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Soldiers' Video; New Twist in Baghdad Shooting Incident That Left Italian Intelligence Officer Dead, Journalist Wounded

Aired March 08, 2005 - 06:28   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

Pro-Syrian demonstrations under way in Beirut right now. You're looking at a live picture on the streets of Beirut. This protest called by Hezbollah to counter anti-Syrian protesters who have demanded Syrian troops leave the country. Leaders from the two countries mapped out a pullout plan yesterday. We're talking about Lebanon and Syria.

President Bush gives a major speech about the war on terrorism this morning before the National Defense University. CNN does plan live coverage at 10:15 a.m. Eastern.

The brother of Michael Jackson's accuser is expected to return to the stand today. The boy testified that he twice saw Jackson grope his older brother.

A 90-day ban. Reverend Al Sharpton plans to call on radio and TV stations to ban playing music by performers who use violence in their lyrics. The move comes after last week's shootout between rappers at a New York radio station that left one man wounded.

To the forecast center now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: It's called Ramadi madness, and it's causing quite a bit of controversy in Florida. It was shot in Iraq by members of a Florida National Guard unit. On it, disturbing pictures of what some called prisoner abuse.

Our senior international editor David Clinch is here to tell us more.

And, David, this is in essence amateur video shot by soldiers on the battleground.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right, Carol. There are a number of aspects to this story. We need to sort of go through them one by one.

It is, as you say, amateur video. It's one of those stories which we have been aware of the existence of this video, because the ACLU, amongst others, has been pushing for the release of this video, looking into this case.

The Florida National Guard in Ramadi last year, apparently one of them shooting video as they go about their business, crashing through doors, taking prisoners. At one point in the video, you see them apparently making fun of a dead body, lifting up its arm, making it wave.

And then at some point later, after his unit left Iraq, this video was apparently post-produced by somebody; not clear by whom.

COSTELLO: Well, hold on a minute, David, before you go on.

CLINCH: Yes.

COSTELLO: Describe more of the disturbing elements in this video. Soldiers are seen kicking an injured Iraqi, who had been shot.

CLINCH: Yes. They were. Now, we should make it clear that this is -- the images -- and I've seen the video. The images shown in this video are not of the same shock value, if you want to put it that way, from the Abu Ghraib images. But they are, on the other hand, pretty shocking behavior for those of us that sit here in America watching them.

But on the other hand, perhaps from a military point of view, just another day in Iraq. People acting very aggressively, U.S. soldiers acting very aggressively as they barge down doors, as they treat the prisoners.

The shocking value to me as I watch it is this idea that it's being videoed by these troops, and then post-produced and apparently distributed with sort of funny captions and things like that. That's very disturbing when you see that, because the point being that you cannot be certain of the context within which all of these things happened.

In the battlefield lots of things happen. But then for these images to be turned around and put into videos...

COSTELLO: But...

CLINCH: ... and presented as sort of an amusing...

COSTELLO: And the military did investigate this.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: They found no wrongdoing. And one of the problems, though, it's hard to identify who exactly is in this video and who took the pictures.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: But a West Palm Beach paper had a quote from a sergeant, who supposedly had a part in this video taping. He says: "People see what they want to see. They see abuse and want to cry foul. There was no abuse. I'd like to see these critics every night, mortared every day. I'd like to see how they'd feel, how they'd react." That's from Sergeant Chad Shaddle (ph).

And I guess now the American Civil Liberties Union is involved.

CLINCH: Well, they have been involved looking into this and other cases of alleged abuse. And, again, the sort of two sides of this, if you want to put it, are troops in the field saying they have to be as aggressive as they possibly can be, and then others -- ACLU and others looking at these images and saying, it's abuse. There are obviously lots of points between those two arguments.

But, again, the disturbing aspect to me is not necessarily just what you see in the video. The idea that people are videoing this and then post-producing it and distributing it, that's quite disturbing.

COSTELLO: And apparently they watched it over and over as well.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: Of course, we'll have much more on this in the hours to come.

CLINCH: Well, just one other point very quickly. Of course, it takes on a light of its own when it then is distributed, as it has been, and end up Arab networks and is seen in Iraq, where they don't talk about the context and they don't talk about the subtleties. It's just on every hour on the Arab networks.

COSTELLO: All right. David Clinch, thanks so much, live from Atlanta today.

A military judge in Fort Hood, Texas, has refused to dismiss charges against a U.S. soldier in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. Army Specialist Sabrina Harmon is accused of conspiracy, maltreating detainees and dereliction of duty. Her lawyer says she's innocent and won't take a plea deal. Her trial is set for May. It would be the second trial in connection with the scandal.

In the meantime, the U.S. military reportedly wants to take its high-security prisoners out of the Abu Ghraib prison. The Associated Press is reporting the prison is the target of repeated insurgent attacks, and the military is considering a plan to return the facility to Iraqi's government and house its prisoners in a safer location.

And there is new twist this morning in the Baghdad shooting incident that left an Italian intelligence officer dead and a journalist wounded. A senior U.S. official says the checkpoint where U.S. soldiers fired on the Italian's car was set up to secure the passage of U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte.

The reporter injured in the shooting is strongly disputing the U.S. military's version of the events, and she wants some answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANA SGRENA, FREED ITALIAN HOSTAGE (through translator): It is not up to me to say that it wasn't an ambush. It is up to those who did this action. We can call it any way you like until we have the elements to define it. They have to demonstrate that there were valid reasons to do what they did. I don't have to explain what happened. It is up to those who did it or those who gave the orders.

There were people there who shot at us. I saw them when they came to open the car and pull me out of it, wounded. So, the inquiry could start from there. They have to say why they fired. I don't have to explain why they fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now, Italian officials did talk about this, this morning. Italy's foreign minister is saying that he believes it was an accident, but he didn't believe the whole story. So, Italian officials are still investigating. We'll take you live to Rome and Alessio Vinci at the -- oh, I guess in about 15 minutes.

Let's talk about Social Security now. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has his own plan for overhauling the system. His proposal would allow workers 45 and younger to keep their traditional benefits, while giving them the option to open personal investment accounts. He also suggests lowering benefits as life expectancy increases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: Many people are drawing out more money then they ever put in it, because the longer you live, the longer you draw the money. So, what I do is I add one additional equation to how you index the base number for your Social Security number and its life expectancy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: One more detail about Hagel's plan, and it's a controversial one: He would raise the retirement age from 67 to 68.

So, what do you think of plans to revamp Social Security? For that and other hot topics of the day, let's check in with Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.

Frank, good morning.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

Indeed, there's lots of back and forth on Social Security. Right on CNN this weekend, Dan Bartlett, for example, the counselor to the White House, said he believes that most of the opposition -- and this is what he said to Social Security -- was among seniors.

Well, we thought we'd look into the data to see if that jived with our reading of the data. And, well, there is some truth, but not a lot to that. You can see that, indeed, as you get younger, support for the idea of private accounts gets bigger. This is from a poll we took in February. But notice even those who are 50 to 64, and even those who are 30 to 49, don't have a lot of enthusiasm for private accounts as described in this question.

So, it's not just those 65-plus who support Social Security.

And by the way, although younger Americans, as you see here, very young Americans are very likely to support private accounts, they're also more likely to say the Democrats would do a better job handling Social Security. That's on the left there. So, it's kind of a paradox.

Private accounts, yes, as far as younger people are concerned. However, the Democrats look like they can do a better job of handling it, so say these young people -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about Senator Hagel's proposal, since we just talked about that. How might that go over?

NEWPORT: Well, not great. Here's why I say that. We just asked Americans: Do you like the idea of raising the limit at which you qualify for full benefits? And 35 percent only of Americans said that was a good idea.

Part of the reason -- and this is fascinating, Carol -- a lot of Americans are retired at these early ages. Fifty to 59-year-olds, our Gallup analysis shows, 20 percent are already retired, and 60 to 64- year-olds, 45 percent are already retired. See it in the middle there?

So, a lot of Americans are already retired, already trying to get Social Security, don't like the idea of having to wait even longer before they get full benefits.

COSTELLO: All right. Frank Newport live in Princeton, New Jersey, this morning. Thank you.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, it's a kind of customer service you used to get in the days before cell phones. We'll tell you who is providing it. And fans of Princess Diana plan a protest. We'll tell you why in 10 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A market watch. A dismal day so far in futures trading. The Dow is down 14 points, the Nasdaq down 2 and a half, the S&P 500 down just over 1 and a half points.

Ditto in the international markets. Japan's Nikkei closes down 38 points. Britain's FTSE is down 9. The German DAX is down, oh, a little more than 9 points.

It's time now for a little "Business Buzz." Sprint is trying to make cell phone repair easy. Chris Huntington is at the Nasdaq Marketsite to tell us how.

Good morning -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

What a remarkable concept: fixing an electronic device that may be on the fritz. Well, Sprint says that it wants to make cell phone repairs a standard feature of its 800 retail stores. It's going to revamp those stores, so that if you have a snapped antenna or a broken screen, you can take it in there and, in theory, in a couple of hours for around $50.

Hopefully, this repair can be done on site, and you're back and running with your own phone, still all your numbers saved and all of that. You won't have to go through the hassle of keying in all of those numbers that you've saved over time.

Sprint says that this is something that it plans to be able to do initially on about 10 models of phones. And, of course, they say they're going to train their staff to get up to speed on all of the other phones that are out there.

As far as competitors, Nextel and Verizon say that they can handle some limited repairs in their current stores. Cingular and T- Mobil say they do not handle any repairs.

So, back to the future repairing cell phones, quite a concept there. No movement in Sprint's stock on that bone-crushing news there.

Stocks to watch today. Texas Instruments is coming up a bit shy on its latest quarterly forecast. Apparently, demand for its chips that go into big, flat-screen TVs, all the rage, are tapering off a bit. A huge demand for those chips heading into the end of last year. Now, the demand seems to have dried up just a bit. So, Texas Instruments is turning back its profit forecast for the latest quarter and its revenue forecast.

Overall, look for stocks to start a little bit lower this morning. The Dow Industrials have made a run-up to 11000. It got close to it yesterday, and then pulled back a bit. It hasn't cleared that mark since June of 2001.

The Nasdaq has had a nice run in the last couple of weeks, up more than 19 points yesterday, but is pointing to a lower open -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Chris Huntington live at the Nasdaq Marketsite. Thank you.

When DAYBREAK continues, Italy's foreign minister calls it an accident, but he still wants answers. We'll take you live to Rome for more on the fallout on that freed Italian journalist.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:45 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Another demonstration is going on at this hour in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. But this time, the pro-Syrian group, Hezbollah, is behind today's demonstrations. It follows an anti-Syrian demonstration Monday in the capital.

Britain's Prince Charles was the target today in an interesting protest in New Zealand. Two women bared their breasts in an apparent protest against the British throne as colonial rulers. I'm not exactly sure of the connection, but it certainly got people's attention.

How does 25 miles per gallon sound? "Consumer Reports" has picked the Honda Accord hybrid as this year's top pick of family sedans. It goes from 0 to 60 in a half second faster than the all-gas virgin -- version, rather.

In culture, the legendary New York rock club CBGB is embroiled in a dispute over unpaid rent. Blondie and The Ramones got their start at the club, as well as host of other groups. The lease is up in August.

In sports, four and a half months after the World Series, New York and Boston mixed it up again in exhibition play. The Yankees beat Boston 9-2. Fans did taunt Jason Giambi, chanting, "steroids, steroids, steroids" every time he came up to bat. But he took it like a man, Chad.

MYERS: Yes, you know, it's going to go on all year.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: There is a major rescue operation under way for a group of dolphins off of Florida's coast. Let's check in with CNN's Soledad O'Brien for a look at what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, good morning to you.

Yes, in fact, we've got the very latest on that desperate effort in the Florida Keys. They're trying to save dozens of these dolphins that have beached along the shore. More than 20, though, now have died. More are in danger.

The big question now, of course, is just what's to blame? We've got the very latest on that investigation ahead this morning.

Also, the grand finale of the "New You Revolution." Today, Dr. Gupta and all five participants will be with us live. The question for them: Did they stick to their revolution, or maybe resolution? We're going to find out. We'll also read some of your e-mails on the air, because, of course, Carol, lots of people have been following along, trying to break their bad habits as our revolution folks were breaking their bad habits.

Not me, because, you know, I'm never going to break my bad habits. But I like to watch it happen for other people.

COSTELLO: Yes. It's much more interesting and fun just to watch. It's too much work the other way.

O'BRIEN: Well, you can sit on the couch watching while you eat potato chips, yes, exactly.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Soledad.

When DAYBREAK continues, Princess Diana's loyal fans are not too happy about Prince Charles' upcoming marriage. And they're choosing an unusual way to protest.

You are watching DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Italy's foreign minister is talking this morning, and he says it was an accident. But the Italian journalist who was hit by American gunfire in Baghdad is saying something quite different. She's making very serious allegations.

Let's head live to Rome for the latest and Alessio Vinci.

Good morning -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, truth and justice. This is what the Italians want, the Italian government wants from the Americans, following that shooting incident in Baghdad on Friday which left one experienced intelligence agent dead, Giuliana Sgrena, the reporter, the freed former hostage wounded, as well as another intelligence agent wounded.

Italy's foreign minister was giving his own account to the Italian parliament based on the eyewitness testimony of the driver of the car, the intelligence agent. And Fini dismisses the U.S. account again that the car was speeding towards the checkpoint, saying the car was driving about 25 miles an hour. And he also disputes the fact that the car, the driver, was given ample warning to slow down. He said the shooting began immediately after a bright flash of light illuminated the car.

Mr. Fini also dismisses Washington's view that the incident may have taken place because of a lack of communication. He said all necessary contacts were made with the U.S. military authorities at Baghdad International Airport.

And then finally, he provided this account of what has happened -- or what happened immediately after the shooting incident took place, suggesting that the U.S. soldiers who fired on the car may have realized that they had made a mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIANFRANCO FINI, ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Our agent was made to kneel at about 10 meters from the vehicle and notwithstanding the use of the English language, he managed with difficulty to present himself and his colleague as members of the Italian embassy, adding that the woman they carrying was the kidnapped journalist. In particular, during this hectic and tragic phase, two young American soldiers approached our agent, and with disconcerted manner, they repeatedly excused themselves for what had happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VINCI: Concluding his account to the Italian parliament, Gianfranco Fini, the foreign minister, said, again, that what happened on Friday was a -- quote -- "tragic incident," which is what the Americans have been saying, but not what Sgrena herself, which has suggested in several interviews that she may have been a victim of an ambush, of a premeditated attack. Mr. Fini said that was not the case. They have no elements to support that claim.

And he also said, nevertheless, that those responsible must be found, held accountable, and punished -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alessio, a clarification to what the foreign minister was saying. Did the soldiers get close enough to hear the people in the car speak? Is that what he was saying?

VINCI: No. What he was saying is that immediately after the soldiers fired on the car, two soldiers -- or several soldiers approached the car. And, as usually happens in these situations, they tried to control the scene. And then he said that the agents have said in this testimony that he tried to communicate with the soldiers who they were. And once they had done that, the soldiers began saying, "we're sorry, we're sorry, we're sorry."

So, it was immediately clear, at least according to what the foreign minister is saying, that the soldiers had realized after they had shot the Italians that they had made a mistake.

COSTELLO: Understand. Alessio Vinci reporting live for us from Rome. Thank you.

This is DAYBREAK for a Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's time to give away a coffee mug.

And, Chad...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... I got mine in the mail.

MYERS: Oh. Did you answer a question right?

COSTELLO: Of course I did. You know, I would never cheat.

MYERS: We have little time. Let's get right to it.

Here are the questions from yesterday, and we'll give you the questions for today. In what state are preachers protesting the performance by Nelly? That's Arkansas. And which two U.S. senators were proposing minimum wage increase? Those were Senators Santorum and Kennedy.

And the winner from Florida, Jason Marquis. Congratulations, Jason. You are the winner of the new coffee mug.

Now here are the questions for today. What company is adding repair shops to its stores? And now this it's election day somewhere in America. The widow of which congressman is running to fill his seat?

And that's Daybreak@CNN.com. E-mail your answers to Daybreak@CNN.com -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Good questions this morning.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And just a note to my father: get well soon.

"AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

MYERS: From me, too.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.


Aired March 8, 2005 - 06:28   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

Pro-Syrian demonstrations under way in Beirut right now. You're looking at a live picture on the streets of Beirut. This protest called by Hezbollah to counter anti-Syrian protesters who have demanded Syrian troops leave the country. Leaders from the two countries mapped out a pullout plan yesterday. We're talking about Lebanon and Syria.

President Bush gives a major speech about the war on terrorism this morning before the National Defense University. CNN does plan live coverage at 10:15 a.m. Eastern.

The brother of Michael Jackson's accuser is expected to return to the stand today. The boy testified that he twice saw Jackson grope his older brother.

A 90-day ban. Reverend Al Sharpton plans to call on radio and TV stations to ban playing music by performers who use violence in their lyrics. The move comes after last week's shootout between rappers at a New York radio station that left one man wounded.

To the forecast center now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: It's called Ramadi madness, and it's causing quite a bit of controversy in Florida. It was shot in Iraq by members of a Florida National Guard unit. On it, disturbing pictures of what some called prisoner abuse.

Our senior international editor David Clinch is here to tell us more.

And, David, this is in essence amateur video shot by soldiers on the battleground.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right, Carol. There are a number of aspects to this story. We need to sort of go through them one by one.

It is, as you say, amateur video. It's one of those stories which we have been aware of the existence of this video, because the ACLU, amongst others, has been pushing for the release of this video, looking into this case.

The Florida National Guard in Ramadi last year, apparently one of them shooting video as they go about their business, crashing through doors, taking prisoners. At one point in the video, you see them apparently making fun of a dead body, lifting up its arm, making it wave.

And then at some point later, after his unit left Iraq, this video was apparently post-produced by somebody; not clear by whom.

COSTELLO: Well, hold on a minute, David, before you go on.

CLINCH: Yes.

COSTELLO: Describe more of the disturbing elements in this video. Soldiers are seen kicking an injured Iraqi, who had been shot.

CLINCH: Yes. They were. Now, we should make it clear that this is -- the images -- and I've seen the video. The images shown in this video are not of the same shock value, if you want to put it that way, from the Abu Ghraib images. But they are, on the other hand, pretty shocking behavior for those of us that sit here in America watching them.

But on the other hand, perhaps from a military point of view, just another day in Iraq. People acting very aggressively, U.S. soldiers acting very aggressively as they barge down doors, as they treat the prisoners.

The shocking value to me as I watch it is this idea that it's being videoed by these troops, and then post-produced and apparently distributed with sort of funny captions and things like that. That's very disturbing when you see that, because the point being that you cannot be certain of the context within which all of these things happened.

In the battlefield lots of things happen. But then for these images to be turned around and put into videos...

COSTELLO: But...

CLINCH: ... and presented as sort of an amusing...

COSTELLO: And the military did investigate this.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: They found no wrongdoing. And one of the problems, though, it's hard to identify who exactly is in this video and who took the pictures.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: But a West Palm Beach paper had a quote from a sergeant, who supposedly had a part in this video taping. He says: "People see what they want to see. They see abuse and want to cry foul. There was no abuse. I'd like to see these critics every night, mortared every day. I'd like to see how they'd feel, how they'd react." That's from Sergeant Chad Shaddle (ph).

And I guess now the American Civil Liberties Union is involved.

CLINCH: Well, they have been involved looking into this and other cases of alleged abuse. And, again, the sort of two sides of this, if you want to put it, are troops in the field saying they have to be as aggressive as they possibly can be, and then others -- ACLU and others looking at these images and saying, it's abuse. There are obviously lots of points between those two arguments.

But, again, the disturbing aspect to me is not necessarily just what you see in the video. The idea that people are videoing this and then post-producing it and distributing it, that's quite disturbing.

COSTELLO: And apparently they watched it over and over as well.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: Of course, we'll have much more on this in the hours to come.

CLINCH: Well, just one other point very quickly. Of course, it takes on a light of its own when it then is distributed, as it has been, and end up Arab networks and is seen in Iraq, where they don't talk about the context and they don't talk about the subtleties. It's just on every hour on the Arab networks.

COSTELLO: All right. David Clinch, thanks so much, live from Atlanta today.

A military judge in Fort Hood, Texas, has refused to dismiss charges against a U.S. soldier in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. Army Specialist Sabrina Harmon is accused of conspiracy, maltreating detainees and dereliction of duty. Her lawyer says she's innocent and won't take a plea deal. Her trial is set for May. It would be the second trial in connection with the scandal.

In the meantime, the U.S. military reportedly wants to take its high-security prisoners out of the Abu Ghraib prison. The Associated Press is reporting the prison is the target of repeated insurgent attacks, and the military is considering a plan to return the facility to Iraqi's government and house its prisoners in a safer location.

And there is new twist this morning in the Baghdad shooting incident that left an Italian intelligence officer dead and a journalist wounded. A senior U.S. official says the checkpoint where U.S. soldiers fired on the Italian's car was set up to secure the passage of U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte.

The reporter injured in the shooting is strongly disputing the U.S. military's version of the events, and she wants some answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANA SGRENA, FREED ITALIAN HOSTAGE (through translator): It is not up to me to say that it wasn't an ambush. It is up to those who did this action. We can call it any way you like until we have the elements to define it. They have to demonstrate that there were valid reasons to do what they did. I don't have to explain what happened. It is up to those who did it or those who gave the orders.

There were people there who shot at us. I saw them when they came to open the car and pull me out of it, wounded. So, the inquiry could start from there. They have to say why they fired. I don't have to explain why they fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now, Italian officials did talk about this, this morning. Italy's foreign minister is saying that he believes it was an accident, but he didn't believe the whole story. So, Italian officials are still investigating. We'll take you live to Rome and Alessio Vinci at the -- oh, I guess in about 15 minutes.

Let's talk about Social Security now. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has his own plan for overhauling the system. His proposal would allow workers 45 and younger to keep their traditional benefits, while giving them the option to open personal investment accounts. He also suggests lowering benefits as life expectancy increases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: Many people are drawing out more money then they ever put in it, because the longer you live, the longer you draw the money. So, what I do is I add one additional equation to how you index the base number for your Social Security number and its life expectancy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: One more detail about Hagel's plan, and it's a controversial one: He would raise the retirement age from 67 to 68.

So, what do you think of plans to revamp Social Security? For that and other hot topics of the day, let's check in with Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.

Frank, good morning.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

Indeed, there's lots of back and forth on Social Security. Right on CNN this weekend, Dan Bartlett, for example, the counselor to the White House, said he believes that most of the opposition -- and this is what he said to Social Security -- was among seniors.

Well, we thought we'd look into the data to see if that jived with our reading of the data. And, well, there is some truth, but not a lot to that. You can see that, indeed, as you get younger, support for the idea of private accounts gets bigger. This is from a poll we took in February. But notice even those who are 50 to 64, and even those who are 30 to 49, don't have a lot of enthusiasm for private accounts as described in this question.

So, it's not just those 65-plus who support Social Security.

And by the way, although younger Americans, as you see here, very young Americans are very likely to support private accounts, they're also more likely to say the Democrats would do a better job handling Social Security. That's on the left there. So, it's kind of a paradox.

Private accounts, yes, as far as younger people are concerned. However, the Democrats look like they can do a better job of handling it, so say these young people -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about Senator Hagel's proposal, since we just talked about that. How might that go over?

NEWPORT: Well, not great. Here's why I say that. We just asked Americans: Do you like the idea of raising the limit at which you qualify for full benefits? And 35 percent only of Americans said that was a good idea.

Part of the reason -- and this is fascinating, Carol -- a lot of Americans are retired at these early ages. Fifty to 59-year-olds, our Gallup analysis shows, 20 percent are already retired, and 60 to 64- year-olds, 45 percent are already retired. See it in the middle there?

So, a lot of Americans are already retired, already trying to get Social Security, don't like the idea of having to wait even longer before they get full benefits.

COSTELLO: All right. Frank Newport live in Princeton, New Jersey, this morning. Thank you.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, it's a kind of customer service you used to get in the days before cell phones. We'll tell you who is providing it. And fans of Princess Diana plan a protest. We'll tell you why in 10 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A market watch. A dismal day so far in futures trading. The Dow is down 14 points, the Nasdaq down 2 and a half, the S&P 500 down just over 1 and a half points.

Ditto in the international markets. Japan's Nikkei closes down 38 points. Britain's FTSE is down 9. The German DAX is down, oh, a little more than 9 points.

It's time now for a little "Business Buzz." Sprint is trying to make cell phone repair easy. Chris Huntington is at the Nasdaq Marketsite to tell us how.

Good morning -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

What a remarkable concept: fixing an electronic device that may be on the fritz. Well, Sprint says that it wants to make cell phone repairs a standard feature of its 800 retail stores. It's going to revamp those stores, so that if you have a snapped antenna or a broken screen, you can take it in there and, in theory, in a couple of hours for around $50.

Hopefully, this repair can be done on site, and you're back and running with your own phone, still all your numbers saved and all of that. You won't have to go through the hassle of keying in all of those numbers that you've saved over time.

Sprint says that this is something that it plans to be able to do initially on about 10 models of phones. And, of course, they say they're going to train their staff to get up to speed on all of the other phones that are out there.

As far as competitors, Nextel and Verizon say that they can handle some limited repairs in their current stores. Cingular and T- Mobil say they do not handle any repairs.

So, back to the future repairing cell phones, quite a concept there. No movement in Sprint's stock on that bone-crushing news there.

Stocks to watch today. Texas Instruments is coming up a bit shy on its latest quarterly forecast. Apparently, demand for its chips that go into big, flat-screen TVs, all the rage, are tapering off a bit. A huge demand for those chips heading into the end of last year. Now, the demand seems to have dried up just a bit. So, Texas Instruments is turning back its profit forecast for the latest quarter and its revenue forecast.

Overall, look for stocks to start a little bit lower this morning. The Dow Industrials have made a run-up to 11000. It got close to it yesterday, and then pulled back a bit. It hasn't cleared that mark since June of 2001.

The Nasdaq has had a nice run in the last couple of weeks, up more than 19 points yesterday, but is pointing to a lower open -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Chris Huntington live at the Nasdaq Marketsite. Thank you.

When DAYBREAK continues, Italy's foreign minister calls it an accident, but he still wants answers. We'll take you live to Rome for more on the fallout on that freed Italian journalist.

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COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:45 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Another demonstration is going on at this hour in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. But this time, the pro-Syrian group, Hezbollah, is behind today's demonstrations. It follows an anti-Syrian demonstration Monday in the capital.

Britain's Prince Charles was the target today in an interesting protest in New Zealand. Two women bared their breasts in an apparent protest against the British throne as colonial rulers. I'm not exactly sure of the connection, but it certainly got people's attention.

How does 25 miles per gallon sound? "Consumer Reports" has picked the Honda Accord hybrid as this year's top pick of family sedans. It goes from 0 to 60 in a half second faster than the all-gas virgin -- version, rather.

In culture, the legendary New York rock club CBGB is embroiled in a dispute over unpaid rent. Blondie and The Ramones got their start at the club, as well as host of other groups. The lease is up in August.

In sports, four and a half months after the World Series, New York and Boston mixed it up again in exhibition play. The Yankees beat Boston 9-2. Fans did taunt Jason Giambi, chanting, "steroids, steroids, steroids" every time he came up to bat. But he took it like a man, Chad.

MYERS: Yes, you know, it's going to go on all year.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: There is a major rescue operation under way for a group of dolphins off of Florida's coast. Let's check in with CNN's Soledad O'Brien for a look at what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, good morning to you.

Yes, in fact, we've got the very latest on that desperate effort in the Florida Keys. They're trying to save dozens of these dolphins that have beached along the shore. More than 20, though, now have died. More are in danger.

The big question now, of course, is just what's to blame? We've got the very latest on that investigation ahead this morning.

Also, the grand finale of the "New You Revolution." Today, Dr. Gupta and all five participants will be with us live. The question for them: Did they stick to their revolution, or maybe resolution? We're going to find out. We'll also read some of your e-mails on the air, because, of course, Carol, lots of people have been following along, trying to break their bad habits as our revolution folks were breaking their bad habits.

Not me, because, you know, I'm never going to break my bad habits. But I like to watch it happen for other people.

COSTELLO: Yes. It's much more interesting and fun just to watch. It's too much work the other way.

O'BRIEN: Well, you can sit on the couch watching while you eat potato chips, yes, exactly.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Soledad.

When DAYBREAK continues, Princess Diana's loyal fans are not too happy about Prince Charles' upcoming marriage. And they're choosing an unusual way to protest.

You are watching DAYBREAK.

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COSTELLO: Italy's foreign minister is talking this morning, and he says it was an accident. But the Italian journalist who was hit by American gunfire in Baghdad is saying something quite different. She's making very serious allegations.

Let's head live to Rome for the latest and Alessio Vinci.

Good morning -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, truth and justice. This is what the Italians want, the Italian government wants from the Americans, following that shooting incident in Baghdad on Friday which left one experienced intelligence agent dead, Giuliana Sgrena, the reporter, the freed former hostage wounded, as well as another intelligence agent wounded.

Italy's foreign minister was giving his own account to the Italian parliament based on the eyewitness testimony of the driver of the car, the intelligence agent. And Fini dismisses the U.S. account again that the car was speeding towards the checkpoint, saying the car was driving about 25 miles an hour. And he also disputes the fact that the car, the driver, was given ample warning to slow down. He said the shooting began immediately after a bright flash of light illuminated the car.

Mr. Fini also dismisses Washington's view that the incident may have taken place because of a lack of communication. He said all necessary contacts were made with the U.S. military authorities at Baghdad International Airport.

And then finally, he provided this account of what has happened -- or what happened immediately after the shooting incident took place, suggesting that the U.S. soldiers who fired on the car may have realized that they had made a mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIANFRANCO FINI, ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Our agent was made to kneel at about 10 meters from the vehicle and notwithstanding the use of the English language, he managed with difficulty to present himself and his colleague as members of the Italian embassy, adding that the woman they carrying was the kidnapped journalist. In particular, during this hectic and tragic phase, two young American soldiers approached our agent, and with disconcerted manner, they repeatedly excused themselves for what had happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VINCI: Concluding his account to the Italian parliament, Gianfranco Fini, the foreign minister, said, again, that what happened on Friday was a -- quote -- "tragic incident," which is what the Americans have been saying, but not what Sgrena herself, which has suggested in several interviews that she may have been a victim of an ambush, of a premeditated attack. Mr. Fini said that was not the case. They have no elements to support that claim.

And he also said, nevertheless, that those responsible must be found, held accountable, and punished -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alessio, a clarification to what the foreign minister was saying. Did the soldiers get close enough to hear the people in the car speak? Is that what he was saying?

VINCI: No. What he was saying is that immediately after the soldiers fired on the car, two soldiers -- or several soldiers approached the car. And, as usually happens in these situations, they tried to control the scene. And then he said that the agents have said in this testimony that he tried to communicate with the soldiers who they were. And once they had done that, the soldiers began saying, "we're sorry, we're sorry, we're sorry."

So, it was immediately clear, at least according to what the foreign minister is saying, that the soldiers had realized after they had shot the Italians that they had made a mistake.

COSTELLO: Understand. Alessio Vinci reporting live for us from Rome. Thank you.

This is DAYBREAK for a Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's time to give away a coffee mug.

And, Chad...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... I got mine in the mail.

MYERS: Oh. Did you answer a question right?

COSTELLO: Of course I did. You know, I would never cheat.

MYERS: We have little time. Let's get right to it.

Here are the questions from yesterday, and we'll give you the questions for today. In what state are preachers protesting the performance by Nelly? That's Arkansas. And which two U.S. senators were proposing minimum wage increase? Those were Senators Santorum and Kennedy.

And the winner from Florida, Jason Marquis. Congratulations, Jason. You are the winner of the new coffee mug.

Now here are the questions for today. What company is adding repair shops to its stores? And now this it's election day somewhere in America. The widow of which congressman is running to fill his seat?

And that's Daybreak@CNN.com. E-mail your answers to Daybreak@CNN.com -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Good questions this morning.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And just a note to my father: get well soon.

"AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

MYERS: From me, too.

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