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American Morning
Soldier Kidnapped; Iraq & Politics; Surviving Lung Cancer; The DMZ From Above
Aired October 26, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It is Thursday, October 26. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Good morning to you.
To the news wall we go, some of the stories we're following for you this morning.
S. O'BRIEN: President Bush signs a bill authorizing the construction of that 700-mile-long fence at the U.S.-Mexico border. The fence is expected to cost more than a billion dollars.
Same-sex marriage suddenly becomes a high-profile election year issue after a key ruling from a New Jersey court.
M. O'BRIEN: Reports of at least 60 civilians killed in fighting in Afghanistan. If confirmed, it would be the highest civilian death toll caused by NATO forces since the invasion back in 2001.
And a blizzard warning this morning for Colorado, snow crews standing by to deal with up to a foot of snow predicted to build up today.
Chad Myers standing by as well with the latest.
Hello, -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you.
MYERS: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: This morning there are some new developments in that case of the U.S. soldier who is missing in Iraq. More than two days after he disappeared in Baghdad, three suspects are detained in Baghdad's Sadr City.
CNN's John Roberts is live for us in Baghdad.
John, good morning.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad. The search for that missing Army specialist continues. He went reported missing late on Monday afternoon here Baghdad time. Areas of Baghdad have been closed off, cordoned off. A grid search is under way. A lot of the search has been focusing on the area of Sadr City, that's the Shiite and Mehdi Militia stronghold in the northeastern part of Baghdad.
Early yesterday morning, there were military operations conducted there by U.S. and Iraqi forces working together in a joint fashion. They were looking for, first of all, a commander of the Mehdi Militia who is believed to be in charge of some of these death squads. That resulted in a fierce firefight in which 10 suspected Mehdi Militia members were killed.
The U.S. and Iraqi forces then moved on to a mosque where it was believed people who might be involved with what is suspected to be the kidnapping of this Army specialist were hiding out. Three of them were detained, taken in for questioning. We have been contacting the U.S. military this morning to find out the status of those individuals, to find out if they are still in custody, to try to ascertain what sort of information the U.S. military has managed to glean from them, but at this point everything being held very close to the vest.
So all we know is that three people were detained at this mosque in Sadr City, but it would be a pretty clear indication, Soledad, that the U.S. military and Iraqi forces believe that the Mehdi Militia may be behind this kidnapping as that is a stronghold of the Mehdi Militia. Not to say that they are involved, but that's the suspicion among U.S. forces at this point -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: So now that's a confirmation that in fact this soldier was kidnapped. Do we know any more details about the circumstances?
ROBERTS: You know still we -- they can't confirm that he was kidnapped. They're saying they believe that he was kidnapped, but the circumstances surrounding his disappearance still somewhat murky, still somewhat of a mystery. They know that he was tasked to provincial reconstruction team as an interpreter. He was operating out of the International Zone in the so-called Green Zone. He went off without permission on Monday to go visit family members here in Baghdad. He is an Iraqi-American.
So, first of all, he was away without leave, so that's an unusual circumstance. Secondly, they have been talking with family members who said that he was there visiting with them when three masked gunmen came in, handcuffed him and abducted him; but they haven't been able to really get a handle on what the circumstances were.
But at this point, they are treating it as a kidnapping. As I said, they have set up roadblocks in many areas of Baghdad trying to lock down certain neighborhoods tight as they go through a car-to-car, street-to-street and in some cases, house-to-house search for this missing soldier.
S. O'BRIEN: John Roberts is in Baghdad for us this morning.
John, thanks -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Also in Iraq, five American troops killed in the volatile Anbar Province. According to the U.S. military, one sailor and four marines killed during operations there on Wednesday. So far this month 96 U.S. military deaths, that makes October the deadliest month for U.S. troops in two years.
Twelve days now until the mid-term elections and President Bush is on a mission to help the GOP hold on to the majority in Congress. At a news conference yesterday, he said he's not satisfied with the progress in Iraq, but believes the U.S. is still winning the war.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well really it's an extraordinary move. What you are seeing here are two press conferences in two weeks, an extraordinary effort by this White House to frame the election debate to make sure Republicans maintain control of the Congress. And really the gamble here is Republicans will go to the polls as long as they continue to believe in Mr. Bush's war on terror, the Iraq war.
Now that is difficult, of course, because October being the deadliest month this year for U.S. troops, there's been an incredible amount of pressure from Republicans and Democrats, a calling on a change of course from this administration, President Bush trying to emphasize a certain sense of flexibility in those tactics.
President Bush will travel later today to Iowa and Michigan, again, to continue his message and his campaign.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: There are some new poll numbers out this morning on presidential power and civil liberty. Check out our Opinion Research Corporation poll done for CNN. Thirty-nine percent of people polled say the Bush administration has gone too far in restricting civil liberties to fight terrorism, 34 percent say no, it's about right, 25 percent say the administration hasn't gone far enough.
Asked if President Bush has more power than any other U.S. president, 65 percent say no, 33 percent say yes, he does. And among the third who say yes, 25 percent of those say it's bad for the country, 7 percent say it's good that the president has more power than any other U.S. president.
CNN is devoting a special hour to that question in our "BROKEN GOVERNMENT" series today. The best political team on TV is investigating just how the Bush administration is redefining presidential power. You can watch "POWER PLAY" tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
A court ruling in New Jersey could help motivate conservative voters to head to the polls come November 7. New Jersey's state supreme court decided yesterday that same-sex couples have the same rights as heterosexual couples.
CNN's Carol Costello has our story this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cindy and Maureen and their two kids have been waiting for this decision for a long time. Together for 32 years, the couple's wish was to be married in every legal sense.
CINDY MENEGHIN, PLAINTIFF: Will you marry me?
COSTELLO: Wednesday, New Jersey's state supreme court put them on equal footing with married couples, but gave the state legislature six months to decide what to legally call their relationship.
MENEGHIN: I just want to say to anybody out there who is already married that they want it to be called anything else, our culture, our society understands what the word marriage means. They understand what it means to be married. And that's what we have lived for 32 years and that's what we want our legal agreement to be.
COSTELLO: Their attorneys have always maintained that New Jersey's Constitution guarantees liberty and equality and should grant them the right to marry. The court agreed, but said "The issue is not about the transformation of the traditional definition of marriage, but about the unequal dispensation of benefits and privileges to one of two similarly situated classes of people."
The issue of whether gays can marry has roiled American politics for more than a decade. Voters in eight states will decide November 7 whether to amend their state constitutions to ban gays from marrying. Court challenges in four states seek the right to marry.
The issue became all the more heated when Massachusetts became the first and only state to grant marriage rights to gays and lesbians. Six other states followed by granting them most marriage rights but calling them civil unions or domestic partnerships. But the political tide has mostly run in the other direction, 45 states and the federal government have adopted laws banning gays from marrying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ruling said that the legislature is now going to be forced under a court order to either create so-called gay marriage or create a parallel benefit scheme which is the same result in all but name.
COSTELLO (on camera): We should mention the Alliance for Marriage supports a federal constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. It says it's the only way to end this debate.
Carol Costello, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Massachusetts is the only state that allows same-sex marriage. Vermont and Connecticut are two states that allow civil unions between same-sex partners -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: In America this morning, in California, another letter sent to voters, this time from the state trying to undo any damage created by that intimidating note designed to keep Hispanics from voting. The original note sent by campaign staffers working for congressional candidate Tan Nguyen. It falsely claimed it is against the law for nationalized citizens to vote. Fellow Republicans have asked Nguyen to withdraw but he refuses.
In Arizona is where you will find former Congressman Mark Foley. The man who sent those salacious e-mails to teenage congressional pages is at a Tuscan treatment center supposedly for alcoholism treatment. He arrived at the Sierra Tuscan Treatment Center October 1 when the page scandal first broke.
In California, Sacramento County, and a big surge in gang violence prompts a police sweep and dozens of arrests. More than 400 law enforcers from state, local and federal agencies hit the streets, netted 30 arrests and at least 16 weapons. Fifty murders so far in Sacramento County this year compared to 53 all last year.
And at the Pentagon, bean counters finding some big trouble with some big Iraq contractors, fve companies, including a Halliburton subsidiary, billing the taxpayers for over $62 million in administrative costs, more than twice the amount they spent on projects they were hired to do in Iraq two years ago.
S. O'BRIEN: First Lady Laura Bush is on the campaign trail and speaking out. In an interview with CNN's Ed Henry, she responds to journalist Bob Woodward's book called "State of Denial." And here's what she said about Woodward's claims that she wanted Donald Rumsfeld out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: No, absolutely not. That is absolutely not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: The first lady also talks about the war in Iraq with Ed. You can have more of Ed Henry's interview only on CNN coming up in the 7:00 hour right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
M. O'BRIEN: Some other stories we're following for you this morning, the New Jersey supreme court rules that same-sex couples are entitled to the rights and benefits of marriage. We'll have more on that. A new study that shows CAT scans can detect lung cancer at its earliest and most curable stages. And customer service and the IRS, sound like a contradiction in terms, well apparently it is. A government report finds the IRS doesn't do enough to solve taxpayers' problems. Weather, more news ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Some of the top stories we are following.
President Bush signing a new immigration bill today. It paves the way for construction of that 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexican border.
In Afghanistan, reports of 60 civilians dead as NATO troops fight Taliban rebels there.
A startling admission of guilt from the man accused of killing a social worker and fleeing with his girlfriend and her baby. Christopher Luttrell and Renee Terrell returned to Henderson, Kentucky, yesterday. Last week, they were captured after leading police on a 4-day, 200-mile chase. It started with a murder of a 67- year-old social worker who had brought the baby to visit his mother. The baby had been in state custody. Now right before the news crews, Luttrell admits to killing the woman and asks for forgiveness.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER LUTTRELL, MURDER SUSPECT: Families that's out turned out her (ph) -- and I want to apologize to everybody. And I want to apologize to my mom and dad, too. And all the dreams (ph) I had. I hope you all still love me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: The baby, 10-month-old Saige, had been taken away from Terrell not long after his birth due to abuse. The child is now back in state custody and reports are he is doing well -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: People in the news this morning.
Naomi Campbell, this is a familiar story, she is accused of assault once again. The supermodel is out on bail. She was arrested in London. A woman went to the cops saying that Ms. Campbell attacked her. Campbell's spokesperson says it is all a misunderstanding.
Lance Bass and his boyfriend say they have been getting threats. The former 'N Sync -- excuse me -- singer is dating a guy who has just written a memoir about the trials of being gay while serving in the military. His name is Reichen Lehmkuhl and he says he was forced to keep his sexuality a secret while he was in the Air Force. He and Bass say they are not going to hide from threats. They have been forwarding them to a private security firm.
M. O'BRIEN: Isaiah Washington says he's sorry for an outburst on the set of "Grey's Anatomy." The 43-year-old actor got into a scuffle with co-star Patrick Dempsey during a shooting of the show on October 9. "People" magazine says the two argued when another cast member, T.R. Knight, was late. Washington apparently used a homophobic slur to described Knight who is gay. Washington says he has personally apologized to the co-stars and issued a statement saying that the outburst was below his personal standards.
S. O'BRIEN: It was like a fist fight. They were like they were in a scuffle on the set.
M. O'BRIEN: I hope they were rolling the cameras. That could be good drama.
And Dick Clark is having a yard sale. The host of "American Bandstand" for 31 years selling a warehouse full of rock 'n' roll memorabilia. Among the items -- he must have some good stuff, don't you think?
S. O'BRIEN: Can you imagine?
M. O'BRIEN: Among the items to be auctioned off here in New York City in December, guitars from Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen. OK, that's good stuff.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: A beaded glove from, who else, Michael Jackson's moonwalking days back when he was the gloved one. And a bustier from Madonna's first tour, you know the -- well.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. I'm getting a little red-faced now. It's a family show.
Chad, it is quarter after the hour, and is it snowing in Colorado yet?
MYERS: It is.
M. O'BRIEN: It is.
MYERS: Snowing in Denver actually.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Soledad, back to you.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you.
MYERS: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Major developments to tell you about this morning in diagnosing lung cancer. A new study says that CT scans can detect lung cancer at very early and treatable stages.
CNN's Judy Fortin has more for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUDY FORTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A brisk walk is a gift for 66-year-old Thelma Brussel, a former two-pack-a-day smoker who was afraid her lung cancer diagnosis was a death sentence.
THELMA BRUSSEL, LUNG CANCER SURVIVOR: I am alive and there are so many people who are not.
FORTIN: Five years ago, Brussel's doctor insisted on a CT scan, knowing she had been smoking 50 years. Sure enough, it detected a malignant tumor which she promptly had removed.
BRUSSEL: I am considered surgically cured.
FORTIN: The recent deaths of Peter Jennings, a smoker, and Dana Reeve, who was not, remind us most aren't so lucky. Six of 10 people diagnosed with lung cancer die within a year, chiefly because they don't know they have it until it is too late.
DR. CLAUDIA HENSCHKE, RADIOLOGIST: Usually when you're -- when a cancer is diagnosed based on symptoms, it is the late-stage cancer.
FORTIN: Compelling new research gives hope for surviving lung cancer. A "New England Journal of Medicine" study finds using annual CT screening lung cancer can be detected at its earliest stage when it is most curable in 85 percent of patients. And when caught early and treated promptly, 92 percent of stage one lung cancer patients survive a decade or longer.
HENSCHKE: This essentially turns lung cancer from being a highly deadly disease, where essentially 95 percent of people who develop lung cancer ultimately die of it, to being a curable disease.
FORTIN: So will your doctor start prescribing an annual CT scan for you if you smoke? Not yet. The American Cancer Society says the study shows promise, but before ruling on its effectiveness and making recommendations, it will require results from ongoing trials. Questions remain about false-positives, findings on CT scans that appear to be lung cancer but aren't, exposing a patient to unnecessary and sometimes dangerous procedure and cost effectiveness. A CT scan costs hundreds of dollars and often is not covered by insurance.
DR. DAVID JOHNSON, VANDERBILT CANCER INSTITUTE: This is not a test that should be recommended routinely to patients with a smoking history. It remains an individual decision for an individual patient and his or her physician.
FORTIN: Brussel believes smokers should be screened.
BRUSSEL: I would not be alive today. It is that simple.
FORTIN: Judy Fortin, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: The American Cancer Society suggests that those who are at risk for lung cancer talk to their doctors about getting tested. And they say be sure to choose somebody with a lot of CT scan experience, obviously, to do the testing -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: Some stories we are watching for you right now, President Bush says he's confident about the Iraq war but not satisfied with the situation there. We will unravel that contradiction there. And New York's finest collar another suspect in a car theft that got some special attention. It seems the vehicle in question belonged to one Michael Bloomberg. Yes, that's him, his honor. The boys in blue know who is boss. And then there's this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What people don't realize is the information from a lab is just really meaningless to us. I mean, for one, half the people who do meth don't even know how to spell the word plutonium.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Can you spell plutonium? Well he was arrested on drug charges. Now he's trying to explain how nuclear secrets may have ended up in a New Mexico trailer park. More on that story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Top stories for you this morning.
More Americans dead in Iraq, four marines, one sailor killed in the Anbar Province. Ninety-six U.S. troops have died this month.
Is President Bush more powerful than previous presidents? Thirty-three percent of you in a new CNN poll say yes, he is -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Well guess who just failed an audit? The IRS. The IRS, as you may know, encourages taxpayers to call if they have a question, to schedule an appointment if you need to resolve a tough issue. But when government auditors did just that, 8 out of 50 calls went unanswered, 5 more calls weren't answered within 2 days. And of the 36 calls that actually required a face-to-face meeting, only 5 appointments were scheduled. I hate to bash the IRS, well why not?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm not surprised by the...
SERWER: I know, it is not surprising. If you've ever called up, you do get put on hold for a while.
S. O'BRIEN: Forever.
SERWER: At the very least.
S. O'BRIEN: Forever.
SERWER: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: Please don't audit me.
SERWER: Yes, right.
S. O'BRIEN: The Federal Reserve helped push the Dow to another record close.
Well good news for Andy this morning. Good morning.
SERWER: Good morning, Soledad.
As expected, the Federal Reserve left its benchmark Fed Funds Rate unchanged at 5.25 percent. This is the third time it has let rates stand pat. And actually it's good news because it reflects the Fed's thinking that the economy is not too hot or not too cold. Inflation is out there lingering a little bit, so the Fed won't cut rates. On the other hand, growth is slow, so it won't raise them either. And you can see we had all those rate hikes and now we plateaued there at the end of that chart.
As you said, Soledad, that helped the Dow hit another record, up nearly seven points yesterday. Other indexes up as well. The Dow was paced by Altria. The Nasdaq paced by Amazon.com, which was up 12 percent. We talked about that yesterday. And the futures are up briskly this morning.
One stock not sharing in the good news this morning, though, is Sony. And we saw this coming because we have been talking about this for the past couple of weeks. Profit down 94 percent in the latest quarter.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow!
SERWER: From $245 million to $14. They only made $14 million for a company this size.
S. O'BRIEN: Well they paid out all that money.
SERWER: That's right. The big charge there for the battery recall, 9.6 million batteries. The other thing is they are getting the PS3 ready. They have been doing that for months and years.
S. O'BRIEN: They better hurry up because they are entering the prime shopping phase, and if you miss that window,...
SERWER: It is true.
S. O'BRIEN: ... that's problematic.
SERWER: And it is supposed to come out November 17, I think, and that's getting close. And then the last thing is the movie business, not so great for Sony in the recent quarter. Remember "Zoom?" I really don't. That was one of their bad movies.
S. O'BRIEN: The movie or the TV show?
SERWER: Yes, the movie, the movie. That didn't do too well. Neither did "All the King's Men." "Talladega Nights" was a big hit, but they still lost $129 million in the movie business as well.
S. O'BRIEN: Tough business.
SERWER: It really is.
And that's the business news for you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: What do you have coming up?
SERWER: Coming up, we have got a really interesting lawsuit, blind people are suing Target, and it is a very interesting business story. We will get into that.
S. O'BRIEN: Really? Interesting.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thank you very much.
SERWER: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Here's a little countdown for you, more numbers.
SERWER: Let's go.
S. O'BRIEN: Santa's official countdown. Does it feel early to be doing this?
SERWER: Yes, a little bit.
S. O'BRIEN: There are 59 days until Christmas. Have you started shopping yet? Have you started shopping yet?
SERWER: No, of course not.
S. O'BRIEN: Of course you haven't.
SERWER: No, no, no.
S. O'BRIEN: Believe it or not there is a huge number of people who actually have. "Consumer Reports" has a new poll, came out overnight, 29 percent of Americans have already started shopping for Christmas.
SERWER: Really?
M. O'BRIEN: Really?
S. O'BRIEN: Fifty percent, I think, expect to be done -- to be done shopping, yes, in the next six weeks, another half.
SERWER: Wow, that's before December.
S. O'BRIEN: Now if you are somebody who has not even started to pick up the Halloween candy, that's the category I fall into,...
SERWER: Here.
S. O'BRIEN: ... a quarter of the people who were surveyed said that they expect to be shopping on Christmas Eve, as I am always doing.
SERWER: Yes, getting the dregs and the last gift...
S. O'BRIEN: Getting -- what can you...
SERWER: What?
S. O'BRIEN: What can you get from the 24-hour pharmacy on Christmas Eve? That is the question to ask...
SERWER: Chocolates.
M. O'BRIEN: Shower head. You can get a shower head. I have done that.
S. O'BRIEN: Jean Nate cologne is always a good...
SERWER: Yes, right, right, there you go.
M. O'BRIEN: Old Spice is good, except for...
SERWER: Been there, done that.
M. O'BRIEN: ... some reason the wife doesn't like Old Spice. I don't know why.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, thanks.
Some of the stories we are following right now, President Bush acknowledges he isn't satisfied with the situation in Iraq. The New Jersey supreme court says same-sex couples are entitled to the rights and benefits of marriage. And Madonna has some explaining to do. She defends her plans to adopt a little boy from Malawi with Oprah. Who else? More on that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you, Thursday, October 26. I'm Miles O'Brien.
S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.
Now let's get right to the news wall for a look at some of the stories we are following for you this morning.
Three suspects in custody held in the disappearance of an American soldier in Baghdad. No word on the soldier. He has been missing for more than two days.
Same-sex marriage is now a high-profile election year issue after a key ruling from a New Jersey court.
M. O'BRIEN: Reports of at least 60 civilians killed in fighting in Afghanistan. If it pans out, it could be the highest civilian death toll caused by NATO forces in a single act since the invasion in 2001.
And a blizzard warning for Colorado. Snow crews standing by to deal with up to a foot of snow predicted to build up to today.
I can just envision it now, skiers standing on top of a mountain waiting, just waiting for that snow to come -- Chad.
MYERS: They're not waiting anymore.
M. O'BRIEN: They're not?
MYERS: And those snow crews aren't waiting anymore either. They are rolling.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: Back to you guys.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.
Twelve days until the election, and the war in Iraq could sink the Republicans' chances of holding power in Congress. So President Bush is tackling the issue head-on, admitting there are problems but insisting America is winning the war.
CNN's Sumi Das with more from Washington -- Sumi.
SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles.
Well, we've heard Bush administration officials say that the U.S. military in Iraq is shifting tactics to met changing conditions on the ground. Now with midterm elections nearing, it appears President Bush is doing the same right here in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know many Americans are not satisfied with situation in Iraq. I'm not satisfied either.
DAS (voice over): With Election Day within sight, President Bush admits discontent but not defeat.
BUSH: And it's a hard struggle. No question about it. And it's a different struggle. Absolutely, we are winning.
DAS: The president spoke not of the timetable, but benchmarks for the Iraqi government with a goal of securing the country.
BUSH: We're pressing Iraq's leaders to take bold measures to save their country. We are making it clear that America's patience is not unlimited. Yet, we also understand the difficult challenges Iraq's leaders face.
DAS: Yet, the Iraqi prime minister has already resisted the idea of benchmarks.
NOURI AL-MALIKI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I affirm that this government represents the will of the Iraqi people and the national will, and no one has the right to impose timetables on it.
DAS: The president pointed to what he says is going right in Iraq.
BUSH: And our commanders on the ground are constantly adjusting our tactics to stay ahead of our enemies. We are refining our training strategy for the Iraqi security forces so we can help more of those forces take the lead in the fight.
DAS: But Democrats challenge the notion that the U.S. is making progress.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: And I have been there seven times, as recently as this summer. I don't know any generals who are saying that. No one said that to me on the ground. They said there's a need for a radical change.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAS: Some observers say the upcoming elections will be a referendum on the Iraq war. President Bush has predicted otherwise, saying the issues of economy and security will be on voters' minds -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Sumi Das in Washington.
Thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Federal security and computer experts are being -- are heading now to a nuclear weapons lab in New Mexico after what they think is a possible security breach. Police found what appeared to be classified information from the Los Alamos National Lab on a computer disk during a search of a home in Los Alamos. Police also found drug paraphernalia.
Twenty-year-old Justin Stone was arrested for an outstanding warrant on a probation violation, and he spoke to reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN STONE, SUSPECT: What people don't realize is the information from the lab is really meaningless to us. I mean, for one, half the people that do math don't even know how to spell the word plutonium.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE) at the nuclear lab lived in the mobile home that was searched. The FBI won't say what was found, and the federal search warrant has been sealed.
In America this morning, a New Jersey victory for supporters of same-sex marriage. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that gay couples must have the same rights as heterosexual couples. Lawmakers now have six months to comply with the ruling. It comes down to semantics. They either have to legalize same-sex marriage or create civil unions.
Right now the state of Massachusetts is the only state where same-sex marriage is legal.
In California, a high-speed police chase ended much slower than it started. You see the suspect racing up highways, trying to outrun the police, the LAPD. Minutes later, thought, the motorcycle broke down, broke down on the side of the road. The suspect gave up and then went off to jail.
And in New York, the USS Intrepid Air and Space Museum is shrink- wrapping some of the airplanes o the carrier's deck. It's part of a plan to move the carrier for a two-year project to repair it and refurbish it. They are hoping that the shrink wrap is going to preserve the appearance until the Intrepid reopens in the fall of 2008.
It looks kind of weird, doesn't it?
And in Florida, the world's fastest cell phone text-messager humbled by a hard drive. A voice recognition computer was able to scrawl out a 66-word message in just 16 seconds. It took Ben Cook (ph) three times that long to type it on his phone, and he's fast.
He's got a big bank account because he makes a thousand bucks a day going to events and showing how fast he can text message. And you thought you were getting nothing out of your children's ability to text-message their friends. Look at this guy.
M. O'BRIEN: He's got killer thumbs. Killer thumbs.
S. O'BRIEN: He's making a lot of dough.
California, at least five homes damaged by a grass fire in the foothills near San Jose. Firefighters had trouble with the blaze because of the high wind speeds and the low humidity levels. Air tankers were called in to drop flame-retardant chemicals on the fast- spreading fire. And some residents have been kept away from their homes for the better part of a day.
New Jersey, the second suspect under arrest for stealing a car. This wasn't any car. It was a Lexus, and it belonged to the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg.
The 35-year-old suspect was taken into custody yesterday. Police say that he and a 17-year-old girl assaulted one of the mayor's employees, then stole the car. Fortunately, the mayor's worker wasn't badly injured -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: One car you don't want to steal in New York City, just for the record.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that -- that is probably not the smartest person to target.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
Heavy snow is expected in Colorado today, with very strong winds and blizzard conditions. The state is getting ready to handle highway closings, power blackouts and the like.
CNN's Jonathan Freed has the latest now from Colorado Springs, where they're bracing for all of this.
Hello, Jonathan.
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles, from Colorado Springs, and the predawn darkness, where as you can see it's snowing kind of horizontally at this point. We are expecting as much as eight inches here, according to local forecasts.
Some of the local people we have spoken to are so far kind of shrugging and saying, you know, "It's this time of the year, it's Colorado. Normally we get snow before Halloween." They said they had a little bit of snow here already.
Nevertheless, though, a lot of people here taking precautions. The hotel that we are staying at, for example, had all of its staff stay here last night in the event they wouldn't be able to get here today and in case people were stuck. And basically seeking sanctuary at all the area hotels here. And even before we got on the ground yesterday afternoon, the airlines were already looking at canceling flights and that kind of thing.
We are at about 7,000 feet here, Miles, and behind me, when the sun comes up, I promise you, you will see Pikes Peek, which goes up another 7,000 feet. They are looking at maybe a little bit less snow in the Denver area from what we are hearing. Nobody really knows what the day is going to bring.
Right now, it's snowing reasonably hard, but that's being accentuated by the wind at this point. So still early going. It's only been snowing for about an hour. You can still kind of see the grass poking through the top of the snow at this point.
We'll see what the day will bring -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Jonathan Freed in Colorado Springs.
Thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Madonna is talking about her plans, her hopes to adopt a 13-month-old boy from Malawi. The little boy's name is David. And Madonna told Oprah yesterday that she fell in love after she heard about all the pain and the loneliness that little David experienced in an African orphanage.
Here is what she told Oprah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADONNA, SINGER: Here's what I knew: that David had been living in this orphanage since he was 2 weeks old, that he had survived malaria and tuberculosis, and that no one from his extended family had visited him since the time he arrived. So from my perspective, there was no one looking after David's welfare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: She kind of blamed a lot of it on the media, too. David is now living with Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, and their two kids in London.
David's biological father is in Africa. He's no longer expected to contest the adoption. As for reports that he would, Madonna says that was all inaccurate and it was the media's fault.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADONNA: I sat in that room, I looked into that man's eyes. I believe that the press is manipulating this information out of him. I believe at this point in time that he has been terrorized by the media...
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Yes.
MADONNA: ... that they have asked him things repeatedly, that they have put words in his mouth, and that they have spun a story that is completely false.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Not clear when the adoption is going to be final. Until then, Madonna says she's thrilled to have David with her, that he's healthy and he's smiling.
M. O'BRIEN: Stay tuned on that one.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, for sure.
M. O'BRIEN: More to come on the stories we are following for you this morning. We will show you a rare bird's eye view of Korea's demilitarized zone, a story you'll see only on CNN.
And supermodel Naomi Campbell, she's in hot water again, arrested and accused of assault. Does that sound familiar?
Plus, how much is a college degree really worth? A new study puts a dollar figure on the old sheepskin.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Top stories this morning.
New developments in the apparent kidnapping of a U.S. soldier in Iraq. Three suspects are now detained. They were caught during that raid in Sadr City yesterday.
President Bush signs a bill today that will create the 700-mile- long fence along the Mexican border.
M. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at what CNN correspondents around the world are covering today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: I'm Jaime FlorCruz in Beijing, where French president Jacques Chirac is on a state visit and is holding talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao. High on their agenda is the nuclear issue.
China is North Korea's main ally and is key to the implementation of the U.N. resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea after its October 9 nuclear test. France is leading efforts in Europe and in the U.N. to convince Iran to give up its nuclear program and return to the talks.
China and France are both permanent numbers of the United Nations Security Council and wield veto power at the U.N.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. I'm Satinder Bindra in New Delhi.
The Indian government is planning to import 71,000 tons of cooking gas after a fire in the country's largest and the world's third largest oil refinery. One worker was killed in the fire in western India. Another worker was hospitalized with serious burn injuries. It took more than two hours to put out the fire.
Describing the government's move to import gas is a "purely precautionary message." A spokesperson at the oil refinery says the unit where the fire occurred should restart in approximately two weeks. An inquiry has now also been ordered into the incident.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jim Bittermann in Paris, where I will be working on a story about what has changed and what hasn't since the rioting in French suburbs exactly one year ago that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. With tensions on the streets still running high, this is one anniversary the government does not want to remember.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE SPRAGUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For CNN, I'm Stephanie Spragur in London.
Naomi Campbell, the wild woman of the catwalk, is at it again. This time, the 36-year-old supermodel has allegedly assaulted her drug counselor.
The unnamed counselor apparently walked into a police station here in central London yesterday with scratches all over her face that she insisted were caused by Naomi Campbell. Now, the tabloids are saying Naomi Campbell was arrested yesterday, Wednesday afternoon, around 1:30 p.m., and was released this morning, early Thursday morning, on bail.
The Metropolitan Police are not naming names, but in a statement they have confirmed that a 36-year-old woman was indeed arrested yesterday and released on bail. Ms. Campbell is expected to be releasing a statement sometime this morning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: For more on these on or any of our top stories, log on to our Web site, CNN.com.
S. O'BRIEN: Forty-five minutes past the hour. If you are just about to head out the door, Chad Myers has a look at the traveler's forecast for you.
Hey, Chad. Good morning.
MYERS: Good morning, Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Some of the stories we are following for you right now on the program.
Is college worth it? A new study tries to figure out what you get for your money and your time.
Plus, stopping a silent killer. CAT scans apparently can detect lung cancer at its earliest and most curable stages.
We'll have details on that study ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Top stories we are following.
President Bush unhappy with the situation in Iraq, but he says the U.S. is winning and will not leave. New Jersey's Supreme Court rules gay couples have the same rights as straight, married ones. Now it's up to lawmakers to decide the semantics, whether to call it marriage or civil union -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The U.N. Security Council may be ready to hit Iran with sanctions aimed at stopping its nuclear program. Yesterday, several European countries proposed banning the sale of technology to Iran, also recommended freezing the assets of officials who are involved with Iran's nuclear weapons programs and restricting their travel.
And there's no other place like it on earth. It's a strip of land that provides a tense barrier, but it also holds a surprising secret beauty.
This morning we give you a tour of Korea's DMZ, demilitarized zone, something you probably have never seen.
CNN's Sohn Jie-ae was the only international correspondent who was allowed to get a unique view of the DMZ from the air.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A rare bird's eye view of the demilitarized zone, a beautiful no-man's land strewn with mines and hidden artillery. The DMZ is a four-kilometer-wide strip of land that spans the Korean Peninsula, set up as a buffer between South and North Korea following the Korean War.
The buffer has since developed into a unique ecological zone unlike anywhere else in the world, home to rare types of birds and other wildlife. The beauty in such reminisce (ph) of war is what catches the eye of world renowned French photographer Jann Arthus Bertrand as CNN accompanies him in a helicopter for aerial shots of the DMZ for his latest project, "Earth From Above".
YANN ARTHUS BERTRAND, PHOTOGRAPHER: It's new (ph) border from the air. There's no -- there's very few borders like that. Usually when I'm flying, you go form one country to another country, you see nothing. And here the border is so strong.
SOHN (on camera): Our helicopters are given rare access as we twist and wind across the peninsula, quite close to the demilitarized zone. Tensions have risen along the border since the north's apparent nuclear tests, but even under the normal circumstances, civilians are not allowed to fly along the demilitarized zone. And it is very rare civilians or the media to be allowed to board a military vehicle like this one to photograph the border area.
(voice over): A South Korean military attack helicopter escorts us throughout our path, just in case we are fired upon by North Koreans. And our tapes are censored by military intelligence to make sure we are not broadcasting sensitive materials, like positions of security outputs along the border. We are left with very little footage to reveal the tension-filled demilitarized zone. A quick glimpse of a security outpost, a foggy view of North Korean villages.
Instead, we are left with miles and miles of natural beauty seen from our lens and through the lens of the professional photographer. Above the politics, a vision of the DMZ as it was perhaps meant to be.
Sohn Jie-ae, CNN, in the skies above the Korean demilitarized zone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Some of the stories we are working on for you this morning.
First lady Laura Bush addresses some of the claims in Bob Woodward's new book slamming her husband. It's an interview you'll see only on CNN.
Plus, we'll have our series "Broken Government" for you. Today the question is, does the president have too much power?
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Some of the top stories we are following for you this morning.
The U.S. military is detaining three suspects in Iraq. They're being questioned about the apparent kidnapping of that American soldier.
And one in three people in a new CNN poll on civil liberties say that President Bush is the most powerful president that America has ever had -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: So, what's a college degree worth these days? Well, how about an extra $22,000 a year. On average, college grads earn that much more than those who stop at high school.
The average college grad makes a little over $51,000 a year. Add some grad school to the mix, $78,000. High school dropouts, $19,000.
Stay in school, kids.
Lockheed Martin reportedly under pressure to lower prices. It's kind of tough to be a defense contractor these days.
Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business".
Hello, Andy.
SERWER: Hello, Miles. The one person in Washington you don't want calling you out if you are a defense contractor is Arizona Senator John McCain. And lately, he has been on the war path about Pentagon costs and contracts.
It seems as if now Lockheed Martin is responding. They have agreed to lower prices by half on their C-130J aircraft.
M. O'BRIEN: Not seen there. That's an F-16, just for the record.
SERWER: Well, that's why we have Miles O'Brien here.
M. O'BRIEN: Imagine a C-130...
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: ... which is a...
SERWER: These are defense -- those are defense aircraft. That's what those pictures were of.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
SERWER: The costs, for instance, they are going to reduce on 26 Air Force planes by 8 percent, 12 percent for 13 Marine aircraft. And that adds up, folks. I mean, it's $244 million for those two contracts.
An observer said it's voluntary and an act of goodwill for the customer. The customer would be us. Right?
M. O'BRIEN: That would be us. It's good they think about us every now and again. Even...
SERWER: And, I mean, they are talking about pure markup here, right? I mean, they are not going to lose money on these planes. They are just going to make less...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: ... to the tune of $244 million.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm not going to shed too many tears.
SERWER: No.
Another story to tell you about this morning, and this is kind of a real interesting one. Maybe something you hadn't thought about. The National Federation of the Blind is suing Target and target.com, saying that its Web site lacks coding that allows blind computer users to hear audio descriptions of the items at the Web site. And they are suing on behalf of 1.3 million blind people in the United States.
Other Web sites do have this. And this is interesting, because the question is, does the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act apply to the Internet?
M. O'BRIEN: I suspect -- because that came out, what, 20 years ago or so? I suspect that that was not written into the law.
SERWER: Absolutely not. And there have been some test cases. Southwest Airlines was able to defend its site saying it was virtual place and not a physical place, so it did not apply. AOL capitulated. So interesting.
M. O'BRIEN: What you got next?
SERWER: Next, good question. We are going to talk about Barry Dillard getting paid a ton of money and Jack Welch trying to buy the "Boston Globe," yes.
M. O'BRIEN: You've got to have one of those -- Jack Welch going after the "Globe"?
SERWER: Yes, indeed.
M. O'BRIEN: Interesting. I don't think "The Times" will give it up. It will be interesting.
SERWER: We'll see.
M. O'BRIEN: All right -- Soledad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN (voice over): Here are the top stories on CNN.com this morning.
Florida serial killer Danny Rolling is dead, executed last night by lethal injection. Rolling murdered five college students in 1990. Asked if he had any last words, he broke into song.
Witness Steven Stock (ph) wrote down the lyrics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He who flung the stars into the heavens above created the oceans, the mountains, the eagles and doves. None greater than thee, oh lord. None greater than thee, oh lord.
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