommy Thompson's concern? Is this a big worry that this could happen?
MURCH: Yes, it is a big worry. And actually, my colleagues and I in the FBI, as well as colleagues in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as long ago as 1997 raised our concerns to our seniors.
We were very concerned with anthrax, smallpox, and so forth in those days, and just getting started in governmental programs. But today we have an opportunity that I think we need to push forward very aggressively, and a systems approach.
M. O'BRIEN: Randall Murch, thanks for your time. Appreciate it.
MURCH: Thank you. And have a great day.
M. O'BRIEN: You, too -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, how the newest military operation in Iraq is being led by a 14-year-old girl.
Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: It is the newest military maneuver. It's called Operation Grateful. It does not involve guns or tanks, but instead Beanie Babies.
Twenty-seven thousand of the plush toys have been collected by a 14-year-old girl in Arizona. She's donating them. The Pentagon is going to help distribute them to U.S. troops in Iraq who will then give them to as gifts to Iraqi children.
That's sweet.
M. O'BRIEN: That will be cute. They'll be stuffed in the Kevlar vests as they're going around their patrols.
S. O'BRIEN: No, they're going to the children.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, the children. I'm sorry.
S. O'BRIEN: Now Jack has to break up his Beanie Baby collection to contribute.
(LAUGHTER) S. O'BRIEN: That's funny. Come on.
CAFFERTY: Does Regis have any openings? He does that show across the street. Maybe he can...
"Question of the Day," it's been 138 days since the 9/11 Commission issued its report. Congress has done absolutely nothing about implementing any of those major recommendations.
There's an intelligence reform bill that's stuck in the House of Representatives. The public supports it. Most of the families of the 9/11 victims support it. The Senate supports it. The president says he supports it.
There are more than enough votes in the House to pass it, and yet it looks like Congress may well adjourn for the year without doing anything. Let's see now, Congress not doing anything. Yes, that's a switch.
The question is this: what has to be done to get Congress to pass the intelligence reform bill?
Karl in Hernando, Florida, writes: "What will it take for it to pass is the adoption of the border security issues and other safeguards as suggested by the holdouts of many of the 9/11 victims' families. As written now, this bill dangerously rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic."
Bruce in Chicago: "Jack, the intelligence bill should not leave the Congress until illegal aliens can no longer get driver's licenses. Many of the September 11 terrorists had driver's licenses."
Ed in Davenport, Iowa, writes: "Dennis Hastert doesn't want to allow bipartisan support to appear responsible for passing intelligence reform. It's the perfect legislative storm which is likely to prevent any meaningful action because of intransigent Republican Party hacks who place preserving their political turf above the welfare of our country."
Nicely said, Ed.
Graham in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, "You're exactly right. The last election showed us precisely what the public wants changed: nothing. You can't have intelligence reform in a country that lacks intelligence."
What did you say about my Beanie Baby collection?
S. O'BRIEN: I think sometimes it's hard to break that thing because they're so cuddly-wuddly.
I know you have some.
M. O'BRIEN: You're so cute with them.
(LAUGHTER) S. O'BRIEN: We could go on with this forever.
CAFFERTY: I heard NASA on the phone for you, Miles. The next flight is leaving.
M. O'BRIEN: One way.
CAFFERTY: And they want you on it.
S. O'BRIEN: Because he's so cuddly-wuddly.
CAFFERTY: What is wrong with you?
S. O'BRIEN: I don't know. All right.
M. O'BRIEN: The Irish coffee this morning.
CAFFERTY: Collect yourself, woman.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm trying. I'm trying.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I know you are.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Still to come this morning, a big old Monday helping of "90-Second Pop."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): It's the best and the rest. What was big in '04? VH1 tells us.
Plus, "National Treasure" strikes it rich. But does that mean Nicholas Cage is box office gold? Find out as AMERICAN MORNING rolls on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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