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U.S. to Move More Troops to Iraq; Bush Meeting with Iraqi Leader Sparks Dissent; Bomb Disabled on Highway Underpass; Report: European Nations Knew about Secret CIA Agents

Aired November 29, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CO-HOST: And I'm Don Lemon.

PHILLIPS: A meeting, a memo and a mutiny. As Iraq's prime minister huddles with President Bush, his government gets hammered from inside and out.

LEMON: And a heavyweight weighs in. He's been silent on Iraq for months. But what's Colin Powell saying about civil war now?

PHILLIPS: Political probes. A letter to Americans from the president of Iran. He has a message for you. We'll read the letter.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Bombings, murders, kidnappings. For all the so-called security forces in and around Baghdad, the Iraqi capital is still a city under siege, so more force is on the way.

CNN senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre at his post with all the details.

Hey, Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

Well, a senior Pentagon official tells CNN that the U.S. military does plan to move additional American troops into Baghdad from other parts of Iraq that are more peaceful.

According to this official, at least three battalions of additional U.S. military troops will be moved in or closer to Baghdad in the coming days, as part of a plan to beef up security in the capital city.

U.S. commanders have complained for a while that there are about 3,000 troops short. And they had been hoping and expecting that Iraq would move more Iraqi battalions into the city. But failing that, now, the U.S. military says it's going to move Army troops, again, from other parts of the country.

Just to be clear, this would not involve any movement of U.S. Marines from Al Anbar province, the other big hot spot in Iraq. That insurgent stronghold is the site of quite a bit of fierce fighting, and the U.S. military at this point plans to keep the current troop levels in -- in Al Anbar province, where the Marines are, and move some additional Army units, U.S. Army units, into Baghdad.

Again, this is all to underscore the U.S. strategy of securing Baghdad first as a priority to try to get the violence in Iraq under control -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now, this F-16 pilot that went down in Iraq. I'm understanding that we're getting a name and location of where he was based?

MCINTYRE: That's right. The Pentagon has identified this pilot, who is still officially listed as missing, as Major Troy Gilbert. He was based at Luke Air Force base in Arizona, currently deployed to Iraq, flying out of Balad Air Base in -- just north of Baghdad.

Again, U.S. officials fear that this pilot perished in the crash of his plane, but because insurgents got to the crash site and removed the body before U.S. troops got there, they are not giving up hope about his fate until they can say for certain what happened to Major Gilbert -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll track it, Jamie, thanks.

LEMON: Comrades in arms or in name only? President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki are huddling now about the nasty and indecisive war in al-Maliki's country. But they're not in Iraq; they're in Jordan. And their meeting itself is sparking division and dissent.

Our Ben Wedeman has the latest from Amman -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don.

President Bush arrived in Amman about an hour ago on Air Force One. And earlier in the day, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrived, as well. But already -- actually, they haven't met yet. In fact, we understand that the meeting will take place tomorrow morning. This evening, President Bush will be dining with Jordan's King Abdullah.

But already there are problems, or at least complications, one caused by this leaked White House memo from national security adviser Stephen Hadley, in which he, using very blunt terms, cast doubts upon Maliki's ability to run the country and, certainly, bring the security situation under control.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, a group of ministers loyal to Muqtada al- Sadr, that radical Shiite cleric, have withdrawn from the government in protest over al-Maliki's meeting with Bush.

So already, even though things haven't really gotten under way yet, there are problems popping up -- Don.

LEMON: Question for you, Ben: President Bush is on the ground now. What kind of environment is he entering by going there now? What's happening on the ground?

WEDEMAN: Don, it's an environment of intense skepticism. You have to realize, looking at it from the point of view of people in Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East, this is an administration that, for instance, rushed into the invasion of Iraq against intense opposition among the Arab leaders like Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, who warned that the United States would be opening a Pandora's Box. And many people look at Iraq now, and they say that's exactly what happened.

This is an administration that, for instance, pushed vigorously for democracy in the Arab world and then got cold feet when groups like Hamas and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood scored stunning gains in elections.

This is an administration that, as far as people around here see it, stood by as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict spun out of control and was very hesitant to become involved.

So when President Bush comes to Jordan and says he wants to bolster the Iraqi government, he wants to salvage the situation there, many people really don't have very high expectations about his ability or sincerity when it comes to making this actually happen -- Don.

LEMON: Ben Wedeman in Amman. Thank you, Ben.

PHILLIPS: The sit-down in Jordan is prompting a walk out in Iraq. The so-called Sadrist lawmakers and ministers loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are making good on a threat to boycott the government.

CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson following developments now from Baghdad -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, they made that threat a week ago. They said if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went to Jordan to meet with President Bush, then they would withdraw their participation from the government. They did that today. It is a blow. They have 30 seats in the parliament, six ministries.

In fact, Nouri al Maliki wouldn't be prime minister today without the support of Muqtada al-Sadr. The Sadr bloc is saying that Nouri al-Maliki had promised them, as well, that he wouldn't support an extension of the U.N. mandate which allows U.S. troops and other troops to remain stationed here in Iraq.

Sadr's bloc has called for a long time for U.S. troops to withdraw, to get a withdrawal date set. He also says that Nouri al- Maliki shouldn't be in Jordan. What he should be doing is here in Iraq, sorting out the basic services of the people and improving the security.

This is a shot across Nouri al-Maliki's bows while he meets with President Bush. It's not unexpected. It is a power play of sorts. And it certainly, at this stage, it's what is perhaps what Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was fearing most at this particular moment -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the significance of why the Sadr party is coming out with this announcement right now.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you're in Sadr's shoes right now, you're looking at this leaked memo that's come out of Washington, that says Prime Minister Maliki is surrounded by people who don't advise him properly, that is allied with elements who are reactionary, who are radicals.

And although it doesn't spell it out in name, Muqtada al-Sadr would perhaps see himself as one of those people the United States is looking at Nouri al-Maliki to disassociate himself with.

So what's Sadr doing? He's challenging Nouri al-Maliki, saying, "OK, you're in Jordan meeting President Bush. I'm showing you who's in power here in Iraq. You strike a deal with the U.S. that cuts me out of power. Look at the power I've got here in Iraq."

This is probably what's going on. We don't know. We're not hearing from Nouri al Maliki on this. But Sadr's done this before. This is the way he plays politics in Iraq. And it's what he seems to be doing again, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We're going to talk more about that leaked memo, the national security adviser to the president, Stephen Hadley, and how he talked pretty bluntly about the leadership of Maliki.

Thanks, Nic.

LEMON: Let's head to the NEWSROOM now. Fredricka Whitfield working on a developing story out of Ohio.

What's going on?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We've been watching all morning the situation of a suspicious device under an overpass of I-71, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. It had closed traffic in both directions.

You're looking at pictures right now of emergency crews on the scene. We're hearing just moments ago from the officials on the scene that they have detonated that device. It's unclear exactly what that device was supposed to do, but suspicious nonetheless, because it was comprised of some form of liquid, wires, a clock and a 9 volt battery.

Police officials said this just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Evidence at this time is being collected for analysis. The FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, along with state officials were here to assist. I believe also there were some officials from the ATF here also for assistance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think it's going to be opened up again soon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I don't have any time frame on traffic at this point. I still say probably another couple hours, because evidence is still being collected. It has to be boxed up for transit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Confirmed as an incendiary device?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was confirmed as an incendiary device, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you detonate it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't detonate it. The Cincinnati bomb squad did it. I'm not sure how they did it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They didn't use the bomb removal truck that they brought here at the scene?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The -- no, the device was not removed from the scene. It was disabled at the scene.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So bottom line: that device disabled by officials there. It's unclear exactly what's going to happen to traffic on I- 71, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. The FBI is still investigating because it's unclear the intent of this device.

Our security analyst, Mike Brooks, has also been watching this.

And Mike, give us an idea what these components could actually do, liquid, wires, a clock, a 9-volt battery.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we believe it was some kind of flammable liquid. My sources at the scene are telling me that they believe it has been there for quite some time, possibly as long as this summer. Because apparently it looked as if, from their observation, that the battery was dead because the clock was not operating.

But they believe that this was a functional device. They don't know how long it's been there. And one thing that's very ironic, Fredricka, is that President Bush's motorcade has been over this bridge at least twice in the last year. So that's also going to be looked at, to see if there's any relation to this whatsoever.

As you heard, during a news conference, it was rendered safe. They don't actually detonate it. What they do is, they render it safe. It's called a disruptive. They go ahead and they disrupt the device in place. Because they didn't know, because of the length of time it's been there, how volatile it could be and how unstable it could be.

So they decided to go ahead, shoot it in place, and disrupt this device right there under the bridge.

WHITFIELD: And why would the FBI still be involved when it seems as though it would be a very local matter?

BROOKS: Well, the FBI is going to be involved because as long as -- as well as possibly the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fires and Explosives -- because it was an incendiary device.

You know, they don't know if this was terrorist related right now. And I'm sure, since the president has been over this overpass a number of times, that the Secret Service is also going to be involved.

But keep in mind there is a Secret Service representative on the FBI's joint terrorism task force there out of the FBI office in Cincinnati.

WHITFIELD: Also, in part, because this is Interstate 71.

BROOKS: That's correct. And the Ohio state -- the Ohio Highway Patrol was also involved in this, along with the Norwood Police Department, because that's the actual locale where it was located.

But it was the Cincinnati Fire Department bomb squad that was the bomb technicians, along with the -- they had two tech agents from the FBI out there assisting them, as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mike Brooks, thanks so much.

Once again, just to underscore, police officials say that there's no risk of explosion anymore, now that they have disabled this mysterious device, a collection of components, which certainly seemed to be a serious threat there, just at I-71, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Fredricka. Thank you very much for that report.

Two civilians gunned down by cops. Now a well-known activist shoots from the lip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: For police to shoot with no just cause is why we're here. It's a problem here; it's a problem in Atlanta; it's a problem all over this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Community outrage and civic response in New York and Atlanta. We're following both investigations straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: How much is too much? When the World Cup skiers head for the lodge, it's time to pay attention. The latest on a major snowstorm that's walloped the west. It's all next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Secret CIA flights and secret CIA prisons for terror suspects. An E.U. report says they might be the worst kept secret in Europe.

CNN's Paula Newton is in London with all the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the E.U. report claims that 11 E.U. countries knew about these secret CIA flights and that they knew that the CIA was operating secret prisons in Europe.

Now, this report is not legally binding. But some of the information they came up with is interesting. They were given significant logs in terms of the flights and exactly where they happened.

There were more than 1,200 of these flights, in fact. Germany had 336. The United Kingdom, 170; Portugal, 91; Spain, 68; Italy, 46; Ireland, 147. I mean, these were a lot of flights, mainly conducted in 2003 and 2004.

What is interesting here is that the European Union has called on these individual governments to launch their own investigations, mainly because they don't have the power to investigate further.

It seems highly unlikely that any of these countries will do so. They will take cover under national security, saying that they won't be allowed to divulge this. There has been speculation that, in fact, a secret CIA prison was operating in both Poland and Romania.

President Bush, back in September, admitted that these CIA prisons did exist. And, although they don't have any detainees in them right now, he wouldn't rule out the fact they would be used again in the future.

This has really been an issue nagging at the European parliament. I think they don't want to have the taint of these kinds of secret clandestine transfers, interrogations, hanging over Europe. And so they have pushed this issue through to the parliament.

As I said, there is absolutely nothing that is legally binding about this. This issue, though, will continue to grind on in the European parliament. They expect to go through this report. As I said, it's only a draft report. They expect to go through it early in the new year.

Paula Newton, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: What does the White House really think of Nouri al- Maliki? Officially, President Bush has confidence in the beleaguered Iraqi prime minister. But in a classified memo leaked to "The New York Times", national security adviser Stephen Hadley raises serious doubts. Hadley writes that it's still unknown whether al-Maliki, a Shiite, is willing and able to, quote, "rise above the sectarian agendas being promoted by others." "The Times" says that Hadley wrote the memo last month after meeting with al-Maliki in Iraq.

LEMON: You can add Colin Powell to the growing list of interested parties who think Iraq has collapsed into civil war.

The former secretary of state says he'd recommend the Bush administration -- recommend that the administration use that term if he were still running the State Department.

And speaking in Dubai, Powell also said he regrets making the decision for war at the United Nations back in 2003. His outlook for the conflict now? Powell says a political solution cannot be imposed. Iraqis have to forge one on their own.

PHILLIPS: Well, don't rush out to your mailbox, but the hard- line president of Iran has written a letter to the American people. It's lengthy, five pages, and it was released today at the United Nations.

In it, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls on the U.S. to pull out of Iraq, and it accuses the Bush administration of coercion, force and injustice.

This isn't the first time Ahmadinejad has engaged in postal diplomacy. Last May, he wrote Bush an 18-page epistle, to which Mr. Bush never responded.

LEMON: Walking on religious eggshells. The pope calls for more dialogue between Muslims and Christians. And you're looking at live pictures now of that meeting. And he offers a mass to honor the Virgin Mary. More on his landmark trip, live pictures hopefully, coming up next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, a big win in court for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Susan Lisovicz live at the New York Stock Exchange with all the details.

Hey, Susan. Pretty good news.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Pretty good news, but it's not the final verdict yet. You know, these things take years to resolve ultimately, and time is not on the side of the poor suffering people in the Gulf Coast.

A federal judge has ruled that thousands of home owners flooded after Hurricane Katrina can seek compensation from their insurance companies. Those insurers, which include State Farm, All State, Hartford and Travelers, insist their policies do not cover flood damage and plan to appeal. But flood victims argue that the language in the policies is ambiguous. The judge said the language did not clearly exclude manmade flood disasters. He says since the insurers themselves wrote the policies, he felt compelled to rule against them.

You will recall much of the destruction in New Orleans was a result of levee failures and, you could argue, man made. Exceptions, however were made for State Farm and Hartford. Their policies specified that they do not cover flooding, quote, "regardless of cause," unquote -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, how much are the big insurance companies on the hook for?

LISOVICZ: Well, that's why they're appealing, of course. They've already spent $41 billion, upwards of that, been paid out to victims of Hurricane Katrina. This ruling would add billions to that bill.

But because of appeals, a final ruling on the issue could take months, even years.

(STOCK REPORT)

LISOVICZ: Coming up, its bread and butter has been gas guzzlers, but GM says its going green. I'll have details when NEWSROOM returns.

Kyra, Don, back to you.

LEMON: All right, thank you. Very interesting. Can't wait for that one. Susan Lisovicz.

Critical meeting, complicated by a critical memo. A confidential assessment Iraq's leader leaked at the worst possible time. We've got White House reaction coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A difficult war, doubts about their abilities to lead, and now a delay. President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki were going to talk in Jordan tonight. But that's been put off until tomorrow, the White House citing scheduling reasons.

The two are trying to come up with ways to stabilize Iraq, but their meeting itself is causing instability. It's prompted a group of lawmakers and cabinet members allied with radical cleric Muqtada al- Sadr to quit the Iraqi government, at least temporarily.

And it comes at a delicate time, with a new leaked memo from the U.S. national security adviser, questioning al-Maliki's capacity or inclination to heal sectarian rifts.

PHILLIPS: Well, if Iraq is the frying pan, is Jordan the fire? The group Human Rights Watch says Iraqi refugees in Jordan face more hardship and peril. Arrest and deportation are a daily threat because Jordan considers the Iraqis illegal immigrants. The group is urging President Bush to take up the problem with King Abdullah. In the meantime, a Jordanian government spokesman dismisses the report as inaccurate.

LEMON: Building bridges between two long separate branches of Christianity. Pope Benedict headed to Istanbul today to try and heal a rift nearly a thousand years old. Earlier he stopped at site said to be the final home of the Virgin Mary. Our Alessio Vinci has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is just a brief stopover for Pope Benedict here in Turkey on his way to Istanbul to meet with the world leader of the Orthodox Christians. Here, however, it is a significant place, which became an important center for Christianity in the early years after Jesus' death. Legend has it that this is where the Virgin Mary spent her last years in life. And there is a Mary sanctuary. This is where the Pope celebrated mass earlier today. Amid, again, extremely tight security, the place is not very big at all. But it was swarming with heavily armed policemen. This site is visited every year by hundreds of thousands of people. Both Christians and Muslims who also revere Mary but so far only a few hundred people have been able to attend the Pope's mass. It took place in an intimate atmosphere, the smallest attendance, perhaps in recent memory, of a papal mass. During the homily, the pope, again, perhaps aware of the sensitivity of this trip, avoiding any potential flash points.

In particular, the one that minority religions in this country, though not oppressed, are under some pressure and on occasion suffer some harassment. So he encouraged the small community of Christians to pursue their faith. He mentioned the name of an Italian catholic priest who was killed earlier this year here in Turkey by a Muslim gunman who later said that he was enraged by the cartoons that appeared at the beginning of the Danish Press, portraying the Prophet Muhammad.

But nevertheless, the Pope is here in Turkey with a message of brotherhood and dialogue and the Pope's surprise move to basically back Turkey's bid to enter the European Union and his message of brotherhood and reconciliation is being interpreted here in the streets of turkey as a positive move, especially after the pope made those controversial remarks in Germany, linking Islam with violence. The pope's positive message, also welcomed by the Turkish press as one main newspaper here in this country put it this morning, "it is a beautiful start." Alessio Vinci, CNN, with the pope in Turkey.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Ask most people what they would kill for if they absolutely had to, and family well tops the list. But would you kill for your family's honor? Would you kill a family member? A daughter- in-law, a sister, a daughter? Some Muslim families would and do even when the killers risk prison. CNN's Anderson Cooper looks at the concept of honor killings in Turkey. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A mother and father point to their daughter's wedding picture. This marriage, they say, cost her, her life. Their daughter Margon committed suicide, trapped in a marriage she felt she couldn't leave, trapped by a culture in which some women are killed for wanting a divorce.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She and her sister always talked about life. She told her sister she didn't like her mother-in-law. When I went to see her after the wedding, she was upset. I asked her how she was doing but she said she was OK. We wanted to take her back from her husband. But then we learned she died.

COOPER: In Turkey's poor conservative southeast if a woman is accused of shaming her husband's family by asking for divorce, committing adultery or even being raped, she risks being murdered. It's called an honor killing. A century's old tradition designed to restore a family's honor. Today, some women are still being killed or pressured into committing suicide. All these women are victims. They won't show their faces on camera because they still fear retribution from their husband's families.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went to Istanbul to get a divorce but I was afraid to come back here because I'd have the same problems. My family here said if I got a divorce they would kill me. I tried to kill myself by overdosing on vitamins.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: During my marriage, I was stepped on and pushed around, abused by everyone. I told my family but they said, you chose it, it's your problem. So I took pills to try and kill myself.

COOPER: Suicide rates have skyrocketed in this part of Turkey and in June, the United Nations sent a special envoy to investigate. The U.N. concluded that while many of the deaths were suicides, some were honor killings disguised as a suicide or an accident. Eager to modernize and join the European Union, Turkey has recently changed its laws, mandating life sentences for men convicted of honor killings. But traditions die hard. And many men here still believe honor killings are justified.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are bound by the rules. If a woman runs away, she must be killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good name is more important than the penalty. We don't care about the penalty. A good name is the most important thing in our world.

JULIA KRITTIAN, JOURNALIST: Most of the times, it's nothing that the woman does willingly that stains the honor.

COOPER: Julia Krittian is a German journalist who has reported on honor killings.

KRITTIAN: There are all these histories of women being raped by their brothers or their fathers. It's always the fault of the woman, never the fault of the man and the woman is the one who has to bear the consequences.

COOPER: For Margon's mother and father, the consequences of her death are deeply felt. Their daughter is gone, but the pain still lingers. And this photo is just about all they have to remember her by. Anderson Cooper, CNN, Istanbul.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Anderson Cooper, live from Amman, Jordan tonight. "ANDERSON COOPER 360,"" airs 10:00 p.m. eastern.

LEMON: An overnight fire races through a fraternity house near the University of Missouri. More on the deadly blaze, just ahead, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We've got a developing story. Let's head to Fredricka Whitfield in the NEWSROOM with all the details. Fred?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well Don, remember the 2004 Madrid train bombings, 191 people were killed? Well perhaps you also remember that an Oregon lawyer was arrested for suspicion of involvement in this train bombing. Now his attorneys, of Brandon Mayfield, are saying that he has settled a lawsuit with the U.S. government and now he will get $2 million as a result of his wrongful arrest. And the FBI had claimed at the time that his fingerprints were found on a detonator. That turned out to be wrong.

And this man, Brandon Mayfield, you're looking at him now speaking previously, he said that he was a victim of profiling because he had recently converted to being a Muslim. Well, now the bottom line is, according to his attorneys and according to Justice Department officials, that a settlement has come, $2 million is what Brandon Mayfield will now get from the U.S. government for this error.

LEMON: All right, Fredricka, thank you so much for that.

PHILLIPS: Just getting word in now out of Baghdad. We're being told that Baghdad's emergency police have confirmed to CNN that Iraqi police found 52 bullet riddled bodies in various Baghdad neighborhoods today. The official also told CNN that most of those bodies were found on the west side of Baghdad. That's just west of -- on the west side of the Tigris River. As you know, for days, practically all throughout last week and the beginning of this week, we've been reporting about civilian casualties, and that those numbers are rising, and the talk about civil war. A number of people coming forward, still not calling this a civil war, within the Bush administration.

But today, former secretary of state Colin Powell coming forward and being one of the -- one of a growing list of former politicians that are calling this a civil war in Iraq right now. But once again, getting word from Baghdad emergency police that they found 52 bullet riddled bodies in various Baghdad neighborhoods today. Those numbers, civilian casualties, continuing to climb. We'll follow it.

LEMON: Let's talk about tragedy at a fraternity now. A student at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, died overnight in a fire at the Phi Kappa Alpha house. Only three students lived there. Two were able to get out. Counselors are helping to console students and staff.

PHILLIPS: The heat's still on the NYPD. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton visited the spot today where undercover New York officers were gunned down and an unarmed bridegroom early Saturday. Sharpton says it was important to stand with Sean Bell's family in their hour of grief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: For police to shoot with no just cause is why we're here. It's a problem here. It's a problem in Atlanta. It's a problem all over this country. We're talking with members of Congress, like Congressman Conyers, we've met with the mayor. We've met with the police commission. We're not trying to break the law. They keep talking about tensions. This family has said from the beginning when I met them at the hospital when I was called. We do not want to break the law. We want to see the law enforced for everybody. The victim of lawlessness was Sean. They say crime went down in Queens. That's good and we support that. But we believe a crime was committed against Sean.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Bell was shot to death while leaving a bachelor party with his friends just hours before he was scheduled to be married. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called the police barrage unacceptable, and an apparent case of excessive force.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, secret CIA flights to secret CIA prisons. But how secret were they? Almost a dozen European governments knew about them. A new EU report could mean trouble for some U.S. allies. That's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And do violent video games equal violent behavior? Dr. Sanjay Gupta has answers, that's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Fifty two bullet riddled bodies found in Baghdad neighborhoods today. Chair of Joint Chiefs Peter Pace talking now to reporters. Let's listen in.

GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I intend, as do the other chiefs, to have them continue to meet with us, not necessarily these individuals, but to refresh the pot with new folks with recent experience so we can continue to do our job. There's not an end state to this. There's not an end product. It is a way for us to continue to give on a recurring basis, our best military advice. So I hope that helps clears that up. I'd be happy to take your questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- decreasing troops in Anbar Province, increasing them in Baghdad, surging throughout the country the number. All this input that you're talking about, is your thinking after hearing from these people that you do need to shift troops around inside the country?

PACE: First of all, bits and pieces somehow are leaking out. So when somebody hears one end of the spectrum or the other, about all that they have presented to us, that gets reported as, they're looking at this or they're looking at that. Truth of the matter is, yeah, we are. That's part of the whole spectrum that we're looking at. Whether it's been reported that we're looking at beefing up, whether it's reported we're looking at skimming down, as you would expect your military planners to do we are looking at the whole spectrum of possible military actions. And then we're analyzing that action against the desired outcome. Applying our experience, getting the input from our staffs and from these additional folks who just came out of theater, and then applying our best military judgment about which of those applies.

I'm not going to say to you where I am personally, nor where the chiefs are, because our responsibility is to give our best military advice. As advisers if we are to be heard, and to have the trust of those who -- who -- to whom we're giving our advice, we need to be circumspect about what we say in public, how we say it. So that our ideas can be put into the other ideas. There's the -- Secretary Baker and Congressman Hamilton's group are meeting, and they have a very strong body of individuals who are thinking through this problem. Those ideas will be fed to the president and others will too. So we need to be part of the dialogue and give our best military advice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're saying these are all ideas at this point and no decision has been made to, for instance, increase troops in Baghdad?

PACE: I'm saying they're all ideas right now. Over the course of the last couple of months, we have had recommendations that we have forwarded, advice that we have forwarded to the secretary and to the National Security Council and to the president. And we will do so again this week and next week and the week after that. It's part of what we do every week. I meet with the secretary every day. I am privileged to meet with the president several times a week normally, at least once a week, and provide to those gentlemen my best advice.

So as the chiefs determine that a particular way ahead will be beneficial to the country, we provide that advice to the leadership, if it is properly in the civilian leader's realm to make a decision. Or if we think there's a way to do something tactically that perhaps the commanders haven't thought about, we feed those ideas to General Abizaid and General Casey and let them judge how that fits on their battlefield.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Separate and apart from your study group what can you tell us about the plans currently under way on the ground in Iraq to increase the number forces in Baghdad where are those troops going to come from, how many, and how long will they stay?

PACE: That is the province of General Casey. He is doing the same thing that we are doing. General Casey is doing it with his staff. General Abizaid is doing it with his staff. We are doing it here. We are sharing our ideas back and forth. I think it has been reported today that there are a couple of battalions that General Casey has decided to move into the Baghdad area.

I know he -- General Casey -- is working very closely with Prime Minister Maliki to ensure that the actions of the coalition forces and the actions of the Iraqi security forces are coordinated and that they support the political process that Prime Minister Maliki is striving to attain. So I won't predict from here how big and how long, but I can tell you that that is very much part of the dialogue in Baghdad and here in Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any idea where those additional forces from within Iraq are going to come from?

PACE: I don't have that, no.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: General Pace, just to be clear, some of the reports had suggested that the Pentagon, and you in particular, considering essentially throwing in the towel in Al Anbar Province, shifting those marines to Baghdad, and just simply turning Al Anbar Province over to the Iraqis. Is that something that you're giving serious consideration to?

PACE: No.

MCINTYRE: Do you want to elaborate on that at all?

PACE: You gave me a very straight question. I gave you a very straight answer. No. Why would we want to forfeit any part of Iraq to the enemy? We don't. We want to provide security for the Iraqi people. You want to be able to assess the Iraqi government in providing good governance and providing economic opportunity. And those three things fit together. Security, governance and economy. You're not going to have success or progress in one without success and progress in all three. So when you look to Baghdad, for example, you can equate the kind of environment you'd like to have in Baghdad with the kind of environment you'd like to have in any big city anywhere in the world. Is there crime in Washington, D.C.? Yes there is. Is there a police force in Washington, D.C. that keeps it below the level at which the government can function and the people can go about their daily lives and do what they want to do? Yes.

That's the same thing with terrorism. It's not practical to expect that we can snuff out terrorism completely, but it is reasonable to strive to have an environment inside of which terrorist acts are below the level at which the Iraqi government can function, where the economy can prosper, and where the Iraqi people can live their lives the way they want to. And that's what we should be focused on, and giving up any part of Iraq is counter to that goal that we collectively have set for ourselves. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: General Pace, are you equating turning the province in Iraq over to Iraqi security forces as turning it over to the enemy?

PACE: Absolutely not. The question was, were we going to abandon Al Anbar? And the answer is no. That is much different than we still providing security in a province where the "we" is mostly Iraqi security forces, as opposed to coalition forces. Very distinct difference.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's be sure we have the specifics. You are not ruling out the idea of turning over security in Anbar to the Iraqis, of having them take the lead and moving some of those force, U.S. forces that are now in Anbar, into Baghdad?

PACE: Two different parts of your question. Number one, eventually, over time, it is our goal to turn over every province in Iraq to the Iraq security forces under the command and control of the Iraq government. That is our goal. There is no immediate thoughts to moving all coalition forces out of Al Anbar Province and turning over, right now, today, all security in Al Anbar to Iraqi security forces.

PHILLIPS: Peter Pace, chair of joint chiefs. We'll continue to follow his briefing there at the Pentagon with reporters. We had been talking about the shifting of forces within Iraq, specifically out of Al Anbar Province, more into Baghdad. Peter Pace coming forward, plain and simple, no, not going to happen. But they are looking at how they can strategize and shift forces. We'll continue to follow that live event.

LEMON: Meanwhile, here to talk about healing the wounds of war. We're taking you to a place that helps wounded soldiers and their families. Up next in the NEWSROOM, we're visiting The Fisher House. You don't want to miss that.

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