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CNN Live At Daybreak

More Violence in Baghdad This Morning; Investigation into Hotel Bombings in Jordan Focuses on Familiar Suspect

Aired November 10, 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, November 10.
There is more violence in Baghdad this morning. A suicide bomber kills dozens in a packed restaurant. We'll have a live report for you.

Also, the investigation into those hotel bombings in Jordan focuses on a familiar terror suspect.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's been a tornado out here. There's people yelling help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every trailer around me is gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh, after the Indiana tornado, the voices of the victims as they call for help.

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 Baghdad in just a minute.

Also ahead, is there discord between the number one man at the White House and his number two? We'll take a closer look.

But first, now in the news, it is now 14 straight nights of riots in France. The number of fiery attacks is down, though, now that a state of emergency is in place. The nation's interior minister is calling for foreigners involved in the attacks to be deported.

Britain's Tony Blair is fighting back from a major blow. The British prime minister holds his first cabinet meeting this morning, hours after lawmakers defeated his legislation which would have allowed terror suspects held for 90 days without charge.

He's the greatest and now three time heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali is also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Bush is giving the ailing Ali and 13 others the government's highest civilian award at a White House ceremony.

To the Forecast Center.

Bonnie Schneider in this morning -- good morning, Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST:

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: In Iraq about five hours ago, a suicide bomber killed more than 30 people in central Baghdad. Authorities say a man set off explosives strapped to his chest. He did that inside of a crowded restaurant.

Aneesh Raman is gathering details about this.

He joins us live from Baghdad.

What have you found out -- Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

That the deadliest of three suicide attacks we've seen today in Iraq. The attack took place around 9:30 a.m. local. The casualty numbers continue to rise. At least 34 people now confirmed dead, 25 others wounded, after, as you say, a suicide bomber with an explosives vest detonated it at a restaurant in central Baghdad. It was on Al- Nawaz Street, one of the main commercial thoroughfares that runs through the capital.

We haven't seen attacks like this on civilians in the capital in some weeks. We have seen car bombs and suicide car bombs threat the country, though, as these attacks continue.

Now, elsewhere in the town of Tikrit, in the Sunni Triangle, a suicide car bomber there detonating at an Army outpost. At least four people, we're told, have been killed in that attack.

So, again, Iraqis working this morning to a deadly attack, this one in the capital. Again, the numbers, 34 people confirmed dead, 25 others wounded -- Carol.

COSTELLO: On a more positive note, Operation Steel Curtain seems to have been a success. It's now over. Tell us about it.

RAMAN: Yes, the operation could go forward. But the main objective at the beginning, Carol, was securing the city of Husayba that lies quite literally on the Syrian border. After five days of the operation, they have brought security there. That city had been, for months, a powerful insurgent command post.

A CNN crew, though, embedded with the U.S. forces did see, according to locals, areas where civilian casualties took place from air strikes. The military, of course, says it does all that it can to minimize that and really getting that -- those type of attacks to be stopped -- I don't know if you can hear me. A helicopter overhead. But getting better intelligence is seen as key to changing this war. It's still a guerrilla war. The enemy is living amid the civilian population. And for that, you need the Iraqi security forces to get better trained, to get better equipped and to be on the forefront -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Aneesh Raman reporting live from Baghdad this morning.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for three suicide bombings in Amman, Jordan. Jordan's King Abdullah toured the scene of the attacks today. Three blasts occurred almost simultaneously on Wednesday night at hotels in Amman. The toll? Fifty-six people dead, 93 wounded.

The claim of responsibility was made on a Web site used by the group, led by wanted militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The authenticity of the claim cannot be verified by CNN.

Now, most of the casualties occurred at one of the hotels. One of the suicide bombers managed to infiltrate a crowded wedding party and that's when he blew himself up.

CNN's Brent Sadler got a tour of the crime scene in Amman.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jordanian security forces are very much in control of the crime scenes not just here at the Radisson, but also the Grand Hyatt and Day's Inn. Jordanian security not letting us penetrate the center, at this stage, of where that bomb detonated because it's still a very hot crime scene.

I'm now joined here by one of the hotel managers, Bassan Banna.

BASSAN BANNA, RADISSON HOTEL: Good morning.

SADLER: Were you on duty when this happened?

Can you just run us through what's been going on here?

BANNA: I received a call. I was off to home after a long day. And around 9:00, 9:15, I received a call that a bomb happened in the hotel.

I came back and I've seen the crime scene. It was a major chaos and, you know, a lot of Jordanians coming out of the wedding were crying and there was a lot of ambulances taking casualties away.

It happened, we believe that the suicide bomber walked into the wedding hall and he blew himself into the -- in the room, among the local Jordanian people.

SADLER: How many people were killed here, do you know?

BANNA: We don't have a final estimate or a correct figure. We estimate between 19 to 25.

SADLER: And what are you doing inside the hotel now? The bomb went off that hall behind us.

BANNA: The bomb went into the wedding hall. It cracked the wall into the bar next door and there was people sitting here and there and the wedding people. And now, as you can see, we're clearing up and we're full of strength. I don't think these, such incidents will put us back. We are determined that we're going to go ahead and keep going.

SADLER: Is the hotel open or are you closing it?

BANNA: We're operating. We're fully operating. Our guests were all safe, thank god. Everything was fine. Most of our guests stayed last night. We had a little bit of inconvenience but they stayed in the hotel and the whole scene was secured.

SADLER: Let's just walk along here and see how far we can get, because the area is now a lot clearer than it was. I know Jordanian security is still very much in control.

BANNA: We are -- I mean we don't want to -- because it's a crime scene, I don't know if we can go in further or not.

SADLER: No, I don't think we'll go in. They won't allow us. But maybe we can just get to the edge here.

BANNA: That's the maximum edge. I can see all our stuff, from managers to everybody, engineering is clearing up. We want to make it happen, you know? We want to make sure that things go by and we're not going to let this happen.

SADLER: In that area there, have you been inside?

BANNA: I've been inside. It's been cleared. Most of the people who were inside managed to go out safely. We checked under the rubble and there was no people left anymore, I mean since last night.

SADLER: But that area over there, behind the soldier, that is where the most casualties and lots of life suffered.

BANNA: Actually, on the left side, because this is the wall between the bar and the ballroom. So most of the casualties happened in the right side of the ballroom, where the suicide bomber blew himself up.

COSTELLO: Brent Sadler reporting.

Also, because of those blasts in Jordan, security was tightened here in New York City. In fact, police were out in force looking over hotels. We're going to have a live report for you right after this break.

Also ahead this hour, the voices from the rubble in Indiana. After a deadly tornado sweeps through, you'll hear the pleas for help.

Also, the alleged Tennessee school shooter doesn't seem to fit the profile of past school shooters. We'll hear what his friends have to say.

And later, President Bush and Vice President Cheney -- is there a rift in their close political alliance?

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:09 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

Jordan's King Abdullah tours the devastation in Amman left by three suicide bombers. In an unconfirmed report, al Qaeda in Iraq claims responsibility for the nearly simultaneous bombings at three hotels on Wednesday night -- 56 people dead, 93 wounded.

In money news, Gunn fired, David Gunn, that is. He is out at the subsidized rail giant Amtrak, or let's just call it Amtrak for short. 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, Joe's Jersey is heading to the auction block. American icon Joe DiMaggio's first Yankee uniform goes on sale December 10th. DiMaggio wore number nine for only his first season, before changing it to his famous number five, 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 that he never used steroids and then he tested positive, saying he never knowingly took them. Well, 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.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Let's talk more about the bombings in Jordan, because they led New York police to increase their own hotel security. Special units have been mobilized and they're patrolling the city.

For more on this, we turn to Patricia Del Rio of CNN affiliate WPIX in New York -- good morning.

PATRICIA DEL RIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Here in New York, there has been no specific threat against area hotels. But certainly this city is one that has seen its share of attacks in the past and so police say it is the prudent thing to take precaution this morning.

Here at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, we have seen added security and we're expecting to see a lot of that around Manhattan today.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DEL RIO: At New York City hotels, the NYPD is showing strength in numbers. Shortly after the attacks on three hotels in Amman, Jordan, reaction was quick, beefing up security at New York City hotels. Mirrors under car carriages at the Marriott Marquis and private security outside the Milford Plaza, providing a little extra comfort to tourists staying there.

(on camera): Is it good to see the security, scary to see the security?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's good to see security, man. It's always good to see security about.

DEL RIO (voice-over): Although there has been no specific threat against any particular New York City hotel, the NYPD says it is the responsible thing to do to show this extra force. Expect to see search dogs and lots of cops outside hotels as a precaution, something that has become commonplace here in New York in the wake of bombings overseas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think it's a good thing, but it's, as usual, it'll be impossible to stop everyone or all the terrorists. It's just something that's going on in the world today and I guess we just have to live with it.

DEL RIO (on camera): When you hear about bombings overseas and things like that, does it make you worry about New York City being a target?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little. But hopefully the increased presence will deter anything that would happen. I mean it -- you can only hope, right?

(END VIDEO TAPE)

DEL RIO: Now, coincidentally, there is an NYPD sergeant in Amman, Jordan right now. He happens to be fluent in Arabic and we're told that he is already filing top secret reports back to NYPD brass, giving them details about what they think the bomb was made of and how they think they did it.

This morning, we are live at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.

I'm Patricia Del Rio -- Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Patricia.

Panic, fear and disbelief -- those are the raw emotions captured on frantic 9/11 calls after a tornado tore through southern Indiana before dawn on Sunday. The vicious twister left a 41 mile path of destruction.

Here are the words of terrified victims.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help there's a tornado. My house just fell down. Please help. I'm at 363 Laurel Place. Help!

UNIDENTIFIED 9/11 OPERATOR: Well you better quit screaming. I can't understand your address.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god! Ma'am, you don't understand, our houses are upside down.

UNIDENTIFIED 9/11 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.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The tornado killed 22 people and damaged or destroyed more than 225 mobile homes.

Executives of big oil in the hot seat on Capitol Hill. We'll tell you what they had to say about those record profits they're raking in.

Also, chalk one up for the environmentalists. Lawmakers take a pass this time on allowing drilling in the Alaskan wilderness. But is the wildlife refuge out of the legislative woods? We'll take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COSTELLO: Speaking of oil, oil company executives defended themselves and their profits on Capitol Hill.

Carrie Lee joins us now with a look at those hearings. And it got kind of contentious.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It did, absolutely. A lot of questions about this why are they making so much money in the recent quarter.

So, on Capitol Hill, executives from the five biggest oil companies were asked to explain why they made over $30 billion combined over three months while consumers were struggling with gas prices that soared to over $3 a gallon.

Now, Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico asked the question that got to the heart of the matter, and he basically asked about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. PETE DOMENICI (R), NEW MEXICO: Are you rigging the price of oil or is somebody rigging the price? Who chooses to answer the question first? No volunteers?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: After some prodding, the CEOs answered the questions and their defense focused on three main points. First of all, they say prices are set by traders in the international oil market, not by the oil companies.

Number two, they say prices rose sharply after hurricane Katrina due to market forces, not price gouging. And because production was halted, prices needed to rise in order to slow demand and prevent a shortage.

And lastly, the oil companies claim their profit margins are in line with those of other industries.

Now, after the execs got off the hot seat, the head of the Federal Trade Commission testified, telling Congress that an anti- price gouging law would do more harm than good.

Senators still considering bills that include anti-gouging laws or a so-called windfall profits tax. I know you expected...

COSTELLO: Still, no, no. After all this, nothing is going to happen.

LEE: Well...

COSTELLO: It was just a big political show, wasn't it?

LEE: ... it doesn't look like it. But, you know, I can understand the oil companies saying that no consumers like price increases, but if you keep prices artificially low, it's not going to do a lot to help demand. It's going to make demand even stronger. And in the long-term, it could make things even worse. If you start to put taxes on these companies, they're going to have less money for innovation, drilling, could extrapolate the problem going forward.

COSTELLO: OK, so they can...

LEE: Or make it bigger.

COSTELLO: ... keep their $30 billion in profits and all of that money is going to the CEOs, because each man is incredibly wealthy and all of us will just continue to pay the price.

LEE: That's true. They're making millions of dollars in bonuses.

COSTELLO: Yes, well, good for them.

LEE: But, Carol, you know, this happens in a lot of industries, not just oil. COSTELLO: I know. I know.

LEE: Yes.

COSTELLO: I know. I'm OK now.

A quick look at the futures?

LEE: Futures looking mixed. We did see a little bit of buying at the finish yesterday. Cisco Systems out with profits last night, a little bit of a disappointment in the sales numbers. So the stock fell 2 percent after hours. We'll see what it does today.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Carrie.

LEE: Sure.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

The showdown over Arctic drilling may have to wait a little longer. House leaders dropped the provision from their building bill. It would have led to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A similar provision was passed by the Senate last week.

President Bush said after the Senate approved a similar bill, "The most promising site for oil in America is a 2,000 acre site in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and thanks to technology, we can reach this energy with little impact on the land or wildlife. I applaud the Senate," he said, "for passing legislation to improve our energy situation with his common sense approach."

Joining us now from Washington to talk about the possible oil exploration in the Arctic is Athan Manuel from the Preservation Project.

Good morning, sir.

ATHAN MANUEL, DIRECTOR, PRESERVATION PROJECT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: And we should tell people right off the bat that you're absolutely against drilling in Alaska.

MANUEL: That's right. Yes. We think it's a bad idea to drill in the Arctic refuge, which we think is one of America's last wild places and should be kept off limits for any kind of industrial activity, like oil drilling.

COSTELLO: Yes, but you know with the high oil prices, the high gas prices, people are going to get hit with really high heating oil prices this winter and many people are wondering why not just let them explore this land and see how much oil is there?

MANUEL: Well, it's really apples and oranges, though. I think most people will tell you, even people like Pete Domenici and the White House will concede that drilling in the Arctic refuge is not going to solve our energy problems. There's not much oil and gas thought to be there, certainly not enough to reduce gas prices or help consumers with high heating oil prices this winter.

And any oil that would be found there would take at least 10 years to reach consumers. So it's really not a solution to our problems.

There are a lot of other things we could do around conservation and renewable energy that we could do, rather than drilling in one of America's last wild places.

COSTELLO: OK. You mentioned Pete Domenici. We actually have some sound about what he said about this piece of land in Alaska.

let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMENICI: One of the biggest job creation activities that the Congress of the United States will ever undertake is drilling in Anwar. Letting Americans go to work in Anwar, letting American companies invest in Anwar. We will do it in an environmentally sound way, but in the process we will produce as much oil, as far as reserves, as there are in the State of Texas once we get that started. And, secondly, 736,000 new solid, high paying jobs will be created.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, so he is disagreeing with you. And I know that you say that this won't help us right now. But it might help us in the long-term, so why not plan for the future? If it's going to help us 10 years from now, why not explore it?

MANUEL: Well, all the things that Mr. Domenici mentioned are not going to happen. I mean those are all pretty misleading statements. There's not much oil thought to be there. The U.S. Geological Survey, a branch of the government, assumes that there's less than a year's worth of oil and gas in the refuge. It's not going to create all these jobs that Mr. Domenici was touting.

It's just not going to solve these problems that we have here with our energy supplies...

COSTELLO: Yes, but this has been going on for 25 years. Surely the other side has some credibility.

MANUEL: Well, I have trouble with that, though. I don't think they do. I mean if you look at what's happening on Alaska's north slope, the oil industry is moving west to the area away from the Arctic refuge. And we just don't want to see that kind of oil activity happen in an area as wild and pristine as the Arctic refuge.

If you look at what happens in Prudhoe Bay every year, there are over 500 oil spills in Prudhoe Bay every year. That's one every -- that's more than one oil spill every day.

So we don't want to see that kind of activity happen in a place that's wild and pristine like the Arctic refuge, especially when you consider there's just not that much oil and gas there.

COSTELLO: Athan Manuel, thanks for joining us this morning.

MANUEL: Sure.

My pleasure.

COSTELLO: And, of course, the issue not completely dead yet, because it's still part of a Senate bill that has yet to go through that body of the legislature.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

MANUEL: Sure.

My pleasure.

Good morning.

COSTELLO: Coming up next, investigators comb through the rubble for clues into that deadly hotel bombing in Jordan. We're live in Amman.

And later, answers emerging from the scene of the school shooting in Tennessee. We'll hear from children who were friends with the alleged shooter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

Thank you for waking up with us.

Bonnie will be along in a moment with your forecast.

Also coming up this half hour, on alert in Amman. Security is stepped up in the wake of suicide bombings in the Jordanian capital. We'll take you there live.

And how one town is dealing with the notoriety brought on by a deadly school shooting.

But first, now in the news, just a few hours ago, Baghdad was again shaken by a deadly suicide bombing. At least 34 people are dead following the explosion inside a neighborhood restaurant. A suicide bomber at work there. At least two dozen more were injured in the blast.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addressed his nation this morning on terrorism and domestic issues. Al-Assad said Syria doesn't condone insurgent attacks in Iraq, but also says it's unfair for Syria to be blamed for fighters crossing the border into that country.

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