Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Baghdad Restaurant Bombing; Riots in France; Hotel Attacks in Amman

Aired November 10, 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 Thursday, November 10. Terror and anger grip a city unaccustomed to suicide attacks. The three questions in this morning, who, why and how? Investigators are seeking those responsible for the deadly attacks on three hotels in Amman.
We'll take you live to the Jordanian capital in five minutes.

Also, she's out. "The New York Times" reporter at the center of the CIA leak probe calls it quits.

And keep it quiet. Our Richard Quest gets a little shut eye. But when he wakes up we'll ask him about that record-long flight he's on.

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 terror attacks in Jordan just ahead.

For two weeks now France has been plagued by violence and unrest. We'll take you live to Toulouse in just a few minutes.

And as you know, the leaders of major oil firms were in Washington. Did they justify their profits? An update on their visit just ahead.

But first, "Now in the News."

Less than four hours ago, a man with explosives strapped to his chest walked into a Baghdad restaurant and blew himself up. He killed at least 28 people and wounded another two dozen.

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is addressing his nation right now on terrorism and domestic issues. He says Syria did not condone insurgent attacks in Iraq. But he also says it's unfair for Syria to be blamed for fighters crossing the border into Iraq.

Here's a shocker. House leaders have suddenly abandoned a plan to open the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Republicans have been pushing for that for years. The plan was bogging down a big budget bill that moderate Republicans wanted to get past.

Judith Miller, "The New York Times" reporter involved in the CIA leak case, has retired. Miller spent nearly three months in jail for refusing to testify about who leaked information revealing the name of a CIA operative.

To the forecast center. Bonnie Schneider in today.

Good morning, Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Bonnie, thank you.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

COSTELLO: Let's get right to this latest suicide bombing in Baghdad at a restaurant. Aneesh Raman is gathering details. He joins us live from the Iraqi capital.

Aneesh, give us more details about this.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

As you said at the top of the show, Iraqi police say 28 people were killed, 24 others wounded when a suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest detonated at a restaurant in central Baghdad. The attack happened around 9:30 a.m. local on Al Nawah Street (ph), one of the main commercial thoroughfares through the capital city.

Given the time, the restaurant was populated with a good number of people eating breakfast. We saw a similar attack, really, in mid June. That restaurant was targeted because Iraqi security forces frequented it in breakfast hours. It's unclear whether the same situation took place today.

Now, it comes amid a relative lull in attacks such as this. We have seen suicide bombs elsewhere in the country targeting civilians. But the question we always ask when we report on these is, how can this be stopped, how can this be ended? And that's what the Iraqis ask as well.

Well, that answer really lies with what the U.S. and Iraqi forces have been doing in western Iraq in the -- near the Syrian border, where foreign fighters, weapons cache continue to flow into the country. And you have to stop the weapons there, Carol, before they get to the rest of Iraq, because once you have these suicide bombers, as we saw in Jordan, as we repeatedly see in Iraq, once they are out on the streets it is virtually impossible to prevent them from blowing themselves up. You have to stop the flow of weapons into the country.

So they are pushing to try and do that. But again, the attacks continue. Twenty-eight people dead this morning after a suicide bomber targeted a restaurant in central Baghdad -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Al-Zarqawi, of course, is suspected of the Jordanian bombings. Any word on the street in Iraq about that and about him?

RAMAN: Well, clearly, he's behind so many attacks here. He is a known figure in Iraq. He is the one that explicitly made this war about Iraqi civilians some months ago, trying to engage the Shia population into essentially a civil war. They have not responded with large-scale violence.

But as we've seen attacks around the world, in London, now in Jordan, Iraqis really say this is our life. Those attacks are what they deal with on a regular basis. And the Iraqi government has said that to prevent terrorism from spreading worldwide, it must be defeated. And so they will likely make that call again today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Aneesh Raman reporting live from Baghdad this morning.

Curfews may be curtailing the violent unrest that spread across France over the past two weeks, but many areas are still being hit by rioting and vandalism. And now the French interior minister is ordering some of those rioters to be deported.

CNN's Chris Burns is in Toulouse, France.

Good morning.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Hard to tell whether that had an effect. Nicolas Sarcosi, the interior minister, upping the ante there and saying the country should kick out of France anybody who is not French and who has been caught in the rioting, they should be kicked out of the country summarily, which actually is softer than what the far right leader is calling for. And he wants anybody of non-French origin to be stripped of their citizenship and kicked out if they're caught rioting.

So the government is taking it to heart. (INAUDIBLE) is having an effect. (INAUDIBLE), Toulouse, where I'm standing here, is the beautiful downtown Toulouse. Nothing to do with where we went last night, the high-rise housing projects, where a police helicopter was circling overhead. There were scores of police deployed.

A number of cars were torched, including one that set fire to a school, a primary school that partially burned. So there still is some violence, but, again, it's all relative, because last night less than 500 cars were torched overnight. That's one hundred less than the night before and much less than the 1,400 torched overnight (INAUDIBLE).

So things are improving, and officials attribute that to the increased security. Ten thousand extra police on the ground across the country. Plus, there are offers to provide more opportunity to these disadvantaged youths who have been rioting. Those (INAUDIBLE) immigrant families from Africa, North Africa, where the unemployment rate is very high, where there's discrimination, a lack of opportunity.

The government wants to address that with billions of dollars in more spending. And it seems as though that might be causing things to calm down a little bit -- Carol. COSTELLO: Chris Burns live in Toulouse, France, this morning.

Let's get to more violence now in Amman, Jordan. The suicide bombings left almost 60 people dead in three hotels. And just a short time ago, the al Qaeda group in Iraq did claim responsibility for those bombings.

Our Guy Raz is in Amman.

Guy, bring us up to date.

GUY RAZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, very much a country in mourning, and, of course, a city in mourning here in Amman, Jordan. Behind me you can see the Jordanian flag flying at half- staff. This city is eerily quiet today, in part because all government offices, all schools have been closed for the day, in part to allow security officials to begin carrying out their investigation.

Now, investigators have been very tight-lipped over what they've found so far, but we do know that they are likely following up a claim by al Qaeda in Iraq, a group believed to be led by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi. Now, that was the group that Jordanian officials had pointed the finger at from the outset.

Mr. Zarqawi is a wanted fugitive here in Jordan. He's a Jordanian national, a man widely believed to be leading the insurgency against U.S.-led troops in Iraq and somebody on whose head the United States has placed a $25 million bounty.

Now, if in fact a correlation can be drawn between Abu Musab al- Zarqawi and those triple bombings here in Amman yesterday that left at least 60 people dead in three Western hotels, well, it's very likely that we are seeing the opening salvo in a new campaign led by al Qaeda-related groups.

Now, back in July, Mr. Zarqawi received a letter from Ayman al- Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's number two in Afghanistan. That letter was intercepted by U.S. forces. And in that letter Mr. Zawahiri essentially telling Zarqawi, you need to begin to widen what he called the struggle to other countries outside of Iraq.

Right now, here in Amman, this is a country still very much in shock, very much reeling from the tragedy that befell the residents of this community, Amman, and, of course, the people of this country, what's now being described as the worst terror disaster in this country's history -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Guy Raz reporting live this morning.

Those explosions have led New York City to increase security at several hotels. New York's heavily-armed Hercules and critical response teams are now watching the city's hotels for any suspicious activity.

Police say they have no word of a specific threat. This move was just as a precaution. Also, panic, fear and disbelief, those are the raw emotions captured on frantic 911 calls after a tornado tore through southern Indiana before dawn on Sunday. The words of the victims tell the story.

Here's our Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's been a tornado out here. And there's people yelling, "Help!"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every trailer around me is gone.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seconds after the tornado struck, the frantic calls for help began.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh! Oh, there's a tornado! My house just fell down! Please help! I'm at (INAUDIBLE)! Please!

OPERATOR: Well, you better quit screaming. I can't understand your address.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am, you don't understand. Our houses are upside down.

OPERATOR: No, I do understand, ma'am. And we do have the fire department on the way. They should be arriving there shortly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do I need to get out and look for survivors? These people had small children, ma'am.

LAVANDERA: It didn't take long for these mobile home park residents to realize they were dealing with a major disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got people trapped in these trailers out here.

OPERATOR: We have got everybody coming as quickly as they can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

OPERATOR: OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I hear people screaming everywhere, screaming.

OPERATOR: Do you know where you're bleeding from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My leg, I think. All I know is, everything is coming through my bedroom window, glass and all

OPERATOR: All right, sir. We've got everybody on the way.

LAVANDERA (on camera): In the first hour after the tornado struck, rescue crews say they pulled 40 people out of the rubble here alive. The twister cut a path right through these homes. And the survivors say they still can't explain why they were spared and 18 of their neighbors died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We found a baseball card. We found Denzel's (ph) gun here.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Sifting through the pieces is now a desperate search for memories of loved ones. Denzel Sprinkel (ph) came back to what was left his home and found what he was looking for, a picture of his 67-year-old mother killed by the tornado.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm happy. I have -- I have got my family back. I hope and pray that she just never knew anything had hit her.

LAVANDERA: Sue Day (ph) was so severely injured that her family looked for her at the morgue. She's in a hospital on a ventilator, fighting for her life.

BOB FULKERSON, STORM VICTIM'S RELATIVE: We're out here picking through the rubble. And, you know, we don't even know if she is -- she might make it or not.

LAVANDERA: Day's (ph) family found this unfinished quilt she was making. They hope she will pull through and put the final touches on it.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Evansville, Indiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And still talking about the aftermath of the storm. Former FEMA chief Michael Brown is now off the payroll. Do you want me to repeat it? Michael Brown is now off the payroll.

He stepped down as head of FEMA almost two months ago after the government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina, but he had been getting a paycheck since then. While investigators gathered information about federal relief efforts after the storm, he was being paid as a consultant. Well, no more. He's officially off the payroll this morning.

You don't mess with the greatest, even if you are the president. When President Bush pretended to throw a punch at Mohammed Ali, get this, the champ, as you saw, came right back at him. The former heavyweight boxing champion was among 14 people who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That's the government's highest civilian honor.

Other recipients included Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, entertainers Aretha Franklin and Carol Burnett, golfing great Jack Nicklaus and baseball hall of famer Frank Robinson. Coming up on DAYBREAK, soaring gasoline prices fly directly into the pockets of big oil executives. Oil companies reap what may be record-setting third quarter profits. The CEOs defending the windfall as merely supply and demand. We'll tell you more of what they said before a Senate committee.

And you might call it in Quest of a record. From Hong Kong to Heathrow was actually a test flight, and there's a woman behind the wheel, so to speak.

And what in the world are we seeing here? NASA calls it a cosmic look at the creation of stars.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Let's take a look at the international markets, shall we? Because they're higher this morning.

Tokyo's Nikkei is up 8.5 points, a little over 8.5 points. The London FTSE higher by only one. The German DAX is doing a little better, adding 25 points.

In futures trading, oil, hey, it's falling again. It's down 21 cents to $58.72 a barrel this morning.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:17 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Another suicide bombing in Baghdad. This time a restaurant frequented by Iraqi police is the target. Police say at least 28 people were killed, at least 24 others wounded.

Andrea Yates may get a new trial. You remember her? She was convicted back in 2002 for murder for drowning her five children in a bathtub. A Texas appeals court upheld the decision to overturn the original convictions due to false testimony during the trial. Prosecutors say they'll prepare for a new trial or a plea bargain.

In money news, Gunn fired. David Gunn, that is. He is out -- he is out as the head of the subsidized rail giant Amtrak. Gunn's three- year tenure was punctuated by billion-dollar losses and disagreements with the Bush administration. Amtrak's chairman says the White House had nothing to do with Gunn's firing.

In culture, Joltin' Joe's jersey is heading to the auction bloc. America icon Joe DiMaggio's first Yankee uniform goes on sale December 10. DiMaggio wore number 9 for only his first season before changing it to his famous number, which would be 5. And he wore that for the next dozen years.

In sports, results are due today in the investigation into whether Rafael Palmeiro lied to Congress. As you remember, he emphatically told Congress in March he had never used steroids, and then he tested positive. So he said he never knowingly took them. Yesterday he released a detailed explanation, saying he injected a substance that may have been mislabeled as Vitamin B12.

To the forecast center and Bonnie Schneider.

SCHNEIDER: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Bonnie.

So, how did it go yesterday for the oil industry CEOs who had to explain their record profits to Congress? Did they have to face some really tough questions? You bet.

Here's CNN's Chris Huntington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As gas prices soared above $3 a gallon last summer, ExxonMobil made nearly $10 billion profit in the third quarter, more than $1,200 a second, every second in July, August and September. In the time it took this guy to fill up, the oil giant made $1 million.

On Capitol Hill, ExxonMobil's CEO tried to defend that windfall, saying it was all a matter of worldwide supply and demand.

LEE RAYMOND, CEO, EXXONMOBIL: Consumers in the United States sometimes are going to have difficulty realizing that they're part of that world. But, in fact, they are.

HUNTINGTON: Raymond occupies a very different place in that world. Last year he took home more than $38 million in salary, bonus and stock options. Chevron's David O'Reilly made nearly $7 million. And James Mulva of ConocoPhillips a bit more than $6 million.

All three were called to task by one senator voicing the outrage many Americans feel.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: I hope I can give you a bit of a reality check. Working people struggle with high gas prices, and your sacrifice, gentlemen, appears to be nothing. Each of your bonuses -- forget the rest of it -- each of your bonuses was more than 300 times greater than a minimum wage worker's annual pay.

HUNTINGTON: The oil executives never got a chance to answer.

SEN. TED STEVENS (R), ALASKA: We'll stop the clock right here for you, Senator. We're permitted to have charts to show information that pertains to our issue. This chart is really publicity.

HUNTINGTON: Boxer didn't even have the chance to take on the highest paid U.S. executive, Occidental Petroleum's Ray Irani, who, according to "Forbes" magazine, last year took home salary, bonus and stock options worth $64 million. (on camera): Oil executives say they deserve to be well paid for their companies' record profits. Still, they're quick to claim that they have littler or no control over oil and gasoline prices, which they insist are set by supply and demand, begging the question, is their compensation due to management skill or just market forces?

PROF. PETER CAPPELLI, THE WHARTON SCHOOL: The extent to which executives are receiving very big and higher executive compensation payments because oil prices are up, that's not something that's -- the result of anything their firms did, and that's pretty much a windfall. So they just are lucky.

HUNTINGTON (voice over): Lucky or not, oil company executives are still not even close to the top of the corporate heap when it comes to compensation. If you add up with the CEOs of the three biggest U.S. oil companies made in 2004, it still comes to less than one quarter of what Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel took home last year, more than $230 million.

Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I'm just trying to comprehend that, and I just can't. Can you imagine $230 million in just one year? I was still stunned by the $64 million a year the one guy got.

Anyway, coming up on DAYBREAK, Judith Miller is leaving "The New York Times," but not before she says a few words. We digest her op-ed letter in today's paper ahead this hour.

You're watching DAYBREAK for Thursday, November 10.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In entertainment headlines for you this morning, SpongeBob is working again. New episodes of "SpongeBob Squarepants' are on the way to Nickelodeon. The network ordered 20 new episodes that will finish airing in 2007. New shows were on hold during production of last year's "SpongeBob" movie.

The popular little sponge is now seen -- or heard, I should say -- in about 25 different languages.

Sharon Stone has written a song for the Katrina victims. Haven't they suffered enough? Actually, money from the song "Come Together Now" will go to Habitat for Humanity.

Celine Dion, Patty LaBelle also lent their voices to the recording. The CD single goes on sale on November 29.

Michael Jackson will not be moving back to the Neverland Ranch. Jackson's father says his son will visit the United States but will likely never live here again. Michael Jackson now lives in Bahrain. His father also says he expects his son to resume his music career. Who needs a decent in-flight movie when you're sitting next to Richard Quest? Up next, better order yourself another stiff drink. You're spending 24 hours with Quest on a record-breaking flight.

And normally the way it works is they kill you in New York and then they dump the body in New Jersey. But when you're the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, it's the other way around. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

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

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