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CNN Live At Daybreak

Rumsfeld in Iraq; North Korea's Nukes; Round of Busch

Aired February 11, 2005 - 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: Time for our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener" right now, if you need one more. Here it is.
Pizza (ph) Townsend, they won a contest to have Dunkin Donuts host their wedding. The nuptials come complete with doughnuts, coffee and the company's signature orange and pink color scheme. The event was planned by the same guy that did the Michael Douglas-Catherine Zeta-Jones affair, if you can believe that.

Do you know what this is, it's a baby Okapi, and it's also the newest resident of the Cincinnati Zoo. Here are some fun facts about the Okapi. It was the last large mammal to be discovered and is the only one that can clean its ears with its tongue. Now you know.

In Columbia, South Carolina, dozens of birds have died from flying drunk. We kid you not. The Cedar Waxwings ate too many holly berries and became disoriented. Some fell out of the trees, while others slammed into the windows of an office building.

Here's what's all new in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK.

Pope John Paul II back at the Vatican this morning, but is his condition really improving? We'll get you an update.

Plus, a champion looks for his first cup repeat. We'll race that right ahead to you.

And a reminder, our e-mail "Question of the Morning," who should be allowed to have White House press credentials, anyone? DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning to you, welcome to the second half- hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

"Now in the News."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is making a surprise visit to American-trained Iraqi security forces in Iraq. Rumsfeld says those Iraqi troops will soon be responsible for defeating the insurgents, but he didn't say how soon. The Defense Secretary arrived before dawn at an airfield outside the city of Mosul. An Oregon man, Gerald Krien, is accused of using an Internet chat room to coordinate a mass suicide pact. Now a search is on across the United States and Canada for 32 people who may have agreed to commit suicide on Monday, Valentine's Day.

Forty people confirmed dead, more than 400 missing, after a dam bursts in southwestern Pakistan. Federal troops are at the scene of the flood and have rescued 1,200 people so far.

And the Senate has passed and sent to the House a bill to funnel class action lawsuits out of state courts and into federal courts. Consumer groups say federal judges often dismiss class action suits on procedural grounds.

To the Forecast Center.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: We will take your advice. Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Let's get more now on Donald Rumsfeld's unannounced trip to Mosul and Baghdad. We're just getting new pictures of his trip in.

Our Nic Robertson is covering the secretary's visit from Baghdad. He joins us now to show us the pictures and tell us about this visit.

Good morning -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well it was a visit shrouded in secrecy. The very fact that the secretary of defense landed before dawn, an indication of how serious the military takes the possibility that the secretary of defense's aircraft could be fired at. But the meeting is going well, apparently, in Mosul, meeting with troops, congratulating them on their work. His spokesman said that he had come here to recognize the success of the elections. And the troops in Mosul took part in helping make sure the security, the elections passed off.

But what those troops are doing now is focusing on providing training for Iraqi security forces, and that is what Donald Rumsfeld was doing there, as well reviewing the training that's going ahead, talking with Iraqi commanders. And this is well just after the secretary of defense has come from a meeting in Europe with NATO defense ministers to look at how NATO can help in Iraq and in Afghanistan, principally with the training of Iraqi security forces. So really that the focus.

The troops in Mosul now really gearing up to help train the Iraqi security forces who are beginning to take over the security there, Baghdad, other places.

Just inside the last hour, Donald Rumsfeld flew down to Baghdad. The flight would have lasted well over an hour, so he would have gotten a good opportunity to look at the rest of the country as he flew down. His aircraft was seen from this location heading towards the Green Zone. It's not clear if that's exactly where he is at this time. But again, those meetings likely with Iraqi officials and of course U.S. officials there, too -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson, live from Baghdad this morning, thank you.

North Korea dropped a diplomatic bombshell, so to speak, when it said publicly for the first time that it does indeed have nuclear weapons. South Korea and China are joining other nations in urging the North not to drop out of six nation talks designed to end Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Nuclear nonproliferation expert Gary Samore joins us now to discuss these developments.

Good morning to you.

GARY SAMORE, INTL. INST. FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: Good morning.

COSTELLO: First off, how concerned should we be?

SAMORE: Well I think people have believed that North Korea has had a small nuclear capability for many years. So from that standpoint, this is not really a very surprising development.

COSTELLO: You know...

SAMORE: And I also -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

COSTELLO: Go ahead. Go ahead, finish your thought.

SAMORE: Well I was going to say I also think it's becoming increasingly clear that diplomatic efforts are very unlikely to result in North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons, although I think it could probably agree to limit its capabilities.

COSTELLO: I was just going to ask you that. These six nations talks have been going on for a while, they haven't seemed to work, so will diplomacy really work even if North Korea decides to go back to the table?

SAMORE: In my judgement, no, I don't think it's possible to disarm North Korea through diplomacy. The best you can do through diplomacy is to limit the size of their capabilities.

COSTELLO: The United States has always wanted China to fix this problem. China has been unable to do that. Why?

SAMORE: I don't think China shares our interests in nuclear proliferation. They, of course, would prefer that North Korea not have nuclear weapons. But on balance, they are much more concerned that a confrontation over North Korea's nuclear weapons program could result in instability or even conflict on the peninsula.

So the Chinese have much more tolerance than the U.S. does for North Korea possessing a small nuclear capability, provided that the North Koreans don't flaunt it. And I am sure there are people in China right now who are a bit unhappy with the North Koreans for being so open about their possession of nuclear weapons.

COSTELLO: I want to read you a quote from the Korean Central News Agency. It says "if the United States wants a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue, it should immediately withdraw its hostile policy." And there's this idea out there that the United States is going to attack North Korea, at least from North Korea's standpoint. Why does North Korea think this?

SAMORE: Well North Korea sees itself as a very weak and vulnerable country that's surrounded by much more powerful countries, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and so forth. And it believes that it needs a nuclear deterrent in order to keep everybody off their back. And I think they have felt that way for many years. It's now just becoming more and more apparent.

After the collapse of the 1994 agreed framework a few years ago, the North Koreans have increased their nuclear weapons capability. And it's just becoming more and more clear that they're going to continue to do that, unless there is some diplomatic effort to cap or to freeze how many nuclear weapons they have.

COSTELLO: OK, so the diplomatic effort the North Koreans have always wanted, it wants to deal directly with the United States. So my last question to you is will that happen now?

SAMORE: Well I think the United States will continue to work through the six party talks, which also provides an opportunity for bilateral discussions to take place. But, as I said, I don't think it really matters whether the talks are bilateral between the U.S. and North Korea or 6 party or 4 party or 10 party, I just don't think North Korea is prepared to give up its nuclear weapons. They're willing to agree to a long-term plan for disarmament, but one in which they would control the pace of disarmament so they can be sure of keeping their nuclear hedge for the time being.

COSTELLO: Gary Samore, nuclear nonproliferation expert, joining DAYBREAK this morning. Thank you so much.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, young NASCAR driver Kurt Busch talks about this upcoming season with Chad.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld makes an unannounced visit to Iraq. We're getting in new pictures to CNN every minute. He's meeting with U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials in Baghdad. Before that, he visited American troops in Mosul, that's where these pictures are from, telling them it's their job to help Iraqi forces defeat the insurgency.

NATO says it will expand its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. The alliance says some 900 troops will be sent to the western parts of that country. That will lessen the burden a bit for U.S. forces.

In money news, Sara Lee is stripping off the clothes and sticking with food. The company says it plans to spin-off its apparel business, which includes Hanes underwear, into a separate company. Sara Lee says the restructuring accounts for about 40 percent of its annual revenue.

In culture, check this out, sunglasses and music all in one. They're Oakley's Thump MP3 sunglasses. And you don't even have to worry about wires. The selling price starts at $395.

In sports, the NFL has extended its television blackout deadline for Sunday's Pro Bowl in Hawaii until this afternoon. All NFL games must be sold out 72 hours prior to kickoff for the game to be televised within 75 miles of its stadium -- Chad.

MYERS: Well that would only be Hawaii then, probably, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to California.

Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: Chad, did you happen to hear Jason Giambi's press conference?

MYERS: No, I didn't. What was it about? His apology?

COSTELLO: Yes, well,...

MYERS: Well nobody told me about this. I'm sorry.

COSTELLO: It's OK. You're just...

MYERS: I'm not in New York.

COSTELLO: No, but I mean don't you watch ESPN, for God sake's, Chad. No.

MYERS: Sorry, no. COSTELLO: You were watching the Puppy Bowl (ph), I forgot.

MYERS: I actually watched a movie yesterday.

COSTELLO: You did?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: I'm sure it was at home.

MYERS: It was. Go ahead.

COSTELLO: Jason Giambi.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: He says he's sorry. It's the New York Yankee first baseman's first public comments as it was revealed he admitted to taking steroids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON GIAMBI, YANKEES FIRST BASEMAN: I know there's been a lot of distractions, you know, over the past year, and I wanted to apologize for all those, you know, distractions, from the bottom of my heart. You know I take full responsibility for it. And I'm sorry. And you know most of all I feel like I let down the fans. I feel like I let down the media. I feel I let down, you know, the Yankees. I feel I let down my teammates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And you know what he says, Chad, affects, you know, all of baseball, because during his grand jury testimony, he talked a lot about steroid use in other players as well. During this news conference, though, he never actually mentioned steroids. He did say there were things he could not talk about due to legal reasons, and this is all involved in, you know, BALCO. So we're going to hear a lot more about this in the days and months to come.

MYERS: You know all those records that were set in the past three to five years, I mean are you going to put a little star by them in the record books now and say steroid enhanced maybe?

COSTELLO: Exactly. Exactly. You just don't know what's going to happen.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: So of course we'll all be paying attention to that.

We'll also be paying attention to NASCAR. I understand, Chad, that you talked with Nextel Cup Champ Kurt Busch and you're going to share with us that interview after a break. You won't want to miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's time for Kurt Busch now.

MYERS: Thirty-eight hours, 20 minutes and 15 seconds, Carol, and we will have racing, the Bud shootout tomorrow night.

COSTELLO: You are so awesome.

Chad interviewed Kurt Busch, and I can't wait to hear what he had to say.

COSTELLO: Actually, he starts sixth here coming up tomorrow night. I asked him actually what were some of the pressures of being NASCAR champion?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KURT BUSCH, 2004 NEXTEL CUP WINNER: You get spoiled by NASCAR. They take you in so many different places. I got the chance to go meet the president. All these different places that we go, it's now a responsible feeling that you have being a champion. And of course with the pride and the humility and dignity that the past champions have done it with, there is quite a bit of pressure that's added to it.

MYERS: So now you and Jimmy Spencer are best friends?

BUSCH: Yes, we've definitely got our sides taken care of now.

MYERS: Tell me a little bit about, I know you've done a lot of testing already, the new tire package and the new spoiler, do you like it, do you not like it?

BUSCH: It's a unique balance so far. We've just been to three different tracks to do some testing. And we'll know more once we get involved into the race. It's almost a learn as you go for the teams with the way the new tires are reacting. It's very slick and it drops off, as far as lap time, very quickly. So it's going to be a handful once you get towards the end of a fuel run.

MYERS: So at this point in time, you haven't done a lot of those tracks? Has anybody done the small short tracks with the new tires?

BUSCH: No, no, we're actually going to go to Bristol in a couple of weeks.

MYERS: OK.

BUSCH: It's just tough to get so much testing in during the wintertime because...

MYERS: Yes.

BUSCH: ... the tracks are so cold. And so we have to wait for the weather to warm up just a little bit.

MYERS: Tell me a little bit about your new sponsor, Crown Royal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pacing is everything, especially when drinking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUSCH: It's a great sponsor being able to create a message for the fans and NASCAR about drinking responsibly. Being the champion last year, it's very easy for us to stick to our program with Be a Champion and Drink Responsible. And it's a unique opportunity in NASCAR. I mean with the marketing and the power that NASCAR has, this is a perfect opportunity for us to jump on the whole bandwagon.

MYERS: So in a rain delay now you're going to wrap your car in a big fuzzy purple bag, right?

BUSCH: It's going to be under the purple car cover with the gold talons. You got it.

MYERS: Tell me a little bit about what you're expecting this year. Obviously the point change system really worked for you as you took off those last 10 races. Hey, by the way, did you thank Jeff Gordon, because he would have been the champion had the point change not changed?

BUSCH: Yes, I don't think they need to change a thing. It worked out pretty good for us. And it's a matter of being able to pace yourself, and that's another tagline that Crown Royal is using is being able to pace yourself when drinking. And of course that's what we had to do during the chase last year, making sure that we didn't get ahead of ourselves and pace ourselves through the last 10 races. We ended up being the champions.

MYERS: Tell me a little bit about Jack Roush, would you? We see him at all the races, the cat in the hat. He looks happy. Sometimes he doesn't look happy. How is he to work for?

BUSCH: He's a great guy. He'll definitely tell you when you do something wrong. But if you continue to learn and show him that you really care about his equipment, and of course getting the car to Victory Lane is the ultimate goal, and being able to handle the different sponsorship sides of it, Jack Roush understands that and he knows that's what it takes to pay the bills. And so he's a great owner to work for, and I can't wait to win some more races for him.

MYERS: And I don't know whether he opens the books to you, and maybe you don't even want to tell me, but what does it cost to campaign a Nextel Cup car nowadays?

BUSCH: It's amazing the amount of support you have to have to compete competitively with building the race cars, to have the right equipment and of course the right people to put it all into place, because I couldn't do it without my crew chief Jimmy Fennig. It takes over $10 million a season, and it's right underneath $20 million. It's just out of control the way that the teams spend the money, but NASCAR does help us with trying to limit some of those expenditures and try to keep it to where it doesn't just balloon out of control.

MYERS: Now Roush Racing, obviously their main shop in Livonia, Michigan. I used to live very close to there. Is that machine shop making all of your race cars now, obviously, because there's the southern section of all that auto building as well, your NASCAR racing shop down there in North Carolina?

BUSCH: This is where they assemble all of the parts here in Charlotte, North Carolina, but they do make quite a bit of the specialty pieces up in Livonia, Michigan. Jack still has over 2,000 employees in that area working with Ford and of course working on some of the behind-the-scenes projects. So they do a great job up there for us.

MYERS: Kurt, thank you for joining us today. Have a very safe season.

BUSCH: You got it. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: Carol, $10 million to run a car, and he said it's pushing $20 million.

COSTELLO: That's just insane. You know the...

MYERS: Per car.

COSTELLO: Per car, right. The Daytona 500 of course is this coming or next Sunday, actually.

MYERS: Next, right.

COSTELLO: The purse is $17 million. That's the biggest purse in history, $17 million.

MYERS: Right, not for the winner, that's split up among all the 43 cars.

COSTELLO: Right, the winner gets a little over $1 million, and the driver ends up with about 30 percent of that. That's what I was told.

MYERS: Wow.

COSTELLO: But you can understand why the purses are so large, because it takes so much money to even get a car to run competitively, as we heard Kurt Busch say.

MYERS: Well the sponsors pay most of that, to be really honest. This all works because people watch TV. People go to the races. They want to see Tide. They see the cars, then they buy the product. Very, very few other things actually go product to product like NASCAR fans do. If they see a Bud car, they go buy Bud. If they see a Tide car, they go buy Tide. And the sponsors know that and they pay for that.

COSTELLO: Yes, they do. And it's probably worth every penny to them.

MYERS: Up to them.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

You are watching DAYBREAK for a Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Let's get right to our e-mail "Question of the Morning," Chad, shall we? It comes after this story of a conservative writer for an online news service. He resigned amid questions about his identity and background. His name was Jeff Gannon. We wanted to know what you thought this morning, who should have credentials to get into the White House press briefings?

Take it away.

MYERS: Tom (ph) in West Virginia says the press there never seems to ask the hard questions anyway, why not let Karl Rove say who should and who should not ask the questions?

COSTELLO: Wow.

This is from Jay Wilson (ph) from Montana. Although I have no idea where one would draw the line as to which journalists should have access to the White House, I do have a question, should only the big guys in the mainstream media have that exclusive privilege? I don't think so.

MYERS: That's freedom of the press, right.

And reporters at CNN, Tom (ph), obviously get credentials and get to cover the White House, other dot-com news sites should, too.

COSTELLO: This is from Joyce (ph). She says do we have to draw you a picture, Jeff Gannon was not covering the Bush administration, he was part of the Bush administration, a covert, dishonest and very nasty part.

MYERS: That's it.

COSTELLO: Thank you for your e-mails this morning. We're running a little long, we apologize. Hopefully we'll get to read more in the next hour of DAYBREAK, which starts right now.

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 February 11, 2005 - 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: Time for our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener" right now, if you need one more. Here it is.
Pizza (ph) Townsend, they won a contest to have Dunkin Donuts host their wedding. The nuptials come complete with doughnuts, coffee and the company's signature orange and pink color scheme. The event was planned by the same guy that did the Michael Douglas-Catherine Zeta-Jones affair, if you can believe that.

Do you know what this is, it's a baby Okapi, and it's also the newest resident of the Cincinnati Zoo. Here are some fun facts about the Okapi. It was the last large mammal to be discovered and is the only one that can clean its ears with its tongue. Now you know.

In Columbia, South Carolina, dozens of birds have died from flying drunk. We kid you not. The Cedar Waxwings ate too many holly berries and became disoriented. Some fell out of the trees, while others slammed into the windows of an office building.

Here's what's all new in the next half-hour of DAYBREAK.

Pope John Paul II back at the Vatican this morning, but is his condition really improving? We'll get you an update.

Plus, a champion looks for his first cup repeat. We'll race that right ahead to you.

And a reminder, our e-mail "Question of the Morning," who should be allowed to have White House press credentials, anyone? DAYBREAK@CNN.com. That's DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning to you, welcome to the second half- hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

"Now in the News."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is making a surprise visit to American-trained Iraqi security forces in Iraq. Rumsfeld says those Iraqi troops will soon be responsible for defeating the insurgents, but he didn't say how soon. The Defense Secretary arrived before dawn at an airfield outside the city of Mosul. An Oregon man, Gerald Krien, is accused of using an Internet chat room to coordinate a mass suicide pact. Now a search is on across the United States and Canada for 32 people who may have agreed to commit suicide on Monday, Valentine's Day.

Forty people confirmed dead, more than 400 missing, after a dam bursts in southwestern Pakistan. Federal troops are at the scene of the flood and have rescued 1,200 people so far.

And the Senate has passed and sent to the House a bill to funnel class action lawsuits out of state courts and into federal courts. Consumer groups say federal judges often dismiss class action suits on procedural grounds.

To the Forecast Center.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: We will take your advice. Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Let's get more now on Donald Rumsfeld's unannounced trip to Mosul and Baghdad. We're just getting new pictures of his trip in.

Our Nic Robertson is covering the secretary's visit from Baghdad. He joins us now to show us the pictures and tell us about this visit.

Good morning -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well it was a visit shrouded in secrecy. The very fact that the secretary of defense landed before dawn, an indication of how serious the military takes the possibility that the secretary of defense's aircraft could be fired at. But the meeting is going well, apparently, in Mosul, meeting with troops, congratulating them on their work. His spokesman said that he had come here to recognize the success of the elections. And the troops in Mosul took part in helping make sure the security, the elections passed off.

But what those troops are doing now is focusing on providing training for Iraqi security forces, and that is what Donald Rumsfeld was doing there, as well reviewing the training that's going ahead, talking with Iraqi commanders. And this is well just after the secretary of defense has come from a meeting in Europe with NATO defense ministers to look at how NATO can help in Iraq and in Afghanistan, principally with the training of Iraqi security forces. So really that the focus.

The troops in Mosul now really gearing up to help train the Iraqi security forces who are beginning to take over the security there, Baghdad, other places.

Just inside the last hour, Donald Rumsfeld flew down to Baghdad. The flight would have lasted well over an hour, so he would have gotten a good opportunity to look at the rest of the country as he flew down. His aircraft was seen from this location heading towards the Green Zone. It's not clear if that's exactly where he is at this time. But again, those meetings likely with Iraqi officials and of course U.S. officials there, too -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson, live from Baghdad this morning, thank you.

North Korea dropped a diplomatic bombshell, so to speak, when it said publicly for the first time that it does indeed have nuclear weapons. South Korea and China are joining other nations in urging the North not to drop out of six nation talks designed to end Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Nuclear nonproliferation expert Gary Samore joins us now to discuss these developments.

Good morning to you.

GARY SAMORE, INTL. INST. FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: Good morning.

COSTELLO: First off, how concerned should we be?

SAMORE: Well I think people have believed that North Korea has had a small nuclear capability for many years. So from that standpoint, this is not really a very surprising development.

COSTELLO: You know...

SAMORE: And I also -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

COSTELLO: Go ahead. Go ahead, finish your thought.

SAMORE: Well I was going to say I also think it's becoming increasingly clear that diplomatic efforts are very unlikely to result in North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons, although I think it could probably agree to limit its capabilities.

COSTELLO: I was just going to ask you that. These six nations talks have been going on for a while, they haven't seemed to work, so will diplomacy really work even if North Korea decides to go back to the table?

SAMORE: In my judgement, no, I don't think it's possible to disarm North Korea through diplomacy. The best you can do through diplomacy is to limit the size of their capabilities.

COSTELLO: The United States has always wanted China to fix this problem. China has been unable to do that. Why?

SAMORE: I don't think China shares our interests in nuclear proliferation. They, of course, would prefer that North Korea not have nuclear weapons. But on balance, they are much more concerned that a confrontation over North Korea's nuclear weapons program could result in instability or even conflict on the peninsula.

So the Chinese have much more tolerance than the U.S. does for North Korea possessing a small nuclear capability, provided that the North Koreans don't flaunt it. And I am sure there are people in China right now who are a bit unhappy with the North Koreans for being so open about their possession of nuclear weapons.

COSTELLO: I want to read you a quote from the Korean Central News Agency. It says "if the United States wants a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue, it should immediately withdraw its hostile policy." And there's this idea out there that the United States is going to attack North Korea, at least from North Korea's standpoint. Why does North Korea think this?

SAMORE: Well North Korea sees itself as a very weak and vulnerable country that's surrounded by much more powerful countries, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and so forth. And it believes that it needs a nuclear deterrent in order to keep everybody off their back. And I think they have felt that way for many years. It's now just becoming more and more apparent.

After the collapse of the 1994 agreed framework a few years ago, the North Koreans have increased their nuclear weapons capability. And it's just becoming more and more clear that they're going to continue to do that, unless there is some diplomatic effort to cap or to freeze how many nuclear weapons they have.

COSTELLO: OK, so the diplomatic effort the North Koreans have always wanted, it wants to deal directly with the United States. So my last question to you is will that happen now?

SAMORE: Well I think the United States will continue to work through the six party talks, which also provides an opportunity for bilateral discussions to take place. But, as I said, I don't think it really matters whether the talks are bilateral between the U.S. and North Korea or 6 party or 4 party or 10 party, I just don't think North Korea is prepared to give up its nuclear weapons. They're willing to agree to a long-term plan for disarmament, but one in which they would control the pace of disarmament so they can be sure of keeping their nuclear hedge for the time being.

COSTELLO: Gary Samore, nuclear nonproliferation expert, joining DAYBREAK this morning. Thank you so much.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, young NASCAR driver Kurt Busch talks about this upcoming season with Chad.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld makes an unannounced visit to Iraq. We're getting in new pictures to CNN every minute. He's meeting with U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials in Baghdad. Before that, he visited American troops in Mosul, that's where these pictures are from, telling them it's their job to help Iraqi forces defeat the insurgency.

NATO says it will expand its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. The alliance says some 900 troops will be sent to the western parts of that country. That will lessen the burden a bit for U.S. forces.

In money news, Sara Lee is stripping off the clothes and sticking with food. The company says it plans to spin-off its apparel business, which includes Hanes underwear, into a separate company. Sara Lee says the restructuring accounts for about 40 percent of its annual revenue.

In culture, check this out, sunglasses and music all in one. They're Oakley's Thump MP3 sunglasses. And you don't even have to worry about wires. The selling price starts at $395.

In sports, the NFL has extended its television blackout deadline for Sunday's Pro Bowl in Hawaii until this afternoon. All NFL games must be sold out 72 hours prior to kickoff for the game to be televised within 75 miles of its stadium -- Chad.

MYERS: Well that would only be Hawaii then, probably, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to California.

Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: Chad, did you happen to hear Jason Giambi's press conference?

MYERS: No, I didn't. What was it about? His apology?

COSTELLO: Yes, well,...

MYERS: Well nobody told me about this. I'm sorry.

COSTELLO: It's OK. You're just...

MYERS: I'm not in New York.

COSTELLO: No, but I mean don't you watch ESPN, for God sake's, Chad. No.

MYERS: Sorry, no. COSTELLO: You were watching the Puppy Bowl (ph), I forgot.

MYERS: I actually watched a movie yesterday.

COSTELLO: You did?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: I'm sure it was at home.

MYERS: It was. Go ahead.

COSTELLO: Jason Giambi.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: He says he's sorry. It's the New York Yankee first baseman's first public comments as it was revealed he admitted to taking steroids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON GIAMBI, YANKEES FIRST BASEMAN: I know there's been a lot of distractions, you know, over the past year, and I wanted to apologize for all those, you know, distractions, from the bottom of my heart. You know I take full responsibility for it. And I'm sorry. And you know most of all I feel like I let down the fans. I feel like I let down the media. I feel I let down, you know, the Yankees. I feel I let down my teammates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And you know what he says, Chad, affects, you know, all of baseball, because during his grand jury testimony, he talked a lot about steroid use in other players as well. During this news conference, though, he never actually mentioned steroids. He did say there were things he could not talk about due to legal reasons, and this is all involved in, you know, BALCO. So we're going to hear a lot more about this in the days and months to come.

MYERS: You know all those records that were set in the past three to five years, I mean are you going to put a little star by them in the record books now and say steroid enhanced maybe?

COSTELLO: Exactly. Exactly. You just don't know what's going to happen.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: So of course we'll all be paying attention to that.

We'll also be paying attention to NASCAR. I understand, Chad, that you talked with Nextel Cup Champ Kurt Busch and you're going to share with us that interview after a break. You won't want to miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's time for Kurt Busch now.

MYERS: Thirty-eight hours, 20 minutes and 15 seconds, Carol, and we will have racing, the Bud shootout tomorrow night.

COSTELLO: You are so awesome.

Chad interviewed Kurt Busch, and I can't wait to hear what he had to say.

COSTELLO: Actually, he starts sixth here coming up tomorrow night. I asked him actually what were some of the pressures of being NASCAR champion?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KURT BUSCH, 2004 NEXTEL CUP WINNER: You get spoiled by NASCAR. They take you in so many different places. I got the chance to go meet the president. All these different places that we go, it's now a responsible feeling that you have being a champion. And of course with the pride and the humility and dignity that the past champions have done it with, there is quite a bit of pressure that's added to it.

MYERS: So now you and Jimmy Spencer are best friends?

BUSCH: Yes, we've definitely got our sides taken care of now.

MYERS: Tell me a little bit about, I know you've done a lot of testing already, the new tire package and the new spoiler, do you like it, do you not like it?

BUSCH: It's a unique balance so far. We've just been to three different tracks to do some testing. And we'll know more once we get involved into the race. It's almost a learn as you go for the teams with the way the new tires are reacting. It's very slick and it drops off, as far as lap time, very quickly. So it's going to be a handful once you get towards the end of a fuel run.

MYERS: So at this point in time, you haven't done a lot of those tracks? Has anybody done the small short tracks with the new tires?

BUSCH: No, no, we're actually going to go to Bristol in a couple of weeks.

MYERS: OK.

BUSCH: It's just tough to get so much testing in during the wintertime because...

MYERS: Yes.

BUSCH: ... the tracks are so cold. And so we have to wait for the weather to warm up just a little bit.

MYERS: Tell me a little bit about your new sponsor, Crown Royal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pacing is everything, especially when drinking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUSCH: It's a great sponsor being able to create a message for the fans and NASCAR about drinking responsibly. Being the champion last year, it's very easy for us to stick to our program with Be a Champion and Drink Responsible. And it's a unique opportunity in NASCAR. I mean with the marketing and the power that NASCAR has, this is a perfect opportunity for us to jump on the whole bandwagon.

MYERS: So in a rain delay now you're going to wrap your car in a big fuzzy purple bag, right?

BUSCH: It's going to be under the purple car cover with the gold talons. You got it.

MYERS: Tell me a little bit about what you're expecting this year. Obviously the point change system really worked for you as you took off those last 10 races. Hey, by the way, did you thank Jeff Gordon, because he would have been the champion had the point change not changed?

BUSCH: Yes, I don't think they need to change a thing. It worked out pretty good for us. And it's a matter of being able to pace yourself, and that's another tagline that Crown Royal is using is being able to pace yourself when drinking. And of course that's what we had to do during the chase last year, making sure that we didn't get ahead of ourselves and pace ourselves through the last 10 races. We ended up being the champions.

MYERS: Tell me a little bit about Jack Roush, would you? We see him at all the races, the cat in the hat. He looks happy. Sometimes he doesn't look happy. How is he to work for?

BUSCH: He's a great guy. He'll definitely tell you when you do something wrong. But if you continue to learn and show him that you really care about his equipment, and of course getting the car to Victory Lane is the ultimate goal, and being able to handle the different sponsorship sides of it, Jack Roush understands that and he knows that's what it takes to pay the bills. And so he's a great owner to work for, and I can't wait to win some more races for him.

MYERS: And I don't know whether he opens the books to you, and maybe you don't even want to tell me, but what does it cost to campaign a Nextel Cup car nowadays?

BUSCH: It's amazing the amount of support you have to have to compete competitively with building the race cars, to have the right equipment and of course the right people to put it all into place, because I couldn't do it without my crew chief Jimmy Fennig. It takes over $10 million a season, and it's right underneath $20 million. It's just out of control the way that the teams spend the money, but NASCAR does help us with trying to limit some of those expenditures and try to keep it to where it doesn't just balloon out of control.

MYERS: Now Roush Racing, obviously their main shop in Livonia, Michigan. I used to live very close to there. Is that machine shop making all of your race cars now, obviously, because there's the southern section of all that auto building as well, your NASCAR racing shop down there in North Carolina?

BUSCH: This is where they assemble all of the parts here in Charlotte, North Carolina, but they do make quite a bit of the specialty pieces up in Livonia, Michigan. Jack still has over 2,000 employees in that area working with Ford and of course working on some of the behind-the-scenes projects. So they do a great job up there for us.

MYERS: Kurt, thank you for joining us today. Have a very safe season.

BUSCH: You got it. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: Carol, $10 million to run a car, and he said it's pushing $20 million.

COSTELLO: That's just insane. You know the...

MYERS: Per car.

COSTELLO: Per car, right. The Daytona 500 of course is this coming or next Sunday, actually.

MYERS: Next, right.

COSTELLO: The purse is $17 million. That's the biggest purse in history, $17 million.

MYERS: Right, not for the winner, that's split up among all the 43 cars.

COSTELLO: Right, the winner gets a little over $1 million, and the driver ends up with about 30 percent of that. That's what I was told.

MYERS: Wow.

COSTELLO: But you can understand why the purses are so large, because it takes so much money to even get a car to run competitively, as we heard Kurt Busch say.

MYERS: Well the sponsors pay most of that, to be really honest. This all works because people watch TV. People go to the races. They want to see Tide. They see the cars, then they buy the product. Very, very few other things actually go product to product like NASCAR fans do. If they see a Bud car, they go buy Bud. If they see a Tide car, they go buy Tide. And the sponsors know that and they pay for that.

COSTELLO: Yes, they do. And it's probably worth every penny to them.

MYERS: Up to them.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

You are watching DAYBREAK for a Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Let's get right to our e-mail "Question of the Morning," Chad, shall we? It comes after this story of a conservative writer for an online news service. He resigned amid questions about his identity and background. His name was Jeff Gannon. We wanted to know what you thought this morning, who should have credentials to get into the White House press briefings?

Take it away.

MYERS: Tom (ph) in West Virginia says the press there never seems to ask the hard questions anyway, why not let Karl Rove say who should and who should not ask the questions?

COSTELLO: Wow.

This is from Jay Wilson (ph) from Montana. Although I have no idea where one would draw the line as to which journalists should have access to the White House, I do have a question, should only the big guys in the mainstream media have that exclusive privilege? I don't think so.

MYERS: That's freedom of the press, right.

And reporters at CNN, Tom (ph), obviously get credentials and get to cover the White House, other dot-com news sites should, too.

COSTELLO: This is from Joyce (ph). She says do we have to draw you a picture, Jeff Gannon was not covering the Bush administration, he was part of the Bush administration, a covert, dishonest and very nasty part.

MYERS: That's it.

COSTELLO: Thank you for your e-mails this morning. We're running a little long, we apologize. Hopefully we'll get to read more in the next hour of DAYBREAK, which starts right now.

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