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CNN Live At Daybreak
Israeli Reaction; Absentee Votes?; Battle for Samarra; Hot Political Topic; Vexed by Vioxx
Aired October 01, 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There was a right way to disarm him and a wrong way. And the president chose the wrong way.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Who won? We'll debate the debate.
It is Friday, October 1. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
"Now in the News."
The battle rages in Samarra where U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched a major offensive. So far, they have killed 94 Iraqi insurgents.
Are they tired of talking? No way. The debate is back on the campaign -- the debates are back on the campaign trail today, President Bush in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, Senator Kerry in Florida.
Car bomb exploded today in Beirut, wounding Lebanon's former economics minister and killing his bodyguard. Four other people were also wounded in the blast in western Beirut.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is hospitalized for what he calls a routine medical procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat. The condition is not considered serious, but it's the second time in a year Blair has been treated for it.
Hello -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Carol. October 1, it's starting to feel like fall in some spots, and that's our weather highlight this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you -- Rob.
MARCIANO: OK.
COSTELLO: Round one is over, did you watch? President Bush and Senator Kerry laid out their opinions and plans on international policy and homeland security in the first of three presidential debates. Naturally Iraq was topic No. 1. Here is one exchange on that subject.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: The president just talked about Iraq as a center of the war on terror. Iraq was not even close to the center of the war on terror before the president invaded it.
The president made the judgment to divert forces from under General Tommy Franks from Afghanistan before the Congress even approved it to begin to prepare to go to war in Iraq.
And he rushed the war in Iraq without a plan to win the peace. Now, that is not the judgment that a president of the United States ought to make. You don't take America to war unless have the plan to win the peace. You don't send troops to war without the body armor that they need.
BUSH: First of all, what my opponent wants you to forget is that he voted to authorize the use of force and now says it's the wrong war at the wrong time at the wrong place.
I don't see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place. What message does that send our troops? What message does that send to our allies? What message does that send the Iraqis?
No, the way to win this is to be steadfast and resolved and to follow through on the plan that I've just outlined.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: For the people of Israel, it's not what was said during the debate in Florida, but what wasn't said. There were many points of contention between the two U.S. presidential candidates, but the Israeli-Palestinian situation was not one of them.
CNN's Guy Raz is live in Jerusalem. And he's going to give us some reaction to the debates this morning.
Good morning.
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
And as you say, perhaps the most glaring omission in last night's debate was the absence of any discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. No mention of the road map for peace, no talk about how to bring about a peaceful resolution to this long-running conflict.
Now as far as most people in this region are concerned, both of these candidates share broadly similar views when it comes to the question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Carol, you'll remember that back in April, President Bush endorsed a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon whereby the United States would no longer demand that Israel withdrawal from territory occupied in 1967. Now Senator Kerry was very quick to endorse President Bush's position.
Now in this country, polls show that President Bush holds a slight lead over Senator Kerry. There are about 30,000 eligible voters who are residents in this country, many of them residents in key battleground states like Florida and Ohio. But, Carol, for the Palestinians, and in the wider Arab world, there is a deep sense of disillusionment, particularly because there is a sense that both of these candidates are heavily tilted, heavily biased, if you will, in favor of Israel.
And as far as many in the Arab world are concerned, come November 2, it won't really make much of a difference which candidate is elected as far as U.S. policy towards Israel is concerned -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Guy Raz reporting live from Jerusalem this morning. Thank you.
Stay close, ahead on CNN DAYBREAK, we'll get live reaction from around the world on last night's debate. We'll talk to Mike Chinoy in Hong Kong. Walter Rodgers is in London this morning.
As you know, many American soldiers are on the thick of a major election issue. They are fighting in Iraq.
CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf talked to several of those potential voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): There are few Americans with more at stake in these elections than American soldiers, but they are not rushing to send in those ballots. At this first infantry division camp near Mehdia (ph), Sergeant Major Steve Falconberg has launched a one-man voter registration drive. He's personally filled out and mailed registration forms for almost 200 soldiers, but he thinks that fewer than half of the 800 troops here might end up voting.
No doubt who is getting his vote.
SGT. MAJ. STEVE FALCONBERG, U.S. ARMY: George W. Bush, absolutely.
ARRAF (on camera): How come?
FALCONBERG: I believe he has put some pride into America that wasn't there before. ARRAF: Soldiers have fought and died for the right to vote. But at this base in the Sunni Triangle, the U.S. election seems to be about the last thing on most soldiers' minds.
(voice-over): This medic joined the Army after a cousin was killed in the World Trade Center attack. No matter who wins, he says U.S. troops will need to be in Iraq. He is not voting.
LAMARE WILLIAMS JR., U.S. ARMY: To me it's beyond voting.
ARRAF: But there are others who question why they are here. Like Tom who covered up his last name because he didn't want to get into trouble.
TOM, U.S. ARMY: It's kind of difficult because you don't know who the bad guy is. And some days you don't even know if you're the good guy. It's more just you're here to keep your guys alive.
ARRAF: He says he plans to vote for Kerry.
In what many believe is a traditionally Republican leaning military, a surprising number of soldiers we spoke with said they plan to give Kerry a chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want somebody to represent us and to know what we've been through, to help us do what we're going through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the other guys on the camp pretty much say the same thing, it's almost kind of choosing the lesser of two evils.
ARRAF: Like the question of whether they should have gone to war in Iraq. When it comes to this election, more than a few soldiers say there are no easy choices.
Jane Arraf, CNN, at Camp Normandy, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Interesting.
What are some key moments that will paint a particular candidate as the winner? Coming up in 10 minutes, we'll look at the spin factor of the debate. Can it affect the outcome of the election?
Which gets us to our e-mail "Question of the Morning," the debate: what did you think? Who do you think did a better job? We'll read some of your responses just ahead.
And in 15 minutes, a popular painkiller is pulled from the market. We'll tell you why users of Vioxx could be at risk.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: We've been telling you all morning long about the fighting in Iraq. In Samarra, just north of Baghdad, there have been deaths of insurgents there.
On the phone right now we have Dr. Sabbah Kadhin. He is the senior adviser to the Iraqi minister of interior.
Welcome to DAYBREAK -- Dr. Kadhin.
DR. SABBAH KADHIN, SR. ADVISER, MINISTRY OF INTERIOR: Hello -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Can you tell us the situation in Samarra this morning or this afternoon for you?
KADHIN: Well the situation is progressing very well, because at midnight last night, the Iraqi forces, that is the ministry of interior, police and also the national guard reported that the multinational forces led a major operation on the sipios (ph), Samarra in order to restore law and order after the, if you like, there was a request, quite a number of permanent and tribal leaders in the area who actually came to us and said please help us rid up the -- of these hostage takers. They took the place as a hostage, if you like.
COSTELLO: So there were hostage takers operating out of Samarra?
KADHIN: No, the whole town was hostage to the terrorists...
COSTELLO: I understand.
KADHIN: ... who entered the town and were terrorizing the town.
COSTELLO: I understand.
KADHIN: And therefore, and I had to report to as of now the majority of Samarra is now back in the hands of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi police.
COSTELLO: Sir, we understand that Iraqi forces were forced to break inside of a mosque. Can you tell us about that?
KADHIN: I don't have the details, but basically we have our forces are under instruction to use force only when it's necessary and to be careful with any sense of this place (ph), so I don't have that any information on that.
COSTELLO: Our Jane Arraf reported earlier that Iraqi forces did indeed break inside of a mosque in Samarra. Inside they found machine guns and other weaponry. And also she talked of insurgent deaths, some 94 people killed there.
KADHIN: Yes.
COSTELLO: How difficult is it for Iraqi forces to fight when mosques are being used as centers of battle? KADHIN: Well I feel the Iraqi forces do appreciate the fact that if places of worship are used to store weapons and also for insurgents to actually use weapons, well then I'm afraid we have to deal with them wherever they are, I mean in order to restore peace and security in the city.
So we -- you know it's not if you like -- different from, say, Najaf where you had a particularly, if you like, place. Well this one, you know, if you like, the terrorists use hospitals, they use mosques, they use ordinary people's homes. And this is why, unfortunate, their deaths will include some people who are innocent and which we deeply regret.
COSTELLO: Dr. Sabbah Kadhin, the senior adviser to the Minister of -- to the -- the senior adviser to the Minister of Interior in Iraq, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning, Dr. Kadhin.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:46 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.
Violence in northern Gaza has killed at least 34 Palestinians. The Israeli army says the fighting is an attempt to stop rocket attacks against Israel. Five Israelis have died in violence this week.
The House has decisively rejected a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. Democrats say the vote was pushed by conservatives only to get a record of lawmakers' positions on this volatile issue. The Senate has already rejected the measure.
In money news, trouble for Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored company that finances most of the nation's home mortgages. The Justice Department says it's conducting a criminal investigation now into Fannie Mae's accounting procedures.
In culture, SpongeBob meet Avril. Pop singer Avril Lavigne will lend her voice to the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song for the cartoon character's upcoming full-length feature. The movie also will feature songs by Motorhead and the Flaming Lips. That's cool.
In sports, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Adam Dunn broke a dubious record. Dunn struck out three more times to break Barry Bonds' all- time record for single season strikeouts. Bonds with 189 times in 1970. Dunn has 191. Unfortunately for Dunn, he doesn't have the home run record that Barry Bonds has -- Rob.
MARCIANO: You may not have the job that Barry Bonds has coming next year. He's no itchy row (ph), that's for sure.
Hey, here's the forecast weather map for this afternoon, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: I know, the leaves are changing in some places already.
Thank you -- Rob.
MARCIANO: OK.
COSTELLO: President Bush and Senator Kerry return to the campaign trail this morning. Each is no doubt hoping last night's first debate on international relations and homeland security put them in a good light. We watched and found some testy moments between the two candidates. Here are a couple of examples.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: Jim, the president just said something extraordinarily revealing and frankly very important in this debate. In answer to your question about Iraq and sending people into Iraq, he just said, "The enemy attacked us."
Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. al Qaeda attacked us.
BUSH: First of all, of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that.
And secondly, to think that another round of resolutions would have caused Saddam Hussein to disarm, disclose, is ludicrous, in my judgment. It just shows a significant difference of opinion.
KERRY: when we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States. That's not a grand coalition. We can do better.
BUSH: Well, actually, he forgot Poland. And now there's 30 nations involved, standing side by side with our American troops.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The president heads to New Hampshire later today, but we're taking you there first. Let's check in now with Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier of the WOKQ Waking Crew in Portsmouth-Manchester.
Good morning.
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I can barely hear you. Say good morning to me again.
ERICSON: Good morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: That's much better.
DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: That's beyond sick. No, that was on purpose.
COSTELLO: Well tell me, did you guys watch the debate last night?
ERICSON: Well Danielle is recovering from a bit of a cold, so she's been getting the cliff notes version this morning. I did stay up late and watch the whole thing, because, and you almost feel bad, but, and it's like when you're looking at a car wreck, you want to avert your eyes, but you know you almost had to watch the whole thing. You were waiting for some sort of a gaffe, some sort of a big, huge error on somebody's part.
CARRIER: And it didn't happen?
ERICSON: It really didn't happen.
COSTELLO: No, it didn't. You know we've...
CARRIER: But isn't that the whole point?
ERICSON: You know and not that we would condone this sort of thing, Carol, but I know a lot of colleges around the country were upset because there was a drinking game yesterday based on use of the words Saddam and use of the word nuclear and...
COSTELLO: You know I heard that advertised on a radio station here in Atlanta, too.
CARRIER: That's funny.
ERICSON: Yes, I think the word Saddam was used almost 30 times.
CARRIER: Yes.
ERICSON: However,...
CARRIER: Iraq was used 97.
COSTELLO: Wait, we counted. I can't find my list, though. Brian (ph), I'm going to talk to my executive producer, how many times was Saddam used? Did you count the number of times? Twenty-nine times, to be exact.
CARRIER: Twenty-nine.
ERICSON: Twenty-nine times. However, the president stuck to the use of the term WMD or weapons of mass destruction, actually only said nuclear one time. And I kind of got the feeling that Senator Kerry was almost bating the president on that one.
COSTELLO: Oh my! I want to read you some of our viewer e-mails, because we've been soliciting e-mail from our viewers about who they think won the debate last night.
This is from Austin (ph). He says pundits have been trying to play it fair, but it's obvious that President Bush was uncomfortable and Senator Kerry would be a knowledgeable and decisive president. And the reason some people thought President Bush looked uncomfortable was because he kept blinking a lot. CARRIER: What is that whole blinking thing anyway? I have dry eye syndrome. I blink a million times a day.
ERICSON: I think the body language played into this. And I think that's why they tried at the outset to be so careful with all the rules that they had set up for this. And I'm not sure they followed all the rules. I'm not sure if anyone really did go through the how many pages it was.
COSTELLO: No, no, you know what was strange, you know they were only supposed to ask rhetorical questions. So they were talking about each other...
ERICSON: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... standing side by side but they didn't look at the other person. That was just weird.
CARRIER: Well that had to be comfortable.
ERICSON: It was a little on the strange side. You know what else I did notice, and if you catch any of the video, they both had felt tip pens. Because when one person was speaking, you could hear the note taking at the other lectern feverishly being done with the squeak of the little magic markers they had.
CARRIER: You know why are they taking notes? Why don't they just watch the video afterwards?
COSTELLO: I don't know.
Thanks, Mark and Danielle, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
I want to read just a couple of more e-mails before we go to the break.
This is from Tamma (ph). She has to say I have to say that Bush stuck to his important messages and got his points across. Kerry stuck to his game plan of switching his opinions, especially in regards as to whether or not we should or should not have gone after Saddam. That's from Tamara (ph) in Los Angeles, sorry for mispronouncing your name the first time.
This is from John (ph). He says as an Independent I have to say that John Kerry may have won my vote tonight. I have always been skeptical about his character in the past, but his voice and responses during the debate has shown me that he can be strong and decisive.
And this from Rev (ph) from Georgia. He says I have seen more intelligent debates between my two sons. Bush seemed to have a new childish facial animation at times, appearing to have been a chastised teen. That's rough.
We're going to get to the numbers in Gallup on the next hour of DAYBREAK to see what a national poll has to say about who Americans think won the debate.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The arthritis drug Vioxx has been recalled because of fears over side effects. And while the company that makes Vioxx expects to lose billions, what happens to the patients and the doctors who depend on the drug?
CNN's Ed Lavandera has some answers for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. ALAN BROOSKY, RHEUMATOLOGIST: I'm going to look at your knee here for just a moment. Can we?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This past Monday, Rosemarie Ewton came to her doctor with a swollen arthritic knee.
ROSEMARIE EWTON, PATIENT: I could not walk when I came in here. And then after we did the aspiration of the fluid and then I took the medication for a 24-hour period, then I could walk and do anything. It was amazing.
LAVANDERA: That amazing medicine was Vioxx. But now Ewton is back at the doctor's office. The threat of heart attacks and strokes has her looking for an alternative pain medication.
BROOSKY: We've got to find a new medicine.
EWTON: Well I'm willing to do whatever, you know.
BROOSKY: It's a medicine that's very effective for a lot of patients with very few side effects. We had virtually no side effects whatsoever in terms of cardiovascular events happening.
LAVANDERA: When news spread that Vioxx was being withdrawn from the market, phone calls poured into doctor's offices around the country. Patients looking for answers on what to do next.
DR. JOHN WILLIS, ARTHRITIS CENTER OF TEXAS: So the patients want to know, well I tried several of these, what do I do now? You know what do I go to? I thought this was the best one. And so you have to sort of rummage around and figure out, well, what do we do? What's the best thing for this patient?
LAVANDERA: It's not just patients looking for new pain relief treatment. Dr. Alan LaMonte (ph) had prescribed the medicine and been taking Vioxx himself for two years.
DR. ALAN LAMONTE: I will be quitting cold turkey, yes.
LAVANDERA: He says while some Vioxx patients will struggle to find another medicine that works, most will be fine. LAMONTE: Everybody has a number of options available to them, so the loss of this drug isn't going to mean that people are going to be going without -- with unmet pain needs or without good alternatives.
LAVANDERA: Many patients considered Vioxx a miracle pain reliever, but now many are left frustrated and thinking Vioxx was just too good to be true.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 1, 2004 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There was a right way to disarm him and a wrong way. And the president chose the wrong way.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Who won? We'll debate the debate.
It is Friday, October 1. This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
"Now in the News."
The battle rages in Samarra where U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched a major offensive. So far, they have killed 94 Iraqi insurgents.
Are they tired of talking? No way. The debate is back on the campaign -- the debates are back on the campaign trail today, President Bush in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, Senator Kerry in Florida.
Car bomb exploded today in Beirut, wounding Lebanon's former economics minister and killing his bodyguard. Four other people were also wounded in the blast in western Beirut.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is hospitalized for what he calls a routine medical procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat. The condition is not considered serious, but it's the second time in a year Blair has been treated for it.
Hello -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Carol. October 1, it's starting to feel like fall in some spots, and that's our weather highlight this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you -- Rob.
MARCIANO: OK.
COSTELLO: Round one is over, did you watch? President Bush and Senator Kerry laid out their opinions and plans on international policy and homeland security in the first of three presidential debates. Naturally Iraq was topic No. 1. Here is one exchange on that subject.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: The president just talked about Iraq as a center of the war on terror. Iraq was not even close to the center of the war on terror before the president invaded it.
The president made the judgment to divert forces from under General Tommy Franks from Afghanistan before the Congress even approved it to begin to prepare to go to war in Iraq.
And he rushed the war in Iraq without a plan to win the peace. Now, that is not the judgment that a president of the United States ought to make. You don't take America to war unless have the plan to win the peace. You don't send troops to war without the body armor that they need.
BUSH: First of all, what my opponent wants you to forget is that he voted to authorize the use of force and now says it's the wrong war at the wrong time at the wrong place.
I don't see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place. What message does that send our troops? What message does that send to our allies? What message does that send the Iraqis?
No, the way to win this is to be steadfast and resolved and to follow through on the plan that I've just outlined.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: For the people of Israel, it's not what was said during the debate in Florida, but what wasn't said. There were many points of contention between the two U.S. presidential candidates, but the Israeli-Palestinian situation was not one of them.
CNN's Guy Raz is live in Jerusalem. And he's going to give us some reaction to the debates this morning.
Good morning.
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
And as you say, perhaps the most glaring omission in last night's debate was the absence of any discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. No mention of the road map for peace, no talk about how to bring about a peaceful resolution to this long-running conflict.
Now as far as most people in this region are concerned, both of these candidates share broadly similar views when it comes to the question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Carol, you'll remember that back in April, President Bush endorsed a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon whereby the United States would no longer demand that Israel withdrawal from territory occupied in 1967. Now Senator Kerry was very quick to endorse President Bush's position.
Now in this country, polls show that President Bush holds a slight lead over Senator Kerry. There are about 30,000 eligible voters who are residents in this country, many of them residents in key battleground states like Florida and Ohio. But, Carol, for the Palestinians, and in the wider Arab world, there is a deep sense of disillusionment, particularly because there is a sense that both of these candidates are heavily tilted, heavily biased, if you will, in favor of Israel.
And as far as many in the Arab world are concerned, come November 2, it won't really make much of a difference which candidate is elected as far as U.S. policy towards Israel is concerned -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Guy Raz reporting live from Jerusalem this morning. Thank you.
Stay close, ahead on CNN DAYBREAK, we'll get live reaction from around the world on last night's debate. We'll talk to Mike Chinoy in Hong Kong. Walter Rodgers is in London this morning.
As you know, many American soldiers are on the thick of a major election issue. They are fighting in Iraq.
CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf talked to several of those potential voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): There are few Americans with more at stake in these elections than American soldiers, but they are not rushing to send in those ballots. At this first infantry division camp near Mehdia (ph), Sergeant Major Steve Falconberg has launched a one-man voter registration drive. He's personally filled out and mailed registration forms for almost 200 soldiers, but he thinks that fewer than half of the 800 troops here might end up voting.
No doubt who is getting his vote.
SGT. MAJ. STEVE FALCONBERG, U.S. ARMY: George W. Bush, absolutely.
ARRAF (on camera): How come?
FALCONBERG: I believe he has put some pride into America that wasn't there before. ARRAF: Soldiers have fought and died for the right to vote. But at this base in the Sunni Triangle, the U.S. election seems to be about the last thing on most soldiers' minds.
(voice-over): This medic joined the Army after a cousin was killed in the World Trade Center attack. No matter who wins, he says U.S. troops will need to be in Iraq. He is not voting.
LAMARE WILLIAMS JR., U.S. ARMY: To me it's beyond voting.
ARRAF: But there are others who question why they are here. Like Tom who covered up his last name because he didn't want to get into trouble.
TOM, U.S. ARMY: It's kind of difficult because you don't know who the bad guy is. And some days you don't even know if you're the good guy. It's more just you're here to keep your guys alive.
ARRAF: He says he plans to vote for Kerry.
In what many believe is a traditionally Republican leaning military, a surprising number of soldiers we spoke with said they plan to give Kerry a chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want somebody to represent us and to know what we've been through, to help us do what we're going through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the other guys on the camp pretty much say the same thing, it's almost kind of choosing the lesser of two evils.
ARRAF: Like the question of whether they should have gone to war in Iraq. When it comes to this election, more than a few soldiers say there are no easy choices.
Jane Arraf, CNN, at Camp Normandy, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Interesting.
What are some key moments that will paint a particular candidate as the winner? Coming up in 10 minutes, we'll look at the spin factor of the debate. Can it affect the outcome of the election?
Which gets us to our e-mail "Question of the Morning," the debate: what did you think? Who do you think did a better job? We'll read some of your responses just ahead.
And in 15 minutes, a popular painkiller is pulled from the market. We'll tell you why users of Vioxx could be at risk.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: We've been telling you all morning long about the fighting in Iraq. In Samarra, just north of Baghdad, there have been deaths of insurgents there.
On the phone right now we have Dr. Sabbah Kadhin. He is the senior adviser to the Iraqi minister of interior.
Welcome to DAYBREAK -- Dr. Kadhin.
DR. SABBAH KADHIN, SR. ADVISER, MINISTRY OF INTERIOR: Hello -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Can you tell us the situation in Samarra this morning or this afternoon for you?
KADHIN: Well the situation is progressing very well, because at midnight last night, the Iraqi forces, that is the ministry of interior, police and also the national guard reported that the multinational forces led a major operation on the sipios (ph), Samarra in order to restore law and order after the, if you like, there was a request, quite a number of permanent and tribal leaders in the area who actually came to us and said please help us rid up the -- of these hostage takers. They took the place as a hostage, if you like.
COSTELLO: So there were hostage takers operating out of Samarra?
KADHIN: No, the whole town was hostage to the terrorists...
COSTELLO: I understand.
KADHIN: ... who entered the town and were terrorizing the town.
COSTELLO: I understand.
KADHIN: And therefore, and I had to report to as of now the majority of Samarra is now back in the hands of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi police.
COSTELLO: Sir, we understand that Iraqi forces were forced to break inside of a mosque. Can you tell us about that?
KADHIN: I don't have the details, but basically we have our forces are under instruction to use force only when it's necessary and to be careful with any sense of this place (ph), so I don't have that any information on that.
COSTELLO: Our Jane Arraf reported earlier that Iraqi forces did indeed break inside of a mosque in Samarra. Inside they found machine guns and other weaponry. And also she talked of insurgent deaths, some 94 people killed there.
KADHIN: Yes.
COSTELLO: How difficult is it for Iraqi forces to fight when mosques are being used as centers of battle? KADHIN: Well I feel the Iraqi forces do appreciate the fact that if places of worship are used to store weapons and also for insurgents to actually use weapons, well then I'm afraid we have to deal with them wherever they are, I mean in order to restore peace and security in the city.
So we -- you know it's not if you like -- different from, say, Najaf where you had a particularly, if you like, place. Well this one, you know, if you like, the terrorists use hospitals, they use mosques, they use ordinary people's homes. And this is why, unfortunate, their deaths will include some people who are innocent and which we deeply regret.
COSTELLO: Dr. Sabbah Kadhin, the senior adviser to the Minister of -- to the -- the senior adviser to the Minister of Interior in Iraq, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning, Dr. Kadhin.
Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:46 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.
Violence in northern Gaza has killed at least 34 Palestinians. The Israeli army says the fighting is an attempt to stop rocket attacks against Israel. Five Israelis have died in violence this week.
The House has decisively rejected a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. Democrats say the vote was pushed by conservatives only to get a record of lawmakers' positions on this volatile issue. The Senate has already rejected the measure.
In money news, trouble for Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored company that finances most of the nation's home mortgages. The Justice Department says it's conducting a criminal investigation now into Fannie Mae's accounting procedures.
In culture, SpongeBob meet Avril. Pop singer Avril Lavigne will lend her voice to the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song for the cartoon character's upcoming full-length feature. The movie also will feature songs by Motorhead and the Flaming Lips. That's cool.
In sports, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Adam Dunn broke a dubious record. Dunn struck out three more times to break Barry Bonds' all- time record for single season strikeouts. Bonds with 189 times in 1970. Dunn has 191. Unfortunately for Dunn, he doesn't have the home run record that Barry Bonds has -- Rob.
MARCIANO: You may not have the job that Barry Bonds has coming next year. He's no itchy row (ph), that's for sure.
Hey, here's the forecast weather map for this afternoon, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: I know, the leaves are changing in some places already.
Thank you -- Rob.
MARCIANO: OK.
COSTELLO: President Bush and Senator Kerry return to the campaign trail this morning. Each is no doubt hoping last night's first debate on international relations and homeland security put them in a good light. We watched and found some testy moments between the two candidates. Here are a couple of examples.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: Jim, the president just said something extraordinarily revealing and frankly very important in this debate. In answer to your question about Iraq and sending people into Iraq, he just said, "The enemy attacked us."
Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. al Qaeda attacked us.
BUSH: First of all, of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that.
And secondly, to think that another round of resolutions would have caused Saddam Hussein to disarm, disclose, is ludicrous, in my judgment. It just shows a significant difference of opinion.
KERRY: when we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States. That's not a grand coalition. We can do better.
BUSH: Well, actually, he forgot Poland. And now there's 30 nations involved, standing side by side with our American troops.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The president heads to New Hampshire later today, but we're taking you there first. Let's check in now with Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier of the WOKQ Waking Crew in Portsmouth-Manchester.
Good morning.
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I can barely hear you. Say good morning to me again.
ERICSON: Good morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: That's much better.
DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: That's beyond sick. No, that was on purpose.
COSTELLO: Well tell me, did you guys watch the debate last night?
ERICSON: Well Danielle is recovering from a bit of a cold, so she's been getting the cliff notes version this morning. I did stay up late and watch the whole thing, because, and you almost feel bad, but, and it's like when you're looking at a car wreck, you want to avert your eyes, but you know you almost had to watch the whole thing. You were waiting for some sort of a gaffe, some sort of a big, huge error on somebody's part.
CARRIER: And it didn't happen?
ERICSON: It really didn't happen.
COSTELLO: No, it didn't. You know we've...
CARRIER: But isn't that the whole point?
ERICSON: You know and not that we would condone this sort of thing, Carol, but I know a lot of colleges around the country were upset because there was a drinking game yesterday based on use of the words Saddam and use of the word nuclear and...
COSTELLO: You know I heard that advertised on a radio station here in Atlanta, too.
CARRIER: That's funny.
ERICSON: Yes, I think the word Saddam was used almost 30 times.
CARRIER: Yes.
ERICSON: However,...
CARRIER: Iraq was used 97.
COSTELLO: Wait, we counted. I can't find my list, though. Brian (ph), I'm going to talk to my executive producer, how many times was Saddam used? Did you count the number of times? Twenty-nine times, to be exact.
CARRIER: Twenty-nine.
ERICSON: Twenty-nine times. However, the president stuck to the use of the term WMD or weapons of mass destruction, actually only said nuclear one time. And I kind of got the feeling that Senator Kerry was almost bating the president on that one.
COSTELLO: Oh my! I want to read you some of our viewer e-mails, because we've been soliciting e-mail from our viewers about who they think won the debate last night.
This is from Austin (ph). He says pundits have been trying to play it fair, but it's obvious that President Bush was uncomfortable and Senator Kerry would be a knowledgeable and decisive president. And the reason some people thought President Bush looked uncomfortable was because he kept blinking a lot. CARRIER: What is that whole blinking thing anyway? I have dry eye syndrome. I blink a million times a day.
ERICSON: I think the body language played into this. And I think that's why they tried at the outset to be so careful with all the rules that they had set up for this. And I'm not sure they followed all the rules. I'm not sure if anyone really did go through the how many pages it was.
COSTELLO: No, no, you know what was strange, you know they were only supposed to ask rhetorical questions. So they were talking about each other...
ERICSON: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... standing side by side but they didn't look at the other person. That was just weird.
CARRIER: Well that had to be comfortable.
ERICSON: It was a little on the strange side. You know what else I did notice, and if you catch any of the video, they both had felt tip pens. Because when one person was speaking, you could hear the note taking at the other lectern feverishly being done with the squeak of the little magic markers they had.
CARRIER: You know why are they taking notes? Why don't they just watch the video afterwards?
COSTELLO: I don't know.
Thanks, Mark and Danielle, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
I want to read just a couple of more e-mails before we go to the break.
This is from Tamma (ph). She has to say I have to say that Bush stuck to his important messages and got his points across. Kerry stuck to his game plan of switching his opinions, especially in regards as to whether or not we should or should not have gone after Saddam. That's from Tamara (ph) in Los Angeles, sorry for mispronouncing your name the first time.
This is from John (ph). He says as an Independent I have to say that John Kerry may have won my vote tonight. I have always been skeptical about his character in the past, but his voice and responses during the debate has shown me that he can be strong and decisive.
And this from Rev (ph) from Georgia. He says I have seen more intelligent debates between my two sons. Bush seemed to have a new childish facial animation at times, appearing to have been a chastised teen. That's rough.
We're going to get to the numbers in Gallup on the next hour of DAYBREAK to see what a national poll has to say about who Americans think won the debate.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The arthritis drug Vioxx has been recalled because of fears over side effects. And while the company that makes Vioxx expects to lose billions, what happens to the patients and the doctors who depend on the drug?
CNN's Ed Lavandera has some answers for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. ALAN BROOSKY, RHEUMATOLOGIST: I'm going to look at your knee here for just a moment. Can we?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This past Monday, Rosemarie Ewton came to her doctor with a swollen arthritic knee.
ROSEMARIE EWTON, PATIENT: I could not walk when I came in here. And then after we did the aspiration of the fluid and then I took the medication for a 24-hour period, then I could walk and do anything. It was amazing.
LAVANDERA: That amazing medicine was Vioxx. But now Ewton is back at the doctor's office. The threat of heart attacks and strokes has her looking for an alternative pain medication.
BROOSKY: We've got to find a new medicine.
EWTON: Well I'm willing to do whatever, you know.
BROOSKY: It's a medicine that's very effective for a lot of patients with very few side effects. We had virtually no side effects whatsoever in terms of cardiovascular events happening.
LAVANDERA: When news spread that Vioxx was being withdrawn from the market, phone calls poured into doctor's offices around the country. Patients looking for answers on what to do next.
DR. JOHN WILLIS, ARTHRITIS CENTER OF TEXAS: So the patients want to know, well I tried several of these, what do I do now? You know what do I go to? I thought this was the best one. And so you have to sort of rummage around and figure out, well, what do we do? What's the best thing for this patient?
LAVANDERA: It's not just patients looking for new pain relief treatment. Dr. Alan LaMonte (ph) had prescribed the medicine and been taking Vioxx himself for two years.
DR. ALAN LAMONTE: I will be quitting cold turkey, yes.
LAVANDERA: He says while some Vioxx patients will struggle to find another medicine that works, most will be fine. LAMONTE: Everybody has a number of options available to them, so the loss of this drug isn't going to mean that people are going to be going without -- with unmet pain needs or without good alternatives.
LAVANDERA: Many patients considered Vioxx a miracle pain reliever, but now many are left frustrated and thinking Vioxx was just too good to be true.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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