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American Morning
Baghdad Attacks; Interview With Former CIA Director James Woolsey; Arnold's Strategy
Aired February 18, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. A wave of deadly attacks in Baghdad again today. Three mosques have been hit. The latest explosions reported just about 30 minutes ago.
A daring heart operation performed on a tiny baby. Only one chance to live, only one doctor willing to operate.
And the oddball at the end of the solar system. Pluto sure has some fans, but is Pluto really a planet? Rewriting the science books on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody.
Another big story this morning, the selection of John Negroponte as the first director of national intelligence. Lots of questions about whether a diplomat is actually the right guy for the job. We're going to talk to someone who knows the demands of this kind of work as well as anybody. Former CIA Director James Woolsey will weigh in.
HEMMER: Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Washington, lobbying Congress and bringing some of that star power to everything he does. One problem, though, is his star beginning to fade back in his home state of California? A good question for Bill Schneider. We'll get to Bill this hour as well.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Cafferty, what's in the "File" today?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Did I hear Bill say we were going to explore the question of whether Pluto is a planet this hour?
O'BRIEN: Yes. There's a debate about that.
HEMMER: It might just be a comet. Imagine that, Jack. You'll be thinking about that all weekend.
CAFFERTY: Pluto is a dog. We all know that.
HEMMER: That too.
CAFFERTY: Coming up in "The Cafferty File," a man tosses a lit cigarette out his car window. Bad idea. We'll show you the results.
A liberal -- this may never have happened before in the history of this republic. A liberal Hollywood Democrat trashes as liberal Washington Democrat.
And a Chinese man whose ears are different than yours and mine. They leak.
O'BRIEN: Ew!
HEMMER: Do we want to see that?
O'BRIEN: OK.
HEMMER: Maybe.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: It's what I've got.
HEMMER: We want to get to the stories right now out of Iraq, the latest developments we're getting in the past several hours here. Already today reporting on two suicide bombings near mosques on a very holy day for Muslims. And now there is late word on a third explosion. One blast killed at least 17, seriously wounding more than a dozen others.
Here's Nic Robertson now in the Iraqi capital.
Nic -- what do you have?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, the figures on the death toll in these attacks has been changing all day. It's been going up as the attacks have happened.
The latest attack occurring close to a mosque on the northern side of Baghdad. One mortar round, according to police, fired in the direction of that Shia Muslim mosque, landing short, landing in a coffee shop, killing one person, wounding three others. The police are now telling us that the death toll in the second attack today on the western outskirts of Baghdad, two dead, eight wounded.
Two suicide bombers apparently, according to U.S. officials, perpetrated that attack. One of them detonating his explosives, the other shot dead by security guards before he could trigger the bomb strapped to his body.
The attack on the southern side of Baghdad, again at a Shia mosque, again at a time of day when most people were heading in that direction or attending the mosque for prayers.
Now, the official death toll we're getting from police is being rounded down a little in this particular time. Now we are being told 15 dead, at least 20 wounded. U.S. officials say the figures could change. These attacks just one day ahead of Shia Muslim's most holy festival. The attacks, as they have been in the past, apparently the work of the Sunni Muslim insurgents. The fear is here they're trying to stoke sectarian violence -- Bill. HEMMER: Nic Robertson, thanks, reporting there in Baghdad. We'll follow it again. The numbers may change, we warn our viewers there. But we'll watch this story again. Three bombings near Baghdad earlier today -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Bill, other stories making news this morning. Heidi Collins has a check of some other headlines.
Good morning again.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning again to you guys. And good morning, everybody out there.
"Now in the News" this morning.
President Bush getting ready to leave for a five-day overseas trip. The president said yesterday part of the reason he's going to Europe is to highlight the recent success of elections in Iraq. He is expected to meet with several major political leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac. President Bush and the first lady will set off Sunday. Their trip includes stops in Belgium, Germany and the Slovak Republic.
There is word this morning that mistreatment of prisoners by U.S. soldiers may have been more widespread. According to documents the ACLU obtained from the U.S. Army through the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Army reportedly destroyed photos of American soldiers mocking detainees in Afghanistan. The ACLU claims the photos were destroyed after Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison scandal came to light.
A recommendation could come as early as today on whether the painkiller, Vioxx, will be back on the market. An FDA advisory panel has been meeting since Wednesday to decide if the drug's benefits outweigh the increased risks of heart attack and stroke. Vioxx is one of several popular painkillers up for debate. The FDA hearing is expected to wrap up today.
And in Portland, Oregon, former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle trading barbs with new Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean over the war in Iraq. But the shoe was on the other foot -- you'll get it in a second -- when a protester threw a shoe at Perle, screaming "liar, liar." Perle was a key architect of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq while Dean has spoken out against the war. The debate wrapped up without any further incident.
Soledad -- over to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks.
John Negroponte is headed now for Senate confirmation hearings on his nomination of America's first director of national intelligence. Negroponte was picked by President Bush to oversee the nation's 15 intelligence agencies, including the CIA. Is Negroponte up to the job?
As part of our "CNN Security Watch" this morning, I'm joined by former CIA Director James Woolsey. He's a vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, a first global strategic security.
Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us this morning.
JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: It's good to be with you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Obviously, the nation's top intelligence post, and yet everyone says, boy, he's a fine diplomat. And you think, is that enough to actually fulfill the position where he needs to actually be a very fine intelligence guy?
WOOLSEY: John has been at the heart of a lot of important matters. He was deputy national security adviser under President Reagan. This has been not just a diplomatic post in Iraq. This has really been tough.
O'BRIEN: So, the critics who say that he lacks critical intelligence skills are wrong?
WOOLSEY: I think they're wrong. Most people who work at the top of intelligence agencies, including most former directors of Central Intelligence, come from business or law, as I did, or maybe have some experience in government and some experience with intelligence. But only a few have been career intelligence officers. And he has a career intelligence officer as a deputy, General Hayden. I think John is well-equipped to do this job, and I think he'll do a fine job.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about General Hayden for just a moment. They announced the deputy at the same press conference...
WOOLSEY: Right.
O'BRIEN: ... where they were announcing John Negroponte as the guy who would, hopefully, if the president has his way, lead the division. That certainly would make up for those who say that Negroponte lacks experience. But do you think that's essentially also to help push him through the Senate confirmation hearings?
WOOLSEY: Oh, I think they just picked a balance. They had one man who is broadly experienced in national security, including his career in the foreign service, and another who is an intelligence specialist, a technical intelligence specialist. And besides, Soledad, I don't think the main problem here is going to be coordinating with the Defense Department-related agencies, like the National Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office.
O'BRIEN: What's the main problem?
WOOLSEY: I think the main problem is coordinating foreign and domestic intelligence. I think that's why you needed a director of national intelligence. If you look at that first 300 pages or so of the 9/11 Commission's report, virtually none of the failures were failures of coordination within the foreign intelligence community. They were problems with not having domestic intelligence, not being able to move things from one side of the FBI to the other, the FAA letting cockpit doors be flimsy. All sorts of things were wrong. But most of the problems didn't have anything to do with what a lot of people are arguing about, which is whether you can get control of the Department of Defense Agency. My experience...
O'BRIEN: How about control, though, of a budget? I mean, at the end of the day, you're talking about...
WOOLSEY: Sure.
O'BRIEN: ... Secretary Rumsfeld, who controls 80 percent of the budget. You have someone else now coming in. Many people have pitched this as a pitted battle between the two of them over money.
WOOLSEY: I think that's nonsense.
O'BRIEN: Really? Why?
WOOLSEY: Historically, the director of Central Intelligence and the secretary of defense have gotten along very well with respect to these matters. I certainly did with the two secretaries of defense, Bill Perry and Les Aspin, that I worked with. It's been very rare, really, that you've had major divergences between the foreign intelligence agencies.
Yes, it's good that I think John Negroponte is going to have somewhat budget authority over particularly budget execution than the directors of Central Intelligence have had in the past. But his main problem, I think, is going to be getting the FBI and the foreign intelligence agencies to work in harness on this new transnational threat: terrorists training in Oklahoma City and coming out of Hamburg and taking off out of Logan and so forth. All of that is a new world for us. And the FBI hasn't been in the domestic intelligence business in some time, since really the mid-'70s.
O'BRIEN: You're just sort of highlighting one of a zillion challenges, I think it's fair to say, for John Negroponte should, indeed, he be confirmed by the Senate.
WOOLSEY: It's a very demanding job.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Understatement of the year that might be. James Woolsey, nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us. Thank you.
WOOLSEY: It's good to be with you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: You can count on CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Bill.
HEMMER: It's about 10 minutes now past the hour. To politics this morning. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking Washington for help in solving California's $8 billion budget problem. He faces about a battle back home on this issue, though.
This morning, Bill Schneider has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): A new movie just opened: Mr. Schwarzenegger Goes to Washington. The governor is on a promotional tour, just like he used to do for his movies. This time, he's promoting his state, pressing the federal government to give California more funding, exactly as he promised in 2003.
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: By the time I'm through with this whole thing, I will not be known as "The Terminator;" I will be known as "the collectinator."
SCHNEIDER: California has 53 members of Congress, one eighth of the House of Representatives, but they've always been divided by party. Schwarzenegger aims to change that.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I'm the governor of the state of California. And, therefore, it is really up to me to bring the delegation together.
SCHNEIDER: Unity is crucial for Schwarzenegger's political survival. He's a Republican governor of a strongly Democratic state, and his Democratic support has been slipping. While Schwarzenegger has a 60 percent job approval rating among all California voters, Democrats are turning against him, including the Democratic Party's new national chairman.
HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: We have to make sure that Governor Schwarzenegger gets terminated.
SCHNEIDER: Schwarzenegger cannot survive in California as a partisan; hence, his unity strategy. It's a positive unity to promote the interests of California and a negative unity.
SCHWARZENEGGER: We'll be against the politics as usual, and it will be reform and changes versus status quo and a special interest. This is the way we framed the whole thing.
SCHNEIDER: He's championing a measure that threatens virtually every incumbent state and federal legislator in California, a measure that would draw new district lines without regard to party.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Whenever you see both parties disagree with something, then you know you're on to something really good.
SCHNEIDER: How's the governor going to overcome resistance from the politicians? Like a movie star, with a promotional tour.
SCHWARZENEGGER: You will see me at Costco. You will see me at different shopping malls, and I will be out there gathering the signatures and helping and making sure that we get all those things on the ballot.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): Governor Schwarzenegger is fighting partisanship with populism. It's a smart strategy for California, and it's getting attention across the country.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also, Governor Schwarzenegger's redistricting plan calls for a panel of retired judges and not state lawmakers to decide California's legislative and congressional boundaries -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: It's time to check on the weather now. Rob Marciano is at the CNN center for us this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Born 13 weeks early, weighing in at only a pound, baby Jerrick was given very little chance to survive. Thanks to groundbreaking surgery and a doctor who refused to give up hope, there is a happy ending. And you'll hear about it this hour.
O'BRIEN: And next, Pluto gets no respect. But find out why some scientists are ready to revoke its planet status. Those stories are ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Seventy-five years ago today, Pluto, the so-called ninth planet of the solar system, was discovered by a young astronomer in Arizona. He was 26 years young. But the years have not been entirely kind to Pluto. Some now say it should not be considered a planet at all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History, is one of those trying to take Pluto down a peg. Say it ain't so.
And good morning to you. 1930, this young man is out in Arizona. What's the theory as to how he found and discovered Pluto?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, HAYDEN PLANETARIUM: Seventy-five years ago today is that anniversary. He didn't launch the search. The search was launched by Percival Lowell of the moneyed Lowells of New England. And he built this observatory in Arizona, and he died before Pluto was discovered.
But his assistant, Clyde Tombaugh, took the torch and continued the search and found this object, Pluto. Everyone had been looking for this mysterious planet "x".
HEMMER: But you say the discovery was an accident.
TYSON: Well yes, kind of, because planet "x" was this hypothesized object in the outer solar systems whose gravity was interfering with the movement of Neptune. Neptune was behaving in ways that no one could explain, so it must be another planet out there. Let's start looking.
HEMMER: But in 1930 when they found this thing, this was a significant discovery.
TYSON: They assumed it was the planet x. And everyone cheered, and they assumed it was a big planet with the rights and privileges accorded to other the planets of the solar system.
HEMMER: Right.
TYSON: And then as time went on, we found out, no, it's kind of small. It's kind of meek.
HEMMER: What is it then?
TYSON: It's a an ice ball.
HEMMER: Really?
TYSON: There are six moons in the solar system bigger than Pluto.
HEMMER: Really?
TYSON: That's just embarrassing. What's more embarrassing, if you take Pluto, put it where Earth is right now, the heat from the sun would evaporate the ice, and it would grow a tail. Now, if you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the tail, I'm sorry...
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: So it's only a comet. It's just a big ball of ice way out there.
TYSON: It's the king of the comets.
HEMMER: The king?
TYSON: We know of no bigger comet than Pluto. I think it's happier that way.
HEMMER: Yes?
TYSON: Yes.
HEMMER: Five years ago, you essentially took Pluto out of your own solar system, didn't you?
TYSON: Not single-handedly. I mean, we formed a committee and discussed this for the grand opening of the Rose Center for Earth and Space, which is the rebuilt Hayden Planetarium. And in our exhibits, instead of counting and enumerating planets, we said there's no science in that. There's no science in the third grade science exam, where they say, what is the name of the fifth planet from the sun? That's not science. Science is, what is do you understand about the solar system?
HEMMER: But you haven't gotten a very good reaction based on your little theory. TYSON: Well, it's not my -- what happened was in the outer solar system, other objects started getting discovered in the 1990s, objects that looked more like Pluto than either Pluto or they looked like anything else in the solar system. Pluto found family. So now, when we talk about the solar system, we talk the inner rocky planets, which includes Earth and Venus and Mars, the big giant gas planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and then this new swathe of real estate discovered in the 1990s. And Pluto is part of that real estate.
HEMMER: Help me understand this. Why did anyone think there was a ninth planet out there anyway? This was a theory, right? And many subscribed to it. Is it possible that there is a Pluto out there, but we're just focused on the wrong one?
TYSON: You mean a big old planet x?
HEMMER: Maybe.
TYSON: Not likely, because we would have seen its effect on the rest of the planets in the solar system.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Neil DeGrasse Tyson. We recorded that earlier. The first two letters of Pluto come from the initials of Percival Lowell, founder of that Arizona observatory that discovered Pluto. And now you know.
Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, NASA's former chief is said to be the focus of a congressional investigation. Sources tell the Associated Press that the Government Accountability Office is examining Sean O'Keefe's tenure, including whether he misused government airplanes and took too many pricey trips. During a news conference yesterday, O'Keefe said he wasn't even aware of any probe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN O'KEEFE, FORMER NASA CHIEF: During the course of my entire career as a public servant and as a financial manager has been responsible in this circumstance as well as every other previously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: O'Keefe starts his new job as chancellor of Louisiana State University on Monday -- Bill.
HEMMER: The city of Boston is picturesque today. Some scientists are concerned. They say that town could end up under water by the end of this century. Hmm. That's ahead, too, when we continue after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: It's time to take a look at one of the most popular stories on cnn.com today. A new luxury hotel is scheduled to open on March 1 at Adolf Hitler's mountain retreat. The site at an Alpine town near Munich is where Hitler and other Nazi leaders often met to plan the Holocaust and the assault on Europe. The hotel project has drawn anger from many Jewish groups obviously.
CAFFERTY: Berchtesgaden is the name of that place. I've been there. And it's one of the most spectacular pieces of real estate on the entire planet, I think. Maybe in the -- it is gorgeous. Way at the top of the very peaks of the Alps.
O'BRIEN: And yet you can imagine why the hue and cry is following this.
CAFFERTY: Oh, yes. Oh, sure. No, I mean, the emotional thing is very understandable. But it's a great spot for a resort if you're going to build one.
Lose weight or lose your job. Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel and Casino is telling that to its 210 cocktail servers. The Borgata babes are touted as the sexiest cocktail waitresses in Atlantic City. Borgata imposed the weight restrictions on its servers after noticing that some of them were beginning to ooze out of their uniforms.
Now, all servers have to step on the scale if they want to keep getting a paycheck. If they don't lose weight, they'll be fired. Women's right advocates and the local cocktail servers union are angry about the decision.
The casino says that the sexy staff of waitresses is part of their marketing and image, and therefore it's allowed.
The question is this: Should employees be fired for gaining weight?
Susan in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Keep in mind this letter is from a woman. "If you don't feel it's reasonable to have to maintain a certain weight for a job, don't apply for that job. Look at what happened to the airline attendants. When they were referred to as stewardesses, they were gorgeous. Now that all of this equality has come into play, half of them are real dogs."
That's from a woman.
O'BRIEN: Susan, you are a disgrace to the sisterhood is all I can say, Susan. Thanks a lot, honey.
CAFFERTY: Yes, but she's right.
Jerry in Georgia: "The legal response is yes, if not gaining weight is a BFOQ -- bona fide occupational requirement. Companies like Hooters have won this argument in court. The real test would be if McDonald's or KFC established such a requirement. Then the response would be fat chance."
Tim in Iowa writes: "When I go to a place like Atlantic City or Vegas, I don't want to be served by a Weight Watchers dropout. These resort cities have nothing to do with reality. They are fantasy worlds, and the girls schlepping the cocktails should inspire fantasy."
Douglas in New Jersey writes: "I'm shocked that the Borgata would engage in employment practices like this. In order to examine the question more closely, I will at no cost to CNN go there Tuesday through Thursday and take a closer look at this. I'll report my results back to you on Friday."
HEMMER: Bring a scale. You know, I got an e-mail from one of our colleagues. She said she worked at Caesars in Vegas 10 years ago, and they had a weight policy. If you gained more than five pounds, you were not allowed to work until you got back under that level.
O'BRIEN: Shoot, I'd never be on TV.
CAFFERTY: I probably wouldn't either. No, somebody did write in and say something about how good-looking the anchor women are on all of the cable news networks.
HEMMER: Sure, especially this one.
CAFFERTY: And you don't see any -- well, yes, especially this one. But you don't see any fat people anchoring these programs.
O'BRIEN: OK, it's just a lot of makeup is what it is.
CAFFERTY: Yes, makeup cannot hide the pounds. I mean, you're not fat. Come on.
O'BRIEN: I don't think I'm fat. Well, that's exactly my point, which is a 7 percent weight gain is actually just a couple of pounds.
CAFFERTY: Well, now let's talk -- how much would that be?
O'BRIEN: Honestly, if I did the math, eight pounds.
CAFFERTY: I'm just kidding.
O'BRIEN: Nothing.
CAFFERTY: Huh?
O'BRIEN: That's eight pounds.
CAFFERTY: Eight pounds?
O'BRIEN: That's nothing.
CAFFERTY: OK.
O'BRIEN: See?
CAFFERTY: Hey...
O'BRIEN: That's not my point. They're not obese. They're just like -- they went out and ate a lot over the weekend. You know what a pound is.
HEMMER: You'd weigh 107 if you gained 7 percent, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, lie, lie, lie. Can you get back to Susan, the woman who let down the sisterhood?
CAFFERTY: Oh, about the airline stewardesses, now that they're flight attendants?
O'BRIEN: Susan's a man, I'm convinced. You love torturing me, don't you?
CAFFERTY: It's Friday.
O'BRIEN: Today and every day.
CAFFERTY: It's how I get into my weekend.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Yes, you're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Glad I could help you out.
Here's a question for you: Is Donald Rumsfeld in rare form these days? Lawmakers are asking the defense secretary lots of questions. They aren't quite happy with the answers, or shall we say, non- answers. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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Aired February 18, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. A wave of deadly attacks in Baghdad again today. Three mosques have been hit. The latest explosions reported just about 30 minutes ago.
A daring heart operation performed on a tiny baby. Only one chance to live, only one doctor willing to operate.
And the oddball at the end of the solar system. Pluto sure has some fans, but is Pluto really a planet? Rewriting the science books on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody.
Another big story this morning, the selection of John Negroponte as the first director of national intelligence. Lots of questions about whether a diplomat is actually the right guy for the job. We're going to talk to someone who knows the demands of this kind of work as well as anybody. Former CIA Director James Woolsey will weigh in.
HEMMER: Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Washington, lobbying Congress and bringing some of that star power to everything he does. One problem, though, is his star beginning to fade back in his home state of California? A good question for Bill Schneider. We'll get to Bill this hour as well.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Cafferty, what's in the "File" today?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Did I hear Bill say we were going to explore the question of whether Pluto is a planet this hour?
O'BRIEN: Yes. There's a debate about that.
HEMMER: It might just be a comet. Imagine that, Jack. You'll be thinking about that all weekend.
CAFFERTY: Pluto is a dog. We all know that.
HEMMER: That too.
CAFFERTY: Coming up in "The Cafferty File," a man tosses a lit cigarette out his car window. Bad idea. We'll show you the results.
A liberal -- this may never have happened before in the history of this republic. A liberal Hollywood Democrat trashes as liberal Washington Democrat.
And a Chinese man whose ears are different than yours and mine. They leak.
O'BRIEN: Ew!
HEMMER: Do we want to see that?
O'BRIEN: OK.
HEMMER: Maybe.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: It's what I've got.
HEMMER: We want to get to the stories right now out of Iraq, the latest developments we're getting in the past several hours here. Already today reporting on two suicide bombings near mosques on a very holy day for Muslims. And now there is late word on a third explosion. One blast killed at least 17, seriously wounding more than a dozen others.
Here's Nic Robertson now in the Iraqi capital.
Nic -- what do you have?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, the figures on the death toll in these attacks has been changing all day. It's been going up as the attacks have happened.
The latest attack occurring close to a mosque on the northern side of Baghdad. One mortar round, according to police, fired in the direction of that Shia Muslim mosque, landing short, landing in a coffee shop, killing one person, wounding three others. The police are now telling us that the death toll in the second attack today on the western outskirts of Baghdad, two dead, eight wounded.
Two suicide bombers apparently, according to U.S. officials, perpetrated that attack. One of them detonating his explosives, the other shot dead by security guards before he could trigger the bomb strapped to his body.
The attack on the southern side of Baghdad, again at a Shia mosque, again at a time of day when most people were heading in that direction or attending the mosque for prayers.
Now, the official death toll we're getting from police is being rounded down a little in this particular time. Now we are being told 15 dead, at least 20 wounded. U.S. officials say the figures could change. These attacks just one day ahead of Shia Muslim's most holy festival. The attacks, as they have been in the past, apparently the work of the Sunni Muslim insurgents. The fear is here they're trying to stoke sectarian violence -- Bill. HEMMER: Nic Robertson, thanks, reporting there in Baghdad. We'll follow it again. The numbers may change, we warn our viewers there. But we'll watch this story again. Three bombings near Baghdad earlier today -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Bill, other stories making news this morning. Heidi Collins has a check of some other headlines.
Good morning again.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning again to you guys. And good morning, everybody out there.
"Now in the News" this morning.
President Bush getting ready to leave for a five-day overseas trip. The president said yesterday part of the reason he's going to Europe is to highlight the recent success of elections in Iraq. He is expected to meet with several major political leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac. President Bush and the first lady will set off Sunday. Their trip includes stops in Belgium, Germany and the Slovak Republic.
There is word this morning that mistreatment of prisoners by U.S. soldiers may have been more widespread. According to documents the ACLU obtained from the U.S. Army through the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Army reportedly destroyed photos of American soldiers mocking detainees in Afghanistan. The ACLU claims the photos were destroyed after Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison scandal came to light.
A recommendation could come as early as today on whether the painkiller, Vioxx, will be back on the market. An FDA advisory panel has been meeting since Wednesday to decide if the drug's benefits outweigh the increased risks of heart attack and stroke. Vioxx is one of several popular painkillers up for debate. The FDA hearing is expected to wrap up today.
And in Portland, Oregon, former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle trading barbs with new Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean over the war in Iraq. But the shoe was on the other foot -- you'll get it in a second -- when a protester threw a shoe at Perle, screaming "liar, liar." Perle was a key architect of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq while Dean has spoken out against the war. The debate wrapped up without any further incident.
Soledad -- over to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks.
John Negroponte is headed now for Senate confirmation hearings on his nomination of America's first director of national intelligence. Negroponte was picked by President Bush to oversee the nation's 15 intelligence agencies, including the CIA. Is Negroponte up to the job?
As part of our "CNN Security Watch" this morning, I'm joined by former CIA Director James Woolsey. He's a vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, a first global strategic security.
Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us this morning.
JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: It's good to be with you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Obviously, the nation's top intelligence post, and yet everyone says, boy, he's a fine diplomat. And you think, is that enough to actually fulfill the position where he needs to actually be a very fine intelligence guy?
WOOLSEY: John has been at the heart of a lot of important matters. He was deputy national security adviser under President Reagan. This has been not just a diplomatic post in Iraq. This has really been tough.
O'BRIEN: So, the critics who say that he lacks critical intelligence skills are wrong?
WOOLSEY: I think they're wrong. Most people who work at the top of intelligence agencies, including most former directors of Central Intelligence, come from business or law, as I did, or maybe have some experience in government and some experience with intelligence. But only a few have been career intelligence officers. And he has a career intelligence officer as a deputy, General Hayden. I think John is well-equipped to do this job, and I think he'll do a fine job.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about General Hayden for just a moment. They announced the deputy at the same press conference...
WOOLSEY: Right.
O'BRIEN: ... where they were announcing John Negroponte as the guy who would, hopefully, if the president has his way, lead the division. That certainly would make up for those who say that Negroponte lacks experience. But do you think that's essentially also to help push him through the Senate confirmation hearings?
WOOLSEY: Oh, I think they just picked a balance. They had one man who is broadly experienced in national security, including his career in the foreign service, and another who is an intelligence specialist, a technical intelligence specialist. And besides, Soledad, I don't think the main problem here is going to be coordinating with the Defense Department-related agencies, like the National Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office.
O'BRIEN: What's the main problem?
WOOLSEY: I think the main problem is coordinating foreign and domestic intelligence. I think that's why you needed a director of national intelligence. If you look at that first 300 pages or so of the 9/11 Commission's report, virtually none of the failures were failures of coordination within the foreign intelligence community. They were problems with not having domestic intelligence, not being able to move things from one side of the FBI to the other, the FAA letting cockpit doors be flimsy. All sorts of things were wrong. But most of the problems didn't have anything to do with what a lot of people are arguing about, which is whether you can get control of the Department of Defense Agency. My experience...
O'BRIEN: How about control, though, of a budget? I mean, at the end of the day, you're talking about...
WOOLSEY: Sure.
O'BRIEN: ... Secretary Rumsfeld, who controls 80 percent of the budget. You have someone else now coming in. Many people have pitched this as a pitted battle between the two of them over money.
WOOLSEY: I think that's nonsense.
O'BRIEN: Really? Why?
WOOLSEY: Historically, the director of Central Intelligence and the secretary of defense have gotten along very well with respect to these matters. I certainly did with the two secretaries of defense, Bill Perry and Les Aspin, that I worked with. It's been very rare, really, that you've had major divergences between the foreign intelligence agencies.
Yes, it's good that I think John Negroponte is going to have somewhat budget authority over particularly budget execution than the directors of Central Intelligence have had in the past. But his main problem, I think, is going to be getting the FBI and the foreign intelligence agencies to work in harness on this new transnational threat: terrorists training in Oklahoma City and coming out of Hamburg and taking off out of Logan and so forth. All of that is a new world for us. And the FBI hasn't been in the domestic intelligence business in some time, since really the mid-'70s.
O'BRIEN: You're just sort of highlighting one of a zillion challenges, I think it's fair to say, for John Negroponte should, indeed, he be confirmed by the Senate.
WOOLSEY: It's a very demanding job.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Understatement of the year that might be. James Woolsey, nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us. Thank you.
WOOLSEY: It's good to be with you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: You can count on CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Bill.
HEMMER: It's about 10 minutes now past the hour. To politics this morning. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking Washington for help in solving California's $8 billion budget problem. He faces about a battle back home on this issue, though.
This morning, Bill Schneider has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): A new movie just opened: Mr. Schwarzenegger Goes to Washington. The governor is on a promotional tour, just like he used to do for his movies. This time, he's promoting his state, pressing the federal government to give California more funding, exactly as he promised in 2003.
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: By the time I'm through with this whole thing, I will not be known as "The Terminator;" I will be known as "the collectinator."
SCHNEIDER: California has 53 members of Congress, one eighth of the House of Representatives, but they've always been divided by party. Schwarzenegger aims to change that.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I'm the governor of the state of California. And, therefore, it is really up to me to bring the delegation together.
SCHNEIDER: Unity is crucial for Schwarzenegger's political survival. He's a Republican governor of a strongly Democratic state, and his Democratic support has been slipping. While Schwarzenegger has a 60 percent job approval rating among all California voters, Democrats are turning against him, including the Democratic Party's new national chairman.
HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: We have to make sure that Governor Schwarzenegger gets terminated.
SCHNEIDER: Schwarzenegger cannot survive in California as a partisan; hence, his unity strategy. It's a positive unity to promote the interests of California and a negative unity.
SCHWARZENEGGER: We'll be against the politics as usual, and it will be reform and changes versus status quo and a special interest. This is the way we framed the whole thing.
SCHNEIDER: He's championing a measure that threatens virtually every incumbent state and federal legislator in California, a measure that would draw new district lines without regard to party.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Whenever you see both parties disagree with something, then you know you're on to something really good.
SCHNEIDER: How's the governor going to overcome resistance from the politicians? Like a movie star, with a promotional tour.
SCHWARZENEGGER: You will see me at Costco. You will see me at different shopping malls, and I will be out there gathering the signatures and helping and making sure that we get all those things on the ballot.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): Governor Schwarzenegger is fighting partisanship with populism. It's a smart strategy for California, and it's getting attention across the country.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also, Governor Schwarzenegger's redistricting plan calls for a panel of retired judges and not state lawmakers to decide California's legislative and congressional boundaries -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: It's time to check on the weather now. Rob Marciano is at the CNN center for us this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Born 13 weeks early, weighing in at only a pound, baby Jerrick was given very little chance to survive. Thanks to groundbreaking surgery and a doctor who refused to give up hope, there is a happy ending. And you'll hear about it this hour.
O'BRIEN: And next, Pluto gets no respect. But find out why some scientists are ready to revoke its planet status. Those stories are ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Seventy-five years ago today, Pluto, the so-called ninth planet of the solar system, was discovered by a young astronomer in Arizona. He was 26 years young. But the years have not been entirely kind to Pluto. Some now say it should not be considered a planet at all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History, is one of those trying to take Pluto down a peg. Say it ain't so.
And good morning to you. 1930, this young man is out in Arizona. What's the theory as to how he found and discovered Pluto?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, HAYDEN PLANETARIUM: Seventy-five years ago today is that anniversary. He didn't launch the search. The search was launched by Percival Lowell of the moneyed Lowells of New England. And he built this observatory in Arizona, and he died before Pluto was discovered.
But his assistant, Clyde Tombaugh, took the torch and continued the search and found this object, Pluto. Everyone had been looking for this mysterious planet "x".
HEMMER: But you say the discovery was an accident.
TYSON: Well yes, kind of, because planet "x" was this hypothesized object in the outer solar systems whose gravity was interfering with the movement of Neptune. Neptune was behaving in ways that no one could explain, so it must be another planet out there. Let's start looking.
HEMMER: But in 1930 when they found this thing, this was a significant discovery.
TYSON: They assumed it was the planet x. And everyone cheered, and they assumed it was a big planet with the rights and privileges accorded to other the planets of the solar system.
HEMMER: Right.
TYSON: And then as time went on, we found out, no, it's kind of small. It's kind of meek.
HEMMER: What is it then?
TYSON: It's a an ice ball.
HEMMER: Really?
TYSON: There are six moons in the solar system bigger than Pluto.
HEMMER: Really?
TYSON: That's just embarrassing. What's more embarrassing, if you take Pluto, put it where Earth is right now, the heat from the sun would evaporate the ice, and it would grow a tail. Now, if you (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the tail, I'm sorry...
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: So it's only a comet. It's just a big ball of ice way out there.
TYSON: It's the king of the comets.
HEMMER: The king?
TYSON: We know of no bigger comet than Pluto. I think it's happier that way.
HEMMER: Yes?
TYSON: Yes.
HEMMER: Five years ago, you essentially took Pluto out of your own solar system, didn't you?
TYSON: Not single-handedly. I mean, we formed a committee and discussed this for the grand opening of the Rose Center for Earth and Space, which is the rebuilt Hayden Planetarium. And in our exhibits, instead of counting and enumerating planets, we said there's no science in that. There's no science in the third grade science exam, where they say, what is the name of the fifth planet from the sun? That's not science. Science is, what is do you understand about the solar system?
HEMMER: But you haven't gotten a very good reaction based on your little theory. TYSON: Well, it's not my -- what happened was in the outer solar system, other objects started getting discovered in the 1990s, objects that looked more like Pluto than either Pluto or they looked like anything else in the solar system. Pluto found family. So now, when we talk about the solar system, we talk the inner rocky planets, which includes Earth and Venus and Mars, the big giant gas planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and then this new swathe of real estate discovered in the 1990s. And Pluto is part of that real estate.
HEMMER: Help me understand this. Why did anyone think there was a ninth planet out there anyway? This was a theory, right? And many subscribed to it. Is it possible that there is a Pluto out there, but we're just focused on the wrong one?
TYSON: You mean a big old planet x?
HEMMER: Maybe.
TYSON: Not likely, because we would have seen its effect on the rest of the planets in the solar system.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Neil DeGrasse Tyson. We recorded that earlier. The first two letters of Pluto come from the initials of Percival Lowell, founder of that Arizona observatory that discovered Pluto. And now you know.
Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, NASA's former chief is said to be the focus of a congressional investigation. Sources tell the Associated Press that the Government Accountability Office is examining Sean O'Keefe's tenure, including whether he misused government airplanes and took too many pricey trips. During a news conference yesterday, O'Keefe said he wasn't even aware of any probe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN O'KEEFE, FORMER NASA CHIEF: During the course of my entire career as a public servant and as a financial manager has been responsible in this circumstance as well as every other previously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: O'Keefe starts his new job as chancellor of Louisiana State University on Monday -- Bill.
HEMMER: The city of Boston is picturesque today. Some scientists are concerned. They say that town could end up under water by the end of this century. Hmm. That's ahead, too, when we continue after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: It's time to take a look at one of the most popular stories on cnn.com today. A new luxury hotel is scheduled to open on March 1 at Adolf Hitler's mountain retreat. The site at an Alpine town near Munich is where Hitler and other Nazi leaders often met to plan the Holocaust and the assault on Europe. The hotel project has drawn anger from many Jewish groups obviously.
CAFFERTY: Berchtesgaden is the name of that place. I've been there. And it's one of the most spectacular pieces of real estate on the entire planet, I think. Maybe in the -- it is gorgeous. Way at the top of the very peaks of the Alps.
O'BRIEN: And yet you can imagine why the hue and cry is following this.
CAFFERTY: Oh, yes. Oh, sure. No, I mean, the emotional thing is very understandable. But it's a great spot for a resort if you're going to build one.
Lose weight or lose your job. Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel and Casino is telling that to its 210 cocktail servers. The Borgata babes are touted as the sexiest cocktail waitresses in Atlantic City. Borgata imposed the weight restrictions on its servers after noticing that some of them were beginning to ooze out of their uniforms.
Now, all servers have to step on the scale if they want to keep getting a paycheck. If they don't lose weight, they'll be fired. Women's right advocates and the local cocktail servers union are angry about the decision.
The casino says that the sexy staff of waitresses is part of their marketing and image, and therefore it's allowed.
The question is this: Should employees be fired for gaining weight?
Susan in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Keep in mind this letter is from a woman. "If you don't feel it's reasonable to have to maintain a certain weight for a job, don't apply for that job. Look at what happened to the airline attendants. When they were referred to as stewardesses, they were gorgeous. Now that all of this equality has come into play, half of them are real dogs."
That's from a woman.
O'BRIEN: Susan, you are a disgrace to the sisterhood is all I can say, Susan. Thanks a lot, honey.
CAFFERTY: Yes, but she's right.
Jerry in Georgia: "The legal response is yes, if not gaining weight is a BFOQ -- bona fide occupational requirement. Companies like Hooters have won this argument in court. The real test would be if McDonald's or KFC established such a requirement. Then the response would be fat chance."
Tim in Iowa writes: "When I go to a place like Atlantic City or Vegas, I don't want to be served by a Weight Watchers dropout. These resort cities have nothing to do with reality. They are fantasy worlds, and the girls schlepping the cocktails should inspire fantasy."
Douglas in New Jersey writes: "I'm shocked that the Borgata would engage in employment practices like this. In order to examine the question more closely, I will at no cost to CNN go there Tuesday through Thursday and take a closer look at this. I'll report my results back to you on Friday."
HEMMER: Bring a scale. You know, I got an e-mail from one of our colleagues. She said she worked at Caesars in Vegas 10 years ago, and they had a weight policy. If you gained more than five pounds, you were not allowed to work until you got back under that level.
O'BRIEN: Shoot, I'd never be on TV.
CAFFERTY: I probably wouldn't either. No, somebody did write in and say something about how good-looking the anchor women are on all of the cable news networks.
HEMMER: Sure, especially this one.
CAFFERTY: And you don't see any -- well, yes, especially this one. But you don't see any fat people anchoring these programs.
O'BRIEN: OK, it's just a lot of makeup is what it is.
CAFFERTY: Yes, makeup cannot hide the pounds. I mean, you're not fat. Come on.
O'BRIEN: I don't think I'm fat. Well, that's exactly my point, which is a 7 percent weight gain is actually just a couple of pounds.
CAFFERTY: Well, now let's talk -- how much would that be?
O'BRIEN: Honestly, if I did the math, eight pounds.
CAFFERTY: I'm just kidding.
O'BRIEN: Nothing.
CAFFERTY: Huh?
O'BRIEN: That's eight pounds.
CAFFERTY: Eight pounds?
O'BRIEN: That's nothing.
CAFFERTY: OK.
O'BRIEN: See?
CAFFERTY: Hey...
O'BRIEN: That's not my point. They're not obese. They're just like -- they went out and ate a lot over the weekend. You know what a pound is.
HEMMER: You'd weigh 107 if you gained 7 percent, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, lie, lie, lie. Can you get back to Susan, the woman who let down the sisterhood?
CAFFERTY: Oh, about the airline stewardesses, now that they're flight attendants?
O'BRIEN: Susan's a man, I'm convinced. You love torturing me, don't you?
CAFFERTY: It's Friday.
O'BRIEN: Today and every day.
CAFFERTY: It's how I get into my weekend.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Yes, you're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Glad I could help you out.
Here's a question for you: Is Donald Rumsfeld in rare form these days? Lawmakers are asking the defense secretary lots of questions. They aren't quite happy with the answers, or shall we say, non- answers. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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