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American Morning
Suicide Bombing in Northern Iraq; Military Recruitment Struggles
Aired May 04, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
A horrifying attack in Iraq. Forty-seven dead after a suicide bomber attacks hundreds of Iraqi police recruits.
Reports that al Qaeda's number three man has been arrested in Pakistan. How close is he to Osama bin Laden?
And in the Michael Jackson case, prosecutors try to discredit their own witness. And now the defense is ready to make its own case, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome back, everybody.
The war in Iraq is driving down the number of military recruits. This morning, we follow along with some recruits as they battle to keep U.S. armed forces up to full strength.
HEMMER: At this hour, a firefighter suffering brain damage had not spoken in more than nine years. Suddenly, he starts talking the other day. Sanjay is here to explain how this rare event can happen. What a story that is.
O'BRIEN: That videotape when they pull him out and eventually save his life is so amazing. I'm glad to hear that he's talking. That's pretty incredible.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That would freak you out, wouldn't it? Nine years he hasn't been able to say a word and suddenly he just starts would you mind ordering me a pizza, double pepper...
O'BRIEN: I don't know what he -- what his first -- I don't know if that's what he said first, but I'd be curious to know that.
CAFFERTY: Well, I mean whatever he said.
HEMMER: Pepperoni.
CAFFERTY: I mean that would get your attention.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," Wednesday, time for "Things People Say."
Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski makes a complete fool of himself on the witness stand at his trial.
Burger King compares telling Americans what to eat to communism.
And a game of paper rock scissors settles an art auction worth millions of dollars.
HEMMER: Paper smothers rock, right? Scissors cut paper?
CAFFERTY: And the rock does...
HEMMER: And the rock crushes the...
CAFFERTY: ... smashes the scissors.
HEMMER: There you go.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: We'll pass (INAUDIBLE).
CAFFERTY: We'd have lost.
O'BRIEN: Clearly.
Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: The headlines now with Carol Costello -- good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They don't know you always start with scissors. Always. That's the rule. Take it to the bank.
HEMMER: Then I throw rock and you're done.
COSTELLO: Shush, Bill.
Good morning, everyone.
We do have some breaking news to tell you about.
Pakistan saying it has a top al Qaeda suspect in custody. Abu Farraj al Libbi has been arrested. We just learned of his arrest in the past hour. Al Libbi is waited in connection with two assassination attempts against Pakistan's president in December 2003. According to Pakistani intelligence, al Libbi is believed to have taken on the number three role in al Qaeda after Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was captured.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a final push one day before elections, the prime minister is expected to crisscross Britain before various head to the polls tomorrow morning. Blair urging various today to judge him mainly on his record on the economy and not to punish him over the war in Iraq. Opinion polls show Blair is expected to win a third term.
Talk show host Montel Williams on Capitol Hill today to introduce legislation on medical marijuana. Williams uses medical marijuana to help treat the debilitating pain of multiple sclerosis. He will join a bipartisan group of lawmakers this afternoon, giving his support to a bill that would protect patients who use medical marijuana from arrest.
And more than 4,000 students at a university in Belgium have fought their way into the record books. Take a look. They staged the world's most massive pillow fight. Doesn't that look fun? They broke the old record by more than 1,000 and raised nearly $13,000 for charity. So if you're wondering why they did this, that was why.
HEMMER: Well done.
O'BRIEN: I'm sure their parents, who are spending a ton of money to put them through college, are so proud at that moment to see little junior out there hitting his friends over the head with a pillow.
Thanks, Carol.
HEMMER: Thanks, Carol.
We want to get to Iraq right now. The suicide bomber targeting a police recruiting center in northern Iraq, usually a quiet part of that country. Forty-seven are dead. More than 100 are wounded.
In Baghdad, Ryan Chilcote standing by watching the latest from there.
Is it yet known how the bomber gained access there -- Ryan?
Or was it an easy case there?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, we don't know for sure. There's an investigation that's going to be looking at that still underway. But what we do know is that this attack, this suicide bomber attack took place in front of the police recruitment center. And it's a relatively open area. There's traffic going by.
So it looks like it would have been a relatively easy target for this suicide bomber.
Now, out front of this -- in front of this police recruitment center, there were about 300 mostly young Iraqi men. These are men that had seen an ad in the paper. There's been an ad campaign for the last two weeks in that city offering jobs in Iraq's fledgling police forces. They turned out in large numbers, a crowd of about 300 of them, most of them standing in line.
That's when this suicide bomber either in the line himself or was able to get close to that line, blew himself up. And the governor of the Irbil province is telling us that at least 47 people were killed in that attack, another at least 100 wounded. And the word so far is, Bill, that many of those 100 are very severely wounded -- Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: I mentioned this is a relatively quiet part of Iraq.
How significant is it now that we're talking about this attack in that part of the country, the Kurdish region?
CHILCOTE: A couple of things there. I think the fact that it take place in this quiet area may be part of the insurgents' strategy, to demonstrate their capability to attack Iraqi security forces and the people that want to join Iraqi security forces anywhere in the country. A lot of the attacks we've seen recently have been here in the Iraqi capital, have been in Mosul, have been in Ramadi. And there's a lot more serious security measures in place in those places.
The other thing, Bill, there is that the target in this place was also Iraqi Kurds. They're an ethnic minority. A lot of the insurgents don't like the fact that this ethnic minority, the Kurds, are taking such a large role in the government. They have 10 seats in the new Iraqi cabinet. And the president of Iraq is actually a Kurd -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ryan Chilcote in Baghdad -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Bill.
Right to our special series, "Battle Fatigue," this morning.
Joining the military has always been about options -- going to college, serving your country, learning a trade. But today more and more prospective recruits want to know just one thing -- will they be going to Iraq.
CNN's Barbara Starr joins us this morning with more on this -- good morning.
Nice to see you in person.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, you know, with no end in sight to the war in Iraq and the troops that are there already exhausted, the Army is now struggling to find the next round of fresh recruits, even looking here on the streets of New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ever thought about the Army?
STARR (voice-over): It's a question Army recruiters are asking everybody they can. On the streets here, straight talk with the young people of this tough Brooklyn neighborhood. For 19-year-old Roman Hernandez, the Army is an option. But he is worried. What about the war in Iraq?
ROMAN HERNANDEZ: I might get deployed over there and I might not come back. I mean how many people have been lost already? STARR: For the third month in a row, the Army has failed to meet its recruiting goal. If Iraq is the major issue for young people, recruiters know their parents must also be convinced.
STAFF SGT. LAYONE ANDERSON, ARMY RECRUITER: The biggest thing I hear is just simply that they don't want -- they don't support the war and they don't want their children to fight in this war, period. That is cut and dried. There's no other, you know, reason. That's all they say.
STARR: One potential solution? A new series of intimate television commercials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM ARMY RECRUITING COMMERCIAL)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a changed man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Madison Avenue trying to persuade parents to understand joining the Army is a good idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM ARMY RECRUITING COMMERCIAL)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shook my hand and then he looked me square in the eye. Where did that come from?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR (on camera): Here, on the streets of Brooklyn, this is the front line for Army recruiters looking for that one person in a busy crowd who may be ready to sign up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's tough business, but you've got to have tough skin.
STARR (voice-over): And an unusual approach on this street corner, where recruiters have a new tactic. Specialist Marco Andrade just returned from a year long tour with the 1st Calvary Division in Baghdad. He is here to tell prospects they can survive a tour of duty in Iraq.
SPL. MARCO ANDRADE, ARMY RECRUITER: A lot of the questions right now are how is it over there, if I'm going to go over there, stuff like that. And get -- what we're trying to do is give them a better idea of what it's all about.
STARR: So, is the Army pitch successful?
(on camera): Do you think you'll talk to these guys more?
HERNANDEZ: I'm not sure. We'll see.
(END VIDEO TAPE) STARR: And Soledad, an internal Army study recently concluded that opposition to military service is increasing amongst mom and dads.
O'BRIEN: Barbara, obviously we've been talking about this report from the chairman of the joint chiefs that says that the conflict in which all the military is currently engaged in is going to make responding to all these other hot spots a big problem.
Do you think the assessment is an indication that the military, in fact, is really over stretched, to the point where it's a problem?
STARR: Well, what the chairman said in his report to Congress is if another conflict broke out, that the U.S. could win, but maybe not as fast as the U.S. military would like to.
Let's listen to a little bit of what the chairman had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: Because we have very high standards in our, in how we measure ourselves against our current plans. And so that's what we're measuring. And we're measuring against the time lines that are already in plans, that have been established several years ago, a year ago. And so we measure ourselves against that.
And what we've said is we will be successful. We will prevail. It -- the time lines may have to be extended. We may have to us additional resources, but it doesn't matter, because we're going to be successful in the end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: In the end, Soledad. That's the key word. Not as fast as they'd like to. Stretched thin on people, equipment, weapons, all of it.
O'BRIEN: And when you say people, of course, you mean more casualties, which brings you back to the original issues with recruiting.
STARR: Getting more people to join up.
O'BRIEN: All right, Barbara Starr, nice to see you.
Thanks.
STARR: Nice to see you.
O'BRIEN: Tomorrow, our "Battle Fatigue" series takes a look at counter-recruiting on college campuses -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ten minutes past the hour, Soledad.
Here's Chad Myers watching the weather in the Southeast. Florida is getting hit hard, huh -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More lightning strikes in Florida than any other state. And they're living up to the bill today, Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, an 11th hour attempt at damage control in the Michael Jackson trial. Prosecutors attack the testimony of their own star witness, Debbie Rowe. Jeff Toobin tells us whether that's a good idea.
HEMMER: Also, more on Time Warner's I.D. theft issues. Employees, and not consumers, are the potential victims. Will that make the problem any worse? We'll take about it this hour.
O'BRIEN: Also, after nearly 10 years of silence, a brain damaged firefighter talks again. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" about his remarkable story just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: We are down to the final prosecution witness, we think, anyway, at today's Michael Jackson trial. They could rest later today in Santa Maria.
On Tuesday, though, prosecutors tried to undermine the Jackson friendly testimony from their own witness. That was the ex-wife of the singer, Debbie Rowe.
Jeff Toobin is here this morning, our senior legal analyst -- good morning to you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: Debbie Rowe? You go on the stand and you say hey, you know, she's going to really tear this guy apart. She completely turns the testimony a week ago.
Was it necessary to put this guy on the stand yesterday and say, you know, she told me that she accused him of being a sociopath?
How much impact does that have?
TOOBIN: It's a close call because the question always has -- you have when a witness goes south on you is do you call more attention to it by calling another witness to try to refute her? You know, I think actually Debbie Rowe's testimony is going to turn out to be not very important. Thus, the rebuttal is not very important.
Remember, all she testified about was whether she was forced to participate in this video. The video itself is not going to be ultimately all that significant, I think. I think count one, the conspiracy count, is an extremely weak count in any case.
This is really a child molestation case. That's what this case is about. Debbie Rowe had really very little to say. She was not an eyewitness to anything. She didn't really have any direct evidence. I think the jury is not going to spend a lot of time talking about her.
HEMMER: If you're Thomas Mesereau, do you call her back to the stand?
TOOBIN: No. I think they've got everything they need from Debbie Rowe at this point.
HEMMER: Yes?
TOOBIN: She said good things about Jackson. She denied she was forced to participate in the video. That's all they need.
HEMMER: OK, the next thing here.
They put this person on the stand yesterday saying that Michael Jackson was deep in debt, to the tune of $30 million a year.
Why are they trying to put this forward and what's the theory?
TOOBIN: Well, the theory is, is that the Martin Bashir documentary in February of 2003 came out at a time when Jackson's life was falling apart at many levels. Obviously, he had this issue with boys, which came out in the documentary. And they and the prosecution argues it was very important to refute that documentary because financially everything was coming apart.
I mean, I think, again, it's a somewhat marginal argument because, look, he's a famous celebrity. He's accused of child molestation. You don't need a financial reason to want to refute that. Anybody would want to refute that.
HEMMER: But the point they're saying is that he was so far in debt, he had to keep the family in good line and in good standing so he didn't have to lose more money and more millions.
TOOBIN: That's true, but I don't think you need much of a motive to want to refute an accusation like that. I think it's a small argument in favor of the prosecution, but not a very significant one.
HEMMER: All right, the defense begins very soon, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, but probably some time this week.
Would you put Michael Jackson on the stand?
TOOBIN: If I were Thomas Mesereau, I would fling my body in front of Michael Jackson to keep him off the...
HEMMER: Come on.
TOOBIN: All right, think about this. Just the one question to Michael Jackson, Mr. Jackson, you testified, or you said in the Martin Bashir documentary that you think it's appropriate to sleep in bed with young boys. Explain that to the jury. What's a good explanation for that?
HEMMER: Here we go.
TOOBIN: I don't know.
HEMMER: I think the phrase you used was an absolute disaster.
TOOBIN: Yes, absolute disaster. I mean my -- Thomas Mesereau is one smart lawyer and, notwithstanding his promise in opening statement, which I thought was sort of foolhardy, that Michael Jackson will testify, you will not see Michael Jackson on that witness stand.
HEMMER: But wasn't he on the stand for some case a few years ago and he did the bunny ears act?
TOOBIN: You know, I...
HEMMER: And he was sitting there?
TOOBIN: I know he was -- he behaved very peculiarly. I don't remember the bunny ears specifically, but he was a lousy witness and he lost...
HEMMER: Lousy with a capital L.
TOOBIN: Yes. Well, he -- that, you know, he's won some court cases, but he lost that one in which he testified. Michael Jackson, he ain't testifying.
HEMMER: An absolute disaster.
TOOBIN: Yes.
HEMMER: From Jeff Toobin.
TOOBIN: To be avoided.
HEMMER: Thank you, man.
Talk to you later.
TOOBIN: Yes.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, probably the biggest cheeseburger you've ever seen. Get a load of the Belly Buster. The folks behind it are up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Earlier we told you about this pub in Pennsylvania that is super sizing its burgers in the biggest way possible. Here it is, a 15-pound Beer Barrel Belly Buster. Jack ordered two to go. Twenty- five slices of cheese, one head of lettuce, three tomatoes, two onions. In Clearfield, p.a., Dennis Liegey, co-owner of Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, home of the biggest burger in the world.
Denny, what's happening?
Good morning.
DENNY LIEGEY, OWNER, DENNY'S BEER BARREL PUB: Hey, I'm doing well.
HEMMER: Other than good publicity...
LIEGEY: And good morning.
HEMMER: Other than good publicity, why are you doing this?
LIEGEY: Hey, I'm doing well. I wish it wasn't snowing in Pennsylvania, but I've had a busy morning.
HEMMER: Yes? All right. Can you hear me OK there, Denny?
LIEGEY: Yes, I can. I can hear you fine.
HEMMER: All right, the mayonnaise isn't going to your brain just yet, is it?
LIEGEY: No.
HEMMER: So why are you doing this? I understand a pub in Jersey trumped your bigger burger before and you guys got a bit of burger envy out there in P.A.
Is that right?
LIEGEY: Well, actually, we started doing our big burgers back in 1991. And we officially had the world's biggest hamburger, labeled by the "Guinness Book of World Records" a year-and-a-half ago. And they actually carbon copied us.
HEMMER: Has anyone ordered it?
LIEGEY: What goes on the hamburger?
HEMMER: Has anyone ordered the burger?
LIEGEY: Yes. I'm sorry.
Yes. Yes, we've actually had teams of two come in and order our new famous 15-pound hamburger.
HEMMER: Have they finished it?
LIEGEY: No. As you can imagine, they're getting doggie bags. And I think they're giving the food to their dogs, or their dogs' friends dogs.
HEMMER: How big is the doggie bag?
LIEGEY: Well, a lot of times we actually have to give them a half a sheet pan to use.
HEMMER: Take a bite, Denny. You're on national TV.
LIEGEY: Take a bite?
HEMMER: Come on, my man. We're giving you all this free P.R.
LIEGEY: All right.
HEMMER: Here we go. This is Dennis Liegey there in Clearfield, Pennsylvania.
O'BRIEN: Oh!
HEMMER: Wow!
You're standing by your product, aren't you?
LIEGEY: Delicious.
I have to, 100 percent.
HEMMER: Well, I bet.
Tell everybody hello.
That's Denny Liegey there in Clearfield, P.A.
Thank you, man.
Cute stuff there.
O'BRIEN: Thirty-five bucks.
HEMMER: A big burger.
O'BRIEN: Thirty-five bucks for that hamburger.
HEMMER: Fifteen pounds.
And he took a bite.
O'BRIEN: He did very well.
HEMMER: Yes, he did.
O'BRIEN: I was -- I didn't know that he was going to be able to pull that off, but he did -- hey, Jack.
HEMMER: Hello.
O'BRIEN: How are you?
CAFFERTY: That was great, Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you. One of the finest moments in my journalistic career.
CAFFERTY: What?
HEMMER: One of my finest moments ever.
CAFFERTY: What, and get out of show business? Somebody has to do this.
HEMMER: Save the day.
CAFFERTY: Texas cheerleaders may be under the gun here soon. The Texas House approved a bill that would ban sexually suggestive routines by cheerleaders, drill teams and other public school performance groups. The bill now goes to the senate. The bill does not define what constitutes sexually suggestive behavior. The bill's sponsor, Houston Representative Crazy Al Edwards, has suggested that inappropriate booty shaking is a distraction for students and it contributes to all kinds of social problems. Old Crazy Al is worried about this.
The question is this, should Texas ban sexually suggestive cheerleading?
Dalane in Florida -- ironically, she lives in a town called Niceville: "I'm not sure when you last saw a high school cheer or dance squad, but I think Elvis would blush. The girls gyrate and touch themselves in clearly sexual ways. As a parent of small children and a dance team sponsor myself, I'm shocked."
Steve in North Carolina writes: "Jack, I think we've seen it all, twice. Aside from the return of Elvis Pelvis McCarthyism, I'm deeply concerned about the ambiguous nature of this feel good legislation straight out of 1984's "Footloose." A commissioner can arbitrarily deny a district's funding for finding a routine offensive."
Steve in Virginia writes: "From gay marriage bans to legislation against scantily clad cheerleaders, it's about time someone took on those liberal purveyors of filth corroding our culture. I mean, come on, Jack, we have comedians telling jokes about bestiality and masturbation in public."
Well, wait a minute. That was the first lady.
And Charlie in Connecticut writes: "Rather than ban the cheerleaders, show them during the Question of the Day segment rather than you, Jack."
O'BRIEN: I was wondering when we were going to have the video -- roll the videotape of the young cheerleaders segue.
CAFFERTY: We tried for some time this morning to get some video that I saw on another network yesterday of these scantily clad Texas cheerleaders. But so far, we haven't been able to come up with it.
O'BRIEN: Well...
CAFFERTY: They got it...
HEMMER: The day is young.
CAFFERTY: They've got it on some of the other stations, but we've got nothing.
O'BRIEN: Well, if it's really offensive, maybe that's a good thing.
CAFFERTY: Well, that's why we were looking for it.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes, I realize that. And just for the record, his official name is really not Crazy Al and...
CAFFERTY: I want to get an idea of what old Crazy Al is troubled by.
O'BRIEN: Yes, not his real name...
CAFFERTY: And take a look at this footage.
O'BRIEN: Right?
CAFFERTY: Huh? No, his name is Al Edwards.
O'BRIEN: Got you. We just -- you just added the Crazy Al.
CAFFERTY: Do you feel like you have to go along --
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. Yes, there's a line...
CAFFERTY: ... and clean up after me, don't you?
O'BRIEN: There's a line here. I want everyone to know, a big line. A big line right here.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Me and Crazy Al on this side, and the hamburger crowd is over there.
O'BRIEN: You got it.
Well, lately the biggest star in the White House actually has not been the president, it's been the first lady. The reason behind Laura Bush's higher profile is just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired May 4, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
A horrifying attack in Iraq. Forty-seven dead after a suicide bomber attacks hundreds of Iraqi police recruits.
Reports that al Qaeda's number three man has been arrested in Pakistan. How close is he to Osama bin Laden?
And in the Michael Jackson case, prosecutors try to discredit their own witness. And now the defense is ready to make its own case, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome back, everybody.
The war in Iraq is driving down the number of military recruits. This morning, we follow along with some recruits as they battle to keep U.S. armed forces up to full strength.
HEMMER: At this hour, a firefighter suffering brain damage had not spoken in more than nine years. Suddenly, he starts talking the other day. Sanjay is here to explain how this rare event can happen. What a story that is.
O'BRIEN: That videotape when they pull him out and eventually save his life is so amazing. I'm glad to hear that he's talking. That's pretty incredible.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That would freak you out, wouldn't it? Nine years he hasn't been able to say a word and suddenly he just starts would you mind ordering me a pizza, double pepper...
O'BRIEN: I don't know what he -- what his first -- I don't know if that's what he said first, but I'd be curious to know that.
CAFFERTY: Well, I mean whatever he said.
HEMMER: Pepperoni.
CAFFERTY: I mean that would get your attention.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," Wednesday, time for "Things People Say."
Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski makes a complete fool of himself on the witness stand at his trial.
Burger King compares telling Americans what to eat to communism.
And a game of paper rock scissors settles an art auction worth millions of dollars.
HEMMER: Paper smothers rock, right? Scissors cut paper?
CAFFERTY: And the rock does...
HEMMER: And the rock crushes the...
CAFFERTY: ... smashes the scissors.
HEMMER: There you go.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: We'll pass (INAUDIBLE).
CAFFERTY: We'd have lost.
O'BRIEN: Clearly.
Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: The headlines now with Carol Costello -- good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They don't know you always start with scissors. Always. That's the rule. Take it to the bank.
HEMMER: Then I throw rock and you're done.
COSTELLO: Shush, Bill.
Good morning, everyone.
We do have some breaking news to tell you about.
Pakistan saying it has a top al Qaeda suspect in custody. Abu Farraj al Libbi has been arrested. We just learned of his arrest in the past hour. Al Libbi is waited in connection with two assassination attempts against Pakistan's president in December 2003. According to Pakistani intelligence, al Libbi is believed to have taken on the number three role in al Qaeda after Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was captured.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a final push one day before elections, the prime minister is expected to crisscross Britain before various head to the polls tomorrow morning. Blair urging various today to judge him mainly on his record on the economy and not to punish him over the war in Iraq. Opinion polls show Blair is expected to win a third term.
Talk show host Montel Williams on Capitol Hill today to introduce legislation on medical marijuana. Williams uses medical marijuana to help treat the debilitating pain of multiple sclerosis. He will join a bipartisan group of lawmakers this afternoon, giving his support to a bill that would protect patients who use medical marijuana from arrest.
And more than 4,000 students at a university in Belgium have fought their way into the record books. Take a look. They staged the world's most massive pillow fight. Doesn't that look fun? They broke the old record by more than 1,000 and raised nearly $13,000 for charity. So if you're wondering why they did this, that was why.
HEMMER: Well done.
O'BRIEN: I'm sure their parents, who are spending a ton of money to put them through college, are so proud at that moment to see little junior out there hitting his friends over the head with a pillow.
Thanks, Carol.
HEMMER: Thanks, Carol.
We want to get to Iraq right now. The suicide bomber targeting a police recruiting center in northern Iraq, usually a quiet part of that country. Forty-seven are dead. More than 100 are wounded.
In Baghdad, Ryan Chilcote standing by watching the latest from there.
Is it yet known how the bomber gained access there -- Ryan?
Or was it an easy case there?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, we don't know for sure. There's an investigation that's going to be looking at that still underway. But what we do know is that this attack, this suicide bomber attack took place in front of the police recruitment center. And it's a relatively open area. There's traffic going by.
So it looks like it would have been a relatively easy target for this suicide bomber.
Now, out front of this -- in front of this police recruitment center, there were about 300 mostly young Iraqi men. These are men that had seen an ad in the paper. There's been an ad campaign for the last two weeks in that city offering jobs in Iraq's fledgling police forces. They turned out in large numbers, a crowd of about 300 of them, most of them standing in line.
That's when this suicide bomber either in the line himself or was able to get close to that line, blew himself up. And the governor of the Irbil province is telling us that at least 47 people were killed in that attack, another at least 100 wounded. And the word so far is, Bill, that many of those 100 are very severely wounded -- Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: I mentioned this is a relatively quiet part of Iraq.
How significant is it now that we're talking about this attack in that part of the country, the Kurdish region?
CHILCOTE: A couple of things there. I think the fact that it take place in this quiet area may be part of the insurgents' strategy, to demonstrate their capability to attack Iraqi security forces and the people that want to join Iraqi security forces anywhere in the country. A lot of the attacks we've seen recently have been here in the Iraqi capital, have been in Mosul, have been in Ramadi. And there's a lot more serious security measures in place in those places.
The other thing, Bill, there is that the target in this place was also Iraqi Kurds. They're an ethnic minority. A lot of the insurgents don't like the fact that this ethnic minority, the Kurds, are taking such a large role in the government. They have 10 seats in the new Iraqi cabinet. And the president of Iraq is actually a Kurd -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ryan Chilcote in Baghdad -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Bill.
Right to our special series, "Battle Fatigue," this morning.
Joining the military has always been about options -- going to college, serving your country, learning a trade. But today more and more prospective recruits want to know just one thing -- will they be going to Iraq.
CNN's Barbara Starr joins us this morning with more on this -- good morning.
Nice to see you in person.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, you know, with no end in sight to the war in Iraq and the troops that are there already exhausted, the Army is now struggling to find the next round of fresh recruits, even looking here on the streets of New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ever thought about the Army?
STARR (voice-over): It's a question Army recruiters are asking everybody they can. On the streets here, straight talk with the young people of this tough Brooklyn neighborhood. For 19-year-old Roman Hernandez, the Army is an option. But he is worried. What about the war in Iraq?
ROMAN HERNANDEZ: I might get deployed over there and I might not come back. I mean how many people have been lost already? STARR: For the third month in a row, the Army has failed to meet its recruiting goal. If Iraq is the major issue for young people, recruiters know their parents must also be convinced.
STAFF SGT. LAYONE ANDERSON, ARMY RECRUITER: The biggest thing I hear is just simply that they don't want -- they don't support the war and they don't want their children to fight in this war, period. That is cut and dried. There's no other, you know, reason. That's all they say.
STARR: One potential solution? A new series of intimate television commercials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM ARMY RECRUITING COMMERCIAL)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a changed man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Madison Avenue trying to persuade parents to understand joining the Army is a good idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM ARMY RECRUITING COMMERCIAL)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shook my hand and then he looked me square in the eye. Where did that come from?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR (on camera): Here, on the streets of Brooklyn, this is the front line for Army recruiters looking for that one person in a busy crowd who may be ready to sign up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's tough business, but you've got to have tough skin.
STARR (voice-over): And an unusual approach on this street corner, where recruiters have a new tactic. Specialist Marco Andrade just returned from a year long tour with the 1st Calvary Division in Baghdad. He is here to tell prospects they can survive a tour of duty in Iraq.
SPL. MARCO ANDRADE, ARMY RECRUITER: A lot of the questions right now are how is it over there, if I'm going to go over there, stuff like that. And get -- what we're trying to do is give them a better idea of what it's all about.
STARR: So, is the Army pitch successful?
(on camera): Do you think you'll talk to these guys more?
HERNANDEZ: I'm not sure. We'll see.
(END VIDEO TAPE) STARR: And Soledad, an internal Army study recently concluded that opposition to military service is increasing amongst mom and dads.
O'BRIEN: Barbara, obviously we've been talking about this report from the chairman of the joint chiefs that says that the conflict in which all the military is currently engaged in is going to make responding to all these other hot spots a big problem.
Do you think the assessment is an indication that the military, in fact, is really over stretched, to the point where it's a problem?
STARR: Well, what the chairman said in his report to Congress is if another conflict broke out, that the U.S. could win, but maybe not as fast as the U.S. military would like to.
Let's listen to a little bit of what the chairman had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: Because we have very high standards in our, in how we measure ourselves against our current plans. And so that's what we're measuring. And we're measuring against the time lines that are already in plans, that have been established several years ago, a year ago. And so we measure ourselves against that.
And what we've said is we will be successful. We will prevail. It -- the time lines may have to be extended. We may have to us additional resources, but it doesn't matter, because we're going to be successful in the end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: In the end, Soledad. That's the key word. Not as fast as they'd like to. Stretched thin on people, equipment, weapons, all of it.
O'BRIEN: And when you say people, of course, you mean more casualties, which brings you back to the original issues with recruiting.
STARR: Getting more people to join up.
O'BRIEN: All right, Barbara Starr, nice to see you.
Thanks.
STARR: Nice to see you.
O'BRIEN: Tomorrow, our "Battle Fatigue" series takes a look at counter-recruiting on college campuses -- Bill.
HEMMER: Ten minutes past the hour, Soledad.
Here's Chad Myers watching the weather in the Southeast. Florida is getting hit hard, huh -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More lightning strikes in Florida than any other state. And they're living up to the bill today, Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, an 11th hour attempt at damage control in the Michael Jackson trial. Prosecutors attack the testimony of their own star witness, Debbie Rowe. Jeff Toobin tells us whether that's a good idea.
HEMMER: Also, more on Time Warner's I.D. theft issues. Employees, and not consumers, are the potential victims. Will that make the problem any worse? We'll take about it this hour.
O'BRIEN: Also, after nearly 10 years of silence, a brain damaged firefighter talks again. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" about his remarkable story just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: We are down to the final prosecution witness, we think, anyway, at today's Michael Jackson trial. They could rest later today in Santa Maria.
On Tuesday, though, prosecutors tried to undermine the Jackson friendly testimony from their own witness. That was the ex-wife of the singer, Debbie Rowe.
Jeff Toobin is here this morning, our senior legal analyst -- good morning to you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: Debbie Rowe? You go on the stand and you say hey, you know, she's going to really tear this guy apart. She completely turns the testimony a week ago.
Was it necessary to put this guy on the stand yesterday and say, you know, she told me that she accused him of being a sociopath?
How much impact does that have?
TOOBIN: It's a close call because the question always has -- you have when a witness goes south on you is do you call more attention to it by calling another witness to try to refute her? You know, I think actually Debbie Rowe's testimony is going to turn out to be not very important. Thus, the rebuttal is not very important.
Remember, all she testified about was whether she was forced to participate in this video. The video itself is not going to be ultimately all that significant, I think. I think count one, the conspiracy count, is an extremely weak count in any case.
This is really a child molestation case. That's what this case is about. Debbie Rowe had really very little to say. She was not an eyewitness to anything. She didn't really have any direct evidence. I think the jury is not going to spend a lot of time talking about her.
HEMMER: If you're Thomas Mesereau, do you call her back to the stand?
TOOBIN: No. I think they've got everything they need from Debbie Rowe at this point.
HEMMER: Yes?
TOOBIN: She said good things about Jackson. She denied she was forced to participate in the video. That's all they need.
HEMMER: OK, the next thing here.
They put this person on the stand yesterday saying that Michael Jackson was deep in debt, to the tune of $30 million a year.
Why are they trying to put this forward and what's the theory?
TOOBIN: Well, the theory is, is that the Martin Bashir documentary in February of 2003 came out at a time when Jackson's life was falling apart at many levels. Obviously, he had this issue with boys, which came out in the documentary. And they and the prosecution argues it was very important to refute that documentary because financially everything was coming apart.
I mean, I think, again, it's a somewhat marginal argument because, look, he's a famous celebrity. He's accused of child molestation. You don't need a financial reason to want to refute that. Anybody would want to refute that.
HEMMER: But the point they're saying is that he was so far in debt, he had to keep the family in good line and in good standing so he didn't have to lose more money and more millions.
TOOBIN: That's true, but I don't think you need much of a motive to want to refute an accusation like that. I think it's a small argument in favor of the prosecution, but not a very significant one.
HEMMER: All right, the defense begins very soon, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, but probably some time this week.
Would you put Michael Jackson on the stand?
TOOBIN: If I were Thomas Mesereau, I would fling my body in front of Michael Jackson to keep him off the...
HEMMER: Come on.
TOOBIN: All right, think about this. Just the one question to Michael Jackson, Mr. Jackson, you testified, or you said in the Martin Bashir documentary that you think it's appropriate to sleep in bed with young boys. Explain that to the jury. What's a good explanation for that?
HEMMER: Here we go.
TOOBIN: I don't know.
HEMMER: I think the phrase you used was an absolute disaster.
TOOBIN: Yes, absolute disaster. I mean my -- Thomas Mesereau is one smart lawyer and, notwithstanding his promise in opening statement, which I thought was sort of foolhardy, that Michael Jackson will testify, you will not see Michael Jackson on that witness stand.
HEMMER: But wasn't he on the stand for some case a few years ago and he did the bunny ears act?
TOOBIN: You know, I...
HEMMER: And he was sitting there?
TOOBIN: I know he was -- he behaved very peculiarly. I don't remember the bunny ears specifically, but he was a lousy witness and he lost...
HEMMER: Lousy with a capital L.
TOOBIN: Yes. Well, he -- that, you know, he's won some court cases, but he lost that one in which he testified. Michael Jackson, he ain't testifying.
HEMMER: An absolute disaster.
TOOBIN: Yes.
HEMMER: From Jeff Toobin.
TOOBIN: To be avoided.
HEMMER: Thank you, man.
Talk to you later.
TOOBIN: Yes.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, probably the biggest cheeseburger you've ever seen. Get a load of the Belly Buster. The folks behind it are up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Earlier we told you about this pub in Pennsylvania that is super sizing its burgers in the biggest way possible. Here it is, a 15-pound Beer Barrel Belly Buster. Jack ordered two to go. Twenty- five slices of cheese, one head of lettuce, three tomatoes, two onions. In Clearfield, p.a., Dennis Liegey, co-owner of Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, home of the biggest burger in the world.
Denny, what's happening?
Good morning.
DENNY LIEGEY, OWNER, DENNY'S BEER BARREL PUB: Hey, I'm doing well.
HEMMER: Other than good publicity...
LIEGEY: And good morning.
HEMMER: Other than good publicity, why are you doing this?
LIEGEY: Hey, I'm doing well. I wish it wasn't snowing in Pennsylvania, but I've had a busy morning.
HEMMER: Yes? All right. Can you hear me OK there, Denny?
LIEGEY: Yes, I can. I can hear you fine.
HEMMER: All right, the mayonnaise isn't going to your brain just yet, is it?
LIEGEY: No.
HEMMER: So why are you doing this? I understand a pub in Jersey trumped your bigger burger before and you guys got a bit of burger envy out there in P.A.
Is that right?
LIEGEY: Well, actually, we started doing our big burgers back in 1991. And we officially had the world's biggest hamburger, labeled by the "Guinness Book of World Records" a year-and-a-half ago. And they actually carbon copied us.
HEMMER: Has anyone ordered it?
LIEGEY: What goes on the hamburger?
HEMMER: Has anyone ordered the burger?
LIEGEY: Yes. I'm sorry.
Yes. Yes, we've actually had teams of two come in and order our new famous 15-pound hamburger.
HEMMER: Have they finished it?
LIEGEY: No. As you can imagine, they're getting doggie bags. And I think they're giving the food to their dogs, or their dogs' friends dogs.
HEMMER: How big is the doggie bag?
LIEGEY: Well, a lot of times we actually have to give them a half a sheet pan to use.
HEMMER: Take a bite, Denny. You're on national TV.
LIEGEY: Take a bite?
HEMMER: Come on, my man. We're giving you all this free P.R.
LIEGEY: All right.
HEMMER: Here we go. This is Dennis Liegey there in Clearfield, Pennsylvania.
O'BRIEN: Oh!
HEMMER: Wow!
You're standing by your product, aren't you?
LIEGEY: Delicious.
I have to, 100 percent.
HEMMER: Well, I bet.
Tell everybody hello.
That's Denny Liegey there in Clearfield, P.A.
Thank you, man.
Cute stuff there.
O'BRIEN: Thirty-five bucks.
HEMMER: A big burger.
O'BRIEN: Thirty-five bucks for that hamburger.
HEMMER: Fifteen pounds.
And he took a bite.
O'BRIEN: He did very well.
HEMMER: Yes, he did.
O'BRIEN: I was -- I didn't know that he was going to be able to pull that off, but he did -- hey, Jack.
HEMMER: Hello.
O'BRIEN: How are you?
CAFFERTY: That was great, Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you. One of the finest moments in my journalistic career.
CAFFERTY: What?
HEMMER: One of my finest moments ever.
CAFFERTY: What, and get out of show business? Somebody has to do this.
HEMMER: Save the day.
CAFFERTY: Texas cheerleaders may be under the gun here soon. The Texas House approved a bill that would ban sexually suggestive routines by cheerleaders, drill teams and other public school performance groups. The bill now goes to the senate. The bill does not define what constitutes sexually suggestive behavior. The bill's sponsor, Houston Representative Crazy Al Edwards, has suggested that inappropriate booty shaking is a distraction for students and it contributes to all kinds of social problems. Old Crazy Al is worried about this.
The question is this, should Texas ban sexually suggestive cheerleading?
Dalane in Florida -- ironically, she lives in a town called Niceville: "I'm not sure when you last saw a high school cheer or dance squad, but I think Elvis would blush. The girls gyrate and touch themselves in clearly sexual ways. As a parent of small children and a dance team sponsor myself, I'm shocked."
Steve in North Carolina writes: "Jack, I think we've seen it all, twice. Aside from the return of Elvis Pelvis McCarthyism, I'm deeply concerned about the ambiguous nature of this feel good legislation straight out of 1984's "Footloose." A commissioner can arbitrarily deny a district's funding for finding a routine offensive."
Steve in Virginia writes: "From gay marriage bans to legislation against scantily clad cheerleaders, it's about time someone took on those liberal purveyors of filth corroding our culture. I mean, come on, Jack, we have comedians telling jokes about bestiality and masturbation in public."
Well, wait a minute. That was the first lady.
And Charlie in Connecticut writes: "Rather than ban the cheerleaders, show them during the Question of the Day segment rather than you, Jack."
O'BRIEN: I was wondering when we were going to have the video -- roll the videotape of the young cheerleaders segue.
CAFFERTY: We tried for some time this morning to get some video that I saw on another network yesterday of these scantily clad Texas cheerleaders. But so far, we haven't been able to come up with it.
O'BRIEN: Well...
CAFFERTY: They got it...
HEMMER: The day is young.
CAFFERTY: They've got it on some of the other stations, but we've got nothing.
O'BRIEN: Well, if it's really offensive, maybe that's a good thing.
CAFFERTY: Well, that's why we were looking for it.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes, I realize that. And just for the record, his official name is really not Crazy Al and...
CAFFERTY: I want to get an idea of what old Crazy Al is troubled by.
O'BRIEN: Yes, not his real name...
CAFFERTY: And take a look at this footage.
O'BRIEN: Right?
CAFFERTY: Huh? No, his name is Al Edwards.
O'BRIEN: Got you. We just -- you just added the Crazy Al.
CAFFERTY: Do you feel like you have to go along --
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. Yes, there's a line...
CAFFERTY: ... and clean up after me, don't you?
O'BRIEN: There's a line here. I want everyone to know, a big line. A big line right here.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Me and Crazy Al on this side, and the hamburger crowd is over there.
O'BRIEN: You got it.
Well, lately the biggest star in the White House actually has not been the president, it's been the first lady. The reason behind Laura Bush's higher profile is just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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