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CNN Live At Daybreak
Eye on World: Prisoner Abuse; America's Voice; Today's Talker: Iraq Prison Abuse, War Situation
Aired May 04, 2004 - 06:30 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: We want to talk more about the situation in Iraq as it applies to that prisoner abuse story. We've gotten an on-the-record briefing out of Iraq just this morning.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is joining us now to explain what was in this briefing. What was said?
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, Carol, good morning.
Well, again, we've been reporting all morning on this classified document that CNN has got its hands on, which was a military investigation into the prisoner abuse -- clear evidence of abuse in the prisons, according to the military themselves.
Well, today in an on-the-record but off-camera briefing from the man who will be in charge of prisons in Iraq now, Major General Jeffrey Miller (ph), some interesting language. He is saying -- for instance, saying that the use of hooding, sleep deprivation and stress positions has been stopped in prisons. He's saying that while that is still allowed under the rules, it requires an OK from a higher authority. But he's not going to use it for the time being.
He says, "We've changed this" -- that is, the procedures that were in place in the prisons. "We've changed this. Trust us. We are going to do this right."
He also says there were errors made. "We have corrected them. They won't happen in the future."
COSTELLO: He also says civilian interrogators will still be used as will the Abu Ghraib prison.
CLINCH: Right. They're going to -- as far as he is concerned, the first thing they're going to do is reduce the amount of prisoners who are in Abu Ghraib, but it will be used primarily because it's simply logistically the best location for these interrogations to happen. It will continue to be used for that purpose.
But, I mean, this is the small picture in terms of damage control on this story. Obviously to the U.S. military, they are putting a new person in charge. They're also investigating, and we will see more details coming out of what did happen.
The bigger picture of damage control is a much more difficult issue. We're going to have Colin Powell on "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight. The Bush administration is very aware, they're telling us directly, very aware that the issue of how this prisoner abuse story plays in the Middle East, how it plays in Iraq itself is an urgent issue.
COSTELLO: And as far as filing these criminal charges, right now we know that six Army officers have been reprimanded, but not General Karpinski, who was in charge of the Abu Ghraib prison...
CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: ... when the offenses took place.
CLINCH: Right. We spoke to her yesterday. We'll hear more from her on "AMERICAN MORNING" this morning. And as you say, no charges yet against her. There are, as far as we can see in this classified document, there was a full investigation carried out by the military into this prisoner abuse story. They are heavily critical of Karpinski, not only her, but definitely critical of her. It will be interesting to see if any of that sticks over the coming days.
COSTELLO: All right, David Clinch, many thanks to you.
You can see the entire interview, as David said, with General Karpinski this morning on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." Karpinski was the commander of military police at the U.S. prisons in Iraq, including the one where that abuse of Iraqi prisoners took place. You can see her interview at the top of the hour, 7:00 Eastern.
What do Iraqis think about the American combat soldier? It is time to find out.
Joining us from Princeton, New Jersey, Gallup Poll editor-in- chief Frank Newport.
Frank, you have more numbers from a poll taken in Iraq itself.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: That's right. Now, this is our poll, Carol, that we've been talking about, obviously, on CNN over the last several days from late March and early April -- a projectable sample of Iraqis. And I think it's very important, because it shows that the foundation of attitudes among Iraqi citizens towards American troops there was already very negative before these widely circulated photographs, of course, have probably, we think, inflamed these attitudes even further at this point in the Middle East.
I've isolated for you Baghdad, because we at Gallup had done a survey of Baghdad residents last fall, and you can see then 58 percent said U.S. troops had conducted themselves well. Only 29 badly. That was last fall.
Fast forward to the poll that we just finished. Look at that -- 81 percent of Baghdad residents said that U.S. troops had conducted themselves badly. And, again, this is in Baghdad. It was 58 percent nationally, 81 in Baghdad. But this was before the recent allegations and photos and all of that have circulated very widely on Arab television. So, you can see that the foundation was already very negative. As I mentioned, Carol, no doubt it's become even more negative over the last several days.
COSTELLO: Interesting numbers. Let's switch topics now and talk about the Federal Reserve's meeting later today. They're going to discuss interest rates. How do Americans view Alan Greenspan?
NEWPORT: Well, if anybody is going to help the economy, the American public says it's going to be Greenspan more than the other leaders. We just asked that in this poll: How much confidence you have in these people to fix the economy? Greenspan beats out Bush. He beats out Kerry. He beats out congressional leaders of the Republican and the Democratic Party. Top number there, 61 percent of Americans say they have at least a fair amount of confidence in Greenspan on the economy.
However, as the economy has gotten worse over the last several years so has confidence in Greenspan. It was as high as 74 percent in April of '01. Bump, bump, bump, each time we ask it, Carol, he slipped further. Now down to that 61, but still he's better than Bush, better than Kerry and better than congressional leaders -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And he doesn't run for political office. Frank Newport live in Princeton, New Jersey, this morning.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, the Iraqi prison, the alleged abuse and the fallout for Americans' image -- for America's image, rather, and soldiers is "Today's Talker" with our guests from the left and the right.
Then, jumping into the downloading business, but there's a catch.
Plus, meet the Croc Hunter's new friends.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's time for a little business buzz now.
Sony unveils its online music store, but there's a catch. Joya Doss tells us what it is live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.
Good morning.
JOYA DOSS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Good morning to you.
Well, the catch is that you can only play this music on a Sony product. In other words, you can play it on a Walkman, or you can play it on a portable CD player, but it's got to be able to have this technology, which is called memory stick removable flash media.
Now, of course, what Sony is trying to do here is take on all of the other music download services that are out there, including Wal- Mart, Napster, Music Now. And why not? Because, you know, the digital music revolution is they actually expect to command about 4.4 billion -- that's with a B -- by the year 2008, which is pretty big considering it's only at like 308 million as of this year. And Sony wants to make sure that you hear about this in a big way.
If you go to McDonald's and you buy a hamburger, you'll get some free songs. If you fly United Airlines and you redeem your frequent flier miles, you'll get some free songs. And if you are, I guess, maybe leaving Las Vegas and flying to Los Angeles today on United, you might catch Cheryl Crowe, who is going to be helping to launch the service by playing on a plane.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Oh, that's right. She's actually going to be on board the plane, one plane. So you have to be lucky and get that plane.
DOSS: I guess (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Yes. So, I guess that's what's going on today.
COSTELLO: Joya Doss reporting live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.
Time to pump up the volume with our hot "Talker" of the morning. Every few days, we like to tune the dial to see what's being said over the airwaves in this country. This morning, we're tuning in, syndicated conservative Libertarian talk master Neal Boortz and liberal talk show host Mike Malloy. Both join us live in our studio this morning.
Gentlemen, something a little different this morning, a series of questions about Iraq some, oh, 58 days before the handover of power. So short answers, please, because we want to cover a lot of ground.
Neal, let's begin with you. What action by the U.S. military will lessen the impact of those infamous prisoner pictures in the Arab world?
NEAL BOORTZ, CONSERVATIVE RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, I think the first action ought to be from the commander of chief for the U.S. military. He ought to get off that tour bus in Middle America, or wherever he is, head back to Washington and deliver to Iraq and to the Arab world, Arabic subtitles, the whole thing, an apology for what has happened with the American military. He's the commander in chief. And now, not a couple of weeks, now is the time for an apology.
As for the American military, it's just basically prosecute these people and make sure that the Iraqis know that they're being prosecuted, and maybe somewhere just draw a comparison that we're prosecuting our wrongdoers. How about your people that desecrated those people in Fallujah?
COSTELLO: Mike, will America be able to win the hearts and minds now?
MIKE MALLOY, LIBERAL RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Two points, Carol. First, I think this eliminates permanently George Bush being able to say on his campaign stops that the reason we went into Iraq was to end the torture rooms or the rape rooms conducted inside this prison. Hello!
Secondly, as far as hearts and minds are concerned, that battle is lost. With the publication of these pictures, we have confirmed exactly what Islamic fundamentalists have been telling their people throughout the Middle East, throughout Southeast Asia, for several years now that this country, our country is filled with degenerate demons. And now the proof is there. This could not have been worse if Osama bin Laden had designed this.
COSTELLO: New topic. Neal, any guesses as to when a new Iraqi leader will emerge?
BOORTZ: Well, unfortunately, one may already have emerged. His name is Muqtada al-Sadr. But do remember a couple of weeks ago that they were doing one of these typical polls in Iraq of who are the most admired Iraqis, and the top three on the list were from the IGC, the Iraqi Governing Coalition.
So, in the minds of many of the Iraqis over there, they already do have some people on the IGC, who they consider to be leaders, and then there are some people over there they consider to be leaders that we're not all that happy with.
COSTELLO: Mike, will the coalition of the willing continue to decrease its numbers in Iraq?
MALLOY: I don't think there's any question. If there ever was a more or (UNINTELLIGIBLE) term put out there by the Bush administration than coalition of the willing, I have no idea what it is.
But when you have countries like Honduras, which during the '80s became nothing more than a gigantic U.S. military base, when you have countries like Honduras saying we're out of here, when you have countries like Spain saying we're out of here, yes, Carol, I think we're going to see a continuing reduction in the number of countries who are willing to put their people back home at risk because of the actions going on in Iraq. Yes, the number will reduce.
COSTELLO: Once power is turned back over to the Iraqis, Neal, will the international community get more involved, and should it?
BOORTZ: I think that perhaps it will, if the situation is deemed to be somewhat more secure than it is right now. Remember, the great U.N., everybody says let's turn it over to the U.N., they ran when the first bomb dropped. So hopefully, hopefully that that will happen.
COSTELLO: All right, Neal Boortz, Mike Malloy, thank you for joining us this morning...
BOORTZ: Thank you.
MALLOY: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: ... for our hot "Talker" of the morning, and we'll welcome you back next Tuesday.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:44 Eastern Time. Here's what's all new this morning.
The military hospital where former hostage Thomas Hamill is being treated says he's in good condition and should be home by the end of the week. Hamill may be reunited with his wife, Kellie, in Germany sometime today.
Four teenagers will answer charges today in connection with the shooting death of 57-year-old Daniel Brough (ph). The teenagers allegedly tried to rob Brough (ph) as he left the New Orleans Jazz Festival over the weekend.
In money news, gas prices hit another record high. The national average is now $1.84 for a gallon of regular unleaded. That's up 33 cents a gallon since this time last year.
And in sports, ABC has dropped Lisa Guererro after just one year as the sideline reporter for "Monday Night Football." Her replacement is veteran sports reporter Michelle Tafoya (ph). Veteran.
In culture, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) "The Simpsons." The voices of the animated family will now get $250,000 per episode. Production was halted during the month-long contract negotiations.
(WEATHER BREAK)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.
Coming up on DAYBREAK, we'll see what candidates Bush and Kerry are up to on the campaign trail today, and hear the latest volleys they aimed at each other last night.
Plus, drama below the surface. We'll tell you what the toughest part of this underwater gig is.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to DAYBREAK. It's 6:50 Eastern.
Time for a little politics. Call it "big wheels one." Instead of flying to cities on his latest campaign fling, George Bush is taking the bus. The president has four stops in Ohio today, after touring another key battleground state in the region, and that would be Michigan.
Bush was greeted by a boisterous crowd in Sterling Heights, Michigan. He spoke about success in the war on terror and pointed out the differences with John Kerry on defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a difference -- we have a different point of view on security matters. Over the years, my opponent has opposed many of the aircraft and weapons programs, including the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the Tomahawk cruise missile you build right here in Michigan. Programs that are vital to our nation's defense and programs that are now helping us win the war on terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: John Kerry was also talking about military issues last night, zeroing in on veterans for part of his stump speech in Minneapolis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are too many veterans in this country who have been told they can't even apply because the VA doesn't have the money, but they've go the money for the tax cuts. There are too many veterans in this country with whom the bond and contract has been broken, and I say to those Republicans who are so quick to criticize and talk of patriotism, the first definition of patriotism is keeping faith with the people who wore the uniform of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And another note about the Kerry campaign, his campaign rolled out a couple of new ads, highlighting key moments in the senator's life. The biographical ads make no mention of George Bush, and are now running in 19 states.
Time for some chat right now. We want to talk about the fires going on out West.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
COSTELLO: It's really hot there.
MYERS: It is.
COSTELLO: There's a drought situation.
MYERS: Right.
COSTELLO: And it's just the start of fire season.
MYERS: And they're calling this fire season now three weeks early. They're saying this is the start of it. It was 97 degrees yesterday at Riverside.
There's also something else going on. It's a tree-killing bark beetle infestation. So a lot of the trees are actually in big, big stress. They're dried out, and you've got all of this tinderbox dry stuff there.
And we had temperatures yesterday, Carol, Loma Linda 104 degrees, relative humidity down to about 4 percent in the afternoon.
COSTELLO: These forest fires, Chad, exactly where in California is that? Northern, southern, middle?
MYERS: Southern California, Riverside County had a few of them. We're talking about the Los Angelis Basin. You think about L.A., and you think about maybe the airport. You think Hollywood and all that. But if you get a little bit farther inland, a little bit farther to the east, that's where the really smoke and hot weather has been 100, 102, 107. You had that race in Fontana, California, not that far from Riverside, that was 97 during the race on Sunday. It was 102 yesterday.
COSTELLO: So I'm going to ask you a weather question that probably no one but God could answer. Why is the weather out there so darned hot already? That's really unusual, isn't it?
MYERS: It is. There's a huge ridge. But also isn't it darned unusual that it's cold in the East?
COSTELLO: Yes.
MYERS: It's 29 in Toronto this morning. It was snowing in Michigan yesterday. It's snowing in New Hampshire this morning. Hot in the West, cold in the East. There's always some type of fluctuation. We call that a ridge trough situation. A ridge in the West, the ridge goes up, the jet stream goes up, it's hot under the jet stream, the jet stream goes down in the East, it's cold to the north of the jet stream, so that's why we've got the opposites on the one side. That air is going to be gone today, but it was a short- lived thing. And, man, it was hot.
COSTELLO: And it did a number on California.
MYERS: Folks, we're already starting.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.
Chad will join me for "The Lightning Round" coming up, but first the latest headlines for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Only two birthdays today.
MYERS: That's because we have to give away the mug. We've got to save a little time.
COSTELLO: How could I forget? So you take it away before we get to that "Lightning Round."
MYERS: We're giving away a mug north of the border this week, this morning.
What organization will release its report on Muslim discrimination in the U.S. today? That was the Council on American- Islamic Relations.
And which player will receive NBA's most valuable player award? Kevin Garnett.
And the winner from Ottawa, Meagan Burke. Good morning, Meagan. Congratulations. Your mug is in the mail.
COSTELLO: No new questions today, because we will have new questions for you tomorrow, because now it's time for our "Lightning Round."
MYERS: Ready.
COSTELLO: It's a cross between extreme sports and live theater stage under water. Take a look at this. The actors in this performance troop say the hardest part is not memorizing lines, because they have none. It's learning how to breathe. Breathe?
MYERS: Breathe?
COSTELLO: Or how not to breathe during the entire show. That looks hard.
MYERS: Wow!
COSTELLO: I don't know what the play they're acting is, but it sure looks pretty.
They call him "mad Mike" for a reason, Chad. This paraglider broke his own world record for altitude when he descended more than 30,000 feet in Germany. He was equipped with an oxygen mask and a special suit. Would you do that?
MYERS: No. I don't jump out of anything. He jumped out of a perfectly good balloon, and then...
COSTELLO: A perfectly good balloon.
MYERS: Well, if it's broken, I understand. But then he -- man, this took him a long time to get down as well.
COSTELLO: So, how did he have the hang glider or was the balloon towing the hang glider?
MYERS: Yes, it was up in there. It was up in the chute up in the basket.
COSTELLO: Isn't that something. That's a brave man. We admire him.
Crocodiles, Chad, are not his only exotic friends. Steve Erwin (ph), you know him, the Aussie guy. He picked up two newborn Sumatran tigers from a zoo in Australia. He's going to raise them in his own protected habitat. And it's estimated there are only 400 Sumatran tigers left in the entire world.
MYERS: This guy is all over the world, isn't he?
COSTELLO: He really is.
MYERS: What a job.
COSTELLO: That's pretty awesome.
(WEATHER BREAK)
COSTELLO: That does it for us. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
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Aired May 4, 2004 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk more about the situation in Iraq as it applies to that prisoner abuse story. We've gotten an on-the-record briefing out of Iraq just this morning.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is joining us now to explain what was in this briefing. What was said?
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, Carol, good morning.
Well, again, we've been reporting all morning on this classified document that CNN has got its hands on, which was a military investigation into the prisoner abuse -- clear evidence of abuse in the prisons, according to the military themselves.
Well, today in an on-the-record but off-camera briefing from the man who will be in charge of prisons in Iraq now, Major General Jeffrey Miller (ph), some interesting language. He is saying -- for instance, saying that the use of hooding, sleep deprivation and stress positions has been stopped in prisons. He's saying that while that is still allowed under the rules, it requires an OK from a higher authority. But he's not going to use it for the time being.
He says, "We've changed this" -- that is, the procedures that were in place in the prisons. "We've changed this. Trust us. We are going to do this right."
He also says there were errors made. "We have corrected them. They won't happen in the future."
COSTELLO: He also says civilian interrogators will still be used as will the Abu Ghraib prison.
CLINCH: Right. They're going to -- as far as he is concerned, the first thing they're going to do is reduce the amount of prisoners who are in Abu Ghraib, but it will be used primarily because it's simply logistically the best location for these interrogations to happen. It will continue to be used for that purpose.
But, I mean, this is the small picture in terms of damage control on this story. Obviously to the U.S. military, they are putting a new person in charge. They're also investigating, and we will see more details coming out of what did happen.
The bigger picture of damage control is a much more difficult issue. We're going to have Colin Powell on "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight. The Bush administration is very aware, they're telling us directly, very aware that the issue of how this prisoner abuse story plays in the Middle East, how it plays in Iraq itself is an urgent issue.
COSTELLO: And as far as filing these criminal charges, right now we know that six Army officers have been reprimanded, but not General Karpinski, who was in charge of the Abu Ghraib prison...
CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: ... when the offenses took place.
CLINCH: Right. We spoke to her yesterday. We'll hear more from her on "AMERICAN MORNING" this morning. And as you say, no charges yet against her. There are, as far as we can see in this classified document, there was a full investigation carried out by the military into this prisoner abuse story. They are heavily critical of Karpinski, not only her, but definitely critical of her. It will be interesting to see if any of that sticks over the coming days.
COSTELLO: All right, David Clinch, many thanks to you.
You can see the entire interview, as David said, with General Karpinski this morning on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." Karpinski was the commander of military police at the U.S. prisons in Iraq, including the one where that abuse of Iraqi prisoners took place. You can see her interview at the top of the hour, 7:00 Eastern.
What do Iraqis think about the American combat soldier? It is time to find out.
Joining us from Princeton, New Jersey, Gallup Poll editor-in- chief Frank Newport.
Frank, you have more numbers from a poll taken in Iraq itself.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: That's right. Now, this is our poll, Carol, that we've been talking about, obviously, on CNN over the last several days from late March and early April -- a projectable sample of Iraqis. And I think it's very important, because it shows that the foundation of attitudes among Iraqi citizens towards American troops there was already very negative before these widely circulated photographs, of course, have probably, we think, inflamed these attitudes even further at this point in the Middle East.
I've isolated for you Baghdad, because we at Gallup had done a survey of Baghdad residents last fall, and you can see then 58 percent said U.S. troops had conducted themselves well. Only 29 badly. That was last fall.
Fast forward to the poll that we just finished. Look at that -- 81 percent of Baghdad residents said that U.S. troops had conducted themselves badly. And, again, this is in Baghdad. It was 58 percent nationally, 81 in Baghdad. But this was before the recent allegations and photos and all of that have circulated very widely on Arab television. So, you can see that the foundation was already very negative. As I mentioned, Carol, no doubt it's become even more negative over the last several days.
COSTELLO: Interesting numbers. Let's switch topics now and talk about the Federal Reserve's meeting later today. They're going to discuss interest rates. How do Americans view Alan Greenspan?
NEWPORT: Well, if anybody is going to help the economy, the American public says it's going to be Greenspan more than the other leaders. We just asked that in this poll: How much confidence you have in these people to fix the economy? Greenspan beats out Bush. He beats out Kerry. He beats out congressional leaders of the Republican and the Democratic Party. Top number there, 61 percent of Americans say they have at least a fair amount of confidence in Greenspan on the economy.
However, as the economy has gotten worse over the last several years so has confidence in Greenspan. It was as high as 74 percent in April of '01. Bump, bump, bump, each time we ask it, Carol, he slipped further. Now down to that 61, but still he's better than Bush, better than Kerry and better than congressional leaders -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And he doesn't run for political office. Frank Newport live in Princeton, New Jersey, this morning.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, the Iraqi prison, the alleged abuse and the fallout for Americans' image -- for America's image, rather, and soldiers is "Today's Talker" with our guests from the left and the right.
Then, jumping into the downloading business, but there's a catch.
Plus, meet the Croc Hunter's new friends.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's time for a little business buzz now.
Sony unveils its online music store, but there's a catch. Joya Doss tells us what it is live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.
Good morning.
JOYA DOSS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Good morning to you.
Well, the catch is that you can only play this music on a Sony product. In other words, you can play it on a Walkman, or you can play it on a portable CD player, but it's got to be able to have this technology, which is called memory stick removable flash media.
Now, of course, what Sony is trying to do here is take on all of the other music download services that are out there, including Wal- Mart, Napster, Music Now. And why not? Because, you know, the digital music revolution is they actually expect to command about 4.4 billion -- that's with a B -- by the year 2008, which is pretty big considering it's only at like 308 million as of this year. And Sony wants to make sure that you hear about this in a big way.
If you go to McDonald's and you buy a hamburger, you'll get some free songs. If you fly United Airlines and you redeem your frequent flier miles, you'll get some free songs. And if you are, I guess, maybe leaving Las Vegas and flying to Los Angeles today on United, you might catch Cheryl Crowe, who is going to be helping to launch the service by playing on a plane.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Oh, that's right. She's actually going to be on board the plane, one plane. So you have to be lucky and get that plane.
DOSS: I guess (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Yes. So, I guess that's what's going on today.
COSTELLO: Joya Doss reporting live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.
Time to pump up the volume with our hot "Talker" of the morning. Every few days, we like to tune the dial to see what's being said over the airwaves in this country. This morning, we're tuning in, syndicated conservative Libertarian talk master Neal Boortz and liberal talk show host Mike Malloy. Both join us live in our studio this morning.
Gentlemen, something a little different this morning, a series of questions about Iraq some, oh, 58 days before the handover of power. So short answers, please, because we want to cover a lot of ground.
Neal, let's begin with you. What action by the U.S. military will lessen the impact of those infamous prisoner pictures in the Arab world?
NEAL BOORTZ, CONSERVATIVE RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, I think the first action ought to be from the commander of chief for the U.S. military. He ought to get off that tour bus in Middle America, or wherever he is, head back to Washington and deliver to Iraq and to the Arab world, Arabic subtitles, the whole thing, an apology for what has happened with the American military. He's the commander in chief. And now, not a couple of weeks, now is the time for an apology.
As for the American military, it's just basically prosecute these people and make sure that the Iraqis know that they're being prosecuted, and maybe somewhere just draw a comparison that we're prosecuting our wrongdoers. How about your people that desecrated those people in Fallujah?
COSTELLO: Mike, will America be able to win the hearts and minds now?
MIKE MALLOY, LIBERAL RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Two points, Carol. First, I think this eliminates permanently George Bush being able to say on his campaign stops that the reason we went into Iraq was to end the torture rooms or the rape rooms conducted inside this prison. Hello!
Secondly, as far as hearts and minds are concerned, that battle is lost. With the publication of these pictures, we have confirmed exactly what Islamic fundamentalists have been telling their people throughout the Middle East, throughout Southeast Asia, for several years now that this country, our country is filled with degenerate demons. And now the proof is there. This could not have been worse if Osama bin Laden had designed this.
COSTELLO: New topic. Neal, any guesses as to when a new Iraqi leader will emerge?
BOORTZ: Well, unfortunately, one may already have emerged. His name is Muqtada al-Sadr. But do remember a couple of weeks ago that they were doing one of these typical polls in Iraq of who are the most admired Iraqis, and the top three on the list were from the IGC, the Iraqi Governing Coalition.
So, in the minds of many of the Iraqis over there, they already do have some people on the IGC, who they consider to be leaders, and then there are some people over there they consider to be leaders that we're not all that happy with.
COSTELLO: Mike, will the coalition of the willing continue to decrease its numbers in Iraq?
MALLOY: I don't think there's any question. If there ever was a more or (UNINTELLIGIBLE) term put out there by the Bush administration than coalition of the willing, I have no idea what it is.
But when you have countries like Honduras, which during the '80s became nothing more than a gigantic U.S. military base, when you have countries like Honduras saying we're out of here, when you have countries like Spain saying we're out of here, yes, Carol, I think we're going to see a continuing reduction in the number of countries who are willing to put their people back home at risk because of the actions going on in Iraq. Yes, the number will reduce.
COSTELLO: Once power is turned back over to the Iraqis, Neal, will the international community get more involved, and should it?
BOORTZ: I think that perhaps it will, if the situation is deemed to be somewhat more secure than it is right now. Remember, the great U.N., everybody says let's turn it over to the U.N., they ran when the first bomb dropped. So hopefully, hopefully that that will happen.
COSTELLO: All right, Neal Boortz, Mike Malloy, thank you for joining us this morning...
BOORTZ: Thank you.
MALLOY: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: ... for our hot "Talker" of the morning, and we'll welcome you back next Tuesday.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:44 Eastern Time. Here's what's all new this morning.
The military hospital where former hostage Thomas Hamill is being treated says he's in good condition and should be home by the end of the week. Hamill may be reunited with his wife, Kellie, in Germany sometime today.
Four teenagers will answer charges today in connection with the shooting death of 57-year-old Daniel Brough (ph). The teenagers allegedly tried to rob Brough (ph) as he left the New Orleans Jazz Festival over the weekend.
In money news, gas prices hit another record high. The national average is now $1.84 for a gallon of regular unleaded. That's up 33 cents a gallon since this time last year.
And in sports, ABC has dropped Lisa Guererro after just one year as the sideline reporter for "Monday Night Football." Her replacement is veteran sports reporter Michelle Tafoya (ph). Veteran.
In culture, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) "The Simpsons." The voices of the animated family will now get $250,000 per episode. Production was halted during the month-long contract negotiations.
(WEATHER BREAK)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.
Coming up on DAYBREAK, we'll see what candidates Bush and Kerry are up to on the campaign trail today, and hear the latest volleys they aimed at each other last night.
Plus, drama below the surface. We'll tell you what the toughest part of this underwater gig is.
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COSTELLO: Welcome back to DAYBREAK. It's 6:50 Eastern.
Time for a little politics. Call it "big wheels one." Instead of flying to cities on his latest campaign fling, George Bush is taking the bus. The president has four stops in Ohio today, after touring another key battleground state in the region, and that would be Michigan.
Bush was greeted by a boisterous crowd in Sterling Heights, Michigan. He spoke about success in the war on terror and pointed out the differences with John Kerry on defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a difference -- we have a different point of view on security matters. Over the years, my opponent has opposed many of the aircraft and weapons programs, including the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the Tomahawk cruise missile you build right here in Michigan. Programs that are vital to our nation's defense and programs that are now helping us win the war on terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: John Kerry was also talking about military issues last night, zeroing in on veterans for part of his stump speech in Minneapolis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are too many veterans in this country who have been told they can't even apply because the VA doesn't have the money, but they've go the money for the tax cuts. There are too many veterans in this country with whom the bond and contract has been broken, and I say to those Republicans who are so quick to criticize and talk of patriotism, the first definition of patriotism is keeping faith with the people who wore the uniform of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And another note about the Kerry campaign, his campaign rolled out a couple of new ads, highlighting key moments in the senator's life. The biographical ads make no mention of George Bush, and are now running in 19 states.
Time for some chat right now. We want to talk about the fires going on out West.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
COSTELLO: It's really hot there.
MYERS: It is.
COSTELLO: There's a drought situation.
MYERS: Right.
COSTELLO: And it's just the start of fire season.
MYERS: And they're calling this fire season now three weeks early. They're saying this is the start of it. It was 97 degrees yesterday at Riverside.
There's also something else going on. It's a tree-killing bark beetle infestation. So a lot of the trees are actually in big, big stress. They're dried out, and you've got all of this tinderbox dry stuff there.
And we had temperatures yesterday, Carol, Loma Linda 104 degrees, relative humidity down to about 4 percent in the afternoon.
COSTELLO: These forest fires, Chad, exactly where in California is that? Northern, southern, middle?
MYERS: Southern California, Riverside County had a few of them. We're talking about the Los Angelis Basin. You think about L.A., and you think about maybe the airport. You think Hollywood and all that. But if you get a little bit farther inland, a little bit farther to the east, that's where the really smoke and hot weather has been 100, 102, 107. You had that race in Fontana, California, not that far from Riverside, that was 97 during the race on Sunday. It was 102 yesterday.
COSTELLO: So I'm going to ask you a weather question that probably no one but God could answer. Why is the weather out there so darned hot already? That's really unusual, isn't it?
MYERS: It is. There's a huge ridge. But also isn't it darned unusual that it's cold in the East?
COSTELLO: Yes.
MYERS: It's 29 in Toronto this morning. It was snowing in Michigan yesterday. It's snowing in New Hampshire this morning. Hot in the West, cold in the East. There's always some type of fluctuation. We call that a ridge trough situation. A ridge in the West, the ridge goes up, the jet stream goes up, it's hot under the jet stream, the jet stream goes down in the East, it's cold to the north of the jet stream, so that's why we've got the opposites on the one side. That air is going to be gone today, but it was a short- lived thing. And, man, it was hot.
COSTELLO: And it did a number on California.
MYERS: Folks, we're already starting.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.
Chad will join me for "The Lightning Round" coming up, but first the latest headlines for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Only two birthdays today.
MYERS: That's because we have to give away the mug. We've got to save a little time.
COSTELLO: How could I forget? So you take it away before we get to that "Lightning Round."
MYERS: We're giving away a mug north of the border this week, this morning.
What organization will release its report on Muslim discrimination in the U.S. today? That was the Council on American- Islamic Relations.
And which player will receive NBA's most valuable player award? Kevin Garnett.
And the winner from Ottawa, Meagan Burke. Good morning, Meagan. Congratulations. Your mug is in the mail.
COSTELLO: No new questions today, because we will have new questions for you tomorrow, because now it's time for our "Lightning Round."
MYERS: Ready.
COSTELLO: It's a cross between extreme sports and live theater stage under water. Take a look at this. The actors in this performance troop say the hardest part is not memorizing lines, because they have none. It's learning how to breathe. Breathe?
MYERS: Breathe?
COSTELLO: Or how not to breathe during the entire show. That looks hard.
MYERS: Wow!
COSTELLO: I don't know what the play they're acting is, but it sure looks pretty.
They call him "mad Mike" for a reason, Chad. This paraglider broke his own world record for altitude when he descended more than 30,000 feet in Germany. He was equipped with an oxygen mask and a special suit. Would you do that?
MYERS: No. I don't jump out of anything. He jumped out of a perfectly good balloon, and then...
COSTELLO: A perfectly good balloon.
MYERS: Well, if it's broken, I understand. But then he -- man, this took him a long time to get down as well.
COSTELLO: So, how did he have the hang glider or was the balloon towing the hang glider?
MYERS: Yes, it was up in there. It was up in the chute up in the basket.
COSTELLO: Isn't that something. That's a brave man. We admire him.
Crocodiles, Chad, are not his only exotic friends. Steve Erwin (ph), you know him, the Aussie guy. He picked up two newborn Sumatran tigers from a zoo in Australia. He's going to raise them in his own protected habitat. And it's estimated there are only 400 Sumatran tigers left in the entire world.
MYERS: This guy is all over the world, isn't he?
COSTELLO: He really is.
MYERS: What a job.
COSTELLO: That's pretty awesome.
(WEATHER BREAK)
COSTELLO: That does it for us. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
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