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Iraq Rescue Operation; Military Events for Memorial Day
Aired May 27, 2007 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: One story, seven GIs, how they gave their lives to others. The remarkable bravery aboard C-97. Also --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa!
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SANCHEZ: That's got to hurt. Fists are flying in Moscow over gay rights. We're going to take you there. And then move over Spongebob, a new cartoon is hitting the airwaves, but it's not for kids.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This sucks. I hate doing what I'm told. I want to be a decider.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You will be some day, little George.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to be a decider now. Little Cheney is right, I should follow my gut and act on weird impulses.
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SANCHEZ: No holds barred. The Bush family and the administration lampooned. All this coming your way from the NEWSROOM. Hello again everybody, I'm Rick Sanchez. We're going to start with some video that we've got coming in now that we're going to be keying in on. This is some tape we got just moments ago when police decided they were going to use water cannons to try and quell a demonstration there on the streets of Caracas. Thousands of people have been taking to the streets. There have been massive protests. This particular protest having to do with the television station, RCTV, the license is not being renewed within several hours. People in Venezuela are seeing it as another takeover by the Chavez government. By the way, this would be the very first major aggressive media takeover. Take a look at some of the pictures and you could see how even more police are now being called in to try and, well, keep things as much under control as they can. The real story here is not just the television station though, it's land reform. It's the nationalization as well a part of the oil industry. This has been something that has been going on in this country for a long time, and it's a bitter rivalry between those who are for Chavez and those who are against him. When last we checked, 60 percent of the people in the country were saying they were still for the president. We're going to be dipping into this from time to time and bringing you up to date on what's going on there.
In the meantime, it sounds like progress. The United States and Iran holding talks tomorrow in Baghdad, the first formal meetings between the two sides in 27 years. But here we are on the eve of talks, and there is another grievance brewing. CNN's Aneesh Raman has this story from Tehran.
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ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Iran on Sunday said it had discovered several spy networks that were backed by the United States working within the Islamic Republic to undermine the regime here. A formal protest was lodged to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran who represents American interests here by Iran's foreign ministry. Now Iran is alleging the spying networks are operating in the south, southwestern and central parts of the country and if some of the agents have been coming from inside of Iraq. No other specifics were given. The intelligence ministry has said more information would be forthcoming. Now it is unclear if this statement is first tied to the recent arrest and imprisonment of (INAUDIBLE) Espandiari, an Iranian American scholar who is being held under suspicion of working against the government. Or secondly in a more broad sense, whether it's part of posturing ahead of talks in Baghdad on Monday between Iran and the U.S. Those talks, according to both sides, will be very limited despite being much anticipated. Iran has said recently it will only air its grievances if the quote occupying force in Iraq and demand a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal. That will likely fall short of what the U.S. wants, not talk from Iran but concrete steps as to how Iran will stop according to U.S. allegations, weapons and fighters going into Iraq. Despite the fact that very small outcomes are expected, the fact that the two sides are sitting down at this level for the first time publicly since their relations broke in 1979 is giving some hope, but a reminder and a second part of the U.S. strategy is in the Persian Gulf where warships are right now conducting war games. Aneesh Raman, CNN, Tehran.
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SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, a major rescue operation to tell you about on this night. The U.S. military is saying it's freed 42 Iraqis from the hostile hands of al Qaeda. Troops got a tip and then raided a military hideout in the Diyala Province. A military official is saying that the security crackdowns in Baghdad and Anbar Province have forced al Qaeda into Diyala where they are trying to intimidate more civilians. That terror campaign might include even kidnapping and torture.
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VOICE OF LT. COL. CHRISTOPHER GARVER, U.S. ARMY SPOKESMAN: Some of the hostages had been held as long as four months. There is evidence of torture and some had broken bones. Some stated that they had been hung from the ceiling, and one boy in the group stated his age was 14 as the evacuation of these prisoners was going on to the treatment facility.
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SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, the military has announced the deaths of two more U.S. troops in Iraq. An improvised explosive device killed one and wounded four others Saturday in western Baghdad. A second soldier was killed Saturday and two others were also hurt in the explosion in Diyala, that's just north of Baghdad. Of course, as we've been saying, May is on the brink of becoming the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq this year. 103 service members have been killed this month. 3,454 U.S. troops have died since the start of the war.
Imagine somebody you love dying in Iraq and then you find out that somebody else, without your permission by the way, is using your loved one's name on a $20 t-shirt that opposes the war and the president. Some families are appalled by this. The man profiting from his protest says it's his right though. CNN's Keith Oppenheim has the story.
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KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a rural highway in eastern Oklahoma, a stretch of road is dedicated to a fallen marine. In April of 2004 Corporal Scott Vincent was serving in Iraq when his unit was attacked.
ROYCE VINCENT, FATHER OF FALLEN MARINE: They had stopped on a road outside Fallujah and a suicide bomber pulled up and exploded.
OPPENHEIM: Scott Vincent was killed in action. And as his parents Royce and Judy Vincent mourned, they would learn his name was being used in another way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vincent, right there.
OPPENHEIM: On t-shirts and bumper stickers listed in fine print with the names of hundreds of fallen U.S. military behind a graphic that reads, "Bush lied, they died." The products are designed by Dan Frazier who runs a website business in Flagstaff, Arizona.
DAN FRAZIER, MERCHANT: And I thought that maybe by putting all those names in a list on a bumper sticker, then people would really get the sense of the enormity of the tragedy.
OPPENHEIM: Frazier has been selling the Bush lied shirt for as much as $18, the magnetic vehicle sign for 9. He says some families have asked him to take names of their deceased relatives off his products, but he's refused.
FRAZIER: It's not some evil thing that I'm doing. I'm trying to save lives and prevent more grief like the grief that they're going through.
OPPENHEIM: Judy Vincent has been lobbying to stop Dan Frazier.
JUDY VINCENT, MOTHER OF FALLEN MARINE: I am trying to protect my child.
OPPENHEIM: The memory of him?
J. VINCENT: The memory of him and the other fallen heroes. They all deserve to be honored.
OPPENHEIM: Vincent's congressman Dan Boren has drafted a bill that would require merchants to get permission from living soldiers or from the families of deceased military before printing the names of troops on any item for sale.
REP. DAN BOREN, (D) OKLAHOMA: Mr. Frazier can talk all he wants to about, oh, I'm this noble cause about ending the war. His noble cause is about cashing a check at the bank and making some money off dead people and it's wrong.
OPPENHEIM: Right or wrong, legal experts tell us because the message on Frazier's products is clearly political it is constitutionally protected speech.
MARTIN REDISH, NW LAW PROFESSOR: The first amendment gives him total protection, full protection for what he's saying.
OPPENHEIM: Dan Frazier says until a law tells him otherwise, there's nothing stopping him from selling signs that list the names of dead soldiers. Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Flagstaff, Arizona.
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SANCHEZ: By the way, we've got a caveat to this, since Keith filed this report there have been some new developments on this story. The governor of Arizona has now signed a new law making it a misdemeanor to use the names or pictures of deceased service members to sell goods without the family's permission. Now Frazier says despite the law, he's going to keep printing the shirts. And according to the "Associated Press", Frazier says that he's printing a new version that will have an updated list of the casualties.
A birthday wish comes true for a South Carolina girl, a military mom. Caroline Deal surprised her daughter Taylor at her birthday party yesterday in Charlestown, South Carolina. Deal is a tech sergeant with the U.S. Air Force. She had just gotten back from Iraq Friday. Kept it a secret though, so she could surprise her kids. They were surprised all right. Taylor says having her mom home is the best gift she could possibly have ever had. Earlier Deal explained how the surprise actually played out.
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TECH SGT. CAROLINE DEAL, U.S. AIR FORCE: I had to lie to my children which was a horrible thing, but she knew that I was coming home soon. I never actually told them when I was coming home. I told her a while back that there was a possibility that I was not going to be home for her birthday so she was already prepared for that. So it was no, you know, big surprise that I was not going to be there. The surprise was when I actually showed up.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Deal's ex-husband is also an Air Force tech sergeant, he helped coordinate his daughter's surprise. Well done dad.
Gay rights become fighting words. Look at this. If you march for gay rights in Moscow, this is what happens, at least it did this weekend. That's just ahead. Also what's in the air in Atlanta? Big city smog. No, not this time. We're going to tell you what this smoky day in the south is all about. And our commander in chief and his administration as grade schoolers. This is a new show on Comedy Central that goes back in time but does it go too far some are asking? That's up to you. You're watching CNN, I'm Rick Sanchez, we're the most trusted name in news.
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SANCHEZ: Downright painful, wouldn't you say, the gas pump this Memorial Day weekend. If you filled up according to triple A, only two states have an average price of gas that is under $3 a gallon. Lucky consumers happen to live in New Jersey and South Carolina. Wonder how they lucked out. Their relative joy could be short lived though as prices appear to be rising with the start of the summer driving season again. For more from the world of business here is Ali Velshi.
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ALI VELSHI: With the Memorial Day holiday tomorrow, there are only four days of trading this week but this week brings us the big monthly unemployment report which is always a market mover. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.5 percent in April which is still relatively low. Job gains remain strong in service industries like health care and food services but they declined in manufacturing and retail trade. Right now the expectation is that job growth remains strong in May. Unless unemployment rises significantly the Federal Reserve is likely to stay focused on inflation. This week the Fed will release the minutes from its last meeting on May 9. Now those minutes often provide a deeper insight into the decision about interest rates and any future adjustments the Fed might make. The Fed kept rates unchanged for a seventh straight time at their last meeting and they'll meet again in late June. Friday is June 1st and that means it's the official start of the hurricane season. Some forecasters expect this year to be more active than last year. Tropical storms and hurricanes can have a major effect on the economy. Back in 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused gas prices to spike after they damaged some key refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. Well if you want more of this sort of thing watch me on "Minding your Business" each weekday on "AMERICAN MORNING." That's it from New York, I'm Ali Velshi.
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SANCHEZ: Want to bring you up to date now on this developing story that we've been telling you about in Caracas. Thousands of people have been taking to the street, for the most part they've been tussling with police throughout part of the last hour. And there you see they have one of those trucks that shoots water cannons into the crowd to try and keep the demonstrators at bay. Most of the people that you're seeing here demonstrating are anti-Hugo Chavez demonstrators. This is the 40 to 30 percent of the people in the country who are adamantly opposed to the president as opposed to of course the 60 percent who in the last poll said that they were for him. The government has been nationalizing a lot of the industry in Venezuela, including parts of the oil industry. There's land reform going on or land takeovers or some of the landowners have been calling it. This is just the latest part. This is part of the media, most aggressive media takeover that's been seen there, a television station, its license being taken away by Hugo Chavez. That's going to happen at midnight tonight. That's why we're going to be following this story for you here at CNN.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa!
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SANCHEZ: Now we want to take you to Moscow. Gay rights activists viciously attacked on the streets. Among them members of the European parliament who had come to Moscow to try and present a letter to the mayor protesting the city's ban on gay rights parades scheduled for today. Gay rights opponents punched the activists, pelted them with eggs. Moscow police moved in and instead of defending the gay rights activists and said they ended up hauling off about 20 of the activists to jail, including at least two European lawmakers in this case.
Back in this country, a new television show may be feeling some presidential heat of its own. Comedy Central is bringing a new series to air, it's called "Lil Bush." The animated series follows the antics of pint-sized versions of the Bush administration and apparently nobody is safe.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey guys, ready to get your camp on? Where's little Cheney? They must have salmon in their car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now little George, don't just hang out with the old gang. I want you to make new friends, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure thing, mom. Hey, what's your name? Too slow. I'll call you red shirt because you wear a red shirt. You're my new camp buddy, red shirt. Congratulations. Hey, mom, mission make new friend accomplished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, ma. If we get to the Kissingers late we'll miss all the good keys. I don't want to get stuck caught with that skank Ann Coulter again.
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SANCHEZ: There you go. The show's creator describes this, this way, think of the "Little Rascals" with access to the a-bomb. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONICK CARY, CREATOR, "LIL BUSH": We definitely debate stuff a lot. I mean I think this administration has pushed the boundaries on stuff. They're very confident and do whatever they want. So I think we're trying to take on whatever they have taken on. There are a few things, you know we did an episode -- we've been writing an episode about Walter Reed Hospital. We're trying to point out how the troops are treated but then you have a few jokes where it almost seems like you're making fun of the troops or something and we never would want to do that. So we certainly debate everything and talk about it with "Comedy Central" and try to find things that are edgy but also not just offensive to be offensive, you know. Hopefully they're still funny.
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SANCHEZ: Talk about walking a fine line. You can determine that for yourself. "Lil Bush" premiers June 13.
Now take a look at some of these pictures. This is the Atlanta skyline. That's not smog. That's not Los Angeles, not fog either. Its smoke, from some of those wildfires that are hundreds of miles away and yet still affecting some big cities burning in the south Georgia parts and a little bit of Florida as well. Winds pushed the smoke all the way to Atlanta at the start of the weekend and the smoky skies may last through Memorial Day. People with respiratory problems, the elderly and the very young are being urged to stay inside.
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SANCHEZ: They can be the worst moments of people's lives, mourning loved ones lost in war. But how do these moving scenes affect the people who are charged with capturing them. Their story, that's just ahead. And then 10 minutes from now, seven young American lives lost in the war in Iraq. We join their families for a special half hour and we call it "Chopper Down."
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SANCHEZ: Because it's Memorial Day we asked the question have you ever wondered what it's like to actually attend a military funeral. Few journalists actually get to attend these funerals. Photographers with the "Associated Press" though know firsthand what it's like. How does it affect them though as you're about to see.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A roadside bomb killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq in two days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's highest toll for any four-month stretch since the beginning of the Iraq conflict.
[ gunfire ]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watching the families, watching the mothers and the fathers and the children, it's pretty emotional to watch that. Fathers who you know were looking forward to their sons coming back and leading a great life for their sons and seeing that wiped out and just in a moment like that, it can jerk on your heart strings a little.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My feelings are kind of secondary. Sometimes you lose it but mostly that's later when you look at the pictures and you get a chance to really -- maybe you were focusing on the mother and then you realize that hiding behind her were a couple of children. Then you start really thinking about the fact that all of their future is going to be spent without their father. Hopefully that's what people that look at the pictures come away with, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a small town differently than with somebody is from Chicago or something like that. I was going into communities where everyone in town knew this soldier. You have to keep that in mind wherever you go, when you're checking into the hotel, when you're in a restaurant, and because these people are grieving along with the family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most difficult part is to not intrude on the privacy and sanctity of the proceeding to let the people have closure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could spend the day covering a soldier's funeral and putting up my pictures and seeing his parents crying and seeing his mother lingering over his casket and then go out that night to dinner with friends and everyone's talking about their day. And when your mind goes back to that family, that moment, it does sort of send a slow sad drumbeat through your core, but it's what we do. And I think we're doing a good thing by being there.
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SANCHEZ: Coming up, some could have been doctors or lawyers, but they chose service above all and died in Iraq. Our special report "Chopper Down."
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