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Detainee Showdown; E. Coli Outbreak; Ford Cuts; Top Tips

Aired September 15, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Watch as the news unfolds live on Friday, September 15th. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

Republicans divided over the legal rights of terror suspects. The president talks about it live. His news conference next hour right here on CNN.

COLLINS: And bag your bagged spinach. Health experts say it could make you very sick. We're going to be talking about a major E. Coli breakout.

HARRIS: Ford, driven to drastic measures. The auto maker accelerating plans for cost saving cutbacks. You're in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: The war on terror leads to a showdown in Washington. On one side, the White House. President bush wants greater leeway to question and prosecute terror suspects. On the other side, lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Even some Republicans oppose the White House plan. President Bush is certain to face questions about it and the dispute in a news conference coming up next hour. You will see it live right here in the NEWSROOM. Our White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is joining us now.

What can we expect to hear from the president as we listen to him today?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.

Well, the White House says to expect the president to make some remarks first before taking questions from reporters in the Rose Garden. Now it's important to note that essentially you have a couple of countdown clocks that are ticking away here. Just about two weeks left until members of Congress head home to campaign full time. And then, of course, less than two months away until those all-important congressional midterm elections. So today this news conference is going to be a chance for the president once more to press his case on why he believes Congress must quickly pass his proposed detainee legislation.

The bottom line right now, the president isn't getting what he wanted. He's run into some staunch opposition from some powerful Republicans in the Senate, Senators John Warner, John McCain and Lindsey Graham. All of them, of course, with strong military ties. Of course, Senator McCain, a former P.O.W.

Now they believe that the president's legislation would leave U.S. personnel open to abuse in the future if they were captured. But the president says that there needs to be clarification of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention so that American interrogators can effectively do their jobs.

Now all of this is happening, Heidi, at a time when Republicans had hoped to be drawing some distinctions between themselves and Democrats on the issue of national security, which is traditionally been a GOP strong suit. Instead, now you have Democrats more than happy to sit on the side lines, to sit back and watch as this Republican infighting continues. But you can expect the president, Heidi, next hour to very forcefully, once more, press his case on why he believes his proposed detainee legislation must be passed quickly.

Heidi.

COLLINS: It's so interesting, there certainly is not going to be an announcement on the president's part of some sort of compromise that he has come to with this alternative bill that the Senate Armed Services Committee came up with. This is going to be more of him pushing his point.

QUIJANO: And this is certainly something that we have come to expect. The president is digging in on this one. He believes very firmly that, in fact, of course, this is not just a question about what happens in the immediate future with regards to the war on terror, but he's also quite mindful of the fact that this is an ongoing situation that will be perhaps even going on after his time in office.

So this is a president who is looking at the near term, but also the long term as well. And he wants to ensure that future presidents have the ability that they need to conduct this war on terrorism. So a lot of events going on, but, again, these countdown clocks essentially ticking away. The president wants more, pressing the need for urgency to move quickly.

COLLINS: Elaine Quijano outside the White House this morning. We will continue to wait for this one, coming up at 11:15, as you see on the bottom of your screen.

Thanks, Elaine.

HARRIS: And, Heidi, our Barbara Starr joins us from the Pentagon with a breakdown of the two plans for terror trials.

Barbara, this is one of the trickier stories to explain. We have the kind of broad overview from Elaine, but sort of get into the nuts and bolts of this for us, please.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll try, Tony, but I'm going to start by saying, I didn't go to law school. We've talked to an awful lot of experts and they have sort of identified what they say are four key points, four key differences between the Senate Armed Services Committee's proposal and the president's proposal. And on these points, perhaps the only thing the two sides agree on is that they believe this is a vital national security issue.

Let's start with what Elaine was talking about. Something a lot of people have not heard of. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Now, this all goes to the question of how those high- value detainees, people like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, one of the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks. How can he be interrogated. What are the rules of the road?

Now, what the administration says, and the CIA, is they want to better define some of the terms of this part of the Geneva Conventions. It's very broad as it now exists. It says things like prohibits outrages on human dignity. What does that mean? You are going to hear the administration talk about the fact they want better definition.

But people like Senator McCain say, no. If the U.S. starts redefining an international convention that has existed for decades, that means other countries might open the door, do the same thing. It would put U.S. personnel at risk if they are captured on the battlefield.

Three other points, Tony, where there are differences. On access to classified information. The administration's plan would allow access to classified information to be kept from detainees at trial. The committee says, no. A detainee going to trial, by all accounts, should see as much of the evidence as possible against them.

On the question of evidence obtained by coercion, the administration would prohibit the use of any statements obtained by coercion. Sounds reasonable. The Senate committee goes further, saying not just that. Specifically, no torture or cruel or inhumane or degrading treatment.

On the final point of disagreement, rules of evidence. The administration would essentially allow all evidence in if it would prove to be relevant to the case. But the committee would be more restrictive and would say that the trials essentially really need to follow the rules of military courts martial. That that would better protect the rights of the defendant.

Tony, one of the bottom lines here on that Article 3 that we started off by mentioning. The CIA is saying around Washington, around town, that if there cannot be an agreement that they can live with on that question of interrogation, that they would have to give up their program for interrogating any future high-value detainees they might get.

Tony.

HARRIS: Got you.

Barbara, to that point, do we know what the specific language is from this administration? How would the administration clarify these vagaries in the language that's in Common Article 3? STARR: We don't know. You know, it's a difficult thing to explain because a lot of -- one of the real keys here is CIA interrogation procedures. Let's be very clear. The U.S. Army, when it interrogates prisoners in the field, goes by a new field manual that is very specific, that U.S. military personnel are held to and that they all are educated on and are supposed to understand.

The CIA is different, Tony. Those are classified procedures. The president refers to them as an alternative set of procedures. The CIA says they want to obey the law. They don't torture people. But they don't talk very much about how exactly they do interrogate people. And they want to be sure, they say, that they're doing it according to the law. So they want it spelled out. But people like John McCain, who's very well respected on this matter, says once you start fiddling around with the Geneva Convention, which has existed for decades, it could put U.S. personnel at risk.

HARRIS: Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon. You are right, Barbara, it is complicated. Great job, though.

Barbara, thank you.

STARR: Take care.

HARRIS: OK.

We will have live coverage of the president's Rose Garden news conference an hour from now right here in the NEWSROOM, 11:15 Eastern Time on CNN.

And this just in to CNN. We're getting word from the Justice Department that Republican Congress Bob Ney of Ohio has agreed to plead guilty to a pair of charges as part of a deal with the Justice Department in which he will cooperate with its ongoing influence peddling investigation. The two counts, conspiracy and making false statements. We will get more on this from the Justice Department at about 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time this morning.

COLLINS: Health advice that would make your Popeye cringe. Poor old Popeye. Don't eat your spinach. The FDA says, in fact, throw it all out. Health experts say raw, bagged spinach has made dozens of people sick. In fact, at least one person has died. Medical detectives around the country are now searching today for the source of the E. Coli outbreak. Our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, here now.

And that's probably the scariest part, Sanjay, is usually when we hear about these types of outbreaks or even something different than E. Coli, we know pretty quickly what the source is and they go from there and tell us what to do.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're often given a brand, your given specific locations or a distributor. This is one of the sort of broadest and biggest sort of advisories I've ever heard. You're talking about the entire country, first of all, and you are talking about all fresh bagged spinach. By the way, we could still buy this, so, obviously, this message hasn't gotten to the stores, which I also find kind of interesting. But 50 people affected now. Eight different states.

And we have a map showing you just how disparate these states are around the country. Not any specific location. Twenty of those cases you can see on that map there were actually in Wisconsin, specifically Milwaukee. So that's going to be an area of interest certainly. One person has died.

This has been going on really since August 23rd. From August 23rd to September 3rd are when a lot of these cases took place. They've linked it to E. Coli, as you mentioned, Heidi. E. Coli is a bacteria. It typically is a harmless bacteria that actually exists in your intestine under normal circumstances. But there are a few strains that can be particularly troublesome and even deadly as we've seen here, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. And, you know, that's the other scary part is, when it gets to the degree of someone dying from it, I mean people usually really get nervous about that.

GUPTA: They do. And the good news is that typically people don't get very sick from it. They certainly don't die from it. Most people recover pretty well from this bacterial infection.

But there are some symptoms that you might think about if you've eaten fresh bagged spinach recently. Diarrhea, you can see there, vomiting. Anemia is not a symptom you can really know yourself. But if someone looks very pale, for example, they might be anemic. Kidney failure as well. The dying part is, again, very rare, but that often happens if your kidneys shut down in addition to having some of those other symptoms.

COLLINS: And how do we know at this point, what I was trying to get as is, whether or not that person may have had something else, you know, prior to eating this? I mean it's very hard to tell at this point.

GUPTA: It is hard to tell. Typically what they do in that situation is they isolate the fact that the bad bacterial strain from the blood, from the body and they actually correlate it with the symptoms. But you're right, it's not always easy to tell, which in part might explain why the person died on August 23rd and we're hearing about it now. There's a lot of testing to make sure about that.

COLLINS: Yes. And right now the thing we want to mention is that because we don't know the source, I guess it would be -- who is it that tracks all this down? Is it public health or the CDC? Is it FDA?

GUPTA: The FDA and the CDC for the most part. There is an advisory committee that's sort of -- and we're going to be talking to them specifically about the events over the last month. But it is them who issued the advisory. And it's not been a recall, which, you know, you're also talking about. You can still buy this stuff. And we'll be talking about why the stuff just isn't taken off the shelves. The advisory says, throw it out. Don't bother trying to wash it. Don't bother trying to cook it. Just throw it out.

COLLINS: Wow. Yes, that's definitely the safest bet. Just when you're trying to cut corners and somebody else washes it for you and it's so convenient to throw it in the salad bowl. Don't do it.

GUPTA: Not for now. Hopefully -- when it's safe again, we'll let you know.

COLLINS: All right. Terrific. We'll keep up on that one.

Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

GUPTA: Thank you.

HARRIS: And still ahead, can pink slips get a troubled automaker out of the red? Deep cuts in Motown. That's coming up in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And we will have live coverage of the president's Rose Garden news conference coming your way today at 11:15. Expected to cover a lot of territory there. We, of course, will have it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We have live coverage of the president's Rose Garden news conference coming up here at 11:15 today. We are about an hour away or so. We're going to try to give a really good breakdown of what we believe he's going to be talking about, which is this whole Article 3 of the Geneva Convention and the way that suspected terrorists will be treated in the interrogation process. Probably going to be a lot of other stuff that comes up, too, but I think he's going to start there.

HARRIS: Elaine Quijano at the White House. I had to point it out, so many players, right? Dana Bash, Capitol Hill. Barbara Starr, you heard a moment ago. We'll talk to her again at 11:00. And maybe we'll throw Bill Schneider in the mix. Candy Crowley as well. Live coverage, 11:15 a.m. Eastern time.

Now to our other big story of the morning. Drastic cuts at the Ford Motor Company. The automaker announcing this morning it's slash thousands of jobs and closing more plants. The cut, part of Ford's ongoing plan to get back in the black. Executives say it's painful but critical for the company's survival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK FIELDS, FORD EXEC. V.P. & PRES., THE AMERICAS: The future cannot be delivered without changing our business model and addressing our uncompetitive cost position. The reality is that our business today is structured around a model that worked well for us a decade ago, but is no longer viable today. Going forward, we must take a conservative and realistic view of our revenue and cost position. We must base our business on the customer, and that includes aligning our structure, our production, and our capacity with customer demand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Joining us now from New York, Andy Serwer from CNN's "American Morning" and "Fortune" magazine.

Andy, good to see you, sir.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Andy, you heard Mark Fields there. The model. The model is wrong. The model is wrong going forward. What's wrong with the model?

SERWER: Well, basically, you know, Ford has had a real tough time keeping pace with Toyota and Honda, which have been the two most successful automakers in the world over the past several decades. Of course, they've been able to come into North America and basically take over the sedan market, the sedan business. Ford was very successful with the Taurus for a while, but that -- the success evaporated.

Ford, of course, still has the F-150 pickup truck, which is the most successful vehicle in North America, best selling vehicle in North America. The Explorer's getting old. And this latest round of gas price hikes, where that really hurt Ford badly.

Too many plants, too many employees, too much capacity, as they say, in this business. They have a plan to cut things back. It was supposed to roll out over several years. Now they've accelerated that program, Tony.

HARRIS: So 14,000 salaried workers. We're talking about managers here, aren't we?

SERWER: That's right.

HARRIS: And that's on top of previous announcements of additional cuts and plant closings. So I guess I'm wondering, what has -- and maybe you just touched upon it. What has gone so wrong for this company and can these cuts fix the bottom line?

SERWER: Well, I think they -- first of all, what's gone wrong with this company. I mean, you know, you could say there was a lack of foresight by the company. And, you know, Bill Ford recently turned over the reins. He, of course, is from the Ford family. Recently turned over the reins of the company to an outsider, Mullaly, who's the new CEO. Were they slow to adjust, slow to adapt, yes. But American car companies have been through this before, in the 1970s, and they were able to come through it by introducing smaller cars. You remember during the first time that gasoline prices soared. So it is possible.

The bottom line, though, it's not very complicated, Tony. This company needs to make cars and trucks -- and particularly cars, I would think, that Americans want to buy. And, you know, that seems easy, but apparently isn't.

On the other hand, again, you take a look at Toyota. They don't seem to have a tough time. They're making quality cars that are affordable that get good gas mileage. That's what Americans want. And that's what Ford has to do.

HARRIS: Boy, Andy, if you're an employee of Ford today and you're looking at these plans, these buyout plans, I guess there are a number of options here that you can choose from. Is the buyout -- is it good for the employee? Is it good for the company? Sort of -- I don't know, parse that out for us.

SERWER: Well, I think the buyouts are really good thing for employees. I mean, because what the company is saying is that they're not going to fire or lay off any hourly employees. Those 14,000 layoffs, those are coming for white collar workers. Of course, management, as you said.

The 75,000 employees, those are the hourly guys and women on the line. But they're not going to be dismissed involuntarily. So you can take this.

Now if you're in a situation where you're able to get like say $75,000 out of this company and you can get a job in another state, you know, it's probably time to go because, you know, this is a very uncertain place to be working right now. So it gives you flexibility as an employee.

From the company's perspective, you know, it's a way to cut costs and it's a way to do it that probably does it with the least amount of hardship for all those employees.

HARRIS: And, Andy, there's news in this announcement for stockholders as well, isn't there, about the company is going to stop paying a dividend?

SERWER: Yes, and that's always huge news on Wall Street, Tony, which is why Ford stock is down 7 percent in early trading. They're getting rid of the dividend. That is always a drastic move when a company has to do that. They're going to save about $300 million plus a year doing that, which is some serious money.

And for those investors who are counting on that dividend, it is gone. You know, probably get -- put back into place if the company returns to health. But, you know, people were concerned that was going to happen on Wall Street, but you can see by virtue that the stock dropped 7 percent, it did come as a surprise.

HARRIS: Yes.

Hey, Andy, thank you. Thank you for sticking around this morning. I appreciate it.

SERWER: You're welcome, Tony. Great talking to you.

HARRIS: Andy Serwer for us. All right, Andy, have a good weekend.

COLLINS: Foes and friends of the U.S. meeting in Cuba today. The looming question, will Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, appear before the delegates? Well, among those in attendance, leaders from Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. Fidel Castro did greet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez yesterday. The two are close friends and political allies. The Cuban leader was in his pajamas but stood briefly. His heal has been a concern since he had emergency intestinal surgery back in July.

Terror strikes foiled in Yemen. Authorities say a suicide bombers has tried to blow up two oil facilities with cars loaded with explosives, but guards apparently managed to detonate the vehicles before they could get there. No indication at this point how the guards learned of the planned attack, but the two attackers themselves were killed. No other casualties or damage is reported. Yemen, as you may remember, was the scene of the U.S.S. Cole bombing in 2000. The attack killed 17 American Sailors. It's also worth noting, Yemen is Osama bin Laden's ancestral homeland.

A military map blamed for a deadly mistake. Four U.N. soldiers killed in an Israeli air strike. It happened in Lebanon in late July. Now Israel says the pilot had an inaccurate, outdated map. Israel reports point to Hezbollah activity near that U.N. outpost. It says the pilot thought he was targeting a militant position. The U.N. has said it warned Israel a dozen times to stop bombing near the post in the hours leading up to the failed strike.

HARRIS: When we come back, Gerri Willis will be with us with her "Top Tips" of the day for Friday.

And, Gerri, I guess we're talking about the Ford buyout plan and all of the options on the table for employees.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're talking about whether to stay or whether to go. We'll tell you what you need to know about buyouts. It's not just the Ford employees affected, coming up next on "Top Tips."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Just another reminder. The president will hold a news conference this morning, 11:15 a.m. Eastern Time, from the Rose Garden. Of course, we will bring that to you live as it happens right here on CNN in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Want to look at some numbers now. There they are. Looking at the big board. You can see there, well, the Dow's up 73.80. We're resting with the Nasdaq at -- wait for it -- almost 16. Amazing how that happens, right?

HARRIS: Yes.

COLLINS: They tell us in our ears. The real (ph) deal on that.

HARRIS: There you go.

COLLINS: So we'll continue to watch the market and see what might be causing a little bit of a bump there. Been a good week, we do know that.

HARRIS: And, once again, just another reminder of one of our top story this morning. Drastic cuts at Ford Motor Company. The automaker announced this morning it's slashing thousands of jobs and closing more plants. And the cuts part of Ford's ongoing plan to get back in the black. Executives say it's painful but critical for the company's survival.

COLLINS: For a closer look at what's at stake for those Ford workers, or anyone offered a buyout plan, because we have seen a lot of this going on with many other companies in the same industry.

HARRIS: Yes, absolutely. Let's bring in our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis. Gerri joins us from New York.

WILLIS: Hi, guys. Good to see you.

HARRIS: Gerri, good to see you.

I guess the first question is, all right, you get the news. You're an employee, salaried, otherwise, at Ford Motor Company and you're wondering, OK, let me go to the website. Let me figure out what my options are here. Talk us through what the first step should be here.

COLLINS: Take the money now.

WILLIS: You know, listen, it's a scary, scary thing. If you're offered a buyout plan, you don't have to take it. But that doesn't mean your employer has to keep you. Companies that don't have enough employees generally take the buyout generally resort to layoffs. So if you think your company will continue to squeeze costs and cut jobs, you may want to accept that buyout. This may be better than waiting for the other shoe to fall.

COLLINS: Yes, but, you have to think about the benefits, though, too, I mean when you're talking about health benefits and -- one of the most . . .

HARRIS: Retirement.

COLLINS: Expensive things out there. We just talked about it the other day.

WILLIS: OK. In the case of Ford, a worker can get up to $140,000, right, to leave the company, but they'll have to give up retiree health care benefits. That means they won't be covered. You will really need to weigh these options if you're in poor health and you can't sign on to your spouse's health care plan.

Now while you can sign up for Cobra health insurance, which is offered by the government essentially, it's really expensive to do. So this is a critical factor for people out there. How's your health? What's your outlook?

HARRIS: And I think -- well, of course, I know the answer to this, but I have to ask the question because folks need to know that this buyout will be taxed.

WILLIS: That's right. You know, it's taxed as ordinary income. And in most buyout cases, you have to take a lump sum. So it's not just that part of it is going to be taxed this year. All of it will be taxed this year if you get paid this year. So you may run the risk of being pushed into a higher tax bracket, the whole world changes. Sometimes you'll get a few years to take your payments. That's not the case here. This is going to be a very big impact for people. You know, you're going to have to take, you know, whatever tax bracket you are in, 33 percent off the top.

COLLINS: There might be a good side to this, though, right? I mean you could kind of mold this whole awful thing that's happened to you into a completely new career direction.

WILLIS: Well, that's what Andy Serwer was mentioning just a few moments ago was that you could go get a job in another state. This takes a lot of planning. And a lot of people just simply get mesmerized by all the money and that's one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Look, this is an opportunity to start a whole new career. There will be a lot of older workers leaving the payroll soon. That means there will be a lot more opportunities to do some consulting work. It's time to really look around and start thinking about what else can I do and making a plan for the future. And for some people, it may not be a future in that part of the country. Job opportunities are more plentiful elsewhere.

HARRIS: OK. Gerri, we got a second here. What do you want to tell us about "OPEN HOUSE" this weekend?

WILLIS: Oh, hey, I could talk about that all day. All right. Set your watch. "OPEN HOUSE," 9:30 a.m. Eastern, Saturday morning, right here on CNN. And for you guys, I know sometimes you don't get up early on a Saturday morning because you're working really hard during the week. We're on at 5:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday on Headline News.

We've got a lot of tough topics to talk about this week. One of them very interesting, selling your house in this market. If you have to sell now, what is the best way to do it? We've got some great tips on that. And if your garage is one of those secret places you hope no one ever sees it because it's a really big mess -- do I sound like I'm speaking from experience? We've got some ideas for cleaning it up.

HARRIS: Very good, Gerri.

COLLINS: All right, Gerri.

HARRIS: Appreciate it. Thanks for your time. Good!

WILLIS: Thank you. COLLINS: The war on terror leads to a showdown in Washington, and it is getting sticky. On one side of the White House, President Bush wants greater leeway to question and prosecute terror suspects. But on the other side, lawmakers on Capitol Hill, even some Republicans, oppose the White House plan. President Bush is certain to face questions about the dispute coming up in his news conference next hour. You will see it live right here in the NEWSROOM, 11:15.

HARRIS: And Heidi, it feels like one of those days that news is going to be made in this news conference. You just sense that. So, once again, 11:15 a.m. Eastern time right here on CNN.

COLLINS: And the nation's war on terror, Washington's new battle line. The president is facing a rebellion from some of his party's top lieutenants. As we said, at issue, the rules for terror prosecutions.

And CNN's congressional correspondent Dana Bash takes a look at that for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The president's rare Capitol Hill visit was part of an all-out offensive to quiet a Republican rebellion over how to treat terror detainees.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I reminded them that the most important job of the government is to protect the homeland.

BASH: But hours later, Senate Republicans defied the president. The Armed Services Committee passed a measure supporters say better protects the rights of those in U.S. custody.

SEN. JOHN WARNER, (R) ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN: We have tried, those of us that have put this draft together, to provide language which in no way reflects a basis for anyone to say that the United States is still not observing the Geneva Convention.

BASH: The biggest issue of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which sets international standards for treating prisoners of war. The White House says it's too vague and must be clearly defined to allow tough interrogators of terror suspects while protecting interrogators from charges of war crimes.

But three top Republicans -- Armed Services Chairman John Warner, Senator Lindsey Graham and former prisoner of war John McCain -- insist the White House plan would undermine U.S. credibility around the world.

JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Suppose that we amend the Geneva Conventions to our interpretation of it. Then another country that is not quite as democratic as ours decides they will amend their version.

BASH: And McCain warns, that could mean trouble for an American captured by the enemy. All day long, a stunning public display of Republican division over national security.

Adding to the drama, the president's own former secretary of state, Colin Powell, threw his support behind a Senate measure, warning in this letter, the president's plan for trying terror suspects would "put our own troops at risk. The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight of terrorism," Powell wrote.

Current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice fired back with her own letter, insisting the president's proposal "would add meaningful definition and clarification to vague terms in the treaties."

Back at the White House, Mr. Bush dug in, saying a program to get information from so-called high-valued terrorists could be shut down.

BUSH: And I will resist any bill that does not enable this program to go forward legal clarity.

BASH (on camera): An internal party fight on national security is the last thing any Republican wants two months before an election where that is their main issue. But in this case, both sides say it's a matter of principle and both sides say they're right.

Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Once again, live coverage of the president's Rose Garden news conference. That's at's at 11:15 a.m. Eastern time. Of course, we will bring it to you live right here in the NEWSROOM.

And still ahead, E. coli. What you know about what you eat. The danger is in the details. That's story, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: This is what we're gearing up for, folks, 11:15 a.m. today, President Bush news conference coming to us from the Rose Garden today. There's a shot at the White House as well. A lot of flurry of activity going on inside, I believe, at this point. He's going to be talking about many different topics, but at the forefront, this will be about Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and how terrorists, suspected terrorists, will be interrogated, how to best get the information that our troops and our intelligence feed.

HARRIS: Bag the spinach. You've been following this, haven't you? That's the warning from health experts this morning. Bagged spinach is suspected in an E. coli outbreak. It has killed at least one person and made dozens of others sick. The Food and Drug Administration has issued a nationwide warning not to eat fresh packaged spinach. E. coli cases have been reported in eight states. The one death was in Wisconsin.

Brendan Conway of affiliate WISN reports from Milwaukee. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENDAN CONWAY, WISN-TV REPORTER (voice-over): A deadly nationwide outbreak of E. coli illness sparks federal health officials into action. During a conference call with reporters, the FDA announced they have 50 confirmed cases, including 20 right here in Wisconsin.

DR. DAVID ACHESON, FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION: I would describe this outbreak as significant.

CONWAY: According to the FDA, since August 23 eight people have been hospitalized with E. coli illness, while one person from Wisconsin is dead. People are getting sick from store-bought prepackaged spinach. So far the FDA has not linked the illness to any brand or grower. So to be safe, they are urging people to throw away any spinach they have left at home.

ACHESON: We are not advising people to cook a product that may have E. coli 157 in it. What we're advising people is don't eat it.

CONWAY: The FDA says they were alerted Wednesday to the problem by Wisconsin health officials who are seeing twice as many cases as any other state. And it could be the tip of the iceberg. During a late-night press conference, Bevin Baker, the city's Health Commissioner, announced that out of 20 cases in the state, 12 people have been hospitalized, including 4 with serious liver failure.

BEVIN BAKER, HEALTH COMMISSIONER: That's a very serious illness, and it could lead to possible deaths.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Once again want to make sure that you remember 11:15, we are awaiting the president and his news conference coming to us from the Rose Garden. We will have it for you. We will quite a bit of setup to let you know why it's important, what it means to you and what it means to specifically the war on terror at this point, if anything else should come up during the question and answer session that is sure to follow. We will have it all for you right here on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Once again, 1:15 today, about 30 minutes from now, to the Rose Garden where we will find President Bush in a news conference there, really a lot going on today. Mainly at that conference we expect to hear more details about a new bill that the Senate Armed Services Committee signed yesterday. This is in dissent with the president from his own party. We're going to get to the bottom of it and what it really means. Again, about 30 minutes from now.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

COLLINS: And another reminder, live shot, too, of the White House, looking 30 minutes ahead to a Rose Garden news conference. We're going to be talking about an array of things, as usual. They have a reason for calling these news conferences. Today that reason is the Geneva Convention, the treatment of terror suspect, and also the treatment as a result of that as to what happens to U.S. troops if, in fact, they are captured in other countries. So we will talk about that, and then see what other topics come up. I bet there will be several.

HARRIS: And in the meantime, more than 40 years and counting, legends and new artists take the stage in Monterey, California. The Monterey Jazz Festival, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Let's talk about all that jazz this morning.

COLLINS: You have the dance down?

HARRIS: Well, it's a saunter, it's jazz, it's easy. It's improvised. It just comes to you.

Some of the best in the biz will let the jazz flow, easy, breezy, always cool this weekend at a big party on the pacific.

COLLINS: Entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson has the line-up for the 49th Monterey Jazz Festival. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Holiday, musical greats among those who took the stage for the inaugural Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958.

Since its inception, the annual three-day extravaganza has nurtured talent and attracted fans far and wide here to 20 acres of the fair grounds in picturesque Monterey, California.

TIM JACKSON, GENERAL MANAGER, MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL: Well, this is our 49th edition. We've got a nice mix of some of the veteran jazz stars with some new younger artists.

ANDERSON: This year's lineup is indeed a combination of familiar faces like legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who has played countless times at the festival and Monterey new comer, trumpeter Chris Botti.

(MUSIC)

CHRIS BOTTI, TRUMPETER: Those kind of gigs are the ones that you put your little stake in the ground for the year.

ANDERSON: Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Diane Reeves and piano luminary Oscar Peterson will grace the stage, but Monterey is focused on more than just jazz.

JACKSON: Historically, there's a great precedent for a real cross-over tradition at Monterey. ANDERSON: Cross-over artist Bonnie Rait, known for her unique blend of blues, pop and folk is making her debut here, while Rait's longtime friend Keb' Mo' is returning.

(MUSIC)

ANDERSON: Keb's also got the blues

KEB' MO', MUSICIAN: Well, I'm not as far away from jazz as you can get, you know.

ANDERSON: The festival's mission is to educate and encourage music and jazz appreciation, a goal that is of paramount importance to festival board member and jazz buff, Clint Eastwood

CLINT EASTWOOD, FESTIVAL BOARD MEMBER: We like to kind of promote enthusiasm for jazz. Jazz is maybe our big hope for fine music.

ANDERSON: Fine music the Monterey Jazz Festival hopes to support for years to come.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, Monterey, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Have you snap out of there for just a moment. That was good. But snap out of it for just a moment. We want to remind you that the president will be holding a Rose Garden news conference, 11:15 a.m. this morning. Stay with us. We will bring it to you, of course, live, right here on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: And about -- what are we down to now? Fifteen minutes away, President Bush will be coming to us from the Rose Garden. He's going to be talking about an array of issues, no doubt about that, but mainly terrorism and the interrogation of suspected terrorists. And some new proposals that he has, although his own party is kind of fighting that, at least some members.

We'll get to it as soon as it comes.

HARRIS: We want to take you now to Baghdad's biggest combat hospital. It's always an around the clock fight to save lives and limbs. CNN's Cal Perry has this exclusive look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A mass casualty situation, many wounded on the way. We had gone to the busiest combat hospital in Iraq with a plan to cover the U.S. military's grim milestone.

We'd been at the hospital only about an hour. Bloodied and screaming U.S. soldiers stream into the combat hospital, 25 in total, many fighting for their lives. It had been a truck bomb attack on a Fourth Infantry Division fixed position in Baghdad. The U.S. soldiers had apparently been caught off guard.

Some of the wounded arrive wearing sneakers, rather than their usual combat gear. Even as the casualties were still coming, Major General James Thurman slips in. He's the commander of the Fourth Infantry Division, here to comfort and console his men.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES THURMAN, FOURTH INFANTRY DIVISION: Is he going to be OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to be fine, sir.

PERRY: In this war, it's a question -- is he or she going to be OK? -- that has been asked nearly 23,000 times. The answers have not always been what families wanted to hear. Close to 2,700 U.S. soldiers killed, 20,000 wounded, with more than 9,000 unable to return to duty. Many of those unable to return to their units head home with devastating injuries.

(on camera): Without the quick medical response already in place by the U.S. military, the death toll would be far higher. This landing zone at the 10th cache in Baghdad, on any given day, is literally buzzing with activity.

(voice-over): All over Iraq, from Baghdad to Ramadi, Fallujah to the Triangle of Death, these three years prove the U.S. is in the grips of a bloody fight. Of the 25 casualties brought in from the attack on the Fourth Infantry Division, one later succumbed to his wounds. Another soldier died at the scene of the attack.

Through the day, a tense struggle to keep the death toll from growing higher. Many soldiers sent to surgery to get them stable enough to fly out to hospitals in Germany and then to the U.S.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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