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North Korea Publicly Admits Having Nuclear Weapons; How Would U.S. Troops Match Up in War with Iran?
Aired February 10, 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A first for North Korea, publicly stating it has nuclear weapons, and it's walking out on any further talks on the matter.
Then there's Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iran with a nuclear weapon would be a very destabilizing force in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: More tough words on Tehran. This morning Barbara Starr looks at the realities of waging war in that country.
A dramatic rescue in the Atlantic, three fishermen saved with no time to lose.
And the long wait is over, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker- Bowles getting married. A royal announcement, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Morning, everyone. 7:00 here in New York. A busy news morning.
Good morning to you.
O'BRIEN: Good morning.
HEMMER: And a lot to cover, too. A developing story about the pope today. Pope John Paul II said to be leaving the hospital today, after his 10-day stay there. The Vatican says the papal spokesman saying he has been cured of any breathing problems and we'll have much more on the pope's recovery, and CNN Vatican analyst John Allen our guest later this morning. We'll talk to John again this morning on that.
O'BRIEN: Cured is sort of an interesting word to use there. We'll talk about that.
Also this morning, the judge in the Michael Jackson trial releasing the answers to an eight-page jury questionnaire on the attitudes of possible jury members. What are the answers and the questions as well revealed? We'll talk with Jeff Toobin about that.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty, what's on your mind this morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: We've got this wedding thing going on over there in England apparently. In a few minutes, we're going to talk to my friend Richard Quest about the announcement this morning that Prince Charles is going to marry his longtime "friend" -- put that in quotation marks -- Camilla Parker-Bowles. Did you know that legend has it over there that she actually helped him find a suitable wife back when he was getting married to Lady Diana, that she had a role in that, and that Prince Charles proposed to Lady Diana in Camilla Parker-Bowles vegetable garden. These are the things you probably don't need to know, except on a day like today.
HEMMER: Who could forget Diana's wedding? What an affair that was.
CAFFERTY: Or Camilla's vegetable garden. We'll talk to Richard in a minute.
HEMMER: More on the tomatoes. Thank you, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
Let's get right to the headlines now. Carol Costello at the Time Warner Center this morning for us.
Hey, Carol. Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Jack sounds like a correspondent for "The National Enquirer." That was impressive.
Thank you, Soledad.
Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, Iraq announcing this morning it will close its borders for five days starting next week. The office of the prime minister saying the move intended to, quote, "enhance the security of Iraqi citizens." In the meantime, two car bombs exploded in separate incidents this morning, in and near Baghdad. Three people killed in one of those attacks.
There is word a mosque established by a former NBA star, Hakeem Olajuwon, has been linked to terror groups. Tax records show a Texas mosque that Olajuwon set up and gave more than $80,000 to has been labeled by the government to be fronts for the terror groups al Qaeda and Hamas. Olajuwon tells the Associated Press he would not have given the money had he known of the alleged terror connection. We should point out Olajuwon is not under investigation.
In Utah, some 1,500 people in the Salt Lake City area are waiting to return home this morning. They were evacuated last night after a butane tanker truck collided with a van, sparking this massive. The van driver is reported in serious but stable condition. No other related injuries were reported. And out in California, a 14-year-old girl is recovering from minor injuries after falling 40 feet down the side of a cliff. These pictures show the amazing rescue, a firefighter lifting the girl into a harness, and then pulling her up from a line dangling from a helicopter. The girl was apparently hiking when she simply slid down the cliff. Wow. She's safe and sound this morning though.
HEMMER: Good to hear.
Carol, thanks for that. See you a bit later this morning over here.
In the meantime, North Korea has publicly admitted it has nuclear weapons. The North Korean foreign ministry saying that because of U.S. hostility, it will drop out of six-nation talks and it said will, quote, "bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal and manufacture nukes for self-defense," end quote. At the same time, Iran's president says its country will never give up its nuclear program. He says they are not building weapons. Mohammad Khatami is responding to remarks made yesterday by President Bush, and reiterated today by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, still touring in Europe.
The White House is facing a serious diplomatic challenge this morning. Let's pick things up there with Suzanne Malveaux.
Good morning, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
U.S. officials now are trying to examine exactly what these statements mean. They're analyzing them. They're also consulting with other members of the six-party talks. That is Russia, China, Japan as well, South Korea. The statement from North Korea earlier today saying, in part, "The U.S. disclosed its attempt to topple the political system in North Korea at any cost, threatening it with a nuclear stick. This compels us to take a measure to bolster our nuclear weapons arsenal in order to protect the ideologies, system, freedom and democracy chosen by the people of North Korea.
Now of course U.S. diplomats have heard this before. It is not the first time they have actually walked away from these six-party talks. It's not the first time that they've actually used this kind of colorful and even provocative language. So they're trying to figure out what this means. But it is the first time that North Korea has explicitly and publicly admitted to having a nuclear weapons program. They admitted it privately before.
Now the Bush administration has been involved in these multiparty talks, but North Korea wants to engage the United States one-on-one, face-to-face. President Bush has refused to do so, so far. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her last leg of the European trip responded to North Korea's statements and explained why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECY. OF STATE: This is an unfortunate move, especially probably for the people of North Korea, because it only deepens the North Korea isolation from the rest of the international community. It's very clear that all responsible members of the international community, and most especially North Korea's neighbors, support the six-party framework as a way to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.
The six-party talks have given to the North Koreans an opportunity to find a different path than they're on with the international community. It has given them an alternative to continued isolation.
The North Koreans have been told by the president of the United States himself that the United States has no intention to attack or invade North Korea. The North Koreans have been told they can have security assurances on a multilateral basis. Those security assurances would, of course, include the United States, if they are prepared to take a definitive decision to dismantle their nuclear weapons programs and to do so in a way that is verifiable. So there is a path ahead for the North Koreans that would put them into a more reasonable relationship with the rest of the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, Bill, of course, this also comes at a critical time between U.S. and Iranian relations. Really, there have been loud pronouncements not only from the president, but also the vice president and Secretary Rice for it to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Now Iran has said and insisted that their nuclear program is only for energy production, but the U.S. has threatened that if these diplomatic measures do not work, that what they're going to do is refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, so they can international impose sanctions -- Bill.
HEMMER: Suzanne Malveaux, this hour at the White House. Thanks for that. We'll talk with Wendy Sherman more on this next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
But for now, back to Soledad across the room.
O'BRIEN: All right, thanks, Bill.
Today in Iran, in fact, ceremonies are marking the 26th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution. And as we heard from Suzanne just moments ago, at a rally, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said his nation will give up its nuclear program, despite calls to do so from Europe and the United States.
For now, U.S. officials are pursuing diplomatic means with Tehran, but if they fail, and if it did in fact came to war, how would U.S. troops match up?
Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon for us this morning.
Good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Well, it is an unlikely event, but the U.S. does have, of course, hundreds of thousands of well-trained troops. What would happen if they faced the Iranians across the battlefield?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Iran's military has long made a show of training. Bold moves with land and air forces. The U.S. has thousands of troops it could send to invade Iran. How would they match up?
Top U.S. general facing the question of whether the Bush administration is planning for war. It is said just to be routine planning.
LT. GEN. LANCE SMITH, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND I haven't been called into any late-night meetings at, you know, 8:00 at night saying, holy cow, we've got to sit down and plan for Iran.
STARR: Iran has 540,000 troops, some 3,000 tanks and armored vehicles, another 3,000 artillery weapons and 300 combat aircraft. If there was a war, what threat would Iranian forces pose?
KENNETH KATZMAN, CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE: The Iranian military is not particularly capable. It's using generally old equipment. Their training, their expertise is not that proficient.
STARR: Experts say while Iran may be able to threaten its neighbors and briefly shut down Persian Gulf shipping, it would be no match for the U.S. military, which believes Iran would be unable to sustain a fight.
Experts say there are more than 100,000 revolutionary guard troops, but the rest are conscripts, poorly trained without high motivation. The Air Force also has Russian and old U.S. fighters, but pilots have minimal proficiency.
But could the U.S. military, already stretched thin in Iraq and Afghanistan, really ever, if ordered, invade Iran as it did in Iraq?
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You don't truly control, any land, any capital, any regime unless you puts troops on ground. And so if you go to that phase, it would require a robust capability from our military.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: But what the generals at the Pentagon say is they know that the Iranians are watching U.S. operations across the border in Iraq very closely. What they are concerned about is that the Iranians are trying to learn what they can about U.S. tactics against terrorists and insurgency movements, something they are watching very closely here at the Pentagon -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr, at the Pentagon for us this morning. Barbara, thanks.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Three fishermen safe today after a daring Coast Guard rescue in the frigid Atlantic. Yesterday afternoon, they radioed a mayday, saying their boat was sinking 45 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. A Coast Guard helicopter came and plucked them from their life raft. The incident hit close to home for one of the fishermen. His brother died in the Andrea Gale. That was the fishing boat that inspired the movie "The Perfect Storm."
Next hour, we'll speak with the three fisherman about the ordeal and how lucky they are, and they've got a story to tell, so we'll get to that.
O'BRIEN: That's pretty remarkable.
Big news overnight for the royals. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles are ready to take the plunge, we're told. We're going to go across the pond to Richard Quest this morning.
HEMMER: Also a revealing look at the people who could control the fate of Michael Jackson. Can potential jurors be fair when dozens may actually know him? We'll look at that, as well, still to come this hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, live in New York City.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Jack's back now with more on the surprise announcement from Britain's Prince Charles. It crossed, what, about two hours ago, I think?
CAFFERTY: Yes, something like that. The heir to the British throne is going to marry his longtime partner -- there's an interesting word, "partner" -- Camilla Parker-Bowles. The wedding to take place on April 8th. The queen has blessed the couple, saying she's very happy that they will marry. They have been living together, so she's probably relieved they're finally going to make it legit, you know what I mean.
Prince Charles and Parker-Bowles will be married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle.
And CNN's Richard Quest is live in front of Buckingham Palace, which is as close as they'll let him get to that building, with more on this momentous announcement that's got them all a-twitter over there in the British Isles.
Good morning, my friend.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Jack. I refuse to let you poor cold water on this royal wedding announcement this morning.
Well, you know, let's face it, there is to be a wedding, and I agree, it is a controversial wedding, and probably the British nation is pretty split over whether it should go ahead.
But one thing we know this morning, Jack, is that there will be no Queen Camilla. And she will become after the marriage "her royal highness." So she gets that part of the title. The Duchess of Cornwall, because Charles is also the Duke of Cornwall. And then when Charles becomes king after the queen passes on, then she becomes the prince's consort.
So what we have here for those of us that take a great interest, this is a fascinating example, Jack, of the new and the traditional, a way of being acceptable, a way of turning things around that will allow Charles, who's always said his relationship with Camilla is nonnegotiable, to finally get wed.
CAFFERTY: What about the Church of England, Richard? Both of these people are divorced. For many Anglicans, divorce is an issue. In the event that the prince becomes the king, he also becomes the head of the church. Is that going to be any kind of a problem going forward? Or do they do like they do in this country, when the people are famous enough, they kind of figure out a way around it?
QUEST: I'm afraid that's exactly what they've done. There was no chance necessarily of them actually getting wed in a church. So as you say, they've found a way around it. There will be a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle, and then they will be blessed. Listen to the phrase. It's been called "a service of prayer and dedication" by the archbishop of Canterbury, Roan Williamson (ph), and he basically will have this service after they've already been married.
He has said -- and remember the Church of England, Charles is head of the church -- they're walking this very, very delicate balance. He's said he's pleased that the parties have decided to take this important step, and that they will provide a source of comfort and strength to each other.
So you're right, Jack, there were no easy answers for Charles and Camilla once they decided to get wed. What they've done is come up with this interesting halfway house -- prince's consort, services of prayer and dedication. And finally now they have to hope that the British people will sign up to it all.
CAFFERTY: What do you know about this common conventional wisdom that Camilla Parker-Bowles actually helped Prince Charles find an acceptable wife back when he was courting Lady Diana, and that he proposed to Diana in Camilla Parker-Bowles vegetable garden? I want to track this fact down and see if we can get this thing verified. This is important stuff.
QUEST: All right. The second bit isn't true. The second bit you can forget about that bit. I know that is not where he proposed. It was at somebody's country home where they finally proposed. It had nothing to do with that.
The first bit, there's a grain of truth. I'm not going to let you get scurrilous on this, Jack. There is a grain of truth in it, that Camilla Parker-Bowles felt that Princess Diana was the right woman, and basically said to him. But don't forget, when that happened, she was already married to Colonel Parker-Bowles. So it wasn't like, you know, she was doing something untoward, as you're suggesting.
CAFFERTY: Yes, Heaven forbid. None of that stuff ever happens.
Richard, it's a pleasure to talk to you, my friend. Thanks for the report. Big story over there, big story over here.
The question of the day actually has to do with the announcement of the impending nuptials. Should Camilla Parker-Bowles be the next queen of England? If he's going to be the next queen -- king, excuse me, if he's going to be the next king, why shouldn't she be the next queen?
HEMMER: And if she's not the next queen, who is? Who's next in line.
CAFFERTY: I guess there wouldn't be any. I don't know, unless one of those Nazi shirt-wearing kids of his gets married or something.
HEMMER: It's only 7:20.
CAFFERTY: I wonder how she gets along with the boys.
HEMMER: They first in 1999, only six years ago.
CAFFERTY: The boys, yes?
I wonder how she reacted to that picture of him in that storm trooper shirt. A lot of unanswered questions. I love the vegetable garden.
O'BRIEN: Shot down though, but a good story nonetheless.
CAFFERTY: It is a good story.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
Pope John Paul II is expected to go home from the hospital today, but will it put out the firestorm that's been created now by a top Vatican official? We'll take you live to Rome, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The Vatican says pope John Paul II will go home later today. News of the pope's release from the hospital comes just a day after the pontiff was unable to preside over Ash Wednesday services at St. Peter's Basilica, the first in his papacy.
CNN's Vatican analyst John Allen is in Rome for us this morning.
Hey, John, good morning to you.
The pope going home. The Vatican spokesperson saying that his throat problems were cured. I thought that was kind of an interesting word.
JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Yes, Soledad. Well, you know, the Vatican is notoriously parsimonious with information about the pope's health, and that was the case again this morning. What we're told is that that crisis of the larynx, or his voice box, that caused the hospitalization has been taken care of, that his general conditions continue to improve, they say, and that he'll be back in the Vatican, and within short order, should resume his normal activities.
Of course we should not that beginning Sunday night, the pope and the senior officials in the Vatican will be on retreat for Lent. So for about another week, we're probably not going to see very much of them for a week.
O'BRIEN: Resuming duties, but no one's actually going to get a look at him.
The issue I suppose, John, is that in the past, popes have either recovered fully, or frankly, they've died. And now the technology exists to keep a pope who could be severely incapacitated alive.
Here's what Cardinal Angelo Soldano had to say the other day. He said, "Let's leave this hypothesis about whether the pope should step down up to the pope's conscience. We must have great faith in the pope. He knows what to do." What's been the reaction after this?
ALLEN: Well, I think the public reaction has been to fuel, once again, speculation about the idea that the pope might resign. You know, I've been through a lot of these papal health crises. And the truth is, every time the pope catches cold, this conversation comes up. I think within the Vatican, there's probably a lot less conversation about that, simply because this is one of those judgment calls that ultimately is in the pope's hands personally. And he's made his mind on the subject pretty clear. In a number of public indications, he said he has no indication of taking himself out of the game.
O'BRIEN: Yes, but I guess there's a provision, of course, obviously for what happens next if he dies, but there is no provision if he is so incapacitated he wouldn't be in a condition necessarily to take himself out of the game. I mean, how much would you say percentagewise is he fully with it and healthy, and how much of the time is he not?
ALLEN: Well, I'll tell you, like a lot of elderly people with a complicated medical history, John Paul has good and bad days. I mean, I think we should say that all the indications are that he continues to be mentally lucid.
But you know, the truth is that his time on task, that is the amount of time in any given day he can actually spend governing is pretty limited, and has been for sometime. No doubt will be even more limited after this crisis. And so this conversation about whether it's healthy for the church to have a pope in that situation is going to go on. Some say he ought to step aside and let someone more youthful and vigorous take over. Others say that he is providing a precious testimony to the world that even a old person and a sick person can continue to have value, and I expect that's a conversation that we're going to be living with from now and until the end.
O'BRIEN: Are the cardinals looking at potential successors, sort of a fill-in pope if the pope should in fact step down and sort of resign?
ALLEN: Well, look, there is no such thing as a fill-in pope. In the Catholic system, there's no vice pope. I mean, you either are pope or you're not. It's a little bit like being pregnant. But you know, If the question is, are they looking around at those 119 cardinals who are under 80 and therefore eligible to become pope and asking which one among them might be able to step into the shoes of the fisherman, as we say, sure. That conversation is going on, not out loud, of course, because there's actually a law in the Catholic Church against discussing the succession while the pope is alive. But behind closed doors and over dinner, I obviously, the cardinals are thinking about it. As one told me just yesterday, this is a choice we dare not get wrong.
O'BRIEN: I think that's perfect way of phrasing it.
John Allen, CNN's Vatican analyst for us this morning -- Soledad.
Nice to see you, John. Thank you.
ALLEN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Soledad, Hewlett Packard's CEO is out of a job, but she's taking a bundle with her when she leaves. With that and a check of the marks early now, here's Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business." Good morning to you. And first the markets from yesterday, good or bad.
SERWER: That's right, I mean, topic A yesterday. Well, they weren't so good. Topic A, of course, was the story of Carly Fiorina leaving Hewlett-Packard, the CEO; the board forcing her out. That made Hewlett-Packard's stock go up. We'll talk about that in a second.
First of all, the overall market did decline yesterday. Hangover from Cisco Systems results the night before, which were none too good in terms of what Wall Street was anticipating.
Today, futures are up a little bit. And Dell reports after the bell.
Carly Fiorina's situation all the buzz. Hewlett Packard's stock up. The anticipation was that a new CEO would come in and change direction of the company, possibly break the company up. You know, the board forced her out. They were disappointed in her performance.
Still, she walks away with $21 million in compensation. Now, that sounds like a lot of money for a job not well done. However, it's actually less than some CEOs get in the situation, two and a half times annual salary and compensation. A lot of times get three times, so that's a little bit less. Also to be fair, Carly Fiorina did decline millions, up to about $10 million, Bill, of compensation over the past couple years when the company didn't meet performance levels. She was due this compensation, and she said, you know what, we're not making the grade, I'm not going to take it.
HEMMER: All right, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: We'll follow it. Talk to you later, about 15 minutes or so.
SERWER: Indeed.
HEMMER: Here's Soledad again.
O'BRIEN: All right, a short break and we'll be right back.
Ahead on a special edition of "90-Second Pop." It's Fashion Week in New York. So what's hot?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a lot about individual style.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: And what's not? The trends, the styles, from fur to bling. What designs will be big this fall. That's later on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired February 10, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A first for North Korea, publicly stating it has nuclear weapons, and it's walking out on any further talks on the matter.
Then there's Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iran with a nuclear weapon would be a very destabilizing force in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: More tough words on Tehran. This morning Barbara Starr looks at the realities of waging war in that country.
A dramatic rescue in the Atlantic, three fishermen saved with no time to lose.
And the long wait is over, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker- Bowles getting married. A royal announcement, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Morning, everyone. 7:00 here in New York. A busy news morning.
Good morning to you.
O'BRIEN: Good morning.
HEMMER: And a lot to cover, too. A developing story about the pope today. Pope John Paul II said to be leaving the hospital today, after his 10-day stay there. The Vatican says the papal spokesman saying he has been cured of any breathing problems and we'll have much more on the pope's recovery, and CNN Vatican analyst John Allen our guest later this morning. We'll talk to John again this morning on that.
O'BRIEN: Cured is sort of an interesting word to use there. We'll talk about that.
Also this morning, the judge in the Michael Jackson trial releasing the answers to an eight-page jury questionnaire on the attitudes of possible jury members. What are the answers and the questions as well revealed? We'll talk with Jeff Toobin about that.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty, what's on your mind this morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: We've got this wedding thing going on over there in England apparently. In a few minutes, we're going to talk to my friend Richard Quest about the announcement this morning that Prince Charles is going to marry his longtime "friend" -- put that in quotation marks -- Camilla Parker-Bowles. Did you know that legend has it over there that she actually helped him find a suitable wife back when he was getting married to Lady Diana, that she had a role in that, and that Prince Charles proposed to Lady Diana in Camilla Parker-Bowles vegetable garden. These are the things you probably don't need to know, except on a day like today.
HEMMER: Who could forget Diana's wedding? What an affair that was.
CAFFERTY: Or Camilla's vegetable garden. We'll talk to Richard in a minute.
HEMMER: More on the tomatoes. Thank you, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
Let's get right to the headlines now. Carol Costello at the Time Warner Center this morning for us.
Hey, Carol. Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Jack sounds like a correspondent for "The National Enquirer." That was impressive.
Thank you, Soledad.
Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, Iraq announcing this morning it will close its borders for five days starting next week. The office of the prime minister saying the move intended to, quote, "enhance the security of Iraqi citizens." In the meantime, two car bombs exploded in separate incidents this morning, in and near Baghdad. Three people killed in one of those attacks.
There is word a mosque established by a former NBA star, Hakeem Olajuwon, has been linked to terror groups. Tax records show a Texas mosque that Olajuwon set up and gave more than $80,000 to has been labeled by the government to be fronts for the terror groups al Qaeda and Hamas. Olajuwon tells the Associated Press he would not have given the money had he known of the alleged terror connection. We should point out Olajuwon is not under investigation.
In Utah, some 1,500 people in the Salt Lake City area are waiting to return home this morning. They were evacuated last night after a butane tanker truck collided with a van, sparking this massive. The van driver is reported in serious but stable condition. No other related injuries were reported. And out in California, a 14-year-old girl is recovering from minor injuries after falling 40 feet down the side of a cliff. These pictures show the amazing rescue, a firefighter lifting the girl into a harness, and then pulling her up from a line dangling from a helicopter. The girl was apparently hiking when she simply slid down the cliff. Wow. She's safe and sound this morning though.
HEMMER: Good to hear.
Carol, thanks for that. See you a bit later this morning over here.
In the meantime, North Korea has publicly admitted it has nuclear weapons. The North Korean foreign ministry saying that because of U.S. hostility, it will drop out of six-nation talks and it said will, quote, "bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal and manufacture nukes for self-defense," end quote. At the same time, Iran's president says its country will never give up its nuclear program. He says they are not building weapons. Mohammad Khatami is responding to remarks made yesterday by President Bush, and reiterated today by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, still touring in Europe.
The White House is facing a serious diplomatic challenge this morning. Let's pick things up there with Suzanne Malveaux.
Good morning, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
U.S. officials now are trying to examine exactly what these statements mean. They're analyzing them. They're also consulting with other members of the six-party talks. That is Russia, China, Japan as well, South Korea. The statement from North Korea earlier today saying, in part, "The U.S. disclosed its attempt to topple the political system in North Korea at any cost, threatening it with a nuclear stick. This compels us to take a measure to bolster our nuclear weapons arsenal in order to protect the ideologies, system, freedom and democracy chosen by the people of North Korea.
Now of course U.S. diplomats have heard this before. It is not the first time they have actually walked away from these six-party talks. It's not the first time that they've actually used this kind of colorful and even provocative language. So they're trying to figure out what this means. But it is the first time that North Korea has explicitly and publicly admitted to having a nuclear weapons program. They admitted it privately before.
Now the Bush administration has been involved in these multiparty talks, but North Korea wants to engage the United States one-on-one, face-to-face. President Bush has refused to do so, so far. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her last leg of the European trip responded to North Korea's statements and explained why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECY. OF STATE: This is an unfortunate move, especially probably for the people of North Korea, because it only deepens the North Korea isolation from the rest of the international community. It's very clear that all responsible members of the international community, and most especially North Korea's neighbors, support the six-party framework as a way to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.
The six-party talks have given to the North Koreans an opportunity to find a different path than they're on with the international community. It has given them an alternative to continued isolation.
The North Koreans have been told by the president of the United States himself that the United States has no intention to attack or invade North Korea. The North Koreans have been told they can have security assurances on a multilateral basis. Those security assurances would, of course, include the United States, if they are prepared to take a definitive decision to dismantle their nuclear weapons programs and to do so in a way that is verifiable. So there is a path ahead for the North Koreans that would put them into a more reasonable relationship with the rest of the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, Bill, of course, this also comes at a critical time between U.S. and Iranian relations. Really, there have been loud pronouncements not only from the president, but also the vice president and Secretary Rice for it to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Now Iran has said and insisted that their nuclear program is only for energy production, but the U.S. has threatened that if these diplomatic measures do not work, that what they're going to do is refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, so they can international impose sanctions -- Bill.
HEMMER: Suzanne Malveaux, this hour at the White House. Thanks for that. We'll talk with Wendy Sherman more on this next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
But for now, back to Soledad across the room.
O'BRIEN: All right, thanks, Bill.
Today in Iran, in fact, ceremonies are marking the 26th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution. And as we heard from Suzanne just moments ago, at a rally, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said his nation will give up its nuclear program, despite calls to do so from Europe and the United States.
For now, U.S. officials are pursuing diplomatic means with Tehran, but if they fail, and if it did in fact came to war, how would U.S. troops match up?
Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon for us this morning.
Good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Well, it is an unlikely event, but the U.S. does have, of course, hundreds of thousands of well-trained troops. What would happen if they faced the Iranians across the battlefield?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Iran's military has long made a show of training. Bold moves with land and air forces. The U.S. has thousands of troops it could send to invade Iran. How would they match up?
Top U.S. general facing the question of whether the Bush administration is planning for war. It is said just to be routine planning.
LT. GEN. LANCE SMITH, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND I haven't been called into any late-night meetings at, you know, 8:00 at night saying, holy cow, we've got to sit down and plan for Iran.
STARR: Iran has 540,000 troops, some 3,000 tanks and armored vehicles, another 3,000 artillery weapons and 300 combat aircraft. If there was a war, what threat would Iranian forces pose?
KENNETH KATZMAN, CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE: The Iranian military is not particularly capable. It's using generally old equipment. Their training, their expertise is not that proficient.
STARR: Experts say while Iran may be able to threaten its neighbors and briefly shut down Persian Gulf shipping, it would be no match for the U.S. military, which believes Iran would be unable to sustain a fight.
Experts say there are more than 100,000 revolutionary guard troops, but the rest are conscripts, poorly trained without high motivation. The Air Force also has Russian and old U.S. fighters, but pilots have minimal proficiency.
But could the U.S. military, already stretched thin in Iraq and Afghanistan, really ever, if ordered, invade Iran as it did in Iraq?
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You don't truly control, any land, any capital, any regime unless you puts troops on ground. And so if you go to that phase, it would require a robust capability from our military.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: But what the generals at the Pentagon say is they know that the Iranians are watching U.S. operations across the border in Iraq very closely. What they are concerned about is that the Iranians are trying to learn what they can about U.S. tactics against terrorists and insurgency movements, something they are watching very closely here at the Pentagon -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr, at the Pentagon for us this morning. Barbara, thanks.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Three fishermen safe today after a daring Coast Guard rescue in the frigid Atlantic. Yesterday afternoon, they radioed a mayday, saying their boat was sinking 45 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. A Coast Guard helicopter came and plucked them from their life raft. The incident hit close to home for one of the fishermen. His brother died in the Andrea Gale. That was the fishing boat that inspired the movie "The Perfect Storm."
Next hour, we'll speak with the three fisherman about the ordeal and how lucky they are, and they've got a story to tell, so we'll get to that.
O'BRIEN: That's pretty remarkable.
Big news overnight for the royals. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles are ready to take the plunge, we're told. We're going to go across the pond to Richard Quest this morning.
HEMMER: Also a revealing look at the people who could control the fate of Michael Jackson. Can potential jurors be fair when dozens may actually know him? We'll look at that, as well, still to come this hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, live in New York City.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Jack's back now with more on the surprise announcement from Britain's Prince Charles. It crossed, what, about two hours ago, I think?
CAFFERTY: Yes, something like that. The heir to the British throne is going to marry his longtime partner -- there's an interesting word, "partner" -- Camilla Parker-Bowles. The wedding to take place on April 8th. The queen has blessed the couple, saying she's very happy that they will marry. They have been living together, so she's probably relieved they're finally going to make it legit, you know what I mean.
Prince Charles and Parker-Bowles will be married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle.
And CNN's Richard Quest is live in front of Buckingham Palace, which is as close as they'll let him get to that building, with more on this momentous announcement that's got them all a-twitter over there in the British Isles.
Good morning, my friend.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Jack. I refuse to let you poor cold water on this royal wedding announcement this morning.
Well, you know, let's face it, there is to be a wedding, and I agree, it is a controversial wedding, and probably the British nation is pretty split over whether it should go ahead.
But one thing we know this morning, Jack, is that there will be no Queen Camilla. And she will become after the marriage "her royal highness." So she gets that part of the title. The Duchess of Cornwall, because Charles is also the Duke of Cornwall. And then when Charles becomes king after the queen passes on, then she becomes the prince's consort.
So what we have here for those of us that take a great interest, this is a fascinating example, Jack, of the new and the traditional, a way of being acceptable, a way of turning things around that will allow Charles, who's always said his relationship with Camilla is nonnegotiable, to finally get wed.
CAFFERTY: What about the Church of England, Richard? Both of these people are divorced. For many Anglicans, divorce is an issue. In the event that the prince becomes the king, he also becomes the head of the church. Is that going to be any kind of a problem going forward? Or do they do like they do in this country, when the people are famous enough, they kind of figure out a way around it?
QUEST: I'm afraid that's exactly what they've done. There was no chance necessarily of them actually getting wed in a church. So as you say, they've found a way around it. There will be a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle, and then they will be blessed. Listen to the phrase. It's been called "a service of prayer and dedication" by the archbishop of Canterbury, Roan Williamson (ph), and he basically will have this service after they've already been married.
He has said -- and remember the Church of England, Charles is head of the church -- they're walking this very, very delicate balance. He's said he's pleased that the parties have decided to take this important step, and that they will provide a source of comfort and strength to each other.
So you're right, Jack, there were no easy answers for Charles and Camilla once they decided to get wed. What they've done is come up with this interesting halfway house -- prince's consort, services of prayer and dedication. And finally now they have to hope that the British people will sign up to it all.
CAFFERTY: What do you know about this common conventional wisdom that Camilla Parker-Bowles actually helped Prince Charles find an acceptable wife back when he was courting Lady Diana, and that he proposed to Diana in Camilla Parker-Bowles vegetable garden? I want to track this fact down and see if we can get this thing verified. This is important stuff.
QUEST: All right. The second bit isn't true. The second bit you can forget about that bit. I know that is not where he proposed. It was at somebody's country home where they finally proposed. It had nothing to do with that.
The first bit, there's a grain of truth. I'm not going to let you get scurrilous on this, Jack. There is a grain of truth in it, that Camilla Parker-Bowles felt that Princess Diana was the right woman, and basically said to him. But don't forget, when that happened, she was already married to Colonel Parker-Bowles. So it wasn't like, you know, she was doing something untoward, as you're suggesting.
CAFFERTY: Yes, Heaven forbid. None of that stuff ever happens.
Richard, it's a pleasure to talk to you, my friend. Thanks for the report. Big story over there, big story over here.
The question of the day actually has to do with the announcement of the impending nuptials. Should Camilla Parker-Bowles be the next queen of England? If he's going to be the next queen -- king, excuse me, if he's going to be the next king, why shouldn't she be the next queen?
HEMMER: And if she's not the next queen, who is? Who's next in line.
CAFFERTY: I guess there wouldn't be any. I don't know, unless one of those Nazi shirt-wearing kids of his gets married or something.
HEMMER: It's only 7:20.
CAFFERTY: I wonder how she gets along with the boys.
HEMMER: They first in 1999, only six years ago.
CAFFERTY: The boys, yes?
I wonder how she reacted to that picture of him in that storm trooper shirt. A lot of unanswered questions. I love the vegetable garden.
O'BRIEN: Shot down though, but a good story nonetheless.
CAFFERTY: It is a good story.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
Pope John Paul II is expected to go home from the hospital today, but will it put out the firestorm that's been created now by a top Vatican official? We'll take you live to Rome, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The Vatican says pope John Paul II will go home later today. News of the pope's release from the hospital comes just a day after the pontiff was unable to preside over Ash Wednesday services at St. Peter's Basilica, the first in his papacy.
CNN's Vatican analyst John Allen is in Rome for us this morning.
Hey, John, good morning to you.
The pope going home. The Vatican spokesperson saying that his throat problems were cured. I thought that was kind of an interesting word.
JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Yes, Soledad. Well, you know, the Vatican is notoriously parsimonious with information about the pope's health, and that was the case again this morning. What we're told is that that crisis of the larynx, or his voice box, that caused the hospitalization has been taken care of, that his general conditions continue to improve, they say, and that he'll be back in the Vatican, and within short order, should resume his normal activities.
Of course we should not that beginning Sunday night, the pope and the senior officials in the Vatican will be on retreat for Lent. So for about another week, we're probably not going to see very much of them for a week.
O'BRIEN: Resuming duties, but no one's actually going to get a look at him.
The issue I suppose, John, is that in the past, popes have either recovered fully, or frankly, they've died. And now the technology exists to keep a pope who could be severely incapacitated alive.
Here's what Cardinal Angelo Soldano had to say the other day. He said, "Let's leave this hypothesis about whether the pope should step down up to the pope's conscience. We must have great faith in the pope. He knows what to do." What's been the reaction after this?
ALLEN: Well, I think the public reaction has been to fuel, once again, speculation about the idea that the pope might resign. You know, I've been through a lot of these papal health crises. And the truth is, every time the pope catches cold, this conversation comes up. I think within the Vatican, there's probably a lot less conversation about that, simply because this is one of those judgment calls that ultimately is in the pope's hands personally. And he's made his mind on the subject pretty clear. In a number of public indications, he said he has no indication of taking himself out of the game.
O'BRIEN: Yes, but I guess there's a provision, of course, obviously for what happens next if he dies, but there is no provision if he is so incapacitated he wouldn't be in a condition necessarily to take himself out of the game. I mean, how much would you say percentagewise is he fully with it and healthy, and how much of the time is he not?
ALLEN: Well, I'll tell you, like a lot of elderly people with a complicated medical history, John Paul has good and bad days. I mean, I think we should say that all the indications are that he continues to be mentally lucid.
But you know, the truth is that his time on task, that is the amount of time in any given day he can actually spend governing is pretty limited, and has been for sometime. No doubt will be even more limited after this crisis. And so this conversation about whether it's healthy for the church to have a pope in that situation is going to go on. Some say he ought to step aside and let someone more youthful and vigorous take over. Others say that he is providing a precious testimony to the world that even a old person and a sick person can continue to have value, and I expect that's a conversation that we're going to be living with from now and until the end.
O'BRIEN: Are the cardinals looking at potential successors, sort of a fill-in pope if the pope should in fact step down and sort of resign?
ALLEN: Well, look, there is no such thing as a fill-in pope. In the Catholic system, there's no vice pope. I mean, you either are pope or you're not. It's a little bit like being pregnant. But you know, If the question is, are they looking around at those 119 cardinals who are under 80 and therefore eligible to become pope and asking which one among them might be able to step into the shoes of the fisherman, as we say, sure. That conversation is going on, not out loud, of course, because there's actually a law in the Catholic Church against discussing the succession while the pope is alive. But behind closed doors and over dinner, I obviously, the cardinals are thinking about it. As one told me just yesterday, this is a choice we dare not get wrong.
O'BRIEN: I think that's perfect way of phrasing it.
John Allen, CNN's Vatican analyst for us this morning -- Soledad.
Nice to see you, John. Thank you.
ALLEN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Soledad, Hewlett Packard's CEO is out of a job, but she's taking a bundle with her when she leaves. With that and a check of the marks early now, here's Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business." Good morning to you. And first the markets from yesterday, good or bad.
SERWER: That's right, I mean, topic A yesterday. Well, they weren't so good. Topic A, of course, was the story of Carly Fiorina leaving Hewlett-Packard, the CEO; the board forcing her out. That made Hewlett-Packard's stock go up. We'll talk about that in a second.
First of all, the overall market did decline yesterday. Hangover from Cisco Systems results the night before, which were none too good in terms of what Wall Street was anticipating.
Today, futures are up a little bit. And Dell reports after the bell.
Carly Fiorina's situation all the buzz. Hewlett Packard's stock up. The anticipation was that a new CEO would come in and change direction of the company, possibly break the company up. You know, the board forced her out. They were disappointed in her performance.
Still, she walks away with $21 million in compensation. Now, that sounds like a lot of money for a job not well done. However, it's actually less than some CEOs get in the situation, two and a half times annual salary and compensation. A lot of times get three times, so that's a little bit less. Also to be fair, Carly Fiorina did decline millions, up to about $10 million, Bill, of compensation over the past couple years when the company didn't meet performance levels. She was due this compensation, and she said, you know what, we're not making the grade, I'm not going to take it.
HEMMER: All right, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: We'll follow it. Talk to you later, about 15 minutes or so.
SERWER: Indeed.
HEMMER: Here's Soledad again.
O'BRIEN: All right, a short break and we'll be right back.
Ahead on a special edition of "90-Second Pop." It's Fashion Week in New York. So what's hot?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a lot about individual style.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: And what's not? The trends, the styles, from fur to bling. What designs will be big this fall. That's later on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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