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American Morning

Jill Carroll Kidnap Arrests; Antiwar Candidate Beats Longtime Incumbent; Crisis in Middle East

Aired August 09, 2006 - 08:59   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news starts our next hour of AMERICAN MORNING this morning.
Four men now under arrest for the kidnapping of the American journalist Jill Carroll.

Welcome, everybody. It is Wednesday, August 9th.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone.

I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien this week.

Let's get you started this morning with the breaking news out of Iraq. The U.S. military now announcing the arrests of four men in connection with the January kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck joins us live now from Baghdad with more on this story -- Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, the announcement came in a routine press conference given by General William Caldwell. He is the multinational force spokesman in Baghdad.

He was talking about several operations that were taking place to search for kidnappers meant to be believed involved in kidnapping operations in Baghdad. And this is what he said about how the Marines involved in those operations found the man they believe were involved in Jill Carroll's kidnapping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, MULTINATIONAL FORCE SPOKESMAN IN IRAQ: Troops on the ground, young Marines and sailors, paid attention to what may have been considered minor details at the time. Ultimately, the four kidnappers were detained in several intelligence-driven operations that took place between Falluja and Baghdad.

Marines from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were able to identify the location at which we believe Jill Carroll was held approximately 13 kilometers west of Falluja. Coalition forces have detained four Iraqi men that we believe to have been involved in the kidnapping of Jill Carroll, the "Christian Science Monitor" journalist held hostage in Iraq for 82 days earlier this year. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITBECK: Carroll was abducted in Baghdad early last January. She was held for 82 days, and after her release she didn't say much about her days in captivity. But the "Christian Science Monitor" did say that she had been kidnapped by a cell that was led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who at the time was al Qaeda's chief operative in Iraq -- Tony.

HARRIS: Harris, we could hear General Caldwell, but the pictures, what we were watching?

WHITBECK: Those were pictures of the house that they -- that they were searching.

HARRIS: I see.

WHITBECK: The house that had the architectural details on the front that this young Marine recognized from having read intelligence briefings.

HARRIS: OK. All right. Harris Whitbeck for us in Baghdad.

Harris, thank you.

O'BRIEN: Closer to home, a primary election in Connecticut is being felt across the country. An antiwar candidate has beat a longtime incumbent. After his loss last night to newcomer Ned Lamont, Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman is vowing to run as an Independent come November.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: I am, of course, disappointed by the results, but I am not discouraged. I'm disappointed not just because I lost, but because the old politics of partisan polarization won today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley joins us from Hartford, Connecticut.

Candy, good morning.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

It may turn out that the results of last night's election here in Connecticut will be seen less as a message to America at large than as kind of a Rorschach test reflecting the inner feelings of those who look at it. If you talk to people in the Lieberman camp, they say that the senator believes that his loss was due to a culmination of a series of deceptions and distortions about his record that Ned Lamont, according to the senator -- and he mentioned this last night -- was more interested in partisanship than in a discussion of ideas.

He accused Lamont of trying to divide the Democratic Party. But if you talk to Lamont, as you did earlier today, you will find that he believes the message is voters want unity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED LAMONT (D), CONNECTICUT SENATE NOMINEE: We're going to have a very strong unified party going forward. I think I've got a message that resonate s- with Republicans and Independents, as well as Democrats.

I don't know who wants to stay the course. I think people want to change course. And they want somebody who can go down to Washington, D.C., not be afraid to shake things up a little bit, speak on behalf of the common good, and solve some of these problems that the Bush administration just kicks the can down the road on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Now, if you talk to Republicans, they will look at this and they will certainly use this as a campaign tool as they move in to the campaign of 2006 saying, look, the Democratic Party, in the words of one senator, has turned to the McGovern wing, which, of course, is code for people who want peace at practically any cost.

So this will certainly be looked at and parsed several ways, but in the end it will be used politically to the ends of those that are talking -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Candy Crowley for us this morning.

Candy, thanks -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Senate Democrats who backed Lieberman in the primary now have to decide whether to stick with him or with their party's official nominee.

CNN's Dana Bash is watching it all unfold, play out for us in Washington.

Dana, what are you hearing?

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning, Tony.

Well, you know, this was the moment that Joe Lieberman's Democratic colleagues in the Senate have been dreading. Already, we've heard from Senator Barbara Boxer from California, someone who went up to campaign with Lieberman, that she will support Ned Lamont. Senator Evan Bayh, An Indiana Democrat who is a centrist, friend of Lieberman, and someone who has 2008 aspirations, he said the same thing, he'll support Lamont.

Now, we're told that in about an hour the Democratic Party leaders will issue a statement saying that the Democratic voters of Connecticut voted for Lamont, so he, not Joe Lieberman, is the candidate they're going to back from here on out.

Now, senior Democrats had told us there had been some quiet talk among Lieberman's colleagues about trying to convince him not to take this step to go, to continue his race, to run as an Independent, essentially, but the margin was so close that Senator Lieberman was determined to go forward. And in talking to Democratic sources, that didn't appear to happen. It didn't appear that anybody actually went to him and said, at least yet -- and said, "Pull out of the race."

And, you know, this morning he made clear on this very show his answer would be, Tony, no, no, no to anyone telling him not to keep running -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. In that conversation with Soledad.

BASH: Right.

HARRIS: I have to ask you, though, Dana, what kind of omen is this for the midterms and for '08?

BASH: Well, you know, it should be said that Connecticut has about the highest antiwar, anti-Bush sentiment in the nation right now. Nevertheless, this was a test case.

The entire political world was watching a test of the power of Iraq as a decisive issue this year, and the power of the antiwar movement within the Democratic Party. But Democrats have been watching this, and watching what's happening in Connecticut for some time now, and have already tried to learn a lesson from it. That is, to be more vocal about their concerns about Iraq.

Hillary Clinton, for example, voted for the war. She's been lumped with Lieberman as a war supporter. She's already been more vocal in her criticism of the Bush administration. She called last week, you'll remember, for Donald Rumsfeld to resign -- Tony.

HARRIS: Very good.

Our thanks to Dana Bash and Candy Crowley, both members of the best political coverage team in television.

O'BRIEN: Turning to the Middle East now, where Israel is deciding on a plan that would send as many as 30,000 additional troops into southern Lebanon. That would be a dramatic escalation in the ground war there.

CNN's John Vause is watching closely. He's in Jerusalem.

Hey, John. Good morning.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

The Israeli security cabinet meeting now for about six hours, an indication of just how serious this decision will be, this vote by the 12-member security cabinet. It was expected that the security cabinet would approve a widening of the ground offensive sending Israeli troops all the way to the Litani River, about 13 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border.

Before this meeting it was understood the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, concerned about the high cost in terms of Israeli soldiers' lives, estimated around 300 to maybe up to 500 casualties because of this expanded ground offensive. The other consideration for the Israelis, public opinion, which still supports the war, but questions are being asked about the military tactics.

There seems to be a growing demand among the Israelis for a greater military force to be used to bring this conflict with Hezbollah to an end. Also, from Israeli military commanders, they're saying all of southern Lebanon has essentially become a missile launching field, and to cleanse that area, in their words, they need this massive ground operation and they need this to happen fairly quickly.

Some have described this cabinet meeting as the -- one of the most important in the war so far, which would explain why it is taking so long. We are expecting some kind of statement from the Israeli foreign minister in about 30 minutes, but, of course, that will be delayed if this cabinet meeting continues -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: What's the expectation? Yes or no?

VAUSE: Yes, it looks like it will go ahead, but there are a lot of issues here for the Israelis to consider. But the -- the assumption is that the majority within the security cabinet will approve. It's what the defense minister wants, and it's also what the military commanders in the north of Israel want as well -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: John Vause in Jerusalem for us.

John, thanks.

New artillery attacks to tell you about in Lebanon near Tyre today. You can see right there, these are some new -- new videotape coming in to CNN. Smoke rising over the horizon, right there. Word also that Israeli commandos have moved in.

Let's get right to CNN's Karl Penhaul. He's live in Tyre.

Hey, Karl. Good morning.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

And as we speak, in fact, that bombardment by Israeli artillery is continuing. We're going to take you and show you some of that smoke of -- black plumes of smoke going up there just at the base of that hilly ridge line in some of the villages that lie approximately six miles south of our position now.

Now, not only have the field guns down closer to the border been in action, but periodically across on the horizon, across to my east, we see two Israeli warships sail up. And they sit there off the coast for a while and fire broadside at that hilly ridge, too. They just leash off cannons for 15 minutes, half an hour, and then sail off again. And again, as I say, the artillery guns on the ground, just close down to the border, have also been pounding away here. At one stage I counted at least six fires up there on the ridge line.

Now, talking to a member of the Lebanese intelligence corps, he told me that groups of Israeli commandos have been pushing in on the ground. They've been pushing in to a number of the villages around on that ridge line, but he says that each time Hezbollah fighters have repelled them. And what he says, his interpretation of what is going on, the bombardment, plus these incursions by Israeli commandos, is that this could be a prelude to a ground attack by Israeli troops and this bombardment is some kind of softening up on the ground.

Coupled with -- coupled with that, the road situation around Tyre really looks, as I say, like a prelude to some kind of ground attack -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Karl Penhaul for us in Tyre.

Karl, thanks -- Tony.

HARRIS: And happening "In America" now, former football star -- listen to this -- Maurice Clarett in police custody in Columbus, Ohio. He was arrested early this morning after leading police on a highway chase. Police first tried to subdue him with a stun gun, but it didn't work because Clarett was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

O'BRIEN: What was that about?

HARRIS: Police also discovered several loaded guns in his SUV. He will be arraigned tomorrow.

A construction worker in Phoenix who spent nearly seven hours pinned under tons of concrete remains in critical condition. More than 100 firefighters worked to pull Casey Johansson (ph) from the debris yesterday after a building partially collapsed. Johansson (ph) was conscious and talking during the entire ordeal.

A robbery suspect -- did you see this -- caught on videotape at a Texas liquor store under arrest now. There he is. The security video shows a man slamming -- this man.

O'BRIEN: Look at that. Look at that.

HARRIS: Slamming that poor woman, 62 years old, over the head with a bottle during the robbery. You don't see it on camera, but police say the woman was then severely beaten with the cash register.

O'BRIEN: Oh.

HARRIS: Her grandchildren apparently witnessed the whole thing. The video was made public and that eventually led to a tip that led to the arrest. A 10-year-old boy saves the day in Tampa, Florida. Noah Gadsen (ph) is being called a hero for going door to door in the middle of the night and warning his neighbors about a fire. Several units were damaged, but there were no reports of injuries.

Two little girls who used to be conjoined twins sleeping in two different beds for the first time. They're 4 years old, from Utah, and went through 26 hours of surgery to separate and reconstruct their organs. Doctors say they are both doing very well, but they're expected to be in the hospital for at least a month.

O'BRIEN: Every time they show pictures of those girls...

HARRIS: Yes?

O'BRIEN: ... they're always -- they're always smiling.

(SINGING)

HARRIS: That's her moment there, huh?

Sang.

O'BRIEN: What did you think? Did you like it? Didn't like it?

HARRIS: Better than Cynthia McKinney -- come on.

Thousands of "American Idol" wannabes hoping for their big break have already taken that first step. The singers showed up in Pasadena, California, yesterday for the first of a series of nationwide auditions, all for the upcoming sixth season.

And firefighters in Washington State are trying to get a handle on four separate wildfires. Dozens of people have had to evacuate. Flames have already destroyed nine homes and more than 74,000 acres have been scorched.

O'BRIEN: That brings us right to the forecast and Chad.

Good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you guys.

O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thank you.

Ahead this morning, did Senator Joe Lieberman really lose the primary race because of his support of the war in Iraq? We're going to take a closer look, break down some poll numbers as well for you this morning.

HARRIS: And also ahead, allegations of wiretaps at Prince Charles' official residence? We will tell you who may have been eavesdropping.

O'BRIEN: And later, Oliver Stone has got a new movie out. It's called "World Trade Center." It opens, in fact, nationwide today. It's getting some surprising support. We'll tell you who's saying what just ahead.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Senator Joe Lieberman lost the Democratic primary in Connecticut to his rival, Ned Lamont. It seems the deciding factor between the two may have been their stance on Iraq. A new poll just released this morning shows more Americans are against the war.

CNN political analyst, Bill Schneider, has got some details of that poll.

Hey, Bill. Good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Give us the numbers. Is this -- is the national election going to be a referendum on Iraq, essentially? How are the numbers breaking down?

SCHNEIDER: Well, antiwar sentiment in the country has now reached the highest point we've ever seen. Sixty percent of Americans now say they oppose the U.S. war with Iraq. The war's now just supported by just 36 percent.

That 60 percent opposition figure is up from 54 percent opposed to the war in June. And, in fact, our polling has been measuring opposition to the war ever since the war, about three and a half years ago. It's never reached 60 percent. This is the highest figure yet.

O'BRIEN: Bigger split even when you look at just Democrats, you don't take a look at anybody else within the poll. What are the numbers there?

SCHNEIDER: Well, Democrats, of course, were the ones who voted in Connecticut yesterday between Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont. And among Democrats, we can see in this poll result exactly why Lieberman had such a tough time.

Democrats are now overwhelmingly an antiwar party. Look at that, 86 percent of Democrats said they are opposed to the war in Iraq. Only 13 percent favor the war. And, of course, it was Joe Lieberman's support for the war was one reason why he had so much trouble.

O'BRIEN: Senator Lieberman now says, OK, I'm going to be an Independent. It was sort of a concession speech that wasn't quite a concession speech, really. Here's what he said this morning when I asked him what he'd do if Democratic leadership said, "You need to step aside," what -- how he would respond. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMAN: No, no, no. I am in this race to the end. For me it is a cause, and it is a cause not to let this Democratic Party that I joined with the inspiration of President Kennedy in 1960 to be taken over by people who are so far from the mainstream of American life that I fear we will not elect Democrats in the numbers that we should in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Can a guy, Bill, who is so aligned with the Democratic Party successfully switch to being an Independent? I mean, he was almost the Democratic VP not too long ago.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, he was on the ticket.

He calls himself an Independent Democrat. He says if he's elected, he will caucus with the Democrats as he's always done. So it would not be a seat lost to the Democratic Party. But we'll see if his support from among his fellow Democrats holds up.

A lot of them endorse him. In fact, the whole Democratic establishment, including a lot of antiwar Democrats, like Barbara Boxer of California, endorsed him, but now they say they will not support him as an Independent candidate.

He's got a very tough road ahead of him -- in the road, rather, in the next few weeks, because he's got to try to hold on to as many Democrats as possible. He'll get some Republican support as well, even though there's a Republican candidate.

The polls show that so far he's been ahead in a three-way race, Democrat, Republican and Lieberman, but that support could begin to fade now that he's not going to be the Democratic nominee.

O'BRIEN: So, he, theoretically, at this point, could win.

What's an Independent Democrat? I mean, I thought that was sort of -- you know, contradictory. It's like, well, are you an Independent or are you a Democrat?

SCHNEIDER: Well, he is not the official Democratic nominee. He just calls himself a Democrat, and he says he will caucus with the Democrats. But he is an Independent. He's running on the Connecticut for Lieberman party. That's exactly how he's running, and the correct phrase is, he's running as an Independent.

O'BRIEN: Keeping that fine political tradition of saying two things at once.

Bill Schneider, thank you for joining us this morning. Appreciate it.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

O'BRIEN: Tony.

HARRIS: And back to the Middle East crisis now.

This just in. Israel's security cabinet has made its decision on widening the ground offensive in Lebanon.

John Vause is in Jerusalem live with the latest -- John.

VAUSE: Hello, Tony.

Not many details coming out of the Israeli cabinet so far. All we're hearing from sources within the prime minister's office is that nine in favor, three abstained in this vote, essentially continuing the operation in Lebanon and adopting the recommendations from the security establishment, which is code for widening this ground offensive.

What we don't know at this stage, how many more troops will be sent into Lebanon, how far they will go. Is the Litani River, that red line 13 miles north of the border that we've heard so much about, is that as far as they will go? Will they go beyond that Litani River? Will they stay to the south of the Litani River?

How many more reservists will be called up? Thirty thousand have already been called up. The number, 100,000, is being floated out there today as a possible number of reservists who could be involved in all of this.

Also, still unclear just precisely when this ground offensive will begin. Will it be immediately? Will it be delayed for another 24 hours?

So, a lot of details yet to come, but it looks like the Israeli cabinet, which had met for a marathon six hours, maybe a little bit more, has taken this decision to expand the ground operation into southern Lebanon, because an indication that the aerial campaign and the artillery shelling and the shelling by the navy off the coast of Lebanon has not achieved the aims of the Israeli military and the Israeli government, and that is to stop the rocket fire coming from those Hezbollah positions within southern Lebanon on to towns in the north of Israel. So the belief here now, the only way to do that is to send in massive amounts of ground forces. In the words of the security establishment, to cleanse that area once and for all, and to do this, Tony, before the U.N. Security Council meets and votes on that draft resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities -- Tony.

HARRIS: John, the point I was just about to make.

John Vause for us in Jerusalem.

John, thank you.

And still ahead, the fallout from the shutdown of America's biggest oilfield. We'll tell you why critics charge the federal government is partly to blame.

Plus, tips on keeping your college-bound kids from pushing themselves too hard and getting burned out. We will talk to the author of the new book "The Overachievers."

That's ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, the country's biggest oilfield may not have the to shut down completely for repairs after all. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman says there's been talk about keeping Alaska's Prudhoe Bay field running at about 50 percent capacity. It was shut down this weekend after BP said some of the oil pipelines were corroded.

Well, this situation is just the latest in a string of problems for BP. A federal grand jury is investigating an oil spill back in March, and there's word board members were told back in 2004 about pipe corrosion. Some lawmakers now want to know if BP needed more oversight.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken reports from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The only pipeline that has any significant federal regulation is Alyeska, the huge, pressurized super highway, in effect, that gets the crude oil from energy company feeder lines at Prudhoe Bay on the state's North Slope and rushes it 800 miles to the huge tanker ships at Valdez port. And because of that regulation, Alyeska scrubs out all the residue about every two weeks.

But the feeder lines like British Petroleum's are not regulated. No maintenance plan required, no federal government oversight, until there's a leak. And critics charge BP has taken full advantage of that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They seem to have a real blind spot when it comes to just some of the maintenance that needs to be done up there.

FRANKEN: BP says it "continuously re-evaluates its inspection programs..." Since a leak revealed extensive corrosion in March, Congress has been considering legislation that would impose maintenance standards on the company's feeder lines.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said yesterday the administration is already developing new regulations, but the federal government's first priority right now is to step in and look for alternate sources of oil.

SAMUEL BODMAN, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: That's part of the -- we are the -- if you will, we're the counter-punchers. We respond to the needs of industry, if there are supply disruptions. This certainly qualifies as supply disruption. FRANKEN (on camera): No one, including BP, knows how long this current disruption is going to last. The regulators are planning to try and make sure there's no next time.

Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And this. Some members of Congress are pressing for hearings into BP's maintenance of its pipeline system. That could happen as early as next month.

Coming up, has someone been bugging the royal phones? Allegations of wiretapping of Prince Charles' official residence.

Plus, a new 9/11 movie. This time from controversial director Oliver Stone. We'll look at the positive response from some surprising sources.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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