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Golden Mosque Bombed in Iraq; Subpoenas Issued for White House Aids; Lebanese Politician Assassinated; Whale Shark Dies in Atlanta Aquarium

Aired June 13, 2007 - 13:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Insults on top of injury at the Golden Mosque in Samarra. Insurgents strike again at the Shiite holy place that was bombed to such devastating effects 16 months ago.
RICK SANCHEZ, CO-HOST: Under oath, all the records, end of story. Democrats investigating the U.S. attorney heard saying they are tired of asking for White House aides to answer questions. You know what that means. Here come the subpoenas.

PHILLIPS: And here comes the White House briefing. You name it, reporters will ask it. And you'll be live, right here on CNN.

I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN center in Atlanta.

SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez in today for Don Lemon. You are now in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Twin explosions north of Baghdad. No one was killed, but that was the only upside. The target was this: a revered Shiite mosque in Samarra, and not much of it is left. It's a place with a painful past, and authorities have a theory he who did it.

CNN's Hala Gorani is in Baghdad -- Hala.

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, you said it. No one was killed. So why in a country where so many die on a daily basis do we care that the Samarra Golden Mosque was bombed? Well, that's because 16 months ago the golden dome of the al-Askariya mosque was bombed, setting off 16 months of intense sectarian carnage.

This time, bombers were able to get through security cordons and set bombs either in the mosque or around the minarets, taking them down. The result has been -- it's pretty -- there have been results and some retaliation across Baghdad, for instance.

We've heard that two Sunni mosques were either partially or completely destroyed. There have been some neighborhoods in Baghdad, Shia, Sunni and mixed, where there's been increased shooting. And the big fear now, of course, is that this internescent (ph) conflict in this country will get even worse, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And after talking to military sources, even Iraqis there in country and talking to you and others, even within CNN, is there any way you can give us a sense for just how bad it is out on the streets? When I talked to the locals, they say a lot of it is stuff they've not even seen to this point.

GORANI: Well, it's really going to be a question of how things develop after this curfew that started at 6 p.m. local time is lifted.

Right now, in Baghdad, in Samarra, in other big urban centers across Iraq, there is a curfew, not only on vehicles, but also on individuals. The curfew, of course, can not be indefinite.

Once it is lifted, will the reaction we saw after the first Samarra bombing happen again? Will Sunni versus Shia, Shia versus Sunni, will that battle that's been going on for the last 16 months and making the security situation in this country so difficult, will that become even worse? Will it become aggravated by the Samarra bombing?

Now, an interesting point. Around that mosque, there were two cordons of security personnel. How do the bombers get through the first cordon is the question.

What the U.S. military is telling CNN, is that they believe that this was an inside job. In other words, that some of these security guards cooperated with the bombers and even some are going so far as saying that perhaps some of them took part in this bombing, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Hala Gorani, live from Baghdad. Thank you so much.

And stay with CNN, because in just a few minutes, we're going to speak live with the Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. That's right here in the NEWSROOM, 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Live pictures there, Baghdad.

SANCHEZ: Now this question. Who knew what and when? This is a question that's really dogged the White House since the firings of eight federal prosecutors first came into question. And now the probe is reaching a new level.

This morning, we are expecting reaction from the White House at any moment on these developments, by the way.

CNN's congressional correspondent Dana Bash is joining us now with details of the very first subpoenas issued in this case.

Dana, you were first to break this story. Who is being subpoenaed and why?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're -- what we are seeing are subpoenas going out from Capitol Hill today, Rick, for two of the president's former top aides, the White House -- former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sarah Taylor.

And as you said, this is really significant, because we have seen the showdown between Congress and the White House on this issue of who knew what when in the fired federal prosecutors controversy, for months. But this is the first time Congress has taken this particular step and actually issued subpoenas for people who worked inside the White House.

Now, in a letter, both the chairmen of the Senate and House judiciary committees, who issued these subpoenas, said that they were doing so with reluctance. But they said that they have been trying to get voluntary testimony for these two former officials, as well as others, for months, since March. And, according to the Democratic chairmen, what the White House had offered in return, which was a private meeting with no oath and no transcript, from the Democrats' point of view, that was unacceptable.

That is why they decided to take this leap, essentially, today and issue the subpoenas.

Listen to what Senator Chuck Schumer said earlier today. He has been a Democrat who has been leading this investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: It's now up to the president. Is he going to cooperate with an investigation that has really rocked the Justice Department, brought out facts that we have never seen before, or are they going to continue to stonewall?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So there you heard from a Democrat.

It's important to note also, Rick, that our congressional producer, Ted Barrett (ph), just caught up with the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, and he said that he supports this move. So it is a bipartisan move at this point from Congress to send these subpoenas.

So the question now is what does the White House say? We are waiting, as you said, to hear the White House briefing as to their reaction to this.

These are two former officials, so we're also trying to contact their private attorneys to see if their compliance might be changed, because they're no longer working in the White House.

But I can tell you, we have been covering this White House and this story for months, and the White House has been very firm that the president does not think that sending some of his aides, who were not confirmed by the Senate, to Congress is the right thing to do. And Democrats here are very much expecting the White House to fight very hard and perhaps this to end up in the courts.

SANCHEZ: What are we hearing about a possible subpoena of Karl Rove, given that the Democrats have been insisting from the very beginning that all roads point to Karl Rove when it comes to this scandal from its very inception, Dana.

BASH: It's very interesting that Karl Rove's name was not on the subpoena list today. You're right, Rick. And what Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, say is that the way they conducted this investigation is the way they're conduct -- they would conduct any investigation, which is to gather information, sort of from the lower levels up and try to build their case. And do that before they get to the person they really want to talk to.

And that person, no question, is Karl Rove, but they decided just to issue the subpoenas for Karl Rove's deputy at the White House. Sarah Taylor, his political director, was Karl Rove's right hand over there. And also the White House counsel, Harriet Miers. That's why they say they didn't issue the subpoena today for Karl Rove.

SANCHEZ: Sounds like you're saying it's not really a question of if, but when?

BASH: It sounds like that is what these Democrats are saying, but you know, given the fact that this is going to be not just a political fight, but a constitutional and legal one, let's see if it even gets to that point.

SANCHEZ: Dana Bash, our congressional correspondent. Thanks so much for bringing us up to date on that.

Kyra, over to you.

PHILLIPS: Well, another big explosion in Lebanon, another major politician assassinated, or so it certainly appears. Walid Eido was a well-known member of parliament, a constitutional expert and a fierce opponent of Syria.

He was killed today in a blast in western Beirut that also killed his son, two bodyguards and several other victims.

Eido is the seventh prominent opponent of Syria to die in Lebanon in recent years. The most prominent was former prime minister, Rafik Hariri.

Joining us live, CNN's Brent Sadler, who's in Beirut.

Brent, what's going on?

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Kyra.

This is the latest M.P. to be assassinated who belonged to the anti-Syrian parliamentary bloc, led by Saad Hariri, the son and political heir of former assassinated prime minister, Rafik Hariri, himself killed in a massive Beirut bomb blast some two years ago.

Five M.P.'s, no less, Kyra, have now been killed by various bomb attacks, still unsolved, over the past two years, all of them opponents of Syria. And the anti-Syrian coalition here that's under the leadership of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, strongly backed by the U.S., now very much embattled as he sees his parliamentary majority in parliament being whittled away by these assassinations.

The White House has already condemned this latest bomb attack. It was a very heavy explosion. It shook the center of the western part of Beirut. I saw the immediate aftermath of the blast. People running away, panicked, bleeding. Survivors, the walking wounded. And the vehicles that were caught in this latest targeted assassination, which again leaves many, many Lebanese fearing that there could even be worse to come -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Brett Sadler, live from Beirut, thank you.

Straight ahead, a cancer killer that may not be as silent as we've always thought. Elizabeth Cohen has a brand new list of possible ovarian cancer warning signs.

SANCHEZ: Also, another rare whale shark dies in a Georgia aquarium. We're going to have more on the second whale shark death this year.

PHILLIPS: Plus, work, work, work. The shuttle astronauts back on the job. Miles O'Brien has today's to-do list.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Let's take you straight away to the White House. Tony Snow is briefing reporters on some of the stories that we've been telling you about this morning. Here we go.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... the White House political director was involved in the firing.

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No, the White House political director -- I think if you take a look at the White House political director, these -- the most recent e-mails, I believe, took place after the personnel action had taken place.

And furthermore, like you're going to assume that, when you have political appointees, the political office is certainly going to have some conversations. And I believe that the -- that the e-mails you're talking about involve Tim Griffin.

HENRY: OK. But you're saying you would assume that politics would be involved. At the beginning of this story...

SNOW: No, no, I said the political office would have some knowledge of it.

HENRY: But at the beginning of this story, the president, you, Dan Bartlett, others said on camera that politics was not involved. This was performance based.

SNOW: No. That is something -- we have never said that. I think you'll have to take a look at comments that have been made by -- by the Justice Department. What we've said is that people serve at the pleasure of the president. That's the operative principle here.

HENRY: "I have heard those allegations about political decision making. It's just not true." You said that politics was not involved, right? SNOW: Right. Right.

HENRY: So now politics was, because...

SNOW: No. Just because a political director is weighing in on something, does not mean that this is politics involved. These are political appointees.

Also, if you took a look at the e-mails that have come out, there was, at least from the White House side, a very strong effort to say we do not, in fact, want to be impugning the character of these people who have served.

And the principle is the same. It's the one that I've been saying from the very beginning, Ed, which is the president has the authority to remove those who serve at his pleasure. And these were all individuals who had completed their terms as U.S. attorneys.

HENRY: These e-mails were in February with Sarah Taylor. But can you say from that podium categorically that the White House political affairs office not involved back in November, October, leading up to the decision?

SNOW: I think -- I think what we've done is we've already released all the e-mails that were available, and you can draw whatever judgments.

HENRY: The Justice Department. What about...

SNOW: But the justice -- those were Justice Department e-mails, including those that had come from the White House.

HELEN THOMAS, JOURNALIST: Does anyone think that there is any explanation owed to the American people on whether they really performed badly or not, or whether politics? And what have you got against taking an oath and having a transcript? What is it that administrations -- why are you always opposed to -- for someone to be swearing to their testimony?

SNOW: No, Helen, I think you take a look at a long line of precedents that have to do with the way these matters are handled. What we have said is that we will make available to the committees individuals who are perfectly willing to answer any and all questions. That ought to be sufficient. That ought to be sufficient for the purposes of the committees.

THOMAS: What is the objection? To swearing?

SNOW: I'm sorry. What?

THOMAS: What is the objection to swearing in on this?

SNOW: Again, I'm just -- I'm not going to give you any more.

THOMAS: You don't have any?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the president willing to go to court to fight these subpoenas?

SNOW: Let's -- that is way premature.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is it way premature? You have said, I believe, in the past that you -- I believe the administration has said in the past that you would be willing.

SNOW: Again, the first thing, Lisa -- well, again, we'll take a look. At this point, they are going to be reviewing the subpoenas and responding appropriately. It's very early. I can't characterize something that hasn't been fully vetted.

Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got a question on something else.

SNOW: What is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got a question. What is the process for considering all of these letters and other requests for pardons for Lewis Libby?

SNOW: You know, there's a -- you have a pardon process that goes on within the White House, and it's a standard process where these things are reviewed and vetted, and so on. At this juncture, I don't even know if there is a process specific to the case of Lewis Libby.

What the president has said all along is that in this particular case, you've got to let the legal process run its course, and it has not. He intends to appeal, and we'll see what happens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be something of a turning point in the process tomorrow as the judge may decide whether or not to send him to prison immediately or delay.

SNOW: Well...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will that effect the thinking here at all?

SNOW: It's our understanding, and I may be wrong on this, but that, in fact, any such rendering would not result in immediately going off to -- of to a detention facility. In fact, there is still a process that has to be followed with petitions and reviews that could go on for some time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does this effect the timing, Tony?

SNOW: Again, I'm not getting -- you're asking me to get into areas that I'm not going to speculate on from the podium.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tony, the attack today on the mosque, what likely impact could that have on the tensions boiling in the Iraq to begin with? And what has the administration found about who may be responsible?

SNOW: Well, No. 1, an investigation is clearly ongoing. A couple of things. First, the president did receive a briefing this morning. It was scheduled, SVTC (ph), by secure video teleconference with General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.

Prime Minister Maliki -- by the way, we also had a prior scheduled phone call with Prime Minister Maliki. He, perhaps understandably, was not available at the scheduled time. That's why I ran out of the gaggle so quickly. But we're trying to get through to him today, as well.

The one thing you have seen is very swift action on part of the Iraqi government, including the prime minister. You've also had key leaders, such as Ali al-Sistani, calling for people to realize that this really does sort of -- at least it fits the al Qaeda profile, which is an attempt to inflame sectarian violence by hitting a holy site.

And you've seen Sunni, Shia and other leaders throughout the country calling for folks not to engage in sectarian violence. And you know, No. 1, obviously, think about the damage that has been done in this particular case. And, No. 2, realize that the importance in Iraq is to respect the rights of all.

So it's -- you know -- I mean, obviously, we strongly condemn what's going on. And also I think what happened after the original bombing of the mosque in Samarra, I don't think the Iraqi government or the United States government quite understood what was going to happen in terms of the sectarian reaction.

In this case, I think people are acutely aware of what the dangers may be and therefore are moving swiftly to address it as rapidly as possible so that al Qaeda cannot have the same kind of success, twisted success it had the first time around, which -- in terms of setting off sectarian bloodshed -- Jim.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... following that, because I think some American officials have called this an act of desperation. And I'm wondering how this is seen as an act of desperation? Does that mean that the terrorists are so concerned that they're sort of being shut down, and that this surge is so effective that they're now desperate to make a statement?

SNOW: Well, a couple of things. It does fit a pattern that we see throughout the region, which is that when you see things moving toward success, when you see signs of success, that there are acts of violence.

We saw that -- certainly, we've that in Lebanon, once again today, tragically. We also saw it earlier in Lebanon.

We have seen it on a number of occasions where -- when Israel and the Palestinians seemed to be getting close to a deal. There are kidnappings and acts of violence.

What you have seen in the last couple of months -- it's well documented -- is increasingly, Iraqis are turning against al Qaeda, and that has been one of the sort of heartening developments. You've not only seen it in Anbar province, but you've seen it elsewhere.

So one of the responses one might expect for al Qaeda at a time like this, when the Iraqi people are turning against them as foreign fighters, essentially invading the country and trying to commit acts of bloodshed against innocents in order to blow the country apart, that it would be one of those acts of desperation once again to try to get the Iraqis to fight one another, rather than training their sights on al Qaeda.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This could actually be read, then, as a sign of success for the American...?

SNOW: I don't think you ever call an act of terrorism an act of success. What you have to do is to realize that maybe al Qaeda is understanding that it does not have the kind of freedom of motion or action that it used to.

Not only have there been the apprehensions and killing of key members of al Qaeda within Iraq. But again, most significantly, the Iraqi people themselves, tribal leaders in Anbar, insurgents and others, are now making it clear to al Qaeda that look upon al Qaeda as the enemy of peace and security in Iraq, and they're going after them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last question: how -- how is something like this -- this is such a symbolic site. It's sort of pregnant with meaning.

SNOW: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How -- what kind of possible way of stopping attacks like this can there ever be?

SNOW: Well, that's a good question. And that's one of the things that they're going to take look at in the investigation.

Again, I would -- you don't really know exactly the mechanics of what happened. You have Iraqi police guarding. Clearly, they have a vested interest in trying to learn from what happened, and to defend holy sites, Sunni places of worship and Shia holy sites within Iraq.

But again, I don't -- you know, that's one of those things. The answer to that question really does depend, Jim, in significant part upon exactly what happened, and we don't -- we can't tell you for sure what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you could have doubled the number of American troops in there. You're still not going to stop attacks...

SNOW: Well, you've got to keep in mind that there's a lot of sensitivity about Americans being on Shia holy sites. And so the Iraqis, for understandable reasons have said, you know, "We want you guys -- we want to be able to protect our sites." So I'm not sure that that's quite the angle you want to take.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How high a risk do you think is there that there will be another wave of sectarian attacks? And could it be as bad as last year?

SNOW: We certainly hope not. I mean, again, you can't say -- the one thing we did learn from last year is that, after the February 2006 bombings, it didn't happen immediately, but over a period of time, it unleashed a wave of sectarian violence that set back the progress toward a stable Iraqi democracy.

Now we learned lessons from it. Clearly, the Iraqis did, too. And again, I would point you to the very swift reaction on the part of the prime minister and other members of the Iraqi government. So we clearly want to do everything we can to avoid that kind of fate. I don't want to get out a crystal ball.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look at some of the same appeals for calm last time around? How is this different?

SNOW: Yes, there were. But I think also there were some of the same appeals to calm. I think what you do have is, No. 1, you have an Iraqi government up and in place. That was not the case in 2006.

As you recall, the Maliki government didn't get up and rolling until May and June of 2006. And so you had a vacuum between that February bombing and the establishment of the government.

Now, you also have a significantly enhanced Iraqi security force. You have Iraqi police forces in place. You not only have a Baghdad security plan, but I think you also have a much keener understanding on the part of the Iraqis, again, what the dangers are.

And, therefore, those who are going to have influence among Sunnis and those who are going to have influence among Shia are really taking a more aggressive stand this time in terms of saying, "Let us make sure that this does not come -- become another occasion for Iraqis to kill Iraqis."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't remember you or the president or anyone in the administration who's asked about assessing how the surge is going. You point out not everyone is there yet, it's going to take a while, 30 to 60 days. Are we going to see any softening of the September deadline for a pivotal assessment on how this is going?

SNOW: You assess -- you call it a pivotal assessment. There are going to be regular assessment of the -- assessments of what goes on -- what has been going on in Iraq.

And I think in September you will have the first opportunity to have a little bit of a metric to see what happens when have you all the forces in place for the Baghdad security plan.

I mean, that -- that I think, if you want a definitive judgment. I've warned from the very beginning about expecting some sort of magical thing to happen in September. This is a war. And it is the sort of thing where you want to make sure that the measures that you are taking are producing results.

And I think that that juncture, you're going to be able to have, you know, a little more granularity, as they say.

I mean, what we have seen in recent weeks, again, are increasing cases in which Iraqis are taking the lead in security operations, and also in which Iraqi citizens are becoming much more actively involved in supporting Iraqi forces and coalition forces when it comes to taking on acts of violence.

I mean, you had three last week. You had the interception of a female suicide vest attack. You had four truck bombs in Kadamiya (ph), which were designed to unleash a huge amount of violence. That was interdicted. And finally, Mosul, there are two truck bombs that were intercepted on the way to a target. It cost a number of Iraqi police forces their lives.

But the fact is, you do see some of these things taking place, but this -- nobody has any delusions about the difficulty of moving forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is a realistic time frame for some time to go thumbs up or thumbs down on whether this is worth it anymore?

SNOW: The cause of Iraqi democracy is worth it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When do you say when? It seems to continue to snowball. You say Alberto Gonzales is a liability now...

SNOW: Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're saying...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait a minute. Let me finish my question.

SNOW: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then you also have people who are questioning why not transparency after this snowball that continues to grow bigger and bigger, transparency under oath? When will this administration move forward in that direction? Can this administration, embroiled in this controversy, keep on going?

SNOW: It strikes me that that's a highly slanted way to present what's going on. No. 1, that he's more of a liability than an asset. No, the president does not regard him as a liability.

What does happen is that, in the political class, what's happening? They're trying to -- they're going after Alberto Gonzales. Have they found anything? No.

What, in fact, has gone on is that the attorney general and the Justice Department have made extraordinary gestures toward precisely the transparency you ask. All of the e-mails have been made public. You get to see the e-mails. They get to see the e-mails.

They have made -- they have offered to make available for questioning anybody who wants to be there. They are under an obligation to tell the truth.

The fact is, all of those gestures have been made. The question you have to ask yourself is why won't members of the Senate simply take yes for an answer? They have the opportunity to be able to ask all the questions and have access to the documents.

This seems to us to be one these things on which, if you have -- if you really are trying to get the facts, you will accept access to all the key players and all the key documents.

If in fact, you are looking for something else, such as a media circus, you're going to adopt another approach.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But transparency under oath could quell the media circus.

SNOW: No, the fact is that anybody who goes and testifies before Congress has an obligation to tell the truth. That's the law.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two questions. One, when the president was at the G-8, and I understand he had a meeting with the prime minister of India, do you think there was any kind of breakthrough on the way the two countries are building their short description there?

SNOW: Well, I don't know the answer to that question. But the fact is, when you have interactions of that sort, we also tend not to give you comprehensive readouts. Again, let me just reiterate. We think that a civil nuclear agreement is of vital importance. We look upon India as an important and increasingly important ally in this and in a number of other areas. And...

SANCHEZ: We're going to go ahead and dip out of this now. The conversation with Tony Snow having to do on two basic topics. One of them is the firing of the U.S. attorneys, and now the political implications of some of the people being subpoenaed. One of them, a political director working directly with Karl Rove.

And then, of course, the news coming out of Baghdad and parts of Iraq today. The bombing of a mosque and the implications that that might have.

And just to let you know, we're going to be talking shortly with the Iraqi ambassador to the United States right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hopefully, we'll bring you that in about five minutes or so.

Kyra, back over to you.

PHILLIPS: Well, a rare whale shark dies at the Georgia Aquarium, the second in just five months. What's going wrong? And are the aquarium's other whale sharks at risk? The NEWSROOM is on that story, coming up, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So what's killing the whale sharks? That question being asked again at the Georgia Aquarium, hours after a second whale shark died. Norton was one of the original four whale sharks at the relatively new aquarium. CNN's Susan Roesgen is there.

And what are people saying, Susan?

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kyra, the whale sharks are the big draw here at this aquarium, and I wandered around and U talked to some of the visitors here. And I even asked a couple if they had heard the news, and they looked so horrified, that I thought I better stop being the one to share the bad new today.

The aquarium staff is very disheartened by this. Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the sea, and they are the big draw here at the world's biggest aquarium.

In fact, behind me, you might be able to see a couple of them float past. They're brownish gray with a distinctive white dot. Five months ago, one of the two original whale sharks died of a stomach inflammation, and then just this morning, the second original whale shark just sank to the bottom of the tank and it died as well. They are doing an autopsy right now, Kyra. But they say it may be several months before they get the results. They think one thing that might link the two deaths is a chemical that they put in the tank to control parasites and they say it's the same sort of chemical that you would use in a home aquarium. They certainly didn't think it was toxic. They have stopped using it now and they say the four remaining whale sharks here were not exposed to it.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: So even though they stopped using it, Susan, so they don't have to worry. I think there was concern they would have to drain the whole tank and deal with all the other life inside that tank. Does it look like they won't have to do that at all. Is it just an issue of changing that one additive?

ROESGEN: Apparently so, Kyra. They haven't said anything about draining the tank, which by the way has six million gallons of water. They're not talking about doing that. They do say though that they have alerted of course the media and they have alerted all the members of the aquarium to let them know. I asked whether they were going to make some kind of announcement here over the PA system and they said, no, families come here to have a good time and it wouldn't be worth it to say one of our whale sharks died today. So people are still enjoying the four that remain and they hope that if it was this chemical, it was only that and they stopped using it, the four remaining will not be in any danger.

PHILLIPS: I'm curious. You're a New Orleans gal. How does this compare to the aquarium in New Orleans, or can you not even compare?

ROESGEN: Well, it's a lot bigger and I did walk around. You know, you can walk under the tank. I'm sure visitors here have seen this, where you walk under the tank and you look up at these creatures. It's really a fantastic place, a wonderful place for families. I met a guy Kyra from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who said he came to see the whale sharks because he read about them in the same book we all read in high school Thor Hierdahl's (ph) "Kontiki (ph)" about ocean exploration and he really wanted to see them and then of course I said, did you know that one of them died today? And I thought I shouldn't do that anymore. There are four still here, the aquarium feels very badly about it and they are going to do everything they can to find out what has killed the second original whale shark.

PHILLIPS: Our Susan Roesgen, thanks. Rick.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: This just in to us. Moments ago there, is a school in Wayne, New Jersey, that has just been evacuated because officials are saying they had found a suspicious device. In fact, the Passaic County sheriff's bomb squad has now moved in and removed the device from Wayne Valley High School for disposal under a safe area. There is still an investigation going on. I don't know at this point exactly what it was. I believe we've got some live pictures coming in from the area right now. There it is. And that is what looks like one of those devices that is used by law enforcement authorities to remove packages or suspicious devices.

Our understanding, according to the Associated Press that we're using to deliver this information is that it was already picked up and removed from the school. What is still uncertain at this point is exactly what it was. Don't know. Again, that's the very latest information on that story. And you see the live pictures that we're getting in now. We're looking at this, by the way, for the very first time as you are looking at it. And there might be a clue to this, though, Kyra. And the clue here would be in terms of what might go to motive as police investigate this, final exams were scheduled tomorrow and this suspicious package and call was received today, so it might have something to do with it.

PHILLIPS: Oh. Pushes a few extra days for those students to study doesn't it?

SANCHEZ: It certainly does.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, we'll talk about insurgents targeting a Shiite mosque, history repeating itself in Iraq, no surprise. Now fears of further sectarian violence. We'll talk to the Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. straight ahead, right here in CNN NEWSROOM.

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SANCHEZ: Before we do anything else, let's bring you up to date on this developing story ounce again. This is out of Wayne, New Jersey. Wayne Valley is the name of the high school. Apparently there's some kind of a suspicious package that had to be removed by law enforcement authorities. There you can see the machine, the robotic arm that they used to go in there and remove the suspicious device. According to the Associated Press, it was removed, however, they are not sure at this point exactly what it was. There's still an investigation going on. We do understand that the students were taken out of school, obviously, enough, as they continue to check and see if there is anything else that may harm students there. We're going to stay on top of this for you. Obviously if there is anymore information, we'll bring it to you right away.

PHILLIPS: The golden mosque in Samarra attacked last year with ferocious results for all of Iraq and today that mosque was hit again. CNN's Karl Penhaul is embedded with U.S. troops there.

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KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: General Benjamin Nixon, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq including the region around the city of Samarra says the bombing was carried out as the result of the inside job. He said that Iraqi security forces guarding the mosque include both Sunni and Shia Muslims. He says that he believes that al Qaeda insurgents posing as security guards or possibly security guards whose accomplices are al Qaeda insurgents took the explosives into the mosque and placed them under the minarets and then caused that explosion. This is what he had to say.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: We had indications that it was an explosion that occurred from the inside. Therefore it is apparent that somebody involved let some people in there. There will be an investigation done concerning the explosion itself. We have no indicators though that it was in direct fire.

PENHAUL: General Nixon says U.S. explosives experts will now examine the remains of the minarets to try and find out what types of explosives were used and how they were smuggled into the mosque compound. He also said that an entire brigade of Iraqi army soldiers were being drafted into the region to ensure that peace could be sustained. He did however say that so far, there were no reports of sectarian flare up in the city of Samarra and said he was optimistic that a lid could be kept on the violence. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baquba, Iraq.

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PHILLIPS: CNN's Karl Penhaul will join us at the top of the hour actually from the scene of that mosque attack. It's a live shot you'll see only right here on CNN.

SANCHEZ: Because of the bombing on this mosque, let's do this. Let's try and hook up with the Iraqi ambassador to the United States who is good enough to join us. Samir Sumaida'ie was good enough to join us. Mr. Ambassador, thanks for being with us, sir.

SAMIR SUMAIDA'IE, IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Let's talk about what happened today based on what we know and that is the possibility that it's an inside job and that as many as 15 Iraqi security guards have been arrested. Given that, what guarantees can you give that you can somehow bring your security detail under control?

SUMAIDA'IE: It's not a matter of giving guarantees. This is a continuing effort. We are aware that our security forces need to be improved, need to be screened, need to be -- the bad elements have to be weeded out. This is an ongoing effort.

SANCHEZ: Let me pose the question to you this way, sir. Are you better today than you were a year ago?

SUMAIDA'IE: Yes, we are I believe we are. I think there is a lot of evidence to support that.

PHILLIPS: So at what point, Mr. Ambassador, are you able to come forward and say, OK, here is the proof this is how many men, maybe even women working within the police, working within the military that are proving they are taking areas under control by Iraqis? When I was in Iraq, I had a chance to sit down with the minister of interior, the minister of defense, both of them telling me they've got infiltration problems. At what point will you be able to come forward and say we have got this solved?

SUMAIDA'IE: It's not a matter of numbers, it's a matter of quality. It's a matter of institutional capacity to do with this. We have huge numbers. We have hundreds of thousands of elements. You might know that I was at one point minister of interior and I faced that problem, and that point, I determined that I needed to get rid of something like 20,000 people. The situation initially got worse, but now steps are being taken and they are moving forward on that.

PHILLIPS: Do you feel you have the training down as Iraqis or do you still need U.S. forces to help your men secure your country?

SUMAIDA'IE: It's important for the continuation of American and multinational forces in Iraq. We've got to remember this. Iraq is huge prize and there are those who want to seize it. If, God forbid, it falls in the wrong hands, there are repercussions for that area, for Iraq of course itself and for the area and for the world would be dire. I think it's absolutely essential that we will prevent terrorists from seizing the country, and the only way to do that is to enable Iraqi security forces, give them -- get them better trained, better screened, better able to defend themselves and only then....

SANCHEZ: Mr. Ambassador, let me interrupt you for just a moment and try and take off on my colleague's Kyra's questions to you a moment ago. You just told her we are taking steps to try and prevent these breeches. That seems to be a constant problem. What kind of steps are you taking, sir?

SUMAIDA'IE: The steps start right in the ministry of interior and the ministry of defense. There are mechanisms. There are committees now for revising the appointments and the -- if you like, the positions of senior officers, there are checks being made. We expelled a few months ago 5,000 people because the checks should -- they have a criminal record, this is an ongoing process and we're doing it.

SANCHEZ: So you are able you think today to say that you have fewer people who are breeching your system. Then the obvious question is, we have to come back to the very first question I asked you at the beginning. How is it possible then that 15 members of your security would be arrested and suspected of having something to do with this mass bombing?

SUMAIDA'IE: The report is that 15 were arrested. That doesn't mean that 15 were convicted. We're at the beginning of an investigation. Yes there are, we realize, we know that there are bad elements in the security forces. What I'm saying is that we are taking steps to improve that situation.

PHILLIPS: Mr. Ambassador, you bring up a very interesting point. Your quote was, Iraq is a huge prize and a lot of people want to seize it. Not only these extremists, but what about Iran and the support from Iran? Iran doesn't want the U.S. to be involved in Iraq. Iran doesn't want you to operate under a democracy. What are you doing to prevent Iran from supporting this type of infiltration and these attacks against your mosques, against your people, against anyone trying to improve the country?

SUMAIDA'IE: We have adopted an approach of dialog with Iran, with all of our neighbors. And we have made it clear to them that they have to cease supporting any violence in Iraq. We have -- our approach is to engage them, is to show them that this is ultimately not in their interest and would backfire. But there are so many forums. We had the conference in (INAUDIBLE) recently and we continue to engage them. Ultimately, it is our responsibility to stop anybody from stepping in and taking advantage of the transition that we are making. We are determined to complete our process to establish security in the country and complete our political process for democracy.

SANCHEZ: Mr. Ambassador, Samir Sumaida'ie. Thank you sir for taking the time to talk. I know it's a particularly difficult day in our country. We thank you sir for taking the heat.

SUMAIDA'IE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, warning signs for women. Elizabeth Cohen joins us with symptoms that could be signs of ovarian cancer. We'll have more straight ahead from the CNN NEWSROOM.

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PHILLIPS: Ovarian cancer kills more than 15,000 women each year. But a new campaign by cancer doctors could make it less deadly. For the first time, cancer experts are listing the symptoms that might indicate the disease is in early stages. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now with some interesting information that every woman needs to hear. How will this help women?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This public awareness campaign Kyra says to women, listen up and listen to your bodies. Too often women feel things. They kind of blow it off. They say I'll go to the doctor later. They take care of other people and this campaign says women need to start paying attention. There are signs to ovarian cancer. A lot of women don't know this and this campaign by cancer experts says look out for this list: pelvic or abdominal pain, abdominal bloating, if you feel full quickly. You haven't eaten that much but you're feeling full or if you are urinating frequently or if you get the urge to urinate quite a bit, that means that you could possibly have ovarian cancer. You need to go to the doctor. You need to get checked out.

PHILLIPS: What do doctors usually do when you tell them you're having these symptoms? COHEN: Unfortunately, the reality is that often doctors also blow off these symptoms. They just say oh so you're having a bit of a stomach ache. That's no big deal. In fact there was a study that showed that one-third of women -- that is a huge number - who presented - who went to doctors with these symptoms, the doctors didn't do the tests they were supposed to do to rule out ovarian cancer. What doctors are supposed to do is do a pelvic examination and possibly an ultrasound and a blood test. These are not expensive tests. These are not terribly invasive tests. These are relatively simple tests that doctors can do to see if you might have ovarian cancer.

PHILLIPS: You know, unfortunately, I knew a lot of people that had ovarian cancer and died and a lot of them, the doctors misdiagnosed it. And so it's obviously very deadly, but it's hard to detect sometimes, isn't it?

COHEN: It's hard to detect because the symptoms mimic so many other diseases. If you have a stomach ache or you're feeling bloated or you have that kind of full feeling, a lot of women just won't go to the doctor or if they do go to the doctor, the doctor is not necessarily paying attention. But between the various tests that they have like ultrasounds and blood tests and if necessary, surgery, doctors can figure out eventually what you have. Now it's not easy as detecting a lump in a breast. Breasts are right out there and your ovaries are way in there. So it's more difficult, but it is possible.

PHILLIPS: And so how do we keep women from not flipping out after seeing your report, because the first thing you think, a stomach ache, that happens every day right? (INAUDIBLE)

COHEN: What you need to do is not panic, of course. If women feel they're having these symptoms, just go to the doctor and explain it to the doctor and pay attention to when the symptoms started. If this has been going on for years and years and years, the chances you have ovarian cancer are quite slim. If this is new and it's not going away, then you especially need to pay attention.

PHILLIPS: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.

SANCHEZ: New information coming into us now. A story that we've been following throughout the week. A man hunt that's been going on in Montana for quite some time for two different men, both fugitives. It appears now according to information that we're getting now, that -- and this is according to the Associated Press by the way, at least one of them has been captured. Authorities said the men are considered armed and dangerous. They might not have -- they have been saying throughout interestingly enough, they may not have much to wear after apparently bathing in a creek in the area when they were looking for them. Once again, information that we are getting now is that one of the two men has, in fact, been captured. This is the information that we're getting and these are the pictures that are coming into us as we speak. As more information comes in on the story, we'll bring it to you. Kyra back over to you.

PHILLIPS: Another day of tinkering ahead for the shuttle astronauts. The space walk set to begin in just a few minutes. Miles O'Brien is going to join us today with a to-do list of a different kind. That's a little later on in CNN NEWSROOM.

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PHILLIPS: This is video from the scene from one of our affiliates, KRTV, Swan Lake, Montana. Why do we care about this police search? Because of two men that escaped from a Montana state prison, apparently -- this man particularly is the one that we're interested in, Kelly Frank. Not only because they were on the lam from an apparent robbery of a home, stealing weapons, stealing a car and escaping state prison, but the man you are looking at right now is the same man that was involved in that kidnapped attempt of David Letterman's child. You may remember, I think it was a year or so ago. That was the interesting connection, the reason why this made headlines and of course there were two fugitives on the loose in Montana but that was the interesting twist. The same guy associated with that kidnapping attempt of David Letterman's son, of course talk show host for CBS, the one we all love and admire. But anyway, we are following this, trying to find out the situation with regard to the other fugitive that escaped. The prison, we'll keep our eyes on the story, give you more as we get it.

SANCHEZ: A problem in Florida, has to do with weather. Chad Myers is standing by. What is it Chad? What's going on?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We have a tornado warning, Rick, not that far west of downtown Jacksonville. This is an area that we knew had a watch on it. It was only a severe thunderstorm watch box. They have now found rotation in the storm on Doppler radar and as they went out and looked at it, they do have spotters out there seeing rotation and a lowering. So if you are west of downtown Jacksonville, the Buckman Bridge area, Normandy, if you know where that little subdivision is, also Orange Park, Lakeside and Doctor's inlet. This storm is sliding to the south at 20 miles per hour.

Normally they'll go and this would be a bad situation if it would be going from west to east, it would be going right into downtown. But this storm is actually dropping down to the south at about 20 miles per hour. So Clay and Duval and will quickly move over the Duval line into Clay as the storm does sink to the south and that goes until 2:30 Eastern daylight time. We also have more cells to the south although not rotating near Orange Park, also down a little bit farther to the south of there, different radar site. This is Melbourne. You can see the storm is bubbling, but no warnings on them just yet. Also if you're up near DC, here is the DC square, right up here, here's Greenbelt, Maryland. I used to live right there, big time thunderstorm there with lightning and hail with this storm but no rotation just yet. Keep you up to date. It's going to be a big day.

SANCHEZ: All right Chad. Thanks so much for watching it for us.

PHILLIPS: Help from an unexpected source in the U.S. fight rather against Iraqi insurgency. We'll be talking about the details of this new strategic role in Darfur. Stay with us.

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