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CNN Live At Daybreak
Multiple Attacks in Five Iraqi Cities; Turkey Explosion; Britons Released; Airport Security; Nuclear Talks; Too Much Testing
Aired June 24, 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: Washed out again by heavy rains. Organizers in London are scrambling to get matches back on schedule after three days of constant rain -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Is that the -- is that the London wave?
COSTELLO: Yes. That's the Wimbledon version.
MYERS: That's more civilized.
Good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Want to get back to Iraq now. Explosions and gun battles erupt in five cities this morning. There are many casualties, some of them American.
Brent Sadler is live in Baghdad to tell us more.
Hello -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, good morning, Carol.
Yes, indeed, a number of fronts have opened up this morning in terms of deadly insurgent activity, primarily against police targets of the Iraqis themselves.
Let's turn, first of all, to Mosul north of Baghdad. A series of devastating bomb blasts there, primarily targeting the police station, and that resulted in the loss of one U.S. soldier's life. Three or four blasts went off at the same time in various parts of the city. Mosul really being brought to a standstill.
Let's move south further towards Baghdad, to the northeast of the Iraqi capital in Baqubah, scene of some of the heaviest clashes on this deadly day. U.S. forces locked in combat with well-armed insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine gun fire, again, targeting the police, the Iraqi police.
Also reports that a U.S. Cobra helicopter gunship was forced to make an emergency landing after coming under small arms fire, no reports of any casualties among the American crew.
The U.S. military, at one stage at the height of the fighting around Fallujah, which is another area where there has been parallel attacks, brought in airstrikes. An F-16 dropped four 500-pound precision guided bombs against insurgents.
In that other police attack, Ramadi, west of the capital, again, more loss of life there and casualties. This has, according to American military officials, been a day of coordinated attacks, the level we haven't quite seen on this scale before.
In Mosul, for example, the hospital director up there to the north of Baghdad says 30 people have been taken to that hospital dead and 170, at least, casualties.
Once again, Carol, it is mostly Iraqis who are suffering the loss of life, the heaviest loss of life. Just to sum up, though, three U.S. soldiers killed on this deadly day -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Brent, we've been reporting that there is still fighting in Fallujah. Is it going on right now?
SADLER: Certainly the attacks against Mosul, Baqubah and Ramadi have quieted down. Fallujah, remember last April, a truce was broken in that city, largely at the center of the Sunni Triangle, the hot bed of violence over the past year or more, a truce which enabled the Marines, the U.S. Marines to pull back and an Iraqi brigade to move in. A brigade that contains a number of former Saddam loyalists, soldiers who fought for the old regime.
Trouble there this day after tensions rose when the U.S. attacked what were thought to be safe houses of the wanted al Qaeda terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Fallujah, still an ongoing situation, certainly very tense there. And it is Zarqawi himself who has made a statement that it was his fighters that really was involved in one of the initial attacks today against a patrol of the 1st Infantry Division in Baqubah, which resulted in the loss of two of those three American troops who lost their lives here in Iraq this day -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Brent Sadler, live from Baghdad, thank you.
Just two days before President Bush's trip to Turkey, a bomb explodes this morning in front of the Hilton Hotel in Ankara. That's where the president is expected to stay when he arrives in Turkey.
CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh has been at the scene. He joins us with an update live on the phone from Turkey.
Alphonso, what can you tell us?
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well there's some more news on the status of one of two people injured at this bomb blast, a police officer who was called into the scene after a suspicious package was found just meters away from the Hilton Hotel. We have now learned has an injured knee and heel and was conscious when he was taken away to the hospital. The explosion happened about an hour, hour and a half ago. As I mentioned, a suspicious package was found just a couple of meters away from where U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to stay in the capital here. Police officers went closer, they went to inspect, that's what people are telling us on the ground, and that's when the bomb went off.
Now it's not clear if it was just what we call a percussion bomb or if it was another kind of bomb intended to do more damage. Either way, two were injured. And it's kind of considered as an embarrassment for Turkish officials being as how there are some 40 world leaders coming in for the NATO summit next week. And also U.S. President George W. Bush, as I mentioned, is expected to stay at this Hilton Hotel to have summit talks with Turkish leaders. This bomb blast just a few meters away -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Alphonso, tell us a little bit more about the method of attack here. It was a suspicious package. Where was it planted?
VAN MARSH: Well what we understand from police on the ground, I am still standing just about 200 feet away from where the bomb went off, is it's an auto park. Not an auto park like a parking garage, not necessarily connected with the Hilton Hotel, but yet quite close to it. We understand that the package was left there and it went off at about 11:05 local time. That's about two -- a little over two hours ago.
COSTELLO: And it just shattered some windows on the outside of the hotel I guess inside that parking garage then, if I'm understanding you correctly?
VAN MARSH: Yes, I'm actually looking at some shattered windows across the street. To kind of give you a little idea of what this place looks like, it's kind of a meden (ph), a circle here where cars will turn around and go into the front entrance of the Hilton.
Go up about 150 more feet from there is an entrance to a separate auto park. There we can see some of the concrete where that explosion went off and an apartment building across the street, as well as across the street from the Hilton, that is where we see some of the windows shattered.
There are investigative teams in white jumpsuits taking a look at the scene. There are dozens of blue uniform police officers around. We see ambulances whisking in and out. But as far as we know, there are just two injuries and no damage to the hotel itself.
COSTELLO: All right, Alphonso, I know you want to get away and get more information for us so we'll let you go. Alphonso Van Marsh reporting live by phone from Ankara, Turkey this morning.
Let's bring in our senior international editor David Clinch now.
I wanted to talk about something Brent Sadler said from Iraq...
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... about Zarqawi.
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: That one of these attacks is supposedly connected to him.
CLINCH: Well connected in the sense that we do know that the United States military in Iraq says and has been saying for the last couple of weeks or so that they have information that leads them to believe that Zarqawi himself may be basing his insurgency out of Fallujah.
Now we have heard them say for a number of months that insurgency linked to him, groups linked to him are operating out of Fallujah, Ramadi and these other places. But they have been more specific within the last couple of weeks indicating that they thought he himself might be there.
Now the two airstrikes that we saw last week were on what they call safe houses linked to his group. But after both of those airstrikes, the military telling us they didn't have any information that he was in there and they didn't have any information that they had got him.
COSTELLO: Well I guess what I'm getting at is it just a coincidence that all of these simultaneous attacks happen after that audio tape from Zarqawi was released on that Web site?
CLINCH: Right. Well, hard to say. I can tell you this. From an...
COSTELLO: Because he was threatening violence in that audio tape.
CLINCH: Right. From an editorial point of view, the way we look at those audio tapes, we are very careful about what we air from those audio tapes. And we did refer to his threat on the life of the interim Prime Minister Allawi.
But there was 16 minutes of audio from him yesterday. And you know we've heard this many times from terror experts and from the U.S. government that in many cases, or it's in some cases, I should say, audio tapes like this do contain messages.
Now at this point we haven't been able to analyze that. The CIA is yet to confirm whether that was even Zarqawi's voice yesterday. But that's a very good point that you are making, Zarqawi's voice comes out on the Internet, we're careful about what we air, but obviously on the Web...
COSTELLO: And just after that brutal beheading of the South Korean hostage.
CLINCH: Right. It's hard to know how much connection there is between Zarqawi and exactly what's happening today. But what we do know is that there is, as the U.S. military has been telling us today, a high degree of coordination in the attacks today. So whether it is Zarqawi himself or not is yet -- not yet clear.
But the U.S. military obviously aware of the fact today that there is an insurgency that is capable, still, six days to the handover, an insurgency, a Sunni insurgency at least, that is capable of launching really quite massive and coordinated attacks.
COSTELLO: Yes. You know what else is really strange, you would think that the insurgents would wait to do this -- these kinds of simultaneous attacks until after the handover because that's when it's going to get kind of dicey maybe.
CLINCH: You're tempting fate -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know I shouldn't say it.
CLINCH: I mean, obviously it remains to be seen what they'll do after the handover. But the U.S. military, we talked about this earlier, just because we have been warned something is going to happen, doesn't mean it's not devastating when it does. We were told by the U.S. military they expected these attacks to happen. We were told by Zarqawi, if that was in fact him, that attacks would happen. And today they have. Dozens of Iraqis dead and at least three American soldiers.
COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, David, we appreciate it.
Eight British sailors and Marines held since Monday in Iran have now been handed over to British officials. See, there's a bit of good news this morning. Those British soldiers free. The eight were detained after their patrol boat strayed into Iranian waters.
The latest on this story now from CNN's Matthew Chance. He's live in London for us.
Tell us about it -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, thanks.
And it's a potentially damaging -- was a potentially damaging diplomatic spat, which now seems to be well on the way to being resolved. The latest information we have comes to us from British officials. They are confirming that these eight British servicemen have been handed over into the custody of a team of British diplomats.
They are en route or traveled to Tehran. The Iranian television has now broadcast images of the detainees boarding an aircraft en route to the Iranian capital where they'll go directly to the British Embassy there and spirited out of the country as soon as possible.
Now there has been reaction from London already. The British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw speaking of his relief that the releases have taken place. He also thanked his Iranian counterpart, the Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, for playing an important role in securing these releases. He also stressed that the country Britain needs to continue its policy of closely engaging Iran diplomatically.
Let's hear what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: We have diplomatic relations with Iran. We work hard on those relationships and sometimes the relationships are complicated. But I'm in no doubt at all that our policy of engagement with the government of Iran and the Islamic People's Republic of Iran is the best approach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: So there may well be no lasting diplomatic damage as a result of this incident.
But there's been a great deal of concern here in Britain expressed at the way these detainees were treated by Iran, particularly that they were paraded on Iranian television, sometimes actually blindfolded, marching in the very hot desert heat near where they were detained on the Shatt-al-Arab waterway in what some would say are humiliating positions. British diplomats tell me there may well be an official complaint made to the Iranian authorities about this. For the moment, though, British officials just expressing their relief that these releases have taken place -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Matthew Chance, live from London for us this morning, thank you.
Coming up next on DAYBREAK, hope floats in Beijing as the U.S. presents Pyongyang with a plan of action for its nuclear program, but there's a catch. We'll take you live to Beijing for the latest.
This is DAYBREAK for Thursday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Traveling this morning? Well now to the nation's crowded airports. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta will announce plans today for increasing the number of travelers airports can handle. The goal, of course, is to reduce the long lines at some security checkpoints, but can the use of private screeners make the process smoother?
CNN's Jeanne Meserve takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They wear a Transportation Security Administration uniform, meet TSA entrance and training requirements, and perform a TSA function. But at San Francisco International Airport, the passenger screeners are employees of a private security contractor, not the federal government.
MICHAEL MCCARRON, SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: From the airport's perspective, we're very, very pleased.
MESERVE: At San Francisco, a central video control room monitors all security lanes. If a clog develops, private screeners can be moved quickly.
MCCARRON: We don't have the same cumbersome rules federal employees are bound by, as far as where we put them. Hiring, the firing process is more efficient for a private contractor than the federal government.
MESERVE: San Francisco was one of five airports that, as part of a TSA test program, continued with private screeners when others were federalized. But Wednesday, other airports got guidance on how they too can opt out of using TSA screeners.
ASA HUTCHINSON, UNDERSECRETARY DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The airport must form a for-profit, private company that meets the criteria established by law and by the TSA.
MESERVE: The TSA insists that federal security standards will be maintained and enforced everywhere, that private security vendors must win the approval of the TSA before they can bid for screening contracts and that they will remain under TSA supervision.
Though the majority of airports are likely to stick with TSA screeners, estimates are that between 40 and 100 will at least explore opting out. They have complained about an unresponsive TSA bureaucracy that has left them with too few screeners and long security lines.
(on camera): The point of federalizing screeners after 9/11 was to improve security. The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general says on that score, private and federal screeners perform about the same. In his words, equally poorly. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:46 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.
Insurgents are staging coordinated attacks in cities across Iraq. A U.S. soldier was killed in Mosul. Marines are now under fire in Fallujah. And in Baqubah, two U.S. soldiers are among the dead. Dozens of Iraqis have been killed.
The government may have violated privacy laws when it asked for information on airline passengers. Four airlines and two reservation systems provided personal data as part of a test program for airline security.
In money news, the Senate has passed a $447 billion defense bill. That whopping total will only cover a fraction of war costs, but it gives the military a pay raise. The White House is expected to ask for at least another $25 billion for the war. In culture, author Ray Bradbury wants his title back. Bradbury, who wrote the classic novel "Fahrenheit 451," wants filmmaker Michael Moore to change the name of his documentary from "Fahrenheit 9/11."
In sports, the world's fastest man may have to slow down. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is expected to seek a lifetime ban against sprinter Tim Montgomery. The agency has charged him with several drug violations. Montgomery's lawyer accuses the agency of using flimsy evidence to smear his client -- Chad.
MYERS: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Compromises may be in the works at critical talks aimed at halting North Korea's nuclear program. The communist nation and the United States are floating proposals.
Our senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy joins us live from Beijing with some more details.
Good morning.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well the United States tabled a proposal here under which if North Korea agrees to shut down and dismantle its nuclear weapons program the U.S. is offering economic and energy assistance and the possibility of security guarantees. Now that proposal was a source of sharp debate within the Bush administration during the past few weeks. Hard liners objected to offering the North Koreans any incentives.
On the other hand, Secretary of State Powell and those favoring engaging with Pyongyang appear to have won out. And in the past couple of hours, the U.S. envoy here, Assistant Secretary of State Jim Kelly, held a one-on-one meeting with his North Korean counterpart. We have few details of that meeting, but what we have learned so far is that the two sides are still very far apart. They have strong differences over how the North Koreans might move ahead to shut down their nuclear program.
The North Koreans are also denying that they have a uranium-based nuclear weapons program, in addition to their older plutonium-based program. The U.S. uncovered evidence of the secret uranium program two years ago and confronted North Korea with it. And that confrontation set the stage for the nuclear crisis we have had for the past 18 months.
The hope, though, is that the North Koreans will see this American proposal as an opening gambit in a possible process of negotiation and bargaining. If it does not reject it outright, then there is the possibility of further talks in the weeks and months ahead. In the meantime, though, as North Korea's news agency noted today, Pyongyang is continuing to make more nuclear weapons material as long as the stalemate continues -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Mike Chinoy live from Beijing this morning.
Space, the final frontier. In the next hour of DAYBREAK, sweeping changes are on the horizon for the NASA space program. Will they sideline the space shuttle for good? We'll get an update straight ahead.
And millions of pap smears are performed each year, but new research shows that many don't need the test but are screened anyway. We'll have that story ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking 'Health Headlines' now.
The pap test is a quick and inexpensive way to screen women for cervical cancer. But as CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports, millions of women who don't need a pap test get them every year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine checking for tonsillitis in someone who has already had his tonsils removed. According to a new study, that's exactly the kind of thing gynecologists are doing to millions of women who have had hysterectomies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we found, which was quite surprising, is that women continue to be screened for cancer in an organ that they don't have.
COHEN: Dr. Brenda Sirovich's study, published in "The Journal of the American Medical Association," found that 10 million women each year get Pap smears even though they've had a total hysterectomy. The purpose of a Pap smear is to check for cancer in the cervix. A woman who has had a total hysterectomy has no cervix. She's had both her uterus and her cervix surgically removed. So when these women get Pap smears, doctors are just swabbing the inside of the vagina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a waste of time.
COHEN: And it is more than that. Pap smears sometimes come back positive even though there's nothing wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is disappointing that so many women are being overscreened and they're getting a lot of unnecessary follow-up tests because of it.
COHEN: That's one reason the American Cancer Society, along with other prominent cancer groups and the federal government, tell doctors not to do Pap tests on women who have had hysterectomies unless they've had cervical cancer.
So why do doctors keep doing them? One theory is, the government issues report cards on how well doctors administer preventive care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Managed health care organizations have certain criteria that they're evaluated by. And one of those is how many of their patients get Pap tests. One concern is that they're getting higher scores because they're reaching more women, even though some of those women don't need a Pap test.
COHEN: Still, some doctors say, despite all this, they'll continue to do Pap smears on women who have had hysterectomies. They say it is the annual Pap smear that keeps women coming back for their visit even if their cervix is no longer there.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.
Iraq under siege as the countdown to handover draws near. Insurgents launched a flurry of attacks in the Sunni Triangle.
Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Five cities, dozens of wounded and dead in coordinated attacks in Iraq.
It is Thursday, June 24. This is DAYBREAK.
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Aired June 24, 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: Washed out again by heavy rains. Organizers in London are scrambling to get matches back on schedule after three days of constant rain -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Is that the -- is that the London wave?
COSTELLO: Yes. That's the Wimbledon version.
MYERS: That's more civilized.
Good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Want to get back to Iraq now. Explosions and gun battles erupt in five cities this morning. There are many casualties, some of them American.
Brent Sadler is live in Baghdad to tell us more.
Hello -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, good morning, Carol.
Yes, indeed, a number of fronts have opened up this morning in terms of deadly insurgent activity, primarily against police targets of the Iraqis themselves.
Let's turn, first of all, to Mosul north of Baghdad. A series of devastating bomb blasts there, primarily targeting the police station, and that resulted in the loss of one U.S. soldier's life. Three or four blasts went off at the same time in various parts of the city. Mosul really being brought to a standstill.
Let's move south further towards Baghdad, to the northeast of the Iraqi capital in Baqubah, scene of some of the heaviest clashes on this deadly day. U.S. forces locked in combat with well-armed insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine gun fire, again, targeting the police, the Iraqi police.
Also reports that a U.S. Cobra helicopter gunship was forced to make an emergency landing after coming under small arms fire, no reports of any casualties among the American crew.
The U.S. military, at one stage at the height of the fighting around Fallujah, which is another area where there has been parallel attacks, brought in airstrikes. An F-16 dropped four 500-pound precision guided bombs against insurgents.
In that other police attack, Ramadi, west of the capital, again, more loss of life there and casualties. This has, according to American military officials, been a day of coordinated attacks, the level we haven't quite seen on this scale before.
In Mosul, for example, the hospital director up there to the north of Baghdad says 30 people have been taken to that hospital dead and 170, at least, casualties.
Once again, Carol, it is mostly Iraqis who are suffering the loss of life, the heaviest loss of life. Just to sum up, though, three U.S. soldiers killed on this deadly day -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Brent, we've been reporting that there is still fighting in Fallujah. Is it going on right now?
SADLER: Certainly the attacks against Mosul, Baqubah and Ramadi have quieted down. Fallujah, remember last April, a truce was broken in that city, largely at the center of the Sunni Triangle, the hot bed of violence over the past year or more, a truce which enabled the Marines, the U.S. Marines to pull back and an Iraqi brigade to move in. A brigade that contains a number of former Saddam loyalists, soldiers who fought for the old regime.
Trouble there this day after tensions rose when the U.S. attacked what were thought to be safe houses of the wanted al Qaeda terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Fallujah, still an ongoing situation, certainly very tense there. And it is Zarqawi himself who has made a statement that it was his fighters that really was involved in one of the initial attacks today against a patrol of the 1st Infantry Division in Baqubah, which resulted in the loss of two of those three American troops who lost their lives here in Iraq this day -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Brent Sadler, live from Baghdad, thank you.
Just two days before President Bush's trip to Turkey, a bomb explodes this morning in front of the Hilton Hotel in Ankara. That's where the president is expected to stay when he arrives in Turkey.
CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh has been at the scene. He joins us with an update live on the phone from Turkey.
Alphonso, what can you tell us?
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well there's some more news on the status of one of two people injured at this bomb blast, a police officer who was called into the scene after a suspicious package was found just meters away from the Hilton Hotel. We have now learned has an injured knee and heel and was conscious when he was taken away to the hospital. The explosion happened about an hour, hour and a half ago. As I mentioned, a suspicious package was found just a couple of meters away from where U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to stay in the capital here. Police officers went closer, they went to inspect, that's what people are telling us on the ground, and that's when the bomb went off.
Now it's not clear if it was just what we call a percussion bomb or if it was another kind of bomb intended to do more damage. Either way, two were injured. And it's kind of considered as an embarrassment for Turkish officials being as how there are some 40 world leaders coming in for the NATO summit next week. And also U.S. President George W. Bush, as I mentioned, is expected to stay at this Hilton Hotel to have summit talks with Turkish leaders. This bomb blast just a few meters away -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Alphonso, tell us a little bit more about the method of attack here. It was a suspicious package. Where was it planted?
VAN MARSH: Well what we understand from police on the ground, I am still standing just about 200 feet away from where the bomb went off, is it's an auto park. Not an auto park like a parking garage, not necessarily connected with the Hilton Hotel, but yet quite close to it. We understand that the package was left there and it went off at about 11:05 local time. That's about two -- a little over two hours ago.
COSTELLO: And it just shattered some windows on the outside of the hotel I guess inside that parking garage then, if I'm understanding you correctly?
VAN MARSH: Yes, I'm actually looking at some shattered windows across the street. To kind of give you a little idea of what this place looks like, it's kind of a meden (ph), a circle here where cars will turn around and go into the front entrance of the Hilton.
Go up about 150 more feet from there is an entrance to a separate auto park. There we can see some of the concrete where that explosion went off and an apartment building across the street, as well as across the street from the Hilton, that is where we see some of the windows shattered.
There are investigative teams in white jumpsuits taking a look at the scene. There are dozens of blue uniform police officers around. We see ambulances whisking in and out. But as far as we know, there are just two injuries and no damage to the hotel itself.
COSTELLO: All right, Alphonso, I know you want to get away and get more information for us so we'll let you go. Alphonso Van Marsh reporting live by phone from Ankara, Turkey this morning.
Let's bring in our senior international editor David Clinch now.
I wanted to talk about something Brent Sadler said from Iraq...
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... about Zarqawi.
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: That one of these attacks is supposedly connected to him.
CLINCH: Well connected in the sense that we do know that the United States military in Iraq says and has been saying for the last couple of weeks or so that they have information that leads them to believe that Zarqawi himself may be basing his insurgency out of Fallujah.
Now we have heard them say for a number of months that insurgency linked to him, groups linked to him are operating out of Fallujah, Ramadi and these other places. But they have been more specific within the last couple of weeks indicating that they thought he himself might be there.
Now the two airstrikes that we saw last week were on what they call safe houses linked to his group. But after both of those airstrikes, the military telling us they didn't have any information that he was in there and they didn't have any information that they had got him.
COSTELLO: Well I guess what I'm getting at is it just a coincidence that all of these simultaneous attacks happen after that audio tape from Zarqawi was released on that Web site?
CLINCH: Right. Well, hard to say. I can tell you this. From an...
COSTELLO: Because he was threatening violence in that audio tape.
CLINCH: Right. From an editorial point of view, the way we look at those audio tapes, we are very careful about what we air from those audio tapes. And we did refer to his threat on the life of the interim Prime Minister Allawi.
But there was 16 minutes of audio from him yesterday. And you know we've heard this many times from terror experts and from the U.S. government that in many cases, or it's in some cases, I should say, audio tapes like this do contain messages.
Now at this point we haven't been able to analyze that. The CIA is yet to confirm whether that was even Zarqawi's voice yesterday. But that's a very good point that you are making, Zarqawi's voice comes out on the Internet, we're careful about what we air, but obviously on the Web...
COSTELLO: And just after that brutal beheading of the South Korean hostage.
CLINCH: Right. It's hard to know how much connection there is between Zarqawi and exactly what's happening today. But what we do know is that there is, as the U.S. military has been telling us today, a high degree of coordination in the attacks today. So whether it is Zarqawi himself or not is yet -- not yet clear.
But the U.S. military obviously aware of the fact today that there is an insurgency that is capable, still, six days to the handover, an insurgency, a Sunni insurgency at least, that is capable of launching really quite massive and coordinated attacks.
COSTELLO: Yes. You know what else is really strange, you would think that the insurgents would wait to do this -- these kinds of simultaneous attacks until after the handover because that's when it's going to get kind of dicey maybe.
CLINCH: You're tempting fate -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know I shouldn't say it.
CLINCH: I mean, obviously it remains to be seen what they'll do after the handover. But the U.S. military, we talked about this earlier, just because we have been warned something is going to happen, doesn't mean it's not devastating when it does. We were told by the U.S. military they expected these attacks to happen. We were told by Zarqawi, if that was in fact him, that attacks would happen. And today they have. Dozens of Iraqis dead and at least three American soldiers.
COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, David, we appreciate it.
Eight British sailors and Marines held since Monday in Iran have now been handed over to British officials. See, there's a bit of good news this morning. Those British soldiers free. The eight were detained after their patrol boat strayed into Iranian waters.
The latest on this story now from CNN's Matthew Chance. He's live in London for us.
Tell us about it -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, thanks.
And it's a potentially damaging -- was a potentially damaging diplomatic spat, which now seems to be well on the way to being resolved. The latest information we have comes to us from British officials. They are confirming that these eight British servicemen have been handed over into the custody of a team of British diplomats.
They are en route or traveled to Tehran. The Iranian television has now broadcast images of the detainees boarding an aircraft en route to the Iranian capital where they'll go directly to the British Embassy there and spirited out of the country as soon as possible.
Now there has been reaction from London already. The British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw speaking of his relief that the releases have taken place. He also thanked his Iranian counterpart, the Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, for playing an important role in securing these releases. He also stressed that the country Britain needs to continue its policy of closely engaging Iran diplomatically.
Let's hear what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: We have diplomatic relations with Iran. We work hard on those relationships and sometimes the relationships are complicated. But I'm in no doubt at all that our policy of engagement with the government of Iran and the Islamic People's Republic of Iran is the best approach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: So there may well be no lasting diplomatic damage as a result of this incident.
But there's been a great deal of concern here in Britain expressed at the way these detainees were treated by Iran, particularly that they were paraded on Iranian television, sometimes actually blindfolded, marching in the very hot desert heat near where they were detained on the Shatt-al-Arab waterway in what some would say are humiliating positions. British diplomats tell me there may well be an official complaint made to the Iranian authorities about this. For the moment, though, British officials just expressing their relief that these releases have taken place -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Matthew Chance, live from London for us this morning, thank you.
Coming up next on DAYBREAK, hope floats in Beijing as the U.S. presents Pyongyang with a plan of action for its nuclear program, but there's a catch. We'll take you live to Beijing for the latest.
This is DAYBREAK for Thursday.
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COSTELLO: Traveling this morning? Well now to the nation's crowded airports. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta will announce plans today for increasing the number of travelers airports can handle. The goal, of course, is to reduce the long lines at some security checkpoints, but can the use of private screeners make the process smoother?
CNN's Jeanne Meserve takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They wear a Transportation Security Administration uniform, meet TSA entrance and training requirements, and perform a TSA function. But at San Francisco International Airport, the passenger screeners are employees of a private security contractor, not the federal government.
MICHAEL MCCARRON, SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: From the airport's perspective, we're very, very pleased.
MESERVE: At San Francisco, a central video control room monitors all security lanes. If a clog develops, private screeners can be moved quickly.
MCCARRON: We don't have the same cumbersome rules federal employees are bound by, as far as where we put them. Hiring, the firing process is more efficient for a private contractor than the federal government.
MESERVE: San Francisco was one of five airports that, as part of a TSA test program, continued with private screeners when others were federalized. But Wednesday, other airports got guidance on how they too can opt out of using TSA screeners.
ASA HUTCHINSON, UNDERSECRETARY DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The airport must form a for-profit, private company that meets the criteria established by law and by the TSA.
MESERVE: The TSA insists that federal security standards will be maintained and enforced everywhere, that private security vendors must win the approval of the TSA before they can bid for screening contracts and that they will remain under TSA supervision.
Though the majority of airports are likely to stick with TSA screeners, estimates are that between 40 and 100 will at least explore opting out. They have complained about an unresponsive TSA bureaucracy that has left them with too few screeners and long security lines.
(on camera): The point of federalizing screeners after 9/11 was to improve security. The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general says on that score, private and federal screeners perform about the same. In his words, equally poorly. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:46 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.
Insurgents are staging coordinated attacks in cities across Iraq. A U.S. soldier was killed in Mosul. Marines are now under fire in Fallujah. And in Baqubah, two U.S. soldiers are among the dead. Dozens of Iraqis have been killed.
The government may have violated privacy laws when it asked for information on airline passengers. Four airlines and two reservation systems provided personal data as part of a test program for airline security.
In money news, the Senate has passed a $447 billion defense bill. That whopping total will only cover a fraction of war costs, but it gives the military a pay raise. The White House is expected to ask for at least another $25 billion for the war. In culture, author Ray Bradbury wants his title back. Bradbury, who wrote the classic novel "Fahrenheit 451," wants filmmaker Michael Moore to change the name of his documentary from "Fahrenheit 9/11."
In sports, the world's fastest man may have to slow down. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is expected to seek a lifetime ban against sprinter Tim Montgomery. The agency has charged him with several drug violations. Montgomery's lawyer accuses the agency of using flimsy evidence to smear his client -- Chad.
MYERS: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Compromises may be in the works at critical talks aimed at halting North Korea's nuclear program. The communist nation and the United States are floating proposals.
Our senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy joins us live from Beijing with some more details.
Good morning.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well the United States tabled a proposal here under which if North Korea agrees to shut down and dismantle its nuclear weapons program the U.S. is offering economic and energy assistance and the possibility of security guarantees. Now that proposal was a source of sharp debate within the Bush administration during the past few weeks. Hard liners objected to offering the North Koreans any incentives.
On the other hand, Secretary of State Powell and those favoring engaging with Pyongyang appear to have won out. And in the past couple of hours, the U.S. envoy here, Assistant Secretary of State Jim Kelly, held a one-on-one meeting with his North Korean counterpart. We have few details of that meeting, but what we have learned so far is that the two sides are still very far apart. They have strong differences over how the North Koreans might move ahead to shut down their nuclear program.
The North Koreans are also denying that they have a uranium-based nuclear weapons program, in addition to their older plutonium-based program. The U.S. uncovered evidence of the secret uranium program two years ago and confronted North Korea with it. And that confrontation set the stage for the nuclear crisis we have had for the past 18 months.
The hope, though, is that the North Koreans will see this American proposal as an opening gambit in a possible process of negotiation and bargaining. If it does not reject it outright, then there is the possibility of further talks in the weeks and months ahead. In the meantime, though, as North Korea's news agency noted today, Pyongyang is continuing to make more nuclear weapons material as long as the stalemate continues -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Mike Chinoy live from Beijing this morning.
Space, the final frontier. In the next hour of DAYBREAK, sweeping changes are on the horizon for the NASA space program. Will they sideline the space shuttle for good? We'll get an update straight ahead.
And millions of pap smears are performed each year, but new research shows that many don't need the test but are screened anyway. We'll have that story ahead.
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COSTELLO: Checking 'Health Headlines' now.
The pap test is a quick and inexpensive way to screen women for cervical cancer. But as CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports, millions of women who don't need a pap test get them every year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine checking for tonsillitis in someone who has already had his tonsils removed. According to a new study, that's exactly the kind of thing gynecologists are doing to millions of women who have had hysterectomies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we found, which was quite surprising, is that women continue to be screened for cancer in an organ that they don't have.
COHEN: Dr. Brenda Sirovich's study, published in "The Journal of the American Medical Association," found that 10 million women each year get Pap smears even though they've had a total hysterectomy. The purpose of a Pap smear is to check for cancer in the cervix. A woman who has had a total hysterectomy has no cervix. She's had both her uterus and her cervix surgically removed. So when these women get Pap smears, doctors are just swabbing the inside of the vagina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a waste of time.
COHEN: And it is more than that. Pap smears sometimes come back positive even though there's nothing wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is disappointing that so many women are being overscreened and they're getting a lot of unnecessary follow-up tests because of it.
COHEN: That's one reason the American Cancer Society, along with other prominent cancer groups and the federal government, tell doctors not to do Pap tests on women who have had hysterectomies unless they've had cervical cancer.
So why do doctors keep doing them? One theory is, the government issues report cards on how well doctors administer preventive care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Managed health care organizations have certain criteria that they're evaluated by. And one of those is how many of their patients get Pap tests. One concern is that they're getting higher scores because they're reaching more women, even though some of those women don't need a Pap test.
COHEN: Still, some doctors say, despite all this, they'll continue to do Pap smears on women who have had hysterectomies. They say it is the annual Pap smear that keeps women coming back for their visit even if their cervix is no longer there.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.
Iraq under siege as the countdown to handover draws near. Insurgents launched a flurry of attacks in the Sunni Triangle.
Stay tuned.
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COSTELLO: Five cities, dozens of wounded and dead in coordinated attacks in Iraq.
It is Thursday, June 24. This is DAYBREAK.
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