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American Morning

A Violent Start to the Week in Iraq; Closing Arguments Expected Today in Mississippi Murder Trial

Aired June 20, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. A violent start to the week in Iraq. A suicide bomber disguised as a police officer blows himself up, killing at least 12 people. More than 100 others are injured. We're live in Iraq with the very latest.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien. A young Boy Scout is missing, and this morning, a massive search resumes in the Utah wilderness. The 11-year-old disappeared in the same area where another scout went missing and was never found.

S. O'BRIEN: Closing arguments expected today in the Mississippi murder trial of an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman. We're live at the courthouse, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. And welcome everybody.

And this morning we welcome our new addition, Miles O'Brien, to the AMERICAN MORNING family. It's nice to have you.

M. O'BRIEN: It's great to be here on the all O'Brien newscast.

S. O'BRIEN: That's what we like to call it now. Thanks.

Our top story this morning, some new developments to tell you about in Iraq. Insurgents have attacked police stations in the northern Kurdish city of Erbil, and in Baghdad as well. At least two dozen police and security officers have been killed in the past two days.

Jennifer Eccleston live for us in Baghdad this morning.

Jennifer, good morning to you.

Give us a sense of the casualty count, if you can, from this morning's violence.

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, after a weekend punctuated by violence, today those attacks continue. Five police and security forces were killed early this morning when a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad police station. Now it appeared to be a coordinated attack. The insurgents fired on the police. And when security forces were called in for backup, a bomb detonated. We understand that 15 security forces were also injured in that blast. And a bomber wearing a police uniform slammed his car into a gathering of some 200 traffic police at their headquarters in the Kurdish city of Erbil in northern Iraq.

So far, Soledad, we know 12 people were killed and over 100 were wounded.

This, of course, follows yesterday deadly attack on a Baghdad restaurant popular with police. A suicide bomber blew himself up during the busy lunchtime period, killing 23 people, including seven policemen. It happened some 300 yards away from the heavily fortified Green Zone. Of course, that is the home to the U.S. military here in Baghdad, and also Iraq's transitional government. Well, the restaurant bombing was the second of two suicide attacks that killed more than two dozen people in Baghdad yesterday alone -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Jennifer Eccleston is reporting for us from Baghdad this morning.

Jennifer, thanks. We'll check in with you again -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is shuttling between Egypt and Saudi Arabia today with a challenge to Mideast leaders to step up moves toward Democratic reform. Rice already has made stops in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan. After leaving Saudi Arabia, rice concludes her weeklong tour with stops in Brussels and London.

Dana Bash live at the White House with more on the trip.

Dana, what is the bush administration's message today in Cairo?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

Well, the White House really believes that Egypt can be a test case. Its president, Hosni Mubarak, declared that there would be the first multiparty elections this fall, and the administration hopes that it can be an example to the rest of the Mideast on how a country can voluntarily open up to Democratic reforms. But there is a lot of skepticism on how truly open those elections will be, so the secretary of state today warned that the world will be watching.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECY. OF STATE: Throughout the Middle East, the fear of free choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty. It is time to abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard work of democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: When the president first gave his inaugural address, his second one, back in January, about promoting freedom and democracy around the world, many looked to see how the administration would treat allies like Egypt, places where opposition leaders don't have rights, and also where human rights are certainly a problem. And today the secretary of state said Egypt has unlocked the door, she said, for change, but now it is time to put its faith in its people -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: All right, Dana Bash at the White House. Thank you very much.

Secretary Rice also talked about the controversial nomination of John Bolton as U.N. ambassador. Rice suggested that if Congress doesn't confirm Bolton this week, the president might bypass the Senate and install him on a temporary basis. The Senate is expected to take up the Bolton nomination today. Democrats say they may try to delay another vote if the administration doesn't turn over intelligence information.

S. O'BRIEN: Today marks exactly three weeks since Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba. Over the weekend, police questioned the father of a Dutch teenager who's being held in the case, hoping that he might know something about the Alabama teenager.

Chris Lawrence is live in Palm Beach, Aruba for us this morning.

Chris, good morning to you. What's the latest in this investigation?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, police are definitely paying more attention to that one family, the Dutch teenager who hit it off with Natalee the night she disappeared, and his father, who was questioned by police on Saturday, and then brought back for more talks the next day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): No charges have been filed in the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway. Over the weekend, police in Aruba questioned this man, but only as a witness.

Paul Van Der Sloot rushed home after speaking with investigators for hours. Van Der Sloot is a judge on the island. His teenage son Joran is one of the suspects being held.

ALLY SANTOS, FRIEND OF JORAN VAN DER SLOOT: He's a very sweet boy.

LAWRENCE: Ally Santos practically grew up with Joran Van Der Sloot.

SANTOS: It's very weird that everyone seems to be thinking that he could have done something to Natalee or something, because he's usually very protective with girls.

LAWRENCE: Natalee's friends haven't seen her since she left the bar three weeks ago, with Van Der Sloot and two brothers, Satish and Deepak Kalpoe. A judge decided all three could be detained another week, even though no charges have been filed against them. Police picked up a fourth suspect on Friday, a local man who worked as a deejay on this party boat. Steven Croes boss told CNN, Croes knows one of the brothers from a local Internet cafe.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LAWRENCE: Now Croes will be in court here later this morning. According to Aruban law, prosecutors have to argue before a judge why he should be detained for up to another eight days without actually bringing formal charges against him -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence for us this morning. Chris, thanks for the update.

Well, the search for a missing boy scout resumes in just about two hours. The 11-year-old was last seen in the Uinta Mountains of Utah on Friday night. Brennan Hawkins was camping with a friend's family. More than 1,400 volunteers joined the Utah Search and Rescue Squad to look for the boy over the weekend. Last August, 12-year-old Garrett Bardsley was lost and never found about 15 miles from the same spot. Garrett's father is one of those who's searching for Hawkins. Brennan Hawkins' father is also asking for even more help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOBY HAWKINS, MISSING BOY'S FATHER: Our greatest plea at this time and the way that we can find my boy is for anybody and everybody to come up and help. He's a bashful boy, and Brennan isn't the kind of boy that would go up and confess that he's lost and grab somebody by the shirt sleeve and say, hey, I'm lost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: The latest on the search from the Wasatch County Sheriff is coming up in our next half hour -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The murder trial of Edgar Ray Killen could go to the jury today. Killen accused of murdering three civil rights workers in Mississippi 40 years ago.

Catherine Callaway live in Philadelphia, Mississippi. What are we going to expect today, Catherine?

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, as you said, the defense is expected to continue to present its case today. Also the judge this morning expected to rule on a motion that was actually filed by the prosecution that would allow the jury to consider the lesser charge of manslaughter against Killen. Killen currently charged with murder in the deaths of three civil rights workers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY (voice-over): The victims in this trial were memorialized yesterday at the church that was at the center of their 1964 murder. The three civil rights workers, Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman, were looking into the torching of Mt. Zion church when they were pulled from their car and shot to death.

Family members of Schwerner and Chaney lit a candle in their memory. Schwerner's wife has waited 40 years to see a murder charge in her husband's death. She called the church congregation the real heroes. RITA SCHWERNER BENDER, WIDOW OF MICHAEL SCHWERNER: Thank you for your efforts to bring this case to trial, but even more importantly, to me, thank you all as the people who have over all these years have struggled in a place that I know has been very difficult.

CALLAWAY: The prosecution rested its case on Saturday, after 3 1/2 days of testimony that ended with the mother of victim James Chaney weeping on the stand as she recalled the last day she saw her son alive.

FANNIE LEE CHANEY, JAMES CHANEY'S MOTHER: I said, I want to go with you. He said, no, you stay here.

CALLAWAY: The defense began by calling two of Killen's siblings to the stand. Killen was alert and taking notes while his brother and sister testified. The 80-year-old defendant missed half a day of court last week because of poor health, and has occasionally fallen asleep in his wheelchair during the trial. Defense attorneys plan to call two more witnesses today, but Killen is not expected to be one of them.

JAMES MCINTYRE, DEFENSE ATTY.: They haven't proved the case. I mean, if there's something in controversy, you know, we'd put him on the witness stand. But they don't have -- he was charged with murder. I mean, have they already proven any murder?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: Well, the defense is expected to call one alibi and one rebuttal witness today. And, Miles, we could actually see closing arguments in this case begin as early as today.

M. O'BRIEN: Catherine, this trial moved very quickly. Why?

CALLAWAY: One of the reasons, I think, is because a good deal of this trial was spent reading from testimony that was from Killen's '67 trial in which he was charged with violating the civil rights of the workers. And, of course, witnesses -- they're able to pick and choose what they hear from the witnesses from these transcripts, both the defense and the prosecution.

M. O'BRIEN: Catherine Callaway, Philadelphia, Mississippi, thanks.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Straight ahead this morning, part one of our special series on kids in sports, "Surviving the Game." Today some advice on how to handle the coach who wants to win at all costs.

M. O'BRIEN: And a heated exchange for Tom Cruise. Why the movie star was all wet in London. We'll tell you about the squirt gun microphone. It's pretty cool. I want one. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: Two more attacks on Iraqi police and security forces to tell you about this morning. At least 17 have been killed, more than 100 wounded. Insurgents bombed a restaurant Sunday. Seven of the 23 deaths were police officers. The U.S. is in the thick of two new anti-insurgent operations meanwhile, Operation Spear near the Syrian border began last week. And Operation Dagger, located 50 miles northwest of Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Brigadier General James "Spider" Marks is in Washington this morning.

Good morning, general. Good to have you with us.

BRIG. GEN, JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Miles, good morning. How are you?

M. O'BRIEN: Tell us about Operation Spear and Operation Dagger. What are they doing? How are they different?

MARKS: Well, I would tell you, the significant thing about Spear and Dagger is that you're getting some good intelligence that will allow the marine forces, the coalition forces, who are at large to go up after some very specific targets along the Syrian border. It's a big operation, connected in what I would call a campaign of operations that have taken place along the Syrian border.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, but intelligence is obviously very key here, and that's always been a problem for U.S. forces, isn't it?

MARKS: Well, I'll tell you, what has happened is -- yes, the short answer to your question is yes, Miles, it is. But what has happened over the course of time is the Iraqis have come forward, the training of the Iraqi forces and the sharing of intelligence really has improved the clarity so that you can execute operations very precisely and very aggressively against the foreign fighters coming across the border and really try, if not to seal up the Syrian border -- I think it's impossible to seal or to close down the border, but you can certainly try to improve the control along the border, and you can also go after some known locations where foreign fighters, as they come across the border, will get together, do their final checks before they move into either Ramadi, Fallujah, and move into the Sunni Triangle or into Baghdad itself.

M. O'BRIEN: Despite these renewed efforts, we're still seeing a tremendous amount of violence. Some in the administration are calling this the last throes of the insurgency. Would you call it that?

MARKS: Miles, I think you and I would probably have to take about an hour to sit down and talk about this in detail with some real experts to get into what I would think would be -- you want a succinct answer to the question. I don't think it's the final throes. I think what you see is that Abu Musab Al Zarqawi and his organization is tactically more dangerous than the larger problem, which is the former regime elements, which are facilitating the insurgency that you see right now. It's a combination of foreign fighters, Iraqi Islamic extremists, and then the FRE, the former regime elements that are facilitating the chaos that you see.

M. O'BRIEN: It sounds like a really very unholy alliance, and it's brought up this whole notion of what the U.S. should be doing now. Should it be sending more troops over there? Or is it now the time to start thinking about scaling back the U.S. operations, and perhaps in doing so, handing things over to the Iraqis, having them do this job?

MARKS: Yes, the metric by which -- the measurement by which the United States is going to make a decision on the application of force to increase the numbers or to scale back the numbers is the preparedness and readiness of the Iraqi forces. The Iraqi forces are growing. They're getting better. They've got an increase in numbers.

M. O'BRIEN: But they have a long way to go, don't they?

MARKS: Of course they do. And I think there would be no debate that there's a lot of work that has to take place for the Iraqi forces to step up and take a primary role, a leading role. That's a couple years down the road.

M. O'BRIEN: But the chicken-and-egg question is , will they ever take a leading role, as long as the U.S. is still there? How do you go about that process?

MARKS: Well, you empower them. You give them the leadership positions. You make them stand up and take the leading positions. And in many cases, you see that. But I think what's important, again, is when you see coalition forces and Iraqi forces working together. That's a move in the right direction. And you see that in both Operation Dagger and Spear. it's not significantly large, but I think one of the main contributors, again, is the Iraqis being able to develop intelligence so that you can drive these operations.

M. O'BRIEN: Spider Marks, thanks.

MARKS: Thanks, Miles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, back to that massive search for a missing boy scout in Utah. We're going to ask the sheriff there if this case could be linked to another scout's disappearance in the same area just a year ago. That's ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Ouch! Large cars and luxury vehicles earn top grades in crash tests down by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Seen here, all five cars tested are in top ratings. And four earned a best-pick rating. You see them on the screen there. Tested were the Chrysler 300, Buick La Crosse, Kia Amanti, Ford 500 and Toyota Avalon. The Amanti, the only one not named a best pick. In the luxury category, the Acura RL, Cadillac STS and Lexus GS all rated best picks. An institute spokesman said this is the first time all cars tested performed so well -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: That's some good news there.

Well, two major corporate schedules in the headlines today. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." Back from his vacation.

Nice to have you back.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: There are so many corporate scandals. Which two are you talking about?

SERWER: Well, these are the two biggies. We're talking about Adelphia and Tyco. Starts sentencing today in one of the biggest cases of corporate fraud in U.S. history. Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and his son, Tim, will appear before a judge today in New York City. And prosecutors are going to be asking for sentences of 215 years for each of them. That, of course, is a life sentence several times over. John Rigas is 80 years old. His son Tim is 49. Prosecutors reminding the judge that these two treated the company like a personal piggy bank, or private ATM, as they say, getting $50 million in cash, $1.6 billion in securities, repaying $250 million of loans. And the company filed for bankruptcy in June of '02.

Meanwhile, in the Kozlowski trial, you may have heard that on Friday Dennis Kozlowski, the former CEO of Tyco, and his lieutenant, Mark Schwartz, the chief financial officer, were found guilty. Jurors interviewed over the weekend said they believe these two simply lied on the stand when they were giving testimony, and said that it was a big mistake that they did take the stand.

Soledad, you may remember in the first trial that ended in mistrial, they declined to take the stand, and jurors saying that was a big mistake. These two individuals face 30 years each, and their sentencing looks to be coming on the early part of August. Obviously, we're well into the punishment phase of this wave of corporate scandals that we saw.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it's interesting to finally have some closure on both of those big cases.

SERWER: And those are huge sentences they're looking at.

S. O'BRIEN: Huge amounts of money we're talking about, too.

SERWER: That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: Andy, thanks.

SERWER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: There is much more AMERICAN MORNING still to come.

Ahead on "90-Second Pop," Tom Cruise on cloud nine after his engagement to Katie Holmes, but a phony reporter brought him back to earth.

Plus the Jackson family throws a party for fans in honor of Michael's acquittal. So how did juror number 10 get into the bash. That's later on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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