Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

New Iraq Massacre Claim; Crossing the Line; Rice Speaks on Iran; Journalist Wounded

Aired June 02, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Here is a look at what's happening this morning, Friday, June 2.

New details of that alleged Marine massacre in Haditha, Iraq. Military investigators reportedly plan to exhume bodies of some of the people killed. "The Washington Post" is reporting that evidence may have been missed because deaths initially were not treated as crimes.

Murder charges could come as early as today against seven Marines and a Navy corpsman being held at a military brig in Camp Pendleton near San Diego. A source familiar with this investigation says they are accused of killing an Iraqi civilian west of Baghdad in April.

M. O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, the U.S. investigating another alleged massacre in Iraq. The BBC reporting it has video evidence that U.S. troops may have deliberately killed 11 civilians back in March. It says the video shows the people were shot to death. That disputes claims by the U.S. military.

Jury deliberations resume this morning in the sentencing of Sgt. Santos Cardona. Cardona is an Army dog handler convicted of abusing a detainee at Abu Ghraib Prison. He is the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from abuse there. He could get up to three-and-a-half years behind bars.

S. O'BRIEN: In Vienna, Austria, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other world leaders say they have reached a deal on how to resume nuclear talks with Iran. Not a lot of detail to tell you about, but they have agreed on an incentive package to get Iran back in talks. Iran, though, has to first stop manufacturing nuclear fuel.

First Lady Laura Bush is headed to the United Nations this morning. She is going to speak to the general assembly at a high- level meeting on HIV and AIDS.

M. O'BRIEN: And the crew of the International Space Station back inside after a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. The two-man crew did about a half dozen maintenance jobs. Here on Earth, we call them honeydos. I don't know what they call them up there.

Time for a check of the forecast, Chad Myers.

S. O'BRIEN: Hey, Chad, honey, would you do that for us?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Could you do the weather for us?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, they actually had to stay out an extra hour to go fix a video camera. They were out there...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: ... and the guy -- the Russian controller went back and talked to Commander Williams and said are you cold? He goes I can't even feel my feet he goes. And the Russian guy goes we'll have to put brandy in the system instead of oxygen next time.

M. O'BRIEN: I like the way the Russians think.

MYERS: There you go.

Good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: More now on the developing story. With the Haditha investigation nearing an end, another investigation is starting up. Eleven Iraqi civilians may have been deliberately killed by U.S. troops back in March. The alleged attack came in Ishaqi, which is about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Let's get right to CNN's John Vause. He is in Baghdad for us this morning.

John, give us details of these new allegations, please.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, Iraqi police have told CNN that U.S. soldiers killed five children, four women and two men in the village of Abu Seffa in the town of Ishaqi on March 15. Iraqi police say they were told about this by witnesses. They say that 11 members of this one family were kept inside a room of their home for about an hour before they were shot. After the incident, Iraqi police say they found bullet casings, the type only used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

At the time of this incident back in March 15, U.S. authority said that they were tipped off about a possible al Qaeda suspect who was inside the home. Once U.S. forces arrived, according to U.S. officials, a firefight broke out. They say four people were killed, including civilians, a very different version of events. The U.S. did concede at the time that a number of civilians were killed. Right now the only word coming from the U.S. military, this incident is also under investigation. But how this differs compared to Haditha is that right now there is no alleged motive in this case as to why these 11 people may have been shot by U.S. soldiers -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: What's been the reaction in Iraq then to these charges?

VAUSE: Well we have heard from the Iraqi prime minister. He says that Iraqi civilians are the victims of daily violence by coalition troops, and especially by U.S. troops. He said, "They crush them with their vehicles and they kill them just on suspicion." He added, "This is completely unacceptable."

He also has said that the attacks on civilians by U.S. troops may play a role in how long U.S. forces are asked to stay here. The Iraqi government has launched its own investigation into what happened at Haditha. It's also calling for the United States to handover its investigation file.

Also today from "The Washington Post," a report that U.S. officials may exhume the bodies from Haditha to try and recover forensic evidence, the types of bullets that were used, the angles from which the shots were fired and how close those shots were fired to those who were killed -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So much time has elapsed, though, so that could be a real problem.

John Vause for us this morning in Baghdad.

John, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Back to Haditha now. There are two investigations under way, one that is aiming to find out just what happened and when, the other focused on whether there was a concerted effort to cover-up an atrocity.

Jamie McIntyre with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): One of the big questions surrounding the killing of 24 civilians at Haditha in November of last year is why the cover story that they died from a roadside bomb and a resulting firefight held for so long, essentially from November to February, when "TIME" magazine began asking questions about it?

One of the answers, according to Pentagon sources, is that a preliminary investigation has determined that the Marines involved in the killing gave inaccurate information about what happened, and then allegedly the officers in charge failed to follow up on that information and scrutinize it adequately. They also say that there was another failure. Sources say Marines who came upon the scene afterwards as part of the effort to clean it up and document what happened clearly were confronted with evidence that the civilians had been shot at close range but did not object or raise any questions about the official story.

U.S. troops are being told in Iraq as part of their refresher training that it's not enough for them to follow the laws of war themselves, but they have an obligation to speak out if they see others crossing the line.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Playing hardball with Iran, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tells CNN that the -- how the U.S. is planning to end the nuclear standoff. The interview just hours after the secretary hammered out a new proposal for Iran.

Robin Oakley has details for us from London this morning.

Hey, Robin, good morning.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Good morning, Soledad.

And it was a key agreement that was reached last night in Vienna between the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, discussing basically how nice they were prepared to be to Iran if it was prepared to re-suspend its uranium enrichment program and get back into talks. And also, of course, how nasty they were prepared to be if Iran didn't comply with the conditions set by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

And Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, in an interview with our colleague David Ensor, certainly sounded pretty happy about the outcome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're very pleased with the outcome of last night's talks. Indeed, it's what we came here to do. And this establishes two paths. And it also establishes, again, that the Iranians need to return to the negotiating table. But in order to do that, they need to suspend their enrichment and reprocessing activities as a condition for returning to the talks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OAKLEY: About both sticks and carrots, and the carrots to Iran include the possible provision of a light-water reactor and fuel supplies to keep some kind of civil nuclear program going for Iran. Less specific, probably the agreement on potential sanctions, but those could include visa restrictions on leaders of the Iranian regime and an arms embargo on Iran -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: As you mentioned, there are these two paths. There are few details, though, of the actual agreement that has been hammered out outside everybody sort of weighing in on the agreement. What happens if Iran says no thanks? I mean it goes to the sanctions and then that's really where the pressure comes on, right?

OAKLEY: Well indeed. And it's all a matter of time now. And of course the U.S. administration doesn't want Iran to rush its reaction. We've had some initial reactions from the Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, for example, saying that Iran is happy to talk, but it's not happy to accept the preconditions set by the United States.

We're not talking timetables yet, but Condoleezza Rice gave some hint in that direction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICE: I'm not one that's given to timetables, but I think we are talking about a matter of weeks here, not -- we can't wait for months while Iran, again, says on the one hand maybe they're interested in negotiating, on the other hand maybe they're not. They need to make a choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OAKLEY: And part of the diplomatic initiative here, Soledad, is really the effort by the United States to set a debate going within the Iranian administration, because not everybody is sounding quite as hard line as some of the others.

And there are two different approaches as to whether they should now start cooperating a little bit, get the United States to the table, maybe partly suspend their uranium enrichment program, maybe limit it to a degree that it couldn't lead to the production of weapons -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Robin Oakley for us in London this morning.

Robin, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: More proof the city of New Orleans didn't have a chance when Katrina hit because of shoddy work by the Army Corps of Engineers. An independent group of experts hired by the Corps out with a report saying the flood protection system in New Orleans was a system only in name, poorly planned and built poorly as well, not enough redundancy, a patchwork only as strong as its weakest link.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. CARL STROCK, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: In terms of how much accountability should the Corps take? Absolutely, we must make it very clear that we stand behind our work. We do take accountability. And in this case, it's been sobering for us, but really this is the first time that Corps of Engineers has had to stand up and say we had a catastrophic failure of one of our projects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Corps vowing to learn from these hard lessons as it fortifies New Orleans for the future.

We stay in New Orleans as we begin our look at what is happening in America. Ray Nagin's comeback complete. Nagin took office with the oath and all as Mayor of New Orleans for a second term yesterday. His inauguration taking place at the convention center. You'll recall that's where thousands of New Orleans residents awaited rescue after Katrina. The oath coming on the first day of the new Atlantic hurricane season. Nagin pledged the city is now better prepared.

In Indianapolis, police trying to learn who shot dead seven people execution-style inside one house near a prison. It's according to media reports. Police are calling it the worst crime in the city in three decades. Neighbors say they heard between 10 and 15 shots about 10:00 last night. Police have cordoned off several blocks around the crime scene.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says yes to President Bush somewhat reluctantly. Aids say the governor will now sign an agreement with the federal government to supply 1,000 National Guard troops through the end of 2008. President Bush wants 6,000 National Guard troops to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border.

A fast-moving wildfire burning outside Sedona, Arizona, about 90 miles north of Phoenix. The fire was at 40 acres mid-afternoon yesterday, grew to 2,000 acres by nightfall. Dozens of homes evacuated, but some residents may be able to return this morning. More fire fighters and water-carrying helicopters are headed to the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHARINE CLOSE, 2006 SPELLING BEE WINNER: Ursprache, U-R-S-P-R- A-C-H-E, ursprache.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Gosh, I didn't even know that was English. Thirteen-year-old Katharine Close from New Jersey has won the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The first girl since 1999 to win. She nailed that word ursprache,...

S. O'BRIEN: Ursprache.

M. O'BRIEN: ... which of course, as Soledad knows, means a parent language. And she takes home $42,000 to be shared with her parents -- I don't know about that and probably not -- cash and prizes. Congratulations to her.

S. O'BRIEN: I love her smile. I mean she is beaming.

M. O'BRIEN: She is just... S. O'BRIEN: She is beaming.

M. O'BRIEN: She is...

S. O'BRIEN: It's so cute.

M. O'BRIEN: She's got it. She's got the marquee value there.

S. O'BRIEN: Cute. Cute.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come in the program, Kimberly Dozier, the CBS reporter, her mom at her critically injured daughter's bedside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOROTHY DOZIER, KIMBERLY DOZIER'S MOTHER: When I walked into the room and saw her, it really impacted what that was all about and how closely we came to maybe losing her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: We'll tell you what she wanted to know when she came to in just a little bit.

Robbing New York to pay Omaha? The federal government takes anti-terror money away from cities considered prime targets for terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLOSE: Ursprache, U-R-S-P-R-A-C-H-E, ursprache.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: And more on our brand new hero, this 13-year-old girl...

M. O'BRIEN: We just love this tape. We'll keep playing it. Play it one more time, shall we?

S. O'BRIEN: ... from New Jersey, she's the national spelling ace. Going to find out, though, what she was thinking about when she knew she was headed for victory? And also, how do you prepare for a spelling bee when they can ask you absolutely everything?

M. O'BRIEN: When they...

S. O'BRIEN: We speak to the victor ahead this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Plus, Carrie has got the business headlines for us.

Good morning. CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to both of you.

Is the workday not long enough already? Well soon, if you're an investor, you'll be able to trade stocks, bonds, options, perhaps, for up to 12 hours a day. We'll have that story coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Carrie, thanks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, military investigators reportedly plan to exhume bodies of people killed in the massacre at Haditha. "The Washington Post" says evidence may have been missed because the deaths initially were not treated as crimes.

Indianapolis police are investigating the killings of seven people at a house near a woman's prison. Media reports say the victims were shot execution-style and some of those victims were children.

How long should Internet companies keep customer records? Law enforcement officials and Internet service providers meet today to discuss that issue. FBI Chief Robert Mueller wants companies to keep records for two years to help in terrorism and pornography investigations.

CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier expected to come home on Sunday. She's still in critical condition this morning but has started communicating with her family and with doctors.

CNN's Chris Burns has been following this story from the Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany.

Chris, what can you tell us?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN BERLIN BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Miles, Kimberly Dozier is now off the ventilator, and that means that she can talk. The CBS President Sean McManus met with her last night and said that she still has her sense of humor. That she said it was too bad that they were meeting in Landstuhl and not over a drink in New York City. So she seems to be a bit upbeat on that.

Though in talking with her -- or meeting with her mother, her mother sees that even though she is encouraged about the progress, that Kimberly is going to have to live with pins in her legs for some time and that the recovery is going to be gradual.

There was a soldier who gave his Purple Heart to Kimberly just yesterday. He was injured in Iraq a couple of years ago and met -- had met Kimberly back then. He said that she deserved that Purple Heart because he says she suffered just like any other soldier -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: So, Chris, when we say she is going home, we mean home -- I assume she's headed to a hospital in the United States, correct?

BURNS: Yes. The idea is -- and the reason she is not flying back today is that the plane is headed toward Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas taking burn patients there, sadly. And that what she is to be headed toward Maryland, or in that area, possibly Bethesda Naval Medical Center or some other hospital nearby, because that's where her parents live.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. And typically it's not uncommon for civilians who are caught up in these situations in Iraq to get treatment through the military because it is the best treatment after all.

BURNS: Well it is unusual. And of course those medics and doctors in Baghdad saved her life, saved her from bleeding to death, a quite dramatic situation there. And she was embedded with the military at the time, but the car bomb went off and she was injured, shrapnel to the head and seriously injured in the legs. So that is one reason she was taken back here. It's -- they make exceptions to this, but it's very rare.

M. O'BRIEN: Chris Burns at Landstuhl, thank you very much.

BURNS: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's get a check on the forecast now. Chad Myers is looking at that for us in the Weather Center.

Hello, -- Chad.

MYERS: You got a flight today, -- Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: No, not flying anywhere today.

MYERS: Good for you.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm going to drive. I'm driving today.

MYERS: Good for you.

I'm going to read these lists. I'm just going to read them...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: ... because it's so sublime here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Chad Myers.

Still to come, going global, Wall Street may soon stretch all the way to Europe and you'll be able to buy and sell much longer, much more.

And Monaco's Prince Albert let's out a secret. Suddenly it's a fairytale come true for the 14-year-old daughter of a California waitress. We'll explain coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at some of the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

An Iraqi war veteran is suing filmmaker Michael Moore over the film "Fahrenheit 9/11." We told you about this yesterday. Sgt. Peter Damon says the film leaves the impression that he opposed the war when he did not. NBC is also named in the $175 million suit because they gave footage of Damon to Michael Moore.

Batwoman has been reborn as a lesbian. DC Comics say they are trying to introduce more diversity into the comic's world. Batwoman was originally killed off in 1979.

And a routine maintenance problem is delaying, rather, e-mail for millions of Internet users. People who are using AOL or Compuserve or Netscape are being affected. AOL says there is no evidence of any sabotage.

M. O'BRIEN: Well there's an 800-pound gorilla about to arrive on the international stock scene. Should we buy the gorilla, -- Carrie?

LEE: You could. We're talking about the NYSE, the New York Stock Exchange, which has been publicly traded for quite some time now. NYSE has agreed to buy Euronext for just under $10 billion. Now Euronext is Europe's second largest exchange. They have locations in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, some other big cities.

If this deal is approved, it would create the first transatlantic equities market, so you'll be able to trade stocks, bonds, commodities, options, pretty much anything, for up to 12 hours a day. So I'll have more on this coming up what it means for all of you traders and investors out there.

M. O'BRIEN: I would think traders would be upset. That's a long day.

LEE: It's a long day.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

LEE: We'll see. You know I mean I remember people talking about this 24-hour trading some years ago when the market was booming. That didn't happen. But this time around could very well.

S. O'BRIEN: Or more money. The more time make more money.

LEE: Yes, exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: Look at it that way.

LEE: Exactly, yes. OK.

So also, May auto sales, more of the same here. Japanese automakers seeing sales up in the double digits. U.S. companies continue to struggle. Ford, GM, both saw sales down in the double digits. High gas prices continuing to eat into the numbers here. Chevy's Tahoe, which has been a pretty nice seller, was even down for the month of May. So that is the latest on autos.

Quick check on yesterday's stock action, pretty nice day for equities. The Dow up about 92 points. Today it's looking like a pretty flat start. We have the big May jobs report coming out before trading gets under way. So all eyes and ears on Wall Street on that number.

S. O'BRIEN: How is that looking? What are they thinking of?

LEE: We're expecting about -- or traders expecting, investors expecting about 170,000 jobs added during the month, which would be better than the prior month. The unemployment rate expected to stay at 4.7 percent.

M. O'BRIEN: So there you go.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, well I know you're going to watch it for us.

LEE: Yes, we'll have more on that.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carrie.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carrie.

We're adding another name to the celebrity baby boom. Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy pinup, confirming the news in a home video.

S. O'BRIEN: She's so happy.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't think this is the home video, by the way. It's posted on her Web site. Smith says she's very, very happy. And she'll check in on the Web periodically to say how things are doing. And we just can't wait for those updates, can we?

S. O'BRIEN: Congratulations, Anna Nicole.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, our best to her.

Prince Monaco admitting fathering yet another child out of wedlock. Fourteen-year-old Jazmin Grace Rotolo, daughter of a waitress in California. I guess she's sort of like a princess, right? I don't know. How does that work?

S. O'BRIEN: I don't know how that works.

M. O'BRIEN: Not really, but she considers herself a princess now, I suppose. Remember last July, the prince acknowledged he fathered a child with a former flight attendant. The latest disclosure made through the prince's lawyer in a French newspaper. The palace in Monaco there kind of mum about it, as they would be. Yes. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: One would imagine that would be the strategy there.

Next week, AMERICAN MORNING is going to head to Iowa. We're taking an in-depth look at the effect that high gas prices are having in the heartland. Dan Lothian is going to show us how folks from all walks of life have been affected and how they are coping, too. Monday, we're going to meet a farmer. He spends 250 bucks just to fill up his tractor at the same time that his fertilizer costs have doubled over the last two years. It's our special series. It's called "PAYING THE PRICE." It's all next week.

A look at the morning's top stories are straight ahead, including Marines waiting at Camp Pendleton expecting to be charged with murder in Iraq. This time, though, it has nothing to do with Haditha. We'll explain.

And a shocking scene in Indianapolis, shots and screams. Seven people dead in a residential neighborhood. The latest details from the police just ahead.

Those stories, much more, as AMERICAN MORNING continues. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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