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American Morning

Operation Swarmer in its Second Day; American Opinion of War in Iraq; Anti-Rape Ads

Aired March 17, 2006 - 06:29   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A massive operation now under way to drive Iraqi insurgents out from one of their strongholds. U.S. troops take captives and seize weapons.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bob Franken in historic Annapolis, Maryland. You can see a lot of the yachts that make their regular berth here. We're going to also hear a variety of opinions on the war in Iraq.

That's coming right up.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Bob. We'll get to that in just a moment.

Welcome back, everybody.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good to have you with us this morning.

That big offensive continues in Iraq, north of Baghdad this morning. It's called Operation Swarmer, now in its second day.

Currently, 900 U.S. and Iraqi troops involved. At the outset there were 1,500 military total, carried in aboard 50 helicopters, a carefully-coordinated attack. The mission described as the largest air assault in Iraq since the U.S. invasion three years ago this Sunday.

It's happening around the town of Samarra. That's about 75 miles north of the capital.

CNN's Arwa Damon live now from Baghdad, watching things from there.

Arwa, what do we know?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Well, what we know so far from reports on the ground, that about four dozen suspected insurgents have been detained, though after questioning, 17 of those were released. Now, this is quite standard in these sorts of cordon and search sweeping operations, that they will detain most military-aged males, anyone who seems slightly suspicious, just for questioning and intelligence-gathering purposes. We've also heard that they found about eight weapons caches, to include IED-making materials -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: Arwa, it seems as if this whole operation is as much about anything is about showing the Iraqi forces are up to speed and ready for combat. The U.S. taking great pains to emphasize that.

How real is that, though?

DAMON: Well, Miles, it really depends on what kind of an Iraqi unit you're with at that point in time. Now, the U.S. military is saying that in this case for this operation, most of the intelligence gathering was carried out by the Iraqi security forces.

Now, they naturally have an advantage in that they speak Arabic, they can speak to the local population. And when conducting these sort of cordon and search operations, where there's a fair amount of interaction with the local population, that is where the role of the Iraqi troops really comes in.

They can pick up on nuances and the language, they can recognize if an accent is Iraqi or another -- or an individual coming from another Arab country. And they can also notice things such as facial features to identify whether or not someone is Iraqi or is from that area.

So, in that sense, they do play a very significant role. As to whether or not Iraqis are at the forefront of the fight, there still remains the reality that it is U.S. air power that is being used and that it is U.S. armor that is on the ground in these kinds of operations -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks very much.

Arwa Damon in Baghdad for us.

A little later on the program, we'll talk to General Richard Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We will ask him about the progress in the war -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Three years of war. Sunday is going to mark the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion which began on March 19, 2003.

Since then, Americans have expressed growing dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war. The latest CNN-"USA-Today"-Gallup poll shows 60 percent of the country believes that things are going poorly in Iraq.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken is live for us in Annapolis.

Hey, Bob. Good morning.

FRANKEN: Good morning.

And, of course, Annapolis is a city that has got such a history. It goes back well before the beginning of the United States, actually. It's a town now that has turned as so many of these historic towns have into sort of this cutesy-poo (ph) kind of a place with lots of the pretty shops and all that type of thing.

Behind me -- Dave, if you can show that -- a lot of boats here, a lot of yachts. This is right on the Chesapeake Bay. They call this Ego Alley.

It's the home of an awful lot of wealth. And just like everywhere else in the United States -- well, first of all, this has one very big difference. This is the home of the Naval Academy here. But even within the Naval Academy here, what you fine is a wide variety of opinions about the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY SKENE, CHANTILLY, VA., RESIDENT: I thought it was a good idea to put the breaks on a fellow that looked as though he could do us some serious harm if he got his hands on weapons of mass destruction, which we -- I think we seriously believed at the time that he had.

LAUREN BLOOM, ANNAPOLIS, MD., RESIDENT: I was in New York for 9/11, and then he kind of compared that to the situation in Iraq and said, well, you know, of course we have to, like, go attack back. And it was two different things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And one of the things that we've been doing is we made these appearances as we've been talking live to people without getting an idea ahead of time about the opinions.

The question is for Cullen Murray, who is a financial services worker.

The question is your opinions about war the war in Iraq three years after it started. How has it evolved?

CULLEN MURRAY, ANNAPOLIS RESIDENT: Well, I think the biggest issue for me and my friends is that each morning you open up the paper and you read the stories and you cringe. And we have friends, we have colleagues that are over in Iraq. We worry about them a great deal.

But then again, on the other hand, I think about that -- like Ronald Reagan said, that freedom should always strive over tyranny. But at what cost? This war has been a cost greater than I think any of us could ever imagine. I think more than the administration probably every imagined.

FRANKEN: So you have mixed feelings about it?

MURRAY: Truly. Very much so.

I think that everyone deserves freedom. I think that also the cost of the American people in lives, in money, our budgets. The budget that just came out is gigantic, it's an unimaginable number. And it's mostly on the backs of the expense of the war.

FRANKEN: Has your opinion evolved over the last three years?

MURRAY: Yes, I think so. I'm fully in support of our administration. We're a democratic government, we make decisions by democracy. But I think that the confidence is wavering to some degree.

FRANKEN: So what we have is a reflection here of an opinion that you hear so much in the United States and we've heard in our time here, Soledad. A view of wavering opinions at the third anniversary, as we come up upon it, of the war in Iraq -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Bob. We're going to continue to check in with you throughout the morning to hear from more of the folks there.

Thanks, Bob.

Other stories making news this morning. Carol's got those. She's in the newsroom for us.

Hey, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

Good morning to all of you.

It was close, but the Senate approved a $2.8 trillion spending plan for next year. The 51-49 vote went down on Thursday. The resolution includes funding for health and education programs. The new budget plan anticipates a deficit of more than $350 billion for this year and next.

A possible break for firefighters in Texas. Rain could come as early as today. The state's governor, Rick Perry, toured hard-hit areas on Thursday, calling the scene devastating. At least 11 people have died from the fires and more than one million acres have now burned.

Authorities in Hawaii are not taking any more chances. The state is now calling for emergency inspections on earthen dams on Kauai, even on private property.

Earlier this week, a dam burst, releasing a giant rush of water. At least two people were killed, five people remain missing this morning. The area has been getting hit by nonstop rain.

And we'll have to wait and see. Britney Spears filed a $20 million lawsuit over a report about a sex tape. Spears claims that "US Weekly" printed a fake story saying that she and hubby KFed made a sex tape and were scared it would be released.

Well, "US Weekly" fired back, asking a judge to dismiss that lawsuit. But the judge now says she needs more time.

Of course, we will be eagerly following this one -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Carol Costello. Let's check the forecast. Chad Myers with that.

Hello, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: When did he get to be KFed?

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: So now you're MOb?

M. O'BRIEN: MOb or...

MYERS: CMye.

M. O'BRIEN: So you're CMye. CMye? Is that -- I don't know.

MYERS: Yes, I don't know. It doesn't work for me.

M. O'BRIEN: Pretty lame, actually.

MYERS: Actually, it is.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a provocative new ad campaign raising some eyebrows. The intent is to stop a growing problem of rape, but the way they're going about it kind of strange. We'll talk about that this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. A $100 computer seems like a good idea. Bill Gates says no, not such a great plan to give computers to children all over the world. Could it be that the idea is supported by his arch rival, Google? We'll see.

S. O'BRIEN: And ahead this morning, take a look at this. This is a videotape of a crash. Oh, wow. It's all caught on tape.

It's really thanks to a new technology. We're going to show you the new technology and the tape as well.

Details ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: No means no. That is the message of a provocative new series of ads that are making their way across Great Britain. The aim is to stop the growing problem of rape among British youth.

CNN's Mallika Kapur joins us from London this morning.

Mallika, good morning.

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

You're right. You know, the British government is getting up close and personal. It wants to reduce the number of sexual assaults against women, and so it's launched a new ad campaign, a $700,000 ad campaign reminding men, you know, as strange as it may seem in this day and age, reminding men that for sex to be legal, it must be consensual.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are lots of words for sex.

KAPUR (voice over): On the radio, in magazines and on posters, the same message...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you don't get a "yes," don't have sex.

KAPUR: Otherwise, the government advertisements warn young men could end up in jail for rape.

FIONA MACTAGGART, U.K. HOME OFFICE MINISTER: What we're trying to do is to make sure that young men understand that they have responsibilities here, too.

KAPUR: The ads are deliberately provocative, meant to grab the attention of 18 to 24-year-olds. Starting Monday, they'll appear in men's magazines and in club and pub bathrooms across Britain to highlight the importance of consent.

Consent is at the heart of Britain's Sexual Offenses Act enacted in 2004. It defines consent as a person agreeing to sex by choice and having the freedom and capacity to make that choice.

So why the public campaign now, more than two years later?

MCTAGGART: Because I was fed up, actually. It's a true fact that we (INAUDIBLE) important reforms to the law, and yet we saw the incidents of rape continuing to be high.

KAPUR: The number of reported rape cases in Britain was just under 5,000 in 1995. Ten years later, the number has almost tripled.

A survey by "Cosmopolitan" magazine showed 56 percent of its readers said a man had gone ahead with sex even after they had said no.

HELEN DALY, "COSMOPOLITAN" MAGAZINE: And that's why these advertisements are so important, because men need to understand that no is no. If you go back to a woman's flat for coffee, that doesn't mean yes. If she is inebriated and can't say no, that doesn't mean that's a yes either.

KAPUR: "Cosmopolitan" welcomes the ads. But not everyone is sure they'll be effective.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How often would it ruin the mood, you know, if you're in the middle of something and you say, by the way, just for legal reasons, do you mind if I ask you to say yes?

KAPUR: The reality, according to these ads, is that without consent you could end up here...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you could go to prison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAPUR: Now (INAUDIBLE) this ad campaign comes at a time of low conviction of rape in rape cases in Britain. The government says it is planning to change that, but for now the priority is to reduce the number of victims -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Mallika Kapur for us this morning.

Mallika, thanks for the report -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Some news happening around America this morning.

In North Carolina, a deadly boating accident to tell you about. The bodies of four volunteer firefighters recovered after their small boat overturned. Two others able to swim about a mile and a half to shore.

In Alabama, those three college students accused of setting fires at nine rural churches in Alabama released on $50,000 bond after a federal court hearing, but the students not going anywhere. New arrest warrants issued by the state. And so they remain in custody for now.

New York, a horrific crash caught on tape. Take a look at this. A semi slammed into the dividing wall, a school bus, children, parents on board, also involved in the accident, as you can see. New technology on the bus caught the whole thing, as you can see. No life-threatening injuries.

We'll have more on this a little bit later in our program.

Also ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, why this? Why now?

A swarm of questions as the U.S. stages an air assault north of Baghdad. We will get some answers from the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

And on the mend and on the home front. A condition report on ABC anchorman Bob Woodruff who was injured on assignment in Iraq.

Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Even the mallard celebrating St. Patrick's Day today with his green hat.

S. O'BRIEN: I didn't realize it only lasted four or five hours, the green... M. O'BRIEN: Yes, it's kind of an evanescent thing, off it goes and then we're on until next year.

S. O'BRIEN: Just like this, off we go and on to something else.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to the headlines with Carol Costello. She's in the newsroom for us.

Hey.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

The largest air assault since the invasion of Iraq war now under way in Samarra. That's north of Baghdad. U.S. and Iraqi troops scouring the countryside for insurgents and foreign fighters.

The Department of Defense has released still pictures of the operation. Military officials say they have detained dozens of people and uncovered some bomb-making equipment.

ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff is up and about. After nearly two months, he's been released from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. That's in Maryland. He'll continue his recovery at a private facility in New York.

More and more children are being given anti-psychotic drugs. A new study shows prescriptions jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002. There are now about 2.5 million children medicated. In many cases, it's for attention deficit and other behavioral problems for which the meds are not proved to be worked -- or not proven to work.

The Big East flops. It's off to a dismal start in the NCAA tournament. After all the hype of placing eight teams, three are already going on.

Syracuse fell to Texas A&M 66-58. Wichita State pounded Seton Hall 86-66. And Marquette knocked off by Alabama 90-85.

And on St. Patrick's Day everyone is Irish, as they say. Some two million people are expected to show up in New York for the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

And at the White House, President Bush will take part in the traditional shamrock ceremony with Ireland's prime minister. The two also met on Thursday.

So let's go to Chad O'Myers at the forecast center.

MYERS: Don't even start with that. O'Costello doesn't work.

(WEATHER REPORT)

with the weather center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Should we say Gerri O'Willis? No, you know, we better stop this now.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No, please. I'm begging. I'm begging.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

WILLIS: I've asked for the Gerri O'Willis sign (ph). I hope I'm getting it.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, we'll see. We'll see.

Font, please. Can we put the font up? Did we get it?

No. No, we don't have it yet. I'm sorry. We're working on it.

WILLIS: It's working. It will happen.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to see you. Thanks for coming in.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

WILLIS: Good to see you.

So, today we're going to be talking about the clash of the tech titans, how Microsoft plans to steal IBM's thunder.

That's coming up next

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at some of the stories we're working on here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Firefighters are claiming progress in containing the three major wildfires in Texas.

A federal judge grants bond to three students accused of setting church fires in Alabama. They're going to remain in custody, though, because of some new warrants.

Also in Alabama, lawmakers plan to pardon hundreds of segregation era law breakers.

Hawaii is authorizing emergency inspections of private property following a dam break.

And, of course, we're live with the very latest on Operation Swarmer, the new air assault to hunt down insurgents in Iraq, the largest offensive since the start of the war three years ago. M. O'BRIEN: Wait until you hear about Microsoft. It's an all- Microsoft business report as Gerri Willis is here for Andy Serwer, who's on his way to Hawaii. Hopefully the rain will stop for him.

M. O'BRIEN: I know.

WILLIS: Do you think he's wearing green today? Probably not.

S. O'BRIEN: I think he's wearing -- I've seen him travel. He wears sweats. It's not pretty.

(LAUGHTER)

M. O'BRIEN: We know he's drinking of the green, for sure, because he's enjoying his vacation.

WILLIS: Yes, I know Andy. That's exactly what he's doing.

M. O'BRIEN: Tell us about Microsoft. What are they up to?

WILLIS: Well, this is an interesting story.

Microsoft wants to take IBM on head-on. IBM goes after the corporate business, as you know, and that's exactly where Microsoft wants to go, with a new suite of software that they announced yesterday, putting $500 million behind it in an ad campaign to back this thing.

It's actually a new suite of software featuring Windows Vista and Office 2007.

Now, what's interesting about this is they call it a dashboard for managing business. And it will do special things, guys, like you will be able to call in and get your e-mail through voice recognition systems.

It really hooks everybody up in the office, makes people more productive, they say. And you know now IBM brings in a fleet of people to help you install this stuff. Microsoft says that the software is going to solve all your problems for you.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh. Hang on to your wallet, Gerri.

I wanted to ask you -- so you call in for your e-mail and some robotic voice reads the e-mail to you?

WILLIS: Well, you know, it's not going to be your mom. It's got to be voice recognition software, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Well, I have one word for that, BlackBerry.

WILLIS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: I mean, it's -- is it unable to read it?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, think about the privacy concerns. I mean, right?

M. O'BRIEN: I would think, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, you start opening up your e-mail access to other...

M. O'BRIEN: On a speakerphone.

WILLIS: Steve Balmer (ph) calling you.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, right.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, he also has some harsh words for this -- what seemed like a great idea, a $100 computer to bring computers to the world.

WILLIS: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: Everyone. Especially children.

WILLIS: Especially third-world countries.

S. O'BRIEN: What's wrong with the idea?

WILLIS: What's interesting about this, Microsoft had some harsh words for the $100 computer. Take a look. Isn't that adorable?

M. O'BRIEN: It is.

WILLIS: I think that is so cute. And you crank the thing with your hand. It's really lovely, lime green and orange.

But, you know, Gates says that it doesn't have a disk drive. It has a tiny screen. Not really great technology. So he was mocking the idea on Wednesday in front of a crowd.

M. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this...

WILLIS: I've got to tell you, he was also introducing his own new product, which costs between $600 and $1,000.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, interesting.

WILLIS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's interesting, because, what do you put on your disk drive? Microsoft products, don't you? So it's interesting that he would be concerned about the absence of the disk drive.

But do you think that's good for him from a P.R. perspective?

WILLIS: Well, I mean, from a P.R. perspective, it seems to me, if you're talking about products for third-world countries, you want to be nice about it. M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

WILLIS: You know, you want to play nice. It's kind of surprising coming from Bill Gaets, but, you know, he's in the market, he's competing, he's trying to gain market share. I guess at the end of the day, it's all about the dollars and cents.

M. O'BRIEN: And the back story is, big supporters of the $100 computer are the founders of Google.

WILLIS: Yes, that's right.

M. O'BRIEN: Arch rivals.

WILLIS: And a rival, a true rival. And MIT. You know, a big think tank here on the East Coast.

So, very interesting story.

And are you surprised?

M. O'BRIEN: No. No.

WILLIS: Because you're a big -- you're a geek. .

M. O'BRIEN: No I'm not.

WILLIS: Come on. You're a geek. You can tell us what you think.

M. O'BRIEN: No. Bill Gates, he's a very competitive guy.

WILLIS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's leave it at that.

WILLIS: Amen to that.

S. O'BRIEN: And that's why he's done so well.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, indeed.

WILLIS: He's about the green.

S. O'BRIEN: Exactly.

Thanks, Gerri.

As we approach the top of the hour, let's get a check of the forecast. Chad's got that at the CNN Center.

Hey, Chad.

MYERS: You know, Soledad, what I was just thinking is that my computer now has more ram than my first hard drive did. More memory on just a little chip than my first drive did in general. So maybe you don't need hard drives after all, for at least that computer.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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