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CNN Live Saturday

President Bush Says No To Taxing Oil Profits; Twelve Found Dead in Iraq

Aired April 29, 2006 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: "Now in the News," cleanup is getting underway after severe storms pound parts of north Texas. This was the scene just hours ago at the airport in Galesville, near Dallas. The latest on the water straight ahead.
Three years after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal broke new charges in the case. U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan is now facing seven charges, among them, dereliction of duty, cruelty, and making false statements. Jordan is the highest-ranking military officer charged in the scandal.

There's another twist in the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program. An Iranian official says his country is ready to allow snap inspections again, but only if the issue is removed from the United Nations Security Council. The official says Iran wants to deal solely with the U.N.'s nuclear inspection agency.

From Al Qaeda's number two man, a new videotaped message. In the tape posted on an Islamist website, Ayman Al Zawahiri praises insurgents attacking coalition forces in Iraq. And he says the U.S. and its allies have achieved nothing but losses, disaster, and misfortunes since the invasion.

Here in Atlanta, robots rule, the first international Robotics Championship is underway. Ten thousand middle and high school students are taking part in the three-day competition, more on that story coming up.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome to CNN LIVE Saturday. Coming up, a steakhouse is shut down. No big deal, right? Well, wait until you hear who some of the customers are.

Let the music play. New Orleans and Jazz Fest, they go hand in hand, and we're there live this hour.

But first to our top story. Severe storms have left a trail of damage across parts of north Texas. This was the scene earlier this morning at the airport in Gainesville near Dallas. High winds, heavy rain and hail swept across the area. The storms also blew down trees and power lines and knocked out power in the region. Other parts of Texas were also under the gun from severe storms. This was the scene last night as a hailstorm pounded the towns of Marble Falls.

(WEATHER REPORT) WHITFIELD: A bloody month for U.S. troops in Iraq. Deaths of civilians estimated at the tens of thousands and the president warns more tough fighting ahead. In the fight for Iraq, we begin in Baghdad, where Iraqi police say they found 12 bodies around the capital in the past 12 hours. CNN's Ryan Chilcote has wrapped up an exclusive interview with the second highest ranking U.S. general in Iraq -- Ryan.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, one of the biggest problems right now in Iraq is the existence of militias. Militias are effectively groups of young, armed men, roaming the country who owe their allegiance to the country's various sects, as opposed to the national government. There are thought to be dozens of these groups in their legions. They're the soldiers that are in them, the militiamen are thought to number in the tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands. There are so many of these militiamen, they are thought to be such a problem, that they are now believed to be killing more Iraqis than the insurgency.

This is an issue that I discussed with General Chiarelli today. She told me he believes that Iraq's new prime minister is ready to take action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. PETER W. CHIARELLI, CMDR. Iraq MULTINATIONAL CORPS: Well, I think you've seen the new prime minister has indicated that will be one of the very first policy decisions that he makes. I think you're seeing that, and I believe that that's exactly what's going to happen. This is a problem that the Iraqi government has got do solve. They're the ones that have to come up with the policy and the Iraqi armed forces will be ready to implement that policy.

CHILCOTE: If they ask the U.S. military to get involved in disarming these groups, is that something you're ready to do?

CHIARELLI: That's a decision that'll be made, a policy decision, that will be made at levels above me. But I can tell you I feel fully confident that the Iraqi security forces have the ability to work that problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHILCOTE: Fredricka, because these militias owe their allegiance to the country's various sects they are also thought be behind the majority of the sectarian violence. So shutting down the militias is really believed to be the key to averting a civil war here. And just within the last two minutes, as far as U.S. casualties are concerned, we just learned that a U.S. soldier was killed southwest of Baghdad by an improvised explosive device -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ryan Chilcote, thanks so much for that update.

President Bush warns U.S. troops will face more tough fighting in Iraq. And in his weekly radio address, Mr. Bush assured Iraq of America's continued support. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: During their meetings in Baghdad, Secretaries Rice and Rumsfeld made clear that Iraq will have the continued support of America and our coalition partners as we begin the new chapter in our relationship. We will help the new Iraqi government assume growing responsibility for the nation's security. And as Iraqis don't make progress toward a democracy that can govern itself, defend itself, and sustain itself, more of our troops can come home with the honor they have earned.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But before that happens, Mr. Bush predicted more days of sacrifice and struggle.

Sixty-eight american troops have died in Iraq this month alone, the deadliest month so far this year. And the military and U.S. combat deaths since the start of the war, now stands at 1,886. Now, including soldiers that died from illness or accidents and 7 civilians working for the military, the total number is almost 2,400.

It's a new tradition in Washington. The owners of Fran O'Brien's Stadium Steakhouse serve free dinners to troops who have been severely wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. Well now, the kitchen is being forced to close its doors. That story from senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It would be just another landlord/tenant dispute, except for who is caught in the middle, America's war wounded. For 2-1/2 years now the steps have led to a haven for healing. Fran O'Brien's Steakhouse, tucked into the basement of the Capital Hilton in Washington.

SGT. WASIM KHAN, U.S. ARMY: The dinners are like, inspiration and motivation for us. From a personal view, it's like home for me.

MCINTYRE: What volunteers started in 2003 to thank wounded veterans with free dinners has grown into a Friday night institution. For along with the steaks come heaping helpings of emotional nourishment.

HAL KOSTER, FRAN O'BRIEN'S STEAKHOUSE: It's therapeutic to get out and especially in this environment, because it gives them an opportunity to be out with people that have gone through a lot of the same things they've gone through.

STAFF SGT. CHRISTOPHER BAIN, U.S. ARMY: I would sit down next to an amputee and didn't have any legs or even if he only had one leg and maybe he didn't his prosthetic yet, but it told me that this is the deal, I get your food, you cut my steak and he goes, not a problem.

MCINTYRE: Donations from various organizes cover the tab, and everyone from Vietnam-era veterans to government bureaucrats, like Paul Wolfowitz, have become part of the therapy. BAIN: I can actually tell you that they didn't just save my life, they're saving all these soldiers' lives.

MCINTYRE: But the dinners end this month, because the Hilton is evicting the restaurant in a dispute in which each side blames the other. Even as everyone agrees the dinners should go on.

BRIAN KELLER, GENERAL MANGER, CAPITAL HILTON: These guys have done good work, we support the veterans, but it's all about conditions in terms of a lease.

MCINTYRE: The hotel at first offered to take over hosting the dinners, but the restaurant owners and the volunteer who came up with the idea in the first place insist they'll find someplace more accommodating.

JIM MAYER, VOLUNTEER: I think the soldiers and marines will keep that spirit going.

MCINTYRE: And that's not in dispute. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The Justice Department is getting involved in a challenge to the Bush administration's domestic spying program. An internet privacy group accuses AT&T of making its networks available to the National Security Agency without warrants. The Justice Department says the lawsuit threatens to expose government and military secrets and should be dismissed. Last December President Bush confirmed that the spy agency taps calls and e-mails between the U.S. and people overseas.

New information today about how the government uses the controversial Patriot Act. The Justice Department says it sought information on 3,500 U.S. citizens and legal residents. It's the first time the Bush administration has publicly disclosed how often it uses the administrative subpoena known as "National Security Letter." The disclosure was required as part of the renewal of the administration's sweeping anti-terror law.

Well, there are new allegations today in a terrorism case against two suspects with ties to Atlanta. Prosecutors say Ehsanul Sadequee and Syed Ahmed made videotapes of several buildings in Washington to be shipped to terrorists overseas. The two are also accused of meeting with terror suspects during a trip to Canada last year. Ahmed is a student at Georgia Tech. Sadequee, an american citizen, was extradited from Bangladesh.

Watch CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Rush Limbaugh strikes a plea deal with Florida prosecutors. The conservative talk show host was arrested, but there won't be a trial. That story, straight ahead.

In a princely manner, Harry takes on AIDS in Africa.

And later, Darfur, Sudan, the United Nations says it's the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time. A look at this tragedy straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, this just in to CNN, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is preparing to step down. Reports from Rome say he will resign on Tuesday. Mr. Berlusconi has bitterly contested the recent election which was narrowly won by Romano Prodi and his Union Coalition. For more, let's get some information from Alessio Vinci who is in Rome.

And, what does this conceding of defeat really mean?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically it means that Mr. Berlusconi will no longer be Italy's prime minister. What will happen, basically, on Tuesday, he has convened the last cabinet session of his cabinet, after which he will put his mandate in the hands of the Italian president who, however, will have two choices. The mandate of the Italian president actually expires next month, by mid-May. So the big request is whether or not the new president, the outgoing president, will actually give the mandate to Mr. Prodi right away, meaning in the coming days next week, or whether he will wait for the new parliament, which convened yesterday and today for the first time, to elect a new president, and then leave it up to the new president to elect, to nominate Prodi as the next prime minister.

Now, you mentioned that Mr. Berlusconi refused to concede defeat, well basically in the last few hours, here in Rome, is that Romano Prodi one two key votes in both houses of parliament. Basically he managed to half his own coalition partners, his own candidate, electeds speakers of the both houses of parliament. Meaning that Mr. Prodi, right now, enjoys a majority in both houses of parliament, although in the upper chamber, in the senate, it was a hotly contested vote, and his candidate needed four rounds of voting before being -- before winning that vote. That said, basically, Mr. Prodi will now become Italy's next prime minister. It could happen as early as next week or latest by mid-May.

WHITFIELD: And so Alessio, try to help us understand, too, why this is particularly significant for the relationship that Berlusconi has had with the U.S., particularly in the ongoing war in Iraq. This was a country that -- or a prime minister who dispatched a number of troops, 3,000 in all, at its height, to Iraq. Even against the wishes of the majority of the Italians. So this is a sort of payback, if you will, during this election?

VINCI: No. Not at all. I think it is very important for people, especially in the U.S., to understand that Mr. Berlusconi, first of all, did not lose the election -- not lose this election because of his foreign policy or because he sent troops to Iraq. And it's also very important to understand that the position of the two candidates, of Mr. Prodi and Mr. Berlusconi, regarding Italian troops is very similar today. And that is, that all troops have to be returned home by the end of this year. Italy, as you mentioned, had 3,200 troops in Iraq, 600 of them have already returned home and 1,000 more are set to be returning in June. That was turned the current government of Mr. Berlusconi. Mr. Prodsdy basically said the same thing, he wants all troops back in Italy by the end of this year.

I guess what will change, a little bit, if you want, is the style. Mr. Prodi has already said that he wants to, you know, redirect, if you want, Italy's foreign policy from Washington to, if you want, Brussels, to the center of Europe. But in an interview with myself, actually, only a few weeks ago, days after he won the election, he said it does not mean that he will look at the United States as a hostile country, not at all.

WHITFIELD: OK.

VINCI: He actually said that we wanted to live and work together with the United States, you need good relationships and I think that as we move forward, as Mr. Prodi will remain -- will become Italy's prime minister, I think that the current U.S. administration will find that Mr. Prodi is just as good ally as Mr. Berlusconi.

WHITFIELD: Interesting and very important. Thank you very much, Alessio Vinci, for bringing us up to date on that.

Now, here in the states, Rush Limbaugh is standing firm. The conservative talk show host still says he's not guilty of a fraud charge involving prescription painkillers. Limbaugh is free after being photographed, fingerprinted, and posting bond. CNN's Susan Candiotti has more on Limbaugh's deal that will allow him to stay out of jail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): Flashing a smile as he posed for mugshot, Rush Limbaugh negotiated a deal that, in the end, can assure him a clean record.

ROY BLACK, LIMBAUGH'S ATTORNEY: What he does say is that he was addicted to prescription pain medication which, of course, he admitted back in 2003, when all this began. So he has adamantly said he has not committed a crime.

CANDIOTTI: According to his lawyers, the agreement with the Palm Beach state attorney's office goes like this: Limbaugh pleads not guilty to one count of doctor shopping. He must complete another year and a half of drug treatment. If he does, the charge will be dropped. Finally, the radio host must pay $30,000 to help offset the public cost of the investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm talking to you.

CANDIOTTI: Rush Limbaugh's nightmare began in the fall of 2003. His former housekeeper sold a blockbuster story to the "National Inquirer." Wilma Cline claims she illegally sold the popular conservative talk show host thousands of prescription painkillers, including oxycontin and hydrocodone. RUSH LIMBAUGH, TALK SHOW HOST: I really don't know the full scope of what I'm dealing with.

CANDIOTTI: A week later, Limbaugh admitted a problem.

LIMBAUGH: I am addicted to prescription pain medication.

CANDIOTTI: With that, Limbaugh left the air for a month of treatment. He blamed unrelenting pain from spinal surgery years earlier. He claimed his former employee tried to blackmail him and said he paid her what he called extortion money, but was afraid to go to authorities. Later that year, investigators raided Limbaugh's doctors' offices in Florida and California. In search warrants prosecutors said Limbaugh was part of an ongoing investigation that began a year earlier and appeared to be doctor shopping for painkillers going from doctor to doctor to get more pills. Authorities said pharmacy reports show Limbaugh obtained more than 2,000 pills over a six-month period. Limbaugh's claims local prosecutors are unfairly targeting him compared to others in similar predicaments. He says his constitutional right to privacy was violated by the raid. On the air, he also suggested that democrats were to blame.

LIMBAUGH: The democrats in this country still cannot defeat me in the arena of political ideas and so now they're trying to do so in the court of public opinion and the legal system.

CANDIOTTI: Prosecutors defended the search warrant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has it now been reduced to, we have to notice the target of an investigation that we want to look at the evidence and the felonies that he's committed?

CANDIOTTI: Eventually, despite appeals all the way to Florida's Supreme Court, Limbaugh lost his privacy battle to keep his doctors' records out of prosecutors' hands. And after a 2-1/2-year-long legal odyssey, the radio talk show host may soon be able to end his doctor- shopping scandal.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Some hybrid car owners in California aren't feeling any love from fellow drivers. Coming up, the growing conflict between hybrids and gas gluzleers.

And New Orleans, jazz, and food. Plenty of both at the Jazz Fest underway, already this weekend. We'll have a live report coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Those darn high gas prices, still taking a bite out of your budget. President Bush says taxing oil company profits is not the solution. He wants Congress to ease regulations that make it difficult to expand the nation's refining capacity. And the president wants oil companies to put their efforts into finding and producing more energy. Chevron, Conoco-Philips, and Exxon Mobil combined earned more than $15.5 billion in the first three months of this year. Those mammoth profits have left motorists fuming over the high prices at the pumps. AAA says the average cost for a gallon of regular unleaded is $2.93. A year ago, the average price $2.23.

The surging prices are fueling frustrations between drivers pitting Prius people against Escalade enthusiasts. CNN's Peter Viles takes a look at a report that fist aired on "Anderson Cooper 360."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER VILES, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Drive a Toyota Prius in California and you're considered special, so special you can drive in the carpool lane all by yourself.

JANE VELEZ MITCHELL, TV LEGAL ANALYST: I think we should have special status, anything to encourage people to buy hybrid-elecvehicles and get out of those massive monstrosities they're driving around.

VILES: The trouble is hybrid drivers have a reputation for poking along to maximize gas mileage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I think people get in that lane and they drive slower also, which should not be tolerated, but they are not ticketed or penalized for that.

VILES: Check out in this post on a car talk forum, "Hey, all you hyper milers, if you want to go slow and save gas, get a bicycle."

Prius driver Jane Velez Mitchell, you may recognize her as a TV legal analyst sometimes on "Headline News," says she's been honked at, tailgated, cut off, and yelled at.

MITCHELL: If your little Prius is standing in the way of their big Escalade, they get angry. Well that's not how it works, just because you drive an Escalade, doesn't mean you are more powerful or more important or should be able to get in front of me. Sorry.

VILES: It so happens this guy drives an Escalade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I paid $60,000 for one of these or $100,000 for one of those, and you know, and here they go with these little hybrids and they get in the diamond lane, I'm by myself, I can't get in the diamond lane, you know.

Reporter: Truth is, Prius backlash is a two-way street.

CHRIS CUTRIGHT, TOYOTA DEALER OF HOLLYWOOD: I don't think the Hummer people are upset with the Prius people, I think it's the other way around. The Prius people are definitely upset at the Hummer people. No question about it.

VILES: And you can't beat this story of Hummer backlash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's big, and I can't go anywhere and it gets egged constantly, I don't know if it's just teenagers, or -- I think it's like environmentalists egg my car. I've been egged four times.

VILES: Still, you'll never see this woman driving a Prius.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd rather ride a bicycle than to drive a Prius, I think.

VILES (on camera): Ride a bicycle?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think so. Yeah. For sure.

MITCHELL: I mean, this is beautiful. It's luxury.

VILES (voice-over): Peter Viles for CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, that story comes to us from "Anderson Cooper 360." Join "AC 360" weeknights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Hard to believe it started in 1970, and it's still going strong. It's Jazz Fest in New Orleans this weekend, and we're there, live.

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