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American Morning

Investigation Into Haditha Massacre Now Complete; Battle Over Iraq; Same-Sex Marriage

Aired June 16, 2006 - 09:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I know standing here does not solve the problem. And it hasn't gotten better, it's gotten worse. That's the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A bitter battle on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers toe to toe again today over the war in Iraq. Heated words over a controversial resolution.

Democrats oust one of their own from a key post. The issue is ethics.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hooters -- yes, Hooters -- now offering to pick up part of the government's bar tab. It's their response to one of hundreds of Katrina fraud cases.

And changes in mass for millions of American Catholics. The Vatican moves to a more exact interpretation.

O'BRIEN: And evacuations ordered as wildfires burn across parts of the West. Now an even more serious warning. We'll tell you where ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.

Details coming out now on how information passed up the chain of command after Marines allegedly killed 24 civilians in Haditha.

Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon to tell us more.

Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Well, CNN has confirmed that an important step forward has now been taken in this investigation. A report that has been under way for some time now by a general, Major General Eldon Bargewell, into those alleged killings of 24 civilians at Haditha in Iraq last year. That fact-finding report, we are told, is now this week completed and is being sent to General Peter Chiarelli, the senior commander in the situation in Iraq.

This report had been long awaited because what General Bargewell has been looking into is whether there has been some sort of frankly cover-up in the reporting of this incident. There is, of course, a separate criminal investigation being conducted, but General Bargewell's report is going to be looked at as a very significant piece in this matter because he will -- he is trying to determine whether there was some sort of cover-up.

When the incident first happened, why it is that the Marines did not have the accurate information reported up the chain of command, why it is that originally they said people were killed in a roadside blast, and now all information, of course, as we know, points to the fact that the Marines went into these homes in Haditha, that there were a number of incidents in that day in which a total of 24 Iraqi civilians were killed. How all of this somehow was not reported accurately in the beginning.

We are told General Bargewell's report, once General Chiarelli looks at it, could, in fact, lead to further criminal action if there is some finding or indication, in fact, that there was a cover-up somewhere inside the military -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Barbara, when will we know what's in that report? Will there be some sort of public announcement?

STARR: Not very soon, Carol. This is something the military is most likely to hold on to very tightly for some time to come.

General Chiarelli, we believe, now has the report, is looking at it. And under military procedure, what's pretty typical is the senior commander looks at it and might say, OK, I want more information on this matter that you have found, or that matter, sends it back down and asks for more work to be done.

General Chiarelli, General Bargewell both known to be very, very thorough men. So this is all likely to go back and forth for some time. And it will be a determination that they will have to make about when they actually make the matter public because, for example, if it does lead to a recommendation of some sort of legal military action against other people in the military because of some finding of a cover-up, that's likely to wait until we see those proceedings unfold -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Barbara Starr reporting live for us at the Pentagon this morning.

Thanks.

O'BRIEN: New this morning, despite that huge security crackdown in Baghdad, a suicide bomber attacks a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers. At least 11 killed, 25 wounded. This is the second attack at the Buratha mosque, one of the most important mosques for Shiites. Eighty people died there on April 7th, also during Friday prayers.

The deep division over the war in Iraq expected to come to a vote today in the House. Lawmakers spent about 11 hours yesterday arguing over a resolution that says troops should not be withdrawn on an arbitrary timetable. The non-binding resolution is clearly more about elections this fall than anything else.

Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel live now from Capitol Hill with more.

Good morning, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Well, House Republicans who support this resolution maintain it's an important show of support for President Bush and for American troops. The Democrats say it's a trap, a transparent attempt to paint them as supporting a policy they don't.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MURTHA: I know standing here does not solve the problem. And it hasn't gotten better, it's gotten worse. That's the problem.

KOPPEL (voice over): Emotions were high on both sides.

REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN: You know, our enemies do not have a first Tuesday in November plan. They have a plan for a caliphate. They have well established themselves to murder Christians, Jews, Muslims, women, children. They'll behead you, they'll shoot you, they'll blow you up. They don't care.

KOPPEL: The battle lines were drawn.

REP. TODD TIAHRT (R), KANSAS: If we leave now, it would be giving them a victory and we would be once again putting another picture on the board here saying we should have fought harder. We should have stopped it back in 2006.

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D), TEXAS: Instead of staying the course, we need to chart a smarter course. It's not weakness or retreat to recognize the administration offers us only an endless spend and bleed policy.

KOPPEL: Republicans said Democrats who support withdrawing U.S. troops want to cut and run.

REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: It is not enough for this House to say we support our troops. To the men and the women in the field in harm's way, that statement rings hollow if we don't also say we support their mission.

KOPPEL: Democrats accused Republicans of playing politics by falsely linking the war in Iraq to the broader war on terror.

REP. LOUISE SLAUGHTER (D), NEW YORK: It's a day designed to provide the majority with a chance to make cheap political attacks against Democrats in anticipation of upcoming midterm elections. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: Now, debate is set to resume again this hour with a vote expected later this morning, but obviously in a dominated -- a Congress that's dominated by Republicans, the resolution is expected to pass. But what is still unclear, Miles, is whether it has succeeded in scoring any political points.

O'BRIEN: That remains to be seen. We'll be watching it.

Andrea Koppel, thank you very much -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Today's vote in Congress comes after a momentous week in Iraq, including a surprise visit from President Bush. But will the recent good news out of Baghdad have a long-lasting impact?

We have a reality check now from two CNN correspondents.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Arwa Damon.

Even with the al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi dead, insurgent attacks killed more than 118 Iraqis in the last week. Some in bombings, some in drive-by shootings, and some in kidnapped killings.

Five days after Zarqawi was killed by two U.S. 500-pound bombs, al Qaeda in Iraq announced a successor, Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. The U.S. military in Baghdad suspects that's just another name for this man, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, a senior and experienced leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, MILITARY SPOKESMAN: Al-Masri's intimate knowledge of al Qaeda in Iraq and his close relationship with the operations will undoubtedly help facilitate and enable them to regain some momentum if, in fact, he's the one that assumes the leadership role.

DAMON: But how much command and control al-Masri will have over the insurgency is unclear.

A series of intelligence coups led to the detention of more than 750 suspected insurgents in the last few days, but no signs yet the violence is decreasing. In fact, the U.S. military says it fully expects al Qaeda and the insurgency to reconstitute themselves to morph and adapt, as they have many times in the past.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Aneesh Raman.

It started with a chorus of cheers and ended with a showcase of military might, a week in Iraq that was perhaps as good as it gets. From the death of Zarqawi, to the formation finally of a permanent government, to President Bush's surprise battlefield visit, and the launch of a massive joint military operation in the capital, for the first time in a long time it was enough for politicians and generals to speak with a tinge of optimism. But from a president who declared "Mission Accomplished" too soon before, this past week was about a rare chance for change, one that on its own does little.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My message to the Iraqi people is this: Seize the moment. Seize this opportunity.

RAMAN: Moments have, of course, come before. After the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003, after a trio of elections brought millions of Iraqis to the polls last year, and after major military offensives against the insurgency, there was talk of turning points. But all led to dead ends in the battle for security.

And for every moment of newfound hope there are powerful caveats. Zarqawi's death in itself will not end the violence. He's already been replaced.

The government's formation is an important but first step. The bigger disputes among the ethnic factions are still unresolved. And tens of thousands of troops can only take control of the capital for so long before the security and the threat goes back to what it was.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And after two days of lessening violence in Iraq, at least 18 people have been killed today, 41 injured, in three different attacks.

O'BRIEN: Unprepared for disaster. The Department of Homeland Security says state and local governments are not ready to handle major emergencies. A report finding gaps found in disaster plans in all 50 states. States susceptible to hurricanes, though, are better prepared, it says.

Among the big problems cited, inadequate planning to help people who need it the most, the poor, the sick, the elderly. The report also says states and major cities too slow to issue disaster warnings.

It also says in many cases there is not a clear chain of command. Insufficient evacuation plans also considered a major area of concern.

Hooters would like to pick up the tab. The restaurant chain says it will write a $200 check to FEMA for that bottle of Dom Perignon champagne bought with Hurricane Katrina relief money. Just one small step in reimbursing taxpayers. FEMA concedes about a billion dollars of our tax money earmarked for hurricane victims paid for strippers, trips and even a sex change operation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's just unbelievable.

O'BRIEN: It is unbelievable.

COSTELLO: Let's head to the forecast center now.

I think the weather forecast can be summed up in one word.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: What's that?

COSTELLO: Hot.

MYERS: Yes. But who knew Hooters had Dom Perignon?

O'BRIEN: That's a good point. It's not exactly what you go to Hooters for, is it?

MYERS: Beer and wings. I don't know.

COSTELLO: Yes, what are you doing at Hooters anyway?

MYERS: I haven't been there obviously in a while. They have been upscaled (ph) since I've been there.

COSTELLO: Good answer.

MYERS: That's the right one.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you guys.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Chad.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.

Despite today's violence in Iraq, a lot of people are saying that country has reached a turning point. But what do everyday Iraqis think? We'll ask a man who has his finger on the pulse of Iraqi society.

COSTELLO: Also ahead, a church Web site publicizing the names of people supposedly against same-sex marriage. We'll tell you what they are trying to accomplish.

O'BRIEN: And later, a movie you're going to want to catch. I saw it. It's great.

It's about the longest-running crossword tournament in the world. But it's so much more than that. It's human drama at its greatest.

We're going to talk to Will Shortz, the man behind the contest and the master puzzlemeister, the enigmatologist at "The New York Times."

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A Florida church that is welcoming to gays is weighing in on the same-sex marriage debate, and it is stirring up a bit of fire and brimstone, posting the names of people who have weighed in favor of the idea in Florida on their Web site. ChurchOfPeace.org is the site. Go to it and you'll see who signed a petition to enforce or create a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the state of Florida and two other states, as well.

Gary DeBusk is pastor of the Church of Peace -- Christ Church of Peace. He joins us now from Jacksonville.

Pastor DeBusk, good to have you with us. What made you decide this was a good idea?

GARY DEBUSK, PASTOR, CHRIST CHURCH OF PEACE: Well, we're facing a constitutional amendment here in our state that would declare that marriage is only between one man and one woman, and also eliminate any kind of domestic partnerships. And a few months ago we found out what they were doing in Massachusetts, a similar kind of effort there. And we modeled them. And so we decided to take the names of the petition signers and to post them on our Web site, because we want to begin a dialogue with those who are opposed to equality and civil rights.

O'BRIEN: A lot of people, though, who have signed that petition are pretty angry about this. They feel as if this crosses the line of privacy. And essentially they say it almost has a malicious streak to it.

How do you respond to that?

DEBUSK: Well, again, that -- that is not at all our intent. And all of this is public information which was given to us by the supervisor of elections in each of the 67 counties in Florida. And it's hard for us to understand how someone can sign a petition and think they can do that under the cover of darkness in order to limit the rights of other tax-paying citizens.

O'BRIEN: Well I suppose, though, to come up with analogies here, how do you feel about people who post the names and addresses and phone numbers of doctors who perform abortions, for example? Do you feel that that's appropriate?

DEBUSK: Well, again, that's really off of the topic. What we're doing here...

O'BRIEN: No, no, no. It's actually a pretty good analogy here. It's a pretty good analogy here.

DEBUSK: Well, no.

O'BRIEN: And I'm asking you if you are consistent about this, because if you're going to put people's names out there, you should probably be consistent about it, correct?

DEBUSK: Well, again, that is not what I'm concerned with here, which is civil rights and equal rights. And we're tax-paying citizens in the state of Florida.

O'BRIEN: No, no, no. No, we're just -- we're just talking right now about a tactic of using people's names, personal information, putting it out on Web sites. And, you know, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander here, right?

DEBUSK: I understand what you're saying, but I would like to stay on topic, and the topic is equal rights and civil rights in Florida.

O'BRIEN: So just -- but just to get you on record, you would not agree with putting doctors who perform abortions, their information online?

DEBUSK: That's a whole other issue. It's the same kind of issue as people who have said, well, what about the names of your church members...

O'BRIEN: Well, no, no, no. But...

DEBUSK: ... what about the names of your church members...

O'BRIEN: So is the answer no? Is the answer no?

DEBUSK: Our church members have signed a petition that would limit the rights of other folks.

I might go ahead and say, in our state the dialogue that we want to have -- for instance, we had a couple in our church, a lesbian couple who had a civil union, a wedding a couple years ago. And they have discovered people on the list who attended their wedding. And they want to go to them and say, "We know you love us and we know you care about us. Can we dialogue about this?"

That's what we want to create.

O'BRIEN: Well...

DEBUSK: We've also found an individual who found her mother's name on the list...

O'BRIEN: But don't you think...

DEBUSK: ... and when she went to talk to her mother about it, her mother said, "I didn't understand that's what this petition was about. I thought it was to support." We've also found people...

O'BRIEN: Let's throw a little bit -- let's throw a little bit -- another thing in the pot here if I could, please. This comes from the Florida Family Policy Council, a conservative group, John Stemberger. "Imagine what would happen if a conservative church group posted online the home address of every gay-identified citizen in Florida?"

In other words...

DEBUSK: I understand what you're saying.

O'BRIEN: ... "It would be decried as a witch hunt and an un- Christian hateful attempt to mark gays like pedophiles... this appears to be the only tactic available to a small group of extremists who are losing in the market place of ideas of our representative democracy."

What do you say to that one?

DEBUSK: Again, what I'm saying is we have not signed a petition to limit the rights of other folks. And these folks are -- we're tax- paying citizens. And this would be the first time the Constitution in Florida would be amended to limit rights. The Constitution is there really to guarantee rights.

I might say this, too. An interesting issue that you might want to follow up on, a few years ago in Florida, the Constitution was amended to protect pregnant pigs. It's very interesting that now...

O'BRIEN: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You know what, Pastor? Pastor, you wanted to stay on topic and we're talking about pregnant pigs here now.

DEBUSK: I am.

O'BRIEN: Let me finish this up. I want to ask you one final question.

DEBUSK: And what I'm saying is...

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you one final question, if I could. Do you feel this is a Christian thing to do? Would Jesus do something like this?

DEBUSK: I can't answer about what Jesus would do, but I can say that I think we have to have dialogue. And that's what this is about. And it seems to me that it's pretty intimidating for a group of people to want to limit the rights of another group of people and just want them to sit back and do nothing about it.

O'BRIEN: Gary DeBusk.

DEBUSK: And so, again, this is equal rights and civil rights.

O'BRIEN: Thank you for your time, sir.

Gary DeBusk is pastor of the Christ Church of Peace.

And we appreciate your time.

DEBUSK: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Carol.

COSTELLO: Coming up, from here one would think things are picking up in Iraq. There's a new government and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead. But do Iraqis feel more secure? We're going to talk about that with the head of Iraq's most successful radio station.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: He crisscrossed America in search of solutions to the nation's obesity epidemic. Now Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "Fit Nation Tour" is the subject of a special broadcast on Sunday.

Sanjay joins us now from the CNN Center. He has a preview.

Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, you know, it was interesting. We did go to seven college campuses around the country. People said it would be hard to motivate college students to talk about obesity and overweight issues. I mean, after all, college students are immortal. But what we found were some remarkable things.

You know, real-life stories, optimistic stories about people actually doing something about what we think is a very fixable problem. Celebrities lending their voices and their passion to this issue as well.

Here's a short preview of what we saw.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice over): We began as a country of open spaces and big places. A land of plenty. Americans lived off the land, working with their hands. Gathering around the dinner table was expected.

Welcome to modern life. All you can eat. Abundance of choice. Work and recreation has moved from the fields in the front yards to the couch and the computer.

Now childhood obesity rates are exploding. Diabetes, heart disease, even death now coming at a young age.

Where will we find the answer to this contemporary health crisis? From government? From doctors? From big business?

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It costs a lot more to watch this obesity epidemic develop and then pay for the consequences of it.

GUPTA: Is there something you can do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are looking for this magic bullet. There is no magic bullet. There is common sense.

GUPTA: How did we get here? And what can we do to create a fit nation?

(on camera): Hello. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

The information you're about to hear may actually alarm you, cause you to worry about your children's health, force you to rethink how you use your free time. But as a nation we're facing a crisis. We're at a tipping point, literally tipping the scales and endangering our own health and the health and future of our children.

With obesity, with the problems of overweight, it's fixable. What do you say about that? And how do we actually get it done?

CLINTON: We need to eat less, exercise more, and watch the foods that change our metabolism for the worse.

LANCE ARMSTRONG, CYCLIST: It all comes down to math. I mean, what you put out is what you can put in.

MARIA SHRIVER, REPORTER: I exercise, exercise every day. And I think a lot of the studies have shown that if you also have kids, it's not enough to say to them go out and exercise. You have to actually model it for them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: You know I heard the words "common sense" in there. I heard the words "hard work." And I just can't see many Americans following that advice.

GUPTA: Carol, it's so interesting that you say that, because I think that's a little bit at the heart of this issue.

You know, the United States used to be a country in the world that was the most robust, it was the most vibrant, it was healthy, it was fit, it was a country that other countries emulated. They wanted to be like us.

We have gone from being that country to a country that is alarmingly obese. And so that tells us two things.

One, is that it was a process in evolution. Two, is that we can reverse that process.

This isn't something that we're stuck with. It's a fixable problem. And there are real-life solutions out there.

People ask me all the time, "Well, how do you fix this?" What you're really asking is, what is the shortcut? And, you know, not surprisingly, there aren't any shortcuts.

Some simple tips. You know, eat a healthy breakfast, for example. You'll find if you eat a healthy breakfast you tend to eat less throughout the day, you tend to have a healthier diet overall, and you lose pounds.

Take the stairs instead of the elevator. You've heard that a thousand times, but if you do it you will start to see some pounds come off.

Also, simply, as Lance Armstrong told us, do the math. And if you do the math, if you didn't exercise that day, you'll probably don't want to be eating a big meal. This isn't rocket science. That would be Miles O'Brien's area. But if it were, you know, this is something easy to figure out for most people.

COSTELLO: Yes.

And Mr. Rocket, you run, right?

So Mr. Rocket Scientist, he understand the value of exercise.

O'BRIEN: Well, that's not brain surgery, either.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: All right.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Sanjay.

You can see Sanjay's "Fit Nation' special Sunday night at 7:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

A short break. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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