Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Hotel Attacks; Really Long Haul; Birth Control Patch

Aired November 11, 2005 - 05:30   ET

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

(WEATHER REPORT)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you -- Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Sure.

COSTELLO: Merciless killers, that's how President Bush describes the terrorists behind Wednesday's hotel bombings in Jordan. The attacks killed 56 people and wounded more than 100 others. President Bush vows U.S. solidarity with Jordan during a visit to its embassy in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This enemy must be defeated. They have no heart. They have no conscience. I want to thank you and your good people of Jordan for standing strong against these merciless killers. And we ask for God's blessings on the people of Jordan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Following those comments, the president signed a condolence book at the Jordanian Embassy in Washington.

The U.S. is helping Jordan investigate those terrorist bombings. FBI officials say the agency has sent a small contingent of its crime lab personnel to Amman. They say FBI headquarters got the request from Jordanian officials just hours after the Jordanians said they didn't need assistance in the case. An FBI official says fewer than 10 experts have been sent.

As you know, al Qaeda in Iraq is claiming responsibility for those hotel bombings, but it's going to be difficult to track them down in Jordan.

CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It is Jordan's worst nightmare, repercussions of the two-and- a-half-year war in neighboring Iraq finally erupting in the tiny kingdom.

ALI SHUKRI, FMR. JORDANIAN NATL. SECURITY ADVISER: They have got people trained over there and now they are exporting them.

A statement from al Qaeda in Iraq.

ROBERTSON: General Ali Shukri reads a claim of responsibility from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. A former security adviser to King Hussein, there is little doubt in his mind Jordan's most notorious jihadi is behind the attack.

SHUKRI: The operation itself, it has the hallmark of the Zarqawi or al Qaeda operations.

ROBERTSON: But there's another new twist. As a result of the war in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees are flooding into Jordan, making it harder for intelligence services to spot terrorists.

In the past, Jordan's intelligence officials have had remarkable success, thwarting an attack last year they said could kill tens of thousands. And in 1999, heading off a plot targeting the same Radisson hotel hit Wednesday.

KARIM KAWAR, JORDANIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: That plan was foiled by our security agencies. Of course we try to be as vigilant as possible, but at the end of the day, we're all vulnerable to such attacks.

ROBERTSON: Zarqawi claim, "We chose the place to carry the mission on some of the hotels which the Jordan dictator turned into a backyard for the enemies of the faith, the Jews and the Crusaders."

If genuine, this mirrors his tactics in Iraq, sending suicide bombers to kill innocent Muslims, while claiming to attack Westerners. The first-ever suicide attack in Jordan.

SHUKRI: We have got to find out who are these suicides, whether they were milkin' (ph) or whether they came across the borders. And we have got to go into the details of their local support.

ROBERTSON: To do that, says Shukri, will mean focusing on the crime scenes and working back from there. A job made so much harder by hundreds of thousands of Iraqis now seeking refuge in Jordan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That report from CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.

Thousands of Jordanians have demonstrated against the attacks, chanting things like burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Jordan's King Abdullah says his country will find those responsible for Wednesday's deadly hotel bombings.

Let's get more on the aftermath now.

Hala Gorani is in Amman this morning, and she joins us now.

Good morning. HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

There has been one more confirmed death here in Amman, Jordan, renowned Syrian-American Director Moustapha Akkad died of his wounds in a Jordan hospital. He directed a movie starring Anthony Quinn called "The Lion of the Desert" and was a resident of Hollywood in California. His daughter, Rema (ph), died two days ago. This brings the total death toll to 57. Ninety-five individuals are still hospitalized.

Now what we're expecting today, more demonstrations. Remember today is Friday. This is a day of prayer and reflection in the Muslim world. We're already hearing the call to midday prayer on this Friday. And we're expecting that after this there will be more street demonstrations of Jordanians saying that this type of terrorism is not something that we are willing to accept.

Here in front of the Radisson hotel, the site of the bomb explosion that killed the most people, there are banners put up. One of the banners behind me reading death to the killers of joy. This is just one example of the kind of message we're seeing ordinary Jordanians send out to the world.

Now the latest on the investigation is that we are hearing reports that there have been arrests in areas populated by Iraqis in Jordan. Now since the start of the war in 2003, there have been many Iraqis who have established themselves and crossed the border into Jordan, hundreds and hundreds of thousands. These are reports that we haven't been able to confirm.

But we do know that investigative sources, of course, are trying to figure out exactly who committed these bomb attacks, who was behind them. And U.S. officials are saying that two of the Iraq -- of the -- of the three suicide bombers were indeed Iraqis.

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: It's interesting you talk about Iraqis finding refuge there, among them, Saddam Hussein's daughters. That's just a bit of irony there.

I wanted to ask you about the Americans sending some FBI agents in to help the Jordanians. How will that go down?

GORANI: Well, they would play an assistance role. And they would -- and there have -- there has been, remember, security cooperation between the secret services and the intelligence services of both countries for a long time. These two countries, Jordan and the United States, are allies. They are not just political allies. They are allies in the war against terrorism and in the effort to find out who is behind these networks that are sending suicide bombers to explode themselves in hotels, for instance.

So they are going to cooperate on forensics, on investigative process, on trying to figure out exactly politically and in what geographic area some of these plots are hatched. Because somebody is putting these together, whether they are in Jordan, or whether if it's the case that's it's the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi network that claimed responsibility for this, the plot was hatched in Iraq. But clearly somewhere this plan is put together, so that's going to be the role of FBI agents and of course of security sources here in Jordan -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Hala Gorani, reporting live from Amman, Jordan this morning, thanks.

After 28 years and a Pulitzer Prize, reporter Judith Miller says she leaves "The New York Times" with no regrets. Miller's career at "The Times" blew up over the CIA leak investigation. It was former CNN contributor Robert Novak who publicized the CIA agent's name in 2003 citing top White House sources.

In an exclusive interview, Miller gave this account of things on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDITH MILLER, FORMERLY OF "THE NEW YORK TIMES": You know, I think it's somewhat odd that Mr. Novak has remained so quiet all these months about who it was, those two administration officials who gave him the name of Valerie Plame that led to that column that has caused so much adventure for the rest of us.

I think that George Bush would have gone to war without Judy Miller, or "The New York Times," or all the other papers that endorsed the Senate vote to -- that basically gave President Bush the authority to go to war, or the right to go to war. I worry about the consequences of what I write every day. I wish I had known then what we now know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: In the run-up to the war, Miller reported that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

How much is too much? The FDA is pondering that question and it's now issuing a warning to women about the hormones released by a popular birth control patch. That's ahead.

And we've run out of things to say about Richard Quest and his record-breaking flight. Just watch next.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: If you have been with us the last two mornings, you certainly know about Richard Quest's long, long flight. He took off on the new Boeing 777 -- 777. It's a long-range airplane. They flew from Hong Kong over the United States and landed in London. That's like halfway around the world. The nearly 24-hour flight set a world's distance record. But what really happened on board that long flight?

Here's Richard's video diary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It had taken months to plan. Now the 777, Boeing Flight 002, was ready. It's giant G (ph) engines prepared for the record-breaking attempt.

(on camera): Of course with such a very long flight, it does add a new dimension to the age-old question, are we there yet?

(voice-over): The takeoff from Hong Kong was picture perfect. We lifted into the air and headed out across the Pacific. On board, we were a motley crew of Boeing staff, test engineers and journalists. The plane itself, a series of cabins carrying test equipment and showcasing how the plane could actually be used.

Breaking the record involved following complicated rules. We had to go a certain way, turn at certain points. Favorable winds helped the eight captains flying the plane to use less fuel than they had planned.

CAPT. SUZANNA DARCY, CHIEF TEST PILOT: From myself and my other colleagues from the Boeing company, we feel like this is a flight of a career. We won't have another opportunity like this.

QUEST: And so for more than 22 hours, we crossed two oceans and a continent. We saw two beautiful sunrises. We slept. We ate. We were even jagooned (ph) into keeping fit. No risk of traveler's thrombosis on this flight. And we celebrated our progress. We debated whether these ultra long-haul flights are really necessary.

(on camera): Do airlines want these very long, ultra-long route planes?

LARS ANDERSON, MGR. LONG-RANGE 777 PROGRAM: I think they do. I think they want to appeal to their passengers. And if that -- if that can bring them additional market share, and in some cases maybe additional ticket price because of the convenience of the service, that is a marketing advantage for them.

QUEST (voice-over): London Heathrow and we had comfortably broken the record, flying 13,422 statute miles. For passengers the world over, there's an important fact, we have just ensured that pretty much any two places on Earth could be joined together.

(on camera): So, 21 hours and 42 minutes since we left Hong Kong. And, yes, I can finally answer that question, we're here.

Richard Quest, CNN, Heathrow Airport, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: He looks pretty spunky after that long flight, doesn't he?

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:45 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Iraq today. Arriving in Mosul, Rice was greeted by the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. And then it was on to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi and U.S. military officials, as well as embassy staff.

President Bush will use a Veterans' Day speech to battle accusations the White House misused intelligence to go to war in Iraq. The president will denounce allegations of manipulating intelligence on Iraq and leaking classified information to discredit critics of the war.

In money news, blame it on Wilma. There were about 15,000 new jobless claims for unemployment benefits last week. A Labor Department official says many of those claims are related to Wilma.

In culture, the world's most famous nanny is coming to Broadway. The "Mary Poppins" musical that's been playing in London will begin on Broadway late next year. Disney is producing the show, just as it did with the 1964 movie starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. And we're pretty sure they won't be the stars of this latest production.

In sports, Chris Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals is the National League's Cy Young Award winner. Carpenter led the Cards with 21 wins and only 5 losses. Amazingly, it was just two years ago that he was on the verge of retiring with a shoulder injury.

To the Forecast Center and, Bonnie Schneider, good morning.

SCHNEIDER: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Bonnie.

No doubt you have seen all the American flags unfurled as you drive to and from work. This is Veterans' Day. It is a day to honor veterans of all American conflicts. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month was first enacted as Armistice Day in 1918 to mark the end of World War I.

Two hundred to 300 vets from the so-called War to End All Wars are still with us. More than three million from World War II and slightly less from that -- and slightly less than that from the Korean War. More than eight million Vietnam vets are still alive and about two million from the Gulf War and less than half a million in the Iraq war so far.

Armistice Day was changed to Veterans' Day in 1954 to honor the more than 43 million Americans who served in combat, more than 650,000 who gave their lives in battle and more than 18 million veterans still living to tell about it.

Later this morning, Vice President Cheney leads the -- leads the Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns. And of course that will happen at Arlington National Cemetery. Americans are smoking less these days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And we have new pictures of Condoleezza Rice. She arrives in Iraq today. It was a complete -- it was a complete surprise. Nobody really knew she was going there. But she's visiting some embassy officials and of course she'll be talking to military officials. We don't know if she is going to give a speech while she is in Iraq. She's also going to be talking to members of the Iraqi government and, you know, trying to get them to come together so they can further create a democratic nation.

Not sure why she's in this vehicle or why we have pictures of this, but when we can explain, of course we'll get back.

Again, Condoleezza Rice in Iraq this morning. If she says something, if something happens, of course we'll pass it along to you.

On to health issues now.

Americans are smoking less these days, but not enough for federal health officials. A health study finds just under 21 percent of American adults smoked in 2004. That's down from 21.5 percent who smoked the previous year. Still, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the decline rate is not fast enough to reach a national goal of 12 percent for 2010.

This year's flu season is mild so far, and that's giving U.S. health officials time to find more flu shots. That's according to the director of the CDC. She blames vaccine shortages on one company and that would be the Chiron Corporation. And she blames them for not making as much of the vaccine as it had projected.

And the federal government wants you to know a little bit more about condoms. The FDA wants condom packages to include the information that they don't eliminate the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. It also wants condoms with the spermicide nonoxynol-9 to include information that they can increase the risk of HIV. And that, of course, is the virus that causes AIDS.

A frightening warning for women who use a popular birth control patch, the FDA says Ortho Evra patch, the Ortho Evra patch has higher levels of hormones than first thought. And that could put women at risk of blood clots and other serious side effects.

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The FDA approves an updated warning regarding the Ortho Evra patch, specifically saying that in fact it was probably delivering much more estrogen than previously thought, up to 50 to 60 percent higher. The concern specifically is that if you have more estrogen circulating in the blood, that could be putting women at risk of developing blood clots. Those are clots that might develop in the legs, for example, and then travel to the lungs, even to the brain in rare situations, possibly causing death.

There had been some case reports. About four months ago, The Associated Press reported that around 12 to 20 women possibly had been affected by these blood clots. Some of the women had died, in fact, as a result of these blood clots that were subsequently linked to the Ortho Evra patch.

Now we're hearing some of the first warnings specifically warning about the increased circulating estrogen.

You may remember the patch actually became quite popular. Several million women have used it since it first came out a few years ago, mainly because of its ease of use. It's a once-a-week patch. So for women who forgot to -- would forget to take the pill every single day, could actually put this patch on once a week.

We are hearing these warnings now for the first time. It is unclear exactly what it's going to mean for the fate of this patch. It probably, at a minimum, might mean a complete redesign of the patch so it doesn't deliver as much estrogen and doesn't put women at greater risk for blood clots. Or it could mean the demise of the patch altogether. We'll certainly keep you posted as some of those details come in.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Did you know that giraffes sleep less than two hours a day? They only need two hours of sleep. Don't know how many hours of sleep polar bears need. But in the next hour of DAYBREAK, we're going to look at the sleeping habits of both man and animal. Do we really need eight hours of sleep every night? Set your snooze alarm, because next hour we'll have the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time for our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener."

Take a look at them. What looks funny here? Yes, it's -- you're not -- that is a green golden retriever puppy. Animal experts say the pup probably got the green color during birth. It seems that some of the parts inside the mother are green. But just to make it a little easier on us because it is early morning, let's just agree that mama dog ate too much grass. By the way, they named the puppy Musabi (ph) for obvious reasons.

This odd-looking rock actually came from space. It was found in western Kansas by a professional meteorite hunter. The 1,400-pound hunk is one of the largest ever found, and it could be worth a million bucks. But what may be even more surprising is that there are people who actually are professional meteorite hunters, and for good reason if they're going to get a million bucks for that rock.

Here are some outfits you may not want to wear out in the sun. That's because they're made entirely of chocolate. The cocoa clothes are part of the Eighth Annual Chocolate Show in New York. And, guys, I wish we could show you more, but we just can't.

Meet the real life Godzilla. That's what scientists have named the 135-million-year-old crocodile fossil. But this wasn't your run- of-the-mill croc. Instead of small teeth for catching fish, it has 52 huge teeth that could rip apart anything the 12-foot reptile came across. Scientists say it kind of looks like a crocodile with a dinosaur's head on it. Isn't that amazing? That's what they looked like a long time ago.

The next hour of DAYBREAK begins in 60 seconds.

COSTELLO: A beautiful shot of London this morning. And you just heard the sound of Big Ben chiming to mark the 87th anniversary of the end of World War I. There we hear it now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com