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CNN Live At Daybreak
Oil-For-Food Program; Secret Memo; 'Raymond' Finale
Aired May 17, 2005 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."
Police say a group of Afghan thieves claimed responsibility for kidnapping an Italian aid worker. Clementina Kantoni (ph) was dragged from her car in the center of Kabul. Her abduction follows several warnings that outsiders living in the capital could be kidnapped.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela heads to the White House in a few hours for talks with President Bush. Mandela is in the United States seeking more money for Africa, including help in fighting AIDS.
In Atlanta, an arraignment hearing for courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols gets under way this morning. He faces a 54- count indictment, including four charges of murder. Prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty if he's convicted.
Now to California, some areas of the Yosemite Valley are closed today because of flooding. Park officials blame the high water on a larger-than-usual snow pack and some warm weekend weather. That'll do it -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, there's an awful lot of rain coming in.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Facing his accusers. A member of the British Parliament will be on Capitol Hill to answer allegations he was in cahoots with Saddam Hussein. At issue an alleged scheme to use the U.N.'s Oil-For-Food program to make a fast buck.
Live now to our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.
Good morning -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Not yet in Washington, I'm still in New York, but I will be in the Washington area in a few hours, covering this hearing, which could be a little contentious.
George Galloway, who is not just any politician in Britain, he's definitely a character, you might say. He has been accused by a Senate committee of, in effect, doing business with Saddam Hussein, getting kickbacks, part of a scheme to, in effect, defraud the humanitarian program for his own good. He has strongly denied this. He was invited to testify.
The committee says they offered him a chance to comment on the report. He says he knew nothing of this. The committee is looking to put him under oath so that he can be charged with perjury should the accusation later be proven true. Galloway says he's coming to Washington and the hearing, with both barrels, not oil, but guns blazing, verbally speaking.
And he is not the only European politician who was accused last week by the Senate committee. Charles Pasqua, a former French Interior Minister, has also been accused of being part of the Oil-For- Food corruption. He has strongly denied the accusations also.
This has been a pattern of the last few months and years. There were names, 270 names, that turned up on a list in Iraq after the invasion from the oil ministry. People, former journalists, politicians, businessmen who were said to be on the take. And this is the lengthy investigation, really, of that list and of interviews the committee has done with Tariq Aziz and other former Iraqi officials -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It'll be very interesting when this Galloway faces the Senate committee, Richard, because he told Reuters's this. He says I have no expectation of justice from a group of Christian fundamentalists and Zionist activists under the chairmanship of a Neocon. What more can we expect him to say?
ROTH: I think Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who is leading this committee investigation, says we don't want to debate with him. But he's likely to be very different than the other Oil-For-Food witnesses. He's the first person, I believe, who has been formally publicly accused to appear before a Senate panel.
And Galloway calls it as he sees it. I mean he does not mince words, as you just alluded to. In Britain he was expelled from Tony Blair's Labour Party. He formed his own party. He was an anti-war activist, vehemently campaigned, won re-election to the British Parliament. It's going to be very interesting.
The committee will accuse him of using two front firms and diverting money to a charity all to cover up. Galloway says he never took one drop of oil, never signed a contract, doesn't know anything about these companies that were named by the committee.
COSTELLO: OK, we'll check back with you a little later.
Richard Roth reporting live for us this morning.
A formerly secret British memo from before the war in Iraq -- was from before the war in Iraq began. It's raising some serious questions this morning, but are there any real answers?
CNN's Brian Todd takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A British document made public just before this month's elections leads to more pointed questions about the rationale for the Iraq war. The memo, leaked to the "Times of London" newspaper, details the minutes of a meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his security team in July of 2002, before the Bush administration began making its public case for war against Saddam Hussein.
The notes refer to a British official's consultations in Washington that summer. Quote -- "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and the facts were being fixed around the policy." Later the minutes say -- quote -- "The case was thin."
Contacted by CNN, an official in Blair's office would not confirm the contents of the notes one way or another.
CNN asked White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan for his reaction.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't know about the specific memo. I've seen the reports, and I can tell you that they're just flat out wrong. The president of the United States, in a very public way, reached out to people across the world, went to the United Nations and tried to resolve this in a diplomatic manner.
TODD: The White House has not responded to a letter sent earlier this month from John Conyers, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, calling for the Bush administration to explain the British report.
REP. JOHN CONYERS (D-MI), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The president has to answer this. I don't think we can laugh at the "London Times" and British intelligence. We need to know.
TODD: But the administration gets critical backing from Republican Senator John McCain.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Yes, but I do not believe that the Bush administration decided that they would set up a scenario that gave us the rationale for going into Iraq.
TODD: McCain was part of a presidential commission that concluded pre-war intelligence on Saddam's weapons was not manipulated but was simply wrong. (on camera): Again, British officials do not dispute the reported contents of that memo, but intelligence experts caution that estimates of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs were coming from several different sources that summer and being interpreted in many different ways. And they say this memo may simply reflect one British official's own interpretations of what he saw in Washington that summer.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And by now you've heard about the big retraction from "Newsweek" magazine regarding the Quran and interrogation of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. It alleged the Muslim holy book had been flushed down a toilet, and that sparked angry reactions in Afghanistan. At least 15 people were killed in demonstrations.
We take you "Beyond the Soundbite" now with "Newsweek's" editor who was on PBS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK WHITAKER, "NEWSWEEK" EDITOR: What our original report said was that a U.S. official, a source who we had dealt with in the past, we believed to be critical, we believed to have access to internal documents, was saying that this had turned up in an internal investigation.
We, as we report in the magazine this week, we offered the Pentagon a chance to comment on that story. We went to the extraordinary lengths of actually showing the entire story to a separate high-level Pentagon official. They disputed other aspects of the story but did not dispute that.
After we published the story, we were not challenged on any aspect of it for 11 days, until we heard on Friday night, 24 hours before our deadline, from the Pentagon, that we had gotten it wrong.
In the time we had before publishing, we decided to disclose as much as we could. We got back to the original source. The source said that he thought he had still seen something but couldn't verify that it was in the investigation that we mentioned.
As a result, we admitted that we may have gotten it wrong, and we apologized for that. Then today, both at the White House and elsewhere, people began asking whether this was a retraction. I think given the part that everybody is focused on, given that we had already said we had made a mistake and that we regretted it, we went ahead and said of course that amounts to a retraction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the flap is a reminder that people need to be careful about what they say. Still to come on DAYBREAK, some angry flight attendants and their unusual form of peaceful protest. We'll have that and the other top hits on CNN.com.
And later, the guy everybody loves talks about why he's saying goodbye.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: A DAYBREAK story follow up for you now. We told you about the out-of-state wine shipment issue before the Supreme Court. Well about two dozen states restrict or ban direct out-of-state sales. Many are done on the Internet. But wine sales could get a significant boost with the court's decision. It struck down state laws in Michigan and New York prohibiting or restricting out-of-state wineries from shipping their stuff to you, the customer, directly.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:43 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
"Newsweek" retracts a story that sparked deadly Muslim riots overseas. The story said U.S. military interrogators flushed a copy of the Quran down a toilet. "Newsweek" backed off the report, blaming a faulty source.
Mexico's president has called Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Vicente Fox told them, over the phone, he regrets making comments that caused offense. Fox had said Mexican immigrants take jobs -- quote -- "that not even blacks want to do."
In money news, do you like reading "New York Times" columnists online? Well their opinions will not be free anymore. The paper will start charging about 50 bucks a year on its Web site to read many of its most popular columnists.
In culture, did they get this hair right? Donald Trump will be an upcoming video game based on his hit show "The Apprentice." Players assume the role of contestants.
In sports, what's in a name? Ask the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. California lawmakers say the new name is false advertising. They want the team to clearly say in tickets and ads that their real home is in Anaheim -- Chad.
MYERS: Whatever. It's a big city. It's a really, really, really big place.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.
That's a look at the latest headlines for you this morning. Still to come on DAYBREAK, last night we bid farewell to Raymond. Stay tuned for our one on one with the cast of "Everybody Loves Raymond."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time to check out what you're checking out on CNN.com. We always love the most popular stories on CNN.com, and we got three goods one today.
MYERS: Right over on the right, click on most favorite, and you will find all of the most popular, 10 of them, lined up for you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You want me to start with the first one? Because Sony...
MYERS: This new Play Station, 35 times more powerful than PlayStation 2.
COSTELLO: That's hard to believe.
MYERS: Everybody wants one.
COSTELLO: Wow! And Sony is asking customers to be patient. Don't buy a new one yet, they say, because this one will be just outstanding.
MYERS: Because, you know what, it will actually run two HDTVs simultaneously. You can have up to eight players.
COSTELLO: Unbelievable!
MYERS: Yes, it's going to be great (ph).
COSTELLO: OK, we'll wait.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: United Airlines employees, remember they have the risk of losing their shirt...
MYERS: Yes, this calendar thing.
COSTELLO: ... because they're going to lose their pensions?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Well, there's a new calendar out. It's titled "Stewardesses Stripped of Their Pension." And they're using this calendar to kind of advertise their plight. They say they have to, they're desperate.
MYERS: United Airlines not too happy about it.
COSTELLO: I bet not. And the third most popular clicked on story this morning happens in Rome. Italian police have discovered a mob-linked racetrack where they say horses were pumped full of Viagra and other drugs to fix races.
MYERS: I love the...
COSTELLO: I'm not sure how Viagra makes the horses run faster.
MYERS: But I love the caption. It says they have discovered a racetrack. Like, what, it was hiding? How do you hide a racetrack?
COSTELLO: OK, so it's a poor headline on CNN.com.
MYERS: No, no, no, no, that's how it came out of Rome, we have discovered a racetrack. That's what the police said.
COSTELLO: Maybe it was just poor translation, I don't know.
MYERS: Maybe. That could have been.
COSTELLO: Anyway, that's a look at what's on CNN.com and the most popular clicks that you're clicking on to. If you want to know more, go to www.cnn.com/mostpopular and you can read all of the most popular stories there.
Let's get right to our e-mail question, because we got a lot of responses this morning.
Out in Oregon at a middle school there, they have banned hugging for more than three seconds. So if you're a student and you're in the hall and you want to hug, like, let's say your boyfriend for more than three seconds and you've been warned at least twice, well you're either suspended or you get detention. And that happened to one student. One mother is really irritated at this because she says what's so wrong with hugging?
Their daughter -- mother and daughter right there.
MYERS: Well the -- it wasn't so wrong with the hugging, but the person that caught that person hugged the little child hugging said there was something wrong with the hug itself, so.
COSTELLO: You mean it was...
MYERS: A little more than a hug.
COSTELLO: I mean there are hugs and there are hugs.
MYERS: Correct.
COSTELLO: It was one of the hugs.
MYERS: Correct, correct, correct.
And Matthew (ph) in Ontario says the only question to me was made who is going to decide exactly what is excessive? Where do you draw the line?
COSTELLO: Well supposedly they're not allowed to hug longer than three seconds.
MYERS: Right, so who has the stopwatch?
COSTELLO: I don't know.
This is from Brandy (ph). She's a high school senior in Alabama. She says I love how excessive hugging in the school hallway has suddenly become so offensive. As long as the younger students can turn on their TVs in the afternoon, they're going to see hugging. If this gets PG or it was PG-13, I think there are far worse things that could go on in school hallways.
MYERS: Well, true.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Brandy.
MYERS: Katherine (ph) in Saginaw, Michigan says when our seventh grade son was caught doing PDA behind a soda vending machine, his grandfather said, hey, that was great and he praised his red-blooded grandson and encouraged him to find a better hiding place.
Sounds like the other generation, huh?
COSTELLO: This was the one from another generation, too. Brad (ph) from Vermont says I remember high school dances when the teachers would separate couples who were dancing too closely. The good old days.
MYERS: Exactly.
Although Buddy (ph) from Tulsa says you know I'm in schools all the time. It might sound nitpicky, but even at middle school, the level of PDA has gotten completely out of hand. I won't elaborate on that, but just sort of nip it in the bud. They have to limit this hugging thing right now.
COSTELLO: And one more from Brian (ph) in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He says it should be up to the local school district to determine what is right or wrong as far as excessive goes. Me, personally, hugging banned? Guns, drugs, slander, yes, but hugging, no.
MYERS: And we got a lot like that.
COSTELLO: Thank you for your comments this morning. We appreciate them.
Much more on excessive hugging in the next hour of DAYBREAK. We'll talk with the mom, Leslie Swanson (ph). Her daughter got detention for hugging her boyfriend too long. She'd been warned, but is the school overreacting?
Plus, pop the cork, there is good reason to celebrate, the Supreme Court says shipping wine over state lines is totally legal. That story is still ahead on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: In entertainment headlines for you this morning, Brad Pitt is talking. He describes his breakup with Jennifer Aniston as due to complex and multifaceted reasons, not because he wanted children and Aniston didn't. But Pitt does not explicitly deny reports that he's in a relationship with actress Angelina Jolie. The Pitt interview is in "GQ" magazine. It is out Friday.
Another reality TV show is coming your way. Contestants will try to recreate fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger's rag-to-riches story. They'll be given assignments that test their talent, their sales and marketing savvy and of course their sense of style. The show is called "The Cut" on CBS.
All you "Survivor" fans can own a piece of that CBS reality show. Props and memorabilia from "Survivor: Palau" are being auctioned on eBay. The money will benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
And Raymond certainly felt the love. The hit CBS comedy "Everybody Loves Raymond" is over after more than 200 episodes in 9 amazing years.
CNN's Karyn Bryant gets reaction from the cast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAY ROMANO, ACTOR: Baby, does that feel good.
KARYN BRYANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sure, they're a little dysfunctional, but the family that has kept America laughing for nine years is saying goodbye to America and to each other.
PETER BOYLE, ACTOR: I'll be all right, I won't cry, I won't break down.
BRYANT: On the eve of their last episode, the cast came to New York City to watch the final "Everybody Loves Raymond."
(on camera): Where will you watch tonight, together, separately?
PATRICIA HEATON, ACTRESS: In a group together, the cast, the writers, some family members.
ROMANO: Writers, friends and family and one hooker. Just, you know, we're going to keep it mellow.
DORIS ROBERTS, ACTRESS: I'm hoping to have a glass of champagne in my hand at the time and be thankful for nine glorious years.
BRYANT: It's no surprise that everybody really does love Raymond. In a world where reality shows and crime dramas reign supreme, "Everybody Loves Raymond" is still America's top rated family sitcom. With 12 Emmys and more than 200 episodes under their belt, why stop now?
ROMANO: We stopped because we did 210 episodes and we said a lot and did a lot. We just creatively thought we reached our peak and the end of the line.
MONICA HORAN, ACTRESS: So we said after you finish a great meal, you don't sit there and say I wish I could do that meal again, you know. Oh my god, it was amazing. I'm so glad I had it. And that is really, I think, how we feel.
BRYANT (voice-over): The whole crew headed down to the New York Stock Exchange to commemorate the day by ringing the closing bell, a suitable close to their own very memorable ending.
HEATON: When we first got here to New York City, I felt very slightly melancholy because that's where I started out. And so to come back with this kind of triumphant finish to our show is wonderful and kind of sad. You have a dream fulfilled, but that also means the dream is over.
BRAD GARRETT, ACTOR: Sure I'm going to be sad, but you know it's a good sad. You know what I mean? It's like when the psychotic girlfriend finally leaves one day when you're, you know, getting the paper.
BRYANT: He may have been sad, but it didn't stop him from keeping me in stitches.
GARRETT: Oh my god, look at that tugboat bringing in Ray's wallet. That's his residual ship.
BRYANT (on camera): The camera has loved you for years.
GARRETT: You know what I heard, the camera wants to see other people. You know how when you hear the camera loves you, this is what I heard, the camera just wants to be really good friends.
BRYANT: So, obviously, Brad, there's still...
GARRETT: Yes.
BRYANT: ... a lot of comedy left in you.
GARRETT: Well that's the medication, really. That's the Midol backing up on me. Well you know this is the way I keep from crying today.
BRYANT: I know that it's got to feel good knowing that you're going to New York...
GARRETT: Sure.
BRYANT: ... and you're still making something good.
GARRETT: Absolutely.
BRYANT: Not that you're dragging and they're going, you know, we're milking it now.
GARRETT: Yes, that was the point, you know. It's one thing to be on a hit, and we're all very fortunate to have had this job for nine years. But to be on something you're proud of and it's something that people respond to is really great and we're going to miss. I'm going to miss you a lot.
BRYANT (voice-over): And everybody will certainly miss Raymond.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Expect more entertainment news every night on "ShowBiz Tonight." That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Headline News.
The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.
Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, he's covered in an oil scandal and he's in for a grilling.
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Aired May 17, 2005 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."
Police say a group of Afghan thieves claimed responsibility for kidnapping an Italian aid worker. Clementina Kantoni (ph) was dragged from her car in the center of Kabul. Her abduction follows several warnings that outsiders living in the capital could be kidnapped.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela heads to the White House in a few hours for talks with President Bush. Mandela is in the United States seeking more money for Africa, including help in fighting AIDS.
In Atlanta, an arraignment hearing for courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols gets under way this morning. He faces a 54- count indictment, including four charges of murder. Prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty if he's convicted.
Now to California, some areas of the Yosemite Valley are closed today because of flooding. Park officials blame the high water on a larger-than-usual snow pack and some warm weekend weather. That'll do it -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, there's an awful lot of rain coming in.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Facing his accusers. A member of the British Parliament will be on Capitol Hill to answer allegations he was in cahoots with Saddam Hussein. At issue an alleged scheme to use the U.N.'s Oil-For-Food program to make a fast buck.
Live now to our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.
Good morning -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Not yet in Washington, I'm still in New York, but I will be in the Washington area in a few hours, covering this hearing, which could be a little contentious.
George Galloway, who is not just any politician in Britain, he's definitely a character, you might say. He has been accused by a Senate committee of, in effect, doing business with Saddam Hussein, getting kickbacks, part of a scheme to, in effect, defraud the humanitarian program for his own good. He has strongly denied this. He was invited to testify.
The committee says they offered him a chance to comment on the report. He says he knew nothing of this. The committee is looking to put him under oath so that he can be charged with perjury should the accusation later be proven true. Galloway says he's coming to Washington and the hearing, with both barrels, not oil, but guns blazing, verbally speaking.
And he is not the only European politician who was accused last week by the Senate committee. Charles Pasqua, a former French Interior Minister, has also been accused of being part of the Oil-For- Food corruption. He has strongly denied the accusations also.
This has been a pattern of the last few months and years. There were names, 270 names, that turned up on a list in Iraq after the invasion from the oil ministry. People, former journalists, politicians, businessmen who were said to be on the take. And this is the lengthy investigation, really, of that list and of interviews the committee has done with Tariq Aziz and other former Iraqi officials -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It'll be very interesting when this Galloway faces the Senate committee, Richard, because he told Reuters's this. He says I have no expectation of justice from a group of Christian fundamentalists and Zionist activists under the chairmanship of a Neocon. What more can we expect him to say?
ROTH: I think Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who is leading this committee investigation, says we don't want to debate with him. But he's likely to be very different than the other Oil-For-Food witnesses. He's the first person, I believe, who has been formally publicly accused to appear before a Senate panel.
And Galloway calls it as he sees it. I mean he does not mince words, as you just alluded to. In Britain he was expelled from Tony Blair's Labour Party. He formed his own party. He was an anti-war activist, vehemently campaigned, won re-election to the British Parliament. It's going to be very interesting.
The committee will accuse him of using two front firms and diverting money to a charity all to cover up. Galloway says he never took one drop of oil, never signed a contract, doesn't know anything about these companies that were named by the committee.
COSTELLO: OK, we'll check back with you a little later.
Richard Roth reporting live for us this morning.
A formerly secret British memo from before the war in Iraq -- was from before the war in Iraq began. It's raising some serious questions this morning, but are there any real answers?
CNN's Brian Todd takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A British document made public just before this month's elections leads to more pointed questions about the rationale for the Iraq war. The memo, leaked to the "Times of London" newspaper, details the minutes of a meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his security team in July of 2002, before the Bush administration began making its public case for war against Saddam Hussein.
The notes refer to a British official's consultations in Washington that summer. Quote -- "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and the facts were being fixed around the policy." Later the minutes say -- quote -- "The case was thin."
Contacted by CNN, an official in Blair's office would not confirm the contents of the notes one way or another.
CNN asked White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan for his reaction.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't know about the specific memo. I've seen the reports, and I can tell you that they're just flat out wrong. The president of the United States, in a very public way, reached out to people across the world, went to the United Nations and tried to resolve this in a diplomatic manner.
TODD: The White House has not responded to a letter sent earlier this month from John Conyers, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, calling for the Bush administration to explain the British report.
REP. JOHN CONYERS (D-MI), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The president has to answer this. I don't think we can laugh at the "London Times" and British intelligence. We need to know.
TODD: But the administration gets critical backing from Republican Senator John McCain.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Yes, but I do not believe that the Bush administration decided that they would set up a scenario that gave us the rationale for going into Iraq.
TODD: McCain was part of a presidential commission that concluded pre-war intelligence on Saddam's weapons was not manipulated but was simply wrong. (on camera): Again, British officials do not dispute the reported contents of that memo, but intelligence experts caution that estimates of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs were coming from several different sources that summer and being interpreted in many different ways. And they say this memo may simply reflect one British official's own interpretations of what he saw in Washington that summer.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And by now you've heard about the big retraction from "Newsweek" magazine regarding the Quran and interrogation of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. It alleged the Muslim holy book had been flushed down a toilet, and that sparked angry reactions in Afghanistan. At least 15 people were killed in demonstrations.
We take you "Beyond the Soundbite" now with "Newsweek's" editor who was on PBS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK WHITAKER, "NEWSWEEK" EDITOR: What our original report said was that a U.S. official, a source who we had dealt with in the past, we believed to be critical, we believed to have access to internal documents, was saying that this had turned up in an internal investigation.
We, as we report in the magazine this week, we offered the Pentagon a chance to comment on that story. We went to the extraordinary lengths of actually showing the entire story to a separate high-level Pentagon official. They disputed other aspects of the story but did not dispute that.
After we published the story, we were not challenged on any aspect of it for 11 days, until we heard on Friday night, 24 hours before our deadline, from the Pentagon, that we had gotten it wrong.
In the time we had before publishing, we decided to disclose as much as we could. We got back to the original source. The source said that he thought he had still seen something but couldn't verify that it was in the investigation that we mentioned.
As a result, we admitted that we may have gotten it wrong, and we apologized for that. Then today, both at the White House and elsewhere, people began asking whether this was a retraction. I think given the part that everybody is focused on, given that we had already said we had made a mistake and that we regretted it, we went ahead and said of course that amounts to a retraction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the flap is a reminder that people need to be careful about what they say. Still to come on DAYBREAK, some angry flight attendants and their unusual form of peaceful protest. We'll have that and the other top hits on CNN.com.
And later, the guy everybody loves talks about why he's saying goodbye.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: A DAYBREAK story follow up for you now. We told you about the out-of-state wine shipment issue before the Supreme Court. Well about two dozen states restrict or ban direct out-of-state sales. Many are done on the Internet. But wine sales could get a significant boost with the court's decision. It struck down state laws in Michigan and New York prohibiting or restricting out-of-state wineries from shipping their stuff to you, the customer, directly.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:43 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
"Newsweek" retracts a story that sparked deadly Muslim riots overseas. The story said U.S. military interrogators flushed a copy of the Quran down a toilet. "Newsweek" backed off the report, blaming a faulty source.
Mexico's president has called Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Vicente Fox told them, over the phone, he regrets making comments that caused offense. Fox had said Mexican immigrants take jobs -- quote -- "that not even blacks want to do."
In money news, do you like reading "New York Times" columnists online? Well their opinions will not be free anymore. The paper will start charging about 50 bucks a year on its Web site to read many of its most popular columnists.
In culture, did they get this hair right? Donald Trump will be an upcoming video game based on his hit show "The Apprentice." Players assume the role of contestants.
In sports, what's in a name? Ask the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. California lawmakers say the new name is false advertising. They want the team to clearly say in tickets and ads that their real home is in Anaheim -- Chad.
MYERS: Whatever. It's a big city. It's a really, really, really big place.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.
That's a look at the latest headlines for you this morning. Still to come on DAYBREAK, last night we bid farewell to Raymond. Stay tuned for our one on one with the cast of "Everybody Loves Raymond."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time to check out what you're checking out on CNN.com. We always love the most popular stories on CNN.com, and we got three goods one today.
MYERS: Right over on the right, click on most favorite, and you will find all of the most popular, 10 of them, lined up for you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You want me to start with the first one? Because Sony...
MYERS: This new Play Station, 35 times more powerful than PlayStation 2.
COSTELLO: That's hard to believe.
MYERS: Everybody wants one.
COSTELLO: Wow! And Sony is asking customers to be patient. Don't buy a new one yet, they say, because this one will be just outstanding.
MYERS: Because, you know what, it will actually run two HDTVs simultaneously. You can have up to eight players.
COSTELLO: Unbelievable!
MYERS: Yes, it's going to be great (ph).
COSTELLO: OK, we'll wait.
MYERS: OK.
COSTELLO: United Airlines employees, remember they have the risk of losing their shirt...
MYERS: Yes, this calendar thing.
COSTELLO: ... because they're going to lose their pensions?
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Well, there's a new calendar out. It's titled "Stewardesses Stripped of Their Pension." And they're using this calendar to kind of advertise their plight. They say they have to, they're desperate.
MYERS: United Airlines not too happy about it.
COSTELLO: I bet not. And the third most popular clicked on story this morning happens in Rome. Italian police have discovered a mob-linked racetrack where they say horses were pumped full of Viagra and other drugs to fix races.
MYERS: I love the...
COSTELLO: I'm not sure how Viagra makes the horses run faster.
MYERS: But I love the caption. It says they have discovered a racetrack. Like, what, it was hiding? How do you hide a racetrack?
COSTELLO: OK, so it's a poor headline on CNN.com.
MYERS: No, no, no, no, that's how it came out of Rome, we have discovered a racetrack. That's what the police said.
COSTELLO: Maybe it was just poor translation, I don't know.
MYERS: Maybe. That could have been.
COSTELLO: Anyway, that's a look at what's on CNN.com and the most popular clicks that you're clicking on to. If you want to know more, go to www.cnn.com/mostpopular and you can read all of the most popular stories there.
Let's get right to our e-mail question, because we got a lot of responses this morning.
Out in Oregon at a middle school there, they have banned hugging for more than three seconds. So if you're a student and you're in the hall and you want to hug, like, let's say your boyfriend for more than three seconds and you've been warned at least twice, well you're either suspended or you get detention. And that happened to one student. One mother is really irritated at this because she says what's so wrong with hugging?
Their daughter -- mother and daughter right there.
MYERS: Well the -- it wasn't so wrong with the hugging, but the person that caught that person hugged the little child hugging said there was something wrong with the hug itself, so.
COSTELLO: You mean it was...
MYERS: A little more than a hug.
COSTELLO: I mean there are hugs and there are hugs.
MYERS: Correct.
COSTELLO: It was one of the hugs.
MYERS: Correct, correct, correct.
And Matthew (ph) in Ontario says the only question to me was made who is going to decide exactly what is excessive? Where do you draw the line?
COSTELLO: Well supposedly they're not allowed to hug longer than three seconds.
MYERS: Right, so who has the stopwatch?
COSTELLO: I don't know.
This is from Brandy (ph). She's a high school senior in Alabama. She says I love how excessive hugging in the school hallway has suddenly become so offensive. As long as the younger students can turn on their TVs in the afternoon, they're going to see hugging. If this gets PG or it was PG-13, I think there are far worse things that could go on in school hallways.
MYERS: Well, true.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Brandy.
MYERS: Katherine (ph) in Saginaw, Michigan says when our seventh grade son was caught doing PDA behind a soda vending machine, his grandfather said, hey, that was great and he praised his red-blooded grandson and encouraged him to find a better hiding place.
Sounds like the other generation, huh?
COSTELLO: This was the one from another generation, too. Brad (ph) from Vermont says I remember high school dances when the teachers would separate couples who were dancing too closely. The good old days.
MYERS: Exactly.
Although Buddy (ph) from Tulsa says you know I'm in schools all the time. It might sound nitpicky, but even at middle school, the level of PDA has gotten completely out of hand. I won't elaborate on that, but just sort of nip it in the bud. They have to limit this hugging thing right now.
COSTELLO: And one more from Brian (ph) in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He says it should be up to the local school district to determine what is right or wrong as far as excessive goes. Me, personally, hugging banned? Guns, drugs, slander, yes, but hugging, no.
MYERS: And we got a lot like that.
COSTELLO: Thank you for your comments this morning. We appreciate them.
Much more on excessive hugging in the next hour of DAYBREAK. We'll talk with the mom, Leslie Swanson (ph). Her daughter got detention for hugging her boyfriend too long. She'd been warned, but is the school overreacting?
Plus, pop the cork, there is good reason to celebrate, the Supreme Court says shipping wine over state lines is totally legal. That story is still ahead on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: In entertainment headlines for you this morning, Brad Pitt is talking. He describes his breakup with Jennifer Aniston as due to complex and multifaceted reasons, not because he wanted children and Aniston didn't. But Pitt does not explicitly deny reports that he's in a relationship with actress Angelina Jolie. The Pitt interview is in "GQ" magazine. It is out Friday.
Another reality TV show is coming your way. Contestants will try to recreate fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger's rag-to-riches story. They'll be given assignments that test their talent, their sales and marketing savvy and of course their sense of style. The show is called "The Cut" on CBS.
All you "Survivor" fans can own a piece of that CBS reality show. Props and memorabilia from "Survivor: Palau" are being auctioned on eBay. The money will benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
And Raymond certainly felt the love. The hit CBS comedy "Everybody Loves Raymond" is over after more than 200 episodes in 9 amazing years.
CNN's Karyn Bryant gets reaction from the cast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAY ROMANO, ACTOR: Baby, does that feel good.
KARYN BRYANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sure, they're a little dysfunctional, but the family that has kept America laughing for nine years is saying goodbye to America and to each other.
PETER BOYLE, ACTOR: I'll be all right, I won't cry, I won't break down.
BRYANT: On the eve of their last episode, the cast came to New York City to watch the final "Everybody Loves Raymond."
(on camera): Where will you watch tonight, together, separately?
PATRICIA HEATON, ACTRESS: In a group together, the cast, the writers, some family members.
ROMANO: Writers, friends and family and one hooker. Just, you know, we're going to keep it mellow.
DORIS ROBERTS, ACTRESS: I'm hoping to have a glass of champagne in my hand at the time and be thankful for nine glorious years.
BRYANT: It's no surprise that everybody really does love Raymond. In a world where reality shows and crime dramas reign supreme, "Everybody Loves Raymond" is still America's top rated family sitcom. With 12 Emmys and more than 200 episodes under their belt, why stop now?
ROMANO: We stopped because we did 210 episodes and we said a lot and did a lot. We just creatively thought we reached our peak and the end of the line.
MONICA HORAN, ACTRESS: So we said after you finish a great meal, you don't sit there and say I wish I could do that meal again, you know. Oh my god, it was amazing. I'm so glad I had it. And that is really, I think, how we feel.
BRYANT (voice-over): The whole crew headed down to the New York Stock Exchange to commemorate the day by ringing the closing bell, a suitable close to their own very memorable ending.
HEATON: When we first got here to New York City, I felt very slightly melancholy because that's where I started out. And so to come back with this kind of triumphant finish to our show is wonderful and kind of sad. You have a dream fulfilled, but that also means the dream is over.
BRAD GARRETT, ACTOR: Sure I'm going to be sad, but you know it's a good sad. You know what I mean? It's like when the psychotic girlfriend finally leaves one day when you're, you know, getting the paper.
BRYANT: He may have been sad, but it didn't stop him from keeping me in stitches.
GARRETT: Oh my god, look at that tugboat bringing in Ray's wallet. That's his residual ship.
BRYANT (on camera): The camera has loved you for years.
GARRETT: You know what I heard, the camera wants to see other people. You know how when you hear the camera loves you, this is what I heard, the camera just wants to be really good friends.
BRYANT: So, obviously, Brad, there's still...
GARRETT: Yes.
BRYANT: ... a lot of comedy left in you.
GARRETT: Well that's the medication, really. That's the Midol backing up on me. Well you know this is the way I keep from crying today.
BRYANT: I know that it's got to feel good knowing that you're going to New York...
GARRETT: Sure.
BRYANT: ... and you're still making something good.
GARRETT: Absolutely.
BRYANT: Not that you're dragging and they're going, you know, we're milking it now.
GARRETT: Yes, that was the point, you know. It's one thing to be on a hit, and we're all very fortunate to have had this job for nine years. But to be on something you're proud of and it's something that people respond to is really great and we're going to miss. I'm going to miss you a lot.
BRYANT (voice-over): And everybody will certainly miss Raymond.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Expect more entertainment news every night on "ShowBiz Tonight." That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Headline News.
The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.
Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, he's covered in an oil scandal and he's in for a grilling.
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