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Death Toll Rising in Iraq; North Korean Threat Remains Top Focus

Aired October 23, 2006 - 09:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Good morning, everyone.

I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.

For the next three hours, watch events unfold live this Monday, the 23rd of October.

Here's what's on the run-down.

The bloodshed grows worse in Iraq. It is the deadliest month on record for U.S. troops and there are still nine days to go. We are live to Baghdad.

HARRIS: Packing a punch -- Hurricane Paul gaining strength and taking aim at Baja.

COLLINS: And not so fast -- the father of the little boy adopted by Madonna is apparently having second thoughts. We'll explain.

You are in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Well, here we go, from bad to worse in Iraq. Ten U.S. troops killed there this weekend alone, bringing the military's October death toll to 85. That is the highest of any month this year. For Iraqi civilians, it's even deadlier.

Live now to CNN's Arwa Damon in Baghdad -- Arwa, good morning.

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

And most of those deaths were centered around the capital of Baghdad in the very dangerous areas that are just outside of it. All of them due to, according to the U.S. military, roadside bombs and small arms fire. The roadside bombs that the insurgents are planting out there are only becoming more sophisticated. And we all, of course, are very well aware of the increased threat of sniper activity.

Part of the reason, too, for this high death toll is that we are in the holy month of Ramadan, that over the last three years has always seen an increase in violence, especially violence targeting U.S. troops. But, indeed, a very deadly month here of October for American forces in this country.

Also, their mission now -- and many of them, when you speak to them, they will say to you that this mission, beating an insurgency, cannot be done unless you have the people on your side. And they are all very well aware that if they move around in their Humvees and in their armored vehicles, they are not going to be able to reach out to the Iraqi people. And so they are spending a lot of time on the ground and very exposed.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police are also coming under attack. Currently, Iraqi security forces are searching for dozens of missing Iraqi police recruits. They are believable to have been kidnapped following a complex ambush that happened while they were traveling from Baquba to Baghdad. They were traveling in about two to three vehicles. A roadside bomb exploded, hitting one of the buses. This was followed by armed gunmen storming the area, opening fire, killing 11 police recruits, at least that many, wounding at least another 24.

When Iraqi police responded to the scene, they found that the bodies of the dead appeared to have been rigged by roadside bombs. Iraqi security officials saying that they had to defuse at least 15 bombs but they were able to recover the dead. The wounded, many of them, were evacuated to a hospital in Sadr City.

But, again, all of this underscoring just how dangerous Iraq can be, especially now that we are at the end of Ramadan -- Tony.

HARRIS: Arwa, a couple of questions.

Any thought that the violence might subside once we've put the holy month of Ramadan behind us?

DAMON: Well, Tony, of course that would be everyone's hope. But the violence here in Iraq is really so unpredictable that there is no way to determine that. We might see decrease in the violence, we might not. We might see a decrease in the violence if the United States and the Iraqi government decide to change their tactics.

But, really, Tony, the violence here is incredibly unpredictable.

HARRIS: CNN's Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad.

Arwa, thank you.

COLLINS: Will the upsurge in violence force the Bush administration to change strategy in Iraq?

The president met this weekend with his top brass.

Let's go live now to the White House and CNN's Kathleen Koch -- so, Kathleen, what is the administration saying now this morning about any supposed timetables?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously, when it comes to timetables, that's something that the Bush administration has stayed very far away from and the assumption is they did the same in this rare Saturday meeting that occurred. For 90 minutes, the president huddled here at the White House with the top members of his security and defense team. A spokesperson saying that the meeting focused on the challenges, the nature of the enemy the U.S. is facing in Iraq and how to better pursue U.S. strategy there.

But we're told no new initiatives were reached or no new strategy.

The meeting comes as the "New York Times" Sunday morning reported that the Bush administration was drafting a timetable for the Iraqi government to address the sectarian violence in Iraq and to take a larger role in securing the country. Otherwise, the U.S. might try "changes in military strategy."

Now, this morning on CNN, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett said that that article in the "New York Times" was inaccurate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: It is appropriate to have benchmarks and milestones. I think the story was a little bit overwritten by claiming that this was a new strategy. This is something that we've been working for months with the Iraqi government on, both on the security front, and, as I mentioned earlier, on the political front, because it's important that the Iraqi government have very understandable goals for them to reach over the period of the coming months.

And we've been negotiating with them to discuss what exactly those goals and milestones would look like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Bartlett explained that these ongoing benchmarks will "very much influence the thinking when it comes to U.S. military strategy in Iraq." But he insisted that that strategy would be devised by U.S. commanders in Iraq and based on conditions on the ground.

And, Heidi, Bartlett also said when it comes to the upsurge in U.S. fatalities in Iraq this month, he said: "It's almost a fact of nature that if you engage the enemy more, you're going to take more casualties.

COLLINS: All right, CNN's Kathleen Koch live from the White House this morning.

Kathleen, thanks.

KOCH: You bet.

HARRIS: Well, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is back in the U.S. from her Asian tour, but still focused on the North Korean nuclear issue. Rice meets next hour with Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agcy.

Meanwhile, Rice's deputy is looking to make sanctions stick.

CNN's Eunice Yoon has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

EUNICE YOON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Believe it or not, this obscure little bank in the shadows of Macau's glitzy casinos is where, it could be argued, the North Korean nuclear crisis began.

In 2005, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Banco-Delta Asia, accusing it of money laundering and freezing its North Korean accounts. The move angered Pyongyang, which responded by abandoning six party talks and eventually making good on its threat to conduct a nuclear test.

CHRISTOPHER HILL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: They have boycotted talks for a year now over a bank issue in Macau, over a total of some $24 million. So they boycott nuclear talks over $24 million and then they expected a nuclear weapon over that issue.

So I think the international community has reacted with a sense of outrage.

YOON: Through the United Nations, the international community has slapped sanctions on North Korea, which Washington wants to see enforced. This past week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice traveled through Asia, hoping to drum up support for the tougher sanctions.

Her deputy, Christopher Hill, made a side trip to Hong Kong to see how the U.S. Treasury sanctions on Banco-Delta were working.

HILL: I'm not going to suggest that financial sanctions will solve everything, but certainly it's important to look for ways to make it difficult for the North Koreans to fund some of these activities, and that's where I think the financial sanctions can play -- can play a role.

YOON: But critics say the U.S.' longstanding embargo on North Korea has had little effect on taming Pyongyang and, in fact, has even made matters worse.

KIM DAE-JUNG, FORMER SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): During the fourth round of the talks last year, there was a very good agreement made among the six parties. The next day, however, the issue of Banco-Delta Asia Bank in Macau came up.

YOON: But on the heels of Secretary Rice's visit, U.S. officials say they see a shift in attitudes within the region.

HILL: China has emerged as a very strong partner of the U.S. in this endeavor. I mean I don't think you can look to a previous example where U.S. and Chinese interests have coincided as much as they have over this -- this question of North Korean nuclear test. So, I think we're going to work with our partners and I think it's going to be, you know, for diplomats like myself, you know, this is what we do and we're going to be doing a lot of it.

YOON: Eunice Yoon, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COLLINS: Five years and more than a month after 9/11, more remains being found at ground zero in New York. The city's medical examiner says 18 human remains were found below ground yesterday at the World Trade Center site. Searchers are back there this morning.

The discovery of remains last week triggered this new search. A city official says several below ground level sites being searched now had not been entered since the attacks. The discoveries are drawing criticism and anger from victims' families. A victim's family group wants all rebuilding stopped until a detailed search is done.

HARRIS: A couple of things on the map today that Chad is following.

First of all, a bit of a cold snap, right, Heidi?

COLLINS: A cold snap. Love it.

HARRIS: And then Hurricane Paul -- good morning, Carol.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIS: And still to come, missing in Maryland...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The not knowing really hurts and, you know, it's put a lot of stress, a lot of strain on my family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A father's long, hard wait for his son. How a message 10-year-old triggered a wake up call for the FBI.

The story straight ahead in THE NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: He was a man without an identity, without a known past. But he now has a name and he's filling in the other blanks.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Henry and I'll be hosting a one hour special tonight on Congress.

Did you know that lawmakers oftentimes only work two days a week?

That's right, two days a week.

So what are they doing with their time? We'll have some answers, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: American voters in a sour mood as the mid-term elections approach. At least that's what the polls are showing. Those elections two weeks from tomorrow. At stake, control of Congress. All week long CNN is putting the spotlight on the corridors of power in Washington, what's broken and how to fix it.

In the spotlight today, the short Congressional work week.

Here's CNN's Congressional correspondent, Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TOM DASCHLE (D), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Senator Lott and I used to joke that if we really wanted everybody here for every important vote, the only time we could actually schedule it was Wednesday afternoon.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congress has become the Tuesday through Thursday Club, with lawmakers enjoying a work schedule most Americans can only dream of -- pulling in $165,000 for what's essentially become a part-time job.

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: You're looking good, girl. Keep those arms moving now.

HENRY: Former Majority Leader Trent Lott recalls senators routinely lining up in front of his office, begging for their four day weekends.

LOTT: Oh, yes. Oh, yes, they -- they just, oh please, let me get out of here on Thursday night. I'd rather stay until midnight on Thursday so I can catch the 7:30 flight out. Or please don't have votes after about 7:30 so I can catch that. And some of them would get pretty aggressive about it.

HENRY: A recent "New York Times" poll found most Americans can't name a single major piece of legislation that made its way through this Congress. Social Security reform? Didn't happen. Tougher immigration laws? Nope. Tighter ethics standards? Not a chance.

In the 1960s and '70s, Congress met an average of 161 days a year. In the '80s and '90s, that number dropped to 139 days. This year, Congress will probably end up working just about 100 days.

DAN ROSTENKOWSKI (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: It isn't a legislative process anymore. Work one day a week? Work a day-and-a- half a week? I mean it's crazy. It's just crazy.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIS: Ed Henry now joining us from New York -- Ed, good to see you, first of all.

HENRY: Good morning.

HARRIS: And a couple of questions.

You know, folks seem to want change, if you look at these polls.

But what, if fact, does change if the Democrats gain control of Congress?

HENRY: Well, that is the big question.

You know, if the Democrats take back the House, for example, Nancy Pelosi will become the speaker of the House. And she'll have a lot riding on that because she can no longer just throw bricks at President Bush. In the final two years, the Democrats would finally be on the griddle and they would have to prove that they could change this, that they're going to work harder, that they're going to actually produce legislative results and they're going to shake some things up.

Remember, the Republicans promised to do that in '94. That's one of the questions now as to whether they've really changed things for the better.

Democrats, though, would have to prove that they're going to change things. And I think given that sour mood out there, if the Democrats did nothing in the next two years and if -- it's a big if -- they take back the majority and do nothing in the next two years but beat up on President Bush, they're probably going to pay a price, as well.

HARRIS: Yes.

Ed, and to what extent is the public's unhappiness with the Congress driven by the scandals, from Jefferson to Ney to Duke Cunningham to Foley?

HENRY: Oh, I think it's a big part. And you're right to point out that it's both sides of the aisle. I mean Bill Jefferson, a Democrat. They found $90,000 in cash in his freezer, allegedly bribes. He insists no wrongdoing. He hasn't been charged with anything.

You mentioned Bob Ney. You go down the list.

The bottom line is how did we get to this point?

Well, when Democrats ran Congress for 40 years, they had all kinds of scandals. You saw Dan Rostenkowski at the end of my piece there. He ended up going to jail. Let's not forget, there were plenty of Democratic scandals, as well.

But the Republicans in '94 said they were going to clean the place up. And one conservative activist I said -- I talked to said basically here's the problem -- a lot of conservatives go to Washington feeling that it's a cesspool and they wind up thinking it's a hot tub. HARRIS: How much is a Congressperson making now?

I know we can't get minimum wage increased.

HENRY: Yes.

HARRIS: But what is a Congressperson making now, Ed?

HENRY: About $165,000, $200,000, I think, per year. A lot of people wondering about the light schedule. I know some lobbyists who like to joke, and tell this joke -- what do members of Congress whisper to each other on Wednesdays?

Have a good weekend.

And so when they have these short work weeks, people wonder about how much they're making. Certainly, $165,000 is a lot of money to a lot of people.

HARRIS: CNN's Congressional correspondent Ed Henry for us.

Ed, good to see you.

HENRY: Thank you.

HARRIS: Appreciate it.

Thank you.

And tonight on CNN, something that you won't want to miss.

As part of our Broken Government series this week, Ed Henry takes a closer look at the so-called do nothing Congress. It's coming up at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and it's something you'll only see on CNN.

COLLINS: Looking for security amid sectarian strife -- our John Roberts embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq. His report coming up in THE NEWSROOM.

And we're Minding Your Business. Andy Serwer here with a preview -- hey, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hey, Heidi.

Enron's Jeff Skilling finally faces the music today.

How many years will he get and will he own up at long last to his misdeeds?

Coming up on THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Mystery solved -- a man without an identity for more than a month is starting to get his life back.

CNN's Carol Lin has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For weeks, he was simply known as Al, a man without an identity and without a known past, a man without memory.

He turned up in Denver, where the earliest thing he recalls is waking up on a downtown sidewalk last month. What happened before that is a mystery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM KUSA)

JEFF INGRAM: I want my past. I want who I was or who I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Now, police say the amnesia victim has a name. A woman in Olympia, Washington says he is Jeff Ingram, her fiance.

PENNY HANSEN, JEFF INGRAM'S FIANCE: My reaction is just exciting. I am so happy to know he's alive and well.

LIN: Police say his family recognized him when he made his TV appeal for help in his search for an identity. According to police, his fiance says he left Olympia September 6th to visit relatives in Canada. And that was the last time she heard from him.

Police say she reported him message.

Denver police say the focus now is getting them reunited.

DET. VIRGINIA QUINONES, DENVER POLICE: The plan is, is as soon as we can, we plan on making the attempt to get him back to his girlfriend to maybe try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. And once he gets there, I'm sure that there will be some follow-up medical attention.

LIN: Police say his memory loss is no act. He's been diagnosed as suffering from a former of amnesia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM KUSA)

KENNY KLAUS, DENVER POLICE: His honesty about it -- and I believe this was a medical condition and it wasn't an attempt to hide from anybody or anything going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Before he was identified, the man previously known as Al said he felt totally lost, totally alone and very depressed. Police say he's now in a better state of mind.

QUINONES: And he really wanted me to express his total gratitude for everyone -- the media -- in getting his story out there, to help him find his life. As we all know now, it was successful.

LIN: Carol Lin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIS: Enron CEO Jeff Skilling getting ready to face the music and the judge.

Andy Serwer is here, Minding Your Business -- Andy, good morning.

This is sort of the end of the Enron era today, isn't it?

SERWER: Yes, it's the end of the last major chapter, Tony.

There will probably be some other civil litigation going on. We talked about Ken Lay's situation there. But this really is the last big hurdle. And, as you suggest, Jeff Skilling faces Judge Simlake today in Houston to be sentenced.

He will likely get at least 25 years, which is a very long time for someone who's 52 years old.

And it's also very likely that you will be hearing no apology or admission of guilt because Skilling plans to appeal. So it'll be interesting to see what goes on in the courtroom today, Tony.

HARRIS: Does he head straight to jail once he's sentenced today?

SERWER: It looks like he will do that, even though he plans to appeal. And the reason is, is because the judge will not look too kindly upon several intoxication incidents, you may recall...

HARRIS: That's right.

SERWER: ... that occurred over the past several months, particularly the second one. You know, he was caught drinking in public and being disorderly in Manhattan, and after that, authorities told him he could not drink any more, at least could not drink and get into trouble anymore. And he did that a couple of months later in Dallas. He got in trouble after having a couple of margaritas and ran into a police officer on the way home.

HARRIS: Yes.

Yes.

Now, I know that this is a public hearing today for the sentencing, but I'm curious as to whether or not the victims will be allowed to speak, those victim impact statements?

SERWER: Yes, in fact, they will, Tony, victims or people who allege that they are victims of Enron's collapse will be allowed to speak. And at least 10 individuals have apparently signed up.

You know, they were allowed to do this in the sentencing of Andy Fastow...

HARRIS: Yes.

SERWER: ... Enron's chief financial officer. That ended up being sort of a bust. Actually, several of those people spoke in defense of Fastow. So it's unclear how many people will be down there ranting and raving. And, you know, it is sort of a somber moment. It's a very serious moment. I mean, you know, 25 years plus is a long time to spend in the joint.

HARRIS: Yes.

So he will leave his $4 million plus mansion there in a high end Houston suburb and quite possibly end the day in prison?

SERWER: That's right. And, you know, apparently he has $50 million of assets. They have been frozen. But apparently he's also got $30 million of legal bills.

HARRIS: That's right.

SERWER: So a world of trouble for this individual.

HARRIS: Andy Serwer.

Good to see you, Andy.

SERWER: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: See you a little later in the hour.

COLLINS: The election countdown clock now winding down.

Ahead in THE NEWSROOM, more heated words in the battle for a Senate seat in Tennessee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAROLD FORD, JR. (D), TENNESSEE: And I think my opponent has gotten very nervous and skittish. And this isn't the first ad that's been in the gutter.

BOB COKER (R), SENATE CANDIDATE: I wish it all would stop. I am the only candidate in this race that has actually called for ads to be pulled down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

COLLINS: A grim milestone in Iraq. October is now the deadliest month for U.S. forces this year. Eighty-five troops have died there this month, 10 this weekend alone.

CNN's John Roberts is embedded with troops in Taji, which is just north of Baghdad with details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That surpasses the 76 who were killed in April of 2004. And it puts it on track to be the deadliest month of this engagement so far, on track to surpass the record that was set back in November of 2004 during that massive battle for Falluja.

We spent some time over the weekend with the 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division. It's been a particularly tough month for them. They've lost at least 15 men, most of those to those improvised explosive devices, the roadside bombs, which continue to be the major threat to U.S. forces here.

The U.S. forces are also facing a growing problem with the sectarian violence that threatens to envelop the entire country. It started in Baghdad, but now it's spreading. The area of operations that we're in, the Camp Taji services is about a 500 square mile area north of Baghdad. There are towns that are predominantly Sunni, towns that are predominantly Shiite, towns that are mixed.

Those towns now can't really say that they're at war with each other, but certainly the tensions are much greater than they were before. But there are some mixed villages now that are either empty because the militias have decided to make that their battleground, or Shiites are pushing Sunnis out, Sunnis are pushing Shiites out.

It's a particularly difficult challenge for the U.S. military to engage and to solve as well because this is not something that they were trained for. They were trained for frontal assault, to deal with an enemy, not to get in the middle of this sectarian violence. So what they do is they try to spend a lot of times in these towns and villages talking to the elders, talking to other people there, saying, what do you need?

And what we keep hearing from all of these people, the ones, at least, who are not trying to foment the violence, not the radical elements, but the normal towns folk is, they need more security. And the problem is, that in the Sunni towns, they don't trust the Iraqi police. They don't trust the ministry of the interior. And the Shiites, on the other hand, think that the Sunnis are always trying to them.

So this is a particularly difficult challenge for the U.S. military. One that it appears the current plan may not be able to solve. Major General William Caldwell, the chief spokesman for the multinational forces here, said last week that they are disappointed, dismayed with the amount of violence that continues in Baghdad despite this clear hold and build strategy that they've been engaging in for the last couple of months. That the strategy needs reviewing. Perhaps it needs changing altogether.

That big meeting at the White House over the weekend failed to come up with any definitive plan. The people on the ground here, Iraqis, are desperate for some sort of change and that's something that the U.S. military will urgently need to address in the weeks to come.

John Roberts, CNN, at Camp Taji with the U.S. forces.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: A political battle takes another nasty turn with the midterm elections just over two weeks away. A race in Tennessee could play a pivotal role in the fight for control of the Senate. Over the weekend, the Democratic candidate, Congressman Harold Ford Jr., crashed a news conference by the Republican candidate, Bob Corker. Both men showing up at the same place in Memphis. And last night they faced off, right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAROLD FORD JR. (D-TN), SENATE CANDIDATE: I know Mr. Corker is upset because he can't brag about the Republican Party in Washington solving the debt problem. He can't brag about a safer Iraq. He can't brag about how we have fixed the borders and the Republican majority has failed on all three. So he decides to attack me and my family.

BOB CORKER (R), SENATE CANDIDATE: I have never said a negative word about his family. He came in, in almost a juvenile fashion and crashed a press conference on Friday. It's been called the Memphis meltdown. And he just got through saying a load of non-proof.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Well, it's getting interesting. Right now polls show this Senate race in Tennessee is just too close to call.

HARRIS: In America's heartland, some politicians have a change of heart. Critics say they would rather switch than fight.

CNN's Susan Roesgen has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CINDY NEIGHBOR (D), KANSAS STATE HOUSE CAND.: I can hand, you know, hand them to people or put them right directly in their yard.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cindy Neighbor tells voters she will be their friendly neighbor in the Kansas legislature. She's also the neighbor who jumped over the political fence. In this heavily Republican state she has switched parties and is now running as a Democrat

NEIGHBOR: I looked at the Republican platform in Kansas, which calls for vouchers, charter schools. It's against embryonic stem cell, all the things that I couldn't support anymore.

ROESGEN: Like Cindy Neighbor, in the last year, more than half a dozen other Kansas Republicans currently running for statewide office have switched to the Democratic Party, claiming the Kansas Republican Party has become way too conservative. Former prosecutor Paul Morrison, who used to be a Republican, now wants to be the state's attorney general as a Democrat. And even the former head of the Kansas Republican Party, Mark Parkinson, is now the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.

BOB BEATTY, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: It's something that's going on nationwide to a degree. It's the traditional Republicans versus Republicans who are much more interested in social, cultural issues.

ROESGEN: But beyond a philosophical break with right wing Republicans, there's something else here compelling some candidates to change parties: a better chance of making it to the general election.

(on camera): Because Kansas is a closed primary state, only one person from each political party makes it to the general election. And some of these candidates who switched to the Democratic Party could have been facing fellow Republicans they couldn't beat in the primary.

RON FREEMAN, EXEC. DIR., KANSAS GOP: They looked at who they had to run against in the Republican primary and said I can't win, and they say -- instead of being honest, they say it's because well, the party left me.

NEIGHBOR: And so I'm ready to go out, stick another sign in the yard and say here I am.

ROESGEN: Cindy neighbors says whether she wins or loses the election, the Democrats have won a convert, and she won't be switching back.

Susan Roesgen, CNN, Kansas City, Kansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Coming up at the top of the hour, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will address the media. We expect some questions about the news that five years after the September 11 attacks, more human remains are just now being found. We will bring that to you live, right here in the NEWSROOM. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: It's a go for a bigger, better Panama Canal. Voters in Panama have overwhelmingly supported a $5.25 billion expansion that will allow some of today's bigger ships to pass through. This huge project will takes years to complete, of course. It could, though, create as many as 40,000 new jobs. Construction begins next year.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Still to come, misgivings or misunderstanding? An African man says he never intended to give up his son to be adopted by Madonna. The full story, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Feeling the spirit and living the truth. That's what it's all about at the Soul Factory. Have you heard about the Soul Factory? The message of this church may sound familiar, but it is coming at you with a different flow, a different vibe and a whole new attitude.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DERON CLOUD, CO-FOUNDER, THE SOUL FACTORY: You are now walking into the Soul Factory.

HARRIS (voice-over): It's not the traditional place of worship. The sanctuary is a theater setting, the pulpit a stage, where life's issues are dealt with by melding biblical principles and the arts. Deron Cloud, founder and pastor of the Soul Factory, calls it the "un- church."

D. CLOUD: I think the Soul Factory is the place where people can come and be themselves and not become controlled by a religious system that wants them to conform to the traditions that are really not working.

We die like, we groove like. One, two, three -- what?

HARRIS: Cloud and his wife Jill opened the first Soul Factory more than a decade ago in the Washington, D.C. area. The two began writing, producing and performing on stage using real-life situations as their script.

JILL CLOUD, CO-FOUNDER, THE SOUL FACTORY: So are you going to talk my vote, your part and my part?

D. CLOUD: You said your mind wasn't going to do it!

HARRIS: They were overwhelmed by the response and it was then they realized the need to establish a place where people could experience God while learning, as they put it, how to deal with being human from the inside out.

J. CLOUD: We realized that our productions definitely sort of brought in a social truth. And I think that people really want the truth, social truth. Meaning people wanted to hear things the way they lived it.

HARRIS: Then came the Soul Factory

D. CLOUD: So that you understand the Soul Factory Theater, Christ had let us make disciples. Well, we just took that same Scripture and we said we have the factory and we actually make souls. We actually remanufacture souls or we get used to remanufacture souls.

HARRIS: There's no such thing as a typical church service at the Soul Factory.

D. CLOUD: This past service, I put on a clown makeup to talk about how many preachers are turned into clowns in order to get the offering. And so I had on wigs and the whole nine yards, trying to show they'll do whatever they can to get that money because they got to pay them bills.

HARRIS: And it's not unusual for Deron to fire Batmobile for a drive. He owns one of the original Batmobiles from the '60s. He even compares himself to the caped crusader.

D. CLOUD: Batman was the first superhero that didn't have superhero powers, but he still fought for justice. And all I do is fight for injustice and fight for the freedom of people, meaning their mindsets, so that they can be free and live out their destiny.

HARRIS: The Soul Factory isn't bound by walls. Members get together and hit the streets.

D. CLOUD; We literally take our budget -- I would say about 40 percent of our budget, maybe 45 percent of our budget, goes to outreach, to help people.

HARRIS: They give out groceries, pay for gas, they've even stormed laundromats where they've doled out quarters for folks to wash their clothes

D. CLOUD: If anything, what I would hope would be that the Soul Factory would be a place that could reignite their passion to want to be spiritual, to reignite their passion to believe that you can come to church and wear your nose ring your earring or your tattoo. God is still going to love you. He's still going to be with you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Wanted just to share that. Bishop Eddie over at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church here in Atlanta turned me on to Deron, and said, you need to see this guy's show. Now, I still haven't seen the show, but I was able to pull some pieces together so that we could get it on the air for you.

COLLINS: Yes, I liked the Batmobile.

HARRIS: Did you like that?

COLLINS: Yes.

HARRIS: Yes, I don't know how many of those are out there, but he's got one. Proud of it. But...

COLLINS: Well, it's a great idea.

HARRIS: Thought we'd share that with you.

COLLINS: All right, excellent. Thank you, Tony.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: And coming up at the top of the hour, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will address the media. We expect some questions about the news that five years after the September 11 attacks more human remains are just now being find found. We will bring that to you live, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And a timetable for Iraq. Well, the White House says no. Others in Washington, though, aren't so sure. We'll talk about that, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

NICOLE LAPIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites has increased in Iraq and many Iraqi civilians and soldiers have been killed this month. CNN.com is keeping track of the very latest events for you. This interactive gallery shows what a day in Iraq is like. Car bombings continue to highlight the insurgency attacks.

This Iraqi citizen looking over the wreckage of a car that was bombed in Baghdad, while these young men are celebrating after a British military SUV burns after being struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. And this image shows U.S. troops in Kirkuk arriving after the scene of another car bombing.

Since the war started in 2003, more than 2,700 U.S. soldiers have been killed. This gallery is offering more information for you. Most casualties coming from Army and Marines, while most of them are white males under the age of 30.

Well, check out other statistics and the latest news in Iraq by pointing your browsers to CNN.com/Iraq. For the .com desk, I'm Nicole Lapin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: We want to take you directly now to Coral Springs, Florida. You are looking at a basketball court there. This is a pretty interesting site and frightening at the same time. Betty Nguyen is working on a school lockdown situation there.

Betty, what can you tell us?

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Heidi, not exactly how you want to start your school week there in Coral Springs, Florida. This is actually at Ramblewood Elementary School, and you see the robot has been called in. The bomb squad is on-site.

And if you look right at the bottom of that cylinder edge of the robot -- it's going down toward it -- well, there is a gray-looking tube that has tape all around it. A teacher discovered it this morning on what they're calling a basketball court. This is kind of a multipurpose court. This is near the hopscotch area. And they don't exactly know what it is, and because of that, the bomb squad has been called in.

There are 965 students who attend this school, and some of them in those modular classrooms, those classrooms outside the school building. And because of this, the school is under lockdown. Those students in those outside buildings have been moved into the main school building while they determine exactly what the suspicious package is.

The good news is that the bomb squad is on-site and as you can see, trying to check out that little cylinder tube there, that the teacher discovered this morning wrapped in tape. Again, we don't know what's in it, neither does the bomb squad. That's why they are there on-site trying to determine exactly what this device is, if indeed it is a device.

So we will stay awatch of this, Heidi, and as there are more developments, of course, we're going to bring it straight to you.

COLLINS: Boy, that is quite a contraption there sent in by the bomb squad, isn't it?

NGUYEN: Well, I guess it's safer to do that than to send in an actual person, especially if the thing blows up.

COLLINS: Absolutely.

NGUYEN: And hopefully, it won't. Hopefully this is just something that was thrown on the basketball court there. But right now, they are not taking any chances, Heidi.

COLLINS: We're going to try to stay with it a little bit to see what exactly happens. Obviously, the intent is going to be to explode or open or release whatever may be inside of this tube, I think. There you go.

NGUYEN: Oh, there it goes. I wonder if that exploded on its own or if the robot caused the explosion.

COLLINS: I'm not sure.

NGUYEN: Either way, we saw a little something just happen right there. It's a good thing that the bomb squad was on-site. Can you imagine had that happened if a child had picked it up? Again, we don't know if the robot did it or if it was that part of the device.

COLLINS: Yes, it actually looks to still be intact over there on the left-hand side of your screen. But, once again, as you said, 965 students at this school. They are still inside that building there. This is Ramblewood Elementary School in Coral Springs, Florida.

We want to show you again what that looked like when it exploded there or at least -- might have even just been a big puff of air, not quite exactly sure how that device works.

But very good that they can have a robotic device in order to do this kind of work so no one has to get too close to anything. They are walking over to it now, so -- all right. We will stay on top of this one, but it looks to have a happy ending, so far.

NGUYEN: Yes, obviously, if you see the member of the bomb squad walking up like that, obviously, the danger isn't too extreme for them to be getting near this device. But as you can see, right there, after -- I don't know if it was a puff of air or if the device actually exploded, but you can see it in the left-hand corner of your screen. And part of it is still, indeed, intact. So, again, they're looking at it. Right now, here are some live pictures of that. They are looking it over to determine exactly what that is.

The good news, though, as you mentioned, Heidi, all the students, the 965 students at the Ramblewood Elementary School there in Coral Springs, Florida are inside the main building and they're under lockdown, just as a precaution. And a teacher luckily spotted this on the basketball court this morning and the bomb squad, obviously, called in.

Doesn't seem like they are too concerned at this point, but again, you know, we're kind of guesstimating from the reaction to that little cylinder, gray item there, with tape all around it.

COLLINS: All right. Betty Nguyen, we certainly appreciate you staying on top of this one for us, once again out of Coral Springs, Florida. Thanks so much, Betty.

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