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American Morning

Palestinian Violence: Hamas Routing Fatah; Mideast Powder Keg

Aired June 14, 2007 - 06:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: A CNN exclusive. Inside the bombed out Shia mosque in Iraq. Now Sunni mosques coming under attack.
Plus, a new Pentagon report on the surge. Is it making things safer for U.S. troops?

Nightmare development. A chilling, new claim about a missing British girl. Why investigators are taking it seriously and launching a new search on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And thanks so much for being with us on this Thursday, June 14th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Roberts. Good morning to you. Thanks for joining us.

"On Our Radar" this morning -- oh, this is such a tragic story. A woman's desperate pleas for help ignored in a California emergency room. She was laying on the floor, suffering from a perforated bowel, vomiting blood. Her family called 911, as did other patients who were there in the emergency room. The hospital did nothing. She died. Take a listen to these frantic calls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALLER: I'm in the emergency room. My wife is dying and the nurses don't want to help her out.

DISPATCHER: OK. What do you mean, she's dying? What's wrong with her?

CALLER: She's vomiting blood.

DISPATCHER: OK. And why aren't they helping her?

CALLER: They're watching her, they're watching her there and they're just not doing anything. They're just watching her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: A county health official called it a case of inexcusable difference. The hospital under new scrutiny this morning. The woman ended up dying. We're going to be talking with her sisters coming up a little bit later on this morning.

CHETRY: You just ask yourself, how could that possibly happen? And when we play a little more of the tape, you'll see they're like, well, there's nothing we can do for calling an ambulance. You're in the emergency room.

Another outrageous story. This one not with deadly consequences, but has a lot of people in the legal community scratching their heads, is a judge who is suing a dry-cleaner for a lost pair of pants to the tune of $54 million. You'd think this is just something ludicrous. It actually went to court. In was, in fact, the arguments wrapped up yesterday. This man cried in court. He says he's doing it for everyone and now the attorneys are taking aim at him on the outside. We're actually going to be speaking to the defense attorney for the two who own the dry-cleaner coming up a little bit later in our show as well.

ROBERTS: We start this morning, though, in Iraq, where retaliation violence is erupting across the country. At least six Sunni mosques have been blown up as revenge for an attack on a Shiite mosque in Samarra. This morning, we have an exclusive report from that mosque. The Askari Mosque. Also known as the golden mosque. About 60 miles north of Baghdad. CNN's Carl Penhaul is embedded with the 82nd Airborne and is the only western journalist to report from there since the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the skyline of the city of Samarra. It's been 24 hours since suspected al Qaeda bombers blew up one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines. In the words of one U.S. soldier on lookout here, he heard a loud explosion, saw one of the minaret fall and after that all that was left was smoke and dust.

U.S. forces divisional commander, General Benjamin Mixon, says he believes the attack was an inside job, carried out by members of the Iraqi security forces put in place to protect the golden dome mosque after another bomb attack about one year ago. So far experts are expected to search the site to look for traces of the explosions to find out who may have been behind the attacks.

The bombing of the golden dome mosque in February 2006 ignited a wave of sectarian killings across Iraq. Such is the significance of that mosque for Iran's majority Shiite population. So far this time around, there has been a swift backlash in other parts of Iraq.

In southwest Baghdad, a Sunni mosque was burned to the ground. And south of the capital, two other Sunni mosques were bombed by suspected Shiite militiamen. In order to avert any further disaster here in the city of Samarra, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered an entire Iraqi army brigade to come to the city. He's also dispatched extra police force to the city in an effort to keep the peace.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Samarra, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: We'll continue to follow the latest on the developments out of Iraq throughout the morning. Also, there's a new Pentagon report, it's out today, about just how effective the troop buildup is in Iraq. The bad news, the Pentagon saying that U.S. troops are dying in record numbers and civilian casualties are higher since the so-called surge began. Better news, though. the report says that sectarian violence is down inside of Baghdad.

Meantime, the Democratic leaders of Congress say the troop buildup as failed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, House speaker, wrote a letter to the president together saying they plan new legislation to limit the U.S. mission in Iraq, begin a deployment and bring the troops home.

ROBERTS: Right now in Beirut, Lebanon, the city is shut down for the funeral of Walid Eido, an anti-Syrian member of parliament. There you see live pictures coming to us from Beirut. Eido, his son and eight others were assassinated yesterday in a bomb blast. He is the seventh anti-Syrian politician to be killed. It began with former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri two years ago. And there you can see the coffin being carried outside in the streets of Beirut this morning.

In the last hour in Gaza, Hamas took control of Fatah strongholds. Sources tell CNN that Fatah leader and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will make a "decisive statement today." He has been threatening to pull out of the government since the Palestinian on Palestinian fighting reached a fever pitch. More than 70 people have been killed since Saturday.

CHETRY: In South Carolina, the hunt is on now for the suspect in a deadly shooting outside of a shopping mall in Columbia. Police say that a woman and her father were gunned down yesterday in a parking lot by a man who's been accused of stalking the woman. She survived, but her father was shot several times and died. Michael Young Jr. had been arrested earlier this month, charged with stalking, but was then free on bond. Police say Young was last seen driving a green Honda Accord.

And in Trenton, New Jersey, police are searching for a double murder suspect after a jail released him by accident. Officials in Mercer County are blaming a series of what they're calling clerical errors for the mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN MARBREY, ASSISTANT MERCER COUNTY PROSECUTOR: It's a major flub, is that he was put in to position where he could be released. As a citizen of Mercer County, I'm upset that this happened because I'm in a same position as every other citizen in this county when someone of this extremely dangerous propensity is out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Police say Donte Brannon (ph) was facing an unrelated burglary charge when a family member posted his bail. Investigators say at least four people, including the parole person, did not thoroughly review his file. They say internal affairs is now investigating.

ROBERTS: In Montana today, two escaped prison inmates are in police custody after six days on the run. One of the escapees, Kelly Frank, was in prison for plotting to kidnap David Letterman's son. Kelly was arrested near a house owned by a relative of the other fugitive, William Willcutt. The S.W.A.T. team arrested Willcutt several hours later.

CHETRY: There's a potentially disturbing new development now in the hunt for a missing four-year-old British girl. The one who disappeared when she was vacationing with her family in Portugal. Investigators say that a Dutch newspaper has received an anonymous letter claiming that Madeleine McCann is dead and it also contained a map that shows where she's supposedly buried in Portugal.

Madeleine, you may remember, disappeared from her hotel room where her family was on vacation. Police say they're taking the letter and the map seriously because they may have come from the same person who sent another letter last year correctly identifying where two missing Belgium girls were buried. ITN's Kier Simmons joins us on the phone from Odiar, Portugal, with more on these latest developments.

Kier.

KIER, SIMMONS, ITN REPORTER: Well, eight police detectives, Portuguese detectives, were in this area for an hour and a half searching, trying to pinpoint exactly what this -- the area that this tip off has specified. It is about nine miles from Praia da Luz, the place where Madeleine went missing.

The letter apparently talks about scrub land off a dirt track and that north of that road underground hidden rocks is a place where perhaps Madeleine is buried. And as you say, one of the reasons why they appear to be taking this seriously is it appears to come from somebody who tipped off Belgium police before about the whereabouts of two young girls, one seven, one 10, who disappeared near the town of Lege (ph). They were found buried after that letter arrived last year.

CHETRY: So for authorities, is there reason to believe, at this point, that it could be the same person behind those killings and the possible murder of this little girl?

SIMMONS: Well, they think that the same person gave them the tip off and that's why they're taking it seriously. And the chief inspector here says that he will do everything necessary to validate the allegation. On the other hand, he has hinted that there's been no precise location from this tip-off, which makes it very, very difficult. I've been here for about five hours and I have to say, there are many dirt tracks, large areas of scrub land, many places that this tip off could allude to. So whether or not the police will be able to pin down exactly what they're trying to find is difficult to say.

CHETRY: Yes. And while this certainly is raising the interest, it could yet again be another tip that turns up nothing because, as I understand it, they have gotten so many so far in the search for this little girl.

Keep us posted, Kier Simmons. Thank you.

ROBERTS: President Bush's dismal poll numbers may be hitting the GOP where it hurts, right in the wallet. President Bush's annual fund-raising dinner for Republican congressional candidates last night took in about $15.5 million. The same event last year made $27 million and $23 million the two previous years.

The latest NBC News/"Washington Street Journal" poll puts the president's approval rating at 29 percent. That's his lowest ever. Congress's approval rating is even lower than that, 23 percent. And only 19 percent of those polled say the country is heading in the right direction. Could have big implications for the '08 election.

No crying in court yesterday for the judge suing his dry-cleaner for $54 million for a lost pair of pants. Arguments in the case are over and a judge will rule next week. Roy Pearson is saying that his pants were lost. That was a violation of the shop's satisfaction guaranteed sign. The attorney for the store's owners say Pearson took the sign a little too literally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MANNING, CUSTOM CLEANERS ATTORNEY: I think the court and everyone else has seen the ridiculousness of this litigation and how strong my client's case is and how incredibly unmeritorious Mr. Pearson's case is.

LISA RICKARD, INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL REFORM: To try to extort damages and allege something like $65 million in damages is completely absurd.

MANNING: Mr. Pearson has cost the taxpayers un-godly amounts of money and it's also cost my clients an incredibly unreasonable amount of money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Coming up at 7:45 Eastern this morning, we will be speaking with Chris Manning, the lawyer for the dry-cleaner's in this case, about his position regarding the pants.

CHETRY: All right. So that's craziness in D.C. And sometimes you have to say to yourself, only in New York. This was a strange scene yesterday. Or a bunch of them actually. Animals running and flying wild in the streets of Manhattan.

First the was a red tailed hawk found huddled by the famed Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan. This little hawk ended up creating such a buzz they had to close down streets. There were nine police officers, three city parks department rangers, volunteers from the Audubon Society, good Samaritans, and at one point they say a homeless man ran, picked up the hawk and then he was chased by a bunch of on-lookers, an angry mob. Anyway, long story short, this poor little red tailed hawk is doing OK and the parks department has taken the little guy and they're going to make sure that he's OK and then released back in the wild. Seven weeks old.

Well, then police thought, OK, that's enough of the animal stories today. An hour later they got a call about a lamb on the lamb in the Bronx. This one had escaped from a live animal market, if you know what we mean. Animal control workers sending the lamb to a farm upstate where, because of, you know, some smart thinking on its part, it will now be spared from the butcher block.

ROBERTS: Lucky lamb.

The "Fort Dix Six" back in court tops "Quick Hits" now. They'll be in federal court in New Jersey this afternoon for an arraignment. They are expected to plead not guilty to charges of plotting an attack on soldiers at Fort Dix.

The search is on for most of Haiti's youth soccer team. Thirteen players deserted during a stopover at Kennedy Airport in New York City. A few came back and turned themselves in. The rest, though, are still missing.

Desperate pleas for help ignored by a hospital staff and by 911. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALLER: I'm in the emergency room. My wife is dying and the nurses don't want to help her out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The hospital's already under fire and facing a new threat. That's head on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

Lewis "Scooter" Libby learning his fate, topping our "Quick Hits" now. The former top aide to Vice President Cheney will find out today if a judge will let him stay out of jail during his appeals. Libby faces two and a half years in prison for his role in the CIA leak case.

There were some computer problems in the International Space Station this morning and it could mean the shuttle Atlantis will have to stay in space an extra day to fix them. The computers control the station's positioning, oxygen and food supplies. So we'll keep you posted on that throughout the morning as well.

Also, New Jersey could become the fourth state to outlaw hand- held cell phone use while driving. Lawmakers say that they're looking to toughen the current law, which allows police to issue a cell phone summons, but only if the driver's pulled over for something else.

John.

ROBERTS: Severe storms slam Oklahoma. At least four tornadoes touched down last night. This one in Red Mesa. Heavy rain caused power outages and road closures. along with the tornado, four inch hail also reported in the Oklahoma panhandle.

And speaking of hail, check out this video of a hail storm in northern Virginia. Look at that. It was shot by an intrepid CNN i- Reporter, who also happens to be my son, Kyle. And that is my back yard. Look at that. Nicely done. Lived there for eight years, never, ever seen hail. It's almost like, you know, what you'd see in the middle of January or February.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, absolutely. Almost looks like snow there. Great, great camera work.

ROBERTS: Yes.

Sixteen minutes after the hour. Reynolds Wolf is here with the dope on more extreme weather across the country. Eastern seaboard? Middle part of the country again today?

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Well, you know, there's an election every four years, but this might be the first year that we're actually saying, "some YouTube politic to tell you about now." YouTube, that's right. well, Hillary Clinton is wait to choose a campaign song and there's something brand new from Barack Obama's camp. Jacki Schechner is here to show us Obama's page and how YouTube is actually playing a very high profile role, at least on the Internet, in terms of these campaigns for president.

JACKI SCHECHNER: That's right, Kiran. They've launched their YouTube "You Choose" channel. And ever week on of the presidential candidates get a shot in the spotlight. Now when Hillary Clinton took her shot, she asked people to help pick her campaign song and everybody thought, how humorous, how clever. Really showed her in a much more relaxed way.

Now we're waiting for Obama's. And now it's his turn. And I've got to say, people were really building up the anticipation. It's a little lack luster in terms of what he's doing. I don't know if we can pull up a little bit of sound, but let's listen to him ask his question in the YouTube spotlight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Whatever it is that is inspiring you to get involved and make this country better, we want to hear those ideas from you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCHECHNER: Which basically doesn't sound all that different from what we've heard from some of the other Democratic candidates. We heard from Edwards. You know, what can you do to change America. We heard from Kusinich (ph), what inspires you. So very similar. His campaign says they're going to stick together these narratives and then create some sort of story as far as what people are doing that gets them inspired.

CHETRY: So he got the spotlight last night at midnight and since then, what the response been?

SCHECHNER: Well, that's what's good for him. It's 40,000 hits in the last eight hours or so. So that's pretty good. If 40,000 people are checking out your video in eight hours, that bodes pretty well for him. And what's good for him is he's got a really good online community of people uploading original content. So even though his question may not be all that inspiring by itself, what comes in may be very, very good for him.

CHETRY: That's true too.

Meanwhile, has Hillary picked the song after all these . . .

SCHECHNER: No song yet after all of this. And I will tell you, John Roberts and I have a bet over breakfast. He thinks it's going to be one, I think it's going to be the other. Until then, neither of us eat.

CHETRY: All right. Don't tell us yet. We'll all decide on one and let people know what we're thinking, coming up.

Jacki Schechner, thanks so much.

SCHECHNER: Sure.

CHETRY: John.

ROBERTS: Thanks.

Twenty minutes after the hour now. A shocking story from a Los Angeles hospital. Forty-three-year-old Edith Rodriguez (ph) is lying on the emergency room floor at King Harbor Hospital spitting up blood, but no one is helping her. So her boyfriend calls 911 from the hospital's emergency room. Then a bystander also calls 911. Here's the operator's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPERATOR: This -- 911 is used for emergency purposes only.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an emergency.

OPERATOR: It's not an emergency. It is not an emergency, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to see how they're treating her.

OPERATOR: OK. Well, that's not a criminal thing. You understand what I'm saying. We handle . . .

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me. If this woman all out dies, what do you mean this is not a criminal thing?

OPERATOR: I can't understand what you're saying, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, may God strike you, too, for acting the way you just acted.

OPERATOR: No, negative, ma'am. You're the one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Well, not long after that call, Edith Rodriguez died. L.A. County is talking about closing the hospital. We're going to be speaking with Rodriguez's family coming up in our next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.

A health crisis for Billy Graham's wife. Your "Quick Hits" now. Eighty-eight-year-old Ruth Bell-Graham fell into a coma yesterday. A family spokesperson says she appears to be in the final stages of life. She and her husband, the Reverend Billy Graham, had known each other for 66 years.

And a car jacking caught on tape. It happened in Pittsburgh. Two men pulled the driver out of his SUV at knife point, then eventually lead police on a chase. They slammed the car into a pillar and are now hospitalized.

Well, a new headache for the housing market this morning. We'll tell you what's happening on Wall Street and why it could hurt anyone trying to buy or sell a home, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: An update on a mass murder in Wisconsin topping our "Quick Hits." Police are now saying that a murder-suicide inspired the deaths of six people in Delavan over the weekend. The man responsible was the father of two of the victims, twin baby boys. He also shot his daughter, but she survived. The other victims were his girlfriend, her sister and a friend.

Well, police are hoping for a break in the case of a woman from New York who disappeared during a trip to south Florida. Twenty-two- year-old Stefa Henry (ph) was last seen more than two weeks ago when she went for a -- went out to a nightclub in Fort Lauderdale. A picture was take on her inside the club right there and someone called her voice mail at 4:00 a.m. Those are the leads the police are working with but she has not been seen since.

Former Washington Mayor Marion Barry has been acquitted of drunk driving and other traffic offenses. Barry, now a D.C. council member, was arrested last year near the White House, charged with driving under the influence, operating an unregistered vehicle and misuse of tags. ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes after the hour. So what's the stock market going to do today and what's the housing market going to do in the days to come? Ali Velshi here with all of that this morning.

Good morning, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And the question is, do you buy or do you sell in this market? It's hard to tell because Tuesday markets were way down, yesterday they were way up. Take a look at this. The Dow was up 187 points yesterday. The S&P 500 up 22. The Nasdaq up 32.

Why? Well, there were a few reasons. One report showed that Americans shopped well in May despite those record gasoline prices. Another report showed the economy is growing, but inflation is under control, and that means the Fed might not raise interest rates at its next meeting. It might even cut them. Investors tend to like that.

But as Reynolds Wolf might tell us, there is a low pressure system moving into the housing sector. For all its woes in the last year, there's been one patch of sun, and that's been low, fixed mortgage rates. That is starting to change. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has moved up to 6.53 percent. So it's something to keep a close eye on for you home buyers or those of you considering refinancing.

And we're going to get earnings later today from a number one investment firm in the United States, Goldman Sachs. That should help markets. Last year the company's CEO was the highest paid in the world of public companies.

We're also expecting news from the number three bank in the U.S., J.P. Morgan. It's going to announce that it's going to move its 6,000 person investment banking unit into a new building on the site of the new World Trade Center in New York. That announcement's expected a little later this morning from Governor Eliot Spitzer.

For those of you who are still in bed, I'm going to be back in half an hour to talk about coffee and cereal.

ROBERTS: For those of you still in bed, time to get up out of bed (INAUDIBLE) the day.

VELSHI: Time to get up, yes. Don't wait for me to be on.

ROBERTS: Ali, thanks.

VELSHI: OK.

ROBERTS: Kiran.

CHETRY: "Quick Hits" now. A look at the most popular story on cnn.com. It is Iran moves to execute porn stars. The parliament there voting overwhelmingly yesterday in favor of a bill that would mean the death penalty for people convicted of working on pornographic films.

On to the red carpet now with Brand and Angelina. her new movie, "A Mighty Heart," premiered in New York last night and, wow, there we see red carpet video. Our Lola Ogunnaike was there as well. She's going to take us behind the scenes and we're going to wait till you - so she's going to tell us all about the little black dress. Angelina loves to wear black. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, here's a shot we don't always see. This is coming to us from WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut, this morning, where it seems to be a little unseasonably cool for mid June. Shaping up to be about 69 degrees the morning in Hartford, and probably similar around the New York metropolitan area, as well.

ROBERTS: Yes. All this unsettled weather that we've been getting. The temperature changes day by day. We get rain one day and we get sun the next. Hail in some places.

CHETRY: How much hail did you get at your house down in Virginia?

ROBERTS: About three or four inches.

CHETRY: Pretty cool.

ROBERTS: First time that's ever happened.

CHETRY: In eight years. How about that?

Well, welcome back. And thanks so much for being with us.

It is Thursday, June 14th.

I'm Kiran Chetry.

ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts.

Stories "On Our Radar" this morning.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: And in Gaza this morning, a major Fatah headquarters security installation fell to Hamas today. Hamas now controls most of Gaza. The fighting between the two Palestinian groups has cost more than 70 lives since Saturday and is threatening to tear the government apart.

CNN's Atika Shubert is live in Jerusalem, joins us now with the very latest.

Just how critical is the situation there in Gaza, Atika?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's very critical. Hamas, it seems, has taken almost nearly all control of the Gaza Strip. We have video that's just come in showing that Hamas forces have taken over one of the last Fatah strongholds inside Gaza City. And what this means is that the area is now pretty much completely under their control.

We also have eyewitness reports coming in from Associated Press that Hamas forces are taking Fatah loyalists out on to the streets and executing them. Now, these are, again, Associated Press reports. We have not been able to independently confirm them. But it just goes to show the kind of chaos and lawlessness that's happening on the ground there.

ROBERTS: Wait a minute. Let me stop you there.

Hamas are taking Fatah loyalists out on the streets and executing them in the Middle of the street, in the public square, in broad daylight? What does that say about how close they are to civil war there, if not already there?

SHUBERT: Well, if you ask residents in Gaza City, they say this is already a civil war.

Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has been warning since yesterday that Gaza is on the verge of collapse and civil war. But for many people there, Gaza has already collapsed.

Now, we're still waiting for word from the Palestinian president. He is supposed to be making what his officials call a decisive announcement. But clearly, Gaza, it seems, has already fallen under the control of Hamas, so it may be a decision that's simply too late.

ROBERTS: And huge implications there for Israel as well.

Atika Shubert for us in Jerusalem this morning.

Atika, we'll get back to you as this thing continues to develop this morning. Thanks.

CHETRY: There's a potentially disturbing new development in the hunt for a missing 4-year-old British girl. Her case has attracted worldwide attention.

There she is, little Maddie McCann. Investigators say now that a Dutch newspaper received an anonymous tip claiming that Madeleine was killed, and a map also was contained in this material that was given to this paper showing supposedly where she's buried in Portugal.

Police are taking that letter and the map very seriously. In fact, conducting searches yesterday because they have come from the same person who sent another letter last year correctly identifying where two missing Belgian girls were buried after they disappeared and were killed.

Madeleine disappeared from her hotel room where her family was on vacation in Portugal.

ROBERTS: Gun control tops your "Quick Hits" now.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Forty-one minutes after the hour.

Much of the Middle East is a complete mess this morning.

Iraq is bracing for an escalation of sectarian violence after yesterday's bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra. An anti-Syrian politician in Lebanon was assassinated by a car bomb. And rival Palestinian factions are on the brink of civil war in Gaza, if not already there.

Three new flare-ups in a part of the world that seems at risk of totally coming apart. Can the violence be contained?

Salameh Nematt is the Washington bureau chief for the Arab newspaper "Al-Hayat". He joins us now live in our Washington bureau.

Salameh, let's start with Gaza, since this is the latest.

Hamas overran a major security installation that was held by Fatah this morning. They control almost all of Gaza.

What are the implications of that today?

SALAMEH NEMATT, MIDDLE EAST ANALYST: The implications are that they're going to declare some kind of an Islamic state of Gaza, if you like. It's going to be split. Gaza will be split from the West Bank, already split geographically, even. And it's going to mean that Hamas will control Gaza. And Fatah, their rivals, will be controlling the West Bank.

ROBERTS: An Islamic state in Gaza. How would Israel respond to that?

NEMATT: Well, Israel basically would like to isolate Gaza. The Israelis would like to forget that Gaza exists, if possible. So I think they might impose some kind of a siege on Gaza.

We shouldn't forget that Israel still provides that strip of land with power and fuel. And I think that the Gazans, if they don't get help from outside, whether it's from the Israelis or from Egypt, the whole situation could collapse.

ROBERTS: And I assume if the Palestinians are split, Hamas controls Gaza, Fatah controls the West Bank, there goes to peace process?

NEMATT: Well, at least as far as Gaza is concerned, in the sense that the West Bank, you know, would continue to be under the control of the Palestinian authorities.

ROBERTS: Right. NEMATT: The president apparently decided not to go for a confrontation with Hamas over Gaza.

ROBERTS: What about in Iraq, Salameh? There have been a few Sunni mosques bombed in the wake of this bombing of the Golden Mosque again yesterday, but so far, we don't know of any deaths directly linked to it. It seems that Iraqi and American officials are managing to keep a bit of a lid on the violence.

Do you expect that that will continue?

NEMATT: Of course we cannot predict with the situation in Iraq, but we know that the al Qaeda organization and other extremist troops are trying to provoke a civil war in Iraq. They have been trying for a while. They have succeeded to some extent, but we can hardly predict what could happen in the next few weeks.

ROBERTS: Right.

And what about in Lebanon? Another assault on democracy there. Do you think Syria is behind this? And if Syria is, what should the response be?

NEMATT: Very few people have any doubt that Syria is behind it. Syria, with its Lebanese allies, and Syria and Iran, if you like. And if you look at the big picture, we see that we have an Iranian-Syrian alliance against moderate states and moderate governments in the region which are backed by the United States.

Democracy is being threatened. At least the beginnings of democracy are being threatened within Lebanon or Iraq, or even in Palestinian territories. It is a big confrontation between those who want to build a better future for people and those who want to undermine it.

ROBERTS: Not a good situation to be waking up to this morning.

Salameh Nematt, Washington bureau chief for "Al-Hayat".

Always good to see you, Salameh. Thanks for coming.

NEMATT: Good to see you. Thanks, John.

CHETRY: Coming up on 15 minutes before the top of the hour. Reynolds Wolf joins us right now to tell us a little bit about the weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: Well, it was a mighty fine sight last night on the red carpet in New York. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the premier of her new movie, "A Mighty Heart". AMERICAN MORNING'S Lola Ogunnaike was also there, and she has a little red carpet dish and some celebrity rumor control for us as well.

What was it like there at the premier?

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The scene at the premier was completely chaotic, Kiran. Everyone was out there. Paparazzi screaming, fans screaming, "Brad, Angelina! Brad, Angelina! Brad, Angelina!"

But the thing that was so interesting was that inside the theater, it's was a very somber mood. "A Mighty Heart," it's a film about Daniel Pearl. And he was a "Wall Street Journal" reporter who was kidnapped actually in 2002 while reporting in Pakistan.

And so there was an interesting juxtaposition. Outside, they were talking about Angelina's dress and how it cost $26, she got it from a vintage shop. And she's wearing Christian Louboutin pumps. But inside, you're talking about a journalist who gave his life up for his work.

CHETRY: Yes. And interestingly enough, she took on that role as Mariane Pearl, his wife, because she got to know her and her story. And they're actually friends.

OGUNNAIKE: She got to know her and her story. They're actually friends. Their children have play dates together.

And inside when people were watching the film, actually -- Mariane wasn't there for the screening, but she was at the after party. And during the film, though, people were really thinking about Daniel's legacy, and it felt like they were watching what was happening for the first time.

We all know how it ended. It ended tragically. But certain scenes elicited tears, elicited audible gasps. So it was really intense and it was really emotional without being over the top, and I think that people -- it's a really important film that people are going to want to check out. It opens next Friday, January 22nd.

We'll talk about it next week.

CHETRY: OK, good.

Meantime, on the rumor control, Cindy Adams of "The New York Post" had a little item yesterday that set off a firestorm of gossip that Shar Jackson, who is Kevin Federline's ex, who is Britney Spears' ex, was yet again pregnant with his kid.

OGUNNAIKE: I think the official term is baby mama.

CHETRY: That's right.

OGUNNAIKE: So, Shar Jackson, baby mama, is apparently pregnant again, according to Cindy Adams. It turns out it is not true at all. Kevin's people are denying the rumor, Shar's people are denying the rumor as well.

CHETRY: And what about...

OGUNNAIKE: Another rumor?

CHETRY: Yes, the Jennifer Aniston adopting?

OGUNNAIKE: Exactly. "OK!" magazine says she's adopting, inspired by Sheryl Crow. Jennifer's people say, completely not true. So two rumors shot down today.

CHETRY: Lola Ogunnaike, we'll check in with you later. Thanks.

OGUNNAIKE: Thank you.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's 57 minutes after the hour. Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business" this morning.

And some companies that create things for children are considering reformulation in order to be able to continue marketing them to children?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you feel like that I -- these are just gratuitous reasons for me to have food on television?

CHETRY: How much sugar is in this thing anyway?

VELSHI: There's a lot -- Kellogg has made an announcement that...

CHETRY: Thirty-four grams.

VELSHI: And I must say -- yes, yes. No, this is rich for a kid.

Kellogg has made an announcement that its foods that do not meet specific nutritional guidelines will not be marketed to kids -- on kids' shows, kids' programs, things like that. And if they aren't meeting those guidelines, they'll try and reformulate them, and then they will advertise them to kids.

This is part of a trend that's been going on. A lot of major companies have said that they're going to reformulate their foods, the ones particularly that they market to kids, to be a little bit healthier. They're changing the flours into whole grains and things like that.

In this particular case, there was a lawsuit that was filed against Kellogg and Nickelodeon, against Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon, about these, you know, Saturday morning TV ads that cater to kids. And so there's been a response to this..

It will be some time before they figure out which products they can reformulate and then market to kids. If they can't reformulate them to meet nutritional guidelines, then they're just going to not market them.

CHETRY: I mean, parents have to watch this stuff, too, you know? You can't...

VELSHI: Yes, well this is the thing.

CHETRY: These are not good for you. And just in your own interests, just because I'm looking out for you...

VELSHI: Yes, but there's two in there. Hey, come on!

CHETRY: What about some oatmeal?

VELSHI: Watch my Pop-Tart.

ROBERTS: Basically what she's saying is, if you're ever going to bring Pop-Tarts on the set again...

VELSHI: Bring them for everybody.

ROBERTS: No. Bring a toaster.

The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

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