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CNN Live At Daybreak

Civilian Deaths; Abortion Battle; U.S. Connection?; Sexplicit Video

Aired July 21, 2005 - 05:29   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Carol Costello this morning.
Good morning, everyone.

Coming up in the next 30 minutes, President Bush is surrounded by women. What do they think about Roe versus Wade? Their answers may surprise you.

And later, celebrity sex tapes, why do they make them? A look at the latest battle to keep a private encounter private.

But first, "Now in the News."

Condoleezza Rice is demanding an immediate apology from Sudan after a run-in with authorities from Khartoum. Rice says her staff and reporters were manhandled by Sudanese security. We'll have more on this development in the next few minutes.

Pakistan's president takes to the airwaves to plead for help in fighting against Islamic extremists. Pervez Musharraf promises to double the country's domestic security forces. A number of international leaders say Pakistan's Islamic schools are little more than terrorist training camps.

A fast-moving wildfire has forced 50 families from their suburban Denver homes. Firefighters have three-quarters of the blaze contained. Still no word as to when everyone can go home.

And, Chad, it's dry and it's hot in some places,...

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

WHITFIELD: ... making for some very potentially dangerous conditions.

MYERS: Sure.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: It does indeed. Thanks so much -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes. OK. WHITFIELD: Well Congress gets a progress report on Iraq today. The Pentagon submits its assessment about what's happening on several fronts, including military, political and economic levels. One thing the report will not include, the readiness of Iraqi military forces. Some members of Congress had asked for that information.

Meantime, the House has passed a resolution opposing an early exit from Iraq. The measure says the U.S. should leave only after national security and foreign policy goals have been met. Democrats who oppose the resolution say it implies that questioning the president's Iraq policies is unpatriotic.

A London-based human rights group says at least 25,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the U.S. declared war on Saddam Hussein, and many admit that figure is a lowball account. Add to it another six deaths across Iraq just today.

CNN's Aneesh Raman joins us live from Baghdad with more on the death toll, the rising death toll of civilians there -- Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, good morning.

As you say, just today, attacks in and around the capital city have left 8 people dead, 16 others wounded. Some of those adding to the growing number of civilian casualties here. Yesterday, this country stopped to remember the fallen innocent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rare moment of national pause. Across Iraq, three minutes of silence. At the prime minister's office, and on the streets of Baghdad, three minutes to honor people killed by recent insurgent attacks.

In the past week, the violence has been horrific, even for Iraq, leaving close to 200 dead. The aftermath is all that's seen, defining pictures for the world, everyday life for Iraqis.

Well over two years after the war began, it remains impossible to know the civilian toll, which is why the report Tuesday from London- based Iraq Body Count is so revealing. According to the group, nearly 25,000 Iraqis were killed between the start of the war and March of this year. Even that number is undoubtedly incomplete.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're obviously going to be deaths that are never recorded anywhere or not reported either.

RAMAN: And even those that are reported often remain unidentified, without notice of how they died.

(on camera): Keeping count of casualties in Iraq is incredibly difficult. But one place that sees victims on a daily basis is here at Yarmak (ph) Hospital in Baghdad.

(voice-over): On this day, they are all civilians here, caught between insurgents and security forces. "My father was driving in his car and the American tanks rolled over him," says Shakir Salman's (ph) son. "We are always exposed to such incidents."

This room is where they track casualties. There are about a dozen hospitals in Baghdad. Yarmak, last month alone, saw 150 civilian deaths. Elsewhere in the country, such efforts are just starting. Iraq's interior ministry says over 8,000 civilians were killed in the past 10 months. Many say more has to be done to keep count.

MAHMOUD OTHMAN, IRAQI NATL. ASSEMBLY: There hasn't been enough care about it. I think it shouldn't be hard at all, because the people are there.

RAMAN: And for the people here who pause this day, like Hussain Finjohn (ph), a medic, piercing silence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When I stood there, my body was shivering from grief.

RAMAN: As was the collective conscious of a country that has seen thousands upon thousands of its citizens killed by no fault of their own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, Fredricka, everyone here is pretty much resigned to the fact that we will never know the exact number of civilians that have died in the war and its aftermath. The hope here is that as the situation progresses forward that accounting can start to take place -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Aneesh Raman in Baghdad, thanks so much.

Well this just in, the man who was arrested for throwing that live grenade at President Bush during a visit in the Soviet Republic of Georgia last May has now admitted, confessed to the crime of throwing that grenade. Still unclear why he actually did it, but apparently he made that confession while being hospitalized for gunshot wounds that he sustained during his arrest.

Well Democrats in Washington promise the question of abortion will come up in the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.

And according to a new CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup Poll, most Americans think that is an appropriate line of questioning. Only 22 percent think asking Roberts about abortion would be inappropriate. Asked if they're bothered that the president didn't appoint a woman to the seat being vacated by Justice O'Connor, almost 8 in 10 reply they have no problem with that. When Supreme Court nominee John Roberts commented against abortion, he was speaking on behalf of a client.

When the women closest to President Bush speak their thoughts about abortion, their responses just might surprise you. CNN's Heidi Collins takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think a hospitable society is a society that where every being counts and every person matters. I believe the ideal world is one in which every child is protected in law and welcomed to life.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What may surprise you is what the women closest to President Bush think about the issue. His wife, Laura Bush; his mother, Barbara; and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. All three have made statements supporting a woman's right to choose.

Let's start with the first lady. During a 2001 interview on the "Today Show," Mrs. Bush was asked about her personal views on abortion.

KATIE COURIC, "TODAY SHOW": Should Woe v. Wade, for example, be overturned?

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: No, I don't think it should be overturned.

COLLINS: But three years later in a 2004 interview with "The Washington Times," asked if life begins at conception, Mrs. Bush said sure. And asked if she is pro-life, the first lady responded with, "yes, I think abortion should be rare."

As for Barbara Bush, she doesn't like to dwell too much on the subject, but when pressed, she speaks her mind.

"I hate abortion," she said, "but I just could not make that choice for someone else."

And what about Condoleezza Rice, one of the president's closest confidants? Earlier this year on "Meet the Press," she weighed in on the abortion debate.

TIM RUSSERT, "MEET THE PRESS": You told "The Washington Times" on Friday you were mildly pro-choice. What does that mean?

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: It means that, like many Americans, I find the issue of abortion very difficult. I believe it ought to be as rare as possible. Nobody wants to see anyone go through that. I favor parental notification. I favor a ban on late- term abortion. But I, myself, am not a fan of having the government intervene in the laws.

COLLINS: Three women from the president's inner circle. When it comes to abortion, do they have any influence on the president?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has many women in the White House. Obviously he supports women running for elected office at all levels. He's not anti-woman at all. It has nothing to do with that. He's anti-choice. So it is a little surprising how the women in his family can be, in fact, pro-choice and yet he not have a softer edge on the issue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And that was Heidi Collins reporting.

Abortion rights groups are afraid President Bush's choice for Supreme Court justice could eventually result in the overturning of Woe v. Wade.

Turning now to the London terrorist bombing investigation, is there a U.S. connection?

CNN's Kelli Arena reports on a link between a suspect and would- be terrorist training camp right here on U.S. soil.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Haroon Rashid Aswat allegedly scouted this Bly, Oregon, ranch for use as a jihad training camp and even met with potential recruits.

Officials say he came to the United States in November of 1999 and was working with this man, James Ujaama, a U.S. citizen who reached a plea deal with the government and continues to corporate with investigators.

A 2002 indictment against Ujaama says Aswat, listed only as an unidentified co-conspirator, conducted firearms training in Oregon and acted as an emissary for the radical British cleric, Abu Hamza al- Masri, currently in British custody.

In a statement, Aswat's family, currently living in Britain, said, "We have not had contact with him for many years."

Investigators believe Aswat left Britain shortly before the London attacks and traveled to Pakistan, sources familiar with the investigation say. And the sources say British officials have asked Pakistan to help find him.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still to come on DAYBREAK, "Los Angeles Times" editor John Carroll is stepping down. We'll tell you who the new leader is in 10 minutes.

And later, a follow-up on the story we told you about yesterday, does "Grand Theft Auto" have too much sex for its own good? We'll take a look.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A new Justice Department Web site now online hopes to keep better track of the 500,000 registered sex offenders across the country. This is the National Sex Offender Public Registry. It links the sex offender databases of 21 states and Washington, D.C. The Justice Department hopes better access to more information can help protect you from violent sexual predators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REGINA SCHOFIELD, OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS: Citizens will be able to search the latest information for the identity and location of known sex offenders across state borders. The registry is a vital tool in our efforts to prevent violent crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Justice Department hopes to link up remaining states and territories by the end of the year. By the way, that Web site address is www.NSOPR.gov.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's now 44 minutes after the hour, and here is what's all new this morning.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is demanding an apology from the Sudanese government after members of her staff and the journalists traveling with her were manhandled. Rice is visiting a refugee camp in Sudan. She goes to Israel next.

Canada has become the world's fourth nation to legalize gay marriage. The new law gives homosexual couples the same rights as traditional unions between a man and a woman.

In money, Eastman Kodak is cutting more than 10,000 jobs, and that's on top of the 15,000 job cuts already announced. The company's latest earnings report are well below forecast.

In culture, Tammy Faye Messner says she has lung cancer. The former televangelist was found to have colon cancer almost 10 years ago. Messner says the cancer won't stop her from giving inspirational talks.

In sports, the Super Bowl champs will be without one of their top players this fall. New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi says he will not play because of a mild stroke he had in February.

And in weather -- Chad.

MYERS: And good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right.

And folks are trying to stump you this morning -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes, got a couple of questions.

WHITFIELD: We've been asking people to bring in some e-mails.

MYERS: Got a couple of questions here this morning.

WHITFIELD: OK.

MYERS: Got one from Arizona. It says if it's 115 here in Arizona or 95 in Atlanta with a relative humidity of 80 percent, what's worse? Well if you have a 95-degree temperature and a relative humidity of 80 percent, that's pretty ridiculous. It's hard to even get there. But the heat index would be 138.

WHITFIELD: My goodness.

MYERS: So...

WHITFIELD: So feels like 130? You said 138?

MYERS: Would feel like 138.

WHITFIELD: My gosh!

MYERS: And 115, when it gets to 115 in Phoenix, it has to be fairly dry or it can't get that warm. And so, therefore, it's that dry heat and it feels like about 118 or 119.

So 95 can be worse, if there's more humidity in the air. Because your body cools itself down the same way, remember you used to go to the doctor and they used to put that alcohol on, maybe they still do, put the alcohol on and it cools it down when it evaporates? Well the sweat does the same thing. When you sweat, those participles evaporate. That evaporation cools off your skin temperature, cools off your body.

Well if the air is completely full of water, it can't evaporate. So, therefore, it just sits there and it doesn't evaporate and you don't cool down. So that's why relative humidity is 80, 90, 100 percent, you never cool down.

WHITFIELD: Wow!

MYERS: Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Keep those e-mails coming to continue to "Stump the Weatherman," Chad Myers.

Well still to come on DAYBREAK, Colin Farrell wants to keep his sex tape private, but will the world end up seeing his private parts anyway? And don't forget that today is "Stump the Weatherman" day. That's right, you can ask Chad any heat-related questions and he'll have the answers, just like he did a moment ago. DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: News "Across America" this morning.

A bomb scare forced the evacuation of thousands of shoppers from a suburban New York City mall for three-and-a-half hours. The evacuation of one of the nation's largest malls, the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, came after a suspicious package was found in a men's room. The package did not contain a bomb.

There is a big change at the "Los Angeles Times," editor John S. Carroll is retiring after five years at the paper's helm. Carroll will be replaced by Dean Baquet, the Pulitzer Prize winning managing editor. Baquet will become executive vice president and editor on August 15.

And of course you recognize this scene, it's the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima's Mt. Surabachi in 1945. It's on a new silver dollar that commemorates the 230th anniversary of the Marine Corp. Proceeds from sales of the coin will go for a new Marine museum.

Well time to bring Chad back into the scene. And folks are trying to stump you this morning with a few questions.

MYERS: Yes. Got a question from Jack (ph), Wilbur-by-the-Sea, Florida, why do fronts in the Northern Hemisphere run from west to east? Well that's a good question. Actually, we are in the westerly belt. There are, obviously, easterly belts. Those are called the trades. Those run south of where we are. You can easily pick out Florida there. But the westerlys actually come up from the south and turn to the right and blow all our winds that direction.

Now if you go north of here, well into Canada, and even into the Great White North up there, north of 60 degrees latitude, the winds actually come from the other direction, from the east, just like the trades. It's called the global circulation or the three cell circulation.

And we just happen to where we live happen to have winds that come out of the west. You go down to Key West or down through Marathon, the central part of Miami, in the summertime, and you will get into the trades sometimes. And the winds, actually, blow in from the east. They don't blow in from the west because you're down far enough south.

Back to you -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. That's why they're asking you the questions this morning -- Chad.

MYERS: That's why I went to school.

WHITFIELD: And there you go, that too. All right, thanks a lot.

MYERS: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Coming up at the top of the hour, we're 10 years removed from Chicago's deadly heat wave that killed more than 700 people. What's the Windy City doing now? We're live with the answer.

Plus, what's The Boss really like? We'll talk with "Esquire's" Chris Barrett who got the get with Jersey's regular guy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: "Entertainment Headlines" for you this morning.

Notorious B.I.G. is coming to the big screen. Fox Searchlight Pictures plans to make a movie about the life of the slain rapper. It will be produced by his mother and two of his former music managers.

Here's a follow-up for you now. "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" has been slapped with a restrictive adult rating. That's after the video game maker admitted that explicit sex scenes had been built into the retail version of the game. The company is now warning of a quarterly loss, more than double the average Wall Street expectation.

And singer Bonnie Raitt is being honored for her dedication to social, environmental and community causes. She'll receive the Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award next month in San Diego.

Another celebrity, another sex tape scandal, this time it's actor Colin Farrell. Will it be a career killer? Probably not.

As CNN's Sibila Vargas tells us there is quit a casting call of celebrities cashing in on their explicit exploits.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLIN FARRELL, ACTOR: Conquer your fear.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Colin Farrell, he starred in "Alexander," "Phone Booth" and "Minority Report." But there's one performance he'd rather you not see in a sex tape he made with his former girlfriend, Playboy model Nicole Narain.

DEVON GORDON, "NEWSWEEK": Now that the relationship is long since over, she wants to sell it to the public. And Colin Farrell isn't very, very happy about that.

VARGAS: Farrell got a temporary restraining order, preventing Narain from distributing the tape. Adult Entertainment producer Kevin Blatt says he was approached about marketing it.

KEVIN BLATT, ADULT ENTERTAINMENT MARKETER: The asking price for this tape was $1.2 million. VARGAS: Figures like that, we mean money, not the physiques, underscore the growing market for celebrity sex tapes. Paris Hilton tried to prevent a sex video she made with a former boyfriend from getting around. Eventually, she relented, accepting $400,000, plus a cut of the sales.

Pamela Anderson and former husband, Tommy Lee, fought to keep their sex tape under wraps, but later agreed to sell it on the Internet. Advancing technology has changed the whole marketing potential.

ROBERT SCHWARTZ, PARTNER, O'MELVENY & MYERS: What used to be an .8-millimeter camera or, you know, your own VCR stayed within your house. And now it is so easy to digitize things and they're over the Internet instantly.

VARGAS: Some Hollywood observers say up-and-coming stars may get a career boost from the release of sexually explicit material. But established stars, like Farrell, and Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst, usually don't want any part of it. Durst is currently suing to keep a sex tape of his out of the public eye.

According to attorney Robert Schwartz, the key is to act quickly.

SCHWARTZ: Certainly, the faster the celebrity goes after their rights and seeks a court order to prevent further copying and distribution of a tape like this, the better off they are.

VARGAS: The other solution, of course, is not to make a tape in the first place.

GORDON: I think the lesson is pretty simple, turn off the video camera when you are going to have sex with your girlfriend, for crying out loud.

VARGAS: But it's not just videotapes of sex acts that come back to haunt celebs. Still pictures from long-ago modeling sessions can prove problematic, too, as Cameron Diaz knows well. She's right now in the midst of a court battle against a photographer she accuses of trying to peddle topless photos of her taken before she became famous.

Does she have the right to keep these sexy pictures out of the hands of her adoring public? That's for a jury to decide.

Sibila Vargas, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And you can get more entertainment news every night on "ShowBiz Tonight." That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Headline News.

The next hour of DAYBREAK begins in a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It's Thursday, July 21. A scuffle breaks out in the Sudan and members of Condoleezza Rice's staff are in the center of it. The U.S. Secretary of State is demanding an apology now from the Sudanese government.

And the president's choice for the Supreme

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