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American Morning
The Final Count Begins; A Learning Adventure Turns into a Near Disaster at Sea
Aired February 01, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. The final count begins. Votes pouring into Baghdad.
Meanwhile, an ominous message, reportedly from Iraq's terrorist mastermind.
A glimpse of the most famous defendant in the world today. How was Michael Jackson's celebrity affecting jury selection?
And a learning adventure turns into a near disaster at sea. Why hundreds of college students are thankful to be back on dry land, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: It was quite a ride for the college students. We'll hear more of their story in a moment here. They were south of Alaska, and boy, they got a little more than they bargained for.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Looked like it.
HEMMER: Some of the other major headlines this morning, day two of jury selection in the Michael Jackson case. Prospective jurors got their first look at Jackson yesterday, in all white in fact. They did not, however, see the D.A., Tom Sneddon. Is that part of the strategy for the prosecution? We'll talk to Jeff Toobin about that and a whole lot more, reflecting on day one yesterday in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the Homeland Security Department says good-bye to the only secretary its known. Tom Ridge is stepping down. We're going to take a look back at his legacy, also here about the similarities that he sees between al Qaeda and an enemy of the past.
HEMMER: Jack Cafferty, first, good morning to you. Hello.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill.
President Bush's State of the Union Address tomorrow night, he's expected to sing the praises of the elections in Iraq.
Democrats, though, are saying it's time to set a timetable for withdrawing American troops. We'll take a look at how long U.S. forces ought to be in Iraq in a little while, few minutes.
O'BRIEN: There are many people asking that question.
Jack, thank you very much.
Let's get right to Carol Costello. She's up at the Time Warner Center in New York with stories that are now in the news.
Hey, Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, lawmakers this morning will hear more details of a plan to raise death benefits for military families. It would raise the amount paid to families from around $12,000 to $100,000, tax-free, and that would be retroactive. A Pentagon official will unveil the plan less than three hours from now before the House Armed Services Committee. Officials say the benefit is expected to be part of President Bush's budget proposal, set to be delivered to Congress next week.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton kept up with her schedule even after fainting on stage during an appearance in Buffalo, New York. Senator Clinton downplayed the incident after getting some medical attention at the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: It wasn't as dramatic as it sounds. I've had -- I came up with a 24-hour virus in the last 24 hours, and I will be fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And she apparently was fine. Clinton moved on to her next event after the incident. Her press secretary issued a statement, saying she was suffering from a stomach virus.
Hope for early detection of Alzheimer' Disease. A team at Northwestern University in Chicago has conducted protein molecule testing on a group of 30 people. They say the tests could be used to diagnose the illness before symptoms start to appear, but they warn more studies need to be done.
And in sports, Eagles' wide receiver Terrell Owens is keeping his Super Bowl dreams alive. Owens took to the field for practice yesterday for the first time since he severely sprained his ankle back in December. Eagles coach Andy Reid says Owens moved around pretty well, but still no final decision on whether Owens will play against the Pats on Super Bowl Sunday, and of course that is just five days away.
Care to make a wager? Hello?
O'BRIEN: I'm thinking. I'm thinking. I'm sorry, I'm thinking. Yes.
HEMMER: He's going to play.
COSTELLO: I think he's going to play too, which makes for a lousy bet.
O'BRIEN: He looked better than he did the other day when he was really severely limping yesterday.
HEMMER: Getting off the plane.
O'BRIEN: Yes, so he's obviously improving fast.
HEMMER: He's going to play!
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carol.
Well, all the ballots from Sunday's historic election in Iraq have been transported to Baghdad, where they're being counted right now.
CNN's Jeff Koinange in Baghdad for us with the latest developments.
Hey, Jeff, good morning.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) counting continues into a second day.
A lot of the votes have been counted this many provinces. All that will be collated, transferred to Baghdad, counted along with Baghdad's votes, and officials here tell us to expect results sometime within seven to 10 days. So some time within the middle of next week, we should know who won the count.
At the same time, an audio tape, purportedly by Iraq's most wanted, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. As you know, he is the man with the $25 million bounty on his head. He is the ally of the world's most wanted, Osama bin Laden. He's his ally right here in Iraq, and he's basically, he's urging all Sunnis to resist a Shia takeover of this country, saying Baghdad will never be ruled by the Shias, which is pretty impossible because Shias make up about 60 percent of this country's population, and Shias, of course, turned out in large numbers to vote on election day.
And he goes on to say, and I'm quoting here, "Democracy separates God from life, and that is forbidden. Democracy allows the establishment of all parties, no matter what they represent, and it gives them the right to exist and spread their heathenism and corruption."
As you know, Zarqawi's blamed for trying to create sectarian violence across the country, and also to start a civil war -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeff, quick question for you. Post-election, of course, there's been much talk about what this means for U.S. troops and when they would leave Iraq and head home. Prime Minister Allawi, I know, has weighed in on this. What has he had to say? KOINANGE: That's right, Prime Minister Allawi weighed in on it yesterday, and today, the president, Ghazi Al Yawar, he also said, basically, that right now, it would be total nonsense if U.S. troops were to withdraw in all this chaos and with, of course, a power vacuum in effect. But he did say that there is a timetable, although he insisted it's not on paper. But he did say that sometime down the line.
But, Soledad, if you notice, on election day, there was great cooperation between U.S. troops and their Iraqi counterparts. They were out and about in the streets, making sure the lockdown was in effect, and they did a great job. So you see the beginnings of a mutual trust between U.S. troops and Iraqi forces, and also a mutual confidence, which is most important for the U.S. part. They have to see that the Iraqis are ready to takeover the country before they eventually withdraw -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Koinange in Baghdad for us this morning, Jeff, thank you -- Bill.
HEMMER: Well, he made history as the first ever secretary of homeland security, but today, he officially steps down. That is Tom Ridge we're talking about. And even he expresses some surprise that America has not been hit again.
Jeanne Meserve this morning has more on the Ridge legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM RIDGE, FMR. SECY. OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The heroes of flight 93 could not know...
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Among the many lives that changed on 9/11, that of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.
RIDGE: I will support and defend...
MESERVE: He took a job to try to ensure nothing like 9/11 happened again.
RIDGE: I must tell you that from October 8th, 2001, when I got sworn in, until the present date, I thought -- I've always anticipated that in that three-year break, there would be at least another strike, another attempt.
MESERVE: There wasn't. Ridge credits the disruption of al Qaeda's leadership overseas and hardened security here.
RIDGE: You throw in a little divine intervention, maybe a little good luck.
MESERVE: With suicide and truck bombs, al Qaeda has delivered death and havoc in other parts of the world. Ridge is frankly surprised it hasn't happened here.
RIDGE: Right now, the only plausible explanation that I can offer you is that there their intent and design directed to the United States, at least at this time, is to try to operate around a much more catastrophic event.
MESERVE: As a young man, Ridge fought the Viet Cong. He sees similarities and dissimilarities with his current foe, al Qaeda.
RIDGE: They have the same kind of tenacity, the same kind of persistence. I think those are the characteristics of this enemy that I think we found in the Vietnamese -- patience.
Today, the United States government is raising the threat level.
MESERVE: Though praised for his public performance, critics say Ridge failed to secure critical infrastructure, like chemical plants, and did not give cohesion to his vast new department.
CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: I think it's fair to say that the department, under his leadership, has not lived up to its promise.
MESERVE: If he's confirmed as expected, Michael Chertoff will step into Ridge's job. Ridge is heading to the private sector, though doesn't rule out a presidential run down the road.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also, Michael Chertoff's Senate confirmation hearing scheduled tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and we'll have live coverage right here on CNN -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Bill, thank you.
Well, it's day number two of jury selection in the child molestation case against pop king Michael Jackson. Yesterday, Jackson appeared upbeat as his trial got under way in California.
CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin talks about the case.
Could last six months, many are predicting. Do you think that that's a fair assessment?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: I was thinking -- I was looking out the window thinking, you know, there's snow on the ground. When this trial is over, the leaves will probably be turning at the end of summer. That's how long -- and that's California justice for you.
O'BRIEN: And that seems like a long time for this kind of case. But to some degree, considering the celebrity. I mean, the guy is, arguably, the most famous man in the world.
TOOBIN: He is. But I mean, again, it's just this crazy California system. The judge announced yesterday he's only going to sit until 2:30 every day. How much work can you get done before 2:30? It is just incredible to me that this is how a case like this unfolds.
O'BRIEN: Nobody wants to tax themselves by working a very long day or anything.
So far, the process has been like any other, outside of the fact that you have a huge number of people being brought in as prospective jurors.
TOOBIN: Correct. I actually think for all of Michael Jackson's celebrity, you're going to see the prosecution and defense look for the kind of jurors they usually look for. Prosecution will probably look for stable, older, married, rooted-in-the-community type people. The defense will look for more free thinkers, people who are tolerant of different lifestyles, more educated jurors.
You know, both sides undoubtedly have done polling in the area. There's a jury consultant for Michael Jackson sitting in the courtroom. So they'll have a specific idea of what they're looking for, but I expect it will be fairly conventional.
O'BRIEN: Many talk about how the fact that Michael Jackson is so famous it's going to work against him, who doesn't know him. But couldn't his celebrity, or what people know about him, work in his favor, in the sense that people already think, for lack of a better term, he's a little strange. Here's a guy who has been talking about how he has sleepovers at his house with young boys. People have known that about Neverland and Michael Jackson for a while.
TOOBIN: Absolutely. And also I think those of us in the media business, I think we have sort of discounted how his fame is positive. One of the things I've learned in covering the trial is that not everybody thinks this guy is a freak who has an unhealthy interest in children. A lot of people love this guy. I mean, they just love this guy.
O'BRIEN: Oh, certainly. I mean, worldwide, yes.
TOOBIN: He is a famous person for his music and for being an entertainer, and I think sometimes all of our focus on his problems neglects that. And so I think he's got some benefits out there, some positive feelings that have not -- that may be tapped in the jury selection process.
O'BRIEN: The D.A., Tom Sneddon wasn't in court yesterday. Is there any significance to that, do you think?
TOOBIN: I think there was, because I think the defense, one of their strategies, is to make this look like a vendetta for Sneddon, that he's been investigating Michael Jackson for more than a decade, and that he's just obsessed with him.
By not having him in the courtroom every day, they're going to try to depersonalize this and make it about Michael Jackson, not about Sneddon. So I think that was a strategy by the prosecution.
O'BRIEN: Media costs, I mean, they're trying to charge the media to take part in all of this. Some of it, of course, I think are fair expenses that are being brought upon this small town, essentially, but at the same time, seems like the media's being gouged.
TOOBIN: Right, I mean, in high-profile trials, the media always splits the cost of sort of the media encampment, the direct costs that we impose on the county, but Here, it looks like they're trying to defray hundreds of thousands of dollars of the costs of the trial in general. That seems inappropriate. Some of our bosses are not happy about this. This is going to be the subject apparently of some negotiation.
O'BRIEN: Yes, bosses across all the media outlets it sounds like are not happy about the money that they're being asked to shell out.
TOOBIN: What a surprise.
O'BRIEN: Thank you as always, Jeff Toobin, appreciate.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Second left in overtime on the game. Randolph-Macon guard misses the second shot, keeps the clock ticking here. Guilford's Gordon Snipes (ph), he's got one option. Nothing but net! He wins the game. Nice stuff, from down in Virginia.
Afterwards, he went over to the bench and said, see, I tried that, that was my intention the entire time, so good stuff to get a smile this morning.
O'BRIEN: What do they always say, better to be lucky than good, right? A little of both.
A 50-foot wave slam as ship carrying hundreds of college students. Up next, their stories about their harrowing adventure.
HEMMER: Also, dramatic new pictures from the early moments of the tsunami crisis. New videotape in today. This is amazing stuff every time we see it, again, out of Indonesia. More on this in a moment -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: And a 22-year-old marine falls deathly ill after returning from Iraq. Now doctors ask whether his deployment is to blame. Those stories ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Live pictures from Honolulu, Hawaii as we watch this ocean liner here. The reason we're watching the ship is because some students got one heck of a ride. About 700 college students docked safely now in Honolulu Harbor after a harrowing adventure at sea.
Last week, the Semester at Sea ship hit rough weather. Some videotape today shows the students getting tossed around. A 50-foot wave dealt damaging blows, breaking windows and damaging three of the four engines onboard that ship. Some of the students onboard were with us earlier today, Rhea Santangelo is one of them. She helps described what she experienced onboard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RHEA SANTANGELO, SEMESTER AT SEA: When I was awakened, I was thrown from my bed. The movement of the boat threw me into the door over my glass table, and then the nightstand proceeded to pin me to the door. At which point my roommate and I got out of the room and found the rest of our shipmates in the hall.
HEMMER: About how long did this last?
SANTANGELO: This lasted for several hours. Most people on the boat got up within a few hours and started exploring the ship, only to find that there was more damage throughout the ship, and we were told to go back to our cabins, that it was safe to do so, until a certain point in the morning, where the captain told us that he was going to try and maneuver the boat so we could get to calmer sea.
HEMMER: Let me move to David Welch. Was there much panic, David?
DAVID WELCH, SEMESTER AT SEA: It was very freaky in the morning when we were woken up and told to put our life jackets on, and then make our way to the fifth deck, women and children first, and then men. You don't know what to think. You could be dying in a half hour. There was really no way to know what was going to happen.
HEMMER: But the way Rhea describes it, this wasn't just one wave, it was a series of waves, is that right?
SANTANGELO: It was rough the whole time.
WELCH: It was a series of waves, some of which were over 60-feet tall, and the winds were over 116 miles per hour.
HEMMER: Amy, you had a much different experience, because you're confined to a wheelchair. How did you manage?
AMY SIMMONS, SEMESTER AT SEA: It was very difficult, but I have to say that my shipmates just really came in and, I mean, they pulled it through. I couldn't have done it by myself, but you know, they came in, they helped me out, and it all worked out a lot better than I was expecting when we had the first life jacket call.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: As you can see, they're all OK today. A spokesman for the Explorer says that ship will spend the next several days in Hawaii before repairs, and then heading back to China, which should be an interesting sail, too -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, more than a month after the tsunami hit, Indonesia has raised its death toll to more than 108,000, bringing the overall count across South Asia to more than 154,000 dead. This morning, never before seen amateur videotape from Banda Aceh in Indonesia. New images of the initial earthquaking as it hit on the morning of December 26, people lying on the ground trying to wait out the tremors. They have no idea of what's going to come next. The buildings there of course sustained some major damage in the area that's closest to the epicenter of the quake.
Entire villages, in fact, turned to rubble from the impact of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake. And within the remains of homes, efforts to rescue the people who are trapped under all that heavy debris.
More amateur videotape, same area, after the tsunami hit. Water rushing into the streets, carrying away massive amounts of debris and flooding the rivers as well. Dramatic pictures. You can see those are people running on top of that quick-moving river debris. They're fighting to get -- avoid that bridge there, and you can see in the shot, and they're trying to get to shore -- 108,000 people died in that region.
HEMMER: Watching them walk across the debris, that may have been the only way to save their lives, trying to find a way to get to shore as you see right here as they go under the bridge. Amazing stuff.
In the early days of the tsunami, Andy had commented almost every day about why we did not see much videotape out of Banda Aceh in Indonesia. We had a lot in Thailand, where you were, we had quite a bit in Sri Lanka. But in the weeks since then, we have seen more and more tape come out of Indonesia, and I think really, it is some of the more dramatic stuff we've seen.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes no question.
HEMMER: Really stops you in your tracks.
Let's get a break here. In a moment here, we'll turn to business news this morning. A big snag in a deal between two of the nation's biggest department store chains. Andy's "Minding Your Business," has that in a moment here when we continue, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. There's a potential snag for this department store merger. Andy Serwer checks in now, "Minding Your Business."
Good morning to you.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
HEMMER: First the markets. Say it ain't so, but we ended January on an up note.
SERWER: Yes, That's the good news. But the bad news is the bigger picture.
Let's talk about yesterday first of all, a nice little bit of trading on the street, 62 points up on the Dow yesterday, Nasdaq up even more on a percentage basis. That's the good news. Bad news is, January was pretty terrible. We ended the month down 2.7 percent. I was waiting for the Cafferty effect to come into play yesterday. Jack was rooting for a 900-point gain on the Dow. Actually, Jack, we only needed to be up 355 points.
CAFFERTY: Oh, is that all?
SERWER: Might as well have been 900 though, and it just didn't happen.
CAFFERTY: Missed it by that much.
SERWER: Just a little bit outside, as Mr. Eucker (ph) used to say. That's right.
And merger mania, obviously, a big story on Wall Street these days. SBC and AT&T, Metlife and Travelers, Procter & gamble and Gillette. What about the merger that may not be, though? We've been waiting for Federated and May to combine. That story broke a couple days ago. Now it looks like it might not happen, according to "The Wall Street Journal," saying that the price of May's stock has just been bid up so much, that Federated doesn't want to pay so much. And of course these are some of the stores these two companies owns, still in negotiations, but it will be a $10 billion deal, and you know, that's a lot of money, as they used to say. Keeps adding up.
HEMMER: Worst January since '82 still, or did we beat it?
SERWER: I'll have to check on that, because the 2.7 kind of closed the gap a little bit, but it's still not a good one.
HEMMER: Thank you, Drew.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Yesterday, we were talking about the elections. Now we're talking about what's next.
CAFFERTY: Exactly. And a lot of unanswered questions, Soledad. The White House says the Iraqi election validates President Bush's policies in Iraq. The Democrats say it's time to figure out when to go. Democratic leaders are urging President Bush to present a detailed exit strategy in tomorrow night's State of the Union address. Senator Edward Kennedy wants immediate negotiations on a withdrawal timetable for U.S. troops from Iraq. Note to Senator Kennedy, he probably ain't going to get it.
The White House says a timetable would play into the hands of the terrorists, letting them know when our forces would being weak there. Iraq's national security adviser thinks U.S. troops ought to remain in Iraq for, quote, "at least a couple of years," unquote, until Iraq's security force is up to speed.
So here's the question, "Should the United States set a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq?" Am@CNN.com.
HEMMER: Thank you Jack.
When will they leave? We're going to pick up on the same topic in a moment here. There's a reporter back from Iraq now, spent 10 days with U.S. special forces. A new headline for how the U.S. military's operation will now change in concert with the Iraqi forces. We'll talk to her in a moment, here after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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Aired February 1, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. The final count begins. Votes pouring into Baghdad.
Meanwhile, an ominous message, reportedly from Iraq's terrorist mastermind.
A glimpse of the most famous defendant in the world today. How was Michael Jackson's celebrity affecting jury selection?
And a learning adventure turns into a near disaster at sea. Why hundreds of college students are thankful to be back on dry land, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: It was quite a ride for the college students. We'll hear more of their story in a moment here. They were south of Alaska, and boy, they got a little more than they bargained for.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Looked like it.
HEMMER: Some of the other major headlines this morning, day two of jury selection in the Michael Jackson case. Prospective jurors got their first look at Jackson yesterday, in all white in fact. They did not, however, see the D.A., Tom Sneddon. Is that part of the strategy for the prosecution? We'll talk to Jeff Toobin about that and a whole lot more, reflecting on day one yesterday in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the Homeland Security Department says good-bye to the only secretary its known. Tom Ridge is stepping down. We're going to take a look back at his legacy, also here about the similarities that he sees between al Qaeda and an enemy of the past.
HEMMER: Jack Cafferty, first, good morning to you. Hello.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill.
President Bush's State of the Union Address tomorrow night, he's expected to sing the praises of the elections in Iraq.
Democrats, though, are saying it's time to set a timetable for withdrawing American troops. We'll take a look at how long U.S. forces ought to be in Iraq in a little while, few minutes.
O'BRIEN: There are many people asking that question.
Jack, thank you very much.
Let's get right to Carol Costello. She's up at the Time Warner Center in New York with stories that are now in the news.
Hey, Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, lawmakers this morning will hear more details of a plan to raise death benefits for military families. It would raise the amount paid to families from around $12,000 to $100,000, tax-free, and that would be retroactive. A Pentagon official will unveil the plan less than three hours from now before the House Armed Services Committee. Officials say the benefit is expected to be part of President Bush's budget proposal, set to be delivered to Congress next week.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton kept up with her schedule even after fainting on stage during an appearance in Buffalo, New York. Senator Clinton downplayed the incident after getting some medical attention at the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: It wasn't as dramatic as it sounds. I've had -- I came up with a 24-hour virus in the last 24 hours, and I will be fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And she apparently was fine. Clinton moved on to her next event after the incident. Her press secretary issued a statement, saying she was suffering from a stomach virus.
Hope for early detection of Alzheimer' Disease. A team at Northwestern University in Chicago has conducted protein molecule testing on a group of 30 people. They say the tests could be used to diagnose the illness before symptoms start to appear, but they warn more studies need to be done.
And in sports, Eagles' wide receiver Terrell Owens is keeping his Super Bowl dreams alive. Owens took to the field for practice yesterday for the first time since he severely sprained his ankle back in December. Eagles coach Andy Reid says Owens moved around pretty well, but still no final decision on whether Owens will play against the Pats on Super Bowl Sunday, and of course that is just five days away.
Care to make a wager? Hello?
O'BRIEN: I'm thinking. I'm thinking. I'm sorry, I'm thinking. Yes.
HEMMER: He's going to play.
COSTELLO: I think he's going to play too, which makes for a lousy bet.
O'BRIEN: He looked better than he did the other day when he was really severely limping yesterday.
HEMMER: Getting off the plane.
O'BRIEN: Yes, so he's obviously improving fast.
HEMMER: He's going to play!
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carol.
Well, all the ballots from Sunday's historic election in Iraq have been transported to Baghdad, where they're being counted right now.
CNN's Jeff Koinange in Baghdad for us with the latest developments.
Hey, Jeff, good morning.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) counting continues into a second day.
A lot of the votes have been counted this many provinces. All that will be collated, transferred to Baghdad, counted along with Baghdad's votes, and officials here tell us to expect results sometime within seven to 10 days. So some time within the middle of next week, we should know who won the count.
At the same time, an audio tape, purportedly by Iraq's most wanted, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. As you know, he is the man with the $25 million bounty on his head. He is the ally of the world's most wanted, Osama bin Laden. He's his ally right here in Iraq, and he's basically, he's urging all Sunnis to resist a Shia takeover of this country, saying Baghdad will never be ruled by the Shias, which is pretty impossible because Shias make up about 60 percent of this country's population, and Shias, of course, turned out in large numbers to vote on election day.
And he goes on to say, and I'm quoting here, "Democracy separates God from life, and that is forbidden. Democracy allows the establishment of all parties, no matter what they represent, and it gives them the right to exist and spread their heathenism and corruption."
As you know, Zarqawi's blamed for trying to create sectarian violence across the country, and also to start a civil war -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeff, quick question for you. Post-election, of course, there's been much talk about what this means for U.S. troops and when they would leave Iraq and head home. Prime Minister Allawi, I know, has weighed in on this. What has he had to say? KOINANGE: That's right, Prime Minister Allawi weighed in on it yesterday, and today, the president, Ghazi Al Yawar, he also said, basically, that right now, it would be total nonsense if U.S. troops were to withdraw in all this chaos and with, of course, a power vacuum in effect. But he did say that there is a timetable, although he insisted it's not on paper. But he did say that sometime down the line.
But, Soledad, if you notice, on election day, there was great cooperation between U.S. troops and their Iraqi counterparts. They were out and about in the streets, making sure the lockdown was in effect, and they did a great job. So you see the beginnings of a mutual trust between U.S. troops and Iraqi forces, and also a mutual confidence, which is most important for the U.S. part. They have to see that the Iraqis are ready to takeover the country before they eventually withdraw -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Koinange in Baghdad for us this morning, Jeff, thank you -- Bill.
HEMMER: Well, he made history as the first ever secretary of homeland security, but today, he officially steps down. That is Tom Ridge we're talking about. And even he expresses some surprise that America has not been hit again.
Jeanne Meserve this morning has more on the Ridge legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM RIDGE, FMR. SECY. OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The heroes of flight 93 could not know...
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Among the many lives that changed on 9/11, that of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.
RIDGE: I will support and defend...
MESERVE: He took a job to try to ensure nothing like 9/11 happened again.
RIDGE: I must tell you that from October 8th, 2001, when I got sworn in, until the present date, I thought -- I've always anticipated that in that three-year break, there would be at least another strike, another attempt.
MESERVE: There wasn't. Ridge credits the disruption of al Qaeda's leadership overseas and hardened security here.
RIDGE: You throw in a little divine intervention, maybe a little good luck.
MESERVE: With suicide and truck bombs, al Qaeda has delivered death and havoc in other parts of the world. Ridge is frankly surprised it hasn't happened here.
RIDGE: Right now, the only plausible explanation that I can offer you is that there their intent and design directed to the United States, at least at this time, is to try to operate around a much more catastrophic event.
MESERVE: As a young man, Ridge fought the Viet Cong. He sees similarities and dissimilarities with his current foe, al Qaeda.
RIDGE: They have the same kind of tenacity, the same kind of persistence. I think those are the characteristics of this enemy that I think we found in the Vietnamese -- patience.
Today, the United States government is raising the threat level.
MESERVE: Though praised for his public performance, critics say Ridge failed to secure critical infrastructure, like chemical plants, and did not give cohesion to his vast new department.
CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: I think it's fair to say that the department, under his leadership, has not lived up to its promise.
MESERVE: If he's confirmed as expected, Michael Chertoff will step into Ridge's job. Ridge is heading to the private sector, though doesn't rule out a presidential run down the road.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also, Michael Chertoff's Senate confirmation hearing scheduled tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and we'll have live coverage right here on CNN -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Bill, thank you.
Well, it's day number two of jury selection in the child molestation case against pop king Michael Jackson. Yesterday, Jackson appeared upbeat as his trial got under way in California.
CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin talks about the case.
Could last six months, many are predicting. Do you think that that's a fair assessment?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: I was thinking -- I was looking out the window thinking, you know, there's snow on the ground. When this trial is over, the leaves will probably be turning at the end of summer. That's how long -- and that's California justice for you.
O'BRIEN: And that seems like a long time for this kind of case. But to some degree, considering the celebrity. I mean, the guy is, arguably, the most famous man in the world.
TOOBIN: He is. But I mean, again, it's just this crazy California system. The judge announced yesterday he's only going to sit until 2:30 every day. How much work can you get done before 2:30? It is just incredible to me that this is how a case like this unfolds.
O'BRIEN: Nobody wants to tax themselves by working a very long day or anything.
So far, the process has been like any other, outside of the fact that you have a huge number of people being brought in as prospective jurors.
TOOBIN: Correct. I actually think for all of Michael Jackson's celebrity, you're going to see the prosecution and defense look for the kind of jurors they usually look for. Prosecution will probably look for stable, older, married, rooted-in-the-community type people. The defense will look for more free thinkers, people who are tolerant of different lifestyles, more educated jurors.
You know, both sides undoubtedly have done polling in the area. There's a jury consultant for Michael Jackson sitting in the courtroom. So they'll have a specific idea of what they're looking for, but I expect it will be fairly conventional.
O'BRIEN: Many talk about how the fact that Michael Jackson is so famous it's going to work against him, who doesn't know him. But couldn't his celebrity, or what people know about him, work in his favor, in the sense that people already think, for lack of a better term, he's a little strange. Here's a guy who has been talking about how he has sleepovers at his house with young boys. People have known that about Neverland and Michael Jackson for a while.
TOOBIN: Absolutely. And also I think those of us in the media business, I think we have sort of discounted how his fame is positive. One of the things I've learned in covering the trial is that not everybody thinks this guy is a freak who has an unhealthy interest in children. A lot of people love this guy. I mean, they just love this guy.
O'BRIEN: Oh, certainly. I mean, worldwide, yes.
TOOBIN: He is a famous person for his music and for being an entertainer, and I think sometimes all of our focus on his problems neglects that. And so I think he's got some benefits out there, some positive feelings that have not -- that may be tapped in the jury selection process.
O'BRIEN: The D.A., Tom Sneddon wasn't in court yesterday. Is there any significance to that, do you think?
TOOBIN: I think there was, because I think the defense, one of their strategies, is to make this look like a vendetta for Sneddon, that he's been investigating Michael Jackson for more than a decade, and that he's just obsessed with him.
By not having him in the courtroom every day, they're going to try to depersonalize this and make it about Michael Jackson, not about Sneddon. So I think that was a strategy by the prosecution.
O'BRIEN: Media costs, I mean, they're trying to charge the media to take part in all of this. Some of it, of course, I think are fair expenses that are being brought upon this small town, essentially, but at the same time, seems like the media's being gouged.
TOOBIN: Right, I mean, in high-profile trials, the media always splits the cost of sort of the media encampment, the direct costs that we impose on the county, but Here, it looks like they're trying to defray hundreds of thousands of dollars of the costs of the trial in general. That seems inappropriate. Some of our bosses are not happy about this. This is going to be the subject apparently of some negotiation.
O'BRIEN: Yes, bosses across all the media outlets it sounds like are not happy about the money that they're being asked to shell out.
TOOBIN: What a surprise.
O'BRIEN: Thank you as always, Jeff Toobin, appreciate.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Second left in overtime on the game. Randolph-Macon guard misses the second shot, keeps the clock ticking here. Guilford's Gordon Snipes (ph), he's got one option. Nothing but net! He wins the game. Nice stuff, from down in Virginia.
Afterwards, he went over to the bench and said, see, I tried that, that was my intention the entire time, so good stuff to get a smile this morning.
O'BRIEN: What do they always say, better to be lucky than good, right? A little of both.
A 50-foot wave slam as ship carrying hundreds of college students. Up next, their stories about their harrowing adventure.
HEMMER: Also, dramatic new pictures from the early moments of the tsunami crisis. New videotape in today. This is amazing stuff every time we see it, again, out of Indonesia. More on this in a moment -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: And a 22-year-old marine falls deathly ill after returning from Iraq. Now doctors ask whether his deployment is to blame. Those stories ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Live pictures from Honolulu, Hawaii as we watch this ocean liner here. The reason we're watching the ship is because some students got one heck of a ride. About 700 college students docked safely now in Honolulu Harbor after a harrowing adventure at sea.
Last week, the Semester at Sea ship hit rough weather. Some videotape today shows the students getting tossed around. A 50-foot wave dealt damaging blows, breaking windows and damaging three of the four engines onboard that ship. Some of the students onboard were with us earlier today, Rhea Santangelo is one of them. She helps described what she experienced onboard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RHEA SANTANGELO, SEMESTER AT SEA: When I was awakened, I was thrown from my bed. The movement of the boat threw me into the door over my glass table, and then the nightstand proceeded to pin me to the door. At which point my roommate and I got out of the room and found the rest of our shipmates in the hall.
HEMMER: About how long did this last?
SANTANGELO: This lasted for several hours. Most people on the boat got up within a few hours and started exploring the ship, only to find that there was more damage throughout the ship, and we were told to go back to our cabins, that it was safe to do so, until a certain point in the morning, where the captain told us that he was going to try and maneuver the boat so we could get to calmer sea.
HEMMER: Let me move to David Welch. Was there much panic, David?
DAVID WELCH, SEMESTER AT SEA: It was very freaky in the morning when we were woken up and told to put our life jackets on, and then make our way to the fifth deck, women and children first, and then men. You don't know what to think. You could be dying in a half hour. There was really no way to know what was going to happen.
HEMMER: But the way Rhea describes it, this wasn't just one wave, it was a series of waves, is that right?
SANTANGELO: It was rough the whole time.
WELCH: It was a series of waves, some of which were over 60-feet tall, and the winds were over 116 miles per hour.
HEMMER: Amy, you had a much different experience, because you're confined to a wheelchair. How did you manage?
AMY SIMMONS, SEMESTER AT SEA: It was very difficult, but I have to say that my shipmates just really came in and, I mean, they pulled it through. I couldn't have done it by myself, but you know, they came in, they helped me out, and it all worked out a lot better than I was expecting when we had the first life jacket call.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: As you can see, they're all OK today. A spokesman for the Explorer says that ship will spend the next several days in Hawaii before repairs, and then heading back to China, which should be an interesting sail, too -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, more than a month after the tsunami hit, Indonesia has raised its death toll to more than 108,000, bringing the overall count across South Asia to more than 154,000 dead. This morning, never before seen amateur videotape from Banda Aceh in Indonesia. New images of the initial earthquaking as it hit on the morning of December 26, people lying on the ground trying to wait out the tremors. They have no idea of what's going to come next. The buildings there of course sustained some major damage in the area that's closest to the epicenter of the quake.
Entire villages, in fact, turned to rubble from the impact of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake. And within the remains of homes, efforts to rescue the people who are trapped under all that heavy debris.
More amateur videotape, same area, after the tsunami hit. Water rushing into the streets, carrying away massive amounts of debris and flooding the rivers as well. Dramatic pictures. You can see those are people running on top of that quick-moving river debris. They're fighting to get -- avoid that bridge there, and you can see in the shot, and they're trying to get to shore -- 108,000 people died in that region.
HEMMER: Watching them walk across the debris, that may have been the only way to save their lives, trying to find a way to get to shore as you see right here as they go under the bridge. Amazing stuff.
In the early days of the tsunami, Andy had commented almost every day about why we did not see much videotape out of Banda Aceh in Indonesia. We had a lot in Thailand, where you were, we had quite a bit in Sri Lanka. But in the weeks since then, we have seen more and more tape come out of Indonesia, and I think really, it is some of the more dramatic stuff we've seen.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes no question.
HEMMER: Really stops you in your tracks.
Let's get a break here. In a moment here, we'll turn to business news this morning. A big snag in a deal between two of the nation's biggest department store chains. Andy's "Minding Your Business," has that in a moment here when we continue, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everybody. There's a potential snag for this department store merger. Andy Serwer checks in now, "Minding Your Business."
Good morning to you.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
HEMMER: First the markets. Say it ain't so, but we ended January on an up note.
SERWER: Yes, That's the good news. But the bad news is the bigger picture.
Let's talk about yesterday first of all, a nice little bit of trading on the street, 62 points up on the Dow yesterday, Nasdaq up even more on a percentage basis. That's the good news. Bad news is, January was pretty terrible. We ended the month down 2.7 percent. I was waiting for the Cafferty effect to come into play yesterday. Jack was rooting for a 900-point gain on the Dow. Actually, Jack, we only needed to be up 355 points.
CAFFERTY: Oh, is that all?
SERWER: Might as well have been 900 though, and it just didn't happen.
CAFFERTY: Missed it by that much.
SERWER: Just a little bit outside, as Mr. Eucker (ph) used to say. That's right.
And merger mania, obviously, a big story on Wall Street these days. SBC and AT&T, Metlife and Travelers, Procter & gamble and Gillette. What about the merger that may not be, though? We've been waiting for Federated and May to combine. That story broke a couple days ago. Now it looks like it might not happen, according to "The Wall Street Journal," saying that the price of May's stock has just been bid up so much, that Federated doesn't want to pay so much. And of course these are some of the stores these two companies owns, still in negotiations, but it will be a $10 billion deal, and you know, that's a lot of money, as they used to say. Keeps adding up.
HEMMER: Worst January since '82 still, or did we beat it?
SERWER: I'll have to check on that, because the 2.7 kind of closed the gap a little bit, but it's still not a good one.
HEMMER: Thank you, Drew.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Yesterday, we were talking about the elections. Now we're talking about what's next.
CAFFERTY: Exactly. And a lot of unanswered questions, Soledad. The White House says the Iraqi election validates President Bush's policies in Iraq. The Democrats say it's time to figure out when to go. Democratic leaders are urging President Bush to present a detailed exit strategy in tomorrow night's State of the Union address. Senator Edward Kennedy wants immediate negotiations on a withdrawal timetable for U.S. troops from Iraq. Note to Senator Kennedy, he probably ain't going to get it.
The White House says a timetable would play into the hands of the terrorists, letting them know when our forces would being weak there. Iraq's national security adviser thinks U.S. troops ought to remain in Iraq for, quote, "at least a couple of years," unquote, until Iraq's security force is up to speed.
So here's the question, "Should the United States set a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq?" Am@CNN.com.
HEMMER: Thank you Jack.
When will they leave? We're going to pick up on the same topic in a moment here. There's a reporter back from Iraq now, spent 10 days with U.S. special forces. A new headline for how the U.S. military's operation will now change in concert with the Iraqi forces. We'll talk to her in a moment, here after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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