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American Morning

Two Women Wearing Suicide Vests Blow Themselves Up at Police Academy; A Secret Witness in Saddam Hussein Trial Takes Witness Stand

Aired December 06, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien. Breaking news this morning out of Iraq. Two women wearing suicide vests blow themselves up at a police academy. At least 27 dead, dozens injured. We'll have the very latest live from Baghdad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. Another morning of dramatic developments in the Saddam Hussein trial. A secret witness in the Saddam Hussein trial takes the witness stand with her own story of torture. We've got just details ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: And winter weather making for dangerous roads. A live look at the snowy conditions on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you. Welcome to a Tuesday on AMERICAN MORNING. Our second hour begins now.

S. O'BRIEN: Lots to tell you about. Lots happening overseas. Let's begin in Iraq this morning. Twenty-seven people killed, 32 people wounded in an attack carried out apparently by two female suicide bombers.

Let's get right to Aneesh Raman. He's in Baghdad this morning.

Aneesh, good morning to you.

Lots to understand. Two women, but they were inside the Iraqi -- the classroom, I guess? Were they students? Were they delivering something? Do you know any details?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're still waiting. That is the big question, how did this attack take place? How were these two women allowed to go with explosives vest into a classroom at one of Baghdad's police academies. New video emerging from eastern Baghdad, the aftermath of this attack. It happened just over two hours ago. As you say, the U.S. military saying two female suicide bombers walked into a classroom inside Baghdad's police academy and detonated among the students. At least 27 people now confirmed dead, 32 others wounded.

That is the huge question right now, Soledad, what was the security around this building? We understand initially at least that the police academy was adjoined to the interior ministry. That would suggest extensive security on the perimeter. So if that is the case, how these two women got inside remains to be answered. This is the biggest attack really against security forces in Iraq in months. And when we see Iraqi security forces who are often the target of these suicide bombers, it usually takes place outside, in the recruitment line, because of security that is set up, because those who go in on are searched. The fact that this took place inside is raising huge questions right now -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Quick question for you, Aneesh. Obviously, the focus is going to be on security, and I want to know the numbers. We've reported 27 people dead, and maybe those numbers will rise because there has got to be dozens of people injured.

RAMAN: It's at least 32 people injured right now. And in terms of the casualty numbers here, often they fluctuate. We hear conflicting reports from the ground, and it takes hours at times for any sort of official number to emerge. The number, undoubtedly, the death toll of 27, will perhaps rise, given the extensive injuries that those could have suffered. And if this was a classroom that they detonated within, those who survived initially will have extensive injuries -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, one would imagine. The terrible news to report this morning.

Aneesh, thank you for the update on that.

Also in Baghdad today, more chilling testimony in the trial of Saddam Hussein. We were talking about this earlier. A woman, she is concealed there by that curtain, and her voice is electronically disguised. But she was describing when she was 16 years old, she was stripped and beaten by Saddam Hussein's intelligence agents. No repeat, though, of Saddam Hussein's outburst during the court proceedings. Those are the same that interrupted Monday's proceedings. He remained actually fairly quiet during the woman's testimony.

Right now, a second witness has taken the stand. We're going to update you on what that witness is saying as our program continues this morning -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Another developing story we're watching for you this morning. This one out of Iran. A military plane with up to 90 people onboard crashes, apparently in a residential area, in a town south of Tehran, Towid. Some reports say it smashed into a 10-story building.

We have CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr on the phone with us right now.

Shirzad, give us the latest, please.

SHIRZAD BOZORGMEHR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, this plane crash, so far, they're saying that it could have up to a hundred fatalities, but this has not been confirmed at All we know is that the plane was carrying somewhere between 74 to 100 people, a military plane, C-130, headed for the Persian Gulf, developed technical problems and headed back to Tehran. And on the way back, it hit a 10-story building in the city of Towid, which houses mostly Air Force personnel, by the way, and burst into flames and went down.

The building, the fourth floor of the building, there was an explosion because of the gas in the building, and several people apparently have been burned. There are no confirmations so far because we're all waiting for the air force itself to give a statement. But news agencies, the Irani news agencies, are predicting that the number of fatalities could go more than a hundred. They're saying that up to 130 people were onboard. Some reports 130 people onboard, and some of them were reporters and photographers who were headed to the Persian Gulf City of Bandar (ph), to cover the navy maneuvers in the Persian Gulf over there -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Shirzad Bozorgmehr in Tehran, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk weather. The first significant snowstorm of the season in the East. The question right now is, is it just going to absolutely ruin your morning commute? I think the short answer is yes, it will.

Let's get right to Kimberly Osias. She's live in Washington D.C.

Hey, Kimberly, it actually looks a little bit better behind you there.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. It's a beautiful blanket of white, Soledad. Here, I'm actually in the mall. And talking about the commute, I've spoken to a couple of folks, not too terrible. Really, this is the first snow, as you mentioned, so folks are really getting prepared.

And just to give you an idea of accumulation, we had about two to four inches, about six in Virginia. And it's that' sort of light, fluffy stuff, really great for making a snowball.

And, again, as far as the commute, not too terrible. A little bit wet in some areas, but the crews were out last night. Several hundred trucks putting that magnesium chloride ride on the roads to actually melt anything. It's actually better than salt for your car. And getting things under way.

And the good news is things are going to be cool today. It feels a little bit like the 20s, even though it's in the 30s, with the wind chill. And no more precipitation is expected until Thursday night or Friday morning -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Good news there. All right, Kimberly Osias, for us this morning. Thanks, Kimberly.

White House now moving ahead with its strategy to reassure Americans about Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saying we shouldn't judge progress by the number of insurgent attacks. Today Vice President Dick Cheney is going to speak.

It brings us right to Elaine Quijano. She's live at the White House for us this morning.

Hey, Elaine, good morning. ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad. That's right, Vice President Cheney's speech today is part of a concerted effort by the White House to convince the American people that the administration does have a plan for victory in Iraq, and that is working.

Now this morning, the vice president this morning heads to Fort Drum in New York to talk to troops there. Now his visit comes at a time when the administration has watched public support for the president's Iraq policy continue to fall.

Last week, the President Bush spoke about Iraq at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. His comments then focused on what the administration says is progress in training Iraq security forces. Tomorrow here in Washington, the president tomorrow will highlight developments in Iraq economy and focus on reconstruction work as well.

Now it's an effort to counter daily reports of bombings and casualties. Yesterday Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld criticized the media for its coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECY. OF DEFENSE: We've arrived at a strange time in this country, where the worst about America and our military seems to so quickly be taken as truth by the press, and reported and spread around the world, often with little context and little scrutiny, let alone correction or accountability after the fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now Secretary Rumsfeld also said there is too much of a focus on the mounting death toll in Iraq. But, Soledad, with more than 2,100 U.S. servicemen and women killed in Iraq or dead in Iraq since the start of the Iraq war, the White House understands full well that that death toll is weighing heavily on the American people -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, the polls sure say that.

Elaine Quijano for us this morning. Elaine, thank you -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: In New Orleans, more than three months after Katrina struck, the discovery of two bodies in a home is raising questions about how houses in the city were searched for the dead. Keith Oppenheim live now in New Orleans.

Keith, apparently some miscommunication here?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On some level, it seems, Miles, that there must have been. We are now nearly 100 days since Katrina struck, and yesterday afternoon, the bodies of two elderly people, a couple, are found in their home behind me. The bodies of 88, Antonio Jackson, better know as Tony, and her 97-year-old husband, Eddie, were removed by the coroner's office yesterday afternoon. A family friend, Gwendolyn Alexander, came here with her friends, they forced their way into the home and they found the bodies inside. Gwendolyn Alexander told me that she was told by New Orleans police that this house had been checked, plus there are painted markings on the house, markings that say September 14th, and there is a zero painted on the house, seeming to indicate that there were no victims inside. We would learn that those markings came from the Oregon National Guard, one of many Guard units that had been doing search missions out in New Orleans.

And General Douglas Pritt of the Oregon National Guard said that there were zero meant there were no living inhabitants on the house and that had called out for help or otherwise identified themselves when Guardsmen came by in September.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. DOUGLAS PRITT, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: Zero meant that there were no living inhabitants that identified themselves to us. We didn't put down that we found any remains, because we didn't enter homes to find remains.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: I asked another spokesman for the Oregon national guard about the zero, and he said he's not completely sure if other people really understand what these markings meant.

But Gwendolyn Alexander told me she came by here once before. Her kids had also come to this home. And in part, Miles, one reason they did not force their way into the home on those visits was because they saw those markings on the house.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, it's interesting, Keith, some of the markings, and they were weren't all consistent, some of them would indicate zero, and it would say something like "ex," like an exterior check. In this case, I don't think that happened.

Let me ask you this, though. The big question, I suppose, is how many other potential cases like this are out there?

OPPENHEIM: Well, it's certainly possible that there could be more. But this is a long time, obviously, since the hurricane has happened, and it's really only because that there was a friend of the family who was very concerned about this, and had been consistently checking on the situation and eventually decided to force her way into the house. In fact, she said she was quite sure that no one had done that before. So, you know, that's just sort of stands to reason that there could be other situations where people have not yet been found and they are in their homes.

M. O'BRIEN: Keith Oppenheim in New Orleans, thank you.

A little Later in the hour, we'll check in with the New Orleans city councilwoman who represents that particular area where those bodies were found -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: We heard some pretty interesting details yesterday in the e-mails between Governor Blanco of Louisiana and the White House.

Well, more details to tell you about today as well. The paper trail truly is fascinating. This time, the focus is on Mississippi.

Now, these are e-mails that are released by FEMA officials, their communications, and they show really a devastating lack of preparedness, and indicate as well that FEMA officials were aware that the body count was rising and fast, and also very concerned that they were going to have a severe lack of supplies in Mississippi, and also that riots could result.

Look at the first e-mail. This was really sent just a couple of hours after the storm: "Gulfport, Mississippi only has enough commodities for roughly three hours distribution tomorrow." That's from the deputy chief of staff of FEMA, Scott Morris.

Now, a follow-up e-mail from Robert Fenton from FEMA. He's the guy who is the response team for FEMA. He says this, "If we get the quantities in your report tomorrow, we will have serious riots." This is an e-mail that he sent on September 1st.

Follow-up e-mail to that. A response from that e-mail comes from William Carwile. He's the top FEMA responder in the state of Mississippi, and he writes this, "Will need big time law enforcement reinforcements tomorrow. All our goodwill here in Mississippi will be seriously impacted by noon tomorrow. Have been holding it together as it is."

The documents were providing to a House committee that is now investigating the response to the storm, clearly showing shortfalls, and that some of these shortfalls were actually know much earlier in the day.

A final note, the guy who's a top FEMA responder in the state of Mississippi said this, because the coroner apparently started putting bodies out in the street. He said he personally authorized the county to buy refrigeration trucks, because the coroner is going to start putting bodies in the parking lot.

Some of the information coming from these e-mails really shedding a light on just how chaotic, and disorganized and unprepared everybody was for the storm.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, and perhaps how close Mississippi came to replaying the scene we saw in New Orleans. And maybe those e-mails, maybe somehow in there, that was thwarted or nipped somehow.

S. O'BRIEN: And plus you don't have the levee system to the same degree, which makes a huge difference.

A lot to talk about this morning. Still ahead, we're going to talk about Congressman Tom DeLay, had a huge loss in court. What does it mean for him legally? And what does it mean for him politically, too?

M. O'BRIEN: Also, we'll talk to a model Petra Nemcova. Actually Soledad got this one. How do I get aced out of this one?

S. O'BRIEN: And somehow still you were there for the interview.

M. O'BRIEN: I managed to show up just to say hello, if you know what I mean. I got three kisses. Anyway she is a survivor of last year's Asian's tsunami, and she'll tell us how she's written a book and she's reaching out to some of the disasters youngest victims.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, she's got an amazing story. A little bit later this morning, we're going to tell you how one man, this man here, is using music as an instrument for healing in New Orleans. That's just ahead.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: As we told you yesterday, another report card out in the wake of 9/11 from the group which grew out of the 9/11 Commission, assessing how the government has responded to some of the failings which left the United States exposed to those 9/11 attacks. One of the things that struck us most was the notion that police and fire departments from the same jurisdiction, much less other jurisdictions, are unable to talk to each other when they respond to something calamitous as a terror attack. We wonder why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just had a plane crash into an upper floor of the World Trade Center. Transmit a second alarm, and start relocating companies into the area.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): On September 11th, hundreds of firefighters and police converged at the World Trade Center.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All units need to keep off this frequency unless you are an officer.

M. O'BRIEN: But emergency responders were hampered by poor communication, radio channels unable to handle the large volume of transmissions by rescuers.

Even at the Pentagon, radio channels were saturated. Former 9/11 commissioners are pushing for an immediate solution.

TIM ROEMER, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: Allowing our first responders, police, and fire chiefs and emergency personnel to talk to one another and join together, just as we try to link up our armed services and our personnel in Iraq when we send them overseas, we haven't done that.

M. O'BRIEN: The same applies to natural disasters. After Hurricane Katrina, rescuers in boats often couldn't speak with helicopters overhead. To fix the problem, first responders from different agencies need extra radio frequencies, but the electronic highway known as the broadcast spectrum is now full.

RICHARD SHEIRER, GIULIANI PARTNERS: It's like a bottle, the bottle can only hold a certain amount, or give up a certain amount of liquid. That's what the spectrum is, and it's shared with all -- it's shared with radio, TV, public safety, the military.

M. O'BRIEN: Broadcasters are supposing to be releasing more analog channels as they transition to digital TV, but the former 9/11 commissioners warn the timing is too slow.

JAMES THOMPSON, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: The Congress has a bill to turn over this capacity to talk to each other in 2009. This is 2005. Are we to go unprotected for another four years? Why? What's the rationale?

M. O'BRIEN: Emergency responders also need money to buy new equipment.

SHEIRER: High millions, maybe low billions, when you think of all the different police departments, and fire departments and volunteer ambulance and fire services which make up a very big part of the public-safety picture around the country outside of major cities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Now Richard Sheirer, who headed New York's Office of Emergency Management on 9/11, on that day, say it's not as simple as buying some new walkie-talkies for the police and the fire departments. You need a whole new infrastructure, and then there's the whole issue training, because you know, when you get everybody on one frequency, you need to have some sort of protocol, because it could end up just being a muddled mess anyway.

S. O'BRIEN: Sort of scary to think 2009 is the deadline.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, "scandalous" is the term that the 9/11 Commission group that that grew out of that report says. And scandalous seems to apply here. Why would it take that long to get police and fire to be able to talk to each other on walkie-talkies?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Eight years after the problem?

M. O'BRIEN: It really is on the face of it -- you know, I hate to say it, but we send a men to the moon faster than that.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk business news now. President Bush reminding corporations about their responsibility to their employees. A gentle nudge, maybe not so gentle nudge from the president, and we see what happens. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Soledad, good morning to you. A little jaw boning by the chief executive yesterday, telling companies you need to fulfill your promises. So a coincidence that yesterday, Verizon Communications, one of the largest telecom companies in the United States, is pulling the plug on its pension plan for 50,000 managers, replacing the pension plan with a 401k. They hope to save $3 billion a year doing this. And of course, you know, 401ks are a lot cheaper because you simply match money. For instance, the way this one would work, the company is going to match $1 for $1, up to six percent in salary, so if you make $50,000, if you put $3,000 in, Verizon would put $3,000 in. A lot less than paying someone a full pension later on in retirement. These pension plans have been going by the bye year by year. As we can see here, they have been reduced this decade.

This is the number of pension plans which have been frozen, which means they don't get rid of them, they just stop putting money into them. So the people who are already are vested in the plan remain in them, but they don't extend them.

401ks are the future. And you know, you can sort of understand it, because you don't want to end up like Delphi or a GM, with tens of billions of dollars of obligations that actually puts you into bankruptcy. On the other hand, you still need to protect your workers. So it's a balance here that must be struck.

S. O'BRIEN: Expensive balance.

SERWER: Indeed.

M. O'BRIEN: How are the gold watches doing? They still hanging out.

SERWER: No, they're not. They're stainless steel.

M. O'BRIEN: They're stainless steel no .

SERWER: If you're lucky.

S. O'BRIEN: Swatch makes a very good plastic watch.

SERWER: Exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: It's inexpensive.

Thanks, Andy.

Coming up this morning, a judge throws out one the charges against Congressman Tom DeLay, upholds, though, others. Is it a blow to DeLay's political future? That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, a judge has dropped one charge against Tom DeLay, but his political future still in jeopardy. His trial for money-laundering charges still going ahead. New poll showing him losing support in his home district, still Vice President Dick Cheney appeared at a fund-raising dinner with Congressman DeLay yesterday.

CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein is in Washington this morning.

Nice to see you. Good morning.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk legally first, before we get to politically. One charge dropped. Well, that's good news. Two charges remain. Well, that's bad news. How bad is it?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, legally, it's a mixed verdict, as you said. Obviously as a defendant any time you can have a charge against you dropped that's a positive from the defendant's point of view, but the more serious charge, the charge of money laundering, the judge has allowed this to go forward, and that of course increases the odds that this is not going to be resolved any time soon, and that increases the odds of increased political trouble for Tom DeLay, because the House Republicans may grow increasingly restive about allowing him to maintain this position and not replacing him if this is not resolved any time soon.

S. O'BRIEN: So then what happens next? The Republicans are going to replace his position, right?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, it sure looks that way. I mean, the DeLay attorneys were hoping to get the complete indictment thrown out, which would allow him to resume his leadership position that he's temporarily stepped aside from under House rules.

Now with the prospect of this going to trial, and in fact, with DeLay pursuing various legal strategies that may extend the amount of time it takes to resolve this, the House Republican aides that I talked to say the odds are much higher that the membership will want to have a permanent leadership structure in place early next year. You know, they're facing a difficult political environment, very low approval ratings for Congress. They want to have this resolved. And now Tom DeLay really isn't in a position to tell them that he can resolve it any time soon.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, now is not the time to have a power vacuum at that level. That's the impact on the position. What about the impact on the voters? We've got some polls I want to throw up for you: 55 percent of people polled said they think the charges against Tom DeLay are true; 49 percent of people poled said they would vote for the Democratic opponent, potentially the Democratic opponent, Nick Lampson; 36 percent said they would vote for Tom DeLay. What do you make of these numbers?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, the assumption has been that the political risk here for Tom DeLay is simply that he will lose his position as majority leader. But as these numbers underscore, there is a bigger political risk, which is that he could lose his job as the representative of the 22nd district. In 2004, the irony is that the redistricting of congressional districts, that Tom DeLay engineered, which is at the root of this entire case, he did it to increase the number of Republicans elected from Texas to Congress, it did that, but he also changed his own district. And in 2004 he won reelection with only 55 percent of the vote, the first time in his career he was ever held below 60 percent of the vote. That was before he was indicted. And for many of the voters in this district, are new to Tom DeLay, and he is being introduced to them through coverage of him under indictment fighting legal challenge. He has an opponent, as you mentioned, Nick Lampson, who has raised now more than $1 million. That's significantly more than his Democratic opponent raised in the entire race of 2004.

So even though this is still a Republican-leaning district, and Tom DeLay is a formidable campaigner and fund-raiser himself, he clearly faces the biggest electoral challenge of his career, even if he does survive this legal challenge from the Texas prosecutor.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me as you one final question, and we literally have three seconds for the answer. Dick Cheney out there really campaigning, raising money at this fundraiser last night. Surprised or not surprised?

BROWNSTEIN: Not a surprise. The White House tends to rally around the wagon when people are in trouble. Tom DeLay doesn't really need help raising money. he can raise it on his own time. What this does, though, I think is send a signal to House Republicans that the White House is still standing with Tom DeLay. Whether that's enough to save him, though, in January, if this is still going on, is another question.

S. O'BRIEN: Kind of the $64,000 question. Ron Brownstein, nice to see you, as always -- Soledad.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, more on those bodies found in the Gentilly section of New Orleans, found in a home. There is a lot of outrage over this, nearly a hundred days after Katrina. We'll talk to the city council woman who represents that part of the city, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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