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CNN Live At Daybreak

Chasing Insurgents; Listening Tour; Flight TV

Aired September 27, 2005 - 05:30   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.

Coming up in the next 30 minutes, we take an in-depth look at the town of Hit, Iraq, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have chased away the insurgents. But can the peace last? We'll have that story ahead.

But first, "Now in the News."

President Bush takes off this morning for the Texas-Louisiana region hit by Hurricane Rita. He'll get a briefing from those leading the recovery effort and visit Beaumont, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Australia's prime minister says dangerous times require severe measures. Government leaders agree to counterterrorism laws that include holding suspects up to 48 hours without charges and using electronic tracking devices on terror suspects.

The Israeli military launched an air strike today on areas it says are being used to fire missiles at Israeli targets. In a related development, Israel conducted raids across the West Bank, arresting 82 Palestinian militants.

The Major League Baseball Players Union and Commissioner Bud Selig remain at odds over a new anti-doping policy. The union says it will accept a 20-game suspension for those testing positive for steroids the first time. Selig wants a 50-game suspension.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

How about just like forever? No, that wouldn't be possible.

COSTELLO: It's amazing to look at what happened to Rafael Palmeiro, he's done.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: He's just done. The Orioles cut him.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: He's off the team, too much of a distraction.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And who's going to take him on now?

MYERS: Well, I'm sure someone will pick him up.

COSTELLO: You think another team will?

MYERS: Absolutely, absolutely, no question about it.

COSTELLO: I don't know.

MYERS: He'll be back with another $7 million contract next year. That's my guess.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad, we'll get back to you.

In the fight for Iraq, a top al Qaeda operative has been killed. The U.S. Defense Department says Abu Azzam was killed yesterday, but it's not giving out details about exactly how he died. U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched raids in recent weeks aimed at disrupting the terrorist group in Iraq.

Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And in the town of Hit, U.S. and Iraqi forces have chased away insurgents, but the American and Iraqi troops remain on alert. Insurgents would like nothing better than to slip back into town and renew their attacks.

Jennifer Eccelston has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER ECCELSTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a regular game of cat and mouse between coalition forces and insurgents for nearly a year, a chase in town up and down the Euphrates River.

Today, Hit is the exception. The only city in the western reaches of Iraq's restive Al Anbar Province with an American and Iraqi military base in the center of a town of 70,000.

COL. STEPHEN DAVIS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Hit is on the road to success, to taking that back.

ECCELSTON: The city's fortune changed when U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces regained control two months ago. Not a single shot fired.

(on camera): The operation to secure Hit, ridding it of insurgents, and perhaps more important, making sure they don't show up again, was considered a huge success. And one of the reasons for that is boots on the ground.

(voice-over): A recent increase in the number of American and Iraqi troops patrolling the Euphrates River Valley resulted in a constant coalition presence on Hit's dusty streets.

For some residents, however, the show of force is a Catch 22. Americans are here to protect the city, but their presence only makes the city more dangerous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): People are scared the Americans will get attacked and there will be a firefight.

ECCELSTON: Such fears paralyzing the city's productivity. Most of the shops are closed.

This vegetable stand owners says his customers flee as soon as word spreads that the Americans are around.

Still, other residents work alongside Iraqi and American forces. A tip led to this find, a house full of deadly components for insurgent attacks, improvised explosive devices, rockets, automatic weapons and plastic explosives.

The insurgents may have lost their base in Hit, but their influence lingers. Just weeks ago, a car bomb left parts of this city's bridge in tatters. Another car bomb nearly leveled a coalition base.

DAVIS: And we always say out here that the insurgents will be where we are not, so our game plan is to be everywhere we can possibly be. And what do you do, you just keep destroying the infrastructure, the insurgent infrastructure. And we've got a great case down here in Hit where we've been very successful, I think.

ECCELSTON: For the coalition troops charged with securing this region, Hit is a model for future anti-insurgency operations. It's formula, they maintain, is simple, presence equals security equals stability equals success. Whether that adds up to a better life for those caught in the middle, the residents, remains to be seen.

Jennifer Eccelston, CNN, Hit, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Want to take you to Russia for just a bit right now. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is appearing on Russian television, and he's taking questions from the audience. And people are posing their questions by the Internet, by telephone, by text message or video link up. And the last time he did something like this was back in December of 2003.

But keep in mind that all of the questions he's receiving today have been prescreened. In fact, the news agency in Russia reported that 700,000 advanced questions had been collected by the eve of the broadcast. The last time he did this in 2003, he whittled those down to about 63 questions. So this is all very controlled. But in essence, he's laying out his domestic agenda to the people of Russia. Of course he runs again for president in 2008.

In news "Across America" this morning, Utah State University is hit with a major tragedy, seven agriculture students and an instructor were killed in the crash of their van. Three students remain in the hospital this morning. Police say it appears a wheel on the van, it got a flat as it was passing another vehicle. The van rolled over four times. Everyone was thrown from the vehicle. Happened on an interstate about 65 miles north of Salt Lake City.

New York Yankees star Derek Jeter has one eye on the ball and the other on his mail. The FBI says it's investigating hate mail sent to Jeter warning him to stop dating white women. The "New York Daily News" reports the letter was mailed to Jeter at Yankee Stadium.

America's spacious skies and Purple Mountain's majesty are going to cost you a little more to see. The National Parks Service is raising entrance fees at 17 sites in the west beginning in May. At Yellowstone alone, the increased fees are expected to raise about a million dollars a year.

It is the modern age at its most surreal, JetBlue loves to tout the fact that it has live DirecTV on all of its flights, even this one. So what do you do when you're on this flight and you have the in-flight entertainment on and it makes the evening news? Jeanne Moos takes a unique look ahead.

And here's a question for Jeeves, where'd you go? We'll explain ahead.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:42 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

President Bush heads back to the Gulf Coast today. The president plans to view damage and review recovery measures in Beaumont, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, says he did nothing wrong. The Justice Department and the SEC are investigating a Frist stock sale. The senator's blind trust sold off shares in a company run by his brother just a month before the price dropped on the heels of a disappointing earnings report.

In money news, you're running out of time to Ask Jeeves. The Internet search engine is changing its name and also dropping its English butler mascot. New owner Barry Diller says the site will be renamed Ask or Ask.com.

In pop culture, D-List Diva Kathy Griffin has filed for divorce. Griffin lists irreconcilable differences as the reason for ending her four-and-a-half year marriage to Matt Moline. The comedian has seen a career rebirth with comedy specials and a new TV series. And we just thought you had to know that bit of information this morning.

In Louisiana, Louisiana State University dropped their home opener in disappointing fashion. Tennessee rebounded from a bad first half to beat LSU 30 to 27 in overtime. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was delayed by Hurricane Rita. But fans were so happy to get back to Louisiana and the stadium.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just one of those situations you finally have something to smile about. I actually just went back to my place yesterday, it was under a couple of feet of water. And you know if you can shed some light on everything that's happened so far, it'd be really nice. So we're pretty pumped up about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: They were. LSU's original home opener, as you probably can guess, was moved due to Katrina -- Chad.

MYERS: Quite a thriller though in going to overtime there -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: All right, let's get right to our e-mail segment. We're asking you a question this morning, should FEMA reimburse faith groups? Because, for the first time in history, the federal government is going to give money to church groups that have helped, you know, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita victims with housing and food and such.

MYERS: Groups that the state and local governments asked to help, so it's not like they were just donating their stuff. Here at DAYBREAK@CNN.com, there's still time to get in there. We're going to do another segment later.

From Gregory (ph), no, if you cannot -- can afford to do it and be doing the right thing, then just don't do it at all. So, don't do them.

And then from Jeff (ph), any group, faith based or anything else that has housed, fed, clothed or assisted any of the citizens of this national disaster should be reimbursed. We should all be grateful for their groups for this help and not mad at them, I think it says.

And then from Bonnie (ph) in Kansas, yes, they have fed, housed thousands of evacuees from FEMA couldn't get to. In the event of another disaster, they'll be needed again and their resources are limited.

From Dan (ph), churches don't pay taxes and FEMA shouldn't have to reimburse them. When churches start to pay taxes and carrying their fair share of the tax burden, then they can ask for government help.

From Paula (ph) in Kentucky, the very essence of Christianity is giving with a free heart. A true Christian gives without expecting anything in return.

From Lawrence (ph), by all means, reimburse these groups for their expenses. Faith groups should be rewarded and praised, not criticized.

From Sezar (ph) or Sazar (ph) in Atlanta, do you reimburse the Red Cross? It's already tax free. By the way, where's Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell?

And from Mark (ph), FEMA should not reimburse these faith groups for doing the work of a faith group.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: So keep the comments coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

In the next hour of DAYBREAK, New Orleans has taken a one-two punch this month. We revisit the city as residents return to the city they once called home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: U.S. Envoy Karen Hughes takes her public relations campaign to Saudi Arabia today. She's now in the Middle East hoping to improve America's image among Arabs. It's being billed as the listening tour.

CNN's Andrea Koppel is traveling with Hughes and talked to her about her mission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is your first trip to the Middle East and it is your first listening tour. What have you heard so far that you didn't know before you came here?

KAREN HUGHES, STATE DEPT. DIPLOMAT: Well, I've heard a lot, and I don't -- you know I tried to read a lot of reports from the Middle East. And so I -- a lot of the opinions I heard expressed here I have heard before, but I heard them directly and I heard them eye-to-eye from people and I saw how heartfelt some of them are. I heard a lot of concerns. I heard a lot of differing opinions.

For example, I heard today, just now at lunch, one person said to me, you all should not speak out and interfere with Egypt's internal affairs. And I heard another person say you all should speak up more. And America should speak up more and stand even firmer for democracy and make sure that we have the right to participate here in Egypt. So they're strongly held opinions.

And I think it's an interesting example of how America is looked to for leadership. And people like our leadership in some ways. But on the other hand, they also sometimes resent our leadership. KOPPEL: Well let's talk about that, because over the last couple of days you've met with lots of students, lots of religious leaders, and most of them are favorably disposed to the U.S. What is your strategy for not just reaching out to those who dislike us and who hate us, but how important is it to your strategy to meet with them?

HUGHES: Well, I told our embassy here that I wanted to meet with and hear from a wide variety of people. I just met at lunch, sat next to a journalist who is not very favorably disposed to the United States, who had very strong complaints about some of our policies. But I also said...

KOPPEL: Like what?

HUGHES: Well I think what I hear a lot about is concern, and I think a lot of it is a result of misunderstanding. For example, I hear a lot about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. And I remind people that the result -- the goal of our policy is to help the Palestinian people have their own state where they can live side-by-side in peace and security with Israel. That's not the perception.

And it's interesting to watch the way questions are phrased here. For example, talking about the Israeli-Palestinian issue, there seems to be a very one-sided portrayal of that issue in the media here. Some of the people at lunch today told me the American media they feel give a very one-sided portrayal for the other way. And I think you probably, as a member of the media, feel you give a pretty objective portrayal.

So a lot of it is really, I think, a lot of misunderstandings. I think it's important for me to try to put a human face on our policies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Andrea Koppel joins us live now from Saudi Arabia.

Andrea, a question for you, this is a new role for Karen Hughes and for America. How is she being accepted as an American and as a woman?

KOPPEL: Well, quite frankly, as you're absolutely right, Carol, Karen Hughes is not used to dealing with foreign policy. She's been a senior adviser to President Bush on domestic politics for years. And she is, because of her closeness to President Bush, she's being received quite warmly. And she's met with a number of senior officials.

In Egypt yesterday, she met with the prime minister. Today here in Saudi Arabia she's going to be meeting with the king. Usually a senior U.S. official wouldn't be meeting with someone at that level. Nevertheless, it does seem over the last several days that there is quite a bit of miscommunication between the two sides.

As you heard Ms. Hughes in that interview say she feels that there is -- that Americans are misunderstood and she's here to put a human face on the American government. But when you talk to Egyptians, when you talk to Saudis, as we have, you hear that, no, they like the American people. What they don't like are the American policies.

COSTELLO: And the fact that she's a woman, because, you know, let's face it, women are on -- are not on equal footing with men in the countries she's been traveling in. How are they accepting that?

KOPPEL: Well, actually, Carol, I'm standing just outside an auditorium here at an all-women's university here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. There are 600 women who are studying here. And one of the questions that Ms. Hughes received said why is it that in the American media we are being portrayed as not being happy, as not being, you know, in a society where we're welcomed? And in fact we are happy.

In Saudi Arabia, as you know, women can't drive. Although some women were able to vote in municipal elections recently here, they're not able to vote -- they're not able to run. They're not able to be candidates.

Nevertheless, there does seem to be a lot of misunderstanding, because, for instance, here in the Arab world there are satellite TV networks, like Al Jazeera, like Al Arabia (ph), which oftentimes, to the chagrin of U.S. officials, are feeding images over and over again. For instance, in Iraq with you know what they portray as Iraqi people being occupied by U.S. troops, and in the Israeli-Palestinian situation showing Israeli soldiers firing upon Palestinians over and over again. And U.S. officials would say they're not presenting a balanced image.

COSTELLO: Andrea Koppel reporting live from Saudi Arabia this morning, thank you.

When we come back, the in-flight entertainment that kept everyone on the edge of their seats.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A Jeanne Moos twist now on a story that's been widely reported. You know imagine being on a troubled flight and watching the drama on your plane unfold right before your eyes on DirecTV.

CNN's Jeanne Moos has more now on the comforts and sometimes discomforts of in-flight television.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one thing to see your close call after the fact. But JetBlue passengers were able to watch events unfold live, see the outside of the plane they were in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well all of a sudden we're on the news.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all started tuning in or those of us who could stomach it. MOOS: Tuning in to what JetBlue so proudly advertises.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My plane has DirecTV at every seat.

MOOS: That's right, so you can watch all that late-breaking news. Only the breaking news was that the landing gear was broken and experts were analyzing their chances of a safe landing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there was a specialist on and explaining everything. And I'm like uh-oh, you know, watching. And I would kind of flip back and forth to Comedy Central.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People realized it was a national event, or it was being treated as a national event on a, you know, the same as the Rita storm, which I think made us scared.

MOOS: And speaking of storms, the line between real life and TV was blurred on ABC as well when an ABC series called "Invasion" debuted with a fictional hurricane that spawned aliens and required a disclaimer.

ANNOUNCER: Due to recent events, viewers may be sensitive to some of the following images.

MOOS: Still, images of your own in-flight emergency trumped any made-for-TV hurricane. Normally airlines edit out movie scenes like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brace for impact.

MOOS: But the live coverage continued.

This woman cried for three hours as the plane circled.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was emoting loudly. I was the loudest one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We couldn't believe the irony that we might be watching our own demise on television. That seemed a little bit, you know, post, post modern, if you will.

MOOS: And if you think watching the coverage was scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just about 10 minutes before we landed, they cut it all off. That was the scariest part was when they cut it off, because I thought there's something going on they're not telling us.

MOOS (on camera): Now you could conceivably be a passenger on a JetBlue plane watching me doing this right now on CNN Headline News. But don't worry, your landing gear is OK, you hope.

(voice-over): Forget must see TV, this was must we see.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then the flight attendants were chanting brace, brace, brace.

MOOS: Though the passengers missed the happy ending.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That is until they got off the plane.

The next hour of DAYBREAK begins in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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