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American Morning

Iraqi Suicide Bombs On Rise As Saturday Vote On Constitution Approaches; Severe Weather In Earthquake Region Hampers Search & Rescue, Relief Supplies; New Orleans Police Embroiled In Brutality Incident

Aired October 11, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: The death toll 42,000 and its climbing. We're live there this morning.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: And a federal investigation now underway in New Orleans. The police beating of a 64- year-old retired school teacher. We're looking at that, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Good to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: Good to see you.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to see you back. Hope you enjoyed your long weekend.

S. O'BRIEN: I did. I had a very nice time. I was here. I brought the girls in for lunch.

M. O'BRIEN: They were so cute. She came in for lunch yesterday with her girls.

S. O'BRIEN: They wanted to eat in the cafeteria, it was their big -- for the day off.

M. O'BRIEN: Great view.

S. O'BRIEN: Whoo-hoo! Great day off in the office!

M. O'BRIEN: Anyway, good to have you back.

We have lots coming in this morning. Details about those car bombings in Iraq to tell you about soon, but we have other things to talk about as well.

S. O'BRIEN: In fact, let's start with those suicide bombings in Iraq. It really happened in just the last few hours. The combined death toll is said to be in the dozens. The attacks come with five days to go before Iraqis vote on their new constitution. Aneesh Raman is live for us in the capitol city.

Aneesh, good morning. Are the targets in these bombings, what were they?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you.

The targets, again, Iraqi civilians. Both these attacks in Sunni dominated areas. Clear, insurgent intimidation to keep the Sunnis away from the polls on Saturday's vote. The deadliest attack took place just about three hours ago in the northwestern town of Tal Afar. A suicide car bomb there detonating at a marketplace, at least 30 people confirmed dead in that one incident alone, 45 others wounded.

Then a short time later, in the western part of the capital, a Sunni dominated neighborhood called Amaria (ph) a suicide car bomb there detonated alongside a convoy of Iraqi army vehicles. Large plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from that neighborhood. The death toll according to Iraqi police is at least four. Initial reports, though, would put the number of dead upwards at 20.

We are, as you mentioned, Soledad, just days away from that critical vote on Saturday. Iraqis going to the polls to vote either up or down their country's constitution. But all eyes will be on these Sunni areas, Al Ambar Province, Diallah (ph) Province to see whether the Sunnis come out to vote and whether they have the votes to reject this constitution, which is what they have said is their stated aim. If they do not, if this constitution passes by a slim majority, Soledad, that is really the biggest fear here. It could further alienate the Sunnis from this political process and in doing so further embolden Iraq's insurgency -- Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: Obviously, huge issues there. Aneesh, I want to ask you, though, about this other story: 23 arrest warrants have been issued. These are arrest warrants given out to former members of the interim government. What are they exactly charged with?

RAMAN: It goes all the way up to the top in the interim defense department. Hazzeem Sallah (ph), who is the former interim defense official. They are charged with essentially misspending $1.3 to $2.3 billion. Some egregious contracts that were signed. Military equipment that was bought by Iraq that is unusable. Contracts that were paid out, equipment was never brought, or actually surfaced in Iraq.

It is raising serious questions not just on the prevalence of corruption but also the military preparedness of a country that we now understand misspent billions, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman, updating us to what's happening there.

Aneesh, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

Coming up in just a few minutes, how prepared are Iraqis to maintain their own security? We are going to check in with a general who until very recently was in charge of training Iraqi security forces -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: As if they needed this, severe weather in Central Asia making it harder for rescuers who are searching for earthquake survivors. Local authorities say the death toll in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan has now topped 42,000. More than 41,000 people have died in Pakistan alone. As many as 5 million -- 5 million -- are now homeless, living in harsh, frigid conditions. Satinder Bindra live now in Islamabad. He just returned from the hard-hit town of Muzaffarabad, the capitol of Pakistani controlled Kashmir.

Satinder, are people getting relief yet?

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Miles, some relief is indeed getting into the remote areas of Pakistan. But for the survivors, it's not getting there fast enough. They're complaining and they're not quite sure how long they can last in these conditions. The weather has turned cold. The weather has turned nasty this afternoon.

Earlier today, though, some signs of hope. Eight U.S. helicopters that arrived here in Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan started taking in relief. They were flying from Islamabad to Muzaffarabad, in Pakistani controlled Kashmir. They were carrying essential items, like food, blankets, and tents.

Once these helicopters landed, the supplies were off-loaded, and soon the supplies will be transported into more remote areas.

On their journey back, these helicopters evacuating the wounded. And, Miles, some very strong and touching pictures. Most of the wounded are women and children. I saw some horrific injuries to children. Many of the children suffering when their schools collapsed right on top of them last Saturday.

So the latest now is, Miles, there is bad weather here in Islamabad, indeed in the north, so many of the flights have been grounded. Still not clear when all these helicopters can start flying once again.

M. O'BRIEN: Satinder Bindra in Islamabad, thank you very much.

Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: Robert Davis is going to be in court today. His beating and his arrest by New Orleans police was caught on tape. This is the latest incident to sully the reputation of the New Orleans police force but the everyday working conditions they are working under are pretty extreme. Experts are wondering if the officers have been pushed beyond the limits of endurance. CNN's Dan Simon, live for us in New Orleans this morning.

Hey Dan, good morning.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

City leaders were quick to condemn what they saw on that tape, calling it indefensible. And as you said, the question many are asking did stress or fatigue play a role in the officers' conduct.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SIMON (voice over): This incident has caught the attention of the U.S. Justice Department, which is now formally investigating what happened on Saturday night on Bourbon Street.

Police say they arrested Robert Davis for public drunkenness, but the attorney for the retired 64-year-old school teacher says he gave up drinking years ago and was sober that evening.

JOSEPH BRUNO, ATTORNEY FOR ROBERT DAVIS: They had the opportunity, if they had desired, to take some blood or, you know, do a breathalyzer, if that was a serious allegation. I don't think it was a serious allegation. At no time was he ever told that he was under arrest. At no time was he even told to stop.

SIMON: Shortly after the officers pummeled the 64-year-old suspect and wrestled him to the ground, one of the officers loses his temper with an AP producer venting his frustration. The officers have been charged with battery, a misdemeanor, and have been suspended without pay. All pleaded not guilty. Lieutenant David Benelli heads the police union.

LT. DAVID BENELLI, NEW ORLEANS POLICE ASSN.: The officers are upset. They are upset that they were suspended. They thought their action were justified, given the circumstances that were at hand.

SIMON: The larger circumstances also include brutal 12-hour shifts. Officers separated from families. And this startling figure, three-quarters of New Orleans officers lost their homes.

ACTING SUPT. WARREN RILEY, NOPD: The stress is not just Hurricane Katrina, it's the aftermath, and it's so many other things that the officers are going through.

SIMON: Some officers have taken advantage of counselors, but not nearly enough says the City Council President Oliver Thomas.

OLIVER THOMAS, PRESIDENT, N.O. CITY COUNCIL: Is this psychological, that needs to be dealt with? Yes. Do they need some time off? Yes. Should we be taking care of them? Absolutely.

SIMON: But still Lieutenant Benelli with the police union doesn't believe stress or fatigue played a role in the officers behavior.

BENELLI: We are working long hours, but we're coping with working these long hours.

SIMON: There will be more long hours ahead as National Guard troops and other law enforcement agencies begin to pull out and the citizens of this beleaguered city try to move back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: Now, adding to the stress, those officers are living on cramped cruise ships. When they do have free time, there is really no place for them to go and no one to spend it with -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it's been a very long six weeks I think for everybody involved in that. Dan Simon for us.

Dan, thanks.

We will speak with Robert Davis and his attorney coming up in our next half hour. He says he was sober and did nothing to provoke the beating that he got -- Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Now to New Hampshire where the search goes on for people still missing in the wake of massive flooding there. The weekend flooding tore up roads, washed out bridges, and ripped houses off of their foundations. Ray Brewer of Manchester affiliate WMUR is live in Alstead, New Hampshire, about 35 miles from the state capitol of Concord.

Ray, how many people are unaccounted for this morning?

RAY BREWER, REPORTER, WMUR TV: Well, Miles, officially, there are 14 people that are unaccounted for at this point. But it's a number that remains very much influx as some names are added to the list, others are taken out.

Everywhere you look just about there is destruction. Want to give you a look here. You can see this small town of about 2,000. Some of the debris you see there is from the homes two and a half miles upstream that were washed down here. Those are the people that are missing at this point.

As I said, southwestern New Hampshire hit extremely hard. We have some pictures to give you an idea of the devastation and destruction that faces the people as the recovery efforts get underway. All of the major roads just about in this section of the state have some sort of damage to them.

What has happened is over the course of the weekend, in some cases, we got 11 inches of rain. Normally, we will get about three inches of rain in a month so it just caused severe devastation. A lot of these major roads were built in the valleys.

Here in the town of Alstead, what happened is upstream from where we are now, there was a road with about 30 to 40 feet of fill that acted as a makeshift dam. Of course, it wasn't designed for that. The pressure built up.

Once that road gave way, it sent a wall of water cascading through this town. At one point, if we can come back here live now and we can show you this bridge here. At one point, the residents said the water was some three feet over this bridge.

There is good news in the background. You may be able to hear some of the crews starting the reconstruction and you may be able to see as well, that the lights are back on here in downtown Alstead. Reporting live, Ray Brewer, CNN news, Alstead, New Hampshire.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Ray Brewer, with WMUR, we appreciate that.

Let's check the weather forecast. Chad Myers in the weather center this morning.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, much more on today's deadly violence in Iraq. Are the troops there, Iraqi troops, any closer to taking over for U.S. forces? We'll take a look.

M. O'BRIEN: Also that earthquake in South Asia and Osama bin Laden. We'll look at how the quake might have affected the hunt for the terrorist.

S. O'BRIEN: Plus, rebuilding New Orleans. One Louisiana lawmaker says too much money is going to out of state contractors. Find out what he wants to do about that just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: More than 30 people died in suicide car bombings in Iraq today. Iraqi security forces were attacked in Baghdad. The other bomb exploded in a market in northwestern Iraq. Both attacks U.S. and Iraqi forces have consistently battled insurgents.

The presence of U.S. forces in Iraq depends largely on the readiness of the Iraqi forces to defend their own country. Lt. General David Patraeus was in charge of training the Iraqi security forces up until just last month. He's at the Pentagon this morning.

It's nice to see you again, Sir. Thank you for talking with us.

LT. GEN. DAVID PATRAEUS, U.S. ARMY: Thank you. Good to see you again, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

Let's talk about Iraqi readiness because, of course, that is directly correlated to when U.S. troops are going to come home. In your October 5 briefing, you said there is one battalion that was a tier one readiness, fully ready, without any coalition support to do the work of really 140,000 U.S. troops. It sounds very, very low. It sounds like we're very far behind, frankly.

PATRAEUS: What I also said, Soledad, was that there were well over 36 battalions that are actually in the lead in this fight against the insurgents and terrorists in Iraq. In fact, as your Major General Don Shepherd, your military analyst, said just before the break, just returning from Iraq, he is very, very encouraged by what he saw the Iraqi security forces doing.

He noted, for example, that just recently in Baghdad alone, some 20 percent of the area has been turned over to Iraqi security forces. Karbala and Najaff have been turned over, in all, in fact, there are now over 200,000 Iraqi security forces as a final countdown to the referendum on Saturday takes place. S. O'BRIEN: But when you talk about those 35 battalions, the one I talked about, and the 35 others at the tier two readiness, really they require some kind of coalition support. And if the goal is eventually one day for U.S. troops to be out, you're going to need battalions that can operate with no U.S. support. Really, you only have 750 guys. Even with that tier two level, that's 26,000 troops, well short of the 140,000 troops that the U.S. has in Iraq right now. Am I doing the math correctly?

PATRAEUS: You're not, actually, Soledad.

First of all, everyone is always expected there would be a requirement to provide some support. It may be as little as logistical support. Perhaps help with some intel or command and control. Is this a long process to help reestablish an entire army and let's not forget the police, either. That is not in those numbers you're doing.

The 68,000 plus police that are out there on duty, the border forces, their version of the secret service, their version of the hostage rescue team. All of these other elements are also contributing very much to the fight. I think it's very important to for the American people -- and the Iraqi people -- to know that the Iraqis are in the fight, they are fighting and dying for their country.

And they're fighting increasingly well. And that has been steady over the course of the last year, but accelerated in particular since their very good performance in the 30 January elections earlier this year.

S. O'BRIEN: How worried are you about these Iraqi militias? You look at an area like Basra, which seems like it is stable, and now seems like it's not because the Iraqi militias are very strong there. And there are other areas well as well. How do you bring stability to all of Iraq when the militias can quickly destabilize an area?

PATRAEUS: The militias are a concern and they are not just to us, they are a concern to the Iraqi leaders. And that's what really counts at this point. The minister of interior personally is concerned about them. He is personally taking steps to sort out, for example, the issues down in Basra where the vast majority of the police are very good, but there are clearly some that have, at the very best, conflicted loyalties.

A lot of these issues, increasingly, Soledad, are going to be dealt with by Iraqi leaders. That is the way it should be as, again, the process of sovereignty and them really running their country goes forward.

S. O'BRIEN: How about infiltration? We only have a few seconds left to talk about this, but you talk about conflicted loyalties. A lot of that is infiltration by people who should not be on the police force and only want to be there for nefarious purposes.

PATRAEUS: That took place, a lot of that, way back really in the early part of the stand-up of these forces. That's something that, again, both ministers are still dealing with. Each of them has a process for revetting their forces. And there are much stricter vetting processes that were put in place in each case about six to eight months ago.

S. O'BRIEN: Lieutenant General David Patraeus, joining us. Nice to see you. Thank you very much for updating us.

PATRAEUS: Good to see you, again, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: An update now on the hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

U.S. Intelligence officials are keeping a close watch on Pakistan's northwest border after Saturday's deadly earthquake. They hope to find out whether the devastation disrupted the activities of the terror chief who, of course, is believed to be hiding out there. Senior Correspondent Jamie McIntyre reporting from the Pentagon this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE McINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Any speculation about the fate of Osama bin Laden has to begin with the acknowledgment that while U.S. intelligence thinks he is holed up in Pakistan, no one really knows.

Saturday's earthquake was centered along Pakistan's eastern line of control, the dividing line between Pakistani and Indian zones of Kashmir. The destruction does extend to the west but not as far as the rugged border region where bin Laden is thought to have been given sanctuary by sympathetic tribal leaders who are largely outside government control.

And U.S. commanders say the manhunt, for the moment, is taking a back seat to humanitarian relief.

LT. GEN. KARL EIKENBERRY, CMDR. GEN. U.S. FORCES, AFGHAN: Right now, the entire focus of the Pakistani leader and the military and the people are to relieve the suffering.

McINTYRE: While the U.S. and Afghan militaries continue to engage Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants after four years, they've yet to find Osama bin Laden. Or, for that matter, his deputy, Iman al Zawari or Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

Pakistani forces haven't fared much better on their side of the boarder and don't expect the earthquake to shake bin Laden loose now.

A senior Defense official tells CNN there have been no indications bin Laden was killed or injured in the quake or, for that matter, even inconvenienced. But U.S. intelligence officials are keeping a sharp out eye in case he moves and gives his location away. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE) M. O'BRIEN: As we've been telling you, eight U.S. Military helicopters are now in Pakistan helping in relief operations there. However, military commanders insist the patrols along the Afghan- Pakistan border region have not been affected by the quake.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, business news. There are growing worries that one U.S. auto maker is on the verge of bankruptcy. We're "Minding Your Business," that coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: There's growing concern that General Motors might follow the auto parts maker Delphi into bankruptcy. Gerri Willis is in for Andy Serwer, who has the day off, and she's "Minding Your Business.

What is the link between Delphi, which we all know, is now headed toward bankruptcy, and GM?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: It's kind of complicated, Soledad.

Good morning. Good to see you.

Here's what we're looking at today. GM could file Chapter 11, could file for reorganization according to some analysts on Wall Street. At least that is the talk over the water coolers. The reason, well GM used to own Delphi. When they spun them out in 1999. And when they did, they said they would pay a portion of that company's pension and healthcare obligations if the company filed for bankruptcy before 2007.

Now, I don't understand the corporate logic at work there, but suffice it to say this is a lot of money, maybe as much as $11 billion according to analysts. It could have an effect on GM.

S. O'BRIEN: GM is now responsible for that $11 -- did you say, billion?

WILLIS: Billion, with a B.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, $11 billion?

WILLIS: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: That would go to the Delphi workers?

WILLIS: That's right. And it probably will be negotiated out, I should say. The Delphi CEO saying that unless GM is able to renegotiate this, they very well could be headed for bankruptcy.

S. O'BRIEN: That is kind of the big $64,000 question.

All right, Gerri. Thank you very much. WILLIS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, Dr. Gupta has another "New You" check up. Today, we get an update on the Reverend Leann Wainright (ph) . It's been eight months. Is it still a new you? Kind of a sort of new, right?

S. O'BRIEN: Sure.

M. O'BRIEN: It's the current, her?

S. O'BRIEN: Version 2.0.

M. O'BRIEN: Version 2.0. Find out whether she succeeded on version 2.0. We will see how 2.1 is coming, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Is that the sun? Is that the sun there? Did you see that?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it won't be there for long. Take a quick look.

M. O'BRIEN: A quick glimpse at that pink thing.

S. O'BRIEN: Chad says it's going to pour.

M. O'BRIEN: Forget about it after that.

Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Coming up, we will talk a little bit more of that dramatic beating, police beating, caught on tape.

S. O'BRIEN: Did you see all of that? It's pretty remarkable. We're going to hear from the man who was at the center of the attack and also his attorney as well.

You know, the police are saying that he was drunk and he says he wasn't drunk. In fact, he's been sober for 25 years after having a blackout years and years ago.

Federal investigation is now underway. We're going to bring everybody the latest on that story. It's tough to watch.

M. O'BRIEN: It's not like he says I had a couple of beers. It's like I haven't had a drink for 25 years.

S. O'BRIEN: He sort of laughed out loud at that one.

M. O'BRIEN: You have to wonder about this whole story.

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