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Negotiations Continue in Fallujah, Najaf; Bush & Blair Seek New U.N. Iraq Resolution

Aired April 16, 2004 - 13:00   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: United front, President Bush and America's strongest ally in the war on Iraq. Will a U.N. plan make the rest of the battle easier?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn't get mad at him and I couldn't get mad at anybody, so I was kind of mad at the Army. But it's an entity. I'm mad at that a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Homefront anxiety and battle weary troops, American forces getting extended duty in Iraq.

Taking aim. The nation's most powerful gun lobby arming itself with media fire power. Will you be listening to NRA Radio.

Quiet on the set. An AIDS scare shuts down film sets in California's multibillion dollar porn industry.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Kyra Phillips is off today. CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.

Face to face in Fallujah, but eye to eye? Too soon to tell. For the first time since U.S. Marines encamped on the outskirts of that Sunni triangle hotbed, senior coalition Americans and locals are holding direct talks. And CNN's Jane Arraf is watching and listening from Baghdad.

Hello, Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Miles. Well, everyone knows how high these stakes are. There's a potential crisis brewing here even more than already exists. Increasing pressure on U.S. troops, statements from chief Shia clerics, from other religious officials that this cannot go one, and the U.S. itself saying it can't go on, that something has to give.

Now there is a fragile cease-fire still in place. U.S. troops there, Marines, are withholding from offensive operations but they're making clear that if progress doesn't come soon for these insurgents to stop fighting, that they will resume those operations.

And a tense situation to the south of Baghdad as well, Miles, in the holy Shia city of Najaf. A radical Shia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, still has control of that city and the holy city of Karbala. There has been scattered fighting around there. But no major fighting with U.S. troops who are beginning to mass in the area, to make good a threat to use force if they have to dislodge him.

And meanwhile, the kidnappings continue. More kidnappings today. A Danish citizen -- a Danish businessman, according to the foreign ministry, was seized, as well as a Jordanian with a United Arab Emirates passport taken from his apartment building in Basra. But on a happy note, three Czech journalists taken near Fallujah last week have been freed. And a Syrian-born Canadian aid worker freed as well -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thank you very much.

The state of war and the terms of the transfer of Iraqi sovereignty, front burner issues today at the Bush-Blair summit. You heard about from the leaders themselves just an hour or so ago right here on CNN. CNN's John King joins us now with a recap.

Hello, John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles. The two leaders meeting, obviously, at a critical time in Iraq, both from a security and political standpoint. President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, of course, his closest ally in the war on Iraq. You see them emerging from the Oval Office here after their discussions, both leaders saying they were adamant sticking to the June 30 deadline for transferring power. Both leaders saying they were adamant in providing the troops necessary to have tough security on the ground to quiet this insurgency.

Prime Minister Blair said those attacking the coalition troops, those responsible for the kidnappings are trying to drive the coalition out of Iraq before democracy can take shape.

The prime minister said flatly that will not happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: First we stand firm. We will do what it takes to win this struggle. We will not yield. We will not back down in the face of attacks either on us or on defenseless civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The June 30 deadline for transferring power has caused a remarkable transformation in the position of the Bush administration. This president, when the Saddam Hussein statute fell about a year ago, said that it was the United States and its coalition powers that shed the blood, and it was the United States and its coalition power partners that would call the shots in terms of the political transformation.

But listen to the president just moments ago talking about how important the United Nations is now in coming up with a plan to transfer sovereignty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This week we've seen the outlines of the new Iraqi government that will take the keys of sovereignty. We welcome the proposals presented by the U.N. Special Envoy Brahimi. He's identified a way forward to establishing an interim government that is broadly acceptable to the Iraqi people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The two leaders now having lunch in the White House residence. They walked from the Rose Garden into the residence. Another subject of their discussions, the Middle East peace process in shambles at the moment. The president this week gave a critical endorsement to Prime Minister Sharon of Israel's plans to pull out of the Gaza Strip and to pull out of some of the West Bank.

That has the Palestinians furious. They view it as a trick by Mr. Sharon. Many Europeans agree with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Blair stood with President Bush but he said it was critical that the United States, the European Union, the United Nations immediately offer political and economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

Now, Miles, that will be a very interesting question, a very interesting dilemma for this President Bush who has refused to even talk to Yasser Arafat. Is he now willing to give him any help?

O'BRIEN: Well, and what the president said, John, as you well know, is he said it gives all sides a chance to reinvigorate. That is definitely a half-full view of it, isn't it?

KING: Well, what the president wants to see is the Palestinian people demand change in their leadership, because this president has consistently said he will not deal with Yasser Arafat. And when you did have Prime Minister Abbas, just as Prime Minister Abbas was about to negotiate with the Israelis, Mr. Arafat, at least from the view of this White House, pulled the rug out from under him, and stripped him of his power, forced him to step down.

So this president is in a difficult box. The Europeans want help for the Palestinians. This president says he will not deal with any Palestinian Authority led by Yasser Arafat. An interesting few days and weeks ahead.

O'BRIEN: To say the least, John King at the White House. Thank you very much.

Vice President Cheney on his way home this hour after a rousing sendoff by U.S. troops in South Korea. At the end of his week-long Asian junket, Cheney saluted both Korea's "brave decision," that's a quote, to place troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Together, he vowed, we will destroy the remnants of violent oppressive regimes. The VP's travels were devoted primarily to the standoff with North Korea over nukes, however.. Still no word on the fate of the Mississippi dairy farmer who took a truck driving job in Iraq and wound up a hostage of Iraqi insurgents. For a week now Thomas Hammill has been one of several known civilian captives and more whose fate is unknown or unconfirmed. Last night Hamill's wife was a guest on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LARRY KING LIVE")

KELLIE HAMILL, THOMAS HAMILL'S WIFE: I would like to let my husband know, first of all, that we love him, and miss him very much. We hope he's doing fine. We would also like to say to the people that have him captive, we hope they would release him unharmed and safe and let him come home to us just as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Besides the civilians, two U.S. soldiers remain unaccounted for in the aftermath of an ambush on their fuel convoy about a week ago.

The body of the first woman National Guard member ever killed in combat, back home in Wisconsin today. Twenty-year-old Specialist Michelle Witmer was one of three sisters, all of them deployed in Iraq. One of two in the same military police unit of the Wisconsin Guard. The surviving sisters haven't decided whether to ask not to go back to the war zone, as is their privilege if they so choose.

By now, you probably know the Pentagon is extending the deployments of 20,000 troops in Iraq. We told you about that yesterday. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he regrets having to do it. Some military families have their own concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE LEBRETON, SOLDIER'S FATHER: I expected when I got home on Saturday night that I would be getting a call from my son, Matthew, saying that he was in Fort Drum, New York. And to find out that they were sent back again for the second time, it was extremely demoralizing to me. And I know how the troops feel as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: You could see clear evidence of the extended deployments today. At Fort Polk in Louisiana, thousands of soldiers supposed to get a hero's welcome. Instead, a little more than 100 were on hand.

National correspondent Gary Tuchman with that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ft. Polk, Louisiana, was ready to host a huge party for its soldiers returning from Iraq.

MAJ. RON ELLIOTT, FORT POLK SPOKESMAN: This was going to be the biggest celebration, we were hoping, within the country. We even put in a request for the president to come back out here.

TUCHMAN: The celebration has been put on hold.

SUZY YATES, WIFE OF SOLDIER: The first thing I thought was to be strong for him. I don't like my husband to hear me cry. And so I told him it would be all right.

TUCHMAN: Susie Yates was told by her husband, Sergeant Cory Yates, that after a year in Iraq, his return home later this month has been delayed by at least three months.

YATES: And my head dropped into my hands and I took a moment for myself and let it sink in.

TUCHMAN (on camera): How difficult was that moment?

YATES: It was pretty difficult. I was in a lot of shock and disbelief. I thought I was dreaming.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The home of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regimen, which has lost 14 soldiers in Iraq, has been told 3000 of their men and women will not be coming home as scheduled, including Sergeant Arnold Powell, a husband and father.

HELEN POWELL, WIFE OF SOLDIER: I couldn't get mad at him and I couldn't get mad at anybody, so I was kind of mad at the Army. But it's an entity. You can -- I'm mad at that a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's more of a chance he might get hurt or something might happen to him.

TUCHMAN: Many people are sharing similar thoughts with military counselors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now the chances right now of him being hurt or being killed are even stronger.

TUCHMAN: Back at the Powells' house, personal items already sent home from Iraq are going back to Iraq.

(on camera): Sergeant Powell had planned to retire from the military, but that has now been delayed. He had planned to go on a celebratory Caribbean cruise with his wife next month, but that has now been cancelled.

POWELL: I'm very proud of my husband. Starting to get upset. I am very proud of my husband. I'm very proud of his job.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Now, they just want him home.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Fort Polk, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: News around the world now beginning with three more arrests in the March 11 Madrid train bombings. For the first time in the investigation, the suspects include people from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the third a Moroccan. Six Moroccans who were being questioned have been released now.

Heading off terror in Afghanistan. In Kabul today Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers says the U.S. is beefing up troops to prevent any violence before the September elections. Myers says this is the time of year when terrorist activity is highest.

And a close call for the foreign minister of the Czech Republic. Cyril Svoboda is in stable condition with neck injuries after a car crash last night. Svoboda is considered a key force behind his country's joining the European Union on May 1.

A mother and her newborn baby in a tough spot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wiped across its mouth and his nose and kind of cleaned it out a little bit and then he let out a big cough and he started crying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A good Samaritan to the rescue. The rest of the story ahead on LIVE FROM...

Porn movies and the AIDS virus. A quarantine shuts down some movie sets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A new voice, a new sound and a new mission. The only all-girl radio station of this kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: And on the air with girl power. We'll turn that one in, ahead on LIVE FROM...

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A red light for the red light district. An HIV scare stops porn production in Southern California. That story tops our news across America. About a dozen production companies and at least 45 actors and actresses are taking part in the voluntary two-month suspension. It follows the discovery that two stars in California's multibillion dollar porn industry are in fact HIV positive.

Five-year-old Ruby Bustamante is out of the hospital. She is the California girl who was stranded at the bottom of a ravine for 10 days after a car crash that ultimately killed her mother. Ruby survived the ordeal on Gatorade and dry noodles.

And this mangled car is what's left of another family tragedy. A man whose wife had just given birth in the back seat on the way to the hospital was killed when the car hit a utility pole in Brick, New Jersey. A passing motorist stopped to help the baby and the mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK SCHLAGENHAFT: So 911 said, pick him up. I picked him up and I flipped him over. And I wiped across his mouth and his nose and kind of cleaned it out a little bit. And then he let out a big cough and he started crying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Hmm, that must have been a good sound. Both mother and baby are in fair condition today.

Well, there's conservative radio, liberal radio and now a station with a new and very different spin. CNN's Soledad O'Brien met some young women who want their voices to be heard.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's up y'all? You're listening to Melissa (ph) holding it down at radio LOG 9540 AM.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Dorchester community of Boston, a new movement has hit the air waves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A new voice, a new sound and a new mission. The only all-girls radio station of this kind.

S. O'BRIEN: Radio LOG is a low-decibel a.m. station sending out a powerful message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to let it be known out there that we're here for them, because I know lot of them feel the same way we do, that they feel that women are being misrepresented and disrespected in the media.

S. O'BRIEN: With from support from the LOG (ph) School of Boston and Mayor Thomas Menino, 12 teenage girls are fighting against the negative depiction of women in rap music.

MARIA EXAVIER, RADIO LOG: Most rap music that's going on now, always talking about sex, drugs and money. That's it. There's no point in most of the music. There's other music out there that you can listen to that doesn't have explicit lyrics and that is not degrading you.

S. O'BRIEN: The girls of Radio LOG are educating and being educated, learning skills like news gathering, writing and public speaking.

STEPHANIE ALVES, RADIO LOG: Good evening, Boston. This is your girl, Baby Girl delivering you news, sports and weather.

I think media itself has a way of depicting objects in a false way. Like it always turns things around. When something can be positive they'll turn negative. And also like mainstream media, they usually recognize the negative things about your community or other things, aspects about your community, and never the positive.

S. O'BRIEN: By speaking out, these girls are hoping to change more than just music.

EXAVIER: Our goal is to help these girls at the station become leaders in the communities, to motivate their other peers. And the second goal is to become an FM station so we can reach to more people. Third, we want to inspire people over the country, I mean, world wide to do the same thing as us, like that, eventually rap music will stop degrading women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep your eyes open, your head up and don't let anyone play you as a fool. You heard? Keep it locked at Radio LOG 540 AM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Their goal of inspiring girls around the world appears to be working. A young woman in London is trying to set up a similar station there.

Are you caught in the middle class squeeze? A big segment of America is missing out on its share of tax breaks. The question is, does it add up?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: I'm CNN technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg. Coming up, find out what happens when you put thousands of high school students in the Georgia Dome and ask them to compete with robots. That's after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(AUDIO GAP)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ...many middle class families are having to pay what's known as the Alternative Minimum Tax, a tax that was supposed to close loopholes for the ultra-rich. But because the AMT was never adjusted for inflation, many middle income wage earners are having to pay this tax. Meantime, the corporate share of taxes has been declining over the last four decades, from just over 20 percent to less than 8 percent.

PETE SEPP, NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION: Our tax system puts the biggest squeeze on the middle class and upwardly mobile Americans because it doesn't allow them to employ the same tax strategies that the super-wealthy can afford to employ and have employed year after year.

SYLVESTER: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has proposed rolling back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while adding higher education tax credits. He's also promising to close corporate loopholes. But his plan also does not address the problem of the Alternative Minimum Tax. (on camera): Middle class families are also being pinched by payroll taxes. According to the Council on Budget and Policy Priorities, about 75 percent of American families pay more in Medicare and Social Security taxes than in income taxes.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MARKET REPORT)

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Aired April 16, 2004 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: United front, President Bush and America's strongest ally in the war on Iraq. Will a U.N. plan make the rest of the battle easier?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn't get mad at him and I couldn't get mad at anybody, so I was kind of mad at the Army. But it's an entity. I'm mad at that a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Homefront anxiety and battle weary troops, American forces getting extended duty in Iraq.

Taking aim. The nation's most powerful gun lobby arming itself with media fire power. Will you be listening to NRA Radio.

Quiet on the set. An AIDS scare shuts down film sets in California's multibillion dollar porn industry.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Kyra Phillips is off today. CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.

Face to face in Fallujah, but eye to eye? Too soon to tell. For the first time since U.S. Marines encamped on the outskirts of that Sunni triangle hotbed, senior coalition Americans and locals are holding direct talks. And CNN's Jane Arraf is watching and listening from Baghdad.

Hello, Jane.

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Miles. Well, everyone knows how high these stakes are. There's a potential crisis brewing here even more than already exists. Increasing pressure on U.S. troops, statements from chief Shia clerics, from other religious officials that this cannot go one, and the U.S. itself saying it can't go on, that something has to give.

Now there is a fragile cease-fire still in place. U.S. troops there, Marines, are withholding from offensive operations but they're making clear that if progress doesn't come soon for these insurgents to stop fighting, that they will resume those operations.

And a tense situation to the south of Baghdad as well, Miles, in the holy Shia city of Najaf. A radical Shia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, still has control of that city and the holy city of Karbala. There has been scattered fighting around there. But no major fighting with U.S. troops who are beginning to mass in the area, to make good a threat to use force if they have to dislodge him.

And meanwhile, the kidnappings continue. More kidnappings today. A Danish citizen -- a Danish businessman, according to the foreign ministry, was seized, as well as a Jordanian with a United Arab Emirates passport taken from his apartment building in Basra. But on a happy note, three Czech journalists taken near Fallujah last week have been freed. And a Syrian-born Canadian aid worker freed as well -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Jane Arraf in Baghdad, thank you very much.

The state of war and the terms of the transfer of Iraqi sovereignty, front burner issues today at the Bush-Blair summit. You heard about from the leaders themselves just an hour or so ago right here on CNN. CNN's John King joins us now with a recap.

Hello, John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Miles. The two leaders meeting, obviously, at a critical time in Iraq, both from a security and political standpoint. President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, of course, his closest ally in the war on Iraq. You see them emerging from the Oval Office here after their discussions, both leaders saying they were adamant sticking to the June 30 deadline for transferring power. Both leaders saying they were adamant in providing the troops necessary to have tough security on the ground to quiet this insurgency.

Prime Minister Blair said those attacking the coalition troops, those responsible for the kidnappings are trying to drive the coalition out of Iraq before democracy can take shape.

The prime minister said flatly that will not happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: First we stand firm. We will do what it takes to win this struggle. We will not yield. We will not back down in the face of attacks either on us or on defenseless civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The June 30 deadline for transferring power has caused a remarkable transformation in the position of the Bush administration. This president, when the Saddam Hussein statute fell about a year ago, said that it was the United States and its coalition powers that shed the blood, and it was the United States and its coalition power partners that would call the shots in terms of the political transformation.

But listen to the president just moments ago talking about how important the United Nations is now in coming up with a plan to transfer sovereignty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This week we've seen the outlines of the new Iraqi government that will take the keys of sovereignty. We welcome the proposals presented by the U.N. Special Envoy Brahimi. He's identified a way forward to establishing an interim government that is broadly acceptable to the Iraqi people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The two leaders now having lunch in the White House residence. They walked from the Rose Garden into the residence. Another subject of their discussions, the Middle East peace process in shambles at the moment. The president this week gave a critical endorsement to Prime Minister Sharon of Israel's plans to pull out of the Gaza Strip and to pull out of some of the West Bank.

That has the Palestinians furious. They view it as a trick by Mr. Sharon. Many Europeans agree with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Blair stood with President Bush but he said it was critical that the United States, the European Union, the United Nations immediately offer political and economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

Now, Miles, that will be a very interesting question, a very interesting dilemma for this President Bush who has refused to even talk to Yasser Arafat. Is he now willing to give him any help?

O'BRIEN: Well, and what the president said, John, as you well know, is he said it gives all sides a chance to reinvigorate. That is definitely a half-full view of it, isn't it?

KING: Well, what the president wants to see is the Palestinian people demand change in their leadership, because this president has consistently said he will not deal with Yasser Arafat. And when you did have Prime Minister Abbas, just as Prime Minister Abbas was about to negotiate with the Israelis, Mr. Arafat, at least from the view of this White House, pulled the rug out from under him, and stripped him of his power, forced him to step down.

So this president is in a difficult box. The Europeans want help for the Palestinians. This president says he will not deal with any Palestinian Authority led by Yasser Arafat. An interesting few days and weeks ahead.

O'BRIEN: To say the least, John King at the White House. Thank you very much.

Vice President Cheney on his way home this hour after a rousing sendoff by U.S. troops in South Korea. At the end of his week-long Asian junket, Cheney saluted both Korea's "brave decision," that's a quote, to place troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Together, he vowed, we will destroy the remnants of violent oppressive regimes. The VP's travels were devoted primarily to the standoff with North Korea over nukes, however.. Still no word on the fate of the Mississippi dairy farmer who took a truck driving job in Iraq and wound up a hostage of Iraqi insurgents. For a week now Thomas Hammill has been one of several known civilian captives and more whose fate is unknown or unconfirmed. Last night Hamill's wife was a guest on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LARRY KING LIVE")

KELLIE HAMILL, THOMAS HAMILL'S WIFE: I would like to let my husband know, first of all, that we love him, and miss him very much. We hope he's doing fine. We would also like to say to the people that have him captive, we hope they would release him unharmed and safe and let him come home to us just as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Besides the civilians, two U.S. soldiers remain unaccounted for in the aftermath of an ambush on their fuel convoy about a week ago.

The body of the first woman National Guard member ever killed in combat, back home in Wisconsin today. Twenty-year-old Specialist Michelle Witmer was one of three sisters, all of them deployed in Iraq. One of two in the same military police unit of the Wisconsin Guard. The surviving sisters haven't decided whether to ask not to go back to the war zone, as is their privilege if they so choose.

By now, you probably know the Pentagon is extending the deployments of 20,000 troops in Iraq. We told you about that yesterday. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he regrets having to do it. Some military families have their own concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE LEBRETON, SOLDIER'S FATHER: I expected when I got home on Saturday night that I would be getting a call from my son, Matthew, saying that he was in Fort Drum, New York. And to find out that they were sent back again for the second time, it was extremely demoralizing to me. And I know how the troops feel as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: You could see clear evidence of the extended deployments today. At Fort Polk in Louisiana, thousands of soldiers supposed to get a hero's welcome. Instead, a little more than 100 were on hand.

National correspondent Gary Tuchman with that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ft. Polk, Louisiana, was ready to host a huge party for its soldiers returning from Iraq.

MAJ. RON ELLIOTT, FORT POLK SPOKESMAN: This was going to be the biggest celebration, we were hoping, within the country. We even put in a request for the president to come back out here.

TUCHMAN: The celebration has been put on hold.

SUZY YATES, WIFE OF SOLDIER: The first thing I thought was to be strong for him. I don't like my husband to hear me cry. And so I told him it would be all right.

TUCHMAN: Susie Yates was told by her husband, Sergeant Cory Yates, that after a year in Iraq, his return home later this month has been delayed by at least three months.

YATES: And my head dropped into my hands and I took a moment for myself and let it sink in.

TUCHMAN (on camera): How difficult was that moment?

YATES: It was pretty difficult. I was in a lot of shock and disbelief. I thought I was dreaming.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The home of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regimen, which has lost 14 soldiers in Iraq, has been told 3000 of their men and women will not be coming home as scheduled, including Sergeant Arnold Powell, a husband and father.

HELEN POWELL, WIFE OF SOLDIER: I couldn't get mad at him and I couldn't get mad at anybody, so I was kind of mad at the Army. But it's an entity. You can -- I'm mad at that a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's more of a chance he might get hurt or something might happen to him.

TUCHMAN: Many people are sharing similar thoughts with military counselors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now the chances right now of him being hurt or being killed are even stronger.

TUCHMAN: Back at the Powells' house, personal items already sent home from Iraq are going back to Iraq.

(on camera): Sergeant Powell had planned to retire from the military, but that has now been delayed. He had planned to go on a celebratory Caribbean cruise with his wife next month, but that has now been cancelled.

POWELL: I'm very proud of my husband. Starting to get upset. I am very proud of my husband. I'm very proud of his job.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Now, they just want him home.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Fort Polk, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: News around the world now beginning with three more arrests in the March 11 Madrid train bombings. For the first time in the investigation, the suspects include people from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the third a Moroccan. Six Moroccans who were being questioned have been released now.

Heading off terror in Afghanistan. In Kabul today Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers says the U.S. is beefing up troops to prevent any violence before the September elections. Myers says this is the time of year when terrorist activity is highest.

And a close call for the foreign minister of the Czech Republic. Cyril Svoboda is in stable condition with neck injuries after a car crash last night. Svoboda is considered a key force behind his country's joining the European Union on May 1.

A mother and her newborn baby in a tough spot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wiped across its mouth and his nose and kind of cleaned it out a little bit and then he let out a big cough and he started crying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A good Samaritan to the rescue. The rest of the story ahead on LIVE FROM...

Porn movies and the AIDS virus. A quarantine shuts down some movie sets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A new voice, a new sound and a new mission. The only all-girl radio station of this kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: And on the air with girl power. We'll turn that one in, ahead on LIVE FROM...

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A red light for the red light district. An HIV scare stops porn production in Southern California. That story tops our news across America. About a dozen production companies and at least 45 actors and actresses are taking part in the voluntary two-month suspension. It follows the discovery that two stars in California's multibillion dollar porn industry are in fact HIV positive.

Five-year-old Ruby Bustamante is out of the hospital. She is the California girl who was stranded at the bottom of a ravine for 10 days after a car crash that ultimately killed her mother. Ruby survived the ordeal on Gatorade and dry noodles.

And this mangled car is what's left of another family tragedy. A man whose wife had just given birth in the back seat on the way to the hospital was killed when the car hit a utility pole in Brick, New Jersey. A passing motorist stopped to help the baby and the mother.

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PATRICK SCHLAGENHAFT: So 911 said, pick him up. I picked him up and I flipped him over. And I wiped across his mouth and his nose and kind of cleaned it out a little bit. And then he let out a big cough and he started crying.

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O'BRIEN: Hmm, that must have been a good sound. Both mother and baby are in fair condition today.

Well, there's conservative radio, liberal radio and now a station with a new and very different spin. CNN's Soledad O'Brien met some young women who want their voices to be heard.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's up y'all? You're listening to Melissa (ph) holding it down at radio LOG 9540 AM.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Dorchester community of Boston, a new movement has hit the air waves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A new voice, a new sound and a new mission. The only all-girls radio station of this kind.

S. O'BRIEN: Radio LOG is a low-decibel a.m. station sending out a powerful message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to let it be known out there that we're here for them, because I know lot of them feel the same way we do, that they feel that women are being misrepresented and disrespected in the media.

S. O'BRIEN: With from support from the LOG (ph) School of Boston and Mayor Thomas Menino, 12 teenage girls are fighting against the negative depiction of women in rap music.

MARIA EXAVIER, RADIO LOG: Most rap music that's going on now, always talking about sex, drugs and money. That's it. There's no point in most of the music. There's other music out there that you can listen to that doesn't have explicit lyrics and that is not degrading you.

S. O'BRIEN: The girls of Radio LOG are educating and being educated, learning skills like news gathering, writing and public speaking.

STEPHANIE ALVES, RADIO LOG: Good evening, Boston. This is your girl, Baby Girl delivering you news, sports and weather.

I think media itself has a way of depicting objects in a false way. Like it always turns things around. When something can be positive they'll turn negative. And also like mainstream media, they usually recognize the negative things about your community or other things, aspects about your community, and never the positive.

S. O'BRIEN: By speaking out, these girls are hoping to change more than just music.

EXAVIER: Our goal is to help these girls at the station become leaders in the communities, to motivate their other peers. And the second goal is to become an FM station so we can reach to more people. Third, we want to inspire people over the country, I mean, world wide to do the same thing as us, like that, eventually rap music will stop degrading women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep your eyes open, your head up and don't let anyone play you as a fool. You heard? Keep it locked at Radio LOG 540 AM.

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O'BRIEN: Their goal of inspiring girls around the world appears to be working. A young woman in London is trying to set up a similar station there.

Are you caught in the middle class squeeze? A big segment of America is missing out on its share of tax breaks. The question is, does it add up?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: I'm CNN technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg. Coming up, find out what happens when you put thousands of high school students in the Georgia Dome and ask them to compete with robots. That's after the break.

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LISA SYLVESTER, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ...many middle class families are having to pay what's known as the Alternative Minimum Tax, a tax that was supposed to close loopholes for the ultra-rich. But because the AMT was never adjusted for inflation, many middle income wage earners are having to pay this tax. Meantime, the corporate share of taxes has been declining over the last four decades, from just over 20 percent to less than 8 percent.

PETE SEPP, NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION: Our tax system puts the biggest squeeze on the middle class and upwardly mobile Americans because it doesn't allow them to employ the same tax strategies that the super-wealthy can afford to employ and have employed year after year.

SYLVESTER: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has proposed rolling back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while adding higher education tax credits. He's also promising to close corporate loopholes. But his plan also does not address the problem of the Alternative Minimum Tax. (on camera): Middle class families are also being pinched by payroll taxes. According to the Council on Budget and Policy Priorities, about 75 percent of American families pay more in Medicare and Social Security taxes than in income taxes.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

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