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American Morning

A Suicide Bomber in Iraq Kills at Least 47 People; A New Report Says U.S. Forces Stretched Too Thin

Aired May 04, 2005 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Deadly violence today in a small Iraqi town. A suicide bomber kills at least 47 people; 100 more are wounded.
A new report says U.S. forces are stretched too thin. Ahead, what that really means for military readiness.

And caught on tape. An alleged beating of a handcuffed suspect by Philadelphia police. Now an investigation is under way on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is American morning with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, 7:00 in New York. Good morning to you as well.

O'BRIEN: And likewise.

HEMMER: In a moment here, Michael Jackson's defense expected to begin today. One of the first witnesses could be the actor McCauley Culkin. On Tuesday, prosecutors arguing Jackson's millions of dollars in debt could be a motive in the case. We'll see if the theory holds with Jeff Toobin a bit later.

O'BRIEN: A lot of twists and turns obviously in that case.

Also this morning, the suspected BTK serial killer charged now with 10 counts of murder. This morning, we talk with the top prosecutor who brought those charges.

HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty, what's happening?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Government stupidity, Bill, not restricted to Washington D.C. The state of Texas, the legislature there, now trying to confront the burning issue of sexually suggestive routines done by high school cheerleaders. Apparently, this is a threat to Western civilization as they see it, these kids shaking their pom poms at the basketball game, and they are actually working on legislation that would restrict what high school cheerleaders can do in public schools. So we'll take a look at that.

HEMMER: Ought to be a law. Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: And there will be soon.

HEMMER: Apparently.

CAFFERTY: It passed the house, and it's on the way to the senate. Morons.

O'BRIEN: We'll see about that. Thanks, Jack.

Well, new developments to talk about in northern Iraq this morning. A suicide bomber attacks police recruits, killing at least 47 people, wounding more than 100. Ryan Chilcote in Baghdad for us this morning joining us with the latest from Baghdad.

Ryan, good morning.

Let's talk about this attack on the Iraq security forces.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, this is the deadliest attack we've seen in Iraq in more than two months. A suicide bomber, as you said there, targeting an Iraqi police recruitment center in the northern Kurdish city of Irbil, a place that normally is quite quiet, particularly in comparison to other Iraqi cities, and in comparison to Baghdad. This suicide bomber struck as about 300 young Iraqi men were standing in a line in front of the recruitment center, many of them responding to about two weeks of ads in the newspaper and a call for them to sign up for Iraq's fledgling police forces. That's when the suicide bomber somehow got close enough to them, blowing himself up.

The Irbil governor telling CNN that at least 47 people were killed in that attack, at least another 100 wounded -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, Ryan, as you well know, police recruitment centers are -- it's not the first time they've been the focus of the attacks. Is this an indication that the security there is just not adequate yet?

CHILCOTE: Perhaps. As you said, there are frequent attacks on these recruitment centers. There was one just a couple weeks ago in the city if Tikrit. But we know specifically about what happened this morning in Irbil is that this suicide bomber was able to get them -- get close enough to this line of people. And basically, the eyewitnesses we've talked to there say it's impossible to try and guard from this kind of attack. If someone is willing to take their life to execute an attack like this. It's very difficult to guard from it. Even if you were to try and pat this person down, this is out on an open street. By the time you patted them down, they can detonate the explosive. So very difficult to guard against these kind of attacks.

Clearly, this was a planned attack. They've known that this recruiting day was going to take place now for two weeks. They got to this line. The security measures at this particular recruitment center begin at the door. That is where the full search began. The attack happened outside of the door on the open street. There were cars passing by. Really difficult to guard against this kind of violence -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ryan, you also said the region, this particular region, is usually very quiet. So when you see violence in this region, what's the significance do you think of that?

CHILCOTE: Well, one thing is that the insurgents may be simply trying to prove that they can strike anywhere in Iraq. We've seen a lot of that. They've struck recently in Ramadi. They've struck in Baghdad. They've struck in Mosul. Now they're striking here. Also could be of course simply addressed in targeting ethnic Kurds, a minority here. A lot of insurgents don't like the fact that the Kurds are playing a very large role in this government. Iraq even has a Kurdish president -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ryan Chilcote's in Baghdad for us this morning. Ryan, thanks as always -- Bill.

HEMMER: Back here in the U.S. now, officials say that Congress is close to approving an additional $82 billion war spending bill. On Tuesday, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers warning Congress that war on terror, especially in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, will make responding to other potential conflicts much harder. In that reporter, Myers says the U.S. military cannot respond with as much speed and precision to a major new threat, that another war would have significantly extended timelines and run the risk of higher casualties and collateral damage.

The general stressing, however, that while demands on the military may mean it will take longer to win a conflict, victory is still certain for the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We have very high standards in how we measure ourselves against our current plans, and so that's what we're measuring. We're measuring against the timelines that are already in plans that have been established several years ago, a year ago, and so we measure ourselves against that. What we've said is we will be successful, we will prevail. The timelines may have to be extended. We may have to use additional resources, but it doesn't matter, because we're going to be successful in the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Which takes us to our question, how serious a problem is this for the military? CNN military analyst, retired Brigadier General David Grange back with us this morning.

General, good to have you back with us today.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.

HEMMER: As a military man, how concerned are you about this assessment?

GRANGE: Well, you're always concerned about your capabilities in present-day conflict, as well as future possible conflict. I think the chairman's right, that There's no doubt that the U.S. armed forces or a coalition with the U.S. armed forces would win any fight today and in the foreseeable future. But it would take longer.

And where the critical readiness issues are probably on ground forces. Air, sea is in, I think, in pretty good shape, but the commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan and a few other places right now truly commit the ground forces to an overbearing rotational schedule that makes future conflict tough to take on.

HEMMER: Do you think General Myers was surprising people with this, or was he pointing out the obvious with the ongoing conflict in Iraq?

GRANGE: Well, you know, a lot of people say he's saying this because he's on the way to transition out of this position. Some say it's the obvious. You know, before there was talk that Iraq and Afghanistan was just a peak, and that it would come back down to a valley and things would get back kind of to normal. Well, you know, it's really a sustained fight, and counter-insurgencies take a long time. And maybe it's taken longer than initially the Pentagon thought it would. And the commitment there is for the foreseeable future, and it eats up a very small force. The U.S. armed forces is not a large force. It's one of the smallest militaries in the world when you talk about at the top of the heap of capable fighting forces. But it's very modern. It's the best in the world. And you can do more with less, but our less now is starting to catch up with us.

HEMMER: We've been talking about overseas. What happens on the homeland then, with homeland security if the strain continues the way it is?

GRANGE: Well, that's a key part, because as you're doing this forward fight, what about what you call your rear-area security. And our rear-area security in this global fight against terrorist organizations in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and maybe future combat, homeland is a vulnerability that we have. I mean, the enemies look at that as a way to disrupt our capability overseas. And we have just barely scratched the surface on our homeland defense. The security is required to protect this homeland. And so yes, that's in equation, and that is an issue.

HEMMER: Retired Brigadier General David Grange, thanks for being with us today, back in the home state of Illinois for you.

GRANGE: American support of the Iraqi war now at a new low. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows of those surveyed, 57 percent do not believe the war was worth it. That's triple the percentage that felt that way when the war started two years ago.

A majority of Americans also in that survey believe things are going badly for the U.S. That's a significant increase since March in the same polling. The changing sentiment certainly is not helping recruiting. In the next hour, our special series "Battle Fatigue" continues today. Barbara Starr looking at the changing tactics used by some inner-city recruiters -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: When court reassumes this morning in Michael Jackson's molestation trial, the prosecution's final witness will be on the stand. They could rest their case today. The state spent its final days of testimony trying to undo the damage from one of its own witnesses.

Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Did Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's ex-wife, change her story to favor Jackson? Investigator Steve Robell told the jury she did. Last year Rowe told him Jackson was a sociopath, and treated his children like possessions.

JIM MORET, LEGAL ANALYST: It shows that Debbie Rowe has made inconsistent statements to police and on the stand. So a year ago, Debbie Rowe had one story. On the stand last week, she had another. And the prosecution is desperate to try to show that she lied on the stand.

DORNIN: It was alleged monetary motives that dominated one of the final days of the prosecution's case. A financial expert claimed Jackson was spending between $20 and $30 million more than he was making. Prosecutors want the jury to believe that Jackson was so concerned about money, he would do anything to protect his image and his empire.

CRAIG SMITH, FMR. PROSECUTOR: It goes back to showing, what's the motivation to keep this family of the alleged victim at the ranch and hold them against their will? It's because Michael Jackson was in desperate need to repair the damage done to his career, and this particular family was a key to that.

DORNIN: On the stand now for the prosecution, Rudy Provencio. He's expected to be the final witness. Provencio was hired by Jackson, and was close friends with his adviser Mark Shakel (ph). Prosecutors are likely hoping Provencio will drop a bombshell that will directly connect Jackson to the conspiracy.

(on camera): A source tells CNN the defense will begin by calling three alleged victims of molestation dating from the '90s. One of them is former child star McCauley Culkin. He and others are expected to debunk the prosecution's claim they were molested.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Santa Maria, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And in fact McCauley Culkin has repeatedly denied that Michael Jackson did anything improper when he visited Neverland Ranch as a teenager.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Well, a date is set for the trial of the BTK suspect. Just how strong is the evidence against Dennis Rader? We're going to talk to the D.A. who is in charge of that case. HEMMER: Also this incident caught on tape down in Philadelphia. What happened before the tape was rolling? Authorities in Philadelphia now responding to allegations of police brutality.

Back in a moment on a Wednesday edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: The man accused of being the BTK killer has now been arraigned on 10 counts of first degree murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, the defendant would stand mute as to plea and ask the court to enter the appropriate plea and set the matter for trial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very well. On the defendant standing of mute, the court will enter a plea of not guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Dennis Rader did not say a word as his lawyer asked the judge to enter that, quote, "the appropriate plea," is what they said, on his behalf. A trial date now set for June 27th, thought start date likely to be pushed back. The D.A. is Nola Foulston. She's back with us in Wichita.

Good morning. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

NOLA FOULSTON, SEDGWICK CO. DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: How surprised were you that he didn't open his mouth yesterday?

FOULSTON: Not at all. That was fairly well expected. We expected that there would be a not-guilty plea. Of course, that's one of his options, to have the court enter the plea for him.

HEMMER: Does that tell you anything about how he'll defend himself?

FOULSTON: Well, you know, they don't let us in on their conversations, but it's a -- this case is an unusual one. We can only play guessing games with what's going to happen in this case. We hope it will go to trial, and it looks like we're going to be starting our motions, and we'll get a better idea and better feel for the case as the motions start pouring in, when the defense starts getting those ready. And that should happen within the next month or two.

HEMMER: Nola, you have a rather unusual procedure there in Wichita, where you as the D.A. actually approaches the defendant and reads him the charge. We're looking at videotape now of you doing that. You've lived in Wichita for decades. What was the moment like for you? FOULSTON: It's a very ordinary proceeding. It happens in every death penalty case, and it happens in any case where there is a separate sentencing proceeding. Kansas has what's called the hard 40. It was initiated in 1990, prior to the death penalty, and requires that the defendant be given personal notice. It's like serving someone personally with a subpoena. What you do is go up, you say, are you Dennis Rader? And the acknowledgment is there, and then you notify them personally what the law requires. And advise them that in the event that they are convicted of a first-degree murder, under this special statute, that they will -- the state will be asking for a separate sentencing proceeding because of the nature of the crime.

In this case, we elected to proceed on the fact that it was an especially vile crime, especially gruesome, and under a second basis that it was done to kill a witness who might be able to testify against him. And so those two basis form the requirements for us to ask for an extra 40 years in the event he is convicted of first degree murder.

This is a very normal procedure. We are also at times required under the death penalty statute to give personal notice. You just don't, you know, drop a paper on the table. If you don't do it right, then the notice has not been given, and you're foreclosed from giving that procedure.

HEMMER: How strong is your evidence?

FOULSTON: Well, I can't talk about my evidence, Bill. But I can tell you that we will be working in the next several months to put all of that evidence together for trial, and that we'll have an abundance of witnesses and other material that will be brought to the forefront so the public can see what the state has to offer in asking that a jury return a verdict of guilty on 10 counts of first degree murder.

HEMMER: Let me try and ask it a different way then. Since years have gone by, is all the evidence in, or are you still collecting?

FOULSTON: You know, it's amazing that when these cases started back in 1974, the quality of evidence collection was superb. And that allows us to have all of these items of evidence at our disposal today.

Obviously, there's evidence that was collected back in 1974 with the beginning of the Otero (ph) cases, and those are all stored in warehouses and we're putting those things together as trial attorneys and getting ready for trial.

We never stop preparing for trial. We started well in advance of the -- even the bringing in of Mr. Rader since March of 2004. We've been working on the prosecution of this case, irrespective of the fact that we didn't have a suspect in custody. You don't just let a case sit there dormant. You continue to work on it even as if there was a suspect in custody.

So, as you may know, I've been a prosecutor in the district attorney's office since 1977. So I was around at the time that these case were happening, and it's not like this is foreign to me. So you constantly prepare the case, as the Wichita Police Department has done, since the 1970s. And now we've put this all together and then get it prepared in the best manner so that the jury will have the ability to look at this case in a total package, and we hope to do that at the time of trial.

HEMMER: Nola, thank you.

FOULSTON: You're welcome.

HEMMER: Nola Foulston, the D.A. in Wichita.

We'll speak again. The trial begins this summer -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, Detroit in trouble. Andy tells us why a couple of big U.S. automakers are losing momentum. That's coming up next in "Minding Your Business."

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. A bleak outlook for American carmakers. And Toyota planning to hybrid-ize one of its most popular cars. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

Americans bought more cars in April, car sales up 5.7 percent. That's 1.5 million vehicles. That's the good news, a fairly strong rate. The bad news was for American automakers, particularly General Motors. Car sales for GM down 4.2 percent in the month. Ford down as well. Trucks at GM down 14 percent. It's not just higher gas prices, though, because you can see Daimler-Chrysler up a bit, and they sell Rams and Dakotas. Those have been redesigned. GM's vehicles getting a little long in the tooth. That's what analysts are saying.

You switch over to the Asian manufacturers, and, well, look at that. Toyota, a record month, the best month ever in the United States. Crossover vehicles are selling very briskly. Hybrids, the Prius up threefold. Only 11,000 units, but still not bad.

Now speaking of the Prius, which is a hybrid model. Reports out of Japan indicate Toyota that may be making a Camry hybrid in the United States. That would be the first hybrid made here by Toyota. Ford already makes a hybrid here. This would be in its Erlanger (ph), Kentucky facility. And you know, demand for these vehicles just continues to skyrocket. So it will be interesting to see if they keep on doing it. And it will be really interesting to see how GM responds, because they're in a whole lot of trouble right now.

O'BRIEN: Andy, thanks.

SERWER: You're welcome. O'BRIEN: Erlanger, just south of Cincinnati, west of Buffalo.

Here's the Question of the Day, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Did I miss something here?

HEMMER: No, not much.

SERWER: It's a running joke here on AMERICAN MORNING.

CAFFERTY: There are several.

SERWER: Indeed.

CAFFERTY: Texas cheerleaders may soon be doing less hip-hip and more hurray. That's not a bad lead actually. The Texas house approved a bill Tuesday that would ban, quote, "sexually suggestive routines" by cheerleaders, drill teams or other public school performance groups. This bill is on the way to the senate in Texas. Of course, the bill does not define what constitutes sexually suggestive behavior, nor does it specify the punishment.

But the bill's sponsor is a clown named Al Edwards. And he has suggested, Al has, that inappropriate gyrating and booty shaking is a distraction for students and contributes to an environment that causes pregnancies, criminality, dropouts and the spread of sexually transmitted disease. Just in case you want to remember this guy's name, what was it? Al Edwards.

The question is, should Texas ban sexually explicit cheerleading?

Explicit?

O'BRIEN: Suggestive.

CAFFERTY: Suggestive. It's not explicit. Sexually explicit...

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: Sexually suggestive cheerleading.

SERWER: Gyrating is what they got down on Elvis for back in the '50s. Remember that, gyrating?

HEMMER: Correct, "Sullivan" '56 maybe, '55, something like that? Shades of "American Beauty" in the head today based on this question. Remember that, Kevin Spacey?

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.

Much more AMERICAN MORNING still to come today. Ahead on "90-Second Pop," another contestant about to go home on "American Idol," but all eyes are focused on tonight's blockbuster expose.

Plus, Justin and Cameron hit the big screen together. Are they ready to walk down the aisle as well? That's later on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired May 4, 2005 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Deadly violence today in a small Iraqi town. A suicide bomber kills at least 47 people; 100 more are wounded.
A new report says U.S. forces are stretched too thin. Ahead, what that really means for military readiness.

And caught on tape. An alleged beating of a handcuffed suspect by Philadelphia police. Now an investigation is under way on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is American morning with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, 7:00 in New York. Good morning to you as well.

O'BRIEN: And likewise.

HEMMER: In a moment here, Michael Jackson's defense expected to begin today. One of the first witnesses could be the actor McCauley Culkin. On Tuesday, prosecutors arguing Jackson's millions of dollars in debt could be a motive in the case. We'll see if the theory holds with Jeff Toobin a bit later.

O'BRIEN: A lot of twists and turns obviously in that case.

Also this morning, the suspected BTK serial killer charged now with 10 counts of murder. This morning, we talk with the top prosecutor who brought those charges.

HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty, what's happening?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Government stupidity, Bill, not restricted to Washington D.C. The state of Texas, the legislature there, now trying to confront the burning issue of sexually suggestive routines done by high school cheerleaders. Apparently, this is a threat to Western civilization as they see it, these kids shaking their pom poms at the basketball game, and they are actually working on legislation that would restrict what high school cheerleaders can do in public schools. So we'll take a look at that.

HEMMER: Ought to be a law. Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: And there will be soon.

HEMMER: Apparently.

CAFFERTY: It passed the house, and it's on the way to the senate. Morons.

O'BRIEN: We'll see about that. Thanks, Jack.

Well, new developments to talk about in northern Iraq this morning. A suicide bomber attacks police recruits, killing at least 47 people, wounding more than 100. Ryan Chilcote in Baghdad for us this morning joining us with the latest from Baghdad.

Ryan, good morning.

Let's talk about this attack on the Iraq security forces.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, this is the deadliest attack we've seen in Iraq in more than two months. A suicide bomber, as you said there, targeting an Iraqi police recruitment center in the northern Kurdish city of Irbil, a place that normally is quite quiet, particularly in comparison to other Iraqi cities, and in comparison to Baghdad. This suicide bomber struck as about 300 young Iraqi men were standing in a line in front of the recruitment center, many of them responding to about two weeks of ads in the newspaper and a call for them to sign up for Iraq's fledgling police forces. That's when the suicide bomber somehow got close enough to them, blowing himself up.

The Irbil governor telling CNN that at least 47 people were killed in that attack, at least another 100 wounded -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, Ryan, as you well know, police recruitment centers are -- it's not the first time they've been the focus of the attacks. Is this an indication that the security there is just not adequate yet?

CHILCOTE: Perhaps. As you said, there are frequent attacks on these recruitment centers. There was one just a couple weeks ago in the city if Tikrit. But we know specifically about what happened this morning in Irbil is that this suicide bomber was able to get them -- get close enough to this line of people. And basically, the eyewitnesses we've talked to there say it's impossible to try and guard from this kind of attack. If someone is willing to take their life to execute an attack like this. It's very difficult to guard from it. Even if you were to try and pat this person down, this is out on an open street. By the time you patted them down, they can detonate the explosive. So very difficult to guard against these kind of attacks.

Clearly, this was a planned attack. They've known that this recruiting day was going to take place now for two weeks. They got to this line. The security measures at this particular recruitment center begin at the door. That is where the full search began. The attack happened outside of the door on the open street. There were cars passing by. Really difficult to guard against this kind of violence -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ryan, you also said the region, this particular region, is usually very quiet. So when you see violence in this region, what's the significance do you think of that?

CHILCOTE: Well, one thing is that the insurgents may be simply trying to prove that they can strike anywhere in Iraq. We've seen a lot of that. They've struck recently in Ramadi. They've struck in Baghdad. They've struck in Mosul. Now they're striking here. Also could be of course simply addressed in targeting ethnic Kurds, a minority here. A lot of insurgents don't like the fact that the Kurds are playing a very large role in this government. Iraq even has a Kurdish president -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Ryan Chilcote's in Baghdad for us this morning. Ryan, thanks as always -- Bill.

HEMMER: Back here in the U.S. now, officials say that Congress is close to approving an additional $82 billion war spending bill. On Tuesday, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers warning Congress that war on terror, especially in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, will make responding to other potential conflicts much harder. In that reporter, Myers says the U.S. military cannot respond with as much speed and precision to a major new threat, that another war would have significantly extended timelines and run the risk of higher casualties and collateral damage.

The general stressing, however, that while demands on the military may mean it will take longer to win a conflict, victory is still certain for the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We have very high standards in how we measure ourselves against our current plans, and so that's what we're measuring. We're measuring against the timelines that are already in plans that have been established several years ago, a year ago, and so we measure ourselves against that. What we've said is we will be successful, we will prevail. The timelines may have to be extended. We may have to use additional resources, but it doesn't matter, because we're going to be successful in the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Which takes us to our question, how serious a problem is this for the military? CNN military analyst, retired Brigadier General David Grange back with us this morning.

General, good to have you back with us today.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning.

HEMMER: As a military man, how concerned are you about this assessment?

GRANGE: Well, you're always concerned about your capabilities in present-day conflict, as well as future possible conflict. I think the chairman's right, that There's no doubt that the U.S. armed forces or a coalition with the U.S. armed forces would win any fight today and in the foreseeable future. But it would take longer.

And where the critical readiness issues are probably on ground forces. Air, sea is in, I think, in pretty good shape, but the commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan and a few other places right now truly commit the ground forces to an overbearing rotational schedule that makes future conflict tough to take on.

HEMMER: Do you think General Myers was surprising people with this, or was he pointing out the obvious with the ongoing conflict in Iraq?

GRANGE: Well, you know, a lot of people say he's saying this because he's on the way to transition out of this position. Some say it's the obvious. You know, before there was talk that Iraq and Afghanistan was just a peak, and that it would come back down to a valley and things would get back kind of to normal. Well, you know, it's really a sustained fight, and counter-insurgencies take a long time. And maybe it's taken longer than initially the Pentagon thought it would. And the commitment there is for the foreseeable future, and it eats up a very small force. The U.S. armed forces is not a large force. It's one of the smallest militaries in the world when you talk about at the top of the heap of capable fighting forces. But it's very modern. It's the best in the world. And you can do more with less, but our less now is starting to catch up with us.

HEMMER: We've been talking about overseas. What happens on the homeland then, with homeland security if the strain continues the way it is?

GRANGE: Well, that's a key part, because as you're doing this forward fight, what about what you call your rear-area security. And our rear-area security in this global fight against terrorist organizations in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and maybe future combat, homeland is a vulnerability that we have. I mean, the enemies look at that as a way to disrupt our capability overseas. And we have just barely scratched the surface on our homeland defense. The security is required to protect this homeland. And so yes, that's in equation, and that is an issue.

HEMMER: Retired Brigadier General David Grange, thanks for being with us today, back in the home state of Illinois for you.

GRANGE: American support of the Iraqi war now at a new low. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows of those surveyed, 57 percent do not believe the war was worth it. That's triple the percentage that felt that way when the war started two years ago.

A majority of Americans also in that survey believe things are going badly for the U.S. That's a significant increase since March in the same polling. The changing sentiment certainly is not helping recruiting. In the next hour, our special series "Battle Fatigue" continues today. Barbara Starr looking at the changing tactics used by some inner-city recruiters -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: When court reassumes this morning in Michael Jackson's molestation trial, the prosecution's final witness will be on the stand. They could rest their case today. The state spent its final days of testimony trying to undo the damage from one of its own witnesses.

Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Did Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's ex-wife, change her story to favor Jackson? Investigator Steve Robell told the jury she did. Last year Rowe told him Jackson was a sociopath, and treated his children like possessions.

JIM MORET, LEGAL ANALYST: It shows that Debbie Rowe has made inconsistent statements to police and on the stand. So a year ago, Debbie Rowe had one story. On the stand last week, she had another. And the prosecution is desperate to try to show that she lied on the stand.

DORNIN: It was alleged monetary motives that dominated one of the final days of the prosecution's case. A financial expert claimed Jackson was spending between $20 and $30 million more than he was making. Prosecutors want the jury to believe that Jackson was so concerned about money, he would do anything to protect his image and his empire.

CRAIG SMITH, FMR. PROSECUTOR: It goes back to showing, what's the motivation to keep this family of the alleged victim at the ranch and hold them against their will? It's because Michael Jackson was in desperate need to repair the damage done to his career, and this particular family was a key to that.

DORNIN: On the stand now for the prosecution, Rudy Provencio. He's expected to be the final witness. Provencio was hired by Jackson, and was close friends with his adviser Mark Shakel (ph). Prosecutors are likely hoping Provencio will drop a bombshell that will directly connect Jackson to the conspiracy.

(on camera): A source tells CNN the defense will begin by calling three alleged victims of molestation dating from the '90s. One of them is former child star McCauley Culkin. He and others are expected to debunk the prosecution's claim they were molested.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Santa Maria, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And in fact McCauley Culkin has repeatedly denied that Michael Jackson did anything improper when he visited Neverland Ranch as a teenager.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Well, a date is set for the trial of the BTK suspect. Just how strong is the evidence against Dennis Rader? We're going to talk to the D.A. who is in charge of that case. HEMMER: Also this incident caught on tape down in Philadelphia. What happened before the tape was rolling? Authorities in Philadelphia now responding to allegations of police brutality.

Back in a moment on a Wednesday edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: The man accused of being the BTK killer has now been arraigned on 10 counts of first degree murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, the defendant would stand mute as to plea and ask the court to enter the appropriate plea and set the matter for trial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very well. On the defendant standing of mute, the court will enter a plea of not guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Dennis Rader did not say a word as his lawyer asked the judge to enter that, quote, "the appropriate plea," is what they said, on his behalf. A trial date now set for June 27th, thought start date likely to be pushed back. The D.A. is Nola Foulston. She's back with us in Wichita.

Good morning. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

NOLA FOULSTON, SEDGWICK CO. DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: How surprised were you that he didn't open his mouth yesterday?

FOULSTON: Not at all. That was fairly well expected. We expected that there would be a not-guilty plea. Of course, that's one of his options, to have the court enter the plea for him.

HEMMER: Does that tell you anything about how he'll defend himself?

FOULSTON: Well, you know, they don't let us in on their conversations, but it's a -- this case is an unusual one. We can only play guessing games with what's going to happen in this case. We hope it will go to trial, and it looks like we're going to be starting our motions, and we'll get a better idea and better feel for the case as the motions start pouring in, when the defense starts getting those ready. And that should happen within the next month or two.

HEMMER: Nola, you have a rather unusual procedure there in Wichita, where you as the D.A. actually approaches the defendant and reads him the charge. We're looking at videotape now of you doing that. You've lived in Wichita for decades. What was the moment like for you? FOULSTON: It's a very ordinary proceeding. It happens in every death penalty case, and it happens in any case where there is a separate sentencing proceeding. Kansas has what's called the hard 40. It was initiated in 1990, prior to the death penalty, and requires that the defendant be given personal notice. It's like serving someone personally with a subpoena. What you do is go up, you say, are you Dennis Rader? And the acknowledgment is there, and then you notify them personally what the law requires. And advise them that in the event that they are convicted of a first-degree murder, under this special statute, that they will -- the state will be asking for a separate sentencing proceeding because of the nature of the crime.

In this case, we elected to proceed on the fact that it was an especially vile crime, especially gruesome, and under a second basis that it was done to kill a witness who might be able to testify against him. And so those two basis form the requirements for us to ask for an extra 40 years in the event he is convicted of first degree murder.

This is a very normal procedure. We are also at times required under the death penalty statute to give personal notice. You just don't, you know, drop a paper on the table. If you don't do it right, then the notice has not been given, and you're foreclosed from giving that procedure.

HEMMER: How strong is your evidence?

FOULSTON: Well, I can't talk about my evidence, Bill. But I can tell you that we will be working in the next several months to put all of that evidence together for trial, and that we'll have an abundance of witnesses and other material that will be brought to the forefront so the public can see what the state has to offer in asking that a jury return a verdict of guilty on 10 counts of first degree murder.

HEMMER: Let me try and ask it a different way then. Since years have gone by, is all the evidence in, or are you still collecting?

FOULSTON: You know, it's amazing that when these cases started back in 1974, the quality of evidence collection was superb. And that allows us to have all of these items of evidence at our disposal today.

Obviously, there's evidence that was collected back in 1974 with the beginning of the Otero (ph) cases, and those are all stored in warehouses and we're putting those things together as trial attorneys and getting ready for trial.

We never stop preparing for trial. We started well in advance of the -- even the bringing in of Mr. Rader since March of 2004. We've been working on the prosecution of this case, irrespective of the fact that we didn't have a suspect in custody. You don't just let a case sit there dormant. You continue to work on it even as if there was a suspect in custody.

So, as you may know, I've been a prosecutor in the district attorney's office since 1977. So I was around at the time that these case were happening, and it's not like this is foreign to me. So you constantly prepare the case, as the Wichita Police Department has done, since the 1970s. And now we've put this all together and then get it prepared in the best manner so that the jury will have the ability to look at this case in a total package, and we hope to do that at the time of trial.

HEMMER: Nola, thank you.

FOULSTON: You're welcome.

HEMMER: Nola Foulston, the D.A. in Wichita.

We'll speak again. The trial begins this summer -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, Detroit in trouble. Andy tells us why a couple of big U.S. automakers are losing momentum. That's coming up next in "Minding Your Business."

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. A bleak outlook for American carmakers. And Toyota planning to hybrid-ize one of its most popular cars. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

Americans bought more cars in April, car sales up 5.7 percent. That's 1.5 million vehicles. That's the good news, a fairly strong rate. The bad news was for American automakers, particularly General Motors. Car sales for GM down 4.2 percent in the month. Ford down as well. Trucks at GM down 14 percent. It's not just higher gas prices, though, because you can see Daimler-Chrysler up a bit, and they sell Rams and Dakotas. Those have been redesigned. GM's vehicles getting a little long in the tooth. That's what analysts are saying.

You switch over to the Asian manufacturers, and, well, look at that. Toyota, a record month, the best month ever in the United States. Crossover vehicles are selling very briskly. Hybrids, the Prius up threefold. Only 11,000 units, but still not bad.

Now speaking of the Prius, which is a hybrid model. Reports out of Japan indicate Toyota that may be making a Camry hybrid in the United States. That would be the first hybrid made here by Toyota. Ford already makes a hybrid here. This would be in its Erlanger (ph), Kentucky facility. And you know, demand for these vehicles just continues to skyrocket. So it will be interesting to see if they keep on doing it. And it will be really interesting to see how GM responds, because they're in a whole lot of trouble right now.

O'BRIEN: Andy, thanks.

SERWER: You're welcome. O'BRIEN: Erlanger, just south of Cincinnati, west of Buffalo.

Here's the Question of the Day, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Did I miss something here?

HEMMER: No, not much.

SERWER: It's a running joke here on AMERICAN MORNING.

CAFFERTY: There are several.

SERWER: Indeed.

CAFFERTY: Texas cheerleaders may soon be doing less hip-hip and more hurray. That's not a bad lead actually. The Texas house approved a bill Tuesday that would ban, quote, "sexually suggestive routines" by cheerleaders, drill teams or other public school performance groups. This bill is on the way to the senate in Texas. Of course, the bill does not define what constitutes sexually suggestive behavior, nor does it specify the punishment.

But the bill's sponsor is a clown named Al Edwards. And he has suggested, Al has, that inappropriate gyrating and booty shaking is a distraction for students and contributes to an environment that causes pregnancies, criminality, dropouts and the spread of sexually transmitted disease. Just in case you want to remember this guy's name, what was it? Al Edwards.

The question is, should Texas ban sexually explicit cheerleading?

Explicit?

O'BRIEN: Suggestive.

CAFFERTY: Suggestive. It's not explicit. Sexually explicit...

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: Sexually suggestive cheerleading.

SERWER: Gyrating is what they got down on Elvis for back in the '50s. Remember that, gyrating?

HEMMER: Correct, "Sullivan" '56 maybe, '55, something like that? Shades of "American Beauty" in the head today based on this question. Remember that, Kevin Spacey?

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.

Much more AMERICAN MORNING still to come today. Ahead on "90-Second Pop," another contestant about to go home on "American Idol," but all eyes are focused on tonight's blockbuster expose.

Plus, Justin and Cameron hit the big screen together. Are they ready to walk down the aisle as well? That's later on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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