Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Missing Soldiers; NYC Subway Plot; Ramadi Offensive

Aired June 19, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning and welcome, it's Monday, June 19. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien this week.

Here is a look at what's happening this Monday morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Pentagon releasing the names of two U.S. soldiers who are missing in Iraq after an attack on a roadside checkpoint. Private Thomas Lowell Tucker and Kristian Menchaca have been missing since Friday. A search for their whereabouts is under way right now.

Prosecution making closing arguments in the Saddam Hussein trial this morning. Hussein and seven other defendants are charged with crimes against humanity. The defense is expected to start its final arguments on July 10.

ROBERTS: In just a few hours, President Bush will deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York State. He is the first sitting president to do so since the academy was dedicated in 1943.

And later today, Delta Air Lines will go to bankruptcy court to try to terminate its pilots pension plan. Delta's CEO says the airline won't be able to restructure otherwise.

S. O'BRIEN: This morning, folks in suburban Milwaukee are cleaning up after a tornado tore through the area. The twister damaged dozens of buildings in the town of Hartford on Sunday. One person was hurt.

And just outside of Sedona, Arizona, firefighters trying to protect hundreds of homes from a fast-burning wildfire. Residents there have been forced to evacuate. The fire has already scorched about a thousand acres.

ROBERTS: You know who has got a home in Sedona?

S. O'BRIEN: No, who?

ROBERTS: John McCain. Yes, hopefully he's not in the line of fire there...

S. O'BRIEN: Or everybody else there, too.

Chad Myers at the CNN Center with the forecast for us. Hey, Chad, good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you.

The search for two missing American soldiers in Iraq is expanding. The soldiers were attacked on Friday night at a checkpoint about 30 miles southwest of Baghdad in the so-called Triangle of Death. One soldier was killed.

CNN's Arwa Damon is live for us in Baghdad this morning.

Arwa, good morning.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

And the Department of Defense releasing the names of those two soldiers late on Sunday, Private First Class Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25 years old, from Oregon, and Private First Class Kristian Menchaca, 23 years old, from Houston, Texas. The two went missing after their checkpoint came under attack in the town of Yusufiya. That is in the Triangle of Death, as you just mentioned.

Soldiers from a nearby checkpoint reported hearing gunfire and an explosion, called in quick reaction forces to that location. When the forces arrived, they found one soldier dead and two missing.

Now eyewitnesses have told the Iraqi police that they saw a group of four to five insurgents put the two soldiers in a vehicle and drive them away from the scene of the attack.

The Department of -- I'm sorry, the Pentagon this weekend saying even more disturbing news, that they found a vehicle that had blood leading away from it, boot prints, in fact, leading away from it. Boot prints that match those of the boots that U.S. soldiers are wearing.

The U.S. military also saying this weekend, though, that it will never give up looking for its soldiers until their status can be determined definitively -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Arwa, let's talk a little bit more about the violence in Baghdad as well. What do we know about the latest attack?

DAMON: Well, the latest attack came this morning. It was a car bomb in eastern Baghdad, killing 4 civilians and wounding another 10. This follows a very violent weekend in which 50, at least 50 Iraqis were killed, hundreds were wounded.

This, despite a government crackdown, a security crackdown in the capital, Baghdad. In the capital alone on Saturday, there were nine car bombs, despite the government's efforts to increase its troop presence in the capital and an effort to establish security -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Arwa Damon for us this morning.

Arwa, thank you for the update.

U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan have launched a major offensive against the Taliban and 10,000 are cutting off supply routes and closing in on Taliban fighters in the mountains of southern Afghanistan. About 90 suspected militants have been killed in the past few days. It is the largest offensive since the invasion back in 2001 -- John.

ROBERTS: A CNN "Security Watch" now.

Worldwide concern this morning over the possible test firing of a North Korean missile. It's a long-range missile, one that's capable of reaching the West Coast of North America. U.S. officials say they expect North Korea to abide by its own 7-year-old missile moratorium. Early this morning, Japan's prime minister warned that any launch would be met by a harsh response.

Also in the security spotlight, New York City coming dangerously close to a deadly subway attack a couple of years back. The plot being revealed at a time when Homeland Security is cutting anti-terror funding to the city. Just how real is the threat?

Carol Costello joins us now live. She's been sorting out the details.

Good morning, -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have.

Good morning, John. Good morning to all of you.

The threat was very real. Two years after 9/11, al Qaeda was within weeks of carrying out a cyanide gas attack in New York City's subways.

Now this is all detailed in a new book, "The One Percent Doctrine," by journalist Ron Suskind. He says al Qaeda planned to use devices, including mason jars, to release hydrogen cyanide gas on subway trains.

Suskind writes, "There would be several placed in subway cars and other strategic locations and activated remotely. This was well past conception and early planning. The group was operational. They were 45 days from zero hour."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON SUSKIND, AUTHOR, "THE ONE PERCENT DOCTRINE": Perhaps not as great a threat as a nerve agent attack. But at the same time, this chemical does have a potential to kill hundreds or thousands of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But for some reason, Osama bin Laden's number two called off the attack 45 days before it was to happen. But New York City officials knew all about it and they took action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: But it was taken very seriously by both New York City NYPD, as well as the federal government, and a whole variety of steps were taken.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Every step taken but telling the public. The public was not informed.

The most disturbing element in this, the device embedded to deliver the gas is still out there, presumably in the hands of al Qaeda, perhaps in a sleeper cell located right here in the United States. Authorities just don't know all of the answers just yet.

ROBERTS: No, and they're still looking into it. And a little bit later on this morning, we're going to talk with a former number two of the New York FBI, now a CNN security consultant, to dig a little bit deeper into this -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, and I really do want to know why the public wasn't informed. Why weren't subway riders told about this?

ROBERTS: Well you remember during that time there was a heightened state of alert here in New York City, particularly around the subways. But I guess, you know, they're trying to guard some of this intelligence, because if you tip your hand as to exactly what you know, you know.

COSTELLO: I think I'd want to know, though, man,...

ROBERTS: Well.

COSTELLO: ... so I could make an informed decision on whether to ride the subway.

ROBERTS: Would be nice to know what threats you're facing when you get on the subway in the morning.

COSTELLO: Yes.

ROBERTS: But I guess they saw otherwise. And let's ask this fellow about that, too.

Carol, thanks.

COSTELLO: Sure.

ROBERTS: And stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Soledad.

COSTELLO: Happening in America this morning.

A first for the Episcopal church in the U.S., a woman has been named presiding bishop. Some delegates fear, though, the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori could cause a serious divide in the church. She's the first woman to lead any arm of the Anglican church. It was just three years ago that Episcopalians ordained their first openly gay bishop.

A pair of homemade airplanes collided on their way to a big air show in Peru, Illinois. One of the pilots was killed. The other was able to land safely. Both small planes were going to be on display at the event.

In Washington, firefighters quickly put out a fire near the White House. It started on the fourth floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. No real damage to the building to report.

And five show dogs lucky to be back with their owners this morning. The golden retrievers were in the back of a van that was stolen from the hotel in Renton, Washington. One of the dogs won best in sporting group and was a finalist for best in show at the Westminster Dog Show. All five were found in their crate in an apartment complex parking lot. Good news there.

An Australian golfer, Geoff or Geoff?

ROBERTS: Geoff Ogilvy, I'd say.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, OK. Celebrating his U.S. Open win. It was worth $1,225,000. But the sad -- it's a sad, sad, sad story, really, is the total and utter collapse of the champion of the Masters, Phil Mickelson. Had a one-shot lead on the final hole. It was just mistake.

ROBERTS: All he had to do was par the hole. Phil, all you've got to do is put the ball in the hole.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, OK, back off, buddy, unless you've been there.

ROBERTS: Hey, you were the one who said he collapsed, not me.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, he did collapse. Mistake after mistake after mistake, then finally double bogied.

ROBERTS: Well you're being awfully...

S. O'BRIEN: Ended up in a three-way tie.

ROBERTS: You're being awfully tough on him, aren't you there?

S. O'BRIEN: I am not. You're the one who is mocking him this morning, come on.

ROBERTS: Not mocking him. S. O'BRIEN: He crumbled a little bit.

ROBERTS: Take a look at this. Take a look.

S. O'BRIEN: I know...

ROBERTS: Front page of "The New York Post," I am an idiot. On the back, aw, Phil. Remember that scene in "Gladiator" where the German colleague of Maximus takes a scoop of his gruel and goes -- that was Phil yesterday.

S. O'BRIEN: Are you quite through? You don't think he's feeling badly enough?

ROBERTS: Still to come, U.S. and Iraqi troops are working together to stomp out an insurgent stronghold in Ramadi. CNN's Nic Robertson is embedded with U.S. troops there. We'll hear from him next.

S. O'BRIEN: And then more of those wildfires we told you about that are sweeping through Sedona, Arizona, chasing hundreds of people from their homes. We've got an update for you.

ROBERTS: And Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban get ready to say I do. We've got the wedding details coming up.

S. O'BRIEN: Carrie Lee has business headlines this morning.

Hey, -- Carrie.

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

Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis bringing out the best in people in the form of big bucks. We'll have that story coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Happening this morning.

A wildfire outside of Sedona, Arizona has forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes. The fire has burned about a thousand acres so far.

North Korea being warned not to go forward with a long-range missile test. North Korea reportedly wants to test a missile that could reach part of the United States.

And the Pentagon has released the names of two U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq after an attack at a roadside checkpoint in the city of Yusufiya just south of Baghdad. You can see the checkpoint here. Privates Thomas Lowell Tucker and Kristian Menchaca went missing on Friday. A third soldier, Specialist David Babineau, was killed in that incident. S. O'BRIEN: And we're just getting an update now from the U.S. military on the search in fact for those two missing American soldiers. U.S. Army spokesman Major General William Caldwell spoke just a short time ago.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, COALITION FORCES IN IRAQ: We are using all available assets, coalition and Iraqi, to find our soldiers. And will not stop looking until we find them. We will never stop looking for our service members until their status is definitively determined.

We continue to pray for their safe return and also ask for you to keep their families and friends of our missing soldiers in your hearts and minds, maintaining respect for their privacy during this extremely difficult time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Private First Class Lowell Tucker is 25 years old and Kristian Menchaca is 23 years old.

U.S. and Iraqi troops are trying to establish a foothold in the center of insurgent territory. They've made a major push into Ramadi.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is with those troops. He's on the phone now in Ramadi.

Nic, good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

What we've seen over the last two days, U.S. and Iraqi troops complete what they call the isolation of Ramadi, completing the tactical surrounding of the city of Ramadi, some 400,000 people here.

Until now, U.S. commanders tell us that insurgents have been able to get in and out of the city, resupply at will. They say they have stopped that. Saturday night into Sunday morning, they went into an area of Ramadi that they have not been going into regularly, an area where insurgents have free reign.

Overnight last night, we went into the city of Ramadi, are now in the center of Ramadi, in an area where insurgents again have had a strong foothold in the city. Just getting the couple of miles from the base to the location we're at right now, 10 roadside bombs had to be dealt with by the U.S. military. That's just to get to this location. It is an area where there are typically a lot of roadside bombs. The insurgents come out onto the roads at night, set roadside bombs, detonate them when the troops go by.

What it is hoped to happen now is with a U.S. military and Iraqi military presence, a permanent presence now set up in these additional locations in the city of Ramadi, areas where troops haven't been permanently located before, areas where insurgents have been strong, they hope to undermine the insurgency in these areas now -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson joining us this morning from Ramadi.

Nic, thank you.

Two major mobile networks planning to merge networks. Coming up, find out what it could mean for your cell phone bill. We'll tell you.

Plus, hold on to your seat, the latest side impact crash test ratings are in. We'll show you how your car did.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: For those who dream of a home that's completely automated, there's some good news, Microsoft has developed a prototype home where of the future everything works at the push of a button.

Our own Miles O'Brien takes a look at our "Welcome to the Future" segment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish someone would clean my coffee maker and make my coffee for me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd love to have an automated oven with the meals already prepared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without cleaning toilets. That is like the grossest job in the house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something that every time you'd walk out of your bathroom just sanitizes your bathroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some sort of machine or piece of technology that zoomed around my house and picked up all the toys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody who will do your chores and you can still get paid by parents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd love an automated world allowing me to spend more time with my family.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Our homes are our castles. But these days, we want more than four walls and a roof, we want it to do some chores so we can kickback in the Barco lounger and have some more quality times with the kids.

(voice-over): With a quick palm scan at the front door, Jonathan Klutz (ph) of Microsoft enters the softwaremaker's prototype home of the future. The home, otherwise known as Grace, meets Klutz and reads off his schedule.

JONATHAN KLUTZ, MICROSOFT: Grace, what's up?

GRACE: You are meeting with CNN today.

M. O'BRIEN: With the push of a button, Grace sets the temperature, opens the blinds and starts playing some of his favorite tunes.

KLUTZ: Every family member can have it work just the way they want it to.

M. O'BRIEN: The kitchen comes equipped with an interactive screen for scheduling babysitters and a virtual bulletin board that helps coordinate invitations and notifies you of specials. How about a microwave that can scan bar codes to find exact cooking instructions for a product?

KLUTZ: Here we are in my daughter's room.

M. O'BRIEN: In the closet, a mirror uses radio tags embedded in garments to pick out your outfits.

Klutz says the goal of all these technologies is making life easier for families.

KLUTZ: It's going to be a really great time saver for people and also, really, basically a real stress saver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

North Korea being warned this morning by several nations over a possible missile test. A long-range missile could reach U.S. soil.

A tragic vacation for a Michigan woman. Fifty-two-year-old Deb Chamberlin fell 500 feet to her death at Yellowstone National Park. She stepped over a rock retaining wall to take a picture and then she took the plunge.

Police in New Orleans still hunting for leads this morning in the shooting death of five teenagers over the weekend. Police believe drugs or revenge might have been the motive.

ROBERTS: New crash test ratings are out this morning, and surprise, a big car does not automatically equal big safety. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested side impact response in eight models.

Top marks go to the redesigned Chevrolet Impala and Toyota Avalon. Both models come with standard side airbags. The Buick Lucerne and Hyundai Azera also with standard side airbags earned an acceptable rating. The lowest scores go to the Chrysler 300, the Ford Five Hundred and the Ford Crown Victoria. We should mention that all three of those were tested without optional side airbags.

Two biggest wireless companies in the nation are going to become one giant mobile network.

Carrie Lee here with this morning's business.

So who is it and what's going to happen?

LEE: Thank you, John.

This merger Monday, we're talking about Nokia out of Finland and Siemens. The two companies coming together. A joint venture that's estimated to have -- bring in about $20 billion worth of annual sales. Nokia is bringing together its network business. Siemens is carrier operations. Part of the plan, to better compete with Ericsson.

Now of course the company's products more or less invisible to customers, but does make our everyday phone service capable. So that is the latest, Nokia-Siemens.

Also, we know last year was a bad one for natural disasters. Well, they've prompted Americans to give $260 billion to charity. That's a 6.1 percent increase over 2004. Adjusted for inflation, that's about the same level, the highest level, since 2000.

Of course we saw the tsunami in Asia, the hurricane in the United States hurricanes and then the earthquake in Pakistan, all prompting to giving about $7 billion was earmarked for those natural disasters.

And then finally turning to Wall Street, not a bad week. A nice rally on Thursday and Friday helped the Dow add over 100 points on the week. Right now it is all about corporate profits on Wall Street. We're in what the analysts and traders call the pre-announcement season. Now that pretty much everyone knows the Fed will raise rates at least one more time when they meet later this months, kind of gotten that out of the system, so...

ROBERTS: The market goes up, the market goes down.

LEE: Well, if we start to hear some positive news, then we could see the rally we've seen over the last couple of days continue. But it all depends on what companies are going to say now for the June quarter.

ROBERTS: And not only pre-profit announcement season, but also wedding season.

S. O'BRIEN: I was like that really affects the market?

LEE: Well.

S. O'BRIEN: Carrie, that's shocking.

ROBERTS: It's the... LEE: I wonder if anyone registered...

S. O'BRIEN: You know I got to get those...

ROBERTS: ... set up. It's the pitch.

S. O'BRIEN: I missed it completely.

ROBERTS: It's the long ball and it...

LEE: I was going -- I thought you were going with people maybe asking for stocks as a wedding gift. Here, we're registered. We're registered for stock prices.

S. O'BRIEN: No, he's -- what he's talking about...

LEE: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: ... is Nicole Kidman. That was a segue to my next segment and I -- way over my head.

In fact, Nicole Kidman is getting married to the ever-cute Keith Urban. Remember we talked to him and he mentioned it. And he said they are very happy. He wasn't going to give any details.

Well Australian TV, take a look at this, showed Kidman getting off a private jet earlier today in Sydney. Her publicist has issued a statement staying that yes indeed the couple is planning to get hitched in Australia. Not clear when, though. Paparazzi of course getting ready for this weekend. Exciting.

ROBERTS: But they're having the weeding at night, right, so the paparazzi from the helicopters won't be able to take a picture?

S. O'BRIEN: The shots will be ruined.

ROBERTS: Yes.

LEE: That's going to top Brad and Angelina.

S. O'BRIEN: You think so?

LEE: Pretty close. Pretty close.

ROBERTS: I don't know, don't forget Angelina on Anderson Cooper tomorrow night at 10:00.

S. O'BRIEN: Two hours of Angelina Jolie. What can be greater than that?

LEE: That's great.

ROBERTS: Yes, I talked to Anderson about it, and he said that she's really cool. That she's more than a celebrity without a cause, that she's a really interesting person.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, no, she's very personally invested in all of that.

ROBERTS: So, anyway.

LEE: As big as she is, down to earth as well.

ROBERTS: And you know talking about donations, she gives away a third of her earnings to charity, although she says it's pretty silly what she earns given the job that she does, yes.

LEE: And all of the money from the baby pictures went to charity as well, as I understand.

S. O'BRIEN: I love that girl.

ROBERTS: Yes.

LEE: We'll all be tuning in tomorrow night.

ROBERTS: Don't we all.

This morning's top stories are straight ahead, including the latest on the search for two missing U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Find out what one of the young soldiers had to say about his job in letters to his family.

Then, a quick-moving wildfire is chasing hundreds from their homes in Arizona. We'll have a report from the scene.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(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