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CNN Live At Daybreak

Fugitive Back in Custody; Fight for Iraq; Riots in France

Aired November 07, 2005 - 05:00   ET

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

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: It is Monday, November 7. After a nationwide manhunt, police have their man. The big red letters say it all, "CAPTURED." A dangerous fugitive back in custody.
Also, wrapping up. President Bush comes to the end of what has been a tense trip down south.

And it was one of the worst tornadoes in years, and it's left hundreds of people surrounded by debris and death.

And good Monday morning to you. From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK. I'm Kelly Wallace, in today for Carol Costello.

Thanks so much for starting your day with us.

We will have much more on Charles Thompson's capture in just a moment.

Also ahead, 11 nights of violence in France. Overnight, 30 police officers injured and more than 1,400 vehicles burned.

And Operation Steel Curtain in Iraq. We'll take you to the front lines just ahead.

But first, these stories "Now in the News."

Protests erupted this morning as a border crossing opened between the Pakistani and Indian-controlled parts of Kashmir. Police fired tear gas to turn back people trying to cross to the Indian side. The border was opened in a mostly symbolic gesture of aid to earthquake victims.

A Texas death row inmate is back behind bars this morning. Police captured Charles Thompson last night outside a Louisiana liquor store. Thompson escaped from a Houston jail last Thursday. We'll bring you the details of his arrest in just a minute.

Back to sightseeing. After they were attacked by pirates this weekend -- I know, hard to believe -- passengers on this luxury cruise ship resumed their cruise this morning. The crew managed to foil the attack, which happened off the coast of Somalia.

And the search for more victims of a deadly tornado resumes at first light this morning. The twister plowed through southern Indiana early yesterday, killing at least 22 people. Most of the deaths happened at a trailer park. To the forecast center now, Jacqui Jeras.

Jacqui, it is just so sad the situation in Indiana, because apparently I guess there was a warning before 2:00 a.m., but most people were asleep.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. That's right. And it kind of takes you a little while until you hear those sirens go off, and you're like, whoa, whoa, what's going on?

They were warned, and there was a severe thunderstorm watch in effect at the time. And we did expect that threat for severe weather, but we were more concerned about some damaging winds and the threat of tornadoes. But we certainly got some rotation.

And this is what the radar picture looked as it went through.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WALLACE: All right, Jacqui. Thanks so much. We'll check in with you in about 10 minutes.

And our top story this hour, a nearly 80-hour nationwide manhunt is now over. And it all started at a Texas jail on Thursday and ended at a Louisiana liquor store late last night.

We lead our coverage with the arrest of Texas death row inmate Charles Thompson. CNN's Keith Oppenheim has the latest from Houston.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. JOHN MARTIN, HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Charles Victor Thompson is back in custody.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was just after 9:00 local time that Harris County officials told us that Charles Victor Thompson had been captured. They said that there had been a number of tip calls that were pinpointing Thompson's whereabouts in Shrieveport, Louisiana. And they got some help from the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force, a multi-agency group. And police from that went to a liquor store in Shrieveport, and there we're told police found Thompson in front of the liquor store.

They said he was on the payphone, and they said he was intoxicated. The only transportation they could see that he had available to him was a bicycle nearby.

When police officers at first confronted him, Thompson apparently said to them, "Do you know who I am?" When they discussed it with him further, he indicated that he was Charles Thompson, and that he was cooperative. And he was arrested and taken to a local jail.

MARTIN: Inmate Thompson will be held in the Kato (ph) Parish jail in Louisiana until extradition can be worked out. He'll be asked to waive extradition. If he does, then we'll go pick him up tomorrow. If he decides to fight extradition, then of course it would depend on how long that procedure takes.

OPPENHEIM: The hope from Harris County officials is that he will be brought back to this jail facility, the jail that he escaped from, as early as Monday. And from their point of view, as soon as possible back to death row.

They say that no one else has been arrested because there are questions of whether or not Charles Victor Thompson had some help in this escape. But they also say that this is very much an ongoing investigation.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Houston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And we will have much more from Keith coming up on DAYBREAK. He will return in our 6:00 a.m. Eastern hour to give us a live report on the latest from there.

Turning now to the situation in Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi troops are battling insurgents house to house today. It is the third day of a major offensive designed to root out insurgents near the Syrian border.

CNN's Aneesh Raman joining us from Baghdad with the latest.

And Aneesh, I understand this is one of the largest offensives since the battle in Falluja last year. Is that right?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Kelly. Some 3,000 U.S. troops involved, 550 Iraqi troops as well. And this operation dubbed "Steel Curtain," so far six Marines have been wounded, one Marine killed in this operation that launched on Saturday.

It is, as you say, a major push against Iraq's insurgency.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAMAN (voice-over): The intent is in the name. Launched over the weekend, Operation Steel Curtain is meant as a final push against insurgents in the volatile Al Anbar Province, stemming the flow of foreign fighters, weapons, and cash from coming across the nearby Syrian border.

LT. COL. DALE ALFORD, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We're expecting a lot of IEDs, vehicles that were rigged for suicide bomb cars, houses that were rigged, doors that when you opened them, they were booby-trapped, pockets of resistance anywhere from eight to 10 to 12 size elements that are really dying in place.

RAMAN: Three thousand American and 550 Iraqi troops started sweeping through the town of Husayba (ph) at dawn Saturday, finding and destroying car bombs, conducting air strikes on insurgent command posts, confiscating weapons caches, and killing dozens of suspected terrorists, all the frequent hallmarks of continued operations in the western part of the country. Over the past several weeks, from Iron Fist to Steel Curtain, the military has worked to cripple al Qaeda in Iraq in its strongest-held province, and unlike before, is now staying after operations are complete.

BRIG. GEN. DONALD ALSON, U.S. MILITARY SPOKESPERSON: What remains is a permanent Iraqi security force presence. We are building, the Iraqi army is building permanent locations in these areas.

RAMAN: A step possible only with larger numbers of trained and equipped Iraqi security forces, which the military says now stands at 211,000. But equally important is the number of operations Iraqis can conduct independent of U.S. support, a number the military says has gone from 13 to 25 percent since May.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAMAN: Now, Kelly, the timing of this operation is clearly deliberate. We are just weeks away from Iraq's December 15 general election. And these pushes against the insurgency are essential to preventing car bombs and other devices from detonating here in the capital, if not throughout the country. But as Iraqi troops are rising, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld last week alluded to the fact that U.S. troop levels could rise as well ahead of those December elections -- Kelly.

WALLACE: And Aneesh, how big of a test is this all for the Iraqi security forces that are involved in the operation?

RAMAN: Well, it's one in a continuum. In all of these operations we've seen recently there have been an increasing amount of Iraqi forces. Those that are involved are taking an increasingly leading role.

The question, though, is when they leave and Iraqis hold these bases in these areas. Will they be able to sustain attacks by insurgents? That will be the key test, because right now they do have U.S. support outside of that 25 percent of independent operations. And so, getting them to man their own positions is key to getting stability to the country and getting U.S. troops to start coming home -- Kelly.

WALLACE: Absolutely. We'll be watching it very closely. Aneesh, thanks so much.

Reporting live from Baghdad, Aneesh Raman.

Well, the battle over how the Bush administration handled prewar intelligence concerning Iraq is being fueled by some newly leaked classified information. This information shows the Defense Intelligence Agency raised doubts about claims al Qaeda members received training for biological and chemical weapons in Iraq.

Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller tells CNN, based on what he knows now, he regrets voting for the war. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I was dead-flat wrong. And as soon as we -- since I'm on the Intelligence Committee, and as soon as we did our report on weapons of mass destruction, or before we completed it, I realized that I had just been living off this information, this fall information, intelligence. We blasted the folks who created the intelligence, and I went down to the floor of the Senate, and I said, "Look, I'm wrong. I would never vote for a war knowing what I know now."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Republicans, for their part, are accusing Democrats of trying to use the Iraq war intelligence for partisan political purposes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R-VA), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: When we commit our young men and women to war, to go into harm's way, we need to have the best intelligence, whether it's from defense intelligence, whether it's from the CIA, whether it's from other sources around the world. And we need to get that right to make the right decisions. But what we don't need is a bunch of partisanship.

And the other thing is, is we need to also understand that we need to win this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And as for the American death toll, 2,046 American troops have died fighting in the Iraq war.

News about President Bush now.

He will push his free trade agenda again today. This time in Panama. The president arrived in Panama Sunday. Today he's scheduled to have a working meeting with President Martin Torrijos.

Earlier in the day, President Bush was in Brazil. He failed to get that country's president to sign on to a giant free trade zone for the Americas. President Lula da Silva is one of five South American leaders opposing Mr. Bush's plan. A two-day Summit of the Americas in Argentina Friday and Saturday also ended with no progress on this matter.

Well, coming up on this Monday edition of DAYBREAK, a top police official in France calls it "a shock wave across the country." In just a few minutes, we'll go live to Paris for a look at another night of violence.

Also, raising their hands and coming home. Runners from New Orleans take their renewed spirits for a run in New York City.

And, OK, Elmo, let go of the kid, get up against the wall, and spread 'em. That's right. We'll tell you about a crackdown by Hollywood police on Elmo and his pals. You're not going to want to miss that.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning, November 7.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: The international markets are mixed this morning. Tokyo's Nikkei is 14 points lower. The London FTSE is adding nine points. And the German DAX is up six.

In futures trading, oil is down 34 cents, at $60.24 a barrel this morning.

Well, you might be feeling some more relief at the pumps. And here's why.

The Lundberg Survey found gas prices dropped 23 cents a gallon over the past two weeks to pre-Katrina levels. The average price for a gallon of self-serve regular nationwide was $2.43 on Friday. The cheapest gas was found in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where it's about $2.06. Miami, you are paying the most -- sorry to tell you that -- $2.74.

Well, your news, money, weather and sports. It's almost 16 minutes after the hour, and here is what is all new this morning.

President Bush begins his day in Panama with trade talks on his calendar. Mr. Bush will meet with that country's president. Then he's set to visit the Panama Canal before heading back to Washington.

In Indiana, rescue teams worked through the night to find victims of Sunday's devastating tornado. Twenty-two people were killed, most of them at a mobile home park in Evansville. At least 230 others were injured.

In money, the sky was the limit for "Chicken Little" over the weekend. Disney's computer-animated movie was a hit to the tune of just over $40 million. "Chicken Little" trails only "The Lion King" for Disney's best opening ever for an animated feature.

In culture, the cast of the next "Harry Potter" movie gathered for the London premier. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is the fourth in the series. The movie opens here November 18.

In sports, Carl Edwards made a late pass to take the win in the NASCAR Nextel Cup race in Texas. It's the second straight win -- excuse me -- for Edwards. Tony Stewart held on to the top spot in the chase for the championship.

And in the foot race, Kenyan Paul Tergat broke the tape first to win the New York City marathon. I believe it is the closest finish in New York City marathon history. Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia was the top women's finisher. More than 37,000 runners took part in the marathon.

And Jacqui, one of those runners includes our very own...

JERAS: Carrie.

WALLACE: ... Carrie Lee. And we'll tell you...

JERAS: How did she do?

WALLACE: Well, we're going to have to tell you all a little bit later.

JERAS: Oh.

WALLACE: You'll have to stay tuned to find out.

JERAS: Make me wait.

WALLACE: I'm going to make you wait.

JERAS: No fair. A gorgeous day for running, wasn't it, though?

WALLACE: Oh, it was just fabulous.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WALLACE: All right, Jacqui. Talk to you then. Thanks so much.

Turning now to the situation in France, an increased police presence has mobilized against rioters there. Violence punctuated by fires has spread well outside the original trouble spots in the Paris suburbs.

For more on the response to an 11th straight day of unrest, we turn now live to CNN's Chris Burns in Paris.

Chris, thanks so much for being with us. Any sign of the violence letting up?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kelly, well, you know, despite the call by President Jacques Chirac for things to calm down last night, no effect. In fact, it even got worse. Now a record 1,400 vehicles, 100 more than the night before, were torched across the country.

Just to tick down a couple of the incidents, two churches were hit, schools -- more schools were burned, a daycare center, a film studio outside of Paris, Nanier (ph). And a troubling issue is that police are increasingly being targeted. More and more are being injured. More than 30 of them in just last night.

Despite the fact that there are hundreds of arrests, authorities and thousands more police on the ground trying to stop this all. It is continuing. These are mainly immigrant youths of African and North African -- and African origin from poor areas, complaining of discrimination, of high unemployment, and harassment by police. And it has just unleashed across the country. Jacques Chirac holding an emergency meeting with key members of his cabinet last night. And he came out after that and made an announcement to the country itself and called for an end to all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. JACQUES CHIRAC, FRANCE (through translator): We've taken a certain number of decisions in order to reinforce the action of the police and the justice, because today the absolute priority is restoring security and public order. The law must have the last word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: And now an iron fist approach, at least in the short term. But in the long run, even President Chirac also added in that same statement -- he said that we must have respect for justice and equality.

And his government is drawing up an urban redevelopment program. It's supposed to be wound up by the end of the month, trying to address this problem of unemployment and discrimination in those areas. But so far it is falling on deaf ears among those youth, even though community leaders are trying to reach out to them.

And the list of countries now warning their nationals to stay away from certain areas of France where that strife is happening is growing. It is now not only the United States, but Britain, Canada and Russia as well -- Kelly.

WALLACE: Yes, we're going to see lots of repercussions there.

Chris, I wanted to ask you, is French President Chirac taking some heat from the media, from people within the country for the fact that it took him many, many days to finally come out and speak about the situation in his country?

BURNS: Well, you know, it does -- you do have to put this in perspective. The way things work in France is the president of the -- of this country has a position where he does not deal with the day-to- day affairs. It's his prime minister who does that.

The president only steps in when there is a crisis. But people have said this crisis has been existing for several days, he should have stepped in earlier. You're especially hearing criticism, of course, from the leftist opposition. In fact, the opposition is calling for the resignation of his interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, because Sarkozy's tough language and calling some of these youths "scum" certainly has not helped anything at all.

WALLACE: All right, Chris. We look forward to talking to you in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

Chris Burns reporting live from Paris.

Ahead this hour here on DAYBREAK, we're going to take you live to Geneva, Switzerland. And that is where officials from the World Health Organization are meeting today. The topic is bird flu and how the world can respond.

You're watching DAYBREAK for Monday, November 7. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: Entertainment headlines for you this morning.

Samuel L. Jackson has been selected to receive the Achievement in Acting Award from the Hawaii International Film Festival next spring. The director of the festival says Jackson has incredible fame around the world. He has done 80 films, and more are on the way.

British singer-songwriter Phil Collins says he's open to a reunion of his old band, Genesis. Collins made the remarks in Israel, where he's preparing for a live concert tonight. He is the biggest star to perform there since the start of a Palestinian uprising more than five years ago.

And Omar Sharif is being sued by a Beverly Hills valet who accuses the actor of calling him a derogatory name and punching him. The valet wants $50,000 in civil penalties, unspecified damages and attorney fees. Sharif's attorney says his client did not touch the guy. He says the two simply argued.

Well, they say you can see almost anything on the streets of Hollywood. You can even see a beloved children's character and a superhero get arrested.

That's right, this is all because police are cracking down on some of Hollywood's most recognizable characters. And we do mean characters.

CNN's Ted Rowlands explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONN HARPER, "ELMO": If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Two weeks after Elmo's world was rocked, he is out on bail, back working Hollywood Boulevard.

HARPER: If you're happy and you know it, stamp your feet.

ROWLANDS: Elmo, whose real name is Donn Harper, was handcuffed, his head on the hood of a squad car. Along with Mr. Incredible, Elmo was arrested and taken away for something called aggressive begging. They were nabbed as part of an undercover sting operation.

CAPT. RON SANCHEZ, LOS ANGELES POLICE: We've had an extensive amount of complaints from people visiting Hollywood that they've been harassed and the victims of aggressive panhandling, of really aggressive begging that's reached almost points of the victims feeling like they're -- they're almost robbed.

ROWLANDS: Harper and dozens of other impersonators dressed up as superheroes and movie stars park themselves along Hollywood's Walk of Fame, making cash by posing with tourists.

HARPER: We do it for tricks, guys.

Elmo is not out there snatching purses or robbing people, or anything bad like that. All he's guilty of is loving people and trying to communicate with some foreign tourists.

ROWLANDS: While Elmo and Mr. Incredible are getting a lot of support...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Innocent! Innocent! Innocent!

ROWLANDS: ... James Kurka, who says he's been working on Hollywood Boulevard and watching the characters for more than 10 years, says some of them do have a dark side.

JAMES KURKA, TICKET PROMOTER: They're just a huge public nuisance. And for every nice one, like Elmo, there's two that are rotten.

ROWLANDS: For example, according to the other characters, the James Brown impersonator has issues, as does Elvis...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rock 'n' roll.

ROWLANDS: ... who seemed nice enough when we saw him, but was very upset, creating a spectacle in this home video.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to go.

ROWLANDS: Catwoman admits that some characters can go a little crazy, but says that happens at every workplace.

KATRINA JONES, "CATWOMAN": And if Superman has a problem, or whatever, if Batman's got issues, likes to fight, I've got things. You know what I'm saying? But the point is, we're a family, whether people like it or not.

ROWLANDS: We sent a producer out posing as a tourist after the Elmo arrest, and characters from Chewbacca to Elton John were on their best behavior.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have anything on me. Sorry.

ROWLANDS: And tourists we talked to said they didn't mind paying a buck or two for a photograph.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a great photo out of it for the family, so it's OK by me.

ROWLANDS: While some characters are upset that police are taking the time to crack down, the impersonators who play Wonder Woman and Spiderman say something needs to be done.

DANA, "WONDER WOMAN": Characters are soliciting. I mean, they're out here just running wild. It's a freak show. You know?

PARKER (SINGING): La, la, la, it's Elmo's world.

ROWLANDS: Elmo is free on $100 bail. He says a lawyer is helping him with his legal troubles. Police, meanwhile, say until the complaints stop, they'll continue to keep a close eye on the big red muppet and his friends.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: How do I explain to the nephews that Elmo is on $100,000 bail? Oh well.

Still to come, we told you about them last week. Now we'll tell you what Abercrombie & Fitch is doing with its attitude T-shirts. That's ahead in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK.

Don't go away. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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