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Fierce Fighting Continues in Iraq, 9/11 Convicted Suspect in Germany Released.
Aired April 07, 2004 - 14:00 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.
PHILLIPS: Bullets and bloodshed, fierce fighting in Operation Vigilant Resolve. We're live from the Pentagon on the combat and the casualties.
TONY PERRY, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": The Marines are actively engaged in firefights in at least two locations with insurgents. In the major location, it's a fight that began about 24 hours ago and has been off and on, went on through the night, picked up in the morning, and the Marines are pushing the insurgents out of a neighborhood. They're going door to door.
PHILLIPS: Inside the battle for Fallujah, one reporter's amazing account.
Performance under pressure, what kind of questions can Condoleezza Rice expect? We're in-depth this hour.
And Rush Limbaugh wants to keep a secret, his fight for a right to privacy.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Military officials predicted an up tick in violence in the weeks leading up to the June 30 transfer of power in Iraq and it certainly appears they were right.
Violence has erupted across Iraq, much of it centered in the volatile Sunni Triangle region but U.S. troops are running into resistance in Baghdad and south central Iraq as well.
Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now live with the latest -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, when you look at the whole picture of Iraq today it is a mixed picture. There are areas indeed where very fierce fighting is going on, also areas of relative calm of course. But when you look at the map, these are all the places where violence and unrest has broken out, where U.S. and coalition forces are trying to deal with a variety of insurgencies.
Now, in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, that is the Sunni area where U.S. Marines are continuing their press into the city block by block, street by street, house by house, looking to root out what they believe are loyalists to the former regime that are responsible for unrest in that area. That fighting continues to be quite fierce even at this hour.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt talked to CNN just a little while ago about one of the engagements the Marines had when they tried to deal with some insurgents in a mosque compound.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: I've seen the photos. It would appear that the insurgents were fighting from behind the walls of the mosque and recognizing that there was no other alternative and that when you start using a religious location for military purposes it loses its protected status, the Marines called in additional support, dropped two 500-pound precision guided bombs and took out the outer wall of the mosque without seeming to harm, from the photos that I've seen, the actual mosque structure itself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: But, of course Kyra, what we really don't know at the moment is how many Iraqis inside the city of Fallujah have been killed in the fighting. Now, we can expect that the next real offensive by the United States will be in Sadr City, the Shia suburb of Baghdad, which is of course very loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr. U.S. Army forces by all accounts assembling there trying to make a press into that area of Baghdad to push back the insurgents there.
In Najaf to the south that is where Muqtada al-Sadr is believed to be holed up in that holy city, extremely unlikely that U.S. forces would enter Najaf and try and deal with him directly at this point. Muslim holy days coming up, the U.S. will not want to incite additional violence so things could be at a bit of a standoff for the next couple of days.
In Washington, the Bush administration is trying to get a better sense of exactly what kind of support Muqtada al-Sadr really has in Baghdad and across Iraq, just a few thousand fighters or are more Shia coming to his side trying to join his movement? Is his movement getting stronger?
That would be a very worrisome sign, of course, because it would mean then this really would become a Shia uprising along with a Sunni uprising instead of just a movement by some radical cleric with a couple of thousand followers, so all of that trying to be assessed now in Washington and today all of this debate came right to the floor of the Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ROBET BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: The time has come for a new approach in Iraq. The harsh reality is this. One year after the fall of Baghdad, the United States should not be casting about for a formula to bring additional U.S. troops to Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now, of course, what Senator Byrd is referring to there is the issue on the table at the moment being thought about, if not officially discussed, more troops for Iraq.
President Bush having one round of meetings with his national security team last night via secure conference call, another meeting today with General John Abizaid trying to figure out one of the issues are there enough troops over the long term in Iraq?
It's a math equation, as we have said here today, 135,000 troops there right now. It's scheduled to go down to 115,000 by June according to the current rotation plan but with all of these flare-ups of violence and an expectation that various factions in Iraq will continue to jockey for power prior to that June 30 handover date of political sovereignty, with all of that on the table will 115,000 troops be enough or will the Bush administration have to recalculate? No answers yet. Here at the Pentagon they say they have it all under control -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon thank you.
Now to Germany where the only 9/11 suspect ever convicted is now a free man. Mounir el Motassadeq was released today from German custody. His conviction was overturned last month and a new trial is set for the summer.
Our Stephanie Halas has the story now from Berlin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE HALAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mounir el Motassadeq left the Hamburg prison elated. He can now await his retrial at home.
SABINE WESTPHALEN, COURT SPOKESMAN (through translator): He is still strong suspected of being a member in a terrorist organization but he is not strongly suspected of assisting murder.
HALAS: The only ever 9/11 convict had been in custody since late 2001, convicted last year of a accomplice to murder in more than 3,000 cases and membership in a terrorist organization. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
But last month the Federal Appeals Court threw out that conviction arguing that testimony from another 9/11 trial would have been crucial to Motassadeq's case. That testimony from an unidentified witness in U.S. custody who the court believes is Ramzi Binalsheibh, one of the suspected key ringleaders of September 11th.
In that testimony, the witness said that there were only four people in the Hamburg cell who knew of the attacks and that Motassadeq was not among them and because the Hamburg court could not independently verify the statement, it had to take it at face value in doubt for the accused.
WESTPHALEN (through translator): Mr. Motassadeq has been given certain conditions. He must leave his passport with his court files and he must stay with his wife. He cannot leave Hamburg and must report a change of address to the court. HALAS: German justice officials have said they want to crack down on suspected terrorists but need more information from the Americans. Without that they say it is much harder to convict those entangled with the plans for 9/11.
Stephanie Halas, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And New York for the latest legal wrangling in the Tyco case the famed Juror No. 4 is speaking out again and a new hearing is about to get underway.
Our Mary Snow live with the latest, hi Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.
You know the fallout from the turmoil at the Tyco trial still playing out. In just a few minutes the judge in the case is scheduled to hear arguments from an attorney representing 11 media organizations, including CNN.
Media organizations are asking the judge to unseal documents related to the motions for a mistrial in this case. That mistrial granted last Friday after a series of events triggered by an apparently OK gesture signaled by Juror No. 4 Ruth Jordan.
Now, as for Jordan herself, she is speaking out, granting interviews to the "New York Times" and CBS "60 Minutes" too in which she said that she did not make that OK sign that perhaps it was misconstrued because she said she was scratching her head. She was also asked about whether or not she would convict or acquit the former top executives at Tyco. Here's what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS: Do you believe or you don't believe that you would have voted guilty on any count?
RUTH JORDAN, TYCO JUROR: I don't think I would have voted guilty on any count.
RATHER: You don't think you could have gotten there?
JORDAN: I don't think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Now it had been believed that Ruth Jordan during those deliberations had been the lone holdout and several other jurors we spoke to since last Friday said that she had been holding out for an acquittal at certain points. She was also asked about whether or not -- how she felt about being named by "The Wall Street Journal." She said it was "outrageous."
Now the furor over the publicity about the jury also spilling over into yet another trial for a Tyco executive, this one Mark Belnick. He was the former general counsel and the prosecution asking the judge this morning to delay the trial because of the storm of publicity.
Prosecutors are concerned that perhaps some New Yorkers may just want to get on the jury for a few minutes of fame but the judge said in the end he doesn't believe that the publicity will have all that great of an impact on the jury proceedings. That trial is scheduled to get underway later this month -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Mary Snow thank you so much.
And this just in to CNN. I'm being told that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Richard Myers will be holding a news conference 3:30 Eastern. CNN will take that live when it happens hoping to hear more of what's taking place out of Fallujah.
Well, straight ahead expect some tough questions when Condoleezza Rice testifies before the 9/11 commission. In just a few minutes, our Wolf Blitzers joins me with the inside track on what panelists want to hear from President Bush's national security adviser.
And later, what's the secret to having a happy baby? This video may give you one delicious clue. We've got the scoop in health headlines later on LIVE FROM.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER FORECAST)
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Phillips: Once again we want to remind you that we will go to the Pentagon and hear from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, also the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers. They will be addressing reporters 3:30 Eastern time. We'll take that live and listen in to what they have to say.
Also the escalating violence in Iraq is probably more than likely what they'll be focusing on and we're focusing on it at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux now live from Crawford with more -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, President Bush is at his Crawford ranch for an Easter holiday but it's been far from anything but an Easter holiday. The president has been updated on the situation on the ground in Iraq.
This morning he participated in a secure video conference call with his national security team, including General Abizaid, as well as Ambassador Bremer, Secretary Rumsfeld, Dr. Rice and others, of course the focus on the troops, the multilateral coalition forces and just what is taking place, the chaos on the ground.
The president has always said that he defers to his defense team, that the Pentagon if they needed more troops would, in fact, get it. We have no word on whether or not that is the case.
The president was also on the phone with one of his closest allies, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Again, they will be meeting next Friday at the White House. That's where they're going to discuss the strategy of how to turn the power back to the Iraqi people and how to meet that deadline of June 30 -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, tomorrow it's the big day for Condoleezza Rice testifying before the 9/11 commission. Does President Bush's reputation sit on her shoulders tomorrow Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Well, certainly the White House credibility is on the line here. This is a huge day, a huge event for the White House. We have learned from aides that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has been practicing, that staffers are giving her questions, firing questions in mock testimony sessions.
And essentially what she will do tomorrow is she'll start with a 20-minute opening statement. She will address some of the survivors of September 11th. She will not apologize like her deputy Richard Clarke did but rather she will acknowledge some of the pain and the mourning, the suffering and say that the best way to honor those victims of September 11th is to go forward and go after the terrorists.
Of course she will take on the major charge made by Clarke that the president or perhaps the administration could have done something to prevent September 11th, that perhaps they were asleep at the switch. She will argue that they went after al Qaeda, that they came up with an aggressive plan to eliminate that organization.
At the same time, she will also acknowledge that prior to September 11th there was a different mind set with both the Bush as well as the Clinton administrations -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux live from Crawford, thank you.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry raises new questions about his controversial ties to Moveon Pac. Kerry has hired Moveon Special Projects Director Zack Exley to run his online campaign. Republican critics say it reinforces claims that the Democratic Party has been coordinating with Moveon to get around a campaign finance law.
Well, today Kerry is focused on another major campaign issue, the economy, calling the Bush policies a disastrous shell game. Kerry laid out his own budget plans at Georgetown University.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Present national leadership has transferred the tax burden from wealth to work and we will restore tax fairness to the United States. We will expand -- we will expand middle class tax cuts for families with children and married couples and we will pass new tax cuts to make education and healthcare more affordable while cutting our deficit in half.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Kerry will discuss his thoughts on Iraq and his plan for the economy with Judy Woodruff today on "INSIDE POLITICS." That's coming up at 3:30 Eastern immediately following LIVE FROM.
Preparing for the hot seat, Condoleezza Rice will face the 9/11 commission tomorrow. The president's national security adviser undoubtedly hopes to end the debate over whether the White House did enough to prevent the attacks.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer will be anchoring our coverage. He's in Washington with a preview. Mr. Blitzer, nice to see you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Why don't you lay it out for us. She steps into the room. How will this unfold?
BLITZER: The commissioners are supposed to meet, all ten of them, the chairman, the vice-chairman, the other members of the commission, 9:00 a.m. Eastern in the room. This is pictures, video that you're seeing from that Senate hearing room.
They will begin with a very, very brief opening statement and then Condoleezza Rice, by all accounts as we just heard from Suzanne Malveaux, will spend about 20 minutes with her own opening statement trying to set the stage for what happened in the seven and a half, almost eight months before the 9/11 attacks after the president became president on January 20th of 2001.
Then there will be Q&A from the commissioners. The whole session is supposed to take about two and a half hours. That was the agreement, Kyra, that the commission made with the White House that she will appear for two and a half hours and, at the end of that, she will not have to come back and no other officials from the White House will be asked to come before the ten member commission.
Unclear whether the clock will start ticking, by the way, after her opening statement, two and a half hours, or that 20 minutes is part of the two and a half hours. One of the commissioners this morning, Tim Roemer, said he hopes the two and a half hours will start after her 20-minute opening statement.
There had been some grumbling that perhaps the 20-minute statement was designed to start to run out the clock a little bit and limit the amount of Q&A that could be forthcoming. Every minute, as you know and our viewers know, will be precious, a lot of questions that have to be answered. PHILLIPS: Well, you mentioned one of the commission members and even talking to several of them, Wolf, what are they telling you?
BLITZER: I think by now I've spoken to all of them when all is said and done. They're saying this is very important. Remember, they did spend four hours with her privately behind closed doors and got a lot of the answers that they want.
But this is an opportunity for the whole public, the American public, to hear what they're saying and they're all suggesting the same thing. This is a non-partisan commission and they hope it stays that way. Listen to what two of the commissioners told me earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY ROEMER, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: This commission, five Democrats and five Republicans, have really sought to work together to get the facts and the answers and I hope that's what you'll see tomorrow.
SLADE GORTON, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: I hope and I believe all of us hope that in writing the report of what led up to 9/11 we can be unanimous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And they have to come up with their conclusions by the end of July. That's the deadline. They're hoping to meet that deadline obviously and they're hoping that there will be specific recommendations to look back and avoid the kinds of mistakes that clearly were made, not only in the first seven and a half, eight months of the Bush administration but in the eight years of the Clinton administration that preceded it.
PHILLIPS: Now, Wolf, Richard Clarke coming forward, the former terrorism chief and apologizing, telling Americans we failed. It was pretty powerful testimony. Now here comes Condoleezza Rice. Those close to her say she will not apologize. What's your take on that and also what does she need to say to sort of restore this confidence within the American public?
BLITZER: She's very effective. She's very articulate and she comes across extremely knowledgeable and that's what she has going for her. She's been on a lot of the talk shows, a lot of interviews over the past several weeks and over the past three and a half years, if you will, so she knows the subject.
She's deeply involved on a day-to-day basis. I think the thrust is going to be that despite what Richard Clarke said that the administration did not take these threats all that seriously, certainly not seriously enough.
She is going to make the case that the president certainly took it seriously, that the CIA Director George Tenet was briefing her and the president almost on a daily basis and that Richard Clarke himself, as important as he was, was not involved in a lot of the most important meetings that the president and CIA director and the national security adviser might have been involved in. He didn't necessarily have the full picture.
She does feel burned by Richard Clarke. She was his deputy. She fought to get him retained after the Clinton administration and now they're really angry obviously that he has come forward with these public allegations as well as this book that's now clearly a best seller.
PHILLIPS: Wolf Blitzer, we'll see you at five o'clock, thanks.
BLITZER: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right. And we want to remind you also 3:30 Eastern time, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers expected to give a news conference. We'll bring that to you live when it happens, a quick break. We'll be right back.
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PHILLIPS: Not to sound like a broken record but CDs just aren't selling like they used to. Susan Lisovicz has got the beat live from the New York Stock Exchange -- Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: No doubt, Kyra, music sales are stuck in a slump. According to an industry trade group worldwide music sales fell 7.6 percent last year, the fourth consecutive annual drop.
But top selling acts like Justin Timberlake and (unintelligible) boosted sales in the second half. The trade group blames the drop off on, what else, piracy, as well as competition from DVDs and video games.
But a recent survey is out of Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill counter that. File sharing may actually have little impact on CD sales. They say it takes 5,000 downloads to cancel out a single album sale -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, now what's the deal with Papa John's Pizza?
LISOVICZ: Pretty cheesy, pun intended Kyra. Papa John's says higher cheese prices will eat into its bottom line this year. The pizza chain's U.S. sales slipped nearly four percent last month. Still, investors are gobbling up that stock. It's adding a piping 5.5 percent right now, about $1.70.
But a more downbeat story for the overall market, as you can see. The Dow Jones Industrials near their lows down 92 points at 10,478. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, shedding three-quarters of one percent, and that's the latest from Wall Street.
Coming up, women in the workforce are bringing home more bacon. That sizzling story and more later this hour. CNN's LIVE FROM continues in just a moment.
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Aired April 7, 2004 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PHILLIPS: Bullets and bloodshed, fierce fighting in Operation Vigilant Resolve. We're live from the Pentagon on the combat and the casualties.
TONY PERRY, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": The Marines are actively engaged in firefights in at least two locations with insurgents. In the major location, it's a fight that began about 24 hours ago and has been off and on, went on through the night, picked up in the morning, and the Marines are pushing the insurgents out of a neighborhood. They're going door to door.
PHILLIPS: Inside the battle for Fallujah, one reporter's amazing account.
Performance under pressure, what kind of questions can Condoleezza Rice expect? We're in-depth this hour.
And Rush Limbaugh wants to keep a secret, his fight for a right to privacy.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. Miles is off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Military officials predicted an up tick in violence in the weeks leading up to the June 30 transfer of power in Iraq and it certainly appears they were right.
Violence has erupted across Iraq, much of it centered in the volatile Sunni Triangle region but U.S. troops are running into resistance in Baghdad and south central Iraq as well.
Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now live with the latest -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, when you look at the whole picture of Iraq today it is a mixed picture. There are areas indeed where very fierce fighting is going on, also areas of relative calm of course. But when you look at the map, these are all the places where violence and unrest has broken out, where U.S. and coalition forces are trying to deal with a variety of insurgencies.
Now, in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, that is the Sunni area where U.S. Marines are continuing their press into the city block by block, street by street, house by house, looking to root out what they believe are loyalists to the former regime that are responsible for unrest in that area. That fighting continues to be quite fierce even at this hour.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt talked to CNN just a little while ago about one of the engagements the Marines had when they tried to deal with some insurgents in a mosque compound.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: I've seen the photos. It would appear that the insurgents were fighting from behind the walls of the mosque and recognizing that there was no other alternative and that when you start using a religious location for military purposes it loses its protected status, the Marines called in additional support, dropped two 500-pound precision guided bombs and took out the outer wall of the mosque without seeming to harm, from the photos that I've seen, the actual mosque structure itself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: But, of course Kyra, what we really don't know at the moment is how many Iraqis inside the city of Fallujah have been killed in the fighting. Now, we can expect that the next real offensive by the United States will be in Sadr City, the Shia suburb of Baghdad, which is of course very loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr. U.S. Army forces by all accounts assembling there trying to make a press into that area of Baghdad to push back the insurgents there.
In Najaf to the south that is where Muqtada al-Sadr is believed to be holed up in that holy city, extremely unlikely that U.S. forces would enter Najaf and try and deal with him directly at this point. Muslim holy days coming up, the U.S. will not want to incite additional violence so things could be at a bit of a standoff for the next couple of days.
In Washington, the Bush administration is trying to get a better sense of exactly what kind of support Muqtada al-Sadr really has in Baghdad and across Iraq, just a few thousand fighters or are more Shia coming to his side trying to join his movement? Is his movement getting stronger?
That would be a very worrisome sign, of course, because it would mean then this really would become a Shia uprising along with a Sunni uprising instead of just a movement by some radical cleric with a couple of thousand followers, so all of that trying to be assessed now in Washington and today all of this debate came right to the floor of the Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ROBET BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: The time has come for a new approach in Iraq. The harsh reality is this. One year after the fall of Baghdad, the United States should not be casting about for a formula to bring additional U.S. troops to Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Now, of course, what Senator Byrd is referring to there is the issue on the table at the moment being thought about, if not officially discussed, more troops for Iraq.
President Bush having one round of meetings with his national security team last night via secure conference call, another meeting today with General John Abizaid trying to figure out one of the issues are there enough troops over the long term in Iraq?
It's a math equation, as we have said here today, 135,000 troops there right now. It's scheduled to go down to 115,000 by June according to the current rotation plan but with all of these flare-ups of violence and an expectation that various factions in Iraq will continue to jockey for power prior to that June 30 handover date of political sovereignty, with all of that on the table will 115,000 troops be enough or will the Bush administration have to recalculate? No answers yet. Here at the Pentagon they say they have it all under control -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon thank you.
Now to Germany where the only 9/11 suspect ever convicted is now a free man. Mounir el Motassadeq was released today from German custody. His conviction was overturned last month and a new trial is set for the summer.
Our Stephanie Halas has the story now from Berlin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE HALAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mounir el Motassadeq left the Hamburg prison elated. He can now await his retrial at home.
SABINE WESTPHALEN, COURT SPOKESMAN (through translator): He is still strong suspected of being a member in a terrorist organization but he is not strongly suspected of assisting murder.
HALAS: The only ever 9/11 convict had been in custody since late 2001, convicted last year of a accomplice to murder in more than 3,000 cases and membership in a terrorist organization. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
But last month the Federal Appeals Court threw out that conviction arguing that testimony from another 9/11 trial would have been crucial to Motassadeq's case. That testimony from an unidentified witness in U.S. custody who the court believes is Ramzi Binalsheibh, one of the suspected key ringleaders of September 11th.
In that testimony, the witness said that there were only four people in the Hamburg cell who knew of the attacks and that Motassadeq was not among them and because the Hamburg court could not independently verify the statement, it had to take it at face value in doubt for the accused.
WESTPHALEN (through translator): Mr. Motassadeq has been given certain conditions. He must leave his passport with his court files and he must stay with his wife. He cannot leave Hamburg and must report a change of address to the court. HALAS: German justice officials have said they want to crack down on suspected terrorists but need more information from the Americans. Without that they say it is much harder to convict those entangled with the plans for 9/11.
Stephanie Halas, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And New York for the latest legal wrangling in the Tyco case the famed Juror No. 4 is speaking out again and a new hearing is about to get underway.
Our Mary Snow live with the latest, hi Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.
You know the fallout from the turmoil at the Tyco trial still playing out. In just a few minutes the judge in the case is scheduled to hear arguments from an attorney representing 11 media organizations, including CNN.
Media organizations are asking the judge to unseal documents related to the motions for a mistrial in this case. That mistrial granted last Friday after a series of events triggered by an apparently OK gesture signaled by Juror No. 4 Ruth Jordan.
Now, as for Jordan herself, she is speaking out, granting interviews to the "New York Times" and CBS "60 Minutes" too in which she said that she did not make that OK sign that perhaps it was misconstrued because she said she was scratching her head. She was also asked about whether or not she would convict or acquit the former top executives at Tyco. Here's what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS: Do you believe or you don't believe that you would have voted guilty on any count?
RUTH JORDAN, TYCO JUROR: I don't think I would have voted guilty on any count.
RATHER: You don't think you could have gotten there?
JORDAN: I don't think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Now it had been believed that Ruth Jordan during those deliberations had been the lone holdout and several other jurors we spoke to since last Friday said that she had been holding out for an acquittal at certain points. She was also asked about whether or not -- how she felt about being named by "The Wall Street Journal." She said it was "outrageous."
Now the furor over the publicity about the jury also spilling over into yet another trial for a Tyco executive, this one Mark Belnick. He was the former general counsel and the prosecution asking the judge this morning to delay the trial because of the storm of publicity.
Prosecutors are concerned that perhaps some New Yorkers may just want to get on the jury for a few minutes of fame but the judge said in the end he doesn't believe that the publicity will have all that great of an impact on the jury proceedings. That trial is scheduled to get underway later this month -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Mary Snow thank you so much.
And this just in to CNN. I'm being told that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Richard Myers will be holding a news conference 3:30 Eastern. CNN will take that live when it happens hoping to hear more of what's taking place out of Fallujah.
Well, straight ahead expect some tough questions when Condoleezza Rice testifies before the 9/11 commission. In just a few minutes, our Wolf Blitzers joins me with the inside track on what panelists want to hear from President Bush's national security adviser.
And later, what's the secret to having a happy baby? This video may give you one delicious clue. We've got the scoop in health headlines later on LIVE FROM.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER FORECAST)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Phillips: Once again we want to remind you that we will go to the Pentagon and hear from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, also the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers. They will be addressing reporters 3:30 Eastern time. We'll take that live and listen in to what they have to say.
Also the escalating violence in Iraq is probably more than likely what they'll be focusing on and we're focusing on it at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux now live from Crawford with more -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, President Bush is at his Crawford ranch for an Easter holiday but it's been far from anything but an Easter holiday. The president has been updated on the situation on the ground in Iraq.
This morning he participated in a secure video conference call with his national security team, including General Abizaid, as well as Ambassador Bremer, Secretary Rumsfeld, Dr. Rice and others, of course the focus on the troops, the multilateral coalition forces and just what is taking place, the chaos on the ground.
The president has always said that he defers to his defense team, that the Pentagon if they needed more troops would, in fact, get it. We have no word on whether or not that is the case.
The president was also on the phone with one of his closest allies, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Again, they will be meeting next Friday at the White House. That's where they're going to discuss the strategy of how to turn the power back to the Iraqi people and how to meet that deadline of June 30 -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, tomorrow it's the big day for Condoleezza Rice testifying before the 9/11 commission. Does President Bush's reputation sit on her shoulders tomorrow Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Well, certainly the White House credibility is on the line here. This is a huge day, a huge event for the White House. We have learned from aides that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has been practicing, that staffers are giving her questions, firing questions in mock testimony sessions.
And essentially what she will do tomorrow is she'll start with a 20-minute opening statement. She will address some of the survivors of September 11th. She will not apologize like her deputy Richard Clarke did but rather she will acknowledge some of the pain and the mourning, the suffering and say that the best way to honor those victims of September 11th is to go forward and go after the terrorists.
Of course she will take on the major charge made by Clarke that the president or perhaps the administration could have done something to prevent September 11th, that perhaps they were asleep at the switch. She will argue that they went after al Qaeda, that they came up with an aggressive plan to eliminate that organization.
At the same time, she will also acknowledge that prior to September 11th there was a different mind set with both the Bush as well as the Clinton administrations -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux live from Crawford, thank you.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry raises new questions about his controversial ties to Moveon Pac. Kerry has hired Moveon Special Projects Director Zack Exley to run his online campaign. Republican critics say it reinforces claims that the Democratic Party has been coordinating with Moveon to get around a campaign finance law.
Well, today Kerry is focused on another major campaign issue, the economy, calling the Bush policies a disastrous shell game. Kerry laid out his own budget plans at Georgetown University.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Present national leadership has transferred the tax burden from wealth to work and we will restore tax fairness to the United States. We will expand -- we will expand middle class tax cuts for families with children and married couples and we will pass new tax cuts to make education and healthcare more affordable while cutting our deficit in half.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Kerry will discuss his thoughts on Iraq and his plan for the economy with Judy Woodruff today on "INSIDE POLITICS." That's coming up at 3:30 Eastern immediately following LIVE FROM.
Preparing for the hot seat, Condoleezza Rice will face the 9/11 commission tomorrow. The president's national security adviser undoubtedly hopes to end the debate over whether the White House did enough to prevent the attacks.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer will be anchoring our coverage. He's in Washington with a preview. Mr. Blitzer, nice to see you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Why don't you lay it out for us. She steps into the room. How will this unfold?
BLITZER: The commissioners are supposed to meet, all ten of them, the chairman, the vice-chairman, the other members of the commission, 9:00 a.m. Eastern in the room. This is pictures, video that you're seeing from that Senate hearing room.
They will begin with a very, very brief opening statement and then Condoleezza Rice, by all accounts as we just heard from Suzanne Malveaux, will spend about 20 minutes with her own opening statement trying to set the stage for what happened in the seven and a half, almost eight months before the 9/11 attacks after the president became president on January 20th of 2001.
Then there will be Q&A from the commissioners. The whole session is supposed to take about two and a half hours. That was the agreement, Kyra, that the commission made with the White House that she will appear for two and a half hours and, at the end of that, she will not have to come back and no other officials from the White House will be asked to come before the ten member commission.
Unclear whether the clock will start ticking, by the way, after her opening statement, two and a half hours, or that 20 minutes is part of the two and a half hours. One of the commissioners this morning, Tim Roemer, said he hopes the two and a half hours will start after her 20-minute opening statement.
There had been some grumbling that perhaps the 20-minute statement was designed to start to run out the clock a little bit and limit the amount of Q&A that could be forthcoming. Every minute, as you know and our viewers know, will be precious, a lot of questions that have to be answered. PHILLIPS: Well, you mentioned one of the commission members and even talking to several of them, Wolf, what are they telling you?
BLITZER: I think by now I've spoken to all of them when all is said and done. They're saying this is very important. Remember, they did spend four hours with her privately behind closed doors and got a lot of the answers that they want.
But this is an opportunity for the whole public, the American public, to hear what they're saying and they're all suggesting the same thing. This is a non-partisan commission and they hope it stays that way. Listen to what two of the commissioners told me earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY ROEMER, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: This commission, five Democrats and five Republicans, have really sought to work together to get the facts and the answers and I hope that's what you'll see tomorrow.
SLADE GORTON, 9/11 COMMISSIONER: I hope and I believe all of us hope that in writing the report of what led up to 9/11 we can be unanimous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And they have to come up with their conclusions by the end of July. That's the deadline. They're hoping to meet that deadline obviously and they're hoping that there will be specific recommendations to look back and avoid the kinds of mistakes that clearly were made, not only in the first seven and a half, eight months of the Bush administration but in the eight years of the Clinton administration that preceded it.
PHILLIPS: Now, Wolf, Richard Clarke coming forward, the former terrorism chief and apologizing, telling Americans we failed. It was pretty powerful testimony. Now here comes Condoleezza Rice. Those close to her say she will not apologize. What's your take on that and also what does she need to say to sort of restore this confidence within the American public?
BLITZER: She's very effective. She's very articulate and she comes across extremely knowledgeable and that's what she has going for her. She's been on a lot of the talk shows, a lot of interviews over the past several weeks and over the past three and a half years, if you will, so she knows the subject.
She's deeply involved on a day-to-day basis. I think the thrust is going to be that despite what Richard Clarke said that the administration did not take these threats all that seriously, certainly not seriously enough.
She is going to make the case that the president certainly took it seriously, that the CIA Director George Tenet was briefing her and the president almost on a daily basis and that Richard Clarke himself, as important as he was, was not involved in a lot of the most important meetings that the president and CIA director and the national security adviser might have been involved in. He didn't necessarily have the full picture.
She does feel burned by Richard Clarke. She was his deputy. She fought to get him retained after the Clinton administration and now they're really angry obviously that he has come forward with these public allegations as well as this book that's now clearly a best seller.
PHILLIPS: Wolf Blitzer, we'll see you at five o'clock, thanks.
BLITZER: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right. And we want to remind you also 3:30 Eastern time, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers expected to give a news conference. We'll bring that to you live when it happens, a quick break. We'll be right back.
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PHILLIPS: Not to sound like a broken record but CDs just aren't selling like they used to. Susan Lisovicz has got the beat live from the New York Stock Exchange -- Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: No doubt, Kyra, music sales are stuck in a slump. According to an industry trade group worldwide music sales fell 7.6 percent last year, the fourth consecutive annual drop.
But top selling acts like Justin Timberlake and (unintelligible) boosted sales in the second half. The trade group blames the drop off on, what else, piracy, as well as competition from DVDs and video games.
But a recent survey is out of Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill counter that. File sharing may actually have little impact on CD sales. They say it takes 5,000 downloads to cancel out a single album sale -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, now what's the deal with Papa John's Pizza?
LISOVICZ: Pretty cheesy, pun intended Kyra. Papa John's says higher cheese prices will eat into its bottom line this year. The pizza chain's U.S. sales slipped nearly four percent last month. Still, investors are gobbling up that stock. It's adding a piping 5.5 percent right now, about $1.70.
But a more downbeat story for the overall market, as you can see. The Dow Jones Industrials near their lows down 92 points at 10,478. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, shedding three-quarters of one percent, and that's the latest from Wall Street.
Coming up, women in the workforce are bringing home more bacon. That sizzling story and more later this hour. CNN's LIVE FROM continues in just a moment.
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