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American Morning

Winning Game Plan in Iraq; Former Russian Spy Clinging to Life After Being Poisoned; School Bus Tragedy in Huntsville, Alabama

Aired November 21, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tragedy. New information about that deadly school bus crash and the teenage driver who may have caused it.

We're live with the very latest on that story.

M. O'BRIEN: Diplomacy renewed. Iran and Syria reestablish ties with Iraq. Is it about peacemaking or is it a power grab?

S. O'BRIEN: An important consumer alert just days before Thanksgiving. One company is recalling its frozen squash, saying it could be contaminated with ammonia.

Those stories, much more on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Welcome back, everybody, Tuesday, November 21st.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

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

We're glad you're with us.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin this morning in Iraq, bring you up to speed on what's happening there.

Iraq and Syria have resumed diplomatic ties for the first time since 1982. Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, is heading to Tehran at the request of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has been invited -- or rather he has invited both Talabani and his counterpart in Syria to come and talk about the future of Iraq.

The U.S. State Department says they're skeptical of Iran's good intentions, says it's a decision, though, that Talabani is going to have to make.

"Go Long," "Go Big," "Go Home." Remember we were talking about these leaked details from the playbook. As the Pentagon tries to figure out a winning game plan in Iraq, the desired outcome is to get the Iraqis in control of their own country.

What does the U.S. need to do to get there? Let's begin with CNN's Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Good morning, Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, those three catch phrases you mentioned entered into the lexicon by way of Tom Ricks of "The Washington Post," who wrote about them yesterday. But of the three, only one is really getting much traction. That's the so-called "Go Long" option. It's basically the current strategy, which is aimed at training up Iraqi forces even faster.

So, how do you do that? Well, Pentagon sources tell CNN there's a couple of items that they're looking at.

One is increasing the size of the training teams that train up the forces. These are forces embedded with Iraqi forces.

Currently, there are about a dozen members of the team. They could double those to probably about 24-member teams and increase the pace of training that way.

The other thing is to increase the size of the Iraqi forces. Originally, the U.S. thought maybe 325,000 Iraqi forces would be enough to settle the country. Now they're looking at increasing that number by, perhaps, as much as 30,000, up over 350,000 Iraqi forces.

And the other thing is speeding up the timetable for turning things over to the Iraqis. That was set for about the next 12 to 18 months. General John Abizaid says he's looking for ways to accelerate that turnover as well.

This is the linchpin of the current strategy for getting the U.S. out of Iraq. And what remains to be seen is whether the Iraq Study Group or the Pentagon's own review will come up with even a better idea in the weeks ahead -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon for us this morning.

Thanks, Jamie -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: And now a page-turning spy thriller that is not a work of fiction. In this case, the clandestine meeting and the poisoning all too real, and a former Russian spy is clinging to life in a London hospital.

CNN's Matthew Chance, in Moscow, picks up the story from there -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, thanks very much.

Well, the Kremlin has dismissed this sheer nonsense, all these accusations that it had anything to do with the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russia security official who defected to Britain in 2000. He's currently in a hospital bed in a serious condition as a result of poisoning, according to British doctors. His friends and his associates around him in London say they're convinced that he was targeted by Russian agents because of his outspoken criticism of the Kremlin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice over): Latest dramatic images of Alexander Litvinenko, fighting for his life. And when this image is shown alongside a picture of the former Russian agent in good health, the startling effects of his ordeal become clear.

Doctors say he must have been poisoned with the toxic metal thallium. The question is, who did it?

It was this wave of apartment bombings across Russia blamed on Chechen rebels that first soured Litvinenko's relationship with his Kremlin bosses. He published a book alleging the bombings which killed hundreds in 1999 were orchestrated by the Russian government as a pretense to resume war in Chechnya.

Before defecting to Britain, he also accused the Russian security services in which he was a colonel of plotting to kill Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and other Kremlin opponents. The FSB, successes (ph) to the KGB, denied it.

But it was his investigation into the killing last month of leading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya he says he believes he was targeted for. A few weeks before his poisoning, he blamed the Kremlin and the Russian president for her murder in this Webcast.

COL. ALEXANDER LITVINENKO, FMR. KGB & FSB AGENT (through translator): Somebody has asked me directly who is guilty of Anna's death, who has killed her? Anna can directory answer you. It is Mr. Putin, the president of the Russian federation, who has killed her.

CHANCE: But former KGB officers now living outside Russia say the poisoning bears all the hallmarks of a Russian covert operation and would have been ordered from the very top.

OLEG GIERDIEVSKY, FMR. KGB AGENT: This poison, thallium, it is only in the possession of the KGB. No private person or organization has got thallium. And it was not a simple thallium. It was a thallium with a specialized addition of something else. So it was thoroughly prepared.

CHANCE: And Litvinenko has long believed his former employers are capable. In an interview after his defection, he spoke about the threat to his life that he felt.

LITVINENKO (through translator): I think if I go back to Russia, I won't last long there. I won't live long. I think, perhaps, it would be better for me to die here in England, in the fresh air.

CHANCE: As his family attends his London hospital bed, they may well prove prophetic words.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: British police are stepping up their investigations -- British police stepping up their investigations into what they regard as a deliberate poisoning. But as yet, Miles, no evidence has been made public as to who may have carried this out or, indeed, why Mr. Litvinenko was attacked.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Matthew Chance in Moscow.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: In Huntsville, Alabama, this morning, federal crash investigators are on the scene of that horrible school bus crash, trying to figure out what happened and why it happened. The answer to those questions could lead them to a teenager who was driving a car that apparently may have cut off the bus. Three teenaged girls are dead, 14 others are in the hospital after that bus plunged right over an overpass.

Rusty Dornin live in Huntsville, Alabama, with us this morning.

Good morning to you, Rusty.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, we are still awaiting the arrival of the NTSB investigators who are going to be trying to piece together this puzzle. Meantime, you can see the very chilling image of this school bus right where it landed yesterday morning.

Forty-three students aboard, with their driver, plunged 30 feet from that overpass from above. Now, they're trying to find out exactly what happened.

We understand that a Celica, a Toyota Celica driven by a high school student, a 17-year-old high school student, either careened towards the bus, hit the bus. They're not sure.

There are -- there's one witness who was saying that the car actually had some kind of blowout. They don't know exactly what happened when that car hit the bus, sending it over the side.

They're not even sure if the bus driver was in the bus when it went over. There are some accounts that say he was ejected from the bus and was somewhere on the on-ramp.

They're going to be talking to him today. He was -- he has been injured. They had a very brief discussion with him yesterday and plan to be talking with him again today.

They have spoken with the 17-year-old that was driving that Toyota Celica. At this point, no charges are going to be filed, but a grand jury may very well be looking at this case because when there are fatalities like this involving minors, a grand jury may become involved.

So, meantime, of course, this community is grieving over this, what has been a freak accident here in Huntsville, Alabama. There were vigils last night, there has been a lot of coming together of the community this morning. And, of course, there are still more than a dozen students who are in critical condition in the surrounding hospitals -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Rusty Dornin for us this morning.

Rusty, thanks.

And in about 20 minutes we're going to hear from a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB, get the very latest on this investigation from her. Also find out if seat belts on that bus might have been able to save some lives -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Also happening this morning, President and Mrs. Bush are in Hawaii, the end of a weeklong trip to Southeast Asia. Mr. Bush will have an early breakfast with troops there, then get a briefing from officers of the Pacific command. The two head back to the White House tonight.

And a new CNN Opinion Research poll this morning shows people longing for the first Bush presidency. Sixty-one percent say the president's father, George H. W. Bush, made a better president. Twenty-five percent chose the current President Bush.

And parents, listen up. Mattel is recalling some of the popular Polly Pocket dolls. Apparently, the new Polly Pockets have tiny magnets that can come loose. Children then swallow the magnets, and in a few cases have had to have surgery to remove them.

And if you're planning to serve frozen squash for Thanksgiving dinner, you might want to check the bag. Birdseye is recalling about three million packages of cooked winter squash because some contain ammonia. You can get details at birdseye.com, the Web site.

And coming up, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will show us one step for a safer Thanksgiving dinner. He looks at the "buy local" method in our next half hour -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, the plug is pulled on O.J.'s TV special and book, which is called, "If I Did It." We'll take a closer look at the backlash that led to the about-face by FOX and the book's publisher.

And Michael Richards trying to make amends for his racist rant at a comedy club. You think it will be the last word? You decide, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Top stories we're following for you.

Police in Alabama questioning a teenaged driver of a car that might have cut off a school bus, causing it to crash, killing three students.

Iraq and Syria reestablish diplomatic ties for the first time in 25 years. Iran, meantime, inviting Iraqi and Syrian leaders to a weekend summit.

Let's get a check of the weather. Rob Marciano at the weather center -- Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: What's it really like for U.S. troops inside Iraq? CNN's John Roberts recently spent a month embedded there with the troops. He's been doing live reports for us through that month. He's with us this morning.

It's nice to see you back safe and sound.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's good to be back. You know, when you come back with all 10 fingers and all 10 ten toes, it's always a plus.

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely. You're not kidding. And I know your wife, who is right over there, is also grateful that you're back safe and sound as well.

It sounds, as we hear every day, that Iraq is very, very dangerous overall. Baghdad, specifically.

Give me a sense of how dangerous it is.

ROBERTS: It's an interesting place, because unlike when we were in Israel and Lebanon during the war there, and you knew that the bombs were falling and the artillery shells were flying all the time, the violence in Baghdad is much more insidious. You could walk out of your -- your home 20, 30 times safely, and the 21st or 31st time, that would be the last time you would ever see the light of day.

And it's the IEDs and the snipers that are the most dangerous thing for U.S. forces. That's what I got from all of the commanders.

For example, the pictures that you're looking at here, these were taken two days after the election, November 9th. We were riding with a Stryker unit. And because they're such a versatile platform, particularly in Baghdad, they get all the 911 calls any time anything bad goes down.

This was an IED attack on a convoy, what's called a NPTT (ph) team, a national police transition team. They are the people who are training up the national police, who eventually are supposed to take over for U.S. forces.

They hit an IED on an on-ramp to a highway. It was one of those IEDs called an EFP, Explosive Form Penetrator. It's one of the really, really bad ones.

It went right through the Humvee, hit the passenger door. The passenger was literally disintegrated. It knocked the driver out onto the roadway.

I went up to see the medics treating him, and he literally died in front of my eyes. And when you see something like that, I said to myself, "What am I doing here, and what are they doing here, putting themselves in harm's way like this every day?"

S. O'BRIEN: What do the soldiers say to you? I mean, obviously, I'm sure they say different things when the cameras are rolling than when they're not. Do they feel like there's any hope? Do they feel like there's no hope?

ROBERTS: In terms of the violence, they try not to think about it, because if you think about it, you get consumed by it. And they're dealing with death every day, and they lose -- they lose comrades every day.

But in terms of the mission there and where it's going, on a unit level, like if you're talking to a commander of a Stryker who is sitting behind me there, they believe in what they're doing, what their company is doing, what their battalion and even their brigade is doing. They think that they're making a difference, even though some commanders said that at best the situation on the ground is static, neither moving ahead nor moving back.

But when you tell -- ask them to look back at the big picture, and you do it off camera, that's where they have questions. And most of the time you hear from people, you know, "I think we can do this, but it's going to take a long, long time."

S. O'BRIEN: Kissinger said over the weekend it's not winnable. Are there -- are there soldiers saying who say, here I am fighting this and I don't think it's winnable? And every day I might walk out or drive out and be blown up by an IED.

ROBERTS: Kissinger said it's not winnable in the traditional military sense.

S. O'BRIEN: Right.

ROBERTS: And I think that every military commander, probably every soldier in Iraq would believe the same thing. There has to be a political component.

But right now the government of Iraq is so weak and tilting so much toward the Shiite side of things that it doesn't represent a strong unity government, which is what Iraq needs right now. It will be interesting to see the outcome of this summit between Iran, Syria and Iraq -- Jalal Talabani going over to Tehran this weekend -- to see if they do actually move forward, or if Iran is just trying to set its own agenda to try to do an end run around the United States, because there's no question that, even though they don't have official diplomatic ties, Iran wields all kinds of influence at the highest levels there.

S. O'BRIEN: It will be interesting to see. And really, you could call sort of either option at this point. ROBERTS: Yes. But I'll tell you, the place is an absolute mess. There is no way to...

S. O'BRIEN: All of Baghdad. Because people have said, as you well know...

ROBERTS: All of Baghdad and most of the country.

S. O'BRIEN: ... you know, as Baghdad goes, so goes the rest of the nation. We've got to send our forces in, we've got to make Baghdad safe.

ROBERTS: Yes. And not everyone agrees with that, but for the most part they do. But really, you know, the only place where you can sit outside and have a meal in an outdoor cafe is Irbil, up in -- up in Kurdistan. The rest of the country is just so damned dangerous you don't want to go outside.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we're glad to have you back.

ROBERTS: It's good to be back.

S. O'BRIEN: With all fingers and toes, as you say.

Thanks, John.

John Roberts, who's been there for the last month -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, some food for thought as you get ready for your Thanksgiving feast. Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at whether homegrown means healthier.

Plus, "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson gets knocked out of middle earth. We'll explain "Minding Your Business."

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: There's an uproar in middle earth to tell you about. Breaking news.

Ali Velshi has the latest, "Minding Your Business."

VELSHI: I've got it all covered. I've got it all covered.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you do. You do.

VELSHI: All right. So, Peter Jackson, who is the director of New Line's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy -- New Line, by the way, is a related company to CNN. They have announced -- New Line has announced that they are going to move on with a film called "The Hobbit," and they are not going to use Peter Jackson as the director.

Now, Jackson has said that they are in a dispute over the money that was made on the first film, "Fellowship of the Ring." Now, you'll know these three movies, this trilogy, had box office totals of about $3 billion worldwide.

S. O'BRIEN: Ca-ching.

VELSHI: This is successful.

M. O'BRIEN: And "The Hobbit" would be a prequel to "Lord of the Rings," right?

VELSHI: Correct.

M. O'BRIEN: Essentially.

VELSHI: Correct. So, New Lines wants to go ahead with this. Clearly, if you have that kind of success you want to go ahead with this sort of thing. But they're in this dispute; New Line will not discuss "The Hobbit" with Jackson while this dispute is going on. And New Line says, we have a schedule, we have to make this movie, so we're moving on to someone else.

There have been a lot of protests, a lot of e-mails -- the Web site...

S. O'BRIEN: What's the dispute over? I mean, just...

VELSHI: Well, it must be how -- I don't know how -- what it is specifically...

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, the actual dollars?

VELSHI: ... but when it's that much money, yes, it must be, I thought I was getting a piece of that action.

Both parties are being pretty -- keeping it pretty close to the chest. Who knows?

The way this is all worded may mean that it could work itself out. What you have that successful of a film, you want your director who made it that successful or helped it be that successful.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Well, give him the ring then. Maybe he just wants the ring.

VELSHI: Yes, maybe he just wants the ring, exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's it.

VELSHI: And the other thing is...

S. O'BRIEN: I think he wants the cash, is what he wants.

VELSHI: ... these soccer balls, hand-stitched. This one is probably not hand-stitched. I wouldn't know the difference.

But Nike makes a lot of hand-stitched soccer balls. And they are for clubs, soccer clubs and teams all over the world. They have ended a relationship with a particular factory in Pakistan that made these hand-stitched balls. And as a result of that relationship being ended, they haven't found a new factory to make them.

Part of the problem was that this factory was outsourcing it to people at their homes. Nike, because of previous issues it's had, has a strict policy of not having work done in homes because they can't monitor it.

M. O'BRIEN: So hand-stitching is better for soccer balls?

VELSHI: Apparently.

M. O'BRIEN: But you're not supposed to use your hands in soccer. So...

VELSHI: Right. I mean, the whole thing is a little bit weird. But...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

VELSHI: So those of you who are looking for professional hand- stitched soccer balls, you might see an increase in price.

M. O'BRIEN: I wasn't in the market, but you never know.

VELSHI: Me, I'll just take one of these regular ones.

M. O'BRIEN: There you go. All right. Thank you, Ali.

VELSHI: Good to see you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: See you tomorrow.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, thanks. And likewise.

Coming up, a major food recall to tell you about with Thanksgiving just two days away.

Plus, more on that deadly school bus crash in Alabama. Would seat belts have made a difference in that accident? We're going to take a look straight ahead.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Crash fallout. A teenaged driver facing some serious questions this morning about that bus crash that killed three students in Alabama.

S. O'BRIEN: Just in time for Thanksgiving, another food recall. We'll tell you what you need to know before you make the big meal.

M. O'BRIEN: He says he's sorry. Michael Richards apologizes for his racist rant at a comedy club, but a lot of people say it fell short.

S. O'BRIEN: And canceled. O.J. Simpson's controversial book and TV show called "If I Did It" now called off.

Reaction ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you, Tuesday, November 21st.

I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Thanks for being with us.

Let's get right to what's happening this morning.

Iraq and Syria reestablishing diplomatic ties in a Baghdad signing ceremony. Damascus broke off relations nearly 25 years ago, saying that Iraq was stirring up Syrian riots. Well, now Syria's president may join those of Iraq and Iran. The presidents of Iraq, Iran and Syria all getting together for a planned bilateral summit in Tehran.

President and Mrs. Bush are in Hawaii. It's the end of a weeklong trip to Southeast Asia. Mr. Bush is going to have an early breakfast with the troops, then get a briefing from officers of the Pacific command. He heads back to the White House tonight.

And listen up, parents. Mattel is recalling some of those popular Polly Pocket dolls. You know, they're little teenie-weenie dolls, and they've got little magnets that can become loose. Children can swallow the magnets. In a couple cases they've had to have surgery to remove them.

Some of the recalled dolls have actually been on the market since 2003. So look around for those.

The annual list of the most dangerous toys is being announced in Washington, D.C. It's going to happen in just about an hour from now.

What they're showing right here on the videotape are some of the toys from last year. The Trouble in Toyland List includes toys that are made with toxic chemicals, toys that have sharp edges, toys that have parts that are easily swallowed, and a whole bunch of other things, too -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Shock, heartbreak and a lot of questions in Huntsville, Alabama, this morning. They're mourning the loss of three teenaged girls and caring for 14 students injured when their school bus plunged off an interstate overpass.

Police are looking for the driver of a car that may have hit the bus before it fell nose first off the overpass. A team for the National Transportation Safety Board in Huntsville investigating the crash this morning. And that's where we find NTSB member Debbie Hersman, joining us live now. Miss Hersman, good to have you back on the program. Bring us up to date on the investigation. What do we know about the circumstances of this crash?

DEBBIE HERSMAN, NTSB SPOKESWOMAN: Good morning, Miles. Our team arrived last evening. We've got nine investigators from the NTSB. We began documenting the scene. We're working with the local authorities here in Huntsville to map the scene, look at the wreckage, identify evidence and try to determine what caused this accident.

M. O'BRIEN: What do we know about this other vehicle that might have grazed the bus, or hit it or cut it off or something?

HERSMAN: The Huntsville police have advised us when we arrived on scene, that they had documented some evidence. When I arrived, I went out to the overpass and was able to observe the location of a 1990 Toyota Celica. There's about 450 feet from the beginning of any observable accident evidence to where the Celica came to rest. And as you know, the bus went over that barrier, the concrete barrier down below. We're trying to determine exactly what happened.

M. O'BRIEN: But, is there signs that it was damaged? In other words, was there a collision?

HERSMAN: There is some contact evidence. We're looking at paint transfer on the wall, on the concrete barrier. We're looking at damage to the Celica and also looking at any damage or any marks, evidence of marks that are on the bus.

M. O'BRIEN: At this point can you say if the bus driver was in anyway to blame?

HERSMAN: It's too early to say what caused this accident. We are looking at a number of factors. We can say that the bus driver was found on top of the overpass. The students were inside the bus down below, but the bus driver was found on the top of the overpass and was transported to the hospital from there. We would like to interview the driver -- he is in serious condition at the hospital. We'll make an effort to talk to him when he is able.

M. O'BRIEN: The driver was tossed out of the vehicle before it plunged?

HERSMAN: The driver was found on top of the overpass, yes.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about seatbelts. There are only five states in the nation that require them on school buses. Do you have the sense that seatbelts would have saved lives in this crash?

HERSMAN: It's too early to tell what role restraints might have played in this accident, but it's certainly something that we'll be looking at. We're going to be documenting the condition of the bus, as well as the condition of the seats and the type of injuries that occurred to the students. Whether or not seatbelts or another type of restraint would have made a difference, that's part of our investigation.

Last week we held our most wanted board meeting in Washington, and we did add two issues to our most wanted list of safety improvements. One of those was for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, to establish performance standards for school buses, design of the passenger compartment to deal with these types of crashes.

M. O'BRIEN: So the bus driver apparently was not using a seatbelt? Bus drivers, regardless, should be belted, shouldn't they?

HERSMAN: I don't know if the school bus driver was wearing a seatbelt or not. The front of the bus, the loading area, the steps was severely damaged, was crushed, as well as the engine block was displaced. So, we have to get inside the bus, document the condition of all of the seating arrangements, including the bus driver's seat and seatbelts.

M. O'BRIEN: Final thought for parents here. Why in the world aren't there seatbelts on all school buses in this country?

HERSMAN: School buses are very safe. They are one of the safest forms of transportation that exist ...

M. O'BRIEN: But they'd be safer with seatbelts, wouldn't they?

HERSMAN: Well, the issue is what would be the safest for all conditions. We know that compartmentalization that exists on school buses right now works very well in frontal and rear impacts. It's the side impacts and the rollovers, accidents like these that raise the questions about whether or not the seating compartment could be more safe. And that goes to the heart of our recommendation that was made to 1999 about looking at the design of the seating compartment.

M. O'BRIEN: Debbie Hersman of the NTSB, thanks for your time.

HERSMAN: Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: If you're planning on serving up some squash this Thanksgiving, there's a food recall we need to tell you about, it's for 12-ounce cartons of fresh -- of frozen rather, winter squash. They could be tainted with ammonia. Here's some of the affected brands: Birds Eye, Stop & Shop, Shaw, Price Chopper, Hannaford, Safeway, IGA, Dominick's. So you want to check out the cartons of squash. Don't eat it. Take it right back to the store and get a full refund.

M. O'BRIEN: With so many food scares, what do you need to know to get the freshest, safest food on your table? CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When you go to the supermarket, it's hard to know where some of the food has come from, but does it matter? GUPTA (on-camera): At this farmer's market in Forest Park, Georgia, you can choose from hundreds of vegetables, meats and poultry. Everything you need for a Thanksgiving spread. Now a lot of it is locally grown, but there's also lettuce here from California, there's tomatoes from Florida, there's even beans here from Peru.

MARGARET MELLON, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: Produce from a local grower, you're likely to get it very soon after it's been picked. That means it hasn't had time to sit around. It hasn't had time for any bacteria that might be associated with it to grow and multiply.

GUPTA: Food travels an average of 1500 miles before it gets to our table. Problems can also hitch a ride. Three people died and 200 were sickened recently after the spinach traced to a farm in California was contaminated with e-coli bacteria. Georgia's Department of Agriculture says distance doesn't necessarily mean risk.

TOMMY IRVIN, GEORGIA AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: It's how you handle it that keeps it safe. We know that the quicker you get it from the processing facility in the hands of the consumer, it's naturally going to be better, but it will not be a whole lot safer.

GUPTA: Here at the farmer's market, you can buy turkeys from North Carolina and the wholesaler can tell you exactly which farms they came from. These birds were flash frozen. But frozen or fresh, organic or not, does it really matter?

MELLON: All turkeys, whether they're organic, locally grown or conventionally produced can be contaminated with bacteria. So no one should think that an organic turkey is sterile, that you don't need to handle it carefully, that you don't need to cook it thoroughly.

GUPTA: Wherever your food comes from.

IRVIN: Put it in refrigeration and when you get ready to eat that greenery, we say wash it good, let it drain on your draining board, and then serve it on the table.

GUPTA: So buying it local may not guarantee your food it bacteria free, but relying on proper food preparation will go a long way.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Forest Park, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we're going to meet a beauty queen who is trading in her crown for Army fatigues and a tour of duty in Iraq.

And we won't be seeing O.J. Simpson's hypothetical confession after all. We'll take a closer look this morning at the backlash against is book and his TV special. It's all been canned. That's straight ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: From queen to specialist. A newly crowned beauty pageant winner in Minnesota is trading her crown and Catalina bathing suit for a kevlar helmet and some cammies. There she is, Jessica Gaulke Crowned in July as this year's Minneapolis Aquatennial Queen. And now her National Guard unit has gotten the call and she's headed for some training and ultimately Iraq. Jessica joins us now from Minneapolis. Good to have you with us. You look great, Jessica.

JESSICA GAULKE, BEAUTY QUEEN HEADED FOR IRAQ: Thank you. Good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Did you ever think about going to your superiors and saying, this is kind of an odd excuse, but I'm a beauty pageant winner, I have a one-year term. Can I just report for duty after that?

GAULKE: You know, I didn't. And if I was deployed, I'd want to be deployed with my unit and with my friends that I've been with the last five years.

M. O'BRIEN: So, you've made the decision. You're going to participate in the Rose Parade. And then on January 2nd, you'll pass the tiara onto one of the princesses, which is kind of like the first runner up, right?

GAULKE: Yes, that's correct. And then there will be a new princess named also at that time.

M. O'BRIEN: Do we know which -- there are the princesses with you. Do we know who is going to get it?

GAULKE: We don't. It's in a sealed envelope, and we will find out in January.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, really? So there's like another contest involved here and everybody gets a scholarship now. You got one and she'll get the same scholarship that the queen gets, correct?

GAULKE: That is correct. The queen receives a $4,000 scholarship and the princesses each $2,000

M. O'BRIEN: You've got a lot going on in your life. I know you're engaged. You've actually moved your wedding plans to accommodate all the things going on in your life, right?

GAULKE: Yes, I have. You know, me and my fiance wanted to get married, and we had originally planned to get married in January, not knowing that I would be crowned, so we postponed the plans after I was crowned and now the plans are back on.

M. O'BRIEN: OK, so what is it like, though, being a beauty queen and being in the National Guard? Is it difficult to make the move from wearing that beautiful evening gown to being in the full-up battle gear?

GAULKE: You know what, I really don't think it is. You know, I obviously got selected for who I am as a person, and, you know, I've been in the Guard and have met all those people, and they know who I am at heart. So I don't think there's necessarily an on/off switch that I need to hit.

M. O'BRIEN: You've got to tell us in the pageant, what was your goal?

GAULKE: My goal was really to meet people and also experience Minneapolis more, a city that I've grown up in, not knowing all the aspects of the city, and then being able to come stay down in Minneapolis for five days and experience the ten best days of summer.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Wonderful. It was good to have you with us. We wish you well in your new endeavor, trading the crown. Maybe you can bring a replica with you to Iraq. They don't have replicas.

GAULKE: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: I'll hold it for you.

M. O'BRIEN: Beauty queen and soldier Jessica Gaulke, from queen to specialist, best of luck to you and everything that lies ahead for you.

GAULKE: Thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: Good for her. Wow, wow. That's a fine-looking crown.

M. O'BRIEN: It sure is.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm happy to just take care of it.

M. O'BRIEN: There are not many occasions to wear a crown.

S. O'BRIEN: And there's one right here.

M. O'BRIEN: There was one right there.

S. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" just a few minutes away. Tony Harris is at the CNN center with a look at what's ahead this morning. Good morning.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Crownless here in the NEWSROOM. More on these stories coming up in the NEWSROOM rundown this morning:

Iraq's neighbors Syria and Iran suddenly playing for influence in Baghdad. Our guests will help explain the maneuvering or is it meddling?

A gruesome discovery in Atlantic City, the bodies of four women dumped in a ditch. Autopsies set for today.

And don't be a crash test dummy, the insurance industry's new list of safest vehicles out today. No American cars in the top ten. Join Heidi Collins and me in the NEWSROOM. We get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Tony, thank you very much.

Coming up this morning, Michael Richards offers up a little mea culpa for his racist rant. We'll find out what he has to say for himself.

And Fox cancels O.J. Simpson's TV special. The publisher is dropping the book. Why was the plug pulled? We'll take a look ahead on American Morning.

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M. O'BRIEN: Michael Richards says he's sorry. The emmy-winning actor who played Kramer on "Seinfeld" sparked some outrage Friday during a standup routine at an L.A. comedy club. He launched a racist tirade aimed at some African-American hecklers, shouting all kinds of obscenities and repeatedly using the 'N' word. Last night, Richards appeared on the "David Letterman Show" to apologize.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL RICHARDS, COMEDIAN: I'm really busted up over this, and I'm very, very sorry to those people in the audience, the blacks, the Hispanics, the whites, everyone that was there that took the brunt of that anger and hate and rage and how it came through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: The owner of the Laugh Factory where Richards was performing says he's no longer welcome there -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Book sellers and others are saying that Fox finally came to its senses pulling the plug on O.J. Simpson's book and two- part TV special where Simpson describes how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman if he did it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER (voice-over): On Monday, November 27th, the interview that will shock the nation...

S. O'BRIEN: If you are waiting to be shocked by that O.J. Simpson interview, you're going to have to wait a while longer, maybe indefinitely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You wrote I've never seen so much blood in my life.

O.J. SIMPSON: I don't think any two people could be murdered without everybody being covered in blood. S. O'BRIEN: The clip is no longer on the Fox website. That's because Fox took the extraordinary step of canceling plans to air the O.J. Simpson interview just days before it was supposed to be broadcast. Also canceled, the Simpson's book called "If I Did It."

It had already cracked the top 20 on amazon.com. In both the book and the interview, Simpson spoke hypothetically about how he would have done it -- killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman back in June of 1994, if he did it. The book and the interview created a storm of criticism over the past few days from many people, including Fox's Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera.

STEVE ZEITCHIK, "VARIETY": I think there was really a chorus of criticism and backlash, here. And I think that's everyone from Fox's own affiliates, Fox's own personalities, and the market in general.

S. O'BRIEN: So on Monday, Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp the owner of both Fox and the book's publisher Regan Books, issued a statement saying this, "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project." He also apologized to the Brown and Goldman families.

KIM GOLDMAN, RON GOLDMAN'S SISTER: They did the right thing and to take responsibility for the havoc that has come about in the last week.

S. O'BRIEN: She may be grateful, but Ron's sister Kim Goldman told Larry King she doesn't think it's over. She expects to see the book start popping up.

GOLDMAN: I definitely think it's going to end up in somebody's hands and we're going to read excerpts about it and it's going to be on the black market somewhere.

S. O'BRIEN: She could be right.

ZEITCHIK: I think it's down right unprecedented for it to be pulled after it was already shipped. In this case the book was actually and, in fact, is at this moment on its way to stores and stores are being instructed to turn around and send it back. That's just something I've never heard of before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Needless to say, books that have been shipped aren't just going to vanish into thin air. They're already starting to turn up on e-bay -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Here's a quick look at what's coming up on CNN's NEWSROOM at the top of the hour.

HARRIS: Coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM, a school bus takes a deadly plunge off an overpass. Today, new demands for safety belts.

A former Russian spy clinging to life this morning. A new photo shows the devastating impact of rat poison. Moscow denying it tried to silence one of its harshest critics.

And toy recall, Polly Pocket can be bad for kids' health. You're in the NEWSROOM at 9:00 a.m. eastern on CNN.

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S. O'BRIEN: That's it. We are out of time. CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins begins right now.

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