Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Roberts Expected to be Confirmed as Chief Justice; Insurgency Still Rages in Iraq

Aired September 29, 2005 - 06:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Thursday, September 29, one month after the storm. It's back to business in the "Big Easy." But the big question in New Orleans and across the storm tossed Gulf is about jobs and where to find them.
In Iraq, the top U.S. commander says troops may not be coming home next spring, as the president warns of more violence to come.

And hard times on Capitol Hill. The latest on two high ranking Republicans and their legal troubles.

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

We'll have more from New Orleans in just a minute.

Also ahead, it looks like a done deal for chief justice nominee John Roberts. But who tops the list for the other Supreme Court vacancy?

And, yes, it's just the end of September, but if you're looking to save money for your holiday getaway, you'd better get busy.

But first, now in the news, Amtrak says a rock slide may have caused a train derailment near St. Louis, Missouri. Three cars on the Chicago to San Antonio train jumped the tracks but stayed upright. Here's a picture of it. No injuries reported in this.

Parts of New Orleans get the go ahead to reopen. The French Quarter, the central business district and the Garden District are to formally open for business today. Residents can follow tomorrow.

Wind driven wildfires force evacuations along the northwestern edge of Los Angeles. Flames have scorched 7,000 acres across four counties. At least one home was destroyed and several others are threatened.

To the Forecast Center and Chad -- good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: It looks like it'll be a supreme day in the Senate. Senators are expected to confirm Judge John Roberts. Roberts would succeed William Rehnquist as chief justice of the United States. But with Roberts ready to take a seat on the bench, there's still one empty chair, at least metaphorically.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken joins us live from Washington for more on that -- good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And what is so intriguing about this is is that although the chief justice is the chief officer, the chief judicial officer of the United States, the bigger controversy can be expected over the replacement of Sandra Day O'Connor, who's going to be sitting and waiting for her replacement to be confirmed.

Sandra Day O'Connor is the so-called swing vote on the court, where John Roberts, a conservative, is replacing William Rehnquist, a conservative. There is concern among those who are not on the president's side that he's going to replace somebody in the middle with somebody on the right.

So this is going to be a tremendous battle, everybody expects, in contrast to what was really kind of just a mild skirmish over John Roberts.

COSTELLO: And might the battle be more heated because of what's been happening to the Republican Party as far as Tom DeLay being indicted?

FRANKEN: Well, you know, that's an interesting point. The Democrats are sort of smelling blood in the water, if you want to liken them to sharks. Certainly the Republicans would do that. The Republicans are considered weakened right now on a variety of fronts. You just mentioned Tom DeLay, who is one of the all powerful Republicans in Washington, who has now been indicted and has had to be removed as the majority leader in the House.

You have President Bush, who is suffering mightily in the poll numbers as a result of Iraq, as a result largely of the criticism over his handling of the hurricanes, that type of thing.

So the Democrats may be emboldened to put up a fight more so than they might have already, although, given the stakes that are involved in the Supreme Court, they were all ready for a battle royale.

COSTELLO: You're not kidding.

Bob Franken reporting live from Washington this morning.

Speaking of Tom DeLay, the hammer has been put at the bottom of the toolbox. The house majority leader, Tom DeLay, was forced to leave his leadership post after being indicted by a Texas grand jury. He's accused of funneling funds to Republican candidates in local Texas races.

But DeLay, who's known on Capitol Hill as "The Hammer," won't have to give up his seat in the House for what he's calling political retribution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TOM DELAY (R), TEXAS: As for the charges, I have the facts, the law and the truth on my side, just as I have against -- just as I have against every false allegation my opponents have flung at me over the last 10 years. Once exposed to the light of objective scrutiny, every one of their frivolous accusations against me has been dismissed and so will Mr. Earle's.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He won't give up his seat, but he will step aside as the house majority leader. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, also facing some serious questions. The Securities and Exchange Commission is launching a formal investigation into a stock sale by the Tennessee Republican. Frist sold all of his shares in a hospital company just about two weeks before the stock price was hurt by a poor earnings report. The company in question was founded by Frist's father and is run by his brother.

The Justice Department also investigating that stock deal.

Now to the Iraq war. U.S. troops might not begin coming home next year after all. The top U.S. commander in Iraq backed away from his earlier assessment of a substantial troop withdrawal by next spring. That's after a White House briefing for military commanders.

President Bush declared there is a plan to win. The president warned, however, that bloodshed and violence could surge ahead of next month's vote on a new constitution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Iraqi forces show they're capable of keeping the terrorists out. They're earning the trust and confidence of the Iraqi people, which ensures the success of a free and democratic Iraq. The terrorists have a history of escalating their attacks before Iraq's major political milestones. Two key elections are fast approaching. As these milestones approach, we can expect there to be increasing violence from the terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's repeat the president's assertion, that U.S. forces are on the offensive and that there is a plan to win. It's been a month since the hurricanes blew Iraq off the front pages. In that time, another 53 American troops have been killed. And that bring the U.S. death toll to 1,931.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is live in Baghdad -- Aneesh, I want to talk more about what the president had to say and I also want to talk about what Michael Ware from "Time" magazine had to say. He's reporting that there is a covert civil war at play in the country.

What are you seeing? ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we certainly, Carol, see civil strife. There is obvious divides, not just between the Sunnis and the Shia. The Sunnis, of course, make up a majority of Iraq's domestic insurgents. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, recently put out a statement that he is launching an all out war against the Shia.

But now we're also seeing local militia in areas throughout Iraq taking justice essentially into their own hands. At some level they're feeling security voids left by an absence of Iraqi security forces and U.S. military. But we do see Shia militias going and targeting Sunni families. We do see Shia fighting amongst themselves. There are two main rival factions here -- those that support Muqtada al-Sadr, who are known as the Mahdi militia, and those that support the Shia that are essentially in charge of the government, called the Badr Organization or the Badr Brigades.

So there is civil strife everywhere, Carol. But it really is up to the Shia to decide if civil war will break out here. The Sunnis can't essentially do anything more. They are launching attacks through the insurgency, at least, on a near daily basis. But the Shia have the most to gain, Carol, from a government taking hold of Iraq. They have the vast majority of the population here.

And so the key figure is, of course, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al- Sistani, the main religious head of the Shia in Iraq. He has urged caution. He has urged calm. In recent days, at the behest of Muqtada al-Sadr, he issued a statement saying that Shia need to remain fervent in the political process.

And so that is essentially the gateway to either civil war or to stability, through Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani and through Muqtada al-Sadr and Abdul Aziz Hakim, these three key religious figures -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know. It's a very complicated situation.

Civil war, though, is what most of the government really fear breaking out in Iraq.

At what point do you absolutely know that there is a civil war within the country of Iraq?

RAMAN: Well, exactly. And that's the almost impossible line to define is when does civil strife become all out civil war.

The key that everyone here is looking for are these votes that we're going to see in mid-October and in mid-December. If there is a big turnout, as we saw in January, it will show that there is resolve among the majority of Iraqis to maintain this process and to keep it going forward. But if we see these numbers drop dramatically from what we saw in January, if we see very poor turnouts, not just in October, but also in December, that almost presents a de facto situation where a majority of Iraqis aren't taking part in this political process and that the real Iraq, the real situation is what we're seeing with these dead bodies that are found and this civil strife that we're talking about.

COSTELLO: Aneesh Raman live in Baghdad this morning.

CNN's Jennifer Eccleston is embedded with the U.S. Marine operation. They're rooting out insurgents in western Iraq.

Jennifer now is on the phone and she joins us to fill us in on what's going on -- hello, Jennifer.

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.

Well, this is, perhaps, the main focus of combating the insurgency that plagues so much of Iraq, as Aneesh was talking about. This is the far reaches of the western Al Anbar Province, which goes from the extremely lush Euphrates River Valley right up to the Syrian border. And it is a main transport route, as we've been reporting for many months now, from Syria. Firefighters from Syria making their way down into the major population centers such as Baghdad.

And it also is a major staging ground not only for those firefighters, but their facilitators here, those of the Sunni Baathist extremists, those who are against the Iraqi government and trying to do their best to destabilize it.

And what we've been seeing is a number of small and large operations to actually tear down the infrastructure of the insurgency here in western Al Anbar Province. And it's doing so in two ways -- organizationally taking out the leaders of the insurgency, taking out their facilitators, taking out areas, going into cities along the Euphrates River where they're actually being given safe harbor, where they're able to launch these attacks, plan for these attacks in these major population centers.

So we're seeing smaller operations from the U.S. Marines, also elements of the U.S. Army, the 177nd Striker Calvary Brigade going out and trying to make a presence, a stable presence in these smaller towns.

They'll go in, they'll root out the terrorists and the insurgency and then they'll stay. And that is the key factor here. We now are looking at an increased troop level where American forces, along with their Iraqi counterparts, are not just going in on these strike forces, going in to eliminate these towns from the terrorists, but they're also staying. And it's creating this sense of stability and, as many people say in this region, and many of the military commanders, stability equals security equals success.

Some sort of as long as there is some presence on the ground, be it American and then eventually Iraqi forces, they think they will be able to convince the Iraqis, the population in these areas, to not support the insurgency and to actually give them up to the Americans.

And we have seen a number of success stories. Yesterday, 26 people were rolled up, as they say here in the military, or detained. Seven of them were high value targets, those that were on a list of known insurgents. So we are seeing these smaller operations bear some fruit. And, of course, we're also seeing larger operations with air strikes taking out the other physical infrastructure of the insurgency -- bomb making factories, IED factories, places where they can make the means to actually disrupt this society -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Jennifer Eccleston reporting live for us in Al Anbar Province in Iraq.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, after the one-two punch of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, boy, did they hit consumers in the pocketbook. A credit card crunch could bodies looming.

Also, it isn't too early to be thinking about your holiday travel plans. We'll tell you why planning ahead could really pay off this year.

And later, it's being called the second Scopes monkey trial. We'll take a closer look at the latest battle about evolution in the classroom.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: What a beautiful day in New York City.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It is 6:15 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

A real sign of hurricane recovery in Biloxi, Mississippi. The state department of health has lifted its boil water advisory, which had been in place for residents since hurricane Katrina hit.

In money news, the Nissan Motor Company is adding the Versa to its lineup. The subcompact's starting price? About $12,00. And it claims to get about 38 miles to the gallon.

In culture, the Muppets will begin appearing in your mailbox. A new set of $0.37 stamps featuring the puppet characters will be available at post offices today. The stamps coincide with Kermit the Frog's 50th birthday, which is today.

In sports, baseball could have a new steroid policy by the end of October. That's the word from union chief, Donald Fehr after he was pressed on the matter by Senator John McCain during a Senate hearing.

To the Forecast Center and Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT) COSTELLO: It's not too early to plan a getaway for Thanksgiving and Christmas; that is, if you want to get a deal.

"USA Today" travel reporter Ben Mutzabaugh joins us live with the low down on getting away for the holidays.

Really? We should start now?

BEN MUTZABAUGH, "USA TODAY": Believe it or not, yes. Fares aren't going to get any cheaper. And, in fact, even for Thanksgiving, if you haven't made your plans already, it's really time to start looking and maybe jump on the first good fare that you see.

COSTELLO: And the first good fare you see might be if you go off peak?

MUTZABAUGH: That's right. That's really -- if you're looking for a low fare and you're having a hard time finding it, that's probably the way to go. Take Thanksgiving. It's on a Thursday. Almost everyone wants to leave Wednesday and come back Sunday. So, as you might expect, all the cheap fares sell out pretty quick for Wednesday and Sunday.

But if you're willing to change that a little bit, maybe come back Saturday or, here's a good tip, if you don't have to be somewhere for lunch on Thanksgiving, go on Thursday morning. Get like an 8:00, 9:00 a.m. flight. You can really save a lot of money.

COSTELLO: Wow!

MUTZABAUGH: For example, we looked at -- look at the difference there, just by being willing to travel on Thursday morning and maybe take a day off or a half day and come back on Monday.

That's $159 a person, according to what we found. You've got $456 to go during the peak dates, $297 otherwise. The same thing from Washington to Milwaukee, another fare we looked at -- $85 difference if you're willing to leave on Thanksgiving morning, come back the day after the weekend.

And if you're traveling with, you know, even just with your significant other, let alone any children or other family members, that's going to add up really, really quick.

COSTELLO: Oh, absolutely.

OK, you also say to check early and often.

MUTZABAUGH: That's right. If you know you have travel plans, what I suggest doing, you know, we all have -- the Internet is everywhere these days -- look early, look often. You'll probably find the same fare just about every day you look. But there's going to be that one day, for no reason, where the fare has dropped $70 or $80. But you've got to buy it right away.

And the flip side of that is when you see fares starting to creep up, you know you may have missed your opportunity and that the cheap fares are selling out. That's also another good indication that it's time to buy, although you might not get the fare you were hoping for.

COSTELLO: You know what's really annoying on the Internet, though? You want to buy that plane ticket really fast and the page expires. Oh, that's so annoying.

MUTZABAUGH: Well, that's happened -- yes. Yes, it is.

COSTELLO: The other tip that you have, travel agents are your friends.

MUTZABAUGH: That's right. And I think you'll -- speaking of the Internet frustrations, well, it certainly helped travelers a great deal. And all of us do our own travel plans. This is sort of a forgotten niche. If there's a lot of dates to juggle, a lot of different plans that you're trying to keep in mind for making your plans, travel agents will probably charge you a fee these days. They've lost a lot of their commissions from the airlines. But for a lot of us, taking that hour or two of work of travel planning off our hands may be worth the $30 or $40 fee.

COSTELLO: It would be to me.

Thank you, Ben, for the fine advice.

MUTZABAUGH: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

MUTZABAUGH: No problem.

COSTELLO: Ben Mutzabaugh from "USA Today."

Maxed out by the twin storms, more and more consumers are saying charge it. But that doesn't mean you're paying up.

Carrie Lee joins us with the everyday juggling act.

But first, good morning, Baltimore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A little "Business Buzz" this morning.

A record number of Americans are behind on their credit card payments. We told you about that yesterday. But you have some more disturbing news about that this morning.

Carrie Lee joins us now.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is not the kind of news you like to hear. But these are the facts, according to the American Bankers Association. Nearly 5 percent of Americans were at least 30 days behind on their credit card payments between April and June. The ABA says late payments on most other types of loans, like auto and home equity loans, are also on the rise.

You can probably guess why -- higher gas prices are to blame, leaving consumers to decide whether to fill up their car or pay the bills. And the ABA doesn't expect an improvement as gas prices rose even more over the past three months. Also this winter, home heating bills will likely hurt consumers and the fourth quarter may hurt those affected by hurricane Katrina.

Credit card companies must report delinquencies to the Federal Reserve, but they have agreed not to report evacuees to the credit bureaus for an indefinite period of time in order to preserve their credit rating.

But still, Carol...

COSTELLO: They're not going to drop the interest rates for them though, are they?

LEE: No. Interest rates have been going up. As the Fed hikes rates, you bet they move in lockstep. But almost 5 percent of credit card payments over 30 days late. It's really not an encouraging statistic.

COSTELLO: Well, but you can understand it. And then when you're 30 days late, sometimes they raise your interest rate and, you know, you don't really read all of the fine print in your contract that you signed like a zillion years ago.

LEE: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: And you don't realize it until two more payments have gone by.

LEE: The trends we're seeing, interest rates going up, the amount of time you have to make that payment is being squeezed and late payment fees are also going up. So people really have to try to be careful and not get into this situation.

Easier said than done, sometimes.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

A quick look at the futures?

LEE: Futures looking up today. We saw another mixed session yesterday with oil prices on the rise. We will get a look at weekly jobless claims and a final look at second quarter GDP, gross domestic product.

But things looking good for today.

COSTELLO: Good.

Thank you, Carrie.

LEE: OK. COSTELLO: Back in business, sort of. Parts of New Orleans plan to reopen today.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's out of control. I mean a long as the wind is blowing, it's going to be out of control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Firefighters battle to contain wildfires outside of Los Angeles. We'll have a live report.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

Thank you for waking up with us.

Chad will have your forecast in just a moment.

Also coming up this half hour, New Orleans reopens again. We'll get a live report on who's allowed in and what they might see when they get there.

And California is burning, at least a part of it. At least four wildfires threaten to destroy entire neighborhoods.

But first, now in the news, there is little suspense in this one. Judge John Roberts is all but certain to be confirmed as the nation's seventeenth chief justice by the Senate this morning. President Bush also expected to reveal his nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor.

The house majority leader, Tom DeLay, calls it a political vendetta. He's been charged, indicted by a Texas grand jury with conspiring to illegally help Republican candidates in the Lone Star State. He's temporarily stepped down from his leadership position, but believes he will be cleared.

There will be no Freedom Museum again ground zero. The museum idea has been dropped from the planned World Trade Center Memorial. The New York governor, George Pataki, says the museum idea was just too controversial.

To the Forecast Center now and Chad -- good morning.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com