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American Morning

Preliminary Results Show Iraq Constitution Approved; White House Weathering Storms; Neo-Nazi Rally Leads to Melee in Toledo

Aired October 17, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: A developing story this hour as the record hurricane season reaches the end of the alphabet. Wilma forms in the Caribbean. She could threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast. That forecast ahead.
The pictures coming in now from the city of Ramadi in Iraq, the scene of a fierce coalition strike against insurgents. Dozens of suspected fighters killed one day after that historic vote. We're live in Baghdad with more.

And what really happened in Toledo, Ohio, over the weekend when a neo Nazi march sparked a melee on city streets? Who caused it? Could it happen again? The answers 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.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. See those pictures from that march?

MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: I did. I did. It's very troubling.

S. O'BRIEN: I guess eventually the march was canceled.

M. O'BRIEN: The march was canceled but the rioting continued. And, as is often the case in those situations the people most armed where the property of the neighborhood, the rioters themselves. A very sad story in Toledo, Ohio.

And welcome to Monday. Another Monday, another tropical storm to focus on.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Wilma.

S. O'BRIEN: Wilma, the end of the alphabet. This is pretty much it. We start the Greek alphabet next. But the focus on Wilma now not only ties a record for most Atlantic storms. It also could be headed for the gulf, which we do not need to hear.

Let's get right to our severe weather expert, Chad Myers. He's at the CNN Center. Hey, Chad. Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad. The 8 a.m. advisory in the storm, actually, in the past three hours has been traveling to the south, about 25 miles farther south than it was at the 5 a.m. advisory. There's some good news for the U.S. there. I'll tell you about that.

And the reason why we're out of names is because we don't use Q, U, or X, Y, Z. There's not enough names, I guess, there, especially if they start to have to retire any of those. So we're on the 21st name, the last name. Then we go to Alpha.

Now, I know in 1933, the same number of storms, but there may have been more, we don't know, because we didn't have satellites out there to see the ones that may have been in the Atlantic Ocean that nobody knew about. So here we go.

This is the storm itself, Wilma. Notice a little bit of a southward drag to it. This is Honduras, Guatemala. There's Mexico and Belize. Way far south here with this storm. This is going to have to make a major right-hand turn to get into the Gulf of Mexico, although that is the hurricane center's forecast right now.

A lot of the computer models that have been traveling to the west, though. At least the ones running overnight through into Belize, maybe through Cozumel, the Yucatan, Playa del Carmen, and then into the bay of Campeche, possibly into Mexico. So just so you know.

And if you are keeping track, those are the numbers, 16.8. Remember, it was 17.2 three hours ago and then 79.6. And the maximum sustained winds are 40. And the storm is moving to the south at about five miles per hour.

We're watching an awful lot of rainfall in southern California, as well. The other big story, the wind in the northeast. Airports are going to be slow today with that wind gusting to almost 30 in New York City right now -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad. Back with you in just a little bit.

Fighting in Iraq to tell you about this morning. It happened in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad. The U.S. says 70 insurgents killed in that city when U.S. planes and helicopters launched three attacks yesterday. Iraq's ministry of health says one child was killed. Two women injured in that attack.

The bombings came on the day after Iraqis voted on that proposed constitution. The votes are still being counted as we speak.

Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour live now from Baghdad. The indications are that it was, in fact, approved.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is what officials are saying, although we don't have official results yet. We understand we'll get proper preliminary results tomorrow.

I can only assume that this sandstorm -- you might be able to see the sort of yellowy background. Much of Iraq is covered in a sandstorm today, and that is hampering some travel. Perhaps it's hampering some of the returns of these ballots from the different provinces.

But it does appear, according to officials, that they think the referendum has been approved, that the Sunnis who did, in fact, turned out this time as opposed to sitting it out back in January were only able to muster a no vote in two provinces. That wasn't enough -- or it wouldn't be enough to defeat the referendum. They would have needed a no vote in three provinces, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Christiane, tell us about that violence. By all accounts, that appears to be the exception. It seemed as if it was not an election that was marred.

AMANPOUR: No. It wasn't really. But, you know, on Saturday, referendum day in Ramadi, a roadside bomb did kill five American soldiers, and in the vicinity as well, an American Marine was killed on that day.

And it appears that Sunday, last night, American war planes were overhead. And according to the U.S. military, they say they spotted insurgents in the same place where that roadside bomb had been placed, trying, according to the U.S. Military, to set another roadside bomb. They say they let drop weapons, bombs, and they say they've killed in several different similar attacks...

M. O'BRIEN: All right. We just lost that satellite. We'll get back with Christiane a little bit later. Thanks to her -- Soledad

S. O'BRIEN: Let's move on, though, to questions about whether the top White House advisor, Karl Rove, could be indicted in the CIA leak case. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken takes a look at the political storm that's hovering over the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the whirling helicopter deposited the president back at the White House after a weekend at Camp David, the swirling question is whether some of his top advisors could possibly be indicted. Or not. And a lot of "what if's."

JOSEPH DIGENOVA, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: If they are indicted, well, then, obviously, they're going to have to resign from the White House because they -- a sitting president cannot have indicted individuals working on his staff.

FRANKEN: As distracting as the investigation of the CIA leaks has become, the White House is trying very hard to keep the focus elsewhere.

There are plans to try and gain the offensive in the battle over Harriet Miers, the president's choice for the U.S. Supreme Court. He and she will be getting some support today from former Texas Supreme Court justices, who will be talking up Miers prowess. There's a lot on the president's plate. Iraq's referendum, the continuing evident to regain credibility in the response to Hurricane Katrina.

The president continues to insist the CIA leaks investigation is not a distraction. And some important Republicans are rooting him on.

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: I have full confidence in this president, and his ability to ride out this storm that he's in at the present time.

FRANKEN (on camera): Storms plural was probably more accurate. A lot of these problems would normally, to a large extent, be handled by Karl Rove, but he, too, is riding out a storm.

Bob Franken, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: The term of the grand jury that's hearing testimony in that leak case is going to run out less than two weeks from now.

There are other stories making headlines this morning. Some of them, of course, part of that list that Bob was just talking about. Carol Costello has a look at those.

Of course, Carol, launching Harriet Miers -- relaunching her, version 2.0, is sort of topping your stories this morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You've got that right. The White House apparently shifting tactics on Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers from focusing on her personal beliefs to her resume. Two former Texas Supreme Court justices are due in Washington this morning. They're expected to highlight her accomplishments.

Miers also set to hold one-on-one meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Among them, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. Senator Feinstein has said critics should hold their fire and wait for confirmation hearings set to start next month.

Helicopters with international aid are trickling into the quake ravaged area of south Asia. Rains temporarily delayed distribution in parts of Pakistan. Officials say there are still some hard to reach areas without aid. Choppers now trying to transport those stranded by the quake. It's estimated some two million people have been left homeless by the disaster.

Israel says it is suspending security coordination with the Palestinians. And Israeli official says the move is in response to the killing of three Israeli settlers by Palestinians. The official says until the Palestinians take real steps to fight terrorism, there is nothing to talk about. The chief Palestinian negotiator calls the latest development unfortunate.

Back here in United States, say it's so. OK, it's so. The White Sox are in! The White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-3 last night, bringing the World Series back to the windy city for the first time since 1959. The Sox will take on either the Houston Astros or St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday. Game five of the National League championship series is tonight.

And not the best professional debut for 16-year-old Michelle Wie. That's if you think disqualification is worse than losing badly. Wie signed for a 74 to finish fourth in the final round of the Samsung World Championship but was disqualified for dropping her ball closer to the hole and then not declaring it back in round three. The championship ended up going to top-rated Annika Sorenstam. Wie said she was sad but rules are rules and she respects them.

M. O'BRIEN: If she had declared it, what would the difference have been?

COSTELLO: I think she would get two strokes instead of one. I don't understand golf very well, so you're probably asking the wrong person.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: And they were giving her big kudos for understanding the rules so well when she called about that beehive in the bush. She's apparently very allergic to bee stings. And she knew the rules very well. She was able to get the ball out of the bush and not have to hit it through.

M. O'BRIEN: Because of the beehive rule.

S. O'BRIEN: Because of the beehive rule, or some version of the beehive rule.

COSTELLO: There you go.

S. O'BRIEN: So she knows the rules.

COSTELLO: Not in this case, she didn't. She was apparently wrong.

S. O'BRIEN: The girl is 16 years old.

COSTELLO: I know. Poor Michelle.

S. O'BRIEN: I know. Well, she has a lot of other opportunities. Thanks, Carol.

M. O'BRIEN: She's young and she's learning the hard way.

COSTELLO: And she's rich already. There's that.

M. O'BRIEN: We're not worried about Michelle, are we?

All right. Still to come, Iraqis are still counting ballots after this weekend's vote on the constitution. But are American troops any closer to coming home? S. O'BRIEN: Also, we're going to hear from the Toledo fire chief. He was among the first responders to this weekend's protest that turned into a riot. He'll tell us about that.

M. O'BRIEN: And there's Wilma -- no, that's not Wilma. Let's try -- let's get some other pictures up. There we go. Wilma. You'll just have to look at us. The 21st named storm of the hurricane season. We'll have some new information for you. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: A very ugly scene in Toledo, Ohio, on Saturday. Neo-Nazis decided to march, as is their First Amendment right. But a lot of people were very upset about that.

In the end, 114 were arrested. There was a fire. A dozen police officers injured.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Michael Bell is Toledo's fire chief. Chief Bell, good to have us with us. How did this all get started?

MICHAEL BELL, FIRE CHIEF, TOLEDO: Well, we had a socialist group of neo-Nazis that came to Toledo. And they basically got the crowd a little stirred up here in this community, and from that -- from that point on, we were basically dealing with an issue of not only being able to protect the -- both protest group, but also dealing with a matter of civil disturbance after the Nazi group left.

M. O'BRIEN: Surely, when it became apparent that neo-Nazis were going to march in this neighborhood, you, and the police department, everybody knew there was going to be trouble there. What sorts of plans were in place?

BELL: We were in the process of putting plans together for approximately two weeks. We were trying to get the numbers of the neo-Nazi group that was going to show up so we'd have an idea how much -- how many people we would need to protect the area.

Up until, I think, about Thursday, the police chief was unable to actually get that number. Or really actually get a determination where they were going to march, the total route and everything else.

And so it was sort of a dynamic plan we were putting together from the standpoint that it was changing all the time. And once we were aware of exactly what they were going to do, we were able to wrap up our plans and finalize things.

M. O'BRIEN: The riots themselves actually started after the Nazis were sent home. Why?

BELL: Well, actually, you're right. It was actually two different phases. The first part was the neo-Nazi phase, which was probably less than an hour of time here on this site. And then the second part was a civil disturbance portion, which people took their anger that they had for the Nazis, and they basically turned it on the safety forces. I think they were upset that they felt that their turf had been violated and that the Nazis didn't have a right to be in this particular portion of the community.

M. O'BRIEN: One of the saddest things about this is they might have felt their turf was violated, but the damage was inflicted on their own turf. And this happens to be your neighborhood. What are your thoughts on that this morning?

BELL: Well, I was a little disappointed at that. You're absolutely right. I am from this neighborhood. It's a very diverse neighborhood. There are very good people here. We had some rabble rousers in the group that would not let it de-escalate. And because of that, we ended up running into a few problems.

I've got to say, though, that the police used a whole lot of restraint. They tried to let the people cool off for probably about two to three hours and then when they needed to be able to move in and do what they needed to do, they took care of business.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, as you look back on this, and I know you're with the fire department -- you're not with the police department -- but there will be a lot of second-guessing about this. And there's always this question of how much force to use, how much restraint to use, how much force to put in place. Do you have the sense that the police department got it right?

BELL: I have the sense that they got it right, because we had no civilian injuries. There were some injuries to the safety forces, so that was unfortunate. That was inappropriate.

But when you take a group of about 600 people and you got them, and they're moving around, and they're throwing rocks and glass and things like that, and you don't get any of them hurt, I think it was a real good show from the standpoint of the police. They did exactly what they needed to do when they needed to do it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Michael Bell is Toledo's fire chief. Thank you, sir.

BELL: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, will the latest Iraqi election make a big difference in bringing home U.S. troops?

And former vice presidential candidate John Edwards on the war on poverty after -- there he is -- after Katrina. We'll talk with him just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Sunnis in Iraq largely ignored the parliamentary elections last winter, but the turnout was higher this month now for the constitutional vote. Nic Robertson learns why the climate changed in one Sunni stronghold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAPT. BOB TOON, U.S. ARMY: For awhile we never would even drive down this road because every day we had an IED. We had an IED strike our vehicle.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Captain Bob Toon is on his way to Buhriz, 35 miles north of Baghdad, mostly Sunni and until recently, nothing but trouble for him and his men.

TOON: This is where we've had a lot of major attacks. The helicopter got shot down right over here behind these buildings. We've been engaged with a lot of direct fire.

ROBERTSON: Insurgents were roaming the streets almost freely. No one in the town appeared willing or able to stop them. Then came one attack too many on Captain Toon and his men.

TOON: When it all came together was on the 17th of June when I had a platoon down here that was attacked and I lost some soldiers.

ROBERTSON: It was to be a tipping point, not just for the town, but for Toon, as well.

TOON: When you're getting shot at and your soldiers are dying in these very streets, it will make you waiver from your commitment to the people. And maybe six months ago, I was pretty much at the end of my rope.

ROBERTSON (on camera): At the worst of times, Captain Toon and his men sustained serious attacks on 11 consecutive nights. Now, they say, they haven't had a serious attack in almost two months.

TOON: There is a lot of insurgent activity out here. This is their safe haven, their base of operations.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): It was to be here Toon's commanders would strike back, shelling Buhriz's fertile date palm groves, hitting where it really hurts, the town's pocketbook. The farmers quickly got the message.

TOON: Finally, they had had enough, and instead of coming against us and fighting us harder, they realized the culprit of the person -- the people that were causing their families heartache and turmoil were the insurgency that were in this village, and they ran them out.

ROBERTSON: In a town center tea shop, residents, many of whom who have been detained by Toon and his men, are still bitter about the tactics.

"They shelled my date farms," this farmer complains, "and I've had no compensation." But no one questions the result, that the insurgents have been driven from the town.

"We had had enough," he says. "We wanted a quiet life."

But the battle wasn't just won on the military front. Mayor Hassan, a new police chief and counsel, replaced men tainted by association with insurgents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First, I want to say congratulations for such a successful elections yesterday. It was very good.

ROBERTS: Although the mayor wants to talk more about the contents of the constitution than the vote, he readily admits Toon's tactics have changed attitudes, rocketing voter turnout from almost zero in parliamentary elections in January to 85 percent over the weekend.

MAYOR HASSAN ALWAN, BUHRIZ, IRAQ (through translator): The political and religious parties encouraged people to participate, and that resulted in widespread turnout.

ROBERTSON: Toon says he was given a hundred thousand dollars to help put Buhriz back on its feet and, so far, he says, he's spent two million. The kids love him. But the verdict is still out with many adults.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Buhriz, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Sunni leaders think the constitution favors Shiites and Kurds, and many of the Sunnis said they voted it down -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. We're talking Wilma now. We've been talking about Wilma, been talking about the Greek alphabet. But here comes Wilma. Ties the record for most Atlantic storms that are named. But it could be headed for the gulf. Severe weather expert Chad Myers almost dead certain it's going to be headed for the gulf.

Right, Chad?

MYERS: Well, it could be Bay of Campeche, could be Gulf of Mexico, Miles. And it does look like it's going to be drifting to the south, which is all the same, basically, body of water.

Here is the storm itself, drifting to the south all night long, five miles per hour now. What you're going to have to do with this storm -- now it's the W storm. It's last name, no X, Y or Z.

What you're going to have to do with this storm is really follow the cone and not the path, not the line. Because the forecast was for this thing to be traveling to the west since about 2 a.m., 5 a.m. this morning. It hasn't done that at all. It's been traveling to the south at five miles per hour for the past three hours. And now it's going to probably turn back to the southwest and then the west. So maybe now we're on the bottom part of this track for awhile. Could still turn to the right.

The hurricane center forecast, though, will be updated at 11 a.m. in the morning, 11 a.m. this morning, Eastern Time. And we'll see whether they change their mind a little bit to the left or not. A lot of the models have been changing to the left a little bit in the overnight.

Sixteen point eight, 79.6 west, and maximum sustained winds are 40. You have to remember, a couple of days ago, on Saturday, the forecast was for this to travel right up over Cuba and be not that far from Key West by Friday morning. That certainly doesn't look like that's -- at least right now -- in the possibility.

But again, there's the cone. Still in that cone of possibility later on this week. That's still a five-day cone. This is moving so slowly, it could go left or it could go right.

Expecting airport delays: Boston, New York, and D.C. with the winds crossing many of the runways. Seventy-two Chicago. Rain showers, thunderstorms there. Cool weather working its way through Fargo. I guess basically summer is over for a lot of you in the northern half of the country.

Eight-four, Vega. A very rainy day today. San Diego, Phoenix, Yuma, places that usually don't get rain. Ninety in Dallas. Here's the rain right now from L.A. County back out toward Riverside right along i-10 over the grapevine. And then there's more rain back out to the west, Yuma. Even possibly some showers in phoenix and Vegas later today that could slow down airports there.

Right now, all airports doing pretty well, but it's still early.

Miles, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Chad, are they flying airplanes through that storm yet?

MYERS: They flew one over the weekend. But you know what, it's so far down there, Miles, and they're -- we had this story about how they're out of budget money, basically at this point. They have to borrow from one side to pay the other side. So they're going to be very, very judicious when they talk about flying planes into this one. Not until it gets a lot closer, I'm afraid.

M. O'BRIEN: I hope they're not waiting for a check from FEMA. All right, Chad. Thank you very much.

Still to come, former vice presidential candidate John Edwards is turning his efforts to helping the poor. We'll talk to him about it. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for "AMERICAN MORNING Quick News" at CNN.com/AM.

Still to come this morning, getting back to normal in New Orleans. The city's first school is set to reopen this morning. We'll have that, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Did you guys read this story about this principal in Long Island just canceling the prom?

COSTELLO: Good for him.

M. O'BRIEN: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What?

S. O'BRIEN: What?

M. O'BRIEN: Wait a minute.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get back story first.

M. O'BRIEN: Bah humbug.

S. O'BRIEN: Uniondale -- Uniondale, Long Island, the principal, Brother Kenneth M. Hoagland, said forget it with the prom. He sent a letter out basically saying it's not the sex/booze/drugs. These are his words, not mine, that is going to cause the...

M. O'BRIEN: Is he a monk, "brother"? That kind of brother?

S. O'BRIEN: I believe he's a brother, but he's the principal because it's a Roman Catholic high school.

M. O'BRIEN: Right. Well, he wasn't wearing the thing, the burlap thing.

S. O'BRIEN: He says -- no, he's in a suit and tie.

COSTELLO: We digress. We digress.

S. O'BRIEN: He says that instead it's financial decadence. Forty-six students pitched in to rent a house for 20 grand in the Hamptons!

COSTELLO: In the Hamptons.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. That's definitely not the vows of poverty that the brother would have...

S. O'BRIEN: Well, I think he just thinks that it's all spinning out of control.

Why would you think it's a good thing?

COSTELLO: Because it is spinning out of control. Do you know how much money that parents pay for their daughters' dresses to the prom nowadays?

M. O'BRIEN: OK, OK, but...

S. O'BRIEN: Isn't that kind of their own business? I mean, I think it' crazy. I totally agree. But, like, I wouldn't do it, but...

COSTELLO: But if you're a school and you want to send a message that -- like this, this over the top, self aggrandizing type behavior is not a good thing.

M. O'BRIEN: The limos, the parties.

S. O'BRIEN: Did you hate your prom?

COSTELLO: I did, actually!

M. O'BRIEN: Apparently...

S. O'BRIEN: I'm feeling it!

M. O'BRIEN: Did you not get a good date?

S. O'BRIEN: Apparently not. You just hated your date.

COSTELLO: It's not about me. I'm just saying that at least someone is stepping up to the plate and doing something that he strongly believes in.

S. O'BRIEN: Canceling it for everybody, I bet 10 percent of the students go crazy. And 90 percent...

M. O'BRIEN: Seems a bit Draconian.

S. O'BRIEN: And 90 percent just want to go and have a good time and put on a nice dress.

COSTELLO: Well, the parents, evidently, are...

S. O'BRIEN: I made my dress on a sewing machine, Carol! I made it!

COSTELLO: Was it gingham?

M. O'BRIEN: It was burlap?

S. O'BRIEN: No, it was not. No it was not.

Anyway, we're going to have the brother, the principal on the show to talk about this tomorrow.

COSTELLO: I'll be clapping.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll grill him. We'll grill the brother.

S. O'BRIEN: Carol will be clapping. M. O'BRIEN: The inquisition.

S. O'BRIEN: Lordy.

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