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CNN Live At Daybreak
Fight For Iraq; 'The War Room'; 'Security Watch'; Getting Bugged; Shocking Treatment
Aired January 26, 2005 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Detroit. Good morning, Cleveland.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: Carol, back to you.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That sounds so nice to me.
MYERS: Doesn't it?
COSTELLO: Sounds so nice. I was just informed today that the snow will last until St. Patrick's Day in New York. It'll never melt.
MYERS: Well I was surprised at how good of a job the city crews did in New York when I was there. That was so much snow to get rid of and they really did a phenomenal job. They have these melters that actually melts the snow when they dump it in there, which is kind of a neat thing.
COSTELLO: Well I haven't really noticed that, because you know where do you put the snow if you don't have the melter, it's all stacked up on either side of the street.
MYERS: True.
COSTELLO: So it's very difficult to walk in.
MYERS: All of the bus drivers in New Jersey not complaining about the process but complaining that that's happening because they can't pull over to pick up people. And everybody behind them that's driving is frustrated with them because the buses can't get out of the way when they have to pick somebody up or drop somebody off, yes.
COSTELLO: Understood, OK, I'll quit whining now.
Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: That's OK, you have the right.
COSTELLO: Yes.
Violence flares again today across Iraq, four days before national elections. Let's get details on the violence from our Jeff Koinange. He is live in Baghdad this morning.
Hello -- Jeff.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Carol.
Three car bombs in the space of one hour west of the town of Kirkuk, that's about 30 kilometers west of the town of Riyadh. The first car bomb targeting a police station. We understand so far three police officers have been killed in that incident. The second car bomb targeting the mayor's office in that same town. We understand reports from Kirkuk police three Iraqi soldiers have been killed in that incident. And yet a third car bomb was targeting multinational forces. No reports of injuries in that incident.
Here in Baghdad, early Wednesday, yet another car bomb, this one targeting multinational forces. So far, we understand, four soldiers have been wounded in that. We don't know the nationalities of those soldiers.
And the attacks on schools continue in the run-up to the election. Schools, as you know, will be used as polling centers. Three of them in the Baghdad area, according to Baghdad police, were targeted late Tuesday night. We understand there were no casualties in that, but extensive damage to the buildings.
All this as last minute campaigning continues. This time, early Wednesday, in a place known as Sadr City. That's a sprawling neighborhood west of Baghdad, home to about two million Shi'as. Shi'as, as you know, make up the majority of the population in Iraq. They're expected to do well in Sunday's election, and candidates were out seeing campaigning in these waning days before that crucial landmark poll -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jeff, I'm curious about something, although Saddam Hussein thinks he's still the leader of Iraq, but technically can he vote in this election?
KOINANGE: Very good question, Carol. Technically he can vote. And the Iraqi Electoral Commission says he can vote, technically. But they don't have the means and they don't have the manpower to take ballot boxes to prisons for him and other prisoners to vote. So he can vote, technically, but won't be able to in Sunday's poll, now just four days away -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It is four days away. Thank you, Jeff Koinange.
Four days before elections, the threat of violence not the only force working on the Iraqi public, the battle for the minds and the least (ph) of the citizens is also fierce.
CNN's senior international editor David Clinch is here for a closer look at the influence, or should I say the continuing influence of the cleric Muqtada al Sadr.
And I have been wondering about what happened to him, because we haven't heard from him in a while.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right, where is he now? Muqtada al-Sadr, remember the militancy, the Shiite's militancy that we saw in Najaf and a lot of the other Shiite cities a few months ago, very, very heavy violence in those cities at the time. Then it just stopped. A deal was done in those cities. The militants didn't exactly put their guns down, but they put them away for the time being.
And al-Sadr has made it clear that he is not running in the elections. Now he calls himself a cleric, a religious man, he's not involved in politics. But had been saying that his supporters were not running in the elections, and that it was up to his supporters whether they even voted or not.
Very different from the Ayatollah Sistani, the other major Shiite leader, far more important in the Shiite world there who has encouraged, and in fact more or less made it a rule that Shiites need to vote in this election. So al-Sadr saying that he wasn't going to take part.
Now on the other hand, in the last 24 hours, we've seen some interesting things. We've seen supporters of his in Sadr City in Baghdad parading in the streets, saying that they are forming their own list and that they will run in the elections. But we see the pictures here of them parading through the streets. Not exactly clear whether he's put his blessing on these supporters.
They are putting a list forward and they will run, but not exactly clear whether Muqtada is fully in support of this. But the impression given is that he's hedging his bets. In some ways, he wants the advantage of saying I'm not involved in these elections. They're a failure, or if they are a failure, I look good. But on the other hand, some of his supporters out there are involved just in case there is a massive Shiite vote and he wants to be on that wagon when it sets off. So he's in the middle.
COSTELLO: I guess the good news in all of this is he's not urging people to violence any longer or is he?
CLINCH: He is not. There have been some radical supporters of his who have said that in time the violent struggle might come back. But he himself is being quiet on that issue. But like many people, not just in the Shiite side but on the Sunni side and elsewhere, a lot of people saying that the threat of militant action is still there after these elections, after the next round of political elections happen, it may very well come back. But he himself has been quiet on that issue recently.
COSTELLO: Interesting. David Clinch, live in Atlanta this morning, thank you.
CLINCH: All right -- Carol.
COSTELLO: We take you "Beyond the Soundbite" this morning with a hostage drama out of Iraq. A disturbing videotape is out, it shows American Roy Hallums pleading for his life while an off-screen captor holds what looks like an assault rifle to his head. As you are about to hear, the images have hit Hallums' family hard back in the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN HALLUMS, EX-WIFE: What hit me the hardest was seeing the gun to his head. That and I'm really sort of not here. When he mentioned that, you know, about his life, them ending his life, I don't know, we're just all devastated.
CARRIE COOPER, DAUGHTER: I'm in a lot of pain. It's hard. It's hard seeing my dad in the state he was in because he doesn't look like himself, you know, but he doesn't look healthy. I want him back. I want him to come home. I love him. He's, you know, one of the greatest people in the world. And I don't just say that because I'm his daughter, he's wonderful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a great father. What was he like?
COOPER: He's a wonderful person. You know anybody that's met him talks about how wonderful he is. You know you ask anybody that's ever met him and they talk about how caring and giving, and you know he'd take the shirt off his back and give it to you. He's one of those type of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Hallums was abducted in Baghdad back in November. The video gives no clue about when it was made or if Hallums is still alive.
Still to come this morning, security officials say MANPADS are one of the biggest threats to U.S. commercial airliners, so why isn't more being done to protect aircraft from man-portable air dispense systems or shoulder-fired missiles?
And dramatic treatment for the clinically depressed, why do patients still turn to electric shock therapy to help treat depression? Find out later on DAYBREAK.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time now for our "Security Watch."
Commercial airliners may be vulnerable to attack from the ground, but a new study says that protecting the entire fleet from shoulder- fired missiles is just too expensive.
CNN Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has more for you from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 2003, Baghdad. This tape purports to show insurgents firing a man- portable air defense system, or MANPADS at a DHL cargo plane. They hit it, though the plane landed safely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the missile and things come out.
MESERVE: MANPADS have been recovered in Iraq, featured in al Qaeda training tapes and some believe sooner or later MANPADS will be used right here to take down a commercial aircraft.
REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: There are 500,000 of them out there in the hands of 27 separate terrorist groups. They are easy to get. They are easy to use. That is the most potent threat we have.
MESERVE: There are anti-MANPADS technologies. The military uses flares to deflect them. But a new RAND study says now is not the time to deploy anti-missile systems on commercial aircraft.
JACK RILEY, RAND CORPORATION: What we're saying at this point is the technology is not there. We don't know enough about the reliability, and the cost seems relatively high.
MESERVE: High, indeed. According to RAND, it would cost $11 billion to put the equipment on the nation's 6,800 commercial airliners and another $2.1 billion annually to operate and maintain it. RAND recommends more research, but that doesn't satisfy Congressman Israel.
ISRAEL: The RAND study seems to me to defy common sense. A single shoulder-fired missile that costs about $5,000 that strikes a single United States commercial aircraft would be the absolute end of the aviation industry as we know it.
MESERVE (on camera): RAND looked at that, too. It estimates that economic losses resulting from a successful MANPADS attack could rise above $15 billion, not to mention the cost in lives.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And be sure to stay tuned in to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:42 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
The Senate votes about six hours from now on Condoleezza Rice's nomination as Secretary of State. She's expected to get the nod. That's despite some senators' concerns about Rice's role in the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq.
A U.S. Marine helicopter crashes early this morning while ferrying troops in western Iraq. The military says search and rescue teams are at the site, but the casualty count not yet known.
In money news, the Congressional Budget Office says this year's deficit will top $368 billion. And over the next decade, deficits will total $855 billion. Those figures do not include war costs, President Bush's Social Security plan or making his tax cuts permanent.
In cultures, Christie's New York spring sale of old master pictures takes place today at Rockefeller Center. The auction house expects $20 million in sales.
In sports, Andy Roddick advances. The American has reached the semifinals of the Australian Open this morning. His Russian opponent quit during their quarterfinal match because of breathing problems.
To the Forecast Center and -- Chad.
MYERS: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Police in Sydney, Australia were called to the home of actress Nicole Kidman this week. It seems getting stalked by paparazzi is just as vexing for celebrities down under.
Robert Ovadia with Sydney's Channel 7 News has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT OVADIA, SYDNEY'S CHANNEL 7 NEWS (voice-over): There was movement outside the Kidman household but (INAUDIBLE). She stayed inside reeling from another intrusion into her private life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is undoubtedly concerned in regards to why this device may have been placed there.
OVADIA: It was hidden in a small garden opposite her luxury waterfront house where her security team is positioned.
(on camera): Does it surprise you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to say no comment.
OVADIA: Have you spoken to Nicole about it? How does she feel about it?
(voice-over): The device is a common FM transmitter, on sale legally for about $20.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's designed to be made up as an FM radio, not as a bug. But treat (ph) bugs are literally FM radios with a microphone.
OVADIA: Kidman's security cameras captured this man lurking outside her house Sunday afternoon just before the device was found. One of her staff apparently recognized him as local paparazzi. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're currently enhancing that video footage and we hope that the man in that footage will assist us with our inquiries.
OVADIA: Lawyers for one Sydney photographer have already contacted the 7 network denying his involvement. Nicole Kidman has been stung before by a listening device when a man recorded and released an intensely private phone conversation between herself and former husband Tom Cruise. She'll remain in Sydney before filming "Eucalyptus" with Russell Crowe. It's not the sort of homecoming she was hoping for.
(on camera): Nicole Kidman describes the paparazzi in Australia as among the worst in the world. She's promised to continue her cooperation with local police until the man who planted the transmitter is found.
Robert Ovadia, 7 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: "Health Headlines" for you this morning.
President Bush is being urged by New Jersey's acting governor to remove restrictions on funding for stem cell research. Democratic Governor Richard Codey was given a report saying the human embryonic stem cells available for research are contaminated.
California's anti-smoking efforts appear to be working. Health officials there say the rates for tobacco-related illnesses are lower in California than in the rest of the nation. The state initiated an anti-smoking campaign 15 years ago, earmarking 5 cents per pack for education, research and other programs.
And a message for moms, if you are overweight, chances are your kids will be, too. Researchers say kids of overweight moms are 15 times more likely to be obese themselves by the age of 6 than children of lean moms.
For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site, the address, CNN.com/health.
Getting treatment for depression has lost much of the stigma that used to be part of the disease. How many people do you know taking antidepressants these days? But new medications don't work for everyone.
CNN's Gary Tuchman looks at a treatment that for many is the last bolt of hope.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A life spent in misery.
DAVID SCHAAT, ECT PATIENT: I'm bipolar, so I have manic depression.
TUCHMAN: David Schaat has considered killing himself. He's now in a Utah hospital as a last resort about to undergo a psychiatric procedure that has long carried a stigma. It's best known as electroshock therapy. Electrically shocking the brain to produce a seizure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready?
TUCHMAN: A procedure many only know from it's portrayal by Jack Nicholson in the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
DR. LOWRY BUSHNELL, UNIV. OF UTAH, NEUROPYSCHIATRIC INSTITUTE: It's understandable to see why people might think that this is a bit like the Frankenstein monster in the castle on the hill. We have an image problem, but the reality is not that at all.
TUCHMAN: This is the reality say the doctors treating David Schaat.
BUSHNELL: This will be the stimulation itself, and his face will flinch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it's proving the direct muscle stimulation in the face.
BUSHNELL: Now he's having a seizure.
TUCHMAN: The seizure lasts just over 30 seconds. Anesthesia stops David from convulsing anything like Jack Nicholson. Doctors aren't exactly sure why the treatment, also called electroconvulsive therapy or ECT works, but...
BUSHNELL: It seems as though the closest thing it is is the equivalent of rebooting the brain's operating system.
CHERYL SHERMAN, ETC PATIENT: I've been on medication for years and it just doesn't work.
TUCHMAN: Cheryl Sherman is also undergoing ECT.
BUSHNELL: She's having her seizure at this point.
TUCHMAN: The Wyoming resident says she once bought a machete to end a life she felt was no longer worth living.
BUSHNELL: ECT is done on over 100,000 people a year in the United States. Many, many of those people would not survive without it, and those that did, most would have tragic lives.
TUCHMAN: Leonard Roy Frank doesn't buy any of it. He was forced to undergo ECT 42 years ago when the shock was harsher. He says years of his memory were completely erased. LEONARD ROY FRANK, FORMER ECT PATIENT: This is an effective way of destroying personality, destroying consciousness, stripping consciousness.
TUCHMAN (on camera): State legislators throughout the country, including here in Utah, have received proposals asking for electroconvulsive therapy to be banned. Bills have been passed imposing some limitations. But so far, no state has declared ECT as illegal.
(voice-over): Cheryl Sherman says she has some minor memory loss, but feels better than she can ever remember.
(on camera): Does it scare you that you feel so good?
SHERMAN: It's kind of unnerving, because you expect the other shoe to drop and have it all go to hell on you.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This is also strange territory for the Schaat family.
SCHAAT: It's brought a lot of new emotions, a lot of euphoric feelings, happy feelings that I'm not used to having.
TUCHMAN: The treatment does not come with a lifetime guarantee. It does come for many, though, with a great deal of hope.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: CNN's Anderson Cooper continues our examination of depression tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Tonight Anderson will break the silence about depression during pregnancy.
New in the next hour of DAYBREAK, our Christiane Amanpour live from Baghdad ahead of this weekend's historic election. Today Christiane shows us what it's like for women who run for office in the war-torn nation, and there are a lot of them running for office.
And surgery to help you lose weight, but what are the differences between the procedures and which one is right for you? We answer those questions in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Chad, it's time to check out our "Web Clicks" this morning. We're always interested in what you are clicking on to on CNN.com.
The No. 1 story is about the Boy Scouts.
MYERS: Yes, they're, well, supposedly in Birmingham they got a bunch of guys named with the last name Doe, D-O-E.
COSTELLO: A lot of young men's names are Doe. That's why... MYERS: Yes, like Jack and John.
COSTELLO: Exactly. That's why the FBI is investigating whether the Alabama Boy Scout Council padded its membership rolls. And this is quite important because they get their donations based on the number of Boy Scouts they have enrolled.
MYERS: Right, and the FBI is involved now.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: And they get it from places like the United Way. I just want to read you excerpts from this article. This is from Alabama with a guy who is actually with the Boy Scouts in Alabama. He says the numbers are probably inflated 30 to 40 percent in our council. And keep in mind the council received millions of dollars from the United Way chapters during the six-year period and is slated to get around $1 million this year.
There's also an investigation going on in Atlanta. Independent auditors are investigating claims the metropolitan area Boy Scouts inflated black membership numbers to 20,000 to gain more donations. A civil rights leader contends there are no more than 500 blacks actively involved.
MYERS: Wow!
COSTELLO: So scandal in the Boy Scouts.
MYERS: I guess so.
COSTELLO: The second most clicked on story kind of surprised me.
MYERS: The Oscars?
COSTELLO: Yes.
MYERS: Yes, I know.
COSTELLO: I didn't think people were really into that.
MYERS: I know you really loved that "Aviator." Your glowing impression was it was really long.
COSTELLO: It's long. It was so long. I think the beginning was good, but then you just got tired of it. I don't know.
MYERS: I don't think that's going to go on the back of the DVD box, Carol Costello, CNN, it was really long.
COSTELLO: I don't think so either.
Let's get to our e-mail question this morning, because we're asking, you know, out in San Francisco they're banning smoking in outdoor public places like...
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... public parks, public beaches, et cetera. And we're asking people what they think of that.
MYERS: Well this is not the first city to try this or to put this in effect. Certainly many other cities I mean (ph).
Carol, go ahead.
COSTELLO: OK. This is from Bill (ph) from Topeka, Kansas. He says of course not, what would be next, a ban on ugly people or how about smokers should be shot on sight? Jeez, the most objectionable smell I come across is women with cheap perfume, et cetera, should they be banned?
MYERS: I got a good one from Andrew (ph) in Texas. Wait, didn't they legalize marijuana, medical marijuana out there? Now they're outlawing tobacco. Boy, it seems I can tell what you can puff on out there.
COSTELLO: Oh man!
This from Patty (ph) from Houston. We have chain smokers outside for the most part, how about we leave them alone now and pretend we still have individual freedoms and rights in this country. That's from a former smoker.
MYERS: And if you're a smoker, basically, you're on one side of this thing and on the other. But a lot of smokers that are saying that they're very courteous that this is going a little bit over the top. They're not throwing their butts, they're not blowing smoke in other people's faces, that it is an outdoor place, after all.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
One more from Dave (ph) from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: Regulation of smoking outside proves that it's not just a secondhand smoke issue, it's a concerted effort to gradually outlaw smoking all together.
Interesting.
The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 26, 2005 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Detroit. Good morning, Cleveland.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: Carol, back to you.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That sounds so nice to me.
MYERS: Doesn't it?
COSTELLO: Sounds so nice. I was just informed today that the snow will last until St. Patrick's Day in New York. It'll never melt.
MYERS: Well I was surprised at how good of a job the city crews did in New York when I was there. That was so much snow to get rid of and they really did a phenomenal job. They have these melters that actually melts the snow when they dump it in there, which is kind of a neat thing.
COSTELLO: Well I haven't really noticed that, because you know where do you put the snow if you don't have the melter, it's all stacked up on either side of the street.
MYERS: True.
COSTELLO: So it's very difficult to walk in.
MYERS: All of the bus drivers in New Jersey not complaining about the process but complaining that that's happening because they can't pull over to pick up people. And everybody behind them that's driving is frustrated with them because the buses can't get out of the way when they have to pick somebody up or drop somebody off, yes.
COSTELLO: Understood, OK, I'll quit whining now.
Thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: That's OK, you have the right.
COSTELLO: Yes.
Violence flares again today across Iraq, four days before national elections. Let's get details on the violence from our Jeff Koinange. He is live in Baghdad this morning.
Hello -- Jeff.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Carol.
Three car bombs in the space of one hour west of the town of Kirkuk, that's about 30 kilometers west of the town of Riyadh. The first car bomb targeting a police station. We understand so far three police officers have been killed in that incident. The second car bomb targeting the mayor's office in that same town. We understand reports from Kirkuk police three Iraqi soldiers have been killed in that incident. And yet a third car bomb was targeting multinational forces. No reports of injuries in that incident.
Here in Baghdad, early Wednesday, yet another car bomb, this one targeting multinational forces. So far, we understand, four soldiers have been wounded in that. We don't know the nationalities of those soldiers.
And the attacks on schools continue in the run-up to the election. Schools, as you know, will be used as polling centers. Three of them in the Baghdad area, according to Baghdad police, were targeted late Tuesday night. We understand there were no casualties in that, but extensive damage to the buildings.
All this as last minute campaigning continues. This time, early Wednesday, in a place known as Sadr City. That's a sprawling neighborhood west of Baghdad, home to about two million Shi'as. Shi'as, as you know, make up the majority of the population in Iraq. They're expected to do well in Sunday's election, and candidates were out seeing campaigning in these waning days before that crucial landmark poll -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jeff, I'm curious about something, although Saddam Hussein thinks he's still the leader of Iraq, but technically can he vote in this election?
KOINANGE: Very good question, Carol. Technically he can vote. And the Iraqi Electoral Commission says he can vote, technically. But they don't have the means and they don't have the manpower to take ballot boxes to prisons for him and other prisoners to vote. So he can vote, technically, but won't be able to in Sunday's poll, now just four days away -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It is four days away. Thank you, Jeff Koinange.
Four days before elections, the threat of violence not the only force working on the Iraqi public, the battle for the minds and the least (ph) of the citizens is also fierce.
CNN's senior international editor David Clinch is here for a closer look at the influence, or should I say the continuing influence of the cleric Muqtada al Sadr.
And I have been wondering about what happened to him, because we haven't heard from him in a while.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right, where is he now? Muqtada al-Sadr, remember the militancy, the Shiite's militancy that we saw in Najaf and a lot of the other Shiite cities a few months ago, very, very heavy violence in those cities at the time. Then it just stopped. A deal was done in those cities. The militants didn't exactly put their guns down, but they put them away for the time being.
And al-Sadr has made it clear that he is not running in the elections. Now he calls himself a cleric, a religious man, he's not involved in politics. But had been saying that his supporters were not running in the elections, and that it was up to his supporters whether they even voted or not.
Very different from the Ayatollah Sistani, the other major Shiite leader, far more important in the Shiite world there who has encouraged, and in fact more or less made it a rule that Shiites need to vote in this election. So al-Sadr saying that he wasn't going to take part.
Now on the other hand, in the last 24 hours, we've seen some interesting things. We've seen supporters of his in Sadr City in Baghdad parading in the streets, saying that they are forming their own list and that they will run in the elections. But we see the pictures here of them parading through the streets. Not exactly clear whether he's put his blessing on these supporters.
They are putting a list forward and they will run, but not exactly clear whether Muqtada is fully in support of this. But the impression given is that he's hedging his bets. In some ways, he wants the advantage of saying I'm not involved in these elections. They're a failure, or if they are a failure, I look good. But on the other hand, some of his supporters out there are involved just in case there is a massive Shiite vote and he wants to be on that wagon when it sets off. So he's in the middle.
COSTELLO: I guess the good news in all of this is he's not urging people to violence any longer or is he?
CLINCH: He is not. There have been some radical supporters of his who have said that in time the violent struggle might come back. But he himself is being quiet on that issue. But like many people, not just in the Shiite side but on the Sunni side and elsewhere, a lot of people saying that the threat of militant action is still there after these elections, after the next round of political elections happen, it may very well come back. But he himself has been quiet on that issue recently.
COSTELLO: Interesting. David Clinch, live in Atlanta this morning, thank you.
CLINCH: All right -- Carol.
COSTELLO: We take you "Beyond the Soundbite" this morning with a hostage drama out of Iraq. A disturbing videotape is out, it shows American Roy Hallums pleading for his life while an off-screen captor holds what looks like an assault rifle to his head. As you are about to hear, the images have hit Hallums' family hard back in the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN HALLUMS, EX-WIFE: What hit me the hardest was seeing the gun to his head. That and I'm really sort of not here. When he mentioned that, you know, about his life, them ending his life, I don't know, we're just all devastated.
CARRIE COOPER, DAUGHTER: I'm in a lot of pain. It's hard. It's hard seeing my dad in the state he was in because he doesn't look like himself, you know, but he doesn't look healthy. I want him back. I want him to come home. I love him. He's, you know, one of the greatest people in the world. And I don't just say that because I'm his daughter, he's wonderful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a great father. What was he like?
COOPER: He's a wonderful person. You know anybody that's met him talks about how wonderful he is. You know you ask anybody that's ever met him and they talk about how caring and giving, and you know he'd take the shirt off his back and give it to you. He's one of those type of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Hallums was abducted in Baghdad back in November. The video gives no clue about when it was made or if Hallums is still alive.
Still to come this morning, security officials say MANPADS are one of the biggest threats to U.S. commercial airliners, so why isn't more being done to protect aircraft from man-portable air dispense systems or shoulder-fired missiles?
And dramatic treatment for the clinically depressed, why do patients still turn to electric shock therapy to help treat depression? Find out later on DAYBREAK.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time now for our "Security Watch."
Commercial airliners may be vulnerable to attack from the ground, but a new study says that protecting the entire fleet from shoulder- fired missiles is just too expensive.
CNN Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has more for you from Washington.
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JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 2003, Baghdad. This tape purports to show insurgents firing a man- portable air defense system, or MANPADS at a DHL cargo plane. They hit it, though the plane landed safely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the missile and things come out.
MESERVE: MANPADS have been recovered in Iraq, featured in al Qaeda training tapes and some believe sooner or later MANPADS will be used right here to take down a commercial aircraft.
REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: There are 500,000 of them out there in the hands of 27 separate terrorist groups. They are easy to get. They are easy to use. That is the most potent threat we have.
MESERVE: There are anti-MANPADS technologies. The military uses flares to deflect them. But a new RAND study says now is not the time to deploy anti-missile systems on commercial aircraft.
JACK RILEY, RAND CORPORATION: What we're saying at this point is the technology is not there. We don't know enough about the reliability, and the cost seems relatively high.
MESERVE: High, indeed. According to RAND, it would cost $11 billion to put the equipment on the nation's 6,800 commercial airliners and another $2.1 billion annually to operate and maintain it. RAND recommends more research, but that doesn't satisfy Congressman Israel.
ISRAEL: The RAND study seems to me to defy common sense. A single shoulder-fired missile that costs about $5,000 that strikes a single United States commercial aircraft would be the absolute end of the aviation industry as we know it.
MESERVE (on camera): RAND looked at that, too. It estimates that economic losses resulting from a successful MANPADS attack could rise above $15 billion, not to mention the cost in lives.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And be sure to stay tuned in to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:42 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
The Senate votes about six hours from now on Condoleezza Rice's nomination as Secretary of State. She's expected to get the nod. That's despite some senators' concerns about Rice's role in the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq.
A U.S. Marine helicopter crashes early this morning while ferrying troops in western Iraq. The military says search and rescue teams are at the site, but the casualty count not yet known.
In money news, the Congressional Budget Office says this year's deficit will top $368 billion. And over the next decade, deficits will total $855 billion. Those figures do not include war costs, President Bush's Social Security plan or making his tax cuts permanent.
In cultures, Christie's New York spring sale of old master pictures takes place today at Rockefeller Center. The auction house expects $20 million in sales.
In sports, Andy Roddick advances. The American has reached the semifinals of the Australian Open this morning. His Russian opponent quit during their quarterfinal match because of breathing problems.
To the Forecast Center and -- Chad.
MYERS: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Police in Sydney, Australia were called to the home of actress Nicole Kidman this week. It seems getting stalked by paparazzi is just as vexing for celebrities down under.
Robert Ovadia with Sydney's Channel 7 News has more for you.
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ROBERT OVADIA, SYDNEY'S CHANNEL 7 NEWS (voice-over): There was movement outside the Kidman household but (INAUDIBLE). She stayed inside reeling from another intrusion into her private life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is undoubtedly concerned in regards to why this device may have been placed there.
OVADIA: It was hidden in a small garden opposite her luxury waterfront house where her security team is positioned.
(on camera): Does it surprise you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to say no comment.
OVADIA: Have you spoken to Nicole about it? How does she feel about it?
(voice-over): The device is a common FM transmitter, on sale legally for about $20.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's designed to be made up as an FM radio, not as a bug. But treat (ph) bugs are literally FM radios with a microphone.
OVADIA: Kidman's security cameras captured this man lurking outside her house Sunday afternoon just before the device was found. One of her staff apparently recognized him as local paparazzi. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're currently enhancing that video footage and we hope that the man in that footage will assist us with our inquiries.
OVADIA: Lawyers for one Sydney photographer have already contacted the 7 network denying his involvement. Nicole Kidman has been stung before by a listening device when a man recorded and released an intensely private phone conversation between herself and former husband Tom Cruise. She'll remain in Sydney before filming "Eucalyptus" with Russell Crowe. It's not the sort of homecoming she was hoping for.
(on camera): Nicole Kidman describes the paparazzi in Australia as among the worst in the world. She's promised to continue her cooperation with local police until the man who planted the transmitter is found.
Robert Ovadia, 7 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: DAYBREAK will be right back.
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COSTELLO: "Health Headlines" for you this morning.
President Bush is being urged by New Jersey's acting governor to remove restrictions on funding for stem cell research. Democratic Governor Richard Codey was given a report saying the human embryonic stem cells available for research are contaminated.
California's anti-smoking efforts appear to be working. Health officials there say the rates for tobacco-related illnesses are lower in California than in the rest of the nation. The state initiated an anti-smoking campaign 15 years ago, earmarking 5 cents per pack for education, research and other programs.
And a message for moms, if you are overweight, chances are your kids will be, too. Researchers say kids of overweight moms are 15 times more likely to be obese themselves by the age of 6 than children of lean moms.
For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site, the address, CNN.com/health.
Getting treatment for depression has lost much of the stigma that used to be part of the disease. How many people do you know taking antidepressants these days? But new medications don't work for everyone.
CNN's Gary Tuchman looks at a treatment that for many is the last bolt of hope.
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A life spent in misery.
DAVID SCHAAT, ECT PATIENT: I'm bipolar, so I have manic depression.
TUCHMAN: David Schaat has considered killing himself. He's now in a Utah hospital as a last resort about to undergo a psychiatric procedure that has long carried a stigma. It's best known as electroshock therapy. Electrically shocking the brain to produce a seizure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready?
TUCHMAN: A procedure many only know from it's portrayal by Jack Nicholson in the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
DR. LOWRY BUSHNELL, UNIV. OF UTAH, NEUROPYSCHIATRIC INSTITUTE: It's understandable to see why people might think that this is a bit like the Frankenstein monster in the castle on the hill. We have an image problem, but the reality is not that at all.
TUCHMAN: This is the reality say the doctors treating David Schaat.
BUSHNELL: This will be the stimulation itself, and his face will flinch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it's proving the direct muscle stimulation in the face.
BUSHNELL: Now he's having a seizure.
TUCHMAN: The seizure lasts just over 30 seconds. Anesthesia stops David from convulsing anything like Jack Nicholson. Doctors aren't exactly sure why the treatment, also called electroconvulsive therapy or ECT works, but...
BUSHNELL: It seems as though the closest thing it is is the equivalent of rebooting the brain's operating system.
CHERYL SHERMAN, ETC PATIENT: I've been on medication for years and it just doesn't work.
TUCHMAN: Cheryl Sherman is also undergoing ECT.
BUSHNELL: She's having her seizure at this point.
TUCHMAN: The Wyoming resident says she once bought a machete to end a life she felt was no longer worth living.
BUSHNELL: ECT is done on over 100,000 people a year in the United States. Many, many of those people would not survive without it, and those that did, most would have tragic lives.
TUCHMAN: Leonard Roy Frank doesn't buy any of it. He was forced to undergo ECT 42 years ago when the shock was harsher. He says years of his memory were completely erased. LEONARD ROY FRANK, FORMER ECT PATIENT: This is an effective way of destroying personality, destroying consciousness, stripping consciousness.
TUCHMAN (on camera): State legislators throughout the country, including here in Utah, have received proposals asking for electroconvulsive therapy to be banned. Bills have been passed imposing some limitations. But so far, no state has declared ECT as illegal.
(voice-over): Cheryl Sherman says she has some minor memory loss, but feels better than she can ever remember.
(on camera): Does it scare you that you feel so good?
SHERMAN: It's kind of unnerving, because you expect the other shoe to drop and have it all go to hell on you.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This is also strange territory for the Schaat family.
SCHAAT: It's brought a lot of new emotions, a lot of euphoric feelings, happy feelings that I'm not used to having.
TUCHMAN: The treatment does not come with a lifetime guarantee. It does come for many, though, with a great deal of hope.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: CNN's Anderson Cooper continues our examination of depression tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Tonight Anderson will break the silence about depression during pregnancy.
New in the next hour of DAYBREAK, our Christiane Amanpour live from Baghdad ahead of this weekend's historic election. Today Christiane shows us what it's like for women who run for office in the war-torn nation, and there are a lot of them running for office.
And surgery to help you lose weight, but what are the differences between the procedures and which one is right for you? We answer those questions in the next hour.
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COSTELLO: Chad, it's time to check out our "Web Clicks" this morning. We're always interested in what you are clicking on to on CNN.com.
The No. 1 story is about the Boy Scouts.
MYERS: Yes, they're, well, supposedly in Birmingham they got a bunch of guys named with the last name Doe, D-O-E.
COSTELLO: A lot of young men's names are Doe. That's why... MYERS: Yes, like Jack and John.
COSTELLO: Exactly. That's why the FBI is investigating whether the Alabama Boy Scout Council padded its membership rolls. And this is quite important because they get their donations based on the number of Boy Scouts they have enrolled.
MYERS: Right, and the FBI is involved now.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: And they get it from places like the United Way. I just want to read you excerpts from this article. This is from Alabama with a guy who is actually with the Boy Scouts in Alabama. He says the numbers are probably inflated 30 to 40 percent in our council. And keep in mind the council received millions of dollars from the United Way chapters during the six-year period and is slated to get around $1 million this year.
There's also an investigation going on in Atlanta. Independent auditors are investigating claims the metropolitan area Boy Scouts inflated black membership numbers to 20,000 to gain more donations. A civil rights leader contends there are no more than 500 blacks actively involved.
MYERS: Wow!
COSTELLO: So scandal in the Boy Scouts.
MYERS: I guess so.
COSTELLO: The second most clicked on story kind of surprised me.
MYERS: The Oscars?
COSTELLO: Yes.
MYERS: Yes, I know.
COSTELLO: I didn't think people were really into that.
MYERS: I know you really loved that "Aviator." Your glowing impression was it was really long.
COSTELLO: It's long. It was so long. I think the beginning was good, but then you just got tired of it. I don't know.
MYERS: I don't think that's going to go on the back of the DVD box, Carol Costello, CNN, it was really long.
COSTELLO: I don't think so either.
Let's get to our e-mail question this morning, because we're asking, you know, out in San Francisco they're banning smoking in outdoor public places like...
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... public parks, public beaches, et cetera. And we're asking people what they think of that.
MYERS: Well this is not the first city to try this or to put this in effect. Certainly many other cities I mean (ph).
Carol, go ahead.
COSTELLO: OK. This is from Bill (ph) from Topeka, Kansas. He says of course not, what would be next, a ban on ugly people or how about smokers should be shot on sight? Jeez, the most objectionable smell I come across is women with cheap perfume, et cetera, should they be banned?
MYERS: I got a good one from Andrew (ph) in Texas. Wait, didn't they legalize marijuana, medical marijuana out there? Now they're outlawing tobacco. Boy, it seems I can tell what you can puff on out there.
COSTELLO: Oh man!
This from Patty (ph) from Houston. We have chain smokers outside for the most part, how about we leave them alone now and pretend we still have individual freedoms and rights in this country. That's from a former smoker.
MYERS: And if you're a smoker, basically, you're on one side of this thing and on the other. But a lot of smokers that are saying that they're very courteous that this is going a little bit over the top. They're not throwing their butts, they're not blowing smoke in other people's faces, that it is an outdoor place, after all.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
One more from Dave (ph) from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: Regulation of smoking outside proves that it's not just a secondhand smoke issue, it's a concerted effort to gradually outlaw smoking all together.
Interesting.
The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.
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