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CNN Live At Daybreak
A Handy Trade; The New Iraq; Troop Redeployment; Separation Success; Political Soul Mates
Aired August 16, 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: President Bush makes his announcement five-and-a-half hours from now. CNN does plan live coverage.
Two American soldiers were killed in action in Iraq's Najaf province, the scene of fighting between U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to a radical cleric. The sporadic clashes resumed after peace talks collapsed.
Pope John Paul II returned to Italy today after visiting the shrine at Lourdes in France. More than 300,000 pilgrims attended a mass the Pope celebrated there.
The dig out begins in Florida where Hurricane Charley left 16 people dead and billions in damage. Nearly a million Floridians still without power this morning.
To the Forecast Center and Rob.
Good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
Now all eyes on Earl, which is in the Caribbean. Hasn't really developed a whole lot the past couple of days, and that's the good news. But now it's still in the Caribbean, and that's the bad news, because it's in kind of the same spot that Charley was about a week or so ago. The Dominican Republic, and then you go over towards Jamaica, Cuba and then beyond that is Florida. Hopefully it won't get to that point as we go through the next week.
But certainly this cloud mass looks like it's getting better organized. They're going to send in an Air Force reconnaissance aircraft out there later on today and check it out to see what exactly is going on. It is heading west towards at least the Yucatan Peninsula and maybe the Gulf of Mexico. We'll keep an eye on that over the next four to six days, possibly affecting the U.S. coastline possibly over the weekend.
Dave, if you're up there, give me a little space bar action so I can move this map ahead and show you what's going on where Charley did go through Florida. It's a little bit more quiet now. And we'll look for the radar to maybe pop up in the afternoon in the form of some afternoon showers or storms, but nothing like 140-mile-an-hour winds.
One more time for me up the Carolina coastline, and we're looking at the showers pushing off towards to the east. So this area which saw Earl, or not Earl, Charley, saw showers and storms throughout the day yesterday. They'll get a bit of a break today. And then up the I-95 corridor is where we're looking at light to moderate rainfall this morning. Should be tapering off and ending later on today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you -- Rob.
MARCIANO: See you.
COSTELLO: Authorities are still trying to determine the casualty count from Hurricane Charley. Hundreds still without power. Hundreds unaccounted for. Hopefully they left before the storm hit, though. Authorities can confirm at least 16 people were killed in the hurricane.
President Bush surveyed some of the worst damage by helicopter before consoling victims in Punta Gorda. Citrus growers have suffered major damage to their $9 billion industry. School has been delayed in southwest Florida for up to two weeks and nearly 1 million people still without power this morning.
We got a dramatic inside view of Hurricane Charley's fury through the lenses of two storm chasers. These guys put their lives on the line to collect information and get pictures. They talked about it with our Carol Lin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: ... hurricane itself.
JIM REED, STORM CHASER: We work for a variety of private sources. We were collecting meteorological data and testing, actually, a new device that allows us to check radar in situations like this. But while he was praying, I was -- my method of praying was to try and document it as best I could. But I, as far as keeping calm, I think you can hear my voice, it was very difficult.
LIN: Well, but at least you were able to get some information out about where you were, what was happening around you. What did that feel like? What was that force of wind?
REED: Very intimidating, very humbling. We usually, as researchers, will take shelter much sooner. And I have covered nine hurricanes, but this is the first time a hurricane has ever increased its wind speed so quickly while we're in one location.
LIN: What do you mean?
REED: Within minutes, just a few minutes we went from 75-mile- an-hour winds to 120 mile an hour. And we were forced to take a shelter of last resort, as we call it. Greg (ph) had spotted the carport. And we knew we needed to put something between us and the oncoming wind and that was the house. And we were very lucky that it was a solid structure. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: You're not kidding. Thousands of people left homeless by Hurricane Charley in Florida are feeling a bit overwhelmed this morning. They are lining up at distribution centers for the bare essentials, water, ice and comfort items. And then, of course, there's the massive clean up left after Charley flattened houses and mobile homes, downed trees and power lines and mounds of debris.
President Bush did get a firsthand look at the devastation caused by Charley in Florida from his Marine One helicopter. The president surveyed hard hit areas in Punta Gorda. He promised federal disaster aid will be delivered quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The job of the federal government and state government is to surge resources as quickly as possible to disaster areas, and that's exactly what's happening now. We choppered over and saw the devastation of this area. A lot of people's lives are turned upside-down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Coming up next, we'll have a live update from Port Charlotte, Florida, where one resident says the devastation is as close to hell as he can imagine.
Knowing your way around wires and circuits is coming in handy in hurricane-ravaged Florida, and one electrician says he has his work cut out for him.
CNN's Jason Bellini has more for you from Orlando.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gary Mounce's family feels pretty lucky right now.
(on camera): This is the only house on the block that has power, correct?
MRS. MOUNT, SPOUSE: Yes, we're the lucky ones, that's because we know an electrician, don't we?
BELLINI (voice-over): Christina (ph) gets to watch TV.
CHRISTINA MOUNCE, DAUGHTER: We got 11 channels of cartoons. I can deal.
BELLINI: Grandma eats food the neighbors bring over because they can't refrigerate it.
GRANDMA: I love chicken wings anytime.
BELLINI (on camera): For breakfast? GRANDMA: Yes, breakfast, lunch or dinner.
BELLINI (voice-over): Smokey (ph), he gets A/C and he gets to go on Gary's trips to help fix the phone system.
GARY MOUNCE, ELECTRICIAN: OK, it's where I thought it was. The guy gave me bogus directions.
BELLINI: Gary flips switches and brings alive dial tones.
G. MOUNCE: You don't have telephones, how are you going to call somebody to have them come out and work for you?
BELLINI: The phone system needs power. He helps provide it.
G. MOUNCE: The generator is not powering up this site right now.
BELLINI: When the generators aren't working, he's called in.
(on camera): The phone company Gary works for has 2,500 phone boxes, like the one he's working on here. During a power outage, oftentimes the only thing that's working at home is the telephone and that's because these boxes have battery backups. But the battery only lasts for several hours. After that, you've got to get a generator hooked up or an entire area loses its phone service.
(voice-over): The calls are nonstop, but Gary can't take them, his cell phone doesn't work. The home phone does.
MRS. MOUNCE: You've got to go back.
G. MOUNCE: Well that's what it is when you don't have communications.
BELLINI: It's a great time to be an electrician, but still a challenging time to be living in the aftermath of the hurricane.
Jason Bellini, CNN, Orlando.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Amid the devastation Charley caused in Florida, there are signs of hope. Wrecked churches are holding services in parking lots and residents are pulling together to try to weather the recovery.
For more on these stories, you can go to our Web site, CNN.com.
About 1,500 Iraqi leaders are gathering to choose 100 people to advise and oversee their interim government. The meeting comes amid major challenges for this fledgling democracy, the continuing bloodshed in Najaf and in the capital itself.
CNN's John Vause live in Baghdad now with more.
Good morning -- John. JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
We're well into, sorry, the second day of the national conference here in Baghdad being held here at the convention center. Been fairly quiet outside. Yesterday, a number of mortars fell quite close to the convention center, but so far today, at least from the viewpoint of the mortars, it's been relatively quiet. But inside here, the main topic of discussion has in fact been the ongoing violence in Najaf.
As you mentioned, they are meant to be electing that 100-person assembly, which will advise the interim government. They are yet to come anywhere close to deciding on that assembly. All day long it's been the situation in Najaf, Najaf, Najaf.
Now what they have decided on doing is sending a delegation to meet with Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf. A 21-person delegation will leave sometime tonight or maybe tomorrow morning. And according to the Arabic network Al-Arabiya, Muqtada al-Sadr is going to welcome them. He's looking forward to meeting with them to try and negotiate a peaceful end to the current standoff in Najaf around the Imam Ali Mosque.
Now there have been clashes in Najaf, but it appears that any all-out offensive against the mosque and against al-Sadr's Mehdi Militia appears to be on hold, pretty much because of what's been happening here at this convention center. All day yesterday they complained about the U.S.-led offensive in Najaf. They monitored (ph) the interim Iraqi government to find some way to bring about a peaceful resolution and that looks like what is going on right now.
There has been some question about how many delegates would stick around until the very end, how many people would walk out in protest, how many people would actually turn up. Well so far in over a day and a half only one person has actually walked out -- Carol.
COSTELLO: John, a question for you about Muqtada al-Sadr and negotiating with him, he hasn't kept his word before, why keep trying?
VAUSE: It appears that he's trying to hold out for as long as possible so that he can rally as much support to him as he possibly can. Now I asked one of the delegates why do they think it would be different this time if they went down there and negotiated with him? What can they do differently that the interim Iraqi government couldn't do over the weekend, that the U.S. and the Shiite leaders couldn't do almost six weeks ago?
Well they said that because they represent the broad body of Iraqis that they go down there with an element of trust, that they can win over al-Sadr, that they can broker a truce, which they believe will bring al-Sadr into the main stream and bring an end to the violence there. So we'll wait and see.
COSTELLO: We certainly will. John Vause, live in Baghdad this morning, thank you.
President Bush plans to pull many U.S. troops out of Europe and Asia and reposition them to better fight the war on terror. His announcement is expected today during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Right now there are more than 100,000 American troops in Europe, another 100,000 in the Asia-Pacific Region, more than 17,000 are in Afghanistan and 155,000 in Iraq and Kuwait.
Joining us to discuss this redeployment, our senior international editor David Clinch.
And what's the goal here?
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well on the surface, and the most obvious goal, of course, is, as we said, to fight the war that exists right now, not the Cold War that existed for decades, which is what these troops were deployed for originally in South Korea, in Germany and Japan, but the new war, the war on terror, and of course wars against rogue states or any other event that may blow up.
And the idea is twofold, to create greater flexibility and also to cut costs by bringing troops back to the U.S. Troops based in Germany, troops based in South Korea and Japan, if they are not being used in those theaters, it costs almost as much money to move them anywhere they might need to be moved as it would from here in the U.S.
And of course every day money can be saved by keeping them here in the U.S. And not only saved, 70,000 plus troops coming back to the U.S., plus 100,000 plus family members, that's a lot of Americans at home with American dollars being spent here in the U.S.
COSTELLO: And it's that many more soldiers to send to Iraq if need be.
CLINCH: Well that's the other issue and lots of stuff to chew on with this story. The financial issue, the economic issue, the political issue, everything is tainted or colored with politics in this season. A lot of people saying you know why after years of discussing this issue and also the fact that this is going to take years to put into place is President Bush talking about it today?
Well of course critics saying he's taking advantage of the situation to put this story out there right now when of course it won't be implemented immediately, certainly not today, and over a period of years because it appeals to that idea that U.S. troops are coming home.
Of course it doesn't address that other hot button political issue which is the troops in Iraq, when are they coming home? Well, as you say, more U.S. troops here in the U.S. cutting a cost, that might allow some of these troops eventually to go into Iraq. But that's not really on the table right now because very little of this is actually going to happen immediately.
COSTELLO: The only question I had about removing troops from places they might not be all that needed is South Korea, because of course there is that continuing threat from North Korea, and wouldn't you want troops there? CLINCH: Right. Well some troops are staying there. They are pulling back from the DNZ. But in all of these places, South Korea, Japan, Germany, those countries are being asked to spend a lot of their own money to beef up their own role, more Japanese troops, more South Korean troops, more German troops, and somebody else paying for it, not the American taxpayer.
COSTELLO: David Clinch, many thanks to you.
A story of hope and survival. In seven minutes, twins no longer conjoined. How are they doing just 11 days after they were separated?
And it's no longer an issue of age or race. Coming up in 13 minutes, the question looms, will you date to cross political lines?
But first, here is a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:46 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.
Emergency aid is pouring into those areas of Florida and the wake of Hurricane Charley. Sixteen people were killed. Nearly one million still without power this morning.
Sources tell CNN an investigation has determined that Michael Jackson was not manhandled by Santa Barbara sheriff's deputies. Jackson said in December he was manhandled when he was arrested on child molestation charges.
In money news, the makers of the soft drink 7-Up are taking aim at the low-cal vitamin-conscious consumer. Cadbury Schweppes says it will introduce 7-Up Plus later this month.
In culture, Nicky Hilton, the heir to the Hilton Hotel fortune, is a married woman this morning. The 20-year-old married a money manager from New York in an impromptu ceremony in Las Vegas.
In sports, Smarty Jones, the horse that won the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness, moves into his new digs today. He's leaving Philadelphia for Kentucky where he's going to live a life of leisure and mating -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Sounds pretty good.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
MARCIANO: Carol, back over to you.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Rob.
Those are your latest headlines for this morning.
Two formerly conjoined twins are doing better than expected following their separation surgery.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is following the recovery of Carl and Clarence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLENE AGUIRRE, TWINS MOTHER: I can see them alive and lying on the bed with two separate beds, and it's really unbelievable.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable and unusual.
UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: Their recovery has been, I think, beyond our best expectations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually astonished not to see any of the problems that we expected, the swelling of the brain, the venous infarctions. And these were all things that we were concerned about.
GUPTA: Almost all previous conjoined twins had problems immediately after the operation. When los dos Maria's, the two Maria's from Guatemala were separated two years ago, Maria Teresa suffered a life-threatening infection. She is now death.
The Bajani twins from Iran both died after a 52-hour operation.
With Carl and Clarence, Dr. Goodrich operated in stages, performing four operations over 10 months instead of one mammoth one. That led to less blood loss, less anesthesia at any given time and hopefully a faster recovery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking them through a staged procedure like this made all the difference in the world.
GUPTA: Still, they're not nearly out of the woods yet. Doctors need to see the effects of disconnecting two brains that were fused together and communicating. It will take weeks before they're out of critical condition, and a year before they have their skulls completely replaced.
They are separate for sure. And Arlene also wants them to be independent. For now, they're just getting to know each other for the very first time.
AGUIRRE: One thing more, I want them first to see what the reaction, if they really see each other.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Kids and obesity. In the next hour of DAYBREAK, as the back-to-school bell tolls, are your kids on the fast food track or in the halls of healthy eating?
And who says love is blind? We'll introduce you to some couples who say that when it comes to dating politics matters.
This is DAYBREAK for a Monday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And here are some stories making news "Across America" this morning.
The government is getting a lot of calls about the Do-Not-Call Registry. It's aimed at stopping calls from telemarketers, but not all of them are playing by the rules. The AP reports consumers have filed more than 450,000 complaints since the registry went into effect.
It's proving to be an ogre of a problem for DreamWorks. "Daily Variety" reports the movie studio is trying to keep high quality bootleg copies of "Shrek 2" from spreading. The pirated copies have recently turned up on several Internet auction sites.
And fans are marking the death of the King. Today is the 27th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. Fans are holding a candlelight vigil at Presley's Graceland Mansion in Memphis. One woman who traveled from upstate New York says she can feel Presley's spirit.
Now to the dating game. Making a love connection may not be easy if you're a committed Democrat or a Republican. What's politics got to do with it you ask?
CNN's Alina Cho tells you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jen Tramontozzi is 26, single, and a member of the New York's Young Republicans Club.
Yes, traditionally liberal New York where Tramontozzi says Republican suitors are in short supply.
JEN TRAMONTOZZI, REPUBLICAN: When I tell people I'm a Republican, they're kind of like, ooh -- like their face just falls and their so disappointed. They're like, oh no, everything was going great until you had mentioned that.
CHO: Dan Cohen is a also a single, New Yorker. He's a Democrat looking for a lovely liberal.
DAN COHEN, DEMOCRAT: It's one signal. It's not the only one, but it's -- for me, it's been a good one at determining whether or not I would get along with that person.
CHO: Cohen and Tramontozzi disagree on politics but agree on dating strategy; both want to date members of their own political party.
TRAMONTOZZI: I feel like, you know, if I dated someone who was a liberal, he would just be getting annoyed with me all the time. Or I'd be like, well I don't understand why he doesn't get it. He's not seeing it my way.
CHO (on camera): Little doubt that this year's election is going to be a close one, Bush, Kerry, red states, blue states. It's political lingo most of us have heard, and now it's popping up on Internet dating sites. So, if you're looking for love, get ready to show your colors.
(voice-over) More than a half dozen Web sites are out there to help both single Republicans and Democrats find their political soul mate. Sites like conservativematch.com and actforlove.org, a liberal site started by John Hlinko who is now engaged to a fellow Democrat he met on the Web.
JOHN HLINKO, "ACTFORLOVE.ORG": We're getting people in a lot of the red states because they're the ones that are having trouble finding other progressives, finding other Democrats.
CHO: Some do make it work. Despite disagreeing politically, Arnold, Maria, Carville, Madeline. Dan Cohen says no way.
You're a blue state?
COHEN: I'm a blue state guy. And I don't think I could date anybody but a blue state gal.
CHO: Red states need not apply.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: All right, some Olympic action for you, or let's say inaction from the United States men's basketball team, because they lost to Puerto Rico by 20 points.
MARCIANO: Yes, and not just a loss.
COSTELLO: Right, Puerto Rico just didn't squeak by.
MARCIANO: No, no, they -- and they have had their number lately. So these are unhappy faces, I suppose, the pictures we're going to show here.
COSTELLO: Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan saying what the heck?
MARCIANO: Tim Duncan.
COSTELLO: I was going to say hell. I guess I will, because that's what they look like they're saying.
MARCIANO: See now Allen Iverson needs to move his seat up.
COSTELLO: There's the coach Larry Brown.
MARCIANO: Yes, they look confounded.
COSTELLO: And I think that's the assistant coach. Is his name Popovich?
MARCIANO: Yes.
COSTELLO: I'm pretty sure, yes. And they are sitting there. Actually, Larry Brown said he was embarrassed.
MARCIANO: Well they should be. I mean these are the greatest basketball players in the world.
COSTELLO: Well only three of them, and then the rest are amateurs.
MARCIANO: Or in court.
COSTELLO: Oh gosh! This is Allen Iverson getting fouled. Another unattractive moment during the game.
MARCIANO: An off balance shot. One of many that missed.
COSTELLO: Get this, the Americans shot only 35 percent, finished 3 for 24 from 3-point range and had nearly as many turnovers, 22, as field goals, 26.
MARCIANO: On to more, an American...
COSTELLO: Well this is sad news, too.
MARCIANO: Why, he...
COSTELLO: Michael Phelps, he lost.
MARCIANO: When -- did I go to bed after he won?
COSTELLO: He was -- you went to bed. He won a gold medal initially. But he was on the relay team and they lost. And remember he replaced a really good guy on the relay team so that would enable him to beat Mark Spitz' record, eight medals, which he's not going to do now.
MARCIANO: That happened on the girls' relay team as well.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
MARCIANO: Somebody replaced somebody else.
COSTELLO: Jenny Harrison (ph), I think that was the swimmer's name that took part in the relay, lost when perhaps another swimmer should have been included in the relay.
MARCIANO: Even the Olympics are political.
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: And what do you know about this guy?
COSTELLO: The South African swimmers, they are the guys that won the relay.
MARCIANO: Is he not -- this is not the weightlifting competition?
COSTELLO: No, but he looks awfully good, don't they?
MARCIANO: And these Japanese swimmers are trying to perform.
COSTELLO: They win the 100-meter breaststroke, so they did well. So there you go.
And the Greek sprinters, we should tell you about that before you go, because they are pretty much out of it. Because, as you know, they missed a drug test because supposedly they got in some motorcycle accident or maybe they lost their way to the drug testing site. But the Olympic authorities really aren't buying that -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Well they are the host city, don't they get a little bit more leeway?
COSTELLO: No.
MARCIANO: No, they're putting the party on, they should be able to play.
COSTELLO: They think there might be a reason they just sort of like missed the drug testing thing, so.
MARCIANO: I forgot my homework at home.
COSTELLO: Yes, exactly. The dog ate it.
But we will have more Olympic action for you from Chris Cotter who will join us in the next hour with highlights from the 2004 Summer Games.
But first, residents along the Florida coast try to recover from Hurricane Charley. We'll have a live report in a few minutes. You stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired August 16, 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: President Bush makes his announcement five-and-a-half hours from now. CNN does plan live coverage.
Two American soldiers were killed in action in Iraq's Najaf province, the scene of fighting between U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to a radical cleric. The sporadic clashes resumed after peace talks collapsed.
Pope John Paul II returned to Italy today after visiting the shrine at Lourdes in France. More than 300,000 pilgrims attended a mass the Pope celebrated there.
The dig out begins in Florida where Hurricane Charley left 16 people dead and billions in damage. Nearly a million Floridians still without power this morning.
To the Forecast Center and Rob.
Good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
Now all eyes on Earl, which is in the Caribbean. Hasn't really developed a whole lot the past couple of days, and that's the good news. But now it's still in the Caribbean, and that's the bad news, because it's in kind of the same spot that Charley was about a week or so ago. The Dominican Republic, and then you go over towards Jamaica, Cuba and then beyond that is Florida. Hopefully it won't get to that point as we go through the next week.
But certainly this cloud mass looks like it's getting better organized. They're going to send in an Air Force reconnaissance aircraft out there later on today and check it out to see what exactly is going on. It is heading west towards at least the Yucatan Peninsula and maybe the Gulf of Mexico. We'll keep an eye on that over the next four to six days, possibly affecting the U.S. coastline possibly over the weekend.
Dave, if you're up there, give me a little space bar action so I can move this map ahead and show you what's going on where Charley did go through Florida. It's a little bit more quiet now. And we'll look for the radar to maybe pop up in the afternoon in the form of some afternoon showers or storms, but nothing like 140-mile-an-hour winds.
One more time for me up the Carolina coastline, and we're looking at the showers pushing off towards to the east. So this area which saw Earl, or not Earl, Charley, saw showers and storms throughout the day yesterday. They'll get a bit of a break today. And then up the I-95 corridor is where we're looking at light to moderate rainfall this morning. Should be tapering off and ending later on today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you -- Rob.
MARCIANO: See you.
COSTELLO: Authorities are still trying to determine the casualty count from Hurricane Charley. Hundreds still without power. Hundreds unaccounted for. Hopefully they left before the storm hit, though. Authorities can confirm at least 16 people were killed in the hurricane.
President Bush surveyed some of the worst damage by helicopter before consoling victims in Punta Gorda. Citrus growers have suffered major damage to their $9 billion industry. School has been delayed in southwest Florida for up to two weeks and nearly 1 million people still without power this morning.
We got a dramatic inside view of Hurricane Charley's fury through the lenses of two storm chasers. These guys put their lives on the line to collect information and get pictures. They talked about it with our Carol Lin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: ... hurricane itself.
JIM REED, STORM CHASER: We work for a variety of private sources. We were collecting meteorological data and testing, actually, a new device that allows us to check radar in situations like this. But while he was praying, I was -- my method of praying was to try and document it as best I could. But I, as far as keeping calm, I think you can hear my voice, it was very difficult.
LIN: Well, but at least you were able to get some information out about where you were, what was happening around you. What did that feel like? What was that force of wind?
REED: Very intimidating, very humbling. We usually, as researchers, will take shelter much sooner. And I have covered nine hurricanes, but this is the first time a hurricane has ever increased its wind speed so quickly while we're in one location.
LIN: What do you mean?
REED: Within minutes, just a few minutes we went from 75-mile- an-hour winds to 120 mile an hour. And we were forced to take a shelter of last resort, as we call it. Greg (ph) had spotted the carport. And we knew we needed to put something between us and the oncoming wind and that was the house. And we were very lucky that it was a solid structure. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: You're not kidding. Thousands of people left homeless by Hurricane Charley in Florida are feeling a bit overwhelmed this morning. They are lining up at distribution centers for the bare essentials, water, ice and comfort items. And then, of course, there's the massive clean up left after Charley flattened houses and mobile homes, downed trees and power lines and mounds of debris.
President Bush did get a firsthand look at the devastation caused by Charley in Florida from his Marine One helicopter. The president surveyed hard hit areas in Punta Gorda. He promised federal disaster aid will be delivered quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The job of the federal government and state government is to surge resources as quickly as possible to disaster areas, and that's exactly what's happening now. We choppered over and saw the devastation of this area. A lot of people's lives are turned upside-down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Coming up next, we'll have a live update from Port Charlotte, Florida, where one resident says the devastation is as close to hell as he can imagine.
Knowing your way around wires and circuits is coming in handy in hurricane-ravaged Florida, and one electrician says he has his work cut out for him.
CNN's Jason Bellini has more for you from Orlando.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gary Mounce's family feels pretty lucky right now.
(on camera): This is the only house on the block that has power, correct?
MRS. MOUNT, SPOUSE: Yes, we're the lucky ones, that's because we know an electrician, don't we?
BELLINI (voice-over): Christina (ph) gets to watch TV.
CHRISTINA MOUNCE, DAUGHTER: We got 11 channels of cartoons. I can deal.
BELLINI: Grandma eats food the neighbors bring over because they can't refrigerate it.
GRANDMA: I love chicken wings anytime.
BELLINI (on camera): For breakfast? GRANDMA: Yes, breakfast, lunch or dinner.
BELLINI (voice-over): Smokey (ph), he gets A/C and he gets to go on Gary's trips to help fix the phone system.
GARY MOUNCE, ELECTRICIAN: OK, it's where I thought it was. The guy gave me bogus directions.
BELLINI: Gary flips switches and brings alive dial tones.
G. MOUNCE: You don't have telephones, how are you going to call somebody to have them come out and work for you?
BELLINI: The phone system needs power. He helps provide it.
G. MOUNCE: The generator is not powering up this site right now.
BELLINI: When the generators aren't working, he's called in.
(on camera): The phone company Gary works for has 2,500 phone boxes, like the one he's working on here. During a power outage, oftentimes the only thing that's working at home is the telephone and that's because these boxes have battery backups. But the battery only lasts for several hours. After that, you've got to get a generator hooked up or an entire area loses its phone service.
(voice-over): The calls are nonstop, but Gary can't take them, his cell phone doesn't work. The home phone does.
MRS. MOUNCE: You've got to go back.
G. MOUNCE: Well that's what it is when you don't have communications.
BELLINI: It's a great time to be an electrician, but still a challenging time to be living in the aftermath of the hurricane.
Jason Bellini, CNN, Orlando.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Amid the devastation Charley caused in Florida, there are signs of hope. Wrecked churches are holding services in parking lots and residents are pulling together to try to weather the recovery.
For more on these stories, you can go to our Web site, CNN.com.
About 1,500 Iraqi leaders are gathering to choose 100 people to advise and oversee their interim government. The meeting comes amid major challenges for this fledgling democracy, the continuing bloodshed in Najaf and in the capital itself.
CNN's John Vause live in Baghdad now with more.
Good morning -- John. JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
We're well into, sorry, the second day of the national conference here in Baghdad being held here at the convention center. Been fairly quiet outside. Yesterday, a number of mortars fell quite close to the convention center, but so far today, at least from the viewpoint of the mortars, it's been relatively quiet. But inside here, the main topic of discussion has in fact been the ongoing violence in Najaf.
As you mentioned, they are meant to be electing that 100-person assembly, which will advise the interim government. They are yet to come anywhere close to deciding on that assembly. All day long it's been the situation in Najaf, Najaf, Najaf.
Now what they have decided on doing is sending a delegation to meet with Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf. A 21-person delegation will leave sometime tonight or maybe tomorrow morning. And according to the Arabic network Al-Arabiya, Muqtada al-Sadr is going to welcome them. He's looking forward to meeting with them to try and negotiate a peaceful end to the current standoff in Najaf around the Imam Ali Mosque.
Now there have been clashes in Najaf, but it appears that any all-out offensive against the mosque and against al-Sadr's Mehdi Militia appears to be on hold, pretty much because of what's been happening here at this convention center. All day yesterday they complained about the U.S.-led offensive in Najaf. They monitored (ph) the interim Iraqi government to find some way to bring about a peaceful resolution and that looks like what is going on right now.
There has been some question about how many delegates would stick around until the very end, how many people would walk out in protest, how many people would actually turn up. Well so far in over a day and a half only one person has actually walked out -- Carol.
COSTELLO: John, a question for you about Muqtada al-Sadr and negotiating with him, he hasn't kept his word before, why keep trying?
VAUSE: It appears that he's trying to hold out for as long as possible so that he can rally as much support to him as he possibly can. Now I asked one of the delegates why do they think it would be different this time if they went down there and negotiated with him? What can they do differently that the interim Iraqi government couldn't do over the weekend, that the U.S. and the Shiite leaders couldn't do almost six weeks ago?
Well they said that because they represent the broad body of Iraqis that they go down there with an element of trust, that they can win over al-Sadr, that they can broker a truce, which they believe will bring al-Sadr into the main stream and bring an end to the violence there. So we'll wait and see.
COSTELLO: We certainly will. John Vause, live in Baghdad this morning, thank you.
President Bush plans to pull many U.S. troops out of Europe and Asia and reposition them to better fight the war on terror. His announcement is expected today during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Right now there are more than 100,000 American troops in Europe, another 100,000 in the Asia-Pacific Region, more than 17,000 are in Afghanistan and 155,000 in Iraq and Kuwait.
Joining us to discuss this redeployment, our senior international editor David Clinch.
And what's the goal here?
DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Well on the surface, and the most obvious goal, of course, is, as we said, to fight the war that exists right now, not the Cold War that existed for decades, which is what these troops were deployed for originally in South Korea, in Germany and Japan, but the new war, the war on terror, and of course wars against rogue states or any other event that may blow up.
And the idea is twofold, to create greater flexibility and also to cut costs by bringing troops back to the U.S. Troops based in Germany, troops based in South Korea and Japan, if they are not being used in those theaters, it costs almost as much money to move them anywhere they might need to be moved as it would from here in the U.S.
And of course every day money can be saved by keeping them here in the U.S. And not only saved, 70,000 plus troops coming back to the U.S., plus 100,000 plus family members, that's a lot of Americans at home with American dollars being spent here in the U.S.
COSTELLO: And it's that many more soldiers to send to Iraq if need be.
CLINCH: Well that's the other issue and lots of stuff to chew on with this story. The financial issue, the economic issue, the political issue, everything is tainted or colored with politics in this season. A lot of people saying you know why after years of discussing this issue and also the fact that this is going to take years to put into place is President Bush talking about it today?
Well of course critics saying he's taking advantage of the situation to put this story out there right now when of course it won't be implemented immediately, certainly not today, and over a period of years because it appeals to that idea that U.S. troops are coming home.
Of course it doesn't address that other hot button political issue which is the troops in Iraq, when are they coming home? Well, as you say, more U.S. troops here in the U.S. cutting a cost, that might allow some of these troops eventually to go into Iraq. But that's not really on the table right now because very little of this is actually going to happen immediately.
COSTELLO: The only question I had about removing troops from places they might not be all that needed is South Korea, because of course there is that continuing threat from North Korea, and wouldn't you want troops there? CLINCH: Right. Well some troops are staying there. They are pulling back from the DNZ. But in all of these places, South Korea, Japan, Germany, those countries are being asked to spend a lot of their own money to beef up their own role, more Japanese troops, more South Korean troops, more German troops, and somebody else paying for it, not the American taxpayer.
COSTELLO: David Clinch, many thanks to you.
A story of hope and survival. In seven minutes, twins no longer conjoined. How are they doing just 11 days after they were separated?
And it's no longer an issue of age or race. Coming up in 13 minutes, the question looms, will you date to cross political lines?
But first, here is a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:46 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.
Emergency aid is pouring into those areas of Florida and the wake of Hurricane Charley. Sixteen people were killed. Nearly one million still without power this morning.
Sources tell CNN an investigation has determined that Michael Jackson was not manhandled by Santa Barbara sheriff's deputies. Jackson said in December he was manhandled when he was arrested on child molestation charges.
In money news, the makers of the soft drink 7-Up are taking aim at the low-cal vitamin-conscious consumer. Cadbury Schweppes says it will introduce 7-Up Plus later this month.
In culture, Nicky Hilton, the heir to the Hilton Hotel fortune, is a married woman this morning. The 20-year-old married a money manager from New York in an impromptu ceremony in Las Vegas.
In sports, Smarty Jones, the horse that won the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness, moves into his new digs today. He's leaving Philadelphia for Kentucky where he's going to live a life of leisure and mating -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Sounds pretty good.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
MARCIANO: Carol, back over to you.
COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Rob.
Those are your latest headlines for this morning.
Two formerly conjoined twins are doing better than expected following their separation surgery.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is following the recovery of Carl and Clarence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLENE AGUIRRE, TWINS MOTHER: I can see them alive and lying on the bed with two separate beds, and it's really unbelievable.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable and unusual.
UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: Their recovery has been, I think, beyond our best expectations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually astonished not to see any of the problems that we expected, the swelling of the brain, the venous infarctions. And these were all things that we were concerned about.
GUPTA: Almost all previous conjoined twins had problems immediately after the operation. When los dos Maria's, the two Maria's from Guatemala were separated two years ago, Maria Teresa suffered a life-threatening infection. She is now death.
The Bajani twins from Iran both died after a 52-hour operation.
With Carl and Clarence, Dr. Goodrich operated in stages, performing four operations over 10 months instead of one mammoth one. That led to less blood loss, less anesthesia at any given time and hopefully a faster recovery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking them through a staged procedure like this made all the difference in the world.
GUPTA: Still, they're not nearly out of the woods yet. Doctors need to see the effects of disconnecting two brains that were fused together and communicating. It will take weeks before they're out of critical condition, and a year before they have their skulls completely replaced.
They are separate for sure. And Arlene also wants them to be independent. For now, they're just getting to know each other for the very first time.
AGUIRRE: One thing more, I want them first to see what the reaction, if they really see each other.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Kids and obesity. In the next hour of DAYBREAK, as the back-to-school bell tolls, are your kids on the fast food track or in the halls of healthy eating?
And who says love is blind? We'll introduce you to some couples who say that when it comes to dating politics matters.
This is DAYBREAK for a Monday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And here are some stories making news "Across America" this morning.
The government is getting a lot of calls about the Do-Not-Call Registry. It's aimed at stopping calls from telemarketers, but not all of them are playing by the rules. The AP reports consumers have filed more than 450,000 complaints since the registry went into effect.
It's proving to be an ogre of a problem for DreamWorks. "Daily Variety" reports the movie studio is trying to keep high quality bootleg copies of "Shrek 2" from spreading. The pirated copies have recently turned up on several Internet auction sites.
And fans are marking the death of the King. Today is the 27th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. Fans are holding a candlelight vigil at Presley's Graceland Mansion in Memphis. One woman who traveled from upstate New York says she can feel Presley's spirit.
Now to the dating game. Making a love connection may not be easy if you're a committed Democrat or a Republican. What's politics got to do with it you ask?
CNN's Alina Cho tells you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jen Tramontozzi is 26, single, and a member of the New York's Young Republicans Club.
Yes, traditionally liberal New York where Tramontozzi says Republican suitors are in short supply.
JEN TRAMONTOZZI, REPUBLICAN: When I tell people I'm a Republican, they're kind of like, ooh -- like their face just falls and their so disappointed. They're like, oh no, everything was going great until you had mentioned that.
CHO: Dan Cohen is a also a single, New Yorker. He's a Democrat looking for a lovely liberal.
DAN COHEN, DEMOCRAT: It's one signal. It's not the only one, but it's -- for me, it's been a good one at determining whether or not I would get along with that person.
CHO: Cohen and Tramontozzi disagree on politics but agree on dating strategy; both want to date members of their own political party.
TRAMONTOZZI: I feel like, you know, if I dated someone who was a liberal, he would just be getting annoyed with me all the time. Or I'd be like, well I don't understand why he doesn't get it. He's not seeing it my way.
CHO (on camera): Little doubt that this year's election is going to be a close one, Bush, Kerry, red states, blue states. It's political lingo most of us have heard, and now it's popping up on Internet dating sites. So, if you're looking for love, get ready to show your colors.
(voice-over) More than a half dozen Web sites are out there to help both single Republicans and Democrats find their political soul mate. Sites like conservativematch.com and actforlove.org, a liberal site started by John Hlinko who is now engaged to a fellow Democrat he met on the Web.
JOHN HLINKO, "ACTFORLOVE.ORG": We're getting people in a lot of the red states because they're the ones that are having trouble finding other progressives, finding other Democrats.
CHO: Some do make it work. Despite disagreeing politically, Arnold, Maria, Carville, Madeline. Dan Cohen says no way.
You're a blue state?
COHEN: I'm a blue state guy. And I don't think I could date anybody but a blue state gal.
CHO: Red states need not apply.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: All right, some Olympic action for you, or let's say inaction from the United States men's basketball team, because they lost to Puerto Rico by 20 points.
MARCIANO: Yes, and not just a loss.
COSTELLO: Right, Puerto Rico just didn't squeak by.
MARCIANO: No, no, they -- and they have had their number lately. So these are unhappy faces, I suppose, the pictures we're going to show here.
COSTELLO: Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan saying what the heck?
MARCIANO: Tim Duncan.
COSTELLO: I was going to say hell. I guess I will, because that's what they look like they're saying.
MARCIANO: See now Allen Iverson needs to move his seat up.
COSTELLO: There's the coach Larry Brown.
MARCIANO: Yes, they look confounded.
COSTELLO: And I think that's the assistant coach. Is his name Popovich?
MARCIANO: Yes.
COSTELLO: I'm pretty sure, yes. And they are sitting there. Actually, Larry Brown said he was embarrassed.
MARCIANO: Well they should be. I mean these are the greatest basketball players in the world.
COSTELLO: Well only three of them, and then the rest are amateurs.
MARCIANO: Or in court.
COSTELLO: Oh gosh! This is Allen Iverson getting fouled. Another unattractive moment during the game.
MARCIANO: An off balance shot. One of many that missed.
COSTELLO: Get this, the Americans shot only 35 percent, finished 3 for 24 from 3-point range and had nearly as many turnovers, 22, as field goals, 26.
MARCIANO: On to more, an American...
COSTELLO: Well this is sad news, too.
MARCIANO: Why, he...
COSTELLO: Michael Phelps, he lost.
MARCIANO: When -- did I go to bed after he won?
COSTELLO: He was -- you went to bed. He won a gold medal initially. But he was on the relay team and they lost. And remember he replaced a really good guy on the relay team so that would enable him to beat Mark Spitz' record, eight medals, which he's not going to do now.
MARCIANO: That happened on the girls' relay team as well.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
MARCIANO: Somebody replaced somebody else.
COSTELLO: Jenny Harrison (ph), I think that was the swimmer's name that took part in the relay, lost when perhaps another swimmer should have been included in the relay.
MARCIANO: Even the Olympics are political.
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: And what do you know about this guy?
COSTELLO: The South African swimmers, they are the guys that won the relay.
MARCIANO: Is he not -- this is not the weightlifting competition?
COSTELLO: No, but he looks awfully good, don't they?
MARCIANO: And these Japanese swimmers are trying to perform.
COSTELLO: They win the 100-meter breaststroke, so they did well. So there you go.
And the Greek sprinters, we should tell you about that before you go, because they are pretty much out of it. Because, as you know, they missed a drug test because supposedly they got in some motorcycle accident or maybe they lost their way to the drug testing site. But the Olympic authorities really aren't buying that -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Well they are the host city, don't they get a little bit more leeway?
COSTELLO: No.
MARCIANO: No, they're putting the party on, they should be able to play.
COSTELLO: They think there might be a reason they just sort of like missed the drug testing thing, so.
MARCIANO: I forgot my homework at home.
COSTELLO: Yes, exactly. The dog ate it.
But we will have more Olympic action for you from Chris Cotter who will join us in the next hour with highlights from the 2004 Summer Games.
But first, residents along the Florida coast try to recover from Hurricane Charley. We'll have a live report in a few minutes. You stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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