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American Morning
U.S. Troops Celebrating July 4th in Iraq; Kidnapped Idaho Children; Aruba Investigation
Aired July 04, 2005 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Idaho, one child missing, one child found. A six-week-old case of murder and kidnapping still far from solved.
NASA overjoyed this morning after hitting a bullet with a bullet. The Deep Impact comet smasher a smashing success.
And the fourth. "Hoo-wa," as they say. A big cheer for the land of the free. U.S. troops celebrating the fourth in Iraq. We're live for the festivities from Baghdad to Washington on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad today. Happy Fourth of July.
Also ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, an important hearing coming up soon in Aruba. A judge deciding whether the three young men being held in the Natalee Holloway case will go free.
O'BRIEN: We'll go live to Aruba to talk about that hearing. It's a pivotal moment in this case. And we'll talk about the latest strategy from prosecutors as they try to gather evidence in this case.
But first, let's check the headlines. Kelly Wallace here with that.
Hey, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and happy Fourth of July to you. And good morning, everyone. Here are some of those stories "Now in the News."
NASA scientists say it could take months to analyze all the data they've gathered from a celestial collision. That Deep Impact spacecraft successfully collided with a comet early this morning. That clash sent scientists some 83 million miles away into applause.
They say seeing inside the comet could help unlock the mystery of how the solar system was formed. More on this coming up here in this hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
A very tough story to tell you about. Two New York teenagers are accused of killing a boy for his iPod portable music player. Police say 15-year-old Christopher Rose was attacked by a group of men Saturday night. When he refused to hand over his iPod, the two allegedly stabbed him to death. The teens face charges of murder, robbery and weapons possession.
Two major wildfires in southwestern Utah are expected to be contained today. Firefighters have strengthened the fire lines around a 12,000-acre blaze north of St. George and around an 11,000-acre fire, another part of the state, at the Diamond Complex. More firefighters backed by fire engines are on alert in case any new fires start.
And President Bush is marking the Fourth of July with a speech at the University of West Virginia. The president left Andrews Air Force Base a short while ago. He is expected to call on Americans to show support for the troops on this Fourth of July. Tomorrow the president heads to Copenhagen in preparation for the G8 summit in Scotland on Wednesday.
A little factoid for you. This is the president's third visit to West Virginia in four years for the Fourth of July.
O'BRIEN: For some Fourth of July connection there.
WALLACE: It is. And it was funny. I was at the White House two years ago, and when he went that day, he landed in this woman's yard. And it was just this great story. This elderly woman looks out the window and there's Marine One.
O'BRIEN: Helicopter out there. Vern, Vern, there's a chopper out there!
WALLACE: Kind of like that. It was great.
COSTELLO: It was really cool for her.
O'BRIEN: Yes. That's pretty neat.
All right. In about five minutes before the hour, we'll take that live. That's coming up in just a little bit.
All right. Americans everywhere celebrating the Fourth of July today. CNN is around the world covering the festivities for you.
Aneesh Raman is on a military base in Baghdad; Tom Foreman is at the Mall in Washington, where they're already lining up to see the fireworks; and Allan Chernoff is at the annual hot dog eating contest in Coney Island. Never let it be said we don't give the full range of news story for you.
Let's begin with the serious stuff, the brave troops in Baghdad.
Aneesh, what's the mood there today?
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning.
High morale here. It's a holiday weekend, of course, away from home for the troops here in Iraq.
We're at a forward operating base in eastern Baghdad with members of the 3rd I, Second Brigade. Their home is Fort Stewart, Georgia. Today, though, a day off from their daily duties.
It is hot, it is windy, there are sandstorms. But behind me is the end of a day-long basketball tournament. The championship game going on right now.
Joining me, though, Sergeant Mark Eggleston and Specialist Daniel Flynn.
Sergeant Eggleston, we'll start with you. These have got to be tough days, the holidays, to be here. What do you think about when you are here, away from home, on days like Independence Day?
SERGEANT MARK EGGLESTON, 3RD ID, SECOND BRIGADE: I think about a lot of things. I mean, it's hard being away from family and everything, but we do have a lot of technology now that gets us able to contact our family and get to share more moments. But yes, I mean, it is hard.
RAMAN: And Specialist Flynn, you guys are out here on your first tour. You've seen a lot of images obviously of Iraq before you came. What do you -- how do you describe the situation on the ground? What has been different from what you thought it would be?
SPEC. DANIEL FLYNN, 3RD ID, SECOND BRIGADE: I got here, I thought it would be really rough. I mean, we've done -- made a lot of changes, a lot of good progress. We're doing a lot of good things for this country, pretty much. Everything's going great.
RAMAN: All right. Anyone you'd like to say hi to back home?
FLYNN: I'd like to say hi, mom, my wife, two little girls. Everybody else watching if you're watching, how you all doing?
EGGLESTON: Yes, I'd like to say hi to my family down in Florida and New York. I'd like to say hi to my wife. I love you very much and I miss you. I can't wait to see you again.
RAMAN: Well, we thank you both for your time and for the service you're doing out here.
So, Miles, a day off for the troops. The reality outside these walls very stark after a weekend of violence here in the capital city. But this a day to celebrate the July 4th holiday. A dinner planned, steak and lobster and some fireworks. Not real ones. They'll be put up on a projector screen for these guys -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Probably a good idea there in Baghdad. And boy, you know, no one ever says, "Hi dad," do they? Aneesh Raman, thank you very much.
Tom Foreman is live on the National Mall in Washington.
Tom, why doesn't anybody ever say "Hi, dad?"
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't know, Miles. Dads don't get any respect. One day a year, that's it.
O'BRIEN: We get no respect, yes. Yes.
FOREMAN: That's the whole thing.
Look, this is the place you want to be today, Miles. This is a fabulous, fabulous place here. And I know there will be many, many tributes to the service people of this country on the Mall here today.
As about a half-million people gather here, they're going to be looking at that stage later on, where last night Gloria Estefan was practicing for her big show tonight, along with the O'Jays. And they're also going to have the Beach Boys here.
You can see some of the practice last night. An amazing thing going on here.
Lots and lots of people showing up. As you would expect in Washington, with an event like this lots and lots of security as well. They're going to have checkpoints all along here, as they have. People have grown used to that idea.
Also, trying something really unique tonight. When it's all over, after the fireworks, which are about 12 hours away -- and you can believe it, there are actually people down here beginning to get their spots -- when it's all over they're going to try to evacuate the entire area, a half-million people, in an hour.
They've got special roads set up around here they're going to send people out on. It's a practice for the security people here to see if they can evacuate the capital in the event of an emergency. So they'll have a practical application, all of this, Miles.
But it's going to be a big evening. The weather absolutely could not be better. So come on up today. Bring cousin, George Foreman. I saw him a few minutes ago. It's always nice to have him with the crowd.
O'BRIEN: I noticed the resemblance.
FOREMAN: We get along. We meet at the reunion.
O'BRIEN: You know, my concern is that this sort of practice thing might concern some people, if they're kind of rushing them out of there. Are they going to make everybody aware of what's going on?
FOREMAN: Well, it's supposed to be -- one of these things, it's almost invisible, in that they've got certain roads they're going to funnel everybody toward. They've timed out the lights so they will last longer, and basically it's supposed to funnel everybody out.
In reality, it's supposed to make it a lot easier for all of us. I plan to be down here with my family. We were talking about it last night.
In theory, you're supposed to be able to get in your car, if you took a car. They're encouraging people to use mass transit wherever they can.
You're supposed to be able to get in, be funneled towards these exit routes which will all lead out like spokes from a wheel down here, and get you as far away from the capital and a big crush as quickly as possible. They say after the fireworks are done, you should be able to totally clear of this area within an hour. If you've been to a big concert, big sporting event, you know that's not bad.
O'BRIEN: Wow. So they're not going to say, "This is a drill. Run for your lives?" that would be a bad idea. That would be a bad idea.
FOREMAN: Oh, goodness, no. Hopefully this will be a very pleasant evening and no one will even see it. They'll just enjoy a wonderful time.
O'BRIEN: All right, Tom. Enjoy the fireworks there.
FOREMAN: We will.
O'BRIEN: In a few moments, we'll check in with Allan Chernoff at the hot dog eating contest on Coney Island. We'll see how many he's tried there. They're up to, what, 100 hot dogs at least -- Carol.
COSTELLO: The man charged with kidnapping an 8-year-old girl in Idaho will be in court tomorrow. Shasta Groene was found over the weekend, but authorities believe her brother, 9-year-old Dylan, is most likely dead. The brother and sister have been missing since a triple murder at the home near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Rusty Dornin is live in Coeur d'Alene right now.
Rusty, what's the latest in the investigation?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we understand that investigators are fired up right now because they've gotten some information through the little girl and also from the evidence in the car that the suspect was driving. They've been able to narrow their focus for searching for signs of Dylan, and perhaps where the three stayed during the three weeks. They say it's either eastern Washington, northern Idaho or western Montana.
Meantime, the last six weeks has been a roller coaster, not only for the family, but for investigators.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN (voice-over): May 16: investigators find Brenda Groene, her 13-year-old son Slade and her boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, bludgeoned to death in a rural home outside Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Her young children, Shasta, 8, and Dylan, 9, missing. STEVEN GROENE, FATHER: Please, please release my children safely.
DORNIN: A massive search is launched. Six weeks, 2,000 tips, no credible leads. Then, 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, a man walks in to the local Denny's with a young girl. The girl looks very familiar to a customer and to other employees.
The manager called police.
CALLER: I've got a little girl here with a tall gentleman, and she looks so much like that Shasta.
DORNIN: Police questioned Joseph Duncan III, a federal fugitive and convicted sex offender. They arrest him with kidnapping charges. Officers ask waitress Amber Dean to stay with the young girl while they question Duncan.
AMBER DEAHN, WAITRESS: I asked her what her name was and she said, "Shasta Groene" and just started crying. And I picked her up and held her. Just wanted to hold her, just like she was my own daughter.
DORNIN: Joy, tempered by fears, of Dylan's fate.
CAPT. BEN WOLFINGER, KOOTENAI COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Well, unfortunately, we can't get into the specifics of what the investigators know at this point. But all indications are that Dylan is deceased.
DORNIN: Across town, father Steven Groene, seen here with the blond ponytail, is reunited at the hospital with his daughter. A community reaches out. Friends and total strangers bring gifts of comfort for the youngster.
KALE BASSLER, RESIDENT: I can't even imagine what she's been through, but if I can bring anything that would give her a little smile.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: Her father did tell reporters he wasn't sure when the little girl was going to get out of the hospital. Meantime, police did search the suspect's home in North Dakota looking for further evidence, and he will make his first court appearance here in Coeur d'Alene tomorrow, via closed-circuit television -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rusty Dornin live in Idaho this morning.
O'BRIEN: About an hour from now, three suspects held in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway will be back in court. An Aruban judge must decide whether to let them go, or prosecutors can continue to hold them for 60 more days.
Chris Lawrence, live in Palm Beach, Aruba.
Chris, obviously a pivotal day. What sort of evidence do they need to hold these three suspects for another 60 days?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the exact amount of evidence we don't know. These are closed proceedings where nobody else is allowed in.
All we know, it is a very, very important day for the prosecutors. Probably the most important day, because, as you said, at the end of the day, there's no guarantee these suspects will even still be in custody.
We've learned they have left the prison, they're on their way to the courthouse. And within the next hour or so the judge will start to hear the evidence against them, and eventually he'll have to decide whether to keep them in custody or let them go.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Exactly five weeks after Natalee Holloway went missing, investigators watched three suspects reconstruct what happened the night she disappeared.
JOSSY MONSOUR, PUBLISHER, "DIALO" NEWSPAPER: They never took those three kids together to that beach. They took them apart in different cars.
LAWRENCE: Local newspaper publisher Jossy Monsour says police took the suspects to several spots on the island, including the lighthouse they say they drove by.
Deepak and Satish Kalpoe now say on May 30 they dropped off Natalee and Joran Van Der Sloot down the shore from her hotel. Van Der Sloot says at some point she wanted to stay, he wanted to go. He says he left Natalee on the beach and went home.
MONSOUR: They wanted to know for sure that Joran would take them exactly to the places that he said he took Natalee to that night.
LAWRENCE: On Monday, prosecutors will have to prove why the suspects should stay in custody for up to two more months.
GEORGE "JUG" TWITTY, NATALEE'S STEPFATHER: I hope and pray they don't let them go.
LAWRENCE: Natalee's stepfather says the family has more information than they have said publicly about what happened between Natalee and the three young men. Jug Twitty says they'll go public if the suspects go free.
TWITTY: Even though there's no physical evidence, there is a lot that we have to tell. And if they do, we'll have to tell it. And it's pretty sickening.
LAWRENCE: Elected officials from Natalee's home state of Alabama have been applying pressure on the Aruban government. They're asking authorities to let the FBI become full partners in the investigation. But Aruban officials say federal agents have been working with them all along.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Now, Aruba's government has asked Holland to send two fighter jets to help with the search. They've been rigged with infrared sensors and sonar equipment, and we're told that the pilots and the planes should be here by Wednesday -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence in Aruba. Thank you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Mother Nature providing some fireworks of her own in certain parts of the country. So let's get right to the forecast center and Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Still to come, rescuers still searching for missing Americans. Special Ops team members missing in the mountains of Afghanistan. We'll also tell you about an air strike in that vicinity. A live update is next.
COSTELLO: And then, a heavenly hit. NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft slams into a comet on purpose. What can scientists learn about the solar system? We'll find out.
O'BRIEN: And can Japan's champ hold on to his title for the fifth time at Coney Island? We're live at Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: In Afghanistan, U.S. troops launch an air strike against what's described as a terrorist operating base. The military says the strike on Friday killed an unknown number of terrorists and some civilians and women and children.
Meanwhile, a member of a U.S. Special Operations team has been rescued in Afghanistan. All this happening in the same vicinity, but an undisclosed number of team members still missing in that region.
The team has been missing since Tuesday. That was the same day a U.S. helicopter crashed killing all 16 service members aboard.
CNN military analyst retired Brigadier General David Grange joining us from Madison, Wisconsin.
General Grange, good to have you with us. Let's talk about this air strike, precision-guided weaponry, presumably knowing that there might be a team of Special Operations, a recon team somewhere back there. When this launch occurred they knew where this team was not, correct?
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, they have a general idea I'm sure, Miles. And, of course, there's techniques that the friendlies have to identify where they're located. O'BRIEN: All right. And we don't want to go into that, but the point is -- the point is, in this case, they can launch an attack like that, a precision-guided attack, with some surety that they're not going to strike their own people, right?
GRANGE: That's correct.
O'BRIEN: All right. Tell us about recon and how recon works, and what the procedures are, whatever you want to call it, the way they get themselves out of trouble like this when they're separated from a unit and unable to get back.
GRANGE: Sure. First of all, you know, there's a specially selected and very well-trained reconnaissance members. So they do go through extensive training on how to move in that type of terrain, how to survive.
Stealth is key, how they communicate. Usually long distances. They have some very good equipment. And so they're trained in that, and they're also trained, if they have an emergency situation, which they're in right now, on how to evade and be picked up by friendlies. And so a lot of training goes into that.
O'BRIEN: Escape and evade. There's all kinds of rules about how to do that. Obviously it is very crucial that one of them has been rescued, and he obviously has a tremendous amount of information to share.
Are you relatively optimistic they'll be able to find the remainder of the group? And roughly, how many do you think it would be?
GRANGE: Well, you know, that's right. Picking up the one individual helps immensely on finding the rest. But again, they -- the procedures are such that the people looking for them pretty well know what they're looking for, what they can -- where they need to go to pick up the other -- the other members of the team.
Remember, this is a team that is very close to each other because of the conditions they have to go through to survive. And so picking up the one individual gives them some very interesting information. And you can be assured that by ground and by air, tons of effort is in place to find these guys.
O'BRIEN: Geography and weather are definitely against these teams as they try to search for this recon unit.
GRANGE: Against the rescue force, but not against the evaders. The evaders moving around in uncomfortable conditions actually helps them to survive. But for the rescue force it's tougher, yes.
O'BRIEN: Can we presume they're being -- is it hot pursuit, potentially, and is that why they haven't made contact?
GRANGE: Well, it could be. But again, the evaders do not want to get in contact. The evaders want to avoid enemy contact, obviously, as best they can. And so I'm not sure it would really be a hot pursuit. But these are the kind of people that understand what would happen if they were captured. They don't want to be captured, and they'll -- and they may even ge down to avoid that.
O'BRIEN: When you say go down, is it possible...
GRANGE: Which is exactly what I would do.
O'BRIEN: ... is it possible they might dig a hole and just stay in it for a while?
GRANGE: No. When I say -- when I say go down, go down in a fight.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I see what you're saying. All right.
General David Grange, we'll be watching this closely. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time.
GRANGE: My pleasure.
O'BRIEN: Joining us tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, former Air Force pilot Scott O'Grady, who you'll recall was shot down over Bosnia and survived six days before being rescued. Escape and evade. He did it all. O'Grady will tell us how these daring search and rescue missions are accomplished from that perspective -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Miles, some of us may pig out this Fourth of July, but not like this. Coming up, the Super Bowl of eating contests. We're live on Coney Island for the Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is a July 4th tradition here in New York, and it is the Super Bowl of competitive eating. We're talking about Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest.
CNN's Allan Chernoff is live on Coney Island with a preview of today's convenient.
And I don't even know where to begin, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Breakfast, anyone? Carol, how many do you think you can eat?
COSTELLO: Maybe not even one this early in the morning.
CHERNOFF: Well, I could probably eat about four at one sitting. And there's no question in my mind that if the two of us started eating hot dogs now all the way to dinner time, there's no way we could possibly eat as many hot dogs as the champ is going to eat in only 12 minutes. Last year he did 53.5 hot dogs and buns in that time span. Now, yes, this has become a big Coney Island American Fourth of July tradition. But frankly, there's little chance the Americans are going to bring home the title this year. The Japanese have been eating our lunch, and that's all because of the greatest competitive eater in the history of the sport, the great Kobayashi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF(voice-over): He's an eating machine. Takahru Kobayashi, four-time winner of the annual Coney Island hot dog contest, last year he set a new world record, eating 53.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes. At a weigh-in ceremony, the 150 pound Kobayashi showed off his six-pack abs, claiming he's in shape to set a new record.
TAKAHRU KOBAYASHI, EATING CHAMPION (through translator): To do these kinds of events you have to train hard and train long. And if you do gain the weight, you have to lose it all, you know, to be at your top or peak performance.
CHERNOFF: Not only does he hold the mustard yellow international belt, but the pride of Japan also is a world record holder in eating rice balls and cow brains. The leading contender to dethrone him this year is American Sonya Thomas. Weighing in at 99 pounds, she easily won the pre-contest stare-down, focusing on velocity.
SONYA THOMAS, EATING CONTEST COMPETITOR: I can keep up my speed until 12 minutes. Then I have -- really, I have a good chance.
CHERNOFF: Thomas has never been sick after an eating contest, except for the time she lost a cheesecake championship. Those who register for this competition in the heart of Brooklyn do so at their own risk.
Top competitor Rich Le Fevre says to win you need focus, determination and a delicate balance between water and food.
RICH LE FEVRE, EATING CONTEST COMPETITOR: I mean, it's mental. You have to be just as tough mentally as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.
CHERNOFF: A champion also needs capacity to bring home the mustard yellow belt. It's not about being big, but about training your digestive system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the end of the day, if you don't have that 20-plus pounds of capacity, you can't eat 53 hot dogs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: Now, Kobayashi has put on about 10 pounds since last year's competition. So eating analysts are wondering if that might possibly slow him down. But the champ says he's been training and he intends to set at new world record this afternoon -- Carol.
COSTELLO: These are the questions that try men's souls. Hey, we heard one of the secrets is to soak the hot dog in water first and then eat it. And then maybe you don't have to chew it as much.
CHERNOFF: Absolutely, Carol. That's part of the strategy, because, notice, the bun itself is relatively dry. It doesn't go down that quickly. You have to use water. That's part of the strategy, and we'll be getting into the eating tactics later on today.
COSTELLO: I just can't wait. Allan Chernoff, thank you.
O'BRIEN: That Chernoff, he's a hot dog all right. That's -- that's quite a story. What an assignment. He gets the good ones.
NASA officials celebrating news that one of their spacecraft crashed. But that's good news, folks. They wanted this to happen. We'll have more on this celestial head-on collision and why it's so important to outer space research. We'll talk to an expert from the Space Science Institute up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Today is one of those landmark days for NASA. For the first time ever, the space agency has sent a spacecraft to the surface of a comet.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I mean you could say it landed on the comet, but I guess that would be a euphemism. It was pounded in.
COSTELLO: It was (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
O'BRIEN: Augured in. It was a violent thing. And that's what they wanted. They wanted to kick up a little dust, sort of peer through the dust and get an idea of what the comet Tempel 1 is made of, and, thus, what we all are kind of made of, because these are the very origins of us in these comets.
COSTELLO: So it will tell us how the solar system began, perhaps even life.
O'BRIEN: This is big stuff.
COSTELLO: It's freaky.
O'BRIEN: This is very big stuff.
COSTELLO: It is.
O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.
COSTELLO: Time to the get to the headlines, right now, though, with Kelly Wallace -- good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
I'm glad you can explain it all to us, right? O'BRIEN: That's what I'm here for.
WALLACE: Exactly.
Good morning, Carol.
And good morning, everyone.
Here are some of those stories now in the news.
A convicted sex offender accused of kidnapping 8-year-old Shasta Groene of Idaho is set to appear in court tomorrow. The little girl is recovering in a hospital this morning after a six week ordeal. Shasta and her 9-year-old brother Dylan disappeared May 16 after a triple murder at their mother's home. Authorities have stepped up the search for the little boy, but, sadly, they fear the worst.
In Aruba, three suspects being held in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway are in court at this hour. The judge will decide whether the young men will stay behind bars for another 60 days. Investigators took the suspects to a beach Sunday to check out their stories about the night Holloway was last seen. No formal charges have been filed.
Meanwhile, officials are sending three F-16 warplanes to help search for the Alabama teen, who's been missing since the end of May.
In Iraq, the search continues for the Egyptian ambassador, abducted over the weekend. The official was to be the first envoy from an Arab country in postwar Iraq. Meantime, in other incidents inside Iraq, at least three people have been killed and four others wounded in morning attacks in Baghdad, the bombings coming less than three hours of each other.
And officials in Japan are looking into some strange activity out of the Pacific Ocean. A column of steam more than 3,000 feet high was seen rising this weekend near a remote island off southern Japan. The Coast Guard warning ships to stay away. They believe it could be an underwater volcano erupting, but will continue monitoring it.
I don't know much about this.
COSTELLO: Strange.
WALLACE: I know. But they say that the last time they have seen such activity, in the early 1900s, a small island was formed. So they think the same thing could happen here.
COSTELLO: That is cool.
WALLACE: I know.
O'BRIEN: And was, in the 1880s, Cracatoa erupted and that island went away and that caused a tsunami.
So is there some concern about that or? WALLACE: I don't know.
O'BRIEN: You don't know.
All right.
I'm sorry.
WALLACE: No.
O'BRIEN: I'm sorry I brought that up. I just...
WALLACE: No, no, you're just so much smarter than all of us.
O'BRIEN: I'm not trying to be.
COSTELLO: Oh. Don't tell him that.
WALLACE: That's a compliment.
O'BRIEN: Shucks, thanks. Thanks.
WALLACE: I'm told by Diano (ph), one of our colleagues, there was no tsunami warning.
O'BRIEN: No tsunami warning.
WALLACE: That's it.
O'BRIEN: That's what I was after.
WALLACE: Very important.
O'BRIEN: OK.
WALLACE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: It's important.
Thank you.
WALLACE: But it's...
O'BRIEN: When you hear volcanoes, you might think that.
WALLACE: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: OK, thanks.
WALLACE: Sure.
O'BRIEN: OK.
COSTELLO: That's done.
President Bush is celebrating this Independence Day in West Virginia. In about 20 minutes he's speaking at a celebration on the campus of West Virginia University.
Bob Franken live at the White House -- Bob, what can we expect from the president's speech today?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very patriotic on this most patriotic of the U.S. holidays, Carol.
He's gone to West Virginia the last three out of four Independence Day holidays. Why West Virginia? All Scott McClellan, his press secretary, would say is it's nice in the state. It is, after all, almost heaven.
As far as the speech is concerned, it's going to be patriotic, as I mentioned. It's probably going to be a chance for him to repeat a request of the American people that they fly the flag on this July 4 and that perhaps go even further and call families of those who have loved ones in Iraq to give a show of support to those fighting around the world for the U.S.
It's part of a busy week and it's a week where what he had hoped would be the principal event might be overshadowed by other events. Of course, he leaves tomorrow. He's going to Europe. He's going to participate in the G8 conference over there. President always like to be seen on the international stage.
But here back in the United States, perhaps the emphasis is going to be more on the major domestic matter, and that is the appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice, with the resignation of Sandra Day O'Connor. That has pretty much dominated the news and is going to dominate a lot of the president's time.
He's promised after he gets back fairly soon he's going to nominate a replacement and then the real battle begins in Washington -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Bob Franken live at the White House this morning.
O'BRIEN: Researchers at NASA are marveling at the first images from inside the comet Tempel 1. NASA's Deep Impact probe successfully collided with this comet early this morning. The spectacular crash, on purpose, unleashed a spray of below surface material formed billions and billions of years ago, with all due respect to the late Carl Sagan there. And this goes back to the very creation of the solar system.
Carolyn Porco is a scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado. She's on the Cassini imaging team, too -- and so she was up all night, naturally, watching her colleagues as they had this success.
Carolyn, it must have been a lot of fun.
CAROLYN PORCO, SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE: Oh, it was great fun, a great way to celebrate the 4th of July and really a big step forward in the study of comets and the origin of the solar system. O'BRIEN: First of all, the engineering navigation challenge. To have -- I mean that's like a bullet hitting a bullet and it's after a journey of more than 280 million miles.
That is really an accomplishment in and of itself, isn't it?
PORCO: Yes, that was the big challenge here is getting a device to impact something that's speeding along and something that's also rotating, an irregular shaped body. It doesn't have any gravity of its own. And they just did it perfectly. It's -- it was really an unqualified success. And I know there was a lot of angst about this, but it all turned out great.
O'BRIEN: Yes, there was a little bit of angst. I saw this morning on the wires a woman out of Moscow, an astrologer, took legal action against NASA, seeking compensation for doing this. She felt it would upset her horoscope. But there were -- there were more serious concerns...
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: There were more serious concerns that, you know, you could perturb its orbit, knock it out of its orbit, and perhaps create a risk. I assume that is not the case.
PORCO: No, no, this is -- there's very little energy. I mean it's big energy as far as we're concerned, but very little energy is involved in this. I've heard it said it's like a net hitting a, you know, a Mack truck. I mean there's no danger in that.
But understand that maybe in the future we might want to learn how to divert bodies like this if they were on a collision course for the Earth. So it's like practicing. We're practicing for the future here in more ways than one.
O'BRIEN: For "Deep Impact," the movie, maybe, in case that should occur.
So there are two things they were looking for. First of all, what you're seeing right there is, you know, the mist or whatever you want to call it, the spray, the dust coming off of that, the light shining through it. All kinds of telescopes, almost every telescope that could see it pointed in that direction.
What are they -- what can they learn from just looking at the dust cloud there?
PORCO: Well, first of all, they can tell right away that this was a very big -- had a very big effort and it wasn't clear whether it was going to be a subtle thing or a very big thing. So it's obviously very clear, unambiguous. I would suspect that what they found is it created a very big crater. The material that came off it can be analyzed with spectrometers, which break up the light, and you can see the chemical signature of the material.
So they're going to be looking to see what kind of material is deep down in a comet, not the stuff on the surface that's been baked for billions of years.
O'BRIEN: All right, and there's -- here's the question that everybody always asks me, you know, why do we spend all this money, $333 million, to bash into a comet? Is it worth it?
PORCO: Well, let me say, $330 million or whatever it is, is, what? That's one or two opening weekends for a blockbuster movie. So put in that context, it's not a lot of money at all for learning, Miles, where you and I came from, from where the oceans of the Earth came from and for how we all got here and how it all got started.
So, I think it's well worth it.
O'BRIEN: Yes. And, of course, we don't know how much that suit is going to cost NASA from that woman in Moscow if she prevails in any way.
PORCO: Well, they have their hands full, don't they?
O'BRIEN: Yes, they do.
Carolyn Porco, thanks for sharing the excitement of this mission from us.
She joins us from Boulder this morning.
Appreciate it.
PORCO: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: All right -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, let's head now to the Forecast Center to talk to Chad so he can look into his crystal ball.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'll do my best, Carol.
COSTELLO: OK.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Still to come, how successful was this weekend's Live 8 concert? We'll take a look.
O'BRIEN: And he's a man and now a mayor with a mission. How the leader of Los Angeles beat the odds against him.
Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Watch the fireworks.
QUESTION: What do you like about the fireworks?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: They're colorful, how they shoot up in the air, then they start coming down. And it looks like they're coming right toward you, but they're really not. But it shoots up and like it explodes and everything starts coming out and stuff and like explodes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We'll have to wait until Wednesday to find out if the leaders of the G8 were moved by Live 8. One hundred artists performed on Saturday, urging the world's greatest economic powers to relieve poverty in Africa. The Live 8 concert was held in 10 cities around the world at the same time.
Alina Cho reports from the American venue, Philadelphia.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
(AUDIO CLIP FROM LIVE 8 CONCERT)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was billed "the greatest concert ever," a lineup that included Madonna...
(AUDIO CLIP FROM LIVE 8 CONCERT)
CHO: ... Destiny's Child and Stevie Wonder, a music extravaganza in nine cities around the world, seen and heard by billions worldwide.
ROB THOMAS, LIVE 8 PERFORMER: The difference is, you know, we have the Internet now. You can -- people all over the world can sit and watch these things simultaneously.
CHO: Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 performed solo in Philadelphia.
THOMAS: And if you start showing people, you know, let me show you Alicia Keyes and then let me show you how we can do this. And then let me show you Bono. And then let me show you our plan and, you know, they're going to get the message whether they want it or not.
CHO: The event is called Live 8 to get the attention of G8 leaders. They'll be meeting this week to talk about whether to forgive debt and increase foreign aid to Africa. The goal of Live 8 is to pressure these leaders to do everything they can to eliminate poverty on the world's poorest continent. It is reminiscent of Live Aid.
(AUDIO CLIP FROM LIVE AID CONCERT)
CHO: That concert, 20 years ago, raised more than $100 million for the same cause. But at Live 8, the concerts were free. Organizers say this time it was not about raising money, but raising awareness.
KEITH URBAN, LIVE 8 PERFORMER: Being on this show, it's kind of bittersweet. It's fantastic that I get to be a part of this, but it's sort of sad that it has to be happening again 20 years later. CHO: Those who came to listen to the music say the message wasn't lost.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the most powerful message you can send through music. It's the international language. You can't beat it.
(AUDIO CLIP FROM LIVE 8 CONCERT)
CHO (on camera): Organizers are now urging concertgoers around the world to make the programming to Edinburgh, Scotland. On Wednesday, there will be a tenth and final Live 8 concert there, just as G8 leaders get ready to open their summit.
Alina Cho, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: President Bush and the leaders of Britain, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada will spend three days in Edinburgh, Scotland. They'll talk about solutions for global issues, of course, including African poverty.
O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up next -- Daryn, what are you working on this morning?
You didn't get the day off. Sorry about that. But you...
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: No.
O'BRIEN: Oh, very 4th of July looking there with a red dress. Looking good.
KAGAN: Thank you.
Thank you.
I laid my school clothes out the night before to get ready.
Happy birthday, fellow Americans.
It is the 4th of July. A lot of people -- not Miles, Carol and myself -- are on vacation today. So we are already helping you plan your next one.
We are going to look at some of the hidden treasures at America's best vacation spots.
Plus, the country is getting thousands of new citizens at this very hour. Take a look at a live picture. We're going to talk to one woman. She has an amazing story. She's from China and today her dream comes true -- she becomes an American citizen.
And then we're also comparing the housing market -- what will $200,000 get you? Well, according to Gerri Willis, it all depends on where you spend it -- Miles, you know, as a new resident of New York City, that gets you like, what, a hotel room for a night? O'BRIEN: That's about right. No room service included in that deal.
KAGAN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's about right.
KAGAN: You make your own bed for a $200,000 hotel room in New York City.
O'BRIEN: Yes. My head is still spinning over this whole thing.
All right, thank you very much, Daryn.
KAGAN: OK.
O'BRIEN: We'll be watching.
Still ahead, L.A.'s new mayor now on the job. He's the city's first Latino mayor in over a decade. A look at how he made it to city hall next on AMERICAN MORNING.
And President Bush marking the 4th of July with a speech at the University of West Virginia. Live pictures of that setting right now. We will take you there live for the president's comments, coming up soon.
We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Do you know who George Washington was?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes, our first president.
QUESTION: Do you know about the bald eagle?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Oh, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
QUESTION: What can you tell me about...
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Benjamin Franklin wanted it to be the turkey because the turkey was smarter than...
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: No, actually, I think Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be our state bird because I guess he was sensitive about the bald thing.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Uncle Sam.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: He looks kind of like Abraham Lincoln, but with a gray beard.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: The Liberty Bell. QUESTION: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Because I like to ring bells.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: They're presenting the colors right now at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown, West Virginia. The president of the United States is expected to speak very soon. This isn't the first time that President Bush has visited Morgantown, but he's going to be there today to say happy birthday to America. And, of course, he'll probably have a special message for the troops.
When he begins speaking, we'll get right to it.
On to more political news.
He is making history in Los Angeles. Antonio Villaraigosa, the city's new mayor, is the first Latino to hold the position in more than a century. It is a tough job, for sure.
But as CNN's Peter Viles tells us, the mayor is a man with a mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He grew up in a broken home in East L.A., abandoned by his father, raised by a single mother. And yet, Antonio Villaraigosa has made himself one of L.A.'s rising stars. MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: What a great country this is and what a great city this is.
VILES: After losing his bid for mayor four years ago to Jim Hahn, Villaraigosa regrouped, came back and won city hall in a near landslide.
BOB HERTZBERG, VILLARAIGOSA TRANSITION TEAM: He's tenacious. He's one of the most tenacious guys. I've been in situations where people reject him and he keeps pushing and he keeps pushing and he keeps pushing.
VILES: He campaigned with passion and what L.A. really loves, a story, in his case, the story of a single mother's drive to give her children a better life.
VILLARAIGOSA: But my mother's story is a classic L.A. story, not the stuff of scripts or movie fantasy, a true story, a story of working hard, of loving your kids, of having a clear picture of a better future in your mind's eye.
VILES: On inauguration day, we saw a glimpse of Villaraigosa's style when the crowd, his fans, booed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
VILLARAIGOSA: Governor Schwarzenegger, representatives of the Congress and the California legislature...
(BOOS FROM CROWD)
VILLARAIGOSA: Excuse me.
Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today.
VILES: The challenges he faces are immense -- a city often choked by traffic jams, parts scarred by violent crime, some schools failing and, often, unsafe.
VILLARAIGOSA: I'm asking you to dream with me. Dream with me of a Los Angeles where kids can walk to school in safety and where they receive an education that gives them a genuine opportunity to pursue their own dreams.
VILES: City politics don't always capture the public's attention in Los Angeles, but this year the city discovered a new rising star. And as it happened, he'd been here all along.
Peter Viles for CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Back out to Morgantown, West Virginia.
You can see President Bush -- he's dressed very casually -- on stage right now.
They're introducing him to the assembled crowd. You can hear them cheering. When the president begins speaking and saying happy birthday to America this 4th of July, we'll take you back to Morgantown, West Virginia.
For now, we're going to toss it to a break.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have this good man leading our country and I'm proud...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: As promised, the president of the United States has begun speaking at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Let's listen.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today we gather to celebrate the 229th anniversary of America's independence.
Across our great land, families will gather to fly the flag, to watch the fireworks and count our blessings as Americans.
We are grateful for the bounty and opportunity of our land. We are grateful for our liberty. And we are grateful for the men and women in uniform who keep our country safe.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: Thank you, all.
I bring greetings from First Lady Laura Bush.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: She said you go over to West Virginia and tell them how much we love them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love her.
BUSH: I love her, too.
I appreciate Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito. I appreciate her service. I appreciate her love for the great state of West Virginia.
Thank you, Shelley Moore.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: I want to thank the mayor of Morgantown, West Virginia, Ron Justice, for serving the people.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: Mr. Mayor, thanks for coming out today.
I want to thank all the local and state officials who are here. I want to thank David Hardesty, the president of West Virginia University. I appreciate you.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: I appreciate being on this fine campus and I appreciate the good work that the folks do here to educate the people of West Virginia.
The history we celebrate today is a testament to the power of freedom to lift up a whole nation.
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