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CNN Live At Daybreak

Back on Track; Deadly October

Aired November 01, 2005 - 05:00   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 Tuesday, the first day of November, and the White House turns its focus to a matter of life and death. Heeding the warnings of health experts worldwide, President Bush will reveal his plan this morning for battling what could be a health catastrophe.
Also, more Americans killed in Iraq. The bloody days of October have finally ended, and none too soon for many commanders.

And His Royal Highness and the Duchess of Cornwall on a trip. Our Richard Quest joins us for a look at the British couple's first visit to America together.

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

COSTELLO: And good morning to you. We'll have more on the fight against bird flu in just a minute.

Also ahead...

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: Oh, I'm glad the right music came up, because I thought I was going to have to sing. Is Dorothy's wish coming true? A modern-day makeover for "The Wizard of Oz," thanks to a little Technicolor magic. We'll show you how it's done ahead this hour.

But first, "Now in the News."

At least 15 are dead following a car bomb blast in Basra. The explosion ripped through a crowded market in Iraq's second largest city. Another 50 people were injured in the blast. We'll have a live report from Baghdad in just a few minutes.

Philadelphia area commuters are bracing for day two of that public transit strike. Nearly half a million riders had to find a new way to get to and from work. The Philadelphia school district says attendance was off because of the strike.

Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla arrive in New York today. It's the couple's first official overseas trip since they were married earlier this year. They've also scheduled stops in Washington, New Orleans and San Francisco.

To the forecast center. Bonnie Schneider in today.

Good morning.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

COSTELLO: President Bush takes on bird flu this morning. He'll unveil a national strategy for dealing with a possible flu pandemic. The White House press secretary says that strategy will include finding a flu outbreak as soon as it appears, containing it, and treating it. The government will develop strong protections against the flu such as vaccines and antiviral treatments.

The press secretary says the government would respond quickly to save lives. Bird flu has a high mortality rate. Sixty-two of 121 human cases worldwide have proved deadly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, we do know from history that there have been outbreaks from the bird flu. We don't know what strain of virus. It might eventually lead to a possible outbreak. But it's something we need to take seriously, and that's why the president has been leading the way. We've expanded our stockpile of antivirals to over four million courses by the end of 2005.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The president unveils his plans for dealing with the flu pandemic at 10:10 Eastern this morning. You can watch and hear what the president says about that right here on CNN. Of course we'll carry his remarks live.

Focusing on dealing with the pandemic, they help take the focus off of some of the administration's problems. You know, the CIA leak stuff, the Harriet Miers in and then out nomination. One apparent positive step, at least for many conservatives, the president's nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

Our White House Correspondent Dana Bash has more on efforts by the White House to get things back on track.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If you listen carefully at just about this moment...

JUDGE SAMUEL ALITO, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: ... and for honoring me with this nomination.

BASH: ... you may be able to hear a collective sigh of relief inside the White House . With that announcement, they changed the subject. Step one in the post-Harriet Miers, post-indictment White House recovery plan.

ALITO: I really look forward to working with the Senate during the confirmation process.

BASH: With Samuel Alito, the political planets realigned. Beleaguered Bush aides say they can fight who they're supposed to, Democrats, not fellow Republicans revolting against their leader.

But Mr. Bush still faces a long list of problems.

Just Monday, six more troops were killed in the increasingly unpopular Iraq war. And he still has problems in his own party. While conservatives like Alito, they have other complaints.

TERRY JEFFREY, EDITOR, HUMAN EVENTS: President Bush has not done a good job restraining the growth of government. He has not done a good job securing our borders.

BASH: Then there's the question of the CIA leak investigation. One aide indicted, another still in legal limbo. But the White House would not, said they could not answer credibility questions stemming from past statements by the president and his spokesman, who told reporters former Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby and top Bush aide Karl Rove had no role in the leaks.

MCCLELLAN: If we were to get into that, we could be prejudicing the opportunity for there to be a fair and impartial hearing.

BASH: On this day, Mr. Bush, determined not to step on his new Alito message, would not answer questions about Democratic calls to fire Karl Rove, who sources say did talk to reporters about classified information. But Republican strategists, especially those familiar with second-term slumps, say the president still must consider replacing some of his tired insular staff.

KEN DUBERSTEIN, FMR. WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: That doesn't mean a wholesale changing of the guard, but it does mean some new energy and some fresh ideas and fresh faces.

BASH: One Bush adviser tells CNN the president is disappointed in his staff for missteps. And aides say he will likely make changes at the top as soon as the end of the year.

NICK CALIO, FMR. WHITE HOUSE AIDE: If people have to leave, they will leave. They will be replaced. The president will move on. There is a lot more that he wants to get done.

BASH (on camera): Ten months into the president's second term, no one here disputes the Bush agenda is largely stalled. But aides hope in the near term to regain their footing by pushing less partisan issues, like a plan to fight the bird flu pandemic.

Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: And certainly Judge Alito's record is being looked at very closely. It's expected he'll get a grilling by Senate Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation process. Alito says he's ready to meet with the Senate panel, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALITO: Well, I'm just looking forward to working with the Senate in the confirmation process. And I will do everything I can to cooperate with them and to discuss my record as a judge, and the record of what I've done during the other stages of my -- of my legal career.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he wants to scheduled a vote on Alito's confirmation before the end of the year.

More blood on the streets of Iraq. This time it happened in Basra. A car bomb went off in a crowded commercial district, killing at least 15 people and injuring at least 50 more. The explosion ripped through several shops and restaurants in Iraq's second largest city.

U.S. and Iraqi officials hope November is far different than October. Last month was the deadliest since January for U.S. troops. At least 92 Americans were killed in October.

Let's get more on this from our Aneesh Raman. He's in Baghdad this morning.

Hello, Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

Some six U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate incidents yesterday in Iraq. And it made, as you say, October the second deadliest month for U.S. troops this year. It is a month that also saw last week that unfortunate marker of the 2,000th American soldier killed in Iraq.

The military also confirming to CNN that last Thursday Colonel William Wood was killed by an improvised explosive device south of the capital, in the northern part of Babel province. He becomes the highest ranking U.S. military officer to die in combat in Iraq.

And Carol, I was in that area last week, embedded with troops of the 3rd Infantry Division. It remains a persistent fight there.

The military says in that area a number of insurgent groups are planning attacks to take place here in the capital city. The find IEDs; minutes later, those IEDs are replaced by another one.

And so there is progress being made on the front liens. They are trying to train Iraqi security forces to man their own positions. But the Iraqi security forces that we saw were not nearly capable yet of doing independent operations.

They are still very heavily reliant upon U.S. forces. And so as we head towards that December 15 general election day, the time that both U.S. and Iraqi officials say we could see a surge in violence ahead, vigilance of course remains high.

Now, in the October referendum we did not see a similar surge in violence. The referendum, by all accounts, was a security success. But nonetheless, as progress is being made, forces are still being killed here, Carol. And as they try and go out and route these IEDs, which are faceless killers, these roadside bombs, it is a still persistent fight, especially in that area we were just in -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Aneesh Raman reporting live from Baghdad this morning.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, a royal visit. Prince Charles and his new bride coming to America. So are you excited?

Plus, the trip down the Yellow Brick Road has never looked so good. You've got to see just how technology is bringing new magic to the old "Wizard of Oz."

And with a name like "Scooter" in the news, you know it was just a matter of time before our Jeanne Moos took it to the streets.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: International markets mixed this morning. Tokyo's Nikkei is up a whopping 228 points. That is a four-year high. And it's despite computer troubles at the Tokyo Stock Exchange that forced a temporary halt in trading.

In Europe, the London FTSE up five. The German DAX down just over three.

In futures trading, get this, oil is down another 24 cents. It's now below $60 a barrel. Ah, the price stands at $59.52 this morning.

Hey, the royals are coming for a visit. But do you care?

Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla arrive in New York today. The prince got a grand reception during an official visit some 20 years ago, but of course he had Princess Di by his side then.

A new CNN "USA-Today"-Gallup poll asked you about the visit. Less than 20 percent of you said you were interested in the visit. Eighty-one percent say, no, I don't really care.

But what about a face-to-face meeting with the royal couple? Again, there doesn't seem to be much interest. Only 19 percent would take the opportunity. In contrast, 30 percent of you would like to meet up with princes William and Harry. So, we were wondering this morning, what would make you care? That's our e-mail question of the morning. What would make you care? Because Charles and Camilla are coming to the United States in an effort to get more Americans to care about them, to improve relations with the United States.

But obviously what they're doing right now is not helping. They're going to make stop in San Francisco. They're going to visit New Orleans on a goodwill trip. They're going to come here to New York.

Do you care? What else do they need to do? So Charles and Camilla: What would make you care? That is our DAYBREAK e-mail question of the morning. Please e-mail us now at DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:14 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Tempers flare at the United Nations. Syria's foreign minister angrily denounced the Security Council for assuming Syria was involved in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. The foreign minister says it's equivalent to suggesting the U.S., Spain and Britain new in advance about 9/11 and other major terror attacks.

Steve Case, cofounder of America Online, has resigned from the board of Time Warner to focus on a new company. Time Warner is the parent company of CNN.

In money news -- oh, it's good to be the boss -- a survey finds that a typical chief executive of the nation's largest companies got more than $5.7 million in compensation last year. That's the average. That's up more than 30 percent from the year before.

In pop culture, serious accusations came out in a custody hearing between Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. In court papers, Baldwin asked for a psychological evaluation of his ex-wife. Basinger's attorney countered by saying Baldwin has severe emotional problems of his own.

They're fighting over custody of their 10-year-old daughter Ireland.

In sports, Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein is leaving the club. He turned down a new three-year contract that would have quadrupled his salary. He was the game's youngest GM when he led the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2004.

To the forecast center now and Bonnie Schneider.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Bonnie.

The Yellow Brick Road is a bit brighter nowadays. And Dorothy can thank Technicolor for her youthful appearance. And the Scarecrow can, too. Just ahead, we peek behind the curtain at technology.

You're watching DAYBREAK for a Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Ah, remember our question of the morning? Because, you know, Charles and Camilla, they're coming to the United States to get you to like them better. But a CNN "USA-Today"-Gallup poll says none of you really care.

So we're asking you this question, Charles and Camilla: What would make you care? What do they need to do to win your love?

E-mail us at DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Entertainment headlines for you this morning. Mickey Rourke is the man of the year. That's according to a British film magazine. Film fans voted him the honor for his work in the movie "Sin City."

"Batman Begins" was voted best film, while the Sith Lord from the final "Star Wars" movie was chosen as best villain. The same magazine chose President Bush as the villain of the year in Michael Moore's movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."

The lead singer of the Isley Brothers might be going to prison. A Los Angeles jury found Ronald Isley guilty of federal tax evasion. He faces up to 26 years in prison when he's sentenced in January.

Famed French actor Gerard DePardieu says he is ready to leave the movie biz. The veteran actor told a French magazine that he has nothing left to prove. DePardieu has appeared in around 170 films, but he's best known in the United States for his starring role in 1990s' "Green Card."

These days you can find almost anything on DVD, from old TV shows like "Dallas" and "Dragnet," to the most recent movies. But now one classic is back with a new look thanks to a little digital magic.

CNN's Brooke Anderson takes us on a trip down the Yellow Brick Road.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK MORGAN, ACTOR, "THE WIZARD OF OZ": Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Thanks to some real wizardry, the classic movie "The Wizard of Oz" is getting new life through a unique process called ultra restoration.

ROB HUMMEL, WARNER BROS. TECHNICAL OPS.: It is incredibly exciting, because this has never been done before. And we're revealing images that have been sitting on these film negatives for 65, 66 years that no one's every seen before. ANDERSON (on camera): In fact, ever since it premiered here in Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood in 1939, audiences haven't been able to truly see "The Wizard of Oz" in all its Technicolor glory until now.

RAY BOLGER, ACTOR, "THE WIZARD OF OZ": The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side.

ANDERSON: To create a movie in Technicolor, three separate strips of film, each representing a different color, are shot. The problem comes from trying to line up the film strips exactly.

KAREN PERLMUTTER, RESEARCH SCIENTIST: When you align them, you may have, like, color fringing or blurriness as a result.

ANDERSON: Doctors Karen and Sharon Perlmutter, working for Warner Brothers, which, like CNN, is owned by Time Warner, were the brains behind the ultra restoration process.

PERLMUTTER: So what we did was to develop technology that will automatically register the three black and white digital images corresponding to the red, green and blue components.

ANDERSON: Once the computers realign every frame, more than 436,000 in all, small particles of dirt and scratches are then corrected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can look at it, and you can say, wow, you can really see the burlap in the scarecrow, or you can really see this, or the rivet in the tin woodsman's forehead. But it really doesn't hit you until you see it on the big screen.

ANDERSON: And now both longtime fans of the movie who are still young at heart, along with a new generation of children will be able to experience the magic of "The Wizard of Oz" in a brand new light.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "THE WIZARD OF OZ" (SINGING): That's how we keep you in repair in the merry old land of Oz.

ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I'm also reading some of your e-mails, and they're quite enjoyable this morning. So keep them coming, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Here's what's all new in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK.

Does the word "Scooter" mean anything to you? If you're a loyal DAYBREAK viewer it should. But you might be surprised by what our Jeanne Moos found on the streets of New York.

That story is ahead this hour.

We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning to you. Thank you for waking up with us. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.

Coming up in the next 30 minutes, ah, the royals return. The pomp, the circumstance, the almost complete lack of interest on the part of America. Why all the indifference? We'll take a look.

Also, G. Gordon Liddy, Colonel Oliver North, Scooter. There's a new name in White House scandals, but how seriously can you take a guy named Scooter? Jeanne Moos doesn't take it very seriously at all. That's coming up.

"Now in the News," you can expect another quarter percentage point increase in interest rates today. The Federal Reserve policymakers meet at 9:00 Eastern this morning. Economists predict the panel under chairman Alan Greenspan will approve the increase.

In London this morning, Queen Elizabeth will lead a memorial service for the victims of the July 7 train bombings. Fifty-two people were killed in the attacks. British Prime Minister Tony Blair will also attend.

And just the thing for you headache sufferers to think about as the day goes on. The world's best-known acetaminophen brand -- acetaminophen brand headache remedy, Tylenol, turns 50 today. And we hope you don't need it.

To the forecast center and Bonnie Schneider.

Good morning.

SCHNEIDER: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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