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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iraqi Governing Council Signs Interim Constitution; Haiti Unrest; Gay Bishop; Ernie Lopez Found
Aired March 08, 2004 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK. It is Monday, March 8. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Let me bring you up to date now. In just the last half hour, Iraq's Governing Council finally sat down to sign the country's first interim constitution. An agreement had been reached last week, but last-minute disagreements led to the delay. You are looking at ceremonies live out of Baghdad. We'll go there in just a bit.
As the ceremony was about to begin, though, a loud explosion was heard in Baghdad. The blast took place near an Iraqi police station. Six people were injured in that blast. There were no deaths.
More bureaucracy to fight terror. "USA Today" reports that a new government agency will be launched today. The agency's goal will be to stop the flow of money to terrorist organizations.
Attorney General John Ashcroft remains in a Washington hospital in intensive care this morning. Four days ago, he was admitted with a severe case of gallstone pancreaitis (ph) -- pancreatitis, I should say.
Mars may be too rough for the Rover-Opportunity. NASA plans to test the Rover today to find out why it's been unable to scrape up samples in an important area called Flat Rock.
We update our top stories every 15 minutes. Our next update comes your way at 5:45 Eastern.
It is a broad picture of how Iraqis will run their country, a picture coming into focus today. The Iraqi Governing Council just about to sign an interim constitution. Let's see if they did it yet.
Live to Baghdad and our bureau chief there -- Jane Arraf.
Jane, have they signed it yet?
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Not yet, Carol, but the desk is there and this time everyone has showed up, so the prospects are pretty good. You remember that this had been delayed, delayed twice in fact, one by a horrible attack in Karbala and the Shi'a holy places in Baghdad. The second by a disagreement among Shi's members that had them essentially walking out. This time they have walked in and they are all here. We have just been hearing some speeches from Governing Council members. One, the president of the council, Mohammed Bahrululum, referring to an ongoing series of attacks and saying that these attackers forget that the will of the people is more powerful than their bombs. And that, at least, is the intent here today that these people, these members of the Governing Council, supposedly representative of the 25 million people in Iraq, are going to sign a document that will set the way forward for this new country, a country that respects all religions, all ethnic groups. A country that for the first time is truly democratic and surrealistic, according to this document that they will be signing soon -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know, Jane, a number of people have been speaking today. Right now Adnan Pachachi, he is a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, and he is talking to the audience and they are just about to sign that Iraqi interim constitution.
Want to move on to Haiti for just a bit now. Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is expected to address journalists about a half hour from now in the Central African Republic. In the meantime, the bloodshed that hastened his departure from his home country has sparked up again.
CNN's Lucia Newman has the story from Port-au-Prince.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One minute, there was cheering and celebration in front of Haiti's presidential palace. The next, it was this.
(GUNSHOTS)
Gunmen armed with pistols and high powered rifles shot at anti- Aristide demonstrators, while U.S. Marines guarding the palace fired their first shots since arriving in Haiti. Nearby, an unarmed Haitian laid dead in a pool of blood. People in shock, but also angry.
The demonstration began peacefully enough with U.S. Marines and French troops joining Haitian police to escort the marches towards the palace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aristide needs to go in prison, because he's a criminal. He killed a lot of people in Haiti.
NEWMAN: There were tense moments when those celebrating last week's departure of President Aristide confronted some of his supporters. The Marines, keeping both sides apart, allowing the march to continue.
(on camera): Celebrating Aristide's departure is the easy part. Trying to get this extraordinarily polarized nation to decide on how to move forward is the real challenge.
(voice-over): A challenge that became brutally clear when even the celebration turned violent with the foreign troops who had escorted them no longer visible.
"Where were the French and American troops when we needed them?" screamed this group. Others said Marines should never have pressed rebels led by a former Army officer to lay down their weapons before disarming gangs loyal to the former president.
The bullets fired by gunmen believed to be supporters of the former president also killed a Spanish television journalist seen in the back seat of this ambulance. He was shot trying to get help for an injured American photographer, seen here in a dark T-shirt.
Another dark day for Haiti. Another demonstration of how difficult it will be to achieve peace in this country.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Port-au-Prince.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And let's talk more about Haiti now and Iraq. And for that we turn to our senior international editor David Clinch.
And, David, let's talk about Haiti first.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.
COSTELLO: Jean-Bertrand Aristide is supposed to give this press conference. What is he expected to say?
CLINCH: Well, I don't know that we can predict. He is unpredictable in the most general of sense. But we are hearing in suggestions from an interview that he gave to a French television network this morning that he is still not giving up on the idea that he has a role in Haiti. We don't know all the details, but he has spoken to an RTL, a French television station, today saying that he thinks he can still provoke what he calls peaceful opposition in Haiti.
Well clearly the people who it's believed are supporters of his had no peaceful intentions on their minds yesterday. It was really, as Lucia said, a dark day in Haiti yesterday. And the killing of that journalist, that Spanish journalist, who, by the way, was very good friends with our reporters and others who were there. Just pointing out, again, how dangerous it is just to cover these stories, let alone to understand in a more deep sense what's going on.
COSTELLO: Well what's this the United States was the country, along with France, to pressure him to step down? How could the United States shut him up, so to speak, as lack of a more tactful term?
CLINCH: Well that would be interesting to say. I mean you could -- there were predictions that he might, perhaps, come out and state something different than he said the other day to us in an interview that he had been kidnapped, but perhaps he had been persuaded to say he had not been kidnapped. But clearly from what we are hearing in Paris this morning, he hasn't given up on the idea that he still has a role to play. So we'll be watching very closely. Communications with the Central African Republic not easy at the best of times.
COSTELLO: Yes.
CLINCH: So we'll try to get to them.
COSTELLO: Switching gears now to Iraq, members of the Americans were in the audience...
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... as the Iraqis are about to sign the interim constitution act.
CLINCH: Right. I mean looking at this, everybody is having their say. It's somewhat -- it's easy, in some ways, to be cynical about this, everybody is having their say, a big ceremony, it's only interim. But symbols, symbols are vitally important, especially the Paul Bremer and others telling us that it's vitally important to show and to display, not only to us, to the world, but to the Iraqis themselves that everybody has a say here. And they are having their say. We're watching them do that. They will sign shortly.
It is an interim constitution, but a very important step towards this hand over of power, which, from the Iraqi point of view, is the real goal. Then, of course, followed, at some point, by elections. Then we'll see who comes out ahead after true elections happen. But this is an important step today and the Iraqis having their day. Paul Bremer, and others in the audience, happy to see them having their day.
COSTELLO: I bet.
CLINCH: Of course big explosions outside, the violence has not ended. It's all part of the story and we'll bring you both parts.
COSTELLO: Interesting. David Clinch, many thanks.
CLINCH: All right.
COSTELLO: A human rights group paints an ugly picture of the U.S. military and its mission in Afghanistan. The group, Human Rights Watch, issued a report saying the U.S. operation is tarnished by needless civilian casualties, the alleged torture of prisoners and use of excessive force to capture suspects in residential areas. The military says the New York-based group confuses the situation in Afghanistan for one where peacetime methods could be used.
In the meantime, the U.S. military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay will be in the spotlight today. European families of terror suspects and British religious groups plan several activities. They are concerned about due process rights for the detainees. We should learn more at a news conference and that will happen just about four hours from now. John Kerry says he would like a group of his advisors to go to Iraq, assess the situation and report back. Kerry says he would use the findings to shape his policy position. And the presumptive Democratic nominee is leaving open the possibility he might go to Iraq himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I haven't ruled it out. I just not -- it's not on the front burner right now and I'd prefer, for the moment, to get some assessments. If I find from those assessments that there may be a real reason to go further, I could follow up on it. I haven't ruled out the potential of any foreign travel at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As for President Bush, he plans a public appearance in Houston today, along with a couple of fund raisers. The Bush campaign is already reacting to John Kerry's possible trip to Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY HOLT, PRESS SECRETARY, BUSH-CHENEY CAMPAIGN: I think the political question is a little touchy. I mean you know Sean Penn went to Iraq, Hillary Clinton went over Thanksgiving. So I think it's fine.
It's just that it's very close to politics. Are you going to use it for policy purposes to make better decisions and perhaps maybe next time vote for that war supplemental or are you going to become a little more political with the information?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Should be an interesting presidential campaign. It certainly has been interesting so far.
But let's talk about something more mundane, perhaps, the weather.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: OK. Am I mundane?
COSTELLO: No, I didn't mean you.
MYERS: Hate being mundane.
COSTELLO: I meant the weather itself, although there's this storm coming.
MYERS: There is. In fact, another one, Carol, for next week.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: You know I'm just looking at our internal monitors watching what's happening in Baghdad with the Iraqi Governing Council. It looks like they are about to sign this interim constitution. Let's see what they do right now. I did see one man sign it. But there it goes, history being made right now here on CNN.
And you could hear the cheering in the audience. American officials are there, too, including Paul Bremer, the civilian administrator.
And you know this has been a long time in coming. It was supposed to be signed on Friday. They postponed it until Monday because there was some disagreement between the Shiites and the Kurds. But now it seems as if the interim constitution of Iraq has been signed. And of course that makes it a lot easier to clear the way for the turnover on June 30 so that Iraqis can hold some kind of election and govern themselves.
This is Adnan Pachachi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, adding his signature to this document.
Of course we're going to continue to cover this. It's a long ceremony. It's at a convention center. As you might expect, thousands of people are watching this event happen. Again, the interim constitution in Iraq has now been signed.
First day on the job, what lies ahead for the Episcopal Church's first gay bishop? Plus an old prizefighter at his biggest fight of all.
This is DAYBREAK for Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is now 45 minutes past the hour, 5:45 Eastern, time to take a quick look at our top stories.
The Iraqi Governing Council sitting down to sign the country's oft delayed interim constitution. We just saw a live picture just a bit ago with members of the Iraqi Governing Council signing that. It may be that all 25 members have to sign it. We know about 10 have signed it so far. We will keep you posted. In fact, I have just been informed that all 25 members of the Iraqi Governing Council will sign the interim constitution, of course clearing the way for the turnover of power on June 30.
Former Haitian President Aristide is expected to address reporters shortly. But back in his home country, at least four people were killed after violence erupted during demonstrations.
And Martha Stewart is expected to meet with her probation officer today. They will go over her restrictions following last week's guilty verdict. Stewart is free until her scheduled sentencing on June 17.
We update our top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at the top of the hour, 6:00 Eastern.
Well it's complete, it's over, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church is now in full control of the New Hampshire diocese.
Let's find out what people there are saying.
Joining us by phone are our friends Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier, the WOKQ Morning Waking -- you know I can never get your little title thing right. I know you're in Portsmouth and Manchester. It's the Morning Waking Crew, right?
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER: Yes.
COSTELLO: I apologize. I do. I feel so bad about that. And you join us like every week it seems.
CARRIER: Sorry, sometimes we even screw up our own names, so.
COSTELLO: Well that makes me feel a lot better this early in the morning. But let's talk about this, I mean a lot of people thought it had already happened, but it officially happens today, right?
ERICSON: Well it -- actually the passing of the ceremonial shepherd's crook took place yesterday in Concord at St. Paul's. The vote took place over the summertime. While yesterday's ceremony did not have the pomp and circumstance of what went on over the summer months, it was the official retirement of our previous bishop here in New Hampshire.
COSTELLO: And is it safe to say he has widespread support in your state?
ERICSON: In the state of New Hampshire, he was overwhelmingly elected by...
CARRIER: By his churches, yes.
ERICSON: ... his churches here in New Hampshire. However, there are two parishes in New Hampshire that are planning on breaking away and affiliating with a new network of parishes that oppose Gene Robinson's lifestyle.
COSTELLO: I was just interested in what effects this was having, you know, on the larger congregation?
ERICSON: Well it's a lot of conversation back and forth. And now coupled with all of this, there is the whole issue of civil unions and whether or not civil unions are going to be something that is looked at in New Hampshire or accepted from other states in New Hampshire. And over the weekend in a newspaper interview, Gene Robinson said that if he had the opportunity to marry his partner, Mark Andrew, he would do so. And that sort of stirred the pot anew.
COSTELLO: Well has anyone asked him if he would travel to San Francisco to do that and would have? I'm just interested. ERICSON: I think, in his heart of hearts I think he probably could if he would. But I also think that he is -- he is smart enough to be not causing more trouble than he needs to because he knows that there are some opposition to his lifestyle in all of this.
COSTELLO: Some opposition? Yes, that would be a real political hot potato.
Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier from the WOKQ Morning Waking Crew in Portsmouth and Manchester, thanks for joining us this morning.
Just ahead in our next hour, what's next for Martha and how much time will she spend behind bars? We'll look at some of the theories.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We have a new feature this morning -- Chad.
MYERS: I guess we had it last week, but we weren't here.
COSTELLO: That's right, so it's new to us.
MYERS: They start stuff and we're not here and then they just make us do it.
COSTELLO: I think that's kind of rude.
MYERS: It's OK.
COSTELLO: I'm just kidding.
But what we're going to do is we're going to check out some headlines from across the nation.
MYERS: All right.
COSTELLO: This from the "Orlando Sentinel." And the lead story in this newspaper is about Haiti and the people there.
MYERS: Man!
COSTELLO: There is so much looting going on right now that people cannot find food. In fact, people are eating every other day. And mainly what they are eating, rice. So Jean-Bertrand Aristide steps down and things only get worse.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Let's move on to the Colorado Springs paper "The Gazette." They are talking about the University of Colorado and you know football players, allegations of rape. And also, the University of Colorado was ranked as No. 1 in party schools across the nation. So they...
MYERS: Yes, they do have a good time out there once in a while.
COSTELLO: It seems so. But they took a look at the crime statistics and found they were average in students by in large feel safe, so that's what that article is about.
MYERS: Well good.
COSTELLO: And let's go to the Baltimore "Sun," because this just astounded me when I heard about it. Having ridden these water taxis...
MYERS: Sure.
COSTELLO: ... many, many times. I'm sure you have, too.
MYERS: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: This very heavy boat rolls over and people are thrown into the water because of this freak thunderstorm. I mean how fast did that thing come in -- Chad?
MYERS: Well we knew they were coming. The forecast was for thunderstorms. It was right along the cold front, but the wind behind this storm was literally 40, 45 miles per hour and the boat was and it's a very tall boat, too, and a -- and a fairly skinny boat. But right along and so it hit it broadside, just like you'd -- you see a big tractor trailer driving along the interstate, and it just hit that broadside. You know how tractor trailers can move back and forth, well that's what happened to the boat this weekend, too. Those waves in the harbor were literally four to six feet and a lot of people on that thing. So there are still -- I think there are still three people missing there -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. Yes.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: A man, a woman and a 6-year-old kid.
MYERS: Yes, and they spent all day looking for them. And you know what, that water is very cold out there. Temperatures there in that water about 40 degrees. So they did get a lot of folks out right away and that was some great news. Those folks did a great job saving, I think, 20 people that were in the water, they saved them all.
COSTELLO: Absolutely.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: CNN this is DAYBREAK continues after this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARION ASNES, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": Chicago is one of the many great American cities that has benefited from increased competition among the airlines. You can get incredible deals, which makes this a great time to visit this beautiful city.
One of the most extraordinary things about Chicago is its skyline, which is famed all over the world. Families going to Chicago can chill out at many of the lakefront beaches and parks. In addition, there is the Field Museum. It's a great museum and a great place to check out on one of the occasional rainy days in summer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Last week we told you the story of Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez. He is the one-time boxer who had seemingly dropped off the face of the earth 10 years ago, but his family has tracked him down. He was in a Fort Worth homeless shelter. Now he is back with his family and his friends and he has a new place of honor in the California Boxing Hall of Fame.
Take a look and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a man who has resurfaced, and is back among his loved ones and his fans and friends after a much too long absence. Ernie Lopez, let's bring him up here.
On behalf of the California Boxing Hall of Fame, and the city of Los Angeles, we want to say that you're our champ. You're family means the world to you. And they are even more excited and appreciative of not you as a fighter, but you as the father and family member. At least (UNINTELLIGIBLE) congratulations.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a great fighter. And I just always loved to watch his fights, or the courage that he had and the person that he's always been. He doesn't realize what a champion he is, that he has always been that champion, but he didn't see it. And I want you to know that you're a great man. And we're glad to have you back.
A lot of times circumstance and time seems to separate the what ifs from the what's was, but our dad has always been our dad. And that will never change. And we want him to know how much we love him and are not -- a lot has never faltered. And regardless of the boxing hall of fame, we wanted them here with us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope that they're all doing well, because I'm not all right. So people know I get lost every once and a while, you know? For a couple of years, maybe 5, 10.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: After 10 years, it's a happy ending. Lopez became a wanderer after losing his last three fights. But now he says he wants to put down roots in California to be close to his four children and
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Unrest; Gay Bishop; Ernie Lopez Found>
Aired March 8, 2004 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK. It is Monday, March 8. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Let me bring you up to date now. In just the last half hour, Iraq's Governing Council finally sat down to sign the country's first interim constitution. An agreement had been reached last week, but last-minute disagreements led to the delay. You are looking at ceremonies live out of Baghdad. We'll go there in just a bit.
As the ceremony was about to begin, though, a loud explosion was heard in Baghdad. The blast took place near an Iraqi police station. Six people were injured in that blast. There were no deaths.
More bureaucracy to fight terror. "USA Today" reports that a new government agency will be launched today. The agency's goal will be to stop the flow of money to terrorist organizations.
Attorney General John Ashcroft remains in a Washington hospital in intensive care this morning. Four days ago, he was admitted with a severe case of gallstone pancreaitis (ph) -- pancreatitis, I should say.
Mars may be too rough for the Rover-Opportunity. NASA plans to test the Rover today to find out why it's been unable to scrape up samples in an important area called Flat Rock.
We update our top stories every 15 minutes. Our next update comes your way at 5:45 Eastern.
It is a broad picture of how Iraqis will run their country, a picture coming into focus today. The Iraqi Governing Council just about to sign an interim constitution. Let's see if they did it yet.
Live to Baghdad and our bureau chief there -- Jane Arraf.
Jane, have they signed it yet?
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Not yet, Carol, but the desk is there and this time everyone has showed up, so the prospects are pretty good. You remember that this had been delayed, delayed twice in fact, one by a horrible attack in Karbala and the Shi'a holy places in Baghdad. The second by a disagreement among Shi's members that had them essentially walking out. This time they have walked in and they are all here. We have just been hearing some speeches from Governing Council members. One, the president of the council, Mohammed Bahrululum, referring to an ongoing series of attacks and saying that these attackers forget that the will of the people is more powerful than their bombs. And that, at least, is the intent here today that these people, these members of the Governing Council, supposedly representative of the 25 million people in Iraq, are going to sign a document that will set the way forward for this new country, a country that respects all religions, all ethnic groups. A country that for the first time is truly democratic and surrealistic, according to this document that they will be signing soon -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know, Jane, a number of people have been speaking today. Right now Adnan Pachachi, he is a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, and he is talking to the audience and they are just about to sign that Iraqi interim constitution.
Want to move on to Haiti for just a bit now. Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is expected to address journalists about a half hour from now in the Central African Republic. In the meantime, the bloodshed that hastened his departure from his home country has sparked up again.
CNN's Lucia Newman has the story from Port-au-Prince.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One minute, there was cheering and celebration in front of Haiti's presidential palace. The next, it was this.
(GUNSHOTS)
Gunmen armed with pistols and high powered rifles shot at anti- Aristide demonstrators, while U.S. Marines guarding the palace fired their first shots since arriving in Haiti. Nearby, an unarmed Haitian laid dead in a pool of blood. People in shock, but also angry.
The demonstration began peacefully enough with U.S. Marines and French troops joining Haitian police to escort the marches towards the palace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aristide needs to go in prison, because he's a criminal. He killed a lot of people in Haiti.
NEWMAN: There were tense moments when those celebrating last week's departure of President Aristide confronted some of his supporters. The Marines, keeping both sides apart, allowing the march to continue.
(on camera): Celebrating Aristide's departure is the easy part. Trying to get this extraordinarily polarized nation to decide on how to move forward is the real challenge.
(voice-over): A challenge that became brutally clear when even the celebration turned violent with the foreign troops who had escorted them no longer visible.
"Where were the French and American troops when we needed them?" screamed this group. Others said Marines should never have pressed rebels led by a former Army officer to lay down their weapons before disarming gangs loyal to the former president.
The bullets fired by gunmen believed to be supporters of the former president also killed a Spanish television journalist seen in the back seat of this ambulance. He was shot trying to get help for an injured American photographer, seen here in a dark T-shirt.
Another dark day for Haiti. Another demonstration of how difficult it will be to achieve peace in this country.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Port-au-Prince.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And let's talk more about Haiti now and Iraq. And for that we turn to our senior international editor David Clinch.
And, David, let's talk about Haiti first.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.
COSTELLO: Jean-Bertrand Aristide is supposed to give this press conference. What is he expected to say?
CLINCH: Well, I don't know that we can predict. He is unpredictable in the most general of sense. But we are hearing in suggestions from an interview that he gave to a French television network this morning that he is still not giving up on the idea that he has a role in Haiti. We don't know all the details, but he has spoken to an RTL, a French television station, today saying that he thinks he can still provoke what he calls peaceful opposition in Haiti.
Well clearly the people who it's believed are supporters of his had no peaceful intentions on their minds yesterday. It was really, as Lucia said, a dark day in Haiti yesterday. And the killing of that journalist, that Spanish journalist, who, by the way, was very good friends with our reporters and others who were there. Just pointing out, again, how dangerous it is just to cover these stories, let alone to understand in a more deep sense what's going on.
COSTELLO: Well what's this the United States was the country, along with France, to pressure him to step down? How could the United States shut him up, so to speak, as lack of a more tactful term?
CLINCH: Well that would be interesting to say. I mean you could -- there were predictions that he might, perhaps, come out and state something different than he said the other day to us in an interview that he had been kidnapped, but perhaps he had been persuaded to say he had not been kidnapped. But clearly from what we are hearing in Paris this morning, he hasn't given up on the idea that he still has a role to play. So we'll be watching very closely. Communications with the Central African Republic not easy at the best of times.
COSTELLO: Yes.
CLINCH: So we'll try to get to them.
COSTELLO: Switching gears now to Iraq, members of the Americans were in the audience...
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... as the Iraqis are about to sign the interim constitution act.
CLINCH: Right. I mean looking at this, everybody is having their say. It's somewhat -- it's easy, in some ways, to be cynical about this, everybody is having their say, a big ceremony, it's only interim. But symbols, symbols are vitally important, especially the Paul Bremer and others telling us that it's vitally important to show and to display, not only to us, to the world, but to the Iraqis themselves that everybody has a say here. And they are having their say. We're watching them do that. They will sign shortly.
It is an interim constitution, but a very important step towards this hand over of power, which, from the Iraqi point of view, is the real goal. Then, of course, followed, at some point, by elections. Then we'll see who comes out ahead after true elections happen. But this is an important step today and the Iraqis having their day. Paul Bremer, and others in the audience, happy to see them having their day.
COSTELLO: I bet.
CLINCH: Of course big explosions outside, the violence has not ended. It's all part of the story and we'll bring you both parts.
COSTELLO: Interesting. David Clinch, many thanks.
CLINCH: All right.
COSTELLO: A human rights group paints an ugly picture of the U.S. military and its mission in Afghanistan. The group, Human Rights Watch, issued a report saying the U.S. operation is tarnished by needless civilian casualties, the alleged torture of prisoners and use of excessive force to capture suspects in residential areas. The military says the New York-based group confuses the situation in Afghanistan for one where peacetime methods could be used.
In the meantime, the U.S. military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay will be in the spotlight today. European families of terror suspects and British religious groups plan several activities. They are concerned about due process rights for the detainees. We should learn more at a news conference and that will happen just about four hours from now. John Kerry says he would like a group of his advisors to go to Iraq, assess the situation and report back. Kerry says he would use the findings to shape his policy position. And the presumptive Democratic nominee is leaving open the possibility he might go to Iraq himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I haven't ruled it out. I just not -- it's not on the front burner right now and I'd prefer, for the moment, to get some assessments. If I find from those assessments that there may be a real reason to go further, I could follow up on it. I haven't ruled out the potential of any foreign travel at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As for President Bush, he plans a public appearance in Houston today, along with a couple of fund raisers. The Bush campaign is already reacting to John Kerry's possible trip to Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY HOLT, PRESS SECRETARY, BUSH-CHENEY CAMPAIGN: I think the political question is a little touchy. I mean you know Sean Penn went to Iraq, Hillary Clinton went over Thanksgiving. So I think it's fine.
It's just that it's very close to politics. Are you going to use it for policy purposes to make better decisions and perhaps maybe next time vote for that war supplemental or are you going to become a little more political with the information?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Should be an interesting presidential campaign. It certainly has been interesting so far.
But let's talk about something more mundane, perhaps, the weather.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: OK. Am I mundane?
COSTELLO: No, I didn't mean you.
MYERS: Hate being mundane.
COSTELLO: I meant the weather itself, although there's this storm coming.
MYERS: There is. In fact, another one, Carol, for next week.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: You know I'm just looking at our internal monitors watching what's happening in Baghdad with the Iraqi Governing Council. It looks like they are about to sign this interim constitution. Let's see what they do right now. I did see one man sign it. But there it goes, history being made right now here on CNN.
And you could hear the cheering in the audience. American officials are there, too, including Paul Bremer, the civilian administrator.
And you know this has been a long time in coming. It was supposed to be signed on Friday. They postponed it until Monday because there was some disagreement between the Shiites and the Kurds. But now it seems as if the interim constitution of Iraq has been signed. And of course that makes it a lot easier to clear the way for the turnover on June 30 so that Iraqis can hold some kind of election and govern themselves.
This is Adnan Pachachi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, adding his signature to this document.
Of course we're going to continue to cover this. It's a long ceremony. It's at a convention center. As you might expect, thousands of people are watching this event happen. Again, the interim constitution in Iraq has now been signed.
First day on the job, what lies ahead for the Episcopal Church's first gay bishop? Plus an old prizefighter at his biggest fight of all.
This is DAYBREAK for Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is now 45 minutes past the hour, 5:45 Eastern, time to take a quick look at our top stories.
The Iraqi Governing Council sitting down to sign the country's oft delayed interim constitution. We just saw a live picture just a bit ago with members of the Iraqi Governing Council signing that. It may be that all 25 members have to sign it. We know about 10 have signed it so far. We will keep you posted. In fact, I have just been informed that all 25 members of the Iraqi Governing Council will sign the interim constitution, of course clearing the way for the turnover of power on June 30.
Former Haitian President Aristide is expected to address reporters shortly. But back in his home country, at least four people were killed after violence erupted during demonstrations.
And Martha Stewart is expected to meet with her probation officer today. They will go over her restrictions following last week's guilty verdict. Stewart is free until her scheduled sentencing on June 17.
We update our top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at the top of the hour, 6:00 Eastern.
Well it's complete, it's over, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church is now in full control of the New Hampshire diocese.
Let's find out what people there are saying.
Joining us by phone are our friends Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier, the WOKQ Morning Waking -- you know I can never get your little title thing right. I know you're in Portsmouth and Manchester. It's the Morning Waking Crew, right?
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER: Yes.
COSTELLO: I apologize. I do. I feel so bad about that. And you join us like every week it seems.
CARRIER: Sorry, sometimes we even screw up our own names, so.
COSTELLO: Well that makes me feel a lot better this early in the morning. But let's talk about this, I mean a lot of people thought it had already happened, but it officially happens today, right?
ERICSON: Well it -- actually the passing of the ceremonial shepherd's crook took place yesterday in Concord at St. Paul's. The vote took place over the summertime. While yesterday's ceremony did not have the pomp and circumstance of what went on over the summer months, it was the official retirement of our previous bishop here in New Hampshire.
COSTELLO: And is it safe to say he has widespread support in your state?
ERICSON: In the state of New Hampshire, he was overwhelmingly elected by...
CARRIER: By his churches, yes.
ERICSON: ... his churches here in New Hampshire. However, there are two parishes in New Hampshire that are planning on breaking away and affiliating with a new network of parishes that oppose Gene Robinson's lifestyle.
COSTELLO: I was just interested in what effects this was having, you know, on the larger congregation?
ERICSON: Well it's a lot of conversation back and forth. And now coupled with all of this, there is the whole issue of civil unions and whether or not civil unions are going to be something that is looked at in New Hampshire or accepted from other states in New Hampshire. And over the weekend in a newspaper interview, Gene Robinson said that if he had the opportunity to marry his partner, Mark Andrew, he would do so. And that sort of stirred the pot anew.
COSTELLO: Well has anyone asked him if he would travel to San Francisco to do that and would have? I'm just interested. ERICSON: I think, in his heart of hearts I think he probably could if he would. But I also think that he is -- he is smart enough to be not causing more trouble than he needs to because he knows that there are some opposition to his lifestyle in all of this.
COSTELLO: Some opposition? Yes, that would be a real political hot potato.
Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier from the WOKQ Morning Waking Crew in Portsmouth and Manchester, thanks for joining us this morning.
Just ahead in our next hour, what's next for Martha and how much time will she spend behind bars? We'll look at some of the theories.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We have a new feature this morning -- Chad.
MYERS: I guess we had it last week, but we weren't here.
COSTELLO: That's right, so it's new to us.
MYERS: They start stuff and we're not here and then they just make us do it.
COSTELLO: I think that's kind of rude.
MYERS: It's OK.
COSTELLO: I'm just kidding.
But what we're going to do is we're going to check out some headlines from across the nation.
MYERS: All right.
COSTELLO: This from the "Orlando Sentinel." And the lead story in this newspaper is about Haiti and the people there.
MYERS: Man!
COSTELLO: There is so much looting going on right now that people cannot find food. In fact, people are eating every other day. And mainly what they are eating, rice. So Jean-Bertrand Aristide steps down and things only get worse.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Let's move on to the Colorado Springs paper "The Gazette." They are talking about the University of Colorado and you know football players, allegations of rape. And also, the University of Colorado was ranked as No. 1 in party schools across the nation. So they...
MYERS: Yes, they do have a good time out there once in a while.
COSTELLO: It seems so. But they took a look at the crime statistics and found they were average in students by in large feel safe, so that's what that article is about.
MYERS: Well good.
COSTELLO: And let's go to the Baltimore "Sun," because this just astounded me when I heard about it. Having ridden these water taxis...
MYERS: Sure.
COSTELLO: ... many, many times. I'm sure you have, too.
MYERS: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: This very heavy boat rolls over and people are thrown into the water because of this freak thunderstorm. I mean how fast did that thing come in -- Chad?
MYERS: Well we knew they were coming. The forecast was for thunderstorms. It was right along the cold front, but the wind behind this storm was literally 40, 45 miles per hour and the boat was and it's a very tall boat, too, and a -- and a fairly skinny boat. But right along and so it hit it broadside, just like you'd -- you see a big tractor trailer driving along the interstate, and it just hit that broadside. You know how tractor trailers can move back and forth, well that's what happened to the boat this weekend, too. Those waves in the harbor were literally four to six feet and a lot of people on that thing. So there are still -- I think there are still three people missing there -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. Yes.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: A man, a woman and a 6-year-old kid.
MYERS: Yes, and they spent all day looking for them. And you know what, that water is very cold out there. Temperatures there in that water about 40 degrees. So they did get a lot of folks out right away and that was some great news. Those folks did a great job saving, I think, 20 people that were in the water, they saved them all.
COSTELLO: Absolutely.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: CNN this is DAYBREAK continues after this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARION ASNES, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": Chicago is one of the many great American cities that has benefited from increased competition among the airlines. You can get incredible deals, which makes this a great time to visit this beautiful city.
One of the most extraordinary things about Chicago is its skyline, which is famed all over the world. Families going to Chicago can chill out at many of the lakefront beaches and parks. In addition, there is the Field Museum. It's a great museum and a great place to check out on one of the occasional rainy days in summer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Last week we told you the story of Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez. He is the one-time boxer who had seemingly dropped off the face of the earth 10 years ago, but his family has tracked him down. He was in a Fort Worth homeless shelter. Now he is back with his family and his friends and he has a new place of honor in the California Boxing Hall of Fame.
Take a look and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a man who has resurfaced, and is back among his loved ones and his fans and friends after a much too long absence. Ernie Lopez, let's bring him up here.
On behalf of the California Boxing Hall of Fame, and the city of Los Angeles, we want to say that you're our champ. You're family means the world to you. And they are even more excited and appreciative of not you as a fighter, but you as the father and family member. At least (UNINTELLIGIBLE) congratulations.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a great fighter. And I just always loved to watch his fights, or the courage that he had and the person that he's always been. He doesn't realize what a champion he is, that he has always been that champion, but he didn't see it. And I want you to know that you're a great man. And we're glad to have you back.
A lot of times circumstance and time seems to separate the what ifs from the what's was, but our dad has always been our dad. And that will never change. And we want him to know how much we love him and are not -- a lot has never faltered. And regardless of the boxing hall of fame, we wanted them here with us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope that they're all doing well, because I'm not all right. So people know I get lost every once and a while, you know? For a couple of years, maybe 5, 10.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: After 10 years, it's a happy ending. Lopez became a wanderer after losing his last three fights. But now he says he wants to put down roots in California to be close to his four children and
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Unrest; Gay Bishop; Ernie Lopez Found>
