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American Morning

Pentagon Offers Bleak Assessment of Iraq Situation; Looking at Results from Yesterday's Primaries; Most Americans Believe in God

Aired September 13, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A desperate situation worsens in one part of Iraq. Military commanders paint one picture.
What are the people on the ground saying?

We'll take a look.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hewlett-Packard spies on its own board members and now the chairman steps down and the attorney general steps in.

S. O'BRIEN: A wildfire spreads into the hills around Los Angeles. Firefighters right now are trying to keep it from shutting down a major interstate.

M. O'BRIEN: It's back to work in space this morning. The astronauts are trying to keep track of all their nuts and bolts. You're looking at a live picture there.

But guess what? They lost another one. We'll tell you about that.

S. O'BRIEN: And Britney Spears needs another car set. The pop star gives birth to a second baby boy. We're still waiting on a name.

That's ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Welcome everybody.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

Thanks for being with us.

More violence in Iraq and once again the police are the target. Two bomb attacks there this morning to tell you about. The biggest, a roadside bomb in the center of the city that killed at least 14. A police patrol was passing by at the time. Sixty-seven others injured in that attack.

Also, Iraqi police found more than 60 bodies all around the city today, many showing signs of torture.

A desperate situation now in western Iraq. We're talking about the volatile Al Anbar Province. A top military intelligence officer offering a grim assessment of what's going on there. He says 16,000 more troops, a division, is needed. But the top commander over there says more troops would be nothing more than a temporary fix.

Joining us to talk about the situation on the ground in Al Anbar are Barbara Starr at the Pentagon and Michael Ware in Baghdad.

Let's begin with you, Barbara, and why we're hearing such an apparent internal debate at the Pentagon.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is all really coming from the military intelligence arm, essentially, Miles. Indeed, as you say, the head of Marine Corps intelligence in Anbar Province has given a very grim, very sober, classified assessment of the security situation there.

Let's be very clear. We're talking Ramadi, Fallujah, the heart of the insurgency and the heart of Al Qaeda in Iraq operations. This very sober assessment says there is very little security in that area and very little functioning government.

This classified assessment has not been released, but the story was first broken by Tom Ricks of the "Washington Post."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS RICKS, "THE WASHINGTON POST": The military basically could win any tactical engagement that it had, but there was very little security progress coming from that and that the political and social systems were deteriorating and that Al Qaeda in Iraq, the insurgent group, was filling the vacuum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, Ricks talking there about what that assessment says that he broke in the "Washington Post."

But this now, Miles, has sparked a good deal of controversy and a very unusual reaction. A classified report now being addressed publicly, as you say, by the top Marine commander in Iraq. And he is saying yes, sober, but he believes that there is progress being made and he believes that he doesn't need more troops in Anbar Province.

He's got about 30,000 U.S. troops there. He thinks, at the moment, for the mission he has, that's enough, that it's really the job of Iraqi security forces to handle security out there.

Listen to General Zilmer, who had a telephone press conference yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. RICHARD ZILMER, U.S. MARINES, COMMANDING GENERAL, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE: I have never heard any description about the war being lost before last weekend. We are winning this war. We are certainly accomplishing our mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Miles, perhaps one of the most interesting things General Zilmer said, however, is he does not see his primary mission as being winning against the insurgency anymore. He says the primary mission for U.S. forces in Anbar Province is to train the Iraqis -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, I guess it's all in how you define the goal. That's obviously very important.

Barbara Starr, thank you very much.

Let's get over to Michael Ware, who spent a lot of time on the ground in Al Anbar Province and has been talking to Marines and soldiers who are pounding the ground there.

What are they saying on the ground? Would they like more support and this whole notion of their role being primarily to train Iraqis? Does that jive with what you're seeing?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, on the ground in Ramadi, there's not that much training going on by that many troops. There are small adviser teams. They do some training. But your day to day existence for an American soldier or an American Marine in Ramadi is blood and guts battle.

It's constant IEDs, direct arms, you know, gunfights. It's being mortared. I mean the fight has evolved. In the last three or four months, new U.S. tactics has forced al Qaeda to shift its tactics. But as the brigade commander who owns Ramadi says, we are in contact with the enemy every day. And that enemy is al Qaeda. There's a direct link between the men we fight street-to-street, face-to-face, day to day and the people who brought down the World Trade Center.

And let's look at what General Zilmer, the Marine commander of Al Anbar, said last night. I spoke to him in that conference last night, and Barbara is right. He's not saying that he doesn't need more troops. What he's saying is that right now all I'm being told is to train. But if you want me to win against an Al Qaeda-led insurgency, then I do need more troops.

He said you want me to win? I need to change my metrics. He needs more troops.

The American military, the planners, have not committed to the battle. This is giving al Qaeda the oxygen it needs to breathe. In fact, there is an al Qaeda national headquarters sitting there and there's simply not enough soldiers to go into that area and take control of it -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, let me give you, in a hypothetical, the people you're talking to, the commanders you're talking to, the generals, if they had those greater numbers of troops, could they score a real lasting victory against al Qaeda that would have a long range impact in Iraq?

WARE: Well, yes, they could. I mean, obviously there's always going to be at least two tracks. I mean they need to train up the Iraqi security forces. But that, honestly, I've been in combat with Iraqi security forces. It's such a mixed bag that it's such a long way off.

And let's look at the Iraqi security forces in Al Anbar.

The Iraqi Army, the two divisions there, one is proven, one is not. One is essentially a group of Shia militias in government uniforms. Both the units are Shia. So the local Sunnis there, even the people who are working with the Americans -- I've got a police chief on camera, on record, saying these people are -- these soldiers are taking innocent people and torturing them. He said it's Baghdad, there are Iranian links, these, you know, Shia soldiers that are herding our people toward al Qaeda.

So, if you bring in more U.S. troops, you can attack al Qaeda while you build the security force. Because right now al Qaeda is not being put on the back foot.

The commanders say, the soldiers say the best we can do is disrupt them; sure can't decimate them, no hope right now of defeating them -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware in Baghdad, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Primary results are in this morning. Some big names to tell you about and some closely watched primary races.

How did it go?

CNN's Candy Crowley is with us from Boston -- good morning.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, let's begin with some of the races that we were watching most closely. I guess the biggest deal was that Chaffee didn't lose. That's kind of the headline there.

How close was it?

CROWLEY: It wasn't that close. It was -- he won by about eight points. So this is a really interesting race simply because most Republicans consider Chaffee to be what they call a rhino, which is Republican in name only.

But this year, when there's a battle for the Senate, a battle for the majority, just having an R after his name and being in a pretty liberal state, it was enough to bring the Republicans into the state. They helped Chaffee with his turnout. They gave him money for his ads, that sort of thing, because they really believed that Laffey, his opponent, wouldn't win.

Laffey was much more conservative. They know that in the general, if they're going to keep from Rhode Island a -- somebody with an R after their name, they had to help Chaffee, so they did. However, Chaffee doesn't really have a cake walk when it comes to the general election. He faces some pretty stiff competition.

But Republicans have passed phase one here.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about Kweisi Mfume. He was running against the Democratic -- for the Democratic candidate for Senate. And he ended up losing. But if he had won, that would have set up a pretty interesting race, wouldn't it have?

CROWLEY: It really would. It's still going to be an interesting race. But the fact of the matter is that the Republican who's running for Senate, Michael Steele, is an African-American Republican. Had Kweisi Mfume won this particular battle against Congressman Ben Cardin, we would have had an African-American versus an African- American and it would have been an interesting and historical race.

Having said that, again, Michael Steele is an African-American Republican and if he should win -- and remember, Maryland is a pretty Democratic state, so we'll see -- but if he should win, it still would bring a Republican African-American to the Senate, which would be not unprecedented, but nonetheless, it hasn't happened in more than 40 years.

S. O'BRIEN: Wes are we watching?

What were the other big races, do you think, that we should talk about?

CROWLEY: Well, there was a great race in Arizona in the 8th District. Mostly it was a Republican on Republican primary. And it was interesting because there was a conservative on the side of -- Randy Graf -- who argued that, you know, no illegal aliens would -- would come in and get any sort of amnesty or be put on a path to citizenship, toughen up the borders. And he was up against a more moderate Republican who said well, you know, it was more along the Bush lines -- you know, we have to have a path to citizenship.

The conservative won on this, the tougher on the immigration, even though the Republican Party came in and tried to help the moderate because they're a little worried that this seat, which is currently Republican, is going to turn into a Democratic pick up in the House. And they don't need any more of those.

S. O'BRIEN: Candy Crowley for us this morning, part of the best political team on TV.

Thanks, Candy.

CROWLEY: Good to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

Nine minutes past the hour.

Let's get a check of the forecast from Chad -- good morning. CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Experts say that attempted attack on the U.S. Embassy in Syria we told you about yesterday was just the latest strike in the global Jihad we've been telling you about.

Coming up, a look at why the world may need to change its strategy in the war on terror.

Plus, a big scandal at Hewlett-Packard. The company's private eye is accused of using dirty tactics to spy on their own board. We'll tell you about that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: That al Qaeda inspired attack on the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria we told you about yesterday just the latest skirmish in a global Jihad. Many terrorism experts believe it is high time nations targeted, like the U.S. carnage their tactics in response.

CNN's Chris Lawrence joining us now from Jerusalem, where a major counter-terrorism conference is underway -- Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, some of these counter- terrorism experts tell me that these global Jihadists remember when Islam ruled over many parts of the world and only a return to that reality will satisfy them.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Al Qaeda issues new threats against Israel and terrorist attack the American Embassy in Syria. Experts at a counter-terrorism conference near Tel Aviv say both are part of a bigger picture.

BOAZ GANOR, INSTITUTE FOR COUNTER-TERRORISM: The attack in Damascus is one link in the chain of the strategy of the global Jihadists.

LAWRENCE: Boaz Ganor says global Jihadist is a better term than terrorist. A former Israeli intelligence officer, Ganor says their ultimate goal is forcing the world to live under strict Islamic law. He believes there is no negotiation with Jihadists and even more secular governments like Syria will pay a price for choosing them as allies.

GANOR: I do believe that such an attack sends a message to the Bashar Assad regime, as well -- beware. We are here. We're alive and kicking. And you might be our target, as well.

LAWRENCE: For the next few days, experts from all over the world will keep challenging conventional wisdom.

American Steve Emerson says Western governments must stop Jihadists from openly recruiting in their countries, even if it means being accused of "waging war on Islam."

STEVE EMERSON, U.S. INVESTIGATIVE PROJECT ON TERROR: Iino coincidence that Islamic charities have traditionally served as terrorist fronts.

LAWRENCE: Some of these experts say nations have to adjust to the Jihadist world view. They say even international troops stationed in South Lebanon could become targets because Jihadists don't see them as a neutral peacekeeping force.

YONI FIGHEL, INSTITUTE FOR COUNTER-TERRORISM: They see it as an external, Western conspiracy disguised in an international force, in the form of an international force or U.N.

LAWRENCE: One Israeli expert says the philosophy doesn't allow for compromise. He predicts the more Hamas joins the Palestinian political system, al Qaeda will move in to fill the void.

ELY KARMON, INSTITUTE FOR COUNTER-TERRORISM: We know that some Hamas people have split from Hamas, including nine members in our prisons, which have declared that we leave Hamas and we are joining al Qaeda.

LAWRENCE: But more than one expert says even peace in Palestine will not stop global Jihadists because their goals are much bigger.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LAWRENCE: And some of the experts tell me that the Jihadists do not look at things like Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank or from Gaza or even open negotiation as avenues to peace. They look at it as a sign of weakness -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence in Jerusalem, thank you very much.

Coming up on the program, a fierce battle to contain a huge wildfire in southern California. We'll see if firefighters are making any progress there.

Plus, car meets house -- on the second floor. We'll explain how it happened.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Hewlett-Packard is in damage control mode this morning. California's attorney general says he might bring criminal charges against the company. This after a spy scandal forced Chairman Patricia Dunn to give up her post.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Ali Velshi untangles what happened for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under every H.P. logo, you'll see the word "invent." H.P.'s latest invention? A scandal.

Back in January, this news report surfaced on the Internet, loaded with confidential information leaked by someone on H.P.'s board. The company's chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, authorized H.P.'s lawyers to hire a security firm to spy on its own directors. That security firm hired a private investigator, who decided the best way to nab the source of the leak was to pretext -- to impersonate the board members in order to obtain their personal phone records.

Inventive, some might say.

New York private investigator Diana Moneta says pretexting is dirty business.

DIANA MONETA, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: The client will say well, you got that information. By the way, how did you get it?

We always are able to attribute how we get our information and one thing we don't want to do is say we got it through acting like so and so.

VELSHI: H.P.'s private investigators did find their leaker. It was H.P.'s longest serving board member. But they didn't stop there. They impersonated nine journalists who cover H.P. including reporters from the "New York Times" and the "Wall Street Journal," to obtain their telephone records, too.

In a written statement, H.P.'s chair, Patricia Dunn, acknowledges it was wrong: "Unfortunately, the investigation which was conducted with third parties included certain inappropriate techniques. These went beyond what we understood them to be and I apologize that they were employed." H.P.'s lawyers say that pretexting is a common investigative technique.

New York lawyer and private investigator Stanley Arkin says it's largely been the domain of debt collectors or suspicious partners and divorce lawyers.

STANLEY ARKIN, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: In matrimonial cases, it became very popular, for example, to find out who your spouse or your -- whoever it might be -- was calling.

VELSHI: Because there's no legal way to get someone's phone records without their knowledge or permission, unless you have a subpoena, pretexting is an option that many turn to. One bright spot about pretexting -- this time, the cell phone companies are on your side. In the past year, all of the major cell phone companies have gone to court against pretexters.

(on camera): And back at H.P. while the company found its leaker, it cost Patricia Dunn her job. She'll be stepping down as chair in January. Maybe next time H.P. won't be so inventive.

Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Chairman Patricia Dunn's successor is going to be the CEO, Mark Hurd. Dunn is going to retain her seat on H.P.'s board of directors.

Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, Miles, our very favorite space cadet, checks in.

Take a look.

M. O'BRIEN: As everyone around here knows, I'm a space cadet. Well, now, I've got the right togs.

I'll show you what it's like to get ready for a day of work in space, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR: When you heard about IEDs, fellow troops getting blown up, you're actually glad to put on the gear because you know it's going to help protect you.

We went to Iraq in 2003. The gear we wore consisted of Kevlar helmets, protective vests, communications gear, full uniforms, as well as our normal weaponry.

There was a point where it got to a little over 150 degrees. It was pretty rough.

The armor definitely does save lives.

If there's something they can do that would make me more comfortable, I'm all for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: But in a war zone, comfort and safety don't usually go hand in hand. In fact, when the war on terror began, troops were carrying upwards of 120 pounds in equipment and armor.

But soon, we may see a lighter, more nimble soldier emerge from the trenches.

(voice-over): Dutch DeGay of the U.S. Army Natick Soldiers Center is working to completely redesign combat uniforms from helmet to boot.

DUTCH DEGAY: What we're trying to do is evolve our body armor. This actually doesn't touch the body. This next generation piece of body armor actually stands off the body in order to absorb the impact of the round without the individual soldier feeling that impact. M. O'BRIEN: Improvements also include sensors that monitor vital signs and a lighter state-of-the-art helmet that provides infrared and thermal vision capabilities, as well as a futuristic eye monitor connecting soldiers to a battlefield network.

DEGAY: The individual soldier has the on board computer plugged into the network. So they now become network centric and can see everything inside the battle space, even though it's not directly in front of them.

M. O'BRIEN: DeGay expects the new gear to be available in two to three years. The whole system could be in the trenches by 2010.

So what's next after that?

DEGAY: A set of camouflage that actually acts as a mirror to the outside environment, and I literally disappear inside the battle space.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning.

Welcome back, everybody.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

Carol Costello is here with a look at the headlines -- good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Good morning to all of you.

Baghdad rocked by two deadly explosions this morning. A roadside bomb in the center of the city killed at least 14 people, including one police officer. Sixty-seven others were injured in that attack. Also, Iraqi police found more than 60 bodies around the city. Many showed signs of torture.

The second trial of Saddam Hussein is in recess right now, but, boy, was it an interesting day. Just a few hours ago, the prosecutor demanding the presiding judge step down. He said the presiding judge has allowed the court to become a political podium and that he has displayed pro-Hussein bias.

Hussein stands accused of slaughtering tens of thousands of Kurds in the 1980s.

In Washington, North Korea's nukes on the front burner this morning. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with South Korea's president. The U.S. and South Korea at odds working on a response to North Korea's nuclear saber rattling.

California will now have one of the nation's highest minimum wages. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing a bill raising California's minimum wage to $8 an hour over a two year period. That's up from $6.75. California now joins Massachusetts as having the country's highest minimum wage.

That wildfire burning just 40 miles north of Los Angeles is still raging. The fire has already burned about 25,000 acres. It began in the Los Padres National Forest, sparked by someone burning debris. Parts of Interstate 5 have been shut down.

In Fordham, New York, tragedy at high speed. A car hit a dirt hill and flew hundreds of feet into the second story of an apartment building. The driver was found dead. No one in the building was hurt. Police say they're not sure exactly what happened. They don't believe the driver had been drinking.

And there is no oops about it -- Britney Spears has done it again. Spears reportedly giving birth to her second child early Tuesday. The biggest shocker? Oh, dear god, get out that blue blanket. She reportedly had a baby boy and not a girl. Not a girl like the tabloids had speculated. If true, the baby was born just two days before her other son's birthday. Sean Preston turns one tomorrow.

(INSERT 0900)

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

A pair of deadly bomb attacks shaking Baghdad this morning. More than 20 people died in two explosions. Also, Iraqi police found 67 bodies dumped throughout the city, signs of torture on those bodies. That's at least 87 bodies found in a similar fashion since yesterday. But the military may not be counting all of those. Why not?

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is here with more and a little fact check for us -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, we've been trying to do a bit of a fact check on exactly how many Iraqi civilians are dying in Baghdad these days, but that's very tough to figure out for a number of reasons. Now the U.S. military has been talking about a decline in the number of Iraqis killed in the violence in Baghdad, and they that is attributable to the stepped up security operations. But is that really the case? Very tough to figure out.

Here is what we do know. The Iraqi health ministry reports that for the month of August, about 1,500 bodies of Iraqi civilians were delivered to the central morgue in Baghdad. That is what they look at, 1,500 bodies. Now that is down a bit from the month before in July, when it was roughly 1,800 bodies. But still, we're looking at the second highest toll of the year, according to the Iraqi health ministry. But at the same time, the top U.S. spokesman, military spokesman in Baghdad, said recently that there was a 46 percent drop in the death rate between July and August, but 1,500, 1,800, that doesn't seem to add up to 46 percent. One of the complicating factors is that the U.S. military now says when it counts the number of Iraq civilians killed, it only counts those murdered. It does not count the Iraqi civilians in its statistics that may have died in suicide car bombs, in IEDs or other blasts like that. Nonetheless, Miles, when you look at the statistics for the last several months, over 1,000 Iraqi civilians killed each month in the Baghdad area -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, I'm a little bit confused. They don't count people who are the suicide bombers themselves, is that what you're saying? Or...

STARR: No...

M. O'BRIEN: ... anybody who might be affected by a car bomb?

STARR: Right, let me clarify, Miles. What they're not counting is the Iraqi civilians who are killed in suicide car bomb attacks, in IED attacks, in rocket-propelled grenade attacks, in bombing attacks. The U.S. military, for the moment, when it's offering its statistics, is only talking about Iraqis murdered, shot essentially, strangled, tortured.

And the reason the military says that's what it's counting is it believes that's the biggest reflection of those killed in sectarian violence, Shia on Sunni violence. But clearly, a good number of other Iraqi civilians are dying in these bombing attacks that we see almost every day in Baghdad.

M. O'BRIEN: Interesting way of counting the numbers. A little bit like new math and that still has me confused. Barbara Starr, the Pentagon, thank you very much.

STARR: Sure.

(NEWSBREAK)

COSTELLO: That wildfire burning 40 miles north of Los Angeles, it is still raging. Take a look. These are taped pictures taken just a short time ago. Near 25,000 acres now scorched. Firefighters hoping to keep the fire from shutting down a major highway again today. That would be I-5.

KABC's Melissa McBride has the latest from Castaic Lake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA MCBRIDE, KABC REPORTER (on camera): The day fire has scorched nearly 24,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest, and only about 25 percent contained. The fire is burning in very steep terrain near Pyramid Lake. It came close to jumping Interstate 5 yesterday afternoon, and forced the California Highway Patrol to shut down the freeway. But two lanes are open, moving in both directions this morning.

Fire crews will begin building 26 miles of fire line to keep the flames from spreading any further. The weather has been hot and windy here, but cooler temperatures are expected today. Fourteen hundred firefighters from around the country are working to contain the fire as it burns for its tenth day in a row.

I'm Melissa McBride for CNN in Castaic Lake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Let's look at live pictures now. Take a look at that. Still burning so brightly.

WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Some primary results to get to this morning. Some big names, some very closely watched races. How did it all go? CNN's Candy Crowley is with us from Boston to talk about that.

Good morning.

CROWLEY: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Where do you want to start?

CROWLEY: Well, I think Rhode Island. I mean, that's the one everyone was watching and had the most sort of national implications. And that's where we saw Lincoln Chafee, a liberal Republican, win with the help of the more conservative Republican party. They poured a lot of money into this race. Because the man who was challenging Chafee in this Republican primary was, in fact, a conservative and the national Republicans looked at this and said, this conservative wins, we're going to lose that state.

This is not an election when Republicans can afford to lose any Senate seat. So they got behind Chafee, they infused money and people into the state. They brought out their so-called 72-hour get out the vote effort. It worked very well, and they now have passed phase one. Chafee will, in fact, be the Republican nominee. He nonetheless faces a stiff challenge in November from a strong Republican. So -- I'm sorry, from a strong Democrat. So he still has a ways to go here. But, in fact, he won and he won with the help of the Republican party, who will probably also be helping him in the general.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, let's move from Rhode Island to Arizona. What was happening there?

CROWLEY: Well, what's interesting is, you know, in between the time I last talked to you and now, a press release came out from the Minutemen, who are the citizens group that guard the border in Mexico, the U.S./Mexican border. And said, you know, this race in Arizona proves that woe be to the candidate who doesn't support stiff border control and the return of illegal aliens. In fact, with the help of some money from the Minutemen pack, the conservative in Arizona's eighth district beat out the moderate Republican who said that there -- perhaps should find a way to take illegal aliens already here and put them on a pathway to citizenship.

So a conservative won in that district, which is turning more moderate. It has Republicans worried about the general election. Republicans have held this seat for 22 years, but the district is changing. So this is one of those on the watch list for Democratic pickup.

S. O'BRIEN: Hillary Clinton, big, big win. And very much expected win, frankly.

CROWLEY: Absolutely. What I thought was interesting about this race is, primary voters for Democrats are more liberal, generally, than Democrats, which makes them, by definition, anti-war. As you know, Senator Clinton has gotten a lot of flack for her initial pro- Iraq war vote. That she could rack up this kind of percentages, over 80 percent, against an anti-war candidate may say something about her prospects as perhaps a presidential candidate, because she did in a liberal anti-war primary pull 83 percent. So that's pretty good.

S. O'BRIEN: In Minnesota, Keith Ellison victorious and big implications potentially.

CROWLEY: Absolutely. He would be -- and this sort of surprised me, but I never thought about the first Muslim to sit in -- on Capitol Hill in Congress, and he has a pretty good shot at it. This is a very Democratic district. He won the primary. Nothing is going to be a walk, but this is pretty darn close to it. So we may in fact have the first Muslim Congressman.

S. O'BRIEN: Candy Crowley for us this morning, part of the best political team on TV. Thanks, Candy.

CROWLEY: Sure.

M. O'BRIEN: Americans are believers in God. But is your God authoritarian, benevolent or distant? The answer may have a lot to do with where you live. We'll explain which God lives in your town.

Plus, crossing the line. The fictional assassination of President Bush. Does anyone have a creative license to make a movie like that? "AM Pop" is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: "One nation under God" -- the phrase a point of controversy for some, but there may be more truth to it than ever before. A Baylor University study on religion in America found that nearly 92 percent of Americans believe in God or some higher power.

AMERICAN MORNING's Delia Gallagher joins us with more. She's of course our faith and values correspondent. Nice to see you, Delia.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH & VALUES CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: This is kind of an interesting survey, you know, talk about the big questions in a survey. How was this survey done? GALLAGHER: Well, this was done by the Gallup poll in conjunction with Baylor University. Both a telephone and written survey questionnaire to the 1,700 people who responded. And the question is very sort of intense. It's got lots of questions about, what are your daily practices? What do you really think about God? Do you think he's an angry God? Do you think that he is a kind God? Do you think he is a God who is active in your daily life. So and then Baylor University got together to collate those responses and decide who believes more in this type of a God or in this type of a God. And the thing that's interesting that came out of it is a lot of people do not identify with the traditional religions. So if you give them a questionnaire and say, are you Catholic, are you Episcopalian are you Jewish, they may not check any of those. But then, if you say, what church do you attend on Sunday, they'll give you the name of a church.

So it seems kind of counterintuitive. And yet what this study has found is there are some 10 million people perhaps who say, I do attend a church, but I do not identify with one of these main denominations. So that's quite an interesting finding in the study.

S. O'BRIEN: Sure is. And it certainly could have big political implications down the road.

GALLAGHER: Right, this is kind of a lost group of people for many of those who do polls, And so they're very interested to find out, what do these people really think?

S. O'BRIEN: All right, so when you break it down, who they talk to, the 1,700 people, does it mirror basically over who they spoke to, the way the nation goes?

GALLAGHER: Well, again, when you are talking about religions, we really only have polls to go by. So this is another sort of poll. Yes, it is more or less in line statistically with a lot of other polls, but again, it goes into different aspects of religious belief.

S. O'BRIEN: What did they find? I mean, did they find that overall God -- most people believe God is...

GALLAGHER: It's very diverse. There's not an overall. It's very split between, do you believe in an authoritarian God? This is a kind of God who is very active in your life and in the world, but can be angry and can look for, sort of, justice.

S. O'BRIEN: The kind of God who'd cause a tsunami.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

And -- or do you believe in this sort of God who's more distant, who sets the world in motion, but doesn't really have anything to do with the day-to-day going on of the world. And really those two are the two extremes, and they're quite split between them.

So it's interesting, we talk about religious people and religious communities, but they're very different belief systems within that.

S. O'BRIEN: I thought the way it broke down geographically.

GALLAGHER: Yes, very interesting about regions, because they split it into east, west, midwest and south. And there are a number of things within that. I mean, they go anywhere from asking about paranormal phenomenon -- you know, do you believe in haunted houses, and UFOs and that kind of thing. Very interesting to see regionally how that breaks out, with the East Coast, by the way, being more interested in the paranormal, not the West Coast.

S. O'BRIEN: Really?

GALLAGHER: California always gets (INAUDIBLE) that.

S. O'BRIEN: Really? Interesting aside.

GALLAGHER: But, yes, and so with the types of Gods, you know, The authoritarian type of God, that more angry God, and the God who's more involved in your life shows more in the south. The more distant god shows more in the West Coast. The benevolent God, the God who is loving and still very involved in your life, is more in the Midwest. So those are some of the interesting findings.

S. O'BRIEN: That was an interesting survey. Delia Gallagher, thank you for sharing that with us.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Appreciate it. Delia, of course, is our faith and values correspondent.

We've got a short break. We're back in a moment with our top stories. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The home improvement continues outside the International Space Station, now about five hours into the second walk of this Space Shuttle Atlantis mission. Take a look at pictures from space. Once again, this is helmet cam video from -- oh, actually that's live. That's live picture coming out right now. Oh, it's tape. Sorry about that.

And this is Dan Burbank. I can tell by that number 16 there. That's my trick. Oh, actually our little bug is over it. Lose the bug. There -- see that 16? That's how I know it's Dan Burbank. He's got the 16 cam. And he's -- check this out. He's trying very carefully -- notice how everything has a little tether on it? There's a little piece of wire there or something like that. It's really important that they hang on to things, like that bag is hung onto him. And he's trying to put a little trash in there, as they remove all the packing material from this $372 million solar array combination and truss.

And this -- they've been putting the stuff in and apparently they lost one of the pieces, a little piece of trash, a trash bag. Steve MacLean, who is Dan Burbank's fellow space walker. Yesterday they lost a bolt, a washer and a spring, and today another bolt. There are so many things that they've been undoing and they're designed to sort of stay in place so they don't become another piece of space junk. But, obviously, they have to get back to the drawing board and figure out a way to keep these bolts from coming loose.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it looks like there's a little design flaw on that.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: And the episode would be "Lost in Space," right?

M. O'BRIEN: It would be. Danger, danger.

S. O'BRIEN: Can we talk about "A.M. Pop" this morning?

M. O'BRIEN: Let's do that.

S. O'BRIEN: New film making headlines long before it's going to be actually seen by the general public here in the United States. And that's because of one controversial scene.

CNN's Brooke Anderson has a look for us this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A fictional yet chilling image of President Bush being assassinated. It's a very brief scene in the film "Death of a President," but it has sparked a deepening controversy, even before it arrives in U.S. theaters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When that motorcade stopped, that was an emergency situation.

ANDERSON: This contentious British film made its debut this past weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it secured U.S. distribution through New Market Films. The deal raised the ire of conservative columnist Terry Jeffrey, who adamantly believes U.S. audiences shouldn't see this movie.

TERRY JEFFREY, EDITOR, "HUMAN EVENTS": We're in the midst of a war against terrorists. To depict the sitting president of the United States using actual images of him in an assassination, I think, is just an outrageously poor taste and it's not to be commended in any way.

ANDERSON: "Death of a President" is a drama that uses some real life video of President Bush and has the look and feel of a documentary. It depicts the president being shot by a sniper in October of 2007 during a visit to Chicago. Chaos ensues and the nation mourns while authorities hunt down the killer.

NOAH COWAN, CO-DIR., TORONTO INTL. FILM FESTIVAL: The film asks, well, what is the future? What are we doing to ourselves now? What is our society right now? What -- where have we evolved to? ANDERSON: Toronto Film Festival co-director Noah Cowan tells CNN the festival stands by its decision to feature the film, and that the assassination scene is treated with reverence.

COWAN: It's handled with such care and such respect that I think those who see the film will see that it's -- the image is there for a reason.

ANDERSON: The White House declined to talk about the movie, issuing this statement, quote: "We are not commenting on this movie at all. It does not dignify a response."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had my agents in the backup car make their weapons ready.

ANDERSON: "Death of a President" distributor New Market Films is no stranger to controversy, having released "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004.

PAUL DEGARABEDIAN, EXHIBITOR RELATIONS: They're showing that they're not taking any sides politically. They're willing to take on virtually any subject matter, regardless of who the target audience is, and get it into the marketplace.

ANDERSON: Early reviews from festival movie-goers are mixed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a controversial title, it's a controversial concept. You see the president get shot. But then from there it just becomes a police procedural. There's nothing in it that you haven't seen in "Law and Order."

ANDERSON: And Cowan has his own review, saying, it will be worth the wait.

COWAN: It's actually a really great thriller. And the funny thing about it is that even though it's this sort of quite intellectual constructed piece. It does have this narrative propulsion, and so you kind of want to know how it ends.

ANDERSON: How long American audiences have to wait is still up in the air. New Market Films isn't commenting on when "Death of a President" will hit theaters.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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M. O'BRIEN: All right, we'll be back with more in a moment.

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