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American Morning
Nuclear Threats; Iran: The Next Front?; A Royal Engagement
Aired February 10, 2005 - 8:59 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, everybody, from New York. 9:00 here on the East Coast. There's a lot to cover this hour. A nuclear weapons story out of North Korea.
Also the story from Iran. More warnings from the White House today. Barbara Starr is looking at the Iran question this hour. She'll talk to us about the cold, hard realities of what a war would be like if it were to occur with that country. We'll get to that in a moment with Barbara.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, Howard Dean. He was soundly beaten in the Democratic primaries last year. So why do Democrats want him to lead their party as national chairman? Jeff Greenfield is going to join us. He's been looking at that. He'll also talk about where the party could be heading under Dean.
HEMMER: All right. Back to Jack, too.
What's happening?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles are going to get hitched. We're going to check in with Richard Quest in a couple of minutes and find out if they plan to have children. Richard knows these things.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: We'll be doing that.
HEMMER: Just watching this thing on the wire. The sons now have said that they are delighted at the news. This thing was choreographed from the very beginning.
O'BRIEN: That's so warm and fuzzy there.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Great Britain. I'm so happy for them.
CAFFERTY: It is about time they legitimize this thing.
O'BRIEN: Yes. They've been living together for awhile, right?
CAFFERTY: They've been shacking up for years. Even back I think maybe when Diana was still in the picture.
HEMMER: Hey, now. O'BRIEN: Hey, now.
CAFFERTY: It's a long-running situation there. Called a trifecta down on the lower east side.
HEMMER: All right. Here's Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know what I'm wondering? Do you think they're registered at Crate and Barrel?
O'BRIEN: Absolutely. We should -- we'll get together and chip in and buy them a little something.
COSTELLO: I think that'd be nice. A nice duvet cover, perhaps.
CAFFERTY: Cracker Barrel.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Oh, I better get to the news headlines now.
"Now in the News." Pope John Paul II is being released from a Rome hospital today. The Vatican making that announcement just a few hours ago. The 84-year-old pontiff first checked into the hospital February 1st for breathing problems related to a respiratory infection. We'll hear more from an archbishop in Rome just ahead.
Iraq announcing this morning it will close its borders for five days starting next week. The office of the prime minister saying the move is intended to "enhance the security of Iraqi citizens."
In the meantime, at least three people have been killed in and around Baghdad in two separate car bomb attacks. Iraqi security forces say they have detained some two dozen people following those blasts.
President Bush is hitting two more states as he presses Congress to act on Social Security. At this hour, the president is set to travel to Raleigh, North Carolina, and then he will head to Philadelphia. His Social Security plan includes creating private retirement accounts, but some Democrats, as you know, are criticizing that proposal.
And in Utah, hundreds of people still forced outside of their homes this morning in the Salt Lake City area. They were evacuated after a butane tanker trailer crashed and burst into flames. Some 1,500 people were evacuated as a precaution. The van driver is reported in serious but stable condition. No other related injuries reported.
Back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Carol. Thanks.
The White House now facing two nuclear threats this morning, Iran, which says it will not be persuaded to end its nuclear program, and North Korea, which now publicly admits it has nuclear weapons and will pull out of disarmament talks.
To the White House, Suzanne Malveaux.
What are they saying there this morning, Suzanne? Good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, North Korea's comments of course attracting reaction across the world. We have heard from British as well as Russian officials saying that they are urging North Korea to go back to those six-party talks. I spoke with a senior administration official here at the White House who said that they have been very consistent, that the only way to move forward is with those six-party talks.
In the meantime, administration officials of course trying to figure out what these statements mean. They're also in consultations with other members of the six-party talks, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.
Now, U.S. diplomats have said that they've heard these kind of comments before, this kind of provocative language. It is not the first time that North Korea has stepped aside and said that they will not participate in the talks. But it is the first time that North Korea has been so explicit and so public in admitting that it does have a nuclear weapons program. And this is something, of course, they admitted privately but not publicly.
Now, the Bush administration has been engaged in these multi- party talks, but North Korea has wanted one-on-one, face-to-face meetings with Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush has refused to do so, so far. It has caused quite a bit of debate in Washington. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in her last leg of her European trip explained why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: 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 that 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 -- to dismantle their nuclear weapons programs and to do so in a way that is -- 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, of course this comes at a time when rhetoric between the United States and Iran has really heated up. The United States making very loud pronouncements from the president, from the vice president and Secretary Rice, all saying that it has to abandon its nuclear program. Iran saying that it is only used for energy production.
It is refusing to do that. But many people see here that perhaps North Korea is posturing itself, trying to put itself in a better negotiating position for when they do come back to those talks.
As far as Iran is concerned, the administration insists that the military option is not necessarily on the table. Rather, that they are looking to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council perhaps for economic sanctions -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Suzanne. A lot to follow there -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: When it comes to Iran's nuclear program, U.S. officials are, for now, as Suzanne mentioned, pursuing diplomatic means. But if diplomacy fails and if it did in fact come to war, how would U.S. troops match up?
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning.
Hey, Barbara. Good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Soledad.
Well, of course everyone knows that the United States military has hundreds of thousands of very well-trained troops. But what would happen in the unlikely event they face 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: So, Soledad, at the end of the day, the U.S. military remains prepared to do whatever it is ordered to do, but none of the options for Iran are ones the generals ever hope they have to activate -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Barbara, thanks.
Now let's talk a little bit more about the royal family.
CAFFERTY: Indeed. Thank you.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, a surprise announcement this morning that they're going to marry and make this long-running relationship legitimate. The civil ceremony will take place at Windsor Castle. The prince says he and his bride to be are absolutely delighted over this wedding. The queen said she's very happy.
With the news of the upcoming marriage, the church of England has managed to overlook the fact that they're both divorced. Her husband's still alive. They're going to work around all that. It's a sticky wicket, as they say in the isles.
CNN's Richard Quest joins us live now from in front of Buckingham Palace.
The burning question is, how soon might they start having children, Richard?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's eating away at you this, isn't it, Jack? You can't just let it be that there's a wedding taking place on April the 8th. And, by and large, those who are -- I mean, yes, the prime minister of Great Britain, the leader of the opposition, the archbishop of Canterbury, her majesty the queen, even probably a majority of the British people believe it was time for them to sort things out.
You could not have had King Charles with his live-in lover while he took the throne. They had to do something about this.
And what they have come up with, with this civil ceremony, she becomes the duchess of Cornwall, she then becomes the prince's consort. And there will be a service of prayer and dedication.
One thing, actually, we should note -- let me update you since I last spoke to you. We believe that tonight, 8:00 p.m. London time, about 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, we will see the happy couple, Jack, happy couple. And she will be showing us the engagement ring.
CAFFERTY: Well, there's something to look forward to. Thank you, Richard. Richard Quest reporting from Buckingham Palace in jolly old England.
HEMMER: That news surprise you at all today when it broke?
CAFFERTY: I don't care.
O'BRIEN: And he dodged the kid question, which is really the burning issue.
CAFFERTY: That is the burning issue. They should have a lot of little Camilla Parker Bowleses running around.
HEMMER: What is Prince Charles, 58?
CAFFERTY: I don't know. I don't know any of that.
O'BRIEN: At least.
CAFFERTY: I have so little interest in this story. I really do.
HEMMER: Here's Chad Myers now at the CNN Center watching the weather outside.
It's wet in the Northeast. Chad, good morning down there.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. Good morning, Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Chad, thanks for that.
His campaign crashed and burned. And now it looks like Howard Dean will end up leading Democrats after all. His success reveals growing division within the party. We'll explain that in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Also, the pope appears to leave the hospital, but is his latest illness really behind him? We'll take you live to Rome.
HEMMER: Also, the surprising book at the top of the president's reading list. It's got more in common with MTV's "Real World" than with foreign affairs, we are told. That's ahead also when we continue here, live in a rainy New York City, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Pope John Paul II will leave the hospital today. The Vatican says he is cured of his breathing problems. Archbishop John Foley in Rome this morning. Nice to see you, Archbishop. Thank you very much for talking to us. We certainly appreciate it.
I know you've been in pretty close contact with the pope. How is he doing now as he's on the verge of leaving the hospital?
ARCHBISHOP JOHN PATRICK FOLEY, VATICAN MEDIA OFFICE: Well, there's very good news. He's able to breathe, he's able to swallow, which, of course, he had trouble doing when he went into the hospital a little over a week ago. So it's very good news that he's coming home even before they expected, today, instead of over the weekend.
But tomorrow, as you may know, is sort of Vatican independence day. The 11th of February, the day of the Lateran Treaties, the day -- the anniversary of the day on which the treaty was signed recognizing the independence of Vatican City state. And it is also the day when they celebrate a special mass for the sick. So it's most appropriate for those two reasons that the pope is coming home this afternoon to be in the Vatican for tomorrow.
O'BRIEN: The pope missed, as we've been mentioning, the homily -- delivering the homily on Ash Wednesday. He hasn't missed that for some 26 years, his entire papacy. When do -- when is it expected that he's going to be able to get back to his fairly busy routine?
FOLEY: That I don't know. I know that there was the hope that he would be beatifying some people -- or canonizing them, rather, later this month. But I don't know what's been decided yet regarding that.
O'BRIEN: I think a lot of this latest illness has raised lots of questions and pointed out, or maybe underscored that there is really no formal succession -- no formal procedure for succession if indeed the pope becomes incapacitated. Is this something that now people are discussing, if not openly, at least behind closed doors to some degree about what to do now?
FOLEY: Well, of course Cardinal Sodano said that the pope himself, it's up to him whether he would decide that he can no longer continue or not. And you do have a precedent in history of a pope resigning. But I think the important thing here, is the pope able to do his work? And up until now he's been able to do that.
O'BRIEN: Do you think the pope would ever offer his resignation? I mean, he obviously is someone who, in spite of numerous hospital visits and numerous health problems, has really always kept a very grueling schedule and been very ambitious on that front.
FOLEY: He has done that, but he's done a number of interesting things. First of all, he approved the new code of canon law, which really admits the possibility of a pope resigning. And then he also approved the new norms for the election of the pope. So he is actively involved in making sure that there will be a very good succession, no matter what way that comes about.
O'BRIEN: We have spoken a lot about the pope's health in recent days, but we haven't really talked about his spirits. Tell me how he's doing sort of emotionally as he's been dealing with this health crisis.
FOLEY: Well, I understand he's been very good. I understand that he's even been joking with some people. And, of course, two children even got in to see him. And that, of course, really pleases him.
So they said his spirits have been very good. He's been very happy. And thank god he's able to get back home.
O'BRIEN: That's very nice news. And yes, of course, I think the pope, who everyone knows how much he loves small children, must have been a really nice thing for him to have some little visitors to his hospital room.
Archbishop Foley, nice to see you.
FOLEY: And the children in...
O'BRIEN: Go ahead.
FOLEY: The children in the hospital are hoping that he'll come to visit them. But we don't know whether that will be possible. Because on his other stays, he went to the children's ward. But whether that will be possible this time, I don't know.
O'BRIEN: It will be nice if...
FOLEY: He loves children and they love him.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's true. And it will be nice if he's actually feeling well enough to pull that off. Archbishop Foley, nice to see you. Thank you very much for talking with us.
FOLEY: All right. Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: About 18 minutes now past the hour.
If you were to guess what President Bush likes to read in his free time, you might think a political novel, which is why many were surprised to learn that the president is recommending Tom Wolfe's racy new novel "I Am Charlotte Simmons."
Friends of the President say he's a fan of Wolfe and has read all of his books. But what does he see in "I Am Charlotte Simmons"?
From L.A. this morning, our pop culture correspondent, Toure, joins us from there.
Good morning, Toure.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: And I love going from the pope to racy literature. That's so perfect. So, can you -- Bill, can you see President Bush curling up with fiction that has big sex scenes like, say "Lolita?" I don't think so. But it turns out that W. does read modern literature. And one of the president's favorite books right now is "I Am Charlotte Simmons," the latest from the great Tom Wolfe.
"I Am Charlotte Simmons" is about a freshman girl at an elite university and has got all the expected youthful debauchery, including Charlotte's chapter-long deflowering. Not sure how 43's conservative friends are going to feel about that one.
I recently stopped by Tom's beautiful apartment near Central Park in Manhattan and spoke with him about how it feels to know your book is being read on Air Force One. Here is some of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOURE: So apparently President Bush loves "I Am Charlotte Simmons." How did you find out?
TOM WOLFE, AUTHOR: Somebody mentioned it maybe Friday. They must have -- was it on "The Drudge Report" or something? But anyway, then I got a call from Elizabeth Bumelar (ph) of "The New York Times." And that was the first time I had any real confirmation of this floating rumor. And I was very pleased.
TOURE: I didn't think the president was into modern literature. You know, I thought he was a nonfiction guy. I didn't expect any fiction on his night table and there you are.
WOLFE: Well, I think in my little contact with him, he is far more savvy in such matters than he's given -- ever given credit for.
TOURE: But this is not a PG book. We've got a freshman girl who is deflowered, there's all sorts of expected college debauchery. I mean, you know, this is not what he's going to go to the red states and the Christian right and say, look what I'm reading.
WOLFE: Perhaps he would say, look, it's a cautionary tale. I mean, I just don't know.
TOURE: Certainly you also never dreamed that the book would end up on the night table in the president's residence.
WOLFE: That's true. I never -- on the other hand, I really hadn't -- I hadn't wondered either. I mean, I assume presidents have other things to do besides reading my novels.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TOURE: In case you're wondering, Tom Wolfe is a Bushy. He voted for W. twice and pulled the lever for Papa Bush twice.
Wolfe says it was Papa Bush who introduced W. to Wolfe. The 41st president once told Wolfe he loved "Bonfire of the Vanities," Wolfe's classic book which was made into a terrible movie. So presidential adulation is nothing new for Tom Wolfe.
HEMMER: It makes for good publicity, too, doesn't it, when we can talk about the president and the fact that he's reading your book? Hey, thanks, Toure. How did that alarm clock feel out there this morning on the West Coast?
TOURE: Oh my god.
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: We'll see you later, OK?
TOURE: All right. Thanks.
HEMMER: Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, as if karaoke isn't unnerving enough sometimes. What about watching folks do it naked? We're going to explain ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: We're just chitchatting with Jack this morning. Let's get right to the "Question of the Day."
CAFFERTY: There's questions, and then there's questions. I have the "Question of the Day," which is a rather mundane offering about the prince and his bride to be. She just asked me if I've ever been in prison. Now, there's a question.
HEMMER: What's the answer?
CAFFERTY: Well, I'm not telling you. Go look that up on Google. The answer -- the answer is no.
Queen Camilla was the -- was the debate this morning. Apparently they're going to call her Princess Consort, but she could be the queen if they went to parliament and got the stuff changed around, like they're getting the church to overlook the fact that they're both divorced. I mean, if you can get the church of England to look the other way, you can probably get parliament to do it, too.
But that's -- the question is whether or not she ought to be the queen. I mean, if he becomes the king, then she ought to be the queen, right? Maybe not.
Eric in Allentown, Pennsylvania, "We went through the Revolutionary War to get away from these people. Which imaginary useless title is bequeathed to which irritating inbred is so utterly irrelevant to my life I feel dirty just bothering to respond to the question."
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: Well done.
O'BRIEN: That's the best answer of the day.
CAFFERTY: Mel in New York, "I don't believe Camilla Parker Bowles would calmly be accepted as queen by crown matrimonial. The people of the U.K. already made a Queen Diana, even though she's gone. The proposed solution seems reasonable to me and should satisfy the sensibilities of most."
Donna in Chesapeake, Virginia, "Hell no. As a Brit living in the U.S. married to a U.S. Air Force officer, I always said I'd give up my British citizenship if Charles married Bowles and she became the queen."
And Stephanie in Columbia, South Carolina, "Jack, Jack, Jack, I could scare less if she could be queen. I do care if I'll be able to draw Social Security when I retire in 30 years. What has happened to you that you would even care about such a topic? My hero has fallen."
O'BRIEN: Oh.
HEMMER: Ooh, tell us about that.
CAFFERTY: About what?
HEMMER: Well, you chose this topic today.
CAFFERTY: I didn't choose this topic. Did I choose this topic? I don't know.
Somebody did. What about it? You don't like the topic. Have you ever been in prison? Let's talk about that.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: I was just making conversation.
CAFFERTY: She comes up here every day, nine times a morning for years and years. And one morning she goes, "Have you ever been in prison?"
HEMMER: Jail?
CAFFERTY: Now, that's a good question.
O'BRIEN: Well, first, I asked him the craziest thing he ever did. And he wouldn't answer. He just gave a look like "no comment."
CAFFERTY: No, you can't talk about that stuff. There was a time when I was a much younger man that, you know, I gave into certain impulses that I no longer fall prey to.
O'BRIEN: A topic for another file.
HEMMER: A sign of maturity, too. Well done.
CAFFERTY: That would be as far as we're going on that deal.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jack. Thank you.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: North Korea now ratcheting up the talk on nuclear weapons. But is there really any bite to back up the bark? New questions about the timing and the motives behind it all is ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Aired February 10, 2005 - 8:59 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, everybody, from New York. 9:00 here on the East Coast. There's a lot to cover this hour. A nuclear weapons story out of North Korea.
Also the story from Iran. More warnings from the White House today. Barbara Starr is looking at the Iran question this hour. She'll talk to us about the cold, hard realities of what a war would be like if it were to occur with that country. We'll get to that in a moment with Barbara.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, Howard Dean. He was soundly beaten in the Democratic primaries last year. So why do Democrats want him to lead their party as national chairman? Jeff Greenfield is going to join us. He's been looking at that. He'll also talk about where the party could be heading under Dean.
HEMMER: All right. Back to Jack, too.
What's happening?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles are going to get hitched. We're going to check in with Richard Quest in a couple of minutes and find out if they plan to have children. Richard knows these things.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: We'll be doing that.
HEMMER: Just watching this thing on the wire. The sons now have said that they are delighted at the news. This thing was choreographed from the very beginning.
O'BRIEN: That's so warm and fuzzy there.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Great Britain. I'm so happy for them.
CAFFERTY: It is about time they legitimize this thing.
O'BRIEN: Yes. They've been living together for awhile, right?
CAFFERTY: They've been shacking up for years. Even back I think maybe when Diana was still in the picture.
HEMMER: Hey, now. O'BRIEN: Hey, now.
CAFFERTY: It's a long-running situation there. Called a trifecta down on the lower east side.
HEMMER: All right. Here's Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know what I'm wondering? Do you think they're registered at Crate and Barrel?
O'BRIEN: Absolutely. We should -- we'll get together and chip in and buy them a little something.
COSTELLO: I think that'd be nice. A nice duvet cover, perhaps.
CAFFERTY: Cracker Barrel.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Oh, I better get to the news headlines now.
"Now in the News." Pope John Paul II is being released from a Rome hospital today. The Vatican making that announcement just a few hours ago. The 84-year-old pontiff first checked into the hospital February 1st for breathing problems related to a respiratory infection. We'll hear more from an archbishop in Rome just ahead.
Iraq announcing this morning it will close its borders for five days starting next week. The office of the prime minister saying the move is intended to "enhance the security of Iraqi citizens."
In the meantime, at least three people have been killed in and around Baghdad in two separate car bomb attacks. Iraqi security forces say they have detained some two dozen people following those blasts.
President Bush is hitting two more states as he presses Congress to act on Social Security. At this hour, the president is set to travel to Raleigh, North Carolina, and then he will head to Philadelphia. His Social Security plan includes creating private retirement accounts, but some Democrats, as you know, are criticizing that proposal.
And in Utah, hundreds of people still forced outside of their homes this morning in the Salt Lake City area. They were evacuated after a butane tanker trailer crashed and burst into flames. Some 1,500 people were evacuated as a precaution. The van driver is reported in serious but stable condition. No other related injuries reported.
Back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Carol. Thanks.
The White House now facing two nuclear threats this morning, Iran, which says it will not be persuaded to end its nuclear program, and North Korea, which now publicly admits it has nuclear weapons and will pull out of disarmament talks.
To the White House, Suzanne Malveaux.
What are they saying there this morning, Suzanne? Good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, North Korea's comments of course attracting reaction across the world. We have heard from British as well as Russian officials saying that they are urging North Korea to go back to those six-party talks. I spoke with a senior administration official here at the White House who said that they have been very consistent, that the only way to move forward is with those six-party talks.
In the meantime, administration officials of course trying to figure out what these statements mean. They're also in consultations with other members of the six-party talks, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.
Now, U.S. diplomats have said that they've heard these kind of comments before, this kind of provocative language. It is not the first time that North Korea has stepped aside and said that they will not participate in the talks. But it is the first time that North Korea has been so explicit and so public in admitting that it does have a nuclear weapons program. And this is something, of course, they admitted privately but not publicly.
Now, the Bush administration has been engaged in these multi- party talks, but North Korea has wanted one-on-one, face-to-face meetings with Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush has refused to do so, so far. It has caused quite a bit of debate in Washington. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in her last leg of her European trip explained why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: 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 that 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 -- to dismantle their nuclear weapons programs and to do so in a way that is -- 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, of course this comes at a time when rhetoric between the United States and Iran has really heated up. The United States making very loud pronouncements from the president, from the vice president and Secretary Rice, all saying that it has to abandon its nuclear program. Iran saying that it is only used for energy production.
It is refusing to do that. But many people see here that perhaps North Korea is posturing itself, trying to put itself in a better negotiating position for when they do come back to those talks.
As far as Iran is concerned, the administration insists that the military option is not necessarily on the table. Rather, that they are looking to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council perhaps for economic sanctions -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Suzanne. A lot to follow there -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: When it comes to Iran's nuclear program, U.S. officials are, for now, as Suzanne mentioned, pursuing diplomatic means. But if diplomacy fails and if it did in fact come to war, how would U.S. troops match up?
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning.
Hey, Barbara. Good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Soledad.
Well, of course everyone knows that the United States military has hundreds of thousands of very well-trained troops. But what would happen in the unlikely event they face 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: So, Soledad, at the end of the day, the U.S. military remains prepared to do whatever it is ordered to do, but none of the options for Iran are ones the generals ever hope they have to activate -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Barbara, thanks.
Now let's talk a little bit more about the royal family.
CAFFERTY: Indeed. Thank you.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, a surprise announcement this morning that they're going to marry and make this long-running relationship legitimate. The civil ceremony will take place at Windsor Castle. The prince says he and his bride to be are absolutely delighted over this wedding. The queen said she's very happy.
With the news of the upcoming marriage, the church of England has managed to overlook the fact that they're both divorced. Her husband's still alive. They're going to work around all that. It's a sticky wicket, as they say in the isles.
CNN's Richard Quest joins us live now from in front of Buckingham Palace.
The burning question is, how soon might they start having children, Richard?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's eating away at you this, isn't it, Jack? You can't just let it be that there's a wedding taking place on April the 8th. And, by and large, those who are -- I mean, yes, the prime minister of Great Britain, the leader of the opposition, the archbishop of Canterbury, her majesty the queen, even probably a majority of the British people believe it was time for them to sort things out.
You could not have had King Charles with his live-in lover while he took the throne. They had to do something about this.
And what they have come up with, with this civil ceremony, she becomes the duchess of Cornwall, she then becomes the prince's consort. And there will be a service of prayer and dedication.
One thing, actually, we should note -- let me update you since I last spoke to you. We believe that tonight, 8:00 p.m. London time, about 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, we will see the happy couple, Jack, happy couple. And she will be showing us the engagement ring.
CAFFERTY: Well, there's something to look forward to. Thank you, Richard. Richard Quest reporting from Buckingham Palace in jolly old England.
HEMMER: That news surprise you at all today when it broke?
CAFFERTY: I don't care.
O'BRIEN: And he dodged the kid question, which is really the burning issue.
CAFFERTY: That is the burning issue. They should have a lot of little Camilla Parker Bowleses running around.
HEMMER: What is Prince Charles, 58?
CAFFERTY: I don't know. I don't know any of that.
O'BRIEN: At least.
CAFFERTY: I have so little interest in this story. I really do.
HEMMER: Here's Chad Myers now at the CNN Center watching the weather outside.
It's wet in the Northeast. Chad, good morning down there.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. Good morning, Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Chad, thanks for that.
His campaign crashed and burned. And now it looks like Howard Dean will end up leading Democrats after all. His success reveals growing division within the party. We'll explain that in a moment.
O'BRIEN: Also, the pope appears to leave the hospital, but is his latest illness really behind him? We'll take you live to Rome.
HEMMER: Also, the surprising book at the top of the president's reading list. It's got more in common with MTV's "Real World" than with foreign affairs, we are told. That's ahead also when we continue here, live in a rainy New York City, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Pope John Paul II will leave the hospital today. The Vatican says he is cured of his breathing problems. Archbishop John Foley in Rome this morning. Nice to see you, Archbishop. Thank you very much for talking to us. We certainly appreciate it.
I know you've been in pretty close contact with the pope. How is he doing now as he's on the verge of leaving the hospital?
ARCHBISHOP JOHN PATRICK FOLEY, VATICAN MEDIA OFFICE: Well, there's very good news. He's able to breathe, he's able to swallow, which, of course, he had trouble doing when he went into the hospital a little over a week ago. So it's very good news that he's coming home even before they expected, today, instead of over the weekend.
But tomorrow, as you may know, is sort of Vatican independence day. The 11th of February, the day of the Lateran Treaties, the day -- the anniversary of the day on which the treaty was signed recognizing the independence of Vatican City state. And it is also the day when they celebrate a special mass for the sick. So it's most appropriate for those two reasons that the pope is coming home this afternoon to be in the Vatican for tomorrow.
O'BRIEN: The pope missed, as we've been mentioning, the homily -- delivering the homily on Ash Wednesday. He hasn't missed that for some 26 years, his entire papacy. When do -- when is it expected that he's going to be able to get back to his fairly busy routine?
FOLEY: That I don't know. I know that there was the hope that he would be beatifying some people -- or canonizing them, rather, later this month. But I don't know what's been decided yet regarding that.
O'BRIEN: I think a lot of this latest illness has raised lots of questions and pointed out, or maybe underscored that there is really no formal succession -- no formal procedure for succession if indeed the pope becomes incapacitated. Is this something that now people are discussing, if not openly, at least behind closed doors to some degree about what to do now?
FOLEY: Well, of course Cardinal Sodano said that the pope himself, it's up to him whether he would decide that he can no longer continue or not. And you do have a precedent in history of a pope resigning. But I think the important thing here, is the pope able to do his work? And up until now he's been able to do that.
O'BRIEN: Do you think the pope would ever offer his resignation? I mean, he obviously is someone who, in spite of numerous hospital visits and numerous health problems, has really always kept a very grueling schedule and been very ambitious on that front.
FOLEY: He has done that, but he's done a number of interesting things. First of all, he approved the new code of canon law, which really admits the possibility of a pope resigning. And then he also approved the new norms for the election of the pope. So he is actively involved in making sure that there will be a very good succession, no matter what way that comes about.
O'BRIEN: We have spoken a lot about the pope's health in recent days, but we haven't really talked about his spirits. Tell me how he's doing sort of emotionally as he's been dealing with this health crisis.
FOLEY: Well, I understand he's been very good. I understand that he's even been joking with some people. And, of course, two children even got in to see him. And that, of course, really pleases him.
So they said his spirits have been very good. He's been very happy. And thank god he's able to get back home.
O'BRIEN: That's very nice news. And yes, of course, I think the pope, who everyone knows how much he loves small children, must have been a really nice thing for him to have some little visitors to his hospital room.
Archbishop Foley, nice to see you.
FOLEY: And the children in...
O'BRIEN: Go ahead.
FOLEY: The children in the hospital are hoping that he'll come to visit them. But we don't know whether that will be possible. Because on his other stays, he went to the children's ward. But whether that will be possible this time, I don't know.
O'BRIEN: It will be nice if...
FOLEY: He loves children and they love him.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's true. And it will be nice if he's actually feeling well enough to pull that off. Archbishop Foley, nice to see you. Thank you very much for talking with us.
FOLEY: All right. Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: About 18 minutes now past the hour.
If you were to guess what President Bush likes to read in his free time, you might think a political novel, which is why many were surprised to learn that the president is recommending Tom Wolfe's racy new novel "I Am Charlotte Simmons."
Friends of the President say he's a fan of Wolfe and has read all of his books. But what does he see in "I Am Charlotte Simmons"?
From L.A. this morning, our pop culture correspondent, Toure, joins us from there.
Good morning, Toure.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: And I love going from the pope to racy literature. That's so perfect. So, can you -- Bill, can you see President Bush curling up with fiction that has big sex scenes like, say "Lolita?" I don't think so. But it turns out that W. does read modern literature. And one of the president's favorite books right now is "I Am Charlotte Simmons," the latest from the great Tom Wolfe.
"I Am Charlotte Simmons" is about a freshman girl at an elite university and has got all the expected youthful debauchery, including Charlotte's chapter-long deflowering. Not sure how 43's conservative friends are going to feel about that one.
I recently stopped by Tom's beautiful apartment near Central Park in Manhattan and spoke with him about how it feels to know your book is being read on Air Force One. Here is some of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOURE: So apparently President Bush loves "I Am Charlotte Simmons." How did you find out?
TOM WOLFE, AUTHOR: Somebody mentioned it maybe Friday. They must have -- was it on "The Drudge Report" or something? But anyway, then I got a call from Elizabeth Bumelar (ph) of "The New York Times." And that was the first time I had any real confirmation of this floating rumor. And I was very pleased.
TOURE: I didn't think the president was into modern literature. You know, I thought he was a nonfiction guy. I didn't expect any fiction on his night table and there you are.
WOLFE: Well, I think in my little contact with him, he is far more savvy in such matters than he's given -- ever given credit for.
TOURE: But this is not a PG book. We've got a freshman girl who is deflowered, there's all sorts of expected college debauchery. I mean, you know, this is not what he's going to go to the red states and the Christian right and say, look what I'm reading.
WOLFE: Perhaps he would say, look, it's a cautionary tale. I mean, I just don't know.
TOURE: Certainly you also never dreamed that the book would end up on the night table in the president's residence.
WOLFE: That's true. I never -- on the other hand, I really hadn't -- I hadn't wondered either. I mean, I assume presidents have other things to do besides reading my novels.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TOURE: In case you're wondering, Tom Wolfe is a Bushy. He voted for W. twice and pulled the lever for Papa Bush twice.
Wolfe says it was Papa Bush who introduced W. to Wolfe. The 41st president once told Wolfe he loved "Bonfire of the Vanities," Wolfe's classic book which was made into a terrible movie. So presidential adulation is nothing new for Tom Wolfe.
HEMMER: It makes for good publicity, too, doesn't it, when we can talk about the president and the fact that he's reading your book? Hey, thanks, Toure. How did that alarm clock feel out there this morning on the West Coast?
TOURE: Oh my god.
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: We'll see you later, OK?
TOURE: All right. Thanks.
HEMMER: Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, as if karaoke isn't unnerving enough sometimes. What about watching folks do it naked? We're going to explain ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: We're just chitchatting with Jack this morning. Let's get right to the "Question of the Day."
CAFFERTY: There's questions, and then there's questions. I have the "Question of the Day," which is a rather mundane offering about the prince and his bride to be. She just asked me if I've ever been in prison. Now, there's a question.
HEMMER: What's the answer?
CAFFERTY: Well, I'm not telling you. Go look that up on Google. The answer -- the answer is no.
Queen Camilla was the -- was the debate this morning. Apparently they're going to call her Princess Consort, but she could be the queen if they went to parliament and got the stuff changed around, like they're getting the church to overlook the fact that they're both divorced. I mean, if you can get the church of England to look the other way, you can probably get parliament to do it, too.
But that's -- the question is whether or not she ought to be the queen. I mean, if he becomes the king, then she ought to be the queen, right? Maybe not.
Eric in Allentown, Pennsylvania, "We went through the Revolutionary War to get away from these people. Which imaginary useless title is bequeathed to which irritating inbred is so utterly irrelevant to my life I feel dirty just bothering to respond to the question."
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: Well done.
O'BRIEN: That's the best answer of the day.
CAFFERTY: Mel in New York, "I don't believe Camilla Parker Bowles would calmly be accepted as queen by crown matrimonial. The people of the U.K. already made a Queen Diana, even though she's gone. The proposed solution seems reasonable to me and should satisfy the sensibilities of most."
Donna in Chesapeake, Virginia, "Hell no. As a Brit living in the U.S. married to a U.S. Air Force officer, I always said I'd give up my British citizenship if Charles married Bowles and she became the queen."
And Stephanie in Columbia, South Carolina, "Jack, Jack, Jack, I could scare less if she could be queen. I do care if I'll be able to draw Social Security when I retire in 30 years. What has happened to you that you would even care about such a topic? My hero has fallen."
O'BRIEN: Oh.
HEMMER: Ooh, tell us about that.
CAFFERTY: About what?
HEMMER: Well, you chose this topic today.
CAFFERTY: I didn't choose this topic. Did I choose this topic? I don't know.
Somebody did. What about it? You don't like the topic. Have you ever been in prison? Let's talk about that.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: I was just making conversation.
CAFFERTY: She comes up here every day, nine times a morning for years and years. And one morning she goes, "Have you ever been in prison?"
HEMMER: Jail?
CAFFERTY: Now, that's a good question.
O'BRIEN: Well, first, I asked him the craziest thing he ever did. And he wouldn't answer. He just gave a look like "no comment."
CAFFERTY: No, you can't talk about that stuff. There was a time when I was a much younger man that, you know, I gave into certain impulses that I no longer fall prey to.
O'BRIEN: A topic for another file.
HEMMER: A sign of maturity, too. Well done.
CAFFERTY: That would be as far as we're going on that deal.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jack. Thank you.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: North Korea now ratcheting up the talk on nuclear weapons. But is there really any bite to back up the bark? New questions about the timing and the motives behind it all is ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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