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American Morning

Iraqi Insurgency Still Alive and Well; Pivotal Moment in Lebanon

Aired August 18, 2006 - 07:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to the program. I'm Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Iraqi police taking aim at the insurgency today, arresting one, killing another in a raid in Baghdad, but the insurgency is still, of course, alive and well.

As a matter of fact, if they are measured by the effectiveness of their homemade bombings, they are doing better than ever.

CNN's Michael Holmes joining us from Baghdad.

Michael, why all the increase in those bombings, and for that matter, the increase in their effectiveness?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well I think, Miles, that they -- because of the effectiveness, the insurgents seem to have realized that they're not going out on the streets and take on American troops in Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Humvees with small- arms fire or the like, because they tend to lose in that situation. What they have found is that bombs are very effective.

And as you said, the number, the sheer number of bombs, has gone up remarkably. Figures just released say that 2,500 bombs were found in Iraq over the last month. Last month alone, two-and-a-half thousand. Now out of those, 1,600 actually blew up. The rest were found and disabled. But that's a staggering number. It's the highest number ever of IEDs. So they're everywhere.

And of course not just the U.S. military targeted being targeted. The Iraqi military is being targeted as well, and civilians. We also have figures from last month on what this war is doing to civilians, 110 people killed each and every day last month. That's the most ever as well.

In terms of deaths, some 3,500 people killed last month alone -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Those are staggering numbers, Michael. And we blame on all on the insurgency, or is there a sectarian component to that?

HOLMES: It's a bit of both. A lot of the civilian deaths are, as you say, the sectarian component, where we've seen Shiites and Sunnis carrying out tit-for-tat killings, sometimes on a small scale, sometimes on a large scale. And it's interesting how brazen these attacks are becoming. Often it's a group of policemen -- or not policemen necessarily, but men wearing police uniforms who will just go into a suburb and start shooting people based and their ethnic orientation.

But also the insurgency itself has picked up. There's certainly been an uptick here in the last couple of months. And those figures, as you said, absolutely staggering when it comes to the number of bombs, many of them right here in Baghdad -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Michael Holmes in Baghdad, thank you very much.

Meanwhile, a pivotal moment in Lebanon. For the first type in four decades, Lebanese troops on the country's southern border with Israel. The deployment is a key step toward seizing control from Hezbollah.

CNN's Chris Lawrence is in Metula, Israel at the very northern tip of that country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Israeli armor rumbles down a dirt hill, leaving Lebanon behind. Across the border, Lebanese troops march south. They cross a rebuilt bridge over the Litani River, and pass into uncharted territory. Hezbollah has controlled Lebanon's southern border for decades, and now the army has to reclaim it, from a Hezbollah militia that's more popular than ever. The army needs and expects help from a United States peacekeeping force.

(on camera): The United Nations says within the next 10 days the first 3,000 to 4,000 troops from this multinational force will have taken up their positions in South Lebanon. Israel will continue handing over captured Lebanese territory to the U.N., but only if nations keep their promise to send thousands of troops to the peacekeeping force, and the Lebanese army controls an emboldened Hezbollah. This is part public funeral for a Hezbollah commander, in part celebration. Despite losing hundreds of fighters, Hezbollah says it fought Israel to a standstill and will not disarm.

"Hezbollah is the peep, and the people are Hezbollah," says a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament. "Israel can defeat armies, but Israel cannot defeat a people."

But some say it's the Lebanese people who lost, leaving 200,000 refugees in a humanitarian crisis. Several towns are completely devastated. But on Thursday, a French military ship unloaded food and supplies in the towns of Sidon in Beirut. Israel did not escape the damage. Hezbollah launched nearly 4,000 rockets into northern towns, but not all of them exploded.

On Thursday, the hunt for unexploded ordnance began in Kiryat Shmona, where it could endanger hundreds of families who've already returned home. Both Israelis and Lebanese alike hope the army and U.N. are enough to turn the cease-fire into a lasting peace. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Metula, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(NEWSBREAK)

O'BRIEN: Senator Joe Lieberman was down, but not out. A little more than a week after his Democratic primary loss, we'll look at why the loser is now the leader in Connecticut.

COSTELLO: And "Snakes on a Plane." The B-movie concept could be one of the summer's biggest hits. How did the Internet help snake its way to cult-phenom status? That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Live pictures now. This is Southern Lebanon. Sheba (ph) in Lebanon, where you are seeing Lebanese troops. This is a moment in history, folks. It's been 40 years since Lebanese national troops have been in Southern Lebanon, either because of the Israeli operation or the control by Hezbollah, which is its own armed militia.

Notice the flag there. Important that it's red, and green and white, and not yellow. Yellow, the colors of Hezbollah. That map is the flag of the nation of Lebanon, that fledgling democracy. And as these Lebanese troops come in, clearly you see a lot of people showing outward signs of support for that effort. The devil in the details as this continues.

Israeli troops headed south as well, back towards Israel. What remains to be seen here, and a key part of this whole cease-fire effort, is the role of United Nations' peacekeepers. What will be the constitution of that force? there's a lot of infighting inside Lebanon over who should be among those forces. And when, in fact, will they be on the scene? But in the meantime, the cease-fire continues to hold after that month-long war in Southern Lebanon. And today Lebanese troops making their way to places where there was heated fighting Hezbollah and Israel just a couple weeks ago -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Back in the States, the media focuses on the latest revelations of the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. Schoolteacher John Mark Karr says he killed the 6-year-old in December of 1996, but his story is riddled with inconsistencies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN MARK KARR: I love JonBenet and she died accidentally.

COSTELLO (voice-over): The stunning statement from John Mark Karr has triggered flood of new unanswered questions about the suspect's story.

JAMES ALAN FOX, CRIMINOLOGIST: I think you have to take this confession with a whole shaker of salt. COSTELLO: Karr's arrest might not be the big break it first seemed. On Thursday, the Boulder D.A., sounding more like a defense attorney, cautioned against a rush to judgment of the 41-year-old schoolteacher.

MARY LACY, BOULDER CO. D.A.: John Karr is presumed innocent. There's a great deal of speculation and a desire for quick answers here.

COSTELLO: But Karr's own words and some of the facts of a decade-old Ramsey murder case don't add up.

KARR: I was with JonBenet when she died.

COSTELLO: JonBenet Ramsey died on Christmas night in 1996. Karr's ex-wife says he was with her in Alabama during that time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She sincerely believes in was no Christmas any time between approximately 1989 when they were married and the year 2000 when her husband was not with her and her family as Christmastime.

COSTELLO: Thai police say Karr told him he picked 6-year-old JonBenet up from school and took her home. But school were closed from Christmas break when JonBenet died. Karr told investigators he drugged and had sex with her before accidentally killing her. But an autopsy no evidence of drugs or alcohol in the little girl's system, and was inconclusive about a sexual assault.

FOX: There's some question marks emerged from hearing her story about, I was there, it was an accident. This may be someone who just wants to be part of this big case.

COSTELLO: Marc Klaas, whose daughter, Polly, was murdered in 1993, isn't buying Karr's confession.

MARC KLAAS, FATHER OF POLLY KLAAS: There is nothing that places him in that house that's substantive thus far. As I understand it, he's even talked about having given her drugs and raped her. I'm very skeptical that this guy did it. And if this guy didn't do it, that puts the suspicion right back where it's been for the last decade.

QUESTION: On the parents.

KLAAS: Yes, sir.

COSTELLO: Nothing beyond Karr's admission has been made public. As for whether there's DNA or other evidence linking them to JonBenet Ramsey's murder, only prosecutors know for sure, and they're pleading for patience.

LACY: Let us do our job thoroughly and carefully. The analysis of the evidence in this case continues on a day-by-day, on an hour-by- hour basis.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: Karr remains in Thailand, but officials in are eager to get rid of him hoping United States authorities move to extradite him back to the United States in the next few days.

Now, as you know, Karr was set to teach school in Thailand before he was arrested, and, of course, that brings up a whole other question about safety in schools overseas and safety in schooling here. Just how easy is it to get a job as a teacher, even with a criminal record? Some States don't even require background checks, and even when they do, predators can still slip through the cracks.

CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before Rafael Serrano can be a substitute teacher in Miami.

RAFAEL SERRANO: I just hadn't never given much thought.

CANDIOTTI: He learns this lesson. No fingerprints, no criminal background check, no job. His prints will be cross checked with databases in all 50 states, 10 percent of all teacher job candidates come back with positive hits.

SERRANO: Especially in my case, I'm going to be working with young children, I think it's very important that they do a background check. I don't feel in any way violated in any way.

CANDIOTTI: No system is fool proof. For example, in Miami, once teachers pass, there is no required follow-up unless they leave and want their job back.

JOHN SCHUSTER, MIAMI-DADE SCHOOL DISTRICT: People must self- report any crime that they are accused of, so that if someone after employment is actually involved in a crime, they must report it to their supervisor or they risk losing their job.

CANDIOTTI: Despite all the attention on child predators, there's no single way school districts check teacher's backgrounds. Thirty- nine states require or authorize state and FBI background checks of teachers including fingerprinting. Nine states provide for state background checks. However Indiana, Massachusetts and Tennessee have no policy on fingerprinting, according to a national certification group.

President Bush recently signed the Adam Walsh Act allowing fingerprint checks of national crime databases, but only if individual state education agencies ask for it.

It's a crime not to make sure that our kids are safe, and for these school districts, for these states that aren't doing it, they should be accountable for allowing this to happen without doing background checks. It's unacceptable.

CANDIOTTI: One study done for the U.S. Department of Education says nearly one of every ten students reports some form of sexual misconduct by teachers, administrators, or coaches during their high school years. But that misconduct doesn't necessarily show up in a database.

CHAROL SHAKESHAFT, HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY: The problem that most teachers have never been charged or convicted of sexual based crimes so that if you did a background check on them, you wouldn't necessarily turn anybody up.

CANDIOTTI: Some schools have gone beyond checking teachers. Example: Florida's Jessica Lunsford Act, named after a little girl kidnapped, raped, and killed by a sex predator.

(on camera): The law requires criminal background checks of anyone who works at schools, even those who don't come in close contact with children including construction workers and those who restock vending machines.

(voice-over): One more way to make schools safer from those looking for any opportunity to get closer to children and do them harm.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Susan's report first aired on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." Catch Paula weeknights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Coming up, one beleaguered U.S. automaker may be close to slashing thousands of jobs. We're "Minding Your Business," ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Did you ever wonder how they come up with the titles for movies? Well, in this case, there's little mystery. "Snakes on a Plane," as much a title as the three-second pitch you might throw at a studio executive on an elevator.

CNN entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson with her ssstory!

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The title alone says it all -- "Snakes on a Plane," but it barely describes how such a seemingly B-movie thriller became one of this summer's most anticipated films.

SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR: Do as I say, and you live.

ANDERSON: Almost as soon as word got out the New Line Cinema was producing the film about an FBI agent, played by Samuel L. Jackson, traveling on a plane full of both passengers and deadly snakes, the Internet was buzzing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Samuel L. Jackson won't save you from the snakes.

ANDERSON: From song parodies...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): I'm not even ready for an in-flight meal, but if I got to get real, I'm eating snakes like veal.

ANDERSON: To comedy routines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are snakes, on the plane, and they're biting.

ANDERSON: Producers at New Line couldn't help but take notice of the hype, going so far as to schedule additional photography, borrowing some suggestions culled from the Internet, which changed rating from PG-13 to R and included a particular line of dialogue.

JACKSON: I've had it with this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) snakes on this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) plane. Everybody strap in, I'm about to open some windows.

ANDERSON: CNN spoke with Samuel L. Jackson at the recent Comic Con International in San Diego, where The promotional machine for "Snakes on a Plane" was full-speed ahead.

JACKSON: Excuse me, "Snakes on a Plane." We want everybody to know that's what they're coming to see, snakes on a plane.

ANDERSON: Thanks to the Internet, director David Ellis thinks the audience will like what they see.

DAVID ELLIS, DIRECTOR, "SNAKES ON A PLANE": I think you're stupid enough to listen to your audience wherever you find it, and because the Internet is such a powerful force now, that's a really good place to go.

ANDERSON: The producers of "Snakes on a Plane" are so serious about making a film for their audience, they've refused to show it to the press.

But Russell Schwartz, and executive with New Line says, while the Internet can be a powerful tool, it won't replace old-fashioned filmmaking.

RUSSELL SCHWARTZ, NEW LINE CINEMA: The one thing about the Web and the fanbase is that there's thousands and thousands of communities. They each have their own opinion, and I think what you have to do, the best you can do is you can take all these opinions, but you still have to go with your own gut, what you feel is the right kind of entertainment to put out there.

ANDERSON: As for Jackson who went with his gut to do snakes on a plane almost as soon as he heard the title, he feels he will give the fans exactly what they want.

JACKSON: They know me in the heroic bad-ass genre as this kind of guy who speaks a specific way, and at some point is going to get fed and start talking loud, and screaming and cursing. And I'm OK with that, because that's what, you know, fuels the fire.

That's what I do and I'm very good at it.

ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: He's playing that JUST perfectly. Everybody strap in, I'm opening a window! I'm going to try that next time I fly.

COSTELLO: Now wait a minute, wouldn't you be more afraid of a snake than hair gel on a plane?

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes.

O'BRIEN: Good point.

LEE: Are you going to see it?

O'BRIEN: No!

LEE: I'm feeling the pressure. I have friends who want to go see it tonight, and I don't know if it's going to happen.

O'BRIEN: I'll wait; maybe I'll download it in a few months or something like that.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

O'BRIEN: A look at the top stories is ahead after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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