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American Morning
Suicide Bombing; Battle Fatigue; Teen Drivers
Aired May 04, 2005 - 09:00 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: In northern Iraq, a suicide bomber blows himself up. At least 47 people now dead, 100 more wounded at a police recruiting station.
A new report this morning one of al Qaeda's top men has been arrested. But just how close is he to Osama bin Laden?9
And in the Michael Jackson trial, prosecutors try to discredit their own witness as the defense gets ready to make its case 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: Hi. Good morning, everybody. Nine o'clock in New York.
In a moment here, former senator Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat, a star at the convention for the Republicans, he's got a book out right now. We're going to talk to him this hour about what's wrong with the Democratic Party, who the Republicans want to run for the White House in 2008, and what he likes about Hillary Clinton. So Zell Miller is coming up this hour.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, why are teenage drivers more likely to make riskier decisions than adult drivers? Well, it turns out their brains are different. Any parent knew that. We'll tell you how they're different, though. We'll also get you some advice on how to keep your kids safer behind the wheel.
HEMMER: Jack raised four of them.
Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That's true, and a lot of auto body bills as a result.
Representative Al Edwards blazing his way into the Texas history books, along with great names like Sam Houston and that band of men who defended the Alamo to the death. Al wants the state of Texas to regulate sexually suggestive routines by high school cheerleaders. That would be Al's claim to fame. And the House has already passed this thing.
Now, I'm told they're going to vote on it a second time in the House, that they always do this. They vote on the stuff twice down there I guess for the ones who didn't understand it the first time. And so they're going to vote again today. And if it's voted down today, then it goes away. But it has passed the House. And theoretically, it's on its way to the Senate so they can start censoring what high school cheerleaders do in Texas, because they got all the other problems handled down there.
O'BRIEN: Good to see things are solved in Texas.
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
HEMMER: Here are the headlines and Carol.
Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
"Now in the News," Pakistan says it has made a major terror arrest. Abu Faraj al-Libbi is now in custody. We just learned of his arrest about two hours ago. Ten other al Qaeda suspects also in custody.
Al-Libbi is wanted in connection with two assassination attempts against Pakistan's president in December of 2003. He was believed to be the mastermind behind those attacks. President Musharraf was not injured in those attempts, but 17 other people were killed.
New revelations about the death of NFL star Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. The former professional athlete was killed near Pakistan in April of 2004. The Army took more than a month to announce the death was likely due to friendly fire. But according to "The Washington Post," troops on the scene knew right away and apparently concealed evidence.
In Fort Hood, Texas, the sentencing phase of Army private Lynndie England's trial. These are new pictures of her arriving to court this morning.
England's one-time boyfriend, Specialist Charles Graner, is expected in court to testify on her behalf. He's the so-called ringleader of the abuses at Abu Ghraib. CNN has learned England could face two years in prison as part of a plea deal.
In California, prosecutors in the Michael Jackson trial are wrapping up their case. They are trying to undercut testimony by Jackson's ex-wife, who called the pop star kind and a wonderful father last week. A detective testified Debbie Rowe called Jackson a "sociopath" in an interview last year. Much more on what's expected today in the next half hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
HEMMER: Get ready to buckle up out there. The defense will start soon. O'BRIEN: Yes. She's kind of changed her tune in a year then, if that's the case.
COSTELLO: Well, she trying to get custody of her kids or get to see them more. So who knows why she said what she said.
O'BRIEN: Boy, everybody's got a motive in this trial. Don't they? So bizarre. All right, Carol. Thanks.
Well, it is the deadliest Iraqi insurgent attack in more than two months, a suicide bombing attack on police recruits in northern Iraq. There are at least 47 people dead, more than 100 others wounded.
Ryan Chilcote live in Baghdad for us this morning.
Ryan, good morning. Thanks for being with us. Why so many insurgent attacks are being leveled against the recruits? And haven't they improved security so they can stop that?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've been trying to improve security. However, the area where this took place was up in Erbil, Iraq, which is up in the north. It's a Kurdish area. And up until now, it's been relatively quiet. In particular, the recruitment centers haven't had any attacks like this for more than a year.
So these recruits -- there are about 300 of them -- were mostly standing in line, waiting to get in. These are mostly young Iraqi men just looking for jobs.
They'd heard that the Iraqi police force was hiring. And this is a way to make some money. So they were standing out there.
And the suicide bomber, as far as we understand, effectively walked right into the crowd. That's when this suicide bomber blew himself up. And the governor of the Erbil province is telling us that at least 47 were wounded in that -- killed in that attack, excuse me, and at least 100 wounded. Mostly severely wounded -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ryan, why Erbil? There's been so much more violence elsewhere. Why is Erbil now the focus of these insurgents?
CHILCOTE: Well, you know, no one's claimed responsibility for this yet or said why. So we can't say for sure. But I think there's a couple of things that are worth noting.
First of all, because it had been a quiet area, and because it's so far to the north, this very well could be the insurgents' effort to demonstrate their capabilities to attack Iraqi security forces. And people that want to join Iraqi security forces, irrespective of where they are in the country, I mean, this is a long, really, standing trend that we've seen, to attack Iraqi security forces and the people who want to join them, to send a message that you do not want to work for Iraq security forces.
So that could be part of it. The other issue here is this was a Kurdish area. The Kurds are an ethnic minority in this country. There's a lot of sectarian violence. There's a lot of the insurgents that don't like the Kurds here, don't like the fact that the Kurds have a sizable role in this new government. There's even a Kurdish -- a Kurd who's the president of Iraq.
So, you know, we don't know for sure. But clearly this is just part of the insurgents' pattern to attack Iraqi security forces and maybe, in addition to that, to get at the Kurds at the same time -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ryan Chilcote is in Baghdad for us. Ryan, thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: The global war on terror will make responding to other potential hotspots in the world more difficult, but not impossible. That's the assessment given to Congress on Tuesday. And now the critics are seizing on this report that claim the U.S. military has been overworked.
From the Pentagon now, both sides of that story with Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The report is classified but its conclusions are simply common sense, say Pentagon officials, who argue it's self-evident that with nearly 160,000 U.S. troops tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan another war would be harder to fight.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: The timelines may have to be extended. We may have to use additional resources. But it doesn't matter, because we are going to be successful in the end.
MCINTYRE: In his required annual risk assessment report to Congress, Myers warned the U.S. military could not 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. That sounds different from what Myers has told President Bush; namely, that the war in Iraq is not hamstringing the U.S. military.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the answer is, no, he doesn't feel we're limited. He feels like we've got plenty of capacity.
MCINTYRE: Myers argues it's not inconsistent to say, while winning a future war may take longer, victory is still certain, even in a major conflict with, say, Korea or Iran.
MYERS: We will be successful and we'll prevail. And there should be no doubt about it. And that's the bottom line.
MCINTYRE: But critics in Congress are already citing Myers' report as one more sign the U.S. military is too small. REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: We need to increase the size of our armed forces by probably 15,000 to 25,000 a year for the next several years to make sure that our state of readiness is what it should be to protect the country.
MCINTYRE (on camera): But increasing the size of the U.S. military as casualties mount in Iraq is becoming harder by the day. For the past three months, the Army, and to a lesser extent, the Marines, have both missed their recruiting goals. And the trend for this month is down, too.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: So, then, how serious is this issue for the U.S. military? I asked CNN military analyst, retired Brigadier General David Grange about that, whether or not he believes the military is overextended.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Before there was talk Iraq that, you know, Iraq, 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.
You know, 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Congress is already taking steps to bolster the military. An $82 billion supplemental spending bill is expected to be approved in a few weeks -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Time to get back to Chad with a look at the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, there's been a remarkable discovery by archaeologists in Egypt who unearthed a 2,300-year-old mummy at the Saqqara pyramids. Possibly the most beautifully decorated ever. The well-preserved mummy dates all the way back to the 30th dynasty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This mummy is so beautiful. It has a golden mask. And the body is completely covered with cartoonage. And on the cartoonage, the ancient Egyptian, Doro (ph), may be the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen in my life or on a mummy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: I have no idea what he's talking about, but, look, he's right. It is absolutely beautiful. Experts plan, in fact, to use CT scanning technology to try to find out more details about the mummy's life and identity.
HEMMER: Very cool.
O'BRIEN: Amazing. So well preserved, too.
HEMMER: Good reason to go back to Egypt, huh? And soon.
In a moment here, he is the Democrat Republicans love. Zell Miller has a new book. You might be surprised to hear what he thinks of Hillary Clinton. We'll talk to him this hour.
O'BRIEN: Plus, scientists say that teen drivers are more prone to accidents because their brains are wired differently. So how do you keep your kids safe? We've got some tips from "Consumer Reports" up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, you know it, 16 is the age when millions of American teenagers become drivers. And although they share the roads with adults, the fact is that they have minds of their own. As Elizabeth Cohen tells us, understanding their thought process helps to explain why teens act differently when they get behind the wheel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a country road in the state of Maine, a teenage brain makes the wrong choice. A16-year-old boy blows through a stop sign and then leads police on a high-speed chase that reaches 120 miles an hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roll over. Roll over.
COHEN: We'll show you what happens next in a moment.
Now, obviously this is an extreme case. But here's the question: what's going on in a teenager's brain that could lead to such a bad decision? Dr. Lawrence Steinberg studies teens and decision-making.
DR. LAURENCE STEINBERG, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: There are changes in our brains around the time of puberty that make us want to take more risk, that make us want to seek higher and higher levels of stimulation.
COHEN (on camera): Their brains are just different from adult brains.
STEINBERG: Right, their brains are changing. COHEN (voice-over): New research from the National Institutes of Health shows teen brains have extra synapses in the area responsible for assessing risks and making decisions. Many of these synapses are useless and actually get in the way of clear thinking. These extra synapses die off as teens become adults.
(on camera): So fewer synapses make things more efficient?
STEINBERG: Exactly.
COHEN: And that's a good thing?
STEINBERG: And that's a good thing. That's a very good thing.
COHEN (voice-over): Dr. Steinberg is trying to understand how teens like the one we saw in Maine make decisions. So he's developed a test.
STEINBERG: Let's start the game by hitting "G."
COHEN: Seventeen-year-old Justin Sloane (ph) has to decide if he can make it through an intersection before the yellow light turns to red. When teens play this game without their friends watching, they actually perform quite well. But, put other kids in the virtual car with them and look what happens.
Alex Weinberg (ph) turned around and look at his friends as he drove. Then he did it again. And again. Three times his friends diverted his attention and he crashed. Dr. Steinberg's studies have found teens are much more likely to be distracted than adults are.
(on camera): What's going on in this 16-year-old cerebral cortex right here?
STEINBERG: Well, let's hope it's developing.
COHEN (voice-over): As for that 16-year-old fleeing from police...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out! Get out!
COHEN: ... he was lucky. He wasn't hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyone else in there?
COHEN: The teen didn't appear to be drunk or on drugs. He told the trooper he sped away simply because he didn't want to get a ticket.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you running for? You almost hit me head on!
COHEN: The decision of a 16-year-old driver with too many synapses cluttering his brain.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Philadelphia. (END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So how do you reduce the risk of teenagers on the road? Rik Paul is the automotive editor for "Consumer Reports" joining us with some tips.
Nice to see you, as always.
RIK PAUL, AUTO EDITOR, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Nice to see you again.
O'BRIEN: You know, you think if you're a parent the best way to protect your kid, put them in a giant SUV, and then put them on the road, they'll be safer that way. But you say no. Why not?
PAUL: No, large SUVs tend to do better in crashes, but they also tend to roll over more easily, just as you saw in that police video. That's why we don't recommend you put them in a large SUV or pickup. Also avoid sports cars because they just beg to be driven too fast.
O'BRIEN: Anything that can do 200 miles an hour is just not good to put a teenage boy in. I mean, we all know that.
Let's talk about the cars that you do recommend. You say if you've got a small sedan or you're going to get a small sedan, look at the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla. Why those two?
PAUL: Well, they've done well on our tests, they have good reliability, good fuel efficiency, and they also had done well in safety tests such as crash tests and other things like that. So we recommend those for small cars.
O'BRIEN: For the midsize, you say the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry. Why those?
PAUL: Same reason, they have done well across the board in our comprehensive tests. Good reliability, relatively fuel efficient. Midsized sedans tend to handle pretty well, and so they're good for accident avoidance maneuvers, too, just like small sedans. And midsized can also hold their own better in a collision.
O'BRIEN: And although you say no large SUVs, you do recommend a couple of small SUVs, the Subaru Forester, the RAV4.
PAUL: Yes. If you need extra cargo space, look at a small car- based SUV, such as those two. They're lower, they sit large lower than large SUVs. So they don't roll over as easily.
O'BRIEN: Why doesn't driver's ed teach kids this stuff? I mean, that is what you'd expect your money is going to, right?
PAUL: Driver's ed tends to handle the basics, but we recommend that, you know, in addition to looking at the car side of the safety equation, also look at the driver's side. And we say that enrolling your teen in an advanced driver course can really help. Because look for one that places them into accident avoidance situations, where they can actually practice emergency braking and swerving around things in a safe environment, so that when they encounter that kind of thing out on the road, they're not seeing it for the first time and don't know what to do.
O'BRIEN: You've got some tips for parents. And I think these are critical to get through. I'm going to tick them off.
One, you've got to insist your kids use seatbelts.
Two, you say you've got to forbid drinking and driving, obviously.
Three, limit night driving.
And four, limit teen passengers.
In fact, you even suggest as going as far as making a contract with your teenage driver. Why?
PAUL: Well, I think a contract holds more weight. And we've seen that in many states.
In fact, in most states, they now have graduated licensing programs which have proved to be very effective in reducing teen crashes by anywhere from 9 to 25 percent, depending on the survey you look at. With a contract, you kind of put the same kind of limitations in place as these programs do, and I think it carries more weight.
The point about the other teens in the car is an important one, too, because about 60 percent of teen -- passenger teen deaths occur when another teen is driving.
O'BRIEN: We saw in Elizabeth's piece, in fact, that...
PAUL: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: ... other teenagers can be the most distracting thing to the driver.
PAUL: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: Rik Paul, always nice to have you. Thanks for talking with us. And thanks for the good advice, too -- Bill.
HEMMER: In a moment here, Soledad, the BTK suspect appears in court. Dennis Rader stays quiet during that hearing. But the people he's accused of terrorizing had plenty to say.
Back in a moment here as we continue at 20 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Back to Jack, "Question of the Day" now.
CAFFERTY: Yes, sir. Down there in Texas, the House of Representatives approved a bill, the state legislature, that would ban sexually suggestive routines by cheerleaders, drill teams, and other public school performance groups. The bill does not tell us what constitutes sexually suggestive behavior.
The bill is sponsored by a fellow named Al Edwards. He's a representative from Houston. And Al thinks that inappropriate booty shaking is a distraction for the students and contributes to social problems.
The question is this: should Texas ban sexually suggestive cheerleading?
Stan in Illinois writes, "Texas has a lot of things to ban before it gets to cheerleading. They should start with recalling Tom DeLay, then they could end the death penalty -- it doesn't really work in Texas. They should really get their own House in order."
Julie in Georgia writes, "A reasonable standard should be established which doesn't include simulated sex acts. I think most of us know what's in good taste when we see it, and the teens know it too. They just want to push the envelope, which is what kids do."
Ward in Illinois writes, "I thought the whole point of cheerleading is that it is sexually suggestive. The short skirts were my first clue. That's how they got me to show up at the pep rallies. How about we put more effort into making sure these kid can read and write? "
Theresa in Stone Ridge, New York, "Wow, do I feel stupid. Here I'm thinking peer pressure, poor parenting, poverty and despair contributed to teen promiscuity, when all the time it was those pom- pom-shaking Texas sluts. It's a good thing we have men like Mr. Edwards to lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."
O'BRIEN: Doesn't the school have jurisdiction over that? I mean, if it's school cheerleading, wouldn't the schools just say, hey, can't do that?
CAFFERTY: Well, I guess. I mean...
O'BRIEN: But why did it go to legislation?
CAFFERTY: Well, that's the point of what we've been doing here for the last three hours...
O'BRIEN: Well, then it is a fabulous "Question of the Day," Jack. Sorry to put you on the spot.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: I mean, it's not -- you know, it ain't going to change the course of human events, but it's an interesting topic to chew on.
HEMMER: Still got a way to go there, right, there in Texas? Got to go to the Senate, governor has to sign it eventually, if it goes that far.
CAFFERTY: Well, it gets actually voted on twice in the House, as I alluded to before.
HEMMER: Why is that?
CAFFERTY: Well, I -- maybe some don't get it the first time, I don't know. But they vote on it again today, we are told.
We actually called Al to see if Al wanted to be on the program with us here tomorrow.
HEMMER: And?
CAFFERTY: I'm not sure how that's come out. But we were told in the process that they're going to have a second vote on this in the House today.
Now, if they vote against it today, it's gone, it's over, done. But if they pass it again, then I think it goes to the Senate, and eventually it make its way to the governor's desk. And then they've got to figure out what the standards are. I mean, there's no standards of what constitutes sexually suggestive behavior.
HEMMER: Maybe we'll get Al on tomorrow to define that.
O'BRIEN: Maybe we will.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thank you.
Much more AMERICAN MORNING still to come.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 4, 2005 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In northern Iraq, a suicide bomber blows himself up. At least 47 people now dead, 100 more wounded at a police recruiting station.
A new report this morning one of al Qaeda's top men has been arrested. But just how close is he to Osama bin Laden?9
And in the Michael Jackson trial, prosecutors try to discredit their own witness as the defense gets ready to make its case 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: Hi. Good morning, everybody. Nine o'clock in New York.
In a moment here, former senator Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat, a star at the convention for the Republicans, he's got a book out right now. We're going to talk to him this hour about what's wrong with the Democratic Party, who the Republicans want to run for the White House in 2008, and what he likes about Hillary Clinton. So Zell Miller is coming up this hour.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, why are teenage drivers more likely to make riskier decisions than adult drivers? Well, it turns out their brains are different. Any parent knew that. We'll tell you how they're different, though. We'll also get you some advice on how to keep your kids safer behind the wheel.
HEMMER: Jack raised four of them.
Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That's true, and a lot of auto body bills as a result.
Representative Al Edwards blazing his way into the Texas history books, along with great names like Sam Houston and that band of men who defended the Alamo to the death. Al wants the state of Texas to regulate sexually suggestive routines by high school cheerleaders. That would be Al's claim to fame. And the House has already passed this thing.
Now, I'm told they're going to vote on it a second time in the House, that they always do this. They vote on the stuff twice down there I guess for the ones who didn't understand it the first time. And so they're going to vote again today. And if it's voted down today, then it goes away. But it has passed the House. And theoretically, it's on its way to the Senate so they can start censoring what high school cheerleaders do in Texas, because they got all the other problems handled down there.
O'BRIEN: Good to see things are solved in Texas.
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
HEMMER: Here are the headlines and Carol.
Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
"Now in the News," Pakistan says it has made a major terror arrest. Abu Faraj al-Libbi is now in custody. We just learned of his arrest about two hours ago. Ten other al Qaeda suspects also in custody.
Al-Libbi is wanted in connection with two assassination attempts against Pakistan's president in December of 2003. He was believed to be the mastermind behind those attacks. President Musharraf was not injured in those attempts, but 17 other people were killed.
New revelations about the death of NFL star Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. The former professional athlete was killed near Pakistan in April of 2004. The Army took more than a month to announce the death was likely due to friendly fire. But according to "The Washington Post," troops on the scene knew right away and apparently concealed evidence.
In Fort Hood, Texas, the sentencing phase of Army private Lynndie England's trial. These are new pictures of her arriving to court this morning.
England's one-time boyfriend, Specialist Charles Graner, is expected in court to testify on her behalf. He's the so-called ringleader of the abuses at Abu Ghraib. CNN has learned England could face two years in prison as part of a plea deal.
In California, prosecutors in the Michael Jackson trial are wrapping up their case. They are trying to undercut testimony by Jackson's ex-wife, who called the pop star kind and a wonderful father last week. A detective testified Debbie Rowe called Jackson a "sociopath" in an interview last year. Much more on what's expected today in the next half hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
HEMMER: Get ready to buckle up out there. The defense will start soon. O'BRIEN: Yes. She's kind of changed her tune in a year then, if that's the case.
COSTELLO: Well, she trying to get custody of her kids or get to see them more. So who knows why she said what she said.
O'BRIEN: Boy, everybody's got a motive in this trial. Don't they? So bizarre. All right, Carol. Thanks.
Well, it is the deadliest Iraqi insurgent attack in more than two months, a suicide bombing attack on police recruits in northern Iraq. There are at least 47 people dead, more than 100 others wounded.
Ryan Chilcote live in Baghdad for us this morning.
Ryan, good morning. Thanks for being with us. Why so many insurgent attacks are being leveled against the recruits? And haven't they improved security so they can stop that?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've been trying to improve security. However, the area where this took place was up in Erbil, Iraq, which is up in the north. It's a Kurdish area. And up until now, it's been relatively quiet. In particular, the recruitment centers haven't had any attacks like this for more than a year.
So these recruits -- there are about 300 of them -- were mostly standing in line, waiting to get in. These are mostly young Iraqi men just looking for jobs.
They'd heard that the Iraqi police force was hiring. And this is a way to make some money. So they were standing out there.
And the suicide bomber, as far as we understand, effectively walked right into the crowd. That's when this suicide bomber blew himself up. And the governor of the Erbil province is telling us that at least 47 were wounded in that -- killed in that attack, excuse me, and at least 100 wounded. Mostly severely wounded -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ryan, why Erbil? There's been so much more violence elsewhere. Why is Erbil now the focus of these insurgents?
CHILCOTE: Well, you know, no one's claimed responsibility for this yet or said why. So we can't say for sure. But I think there's a couple of things that are worth noting.
First of all, because it had been a quiet area, and because it's so far to the north, this very well could be the insurgents' effort to demonstrate their capabilities to attack Iraqi security forces. And people that want to join Iraqi security forces, irrespective of where they are in the country, I mean, this is a long, really, standing trend that we've seen, to attack Iraqi security forces and the people who want to join them, to send a message that you do not want to work for Iraq security forces.
So that could be part of it. The other issue here is this was a Kurdish area. The Kurds are an ethnic minority in this country. There's a lot of sectarian violence. There's a lot of the insurgents that don't like the Kurds here, don't like the fact that the Kurds have a sizable role in this new government. There's even a Kurdish -- a Kurd who's the president of Iraq.
So, you know, we don't know for sure. But clearly this is just part of the insurgents' pattern to attack Iraqi security forces and maybe, in addition to that, to get at the Kurds at the same time -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ryan Chilcote is in Baghdad for us. Ryan, thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: The global war on terror will make responding to other potential hotspots in the world more difficult, but not impossible. That's the assessment given to Congress on Tuesday. And now the critics are seizing on this report that claim the U.S. military has been overworked.
From the Pentagon now, both sides of that story with Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The report is classified but its conclusions are simply common sense, say Pentagon officials, who argue it's self-evident that with nearly 160,000 U.S. troops tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan another war would be harder to fight.
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: The timelines may have to be extended. We may have to use additional resources. But it doesn't matter, because we are going to be successful in the end.
MCINTYRE: In his required annual risk assessment report to Congress, Myers warned the U.S. military could not 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. That sounds different from what Myers has told President Bush; namely, that the war in Iraq is not hamstringing the U.S. military.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the answer is, no, he doesn't feel we're limited. He feels like we've got plenty of capacity.
MCINTYRE: Myers argues it's not inconsistent to say, while winning a future war may take longer, victory is still certain, even in a major conflict with, say, Korea or Iran.
MYERS: We will be successful and we'll prevail. And there should be no doubt about it. And that's the bottom line.
MCINTYRE: But critics in Congress are already citing Myers' report as one more sign the U.S. military is too small. REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: We need to increase the size of our armed forces by probably 15,000 to 25,000 a year for the next several years to make sure that our state of readiness is what it should be to protect the country.
MCINTYRE (on camera): But increasing the size of the U.S. military as casualties mount in Iraq is becoming harder by the day. For the past three months, the Army, and to a lesser extent, the Marines, have both missed their recruiting goals. And the trend for this month is down, too.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: So, then, how serious is this issue for the U.S. military? I asked CNN military analyst, retired Brigadier General David Grange about that, whether or not he believes the military is overextended.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Before there was talk Iraq that, you know, Iraq, 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.
You know, 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Congress is already taking steps to bolster the military. An $82 billion supplemental spending bill is expected to be approved in a few weeks -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Time to get back to Chad with a look at the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, there's been a remarkable discovery by archaeologists in Egypt who unearthed a 2,300-year-old mummy at the Saqqara pyramids. Possibly the most beautifully decorated ever. The well-preserved mummy dates all the way back to the 30th dynasty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This mummy is so beautiful. It has a golden mask. And the body is completely covered with cartoonage. And on the cartoonage, the ancient Egyptian, Doro (ph), may be the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen in my life or on a mummy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: I have no idea what he's talking about, but, look, he's right. It is absolutely beautiful. Experts plan, in fact, to use CT scanning technology to try to find out more details about the mummy's life and identity.
HEMMER: Very cool.
O'BRIEN: Amazing. So well preserved, too.
HEMMER: Good reason to go back to Egypt, huh? And soon.
In a moment here, he is the Democrat Republicans love. Zell Miller has a new book. You might be surprised to hear what he thinks of Hillary Clinton. We'll talk to him this hour.
O'BRIEN: Plus, scientists say that teen drivers are more prone to accidents because their brains are wired differently. So how do you keep your kids safe? We've got some tips from "Consumer Reports" up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, you know it, 16 is the age when millions of American teenagers become drivers. And although they share the roads with adults, the fact is that they have minds of their own. As Elizabeth Cohen tells us, understanding their thought process helps to explain why teens act differently when they get behind the wheel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a country road in the state of Maine, a teenage brain makes the wrong choice. A16-year-old boy blows through a stop sign and then leads police on a high-speed chase that reaches 120 miles an hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roll over. Roll over.
COHEN: We'll show you what happens next in a moment.
Now, obviously this is an extreme case. But here's the question: what's going on in a teenager's brain that could lead to such a bad decision? Dr. Lawrence Steinberg studies teens and decision-making.
DR. LAURENCE STEINBERG, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: There are changes in our brains around the time of puberty that make us want to take more risk, that make us want to seek higher and higher levels of stimulation.
COHEN (on camera): Their brains are just different from adult brains.
STEINBERG: Right, their brains are changing. COHEN (voice-over): New research from the National Institutes of Health shows teen brains have extra synapses in the area responsible for assessing risks and making decisions. Many of these synapses are useless and actually get in the way of clear thinking. These extra synapses die off as teens become adults.
(on camera): So fewer synapses make things more efficient?
STEINBERG: Exactly.
COHEN: And that's a good thing?
STEINBERG: And that's a good thing. That's a very good thing.
COHEN (voice-over): Dr. Steinberg is trying to understand how teens like the one we saw in Maine make decisions. So he's developed a test.
STEINBERG: Let's start the game by hitting "G."
COHEN: Seventeen-year-old Justin Sloane (ph) has to decide if he can make it through an intersection before the yellow light turns to red. When teens play this game without their friends watching, they actually perform quite well. But, put other kids in the virtual car with them and look what happens.
Alex Weinberg (ph) turned around and look at his friends as he drove. Then he did it again. And again. Three times his friends diverted his attention and he crashed. Dr. Steinberg's studies have found teens are much more likely to be distracted than adults are.
(on camera): What's going on in this 16-year-old cerebral cortex right here?
STEINBERG: Well, let's hope it's developing.
COHEN (voice-over): As for that 16-year-old fleeing from police...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out! Get out!
COHEN: ... he was lucky. He wasn't hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyone else in there?
COHEN: The teen didn't appear to be drunk or on drugs. He told the trooper he sped away simply because he didn't want to get a ticket.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you running for? You almost hit me head on!
COHEN: The decision of a 16-year-old driver with too many synapses cluttering his brain.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Philadelphia. (END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So how do you reduce the risk of teenagers on the road? Rik Paul is the automotive editor for "Consumer Reports" joining us with some tips.
Nice to see you, as always.
RIK PAUL, AUTO EDITOR, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Nice to see you again.
O'BRIEN: You know, you think if you're a parent the best way to protect your kid, put them in a giant SUV, and then put them on the road, they'll be safer that way. But you say no. Why not?
PAUL: No, large SUVs tend to do better in crashes, but they also tend to roll over more easily, just as you saw in that police video. That's why we don't recommend you put them in a large SUV or pickup. Also avoid sports cars because they just beg to be driven too fast.
O'BRIEN: Anything that can do 200 miles an hour is just not good to put a teenage boy in. I mean, we all know that.
Let's talk about the cars that you do recommend. You say if you've got a small sedan or you're going to get a small sedan, look at the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla. Why those two?
PAUL: Well, they've done well on our tests, they have good reliability, good fuel efficiency, and they also had done well in safety tests such as crash tests and other things like that. So we recommend those for small cars.
O'BRIEN: For the midsize, you say the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry. Why those?
PAUL: Same reason, they have done well across the board in our comprehensive tests. Good reliability, relatively fuel efficient. Midsized sedans tend to handle pretty well, and so they're good for accident avoidance maneuvers, too, just like small sedans. And midsized can also hold their own better in a collision.
O'BRIEN: And although you say no large SUVs, you do recommend a couple of small SUVs, the Subaru Forester, the RAV4.
PAUL: Yes. If you need extra cargo space, look at a small car- based SUV, such as those two. They're lower, they sit large lower than large SUVs. So they don't roll over as easily.
O'BRIEN: Why doesn't driver's ed teach kids this stuff? I mean, that is what you'd expect your money is going to, right?
PAUL: Driver's ed tends to handle the basics, but we recommend that, you know, in addition to looking at the car side of the safety equation, also look at the driver's side. And we say that enrolling your teen in an advanced driver course can really help. Because look for one that places them into accident avoidance situations, where they can actually practice emergency braking and swerving around things in a safe environment, so that when they encounter that kind of thing out on the road, they're not seeing it for the first time and don't know what to do.
O'BRIEN: You've got some tips for parents. And I think these are critical to get through. I'm going to tick them off.
One, you've got to insist your kids use seatbelts.
Two, you say you've got to forbid drinking and driving, obviously.
Three, limit night driving.
And four, limit teen passengers.
In fact, you even suggest as going as far as making a contract with your teenage driver. Why?
PAUL: Well, I think a contract holds more weight. And we've seen that in many states.
In fact, in most states, they now have graduated licensing programs which have proved to be very effective in reducing teen crashes by anywhere from 9 to 25 percent, depending on the survey you look at. With a contract, you kind of put the same kind of limitations in place as these programs do, and I think it carries more weight.
The point about the other teens in the car is an important one, too, because about 60 percent of teen -- passenger teen deaths occur when another teen is driving.
O'BRIEN: We saw in Elizabeth's piece, in fact, that...
PAUL: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: ... other teenagers can be the most distracting thing to the driver.
PAUL: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: Rik Paul, always nice to have you. Thanks for talking with us. And thanks for the good advice, too -- Bill.
HEMMER: In a moment here, Soledad, the BTK suspect appears in court. Dennis Rader stays quiet during that hearing. But the people he's accused of terrorizing had plenty to say.
Back in a moment here as we continue at 20 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Back to Jack, "Question of the Day" now.
CAFFERTY: Yes, sir. Down there in Texas, the House of Representatives approved a bill, the state legislature, that would ban sexually suggestive routines by cheerleaders, drill teams, and other public school performance groups. The bill does not tell us what constitutes sexually suggestive behavior.
The bill is sponsored by a fellow named Al Edwards. He's a representative from Houston. And Al thinks that inappropriate booty shaking is a distraction for the students and contributes to social problems.
The question is this: should Texas ban sexually suggestive cheerleading?
Stan in Illinois writes, "Texas has a lot of things to ban before it gets to cheerleading. They should start with recalling Tom DeLay, then they could end the death penalty -- it doesn't really work in Texas. They should really get their own House in order."
Julie in Georgia writes, "A reasonable standard should be established which doesn't include simulated sex acts. I think most of us know what's in good taste when we see it, and the teens know it too. They just want to push the envelope, which is what kids do."
Ward in Illinois writes, "I thought the whole point of cheerleading is that it is sexually suggestive. The short skirts were my first clue. That's how they got me to show up at the pep rallies. How about we put more effort into making sure these kid can read and write? "
Theresa in Stone Ridge, New York, "Wow, do I feel stupid. Here I'm thinking peer pressure, poor parenting, poverty and despair contributed to teen promiscuity, when all the time it was those pom- pom-shaking Texas sluts. It's a good thing we have men like Mr. Edwards to lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."
O'BRIEN: Doesn't the school have jurisdiction over that? I mean, if it's school cheerleading, wouldn't the schools just say, hey, can't do that?
CAFFERTY: Well, I guess. I mean...
O'BRIEN: But why did it go to legislation?
CAFFERTY: Well, that's the point of what we've been doing here for the last three hours...
O'BRIEN: Well, then it is a fabulous "Question of the Day," Jack. Sorry to put you on the spot.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: I mean, it's not -- you know, it ain't going to change the course of human events, but it's an interesting topic to chew on.
HEMMER: Still got a way to go there, right, there in Texas? Got to go to the Senate, governor has to sign it eventually, if it goes that far.
CAFFERTY: Well, it gets actually voted on twice in the House, as I alluded to before.
HEMMER: Why is that?
CAFFERTY: Well, I -- maybe some don't get it the first time, I don't know. But they vote on it again today, we are told.
We actually called Al to see if Al wanted to be on the program with us here tomorrow.
HEMMER: And?
CAFFERTY: I'm not sure how that's come out. But we were told in the process that they're going to have a second vote on this in the House today.
Now, if they vote against it today, it's gone, it's over, done. But if they pass it again, then I think it goes to the Senate, and eventually it make its way to the governor's desk. And then they've got to figure out what the standards are. I mean, there's no standards of what constitutes sexually suggestive behavior.
HEMMER: Maybe we'll get Al on tomorrow to define that.
O'BRIEN: Maybe we will.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thank you.
Much more AMERICAN MORNING still to come.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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